I know y'all think it's down to Las Vegas and New Orleans. But there is a last minute contender for the position of "Host City" for the proposed Blogapaloozastockamont Conference.

In fact, as one of the judges, I am being lobbied pretty ferociously by this latest entry. They even sent me a brief video explaining the merits of their locale.

I think you will agree that this place has a lot to offer the AoSHQ lifestyle. Consider me sold.

Posted by: Jack M. at 06:51 AM | Comments (121)
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Heh.

Related: Global warming, has um, stopped.

Global warming appears to have stalled. Climatologists are puzzled as to why average global temperatures have stopped rising over the last 10 years. Some attribute the trend to a lack of sunspots, while others explain it through ocean currents.

At least the weather in Copenhagen is likely to be cooperating. The Danish Meteorological Institute predicts that temperatures in December, when the city will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be one degree above the long-term average.

Otherwise, however, not much is happening with global warming at the moment. The Earth's average temperatures have stopped climbing since the beginning of the millennium, and it even looks as though global warming could come to a standstill this year.

But they have models! Obviously when the choice is between models and real world data...go with the models. To do otherwise would mean the science isn't settled.

Why does Gaia hate climate models?

Posted by: DrewM at 06:48 AM | Comments (45)
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(See what I did there?)

I was tipped to this story last night, but held off because the fact is I'm not quite sure what I'm seeing. I know what it looks like, but I'm not sure ZOMG HAX! is the right response.

The short version: Hadley CRU, one of the lead global warming research groups, had a bit of data and emails hacked and then posted online. Some of the emails have, well, fishy things in them referring to attempts to "hide the decline." If that's a reference to hiding or obscuring accurate climate data, I'd say the global warming idjits have a serious problem. But it doesn't quite say that.

Smoking gun or just research? Hopefully more info will be in the data, but that'll take time to analyze. Put a pin in this one for now.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:49 AM | Comments (117)
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Monkeys on a cupcake.

John Larson (D-CT) wants some kind of jobs program. Hah.

Barney Frank (D-MA) want more mortgage loans for people who can't pay them.

Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sees plenty of places to spread around the remaining $200 billion (this is a marvelous assumption, that anybody actually knows what was spent and what remains unallocated).

Various players denounce TARP as a bailout for big banking, fat cats, blah blah.

And Tim "Turbotax" Geitner pretends the administration is suddenly concerned about out of control death spiral polls spending too much money.

All of this kabuki is a distraction from the more serious debate and vote this weekend in the Senate on the health care bill. Four Democrats are getting their arms twisted so hard they'll have dislocated shoulders before it's all over (well, they're being nice to Mary Landrieu (D-LA), she only gets a $100MM payoff to play ball). If her yes is worth a mere 100 million, she's a dirty pirate hooker.

Bayh. Lincoln. Landrieu and Nelson. It'd be nice if they heard from a few million people today.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:34 AM | Comments (38)
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Friday!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:24 AM | Comments (59)
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Several weeks ago, I put out feelers to multiple Sarah-related organizations about "Going Rogue". Suppressing any giggles that usually accompany my attempts to appear serious, I used my limited blog "celebrity" to finagle an advance copy of the book from Harper Collins (well, "advance" is a relative term, since the postman dropped it off Tuesday afternoon while I was at work), and I just finished reading it about a half hour ago. I know, I know. Not exactly timely. But what can I say? Unlike Wonkette's review in the Washington Post, I like to actually READ a book before I try to summarize its contents (however; in Ms. Cox's defense, I should point out that "Going Rogue" was utterly devoid of tawdry tales of infidelity and buttsex, so its not surprising that she gave up on the last 150 pages and "phoned it in"). I'm going to forego any verbatim passages from the book and give you my general impression of the work.

My verdict? I liked it. A good read that puts Sarah Palin's life story and experiences from Campaign '08 in a new light. This is an autobiography written in first-person format, so don't buy it expecting to find any perspective from a passive voice: This book is strictly "I, Me, We" and everything in the book, save the "A View from Alaska" viral email from Dewey Whetsell sandwiched between the meat of the book & the acknowledgements, is presented to you from Sarah's perspective.

I like this choice: One of Sarah's acknowledged mistakes from the whirlwind 2008 Presidential campaign is sitting by while others crafted the message and controlled her words, so why not set the record straight with a book that's delivered completely from her perspective?

Now, lets get down to brass tacks. The paybacks:

Schmidt and Wallace aren't spared in this account, but criticisms of their actions are limited to what Governor Palin or her close advisers actually observed. No wild conspiracy theories about their motivations, or amateur psychoanalysis of their motivation. This is a book that Joe Friday and Frank Gannon would absolutely love. Actually, I thought that she presented a balanced view of both of them; lauding them for their devotion to John McCain and professional experience while simultaneously questioning their tunnel vision and inexplicable choices. I think that both Schmidt and Wallace's statements in the press over the last few days say more about their character than anything Sarah put in this book.

John McCain comes off as a courageous man who delegated his campaign to faceless handlers, called "Headquarters" in the book. If Sarah Palin has any critical things to say about John McCain, you'll have to get them directly from her, because I couldn't find a single one in this book.

Matthew Scully, her "crunchy con" speechwriter comes off as a White Knight, as does Randy Schuenemann. She also heaps praise on "Jason, Jeannie and Bexie" three of the McCain staffers who worked with her the closest and became friends during the campaign. One of the things that I noticed about this book is that almost everyone who served under Sarah Palin is painted in a flattering light (with the lone exception of her unnamed legislative director from early in her governorship, who comes off as a disheveled Oscar Madison-esque dunce with an addiction to the "brick-breaker" game on his blackberry), while the criticism is reserved for senior staffers and associates. Personally, I like the fact that she treats the "help" better than she treats the alleged "brains" of the operation. Hell, she even treats the media who rode with her on the back of the plane better than they deserve to be treated.

Her criticism of Katie Couric seems reasonable, and I'm sure that should CBS ever release ALL the raw footage of the interviews Sarah Palin will prevail in the court of public opinion. Is it "whiny" to admit to botching answers while you still bemoan the editing of the interview & the nature of the questions? (Apparently, if your name is "Sarah Palin", the answer appears to be YES.)

You know what I liked best about the book? You remember "Ricky Hollywood"? Not. One. Single. Mention. That's cold. Other than this deliberate omission, I couldn't find a single outwardly venomous reference in this book. Its like a king-fu revenge movie starring Mr. Rogers: You know there's some ass-whoopin' going on there, but damned if you can see the bloody details.

Sarah's writing style might seem stilted compared to the flowery rhetoric of Teleprompter One, but to this denizen of "flyover country" it seemed to ring true. Sarah Palin campaigned on a "What You See Is What You Get" platform, and never claimed to be Victor Davis Hanson or William Jennings Bryan. She's a happy housewife from the Mat-Su Valley who punctuates her stories with positive anecdotes about her family & her State because she wants you to see Alaska and America through her eyes. If this is cold, calculated populist junkfood designed to falsely endear her to ham & eggers like me........then she's got the tune down pat.

There are enough references to policy and budget debates in this book to convince me that Sarah Palin didn't just fall off the turnip truck, but ultimately this book has one mission: Introduce America to the Sarah Palin who was deemed "too controversial" to step into the spotlight in September of 2008. There will be plenty of time for The Palin Plan for America, or Palin's Profiles in Courage now that she's had her unobstructed coming-out party.

My recommendation?

If you're a conservative who feels that the Republican Party needs a major rebuild & several coats of paint? Buy the book. This is red meat for you, kemosabe.

If you're a Republican Moderate (or "Conservative Pragmatist" - not to say that those are equivalent, since that's a fight for another day) who thinks that Sarah Palin might be too extreme for your tastes or that she's "damaged goods"? Buy the book. You'll get years worth of entertainment by putting it out on your coffee table at parties and watching your liberal friends literally soil themselves in indignation - plus I think you'll find yourself agreeing with Sarah more than you might think.

If you're a conservative Democrat, you should at least check this book out from the local library and read it. You might like what you find.

If you're someone who considered buying one of those "Sarah Palin is a C&*t" t-shirts marketed during the campaign (Amanda Marcotte?), you should buy this book. Buy it and highlight every sentence, scribbling all of the Olbermann/Maddow talking points in the margins. After all, if you don't buy the book, you'll never find the hidden key the deciphers the Riddle of the Purloined Baby, and that would be gobsmackingly heartbreaking. Or heartbreakingly gobsmacked? Ahhhhh.....just buy the book already. You know you want to.

If you're the Vice President of the United States of America? Don't buy this book right now. Word is that Harper Collins is considering a "Pop-Up Sarah Palin" volume targeted at the kindergarten market just in time for Christmas. Its even got stickers!

SUMMARY: A personal memoir that covers Sarah Palin's life, admits fault and tells some "inside baseball" tales from the campaign, and gives a hint of things to come. This isn't a "5,000 Year Leap" or "Carnage and Culture", but it is a good read that embraces conservative principles.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 09:55 PM | Comments (123)
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Forbes did a little math to determine which Hollywood stars haven't been pulling in audiences in numbers proportional to their salaries. They looked at the 100 best-paid stars who were in at least three films in the past five years that opened in more than 500 theaters. (Whew.) Then:

We added up each star's compensation on his or her last three films and the operating income on those films and divided total operating income by the star's total compensation to come up with each return-on-investment number.

So they only look back at three films in the past five years. Kinda arbitrary, but right off the bat you know that this is going to be a list of actors who have fallen hard. I figured Eddie Murphy would be number 1 on the list.

It's after the jump, so you don't have to click through fifteen frickin' slow-loadin' pages to see them all. Click over if you want to see the slide show and know how much each of their films made per dollar salary to the actor. Everybody else: more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:46 PM | Comments (101)
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Welcome to Thursday all M&Ms. Don't forget that tomorrow is kick a ginger day

Boy Who Fled Vietnam as a Boat Person Returns 34 Years Later as the Commander of a US Navy Destroyer
In 1975 when he was 5 years old Hung Ba Le and his family escaped Vietnam in a fishing boat and were eventually rescued by a US Navy ship. Later they settled in Virginia. Now 34 years later Le is commander of the US Lassen which made a goodwill visit to Danang last week.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:00 PM | Comments (453)
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She'll help them do research, on her own time, to help "pimp" and future political candidate James launder money out of his whorehouse and into his campaign fund.

They're on Hannity now. Breitbart is threatening releases right before the election, unless Holder investigates.

He also says "it's not just ACORN," but he doesn't say who else he means.

Allah points out that Breitbart (and Patterico) have been baiting an LAT columnist who quoted the ACORN worker seen in this clip claiming she'd done everything properly, and that columnist taking her uncritically at her word. Not so much.

Will the LAT now issue a correction? They made a lot of errors in that column, and Patterico could only wrestle one out of them.

Posted by: Ace at 05:47 PM | Comments (40)
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Good.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided against running for governor, but is strongly considering running for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News.

The Republican heavyweight was considered the GOP's best shot at reclaiming the governor's mansion.

The only declared candidate on the Republican side is little-known former Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio.

One source said Giuliani is prepared to run for U.S. Senate against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010 to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary's Clinton's term.

Sources say he also views the Senate bid as a possible launching pad for a 2012 presidential bid, which I doubt.

Giuliani famously, and suicidally, said he was "pro-choice" in the Republican presidential primaries.

Con: He destroyed his front-runner position in a blaze of self-indulgent glory

Pro: He's still viable in NY

Posted by: Ace at 04:03 PM | Comments (195)
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