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</script> </div> <div id="wrapper-container" class="clearingfix"> <div id="wrapper"> <h1 style="background: url(https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/zombie-banner-2.jpg) no-repeat scroll left top transparent; border-right: 0 none;height: 110px; margin: 0px;"><a style="display: block; margin: 0; height:110px;text-indent: -99999px;" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie">Zombie</a></h1> <div id="xpress_navigation" class="clearingfix"> <div class="pn"><span class="xpressnav navcount_2"> <div class="xpressnavlist personal_menu_archives"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/archive">Archives</a> </div> <div class="xpressnavlist personal_menu_bio"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/bio">Bio</a> </div> </span> </div> </div> <div id="content"> <div id="post-6790" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <div class="byline"> by <strong>Zombie</strong> </div> <h2 class="first_headline"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/02/15/1-billion-rising-san-francisco/">1 Billion Rising San Francisco</a></h2> <div class="date">February 15th, 2013 - 4:08 pm</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2253.jpg" alt=""/><br/> February 14 used to be Valentine’s Day, but this year Eve Ensler hijacked the date to mark the climax of her worldwide anti-rape dance/protest known as <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://onebillionrising.org/" target="_blank">1 Billion Rising</a>. I attended the San Francisco 1 Billion Rising rally, where “dancing is a revolution.”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2132.jpg" alt=""/><br/> When I first showed up at Civic Center Plaza, right in the middle of the protest someone was holding up a big sign with a Bible quote.</p> <div id="inlineAdvertisement">  <div id="div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-4" style="width:300px; height:250px;"> <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-4'); }); </script> </div> </div> <p>Oh wait, did I say <i>Bible</i>? My bad. I meant the Qu’ran. Silly me. Everyone knows that the Bible is anti-woman; thus it would be inappropriate to quote it at a feminist rally.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2321.jpg" alt=""/><br/> I thought perhaps her central location was a fluke, but I couldn’t have been wronger; the organizers then positioned Ms. Qu’ran and her sign directly behind the podium as the event’s keynote speaker and 1 Billion Rising top honcho Susan Celia Swan gave a speech (seen here with Supervisors David Chiu, Scott Wiener, and Jane Kim).</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2353.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Then when San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee (with the grey hair and glasses) came to the podium, she was positioned directly behind him as well, in THE prime messaging spot. </p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2341.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Yes, that’s correct: This wasn’t just a protest <em>in front of</em> San Francisco City Hall, it ended up being essentially an official act of government, as Mayor Ed Lee declared his endorsement of the action…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2345.jpg" alt=""/><br/> …along with the entire Board of Supervisors, most of whom gave speeches as well. Which is not really surprising, since most of them are to the left of Lenin, but still.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8718.jpg" alt=""/><br/> To blend in with the crowd, I picked up one of the many unused signs scattered about for participants to use.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2202.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The 1 Billion Rising event organizers had a tent in which participants were handed blank signs that read “I am RISING because…” and you filled out the rest. People could then either carry their personalized messages with them, or display them in a sort of gallery in a nearby tent. The example sign at the sign-up table said “I’m PISSED at the Oppressions!”</p> <p>But despite the organizers’ valiant attempt at “message control,” as soon as you let people say whatever they want, things very quickly go off the rails. A brief visit to the gallery tent revealed some odd beliefs, such as…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8733.jpg" alt=""/><br/> “I am RISING because PG&E SmartMeters can explode, burn my house shatter my shoulder but can’t shatter my SPIRIT!”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8722.jpg" alt=""/><br/> “I am RISING because We must fight not to grow anymore Rapist. Heal Them with the power of Love Love!”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8732.jpg" alt=""/><br/> “I am RISING because I am a mother and my dauqntes will not live in fear!”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2222.jpg" alt=""/><br/> “The Drama Has to Stop!” Indeed. Couldn’t agree more.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2139.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The organizers posted a sign of their own at the front on the tent, essentially summarizing the Enslerite ethos:<br/> “VAGINA is not a dirty word. Being a woman is a wondeful, beautiful thing!”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8676.jpg" alt=""/><br/> But most messages at 1 Billion Rising protests inevitably end up being what I call TTTs: Trite Tautological Truisms. This “protest sign” is a prototypical example. “Violence Sucks.” Wow! Bold notion. In other news, the nation’s physicists held a rally today to insist that “Gravity Attracts.”</p> <p>The main problem I have with 1 Billion Rising and V-Day and SlutWalk and all the rest is that they are purposeless — protests “against” a non-existent strawman. The only legitimate rationale behind having any kind of political protest is to support one side or the other in a contested ideological battle. But in this case, we’re protesting against rape, <em>even though there is nobody in this country who <strong>supports</strong> rape</em>.</p> <p>Sure, there are rapists out there, but I kinda get the feeling none would go to a rally like this to have their minds changed, and they sure as hell don’t care what a bunch of protesters have to say on the topic (presuming on the off-chance that a rapist would ever hear of events like these, which is extremely doubtful). Rapists already know that rape is “wrong,” but somehow that knowledge never dissuaded them in the past. Furthermore, there already are laws against rape and sexual abuse — laws with amongst the most severe punishments in our legal system. So: everybody (except for psychopaths) already hates rape. Rape is already as illegal as it can be. Rape is universally loathed. What more do you want?</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8734.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Another TTT: “Rape Is Unacceptale” (sic). Was this ever in dispute? Can you find anyone, anywhere — at least in the Western World — who disagrees? Then what’s the purpose of stating it? Maybe at the next protest I will hold up a sign with the controversial daring manifesto: “Ice Is Cold.”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2191.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Another shocking claim.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8708.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The purpose of all this, the organizers might contend, is simply to get people to “Think About It,” as this Riser suggests. Yeah, OK, so I’ve thought about it: Rape is bad. Yep. Baddy bad bad. Now what?</p> <p>All of this would make sense if there was a concerted drive on the part of the protesters to increase law enforcement efforts against rape and rapists. Stricter laws, longer sentences, more police officers, and so forth. Even I might get behind that.</p> <p>But no.</p> <p>Instead, some of the protesters demanded the <em>exact opposite</em>:</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8781.jpg" alt=""/><br/> “<strong>Ignore Their Laws: Respect Each Other</strong>” was the largest message in the rally’s street-chalking area. Presumably written by an extremely naive anarchist-leaning Riser, the thrust seems to be: We hate society and reject its laws, so to be consistent we have to reject laws against rape too: but despite that, we should all behave nicely anyway, because it’s the right thing to do. The problem with this, and with the entire anarchist worldview, and with the futility of 1 Billion Rising in general, is that <em>there are bad people who will do bad things</em> regardless of how many encouragements and blandishments you give them. This has been true since the dawn of history. And that fact — that bad people always violate social norms and moral dictates — is why legal systems evolved in the first place. Rapists don’t listen to reason, they can’t be shamed into stopping, so the only way to deal with them is to make rape illegal, convict them of the crime, lock them in prison AND THROW AWAY THE KEY. </p> <p>But anarchists don’t want to hear that. They think, falsely, because anarchists are stupid, that people only misbehave because they exist in a rigidly structured, rule-bound, hierarchical society, and that if we only lived in pure free anarchy, then there would be no anger, and thus no misbehavior and everything would be peachy keen. Of course, in reality, any society-wide social experiment along these lines would last about 48 hours before everyone demanded the return of law enforcement.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8749.jpg" alt=""/><br/> But not at 1 Billion Rising. Here, cops are the enemy (at least to some of the participants).</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_8784.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Later, I saw traces of chalk messaging battles, so at least there was some disagreement: First someone wrote “Fuck the Police,” then a dissenter came along and tried to alter the message by changing “Fuck” to “Sp♡ok.” Yet another person came along and re-added “Fuck” in red above the message, to once again reaffirm “Fuck the Police.” And to make matters even more odd, when I tried to take a picture of it, some of the very people who likely wrote the message tried to block me by standing on it.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/02/IMG_2190.jpg" alt=""/><br/> You see buddy, <em>you aren’t the problem</em>. You’re not a rapist. Any sane non-rapist man is “creating a culture of consent.” Policemen create a culture of consent. Old-fashioned values create a culture of consent. “Patriarchy” is a leftist canard dredged up from history as an excuse to overthrow existing society. Come to think of it, you <em>are</em> a problem, but that’s a different discussion.</p> </p></p><div class="textads clearingfix"> <div id="div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-7" style="width:728px; height:auto;"> <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-7'); }); </script> </div> </div> <div class="textads clearingfix"> <div id="div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-7" style="width:728px; height:auto;"> <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-7'); }); </script> </div> </div> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/02/15/1-billion-rising-san-francisco/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/02/15/1-billion-rising-san-francisco/2/">2</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/02/15/1-billion-rising-san-francisco/3/">3</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/02/15/1-billion-rising-san-francisco/#respond" title="Comment on 1 Billion Rising San Francisco">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div id="advertisement-content">  <div id="div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-6" style="width:728px; height:90px;"> <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-6'); }); </script> </div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6650" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/01/30/walk-for-life-vs-roe-v-wade-birthday-party-abortion-showdown-sf/">Walk for Life vs. Roe v. Wade birthday party: Abortion showdown SF</a></h2> <div class="date">January 30th, 2013 - 8:45 am</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p>On January 26, two diametrically opposed ideologies chose San Francisco as their battleground. To our left, the pro-choice army convened at the city’s Embarcadero to celebrate the <strong>40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade</strong> (which formally legalized abortion throughout the United States); to our right, the pro-life army convened for its ninth annual <strong>Walk for Life</strong> (the largest anti-abortion event on the West Coast).</p> <p>What happened when the two armies clashed?</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1057.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Did the “misogynist Christo-Fascists” triumph?</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_8634.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Or did the “racist baby lynchers” prevail?</p> <p>The answer can be found in that old ’60s slogan, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?” Because while huge numbers of people did indeed show up, <em>the two camps studiously avoided each other</em>. Well, that’s not entirely true: The main army of about 1,000 leftists put on a little show to amuse themselves and then basically fled the field of battle before the vastly more numerous pro-life crowd even started marching. Only a handful of leftists stayed around to confront their opponents, but they drowned in a sea of 50,000 pro-lifers. (Yes, it was <em>that</em> lopsided.)</p> <p>Along the way, we were treated to scenes like this:</p> <p><iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015if_/http://www.youtube.com/embed/o1bO45C9AtQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p><em>[Pro-choice woman haranguing pro-life marchers:]</em></p> <blockquote><p>Get your vaginal probe out of my vagina!<br/> Get your crucifix out of my uterus!<br/> Oh yeah, the truth hurts!<br/> What are you teaching your little children? How to make women DIE???<br/> Get your crucifix out of my uterus!<br/> Get your crucifix out of my uterus!<br/> Get your crucifix out of my uterus!<br/> Get your vaginal probe out of my vagina!<br/> Get your crucifix out of my vagina!<br/> Get your vaginal probe out of my vagina!<br/> That’s disgusting! What are you looking around for?<br/> Vaginas!<br/> Uteruses!<br/> Get your crucifix out of my vagina!<br/> Get your crucifix out of my vagina.<br/> Get your crucifix out of my uterus!<br/> Get your vaginal probe out of my vagina!<br/> Get your vaginal probe out of my vagina!<br/> Get the cross out of my…uterus.<br/> Get your crucifix out of my uterus!<br/> Oh, a t-shirt: We wouldn’t want you to learn anything!<br/> Vaginal probes out of my vagina!<br/> Get your crucifix out of my uterus!</p></blockquote> <p>But wait — we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back to the beginning of the day and see what happened at each stop along the way.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1064.jpg" alt=""/><br/> I was lured to the Embarcadero by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://oursilverribbon.org/?page_id=1153" target="_blank">announcements</a> from <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.herrising.org/Flash_Mob_Page.html" target="_blank">various feminist groups</a> that there was to be a major rally on January 26 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Especially exciting was the planned “flash mob performance” to “end violence and sexual oppression.” But when I first got there it was nothing much more than a few hundred people standing around holding paper bags with seemingly off-topic messages like “33% of women in prison report childhood SEXUAL ABUSE.” What this had to do with abortion was anyone’s guess.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1049.jpg" alt=""/><br/> After a while, a parade of local politicians took to the stage to support abortion rights. Here we have Scott Wiener, a gay city supervisor who recently made international headlines (and infuriated some of his constituents) when he proposed the first-ever city-wide ban on nudity. Behind him we have none other than Sandra Fluke, the wealthy 31-year-old college student who has so much sex she can’t afford to pay for her own contraception. Or at least so she falsely claimed in an attempt to make a political point during congressional hearings. Even though nobody actually believed her ridiculous calculations, it instantly made her a hero to the left and a laughingstock to the right, and now she spends her days giving speeches at feminist events like this one. Does it really matter what she had to say here at RvW40? No, it didn’t. Her mere presence was the point, a statement in itself.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1025.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Some participants carried a banner saying “Good women have abortions,” which is either a very bold assertion, or some poorly mangled grammar, or a too-clever attempt to intentionally craft a message with several possible interpretations. I vote for option three. If an offended pro-lifer were to look at the banner and say, “Are you implying that the mere act of having an abortion makes someone a good person, and by extension that <em>not</em> having an abortion makes one a <em>bad</em> woman?”, then the liberal with the sign would reply, “No, you silly conservative, all we’re saying is that having an abortion doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad person; good people can have abortions and remain good people.” But as the conservative walks away, intellectually defeated, the liberal snickers, “Ha ha! Fooled you. We are indeed saying that abortions make you good. And we’re getting away with it, because our message is so ambivalently worded that we can always deny it to your face should you ever try to pin us down!”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1102.jpg" alt=""/><br/> I kept seeing the same message at various parts of the rally, this time at the NOW booth. I wasn’t sure if the same banner was being passed around, or if the organizers had several printed up.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1090.jpg" alt=""/><br/> As several people <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://twitchy.com/2013/01/27/daily-emetic-code-pink-breaks-out-the-vagina-costumes-again-at-march-for-life-event/" target="_blank">already noted on Twitter</a>, Code Pink showed up at this event wearing the same giant vagina costumes that gained them so much notoriety at last year’s Democratic convention.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1149.jpg" alt=""/><br/> I was hoping to see them do the vagina dance, but (as we will soon see) when the pre-arranged flash-mob dance started, the costumed Code Pinkers alas didn’t participate and instead just stood in the audience.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1248.jpg" alt=""/><br/> A short time later I saw one of the abandoned vagina costumes lying on the ground, and I was sorely tempted to borrow it for a few minutes, put it on, and go become a vagina dancer myself. But, as usual, I chickened out. “Don’t be a pussy!” my conscience yelled at me, but the mixed message only made me more conflicted.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1038.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Various communist groups, like these humorless Bolsheviks, drifted through the crowd.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1058.jpg" alt=""/><br/> As usual, liberals freely allow extreme revolutionary communists to set up booths at their events, and <em>no one complains</em> and the media will not comment on this practice. Yet imagine if the reverse was true: that conservatives allowed, say, neo-Nazis to set up booths at their events. First of all, it would never happen, as the conservatives would ban them and/or boot them out instantly, for if they allowed the extremists to contaminate their events, the media would trumpet the presence of the neo-Nazis and tar the whole movement with them. But when (as it always does) the exact same thing happens on the liberal side — silence.</p> <p>Note also in the photo above that amongst the communist books on sale at this pro-choice rally was Friedrich Engels’ <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origin_of_the_Family,_Private_Property_and_the_State" target="_blank"><em>The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State</em></a>, one of the fundamental building blocks of the left’s anti-family philosophy. In this seminal tome, Engels argues that the nuclear family is a modern invention designed to oppress women, and that group marriage or polyamory or free love are superior social structures, and that capitalism can only be destroyed by first destroying the traditional family. Just in case you thought this “pro-choice” thing was actually about “choice” or any other idiotic progressive euphemism. The left’s ultimate purpose for making abortion legal is to facilitate promiscuity so as to destroy sexual fidelity and along with it the sanctity of the nuclear family, paving the way for socialist revolution. Perhaps the average foot-soldier in the pro-choice camp isn’t aware of this, but the leaders at the highest echelons of the movement surely must be.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1081.jpg" alt=""/><br/> This sign is actually a fascinating logical paradox. The statement can only be true <em>for one generation</em>. If you start in the first generation with a fetus, and then it grows up into a “woman for choice,” then that woman gets pregnant, and being a woman for “choice,” she then chooses to abort the second-generation fetus, which does <em>not</em> grow up to be a woman for choice, because it does not grow up at all. Even if some women choose to not abort later-generation fetuses under this signs’s scenario, the population of each pro-choice generation will decrease in comparison to a separate pro-life group, in which all fetuses will come to term.</p> <p>Some game theory problems can only be solved by setting some original parameters and then letting the simulation play itself out through many iterations. It’d like to see a computer scientist devise a schematized real-world “game” which incorporates the various parameters in the abortion debate and let it run for hundreds or thousands of generations to see how it ends up. Say, for example, you start with two equal sub-populations, one which is “pro-choice,” and one which is “pro-life.” The pro-choice units copulate more often, but also use birth control more often, and when they do get pregnant, they’re much more likely to abort the offspring. The pro-life units have less sex, but also use less birth control, and when they do get pregnant, they’re far less likely to terminate the offspring. Let the simulation run and see which side begins to dominate. But to make the simulation more realistic, you’d have to account for the fact that the pro-choice side controls education and the media, so that a certain percentage of young units on the pro-life side will be successfully indoctrinated and lured into the opposing camp. However if the pro-choice population begins to drop precipitously, then their grip on the indoctrination levers will start to loosen, meaning fewer converts. Simultaneously, the “biological clock” factor will play out in favor of the pro-life side, since as pro-choice units age their craving to have children will increase and may make them cross over into the pro-life camp. Anyway, one could fiddle with the parameters and see if an equilibrium can be reached, or if one side or the other will always come to dominate as the function collapses.</p> <p>Alternately, one could make a brainless sign and leave it at that.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1076.jpg" alt=""/><br/> This was one of the most ill-conceived paper bags, with the vaguely menacing and arithmetically challenged message</p> <blockquote><p>Your DAUGHTER<br/> Your SISTER<br/> Your MOTHER<br/> Your WIFE<br/> one in three: RAPED OR BEATEN</p></blockquote> <p>Is that a threat? Or a math quiz?</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1075.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Many people were wearing buttons that said “Dr. George Tiller: HERO.”<br/> <em>(For those unfamiliar with his name, Tiller was a Kansas doctor who specialized in performing late-term abortions, and who was eventually murdered by extremist madman Scott Roeder.)</em></p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2013/01/IMG_1034.jpg" alt=""/><br/> It’s now <em>de rigueur</em> at events like these for over-the-hill former ’60s activists to dress up as “radical grannies”; even though such women almost certainly never spent their lives as old-fashioned housewives, they imagine that if they don the stereotypical costumes of mid-century mid-America (aprons, hats, etc.) this somehow magically accords them the respect and credence one might normally give to “respectable old ladies,” and that this respect will transfer effortlessly to the radical politics they espouse beneath the artificial costumery. Or, in other words, they hope that people like me will think, “Gee, if this respectable old-fashioned granny has far-left opinions, then such opinions must be mainstream and reasonable!” Nice plan, but sorry, didn’t work.</p> </p> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/01/30/walk-for-life-vs-roe-v-wade-birthday-party-abortion-showdown-sf/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/01/30/walk-for-life-vs-roe-v-wade-birthday-party-abortion-showdown-sf/2/">2</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/01/30/walk-for-life-vs-roe-v-wade-birthday-party-abortion-showdown-sf/3/">3</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/01/30/walk-for-life-vs-roe-v-wade-birthday-party-abortion-showdown-sf/4/">4</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2013/01/30/walk-for-life-vs-roe-v-wade-birthday-party-abortion-showdown-sf/#respond" title="Comment on Walk for Life vs. Roe v. Wade birthday party: Abortion showdown SF">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6508" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/11/02/why-was-there-no-october-surprise/">Why Was There No October Surprise? Because Every Freakin’ Day for the Last Four Years Has Been an October Surprise</a></h2> <div class="date">November 2nd, 2012 - 9:44 am</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p>Where was the October Surprise?</p> <p>Almost everyone anticipated this year’s “October Surprise” — some last-minute, unexpected, shocking scandal to rock the presidential election and derail one of the candidates. But it never appeared. In an era of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink gutterball politics, this mysterious absence of any major scandal was itself noteworthy. How could nothing have happened?</p> <p>Sure, there was Hurricane Sandy. But that doesn’t count. Sandy was a natural disaster that dominated the headlines for a few days, but it wasn’t a scandal. And yes, there was Benghazi. But that happened in early September, and it wasn’t so much a political scandal uncovered by partisan operatives as it was the umpteenth example of Obama’s incompetence. Whatever Benghazi blowback he’s gotten damaging his election chances are entirely his own responsibility for bungling an international crisis. So, no, neither one of those counted as an October Surprise.</p> <p>Which left many people scratching their heads. Why <em>wasn’t</em> there one? For either candidate?</p> <p>In Mitt Romney’s case, the answer is pretty obvious: He’s squeaky clean. His entire adult life has been like a boring treatise on Mormon moral rectitude. His political career has long been an open book — moderate, bipartisan, essentially uneventful. The Democrats have tried to squeeze some droplets of outrage over Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital, but those attacks came earlier in the summer and turned out to be extremely slim pickin’s. There <em>are</em> no skeletons in Romney’s closet, otherwise we would have heard about them.</p> <p>But in Barack Obama’s case, the situation is reversed: <em>Everything he’s ever done is scandalous</em>. The reason there was no October Surprise for Obama is that we’re all scandaled out. Anyone’s who been paying attention since 2008 has literally been in paralytic shock every single day. We spent October 2012 exactly as we’ve spent every month of the last four years: Our jaws on the floor, aghast, stupefied, unable to breathe. Almost every single thing Obama has done since he’s been in the national spotlight could have been and should have been a career-ending October Surprise. But the mainstream media, as we all know, has devoted itself to protecting him.</p> <p>Not a day has gone by since Obama took office when I didn’t learn of some fresh outrage and say <em>Oh. My. God.</em> But we’ve been traumatized so often that over time the scandals have all blurred together and fused into a single red-hot thought: <em>Please let this nightmare end</em>.</p> <p>A complete recounting of Obama’s shoulda-been October Surprises would fill a book, an encyclopedia, an entire library. But I think this is a good time to initiate a crowd-sourced list of everything Obama has done since 2008 (and every fact about his earlier life that emerged since 2008) which you thought was scandalous, shocking or outrageous. Just for the record, <strong>let’s remind the world that every freakin’ day for the last four years has been an October Surprise</strong>.</p> <p>I’ll get the ball rolling with a few scandalous deeds and facts which occur to me at the moment, but this list will primarily come from you, the readers. <strong>In the comments section below, mention anything and everything that you believe should have ruined Obama politically</strong> (if the media had been doing its job). From the big to the small, from the recent to the distant, dig deep in your memory and just let it all out, like political primal scream therapy.</p> <p>I’ll continuously update the list as best as I can to include whatever gets mentioned by the commenters.</p> <p>Ready? Let the collective scream begin!</p> <hr/>  </p> <h2><span style="color: #ff0000">The Complete List of Barack Obama’s Scandals, Misdeeds, Crimes and Blunders</span></h2> <p> </p> <p>• $6 trillion in new national debt under Obama…after he promised to <em>decrease</em> the deficit.</p> <p>• Obamacare — A massive and incredibly convoluted bill which exponentially increases the federal government’s control over our personal lives…which neither Obama nor a single Democrat even read before passing, and which will likely bankrupt the nation.</p> <p>• In both the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, the Obama campaign purposely disabled the credit card verification system for its Web site donations, allowing anyone from any foreign country to donate with no limit and no proof of identity; in both elections it was demonstrated that people overseas and people with obviously false identities were able to donate to Obama campaign, in direct violation of several laws. To this day it is not known what percentage of Obama’s campaign funds are illegally obtained, since there is no documentation.</p> <p>• Billions of taxpayer dollars gambled on “green” companies like Solyndra, NextEra, Ener1, Solar Trust and many others — all of which went bankrupt.</p> <p>• An intentional refusal to enforce federal immigration laws.</p> <p>• Unemployment at or above 8% for almost his entire term in office (which was actually closer to 15% actual unemployment).</p> <p>• Operation Fast & Furious — a government-sponsored illegal gun-running scheme designed to purposely go awry so as to induce public outcry for gun control.</p> <p>• Spent 20 years listening to a racist anti-American pastor (Rev. Jeremiah Wright), whom Obama described as a mentor. On March 18, 2008, Obama gave a speech in which he said “I could no more disown Jeremiah Wright than I could disown my own grandmother” and “[Wright's church, Trinity United] embodies the black community in its entirety.” Now Obama tries to pretend that Jeremiah Wright doesn’t exist, and that his extremist anti-white philosophy didn’t influence Obama’s worldview.</p> <p>• Increased the percentage of Americans dependent on food stamps to unprecedented levels (now over 15% of the nation’s population).</p> <p>• Militarily intervened in Libya in 2011 without the Congressional approval required by the War Powers Act — technically an impeachable offense.</p> <p>• Before he entered politics, Obama worked as a lawyer suing banks in landmark cases, forcing them to give home loans to unqualified minority borrowers — a practice now understood as one of the primary initial causes of the eventual housing bubble and market collapse.</p> <p>• Handed out over 1,200 waivers to politically connected donors exempting them from the onerous requirements of Obamacare.</p> <p>• Greatly expanding the number of unaccountable “czars,” which essentially amounts to unilaterally adding new federal departments with no congressional oversight — leading to a true “bureaucracy” in the original sense (rule by unelected bureaucrats).</p> <p>• Using taxpayer dollars to bail out the private pension funds of autoworkers’ unions at GM & Chrysler.</p> <p>• Illegally ending the welfare-to-work requirements passed by Congress.</p> <p>• Doling out $800 billion in stimulus cash for “shovel-ready” jobs that didn’t exist — the money just evaporated with no measurable economic benefit.</p> <p>• Alienating and isolating Israel, our strongest ally in the Middle East.</p> <p>• Apologizing to Islamists and terrorists for offending them.</p> <p>• Under Obama’s watch, for the first time in history America’s credit rating was downgraded, due to his poor economic policies.</p> <p>• Stopped American oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, allowing other nations with worse environmental records to drill instead — thereby managing to both weaken our economy and damage the environment simultaneously.</p> <p>• Proposed in 2008 to intentionally bankrupt the coal industry — and now lies to voters and workers in coal-producing regions about his true intent.</p> <p>• Pretends to be concerned about skyrocketing energy prices, when in fact he vowed to increase them on purpose (so as to make alternative energy schemes more competitive.)</p> <p>• In a primary debate against Hillary Clinton in 2008, Obama said he would never force people to buy health insurance, since those without it couldn’t afford to buy it. Less than two years later, he rammed through Obamacare, which does indeed force people to buy health insurance.</p> <p>• During the 2008 campaign, Obama repeatedly promised that if he was elected “No family making less than $250,000 will see any form of tax increase.” This promise was broken over and over again once he was elected.</p> <p>• In 2008 Obama vowed if elected to increase security along the U.S.-Mexican border — and then in 2010 stopped construction of a “virtual fence” on the border and re-routed money earmarked for border security to other projects.</p> <p>• Cash for Clunkers, which doled out taxpayer money to anyone who wanted to replace their old cars, but which mostly only ended up subsidizing the puchase of foreign-made cars by people who could have afforded them on their own anyway; meanwhile, the traded-in cars were all destroyed, creating a shortage and thereby increasing the cost of used cars, hurting the pocketbooks of poor people.</p> <p>• Violated the U.S. Constitution by authorizing assassinations and drone strikes to kill American citizens abroad — without due process.</p> <p>• Was caught on a “hot mike” promising the President of Russia that he would cave in to their demands for a weaker missile shield — <i>after</i> he was re-elected and no longer had to keep up the pretense that he sought to defend America.</p> <p>• Appointed Van Jones, a former avowed communist who supported a “9/11 Truth” petition, to be “Green Jobs Czar.”</p> <p>• Appointed Anita Dunn, who said Chairman Mao was her “favorite philosopher,” to be White House Communications Director.</p> <p>• Appointed John Holdren, who perviously entertained the notion of forced mass sterilzation to stop overpopulation, to be Science Czar.</p> <p>• Appointed Steven Chu, who openly advocated an artificial increase in gasoline prices to $10/gallon (and similar increases in other energy prices) to be Secretary of Energy.</p> <p>• Appointed Kevin Jennings, who led a group that promoted X-rated “sex-positive” textbooks for 13-year-olds, instructed teenagers at a conference how to perform “fisting” (anal penetration by fists), who refused to report instances of statutory rape, and who expressed admiration for a member of NAMBLA, to be America’s “Safe School’s Czar.”</p> <p>• When states voted to enforce the federal immigration laws which the federal government refused to enforced, Obama sued to stop them.</p> <p>• Blocked continued construction of the Keystone Pipeline, thereby intentionally reducing energy resources for the US and forcing Canada to sell more of its oil to China.</p> <p>• Repeatedly changed his position on gay marriage over the years, depending on what was politically expedient at the moment and which intended audience he was addressing.</p> <p>• Before he was president, Obama staunchly opposed raising the national debt limit — but once elected, he insisted that it be raised.</p> <p>• When giving a 2009 speech in France that he must have assumed Americans would never hear, he described the United States as “arrogant” and “dismissive” (while also criticizing Europe elsewhere in the speech).</p> <p>• When states tried to stop election fraud with voter ID laws, Obama sued to prevent them from doing so.</p> <p>• Instructed Attorney General Eric Holder to stonewall any investigation into the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers.</p> <p>• Promised in 2008 that once elected he would officially recognize the Armenian Genocide; but to this date he has still failed to do so, caving in to threats and pressure from Turkey.</p> <p>• Vowed to end the influence of lobbyists in Washington, but under Obama’s watch their influence has only increased.</p> <p>• When he was first running for President, Obama promised, “I will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.” Needless to say, he has broken that promise with almost every bill he has signed since.</p> <p>• Aided and abetted the “Arab Spring” which deposed existing secular governments across North Africa, leading to a regional power vacuum which was filled by Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other hardline Islamists.</p> <p>• Refused to provide assistance or support the the earlier secular Iranian democracy uprising, allowing them to be crushed by the Islamic fundamentalist Iranian regime.</p> <p>• In his first months in office, Obama bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia, the president of China, the Emperor of Japan, and President of Mexico, among others.</p> <p>• Ordered NASA to make one of its top priorities not space exploration or scientific research but “Muslim outreach.”</p> <p>• Used Obamacare as a pretext to greatly increase the size and power of the IRS (which was given 16,000 new agents and additional mandates to penalize taxpayers for noncompliance).</p> <p>• Used the IRS to harass conservative businesses.</p> <p>• In the GM bailout, he illegally shortchanged investors who according to bankruptcy laws were first in line to be recompensed; instead, he gave their share to the unions.</p> <p>• Shut down oil drilling in the US, but then turned around and lent $2 billion to Brazil to support <i>their</i> government-controlled oil-drilling effort — and then promised the US would become one of Brazil’s biggest oil customers.</p> <p>• Sued Boeing in an effort to control where businesses could locate, kowtow to the unions, and block the creation of 1,000 jobs in South Carolina, a right-to-work (i.e. no forced unionization) state.</p> <p>• Adopted a longstanding Socialist political slogan, “Forward!”, as his 2012 campaign motto.</p> <p>• Sent insulting form letters to the familes of dead SEALs.</p> <p>• Neither disavowed nor distanced himself from anti-Romney campaign ads which threatened or implied violence against Republicans.</p> <p>• Shortly after the recent eruption of anti-American violence in North Africa, Obama went to Las Vegas to do his debate preparation in a hotel…with a romanticized North Africa theme.</p> <p>• Said in an interview that the Muslim call to prayer was “one of the prettiest sounds on earth at sunset.”</p> <p>• Union boss and far-left activist Andy Stern has visitied Obama in the White House at least 53 times, at last count — greater access than any other private citizen.</p> <p>• Hosted at the White House many Islamist members of groups associated with Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, etc.</p> <p>• Sponsored performances by and attended fundraisers with radical rappers like Michael Franti and Common, both of whose lyrics have in some cases been anti-police, anti-white, and anti-America.</p> <p>• Hired Timothy Geithner, who is documented as cheating on his own personal taxes, to be Secretary of the Treasury.</p> <p>• Told Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher that it was good to “spread the wealth around.”</p> <p>• Told small business owners nationwide in a 2012 speech that “you didn’t build that” — implying that they should not claim credit for their own success, since taxpayers (i.e. themselves and other business owners) had funded the national infrastructure.</p> <p>• Insulted the British people by rudely returning to them a bust of Churchill which previously had been a ceremonial gift on display at the White House; when later confronted on this inexplicable action, he lied about it.</p> <p>• Canceled plans to complete a missile defense shield in Poland, a move which was highly praised by Russia — the very nation whose missile threat would have been neutralized if the shield had been completed.</p> <p>• By loudly publicizing (for personal political gain) the identity of exact SEAL teams who had killed Osama bin Laden, Obama made them a target for reprisals by Islamists; a short time later 22 SEALS were shot down and killed in Afghanistan, their worst loss of life ever.</p> <p>• Established an extra-Constitutional top secret “kill list” of people (including Americans) Obama claims the right to kill on sight, and then bragged about it publicly.</p> <p>• Set up a special email account, “Flag@Whitehouse.gov,” to which Americans were supposed to inform the government of anyone they heard spreading “disinformation” about Obama’s health care overhaul. (This was the first of three different “spy on your friends and neighbors” programs.)</p> <p>• “Attack Watch” was Obama’s second Big Brother attempt, a Web site on which you would report “attacks” on Obama’s proposals and ideology; it was quickly shut down due to outrage and mockery.</p> <p>• Finally, Obama set up the “Truth Team” program which encouraged citizens to report to the government any friends or relatives they hear repeating “lies” about Obama. The Truth Team site still exists.</p> <p>• Twisted the arms of defense contractors to not issue layoff notices in early November, so as to avoid causing bad news for Obama right before the election — even though federal law (the “WARN Act”) requires such notices.</p> <p>• After the attacks on American interests in North Africa on September 11, 2012, Obama gave a speech to the U.N. and declared “The future must not belong to those who slander The Prophet of Islam” — transferring the blame from the attackers onto the makers of a film trailer that supposedly “offended” the Islamists.</p> <p>• Repeatedly snubbed and got into public tiffs with Benjamin Netanyahu, who as the leader of Israel is <em>supposed</em> to be Obama’s closest colleague in international affairs.</p> <p>• On May 19, 2011, Obama told Israel they must return to the 1967 borders as a <em>pre</em>-condition for continuing talks with the Palestinians — even though the status of the borders was the main issue the talks were supposed to address.</p> <p>• Encouraged politically biased hiring practices in the Justice Department.</p> <p>• Soon after taking office, Obama rescinded the “Mexico City Policy,” which previously had banned NGOs which are supported by American taxpayer funds from using those funds to perform abortions in foreign countries.</p> <p>• Attempted to force returning veterans to pay huge increases for their health coverage…as a way to generate more funding for his Obamacare provisions.</p> <p>• In June of 2011, he anointed his own underage daughters as “senior staff members” so that their vacation to Africa would be paid for with taxpayer money.</p> <p>• Interviews with high school classmates revealed that Obama was a heavy and frequent user of marijuana in his teenage years (not to mention his self-admitted cocaine use in college).</p> <p>• Played over 100 rounds of golf during his first three years in office, meaning that he was on the links close to 10% of the days he has been president.</p> <p>• Voted to allow post-birth abortions (i.e. facilitating the deaths of babies who survive late-term abortions) not just once but three times in a row as an Illinois state senator.</p> <p>• The pastor whom Obama selected to give the national benediction at his 2009 inauguration recently declared that “all white people are going to Hell.”</p> <p>• Sided with Hugo Chavez and the Castro regime regarding the Honduran Constitutional Crisis of 2009, the first time ever that the U.S. formed a political alliance with socialist governments in Latin America.</p> <p>• Obama Administration OKed the nomination of Chas Freeman to chair the National Intelligence Council (which coordinates intelligence reports from all government agencies), despite the fact that he was openly hostile to Israel and strongly favored Arabist goals. (He later withdrew under pressure.)</p> <p>• Chinese pianist Lang Lang played an offensively anti-American song at a 2011 White House dinner where Obama hosted Chinese president Hu Jintao, to the delight and amazement of the communist Chinese visitors, while Obama just sat there and smiled (the song’s Chinese lyrics describe Americans as “warmongering jackals”).</p> <p>• There was a great deal of (still unverified) suspicion that the company LightSquared received favorable treatment from the Obama administration for approval of its broadband technology which interfered with the GPS system; an Air Force general claimed he was pressured by the Obama administration to downplay his criticism of LightSquared’s technology in sworn testimony.</p> <p>• Obama’s Department of Energy awarded $529 million to Fisker Automotive to build their Karma hybrid electric cars — even though they are manufactured in Finland, cost over $100,000 each, and tend to explode.</p> <p>• When Inspector General Gerald Walpin discovered during a 2009 investigation that one of Obama’s political allies (the mayor of Sacramento) was misusing government funds for personal gain, Obama unceremoniously fired Walpin — even though rooting out fraud was the job description of the Inspector General.</p> <p>• More than once Obama made so-called “recess appointments” when the Senate was not actually in recess, which directly violates Constitutional rules about how appointments must be made; in each case it was his way of getting his political allies into certain key positions without them being vetted or approved by the Senate, as required.</p> <p>• After Nidal Malik Hasan massacred 13 people at Fort Hood while shouting “Allahu Akbar” so as to become a martyr for Islam, the Obama administration refused to classify his action as “terrorism” and instead deemed it merely “workplace violence.”</p> <p>• Despite the fact that the Falkland Islands have been part of Great Britain since 1833 and that Great Britain is supposed to be our strongest ally, Obama essentially sided with Argentina in its new claim on the Falklands, not only by adopting the Argentine position that their status is open to negotiation, but even by (attempting to) refer to the islands by their Spanish name (Malvinas).</p> <p>• Convened the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (a.k.a. the Simpson-Bowles commission) in order to address a major economic crisis…and then summarily dismissed and ignored their recommendations.</p> <p>• Criticized the Supreme Court’s legal reasoning (about the Citizen’s United decision) during a State of the Union address, which many considered a dangerous precedent as it appeared to place political pressure on the court, violating the Constitution’s separation of powers; but his bullying seems to have later paid off, when the Supreme Court apparently altered its Obamacare decision so as to not ruffle any political feathers.</p> <p>• On April 27, 2009, Obama’s staff (possibly at his direction) ordered Air Force One to make an unnecessary very low flight over part of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, which many residents mistakenly assumed must be a second 9/11 attack in progress; turned out that it was just a stunt to get a photo op of Obama’s plane next to the Statue of Liberty.</p> <p>• Obama somehow managed to insert mentions of himself into the official biographies of earlier presidents on the White House Web site — even presidents from the 19th century. After public outcry, the narcissistic Obama mentions were quietly removed without comment.</p> <p>• Intentionally misquotes the Declaration of Independence in speeches, often leaving out the words “by their Creator” in the famous passage “…are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” which Obama instead has recited as “…are endowed with certain unalienable rights.” </p> <p>• In June of 2009, Obama’s Solicitor General (and now Supreme Court Justice) Elena Kagan filed a legal brief to prevent the families of 9/11 victims from appealing their lawsuits against the Saudi royal family for financing the 9/11 attacks.</p> <p>• The 2009 National Christmas Tree in the White House was decorated with ornaments depicting Chairman Mao, a drag queen, and a picture of Mount Rushmore that included Obama’s own head next to George Washington’s.</p> <p>• Compelled Catholic and other religious organizations to provide health plans with free contraception, even though such requirements violate their rights of religious freedom and conscience.</p> <p>• It was revealed only after Obama became president that during the 1990s he was a leading member of the “New Party,” a socialist-aligned far-left radical group in Chicago.</p> <p>• Lied about his close associations with former Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers; pretended the two barely knew each other, when multiple sources document they were friends and close colleagues for years.</p> <p>• When Obama was inaugurated as President on January 20, 2009, he at first flubbed the oath of office, so he had to re-take it behind closed doors for his inauguration to be valid. He did so, but during this second, true inauguration in private, he purposely failed to place his hand on a Bible, as is traditional — the first president ever to not swear the oath of office on the Bible.</p> <p>• Obama’s own author bio in his literary agent’s catalog and on their Web site stated for 17 consecutive years that he was born in Kenya; this claim remained intact despite other portions of the bio being altered and updated repeatedly. It was only in 2007 after he decided to run for the presidency that the “born in Kenya” claim was taken down. The original info must necessarily have come from Obama himself; some theorize he likely falsely claimed foreign birth in order to gain admission or scholarships in college, and never bothered to fix his lie.</p> <p>• After winning the 2008 election but before being sworn in, Obama bombastically concocted the official-seeming “Office of the President-Elect” as if it was some kind of real government department; in fact, it was just a self-congratulatory title he made up to look important before he actually became president.</p> <p>• Obama administration came up with the bizarre euphemism “man-caused disasters” to describe acts of terrorism — because he wants to downplay terrorism as a significant political issue.</p> <p>• For three years in a row his official budget proposals to Congress received exactly zero votes — not even a single vote from Democrats.</p> <p>• Relied on an Islamic fundamentalist militia group called “The Martyrs of the February the 17th Revolution Brigade” to provide security at the American mission in Benghazi — and they not only failed to prevent the attack but perhaps even joined in on it.</p> <p>• During the debate over Obamacare in 2009, Obama bluntly stated that doctors like to perform amputations rather than practice preventive medicine for no other reason than that they make a greater profit from amputations. The American College of Surgeons demanded an apology, which never arrived.</p> <p>• Since 2008 the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> has been in possession of a videotape showing Obama honoring and praising anti-Western anti-Israel academic Edward Said, but they have steadfastly refused to release it to this day, for no discernible reason other than their belief it would damage Obama’s reputation.</p> <p>• When the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe recently held a conference on human rights, Obama sent an American representative — Salam al-Marayati, a Truther who blamed Israel for the 9/11 attacks and who also praises Hezbollah and Hamas. To the nations of Europe, al-Marayati spoke for all Americans on the topic of human rights.</p> <p>• Obama’s Department of Homeland Security specifically warned that Americans who are “dedicated to a<br/> single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration” are potential terrorists, as are libertarian-minded voters who “favor of state or local authority” over centralized power. These “rightwing extremists” (who hold political beliefs shared by a majority of Americans) are deemed a greater threat to the nation than actual revolutionaries or jihadists.</p> <p>• While campaigning in 2008 Obama declared that it was “unpatriotic” that Bush had increased the national debt at a rate of half a trillion dollars per year; but under Obama the rate of national debt increase has accelerated to almost <em>three times</em> the Bush rate ($6 trillion in new debt in under four years) — yet Obama has never apologized nor declared himself unpatriotic.</p> <p>• For decades, every president has attended a “daily intelligence briefing” which updates him on critical world events each morning. Obama has skipped 60% of his daily intelligence briefings, including the ones leading up to the attack in Benghazi.</p> <p>…</p> <p>[...Much more to come soon! This is a work in progress that will be added to throughout the day. Keep refreshing the page for updates...]</p> <p>…Also see:</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/06/president-barack-obamas-complete-list.html" target="_blank"><strong>• President Barack Obama’s Complete List of Historic Firsts</strong></a></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/4701/long-post-complete-list-obama-statement-expiration-dates" target="_blank"><strong>• The Complete List of Obama Statement Expiration Dates</strong></a></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203897404578078902106077268.html" target="_blank"><strong>• A Chronic Case of Obamnesia: Obama’s Long Trail of Flip-Flops</strong></a></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://obamalies.net/list-of-lies" target="_blank"><strong>• List of Obama’s Lies</strong></a></p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsCNvSTRHrwPdFlwMEZIVy1XU3ZaMWpYVi1yWGtuaXc#gid=0" target="_blank"><strong>• Obama’s Marxist Associations and Policies</strong></a></p> <p><em>(Remember an Obama misdeed not listed here? Mention it in the comments section below! Eventually <strike>all</strike> <em>many</em> suggestions will be incorporated into the list. [Update: There simply aren’t enough hours between now and November 6 to add the hundreds of great suggestions rolling it; I’ll do as many as I can, but the list will inevitably be incomplete. Read the comments themselves below for many more Obama misdeeds that won’t make it onto the list.)</em></p> </p> <div class="readmore"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/11/02/why-was-there-no-october-surprise/#respond" title="Comment on Why Was There No October Surprise? Because Every Freakin’ Day for the Last Four Years Has Been an October Surprise">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6388" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/22/this-is-what-a-blue-state-looks-like/">This Is What a Blue State Looks Like: Rally for Nudity in SF</a></h2> <div class="date">October 22nd, 2012 - 1:36 pm</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <hr/> <p><em><sub>[To ensure that this post is work-safe, family-friendly, and legal, all photos below have the following parts blurred out:<br/> - exposed genitals<br/> - exposed butt-cracks<br/> - female breasts<br/> - the faces of children or anyone who appears to be a minor<br/> - the faces of passersby who may not wish to be associated with the protest.</sub></em></p> <p><em><sub>If you instead wish to see the unexpurgated NSFW edition, click <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://zombietime.com/rally_for_nudity_sf_10-20-12/" target="_blank">HERE</a> to view the unblurred zombietime version of this same essay.]</sub></em></p> <hr/> <p>All trends start in California, they say — and all <em>California</em> trends start in San Francisco. That’s why everyone, no matter where you live, should take note of a rally just held in SF to support a growing political movement: the legalization of public nudity.</p> <p>The “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://nude-in.blogspot.com/2012/10/rally-for-nudity-event-in-jwp-on-102012.html" target="_blank">Rally for Nudity</a>,” as it was called, took place in the city’s Castro District on Saturday, October 20, drawing over a hundred mostly naked protesters fighting against a proposed new law that would criminalize nudity in San Francisco. That’s right — probably because no one ever thought such a law was necessary in chilly San Francisco, the city government has never bothered to pass a law forbidding public nudity, and recently a large group of dedicated nudists and exhibitionists have taken advantage of this legal loophole, parading around naked in public on a daily basis, mostly in the Castro District.</p> <p>Now, responding to complaints from local businesses and clothed neighbors, the area’s City Supervisor — the perfectly named <strong>Scott Wiener</strong> (<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://scottwiener.com/" target="_blank">no joke</a>) — has <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2012/10/18/should-nudity-be-allowed-in-the-castro/" target="_blank">proposed a new ordinance banning public nudity in San Francisco</a>. That was the final straw for the naked activists, who announced a clothing-optional public protest against the law on Saturday in Jane Warner Plaza, at the intersection of Castro and Market streets, a busy corner that has become the prime rendezvous spot for the city’s nudists.</p> <p>From the Castro District they seek to expand the nudity zone outward to all of San Francisco; if the movement gains momentum, could it expand to all of California, and then eventually nationwide?</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9845.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The protest was both lighthearted and serious at the same time. One protester held a sign saying “No to Scott. Yes to Weiner!” which, despite misspelling “Wiener,” was pretty funny.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9917.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The organizers handed out a list of demands, which included not only creating nude areas in all city parks, but also insisted on an apology from Scott Wiener “for starting a witch-hunt against nudists and leather-folk.”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0105.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The crowd of protesters swelled to over 100 as the afternoon wore on, with at least as many rubberneckers on the surrounding sidewalks. (The rally didn’t quite reach the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.facebook.com/events/513276018699995" target="_blank">200 attendees who vowed on Facebook to show up</a>, but 100 isn’t half bad.)</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0276.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The protesters tried to frame the issue as a civil rights and libertarian cause, but look at this sign specifying the rules for Jane Warner Plaza, where the protest was held: According to city ordinances, in the plaza it is illegal to smoke, sell things, sleep, camp, do landscaping or gardening, drink alcohol, and (not mentioned on the sign but still illegal) block the adjacent trolley tracks, have unleashed dogs, and disrupt traffic, among numerous other taboo behaviors. If the protesters were (as they claim to be) resisting on general principles <em>any</em> government restrictions on public freedoms, then why focus on nudity and none of these other oppressive laws? Where is the Rally for Public Gardening?</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0390.jpg" alt=""/><br/> My God, that man is breaking the law — he’s drinking alcohol in Jane Warner Plaza!</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0092.jpg" alt=""/><br/> This being an election season, the lure of several hundred politically involved citizens gathering in one place was too great for the Democratic Party to resist. Members of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, the local branch of the Democratic Party, showed up to ply the crowd with voting slate brochures.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0258a.jpg" alt=""/><br/> This volunteer handed a voting slate to a young child in the crowd. Well, seeing as no one ever checks voter IDs in San Francisco polling places, this may not be as pointless as it seems!</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0180.jpg" alt=""/><br/> But surely the Democratic Party volunteers weren’t <em>themselves</em> naked — oh. I see.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_8448.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Actually, being naked was a smart move — the unclothed canvassers had much more success handing out the slate cards than the clothed canvassers did.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0177.jpg" alt=""/><br/> “Make sure to vote Democrat on November 6!” A jolly time was had by all.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0190.jpg" alt=""/><br/> And the rally was definitely Democrat Country. This <em>is</em> Nancy Pelosi’s district, after all. In fact, a steady stream of Obama supporters walked through the protest.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0375.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Most of them seemed to be just passersby…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_0384.jpg" alt=""/><br/> …but others stopped to soak in the carnival atmosphere.</p> </p> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/22/this-is-what-a-blue-state-looks-like/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/22/this-is-what-a-blue-state-looks-like/2/">2</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/22/this-is-what-a-blue-state-looks-like/3/">3</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/22/this-is-what-a-blue-state-looks-like/4/">4</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/22/this-is-what-a-blue-state-looks-like/#respond" title="Comment on This Is What a Blue State Looks Like: Rally for Nudity in SF">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6372" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/18/the-secret-life-of-willard-mitty/">The Secret Life of Willard Mitty</a></h2> <div class="date">October 18th, 2012 - 2:18 pm</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p>“America is on the brink!” the Impossibly Talented Orator thundered at the podium. “Only the most extreme measures shall save her!” A lock of his hair, slightly dampened with manly sweat, fell rakishly across one eye. Several women in the audience fainted from excitement. Not a Teleprompter was in sight. The Impossibly Talented Orator looked directly into the souls of every single person in the million-strong audience. <em>“Damn the Democrats and their communist puppetmasters! Rise up for freedom! Rise up for success! Rise up——”</em></p> <p>“Willard, your smile is fading a bit,” said his wife Ann, interrupting his reverie. “You know a scowl is not acceptable. You promised to keep a friendly smile pasted on your face for the entire campaign. Now keep waving at those middle-class voters.”</p> <p>Momentarily confused, Willard Mitty raised his arm and waved at the farmers and unemployed coal miners gathered outside the ’50s-era diner hosting that morning’s photo op. A gentle elbow from Ann jolted him back to the task at hand. He looked at his watch — 10:17. Two minutes behind schedule. Willard ate a corn dog and grinned and shook hands with Likely Registered Voters, and then delivered some prepared remarks to the press pool: “When 18.2% of businesses in southern Ohio have trouble completing the paperwork required under section 47a of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it leads to a reduction of manufacturing output as much as 29.5%….”</p> <p>Mitty finally exhaled as he entered the campaign bus. “We’ve got an 11:30 at the state fair,” said the Assistant Campaign Manager. “I’ll debrief you on the way.” Mitty sighed and gazed out the window at the passing corn fields as the debriefing droned on in the background.</p> <p>“Captain Mittington! The dastardly Brits have hoisted the mizzen-mast,” cried the bos’n's mate. “There’s no stopping them now!” The Captain peered through the fog of war with his trusty spyglass. He noticed what not even the Brits had realized: the Westerlies had stalled and the English fleet was now in the Doldrums. “All men topside!” cried Captain Mittington. “We’re boarding them a-port come hell or high water!”</p> <p>The Captain swung onto the British deck and landed just as a cannonball broke his rope. Sparks flew from his blade as he repelled the lunges of several limey swordsmen. “Never shall overly taxed tea touch American shores!” the Captain yelled. With two swift strokes of his cutlass he sliced the moorings which held the cargo of tea on deck. <em>“To the sea! To the sea with your accursed tea!”</em> ——</p> <p>“The Bipartisan Protocol needs another revision by the Compromise Committee,” interrupted Willard’s Ombudsman of Moderation. “I’ve faxed the Mutually Agreed-Upon Points of Reasonableness to your pager.” Mitty looked up, startled. The Compromise Committee? Yes, now he remembered: He agreed to co-chair it at the last Moderate Conference.</p> <p>“I’m quite sure that the Points of Reasonableness are, well, reasonable,” Mitty said. “Are we at the county fair yet?”</p> <p>His campaign aides looked at each other nervously. After an awkward silence, one cleared his throat and spoke up. “Willard, the county fair appearance wrapped up 45 minutes ago. Your joke went over great.”</p> <p>“Joke?”</p> <p>“You know, the one where you say, ‘Why did the chicken only partly cross the carnival midway? Because he wanted to stay in the middle of the road — just like all of you, and me as well!’ It took the Noncontroversial Joke Team three days to come up with that zinger!”</p> <p>Mitty barely remembered saying the joke and the wild applause from average people it elicited. He must have been going through the motions, as his mind seemed to be elsewhere at the time. But where? What was he thinking? The voices around him faded as he gazed inward.</p> <p>“Vilard Mitté at your service,” the dashing recruit saluted at the French Legionnaire fort in the Sahara Desert. Glowing ash crumbled from the <em>Gitane</em> cigarette dangling off his chapped lips. “I have marched five hundred <em>kilometres</em> through <em>ze</em> burning sands to relieve your position.”</p> <p>The Commandant eyed him with disgust and disbelief. “Just <em>vous</em> and no one else? I snort with derision! We are surrounded by Saracens and savage desert nomads who desire death more than we desire life. How can one grizzled but handsome world-weary adventurer save us?”</p> <p>“How? <em>How?</em>” laughed the dashing Vilard Mitté through his five-o’clock shadow. “<em>Avec le</em> intestinal fortitude, <em>mon commandant!</em>”</p> </p> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/18/the-secret-life-of-willard-mitty/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/18/the-secret-life-of-willard-mitty/2/">2</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/18/the-secret-life-of-willard-mitty/#respond" title="Comment on The Secret Life of Willard Mitty">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6357" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/15/hypnotize-undecideds-to-become-comfortable-with-the-notion-of-president-romney/">Hypnotize Undecideds to Become Comfortable with the Notion of ‘President Romney’</a></h2> <div class="date">October 15th, 2012 - 11:57 am</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p>One reason why undecided voters remain undecided is that they are uncomfortable with newness. If forced to choose between the familiar and the strange, they tend to retreat to the familiar — if the two options are otherwise similar. But what if the familiar option is now damaged goods? The hesitant chooser then faces a dilemma, whether it’s best to stick with the flawed product you know, or to take a leap of faith and anoint an unfamiliar new product the status of <em>best friends forever</em>.</p> <p>And thus they become paralyzed with indecision.</p> <p>Decisive people never face this dilemma. If something fails, they have no problem discarding it and replacing it with a superior substitute. But hesitant, un-self-confident people have difficulty visualizing something that doesn’t already exist. And that makes it difficult for them to make changes in their lives.</p> <p>This is especially true with momentous decisions. It might be possible, on a brave day, for a hesitant person to test out a new ice cream flavor. But to vote for a total stranger to be president? <em>Whoa whoa whoa</em>, slow down, that’s more than I can handle. It’s so much easier to vote for the existing president because, well, <em>because he’s already called “President.”</em></p> <p>Yeah, sure, everyone tells me he’s not a very <em>good</em> president, but I just can’t visualize someone else as president, because, well, <em>because the other guy isn’t called “President.”</em></p> <p>Those of you who vote according to your personal convictions or out of a political philosophy might find this kind of dithering hesitancy to be incomprehensible. But it lies at the root of why some voters, even this late in the game, remain “undecided.” It’s not really that they’re undecided, but rather that they haven’t quite yet come to terms with the notion of “President Romney.”</p> <p>Such people need a little extra encouragement to internalize “President Romney” in their mental vocabulary. And once they become comfortable with the concept, they will feel freer to embrace something new and vote for Romney, because the notion of “President Romney” will no longer be strange and unfamiliar.</p> <p>Furthermore, if you haven’t made up your mind at this stage, then you are completely resistant to words, arguments, logic, rationality, and information. Your mind must be approached at a subconscious level, perhaps through the pineal gland.</p> <p>To that end, I have created a new video specifically aimed at undecided voters. It serves one purpose and one purpose only: <strong>To make viewers familiar with and comfortable with the phrase “President Romney.”</strong> To achieve this, I have carefully overlaid an ever-growing crescendo of voices repeating “President Romney” on a hypnotic visual background, in this case <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnotoad#Hypnotoad" target="_blank">the “Hypnotoad” character</a> from the TV series <em>Futurama</em>.</p> <p>Behold <strong>HypnoRomney</strong>:</p> <p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015if_/http://www.youtube.com/embed/JwOVD7z-gqA?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>If you’re reading this analysis, you’ve almost certainly already decided whom to vote for; this video is not aimed at you. Instead, it is aimed at those people who are teetering on the edge of voting for Romney, but first need to become at ease with the concept “President Romney” before pulling that lever for him in the voting booth.</p> <p>So, I encourage everyone reading this to repost this video wherever you can, especially in non-political Web environments, or in the kinds of places where undecided voters might congregate (presuming there are such places).</p> <p>To make sharing easy, here is the URL of the YouTube page with the video:</p> <p><code>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwOVD7z-gqA</code></p> <p>And here is the YouTube embed code, for those sites that require it:</p> <p><code><iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JwOVD7z-gqA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></code></p> <p>And here is a link to the page itself:</p> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwOVD7z-gqA" target="_blank"><strong>HypnoRomney</strong></a></p> <p>We’ve tried reason. We’ve tried emotion. Now let’s seal the deal with hypnosis!</p> </p> <div class="readmore"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/15/hypnotize-undecideds-to-become-comfortable-with-the-notion-of-president-romney/#respond" title="Comment on Hypnotize Undecideds to Become Comfortable with the Notion of ‘President Romney’">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6270" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/09/obama-battered-at-sf-stop/">Left Hook, Right Jab: Obama battered from all sides at S.F. stop</a></h2> <div class="date">October 9th, 2012 - 10:57 pm</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p>Things quickly turned sour for President Obama on Monday in San Francisco at what was <em>supposed</em> to be a stopover in friendly territory. Instead, he was greeted by angry protesters from <i>both</i> wings of the political spectrum. Even independent libertarians expressed their disappointment in a president that seems to be hemorrhaging support with each passing day.</p> <p>Protesters swirled around the entrance to the Bill Graham Auditorium, tormenting the ticket-holders waiting in line to see Obama and radical socialist musician Michael Franti. What made this particular protest unique was that its participants spanned the entire spectrum of American politics, from conservatives to leftists, from marijuana advocates to the NRA, from the Tea Party to Code Pink, from Occupy San Francisco to “Porn Stars for Romney” to PETA, and everyone in between. Who can unite them all? Only Obama!</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9592.jpg" alt=""/><br/> This Romney fan (who caucused with the Tea Party protesters) pretty much summed up the mood of the day.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9217.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Just steps away, this anti-drone activist (who caucused with World Can’t Wait) was even more harsh with <em>his</em> criticism of Obama.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9406.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The “states’ rights”-minded libertarian marijuana advocates were unhappy with Obama for clamping down on pot clinics, even in states with medical marijuana laws.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9518.jpg" alt=""/><br/> They even deployed their most potent weapon, the dreaded Giant Puppet.</p> <p>Didn’t matter where each protest group fell on the political spectrum — they all were unhappy with Obama.</p> <p>Who else showed up to protest the president?</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9448.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Occupy Wall Street? Check.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9565.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The NRA? Check.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9212.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Code Pink? As always.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9391.jpg" alt=""/><br/> PETA went the Full Pachyderm with an angry elephant.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9341.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Single-payer health care advocates were miffed about the muddled half-measures known as Obamacare.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9275.jpg" alt=""/><br/> “Porn Stars for Romney” entertained the crowds with his roller-skate antics and hilarious “I Built It” costume, but most people could not even figure out whose side he was on. Any protester riffing on “You didn’t build that” is presumed to be anti-Obama, but Mr. Porn Star later seemed to reveal that his Romney advocacy was <em>sarcastic</em>, bewildering onlookers as to what he was protesting <em>for</em>, if anything.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9187.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Most likely he was an ideological counterpart to this guy, who hated everyone equally.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9136.jpg" alt=""/><br/> After a quick stop in Los Angeles for some high-toned fundraisers on Sunday, Obama started Monday morning with a short visit to the outskirts of Bakersfield where <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/10/08/gop-chairman-cesar-chavez-monument-designation-an-election-year-ploy/" target="_blank">he unveiled a monument to Cesar Chavez</a>. Then he arrived in San Francisco for a hush-hush fundraiser with unknown individuals at the InterContinental Hotel (seen here surrounded by a security cordon of police vehicles) — an event not only closed to the press, but the existence of which was kept entirely under wraps.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9142.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Absolutely no one knew about this event — the tiny handful of people on hand were accidental passersby.</p> <p>The next stop on his itinerary was the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco’s Civic Center, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2012/10/09/led-by-alice-waters-and-tyler-florence-the-bay-areas-finest-chefs-cook-for-president-obama/" target="_blank">where Alice Waters and all the trendiest chefs in the Bay Area prepared supper</a> for Obama and any other 1%er millionaires willing to fork over $20,000 per person for the privilege of presidential access (full menu from the event visible <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/files/2012/10/obamachefs.jpg" target="_blank">here</a>). </p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9381.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Then they all moved into the adjacent auditorium, joined by the <em>hoi polloi</em> (seen above waiting in line) who paid $100 each for tickets to see Obama <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/o2012-October8Concert" target="_blank">and a concert</a> by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Disposable_Heroes_of_Hiphoprisy" target="_blank">socialist</a> performer Michael Franti, who presumably entertained Obama and the cadres and revolutionary vanguard with some of his trademark lyrics <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.lyricsmania.com/tha_payroll_stay_strong_lyrics_michael_franti_and_spearhead.html" target="_blank">like</a>:</p> <blockquote><p> I met a black man who became a police officer<br/> officer, officer, officer, officer, officer, overseer<br/> he tried to tell me it was the only job available<br/> either rob or join the mob ’cause I’m not salable<br/> one night he went out on an undercover sting-ing<br/> bought some smack tried to break the heroin ring-ring<br/> Two cops white cops saw juggling goin’ down<br/> they spilled his brain like homey the fuckin’ clown<br/> (He’s gone!)<br/> Mama Mama Mama Mama I couldn’t say no<br/> got sick and tired of seein’ people bein’ treated ill<br/> picked up my nines, walked up from behind<br/> tapped two of them on the neck so I could meet their eyes direct<br/> Pom! Pom!<br/> I didn’t do it for tha payroll</p></blockquote> <p>(Also on the bill was someone named “John Legend.”)</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9648.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The Obama voters had to run a gauntlet of protest groups on the way into the auditorium.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9356.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Various northern California Tea Party groups made up the largest protest contingent by far.</p> <p>Larry of the Fund47 blog <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://fund47.blogspot.com/2012/10/chez-pennies-sf-tea-party-serves.html" target="_blank">has an extensive slideshow of Tea Partiers</a> at the event.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9437.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Many of the Obama fans in line were wearing large buttons that said “I’m Entitled…”, along with some smaller writing that was hard to make out.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/IMG_9328.jpg" alt=""/><br/> I finally got a close-up view of them, only to discover that they read “<strong>I’m Entitled…to know how I can get an $87 million IRA in less than 14,500 years</strong>. Bay Area for Obama 10/8/2012.” This was apparently an attempt to make some kind of political hay about Romney being wealthy and about his comments on the corrosive entitlement mentality, but the buttons were just a disaster. First of all, it was difficult for random onlookers to read the small text, so it just seemed like all the Obama voters were walking around announcing proudly that they feel “entitled.” But even if you squinted and <em>were</em> able to read to rest of the message, it still was some kind of Democratic in-joke that made little sense to the average person. As for Romney’s sin of being wealthy — what about S.F.’s representatives in Washington, Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Feinstein-Pelosi-among-richest-in-Congress-3924070.php" target="_blank">being among the richest members of Congress</a> with fortunes that rival or surpass Romney’s? <em>Ooops.</em> Meme <strong>FAIL</strong>.</p> </p> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/09/obama-battered-at-sf-stop/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/09/obama-battered-at-sf-stop/2/">2</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/09/obama-battered-at-sf-stop/3/">3</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/09/obama-battered-at-sf-stop/#respond" title="Comment on Left Hook, Right Jab: Obama battered from all sides at S.F. stop">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6243" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/04/anarcho-laziness-scenes-from-occupylas-one-year-anniversary-rally/">Anarcho-Laziness: Scenes from Occupy LA’s one-year anniversary rally</a></h2> <div class="date">October 4th, 2012 - 2:02 pm</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/asign15.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Yesterday the motley remnants of Occupy Los Angeles finally got around to celebrating Occupy Wall Street’s one-year anniversary (more than <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/19/san-failcisco-occupy-anniversary-rally-flops-in-sf/?singlepage=true" target="_blank">two weeks after all the other OWS groups did so</a>.) In fact, this lackadaisical attitude about their own rally perfectly reflected the newly emergent operational philosophy of OccupyLA, which one might deem Anarcho-Laziness: the right to avoid employment.</p> <p>Once again Ringo of Ringo’s Pictures was on hand at Downtown L.A.’s Pershing Square to record the festivities. A blow-by-blow account of how the one-year anniversary march played out will be posted soon <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.ringospictures.com/" target="_blank">at ringospictures.com</a>; this PJM post will serve as a preview of some of the more amusing scenes.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/aola3.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Distancing themselves from both major political parties — and from any semblance of human decency — the Occupiers proudly showed off their grandest banner, an allegorical Gauginesque painting of a Republican elephant copulating as only an elephant can with a Democrat she-donkey (technically a “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_(donkey)" target="_blank">jenny</a>“).</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/asign14.jpg" alt=""/><br/> But a major theme of the day seemed to be an active antipathy to the notion of work. The Occupiers seek a new societal paradigm in which people laze about and enjoy themselves, while magical fairies and unicorns bring them delicacies on silver trays.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/asign3.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Capitalism, you see, has robbed us all of our free time. If it wasn’t for that mean ol’ capitalism we could just slack off all day! But as the sign at the lower right shows…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/10/asign11.jpg" alt=""/><br/> …not everybody is clear on the concept. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_need" target="_blank">Quoting Karl Marx</a> directly conflicts with the principles of Anarcho-Laziness: the whole point of communism is to ensure that <em>everybody</em> has a job.</p> </p> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/04/anarcho-laziness-scenes-from-occupylas-one-year-anniversary-rally/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/04/anarcho-laziness-scenes-from-occupylas-one-year-anniversary-rally/2/">2</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/10/04/anarcho-laziness-scenes-from-occupylas-one-year-anniversary-rally/#respond" title="Comment on Anarcho-Laziness: Scenes from Occupy LA’s one-year anniversary rally">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6194" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/27/the-five-false-assumptions-behind-poll-skewing/">The Five False Assumptions Behind Poll-Skewing</a></h2> <div class="date">September 27th, 2012 - 11:20 am</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p>Polls polls polls polls polls. In the weeks leading up to a presidential election, that’s all anyone talks about. Polls subsume all other news: Every soundbite, disaster, current event, policy, gaffe, decision and incident are merely vectors in pollspace, data which may or may not nudge the candidates’ numbers up or down a notch.</p> <p>Therefore he who controls the polls can retroactively control everything that happens: Any event or utterance can be afterward spun as wonderful or ruinous if you can demonstrate that the subsequent poll showed a bounce or a dip. Polls are seen as irrefutable <i>ex post facto</i> evidence that a slanted news report was in fact accurate: “See? You complained when we quickly labeled the candidate’s joke as a ‘gaffe,’ but this new poll shows he dropped three points, so that proves it really <i>was</i> a gaffe.”</p> <p>As a result, the 2012 presidential campaign is paralleled by a surrogate Poll War enjoined by each side’s supporters in the punditocracy. Whatever else happens in real life, the partisans are in an endless down-and-dirty mud-wrestling match over the veracity and reliability of polls.</p> <p><b>The Purpose of Poll-Skewing</b></p> <p>Each side has defined for itself an ultimate goal. Obama’s supporters in the media and online strive incessantly to demonstrate and publicize that Obama is ahead in the polls. Romney’s supporters strive to demonstrate that those polls are skewed, since the published totals are “weighted” (i.e. arbitrarily distorted) to match statistics about past voter behavior that are no longer true.</p> <p>Now, if you had just landed on Earth from another galaxy, you likely would be very confused about this behavior on the part of the poll-wrestlers. Presuming there is such a thing as objective reality, there must be a certain true percentage of people who support each candidate — so what purpose is served by intentionally misrepresenting that reality if, at the end of the campaign, that misrepresentation will be trumped by an actual vote? Isn’t the purpose of polls to reveal a snapshot of how things really stand?</p> <p><i>Oh you naive extraterrestrials</i>, we reply. Originally, yes, polls were meant to document reality, but nowadays polls are designed to <i>mold</i> reality. If two candidates are in truth currently tied, but we announce that one of them is in the lead, then on election day he will actually win, because our false poll reporting affected how people vote. Get it?</p> <p><b>Amateur Mass Psychology</b></p> <p>No, actually, I don’t get it. This entire strategy, which dominates the 2012 election even more than it dominated earlier campaigns, is based on some amateurish assumptions about mass psychology that have never been proven, or even tested. I find it extremely odd that no one has ever questioned these assumptions — until now, at least — because so much depends on them. What if it turns out, after endless person-hours expended on the Poll Wars, that the assumptions justifying poll-skewing are completely wrong?</p> </p> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/27/the-five-false-assumptions-behind-poll-skewing/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/27/the-five-false-assumptions-behind-poll-skewing/2/">2</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/27/the-five-false-assumptions-behind-poll-skewing/3/">3</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/27/the-five-false-assumptions-behind-poll-skewing/4/">4</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/27/the-five-false-assumptions-behind-poll-skewing/5/">5</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/27/the-five-false-assumptions-behind-poll-skewing/#respond" title="Comment on The Five False Assumptions Behind Poll-Skewing">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> <div id="post-6126" class="post rounded-corner-box"> <div class="headline"> <h2><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/19/san-failcisco-occupy-anniversary-rally-flops-in-sf/">San Failcisco: Occupy Anniversary Rally Flops in SF</a></h2> <div class="date">September 19th, 2012 - 10:25 am</div> </div> <div class="entry"> <p>The Occupy Wall Street movement celebrated its one-year anniversary on Monday, September 17 with birthday rallies in various cities around the country. The “party” in San Francisco only served to remind everyone how pointless, futile, disgusting and irrelevant Occupy has been from the very start.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8455.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Unstoppable, baby! Yeah!</p> <p>Despite the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://occupyactionsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Info_Flyer-01.jpg" target="_blank">impressive-seeming full schedule of capitalism-smashing “direct actions” all day long</a>, most of them fizzled into nothingness as the first half of the rally quickly devolved into everyone…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8425.jpg" alt=""/><br/> …sitting around and painting slogans on Market Street.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8583.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Then we all trooped over to the Financial District for a brief rally in front of the Bank of America building (one of the tallest buildings on the West Coast and eternal symbol of the <em>eeeeeeevil</em> banking industry).</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8672.jpg" alt=""/><br/> And then the assembled four hundred or so protesters marched back to Market Street. This revolutionary act stunned the world! Some people walked <em>up</em> a street, and then later walked <em>down</em> a different street! <em>Gasp!</em></p> <p><iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015if_/http://www.youtube.com/embed/IWXegclXw50?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p><em><sup>(Video courtesy of a contributor.)</sup></em><br/> This video shows the day’s climactic moment, as the marchers chanted “Happy Birthday, Occupy!”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8497.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Since nothing really happened of any significance all afternoon and since the rally had no real narrative arc other than a bunch of crazies, bums and activists milling around the city for a few hours, the photos below are presented in no particular order.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8692.jpg" alt=""/><br/> On the very day that violent Islamic fundamentalist riots broke out all over the Arab world, one protester <em>still</em> hadn’t gotten the memo that maybe it’s not so smart to compare the Occupy movement with a revolution that paved the way for the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda to gain political ascendency.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8569.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Economic thinking among the Occupiers remained exceedingly uninsightful. This typical sign demanded that we “curb the corporations” and then somehow <em>also</em> guarantee “jobs for the 99%.” But if we’ve just curbed all the corporations, which presumably would entail downsizing and layoffs, then for whom will all these 99%ers be working? I guess the answer would be “the government” in a completely centralized economy. Because we all know how well <em>that</em> worked out in the 20th century. To be honest, I doubt her analysis extended that far: All she knows is that corporations are <em>bad</em> and jobs for everyone are <em>good</em>, end of story.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8247.jpg" alt=""/><br/> The anarchists from Occupy Oakland don’t want jobs <em>or</em> a centralized all-powerful government, of course. But let’s not let details undermine our unity!</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8623.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Yes, unity. Since the very beginning of the movement a year ago, there had never been a unified Occupy front in the Bay Area. OccupySF was distinct from Occupy Oakland which was different from Occupy Berkeley which was even different from Occupy <em>U.C.</em> Berkeley — not to mention Occupy groups in smaller cities nearby. Furthermore, the big city Occupy groups had fractured into squabbling cliques, such as Oakland which broke apart into Occupy Patriarchy and Occupy Gentrification among others, while San Francisco saw the emergence of local neighborhood groups like Occupy Bernal. The end result was a chaotic directionless jumble of competing mini-Occupies jockeying for power in their tiny political pond.</p> <p>A protester <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://www.examiner.com/article/hundreds-celebrate-the-birthday-of-occupy-san-francisco" target="_blank">interviewed at the rally</a> tried to put a positive spin on the situation:</p> <blockquote><p>“A lot of the groups that were involved in the Occupy movement are still active and doing things but they’ve kind of dispersed. It’s decentralized,” said Zoe Desalle, 25, of Oakland. “There are groups fighting foreclosures. There are groups working on banks. There’s Occupy The Farm and people have gone on (to) different local issues and projects. Which is really cool but it’s also important for people to affirm that we’re still here and doing things…”</p></blockquote> <p>But the arrival of the one-year anniversary changed all that. Realizing that each tiny group on its own had no chance of succeeding, they <em>finally</em> decided to band together into OBAU: Occupy Bay Area United. This rally marked the birth of the new united front. And yet, somehow, despite all the Occupies (even extending all the way down to Santa Cruz) coming together for a grand convergence, they still managed just a few hundred participants at most.</p> <p>At least the few remaining diehards have maintained their anti-American <em>mala fides</em>, as the sign above proves.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8717.jpg" alt=""/><br/> In a last desperate clutching at straws, this fellow begged Occupy’s diametric opposites to rescue his flailing movement by joining forces. Sorry, buddy — a little late in the game for that.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8550.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Y’know, my friend, I <em>have</em> considered the implications of a maximum wage, and this is what I concluded: In order to prevent people from earning as much money as they desire, we necessarily would have to live in a totalitarian police state which punished success by force — and/or we’d have to implement a 95+% tax rate on business owners. Both of which would lead to economic collapse, widespread poverty, and a culture of fear and oppression.</p> <p>What makes me depressed is that <em>you</em> haven’t considered any of this.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8710.jpg" alt=""/><br/> In addition to the usual motley Occupy crew of smelly homeless bums…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8257.jpg" alt=""/><br/> ..washed up former radicals reminiscing about the glory days of the ’60s…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_82501.jpg" alt=""/><br/> …political eccentrics…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8448.jpg" alt=""/><br/> …young paranoiacs who reduce everything to a series of Twitter hashtags…</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8530.jpg" alt=""/><br/> …and union members, we had…</p> <p>…well, actually, that just about covers everyone.</p> <p><iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015if_/http://www.youtube.com/embed/tMSKHJPX8Mo?fs=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p><em><sup>(Video courtesy of a contributor.)</sup></em><br/> Here’s an Occupy troubadour singing “The Answer, My Friend, Is Tax the Millionaires,” a so-bad-it’s-funny rewrite of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8575.jpg" alt=""/><br/> At the Bank of America building, many of the protesters stood for a photo shoot holding several large banners made for the occasion.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8573.jpg" alt=""/><br/> But what you <em>don’t</em> see in the staged shot is that the organizers had been wildly over-optimistic about the size of the rally and made far more banners than there were people willing to carry them. Most of them remained unused all day.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8528.jpg" alt=""/><br/> All sorts of attention-getting political actions had been announced throughout the day, yet most seemed to evaporate or slip by quickly, unnoticed by the majority of participants. For example, at one point we were all supposed to “compost our debt,” but I never saw any composting going on. Later I read that some folks <em>had</em> symbolically torn up and thrown away scraps of paper representing their debts, but it was such a minor sideshow that few people saw what happened.</p> <p><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015im_/http://cdn.pjmedia.com/zombie/files/2012/09/IMG_8518.jpg" alt=""/><br/> Things have gotten so “meta” in the protest world that people write pre-emptive captions for photos before the photos are even taken, to make sure the story is framed properly. Therefore, I was <em>going to</em> write a caption that said “This is not a tent — it is a symbol of protest,” but now I don’t have to! What a time-saver!</p> </p> <div class="readmore"><span class="readmorepage">Pages:</span> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/19/san-failcisco-occupy-anniversary-rally-flops-in-sf/">1</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/19/san-failcisco-occupy-anniversary-rally-flops-in-sf/2/">2</a> | <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/09/19/san-failcisco-occupy-anniversary-rally-flops-in-sf/#respond" title="Comment on San Failcisco: Occupy Anniversary Rally Flops in SF">Comments</a><span class="quotespan">»</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="archive-nav"> <div style="float:left;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/zombie/page/2/">« Older Entries</a></div> <div class="break"></div> </div> </div> <div id="sidebar"> <div id="sidebar-full"> <div class="adspace"><div class="admsg">Advertisement</div>  <div id="div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-5" style="width:300px; height:250px;"> <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-5'); }); </script> </div> </div> <div class="sidebar-box rounded-sidebar-box" style="padding-top:0;"> <div class="mostpopular"><h2></h2> </div> <div id="widget-popular"> <div id="widget-most-popular" class="popular-box"> <ul class="sidebar-content"> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2013/03/04/thats-all-folks/">That's All Folks</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/blog/tiny-terrorists-caught-up-in-anti-gun-hysteria/">'Tiny Terrorists' Caught Up in Anti-Gun Hysteria</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/03/04/todays-hysterical-gun-freakout-teacher-invades-kids-privacy-threatens-him-over-digital-photo-of-airsoft-gun/">Today's Hysterical Gun Freakout: Teacher Invades Kid's Privacy, Threatens Him Over Digital Photo of Airsoft Gun</a></li> </ul> <div class="sidebar-footer" style="margin-top:10px;"><a class="more-link" href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/">More</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="skyscraper">  <div id="div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-1" style="width:160px; height:600px;"> <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-1'); }); </script> </div> </div> <div class="skyscraper">  <div id="div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-0" style="width:160px; height:600px;"> <script type="text/javascript"> googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1347323895031-0'); }); </script> </div> </div> <div class="skyscraper skyscraperiframe"> <iframe id="ad_iframe_160_by_600_middle" src="/web/20130305094015if_/http://pjmedia.com/wp-content/themes/pjm/includes/ads/ad_iframe_160_by_600_middle.html" width="160" scrolling="no" height="600" frameborder="0" bordercolor="transparent" vspace="0" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"></iframe> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <p><a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/">Home</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/about-us/">About Us</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/press/media/">Media</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/advertising/">Advertising</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/contact-us/?dept=tips">Tips For PJM</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/pjm-archive/">Archive</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/terms-of-service/">Terms of Service</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/pj-media-faq/">FAQ</a> | <a href="/web/20130305094015/http://pjmedia.com/contact-us/">Contact Us</a></p> <p> v1.62.1 PJMWeb1 </p> </div> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-3218147-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 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