Senate Majority Leader Reid has vowed to release no funding for the Iraq War this year unless the Republicans accept his retreat deadlines. That vow has put the mission and our troops in danger.

Last week, I wrote about Secretary Gates' public condemnation of Democratic efforts to force a premature withdrawal and his announcement that if Reid persists in his refusal to support our troops in the field, Gates would have to lay off up to 200,000 people and begin closing stateside facilities in order to pay for the war.

Now, Defense Link reports that the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization will have to curtail operations for lack of funding starting on December 1st.

The anti-IED organization needs the funding to sustain operations and to pay for equipment fielded but not yet turned over to the services for funding, Meigs said. For example, he said, his organization funds the Guardian man-portable jammer, the contractors to service it, and the training in the system.

The organization tests new projects, ideas, ways of doing business and equipment against IEDs. If they prove effective, the organization is nimble enough to quickly can get the equipment to the hands of servicemembers. Meigs said the organization has enough money “to keep the lights on” through April. The organization is funded via supplemental spending bills.

Attacks with IEDs have dropped since the surge began, but they are still a daily threat to our troops in Iraq. In Afghanistan, attacks with IEDs are up. JIEDDO was once derided as bringing wastefully high-tech solutions to a simple problem. But they've had some important successes including the development of the aforementioned cell-jamming platform.

It is unconscionable that our military is scrambling to find funding while we're in the midst of a war. The Democrats in Congress need to quit playing games and start supporting our troops.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:40 PM | Comments (45)
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Mitt Romney is going to be facing questions about this for the rest of the primary season. His health care program is likely to go overbudget in the coming year; between $147 and $619 million overbudget.

The program intended to sign up 136,000 people by June 30, 2008 for the subsidized insurance program. They've already signed up 133,000. Now they're working on coming up with new funding:

Options include appropriating more money, using funds allocated to care for those without insurance, or cutting extra payments to certain hospitals that were included in the law mandating insurance.

The state's budget chief, who also oversees the subsidized insurance program, indicated that the state is not considering a cap on enrollment.

And overenrollment is the least of their worries. Starting in the next fiscal year, insurers are expected to raise their prices for those taking part in the government programs. The cost of heathcare in general is also rising.

The article includes these amusingly contrasting views:

The enrollment boom "is a sign of success, not failure," said John McDonough, executive director of the advocacy group Health Care for All. "The sky is not falling. There's a budget challenge."

[...]

"This is one of many warning signs, especially in tandem with the projected state budget deficit and the skyrocketing cost of healthcare in the state," said Alan Sager, professor of health policy and management at the Boston University School of Public Health. "The [healthcare] law is very shaky on the revenue side."

On the one side, a grown man who apparently believes that money grows on trees. On the other, one of those annoying throwbacks to capitalism who keeps insisting that things must be paid for.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:07 PM | Comments (12)
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"Por que no te callas?" or "Why don't you shut up?" is the hottest new ringtone in Spain; they think it's already made $2.2 million in sales, although I don't know how they figured that.

T-shirts and mugs featuring the words are also becoming a profitable business, and videos of the confrontation have been a hit on the YouTube Web site.

Chavez's opponents in Venezuela are no less obsessed.

Pirated copies of the quote have been popping up in the South American country.

I love this kind of thing.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:44 PM | Comments (26)
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I can't believe you bastards would lie at a time like this.

Ok, that's a lie, I completely believe it.

I'll give you all credit, you made that old Brit fart sound like an amateur.

You know how to lie.

To me anyway.

ItÂ’s just a good lie.

The Longhorns are my favorite team.

Posted by: genghis at November 17, 2007 12:14 PM (HwY1l)

more...

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:07 PM | Comments (25)
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Is anyone else watching the Titans-Broncos game on ESPN? Did they just spend 20 minutes talking about Vince Young's relationship with his father and then segue into discussing the broader topic of race and family?

Sheesh. When did they hire Dr. Phil as a commentator?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:44 PM | Comments (24)
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Yeah. Half the trick of being funny is knowing what isn't funny, and not writing or saying those things.

That's why I haven't tried to be funny in two years.

I think this article is proof positive there are, in fact, no editors looking at reporters' filings whatsoever, never mind "multiple layers" of them.

Posted by: Ace at 06:31 PM | Comments (18)
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Well, that's what it looks like. And it's drooping, too, as if a Full House, if you know what I'm saying.

These Lolitas -- Lohan, Spears, Hilton, etc. -- have been slammed a lot. But maybe they're just incredibly pro-family and are attempting to make husbands appreciate their wives' beauty and grace by collectively demonstrating Hey, this shit right here? Trust me, nowhere near as good as you might think.

Posted by: Ace at 06:23 PM | Comments (38)
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Ah,, ok, that's it.

Yeah.

If me and my agent recall correctly, New York has a state income tax, something around ten percent?

Give my balls a little action while I ponder that with the money people.

Not that jack shit Andrew Clay crap... we aren't in Atlantic City tonight.

Not yet.

No, you know what I like. You've known it for a long time.

That's it.

Oh yeah.

I know Alex is looking at something better than 27 and a half for ten, and I respect him for that.

And I respect you for respecting me.

And you should move your head just a little more to the left.

That's it.

Money talks. Bullshit balks.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 06:02 PM | Comments (5)
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Strange not-so-new world, boys. Welcome to it.

An Australian journalist at one of the world's most respected technology publishers says he was retrenched because his stories were not generating enough website hits.

It is one of the first cases where the firing of an Australian journalist writing text articles has been linked directly to the number of hits - or reader clicks - they generate.

The move is seen by some as an omen for journalism, a profession still coming to grips with the impact of the web and the influx of armchair publishers and part-time writers.

Dave Jansen, who wrote TV reviews for Good Gear Guide and PC World, both owned by global magazine publisher IDG, said he was retrenched this month following IDG's decision to close the print edition of PC World and move exclusively to an online model.

"They [said they] looked at the number of reviews on the [Good Gear Guide] site and what categories were popular and, unfortunately, TVs weren't the highest popularity compared to mobile phones and cameras," Jansen said.

"Personally I think that a writer should be judged on his own merits and in hiring or firing it's probably more logical, I would think, to hire based on the quality of someone's work."

Eh, it seems like a dumb reason to fire him, but not because he wasn't getting hits. He wasn't getting hits apparently because he was assigned to a lesser-interest area. Can't blame him for that.

But to the extent that journalists have to begin to worry about whether their crap is read anymore... well, I guess it's a good thing. Though as far as politics, it's clear what will end up happening: Reporters, knowing that lefty blogs will link them for their more unhinged pieces, will all follow Keith Olbermann's lead in using unabashed partisanship to get a huge audience a tiny audience, but one slightly larger than Chris Matthews.

The MSM will not allow itself to be corrupted by allowing center-right or worse yet right-wing reporters try the same trick. Those few people will have to remain "objective and neutral" (i.e., softly pushing the establishment media's liberal line).

Thanks to AndrewB.

Posted by: Ace at 06:00 PM | Comments (7)
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Wasn't Hefner like, um, tall?

And heterosexual?

Just kidding, Tom, but giving a quote to Reader's Digest that women "smell good. They look pretty. I love women. I do" doesn't really sell it.

It sounds like a space alien robotic infiltrator unit trying, unconvincingly, to explain what makes a home run so thrilling.

Agent Bedhead isn't sold on the casting, either.

Moderate Content Warning: Below, Part I of Cruise's "Respect the Cock" seminar from Magnolia.

Space alien:

Posted by: Ace at 05:42 PM | Comments (13)
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