Archive for 2013
August 18, 2013
HEY, THEY’RE JUST BEING ENTRUSTED WITH YOUR PRIVATE INFORMATION: No Background Checks For ObamaCare “Navigators.”
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DEEP DIVING: In case you missed it (and you probably did), they reran this on Sixty Minutes tonight. Tanya Streeter and William Trubridge in CBS’s 60 minutes.
HEY, MAYBE I SHOULD’VE TAKEN UP THAT INVITATION TO PRIMARY HIM: GOP Poll: Sen. Alexander Trails Generic ‘Conservative’ by 5 Points. But then, I’m anything but a “generic conservative.” And worse yet — what if I’d won?
BECAUSE HE’S BREAKING THE LAW: Townhall Tactic 2013: Why do you want to deport my daddy? It’s always some kind of child abuse and emotional bullying with these people.
IN THE AMERICAN THINKER, What Has Mark Levin Wrought? An essay on his new book, The Liberty Amendments.
I should mention, by the way, that last year the Tennessee Law Review devoted an entire issue to constitutional conventions, I wrote the foreword, Sandy Levinson wrote the afterword, and an all-star cast including Randy Barnett, Brannon Denning, Richard Epstein, Tim Lynch, Rob Natelson, and too many other luminaries to mention contributed the stuff in between. (Plus a staff-written section on the rules and mechanics of such a convention). Alas, the issue isn’t online, but you can read my Foreword, which contains many suggested amendments, here.
ARE THE MARINES ADOPTING COLLEGE-STYLE PC GUIDELINES ON “SEXUAL ASSAULT?” LOOKS LIKE IT. “In our Twitter conversation on this issue earlier this morning, John Schindler, a Navy Reserve officer and professor at the Naval War College, rightly worried about a system that treats ‘all men as potential rapists.’ . . . Adults are allowed to operate motor vehicles at high rates of speed with substantially more than one drop of alcohol in their system. It’s just asinine to pretend that they’re incapable of consenting to sex after a drink or two. If she’s too drunk to know what she’s doing; it’s rape. If she’s had a glass of wine, it’s reasonable to assume that Yes means Yes. This is bureaucratic overkill and it’s dangerous. You don’t change a culture that treats women as mere objects by replacing it with one that treats women as imbeciles incapable of regulating their own actions.”
You know, the old curmudgeons who opposed gender-integrating the military predicted these problems. They were dismissed as mossbacks. If the military becomes as PC as colleges, with potential recruits join the Men On Strike? Maybe to some people in the Administration, that’s not a bug, but a feature.
IN MODEST DEFENSE OF OBAMA’S MIDDLE EAST STRATEGY: Yeah, I know, you’re thinking What strategy? But hear me out.
One complaint/worry about our Iraq victory back in 2003 was that it was too bloodless:
Not only did millions of Japanese and Germans die in World War II, but U.S. and British aerial bombing of major Japanese and German cities alone killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in what is now delicately termed “collateral damage.” And that’s not even counting the carnage caused by the atomic bombs we. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the final days of the war against Japan. . . .
Violence, death and destruction on such a massive scale have a profound conditioning effect on the psyches of individuals. And the same applies to whole nations. Japan and Germany weren’t just “defeated” or “occupied,” they were crushed — not just their armies, but their civilian populations too. This led to a sort of national humiliation and a transformative willingness to embrace defeat and change.
True defeat changes people and nations too. The fact that our subsequent occupation turned out to be so benign was extremely important. But part of that importance was the contrast between how much these populations had suffered during the war and how much better things got for them after we took over.
And thus our problem. If everything goes according to plan, the loss of civilian life in Iraq will be minimal.
More on that here. Likewise, I recall some people chiming in that the Arab world largely missed out on the massive death-and-destruction of World Wars One and Two, which so changed European attitudes toward warfare, and that it would be necessary for the mideast to experience some sort of similar shock to make the death-and-martyrdom stuff less appealing. In addition, it’s pretty clear that the places where Islamists are least popular — Iran, and now Egypt — are the places where they’ve wielded real power. Hence the strategy: Allow sectarian civil war to rage through the region until it burns itself out. Thanks to fracking, etc., we don’t need them as much for energy anyway.
Meanwhile, lots of terrorist-types are being killed. There are legitimate worries that the ones who survive will be more skilled — but the ones that don’t survive will be no threat at all. And the survivors may lose their enthusiasm after sufficient exposure.
Is that their strategy? Beats me. But if things continue to head south in the Mideast, expect Obama defenders to pick up on this line of thinking.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Long-Distance Relationship Tips From Those Who’ve Been There.
AT SALON, DAVID SIROTA IS FORCED TO GRAPPLE WITH THE UNTHINKABLE: What if the president lied to us? So many of President Obama’s statements about NSA have been wrong. But he’s too smart not to understand the truth.
What was your first clue there, sport?
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MAYBE INSTEAD OF A GENERATOR I SHOULD HOLD OUT FOR ONE OF THESE: Redox Power Plans To Roll Out Dishwasher-Sized Fuel Cells That Cost 90% Less Than Currently Available Fuel Cells. “The promise is this: generate your own electricity with a system nearly impervious to hurricanes, thunderstorms, cyber attacks, derechos, and similar dangers, while simultaneously helping the environment.”
WHAT’S NEXT? A FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT NOT TO REPORT PORK IN KOSHER HOT DOGS? California Law School Claims First Amendment Right Not to Report Bar Passage Rates.
EXPIRATION DATE: “There is no future left for Jewish communities in Europe.” “The fact is that while intellectually one can distinguish anti-Israeli fervor from anti-Semitism, in reality, on the streets of Malmö and Paris, and elsewhere in Europe, they are one and the same.”
MICHAEL LEDEEN ON EGYPT AND ELSEWHERE: It’s War, You Idiots! “A Saudi of my acquaintance showed up in Cairo a few days ago with a bunch of checks, some currently cashable, others postdated over the next twelve months, all hand-delivered to Sissi and his guys. Their advice to the Egyptian military is to mercilessly crush the Brothers, and their advice will likely be adopted, both because the junta knows that death awaits them if they lose (2 Egyptian major generals and 2 brigadier generals, along with many colonels, have been assassinated by the Brothers in the current spasm), and because only the Saudis can foot the huge bill facing Egypt just to provide the basics for the people. Most of whom, to the evident surprise of Western leaders and journalists, seem inclined to support the junta (neighborhood militias have taken on the Brothers throughout the country, for example). . . . Let’s get outside these little boxes and look at the big board. There’s an alliance plotting against us, bound together by two radical views of the world that share a profound, fundamental hatred of us. If they win, it’s hell to pay, because then we will be attacked directly and often, and we will be faced with only two options, winning or losing. That’s the bad news. The good news is that they’re divided, and slaughtering each other.”
I have some thoughts on that slaughter — and even a tentative defense of Obama policy on the subject — that’ll be posted later tonight.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Linda Lovelace Is Not a Porn Star: The real world of porn has nothing to do with her experience in Deep Throat.
Let me explain: In addition to being a porn star and a writer, I regularly give talks on sexuality, pornography, and culture. In late 2012, a university near Boston expressed interest in hiring me for a lecture. During negotiations, however, my contact—the director of the campus LGBT organization—suddenly turned from enthusiastic to hesitant. He’d spoken to a colleague who oversaw health education for the school, and she’d offered the following admonition: “Tell [Conner] to read Linda Lovelace’s book Ordeal … about the sexual enslavement and ‘pimping’ of women in the porn industry. Until that is understood and addressed by this multi-billion dollar industry, it is difficult to give it any voice.”
“We at least want to feel comfortable in that we’re pretty much on the same page,” the director added in an email, “with the people we bring in, in terms of educational safety issues. I’m sure you can appreciate that.”
I assured him that I was well aware of the feminist critiques (and defenses of) porn and that I was happy to engage in discussions with students about them. More to the point, as a working porn actor, I’ve appeared in around 150 adult films, so I knew that I had more knowledge about the porn world than could be guessed at from a book. But none of those qualifications, it seemed, mattered as much as Linda Lovelace’s shadow. My experience, I was being told—indeed, the experience of everyone in porn—was just like hers. The invitation was withdrawn.
Now you know how all kinds of folks, from all kinds of industries, fare when their learned experience conflicts with academic dogma.
POPULAR MECHANICS SAYS YOUR SMARTPHONE ISN’T A SUBSTITUTE FOR A GPS, and reviews the Garmin Nüvi 3597 Nav Unit. “A Leatherman is not as good a screwdriver as a Snap-on No. 2 Phillips, and because of its screen size, powerful graphics, and the integration of dedication nav applications, the nüvi 3597 is better at being a GPS than your smartphone can be.”
“A FAILED ATTEMPT AT INTIMIDATION:” NSA Journalist Glenn Greenwald’s Partner Reportedly Detained at Airport for 9 Hours, Questioned Under Terrorism Act. “Officials also confiscated Miranda’s electronics, including his cell phone, laptop, camera, and memory sticks, according to The Guardian, without saying when they would return the items.”
SCOTT BROWN: I’m Exploring A Run For President.
FASTER, PLEASE: Effects of Parkinson’s-Disease Mutation Reversed In Cells.
THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING: ‘Pay-Per-Gaze’ Is Just the Beginning.
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IF ONLY WE HAD A VACCINE OR SOMETHING: Texas Issues Measles Alert. “Measles is a highly contagious respiratory illness spread by contact with an infected person through coughing and sneezing. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, 90 percent of the people close to that person who are not immune or vaccinated will also become infected with the measles virus.”