I have to think he's either got a very mild case of it or, due to his good lifestyle (little drinking, moderate use of stimulants like coffee, good sleeping schedule) he just barely ever tugs at the seizure trip-wire.

"The chief justice assured him that he was doing fine," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "The president was reassured."

Roberts "sounded like he was in great spirits," Snow said, relaying details of the phone call.

Doctors who examined Roberts after his seizure said they found no tumor, stroke or any other explanation for the episode.

Roberts, 52, had a similar, unexplained attack in 1993.

...

By definition, someone who has had more than one seizure without any other cause is determined to have epilepsy, said Dr. Marc Schlosberg, a Washington Hospital Center neurologist who is not involved in the Roberts case.

Whether Roberts will need anti-seizure medications to prevent another is something he and his doctor will have to decide. But after two seizures, the likelihood of another at some point is greater than 60 percent.

Epilepsy is merely a term for a seizure disorder, but it is a loaded term because it makes people think of lots of seizures, cautioned Dr. Edward Mkrdichian, a neurosurgeon at the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch.

Still, Mkrdichian said anyone who has had two otherwise unexplained seizures is at high risk for a third, and that he puts such patients on anti-seizure medications.

"Having two seizures so many years apart without any known culprit is going to be very difficult to figure out," agreed Dr. Max Lee of the Milwaukee Neurological Institute.

He was on a boat before the attack. Maybe the sun, heat, and a little dehydration just pushed him over the seizure threshold. A lot of epileptics have their symptoms triggered by bright rapidly-flashing lights, usually strobe type. Maybe some others can get it by less intense flashing, like the sun glancing off the water and windshield for a few hours. I know when they do testing for this they try different flashing light cycles, some of them relatively slow.

Posted by: Ace at 10:26 AM | Comments (25)
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J-Pod mentioning it in a "highly conditional tone" given some people's skepticism about ARG.

Assuming it's true -- or at least mostly true, i.e., Rudy is either tied or nearly tied with Romney for the lead and may overtake him any day now -- that would pretty much seal the deal for Rudy, given his popularity in Florida. Thompson would have to work mighty hard indeed to displace the guy who's ahead in the national polls as well as the important early primary states.

I think Thompson could do it, but it wouldn't be the old math of Thompson stepping in and becoming the front-runner. He'd merely be a second-placer with a good chance.

Posted by: Ace at 10:18 AM | Comments (27)
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Of course he can avoid all jailtime if he completes a stint in rehab.

I don't think this is a very important story -- wow, prosecutors and judge roll over for Al Gore's son, film at 11 -- but DB points out something interesting: Al Gore III's lawyer is Allen Stokke.

Who is Allison Stokke's dad.

Posted by: Ace at 09:54 AM | Comments (16)
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So You Think You Can Dance? subjects viewers to synchronized defeatism. It has a good beat I can surrender to it.

“So You Think You Can Dance” took its audience for granted, tried to force feed it pirouette propaganda, and it paid a price.

There was a time when such shows were tailor-made for men fighting overseas, not made for bringing them down. Glenn Miller did his radio show three times a week between 1938 and 1942 before joining the Army himself and forming the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band.

Miller insisted the band be as close to the troops in theater as possible and had them shipped to England in 1943. While there, the band did over 800 performances in less than a year.

A General reportedly once told Miller, "Next to a letter from home, Capt. Miller, your organization is the greatest morale builder in the ETO.” His art made a statement.

In December of Â’44, Miller flew ahead of his band from England to France to entertain troops who had liberated Paris. His plane disappeared over the English Channel. Neither the wreckage nor any signs of Miller were ever found. His death remains a mystery, Miller a casualty of the war he went so far to support.

My, these days are different, arenÂ’t they?

The producers and choreographers defend their decision by saying no one could be pro-war, so what's the harm? Well, no one is pro-war as an optimum choice, but sometimes the pro-war position is the best of a bad lot.

Furthermore, during WWII, few actually liked the war either. What precisely was there to like? A world burning with darkness on the march? Soldiers being killed by the thousands? The deprivations and rationing on the home front?

No one was exactly dancing with joy at the fact that history had compelled them to fight a great evil at tremendous personal cost.

And yet they did it anyway. Without mounting absurd pageants about fantasy worlds in which Hitler could be negotiated with by simply appealing to his sense of compassion and his sense of equality.

Okay, I think I'm stopping the Rich "Psycho" Giamboni schtick. It's tedious.

In case you didn't notice, Dave in Texas is going to throw some posts up every once in a while. Glad to have him posting.

Posted by: Ace at 09:44 AM | Comments (52)
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I just filled out an application, and brought it to the interview (click on images to enlarge).

more...

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 09:44 AM | Comments (26)
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Awarding electrical college votes by district. The Republicans would probably wind up winning the equivalent of Ohio out of California's electrical college votes (I think the article said California had like seven hundred and fifty votes; I don't know, read it yourself).

I don't really care too much about politics, to be honest. I got interested when Jesse Ventura ran, but unless Royce Gracie is the Vice President I guess I just don't care.

It would be cool knowing I could kick the Vice President's ass.

Royce Gracie is a fag. You guys all know that, right?

I hear things. I hear things.

Posted by: Rich "Psycho" Giamboni at 09:36 AM | Comments (19)
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Look at them. Not a one of them has anything better to do than type type type all the doo-dah day like secretaries.

As such, the OÂ’Hanlon-Pollack report makes plain one other truth: Those who persist in denying that General David PetraeusÂ’s counterinsurgency strategy is having the desired, salutary effect and who insist that our defeat is inevitable are promoting a self-fulfilling prophesy. They are so determined to score domestic political points by unilaterally ending the conflict in Iraq that they are prepared to surrender the country to al Qaeda and various Shiite militias and their respective Saudi, Iranian and Syrian enablers.

Public-opinion polling and anecdotal evidence suggests that Americans are beginning to appreciate the true nature — and potentially enormous costs — of the surrender in Iraq being advocated by many Democrats and a few Republicans.

That's from some secretary named Frank Gaffney. This one is from some other guy named Michael Yon.

I have had the feeling for more than a month that top U.S. leadership in Iraq has been being cautious not to show too much optimism at this time. However, I have seen changes with my own eyes in Nineveh, Anbar, and Diyala that are more fundamental than just winning battles. In Nineveh, the enemies of a united Iraq are still strong and vibrant, but the Iraqi army and police in Nineveh clearly are improving faster than the enemy is improving. In other words, the Iraqi Security Forces are winning that particular race. Out in Anbar, the shift actually began to occur last year while Special Forces and other less-than-visible operators, along with conventional forces such as the Marines, began harnessing the mood-shift of the tribes. Whereas in Nineveh the fight has been more like a race and test of endurance, in Anbar the outcome was more like an avalanche. Parts of Diyala, such as Baqubah, witnessed avalanche-like positive changes beginning on June 19 with Operation Arrowhead Ripper. I witnessed the operation and was given full access.

I don't see what the problem is. If the terrorists start acting up, you suplex 'em. Iraqi parliament? Suplex 'em. Harry Reid? Suplex 'im, then face-stomp him, then climb up the walls of the Octogon and power-slam him with an elbow from about twelve foot yay high.

Then again, I'm a man of action. I've got better things to do than write in a journal like a twelve-year-old girl.

Like clean up all this filthy ferret musk off me. The little horny bastards are all rutting and they're spraying their weasel-smegma everywhere. The whole joint stinks of rodent balls and feet.

Posted by: Rich "Psycho" Giamboni at 09:26 AM | Comments (12)
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500 Hours of community service, tending military graves.

Buddle posed as a Marine Corps captain in 2005 and 2006, wearing a uniform with medals intended as awards for extraordinary contribution to national defense and heroism in combat. He even gave the opening prayer for the Washington state Senate in 2006 and posed as a chaplain and reverend, including officiating at weddings and funerals of servicemen.

Be sure to read the article to find out where he got the medals from. This guy is a real piece of work.

Old related blog entry; most of the links there are still good.

Posted by: LauraW. at 08:41 AM | Comments (10)
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Here's a story that comes just in time for my annual evaluation.

EAST POINT, Georgia (AP) -- The owner of a car dealership has been accused of killing two employees because they kept asking for pay raises.

Rolandas Milinavicius has been charged with two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of Inga Contreras, 25, and Martynas Simokaitis, 28.

All three are from the eastern European nation of Lithuania but had been living in Atlanta, Georgia, authorities said.

Milinavicius, who was having financial problems, told police he shot the two Thursday after they kept asking for more pay, said police in East Point, which is just outside Atlanta.

"He told us that he was under a lot of stress," East Point police Capt. Russell Popham said. "Unfortunately, he decided to take his anger out with violence."

None of you really bought the story about AndrewR leaving because he was "busy," do you?

Posted by: Slublog at 06:55 AM | Comments (26)
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An age without Ace. Weird.

At the HQ right now, the vodka is just about gone, and Slublog and Dave are kickin' back, watching deviant porn on what Ace used to call 'the super-mini widescreen,' which is a 21 inch Magnavox manufactured in 1974. It renders all the flesh tones an angry red-purple color. Ace liked it that way.

Jack M. and Johnny Coldcuts are just getting done having some kind of a meeting in the bathroom, as usual. Coldcuts looks pleased. I'm starting to think that may not be mayo under Jack's lip.

But I have to do something about Giamboni. He dragged his desk right up next to mine on his first day back.

Every time I go to sit down he's got his hand waiting palm-up on the cushion. And I'm not crazy about his little pet names for me, such as 'Miss Pussycat,' 'Sugarbuns,' 'Hump buddy,' or simply, 'Cootch.'

Like this morning. He strolled up to me as soon as I came in, stirring some Monitor Lizard saliva into his coffee. "Top o' the mornin', Cootch!" he roared. Dave and Slublog giggled like little schoolboys, eyes pinned to bouncing purple midget flesh.

"Stop calling me 'cootch,' you fucking psychotic retard," I reasoned. "If Ace were here, he-"

I had to stop there.
It's not really all that different around this place, to tell the truth.

Posted by: LauraW. at 06:15 AM | Comments (46)
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