Reviews of movies, anime, and the occasional TV show mixed with warnings on Blogger spam. Also to be found are musings on whatever I am thinking about - all from the point of view of being left to watch everything from the sidelines of life.
Today is a day about defending freedom of speech and exposing a man who will go to any lengths to suppress information about what he has done, including threatening people. That man’s name is Brett Kimberlin and I do not expect you to take my word on it. Instead, I will give you links to search engines for you to explore for yourself:
Check them out and come to your own conclusions about who Brett Kimberlin is and why this is important.
That is a pretty sensational headline and sounds inflammatory, doesn’t it? It also happens to be true. Beyond the idea of having to go on the run for your own safety reflecting the decay of America, this is a fascinating story of how a convicted terrorist and conman became influential in the Democratic Party. His nonprofit (for whom, I ask) has been heavily funded by some big name leftists such as the Tides Foundation, the Heinz Family, and Barbara Streisand.
I suggest people read up on Brett Kimberlin and ponder just how dysfunctional our society has become when people like him are allowed out of jail and into positions of influence. There has been a call to blog about him on Friday, but I felt the need to jump the gun in this case.
And people wonder why firearms sales are up.
UPDATED
The story gets worse as another blogger reveals how he has been harassed by Kimberlin and his cronies, including having an armed SWAT team sent to his house by placing a fake murder call to 911.
Basically everyone who posts about this thug are risking their livelihoods, if not their lives. While I am not even a small fry and will not be noticed, it does not matter. Unlike others, I really have nothing to lose, so I really appreciate what the bigger bloggers are doing by tackling Kimberlin.
A rather large scandal has hit Rupert Murdoch over in the United Kingdom. While there might be those like The Wall Street Journal who think this can be downplayed, it is bad. Very bad. In a nutshell, employees of one of News Corporations tabloids, News of the World, was found to have hacked cellphones of various people including politicians. Check out the Daily Telegraph’s live page for all the latest details.
I despise tabloids for they are utter trash and the embodiment of the worst aspects of yellow journalism. Sleaze merchants publish them and I’ve always disliked Rupert Murdoch for making his money from them. Far too many conservatives defend him simply because he owns Fox News with the rather uncomplicated view that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But the truth is the man doesn’t appear to have any values other than the desire for money and took advantage of the need for a “conservative” alternative to the monolithic news media in the States. Those quotation marks are there for a reason. Most employees at Fox News are Democrats, no joke – the donation records make that clear.
The scandal has been a classic example of how they happen in England, with things rapidly spiraling out of control when fed by a tabloid based news system. That means people who don’t deserve blame will get it too. But the heads of those responsible are guaranteed to fall, unlike here where you can tough it out much more easily. Already arrested and out on bail is Murdoch’s number two in the corporation, Rebekah Brooks. One of his sons has been implicated as well.
Sadly, this sordid tale of breaking into cellphones for information has also led to the discovery of police officials being bribed for information by News Corporation’s rags. Sometimes I think the thing bringing the world down today isn’t massive debt, but pervasive corruption through all walks of life. Not a cheery thought, is it?
As scandals go, it isn’t impressive in the damage done in reality. The gun walking scandal here in North America has resulted in multiple deaths, for contrast. But it is already having a bigger political effect, proving that perception is reality for far too many people.
I’m trying not to enjoy seeing Murdoch’s tabloid empire coming apart. It helps that there is concern over whether Fox News will end up in trouble of some kind due to a ripple effect. While I’m not a huge fan of the channel, it is needed as a counter to an extremely leftist media. There must always be countering views available to the populace for them to be able to make decisions on serious issues. Though with television, I have to wonder just how much depth can be given on anything.
At least News of the World is no more.
The butcher of Srebrenica has finally been arrested after all these years. Ratko Mladic, the rat who commanded the Serbian troops, was captured by Serbian intelligence and will be extradited to face war crimes charges. While the timing is suspect, since Serbia wants to join the European Union and had plenty of opportunity to nab him, it is still glad tidings. I remember ranting at the Clinton administration to do something about “ethnic cleansing,” which was a brand new phrase at the time and waiting for a small eternity to see action taken.
For people who think modern countries can always peacefully work things out internally, the disintegration of Yugoslavia should be a cautionary example. It is a very fine line between civilized and barbaric behaviors – something that should never be forgotten and carefully monitored.
Will be working on a post about the Tea Party in Winona last week and about the Republican Congressional District 1 endorsement convention this past Saturday to put up this week.
In the meantime, a few items that caught my eye the last two weeks:
A follow up on the couple beaten in New Orleans last week by leftwing protesters. The Palin pin part of it has been debunked, but it is very clear this was a politically motivated attack. The mainstream media shows that they are well beyond simple bias by ignoring this one. If conservative protesters had done this to a pair of Democrats it would be the overkill story for weeks.
Dr. Helen aka the Instawife has an interesting piece up about how psychologists are moving to social activism in their therapy. This is damning stuff and worth checking out. The desire to control other’s lives is getting to be the hallmark of the left.
Speaking of controlling people, the FDA is going to start regulating salt in prepared foods. This serves two goals: controlling the population even in the most miniscule way and to inflate the number of government employees (they’ll need to hire more to administrate this, of course). Idiocy. Look for more of this under the guise of lowering the government’s cost of providing healthcare.
There is no way ObamaCare can be funded, it is simply impossible. But the Democrats will keep trying and one way they want to raise taxes is by adding a VAT (Value Added Tax). That hasn’t worked out so well for the Europeans and is yet another way to retard the growth of an economy. In our case, it would kill it dead. Best quote:
In 2008, the average resident of West Virginia, one of the poorest American states, had an income $2,000 a year higher than the average resident of the European Union, according to economist Mark Perry of the University of Michigan, Flint.
Oh yeah, we really need to emulate those Europeans.
Denial of reality seems to be a big part of leftwing big government. Over in California they are doing their best to be like Europe and ignore the financial catastrophe they are in. Entertainment comes first but the piper will have to be paid eventually.
Meanwhile, that unpronounceable volcano in Iceland is still hampering flying and a bigger eruption is possible. But just how unsafe was it to fly? Turns out that the grounding was based exclusively on computer models and nary a single weather balloon was sent up to get real data. The religion of computer models has already given us the fraud of man made global warming and now this is going on. Once again reality is being ignored in favor of theory. I’m afraid science is dead.
The relationship between Israel and the United States is on life support as well. The hostility of Obama and his cronies toward the Israelis has been palpable of late and has generated a great deal of concern. I’ve been warning people he is slowly building a case for armed conflict with Israel and been greeted with dismissal. Better look again, as this refusal by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to rule out shooting down Israeli planes crossing Iraqi airspace to hit Iran. The ghost of Jeremiah Wright is alive and well in the Obama administration.
It looks like police are investigating my first theory about the theft of the sign (which has been recovered, thankfully). The current suspicions are that a wealthy Swedish collector hired the petty criminals involved in the heist. Poland has asked for help from the Swedish government in the investigation.
I swear too many people have more money than sense or morals. Of course it could turn out that the collector is a neo-Nazi since Sweden has more than a few of them.
