American Power

Does it Get Any Whiter Than This? MSNBC's Racial Hypocrisy

2009-11-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin's got the best post up this morning, "The Indelible Whiteness of MSNBC" (via Memeorandum):

MSNBC host Chris Matthews, MSNBC reporter Norah O’Donnell, and MSNBC guest Joan Walsh shamelessly played the race card against Sarah Palin and her book-buying audience last week.

In Michigan, O’Donnell smugly noted that Palin’s fans were “largely white — almost no minorities in this crowd.” Matthews parroted the line, assailing the “white crowd.” Walsh likened the gathering to a “paranoid tea party.” Matthews hammered away at the “monochromatic” scene.

Ahem. Check out the masthead of MSNBC TV, “The Place for Politics.” Wear sunglasses and SPF 30 lotion. You’ll need protection from the blinding white glare:

Check the whole post. I love it!

And Glenn Reynolds quips, "MINORITY WOMAN criticizes MSNBC’s “indelible whiteness.” Hey, it’s the Stuff White People Like network ....

That's me and Michelle last week. You can take your sunglasses off now.

RELATED: "Michelle Malkin Visits Orange County Conservatives!"

Liz Cheney on Obama's Afghanistan Indecision: 'Completely Inexcusable' - Plus, Obama to Surrender Key Provinces to Taliban!

2009-11-23T08:30:00.000-08:00

Liz Cheney on Aghanistan, from yesterday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos":

"I think it’s just completely inexcusable that we’ve now had month after month after month of photo-op out of the White House and no decision. The president is very fond of saying, ‘Before I commit troops, I’m going to think very carefully about it.’ Somebody in the White House needs to remind him: He’s already committed troops. We’ve got American men and women in Afghanistan today, because we’ve got to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven for Al Qaida. The cost of walking away, the cost of defeat, the cost of retreat is huge. They’re fighting there today, and they’re fighting without the kind of resources and reinforcements that he needs — that they need."

Also, at Weasel Zippers, "Afghan Source: Obama in Secret Negotiation With Taliban to Hand Over Southern Provinces in Return for Quiet ...", and Steve Schippert, "RapidRecon: Whispers of Surrender in Afghanistan?" (Via Memeorandum.)

Pakistan is pushing a negotiated handover, and given Pakistan's earlier indecision on defeating Taliban-Qaeda-Laskkar insurgents in North Waziristan (with catastrophic results), this sounds like the worst possible outcome possible.

Plus, Wake Up America adds this:

Flashback, Obama- 2009:

"This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity," Obama told the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars conference -- cautioning that the insurgency would not be defeated overnight. "Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which Al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans."
Is Obama actually prepared to surrender gained ground to the Taliban in secret agreements, while pretending to understand the danger they pose in public?

If true then Obama is far more dangerous to America than most originally thought.

Prospects for ObamaCare in the Senate

2009-11-23T05:14:00.000-08:00

A number of interesting healthcare articles this morning. From the Miami Herald, "Political Minefield Awaits Health Bill." Also, from Rich Lowry at the New York Post, "Marching off a Cliff: Dems' Health-Care Delusion":

But check the Politico, "How Health Care Reform Could Fall Apart":

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid eked out 60 votes on a procedural motion to start the health care debate Saturday night – but there’s no guarantee he can pass a bill on the merits.

And as he struggles, the reasons are clear: deep divides among Democrats on a public insurance plan, abortion, tax hikes and cost-cutting. Liberals want the plan to be generous enough. Moderates fear a budget-buster. And everyone is trying to avoid angering seniors.

Even in the blush of Saturday’s victory, Reid (D-Nev.) is far from having the votes to move his $848 billion package to final passage. At least four centrists have pledged to oppose it in its current form, largely over the public option. Reid is in a bind. Stay to the left, and moderates vote no. Move a tad to the right, and Reid faces insurrection from the left, as liberals in his own caucus and in the House vow not to compromise any further on their signature issue.

As one of the Senate most liberal members, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), told POLITICO’s The Arena: “I have made it clear to the administration and Democratic leadership that my vote for the final bill is by no means guaranteed.”

Health care reform proponents considered Saturday’s vote a major milestone, one that significantly boosted the odds of passing a bill. But, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vowed Saturday, “the battle has just begun.”

More on the prospects at the link.

Plus, at the Washington Post, "Public Option at Center of Debate" (via Memeorandum).

Bob McDonnell Provides Winning Formula for GOP

2009-11-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

When I announced my call the other day for "Bob McDonnell For Governor - of California!," I was hardly joking. I mean, if the dude was out West, his conservative message and policy pragmatism would work wonders for what's ailing the Golden State. In what's become an annual ritual, Sacramento's facing a $21 billion budget defict for 2010-2011. With the governor's race next year, California voters need someone willing tackle the tough fiscal issues - someone who'll save this state, frankly.

So far both Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner, the two top prospects for the GOP nomination, have avoided talking deficit politics like it's some kind of budgetary H1N1. (See, "Poor California: No Money and No leadership.") And Attorney General Jerry Brown, so far all alone in the Democratic field, not only ignores the budget crisis, he certainly won't do anything to fix it if elected. The Brown family politicos (father Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr., in the 1960s, Governor Moonbeam in the 1970s, and failed 1994 gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Brown), are big government liberals. It's their legacy, along with the disfunctional government-by-initiative process in this state, that needs undoing.

I'm betting that a man (or woman, but Carly Fiorina's running for Senate, not governor) like Bob McConnell has the skills and vision to lead the state back to greatness -- and that's saying a lot, since polls show voters seeing California's best days long past (see, "California's Best Years Have Passed, Voters Say").

In any case, maybe I should be doing some consulting for the GOP's national party elites. It turns out that the top honchos are looking to the McDonnell model as a winning formula for future elections. From the Politico, "GOP Eyes McDonnell Strategy" (via Memeorandum):

After four years of grappling with how to appeal to voters, a group of top Republicans believe they’ve found a winning formula for 2010. Call it the McDonnell Strategy.

The shorthand: run on economic policy, downplay divisive cultural issues, present an upbeat tone, target independent voters and focus on Democratic-controlled Washington—all without attacking President Barack Obama personally.

It’s an approach that elected Bob McDonnell to the Virginia governorship earlier this month.

While Republicans posted two hard-fought gubernatorial victories on Nov. 3, McDonnell’s path to victory is the one that most encourages the GOP, a remarkable case of a social conservative who made his name in politics as an abortion opponent yet managed to reverse a Democratic trend in Virginia and shellack his opponent by nearly 18 percent while largely steering clear of cultural issues.

As rejuvenated GOP governors gathered at a resort outside Austin for their annual strategy session there was little doubt who they wanted to spotlight. McDonnell was shown off at nearly every public event, paraded before the reporters, consultants and lobbyists here as the example of how Republicans can find swing state success in the Obama era.

New Jersey Gov.-elect Chris Christie was also offered as a reminder of the party’s twin triumphs this month, but it was McDonnell who was in demand. Swarmed by new friends, some of them with business interests in Virginia, the commonwealth’s next governor was usually the last official to leave the mix of cook-outs and plenary sessions that marked the Republican Governors Association (RGA) conference.

“McDonnell’s stock was very high already and he found a way to get it even higher,” said Nick Ayers, the RGA’s executive director.

That was in part because Ayers’ boss—and a man who is seen among the establishment Republicans here as something close to the GOP’s de facto national leader–made sure to hold up McDonnell as a model.

Interestingly, looking at Memeorandum's thread, so far it's mostly hardened leftist radicals who're responding Politico's piece on this McDonnell formula for the GOP -- Digby's Hullabaloo and Howie Klein's DownWithTyranny! (ironically, if not ominously, these two are all about tyranny, and if the left's candidate is elected California governor in 2010, don't be surprised if we see John Steinbeck conditions across the land, and actually a reverse Grapes of Wrath exodus out of the state as voters flee disfunction and an impending multi-culti, high-tax, and affirmative action meltdown on the Left Coast).

Photo Credit: Regent University's Flickr photostream.

Sarah Palin's Going Rogue Book Tour Draws Crowds and Controversy - and Predictable Leftist Demonization

2009-11-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

I have a new and timely piece up at Pajamas Media, "The Going Rogue Book Tour Draws Crowds and Controversy."

I wrote the essay Friday night, just hours after Governor Palin issued an apology to fans in Noblesville, Indiana. Recall that hardline netroots bloggers have attacked Governor Palin for leaving hundreds of Indiana fans stranded after she took off from the event at 9:00pm. I'm critical of Palin's handlers at the Pajamas piece. But the story's now becoming more clear. Both Conservatives for Sarah Palin and JammieWearingFool indicate that at least some of the more explosive and viral outrage at the Noblesville event was likely staged by leftist Palin-bashers. Jammie's Just a Grunt rebuts the left's staged attacks, linking to the Politico's piece, "Sarah Palin Embraced in Indiana Republican Hub." And check the video from Politico as well:

Actually, checking the comments at my piece we have some confirmation of disgruntlement among some of Palin's conservative fans (with minor editing):

I was one of those that stood in line and missed meeting her. I arrived at 7 that morning to stand in the 4-hour line to buy 2 books and get a wristband, which were randomly marked with an letter of the alphabet. I brought my son back at 4 to get in line again. An hour later the security guards came out and finally told us what the plan was to let people in (alphabetical order). Her bus arrived (on time)-but only then did security start bringing people in to empty pockets (that could have been started sooner). Each wristband was good for 2 books and 4 family members. And it was clearly stated that she would stop at 9:00. (You do the math!) Our wristband was “N”–and the “M” group was the last to go in. A store employee came out, sheepishly said that the signing was over, and handed out book plates. I was so upset that I left and didn’t get one-and THEN found out the next day that she had signed them, so I would have had at least that momento.
Disappointed? Oh my, you don’t know the half of it!!! But I do not blame any one person-this was not a purposeful slight on anyone, only a huge mistake on the part of a company (Borders) that probably had never had to handle logistics like this before. During my 9 hours standing in the rain and cold, I met a lot of like-minded people, that believe that our country could soon cease to exist as the last free nation in this world. Mrs. Palin is the symbol of what we need to prevent that from happening-honesty, hard work, integrity. Not the now-daily barrage of lies and denigration of us and our values that we get from our politicians.
I am most disappointed in the “boo-ers” at the end of the signing. Bunch of NARCISSISTIC SELF-CENTERED WHINERS. YOU DESERVE OBAMA, AS HE IS THE EPITOMY OF NARCISSISM. And they would have had to known that the media would love to use their actions as more fodder to denigrate a good person. I have never been a “band-wagon” person, but I am afraid for my family and my country. I was not there to make myself happy (well, ok a little, I admit!) but to show my support for HER. Mrs. Palin promised to try to do something to make up for not being able to meet her, and I know I can trust her word. Or I would never have been there in the first place.

Okay, that's settled, so note how there's more despicable attacks on Palin today, from the usual suspects of the smear-mongering left. Matt Taibbi, for example, slams Palin as a "WWE politician" and "political tool":

... Sarah Palin sells copies. She is the country’s first WWE politician — a cartoon combatant who inspires stadiums full of frustrated middle American followers who will cheer for her against whichever villain they trot out, be it Newsweek, Barack Obama, Katie Couric, Steve Schmidt, the Mad Russian, Randy Orton or whoever. Her followers will not know that she is the perfect patsy for our system, designed as it is to channel popular anger in any direction but a useful one, and to keep the public tied up endlessly in pointless media melees over meaningless nonsense (melees of the sort that develop organically around Palin everywhere she goes). Like George W. Bush, even Palin herself doesn’t know this, another reason she’s such a perfect political tool.

With Pavolian predictability, Andrew Sullivan piles on Taibbi's obnoxious screed. And Frank Rich, the left's most useful idiot, uses yet another New York Times column to smear and slander conservative activists as basically racist "teabaggers" (or, in Rich's code words, that "demographic is white and non-urban"). And Rich's gets a dig in at Bill Kristol and others as "discredited neocon hacks."

And for all that, there's no mention by either Matt Tabbai or Frank Rich of President Obama's widely-panned diplomatic tour of Asia. See, "Barack Obama Dream Fades as China Visit Fails to Bring Change: Even His Allies Feel Let Down by the President’s Lack of Progress Both in Asia and at Home."

No doubt Sarah Palin's to blame for that.

Hat Tip: Theo Spark.

**********

UPDATE: Linked at The Rhetorican, "Staging Anger…" Thanks!!

Health Care Debate Heats Up in Senate; Health Care Protests Heat Up Nationwide

2009-11-22T07:43:00.000-08:00

There's lots of debate on the procedural moves in the Senate to start the floor debate and amending process for the Democrats' ObamaCare monstrosity. Here's how the Los Angeles Times explains things:

Without a vote to spare, Democrats pushed their healthcare legislation over its first obstacle on the Senate floor Saturday, as the chamber voted to begin formal debate on a sweeping measure to guarantee medical coverage for nearly all Americans.

The 60-39 vote, backed by all 58 Democrats and two independents, overcame a Republican-led filibuster designed to block consideration of the bill and kept up momentum behind President Obama's top legislative priority.

Although it was only procedural, the dramatic balloting -- before a rare packed gallery on a Saturday night -- also set the stage for a much-anticipated healthcare debate that is expected to begin after Thanksgiving and consume the Senate for the remainder of the year.

The rest is here.

Also, from Dana Loesch, "Million Med March; Show Me Institute," which has much more photos from the "Million Med March" in Clayton, Missouri. Gateway Pundit has more, "Hundreds Protest Obamacare at St. Louis Million Med March."

Bob McCarty Writes has the video:

Also, in Los Angeles, Hugh Hewitt headlined the Docs4PatientCare healthcare protest at the Wilshire Federal Building. I'll update when photos from the Westwood event become available.

RELATED: Kevin Hall, "Palin Was Right About Death Panels; Doctors Nationwide Fighting Back Against ObamaCare."

Berkeley Faculty in Solidarity With Student Protesters: Demand Full Amnesty For Wheeler Hall Occupiers; Misdemeanor Charges, No Handcuffs Upon Release

2009-11-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Ananya Roy's eyewitness report of the Wheeler Hall occupation. Roy is a Professor of City and Regional Planning at Berkeley, as well as a social justice activist and mentor. She went inside Wheeler Hall, and was accompanied by Berkeley Professor of Linguistics George Lakoff (a hardline socialist and political blogger at Huffington Post). This passage, where the Berkeley faculty call for full amnesty for the student occupiers, is pretty mind-boggling:

A bit later Anne Wagner and other faculty suggested that some of us head to California Hall. We rounded up as many faculty as we could find and went to California Hall, which was locked. At first it seemed hopeless. But we stood there, some of us pressing our faculty IDs up against the glass door. And then a police officer came out, asked us to sign our names, and explain our case. We did so and a few minutes later she let us in. We found ourselves in a meeting with Chancellor Birgeneau, EVCP Breslauer, Police Chief Celaya, VC Le Grande, and Dean of Students, Jonathan Poullard. Some of the ASUC folks were also there. The meeting had an urgency to it - we were worried about the fate of the students who had occupied Wheeler but also about students at the barricades. The faculty emphasized their concerns about police violence and mentioned several incidents. The solution for those occupying Wheeler (they had already been arrested) was the following: that they were to be cited for trespassing (misdemeanor) and then released, without handcuffs, with faculty observors and student observers present. No police vans, no Santa Rita jail, no handcuffs. The faculty and students went out to disseminate the message to those at the barricades, to calm things down, and Shannon Steen, Will Smelko, and I went with police chief Celaya back into Wheeler [emphasis added].

This time on the 2nd floor, the 30 or so students (some non- students, including an "embedded" reporter with Democracy Now) were seated, handcuffed. They were tired but in good spirits. In small groups they were cited, allowed to collect their belongings, and then released. Will, Shannon, and I accompanied police officers to escort each group out of the building and past the barricades. We had already advised them to be peaceful as they made their exit but we also urged them to immediately seek legal counsel. They had many friends and supporters waiting for them at the barricades.

I noted previously that communist Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! is a major backer of the student mobilization and campus direct action, but an "embedded reporter"? That's really taking it to another level. (See, "Berkeley's Wheeler Hall Protest Marks Escalation in Campus Intifada.")

Also, providing an eyewitness testimony is Shannon Steen, who is Associate Professor of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at Berkeley. And note this from Professor Steen's faculty blurb:

A specialist in critical race and performance theory, she writes on the intersection of Asian and African American racial determinations. Her book on this topic: “Racial Geometries: the Black Atlantic, the Asian/ Pacific, and American Performance,” will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in early 2010. Her anthology /AfroAsian Cross-cultural Encounters/, co-edited with Heike Raphael-Hernandez, was published by New York University Press in fall 2006. Steen's new project uses President Barack Obama’s 2006-08 campaign to investigate the relationship between affect, race, and performance in the realm of electoral politics.

Note that last sentence: Steen's a professor of theater and dance, but her next project is on President Obama and the "performance realm of electoral politics." That reminds me of the academic radicals chronicled in David Horowitz and Jacob Laksin's, One-Party Classroom: How Radical Professors at America's Top Colleges Indoctrinate Students and Undermine Our Democracy. Many of today's radical professors have actually no scholarly expertise to conduct high-level research in politics, history, or economics, but they manage to teach courses on "Theories of History, Ideology, and Politics" in English Departments and courses on "Marxisms" in Comparative Literature courses. These offerings are, in fact, personal faculty vehicles for radical student indoctrination.

I'm not familiar with Professor Steen, but her account of the Wheeler Hall protest puts her clearly in solidarity with the student's revolutionary ideology:

Ananya has already described the meeting between the Chancellor and various admin, the ASUC leadership, and several faculty (there were about 10 of us). I’ll just add that at that point, there were really only 2 options for how to proceed: (1) book the students on site and escort them out of the building to the barriers, or (2) try to load them onto vans and take them off-site to book them, and release them from there (there was also brief mention of jailing them over the weekend, but that was never really pursued). While the chief of police Mitch Celeya preferred option 2, those of us who had been at the barriers all day and were worried about the increasing tension there after a series of violent encounters btw students and police (more on that below—I arrived at Wheeler at about 9.30am), impressed upon him and the Admin that this option would likely escalate the struggle outside the building. The ASUC senators and faculty were fully in agreement on this, and the Chancellor and Celeya agreed to go for option 1.

Check the post for more details. This passage clearly demonstrates Professor Steen's solidarity, if not complicity:

Celeya escorted Ananya, Will Smelko (ASUC President), and me into the second floor of Wheeler. The occupiers (there were about 40) were lined up against the wall in the north corridor, sitting with their hands behind them in “plastic tie” restraints. Everyone was unharmed and safe – as Ananya reported, the group was committed to non-violent tactics, and so had not resisted arrest, which contributed to their safety. The vast majority were students, although one was a reporter from “Democracy Now” who was not; he had on a press pass that was clearly displayed around his neck. Some looked genuinely scared, some were in fairly good spirits. A couple looked like the restraints were not just uncomfortable but painful, so the officers removed and recuffed those individuals at a looser setting. Several of them asked about their belongings (which they were allowed to take with them as they left the bldg), and about 2 or 3 (I now forget the number) of their fellow occupiers who had been arrested earlier in the morning and taken away. They were especially worried that a couple of them seemed injured. The UCPD in Wheeler did not know where they had been taken, but they guessed the Berkeley city jail where they were booked and released.

The officers set up a classroom to process the students, and took them in 4 at a time to do so. The plan was to escort them outside in groups of 5. I’d say it took about 30-40 min from the time we arrived for the first group to be processed and ready for release. At that point, there was a hold-up of another 10 or 15 minutes while the police outside were changed over – the Berkeley city police were replaced with Oakland police. During all of this, and between reassuring the students inside and asking questions for them of the UCPD officers, I was texting the students I knew outside (especially Cynthia Nava and others in Solidarity) of the plans to bring everyone out, and asking them to spread the word at the barriers to calm people out there (more on this too below).

More at the link.

Not once does Professor Steen repudiate the illegal actions of the students who seized the campus builiding. She's concerned with police brutality, as if this is going to turn out to be Kent State:

These were the most frightening moments by far, and as one colleague put it, did make it seem like we were very close to riot conditions. I asked students at various points to write me with their stories of what they experienced, but there were faculty there too who could perhaps explain it in more detail. I will say this: I did not witness first-hand any of the inciting moments of the barrier altercations – I only witnessed the barrier incidents once they were already in progress. I have no idea what events sparked them, and have heard many different stories. Having said that, I also have big questions about what we’re doing using batons, which can do real damage to people, on unarmed students. Many of us have that question, and I do think we need to keep asking it.

Maybe some of those questions might ask, "Why the f*** did you take the university hostage with your totally selfish and self-serving actions?"

From the Daily Clog, a student threatens police, who are standing by:

Here, an officer responds to student provocations:

Yeah, it's pretty messed up alright. And with simple misdemeanor charges, the university's practically treating these kids like royalty. And who really is responsible for the "inciting moments and barrier incitements." This video, despite the propaganda title, shows students resisting the commands of officers to stay back:

Also, from the Berkeley Daily Planet, "6:36 p.m.: UC Berkeley Students To Be Cited and Released."

Here's the picture of the SWAT team reaching the student occupiers (via Twitpic). It's hardly looks like AR-15's were drawn and blazing:

We'll see what happens when three of occupiers jace the criminal justice system. See, "Court Date For Wheeler Occupiers."

The 'Hockey Stick' Scandal

2009-11-21T17:42:00.000-08:00

I've been reading around the web a bit, catching up on latest in the Climate Research Unit (CRU) scandal that broke wide open yesterday.

One of the things I'm learning more about is the 'hockey stick', which refers to the (hypothesized, and now rigged) dramatic increases in global temperatures in the last 130 years, so that when graphed the changes look something like a hockey stick. The chart's from Wikipedia's entry, the "Hockey Stick Controversy." What's so interesting about this, is that the graph is derived from the data and research aggregation of Michael Mann, who is at the center of the CRU hacking case now unfolding online.

The first post to read is at Jeff Id's Air Vent blog, "Baby Steps." That entry links to a series of essays by the author called the "Hockey Stick Posts," where the first entry is called, "How to Make a Hockey Stick – Paleoclimatology (What They Don’t Want You to Know)." Clicking there leads us to a Michael Mann research paper on the hockey stick phenomenon, "Proxy-Based Reconstructions of Hemispheric and Global Surface Temperature Variations Over the Past Two Millennia."

Now, going back to the Baby Steps post, Jeff Id (who's apparently been at the center of some of the online debates) adds this key passage:

These new emails do not provide any huge revelation of collusion, we already knew about that. They don’t provide any smoking gun proving intentional corruption of data for a conclusion (although the Jones quote was good enough for me). They don’t have any proof of making a conclusion in exchange for money or proof of changing a conclusion for personal benefit. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t expect any of that. The mechanism of reward for certain results is exactly what some of us expected it to be.

What the emails show is that there is some good science going on. There are some quality open discussions in them for sure. What they also show however, is a pattern of elimination of dissenting views. They show an advocacy by some ’scientists’ which belies scientific credibility. These few names are universally limited to the top people in the field — think about what that means. These are the ones who actively work to make sure that dissent is unpublished and are often the loudest in public to discredit others. Mann (creator of the bogus Al Gore hockey stick) seems to be the worst offender along these lines but he clearly has a circle of trusted friends. Finally, these files show a lot of money involved in the industry. Big dollars are in play with big travel budgets, prestige and a lot of power for those who follow the main player’s lead [emphasis added].

There's lots more developments in the controversy.

Check Marc Sheppard, "The Evidence of Climate Fraud," which has an analysis of the devastating significance of the CRU scandal. Also, John Hinderaker has a post examining the hacked e-mails, "The Alarmists Do 'Science': A Case Study." (Via Memeorandum.)

Plus, a couple of entries from James Delingpole, "Climategate: How the MSM Reported the Greatest Scandal in Modern Science," and "Climate Change Has Nothing to Do With the Holocaust or 9/11":

But you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise from all the hysterical propaganda put out by the ecofascists of the AGW lobby.

Here’s the latest example from those silly trustafarian children at Plane Stupid:

Actually, this isn't a horrible joke (see for yourself here).

Berkeley's Wheeler Hall Protest Marks Escalation in Campus Intifada

2009-11-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

There's been a good bit of commentary on the student fee protests at the University of California. For example, regarding this week's action at Berkeley, CSPT, Michelle Malkin, NRO, and Tiger Hawk all discuss the spoiled brats of the elite university system. And Dan Riehl provides some quotes from activists on the ground, "Some Priceless Prose From Berkeley" (via). But as I've argued, and what's becoming more clear as the pace of activism picks up, the current unrest is being driven in large part by the hardline revolutionary contingents on the streets and in the halls of academe. I covered this previously. See, "‘Mobilizing Conference’ for Public Schools Revives ’60s-Era Campus Radicalism."

This photo, from the San Francisco Chronicle, captures the visual imagery of the protest's roots in the struggles of international revolutionary solidarity:

The Wheeler Hall protest has now been shut down (see, "Wheeler Hall Occupation Ends Peacefully"). But a wide array of "progressive" neo-communist groups are at the base of this latest wave of mobilizations, and they're vowing an escalation in the struggle.

Recall that International ANSWER organized the November 17th protest against the CSU Board of Tustees. The UC Solidarity group is an alliance of radical academics and student protesters seeking to rekindle campus unrest of the 1960s. The communist Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! is endorsing the protests, "Why Are We Destroying Public Education? University of California Students and Staff Prepare for System-Wide Strike to Protest Cuts," and "As UC Regents Approve Major Tuition Hike, Students, Faculty Decry Erosion of Public Education in CA and Nationwide." And from the hardline communist Fight Back! journal, "Student Struggles Continue Across California." The International Committee of the Fourth International has a report, "University Protests Continue in California," and that group's splinter faction, International Socialist Organization, as well, "Struggle Heats up in California."

The Wall Street Journal reported on the unconditional demands of the occupiers, which turned off moderate students focused on fee increases rather that worldwide revolution:

UC Berkeley officials condemned the action at their campus. "We certainly understand the students' frustrations and concerns, but it's disappointing they expressed their frustrations in this way," said Janet Gilmore, a UC Berkeley spokeswoman.

In the crowd, sentiment seemed mostly in favor of the building occupation. Protesters locked arms to block entrances to the building in an effort to impede police.

But some students said the tactics were counterproductive, and that the demands, in some cases, were unreasonable. For example, some protesters demanded the UC regents eliminate the fees. "I agree the tuition hike was not good for me, but I know the state is in a crisis," said Jeffrey Joh, a 19-year-old sophomore. "Their message here is unclear."

Recall that the student insurgency group, Occupy California, is mobilizing revolutionary cadres for widespread campus mobilizations. See, "California is Occupied," which features the image above from inside Wheeler Hall, and this picture below from UC Santa Cruz:

The Student Activism blog has pledged to take direct action to the next level, "Two Days After the Regents’ Vote, UC Fee Protests Go On." Check also the Indy Media blog for direct action updates.

My sense is that the only thing missing so far is the arson, kidnappings, and bombings that have marked earlier decades student revolutionary agitation. And unfortunately, my bet is that it's only a matter of time -- we'll be seeing some Bill Ayers wannabes popping up in short order.

RELATED: International ANSWER has released a press statement in solidarity with jailed pro-communist attorney and terror-enabler Lynne Stewart, "Free Lynne Stewart."

Ann Althouse on Andrew Sullivan's Campaign to Destroy Sarah Palin

2009-11-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

From Ann Althouse, ""Andrew Sullivan Has Discovered the Michelle Goldberg/Ann Althouse Diavlog." Ann rebuts one of the "lies" of Sarah Palin, alleged by Sullivan:

Calling something like this a lie marks you as someone who's centered not on finding out what is true, but on destroying someone. It doesn't motivate me to go through the rest of the long list systematically to see what each item is about, and it certainly doesn't make me want to look at the list and accept the conclusion that wow, Sarah Palin really is a terrible liar.

Click Memeorandum if you want to see Sullivan's long, long list of Sarah Palin's "lies." As everyone knows, this man is truly sick.

Sarah Palin on O'Reilly Factor, November 20, 2009

2009-11-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

Here's the YouTube's from Bill O'Reilly's Sarah Palin interview last night, the second installment:

Transcript here, "'Factor' Debut, Part 2: Sarah Palin Discusses Obama, Iran, Afghanistan‎." Previous clips are here, "Sarah Palin on O'Reilly Factor: Media Elite 'Fear Voice from Heartland of America'."

Livin', Lovin', I'm On the Run ... So Far Away From You ...

2009-11-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

It's actually not something I've heard recently on L.A.'s 100.3 The Sound. I've just been thinking about rock favorites, and I vaguely remembered reading Kirk Hammett inverview at Rolling Stone from 2008. Discussing his influences, Hammett said that:

To this day, UFO are my favorite band in the whole world. I was playing "Doctor Doctor" [from 1974's Phenomenon] for my one-and-a-half-year-old son. He went crazy.

God, that is cool. Back in the day, "Doctor, Doctor" was one of those songs that would come on the radio, and immediately result in me and my buddies stopping the car to play air guitar. I love it! So, enjoy this 1986 live clip of UFO's, "Doctor, Doctor":

Plus, don't forget my good friend Anton's Sunday music club from last weekend! At PA Pundits International, "Sunday Music – Show Me The Way."

Of course, don't miss Theo Spark's added bonus hotness, "Bedtime Totty ..."

Plus, I've been meaning to post on this, but brace yourself for these HOT lingerie shots of Bar Refaeli, "Bar Refaeli Models Passionata Spring/Summer 2010." I seriously think Bar Refaeli is the most flawless woman I've ever seen, and I mean as a bona fide intellectual query. (Rinse and repeat!)

San Francisco Booksellers Won't Carry Going Rogue

2009-11-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

You know someone's packing some REALLY powerful intellect when every other post on their blog is a Jon Stewart video. Perhaps it's generational change, where we see a lazy kind of media-induced resistance to hard thinking and analytical reasoning, but it's out there, and not just among hardline netroots denizens. I'm tempted to try to place the willfully ignorant in a corner with those cohorts political scientists identify as post-engagement voters or actualized citizens who channel their political activity through increasingly creative and expressive action rather than the more historically hierarchical, yet socially affirming, mobilizations. But it's more likely that radical leftwing ideology -- with its inherent intolerance of differening opinions and hostility to the vigorous play of ideas -- is the real culprit.

In any case, my thinking here is being driven by the non-shocker of an article at the San Francisco Chronicle, "Bay Area Not Maverick Enough to Read Palin Book":

It might as well have cooties. Hardly anyone wants to touch the thing, or even get close to it.

The new autobiography by moose hunter and failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is harder to find in the Bay Area than a hockey mom. Some bookstores figure it's one of those grit-your-teeth First Amendment deals that principled booksellers must put up with from time to time.

But many nonchain bookstores won't handle it.

"Our customers are thinking people," said Nathan Embretson, a bookseller at Pendragon Books in Oakland. "They're not into reading drivel."

There's not a single copy on the shelf. Embretson said no one has asked for it except for one guy, who was kidding.

"He said he wanted to look at it but he also said he didn't really want to read it," Embretson said. "Anyway, he certainly didn't want to buy it. I think he regarded looking at it as a kind of punishment."

There are no copies of the book at Cover to Cover Booksellers in Noe Valley, either.

"Anything like that we wouldn't carry," said clerk Emily Stackhouse. "We're a small store and it would probably gross us all out. Some things you carry because of freedom of speech, but a book like that is just gross."

One customer did put in a special request for the book one evening but, perhaps thinking better in the light of day, failed to show up and actually pay money for it, Stackhouse said.

Sheryl Cotleur, the head buyer for Book Passage, which operates stores in Corte Madera and San Francisco, said the two stores have sold exactly two copies of the book. That works out to one copy per store. Cotleur said two other people have asked to look at the book but no one else has asked to buy it.

"Nobody around here is particularly interested in her politics or her opinions," she said. "There's a certain curiosity, sure. But I don't think that translates into what people are willing to pay money for."

Now this is not simply a generational thing. Mostly, it's a urban secular-collectivist thing. What's so fascinating, is that when people say they're uninterested in reading about Sarah Palin's life they're really saying that they're hostile to heartland American values, respect for nature, hard work, and individual initiative, and especially the notion of a life of personal responsibility rather than socialistic paternalism.

As I noted last night, reading Palin's book is taking me back to my own upbringing, and it's making me realize how all-American is the Sarah Palin experience -- and by extension, how historically-rejectionist are those who excoriate her as a backwoods yokel. Palin's family roots are actually in Southern California, and then Idaho. From there her father decided to pick up stakes for the lush wilderness of Alaska. I know if it would've been me and my family -- especially my uncle -- I would've taken right to the rugged life of hunting and fishing and cold nestled-in winters. In Southern California in the 1970s, I spent a lot of time engaged in outdoor activities (including cycling, motorcross, fourwheeling, and shooting). Indeed, most of the action sports popular today (skateboarding and snowboarding, etc.), were acitivities that were pioneered by some of my closest buddies at the time. There was an entreprenuerial work ethic about life, whether that be with extreme-sports, business professionalism, or working as a farm-hand at ranches out by Lake Elsinore.

When Sarah Palin writes of how her future husband Todd Palin earned all his own money as a fisherman and an oil-roughneck, enough to buy his own cars and trucks as a teenager, that's just the kind of inititative that'd be expected in my family when growing up. Perhaps identifying with that kind of lifestyle really is what separates radical leftists from people who are, basically, just really normal folks more so than "conservatives." As my good friend Lynn Mitchell noted last night:

Shooting a gun? Camping with bears? Hiking the wilderness? Those are so foreign to many folks ... but for me it was a freedom-loving childhood just as Donald describes growing up in California, and Sarah Palin describes growing up as part of the Alaskan experience.

And with that clearly comes a greater openness to different values and political ideas than you'll find among the haughty radical hypocrites of the contemporary youth cohort.

It's a shame, really. But folks do wise up with age, and I've been encouraged by how many traditional students I've worked with this semester. No doubt Barack Obama's going to be one term president, and in fact, he's acknowledged the likelihood of that outcome. See, "Obama Tells CNN – He May Not Run in 2012."

See also, Hot Air, "Surprise: Many San Francisco Booksellers Refusing to Carry Palin’s Book; Update: Palin Apologizes to Those Whose Books Weren’t Signed." Plus Memeorandum.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Interview with Sean Hannity, November 19, 2009

2009-11-20T13:18:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and last night was no disappointment. From, "Elisabeth Hasselbeck Sounds Off on Mainstream Media's Treatment of Palin":

Gallup Poll, Grandaddy of Survey Organizations, Has Obama at 49 Percent Approval!

2009-11-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

Gallup's always pretty respectable, which is why President Obama's 49 percent approval rating in the latest Gallup survey is very important.

David Paul Kuhn offers some analysis, "Obama Below 50 in Gallup, What it Means":

Barack Obama has fallen below 50 percent in the Gallup Poll, an expected but no less significant historical marker.

The public's view of this president ranks him in the lower third of modern American politics. He has fallen below the majority threshold at the fourth fastest rate, of the twelve presidents since World War II.

Obama was nearly number three. But he escaped Ronald Reagan's fall-point by about a week. That Reagan has been here as well, and languished below 50 for two years in his first term, illustrates that Obama's new reality is notable but not determinative.

Still, it is indeed bad news for Democrats that Obama stands at 49.

In legislative terms, a president is only as powerful as he is popular. The metric for that popularity is the public approval rating.

Below 50, the president can no longer claim the majority of the public is behind him. His political arsenal depletes. And Obama's political opposition has powerful, though nebulous, new ammunition.

Obama's new reality will immediately impact the health care debate, albeit intangibly and perhaps only slightly. The White House will find it more difficult to pressure Blue Dog moderate Democrats. It no longer can claim a definitive mandate.

Global Warming Hoax Breaks Wide Open as Hackers Target East Anglia Climate Research Unit!

2009-11-20T09:56:00.000-08:00

It's explosive!

There's a big global warming scandal breaking out across the blogosphere. Earlier I saw Der Spiegel's, "Climatologists Baffled by Global Warming Time-Out."

I actually didn't pay that much attention to it, since the left's global-warming-media-industrial-complex continues to peddle lies and environmental disinformation; and frankly, President Obama's visit to China killed the prospects for the Copenhagen climate change accord.

But the news this morning is absolutely devastating. It turns out that hackers have exposed a massive conspiracy seeking to hide the scientific consensus that global warming is bunk. See, "Climategate: The Final Nail in the Coffin of 'Anthropogenic Global Warming'?" Read this whole entry, which posts the key e-mails. This one on the science community's campaign to drum out dissenters is just mind-boggling:

And, perhaps most reprehensibly, a long series of communications discussing how best to squeeze dissenting scientists out of the peer review process. How, in other words, to create a scientific climate in which anyone who disagrees with AGW can be written off as a crank, whose views do not have a scrap of authority.
“This was the danger of always criticising the skeptics for not publishing in the “peer-reviewed literature”. Obviously, they found a solution to that–take over a journal! So what do we do about this? I think we have to stop considering “Climate Research” as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial board…What do others think?”

“I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor.”“It results from this journal having a number of editors. The responsible one for this is a well-known skeptic in NZ. He has let a few papers through by Michaels and Gray in the past. I’ve had words with Hans von Storch about this, but got nowhere. Another thing to discuss in Nice !”

Also, at the conclusion of the piece:

The world is currently cooling; electorates are increasingly reluctant to support eco-policies leading to more oppressive regulation, higher taxes and higher utility bills; the tide is turning against Al Gore’s Anthropogenic Global Warming theory. The so-called “sceptical” view is now also the majority view.

Plus, check out Hot Air as well, "Do Hacked E-Mails Show Global-Warming Fraud?" And, Michelle Malkin's title nails it, "The Global Warming Scandal of the Century." (And Michelle reminds us, "First things first: The alleged hackers need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.)

Australia's Andrew Bolt suggests the scandal "is one of the greatest in modern science."

More from the BBC, "Hackers Target Leading Climate Research Unit," and Memeorandum.

Also Blogging::

* The Air Vent, "It Keeps Going."

* Charlie Martin, "Hacker Releases Data Implicating CRU in Global Warming Fraud."

* Confederate Yankee, "Hacked Emails Show Climate Change Scientists Committing Fraud."
* Classical Values, "Climate Files Hacked."

*Don Surber, "Climategate."

* Gateway Pundit, "MAN-BEAR-PIG Is Dead!… Emails Prove Global Warming Junk Science Conspiracy."

* Invincible Armor, "Climate Change is a Hoax - What Else?"
* Hugh Hewitt, "'Climatologists Baffled By Global Warming Time-Out'."

* Jawa Report, "al-Gore's Global Warming Khinspiracy."

* Nice Deb, "Breaking!: Climate Research Unit Hacked; Hundreds of Compromising Files Found? UPDATED: Confirmation-Website Was Hacked

* Not Evil Just Wrong, "CRU Hacking Reveals Global Warming Alarmists True Nature."

* Power and Control, "Some Verification of Hadley CRU Files Hacked."
* QandO, "AGW’s Crumbling House of Cards."

* Riehl World View, "Climate Science Fraud Exposed?"

* Robert Stacy McCain, "Lies, Damned Lies, and 'Climate Change'."

* Shout First, Ask Questions Later, "Environmentalists Exposed as Liars."

* Sister Toldjah, "Global Warming Alarmists exposed?"

* Snooper Report, "What Have I Been Saying About Global Warming?"

* Stop the ACLU, "Leaked Emails Confirm Global Warming Is a Deliberate Hoax."

* Wizbang, "Global Warming Fraud."

**********

Plus Added Bonus Fail: Global Warming Fearmongers Denounce Critics of Global Warming Hoax:

* Climate Progress, "Here's What We Nnow So Far: CRU's E-Mmails Were Hacked, the 2000s Will Easily Be the Hottest Decade on Record, and the Planet Keeps Warming Thanks to Us!"
* [Added...] Real Climate, "The CRU Hack."

**********

If you'd like to be added to the roundup just drop your link in the comments, or send me an e-mail!

Protesters Seize Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley (VIDEO) -- Plus, Police Close Roads to UC Santa Cruz as Campus Comes Under Seige!

2009-11-20T08:47:00.000-08:00

From Oakland's KTVU TV, "Protesters Take Over Wheeler Hall On UC Berkeley Campus":

A group of approximately 40 students protesting the fee hikes approved by University of California Regents Thursday have reportedly taken over Wheeler Hall on the UC Berkeley campus Friday morning.

KTVU has received reports that a group of students are currently occupying the building. UC campus police have cordoned off the building with police tape as eight or nine additional squad cars arrived to address the situation.

Students could be seen hanging out of windows on upper floors at Wheeler Hall. There are reports that police have already used pepper spray in one confrontation with the students. Officers appear to be preparing to make arrests in an effort to regain control of the building.

The students are taking a stand against the fee hike approved by Regents Thursday that will push the cost of undergraduate education to more than $10,000 a year.

Click here for KTVU video report.

Plus, at San Jose Mercury News, "Police Close Roads Due to Protesting UC Santa Cruz Students."

RELATED: " ‘Mobilizing Conference’ for Public Schools Revives ’60s-Era Campus Radicalism."

**********
UPDATE: From Common Sense Political Thought, "Oh, the poor dears! Their tuition is too high, so they want poorer people to have to dig a little deeper to pay for their own privileged educations."

And here's more video, via the San Francisco Chronicle and Memeorandum:

Sarah Palin on O'Reilly Factor: Media Elite 'Fear Voice from Heartland of America'

2009-11-20T00:18:00.000-08:00

Bill O'Reilly's rolling out his interview with Governor Sarah Palin over three nights. Viewers got about 20 minutes on Thursday night. More tonight and Monday:

I noticed a real sense of political growth and maturity in Sarah Palin's latest interview. She showed quite the humility in acknowleding her own mistakes, and she demonstrated a sharp loyalty to Senator John McCain, saying she hadn't a negative thing to say about him. At the second clip, Palin suggests that the elite media feared "a voice that was coming from the hearland of America." She was also combative about protecting her family from the outrageous lies and media slanders. Palin said he was like a "mama grizzly ... you're touching my cubs, you're touching my kids ... no, no, I'm gonna respond, I'm gonna set the record straight ..."

Plus, don't miss my comments on Going Rogue I shared yesterday.

Hat Tip: Freedom's Lighthouse.

RELATED: From Stop the ACLU, "Sarah Palin Sells 300,000 in Her First Day; Favorable Numbers Rising."

Rioting Breaks Out at UCLA 'Direct Action' Protest - Campus Resistance Front Decries 'Criminal Budgets' in Sacramento!

2009-11-19T22:09:00.000-08:00

I predicted this week's campus unrest in my previous essay, "'Mobilizing Conference' for Public Schools Revives ’60s-Era Campus Radicalism."

The Los Angeles Times has two reports, "Students storm UCLA building to protest expected UC system fee increase, and "UC regents approve fee hike amid loud student protests." Also, from KABC-TV Los Angeles, "UC Fee Increases Approved Despite Protesters":

Students chanted and waved signs as they marched throughout the campus and onto Wilshire Boulevard and other streets, blocking traffic in the area. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

One student was arrested earlier in the day and cited for allegedly obstructing a police officer.

"Even as first-years, we've already suffered the 9 percent increase, and it's just going to get worse and worse for us and for our friends back in high school," said Ayanna Moody, a UCLA student. "It's our only choice to come here and fight."

After the vote, the protests continued around campus.

"I can hardly afford school as it is so -- I'm on grants, loans -- and they want to raise it 32 percent more. It's unacceptable," said student Crystal Bureman.

Mark Yudof, president of the UC Board of Regents, noted that students who come from families earning less than $70,000 will pay no tuition whatsoever, thanks to financial aid programs.

"If you make less than $70,000 a year, you will not pay any fees. You not only won't pay the increase, you won't pay the base. And if you make between $70,000 and $120,000, we'll pay half of the increase in the initial year. So the access is still there," said Yudof ...

That's sounds "free" to me, at least for lower income students. That's no satisfaction to the revolutionaries, of course. Here's the "communique" from the UCLA Resistance:

On 19 November at approximately 12:30 students occupied Campbell Hall at UCLA. The time has come for us to make a statement and issue our demands. In response to this injunction we say: we will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take, we will occupy. We have to learn not to tip toe through a space which ought by right to belong to everyone.

We are under no illusions. The UC Regents will vote the budget cuts and raise student fees. The profoundly undemocratic nature of their decision making process, and their indifference to the plight of those who struggle to afford an education or keep their jobs, can come as no surprise.

We know the crisis is systemic - and that it reaches beyond the Regents, beyond the criminal budget cuts in Sacremento, beyond the economic crisis, to the very foundations of our society. But we also know that the enormity of the problem is just as often an excuse for doing nothing.

We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university.

Everything's "criminal" nowadays, like the "criminal" occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine, remember?

Andrew Sullivan's Palin-Induced Psychosis

2009-11-19T20:02:00.000-08:00

Michelle Malkin hammered Andrew Sullivan today with her piece, "It's Official: Atlantic Magazine Blogger Suffers Palin-Induced Psychosis."

And frankly, I'm not sure if "psychosis" is a strong enough term, even though it means to be completely out of touch with any semblance of reality. That's my impression of the guy after reading Sullivan's long screed attacking Sarah Palin with the most exceedingly fantastical demonizations I've ever read. And the kick of it is that Sullivan's even more clinically deranged than is to be expected, for the simply fact of not having found anything of real value with which to substantiate the allegations he's been making for over a year now. Just this passage gives you a hint of Sullivan's supremely unmatched hatred for Sarah Palin and of his fanatical repudiation of the essence of the all-American good that she epitomizes:

Well, as promised the Dish is back to normal. I'm not. "Going Rogue" is such a postmodern book that treating it as some kind of factual narrative to check (as I began to), or comparing its version of events with her previous versions of the same events (as I have), and comparing all those versions with what we know is empirical reality (so many lies, so little time) is just a dizzying task. The lies and truths and half-truths and the facts and non-facts are all blurred together in a pious puree of such ghastly prose that, in the end, the book can only really be read as a some kind of chapter in a cheap nineteenth century edition of "Lives of the Saints." But as autobiography.

It is a religious book, full of myths and parables. And yet it is also crafted politically, with every single "detail" of the narrative honed carefully for specific constituencies. It is also some kind of manifesto - but not in the usual sense of a collection of policy proposals. It is a manifesto for the imagined life of an imagined Sarah Palin as a leader for all those who identify with the image and background she relentlessly claims to represent.

In this, the book is emblematic of late degenerate Republicanism, which is based not on actual policies, but on slogans now so exhausted by over-use they retain no real meaning: free enterprise is great, God loves us all, America is fabulous, foreigners are suspect, we need to be tough, we can't dither, we must always cut taxes, government is bad, liberals are socialists, the media hates you, etc etc.

I tried to write a fair account of Palin's various stories of her incredible fifth pregnancy, labor and delivery and to reconcile all the various facts we know and the various versions of the story she has told. Just for the record and because we have aired the public record on this before. I honestly however cannot make total sense of them in a way that I'm completely convinced by and so simply do not feel comfortable making any judgment on them in any way at this point. That's fair to her, my readers, my colleagues, and the innocent private people caught up in this circus.

I thought there might be some new facts in here that would illuminate my confusion and dispel the whole thing.

Read the whole thing for more of this phantasmagorical rupture with normal experience.

I should add that I'm reading the book now, and I'm finding it as an extremely satisfying account of the everywoman's tale of American exceptionalism. That is, Sarah Palin is our 21st century Frederick Jackson Turner, who was the author of the seminal account of the American political culture, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." With Palin we have our modern-day political scribe of the frontier existence, the rugged pioneer of traditionalism who rejoices in the Alaskan harvest of the great remaining bounty of the nation's magnificent destiny.

This is what is so blindingly difficult for radical leftists to accept. For in Sarah Palin, we have the personification of the culture of expansion and power at the core of America's mission. We see it in Going Rogue's regaling of family hunting trips, and Sarah Palin's ethos of sustenance in faith in God. This strength is further congealed in the primacy of family at the center of all life's meaning. Palin's book is just simply an essential testament to the realism of contemporary conservatism, and to the enduring appeal of the classic American ideal.

And I can write all of this with the benefit of reading just portions of the very first chapter, which includes Palin's recitation of her squeamishness at holding warm moose eyes while out for a morning hunt with her father. This testament is also found in her retelling of the love of the outdoor life, and especially the cherishing of the long summers of the Alaskan experience, where her life has been lived in doubly exhuberance in the knowledge of the long -- and often hard -- winters that came to the land.

I'll have more on this, but I rest in my own supreme satisfaction that Palin's story is my story as well. It reminds me of my own experiences surfing the beaches of South Orange County, four-wheeling and shooting in the Southern California outback, and spending summers hiking the raw Sierra Nevadas with my frontiersman uncle, Doug Walton, a man who at 76 years-old remains a rugged entrepreneurial explorer and tour guide, and one of my all-time great role-models:

This is a central foundation of what means to be an American, something that Andrew Sullivan will never, ever grasp.

Added: Linked by SWAC Girl, "Sarah, Alaska, and Growing Up Free":

I, too, enjoyed growing up in the outdoors ... camping in Shenandoah National Park, swimming at Virginia Beach and North Carolina's Outer Banks, hiking the Blue Ridge Mountains, exploring the Northern Neck at my aunt's place on the rivah, and learning to shoot a rifle on the sprawling peanut farm of friends in eastern Virginia.

Shooting a gun? Camping with bears? Hiking the wilderness? Those are so foreign to many folks ... but for me it was a freedom-loving childhood just as Donald describes growing up in California, and Sarah Palin describes growing up as part of the Alaskan experience.

Why China Resists Currency Revaluation

2009-11-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

From the Economist, "China's Currency: A Yuan-Sided Argument":

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, on his first visit to China this week, urged the government to allow its currency to rise. President Hu Jintao politely chose to ignore him. In recent weeks Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, have also called for a stronger yuan. But China will adjust its currency only when it sees fit, not in response to foreign pressure.

China allowed the yuan to rise by 21% against the dollar in the three years to July 2008, but since then it has more or less kept the rate fixed. As a result, the yuan’s trade-weighted value has been dragged down this year by the sickly dollar, while many other currencies have soared. Since March the Brazilian real and the South Korean won have gained 42% and 36% respectively against the yuan, seriously eroding those countries’ competitiveness.

Speculation about a change in China’s currency policy increased in the week before Mr Obama’s visit, after the People’s Bank of China tweaked the usual wording in its quarterly monetary-policy report. It dropped a phrase about keeping the yuan “basically stable” and added that foreign-exchange policy would take into account “international capital flows and changes in major currencies”. But exchange-rate policy is decided by the State Council, not the central bank. And many policymakers, notably in the Ministry of Commerce, do not favour a revaluation right now.

Indeed, Chinese officials have become bolder in standing up to America. “We don’t think that it’s good for the world economic recovery that you ask others to appreciate while you depreciate your own currency…It’s also unfair,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce on November 16th. The previous day Liu Mingkang, China’s chief banking regulator, blasted America for its low interest rates and for the falling dollar, which, he suggested, might be encouraging a dollar carry trade and, in turn, global asset-price bubbles. He strangely ignored the fact that China’s own overly lax monetary policy, partly the result of its fixed exchange rate, risks fuelling bubbles in its domestic property and equity markets.

Foreigners argue that a stronger yuan would not only help reduce global imbalances, such as America’s trade deficit, but would also benefit China. It would help China regain control of its monetary policy. By pegging to the dollar, it is, in effect, importing America’s monetary policy, which is too loose for China’s fast-growing economy. A stronger yuan would also help rebalance China’s economy, making it less dependent on exports, putting future growth on a more sustainable path.

If a stronger exchange rate is in China’s own interest, why does it resist?

The answer at the link.

But compare to, C. Fred Bergsten, "The Dollar and the Deficits: How Washington Can Prevent the Next Crisis."

RELATED: Pejman Yousefzadeh, "Overestimating Chinese Power, and the State of Sino-American Relations."

So What's Behind the Left's Palin Smears? Lindsay Beyerstein's Got Your Answer!

2009-11-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

You'll enjoy this PJTV segment with Dana Loesch, "Media Sharks Attack 'Cuda, So What's Behind the Palin Smears?"

It's a fairly short clip, and Dana's got the beat on the left's hypocrisy -- and she nails it in the introduction when she queries, "How do you solve the problem of sexist liberals."

After checking out the viddy, you'll be amazed how perfectly the discussion caputures the Female Conservative Derangement Syndrome found at Lindsay Beyerstein's post, "The Truth Hurts: Newsweek's Palin Cover." For example:

The bottom line is that Palin's a clown. She doesn't get a pass because her chosen clown persona is stereotypically feminine.

She caricatures herself. Day in and day out. Good for Newsweek for pointing and laughing.

The story is about why Sarah Palin is a problem for the GOP. The picture answers the question. She's a problem because she's a freak with no judgment who regularly makes a spectacle of herself. Obviously, she's a potential problem for America because she's an incompetent leader who supports terrible policies. But that's not Newsweek's question.

You know, you just can't be feminine AND governor of the largest state in the union at the same time!

Right on, Lindsay! Way to endorse female political empowerment!

And hey, great job stretching the bounds of journalistic propriety -- no conflict of interest for you! -- seeing that you're now a published Newsweek contributor!

Shoot, this is great! Not only has Newsweek long and totally abandoned any shred of journalist objectivity (to say nothing of integrity), they're now in the habit of contracting with neo-communist Firedoglake blog flunkies!

Man, things really are looking up for you, sweetie!

Sarah Palin's Book Tour

2009-11-19T06:43:00.000-08:00

After having just attended a lecture and book signing with Michelle Malkin, I've been wondering if I'll have a similar opportunity with Sarah Palin. But the thing is, looking at the clip here, and thinking of my brief photo-op with Malkin, it's just a quick hello and thank you, for the most part (or, maybe she'll sign your jacket as well). Still, it'd be an honor to shake Governor Palin's hand and give her the blessings of success in the years ahead:

See also, "Sarah Palin Hits the (Book) Trail" (via Memeorandum). And in case you missed it, from The Blog Prof, "Hundreds Wait All Night in 30F Weather in MI to Meet Sarah Palin at Book Signing."

Actually, I'll Take Leighton Meester Over Levi Johnston Any Day...

2009-11-19T04:34:00.000-08:00

I'm not linking, but Andrew Sullivan has posted a picture from Levi Johnston's Playgirl photo-shoot. It's an interesting selection, given that Sullivan's returning to regularly-scheduled blogging from his (super-hyped drama-queen) Sarah Palin hiatus. (And that's not to mention Sully's likely boy-crush on Levi.) Robert Stacy McCain's got a report, "Sullivan Promises to be 'Normal' Today" (with the concluding flourish, "DEPORT ANDREW SULLIVAN!").

Actually, I'd rather preoccupy my time with Leighton Meester, who's got her own genuinely-electrifying pictorial in GQ. But note that Huffington Post has a better photo-spread than GQ online. See, "Leighton Meester's GQ Shoot: Lingerie, Spreads Legs."

That shot above, a body-suit legs-wide-open offering, is pretty phenomenal.

Sarah Palin Interviewed on Fox News

2009-11-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

I missed it. It's been a busy week with teaching and the Michelle Malkin event, and I actually starting reading Going Rogue last night. But Freedom's Lighthouse has posted Sarah Palin's interview with Sean Hannity from yesterday, "Gov. Sarah Palin Interview with Sean Hannity - Complete Video 11/18/09." Sean asks Governor Palin about her father's "moose eyeballs" in the first segment, and that's a portion of the first chapter of the Going Rogue that caught my attention as well:

I had planned, however, to catch Governor Palin's appearance tonight on the O'Reilly Factor. Here's here's a preview: