Interesting:

Ron Suskind, author of The One Percent Doctrine, told CNN that information about the hiding places of alleged al-Qaida figures, Khalid Sheikh Mohamed and Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, obtained by Aljazeera in 2002, was leaked to Qatari officials.

Suskind said the information was communicated to the Emir of Qatar, who communicated it to US officials.

Aljazeera described Suskind's claim as ridiculous and baseless.

Too much here to have any opinions. Not happy that this has been leaked, assuming it's true. If there are moles in Al Jazeera willing to give up the locations of Al Qaeda officials, I'd prefer that be kept secret.

But KSM and RBaS were arrested a long, long time ago. If Qatar was able to lean on Al Jazeera to get the information, it was only able to do so in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. It doesn't look like Al Jazeera has done anything for us lately.

So... gee, hope Al Qaeda doesn't get all steamed at Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is such a pro-Al Qaeda outfit that, on the whole, I can't say I'd cry very much were they to find themselves on the wrong side of the people they cheerlead for.

Lovely tv station you have here, Colonel. Would be a shame if anything were to 'appen to it.

Posted by: Ace at 03:58 PM | Comments (6)
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I didn't blog this earlier because I didn't have anything interesting to say about it. Which is a stupid reason not to blog it; I'm sure many of you have interesting things to say about it.

Anyway.

Memeorandum has a lot of links.

A few points:

1) The program is completely legal.

2) This is one of the more dangerous leaks of recent years, because SWIFT (from which the records are gathered) is a Brussels-based organization, and, given the outcry, the Europeans will almost certainly now block further American searches of their databases. This leak will have consequneces, and those consequences will be the quick ending of an important, legal anti-terrorist program.

3) The Bush Administration can partly blame itself for this state of affairs. Leakers should not merely be fired; they should be prosecuted and jailed. Not all leaks; but leaks like this which are especially perilous to national security. If the Bush Administration doesn't take this seriously, why should the "let a smile be your umbrella" liberals in the MSM?

4) The left continues to undermine national security in the most despicable, cynical way. I'm quite sure the reasonable liberals at the NYT and WaPo know full well that programs like this are absolutely vital, and their secrecy is likewise vital. However, they have made the most anti-American and evil sort of decision: While tools like this are vital for saving American lives, they will not permit any Republican President to use them. Only Democratic Presidents are permitted to employ the full panoply of powers for protecting American lives.

It's blackmail, pure and simple. Either let a Democrat into the White House, or we will continue to sabotage American security and, in effect, kill Americans. We will keep secrets when a Democrat is in office, but not a Republican. So we offer the American people a choice: Let the politicians we favor run the country, or we will help Al Qaeda murder you.

I don't believe it's politically practicable to arrest reporters. Reporters don't have the primary responsibility for protecting American secrets; and the cries of "Fascism!" would be hysterical should a few part-time reporters/part-time Al Qaeda intelligence agents frogmarched off to jail.

But goddamnit, the cocksucker liberal partisans in the CIA and NSA have signed contracts promising to keep secrets secret, and voluntarily exposing themselves to long periods of jail should they breach those obligations.

It's time to start putting them in jail for 5 or 10 years. If this is all a matter of "conscience" to the terrorist Helpy Helpertons in the CIA and NSA, well, then, they shouldn't mind cooling their heels in prison for 10 years in the name of their "consciences."

Starve The Beast: There has got to be a way to declare, and enforce, a "Death Sentence" for the NYT. A total lockout. No access to any government official anywhere.

Impose an immediate ban on any government official in any security-oriented agency from speaking to the NYT. They're already forbidden from disclosing national secrets; but apparently that doesn't matter to them. So just make it a firing offense to even be seen talking with a NYT reporter.

Unconstitutional? I don't know. We'll let the courts work it out. In the meantime, fire anyone known to talk to any NYT employee for any reason.

Posted by: Ace at 02:40 PM | Comments (55)
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Outstanding.

Karl Rove is a genius.

And I don't mean a run of the mill genius either. I mean like an Albert Einstein/Leonardo DaVinci/Reed Richards genius.

John Stewart's no slouch in the brains department, either. He's managed to convince millions of people that eight-grade-level sarcasm and an average quality deadpan are "hilarious" and "ground-breaking comedic brilliance."

My best friend from middle school, Joey "Stinky" McGluck, wants to know where his TV deal is.

Posted by: Ace at 02:26 PM | Comments (21)
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Ehhhh... far be it from me to poke fun at a big NRO reporter, but one of the "major unanswered questions of the 2008 Republican presidential race" is not whether Rudy Giuliani is running.

That's a "major unanswered question" in the same way it's a "major unanswered question" whether the dreaded Werewolf Ghost on a Scooby Doo show is really a "werewolf ghost" or some old guy in a mask.

A more interesting question is why it is that every Scooby Doo adversary had to be a "ghost" of some sort. They couldn't just encounter Frankenstein; it had to be a "Frankenstein Ghost." No Zombies, but of course "Zombie Ghosts." Space Robots? No, but maybe a "Space Robot Ghost."

Even the undead have ghosts, I guess. As do robots.

He's running, Byron. And he might get away with it, too, if not for the meddling social conservatives.

Posted by: Ace at 01:59 PM | Comments (10)
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Take a thin layer of Kevlar, not much heavier than street clothing. Coat it with this "liquid armor."

The thin Kevlar wouldn't stop a bullet normally. But this "liquid armor" has the property of being flexible most of the time, except when stressed by kinetic energy (like a bullet or shrapnel), at which point it suddenly hardens and, in conjunction with the Kevlar, is supposedly capable of deflecting a bullet.

Too. F'n'. Cool.

Thanks to Krakatoa.

Posted by: Ace at 12:56 PM | Comments (13)
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I think. I really have no idea what the hell it is.

It looks like something Jawas would rent for prom-night.

The JL421 Badonkadonk is a completely unique, extremely rare land vehicle and battle tank. Designed with versatility in mind, the Donk can transport cargo or a crew of five internally or on the roof, and can be piloted from within the armored shell or from an exposed standing position through the hatch, thanks to special one-way steel mesh armor windows and a control stick that pivots up and down to allow piloting from the standing or seated positions. The interior is fully carpeted and cozy, with accent lighting and room for up to five people. A 400 watt premium sound system with PA is mounted to project sound both into the cabin and outward from behind the windows.

Hmmm... it's a tank, but there's no mention of weaponry, but they highlight its 400 watt sound system. Apparently the Badonkadonk's designers come from the Oddball school of tank armament.

Via the Plank.

A Bit Of Helpful Scaling... It carries a crew of five? Really? Where? Lashed to the sides?

My "jawa" theory just got stronger.

MAKE SURE YOU READ THE "USER REVIEWS"!!! Some real weisenheimers provide road-test reviews of the Badonkadonk (or "Donk").

I'll admit it. Shopping for a personal tank can be a bit daunting. Many times in the past I've purchased overpriced, so-called "battle tanks", then driven them into battle only to be wrecked in ten minutes by the first blow off of some insurgents home-made morter.

But not this baby, no way.

This tank R-O-C-K-S! Literally- the 400-watt sound-system keeps me rockin like a crazy man as I'm dishing out justice commando style. Wow. I just can't say enough. And the kids love it, too- imagine the look of terror in the eyes of the enemy as I'm dropping off my kid's team to their soccer game. Shock and awe, my friends, SHOCK AND AWE!

I had NAO install the optional GPS-guided white phosphorus missile system, and talk about *SWEET*! Burn baby burn!!!

Oh, it also has plenty of room for groceries, and if you need to like move a loveseat or something it'll fit if you use a little bungee cord.

The only real negative with this tank is that it shows up on radar a little more than I like (although there is a polyresin graphite stealth model available). Also, the included spare isn't full size.

Overall, a great tank.

I also found this review helpful:

Think you can handle this Badonkadonk, donk?

I honestly weighed the pros and cons before investing in the JL421 and despite negative reviews, I still purchased it. I was appalled to discover it to be the worst purchase I have ever made apart from Janet Jackson's last CD, which incidentally I used to scrape the plaque off of my enormous teeth.

Having teeth the size and weight of a normal human child, I have handicapped needs and the JL421 has absolutely no wheelchair accessibility. I have tried everything from ropes to catapults and I simply cannot get into the blasted thing without the help of my older sister, who has had a thyroid problem ever since Chernobyl... coupled with the fact that she's 65, smokes, just had a child, and drinks fluoride like it was Mountain Dew, you could say she has a bit of a problem.

However, once behind the wheel, I found that the 8,392,329,102 knobs and levers were too many to choose from and ended up shaving my back, watching Sanford and Son, sending a torpedo into my living room, and causing World War III by inadvertently causing the stock market to crash, resulting in a riot of over seven thousand angry brokers... everything but actually STARTING the vehicle.

Posted by: Ace at 12:26 PM | Comments (17)
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Love it. The only good parts in Blade Runner were the rooftop-jumps. (Okay, and the spinners.) Ditto The Matrix.

These guys jump what looks like 25 feet down and into a roll that brings them right back to their feet.

Sure, it's dangerous. But then, so is sticking a deadly boomslang up your ass. And no one's complaining about that. (Thankfully.)

Well, They Made That Parkour Movie: Not all parkour, but lots of it, it seems. It's sort of Escape From New York in Paris, with karate and parkour. Thanks to rho.

Posted by: Ace at 12:17 PM | Comments (11)
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I've written something similar; Monty writes it better:

It's not just Islam -- it's also age old tribalist behaviors that go back before Islam was even conceived. We are dealing with people whose mindset is cemented in a pre-modern (even pre-civilized) pattern. Unfortunately, Islam tends to reinforce rather than disrupt these patterns. It's no accident that our most dedecated foes in the Long War are scions of the most backwards tribalist societies in the world: Arabs, Pashtuns, and the many different Balkan tribes. Many are Muslim, but some are not (the Serbs, for example).

Barnett's theory of "core" and "gap" areas on the globe is really just another way of breaking the world into functioning societies and tribal backwaters. Were it not for the ocean of oil under their feet, the Arabs would be in the same position of much of sub-Saharan Africa. Tiny Israel produces more intellectual and physical capital than the entire Arab world combined; the sere regions of Anatolia -- from Turkey through Afghanistan to Pakistan -- have never had a peaceful century. When they can't fight invaders, they fight each other.

Our lives -- yours, mine, and probably our children's -- will be spent beating back the forces of de-civilization. Not just Muslim forces, either; we will also be fighting narco-terrorists, neo-communist revivalists, and crypto-anarchists. When President Bush called this the "Long War", he wasn't kidding. I won't live to see the end of it.

That's quite right. You can't blame all of this cultural pathology on Islam alone. Much of it is simple stone-age savagery. But Islam is an avowed enemy of the forces of modernism, humanism, secularism, liberalism, and the general values of the Enlightenment. So, why it may be wrong to say this sort of pathology was created by Islam -- humanity itself comes factory-equipped for superstition and savagery -- certainly it's fair to say it's perpetuated by Islam.

Posted by: Ace at 11:02 AM | Comments (21)
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MANIMAL!

Manimal.

I actually never saw this show. I've had a lot of fun saying "Manimal" over the years, though.

Anyone who watched it is going to have a big nostalgia rush when they click on that link.

Simon McCorkingdale. Good Lord. It's probably not a good idea to try to make it as an action-hero-actor with the name "Simon McCorkingdale." He should have changed it to something more butch, like "Little Susie McSwoonsingham."

Thanks to Christopher.

Posted by: Ace at 10:53 AM | Comments (25)
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... and a fruitcake lefty astrologer... is hired by the Mark Warner campaign...

On September 11th, 2001, Jupiter was exactly conjunct Varuna, atop Bush's and the USA's Sun. Pluto, at 13' Sagittarius was conjunct the USA ascendant, inconjunct from Varuna/Jupiter at the MH. It was as if Manifest Destiny became triggered for Bush to see-- a Global War on Terrorism became his and the followers religious zeal. Since then, Bush and the Republicans have used 9/11 toward their own gain & glory. The warmongers got their calling using the patriotism via the USA Sun; it's been very powerful to confront head on, especially given the media's driving coverage.

Guess who?

It's so unbelievable I'm not sure I believe it. But it seems real. And yet-- I don't believe it.

The.

Reality.

Based.

Community.

I'm so glad they've freed their minds of that kooky "Jesus" crap.

More.

Headline Thanks: Way Off Bass suggested "Kosmology," which isn't quite fair, as this doesn't come from Don Kos himself.

Still... close enough.

When Schizophrenics Collide: Doesn't sound much less crazy than this missive from an obvious paranoid schizoprhenic:

FOAMOSTYRE Macheye thermocore. As the solar storms of space & the gases of polyurethane give us life, the LX7 radar gives us the greatest of all, the truth. To put the solar storm into words, left temple digital squares, 903 phantom exceeding inside right angle digital squares right temple LX7 reading sun eclipse solar storms. Now we can reveal the truth. Left temple of the brain is a BEAK 101 planet Mercury. Now for the obesity in the test weight of matter the dry factor & to put in plainly like an ear of corn, the test weight. Now I hope you got the picture.

I've got the picture. The picture I've got is of a lonely man with a head full of bad chemicals and a basement full of dead hitchhikers.

Strong. Delusional.

Layers.

Thanks to Rob at Left and Right, where you'll come for the Right, but you'll stay for the nutty Left.

He's also got a story about a dog who dialed a cell phone, saving his owner from death due to diabetic seizure.

You never hear those stories about cats. You collapse on the ground with a stroke or a seizure, and your cats just start divvying up your CDs and DVDs.

Posted by: Ace at 10:47 AM | Comments (23)
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