On Steph's show this morning.

Allah says he's not sure if the framing of the response, the defense of esteemed colleague Coburn is the right approach. For my money, it's the wrong approach. Defending another Senator is noteworthy but isn't going to score the points. The point here, is to hammer the Obamassaiah over his recent relationships with an unrepentant terrorist, and Obama's (so far) unwillingness to repudiate Ayers (which is a comment McCain makes, to his credit, I just think the Coburn defense is superfluous). The red meat is Ayers, and Obama's "can't repudiate my racist grammy" position.

Is that the politically smart move for J-Mac? Hell, I don't know. I'm a moron. But it feels unnecessarily weak. He's been handed a Louisville Slugger for cryin out loud.

Swing away, Senator. Swing away.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:25 AM | Comments (45)
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I declare a New Narrative, in which the French are the heroes and the British are the cowards:

ON April 11, French commandos went in with guns blazing and captured a gang of pirates who days earlier had hijacked a luxury cruise ship, the Ponant, and held the crew for ransom. This was the French solution to a crime wave that has threatened international shipping off Somalia; those of us who have been on the business end of a pirateÂ’s gun can only applaud their action.

The British government on the other hand, to the incredulity of many in the maritime industry, has taken a curiously pathetic approach to piracy. While the French were flying six of the captured pirates to Paris to face trial, the British Foreign Office issued a directive to the once vaunted Royal Navy not to detain any pirates, because doing so could violate their human rights. British warships patrolling the pirate-infested waters off Somalia were advised that captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain and that those who were returned to Somalia faced beheading for murder or a hand chopped off for theft under Islamic law.

This is a far cry from the time when pirates were uncontroversially considered hostis humani generis--the enemy of all mankind--and subject to the jurisdiction of any court. In all of admiralty law, pirates (and later slavers) were the only people who could not appeal to the protection of the state under whose flag they sailed.

Since the British rescinded capital punishment for piracy in 1998, they would essentially be stuck with the pirates after they served their time.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:14 AM | Comments (38)
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It's science.

Pound-for-pound, it's the strongest organism ever. This mighty beast is the gonorrhea bacterium – the strongest creature alive.

These tiny creatures can pull with a force equal to 100,000 times their body weight – as though a human could drag 10 million kilos.

Posted by: Open Blog at 09:13 PM | Comments (47)
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[editorial note -- all the quotes in the following story may have been altered slightly for dramatic impact. And/or completely made up. This journalist admits to having researched and written the article while drunk and watching Monty Python.]

I found a vacancy for a moron with a go-getter attitude. The only qualification would appear to be facial hair.

Why? Seems to be some question of the proper use of Little League funds. The team thought it should go for things like uniforms and ball gloves.

The Mayor and his wife had different ideas.

"Hey, these lamb-chops need maintenance, baby. Heavy heavy maintenance."

Easy to call foul here and play "Name that political affiliation" but I couldn't find it either. Apparently politics is relatively new there, as the town of Adelanto switched to an elective mayorship in 2004.

Previously, according to local resident "Dennis" they operated as an anarcho-syndicalist commune.

"We took it in turns to act as sort of executive officer for the week..."

Hope WaPo doesn't read this.

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:39 PM | Comments (17)
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The Best Democratic Primary Season Ever^TM continues with Hillary complaining about the power MoveOn.org has over the Democrats.

Seriously.

"We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party," Clinton told donors in the audio clip. "MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me."

That MoveOn.org ,which was founded to ‘move on’ from Bill Clinton’s Monica related, um, ‘difficulties’, is responsible for torpedoing Hillary is really poetic justice of the best kind.

But wait, thereÂ’s more!

I know what you are thinking, "Oh no, I couldnÂ’t possibly have another piece of schadenfreude! Well if you insist."

It turns out this little slap at the nutjobs known as Obama’s Base was made at a private fund raiser and leaked through the Huffington Post ala Obama’s ‘cling’ remarks.

Blue on Blue baby! Too bad this is all going to end soon.

Posted by: DrewM at 03:59 PM | Comments (89)
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This morning, at 9:02 CDT, people in Oklahoma City paused to remember the victims of this day, thirteen years ago.

Which is a good and fine thing to do.

One hundred and sixty eight people. 19 of them were children in a day care center.

Horror. And heartache.

This photograph kinda captured it for all of us, I think.

UPDATE: Commenter Carl Hungus asks that we seek God's blessings upon his former platoon commander, Captain Randolph A. Guzman, USMC.

May God grant him eternal rest, and for his family comfort from their loss.

(as a moron co-blogger, I know not everyone shares a prayer. But I do know you regs are of goodwill and kindness, which is awesome. And in that you all share in Carl's request).

Also commenter Joseph reminds us to remember the rescue workers and all Oklahomans who responded that day, and who still carry the painful scars from it. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 01:11 PM | Comments (62)
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Heh.

Rusty even breaks out the flaming skull for it.

Thanks to V the K.

Rusty can steal my site's siren, but he can never, ever steal my personal sense of style.

Posted by: Ace at 08:00 AM | Comments (268)
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Quagmire:

Despite the news mediaÂ’s apparent insistence on clinging to their narrative of defeat and disaster in Basra, Nouri al-MalikiÂ’s operation to restore control of the city to the elected government achieved its major goal today with the fall of the Mahdi militiaÂ’s stronghold in the city. An early-morning offensive against the Hayaniyah district of Basra netted dozens of arrests as the central government took control of the area for the first time...

Heh. You know, when times are politically tough, those in the elite media cling to what works for them, their godlessness and defeatism and hatred of their own country and its allies.

Also notable: While the MSM focuses laser-like on the IA troops who deserted, they seem strangely disinterested in those units that performed bravely and well above expectations.

Buried in the April 16 story is the fact that an Iraqi company was rushed into Sadr City to take the place of the deserting company. In todayÂ’s New York Times, Michael Gordon writes about the wall being built to partition Sadr City. Buried in the article, we learn that the Mahdi Army assaulted a police station and the Iraqi forces were running low on ammunition. As the U.S. military prepared to reinforce the position, the Iraqi Army beat them to the punch.

Thanks to CJ for both.

Posted by: Ace at 07:41 AM | Comments (38)
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I especially like the "Throw a Party For Your Pussy" wrap (?).

Thanks to phat.

Posted by: Ace at 07:18 AM | Comments (17)
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He also had a bag of methamphetamine, a sex toy, and... a rope around his neck tied to his genitals.

A bit too much "personality" for a personality.

Quest's lawyer, Alan Abramson, had a much more innocuous version of events.

"Mr. Quest didn't realize that the park had a curfew," Abramson said. He was simply "returning to his hotel with friends."

Like my mom always said, if your friends tie a rope around your neck and then to your genitals, they're not good friends.

I don't know if this guy will be fired or not. I imagine he won't be. He'll be put on unpaid leave and required to go to counseling and so forth.

Meanwhile, the Kissing Suzy Kolber blogger brought "discredit" on the Washington Post.

Posted by: Ace at 07:00 AM | Comments (79)
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