... by a man who is most definitely slicin' like an f'n' hammer, FBI agent Robert Parton.

Documents involving actions taken by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the Oil-for-Food investigation were handed over to Congress on Wednesday night, FOX News has learned.

The documents were given to federal lawmakers by Robert Parton, a former senior investigator on the Independent Inquiry Committee probing the $64 billion program.

Parton and Miranda Duncan (search), who both resigned from the panel last month in protest, have accused the IIC of downplaying Annan's role in the Oil-for-Food corruption scandal in an interim report released by the panel last March.

The documents were handed over after Parton was issued a subpoena by the House International Relations Committee on Friday night. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, earlier was preparing subpoenas to force Parton and Duncan to testify. It was expected that those subpoenas could be issued as early as Thursday.

Congress has been trying to talk to Parton ever since his resignation two weeks ago. Last week, IIC head Paul Volcker tried to block such efforts by insisting that Parton and Duncan, both Americans, had diplomatic immunity.

And to trot out the same joke again: His claim of "diplomatic immunity" seems to be doing him as much good as it did Joss Ackland at the end of Lethal Weapon 2.

Chris Shays, who, you know, is just about the biggest pussy in the f'n' world, whines that Parton's cooperation with Congress will undermine amity between the blah blah blah blah blah.

Who gives a shit what Chris Shays thinks?

The best part:

Parton's attorney then wrote to the United Nations and to Volcker asking if they would instruct Parton to defy a Congressional subpoena.

When both the United Nations and the Volcker committee refused to answer, Parton took action and, on Wednesday night, handed over the boxes of documents to a congressional committee.

Hee, hee. "Put it in print that you want me to defy a Congressional subpoena in order to further a cover-up of the greatest dollar-amount swindle in human history. Put that in print, sign it, and send it to me. And then I'll think about it."

Robert Parton is on f'n' fire. Damn, I wish I had a Top Ten in me.

Thanks to Andy the Squirrel.

Obligatory Pat O'Brien Reference Update: Andy the Squirrel also offers:

"I don't normally do this. I don't know what's wrong with me. But. I. Want. to go CRAZY. With your oil. Let's do it. Let's get some barrels, let's get some money. But you gotta pay attention to Kojo. Kojo gets very jealous. If you're down with this, just wink."

Posted by: Ace at 08:48 AM | Comments (11)
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Some trolls -- defenders of Wikipedia, it seems -- came in here last night and posted a lot of racist and extremsist crap under the name "Ace." In order to discredit me, of course.

Well, I wasn't around last night. Nothing between 4:30 yesterday and 11:30 this morning was written by me. No computer access. Hell, I barely had brain access.

So... just in case someone out there has it in their mind to brand me a "hater:" not me.

Posted by: Ace at 08:38 AM | Comments (11)
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Dem Bloggers has video of my quick mention on CNN's Inside Politics yesterday.

Mom, it's near the end of the clip.

I enjoyed Judy Woodruff's wondering how it is that someone could just start a blog without reavealing his real name, and if we shoud "talk about that further."

It's scary in the blogosphere, Judy. It's like Thunderdome, except without as many retards in crude iron helmets.

Wait a minute. Scratch that, reverse it. It's just like Thunderdome, come to think of it.

Posted by: Ace at 08:25 AM | Comments (28)
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They did a man's job covering the Pat O'Brien interview, and I thank them heartily.

It didn't occur to me that, with two people editing the same post, any changes each saved on his own post-box would wipe out the changes the other had just made... loose shit, as they say.

I don't do this for a living. This is all, like, new to me.

Still, they soldiered on despite that annoying and unforeseen glitch, and I thank them for it.

It's a good thing I didn't ask more people to do it... what a nightmare that would have ended up being.

Posted by: Ace at 08:21 AM | Comments (6)
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After careful deliberations between Wizbang, Allah, and I, the Advisory has been elevated to Nauseated.

This important decision was based on two factors:

1) he self-reports he is "nauseated" by the Michael Jackson affair;

and

2) his statement that "hatred of open and proud homosexuals is intrinsic to Islamist fundamentalism, as it is to Christian fundamentalism. The struggle against both is the same one - at home and abroad."

I can't wait until we begin carpet-bombing those pesky Christian fundamentalists. After all-- "the struggle against both is the same one - at home and abroad."

PS, Andrew, we usually use a double-dash (or, if you can manage it, an "em-dash" or long dash to seperate thoughts like this). Single-dashes are used for hyphenation and such.

Gob-smackingly vile misuse of punctuation, I think. Now I'm nauseated.

Remember: Remain calm, go about your lives as usual.

If you get freaked-out by Sullivan's own freak-outs, the terrorists will truly have won.

In a way, you know, the fight against Islamic theocratic mass-murderers and the fight against overemotional single-issue political shills is the same fight, both at home and abroad.

Posted by: Ace at 08:14 AM | Comments (19)
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And Traffic Santa thinks someone should tell Alberto Gonzales.

This time the "war on" thesis is used to suggest that increased federal aggressiveness in obscenity prosecutions is unwarranted.

Well... I don't know. Yes, I suppose this does represent a small diversion of law enforcement resources from hunting down Al Qaeda. But so, for that matter, do federal prosecutions for check-kiting and moonshining. Is Reynolds' thesis really that enforcement of admittedly non-vital laws should stop in the interests of hunting down terrorists? Are we to suspend the enforement of drug, prostitution, steroid, illegal gambling, etc. laws and thereby basically change the way we live in order to respond to the strict dictates of the "war on" manifesto?

Wouldn't that, in a way, mean that the terrorists have won?

Hey, I realize that's glib and, basically, stupid. But is it really any more glib or stupid that pushing a libertarian domestic agenda -- defensible and sensible in many aspects, one could argue -- under the rather crude pretext that there's a "war on"?

BTW, the prosecutions aren't for run-of-the-mill porn. They're for porn containing "bestiality, sadomasochism and simulated rape." I suppose it's debatable whether or not we ought to be prosecuting the purveyors of such, ahem, unconventional fare, but it's not like Jenna Jameson is now on the FBI's Most Wanted List or anything.

I just think this whole line of argument is disingenuous, and I think Reynolds would object to its use in other circumstances. Civil unions? We can't change the current laws regarding gay coupling; there's a war on, you know.

And I have to say that every time a law is suggested that would help the fight against terrorists, the ACLU makes similar suggestions, claiming that, for example, any profiling at airports is wasteful and counterproductive because those resources would be "better used" to track "real terrorists."

Anytime someone doesn't like a law, it seems, he can just glibly assert that that law compromises our efforts to find the "real terrorists."

I think it would be far more useful for people to be more candid about the reasons for opposing laws. Reynolds should candidly explain why he supports, or rather does not oppose, the production and distribution of this sort of porn, rather than eliding the question with the vacuous "there's a war on" defense. And the ACLU should be candid enough to admit they don't care if profiling works or doesn't work, they just don't like it, because (they believe) it's inconsistent with the Constitution.

Enough of these childish "diversion of resources" arguments. Everything in law enforcement, in poltics, and in everyday life itself is a diversion of resources from something else.

Not sure if I can continue blogging... there's a war on, you might have heard.

Thanks to NickS.

And also thanks to The Unabrewer.

Posted by: Ace at 08:07 AM | Comments (12)
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Small oil company anounces billion-dollar find:

A tiny oil company has snapped up leasing rights to a half-million acres in central Utah that it says could yield a billion barrels or more of oil.

Geologists are calling it a spectacular find — the largest onshore discovery in at least 30 years, located in a region of complex geology long abandoned for exploration by major oil companies. It's turning out to contain high-quality oil already commanding a premium at refineries.

With the secret out, industry players expect a bidding war to break out at the next Utah leasing auction, set for May 17 in Salt Lake City.

At today's prices the oil reserve could bring Utah $5.6 billion in royalties, state auditors conservatively estimate. Although the discovery is still playing out, the oil will take years to recover and some skeptics question the company's projections for a region yet to be fully surveyed.

"It's just very highly unlikely because the U.S. onshore has been picked clean, if you will," said Fadel Gheit, senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York.

"That's like finding a wallet in the subway after all the cleaners went through it. It's possible, but very highly unlikely," he said.

Gov. Jon Huntsman said he was aware of the discovery "and we are tracking the progress with great interest. If the prospects prove to be true, it will be important that the resources are developed responsibly."

Gee, I hope there aren't any caribou around.

Thanks to LauraW.

Posted by: Ace at 06:51 AM | Comments (17)
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Treasury receipts surge in April:

After three years of rising federal budget deficits, a surge of April tax receipts brought unexpected good news to fiscal policymakers -- the tide of government red ink appears to be receding.

The Treasury Department this week reported there would be a $54 billion swing from projected deficit to surplus in the April-to-June quarter, after an unanticipated gush of tax payments poured into the Treasury before the April 15 deadline. That prompted private forecasters to lower their deficit projections for the fiscal year that ends in September.

...

"I think it has turned the corner," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency. "My guess is 2004 will have been the worst year."

...

April... turned out to be a far better month than anticipated. Taxpayers were confronted with unexpected tax bills, many from capital gains and the alternative minimum tax, a parallel income tax system designed to hit the rich but that is increasingly pinching the middle class. The Treasury announced this week that it will repay $42 billion in federal debt in the third April-to-June quarter, instead of borrowing $12 billion.

Wall Street analysts reduced their deficit forecasts this week, from around $400 billion to around $370 billion.

Posted by: Ace at 06:43 AM | Comments (10)
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Okay, I'm actually meeting a friend for early drinks and then probably late-night drunkeness, so I won't be able to watch this Superbowl of Tearful Confessionals live.

Damn it all. Friends suck.

I have invited a few secret guests to guest live-blog the event for me... I won't say who. I don't even know if they'll accept. But if any of them do, hopefully they'll add a bit of filthy snark to this thread below.

CAUTION: Anyone who clicks to read the extension of this entry is just asking for trouble.

Live-blogging fun has begun. . .

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:07 PM | Comments (91)
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Hell just got a little nippier. I mean, it's still sweater-weather, but it's not balmy like it was before:

The greatest danger for those of us who dislike George Bush is that our instincts may tip over into a desire to see his foreign policy objectives fail. No reasonable person can oppose the president's commitment to Islamic democracy. Most western Bushophobes are motivated not by dissent about objectives, but by a belief that the Washington neocons' methods are crass, and more likely to escalate a confrontation between the west and Islam than to defuse it.

Such scepticism, however, should not prevent us from stepping back to reassess the progress of the Bush project, and satisfy ourselves that mere prejudice is not blinding us to the possibility that western liberals are wrong; that the Republicans' grand strategy is getting somewhere.

...

My own contacts say that the situation is improving, but remains precarious. They suggest that criminal anarchy is gradually being stemmed. The recruitment and training of Iraqi security forces is going a little better.

...

It seems wrong for either neocon true believers or liberal sceptics to rush to judgment. We of the latter persuasion must keep reciting the mantra: "We want Iraq to come right, even if this vindicates George Bush."

Thanks to OgreGunner.

Posted by: Ace at 11:49 AM | Comments (8)
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