I just can't believe this is true. She seems like such a noble-minded, selfless woman.

Conyers, the spouse of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, has been absent from City Council meetings since news of the scandal broke June 28. She declined comment Friday.

"I'm not feeling well right now," she said in a brief telephone interview. "When I get back to work, I'll get back to work."

Fittingly enough, the corruptly-awarded contract involved hauling sewage and shit away. Here's hoping the contract achieves that effect, albeit not as originally intended.

Last time we saw her, she was bitching at eighth graders for daring to criticize her for calling a fellow bald councilman "Shreck."

I'd really like to see that little girl put on the story to interview Monica Conyers further. "Taking bribes in connection with city contracts is something a second-grader would do."

Posted by: Ace at 12:45 PM | Comments (31)
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A comic, maybe Seinfeld, maybe Leno, riffed on the weirdness of the "modern biathalon" Olympic event, which consists of cross country skiing, then marksman rifle shooting. Why not have another event where guys fish for a couple of hours then strangle a guy?, the joke went.

Less of a joke in Russia.

A RUSSIAN man has been crowned world champion in the novelty sport of chess boxing, a game that requires equal skill at moving pawns and throwing punches.

...

The loser said he was simply too punch-drunk to fend off checkmate.

"I took a lot of body-blows in the fourth round and that affected my concentration. That's why I made a big mistake in the fifth round: I did not see him coming for my king,'' he said.

Berlin is home to the world's biggest chess boxing club with some 40 members and it is in an old freight station here that the two men settled the matter early yesterday.

The match began over a chess board set up on a low table in the middle of a boxing ring.

Stripped to the waist, wearing towels around their shoulders and headphones playing the lulling sound of a moving train to drown out the baying crowd, the men played for four minutes.

Then off came their reading glasses and on went the gloves and the mouthguards.

For three minutes they beat each other and then, when the bell went, the chess board was back in the ring and they picked up the gentlemanly game where they had left off.

"This is the hard part, you are out of breath but you have to keep your wits about you,'' said David Steppeler, a 33-year-old instructor at the local chess boxing club.

A chess boxing match consists of six rounds of chess and five in the ring but it can also end suddenly in knockout or checkmate.

It's old, of course. I used to play a similar version of Beat-Down Stratego with my brother. Every time that little douche hid his Spy by never moving it and making me think it was a bomb, I declared a rules violation and went after him with elbows and teeth.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:20 PM | Comments (36)
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Another sign of victory. The Iraqis have never wanted a foreign army on their soil -- who would? -- but of course needed one.

They need it far less now.

raqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki raised the prospect on Monday of setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops as part of negotiations over a new security agreement with Washington.

It was the first time the U.S.-backed Shi'ite-led government has floated the idea of a timetable for the removal of American forces from Iraq. The Bush administration has always opposed such a move, saying it would give militant groups an advantage.

The security deal under negotiation will replace a U.N. mandate for the presence of U.S. troops that expires on December 31.

"Today, we are looking at the necessity of terminating the foreign presence on Iraqi lands and restoring full sovereignty," Maliki told Arab ambassadors in blunt remarks during an official visit to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.

"One of the two basic topics is either to have a memorandum of understanding for the departure of forces or a memorandum of understanding to set a timetable for the presence of the forces, so that we know (their presence) will end in a specific time."

The left will spin this as Maliki embracing their surrender-at-all-costs agenda, but of course it doesn't. What made this possible? Victory over Al Qaeda, al-Sadr, and other extremists.

And it's not like conservatives want US troops in foreign lands just for grins and goofs. We also want the troops home -- after the crucial war is won. And we're just about there:

* Al Qaeda driven from last stronghold in Mosul.

n Mosul, Al-QaedaÂ’s last redoubt, the group still held sway as recently as Easter. Now it lacks the strength to fight the army face to face and has lost the sympathy of most of the ordinary citizens who once admired its stand against the occupying forces and their allies in the Iraqi army.

...

“Two days ago the insurgents fired two RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] on our post,” Abdullah said. “Yesterday they attacked us with machinegun fire.” To the colonel, these seem small-scale affairs.

...

Brigadier-General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: “Al-Qaeda in Mosul is pretty much not able to do the attacks that they could do previously. They are doing small attacks and trying to do big ones but they are mostly not succeeding.”

The Iraqis and Americans have got Al-Qaeda on the run. How have they come so far, so fast?

The article goes on to describe the tactics that have driven Al Qaeda out.

* "Spectacular victory" in Mosul.

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation LionÂ’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the AmericansÂ’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.

* Maliki declares the terrorist siege of Baghdad has been lifted, and city saved.

"When we took over Baghdad it was under siege, with all roads leading to neighbouring provinces controlled by terrorists. They had surrounded Baghdad from all sides, backed by the bad intentions of other countries," Maliki told a gathering of top Iraqi and US officials including Washington's envoy to Baghdad Ryan Crocker.

"We wanted these nations to support and assist us in stabilising the country but they were thinking of finishing Baghdad," he said, without naming the countries.

"But Baghdad continues to stand," the Shiite prime minister said in a speech marking the fifth anniversary of the killing of prominent Shiite leader Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim in a 2003 car bombing in the holy city of Najaf.

"Yes, there are still Al-Qaeda militants left but they are being chased. We are hunting them. But we have been able to lift the siege of Baghdad."

* Al-Sadr continues with program of downsizing and corporate restructuring, two things healthy companies don't typically do.

Over the space of several days in early June, Muqtada al Sadr has issued two consequential orders that will affect the future of his movement and that of Iraq. Sadr has ordered the reorganization of his infamous Mahdi Army and has forbidden the Sadrist movement from participating in the upcoming provincial elections.

...

The two orders show that Sadr is being forced to scale down both his political and military ambitions as the Iraqi government and Iraqi security forces continue to pacify Mahdi Army strongholds during a series of offensives that started in Basrah at the end of March, and moved through Sadr City and the wider Shia South. Operations in Maysan, a Mahdi Army bastion, are currently in progress. The Maysan operations so far resulted in the capture of 354 wanted militiamen and the discovery of hundreds of rockets, artillery rounds, RPGs and surface to air missiles and various other weapons and munitions. More than two hundred militiamen also surrendered to the Iraqi security forces, according to Ministry of Interior spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf.

Through his decision to trim Mahdi Army, Sadr hopes to salvage some of Mahdi ArmyÂ’s best trained and most loyal units, and put them under one command to operate in a secretive manner and, ostensibly, only against US targets.

Al-Sadr seems to have given up on actually winning anything, and now seems focused on merely surviving.

The domestic political effect of this amazing victory is, ironically, mostly to the benefit of one Barack Hussein Obama.

Kaus notes that a stable Iraq makes President McCain less necessary, and President Obama less risky. Abe Greenwald from Commentary agrees:

In February, John McCain said that if he could not convince the American public that the U.S. was winning the Iraq War, he would not make it into the White House. He was exactly wrong.

Believe it or not, McCain is a victim of his own success. He supported the troop surge that turned Iraq from a hopeless disaster into a critical triumph–the same troop surge that’s allowed Americans to let Iraq slip from their radar. With the war no longer perceived as a pressing calamity, what care American voters which candidate has the best Iraq plan?

Americans no longer need to be convinced that the U.S. is winning. From a McCain campaign standpoint, progress in Iraq occurred almost too quickly after that February pronouncement. There was no palpable shift in public attitudes, just a stealthy flood of change that suddenly left McCain’s invaluable contribution looking irrelevant. And Barack Obama’s camp is taking full advantage. Obama foreign policy advisor Susan Rice recently said “Sen. McCain, he’s running for commander in chief of Iraq,” and Obama “believes we need to focus on the full panoply of threats we face.” This disingenuous characterization will gain more traction in voters’ minds than the McCain camp’s many accurate attempts to expose Obama’s misjudgment and indecision on Iraq.

As unfair as that is, McCain punished for being right and firm, Obama rewarded for being wrong and pandering, there are no conservatives rooting for an Al Qaeda resurgence just to aid the Republicans in November. Liberal Democrats ought to take some notice of that, and learn from the example.

Posted by: Ace at 11:46 AM | Comments (41)
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In the UK, of course, which is obsessed with weeding out "undesirable" characteristics at an early age. In March I told you about the plan to screen and seize DNA from pre-criminal children. Now, day care workers are instructed to watch for and correct such racist actions as rejecting unfamiliar food:

The National Children's Bureau, which receives £12 million a year, mainly from Government funded organisations, has issued guidance to play leaders and nursery teachers advising them to be alert for racist incidents among youngsters in their care.

This could include a child of as young as three who says "yuk" in response to being served unfamiliar foreign food. [...]

Staff are told: "No racist incident should be ignored. When there is a clear racist incident, it is necessary to be specific in condemning the action." [...]

Nurseries are encouraged to report as many incidents as possible to their local council. The guide added: "Some people think that if a large number of racist incidents are reported, this will reflect badly on the institution. In fact, the opposite is the case."

I've got to confess to a little racism coming on because I find a lot of British cuisine absolutely disgusting or at least so bland as to defy description. But, of course, it has nothing to do with people from the UK and everything to do with the taste of their food.

How the hell are toddlers supposed to ignore the sensation of food in their mouths? Either you like something or you don't. Imputation of racism for mere perception is foolish.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:56 AM | Comments (106)
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A Massachusetts town hosts a "Horribles" parade that satirizes current events.

This year they goofed on the Gloucester pregnancies. Content Warning; skip ahead to 2:20 for the first (and most obscene) float goofing on them. Then skip ahead to 5:20 for more in that vein.

Thanks to Boston Irish.

Posted by: Ace at 10:47 AM | Comments (7)
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The draft was watered down from what many states wanted but it still represents an attempt to deal with an increasingly difficult problem.

The agreement would organise legal immigration based on a state's needs and ability to welcome people, and combat illegal immigration, ensuring that foreigners who do not have papers are removed.

EU nations would base legal immigration on workers or professionals whose skills are tailored to their particular labour needs, favouring those who would stay in their countries long term.

The ministers will also pledge to try to avoid handing out residency permits en masse. Italy and Spain have angered some of their partners by giving papers to some 700,000 people in recent years.

Refugees will be increasingly obliged to apply for asylum from outside -- some 220,000 people did so last year -- although the EU will strive to better channel aid to those countries they are fleeing.

Â…It will be built on the newly agreed "returns directive", which obliges states to give residency to illegal immigrants or send them home, and empowers nations to detain people for up to 18 months during processing.

Maybe we have something to learn from our European ‘friends’ after all.

Of course the usual suspects are outraged by the 'xenophobia' of it all.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:39 AM | Comments (39)
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At the request of prosecutors, the man, convicted of sexually assaulting three teenage girls, will serve his 40 life sentences consecutively. The jury took 90 minutes to convict. He's eligible for parole in 3209.

Doesn't a sentence like this throw into question the concept of proportionality of punishment? I mean, his life sentences after the first few are essentially pointless, right?

(h/t Jonathan Adler at Volokh Conspiracy)

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:46 AM | Comments (59)
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Yesterday, the Washington Post described the collaborative FBI and DOD efforts to collect biometric data on foreign fighters, detainees, and other potential enemies in the War on Terror. These types of promising, nonconfidential programs do not get enough press and it's nice to see this one in the Sunday Washington Post, even if it is paired with bogus discussion of "watch lists." However, the revelation that one out of every hundred foreign detainees is already in the FBI arrest database should be cause for concern.

"Frankly I was surprised that we were getting those kind of hits at all," recalled Townsend, who left government in January. They identified "a potential vulnerability" to national security the government had not fully appreciated, she said.

The people being fingerprinted had come from the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan. They were mostly in their 20s, Shannon recalled. "One of the things we learned is we were dealing with relatively young guys who were very committed and what they would openly tell you is that when they got out they were going back to jihad," he said. "They'd already made this commitment."

One of the first men fingerprinted by the FBI team was a fighter who claimed he was in Afghanistan to learn the ancient art of falconry. But a fingerprint check showed that in August 2001 he had been turned away from Orlando International Airport by an immigration official who thought he might overstay his visa. Mohamed al Kahtani would later be named by the Sept. 11 Commission as someone who allegedly had sought to participate in hijackings. He currently is in custody at Guantanamo Bay.

This isn't about security at the southern or northern border, nor is it generally about immigration; these folks are entering and leaving our country legally with nonimmigrant visas. Student visas are especially prone to abuse, but the problem extends even to visitors from countries that are part of the Visa Waiver Program. Our entry and exit visa system is a mess and it is shameful that I'm genuinely surprised that the system managed to identify and turn away a potential threat prior to 9/11. But it is nice to see that something is being done.

We can do more.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:32 AM | Comments (22)
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Tragic news, it goes without saying, every time these sub-human dead-enders carry off another of their barbaric acts. Even more so when innocent civilians are targetted.

A suicide car bomb exploded outside the Indian Embassy in central Kabul on Monday, killing 40 people in the deadliest attack this year in Afghanistan's capital, officials said...

Shortly after the attack, a woman ran out of a Kabul hospital screaming, crying and hitting her face with both of her hands. Her two children, a girl named Lima and a boy named Mirwais, had been killed.

"Oh my God!" the woman screamed. "They are both dead."

If anything positive can come from this sort of thing, it is that the terrorists in Afghanistan are making the same mistakes that doomed their ideological brethren in Iraq: Indiscriminately killing those they ultimately need the tacit or open support of.

The point that the MSM always misses in their relativistic moral certitude is that "winning the hearts & minds" of a populace is hard to do when "winning" involves blowing the hearts & minds of one's countrymen all over a public square with a ton of explosives.

Indeed, the depth of the MSM's moral certitude is mirrored in that which is found in the soul of the Terrorists.

Facts on the ground have little sway with the true believer. The MSM will spin every U.S. setback as a major loss, every minor victory as pyrhhic, and ignore every major victory until it is no longer politically relevant, or can at least be spun as such.

As is the case with the Terrorists, the MSM's tunnel-vision is self-defeating. Ace reported the great flushing noise from Newspapers just last week, a story that is almost as satisfying a spectacle as watching 7th century thugs meeting 21st century martial reality.

Buried in today's article is a factoid that cloaks a very large and relevant truth in a throwaway statistic (emphasis mine):

The embassy attack was the sixth suicide bombing in Kabul this year. Insurgent violence has killed more than 2,200 people — mostly militants — in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count of official figures.

Posted by: Open Blog at 02:34 AM | Comments (40)
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I wish it were Mr. Paul Anka. Because he would know how to deal with these goddamn cutoffs.

He's makin a fuckin maniac outta me. His staff too. What the hell are they watching? A pilot is flying a plane, and he's looking at the instruments, and the polls. What the hell are they lookin at?

Do I have to put Vinny Falcone up there to ride their asses? There's a lot of loose shit goin on. What is it with these cutoffs? It's like he's asleep at the switch. No conscious, no integrity.

He's the only important one up on that stage. That's just how fucking crucial this is. And the only satisfaction we're going to get, is watching this lightweight Marxist poseur kick his ass in the general.

How sad is that?

I haven't felt this lack of integrity since Mr. Bob Dole ran in 96.

Where's Karl?

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 02:16 PM | Comments (54)
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