I guess it's not a joking matter anymore.

The 78-year-old lawyer who was shot by Vice President Dick Cheney in a hunting accident has some birdshot lodged in his heart and he had a "a minor heart attack" Tuesday morning, hospital officials said.

The victim, Harry Whittington, was immediately moved back to the intensive care unit for further treatment, said Peter Banko, the administrator at Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial in Texas.

Banko said there was an irregularity in the heartbeat caused by a pellet, and doctors performed a cardiac catheterization. Whittington expressed a desire to leave the hospital, but Banko said he would probably stay for another week to make sure more shot doesn't move to other organs or to other part of his body.

"Some of the bird shot appears to have moved and lodged into part of his heart in what we would say is a minor heart attack," Banko said in a news conference outside the hospital.

I hope he pulls through without additional complications.

Posted by: Ace at 10:08 AM | Comments (99)
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Hell, a feller could have a pretty nice weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.

Thanks to Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 09:44 AM | Comments (16)
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Because the markets like that kind of laissez-faire capitalitism/felony assault.

If he'd chilled the dude we'd be at 13,000.

Thanks to max.

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 AM | Comments (10)
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It seems that when he speaks, they hear something entirely different than what we do.

It's a remix of Bush's speech, edited to make him say things like "We gather here to threaten America." It's probably pretty old, and it's super-liberal, of course. But actually, it's pretty funny.

Posted by: Ace at 09:24 AM | Comments (4)
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Unbelievable. From the minutes of the student senate:

"Jill Edwards didn't believe a member of the Marine Corps was an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce" and "Ashley Miller commented that many monuments at UW already commemorate rich white men."

Andrew's Dad suggests scrolling down to the end of the minutes, to learn that the UW student senate plans to promote events like a GBLTC drag show and of course the Vagina Monologues.

More at WND, which in turn links blogger Pardosis. Who, in turn, comments:

[H]ave our Washington youth revised history so much as this? To compare Boyington – or for that matter any of our WW2 vets – to murderers? What are these kids being taught today? They don't deserve those 20 months Pappy spent being tortured and beaten in a Japanese prison camp ... they don't deserve any of what our grandfathers and grandmothers sacrificed to free Europe and the Pacific.

Hamas are moral heroes, and Pappy Boyington is a murderer.

Such is the current state of the world.

Posted by: Ace at 08:44 AM | Comments (57)
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Horrors!

The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.

The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement.

The officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood.

The officials and diplomats, who said this approach was being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the Israeli government, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

Today, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying "there was no such plan."

But the officials and diplomats say Hamas will be given a choice: recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements — as called for by the United Nations and the West — or face isolation and collapse.

Opinion polls show that Hamas's promise to better the lives of the Palestinian people was the main reason it won. But the United States and Israel say Palestinian life will only get harder if Hamas does not meet those three demands. They say Hamas plans to build up its militias and increase violence and must be starved out of power.

The officials drafting the plan know that Hamas leaders have repeatedly rejected demands to change and do not expect Hamas to meet them. "The point is to put this choice on Hamas's shoulders," a senior Western diplomat said. "If they make the wrong choice, all the options lead in a bad direction."

On NPR, of course, a terrorist apologist was calling for us to give (terrorist) war a chance and give the Palestinians all the money they might want.

Excuse me, but wasn't the promise of payments to the PA predicated on the premise that they'd renounce violence and seek a peaceful, two-state solution? If the Palestinians have reneged on their end of the deal, why should we continue paying them billions?

To the NPR apologist, the answer is simple: The Hamas terrorists now in the government were democratically elected. But so what? People can vote for terrorists, tyrants, and warmakers; does this commit the US to ignore their choices? Or, rather, support their choices?

Elections have consequences.

Posted by: Ace at 08:34 AM | Comments (8)
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Remember Gerhard Schroeder? You know, the Kraut who hates America and President Bush in particular.

Well it wasn't just Al Gore performing fellatio on Bin Laden in Jeddah last week. Gerhard was too.

"This includes refraining from acts that hurt honest religious sentiment. Unfortunately in the last few months this sensitivity has been lacking in many places, including Europe.

"We must get back on the path of tolerance and respect of cultural and religious beliefs," said Schroeder who was welcomed by the Saudi conference organisers as an "old friend."

Nice job Adolph, what do you do for an encore?

"I'd be very pleased if Hillary Clinton would become the next American president," Schroeder said to applause from a largely Saudi audience at the Jeddah Economic Forum, which opened here Saturday. "But don't quote me too loud. I hope I'm not harming her by saying that."

Just go back to Putin's crotch and shut up!

Posted by: Tanker at 08:29 AM | Comments (3)
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It's so funny I coughed up a kidney.

See, he's dressed in full orange hunting gear, so Dick Cheney doesn't shoot him... big laughs.

Quite frankly, Dana, your best bet with Dick Cheney is to wear total camouflage and an M1A1 Abrams tank. Otherwise you're just giving him an easier shot.

Thanks to the New Editor, who wonders about this whole "objective journalism" thing I've heard so much about.

Posted by: Ace at 07:26 AM | Comments (30)
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TJ Hooker finds rookie cop Heather Locklear leading a dancercize class, and he's none too happy about it.

Adrian Zmed looks particularly perplexed.

Thanks to Hubris.

Posted by: Ace at 07:19 AM | Comments (3)
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Daily Kos, now 0 for 17 (?) and counting:

Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, who gained popularity for his staunch criticism of President Bush, has dropped out of the Democratic race for U.S. Senate in Ohio, according to a published report.

Hackett told The New York Times for Tuesday's editions that the same party leaders who urged him to run for Senate after his political debut in a House race last year had turned on him.

"This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been forced on me," Hackett said.

...

He declared his candidacy for Republican Mike DeWine's Senate seat after it appeared Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown would not run. Brown declared his Senate candidacy shortly after that, however, and national Democrats privately began urging Hackett to step aside. On Sunday, some national Democrats made those requests publicly.

Netroots power! The people have now taken control of their power!

Kick that donkey, Kos! Kick that donkey!

Thanks to Slublg.

The Anti-War Left Is Not Amused: Jon Stolz of anti-war veterans organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC released this statement:

It is an outrage that the Democratic Party has forced Paul Hackett out of the race for U.S. Senate. Hackett brought credibility on the number one issue facing the nation – the war in Iraq. The Democratic Party loses credibility on that issue because he is no longer running, and because they had a hand in his decision.

The good news is that there are still a number of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans running for office around the nation. We are committed to getting these patriots the early institutional support they need, because it is becoming abundantly clear that the party leadership has no interest in them.

The Democratic Party lost more credibility on this issue? I think it's in Joe Isuzu territory at this point.

Posted by: Ace at 07:13 AM | Comments (8)
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