Gabriel Malor, co-blogger at the CPAC Blog Of The Year, is at CPAC and just broke the news.

Congratulations to a very deserving group....us.

I don't know who the other nominees were but I'm sure it was an honor for them just to be mentioned in the same category as us. As it should be.

Just remember from now on, when we post open threads, they aren't simply content free, time killers. No, they are award winning content free, time killers. Start showing a little respect!

I'm sure Ace will be along...eventually to say a few words but I just wanted to congratulate everyone here at the HQ and to publicly thank Ace for the chance to blog here.

Awards aside, I'm glad folks realize what an interesting space he's created here. He's put together an eclectic group of folks and given us more or less total freedom (the only instruction I ever got was "be newsy" and then he handed me the keys to his business) to do our things.

And yes, despite our fighting (but it's family fighting. A giant dysfunctional and violent family but family none the less), you guys are the best too. Andrew Breitbart said so so it must be true.

On that note of commodity comity [loose shit is still a feature, not a bug here], let us reflect on what this award really means...We're the best and the rest are losers!

With that said, Award Winning Open Thread (tm)!

For bonus award winning content, follow us all on Twitter.

Congrats to @aceofspadeshq @drewmtips @daveintexas @johnekdahl @conartcritic @maetenloch @slublog @lauraww @theh2 for the win.

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) March 15, 2013

And Ben too. And rdbrewer too.

BTW- Ace has a tip jar over to the left. Just sayin'....an Ewok doesn't eat and drink on awards and the blood of his vanquished competitors alone.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:51 AM | Comments (574)
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Ben had this in his link dump but it's worth its own post for celebratory informational purposes.

Alas, it's not the underage hookers but the more garden variety, as Joe Biden might say, corruption charges.

A federal grand jury in Miami is investigating Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), examining his role in advocating for the business interests of a wealthy donor and friend, according to three people aware of the probe.

Menendez has intervened in matters affecting the financial interests of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, seeking to apply pressure on the Dominican government to honor a contract with MelgenÂ’s port-security company, documents and interviews show. Also, MenendezÂ’s office has acknowledged he interceded with federal health-care officials after they said that Melgen had overbilled the U.S. government for care at his clinic.

...

As part of the grand jury investigation, the three people said, federal agents have questioned witnesses about the interactions between Menendez and Melgen, who contributed $700,000 last year to Menendez and other Senate Democrats. The grand jury has also issued subpoenas for Melgen’s business and financial records, according to two people briefed on the probe who, like the others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an on­going investigation.

Federal agents have not contacted Menendez, according to a person familiar with the case.

A corrupt politician from New Jersey? How is that possible?

BTW- Because Democrats are all about ethics, Menendez is still the chairman of the, er, Foreign Relations committee.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:06 AM | Comments (216)
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Usual rules.....first correct answer gets a Platinum Membership with the optional ampersand utility.

Extra year of membership for the correct engine.

Lifetime membership if you name the Moron in the photo. (hint: it's not Vic)

The rule committee has agreed to a special prize for most elegant answer that may or may not be correct: One Get-Out-of-Barrel-Free card.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:30 AM | Comments (250)
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• Menendez Welcomes Grand Jury Investigation
  
• Obama Announces Arrest Of Dangerous Illegal Aliens He Let Go Last Week
  
• The NFL Is About To Become A Little More Unwatchable
  
• Judge: Fed's Can't Make Dominos Founder Offer Birth Control
  
• Biden's Press Office Forces Student Journalist To Delete Photos
  
• Reuters Editor Faces Hacking Charges
  
• Obama's Second Term Troubles Have Begun
  
• State Democrats Rush A Vote Because A GOP Senator Stepped Away To Nurse Her Baby
  
• Obama Support Group Off To A Sluggish Start
  
• Code Enforcement Gone Insane
  
• Health Insurance Premiums Set To Increase 20-100% Next Year
  
• Maryland Set To Ban The Death Penalty
  
• Keith Olbermann Having Trouble Finding A Job
  
• Newt Gingrich Discusses Church Reform With Piers Morgan
  
• RNC To Build Voter Data Sharing Platform
  
• Dems Threaten Wages Of Gun Supporting Sheriffs
  
• Obama To Call For A 2 Billion Dollar Green Energy Fund
  
• This Will End Well For All Of Us
  
• EU Leaders Weigh Green Goals Against Wealth
  
• Asia Now Spends More On Defense Than All Of Europe
  

Follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:30 AM | Comments (257)
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How Your Retirement Package Compares To Members Of Congress. Nice of them to exempt themselves from having to contribute more to their very, very nice pension.

They bumped up the rate at which federal employees contribute to their pension plan, saving an estimated $15 billion over the next 11 years.

They also made sure that none of the increase applied to themselves. Anyone in service before the law went into effect would pay into the pension plan at the old rate.

For all the talk you hear from Capitol Hill about running government more like a business, Congress has a retirement plan that would make any Fortune 500 executive blush. Members can retire younger, having contributed fewer of their own dollars, than almost any worker in the country — even more than the generous terms other federal workers get.

Posted by: CDR M at 05:30 PM | Comments (838)
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Happy Friday!

Ohio Sen. Portman announced last night that he has had a change of heart on the issue of gay marriage, owing to his son's coming out. Portman explained, "I had a very personal experience, which is that my son came to Jane, my wife, and I and said he was gay and that it was not a choice, and that's just part of who he is and he'd been that way for as long as he could remember." Portman is the first GOP senator to support gay marriage while still in office.

In a sort of related note, the CEI-sponsored "Rainbow on the Right" panel at CPAC was standing room only last night. Jonah Goldberg -- "marriage is a conservatising institution" -- was probably my favorite speaker, with Margaret Hoover's economics-based argument for marriage equality a close second. Jimmy LaSalvia, Jen Rubin, and Liz Mair also did great jobs. The decision to invite Donal Trump to speak at CPAC seems to have impelled many to reevaluate their stance on GOProud and gay inclusion.

I will be at CPAC again today, though probably with even fewer updates than yesterday. Did you know that there are people making speeches here? A lot of speeches.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:51 AM | Comments (468)
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Due to flight cancellations and a confluence of events tonight's ONT will be minimal lean and mean. So everyone play nicely while I head out to retrieve Mrs. Maetenloch.

In California Even Holes Are Protected

Kafka + the famous CS Lewis quote = the California Coastal Commission.

Who Are These People?

There's about 8-10% of NRA members who seem very confused about what gun rights mean or just weren't paying attention. Can there be that many Michael Moores?

• 92% of NRA members oppose gun confiscation via mandatory buy-back laws.
• 91% of NRA members support laws keeping firearms away from the mentally ill.
• 89% oppose banning semi-automatic firearms, often mistakenly called "assault rifles".
• 93% oppose a law requiring gun owners to register with the federal government.
• 92% oppose a new federal law banning the sale of firearms between private citizens.

How Not To Broaden the Base and Attract Voters

It's one thing to oppose gay marriage and whatever homosexual activists are pushing and then there's just plain old gay hate. And Cliff Kincaid of AIM sure seems to have a lot of energy when it comes to hating the gheys and wanting to root them out of the conservative movement.

Reason #83 why Republicans have a branding problem among the non-elderly.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:06 PM | Comments (983)
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Racists dream of an all-white, all-upper-middle class society.

That dream lives at The New Republic.

Liberals like this one spend half their day decrying White Skin Privilege and the other half enjoying the living shizz out of it.

Not a dollop of criticism for her own All-White Children of Privilege Organization. which consciously, through its own hiring decisions, makes itself whiter than the Council of Elrond.

But lots of contempt for the open-invitation CPAC.

Posted by: Ace at 03:02 PM | Comments (283)
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This should take you to the soundbite. If it doesn't, go to 17:20.

I don't particularly agree (at least on Romney) but I know this is a popular sentiment.

The entire speech is okay. He discusses Medicaid and why he's rejecting Obama's short-term payoff on it and then, at around 13:00, how a low regulatory and tax burden have made Texas the country's number one job creator.

It's not bad but it's stuff you've heard, probably.

Posted by: Ace at 02:29 PM | Comments (127)
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I was wondering about this, having written about running from the c-word ("conservative") like liberals do. (Although they hide from it less now-- a sign, perhaps, they're on the upswing, or at least believe they are.)

This got me to wondering why I would possibly suggest that we run from the c-word. Is it that I, unbeknownst to myself, now think the term is unpopular, almost as unpopular as "liberal" was from 1983-1991?

I'm not sure, but I do have suspicions that might be the case.

Posted by: Ace at 01:44 PM | Comments (256)
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