I can't get too worked up about a politician's media people putting out videos without identifying themselves as being behind them... except isn't that directly contrary to the spirit of the McCain-Feingold "Campaign Reform" Act? I realize these ads aren't broadcast, but so what? If broadcast ads have to legally carry the disclaimer "I'm John McCain, and I approved this ad" for good-government and integrity rationales, shouldn't the same rationale apply to ads released sneaky-like over the internet, whether the letter of the law imposed on us by McCain requires it or not?

Follow the first link at Allah's to read the "compelling case" and the rest of his post for context.

The more important point? These ads suck. I'd've linked them if they were at all interesting, funny, or damaging.

This is the crap that McCain has apparently been pissing money on. What a waste.

Posted by: Ace at 03:08 PM | Comments (8)
Post contains 162 words, total size 1 kb.

Supposedly David Beckham bought one for wife Posh Spice.

They deny it.

It appears to not be true.

...a quick NEXIS search brings up a lot of stories citing a man who was selling $1.8 million diamond-encrusted vibrators speculating that Beckham was thinking about buying one.

Patterico and Kaus both strain mightily to make some or other point about the inaccuracy and tabloidization of the LAT. Fine, let them play their games.

I think the actual news here is that there's such a thing as a $1.8 million diamond-encrusted vibrator.

Now that's a colorful and far-ranging sex life.

Now This Is A Genuine Media Lie: The egregiously misnamed Seattle Post-Intelligencer declares in a headline and opening sentence:

Beckhamania reaches States

By Pat Martin, Soccer Editor

Carson, CA (Sports Network) - Beckhamania is officially here.

Oh, yeah, baby. It's just like when the Beatles played on Ed Sullivan.

I'm so excited I can barely contain myself from sticking a celebratory shotgun in my mouth and giving the back of my brain a 12-gauge whoo-hoo!

The "Becks" Epoch Begins

You're finally freed from that gray, Beckhamless prison of your own design. Suck in that sweet, sweet Becks-scented air, for the first time a free man, and look anew upon the world Becks has created for you.

Posted by: Ace at 02:43 PM | Comments (24)
Post contains 230 words, total size 2 kb.

McCain's making some progress, I think.

"They keep saying to me, 'What's your Plan B? I would say to them, 'What's your Plan B?"

These are very tough times. It's very tough when you lose [high-profile votes like Lugar and Domenici].

I'm guardedly optimistic that we can maintain 41 votes."

...

"As you know, this past week, I was on the floor of the Senate the whole time managing this defense bill. I will do whatever is necessary, including taking time off in September from the campaign...

I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war...

For people like me, who have nothing to sacrifice, to bail on them because I might lose a campaign is something that would make it hard for me to shave in the morning."

Again, I appreciate this sentiment (and I believe him), I just wish he would note that there are some in Washington who would, apparently, rather lose a war than a campaign.

McCain, I guess, has a lot invested in his nice-guy, collegial, fence-mender image. Except this is politics, which isn't bean-bag. Except it's actually not even politics -- it's a question of whether senators who voted to put our troops in harm's way will actually grant out troops the support and time to justify the additional lives and limbs lost due these same senators' previous votes.

Our troops previously were in a less aggressive posture. They were a little safer, but not really all that safer, because while our politicians and generals were doing just enough to not lose, they weren't giving our soldiers the go-ahead to actually win, and so for years they took casualties while not being let off their leashes, so to speak.

The Defeatist Caucus didn't like this policy. They demanded a change. Okay-- they got one. Now our soldiers are taking lots more casualties -- but due to the fact that they're much, much more active in hunting and confronting (and decimating) Al Qaeda.

Now, with that high-cost, high-reward strategy actually showing results, they want to begin "phased redeployments" or whatever this week's euphemism for surrender is -- and get them all back into their bases where they were slightly better protected, but unable to actually snatch territory and safe havens away from Al Qaeda.

So why, exactly, did these venal bastards order our soldiers on the high-tempo offensive for a month? Just to get killed? They called for this surge, supported it, voted for the additional US combat deaths it inevitably entailed... for what? Just to say "we gave it the ol' college try... for three weeks"?

Again, if that doesn't warrant a little anger and name-calling, I don't know what does.

Lindsay Graham is manning up on this. Good. But how about a little of that "bigot" type invective for the bastards who voted in favor of our troops taking a more aggressive, and dangerous, posture in the war now cutting the support out from under them?

Or is such name-calling only permissible when one's fellow senators are opposing you by tacking to the right?

Posted by: Ace at 01:58 PM | Comments (3)
Post contains 537 words, total size 3 kb.

The ongoing saga.

$500 actually sounds almost reasonable.

I guess they're trying to capitalize on XBOX's recall dealio.

Posted by: Ace at 01:31 PM | Comments (21)
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.

A making-of dealio, very brief. As Allah says, it's hard not to get excited when they grab the whip out of props.

They did this making-of teaser deal for The Last Crusade, too. And that turned out spectacularly well:

Ah, memories.

I don't have much hopes for this new one, and, like Star Wars, I fear I will find myself thinking less of the series after the fourth (and awful) entry.

But who knows.

Posted by: Ace at 01:25 PM | Comments (28)
Post contains 84 words, total size 1 kb.

Must-read piece by Krauthammer.

Finally, after four terribly long years, we know what works. Or what can work. A year ago, a confidential Marine intelligence report declared Anbar province (which comprises about a third of Iraq's territory) lost to al-Qaeda. Now, in what the Times's John Burns calls an "astonishing success," the tribal sheiks have joined our side and committed large numbers of fighters that, in concert with American and Iraqi forces, have largely driven out al-Qaeda and turned its former stronghold of Ramadi into one of most secure cities in Iraq.

It began with a U.S.-led offensive that killed or wounded more than 200 enemy fighters and captured 600. Most important was the follow-up. Not a retreat back to American bases but the setting up of small posts within the population that, together with the Iraqi national and tribal forces, have brought relative stability to Anbar.

The same has started happening in many of the Sunni areas around Baghdad, including Diyala province -- just a year ago considered as lost as Anbar -- where, for example, the Sunni insurgent 1920 Revolution Brigades has turned against al-Qaeda and joined the fight on the side of U.S. and Iraqi government forces.

We don't yet know if this strategy will work in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods. Nor can we be certain that this cooperation between essentially Sunni tribal forces and an essentially Shiite central government can endure. But what cannot be said -- although it is now heard daily in Washington -- is that the surge, which is shorthand for Gen. David Petraeus's new counterinsurgency strategy, has failed. The tragedy is that, just as a working strategy has been found, some Republicans in the Senate have lost heart and want to pull the plug.

It is understandable that Sens. Lugar, Voinovich, Domenici, Snowe and Warner may no longer trust President Bush's judgment when he tells them to wait until Petraeus reports in September. What is not understandable is the vote of no confidence they are passing on Petraeus. These are the same senators who sent him back to Iraq by an 81 to 0 vote to institute his new counterinsurgency strategy.

...

Just this week, Petraeus said that the one thing he needs more than anything else is time. To cut off Petraeus's plan just as it is beginning -- the last surge troops arrived only last month -- on the assumption that we cannot succeed is to declare Petraeus either deluded or dishonorable.

Michael Yon, who has thusfar avoided comment on the merits of the surge, drops that reluctance:

HH: Now yesterday, Harry Reid said on the floor of the Senate that the surge has failed. Do you think thereÂ’s any factual basis for making that assertion, Michael Yon, from what youÂ’ve seen in Iraq over the last many months?

MY: HeÂ’s wrong, heÂ’s wrong. It has absolutely not failed, and in fact, IÂ’m finally willing to say it in public.

Hugh Hewitt's piece on the Defeatist Caucus of the Republican Party is here. As well as phone numbers and emails for the Defeatist Caucus -- and a few Democrats from reddish states who might need a little grassroots TLC.

Meanwhile... Defeatist Caucus leaders Lugar and Warner want a new authorization for war in Iraq -- one which would circumscribe what our soldiers can do there, set up a withdrawal timetable, etc. -- leaving our soldiers in harm's way while not actually giving them the latitude or time to actually win.

Fuck-shits, get this right: If our soldiers are not there to win, they should not be there at all. You are trying, over and over again, to trade the meaningless, unnecessary deaths of countless brave servicemen for political cover.

Either get serious about withdrawing them or get behind them 100%. Enough of this one-foot-in-one-foot-out craven Hokey Pokey with men's lives.

Posted by: Ace at 01:07 PM | Comments (22)
Post contains 689 words, total size 5 kb.

You may not see the gore at first. There's no blood. Yet.

But just look where the bull's horn terminates (Light Content Warning).

Looks like that bull got to third base. Or almost there, at least.

I think Australia should start a "Swimming With The Crocodiles With Chicken Parts Tied To Your Genitals" festival. Seems to be a market for such a thing.

Thanks to Jason.

Posted by: Ace at 12:28 PM | Comments (21)
Post contains 88 words, total size 1 kb.

Sonic terrorism. Although it sounds like the head stewardress went power-tripping, and Continental is going to have to apologize.

If she decides to sue, this is going to be powerful evidence in her favor:

Penland and her 20-month-old son, Garren, were on their way from Atlanta to Oklahoma City on June 16 to visit Penland's father for Father's Day. Weather delays forced them to sit in Houston's airport for 11 hours.

When the flight finally left the gate late that Saturday night, Penland said Garren was talking about it, happily, along with all the adults on board.

"He's saying, 'Bye, bye, airplane' to the plane out the window. And that's what he was doing, he wasn't screaming or throwing a fit, just, 'Bye, Bye, airplane.'"

Penland said a flight attendant told her to get Garren to stop talking.

Immediately.

"She leaned over the gentleman beside me and, ah, said, 'Okay, it's not funny anymore, you need to shut your baby up.' And, you know, my first reaction was she had to be kidding. So, I asked her, you know, 'Are you kidding?' And she said, no, she was tired, she'd been stranded at the airport all day, and she did not want to hear it."

Penland said she replied that Garren would probably be asleep by the time the plane lifted off.

"I said, 'Well, he's been here at the airport for eleven hours, stuck in a stroller, you know, you should be lucky he's not screaming his head off.' And she said, 'Well, it's called Baby Benedryl.' [She made] just a little, you know, drinking motion, and I thought she's got to be kidding me. And I told her, 'I'm not going to drug my baby so that you'll have a pleasant flight.'"

Penland said the plane was small and other passengers could see and hear her and the flight attendant clearly. Penland said the passengers began speaking up for her, telling the flight attendant they were not disturbed by Garren's talking and that the flight to Oklahoma City from Houston was only one hour, anyway.

"It was ludicrous," [said] one of the passengers,,,

Penland said the flight attendant then addressed all the passengers.

"She put her hand on her hip and informed everyone that it was her plane and she was not going to listen to it. And she then went to the flight attendant station, was there for a few minutes, came back and informed the cabin that we were turning around. And she looked at me and said, 'You and your baby are getting off the plane.' And we did, we turned around and security came and escorted my child and me off the plane."

The flight attendant says the mom threatened her, but a nearby passenger says he heard nothing of the sort.

"Threatened her domineering authority" seems to be more likely.

Posted by: Ace at 12:24 PM | Comments (83)
Post contains 500 words, total size 3 kb.

From the Dawn, a Pakistani paper (I'm pretty sure) I've seen linked a lot, though I don't know if it's a highly credible source.

The army started deploying troops in NWFPÂ’s southern districts, adjoining the Waziristan region, amid reports that an operation to curb militancy and extremism was imminent.

Sources told Dawn on Thursday that 12,000 troops, backed by artillery units, were moved to Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts from Okara.

...

MilitantsÂ’ spokesman Abdullah Farhad accused the government of violating the peace agreement signed on September 5, 2006, under which it had to withdraw all troops.

Sources said that soldiers reinforced their positions around Miramshah town, headquarters of the North Waziristan Agency, and started checking vehicles, looking for heavy arms.

Adding to the credibility of the report: Musharraf Declares War on Extremists:

President Pervez Musharraf pledged to combat Muslim extremists across Pakistan yesterday as furious crowds demonstrated against the storming of the Red Mosque and two suicide bomb attacks left six dead.

In a televised address to the nation, Gen Musharraf said that those inside the mosque and its adjacent madrassa, or Muslim college, were "terrorists" who directly threatened Pakistan's security. They had also tarnished Islam's reputation as a tolerant and peaceful religion.

"What do we as a nation want?" he asked. "What kind of Islam do these people represent? In the garb of Islamic teaching they have been training for terrorism. They prepared the madrassa as a fortress for war and housed other terrorists in there."

Gen Musharraf praised the army for wresting the mosque and its madrassa "from the hands of terrorists" and said: "I will not allow any madrassa to be used for extremism."

Regarding Waziristan, where soldiers are said to be checking for heavy weapons:

In North Waziristan, the tribal area where both Zawahiri and bin Laden are believed to have found sanctuary, a suicide bomber walked into a government compound and blew himself up, killing three officials.

It seems, as the kids say, to be "on."

Thanks to Rockets Brain Trust.

For Want Of A Nail Update: WickedPinto (of the Absolute Moral Authority blog asks "How can it be on if no one got served?"

Well, the Red Mosque told an alleged brothel of Chinese hookers they they were served and abducted them -- and tortured them. The Chinese government then told the Pakistani government that it was served, and it would not allow its citizens to be tortured by maniacs. Then the Pakistani government told the Red Mosque it just got served, and the Red Mosque said no, you just got served, but then the Pakisani troops assaulted the school/maniac factory and informed them in no uncertain terms that they were in fact the ones being served.

Here's the odd thing: Assume, as the Telegraph article says, that Musharraf is largely being backed in this anti-jihadi offensive. Assume that he really takes the fight to the Waziristan/tribal regions Taliban, and either ends their safe havens, or actually even wipes out Al Qaeda's strongholds in Pakistan.

Assume -- dare to dream -- Zawahiri and bin Ladin (if he's still alive, which he probably isn't) are flushed out by this action, and soon after captured someplace else where they don't have sanctuary.

What this all means is that five years of negotiations, diplomacy, billions of dollars of aid/bribes, serious US threats against Pakistan, an invasion of Afghanistan, etc., could not accomplish what fucking with five or six Chinese hookers accomplished.

Would it be too sweet if Al Qaeda was ultimately brought down by their hatred of "whores" (often called "women" in other parts of the world)?

Democracy, whiskey, sex-workers?

It would all just be too poetic and ironic to be believed. Life doesn't work like that.

Except in the occasional circumstance in which it does.

Posted by: Ace at 12:10 PM | Comments (20)
Post contains 675 words, total size 5 kb.

A commenter linked this most excellent follow-up to Slublog's excellent post.

I think I like this one better. Sounds more like the record. I realize that's a declasse reason to favor a recording, and that music afficianados probably like hearing different versions and such, but I'm not one of those.

I'll just link this because I haven't heard it in years.

Posted by: Ace at 11:53 AM | Comments (4)
Post contains 69 words, total size 1 kb.