Good morning, Morons!
This is a fundraising post for Ace, initiated by the cobloggers, once again, without his knowledge or consent.

He'll probably either delete this or kick one of us out, or both, which is why we're not saying whose idea it was right now.

Ok, never mind, it was totally Drew. Sorry man. Forgot to tell you that I'm a coward.

Anyhow, we think he's been on a good roll lately.

If you agree and would like to refill your prescription, now would be a good time to give him a virtual 'Atta Boy!' and tap that little Paypal button on the left sidebar.

You do not need a Paypal account to donate.

If you don't know this already, King Moron makes his actual living off this blog. It is a pathetic existence.

He supplements it with side work that is not only demeaning and despicable, but takes time away from his core duty, which is to entertain you.

If you think his main line of business is worth supporting, please flip Ace a tip, for being one of the most prolific rightwing bloggers on the 'net.

We're hoping a little cash infusion will help Ace quit his 'night jobs' and update his wardrobe. If all goes right, this is the guy you'll be getting your pic taken with at the April meetup in Las Vegas.

more...

Posted by: LauraW at 12:00 PM | Comments (318)
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The Ninth Circuit takes a lot of heat, but in fact there are many fine judges out here. Unfortunately, there are also less-than-stellar jurists like Judges Pregerson and Wardlaw. And then there's Judge Reinhardt, the most liberal and most reversed appellate judge in the nation.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court reversed him for the third time on the same case. It's a death penalty case and Reinhardt has been looking for a way to overturn the sentence for a long time. Each time he does, the Supreme Court has reversed him and remanded for a new decision. And each time he gets it back, he adopts a new line of reasoning for why the sentence should be dropped.

How shoddy has Reinhardt's work on the case been? Here's what the Supreme Court said (PDF):

On remand from this Court, the Court of Appeals—addressing Belmontes’ ineffective assistance claim for the first time—changed its view of this evidence. Instead of finding Schick’s mitigation case “substantial,” as it previously had, the Ninth Circuit this time around labeled it “cursory.” Compare also Belmontes [II] (labeling the mitigation evidence Schick presented “substantial”) with Belmontes [III] (labeling the same evidence “insubstantial”). More evidence, the Court of Appeals now concluded, would have made a difference; in particular, more evidence to “humanize” Belmontes, as that court put it no fewer than 11 times in its opinion.

Reinhardt has played that game before, changing his mind about the sufficiency of evidence when he needs to. It's good to see the Supreme Court noticing it. And, BTW, I suspect the justices were not amused. The last time this case was at the Supreme Court, the justices split into their usual death penalty 5-4. This time the justices reversed Reinhardt unanimously.

They were also offended by Reinhardt's recharacterization of the nature of the crime:

We agree with the state court’s characterization of the murder, and simply cannot comprehend the assertion by the Court of Appeals that this case did not involve “needless suffering.” The jury saw autopsy photographs showing Steacy McConnell’s mangled head, her skull crushed by 15 to 20 blows from a steel dumbbell bar the jury found to have been wielded by Belmontes. McConnell’s corpse showed numerous “defensive bruises and contusions on [her] hands, arms, and feet,” which “plainly evidenced a desperate struggle for life at [Belmontes’] hands." Belmontes left McConnell to die, but officers found her still fighting for her life before ultimately succumbing to the injuries caused by the blows from Belmontes. The jury also heard that this savage murder was committed solely to prevent interference with a burglary that netted Belmontes $100 he used to buy beer and drugs for the night. McConnell suffered, and it was clearly needless.

It'll be interesting to see if Reinhardt goes back for a fourth serving.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:29 AM | Comments (81)
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Clap your hands if you believe.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:07 AM | Comments (145)
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Forgot to mention it earlier. If you're more fortunate than me and not stuck in the city with no sky to be seen, you might remember to look up late, late tonight.

Sky-watchers in North America can expect to see up to 30 meteors hourly tonight as the annual Leonid meteor shower peaks in the wee hours of Tuesday, Nov. 17. Earth will cross the first meteor-producing stream on this date starting at around 1 a.m. PST, experts predict.

This shower, consisting of debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, may not be as grand as the Perseids of this past summer (a recent yearÂ’s meteor is pictured above, in Joshua Tree National Park), but the show should still be worth watching.

And it’ll be unusual. “A remarkable feature of this year’s shower is that Leonids will appear to be shooting almost directly out of the planet Mars,” said Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office on a NASA blog.

Lemme know if you hear (or have heard) the mystery meteor hiss. I did when I was in highschool watching and I still can't explain it. Maybe it is all in our heads?

Thanks to @SarahW for the reminder.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:47 PM | Comments (110)
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This advisory from the Thurston County Sheriff has been getting a few laughs (though it appears to have been taken down sometime today; a Google cache is here). It looks like part of it was written about 1994 (it says the "Information Super Highway" is made up of commercial online services such as Prodigy, America Online, CompuServe, and the Internet) and then updated later to reference MySpace.

It also has these lovely warnings tailored specifically for you guys:

Warning Signs of Possible Computer Crime Problems
(Note: These are warning signs only and are meant as warnings of possible problems, not evidence of a problem.)

* Computer addiction - withdraws from friends, family, "lives on the computer," and may lose interest in social activities
* Use of a new, unusual vocabulary, heavy with computer terms, satanic phrases, sexual references or a sudden interest in related hard rock or satanic oriented posters, music, etc.
* Look for related doodling or writing using of words such as: Hacking, Phreaking, or any words with "ph" replacing 'f"
* Lack of interest in self and appearance, grooming and hygiene, or indications of lack of sleep, sudden drop in school grades, and unauthorized absences from classes.
* The computer and modem are running late at night, even when unattended
* Computer files ending in GIF, JPG, BMP, TIF, PCX, DL, GL, FLI, MPG, AVI, MOV - these are picture or graphic files and parents should know what they illustrate. Image files may be pictures of a sexual nature and can be of very high quality, moving pictures, and even include sound.
* Names on communication programs that seem satanic, pornographic, rude, or vulgar in nature
* An obsession with fantasy adventure games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Trade Wars
* Use of the computer to scan or run telephone or credit card numbers

Did I say laughs? It's also got some geeks wound up.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:28 PM | Comments (74)
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Coming up. From Los Angeles.

This one isn't that useful, though: the guy actually drew the line at underage girls and refused to help James and Hannah.

Posted by: Ace at 05:31 PM | Comments (38)
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Good evening all. Welcome to sucky Monday. The good news is that it'll be over in a few hours.

A View From The Tallest Building in the World
Here's video from the top of the tallest man-made structure in the world, the Burj Dubai super tall skyscraper in Dubai, UAE. The spire is 2,684 feet high. Not for those afraid of heights.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:00 PM | Comments (414)
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Narcissism. Everything about "Baby Jesus" is a historic first.

One of the rules of public speaking -- and diplomacy -- is to flatter the audience.

Why is Obama only seems interested in flattering himself? "Hey guys, I'm awesome, I'm the first Pacific President, aren't you lucky."

Posted by: Ace at 04:34 PM | Comments (196)
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Remember that giggle-fit-inducing story that Obama was going to be a deficit hawk?

Well, there are two ways to cut a deficit: the right way, and the liberal way.

AP buries a major lede.

Orszag has said the spending blueprint, for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, 2010, would put the nation "back on a fiscally sustainable path" and suggested it would include a mix of spending cuts and new revenue-producing measures.

Revenue-producing measures? What could that be? I guess since we now own two car companies, he might mean producing revenue through selling eighty gazillion cars, eh?

David Fredosso reminds that the last time a president pushed through tax hikes before a midterm, there was a seismic earthquake. Why, the nation "threw a temper tantrum," as Peter Jennings sniped.

Posted by: Ace at 01:50 PM | Comments (245)
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Kind of funny. She rants about her terrible life and her terrible friend "Steve," and then Steve pops in correct the record.

I like her euphemism of "people who are active on networks" to mean "people who can't get their faces out of their iPhones and laptops in real life."

She means people who are hyperactive on networks.

Although Steve seems pretty damn lame too, really, especially if he's really jonesing to hang out with this chick.

Thanks to Anwyn.

Posted by: Ace at 01:12 PM | Comments (215)
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