NFC Championship Game Open Thread
— DrewM

Eagles at Cardinals. Meh.

I was going to forgo the cheerleader shot because it's not that exciting a game and the coming Obamalypse is already wearing thin but I don't want to give the idiots the satisfaction. So without further a do...a woman you will pick apart but who wouldn't talk to one of you on a dare.

Actually, a bit of further a do...allow me to add to Gabe's earlier congratulations to Small Dead Animals for their victory in the Weblog Awards. As for you morons who didn't vote in sufficient numbers for the HQ, punishments will be forthcoming.

more...

Posted by: DrewM at 10:46 AM | Comments (277)
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Resolution to repeal 22nd's presidential two term limit submitted
— Purple Avenger

Probably won't go anywhere, but someone is already thinking The One should get special treatment. Didn't comrade Hugo Chavez propose such a thing too?

Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

‘Article--

‘The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.’.

The good news?
There's a new St. Pauli girl and she's pretty hot. Katarina VonDerham. more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 06:50 PM | Comments (262)
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Surveillance Camera Footage of US Airways Jet Ditching in the Hudson
— Dave in Texas

The hundred things they had to get right in just a few minutes.

They got em all right.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 12:47 PM | Comments (118)
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Israel: Unilarteral Cease-fire Coming
— Gabriel Malor

I've been waiting for the official announcement, but what the hell. The Israeli Security Council has agreed to an Egyptian plan for a cease-fire.

Under the plan, Israel will halt its attack for ten days, though Israeli boots will remain on the ground in Gaza. During that time, Egypt, France, Germany, the U.K., the U.S., and Israel will hammer out a long-term solution. A major issue to be addressed is how to prevent Hamas from re-supplying through the Egyptian border-crossings and tunnels. Independently, Egypt will then broker a deal with Hamas.

This is what caught my attention:

But Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said a unilateral cease-fire was not enough.

"The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs," Barhoum said.

"Fawzi Barhoum"? I bet he hates to be called Fozzie Bear.

Israel has announced that if the rocket attacks continue during the cease-fire, the deal is off.

Sub-hed [ace]:

Despite Mounting Death-Tolls and Calls for World Peace,
Hamas Intransigent and Uncaring in Determination to Kill

Because we got variations from that headline when Israel refused a ceasefire. (Hamas refused one too, of course.)

Juan Cole is a Despicable Human Being Update [Gabe, again]: Thanks to Rocks who points out that Juan Cole, Iranian apologist and all-around go-to-guy for antisemitism in the blogosphere, had this to say about the cease-fire:

There are rumors that the Israeli government may declare a unilateral cease fire Saturday. They had better. Because if they ruin the Obama inauguration by splashing the bloody bodies of dead Palestinian children all over the press during the next few days, no Americans, even the most pro-Israeli, are going to forgive them.

I thought it was self-parody at first. But he actually seems to mean it, which makes him just like the Hamas terrorists he spends so much time defending on his blog: a little too happy IYKWIMAITTYD to use regrettable deaths as propaganda. The shock value makes for a nice political bludgeon, even though the reason little Palestinian children die is because Hamas likes to use their bedrooms as launchpads. Those deaths are on Hamas, not Israel.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:20 AM | Comments (124)
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Obama Mullng Turning Army of Supporters Into His Own Private FEMA
— Ace

Your own... personal... FEMA...

In what would be another unprecedented step, Obama's political staff is deciding whether to create a service organization that would use the vast corps of its grass-roots campaign supporters. As described by one source knowledgeable with the discussions, this nonprofit arm would be used to help victims of natural disasters, but would do so under the Obama umbrella while continuing to build the overall network's massive e-mail database.

Unacceptable. Obama is seeking to create a shadow bureaucracy answerable not to the taxpayer but only to himself.

Thanks to Arthur.

Posted by: Ace at 09:55 AM | Comments (317)
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Strip Search Case Goes to the Supreme Court
— Gabriel Malor

Friday afternoon the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case we've been watching here at the HQ for almost a year now, Redding v. Safford Unified School District #1.

This is the one where a 13 year-old student was subjected to a strip search in the nurse's office after another student who was caught with prescription-strength ibuprofen implicated her. The search of her bag turned up nothing, but the school has a "zero tolerance policy" when it comes to drugs of any kind, so the administrators lost their minds and made her strip. And shake.

Ace first mentioned it in April when a panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that the search was not a Fourth Amendment violation (the comments got pretty heated). I wrote about it in July when the circuit sitting en banc reversed in a close decision (6-5), holding that the strip search was far from reasonable and unjustifiable even under the modified Fourth Amendment jurisprudence applied to public schools.

Now it goes to the Supreme Court where I'm not sure what the justices will do with it. The last major case involving drugs and public schools was the First Amendment contest in Morse v. Frederick. The Chief Justice, joined by his conservative colleagues (plus Kennedy), held that deterring drug use by schoolchildren is an “important—indeed, perhaps compelling” interest which justified restricting free speech rights in school and at school events.

It will be interesting to see if they follow their conservative colleagues from the Ninth Circuit who believed the strip search in Redding was permissible or perhaps the second group of dissenters who believed that even though the search was impermissible the school officials should receive immunity. If you're interested, the en banc decision is here.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:22 PM | Comments (108)
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Galaxy Smackdown and Overnight Thread (genghis)
— Open Blog

Krakatoa put this up in the Top Headlines, but it really needs to be on the main page, as a Friday Night Main Event Card. I love the title of this article: “The Milky Way…Not Snack-Sized Anymore.”

Damn straight that is. Turns out we thought we was gettinÂ’ bitch-slapped by the Andromeda Galaxy for eons. But not any longer:

”WASHINGTON – Take that, Andromeda! For decades, astronomers thought when it came to the major galaxies in Earth's cosmic neighborhood, our Milky Way was a weak sister to the larger Andromeda. Not anymore.”

“The Milky Way is considerably larger, bulkier and spinning faster than astronomers once thought, Andromeda's equal.”

“Scientists mapped the Milky Way in a more detailed, three-dimensional way and found that it's 15 percent larger in breadth. More important, it's denser, with 50 percent more mass, which is like weight. The new findings were presented Monday at the American Astronomical Society's convention in Long Beach, Calif”

Of course, the Milky Way still has yet to undergo it’s yearly galactical steroid tests. It’s not all punch and cookies, according to the “Albert Gore Jr. Institute of Making Shit up that Probably Won’t Ever Happen in Your Lifetime or Anyone Else’s, but…” The scientists do leave us with a dire warning of impending doom:

”Being bigger means the gravity between the Milky Way and Andromeda is stronger.”

“So the long-forecast collision between the neighboring galaxies is likely to happen sooner and less likely to be a glancing blow, Reid said.”

"But don't worry. That's at least 2 to 3 billion years away, he said.”

So weÂ’ve got that going for us. I was only planning on living 1.5 billion years anywayÂ…after that it getÂ’s a little boring.

"Andromeda, come out to plaaaaayiaaay!"

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:08 PM | Comments (124)
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Coulter, Limbaugh on MSM and Obama's Rise
— Ace

The best part of the interview, I think. The last half is the good half:

The other videos are at Hot Air.

Posted by: Ace at 03:58 PM | Comments (193)
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Battlestar Galactica: Sometimes a Great Notion Discussion Thread
— Gabriel Malor

The final episodes of Battlestar Galactica begin tonight. As I did for the last season, there will be a weekly discussion thread for the episodes.

They are running a marathon of 4.0 episodes right now. Barolay just bit the dust and Athena is all "They killed one of us!" I love how twisted up Athena is. Hell, I love how confused they all are.

Spoiler Policy: Anything from the miniseries and the show up to and including tonight's episode is fair game; no need to warn or in some way obscure text for anything that comes from that material. However, anything you may have heard about future episodes should be kept to yourself. Thanks.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:58 PM | Comments (169)
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Controversy Erupts: Did Ann Coulter Go Too Far in Suggesting Some Sort of Childhood Abuse is Responsible for Rosie O'Donnell's "Rage"?
— Ace

The media is buzzing again about Coulter's latest vitriolic attack. I don't know-- suggesting child abuse might explain O'Donnell's political views might be over the line. Perhaps she does owe the apology some in the MSM are demanding:

She's angry if you ask me. She's full of rage. When you see someone like that, you have to go back to what happened in their childhood... You don't know what went on in their household. Sometimes people with very controversial views, there is some part of their humanity that you can relate to. Even though they think differently than you do, you can still reach them as a human being, but she's not one of them for me.

...

[On whether O'Donnell's views are extremist:] "Yeah, I really do. I don't think it is a show. The passion from which she spews it... It's deep-seeded. It's bizarre."

Oh wait. There is no media controversy about this, because it was the grotesque womanatee O'Donnell who said this about Ann Coulter. So no harm, no foul.

Posted by: Ace at 02:50 PM | Comments (96)
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