She's ducking him. And yet he only wants to "raise questions" with her.

If Saint Cindy, Our Lady of Perpetual Publicity, is so demanding of others' time, should she be more accomodating of this man's request?

Posted by: Ace at 06:45 AM | Comments (27)
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We're not even at the 2006 midterms, but the 2008 rumors are flying.

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel is privately meeting with his top advisors and political contributors to discuss the prospects of an independent bid for the White House in 2008, a high level GOP source told me this morning.

According to the source, Hagel has already begun to posture himself as an independent, believing that by doing so he can tap into the perceived growing frustration voters feel toward both major political parties. Recent polls show widespread voter dissatisfaction with leaders of both the Republican and Democrat parties in Washington.

At issue is the concern among Hagel higher-ups that the Nebraska Senator will not be able to outshine Sen. John McCain in a GOP primary. Hagel and McCain are reported to be close friends and share a similar profile: both are Vietnam veterans and both enjoy reputations as “mavericks” in the Senate.

But McCain is an 800 lb gorilla; Hagel a mischievous lemur, at best.

So one idea being considered heavily by Hagel and his senior staff and top financial backers is for the senator to launch an independent bid for the presidency, thereby avoiding a rough-and-tumble, uphill climb with unpromising results.

Is McCain really the 800 pound gorilla? My apologizes to co-host Karol, who thinks the idea of his winning the GOP primaries a fantasy, but I was a Guiliani man in college, and I'm a Guiliani man to this day.

Here's how he can win:

1) Yes, he has to do some very nakedly-political backtracking on abortion. George Bush the Elder got away with this, saying something about his grandchildren making him a believer in the pro-life cause, and Guiliani could say something similar about 9-11 causing him to have a new appreciation for the value of life.

A complete sham, of course. But it could be enough.

He doesn't have to go whole-hog into the pro-life camp -- George Bush the Younger hasn't quite done that, noting this country isn't "ready" to outlaw abortion -- but he could make promises, as Bush did, about promoting the value of life.

2) He needs to promise to appoint strict constructionists to the Supreme Court. Most people are savvy enough to know that it's the judges, not the elected politicians, who make most of the decisions on hot-button social issues, and Guiliani can vow to appoint Scalias rather than Souters.

Which probably wouldn't be a serious change of political heart for him, as he surely is already annoyed with liberal judges making laws.

3) He can retain some of his socially-liberal positioning while simultaneously promising to not advance any socially-liberal causes on the federal level, as President. His stock answer can be "I think that should be resolved, as the Constitution designed it to be, on the state issue," which is a very nice dodge, and, as an added bonus, also happens to be a constitutionally and politically sound position on many of these issues.

Is that enough to appease the strongly-conservative Republican base? I don't know-- but the man has an awful lot of goodwill, and no one doubts his balls or capacity for leadership.

Thanks to the Blogometer for the Ankle-Biting Pundits link.

Posted by: Ace at 06:26 AM | Comments (34)
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The cops bust a rave
Douchebag cries brutality
Film doesn't show that

Ninety percent of
teenage girls on ecstasy
agree: raves...are...unh...

Hey, where'd my panties go?

Posted by: LauraW. at 05:59 AM | Comments (53)
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Now that they are letting Jews in, what next? Homosexuals, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses???

Posted by: Tanker at 04:33 PM | Comments (25)
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The politics of it are difficult, to be sure, but plainly this is a dangerous and murderous man who threatens Iraq -- and our troops.

Posted by: Ace at 03:00 PM | Comments (14)
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If you can believe it, there's some website that encourages people to film "Ghetto Fights" and then sells them over INTERNET.

Say Anything remembered this thuggish endeavor and did a little investigation. Turns out that company has a Seattle phone number. And, of course, the brutal beating were videotaped.

I don't know if this will pan out, but it just might be that Say Anything has solved the case. It could be that these thugs have sold other beating videos to this company, which will make ID'ing them a snap.

This would be close to a blog first if there is a connection.

Linked Fixed: I think Say Anything changed the link, but I've added the new one. He's got further information, including the fact that the house where this Ghetto Fight operation is based is just a couple of miles from the nightclub outside which the beating took place.

Not really very probative -- everywhere in most cities is a couple of miles from everywhere else -- but it could be something.

More interesting is the fact that the guy with the camera seemed to know to be there and was able to videotape the assault without any of the thugs attempting to stop him... almost like he was invited to videotape the assault.

Say Anything spoke to the detectives at the Seattle PD and he says they sounded "interested" in his tip.

Posted by: Ace at 01:33 PM | Comments (17)
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As Karol deadpans, he's not quite so maverick when looking at poll numbers.

Posted by: Ace at 01:18 PM | Comments (49)
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I don't know how it's been in your area of the country, but here in New York, this has been one of the worst years for weather I can remember.

We barely had a spring. Oh, we did have two glorious weeks, yes.

The winter was bitter and cold and often slashing with freezing rain.

The summer has been unbearably hot and humid.

I suppose the autumn was nice. But fall is always nice.

I just mention this because the last two days have been nothing short of fantastic.

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of days, but honestly, I don't think I've seen more than three weeks of really pleasant weather this past year.

Posted by: Ace at 12:59 PM | Comments (27)
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The whole thing is pretty riveting; this guy could easily write action adventure novels. But I'll pick it up at the point where the reporter joins the fight.

That's right, Mike Wallace. He put down his fuckin' camera and picked up a gun, because the fellow Americans with whom he was embedded were under serious fire and needed all available hands to help them.

A long (sorry, Mr. Yon) excerpt follows the jump, but you might as well just read the whole thing.

Thanks to VonKreedon, who only pretends to be a bleeding-heart pencil-necked pussy.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:45 PM | Comments (36)
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If you don't know, in 1964 a woman was brutally stabbed to death in Queens and none of the 38 witnesses to the crime (most living in the same apartment complex) bothered helping her or even calling the police.

That, at least, has been the accepted wisdom, courtesy of the The New York Times. And, gee willickers, much of that original account may be wrong. I'm so glad the Times doesn't lower itself to covering the city it's based in any longer.

Not sure how much of this is true, but this guy thinks the Kitty Genovese Horror has been greatly exaggerated.

For one thing, someone did call the cops, during the stabbing, when she was still alive.

Thanks to the acid-keyboard of Andrea Harris.

And yes, the story's old, and the debunking's old too. Dave, get off my tits for like five minutes and let me breathe, man!

Posted by: Ace at 12:33 PM | Comments (7)
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