Jobless claims fall 17,000, to the lowest level in 10 weeks.

The level was down by 17,000 from the previous week and marked the second consecutive week that claims applications have fallen, providing evidence that the slowdown the economy has been going through since the spring has not triggered a big increase in layoffs.

Markets all up; Dow sets fresh intraday and closing highs.

Headhunters Intrusively Cold-Calling Potential Cliens/Employees;
Women, Minorities Hardest Hit

Posted by: Ace at 12:24 PM | Comments (47)
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Ken Layne, either writing this or allowing it in his capacity as Wonkettes temporary editor, is pleased as punch that William Kristol was shouted down at a speech by 9/11 Truthers.

As is evident from the bit, Layne is both a fan of the Truth Movement, but refuses to identify Alex Jones (one of whose reporters was at the event) as part of the Truth Movement.

Yes, a legendary blogger.

Fucking headcase.

Too Fast On The Draw? Allah sagely cautions me that we don't know that Ken Layne is still guest-editing at Wonkette. I don't see a good-bye post, and Ken Layne's website doesn't say the gig is over.

Still, as these posts are unsigned and there's no notice as to who's running the show, it's possible he left in the past few days.

Whether Ken Layne is involved or not, Nick Denton's blog empire now seems to be believers in the 9/11 Truth movement.

Posted by: Ace at 11:28 AM | Comments (11)
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True or not? Who knows. If the kid's in the closet, he'd claim this.

Not sure if it matters either way. Does it?

According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.

According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. This source, an ally of Edmund, also adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund.

Puzzling It Out:

1) Some say that, if this is true, there is no "victim" here. But that's not big shakes. There's no victim in an attempted solicitation to murder, either, but it's still, I assure you, a major crime. He still tried to have cybersex with an 18 year old, which, while perhaps not a crime, is still a gross breach, whether the guy on the other end of the 'tubes was jerking him around or not.

2) If true, it would be interesting to see the PREVIOUS emails. Presumably, if the kid was trying to embarrass the "Florida Fag Foley," as some pages called him, he flirted with him to goad him into this. Which, AGAIN, does not excuse Foley. I've been hit on by underage girls; it's not a license to break the law. However, if the kid's goading/baiting was persistent, it does cast this in a different light, making Foley look less like a true predator.

It also makes things look a hell of a lot better for Hastert. If Foley wasn't a true predator, but rather only eventually went sexual when this kid baited him into it, it makes it less obvious that Foley should have been booted out earlier.

3) Is this a dirty trick, or a pissed-off Republican kid out to embarrass a shameless kid-ogling pervert, or a homophobe looking to embarrass a "fag," or just plain bullshit?

I have no idea. Obviously each of these cut different ways. The third possibility -- the kid's telling the truth, but despised Foley for being gay, and so he baited him into this -- makes it the worst of all possible worlds: the Republican Party is home to both gay-baiting homophobes and gay chickenhawks.

The dirty trick angle seems unlikely, though possible.

The pissed-off kid out to embarrass a known perv seems likely. As does the "pure bullshit" angle. Look, this kid wasn't necessarily looking to be outed as gay (if he is gay). So the "I was just fucking around" excuse is pretty convenient and pretty obvious.

Hell, that's what I always claim.

4) The fact that Foley was known to be the sort of guy who would, in fact, rise to the bait and have cybersex with an 18-year-old is still pretty damning for the GOP though, isn't it? Even assuming this kid is telling the truth, he still knew Foley would go for this, right? Ergo, it was widely known.

Then again, maybe this kid was just a friend of the kid who got freaked out by the fairly-innocuous-appearing (but not truly innocently intended) emails to the 16 year old, so only a few people knew that Foley was making inappropriate contacts with young boys.

I'd hold off on thinking this is true, or that it helps much. I keep hearing the IM's contained full-blown cybersex-- which seems a little far to go in the interests of a prank, yes-yes?

Posted by: Ace at 11:14 AM | Comments (136)
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"We are in a state of civil war, orchestrated by radical Islamists. This is not a question of urban violence any more, it is an intifada, with stones and Molotov cocktails. You no longer see two or three youths confronting police, you see whole tower blocks emptying into the streets to set their ‘comrades’ free when they are arrested.”

La Tournanate, or "Pass-around." Get ready to be disgusted.

Posted by: Ace at 11:05 AM | Comments (27)
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Background here.

And here's what happened with Jim Gilchrist of the Minuteman Project tried to speak of Columbia University.

"These people are animals." True, true.

St. Andrew of the Sacred Heart-Ache has been on quite a tear about the evils of "fundamentalism" lately. Will he comment on this, I don't wonder?

Not all fundamentalism is religious in nature. The impulse to violence, driven by mannichean certainty, is present in many folks. Those who reject conventional religion still may have that primal urge to smite their diabolic foes. The urge is still there; it simply manifests itself through a non-religious (or actually a quasi-religious) belief system.

Andi's got a bad case of it himself, which is why he can't acknowledge this obvious fact.

Posted by: Ace at 10:56 AM | Comments (91)
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It's beginning to look like it would have been impossible for anyone -- Democrats, Republicans, all -- to not know about this scumbag:

House GOP leaders on Tuesday asked for an investigation into an allegation that former Rep. Mark Foley showed up drunk outside the House page dorm near the nation's capitol, FOX News confirmed.

The allegation first arose during a members-only Republican conference call Monday. Rep. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said he had heard a rumor about Foley's alleged drunken visit to the page dorm, which is located behind the Cannon House Office Building, one block south of the Capitol.

FOX News has also learned that House Majority Leader John Boehner advised Wicker not to discuss the rumor in detail on the call but to refer the matter more privately to House leadership.

According to a GOP source, Boehner sought to avoid the Wicker story from being leaked to the media. Boehner's called that characterization "completely false" and said Boehner only sought to have Wicker work the rumors through formal leadership channels, not on a party-wide conference call.

Yesterday, Boehner sent a letter to the Clerk of the House, Karen Hass, seeking an investigation. He did not release the letter publicly until late Wednesday.

Isn't. That. Terrific.

Posted by: Ace at 10:32 AM | Comments (26)
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Damn:

Iraqi government sources claimed today that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took charge of the group in June, was killed yesterday along with three of his aides by US forces in Haditha after a tip-off.

The deputy interior minister said officials were doing DNA tests on a slain militant to determine if he was al-Masri.

Al-Arabiya TV also reported the death of al-Masri, but gave no further details.

However, a spokesman for the US military said it was "highly unlikely" the Egyptian national had been killed.

Posted by: Ace at 10:27 AM | Comments (4)
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Guess which party?

No, not the party you hope he belongs to. The party you know in your gut he does belong to.

And another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust.

Posted by: Ace at 10:20 AM | Comments (28)
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Most people who care already know, but "Fergie" of the Black Eyed Peas was a kid actor. But I need some excuse for a cheesecake pic.

She voiced Charlie Brown's kid sister, Sally, in some of the later Peanuts cartoons.

Posted by: Ace at 10:17 AM | Comments (39)
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So rumored.

Meanwhile, via Lucianne.com, a GOP poll now shows us losing twenty to fifty seats in Congress.

Thanks to Foley. And thanks too to the House leadership's failure to root this out earlier.

Not saying they should be especially blamed for that, but that's what the public seems to think.

Posted by: Ace at 09:33 AM | Comments (73)
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