Moe Lane

Contemplate this: you have already guessed who I am talking about.

It is, after all, not a Republican administration.

Administration blocks helicopters for Israel due to civilian casualties in Gaza

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has blocked Israel’s request for advanced U.S.-origin attack helicopters.

Government sources said the administration has held up Israel’s request for the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. The sources said the request was undergoing an interagency review to determine whether additional Longbow helicopters would threaten Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Via AoSHQ, via The Hasmonean, who is apparently keeping track.

If this pleases you, by the way, consider that the administration doesn’t have the guts to do any of this openly. Saying one thing in public and doing another in private is a behavior pattern that most of us were supposed to discard by the time we graduated high school; I grant that this is honored more in the breach than the observance, but we expect more from our leaders. If the White House wants to disarm Israel, it should do it in public and take the heat…

Yes, I’m a blind, mad optimist. Almost dangerously so, in fact. But dammit: this isn’t right.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

…and he proceeds to explain. In admirably frank detail, and with a cheerful lack of concern about showing any respect toward those people that, in Klavan’s clear opinion, have not really earned it. Personally, I think that Pajamas TV may be shooting itself in the foot by not making this stuff embeddable, but nobody asked me, now did they?

Via Little Miss Attila.

Moe Lane

PS: In case you don’t have it:

Crossposted to RedState.

Or if you know a conservative with deep pockets, or work for one, or have something juicy on one and want to do the Right a favor – heck, just read What DealerGate Says About the Conservative ‘Message’ Problem.  Worth your time.

Josh has already covered it here, but it deserves to be pointed out again.

Crossposted to RedState.

[UPDATE] And welcome, Instapundit readers. What I said below, and I suspect that a few of you may find this upcoming bit of DVD news of interest.

[UPDATE] Welcome, Hot Air readers. And may I say that there’s a part of me that hopes that Pelosi tries to quash this? It’s a lovely time of year for a gutter war.

I was tempted to go with the headline “FEDS RAID VISCLOSKY!” solely to give some of our lurkers acute acid reflux, but really: this is quite good on its own:

Feds subpoena Rep. Visclosky’s offices

Federal law enforcement officials have subpoenaed the congressional and campaign offices of Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) to get information about a former defense lobby firm raided by the FBI, according to Visclosky.

Certain Visclosky employees have also been sent grand jury subpoenas requesting documents related to the PMA Group, a lobby shop with strong ties to the Indiana lawmaker. Visclosky’s former chief of staff, Rich Kaelin, was a high-profile lobbyist at the firm that closed its doors at the end of March.

(more…)

OK, I admit it: the Ambassador to France part is mostly mentioned because of the Yo Gabba Gabba thing.  Which is something that I’ve never actually watched, although I have a sinking feeling that as the kids get older I will be forced to correct that.  Anyway, it’s business as usual when it comes to giving out the prestige diplomatic appointments:

Big Dem Donors Score Plum Ambassadorships

Yo Gabba Gabba, indeed.

President Obama last night announced his intention to nominate a dozen individuals to key ambassadorships. Among them: entertainment executive and Democratic fundraiser Charles Rivkin, who the president has tapped to be Ambassador to France.

In 2005 Rivkin became president and CEO of W!LDBRAIN, an award-winning entertainment company that produces the Nickelodeon hit “Yo Gabba Gabba!” He served as the co-finance chair in California of then-Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

(more…)

His plans for Crocs — though almost more terrifying and real a threat than the swine flu — sound logical enough to work.

Doom.

DOOM!

DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM…

Crocs Determined to Survive the Downturn

Crocs have been on a downward spiral for months now. Fashion people have rejoiced at the thought of Crocs — the bubonic plague of footwear — succumbing to the economy and dying out altogether in the foreseeable future. Earlier this month, the company reported a loss of $22.4 million in the first quarter (last year they only lost $4.5 million in that period). The outlook seemed dismal for Crocs yet bright for feet everywhere! But like so many unattractive fashion trends (high-wasted tapered pants, Arden Wohl headbands, leg warmers, scrunchies … ), Crocs are poised to survive, quite possibly flourish. In March they brought on John Duerden as president and CEO. Charged with turning the company around, he’s painfully optimistic.

I’ll be honest: I’m posting this because of the ‘the bubonic plague of footwear’ crack; a line like that deserves as wide a circulation as it can get.  Justifiable, right?  So why am I linking to this?

Oh, that’s just sheer sadism.

‘Ours/theirs’ referring to which side of the partisan political spectrum this, well, nutjob was on:

Reporter Dragged Kicking and Screaming From Near Air Force One

A reporter for a small newspaper was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One shortly before President Barack Obama arrived at Los Angeles International Airport to depart California early Thursday.
Airport security officers carried the woman away by the feet and arms as she protested her removal.

She later identified herself as Brenda Lee, a writer for the Georgia Informer in Macon and said she has White House press credentials. The newspaper’s Web site says it is a monthly publication and Brenda Lee column is posted on it.

Calls to the newspaper and the White House press office were not immediately returned.

It was a tough call: on the one hand, she was trying to apparently hand off a letter to the President asking him to support ‘traditional marriage.’  On the other hand, she was dressed as, and identifying herself as, a Roman Catholic priest.

And now you know why this story’s getting reported. (more…)

So, I see this American Power link as part of R.S. McCain’s Rule 5 thing, and I ask myself: who the heck is Lady GaGa, and why was she posing almost nude for Rolling Stone?

Poker Face, Lady GaGa

Having watched the video: she’s actually not bad at all, but the woman’s hair stylist should be taken out and beaten with sticks.

[UPDATE] Jules Crittenden weighs in with his endorsement of Rolling Stone‘s endorsement of Small Wars Journal being ‘hot,’ too.  This is starting to be a rather weird year.

The Color of Magic: starring Tim Curry. And Sean Astin. Don’t get me wrong: Batman Begins is the stuff. But still. The Color of Magic: starring Tim Curry. And Sean Astin.

Moe Lane

“We can’t be scared to say that we want to be conservatives again.”

I had the opportunity to speak with South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley the other day.  Rather than subject you to my stammering and verbal tics, I’ve summarized the call below, with transcribed quotes as appropriate, and three longer ones highlighted. Bottom line: State Representative Haley is a candidate that anyone interested in fiscal reform should take a good look at. The interview did not go overly into social issues, but her views on life and family issues appear solid.   Her donation page is here; Facebook group, here; and official stance on issues, here.

On her background:

Nikki Haley was born and raised in Bamberg, a small (population 2,500) town in South Carolina: “we learned accountability & responsibility early, because the second we thought about doing something wrong, someone was already calling and telling our mom.”  She’s a second-generation Indian-American with a public school education and an accounting degree from Clemson University, which she later used to help improve and expand her parents’ family business.  She is married, with two children: her husband is in the Army National Guard.

“I am the daughter of two immigrant parents who came here with eight dollars in their pocket that never let us forget what a blessing it is to live in this country: I’m the sister of a man who fought in Desert Storm and I remember what it was like to wonder if he would come home; I’m the wife of a husband in the military who loves his job; I’m the mother of two children who attend public schools and I wonder what their lives are going to be like when they grow up; and I’m a legislator who knows what good government can look like, and I want people to know what it feels like.”

(more…)

Look who they’ve farmed the prep work off on:

Cynthia Hogan, chief counsel to Vice President Biden, will lead the White House team, with assistance from several other Biden aides. Former Obama campaign adviser and transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter will handle message and communications, two administration officials tell CNN.

The vice president, a veteran of Supreme Court nominations from his time on the Judiciary Committee, is also expected to play a key role, an administration official confirmed to CNN.

This helpful graphic may clarify the point:

That’s from the Alito hearings, which the Democrats rather badly wanted to short-circuit, but couldn’t. I concur in the implicit advice suggested by that graphic and the end of the CNN article: GOP Senators, make Sotomayor talk and talk and talk. Short questions, make her clarify everything, and the Senators going on later, keep track of what she was saying earlier and ask her about that.And here is my radical suggestion for these hearings:

I want every Republican Senator on that committee to set a goal of no more than 1,000 words for questions, and stick to it.

These are days for boldness.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

The Online Left have the Senate Majority Leader that they deserve.

(Via AoSHQ): In 1988, I was a Democrat. I came from a long line of Democrats; we were a good union household, the old blue-collar generation pushing the new generation into white collar. When it came to political heroes, it was FDR, Truman, JFK all the way: my parents voted for Carter, and grumbled about Reagan throughout his term. 1988 was my first election, and I went right down to the polling place and proudly voted for Dukakis/Bentsen. In short, I was a Democratic voter in a Democratic family in a Democratic state in a Democratic region who voted for two Democrats.

And if my Democratic parents had ever caught me calling a Republican First Lady crude names, even by implication, I would have gotten whacked on the ear*.

Speaking Bluntly
Mark Hemingway

[snip]

Three pages in, after lamely trying to establish his bipartisan bona fides by talking up George H. W. Bush, Reid shares this charming anecdote about his early days in the Senate: “[Former Texas senator and vice-presidential candidate Lloyd] Bentsen went on and on effusively about what a quality man President-elect [H. W.] Bush was. Then he paused and said, ‘But watch out for his wife; she’s a b[*]tch.’ I have never had anything against Mrs. Bush, but guided by Bentsen’s crude advice, I’ve always said that our forty-third president is more his mother than his dad.”

Which I guess makes me different from Harry Reid.

Thank God.

Moe Lane

*In fact, my mom would probably still do it. And I’d sit there and take it, too. That’s because I was raised to respect women.

Crossposted to RedState.