This is the kid who turned in enemy terrorists to US intelligence -- including his father -- only to see them kill his mother in revenge.

Read down to the end of the article to find out how you can help get this kid through the system and into the process of becoming an American citizen.

Thanks to Andrew to bringing this to my attention.

Posted by: Ace at 03:13 PM | Comments (4)
Post contains 79 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, not really. But he does manage to link media bias, an attack on Walter "Ol' Crappypants" Cronkite, and an interview with Dungeons & Dragons co-creator E. Gary Gygax.*

If only he slipped in a cowbell or Paul Anka reference, I could just retire, knowing I'd never be able to top so high a bar.

* Geek Alert: Yes, I know I'm revealing that I know stuff I probably shouldn't. Noting that Gygax as the co-creator of D&D, and tossing in that obscure "E." first initial, marks me, quite indelibly, as Someone a Woman Should Almost Certainly Not Have Sex With Or, Just to Be On the Safe Side, Even Talk To.

Posted by: Ace at 02:01 PM | Comments (13)
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

Welcome to civilization:

Can two demure teenagers be in the front line of a country's march forward? They intend to be, from a land where being a woman once met staying hidden in the burka, when she ventured outside at all.

``We were like female prisoners,'' Muqimyar said. ``That was just not my future, but the future of all Afghan women.''

That changed when the American-led attack - aimed at Al Qaida after 9/11 - drove out the Taliban. But at the time, as the bombs fell, she was a scared little girl. So when the fireworks went off at the Opening Ceremony, Robina Muquimyar's first instinct, honed by a childhood without safety, was to hide.

``I have bad memories,'' she said, ``of boom ... boom ... boom.''

One day, a group hoping to recruit young women to sport stopped by her school, asking if anyone wanted to run a race.

Robina was in sandals, long pants, a frock and black scarf. She took off her scarf, went to the starting line, and was ready.

``She wasn't that fast,'' said Stig Ingemar Traavik, a Norwegian who has helped build the Afghan Olympic team. ``But she came right away, and said `I am the best.'''

She's got spirit. On the other hand, she doesn't have speed (even at her personal best, she's three seconds off the pace for the 100m dash, which is sort of a lot, considering Olympians run it in ten seconds).

But that's hardly what matters.

Posted by: Ace at 11:59 AM | Comments (4)
Post contains 262 words, total size 2 kb.

Even some NJ Democrats now believe that McGreevey's plan to resign after the election is too fabulous by half:

A number of New Jersey Democratic and Republican leaders finally agree on something: Gov. James McGreevey, who appointed a man who aides have said was his gay lover to a high-paying anti-terrorism job, should resign sooner than planned.

When he announced last week that he was gay and had a homosexual affair, McGreevey, 47, a married father of two, said he would step down Nov. 15. That meant the state Senate president would become governor for nearly a year. The deadline for a special election is Sept. 3.

Since the Senate president, Richard Codey, is a Democrat, Republicans are howling. Editorial pages across the state also have urged McGreevey to quit now.

Now some state Democratic leaders are working behind the scenes to force McGreevey aside. They want to avoid more political damage to the party. And they want U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (news, bio, voting record) to run in a special election this November because he would be the early favorite.

In a short campaign against a Republican opponent, Corzine would be formidable, if only because of name recognition. He spent $63 million of his own money to win his Senate race in 2000. He probably would not even need his personal wealth in a short campaign.

"If the Democrats have Corzine in the bag, there's no way McGreevey will stay," said Alan Rosenthal, a Rutgers University political scientist.

Well, whether McGreevey resigns now or later, it's highly probable NJ will continue having a Democratic governor. Still-- when your party screws up this bad, it's only right that the competition should have a fair shot.

Posted by: Ace at 11:46 AM | Comments (2)
Post contains 301 words, total size 2 kb.

What's this? A particularly nasty triple-dose of cowbell hits Matt Drudge right in his upper left-hand corner:

* Consumer prices/inflation down.

* Factory utilization now the highest since April 2001.

* And housing starts surge by 8.3%.

You'd better put some penicillin on that, Drudge. Better yet, just let the Cowbell Fever spread and fester, and succumb to its madness.

Triple-sized cowbell for triple cowbell news:

Christopher Walken is also a longtime Cowbell Fever Survivor.

Update: Senator Philabuster thinks it would be a good idea to list the top ten cowbell songs of all time. I think it's a good idea too, but apart from Don't Fear the Reaper and Theme From Simon & Simon, I don't really know too many cowbell-friendly songs.

If you know some cowbell-intensive tunes, let me know in the comments below. I'll put them into some sort of definitive list when I have at least ten good ones.

One point: The songs should be fairly well known; try not to be too obscurist. Don't nominate a bootleg studio alternate master of The Band in which a microphone is accidentally dropped on to an unused cowbell, nor a Japanese import disco remix of Rush's Red Barcetta in which an "electronic cowbell-like effect" can be heard above the screech of Godzilla's radioactive roar.

I mean, this isn't A Small Victory. Maybe there is some good cowbell on that Marshall Tucker Band cover of Faith No More's Epic, but seriously, have more than eight people heard it?

Actually, you can nominate songs like that all you like. They're just not going to make it to the list.

Country songs are sort of obscure to me, but I'll gladly put a couple of them on the list. I probably will just have to take your word for it that they do in fact contain prominent cowbell.

Anyway, if you want to help out, thanks. It's appreciated.

Posted by: Ace at 10:11 AM | Comments (54)
Post contains 329 words, total size 3 kb.

As a fan of Fox's Wildest Police Chases, World's Worst Drivers, World's Wackiest Drivers, and the soon-to-be-debuting Fox's Wild World of the World's Worst Wackydrivers, I have long contended that those who engage in high-speed freeway chases should be shot on sight by the police. Just pulled out of the car and capped right in the forehead.

Not the back of the head. Let them see it coming.

And actually, that's not schtick. This bullshit is just as bad as deliberately firing a gun into a crowd. I grind my teeth in anger whenever the liberal/reporters covering these chases solemnly intone, "I'm sure we all hope that no one gets hurt here, including the driver."

Not all of us hope that, Mary.

That said, I am willing to give this guy a pardon for his crimes.

This cat clearly knows how to drive a car -- he gets spun out multiple times without ever losing control or composure -- and he's probably not putting any more people in danger by driving at 160 mph than, say, Teddy Kennedy is by just opening up the Chivas.

Every other time Kennedy opens a bottle of the stuff, someone gets raped or manslaughter'd. And yet no one's putting him in the chokehold.

Thanks so much to Jay.

Posted by: Ace at 05:04 PM | Comments (6)
Post contains 228 words, total size 1 kb.

So says The American Spectator (linked here by the Federal Review). The media, this source says, won't touch the Christmas in Cambodia story, not because they don't think it's true, but because they're voting with their stories rather than their feet.

This is so ridiculous and childish. Why do we have to quote these people admitting the obvious? Why don't they just forthrightly admit where there partisan biases lie and then we can all move on?

Posted by: Ace at 03:25 PM | Comments (7)
Post contains 100 words, total size 1 kb.

Jessica "Washintonienne" Cutler says she's a genius. (Make sure to read the end of the update.)

I'll give her one thing: She's managed to turn a few instances of being sodomized by strangers into a pile of money.

If I could manage that trick, my brief stint smuggling heroinin Turkey might have have all been worth it.

Posted by: Ace at 02:51 PM | Comments (14)
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

I didn't see this segment, so I can't vouch for this post's accuracy at this time.

That said, it smells accurate.

John Kerry's campaign just claimed (in response to Bush's you-missed-Intelligence-Committee-votes charge) that he had been Vice Chair of that committee.

Trouble is, he wasn't (at least accordign to this post). BOB KerrEy, not John Kerry, was Vice Chairmain. Kerry never was.

I mean, he never was, as far as we know. Maybe he served as Double-Secret Vice Chairman during one of his numerous Cambodia Incursions.

Update: RedState.org does some Nexusing and reports.

It appears that one newspaper article in 1996 did refer to John Kerry as the Vice Chairman of the committee. But the actual records indicate that Bob Kerrey was the Vice Chair at the time. The newspaper article seems to be in error, although RedState guesses that it's possible that John Kerry might have served briefly in this position on an interim basis (i.e., when Bob Kerrey was away from Congress for whatever reason).

STATUS: Undetermined.

Posted by: Ace at 02:39 PM | Comments (12)
Post contains 197 words, total size 1 kb.

But of course you do, darling.

Is this the extent of the liberal foreign-policy critique? Is everything a quibble over timing-- debating not whether actions should be undertaken, but whether they should be undertaken now or three months hence?

Posted by: Ace at 02:21 PM | Comments (8)
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.