Columnist Richard Cohen writes in this morning's Washington Post about James von Brunn, the murderer who shot up the Holocaust Museum last month.

First, let us consider the question of which "community" von Brunn was allegedly attempting to devastate. He rushed the Holocaust museum, which memorializes the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis and their enablers. There could be no more poignant symbol for the Jewish community. Yet von Brunn killed not a Jew but an African American -- security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns.

So which community was affected by this weird, virtually suicidal act? Was it the Jewish community or the black community? Since von Brunn hated both, you could argue that it does not matter. But since I would guess that neither community now gives the incident much thought, the answer might well be "neither one." So what is the point of piling on hate crimes to what von Brunn has allegedly done? Beats me. He already faces -- at age 89, remember -- a life sentence and, possibly, the death penalty.

The real purpose of hate-crime laws is to reassure politically significant groups -- blacks, Hispanics, Jews, gays, etc. -- that someone cares about them and takes their fears seriously. That's nice. It does not change the fact, though, that what's being punished is thought or speech. Johns is dead no matter what von Brunn believes. The penalty for murder is severe, so it's not as if the crime is not being punished. The added "late hit" of a hate crime is without any real consequence, except as a precedent for the punishment of belief or speech. Slippery slopes are supposedly all around us, I know, but this one is the real McCoy.

He concludes:

In von Brunn's case, the hate-crime counts are an obscenity. To suggest that the effects of this attack were felt only by the Jewish or the black communities -- and not, for instance, by your average Washington tourist -- ghettoizes both its real and purported victims. It's a consequence that von Brunn himself might applaud.

Read the whole thing.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:08 AM | Add Comment
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Happy Tuesday.

Jeebus. The spambots were fast this morning. Deleted a few and blocked. Hopefully that takes care of it for now.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:07 AM | Add Comment
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Hmm - not sure where genghis is but I'll throw this up in the meantime.

Item #1: 10 Brutal Food Examples From "This Is Why You're Fat"
Okay some of these are kinda gross, but if I had drunk a few beers and it was late all of these would be in danger of being eaten.

Whoops, Censored [ace]: While I dearly love busty babes of Britain, please no porn or near-porn in open threads. A rule I have.

Here's Jim Treacher's Why So Spurious? instead. Almost as good. Well, maybe not, but it's still really really good.

Update/Correction/Clarification: (genghis) Since we're editing Maetenloch's ONT post I might as well tack on something completely unrelated. Well, sort of. It's regarding last Saturday night's ONT and the "Thundercrack" thingy. I'm sure you've all rushed out to buy the DVD. I only bring it up now because "Thundercrack" was mentioned at least twice in the opening 10 minutes of Red Eye on Monday night, and I got a kudo or two in the thread since it appeared that Red Eye had actually picked up and referenced something I'd written here at AoS. An easy enough conclusion to make and I appreciate it, but none of the sub-morons around here even read anything I write, much less anyone at Red Eye or elsewhere. The truth is actually somewhat in reverse and here's how it went down:

1. Friday afternoon I was listening to a popular local radio talk show host named Dori Monson and he was discussing various ridiculous items in the various ridiculous stimulus packages. As he was talking about it I got distracted by a phone call but was still trying to listen somewhat to the show. The two things I wrote down on a post-it note during the call were "Thundercrack" and "Citizens Against Govt. Waste" (CAGW). I meant to check into them but never got around to it.

2. Fast forward to Saturday night. I had a bunch of decent links and things for the ONT that everyone could ignore as usual but nothing really screamed "morons!" to me. Running low on time I spotted that post-it on my desk with "Thundercrack" and CAGW. Why not check it out? After looking up and visiting the "Thundercrack" site it became obvious that it needed posted, stat! Nothing else would suffice. Yet it still needed that "newsish" stimulus angle to it. Problem was, CAGW's site decided to die that evening and that's where I thought the newsish link could be found. After many attempts and also trying to get the story from elsewhere I said "screw it," deciding that half a post was better than writing a whole new one about kittens and quilting. So that's the sad tale of the ONT from Saturday.

But now the truth can be told and my hackery exposed.

Had I listened a little more closely to my radio buddy Dori I might've heard that CAGW was merely referenced in the story and not the actual source that he used. He helpfully cleared that up Sunday night by sending me the link to the Fox News Channel story from whence it came. Isn't it ironic? Don't you think? So the FNC article does mention a quote by David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste regarding "Thundercrack" and other NEA grants funded by the stimulus packages that are beyond dubious.

Or perhaps it's all just a big misunderstanding since the words "stimulus" and "package" were in play here.

So that's my story and I'm sticking with it. Please note that I've already boxed up the Pulitzer that arrived late Sunday and it'll be Fed-Exed back later today. Hopefully you can forgive this error in judgement and poor post-it note management so I can one day return to swiping the best stuff from Cracked.com in order to provide you with the quality journalism you expect from the ONT. If not I'd certainly appreciate it if anyone could forward me the e-mail address to the HR Department at the New York Times. Humbly yours,

genghis

Need I say more. (not sure if this was part of Maet's original post, Ace's horrifying and Pravda-ish censorship, something Treacher snuck in when we weren't looking etc. - genghis)

more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:02 PM | Add Comment
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Guess who has a book on Amazon? No, really - guess. Its someone you should recognize, because they played a part in a recent scandal. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you.......Crystal Gail Mangum.

No, seriously. I shit you not.

I know what you're saying. "Russ, doesn't the world need another book written by a self promoting skank* with mental health issues?" I say YES! - and since Courtney Love and Joe Biden are currently busy with other engagements, why not offer the alleged victim in the Great Alleged Duke Lacrosse Rape Cluster-frack and Mongolian Media Goat Rodeo a book deal?

I was skimming a local political website when I ran headlong into this Masterpiece of The Printed Word. Apparently, Ms. Mangum's "Gentleman of Leisure Business Manager" helped her publish a book dedicated to revealing "her side of the story"**.

** (You know......the side of the story that was ignored by everyone, except maybe MSNBC, Nancy Grace, the Group of 88 on the Duke Campus, Mike Nifong & the local DA's office, the vast majority of the national media, and the usual race-hustling suspects (Sharpton, Jackson, et. al.), and watercooler conversations around the entire world)

Apparently, this gentleman is a VERY aggressive googler, since a tangental mention of this book in a comment appearing on a blog dedicated to Iowa Republican politics caused him to rush headlong into the fray and start "putting us some freakin' knowledge".

I doubt that I'll ever take the time to read this book, but the fact that it even exists makes me doubt the basic goodness of humanity.

(* - I originally used the word "whore" here, but I decided to change it to "skank" because I don't believe that Ms. Mangum was ever convicted of prostitution. Just because someone is involved in dancing naked at frat parties, that doesn't necessarily mean that they have ever exchanged sexual intercourse for cash. I believe in being precise, and since that word has a very negative implication, I decided to "not go there", and I'd appreciate if the rest of you would also refrain from piling on a tragic figure with mental health issues.................by saving your venom for the race hustling pimps who are trying to make money off this disgusting book.)

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 06:41 PM | Add Comment
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I've been waiting for a near-future space show for a while, preferably one set within our solar system. It's something that has been missing from popular media--or even unpopular media--with a few notable exceptions. (2007's "just missed it by that much" Sunshine comes to mind; and I still think it's worth a view, despite its flaws.)

I've always wanted a television show or movie (but, really, a television show) in the flavor of Ben Bova's Grand Tour or even Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (leftist, I know). You're telling me there's no drama to space exploration if it's not set in the far-future or outside Earth's solar system?

I had hopes for Ronald D. Moore's Virtuality but that sucked big floppy donkey dick. Now I've got my eye on Defying Gravity which premiered last night and can be seen over on Hulu. It's on ABC on Sunday nights, something I did not know. (This might partially explain its middling numbers; promotion, hello?)

Just finished the pilot. Not bad. Strong cast, including Ron Livingston. This episode was mainly introducing characters and the story arc, so it was a little light on plot.

Two things worth mentioning: I understand the need of the production for some type of pseudo-gravity in the non-rotating parts of the spacecraft and the treknobabble explanation was kept brief. Good.

However, the reliance on yet another conspiracy to drive the plot has me tempted to stop watching right now. I HATE lame-ass shows that are all about an extremely unlikely conspiracy involving dozens if not hundreds of people who magically never speak to their spouses or leave stuff from the office laying around where the cleaning service can see it. It's lazy writing. I stopped watching LOST and Prison Break because of that shit.

As of the pilot, the details of the conspiracy are very vague--probably because the writers only know the broad outlines. My advice: keep it that way. Tuck that sucker in a drawer and bring it out only when the meddling executives say you have to use it. There's more than enough tension and drama in being stuck on a spacecraft with eight people for six years.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:11 PM | Add Comment
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Oh, do they mean like this, as published in Vanity Fair just over one year ago?

Of course not. (That's Bush, in case his features are too demoniacal for you to recognize.)

It's only when their own precious gets made up like a clown that it's like a photoshop lynching.

Big Hollywood also notices that the LA Weekly, so upset by this Obama Joker image, published themselves pictures of Bush-as-Vampire.

But it's racist to do it to Obama.

Not just partisan politics as usual. No, racist and dangerous.

Yeah, it was dangerous to demonize Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Palin, too. There are plenty of insane liberals. Some of them are even violent. Like, you know those ex-convicts Democrats always want back on the voting rolls? Yeah. They're not voting GOP, by and large.

Nor are the hardcore Islamic jihadist types that Barry & Co. have been wooing. And I hear that once in a while such a hardcore Islamist jihadist type sometimes gets it into his head to commit a malfeasance or two.

But while there is always some danger in hard-nosed partisan politics -- always risk that some one thinks his path to becoming a Big Damn Hero lies through political assassination -- I seem to notice that the liberal media is rather more comfortable with those risks when it's a GOP in the cross-hairs.

"Snipers Wanted," Craig Kibourne said, and the media yawned.

But this?

Outrage.

So, sure, the left's relentless naming of Republican officials as fascists, criminals, and murderers might have elevated the risk that someone would kill them.

And sure, Democratic candidates' pandering to fantasies that Bush murdered 3000 people on 9/11 maybe might have put it in someone's head that such a crime must be avenged, and if not by the "fascist" politicized Department of Justice, then by one lone nut.

And the media collectively said, "We're willing to roll the dice on that. Kind of win-fucking-win, isn't it?"

So to the suddenly-alarmed media: fuck y'all and go die in a fire.

Vanity Fair Bush-as-Joker pic via this guy right here, found at The Corner.

Posted by: Ace at 04:07 PM | Comments (5)
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Ace posted this video of Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett bailing on a town-hall type question-and-answer in his Austin district as concerned citizens chanted "just say no" to the Democrats' healthcare plans. The embarrassed and imperiled Blue Dog then issued a statement loaded with liberal strawmen:

This mob, sent by the local Republican and Libertarian parties, did not come just to be heard, but to deny others the right to be heard. And this appears to be part of a coordinated, nationwide effort. What could be more appropriate for the “party of no” than having its stalwarts drowning out the voices of their neighbors by screaming “just say no!” Their fanatical insistence on repealing Social Security and Medicare is not just about halting health care reform but rolling back 75 years of progress. I am more committed than ever to win approval of legislation to offer more individual choice to access affordable health care. An effective public plan is essential to achieve that goal.

I've been hoping that the tea parties would blossom into a more focused results-oriented grassroots movement. Sure, Taxes=Bad; now let's shoot down some spending while we're at it.

This month is our chance to be heard as Democrats try and push Obamacare during the recess. Don't forget to give 'em a piece of your mind on Cap & Tax; it's still pending in the Senate.

UPDATE: Sen. Durbin claims that the Americans so upset by Democratic plans to sink our healthcare into the Dark Ages aren't really upset at all. Rather, he says they're being paid by insurance companies:

"I hope my colleagues won't fall for a sucker punch like this," Durbin told the liberal blog ThinkProgress.

"These health insurance companies and people like them are trying to load these town meetings for visual impact on television," he added.

This, of course, is just an extension of San Fran Nan's plan to demonise insurers. It echoes Doggett's hysterical claim that we're part of some "coordinated" attack on Democrats.

Next they'll be claiming that Rasmussen and Pew are also being paid to say that a majority opposes Obamacare.

Tanks to Sissy Willis.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:55 PM | Add Comment
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Not really surprising news, but maybe a reminder that the charming, smooth-talking con man in the White House has not changed American thinking on taxes enough to give up hope.

Even more interesting numbers concern ObamaCare.

Just 16% of U.S. voters believe that tax increaseshelp the economy. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds most voters (54%) say tax increases hurt the economy, a number that has been fairly consistent for more than a decade. Fourteen percent (14%) say tax increases have no impact, and 16% are not sure.

The survey was taken late last week, prior to Sunday TV appearances by top White House officials who, for the first time, refused to rule out middle class tax increases as a way to pay for the health care reform plan now working its way through Congress.

Even before the comments on Sunday, 41% of voters expected their own personal taxes to go up under the Obama administration.

During the campaign season, then-candidate Obama heavily publicized his commitment to cut taxes for 95% of Americans. Today, just 11% expect their taxes will go down during President ObamaÂ’s time in office. Thirty-four percent (34%) think they will stay the same and 14% arenÂ’t sure.

Sixty-two percent (62%) of the nationÂ’s entrepreneurs expect their taxes to go up.

While 41% currently expect their own taxes to go up, 78% say that if health care reform passes, middle class taxes are likely to go up.

Just 28% say they are willing to pay higher taxes so that all Americans can have health insurance.

There is an odd dynamic here. Consider: George Bush lowered taxes so much -- eliminating income tax entirely for millions of lower-income workers -- that the tax issue became almost a non-issue for Republicans. Or Democrats, too.

By solving the problem, mostly (at least to a bearable level), he removed it as an issue.

In a sense, then, George W. Bush undermined Republican popularity.

And, in his clumsy, thoughtless, graceless, buffoonish way, Barack Hussein Obama is giving that issue power again.

It will always be so. It's part of the political cycle. System, seeds, own destruction, some assembly required.

Nonsense: The White House claims that Obama will honor at least one of his promises.

"The president has made a very clear commitment to not raise taxes on middle-class families," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told a regular briefing.

"Let me be precise. The president's clear commitment is not to raise taxes on those making less than $250,000 a year," he said.

..

Gibbs said Obama's position on the issue had not changed. "I think the president has been clear on this. The first thing that we can do -- the most important thing that we can do right now is get our economy growing again," he said.

"We're going to have to make some decisions down the road on some of the president's legislative priorities and some of the things that Congress wants to do, to evaluate how we move back towards -- on a path toward fiscal sustainability."

Um, if he's not going to raise taxes, and wants to get back to a path of fiscal sustainability, why is he sky-rocketing spending?

Thanks to circa for the update.

Posted by: Ace at 12:25 PM | Add Comment
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Which will encourage self-styled mavericks to do likewise.

His statement on the Senate floor:

Again and again, Judge Sotomayor seeks to amend the law to fit the circumstances of the case, thereby substituting herself in the role of a legislator. Our Constitution is very clear in its delineation and disbursement of power. It solely tasks the Congress with creating law. It also clearly defines the appropriate role of the courts to "extend to all Cases in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties." To protect the equal, but separate roles of all three branches of government, I cannot support activist judges that seek to legislate from the bench. I have not supported such nominees in the past, and I cannot support such a nominee to the highest court in the land.

I don't want to pick on McCain too much, especially since he's throwing us a bone here.

But does anyone get the sense he is taking the MSM's jilting of him in favor of a hot new suitor somewhat personally?

Posted by: Ace at 11:52 AM | Add Comment
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Couldn't happen to a nicer jackass.

More on this meeting/beat down.

This is what needs to happen across the country this month.

Wow, Instapundit has another video from this meeting * (and other examples from around the country). It's ugly. Enjoy it.

Sebelius basically says it's 'unacceptable' to her for people to criticize Specter and others over the work on this bill. She didn't quite finish the thought because she got shouted down.

Enjoy your summer vacation guys!

*Link fixed.

More Earfuls [ace]: more...

Posted by: DrewM at 09:25 AM | Comments (2)
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