Terrific. A whole new pharmacological arms race.

Despite the potential side effects, academics, classical musicians, corporate executives, students and even professional poker players have embraced the drugs to clarify their minds, improve their concentration or control their emotions.

"There isn't any question about it -- they made me a much better player," said Paul Phillips, 35, who credited the attention deficit drug Adderall and the narcolepsy pill Provigil with helping him earn more than $2.3 million as a poker player.

The medicine cabinet of so-called cognitive enhancers also includes Ritalin, commonly given to schoolchildren for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and beta blockers, such as the heart drug Inderal. Researchers have been investigating the drug Aricept, which is normally used to slow the decline of Alzheimer's patients.

The drugs haven't been tested extensively in healthy people, but their physiological effects in the brain are well understood.

They are all just precursors to the blockbuster drug that labs are racing to develop.

"Whatever company comes out with the first memory pill is going to put Viagra to shame," said University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Paul Root Wolpe.

Posted by: Ace at 11:59 AM | Comments (27)
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Dead-bang:

Today's raid in Al Kut targeted "a Special Groups criminal element member reportedly responsible for attacks against Coalition forces and supporters of Coalition forces" who "was also reportedly an associate of criminal element leaders involved in attacks on Coalition forces."

Coalition Special Forces teams, likely the hunter-killer teams of Task Force 88, took fire as they approached the objective, "returned fire, and called for supporting aircraft to engage." Multinational Forces Iraq estimated 11 Special Groups fighters were killed in the strike.

...

Al Kut is known to be a strategic distribution hub for the Special Groups supply lines from Iran into Iraq. Weapons, such as the deadly explosively formed penetrator land mines, rockets, and mortars are stored by the Special Groups in Al Kut and other cities, to be pushed forward to tactical depots to be used in attacks in Baghdad and the Shia South.

US and Iraqi forces clearly have been targeting the Special Groups networks in Al Kut for the past two weeks. Today's engagement was the fourth such raid since December 18. On that date, elements of the 8th Iraqi Army Division captured an improvised explosive device cell leader during a raid in the city.

If we "make" more terrorists for every terrorist we kill, damn, we've made an awful lot of new terrorists the past month.

Thanks to dri.

Bonus: Palestinian Rocket and Bomb-Maker Killed By Jewish Conspiracy And Airstrike, But Mostly... Well, Actually, It's An Equal Mix Of Both: Seven terrorists killed in all.

Posted by: Ace at 10:49 AM | Comments (14)
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And there's no Officer Dimes to spirit us out of the elevator.

With al-Qa'ida claiming responsibility for a murder that has provoked the most serious crisis in the 60-year history of the nuclear-armed country, President Pervez Musharraf was under intense pressure from Washington to ensure Pakistan returned to democracy through elections scheduled for January 8.

But Mr Musharraf, who has become a key ally in the war on terror, was facing a furious backlash from his own people, with mobs chanting "Killer Musharraf, go" as they set fire togovernment offices, shops and cars.

At least 19 were killed and scores wounded as police and paramilitary forces opened fire in an attempt to halt the violence that has engulfed Pakistan since the murder of Ms Bhutto on Thursday night.

Despite al-Qa'ida claiming the assassination was carried out on the orders of Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, much of the anger was directed at Pakistan's military-backed ruler.

Demonstrators blamed Mr Musharraf and the army for failing to provide sufficient security to prevent a lone assassin first launching a gun attack and then triggering a suicide bomb as Ms Bhutto campaigned in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the headquarters of Pakistan's military.

Analysts say Mr Musharraf is unlikely to have ordered the killing, but elements of the army and intelligence service, the ISI, stood to lose power if she became prime minister for a third time.

Anger intensified last night when it emerged that Ms Bhutto, 54, had two months ago sent an email to a US adviser saying that if she were killed, Mr Musharraf would have to bear some of theblame. "Nothing will, God willing, happen," she wrote to Mark Siegel, her US spokesman, "Just wanted u to know if it does ... I would hold Musharaf (sic) responsible."

Mr Musharraf was insistent that the blame for the killing lay with Islamic extremists opposed to Ms Bhutto's pro-Western stance. "This brutality is the handiwork of those terrorists against whom we are fighting," he said as he declared three days of national mourning.

But members of Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party claimed electronic jamming equipment provided by the Government to prevent a suicide attack had proved faulty and evidence from the murder scene had been lost after government agents ordered the area be washed clean.

Political scientist Rasul Baksh Rais, of Lahore University, described the assassination as "the most serious setback for democracy in Pakistan".

"Musharraf's main concern now will be to maintain law and order and make sure this does not turn into a major movement against him," he said.

Last night, however, there were indications that was happening. "People are on the streets everywhere smashing things up. There's trouble all over Pakistan," a senior police officer said.

As troops were issued with orders to shoot protesters on sight and a revenge bomb attack left four of Mr Musharraf's supporters dead, Ms Bhutto's body was borne in a simple wooden coffin to her family home at Naudero, deep in the agricultural interior of the southern Sindh province.

Ralph Peters meanwhile writes that Musharraf, and the mostly Western-oriented military, is the best hope for Pakistan. Which isn't terribly reassuring, given that his hold on power seems tenuous at best.

Posted by: Ace at 10:17 AM | Comments (75)
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Not as good as that old classic of the coach running out from the sideline to tackle an opposing player running for a sure touchdown, but still pretty good.

Posted by: Ace at 10:07 AM | Comments (10)
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President Bush has announced that he will veto the National Defense Authorization Act, DoD's spending bill, because it contains an amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act which would make things difficult for Iraq's government. He gets credit for focusing on our immediate needs, but the Administration's reasoning is a little difficult to square with the greater War on Terror. The White House reasons:

One provision in the bill - section 1083 - would significantly amend current law (the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act) in ways that would imperil Iraqi assets held in the United States, including reconstruction and central bank funds. If enacted, Section 1083 [of the NDAA] would permit plaintiffs' lawyers immediately to freeze Iraqi funds and would expose Iraq to massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime. The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States. Once in place, the restrictions on Iraq's funds that could result from the bill could take months to lift, and thus Section 1083 cannot become law even for a short period of time.

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act generally provides immunity from suits in U.S. courts for foreign states. However, FSIA contains several exceptions to the general protection, for example, waiver by the state or suits for commercial activity (as opposed to official acts of state). The defense authorization would have added another exception for state sponsors of terrorism who are sued in U.S. courts. The text of the bill can be found here.

Generally, I think that allowing such suits is a good idea. Section 1083 is pretty specific about who can take advantage of the exception: U.S. nationals, or members of the armed forces, or employees of the U.S. government, for personal injury or death that was caused by an act of torture, extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking, or the provision of material support. The injury or death had to be caused by a state official and the state must have been designated a "state sponsor of terrorism."

Unfortunately, the amended FSIA, combined with a 2004 Supreme Court case, which held that FSIA can apply retroactively, would allow suits against Iraq's current government for Saddam's atrocities. That's the point of FSIA, it applies against the state, regardless of the current government. President Bush doesn't want to subject the slowly developing Iraqi government to this kind of liability.

And that makes what would otherwise be a new tool for private individuals to wield against foreign sponsors of terrorism which have injured them inconvenient at this time. The White House says it wants to work with Congress to protect Iraqi funds in the U.S. and pass an acceptable form of the act in January.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:04 AM | Comments (8)
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I see on the Fox News website that Hollywood leftist Sean Penn is divorcing his wife of 11 years, Robin Wright Penn.

By Hollywood standards, I think it is objectively fair to state that this marriage was a success. It did manage to last eleven years, or, to put it another way, 5 years less than the age of the couple's eldest child together.

This story is sad on so many levels. I wish no ill will upon this family. Much as I may disagree with their politics, no one wants to see a family implode. Especially when there are children involved.

Which is why, ultimately, I think today's news will benefit Mitt Romney as he continues to gather strength to wage his "two front war" in Iowa and New Hampshire.

This sad story about the plight of the Penn's just reminds us all, and especially, I think, the typical family values voter in Iowa, about the difficulties that American families face. For if even the Penn's can't make it, how can any of us expect to do so?

Well, I may not have the answer to this question. But I know who does, and his name rhymes with Ritt Momney.

Look at this image:

Something to think about when you trudge to the caucuses, Iowans. Something to think about.

Posted by: Jack M. at 09:45 AM | Comments (60)
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Confederate Yankee posits a likely cause of death: a head injury as she was yanked back into the vehicle and it sped away.

I'm sure that will end all conspiracy-theorizing in Pakistan.

Bob's speculation has now been confirmed by the Sun (UK).

Culprit? Intercepts indicate the attack was conducted by an AQ-linked group called Lashkar e-Jhangvi.

Posted by: Ace at 09:09 AM | Comments (21)
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will be nationally televised on both NBC and CBS Saturday night.

Now many of you may not realize it, but this is a tremendously significant political event as well as an exciting sporting event. And to the extent that it has political influence, it benefits one man: Gov. Mitt Romney.

Look, the Patriots attempt to match the legendary '72 Dolphins with a perfect regular season is compelling. I admit, that is a small part of the story here.

But what most of you unseasoned bloggers, and unreliable, unobjective pundits, will miss is that, truly, Mitt Romney is the real story here.

In fact, were I the Romney campaign, I'd bus every potential Iowa caucus-goer to the nearest community center and beam the game to them, with alcohol free libations and green jello added as free compliments to an already festive occasion!

And here is why: more...

Posted by: Jack M. at 08:23 AM | Comments (14)
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The MI Attorney General's opinion reverses the trend towards issuing licenses to illegals to 'get them out of the shadows,' aka 'grant them virtual citizenship.'

[AG Mike Cox] said "there can be no doubt that a rational basis exists for denying driver's licenses to illegal aliens."

Cox cited national security concerns, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan contends his opinion could actually make the state less secure.

"It drives them further underground," executive director Kary Moss said of illegal immigrants. "If they have licenses, then the state knows about them and has information about them. If there's no form of state recognition, it's essentially a much more invisible population."

Oh, boo-frickin'-hoo, Mary. All law enforcement actions and the public policies supporting them drive undesirable behavior 'underground.' That's kind of what we want, isn't it?

Mike Cox opinion stands unless a court overturns it. I dare say that Mike Cox on fire.
Ahem.

Posted by: LauraW. at 08:07 AM | Comments (29)
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These are the kinds of questions that trouble my nights.

My sad, insomniaic, tormented, nights.

I decided there was only one way to answer this question, though. So, I have done the unthinkable.

I have read every one of Hugh Hewitt's blog entries from the last 3 months. And now, with this wealth of scholarship behind me, I feel confident that I, Jack M., can answer this pressing question.

For the rest of the day (or until Ace sobers up and tells me to knock it off) anytime you see a post by "Hugh M. Hewitt" that will be me acting in my self-appointed role as Uatu, the Watcher showing you the alternative universe that could be.

If only you dared to dream. Dare to dream, my friends! Dare to dream.

Posted by: Jack M. at 07:40 AM | Comments (29)
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