The actor in question is not Sean Penn, it turns out.

It's the actor playing the role of deceased terrorist leader Osama bin Ladin. The audiotape was reportedly released to Al Jazeera a few hours ago.

Again, the obvious: Al Qaeda seems very interested in Iraq, despite Democrats' claims to the contrary. Furthermore, this actor issues a rallying cry in the name of Osama bin Ladin (deceased), confirming that things aren't going well for Al Qaeda in Iraq of late.

Al Qaeda apparently has gotten the news. Why is it the media tries to keep the American public from receiving it?

Posted by: Ace at 10:50 AM | Comments (18)
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As Al Qaeda's fortunes turn sour in Iraq, so do the Democrats' fortunes in America.

Mainstream-media types tend to think that, while rising casualties from Iraq are legitimate news, falling casualties are not. But even so the word got out: The surge strategy was producing results. Anbar province, given up for lost in 2006, turned peaceful and cooperative in 2007. U.S. casualties and Iraqi civilian casualties were down. Brookings scholars Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, no fans of the administration’s conduct of the war, announced on July 30 (in the pages of the New York Times, no less) that this was “a war we might just win.”

The congressional Democrats got ready for one more push in September. But the testimony of General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker cut the ground from under their feet. Now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (who declared last spring that the war was lost) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi seem to have thrown in the towel. The Democratic Congress will not use its power to appropriate to end the surge or to bring the soldiers home.

That leaves the left wing of the party angry at its leaders and the party split on the war, much as it was in 2002, when about half of congressional Democrats voted to authorize military action.

The Democrats here suffered from a lack of imagination. They could not imagine that the United States military could perform more effectively in 2007 than it did in 2005 and 2006.

...

Democrats are coming face to face with the fact that there’s a war on — and that Americans prefer success to failure. If the choice is between stalemate and withdrawal, as it seemed to be in November 2006, they may favor withdrawal; but if the choice is between victory and withdrawal, they don’t want to quit — or to undermine the effort.

Last week, Democrat Niki Tsongas won a special election with only 51 percent of the vote, in a Massachusetts district where John Kerry won 57 percent in 2004 and would have run much better in 2006. History doesn’t stand still — we’re not in 2006 anymore.

Thanks to Ogre Gunner.

Posted by: Ace at 10:46 AM | Comments (9)
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That's right.

You and your whole guild of Chinese gold farming leet-ninja's can take your crappy ass guild and stick it up your pale, never seen the sun, pimpled ass.

Sure, you claim to be a "friendly guild" that wants to "help people level" and "run instances for phat loot".

But if that's the case, why are you continually sending me whispered messages asking me to engage in "HOT CHAT in the DEEPRUN TRAM"? more...

Posted by: Jack M. at 10:46 AM | Comments (50)
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They fussed with the FAA for a few years, trying to get the embarrasing three letter designator SUX changed. The FAA offered them five alternatives, GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY which airport trustees turned down.

GAY?

Anyway, they've decided to turn the tables, take advantage of the name recognition and make it the centerpiece of their FLY SUX marketing campaign.

Hell, I remember when Southwestern Bell changed the call exchange prefix of Hewitt Texas to "666" in the early eighties. Those little Texas baptists were in full freakout mode. Oh the fuss.

Well I say the board members are to be commended, if not for their marketing acumen then at least for having a sense of humor.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 10:45 AM | Comments (23)
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"What turns you on?"

James Lipton, the host of U.S. talk show, Inside the Actors' Studio, once worked as a pimp in Paris, France.

The revered TV presenter, who has sat down with Hollywood's biggest names for in-depth chats about their life and work over the last 13 years, has revealed he once procured clients for French hookers.

He says, "This was when I was very very young, living in Paris, penniless, unable to get any kind of working permit... I had a friend who worked in what is called the Milieu, which is that world and she suggested to me one night, `Look, you'll be my meck... We would translate it perhaps... as pimp.

"We were earning our living together, this young woman and I, we made a rather good living, I must say."

Thanks to dri.

Posted by: Ace at 10:42 AM | Comments (10)
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From Jonah at NRO who lives for these.

Sorry, I got sucked in and had to finish.

Posted by: Ace at 10:26 AM | Comments (13)
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The most important endorsement since the Burning Bush took a shine to Moses.

In very related news, though, many Christian leaders have apparently decided that none of the GOP candidates are worthy of their votes, even including Huckabee. This was before Chuck Norris made his sun-dowsing threat, however.

Posted by: Ace at 09:47 AM | Comments (30)
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Something is fishy about the way this trial ended. The verdict in the criminal case against several leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for funding Hamas was due to be read this morning. The foreman got up and announced that the jury had unanimously acquitted the men for most of the charges.

That's when things got weird. When individually polled, three jurors claimed that the decision was not unanimous. The judge sent them back to the jury room to figure it out. An hour later, they reported back that no unanimous verdict was possible and the judge declared a mistrial.

So what's going on here? The jury foreman says that things were unanimous the first time they voted. What do you guys think?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:19 AM | Comments (13)
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Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some oil
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a drop away
It's just a drop away
War, children, it's just a drop away
It's just a drop away

World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown...

...The market volatility witnessed in recent months has been, to a large extent, the result of imbalance between the available refining capacity and the demand for petroleum products. Until the necessary investments are undertaken in the downstream sector of the industry, volatility is likely to remain a feature of the oil market. OPEC Member Countries, both on their own and in partnership with some international oil companies, have taken the initiative to pursue and invest in downstream projects, both inside and outside their countries. OPECÂ’s investments in the downstream, are part of its ongoing efforts to ease market volatility and to help prices to moderate toward levels consistent with healthy economic growth, particularly in the developing countries...

It's pretty obvious that nobody is going to "produce oil" when there is no capacity to store or refine it. It doesn't taste good - so you can't eat it, if tankers can't unload, because the refiners can't handle the volume, then the shipping pipeline starts to clog up like Ted Kennedy's arteries...and naturally the "production" facilities back down cuz they got no place to put the shit. This is economics 101.

OPEC, as much as I'd like to bash them, has recognized the actual problem even if the democrats in the US haven't and apparently has put a downstream expansion plan in place. The OPEC plan looks to be fairly aggressive as well given the time it takes to engineer and construct refineries and such.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 06:56 AM | Comments (52)
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He's offering FREE SYNDICATION of his dispatches to National Newspaper Association members.

...Although it took a little back and forth, and some additional pressure from all the other bloggers who started tracking on the topic, the AP finally dispatched a reporter to the scene. The resulting article was picked up by at least one other major media outlet, reaching thousands more people. This got me to thinking: what if I made a similar offer on a more permanent basis to a large media syndication, say, the National Newspaper Association?...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:33 AM | Comments (14)
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