Must-read article for anyone who followed the Recall Saga, which is, you know, everyone.

This dumb actor is turning out to be a hell of a governor. He hasn't increased taxes, he's on track to finally pass a budget on schedule, and he's just bettered the rating of the state's bonds. And he's ruthlessly pursuing a pro-growth agenda:

The Governor then used the political capital earned in the referendum to end years of paralysis in the state legislature. He turned his attention to California's disgraceful worker's compensation system, which is in large part responsible for the state's abysmal business climate. Indeed, in recent years, premiums have increased by 50% for some employers; in 2002, workers' comp attorneys had collected $226 million, $31 million more than they had in 2001 -- all as California was losing as many as 10,000 manufacturing jobs each month.

When the legislature balked at the prospect of reform, the Governor threatened to seek another referendum. Mindful of the Governor's success in promoting the March initiatives, the lawmakers caved, and passed worker's compensation reforms. While the legislation is far from perfect, it does prohibit "doctor shopping", and mandates that disability reports rely on objective American Medical Association guidelines to evaluate the severity of an injury.

Much remains to be done, but Governor Schwarzenegger shows few signs of abandoning the conservative economic principles that have served him so well. He has hired efficiency experts to conduct state performance reviews, in order to identify structural reforms that will assist efforts to control spending. Squarely in the crosshairs are the California laws that prohibit outsourcing of state services, even when such contracting could save the state $9 billion, according to a study by the Reason Foundation. And emboldened by Arnold Schwarzenegger's success, some Democratic legislators are actually supporting Republican calls to renegotiate the obscenely expensive contracts that Davis and the Democratic legislature gave the prison guards' union -- long one of Sacramento's premier "special interests."

Not too shabby.

California is of course the most important economic actor in the country, and as California's economy strengthens, so too must the nation's.

Update: He's the most popular governor in California in 13 years, with an approval rating of 65%, despite being a Republican in a Democratic state.

How Abu Ghraib fits in with this poll is unclear at this point.

Posted by: Ace at 09:45 AM | Comments (10)
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1Q GDP growth revised up to 4.4%.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The economy grew at a 4.4 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, slightly faster than previously thought and fresh evidence that the recovery possessed good momentum as it headed into the current quarter.

The increase in gross domestic product from January through March reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday marked an improvement from both the 4.2 percent pace first estimated for the quarter a month ago and the 4.1 percent growth rate registered in the final quarter of 2003.

The GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States. While the latest reading was just shy of the 4.5 percent pace that some analysts were forecasting, it nevertheless represented a solid performance.

It may be revised again. I'm still looking for 4.5% or 4.6%.

Separately, the Labor Department reported that new applications for unemployment benefits dropped last week by a seasonally adjusted 3,000 to 344,000, another hopeful sign for a labor market recovery.

...

Although consumers and the federal government did their part to support the economy in the first quarter, the better reading on GDP for the period in large part reflected stronger investment by businesses to build up inventories, a good sign that companies are more confident about the economy's prospects.

From April to June, the economy is expected to grow at a rate in the range of 4.5 percent to 5 percent, according to some analysts.

...

The country has lost a net 1.5 million jobs since Bush took office in January 2001, something Kerry points to as evidence that the president's economic policies aren't working. But Bush says they are, and that the best way to create jobs is to make the economy stronger.

Hmmm. Finally someone in the media revised that "2.3 million lost jobs" figure downwards. I think we've only lost a net of 1 million jobs, though. 2.3 million minus 1.3 million equals 1 million.

Moderate Cowbell:

Posted by: Ace at 09:29 AM | Comments (11)
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The National Enquirer offers Washingtonienne $20,000 for her tawdry tale of rump-stumping.

Hey, National Enquirer-- I've got a tale, too. (Or should I say tail! Ahahaha. Now I see how Wonkette creates the Big Funny!)

My price for an interview:

Seven bucks.

Seven bucks. You spring for lunch. There's a Wok 'n Roll franchise I've been meaning to check out.

Posted by: Ace at 09:20 AM | Comments (11)
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Ahem. Sounds like our incompetent army and reckless leadership sort of know what the hell they're doing:

NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Militiamen loyal to rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said their leaders had told them to withdraw from the Iraqi holy city of Najaf by midday (4 a.m. EDT) on Thursday following a truce offer from Sadr.

"It was a written and a verbal order," said Ali Abu Zahra, commander of one of the Mehdi Army units that has been battling U.S. forces in Najaf.

Earlier on Thursday, Iraq (news - web sites)'s national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, quoting a statement signed by Sadr, said the cleric was willing to pull members of his Mehdi Army who are not from Najaf out of the holy city, and had demanded in return that a murder case for which he is wanted be suspended.

Don't read too much into that "demand." I don't hear anyone agreeing with it.

So, sounds like al-Sadr's suing for peace. Sounds like we've defeated him in detail (a term I learned from Steven den Beste), both militarily and politically, the latter accomplished by finally getting the Shi'a clerics to publicly denounce him.

How will the media play this victory?

I think I know:

Posted by: Ace at 12:34 AM | Comments (8)
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Finally:

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Police in the U.K. arrested Abu Hamza al-Masri, a Muslim cleric, who has had his U.K. citizenship removed, Sky News reported.

A police statement said a 47-year-old man was arrested during a raid at his home at about 3 a.m. London time. The arrest came after a request from the U.S. government for Abu Hamza's extradition, Sky said, citing the police statement. The man is being held in custody and will appear in a London court today, the Sky report said.

Update! Indicted on eleven counts in US, including conspiracy to kidnap charge. May get the death penalty, or at least life in prison.

Update:

That's what he looks like after being incarcerated at Abu Ghraib.

Here's what he looked like before:

That's right. We tortured, blinded, maimed, and disfigured David Hyde Pierce of the Frasier program.

Niles. We tortured Niles.

Is there no limit to our savagery?

Posted by: Ace at 12:22 AM | Comments (12)
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W A S H I N G T O N -- His forces decimated and forced to retreat from Karbala, Moqtada al-Sadr today offered to retreat from all other occupied cities and buildings in exchange for a "discussion" about his ultimate fate.

Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry was quick to tout his own role in the surrender-negotiations. "For months, I have been lecturing Americans, at some great length and with numerous solmnolent asides, sub-clauses, caveats, and the like, about the great and pressing need at this point in time for George W. Bush to abandon his arrogant and reckless policy and finally announce what I term a 'plan' for managing Iraq," the candidate said. "Finally, George Bush heeded my advice, and announced his 'plan' on Monday. Within 48 hours, Moqtada al-Sadr was offering to surrender."

Liberal "security experts" were quick to congratulate Senator Kerry. "What a difference a 'plan' makes," said Fred Kaplan, a somewhat-girlish and incompetent "defense writer" at the amateur webzine Slate. "This just proves that we've been right all along: we should raise taxes immediately, or whatever it is we're talking about."

Indeed, al-Sadrist forces have been taking heavy casualties since the day of the speech. In Kufa, 32 insurgents were killed when point three of the 'plan' was detonated in a safehouse they were hiding in. In Karbala, Marines unleashed thousands of points and sub-points of the 'plan,' riddling dozens of Sadrists with wounds. Terrorists attempted to detonate a bomb near the entrance to the so-called Green Zone in Baghdad, but soldiers were protected from the blast by deploying 'the plan' to shield them.

"Good Gravy!" said Lance Corporal Herbert C. Reilly of the 51st Battalion. "For a year, we've been just running around with guns and grenades and radios and such. We didn't even know this miracle weapon called 'a plan' existed. If they had this 'plan' all along, why the hell didn't they deploy it into the field?" He shakes his head sadly. "I saw an Iraqi civilian get his head cut off by a terrorist bomb a week ago. I imagine that if I'd had 'the plan' on me at the time, I might have been able to perform cranial reattachment surgery and save him."

MSNBC commentator/fat kid picked last for kickball Chris "Sweet Pillows" Matthews was unstinting in his criticism. "Damn the arrogance of the Bush adminstration," he said. "If they'd only admitted earlier they needed 'a plan'! We might have never suffered a single casualty in Iraq at all."

Dispirited al-Sadr insurgents, now taken prisoner, were quick to agree. "Well-trained marines with heavy guns, Army soldiers in lethal tanks, airmen patrolling our skies in fantastically deadly aircraft-- all these I was prepared for, and ready to confront," Ahmad al-Mohammed says. "But when I heard the Americans now had 'a plan,' I surrendered immediately. What weapons can contend against such a thing? I am willing to die for Allah, but I certainly didn't sign up into an Islamist death-cult just to commit suicide."

Related: Ann Coulter's latest is definitely worth a read, if only to see her write the word "tit."

Posted by: Ace at 04:33 PM | Comments (26)
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It's not quite a capitulation, since he's still making demands and the like.

But it would seem that he's beginning to barter for his life.

In related news, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAulliffe urged Moqtada al-Sadr to "keep the faith." "Don't give up," he exhorted the violent, chubby cleric, "not when we're so close to achieving our mutual goal."

Posted by: Ace at 02:52 PM | Comments (6)
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That's long been my theory, and it's served me well over the years.

Now, I haven't seen Troy yet, and I don't particularly want to. I'm just not interested.

Still, that doesn't mean that dopey, talentless, brainless reviewers should have a free hand at criticizing the film for entirely ludicrous reasons.

Two Braincells presents an enjoyable panning of the critics' pans:

The film isn't called The Iliad for a reason, and that reason is that it's not a direct adaptation of The Iliad. Homer didn't originate the story of the Trojan war. He wrote the best-known versions of two parts of the saga in the Iliad and the Odyssey, but these are not the only source materials. The choice of Paris (i.e., the selection of the most beautiful among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite and subsequent awarding of Helen) does not appear in the Iliad. Neither does the abduction of Helen. Neither does the Trojan horse. Neither do the deaths of Achilles, nor Paris, nor Agamemnon. Criticisms based on a supposed lack of fidelity to the Iliad would seem to miss the point in this regard.

I know nothing at all about the Iliad, but apparently I know more than critics. I wouldn't presume to comment upon the film's fidelity to the Iliad, having only read the Cliff's Notes in ninth grade. But that makes me smarter than reviewers, it seems.

This is good too:

For those further waxing wroth over the absence of the gods: you've got to be joking. Has it really been so long since Clash of the Titans that you're actually prepared to swear you'd treat the movie seriously if you'd seen Paris being wafted away in the middle of his fight with Menelaus on Aphrodite's cloud?

Note to self: Must begin making Clash of the Titans references.

And, if you've got a hankering to read through the Iliad with a snarky guide, Jamie R. provides a first-rate fisking to Homer.

Posted by: Ace at 01:31 PM | Comments (13)
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Thanks for those who tipped me to this last night, and my apologies for those who were expecting a comment sooner.

Who knew that when I asked Paul Anka to guest-host the blog for a weekend it would set off a media-frenzy landing him a prominent spot on last night's penultimate American Idol 3?

Well, I knew that would happen. But who else did?

He was in good form, but I was disappointed that he didn't do any of his greatest hits, such as The Guys Get Shirts, Where's Joe?, Put Me Some Fuckin' Knowledge, and the heartbreaking ballad, Do You Like Your Jobs? (Well Do You Want to Keep Your Jobs?)

Something else was missing, too: explosive profanity.

Still, the man radiated integrity and "conscious," and there can be little doubt that when he moved, he sliced like a fuckin' hammer.

Posted by: Ace at 12:15 PM | Comments (16)
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Doesn't the US military understand that "dominance" is just an illusion?!

Posted by: Ace at 11:40 AM | Comments (8)
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