The law forbidding sex with animals, it seems, all depends on what the word "animal" means.

If it's dead, it ain't a deer, his motion argues; it's just venison.

-Meet Bryan James Hathaway, alleged venison lover. The Wisconsin man, 20, is facing charges that he had sex last month with a dead deer. Hathaway, who previously has served time for killing a horse he intended to sexually assault, allegedly found the deer in a ditch alongside a roadway. Now Hathaway's lawyer has filed a court motion (a copy of which you'll find here) arguing that since the animal was already dead, Hathaway should not face a misdemeanor rap of sexual gratification with an animal. "The statute does not prohibit one from having sex with a carcass," lawyer Fredric Anderson wrote in the motion filed in Douglas County Circuit Court.

Take away the ick factor, and take away the likelihood that this is the sort of character it would probably behoove us to have spending the majority of his time in the criminal justice system anyhow.

And then his argument sort of makes sense. Do we care, legally, if one humping an inanimate object? (And -- does your wife count?)

I know it's weird. Should it be criminal?

From someone who says, specifically, "You didn't get this from me."

But I'll just tell you.

It was John Murtha.

Posted by: Ace at 12:52 PM | Comments (64)
Post contains 249 words, total size 2 kb.

I don't buy this analysis. I have a beard, and I frequently shave parts under my lip. Other times I don't. It seems that this expert's opinion (solicited by Confederate Yankee) is based almost exclusively on the notion that Ahmadinejad couldn't have grown hair fully below his mouth, as opposed to "just chose not to at most points in his life."

To me, the eyes look different. There's a droop in the eyelids of the 1979 hostage-taker that Ahmadinejad doesn't have, though I suppose plastic surgery routinely "brightens up" the eyes by removing such droops.

Also the 1979 man seems to have a lot more by way of crow's feet than the 2006 Ahmadinjad does.

Posted by: Ace at 12:18 PM | Comments (20)
Post contains 131 words, total size 1 kb.

So much silliness comes out the military when they start brainstorming. I find all of this pretty daffy, but I guess it's fun:

Throughout the ages, bad guys have loved bunkers, whether they're in Nazi Germany or Jihadist Iran. With good reason: the suckers are hard to find, and even tougher to blow up. Even the most bleeding-edge, experimental bunker-busters can penetrate, at most, 10 meters down.

Which is why the Air Force is considering a new approach: teams of foot-long "subterranean vehicles" with new-fangled ways to dig.

A subterranean vehicle could engage these types of targets in an effective manner, avoiding both collateral damage and unnecessary risks to our troops. It could be deployed a safe distance from the target and autonomously navigate itself to the target while detecting, identifying, and then avoiding buried obstacles such as pipes, wires, boulders and even other buildings. This vehicle would be able to penetrate the surface either through deployable techniques or on its own.

But "conventional digging techniques" will not get the job done, the Air Force warms. "ItÂ’s more likely that a revolutionary approach to digging, involving biologically inspired and/or unconventional physical and chemical approaches, would provide better results."

Less Goofy: Also via DefenseTech, a bit about computerized flexible mirrors that automatically deform to adjust for atmospheric "twinkling."

Gotta figure there's a military application here.

Yup:

When adaptive optics makes the jump to aiming weapons-grade lasers, whether on the ground or in the air, jitter control will mean the difference between shooting a shotgun or a rifle.

Definitely a Military Application Here: Brits' new badass rapid-fire grenade launcher deploys to Afghanistan.

Posted by: Ace at 12:12 PM | Comments (51)
Post contains 284 words, total size 2 kb.

The legislature is simply choosing to remain out of session and let the initiative die.

In a move to publicly pressure lawmakers who have so far ignored him, Gov. Mitt Romney plans to appear at a Statehouse rally on Sunday to demand the Legislature vote on a proposed ballot question that would end gay marriage in Massachusetts.

Lawmakers last week again refused to take up the question at a joint session, voting instead to recess until Jan. 2, which all but killed the measure because a vote then is unlikely.

RomneyÂ’s spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the fight wonÂ’t be over until the people vote.

"Legislators made a serious miscalculation," he said. "Their action strikes at the very heart of democracy. No matter how you may feel about the marriage issue, people have a right to participate in their own government."

...

Because the Legislature is in recess and did not adjourn, Romney has no legal authority to call lawmakers back into session. Gay marriage opponents say they are considering legal options to force a vote.

Posted by: Ace at 11:06 AM | Comments (30)
Post contains 197 words, total size 1 kb.

Dead at age 94.

Friedman, who won the Nobel prize in 1976, helped interpret and popularize modern free-market economics that came to dominate much of U.S. public policy in second half of the 20th century.

...

Friedman was regarded as the leader of the Chicago School of monetary economics and the leading proponent of free-market theory.

...

Overseas, Friedman's work helped shape policies used in Chile and Argentina in the 1970s.

Friedman received his BA from Rutgers University in 1932, an MA from the University of Chicago the next year. In 1946 he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Cowbell? Friedman might appreciate that the financial markets are all hitting either all-time or post-bubble highs, including the broad S&P gauge, now only 8% beneath its all-time high.

Posted by: Ace at 10:16 AM | Comments (16)
Post contains 133 words, total size 1 kb.

Murtha says the voting was "total crap."

Video: Murtha compliments Nancy Pelosi's support for "redepolyment" by noting she "led that flight." Then he corrects himself to say "fight."

Posted by: Ace at 09:30 AM | Comments (61)
Post contains 50 words, total size 1 kb.

94% Fresh on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.

Some scorchingly-hot reviews. The best thing is that Bond seems to have lost his above-it-all never-break-a-sweat omincompetence (and attendant lack of real drama or sense of danger) and is now a more realistic hero. Still the toughest guy in the room, but no longer Superman in a tux.

I'm getting kind of psyched about this one.

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 AM | Comments (90)
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

We wouldn't have caught this guy before Nancy Pelosi was voted Speaker of the House (which she just was -- unanimously by Democrats).

The article doesn't say what form the cyanide took. Cyanide capsules? Do we have a bona-fide old-world spy on our hands?

He's unemployed, so I don't know how he'd have access to any real nuclear secrets. Then again, he had a lot of cash on him for an unemployed man. Maybe he's a cut-out using his US citizenship to ease his way through security checks, ferrying information collected from genuine spies to their masters abroad.

A man was arrested at Detroit Metropolitan Airport after officials say they found him carrying more than $78,000 in cash and a laptop computer containing information about nuclear materials and cyanide.

Sisayehiticha Dinssa, an unemployed U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday after a dog caught the scent of narcotics on cash he was carrying, according to an affidavit filed in court.

When agents asked him if he had any cash to declare, he said he had $18,000, authorities said. But when agents checked his luggage, they found an additional $59,000. When they scrolled through his laptop, they said they found the mysterious files.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Dinssa was ordered held in custody until at least until Monday at the request of prosecutors.

...

Dinssa, who is from Dallas, arrived in Detroit from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam and was headed for Phoenix, Feller said. He is charged with concealing more than $10,000 in his luggage, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the Detroit Free Press reported.

We can only assume he's a Presbyterian, as the article doesn't say.

That's my new rule. No mention of religion = Presbyterian.

The Religion of Restraint. Hah!

Posted by: Ace at 09:16 AM | Comments (31)
Post contains 310 words, total size 2 kb.

So tips A.J. Sparxxx.

Posted by: Ace at 08:51 AM | Comments (28)
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.

On the cheap again though -- I'm no military expert, but I was thinking 30-40,000 more troops to have a significant impact.

He's talking 20,000.

Posted by: Ace at 10:08 PM | Comments (50)
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.