Michelle stayed up into the wee and small hours. That's a blogger.

Posted by: Ace at 09:50 AM | Comments (8)
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This is a terrible blow to our intelligence services.

The state-sponsored news agency IRNA said: "In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran's borders. The squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services."

One of our missing spies, presumed captured:

Agent Chip 'Big Acorns' Squeaker, creeping closer to an interesting conversation at the University of Tehran. Squeaker is revered as a master of camouflage among his fellow agents.

Other operatives whose fates are unknown at this time:

Polly Niblets, Communications expert.
Deshawn James Woodley, Liaison.
Brian Nutchucker, Saboteur.

Via Cuffy Meigs.

Posted by: LauraW. at 09:48 AM | Comments (24)
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Wedge issue: How to pretend to be moderate for the moderates while embracing Trutherism to curry favor with the Truthers?

Answer: Have selected Democrats denounce Ellison's conspiracy theories, while the rest stay silent.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the lone Muslim lawmaker in the House, compared the attacks to the burning of the German Reichstag, or parliament, in 1933 - noting that the fire put Hitler "in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted."

The remarks - which closely mirror the propaganda of fringe 9/11 conspiracy groups - drew sharp rebukes from several of Ellison's House colleagues. "I disagree with President Bush on many things, but comparing him to Hitler is outrageous," fumed Rep. Elliot Engel (D-Bronx). "I think these conspiracy theories about 9/11 are off the wall."

Ellison now says he shouldn't have used the Truther's favorite historic analogy.

Meanwhile CAIR claims that the War on Terrorism "has caused more harm than the terrorists ever could have imagined," and of course screams about "Islamophobia."

Good analogy of CAIR to the Italian-American Anti-Defamation League, a creature of the Mafia which never tired of claiming that the Mafia didn't exist and to even mention such a fiction was to engage in the worst racism against Italians.

Posted by: Ace at 09:28 AM | Comments (8)
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There are several problems with that claim, but most obvious among them is the fact that Islamic Rage Boy is real.

Via Jules Crittenden.

Posted by: Ace at 09:22 AM | Comments (5)
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"Owwwww."

Seems less violent than first imagined, though. Less "smashing his head into a bar" than "pushing him vigorously against a bar."

Posted by: Ace at 08:55 AM | Comments (13)
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I'm having trouble swallowing that last part, but I suppose these guys are goofy enough -- and arrogant enough -- to do that sort of thing. Bill Roggio has the scoop that you won't find in the MSM. (Actually, you will: ABCNews is running it too. Thought I doubt it'll make Nightline.)

This guy was the top Iraqi in AQI. And, as it turns out, one of the few actual Iraqis in this largely foreign, foreign-led terrorist organization.

Quick, let's leave Iraq to go fight Al Qaeda where they're not.

U.S. Special Operations Forces scored a major victory against al Qaeda in IraqÂ’s senior leadership and gained valuable insight on the al Qaeda creation known as the Islamic State of Iraq. On July 4, Coalition forces captured Khalid Abdul Fatah DaÂ’ud Mahmud Al Mashadani, a senior al Qaeda in Iraq and Islamic State of Iraq leader and close associate of Abu Ayyub al Masri, al QaedaÂ’s commander. Mashadani, also known as Abu Shahed, was captured in Mosul and is thought by the U.S. military to be the most senior Iraqi-born leader in al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). During MashadaniÂ’s interrogation, the U.S. confirmed the Islamic State of Iraq is an al Qaeda front and that its leader does not really exist.

...

During interrogations, Mashadani admitted that the Islamic State of Iraq was merely a puppet front group established by al Qaeda in order to put an Iraqi face on the insurgency. Mashadani cofounded the Islamic State of Iraq with al-Masri in 2006. “The Islamic State of Iraq is a ‘front’ organization that masks the foreign influence and leadership within AQI in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of AQI,” said Brig. Gen Bergner.

But not only is the Islamic State of Iraq a contrived entity, its leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is as well. “To further this myth [of the Islamic State of Iraq], al Masri created a fictional political head of ISI known as Omar al-Baghdadi,” said Brig. Gen Bergner. Al-Baghdadi is actually played by an actor named Abu Abdullah al Naima, and al Masri “maintains exclusive control over al Naima as he acts the part of the fictitious al-Baghdadi character.”

Michael Moore just emailed me to say, "Fictitious or not, they are the Minutemen, and they will win." And then he ate a passing child.

Thanks to Nicholas.

More: Big, Big Fish: I didn't realize quite how high up this particular creature was in AQ:

Bergner said al-Mashhadani served as an intermediary between al-Masri and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-ZawahriÂ…

Okay, to be honest here, I'm getting a little skeptical of all this guy's claims. But there seems little doubt he's the highest ranking Iraqi in the ISI.

Posted by: Ace at 08:05 AM | Comments (17)
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The world waits to see if the Only Man Who Can Save America will be able to pull together the support he needs to place second in this glorified fund-raiser.

If a second-tier, conspiracy-lovin' candidate like Ron Paul wins second place in this "purchase your votes" extravaganza, it will confirm the wisdom of John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in avoiding the stupid pseudo-event.

Romney, given his dominant position organizationally in Iowa, should still win. Even with the rest of the top tier not participating, he wonÂ’t be able to let his guard down, lest he be ambushed by one of the second tier. Should Romney underperform against someone not even playing at Ames, or against someone not taken seriously, thatÂ’s a blow to his Iowa inevitability.

Does Paul placing a close second make the straw poll and its winner into a laughingstock? Do benched McCain or Giuliani supporters direct people to vote for Paul to ensure that outcome? Or does this portend something bigger? I see that Ron Paul is up to 3% in the Gallup poll, above Huckabee and Brownback. He wonÂ’t come close to winning, but can he aggregate whatever Bilderburger and Trilateral Commission-phobic votes there are in his corner, in the same way that Lyndon LaRouche could get 15% in a Democratic primary against Bill Clinton?

Here's a useful history of the Iowa Straw Poll, which is basically nothing more than a fundraiser for the Iowa GOP and a great cash influx for the town of Ames.

Number of delegates given to the winner?

Zero.

Ah - Only Iowans can vote in the straw poll. My mistake. So what winning the straw poll proves is that you can corral enough Iowans with disposable income into a room to cast ballots for your guy.

Such a skill definitely qualifies someone to be president.

Posted by: Slublog at 06:29 AM | Comments (48)
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It's quite sad that the nation isn't being led by staggering genius such as this.

In related news -- if I had some eggs, I could have ham and eggs, if I had some ham.

Bonus: The nutroots have been angry at Hillary! Clinton for her complicity in the Iraq War, and for refusing to apologize for her vote. (Please-- Hillary! apologize?)

Turns out, all it took for them to begin "re-evaluating" her was the endorsement of nutroots favorite Joe Wilson, or as Goldstein calls him, the "heroic spy fucker."

Spy Fucker. That should be one of those fake-covers for the Harry Potter book.

Posted by: Ace at 02:36 PM | Comments (48)
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Raising the question: Is this actually in the corporate/shareholder interests of JetBlue, or is it only in George Soros' partisan interests?

Big shareholders in a company have a fiduciary duty to it. They can't whipsaw a company into taking actions against its interests just because it's what they want. It's one thing for Soros to donate millions of his own personal wealth into hard-left causes and organizations; it's another thing for him to pressure a company he's a large stakeholder in to donate a large amount of money owned by all shareholders to his pet causes.

I find Roger Simon's suggestion that it's just a matter of time before JetBlue sponsors a Pajamas Media convention to be growing less plausible by the hour.

Malkin... weighs in with venom and photoshops.

Posted by: Ace at 01:55 PM | Comments (53)
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Kind of strange.

Not sure if the intended satire works or just trivializes the murders.*

"This is a love story, and like a lot of love stories, it doesn't have a happy ending."

No shit.

Thanks to 3rd_Bird.

* In fairess, it seems pretty clear his intent is to mock OJ, which is always welcome. I'm questioning whether than intent is achieved, not whether he has the right intent in the first place.

Posted by: Ace at 12:33 PM | Comments (12)
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