Those US troops killed by a roadside bomb up in Mosul yesterday? Perhaps about to be avenged.

Michael Yon reports a large, coordinated, and sustained offensive has begun in the north of Iraq. He says this may be the "death knell" for Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Posted by: Ace at 03:28 PM | Comments (16)
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Orwellian. The headline conjures images of racist anti-Muslim violence.

The actual truth?

The "Briton" has both British and Pakistani passports, and is of course a fervent Muslim. He planned to kill the "Muslim soldier" -- actually the true "Briton" in this story -- for the crime of serving in a Crusader Army, of course.

And yet that headline: Briton admits plot to behead Muslim soldier.

Fuck these bastards.

A "Briton." Note the bruise on his head, which comes
from grinding one's head on the ground five times a day
while praying to Jesus Christ, St. George,
and Kiki ("Don't Go Breakin' My Heart") Dee.

Posted by: Ace at 03:07 PM | Comments (38)
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Assuming, that is, that Bush doesn't cancel it, and seriously, he needs to get on the stick with that. Putsches take planning. We have to get the talking points in advance to explain to our fellow liberal citizens re-education camp attendees why it was necessary to destroy the Constitution to save it.

But seriously, he is counseling calm on all the anti-McCain invective, advising us all to keep our eyes on the big picture.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 02:40 PM | Comments (39)
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Debra Saunders offers this very counterintuitive idea, possibly because she's on deadline and needs a new angle.

Her theory -- which I guess is superficially plausible -- is that in a badly divided field with five (or six!) candidates all drawing between 10 and 25% of the vote, Giuliani's stance as a pro-choice, tough-guy Republican candidate could have won the thing for him -- if only by a bare plurality.

I don't buy that at all. Had Giuliani done that, he may have eked out narrow pluralities in early states -- but, as is happening now, the field would have winnowed to two or three candidates, and Giuliani would now be facing the overwhelming majority of GOP voters who are staunchly pro-life.

A very pro-choice Giuliani would now be facing, most likely, a pro-life Mitt Romney -- and even if he did manage, somehow, to win 40 or 50% of the vote in many Mega Tuesday contests, the base would largely dislike him. And that would make for a tough go in the general election.

It's an interesting angle but, I think, not very convincing.

The conventional wisdom -- my wisdom -- is boring but most likely right: Giuliani should have been much stronger in calling for the repeal of Roe v. Wade (a perfectly respectable legal opinion, even among many liberals who support abortion rights) while allowing, truthfully, that as to policy, he favored the pro-choice side.

Not enough to win it for him, perhaps, but enough to blunt the resistance to his candidacy from the pro-life voters.

I should also note that not only did Giuliani's pro-choice stance alienate pro-life voters, it alienated me, and I'm fairly pro-choice. Or at least not nearly pro-life.

I knew that by being so insistent on carrying that position, he just wasn't a very credible candidate, and didn't, as has been said of Fred Thompson, want it enough. At least not to jeopardize his Decisive Leader persona. So that cooled my enthusiasm for Giuliani an awful lot (and I was big on Giuliani long ago, as many of you know).

I wasn't sure how he was going to address the abortion question, but I never imagined he would just stand at a podium at a debate and say "I'm pro-choice, that's what I am..." somewhat apologetically, but without offering much of a reason for pro-lifers to overlook that fact.

Posted by: Ace at 02:10 PM | Comments (41)
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Because they changed his playlist.

Paul Webster Feinstein, 24, has been charged with second-degree felony arson for the Jan. 5 fire that caused $300,000 damage to the studios of 91.7 FM KOOP. He faces from two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.

Feinstein told investigators that he was "very unhappy" about the changes to his playlist, said Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Greg Nye. The songs were intended for an Internet broadcast that occurs when the station is off the air.

Austin. Pretty popular place for disgruntled musicians.

"He had a dream of a career in radio and was very disappointed about where it had led him," Nye said.

I had a dream of a career in radio once, and I too was very disappointed where it had led me. It had led me to a crappy radio job at a crappy radio station.

Feinstein was a jazz fan and his Internet program was called "Mellow Down Easy," Dickens said.

I think he was a little conflicted. Radio can do that to you.

UPDATE: Sort-of-mad Max gives us the info.

more...

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 01:55 PM | Comments (15)
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Swiping Allah's schtick, figured he'd be interested.

Air guitar?

How about Air Sex?

Thanks to Del.

Posted by: Ace at 01:42 PM | Comments (22)
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Obama can beat that, easily.

Posted by: Ace at 01:07 PM | Comments (10)
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A Nose On Your Face Exclusive. Romney had a lot more whispered coaching than we were previously led to believe.

Chilling -- and hilarious.

Thanks to Slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 01:04 PM | Comments (2)
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Just so:

he New York Times ran an essay by Caroline Kennedy saying she would support Obama because he was capable of inspiring a generation to great heights in a manner reminiscent of her late father.

Clearly she is on to something. Obama can inspire people to avoid buying health insurance and count on wealthy people being taxed by the government to pay for their care. He can inspire young people to attend university for free on the public dime. In fact, he can inspire each of us to ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you. How is that for coming full circle? If not for my unfortunate fear of heights, I could share in the inspiration myself. There may well be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow coalition.

A bit more... Bill's legacy? Gone.

Yet her most ruthless stab is reserved for Bill Clinton himself, nominally not the candidate but merely an enthusiastic spouse. Caroline's last paragraph gives Bill the coup de grace: "I never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president -- not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

Decoded that reads: "Bill Clinton met my father in the White House and built his entire life around the dream of becoming president and inspiring people the same way. Instead he got to the White House and laid a large egg. The last thing I need is for Mrs. Egg to take over. Now this Obama, he is a different story. He just might be the guy."

Ouch, that's going to leave a mark.

Perhaps there's there's the makings of an angle here. Some have carped that Bill Clinton doesn't really want Hillary to win -- his ego will not permit it.

Well, perhaps. But at least if Hillary won, he would be a very important player and he would know that her victory was chiefly due to Democrats' affection for himself.

But how will his ego survive if the Democratic Party turns its back on him completely? If someone who is not married to Bill Clinton, someone who does not owe Bill Clinton their political success, becomes president?

Maybe this explains, somewhat, Bill Clinton's occasional playing of the race card. This matters to him -- or rather, his ego, which is what drives him.

Quote Fixed! If that first quote seemed to be lacking something -- like a, you know, point -- it was. I botched my HTML again and blanked out what I intended to boldface.

Posted by: Ace at 12:53 PM | Comments (20)
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Will the third time prove the charm, or will this be DeCapiGate 3?

At some point, won't AP, CNN, and the BBC start asking for pictures for these grisly supposed finds?

The Arab stringers are Johnny-On-the-Spot when it comes to terrorist attacks and supposed US atrocities. But strangely there's never anyone around with a cell phone camera to at least snap grainy pictures of these severed heads.

Why is that?

Third Time Was The Macabre Charm: Bob Owens sends this link to Yahoo's photostream -- there are in fact bodies, and we can assume provisionally the rest of it is accurate enough.

Hm. Took them three bites at the apple but they finally got a delicious mouthful.

Apologies to all... I should have checked this myself. MNF seems, for once, a bit behind the MSM's low-paid sensationalistic stringers to whom they've delegated the responsibility of covering our wars.

Posted by: Ace at 12:38 PM | Comments (14)
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