I'm amazed someone didn't think of this earlier.

Where do you go these days to find simple, basic, non-skanky clothing for preteen and teen girls? Well, if you live in New York, look no further than the custom-made Courtney Vaughan line. Created by two Upper East Side mothers who were tired of constantly coming across whorish outfits while shopping with their daughters for clothes, they decided to take matters into their own hands and bring back the classic Upper East Side ladies look for young girls.

Instead of sending your girls to school looking like they should be attending some sort of pole dancing class, there is the option to send them looking like a modern version of the 1950s old-fashioned school girl. This comes, however, at a New York price.

A dress for little Susie costs about $260 and a skirt and jacket combo costs $500 total — the jacket is $300 and the skirt is $200. But when you're paying $30,000 for Susie to attend the best private school in Manhattan, these clothes seem like a bargain.

Thanks to someone.

Posted by: Ace at 11:13 AM | Comments (29)
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Correction/Apologies: I'm informed this post was written by her co-blogger, "Miss Mannered," not by Maryscott O'Connor herself. Apologies/correction.

Her site's down because everyone in the world just linked it, but here's a representative quote I got from the Daily Kos via LGF:

I now find myself, for the first time in my life, hating Jews.

...

I find myself thinking that Proximity perhaps has the right idea, that Jews regard other human beings as objects, to be sacrificed to the interests of Jews. That Jews will always stand with other Jews no matter their guilt, and against non-Jews, no matter their innocence. The face of Jews has become unspeakably ugly in my sight, because of the ugliness of the Jewish haters here.

Note she said Jewish haters -- Jews who hate -- not Jew haters, of which she considers herself one.

When you're too anti-semitic for the Daily Kos crowd... dude. Dude.

Funny, she doesn't look crazy or anything:

The Washington Post featured a big, mostly sympathetic* article on this rather obscure blogger a while ago. Think they'll do a follow-up?

Or do they only do positive pieces on obscure leftwing psychotics?

* Note I said mostly sympathetic. When your subject is floridly insane and thinks a good photo consists of her raging at you with "dem crazy-eyes," there's only so much you can do to spin her as an attractive figure.

Full Post: The site's reachable again. Here's the post:

I did not come to this site to fight in the Jew Wars.
I came to join with MSOC [Maryscott O'Connor], in her words, to rage against the lying of the right, against injustice and cruelty. Instead, I found injustice, cruelty and hate directed at me.

I left, then, earlier this year, not because I was reluctant to engage in verbal combat with the people who insisted on making themselves my enemies , but because I discovered myself descending to their level, from rational discourse to insults and invective.

Several months ago, at the suggestion of MSOC, I returned to this site, resolved that I would never again descend to the moral cesspit occupied by the haters. I would willingly engage in civil and rational discourse with anyone of good will, but if they refused, I would ignore them.

Unfortunately, the same persons whose emnity and hostility were so pervasive before immediately resumed their campaign to discredit me, not only rejecting my overtures of peace, but mocking them.

These hateful persons are Jews. At one point, I would have disregarded this fact, but I no longer can. This site has been nothing but the battleground of the Jew Wars, and it is not possible to escape the toxic fallout.
Some persons here have posted remarks offensive to Jews, remarks that no one would have regarded seriously if not for the Jews, as they stridently identify themselves, calling for banning and lynch mobs and denunciation of the posters whose words have offended them. They have made it very clear that they are willing to destroy this site, to make it a barren no-man's-land where no civil discourse can survive, unless the persons they charge with antisemitism are silenced and driven out.

I know that these Jews will continue to conduct their hate campaigns with impunity as well as self-righteousness, because the people in charge of this site regard them as friends, but they are false, treacherous friends, willing to destroy the site that has befriended them.

And these same persons, these Jews, have not only continued their malicious attacks on me, but others, also Jews, have joined their Hate Squad, solely on the grounds that they are Jews and have been offended by someone, and thus arrogate to themselves the right to hate and insult a person who has done them no harm and no offense.

And the consequence is this: I now find myself, for the first time in my life, hating Jews. I find myself hating the Jews on this site, both the Jews who have conducted their malicious campaign against me for so long and the Jews who have stood by in silent solidarity with them, never saying a word against their vile attacks, their cruelty and ugliness.

I find myself thinking that Proximity perhaps has the right idea, that Jews regard other human beings as objects, to be sacrificed to the interests of Jews. That Jews will always stand with other Jews no matter their guilt, and against non-Jews, no matter their innocence. The face of Jews has become unspeakably ugly in my sight, because of the ugliness of the Jewish haters here.

And this is not a place where I wish to be, a place that breeds such hate, where such thoughts come upon me. The Jews who hate me may have surrendered their souls to the darkness, but I refuse to do the same, to surrender to hate. They are only a few evil-minded, hateful people, and I am leaving this place to them, to conduct their pogroms, to drag it down into the moral cesspit of the Jew Wars.

I only feel sorry for MSOC, betrayed by those she considered her friends, but who are willing to destroy everything she created here, just to spread hate.

So it's not Maryscott O'Connor, but rather a notorious Jew-hater she thought would be a lively voice to feature on her blog.

As Kos notes, "Miss Mannered" was begged to stay by most of the My Left Wing crowd, including a moderator:

See how many people tell the diarist how much they appreciate her input and beg her to stay. BEG THE JEW-HATER TO STAY! A site that calls itself "My Left Wing" begs the Jew-hater to stay, INCLUDING A MODERATOR.

I don't see the post now where it would be expected to be on the front page... but I don't know the site, maybe it's one of those "diarist" things like Kos has. It's listed in a sidebar as having 183 comments but I can't seem to access them.

I don't see any post from Maryscott scolding this venomous anti-semite or booting her from the site.

Sockpuppet? Charles (I assume Johnson) says "Miss Mannered" is a sockpuppet MSOC uses, then says "see the update." But there's no information about that in the update. Perhaps he meant to post it but didn't.

I wrote him about that so maybe he'll dish.

Posted by: Ace at 10:30 AM | Comments (57)
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I don't know how to title this. While others are counting down the top ten stories of 2007 (and of course conveniently forgetting about the surge and the pacification of Iraq), Keith Olbermann instead counts down... his ten favorite "Special Comments."

And, for reasons I don't quite understand, he included accolades for his insipid preenings from the liberal press:

ANNOUNCER: More Americans turn to "Countdown" for Keith's honest take on the headlines.

ANNOUNCER, quoting "New York Newsday": His essays are smart, well-written-

ANNOUNCER, quoting the "San Diego Union-Tribune": TV's best news commentator.

ANNOUNCER, quoting "Playboy": The truth teller in chief.

Remember the Reason for the Season: Promoting Keith Olbermann.

Posted by: Ace at 10:14 AM | Comments (19)
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Their car collided with Hellfire missiles, apparently.

Video, sweet warporn video, at the link.

Posted by: Ace at 09:20 AM | Comments (26)
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Nice:

Coalition forces killed four terrorists and detained one suspect today during operations targeting al Qaeda in central Iraq.

In continued efforts to disrupt terrorist activities in the Diyala River Valley, coalition forces conducted two coordinated operations north of Muqdadiyah targeting associates of the al Qaeda network in the region. Intelligence reports indicate the individuals are associated with the group that was involved in several firefights with coalition forces during operations on Dec. 12 and 13.

During one of the operations, the ground force called for occupants to come out of the target area, but they did not comply. Coalition forces approached the target area and were engaged by enemy fire. The ground force pulled back to a safe position and called for supporting aircraft to engage. Coalition forces assessed that two terrorists were killed from the strike.

Nearby, coalition forces confirmed the presence of the wanted individuals associated with the previous target, and supporting aircraft again engaged. Once the area was cleared, the ground force assessed two terrorists were killed, one of whom was armed with a suicide vest.

A terrorist bomb-maker was also captured. On Christmas Eve and Christmas, a whole buncha assholes got coal in their stockings:

Elsewhere, coalition forces killed 13 terrorists and detained 27 suspects Dec. 24 and yesterday during operations targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq.

During a series of operations south of Samarra Dec. 24 and yesterday, coalition forces targeted an alleged senior-level foreign terrorist facilitator for al Qaeda in Iraq. The targeted individual is also believed to be responsible for the facilitation of weapons and finances and involved in suicide-bombing operations, some of which include female operatives.

Acting on intelligence reports, coalition forces targeted a location where the individual was believed to be operating and called supporting aircraft to engage. Four individuals emerged from the target area and attempted to evade capture. As coalition forces approached one of the individuals, the suspect detonated a suicide vest, killing himself. The ground force then located two of the suspects hiding in a wooded area.

Coalition forces engaged and killed the two men.

There's a lot more at the link. A lot of dead and captured terrorists the past few days.

Also, a terrorist killed on November 8 has been identified as a high level AQ leader. Our troops used the newest weapon in our arsenel against him: irony.

Abu Abdullah, also known as Muhammad Sulayman Shunaythir al-ZubaÂ’i, was a high-level al-Qaeda in Iraq leader for a network operating in the Salah ad Din province. Reports indicate Abdullah was an experienced bomb-maker and attack planner who coordinated numerous attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces over the past three years, using a variety of improvised explosive devices combined with small-arms fire.

Abdullah was also allegedly responsible for the kidnapping, extortion and murder of local Iraqis, and it is believed he led a group of foreign terrorists, whom he used to conduct his car-bombing campaigns.

Intelligence reports led Coalition forces to a location where Abdullah was operating. The ground force observed Abdullah, fired warning shots directing him to stop and was then engaged by enemy fire. Responding in self-defense, Coalition forces returned fire, igniting the vehicle. The ground force observed secondary explosions erupt from the vehicle, indicating that explosives were inside. Abdullah and an associate were killed during the engagement.

Posted by: Ace at 08:43 AM | Comments (10)
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He also mentions the stem cell money:

Over the weekend, it came out that Huckabee received $35,000 in honoraria in 2006 from a company that does stem cell research, the very same company that social conservatives blasted Mitt Romney over because his blind trust had invested in it. Huckabee's take of $35,000 from the stem cell researchers was but a small sliver of the roughly $378,000 in outside fees that Huckabee raked in during his final year as Arkansas' governor.

Fredheads can take heart that Barnett, a Romney guy, thinks Thompson is "surging."

Knotted Up? An ARG poll -- which I think tends to be disrespected as a robo-poll -- says Huckabee has fallen into a statistical tie with Romney. Thompson isn't mentioned as one of the higher-polling pols, though Ron Paul (Ron Paul!) is supposedly at 10%.

Posted by: Ace at 08:28 AM | Comments (49)
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The Washington Post reports that, though immigration raids and arrests were up this past year, there have been few prosecutions of employers of illegal labor. There were 92 arrests of employers this year and 4,900 or so arrests of illegal aliens and those who provided them with fake documents. Only 17 firms paid criminal fines or made other forfeitures.

Democrat Claire McCaskill is leading the charge on this, while DHS weakly defends itself:

"I know what it takes to get a criminal case," said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a former state prosecutor and member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. ". . . Why is it that hundreds of bar owners can be sanctioned in Missouri every year for letting somebody with a fake ID have a beer, but we can't manage to sanction hundreds of employers for letting people use fake identities to obtain a job?"

[...]

ICE Director Julie Myers, who served as chief of staff to Chertoff when he led the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003, wrote in response to McCaskill's criticism that it takes time to build criminal cases, and that DHS's tougher criminal enforcement approach is "fundamentally different" from the weak administrative fines and pinprick raids that resulted from a congressional backlash against actions against corporations in the late 1990s.

In an interview, agency spokesman Brandon Alvarez-Montgomery said ICE focuses on "egregious" violators whose business models rely on hiring illegal immigrants, especially those whose practices may promote fraud or border breaches.

McCaskill called such arguments an excuse for not punishing big-money business and farm interests that want cheap labor, effectively penalizing law-abiding business owners and exploiting illegal immigrant workers. "The reality simply doesn't match their rhetoric," said McCaskill, who began pressing ICE to release the employer statistics in September.

It sounds like DHS wants to say that more criminal prosecutions are coming, it just takes time (and money) to get them prepared. I suspect that DHS didn't get all that serious about employer punishment until after the failed attempt at comprehensive immigration reform this summer. As Secretary Chertoff says:

In a year-end review this month, Chertoff added that the enforcement crackdown will "make a down payment on credibility with the American people." He said Americans' "profound public skepticism" about government efforts to control illegal immigration helped kill a broad, White House-backed overhaul in the Senate this summer.

To his credit, Chertoff seems to be aggressively pursuing the no-match letter scheme that has so far been blocked by the courts. On the other hand, and as I wrote last week, strict employer sanctions are having a positive effect in Oklahoma and Arizona. Will the feds get the picture? (This is a rhetorical question, folks).

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:37 AM | Comments (20)
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An interesting development. Apparently, Mookie is cleaning house among his miscreant thugs and sending in hit men to do it.

...Even the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has had to pay attention to popular dissatisfaction with the shakedowns and murders carried out by thugs in his Mahdi Army militia. He has dispersed hit men to try to eliminate some of the more egregious violators in Baghdad neighborhoods. I spoke to one, a hard-faced, middle-aged tough named Abu Ali, who was limping from a gunshot wound to the leg; he told me his men had killed 17 "criminals" in Baghdad's Hurriyah district on Mr. al-Sadr's orders. The Shiite mafiosi are cleaning house...

H/T Tigerhawk

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 09:54 PM | Comments (16)
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Over at "The Hostages", a blog that's a grandchild of the AoSHQ, they're accepting Christmas greetings for "THE" Wickedpinto. He's taking somewhat of a hiatus from blogging due to some self-improvement activities in his life, so the internet has been deprived of his wisdom for a couple of months now. Patty Ann is going to forward all good wishes that you Morons leave for him, so go over & say something nice, for God's sake. Here's the link.

Spurwing Plover, if you read this, I know W.P. would really appreciate you winging over & saying something. I know it's a lot to ask for you to follow the link, but it's Christmas, and we need your particular brand of Christmas Magic here, birdman. As far as the rest of you Morons go, please keep the messages respectful, or at least keep the teasing playful. The Pinto's one of us, so keep that in mind.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 06:35 PM | Comments (24)
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It. Is. Finished.

Boston's Big Dig, officially completed. It is to date the nation's most costly and complex highway project. Originally budgeted for $2.6 billion, it grew at a "better than Ted Kennedy" rate and swelled to almost $15 billion.

Marred by overruns, leaks, traffic jams and accidents, the worst of which took the life of Milena Del Valle (whose family just received a $6MM judgement against the epoxy manufacturer Power Fasteners), the construction phase started 16 years ago.

I saw the Zakim Bunker Hill bridge back in September. It's quite striking.

a Dave in Texas exclusive photo

Some of the pain was self-inflicted, including the worst leak in the I-93 tunnel in 2004, caused by failing to remove debris that was trapped in and weakened the concrete.

Regardless of how you feel about it, at least they're finished with it. That's better than 70% of the software projects governments undertake.

UPDATE: JavaJoe links shot of bridge under imminent attack.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 10:55 AM | Comments (162)
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