Col. Bud Day is a former POW and a recipient of the Medal of Honor. If you haven't heard of him take a few minutes to look him up. You remember all those "Cool Facts About Chuck Norris" jokes? Well, if you insert Bud Day's name in them, they aren't funny because they don't do justice to how tough and dedicated to the defense of our country the guy is.

John Miller of National Review Online talked to Col. Day and asked him about the story.

So I asked: When was the first time you heard McCain tell this story? His response: "I heard that story in 1970, 1971—back in that time frame. Anybody who says it's not true is full of..." Here he used some salty language.

Since this is Ace of Spades and not NRO I'll take a shot at filling in the missing word...shit. He's absolutely right, they are full of shit and blinding adoration for Obama but mostly...well actually my guess is the shit and adoration are equally mixed.

I debated whether this was a post or a headline but I think it's worth a post simply because assholes, like 2nd rate Kos diarist Andrew Sullivan, shouldn't have the loudest megaphones in this dust up.

I look forward to the appologies that are sure to flow from the leftards who were only 'asking questions'.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:29 AM | Comments (31)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:11 AM | Comments (29)
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(UPDATE, 5:20 pm CST: It looks like Professor Miller took his own life late yesterday. I heard a bit of the Iowa City police press conference on the radio about an hour ago, and apparently witnesses reported Miller leaving his car carrying something wrapped in a blanket. Later, they reported hearing a single gunshot, and as of now the ICPD is using cadaver dogs to search the park. It's still a tragedy, but at least he didn't go on a spree & take others out with him. RIP, Professor Arthur Miller.)

Remember Arthur Miller? The subject of previous stories here at the AoSHQ. He is a professor at the University of Iowa (I went to Iowa STATE, so don't lump me in with those trailer-dwelling morons from Eastern Iowa, thank you very much) who ALLEGEDLY offered grade adjustments to female students in exchange for getting a little "me" time with their funbags? He's back in the news.

Let's summarize the situation as we know it: We've got a disgraced college professor who's just been released on bail. We've got a supportive wife who says he took his RECENTLY PURCHASED high-powered rifle and left an apologetic note behind. We've got the Iowa City Police Department searching an 185-acre wooded park at the Northeast edge of Iowa City where the professor's car was found abandoned. We've also got statements that the professor made blaming his situation on the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences because of an alleged long-standing feud between them over some academic matter.

Let's just say that you don't have to be The Amazing Kreskin to figure out that this story ain't gonna end well for anyone involved. If you live in Iowa City, I'd suggest putting off any yardwork until the cops find Professor Miller or his corpse.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 07:04 AM | Comments (38)
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We've seen this before, but this seems to be an especially sphincter-tightening approach.

Looks like you could pretty much whack the fuselage with a baseball bat as it goes by.

Thanks to pajama momma.

Posted by: LauraW at 06:36 AM | Comments (38)
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Ace put this in the headlines sidebar, but it merits a post, IMO.

Mexico is among the best places in the world to be kidnapped, ransomed, and murdered.

More of the victims (including small children) are being casually murdered and criminals are starting to take even middle class targets (Lovely southern neighbor we have. It would be rude to build a fence.).

After a couple especially heinous acts, the ire of the Mexican people is bubbling over. Well-founded suspicions that police officers are often partners in the schemes has made things worse.

Anger over the inability to trust Mexican police boiled over last week, when residents of the central Mexico town of Tlapanala managed to surround and disarm a gang of seven kidnappers posing as police. They held them for 24 hours, pounding the men to bloody pulps "with whatever they could lay their hands on," Mayor Jose Villalba said.

Lots of news on Mexicans kidnapping other Mexicans. Tons of news.
But if you google for Mexicans kidnapping Americans, not much shows up. It's virtually a non-story.

American businesswoman Veronica was stepping out of her car in California when two men forced her into the passenger seat at gunpoint, pushed her teenage daughter into the back and drove them into Mexico.

Taking advantage of lax Mexican security at the San Diego border, and with U.S. authorities focused mainly on those entering the United States, the kidnappers took the two women to Tijuana in January and held them for a month before their family paid a $100,000 ransom.

Mexican intelligence officials say Veronica is one of around 30 Americans abducted in southern California and taken to Tijuana since last November. Many of the victims are of Hispanic origin and hold double nationality.

More than 200 people have been kidnapped in Baja California state so far this year, a third more than in all of 2007, according to Mexican kidnap victims' association Esperanza.

Gee, two or three people get bitten by sharks, and shark hysteria rules the news for months. Dozens of Americans kidnapped for ransom?

Not so much.

Very puzzling.

Posted by: LauraW at 06:20 AM | Comments (44)
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Okay, just how gullible are the Obama people? They're afraid that Clinton supporters are going to create an embarrassing ruckus at the convention. Tantrums, kazoos, creme pies, the usual. Understandable. But, their solution is to work with the Clinton campaign to give out floor passes to even more Clinton supporters who pinky swear to keep her delegates on their best behavior.

Uh huh. Like a babe to the slaughter.

Clinton spokesperson Kathleen Strand emphasized the team would not seek to convince delegates to vote for the former first lady, but would hand out Clinton signs to supporters who requested them.

"We have been and are working closely with the Obama campaign to make sure we have an exciting and unified convention," Strand said. "Our delegate whips, along with the Obama delegate whips, are a part of a team that will be on the floor of the convention to make sure delegates have everything they need, whether thatÂ’s answering questions or passing out signs during Hillary's speech. The whips are a traditional part of every convention's floor operations."

That last part is true, though there aren't usually two separate (competing?) teams. For reasons passing understanding, the Obama people are still trying to push the idea that the party is united behind one candidate. I suppose there must be one or two idiots left who actually believe that and who will be fooled when the guys with Obama signs frantically push their way between Clinton supporters and the cameras. The fact that Obama is giving instructions to screen Clinton supporters from media attention reveals just how worried he is.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:00 PM | Comments (91)
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Not to diminish the loss, but if you go wobbly over 10 KIA, you're sending a powerful message. That's a message the Taliban won't fail to notice.

...the opposition Socialists called for a parliamentary committee to meet and doubts were expressed about the official account of the incident in which the 10 soldiers were killed and 21 wounded in a fierce mountain battle.

"Afghanistan -- should we leave?" ran the front-page headline of the Thursday edition of left-wing newspaper Liberation, which is strongly critical of Sarkozy's policies...

This reaction is going to wind up costing the French a lot more than 10 KIA in the future.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:51 PM | Comments (39)
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Thick as thieves and tight as ticks.

Note Mayor Daley does not seem to agree that Obama and Ayers are merely politely-nodding acquaintances. He says they're friends -- something Obama denies.

"Bill Ayers, I've said this, his father was a great friend of my father. I'll be very frank. Vietnam divided families, divided people. It was a terrible time of our country. It really separated people. People didn't know one another. Since then, I'll be very frank, (Ayers) has been in the forefront on a lot of education issues and helping us in public schools and things like that.

"People keep trying to align [him] with Barack Obama. It's really unfortunate. They're friends. So what? People do make mistakes in the past. You move on. This is a new century, a new time. He reflects back and heÂ’s been making a strong contribution to our community."

First of all, he's unrepentant -- and forgiveness follows confession of error.

His "mistakes" consisted of bombing federal buildings. One bomb he helped built killed a confederate (his girlfriend at the time, IIRC).

He was a terrorist like bin Ladin -- just not as effective. (Bin Ladin doesn't smoke pot.)

It's one thing to say "forgive." It's another to say "embrace" -- and that's precisely what Daley, Obama, and other members of the liberal Chicago political machine have done.

They've made their decisions. Let us make ours.

Release the records. Let us decide.

Posted by: Ace at 04:40 PM | Comments (72)
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more...

Posted by: Ace at 04:04 PM | Comments (48)
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One benefit of a Lieberman vice presidential bid. Now, seriously, admit it: Sure he's pro-choice, but you're intrigued now, arencha?

You probably think she's kidding.

You probably are quite wrong.

Obviously, I have an elaborate nightmare where Joe Lieberman gets the VP nod, McCain wins, then dies -- and we're looking at a President Lieberman. At which point I and a host of others bloggers who supported Ned Lamont wind up in Guantanamo Bay.

Now I may just be engaging in extraordinary cynicism here. But over the years, I've watched Arlen Specter set himself up as conscience of the Senate and rail against the administration's abuse of executive powers, at which point everyone invests him with the moral authority to adjudicate the situation and then he lets 'em off the hook.

That's incoherent, of course (it is Jane Hamster), but what she's saying (I think) is that Arlen Specter has set himself up with the credibility to arbitrate constitutional questions, and if President Lieberman gives the order to arrest, deport, and jail Americans for no offense except supporting a political opponent, Specter would give his blessing and that finding would carry the day.

Judges who don't think actual terrorists belong in Gitmo would, apparently, defer to Specter's hypothetical finding that noncriminal Americans do belong there.

She is quite serious here. She has gamed this out. Sort of.

Hey, stupid people can game shit out too.

...

I sure hope this is just my dark thoughts getting the best of me.

Because I do not look good in orange.

How about a white number with nice long sleeves and big bold leather straps?

Via NewsBusters.

Amazing.

As the bear says, "This isn't just about the hunting anymore, is it?" (NSFW joke told here at 8:10.)

This isn't politics for the left. It's some sort persecuted-messiah psychodrama fantasia they're playing out in their own badly addled heads.* Politics are just the vehicle for acting out this consensual mass hallucination. If there weren't any politics to shape their delusions, they'd just be talking about Men in Black and Voice-to-Skull technology the same as any other muttering, eye-twitching schizophrenic.

Casting these paranoid delusions in terms of political oppression gives them the veneer of sanity. But only the veneer.

* Actually, now that I think about it, it's a bit like a game of Dungeons & Dragons without dice or graph paper. Like a role-playing game, each participant agrees to indulge the others in their shared mutual fantasy; each player agrees "You are a mighty warrior, and I am a rogue, and this kid over here is a wizard." The "game" works to the extent that each participant buys into, and reinforces, the conventions and assumptions of the agreed-upon fantasy world.

The only difference, really, is that they're all playing the same character -- persecuted rebels for truth, hounded at every turn by an Evil Tyranny bent on killing them or shipping them off to the Salt Mines of Outer Tenubiah.

And they get very pissy when someone comes in and disturbs their communal fantasy "political" cosplay, by speaking to them "OOC" (out of character).

Hmmm... Maybe Michael Goldfarb is right.

Posted by: Ace at 02:25 PM | Comments (134)
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