I'm Walking on Sunshine. [dri]
— Open Blog

Every once in awhile you run across someone who is so messed up that you are actually glad that you only have to deal with the challenges you have in your own life. Below is an edited video of a twenty something year old woman named Allison who was recently profiled on the A&E TV show "Intervention". Allison is addicted to inhaling computer equipment duster (AKA canned air) and regularly goes through ten cans per day. She was able to support her habit by letting a 46 year old married guy pay her bills in exchange for some occasional horizontal refreshment.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:55 AM | Comments (50)
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The Return of the King, Hawaiian Style (genghis)
— Open Blog

According to CNN, yesterday there was an attempted coup in the disputed U.S. province of Hawaii. The story is provided in full here.

”A group of Native Hawaiians claiming to be the state's legitimate rulers occupied the grounds of a historic palace for two hours before being arrested by state officers in the second recent takeover of its kind.”

A group of men, wearing red shirts with "security" stenciled in yellow on the back, took over the grounds by chaining the gates of the palace next to the State Capitol and posted signs saying, "Property of the Kingdom of Hawaiian Trust."”

The bucolic chain of islands have been at the center of many disputes over the last several hundred years, beginning with the first visit by Captain James Cook in 1778. According to his journal, he was seeking “some tasty waves.”

Also, according to local folklore, an incident occurred in late 1941, but there are no known records of this nor any way to confirm it. Enough of history, though, letÂ’s get back to the current crisis:

“Kippen de Alba Chu, executive director of the Friends of Iolani Palace, said he and other staff members were locked down in the palace and a nearby administration building during the takeover.

"They've got a king, and the king wants to sit on the throne," de Alba Chu said.”

As do we all, considering the meal we had last night.

“The pro-sovereignty group identified its leader as King Akahi Nui, who was among those arrested. An "occupation public information bulletin" distributed by a member of the group began: "Majesty Akahi Nui, the King of Hawaii, has now reoccupied the throne of Hawaii. The Kingdom of Hawaii is now re-enacted."

“Akahi Nui claims to have been crowned in 1998.”

It should be noted that the name “Akahi Nui” translates to “Aragorn” in the common Elvish language.

No word as yet on casualties, but Hawaiian Defense Minister Don Ho has stated to AoSPress that the attack has been fully repelled and that only “tiny bubbles” of resistance remain.

Example of one of King Nui's assault ships. File photo courtesy of AoS-International, a subsidiary of SluCorp.

Posted by: Open Blog at 03:10 AM | Comments (40)
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Obama Alllllmooooost Says Clarance Thomas Was Too Inexperienced To Be On The Supreme Court
— DrewM

I put this in the Saddleback thread as an update but its so tantalizingly great, it deserves a post of its own.

When asked by Rick Warren which of the current Supreme Court Justices he would not have nominated, The One says Clarance Thomas.

The reason he winds up giving is tasty as well. According to Thomas, unlike Scalia just wasn't very smart. The nutroots must have loved that.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:57 PM | Comments (47)
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Showdown At Saddleback!
— DrewM

I have to confess, I really had no clue who Rick Warren was before this but apparently he's big enough to get McCain and Obama to show up at his church for what amounts to the last pre-season game before the real election season kicks off with the conventions.

One really interesting thing to consider...this is one way Obama is different than your traditional ultra-liberal Democrat. Can anyone imagine John Kerry doing this four years ago? Whether or not he can actually carry a lot of Christian/'values voters' is to be seen but he's clearly going to give it a shot in a way Democrats haven't since Jimmy Carter.

The candidates will be questioned by Warren separately for about an hour. Obama is up first and all 3 cable news networks plan coverage starting at 8 eastern.

Enjoy.

UPDATE:

Total absolute awesomeness...

Warren: Which sitting Supreme Court Justice wouldn't you have nominated?

Obama: Clarance Thomas. "I don't think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time".

He camethisclose to saying Thomas wasn't experienced enough. He actually swallowed the words 'an experienced jurist' but he stopped at "an exper..." and changed it to 'a strong enough'.

That was almost a lethal commercial in the making. Nice save Obambi.

UPDATE x1.5 Alllah has the video....soooooo close.

UPDATE X2:

Fifteen Nearly forty minutes in...McCain is kicking Obama's ass. You'd think this friendly, personality setup would favor Obama but it's not.

I don't agree with McCain on a lot of things but compared to Obama he's simply filled with substance. I don't mean on policy prescriptions (though McCain is stronger there) but just on being a man. McCain has lived, he's succeed, he's failed and he just come off as someone who knows himself and the world he lives in.

UPDATE x3:

The Weekly Standard Blog catches Captain Bullshit...well, bullshitting.

If this were a fight it would have been a knockout for McCain.

Final thought...

McCain big time. I think my position on McCain is well cataloged on this blog (I'm not thrilled to put it mildly) but even I was impressed. Yeah there were no immigration or global warming questions tonight and the luster will likely wear off from this performance in time but he did nothing but help himself tonight.

The interesting thing about this format is they were asked the same questions. It will make for some interesting comparison ads. I imagine they are being cut at this moment.

If I were Obama and his people, I'd be trying to figure out how to get out of the debates. The two of them just aren't in the same league.

Posted by: DrewM at 03:50 PM | Comments (104)
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US To Pay Reparations To Libya For Reagan Era Military Actions
— DrewM

Behold the price of diplomacy... a spectacularly ugly bit of moral equivelance.

Libya and the United States Thursday signed a compensation deal for victims of Libyan attacks and US reprisals, paving the way for full normalisation of ties between the two countries.

The agreement was signed by visiting US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Welch and Libyan deputy foreign minister Ahmad Fituri at the conclusion of a series of high level meetings.

Fiituri told reporters that inking the deal was "the crowning of a long process of exhausting negotiations" and added that "there was a desire on both sides to find a conclusion to this issue."

The deal will see compensation paid for US victims of Libyan attacks in the 1980s and of the US reprisals that followed, Fituri said.

Welch, too, was upbeat.

"This is a very important agreement. This turns a new page in our relationship," he said after the signing ceremony.

"This agreement signed today is designed to resolve the last major historical issue that has stood in the way of a more normal relationship between our two countries," Welch said.

"Under this agreement each country's citizens can receive fair compensation for past incidents. When fulfilled, the agreement will permit Libya and the US to develop their relations."

So the US responded to a state sponsored terrorist attack with a legitimate military attack and the US government says they are all the same, compensation for everyone!

There may be some huge bit of strategic importance to having diplomatic relations with Libya but I'm not sure what the hell they are compared with giving legitimacy and compensation to the guy who ordered the deaths of American civilians.

Posted by: DrewM at 02:05 PM | Comments (52)
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McCain May Change Position on ANWR (!)
— Ace

May, but this is certainly an interesting shift. Previously he has sworn he would never even think of drilling in the beautiful pristine wasteland that is aesthetically indistinguishable from the Grand Canyon.

In an interview with THE WEEKLY STANDARD aboard his campaign plane last week, McCain made clear he has not ruled out a change in his position–to one that endorses drilling in ANWR. “I continue to examine it,” he said. So does his staff. McCain’s campaign has been quietly studying the ANWR issue and discussing the potential consequences–good and bad–of a policy change.

But in our conversation on August 13, McCain added a new wrinkle. When I asked him if he had consulted Palin about ANWR, he said that he had not yet done so. He added, “I probably should,” he said. “I will.”

So I called Palin to ask what McCain can expect to hear. The answer is that Palin, who has been mentioned as a possible McCain running mate but has not been vetted, will make a straightforward case for drilling in ANWR. She says McCain’s willingness to take another look at ANWR is “very encouraging.”

...

She added: "And I know up here in Alaska, most every Alaskan believes that ANWR should be drilled, and no one cares more about Alaska's environment--our lands, our wildlife, our fresh air, our clean water--than Alaskans themselves. And we know that this can be allowed safely, cleanly, ethically--this type of exploration and development of an American supply of energy."

That last point could be significant. When McCain changed his position on offshore drilling earlier this summer, he did so on federalist grounds. If states believe that drilling can be safely done off their shores, and choose to allow it, he argued, the federal government should no longer stand in their way. He could make the same argument on ANWR.

"I'll convince him," the hot MILF in glasses vowed. "I can be very persuasive," she purred.

Maybe he wants to win the election or something.

This is a cheap way to get conservatives finally excited about a McCain presidency. The Maverick has alienated many of us on a large number of issues, and it's difficult for him to reverse himself on them. On this issue, there's a powerful change in circumstance that makes this a "flip-flop" which really isn't.

By taking a position that's popular and good policy to boot, McCain has an almost consequence-free option for winning conservatives over to his side (rather than merely being opposed to Obama).

It might also reassure some of us that he is open to argument and new ideas, and doesn't merely cling to his past positions -- despite their being wrong, or at least rendered obsolete by changing events -- out of a vanity he mistakes for "integrity."

This change of position would make his policies more consistent, not less. It's hard to argue that the current oil crunch is such a dire threat to our economy that we must drill in the ocean... but not the permafrost wasteland of of the Arctic hellplains. And it makes little sense for McCain to warn us of the great threat of a revanchist Russia, and how we must drill for our own oil to keep money out of the pockets of "countries that don't like us very much"... so long as doing so does not cause any distress to a caribou who might find a pipeline aesthetically displeasing.

Related: Ten Republican Senators send letter to Bush urging him to begin, on his own authority, high-tech seismological surveys of ANWR's true reserves.

No such survey has been done since 1983, allowing Democrats to continue lying about the amount of oil likely available in ANWR.

Posted by: Ace at 11:41 AM | Comments (51)
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At 50, has Madonna surpassed the Beatles?
— LauraW

That's MSNBC's headline, I shit you not.

I have to assume the author of this opinion piece, Tony Sclafani, is a twelve year old boy.

ThereÂ’s no easy way to say this, so IÂ’ll just come right out with it. As MadonnaÂ’s 50th birthday approaches on Aug. 16, itÂ’s looking like her influence on pop music has outshone that of the Beatles.

Let me qualify the above statement before all the peace-and-love baby boomers start hating. ItÂ’s MadonnaÂ’s impact on the course of pop music that bests the Fab Four, not her sociological importance, songwriting skills or recording innovations. Influence means an artist has an effect on the future direction of music.

He then goes on to back up his argument with devastating points such as this one:

...a quarter century after Madonna emerged, artists still use her ideas and seem modern and edgy doing so. Beyond the obvious Madonna wannabe 1980s singers, MadonnaÂ’s influence is felt in artists from Gwen Stefani to Britney Spears to boy bands, who found in the 1990s there was an audience beyond the old rock crowd.

Wow, a whole quarter century, you say? And she influenced Britney?

Stunning.

Went through a Beatles phase long ago, but I'm not much of a fan now. Not musically inclined, am no student of Music History.

But lots of the commenters to this piece are, and quite predictably they are lining up to deliver sound spankings to young Master Sclafani.

Out of all the very articulate and knowledgeable responses to this thoughtless bit of hackery, here is the one that really reached me.

I just got to respond to this piece of drivel that some flaming faggot has a drama induced dream that a totally untalented slut that has been manufactered by some semi manager/producer can even lick the balls of Ringo Starr. DREAM ON QUEENEY
Brian Johnson
Reply#196 - Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:43 PM EDT

It's almost certain she has licked Ringo's nuts, but other than that, Mr. Johnson has crystallized my nebulous thoughts just perfectly.

Thanks to jenjhissssz

Posted by: LauraW at 11:24 AM | Comments (58)
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Obama Releases New Logo CD!
— Gabriel Malor

Track 1: Buy American Arugula
Track 2: I'm Presidential, Yo!
Track 3: Um Ah, Um Ah
Track 4: First Time Proud (feat. Mishello)
Track 5: Count Almost Every Vote
Track 6: The Point Was to Inhale
Track 7: Typical White Person
Track 8: Hope and Change and Hope and Change
Track 9: My Faith (feat. Honorable JW )
Track 10: Bitterly Clinging
Track 11: Um Ah, Um Ah (acoustic)

(H/t HotAir.)

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:49 AM | Comments (66)
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Global investors didn't get the memo
— Purple Avenger

Poofy bastards just aren't with the program and keep fleeing to dollars. This is not what The Messiah wants to see folks. Show some fucking spine ferchrisakes. No desert for you tonight!

...Against sterling, the US currency notched up its 11th consecutive day of gains – its longest uninterrupted rise in more than 35 years – as markets became increasingly convinced that the US was best-placed to weather the global downturn...

What we're looking for here is a few good men willing to risk their fortunes on some punk ass leftist dictators. Surely someone will go to bat for Robert Mugabe and toss a few billion Zimbabwe's way, right? Hugo needs a little love too these days. Its not easy being a crank conspiracy theorist thug.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:24 PM | Comments (62)
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Wile E. Coyote Wept
— Ace

Great Moments in Male Stupidity, Part 88,325,912. more...

Posted by: Ace at 04:56 PM | Comments (44)
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