Via Instapundit.

[Justice Stevens] won a bronze star for his [World War II] service as a cryptographer, after he helped break the code that informed American officials that Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander of the Japanese Navy and architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, was about to travel to the front. Based on the code-breaking of Stevens and others, U.S. pilots, on RooseveltÂ’s orders, shot down YamamotoÂ’s plane in April 1943.

Stevens told me he was troubled by the fact that Yamamoto, a highly intelligent officer who had lived in the United States and become friends with American officers, was shot down with so little apparent deliberation or humanitarian consideration. The experience, he said, raised questions in his mind about the fairness of the death penalty. “I was on the desk, on watch, when I got word that they had shot down Yamamoto in the Solomon Islands, and I remember thinking: This is a particular individual they went out to intercept,” he said. “There is a very different notion when you’re thinking about killing an individual, as opposed to killing a soldier in the line of fire.” Stevens said that, partly as a result of his World War II experience, he has tried on the court to narrow the category of offenders who are eligible for the death penalty and to ensure that it is imposed fairly and accurately. He has been the most outspoken critic of the death penalty on the current court.

Eugene Volokh patiently explains why this is (my word here) fucking insane.

Remember, Justice Stevens will retire next term.

Think about that when making vows about never voting for an insufficiently godly or conservative Republican candidate.

Stevens and Ginsberg are both archliberals, and both nearing the end of their (dubious) terms of service. Hillary would replace them with archliberals. Young archliberals. If she could nominate a fourteen-year-old Goth poseur for the Supreme Court, she would.

Wonder what Stevens thought about our "execution" of al Zarqawi, and how much he regrets not being able to sign a stay of execution for this wonderful man.

Posted by: Ace at 01:51 PM | Comments (70)
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It's a big, dead rock in space, boys. I doubt there will ever be anything precious enough to mine from it, or that the ridiculous cost of space travel will ever fall enough to make it worthwhile, but in case that happens, the lunar environmentalists will be there to file EPA complaints against anyone trying to make the moon economically productive.

Plundering the moon

The new space race isn't focused on science or discovery, but is about exploiting lunar minerals

Andrew Smith
Saturday October 27, 2007
The Guardian

...

Yet, hidden beneath the expressions of patriotic pride in [China's] Chang'e-1 probe's launch is evidence that this new space race will be different from the first. Examine the mission statement and you'll find the objectives given as creating maps and "analysing the chemical composition of lunar dust". Innocent-sounding science at first sight; on closer inspection, nothing of the sort.

I first heard about helium-3 (He-3) from the geologist Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, the only scientist among the 12 Americans who walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972, and a tireless campaigner for a US return. He understood a 21st-century programme would never happen without an economic rationale, and he hoped that He-3, which is deposited on the surface by the solar wind, might provide one. If the necessary fusion technology could be made to work, he said, this compound would be a source of clean energy for Earth.

...

Whether it turns out to be He-3, solar energy, or some as yet unknown technology that draws humanity back to the moon, there's an irony here. In 1968, Apollo 8 brought back the first shimmering image of an "Earthrise" as seen from the moon. Four years later, Apollo 17 came home with the famous whole Earth picture. These new views of our fragile, heartbreakingly isolated planet are often credited with having helped to kickstart the environmental movement - even with having changed the way we see ourselves as a species.

At present, nations are forbidden under international treaty from making territorial claims to the moon, but the same has hitherto been true of Antarctica, of which the UK government is trying to claim a chunk. Earth's sister has played a role in teaching us to value our environment: how extraordinary to think that the next giant leap for the environmental movement might be a campaign to stop state-sponsored mining companies chomping her up in glorious privacy, a quarter of a million miles from our ravaged home.

Inkblot: If you looked at the sky through a telescope and saw a tiny robot mining plant there, mining the moon for energy resources, would you be filled with a sense of wonder and pride about the ingenuity and courage of your fellow man, or with forbidding and dread that the moon was being raped?

(Officer, she was asking for it. Just look at her. Waxing and waning like a common trollop.)

Once again, the Agent Smith theory of humanity ("You're a virus") is palpable. These people wish to quarantine the Walking Disease known as humanity.

Posted by: Ace at 01:15 PM | Comments (43)
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Wait, I was so used to writing headlines like that I just wrote it without thinking.

Actually, terrorist apologist Robert Fisk here... lambastes the Saudis on terrorism.

This is weird to say, but I think I agree with everything he says.

Posted by: Ace at 12:39 PM | Comments (11)
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Allow me the blasphemy of saying Jesus Christ All Mighty.

I've had two problems with Romney from the get-go.

1, I thought he wasn't that smart. I based this on his speaking style, which didn't really impress me. I knew he was an excellent manager, but didn't realize he was, in fact, very smart indeed. So I was wrong on that one. He is very smart -- perhaps I just resorted to the old bias of "conventionally handsome = dumb as a sack of retards."

2, I thought he came across excessively focus-grouped and a bit too robotically programmed to say whatever necessary to win the nomination. I think this is still a viable knock on him.

One problem I didn't think would be a major problem: That Christian conservatives would spurn him due to his Mormonism. Sure, I knew that many Christians regard Mormonism as a cult, and a gross departure from true Christian texts and theology, but come on. The guy believes in Christ. He just belongs to a church which has a kinda zany backstory on Christ's post-resurrection travels, the Garden of Eden, and the Lost Tribe of the Israelites.

But it turns out this is a genuine problem, and I have to say I'm frankly disappointed in the petty close-mindedness of some Christians on this point.

I thought they were beyond mere concerns of I-vote-for-whoever-is-closest-to-my-religion. Apparently, for many: Not quite so.

Heck, even Catholics and many Evangelicals believe in stories about Christ's post-resurrection activities which are not firmly established by literal Biblical texts.

I dunno. I thought the sine qua non of Christianity was "Whosever should believeth in Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life" and "For God so loveth the world he gave His only Son" to redeem it.

Mormons seem to believe that. Are we really now limiting the field by not only ideological purity but doctrinally purity as well?

In Defense of Mormonism: I just want to point out a couple of things.

Joseph Smith had an ecstatic vision. He was most likely a lunatic. But allow me to point out that many who have ecstatic visions may not indeed be seeing a glimpse of God, so much as they're a little touched.

The Passion of the Christ was based partly on the ecstatic visions of a couple of medieval women. Obviously their visions did not depart as significantly from the Biblical text as Joseph Smith's did. And yet their visions are not quite canon (though many Catholics believe them to be divinely inspired).

There wasn't too much squawking about this non-canonical material appearing in the film, except by those who despised the idea of the movie and sought to undermine it by suddenly discovering a zealous belief that only purely canonical material appear in a film about Christ's crucifixion.

The basic thrust of Joseph Smith's visions -- zany as the are -- is that America is the promised land of the Bible. All the wacky stuff -- Indians as a lost tribe of Israel, the Garden of Eden being located in Missouri (!), Christ visiting the Americas (not sure of this one -- I think that's in the Book of Mormon, though) are basically sub-premises to "prove" Smith's main premise: that America is the true home of Christianity, its greatest redoubt.

That is doctrinally erroneous according to most Christians, and yet we hear echoes of this basic idea from "normal" Christians all the time. I trust no one will demand I conduct a Google search to prove that Christians often use language suggesting that America is a land of special providence and not at all inconsequential in God's plan.

Lastly, from a purely "Was he basically right?" perspective, there can be little doubt that America is, in fact, the most unapologetically Christian of all Western nations, and that the Americas in their entirety hold within them the largest number of believing Christians in the world.

There is little doubt that Joseph Smith's visions were a bit nutty. They can be seen as the Scientology of the nineteenth century, with their outlandish science-fiction flavored ideas, though, unlike Scientology, his visions were indeed basically (and zealously) Christian.

The Church of Mormon believes in some odd things, no doubt. Mitt Romney, as a (as far as we know) faithful Mormon believes in these odd things.

But are many Christians in this country so focused on religious purity they'd reject him for such oddball beliefs? I need hardly remind faithful Christians that their ideas, too -- including such notions as an Ark which carried two of every animal on the face of the earth -- seem pretty weird to many people as well.

Romney is not my top choice. But the idea that he would be rejected as a potential Republican nominee, despite his great intelligence, despite his laudable experience as a good conservative governor of an extremely liberal state, simply because he believes a couple of hard-to-swallow points of doctrine in addition to the hard-to-swallow points of doctrine embraced by all Christians does strike me as evidence of narrow-mindedness.

And this is of course from someone who, while not Christian himself, is a fairly consistent defender of self-identified fundamentalist Christians.

Reject Romney for his flaws, for his flip-flops, for his synthetic personality... but for (excuse the blasphemy again) the love of God do not reject him because he's not quite Christian enough.

Emo Philips' Old Joke: It's not often I quote Emo Philips, because I hate him, but this joke sort of sums it up:

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked.

"Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Are you religious?"

He said, "Yes."

I said, "Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"

"Christian."

"Me too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow. Me too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too. Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?"

He said: "Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."

I said: "Die, heretic scum," and pushed him off.

I'm pretty sure that's not the original joke -- I'm 99% certain Emo Philips is a Lutheran and told the joke about Lutheran sub-denominations -- but it's close enough for Internet work.

Oh... I guess if we're talking about the kooky notion that Jesus walked upon various nations which considered themselves especially blessed for that visit, we should mention the British hymn Jerusalem -- and the belief held my many, for many years, that sure, Jesus did in fact walk upon England's fair and pleasant land.

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

-- William Blake

Sure Blake was a crazy mystic. But a lot of kookiness has been believed by a lot of people throughout history.

Posted by: Ace at 11:06 AM | Comments (307)
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I see this joke has been done before, and better. Mild Content Warning.

Thanks to Kaspar Hauser.

Posted by: Ace at 10:50 AM | Comments (2)
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Debunked the first time -- it just didn't happen, folks -- the same exact story seems to be making the rounds again among the usual suspects in the world press as well as among the Fox Mulder "I Want To Believe" lefty bloggers.

Is the revival of the short-running morality play getting better reviews the second time 'round? Apparently not: Once again, MNF-I report there is no evidence such a spectacularly grisly find was made anywhere at any time.

But of course TPM and other lefty bloggers -- the "Reality Based Community," remember -- are championing the story.

Think of it as The Little Jihadi Agit-Prop That Could.

I think it's real I think it's real I think it's real...

I hope it's real I hope it's real I hope it's real...

I know it's real I know it's real I know it's real...

Alas, I have a feeling this latest attempt at summiting the hill of reality isn't going to go much better than the previous attempt.

Can I ask Joshua Micah Marshal a favor?

If your site is going to peddle discredited Al Qaeda/Mahdi Army propaganda, could you at least do us the favor of insuring the propaganda is fresh and not a rehash of long-discredited claims?

Posted by: Ace at 10:41 AM | Comments (16)
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Another swipe from Liberty Pundit, who's just jacked with good stuff today.

Such a hopeful piece I'll have to test the limits of fair use on it.

For veterans of Ramadi, it seems like a different place and a different war.

Just last year, soldiers were breaking down doors, hunting insurgents and struggling to secure the city block by block. U.S. troops now are invited into the homes of sheiks for lunch.

...

"We came here with a very conventional [war-fighting] mind-set. We weren't expecting this. ... I joined the Marine Corps to be a point man on a patrol," chuckled the San Juan, N.M., native.

...

The decline of violence rests on a widening basis of trust. It's cultivated in handshakes, platters heaped with rice, chicken and lamb, cup after cup of sweet tea and clouds of cigarette smoke.

...

Last year, U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officials declared Anbar lost. "The social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" where U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency," according to a five-page report written in August 2006 by Col. Peter Devlin, a military intelligence officer with the Marine Expeditionary Force.

The Sunni insurgency had sunk roots so deep in Anbar that the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, declared Ramadi its capital.

"These guys were ruthless," said Col. John W. Charlton of Spokane, Wash., the American commander responsible for Ramadi. "They would come in and cut young men's heads off and drag their bodies through the streets."

An important turning point was the founding late last year of the Anbar Awakening Council by the charismatic Sheik Abdul Sattar Abu Risha. He united dozens of Sunni tribes against al-Qaida.

Fed up with the violence and eager for revenge against al-Qaida members who killed 10 family members, including his father, Abu Risha persuaded citizens to join the police force. They did — in droves — despite past attacks against recruits.

...

There are now 8,000 police officers and 14 police stations in Ramadi, according to the U.S. military. That's compares with fewer than 200 officers in spring 2006.

"Al-Qaida was just reeling," Charlton said. "They lost their capital. They lost all their good areas around there. ... We essentially made a gated community out of a city of 300,000 people."

But al-Qaida struck its own shocking blow — killing Abu Risha last month.

U.S. military leaders called the fatal bombing an inside job, organized by one of Abu Risha's bodyguards. All the alleged perpetrators were rounded up.

The sheik's death could easily have shattered the fragile peace.

Instead, Charlton said, the people declared Abu Risha a martyr. His image now appears on posters in the streets, on walls in offices and on placards in car windshields. A parade was held in his honor on Oct. 23. Schoolgirls, bunches of silk flowers in one hand, waved the yellow flag of the Anbar Awakening, now renamed the Iraqi Awakening.

...

Attacks, including those by small-arms fire, explosive devices, have decreased from about 30 a day in January to fewer than one a day now, according to the U.S. military. Last year, during the holy month of Ramadan, there were 442 incidents in the area; this year, there were four, the military said.

Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha has taken over the movement from his slain younger brother...

His brother embraced the spotlight, but Ahmed seems to shy from it. He's soft-spoken, friendly, but not extroverted. He said he meets about 300 people a day who come looking for jobs, offering advice, asking for help. He is now on his first visit to the U.S., and plans to meet with President Bush.

"We are the only movement that is supported by all the people," he told The Associated Press. "We are the only people who fought al-Qaida and won. We are good fighters and we are good builders and now we want to rebuild this country."

Well, I think he's grabbing a bit too much credit as the "only peoplel who fought al-Qaida and won," but I'm sure the soldiers and Marines there aren't going to sqawk too loudly about it.

Posted by: Ace at 10:34 AM | Comments (11)
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Apparently many of his most passionate fans headquarter their spamming operations in the internet fraud capital of the world.

AB Spam Team Spots First Presidential Campaign Spam

Anti-spam researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) noted a disturbing new trend following SundayÂ’s Republican Candidates Presidential debate. One of the candidates has a new spam campaign dedicated to proclaiming him victorious in the debate and extolling his virtues as the future president.

...

Ron Paul is popular with the Internet and some of the recent Web polls that were taken down because of Ron Paul Spammers include:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/21257762/site/14081545/

http://constitutionallyright.com/2007/10/12/cnbc-forced-to-take-down-pol l-because-of-ron-paul-spammers/

The new messages have headlines such as:

Ron Paul Wins GOP Debate!
Ron Paul Eliminates the IRS!
Ron Paul Stops Iraq War!
Vote Ron Paul 2008!
Iraq Scam Exposed, Ron Paul
Government Wasteful Spending Eliminated By Ron Paul

Warner says, “We’ve seen many previous emails reported as spam from other campaigns or parties, but when we’ve investigated them, they all were sent from the legitimate parties.” The important distinction between the new emails and previous emails, Warner says, is the fraudulent nature of the message. Legitimate messages tell who they are from, and provide a means of “unsubscribing” from future messages from the same source.

According to the CAN-SPAM Act, the primary law under which unwanted email can be prosecuted in the US, one of the factors that makes a message spam is deceptive sending practices. In the messages reviewed at UAB, emails were received from Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, and Nigeria already this morning. In each case it was clear that the computer sending the message did not belong to the person who was listed in the “From” address. Such as a Houston resident, whose email was sent from a computer in Italy, or a Silicon Valley computer worker, whose email was sent from Korea.

Via Liberty Pundit.

Posted by: Ace at 10:21 AM | Comments (20)
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Giuliani's well-publicized prediction on Monday:

“Do I think the mission overall in Iraq is the correct one, I think without a doubt it is,” the former New York mayor said at Insight Technologies, which makes tactical weapon lights and laser systems for the military.

“And I think the Democrats are going to change their minds about it again,” Giuliani said, noting that Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards voted as senators for the initial invasion in 2003.

Harold Ford, Jr. in an interview published today:

[Q:] [The DLC] was [pro-war] in 2003.

[Ford:] Well, pro-war doesnÂ’t mean that we support the way this president has gone about fighting. We were supportive of removing Saddam Hussein, instilling stability in the country, reducing the threat that America faced from Al Qaeda and, equally important, the threat we thought was posed by Saddam Hussein. If we knew then what we know now Â… I was in the Congress; I would not have voted for the resolution. But at the same time, weÂ’re in a different place now. I caution anybody who continues to talk about the past on this issue.

Posted by: Ace at 10:14 AM | Comments (65)
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Yes, it does seem that Halloween is now officially an excuse for women to dress up like whores, and I have no problem with that. The Sexy Nurse costume is a crowd pleaser in a way that the Not Sexy Mouldering Zombie costume is not.

But for 8 year olds? Do little girls really need to dress up as the Sexy Fairy Princess?

Gabby Cirenza wanted to be a referee for Halloween. The outfit she liked had a micro-mini black skirt and a form-fitting black and white-striped spandex top held together with black laces running up the flesh-exposing sides. She looked admiringly at the thigh-high black go-go boots that could be bought as an accessory. And she thought the little bunny on the chest was cute.

"Absolutely not," said her mother, Cheryl. "That is so not happening."

Gabby is 11.

And the Playboy Racy Referee costume was only the latest that her mother had vetoed one pre-Halloween-crazed afternoon at Party City in Baileys Crossroads as too skimpy, too revealing, too suggestive .

Bawdy Halloween costumes, however, have become the season's hottest sellers in recent years. Not just for women, but for girls, too. And parents such as Cirenza don't like it.

Gabby eyed the Sexy Super Girl but decided against it. A friend at her Catholic school had worn that costume for a Halloween parade and pulled the already short miniskirt way up to cover her tummy. "That didn't look very good." But Gabby did like the Aqua Fairy, a vampy get-up with a black ripped-up skirt, black fishnet tights and blue bustier that comes in medium, large and preteen. A medium fits a child of 8.

No.

How about the Funky Punk Pirate Pre-Teen, with an off-the-shoulder blouse and bare midriff?

No.

Gabby pointed to the Fairy-Licious Purrrfect Kitty Pre-Teen, which, according to the package, includes a "pink and black dress with lace front bodice and sassy jagged skirt with tail. . . . Wings require some assembly."

Cheryl Cirenza shook her head in exasperated disbelief. "This is all so inappropriate. It's really disturbing," she said, eyeing a wall of such girl and preteen costumes as Major Flirt in army green, the bellybutton-baring Devilicious and a sassy, miniskirted French Maid, pink feather duster included. She'd just turned down her 13-year-old daughter's request for a Sexy Cop outfit. "When I was their age, I was a bunch of grapes."

But that was back in the days when Halloween was still a homemade kind of holiday, when an old sheet with eyeholes was a perfectly acceptable ghost and clumsily carved pumpkins on the front porch were about as elaborate as the decorations got. Now, Halloween is big business. Americans are expected to spend upwards of $5 billion this year on candy, ghoulish decorations and costumes. And the hottest trend in costumes, retailers say, is sexy. And young.

Top Ten Best-Selling Pre-Teen Halloween Costumes

10. "Sexy Malaysian Child Whore"

9. "Scary Ghost (Who Whores Herself Out On The Side)"

8. "Daddy's Little Money-Maker"

7. "Frankenstrumpet," an undead whore built from the body parts of other, lesser whores

6. "Natalie Portman In The Professional"

5. "Viking Queen Who Has Low Self-Esteem Due To Emotionally Distant Alcoholic Father And Who Moonlights As Stripper at 'Valhalla 69,' And Is Also A Part-Time Whore"

4. "Jailbait Orthodontist"

3. "Future Contestant In Huster's Beaver Hunt Feature (PS, Also a Whore)"

2. "Sexy Mermaid," with optional sash reading "Note: That Stupid Fish-Tail Only Begins Past My Genitals"

...and the Number One Bestselling Halloween Costume For Pre-Teen Girls...

1. Three-Way Tie: Sexy Fairy Princess, Sexy Kitten, and Sexy Sex-Whore

I changed Jodie Foster to Natalie Portman. mbruce suggested that joke, and it seems a little better.

Posted by: Ace at 09:39 AM | Comments (80)
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