I hope he'll be happy with my "virtual" support, which I assure him is just as good as real support, except without the actual support.

Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani pushed the idea of a "virtual" rather than a real fence along much of the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, an issue that's controversial in the Rio Grande Valley where many people oppose construction of a physical fence to stop illegal immigration.

The former New York mayor said that while a physical fence is needed in some places, most of the border should be policed with high-tech monitoring. He toured the border Monday along the southernmost tip of Texas with state and local officials.

"And frankly, the virtual fence is more valuable because it alerts you to people approaching the border, it alerts you to people coming over the border," Giuliani said, the Rio Grande in the background.

Giuliani said his approach could end illegal immigration within three years.

Giuliani did not specifically address the idea of a fence in the Rio Grande Valley, the most heavily populated portion of the Texas-Mexico border. Opponents, including most local elected officials, say a physical fence would restrict access to the river and hurt their livelihoods, in some cases creating a no man's land between the river and the fence.

Gov. Rick Perry, who has endorsed Giuliani, opposes construction of a 1,200-mile wall along the U.S-Mexico border. Instead, he supports fencing at strategic points, such as in bigger cities, along with more border patrol agents and high-tech monitoring of the kind Giuliani seeks, spokesman Robert Black said Monday.

The only argument in favor of this is the fact that, as I understand it, ranchers do need free access to the river. If Giuliani is only talking about "virtual" fences in some parts along the Rio Grande -- but with massive human border patrol presence in that long stretch -- I suppose I can understand that.

But it seems to not be what he's talking about. He seems to be trying to satisfy the public's demand for a real fence with a fake one -- actually, not even a fake one; it doesn't even rise to that level -- and trusting that we're too dumb to notice the difference.

Good Giuliani Quote... The sort of thing that makes me want to support him in spite of himself. Anyone who remembers the 2004 Republican National Convention knows he's a hell of communicator:

I get very, very frustrated when I . . . hear certain Americans talk about how difficult the problems we face are, how overwhelming they are, what a dangerous era we live in. I think we've lost perspective. We've always had difficult problems, we've always had great challenges, and we've always lived in danger.

Do we think our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents didn't live in danger and didn't have difficult problems? Do we think the Second World War was less difficult that our struggle with Islamic terrorism? Do we think that the Great Depression was a less difficult economic struggle for people to face than the struggles we're facing now? Have we entirely lost perspective of the great challenges America has faced in the past and has been able to overcome and overcome brilliantly? I think sometimes we have lost that perspective.

Do you know what leadership is all about? Leadership is all about restoring that perspective that this country is truly an exceptional country that has great things that it is going to accomplish in the future that will be as great and maybe even greater than the ones we've accomplished in the past. If we can't do that, shame on us.

A bit of rhetoric is no match for solid policy positions, but it's still good rhetoric.

Scan down for the left's unending campaign of gay-baiting against Giuliani.

At this point I think I have to apologize to Ann Coulter for getting so fussed when she called John Edwards a "faggot." She was right, and so were her defenders: The left does this shit all the goddamned time and the consolation that "we're better than them" cuts only so much ice.

Via Instapundit.

Posted by: Ace at 04:34 PM | Comments (101)
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I'm not really sure I understand the timeline or connection here, but a source is telling Rusty that it was Bilal Hussein's exposure on the Jawa Report that led to his arrest.

Posted by: Ace at 04:18 PM | Comments (17)
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Behind Huckabee and Ron Paul, who's beating both of them.

What? This same poll claims that 30% of New Hampshire Republicans would not even consider voting for Thompson, given how high his negatives have risen.

This strikes me as perfect nonsense. Either the poll sucks, or these New Hampshire "Republicans" aren't quite the Republicans you and I know, or they're a bit overproud of their first in the nation status and just resent Thompson for not kissing their holy asses enough. But I cannot believe that 30% of genuine Republicans -- Republicans in this to win this, not to be flattered by celebrity politician visitors -- would not vote for Thompson "under any circumstances."

Thompson Not Last: Actually Duncan Hunter seems to be last.

Stop the ACLU asks a question I've wondered about: Why is there no support for Duncan Hunter at all? If anyone can offer up a reason, please do. He seems almost a perfect candidate, right down to his Tom Clancy character-ish name.

And yet I'm not really psyched about him myself, either. Perhaps if he were actually a factor in the polls I might be.

Posted by: Ace at 04:11 PM | Comments (24)
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Florida, huh? I begin to understand the confusion over the butterfly ballot, and am believing the writings of Dave Barry and Carl Hiasson more and more.

An animal sneaking around Baker County is not an orangutan as originally thought but likely a fox squirrel, state wildlife officials said Friday. Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission laid doughnuts at a base of a tree after residents reported seeing a "big orange ball of fur."

The animal was probably an orange phase fox squirrel, Fish and Wildlife investigator Ken Holmes told The Florida Times-Union. The red-orange animals can grow to be about 2 feet tall and can climb in trees.

"I'll be astonished if it's an orangutan," Holmes said. "I can quite confidently say it's probably not an orangutan."

He said the animal's eating habits did not match with the patterns of a primate.

"I'm not discounting anything," Holmes said. "However, this creature, whatever it may be, simply isn't acting like a primate."

Be on the look-out for suspicious animal; may either be a half-unicorn/half-dragon or possibly a raccoon.

Posted by: Ace at 02:53 PM | Comments (32)
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I know I owe someone a hat-tip for this, but I forget who:

Sadly, as men reach a certain age, we almost all begin to look like old women. Paul McCartney has looked like Eleanor Rigby for about fifteen years.

Not kd lang, but onetime Fremen leader Kyle McLachlin:

Posted by: Ace at 02:45 PM | Comments (25)
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A defensible position, I think, as I happen to share it.

But I think this is at odds with previous statements.

Posted by: Ace at 02:39 PM | Comments (11)
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Right here, baby.

An Eygptian woman has filed for divorce from her husband on the grounds he has not showered since they married, AlArabiya.net reported Sunday.

The wedding took place two months ago.

It was a quick courtship for Yara Saad Al-Din, 23, and Aysar Ali, 31, who got engaged two weeks after meeting on an airplane, AlArabiya reported.

Ahhh..just like the old story. Boy meets Girl on airplane. Girl likes Boy. Boy marries Girl 2 weeks later. I cant see how this could possibly go wrong.

But a couple months into the marriage and the honeymoon was over once Ali confessed to his blushing bride that he had not showered in eight weeks.

I blame the absence of footwashes in major airports. Damn Egypt's Coptic Christians for their intolerance!

I wonder how long into the 2 month period it went before Aladdin stopped getting his lamp rubbed...

Ali claimed he could not bathe because of a skin disease which made him allergic to water. While a doctor confirmed Ali had a skin disease, he also said it had nothing to do with water, AlArabiya reported.

Now, granted, if I were in prison, I would probably quickly develop this same "allergy" to water. And while marriage may quickly feel like a prison, at least you got to pick out your "bitch". So, I really don't see how this excuse justifies anything at all.

Curious about other reasons Islamahotties (yep...AFAIK I just coined that phrase..let's see how far it spreads...) ditch their goofy, jihadi husbands? Me too.

- An engineer in Port Said filed for divorce because her veterinarian husband insisted on keeping cats and dogs in the house.

Perfectly valid reason. cats suck.

- A civil servant divorced her husband because he had bad breath from eating too much garlic and because he did not wash his feet.

WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT FOOTBATHS?

- An Egyptian housewife filed for kholÂ’a after her husband refused to let her go to her fatherÂ’s funeral.

Again, valid.

- A sorcerer's wife filed for a divorce after he refused to give up his job.

WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!

Being a sorceror is grounds for a divorce? I think this whole women's lib thing has gone too far. What possible job title screams out "job security", "regular income" and "ability to care for the family" more than sorceror.

"Blogger" maybe?

Posted by: Jack M. at 02:29 PM | Comments (24)
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The AP claims it's a "sham."

They'd be the ones to know, wouldln't they?

Posted by: Ace at 02:24 PM | Comments (1)
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A new phase of the surge?

US and Iraqi troops have arrested dozens of militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in a massive crackdown in the central city of Diwaniyah, officials said Monday.

Hussain al-Buderi, a member of the Qadisiyah provincial council, said that 49 militants, including four leaders, from the Sadr group were arrested since Saturday when Operation Lion's Leap was launched targeting Shiite militants.

Witnesses said the city of more than one million people was under curfew and US aircraft were dropping leaflets urging locals to cooperate in locating militant hideouts.

Sadr's office in the town of Nafar, south of Diwaniyah, was also raided on Monday as part of the crackdown, Buderi told AFP.

Diwaniyah's police chief Major General Ali Akmoosh said the assault also led to the dismissal of 70 policemen, including some officers.

"They have been dismissed for supporting armed gangs," he told AFP.

Posted by: Ace at 02:19 PM | Comments (13)
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Rudy beats by 7, Thompson by 4, and Romney by a very shaky 1.

But what hurts Hillary the most seems to be Hillary:

Former Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani would easily defeat his Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the Florida presidential race, according to a poll released today.

If the two New Yorkers are their parties' nominees, Giuliani would best Clinton 50 percent to 43 percent, according to Mason-Dixon figures. Seven percent were still undecided.

Just as troubling for Clinton are her negative ratings.

"Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, however, is hampered by high negative ratings, (38 percent favorable/45 percent unfavorable,) and less than half of Florida voters (49 percent) said they will consider voting for her," said Brad Coker, Mason-Dixon's managing director.

Emphases added.

Posted by: Ace at 12:38 PM | Comments (40)
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