Pefect time to impose an additional $700-$1400 tax per year per family.

Because, you know, the earth may warm by 3 degrees Centrigrade in 150 years or something.

Mustn't procrastinate.

Posted by: Ace at 11:43 AM | Comments (65)
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....as long as I've still got the Louisville Slugger in my hand, I'll go ahead.

Thanks to Our Crack AoSHQ Research Department, I saw a snippet of the transcript to Michael Steele's appearance on Mike Gallagher's radio show last week. Care to read the source material and guess what jumped out at me?

STEELE: I mean, like Sarah Palin said, you put lipstick on a pig, itÂ’s still a pig.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this what Teleprompter Jesus said about Palin's "Hockey Mom/Pit Bull" joke from her convention speech? And Michael Steele attributes it to Sarah Palin?

What's next? Is Steele going to go on Letterman and charm the audience with his spot-on recital of all Clark Griswold's best lines from "Caddyshack"? Is he going to debate Ken Burns on "Frontline" about the Battle of the Gallipoli and it's impact on the War Between the States?

Jumpin Jesus on a pogo stick. You're the freakin' RNC chairman, and you manage to get your party's most recent VP candidate mixed up with the Other Party's Presidential Candidate?

Stupid? I can deal with stupid. Hell, I'm a Republican: I've sort of come to expect it.

Cluelessness? Not so much. Sheriff Joe Biden is even snickering at the maroon we picked to lead our party.

To quote every dive bar doorman I ever met at 2am during my college years: "He's gotta go."

(Hat tips to "you know where" and Spurwing Plover, but mostly Spurwing Plover.)

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 11:17 AM | Comments (79)
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Somewhat lost in all the who loves and doesnÂ’t love Rush business was SteeleÂ’s biggest blunder with D.L. Hughley on CNN. Steele let HughleyÂ’s casual slur comparing the Republican convention to Nazis pass by unremarked upon.

Laura Ingram took Steele to task on that today and Hot Air has the exchange.

I get SteeleÂ’s point that you donÂ’t engage every slur or else you will never focus on your message. LetÂ’s be honest, if you get into a fight about whether or not you are a Nazi, youÂ’ve kind of already lost. HereÂ’s the thing though, a good communicator (or even a simply competent one) takes on those slurs and reframes them to their advantage. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 11:06 AM | Comments (67)
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Bad news. Not because we'll lose the seat -- hopefully Oklahoma will still vote in a solid conservative -- but because the man is more than a warm body holding an office.

While Coburn has demured from presenting a decision in his public comments, according to one longtime Coburn supporter, the Senator is strongly considering stepping down next year.

“Politics has never been Tom’s first love,” this supporter says. “He does it because he feels called to do it, not because he likes doing it. He’d much rather be back here delivering babies than dealing with his fellow Senators. And when he leaves D.C., which I really think he might next year, he’s going to leave without any regrets.”

No Gimme: Star Witness says it's no lock that R's will keep the seat if Coburn retires:

Don't count on holding the seat if Coburn leaves. Democrats could win it with either Henry or Boren. They're both pretty far right but that won't stop them from getting tons of out-of-state money if the seat looks shaky.

Posted by: Ace at 10:51 AM | Comments (32)
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He promised electric prices would "skyrocket." He vowed his scheme would force new coal pants -- cleaner ones -- to go bankrupt.

He promised this. And he's delivering. Neo-Neocon links Steven Den Beste's very useful old essay on the problems of scale in addressing energy needs -- long story short, the tiny output from various "green" energy sources cannot even make a dent in the US power demand.

Bear in mind, we are in the midst of an economic crisis which one economist guesses is 20% likely to become a depression. And in this environment of plummeting consumer spending and business activity, Obama is proposing a scheme which will further reduce the income of every American family from $700 to $1400 per year.

Obama likes to push the economic catastrophe button to scare up support for his outsized spending plans. FWIW, I do believe we face a potential economic catastrophe. But does Obama? Does he really? If so, why is he sticking a dagger into dying man only barely clinging to life?

Posted by: Ace at 10:32 AM | Comments (68)
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I had been asked to review this when it came out but didn't. I'd review it now, but I don't remember it, except that it was pretty damn funny. As polynikes and someone noted, it's Ace of Spades HQ Lifestyle compliant, which means it has jokes about Live Action Role Playing (D&D's even dorkier cousin), KISS, pederasty, and tits. There's even a stray hobo joke. (Not a hobo hunting joke, though, as some people erroneously heard it.)

It comes out on DVD on March 10th.

The trailer doesn't really give away the better jokes, which is welcome, but it also undersells the movie.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:59 AM | Comments (16)
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Ouch.

Why, it's almost like they would follow Bush to Hell and back. Oh wait, they did.

It's going to be a very long 4 years.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:26 AM | Comments (96)
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Yup:

This is smart diplomacy? This is a debacle. The Russians dismissed it contemptuously.

Look, if we could get the Iranian nuclear program stopped with Russian's helping us in return for selling out the Poles and the Czechs on missile defense, I'm enough of a cynic and a realist to say we would do it the same way that Kissinger agreed to delegitimize and de-recognize Taiwan in return for a large strategic opening with China.

But Kissinger had it done. He had it wired. What happened here is it was leaked. The Russians have dismissed it. We end up being humiliated. We look weak in front of the Iranians, and we have left the Poles and Czechs out to dry in return for nothing.

The Czechs and the Poles went out on a limb, exposed themselves to Russian pressure, and we have shown that Eastern Europe is not as sovereign as it appears if the Russian influence is there, and we will acquiesce in what they consider their own sphere of influence.

This administration has prided itself, flattered itself on deploying smart diplomacy. "Smart diplomacy" is a meaningless idea, but if it has any meaning at all, it is not ever doing something as humiliating, amateurish, and stupid as this.

Dave @ Garfield Ridge emails:

Realpolitik is a great thing, when it works. But here's the deal: the Bush Administration, favoring missile defense in Eastern Europe, *might* have been able to work out this trade with Russia. Hell, I even argued for a stab at this, figuring it couldn't hurt to try.

But the Obama Administration was against missile defense in Eastern Europe-- everybody knows that, including Russia. Why would Russia give Obama anything in return for Obama giving up something that he was always going to give up?

Indeed. And I think the letter indicates that Obama wants any old diplomatic excuse to end missile defense in Europe. He won't do so "unilaterally," as he doesn't have the balls to do so. Instead, he'll keep offering the Russians a "deal" on the missiles until they agree to do something intangible, and then he can come back to the public and say "Look at what a great deal I got, in exchange for nothing but expensive missiles we weren't going to use anyway."

Really minor. And the Russians know that. They know Obama's game -- he doesn't want to get anything from the Russians for America; he just wants to get some political cover for himself.

So the Russians will object until Obama's request is so trivial that it's an entirely free transaction for them.

And Obama gets what he wants -- exchanging missile defense for a meaningless piece of paper, but a meaningless piece of paper he, and his media Spirit Squad, can call some sort of "breakthrough."

And meanwhile most of Russia's conscripts will be Muslim by... 2015. Fifteen, not fifty.

Bolton... on Hannity's show.

P'shop: by Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 07:50 AM | Comments (98)
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He's "confirmed his interest" in a Senate bid.

And he'd be running on Dodd's corruption:

Dodd “has yet to divulge fully his sweetheart mortgage deals with the former Countrywide,” Kudlow said in a Feb. 13 screed. “He’s re-fi’ed his mortgages, but we don’t know those documents, either. Instead of being impeached, he’s still around.”

Let me just say how terribly unfair it is that Kudlow is using the prominent post of a CNBC show to run down his possible political opponent. It's just terrible. Waah waah waah.

One of the GOP's biggest weaknesses is candidate recruitment. Many Dems, even in purplish congressional districts, or even in iffy Senate seats, ran unopposed by any serious Republican candidate.

Hopefully Barack Obama is bringing hope and change to possible challengers.

Chris "Irish Cottage" Dodd, "Man of the People:" Right.

Posted by: Ace at 07:20 AM | Comments (50)
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This is a moving tribute by a son to his father, a WWII vet who only wanted one more chance to connect with the past before it was too late.

When I was a kid WWI vets were a small and rapidly disappearing group. It's hard to believe that now it's my grandparents' generation of WWII vets who are literally a dying breed. Time simply moves on.

(h/t The Corner)

Posted by: DrewM at 06:37 AM | Comments (52)
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