You're just not allowed to use letters not in the Turkish alphabet.

The accused are negotiating to plead guilty to the lesser charge of writing the letter "M" with malice aforethought.

Thanks to Chickpea.

Posted by: Ace at 08:28 AM | Comments (12)
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"Smoking gun" evidence he lied to the Senate, and was in fact on Saddam's payroll.

GEORGE GALLOWAY faces possible criminal charges after a US Senate investigation tracked $150,000 (£85,000) in Iraqi oil money to his wife’s bank account in Jordan.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will refer the Respect Party MP for possible prosecution after concluding that he gave “false and misleading” testimony at his appearance before the panel in May.

The sub-committee claimed that, through intermediaries, Mr Galloway and the Mariam Appeal were granted eight allocations of Iraqi crude oil totalling 23 million barrels from 1999 to 2003.

It will also forward the new information to British authorities, saying it raised questions about Mr Galloway’s financial disclosure and the payment of illegal kickbacks to Iraq. “We have what we would call the smoking gun,” said Senator Norm Coleman, the sub-committee’s Republican chairman.

The sub-committee’s report, released today, was provoked by Mr Galloway’s clash with the senators — which he turned into a book entitled Mr Galloway goes to Washington. In that encounter, the anti-war MP vehemently denied receiving oil allocations from Iraq.

But the report provides bank account details tracking payments from an oil company through a Jordanian middleman to Mr GallowayÂ’s now estranged wife, Amineh Abu- Zayyad, and his Mariam Appeal fund.

Thanks to Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 08:15 AM | Comments (18)
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...or something like that. I'm sure the next article will tell us that he really only wants to cuddle, and isn't a nice cuppa green tea just SO much better than Dom or Bollinger?

Let's all just save time and say that the next James Bond movie will suck. I know that EON and all the other Bond franchise hangers-on have bills to pay, but isn't it time to let the franchise rest for a while rather than flog out another ho-hum (or worse) installment? For God's sake, even Paramount is letting their cash cow Star Trek go silent for a decent while.

George Lucas, are you listening?

Posted by: Harry Callahan at 06:02 AM | Comments (39)
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If the book is anything like this treasure trove of liberal hypocisy, then we're all in for a treat.

Ace, he's got a book so sell, so I bet he'd be game for a Hoist the Black Flag interview!

Posted by: Harry Callahan at 05:49 AM | Comments (11)
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Prepare for Impeachment Wars II.

But -- unless I'm really off the mark here -- I don't know that the public will care much, because no crime was committed. Except maybe for some, ahem, light perjury during the cover-up.

From The Corner.

Good News/Bad News: Karol got John Fund to agree to appear on the show tomorrow. Great, can't think of a better person to talk about with about Harriet Miers and, of course, the coming firestorm in DC.

But... the fact that it's going to be a big news day means that Fund's phone will be ringing off the hook, and I'm guessing his schedule will be filled up.

Posted by: Ace at 07:04 PM | Comments (264)
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And 78 more working alongside US troops, combat-ready, but not yet ready to take the lead.

I don't want to say that Al Qaeda has jumped the shark in Iraq, but last I heard, they were planning on a surprise marriage of Al Zarqawi to new cast member Valerie Bertenelli, adding a new character called "Abdul the Klutzy Effiminate Bomb-Maker" (played by Andy Dick), and sending the whole clan on a three-episode trip to Hawaii.

Posted by: Ace at 06:53 PM | Comments (4)
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Some Infinity Stations will be dropping Stern in favor of the "Jack FM" format, whatever the hell that is.

And in a little while he'll be on satellite radio anyway.

I used to be a big fan. He stopped being a must-listen to me after his divorce (it just wasn't as funny to hear him scoring with hot chicks as it was to hear him fantasizing about scoring with hot chicks), the firing of Jackie Martling (not really the funniest guy, but like Sulu on Star Trek, you noticed his absence) and, worst of all, his E! Television show.

It was his need to put on stuff with "great visuals" (supposedly) for the E! Show that changed the focus of the show from Howard and his miserable, pathetic life to guys throwing balogna at girls' asses every. other. fucking. show.

I liked the beginning of the show -- him whining about his weekend or his futile attempts to masturbate without being interrupted by his wife or daughters -- and the end, where he'd just riff on the news, always annoyed by everyone. The prepared bits they did I could have lived without.

Especailly throwing balogna slices at stripper's asses. Sounds funnier than it is, especially after the six billionth time.

What is going to do with absolutely no censorship at all? I think it might actually result in a lamer show, with more balogna tossing. Also, it's a funny thing, but a lot of times on TV and radio, the fact that you're not allowed to curse or say anything too sexual makes your attempts to push the envelope a lot funnier -- it's the sense of getting away with something that adds to the giggles. Without any real restraint, that feeling of "man, how does he get away with that crap?" will be wholly absent.

Posted by: Ace at 05:20 PM | Comments (44)
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From Taranto:

The original Microsoft Word document is here,
and MidEastWeb.org
has rendered it in HTML form. Here's the key passage, rendered to look like
redlined Microsoft Word text (note that this will not appear properly if you're
reading this column as a text e-mail):

One witness of Syrian origin but resident in Lebanon, who claims to have
worked for the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon, has stated that approximately
two weeks after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1559, Maher
Assad, Assef Shawkat, Hassan Khalil, Bahjat Suleyman and Jamil Al-Sayyed
senior Lebanese and Syrian officials decided to assassinate
Rafik Hariri. He claimed that Sayyed a
senior Lebanese security official went several times to Syria to plan
the crime, meeting once at the Meridian Hotel in Damascus and several times
at the Presidential Place and the office of Shawkat
a senior Syrian security official. The last meeting
was held in the house of Shawkat the
same senior Syrian security official approximately seven to 10 days
before the assassination and included Mustapha Hamdan
another senior Lebanese security official. The witness
had close contact with high ranked Syrian officers posted in Lebanon.

According to the Times, "Mr Annan had pledged repeatedly through his chief
spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, that he would not change a word of the report
by Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor":

But computer tracking showed that the final edit began at about 11.38am on
Thursday--a minute after Herr Mehlis began a meeting with Mr Annan to present
his report. The names of Maher al-Assad, General Shawkat and the others were
apparently removed at 11.55am, after the meeting ended.

Last week we
noted an Associated Press report that Secretary-General Kofi Annan had said
that "he is determined to keep an upcoming report into the assassination
of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri from fanning tensions between
Syria and Lebanon." Thanks to Bill Gates, now we know how far Annan was
willing to go to protect the Syrian dictatorship.

Posted by: Ace at 01:15 PM | Comments (14)
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Global warming-- is there anything it can't do?

Thanks to RCL again.

Posted by: Ace at 01:10 PM | Comments (16)
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Here's the thing: if you're dedicated to the principle that all cultures and cultural practices are equally valuable (except if the cultural practice comes from an "oppressed" culture, in which case they're both equally valuable and more valuable at the same time), how the hell do you say that butchering women because they have sex or have been raped is, oh, what's the right phrase?, the skullfucked mayhem of primative retards?

In the summer of 2004, Manna Begum was in love with Arash Ghorbani-Zarin, a young Iranian studying in the city of Oxford.

Her Bangladeshi parents had arranged for her to be married, but she wanted nothing of it.

Ms. Begum's parents forbade her to see Mr. Ghorbani-Zarin, but she ignored their wishes. Upon discovering in August that she was pregnant, Begum and her boyfriend decided to get married, according to testimony given in an Oxford court last week.

Three months later, Ghorbani-Zarin was killed and Begum's father and brother are now on trial for the murder - apparently the latest in a series of brutal honor killings to take place in Britain.

"The relationship with the girl brought shame and dishonor on the family," prosecuting lawyer Julian Baughan told the court. "That drove the accused, led by the head of the family, to murder Mr. Ghorbani-Zarin to vindicate the family's honor."

The number of such "honor killings" carried out in Britain is unknown. But in late 2004, British police began reexamining 117 murders to see how many were motivated by honor.

I'm really having trouble reconciling the left's innumerable "Take Back the Night" vigils and Vagina Day street theatrics with their lack of furious condemnation for vile primativism like this.

What is monstrous for a caucasian to even contemplate is apparently not even all that blameworthy for a non-caucasion to practice -- with full moral support from his family and cultural brethren.

Thanks to RCL.

At Least The British Have Their Priorities Straight: They've been reluctant to investigate lunatic "honor killings" of women, but their banks are phasing out piggy banks as giveaways and advertising images so as not to offend The Religion of Perpetual Outrage (TM).

You know what else is offensive? Killing a woman because she doesn't want to marry you.

Thanks to utron for that tip.

Posted by: Ace at 01:02 PM | Comments (33)
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