It's 1:13 on the East Coast, and news is coming over the wires that Steve Irwin, the wildlife documentarian and the owner/curator of Australia Zoo (better known to anyone with a TV as "The Crocodile Hunter") has been killed in what appears to be a freak accident today.

The picture above, shows Mr. Irwin and his wife Terri. He also has left a young son and a young daughter behind.

Although details are sketchy, it appears Mr. Irwin was the victim of one of the animals he was filming. According to early reports, the barb of a sting ray penetrated his chest resulting in his death.

Now, I understand that many will see something ironic and possibly even amusing in the circumstances surrounding Mr. Irwin's death. Since Ace has not seen fit to revoke my posting privileges yet, I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for Mr. Irwin's work, and to express my sincere condolences to his family.

In fact, Steve Irwin is somebody for whom I feel a special debt of gratitude. I'll get into the reasons why in the extended entry so that those of you who aren't interested in a tribute, or who are (with good reason I grant you) expecting me to engage in snark can skip the rest of the entry. Further, the extended entry will be long. Don't say you weren't warned. more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:59 PM | Comments (280)
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Roger Schmiedeskamp, superintendent of the Manning school district, joined other men, including bankers and insurance salesmen, in appearing in a 2007 calendar that will be sold to raise money for the local Rotary Club.

Those Rotarians are crazy.

Craaaaaaaazy.

I didn’t see anything that was inappropriate about it,” said Schmiedeskamp, who wore a swimsuit during the photo shoot. “I think it’s a worthwhile cause to raise some money to help the community.”

In case anyone asks, I typed Schmiedeskamp freehand, without cutting and pasting.

Posted by: Ace at 08:16 PM | Comments (27)
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Tough, strong:

aqi and coalition forces have arrested the second most senior figure in Al Qaeda in Iraq, Iraq's national security adviser announced on Sunday, saying the group now suffered from a "serious leadership crisis."

Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi, known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana, was captured north of Baghdad a few days ago "along with another group of his aides and followers," Mouwafak al-Rubaie said.

He was the second most important Al Qaeda in Iraq leader after Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over the group after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. air strike north of Baghdad on June 7, al-Rubaie said.

...

Al-Rubaie said al-Saeedi was arrested "along with another group of his aides and followers," and that after his arrest, he gave information that led to the capture or death of 11 other top Al Qaeda in Iraq figures and nine lower-level members.

Posted by: Ace at 07:20 PM | Comments (35)
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Osama bin Laden's deputy appears in a new video posted on the Internet a short while ago. Nic Robertson joins us now from Islamabad, Pakistan. What do you know about this tape, Nic?

more...

Posted by: John From WuzzaDem at 06:19 PM | Comments (12)
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Ok, I'm pretty much wrong about that.

Are there any more football games today?

Posted by: Ace at 01:57 PM | Comments (37)
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Really. It's too geeky for me. But I'm sure some of you morons are interested.

Since it's a birthday weekend and all, July 7, 2007 will be the hunnerth anniversary of the birth of Robert A. Heinlein.

I read some of his stuff back when I couldn't get a date.

Ok, I read a lot of his stuff. Shut up already.

h/t Claire

Posted by: Ace at 01:51 PM | Comments (26)
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Listen up, mofo's. I made so much cash on my college football picks that I not only made bail money, I had enough left over to make my little "problem" with the Thai tranny "disappear".

So, I'm a free man once again. And I'm going to Vegas. By way of Tuscaloosa, I think. Because I noticed Beth from My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy dropped by in the comments, and she seems like a woman of distinction and exceptional tastes. By which I mean easy. That's just the way I roll. Like the Tide, baby.

Anyway, I figured I'd throw up a quick recap of yesterday's action so you 'tards could kick yourself for not following my advice.

Winning Picks: Ohio State, Texas, Auburn, West Virginia, Southern Cal, Florida, LSU, UAB, Georgia, Iowa, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Penn State, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas Tech.

Losing Picks: Notre Dame, California, Michigan.

See that? That's 16-3 against the spread with 3 games remaining to be played.

Never, I repeat never, doubt the memories of a time-travelling, foul mouthed, talking sandwich bitches!

Now I'm off to blow my winnings. Beth, make sure you get us a couple seats at Dreamland, OK?

Note: The original image of me, Johnny Coldcuts, was created by a punk-ass bitch named Skippy who writes (if you can call it that) at "Enjoy Every Sandwich". He cries when he doesn't get attention. But what do we care? He's Canadian, and they don't matter anyway.

UPDATE: 17-3 bitches! Thanks for covering TCU. Just like I predicted...

UPDATE #2: 17-4. I BLAME BUSH! Son of a bitch had 3 rushing TD's before he broke his leg. Just for that, Kentucky's #1 fan Ashley Judd gets no sex from me tonight. I don't placate.

Posted by: Ace at 11:01 AM | Comments (92)
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So says one of the characters in a pirated video clip from the new season of "Desperate Housewives" that's been leaked to YouTube.

Click to find out what she's talking about.

I'm not buying it.

Posted by: AndrewR at 10:12 AM | Comments (64)
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Two days ago. Am I the only one who missed this?

From the LA Times:

BANGKOK, Thailand — At least 22 bombs exploded almost simultaneously Thursday at banks in southern Thailand, killing one person and wounding 27. Four suspects were arrested and officials today were searching for more people visible on security videotapes.

Twenty-eight people hurt is twenty-eight too many, but I'm amazed that the number was that low. Seems like there was potential for this to have been a whole lot worse.

Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit said in Bangkok that authorities had learned that Muslim rebels were planning to launch a major attack Thursday to coincide with the national day of Malaysia and the founding day of Bersatu, believed to be an umbrella group for a number of rebel groups fighting the Bangkok government...It wasn't immediately clear why the insurgents would stage the attack to coincide with a celebration of Malaysia's independence from Great Britain.

It's not immediately clear to me why anyone still thinks these guys need a reason for anything.

Here's the thing: My news gathering habits aren't as thorough as they probably could be, but I've spent a fair amount of time over the last couple days surfing around, and a link posted yesterday at Pajamas Media was the first I heard of this. A search on the New York Times' website for "thailand bank bombing", looking for stories from the past week, turned up exactly zero results (And, to be fair, Fox News didn't seem to be too concerned either).

Violent incidents — including bombings, shootings and beheadings — occur nearly every day.

Major media coverage of such events apparently doesn't.

Isn't twenty-two bombs going off simultaneously a pretty big deal, regardless of where it happens?

Update: Gray Dunhall takes me to task in the comments. Apparently I was the only one who missed this. He points out that the Washington Post, BBC, Times of London, and the Boston Globe, among others, carried it.

Posted by: AndrewR at 07:15 AM | Comments (22)
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Four family members, coming from a broad strata of society (aka Pakistani Muslims), murder a 20-year-old girl in Italy for smoking and wearing low-slung jeans.

Submit or die.

A Saudi man was convicted in Colorado for enslaving and sexually assaulting his Indonesian housekeeper.

He's unrepetentant. He can't be convicted, he says, because he was merely following "basic Muslim behaviors:"

"Your honor, I am not here to apologize, for I cannot apologize for things I did not do and for crimes I did not commit,” he told Judge Mark Hannen. “The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution,” he said.

He said it, not me. And he is, I assume, more of an authority of "basic Muslim behaviors" than I am (or intend to be, Al Qaeda's invitation to covert to barbarism notwitstanding).

Submit or die.

LGF also points out that the man's bail was immediately posted by the Saudi government. I imagine the man will attempt to flee back to Saudi Arabia, where "basic Muslim behaviors" such as these aren't persecuted.

Submit or die.

One point in the Islamofascists' favor-- they're not being dishonest about their goals. They are, commendably, upfront about their intentions, although the Western media and left refuse to listen to what they're saying.

Dinocrat makes a good point. First he quotes the Al Qaeda convert-or-die video:

“Instead of killing yourself for Bush … why not surrender to the truth (of Islam), escape from the unbelieving army and join the winning side. Time is running out so make the right choice before it’s too late,” he said.

“You know that if you die as an unbeliever in battle against the Muslims you’re going straight to Hell without passing ‘Go,’” Gadahn said on the video, addressing American soldiers…

What should one make of all this? One possible interpretation is that al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and the other cadres of fundamentalist Islam are a little fed up at having their message diluted. They certainly do not think of themselves as people who have “hijacked” a religion, and it’s pretty obvious that they don’t think they represent a “religion of peace.” However, they very specifically claim to represent and speak on behalf of the religion of Islam, to which they invite our conversion.

Submit or die.

This isn't a complicated, highly nuanced message or anything. In fact, it's a rather direct, "cowboy-ish" sort of message from the swaggering unilateralist chimps of the Islamic world.

And yet some just refuse to get it. Because "getting it" would require them to do something about it, and they've already ruled that out.

Submit or die.

Many seem to have already made their choice for "submit" at any and all costs.

Thanks to Larwyn for the latter two tips.

A More Positive Story... Some Western Muslims at long last willing and ready to join the fight against Islamic extremism.

It's not all good news, of course. The few Muslims willing to inform on their murderous correligionists are criticized by "moderate" Muslims for fracturing Muslim amity.

Posted by: Ace at 10:41 PM | Comments (48)
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