Just in time to distract us from the Iraq Civil War:

The US economy is set for a strong rebound in the first quarter of 2006, shaking off the hurricane-related weakness of the fourth quarter, a survey of business economists showed.

The survey of the National Association of Business Economists called for the economy to expand at a robust 4.5 percent pace in the current quarter -- the fastest since 2003 -- after a disappointing 1.1 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter.

"The NABE panel sees the economy roaring back in early 2006 following the fourth quarter's tepid 1.1 percent growth," said Stuart Hoffman, NABE president and chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group.

"Our forecasters expect the economy to shake off the effects of last years hurricanes and surging oil price."

The report based on a survey of 53 economists projected the overall pace of growth for 2006 at 3.3 percent.

Posted by: Ace at 03:56 PM | Comments (16)
Post contains 169 words, total size 1 kb.

If you think white Christian men have tough words about Muslim extremism, wait 'till you get a load of Wafa Sultan, a Muslim woman, giving them the wood.

Wow.

Thanks to Ogre Gunner.

Posted by: Ace at 03:42 PM | Comments (42)
Post contains 45 words, total size 1 kb.

9PM Eastern on NBC.

Now I get why Trump was calling Martha a moron last week.

Synergy.

Posted by: Ace at 03:10 PM | Comments (70)
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

Shaa-zam:

A Scottish distillery said Monday it was reviving a centuries-old recipe for whisky so strong that one 17th-century writer feared more than two spoonfuls could be lethal.

Risk-taking whisky connoisseurs will have to wait, however - the spirit will not be ready for at least 10 years.

The Bruichladdich distillery on the Isle of Islay, off Scotland's west coast, is producing the quadruple-distilled 184-proof - or 92 percent alcohol - spirit "purely for fun," managing director Mark Reynier said.

Whisky usually is distilled twice and has an alcohol content of between 40 and 63.5 per cent.

Bruichladdich is using a recipe for a spirit known in the Gaelic language as usquebaugh-baul, "perilous water of life."

Thanks to Scott.

Apologies... for the very light and trivial blogging I've done today. I'm pretty busy with life-type stuff at the moment. Thanks to LauraW and Tanker for picking up the blog-slack.

Posted by: Ace at 11:54 AM | Comments (37)
Post contains 165 words, total size 1 kb.

Only in Oz:

An Australian grandmother was honoured with a bravery award for wrestling a giant saltwater crocodile as it dragged her friend from a tent.

Alicia Sorohan, 61, was awoken in the early hours of the morning of October 11, 2004 by the screams of family friend Andrew Kerr in a nearby tent at their campsite on the northern Cape York peninsular.

Seeing her friend in the jaws of a 4.2 metre (14-foot), 300 kilogram (660 pound) crocodile, Sorohan "did what anyone would do" and jumped on its back.

The man-eater then turned on her, breaking her nose and almost ripping her arm off before her son Jason shot it.

"It was pretty scary. But it's one of those things -- if you see someone in trouble you've got to help them," Sorohan said. "He was a big one. But I would do the same thing again."

Posted by: LauraW. at 10:47 AM | Comments (25)
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

It's worst than a crime. It's a mistake:

Rasmussen has a new poll up in which -- hold on now -- Democrats in Congress are outpolling President Bush on national security. By a margin of 43 to 41 percent, Americans say they trust Congressional Democrats more than Bush when it comes to protecting our national security. And by a margin of 64-17 percent, they oppose the sale of the ports to Dubai.

The deal is dead. It won't survive after a 45-day extension or a 450-day extension. Congressional Republicans have no choice but to be extremely aggressive and nasty toward the president and the White House...

Posted by: Ace at 10:29 AM | Comments (157)
Post contains 122 words, total size 1 kb.

From The American Spectator:

Word out of the Defense Intelligence Agency and law enforcement sources has the FBI and the Department of Justice comparing notes and dates on who in the U.S. Senate received national security briefings on both the overseas terrorist prisons and the NSA overseas terrorist monitoring programs, and when those briefings took place.

"The number of Senators who received briefings is not as large as people think," says one law enforcement source. "These were programs with a limited 'Need to Know" list on Capitol Hill."

Federal investigators looking into the leaks of both those programs to the press are zeroing in on the Senate, and are expected to continue to hold interviews of both Senators and their senior staff in the coming days. "This investigation is moving forward at a pretty fast clip," says the law enforcement source. "We're not looking at a two-year probe. We're talking about moving fast."

Posted by: LauraW. at 10:25 AM | Comments (7)
Post contains 182 words, total size 1 kb.

Its official. Iraqi genocidal dictator Saddam Hussein has called off his hunger strike. His chief lawyer claims it has to do with health reasons.

When asked by reporters if it was just a coincidence that the Baghdad PX just got a new shipment from Frito Lay, the lawyer replied, "no comment."

However, one reporter did note that the lawyer's fingers had an unusual orange hue.

Posted by: Tanker at 10:25 AM | Comments (8)
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.

This guy is unbelievable:

Prosecutors call it a corruption case with no parallel in the long history of the U.S. Congress. And it keeps getting worse. Convicted Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham actually priced the illegal services he provided.

Prices came in the form of a "bribe menu" that detailed how much it would cost contractors to essentially order multimillion-dollar government contracts, according to documents submitted by federal prosecutors for Cunningham's sentencing hearing this Friday.

Though the fact that he's being prosecuted mitigates my cynicism, it is probably fair to say that the only difference between this fellow and many of his colleagues is that he was enough of a dope to put his crime in writing.

Posted by: LauraW. at 10:05 AM | Comments (10)
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.

South Africa:

"I took my horse for an evening swim in one of the farm dams. There are lots of crocs and hippos in the area but they move around all the time, from dam to dam and into the river and out again," he said.

"I was on the lookout for hippos and didn't see any. It slipped my mind that there might be crocodiles," he said.

To Do List:
-Take horse for swim
-Watch out for hippos
-Pick up some Zebra steaks on the way home

YUP, totally blanked out on the whole crocodile thing.

"I'm lucky, I didn't lose too much blood ... The biggest problem with a croc bite is it can be septic. They never brush their teeth," said Abrahamse.

And when he gets out of the hospital does he plan to look for the culprit? "Oh yes, I'll be looking for him alright," he said with a laugh.

Thanks to snookums, who says "I like his attitude."

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:42 AM | Comments (9)
Post contains 193 words, total size 1 kb.