Terrific, we can use more celebrity bloggers!

You'll be happy to know that he agrees with many rightwing bloggers on one important point:

When the interviewer asked which is the most important field al Qaeda fighters are wrestling with, Zawahri answered, "Iraq is the most important of these fields."

Asked about his favorite blogger, Zawahri replied, surprisingly enough, "Perez Hilton." He says he never gets enough of the pictures with coke and bodily fluids dripping off celebrities.

Posted by: Ace at 12:27 PM | Comments (5)
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Oh, he says he's not an Islamic Manchurian Candidate, while asking the rhetorical question can we afford to take that chance?

Yet Kerrey's comments are distinct because he is the highest level Clinton supporter to publicly push the Muslim smears against Obama, and he is also ratcheting up the rhetoric. In a series of high profile interviews, Kerrey has gone out of his way to cover every aspect of the smears – saying "Muslim," "madrassa," "Hussein" and that Obama chose Christianity – and also raising traitorous language. Pressed about his comments on CNN, Kerry purported to distance himself from the very smear campaign he was advancing: "There is a smear campaign going on. And people are acting as if he's an Islamic Manchurian candidate." That phrase only turns up 29 hits on Google, however, and nine of the references quote Kerrey. So very few "people are acting" or saying that – unless they're discussing Kerrey's sly effort to raise the line of attack.

If Kerrey is actually attempting to defuse worries that Obama is a stealth handmaiden of the coming Caliphate, he's doing a very poor job if it. The Media Blog notes that since Kerrey so generously attempted to, um, defuse the very charge he was making Google-hits for "Obama Manchurian Candidate" have gone from six or so to almost 150.

Posted by: Ace at 12:20 PM | Comments (26)
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Whining about opponent's attacks is standard-issue politicking. If a stupid one.

But linking that whine to a call for brotherly love out of respect for the birth of Christ? And, conveniently enough, just in time to prevent further scrutiny of Huckabee's record as he's poised to win Iowa in couple of weeks? That's truly special.

Bonus as this video also has Huckabee stating that he condemns the push-polls being run against his rivals by, he says, supporters who have nothing to do with him. (Or, as he suggests, being run by his rivals themselves.) So his supporters keep running push-polls against Romney, Giuliani, etc., but his rivals can't counter-attack in more honest, overt manner, because that would be disrespectful to Jesus.

Okay, Huckabee. Whatever.

Here's his Christmas greetings ad.

I have no real problem with the sentiment and actually think it's a savvy little ad. Jim Geraghty calls it brilliant, and I agree. But brilliant in a dishonest way: Huck continues insulting the intelligence of the GOP base by running an Christmas greetings ad supposedly putting aside politics for "what really matters" when, obviously, this is a blatantly political ad designed to boost his appeal. And, furthermore, boost his appeal by running, yet again, on his religiosity.

I don't remember getting video Christmas greetings from Mike Huckabee when he wasn't running for president. Do you? Am I to understand this is the first time in history that it was important to set aside politics for "what really matters" in a political season?

He seems so transparently dishonest to me as he runs on this faux sincerity. If I understand Huckabee's message here properly, we're supposed to put politics aside in this season of religion. Leaving us, I guess, to only make political choices based upon warm-and-fuzzy charisma and, I guess, which candidate properly shows due respect for Jesus.

Am I alone in finding this all terribly convenient for Mike Huckabee?

Hot Air notes that William Donahue calls the ad overly religious. I don't think it's overly religious to wish someone a merry Christmas at Christmas. But I think -- as maybe he meant to say -- it's a bit much to invoke Christmas in a blatantly political ad.

Huckabee Following The Brawny Man Plan?

Thanks to JackStraw.

Hey... If this isn't a political ad, but just an apolitical call to remember '"what really matters" as we celebrate the birth of Christ, how come he's only running the ad in Iowa, site of the first caucuses in a couple of weeks?

Is the rest of the country not deserving of the blessings of Jesus? Or are we not worthy of being invited to remember "what really matters" at Christmastime?

Curious that a non-political ad would just happen to have so many attributes of a strategically timed and placed political ad.

Posted by: Ace at 11:24 AM | Comments (35)
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50% dirtier, I think. Check out the bannister shot. (Link changed to avoid loud "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" that plays on home page.)

The calenders are being sold to raise funds for hospitalized vets.

Posted by: Ace at 10:38 AM | Comments (48)
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Via Himself-Himself, I saw that Congress' approval ratings have sunk to a new low. The meaty numbers include some interesting favorables for the presidential candidates. But that's not what caught my eye; this did:

Donald Will, 64, of Stuart, Fla., a self-described liberal, gave poor ratings to both sides in the poll.

"I personally feel we've lost control of our government," he said. "The president is going about his business as if he was a monarch. And to be in Congress, you basically have to be a eunuch."

Just ignore the King George "reality-based" faux-nightmares of the self-described liberal. Instead, tell me what he's talking about when he says that Congressfolk have to be eunuchs. Is he trying in some highbrow jargon to say that they've got no stones?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:23 AM | Comments (22)
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Yesterday, zero Hobbit movies.

Today, two.

Two?

Milk it, baby, milk it!

I suppose doing it as two movies will allow him to do the story justice without the major redactions of choppy editing of The Lord of the Rings.

Thanks to Dave R.

Posted by: Ace at 09:54 AM | Comments (64)
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Who could have seen this one coming?

Republican presidential hopeful Duncan Hunter is blasting a Democrat-sponsored bill that would eliminate the requirement passed by Congress to build a double-layered fence covering 854 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

"By eliminating the double fence requirement, the Democratic Congress is going to make it easier for drug and human smugglers to cross our Southern land border," said Hunter. "This goes against the interests of any family that has been touched by illegal drugs or any American who has seen their job taken by an illegal alien."

As WND reported last week, an amendment submitted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and co-sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, for the Department of Homeland Security 2008 budget was aimed at gutting the already-approved Secure Fence Act, which was adopted with the promise hundreds of miles of physical fencing would help secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

The Hutchison amendment allows the secretary of homeland security to use discretion in deciding whether a fence was the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control along the border with Mexico.

DHS is on record as preferring in many instances the construction of "pedestrian fences" or "virtual fences" instead of double-layered barriers as required in the 2006 law.

...

"The American people reasonably expect that a double-layer fence will be built, but Congress has always had other plans," [the president of Grassfire.org] argued. "This amendment should be stripped from the bill."

On the other hand, Congress has been prudent enough to appropriate 10 million dollars to pay for the lawyers of illegal immigrants fighting their deportation orders. So, they haven't completely forgotten about the issue.

Meanwhile... Jim Gilchrist has some buyer's remorse over his endorsement of Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee talks tough with the Krikorian plan but then takes it all back with his enthusiasm for the Pence "touchback" plan often floated during the immigration fight, which immediately grants amnesty so long as an illegal immigrant just returns to his home country for a few days and then comes back to sign up as a new US citizen. All through the immigration debate the Amnestias would push this idea as somehow making their amnesty plan a non-amnesty.

Obviously it's still amnesty. It's just amnesty with a minor bureaucratic headache thrown in which accomplishes nothing except for annoying the newly amnestied US citizen.

The demand for a home-country "touchback" would be soon repealed anyway, with the Amnestias arguing it's an empty gesture that accomplishes nothing at all. And on that score, of course, they're right.

So why bother with the fiction in the first place?

And Romney Attended A Planned Parenthood Fundraiser In 1994: So there you go.

I remember at the beginning of this race when I was pretty satisfied with the candidates. I still like them, but each of them seems to have a virtually disqualifying black mark on his record somewhere.

Two new polls show Giuliani rapidly losing ground to Huckabee in Florida, by the way.

So he appears done.

Posted by: Ace at 09:23 AM | Comments (97)
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...due to an Anthrax infestation?

DANBURY -- After fitting it with a white sheath, environmental officials will fill a house on Padanaram Road with lethal gas today in hopes of finally killing the anthrax spores scattered in its interior...

...Anthrax spores are like bacteria seeds -- they can lie dormant for decades, then come to life in the right environment. One form of anthrax infection -- when the bacteria gets into human lungs -- can be deadly. Hence, the need to clean to house of the spores, Nalipinski said.

When the work is done, the Kariamu family will return to it.

"They have every intention of moving back in, once the house is safe and clear,'' their attorney, Hillel Goldman, said Monday.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 06:42 AM | Comments (38)
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Said he was asked to resign in an email.

Nice touch.

In interviews with several media outlets, including an on-camera piece on CNN this week, Jones refused to apologize.

"Things are going to be hard now, especially since I have no outside support. ... However, even though I will be starving over the holidays and my credit cards will all default, I still will not apologize," he wrote.

Karma, she's a real bitch isn't she?

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 05:12 AM | Comments (60)
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I'm back.

I see that the House passed the omnibus spending bill and the president says he'll sign it (after the Senate puts in the Iraq money). Heritage gives it a failing grade because of the pork.

Senator Lieberman surprises no one by endorsing John McCain. I wonder, does this help him any? I remember how frustrated I was with him and all the cross-the-aisle BS; was I alone in that? This article says that he's going for New Hampshire's centrists, undeclared voters who may vote in either primary.

The striking Hollywood writers refused to allow a waiver for the winter award shows. Maybe they could just cancel altogether? Meanwhile, Leno and O'Brien are coming back to the air in January, probably returning to the older talk-show format. I still won't be watching.

Many homes in Oklahoma are still without power; I'll be heading that way at the end of this week to visit friends and family. My friend who I will be staying with much of the time just got power back yesterday. My parents, who I will be staying with on Christmas, fortunately never lost it.

New Jersey repealed the death penalty. The eight men on death row have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (which, contrary to popular myth, is actually life imprisonment without the possibility of parole).

Customs and Border Patrol have been firing tear gas and "pepper-spray weapons" across the border into Mexico. They're trying to cut down on attacks with rocks and bottles; the CBP is trying to use non-lethal weapons, but the attacks are increasing in both frequency and intensity.

Finally, how in hell did we here at the HQ miss this? I'm told it's a photoshop, but it's still noteworthy. (below the fold, may not be safe for work if you have a really uptight boss or something) more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:01 PM | Comments (32)
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