Whoops. notropis points out Ace already did this story. So I've put the original post below the fold and offer you this instead.

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Posted by: DrewM at 06:19 PM | Comments (67)
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The laws have gone so topsy-turvy in Merry Olde that the very act of defending yourself from a mugging, rapist, or other attack, using whatever you happen to be holding, could land your ass in jail if it was determined you were originally carrying the item to be used as a weapon. Even defensively.

In other words, if you happen to be carrying an umbrella you better hope it's raining when you get mugged. Or else beating off your attackers with it is a crime.
The criminals who attacked you will get out of the stir long before you do.

The dramatic spike in violent crimes in Britain since enaction of their gun ban has gotten very little press coverage here in the US. Very strange, for such a gun loving nation as ours. You'd almost think the major press was at odds with public sentiment.

It takes a lot of built up trouble before conservatives stage protests. We just don't do it unless we're pushed to the wall.
We're not so good with papier-mache and public tantrums.

Video below.
Thanks to Mrs. Michael for the tip. more...

Posted by: LauraW at 04:59 PM | Comments (138)
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No fancy-schmancy picture or recap or anything this week. I've got a cold.

Think tonight's episode will have a plot? Maybe Roslin can do the fleet a favor and resign the presidency before she lays down and dies?

Zarek for Prezdint!

Spoiler Policy: Anything from the miniseries and the show up to and including tonightÂ’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 04:29 PM | Comments (65)
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And yet there's all this money for condoms and bee insurance, apparently.

Stimulus? Oh yes, very much stimulus.

Looking for a link now; just saw it on FoxNews.

This is the best I can offer at the moment.

Did I Say 10%? Make that 11%.

Posted by: Ace at 03:40 PM | Comments (267)
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So, Woodward was right when he hinted about further problems along these lines for Obama.

Daschle was "given" a car and driver to use by a wealthy Democratic friend. (I need to get me one of those.)

He, um, assumed he did not have to pay taxes on it.

Why on earth would he assume such a thing? It's ridiculous.

Posted by: Ace at 03:34 PM | Comments (36)
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I have emailed Pixy. I don't know if it's the same problem or a new one.

I really need to get that other site up and running.

Hopefully comments will be back on soon.

Posted by: Ace at 03:25 PM | Comments (23)
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Once again, blatantly ripped off from Hot Air. Here's the source material from The Politico.

Essentially, a poll taken by Democracy Corps shows that Rush Limbaugh has unfavorable ratings among the infamous "likely voters" of 51% (favorable is 23%), second only to the 59% unfavorable rating held by President George W. Bush (who has a favorable rating of 31%). Others in the same survey include Newt Gingrich (25% favorable: 48% unfavorable), and Sarah Palin ( 41% favorable: 47% unfavorable).

To paraphrase the guys from "The 40-Year Old Virgin": You know how I know this polling data is bullshit?

Senator John McCain.
48% favorable.
37% unfavorable.

Let's make it clear: I have no idea who "Democracy Corps" is and what their agenda consists of; but any poll that shows John "Maverick McClusterfuck" McCain with a favorable rating higher than Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Fox News AND the generic label of "Conservative" just HAS to be completely FUBAR. I might believe that McCain beats "generic Republican" by 11 points, but the others? You're shitting me here.

This goes way beyond the "I don't believe the numbers" shadow of a doubt. This is well into "Goddamnit, I'm pissed that you think I'm that fucking stupid" territory. There's no way in hell that this polling data wasn't HEAVILY weighted towards Democrats. I'm thinking something like a 60/20/20 split of Dem/Rep/Ind "likely voters". Plus, the data's referenced as being from "last fall". That's a big span of time. Are we talking September? October? November?

And before anyone starts in on Allahpundit for "Eeyorism", please remember that these aren't his polling numbers. Plus, he's looking at this with a New York State of Mind, which makes the distaste for social cons shown in this poll believable. I do think that he's chuckling at being able to throw out more red meat to the blogosphere, but he ain't the guy responsible for this crap. He's just the messenger, so please don't turn the comments into a "two-minute hate" on the man.

One thing I'd like to know: Where the fuck was this poll taken? David Frum's office? Christopher Buckley's vacation cottage? Peggy Noonan's favorite male strip club?

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 01:51 PM | Comments (59)
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I pitched this idea earlier, and then asked Flip to run the actual numbers.

For the cost of Obama's $1.2 trillion "stimulus," we could give employers a 2 1/2 year payroll tax holiday. Encouraging them to hire new workers by reducing their actual costs.

Over 2 1/2 years, that's 2.8 million new jobs, based on standard economic assumptions. Nevermind the additional jobs "preserved" (in Obama's weak promise) due to the fact it would now be cheaper to keep staff in place.

If this is all about jobs, jobs, jobs, and we want a sharp sudden impact for our dollars, why not consider this route?

Alternately... To mollify the public (Hey, why are my employers getting a tax cut and I'm not?!!), one could give employers and employees both a half reduction for 2 1/2 years. Or both a full, complete holiday for 1.25 years.

Posted by: Ace at 01:45 PM | Comments (48)
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From the sidebar, posted by an Open Blogger, tipped by Krakatoa:

We may never know whether the government's $700 billion bailout of the financial industry worked, according to a new report from congressional auditors. That's because it will be impossible to sort out which of the government's spending and other tinkering has made a difference, according to the report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office.

The report covers Treasury's administration of the bailout, called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, through Jan. 23. Nearly $294 billion had been released by that date — almost $200 billion of it through a program to inject capital directly into financial institutions.

The roughly $200 billion in capital injections doesn't include any of the separate money authorized to guarantee losses for Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., or about $20 billion to stabilize automakers Chrysler and General Motors Corp.

This being AP, they completely forgot about the huge amount of additional money Bernacke poured into the system. They also fail to consider that no government intervention at all will help; that the market might just need to sef-correct. I discount that possibility myself, I should admit; but it just never even occurs to the AP as a possibility at al.

"Even with more time and better data, it will remain difficult to separate the impact of TARP activities from the effect of other economic forces," the report said.

Posted by: Ace at 01:28 PM | Comments (15)
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Not sure if the business model isn't working, or if the downturn has spooked advertisers, or if they really just want to focus on their own side of things.

Ads will stay up until April 1st. And then it's back to BlogAds, I guess.

Damn. I was finally starting to make an amount of money I wasn't utterly embarrassed by, too.

Any entrepreneurs out there who want to try something similar?

In any event, I was happy to be a part of this while it lasted. They did pay good rates, especially lately. And the model for payment was pretty transparent and intuitive -- paid per impression. One could figure out one's quarterly payment just by eyeballing one's Sitemeter. BlogAds paid okay, but there are always those patches where no one really wants to buy ads, making income kind of unpredictable.

Posted by: Ace at 12:38 PM | Comments (206)
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