Restoring our place in the world community, one missile at a time.

Pakistani intelligence officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed at least nine people in a northwestern village near the Afghan border.

The officials say a suspected U.S. drone - an unmanned aircraft - fired three missiles into a house Friday outside Mir Ali, in North Waziristan province.

I know ace would love to have a pic of one of these instruments of smarter diplomacy with the phrase "It's not you, it's me" written on it.

But I think in this case something along the lines of "we're the ones we've been waiting for" would have worked too.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:10 AM | Comments (43)
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This is really a sidebar kinda thing. But she's so annoyingly mendacious it's worth highlighting.

When I put my virginity up for auction in September, it was in part a sociological experiment—I wanted to study the public's response. Now it seems that the tables have turned, and the public is studying me.

Whore makes spectacle of herself; shocked to find she's spectated.

IÂ’m a 22-year-old woman who recently earned her BachelorÂ’s Degree in WomenÂ’s Studies, and soon IÂ’ll be entering a Masters Degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy.

I always thought the editors just made up these stories, but then something happened to me that changed my mind forever....

During the time in between, in addition to my regular 9-to-5, IÂ’ve been exploring my upcoming thesis project: the value of virginity. To be more specific, IÂ’ve put my own virginity up for auction on the Moonlight Bunny Ranch website, and I recently received my highest bid so far: a cool $3.8 million.
I've been congratulated for my "entrepreneurial gumption," as one CEO of a Fortune 500 company put it.

Strutting whore delighted to receive male attention, even if it's not good attention.

In addition to bids, however, IÂ’ve also received an astonishing, sometimes unnerving, amount of media attention. Many of these reports have portrayed me inaccurately, however, so let me tell you what this is all about.
This all started long before September. In fact, it started in college, where my eyes were opened by my WomenÂ’s Studies professors and fellow classmates. I came to understand the role of "woman" spanning culture and time. At the university level, I was given permission to think differently and form a moral code of my own design. College opened my eyes.

Whore happy to find out college calls her occupation "sexwork."

Like most little girls, I was raised to believe that virginity is a sacred gift a woman should reserve for just the right man. But college taught me that this concept is just a tool to keep the status quo intact. Deflowering is historically oppressive—early European marriages began with a dowry, in which a father would sell his virginal daughter to the man whose family could offer the most agricultural wealth. Dads were basically their daughters’ pimps.

When I learned this, it became apparent to me that idealized virginity is just a tool to keep women in their place. But then I realized something else: if virginity is considered that valuable, whatÂ’s to stop me from benefiting from that? It is mine, after all. And the value of my chastity is one level on which men cannot compete with me. I decided to flip the equation, and turn my virginity into something that allows me to gain power and opportunity from men. I took the ancient notion that a womanÂ’s virginity is priceless and used it as a vehicle for capitalism.

Are you rolling your eyes?

Um, take a guess.

In related news, I got busted yesterday cruising the Meat Packing District just because I wanted to keep up on the "sociological experiments" being performed by six-foot-nine trannies.

And I thought Barack Obama was going to restore science to its proper elevated position.

College Opened Her Eyes, But Not Her Dictionary: Piebandit points out dowry was paid from the bride's family to the groom, not from the groom to the bride's family. In other words, the penis got paid for; the vagina was given away for free (or, actually, money was paid to take the vagina off the family's hands).

This is why people don't pay whores to run think tanks.

Posted by: Ace at 08:58 AM | Comments (210)
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Has Geraghty drank the Kool-Ade?

Nope. It's just that "The Mac is back!," and Geraghty's not happy about it.

Posted by: Ace at 09:49 AM | Comments (99)
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Quick, let's free the rest of them.

More: The NYT suddenly discovers the "complications" of the catch and release program it has long advocated. (Link to Gateway Pundit.)

The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

Potential complications?

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in YemenÂ’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.
Potential? He blew up our embassy. Potential?

His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.

“They’re one and the same guy,” said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. “He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear.”

The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees. But it also helps explain why the new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.

To repeat myself yet again, with their boy now in the White House, the liberal MSM is suddenly not only aware that the situation is a bit more complex than the endless repetition of "Chimphitler McHaliburton," but they're really trying to sell this idea to both the general public and Obama's liberal supporters. Hey, don't be too quick to judge! the line now goes. This stuff is really a lot harder than you might think!

Indeed. But under Bush it was all so simple. He just always made he wrong decisions about simple issues.

Gateway recounts other "rehabilitated" terrorists who went on to bomb and kill.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 08:12 AM | Comments (46)
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Article here. She's announced a hiring freeze in response to a possible $1 billion shortfall.

Even Alaska's up to $1 billion in the red, and they run a tight ship.

Obviously, this is a great opportunity for Palin to show her leadership skills. more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:54 AM | Comments (91)
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So Gillibrand will replace Clinton. This was reported by a local New York television station last night and then picked up by everyone else. One note of caution: it hasn't actually happened yet, so it's not necessarily going to happen. We got jerked around by Sweet Caroline's "Um, yes, um, no" act earlier in the week and Governor Paterson's office will not confirm or deny that Gillibrand is the pick.

Gillibrand is a moderate Democrat, the 42-year-old mother of two young children who lives in Hudson, N.Y., and is in her second House term.

[...]

She's known as a Blue Dog Democrat, not always popular with liberals for her support of the National Rifle Assn. in her significantly rural 20th District, but said to be Clinton's favorite as her replacement.

However, her support for gun rights hasn't softened her stance on social issues, where she is anything but moderate.

By the way, you heard it here first. On December 30, DrewM. suggested that Gillibrand would be the pick.

There's a whole slew of candidates listed. My front runner, Rep. Kristen Gillibrand isn't on there but I'm sticking with her as my guess. She's a woman who is nominally from upstate but has lots of ties with NYC power brokers (she represents an upstate district but pretty much used her summer home as her primary residence to do it).

Well done, Drew.

[DrewM.] Below the fold, a few thoughts more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:24 AM | Comments (52)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:12 AM | Comments (55)
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As I usually forget about these and Genghis aka Jenjhis always remembers, I've asked him to step in as the official Overnight Editor for overnight threads.

I'll ask if he's cool with giving his email out in case you have a tip or suggestion, or want to open blog an overnight thread yourself. I'm sure he doesn't feel like doing it every night.

So, welcome to Jenjhis.

Here's a topic. What the hell is wrong with Dianne Sawyer?

And here's another one: What the hell is wrong with the NFL?

And: What the hell is wrong with Barack Obama?

Bonus: Superman co-creator Joe Schuster had some odd jobs along the way. One of them -- illustrating sex/fetish comics.

Oh, he goes there. He goes there.

Lifted from David Thompson's always-interesting compilation of odd-ends from around the internet. Check out the tilt-shift photography link there especially.

Posted by: Ace at 09:21 PM | Comments (90)
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Niccole Wallace, huh?

I seem to remember her name coming up a lot as people guessed about which McCain aides were trashing Sarah Palin anonymously in the press.

Obama deserves our thanks for letting Republicans root for him, as well. He has created a space within his wide net of support for those of us who fought for John McCain's candidacy by honoring the McCains at a dinner the night before his inauguration and by listening to McCain's ideas on national security, climate change, and government reform.

"And then it gets really annoying," Drew says.

This is where I get social cons getting pissed at suggestions their agenda gets de-emphasized: We ran the most Democratic Republican we could find, and we lost badly.

I'd suggest though that McCain was at least supposedly a social con, sorta, at least on abortion, but crucially he was temperamentally a liberal. He hates us and doesn't mind letting us know that. So I don't know if McCain is really proof of much, except, maybe, Don't nominate a guy to head your party who despises virtually everyone in your party.

Via Hot Air.

Posted by: Ace at 03:44 PM | Comments (315)
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Tripling the EITC. "Tax cuts" for people who don't actually pay income taxes.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 01:58 PM | Comments (73)
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