In South Carolina, search-engine interest is declining in McCain and "dropping like a stone" for Huckabee.

On the other hand, it's increasing for Mitt, Ron Paul (could just be the newsletter thing), and, um, some other candidate whose name I forgot.

The staff of this other candidate claims his support is "surging..."

Zogby 1/15: 12%
Zogby 1/16: 14%

Rasmussen 1/06: 11%
Rasmussen 1/09: 12%

Rasmussen 1/13: 16%

PPP 1/13: 14%
PPP 1/17: 17%

...but I don't think that's really surging. Still, the trends do seem somewhat favorable for Fred. Somewhat. Anyone banking on some big Fred breakthrough by Saturday is likely to be disappointed.

Posted by: Ace at 10:54 AM | Comments (15)
Post contains 118 words, total size 1 kb.

Swedish laborers, by the way, so you can imagine what the more feminized segment of the Scandi population is up to.

Dirty, filthy pervert Scandis.

Thanks to dri.

Posted by: Ace at 10:44 AM | Comments (15)
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

I didn't realize how big that 75% figure was until I saw the 8%.

One year of the surge has brought Baghdad from 8% secure to 75% secure. Is that a "benchmark" Hillary can wrap her head around?

About 75% of Baghdad's neighborhoods are now secure, a dramatic increase from 8% a year ago when President Bush ordered more troops to the capital, U.S. military figures show.

The military classifies 356 of Baghdad's 474 neighborhoods in the "control" or "retain" category of its four-tier security rating system, meaning enemy activity in those areas has been mostly eliminated and normal economic activity is resuming.

The data given by the military to USA TODAY provide one of the clearest snapshots yet of how security has improved in Baghdad since roughly 30,000 additional American troops arrived in Iraq last year.

U.S. commanders caution that the gains are still fragile, but at the moment U.S. and Iraqi forces "basically own the streets," said Col. Ricky Gibbs, a brigade commander in southern Baghdad.

...

The 310 neighborhoods in the "control" category are secure, but depend on U.S. and Iraqi military forces to maintain the peace. The 46 areas in the "retain" category have reached a level where Iraqi police and security forces can maintain order, a more permanent fix. The remaining areas have fewer security forces based there, though they are not necessarily violent.

In February 2007, when additional U.S. forces began arriving, only 37 Baghdad neighborhoods were in the "control" and "retain" categories.

Posted by: Ace at 10:41 AM | Comments (9)
Post contains 273 words, total size 2 kb.

It's just that, you know, some liberals' favorite taunt to Jonah Goldberg is that Hitler should have taken care of his Jewish forebearers when he had the chance.

Posted by: Ace at 10:22 AM | Comments (17)
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

Which God? The God of Ambition? The God of Spin?

He moves in mysterious ways, I guess.

Posted by: Ace at 10:17 AM | Comments (15)
Post contains 33 words, total size 1 kb.

John McCain is rated as "abysmal."

Posted by: Ace at 10:13 AM | Comments (16)
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

I have no strong opinion, not being an economist. The biggest part of it seems to be an $800 per person tax rebate. He's giving up on trying to force Congress to make his tax cuts permanent as part of the stimulus.

President Bush, acknowledging the risk of recession, embraced about $145 billion worth of tax relief Friday to give the economy a "shot in the arm. "

Bush said such a growth package must also include tax incentives for business investment and quick tax relief for individuals. And he said that to be effective, an economic stimulus package would need to roughly represent 1 percent of the gross domestic product -- the value of all U.S. goods and services and the best measure of the country's economic standing.

"There is a risk of a downturn," the president said in his remarks at the White House.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, speaking after Bush's remarks, said 1 percent of GDP would equate to $140 billion to $150 billion, which is along the lines of what private economists say should be sufficient to help give the economy a short-term boost.

Paulson said the largest part of the stimulus package would be targeted to individual taxpayers. One Republican official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bush was hoping to target about $100 billion toward individuals and about $50 billion toward businesses.

The president and Congress are scrambling to take action as fears mount that a severe housing slump and painful credit crisis could cause people to close their wallets and businesses to put a lid on hiring, throwing the nation into its first recession since 2001.

Bush said that Congress and the administration need to settle on a temporary economic package that could be implemented quickly to "keep our economy growing and create jobs." While Bush focused on taxes, Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress have been working on a package that would also include extending and perhaps increasing unemployment benefits and a temporary increase in food stamps.

"Letting Americans keep more of their money should increase consumer spending," he said.

Bush outlined several criteria for the package to meet: It must be "big enough to make a difference in an economy as large and dynamic as ours," it must be built on "broad-based tax relief," it must take effect right away but be temporary, and it must not include any tax increases.

Specifically, he called for tax incentives for businesses, including small companies, to make new and major investments this year. "Giving them an incentive to invest now will encourage business owners to expand their operations, create new jobs and inject new energy into our economy in the process," Bush said.

Do these things ever work? I mean in the short-term; obviously longer term fiscal and monetary policy has longer-term consequences. They seem not to work to me; the economy falters when it falters and rebounds when it rebounds, and all this "stimulus" stuff is just political window-dressing to let voters know "we're doing something."

Posted by: Ace at 10:07 AM | Comments (45)
Post contains 525 words, total size 3 kb.

The kid threw a 500-person party that racked up $20,000 in damages when his parents were away.

He's too busy being awesome to be sorry.

Thanks to Warden.

Posted by: Ace at 09:17 AM | Comments (46)
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.

Hot.

Thanks to See-Dub, who suggests a line he could have used that worked once.

Posted by: Ace at 08:52 AM | Comments (35)
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

I think this means that Truthers have eaten too much cat shit in their early lives.

Meanwhile, the weird disease Morgellons syndrome -- in which people claim they feel bugs crawling over their skin, skin which bursts with strange colorful fibres -- will finally be studied.

But not really as a disease. As a psychiatric case of "delusional parasitosis."

Thanks to JackM.

Posted by: Ace at 08:40 AM | Comments (78)
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.