Some interesting stuff out there.

Thanks to NickS, IraqNow lists some interesting stats about Iraq, most positive, some not so much.

Saudi Arabia contributes more jihadi warriors than its closest rival, Syria, by a factor of five. I think that's why Saudi security forces fight Al Qaeda so much. The object isn't to capture or kill them, so much as convince them that life is easier in Iraq. Of course, once the United States eventually leaves Iraq, these foreign fighters are going to head right back to Saudi Arabia, and be a problem for them all over again.

Another interesting tidbit:

Next time some uninformed yobsucker kvetches to you that coalition forces haven't been able to restore electricity to Baghdad, point out that currently, nationwide electricity production is actually 15 percent higher than prewar levels. (4541 Mw in July 05 compared to 3958 before the war.) Baghdad hasn't quite caught up to its prewar levels yet (I can hear Riverbend complaining from here), but you must remember that Saddam's government diverted power to Baghdad from all over the Euphrates River Valley and to loyal cities and areas, at the expense of the outlying towns.

Actually, it's all interesting.

Cake or Death, a pro-war conservative, is meanwhile beginning to fear we could actually lose the war, largely due to a failure of morale on the homefront.

Bill Roggio suggests the uptick in our boys' deaths is due to the high-impact "River War" strategy, in which our troops are pushing the insurgents into a smaller and smaller safe zone.

Not sure what it means, but anti-war liberal Democrat VonK sent me that last bit (he also sent the IraqNow link, as did NickS.).

Pointed Out By Dave From Garfield Ridge: Wolf Blitzer says an "armored-up Humvee" could have survived a massive shaped-charge bomb. Apparently clueless that the bomb in question flipped over a thirty-one ton armored LAV.

But an armored jeep? That would have withstood the blast.

Posted by: Ace at 08:18 AM | Comments (6)
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If by "the book" you mean "90 days in jail."

Ninety days in jail. For solicitation of a minor. Plus forcible sodomy.

To be fair, this might not be what we think of actual rape; maybe it was consensual but the statutes don't allow for consent at that age, and thus deem sex with a 14-year-old "forcible." It's rape one way, a vicious violation the other way; still seems like the bastard should get more than 90 days.

Oh yeah-- and whatever it was, he exposed the kid to HIV, too. Just as a little added bonus.

And the judge said he was imposing this, um, draconian sentence because he "expected more from a lawyer."

Ergo, he would have given a non-lawyer less time in jail for soliciting sex with a minor and knowingly exposing him to HIV infection.

Judges

If we're not pissing you off, then by gum!, we're just not doing our jobs right.

Posted by: Ace at 03:31 PM | Comments (38)
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Other people have noted this, but Ken Wheaton has the best one-liner about it.

Yup: So far, the Daily Kos has endorsed 16 Congressional candidates, and has lost... every... single... time.

The DCCC, of course, continues to curry favor with this motley lot of political Prarie View Panthers.

The Democratic Party

We're so scary-smart we sometimes baffle even ourselves.

Posted by: Ace at 03:01 PM | Comments (12)
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Damn annoying.

Adult/mature content? Sirs, there's nothing adult or mature about boobie and poopie jokes.

An ill wind of repression is chilling my right to dissent.

I hate to cry "political bigotry" at the drop of a hat -- no, wait, I don't mind that at all -- but I'm quite sure there are an awful lot of leftwing sites more casual with the boobies and f-word than this one and they're not being blocked.

Thanks to the vacationing but still active My Pet Jawa.

Posted by: Ace at 02:49 PM | Comments (11)
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After a heated exchange with James Carville.

Says "bullshit" on live TV, too. Heeee.

Posted by: Ace at 02:37 PM | Comments (19)
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Okay, he was dating her when he gave the loan (but not when he forgave it), and yes, he did convert the loan into a gift as the IRS requires.

But:

As the piece points out, Corzine will need this woman's support when he runs for governor.

Yes, he'll of course have it anyway... but perhaps with fewer voter-alienating sops to big labor than he would otherwise have had to make?

Odd. We're used to seeing the money go to politicians. But here's a case where a big wad of cash went to a non-politician, or at least a non-government sort of politician, and could just buy and awful lot of goodwill. And votes.

Wonder if John McCain will have anything to say about this, other than noting that Corzine is his "very good friend."

Thanks to, well, the RNC.

Posted by: Ace at 02:35 PM | Comments (7)
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There's a little debate about this going on in the comments. Just thought I'd share some insights. Some of these are personal to me, but most will be common to any blogger you're hoping to get a link from.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:49 PM | Comments (39)
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Despite a TRO stating that Mars must remain at least 33 million miles away at all times, or face a weekend in the local drunk-tank.

It will be the brightest object in the sky (well, apart from the moon, and, I guess, the Sun).

Nostradamus' Quatro XXXVII mentions this:

When the War-Star approaches
Fire, rain, great commotions, usurpations and betrayals
Paul Hackett loses in Ohio by four points
Paul Begala cries, because he's such a fuckin' homo
I mean seriously
The guy makes Peter Allen look butch.
Histler says, "That Begala guy? Stone-cold pussy."

Old? Someone says this already happened, but BlogIdaho says August 27th.

I don't know either way.

Great Commotions and Confusions: Well, I don't know. Compos says this article says the closest approach happened in 2003. But a very close approach if not the closest) will be on October 29th.

Who cares. I got a good Nostradamus joke out of it, and I'm satisfied either way.

Posted by: Ace at 11:30 AM | Comments (56)
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Even when you're not freebasing.

You know those very cheap transparent lighters you can buy? That aren't worth the cheap price, as they cease working after four or five lights?

This sonofabitch cheapo lighter crapped out on me earlier than usual. The flintwheel wouldn't turn (as usual). So I did what I've seen people do-- rubbed it down my pantleg to see if I could free it up.

All that accomplished was to rip off the little piece of cheap metal that guarded the gas-spout.

I tried it without the little guard. Still wouldn't turn.

A little pissed off, I tossed it -- well, threw it, not super-hard, but with a bit of zip because I was angry -- at a steel-mesh street trash container five feet away.

I guess I hit the steel mesh. The lighter exploded, louder than a gunshot, in a fairly big burst of blue light, about half as bright as a camera's flash.

I wasn't hit by plastic shrapnel or anything (unfortunately...). But this came as a surprise. I experienced, what's simplest way to say this?, an intentional infliction of emotional distress.

I knew these lighters were prone to malfunction. I didn't know the little bastards would actually blow up with such minor prompting.

Just letting you know. Don't buy 'em. And definitely don't throw them angrily at anything hard.

Posted by: Ace at 10:39 AM | Comments (52)
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The St. Pauli Girl was not available for comment.

Ridiculous. What the hell business is it of the EU if a Bavarian beer-whore wants to wear a plunging neckline? If a Swiss ale-trollop wants to show some decollatage, who's the victim, exactly? If some low-rent zaftig lager-slut working the Reeperbahn wants to put her filthy pillows up for exhibition and critique, what concern is it to some Brussels half-a-fag?

This is fascism, my friends. And I mean the bad kind of fascism, not the fun kind where we get to seize all of Sean Penn's property and exile him to an Alaskan re-education camp on the grounds that he starred in I Am Sam with subversive intent and full willful knowlege that it sucked ass.

Posted by: Ace at 10:29 AM | Comments (28)
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