Being surrounded by an OH-58 can ruin your whole insurgent day.

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Posted by: Dave in Texas at 10:12 AM | Comments (21)
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Oh shootÂ…theyÂ’re on to us!

This is via Firedoglake (follow my link if you want to go there, I know Ace doesn't like to link to left wing blogs):

If there is a President Obama come next Jan. 20, normal folks better brace for what the right-wing crazies have in mind. Because itÂ’s becoming clear that they are winding themselves up now for a fresh spate of violence if Obama wins.

When was the last spate of right wing violence? When Janet Reno firebombed the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX?

In any event, a pattern is already developing, ranging from the Klan fellows who promise that Obama will be shot to the white supremacists who are actually rooting for him to win because they’re certain he will fail. We’re hearing a lot of language from the racist and “Patriot” right indicating that they expect a Democratic president to enact policies (particularly regarding gun control) that will inspire “civil war.” Which means they are looking for excuses to act out.

As always with these folks, there’s a lot of projection going on here. Because even if a President Obama follows only the most moderate of liberal agendas, the far right will look upon those policies as cause for “civil war.” That was how they responded to Bill Clinton, after all — a white male Southerner with generally conservative leanings. One can only imagine how a liberal black man from Illinois would fare.

Holy moly! Projection, he says? Who are the folks actually talking about crashing, disrupting and rioting at the Democrat and Republican conventions? Hint: TheyÂ’re not right wing crazies.

The extremist right went into remission, largely, with the election of George W. Bush; militias disbanded because their followers believed the threat of an oppressive, gun-grabbing, baby-killing “New World Order” had largely passed. They bided their time by forming Minutemen brigades. Now they can see that their “safe” era is coming to an end.

All this time, there really has been hankering for an excuse to start acting out violently, and they see any Democratic presidency as providing that excuse. But an Obama presidency in particular will do so.

My word, but that is some mighty fine paranoid and delusional crazy, right there.

Well, there is indeed a potential threat looming after this election in which terrorists will make ordinary people feel unsafe about going to places like malls — just like they did in the 1990s.

WTF? I donÂ’t remember being afraid to go to malls in the nineties. I do remember being worried for a while after 9/11.

But they wonÂ’t be Arabs coming from Baghdad. TheyÂ’ll be little Timmy McVeighs from Buffalo.

Timmeh!!!

You just knew McVeigh would be mentioned. ItÂ’s always him and the abortion clinic bomber. They pretty much describe the whole right wing to these people.

The extremist right went into remission, largely, with the election of George W. Bush; militias disbanded because their followers believed the threat of an oppressive, gun-grabbing, baby-killing “New World Order” had largely passed. They bided their time by forming Minutemen brigades. Now they can see that their “safe” era is coming to an end. All this time, there really has been hankering for an excuse to start acting out violently, and they see any Democratic presidency as providing that excuse. But an Obama presidency in particular will do so.

Hahahahahahaha!

Then again, to the folks on the right, that doesn’t seem to be a problem. To the rest of us, well, we had better be prepared. I think we’ll all find that the “law enforcement approach to terrorism” is a lot more effective than those same right-wingers have been telling us the past few years.

Well well well. That last bit sounds like a thinly veiled (dare I say) fascist threat.

HereÂ’s what one of their clear eyed, not in the least bit crazy commenters said:

Even if the next generation of Christianist jihaddis manage to blow something up, hard right rethugs would still try to blame the attack on muslims, or perhaps on usÂ…. and the press will buy into it.

Yessiree! We all know who the real enemies of the State are. Those darn Christianists!

Huh, fancy that.

Hat tip: Weasel Zippers

Posted by: Open Blog at 10:06 AM | Comments (68)
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The fighting, fighting nutroots certainly found their candidate in Barack Obama.

“If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,” Obama said

Jim Malone would be proud.

Now, itÂ’s a kind of funny thing for him to say at a fundraiser but consider two things.

If a Republican had used a gun metaphor against Obama or any Democrat, the world would have come to an end. The press and the Democrats (pardon the redundancy) would go batshit crazy about it and my guess is McCain would borrow ObamaÂ’s bus to throw the offender under it.

Secondly, itÂ’s great for Obama to talk all tough but thereÂ’s the little part about him not being man enough to take up McCainÂ’s joint appearance challenge.

ItÂ’s just another way Obama is a typical DemocratÂ…lots of big talk and it's all BS.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:09 AM | Comments (98)
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It seems as though the sleepy hamlet of Spring Valley, CA has a problem with hobos living in camps and in the bushes. In fact, the problem is so bad that the police are planning to unleash sweeps to move them out of the area.

A sweep is planned this summer near Via Mercado in Rancho San Diego.

Near the Spring Valley Swap Meet, most camps were nestled deep in a thicket of bamboo. Deputies last cleared the area in 2005.

Giant piles of trash dotted the property, made up of four privately owned parcels that cover about 10 acres. Discarded clothing, bikes, toys, golf clubs and broken electronic equipment were piled high. Some people had mattresses, makeshift cooking areas and bathrooms. One person had hooked up a small television to a car battery.

Well, with tax dollars stretched thinner and thinner, I have a solution that will save the good people of California money and time to help the police perform their God-intended duties of taking beer from teenagers and confiscating bootleg fireworks.

Why not have the First Official Ace Of Spades Hobo Hunt?

All it would take is a few bottles of ValURite Vodka, some fishing poles, a few nets, some burlap sacks, and a shovel.

Also, the hunters would be able to gather and experience something most people who hang around the internet too long never encounter, which is sunlight, fresh air, and exercise.

What say you, morons?

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:49 PM | Comments (81)
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Posted by: Open Blog at 05:55 PM | Comments (114)
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Dave in South Oklahoma, a well-known gaytarded, dick-smoking, toucher of testicles (many not even his own) inspired this. LauraW usually does these, but I have it on good authority that her hump is suffering from a severe sunburn, so sheÂ’s resting comfortably and applying lots of aloe to it. And also speaking to it in a comforting manner.

But IÂ’m sure sheÂ’d enjoy a little music, so post links to your favorite/most hated music videos in the comments so we can mock your worthless taste in music.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:16 PM | Comments (155)
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Har.

Disgruntled scientists renewed their vows this week to call Pluto a planet despite an international governing body's latest ruling to reclassify the tiny world.

On Wednesday, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) declared that Pluto will henceforth be known as a "plutoid," a new class of objects that has two members (the other being Eris, a small body beyond Pluto). The IAU, considered in charge of naming celestial objects, has been around since 1919. It demoted Pluto to "dwarf planet" status in 2006.

The latest decision was announced by email to the press, and it took researchers by surprise. Even IAU members and astronomers who discovered Eris and other objects that might eventually be called plutoids were not consulted or informed.

That's left many scientists peeved that the IAU developed the new term and its definition behind closed doors. They accuse the IAU of being secretive, out of touch and of failing to consider basic physical characteristics that researchers use to define planets.

"The derision for this group [the IAU] is now spreading virally," said Alan Stern, former assistant administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA and lead investigator for the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

Stern has also hinted that a rival group to the IAU might be formed. When asked about this possibility, he said: "There is a disturbance in the force. Enough said."

This IAU seems to be going out of its way to just make up new definitions. The argument that Pluto is not a planet can be put simply: It's not really all that big, and there are other objects of about its size, so calling Pluto a planet invites the question, why not call Eris a planet too?

It's a decent argument, I guess, though I don't know why Eris can't be a planet too. And check out how convoluted this is:

The new IAU definition of plutoid: "Plutoids are celestial bodies in orbit around the sun at a distance greater than that of Neptune that have sufficient mass for their self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that they assume a hydrostatic equilibrium (near-spherical) shape, and that have not cleared the neighborhood around their orbit."

Sykes and some other astronomers prefer to consider planets based on "shared physical characteristics." He says the geophysical definition for a planet is this: "A planet is a round object (in hydrostatic equilibrium) that orbits a star." He notes that objects large enough to make themselves round tend to have signs of geology (volcanism, tectonics and atmospheres) that don't exist on smaller objects.

...

"It's hard to find anyone who thinks this is (i) necessary, (ii) a step forward, or even (iii) useful," Stern said in an email interview. And of the new plutoid ruling: "About all it has accomplished is to convert some people who were on the fence to agreeing with those of us that planet definition needs a rethink" and that the process needs to be "out in the open."

Honestly, at this point, they just seem to be issuing these pointless redefinitions because it's the only way the great mass of the public even hears of the scary-authority of the IAU.

Posted by: Ace at 04:46 PM | Comments (50)
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This is the mid-season finale and probably the last episode of 2008. As I wrote on Wednesday, it's a good one.

There is no nefarious purpose to dragging out the end of the show this way. The real reason is that Season 3 did very poorly when it went up against the fall network programming last year. In fact, there were a few questions about whether the show would be renewed for a final season. Since the writer's strike made it impossible to complete the show this summer, SciFi execs want to hold off until it can be assured of reasonable levels of viewership. Viewership, of course, translates into better advertising revenue.

September and October are out because of network competition. November and December are out because of the holidays. That makes late January the most likely time to start showing the final episodes especially because sweeps is moved to March next year. I suspect that the three-hour series finale will be timed to to coincide with sweeps. The Caprica pilot may air at the same time. (The other possibility is showing it in early December, which is when SciFi likes to show miniseries and one-offs.)

Spoiler Policy: Anything from the miniseries and the show up to and including tonight's episode is fair game; no need to warn or in some way obscure text for anything that comes from that material. However, anything you may have heard about future episodes should be kept to yourself. Thanks.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:56 PM | Comments (193)
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For as long as I've been online I've wanted to quote this funny scene from Catch-22. This is the first time my search for it has every come up with the passage.

Kinda-sorta related to my point about evangelical atheism in the earlier post.

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Posted by: Ace at 03:54 PM | Comments (45)
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Horrible, the rumors we conservative bloggers peddle:

"I don't exactly approve of a lot of the things he stands for and I'm not sure we know enough about him. He's got some bad connections, and he may be terrorist connected for all I can tell. It sounds kind of like he may be."

That remark from noted conservative blogger Fred Hobbes, who, while he's not blogging conservatively, serves on the Tennessee Democratic Party's executive committee.

Another popular conservative blogger, Beacher Frasier, who is also the chief of staff of Democratic Congressman and superdelegate Lincoln Davis (another high-profile conservative blogger, by the way, who does most of his blogging via House of Representatives voting), reacted by saying that he "did not know if Barack Obama was terrorist connected, but assumed he was not."

Hobbes "blogged" this remark in an interview to the Nashville City Paper, another high-profile conservative blog, one of those blogs that prints its information on a medium called "paper" with a device known as a "printing press."

Link: Sorry, there is none. It was on the Brit Hume "Special Conservative Televised Blog" at 6, in the "Political Grapevine" blog-feature in the middle of the "page" (or "show," if you're using that terminology).

Posted by: Ace at 02:35 PM | Comments (27)
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