This song was a hit when I was seven years old.

You know the kind of scornful laughter where snickering sounds are produced in your sinus cavities? This song does that to me.

Could someone older than me please illuminate: what was the frickin' problem with basic damn grooming in the seventies? I know you people had razors, I saw them.

Posted by: LauraW at 09:00 AM | Comments (438)
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Sure in the grand scheme of things, it's chump change but at some point we have to draw a line right? Nope.

For the first time in more than three decades, people who rely on Social Security and federal pensions will not get an increase in their monthly benefit checks because consumer prices have stagnated lately in the weak economy, the government announced Thursday.

The twin statements, by the Labor Department and the Social Security Administration, came less than a day after President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress tried to salve the impact on older and disabled Americans by saying the government should provide $250 payments to 57 million people who depend on Social Security, pensions, or disabled veterans benefits.

The president endorsed a second round of emergency payments, following a $250 payment to older and disabled Americans that was included in the economic stimulus package Congress enacted in February. The proposal, which the White House says would cost $13 billion, comes as the administration gropes for ways to sustain an apparent economic rebound without a massive spending package that critics could label a second stimulus act.

...A $250 payment would be roughly equivalent to a 2 percent increase for the coming year for the average senior citizen receiving Social Security benefits. Legislative sources said the likely cost was $14 billion, $1 billion higher than the White House estimate.

In urging lawmakers to provide a second round of payments to older Americans, the president said the extra help would "not only make a difference for them, but for our economy as a whole," adding that it would "be especially important in the coming months, as countless seniors and others have seen their retirement accounts and home values decline as a result of this economic crisis."

Yes, the economy won't improve unless we print up or borrow a few billion dollars more. Again, if that's the key to economic success, why isn't Zimbabwe the most prosperous nation on the face of the Earth?

Don't expect Republicans to offer an ounce of opposition. More likely they will engage in a bidding war and try and up the payments.

So you know, good for the old folks but let's not pretend Tea Parties or otherwise there's any real interest in cutting spending in this country. There's simply no problem (hell, technically there's not even a problem here) that people won't demand we throw money at and the politicians won't gladly oblige them. Unless of course you are a Democrat looking at the defense budget.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:33 AM | Comments (218)
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For all your Thursday comment needs.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:16 AM | Comments (139)
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Good evening morons! Since it's been a slow day, I guess we'll start the ONT early.

SUV Drives Through Starbucks
Here off-duty Sacramento sheriff's deputy, Lisa Gargano, drives her SUV into a Starbucks. She was later arrested for DUI for being under the influence of prescription drugs.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:10 PM | Comments (879)
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Newest racist Limbaugh quote going around?

"You are hereby served notice of suit for defamation."

Steyn: Where's the audiotape? Where are the transcripts? And Steyn notes that while CNN has time to fact-check SNL's sketches, it apparently does not have the time to fact-check it's own reporting. Vehicular-manslaughter-enthusiast Rick Sanchez put this crap out there without checking and without any citations or even caveats.

Posted by: Ace at 12:39 PM | Comments (643)
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This guy:

You know him from his relentless spittle-flying hackery during the Clinton impeachment, and then the charged 2000 recount.

Hannity gave him some hassles by revealing he was a year-round resident of a DC suburb in Maryland, rather than Florida.

Going.

Wexler, a Florida Democrat who was elected to his congressional seat in 1996, announced his plans to reporters at his Boca Raton office. The seven-term congressman said he cherished the opportunity to serve Floridians and never forgot those who put him in office.

...

"I never sat on the sidelines. I got into the fray," [Wexler said].

Oh boy did he.

Because Wexler will leave office before his term is scheduled to end, Gov. Charlie Crist will call a special election for the seat that represents Florida's 19th district, which covers parts of Palm Beach and Broward counties.

My tipster, plugged in to GOP politics, says the GOP probably picks up the seat... but... no, I don't think so. Palm Beach? It's a very liberal Democratic area. The fact they've had such a hyperpartisan liberal for so long makes me doubt the GOP can capitalize here.

Posted by: Ace at 11:23 AM | Comments (110)
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A kid has a pocket knife with a two inch blade for car emergencies, locked away in his car and idiotic school administrators suspend him for 20 days.

Oh yeah, he's in the National Guard, so you know, it's not like the pocket knife (in his car) is the heaviest 'weapon' he's ever dealt with. He's also an Eagle Scout who wants to go to West Point and this may very well kill that chance.

Whalen was suspended from Lansingburgh High School last month after administrators found the 11/2-inch key-chain knife in his glove compartment, an infraction of the district's zero-tolerance policy for weapons on school grounds. It was a gift from his grandfather, Robert Whalen, chief of the Hoosick Falls Police Department.

Now, Whalen is concerned the school's 20-day suspension may hurt his chances of gaining admission to West Point, a dream of his since he brought in his grandfather's medals from Vietnam for show-and-tell in first grade.

"I just want to be able to go back to school," Whalen said. "I didn't intentionally do anything wrong. I don't even consider it a weapon."

...District Superintendent George J. Goodwin said Tuesday that he thinks the punishment was "appropriate and fair." He said the district has to equally enforce its zero-tolerance policy, even for students like Whalen who don't have any past record of misbehavior.

"Sometimes young people do things they may not see as serious," Goodwin said. "We look at any possession of any type of knife as serious."

And sometimes there are serious consequences for young people when foolish adults get put into positions of authority for which they are ill suited.

Whalen sounds like the kind of kid that schools dream of having and yet thanks to an idiotic policy and small minded adults, an accomplished young man is being punished.

At some point we really need to take back the power we've given these petty apparatchiks.

A little wisdom from Mr. Whallen

"In the past 200 years, America's gotten by just fine without zero tolerance," he said. "Why do New York state schools have to have it?"

If the West Point thing doesn work out maybe the kid should be given the job of Lansingburgh Central School District Superintendent.

Just a thought.

UPDATE: West Point Director of Admissions says it's not the end of the world but it doesn't help.

On Wednesday, West Point's director of admissions told Foxnews.com that Whalen's suspension alone wouldn't be a "show-stopper" and "didn't appear to be a big issue" for the youth, though it will appear on his record as the military academy considers his moral and ethical fiber.

"My concern would be, how does this impact on his academics?" said Col. Deborah McDonald, the academy's head of admissions. "Because 20 (school) days is a long time to be suspended."

My guess would be the Eagle Scout and National Guard service will cover the "moral and ethical fiber" issue but the grades could still be a problem.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:00 AM | Comments (193)
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Very bait-y, of course, but I do wonder if it makes sense.

In case you missed it, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, and Tom Carper, D.-Delaware, are considering a proposal that may, at long last, break the logjam over health-care reform.

In other words: the blue states can have public health insurance, and the red states can go without.

You may wonder why it took so long to get here. If Blue America wants public health insurance and Red America doesn't, why should one of them end up denied? And this is not a new issue. Liberal commentator Paul Krugman, in his book, "The Conscience of a Liberal," argues that Harry Truman's plan for universal health insurance was blocked, in part, because Dixie didn't want integrated public hospitals.

The Schumer-Carper bill raises a terrific prospect. We could apply this principle all sorts of other areas of government activity, from taxes and spending to education.

If Blue and Red America want to pursue separate policies, why shouldn't they? The unspoken secret of American politics is that Blue America would be far better off, economically and otherwise, going it alone. Blue America has a huge amount to gain and almost nothing to lose from undoing Lincoln's Folly -- a.k.a. the Civil War, the War of Northern Aggression -- and leaving the South and other red states to their own devices.

Another possibility he missed? Since northeastern and California liberals are so gung-ho about higher taxes, why not have different tax rates for different areas of the country? If it's so damn important to New York City voters to pay high taxes, well, why don't we let them do so?

Enjoy the socialism, guys. It's worked like gangbusters for every nation that's tried it.

But -- here comes the claim I'm a raving secessionist or "White Supremacist," or whatever jihad Charles Johnson is on lately (never a jihad against the actual jihad anymore) -- does it make sense we decide every four years which half of the country is going to be downright miserable, angry, and impotent?

I've never understood the desire to keep whole states in the grip of a civil war. Why not partition? They plainly do not wish to be under the rule of their rivals, and are willing to kill to make that point. So why sacrifice human lives for the sake of an idiotic abstraction like a state?

And in many cases, states are actually wholly artificial contrivances, designed thoughtlessly with the stroke of a pen by the British foreign office back in eighteen-naughtety-naught.

Obviously America isn't an artificial state, nor are we (thankfully) tottering on the edge of civil war. (And those who speak lightly of such a thing -- have you read any civil war history? You know how brutal and miserable and deadly such a thing is?)

But still-- we seem to have two very different conceptions of the Just Society, and we fight like hell every four years to see whose conception is most thwarted.

Frankly, I often ponder whether either side (but particularly the liberal side) really cares about forwarding their own notions of a good society, or if they are mostly consumed with just sticking their thumbs in the eyes of those they so plainly despise.

Does it make sense? I do begin to wonder if the basic concept of the utilitarian good -- the most good for the most people, and least woe for the rest -- suggests that maybe it wouldn't be such an awful idea if there were two -- or three or four, for that matter -- American states.

The End of the American Era: Of course, that would mean the end of Pax Americana, as the liberal states would assume a more European (tres sophisticated!) view of military spending and the appropriate number of men under arms.

Leaving the less wealth and less populous ares of the former USA to field a military force with any kind of super-Canadian capacity.

So... kind of a bad idea right there.

Posted by: Ace at 09:20 AM | Comments (353)
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I've sent a formal complaint to Wordpress.com.

Also, Allahpundit has taken no action to remove the comments at Hot Air that falsely accuse me of being a child molester. So I have no choice but to complain to their web host, Rackspace, since this is a very clear violation of their Acceptable Use Policy.

Hey, the charges may be disputed, but there's no proof they're false. Isn't that CJ's new standard of fake-but-accurate awesome?

But seriously, don't make too much trouble for me, or bloghost Pixy Misa. I saw some of this last night and most of it fell into the category of "clear satire." If you have a mind to do this, make sure it is plainly satirical and could not possibly be confused with a genuine claim.

Like, sex with wombats and other unlikely creatures. Nothing that seems even remotely, possibly true.

Posted by: Ace at 09:11 AM | Comments (409)
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I hope that big red reset/overcharge button wasn't connected to anything.

In an interview published today in Izvestia, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Kremlin’s security council, said the new doctrine offers “different options to allow the use of nuclear weapons, depending on a certain situation and intentions of a would-be enemy. In critical national security situations, one should also not exclude a preventive nuclear strike against the aggressor.”

What’s more, Patrushev said, Russia is revising the rules for the employment of nukes to repel conventionally armed attackers, “not only in large-scale, but also in a regional and even a local war.”

Funny but I don't remember the Bush/Cheney Evil Twins threatening to preemptively nuke someone. Yet they were the dangers to the world and the Russians are the ones we need to reengage with in a kinder and gentler way.

So, we throw eastern Europe under the bus by scrapping missile defense and we get no help on Iran. We practically beg for a new nuclear arms reduction treaty and we get this kind of rhetoric out of the Soviets, er, Russians (sorry, don't know how I could have made that mistake).

It's almost as if the weaker we appear, the more belligerent the Soviets, damn, the Russians become.

This won't get much play in the US because no one really thinks the Russians are going to nuke anyone, especially us, but you can be the Poles, Ukrainians and Georgians are taking this very seriously.

Once again, it's getting to be down right dangerous to be a friend of the US.

Update: Maybe this will get US play. Drudge has another version of this story as his headline. He also has a story of Putin pretty much ruling out sanctions against Iran.

Hillary's trip to Russia really paid dividends, didn't it? Smart Power baby!

*I changed the headline because, well, because 80's movie references are always more fun than a regular headline.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:38 AM | Comments (195)
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