The irony and the nerve: Prof. Jacobson spots a blogger fearful of “Joe the Sailors” “advising” Obama on piracy. Isn’t the same blogger “advising” Obama on Somalia policy in the same breath?
Updates from April, 2009 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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STRATFOR: Beneath the U.S. Obsession with Cuba.
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With plenty of pics, at Trekmovie.com.
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VSL heaps praise on Adventureland.
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Seems that my taunting of netroot uberstars Hamsher and Willis has triggered reactions from across the political spectrum. Predictably, Tea Party organizers liked what I said. Leftie bloggers, not so much. I can only add that it’s great to be noticed. In media there is nothing worse than being ignored. But I wasn’t being provocative just for its own sake.
The facts are that there are very many Tea Parties going on and they’re much bigger than they were two months ago when the phenomenon apparently began. So it is undeniable that a movement of some sort is brewing, at the very least.
And though it’s being labeled “conservative” by people on both sides, the principles that fuel the Tea Party movement resonate across party lines: lower taxes and less government debt. As this putatively Democratic commenter asks elsewhere, when did deficit spending become a Republican or right-wing concern? (I know, I know: deficits are bad only when Republicans control the purse strings. That’s right. Well, maybe many Democrats and Independents didn’t get that memo.)
And that’s why I believe the movement is a threat to the Left. (More …)
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Robert Samuelson: The Post-Material Economy: spend more and get less.
Sounds – well – awful.
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Parcbench: Left Wing Gearing Up to Undermine Tea Parties, But We Will Fight Back.
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New Geography: The Millenial generation’s first recession.
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Chalk it up to unemployment, but more and more Americans – including professionals – are going into the hot-dog cart business. Here are some tips for getting started.
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More on Leftie Tea Party-phobia at Legal Insurrection: “Liberal bloggers and media groups can’t get the Tea Party phenomenon out of their heads. It wasn’t supposed to be this way”.
And don’t miss related links at Instapundit.
What’s the big deal? ACORN, MoveOn, and Soros get to pull puppet strings year after year, and that’s ok. But God forbid Fox News puts so much as its imprimatur on Tea Parties! No way! That’s too sinister, too insidious; and makes the whole movement illegitimate and inauthentic. Whatever…
Jane Hamsher and Oliver Willis are probably asking “Who the hell are this Tea Party bunch? Where did they come from?” I’ll tell you who they are, Jane and Oliver. They’re your worst nightmare: they’re small-governmenters first and party-loyalists second.
UPDATE: Laughing at Jane Hamsher…all the way to the Tea Party. I gotta say, if Tea Parties are phony populism staged by a bunch of conservatives who are pissed off because they are not the ones doing all the stealing right now (and on Fox News’s payroll to boot), then the Left has its work cut out for it in 2010.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Insta-lanche! Thanks for the link, Professor Reynolds!
ONE MORE: Ace links! Thanks!
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Hmm. Maybe the reason why so many Lefties feel threatened by the Tea Party movement is because – compared to Tea Partiers – the new generation of Leftie protesters just don’t have what it takes?
Just saying…
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Wired: Why the Terminator Is Unstoppable.
Plus, T4: Please don’t suck: pros and cons of Terminator Salvation.
One of the Nolan brothers worked on the script? That’s a good sign…
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WSJ: And a few pirates got killed.
I’m glad to see the situation was resolved quickly. Props to the President in the measure that he was involved – and certainly to the military men and women who actually made it happen.
I never thought the hostage situation would last very long, but I sure didn’t like the way Obama initially reacted to the whole thing.
UPDATE: RELATED CONTENT at Instapundit: what will we do about piracy from here on?
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Miley Cyrus cleaned up with Hannah Montana, The Movie at #1. Observe and Report debuted at number 4.
Nikki Finke has the figures and analysis.
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More propaganda spotted by Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection: AP looks forward to Obama applying to Congress the dealmaking skills that he “honed” while abroad.
Now that’s sly. “Dealmaking skills honed abroad”? They are talking about Obama’s recent trip to Europe, but what dealmaking was there on which to practice any dealmaking skills?
Obama’s European trip was indeed portrayed by the White House – and perceived by the press – as a successful one. After all, neither Europe nor the U.S. disagreed on any key issues, but – as STRATFOR reminds us – the reason why neither party disagreed on key issues is because both agreed not to negotiate key issues at all.
Let’s just put it this way: if Obama uses the dealmaking skills he honed abroad to get his legislative priorities passed, then he can kiss his legislative priorities good-bye.
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The myriad Ministry of Truth sub-branches have been busy this week!
Seems that because Fox News is getting on the Tea Party bandwagon, somehow that’s supposed to diminish the whole Tea Party movement. All of a sudden, any perceived support or sympathy is outright sponsorship. Even if it were, so what? Fox News is getting in on the Tea Party action because they’d be stupid not to. Their audience must dig it (television is a business, after all) and I bet you many of their anchors dig the movement itself, just like Jane Hamsher must dig anti-war demonstrations.
But you want to make inferences that automatically discredit a cause? How about this: global warming/climate change must be a hoax. Why? Well, it’s Time Magazine’s cover story for the week and Time Magazine is part of the same organization that owns CNN. The same CNN that suppressed stories of Iraqi atrocities for years just to keep its Baghdad bureau open. See? We can all play this game!
The important thing are these facts: Tea Parties are multiplying like rabbits; lots of people are showing up to them; and the utopia of one nation under Obama is not happening. I know. This is chilling news to some.
I’ll tell you why the Left is angry and scared about the Tea Party Movement. The Left has always been about changing what it is into what – in their view – should be. There is a way the world is supposed to work, there is a place where it’s supposed to be, and you can only get there if the masses make it happen. Revolution! Change!
Now the masses seem to be organizing and they are demanding change, but they are standing athwart history yelling stop. And that’s not how the revolution was supposed to go. That’s gotta suck if you are a Leftie.
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Too many things to get ready before tonight’s Easter vigil service (at the same church where Dr. Fiancee and I plan to get married next year – isn’t it romantic?). So I don’t think I’ll get a whole lot of blogging done today either…
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The ultimate style-over-substance challenge: can we close Guantanamo without really closing it? Yes we can!
Nobody tell Oliver Willis, ok? No need to ruin his weekend, but to put it in terms a Kos Kid can understand: it sure is creepy how it seems that the much-feared Dick Cheney/Karl Rove shadow government remains in power with Obama as their new puppet, doesn’t it?
UPDATE: Insta-lanche! Thanks for the link, Professor Reynolds!
ANOTHER UPDATE: Related thoughts from Bruce Fein at Slate: Czar Obama. Can we possibly go from the Unitary Executive to the Imperial Executive? Yes we can!
ONE MORE: Professor Jacobson of Legal Insurrection links. Thanks! He seems to have identified me as a liberal blogger, though. Maybe because I mention a Dick Cheney/Karl Rove shadow government. But I wasn’t being serious, of course. Although some people do expect Karl Rove to work in mysterious ways…
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WSJ: Should you cancel that vacation to Mexico?
I was in northeastern Mexico in December – visiting family – and the experience was anything but chaotic. I certainly didn’t have the sense that Mexico was on the edge of anarchy, but I had the feeling that violence could break out at any moment. Mexico is at war, after all.
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Anne Thompson has a round-up of critical reaction to Seth Rogen’s new star vehicle.
The trailer – which I recently caught on TV – made it look hilarious, but seems like there’s a lot more going on there, amounting to mixed reviews for a number of interesting reasons…
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I’m not the only one perceiving echoes of 1979 (via Instapundit).
Although, if I remember well, Carter at least looked pained and troubled by the whole Iranian Hostage Crisis. That’s why Obama’s attitude is – in my opinion – sub-Carterian in that regard: he just appears too aloof.
UPDATE: Insta-lanche! Thanks for the link, Professor Reynolds!
ANOTHER ONE: The Anchoress links. Thanks!
ONE MORE: Lawhawk at A Blog for All has much more on the pirate standoff and other current piracy incidents, here. Thanks for the link, Lawhawk!
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It’s Good Friday, day of fasting and abstinence if you are Roman Catholic, and blogging consequently will be light.
I’ve retired to an undisclosed location – away from my computer – where I can wallow in low-calorie-ness (with Dr. Fiancee by my side, fortunately). In fact, I’m posting this from my phone. But I may yet find my way back to my computer later tonight.
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RedState: ACORN-linked FamiliesUSA and JournoList pushing Obama’s healthcare reform on hundreds of newspapers?
JournoList’s role here is a matter of conjecture. We don’t know it for a fact. But hundreds of articles on the same topic citing the same source is a hell of a coincidence. Still, no wonder Mickey Kaus was so concerned about JournoList.
The alternative is perhaps more troubling: the days of a free and independent press are behind us, because there is not a whole lot of independent thinking going on in the mainstream press.
And it’s not journalists acting in coordination that is troubling here. It’s the fact that they coordinated to publish propaganda devoid of fact while – for the most part – hiding FamiliesUSA’s partisan ties.
As I’ve alluded to before, sometimes it’s like we have a bunch of little, privately-owned Ministries of Truth out there, which is not any more comforting than having a single, big, government-run one
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Times of London: Top 20 Movies About College.
Via Mad Minerva.
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Straight out of the U.S. Constitution!
Via The Corner.
Might as well. None seem to be forthcoming from the President. He’d rather not discuss the topic at all…
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A breakout of Incumbentitis? I hope it becomes an epidemic!
(H/T: Instapundit)
UPDATE: Hey, maybe it will: WSJ: Economists see no job recovery until late 2010.
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Specifically, more selling and buying of ads on their blogs.
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Reuters: President declines to comment on Somali pirate hostage crisis. Preferred to “remain focused on housing” when asked about it.
Not even a word of concern or encouragement?
UPDATE: On video (via The Corner):
Plus, “Testing Obama”. Could this become Obama’s Iranian Hostage Crisis? I would hope this is resolved much sooner, but how Obama reacts to it will undoubtedly send very clear signals about Obama’s leadership around the world, especially to our enemies.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Ace links (in their Top Headlines). Thanks!
ONE MORE: Smitty thinks I should cut the President a break. I can be too harsh on the President, but I think a reaction from him beyond a mere “no comment” is warranted. Offering some words of encouragement to the kidnapped captain’s loved ones would not be inconsistent with the President’s functions as commander-in-chief or compromise any military operations, now would it?
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Ben Smith: White House says no bow, just a handshake between a tall man and a shorter one. Hmm…Is that how it looks whenever the President greets, say, Robert Reich?
Queen Elizabeth isn’t exactly statuesque either. Did Obama adopt the same body posture when greeting Her Majesty?
more about “The President Meets The Queen | Polit…“, posted with vodpodJust asking…
Really, just calling out the White House on obvious bullshitting. Maybe the President meant something by the bow, maybe he didn’t. That’s really a topic for another post.
ANOTHER UPDATE: HA-ha!: “I did not have salutational relations with that man.” (via Insty)
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At Screenrant they say the buzz – after the Australian premiere – has been great.
Some premiere photos here.
I knew J.J. Abrams was behind it, but I didn’t know the rest of the Fringe
showrunners were, too. That’s a good sign. Kurtzman and Orci know how to tell a story.
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WSJ: Electric grid penetrated by Chinese and Russian spies.
And here’s a military man’s take on the general cyber-attack threat.
UPDATE: Much more at Dr. Fiancee’s Culper Ring. Looks like we should have expected things to come to this. What else is new?
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BBC News: Hijacked US crew “retake vessel”.
No need for the Navy or government negotiators. That’s Americans for you, punks!
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EW: It’s in development. Zack Snyder not yet on board.
The development process at the studios is unpredictable. It may not go into production for a while. Maybe for a long while (Watchmen was in development on and off for 20 years or so). But 300
made good money, so that’s a a strong incentive to bring a 300 follow-up to the big screen right there.
Hey, at least it will be based on a new Frank Miller graphic novel
and not entirely pulled out of the imagination of studio executives.
(H/T: Big Hollywood)
Iran will bitch about it. Of that you can be sure…
