I laid off this more than I actually wanted. Partly out of respect for Jeff.

But also partly because I didn't want to encourage her to get herself into further trouble. She is a disturbed woman. She cannot distinguish between "good attention" and "bad attention." To her, it's all the same. She actually thought people would donate money to her to keep up the "word warrior" bullshit.

She actually thought people would give her money to post her restraining order and letters from Goldstein's lawyer.

The fucking lunatic actually thought she'd get booked on Steven Colbert's show.

For making sexually-suggestive and threatening remarks about someone's child.

Right. That's how you get on Steven Colbert. Even I know better than that.

She emailed me to make some kind of threat -- a lawsuit or something, forget what, also telling me that "phuque-phaced Phroggy" was next or whatever, as if I have "Phroggy" on phuquing speed dial or something. Honestly, I don't even know who the eph the man is.

I didn't email her back, both to avoid stirring her up any further and to keep her from getting any kind of handle on my IP. I had no desire to become a more prominent star in the Deb Frisch Planetarium of Crazy.

Well, she's in the system now, where I guess we all knew she'd wind up. Perhaps it's for the best.

More... from Don't Hire Deb.

Related: NRO's Media Blog on other lefties' not-yet-criminal descent into derangement.

Posted by: Ace at 10:37 AM | Comments (71)
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And like the. Poor. Marksman. That you are. You keep. MISSING. The target.

Everthing in his screed is a lie, including each "an" and "the" and "I will suck cock for a regular MSM gig."

Well, okay, the last part is probably true.

Related: Check out CNN's fair and balanced headline for a story about Lieberman getting on the ballot as an Independent.

Hee, hee, hee.

I've always liked the expression "Squeeze 'em until their pips squeak." Something kind of innocent about it, but sort of violent too.

The pips are really squeaking up a storm now.

Posted by: Ace at 09:53 AM | Comments (17)
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Asian? They're kind of brown-ish, aren't they?

I'm not sure whether or not to be terrified or not.

Of course "Asian" means Pakistani or Thai Muslims or the like. These guys aren't Ninjas seeking the Green Destiny sword. So who am I kidding? It's butt-bombs away in my pants.

Allah is of course skeptical, as we all are after several false (though not completely false alarms), but it is significant that arrests have been confirmed.

Guess it's time to turn off the porn and put on FoxNews.

The arrests could just be because they had prohibited items (cell phones). To which I say: I don't care if they're terrorists or not, put them in jail for a spell. Did they not get the memo about cell phones?

(Actually, I don't know if cell phones are prohibited on US flights. But then, I'm not travelling by plane. I'd imagine there's signs to that effect in the airport.)

Posted by: Ace at 08:28 AM | Comments (64)
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Belmont Club wrote about Three Conjectures. Simple man that I am, I have only one.

I wrote this to an email correspondant and figured I'd post it. He wrote he was depressed and that World War III is coming. So am I, and yes it is.

Back in January I was talking up the End of the World and, seriously, people at parties would say, "Give them your Iran speech." Because they wanted me to depress other people, kind of like the worst party trick in the world.

I think we get all psyched about our technology, but the fact is the greatest war technology in history was created in 1945, and the Iranians are about to get it. They're 60 years behind us-- so what? The past 60 years we've made incredible advances, but mostly in terms of fighting war more surgically and humanely. And frankly, I don't know if that's really the best way to win wars. The best way to win a war remains to drop a nuke on a city (or smuggle it in). Everything since then is just trying to find conventional, humane methods that can approach the same level of effectiveness. And we ourselves are 40 or so years from developing any non-nuclear strategy that is as effective as the simple and direct nuclear one.

So, a year from now, the Iranian madmen will be, for all real purposes, our equals in warfighting. Or our betters, as they, unlike us, are not afraid to use the best weapon available.

What can be done about this? Almost nothing.

There are those who contend that Bush will not leave office without solving the Iranian nuclear crisis -- that, unpopular or not, he will give the world a parting gift of a de-nuclearized Iran. I doubt that very strongly. I think Bush is a gambler, and sometimes daring, but I think he's been chastened by the world's (and America's) reaction to the War in Iraq and I think he's satisfied he's pushed America to the outer boundaries of its willingness to stave off nuclear holocaust and can push no further. I think he'll kick the can down the road to his successor, who will also not likely do much of anything.

What would it take to de-nuclearize Iran? For starters, the "reconstruction" plan is off the table. There will be no attempt to restore order to Iran. Our experience in Iraq has demonstrated that this is too bloody and too difficult a proposition. Therefore, were we to act militarily against Iran at all, we would leave it in chaos and violence and yes, full-on civil war. This is something I can live with just fine, but the fact we would in fact "break it" and yet announce we ould not fix it from the get-go is enough to put most Americans off of such an undertaking.

Iran has three times the population of Iraq. Any Iraq-style occupation would require far more troops than we have now. A draft would be required, and the American people are not willing to contemplate a draft. They'd rather, I'm pretty sure, take their chances on Boston, LA, DC, or NYC going up in a plume of nuclear fire before they'd permit a draft.

So that option is out.

The only possible military solution would be a punishing and inhumane aerial bombing campaign to destroy not only all of Iran's military capabilities, and known nuclear laboratories, but all centers of state control and economic production as well. This would be accompanied by a ground invasion, not an occupation -- a blitz of tanks and APCs moving in long columns to seize as much of Iran's nuclear equipment and materiel as possible, and capture what few scientists we could before they were all smuggled out of the country to be given safe haven with Al Qaeda. That's not quite as scary a prospect as it may seem, as scientists still need a state funded laboratory to build a nuke.

After accomplishing those limited goals, we'd exit, or at least retreat to bases inside the country to let the Iranian civil far fight itself out. Of course we'd assist by arming the moderates and bombing the radicals, but essentailly we'd let them butcher each other until they themselves had won their own war. No more exchaning American lives for foreign Islamic lives; quite frankly, not only is the trade not worth it, but we just don't have enough American lives to spare.

Would that work? I think it's got a decent chance of working; a state essentially knocked back into pre-industrial, pre-modern economic squalor and civil war won't have the resources, or the organization, to continue threatening the world.

The one drawback is that if it fails, we have given Iran all the pretext it needs to nuke our cities, but this is mitigated by the fact that they don't need an pretext, and are going to use the bomb as soon as they get a dozen of them anyway.

It would be a decent plan, if not for the fact that America simply will never agree to it. It would be a nasty thing but, from our perspective, a relatively painless thing, but I doubt the American people are willing to take the necessary steps to ensure their own survival at this point.

There are two many in this country who are determined to take the course of appeasement, and take a wait-and-see-attitude about whether or not America is really all the poorer for losing three or four of its greatest cities.

So, the one conjecture is this: Iran is getting the bomb, and they're going to use the bomb, and there's not a damn thing we will do about it.

After this happens, which it will, conservatives can reap the political rewards of it all, and perhaps finally have a nation where appeasement of bloody-minded apocalyptic death-cult manicas is finally discredited, and we finally comprehend this isn't all just some neocon Cowboy fantasy.

But I'd have preferred such a situation without having to lose New York City. I like the city well enough, and love several of the people there, but it seems that there are some quite willing to accept its extirpation from the face of the earth if it buys them a little temporary convenience, a little temporary "peace," a little temporary goodwill from Europe, and a little temporary preening that we are "better" than our enemies, though not, alas, as many as we once were.

Breaking Bitches Update: Mort Kondracke mentioned a fact I wasn't aware of: Iran is a net importer of gasoline. Certainly this must be due to a lack of refinement capability; they don't lack oil itself.

An embargo -- or, rather, a full on naval blockade, with blocking on land routes in Afghanistan and Iraq as well -- might have some effect, and might destabilize the regime before this comes to pass; but I doubt it. External threats and misery opposed by external forces tends to increases support of a leader, not sap it.

Posted by: Ace at 07:17 AM | Comments (193)
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Brief review: As David Spade would say, "I liked it better when it was called Quick Change and Clive Owen was played by Bill Murray."

Reprinted spoiler-free conclusion from the review's end:

It's worth a rental, as I have a rule that if a movie is good for half of its running length, then it's a good movie compared to 90% of the other crap out there, which tends to go off the rails within twenty minutes. It's just overrated, and not nearly as clever or innovative as it believes, and Spike Lee, while more restrained than in, say, Do The Right Thing, is still fundamentally annoying and an NYU student-film director making movies about "issues," albeit with a very, very high budget for a student film.

So, see it, it's not bad, but don't buy into the hype, and be prepared to be annoyed an awful lot along the way by Lee's politics and some dubious plotting.

Addendum: Although this review reads like a pan, I didn't mean it to be a full-on pan. The cat-and-mouse game between Washington and Owen (or is it mouse-and-cat?) is terrific and engaging, two smart guys trying to outsmart each other. I was happy to see Denzel drop the standard stall/make friends negotiation playbook and say, "Let's cut through the bullshit. You know how this is going to go down. You ain't getting any bus or plane. You're too smart to believe that. Didn't you see Dog Day Afternoon?" (Paraphrased.)

I just wish Clive Owen had responded, "Why yes, I did see that. Too bad about Fredo. But didn't you ever see Quick Change?"

The trouble is really the ending, which fails to satisfy. At least for me. The ride, however, is pretty enjoayble.

MILD SPOILER WARNING

I've tried to be elipitical about things, but any review gives things away. That's why I stopped reading critics' reviews of any movie containing any sort of mystery or twist. They always give it away.

Longer review follows.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 05:21 AM | Comments (40)
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But Palestinian terrorists aren't part of Al Qaeda, right? They just want some land to kick back on and chill.

More: Mary Katherine "Superstar" Ham is updating furiously.

Some say the link is dead, but it works for me. This link should take you to the blog's home page, but you have to scroll down for the story.

John... wants to know if we can call the Palestinians terrorists now that they're not jut kidnapping and killing Jews. For some reason, the world is always ready to give the Palestiinans a terrorist-mulligan on murdering and kidnapping Jews.

However, I think the terrorist-mulligan also applies, in the world's eyes, to Zionist Opressor news organizations like Fox, and its employees.

Posted by: Ace at 04:30 AM | Comments (36)
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Remember, it's not unethical if you're on the right left side of history.

Posted by: Ace at 05:16 PM | Comments (124)
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Some get it. Most, even many of those on "our side," don't. It's too horrible to contemplate.

Fanatics filled with hate cannot be either deterred or bought off, whether Hezbollah, Hamas or the government of Iran.

...

Humiliation and hate go together. Why humiliation? Because a once-proud, dynamic culture in the forefront of world civilizations, and still carrying a message of their own superiority to "infidels" today, is painfully visible to the whole world as a poverty-stricken and backward region, lagging far behind in virtually every field of human endeavor.

There is no way that they can catch up in a hundred years, even if the rest of the world stands still. And they are not going to wait a hundred years to vent their resentments and frustrations at the humiliating position in which they find themselves.

Israel's very existence as a modern, prosperous western nation in their midst is a daily slap across the face. Nothing is easier for demagogues than to blame Israel, the United States, or western civilization in general for their own lagging position.

Hitler was able to rouse similar resentments and fanaticism in Germany under conditions not nearly as dire as those in most Middle East countries today. The proof of similar demagogic success in the Middle East is all around.

...

These are the kinds of people we are talking about getting nuclear weapons. And what of ourselves?

...

Even ruthless conquerors of the past, from Genghis Khan to Adolf Hitler, wanted some tangible gains for themselves or their nations -- land, wealth, dominion. What Middle East fanatics want is the destruction and humiliation of the west.

Read the whole thing.

And read this explication on Muslims' "psychological uniqueness," while you're at it.

Thanks to both from Larwyn.

Posted by: Ace at 12:47 PM | Comments (125)
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Larry the Urbanite is gone, not for some rinky-dink reason, but for such an utterly anti-American, pro-terrorist douchemove that I just refuse to tolerate him any longer on the site.

Someone did some googling and came up with a lot of bullshit by him, none of which especially bothered me, except for one little thing he did that was positively anti-American-- just to somehow "annoy" me, a frickin' midlevel blogger no one's ever heard of.

I'd say who that someone was, but I don't know if he's proud of his work or would rather it be kept on the downlow.

In any event, goodbye, Larry. As you seem to frequently call for the banning of rightwing "trolls" on leftwing sites, I'm sure you can have no complaint about this.

(And no--that's not the reason I'm banning him. I could give a fig about silly hypocrisy like that from a leftie. It's their stock in trade.)

Posted by: Ace at 11:34 AM | Comments (158)
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But they never let their personal politics intrude into their professional writings.

There is no Sanctuary.

There is no Sanctuary.

There is no Sanctuary.

Related: If there was anything lamer than Logan's Run, the movie, it was Logan's Run, the TV series, which, if my deep memory is correct, was on for about six weeks total.

Posted by: Ace at 11:20 AM | Comments (47)
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