Gulf Oil Spill From NASA Earth Observatory

Lots o' stuff on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Via NASA's Twitter stream and Memeorandum, "Gulf Oil Spill Creeps Towards Mississippi Delta."

And the untouched photos are at NASA Goddard's Flickr page:

And don't miss the phenomenal coverage at The Big Picture, "Oil spill approaches Louisiana coast."

Radical leftists have already exploited the tragedy, but see Sarah Palin, "Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe":

All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it’s sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.

Our hearts go out to all Americans along the coast affected by this recent tragedy, especially those who lost family members in the rig explosion, and our prayers go up for a successful recovery. May spill responders be safe.

- Sarah Palin

Boycott Shakira!

At CNN, "Shakira enters Arizona immigration fight."

Yeah, yeah. Another airheaded lefty celeb gets all human rights-y on us.

In contrast, let's hear it from a blonde with brains, Heather MacDonald, "Praising Arizona":

The Arizona law is not about race; it’s not an attack on Latinos or legal immigrants. It’s about one thing and one thing only: making immigration enforcement a reality. It is time for a national debate: Do we or don’t we want to enforce the country’s immigration laws? If the answer is yes, the Arizona law is a necessary and lawful tool for doing so. If the answer is no, we should end the charade of inadequate, half-hearted enforcement, enact an amnesty now, and remove future penalties for immigration violations.

Smashing Zero

I've kept my good friend Kreiz waiting a long time for some Smashing Pumkins. Here's "Zero" (Wiki link here):

Also, listen to "Tonight, Tonight" (embedding's disabled).

Plus, don't miss Theo's "Bedtime Totty..."

BONUS BONANZA: COED, "Weapons of Mass Distraction: 2010 Hooters Calendar Girls Invade Iraq."

Gov. Jan Brewer Speaks Out on Arizona Immigration Law

Megyn Kelly interviews Gov. Jan Brewer on Arizona's tough new immigration law:

RELATED: From Byron York, "In response to critics, Arizona tweaks new immigration law" (via Memeorandum).

Palin Hacker Convicted

At CNN, "TRENDING: Man found guilty in Palin e-mail case" (via Memeorandum).

And at Fox News, "Palin E-Mail Hacker Convicted on 2 of 4 Charges":

A Tennessee jury on Friday convicted the man who hacked Sarah Palin's e-mail account on two of four charges -- computer fraud and obstruction of justice. The panel did not find David Kernall guilty guilty of wire fraud. It deadlocked on an identity theft charge.

The former University of Tennessee student faced as much as 50 years for breaking into Palin's e-mail while the former Alaska governor was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.

The two charges for which Kendall was convicted -- unlawful computer access and obstruction of justice -- carried a combined maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. It also calls for as much as eight years of supervised release, but it will be up to the judge to decide the sentence.

More at the link.

Amanda Marcotte: Liar and Deceiver

That's what Jill Stanek argues at, "Amanda Marcotte, Just Another Pro-Abort Fraud":

While I think all abortion industry types are crooks and liars, there are some pro-abort ideologues who I believe are misguided but genuine.

Until 2 days ago I had Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon in that category. She's harsh and anti-Christian, but I thought she was honest ...

Despite our differences, I gave her the benefit of the doubt as being authentic. No more. Marcotte now falls into the liar and deceiver category.

RTWT to get the full background, but I couldn't resist Jill's Twitter exchange screencap:

Leftists are liars, as I brutally demonstrated recently with Captain Fogg of the Swash Zone. No amount of factual presentation will work with these pure haters. That's why good folks of moral persuasion have to keep the pressure on. It's a tough job, but thank God we have folks like Jill Stanek on our side.

BONUS: From Jill's WND essay, "Vaccines Made With Fetal Cells Causing Autism?":

Marcotte, childless, is in no position to argue in favor of recommending another's child as a human science experiment. Apparently it is no great leap for hardcore pro-death ideologues to advance from endorsing human embryo research to endorsing human child research.

Ouch!

Photo Credit: Flickr.

Arizona Legislature Passes Bill to Ban ''Chauvanist' Ethnic Studies Programs

Give it up for the Arizona legislature!

At Fox New, "Arizona Legislature Passes Bill to Curb 'Chauvanism' in Ethnic Studies Programs" (via Memeorandum):

After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature sent Gov. Jan Brewer a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.

After making national headlines for a new law on illegal immigrants, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill Thursday that would ban ethnic studies programs in the state that critics say currently advocate separatism and racial preferences.

The bill, which passed 32-26 in the state House, had been approved by the Senate a day earlier. It now goes to Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature.

The new bill would make it illegal for a school district to teach any courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

See also, Gateway Pundit, "Wow… Arizona Passes Bill Banning Radical Ethnic Studies Programs."

RELATED: Doug Ross, "Irony-meter shatters: La Raza, MEChA and other racial separatist groups worry that law enforcement might use racial profiling to enforce laws." And Aaron Hanscom, "Separatism 101."

Belated Earth Day Shocker: Green Tea Parties for Big Government?

Yeah, you read that right. Listen to Sting sing the virtues of "big government" at the video. Another reason why I completely disassociate politics from pop music. Well, almost completely: Thank goodness for Ted Nugent.

BONUS: CSPT features some Shania Twain videos (she's a sweetie).

Political Impact of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

The front page of my morning Los Angeles Times is splattered with coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. See, "Frantic drive to spare: Fears of an ecological crisis grow as crews tackle a leak that could rival that of the Exxon Valdez." The background is here:

The crisis began last week when the oil rig Deepwater Horizon sank in deep gulf waters, days after it exploded and caught fire. Of its crew of 126, 11 are missing and presumed dead. The rig was owned by Transocean Ltd. and operated by BP, which is responsible for the cleanup.

Oil has been leaking at a rate of 5,000 barrels a day. Because it could take 90 days to drill a relief well to stem the flow, the spill could reach 18.9 million gallons, more than leaked from Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound, the worst spill in U.S. history.

On the political impact, see "Gulf oil spill is a political challenge for Obama's energy policy." And at Washington Post, "As oil spill hits Louisiana coast, critics assail Obama's offshore drilling plan." Obama's gonna get hammered by the radical left base of his party on this (netroots enviro-Nazis are already pissed off), and he'll flip-flop on his drilling plan to mobilize the environmental vote. None of this changes the fact that we need to increase domestic supplies, but the Gull spill will be exploited out of pure political expediency. Soon we'll see the spill used as a battering ram on Sarah Palin, to weaken the attractiveness of her robust embrace of increasing domestic supplies. More at USA Today, "Should oil spill end Obama's offshore drilling plan?" And at ABC News, it's happening already, "White House Says No New Offshore Drilling Until Investigation is Complete: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Threatens to Jeopardize President Obama's Offshore Drilling Policy."

Pre-Order Pamela Geller's, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America

Pamela's got her book cover posted, and readers can pre-order, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America:

Book jacket blurbs at the link. For example:

Barack Obama is a revolutionary on a mission to cut America down to size. One size fits all, to be precise. His post-sovereign America is a country no different from any other: economically bankrupt, morally rudderless, with nothing exceptional about it besides the heights from which it tumbles and the remorselessness of its choice – his choice – to decline. With their characteristic attention to detail, clarity and fearlessness, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer assay the wreckage. The Post-American Presidency is must reading for every concerned American who needs to know why we’re in this perilous moment, and where we’re headed if we don’t take our exceptional country back.

-- Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review legal affairs editor and bestselling author of Willful Blindness: A Memoir of the Jihad

Yawn ... Tea Parties Are Racist (Nazis) Blah, Blah...

Lots o' stuff on the "racist' tea parties today, for example, at Powerline, "The Smear Continues." John Hinderaker laughs at the study from the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality, "2010 Multi-state Survey on Race & Politics." And of course, the university's research was picked up by Newsweek, "Are Tea Partiers Racist? A New Study Shows That the Movement's Supporters Are More Likely to Be Racially Resentful."

Or, ah, maybe they mean resentful like ruben_baruch@sbcglobal.net who (nearly unintelligibly) asked Michelle Malkin, "I just wondering how or where did you learned to speak like the way you do? Because you are are not white, and that is obvious ..."

Either way, the smart folks at Brandeis University are on the case! See Michael Graham's earlier post, "I Wonder If Brandeis Has Invited Nancy Pelosi To Speak At This Event?":

This is NOT a parody. It’s not a poster put up by some kooky student or lone Left-Wing agitator. This is an official poster for an official, school-sponsored symposium at Brandeis University:

The symposium will be a look at the American Right from a “neo-Nazi” perspective. And when Brandeis says “Neo-Nazis,” they mean “tea partiers.” Think I exaggerate? Check out the web page for the event ...

Click here.

But thank goodness for Roger Simon, "The real reason liberals accuse Tea Partiers of racism":

I have said something like this before, but at the risk of being a bore, and because of the times in which we live, I will repeat myself:

The real reason liberals accuse Tea Partiers of racism is that contemporary American-style liberalism is in rigor mortis. Liberals have nothing else to say or do. Accusations of racism are their last resort.

The European debt crisis — first Greece, then Portugal and now Spain (and Belgium, Ireland and Italy, evidently) — has shown the welfare state to be an unsustainable economic system. The US, UK and Japan, according to the same Financial Times report, are also on similar paths of impoverishment through entitlements.

Many of us have known this for a long time, just from simple math. Entitlements are in essence a Ponzi scheme. Now we have to face that and do something serious about it or our economy (the world economy) will fall apart.

Liberals, leftists or progressives — whatever they choose to call themselves — have a great deal of trouble accepting this. To do so they would have to question a host of positions they have not examined for years, if ever, not to mention have to engage in discussions that could threaten their livelihood and jeopardize their personal and family associations.

Thus the traditional wish to kill the messenger who brings the bad news: the Tea Partiers. And the easiest way to kill them — the most obvious and hoariest of methods – is to accuse them of racism. Never mind that there is no evidence — or what little evidence proffered has been shown to be manufactured prevarication — liberals must continue the racism meme at all costs. There is no other. To engage the Tea Party Movement in a battle of ideas would be suicidal for them, because the basic economic tenet of American liberalism — an increase in government spending and consequent increased national debt is good for society — seems nonsensical to the vast majority of our citizens at this point in history. And for good reason.

RELATED: The Blog Prof, "Video: Obama calls out riot police on 200 peaceful tea party protesters", which has this devastating Megyn Kelley segment:

See also, "'Racially Resentful': Dissecting the latest bogus tea-party poll."

Well We Ain't Fakin', A-Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On...

Leave it to Robert Stacy McCain to come up with some of the most interesting theories behind today's international news headlines: "Influence of Jerry Lee Lewis Has Belated and Unexpected Effect in Nigeria."

Check the link. Meanwhile, I'll just leave you with "The Killer." Multiple performances of a singularly great song:

Also, a whole lotta shakin' at Washington Rebel, "Morals or Markets or Boobquakes? We Post, You Tremble." And, Theo Spark's, "Bedtime Totty..."

RELATED: PA Pundits International, "Sunday Music – The Times They Are A Changin – The Bob Dylan Series (Part 4)."

Michelle Malkin Highlights (Yet) More Leftist Bigotry

My blog buddy William Jacobson's posting on Michelle Malkin's hate mail, so be sure to check it ou: "Just Say It - "All Immigration Laws Are Racist." Speaking of the left's "racist" allegations against Arizona's new immigration enforcement law, William notes:

At its heart, the accusations of racism stem from the view which many critics of the Arizona law share, but will not state: All our immigration laws are racist because the vast majority of illegal immigrants are non-white, and of those, a majority are Mexican. Immigration laws, therefore, must be racist, and those who seek enforcement of the laws are racists.

This is the argument which is not made, because it inevitably leads to an open border policy which is a non-starter politically. Open borders are advocated by many groups, but not explicitly by any major political party or politician.

Hence the tension. You will hear charges of racism no matter what is done to enforce the immigration laws.

Perfectly said, and extremely intersting, given that -- once again -- the left's latest attacks on Michelle reveal where today's true bigotry and racial obssession are found. See, "Breaking news: I am not white!":

The hate mail is on an increase again thanks to my outspoken defense of Arizona’s immigration enforcement measure. Too many to choose from, but here’s a typical response:

from Ruben ruben_baruch@sbcglobal.net
to writemalkin@gmail.com
date Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 7:42 AM
subject The color of your skin

Dear Michelle:

I have never met you or heard from you until today.

I didnt’ need to hear you for too long to know the kind of person you are or what are your personally.

I just wondering how or where did you learned to speak like the way you do.

Because you are are not white, and that is obvious, I would like to invite you to take a walk around or drive in Arizona and see and feel in your own skin the racism that exist [sic] in that state. I really would like you to experience first hand the racial prejudice ...

More at the link. Plus, don't miss video as well:

Obama Goons Send Illinois SWAT Team to Smash Tea Party Patriots!

From Dana Loesch:

As I reported on air this afternoon via Michelle Moore’s updates, Illinois sent in the riot squad to stop the couple hundred peaceful protesters from … doing what it isn’t exactly clear. Protesters sang “God Bless America” and apparently that was enough to invoke the riot squad. Illinois may be running a deficit but sure has money to burn for silly and unnecessary things.

Additional links at the post (via Memeorandum). But Dana adds:

Who gave the order to call in the riot police on protesters? Word is that Secret Service from inside the venue and the presidential team pressured local law enforcement, who were against the idea. Local cops were overruled, I’m told by various sources, including a few members of local press. Moore reported that she overheard Secret Service telling the riot squad to “push them back, out of sight.“

Intimidation tactic. Plain and simple. There was no violence, no arguments, just a couple hundred patriots who sang patriotic songs and wore red, white, and blue. Unbelievable.

*UPDATE

Doug Edelman identifies this man as the one who called in the riot squad and said to “push them back, out of sight” ...

The tea partiers were completely peaceful throughout, as they always are.

More at Gateway Pundit, "OBAMA & BIG SIS Call In Riot Police on Quincy Tea Party Patriots (Video)."

Public Dissatisfaction and Anti-Incumbency Shape Electoral Environment

Picking up on my comments this morning, I need to update with some additional information.

The first piece is today's poll out from Pew Research, "Pessimistic Public Doubts Effectiveness of Stimulus, TARP: Republicans Draw Even With Democrats on Most Issues." (Via Memeorandum.) Looking at the survey, the Democrats enjoy few advantages in a poll that overwhelmingly indicates anti-incumbency sentiments. After highlighting the intense public pessimism on the economy and the Obama administration's economic and financial policies, the report notes that:

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the Press, conducted April 21-26 among 1,546 adults, finds that as many say the Republican Party (36%) as the Democratic Party (37%) could do better in improving the job situation. Four years ago, the Democrats enjoyed a 47% to 29% advantage on this issue. Similarly, the public is evenly split over which party could do a better job of dealing with banks and financial institutions (36% each). Nor is there a consensus on who can reduce the federal budget deficit (38% Republican vs. 35% Democratic Party).

The Democratic Party holds a significant edge on only one of six issues tested – dealing with the nation’s energy problems. Even there however, its 40% to 32% advantage over the GOP is far narrower than its 22-point lead last August (47% to 25%).

While not the most salient issue overall, the findings on foreign policy are also troubling to the Dems (respondents favor the GOP by a margin of 39 percent to 34 percent).

And here's the Washington Post 's report on the Post/ABC News poll cited earlier today. See, "Poll Finds Americans in an Anti-Incumbent Mood as Midterm Elections Near." And at the introduction:

Members of Congress face the most anti-incumbent electorate since 1994, with less than a third of all voters saying they are inclined to support their representatives in November, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Dissatisfaction is widespread, crossing party lines, ideologies and virtually all groups of voters. Less than a quarter of independents and just three in 10 Republicans say they're leaning toward backing an incumbent this fall. Even among Democrats, who control the House, the Senate and the White House, opinion is evenly divided on the question.

It'd be an understatement to say I can hardly wait for the November elections. A couple of weeks ago Sean Trende published "How Bad Could 2010 Really Get For Democrats?" According to the article, on the possibility of the GOP takeover of Congress this year:

A 1994-style scenario is probably the most likely outcome at this point. Moreover, it is well within the realm of possibility - not merely a far-fetched scenario - that Democratic losses could climb into the 80 or 90-seat range. The Democrats are sailing into a perfect storm of factors influencing a midterm election, and if the situation declines for them in the ensuing months, I wouldn't be shocked to see Democratic losses eclipse 100 seats.

I'd stress again that most of what we've been seeing is general dissatisfaction with the nation's direction and intense unhappiness with incumbent Members of Congress. But the Dems hold the majority, and as the polls keep coming in with devastating findings for the party in power, I'm thinking, like Trende, I won't be shocked by the loss of 100 seats as well.

Sarah Palin Canadian Television Interview

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Ralphs Irvine Beehive

Last Sunday, while at the checkout stand at my local Ralphs, folks inside the store started gasping at a huge swarm of bees that began swirling out in the parking lot. I took my groceries home and came back with my camera. The bees had mellowed out by then:

You can see the hive as I got down a little bit:

And then a little closer:

I'm using my little Nikon Coolpix L20 Digital Camera with 3.6 Optical Zoom. It's been fantastic for point-and-click at tea parties, although not so great for closeups like these. Speaking of which, I'll have what Ann Althouse is having (er, using). Here's another angle of the hive. A couple of bees started to come at me, and while I'm not sure if these were the "killer" Africanized bees, I didn't feel threatened. That said, they were densely packed and potentially dangerous if someone were to get attacked by the swarm:

Africanized bees defend their colonies much more vigorously than do European bees. The colonies are easily disturbed (sometimes just by being nearby). When they do sting, many more bees may participate, so there is a danger of receiving more stings. This can make them life threatening, especially to people allergic to stings, or with limited capacity to escape (the young, old, and handicapped), and to confined livestock or pets. Once disturbed AHB will continue the attack for a long distance.

Anyway, Althouse has another photoblog here.

Meanwhile, I'm looking into a more specialized camera. I'm starting to do a lot of photography.

RELATED: At Iowa Voice, "Red-Bellied Woodpecker - Female."

Rightblogger Gender Confusion for Roy 'Bikini Burlesque' Edroso

Texas Governor Rick Perry's in the news today with the report that he killed a coyote while out for his morning jog:

Perry said he will carry his .380 Ruger - loaded with hollow-point bullets - when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He'd also seen coyotes in the undeveloped area.

When one came out of the brush toward his daughter's Labrador retriever, Perry charged.

"Don't attack my dog or you might get shot ... if you're a coyote," he said Tuesday.

Okay, pretty routine story, right? Well, not if you're Roy "Burkini Burlesque" Edroso. Turns out our man Roy's gone to snarking some stereotypes with his post, "ONE MORNING I SHOT AN ELEPHANT IN MY PAJAMAS":

I just shot a rattler this mornin' that was threatening my cat. Ain't no thang around these parts; we all has firearms. Then I ate me that rattler and made mah woman a necklace out of his bones.

What? I have just as much evidence of my feat as our Governor has of killing that coyote Neither of us had our security detail around.

There are some differences, I admit. I'm not running for reelection, which (along with my natural modesty) is why I'm also not dressing up my story with quotable quotes like "he became mulch."

And I don't have fans like Michelle Malkin to use my alleged accomplishment as proof that politicians she doesn't like are less than men:

This could cost Texas Governor Rick Perry the endorsement of PETA, but to save the life of his dog, it’s worth it...

In a related story, Florida Governor Charlie Crist screamed like a woman and jumped on a chair when he saw a mouse run out from under his tanning bed.

If you find that outburst about Crist weird and unseemly, remember: the sourcing is every bit as good as Perry's and mine.

Okay. Right.

Yeah, I'll give it to Roy that Michelle spoofin' Charlie Crist for "screaming like a woman" might be a little "wierd" or "unseemingly," except that Michelle didn't write the post. Doug Powers did.

What's wierd is the striking contrast between Roy's lazer-like focus on his "Bikini Burlesque" (NSFW) babes and his total gender identity fail on the blogging at Michelle's. And it's even more weird given that Roy's a self-proclaimed expert on the happenings of the "Right Wing Blogosphere."

I know it's hard out there, Roy. But sheesh, I thought you were "da man" (NSFW)!

Supreme Court Rules Mojave Cross Can Stay ... UPDATED!

Update: From Gateway Pundit, "Supreme Court Rules Mojave Cross Can Stay -ACLU Defeated (Video)" (via Memeorandum):

**********

At WSJ, "High Court Says Mojave Desert Cross Can Remain":

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a lower court decision that could have required removal of a cross that has stood in California's Mojave National Preserve for generations.

Although it splintered in its reasoning, the court suggested strongly that the cross should remain because Congress has transferred the small plot on which it stands to a private group, addressing constitutional concerns.

"The goal of avoiding governmental endorsement does not require eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy. "This cross," he wrote, "evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles."

The cross was originally erected on the site in 1934 by members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, to honor American soldiers who died in World War I. The cross has been maintained or rebuilt over the decades by members of the veterans group.

And at SCOTUS Blog, "Today’s Opinion: Salazar v. Buono Reversed":

Salazar v. Buono, No. 08-472

From Foreign Policy, 'Think Again: The Internet'...

Evgeny Morozov, at Foreign Policy, "Think Again: The Internet":

"The Internet Has Been a Force for Good"

No. In the days when the Internet was young, our hopes were high. As with any budding love affair, we wanted to believe our newfound object of fascination could change the world. The Internet was lauded as the ultimate tool to foster tolerance, destroy nationalism, and transform the planet into one great wired global village. Writing in 1994, a group of digital aficionados led by Esther Dyson and Alvin Toffler published a manifesto modestly subtitled "A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age" that promised the rise of "'electronic neighborhoods' bound together not by geography but by shared interests." Nicholas Negroponte, then the famed head of the MIT MediaLab, dramatically predicted in 1997 that the Internet would shatter borders between nations and usher in a new era of world peace.

Well, the Internet as we know it has now been around for two decades, and it has certainly been transformative. The amount of goods and services available online is staggering. Communicating across borders is simpler than ever: Hefty international phone bills have been replaced by inexpensive subscriptions to Skype, while Google Translate helps readers navigate Web pages in Spanish, Mandarin, Maltese, and more than 40 other languages. But just as earlier generations were disappointed to see that neither the telegraph nor the radio delivered on the world-changing promises made by their most ardent cheerleaders, we haven't seen an Internet-powered rise in global peace, love, and liberty.

And we're not likely to. Many of the transnational networks fostered by the Internet arguably worsen -- rather than improve -- the world as we know it. At a recent gathering devoted to stamping out the illicit trade in endangered animals, for instance, the Internet was singled out as the main driver behind the increased global commerce in protected species. Today's Internet is a world where homophobic activists in Serbia are turning to Facebook to organize against gay rights, and where social conservatives in Saudi Arabia are setting up online equivalents of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. So much for the "freedom to connect" lauded by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her much-ballyhooed speech on the Internet and human rights.

Sadly enough, a networked world is not inherently a more just world.

RTWT.

Authorities Bust Mobile Medicinal Pot Collective

Gotta love this one, "Rolling pot dispensary targeted in Riverside" (And "arthritis in the knees"? Can you say "Alleve"?):

A Riverside County man took his mobile medical marijuana collective on the road several months ago. But authorities say he's running more than a pot collective out of his RV, and they've threatened to put him in jail.

Stewart Hauptman is a former jockey with arthritis in his knees. He says he's successfully used medical marijuana for quite some time to help deal with the pain.

"When it started to help me, I thought about other patients that might need the same type of help that I was getting," said Hauptman.

So he converted his 1985 Pace Arrow motor home into a medicinal marijuana collective with shelves and baskets for the pot.

"It's a mobile RV, it's a one of a kind. It was just my understanding what people need in this lifetime, they want service," said Hauptman.

It would appear Hauptman has everything he needs to conduct business. He has his articles of incorporation and a seller's permit, but he's missing perhaps the most important thing& the marijuana. That's because everywhere he tries to conduct business, law enforcement tells him it's against the law.

"They're not allowing me anywhere to go, that's why it sits here in my driveway," said Hauptman.

Dems Can Run But They Can't Hide

The number of polls indicating a November electoral blowout of historic earthquake-tsunami proportions continues to grow. At this morning's ABC NEWS, "ABC News Poll: Ahead of 2010 Midterm Elections, Incumbent Support Its Lowest Since 1994: More Than Half Say Come November Elections, They'll Look for Someone New":

A third of registered voters are inclined to reelect their representatives in Congress, the fewest since the Republican Party rode voter discontent to control of the House and Senate 16 years ago, according to a new ABC News-Washington Post poll.

Nearly six in 10 said they'll instead look for someone new come the fall elections.

The impact on congressional races is uncertain, and the finding may chill incumbents of all stripes. But the dynamic does have a partisan cast: Republicans and swing-voting independents alike are far more likely than Democrats to be looking for change in Congress.

Plus, yesterday at Gallup, "'Enthusiastic' Voters Prefer GOP by 20 Points in 2010 Vote." And recall last week's Pew survey, "Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor."

President Barack Obama's victory in Election 2008 was one of the greatest political triumphs in American history. But as things look now, he may also be remembered as recording the most massive midterm electoral losses in American history. If Sean Trende's right, we could see Democratic Party losses into the 100s. Talk about CHANGE!

More at Memeorandum. And Nick Gillespie, "When Will Feds Start Listening? New ABC Poll Finds 56% - constant for 25 years! - Want Smaller Gov't That Costs, Does Less."

Boobquake!

Jules Crittenden's got a roundup, "Boobquake Seismic Survey."

And for a refreshing take, at left is Republican activist Kristee Kelley at the 2010 Indiana GOP State Dinner. As she writes at Theo's:

I tend to err on the side of modesty. I don't feel as though I have to show all my goodies to attract attention ... That said, I can't let the asinine Islamic cleric earthquake comments slide without protest.

Taking one for the team ...

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Now if we could just get Opus #6 off the ski slopes for a contribution we'd be stylin!

Erin Andrews on Jimmy Kimmel

I feel almost a little obligation here, having reported the Erin Andrews peephole sensation more than any other blogger on the web. One of the biggest controversies surrounding Andrews' peephole controversy was the backlash against USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan for arguing that Andrews had it coming:

"If you trade off your sex appeal, if you trade off your looks, eventually you're going to lose those ... She doesn't deserve what happened to her, but part of the shtick, seems to me, is being a little bit out there in a way that then are you encouraging the complete nutcase to drill a hole in a room."

Brennan also tweeted:

"Women sports journalists need to be smart and not play to the frat house. There are tons of nuts out there."

Brennan later backed off the comments, saying that:

"Twitter is a great format for many things, but not for serious reflection on an important topic such as this. "

Given the intensity of the story, and the unprecedented coverage it got (roughly 10 days of 24/7 media saturation), it's easy to understand Brennan's regrets. But other commentators made similar remarks at the time, and Andrews' later GQ photoshoot -- published that August, but shot before the peephole crime -- definitely lent credence to Brennan's "playing to the frathouse" line. And now with Andrews' hyped celebrity on DWTS, it's something of a mystery as to what lessons the ESPN hottie took away from it all. She doesn't seem to have toned it down much. Indeed, I can't ever recall seeing her more made up than at this clip of her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's last night. She's 32 and gorgeous, and I while she says she's currently isolated from sports talk, I somehow doubt that sportscasting's on the Erin Andrews horizon too much longer:

Also, flashback video of Christine Brennan on Reliable Sources last year:

Like everyone said at the time, let's hope something like this never happens again.

And a special thanks to Chris Smith of The Other McCain for his wise counsel on blogging this story.

Illegal Alien Superhighway

Via Theo Spark, "Arizona Border Clean Up":

RELATED: Rich Lowry, "Hysterics Against Arizona," (via Memeorandum).

Democrat Party of Hate and Racism

From Freedom Works, "Stop the Haters."

Extreme hatred warning, not unlike the searing demonology we get from Scott Kaufman, The "Boogie Nights" Boy, and TBogg (just for starters).

And racism too, from Repsac3, who's obviously created a dummy Twitter account to make vile racist attacks on conservatives:

Democrat racism. Typical.

ADDED BONUS DEMOCRAT HATE: Captain Fogg, "Graham Crackers."

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Added: Evil loves company ... turns out Repsac3's forwarding a career troll-spammer's racist tweets. Takes one to re-tweet one, I guess.

LaRouche Democrats Campaign at LBCC

Activists from the Lyndon LaRouche PAC set up shop on at the main crosswalk yesterday at Long Beach City College. I was walking back to my office across Carson Street when I spoke to the woman in the green shirt. I asked her, "How can you justify the Hitler mustache on President Obama? That's extreme." She then went into some whacked comparison between the U.S. and Nazi Germany. I disagreed politely and mentioned that I was professor of political science. She then proceeded to lobby me for classroom visits to meet my students! I almost laughed. I ran up to get my camera in my office. The scene upon returning:

A second woman was working the table. She was even more strident in her views of the U.S. as a Nazi regime:

Once I started taking pictures the woman in the green shirt clammed up. She refused to give me her name on the record for this report, and instead held up the LaRouche pamphlet and told me to contact the PAC's office. Not so confident and proud about the U.S.-Nazi analogy after all:

I have no problem with their activities, actually. It's their right. What bothers me is how the idiot leftist media makes these folks out to be tea partiers when they're not. They're Democrats:

Longtime readers will recall the first time I came across the LaRouchies: At the Adam Schiff town hall last summer. Interestingly, Wikipedia discusses the LaRouche PAC healthcare policies with a picture of the group's table from the event:

LaRouche's organization opposed the Obama administration's health care reform proposals, and its comparisons of U.S. President Barack Obama to German dictator Adolf Hitler in 2009 generated controversy. LaRouche called Obama's actions "impeachable," without actually calling for impeachment, due to his support of health insurance reform that LaRouche says is comparable to Hitler's Action T4 euthanasia program. The LaRouche movement has printed pamphlets with a picture on the front showing Obama and Hitler laughing together, and have made posters of Obama wearing a Hitler-style mustache. In Seattle, police have been called twice in response to people who were offended by the posters threatening to tear them apart or to assault the LaRouche supporters holding them.

As town hall meetings on this issue during the summer of 2009 began to attract very large and angry crowds, the comparison of Obama to Hitler began to show up on many signs and banners. The Atlantic wrote that LaRouche supporters "patented the Obama-is-Nazi theme."[149] The Anti-Defamation League issued a report titled, "Lyndon LaRouche, Holocaust Imagery & the Health Care Debate".

Nancy Spannaus, a LaRouche spokeswoman, told the Washington Times that the Obama policy was "a direct copy of the policy Hitler declared in October 1939, when Hitler issued the order for euthanasia against those determined, by a board of medical experts, to have 'lives unworthy to be lived.'" She said that the LaRouche alternative was to "cancel the bailout and HMOs, implement bankruptcy reorganization of the financial system, and return to the Hill-Burton system that made our health care the best in the world.

Katy Perry's Sexy Rolling Stone Photoshoot

I've been kinda fired up with a concert buzz today, after seeing The Eagles last night. So, I thought I'd check out Rolling Stone's new cover story, "The State of Rock: 40 Reasons To Get Excited About Music." Subscription only, it turns out. (That's frustrating, I know, but see here and here.) No matter. Katy Perry's photo shoot is worth your time:

As always, see Bob Belvedere, Sir Smitty, Theo Spark, and Washington Rebel.

BONUS: WyBlog, from earlier this week", prefacing today's "Boobquake."

SOMEWHAT RELATED: The Classical Liberal, "Right-Wing Links (April 26, 2010)."

COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC: Blazing Cat Fur, "Hero Squirrel Defends Dead Buddy."

Eagles at Honda Center Update

I've been totally busy at work and haven't been able to blog much today. Last night's Eagles gig was simply unbelievable. I was expecting a great show but the band's performance exceeded my expectations by far. I'll have more running comments on the show later, although I found this mini-review from a younger concert-goer that's worth sharing:

... on Sunday evening I went with my mom & my friend Simone (my brother's gf) to see The Eagles in concert at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It was SO FUN! Seriously, they were so good. I mean, what the hell do I know? They sounded great to me. I had fun. My mama had fun, my friend had fun. What else is there?? I pretty much knew all of their songs with the exception of songs off their new album (which I totally want to buy now!). Those guys are some seriously old, talented dudes. And I mean that totally respectfully. I'm guessing there was some pretty hard partying on their behalves in the 70's, and they earned those wrinkles, amongst other things. They played "Hotel California" just 3 songs in... so of course the crowd went wild. I also thought it was really cool that they played it so early into the set, they really gave the people what they wanted early on & that helped set the mood for the rest of the show. As it turns out we are all old fuddy duddies (technical term) and didn't stay to the very end. I'm sort of kicking myself for that because I didn't get to hear my favorite Eagles song, "Take It Easy".

Well, I'm happy to report that those "old dudes" played "Take It Easy" during the encore, as well as Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way." For the finale, Don Henley stepped away from his drumset to sing "Desperado" in the spotlight. We left the arena close to midnight. The band played a 3 1/2 hour set, and they waved goodbyes for what seemed like 10 minutes before walking off stage. As readers know, I've been to hundreds of concerts, and this was by far the best show I've seen in quite sometime -- and that's really saying a lot.

Anyway, I found an Eagles fans concert blog, which posted this interview with Glenn Frey:

RELATED: At the O.C. Register, "Stagecoach 2010: Toby Keith remains a cut above, fans celebrate 20 years of Brooks & Dunn":

Chuck DeVore is Surging, But Folks Wouldn't Know it From Los Angeles Times

At LAT, "With little money to spend, Chuck DeVore puts his faith in his message: Running third in a three-way race for the GOP's U.S. Senate nomination, he is a strict "tea party" conservative."

As usual, the piece is one of those balloon poppers LAT's so famous for. Note especially the quote from political scientist Larry Gerston:

"I don't know why Chuck DeVore has not done better. It is a mystery to me," said Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State University. "It does shock me that a guy like that, a good-looking guy with a good pedigree as far as the right wing's concerned, who says all the right things about abortion, healthcare, you name it, still he has not managed to move nearly as far as he needs to be considered in the swing of things."

Actually, DeVore reported $1.8 million in his first quarter campaign statement, more than Tom Cambell, who announced a $1.6 million haul. And the DeVore campaign has announced that billboards will go up across the state beginning today.

The Times mentions that, buried though it may be:

DeVore's voter outreach includes billboards, radio ads, yard signs that supporters can print, mailers and intense use of social media. Some of these pieces show how humble his campaign is: His daughter designed the billboards; his radio ads end "This is Chuck DeVore. Not only do I approve this message, I wrote it."

DeVore has also been an enthusiastic campaigner since he joined the race in November 2008 and has vastly outpaced his rivals on the campaign trail, holding 330 events across the state.

DeVore's Tax Day schedule showed the type of coalition he is trying to build among social conservatives, voters enraged by the Obama administration and long-time committed Republican activists. After hitting the Family Action PAC in Newport Beach, he spoke at tea parties in Irvine and Oceanside and capped the day off with a speech to a Republican women's club in Fallbrook.

By stitching together supporters in these various groups, all of which are vital in a GOP primary, DeVore sees a path to victory.

Polls show that many of Campbell's supporters are conservative Republicans, which DeVore said doesn't square with some of the law professor's positions. At least two independent expenditure groups are already spending as much as $2 million on television ads, mailers and robo-calls to tell voters about Campbell's liberal social stances — he favors abortion rights and same-sex marriage — and about his support for temporary state tax increases.

Once these positions become better known, some Campbell supporters will desert him and find a natural home in the DeVore camp, the candidate believes.

"I'm liking everything where it is and I'm going to press on forward and be the happy warrior because I think I am going to win this," DeVore said.

DeVore also notes that state ballot information identifies him as an "assemblyman" and not a "miltary reservist." But when more information about him is available, support surges. See SFGate, "Why DeVore is surging next to Fiorina in new Senate poll: He's a military guy." (At the Oceanside April 15th tea party, vets and military famlies got all fired up for DeVore.)

The takeaway here is that roughly a third of GOP primary voters are still undecided. And having seen the enthusiasm at the DeVore rallies, media honchos ought not bet against the grassroots just yet. With still over a month to go, events will test the dictum that "campaigns matter." Sure, DeVore's got the underdog role cornered, but in 2010 that's a campaign asset MSM outlets are downplaying like no tomorrow.

More Photos: "Thousands Turn Out for Irvine and Oceanside Tea Parties!"