while Ace is on the planet, with the rest of the landing party.

Posted by: Ace at 10:06 AM | Comments (5)
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Unemployment Claims Plunge Unexpectedly

Unexpected to some, maybe. But Jeff Gannon, posing under the new psuedonym Clarence Beaks, tipped me that a surge in demand for frozen concentrated orange juice presaged a goose in employment:

The number of Americans claiming initial jobless benefits fell unexpectedly by 2,000 last week to the lowest level in more than four years as the U.S. labor market continued to strengthen, a government report showed Thursday.

...

Last week's decline marks the lowest level since October 2000, before the economy tipped into recession.

Wall Street economists had expected a rise in claims to 315,000. The surprise fall is likely to boost analyst expectations for February's broader payroll report, which surveys employers at the same time of the month as last week's jobless claims report.

Thanks to Chickpea.

And of course to Jeff Gannon, patron site of leading economic indicators.

Alternate Cowbell: Because for this great news the old Gene Frenkle just won't do.

Nixon makes historic hand-shake with rock-n-roll legend Jeff "The Abdomen" Gannon.

Thanks for the photoshop to the most excellent Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 09:25 AM | Comments (4)
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Well, not much yet to report. Wasn't able to make the panels I wanted to see this morning. Stayed up late last night with anxious insomnia, but now I think I'm settling in.

Some cameraman from NBC was just videotaping the blogger corner. I asked him not to tape me; he said okay, but I don't know. He was shooting for a while before I noticed.

No celebrity sitings yet, except for G. Gordon Liddy, broadcasting over at radio row. Wonkette is nowhere to be seen (good-- she was one of the things I was anxious about), and as of yet-- no Jeff Gannon.

But I have hopes.

As I'm going to be on and off sporadically as I try to take in panels and do some actual reporting, I've asked Hoke Malokey to do a little fill-in guest blogging for me. Actually met him last night-- first time face to face meeting after knowing each other on-line for seven years or so -- and got a little drunk.

Big shock, I know.

Anyway, I'm going to mingle a bit and take some pics.

Posted by: Ace at 09:20 AM | Comments (7)
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Hopefully I can catch the 6:20.

Several of you asked to meet for drinks. I didn't mean to ignore you; I've just been super-busy. I'll try contacting you guys about that, time permitting.

And I'm still working to get out the rest of those thank you's. Thank you so much for your generosity in supporting the Ace of Spades Lifestyle (TM).

Finally-- Haiku winners. They're coming. Promise!

Posted by: Ace at 01:30 PM | Comments (17)
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I don't know all the facts necessary to make some sort of a judgment about this, but it seems interesting.

The indicted blogger fisks the article and his indictment at -- where else? -- his blog.

Posted by: Ace at 12:02 PM | Comments (40)
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The article is now up:

Legally, CBS and the ousted staffers are in an unusual stalemate: The network cannot be sued for breach of contract unless it actually fires them. Theoretically, the network could refuse to offer an apology or correct statements and simply drag its feet, continuing to write paychecks to the trio until their contracts expire. (Neither side would discuss how long the contracts are scheduled to last.)

But Mr. Howard’s complaint about Mr. Moonves’ remarks could pose a serious problem for CBS. Sources close to Mr. Howard said he believes that the report—which was assembled by an outside team of former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press head Louis Boccardi Jr.—contradicts Mr. Moonves’ statement about Mr. Howard’s share of the blame.

Mr. Howard also believes, those sources said, that the report itself excludes evidence that would implicate top management at CBS and restore Mr. HowardÂ’s reputation in the television news business.

As a commenter said, this is probably not going anywhere... it's in everybody's interest for CBS to just pay the producers hush-money.

Thanks for RatherBiased for the tip.

Looks like they'll be in business longer than they imagined!

Posted by: Ace at 09:29 AM | Comments (3)
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Damn. You snooze, you lose. For a while I've wanted to do O'Reilly interviewing Doctor Zaius.

John From Wuzzadem beats me to the punch with a funny transcript.

Dangit.

Posted by: Ace at 09:22 AM | Comments (6)
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Leftist whack-a-doos run in herds, you know. And apparently the leftist whack-a-doo who came within 537 votes of being our Commander in Chief has joined Willis, Atrios, and Kos in gleefully mentioning, without cause, our Eternal Hero Jeff Gannon.

Thanks to NickS.

Posted by: Ace at 08:43 AM | Comments (19)
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Aaaarrr...! Shiver me timbers! Finally, they've made an ergonomic keyboard for pirates!

It lacks a "Yo ho ho" button, but it's got the basics covered.

Thanks to RDBrewer.

Posted by: Ace at 08:41 AM | Comments (4)
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Hondo writes to let me know that Jason Bateman, brother of Justine "Mallory" Bateman (Mallory... yummmmmmmm... so cute, so dumb...), and star of AoS favorite Arrested Development (declared here to be the most conservative show on television, though damn if I can find the link now), is married to...Paul Anka's daughter.

And that's just the way it f'n' is.

Posted by: Ace at 06:59 AM | Comments (13)
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