Arguing over whether or not a letter sent equals a letter received.

This is considered the high drama of the hearings. Two alte kachers arguing if the restaurant is too drafty.

More at Michelle's.

Posted by: Ace at 09:58 AM | Comments (4)
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Not how much is paid in taxes. How much it costs just to figure your taxes and comply with tax laws:

To put this amount into perspective, only 29 countries in the world have GDPs greater than than $265 billion. There are only 12 states in this country whose gross output is greater than $265 billion. This amount is greater than the revenues of Wal-Mart, the world's largest corporation.

I will say though that income taxes are inherently a complex affair.

Posted by: Ace at 09:53 AM | Comments (8)
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Democrats still wondering why our troops aren't issued titanium-alloy bank-vaults to wear in combat:

U.S. troops in Iraq are using body armor that strikes a balance of protecting them while allowing movement to do their jobs and withstand hot temperatures, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The Senate Armed Services Committee summoned defense officials to a closed briefing to explain a Pentagon report disclosed last week that said more complete body armor could have prevented or limited about 80 percent of the fatal torso wounds suffered by Marines killed in Iraq.

Army officials said improvements are being made to armor systems to provide more side protection but that mobility also is a concern.

"We must not burden our soldiers with weight to the point that they become ineffective and susceptible to other dangers," Army Major Gen. Stephen Speakes told reporters after the briefing.

Like, duh.

Posted by: Ace at 09:50 AM | Comments (28)
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This Allah cat seems to have the chops to be a top blogger.

Syrian dissidents look to Khaddam as leader:

"Perhaps [Khaddam's] role is to quicken the fraying of the regime," says Yassin Haj-Saleh, an opposition leader and writer who spent 16 years in prison under Hafez al-Assad. "He has opened a gap that the opposition can exploit. The Syrian public is now seeing a big man from within the regime say this regime did so and so. So perhaps this will encourage the public and the people within the regime to think differently about the future of the country."

Plus: Rumors of Syrian Coup Rattles Arabs.

And about Iran: Russia Won't Block Iran Sanctions. Looking for a similar statement from the Chinese, now.

Posted by: Ace at 09:45 AM | Comments (9)
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AP reports on Alito's wife crying... suggesting it was Lindsey Graham who caused it.

It was of course constant Democratic charges of bigotry that caused Mrs. Alito's crying. Lindsay Graham merely asked the question they were, but in a way meant to allow him to answer it directly and forcefully. So the AP reports:

"Martha-Ann Bomgardner, who had sat behind her husband for hours of questioning over several days, left as her husband was being questioned by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

"'Are you really a closet bigot?' Graham asked Alito. The nominee said no, and Graham said, "No sir, youÂ’re not."

Are you freakin' kidding me? How do they have the nerve?

A correction must be issued. AP simply cannot be allowed to get away with this sort of blatant misrepresentation. No, it's worse than that-- it's an outright deliberate lie.

Scary CAP Boxes Turn Up Busto: Nothing there, no mention of Alito.

I think we're missing the obvious:

Alito lied on embellished his job application for the Reagan Administration.

Posted by: Ace at 08:35 AM | Comments (38)
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I think we all preferred his earlier, funnier movies. Before he, like Woody Allen, decided he needed to be take seriously.

A man's got to know his limitations. Spielberg was great at pulp adventure and surburban fantasy. Not really the "imporatant prestige drama" whose form he is determined to master.

But it's been 12 years since he actually wowed anyone. Murph figures that by taking ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there from his last twelve years' of work, you could actually construct a good 120 minute movie.

Posted by: Ace at 08:02 AM | Comments (35)
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Not sure if I'm more happy for the help or more happy this will cause Gerhard Schroeder grief:

German spies in Baghdad helped U.S. warplanes strike at least one target during the 2003 Iraq war despite Berlin's statements it was not involved in the conflict, German media reported on Thursday.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and NDR television said two agents of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency remained in Iraq throughout the war, supplying U.S. counterparts with information.

Off the wall optimistic speculation: Merkel is leaking this to create cover for any assistance she might provide to us.

Posted by: Ace at 07:29 AM | Comments (8)
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Hmmm...

Loni Peristere, visual-effects supervisor for the SF movie Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that there's hope for future flights of the cast and crew of the movie, which just came out on DVD. Director Joss Whedon—who also created the canceled Fox TV show Firefly, on which the movie is based—expected that the movie might draw the low numbers it did in its theatrical release, Peristere said in an interview. But he added that the movie's sales on DVD, which came out on Dec. 20, are running neck-and-neck with the hit comedy Wedding Crashers, which bodes well for a possible Serenity sequel.

"We kind of expected this from our audience," Peristere said. "We did so well on [Amazon.com] with the Firefly box set and the performance of that helped us get the movie made. We wish the audience would get up and go to the theater, but it shows that they like to keep coming back and revisiting the world Joss created." Serenity made $25 million at the domestic box office after it was released Sept. 30.

Evidence that the DVD market is replacing theatrical box office as a barometer of success, but are good DVD sales enough to make a sequel with box office being that weak? $25 million is, well, horrible.

Why don't they just try for a show again? Maybe that's a more expensive proposition than a movie. But the series obviously has a fan base. Yes, it was cancelled once (maybe even twice), but the odds of a Firefly relaunch being a hit have to be an order of magnitude higher than for any truly new show.

Maybe they could just call it Law & Order: Illegal Transport Unit and guarantee themselves decent numbers.

Thanks to OregonMuse.

Posted by: Ace at 06:32 AM | Comments (51)
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France realizes that diplomacy with Iran is as futile as diplomacy with France:

Officials said the three ministers, meeting in Berlin, would urge the International Atomic Energy Agency to call an emergency board meeting "in the next two to three weeks" to discuss referring Iran to the council for possible sanctions.

...

A European diplomat said: "When the door has been slammed in our face there is no need to show weakness."

But of course there is, darling. Door open, door slammed shut, it's always the time to show weakness.

As Gordon Gecko said, "Weakness, for lack of a better word, is good. Weakness works."

Posted by: Ace at 06:21 AM | Comments (11)
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I guess it just stands to reason, but really, not the sort of service you want to perform for this sort of person:

[Hamza] is unable to clean himself as he could do himself an injury. So prison officials have hired a male nurse named Harry to perform the task.

A prison source said: "He's known as 'Dirty Harry'. This guy has got one of the worst jobs in the world. His main reason for being there is to clean Hamza's backside. Everyone's having a laugh about it. But Hamza can't be left unclean. It would be a health hazard."

Hamza is being held in top-security Belmarsh jail, in South East London, as the US attempts to extradite him on terror charges.

The nurse - recruited from a private agency - spends up to two hours a day with him.

His other duties include helping the 47-year-old cleric to wash, cut his toenails, clip his beard and change his clothes.

Although employed mainly to look after Hamza, "Harry" performs similar duties for another inmate who lost his limbs.

"Dirty Harry's" job -- terrorist ass wiper -- is not, however, the worst job in Britain. The worst job in Britain is assistant terrorist ass wiper.

Thanks to Norm MacDonald for that joke, by way of Log Cabin.

Thanks to Beaky.

Posted by: Ace at 06:14 AM | Comments (51)
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