SO WOULD MORE GUN CONTROL HAVE PREVENTED the Alabama shooting that killed 11?
Well, stricter gun control didn’t prevent today’s German school shooting that killed 15.
TOWNHOUSE REDUX: 20+ lefty groups holding daily calls to coordinate messages.
How many faintly ominous pieces has Politico run this year about people close to Obama colluding to target their political enemies? There was the story about Rahm Emanuel’s friendly daily chats with Begala, Carville, and Stephanopoulos, then there was the expose on the group effort (“explicitly authorized” by David Axelrod) to make Rush Limbaugh the face of the GOP, and now this. No wonder Ben Smith’s using the word “conspiracy.”
Question to our resident Politico-haters: Has any other publication written extensively about this sort of thing? If so, I missed it.
The vast new left-wing conspiracy sets its tone every morning at 8:45 a.m., when officials from more than 20 labor, environmental and other Democratic-leaning groups dial into a private conference call hosted by two left-leaning Washington organizations…
The call has proved particularly effective at coordinating attacks on critics, said Jackie Schechner, the national communications director for Health Care for America Now, a labor-backed alliance of groups that support Democratic efforts to expand health care.
“There’s a coordination in terms of exposing the people who are trying to come out against reform —they’ve all got backgrounds and histories and pasts, and it’s not taking long to unearth that and to unleash that, because we’re all working together,” Schechner said.
When a new group called Conservative for Patients Rights, for instance, launched an ad campaign featuring former health care executive Rick Scott, “There was a discussion about what do we know about this guy and in a very quick period of time we were able to come up with his background,” she said…
Though White House officials do not participate in the calls, Palmieri said, the new infrastructure is closely tied to the White House. Podesta directed Obama’s transition, and Americans United for Change exists largely to run ads promoting the White House agenda. Some on the left, however, remain skeptical of the White House’s embrace.
Yeah, no doubt this’ll come as a bolt from the blue to Axelrod. To be clear, I don’t have any real problem with what they’re doing: It’s smart politics in a media age, no matter how creepy the thought may be of the White House calling plays for sympathetic groups to tackle opponents. Rest assured, the next Republican president will make even better use of the tactic than Bush did, especially as new media proliferates. We’re only six weeks into Obama’s term, though, and already I’ve lost count of the number of “What if Bush or McCain did it?” moments we’ve had, starting with The One’s newfound fondness for rendition, his bizarre rudeness to Gordon Brown, his blase attitude towards the Dow’s death spiral, his sudden tolerance for earmarks by the thousands, and on and on. Consider this the capper, as the thought of dozens of cogs in the “right-wing noise machine” turning daily in unison on a White House axle would warrant a Very Special Episode indeed of “Countdown,” replete with sneering references to “Minitruth” just to remind you that Cornell men have read their Orwell. Exit question: What’ll be the next “What if Bush did it” moment? Hillary sends a letter to Iran written in Arabic instead of Farsi? The One throws up during his meeting with the queen? Guesses welcome.
T’S PROBABLY TIME FOR SOMEONE TO UPDATE THIS FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS POST: “Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft’s list.” For, you know, a whole new flavor of paranoia.
March 11, 2009 12:13 PM by Michelle Malkin52 Comments
March 11, 2009 05:24 AM by Michelle Malkin95 Comments | 12 Trackbacks
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NEWS YOU CAN USE: How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym.
Jonathan Mead; follow him on twitter.
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee was a paragon of cool and an icon of the ultimate bad-ass. Not only were his martial arts skills incredible, but he had such an impressive physique that even bodybuilders in the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger admired him.
What’s more impressive is that Bruce trained his body without ever stepping into a gym and with very little use of weights or machines.
Here are just a few of Lee’s physical feats:
- Performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.
- Could hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.
- Could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks.
- Could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick.
- Performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
While you may not get to Bruce Lee’s level overnight, you can start getting in shape without the use of a lot of fancy (and expensive) equipment. You can do it from the comfort of your own home, in a space as large as a bathroom.
Part of the reason I started training without a gym was because I began training in Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee’s method of martial arts). But I also got tired of paying monthly gym dues. At the time, I was looking for things I could cut out of my monthly budget to save a little extra money.
I thought about getting rid of my gym membership altogether, but I didn’t want to sacrifice my health or physical fitness. So I found another way. For months, I haven’t had a gym membership, yet I’m getting stronger and faster than I’ve ever been in my life.
You don’t have to buy lots of weights or machines, either. The most expensive equipment you’ll need (a simple doorway pull-up bar) will cost no more than $35.00.
Bruce Lee was a big proponent of holistic or total fitness. His workouts included strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility training.
Here’s just a few of the ways you can start getting stronger, faster and more toned without ever stepping into a gym:
- Calisthenics. There are so many different bodyweight exercises out there, but we’ll start with the basics. For the lower body: lunges and squats are a good start. For upper body: pull-ups, push-ups, and shoulder press ups. For your core: crunches, chops, and reverse crunches will get you going. What’s great about bodyweight exercises is that they build functional strength. They’re natural movements you would use in real life situations like sports, self-defense, gardening, or doing chores. Plus when you do bodyweight exercises, you force your body to use more supporting and balancing muscles than you would on machines. For more bodyweight exercises check out these great resources: The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Training: 100 Killer Resources and for an awesome list of bodyweight exercises with illustrations check out Combat Fitness. Bonus: Top 10 Best Bodyweight Exercises for Advanced and Beginners.
- Isometric exercises. These are basic bodyweight exercises, but where you hold your body in a static position. Examples of these are the frog sit, v-sit, horse stance, hanging from a pull-up bar, and the plank. Calisthenic exercises will improve muscle strength over a range of motion, but isometric exercises are great for joint and stabilizing strength.
- Range of motion and flexibility. The best exercise I’ve found for range of motion and flexibility is yoga. The best thing about yoga is that no equipment is required and you can find tons of free resources online for yoga routines. Check out Anmol Mehta’s Yoga Illustrations to get you started.
- Balance. Balance is the ability to keep your equilibrium when your center of gravity is thrown off-balance. There are many ways you can practice balance every day (we won’t get into tight rope walking here). When you’re putting on your shoes or getting dressed, do it on one foot. Walk on the curb and try to walk in a straight line without stumbling. Or if you’re really ambitious, there’s always pogo sticking and unicycling.
- Dynamic exercise. Dynamic exercise is anything where you’re not performing routine after routine. Things are in flux and constantly changing. You’re moving in more natural movements, rather than continuous repetition of fixed patterns. I recently started doing Jeet Kune Do in the park every weekend. It’s a great way to get a good work out and learn self defense. Not to mention, practicing martial arts tends to make you inspired to further pursue and achieve higher levels of physical fitness. If you’re not into martial arts, you can always pick up a sport like tennis, handball, basketball, or take dance classes. Do whatever you’re naturally drawn to. Or if you struggle with seeing fitness as an enjoyable activity, you might consider getting a Wii Fit.
There’s a lot of other opportunities for exercise that don’t include a gym that I haven’t listed here. Hiking, jogging, skiing, yardwork… The list could go on. Just use your imagination. Make it fun and change it up. That’s the great thing about exercising without a gym, there’s so much to choose from.
On a side note, I will, however, say that for me, it took a lot more discipline to work out from home. It was easy for me to just go to the gym. Once I’m there, there’s not a lot else I can do other than work out. But at home, there’s always distraction, always other things you can do besides working out (like laying on the couch or surfing the internet). For me, practicing martial arts inspires me to be physically fit. While you might not have this problem, I thought it only fair to be upfront about this issue.
The other motivator for me to work out from home — besides saving money — was the variety of workouts. There’s just so many more options with bodyweight exercises than machines. You can always do something to further challenge yourself. If push-ups are a breeze, you can try doing them on your fingers or in a close grip (with a medicine ball). If pull-ups become too easy, train for a one arm pull-up (insanely difficult).
Attaining Bruce Lee like fitness isn’t just about doing the types workouts he did and eating the same diet. What made Bruce so great was his natural curiosity and drive to constantly explore and learn more about fitness and personal growth. (His personal library contained over 2,000 books!)
Tap into your own curiosity and make fitness enjoyable. Challenge yourself to new levels of fitness. Go beyond what you think you can do.
“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” - Bruce Lee
This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind. To learn more about how to reclaim your life, grab a check out his book - Reclaim Your Dreams.
(Note: If you’re interested in learning more about Bruce Lee’s training methods, check out: The Art of Expressing the Human Body by John Little)
Zimbab
Barack Obama is too busy posing for magazine covers to actually do the job to which he was elected.
The Galt movement will only gain steam the harder government tries to clamp down on it.
Go Galt anyway you can. Even small efforts will count when done by millions.
The choice of freedom versus serfdom needs to be forced on the people."
By the way, for all you folks who are in LinkedIn, you can also join the Atlas Shrugged and Objectivist Businessmen Groups. Membership to LinkedIn is free.
"It’s hard working people bailing out freeloaders..."
It's official... The stock market has turned in its worst performance ever for a new president under Barack Obama:
Maybe that's why a majority of Americans now see the economy slipping into a depression under the his leadership.
Rasmussen reported:
This isn't exactly the change we've been looking for.
posted by Gateway Pundit at 3/10/2009 03:30:00 PM