There's just nothing new under the sun. Is there?

Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, warned Israel of a "painful" response if its forces re-invaded.

"The enemy will regret the moment they raid Gaza. The price will be so heavy," said the spokesman, dressed in military fatigues and clutching an AK-47 assault rifle. (June 27, 2006)

Well. That fucker's dead.

How's that "painful" response workin out for you Abu? Did you further your ambitions and all?

Shithead.

How many missiles in a year is enough?

(got reminded of this from an old post from Sobek).

update (eff): well, shit. commenter Abu Mongo says I'm full of crap.

I think my point might just stand, and I'd love to read another headline about this dork.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:38 PM | Comments (54)
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You have got to be kidding me.

The Secretary of State's office opened and counted 952 previously rejected absentee ballots this afternoon. These are ballots that the Franken and Coleman campaigns agreed had been improperly rejcted under the Supreme Court order addressing the Coleman campaign's challenge to the procedure. After the counting of the previously rejected absentee ballots this afternoon, Franken widened his lead from approximately 40 votes to 225 votes. The recount will formally conclude on Monday at the final meeting of the Board of Canvassers that was convened to preside over this process.

Stupid Scandis.

Will Coleman even bother to sue?

Lawyers for both campaigns have laid the groundwork for lawsuits through public comments and legal maneuvering. In recent weeks, as Franken clung to a small lead, Coleman's lawyers promised a lawsuit over their claim that some ballots duplicated on election night wound up being counted twice in the recount.

He stands to lose as many as 110 net votes if the court were to take Coleman's side on the duplicate ballot issue. Coleman's lawyers could also make an issue of the loss of 133 ballots in Minneapolis, which the Canvassing Board resolved by using the election night count for that precinct. If Coleman were to prevail on that, Franken would lose 46 votes.

Even if Colman wins those 156 votes (a really big if), he'd still be down by 69 votes, which is a bigger margin than he was behind when things started today.

Did I mention those stupid Scandis?

Posted by: DrewM at 04:15 PM | Comments (131)
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Falcons v. Cardinals (okay, how many predicted that match up before the season?) at 4:30 EST and Colts and Bolts at 8pm. Both games are on NBC.

Yes, you can haz cheerleaderz. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 12:07 PM | Comments (158)
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He didn't use those words -- but he told Blago not to appoint three elected officials who were black, and recommended he appoint two people who were white.

Newsbusters is wondering if the newspaper that reported this -- the names rejected, the names recommended -- is going to notice its own scoop by mentioning the racial component.

Not unless black Democrats make an issue of it. The media will never cause problems for the Democratic Party of its own initiative.

Posted by: Ace at 11:50 AM | Comments (59)
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At 3:20.

I'm thinking that someone who casually tosses around Hitler's crematoria as a taunt isn't ready to, as we're always told of Israel, make the hard choices necessary for peace. But that's just me. more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:38 AM | Comments (129)
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Good luck to the IDF.

For the first time since the start of Operation Cast Lead, the IDF sent a large number of ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening.

...Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told Channel 2 Saturday night, "We will do all that is necessary to provide a different reality for southern Israel, which has been under constant attacks for the past eight years."

Israeli defense officials said some 10,000 troops, including tank, artillery and special operations units, were massed on the Gaza border and prepared to invade. They said top commanders were split over whether to send in ground forces, in part because such an operation could lead to heavy casualties but also because they believed Hamas already had been dealt a heavy blow. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were classified discussions.

A hint at the scope and possible length of the operation? Israel calls up "tens of thousands" of reservists.

UPDATE: Enjoy it while you can...A US President blames terrorists for terrorism.

"Since Hamas' violent takeover in the summer of 2007, living conditions have worsened for Palestinians in Gaza," Bush says in prepared remarks released Friday by the White House. "By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people."

,,,"In response to these attacks on their people, the leaders of Israel have launched military operations on Hamas positions in Gaza," Bush says. "As a part of their strategy, Hamas terrorists often hide within the civilian population, which puts innocent Palestinians at risk."

That's from the President's radio address which came before the ground offensive began. My guess is we won't be hearing this kind of clarity from the US administration after noon on January 20th.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:45 AM | Comments (229)
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And he intends to be in Washington on Tuesday for the swearing in.

Roland Burris, being Roland Burris, put it to me this way Friday when we talked: "We are the senator."

And we, that is he, the former Illinois attorney general, told me that he will try to avoid making a scene when he comes to the Capitol on Tuesday to claim the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Burris is arriving in town Monday night.

As my face likes to say: "nom nom nom."

Burris is expected to try and take his seat, but the sergeant-at-arms, an old Illinois chum of Burris', is ready to keep him from it in a "businesslike" fashion.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are considering some kind of temporary Senator-lite position for the Illinois junior senator:

Pending final resolution, it's possible Burris will get some office space, a limited staff and maybe even be put on some kind of payroll. Though the senators may allow him on the floor, to hang around in the back, Burris could not vote or sit behind one of the desks in the Senate chamber.

Later: And jcp just won Comment of the Year, suggesting that Senate Democrats are treating Burris like 3/5 of a Senator. For funsies I sent that one along to Bobby Rush's office.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:52 AM | Comments (56)
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Glatonbury is a picturesque, friendly little town in southwest England. It purports to be the resting place of King Arthur and hosts the annual Glastonbury Festival, a three-day rock concert. Glastonbury's free municipal wi-fi network went online in May. I'd like you to meet some of the people who call Glastonbury home:

"This place is not appropriate for a Wi-Fi trial," resident Linda Taylor tells the local Fosse Way magazine. "People are complaining of headaches, tingling skin among other symptoms. This makes me wonder what is it doing to the children."

"I don't want my son exposed to risk 24 hours a day, including at his primary school, which is within the Wi-Fi zone," yoga teacher Natalie Fee tells London's Telegraph. "I would be failing in my duty as a parent if I did."

"I have given a number of [orgone crystal hippie] generators to shops in the High Street and hidden others in bushes in the immediate vicinity of the antennae. That way you can bring back the balance," Matt Todd told the Telegraph. "The science hasn't really got into the mainstream because the government won't make decisions which will affect big business, even if it concerns everyone's health."

"The pulsed microwaves feed the pineal gland with false information," local Jacqui Roberts tells the Western Daily Press. "Melatonin fights the free radicals and cancer-producing cells.

In other words, some of the dumbest people ever to walk the face of the Earth. They live in a country of near-universal literacy. They have been provided with more opportunity for education than the majority of people alive today and the vast majority of people who have ever lived. The internet gives them access to more information than has been or ever will be stored in libraries. And still: dumber than a box of rocks.

So this will come as no surprise:

At a raucous town council meeting in late November, one official had to admit that in the six months since the network, which costs about $15,000 per year to operate, had gone on, only 422 people had used it.

As Kevin says, "I'll tell you what's it doing to the children, it's giving them a chance to access real health and science information that might be able to counteract some of the bullsh-t you're feeding into their soft little brains." Yup.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:43 AM | Comments (83)
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Interesting.

Here's a quote. This is obvious, of course. But more crucially -- the media must dismiss the son of a Hamas leader as being inexpert on Hamas thinking in order to continue their fantasia of Hamas being interested in a roadmap to peace.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do you believe that Israel can ever strike a peace deal with Hamas?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There is no chance. Is there any chance for fire to co-exist with the water? There is no chance. Hamas can play politics for 10 years, 15 years; but ask any one of Hamas’ leaders, ‘Okay, what’s going to happen after that? Are you just going to live and co-exist with Israel forever?’ The answer is going to be no … unless they want to do something against the Koran. But it’s their ideology and they can’t just say ‘We’re not going to do it.’ So there is no chance. It’s not about Israel, it’s not about Hamas: it’s about both ideologies. There is no chance.

Eh, he was in the intifadas all his life. What would he know about Hamas.

The big question is what do Rosa Brooks and Tom Friedman think about Hamas? They're the real experts, after all. They work for newspapers.

Posted by: Ace at 04:56 PM | Comments (209)
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The terrorist-friendly Huffington Post, I should say.

Arianna Huffington is a disgusting star-fucker who would blow Adolf Hitler to get a table at Nabu.

On the good side: We will have Bill Ayers to kick around anymore.

Via Copious Dissent.

Posted by: Ace at 02:35 PM | Comments (114)
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