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Nanny states breed rebellion...a flaw inherit in the system, perhaps.
Overheard in New York:
Asian mother, walking past smoker: Get your cigarette away from my baby!
Smoker: Get your baby away from my cigarette!
Old woman: Yeah! Fuck you, lady!
--W 96th St & Broadway
..as of this posting, the WikiLeaks site is down, apparently from a "Denial of Service"-style attack.
Apparently, Wikileaks has been jumping on and off Amazon's servers-for-rent, their cloud-type system being significantly harder to bring down.
Still, I find it interesting that while governments dither in the face of Julian Assange's pathological urge to destroy the West, and America in particular, ordinary citizens are fighting back with every tool at their disposal (true, hackers may not be "ordinary citizens", and true, this may be a government-sponsored attack, but the sporadic and not always entirely effective nature of the "counterattack" on Wikileaks leads me to believe it is "people-sourced" rather than government-directed).
A strange dynamic is at play in the world today. Leaders beat their chests and issue proclamations from Tehran to Washington, yet the truth comes out and mocks them, almost immediately, via Twitter and YouTube. Attackers from foreign nations are just as likely to be brought down by concerned citizens (think the Christmas bomber of 2009) as they are from government-approved special/armed forces. The Republican party is co-opted by the Tea Party, which proceeds to run the Democratic party out of town on a rail. Politicians wail about "climate change", and are roundly ignored by the citizenry, save to vote them out of office. And the mainstream corporate media, which had always vowed to "televise the revolution", has been sidelined and replaced by citizen journalists, and their blogs...
Have the people of the West given up on their governments? Have we grown so frustrated by their elitism, their out-of-touchiness, their inability to get anything done, that we have decided just to ignore them and get it (whatever it is) done by ourselves? Has Western civilization reached a point where the only government we need, the only one we want, is one that will maintain the roads and protect the borders? Are we in the midst of a revolution we never expected or planned for, one in which our governments will be overthrown by...sheer indifference?
And, if so...at what point to we stop paying taxes for services no longer rendered?
A new definition of chutzpah:
Representatives of three liberal advocacy groups on Monday blasted President Obama’s proposed two-year freeze on federal civilian worker pay.
John Irons of the Economic Policy Institute, Tamara Draut of Demos and Greg Anrig of The Century Foundation said it is a mistake to freeze pay until the economic recovery from the recent recession has taken hold more firmly.
“We think that is a terrible idea. We should be raising wages,” Irons said in a press call. “It is unclear why the president would want to do this.”
“It reinforces the concern we have that the focus has shifted from creating jobs to deficit reduction. It is far too soon to be doing that. We need to be focusing on ways to lower 9.6 percent unemployment,” Anrig said.
Well, how about lowering taxes on businesses, Mr. Anrig? Ah, no, sorry - Anrig's plan (in the linked article) for American financial sovereignty is a stew of 1/3 spending cuts (military?), 1/3 tax increases, and 1/3rd the elimination of tax breaks. Or, in other words, 2/3rds of his plan to pay federal workers more while lowering the deficit involves hiking taxes on people other than federal workers.
And why is it OK to ask struggling Americans, who are having to stretch their dollars more and more and each paycheck, to fork over even more of their money so that federal employees can get raises? Alas, the Irons/Draut/Anrig triumvirate has no reasonable answer for that, just as they have no logical way to explain how massive tax increases would lower unemployment.
We can boil the liberal argument in this case down to three words: "GIMME GIMME GIMME"!
Sorry, ladies, it ain't gonna fly any more. You had two years of Hope, now here comes Change. And you don't have to believe in it to see that it is barrelling down the tracks, and aimed dead-center at your public extortion racket.
Maybe they do. Thus the panic, the shrieking, the loss of rationality. If we are to judge a man - or a union - by how they face adversity, it appears as if liberals, and federal employees, will come out of this crisis with less respect than they had going in.
Which is saying a lot.
More liberal angst at TPM ( "We risk not hiring good people, we risk not giving a raise to people who deserve a raise" - yes, it's a risk in a risk-based economy, it's called "capitalism") and at the Washington Monthly ( "To grow the economy, we need workers to have more money in their pockets, not less. A pay freeze is an anti-stimulus." OK, I agree. So you are against all tax hikes, rate increases, and new revenue-enhancing fees as well, right? Right? Hello?)
Classic...
Read more...
...with the Good being us, the American people, and the Perfect being one Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks. Assange explains below why the United States is the most recent (and perhaps consistent) target of WikiLeak document dumps:
This document release reveals the contradictions between the U.S.’s public persona and what it says behind closed doors — and shows that if citizens in a democracy want their governments to reflect their wishes, they should ask to see what’s going on behind the scenes.
Every American schoolchild is taught that George Washington — the country’s first president — could not tell a lie. If the administrations of his successors lived up to the same principle, today’s document flood would be a mere embarrassment. Instead, the U.S. government has been warning governments — even the most corrupt — around the world about the coming leaks and is bracing itself for the exposures.
And what have those exposures been? That Libya's Qaddafi likes busty Russian chicks, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi likes wild parties, most of the world is scared shitless of an Iranian nuke, and that Barack Obama's foreign policy has been one big epic fail. Big deal. Tell me something I don't know...
What pisses me off is the scolding we are getting from WikiLeaks for not living up to George Washington's cherry tree fable. Julian Assange is apparently willing to destroy the national security of the United States and weaken its diplomatic powers because somewhere, a diplomat is snarking off about the leader of France. Are you kidding me?
More likely, of course, is this pathetic excuse for a massive document dump is a cover for Assange's deep-seated hatred of the United States. Most of his "successes" noted on the WikiLeaks "about" pages are of the US/UK/Israel "gotcha" type that are common to most so-called "human rights groups". No uncovering of North Korean concentration camps, Chinese secret prisons, Iranian torture chambers, Taliban rapists, Hamas killing floors....just reams and reams of documents showing the failings of the West. And how does Assange justify this war against the nation that has done more to promote freedom, prosperity, and peace than any other in the history of civilization? Why, for blaming us to not living up to the legend of George Washington...
We are good, but we are not perfect, so we must be punished. However, the evil, never claiming to be anything but, are let off scott-free, because there is little hypocrisy to be found in self-confessed killer's personal notes. Or maybe because it is just a little scarier to publish information from a regime that could retaliate by poisoning you with Uranium 231. Or maybe these regimes are perfectly evil, and thus are fit to be left alone, in the eyes of Julian Assange.
Whatever. But should he show his face in the United States, let's make sure he never tells a lie. Of any sort. Or else we should execute some 18th century justice on the man who uses 18th century myths to rationalize his 21st century attacks on the people of the United States...
And just when you thought you had the world figured out, that Israel was basically the root of all evil in the Middle East and throughout the world, with a relentless lobbying organziation in America designed to force the United States to fight wars on their behalf, we find out...that exactly the opposite is true:
Leaders of oil-rich Arabian Peninsula monarchies who are publicly reluctant to criticize Iran have been beseeching the United States in private to attack the Islamic Republic and destroy its nuclear facilities, according to a series of classified diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website.
The cables show that both Saudi King Abdullah and King Hamed ibn Isa Khalifa of Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. 5th Fleet, are among the Arab leaders who have lobbied the United States to strike Iran. According to one dispatch, a Saudi official reminded Americans that the king had repeatedly asked the U.S. to "cut off the head of the snake" before it was too late...
The documents illustrate how frightened the Arab world is of Iran's rising ambitions and its nuclear program — and how much Iran has become the center of attention in capitals around the world...
Although Persian Gulf leaders recognize that the options for dealing with Iran are limited, the dispatches indicate that they repeatedly have urged U.S. military action, fearing that allowing Iran to build a nuclear bomb would shift the balance of power decisively in the region.
Guess the Arabs figure if anyone in the region is to have nukes, it might as well be the Israelis, whose bizarre desire to limit casualties on the other side in their war to survive has protected most of the Middle East from annexation/extinction. And it looks as if Obama has blown another opportunity to use "smart diplomacy"; certainly with the amount of panic being reported in the Arab capitals some sort of deal could have been reached for Israel to do the Iranian job itself (with some US assistance) in return for certain concessions from the Arab leadership. No, instead, Obama has aligned himself with Hamas and Fatah, and has been scolding the Jews for building homes in their capital while the rest of the region anxiously looks over the horizon for the oncoming mushroom cloud....
One question does remain, however: Will we soon hear complaints of an "Arab lobby" dragging the US to war? Will CAIR be demonized the way AIPAC is? Will scholars such as Harvard's famed anti-Semties John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt now spend some of their time investigating the effects of Arab money on our foreign policy? Will Glen Greenwald, famous for accusing Americans Jews of dual loyalty and treason, now level the same accusations against Arab citizens and lawmakers?
I'm not counting on it. The attacks on Israel will continue even without evidence, and most of the names/players above will be exposed as anti-Semites, rather than the anti-Zionists or "progressive thinkers" they claim to be. Because for the Left, it was always about the Jews, and much less about Israel, a nation so liberal it could oft put California to shame.
Obama won't change direction, either. 20 years of Sundays at an anti-Semetic church will do that; facts won't soon chase the words of his beloved Reverend Wright out of his ears anytime soon. He'll continue to squeeze Israel for concessions while the rest of the region realizes the Jews are their last hope for survival. Ironic, and fitting.
So too is this, from Josh Block:
One of the most interesting overall themes is the restraint seen to typify the Israelis on Iran, in contrast to the typical Brzezinski, Scowcroft, Walt/Mearsheimer, Glenn Greenwald-Neo-progresive, netroots claims Israel is trying to prod us to fight and bomb Iran for them.
In the end, one of the most obvious take-aways from these WikiLeaks documents is devastating to the whole Left/Realist narrative about Israeli manipulation. The Israelis come off as cool customers, while the Arabs are the ones freaking out, justifiably many would argue, and literally demanding the U.S. bomb the Iranian nuclear program.
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The Star Factor Final 4: (from left) Eula Caballero, Morisette Amon, Christian Samson, and Ritz Alzul.I didn't realize Joy Behar had her own TV show, and I didn't realize some show biz folks still believe that the perpetually painfully unfunny wannnabe comediaenne Sandra Bernhard is a worthwhile guest on such shows. Well, call me an uncultered Philistine, I suppose, because I don't believe this is funny, informative, or contributes to the grand discussion in any way...via Cubachi, and Newsbusters:
JOY BEHAR, HOST: After weeks of speculation that the low-scoring Bristol Palin could actually take the "Dancing With The Stars`" win, the nation breathed the sigh of relief last night as Jennifer Grey was crowned the champion (ph). With me now to talk about this and other stories in the news are Sandra Bernhard
comedian and singer, Rebecca Dana, senior correspondent for the Daily Beast...
BEHAR: So, Sandra, were you ready to shoot the TV last night?
SANDRA BERNHARD, COMEDIAN: I twittered for the entire two hours. My eyeballs were falling out of my head. I said, first of all, I said, Cander and Ebb would not allow this.
(LAUGHTER)
BERNHARD: You cannot be part of the Palin legacy and dance to Cander and Ebb in a cage.
BEHAR: Yes.
BERNHARD: I mean, Bob Fosse, he turned over in his grave.
BEHAR: What`s her name, Bristol on today`s "View" said something like --
BERNHARD: How did she do it? How did she get to New York to do the "View"?
BEHAR: I don`t know.
REBECCA DANA, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: They have their own plane, these people.
BERNHARD: She`s such a hooker. She got on a flight after losing last night.
BEHAR: How did they deal with ABC? I think that the losers come on the "View" and they dance. She said that her mother likes her being in the cage.
BERNHARD: She`s supposed to be the spokesperson for abstinence and yet wears candies shoes which like you say -- I`m wearing these (INAUDIBLE). I`m thrown (ph) out of a car at full speed. You know what I mean? These are like total like hooker shoes. By all means, have candies underwrite abstinence.
BEHAR: You know, there`s a backlash on me because a lot of people when I`m talking to my friends are saying, she`s a sweet girl, she worked hard, and she`s a nice girl.
BERNHARD: Who worked hard? Are you kidding me, she worked hard?
That's a lot of hate to direct at a 20 year old kid who placed third in a nationally televised dance contest. What did she do to deserve it? Nothing, even the plane that so called "Daily Beast Senior Correspondent" claimed as Palin's own was actually provided by ABC. Is that indicative of the journalism we'll see at the newly formed merger of "BeastWeek"? If so, it still may represent an improvement from the original Newsweek, but not by much...
I suppose liberalism now condones attacking the children of politicians once they have run out ammunition against their parents, although I would assume that the reverse does not hold true, and that calling Sasha and Malia names for exploiting the American taxpayer by taking part in their mother's Spanish vacation would not be accompanied by a laugh track.
Or could this be just a continuation of the liberal gang-rape of female conservatives, now extended to their children by dint of the blood that runs through their veins?
For some reason, when liberals see a Sarah Palin or a Carrie Prejean [and now a Christine O'Donnell], the impulse immediately is for the lowest road possible: not to engage them, but to defile them. Not to prove them wrong, but to humiliate them in the vilest way possible. The immediate, insatiable urge of the Left is to wreck a female adversary so completely that no one can look at them the same way; so that anyone who sees their victim will see the marks on them and turn away in disgust or openly mock with righteous venom, and to hopefully so emotionally destroy their female "enemies" that their self-esteem is ravaged, and they slink away from public life, alone and ashamed.
There's a word for this type of assault. Rape.
Yes, the assault isn't physical, but the thought process behind the rapes of Palin and Prejean are identical to that of the common street rapist: To defile, degrade, humiliate, embarrass, and make themselves feel better in the process. A broken victim is what each hopes to obtain, and neither stops the assault until the surrender is complete.
Again, when it comes to conservative females, the Left (and the media) has simply divided them into two categories: Nuts, or sluts. And that makes Joy Behar, Sandra Bernhard, and Rebecca Dana nothing more than common rapists. Worse, even, as they do not get any enjoyment from the act, but - like ghetto gang ho's who will hold an innocent down so that others may defile her - are doing it simply for the approval they get from others. They will jump on the dogpile and degrade and deface where they can, all for...the anticipated roar of approval from the crowd.
Welcome, Joy, Sarah, and Dana, to the very bottom of human ladder. How far you have fallen, to commit hate crimes not even as an end in themselves, but for the pathetic little ego-boost that comes with a smattering of applause. And like coke addicts chasing the high, you continually sank lower and lower as the adoration grew sparser, hoping that an act of true defilement would once again boost you to the top, where you may have spent one brief, dizzying moment...
Well, you've succeeded. In defiling yourself, that is - worse than any other could have done in your stead. But that's OK with us, too. You're not the first, won't be the last. Down here in the Ninth Circle of the Damned, we have a special table reserved for you....
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