No, not Ann Coulter. Ann Althouse.

Ann Althouse has her virtues. A thick skin, a sense of proportion, and cool demeanor are not among them.

The meltdown occurs at 5:07, though you might want to watch the whole thing, to illustrate the fact that previous to this her interlocutor (who is, unless I'm mistaken, Velma Dinkley of Mystery, Inc.) was treating the exchange as colleagial and friendly, and in fact was largely conceding Althouse's points (like the fact that the sinestrosphere is nastier than the dextrosphere).

Velma mentioned, in passing, the "Jessica Valenti breast controversy" simply to note that was the only sustained attack on Althouse from the left she was aware of, and then Althouse just loses her shit. Velma repeatedly attempts to apologize and de-escalate but nothing seems to work.

Ann Althouse seems to be a basically decent and level-headed person, but for the love of Pete, even high-tension power lines look at her and say, "Ehhh... a bit high strung, isn't she?"

Dude, you must chill. Begin taking deep breaths and counting to ten, or maybe forty, when you begin to feel emotional about something.

There's some irony here. Andrew Sullivan joyously piles on to Althouse, delighting in her looking foolish in a moment of loss of emotional reserve.

Because, you know, he himself isn't easily offended.

Oh, and up-page, he whines that Instapundit is linking "pro-torture blogs" like The Corner when he could be linking to Andrew Sullivan all day long.

BTW: All viewers of this video have an advantage that Althouse, I presume, did not -- we could see Velma Dinckley's expression, and could tell that she 1) didn't give the comment much thought, 2) didn't mean it maliciously, and 3) was quite sincere in her statement about not intending to give Althouse offense or cheap-shot her.

The fact of the matter is that tone is often hard to discern in print, and still somewhat hard to make out via audio. The human face conveys so much information that words don't. And Althouse, of course, couldn't see Velma's.

Another cautionary tale here is that one should be careful to assume the worst possible motives in one's political adversaries. The left does this to me all the time -- when I write about my fear of brown people or vaginas, they quote me, slack-jawed, wailing in righteous fury that someone could not only have such views in this day and age, but could feel perfectly comfortable expressing such views. It never occurs to them -- never -- that of couse I don't hold such views at all, and am merely employing a rather well-known device called "irony." But because I'm conservative, that possibility isn't even considered; there is no bigotry or irrational phobia (vaginaphobia!) that a troglodyte like myself (or like any of you) is not to be presumed guilty of.

Apparently Velma's fellow bloggers at TAPped regularly take nasty pot-shots at Althouse, which is what leads Althouse to assume, wrongly, that Velma is doing the same here.

Assuming the very basest behavior in one's lefty opponents may be a fine operating rule 80% of the time, but 20% of the time it's going to cause miscommunications and some embarrassment.

Posted by: Ace at 03:37 PM | Comments (70)
Post contains 542 words, total size 3 kb.

Seems so:

A few hours after the LAT story [about Sunnis negotiating to join an anti-Al Qaeda front with the US and Iraqi governments], Reuters hit the wire with a report of jihadis having killed the son of Thahir al-Dari, a prominent Sunni sheikh in Anbar who’s joined the tribal “awakening” against AQ. The son’s name: Harith al-Dari. Turns out Harith’s uncle, also named Harith al-Dari, leads the jihadist Muslim Scholars’ Association and opposes the anti-AQ “awakening.” He’s been called “Iraq’s most wanted Sunni leader.”

A thoroughly professional digest, as usual, from Allah.

One question: Though I'm perfectly open to partitioning Iraq (and sometimes quite in favor of it), why is it that now, when there actually is good evidence we're winning this thing and national reconcilliation is possible, is Allah, and Christopher Hitchens too, "coming around" to supporting the idea?

It's an idea that should never been dismissed out of hand, but there seems less reason for it at the current moment.

Assuming present trends continue, of course, which is always a jackassumption, but I've got a good feeling about all of this. For the first time in two long bloody years.

Posted by: Ace at 03:17 PM | Comments (6)
Post contains 191 words, total size 1 kb.

That's not his wife. That's ex-girlfriend Lorrie Morgan, a country music singer.

This is his wife. The man has a type.

And when a woman like that starts saying that she finds the notion of a run for president exciting and stimulating, you listen.

As that's obviously not his first wife, there's more, I'm sure, to come regarding how he became free to date in the mid-nineties. At east his current wife had nothing to do with the divorce from his last one.

Still, I think his wife's hotness and youth is going to count against him. We dudes can all joke about it -- "Any guy who can get all up on that is precisely the sort of man we want negotiating with North Korea" -- but I don't imagine women will be as enthusiastic.

Of course, given the fact that Thompson's support seems to be coming directly from Giuliani, maybe that's not such an issue.

Although I like Thompson, it should be noted he only served one full term in the Senate, and wasn't considered particularly influential, innovative, or even hard-working. His "executive experience," such as it is, came long, long ago as a corruption-bustin' prosecutor. Good experience, to be sure, but he hasn't managed anything lately except a senatorial staff and the small corporation that forms around a working actor.

Posted by: Ace at 02:15 PM | Comments (81)
Post contains 241 words, total size 2 kb.

Maguire thinks this is a reasonable move, given the Democrats' wish to indict any Republican whose memories might conflict with anyone else's.

But he sees where this is obviously heading (obviously, to me, now that he's pointed it out). Leahy will take this as proof of a coverup or obstruction of justice or, who knows, Driving While Republican and note that as the Department of Justice cannot credibly investigate itself, this situation demand the appointment of a (wait for it!) Special Counsel.

It's really only a matter of time.

Of course, Janet Reno was faced with a similar problem during the Clinton years, when evidence of Al Gore's shady fundraising from Buddhist nuns came to light. In that case, she decided the AG could, in fact, decide on the merits of an investigation into a high-ranking administration official, and put the kibbosh on further investigations because, in her unbiased opinion, no crime had been committed.

Too weak to stand up to her underlings in the Waco siege, but plenty strong enough to decide no special counsel was needed to investigate her fellow high-ranking Democratic colleague Al Gore.

Maybe Bush should play the Reno Card and make his own independent, unbiased determination as to the law.

Posted by: Ace at 01:36 PM | Comments (33)
Post contains 223 words, total size 2 kb.

From Maguire, excerpting from Byron York.

...[Ms. Plame's] testimony seemed to offer new insight into the beginnings of the Niger mission. But soon after Mrs. WilsonÂ’s appearance, Missouri Republican Sen. Christopher Bond, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told National Review Online that Mrs. Wilson, in her interview with Senate investigators, never mentioned the young junior officer, the call from the vice presidentÂ’s office, or the passing CIA official who suggested Joseph WilsonÂ’s name.

“Friday [March 16] was the first time we have ever heard that story,” Sen. Bond said in a statement. “Obviously if we had, we would have included it in the report. If Ms. Wilson’s memory of events has improved and she would now like to change her testimony, I’m sure the committee staff would be happy to re-interview her.”

Maguire continues:

Well, Ms. Plame's memory has improved since Sen. Bond spoke on the floor of the Senate in July 2004, following the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report which was so critical of Joe Wilson (p. 3 of 5 page .pdf):

I had staff go back and see what she said when asked about this issue [of her role in Joe's trip]. Her quote was:

“I honestly do not recall if I suggested it to my boss....”

But now she remembers Walking By Guy and is sure of her non-role. Why do the rest of us fear aging when clearly memory improves with time?

Maguire, by the way, specifically states he himself does not accuse Valerie Plame of lying.

That would be me.

Posted by: Ace at 01:20 PM | Comments (20)
Post contains 255 words, total size 2 kb.

...while practicing for a charity event. Whoops. The event is starting in the hole.

Not the most dramatic crash caught on video, but one of the more expensive ones.

He's fine, by the way.

Asian martial actor Jackie Chan was scheduled to take part in the event, but his car exploded into metal-ripping fireball the moment he looked at it. Collision experts concluded the car had just decided to "cut out the middleman" and destroy itself in order to save time.

Thanks to Captain Colo.

Posted by: Ace at 11:55 AM | Comments (20)
Post contains 103 words, total size 1 kb.

Hamas is really making good on that promise to provide basic services.

Well, if you consider "killing Israeli civilians" to be "basic services."

At least four Palestinians drowned in a tsunami of raw sewage on Tuesday when a water treatment reservoir burst, flooding a village in the northern Gaza Strip.

The deluge, triggered by the collapse of a septic system aid organisations had long warned was dangerously overburdened, submerged dozens of homes in the Bedouin farming village of Umm al-Nasr beneath a cesspool of foul-smelling effluent.

Two women, one more than 70 years old, and two toddlers aged one and two died in the flood. Fifteen people were injured and scores more are still missing, according to Palestinian medics.

Village children clung to wooden doors floating on the putrid waters as rescuers used boats to help the victims.

...

Newly appointed Palestinian interior minister Hani al-Qawasmeh rushed to the scene to inspect the damage, but angry villagers chased him off by firing guns at his convoy and wounding two policemen, witnesses said.

As far back as January 2004, UN aid agencies in the Gaza Strip had warned that the north Gaza sewage treatment facility was operating far beyond its capacity and posed a grave danger to nearby residents.

Designed to serve just 50,000 people, the plant at that time was handling waste from 190,000 Gaza residents.

Excess sewage had already flooded around 110 acres, and 50 percent of children in Umm Al-Nasr had developed problems with their digestive systems, a UN report found.

"Unless action is taken to address this problem, water in this effluent lake will spill out over the holding basins into residential areas, and directly into homes," the report concluded.

Here comesthe "obviouslies." Obviously, Israel will offer to help its terrorist neighbors, and obviously, the Palestinians will whine about not getting enough money from the World Dole.

In Israel, Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered the army to provide assistance to the victims if asked to do so by the Palestinian Authority.

The Islamist Hamas movement, the leading partner in a newly formed Palestinian unity government, blamed the disaster on the suspension of direct foreign aid to the cabinet that was imposed a year ago when it formed a cabinet alone.

Another flooding disaster caused by Bush and his hatred of brown people?

Thanks to Blacksheep.

Posted by: Ace at 10:36 AM | Comments (84)
Post contains 404 words, total size 3 kb.

Good idea:

A millionaire thanks to his work as a venture capitalist, Mitt Romney is acutely aware of the motivating power of money. His presidential campaign hopes it will have a similar effect on college students, which is why it's offering them a cut of their fundraising.

Participants in "Students for Mitt" will get 10 percent of the money they raise for the campaign beyond the first $1,000. While candidates often offer professional fundraisers commissions up to 8 percent, campaign experts believe the Massachusetts Republican is the first to do so with the legion of college students who have historically served as campaign volunteers.

"For the kids that want to get involved in a political campaign and they don't want to spend their summer painting houses, they can help the campaign and themselves at the same time," said Romney spokesman Kevin Madden.

Others take a dimmer view.

"It may very well succeed, but I'd like to think that he'd approach young people and college students based on their commitment to the country, not because they want walking-around money," said Steve Grossman, a prominent Massachusetts fundraiser and past chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Yeah, we wouldn't want dirty money corrupting people into supporting candidates they don't particularly like.

Posted by: Ace at 10:27 AM | Comments (11)
Post contains 230 words, total size 2 kb.

Who? Well, she's a nobody, a sports columnist you've never heard of.

But in the pages of the New Yor Times, she's still arguing the lacrosse players should be prosecuted because of their "white skin privilege" and yadda yadda yadda.

"What happens if all the charges are dismissed? There is a tendency to conflate the alleged crime at the Duke lacrosse team kegger on March 13, 2006, with the irrefutable culture of misogyny, racial animus and athlete entitlement that went unrestrained that night.

"Porn-style photos of two exotic dancers -- one of whom was the accuser -- emerged from cellphone camera downloads. Heated exchanges between players and dancers occurred. Racial slurs were heard. And in an 'American Psycho' reference, a repulsive e-mail message depicting the skinning of strippers was sent by a player, Ryan McFadyen, who, to his credit, has since apologized."

Um, what sort of photos is one supposed to take of "exotic dancers"?

And that idiotic thing about skinning the strippers -- these morons are at least now acknowledging it was in fact a reference, a joke pulled from a movie. But they still insist that Ryan McFadyen really is interested in skinning strippers.

KC Johnson sees this all as merely the childish repositioning and walk-back of someone who's been proven wrong and simply hasn't the integrity to admit error. Because Selena Roberts is now casting her previous claims that the players were guilty of rape as a mere critique of their "culture." Which is of course pro-rape, and which must still be punished. Proven disasterously wrong about the facts of the case, Roberts insults her critics -- proven completely right -- as a bunch of white racists who just want her to

lay off the lacrosse pipeline to Wall Street, excuse the khaki-pants crowd of SAT wonder kids.

Did this woman happen to notice that one of those SAT wonder kids wasn't even in the same part of town as the hooker when she claims she was raped?

Posted by: Ace at 09:44 AM | Comments (30)
Post contains 357 words, total size 2 kb.

Okay, that's not fair; this is just a post on his website, DevalPatrick.com.

But what we can say is that an awful lot of people posting on Deval Patrick's website are Truthers. His most enthusiastic supporters (who else posts on a politician's website?) are pretty convinced the American government engineered 9/11:

9/11 is being used to justify war after war and the coming state of martial law in America. 9/11 was clearly a fraud conducted by members of our own government in an effort to take over the world. Much like Operation NorthwoodÂ’s, in 1962, 9/11 was scripted by a group within our government to create fear and allow for a doctrine of preemptive war against nations that are geostrategically important to our imperialistic desires.

Some of the issues at hand:

- PNAC (The Project for the New American Century) a conservative think-tank, whose founders include many within the current administration. This group published a document calling for a "new Pearl Harbor" prior to 9/11.

- PNAC members referred to 9/11 as an "opportunity" for change post 9/11

- WTC 7, 47 Story, steel framed, building that collapsed on 9/11. Building 7 fell at near free fall speed, and like WTC1 and WTC2, appeared to be a controlled demolition.

- Bush's reaction at Booker T Washington Elementary the morning of 9/11. While claiming to have seen the first plane strike live, despite it not being televised until the next day, Bush was allowed to remain at the school for 34 min after the beginning of the attack. This was despite standard secret service protocol to remove the president during a time of attack.

- Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon. It is a matter of common sense, and public record that the Pentagon is the most well defended building in the world. Despite this, the "official story" has a commercial airliner being able to hit it without a shot being fired.

- Hijackers alive post 9/11. At least 7 of the "hijackers" have been interviewed by major news networks.

Most of the comments to this post agree with it.

Posted by: Ace at 09:20 AM | Comments (28)
Post contains 356 words, total size 2 kb.