Seriously.

I'm stepping out of my on-line persona for a moment. This is a horrible story. It's hard to believe it's true, although it appears to be.

I don't want to give the details away by saying too much here. Sometimes, though, people are just no damn good.

There are exceptions, of course. But they are hard to find in this story. I think I would like Vicki Dunn, though.

I'll include Megan in my prayers tonight. Hopefully her troubled soul has found peace.

As for "Josh Evans"...It is shameful that the man who wrote this article did not name the relevant parties.

And I'm pretty sure they've earned a spot in hell.

Back to pining over unattainable women, and writing bad poetry for me. Sorry for breaking character.

UPDATE: You know, a lot of people who appear on news shows read this blog. I'd love it if one or two of them might show some interest in shining a light on the people behind "Josh Evans". They might not be criminally culpable yet, but they damn sure can be shamed and scorned. Think of it as a PSA for those who might have children who cross their paths.

But what do I know? I'm just a moron who thinks a little more Old Fashioned, Old Testament-style vengeance might make the world a better place. Or, at the very least, this neighborhood. I could be wrong.

UPDATE 2: Form the comments (as I haven't been near a TV this morning to see it for myself):

154 Just saw a teaser on Fox & Friends this morning. Meagan Kelly will be talking about this story. Jack M, you got your wish (at least the part about the MSM getting involved in it).

Posted by: BethW at November 13, 2007 10:09 AM (xDwmN)

Thanks for letting me now, BethW. And Kudos to Megan Kelly and FOX for shining a light on this story.

Posted by: Jack M. at 12:31 PM | Comments (184)
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24 producer Joel Surnow's speech was brief, and just prefatory remarks to a longish Q&A session, led off by Young America's Foundation spokesman Jason Mattera's initial questions, then questions from the audience. Later he met with Stacey McCain of the Washington Times and some bloggers for a half-hour group interview.

Surnow made two main point: 1, Hollywood isn't quite as monolithically liberal as advertised, 2, Hollywood doesn't have much of a bias in terms of hiring or greenlighting films according to political correctness (I sort of doubt this, but that's what he says).

I took a lot of notes for this one, as I know so many are 24 fans, and quite frankly, newshounds like me (and you) have heard most of what the Usual Suspects have to say; it's less common to hear a non-politician's views. I've divided the remarks up, more or less, into his general political observations and comments specifically about 24, though a lot of those remarks were also political. The post on 24 will follow this one. more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:23 AM | Comments (22)
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Over the past few weeks, I've been telling you about the Democrats' attempt to hook up the Labor/HHS/Education and Veterans Affairs spendings bills in order to keep President Bush from vetoing the bloated bill. Bob Novak reports that the combined bill was "decoupled" last Tuesday on a straight party-line vote.

The Democratic scheme to present President George W. Bush with a bill that he could not veto seemed a clever strategy, but it was based on presumption of Republican ignorance and cowardice. As late as last Monday, savvy GOP Senate staffers predicted Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's decoupling motion would fail. In fact, she did not lose a Republican senator, as Democrats fell far short of the 60 votes needed to keep the two bills together.

I've highlighted that phrase because it provides delicious contrast with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's reaction when he realized his pork-laden Labor/HHS/Education spending bill is going to be vetoed:

In an extraordinary outburst against the 19 switchers, Majority Leader Reid called them "sheep and chickens" who had "chosen to defend a failed president."

For once, I'm proud of all our Republican Senators (and not just usual few). Make no mistake, the Labor/HHS/Education bill is more than worthy of a veto. The compromise bill is $10 billion more expensive than either the House or the Senate versions.

You remember the Senate amendment championed by Senator Tom Coburn which prohibited spending on the Woodstock Museum? It was a victory for the porkbusters crowd and it was dropped in conference. Senator Chuck Schumer now "assures" Coburn that though the provision was dropped, money will not be spent on the "hippie museum."

Reid "airdropped" nine earmarks into the conference bill without passing them by the House or the Senate first. That includes $1 million for the Thomas Daschle Center for Public Service and Representative Democracy at South Dakota State University.

Poor Tom Daschle is going to lose his personalized earmark because of the "sheep and chickens." I love it.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:53 AM | Comments (15)
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A lot of travel and not enough down-time but I'm back home. Joel Surnow's speech and Q&A was pretty interesting, and I have a lot of quotes from it, but while I'm doing that there's this Washington Times account of it.

Hollywood producer Joel Surnow dismissed as "nuts" the notion that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton can be elected president and said he and other conservatives in the entertainment industry are leaning toward supporting Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign.

...

"I'm not even sure that Hillary is a fait accompli [to win the Democratic Party nomination] as this point," Mr. Surnow told a group of reporters and bloggers in a wide-ranging interview during the Young America's Foundation's (YAF) West Coast Leadership Conference. "Are we nuts thinking Hillary Clinton could be president of this country? Honest to God, just stand back and think about it."

I'm not sure he's right about Sandler about to "endorse" Giuliani. We already know he's contributed to Giuiani, but he seems somewhat Carsonesque in his political declarations. By which I mean he seems to practice the rule many of us wish Hollywood liberals would practice, i.e., not talking much about politics at all. So I don't know if Surnow really knows anything about that or is just guessing from the donation and general scuttlebutt that Sandler supports Guiliani.

I have stuff to write about that in particular but I have to check on something first.

Also: My Pet Jawa wrote about the Surnow Q&A with bloggers.

I guess I missed the part where he said he read Hot Air. Maybe I just blocked it out. But I didn't hear him mention any blogs at all, apart from Drudge, who's not a blogger. And Mickey Kaus, though he (sorry Mickey) said he couldn't really get into that blog.

Posted by: Ace at 09:18 AM | Comments (9)
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On Friday, New York governor Eliot Spitzer announced that he has not ruled out rescinding his plan to give licenses to illegals. He and his staff have been overwhelmed by the level of opposition, even among Democrats (who the Kossacks are calling "Xenophobe Democrats").

Mr. SpitzerÂ’s comments on Friday came just after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the LegislatureÂ’s top Democrat, suggested to reporters that Mr. Spitzer should not push ahead at this point.

I particularly like how Spitzer has lured Hillary Clinton out onto this particular limb and is now thinking about leaving her there. It has revealed a larger rift in the Democratic Party than I thought existed. The Far Left, calling members of its own party "Xenophobe" and "Racist", is icing on the cake.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:16 AM | Comments (12)
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The 83 year-old former president was skydiving again. This time he was celebrating the reopening of his presidential museum.

It was the former president's sixth skydive and his first since 2004, when he jumped to celebrate his 80th birthday. Bush jumped on Saturday strapped to an expert from the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team, as he did three years ago.

[...]

Bush's first parachute jump came in 1944 when he was shot down over the Pacific island of Chi Chi Jima.

That's pretty cool. One of these days I'll get around to doing it. (No, not geting shot down over the Pacific; let that be for braver men than me. I mean skydiving.)

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:54 AM | Comments (6)
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Most of the Left had a hissy-fit yesterday after Barack Obama announced on Meet the Press that, if president, he would seek to tax more income to stave off the collapse of Social Security. They aren't upset that he's thinking about more taxes. They're mad that he even admitted that there might be a problem with Social Security.

Once-respected economist Paul Krugman got into the act in a mercifully short post on his NYTimes blog "The Conscience of a Liberal." Krugman chastises Obama for "obeisance to fashionable but misguided Social Security crisis-mongering."

These are people who, generally, can understand that Something Bad will happen when Social Security spending outweighs income and that Something Worse will happen when the Social Security Trust Fund is exhausted. They just don't care right now.

For the Left, Social Security has to be a crisis for another day because if voters start to feel like the government may have trouble cutting checks, they'll be much less likely to support things like taxpayer-funded healthcare or universal preschool or a million other programs.

Unfortunately for those who are ready to say "Shut up about it, already!", the presidential candidates are going to be asked about Social Security. Republican candidates are already outlining their plans to fix the program. And Clinton, Obama, and Edwards don't want to be standing there saying "There's no problem with Social Security," while voters stare at them in disbelief.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:31 AM | Comments (53)
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If you can burn down an incoming missile, you ought to be able to burn down some miscreant 50 miles away too, right? I'll be in my bunk relieving my clinical depression.

...Re-assembly of the megawatt-class laser will continue in 2008 and will be followed by ground and flight-testing of the integrated weapon system, culminating in the shootdown of a boosting missile planned in August 2009...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:48 AM | Comments (38)
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Remember our friend Bobby Caina Calvan who proudly boasted on his blog how he badgered a soldier guarding the Green Zone to let him in, even though he didn’t have the right ID? And the internet uproar that followed?

Well, the Public Editor at his newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, thought Veterans Day would be a good a time to revisit the incident and not surprisingly, concludes it was the fault of the mean conservatives in the blogesphere.

Armando Acuna wirtes:

What we're talking about here is an escalating, ahem, urination competition between two men in a stressful situation. Just two guys making each other mad – doesn't matter if you're right-wing, left-wing, up or down.

No, no it wasn’t. It was Calvan attempting to enter the Green Zone with insufficient ID and by his own admission trying to “bully” his way in. All while belittling a soldier for having the temerity not to know what Knight Ridder was!

And on factual note Mr. Public Editor, the incident didn’t occur because the soldier ‘questioned Calvan’s identification’. Calvan admitted he didn’t know the rules and didn’t have the required two forms of ID on him. It wasn’t a judgment call, it was a clear case of Calvan not following the rules and throwing a fit to get his way.

What’s the point in bringing this all up again? I had been meaning to check out Calvan’s blog again at some point but couldn’t even remember his name. Isn’t there some rule about not digging when you are in a hole? I guess they don’t teach that at J-School.

Michelle Malkin has a complete dissection of Acuna’s rant.

Posted by: DrewM. at 07:40 PM | Comments (17)
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Remember our friend Bobby Caina Calvan who proudly boasted on his blog how he badgered a soldier guarding the Green Zone to let him in, even though he didnÂ’t have the right ID? And the internet uproar that followed?

Well, the Public Editor at his newspaper, the Sacramento Bee, thought Veterans Day would be a good a time to revisit the incident and not surprisingly, concludes it was the fault of the mean conservatives in the blogesphere.

Armando Acuna wirtes:

What we're talking about here is an escalating, ahem, urination competition between two men in a stressful situation. Just two guys making each other mad – doesn't matter if you're right-wing, left-wing, up or down.

No, no it wasn’t. It was Calvan attempting to enter the Green Zone with insufficient ID and by his own admission trying to “bully” his way in. All while belittling a soldier for having the temerity not to know what Knight Ridder was!

And on factual note Mr. Public Editor, the incident didn’t occur because the soldier ‘questioned Calvan’s identification’. Calvan admitted he didn’t know the rules and didn’t have the required two forms of ID on him. It wasn’t a judgment call, it was a clear case of Calvan not following the rules and throwing a fit to get his way.

WhatÂ’s the point in bringing this all up again? I had been meaning to check out CalvanÂ’s blog again at some point but couldnÂ’t even remember his name. IsnÂ’t there some rule about not digging when you are in a hole? I guess they donÂ’t teach that at J-School.

Michelle Malkin has a complete dissection of AcunaÂ’s rant.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:40 PM | Comments (17)
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