I was looking through this stuff doing some light research for an article. Anyway, just take a guess at, say, the top four most valuable NFL franchises.

The actual list is surprising. Especially number four. What?

Posted by: Ace at 12:14 PM | Comments (31)
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I don't buy it -- no one's that good. Still, it's fun to imagine. According to the I-can't-believe-it's-not-real StratFor:

Â… Israel, however, does not care to gamble on the rationality of the Iranian regime, and does not intend to see an Iranian nuclear weapons program come to fruition.

The Israelis, therefore, have their own ways of dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat.

…. The death of a high-level Iranian nuclear scientist, Ardeshir Hassanpour, was announced by Radio Farda and Iranian state television Jan. 25 — a week after his death occurred. The Radio Farda report implicitly related the cause for Hassanpour’s death to exposure to radioactive rays, though the details were murky. Stratfor sources close to Israeli intelligence have revealed, however, that Hassanpour was in fact a Mossad target.

Posted by: Ace at 11:36 AM | Comments (28)
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Just sort of funny to see Chuck Norris sitting in for Sean Hannity on H&C.

At several points during the interview Chuck Norris seems to be attempting the secret "Draw Forth The Heart" finishing move, but then decides against it, figuring he can just bore the guy to death instead.

Posted by: Ace at 11:31 AM | Comments (10)
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Molly Ivins died, provoking Maya Angelou to start yelling about rocks and walls and rivers and leaves again.

Molly,

I am shouting,

With two voices,

Walls come down!

Walls come down!

Walls come down!

My one-word reaction to the universal critical acclaim of Maya Angelou:

Really?

Or should I say,

Really?!!!!

Although, admittedly, I did like her "Elegy To Janet Jackson's Wardrobe Malfunction."

Oh, furious funbag

Proud Sweater-Fruit of the Noble Amazon Warrior Queen!

Low-Hanging coconut of my ancestors' lifemilk,

Mocha Mommysac of Mammalian Munificence!

Sweet tit of Destiny, I sing to thee!

Hail this hallowed hooter of humanity,

drink deeply from its dark meat

and then dream, belly warmly filled, of proud Mother Africa!

I never mentioned it; perhaps some didn't read about it. Deborah Orin(-Eilback), just about my favorite writer at the New York Post, died this week of cancer. She managed a hell of a balancing act, being both a reliable, earnest reporter, and fitting in with (or leading) the New York Post's brash, sometimes crass style.

How to note the passing of these folks? Well, I guess I'll just have to emulate the gay-camp site Wonkette and call for the death of another writer, as they called for the death of Michelle Malkin.

How about Ken Layne or either of the klub kidz writing this crap?

Posted by: Ace at 11:27 AM | Comments (40)
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After they couldn't come to terms about payments or advertising to be provided to Viacom.

I think this is just a negotiating strategy, and that they'll now settle. But Google is going to to have to start paying entertainment companies an awful lot to keep YouTube going. And they can't cut a deal with everyone like they cut with NBC -- you can't give everyone high-profile advertising. Or else none of it is high-profile, right?

Napster? Entertainment companies put Napster out of business. They could do the same to YouTube. Most of them seem to view YouTube as a useful vehicle for promotion and so don't want to kill it, but let's face it, YouTube exists primarily as a vehicle for copyright infringement. Any sort of genuine clampdown on copyright infringement will kill the site, making it useless for promotion.

After all, even those ten bazillion teenage lipsync videos are infringing on copyrights, given the music playing in background. Take away the infringement, and you're just left with "Loverboy" telling you "I LOVE THE GAME!" and, of course, this (content warning) solid citizen.

I like being able to post videos and all, but seriously, how sweet would it be if Google ended up outright eating a billion-dollar-plus investment?

Posted by: Ace at 10:37 AM | Comments (16)
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More nuance.

So she's advocating a position designed to appeal to the anti-war hard left of her base -- appease Teheran -- while imagining she can placate the pro-Israel "New York Money Men" audience she was addressing by acknowleging her favored position is, basically, fucking retarded.

She actually triangulated mid-sentence. Beat that, Bill.

She learned much from Arafat. Including, of course, the pleasures of woman-on-woman love.

Did I say "learned from"? I meant "taught."

Vote Hillary! in '08

Even though I'm not sure that's the smartest strategy to take.

"Leadership" By Eternal "Listening:" Drew observes that Hillary! seems to think the Presidency will pretty much be another four or eight years of college, with lots of exciting electives:

She called for a better understanding of how Iran "really functions"...

Is this just another version of the Hillary listening tour? First New York, then America and if elected, The World!

At some point, doesn't she have to stop "listening"/"learning" and start "talking"/"leading"?

More... She thinks we should also have a tea-time tete-a-tete with Hamas and Hezbollah.

Greg Tinti wonders: Why not Al Qaeda too, since we're going to be little Gabby McChatterboxes with so many other terrorists?

Posted by: Ace at 10:02 AM | Comments (35)
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... on Gibson's radio show.

Is it just me or does he sound like a cross between Truman Capote and Wayland Flowers' puppet "Madam"?

Via Michelle Malkin, who has a partial transcript of Arkin's screeching.

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 AM | Comments (8)
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It's a standard leftist demonstration, with moronic chanting and "animal noises," as Christopher Hitchens calls them, but, I suppose, we should take solace in the fact that it's a peaceful (if disruptive and uncivil) demonstration and that there are no bomb belts. Progress.

But...

Past the actual demonstration and ejection from the auditorium, you'll see a post-mortem wrap-up. At around 11:00 comes the declaration that those in the auditorium should be depressed because now they know that "Israel can't last," and then at 12:00 comes the promise that "Israel will be wiped off the face of the earth."

It seems the "occupation" they're most concerned about is the occupation of Jews of living bodies.

Posted by: Ace at 09:14 AM | Comments (7)
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Captain Ed deems it an acceptable way for Senators to express their frustration cowardly take political cover while not undermining our military's efforts in Iraq. Hugh Hewitt agrees.

It's a nice idea, but I guess I don't really think the "symbolic" anti-war resolution will much undermine our efforts, nor will blocking it help our efforts. Isn't the cat out of the bag? Is there anyone in Al Qaeda and/or the Iraq "insurgency" who doesn't know Americans are weary of war and want to pretend normalcy is right around the corner?

It's all symbolic -- and what is being symbolized is something everyone knows. The war is already unpopular and growing more so by the day. Whether the symbolic gesture passes or it doesn't, that fact is still understood by our enemies.

Like, for example, the Sadrists, who seem to be willing to just wait out the surge and then go on an ethnic-cleansing spree the moment we withdraw.

Posted by: Ace at 08:26 AM | Comments (24)
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Which is, apparently, our goods being taxed in a rapidly-aging, economically-declining market. (NYT link.)

resident Jacques Chirac has demanded that the United States sign both the Kyoto climate protocol and a future agreement that will take effect when the Kyoto accord runs out in 2012.

He said that he welcomed last week’s State of the Union address in which President Bush described climate change as a “serious challenge” and acknowledged that a growing number of American politicians now favor emissions cuts.

But he warned that if the United States did not sign the agreements, a carbon tax across Europe on imports from nations that have not signed the Kyoto treaty could be imposed to try to force compliance. The European Union is the largest export market for American goods.

“A carbon tax is inevitable,” Mr. Chirac said. “If it is European, and I believe it will be European, then it will all the same have a certain influence because it means that all the countries that do not accept the minimum obligations will be obliged to pay.”

Trade lawyers have been divided over the legality of a carbon tax, with some saying it would run counter to international trade rules. But Mr. Chirac said other European countries would back it. “I believe we will have all of the European Union,” he said.

Eh, two can play at that game. I guess I'm paleo in this way, but I really never thought free trade was the be-all and end-all anyway.

Posted by: Ace at 08:09 AM | Comments (48)
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