Overnight Open Thread. “Economy Ends: New York Fashion Week Hardest Hit.” (genghis)
— Open Blog

Has it really come down to this? How much more can this generation bear? ItÂ’s one body blow after another.

Sorry to bring this to you, but Newsweek is reporting that New York’s “Fashion Week” may soon come to an end. Or maybe downsize or something.

”It's the Tuesday night before New York's Fashion Week and the scene is pretty much what you expect. Robbie Myers, the editor in chief of Elle, is circulating around a room full of skinny young women who are holding glasses of champagne with one hand, while using their other hand to shoo away waiters carrying hors d'oeuvres. Modern rock music is pulsing; lights are flashing to a static beat and the white couches scattered around the room are crowded with New York socialites (The real ones, not those that you see on MTV's "The City."). All this begs some questions: Aren't we in a recession? Who still has the wherewithal to throw bashes like this?”

“The Answer: JC Penney.”

I justÂ….I Â…I just never realized it had come to this. The tale of woe continues:

”Of course, clothes won’t go away. But the creativity and aspiration that comes from America's most, well, expensive designers -- the sort that Michelle Obama mixes with J.Crew -- just might. “They made me come to this,” groaned the junior editor as he watched JC Penney present their five new young-designer collections by Charlotte Ronson, Kimora Lee Simmons, Nicole Miller, Allen Schwartz and Michele Bohbot. “We have to start keeping our eye on the lower markets," the editor says.”

And strong men wept and rent their high thread count, fine linen shirts asunder. Of course, for any regular reader of this blog, it should come as no surprise that clothes arenÂ’t going away soon. That practically sums up the end of every (extremely rare) date any you have ever been on. To wrap up:

”As the junior editor (later identified as a Mr. Tom Joad) piled his belongings into a plain yellow taxi, on his way to a Lower West Side retaurant so hip and exclusive it doesn’t have an actual name, just a symbol, he lamented the fact his company had cut the dedicated town car service that had in the past made his epic lunch journeys slightly less arduous. Now he was on his own…the future uncertain. As the cab pulled away from the curb, he leaned out the window and pleaded “You must document this! Our story needs to be told! These are the clothes of wrath!” He shouted many other things as the cab stopped 50 feet down the street at a stoplight, but the story was already there. I turned away and a solitary tear rolled down my face. I hope he makes it.”

I mightÂ’ve embellished that last paragraph a bit.

Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC. Please e-mail overnight open thread tips to xgenghisx@gmail.com. Otherwise send tips to Ace.

Posted by: Open Blog at 09:56 PM | Comments (116)
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Happy Valentine's Day!
— Dave in Texas

Well, almost. There's still time to go out and get something special for that certain special someone.

It's Friday night and if I had an actual life or something I'd be doing, something. Instead I'm sharing it with you. So I got to wondering, you morons, what's the worst Valentine's Day gift you ever gave someone?

Mine was a roll of paper towels.

No shit. A roll of paper towels. They had hearts on them, and I put a little bow on it and thought it would be cute.

That's what I thought. I thought that.

...

Anyway, if you're gift-stumped, you can find some nice card selections here, like this one:

Okaaaay, I wouldn't really do that.

I mean, there's no way I could keep going till I fell asleep.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:23 PM | Comments (152)
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Politico: GOP "toothless" minority
— Purple Avenger

Well, I'm glad the canard about the GOP minority "blocking" things and the egregious lies about real bipartisanship have fallen by the wayside. Now Obama and the Democrats own everything henceforth lock stock and barrel.

...But Emanuel said that they recognized they had overdone their initial outreach to Republicans and had offered "a sharp message for the last week."

For now, the hard-charging chief of staff added, “He has an open hand, but he has a very firm handshake.”

Translation: Yes, the president will continue to do obligatory outreach to the GOP, but heÂ’s not going to be burned again by an out-of-power and toothless minority for the sake of appearances...

UPDATE: In other news, "Speaking Truth to Power" McClatchy asks if the spendulus is going to stimulate anything, and suggets the answer is no.

...short on incentives to get consumers spending again and long on social goals that won't stimulate economic activity, according to a range of respected economists...

The "toothless" GOP simply shrugged its shoulders and remarked "hey, we tried but it was rammed through anyway". Later in the day, press credentials for all McClatchy reporters worldwide were revoked by the Whitehouse, and those present at the Whitehouse were frogmarched into the basement where they never emerged. more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:06 PM | Comments (119)
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Battlestar Galactica: No Exit Discussion Thread
— Gabriel Malor

Last week was entirely free of any Myth Arc elements. Consequently, it was a fast-paced call-back to the Season 1 and 2 actioners. This week, we're going deep into the Myth Arc with the return of the fifth of the Final Five and a great deal of drama about their whole alive then dead then alive again a few thousand years later problem. It might slow things down again.

My brief recap of last week's episode, Blood on the Scales, is below the fold.

I love that jacket. ...What? /innocent

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. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:44 PM | Comments (87)
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Portraying Muslims In A Positive Light FAIL [Vinnie]
— Open Blog

Yeah, that'll get me to convert.

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband -- an influential member of the local Muslim community -- reported her death to police Thursday.

Oh, the irony that abounds....

Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.

Well, if you're a radical Islamist, Mr. Hassan just portrayed Muslims in a more positive light. Although I'm guessing the Sharia law crowd are probably disappointed that he didn't stone her to death.

H/T Jihad Watch

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:14 PM | Comments (81)
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More on Obama's Flip-Floppery
— Gabriel Malor

The Audacity of Confusion:

The most alarming aspect of this development is not President Obama’s outsourced anti-stimulative stimulus — and it’s not even his desire to have the Census Director report to the White House. It’s that person after person engages Barack Obama on vital topics only to look back and realize that they don’t quite know what the President said. During a phone chat, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski thought Obama had promised him an Eastern European missile defense system; he was wrong. Gen. Anthony Zinni thought the administration had given him the ambassadorship to Iraq; he was wrong. Judd Gregg is only the most recent Obama interlocutor to be undone by the Audacity of Confusion.

This is bad. Does the President know where he stands on these topics at any given moment? The American public certainly doesnÂ’t. On Monday night, we all shut off our televisions thinking we were just promised a rescue plan from Timothy Geithner the next day; we were wrong. Wall Street is still desperately waiting for some definitive answers. Will this ever agreeable, always unhelpful haze ever lift?

"Agreeable haze"? Well, there you go. He acts this way because he is stoned.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:21 AM | Comments (80)
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House Democrats Embrace Pork-Bloated Monstrosity
— Slublog

House passes stimulus package...without a single Republican vote. Seven Democrats also voted against it.

Final tally: 246-183, with 1 Democrat voting present.

Here's the roll call.

Democrats who voted against:
Bobby Bright, Alabama
Peter DeFazio, Oregon
Parker Griffith, Alabama
Walt Minnick, Idaho
Collin Peterson, Minnesota
Heath Shuler, North Carolina
Gene Taylor, Mississippi

So Who Voted Present? This guy - Daniel Lipinski of Illinois. Based on the links in his "current issues" feed and this press release, I'm guessing he didn't like the removal of the "buy American" provision.

Gallows Humor, Anyone? - Considering what day it is, an appropriately-themed photoshop is in order: more...

Posted by: Slublog at 11:26 AM | Comments (424)
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Its OK to admit Iran wants the bomb now.
— Purple Avenger

Bush saying Iran wants the bomb = BAD/LIES
Obama saying Iran wants the bomb = OK/TRUTH

Arbeit macht frei

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 09:10 AM | Comments (58)
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Bobby Rush: How About we License the Bitter Clingers?
— Slublog

The debate over the 'stimulus' bill is sucking up most of the oxygen in the blogosphere, but there are other bills worth keeping an eye on. HR 45 is one such bill. What would it do?

U.S. Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) recently sponsored H.R. 45, also known as "Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act." The bill is, at its core and as its name implies, a licensing and registration scheme.

The measure calls for all handgun owners to submit to the federal government an application that shall include, among many other things: a photo; an address; a thumbprint; a completed, written firearm safety test; private mental health records; and a fee. And those are only some of the requirements to be licensed!

The bill would further require the attorney general to establish a database of every handgun sale, transfer, and owner's address in America. Moreover, the bill would make it illegal to own or possess a "qualifying firearm" -- defined as "any handgun; or any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding deviceÂ…" [emphasis added] without one of the proposed licenses.

Here's the text of the legislation. Rep. Rush has been unsuccessful with this bill before, but now he's got a liberal president, a huge Democratic majority and an anti-gun attorney general to help him out.

Just something to keep in mind, and a reminder that we have a lot of battles ahead.

This law has very little chance of passage, but here's an interesting little tidbit:

H.R. 45 is essentially a reintroduction of H.R. 2666, which Rush introduced in 2007. H.R. 2666 contained much of the same language as H.R. 45, and was co-sponsored by several well-known anti-gun legislators--including Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

So far, no co-sponsors, but Rush certainly has a...sympathetic ear in the White House.

Posted by: Slublog at 06:48 AM | Comments (187)
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Top Headline Comments 02-13-09
— Gabriel Malor

Friday the 13th.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:18 AM | Comments (44)
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