Okay, he pussies out of it after suggesting it:

It is tempting to call for the assassination of Paul Wolfowitz. More than any other single individual, he is responsible for the deaths of nearly two thousand US troops and over one hundred thousand innocent Iraquis. He and his policies have undermined international peace and security, squandered billions of dollars needed for health and education, and generally caused international opinion to increasingly view the United States as a rogue state. His death would seem to be a measure of justice.

However, I donÂ’t want to do that. For one thing, I don't believe in the death penalty. For another, it would give an excuse to those who want to take away our freedoms at home. They would exploit the assassination of Paul Wolfowitz to ratchet repression against those opposing their policies.

A good old-fashioned knee-capping of Paul Wolfowitz would seem appropriate, sending a message to those of his ilk that they are not immune from all the pain they are causing. However, that too would probably be counter-productive. The same repression would be unleashed and I am sure Fox T.V. would have lots of sympathetic portrayals of the courageous chicken-hawk.

The left is playing a dangerous game. Look at Baghdad, look at New Orleans-- see what happens when social order break down.

This habit of wink, wink, nudge, nudge calling for the murders of Republican officials -- so far, Bush, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz have been prominently named as targets -- is quite far outside the rules of civil political discourse. It's an incitement to violence.

I think the left is half in love with the idea of a fascist crackdown and martial law... otherwise they wouldn't be doing their level best to make such a horror come to pass.

Posted by: Ace at 09:08 AM | Comments (13)
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Eh. He says it "ironically," as a jab at Pat Robertson, but still, what the eff?

In 1998, Republican icon Pat Robertson warned that hurricanes were likely to hit communities that offended God. Perhaps it was BarbourÂ’s memo [downplaying the global warming threat from fossil fuels] that caused Katrina, at the last moment, to spare New Orleans and save its worst flailings for the Mississippi coast.

Moonbats are allowed to say these sorts of things, you know. From "What Would Jesus Drive?" to announcing that God doesn't like the Iraq War -- you are allowed to invoke God as a political actor without catching media heat, so long as you do it from the liberal side of things.

You think the Holy Trinity is a mysterious concept to grasp? Try this one: God doesn't exist, but He supported Gore in 2000, and He's still really pissed off about that Supreme Court ruling. He also watches Current TV.

Posted by: Ace at 08:52 AM | Comments (10)
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DEBKAfile Exclusive: Three explosives-vested suicide bombers, one an Afghani, were captured after the deadly attack and stampede that left 1,000 Shiites dead during a ritual procession in Baghdad. The captives named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as plotter of the atrocity.

Ace's Caveat: I don't know if I've ever seen a "DEBKAfile exclusive" pan out. Just sayin'.

Definitely click on the stampede story, though. It's the worst carnage in Iraq yet, this time caused only indirectly by terrorism.

Ace's Retraction of the Caveat: There was a terrorist attack on a shrine a mile away from the bridge. That seems to have begun the panic.

Al-Jaafari's administration has said that supporters of Saddam Hussein, who lost their status when the Sunni-dominated regime fell, together with al-Qaeda-linked operatives, are trying to ignite a civil war.

I am getting very tired of attempting to stop a civil war. I am increasingly in favor of letting one occur.

We'll see how the Sunni terrorists enjoy having entire cities leveled and populations ethnically cleansed. Lord knows they enjoyed it well enough when they were the ones doing the violence.

Thanks to Bullwinkle at Random Numbers.

Posted by: Tanker at 08:46 AM | Comments (4)
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Headline and story after the jump. The weak of stomach may want to pass on this one. more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:08 AM | Comments (14)
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What New Orleans was, but may never be again.

Used without Sobek's permission, but I'm feelin' like an outlaw.

Looking at Sobek's pictures, one understands how Anne Rice developed such a luscious writing style.

Me? I grew up in New Jersey. I can write about vampires in Bayonne. When they're not sucking blood they're riding the bus to scenic Atlantic City for some wicked nickle-slots at the Taj Majal.

Meanwhile... Dave from Garfield Ridge says maybe we should just give up New Orleans, and Andrea Harris calls him a pussy.

I like that. Pussy Dave From Pussy Garfield Pussy Ridge. I think I'll change it to that when I update the blogroll. Actually, it should get him some additional hits, and he'll like that, being the hit-craving man-whore he is.

It's a question being asked, though. Confederate Yankee notes that Diamond City was destroyed by flood in 1899, and rebuilt on a less precarious site.

It's Awful:

More Video... At CNN, of the damage, and the looters.

This is nice:

Deteriorating conditions in New Orleans will force authorities to evacuate the thousands of people at city shelters, including the Louisiana Superdome, where a policeman told CNN unrest was escalating.

The officer expressed concern that the situation could worsen overnight after three shootings, looting and a number of attempted carjackings during the afternoon.

As was observed by someone I'm too lazy to google, 10% of people are naturally and almost wholly good, and will do the right thing under any situation. 10% are naturally and almost wholly evil, and will do evil under any situation, even when it's really not even in their best interests.

80% have a situational morality, and will be good when civilization demands it, and enforces order, and will do evil when civlization permits it, or disintegrates due to chaos, whether natural or man-made.

Most rioters and looters fall into that 80%. They see the 10% who jump at the chance to destroy or steal, and notice that they suffer no consequences. So they too join in.

Order has to be restored quickly, and roughly if necessary, to bring such folks back into a state of orderliness.

Posted by: Ace at 10:05 PM | Comments (86)
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Interesting piece from Time.

We continue deserving it:

As cyberspying metastasizes, frustrated network protectors say that the FBI in particular doesn't have enough top-notch computer gumshoes to track down the foreign rings and that their hands are often tied by the strict rules of engagement. That's where independents--some call them vigilantes--like Carpenter come in. After he made his first discoveries about Titan Rain in March 2004 [and made the key discovery of the cyberattacks' point of origin from three servers in China], he began taking the information to unofficial contacts he had in Army intelligence. Federal rules prohibit military-intelligence officers from working with U.S. civilians, however, and by October, the Army passed Carpenter and his late-night operation to the FBI. He says he was a confidential informant for the FBI for the next five months. Reports from his cybersurveillance eventually reached the highest levels of the bureau's counterintelligence division, which says his work was folded into an existing task force on the attacks. But his FBI connection didn't help when his employers at Sandia found out what he was doing. They fired him and stripped him of his Q clearance, the Department of Energy equivalent of top-secret clearance. Carpenter's after-hours sleuthing, they said, was an inappropriate use of confidential information he had gathered at his day job. Under U.S. law, it is illegal for Americans to hack into foreign computers.

Via Kaus.

Posted by: Ace at 09:57 PM | Comments (13)
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Click on pic for some horrible footage of the damage, via LauraW.

It's very bad.

Looting, rioting in prisons with hostages taken, the drowned dead floating in the riverine streets...

The fabric of civil order was frayed. The Superdome changed from an arena of sports heroics into a grim experience for about 10,000 refugees. Three hospital patients died in the dome and another death was reported by officials. One suicide was also reported, but could not be independently confirmed.

Inmates took over a local jail and looting continued for a second day.

"It's downtown Baghdad," Denise Bollinger told the Associated Press. The tourist from Philadelphia watched looters and snapped pictures in amazement. "It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not."

That's kind of a dumb quote, the sort of a thing a liberal would say. There are some people who just don't appreciate civilization and order, and how swiftly either can be swept away.

By natural forces, by human evil and mayhem, or simply by disregard and contempt.

Aiding the Stricken: I hope Instapundit won't mind if I swipe his compilation of worthy charities which might help the victims of Katrina.

American Red Cross

Catholic Charities is involved, and probably has lots of resources to draw on in the heavily Catholic New Orleans area.

Austin Bay is recommending Episcopal Relief and Development.

Liz at Rightalk suggests that animal lovers donate to the Humane Society.

Here's a link to Mennonite Disaster Services. The Sanity Inspector says they're highly efficient.

Reader Peter Viditto recommends The Mercy Corps

Here's the link for Methodist Relief.

The Salvation Army does good work...

Hugh Hewitt recommends Samaritan's Purse

Scott Ott recommends Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

...

Jay Allen has a further suggestion:

I would suggest people donate through their companies whenever possible. Most major corporations offer matching funds to the dollar for charitable donations. Find who's collecting money for relief efforts, then file for a match through your employer instead of sending to the agency directly.

Not bad -- if your employer is supporting this.

Chuck Simmins is tracking corporate donations.

Technorati Tags: flood aid, Hurricane Katrina

Posted by: Ace at 09:26 PM | Comments (4)
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Karol was pretty surprised when she just posted the flasher story and got a lot of heat from our too-cool-for-school European betters.

They actually took the "you stupid Americans, how can you be so prudish" line.

It's high school politics, I swear. Europeans are the Goth losers snivelling and snarking at the popular kids as they walk down the hall

Remember, this guy was masturbating in public. Smiling at a woman as he got Little Elvis ready for Vegas, if you know what I mean. But Europeans -- determined to prove how jaded and filled with ennui they are (ennui is a French word meaning "envy, venom, and bullshit") -- took the opportunity to America bash.

A couple of good ones:

ok, see no one would care over here in europe!

so what, he is not hurting anyone, you all need to take the stick outta your asses and stop being so prude!

if you dont like it, GET UP AND MOVE THE FUCK ON, god 40 years ago it would be a picture of a black man on a train, 30 years ago a homosexual, and today a "pervert" give it up....hes just an exibitionist, thats been goin on for years...

Yes, stop being so prude. Seriously.

OH MY GOD! THAT GUY HAS A PENIS! WHAT A SENSATION! HE MUST BE JAILED OR - BETTER - HANGED! You, americans, are so fun - "Oh, i was so traumatised, oh i want him to pay my valium bills, oh i can't ride a subway for 10 years since". When some of you, fat girls, going around with barenaked bellybuttons (fat) with pubic hair sticking over the pants - THAT is traumatic!

Well, Francois, maybe the sight of a girl's pubic hair is more traumatic for you than some douchebag scaling his dorkfish on the subway, but here in America, we're not such -- how you say? -- homos.*

Sheesh. Why can't I have those sorts of idiots trolling on this site? At least those are fun idiots. I can hear the French accents coming through their broken English.

* A single dream in which George Clooney kisses you does not, in fact, make you a homo. I'm just clarifying.

Posted by: Ace at 08:47 PM | Comments (22)
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I wish all the liberals who wrap themselves in the Bill of Rights, would remember the one which comes right after the free speech part.

This guy must have loved The Untouchables:

"If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way, because they're not gonna give up the fight until one of you is dead," he says. "You wanna know how you do it? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?"

Posted by: Tanker at 05:01 PM | Comments (12)
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Just came across this looking for something else. Pretty dated, but funny.

I wrote this after John Kerry's midnight rally during which he appeared, to some at least, to be kinda sloppy-drunk. I am proud I avoided calling him a drunk, although I did link other people calling him that about thirty times.

I also accused him of being a bear. Not sure why. I guess I must have been drunk myself.

Posted by: Ace at 04:18 PM | Comments (10)
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