Awesome, awesome, awesome.

It is among the most horrific weapons in any army's collection: the thermobaric bomb, a fearsome explosive that sets fire to the air above its target, then sucks the oxygen out of anyone unfortunate enough to have lived through the initial blast.

In the next few months, the U.S. Army will start putting this sweeping power in the hands of individual soldiers.

Incredible. Read it.

UPDATE: Recent article confirming weapons in use by Marines. Check out the pic sequence showing what happens to a one-story brick structure.
Thanks to Allah.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:27 AM | Comments (48)
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

Well, it was one of those things. Nothing juicy to report. A lot of people there, not sure who's anonymous or not, so forgive me for not including every name (it's not that I don't remember, I do, it's that I don't know if you're "out").

Sooo... in no particular order: Mike Krepansky of Red State, Evan Coyne Mahoney of Brain Terminal/Brainwashing 101, Cake or Death?, Boi from Troy, Charles Johnson of LGF, Tim Blair, Roger Simon, Traffic Non-Santa, Gay Patriot, LaShawn Barber, Kevin from Wizbang!, TigerHawk, Lisa from Urban Grind, Judith from Kesher Talks, co-host Karol (fashionably late, as usual), "someone" from the comments (he also has a blog, but I'm not sure if he connects his alias to the blog), Tammy Bruce, David Corn, Jane Hall of Fox Media Watch, Cliff May, MEMRI, Cathy Seipp, Gerald Van der Leun of American Digest, Richard Landes of the Pallywood documentary (search on this site or on Google, it's a keeper), and more folks who I can't remember at the moment.

Fun-ish, drank too much owing to a minor bout of anxiety, forget half the things I said or which were said to me. No fights, no one hooking up in the coatroom. Although I'm pretty sure Jane Hall was "good to go," if you know what I'm sayin'.

No Allah, unless he was the bespectacled fellow who grabbed on my joint every time he passed me.

Also, no Wonkette. Thank God.

Sorry this is such a lame post... I don't really do gossip and sightings-posts. It was kind of like a Star Trek convention without the cool uniforms and weapons.

Posted by: Ace at 07:11 PM | Comments (81)
Post contains 284 words, total size 2 kb.

After getting on The Political Teen's case ("The guys get videos!"), I seem to have cajoled him into posting the video of Tim Russert punking Ted Kennedy with a quote about Saddam's WMD's... a quote from John Kerry.

Posted by: Ace at 07:03 PM | Comments (14)
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

With all due apologies to Charlton Heston and the rest of the crew from the Planet of the Apes.

Even when it's the good old USA against every other country on the planet, WE WIN!

A U.N. working group, followed by governments including China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and the 25-member European Union, had all proposed taking away control of the domain name "root zone file" from the United States and handing it off to a multinational agency.

I wonder if the EU is upset about being lumped in with Cuba, China and Saudi Arabia, or is it the other way around?

Posted by: Tanker at 06:34 PM | Comments (12)
Post contains 123 words, total size 1 kb.

Two Palestinian men are showing pictures of their children to each other.

The first says: "This is my oldest, Muhammed. He was a martyr.... this is my second oldest, Muhammed. He was a martyr too.... This is my baby boy, Muhammed. One day I hope he will be a martyr too."

The other replies: "They blow up so fast, don't they?"

They do, they really do.

Credit Update: Karol says this is one of consevative comedianne Julia Gorin's jokes.

Thanks to moflicky, who encourages you to try the veal.

Posted by: Ace at 01:36 PM | Comments (13)
Post contains 105 words, total size 1 kb.

Says a senior administration official "casually" told him.

At first blush, I thought this was bad for the Administration, as there would seem to be another leaker.

But it's actually good for Libby, as Tom Maguire points out, as it makes hash of one of the key facts alleged in his indictment -- that Libby started the leaking, and thus his contention that he heard about it later was a deliberate lie.

If someone else leaked previously, it's quite possible that "all the reporters knew about it."

However... the downside is that this might shift the heat from Libby to someone else. Someone even more important, if you can believe such a thing, than "Scoots."

Game Over? Betsy Newmark, guest-blogging at Malkin's place, underscores different points, including this stunner: While Woodward doesn't think he asked Libby about Plame (not mentioning her by name, but asking about Wilson's CIA wife), he had planned to do so, setting up the well-nigh impenetrable Reasonable Doubt needed to get Libby off.

And there's more. So much more. Because Woodward also says he mentioned this to Walter Pincus -- another major league asshole -- and Pincus denies ever hearing it from him. And apparently he denied hearing it from him under oath.

Did Pincus pejure himself?

Betsy asks if Fitzgerald will give Pincus a pass on his faulty memory, why not do the same for Libby?

Posted by: Ace at 12:58 PM | Comments (55)
Post contains 253 words, total size 2 kb.

In an article about the supposed torture of terrorist suspects by the Iraqi government (boo f'n' hoo) gleams this absolute gem of gall:

Many Sunnis fear that methods used by the Interior Ministry forces - known by fearsome names such as the Scorpions and the Wolf Brigade - are setting the stage for sectarian war.

Yes, you should fear that, assholes. Because I promise you, if you and your Islamist buddies do provoke a civil war -- things are going to go rather badly for you.

Securing a piece of Iraq's oil reserves will be the least of your concerns.

And who will intervene on your behalf? America? Hardy-har-har. We're intervening on your behalf right frickin' now and you blow us up in gratitude.

Posted by: Ace at 12:41 PM | Comments (26)
Post contains 136 words, total size 1 kb.

Pretty good, if you want to know the precise legal reasons as to why the first indictment was defective on its face.

If you want to skip it, the quick version is the My Cousin Vinne demurrer: "Everything that guy just said is bullshit."

He'll be taking down the second indictment next.

Posted by: Ace at 12:14 PM | Comments (2)
Post contains 66 words, total size 1 kb.

Burma just upped the ante in the Crazy Asian Regime title race. Their ploy? Suddenly move the capital for no reason whatsoever:

At precisely 6:37 a.m. last Sunday, according to one account - with a shout of "Let's go!" - a convoy of trucks began a huge, expensive and baffling transfer of the government of Myanmar from the capital to a secret mountain compound 200 miles to the north.
…

[A]ccording to reports from the capital, [Rangoon], officials and civil servants were given only a day or two to pack and say goodbye to their families.

When they arrived at the new site, called Pyinmanaa, it was still under construction, and there were shortages of water, telephone lines and even sleeping quarters and food, according to family members quoted by news agencies and exile groups that monitor Myanmar.

Foreign diplomats said they were told that if they had urgent business with the relocated government, they could send a fax but that no number was yet available.

That ‘get in touch with us by fax,’ but no fax number? That’s just good crazy.

Ok, maybe there’s a reason behind this. Some are speculating that the too-long-in-the-jungle generals are worried about U.S. invasion, but that ain’t the favored explanation. No, the leading candidate is advice from fortune tellers.

Joseph Silverstein [Burma expert at Rutgers] believes the most likely explanation for the relocation is advice by traditional Burmese fortune-tellers.

"Everybody listens to fortune-tellers in Burma," he said.

General Ne Win, who came to power in 1962, was totally dependent on their advice, Mr Silverstein added.

"He is once said to have decided to change the direction of traffic overnight [as a result of a fortune teller]. It caused a huge number of accidents," he said.

All in all, a diabolical move. North Korea isn’t expected to take this challenge lying down, however. Kim Jong Il has already announced N. Korean scientists are working round the clock on ways to “Up the crazy. Bigtime!” Reports are already circulating every citizen will be now be named “Glub-Glub” and wear pointy wizard hats made of lasagna.

Posted by: Dr. Reo Symes at 12:10 PM | Comments (24)
Post contains 349 words, total size 2 kb.

Burma just upped the ante in the Crazy Asian Regime title race. Their ploy? Suddenly move the capital for no reason whatsoever:

At precisely 6:37 a.m. last Sunday, according to one account - with a shout of "Let's go!" - a convoy of trucks began a huge, expensive and baffling transfer of the government of Myanmar from the capital to a secret mountain compound 200 miles to the north.
Â…

[A]ccording to reports from the capital, [Rangoon], officials and civil servants were given only a day or two to pack and say goodbye to their families.

When they arrived at the new site, called Pyinmanaa, it was still under construction, and there were shortages of water, telephone lines and even sleeping quarters and food, according to family members quoted by news agencies and exile groups that monitor Myanmar.

Foreign diplomats said they were told that if they had urgent business with the relocated government, they could send a fax but that no number was yet available.

That ‘get in touch with us by fax,’ but no fax number? That’s just good crazy.

Ok, maybe thereÂ’s a reason behind this. Some are speculating that the too-long-in-the-jungle generals are worried about U.S. invasion, but that ainÂ’t the favored explanation. No, the leading candidate is advice from fortune tellers.

Joseph Silverstein [Burma expert at Rutgers] believes the most likely explanation for the relocation is advice by traditional Burmese fortune-tellers.

"Everybody listens to fortune-tellers in Burma," he said.

General Ne Win, who came to power in 1962, was totally dependent on their advice, Mr Silverstein added.

"He is once said to have decided to change the direction of traffic overnight [as a result of a fortune teller]. It caused a huge number of accidents," he said.

All in all, a diabolical move. North Korea isn’t expected to take this challenge lying down, however. Kim Jong Il has already announced N. Korean scientists are working round the clock on ways to “Up the crazy. Bigtime!” Reports are already circulating every citizen will be now be named “Glub-Glub” and wear pointy wizard hats made of lasagna.

Posted by: Dr. Reo Symes at 12:10 PM | Comments (24)
Post contains 358 words, total size 3 kb.