Once again, they insist on the absurd talking point that Democrats didn't receive Abramoff's personal $1000 and $2000 donations, ignoring the fact that Democrats were all too happy to take the $30,000 and $60,000 donations Abramoff directed his clients to pay them.

Uhh, guys? A lobbyist lobbies on behalf of someone. It's his lobbying that stinks here, not his personal donations, which are tightly regulated and express only his personal political preference. Republicans weren't taking money from him to reduce government spending or get serious about nominating conservatives to the bench (though, if that works, perhaps some bribery would be useful).

Abramoff was lobbying on behalf of Indian casinos, and it is simply absurd to pretend that the millions of dollars flowing out from his clients, directed, once again, by lobbyist Abramoff, isn't the actual issue.

On one hand, lefty blogs seem to realize this when they discuss all the dirty casino money flowing around DC. But then, as soon as it's pointed out that Democrats received this same dirty casino money, they pretend the casino money doesn't matter and all that counts is Abramoff's personal political donations.

Refresh me once again: Is Abramoff in trouble because of his activities as a lobbyist or in his capacity as a perfectly private citizen? Is there anything on the record to indicate his $1000 and $2000 hard-money donations (tightly regulated) were anything but entirely proper?

Yeah, I thought it was the "lobbyist" thing too. I thought the problem were those tens of thousands of dollars his clients were doling out -- once again, at his direction; you don't pay a lobbyist in order to just throw money where you think it should go -- and all those golf junkets and gifts and such were the problem.

And the attendant requests for action on behalf of the hot-button very-ideological issue of Indian casino regulation, of course.

But Howard Dean has delivered the talking points, and the spin machine is obliged to repeat them endlessly.

Posted by: Ace at 09:43 AM | Comments (84)
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(Sorry.)

An alumni group is offering students up to $100 per class to supply tapes and notes exposing professors who allegedly express extreme left-wing political views at the University of California, Los Angeles.

One of the professors calls it McCarthyism.

It is creepy for people to engage in this kind of intrusive behavior. But I can't help but remember my own college professors who abused their professional authority to rally kids to their pet causes.

It doesn't have to be political. I had one professor who allowed one of every three or four classes to devolve into a long-winded discussion of skiing and ski resorts.

This is about the lack of self-discipline and work ethic in academia; political preaching is only the worst manifestation of it.

If these professors weren't using their classrooms as tent-revivals for Marxism, if they were dedicated to the task at hand- the course material- no one would have any cause to put them under the microscope.

No profession is above having to do its job.

UPDATE: Thanks to Jordan for reminding me of FIRE, a great cause to contribute to and a nifty website to poke around in.

Posted by: LauraW. at 08:45 AM | Comments (190)
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The first casualties of the system are tenatively scheduled for early 2009.

Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. will employ so-called maglev technology -- capable of suspending objects in mid-air through the combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion -- to control the lifts, it said in a statement.

The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel 300 meters (984 feet) per minute -- not as fast as the company's conventional lifts that can move up to 1,010 meters (3,314 feet) a minute, Toshiba said.

Big Tech Round-Up at Link Mecca, including Robots!

Posted by: Ace at 08:26 AM | Comments (9)
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Thank God for French snootiness and supercilliousness:

Iran asked for a ministerial-level meeting with France, Germany, Britain and the European Union, but its decision to resume some uranium enrichment-related activities “means that it is not possible for us to meet under satisfactory conditions to pursue these discussions,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris.

“Iran must return to a complete suspension of these activities,” he said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the EUÂ’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, also rejected any return to talks, which Europe called off after Iran ended its freeze on enrichment research earlier this month.

“There’s not much to talk about,” Rice said during a photo session at the State Department with Solana.

Solana agreed that “there is not much point” in resuming talks if there is “nothing new on the table.”

For its part, Iran said it was "unlikely" it would be referred to the UNSC for sanctions.

Alas, with China and Russia both having Iran's back, Iran appears right about this.

Posted by: Ace at 08:11 AM | Comments (10)
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What else to divine from Ray Nagin's unhinged statement?

Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.

"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

"Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves."

I know I'm late to this. Still, as Karol and I discussed on the show yesterday, the dextrosphere condemned Pat Robertson's vengeful-God quote. Are the lefty blogs doing the same for Nagin's nonsense?

Posted by: Ace at 07:40 AM | Comments (13)
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Sandra Day O'Connor lets the lower court reconsider... perhaps in order to let her soon-to-be-successor have the actual vote on the matter.

Posted by: Ace at 07:38 AM | Comments (2)
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Goldbricker Dave From Garfield Ridge couldn't be happier.

(Another one meant for the sidebar.)

Alliteration Reiteration: Pending Pentagon Performance Pay Plan Probably Postponed Permanently, from wiserbd.

Posted by: Ace at 07:22 AM | Comments (13)
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Not sure if we can unseat him, but if he votes with us on judges, taxes, and war, do we really care?

God love the DINO's.

Correction: I mistakenly wrote "Bill" Nelson of Florida. Thanks for the correction.

I also intended this for the sidebar, but since people are commenting here, I'll let it lay.

Posted by: Ace at 07:20 AM | Comments (10)
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Despite the fact that many celebrities purport to "support the troops" but won't actually risk their hair getting mussed in Iraq to visit them, some still do.

A reader (I'll withhold his name, unless he says otherwise) says his son is in Iraq and was visited by Kelly "Deathstrike" Hu from X-Men 2.

Cool of her. Unfortunately, she then went on a mutant-hormonal rampage and seriously wounded eighteen men with her adamatium fingernails. Those bloodied and battered by her vicious rampage of death said, however, "at least it was funnier than Al Franken."

Another Pic: Less adamantium, more side-boobage. [Link removed; I've been informed that site attempted to install an .exe file on a reader's computer. I'll see if I can't find another one. Sorry, I didn't notice that.]

Who could choose between adamantium fingernails and side-boobage? Well, this is America, friends. You don't have to choose.

Hu For Two: Signed for X-Men 3 and may be in another one. Ummm... didn't Wolverine kinda kill her in the last one? They can bring her back but not Sabretooth?

Another good pic there, but this chilling line:

"It's really hard for me to play a character without dialogue because I talk so much in real life. I'm a real motor mouth."

There's always a flaw. Oh, well, she may not be dirty-kinky rightwing hot like Lara Flynn Boyle, but close enough.

Posted by: Ace at 06:44 AM | Comments (23)
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Okay... I see the beagles, but not the box of Kleenex for the chronic brochitis. Apparently now caricaturists think it's puckishly ironic to put hair on your lid that actually isn't there. I guess it's the new equivalent of drawing you in a Rangers jersey with missing teeth.

As for content... well, he links this video of William Shatner doing "Rocket Man" that I linked twice in the past month and a half.

There's a link to this year-old James Fallows piece on Iran from the Atlantic Monthly, which I'm guessing is okay, but I haven't read yet.

He's also now calling Bush "King George."

And he says Mickey Kaus has "issues" about gay men, due to the fact he didn't like Brokeback Mountain and doesn't consider it a likely crossover hit. St. Andrew of the Sacred Heart-Ache deems BBM a "good date movie."

Now, this isn't the same (I'm not likening rape to gay sex), but I made the mistake of taking a first date to Strange Days a long time ago. That was also a "good date movie," as it's all about a brutal rape (and murder, IIRC). Which is exactly the sort of imagery you going through a woman's mind when she's out for the first time with a stranger.

Is BBM a good date movie? Well, I suppose, if you want to put your date in the mind of rock'em sock'em anal sex. Hey, if it works, it's a great date movie.

Ohhh, yeah. I can see why he's being paid by Time now.

Thanks to Slublog for making me bother.

Related and Annoying: Looking around Craigslist, I noticed Talking Points Memo was looking for an unpaid intern.

Qualified candidates will be able to receive school credit.

Really? How does that work? I'm thinking of taking on an intern myself. I mean, besides Allah.

I envision it as a Kramerica-like think tank. Like a Greenpeace... for evil.

Posted by: Ace at 06:18 AM | Comments (22)
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