Well, those bastards did it.

Not content to strip me of my status as a planet, they have gone and taken my name away too.

No longer am I Pluto, Lord of the Underworld.

Now I am "asteroid number 134340".

Classified like a freakin' asteroid. Have they no shame?

It's times like these that weigh heavy on a Planet's (you heard me...PLANET'S) soul. In fact, my existential angst has perhaps only been adequately captured by one mortal.

Bob Seger.

Oh brave bard of Michigan, sing those words that bring solace to my soul. After all, am I not like a rock? If you cut me do I not dull your knife?

You know the words I speak of, Bob. They appear in your song "Feel Like a Number" from 1978's tour-de-force album "Stranger in Town" as follows:

"Hey its me
And I feel like a number
Feel like a number
Feel like a stranger
A stranger in this land
I feel like a number
Im not a number
Im not a number
Dammit Im a man
I said Im a man".

I too am a man. A man among planets. And I shall see my good name restored. This I vow.

Picture and article from Space.com

Posted by: Ace at 12:31 PM | Comments (50)
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Still in NYC, by the way. Hard to blog on other people's computers. They get annoyed.

I'm headed back tonight, which means at some point there's going to be no more posts for the day. At least until 9 or so.

Posted by: Ace at 10:36 AM | Comments (15)
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A bit of a 9/11 convert to patriotism. He'd previously despised the flag and "unthinking patriotism," but now sees patriotism as a mutual-survival social compact.

And of course he's doing that Batman Vs. Al Qaeda comic.

Posted by: Ace at 10:22 AM | Comments (57)
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Few are the commentors who, through their epic prose, their poetic use of language and the sheer strength of their personality, rise to the level of "Site Icons".

Which is, after all, just a nicer way of saying "mascot".

Spurwing Plover, however, is one of these rare visitors. Is he as rare as the Bugun Liochuchla pictured above? Only time will tell. But it appears, in any event, that the world has a newly discovered bird species to add to it's collection.

And I thought Spurwing would want to know.

Steve Irwin's Revenge: But new birds are not the only news out of the animal kingdom today. Apparently, roving bands of militant Irwinists are scouring the Aussie shores for stingrays to kill so that their fallen leader may be avenged.

Or so says this story anyway.

Freaking Stingrays. Who's your daddy now???

Posted by: Ace at 10:20 AM | Comments (49)
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Currently -- and remember, this is around 9/11, when Republican sentiments are at their strongest; the GOP will lose some of this support by November -- they may just hold the House, too.

Gallup asked an interesting question at the height of the Democratic tide -- were Democrats merely racking up huge majorities in Congressional districts they already controlled, or were Democrats actually competitive in Republican districts? If they were merely garnering enormous amounts of superfluous votes in districts they already held, that wouldn't change the composition of the House.

Sadly, it turned out that Democrats were polling strongly in districts which were historically Republican.

But a funny thing happened. That trend has reversed itself.

But then Democrats began to lose favor in Republican districts, falling steadily from 51% in late June, to 46% a month later, then to 43% in early August, and finally to the current low of 40% in the August 18-20 survey. Support for Republicans, in contrast, rose 14 points in six weeks, from a low of 40% to its current level of 54%.

This 25-point turnaround began prior to the August 10 revelation that London and U.S. intelligence officials had thwarted a terrorist plot to blow up a dozen airliners. Interestingly, Gallup also reviewed its last pre-election poll in 2004 and learned that Republicans managed to expand their House and Senate majorities with an identical 54%-to- 40% margin of support in their own districts.

Gallup rightly concludes that “the ‘action’ in this year’s House elections will be in the Republican-held districts” and that whether they maintain or increase that support “will be key to their ability to keep partisan control of the U.S. House.”

National Journal’s Charles Cook predicted last week that “the House will turn” provided “nothing changes.” Gallup’s insightful analysis indicates that a politically meaningful change may be underway already.

People are prone to engage in all sorts of wild ideas before they're forced to make a choice. For example, looking for a cheap replacement computer, I began getting sucked into the idea of buying a hugely powerful computer just so I could get awesome framerates for games I don't play. I just wanted that power.

After dreaming about getting a $2000+ computer, reality set back in, and I started looking at the $850-$950 models again. What I really wanted was two things I couldn't have simultaneously -- a $2000 computer for a $900 pricetag. I could have one, but not the other -- but I was determined to have both.

Until I realized I just couldn't.

John McCain just called the American public schizo on Iraq. This dovetails into the want-two-contradictory-things-at-once impulse:

Sen. John McCain said the American people are showing a "schizophrenic" reaction to the prospect of a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.

"They're frustrated, and they want us to get out,” the Arizona Republican said before a fund-raiser for Rep. Dan Lungren, R.-Calif.

"But if we ask the American people if we should set a certain date or a calendar, they agree with the president, and with me, and with Dan, that it is a recipe for disaster. We have to have conditions on the ground that indicate we can withdraw.

"Americans are really kind of schizophrenic about this issue.”

As I've said repeatedly, Americans want two things:

1) A quick exit from Iraq, and for the war to be finally over

and

2) Victory in Iraq

Just like I couldn't have my $2400 Alienware jacked-up supernotebook for $800, the American people can't have both of these simultaneously. They want both, but they can't have both. They can flirt with a fantasy world for a while before coming to the sad conclusion that they can only have one, and at that point they have to prioritize which of the two is most important.

The Democrats' summer poll numbers relied on selling the public that they could have both at the same time, because what they were really offering was just a hasty pullout from Iraq without victory. But they had to convince the American public that both were possible at the same time, and that the Democrats could deliver that wondrous combination.

And it worked-- for a time. So long as people weren't thinking about it that hard. And for as long as people could hold out hope that the Democrats could finally explain how an Al Qaeda-dominated Iraq, with American forces deployed "over the horizon" in neighboring Okinawa, could actually satisfy the "victory" part of the promise.

But now that reality settles in, and the Democrats find themselves unable to explain the virtues of "Ready Response Force" located just a quick jump across the Sea of Japan, voters find themselves realizing that Withdrawal With Victory is a fantasy, and they must choose between Withdrawal or Victory.

And it seems as more American realize this, they realize that while Withdrawal is desirable, Victory is absolutely necessary.

Posted by: Ace at 10:04 AM | Comments (86)
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Oliver Stone + Conspiracy Theory + Political Overtones = No One Seeing The Movie.

I have a great name for the upcoming film: "Box Office Poison." (Thanks to Norm MacDonald for that.)

.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone, who surprised many with the patriotic flavour of his new film World Trade Center, hinted in Moscow yesterday that he is considering a more controversial follow-up investigating the "conspiracy" around 9/11.

"There is a great story in a movie, a conspiracy by a group of people in the American administration who have an agenda and who used 9/11 to further that agenda," he told journalists in Russia.

I was just speaking with a liberal-ish friend about the 9/11 Conspiracy Movement. He hadn't heard of it, and dismissed. But it is very much percolating into the mainstream of left-liberal thought.

Posted by: Ace at 09:24 AM | Comments (12)
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Challenger Mike Brouchard (R) has cracked the top ten of of highly competive election races, according to the WaPo, and threatens to unseat unpopular incumbent Debbie Stabenow:

10. Michigan: In a cycle that has given Republicans little reason for optimism, this race is one of the few that brings a smile to GOP strategists. Why? Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard (R) won a surprisingly easy primary victory last month and hails from the right part of the state to be competitive in the general election. Republicans believe incumbent Debbie Stabenow (D) is imminently beatable, arguing that she has accomplished almost nothing during her six years in the Senate. But Stabenow has been consistently underestimated during her political career and defeating her will be no easy task. Still, recent polling shows this race is winnable for Republicans -- especially considering the dismal economic conditions in the state. (Previous ranking: N/A)

This is doable.

It seems so absurd and trivial, but elections do seem to turn on not "the economy" generally, but about the price of gas at election time.

Someone had a great article about this that I linked but Google is, it seems, utterly retarded anymore. It barely finds anything anymore.

Donate! Rightroots allows you to donate to... well, anyone Rightroots has endorsed, with just a click.

If you want to support Brouchard, or other Rightroots-endorsed candidates, click on the link above.

Thanks to Mary Katherine Ham.

Cost of Oil Charted Against Republican Prospects: They move in nearly perfect tandem. Which you could see if the gif was actually visible, which, at the moment, it's not.

I knew I should have swiped that chart for my own site.

Thanks to search-engine ninja master IreneFingIrene.

Posted by: Ace at 09:18 AM | Comments (30)
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Good Anne Applebaum piece that restates the obvious that nevertheless needs to be restated.

[This] initial wave of goodwill hardly outlasted the news cycle. Within a couple of days a Guardian columnist wrote of the "unabashed national egotism and arrogance that drives anti-Americanism among swaths of the world's population". A Daily Mail columnist denounced the "self-sought imperial role" of the United States, which he said had "made it enemies of every sort across the globe".

...

And all of this was before Afghanistan, before Tony Blair was tainted by his friendship with George Bush, and before anyone knew the word "neo-con", let alone felt the need to claim not to be one.

The dislike of America, the hatred for what it was believed to stand for – capitalism, globalisation, militarism, Zionism, Hollywood or McDonald's, depending on your point of view – was well entrenched. To put it differently, the scorn now widely felt in Britain and across Europe for America's "war on terrorism" actually preceded the "war on terrorism" itself. It was already there on September 12 and 13, right out in the open for everyone to see.

The Europeans offered us approximately the same level of "support" and "goodwill" that Jerry Springer's crack staff of psychologists offers its damaged guests after a show. They had hoped that a mere disingenuous statement of solidarity would satisfy us, and foreclose any requests for actual solidarity.

When we asked for tangible assistance in seeking justice, not merely "closure," they showed their true colors.

Same Old, Same Old: Ron Reagan Jr., who never had an original thought in his head that didn't involve garden vegetables and his ass, spins the same old tired leftist cant:

I'm sure I'll carry some of those memories with me forever. But now, five years on, other thoughts, newer thoughts, crowd in. Today, when I think of 9/11, I think, among other things, of missed opportunity.

For a short while - an instant in geopolitical time - virtually the whole world stood with America, even those who didn't really care for us. What did we do with this moment?

Are we better off for not more effectively pursuing the architect of this atrocity, Osama bin Laden? Could we not see that to a culture steeped in a tradition of honor and vengeance, this failure to bring bin Laden to justice shamed us? Did we think that would make it easier to win hearts and minds?

Secret prisons, torture, and an unnecessary war against the wrong enemy - were these signs of wisdom or panic? Was there no more constructive way to approach that part of the world which spawned our attackers - not to appease but to creatively engage? Have we, in the intervening years, done our nation proud?

We will all remember 9/11 in our own ways. For me, the tragedy merely began on that day, then continued every day since in a litany of missed chances and squandered opportunities.

"Creatively engage" = the new euphemism for "appease."

What concrete sorts of "creative engagement" is he suggesting? He dares not say, as the specific examples of "creative engagement" would be seen to be appeasement. So he sells appeasement under a new brand name with very vague features.

If we just give them blowjobs, maybe they'll be nice to us.

Um, maybe. But I doubt it, and I'm not getting on my knees. If some Americans think this tact may work, I strongly suggest they take the next flight to Islamabad, make contact with the local jihadist community (i.e., pretty much every man on the street), and try it out.

And then get right back to us with an after-action report. Assuming their heads are still contiguous with their necks.

Thanks to Slublog for that.

Posted by: Ace at 08:29 AM | Comments (35)
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This comes from a Pakistani source, so it might all be a bunch of crap, designed to incense Pakistani public opinion against the US and against Musharraf.

If true, it's good news, but A.J. Strata questions the prudence of giving OBL a tip-off as to the new rules of hot (or even lukewarm) pursuit.

Posted by: Ace at 08:19 AM | Comments (9)
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The NYT (via Junkyard Blog's digest) has an expose of the "torture" used to break Zubaydah, and it turns out its a cold dank room and loud Red Hot Chili Peppers music.

Sounds like college to me.

I admit that if they used any RHCP album after Blood Sugar Sex Magic, that might just have gone afoul of the Geneva Conventions.

Also on Junkyard Blog:

* The old hoax about Bush's IQ from the "Lovenstein Institute" has actually been redone for "real" and published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Bush may be “much smarter” than the findings imply, says Simonton, but he scores particularly unimpressively for “openness to experience, a cognitive proclivity that encompasses unusual receptiveness to fantasy, aesthetics, actions, ideas and values. In the general population this factor is positively associated with intelligence”.

He scores low for "openness to experience and "receptiveness to fantasy"? And what the hell is is "values" doing there? "Values" are now part of IQ?

Check out this Russian-judge scoring:

Bush’s openness score of zero — compared with 82 for Clinton and John F Kennedy, 95 for Abraham Lincoln and 99.1 for Thomas Jefferson — “placed him at the very bottom of US presidents”.

But even though Bush scores a perfect zero on this part of the test, there is one person who scores worse:

Bush’s score, he says, is comparable to “extremist Islamic fundamentalists in the Taliban and Al-Qaeda leadership — with the notable exception of Osama Bin Laden, who is lower still”.

Hee, hee, hee.

Liberals continue to conflate "intelligence" with "liberal values" because they have so little of the former and so much of the latter. So of course they wish to believe they're interconnected.

And this is shocking: Saddam Hussein had a well-placed spy... at the Associated Press.

Posted by: Ace at 08:15 AM | Comments (20)
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