Not to preempt Ace, or anything, but I'm pleased to say that it's that time of year, again. The finalists have been selected for the weblog awards competition. As usual, Ace's place was selected in the category "Best Conservative Blog."

He's got a lot of worthy competition, but there's one site that shouldn't be listed in that category. That would be John "I just registered as a Democrat" Cole. I expect his Kossack friends will be pleased to see he gets the Conservative category award.

Also, congratulations to Nice Deb for selection to the category "Best New Blog." Good luck.

Voting begins on Friday.

UPDATE: Cole has been taken out of the "Best Conservative Blog" category because the poll software would only support 10 choices (they had selected 12 finalists).

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:09 PM | Comments (13)
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I asked Patterico if he could ask his LAT connections about the rumor, and he got editor Matt Welch on the record saying, basically, it's total bullshit.

I might chalk that up to a typical denial but he seems pretty emphatic. Unless he's just a brazen liar, it does seem he hasn't heard of this rumor that "everyone knows about" and he is not at the moment wrestling with his conscience about printing something or other.

Ah, well.

Back in 1993 I met a guy who had just gone to work in Clinton's, or rather Lloyd Bentsen's, Treasury Department. Democrat type guy, obviously. He'd been in DC four or five months tops. He told everyone gathered that "everyone knew" that Hillary was a lesbian; it was "common knowledge."

But how could "everyone know," I asked.

Everyone just knows, he said.

How? I asked.

Well, everyone says, he modified.

So I don't know. I've heard "everyone knows" from people "in the know" for 14 years.

Posted by: Ace at 07:45 PM | Comments (41)
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Back when England had a pair.

Before Reagan, there was Winston. A man who understood the threat.

Where is that man today?

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:17 PM | Comments (14)
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Very well done amateur film about an ex-con trying to make his way in the world after a long imprisonment for puppet rape and mutilation.

There are five episodes; if you want to watch the rest, you'll have to click on YouTube to see parts 2 through 5.

They call it "Puppet Rapist," but we know they really mean Muppet Rapist.

Posted by: Ace at 06:51 PM | Comments (15)
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Nine large in punitive damages, on top of the $2.9 in compensatory damages.

Must watch video here of the jerkoff arguing his case.

He says the case is all about the "freedom of speech which our soldiers are supposedly fighting for overseas."

Um, if screaming at a soldier's funeral that "God hates Fags" and "God Got his Vengeance" is free speech, I'm not sure I want it anymore.

Posted by: Ace at 05:58 PM | Comments (38)
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Grabbed from this forum.

Not So Much Scary As Repulsive: Rosie O'Donnell on Martha Stewart.

Rosie's dressed up for Halloween, apparently as Elizabeth I.

And also Elizabeth II, III, IV, VII, and XII.

A Ticket For Your Soul: Dare to dream?

Thanks to Rosetta.

Posted by: Ace at 05:29 PM | Comments (12)
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No, it's not another of those nudy protests. An Israeli solder was being questioned for refusing to submit to a drug test.

A short while after her questioning began the soldier was seen walking out of the interrogation room and heading toward the main gate.

An officer at the base told her she was under arrest and demanded that she return to the interrogation room, at which point the soldier took her shirt off and told the officer: "Let's see if you can arrest me."

The soldier took advantage of the officer's momentary lack of concentration and quickly left the base. She was caught a short while later.

It's official. Straight men are too stupid to live.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:09 PM | Comments (17)
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British Labour think-tank recommends "downgrading" Christmas, in recognition that Britain is no longer a Christian nation and of course in the interest of not giving offense.

Bonus: It seems the think-tank actually wished to expunge (their word) the holiday from the calendar, but considered that unachievable.

And there's more: Britishness must be redefined, it seems, as polyglot transnational multiculturalism.

Christmas should be downgraded in favour of festivals from other religions to improve race relations, says an explosive report.

Labour's favourite think-tank says that because it would be hard to 'expunge' Christmas from the national calendar, 'even-handedness' means public organisations must start giving other religions equal footing.

...

The report robustly defends multiculturalism - the idea that different communities should not be forced to integrate but should be allowed to maintain their own culture and identities.

And it says immigrants should be required to acquire some proficiency in English and other aspects of British culture 'if - but only if - the settled population is willing to open up national institutions and practices to newcomers and give a more inclusive cast to national narratives and symbols'.

It adds: 'Even-handedness dictates that we provide public recognition to minority cultures and traditions.

'If we are going to continue as a nation to mark Christmas - and it would be very hard to expunge it from our national life even if we wanted to - then public organisations should mark other religious festivals too.

'We can no longer define ourselves as a Christian nation, nor an especially religious one in any sense.

'The empire is gone, church attendance is at historically low levels, and the Second World War is inexorably slipping from memory.'

...

The report, written by IPPR advisers Ben Rogers and Rick Muir, calls on Ministers to launch an 'urgent and upfront campaign' promoting a 'multicultural understanding of Britishness'.

'Multiculturalism can be shown to provide for a fairer and more liberal society and does not necessarily lead to social division and community conflict, as its critics have claimed,' it says.

On the upside, we're all going to die anyway.

Posted by: Ace at 05:07 PM | Comments (23)
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Ace-West invitation emails have gone out. If you didn't get one then you gave me a fake email address in the comments (this means you Mr. Matamoros).

There are about 20 people coming. Aside from the Moron-in-Chief, we'll have at least two L.A.-area bloggers joining us, plus folks from as far north as Sacramento.

Whoops: Aceapalooza West will be this coming Saturday, the 3rd, in West L.A.

If you want to come, but didn't get an email then please say so in the comments to this post (be sure to use a real email addy so I can contact you) or email me at gabriel.malor at gmail.

I'm still looking for two to four volunteers to help me carry Ace to steve_in_hb's car at the end of the evening. Also, one attendee is preemptively bringing a police sketch artist.

Also [Ace]: If there's any interest, some of you can come down the following weekend to Santa Barbara, maybe the following Thursday (the eighth). Jeff Goldstein and Prof. Rusty Shackleford and commenter Nordbuster should be in town then as well. Andrew Breitbart too, though I don't know if he'd rub shoulders with our ilk. He's got that crazy Drudge money and all.

I'll either be in my room watching Ghost Rider or in the hotel bar, so it's 50/50.

I don't know if that's much better for people in the central or northern part of the state. California geography is a blank to me, except that I know it's really, really big.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:54 PM | Comments (18)
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Target-rich environment:

Afghan civilians piled belongings onto trucks Wednesday and fled two villages infiltrated by hundreds of Taliban militants outside Afghanistan's second-largest city. U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops had about 250 of the insurgents surrounded.

The troops killed 50 militants in three days of fighting 15 miles north of Kandahar city, the provincial police chief said. Three policemen and one Afghan soldier also died.

"The people are fleeing because the Taliban are taking over civilian homes," Sayed Agha Saqib said. "There have been no airstrikes. We are trying our best to attack those areas where there are no civilians, only Taliban."

Saqib said 250 militants were surrounded, and 16 suspected Taliban have been arrested.

The fighters moved into the Arghandab district of Kandahar province this week, about two weeks after the death of a tribal leader, Mullah Naqib, who had kept Taliban fighters out of his region. President Hamid Karzai traveled to Kandahar for Naqib's funeral.

"He was a good influence for his tribe. He was supporting the government," Saqib said of Naqib. "After he died the Taliban were thinking they would go to Arghandab and cause trouble for Kandahar city. But now they're surrounded and they're in big trouble."

The gathering of fighters on the doorstep of Kandahar — the Taliban's former power base — is reminiscent of last year's battle in neighboring Panjwayi district, one of the biggest fights in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

NATO officials have said hundreds of Taliban tried to overrun Kandahar last year. But Saqib said he did not believe the militants occupying the villages of Chaharqulba and Sayedan would attempt a run on Afghanistan's main southern city.

"We are capturing and killing them and I don't think it will cause any problem for Kandahar," he said.

Posted by: Ace at 04:29 PM | Comments (15)
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