Archive for 2012
April 16, 2012
THE SOCIAL SPIDER AS alien invader.
IN THE MAIL: From Harry Stein, No Matter What…They’ll Call This Book Racist: How our Fear of Talking Honestly About Race Hurts Us All.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: European Anti-Semitism: It’s Not Just France. “If a gang of white American thugs attacked African-Americans, and defended their action on the ground that they were protesting Robert Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, the world would laugh at their foolishness even as it condemned their bigotry. This isn’t quite how it works when goons around the world attack Jews and Jewish buildings and defend themselves by saying that they are angered by things the Israeli government has done.”
REPORT: Obama “Angry” If Secret Service Allegations Are True.
Well, he needs to think about the signals being sent from the top.
Pictured on the left, above, is Jon Favreau, who still works for the White House at a salary of $172,200 a year. According to the linked article, Obama calls him his “mind reader.”
This leaves reader Paula Colozzi unimpressed: “$172,000 for recycled speeches, as recent reviews of Obama’s speeches have been shown to be. A bit overpaid perhaps.” Hey, recycling is going green.
THE LITTLE RED HEN: Wisconsin 2012 Edition.
TAXED BY THE BOSS: “Across the United States more than 2,700 companies are collecting state income taxes from hundreds of thousands of workers – and are keeping the money with the states’ approval.”
AT AMAZON, 50% or more off on select small appliances.
REP. ISSA: Secret Service misconduct allegations reveal ‘pattern of behavior.’
UPDATE: 20 or more US agents could be involved in Colombian hooker woe. “Agency sources said hookers routinely hit on agents traveling abroad, but the supposedly top-notch government workers are trained to know that prostitutes — and booze — represent serious breaches of security.”
THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEKEND, if you were out, you know, having a life or something:
The Secret Service Hooker Scandal. More worrisome thoughts on that, here.
The Tea Party in 2012: Unglamorous, but effective.
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Obama Owns the GSA Scandals.
Woman Seeking Man Who Knocked Her Up In The Bathroom At Megadeth/Motorhead Show On Craigslist.
Eliminationist rhetoric: Sen. Orrin Hatch “doggone offended” by “radical libertarians,” threatens to punch them (us) in the mouth.
Financial-News Shenanigans At The Department Of Labor.
Democrat staffer ‘paid to keep quiet after being sexually harassed by party official.’
Farrakhan Condemns Interracial Sex.
Stay-at-home-moms: Hey, Remember Rielle Hunter? “With all the talk about stay-at-home moms right now, this story seems relevant. After all, Rielle Hunter stayed at home — well, a series of secretly rented mansions — and took care of her baby while the father was out there paying the bills.”
Washington Examiner: Obama Goes Negative To Sidestep His Sorry Record. “‘[I]f you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.’ That is what Barack Obama said when he accepted his party’s presidential nomination in 2008. Four years later, it reads like a prophetic description of his re-election campaign.”
David Axelrod endorses Mitt Romney. Well, not intentionally, but . . .
The Nation explains the real Hillary Rosen scandal. And they’ve got a point.
THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW: Corzine Steals Billions Sans Charges, Errant Whale Watcher Faces Prison. “Which would you imagine might attract more aggressive enforcement from the Justice Department: the theft of $1.2 billion from supposedly segregated customer brokerage funds, or lying about an alleged incident of whistling to attract the attention of a whale so that whale watchers could get a better peep? If you said the latter, then you appreciate the extent to which federal law enforcement priorities have run off the rails.”
Corzine’s a prominent Democrat. The whale-watcher was not.
WHEN LOSERS WRITE OBITUARIES: Ed Driscoll on David Carr’s Andrew Breitbart piece for the New York Times. Ed Driscoll reminds us that Carr is the one who said this last year on Bill Maher’s show:
“If it’s Kansas, Missouri, no big deal. You know, that’s the dance of the low-sloping foreheads. The middle places, right? …Did I just say that aloud?”
It’s a shame to see such bigotry in our national media.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Romney Gaining On Obama.
SO MUCH FOR HOPE AND CHANGE: The Trayvon Martin Case and the Growing Racial Divide.
Polls show that the Trayvon Martin case has split the country apart over perceptions of race and justice, in ways that may dwarf the polarities of the O.J. Simpson trial days of 1994. Or does the new friction simply reflect an ongoing erosion in relations since 2009? Or is it all hype, and things are still about as they were?
This tension was not supposed to have increased with the election of Barack Obama, who ran on “healing” and “unity,” and who was proclaimed by supporters as ushering in a new post-racial age.
Here I list a few random examples of the new racial furies and conclude with the two irreconcilable narratives.
Like pretty much all of Obama’s promises, that one didn’t come true.
HARRY STEIN: America’s Most Indecent Race Mongers.
His new book, No Matter What…They’ll Call This Book Racist: How our Fear of Talking Honestly About Race Hurts Us All, is certainly well-timed.
HEY, WAIT A MINUTE: Buffett Rule Would Reduce Federal Tax Revenues by $800 Billion.
Related: Rick Santelli vs. the Buffett Rule.
Also: Instead of the Buffett Rule, How About The Geithner Rule?
So instead of wasting time on the Buffett Rule, how about if we promote the Geithner Rule, i.e., everyone pays what he owes under existing law. This will certainly promote fairness; is anyone in favor of tax evasion? And, unlike the Buffett Rule, if Tim Geithner, Berkshire Hathaway, Obama’s White House, and everyone else pays what they owe, it will go a long way toward solving the nation’s fiscal crisis.
Plus, it’ll advance “fairness.” Right?
#NARRATIVEFAIL: Janet Napolitano Signed ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law for Arizona in 2006. “The NRA heaped praise upon Napolitano for signing the bill as well. And they issued a special press release to explain that the bill Napolitano had signed was actually a combination of Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground legislation.” Jennifer Granholm signed one, too, even though she’s blasting Republicans for them.
TOM MAGUIRE: On His Presidency’s Sexual Service.
Meanwhile, reader Kevin Greene writes: “When Barack Obama’s own Secret Service security detail is engaging in ‘human trafficking’ … that’s a huge, huge issue. Regardless of whether or not the Colombians allow legalized prostitution.”
Er, really?
UPDATE: A reader sends this amusing photo juxtaposition from The Australian.
I’D RESPOND BY DEMANDING THAT THE DEMOCRATS REJECT DONATIONS FROM CELEBRITIES: Democrats Play Kardashian Card With Tax Cut Plan. “April 16 might be tax day, but this year it’s also the start of the campaign season on Capitol Hill, with Democrats kicking off the fireworks by charging that a small business tax bill backed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will benefit the likes of Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and smut publisher Larry Flynt.” I mean, come on. It’s not the GOP that’s in bed with these people.
But if Cantor’s really smart he’ll add my Hollywood-targeted revenue enhancements to his package and the Dems will really wish they’d never raised this issue.
THE HILL: Weak job numbers raise pressure on Fed to consider new stimulus.
There’s always Sheila Bair’s strategy.
WAGES OF SOCIALISM: The only place in the world where you can’t get a Cuban sandwich: Cuba!
UPDATE: Brian Erst emails:
It ruins the narrative, but I don’t think it means much to not find Cuban sandwiches in Cuba – because they aren’t Cuban.
I lived in Florida (the Tampa-St. Pete area) for a time and grew to love Cuban sandwiches. The thing you soon learn (other than salami is part of the sandwich in Tampa and verboten in Miami) is that the sandwich was invented by Cuban immigrants – it’s not something they eat on the island. Back in the late 1800s, when Florida and Cuba were pretty much just one big economic zone, Cuban workers in Ybor City (near Tampa) and Miami started making these sandwiches. They took off among that community and the native Floridians, but never really took off back home – probably because it is very similar to a different, much more popular sandwich in Cuba, the medianoche. The “midnight” sandwich has the same ingredients, but is smaller and served on soft sweet bread as a midnight snack.
As it’s not indigenous to Cuba and would be on menus primarily for American and Cuban-American tourists, you can see why it might be hard to find.
In a followup he notes that the same is true of Cuban bread:
Cuban bread is also really Cuban-American bread.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_bread
I find the late 1800s to be fascinating, because the concept of a “border” was so different back then. I think it’s a major reason why immigration is thought of so differently in Texas and Florida – they never really had or wanted an effective border, so the “immigrant” communities there were well-integrated into the broader communities.
Good grief. No wonder people are always trying to get out of Cuba.
JENNIFER RUBIN: Romney’s only “anti” should be anti-Obama.
It is tempting for Mitt Romney to fight fire with fire, and based on this past week it’s hard to quibble with success. But ultimately it is a losing proposition to try to match Democrats stride for stride in the “anti” games. Democrats will always pander more, play the misogyny (or race) card more effectively and be more shameless in gimmickry (e.g. the Buffett rule). That they and their liberal allies in the blogosphere lay claim to the high ground is a tribute to their audacity.
Romney would do far better to decline to and indeed condemn the “anti” game. Romney’s advantage lies in articulating an inclusive, positive pro-growth, inclusive message. He needs to be the “no blue states, no red states” candidate. Truth be told, Obama’s economic policies don’t discriminate — they are rotten for men and women, old and young, and every ethnic group. The anti-business, anti-growth, anti-fiscal-discipline, anti-defense-spending Obama policies are the anti’s on which Romney should focus.
Romney caught a break this past week. It would be a mistake, however, to conclude fighting divisiveness with divisiveness is a viable campaign strategy.
For fun, he should try giving a speech that’s as close to word-for-word Obama’s 2004 DNC speech as he can manage. Just to further heighten the contradictions.