...coming a tad too late.

[National Archives and Records Administration inspector general Paul] Brachfeld said he was worried that during four visits in 2002 and 2003, Berger had the opportunity to remove more than the five documents he admitted taking. Brachfeld wanted the Justice Department to notify officials of the 9/11 Commission that Berger's actions -- in combination with a bungled Archives response -- might have obstructed the commission's review of Clinton's terrorism policies.

...

A report last month by the Republican staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said for the first time that Berger's visits were so badly mishandled that Archives officials had acknowledged not knowing if he removed anything else and destroyed it. The committee further argued that the 9/11 Commission should have been told more about Berger and about Brachfeld's concerns, a suggestion that resonated with Philip Zelikow, the commission's former executive director.

Zelikow said in an interview last week that "I think all of my colleagues would have wanted to have all the information at the time that we learned from the congressional report, because that would have triggered some additional questions, including questions we could have posed to Berger under oath."

The commission's former general counsel, Dan Marcus, now an American University law professor, separately expressed surprise at how little the Justice Department told the commission about Berger and said it was "a little unnerving" to learn from the congressional report exactly what Berger reviewed at the Archives and what he admitted to the FBI -- including that he removed and cut up three copies of a classified memo.

"If he took papers out, these were unique records, and highly, highly classified. Had a document not been produced, who would have known?" Brachfeld said in an interview. "I thought [the 9/11 Commission] should know, in current time -- in judging Sandy Berger as a witness . . . that there was a risk they did not get the full production of records."

In an April 1, 2005, press conference and private statements to the commission, the Justice Department stated instead that Berger had access only to copied documents, not originals. They also said the sole documents Berger admitted taking -- five copies of a 2001 terrorism study -- were later provided to the commission.

Those assertions conflicted with a September 2004 statement to Brachfeld by Nancy Kegan Smith, who directs the Archives' presidential documents staff and let Berger view the documents in her office in violation of secrecy rules. Smith said "she would never know what if any original documents were missing," Brachfeld reported in an internal memo.

...

Brachfeld pressed Justice Department officials on six occasions in 2004 to make a fuller statement to the commission about Berger's actions, to no avail. He also contacted Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine, who organized an April 2004 meeting between Brachfeld and Justice officials that convinced him that "these issues had to go before the 9/11 Commission," according to two people present.

But in a notification to the commission the following month, the department did not mention that Berger had cut up documents, that he reviewed uncatalogued originals or that Brachfeld worried that Berger's theft was greater.

Blame the Bush Administration's Justice Department. And of course the media, for taking so little interest in an important story and allowing all of this to unfold in the darkness, where dirty deals are easier to conceal.

Thanks to Village Idiot.

Posted by: Ace at 10:20 AM | Comments (12)
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That's it. It's over. Nothing good can happen on this accursed day.

I think I'm going to vomit.

Posted by: LauraW. at 09:31 AM | Comments (88)
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Al-Sadr's offices reportedly being pounded, though he has wisely gone on the lam.

Another AQI leader caught. (End of post.)

IraqPundit tells the story of his own relatives, finally feeling safe enough to return to homes they'd been ethnically cleansed from.

And Shiite "youths" are actually celebrating the chastening of the Mahdi Army (second item). And in a Sadrist stronghold, no less.

Bonus: Bush was actually quoted as saying he'd "screw Osama bin Ladin in the ass."

Presumably he heard that from Cheney.

Posted by: Ace at 02:11 PM | Comments (144)
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See, he accidentally ingested a forbidden drug while, um, pleasuring a ladyfriend orally while she had a topical ointment on to cure her vaginal infection.

Suspended from soccer? My God, they should be having parades in the street for this trooper. The other sissymarys can learn from this guy.

Thanks to cutaway.

Posted by: Ace at 02:05 PM | Comments (57)
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Not knee-slappingly funny, but a decent premise, and the comic, who I'm sure I've seen dozens of times before, sells it pretty well:

I don't think this show is half as bad as I first did. I didn't see the whole show -- just the clips flying around -- but it looks... okay. Again, I started to wonder if I wasn't judging the show too harshly, given the facts that 1, comedy is hard, and 2, this is evident from the relatively few truly amusing comedies on TV. Also, I began to wonder if 3, I really was just lashing out at the show because Joel Surnow didn't invite me on to the show.

But now I think my main problem with the show is this: 4, conservatives have become very annoyed at the pandering, didactic clapper-rich political quasi-"comedy" coming from the left, so much so that we simply despise the pandering, didactic, clapper-rich nature of such "comedy," and we're still pretty annoyed even when such "comedy" is pandering to us.

This SNL clip is kind of obvious in the shots it takes at Nancy Pelosi:

...but it feels less like pandering because we know that SNL is a hotbed of leftism mixed in with some "rightwing" establishment liberalism. It's a surprise to see this sort of sketch on SNL these days, so it feels fresher. Plus, Kristin Wiig has a great delivery.

So, while I wouldn't agree with the Libertas blogger linked at Hot Air who calls this, ahem, “flat-out, gut-wrenchingly funny,” I've stopped seeing it as some horror. It's not as funny as I'd like -- but few shows are. Even the ones I really like aren't as funny as I'd like.

So that's my new theory-- many on the right are denigrating this show (including me, sometimes) beyond what it deserves just because we've become very hostile to pandering political humor, even when we're the ones being pandered to.

(And yeah, my humor tends to have a lot of clapper material and a good amount of pandering, too, but then, we're all kinda used to that, and further, blogs are read primarily for news and opinion and only secondarily for stuff like humor. On a comedy show, one expects the comedy to come first, so there's more resistance to the pander.)

Of course, the brain trust at Alicublog knows the real reason for my reversal:

In an update, Mr. Spades, maybe after a visit from The Boys, says the show isn't really that bad.

Yes, I got a visit from "The Boys." Surnow, FNC, the GOP, George Bush himself -- all are very, very concerned about what Ace of Spades might have to say about new comedy show on FoxNews.

They told me pretty firmly: Get back on board, Son, or you've seen your last quarter-million Halliburton check.

As you command, Darth Cheney.

Posted by: Ace at 11:40 AM | Comments (88)
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In fairness, though, I think the study might have been flawed by oversampling my ex-girlfriends.

Anyway, that appears to be the conclusion to a study recently reported in the ever-interesting "European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology." Or as those in the know call it, the "Eujobgynarb".

To the blockquotes!

Trying to juggle careers, households, family and friends keeps most women more than busy.

So busy, in fact, that sex can end up just another obligation to wearily fulfil.

Sigh...can you at least find the time to make me a freakin' sandwich?

In fact British women in their 40s and early 50s are more likely to have a low sex drive than their European counterparts.

Yeah...but in all fairness, they are sleeping (or not sleeping, as it were) with those foppish and dandyfied British Men. Who can blame them?

Oh and for the record? My interest in sleeping with women in their late 40's and early 50's? Currently Zero.

A staggering 48 per cent said they had started losing interest in sex, a survey found.

This compared with 43 per cent in Holland, 35 per cent in France, 33 per cent in Germany, 32 per cent in Italy and just 21 per cent in Switzerland.

And far from being concerned at the lack of passion in their lives, more than a third of British women said an active sex life was simply no longer important to them.

So if you happen to be a Eurotrash Geezer, I guess Switzerland is the Florida of the Senior Poontang Circuit. Good to know.

Here's a pick-up line for you if you find yourself chasing some post-menopausal Swiss tail. Just walk up to any old lady and say "Now ist the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance. Vould you like to touch my monkey!"

Guaranteed to work. Trust your old friend Jack on this one.

But what of those Britchix? Why are they so "switched off", baby? Lets ask one!

But British mother of one Kate Johnson, 52, pointed out that women could be reluctant to have sex with good reason.

'Continental men tend to exercise more and take greater care of themselves,' she said. 'British men don't look after themselves.

It's the drinking culture that affects them, with their big beer bellies.'

That is most definately not groovy, baby. Fat Bastard needs some lovin' too. After all, he is "dead sexy". Just ask him!

In summation this study supports the proposition that living the AoS Lifestyle can be detrimental to your ability to get laid on the British Isles.

Like we really needed a social-scientists (Social Science!) to tell us that.

Hell, judging by the comments, most of you morons can't even get any in the US. I'll think I'll use this site as the basis for a groundbreaking paper in the next Eujobgynarb. Can I have my crazy Eurodollar research grant money now, please?

Posted by: Jack M. at 10:02 AM | Comments (111)
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Welcoming troops home with a proper fanfare, thanks to CAD Daddy:

And somebody - Entropy, maybe?- linked this in a thread a long time ago.
NOT SAFE FOR WORK due to language.

Posted by: LauraW. at 08:53 AM | Comments (135)
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Mr. Jim Vicevich has decided to brighten our day with more news from a soldier in Iraq. He confirms the rumors that the surge has actually changed conditions on the ground in advance of itself.

Good Afternoon all,
I hope you are enjoying your four day weekend. I am now over the hump and have less than half the deployment to go, as long as we are not extended.

As you would expect, we have continued to kick butt here and are still flying 24/7 with probably even more hours than before. We are moving many of the surge troops to the enemy, doing nightly air assaults and movements.

Some of our air assaults are over 400 soldiers in one assault. Pretty awesome to see in the pitch darkness, with Blackhawks, Chinooks and Apache gun ships all flying in formation. The soldiers for the surge are in bound, and have been since before it was announced.

The strategy is to segment Baghdad into zones, each owned by a division of soldiers. They then set up joint security stations in the neighborhoods they are there to protect. Its amazing, but this is how we secured Baghdad a few years ago until some smart general decided we all needed to be inside huge bases.

Of course with an insurgency as soon as you leave the streets, they are back. So we are now "back to the future" so to speak and figuring out the age old tenant that any infantry officer knows. You cannot win a war unless you hold terrain.

You may wonder what the initial signs are of its effectiveness? Well Al-Sadr ran away and is now in Iran. His followers have become silent. The insurgents and Anti-Iraqi Forces are scurrying about like roaches trying to find a hiding spot. My opinion is that this will work... IF... We are willing to see it through to secure the city. All indications I see from here are very positive.

There is more Iranian influence now as they attempt to finance and train the insurgents. This is because the Al-Sadr's of the world are losing, dying and hiding. The money is drying up for the insurgents so Iran, being the peaceful sort is there to help them out.

Here are our current Statistics:
Over 32,000 flight hours
Over 117,000 PAX (soldiers) moved
Over 9,900,000 lbs of cargo moved
91 Armed Escort Missions
379 Counter Man Portable Missle/mortar recon and interdiction missions
162 Convoy security missions
38 Hasty Troops in Contact missions
58 Air Assaults
353 Direct Support Missions (mostly in Baghdad and Ramadi)

Emphasis mine.

Mwa ha ha haa!
Our old pal Mookie could sense a change in the air, but the MSM can't seem to detect it, even with their highly calibrated sense of nuance. Funny, he didn't seem like such a sensitive chap.

I can't thank Mr. Vicevich enough for sharing these goodies with us. May you live to a hundred sir, and in your dotage be borne upon a golden litter carried by six Colin McEnroe clones.

Everybody, please take the time to send a few good words out to the troops in the comments, because they do visit here.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:05 AM | Comments (88)
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Allah and I are currently debating this very-important question.

If zombies maintain their feeding instinct (though it's not quite clear they actually derive nourishment from eating, being dead and without conventional metabolism), and even retain some learned behavior (e.g., the habits of mall-centered consumerism, as seen in the original Dawn of the Dead), why don't they retain an instinct to have sex?

Even if that instinct is all screwed up, as zombie brain functions usually are. Like, why don't we ever see a zombie attempting to dry hump a Dodge Stratus, having the vegstige of the sexual instinct, but not enough brainpower to identify a viable mate?

Consensus: Because the idea of zombies gang-raping the living is just too nasty even for the nastiest purveyor of grindhouse fare. And it's an immediate X-rating to boot.

Allah guesses the zombification process just strips away most, but not all, instincts, so that feeding is one of the few retained and sexuality just disappers with almost everything else. I'm guessing part of it is just to differentiate them from their better-groomed cousins, vampires.

What brought this up? Well, this disturbing Europop video of a zombie pervert watching a zombie stripper in a peep-show. Content warning: It's really macabre, worse than, say, your typical macabre-expressionist Marilyn Manson video. It's not the peep-show dancing that's offensive, really -- it's the nasty, black-blood oozing look of the zombie stripper. And, I guess, the blending of that horrior with sexuality.

So here's your Thantos/Eros Europop sick vid of the day.

Just Remembered: That great early-nineties SNL sketch-- "Attack of the Masturbating Zombies." "Oh my god-- we're surrounded by zombies! And they're all-- masturbating! Ewwwww!!!"

Wish I could link that.

Why I Can't: People on the Internet seem to be saying that "Attack of the Masturbating Zombies" was deemed so offensive it cost NBC millions in advertising pull-outs and they've never re-aired it.

Conan O'Brien wrote the sketch.

Posted by: Ace at 03:27 PM | Comments (319)
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I'm linking this because everyone else is.

But I don't understand why people allege it's photoshopped. For one thing, if the Iranians want to phony up a pic showing a box of Winchester ammo allegedly captured from Sunni insurgents terrorists (terrorists because they're fighting, indirectly, on America's side), wouldn't it be painfully easy to actually just buy such ammo and really put it in the shot? We're not talking about super-sophisticated, tightly-controlled military technology here. We're talking about a common round sold around the world by one of the globe's biggest ammo manufacturers.

For another thing, I just don't see the p-shopping. This could be just because I'm stupid, of course.

Posted by: Ace at 03:11 PM | Comments (38)
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