What's the under-over?

I figure by 5:30 Eastern.

Meanwhile, the NAACP says it's always stood for due process and presumption of innocence, despite having issued a "report" on the "82 Crimes and Torts Committed By The Duke Lacrosse Team," and the "Group of 88" refuses to apologize.

Oh, and, yeah: Also claims it certainly never intended to pre-judge the case.

Although Duke is apparently rampant with racists and rapists.

I think Duke actually advertises that fact on the covers of its applicant pamphets, doesn't it? They've got the usual picture of one Asian chick, one black dude pointing out a hilarious passage in his advanced-chemistry textbook, one Latino chick dressed in "grrrl power" gear, and of course the inevitable dorky white guy with a big cauco-fro, except that in Duke's picture, the dorky white guy is sodomizing everyone with his obligatory unicycle.

Posted by: Ace at 12:58 PM | Comments (16)
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The boy's parents are complicit as well. The kid just gets freed, nearly miraculously, from the clutches of a sexual predator.

And you know that means it's time to do some afternoon talk shows.

YESTERDAY, the parents of Shawn Hornbeck did what any parent whose child had been held captive and suf fered hell on earth would do in this circumstance: They put him on TV to suffer further pain, shame and humiliation.

On "Oprah" yet.

Yes, Pam and Craig Akers, Shawn's parents, who say they have not (yes, that's "not") asked him about his ordeal because it would be too painful right now, nonetheless had no problem dragging their traumatized child out before God and everyone to answer questions on national TV.

Well, let me rephrase that. They might have turned down a first interview with God if He'd asked, but who can say, "No," to Oprah?

This, mind you, occurred yesterday - less than a week after the boy's dramatic rescue.

At least Elizabeth Smart's smarmy parents waited a month and a half to drag her out to play the harp on "The John Walsh Show" like a little abused, emotionless Muppet.

Shawn, however, looked like he just wanted to die - maybe of shame, maybe of terror, or maybe just because after being held captive by a monster, a child knows when he's being exploited. And yesterday, he was - in the most legal, sanitized, huggy-feely, disgraceful way.

Hey, kid, get used to it - this is your 15 minutes and you better milk it for all it's worth. And if your folks are anything like the Smarmy Smarts, you, too, will be a TV movie before long. Now that's entertainment.

And while no one asked Shawn if he'd been sexually abused by The Monster, Oprah did, in fact, ask his parents, saying, "OK, I'm going to go there and ask you, what do you think happened? Do you think he was sexually abused?"

They indicated that they thought he had been. At least adult women who've been raped get the respect of having their names concealed in the media.

My God! This kid is 15! What in hell could his parents be getting out of this?

I imagine they were hoping for a car.

Psychologists note, however, that the steps of dealing with psychological trauma are denial, then anger, then a whirlwind media tour, followed of course by bargaining for a three-book deal and acceptance of a $25,000 advance.

Posted by: Ace at 12:52 PM | Comments (39)
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Vrrrrrr-maccaca... vrrrrr-macaca... vrrrrr-bush babies...

Huh? What group could possibly be so thin-skinned and absurdly conspiratorial to claim that an engine could rev in a racist manner?

Any guesses?

Witnesses claimed he had been trying to intimidate a Libyan couple on the pavement. Ronnie, of Stirling, claims he was only revving the powerful V8 engine to avoid another £15,000 repair bill.

But off-duty Chief Inspector Eoin Jenkins thought he was targeting Muslim Isam Maigel and his wife Hana Saad.

On Thursday, at Stirling Sheriff court, the Crown ditched the racist part of the charge but Sheriff Andrew Cubie convicted Ronnie of breach of the peace and fined him £150.

Last night, he said: "To be convicted for revving my car in a busy street is hard to take. Does this mean anyone driving a noisy car in Scotland is now a criminal?"

[...]

In court, Mr Maigel, 28, then a student at Stirling Uni, said: "The driver came alongside and was trying to annoy us by revving his engine very, very loudly."

Using an interpreter, Hana Saad, 23, said he had degraded them "maybe because we are Muslim".

This just in: Gray's Anatomy "BlackDreamy" star Isiah Washinton has a 2005 Hummer whose windshield-wipers deliberately say swish, swish whenever one of "those people" drive up beside him in one of their Miatas.

Posted by: Ace at 12:45 PM | Comments (33)
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The Republican Tax: the tax we all collectively pay due to a diminished economy when Republicans are in office, caused by the media's relentlessly negative coverage.

Now that the Congress has been won by Democrats, the media-imposed Republican Tax Rate suddenly goes down.

Americans entered 2007 more confident than at any time in three years as energy prices retreated and a strengthening labor market pushed wages higher.

The Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary index of sentiment rose to 98 this month, higher than forecast, from 91.7 in December. The gauge averaged 87.3 in 2006.

Gasoline prices are down 28 percent since August, leaving more cash in the pockets of consumers, whose spending accounts for more than two thirds of the economy. The report caps a week of figures showing a rebound in housing, gains in industrial production and a drop in jobless claims to an 11-month low.

``The year is starting off on a solid footing, helped significantly by the dividend of lower oil prices,'' said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Investment Strategies Group at Bank of America Corp. in Boston. ``The housing slump remains a dampening force, but it has been overwhelmed by these other positive factors.''

Treasury securities weakened after the report, driving the yield on the benchmark 10-year note up 3 basis points to 4.77 percent at 11:35 a.m. in New York. The dollar rallied in the minutes after the survey was released.

Companies have also been confident enough in the economy to keep spending. Stronger orders of large equipment including power-plant turbines helped drive a 12 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings at General Electric Co. Total orders rose 19 percent during the quarter and sales grew 8 percent.

Keep spending, not increase spending. The economy isn't terribly different than it was before November 7, but there's a strange new optimism in the air for the fair-and-balanced MSM.

Of course, oil prices have fallen to under $50 per barrel, and the Saudis are talking about ramping up production even as the price of oil falls.

But why were Americans so responsive to the rise in oil prices during the past year and a half? True, oil prices were up, but overall inflation was tame; the rise in oil prices were thus offset by very tame rises in the cost of everything else.

Isn't the media supposed to "put facts in context" for all of us drooling morons and tell us stuff like that? I have a feeling they will contextualize the living hell out of rises in oil prices under, say, President Barack Obama.

But under a Republican President-- it just reports that oil prices are skyrocketing, and this will cause a global recession, and Americans are now forced to choose between buying cat-food and lower-quallity cat-food, and on and on.

Thanks, Nancy!

Posted by: Ace at 12:38 PM | Comments (11)
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Jew, Nigger, Faggot. Hollywood hits the trifecta.

In the latest case of celebrity foot-in-mouth disease, Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has issued an apology for anti-gay remarks made toward co-star T.R. Knight, who is homosexual.

"I apologize to T.R., my colleagues, the fans of the show and especially the lesbian and gay community for using a word that is unacceptable in any context or circumstance. By repeating the word Monday night, I marred what should have been a perfect night for everyone who works on Grey's Anatomy. I can neither defend nor explain my behavior," Washington said in a statement.

The apology comes after reports surfaced of a quarrel between the actors in October in which Washington called Knight a "faggot." Washington vehemently denied those reports at the Golden Globe Awards on Monday night, telling reporters during a backstage interview, "I did not call T.R. a faggot. Never happened, never happened."

In his apology, he acknowledged his use of the slur, and hoped to clear the air with Knight. "T.R.'s courage throughout this entire episode speaks to his tremendous character. I hold his talent, and T.R. as a person, in high esteem. I know a mere apology will not end this, and I intend to let my future actions prove my sincerity."

It's such an awesome word, though.

Jamie Foxx: White People Can't Use The N-Word. No report, though, on whether we can all keep using the "awesome" f(aggot)-word.

Posted by: Ace at 12:05 PM | Comments (202)
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Bushido blade of justice:

It all started when as many as five assailants, armed with knives, chains and a hammer, allegedly forced their way into an apartment and began ransacking the place. Outside, two off-duty detectives, who happened to be passing by, heard the screams of a woman and entered the premises to investigate. They confronted the intruders, but, being out-numbered and out-armed, quickly lost control of situation. Accounts vary, but it appears that just as one of the robbers drew his knife and lunged at one of the cops, a mustachioed do-gooder appeared out of the blue brandishing a three-foot samurai sword.

He cried out, "Leave him alone, he's a police officer!," and then went on a rampage swinging his blade "wildly back and worth and wounding at least one of the robbers." Disoriented by his attack, the gang panicked, allowing police to gain the upper-hand. But, as superheroes tend to do, the South Shields Samurai vanished in the ensuing chaos as quickly as a he had appeared. Police are now seeking his whereabouts and, while not condoning vigilantism, admit "

here is no doubt this person assisted."

Thanks to someone.

Posted by: Ace at 11:28 AM | Comments (57)
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Because Bbeck asked me to.

She forwards a video of what can only be an AOSHQ moron.

Heh. Indeed. Watch the whole thing.**
I'm sure it's old, but new to me.

**I readily admit that I have no computer skills. Let me know if there's a better way to do this linky.

Adding on this piece of news via Retired Geezer:

Lawrence Person writes "The attempt to require political bloggers to register as lobbyists previously reported by Slashdot has been stripped out of the lobbying reform bill. The vote was 55 to 43 to defeat the provision. All 48 Republicans, as well as 7 Democrats, voted against requiring bloggers to register; all 43 votes in favor of keeping the registration provision were by Democrats."

This is what an *actual* chill wind of repression looks like, Lefties. And it is the Republicans who are standing up for your freedom of speech.

UPDATE: Reading is fundamental.

From the comments:

That amendment was introduced by Senator David Vitter (R-LA). Senator Vitter, however, is now a co-sponsor of Amendment 20 by Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) to remove Section 220 from the bill.

The problem is that Republicans in Congress seem to be tone-deaf to Constitutional concerns regarding technical issues. They just don't seem to have a clue, and only a few seem disposed to try to learn.
In short, we have too damn many Rinosaurs taking up space and coasting on seniority, especially in the Senate.

Another add-on: Very cute/ funny video.

Posted by: LauraW. at 09:00 AM | Comments (184)
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A full 34% of our troop-supportin' patriotic loyal opposition flatly wishes failure upon the US military.

I suppose some people may not fully listen to the question, so within that 34% are some respondants who just figure the more "No's" they offer the more strongly they register their opposition, and some people who add the interpretation "I don't want the surge to succeed, because I don't want it to happen in the first place."

But I don't think you get to 49% based on misunderstanding the question alone, do you?

Posted by: Ace at 06:58 PM | Comments (172)
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One bullet that packs all the kinetic punch of a Tomahawk cruise missile.

Normally, new weaponry tends to make defense more expensive. But the Navy likes to say its new railgun delivers the punch of a missile at bullet prices.

A flashy demonstration of the futuristic and comparatively inexpensive railgun weapon Tuesday at the Naval Surface Warfare Center had Navy brass smiling.

The weapon, which was successfully tested in October at the King George County base, fires nonexplosive projectiles at incredible speeds, using electricity rather than gun powder.

The technology could increase the striking range of U.S. Navy ships more than tenfold by the year 2020.

...

"The biggest thing is it's real not just something on the drawing board," he said. "It could go to the field right now. We just want to improve it, to make it better."

You're going to wait 13 years just "to make it better"? Eh, who can comprehend the decisions these guys make.

...

The railgun's 200 to 250 nautical-mile range will allow Navy ships to strike deep in enemy territory while staying out of reach of hostile forces.

Rear Adm. William E. "Bill" Landay, chief of Naval Research, said Navy railgun progress from the drawing board to reality has been rapid.

"A year ago, this was (just) a good idea we all wanted to pursue," he said.

Elizabeth D'Andrea of the Office of Naval Research said a 32-megajoule lab gun will be delivered to Dahlgren in June.

...

The projectile fired Tuesday weighed only 3.2 kilograms and had no warhead.

Future railgun ordnance won't be large and heavy, either, but will deliver the punch of a Tomahawk cruise missile because of the immense speed of the projectile at impact.

Garnett compared that force to hitting a target with a Ford Taurus at 380 mph.

"It will take out a building," he said.

Warheads aren't needed because of the massive force of impact.

The range for 5-inch guns now on Navy ships is less than 15 nautical miles, Garnett said. He said the railgun will extend that range to more than 200 nautical miles and strike a target that far away quickly — in 6 minutes. A Tomahawk missile covers that same distance in 8 minutes.

Garnett said specifications call for each railgun to be capable of firing four to six times a day, but he expects to reach a maximum of 10 times per day.

The Navy isn't estimating a price tag at this point, with actual use still about 13 years away. But it does know it will be a comparatively cheap weapon to use.

"A Tomahawk is about a million dollars a shot," McGettigan said.

He said estimates today are that railgun projectiles will cost less than $1,000 each, "but it's going to depend on the electronics."

The improvements they want are a GPS course adjustment system with moveable tailfins and the like -- and that will be expensive, given the massive stress each projectile will be subject to.

Why all that? Because it's not, as I first figured, primarily a direct fire weapon. At long ranges it will arc into the upper atmosphere like a ballistic missile.

Still -- at prices at least 1000 times lower than that of a cruise missile, can't you afford to just miss a couple of times?

Thanks to tmi3rd.

Posted by: Ace at 05:42 PM | Comments (98)
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Ten year olds around the world praised her as "the Rosa Parks of dogshit."

Posted by: Ace at 04:46 PM | Comments (57)
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