In a long analysis of the current Iran-Syria situation, I noted that some analysis believe that Ahmadinejad might engineer a confrontation with the US to either force action or consolidate his position as champion Islamic butthead of the region.

Today appears to be the day. Despite protests and strong rhetoric from everyone up to and including the president (barring ghey KOS diarists with a crush on Mahmoud), Ahmadinejad appears to be continuing with his plans to go to Ground Zero and speechify on the causes of terrorism.

He will be confronted by protesters. Numbers unknown at this time. However, the real problem is that he is going to force US Secret Service and possibly NY law enforcement to provide him with protection to do so. Some will insist that NY is under no obligation to do so, but there is a problem with the possibility of an international incident in the city of a million diplomats.

I think it's obvious that the rhetoric has played right into Mad Mahmoud's hands. Either there will be a confrontation today or he will have humiliated the US and the President by doing what he wants anyway. Which is the point of everything he is saying and doing today.

Let's hope there is a severe traffic tie up down town and it screws up his schedule so bad he can't get there. As much as I would like this sawed off version of Baghdad Bob to get some American "love" back from the protesters, I'd prefer he finds out we can play the game better than he can right in downtown NY. Home of the most offensive drivers in the US.

So, can't make the actual protests? Don't want to cause an outright incident?

Get in your car and hit the road by 9 AM (Mahmoud's visit is allegedly at 10AM, but don't bet there won't be some wriggle room for security reasons; get down early and stay there for the show). Get down to Manhattan and do your best worst.

Strategy my friends. Don't let the enemy pick the battle ground (paraphrasing Sun Tzu). Keep him off the streets surrounding the WTC and, if you're lucky, you'll make him late for his date at the UN.

Peace Out!

UPDATE
From Dan - Columbia University invited Hitler's embassador to speak.

...The archives of the New York Times disclose that in December 1933, Columbia's president, Nicholas Butler, extended an invitation to Hitler's ambassador, Hans Luther...

Posted by: Open Blog at 03:53 AM | Comments (40)
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I put an exclamation point in the title, but I'm not really all that enthused about having you noob morons cluttering up the place.

But since Ace asked me to let y'all know that the blog was going to be in "open" mode thru Monday, I figured I should do it.

So blog your little hearts out. Wear your typing fingers to the bone. Just no lovesick poetry posts.

Cause that's claim jumpin'. And you don't want to know what I do to claim jumpers.

Posted by: Jack M. at 11:00 PM | Comments (7)
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Posting and commenting functionality have been sporadic all day; I believe this is the weekend that Pixy Misa is migrating this site to a new server.

I don't know what that actually means.

But please stand by. Things will either improve, or go poof.
It's all so terribly exciting.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:45 PM | Comments (24)
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Iranian madman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has landed in NY and his media offensive is already underway compliments of CBS. Tomorrow it continues with an appearance at Columbia University and a video-conference with the National Press Club.

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger has defended his institutionÂ’s invitation to Ahmadinejad saying,

Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas—to understand the world as it is and as it might be. To fulfill this mission we must respect and defend the rights of our schools, our deans and our faculty to create programming for academic purposes. Necessarily, on occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. We trust our community, including our students, to be fully capable of dealing with these occasions, through the powers of dialog and reason.

Of course back in the real world, far removed for Bollinger’s ivory towers, another group of mostly young Americans will have to “come into contact” with Ahmadinejad in ways more dangerous and deadly than a supposed exchanged of dialog .
more...

Posted by: DrewM. at 07:31 PM | Comments (13)
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Oh, for crying out loud...

At issue is a decision to refuse free doughnuts, pies and breads that were being donated to senior centers around Putnam County, north of New York City. Officials were concerned that the county was setting a bad nutritional precedent by providing mounds of doughnuts and other sweets to seniors.

The picketers said they were objecting not to a lack of sweets but that they weren't consulted about the ban.

"Lack of respect is what it's all about," said Joe Hajkowski, 75, a former labor union official who organized the demonstration. He said officials had implied that seniors were gorging themselves on jelly doughnuts and were too senile to make the choice for themselves.

C. Michael Sibilia said, "I'm 86, not 8."

Unsurprisingly, the story quotes the control freaks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest - the group whose researchers really hate it when people actually enjoy their food. These uber-morons don't seem to realize that their ability to persuade is severely hampered by their condescension.

Posted by: Slublog at 06:30 PM | Comments (22)
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An "in step with" style voter analysis from the AP, interviews with the Independent™ voter, like auto parts store worker Michael Brooks, who leaned Republican but now leans Democrat.

Allow me to substitute the expression "malleable apolitical moron" for "independent".

In this article, that appears to be what it means. Just trying to be helpful.

more...

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 02:02 PM | Comments (37)
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This Idaho fellow gives an interesting explanation for how he got into a car accident.

According to court documents, Frank told police that his SUV is top heavy and the backseat action made it become “tippy,” causing him to lose control.

The backseat action was his two friends having sex. IÂ’m intrigued about what kind of fun nÂ’ games could tip over a truck.

According to the affidavit, Frank suffered a minor head injury in the crash and his friends were treated for unspecified injuries.

My emphasis.

“How long do you think it’ll stay bent like that, doc?”

Now to wait for the inevitable comments about how if you don't tip over the truck, you're not doing it right.

Crossposted at Splitters.

Posted by: LauraW. at 12:18 PM | Comments (25)
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"Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington", CREW has listed Congressman “Abscam” Jack Murtha (D) in their Third Annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress Report. And in other news, a dog bites a man. But wait, CREW is hardly an unbiased source.

Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of CREW, founded the organization in 2003. Sloan is a former U.S. Attorney and has served as an aide to Representative John Conyers and Senator Charles Schumer, both Democrats. She currently serves on the legal team of Valerie Plame,[2] helping her sue Vice President Dick Cheney, Dick Armitage, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove.[3][4]

According to The Washington Post, CREW is funded in part through the efforts of "Democracy Alliance," a loose group of approximately one hundred progressive-oriented political donors who saw CREW as a possible counterweight to the conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch.[5]

Leave it to the liberals to find a way to unite us, not divide us.

More on CREW and its evolving sense of what is unethical after the jump more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 10:48 AM | Comments (11)
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How egregious was the NY TimesÂ’ decision to run Moveon.orgÂ’s scurrilous attack ad on General Petraeus? Even the TimesÂ’ ombudsman canÂ’t put a positive spin on it.

Did MoveOn.org get favored treatment from The Times? And was the ad outside the bounds of acceptable political discourse?

The answer to the first question is that MoveOn.org paid what is known in the newspaper industry as a standby rate of $64,575 that it should not have received under Times policies. The group should have paid $142,083. The Times had maintained for a week that the standby rate was appropriate, but a company spokeswoman told me late Thursday afternoon that an advertising sales representative made a mistake.

The answer to the second question is that the ad appears to fly in the face of an internal advertising acceptability manual that says, “We do not accept opinion advertisements that are attacks of a personal nature.” Steph Jespersen, the executive who approved the ad, said that, while it was “rough,” he regarded it as a comment on a public official’s management of his office and therefore acceptable speech for The Times to print.

Remember, none of the Democratic Senators running for President voted to condemn this despicable bit of anti-military bile.

Posted by: DrewM. at 09:25 AM | Comments (13)
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After the first games have started.

Heh. That's how I roll.

Make your late game and Monday night picks. You can still beat me. It's happened.

In other news, the Longhorns finally started kicking ass, and the Dallas Cowboys are playing tonight opposite Ken Burns' new documentary about WWII.

I'm in a pickle! This is hard!

I predict much channel flipping, and that I'll be up late catching the PBS rebroadcasts.

Broadcasts. Do they even do that anymore?

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 09:15 AM | Comments (24)
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