...by ways that seem, coincidentally I'm sure, to reduce the President's power to nominate judges of his choosing.

Meanwhile, the GOP is making noises that they really intend to go "nuclear" on this issue, once and for all.

You can tell they're serious, because they're offering a new, friendlier term in place of "nuclear option" -- "constitutional option." Gee, that makes opposing it sound frankly unamerican!

It's good they're changing the lingo. To me, that says they're not thinking of this as a threat anymore but as a tactic they might want to employ.

When they start calling it the "happytime family-values aren't-dogs-cute option," then we'll know they have the votes to pass it.

Posted by: Ace at 06:27 PM | Comments (70)
Post contains 124 words, total size 1 kb.

Hey, giving Leno ratings doesn't help Moore. I've got the DVR all loaded up.

I've been dying for a comedic premise for two weeks. Hopefully, the Husky Huckster will come through for me.

You know what I think would be a good show? A show about mismatched cops who at first hate each other and then become best buddies. And it would star Keith Olbermann as the fussy, kinda-gay one, and Michael Moore, as the enormously fat and unhygenic one who isn't really gay but you gotta figure he watches some really sick shit when he whacks off.

And of course they'd solve all sorts of "crimes," like the Halliburton corruption deal and the theft of Florida and Ohio. And the gimmick is that they're both a couple of douchebags who don't know a lick about detective work or research or even logical deduction, so they just sit in their Upper West Side apartments "solving" cases by reading BuzzFlash and MoveOn.org.

It would be called Internet Detectives, of course.

Jake and the Fat Man ran for several years. Why not my show?

P.S.: I think we could work in Oliver Willis too. He could be in a kind of lower-rent Lone Gunmen type group, along with Josh Marshall and Daily Kos. They'd be the exposition-bitches that Moore and Olbermann come to when the writers need to advance a plot point quickly.

Posted by: Ace at 06:13 PM | Comments (13)
Post contains 243 words, total size 1 kb.

Seems to be the question of the day.

I know I've read a bunch of novels twice, but the only one that sticks in my head right now is Catch-22, which I've read five or six times.

I've read a lot of non "literary" novels several times, like most of Raymond Chandler's mysteries. Although Chandler is, I guess, considered halfway literary and respectable now, at least by discerning critics.

And The Hobbit. I've read that eight times. I don't know why there's all that fuss over the Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is tighter, quicker, funnier, more action-packed and generally more delightful in all ways than the lugubrious, plodding LOTR.

Posted by: Ace at 03:34 PM | Comments (67)
Post contains 123 words, total size 1 kb.

Yes, I know I've been light in my blogging lately. I've been trying to think of interesting stuff to write, but I've been coming up with doodly-squat. Well, actually, I'm working on a couple of okay things, but no really good comedy stuff.

Today I have a genuinely good reason for taking a few hours off blogging. I can't share that reason with you right now, but I hope to soon. Not anything that's going to change your life, but hopefully something that will make mine a little better.

I'll be back as soon as possible. Hopefully by six.

Okay, I'm Back: I'm kind of a private person, but later on I'll let everyone in on the mystery, because 1) it could help someone else and 2) I need the traffic.

Posted by: Ace at 02:36 PM | Comments (12)
Post contains 137 words, total size 1 kb.

A particularly funny "We're Sorry" picture-- this one not meant in earnest. I kinda like the father giving the half-assed black-power salute.

Thanks to Alarming News, who also has further discusion on realignment.

Posted by: Ace at 11:08 AM | Comments (4)
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Trouble for Bush is that 31% want it overturned, and those 31% are his base.

Tough times ahead for the Republican Party. These intraparty differences can be finessed, so long as you're unable to exert your political power to actually change things (or not change them).

Once you've got that power, you've got to make the decision. And Bush and the Republican conservatives in the Senate will soon be drawn into a very tough wedge issue. Alienate 59% of the electorate, or the 31% of your reliable base, responsible for voting you into office?

This is going to be worse than gay marriage was for the left.

Posted by: Ace at 10:59 AM | Comments (29)
Post contains 119 words, total size 1 kb.

"The End of the World" -- kind of an old one, but funny if you haven't seen it, or if you haven't seen it in a while.

Pics from a Star Wars wedding. First couple of pages seem to give the impression that the only characters in Star Wars are a couple of Stormtroopers who like to pose for the camera. Later on you get more of a mix of characters, including, I think, "IG-88." And Vader, of course.

You may have heard of this: alcohol in inhalable, gaseous form. For those who just don't have all that time to down four or five shots of vodka in ten minutes.

A very detailed map of the Simpson's home town of Springfield, USA.

Not really safe for work (dirty lyrics): Lost Episode of "The Smurfs."

Gathered from The Perfect World.

Ultradork Update: An extensive website about "Victorian-age robots."

Now that's dorky.

Posted by: Ace at 08:25 AM | Comments (4)
Post contains 158 words, total size 1 kb.

So say Drudge's "immaculate sources" at CBS, so this report might actually be worth the paper it's printed on.

Posted by: Ace at 07:25 AM | Comments (6)
Post contains 37 words, total size 1 kb.

In case any Spaniards weren't sure, yes, we are all Americans now:

MADRID (Reuters) - The FBI has established the clearest link yet between the March 11 Madrid train bombings and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, a Spanish newspaper reported Sunday.

The FBI has told Spanish investigators that one of three men believed to have planned the Sept. 11 attacks from Spain in the summer of 2001 also gave the order to carry out the Madrid blasts, the newspaper ABC reported.

...

Hijacker Mohammed Atta, believed to have piloted one of the airliners that crashed into New York's World Trade Center, visited Spain two months before the attacks and met two men.

One was Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, who is being held by U.S. authorities, while the other was unidentified.

ABC said investigators now believe that third man was the one who in December 2003 activated the Qaeda cell that carried out the March 11 attacks, which Spaniards call "our Sept. 11."

There's an old joke about two hunters being chased by a bear. One hunter begins stripping off his clothes in order to run faster. "There's no point doing that," the other hunter says. "Naked or not, you can't run faster than a bear."

The first hunter strips off his shirt and says, "I don't have to run faster than the bear; I just have to run faster than you."

That strategy may work with bears, but it doesn't seem to be working with respect to Al Qaeda, as Holland has lately learned.

There are two theories regarding why Al Qaeda hates us. Bush's version is that they hate us "for our freedom," or, more loosely, they simply hate us for what we are and what we represent, including, as Osama bin Ladin so frequently lectures us, 1000 years of Muslim "humiliation."

The other theory is that they hate us for our foreign policy, or, more loosely, for what we do. And if we just change what we do, we can appease them.

The left attacks Bush for what they believe is his childish refusal to accept that if we just sold out Israel, Al Qaeda might be appeased.

But the truth is that both theories are true; they hate us for both what we are and what we do. And this makes Bush's formulation more true, and it makes the liberals' and Europeans' attempts to appease futile. Yes, you can change what you do, but you can never -- short of accepting Islamofascist rule -- change what you are.

Even if Euorpe accepted Al Qaeda's terms jot by tittle, there'd still be that nagging little problem of 1000 years of Muslim humiliation, and that minor little holy imperative to conquer the world and bring it into the Dar al Islam. It's no great victory to be butchered by maniacs who do so with a little less relish than they might reserve for Americans.

Posted by: Ace at 10:10 PM | Comments (7)
Post contains 496 words, total size 3 kb.

They want you to make genuine flyers, but I doubt the software is sophisticated enough to pick up on sarcasm.

Oliver Willis, you are the gift that keeps on giving. You are the wind beneath my wings.

Aw, Nuts Update: It lets you print a flyer, but you can't type one up and grab an image of it to post on-line. Darnit.

I Think I've Mentioned It Before But It's Still Funny Update: ReBranded Democrat flyers here.

Posted by: Ace at 08:23 PM | Comments (9)
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.