I don't know where I was when the NFL negotiated Thursday night games for the rest of the season.

Probably the drunk tank. I've negotiated there before, plenty of times.

So don't do what I did last week and remind yourself, only to forget tomorrow night.

If you don't think too good, don't think too long.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:38 PM | Comments (18)
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They just began counting (not recounting) ballots previously uncounted -- absentees, early votes (?), etc. They've gotten through half of the uncounted votes-- they'll get through the other half tomorrow or next week.

But as of now, Begich leads. By three votes.

Posted by: Ace at 04:12 PM | Comments (110)
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13 years old. After a short lifetime of chemo for her leukemia, now she's diagnosed as also having a hole in her heart. Doctors say she needs to have a transplant to live for even another six months.

She says she's had enough.

Note this isn't an assisted suicide case, but a refusal of treatment case. more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:32 PM | Comments (84)
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Why? more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:24 PM | Comments (127)
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Well, he showed me. He's finally done something.

The article ticks off each and every reason for falling stocks... save one.

The media is going to find it's far more difficult to paint a bad Obama economy as good than it was to paint a good Bush economy as bad.

Posted by: Ace at 02:33 PM | Comments (117)
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This vid is must watch. Obama really does seem to have in mind a paramilitary domestic security force.

Among many other problems, such a force is, frankly, creepy and dangerous. But it's difficult to express a fear of a large domestic paramilitary devoted largely to a Cult of Personality without bringing up the H-word. Maybe the H-word is appropriate-- but it sounds nuts. It Can't Happen Here and all that.

So the difficulty is formulating a response which doesn't sound crazy.

For starters, we've survived without a domestic paramilitary for 240 years. Or, rather, we seem to have done all right with the National Guards fulfilling that function when necessary. We should press Obama to explain why such a thing is necessary -- and get him to be more specific than alluding to gauzy generalities about a "common experience" to remind young people what it is to be "an American."

Another point: Why does Obama wish to divert recruits from the military? Many young Americans sign up for a patriotic "common experience" which informs them what it is to be "an American" every year. We call this common-experience-providing organization the United States Armed Forces. In addition to providing common experiences to many young Americans of diverse backgrounds, the US Armed Forces also serve the minor secondary function of defending the nation against foreign threats.

What is Obama's goal here if not to undermine one of the main attractors of military service? The campaign continues running on the claim that military recruitment is low. Why does he strive to lower it further?

Getting to the creepy point: Let us concede that Obama is not Hitler the H-word and has no H-word-like designs. Even so, the idea of a permanent paramilitary for, um, "responding to emergencies" is worrisome. If anyone really believes that 18 year old college students with three months of kinda-bullshitty "civilian defense sleepaway camp" are going to be shoring up the levies the next time the Mississippi overflows its banks, I've got a collapsed bridge to sell you. What they're going to be doing is what they're always doing -- showing up late and getting in the way, smoking pot and trying to get laid.

Why are young military recruits different? Well, they're military, for one thing. For another thing, if they step out of line badly enough they can be court-martialed. Does Obama intend to impose military-style discipline and justice on his Obama Youth?

Obama's devoted cultists have already been caught abusing their jobs in the civil service -- digging dirt on political enemies, bullying a girl whose dad serves in Iraq. Why would we wish to swell the ranks of such hyperpartisan civil servants?

Given that there is so little upside to the notion of a permanent civilian paramilitary, the serious chance of small political mischief, and the small chance of serious political mischief, weight against this, um, audacious plan.

Finally, the cost. This is a somewhat secondary concern because Obama is going to pay off his cultists whether they do any work or not. The grants and giveaways for the Obama Youth are coming from the Obamistration way or the other. But those too should be fought.

Posted by: Ace at 02:02 PM | Comments (253)
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He won't win, of course. That honor will go to... oh, let's say Barack Obama. For having done nothing. (Best. Career. Ever.)

If Maliki did win, he would be accepting it largely on behalf of members of the American military, who couldn't attend because they're getting stuff done.

Posted by: Ace at 01:36 PM | Comments (13)
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This is pretty much a "hell's yeah."

I believe that I have — I feel I have a contract with Alaskans to serve. I’ve got two more years in my term. I’m going to serve Alaskans to the best of my ability. At this point it is as governor.

Now if something shifted dramatically and if it were, if it were acknowledged up there that I could be put to better use for my state in the U.S. Senate, I would certainly consider that, but that would take a special election and everything else. I am not one to appoint myself or a member of my family to take the place of any vacancy.

This surprised me -- I thought personal reasons (Bristol's marriage to an Alaskan, Todd's entire career being Alaska-based) would keep her from running.

Maybe she thinks she's has something to prove. And wants payback. That would be a nice attitude.

Via Hot Air, with video of Michelle Malkin slamming McCain for not responding to his staffers' leaks.

At this point, I have to guess it's not an oversight. I wanted to think the best of him, at least in terms of honorable behavior, but it's hard to grant him that benefit of the doubt any longer.

Who was the Diva again?

Posted by: Ace at 01:14 PM | Comments (64)
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I don't think he's serious.

In a search of a room in DC so that you can spend Jan. 20 standing in the bitter winter cold with thousands of like-minded souls watching the historic transfer of power from one Harvard grad to another? Look no further.

Me: Heartless, greedy right-wing oppressive type looking to make a buck.

You: Obama's election was Christmas/your first kiss/May Day all wrapped into one. You dutifully wore his button -- which you have yet to remove -- contributed money to his campaign from your non-profit job and chanted "yes we can" as if it were the 11th commandment. A strange void now exists in your life and -- like an old hippie looking to recapture the spirit of Woodstock -- you are undertaking a pilgrammage to Washington for one last gulp of the Kool-Aid.

Along with my bedroom you will have access to the house's many amenities including cable television (not that you watch much TV) for viewing Keith Olberman's latest unhinged rants and CNN in high-def. Wireless internet means that the Huffington Post and DailyKos are only a click away on your MacBook. American flags and other patriotic paraphanelia in the room can be removed upon request.

The house is located in the diverse neighborhood of Adams Morgan with people of many different skin pigmentations that will allow you to revel in your tolerance. Rest assured, however, that this diversity does not extend to ideology and that you are sure to march lock-step with the prevailing sentiment ensuring that your most strongly held beliefs remain unchallenged.

Easily accessible subway and bus stops will help ensure a minimal carbon footprint while fair trade coffee is never more than a few steps away at any number of independently-owned establishments. Nearby non-chain bookstores similarly mean that tomes such as Mao's Little Red Book, Chomsky's latest masterpiece or additional copies of The Audacity of Hope can be easily purchased either for yourself or as early holiday shopping.

Rather than state a price I am requesting that you bid on this fabulous opportunity to ensure profit maximization on my part so that I can better weather the Bush Recession.

I hear he bought a special Obama Victory futon for the occasion.

Thanks to Blackfive.

Posted by: Ace at 01:05 PM | Comments (20)
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Too idealistic, or something.

Kaus asks:

I'd give up on the drug war (and the attempt to eradicate Afghanistan's opium crop) before I'd give up democracy.... P.S.: So we really are in for a mirror image of the 20th century, when it was liberals who criticized the U.S. government for siding with strongmen in order to fight the global enemy (Communism)

I think Obama generally favors any policy that 1) pleases the nutroots by repudiating Bush and 2) minimizes US efforts in the War on Terror ... for the moment.

Incidentally, I don't think we need Obama to tell us his foreign policy. Liberal Democrats do not have a foreign policy of their own. Their purported foreign policy is always one step down from whatever Republicans call for.

If we call for war, they call for sanctions.

If we call for sanctions, they call for diplomatic pressure.

If we call for diplomatic pressure, they call for nothing.

It's not rocket science.

I think "nothing" is their genuine all-purpose response. But they rhetorically call for something one step down the ladder each time to oppose while sounding "tough."

Posted by: Ace at 12:26 PM | Comments (38)
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