It's the second item:

Safer complained about the “excess of adulatory commentary ad nauseam,” not “by the public, but by reporters who should know better.”

Reporters are the smartest, wisest, most benevolently-minded people on the planet. They're sort of like Philsopher Kings, only they kick even more ass when it comes to Truth and Virtue.

Just ask them. They'll tell you.

And you can trust them. Because they're reporters.

Meanwhile, leftist producer Don Hewitt significantly advanced the Reagan-was-just-lucky-he-took-office-as-the-Soviet-Union-was-imploding-and-the-American-economy-rebounding, by suggesting that, gee willickers, Reagan was even "lucky" as to his time of dying:

Outgoing Executive Producer Don Hewitt argued the public outpouring had little to do with an affection for Reagan: “I don't think this is about Ronald Reagan. I think this is about a country that's hungry for nostalgia. And it just so happened that Ronald Reagan's death and America's hunger for nostalgia coincided.”

Ohhhhh, what a lucky man... he was...

Update: Donald Luskin notes that the Princeton Paranoiac Paul Krugman, supposedly a scientist of some sort, is now resorting to explanations involving "magic" and "miracles" to explain mundane economic phenomena.

So, the supposed rational, empirical Left liberal now explains everything in terms of:

1) Magic

2) Miracles

3) Luck

Why does the economy expand when taxes are cut? It must be because the evil Spirits of Commerce are appeased by these burnt offerings. But the good Spirits of Equality are angered.

But George W. Bush is a freak for believing in God, of course.

Posted by: Ace at 09:26 AM | Comments (5)
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Inflation is tamer than expected:

"It means we're back to the best of everything -- we'll have higher rates but slowly and methodically rather than that half point jump everybody was getting a little bit more concerned with," said John Hughes, market analyst at Shields & Co., who believes the data showed the Fed doesn't need to go 50 basis points this month.

As predictable as Michael Moore huddling over the shrimp bar at a wedding reception, the New York Times hypes the rise in the consumer price index, although that's not the best predictor of inflation, and even though the rise in consumer prices just tells us what we already know (i.e., the price of gasoline spiked).

But Greenspan says the Fed must be prepared to respond to "threats" to the economy, including another possible terrorist strike. I'm not a Greenspan watcher, but what this sounds like to me is Greenspan proposing an alternative reason to hike interest rates.

Inflation may not be a threat, but terrorism is, and so the Fed will raise rates, if only to have the power to lower them dramatically if necessary.

There are three constants in the universe: the speed of light, the cosmological constant, and Greenspan thinking that now would be a great time to raise rates.

Donald Luskin takes diminutive dean Paul Krugman to task for always predicting soaring inflation, or at least always predicting soaring inflation during Republican administrations. The paranoid Princetonian never seems to get around to explaining why his previous predictions have been so woefully off the mark.

Rasmussen finds investor and consumer confidence surging. On the other hand, he finds Bush and Kerry knotted up again at 46%.

Modest cowbell:

No cowbell for this:

New York State's growth exceeds national growth.

Nice for New York, but Bush isn't going to win in New York. Can't all those growing New York businesses relocate to Ohio?

Update: The University of Michigan's survey of consumer confidence shows a huge gain:

The University of Michigan's preliminary survey of consumer confidence for June showed its sentiment index rose to 95.2 from a final reading of 90.2 in May, according to sources who saw the subscription-only report, breaking a two-month decline.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a fall to 89.9 as record-high gasoline prices and geopolitical concerns were expected to have offset some of the optimism over the improvement in the labor market...

"The rebound in hiring over the past three months is finally affecting consumer attitudes about the economy. However, the improvement in sentiment has been relatively sluggish," said Steven Wood, economist at Insight Economics.

"Although sentiment remains well below its levels of the late 1990's, further job gains will push it higher," he said.

Posted by: Ace at 08:40 AM | Comments (3)
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I've been wondering. Are we sure that Drudge is actually any kind of conservative? We all assume he is; but is he? How do we know he just doesn't cater a bit to the only audience who admits to reading him, i.e., us?

Or is he maybe just against the war? Maybe a Pat Buchanan conservative?

I ask because he seems less-than-eager to promote genuinely huge stories that cut in favor of Bush, like the fact that UNMOVIC says that Saddam smuggled WMD's out of the country before and during the war. He gave that a small little blurb and only for 24 hours.

Meanwhile, he gives this useless NYT liberal-puff-piece (the only thing I like about the piece is that it's so ineffective at achieving its goal of promoting Kerry) a big banner headline for two days.

This isn't the first time I've wondered about this. All the stuff we complain about in the mainstream media -- constantly screaming over the set-backs in Iraq while never reporting the progress -- is something Drudge is equally guilty of.

Not that that necessarily diminished Drudge. I think he's got a good thing going there, and liberal or conservative, he makes the news kinda fun. But I'm just wondering about his actual politics.

Don't bother mentioning the aborted-fetus pics he wanted to run on his Fox show. That doesn't prove he's a conservative. That just proves he wanted ratings and/or to get sprung from his Fox contract.

And yeah, I know he's buds with Ann Coulter. But friendship doesn't require harmonious political views.

Posted by: Ace at 11:48 PM | Comments (14)
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Kaus' postings today are all compulsively readable.

One thing I don't like about the amateur leftist newsletter Slate is the artificial and strained attitude they force into their pieces. Most magazines, even amateur leftist newsletters, strive for some sort of defining style; Slate has decided its defining pose is Revenge of the Dweeb. Its tone is smug and nasty and stinks of adolescent revenge fantasy, i.e., One day I'll have a cool job at a cool magazine and I'll get back at all those jocks and swells who called me "gaywad."

If Maureen Dowd's pose is the feathered-earring-wearing cool-chick-who's-also-clever shooting spitballs at the teacher's back, Slate's collective pose is the arrogant, despised nastygeek picking his nose and wiping it on your sandwich when you're not looking and then writing about this great triumph in his Dream Journal.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:03 PM | Comments (6)
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30% of businesses plan on adding workers in 3Q, the biggest fraction since the start of the recession.

Which is a signal that job creation should be as good or better than it's been for the past four months. Right into the election.

Hiring is expected to improve over the prior quarter in the Midwest, Northeast and West, while remaining the same in the South, according to Manpower.

The job picture is brightest in the western U.S., where 33 percent of employers said they expect to add to their workforces, Manpower said.

Now, I'm not saying I want the South to have less new jobs than any other region. But a lot of southern states currently have low unemployment, and if there's only a limited number of new jobs to be had, I'd like the bulk of them to be in the midwest. That whole Ohio-Pennsylvania-Wisconsin-Iowa-Michigan-Minnesota sorta area.

And maybe we'll be getting that.

Excellent.

Posted by: Ace at 09:43 PM | Comments (2)
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It's not technically a nuclear bomb; there is no fission or fusion. But the explosive power comes from a high-energy nuclear isomer shedding energy in the form of gamma rays, and it could provide 1000 times the force of conventional chemical explosives:

But in future there may be cheaper ways to create the hafnium isomer - by bombarding ordinary hafnium with high-energy photons, for example. Hill Roberts, chief scientist at SRS, believes that technology to produce gram quantities will exist within five years.

The price is likely to be high - similar to enriched uranium, which costs thousands of dollars per kilogram - but unlike uranium it can be used in any quantity, as it does not require a critical mass to maintain the nuclear reaction.

The hafnium explosive could be extremely powerful. One gram of fully charged hafnium isomer could store more energy than 50 kilograms of TNT. Miniature missiles could be made with warheads that are far more powerful than existing conventional weapons, giving massively enhanced firepower to the armed forces using them.

The effect of a nuclear-isomer explosion would be to release high-energy gamma rays capable of killing any living thing in the immediate area. It would cause little fallout compared to a fission explosion, but any undetonated isomer would be dispersed as small radioactive particles, making it a somewhat "dirty" bomb. This material could cause long-term health problems for anybody who breathed it in.

This article is actually from last year. I struck upon it because someone found my site searching for this information.

Posted by: Ace at 05:31 PM | Comments (8)
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For them, not us, the letter means.

Could be a fake, of course. Still:

Titled ''The text of al-Zarqawi's message to Osama bin Laden about holy war in Iraq,'' the statement appeared on Web sites that have recently carried claims of responsibility for attacks in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

''The space of movement is starting to get smaller,'' it said. ''The grip is starting to be tightened on the holy warriors' necks and, with the spread of soldiers and police, the future is becoming frightening.''

The statement says the militant movement in Iraq is racing against time to form battalions that can take control of the country ''four months before the formation of the promised Iraqi government, hoping to spoil their plan.'' It appears to refer to the government that would take office after the elections scheduled for January 2005.

Assuming it's genuine:

Posted by: Ace at 05:11 PM | Comments (10)
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Looks like he just teased it without providing the evidence.

But of course we know there is evidence.

And if Cheney made this statement in the midst of a Presidential campaign, it was no accident. They intend to make an issue of this, and all I can say is It's about time.

Posted by: Ace at 05:01 PM | Comments (2)
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Warning: Very graphic. Not gory per se, but it does show someone being killed in battle. more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:33 PM | Comments (32)
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Laura Blackburne, a judge in Queens, helps a suspect escape from the court by having a bailiff escort him to a judges-only elevator and then to a back-door.

She helped him escape. Not, "she freed him by citing a technicality." She actually, physical planned and executed his escape from the police.

Here's the kicker: She's a registered Republican.

Has that sunk in yet?

Good. Now that's it's sunk in, sink it back out. I'm just fucking with you.

Of course she's a Democrat.

Duh.

Posted by: Ace at 01:17 PM | Comments (7)
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