China Takes Aim at U.S. Naval Might

At great piece, at Wall Street Journal (via Google):

 The USS Gerald R. Ford was supposed to help secure another half century of American naval supremacy. The hulking aircraft carrier taking shape in a dry dock in Newport News, Va., is designed to carry a crew of 4,660 and a formidable arsenal of aircraft and weapons.

But an unforeseen problem cropped up between blueprint and expected delivery in 2015: China is building a new class of ballistic missiles designed to arc through the stratosphere and explode onto the deck of a U.S. carrier, killing sailors and crippling its flight deck.

Since 1945, the U.S. has ruled the waters of the western Pacific, thanks in large part to a fleet of 97,000-ton carriers—each one "4.5 acres of mobile, sovereign U.S. territory," as the Navy puts it. For nearly all of those years, China had little choice but to watch American vessels ply the waters off its coast with impunity.

Now China is engaged in a major military buildup. Part of its plan is to force U.S. carriers to stay farther away from its shores, Chinese military analysts say. So the U.S. is adjusting its own game plan. Without either nation saying so, both are quietly engaged in a tit-for-tat military-technology race. At stake is the balance of power in a corner of the seas that its growing rapidly in importance.

Pentagon officials are reluctant to talk publicly about potential conflict with China. Unlike the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Beijing isn't an explicit enemy. During a visit to China last month, Michele Flournoy, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, told a top general in the People's Liberation Army that "the U.S. does not seek to contain China," and that "we do not view China as an adversary," she recalled in a later briefing.

Nevertheless, U.S. military officials often talk about preparing for a conflict in the Pacific—without mentioning who they might be fighting. The situation resembles a Harry Potter novel in which the characters refuse to utter the name of their adversary, says Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a think tank with close ties to the Pentagon. "You can't say China's a threat," he says. "You can't say China's a competitor."

It's going to be a long time before China can challenge the U.S. for global maritime mastery. And I don't buy that part about how the U.S. doesn't view China as an adversary. There's always an adversary. Better to be prepared for the threat. Peace through strength and all that.

Obama Has Failed

A new RNC web-ad, via Sunshine State Sarah:

See also Ann Coulter, "Iowa shows Republicans determined to beat Obama."

'We're All Austrians Now'

At Reason, "Reason.tv in Iowa: "We're All Austrians Now" - Ron Paul and the IA Caucus."

I was watching the speech. Rand Paul looked positively glum in the background. No doubt he was committed to winning the state. But third place is respectable, I guess. We'll see if Granite State voters can put Paul's campaign six feet deep next week.

See also Houston Chronicle, "Paul expecting Iowa bounce in New Hampshire, South Carolina."

RELATED: A a warning from the former GOP vice presidential nominee, "Sarah Palin: Don’t Ignore or Marginalize Ron Paul."

Throwing Longstanding U.S. Policy Under the Bus, Obama Pimps the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

He probably doesn't have much choice, considering the colossal foreign policy blunder a year ago when the masses took to the street to overthrow Mubarak. Amazing that Barack Hussein is working now to influence the fanatical Muslim Brotherhood rather than working to build a secular alternative to Mubarak back at the time. But this is ultimately the desired foreign policy outcome. I mean, the president announced his goal to make the world safe if Islamism at his Cairo speech in 2009.

In any case, at Astute Bloggers, "Even the NYTimes admits it - on their front page, no less: Yes, Obama has reversed USA policy and is siding with the islamists," and Atlas Shrugs, "Obama's Next Horror: Overtures to Egypt's Jihadists Reverse Longtime U.S. Policy."

And the main article's at New York Times, "Overtures to Egypt’s Islamists Reverse Longtime U.S. Policy."

And don't miss Jonathan Tobin's brutal takedown, at Commentary, "Obama Gets Engaged to the Brotherhood."

When an Athlete Quits, Repercussions Linger

This is something else.

At New York Times, "There Is an ‘I’ in Quit":

Of all the various sins committed by athletes on and off the field, the worst — or at least the one that brings the quickest, most fiery denunciations — is quitting. The boxer Roberto Duran will be forever remembered for the “no más” ending to his fight in 1980 against Sugar Ray Leonard. And all his N.B.A. rings will not erase Scottie Pippen’s petulant refusal to enter a 1994 playoff game because the final shot was drawn up for his Chicago Bulls teammate Toni Kukoc.

So no matter how many times Santonio Holmes has been arrested or how many times he has been disciplined by a coach, being accused of quitting on the Jets in their season-ending game on Sunday has raced to the top of his résumé of character faults. Quitting hurts one’s reputation in uniquely wounding ways — calling into question toughness, loyalty and athletic honor.

“Professional athletes always talk about the importance of winning championships and how it’s the biggest thing, but you sort of have to wonder if that’s really the case,” said Chris Stankovich, a sports psychologist in Columbus, Ohio, who works with a range of athletes. “You put a ring on one side and a $100 million contract on the other, and which is more important? We’d all like to believe the players would die for their team, but in reality, they’re not all like that.”

RTWT.

It's a great piece.

McCain Endorses Romney

I'm not sure if this is a good thing.

At New York Times, "McCain Backs Romney After Santorum’s Surge in Iowa."

Eastman Kodak Going Down

I hardly even think of Kodak products anymore. It's a wonder they're still in business.

At Wall Street Journal, "Kodak Preparing for Chapter 11 Filing."

Multifront Attack Awaits Romney in New Hampshire

Newt Gingrich was talking about an anti-Romney alliance earlier, and now here's this at the Wall Street Journal:

 Mitt Romney woke from his photo-finish win in Iowa facing two new forces that will shape the next stage of the fight for the Republican presidential nomination: the rise of a fresh social-conservative champion in Rick Santorum and the emergence of a highly motivated foe in Newt Gingrich.

With libertarian Ron Paul coming off his own strong finish and ready to join in the criticism, Mr. Romney now must gird for a multifront attack in New Hampshire and South Carolina, the next two states in the primary calendar and the places where he hopes to convince voters he is the party's best choice to go up against President Barack Obama.

Mr. Romney enters the next battle better prepared than any of his opponents financially and organizationally. Helping make the case that he has the confidence of the GOP establishment, the former Massachusetts governor won the endorsement Wednesday of Sen. John McCain, the 2008 nominee and a longtime New Hampshire favorite.

But Mr. Romney emerges from Iowa with only a faint wind at his back, beating by a mere eight votes a challenger, in Mr. Santorum, who was given little chance just days earlier. Mr. Romney barely exceeded his own losing vote tally in Iowa from 2008 and had limited success in winning over Iowa's young voters and independents, as well as some elements of its conservative Republican base.

The latest polls put Mr. Romney up by a wide margin in New Hampshire but trailing Mr. Gingrich in South Carolina. He now will be buffeted by his rivals, with several questioning the depth and authenticity of his conservative credentials from different angles. Added to that mix is the more moderate Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who has staked his future on a strong showing next Tuesday in New Hampshire and has blasted Mr. Romney there for weeks.

It's going to be interesting.

See also, "Gingrich super PAC to attack Romney."

Police Kill Eighth-Grader in Texas

This is the ultimate nightmare.

At London's Daily Mail, "Teenager shot dead at school by police who thought his pellet gun was a lethal weapon."

Also at ABC News, "Texas Police Kill 8th-Grader Carrying Pellet Gun."

Explaining Michele Bachmann's Epic Collapse

I'd say two words explain Bachmann's collapse: Rick Perry.

That is, Rick Perry stole her thunder by entering the race the same weekend that Bachmann won the Ames straw poll, and Bachmann torpedoed her own campaign with her attack on Governor Perry on the Gardasil issue. I didn't really understand why she was hammering that issue at the time. It wasn't her best moment and she never recovered. Perhaps there were other campaign problems as well, organization and fundraising, and so forth. But it was Rick Perry who stopped Bachmann's momentum and her attempts to regain it by attacking Perry sunk her ever further.

The Los Angeles Times has more, "Michele Bachmann: What happened to the once-promising candidate?"

Tight GOP Race in Iowa Catches TV Anchors by Surprise

I'm not sure why they'd be surprised.

It's not like the polls were all settled on a landslide winner, or anything.

But see New York Times, "Tight Race Catches TV Anchors by Surprise":

From their respective television studios in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, the liberal MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow and the conservative Fox News commentator Karl Rove looked to Iowa and saw the same thing: a Republican race that was “tight as a tick.”

Finally, they could agree about something.

For a few hours on Tuesday night, the nation’s television anchors and political reporters were transfixed by which candidates would finish in fifth and sixth place in the Iowa caucuses — not because they had projected the first-place finisher, but because they couldn’t.

The race between three Republicans — Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum — appeared at first to be a three-way tie, far too close to call, delighting the people who had been promising viewers and readers a dramatic start to the 2012 voting season.

“We have no idea when we’ll be able to call this,” said Ms. Maddow, sounding almost giddy during the 10 p.m. hour of her broadcast. “It’s great.”

Chuck Todd, the political director for NBC News and an anchor for MSNBC, indicated that the network would have to wait for every vote to be counted.

At one point in the evening, when about 48 percent of precincts had reported their vote totals, ABC said that just seven votes separated Mr. Santorum and Mr. Romney. Later, when 96 percent of precincts had reported and 113 votes separated them, The Des Moines Register called the two “deadlocked.”

Most newspapers and late-night local newscasts were put to bed without the final results for the night. On Fox News and CNN, which decided to stay live several hours later than they had planned, the anchors sighed audibly as they waited for the last precincts to report results. Around 1:35 a.m., CNN actually reported that only one vote separated Mr. Santorum and Mr. Romney.

Finally, at 2:30 a.m. Eastern, the Republican state party said definitively that Mr. Romney had won by eight votes. By then, CNN had itself started to tabulate the votes in one of the missing precincts, with the help of Edith Pfeffer, the Republican chairwoman in Clinton County, who the channel reached by phone.

More on Ms. Pfeffer at CNN.

Rick Perry to Stay in Race: 'Here We Come South Carolina!!!'

Governor Perry made the announcement on Twitter.

And see USA Today, "Reports: Rick Perry to stay in presidential race." Also, at National Journal, "Perry Not Quitting Race."

William Jacobson has more, "Rick Perry not suspending campaign, going to South Carolina."

Michele Bachmann Quits Presidential Campaign

London's Daily Mail has a video, "Michele Bachmann quits White House race just six months in after disastrous Iowa result and warns U.S. is in 'serious trouble'."

And see ABC News, "Michele Bachmann Drops Out of Presidential Race." (At Memeorandum.)

I'm not surprised at all, although Bachmann was my candidate. She was the clearest, most unambiguous candidate speaking out against the Obama-Dems' progressive socialism.

I'll have more on all of this throughout the day.

Added: Here's the announcement:

Candidates' Electability and Principles Divide Iowa Voters

At New York Times, "Electability and Principles Split Iowa Votes, Poll Finds":

 DES MOINES — Republicans appeared sharply divided between those whose top priority is defeating President Obama and those seeking someone representing traditional conservative principles and religious values, according to a poll of voters entering the Iowa Republican caucuses on Tuesday.

With no Democratic caucus to draw their attention, more self-described moderates and independents joined the Republican caucuses this year, doubling their proportion over 2008. And an uptick in young voters, many of them first-time caucusgoers, benefited Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who vowed to go on to New Hampshire and other primaries after conceding Iowa late Tuesday. In early results, he had the support of a majority of voters under 30 and more than a third of those ages 30 to 45. By contrast, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, won about a third of older voters.

RTWT.

Actually, it's a great debate the party's having, as Newt Gingrich mentioned during his exit speech in Iowa. I think Ron Paul's 3rd-place showing was a victory of principles over the right-wing fringe. And Sortorum's huge showing in Iowa was a testament to values and perseverance. The larger question is whether Mitt Romney will be able to seal the deal in New Hampshire or whether the race drags on late into the season.

BONUS: Here's the full-page ad Newt Gingrich is running in today's Manchester Union-Leader:

The Choice: Only a Bold Reagan Conservative Can Defeat President Obama

Mitt Romney Wins Iowa Caucuses

At Los Angeles Times, "Mitt Romney nabs 8-vote win in Iowa." And from the New York Times, "Romney Wins Iowa Caucus by 8 Votes":

DES MOINES — Mitt Romney’s quest to swiftly lock down the Republican presidential nomination with a commanding finish in the Iowa caucuses was undercut on Tuesday night by the surging candidacy of Rick Santorum, who fought him to a draw on a shoestring budget by winning over conservatives who remain skeptical of Mr. Romney.

In the first Republican contest of the season, the two candidates were separated much of the night by only a sliver of votes, with Mr. Romney being declared the winner by eight ballots early Wednesday morning. But the outcome offered Mr. Santorum a chance to emerge as the alternative to Mr. Romney as the race moves to New Hampshire and South Carolina without Gov. Rick Perry, who announced that he was returning to Texas to assess his candidacy.

“Being here in Iowa has made me a better candidate,” Mr. Santorum said, arriving at a caucus in Clive, where he urged Republicans to vote their conscience. “Don’t sell America short. Don’t put someone out there from Iowa who isn’t capable of doing what America needs done.”

The Iowa caucuses did not deliver a clean answer to what type of candidate Republicans intend to rally behind to try to defeat President Obama and win back the White House. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Santorum and Mr. Romney, whose views represent the polar sides of the party, each had 24.6 percent.

“Onto New Hampshire, let’s get that job done!” Mr. Romney told supporters at a late-night rally, when he was five votes shy of Mr. Santorum. “Come visit us there, we’ve got some work ahead.”

The last time the Iowa caucuses produced such a close outcome was in 1980, when George Bush beat Ronald Reagan by two percentage points.

Right.

See previously, "GOP 2012 May Be Closest in History of Iowa Caucuses."

Newt Blasts Negative Attacks After 4th-Place Showing in Iowa

At London's Daily Mail, "Newt Gingrich takes aggressive stance against Mitt Romney to New Hampshire."

And at Los Angeles Times, "Newt Gingrich says he survived historic 'onslaught' in Iowa":

Reporting from Des Moines — At around 9:30 p.m., when Fox News announced over the big screen that it projected Newt Gingrich would finish fourth in the Republican caucuses, barely anyone raised their heads.

"Oh, who wants to listen to them? They don't make sense," said Gingrich supporter Nancy Lebischak, who'd come to the reception with her husband. "Bah humbug."

A tough finish in a hard Iowa race was hardly any surprise, after all; if there were to be any surprises tonight, they would be saved for the candidates -- Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum -- knotted up with one another at the top.

The crowd's general outlook toward that triumvirate -- glad for Santorum, scared of Paul, utterly angry at Romney -- matched that of their candidate, who saw a steep drop in his poll numbers after an onslaught of negative ads. "Please, God, let Santorum win -- anybody but Romney," a supporter murmured to his friends as they glanced up again at Fox News; indeed, few at the reception regarded Santorum as some kind of arriviste.

"I admire how positive he was," Gingrich said of Santorum after he'd arrived to thank about 50 or 60 of his supporters. "I wish I could say that about all the other candidates."

Also at Boston Globe, "Gingrich hits Romney, says he'll continue to fight."

Subramanian Swamy Hits Back at Terror-Coddling Harvard Professors Who Got Him Fired

Pamela posted the original essay at the center of the controversy, "DR. SUBRAMANIAM SWAMY: 'HOW TO WIPE OUT ISLAMIC TERROR'." '

And now at Boston Globe, "Pushed out of Harvard, professor returns fire: Dismissal stirs debate over free speech":

Subramanian Swamy is an outspoken man. That is what got him into trouble last July. While teaching economics at the Harvard University summer school, he penned a sharply worded column for a newspaper in India, where he is a prominent right-wing politician.

Many readers thought his proposals would deny Muslims basic rights and incite riots. Some 40 Harvard professors called for his dismissal.

But the furor died down, or appeared to, after Harvard’s president, Drew Faust, defended Swamy’s right to free speech as “central to the mission of a university.’’ The economics department invited him back for another summer. Swamy heard nothing else from Harvard.

Then, a few weeks ago, he checked his e-mail and learned - from a Google Alert for his name - that his colleagues had fired him anyway.

Encouraged by a private note from the summer school’s dean, professors who opposed Swamy came to a faculty meeting where summer classes were to be approved. The process is usually a rubber-stamp affair, but the professors argued so passionately that Swamy’s courses were voted off the slate. No one told Swamy about the meeting.

Now, the case has devolved into an imbroglio about hate speech and academic freedom. The professors who led the charge against Swamy are buried in angry e-mails from his supporters in India. Others are torn, despising both Swamy’s column and the way he was relieved of his duties. Faust is in an awkward spot: She is scheduled to visit India in January.

And the usually outspoken Swamy - who has made few public comments on the issue, save a few Twitter postings - is finally firing back.

“I was surprised Harvard would do this, given that the president’s office said free speech was sacred,’’ he said in an interview. “The people who cut me out are leftists who have nothing to do with economics. There’s no allegation that in my class I said anything offensive. There’s no allegation that it has affected my research. It’s almost like the Spanish Inquisition - they didn’t give me a chance.’’

The professor may indeed be controversial, but the reaction by the Harvard faculty is totalitarian.

But read the whole thing, at the link.

Hot Rachel McAdams Photo Shoot for Glamour Magazine

At London's Daily Mail, "Cheeky girl Rachel McAdams bares her saucy side in playful photo shoot for Glamour magazine."

I loved "The Notebook."

McAdams is a looker. I don't know why Ryan Gosling's not still with her?

Demand for Welfare Programs Overwhelms Public Assistance Agencies

At Wall Street Journal, "Welfare Lines Overflow: "Crowded Public-Assistance Centers Interrupt Services as Demand for Aid Grows" (via Google):

Growing numbers of New Yorkers seeking food stamps have created an unwelcome spillover effect at some of New York City's job centers: overcrowding that in some cases has grown so severe, benefits were jeopardized.

The crush of people grew so large at one Brooklyn center in November that the Fire Department intervened and prevented anyone from entering the building.

That was an extreme example of the problem. But clients at many of the city's 29 job centers—which manage public-assistance benefits, including food stamps—regularly arrive long before the doors open to wait in line. Advocates said people miss mandatory appointments, leading to a bureaucratic battle to reopen their cases, or abandon the process after growing discouraged.

"It's outrageous," said Charles Leonard, a disabled 50-year-old who complained to 311 recently about a long wait and confusion at a center on Northern Boulevard in Queens. "It's like everybody is running around with their head cut off, and no one cares."

Officials at the city's Human Resources Administration, which runs the centers, acknowledged that serious overcrowding is a problem at five facilities. Advocates believe the problem is broader, affecting roughly 10 centers.

"At best it's benign neglect," said Steven Banks, attorney-in-chief at the Legal Aid Society, which provides legal services to low-income New Yorkers. "At worst, it's like the English poor laws, in which the aim was to make the seeking of assistance so miserable that people wouldn't seek it."

HRA spokeswoman Connie Ress blamed the overflow crowds on rising numbers of people seeking food stamps. The number of New Yorkers getting the benefit has increased by 200,000 in the past two years, jumping to 1.8 million from 1.6 million in late 2009. At the same time, the agency has consolidated some facilities, Ms. Ress said.

"We know that there are issues in a few of our centers throughout the city," Ms. Ress said. "We are actively addressing it."

Continue reading at the Google link.

Bachmann Crashes in Iowa

I'm going to check for a full clip of her Iowa speech.

Bachmann seemed pretty upbeat to me. But see Weasel Zippers, "Bachmann’s Campaign Manager Says She May Drop Out After Last Place Finish In Iowa…" (Via Memeorandum.)

More at Los Angeles Times, "Michele Bachmann: Iowa caucus system 'worked'," and London's Daily Mail, "Is this the end of Michele Bachmann? 'Queen of Rage' dealt massive a campaign blow after abysmal turnout in Iowa caucus."

GOP 2012 May Be Closest in History of Iowa Caucuses

At Los Angeles Time's, "Republican race may be closest in history of Iowa caucuses."

And that's big news that Rick Perry's suspending his campaign.

I'll be updating with more videos and campaign reports.

Meanwhile, Robert Stacy McCain is live-blogging from the Santorum headquarters: "Santorum Surge in Precinct Numbers Exceeds Poll Projections." (At Memeorandum.)

And it's still undecided. See Wall Street Journal, "Two Locked in Iowa Dead Heat: Romney, Santorum Lead Field in First GOP Presidential Contest; Paul in Third."

Benjamin Colton Barnes, Suspected Mr. Rainier Killer, Found Dead One Mile From Crime Scene

At Seattle Times, "Suspect in ranger's slaying found dead in creek":

Driven relentlessly through chest-deep snow by his pursuers and unprepared for bitter, freezing temperatures, the suspect in the Sunday slaying of a Mount Rainier National Park ranger died cold and wet overnight — lying half-submerged in Paradise Creek and wearing one tennis shoe, a T-shirt and jeans, barely one mile from where he had fled into the woods.

Indications are that Benjamin Colton Barnes, 24, died from exposure. His body showed no sign of injuries, and he was carrying a handgun, a magazine of ammunition and a knife, said Sgt. Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

"The manhunt has been concluded," announced Steven Dean, FBI assistant special agent in charge, at a news conference outside the park's main gate Monday afternoon.

The FBI recovered another ammunition magazine near Barnes' body, and the sheriff's Swift Water Rescue Team found an assault-style rifle about 50 yards upstream.

Officials said Barnes had left survival gear in his car, which he fled after firing on rangers Sunday.

More at the link.

Also at Seattle Post, "Police: Rainier gunman opened fire at gun ‘show and tell’ party hours before," and "FBI: Suspect in Rainier ranger's killing dead."

College Football Wrap-Up for January 2nd Game Day

I enjoyed the Michigan State victory over UGA the best.

See: "Michigan State Edges Georgia in Outback Bowl," and "Georgia Bulldogs Football: No New Year's Cheers in Dawg-Land After Outback Bowl."

But see also, "Oregon gets its signature win, 45-38 over Wisconsin in Rose Bowl," and "Missed field goals leave Stanford freshman Jordan Williamson in tears after Fiesta Bowl loss."

Europe's Gloomy Prospects

An interesting review, from Yascha Mounk, at Wall Street Journal, "A Continent's Discontents."

Mounk reviews Walter Laqueur, After the Fall: The End of the European Dream and the Decline of a Continent.

And Mounk writes:

Like Mr. Laqueur, our current doomsayers are very good at portraying the scale of the threats we face. They may be vindicated sooner than we'd like. Even so, none of them have made a definitive case for all-encompassing pessimism. If the West does experience a steep loss of status, the resultant adjustments will be painful. But so long as we retain enough defensive capability to thwart outside meddling and enough economic productivity to take advantage of living and trading in a richer world, we might be able to weather our decline rather better than expected. After all, the law of comparative advantage reminds us that, because free trade allows us to profit from increased productivity elsewhere, a relative loss of standing need not mean an absolute decline of living standards.

In that sense, the embattled dream that most Europeans truly care about might not be such a bad model for Europe's—and indeed America's—future after all.

I don't think Mounk's read Mark Steyn's, After America: Get Ready for Armageddon. Europe is covered quite well there, and you can't get more pessimistic --- doom!!

Occupy Wall Street New Year's Blitzkrieg

My post on Occupy the Rose Bowl garnered some linkage.

See Atlas Shrugs, "New Years Blitzkrieg: Obama Endorsed #OWS Occupy Nazis Use Jew Hating Iconography to Crash and Destroy Rose Parade, and in NYC #OWS Stab NYPD, Destroy Zuccotti Park."

And at Instapundit and Memeorandum.

And also, Director Blue, "Nice: Occupy Movement Crashes Rose Parade with 70-Foot Octopus "Float" That Pins Economic Woes On... Well, You Know":

This is the modern Left in action. It tries to divide Americans against one another: rich vs. poor, black vs. white, union vs. non-union, urban vs. rural, you name it.

This kind of rhetoric defies American tradition and, furthermore, it's downright dangerous. Nothing good can come from demonizing arbitrary groups of Americans.

Well, you don't say.

RELATED: At JammieWearingFools, "OWS Stunner: Berkeley Grad With Lengthy Arrest Record Charged With Stabbing NYPD Officer," and Weasel Zippers, "Occupy Albany Goons Post “Wanted” Poster Threatening Police Officer And Family…"

Plus, at Gateway Pundit, "Eugene City Councilor Asks For Police Protection After #Occupy Goons Hold Second Protest Outside His Home… Topless (Video)."

And at Marathon Pundit, "Occupy Occtrocities: OccuFail at Zuccotti Edition."

BONUS #OWS at BCF.

EXTRA: A preview for the caucuses, from Astute Bloggers, "PRELUDE: OWS SCUM CRASH ROSE BOWL. CLIMAX: OWS WILL CRASH IOWA'S GOP CAUCUSES."

Los Angeles Arson Suspect in Police Custody

At Los Angeles Times, "L.A. arson suspect is 24-year-old Hollywood man," and "Reserve deputy who arrested arson suspect 'a true hero'."

Plus, "Arson investigators search Sunset Boulevard home, source says."

Obama to Speak to Iowa Caucus Voters Tuesday

According to The Hill (via Memeorandum).

The dude just couldn't let things play out without having to hog some airtime. That, and just mess some sh*t up, like some Occupy Iowa mofo.

IMAGE CREDIT: Astute Bloggers, "OBAMA'S NEW CAMPAIGN SLOGAN: 'RE-OCCUPY THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2012!'"

Best of EyeHandy 2011

Via Theo Spark:

Excitable Andrew Sullivan Bawls Over 'Pure McCarthyism' in Slam-Dunk Criticism of Ron Paul's Anti-Semitic Racist Bigotry

See: "Arguments vs Associations":

This kind of gotcha-association game is particularly easy because libertarians favor liberty above all, and that will necessarily mean liberty for bigots as well as others. A principled belief in states' rights will doubtless lead to more racist and homophobic policies in many states - but also, of course, more enlightened and successful inclusive states like Oregon or New York or Massachusetts or California. A rejection of statism might lead to more discrimination in the private sector. But it doesn't mandate it. And it need not encourage it. A non-interventionist foreign policy will allow evil to triumph elsewhere in the world, because it believes it's none of our business or too riddled with unintended consequences to try extirpating. That may be right or wrong, but it is not an approval of the evil of Assad or Ahmedinejad or the North Korean junta. And again, it is actually much deeper an American tradition than permanent warfare. But if you can trot out David Duke or Ayatollah Khamenei as potential Paul supporters, you have a very easy, cheap and essentially McCarthyite target. It saddens me that this kind of tactic works.

I still believe that the newsletters, because they were in Paul's name, require a clearer explanation from Paul than the muddled ones he has given. He should not be left off the hook. And his proposals deserve a thorough vetting and discussion.

But there is something awry when a candidate is assessed not on his arguments and proposals but on the shadiness and ugliness of some of his fringe supporters. And his arguments are serious, even vital, ones for this moment: that the construct of American global hegemony is too costly, too dated and too counter-productive to work in this country's interests abroad any longer; that the welfare state cannot be sustained at its present level with our looming demographics and massive debt; that problems are often best solved closest to the ground where they occur; that dividing Americans into identity groups and pandering to each is inimical to a free individualist society, and so on. These are fresher ideas on the right than the exhausted re-microwaved Reaganism of the others.

Which is why, whatever happens to his candidacy, Paul has already achieved something important: the broadening of debate, the scrambling of right and left, and the appearance on our toxic public stage of a man who seems to say what he thinks without much calculation or guile.

Oh no, not much calculation or guile at all.

What a dirtbag, Sullivan that is.

Ron Paul's bigotry and conspiracies speak for themselves.

PREVIOUSLY: "VIDEO: Ron Paul Slams Israel, Alleges Gaza a Concentration Camp."

VIDEO HAT TIP: Marathon Pundit.

'Occupy' Crashes Rose Parade: Attacks 'Corporate Greed' With 70-Foot Nazi-Era Octopus Depicting Global Jewish Conspiracy

Are people so afraid to stand up against the hatred, public hatred broadcast for the entire world to see? The image of the octopus has been used in attacks on the Jews for over a century. Here's a roundup on the Jewish conspiracy octopus at the Coordinating Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism.

And the local organizers didn't even try to hide their hatred.

People keep saying that the Occupy movement is all about fairness and "getting money out of politics."

Right.

That's why Occupy organizers built a 70-foot octopus monstrosity to attack "corporate greed" on Wall street. And the talking points attack the "tentacles" of Wall Street:

The octopus, said activist Mark Lipman of Los Angeles, represents Wall Street's stranglehold on political, cultural and social life, with tentacles "that reach into your pocket to get your money and a tentacle to get your house."

Weasel Zippers has a clip: "Raw Video: Occupiers and Their Giant Octopus “Human Float” Crash Rose Parade…" And at Los Angeles Times, "Rose Parade 2012: Cheers, jeers greet 'Occupy Octopus' human float."

More at London's Daily Mail, "Watch out! 70-foot plastic octopus made entirely from plastic bags by Occupy protesters for Rose Parade (but they haven't been invited)."

Pasadena city officials basically caved to threats of a massive disruption of the Rose Parade. Occupiers had no permit but were allowed to march along the end of the parade with their message of hate and exterminationism.

The New Year's still getting off to an upside-down start.

UPDATE: Instalanche! Thanks!

VIDEO: Ron Paul Slams Israel, Alleges Gaza a Concentration Camp

I remember this video from when it first went viral. But it's especially relevant now.

See Israel Matzav, "Video: Ron Paul calls Gaza a concentration camp and Operation Cast Lead a massacre."

BONUS: At Yid With Lid, "EXCLUSIVE: Former Staffer Eric Dondero Responds To Ron Paul's "I Don't Believe in 9/11 Conspiracies" Claim."

America's Iron Lady

Michele Bachmann's going big in Iowa.

At CNN, "‘Iron Lady’ goes back up on Iowa TV." (At Memeorandum.)

Maybe this will help.

The Financial Times reports that 41 percent of Iowa caucus-goers are still undecided. See, "Final Iowa polls show fragmented field."

Holocaust Images in Ultra-Orthodox Protest Anger Israeli Leaders

The video's from a couple of days ago.

And at this morning's New York Times, "Israeli Protest’s Invocation of Holocaust Is Condemned":

JERUSALEM — With public fury over some ultra-Orthodox groups mounting, Israeli leaders on Sunday denounced ultra-Orthodox protesters who took to the streets of Jerusalem on Saturday night and put young boys on display wearing yellow stars and striped prison camp uniforms reminiscent of the Holocaust.

Organizers of the demonstration said they had been protesting what they called growing incitement against their community, with Israeli and foreign news media now focusing on ultra-Orthodox zealots who have been increasingly encroaching on the public sphere, enforcing gender segregation and the exclusion of women and girls in accordance with their strict interpretation of religious modesty rules.

One Israeli television program recently reported how an 8-year-old girl, the daughter of American immigrants who are observant modern Orthodox Jews, had become terrified of walking to school in the city of Beit Shemesh after ultra-Orthodox men spit on her, insulted her and called her a prostitute because her modest dress did not conform exactly to their more rigorous dress code.

Tensions were further fueled by the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox man here last week on a charge of sexual harassment after he verbally abused a female Israeli soldier who had refused to move to the back of a public bus. An organizer of Saturday’s protest in the ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood told Israeli television that the actions of the authorities were like a “spiritual holocaust.”

But mainstream Israeli leaders expressed outrage over the provocative use of Holocaust imagery, saying it insulted the memory of victims of the Nazis.

See also Astute Bloggers, "CHIEF RABBI: ULTRA-ORTHODOX CANNOT FORCE THEIR VIEWS ON OTHERS."

Hope in the Heartland

From Robert Stacy McCain, at The American Spectator:

JOHNSTON, Iowa -- Rick Santorum made a bold prediction here Friday night: The Pittsburgh Steelers will go all the way to the Super Bowl for a rematch with the Green Bay Packers.

The former Pennsylvania senator was enjoying a rare moment of relaxation on the campaign trail here in Iowa, where voters will gather Tuesday night to cast the first real votes that count toward the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Santorum was wearing a University of Iowa Hawkeyes cap at the Okoboji Grille, where he gathered with supporters to watch the Hawkeyes play the Oklahoma Sooners in the Insight Bowl. When he arrived at the restaurant in Johnston, a suburb of Des Moines, Santorum was swarmed by reporters, photographers, and TV cameramen who have swooped down on his campaign in the past week as polls began indicating that he was surging ahead in the pack of GOP candidates.

Most of the reporters had left the restaurant (and the Hawkeyes were well on their way to a 31-14 loss to the Sooners) by the time I had the chance to ask Santorum about his beloved Steelers. "We will beat the Browns this week," he said, sitting in front of a half-finished platter of nachos. "My prediction is, both the Patriots will lose to the Bills and the Ravens will lose to the Bengals and we will be the Number One seed in the AFC playoffs."

But while the underdog-turned-contender was willing to risk prognosticating the NFL all the way to the Super Bowl, he has remained hesitant to predict how he'll finish in Tuesday's caucuses. Santorum obviously wants to exceed expectations, but the poll numbers and media buzz surrounding his campaign are making it hard to suppress those expectations. Sunday morning's Des Moines Register carried a big front-page headline: "Romney, Paul lead; Santorum closes in," with two subheads, "Poll shows three-way race with two days to go," and "Late spurt 'another stunning turn.'" The latter subhead was a partial quote from Republican strategist David Polyansky, who told the Register's Jennifer Jacobs, "Few saw this bombshell coming. In an already unpredictable race this is another stunning turn of political fortune."

Continue reading.

Also, at The Other McCain, "Rick Santorum Talks Steelers Football," and "Don’t Underestimate Rick Santorum’s Campaign Strength in New Hampshire."

RELATED: At New York Times, "A Time to Vote, and, for Many, to Settle."

The Crisis of Governability in the Industrial Democracies

From Charles Kupchan, at Foreign Affairs, "The Democratic Malaise: Globalization and the Threat to the West":

Globalization has expanded aggregate wealth and enabled developing countries to achieve unprecedented prosperity. The proliferation of investment, trade, and communication networks has deepened interdependence and its potentially pacifying effects and has helped pry open nondemocratic states and foster popular uprisings. But at the same time, globalization and the digital economy on which it depends are the main source of the West’s current crisis of governability. Deindustrialization and outsourcing, global trade and fiscal imbalances, excess capital and credit and asset bubbles -- these consequences of globalization are imposing hardships and insecurity not experienced for generations. The distress stemming from the economic crisis that began in 2008 is particularly acute, but the underlying problems began much earlier. For the better part of two decades, middle-class wages in the world’s leading democracies have been stagnant, and economic inequality has been rising sharply as globalization has handsomely rewarded its winners but left its many losers behind.

These trends are not temporary byproducts of the business cycle, nor are they due primarily to insufficient regulation of the financial sector, tax cuts amid expensive wars, or other errant policies. Stagnant wages and rising inequality are, as the economic analysts Daniel Alpert, Robert Hockett, and Nouriel Roubini recently argued in their study “The Way Forward,” a consequence of the integration of billions of low-wage workers into the global economy and increases in productivity stemming from the application of information technology to the manufacturing sector. These developments have pushed global capacity far higher than demand, exacting a heavy toll on workers in the high-wage economies of the industrialized West. The resulting dislocation and disaffection among Western electorates have been magnified by globalization’s intensification of transnational threats, such as international crime, terrorism, unwanted immigration, and environmental degradation. Adding to this nasty mix is the information revolution; the Internet and the profusion of mass media appear to be fueling ideological polarization more than they are cultivating deliberative debate.

Voters confronted with economic duress, social dislocation, and political division look to their elected representatives for help. But just as globalization is stimulating this pressing demand for responsive governance, it is also ensuring that its provision is in desperately short supply. For three main reasons, governments in the industrialized West have entered a period of pronounced ineffectiveness.

First, globalization has made many of the traditional policy tools used by liberal democracies much blunter instruments. Washington has regularly turned to fiscal and monetary policy to modulate economic performance. But in the midst of global competition and unprecedented debt, the U.S. economy seems all but immune to injections of stimulus spending or the Federal Reserve’s latest moves on interest rates. The scope and speed of commercial and financial flows mean that decisions and developments elsewhere -- Beijing’s intransigence on the value of the yuan, Europe’s sluggish response to its financial crisis, the actions of investors and ratings agencies, an increase in the quality of Hyundai’s latest models -- outweigh decisions taken in Washington. Europe’s democracies long relied on monetary policy to adjust to fluctuations in national economic performance. But they gave up that option when they joined the eurozone. Japan over the last two decades has tried one stimulus strategy after another, but to no avail. In a globalized world, democracies simply have less control over outcomes than they used to.

I like Kupchan, but he errs badly here:

In the United States, partisan confron­t­ation is paralyzing the political system. The underlying cause is the poor state of the U.S. economy. Since 2008, many Americans have lost their houses, jobs, and retirement savings. And these setbacks come on the heels of back-to-back decades of stagnation in middle-class wages. Over the past ten years, the average household income in the United States has fallen by over ten percent. In the meantime, income inequality has been steadily rising, making the United States the most unequal country in the industrialized world. The primary source of the declining fortunes of the American worker is global competition; jobs have been heading overseas. In addition, many of the most competitive companies in the digital economy do not have long coattails. Facebook’s estimated value is around $70 billion, and it employs roughly 2,000 workers; compare this with General Motors, which is valued at $35 billion and has 77,000 employees in the United States and 208,000 worldwide. The wealth of the United States’ cutting-edge companies is not trickling down to the middle class.

These harsh economic realities are helping revive ideological and partisan cleavages long muted by the nation’s rising economic fortunes. During the decades after World War II, a broadly shared prosperity pulled Democrats and Republicans toward the political center. But today, Capitol Hill is largely devoid of both centrists and bipartisanship; Democrats campaign for more stimulus, relief for the unemployed, and taxes on the rich, whereas Republicans clamor for radical cuts in the size and cost of government. Expediting the hollowing out of the center are partisan redistricting, a media environment that provokes more than it informs, and a broken campaign finance system that has been captured by special interests.

The resulting polarization is tying the country in knots. President Barack Obama realized as much, which is why he entered office promising to be a “postpartisan” president. But the failure of Obama’s best efforts to revive the economy and restore bipartisan cooperation has exposed the systemic nature of the nation’s economic and political dysfunction. His $787 billion stimulus package, passed without the support of a single House Republican, was unable to resuscitate an economy plagued by debt, a deficit of middle-class jobs, and the global slowdown. Since the Republicans gained control of the House in 2010, partisan confrontation has stood in the way of progress on nearly every issue. Bills to promote economic growth either fail to pass or are so watered down that they have little impact. Immigration reform and legislation to curb global warming are not even on the table.

Ineffective governance, combined with daily doses of partisan bile, has pushed public approval of Congress to historic lows. Spreading frustration has spawned the Occupy Wall Street movement -- the first sustained bout of public protests since the Vietnam War. The electorate’s discontent only deepens the challenges of governance, as vulnerable politicians cater to the narrow interests of the party base and the nation’s political system loses what little wind it has in its sails.

Kupchan relies less on his globalization variable in the American case than he does on rising inequality and partisanship. And you'd have to code "protests" by leftward or rightward orientation for Occupy Wall Street to be "the first sustained bout of public protests since the Vietnam War." Actually, by that logic it was the tea parties that were the first sustained protests since Vietnam, but if you code "public protests" only as left-wing, one can forget about the tea parties --- a protest movement that dominated all of 2009 and is widely considered to have formed the grassroots constituency driving the GOP to the House majority in the 2010 elections.

Beyond that, I agree there's a crisis of governability in the industrial democracies. I just don't think Kupchan's focusing on the most important causes. The unsustainability of the European social welfare state model is probably a more important factor in the political turmoil in Europe in 2011. Globalization is important as well, no doubt, but the EU nations can only blame themselves for digging the kinds of debt holes in which they found themselves unable to climb out. Kupchan just barely touches on this, and he blames the economic crisis more so than the ultimately flawed social welfare commitments. Governments like Greece and Italy fell not just from economic and social crisis but because leaders lacked independence from EU institutions, which have enforced continued commitments to a continental bargain whose fundamental failures are finally being revealed.

And for the wider systemic challenge facing the Western democracies, Kupchan suggests more statism and accommodation to globalization --- the same variable he posits as the number one factor causing the decline of industrial competitiveness and economic dynamism. In other words, Kupchan's recycling failed theories of a sort of globalist Keynesian bargain: "state-led investment" in the domestic economies and "progressive populism" in the political systems of these states. It sounds fancy. But that's the kind of thing that got these nations into trouble in the first place.

Ranger Margaret Anderson Fatally Shot at Mount Rainier National Park

She was just 34 year-old.

At Los Angeles Times, "Ranger fatally shot in Mt. Rainier National Park."

Eyewitnesses Report Snipers Killing Protesters in Syria

At Telegraph UK, "Arab League monitor: I saw snipers with my own eyes."

Also, "Syrian activists dying to tell their story", and "Arab League's own parliament calls for end of Syrian peace mission."

Kyra Sedgwick Looks Smokin' Hot in Bikini in Hawaii

And Kevin Bacon looks great as well.

Good for them.

At London's Daily Mail, "The couple that work out together... Kevin Bacon, 53, and Kyra Sedgwick, 46, flaunt their super toned bodies on beach vacation."

Will the Animosity Against Israelis Ever End?

An excellent essay, from Professor Michael Curtis, at American Thinker:

The principle [of universal jurisdiction] seems eminently reasonable on the premise that such crimes are so serious that they should be prosecuted everywhere. It provided the rationale for the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1962. The Israeli court held that the crimes committed by Eichmann, one of the major Nazi figures responsible for the Holocaust, not only bore an international character but also that their widespread harmful effects shook the international community to its very foundation.  It held that the state of Israel was therefore entitled to try and to punish him.

The principle seems equally reasonable as embodying the rule of law that perpetrators of serious violations of human rights should not use foreign countries as a haven to escape punishment. Thus, international tribunals, since the Nuremberg trials, have examined actions by individuals in the former Yugoslavia in 1993 and Rwanda in 1994. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1999, declared that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished. Effective prosecution would be ensured by action at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation.

Desirable though the use of the principle has been on some occasions, the essential problem is that it has also been abused for political purposes. The chief targets have been Israelis. In 2003, Ariel Sharon, Israeli minister of defense during the civil war in Lebanon when Christian Maronites killed 800 Palestinians in a camp in Beirut, was accused of war crimes in a court in Brussels. Two Israeli military figures, Doron Almog in September 2005 and Moshe Ya'alon in October 2009, could not visit Britain for fear of being charged with war crimes.  In September 2009, an arrest of Ehud Barak, then defense minister, was only prevented in Britain because the British Foreign Office said he had diplomatic immunity. Several other Israeli generals or former generals have decided not to visit European countries because of the fear of being arrested for war crimes. Among them were General Yohannan Locker, military secretary to prime minister Netanyahu, and General Aviv Kochavi, head of Israel's Intelligence Corps.  While some attempts have also been made to issue warrants against other individuals such as Henry Kissinger and Bo Xilai, Chinese trade minister, most warrants have been against Israelis.

Center for American Progress Accused of Anti-Semitism

Well, there's a surprise for you!

At Big Government, "Democrats’ ‘Brain Trust’ Hit by Antisemitism Accusations." And following the links there leads to the Jerusalem Post, "NGOs slam ‘anti-Semitic’ US think tank comments."

And see earlier, at Legal Insurrection, "Intolerant anti-Israel left still not tolerant."

Colorblind Racism?

Hey, getting 2012 off to a great upside-down start.

At Psychology Today, "Colorblind Ideology is a Form of Racism":

Racial issues are often uncomfortable to discuss and rife with stress and controversy. Many ideas have been advanced to address this sore spot in the American psyche. Currently, the most pervasive approach is known as colorblindness. Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity.

At its face value, colorblindness seems like a good thing — really taking MLK seriously on his call to judge people on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. It focuses on commonalities between people, such as their shared humanity.

However, colorblindness alone is not sufficient to heal racial wounds on a national or personal level. It is only a half-measure that in the end operates as a form of racism.

Nah.

For some reason I think MLK wouldn't be down with that.

I like this one better: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

New Year's Day Rule 5 Extra

Well, give it up for William Teach and his smokin' Happy New Year's post, "If All You See…is another year of mankind polluting the world with CO2, destroying the Mother Gaia, you might just be a Warmist."

And more great blogging at Astute Bloggers, "2012'S FIRST GUARANTEED NOT HALAL: ASDIS RAN." And at Eye of Polyphemus, "Top 5 of 2011 #1 - Kaley Cuoco."

Earlier from Rio Norte Line, "Rule 5 – My Favorite Bond Girls – Denise Richards." And El Opinador Compulsivo, "Proof of God's Existence: Selma Hayek."

Plus some holiday leftovers from Teresamerica, "Midweek Rule 5 - Santa Babes and more..." Yum! Also at Bob Belvedere's "Rule 5 Christmas Countdown: 23 December 2011 A.D."

Plus, at Guns and Bikinis, "Russian Babe," and at Theo's, "Bedtime Totty..."

BONUS: At Randy's Roundtable, "Rule 5 Top 5." And from Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, "Friday Night Pinup."

Israeli Defense Forces: 2011 Year in Review

From the IDF:

Arson Hunt Intensifies in Los Angeles

At Los Angeles Times, "LAPD: Keep lights on tonight as arson hunt intensifies," and "LAPD wants to question man in arson fires probe." The suspect can be seen at this video clip.

There's more at the New York Times as well, "Cars Set on Fire, and Los Angeles Set on Edge."

UPDATE: From the Los Angeles Times, "Photos show 'person of interest' in Los Angeles fires."

Occupy Wall Street: Jew-Hating Anti-American Recap 2011

A killer video:

Plus, at New York Post, "Columbia offers ‘Occupy 101’," and Weasel Zippers, "Virginia Elementary School Indoctrinating Third-Graders With Occupy Sing-Along: “They Want More Money, They’re The 1%. . . I’m Happy To Be Part Of The 99%”…"

And at New York Times, "Surging Back Into Zuccotti Park, Protesters Are Cleared by Police," and Gateway Pundit, "Obama-Endorsed #Occupy Criminals Start Off New Year By Stabbing Cop."

More from Marathon Pundit, "Occupy Occtrocities: New Year's Day Edition."

See also JammieWearingFool, "Police Clear Out Honolulu Obamaville, Protesters Now Occupying the Sidewalk," and "Occupy Oakland Now Sitting in Trees or Something."

PREVIOUSLY: "Hate-Blogger Walter James Casper III and Progressive Evil: Denial of Israel-Hatred Enables Exterminationist Anti-Semitism."

BONUS: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Mark Steyn: Puncture the cocoon of denial."

Focus on Electability as Caucuses Near

At New York Times, "In Final Days in Iowa, Focus on Who Can Defeat Obama":

DES MOINES — Rick Santorum and Ron Paul defended themselves on Sunday against claims that they could not win in November as a new poll suggested that they were now the primary threat to Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination, with two days left before the Iowa caucuses.

Appearing on several Sunday news programs, Mr. Paul waved aside the findings of a poll by The Des Moines Register that suggested nearly a third of Iowa voters believed he would be the least able of the candidates to defeat President Obama.

“Maybe it’s not true,” Mr. Paul, a congressman from Texas, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “I’ve been pretty electable. I was elected 12 times once people got to know me in my own Congressional district. So I think that might be more propaganda than anything else.”

On the CBS News program “Face the Nation,” Mr. Paul’s son, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, criticized Mr. Santorum as a “big-government type of moderate” who will not fare well as people learn more about his record.

“A lot of people don’t know that because he hasn’t surged to the top yet, so he hasn’t had much scrutiny,” Senator Paul said. “When he has the scrutiny, I think he’s going to have some of the same problems that some of the other fair-weather conservatives have had.”

Mr. Santorum, whose support tripled in the latest Register poll, predicted that his campaign would emerge from Iowa with “a big jump” because voters wanted someone who could defeat the president in the fall.

“The people of Iowa, the more they look, the more they are going to see the person who is exactly the right person,” Mr. Santorum said on the NBC News program “Meet the Press.” He said that if he could finish higher in caucuses than Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, “we’d be in good shape, and we’re moving towards that right now.”

Candidates Reach the Finish Line in Iowa

At Des Moines Register, "Romney leads Paul in new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll; Santorum surges." (At Memeorandum.)

And at The Other McCain, "SANTORUM SURGE SUNDAY: Final Poll Makes Front-Page News in Des Moines."

Blogging in 2012

I will mark six years of blogging in April 2012. I have to laugh a little when I check out some of my earliest efforts. I'm a much better blogger now, but I'm motivated by the same concerns that got me started. Here's something I wrote at my very first blog post:

No other single topic or object of analysis in my entire career as a political scientist has worried me as has contemporary anti-Americanism. I have learned about the complex nature of the radical left in this country, and its ties to, for example, transnational movements to deligitimize the nation-state and the principle of national sovereignty, the world's anti-globalization forces, and pro-Palestian organizations bent on the destruction of Israel.

It was the radical left's treasonous attacks on the war in Iraq that first got me to writing. I started American Power in October of 2007 when I finally pinned down my central ideological orientation: I'm neoconservative, but by now more reflective of that persuasion and more sophisticated in its elucidation. Unlike some who're characterized as "national greatness" types (or ridiculed that way, in fact), I'm animated by the tea party movement and my goals aren't so much as to radically shrink government but as to promote a politics of balanced budgets, entitlement reform, and continued support for a robust defense --- a "constitutional conservatism." These goals can't be achieved with the Democrats in power, obviously. And while we may get Mitt Romney as the GOP nominee, any of the mainstream Republicans would be an enormous improvement over the current administration. (Ron Paul is not mainstream and I'd abstain next November rather that vote for him if he somehow secured the nomination.)

I'll also continue to shine a spotlight on the global neo-communist left. I've learned a lot about the left over this past six years --- indeed, I'm a changed man. Probably the strangest thing to me is what I frequently refer to as our upside down politics of moral bankruptcy at home and abroad. This is one reason why my support for Israel will continue more consistently than ever before. Progressives hold Israel in the cross-hairs for death as an independent state. And when called out on it they'll spew the most vicious historical lies --- the kind of lies that would make the Nazis proud. Support for Israel rests at the center of the defense of Western civilization. I often remind myself that Israel defends itself just fine and that the Jewish state is not going out of business any time soon. And that's true. But Israel's enemies are working harder than ever before to push the Jews to the sea and this administration is doing its damnedest to bring about that reality. This situation brings even some of our most stalwart defenders of decency in the world to despair that we've crossed a threshold of appeasement and social decay, and this failure threatens the peace and stability of the West.

I'm not personally pessimistic about the survival of right and decency in the United States. But things will depend on winning the upcoming election and driving the Democrats from power. As I've noted many times, today's Democrat Party is no longer the party of Truman and Kennedy. It's a progressive-socialist party that touts nearly 100 Castroite members in Congress. And the political culture is increasingly infected with the cancer of progressivism and political correctness. It will take a lot to turn back the tide against these freaks, but the new social media --- and the Democats' overreach itself --- is empowering new armies of the righteous to take this country back.

And on a personal level, 2011 was a considerable challenge as a blogger. I beat back not one but two attacks that might have broken lesser writers. First were the attacks at my workplace by Scott Eric Kaufman and Carl Salonen. There is nothing more despicable than the kind of lies mounted by progressive demons as this. It's shocking, really, the extent that people will go to destroy their political enemies. But I rest soundly every day knowing that it's the truth that sustains me and that progressives can't take me down no matter how hard they try. And believe me, they try and will continue to try because the left does not tolerate deviations from the accepted narrative, especially from a political scientist working from behind the lines of academic totalitarianism. I drive the left f-king crazy. And I don't plan on stopping any time soon. The second challenge was the damned Righthaven lawsuit, which I beat by simply refusing to capitulate to those assholes. As I said at the time, it was scary as hell being served, but Righthaven is a bully and a troll and they're going down in a gloriously epic defeat.

So, thanks to all my readers. I have a few core readers and supporters who've become my friends, and I have a large number of readers and linkers among fellow conservative bloggers. And I continue to hear from new readers from time to time with words of good cheer and support. It all sustains me and I'll be plugging away throughout 2012.

Happy New Year!

New York's Times Square Rings In the New Year!

I watched Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest at Times Square.

Check out this huge photo-report at London's Daily Mail, "America welcomes 2012! One million revellers party night away in Times Square as world celebrates new year in spectacular style."

RELATED: At New York Times, "The Year Ahead (We Expect)."

EXTRA: At Telegraph UK, "Britain celebrates New Year 2012," and Sydney Morning Herald, "A new dawn, a new year and a time to dream (big or small)."

Russell Brand Wanted Katy Perry to Settle Down

At Mirror UK, "Russell Brand wants to divorce Katy Perry over her partying and because he wants kids."

Also at London's Daily Mail, "Russell Brand and Katy Perry split after 'she put fame ahead of children'."

Bachmann Calls 'Occupy' Protesters 'Obama's Advance Team'

You gotta love Bachmann.

At MSNBC:

URBANDALE, Iowa – During remarks to supporters inside her campaign headquarters Saturday, Michele Bachmann linked President Barack Obama to a large protest that had been unfolding outside the building only minutes before.

"You may have seen all over Des Moines the Barack Obama re-election advance team is already out there in the various parking lots of all of the campaigns," Bachmann told about 70 volunteers.

"This tells you that he is nervous," she continued.  "He doesn't want me on the stage. I want you to know, I'm not nervous. I'm fearless."

The rhetoric signifies a heightened effort to paint Obama as out of touch, something the campaign acknowledges is an element of Bachmann's closing argument to voters three days before the Jan. 3 caucuses.

And more coverage at Robert Stacy McCain's, "‘Occupy’ Protesters at Bachmann HQ: Proof That Gardasil Causes Retardation?"

Iran Films U.S. Aircraft Carrier

At Telegraph UK, "Strait of Hormuz standoff: Iran films US aircraft carrier."

Iran claimed to have taken surveillance footage of a US aircraft carrier near the Strait of Hormuz as both countries raised the stakes in their standoff over the key oil route.

The commander of Iran's navy said the reconnaissance mission was proof that his fleet had "control over the moves by foreign forces" but it was unclear what intelligence could be derived from the grainy video, which was played triumphantly on state television.

Admiral Habibollah Sayyari's statement came as Iranian ships, helicopters and submarines continued a 10-day war game exercise designed to give credibility to the country's threat to close the Strait and choke off the world's oil supplies if the West moves ahead with sanctions.

The drill is underway in international waters near the Strait and only a few hundred miles from America's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet. The US Navy has vowed to prevent any closure of the channel, through which 15 million barrels of oil pass every day.

Also at Washington Post, "Iranian commander backs away from threat to close Strait of Hormuz, strategic oil route."

Margaret Thatcher and the Jews

From Charles C. Johnson, at The Tablet, "Thatcher and the Jews":

When asked about her most meaningful accomplishment, Margaret Thatcher, now embodied by Meryl Streep in the biopic Iron Lady, did not typically mention serving in the British government, defeating the Argentine invasion of the Falkans, taming runaway inflation, or toppling the Soviet Union. The woman who reshaped British politics and served as prime minister from 1979 to 1990 often said that her greatest accomplishment was helping save a young Austrian girl from the Nazis.

In 1938, Edith Muhlbauer, a 17-year-old Jewish girl, wrote to Muriel Roberts, Edith’s pen pal and the future prime minister’s older sister, asking if the Roberts family might help her escape Hitler’s Austria. The Nazis had begun rounding up the first of Vienna’s Jews after the Anschluss, and Edith and her family worried she might be next. Alfred Roberts, Margaret and Muriel’s father, was a small-town grocer; the family had neither the time nor the money to take Edith in. So Margaret, then 12, and Muriel, 17, set about raising funds and persuading the local Rotary club to help.

Edith stayed with more than a dozen Rotary families, including the Robertses, for the next two years, until she could move to join relatives in South America. Edith bunked in Margaret’s room, and she left an impression. “She was 17, tall, beautiful, evidently from a well-to-do family,” Thatcher later wrote in her memoir. But most important, “[s]he told us what it was like to live as a Jew under an anti-Semitic regime. One thing Edith reported particularly stuck in my mind: The Jews, she said, were being made to scrub the streets.” For Thatcher, who believed in meaningful work, this was as much a waste as it was an outrage. Had the Roberts family not intervened, Edith recalled years later, “I would have stayed in Vienna and they would have killed me.” Thatcher never forgot the lesson: “Never hesitate to do whatever you can, for you may save a life,” she told audiences in 1995 after Edith had been located, alive and well, in Brazil.

Continue reading.

Israel 2012!

Via Theo Spark:

Happy New Year From Victoria's Secret Angels

Well, the first post of the year, in style:

And see also Bob Belvedere, "Rule 5 Saturday," and The Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabe Only one woman is beautiful enough to celebrate 1,000,000 hits!."

And more at American Perspective, "Alessandra Ambrosio - Rule 5," and Maggie's Notebook, "Rule 5 Saturday Night: Yesica Toscanini."

Plus, at Proof Positive, "Friday Night Babe: Melissa Adams!", and at Randy's Rountable, "Thursday Nite Tart: Heather Jo Hughes."

And even more at Reaganite, "Miss Albania 2011 is Xhesika Berberi."

BONUS: At Guns and Bikinis, "Swedish Babes, " and Theo Spark, "Saturday Totties..."

EXTRA: At Pirate's Cove, "If All You See...is a world flooded because government wouldn’t take action on (other) people, you might just be a Warmist."

Police, Firefighters Brace for Arson on New Year's Eve

At Los Angeles Times, "Police brace for more L.A. arson fires on New Year's Eve," and "L.A. Fire Department asks public's help to crack arson rampage."

And CNN has a report: "35 Southern California fires rock cities."

These are really horrendous, vicious attacks. The arsonists are torching cars as the "matchsticks" to set buildings ablaze. I'll be watching this story into the evening.

UPDATE: This could be the beginning of a new rash of arsons, "Firefighters respond to carport fire in Hollywood." And there's a report at the New York Times, "For Second Night, Vehicles Are Set Ablaze in Los Angeles Area."

10:35pm: At LAT, "Hundreds of police, firefighters battle renewed L.A. arson."