Very interesting photojournalism (not blogging anymore) about the Yezidi, Kurds who refused to take Islam as their faith. They're fire-worshippers, and are believed by Muslims to worship Satan.

(They don't, by the way. But they do worship a Satan-analogue, a "King of the Angels" who defied God's command... but then later submitted to God once again.)

Posted by: Ace at 11:39 AM | Comments (21)
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It's one thing for Cindy Sheehan to urge the American people to stop the Iraq War.

It's quite another for her to travel to Germany and urge a foreign state to block US actions.

“[We’ve already heard] that Cindy Sheehan is like Hanoi Jane [Fonda] coming here,” said Elsa Rassbach, an event organizer with American Voices Abroad, which is supporting Sheehan’s trip.

But, she said, “We’re here to just democratically talk about U.S. policy.”

On March 11, protesters plan to walk from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to a parking lot just outside Ramstein Air Base, where Sheehan will be at a “camp,” paying tribute to those who have died in the Iraq war.

“Cindy will be with us at Camp Casey Landstuhl/Ramstein to call attention to the fact that Germany is Europe’s logistical hub for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and others threatening Iran and the Middle East,” according to an event flier. “Germany has the power to stop the further use of U.S. bases in Germany for illegal wars and criminal methods of warfare — the power and the right to just say no!”

Call me old-fashioned, but I'm not sure if the right to free speech embraces inciting foreign nations against us. I thought free speech was supposed to enable Americans to persuade other Americans of the soundness of their position, not to encourage foreign powers to act against our democratically-decided policies.

If she wants to protest the war in Iraq, shouldn't she, like, go to Iraq? Just sayin'.

Thanks to Craig.

Posted by: Ace at 11:30 AM | Comments (37)
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Jen at Demure Thoughts strikes back.

CONTENT WARNING. Hey, this is Jen we're talking about (filthy, dirty girl), and you read the previous contract for wifely expectations, so you can imagine that there will be a lot of potty-mouth and dirty-talk.

Posted by: Ace at 11:17 AM | Comments (92)
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Amphibious Killer UAV!

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, famed for the U-2 and Blackbird spy planes that flew higher than anything else in the world in their day, is trying for a different altitude record: an airplane that starts and ends its mission 150 feet underwater. The Cormorant, a stealthy, jet-powered, autonomous aircraft that could be outfitted with either short-range weapons or surveillance equipment, is designed to launch out of the Trident missile tubes in some of the U.S. Navy’s gigantic Cold War–era Ohio-class submarines....

This is no easy task. The tubes are as long as a semi trailer but about seven feet wide—not exactly airplane-shaped. The Cormorant has to be strong enough to withstand the pressure 150 feet underwater—enough to cave in hatches on a normal aircraft—but light enough to fly. Another challenge: Subs survive by stealth, and an airplane flying back to the boat could give its position away.

The Skunk WorksÂ’s answer is a four-ton airplane with gull wings that hinge around its body to fit inside the missile tube. The craft is made of titanium to resist corrosion, and any empty spaces are filled with plastic foam to resist crushing. The rest of the body is pressurized with inert gas. Inflatable seals keep the weapon-bay doors, engine inlet and exhaust covers watertight.

The Cormorant does not shoot out of its tube like a missile. Instead an arm-like docking “saddle” guides the craft out, sending it floating to the surface while the sub slips away. As the drone pops out of the water, the rocket boosters fire and the Cormorant takes off. After completing its mission, the plane flies to the rendezvous coordinates it receives from the sub and lands in the sea. The sub then launches a robotic underwater vehicle to fetch the floating drone.

Thanks to JohnS., via Gizmodo.

Amphibious. Killer. UAV.

America

We gots all the dopest shit, yo.

Posted by: Ace at 10:47 AM | Comments (21)
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All 108 of them.

Best yet: Dave just posted this two days ago, so it is, officially, not old!

Thanks to See-Dubya for dropping it in the comments.

Posted by: Ace at 09:55 AM | Comments (8)
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True, the 9/11 report linked OBL to everyone, the media tells us, except Saddam Hussein, but this is pretty disturbing:

The Sept. 11 commission's report released last year also raised concerns UAE officials were directly associating with bin Laden as recently as 1999.

The report states U.S. intelligence believed that bin Laden was visiting an area in the Afghan desert in February 1999 near a hunting camp used by UAE officials, and that the U.S. military planned a missile strike.

Intelligence from local tribal sources indicated "bin Laden regularly went from his adjacent camp to the larger camp where he visited the Emiratis," the report said.

"National technical intelligence confirmed the location and description of the larger camp and showed the nearby presence of an official aircraft of the United Arab Emirates. But the location of bin Laden's quarters could not be pinned down so precisely," the report said.

The missile attack was never launched, and bin Laden moved on, the report said.

A month later, top White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke "called a UAE official to express his concerns about possible associations between Emirati officials and bin Laden," the report said.

CIA officials hope to continue staking out the Afghan camp in hopes bin Laden would return and a possible strike could be launched.

But "imagery confirmed that less than a week after Clarke's phone call, the camp was hurriedly dismantled and the site was deserted," the report said.

CIA officials were "irate" and "thought the dismantling of the camp erased a possible site for targeting bin Laden, the report said.

Sorry, this isn't just Islamophobia or Arab-hatin'. These guys may have been bullied post-9/11 into cooperating with us, but too many high-ranking princelings in the UAE seem to have OBL at the top of their Friendster list.

Thanks to Allah again.

Posted by: Ace at 09:45 AM | Comments (22)
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It's all caught on tape.

We must arrest and prosecute this wall-crawling menace!

Thanks to a poster who didn't sign his name, so I'll just hat-tip Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 09:34 AM | Comments (10)
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A website urges boycotting Casino Royale.

It argues that he'd be better suited playing Carl Spackler in a Caddyshack prequel, or perhaps Gilligan.

Roger Moore, meanwhile, says give the guy a chance.

Then again, Roger Moore can't run.

It's true. He was asked to run in a scene in one of his early Bond film, maybe Live and Let Die, and he told the director, "Look, I just can't run."

"You can't run? You mean you're injured?"

"No," Moore said (and I'm paraphrasing here). "I mean I just can't run."

"Well just try it," the director said.

Moore ran. Sort of. He looked like an ungainly female duck as he "ran." He looked dorkier running than Steven Segal in Above the Law.

The director now agreed, laughing. "Roger, you really can't run. You look ridiculous." And so Roger Moore never really ran in a Bond movie. He might walk quickly, but he doesn't run. Because he looks like a gaywad doing so.

Kind of a strange limitation for an action-movie star. Licensed to kill, but can't manage anything quicker than brisk walking.

So, yeah, I like Roger Moore, but I'm not sure he's the best judge of a good Bond.

Thanks to Frank for the tip.

Posted by: Ace at 09:27 AM | Comments (17)
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Too funny:

The Donald wasn't backing down yesterday in his feud with Martha Stewart - calling her a "moron" and taking pride in his poison-pen letter to her.

Donald Trump is still fuming over Stewart having the nerve to blame him for sabotaging her own prime-time "Apprentice" show. Her rationale: Trump wouldn't step aside, retire his successful show and give her the entire "Apprentice" audience.

"What moron would think you're going to fire the guy with the No. 1 show on television?" Trump told Newsweek yesterday.

Stewart ignited the feud by claiming she was supposed to start her inaugural season by firing Trump, and that the real estate mogul nixed the idea.

...

Mark Burnett, producer of both "Apprentice" shows, said firing Trump was briefly discussed after Stewart raised the idea.

"Martha had a number of ideas and, you know, my job is to listen to everything," Burnett told Deutsch.

Fire Trump? Is she on crack?

Does she know the size of his ego? Has she ever, like, heard him speak?

When Sergio Leone was putting together Once Upon a Time In the Old West, he had an idea that the three stars of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly would show up in the teaser, and Harmonica (Charles Bronson) would kill them all, showing what a bad ass he was.

Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach agreed to the idea. Clint Eastwood said no way; The Man With No Name just doesn't die for nobody. Especially by an also-ran from The Magnificent Seven.

Yul Brenner or Steve McQueen, maybe. Maybe even James Coburn. But Charles Bronson?

Tricky business to convince someone with a lot of ego and reputation riding on the role that brought them to fame to allow themselves to be "defeated" on-screen by an untested newcomer.

And, again, Martha's show just wasn't very good. Flower-arranging and sales, salad-dressing formulation and sales, etc. I'm surprised one task wasn't to market a new breast-pump or tampon.

Posted by: Ace at 09:09 AM | Comments (11)
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And if you do read this, try to avoid using bad words in the first ten or fifteen words of your comment... It's kind of uncool to have people deliberately avoid nasty stories, only to see them more or less described in the Most Recent Comment section.

Again, you should probably not read this. more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:57 AM | Comments (47)
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