I’d laugh at the self-parodying OWSers, but I do think they’re dangerous

Update: OWS plan 'global disruption' on May Day  "I'm sure the usual tactics of trying to provoke the police into a violent response will be used, and the media will report every demonstration as proof of the "power" of this movement - even though the numbers of protestors are likely to be as paltry as they were over the winter.
"In short, we've seen it all before. And we're likely to keep seeing it as long as the press gives outsized attention to these reprobates and miscreants who resent their betters and have nothing to do except complain about how miserable their lives are."

Rick Moran

Bookworm Room  "Zombie has a new post about Occupy’s latest stunt:  The movement’s geniuses, inspired by Earth Day,

[I]llegally took over an entire farm and transformed it into…a farm!

So proud are they of this revolutionary act that they showed off the farm to the media yesterday, so naturally I had to check it out.

"Go here to enjoy Zombie’s photo essay.  Before you laugh too hard at these silly people, though, remember that they have the power to destabilize things.  The fact that they’re stupid, ill-informed, and venal is infinitely less important than whether they are successful at manipulating an alternately compliant and credulous media into making them seem like the cool, hip thing to do."

"Hypocrisy, thy name is Occupy. When society draws boundaries, builds fences, and makes rules, Occupy gets to violate them at will. But once they’ve seized control, Occupy immediately starts making new rules and new boundaries that everyone else is supposed to honor. Perhaps that’s the new Occupy motto: “Rules for thee, but not for me.” "

"Before the Occupation, the Gill Tract was an agricultural research farm where twenty-somethings getting their PhDs would work the fields to grow crops, as they researched biology or how to raise better, healthier plants. But now, after this incredible revolution by Occupy, the Gill Tract has been utterly transformed into a farm where twenty-somethings work the fields to grow crops. The only difference is that before, the farm served a scientific function to improve society, and was managed by experts and hard-working students doing meaningful research; but now, it’s run by a bunch of smug amateurs and dropouts who plant store-bought seedlings in the middle of what once was a controlled research environment. Meet the new farm — same as the old farm, except worse."

"Visit Amy’s tent for an individual stress-relaxation “hypnosis” session which she guarantees will have a “happy” ending."

Hat tip to Zombie

Obama the Cool

DonkeyHotey

Mark Steyn: “Can Barack Obama Make Cool Affordable”?  "The exploding cigars are revealing not merely of Democratic hypocrisy but of a key difference in worldview between liberals and conservatives. Jeremy Funk and Governor Schweitzer reflexively believe that their dog-eating polygamy-scion is different from the other guy’s dog-transporting polygamy-scion. This is nothing to do with young Barack being six or ten years old and meekly eating whatever was put in front of him. He was 34 years old when he wrote the passage quoted above and ten years older when he recorded the audio edition. And, as both versions make plain, he thinks it’s kinda cool, and he knows that to the average upscale white liberal it has the electric frisson of the exotic other."


Then there is this article from earlier: It's Cool To Be In The Tank For Obama

Celebrity-in-Chief: http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/04/celebrity-in-chief/

Did Obama cross that fine line between cool and silly?  "One could argue that Obama's Fallon appearance was quite well done, which it was — for that sort of thing. The president played straight man and said or did nothing objectionable. He was, in a word, presidential, to the extent one can be under such circumstances. Even at the end when he said, "Oh yeah," it was ... cool.

"Yet the effect was nearly narcotic, so strange that cognitive dissonance doesn't quite describe it. One had the uneasy feeling that something wrong was happening. The lead grown-up isn't supposed to act that way."

Jonah Goldberg: Obama, Trump and “Cool”  "That said, Trump does have half a point here. I wish the ad had at least one or two really solid clips conveying how despearately Obama wants to seem cool, which is always the great coolness-killer. It would have helped set the tone of the ad much better. What would those clips be? I’m not sure, but then again I’m not making the ad. Michael Moore seems to find a way to find that kind of footage pretty easily, and I have no doubt it can be found in Obama’s case."


The Karl Rove video: One Cool Celebrity President appears in Republican ads

Obama the Gutsy Warrior

Adm. William McRaven

Blackfive: "GUTSIEST CALL EVER" DELEGATED TO MAN W/ ACTUAL GUTS  "There are even fairly reliable reports that Obama had the idea polled to see if he would bear blame for a mission failure or for chickening out and saying no go. But once the results said it was politically viable, the story was that bravely brave Sir Barry hollered "Follow Me" and led his minions to the Situation Room to watch the show.

"As it turns out, it was even lamer than that. A memo has come to light that shows responsibility was pushed down the chain to ADM McRaven.... And you can be sure that if it had gone south, McRaven would have been portrayed as a trigger-happy SEAL who led the Prez astray."

The author of this post then contrasts the above with the press statement Gen Eisenhower wrote on D-Day when things looked bleakest on Omaha Beach:

“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Harve area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”

The Man Who Got bin Laden: The Most Deadly Would-be Journalist in the World "Vice Adm. William McRaven, himself a SEAL, was on the ground in Afghanistan as bin Laden met his end, linked electronically to CIA chief Leon Panetta at agency headquarters in Langley, Va. “I have to tell you that the real commander was Admiral McRaven,” Panetta told PBS Tuesday night. “He was on site, and he was actually in charge of the military operation that went in and got bin Laden.” "

sodahead

Gutsy call?  "Team Obama has already painted Romney as a heartless executive who didn’t hesitate to fire people and, er, execute poorly-performing companies as a Bain executive.  What exactly would keep Romney from taking a risk with a terrorist mastermind in his crosshairs?  The attack was an overreach, and an opening for critics to challenge Obama’s actual role in the mission — and when Time Magazine published the mission orders from Leon Panetta to Admiral William H. McRaven, commander of US Special Operations Command, Big Peace pounced:"


NY Times: Warrior in Chief  "Soon after Mr. Obama took office he reframed the fight against terrorism. Liberals wanted to cast anti-terrorism efforts in terms of global law enforcement — rather than war. The president didn’t choose this path and instead declared “war against Al Qaeda and its allies.” In switching rhetorical gears, Mr. Obama abandoned Mr. Bush’s vague and open-ended fight against terrorism in favor of a war with particular, violent jihadists."
For which I would say Mr. Obama deserves a hearty well-done!  Oh, by the way: "Asked his view, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said, “Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go.” "


Max Boot responds to the NY Times article above: Obama Hardly a Hawkish Warrior-in-Chief   "These are hardly the actions of a hawkish commander-in-chief. (At least in my view as a Romney defense adviser.) Yet the reality of Obama’s foreign and defense policy, which especially because the death of bin Laden has turned notably more dovish, has been obscured by the president’s attempt to focus most of the public’s attention on his drone strikes and commando raids on al-Qaeda."


Memo Reveals The 'Gutsy' Bin Laden Call That Wasn't  "Like so many others, the final decision to pull the trigger on the world's most-wanted man was delegated to an admiral who undoubtedly would have been thrown under the bus had the mission failed."
...."Luckily, operational control was in McRaven's hands, and the planning, execution and decision-making were virtually flawless. There was no repeat of the incident years before of Sandy Berger, last seen stuffing classified documents in his pants, telling a CIA and Northern Alliance team in Afghanistan, on that occasion literally a matter of feet away from bin Laden, that if they want to grab him, they'll have to do it on their own. So they didn't. This time, we had an admiral and former Navy SEAL making the decision."
...."Finally, it was the courageous and well-trained Navy SEALs who put their lives on the line and got a small measure of revenge for Sept. 11, 2001. It is President Obama who is falsely taking all the credit." (Emphasis added by TD)


White House Politicizes Situation Room  "The White House invited NBC News Anchor Brian Williams into the Situation Room Thursday as part of its campaign to tout Obama’s killing of Osama Bin Laden a year ago, according to Politico."

Here is how Obama uses our SEALs for his reelection:

Alan Caruba: The "What If" of John Edwards

Warning Signs  "It also says something about an America in which too many voters preferred a candidate like Edwards with good hair or Obama’s “cool” look.. Too many have either not learned or have forgotten the gravity of the choices we make when the high offices are at stake. The election is not a horse race or a beauty contest. It is often the life and death of our economy and of the men and women we send into battle.

donkeyhotey

"In 2008 the media and a majority portion of the voters elected Barack Obama and we have had to endure someone who is arguably the worst President this nation has ever had. We have to avoid that occuring again. The fate of the nation depends on it."


For Edwards and Aide, Another Lost Love Story  "Mr. Edwards’s own family relationships were front and center all week in the courtroom. Whenever details of the affair were mentioned, and they were at length, many in the courtroom would glance at his eldest daughter, Cate, 30, gauging, perhaps, how it must feel to hear about your father’s mistress getting caught in a luxury hotel room after your father had left."  NY Times.

Ann Coulter on Why America Hates Hollywood (Opinion)

Hollywood Reporter; The conservative pundit says that the industry demonizes just about everyone: Christians, priests, the rich, Southerners and more.

...."In other words, the exact opposite of a Law and Order plot. I like watching beautiful rich people with fabulous Manhattan apartments killing one another as much as anyone. Maybe more. But why do ALL the wealthy white people, Christians, Southerners or WASPS in these scripts have to be racist, misogynist snobs? Whatever happened to diversity? Hollywood learned to stop stereotyping black characters. Can't it learn to stop stereotyping the rest of America?

"Not to brag, but I've been to America. The natives do not need coaching in tolerance, certainly not from beautiful airheads who are paid like Enron executives to lecture us -- the child-molesting, greedy racists -- about learning to be decent human beings."

Here Ann likens Trayvon Martin Media Coverage to 'Lynch Mob' and, yes, the KKK

"Rush Limbaugh has accused the media of playing up the racial aspect of the case and said that they drummed up "fake outrage" in this case, as they did during the heat of his Sandra Fluke controversy."
regions-foreign-to-them/

Video from Pat Dollard