John Bolton speaks uncomfortable truths. Again.

John Bolton, AmericaÂ’s ex-ambassador to the United Nations, has called for US air strikes on Iranian camps where insurgents are trained for war in Iraq.

Mr Bolton said that striking Iran would represent a major step towards victory in Iraq. While he acknowledged that the risk of a hostile Iranian response harming American’s overseas interests existed, he said the damage inflicted by Tehran would be “far higher” if Washington took no action.

“This is a case where the use of military force against a training camp to show the Iranians we’re not going to tolerate this is really the most prudent thing to do,” he said. “Then the ball would be in Iran’s court to draw the appropriate lesson to stop harming our troops.”

Â… Colonel Donald Bacon, a spokesman for the coalition in Baghdad, said captured fighters had told interrogators that thousands of Iraqi fighters were undergoing training in the Islamic Republic.

The main camp is located near the town of Jalil Azad, near Tehran, according to coalition officials.

IÂ’ve said it before and IÂ’ll repeat it hereÂ…the first candidate who pledges to name John Bolton and his mustache either Secretary of State or Defense will receive the coveted DrewM endorsement and the single vote and tens of dollars in campaign contributions that comes with it.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:21 AM | Comments (25)
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R2-D2 DVD projector, with a remote/control panel hidden in the Millennium Falcon.

I mean, it's ridiculous, but it is kind of clever and cool.

Too Awesome: Driver sees room for improvement:

It's pretty good, but the remote control should (clearly) be housed in a Luke Skywalker lightsaber (V. II.) and be jettisoned from a port in the top of R2's head at a nod from its owner. Duh.

The chances of my not having an orgasm in the presence of such a device are approximately seven hundred and twenty five... to one.
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Posted by: Ace at 08:15 AM | Comments (18)
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Today is another Democrat news day with the big primaries in Indiana and North Carolina but McCain is trying to sneak into the news cycle with a speech on judges.

As a McCain skeptic (to be charitable) this is probably as good as it gets for me with McCain.

“Senators Obama and Clinton have very different ideas from my own. They are both lawyers themselves, and don’t seem to mind at all when fundamental questions of social policy are preemptively decided by judges instead of by the people and their elected representatives”

Â…He calls Roberts and Alito models for the kind of judges heÂ’d nominate, and rips Clinton and Obama for having voted against both!

“Somehow, by Senator Obama’s standard, even Judge Roberts didn’t measure up. And neither did Justice Samuel Alito. Apparently, nobody quite fits the bill except for an elite group of activist judges, lawyers, and law professors who think they know wisdom when they see it — and they see it only in each other.”

While McCain expresses respect for the federal bench his disdain for activist judges as arrogant and dangerous is most pointed.

“Some federal judges operate by fiat, shrugging off generations of legal wisdom and precedent while expecting their own opinions to go unquestioned. Only their favorite precedents are to be considered “settled law,” and everything else is fair game.”

Now for bad Maverick.

McCain announced today that he will address La Raza, a liberal-leaning Latino group, in July. Politico's Jonathan Martin suggests that McCain is "trying to show that he's not George W. Bush by going into the lion's den and taking hostile, unscripted questions from adversarial groups." The McCain campaign says the candidate is scheduling the stop "as part of his commitment to talking with all Americans."

A couple of thingsÂ….

First, is La Raza really a ‘hostile’ group for McCain? Last year the group honored McCain’s good friend and partner on immigration issues Lindsay Graham. Why exactly would McCain or anyone think this isn’t going to be a friendly crowd for him?

The bigger issue is why is McCain going to speak to La Raza? Michelle Malkin has the rundown on why this isnÂ’t such a great idea.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:23 AM | Comments (90)
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Don't believe him. He's one of them there Jew Neocons.

The hardline Kayhan newspaper accused the reformist Khatami of tarnishing the Islamic republic's reputation by implying it was carrying out "sabotage" work in other countries through insurgent groups.

In his speech, Khatami referred to the ambition of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to export the 1979 Islamic revolution around the world, but expressed fear this wish was being distorted.

"What did the imam (Khomeini) mean by exporting the revolution?" he asked in the speech Friday to university students in the northern province of Gilan, according to the Kargozaran newspaper.

"Did he mean that we take up arms, that we blow up places in other nations and we create groups to carry out sabotage in other countries? The imam was vehemently against this and was confronting it," he added.

Thanks to Liberrocky.

Posted by: Ace at 07:26 PM | Comments (25)
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The writer's strike is over, right? Did I miss that?

Number six was actually almost funny.

Except we like it when Cheney shoots people in the face.

Well. I do.

UPDATE: Duh. Bender Bending Rodriguez points out it's old. I saw this story but I grabbed an old vid clip. Anybody got the new one? I'm sure it's way funnier.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 07:00 PM | Comments (15)
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I'll swipe the YouTube clip from Allah, but point you there for the high-res QuickTime version.

At the risk of hatin' on a dead man, I'm not yet buying Ledger's interpretation of the Joker. There's some menace there, but where's the mirth?

Eh. Best Joker? Still Mark Hammil.

Oh... And if you dug Iron Man, in the works are Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and then, yes... The Avengers.

The ultimate team-up. Sure, Batman and Superman would be a bigger team-up, but that's not going to happen.

Posted by: Ace at 06:59 PM | Comments (28)
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From Carl Gordon, who re-stocks a supermarket by day, and by night, splits atoms... with his mind. more...

Posted by: Ace at 05:57 PM | Comments (128)
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...discovered in freezers.

Three babies found in freezer of mother in, where else, Germany. The mother was arrested.

In Seth Myers' joke from SNL, congratulations, Germany, you've once again found a way to out-German yourselves.

Three hundred cats and kittens found in refrigerator of Sacremento man.

His defense? The holidays were coming up; he was just stocking up before the rush.

Sacramento man faces criminal charges after police searched his home and found at least 300 dead cats in his freezers, authorities said.

Michael Parnell, 46, also known as Michael Vondueren, was charged with possessing an assault weapon and obstructing an officer when he was arrested, KXTV, Sacramento, reported.

. Police Sgt. Jim Hose said authorities entered the home obecause of concern for the well-being of the Parnell's 81-year-old mother.

Three over-sized freezers in the foul-smelling home contained the bodies of cats and kittens, police said.

Via Portly Pirate and... not sure where I got the other story from.

Rounding up these stories: Bad-luck robber attempts to rob two people in car and discovers they're plainclothes police officers; motorcyclist flips off cops, triumphantly pops a wheelie, races away, and, um crashes.

Thanks to Conservative Belle for that last one.

Oh, God: It's hard to say someone is "worse" than a woman who kills three of her babies, but how about a woman who kills eight or nine? And disposes of their bodies in fishtanks and flowerpots?

She killed every kid she had, and she had a bunch.

Does Germany have a rival? Nope. She's German too.

The kicker? She was found guilty and the judge held her alcoholism did not excuse her serial murders. So he threw the book at her--

Fifteen fucking years.

Posted by: Ace at 05:36 PM | Comments (28)
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This story is a tad old by now, but Kaus is worth reading on the point:

A staple of cocooning journalism is the quickie poll showing that "Voters Say They Aren't Troubled by X," with X being an issue the polltakers don't want voters to be troubled by.

...if only 10% of voters say they will vote against a candidate because of X--while fully 90% of the voters say they are untroubled--that means the candidate has been badly damaged by X. In most races a candidate can't afford to lose 10% of the vote on a single issue. ... In today's story, of course, the Times strikes a blow for transparency and cost-efficiency, dispensing with the expensive, scientific-sounding claptrap of polling and cutting right to the soothing BS, interviewing a handful of upscale Indianapolis shoppers who duly deny they would be influenced by the Wright flap (but who knows what those "less cosmopolitan" Hoosiers down South will do).

The cocooning continues, this time with an actual poll -- a poll of a whole 283 Democrats.

At least 21% of that inadequate sample say they view Obama less favorably now, but the Times headline of course accentuates the positive -- hey, most Democrats aren't bothered! And who cares about that racist one-fifth of the base, anyway?

Has Pinch Sulzberger's visionary leadership so depleted the Times' resources that it can't even afford to take a decent poll? If so, should the paper still run this iffy self-generated news on the front page?

USA Today meanwhile polls 516 and gives a headline that accurately reflects the data -- Obama was damaged by Wright.

Posted by: Ace at 04:54 PM | Comments (46)
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This is a prayer for Hillary Clinton to be elected president. She rails a lot about Satan.

It's by some yoga goofball who claims to be a professor/swami at her own church.

She's quite old.

On the other hand, she has great big fat fake jugs.
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Posted by: Ace at 03:30 PM | Comments (64)
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