December 8, 2011

Berman v. Sherman

The NYT has an article on the upcoming House primary match between the San Fernando Valley's two incumbent Democratic Congressmen, Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and former House Foreign Affairs Chairman Howard Berman (D-Hollywood Hills), that completely misses the main news story: Why are two lavishly funded Jewish liberals with 44 years in the House between them having to slug it out for political survival when they had reigned in side by side Valley districts since 1997?

Because of the Hispanic Electoral Tsunami, that's why. I read a half dozen articles per week about how the rising tide of Latinos will doom Republican politicians, but they are also taking districts away from white Democratic politicians, too, including full-time Friends of Israel like Berman and Sherman. But that concept would be too confusing and disturbing for NYT readers, apparently, to be fit to print.

After the 2000 Census enumerated the vast Hispanic population of the northeastern San Fernando Valley, it looked certain that either Berman or Sherman would lose his seat to a Latino. But Rep. Berman hired his brother to redistrict the entire state of California in a giant game of political Tetris. Mike Berman managed to craft two interlocking districts for Sherman and Berman in which there weren't quite enough Latinos in either to mount a serious primary challenge. Sherman got many of the middle class parts of the Valley, amenable to his regular guy retail pol routine. Berman got a hi-lo district of the Hollywood Hills and the poorest, least likely to vote Mexican parts, since Berman's idea of campaigning is a cocktail fundraiser at the Katzenbergs with Ehud Barak as special guest.

It was a brilliant solution to the Latino Threat, but all good things have to come to an end. Gov. Schwarzenegger put an initiative on the ballot handing redistricting over to a nonpartisan commission of citizens, in large part to prevent exactly this kind of insider dealing. It passed easily. After the 2010 Census, the commission said, in effect, "Hey, there are a lot of Hispanics in the northern and eastern parts of the Valley, so they should have their own Representative. And the white people who live in the Hollywood Hills and the western part of the Valley can have their own district. But, they'll have to pick between Berman and Sherman. They can't have both anymore because the Latinos get one seat."

This time, Berman (who is a very smart guy: I tried to stump him with a question when I was 16 and he just swatted me away) and his old frat brother Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) have come up with a new solution: Sherman should move to the exurbs of Ventura County and run in a district that doesn't have an incumbent, but that might go Republican in the fall. Sherman isn't biting. He likes where he lives and doesn't see why the Latino Tidal Wave should drive him to the exurbs.

117 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike Berman managed to craft two interlocking districts for Sherman and Berman in which there weren't quite enough Latinos in either to mount a serious primary challenge.



If a Republican did that the DOJ would intervene to halt such racism.

Tom in VA said...

Here's a Kleenex to wipe away those crocodile tears, Steve.

Anonymous said...

Let's see just how fast the brightest race of people (and the ones with the deepest pockets) can once again "fix" the problem.

Anonymous said...

"(who is a very smart guy: I tried to stump him with a question when I was 16 and he just swatted me away)"

WHOA he was smarter than a 16 year old? THAT'S GENIUS LEVEL

Anonymous said...

Is it Berman, Sherman, or Waxman who looks completely porcine? I can never remember...

Reg Cæsar said...

two incumbent Democratic Congressmen, Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and... Howard Berman (D-Hollywood Hills / Tel Aviv)

Identifying them that way makes them look like Assemblymen, not U.S. Representatives.

That Sherman is from Sherman Oaks reminds me of the (true) story of the little boy in a certain district without Congressional representation.

He assumed that, because the mayor of Washington was Mr Washington, that the mayor of Philadephia must therefore be... Mr Philadelphia.

Gee, that kid is old enough to be President now!

Say, is Brad Sherman related to the Sherman brothers who wrote the tinkly songs for "The Parent Trap", "Mary Poppins" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"? They were Austro-Hungarian Jews. (Most US Shermans descend from five cousins who came from Essex in the 17th cent.)

I've long suspected that Disney deliberately hired the worst Jewish composers ever as revenge for having Oswald the Rabbit wrested from him decades earlier. Dad was somewhat better.

Noah172 said...

Berman and Sherman: Scottish names, nu? Wonder what the family tallis -- oy, I mean tartan -- looks like. And that Berman in Hollywood Hills: I wonder if he attends Kirk* Douglas Presbyterian ("kirk" means syn -- oy, church -- in Yi -- oy, Scots, for you Anglische kopfs in the audience). And Sherman! Related to General William T. Sherman, no doubt.

We'll see which of these Members of the Clan is the schlimazel who loses his career to this redistricting meshugas. There are only so many machers representing the Scots-Irish community in Congress.

Aye, 'tis a schande.

Noah172 said...

Kidding aside, one of the sad things is that now that Berman and Sherman are rid of those pesky Chicanos, their primary fight will revolve around who is the more militant Zionist. I get that their new district will have a ton of Jews, but goyim will still be the majority of voters. Don't they vote?

The end result of this is that instead of two lefty Jews, there will be one lefty Jew and one quota-filling Latino who has to grovel to Jews for his campaign funds because his constituents are too poor to donate to politicians.

Reg Cæsar said...

one quota-filling Latino who has to grovel to Jews for his campaign funds

If they have anything left after the bar mitzvah. More likely, el latino be kneeling before the maricones, or fegeleh if you prefer.

Truth said...

"WHOA he was smarter than a 16 year old? THAT'S GENIUS LEVEL"

HAHAHA

He nailed you there, Steve.

Anonymous said...

How does the Democrat party remain so white, especially in leadership positions?

the perfect artificial man said...

I'm picking up that this is the cusp between "Hispanic Electoral Tidal Wave" being used ironically and, in earnest.

Steve Sailer said...

How do the top Democrats stay so white? Wll, if you look at these two guys, they are good at what they do.

For example, Brad Sherman makes a big deal out of being a certified public accountant because that's a highly respectable profession without sounding too snooty for his middle class constituents. But he's also a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.

Here's a funny story about how, since Sherman announced against Berman, somebody has been repeatedly altering his Wikipedia page to say he's a Scientologist, a homosexual, and that his hard-fought victory over alcoholism has inspired many:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/10/brad_sherman_wikipedia_sciento.php

Now, his Wikipedia page merely says he's friends with John Travolta, which I guess is supposed to imply all of the above.

eh said...

What a depressing post.

Latino Tidal Wave

Yeah, it's a regular Force of Nature. Can't Be Stopped.

DYork said...

Steve Sailer said...
How do the top Democrats stay so white?


Two White, Jewish, liberal Democrat females represent California in the US Senate.

Hows that for diversity.

Seismic Puppy said...

I thought Sailer said the Hispanic vote is nothing to worry about since Mexicans are too lazy to vote or care about politics.

Seismic Puppy said...

Eskimo power is really more invested in business and funding politicians than in actual politics. Even if the next guy is a Mexer, he will have to depend on Eskimo money(no less than the Obummer).

Anonymous said...

Noah, a Member of the Clan has already given up on re-election after redistricting took away a few towns that weren't likely to vote for a whiny, puling fegeleh, even after 31 years in the House.

Now Barney Frank has plenty of free time to research what a pot plant looks like!

Mr. Anon said...

I hope that the professional hispanic person who replaces one of these two liberal jewish congressman is a closet anti-semite. It'd serve them both right for promoting the mexicanization of America.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

Is it Berman, Sherman, or Waxman who looks completely porcine? I can never remember..."

It's Waxman. Of course, that's a mean, rotten thing to say, but we're talking about Henry Waxman, who's a liberal douche-bag, so screw him.

Glaivester said...

Babylon 5 fans ewill remember Brad Sherman as the guy whom Jerry Doyle ran against in 2000 (Jerry Doyle is best known as Chief Warrant Officer Michael Garibaldi).

Anonymous said...

including full-time Friends of Israel like Berman and Sherman. But that concept would be too confusing and disturbing for NYT readers, apparently, to be fit to print.
:)

PublicSphere said...

"How do the top Democrats stay so white? Wll, if you look at these two guys, they are good at what they do."

I'm surprised that Steve would omit another big factor here: the fact that Voting Rights guarantees a certain number of NAM Democratic districts will be filled with laughingstocks. Somehow, as the Bermans, Shermans, Rahm Emanuels and Jane Harmans of the world ascend to leadership, the Maxine Waterses, William Jeffersons and Bobby Rushes of the world manage to stay out of the public record unless they're being investigated for small-bore corruption or saying something ridiculous.

It's almost as though Voting Rights and AA are a kind of Rube Goldbergian scheme designed to fill Congress with a certain number of ineffectual NAM placeholders who reduce the competition for the high-IQ Dem elite and who can be counted on not to make too much trouble for the big plans...

Baloo said...

One just for you HERE. , Steve. I'm emailing you the file in case you want to print it.

beowulf said...

Yeah, Brad Sherman for the win. In 2008, he and GOP congressman Darrell Issa were two of the ringleaders of the backbench rebellion that killed the first version of the TARP bailout bill.
http://www.williamisaac.com/print-coverage/bill-isaac-vs-hank-paulsons-bailout-machine-how-the-former-fdic-chairman-almost-stopped-tarp/

Anonymous said...

This is like a 21st century version of THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON, which also happens to be one of those second half of the 20th century masterpieces you're always looking for, Steve.

beowulf said...

OT, this Kurt Anderson piece tracks with Steve's said about pop music.

For most of the last century, America’s cultural landscape—its fashion, art, music, design, entertainment—changed dramatically every 20 years or so. But these days, even as technological and scientific leaps have continued to revolutionize life, popular style has been stuck on repeat, consuming the past instead of creating the new...
http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/01/prisoners-of-style-201201

Anonymous said...

WHOA he was smarter than a 16 year old? THAT'S GENIUS LEVEL



For a politician, yes, it is.

-Osv. M.

Anonymous said...

You must be wrong Steve, the newspaper of record The NYT doesn't once mention anything about Hispanics in the article. They must not have had anything to do with the fact that 2 Jewish liberal Democrats are running for the same Congressional seat.

Reg Cæsar said...

Two White, Jewish, liberal Democrat females represent California in the US Senate. --DYork

Yes. To honor the late Sen. Hayakawa, they elected not one, but two JAPs in 1990.

(BTW, I thought you were a much more convincing Darrin than that Sargent fairy...)

Dutch Boy said...

What goes around, comes around. The Mexivasion of California was a boon to Jewish candidates when it swelled Democratic voter roles but now it has gotten strong enough to bite them. I can't help but enjoy some Schadenfreude over their plight.

Marc B said...

I appreciate Rep. Brad Sherman's reporting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's threat of invoking martial law/executive powers and Henry Paulson's threats if the house did not pass TARP in a rush back in 2008.

Kylie said...

"Is it Berman, Sherman, or Waxman who looks completely porcine? I can never remember..."

It must be either Berman or Sherman. Waxman looks like the Phantom of the Opera sans mask (the Lon Chaney version).

Kylie said...

"'(who is a very smart guy: I tried to stump him with a question when I was 16 and he just swatted me away)'

WHOA he was smarter than a 16 year old? THAT'S GENIUS LEVEL"


No, not smarter than a 16 year old full stop. Smarter than a 16 year old Steve Sailer. Yes, I'd imagine you'd have to be pretty smart to be smarter than Steve at any age.

Steve's ultra niceness means he has a real blind spot that afflicts* his conclusions and outlook (i.e., other people are not nearly so nice but he tends either not to see that or to excuse it). But other than that, I consider him an extremely bright and original thinker.

When replying to a comment, it's as well to consider the source.

*"Afflicts" was a Freudian slip. I meant to type "affects".

Anonymous said...

Turning Hong Kong over to the Chinese and turning South Africa over to blacks sure aint the same.

Truth said...

Kylie, you've been too happy today; it's time to get PISSED!

( I won't object to the rest of you getting pissed also, but this one is intended give Kylie a good catharsis.)

Anonymous said...

Being smarter than a 16-year-old male: easy

Being smart enough that even the 16-year-old male realizes you are smarter than him: difficult

Doug1 said...

I really think the state legislators using the entire population of an area rather than the legal to vote population of it for reapportionment of House district purposes is fundamentally wrong. It’s also fundamentally wrong for the census questionnaire to not ask whether the respondent is a legal citizen.

Anonymous said...

Brad Sherman makes a big deal out of being a certified public accountant because that's a highly respectable profession without sounding too snooty for his middle class constituents. But he's also a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.



A member of the high-IQ intellectual elite, in other words. Maybe it's time for you to do a piece on why the elevation of so many Very Smart People to leadership positions is ruining the country.

Anonymous said...

Is it Berman, Sherman, or Waxman who looks completely porcine? I can never remember...


Perhaps you were thinking of Barney Frank. He's on the porcine side.

Anonymous said...

"No, not smarter than a 16 year old full stop. Smarter than a 16 year old Steve Sailer. Yes, I'd imagine you'd have to be pretty smart to be smarter than Steve at any age."

Defending an arrogant, stupid remark. Cool stuff.

You're drones.

Alcalde Jaime Miguel Curleo said...

Kylie, have you met him personally (as a precocious 16 year old or otherwise?) How does one anonymous Internet commenter's testimonial [sic] refute another anonymous commenter? Never seen this explained so I'm curious.

Drawbacks said...

"Gov. Schwarzenegger put an initiative on the ballot handing redistricting over to a nonpartisan commission of citizens, in large part to prevent exactly this kind of insider dealing. It passed easily."
This sounds way too sane to have actually occured. What was in it for the Governator?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Rice Alum here. Why would Sherman have to move to the exurbs? The US Constitution only requires a representative "be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen." Is there a California state law that further requires residency in the district? Or is it simply that pols think they have to reside in the district to win votes from the locals?

Steve Sailer said...

"Being smart enough that even the 16-year-old male realizes you are smarter than him: difficult"

Right. I'd spent an hour planning my ambush and then spent an hour afterward trying to figure out what my comeback to Assemblyman Berman's instantaneous response to my ambush question should have been, before giving up and realizing he was out of my league.

Look, at that point in 1975 he was just my local Assemblyman. By 2009 he'd risen all the way to being Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, so Berman is a heavyweight.

Steve Sailer said...

It's Waxman who has that unfortunate turned up nostrils' face.

Anonymous said...

DYORK

"Two White, Jewish, liberal Democrat females represent California in the US Senate.

Hows that for diversity."

This is unbelievable!!What are the mathematical chances of this happening?

Kylie said...

"Kylie, have you met him personally (as a precocious 16 year old or otherwise?) How does one anonymous Internet commenter's testimonial [sic] refute another anonymous commenter? Never seen this explained so I'm curious."

I'm not Kylie.

Hacienda said...

"I consider him an extremely bright and original thinker."

Come on. Factor in the resources Steve has and background as a journalist. Also he's connection with Vdare. That's an automatic deduction, in my book of 1 sigma.

Plus he's inability to sense gigantic culture changes until much after the fact. The "old codger" in him.

The 16 year old trickster is now the greying trickster. Smary sometimes very smart, but original and extreme? Pul-ease

Anonymous said...

Kylie, you've been too happy today; it's time to get PISSED!

( I won't object to the rest of you getting pissed also, but this one is intended give Kylie a good catharsis.)


Truth, I followed your link and read the little story. First, I must admit a strong prejudice on my part. I absolutely hate the university of missouri. So please know that I am skeptical to anything positive coming out of this school.

As for the readers of this blog, I am sure after reading this passage they will draw their own conclusions:

Rebecca Burkhalter, a doctoral student in the MU School of Medicine, was one of two students nationwide to be offered a paid summer internship at one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies without even applying. The medical pharmacology student interned at Eli Lilly for giving the best presentation at a national research conference.

Burkhalter won first place competing against more than 100 other graduate students at a research conference hosted by the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. She was one of two students nationwide to receive this type of 12-week internship at the pharmaceutical company.

Alcalde Jaime Miguel Curleo said...

Sorry. I was kind of hoping it was an acquaintance of Sailer's (maybe the non-Armo Kardashian sister)

edgy gurl said...

"Steve's ultra niceness means he has a real blind spot that afflicts* his conclusions and outlook (i.e., other people are not nearly so nice but he tends either not to see that or to excuse it)."

This is perhaps your problem, Kylie. I've known ultra-nice guys whose characteristics include blushing easily when made the center of attention and mostly avoiding confrontation. Sailer is a rabid dog by comparison.

Steve Sailer said...

Arnold did some good government things like the redistricting commission that deserve respect.

The main thing he did wrong was try to cut public pensions too much in the first half of 2005 to get them passed, then gave in to government employee pension demands too much in the second half of 2005. But it would have been hard for anybody to surf the Housing Bubble/Bust.

stari_momak said...

"Berman's idea of campaigning is a cocktail fundraiser at the Katzenbergs with Ehud Barak as special guest."

LOL. We need a Steve Sailor quote of the week site!

Whiskey said...

I don't think most here really grasp what has driven the Latino Tidal Wave:

The Educational / Diversity racket. Rather than blaming "the Jews" (however talented Berman/Sherman are, they are not that talented nor heavy-weights like Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, or Barney Frank a Gay man) one ought to recognize the enormous amount of money made and careers launched catering to a tidal wave of poor Mexican kids.

There is an entire lobbying/curriculum writing/spending industry based on a constant increase in poor Mexican kids that "need" consultants, lobbyists, and above all, spending on K-12, and College programs designed to close the gap. Which can never be closed. Thus, eternal employment. That this will eventually kill the goose (the White middle class taxpayer) laying those golden eggs has not occurred to anyone, not the least of which is that they sincerely believe their own BS. That anything else is "racist."

California plans to spend about $47 billion in 2011-12 for K-12 Education. That's 47 billion reasons why there is a huge, and note mostly non-Jewish lobby for a permanent Mexican tidal wave.

Who? Whom? Nice White ladies (and men) who get a career out of post-Christian social uplift.

Hunter S. Thompson said...

Does anyone even read Whiskey's comments anymore?

Anonymous said...

"Maybe it's time for you to do a piece on why the elevation of so many Very Smart People to leadership positions is ruining the country."

Well, I think the current political class is arguably worse than those of some earlier ages, though I'd like to see the argument. There were some modestly talented WASPs that did well enough, but there were also some goons like Huey Long.

A lot of the Very Smart People running the institutions zipped to the top without a lot of experience outside The Bubble of law school and government. I think they'd be much better if they had done a hitch in the Army and then toiled in a profit-making corporation for a few years.

On the other hand, Robert McNamara, so maybe that theory has a few bugs.

Nanonymous said...

Two White, Jewish, liberal Democrat females represent California in the US Senate.

To see how this holds for larger N, I went by Wikipedia's listing of "religion" for CA representatives. Out of 53 total:

Protestantism - 19 (36%)
Roman Catholicism - 17 (32%)
Judaism - 6 (11%)
Mormonism - 2
Unspecified or Other Christianity - 4 (6%)
Atheist - 1
Religion not listed - 3

No WASP power there, that's for sure (all blacks are listed as protestants). Jews are modestly over-represented (3-4X), which is within reasonable expectations range.

Truth said...

"Does anyone even read Whiskey's comments anymore?"

I read the one on Jewish superiority, the one on chicks hating betas, and the one on overseas wars being a good thing, and the one on the varied coalition of WASP haters 4 years ago; has he posted anything new since then?

Anonymous said...

Yo TRUTH

wow oh wow!I'm overwhelmed!

"The average ACT score of admitted Dillard University students is between 17 and 20."

candid observer said...

"Right. I'd spent an hour planning my ambush and then spent an hour afterward trying to figure out what my comeback to Assemblyman Berman's instantaneous response to my ambush question should have been, before giving up and realizing he was out of my league."

When I spend that much time trying to come up with a response, and can't do it, it's my experience that it's mainly because I was wrong in the first place.

I've found that the best way to win arguments by far is to be on the side with the better arguments -- which is generally, and almost by definition, the right side.

Bob Loblaw said...

"Gov. Schwarzenegger put an initiative on the ballot handing redistricting over to a nonpartisan commission of citizens, in large part to prevent exactly this kind of insider dealing. It passed easily."
This sounds way too sane to have actually occured. What was in it for the Governator?


Schwarzenegger tried to do some things that would have been a tremendous help to the state. But aside from the line-item veto and times of emergency, the CA governorship is almost a ceremonial position. The Democrats have an iron lock on the state, and any actual reform that has to get through the legislature or can be demagogued using teachers and nurses is not going to happen.

When his initiatives didn't pass he realized he couldn't force the voters to show an interest in the state's gargantuan fiscal problems and decided to go with the flow.

Truth said...

"The average ACT score of admitted Dillard University students is between 17 and 20."

And the average ACT at the U of Missouri School of Medicine? 21-24?

Anonymous said...

Whoever loses should move to Minnesota, they'd be a sure bet to win a US Senate seat.

Mr. Anon said...

"Whiskey said...

....and SWPL HATE HATE HATE Israeli nationalism because Zionism is the ugly "lower class" reminder of what was."

What a load of crap. Repeating "HATE" three times in capital letters does not make your statement true, anymore than referring to yourself as scots-irish makes you a son of Caledonia.

Mr. Anon said...

"DYork said...

Two White, Jewish, liberal Democrat females represent California in the US Senate.

Hows that for diversity."

Wisconsin and Connecticut also have diverse representation in the Senate.

Anonymous said...

Steve, is this sort of conflict on your radar?

Jewish landlords accused of "ethnically cleansing"
Mexicans from downtown Santa Ana, California

http://www.aztlan.net/jews_ethnic_cleansing_mexicans.htm

Glaivester said...

Rather than blaming "the Jews" (however talented Berman/Sherman are, they are not that talented nor heavy-weights like Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, or Barney Frank a Gay man)

Barney Frank is Jewish, so he is not a good example to use to show that Jews do not have that much clout.

ben tillman said...

The Educational / Diversity racket. Rather than blaming "the Jews" (however talented Berman/Sherman are, they are not that talented nor heavy-weights like Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, or Barney Frank a Gay man)....

Surely, you realize that Barney Frank is Jewish.

the Dude said...

"They were Austro-Hungarian Jews. (Most US Shermans descend from five cousins who came from Essex in the 17th cent."

Cannot be Austro-Hungarian in XVII century. A-H was created in 1856. Is/was Essex in A-h? Don't follow.

Reg Caesar said...

Whoever loses should move to Minnesota, they'd be a sure bet to win a US Senate seat. --anonymous

He'd have to wait. The goy seat is up in 2012, the Jewish one in 2014.

Anonymous said...

Evangelicals in Iowa are likely to be bigger friends of Israel than either Ehud Barak (who would on balance prefer a one-state solution as it would let him cash out to Davos) and certainly the Katzenbergs.

Let's unpack this. Evangelicals in Iowa are likely to be more open, honest, an unapologetically fervent supporters of Israel. The Baraks and Katzenbergs are more likely to cut million dollar checks for Israel, but have more sophisticated and obfuscated justifications for doing so, because the rubes in Iowa aren't hip to the kinds of deception you have to run on yourself and the SWPLs to get things done.

Those Iowa rubes are just so sweaty, you see.

It's not as if the SWPLs do anything but break out the kneepads for AIPAC...

There, FTFY.

the Dude said...

Does this article imply that the Hispanic Tsunami is actually happening? I was under the impression that the Hispanics do not greatly influence the elections. But now they do?

Anonymous said...

I don't think most here really grasp what has driven the Latino Tidal Wave:

The Educational / Diversity racket. Rather than blaming "the Jews" (however talented Berman/Sherman are, they are not that talented nor heavy-weights like Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic, or Barney Frank a Gay man) one ought to recognize the enormous amount of money made and careers launched catering to a tidal wave of poor Mexican kids.


Ah, I see. Rotgut has given up on his flavor of the (last) week, educated White wymminz, and is now blaming economics. I guess the ass-hammering he got over the fact that he can't explain why White wymminz (but not Ashkenazi wymminz) are afflicted with this disease, but not Yellow wymminz. The week before that it was wymminz, but Rotgut had his arse hammered over that one because most of the world's wymminz aren't playing along - not even wymminz in Japan.

So now we get to hammer his arse over the fact that he can't explain Israel or Japan with "economics," either.

Does anyone even read Whiskey's comments anymore?

I'm at the point now that I copy/paste/respond to them first. I just read them as I demolish them. His prolific dishonesty is really annoying. I figure the least I can do is return the favor and annoy him with what he seems to hate most, critical thinking.

When I spend that much time trying to come up with a response, and can't do it, it's my experience that it's mainly because I was wrong in the first place.

I've found that the best way to win arguments by far is to be on the side with the better arguments -- which is generally, and almost by definition, the right side.


So true. Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of greater intellects, I shall fear no evil, for I walk beside the truth.

Surely, you realize that Barney Frank is Jewish.

This is why I don't think Whiskey was born Ashkenazi. Too dense, short on verbal fluency, borderline socially retarded (doesn't realize how much a total lack of responsiveness hurts him, etc.). He's an honorary member of the tribe, and obviously has a serious emotional investment therein, but born to it? I don't think so.

Anonymous said...

I was member of this youth party once (in europe). I'm convinced every member of parliament (as in, the real parliament) I ever talked to could easily have been stumped by any moderately bright and irreverent young man. They didn't get there by being original thinkers.

Anonymous said...

Does this article imply that the Hispanic Tsunami is actually happening? I was under the impression that the Hispanics do not greatly influence the elections. But now they do?

Well, they affect the elections of representatives of the districts that have been gerrymandered to make them 90% hispanic.

They don't affect elections for the representatives of districts that don't have many hispanics.

It is interesting that the left/democrats insist on gerrymandering minorities into districts where they have such overwhelming majorities that they can enjoy the ethnic pride of electing "someone who looks like them" to office. Meanwhile the real party operatives get the positions in the districts where white lefties vote.

Texas has more blacks elected to statewide office than any other state and Texas is only 12 % black. The are conservatives, but still, you won't see northern white libs doing that. They more often elect uh, that scots irish 2%.

Alcalde Jaime Miguel Curleo said...

Not sure about the Schwarzenegger redistricting commission. I voted for the '05 measure (soundly defeated w/ his other three) but the '08 effort was hijacked by VR Act ward heelers and community organizers, since last year in charge of gerrymandering Congress too. Whichever incumbents there are now sweating it aren't the race men. This guy Sherman's problem is funny in light of Jane Harman's semi-ignominious exit. Timing's a bitch.

Alcalde Jaime Miguel Curleo said...

I looked at the 12/9/11 3:51 PM comm because some were raking over it-- first, Pelosi is not talented, just rich. But you are probably right about Helots Inc. as 4th or 5th branch of gov't as well as social worker gravy train. Mickey Kaus made similar points about "Lust For Amnesty" though not as slapdash, or "less succinctly" I suppose.

Thomas said...

The historical irony is delicious. Nine mostly Southern states and a smattering of counties around the country still have to get preclearance from the Justice Department for their redistricting plans under the Voting Rights Act because southern Democrats used to conspire to freeze out minorities. When California Jewish Democrats do the same thing in the name of Israel, the end of the same game is treated as a crisis or tragedy.

Anonymous said...

Scottish names, nu?
I don't know why Komment Kontrol banned this comment before but::
They seem to have a propensity for Scottish names: John "Stewart" Mike "wallace". Lewis is another.
Sherman is a bit ironic since he banned them from military zones.

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

"Two White, Jewish, liberal Democrat females represent California in the US Senate. Hows that for diversity."

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama appointed 12 people in total to the Supreme Court and Federal Reserve Board - perhaps the two most important appointments a president can make. Their names and birthplaces are:

Alan Blinder, NYC
Janet Yellen, NYC
Laurence Meyer, NYC
Alice Rivlin, Philadelphia
Roger Ferguson, D.C.
Edward Gramlich (Unknown)
Stephen Breyer, San Fran
Ruth Ginsburg, NYC
Daniel Tarullo, Boston
Sarah Bloom Raskin, Boston
Sonia Sotomayor, NYC
Elena Kagan, NYC

6 of 12 are New Yorkers, 2 from Boston, 1 from DC, 1 from SF, 1 from Philly. 8 of 12 are Jews. Only 2 of the remaining 4 are white.

This isn't the future of the Democratic Party. This is the present: Jews and minorities, with Jews in the driver's seat. White goyim need not apply. Oh, and to hell with the folks in flyover country.

And for the record, majority-minority districts aren't all represented by minorities. Tennessee's 9th Congressional District is 59.7% black. It's representative? A Scot-Irish-Eskimo guy named Steve Cohen.

"Right. I'd spent an hour planning my ambush and then spent an hour afterward trying to figure out what my comeback to Assemblyman Berman's instantaneous response to my ambush question should have been, before giving up and realizing he was out of my league."

Perhaps. Wouldn't doubt that he's smart, but he also had the benefit of experience, and of possibly having had the same or similar question thrown at him more the once.

"Wisconsin and Connecticut also have diverse representation in the Senate."

Feingold lost last year in Wisconsin; and Kohl - who is magrich, 76-years-old, and realizes the Dems will not be holding the Senate after next year - is retiring.

beowulf said...

Evangelicals in Iowa are likely to be bigger friends of Israel than either Ehud Barak...
Wait, what? So you think bible-thumpers in Ottumwa are bigger friends of Israel than the most decorated soldier in the history of the IDF (and its current Defense Minister)? That's absurd.

This is why I don't think Whiskey was born Ashkenazi. Too dense, short on verbal fluency, borderline socially retarded...tribe, and obviously has a serious emotional investment therein, but born to it? I don't think so.

The most parsimonious explanation would be he was adopted by a Jewish family. His birth mother may very well have been "scots-irish".

beowulf said...

Governor Schwarzenegger is the sort of good government moderate that doesn't get elected these days because they're too conservative for the Democratic primary and too liberal for the Republican primary (this is the dilemma Romney is facing in the presidential race).

California is damn near ungovernable between its haywire referendum system (unions and anti-tax activists competing on who can cripple the govt the most) and the fact the state is too damn big. The only way to cut this Gordian knot is dividing CA into 4 stats based on its federal judicial districts and starting over.
http://www.fedstats.gov/mapstats/fjd/06fjd.html

Arnold did as good a job as anyone could governing that train wreck and he did something very clever before he left office, moving California to "top 2" nonpartisan primaries. Berman, Sherman and any other candidate (Republican, Green, Libertarian, etc) will run in a single open primary, with the two top candidates facing off in the general.

Basically its designed to give moderates a leg up. In this case, a solidly Democratic district could be tipped from a party hack (Berman) the "good government" Dem (Sherman here, if his anti-TARP activism is any guide) by Republican primary voters.

Average Joe said...

Does anyone even read Whiskey's comments anymore?

Of course we do! Who doesn't enjoy a good laugh?

Anonymous said...

Truth says!
"And the average ACT at the U of Missouri School of Medicine? 21-24?"

I don't know which Missouri school you were referring to but at the one in Kansas City MO. which has a medical school,
"The average ACT score of admitted University of Missouri-Kansas City students is between 21 and 27".

I am sure that students in that medical program probably average an ACT score of at least 30.

Jack said...

You'd think that maybe, just maybe, some smart Jews would realize what is happening and work on keeping Latino numbers lower in the future. But I guess they're just not smart enough to get it.

Wonky isteve reader said...

Nanonymous:
To see how this holds for larger N,
....
Jews are modestly over-represented (3-4X), which is within reasonable expectations range.



Interpreting complex probabilities is not a forte of human brain. Using a Method is appropriate. One such method of assesing how meaningful an event is calculating what is the probability of the mentioned event to occur by total dumb luck.

wikipedia gives ratio of jewish in CA at %2.

The probability of jews getting both senators given they are just as likely to get elected as anyone else: 0.0004.

That was the easy one. For the next one you need to use a calculator.

The probability of jews getting 6 or more representatives out of 53 given they are just as likely to get elected as anyone else: 0.0006565633156788371.

You see the second event is only slightly more likely.

Compare;
The probability of Mormons (also %2) getting 2 or more representatives out of 53 given they are just as likely to get elected as anyone else: 0.2865129360584384.

Mormons being 2X over-represented is within reasonable expectations range. (~30%)

Jews being 5-6X (not 3-4X) over-represented is outside the reasonable expectations range. (~% 0.06)

In other words mormons getting 2 or more representatives is ~436 times more likely than jews getting 6 or more representatives.

The conclusion that Nanonymous draws from the numbers given above; namely that California's both senators being jewish is just a statistical aberration, whereas 6 out of 53 represantatives is quite normal is incorrect.

Also representation ratios are not valuable statistical info. Four-fifths rule may win you disparate impact lawsuits, but it will not help you pass a statistics exam.

ATBOTL said...

Iowa is not a center of Christian Zionism, the South is. Northern Evangelicals are a lot less crazy.

Anonymous said...

From the article Truth linked about the woman from the university of missouri getting the Eli Lilly internship. It mentions that she won some prize from the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers, and that because of this, Eli Lilly gave her one of only two intern spots with them without her even applying for the position.

I wonder if the recent discrimination suits against Eli Lilly had anything to do with that.

Anonymous said...

"Two White, Jewish, liberal Democrat females represent California in the US Senate. Hows that for diversity."
I wonder if they lose one if the NYT will run a 'crisis' article like the one they did about Princeton some years ago.
You see, Princeton was "only" 10% jewish.. and that was cause for concern and had a whiff of antisemitism. was it because it was in the country? was it because it still maintained some hint of 'angosaxon'ness?

To make amends the university promised better efforts to recruit jews, and the great crisis was alleviated.

Anonymous said...

There is no Komment Kontrol. I've said plenty of insulting things and it's gotten through.

Maybe you're just too stupid to operate blogger, folks.

Noah172 said...

"Iowa is not a center of Christian Zionism, the South is. Northern Evangelicals are a lot less crazy."

Michelle Bachmann?

The Buckle of the Bible Belt said...

Noah172 said...

"Iowa is not a center of Christian Zionism, the South is. Northern Evangelicals are a lot less crazy."

Michelle Bachmann?


It is amazing how ignorant and provincial the educated coastal elite can be when they PC allows them to freely express their biases.

anony-mouse said...

So I take it people here would like an Affirmative Action plan for Gentiles, to remedy the disparity between Jews and Gentiles in a many areas.

(but not for Blacks, Hispanics, etc)

Explanation: most people here are non-Black non-Hispanic Gentiles.

How did I figure that out?

Reg Cæsar said...

Cannot be Austro-Hungarian in XVII century. A-H was created in 1856. Is/was Essex in A-h? Don't follow. --the Dude

Well, the Duh to the Dude: if, as I said, most U.S. Shermans descend from five Essex boys in the Winthrop fleet, then obviously they're not Austro-Hungarian, or Jewish.

The songwriting Shermans-- and this Brad, evidently-- are of Austro-Hungarian Jewish descent. And thus, equally obviously, they are not "most U.S. Shermans". Oy vey.

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

"So I take it people here would like an Affirmative Action plan for Gentiles, to remedy the disparity between Jews and Gentiles in a many areas."

A more reasonable assumption would be that you're either an idiot or a troll.

I suspect what would satisfy most of the people here is if so many Jewish Leftists - that would include virtually every Jew in Congress, and certainly all three on the SCOTUS - would stop demanding equal representation for blacks and Hispanics while assuming that Jews are entitled to influence and power dramatically out of proportion to their numbers.

In 2002 Vanderbilt University, under its pot-smoking Mormon President Gordon Gee, already had a student population that was 2% Jewish, or roughly in-line with their numbers (or out-of-line, considering that Vandy is in the Deep South). But Gee argued that Jews improved the academic vitality of a school, and were more likely to donate as alumni, and in 4 years the Jewish population shot up to 12%.

Now I'll bet a year's salary that white "gentiles" improve the academic vitality of a school compared to blacks or Hispanics, and that they are more likely to donate after graduation. But could a college president ever get away with arguing for admitting fewer blacks based on that? Ever? Or for admitting more "gentiles" than Jews?

And "here's the article noted by 4:25 pm Anonymous from 1999 about the supposed "dearth" of Jewish students at Princeton, who comprise(d) "only" 10% of the student body. The article notes that Asians, blacks and Hispanics comprised 27% of the student body, meaning that non-Jewish whites were left to take up the "slack" of underrepresentation. In 1999, non-Jewish whites were about 72% of the population but only 63% of the Princeton student body (and far less at Harvard, etc.) - but somehow in the minds of the Leftist elite that was perfectly acceptable.

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

Ultimately the more the Democrats become the party of the JAMs (Jews, Africans, Mestizos) the more the nation will move towards Republicans. It's already happened in the South, of course, where in Mississippi about 90% of whites vote for Republicans.

Due to the internet and cable news networks our politics today are more nationalized than ever. A crazy-ass congressman from the other side of the country is nearly as attention grabbing as one from the next district. Those shrill and/or crazy-ass congressmen will increasingly look turn off white voters, even many urban liberals.

As minority numbers increase their demands will become more absurd, and whites will feel less generous.

This could be a bad thing, as whites become captive to the Republicans. But state legislatures in states like Alabama seem to do a much better job passing measures like immigration enforcement than those where whites even theoretically have the Democratic alternative. Politicians may not need to court voters as much, but they also don't need to court donors as much, either.

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

OT links possibly of interest: two supposedly pro-enforcement Republicans, Mike Lee and Jason Chaffetz, both of Utah, are trying to pass a bill that will raise the caps on visas for Indian and Chinese workers, and for family reunification visas for Mexicans. This bill will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of immigrants admitted, even if not directly. Even aside from that, it is a change the immigration lobby wants, which should be paid for by concessions for more enforcement and reforms elsewhere, not given away for free. This needs more attention in the pro-enforcement community. Emails need to be sent, phone calls need to be made.

Also, an interesting look inside the Borough Park, New York Hasidic community, viewed through their reaction to the Leiby Kletzky murder.

Anonymous said...

An interesting article from the SL Tribune about an immigration raid. Note the difference in tone between the article and the comments to the article.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53054207-78/raid-swift-immigration-utah.html.csp

Anonymous said...

Tom Hayden "sae the light" on the Bermans.

Why not Jane Fonda, though? She's not making movies anymore and need not worry about being tarred and feathered by the Hollywood SPIELbergs and the Jim Barksdales at CNN.


http://gorillaintheroom.blogspot.com/2008/02/hayden-on-berman.html

Kylie said...

"You'd think that maybe, just maybe, some smart Jews would realize what is happening and work on keeping Latino numbers lower in the future. But I guess they're just not smart enough to get it."

I think it's more that they're too smug to think it will ever have a negative impact on them.

Kylie said...

Hunter S. Thompson said, "Does anyone even read Whiskey's comments anymore?"

Hell, yes. I pop a tab of acid, read Whiskey's latest and then go clean my guns.

Truth said...

Whitopia!

(when you guys re-settle, I'll come visit.)

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/different-kind-valley-tech-start-145800811.html

Anonymous said...

"The most promising men and women are generally married early, around the age of 21 or 22. For the next decade, they concentrate on building the biggest possible family—a mitzvah in the eyes of God."

Captain Jack Aubrey said...

"Truth" - I'd have more respect for you if you'd learn how to code a link in HTML. It ain't all that hard.

anony-mouse said...

"...while assuming that Jews are entitled to influence and power dramatically out or proportion to their numbers"

And how would you remedy that situation without a Gentile Affirmative Action program (although you might call that something else)?

Whenever Whites are overrepresented in a field compared to Blacks and Hispanics that's called 'HBD' around here.

Magically though, whenever Jews are overrepresented 'HBD' disappears.

anony-mouse said...

"...while assuming that Jews are entitled to influence and power dramatically out or proportion to their numbers"

And how would you remedy that situation without a Gentile Affirmative Action program (although you might call that something else)?

Whenever Whites are overrepresented in a field compared to Blacks and Hispanics that's called 'HBD' around here.

Magically though, whenever Jews are overrepresented 'HBD' disappears.

Anonymous said...

OT:

Seems like a story in need of the full Sailer treatment.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/12/09/385955/as-businesses-pull-out-of-alabama-due-to-anti-immigrant-law-gov-pleads-with-car-companies-to-stay/

Anonymous said...

Does this article imply that the Hispanic Tsunami is actually happening? I was under the impression that the Hispanics do not greatly influence the elections. But now they do?

Steve distinguishes between demographics and voting. The redistricting was an effect of demographics. The Hispanics did not have to vote for it, only live there.

Truth said...

Yeah Jack, I guess I could learn that, Or you could just learn...

beowulf said...

Sorry for the late hit, just read a fascinating Matt Stoller piece about how the Paul-Grayson Audit the Fed bill passed Congress. He namechecks Brad Sherman (for being on the side of the angels).
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/12/matt-stoller-how-the-federal-reserve-fights.html

JSM said...

"Whitopia!"

Oh, great. Just great. Here come the San Fran libs fleeing their Diversitopia. There goes Whitopia.

JSM said...

"...while assuming that Jews are entitled to influence and power dramatically out or proportion to their numbers"

And how would you remedy that situation without a Gentile Affirmative Action program "(although you might call that something else)?

Whenever Whites are overrepresented in a field compared to Blacks and Hispanics that's called 'HBD' around here.

Magically though, whenever Jews are overrepresented 'HBD' disappears."

We want either HBD for ALL and NO AA for *ANYONE*

OR

AA for ALL groups underrepresented as a portion of their population (including remedying Gentile white underrepresentation at the elite institutions).

What Jews want is to have it BOTH ways. Affirmative Action for NAMs when it's Gentile Whites who lose spots

AND

HBD when it means Jews DON'T lose THEIR spots in places where THEY are overrepresented as a portion of the population.

NOTA said...

mouse:

I haven't seen anyone but you propose AA type programs to resolve the overrepresentation of Jews in politics or academia or law or mediicine or finance.

Here's what I take from this discussion: Right now, we have a widely accepted double standard when it comes to overrepresentation. When Gentile whites are overrepresented in some field, this is seen as a problem--both as evidence of probable discriminaton, and as something that needs to be fixed by better recruitment of nonwhites, or by quotas or preferential hiring/admissions, or something. When other groups (Jews, Asians) are overrepresented even in the same fields, this is never seen as a problem or evidence of discrimination or other bad things, and there is never (at least in the popular press or widely heard political rhetroic) any perceived need to do anything about the overrepresentation.

I can't speak for anyone else here, but what I want to see happen is for that double standard to be resolved in favor of meritocracy. I'm fine with having half the math department be Jewish and Asian in a country where Jews and Asians together make up less than a twentieth of the population, since they appear to be making it on ability and hard work. But I don't want to then have the lack of blacks or hispanics in the math department to be used as justification to lower admissions requirements or selectively exclude better students or professors to get the desired ethnic mix.

I'd say the same thing with respect to ethnic identity politics. It can't really be noble for the NAACP and La Raza and the ADL to engage in ethnic identity politics, but wicked for any group of whites to do so. My preference is that we try to avoid that sort of thing all around--I think ethnic identify politics lead to lousy policies and sometimes to really nasty ethnic conflicts. But it's not really workable to label whites who engage in that stuff as scary monsters, while fondly labeling folks from the NAACP doing the same thing as public benefactors.

Alcalde Jaime Miguel Curleo said...

Whoever loses can probably transition right away into a lobbyist for Liberman Broadcasting

Anonymous said...

"An interesting article from the SL Tribune about an immigration raid. Note the difference in tone between the article and the comments to the article."

The overwhelming commenter preference for enforcement is even more impressive when you realize how far to the left the SL Tib commenters typically lean. This suggests to me that even Utah Leftists are starting to get a clue.

Anonymous said...

Steve distinguishes between demographics and voting. The redistricting was an effect of demographics. The Hispanics did not have to vote for it, only live there.


Yup. They don't even have to be US citizens, thanks to yet another insane ruling by the US Supreme Court.