Quote du jour

“There is, of course, a thing called history, but history is something unpleasant that happens to other people. We are comfortably outside all of that I am sure.”

-Arnold Toynbee

Leftist Historian Howard Zinn's Communist Ties

by the Left Coast Rebel

A Howard Zinn primer:

"Let's talk about socialism. I think it's very important to bring back the idea of socialism into the national discussion to where it was at the turn of the [last] century before the Soviet Union gave it a bad name. Socialism had a good name in this country. Socialism had Eugene Debs. It had Clarence Darrow. It had Mother Jones. It had Emma Goldman. It had several million people reading socialist newspapers around the country. Socialism basically said, hey, let's have a kinder, gentler society. Let's share things. Let's have an economic system that produces things not because they're profitable for some corporation, but produces things that people need. People should not be retreating from the word socialism because you have to go beyond capitalism."

---Howard Zinn, Madison, Wisconsin 2009

Can anyone here say how many died in the 20th century for the notion of a kinder, gentler society that 'shares' things? Historian Howard Zinn (passed away recently) and many leftists, progressive and liberals think that socialism (Marxism, Leninism, etc.) has failed so resoundly because it hasn't been given enough of an American attempt (until, as of, late).

Common sense, of course, relates just how preposterous this is.

An absolutist ideology melded with absolute power and a fervent faith in the absolute force of that power will always create human misery.

I'm off on a tangent (again). The actual gist and purpose of this post is to point the reader to Robert Stacy McCain's barn-burning exposé on Howard Kinn in relation to recently released FBI FOI documents. RSM is one of the best in the business when he is firing on all cylinders - he must have had the amply-necessary caffeine and nicotine this morning (and some rest).

Anyway, Howard Kinn was a communist (among many other things) way-back-when (and obviously, still was before his death). Perhaps this shouldn't even surprise us any more.

Read Stacy's post - it's fascinating stuff that dates all the way-back-when.

Exit question - how many leftists in academia, intelligensia, the press and the Soros-funded groups are actually dyed-in-the-wool communists? Or at least were at one point? Don't forget the White House and congress too.

The truth on that might shock you.

Via Memeorandum.

Saturday Linkaround

Video: Chris Matthews Refers to President Obama as "President Carter"


14 Weeks


Athwart History: A word from Roger Kimball


Ed Morrissey interviews Herman Cain


Star Trek: The Stimulus Doomsday Machine


Godwin’s Law II: ‘Racism’ Charge Loses Debate


Disgrace: DOJ Fails to Protect Military Voting Rights


History: GOP elected first 21 black people to US House, 67 years before first black Democrat. First blacks in the Senate were all GOP too


Beware the Lame Duck- Krauthammer


Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em: Ringside With Ann Coulter And CNN’s Rick “Kiddie Porn” Sanchez


Thanks for the memories, Barack: Or, how to bankrupt a country in three easy steps

Video of Obama: Black people are a ‘MONGREL people’


CNN Anchor Says He Was Wrong to Let Shirley Sherrod Smear of Andrew Breitbart Go Unchallenged


Restoring Honor


I Am So Winning The Chevy Volt Slogan Contest: Re Volt



Use the comments as an open thread on any of these topics.

Cross posted at Say Anything

A Little Saturday Night Music

Mac McAnally - Simple Life

The Women of PETA XVII

To the delight of some and the chagrin of others, we continue with our tribute to those lovely lasses who would bare their assets to further the cause of PETA. Because the world needs naked, nearly naked and vegetable clad vegetarians!
Again, any pixelation (or faux pasties) is designed to keep the blog PG-13 and the folks at Tiny Pic happy!












Women of PETA Archives

Introducing the Re -Volt!

Don't blame me! It was all Smitty's idea!

(My original headline was going to be: "The Peasants are Revolting", but it's been done!)

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel

Hump this!

Remember when you were a kid and you always were bummed if you had to sit in the seat with the "transmission hump"?
Problem solved! Eliminate the middle seat!


Chevy Volt battery

GM's Chevy Volt electric car is said to be on track for its late 2010 delivery date, but there might be a problem or two with the batteries. The nearly 300 lithium ion batteries will be strapped together in a tight group between the seats, and while GM engineers are confident the individual batteries work, they're not sure how long they'll last or if they'll overheat when they work together in a pack.

And to think it happened in my lifetime! /sarcasm

Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy Laid to Rest

Rest in Peace

Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy was killed by an IED, just one month shy of the end of his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was laid to rest yesterday in his hometown of Clovis.

I first became aware of the story driving down to Fresno, when I started hearing about Sgt. Piercy's funeral on a local Fresno station. Sgt. Piercy was the ninth soldier from the small town of Clovis, California to give his life in either Iraq or Afghanistan. From Buchanan High School, where he graduated, three of his classmate from the class of 2001 suffered a similar fate. Seven in all from the same school.

From the Fresno Bee:

A soldier from Clovis who was within a month of completing his Army service was killed in Afghanistan on Monday, his brother said Tuesday.

Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy, 27, was killed during a foot patrol north of Kandahar when an improvised explosive device detonated, said his brother, David Piercy.

The Clovis solider, a 2001 Buchanan High School graduate, would have completed his second tour of Afghanistan in about 30 days and was planning to move back to California from North Carolina with his wife, Christina,

Fresno and Clovis are what some might consider "flyover country" between Sacramento and L.A. What is it about small towns in flyover country that instills a sense of honor and duty among its citizens?

"He believed in the values of the Army and in the mission of what he was doing in Afghanistan," -David Piercy, 35

A hushed silence filled Peoples Church on Friday as the montage of photographs traced Brian Piercy's life -- on Christmas Day, at the piano, with his brothers, in his Buchanan High School letterman's jacket, on his wedding day, in the military.

At each step in his short life, Piercy won friends and influenced people, those closest to him recounted.

A loyal friend and gifted musician who grew into a leader, Piercy was laid to rest in a quiet spot along an American flag-lined drive at the back of the Clovis Cemetery following his funeral at Peoples Church.

Piercy, a 27-year-old Army staff sergeant who served in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, died July 19 of injuries from an improvised explosive device set off in Afghanistan's Arghandab River Valley

And not to take away from the ultimate sacrifice that Brian Piercy made, but I learned another thing from the Fresno radio coverage: July set a record for the most US casualties in a single month, breaking the previous record that was set...last month. Let me ask you, those who look to the MSM for their news coverage: Did you know that June had set a record for the number of US casualties in Afghanistan? Neither did I. Look for equal coverage of the new record set back to back with the old one. To NPR's credit, they did post this:

In a summer of suffering, America's military death toll in Afghanistan is rising, with back-to-back record months for U.S. losses in the grinding conflict. All signs point to more bloodshed in the months ahead, straining the already shaky international support for the war.

Six more Americans were reported killed in fighting in the south — three Thursday and three Friday — pushing the U.S. death toll for July to a record 66 and surpassing June as the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly nine-year war.

But, has this message permeated the MSM, or do you have to go searching for it to ferret it out?

What a difference two years makes! A couple of years ago, every casualty in Iraq was front page news. Tallies of casualties could be seen on the front pages of newspapers, commentators would slowly recite the names of the fallen, even Doonesbury would print a list in the Sunday comics. It was Bush's war then, and people needed to see just how heartless he was wasting the precious lives of our service men and women over there!

Where is Code Pink? Where are the Cindy Sheehans of the Left? Why is no one camped out on the road to Martha's Vineyard, or his Hawaiian vacation villa, or the many golf courses he frequents? Is it that there are just too many of them? Or was it never really about the deaths of soldiers for the Left? Was it all just a crass excuse to try to gain and retain political power for themselves and their cronies by playing on our sympathies?

Take a moment today to remember Staff Sgt. Brian Piercy and his family. They deserve the honor, the respect and the thanks of our country. And then, take a moment to ask yourself, if George Bush were still in the White House, do you think that record numbers of our soldiers dying in Afghanistan might have commanded a bit more attention than the subject is garnering under Barack H. Obama?

Wonder why that is?

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything, Lady Cincinnatus

"In a Yugo" -Paul Shanklin

This song has been going through my head all night. Why should I be the only one to suffer?

Quote du jour

I don't really think sitting presidents should go do fluffy daytime TV shows.

-Rosie O'Donnell

Friday Night Babe

Tonight's FNB* is Joanna Krupa
(*a.k.a. Rule Five Friday)

When Life Hands You Electric Lemons...

...you're in the Age of Obama!


Edward Niedermeyer writing in the NYT: G.M.’s Electric Lemon

GENERAL MOTORS introduced America to the Chevrolet Volt at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show as a low-slung concept car that would someday be the future of motorized transportation. It would go 40 miles on battery power alone, promised G.M., after which it would create its own electricity with a gas engine. Three and a half years — and one government-assisted bankruptcy later — G.M. is bringing a Volt to market that makes good on those two promises. The problem is, well, everything else.

I heard Obama hawking the Volt today:

"This car doesn't use a sip of gas for forty miles and then keeps going after that!"

Nah! That's not misleading at all!

For starters, G.M.’s vision turned into a car that costs $41,000 before relevant tax breaks ... but after billions of dollars of government loans and grants for the Volt’s development and production. And instead of the sleek coupe of 2007, it looks suspiciously similar to a Toyota Prius. It also requires premium gasoline, seats only four people (the battery runs down the center of the car, preventing a rear bench) and has less head and leg room than the $17,000 Chevrolet Cruze, which is more or less the non-electric version of the Volt.

One of the annoying presumptions people make about electric cars is that somehow they don't "pollute". On battery power, it's not that they don't pollute, it's that they shift the pollution somewhere else. It doesn't come out your tailpipe, it comes out of a smokestack at the power station. And unless the electric cars are more efficient than their older gas powered brothers, it will require even more energy to be generated. And lugging that massive battery pack around can hardly be considered "efficient". And if your utility is like mine, the power for your car will be "charged" at the highest possible rate.

So, to recap, it's priced above its value, requiring more cash incentives from the government. It will still pollute the planet, just in a different place. Manufacturing and disposal of the batteries will produce higher levels of pollution. And electricity isn't free. I don't hear anyone talking about what the Volt will do to an average family's utility bill.

Windshield defrosting can be done with wires in the windshields. What is going to defrost your fingers and toes in the winter time...in North Dakota? An electric heater, if available is only going to reduce your "40 mile range" down and start you burning that premium gas that much sooner.

Maybe in another three years they'll have all the bugs worked out?

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything, Lady Cincinnatus

New Ten Buck Friday Winner!

Patrica Sullivan is this week's Ten Buck Friday winner!

Patrica Sullivan pulled ahead for the victory, so now we focus our attention on her. If Sullivan wins the primary election on August 24, she will go on to face the loathsome Alan Grayson in November. If Sullivan is to succeed, she will certainly need your love, support, and appreciation, but she will also need some cold hard cash.

-Right Klik

Time to pop open a cold one...wallet that is! Your generosity will bear fruit this November!

Quote du jour

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.

-H. L. Mencken

Vintage Babe of the Week

Tonight's Vintage Babe* is Rita Hayworth!
(*a.k.a. Rule Five Thursday)











Like fine wines, the ladies improve with age!

(VIDEO) Obama on "The View"

by the Left Coast Rebel

Obama shows up on "The View", accelerating the Oprah-ization of the Presidency, attempting a desperate cleavage-grab for his flailing numbers.

Can Obama pull off the 'aw-shucks, ladies, I feel your pain (and thighs)...' schtick of Slick Willy and reinvigorate one of the Democrat's most consistent voting blocs?

I hardly think so. For those guided by emotion - Obama comes off as cold, Spock-like and even 'otherworldly' and disconnected. Not flattering traits with the ladies, no?

Obama on "The View" making splashes with the "I wasn't invited to Chelsea's wedding" routine:

Was "The View" showing worth giving the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree the cold shoulder?

Also, Puff-Ho columnist Robbie Gennet maintains the ridiculously inane progressive-playbook-narrative byline that Glenn Beck is 'radical and dangerous' but she states something I agree with (for the opposite reasons), "Screw The View: Obama Should Appear on the Glenn Beck Show"

That would be awesome, my dear, but alas - the Emperor has no clothes.

Cross posted to Left Coast Rebel.

Charlie Rangel May Skip a Public Trial but the Three Ring Circus will be Remembered in November

by the Left Coast Rebel

A reader sends breaking news and asks a question. In the LCR mailbox:

Lawyers have reached a tentative deal to settle ethics charges against Rep. Charles Rangel. If approved by the House ethics panel, the deal would stop public hearings on alleged ethics violations.

The buck stops no where with these guys - what do you think?

I simply wrote back, "every infringement stacks up to more electoral losses for the Democrats in November."

To expand upon this - perhaps a public trial would not be as damaging for the Democrat party and leadership (and potentially at the ballot box in November) as yet another smoke-filled-backroom-attorney-power-broker-deal is. I recall similar antics played out during the train-off the-tracks Republican congress and we all recall how that turned out.

Charles Rangel cutting a deal to avoid a public trial may just incite more anger from independents, Tea Partiers, libertarians, moderates and conservatives than the ruling class is estimating.

If only I had photoshop skills, images of Charlie Rangel and a three ring circus are flooding my mind:

Cross posted to War Planner, Rational Nation, Allied Liberty News.

BP May Reduce Taxes by $9 Billion Dollars Because of Spill

Master Negotiator Barack Obama took BP out to the woodshed to teach them a thing or two! Pay up $20 Billion dollars, said Barack. And everyone applauded the Boy King* for his masterful** negotiating skills. Now this:

The Washington Post reports: BP to cut U.S. tax bill by $10 billion because of losses in gulf spill

BP said Tuesday that it plans to cut its U.S. tax bill by $9.9 billion, or about half the amount pledged to aid victims of the disaster, by deducting costs related to the oil spill.

So, the net total of revenue to the US government and the American people will be half what Obama expected because of his ignorance of the tax code???

A portion of that could be refunded from taxes BP paid in earlier years.

So, not only is Obama not getting the full twenty Bil, he's going to refund some of what was already paid? Where did we get this guy?

The company disclosed its intentions as part of its second-quarter earnings report, in which it said it would record a $32.2 billion charge to reflect the costs of the spill.

Under U.S. corporate tax law, companies can take credits on up to 35 percent of their losses.

The credit for BP could mean, however, that taxpayers will indirectly foot part of the bill for the $20 billion fund that BP established to compensate people and businesses harmed by the disaster.

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said U.S. taxpayers would not be responsible for the cost of the spill. When asked whether BP should be claiming a credit, Gibbs said, "I don't think anybody would prefer that they do that."

And I would prefer to date a supermodel, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon either!

The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight is alive and well at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!

PS: For all you folks who defended John Kerry for where he docked his yacht, I hope your defense will cover BP as well!


*"Boy King", not "boy", for all you race baiters out there.
**"masterful" - has nothing to do with "slaves" and or "masters", for all you race baiters out there.

H/T Mullings

Cross posted at Lady Cincinnatus, Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything

"Are You Better Off Than You Were Two Years Ago?"

James Taranto, of Best of the Web Today, reminds us of the words of the Gipper:

"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

The question you should be asking your friends between now and November is:

"Are You Better Off Than You Were Two Years Ago?"

Is America?

Vote accordingly.

Ein Volt: The People's Car

Because a leader should take an interest in the transportation of his subjects people!

Inspired in part by LCR's take on Government Motors

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel

Medal of Honor

Second Lt. Van T. Barfoot

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 23 May 1944, near Carano, Italy. With his platoon heavily engaged during an assault against forces well entrenched on commanding ground, 2d Lt. Barfoot (then Tech. Sgt.) moved off alone upon the enemy left flank. He crawled to the proximity of 1 machinegun nest and made a direct hit on it with a hand grenade, killing 2 and wounding 3 Germans. He continued along the German defense line to another machinegun emplacement, and with his tommygun killed 2 and captured 3 soldiers. Members of another enemy machinegun crew then abandoned their position and gave themselves up to Sgt. Barfoot. Leaving the prisoners for his support squad to pick up, he proceeded to mop up positions in the immediate area, capturing more prisoners and bringing his total count to 17. Later that day, after he had reorganized his men and consolidated the newly captured ground, the enemy launched a fierce armored counterattack directly at his platoon positions. Securing a bazooka, Sgt. Barfoot took up an exposed position directly in front of 3 advancing Mark VI tanks. From a distance of 75 yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it, while the other 2 changed direction toward the flank. As the crew of the disabled tank dismounted, Sgt. Barfoot killed 3 of them with his tommygun. He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German fieldpiece with a demolition charge placed in the breech. While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted 2 of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety. Sgt. Barfoot's extraordinary heroism, demonstration of magnificent valor, and aggressive determination in the face of pointblank fire are a perpetual inspiration to his fellow soldiers.

Lt. Barfoot: We humbly salute you and thank you for your service.



Hat tip Home of Heroes

There are fewer than a hundred living MoH recipients today. Their names and their stories should not be forgotten. My mission is to honor one of those heroes here each week, and salute them for their courage and sacrifice. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers.”

Cross posted at Say Anything

Protest in Bell, California - I Hope I Played a Small Part in This...

by the Left Coast Rebel

.......because I surely support what these residents of Bell, California are doing with every fiber of my being. I wonder if my little Daily Caller canary in the coal mine-post put (even a little more) pressure on these miscreants in the city government that are/were fleecing the residents of Bell, California:



Glenn Reynolds catches the money-line from the Reason video, "They are robbing the city blind...We have a very predatory government."

And although this is sure not a Tea Party gathering in Bell, California - I can tell you that the spirit of the Tea Party and that of freedom is there.

And thinking of this - God help us when the typical-Democrat constituencies wake up to the Obamanation and the abominations that he has forced upon our nation.

Will there be civic unrest? Or is the question - when?

Hat-tip Instapundit.

Cross posted to Left Coast Rebel.

Quote du jour

The reason that liberals think that they are smarter than anyone else is because they are the smartest people they know!

(They should really get out more!)

-Proof

"Our Divisive President"

Democrat pollster Pat Caddell has co-authored a brilliant opinion piece for the WSJ, entitled "Our Divisive President". Mr. Caddell's bona fides as a Democrat are impeccable.
Caddell worked on the campaigns of Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Ted Kennedy. Which, perhaps, makes his words all the more above partisan sniping.

During the election campaign, Barack Obama sought to appeal to the best instincts of the electorate, to a post-partisan sentiment that he said would reinvigorate our democracy. He ran on a platform of reconciliation—of getting beyond "old labels" of right and left, red and blue states, and forging compromises based on shared values.

President Obama's Inaugural was a hopeful day, with an estimated 1.8 million people on the National Mall celebrating the election of America's first African-American president. The level of enthusiasm, the anticipation and the promise of something better could not have been more palpable.

And yet, it has not been realized. Not at all.

Rather than being a unifier, Mr. Obama has divided America on the basis of race, class and partisanship. Moreover, his cynical approach to governance has encouraged his allies to pursue a similar strategy of racially divisive politics on his behalf.

The Balkanization of America is accelerating rapidly under the "guidance" of Barack H. Obama. Caddell and Douglas Schoen take Obama to task for their treatment of race in America, the America that Obama's Attorney General called "A nation of Cowards". Specifically, the treatment or lack of justice accorded to the New Black Panther Party.

It is the job of the Department of Justice to protect all American voters from voter discrimination and voter intimidation—whether committed by the far right, the far left, or the New Black Panthers. It is unacceptable for the Department of Justice to continue to stonewall on this issue.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Mr. Obama's campaign emphasized repeatedly that his minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was being unfairly stereotyped because of racially incendiary sound bites that allegedly did not reflect the totality of his views. In the Gates incident and others, Mr. Obama has resorted to similar forms of stereotyping.

Even the former head of the Civil Rights Commission, Mary Frances Berry, acknowledged that the Obama administration has taken to polarizing America around the issue of race as a means of diverting attention away from other issues, saying: "the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. . . . Having one's opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness."

I heard an interview with Mr. Caddell on the radio today. In addressing the "We won!" mentality of the Obama administration, he had this to say:

"Winning confers the right to lead, not to reign."

Sounds like he knows Obama Democrats!

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything, Lady Cincinnatus

(PHOTO) Only in America - GM's Electic Car Volt Will Cost over $40,000.00

by the Left Coast Rebel

What to do you do with a failing car company with failed ideas, inferior products, crushing union-pension 'legacy' costs and a business model that is just plain outdated?

Well you take over the company, supersede contract law, don the company Government Motors and with leftists and Obama at the helm you make things like ---



Since you are paying for it, at least it's pretty, no?

It's called the 'Volt' and it's all yours for $41,000 and $44,000 for the 'loaded' model.

It gets worse though. Not only does Obama own the Volt, Government Motors is touting the new electric car's price tag as quite a bit less than $41,000 "because a federal tax credit of $7500.00 applies to it."

So essentially you have a ludicrously overpriced 'electric' car that can go 40 miles on electric power after which gas-powered generators kick in (?!?!), is being heralded as a landmark and is bought and paid for by you and me.

Color me unexcited.

Via Memeorandum, Cross posted to Rational Nation, ;Left Coast Rebel, War Planner.

"Barry", Not "Bury"!

"We will bury you!"

With a most unfortunate transliteration of the word, UN translators recognized their mistake a half a century too late!

Editor's note: For the sake of historical accuracy, and no reflection on the number of vacations Obama has taken, we believe the shoe in question to be a "loafer".

Quote du jour

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

-C.S. Lewis

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Slams the West and Octopus Paul

by the Left Coast Rebel

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has an opinion on an octopus?

When I first saw this story out of the Telegraph, I thought for sure that it was an Onion piece. Ahmadinejad criticized a cephalopod mollusk named Octopus Paul?

Catch - it's not that Octopus Paul is a bad mollusk, it's that Octopus Paul predicted the Spanish World Cup win:

Paul, who lives at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre, in Germany, won the hearts of the Spanish by predicting their World Cup victory. He became an international star after predicting the outcome of all seven German World Cup matches accurately.

I'd like to take Paul with me to the Del Mar horse races - I wonder if that would turn any heads?

Anyway Ahmadinejad chalks Octopus Paul's oracle abilities up to a giant Western conspiracy of propaganda, superstition and what not:

However, the Iranian president accused the octopus of spreading "western propaganda and superstition." Paul was mentioned by Mr Ahmadinejad on various occasions during a speech in Tehran at the weekend.

"Those who believe in this type of thing cannot be the leaders of the global nations that aspire, like Iran, to human perfection, basing themselves in the love of all sacred values," he said

I can clearly see Ahmadinejad's need for distress here. Also, he clearly needs to preside over a vast arsenal of nuclear weapons. Anti-octopus tendencies aside - how about the little snippit from his tirade about Iran 'aspiring for human perfection'? Very Hitler-esque, no?


The Oracle Octopus Paul is no joke. Here are some of the odds that he has pulled off per Wikipedia:

Assuming Paul's predictions were no better than fair independent coin flips, the probability of at least 12 successful predictions from 14 attempts is p = 0.0065, or 0.65%.^[42] (154 to 1). And the probability of his 8 successful World Cup predictions out of 8 attempts is 1/2⁸ = 0.0039, or 0.39% ^[43] (256 to 1). The first three matches were in the group stage where the outcome could have been a win, loss, or draw, resulting in a less than 50% probability of getting the result correct. Assuming a probability of 33.3% in 6 out of 14 matches instead, the probability for 12 or more successes can be simulated numerically to be 0.11% (corresponding to 3.2 standard deviations in gaussian statistics)^[44].

Paul started to receive international recognition after he correctly predicted Germany's win over England; after that he made four correct predictions. The chance of those final four predictions being correct is 1/2⁴ = 6.25% (odds 15 to 1).

José Mérida, a data analyst from Guatemala City, used a coin tossing model to calculate that only 178 individuals are needed to have someone correctly guess/predict all the winners from a series of 8 matches most of the time; and points out that there were certainly thousands and thousands of individuals all over the world making predictions on this matter during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[45]

Exit question - how do you think this octopus id able to do this? Do you think he may be a reincarnated Nostradamus?

Via Memeorandum, cross posted at Left Coast Rebel.

Obama to Skip Boy Scout Centennial

I'm not quite sure why anything this administration does can still surprise or disgust me, but they've managed to do it again!

Obama Will Skip Boy Scout 100 Year Anniversary Jamboree – Will Appear on “The View” That Day Instead

The last three presidents (that includes Bill Clinton, for those of you keeping score at home!) have appeared in person at the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree. The Boy Scouts are a venerable part of this nation's history. They have helped to build the character of Presidents such as John F. Kennedy. Presidents have been former Scout leaders and members, and the contributions of this organization to the United States are many and the Scouts can be proud.

So where will Barack Obama be when the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts takes place? In a TV studio on a talk show for women. Really.

President Barack Obama, the honorary chairman of the Boy Scouts of America, will not speak in-person before the group on Wednesday at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, as part of the organization's 100th anniversary celebration. However, the president is sending a videotaped message to the scouts for Wednesday, the same day he will be in Manhattan to tape an appearance for ABC TV’s talk show “The View.”

Bob Dries, chairman of national news and media at the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree – a gathering that happens every four years and attracts thousands of scouts from around the world – told CNSNews.com that the organization was told on Monday that the president had scheduling conflicts and would not be speaking in-person at the week-long event.

Scheduling conflicts. With a show he is taping to be shown the next day. Funny! He found time to tape some comments to the BSA. Why couldn't he have rescheduled his taping of the gab fest on The View, and make the personal appearance? Guess we know where his priorities lie!

It reminds me just a little of when Obama blew off his attendance at the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball, where he blew off 48 Medal of Honor recipients so that he could hang out with Hollywood stars. Even Bill Clinton who is said to have "loathed the military" find time to put in an appearance at the Salute to Heroes Ball at his inauguration. Clinton had just as many balls to attend as Obama. How sad a commentary is it when you fall behind Bill Clinton in respecting the military? Or the Boy Scouts?




H/T Gateway Pundit

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Lady Cincinnatus, Say Anything

Quote du jour

"Any coward can fight a battle when he's sure of winning, but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he's sure of losing."

-George Eliot

Oliver Stone adds to his Résumé

by the Left Coast Rebel

In the past year and a half I have blogged on and off about far-left director Oliver Stone. Much like useful idiot communist sympathizers Sean Penn, Danny Glover and dozens of others out of Hollywood, Stone typically doesn't disapoint when he finds himself in the headlines.

Call it a spontaneous Team America-moment when it happens. And an easy topic to blog about too, since he is such a deranged loon.

On cue, the recent Hugo Chavez 'documentary' (read love fest) that Stone shot perhaps pointed to a new level of moonbattery, even for the half-Jewish communist director.

Oh, did I mention half Jewish? Here's why, via Newsbusters:

Director Oliver Stone belittled the Holocaust during a shocking interview with the Sunday Times today, claiming that America's focus on the Jewish massacre was a product of the "Jewish domination of the media."

The director also defended Hitler and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and railed against the "powerful lobby" of Jews in America.

Stone said that his upcoming Showtime documentary series "Secret History of America," seeks to put Hitler and Communist dictator Joseph Stalin "in context."

Uh-huh.

And you thought Mel Gibson had problems,? asks Robert Stacy McCain, (while chalking up a must-read).

To which I ask, in response - why does Oliver Stone have any cred, even in Hollyweird? And aren't most of the power brokers in Hollywood Jewish, too?

There's something about the final evolution of a progressive-collectivist's thought pattern and ideological that also embraces the 'Jews are responsible for x, y and z' outlook as well.

On this, Oliver Stone reminds me of another favorite - Gore Vidal. Cross posted to Rational Nation, War Planner.

Is Everything "Out Of Context" With The Left?

by guest blogger Andrew Roman

__________________________________________________________________________

CNN's Warren Ballentine

To misspeak is one thing. It’s fairly common among Homo sapiens who communicate through spoken language. However, to speak without substance or lucidity, devoid of forbearance of thought – and to be admired for it - is quite another.

It is astonishing to me (and it shouldn’t be) how often Democrats – almost always portrayed as the most astute, most intellectual members of the political gamut - have to “clarify” and “amend” the things they say.

Have you noticed this?

Somehow, so much of what they utter needs to be placed in "proper context" after the fact.

Perhaps it just appears that way because they are afforded far more column space and air time to explain away gaffes, blunders and unqualified stupidity than Republicans are. Or maybe they just say more dim-witted things. (We may be getting warmer). Indeed, a liberal may conclude that the brightest among us are also the most complex of notion, easily misunderstood by the common folk and therefore requiring more time to elucidate their ideas for the masses – in other words, too smart for the room - but it simply isn't so.

Arrogant, yes.

Elitist, often.

But nuanced? Complex? Labyrinthine?

Not on a bet.

Is it possible, for instance, that the venomous, anti-American invective that infamously poured from the poison tongue of Barack Obama's former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, was taken "out of context" by the great unnuanced masses? Is there a chance that his repulsive, vitriolic bellowings against the United States from the pulpit were simply misunderstood by right-wing knee-jerkers looking to bring down a black man aiming for the White House?

CNN Analyst Warren Ballentine seems to think so.

During a recent "panel" discussion on the Shirley Sherrod issue, Ballentine said:

When this story first broke, on my show, I came out publicly and said I'm not going to do anything because this is the same thing they did to Jeremiah Wright. They played a clip without the whole context.

It's interesting to note that Ballantine - the cautious, reflective, contextual straight-shooter that he is - while unwilling to entertain the possibility that Jeremiah Wright might be a racist or a hater of his country (with a mountain of evidence to support that assertion) went on to condemn the Tea Party movement as an ideology steeped in racism, even though there isn't a single stitch of truth to back it up.

If I may be so bold to ask (realizing that I am allowing my inner white hood and sheet to bubble to the surface): How exactly was the racist Wright taken out of context?

What text from his oratory masterworks have we not been apprised of that would put everything he said - including his infamously renowned "Goddamn America" commentary - into its proper perspective once and for all?

What the hell is wrong with us?

And while Shirley Sherrod's now infamous comments may have been taken out of context initially, a quick listen to the rest of her speech reveals a women who is far from the angelic, color-blind, character-over-color soul she is being portrayed as by a disgustingly over-apologetic lame stream media. She, just like most modern leftists, is a relic - a race-obsessed smear merchant with no other way to explain opposition to Barack Obama other than white racism.

(I'm waiting for someone to tell me that I have taken the rest of her speech "out of context.")

Humanity's most prolific murderer
- and a philosopher to boot

Remember Anita Dunn, former White House Communications Director? She was the one who not only waged open warfare against the privately owned, free-market media outlet, Fox News Channel (“It’s opinion journalism masquerading as news.”) but admittedly got her intellectual tingles from one of her two favorite philosophers – the man responsible for the most murders in all of human history – Mao Zedong. She said so in front a graduating high school class. The man who murdered, by conservative estimates, 70 million human beings, is one of her two political philospohical heroes.

Of course, Dunn, after the fact, had to clarify what she meant – for the shallow of mind and unnuanced – and put everything in its "proper context," blaming a deceased Republican for her misunderstood comments.

She explained:

The use of the phrase 'favorite political philosophers' was intended as irony. The Mao quote is one I picked up from the late Republican strategist Lee Atwater from something I read in the late 1980s, so I hope I don't get my progressive friends mad at me.

Yeah, okay.

HBO's Bill Maher, host of the program Real Time, summed up leftist thinking in a column he penned just a month before President Obama's ascension to the Office of President-Elect suitably titled, “Republicans, Stop Calling Obama Elitist - Because the real reason you don’t like him is that he’s smarter than you.”

In one of the most telling sentences ever written highlighting liberal elitism, Maher wrote:

Barack Obama can’t help it if he’s a magna-cum-laude Harvard grad and you’re a Wal-Mart shopper who resurfaces driveways with your brother-in-law. Americans are so narcissistic that our candidates have to be just like us. That’s why George Bush is president."

Nice.

Remember when Labor Secretary Robert Reich spoke hypothetically, saying that someone running for President of the United States - if he or she did not actually care about being elected and spoke the truth about what health care reform was really all about - would be able to say, "If you're very old, we're not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It's too expensive...so we're going to let you die."

Admidst a firestorm of reaction (from conservatives only), Reich later explained that he was "taken out of context," saying, "The whole point of the mock exercise was to show that presidential candidates can't state what everyone knows to be the truth because they'll be taken apart by the Right or the Left."

Recall when Senator John Kerry notoriously asserted that young people in America who don't study or get an education "get stuck in Iraq" – one of my all-time favorite “misunderstandings.” According to the leftocracy, Republicans “got it all wrong” when attempting to interpret that one – including MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who cracked open his Democrat/English dictionary to offer the most salient clarification of all. He explained that Kerry was actually referring to President Bush’s intelligence, and was attacking Bush’s “team” as being dense for not understanding that. Said Olbermann, "Kerry called them stupid, and they were too stupid to know he called them stupid."

Recall then-Senator Barack Obama at the now famous Saddleback Forum saying that he couldn’t appropriately comment on when human life began because it was “above his pay grade.” He eventually had to clarify his statement by explaining, “All I meant to communicate was that I don't presume to be able to answer these kinds of theological questions.”

(It’s interesting to note that he apparently felt he knew enough to be able to decide that the killing of that “unknown” quantity was perfectly reasonable).

When candidate Obama, talking about small-town Americans, said, “It's not surprising … they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them … as a way to explain their frustrations,” he eventually clarified what he really meant by saying, “So I said … when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people … vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community.”

(That is still one of the most condescending things ever uttered by Chicago's most famous metrosexual).

Remember ... Democrats, besides being the brightest among us, also mean well - unlike Republicans, whose motives are almost always sinister. Libs are the upholders of true compassion, and care far more about human beings than Republicans do.

They’ll tell you so – my favorite example of which comes from former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, who famously said on Meet The Press once that “Our moral values, in contradiction to the Republicans, is we don’t think kids ought to go to bed hungry at night.”

That really says it all.

...although I've probably taken it out of context.

-

Quote du jour

I think we should add another corollary to Godwin's Law. I think that if you call your opponent a Racist, you have also lost the argument.

-Tim Slagle

New Ten Buck Friday Poll Up

This is starting to get good! Some top notch candidates again this week!

Make your voices and contributions known!

"That Black Panther Cr@p"

Please excuse the departure from the usual headline decorum, but what better way to view the judgment exhibited by the former, front running Democrat candidate for President, Dr. Howard Dean. That was a statement he made this AM on Fox News Sunday. (Before he launched into a series of inaccurate and ill informed talking points about Fox News.)
And exactly what "crap" was he referring to? The voter intimidation case of the New Black Panthers in Philadelphia.

An obvious question might be, Is he so out of touch that he was totally ignorant of the circumstances surrounding the incident? Possibly (not likely, but possible). But he spoke with such scorn and vehemence, he certainly had formed an opinion. And his opinion was that all the outrage about the New Black Panthers not being held accountable for racially based voter intimidation and civil rights violations, was "crap".

For those of you with shorter memories than Howard Dean (again, not likely, but possible!) you can refresh your memories a bit here: "Leaders of a "Nation of Cowards" "Acting Stupidly".


Democrat Community Organizers (billy club optional)


You know what really would have been "crap"? Having this guy Dean sitting in the Oval Office exercising his "best judgment" in keeping our country strong and free. Which, in retrospect, may have been no worse than the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!

Cross posted at Left Coast Rebel, Say Anything

CNN's Kyra Phillips and John Roberts Prove They Have No Idea Who Silence Dogood Was

I thought everyone knew that Benjamin Franklin, one of America's earliest known journalists published many of his works under the ANONYMOUS name Silence Dogood and Poor Richard. Might I recommend that CNN's Kyra Phillips and John Roberts take a look at this link to study a bit on Benjamin Franklin writing as Silence Dogood.

Quote du jour

Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.

-Justice Louis Brandeis

Headline du jour

Finger in Butt Crack Sparks Knife Fight

Truth is stranger than fiction! Besides that, I have no comment other than "Butt Crack Sweat" would be a great name for a rock band!

Saturday Linkaround

Bob Schieffer: I Didn’t Ask Holder About the Black Panther Thing Because I Didn’t Know About It


Liberal Hypocrisy: Paul Begala and Presidential Vacations


Sheriff Arpaio's .50-Cal Crime Sweeper

UK Turns Off Road Lights To Cut Emissions

Obama’s Second Act - Krauthammer

Why Republicans kill school choice programs

Andrew Breitbart Stole My Race Card! -IMAO

Flag burner busted in Ohio

One Small Step For Man, 41 Years Later

Limbaugh Answers Sarah Spitz Wish to Watch Him Die


What does 184 million gallons of oil look like ... I thought this one was an eye opener!

Rebellion of the serfs: CA Official's $800,000 Salary in City of 38,000 Triggers Angry Protests

"Journolist 2.0"


Obamacare Makes Life Much Easier For Michelle Obama!

Ringing the bell at the top: Paging Chris Christie

“Shirley Sherrod’s Initial Hiring Should Be Investigated” (Video)


Pravda would be proud


What I Learned From the Shirley Sherrod Case


My take on the Daily Caller Journolist revelations


Iran and the Plot to Blow Up JFK Airport

The Dad Life - video

Sen. John Kerry Skips Taxes on New $7 Million Yacht



Use the comments as an open thread on any of these topics.

The Women of PETA XVI

To the delight of some and the chagrin of others, we continue with our tribute to those lovely lasses who would bare their assets to further the cause of PETA. Because the world needs naked, nearly naked and vegetable clad vegetarians!

Again, any pixelation (or faux pastie) is designed to keep the blog PG-13 and the folks at Tiny Pic happy!













Women of PETA Archives

A Little Saturday Night Music

Scott Kirby - Gone to Carolina

On Anonymity and Blogging

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