Did we see this many stories about John Edwards in 2005? Or about Joe Lieberman in 2001? Jack Kemp?

Update - Had enough? CNN sure hasn't.

CNN, this long-distance dedication is for you: more...

Posted by: Slublog at 05:08 AM | Add Comment
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:07 AM | Add Comment
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A short article from Wired.com regarding the possibility that Humans and Aliens Might Share the Same DNA. ItÂ’s full of big scientific-ish words, so itÂ’s perfect for the overnight thread, which always attracts the best and brightest of AoSHQ commenters and readers.

”The building blocks of life may be more than merely common in the cosmos. Humans and aliens could share a common genetic foundation. “

“That's the tantalizing implication of a pattern found in the formation of amino acids in meteorites, deep-sea hydrothermal vents, and simulations of primordial Earth. The pattern appears to follow basic thermodynamic laws, applicable throughout the known universe. “

"This may implicate a universal structure of the first genetic codes anywhere," said astrophysicist Ralph Pudritz of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.”

At the end of the Wired article there’s a link to an article discussing various ethical and scientific issues of the final episode of “Battlestar Galactica” from something called the “Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.” Just in case you wanted to see what someone with even less of a life than you can write about. (I know that’s hard to imagine) Gabe will be drawn to it like catnip. Meanwhile, the rest of us are left asking, “If true, what do you suppose the “facehuggers” will bring to the annual family reunion/picnic this summer? Last year they brought potato salad, though we told them well in advance we had that covered.”

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to xgenghisx@gmail.com. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:31 PM | Add Comment
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Really guys, this is your story?

"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The video is below the fold. Obama's left hand is clearly on his leg while bowing. So exactly how many hands does Obama have? more...

Posted by: DrewM at 02:44 PM | Comments (8)
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Update to the update:

Good new and bad news....

First, the good news: The US Navy is on the scene so the pirates options have shrunk considerably.

The bad news: John Kerry is also on the case.

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said a thorough policy debate on piracy off Somalia is long overdue.

"I plan to hold hearings to further examine the growing threat of piracy and all the policy options that need to be on the table before the next fire drill becomes an international incident with big implications," Kerry said in a statement.

Translation, "Sure I could have done this at anytime in the last two years but now there's publicity involved. I haven't gotten much air time after getting beat out by Hillary to run State, so hows bout we show John F. Kerry a little nightly news and Sunday talk show lovein'?"

Original Post:

Obviously this is an on going situation and there's a lot of confusion as to what happen and when. Right now the crew has control of the ship but the captain is still being held hostage by the pirates.

The crew had a plan to make an exchange for their captain.

"We had a pirate we took and kept him for 12 hours," Quinn said. "We tied him up and he was our prisoner."

The crew gave back their prisoner but the pirates reneged on the plan and are continuing to hold Phillips captive.

The pirates with the captain then took the ship's 28 foot lifeboat but didn't get very far because it wasn't fueled.

Meanwhile, the USS Bainbridge* is on its way to the scene.

For some background on the issues surrounding modern day piracy off Africa check out the outstanding naval blog Information Dissemination or the recent discussion of what merchant crews can do to defend themselves at the USNI blog.

Meanwhile prayers are in order for Captain Richard Phillips and his family.

*Historical fun fact: The USS Bainbridge is named in honor of William Bainbridge, who had some, um, misfortunes during the Barbary Wars, though he later made up for them during the War of 1812.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:59 PM | Comments (31)
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That might overstate it -- your mileage may differ. Still, Erick does seem to "raise questions" that probably shouldn't be raised.

WhatÂ’s even more creepy is that the other person in the picture is his sister. And, as if lifted from the pages of Deliverance, she has his name tattooed on her back. Think about that one for a minute.

...

Soon Levi will sell his tell all book, delightfully ignoring awkward questions about his relationship with his sister while relishing in the awkward details of his relationship with Sarah Palin.

I decline to think about it for more than ten seconds.

Not only is it silly and hurtful, it also gives Johnston the pretext to talk more about Palin in the guise of "defending himself from attacks from anonymous bloggers."

I doubt Erick really meant this... the trouble is, I'm not sure what he may actually have meant. Maybe he didn't mean anything -- sometimes people just rant without thinking about it too much.

Still, with all the outrage for the left's ridiculous incest claims, we can hardly start tossing them about ourselves.

It actually backfires on Sarah Palin anyway, since Levi is sorta family now.

Posted by: Ace at 12:34 PM | Add Comment
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Not trusting Justice to investigate the matter themselves, a judge has appointed a special investigator to determine if charges should be laid against Stevens' lawless law-enforcers.

Trading sex for testimony. Jeebus.

Greedo the Rodian Bounty Hunter just emailed me to say, "Even I see the ethical problems with that. And I'm not only corrupt, I'm dead."

Posted by: Ace at 11:24 AM | Add Comment
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Muhahaha!

No, really, he wants to seed clouds or blast reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to protect us from the invisible killers known as "sunrays."

Admittedly, this plan is preferable to sabotaging the world's economy to protect against an almost-certainly phantasmal threat of man-made global warming.

On the other hand, Ice Ages can be triggered by the right set of conditions. And we don't know what those conditions are.

But we might be getting Laboratory Earth ready to find out.

Posted by: Ace at 10:08 AM | Comments (2)
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No, he's not growing the budget overall, as he claims. He's cutting and pretending he's not cutting.

And he's not just cutting the projected growth. He's cutting.

For example:

As has been reported, the 4% increase in defense spending proposed by Secretary Gates is actually 4% less than what the Joint Chiefs of Staff wanted; and, if taken alongside the fact that this budget attempts to fold in spending previously funded by supplemental war budgets, the supposed 4% increase is actually a $8 billion cut in defense spending. The Army is worst hit by folding supplemental spending into the base budget, as it was receiving the most ad-hoc funding for Iraq and Afghanistan.

In case you didn't catch that, the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan operations has been handled outside the usual budgeting process, with special ad-hoc measures passed to fund the costs of actually fighting; Obama now intends to cover those costs within the actual budget, so that the costs of those wars now is counted as part of the budget and hence, even if Obama nominally grows Defense's total budget, it would constitute a cut, because Defense had been getting billions in supplemental funding that is now ended.

It's like a traveling salesman whose company pays for his hotel expenses and per-diem food expenses. Then stops paying those costs, making the salesman pay for them out of his own pocket, but boosts his base salary by a small amount.

And then tells him, "I just gave you a raise. What are you complaining about?"

Not only is he cutting the big-ticket items, he's cutting the number of combat brigades from 48, as Bush had planned, down to 45.

Apparently the world just got three combat brigades safer when we weren't looking.

"Indefensible:" That's the headline on the Weekly Standard's article on the one government institution Obama is willing to cut. He lies in the name of "honest budgeting."

And more on those big-ticket items being cut.

Senator Inhofe promises to fight the cuts tooth and nail.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:44 AM | Add Comment
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Hmmm... speaking of using the techniques of fiction to increase identification wih a real-life figure.

The nation's got a feveh, and the only prescription is more numbskull.

And who will play Obama? Why not the guy Obama's been playing for years?

Posted by: Ace at 09:15 AM | Add Comment
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