Gorelick 'Withdraws' From Duke University Defense

We have discussed previously on this blogue about how Duke university foolishly hired Jamie Gorelick, aka the 'Mistress of Disaster', to represent them in their defense against a lawsuit from the unindicted lacrosse team players. Now we learn that Gorelick has withdrawn from the case. Her reason:

Several motions filed on behalf of defendants Duke University and Duke University Health System Inc. have successfully narrowed the focus of the case to the point it makes sense for the two North Carolina firms that have been part of the defense team to assume control of the matter, says Wilmer public policy and strategy chair Jamie Gorelick.

That's BS if I've ever heard it. I suspect that Duke university has realized that having a serial fuckup like Jamie defending them won't help their chances in court.

Eric Hobsbawm: Marxist Moonbat of the Week

Don't you just love the elegant sneer on this "intellectual's" face? It's easy to imagine him thinking something like 'You stupid middle-class Brits and Americans are such idiots for not wanting to live in a worker's paradise like the Soviet Union was'.

Eric Hobsbawm, who at the age of 94 has been singing the praises of slavery over the drawbacks of freedom for nearly a century, has written a new book "How to Change the World: Reflections on Marx and Marxism." I have no plans to read his book. But I read an excellent review of it in the WSJ by Michael Moynihan:

In a now infamous 1994 interview with journalist Michael Ignatieff, the historian was asked if the murder of "15, 20 million people might have been justified" in establishing a Marxist paradise. "Yes," Mr. Hobsbawm replied. Asked the same question the following year, he reiterated his support for the "sacrifice of millions of lives" in pursuit of a vague egalitarianism. That such comments caused surprise is itself surprising; Mr. Hobsbawm's lifelong commitment to the Party testified to his approval of the Soviet experience, whatever its crimes. It's not that he didn't know what was going on in the dank basements of the Lubyanka and on the frozen steppes of Siberia. It's that he didn't much care.

From what I can determine, Hobsbawm lived most of his life in the UK, and spent a fair amount of time in the USA. If his Marxist paradise is so delightful, why didn't he go to live in the Soviet Union, or Cuba, or Maoist China, or....?

And I'm not referring to the practice of going to one of those big prisons as a guest of the warden, like Michael Moore did in Cuba. Nor am I talking about going to live the lifestyle of a member of the nomenklatura of one of those countries. I would like to see someone like Hobsbawm (or Michael Moore, or Jane Fonda) go to live in a country like North Korea as a member of the proletariat. That way he could realize the full experience of living in a worker's paradise.

But Eric has never done that. Nor has Michael, nor Jane, nor any number of other western admirers of marxism. There are only a small handful of people who have actually gone to live in a communist country on their own volition. Eric has lived his long life in a capitalist democracy. He has never been punished for advocating overthrow of our way of life. His right to advocate slavery is guaranteed by the very freedoms he opposes. He gets to live in a country with the rule of law, rather than the arbitrary whim of dictators. His needs are rather well met by the free enterprise system he so vigoorously opposes. He doesn't have to stand in line for hours just to buy basic necessities like they did in the Soviet Union, nor does he have to eat cats like many Cubans have, nor grass like many North Koreans.

But Eric wants to impose that complete lack of freedom and poverty on other people. What a despicable old man he is.

Warren Buffet Complains of Being Undertaxed

Poor Warren, he only had to pay $6,938,744 in taxes:

OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

Hey stupid. If you're so undertaxed, why don't you send your personal check to your hero Barack? You and George Soros and John Kerry and all the other poor, undertaxed billionaires may donate any portion or even all of your wealth to the federal government.

We don't need sacrifice. What we need is investors putting their money in the private economy. That will do much more good for the economy than giving it to Barack, who has demonstrated his complete incompetence at managing the US economy.

Whatcha Say?

Casey Anthony

Is she guilty of murdering her daughter? I have no idea.

But weeks after her acquittal, there is still a media circus around her.

I hope that people realize there is nothing to be gained by harming her or harassing her. She needs to go on with her life, and to live it quietly and in private. If everyone leaves her alone, she might find her way to being a law-abiding woman and a productive member of society.

If the harassment and media circus continue, it is unlikely she will reform, and additional tragedies may result.

Taranto Hits the Nail on the Head

One of the best analyses of the current political situation:

The Obama presidency has reduced the liberal left to an apoplectic rage. His Ivy League credentials, superior attitude, pseudointellectual mien and facile adherence to lefty ideology make him the perfect personification of the liberal elite. Thus far at least, he has been an utter failure both at winning public support and at managing the affairs of the nation.

Obama's failure is the failure of the liberal elite, and that is why their ressentiment has reached such intensity. Their ideas, such as they are, are being put to a real-world test and found severely wanting. As a result, their authority is collapsing. And if there is one thing they know deep in their bones, it is that they are entitled to that authority. They lash out, desperately and pathetically, because they have nothing to offer but fear and anger.

All very true. And I would add that the left's attempts at racebaiting their opponents into silence has failed miserably, adding to their rage.