[misquoting Instapundit, and then declaring that Insty is] coming to terms with what the religious right is doing to conservative principles. The important point is that religious zealotry cannot be incorporated into conservatism. It is the nemesis of conservatism. And it has to be purged in order for conservatism to be revived.

This is just part of the reductionist cretinism of liberals -- and yes, Andy is a liberal -- that anything they disagree with must be animated by hated conservative Christians.

Nat Hentoff is a liberal, a Jew (and a non-observant one at that, I think, but I may be wrong), and a secularist, and he comes down on Terri's side.

I was only in church to actually be in church three times for Sunday school. Since then, I've only been inside churches for weddings or to snap pictures as a tourist.

Sullivan is constantly praising himself for his largely phatasmal "independence" and "civility." And yet he writes like the most knee-jerk hack this side of The Nation.

Here's a tip about civility, Andrew: don't attack motives; disagree with the position itself. It is not enough for you to just keep asserting that everything you don't like is due to the "hatred" and "intolerance" of Christians. Whether people are motivated by strong religious convictions about the sanctity of life, or the belief that this case is, legally, a procedural travesty, it's their conclusions that matter, not the underlying motivations you often falsely attribute to them.

In short: Eat me, you reprehensible solipsistic twit.

PS: You have as much business lecturing me on conservatism as I have lecturing you on the proper way to mix Ecstacy and Appeltinis at a Madonna concert pre-party.

PPS: And I know Andrew won't mind this post, because he has assured us on several occasions "God knows, I'm not the easiest person to offend."

I'm just taking him at his word.

Posted by: Ace at 10:18 AM | Comments (154)
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I was at The Party That Must Not Be Named on Wednesday. (First Rule of the Party That Must Not Be Named: Don't talk about The Party That Must Not Be Named.)

I heard this great "cover" of the Beatles' If You Won't See Me (one of my favorites, of course).

It turned out to not be a cover at all, but rather a fusion re-mix. It's a mix of If You Won't See Me and Marvin Gaye's awsomely-cool Got to Give It Up, called You Won't Give It Up, by a DJ called "Voicedude" aka DJ Joel-Steven.

The mix can be heard and downloaded here.

Thanks to Irwin Chusid of WFMU for supplying the CD to the Party Which Must Not Be Named and identifying the track for me.

"Mash-ups" -- that's apparently what the kids are calling them these days -- for the entire Beatles' album Revolver (again, one of my favorites) can be heard here. Right now I'm trying Got to Get You Into the Mood -- Beatles plus Glenn Miller.

I ain't exactly hard-core. So kill me.

Update: Mixing the Beatles and Glenn Miller is a lot like mixing tequilla and Friendly's Fribbles. Crap.

On the other hand, the Beatles plus The Cure seems to work a little better.

Yes, I'm becoming more of a whiny pussy by the moment, but hey, it's got a cool beat.

And a mash-up of Goldfrapp, Norman Greenbaum's Spirit in the Sky, and the Beatles' I Want To Tell You is.... well, it's okay. Alas, it's not as good as any of the other songs it's mashing together.

Mixing The Jam, Beck, and Taxman together is a bit better. Thanks for "Lipstick Dynamite" for suggesting I listen.

Okay, This is Cool: Nancy Sinatra's theme from the James Bond film You Only Live Twice mixed with Tomorrow Never Knows. You younger kids may recognize the You Only Live Twice theme from its sampling on Robbie Williams' Millenium.

Man, I love it when people take my geek obsessions and put them all together into one neat package.

Posted by: Ace at 08:41 AM | Comments (8)
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Pretty much sums up my feelings about the man-- going from icon to joke to icon to really horrible joke to icon again.

Pretty fascinating career, really. The guy just never really gave up.

And you know what? Kingdom of the Spiders is woefully underappreciated.

Thanks to Ogre Gunner.

Posted by: Ace at 08:33 AM | Comments (17)
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A bit like Conan O'Brien's "Actual Ads." Some good stuff here; here are a few of the best ones:

Mmmmm... cow anuses.

Thanks to LauraW.

Posted by: Ace at 08:11 AM | Comments (4)
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Of course, he thinks the "We're just plain evil" memo is quite real.

Top Ten Exposed "Republican Talking Points"
by Ace of Spades and the unofficial staff of Ace of Spades HQ

10. "We hope to build a 'big-tent' coaltion of cretins, morons, and drooling retards to help pass our reckless Social Security schemes and thereby destroy the nation"

9. "It is absolutely untrue that many high-ranking Bush Administration officials are closeted homosexuals; however, at least three of them are 'really into' strangling hobos in their sleep"

8. "To be honest, we're pretty sure there isn't any oil in ANWR, but there are an awful lot of sacred Indian burial grounds we can desecrate by drilling, and we're all really big fans of Poltegeist"

7. "A return to chattel slavery is a long-term goal. Remeber to be patient; let's work on re-instituting Jim Crow before we 'overstep'" [Ayes of Death]

6. "Paul Wellstone? I'm not saying we offed him; but let's just say that every man chooses his own manner of dying, and maybe sometimes a political operative working for an opposing party uses 'substituted judgment' to make that decision on his behalf" [suggested by Rapid Transit]

5. "We'll be sending a man to Mars. First, though, we have to (giggle) send another (chortle) so-called 'mannned mission' (titter) to the Moon (guffaw)... Men on the Moon! What a riot! Jesus, that Nixon was freaking good" [suggested by JackM, as well as by Nina of Just Shoot Me]

4. "Of course we're all in favor of all Americans voting. And we have a simple rule: we will count every legal vote that's invisibly marked with either a Jesus Fish or the top-secret codewords 'Megadittoes' or 'Adelei Stevenson's a total fag'"

3. "When courageous truthtellers like Ward Churchhill and Michael Moore compare Bush to Hitler, never respond 'You say that like it's a bad thing'"

2. "Many of you haven't gotten the memo on changes in language regarding Social Security. Remember, our mantra is Saving Social Security for Future Generations, not the less-persuasive Let them eat Soylent Green" [Nick Kronos]

...and the Number One Exposed "Republican Talking Point"...

1. "When smart, principled, and civic-spirited liberals trap you in yet another indefensible lie, remember you always have an out: just smile in a friendly manner and say 'Jesus doesn't like hypothetical questions... Sinner!'"

Posted by: Ace at 07:19 AM | Comments (16)
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William Kristol is just makin' sure-- the Constitution now protects vicious killers who are smart enough to kill just shy of their their eighteenth birthday, but sexually-useless women who have grown inconvenient to their husbands are on dey's own, right?

Thank heavens We the People have been disburdened of making such decisions ourselves through legislative means, because we so clearly get so many of these questions wrong.

If we didn't have judges, we might have to live with our mistakes and perhaps correct them when we recognized them as such-- you know, like in a democracy or somethin'.

Thanks to Alicia.

Also From Alicia: A petititon in support of impeaching Judge Greer.

It's not going to go anywhere of course, but it might be useful in blowing off steam.

And for those who knee-jerkedly whine about the independence of the judiciary-- yes, they are independent, but also subect, according to state and federal constitution, to the impeachment process. Those who yammer on about the constitutional requirement of an independent judiciary seem to always miss the part in the constitution about removing judges through impeachment. That, too, is a constitutional process, and it remains the only democratic check on our anti-democratic judiciary.

Posted by: Ace at 07:13 AM | Comments (21)
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Press release:

Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader and Wesley J. Smith, author of the award winning book "Culture of Death: The Assault on Medical Ethics in America" call upon the Florida Courts, Governor Jeb Bush and concerned citizens to take any legal action available to let Terri Schiavo live.

"A profound injustice is being inflicted on Terri Schiavo," Nader and Smith asserted today. "Worse, this slow death by dehydration is being imposed upon her under the color of law, in proceedings in which every benefit of the doubt-and there are many doubts in this case-has been given to her death, rather than her continued life."

Among the many injustices in this case, Nader and Smith point to the following:

The courts not only are refusing her tube feeding, but have ordered that no attempts be made to provide her water or food by mouth. Terri swallows her own saliva. Spoon feeding is not medical treatment. "This outrageous order proves that the courts are not merely permitting medical treatment to be withheld, it has ordered her to be made dead," Nader and Smith assert.

The medical and rehabilitation experts are split on whether Terri is in a persistent vegetative state or whether Terri can be improved with therapy. There is only one way to know for sure- permit the therapy. That is the only way to resolve all doubts.

The court is imposing process over justice. After the first trial in this case, much evidence has been produced that should allow for a new trial-which was the point of the hasty federal legislation. If this were a death penalty case, this evidence would demand reconsideration. Yet, an innocent disabled woman is receiving less justice.

The federal and state governments are spending billions on what we are told will become miracle medical cures for people with all sorts of degenerative conditions, including brain damage. If this is so, why not permit Terri's parents and siblings who want to care for her do so in the hope that such cures are discovered?

Benefits of doubts should be given to life, not hastened death. This case is rife with doubt. Justice demands that Terri be permitted to live.

Well put, Ralph... and I don't think anyone can dismiss his opinion due to his being suspiciously Christian or criminally Republican.

Thanks to All Along the Blogtower.

And Another: Lanny Davis, too, who wants to know why Michael Schiavo is fighting so hard to ice his wife.

Good question. It's so good, in fact, I've asked it six billion times. I've yet to hear a satisfying answer that doesn't involve this estranged husband "just wanting to spend years in court and hundreds of thousands of dollars to honor his wife's wishes."

Give me a f'n' break. Most husbands consider themselves princes if they remember a wife's birthday.

Thanks for the latter to OCBill.

And, You Know... Newsmax noted that Hillary! had a great opportunity to prove her newfound respect for religious traditionalists by speaking up and saving a life.

I have to imagine she is smart enough to have considered it.

But I guess anti-Christian venom runs so deathly-thick in the liberal body politic that to do so would have nearly disqualified her from the 2008 Democratic nomination.

More... PowerPundit also notes that Fox's John Gibson suggested "storming the Bastille"-- that is, Jeb Bush ordering an Elian Gonzales style snatch of Terri Schiavo. He thinks that's a singularly bad idea.

Riehl World View similarly ruminates on storming the Bastille, coming to a similar conclusion. And one similar to mine, actually.

This is a travesty. A god-awful travesty. But there is a limit to how far we ought to be willing to go to avert even a travesty. As Riehl World notes, there are other values in play here -- not just life, but the rule of law and the fundamental cohesion of civil society.

Posted by: Ace at 07:50 PM | Comments (124)
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A week ago I said that many (though not all) liberals were taking the euthanize-Terri position because they saw that as a good way to get some payback against the hated religious right.

After several liberal bloggers weighed in on Terri's behalf, I stopped saying that.

But pictures don't lie.

This doesn't mean that all of those who wish to see Terri die -- oh, excuse me, "released from pain," because her ex-husband claims that's what she wants -- are animated by such thuggish motives. Certainly there are many people of good will who, for whatever (thoroughly unconvincing) reasons, think she should be starved to death "allowed to die in peace and with dignity."

But it certainly does mean that, just as suspected, there are a lot of people out there who prefer their political payback to have a bodycount.

Let the Photoshopping Begin! Riehl World hits this jagoff up first. Caution: may be a little spicy for some more refined palettes.

Posted by: Ace at 02:31 PM | Comments (50)
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They use less direct language.

But they're referring him for disciplinary action for possible (giggle) plagiarism, falsification of citations, misuse of sources, and, errm, claiming to be an Indian on the basis of once spilling a single tear at the sight of garbage strewn beside a highway.

Instapundit, of course, got here first.

Posted by: Ace at 02:13 PM | Comments (14)
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Although how "inadvertant" depends on your level of cynicism, I guess.

And how bored and horny you imagine game-designers are (I figure: plenty).

Thanks to the Fat Kid.

Little caution: that site must be getting hit big by a Slashdot link or something, because a lot of pics are very slow to load.

Posted by: Ace at 01:58 PM | Comments (2)
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