Rob Port isn't a public health statistician, but he can do simple math the same as anyone.

Crunching the numbers, 15,000 fewer babies have died in Iraq since the invasion.

He notes that's a "conservative estimate," which once again means it's neocon propaganda.

Posted by: Ace at 09:46 AM | Comments (20)
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Okay, this may be fake, but it's pretty funny. An image supposedly taken from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Letters page follows. Looks real, but I'm pretty sure it's easy to fake an ink-smudged "newspaper page" in Photoshop.

Daylight exacerbates warming

You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of the last century....

This should come as no surprise to any reasonable person. As you know, Daylight Saving time started almost a month early this year. You would think that members of Congress would ave considered the warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate. Or did they?

Perhaps this is another plot by a liberal Congress to make us believe that global warming is a real threat. Perhaps the next time there should be serious tudies before Congress passes laws with such far-reaching effects.

CONNIE M. MESKIMEN

Hot Springs

Pretty funny, but I sort of doubt a newspaper would use the word "exacerbates" in a headline -- just doesn't seem newspaperish. And of course there's actually a typo in the headline; I've corrected "warning" to the intended "warming."

And of course it's just plain stupid. How could someone be this dumb, and how could a letters-page editor then be dumb enough on top of that to publish it? The hoax warning bells are sounding.

Still, assuming it's real, assuming it's not an attempt at irony, and assuming it's not a punking to make global warming sketpics look dumb -- assuming all of that -- kind of funny.

Thanks to Terrapin Fan.

Fake But Accurate: A real letter, really publshed -- but a punking. The author is a lawyer who fancies himself a letters-page humorist, playing dumb for laughs.

Thanks to Some Guy for finding that.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:03 AM | Comments (14)
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on Mars.

Mars is being hit by rapid climate change and it is happening so fast that the red planet could lose its southern ice cap, writes Jonathan Leake.

Who knew the Viking Landers were capable of so much pollution?

I'll tell you who: George W. Bush. You laugh, but when he was an oilman in the Texas deserts in the 1970's, he learned a thing or two about terraforming. After all, his plan always was to become the first President to drill on Mars, and he needs a favorable climate to do so.

(OK..I admit...I'm just trying to pre-empt the inevitable DU comments when this article gets out. If the lefties are gonna be loony, is it too much to ask that they put a little effort into it?)

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

You don't say. In related news, I am announcing the formation of my new company, Ace of Spades Martian Carbon Offsets Trading, LLC. For the right price, I commit to you that neither Ace, LauraW, AndrewR, or I will ever set foot on Mars, thereby guaranteeing you the freedom to release all the carbon you like into the Martian Atmosphere.

What can I say? We care about Martian polar bears. And you should too.

The mechanism at work on Mars appears, however, to be different from that on Earth. One of the researchers, Lori Fenton, believes variations in radiation and temperature across the surface of the Red Planet are generating strong winds.

Hmmm...what could cause variations in radiation and temperature across an entire planet?

Could it be.....Satan?

Well, maybe. But I bet this is a more likely answer.

So step up and start your bidding today! Get your carbon offsets while they're...hot!

Posted by: Jack M. at 07:19 PM | Comments (59)
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The relentless hordes of the freshly dead are nearly as frightening as vaginas.

I still don't know how the hell you're supposed to even make it past a few boards in these games.

Thanks to dri.

Duh: If you're a moron like me you probably need to be told that after each level you can allocate how many hours you're devoting to repairing the barricade, scavenging for weapons, and searching for survivors. Don't just leave them all at zero like I did.

Posted by: Ace at 06:10 PM | Comments (43)
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Good, long (1 hr 11 minutes) rebuttal of Farhenheit 9/11 and the general liberal mythologies about the War on Terror.

It may or may not be old, but it's new to me. Definitely worth a watch.

Posted by: Ace at 06:03 PM | Comments (10)
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Physicists are baffled by the seemingly impossible. Noted structural engnieer Rosie O'Donnell could not be reached for comment.

A section of freeway that funnels traffic off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge collapsed early Sunday after a gasoline tanker truck overturned and caught fire, authorities said.

The heat from the fire was intense enough to melt part of the freeway and cause the collapse, but the truck's driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns.

Scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and CERNE Laboratories are petitioning the government to cordon off the area to keep the site of this unprecedented event pristine enough for scientific investigation. "It's like witnessing the live birth of a new universe," Normal Druvovitch of JPL said. "

Physicist Kip Thorne believes the area may in fact be a "naked singularity," a region in space in which the normal physical laws that govern the universe simply fail to operate. He suggests that the National Guard be activated to surround the area at a "safe distance," in order to keep the curious well away from the site. "Strange energies may be radiating from the wreckage as we speak," Thorne said. "Bizarre forms of radiation, atoms and quarks previously unseen in our reality. Maybe even wizards riding dinosaurs and crazy shit like that."

Thanks to PoliSat.com.

Posted by: Ace at 05:02 PM | Comments (44)
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Shock value.

But, as much as it pains me to admit this, he has a point here. Pretty much the only sensible trope of Maher's is his criticism of liberals for thinking of children not as children but as "little adults" -- basically with the full panoply of rights of adults to do what they want, simply in smaller packages. Which is of course nonsense.

So although here Maher is engaging in his typical kneejerk contrarianism, "edginess" for the sake of edginess, he's using it as a jumping-off point for the hard-to-deny proposition kids in general need to be disciplined more. Treated less like "little adults," and more, as he says, as children in need of instruction and, where appropriate, punishment, so as to "straighten their asses out."

Kids have too much entitlement in this country. Kids have too much latitude. Kids have too many parents who are negotiating with them and telling them to, instead of just telling them to “Shut up, and I’m going to straighten your ass out.” They need their ass straightened out.” I’m telling you. Next time you’re on an airplane, you’ll wish Alec Baldwin was on that plane with you.

Yeah, I know: What Baldwin said to his 11 year old (or 12, who can be sure about such things) daughter was horrible. And Maher's being his characteristically dickish self to all but blame the daughter for the incident, rather than saying "I don't know the facts of the situation here, but in general..."

Then he of course goes into full-bore dick mode:

When [fellow panelist] National Review contributor Lisa Schiffren protested saying, “I have an eleven-year-old,” Maher despicably asked, “Is she a rude, little pig?”

Does anyone think Maher would have asked this question of anyone in Hollywood, i.e., anyone who could have helped or harmed his meager career? Of course not -- the brave Maher only asks such a nasty question of someone safely outside the industry, and safely despised by most of the industry as well.

He's the typical sort of bully -- the bully who's utterly craven with anyone who can actually hit back.

Also at Newsbusters, former minor comedian turned lunatic conspiracy theorist Richard Belzer claims that even Democrats are scheming with Republicans to steal Iraq's oil. He objects to being compared to Rosie O'Donnell, calling foul on such "name-calling."

So even to the lunatic insult pseudo-comic Richard Belzer, the term "Rosie O'Donnell" is now a perjorative of supreme invective.

Posted by: Ace at 04:44 PM | Comments (92)
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Not too many details yet.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Four people were shot and killed, including an assailant, and at least three others were wounded Sunday in two incidents, including one at a crowded shopping mall in Kansas City, police said.

...

One person was killed in a house and two others were killed at the upscale Ward Parkway mall south of downtown Kansas City about 6 miles away, where police killed a gunman, according to Sgt. Tony Sanders of the Kansas City police.

...

Sanders said the entire incident began about 2 p.m. at another location, when police went to a home to investigate a report of a person who had not been seen by relatives for days. The person was found dead and his car was missing, Sanders said.

Around 3:15 p.m., an officer was shot in the arm after pulling over a man who was driving the victim's car. The officer, whose wound was not life-threatening, returned fire. The car took off and was later seen at the mall.

Police received several calls from people who saw a man with a "long gun" at the mall, Sanders said. The gunman shot two people in the parking lot, killing them, then went inside the mall and fired more shots, Sanders said.

...

Caffie Bradshaw, 19, of Kansas City, was at her first day of work at the Target. She said she was in a break room with two other people when they heard shots. She said co-workers saw a white man with a rifle who was "spraying bullets."

Posted by: AndrewR at 04:38 PM | Comments (16)
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You don't even have to be a dork to enjoy it. It speaks to universal themes -- friendship, betrayal, and giant magical robots.

Thanks to wahhaw.

Posted by: Ace at 09:22 AM | Comments (40)
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Did America buy itself a big, verifiable pile of Collateral Damage Offsets?

INFANT mortality in Afghanistan has fallen dramatically since the demise of the Taleban, according to a new study, with 40,000 fewer babies dying every year.

Improvements in women's access to medical care since the Taleban were ousted from power five years ago was cited as the main reason for the death rate becoming significantly lower.

Grim infant and maternal mortality rates have been regularly cited as evidence of Afghanistan's backwardness after decades of war.

They were also seen as a sign of the slow progress of the internationally funded reconstruction effort.

According to the preliminary results of a Johns Hopkins University study, the infant mortality rate has declined to about 135 per 1,000 live births in 2006, down from an estimated 165 per 1,000 in 2001.

...

Benjamin Loevinsohn, a World Bank health specialist, said the survey results probably underestimated the improvement in infant mortality.

"It's a conservative estimate. This is the situation two and a half to three years ago ... It should be better than that now," Mr Loevinsohn said.

A-ha! A conservative estimate. I knew it must be neocon propaganda.

It's a point that seems glib but isn't -- how do 40,000 fewer infant deaths per year factor into the left's "war never solved anything" and "war is bad for the health of puppies and flowers and other living things" slogans?

Thanks to dri.

Posted by: Ace at 09:15 AM | Comments (32)
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