Supposedly.

I'm just hoping Eddie and the Cruisers made Number One.

Thanks to Jen.

Idiots: The band they clearly mean to name in School of Rock is named The School of Rock, not No Vacancy. The picture is of School of Rock.

No Vacancy was the lame band that won the competition despite sucking so badly.

Posted by: Ace at 02:08 PM | Comments (44)
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Bear with me.

Consider an atheist and a believer arguing about the existence of God. Both know, for reasons they can't quite prove, that they are right.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:58 AM | Comments (167)
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UK ambassador delivers frank assessment of 'decidedly liberal' Obama in secret letter to British PM Gordon Brown... LONDON TELEGRAPH to reveal all in leaked letter... Developing...

I'm sure it's overhyped, as usual, but could at least be mildly interesting. Bear in mind, the UK wants a decidedly liberal president, so the assessment should be glowing. We'll only get lucky if the assessment contains something specific about Obama -- like that he supports the Palestinians at heart, despite his public claims to be a friend of Israel -- that turn off American voters.

Thanks to Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 10:59 AM | Comments (55)
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Would seem a rather obvious question, and one they ask Obama. Sure, dig into her beliefs and try to "get" her on specific questions, but, um, shouldn't the candidate also be afforded the chance to speak of her accomplishments?

They deliberately avoid this subject -- Katie Couric, for example, demanded to know if Palin had met with Russian officials or interacted with them in a serious way. (Actually, Palin kinda-sorta had, through trade missions, but whatever.)

What didn't Katie ask? If Palin had conducted negotiations with Canadian officials on a $40 billion international deal to build a pipeline. Why didn't Katie ask? Because she knew the answer was "Yes," and didn't want to afford Palin the chance to say so.

As Beldar notes in this excellent post, Palin may have been in office only 22 months, but in that time she's gotten more done that Joe Biden has in 26 years.

What exactly has Biden done? The only thing I hear people call attention to is getting a violence-against-women act passed. Let's assume that's a good bill.

That's what this guy has? In 26 fucking years he was able to persuade his fellow senators that violence against women is a bad thing?

Not 26 Years: 36 years.

In thirty six years he got a violence against women bill passed, substantial portions of which were declared unconstitutional.

(Which parts? I don't know and I'm not going to bother looking it up. If I had to guess, Biden probably proposed that female victims of violence be allowed to testify against their abusers via closed circuit TV, as has been allowed in child abuse cases.... but not without strong constitutional objections, as such measures arguably violate the Confrontation Clause, giving the defendant the right to confront -- face -- his accuser in open court, not transmitted over a tv cable from another room. Again, just a guess. As applied to children, such measures just barely got past the court, with constitutional purists like Scalia arguing forcefully against the measure's permissibility.

Which is why I love Scalia. He's a law and order guy. He, unlike Anthony Kennedy, thinks the Constitution allows child rapists to be put to death, because, um, it does. But he goes where the Constitution takes him, not where his personal policy instincts might take him.

I thought that issue -- CCTV for child victims of rape -- was a very tough one. And I can't imagine Scalia was happy the Constitution required defendants be afforded the right to try to intimidate their victims by eyefucking them as they testify. But it does seem to be what the words of the Constitution actually require.)

Nope: It was about allowing victims of violence to sue their attackers in federal court.

This is what I don't understand about me. Check it out: My guess, which was intended to avoid work, actually cost me more time as I fleshed out my guess. And now I have to revisit the guess, and note I was wrong.

So how much time did I save? None at all. I cost myself time. Instead of guessing, I could have done a minute-long google search.

But I didn't.

And here's thing: I will continue doing this. Because I'm a fucking moron.

Thanks to cincyc.

Posted by: Ace at 10:43 AM | Comments (70)
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"We have come to the point in the mediaÂ’s treatment of Gov. Sarah Palin where even the fig leaf of pretense is gone. The press has openly chosen sides and has stopped apologizing for it."

By the way, I think this is the first time I mentioned the rape-kit thing.

Usually I'd be on these.

I couldn't with Sarah Palin. There were too many. At some point I just threw up my hands and took the position that they were all false and that I hoped people understood that. No one could possibly commit all the hours necessary to debunk every single unfounded smear the media propagated at Sarah Palin.

They overwhelmed me not through the quality of their smears, but by quantity alone.

Thanks to CJ again.

Socky--

The Worst Lies About Sarah Palin don't compare with the Plain Truths about Barack Obama.

Lie about Sarah Palin charging for rape kits, we'll tell the truth about Obama arguing and voting to let babies die after botched abortions.

Lie about Sarah Palin banning books, we'll tell the truth about Barack Obama threatening to use the Justice Department against critics, and sending his supporters to bully radio hosts who interview his critics.

Lie about Sarah Palin supporting the Bridge to Nowhere, we'll tell the truth that Obama and Biden both voted for it, and voted for billions in other earmarks, including payoffs to Michelle Obama's employer and Obama's pals at ACORN.

Lie about Sarah Palin wanting to fire a State Trooper who tasered a ten year old, we'll tell the truth about Barack Obama fighting against state laws to curb gang violence.

Lie about Sarah Palin's connections to the AIP, we'll come back with the truth about Barack Obama's connections to ACORN and the Weather Underground.

I could go on like this for days.

Posted by: Ace at 10:07 AM | Comments (132)
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Long story short: All hunting equipment is taxed, the taxes put into some sort of trust and then sent back to the states as matching grants for their hunting management/support programs.

Since toy wooden arrows are not used for hunting, a specific exception is made for them. It's really just to stop toy arrows from being miscategorized as "hunting equipment," subject to the tax, when they're obviously not that at all. It's pretty much the same as a bill saying that toy cap pistols shouldn't be hit with a general tax on firearms.

This is really getting embarrassing for the MSM.

This isn't even about agenda; I'd guess the MSM, including Fox, is in favor of the bailout. (Fox News is probably taking a more neutral position, generally, due to strong opposition from conservatives. But to the extent they have a bias, it's probably pro-bailout. Because that is the "establishment" position.)

But people are just spouting off without understanding what the hell they're talking about.

I have to admit once again, too: I too spouted off. I didn't know what I was talking about, either. But, 1, I'm a blogger who has no researchers or production assistants, except for readers' tips, and 2, I'm actually correcting the record far before the MSM.

I just emailed someone at Fox to let him know his entire broadcast team was misreporting the "sweeteners added to the bailout bill" thing, for example. It's now 1:35 on the East Coast and they're still reporting it this way.

So this isn't about partisanship or bias. It's just... kinda sad that the MSM can't seem to find this stuff out. Or that moronbloggers such as myself find it out so much more quickly than they do.

Thanks to CJ.

Continuing to Get it Wrong... This is just the Chinese press (I guess; maybe they picked it up from AP), but they're reporting the bailout bill gives tax breaks to Hollywood productions filming in America.

Again, not so much. Those provisions were already passed. They added the bailout to an already-passed bill as a procedural trick in order to satisfy the Constitution's requirement that bills about revenue must originate in the House. Since they had a bill in hand that dealt with revenues (wooden arrows, wool production tax breaks, Hollywood in-country filming tax breaks), they simply added the bailout to that bill by amendment.

Thanks to JL.

Posted by: Ace at 09:38 AM | Comments (73)
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Ohio SecState nuance: "casting ballot" != "voting", so its perfectly fine for any random person to walk up, register and "cast a ballot" on the same day even though state law requires 30 days between registration and voting.

Of course, since there's no interlocks or cross checking, anyone could register and "cast a ballot" in multiple locations. Of course poll watchers are being turned away and told to fuck off since this is only early voting "ballot casting".

Update: AUDIO of Brunner mouthpiece trying (unsuccessfully) to explain this away. more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:13 AM | Comments (66)
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You can consider this another overnight thread, just because I'm feeling like a pain in the ass today.

Ace is undoubtedly still abed anyway, snuggled into a smelly pile of rags gleaned from an untold number of hobo corpses. The feisty ones, that is. The ones who earned his respect before their last rattle. Not just anybody can be a trophy, you know.

Yeah, he's sentimental like that. That's just between you and me, K?

Here's your dumpage.

A chill wind blows through Mother Russia.

A young Russian soldier who made a rap video about poor conditions in his barracks has been sent to Siberia.

Lieutenant Vitaly Efremov took the YouTube approach to complaining after becoming frustrated with the state of his accommodation near St Petersburg.

In Russia, clear-eyed leaders instantly get to the real root of the problem; whistleblowers.

Here's one about love and how to get a girl 'in the mood.'

A Fort Myers man shot himself in the arm after his girlfriend refused to have sex with him, police said.

The passion!
Nothing arouses the feminine libido like gunshots in the next room, am I right? The article doesn't say if Dr. Foreplay McTeaser got any that night but I can't see how he could have missed. So to speak.

This one's pretty good.

A West Virginia man who police said passed gas and fanned it toward a patrolman has been charged with battery on a police officer.

Daaaamn. That had to be some scorching gas. But the police officer should consider himself lucky.

If that had been my Dad after a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausage, the cop's face would have melted like he just saw the Ark of the Covenant. If he survived, he would now be talking out of a device installed in whatever was left of his neck.

So.
What's up in Moron Nation this lovely day? Got any fun news you'd like to share with us?
Put me some knowledge, sweeties.

Posted by: LauraW at 06:42 AM | Comments (59)
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Will this never end?

/C-3P0

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:03 AM | Comments (58)
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Warming? Caused by the Sun? Outlandish, I know. Crazy-talk. But stay with me for a minute.

Look, Ma, no sunspots!

A lack of sunspots has been theorized to translate to low global temperatures which... well, how about that, which we're now currently experiencing.

Meanwhile, a solar scientist has done something Global Warming "Scientists" can never seem to do: He's made a prediction, you see, the truth or falsity of which will directly strengthen or undermine his theories.

Hmm... making predictions based upon theories, said predictions thereby tending to prove or disprove a theory. Who would have thunk it? Apart from Aristotle, I mean.

Currently, the World Meteorological Organization uses the photochemical model to predict that the Antarctic springtime ozone hole will increase by another 5–10 percent by 2020. In sharp contrast, Dr. LU says the severest ozone loss will occur over the South Pole this month — with another large ozone-triggered hole occurring around 2019.

If the South Pole gets an ozone-hole maximum in the coming weeks, it will strengthen the case for cosmic rays, and endorse a Modern Warming driven by solar variations rather than human-emitted CO2. The solar model is already endorsed by oxygen isotopes in ice cores from both Greenland and the Antarctic, by microfossils in the sediments of nine oceans and hundreds of lakes worldwide, and by cave stalagmites from every continent plus New Zealand.

The case for a solar-driven climate is also strengthened by a drop in global temperatures over the past 18 months: The temperature decline had been forecast by the sunspot index since 2000, but was not predicted by the global climate models.

Thanks to Arthur.

By the way: Consider this your official Overnight Thread.

Uh, oh [Gabe]: If Ace is posting here, who the hell do I have tied up in the basement?!?

Posted by: Ace at 10:03 PM | Comments (104)
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