The Burned Hand Teaches Best

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -

State legislative candidate Amy Biviano is slamming a "partisan agenda-driven website" for revealing she posed for Playboy while attending Yale University in 1995.

Biviano, a Democrat challenging Republican Rep. Matt Shea for the 4th District House of Representatives seat, said she doesn't regret posing for that photo, which was featured in a "Women of the Ivy League" pictorial while she was attending Yale.

The topless photo was revealed Friday by a conservative website called Western Center for Journalism, which claimed that Biviano, a wife, mother and Sunday School teacher, has seen her campaign against Shea "rocked" by the revelation of her appearance in Playboy 17 years ago.
 

Here's the thing.  This is a great example of someone taking an action that really didn't take into account her future.  She showed her hooters (and perhaps a little more) and showed poor judgement as to how that might reflect upon her down the road of life.  Want proof?

 

A partisan, agenda-driven website has "broken" the story that when I was a 20 year old student at Yale University, I appeared in Playboy Magazine's "Women of the Ivy League." People have asked me how I feel about this decision now, as a 37 year old wife, mother, and political candidate. My answer is that while I would not do the same thing now, this is not something that I made any attempt to hide. I haven't brought it up in the context of this race because it has no bearing on issues in the 4th legislative district nor the person I am today.

I also stand by my character and fitness for public office. In fact, I would be happy to make character a centerpiece of this campaign. I learned a lot from my college experiences. Since then, I have gone on to build an extremely happy marriage of fifteen years, have been blessed with amazing children, have been active in my church, and have worked and volunteered to help my community while living with a disability.
 

And yet...she admits to a lack of judgement at the time of the decision.  She admits that she wouldn't do it again.  Everyone makes mistakes...blah, blah, blah.  Call me a sexist if you want to, but this is no different from planting a tattoo on your forehead in your youth and wondering why everyone thinks you lack good judgement in your adulthood.   Last I checked, age 20 is adulthood (with the exception consumption of alcohol). 

There are repercussions for actions.  At least, there should be.  The same mentality that lets  Ms. Biviano off the hook for her decisions gets applied elsewhere.  General Motors drives their business into the ground, the Federal Government will bail them out.  No repercussions.  AIG takes a stock nosedive, they get bailed out.  No lesson learned.  This is no way to run a country, much less a business, or a life.  You have to fail, to learn, grasshopper.  The burned hand teaches best.

Hugh Hewitt is an Optimistic Fellow

The ongoing collapse of President Obama's campaign may lead to some extraordinary stunts during Monday's last debate, but no matter what he tries, it is very unlikely that the president can reverse the enormous momentum behind Mitt Romney's campaign.

(One data point. Congressman John Campbell, a frequent guest on my radio show, polled his district this week. It is Califronia's 45. John McCain carried it by 4.7 points in 2008. Mitt Romney is almost 20 points ahead in this cycle. Campbell reports that this sort of result is showing up across the country.)

The nation is simply finished with a president whose rhetoric has never been matched by his actions, and whose performance has removed Jimmy Carter from the bottom of the rankings of the modern president.
 

I don't know if we are in a position at the present to make such a sweeping and optimistic statement, but I'll tell you how to determine when the other side has given up.  It will be simple to recognize.  Ready?

When the major news outlets start tantalizing us that an Obama loss might lead to riots and violence, you will know that it's over.  Now, my statement is not a reflection on minorities in this country.  On the contrary, it is a reflection of white liberals in this country.  They are the ones who will tote this line of reasoning, because they are indeed racist.  To white liberals, minorities are a tool to their success.  If they can whip up fervor to their personal cause, all the better.   But, white liberals never perceive minorities as thinking, patriotic Americans.  They define them in generalities, just like they do everything else.

So, when the threat of violence and riots hit the mainstream media bylines, toast the victory, for that's all she wrote.

I Wonder Who Wrote This

DN Editorial: Why aren't candidates debating climate change?

Philadelphia Daily News

THE PAST 12 months have been the hottest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Throughout the nation, drought, wildfires, floods and other extreme weather have made global warming a visible reality.

So it was maddening - and tragic - that both presidential candidates spent significant time during Tuesday's debate trying to one-up each other on how much more fossil fuels they plan to extract, burn and allow into the atmosphere. In three debates so far, climate change hasn't been mentioned once.
 

Have you ever noticed when a large media outlet does an urgent global warming OpEd that it usually is written without accreditation?  In other words, the anthropomorphic global warming lobbyists (i.e. Al Gore) contacts said media outlet, and says,  "we need to push this right now, because they're ignoring it on the big stage, and everyone will assume that it's now a non-issue....HURRY!"

I'm willing to bet that is exactly how this OpEd came about.  The proponents of anthropomorphic global warming noticed they were being left off the bus in this presidential campaign.  They, also, noticed that when the Met Office passed on a report showing that global warming seems to have taken a hiatus over the last 16 years that the facts resonated world wide a lot louder then they were hoping.

This article, by an unknown author is a kneejerk reaction from the anthropomorphic public relations department.  I would be surprised if Philadelphia Daily News staff actually wrote it.  I would expect that it was emailed to them to print and published as a package.  That's how the environmental weenies operate.  Any threat to the federal and international study grant train is crushed as quickly as possible.

Addendum:  Oh look, this very same Philadelphia Op/Ed showed up in Minnesota.  Pennsylvania and Minnesota.  Two up for grabs swing states...shocking.

You're Doing it Wrong

Meet Brooklyn's Young Republicans

The brave young conservatives who are stumping the people of Brooklyn
 

A Young Republican's Club in New York City.  Sounds fine.  After all, New York City is a festering hole rife with over-high taxes, stifling fees, nanny type laws, and overbearing do-gooders.  They really ought to be starting to thrive in that type of environment.  There's just so much to use in recruitment...

 Some 30 members strong, the club has deep roots: It was founded in 1880 and was a force to be reckoned with in the years that followed. Presidents McKinley, Hoover and Taft all addressed the club, says Nocera, sitting at his kitchen table in front of a glass case holding various artifacts — a newspaper clip from 1884, an autograph from Seth Low, the club’s first president, who later became mayor of the city.
 

Thirty (30) total members in a city of over 8 Million.   There are over 2.5 Million in Brooklyn alone.  Guys, I could recruit more than thirty (30) members in an afternoon.  This tells me that you're not serious about expanding your numbers and asserting influence.  You are only interested in the exclusivity  afforded such a posting.  What's the deal?   Do you get a discount at JR Electronics or something?

This Race was Considered One of the Safest for Dems

The Pennsylvania Senate race (Bob Casey-D v. Tom Smith-R) was considered a rubber stamper for the Dems.  In fact, the democrats internal poll still implies that this is a safe one for them:

Bob Casey has nothing to worry about, according to an internal poll released Friday by his campaign. The freshman Democratic Senator leads GOP opponent Tom Smith by 13 points, 52 percent to 39 percent.

Of course, that single poll could be wrong. 

Casey leads Smith, 48 percent to 45 percent, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this week. Casey had an 18-point lead in that poll on Aug. 1.

And Casey leads Smith, 41 percent to 39 percent, in a Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll released this week.

“This race is too close to call,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Uh oh...nothing's settled, yet.  Additionally, the enthusiasm gap is going to play a part in this Senate race.  Also, we still have a couple of weeks to play with, and I'm expecting Romney to jump back into the state to whip up support, and it will be interesting to see if he has coattails. 

I'm not the only one that thinks this "safe" race for the democrats is up for grabs.  Check out Fast Eddie:

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. had been taking more and more heat about his lackluster campaign for a second term against former coal company owner Tom Smith of Armstrong County.  Former Gov. Ed Rendell piled on Thursday.

In an interview with the Scranton Times Tribune, Rendell said Casey is running a "non-campaign" focused on a "stupid" ad that links Smith to a Tea Party group he started.  Rendell did predict that Casey would prevail in the race.

If Fast Eddie Rendell is worried, so should Casey.  I never liked Rendell, but he knew how to win a race.  And, I agree with his assessment of Casey's TV spots.  He ambition has been to make Tom Smith less popular by associating with the Tea Party.  I think Smith gains voters every time it runs (which is a lot).

It ain't over.

They Will Cheat with All Their Heart

It's that simple.  They will cheat.  Every single media outlet championed the unemployment numbers following the first debate because they dipped below 8%.  In addition to removing more workers from the workforce to effect the %, they did something else.  It trickled out that a big state within the republic failed to report their unemployment numbers.  The media outlets either let that material fact out of their reporting, or glossed it over as an afterthought.  What they concentrated on, and rammed through, was that the unemployment numbers dipped below 8%.

Well...

Marty Morgenstern, the secretary of the California agency that substantially under-reported unemployment claims last week, contributed to President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election campaign, The Daily Caller has learned.

On Oct. 11, the federal government reported that weekly jobless claims were down significantly, suggesting a dramatic national increase in economic growth and a steep decline in layoffs.  Jobless claims, according to the Labor Department, had fallen by 30,000 to 339,000, their lowest level since February 2008.

An Obama campaign contributor just happened to let a signficant number of unemployed out of the report after Obama got trounced in the first debate.  They will cheat...and the media will look no further.

United Nations is a Cesspool of Mouthbreathing Idiots

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Rwanda's defense minister is commanding a rebellion in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that is being armed by Rwanda and Uganda, both of which sent troops to aid the insurgency in a deadly attack on U.N. peacekeepers, according to a U.N. report.

The U.N. Security Council's Group of Experts said in a confidential report that Rwanda and Uganda - despite their strong denials - continued to support M23 rebels in their six-month fight against Congolese government troops in North Kivu province.

Sooooo...according to a United Nations field report, Rwanda is not only assisting in the rebellion in the Congo, they are commanding it.  They've effectively annexed eastern Congo, and continue to recruit child soldiers.

What should we do about that?

Oh...nevermind.  The United Nation's got it all under control.

18 October 2012 – The United Nations General Assembly has elected Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2013.

That's right...stoke a rebellion and recruit child soldiers, and get yourself elected to the Security Council of the United Nations...the very same one who just said you attacked the Congo.  Nice.

We Need Employees with Hooters

Throughout the print media there is an article in just about every entity today just like this one.  It is usually written by a woman columnist.  It is high-blown nonsense about nothing important.  Yet, it's infallibly there.  The simple fact of the matter is that Mitt Romney went out of his way to have females represented on his Massachusetts staff.  He referred to the folder holding the particulars of these potential employees of the time as binders.  This, for some reason, is a bad thing.

As a business reporter and columnist, I was shocked - shocked - to hear during the presidential debate that former Massachusetts governor and private-equity bigwig Mitt Romney had to solicit "binders full of women" job candidates just so his state cabinet would not resemble an episode of the misogynistic TV series Mad Men.

Women's groups, Romney said, provided him with said "binders" after he initially was given a list of applicants consisting only of go-to guys. A manhunt, in other words, had to be launched to find a go-to gal for a big old job reporting to the big old guv.

His "binders" comment caused a social-media fury that continued to build momentum Wednesday. Yet none of this should be surprising.

My only complaint about the whole non-issue...and it is a non-issue propagated by a the other side due to a severe lack of ammunition...is that Romney didn't focus only on qualified applicants regardless of sex.  If the best folks for the job were all male, so be it.  If they were all female...fantastic.  However, when a Governor hires purely on whether the applicant has breasts or not, he's discriminating.  Liberals will never grasp this concept.  They are all about appearances, and little about performance. 

Try and tell me this wasn't a concerted effort by the Obama campaign to push their idiotic war on women meme...

Boston:

Sites put Mitt Romney through ‘binder’ grinder

Seattle:
Debate aftermath: Mitt Romney's "binders full of women" comment was derided by many, but he's closing the traditional gender gap among voters.

USA Today:

  'Binders full of women': Jokes, then serious discussion

This is embarrassing...even for the White House and the guy that sits in the Oval Office.

"Hello there, you son of a bitch"

Remember that 9/11 "mastermind," Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who most folks didn't want tried under the US Justice system because he would make a mockery of it, spout his nonsense and turn it into a show trial?  Of course, Eric Holder and the White House wanted these legal proceedings, until they realized that they were the only ones stupid enough to do it.  The public, overwhelmingly, wanted a military court.  Obama finally agreed.

Well, yesterday he showed up in Court (with the Court's permission) sporting a lively fall ensemble that included a camouflage vest.  It's all the rage in the Middle East, apparently.  He, then, proceeded to grace the audience of 9/11 family members with an anti-American rant.  We never saw it coming.

But, as if the vest weren’t enough of an insult to the memory of the 9/11 victims and their families, Pohl took the unusual step of allowing Mohammed to spew an anti-American rant.

Making two callous references to the Sept. 11 attacks, Mohammed droned on for five minutes about national security, torture and military strategy.

“The government, at the end of the argument gave you an advice,” KSM, speaking Arabic, said through a translator.

“They told you any decision you’re going to issue you’re going to have to keep in mind the national security and to remember that there were 3,000 people killed on Sept 11.”

Imagine the news coverage if this wasn't a military court, and some liberal judge was running the show.  They'd be laying out a prayer rug for the son-of-a-bitch.

He was greeted "warmly," by the way.

“Hello there, you son of a bitch,” hissed Gordon Haberman of Wisconsin, whose 25-year-old daughter, Andrea, died in the north tower of the World Trade Center.

“You pr--k. That vest is American-issue.”

About that Debate Last Night...It was Last Night, Right?

I didn't watch it, and I suspect I wasn't alone in that regard.

Face it.  If you are still undecided in this race highlighting two very different points of view, you are either detatched beyond even Rain Man mentality, or you are so self-absorbed that you are basing your vote on a single solitary issue that reflects you, and only you. 

I don't have much sympathy for the Moderates of life.  It is just another form of indecision.  Your spine must ache from all the bending over backwards required to appease.  The problem is that there are never any hard line, value held principals in the mix.  There is less evaluation of substance and more focus on appearance.  Behold, the Reality TV generation.

I watched the first debate even though I already knew who had my vote. It was more of a "rubbernecking an accident" sort of view.  I wasn't disappointed, because I enjoyed watching Obama being handed his Michelle approved lunch.  The first debate confirmed, for me, the absolute differences in candidates, and satisfied my position.

Last night you probably saw myriad (allegedly uncommitted voters) push forward their pet issues in questions about amnesty for illegals and the like.  Perhaps specific industries were mentioned.  Individuals asked about their personal job prospets.  Am I right?

  These one dimensional voters annoy me.  Yet, our Constitution allows their participation in the process.  Fine.  But, why in the name of all that is Holy do we give them a showcase in which to highlight their ignorance?

Who won last night's debate.   Beats me...as I said, I didn't watch it.  I watched a South Park DVD, and those characters were a hell of a lot more three dimensional and insightful.

Divorce Lawyers to Decend on Kennebunk

I posted something a few days ago about a small town in Maine in which a sexy Zumba teacher was allegedly sampling the local cuisine in a non-dance/yoga kind of way and making some serious spending money in the process.

That's the tactful way of saying she was selling sex to the local gentry via a dance studio.

What I found amusing was that the Judge was threatening to release the names of the participants.  You could feel the tension imagining local gossip mongers camping out at the town diner discussing who they thought would be on the list.  Then, there was the potential for the ripple effect as the names became public and long time marriages would be in the balance.  Well, the Judge finally went and did it.

KENNEBUNK — Police have issued a third release of the list of 21 alleged clients of Alexis Wright, this time including ages and addresses after a judge's order.

The release came Tuesday evening after Superior Court Justice Thomas Warren reversed his decision to keep the addresses of those summonsed by police confidential.

On Monday, Warren ordered that while the names of individuals facing a charge of engaging in prostitution is public information, those individuals could also be victims of the crime of invasion of privacy and therefore he felt their addresses should be withheld.

You can go to the article and read the names/ages of the men if you want to.  I'm not too excited about it.  In this facit of ideology, I'm pretty much a Libertarian.  If she wants to sell it, and they want to buy it, that's their business.  Plus, Alexis Wright is kinda HOT.

Inmates Running the Asylum

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned the terrorism conviction of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden whose case has been one of the most tangled to emerge from the war-crimes trials of detainees held by the military at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The court found that Hamdan's conviction by a military commission of providing material support for terrorism could not stand because, under the international law of war in effect at the time of his actions, there was no such defined war crime.

Just so I'm clear, al-Qaeda has been at war with us since its founding in 1988.  In 1990, an al-Qaeda operative was arrested in New Jersey with all kinds of terrorist plans to attack within the United States.  The same operative was arrested for connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.  By 1993, Osama bin Laden was, personally, operating most (if not all) of the al-Qaeda terrorist camps within the Sudan (this according to the US State Department). 

Then:

IN 1996, OSAMA BIN LADEN, VERY PUBLICLY, DECLARED WAR ON THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

And then, the bombings began, including the US Embassy bombings of August 7, 1998 in Tanzania and Kenya.  That sounds like war crimes to me.  But, not according to the rule of law.  Not according to the Federal Appeals Court, who overturned a conviction of a military commission.  This is why the US Legal system should be nowhere near adjudication on terrorism.

And, about the defense on this case.  Just what is their thinking on how to combat terrorism?  Get a load of this.

Hamdan's attorney, Joe McMillan, a lawyer with Seattle-based Perkins Coie, said he regards the ruling as a victory for the American justice system.

"We see it as an important statement that the U.S. must conform to the rule of law as it goes forward, even in times of perceived national emergency," McMillan said.

The rule of law must be applied even in times of perceived national emergency.  So, in clarification, if we catch a terrorist in NYC knowing that somewhere in the city he placed a nuclear suitcase bomb, but without any idea where, we have to read him his rights and wait for his attorney to arrive so that he can tell us absolutely nothing. 

Shakespeare had the lawyer thing right...for sure.

Here...I'll Stand Still While You Hit Me Over My Head with This Club

A battle is brewing in Michigan over an effort to amend the state constitution to include a renewable energy mandate.

The proposed amendment would commit the state to getting 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources like wind, solar, and biomass power by 2025.

While other states require that a certain percentage of power be generated from renewable sources, none have put this into their constitution. This means Michigan would be the first, if voters pass Proposition 3 in November.

How's that Michigan unemployment number?  Over 9% you say? 

“If you take their study and boil it down, you only get jobs — maybe in the thousands,” Transeth added. “And most of those gains would be offset by other jobs lost in the energy industry.”

A study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy showed that by 2025 the mandate would cost the state 10,540 jobs, increase the average annual household electric bills by $180, and impose net costs of $2.55 billion on the state economy.
 

Hit me, baby.  Harder....HARDER!!!!  I can take it.  HIT ME!!!!

Benghazi Isn't Going Away, Despite the Efforts

I like Ace's take on Hillary Clinton's statement:

Last night from the relative safety of Lima, Peru Hillary Clinton announced that when it comes to the Benghazi disaster the buck stops with her (sort of).

Many have taken this as a sign Hilary is taking the fall for Obama and letting him off the hook. I have a a different theory....David Axlerod tried to throw her under the bus and she tossed it right back on him and Obama.

What Hillary has done is basically say, "the damn phone is ringing and President Creased Trousers isn't answering it so give it to me. She comes off as the grown up who said, look I'm in charge here and for good or ill that makes me responsible".

People tend to admire others who stand up and take the hits. Hillary looks like A-the loyal soldier and B-the only one who is going to stand up and say, "something awful happened on my watch and I'm going to look in the mirror to see who is in charge and not like some other people I could name, look around for scapegoats".

Hillary isn't taking the blame, she's taking the credit.
 

Read the whole thing.  It's insightful.   I would emphasize (as Ace did)  that no matter the issue, or the venue, President Obama has never even considered taking blame for any negativities within his presidency.  Benghazi...it's the State Department's fault.  Economy...it's Bush's fault...and so on...rinse, lather, repeat.  In Clinton's efforts, we see an extreme dichotomy of leadership styles that leave Obama wanting. 

There are so many levels of politics at play here it's hard to keep them all straight.  Ace is right.  Clinton (whether purposefully or not) really tee'd up the ball for Romney here.  Properly approached, he can make the President of the United States look like a scapegoat seeking weenie on just about every failure he's had while in office.  There is no shortage of failures.  This latest provides wonderful emphasis.

Shying Away From the Obvious

Last month, six teenage girls beat the ever living hell out of a mentally challenged 48 year old woman in Chester, Pa.  They video taped the whole deal, and posted it on facebook.

"They hit me on the side of my face, and it went right through me," Shearer, 48, said of the defendants, ages 15 to 19. "They were just punching everywhere, on my face and my nose, everywhere."

 District Judge Wilden Davis lowered bail at the hearing yesterday to 10% of $25,000.  Or, for you math wizards out there, bail for beating up a mentally challenged woman in Chester Country is only $2,500.  But, that's not what has me shaking my head.  It's this comment from the Judge.

 "I don't know what you ladies were thinking," he said, before ordering psychological evaluations on all of them.

Let me help you with that heavy lifting, your "Honor."

 Kuryan testified to what he saw on the video: six girls who talked about getting "the white woman" who was just "sitting there, minding her own business." He said the punching began on Shearer's front steps, but the attackers followed the victim into her apartment as she tried to get away.

"She's being pummeled all the way into the house," he said. "It's like she's trying to get away but she can't - there's too many. They literally pull each other off of the pile to get into the pile."

Racism, your "Honor."  Six black teenage girls on video say... let's get the white woman.  It's all the rage these days.  Don't worry...if you actually acknowledge the obvious, you won't get struck by lightning or anything.   And, we can even get more stereotypical.

"They're scared straight because of this incident," said Joseph Mirarchi, the attorney for sisters Bell and Davis. "But their mother will deal with them in a lot harsher way than the prison can deal with them."

That's right.  The same mothers who allow their daughters to bounce around with their friends in a little gang beating up white, mentally retarded women will be a lot harsher than prison.   Lock them up for a long time, please.

Quadski by Gibbs Technology...SWEET

 

 

Gibbs, apparently, is known for their amphibious vehicles.  Check out this soon to marketed little number.  45+mph on land and water, with a conversion to either in a matter of seconds.  The price is a bit up there coming in at around $40,000.   Perhaps it won't be long until ATV's are allowed on the roadway in most states.  At present, that seems to be a problem.

 

Folks, we still don't have flying cars, but this seems to be a step in the right directly.  The bonus is that those on the US market will be manufactured right here in the States (Auburn Hills, Michigan).

 

 

 

 



Jesse Jackson Draws a Crowd of...Tens

STEPHANIE SHEPPARD, with her 12-year-old son in tow, walked to Malcolm X Park in West Philadelphia on Sunday, worried that she'd never elbow close enough to see the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was set to speak at a "get out and vote" rally.

"I figured it would be so crowded," Sheppard, 48, a mom of eight, said as she stood under towering oak trees at 52nd and Pine streets. "I mean he's such a great icon."

But with under 100 people in the sprawling park, where some people grilled burgers, hot dogs and chicken, Sheppard easily made her way near the base of the simple, white wooden stage to wait for the civil-rights leader.

Sheppard shook her head at the sparse crowd. "I just don't understand. Some people around here just don't know what's going on," she said. "They just don't care."

Under a warm fall sun, she glanced at the rowhouses across the street where hardly anyone sat on their stoops. Maybe they were inside watching the Eagles game. Maybe they didn't know Jackson was coming.
 

Maybe they recognize Jackson for the race-baiting opportunist that he is.  Maybe they thought that the father of a son in real big trouble should be at his side.  Maybe folks actually took the time to look at the statistical facts and see that the black community (which Jackson claims to champion)  has really taken a beating from Obama's policies.

Or...the Eagles game was on.

This Should be Fun to Watch

MOSCOW — Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin spoke out against construction of a large number of mosques for the city's booming Muslim population because many worshippers are not Muscovites.

Sobyanin told reporters late Thursday that a residency check revealed that "two-thirds" of the worshippers at the city's main Cathedral Mosque were not registered in the city of Moscow.

"These are either people from the Moscow region or migrants without residency permits," he said in comments carried by Interfax.

Analysts and a prominent opposition leader said Friday that the comments were discriminatory and risked inciting renewed ethnic tensions.
 

Russia has been rather patronizing to Muslim Theocratic governments over the years.  They've gone so far as to publicly recognize Hamas.   It's never been altruism, however.  It's simply been a way to discourage these governments from supporting the Chechen Muslims and other radical Sunni Fundamentalists throughout Russia.  And, it's been an effort to point the Muslim animosity towards the West and away from them. 

The by-product, of course, is that Muslims are not interested in short term amicability.  They are interested in nothing short of domination in the long term.  This includes Russia.  The more mosques and residents, the more influence.  That will work up to a point in Russia. 

The CNN Tap Dance

12:42AM EDT October 15. 2012 - CNN, the news network that nobody likes, or watches or can fix, is looking for a new CEO.

Even if you actually believed you could fix it, it's far from clear that anybody would want you to. Although the network is an embarrassment to everybody who works there, as well as to the industry as a whole, it still, confoundedly, makes tons of money — in part because it is so unfocused and ineffectual.

It's the dim and pointless yin to MSNBC and Fox, the sharp and pointed yang. CNN is every cable system's beard. You couldn't have the rancorous networks people really watch without the cover of the middle-of-the-road pallid one whose ratings sink ever further.

So the main job for the new CNN CEO may be just to bear the humiliation of it all.
 

This isn't a very interesting article unless you're looking for a microcosmic example of how devoted Liberals are to tap-dancing.   I'm being figurative, of course.  Michael Wolff tries to imply that CNN sort of resides right in the middle of the road.  As he puts it, "it's the dim and pointless yin to MSNBC and Fox, the sharp and pointed yang."

(time-step, time-step...shuffle slap-tap) 

No, that's wrong.  CNN is left-leaning, not only in their opinion based shows, but in the "hard" news as well.  The difference between MSNBC and CNN is that MSNBC doesn't try to hide the their ideology.  CNN, on the other hand, tries to deceive the viewer through appearance.

One critique about CNN is that, while it is a cable network, what it really wants to do is news the way networks used to do it. It yearns for a kind of virtuous respectability that no longer seems to exist.

That's exactly right.  NBC, CBS & ABC did the same for years.  The Tom Brokaws, Peter Jennings, Dan Rathers and Walter Cronkites were all avowed liberals.  The news they chose to present to the viewer controlled by their producers and themselves leaned left.   There was no alternative or comparison in which to judge the credibility of the network.  When Fox News showed up and provided a different point of view a number of things happened.  The first and foremost is that the country defined itself of (overall) holding a right of center view.  That, by far, was the most damaging revelation to the Left, because it invalidated all three network's credibility.   By that time, CNN was well established, and their credibility suffered as well. 

That's the thing.  Instead of catering their news stations to the public, the CNN's, MSNBC's, and PBS's defiantly reiterated to the failing networks that had already been shown with their pants down by Fox News and more often lately, the internet.

So here we are today, with Fox News leading in every ratings category no matter what the event or whether it is another rote and mundane day.  Michael Wolff is still trying to convince us that CNN walks down the center line even though the ratings show that not to be the case. 

They take on the philosophy that you, the viewer, must be lacking in education, nuanced thinking, or integrity.  In their opinion, it is their job to educate you, and if you still don't fall under their grasp, you must be stupid.  This is Liberalism.  This is CNN.

CNN makes much of its money internationally.  Their format is available in 200 different countries across the globe.  Domestically, they are getting their posterior kicked.  CNN is profitable.  But, for how long.  Eventually, local news networks in these countries will improve to professional standards that give them a clear choice of programing.  Eventually, another news entity will take on the international market (maybe even Fox as they expand Sky News).  Eventually, even al-Jazeera will start taking market share from CNN internationally.  Then what?    Will they change their domestic ideology to match the majority of the potential viewers in the United States?

Of course not.  They consider the liberal agenda synonymous with integrity.  In their minds, they are middle of the road, and the majority of us are too far Right.  We will need to be reeled back in.  It will never occur to CNN that we were never there in the first place.

(shuffle, shuffle ball change, flap, flap heel, cramproll)

Right Back At Ya...

What's this map with all those little dots on it?  Those dots are the record low temperatures ONLY in the first two weeks of October.  Yes...I know.  This is "weather" not "climate."  Of course, that philosophy disappears when the records are high temperatures, and some anthropogenic global warming enthusiast calls up his/her favorite environmental "journalist." 

(Courtesy of Anthony Watts at Watts Up With That)

Time for the Chuck Yeager v. Chuck Norris Arm Wrestling Contest

October 14, 1947 - Captain Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier flying the Bell X-1 (right). Designed for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) in 1945, the Bell X-1 was a rocket-powered aircraft intended for use in aviation research. Intentionally shaped like a .50 cal. bullet, NACA hoped to use the aircraft to break the sound barrier. In June 1947, the program was taken over by the US Army Air Force who wished to see the flight schedule intensified. On October 14, 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier when his X-1 "Glamorous Glennis" achieved a speed of Mach 1.06 (807.2 mph).
 

Yeah...I know...it was a white male's historic event, so it's only an esoteric landmark in human history.  It's not like breaking the sound barrier led to anything that we use today.  Well, except for rockets, space shuttles, planetary exploratory programs, military aircraft, commercial travel, Aerion Supersonics, HyperMach's SonicStar and so on.

Chuck Yeager actually broke the sound barrier while suffering from broken ribs after having been thrown from a horse.   He told no one, and still went about business.  I think it's time we set-up the Chuck Yeager vs. Chuck Norris arm wrestling contest. 

US Air Force Command Pilot Badge

	Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
	Silver Star with bronze oak leaf cluster (for shooting down five Bf 109s in one day[25])
	Legion of Merit with bronze oak leaf cluster
	Distinguished Flying Cross with two bronze oak leaf clusters (for a Messerschmitt Me 262 kill[26] and first to break the sound barrier)
	Bronze Star Medal with bronze valor device (for helping rescue a fellow airman from Occupied France[6])
	Purple Heart
	Air Medal with two silver oak leaf clusters
	Air Force Commendation Medal
	Presidential Unit Citation with bronze oak leaf cluster
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
	American Defense Service Medal
	American Campaign Medal
	European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with silver and three bronze service stars
	World War II Victory Medal
	Presidential Medal of Freedom

• Congressional Silver Medal (1976), for breaking the sound barrier for the first time.^[27]
• Collier Trophy and Mackay Trophy, for breaking the sound barrier for the first time.

California Treats Self-Destruction Like a Hobby

Kate (Small Dead Animals) has an ongoing theme of posts entitled "O, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas, Hear My Prayer."  It's one of my favorites, and probably one of hers due to the absolute leisurely way she can find topics to fit in the groove.

California is self-destructive in just about every facit of life.  They overtax their industry right out of the state.  They entwine their constituency in "nannylike" social policies that take away freedoms.  They pass referendum voting statutes that pass overwhelmingly then bog them down in their Courts before shooting them down altogether in the 9th "Circus" Court of Appeals.  And, they exercise this stupidity on an, almost, daily basis.

Here's the latest  (California's very own "Cap and Trade" otherwise known as "will I bleed to death if I shoot myself in the head?":

On Jan. 1, [California] will become the first state in the nation to charge industries across the economy for the greenhouse gases they emit. Under the system, known as “cap and trade,” the state will set an overall ceiling on those emissions and assign allowable emission amounts for individual polluters. A portion of these so-called allowances will be allocated to utilities, manufacturers and others; the remainder will be auctioned off.
 

Don't forget to peruse the comments under the post.  Generally, the readership over there gets colorful...and entertaining in an instructional way.

Small Town Most Likely to Cause a Coronary

KENNEBUNK, Maine — With equal parts dread, gallows humor and gawking curiosity, residents of this bucolic seaside burg are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see if any of their neighbors are among the more than 150 men accused of paying a Zumba dance instructor for sex.

This is a hoot.  If you've ever driven through Kennebunk, you know what a tiny community it happens to be.   People know people in towns such as this.  The police are going to publish the names of those folks called in with a connection to the case.  And, as of now, they're just waiting for it to happen.  Tick-tick-tick-tick...

“Every class feels like a party! Come join me and you’ll see what I mean.” According to Maine police, Wright’s idea of a ‘party’ included prostitution, starring in pornography and secretly videotaping her ‘Johns.’

EVERYBODY ZUMBA!!!!