Massa says his alleged groping consisted of "tickling him until he couldn't breathe."

Okay, Beck is now challenging Massa on his story -- so he has either called an audible, or always intended to blindside him, but hid that from him so he'd come on the air.

Now Massa's Giving Us Civics Lessons: He's instructing Beck to stop calling fellow Americans "names," like "socialists."

I have a feeling Beck is about to jump ugly on him.

This guy has not provided any evidence or even specifics about corruption, and mostly just spun his decade-long dick-spree as "tickling" or some holistic form of cancer treatment.

Nope: Beck just re-asks the old questions and allows Massa to say there was nothing sexual in his group tickling activities, or "tickle-bangs."

Oh, there's some "banter" in text messages.

Apologizing to the American People: Beck is now apologizing to his audience for wasting their time, rebuking the evasive, shifty deranged pervert Massa for spending an hour saying nothing except "It's a Naval tradition to have tickle parties" and Rahm hurt his feelings very, very much.

You Know... Beck could have improved his credibility -- and provided entertaining TV -- if he had switched midway through to a hostile interrogation of Massa, instead of allowing him to blather vaguely that he made some "mistakes" which he takes ownership of but which also weren't really mistakes, it's just that people took his tickle-parties the wrong way.

Posted by: Ace at 01:08 PM | Comments (281)
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What?

Yeah, I know, everyone thought comic actor Robert Downey Junior was terribly miscast as Tony Stark and we all ended up eating our words.

But... no. Come on. For one thing, Captain America is a physical sort of hero, not a techie one, so the build matters.

For another thing, Captain America rarely mugs to the camera.

As Gawker notes, Krasinski is good as Jim, but every movie he's in he's also good as Jim. So, basically, he is Jim.

Which isn't going to work as Captain America.

What, he's going to snark on Red Skull?

Via Andy Levy's Twitter feed.

Actually... I can totally buy a lanky Captain America so I'm sure Krasinski can add enough bulk to look decent as an agile sort of hero.

But that leaves the narrow, cute-mugging range problem.

Tron Trailer: Looking a little better is the Tron sequel (Tron Legacy).

Looks good, but the first trailer seemed to imply Jeff Bridges starred in that. Here, it appears that he will actually be an important secondary character, as his son goes looking for the missing Flynn. (Flynn's of course trapped in cyberland, so we won't get to see much of him until the rescue.)

But still, maybe it won't suck this time.

Thanks to Mud Pundit.

Older Tron Trailer: Or Teaser, actually. I liked this first clip better. More Jeff Bridges.

Posted by: Ace at 01:05 PM | Comments (48)
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Plus, he "giggled like a little girl" every time he referred to his "Chief of Staff."

Ba-zing.

Former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) has been under investigation for allegations that he groped multiple male staffers working in his office, according to three sources familiar with the probe.

The allegations surrounding the former lawmaker date back at least a year, and involve "a pattern of behavior and physical harassment," according to one source. The new claims of alleged groping contradict statements by Massa, who resigned his office on Monday after it became public that he was the subject of a House ethics committee investigation for possible harassment.

The ghost of Ted Kennedy just emailed me to say, "Piker."

Thanks to DrewM.

Beck Vs. Malkin: Yesterday, I gave Beck the benefit of the doubt, assuming he was just greasing up Massa for the interview in order to use him as a catspaw against Democrats.

But he seems to genuinely think this guy's story is important, as opposed to a fun bit of trouble-making. He gets defensive at Michelle Malkin when she suggests Massa might not be quite on the level.

Oh: But Beck sort of has a point here, if he can manage it without giving credence to Massa's convoluted claims: We would never see these leaks against Massa if he were a Democrat in Good Standing.

It's not so much that Massa is innocent so much as his guilt would be entirely irrelevant to the Democrats and the media if he were voting the right way.

Mark Foley? TopSecretK9 tweets:

Turns out the Democrats sat on this Massa mess for quite a while. Massa is the Democrat Marc Foley.

Two points: First, supposedly it was Denny Hastert sitting on the Mark Foley scandal that hurt the GOP in 2006. (Well, that and the media's round-the-clock coverage.)

Second, this adds credence to the guilty-but-only-exposed-as-such-because-he's-bucking-the-party charge.

CNN and MSNBC Demolishing Massa Before His Beck Interview: Thy Master's Bidding.

Note that, as usual, when a Democrat gets into trouble, it's just one man's crime. There is never a hint from the leftwing media about a culture of corruption here.

Every Republican scandal, on the other hand, is an indictment of every Republican everywhere for enabling it and etc.

Posted by: Ace at 11:25 AM | Comments (185)
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In fairness, she's quoting from the Federalist Papers, which spoke eloquently of "passing some laws so we can find out what great shit's in them, and stuff." Pretty sure that was John Jay.

She also repeats her claim that the health care bill is a jobs bill, and will create four million jobs, 400,000 of them right away.

Right away. Not that it's going to create a massive 400,000 strong bureaucracy or anything.

"It's Going to be Very Exciting:" Indeed, it's very exciting when you pass a bill having no idea what's in it. It's a rollicking two-fisted roller-coaster thrill-ride.

Nancy Pelosi is now selling the takeover of 1/6th of the economy like it's a sequel to Jean Claude Van Damme's Cyborg.

Posted by: Ace at 11:16 AM | Comments (73)
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Well, both critiques apply to FoxNews, too. But CNN is specifically called out in the SNL sketch.

First, SNL mocks CNN for "interactive reporting," which means reading idiots' Tweets and Facebook messages as "news." Like, because, they're more professional 'n stuff than bloggers. BTW, when I call out a comment, it's never just venting. It's a longer thing making a real point, or it's funny. All CNN does is repeat the "rah rah"/"I"m outraged" kind of stuff. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:56 AM | Comments (37)
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But in the field... what? Part. of. a. Team.

Gallup finds an 18 point gap in favor of conservative voters as far as being "very enthusiastic" about upcoming elections, and a 14 point edge among those both "very" or "somewhat" enthusiastic.

Plus, Gallup finds a tiny 3 point edge for Democrats on the generic ballot among registered voters, which means the GOP is actually ahead with likelies. (As firms which are polling likely voters keep finding.)

Add that with the enthusiasm gap and you've got a table-cloth in need of a good bleaching.

Oh: 44% of Democrats describe themselves as "not enthusiastic." That compares with 30% of Republicans who say the same. But Republicans traditionally have greater vote discipline, and tend to vote even when unenthusiastic.

Posted by: Ace at 10:27 AM | Comments (34)
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Great demonstration of California's progressive ills.

Posted by: Ace at 09:53 AM | Comments (75)
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Two conservative objections to this plan:

1) The city has no money, so any execution of the plan would of course require yet another bailout from other people.

2) Some may object that the government can't exercise its power of eminent domain in this way, as it would, as in Kelo, take private land and deliver it into private ownership.

I think objection 1 is enough to stop the idea.

Still, pretending for a moment they could, it's an interesting idea.

But the problem isn't land use; it's taxes and dysfunctional government (aided and abetted by a large amount of dysfunction in local culture). The plan would just change eerie abandoned buildings left to rot into eerie abandoned farms left to rot.

You know your city is in trouble when your big plan for saving it is deliberately returning it to the earth.

Detroit, the very symbol of American industrial might for most of the 20th century, is drawing up a radical renewal plan that calls for turning large swaths of this now-blighted, rusted-out city back into the fields and farmland that existed before the automobile.

Operating on a scale never before attempted in this country, the city would demolish houses in some of the most desolate sections of Detroit and move residents into stronger neighborhoods. Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.

Near downtown, fruit trees and vegetable farms would replace neighborhoods that are an eerie landscape of empty buildings and vacant lots. Suburban commuters heading into the city center might pass through what looks like the countryside to get there. Surviving neighborhoods in the birthplace of the auto industry would become pockets in expanses of green.

Detroit officials first raised the idea in the 1990s, when blight was spreading. Now, with the recession plunging the city deeper into ruin, a decision on how to move forward is approaching. Mayor Dave Bing, who took office last year, is expected to unveil some details in his state-of-the-city address this month.

"Things that were unthinkable are now becoming thinkable," said James W. Hughes, dean of the School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, who is among the urban experts watching the experiment with interest. "There is now a realization that past glories are never going to be recaptured. Some people probably don't accept that, but that is the reality."

Yeah, again, this whole plan requires the federal government to spend billions to take land and relocate those whose homes are demolished.

Of course we know that could never, ever happen. Right?

Thanks to dang straights.

Posted by: Ace at 09:41 AM | Comments (179)
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Back in February I posted about a RassPoll showing only 21% believe the government currently is operating with the consent of the governed.

That number seemed surprisingly low, but I didn't realize HOW low it was at the time. As a comparison, here's an old CNN poll suggesting 32% of the population believes in ALIEN ABDUCTIONS.

More people believe in freaking ALIEN ABDUCTIONS than believe in the representative legitimacy of current government.

That's quite a revelation. One congress and the president will ignore at their own peril.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 09:38 AM | Comments (31)
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Democratic Congressman Steve Kagen (he's also an MD) voted yes on Pelosi-Reid-Obama Care in November, now it sounds like he's having second thoughts.

"Let me put it this way: you're asking whether or not I trust the United States Senate, where they came up with a deal for Nebraska that the other states didn't get; where Louisiana would get a special deal. No, I don't trust the U.S. Senate," said Rep. Steve Kagen (D-8th District). "So I think I'd like to have a vote on something very meaningful."

Kagen said the health care bill should be split up into smaller bills.

"I have made the case to the speaker and also to the White House that we should take small pieces, small bites," Kagen said. "In the practice of medicine, I can't give a child a big pill. What do we do? We cut it up into pieces. Let's find things we can agree on."

It's not a Yes-No yet but it's clearly not a given that Pelosi still has all the yes votes she had last time, even without Stupak doing his abortion compromise dance. House members know the chances of 'fixing' the Senate bill are pretty much zero. They are going to have to decide if they can live with it as is and defend it back home, Cornhusker Kickback and all.

via @braddayspring

Posted by: DrewM at 08:47 AM | Comments (84)
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