Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:16 AM | Comments (61)
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HereÂ’s a few newspaper-related items in case youÂ’re interested:

Item #1: In Washington State, Gov. Christine Gregoire has approved a 40% business tax cut for the battered aerospace industry so they can continue to stay competitive with foreign manufacturers. Wait, did I say aerospace? Sorry, The tax cut is for the newspaper industry. (Though the article does actually say that similar cuts were made in the past for Boeing and the timber industry). Heaven forbid though that tax relief would ever be considered for small business.

Speaking of small business and newspapers, this gives me the perfect excuse to link to a 3-year old post by Iowahawk about a small, scrappy family-owned publishing business based in NYC. It was funny then, but like a finely-aged vintage of Valu-Rite, itÂ’s only gotten better over time.

Item #2: Meanwhile in Boston, the Globe peers into its future and applies some lipstick to that pig. The article covers online start-up efforts in several cities where papers have failed (Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle etc.). ItÂ’s a target-rich article, but this statement really stands out:

” "Right now, there is no institution, agency, or online service, whatever you want to call it, to replace newspapers," said Lou Ureneck, chairman of Boston University's journalism department. "None of the news-gathering organizations that have news reports online . . . come anywhere close to having the kind of journalistic capacity that you find in your typical metropolitan newspaper."

Item #3: Here’s a couple that “Maetenloch” sent in that I’ll bundle together since they’re similar in nature. The first is from The Chicago Sun-Times via Moonbattery.com in which the paper denounces its own readers as narrow-minded bigots in an editorial. Seems many had the temerity to complain about the paper running a pic of a pair of lesbians making out on the front page. (As we all know, that should go on Page Three). Finally, David Warsh of the Providence Journal pens a lengthy analysis of the Boston Globe’s troubles titled The Boston Globe Fired its Readers.

TonightÂ’s overnight fauna below the fold.
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Posted by: Open Blog at 06:03 PM | Comments (262)
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File under culture war:

In a decision released yesterday, the Florida appeals court held that the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires Florida courts to give "exacting respect" to the adoption decree of a Washington court. The decision is here (PDF).

The case doesn't break new ground; it just drives home the issues we will all likely be grappling with as gay families become more common. Details are below the fold. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:15 PM | Comments (58)
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Hmmmm...

How about this line from a previous post:

Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.

In related news, no one's giving me credit for starting posting an hour earlier every day (and, um, posting four hours later than that).

Here's another reason, Bammy: "Proposed" cuts you know you won't get and won't push for are kinda-sorta, what's the word, "imaginary."

You will, on the other hand, get most or all (and maybe even more!) of your increased spending.

You've worked this out in advance with the Congress you control. You claim you want to cut $17 billion, pretendin' to be all prudent 'n stuff, and they say No, kthanxbai, and then you happily both agree to spend another $100 billion, because, hey, gotta find that "common ground." Or somethin'.

Obama seems to want an awful lot of credit for things he hasn't actually done yet.

You know what I want credit for?

For being the first man on Mars.

I have a present intention of doing that in the future. 'Round next July, I'm thinking. I need a few months to get in shape with some jogging and maybe earn my doctorate in aeronautics.

So where is my Corvette and my ticker-tape parade?

How callow and juvenile is this "man"? He wants credit for things he hasn't done yet. He doesn't get why he gets less credit for stuff he hasn't done (and won't do) than he gets blame for stuff he already actually did (namely, signing into law a budget loaded with pork).

Is he still doing "blow"?

Posted by: Ace at 04:44 PM | Comments (70)
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One we cannot repay.

Major Steven Hutchison, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. He passed away on May 10, from wounds suffered from an explosion in Al Farr Iraq.

He was 60 years old. Served in Vietnam.

Richard Hutchison said that his older brother wanted to re-enlist immediately after 9/11 but that his wife was against it. He signed up again in July 2007 after she died, according to his brother and the Army. (emphasis mine)

Words fail.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:40 PM | Comments (126)
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As several have noted, including DrewM., the trolls seem awfully quiet today.

I wonder why.

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you guys felt welcome to post.

Be sure to say something witty and unexpected in the comments like "Obama's got a 54% approval rate, winguts!"

Seriously -- we miss you guys. You were such chatty Kathies for the past couple of months and suddenly it's like you all got beaten with the Shush-bat.

It's not the Nancy Pelosi thing, is it? Come on -- you know she's being perfectly honest here, right? Even I know she's being framed by Dick Cheney, Porter Goss, Leon Panetta, the entire CIA, Steny Hoyer, her own top aide, etc.

It's obvious.

Buck up, buttercups. You've compelled yourselves to believe stupider lunacies than that before. You can do it. I believe in you.

Posted by: Ace at 04:06 PM | Comments (179)
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And something, it seems, will have to be done about that.

He's talking up "spending cuts" even as he spends more and more. And he's selling his universal health care rationing program as some kind of savings, because, somehow, this will drive costs down. Or somethin'.

I think we sort of know where this is headed. He's going to pull the old con man/manipulative move of talking around a possibility, until it ultimately starts occurring to people "Hey, maybe we need to raise taxes on ourselves!"

At which point Obama will exclaim, "Wow, what an interesting idea! I had never even pondered the possibility of such an idea so much as entering my mind until you said it just now. But now that you mention it... Golly Gee Willickers, that sure seems to make a tremendous amount of sense! Sorta cuts the Gordian Knot right in half with a decisive chop, doesn't it? You really are a very smart person, you know that? Here, have a cookie."

President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

Shut up, really?!

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said...

The deuce you say. That's just crazy-talk, that's what that is.

“We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

No. Dude, just no. The words you're saying just make no sense when assembled in this order.

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

What? Profligate spending and ruinous borrowing might dampen our future economic growth?

I want to say "Blasphemy!," but somehow that word seems inadequate to express my horror at these vile heresies. Is there a word that means both "blasphemy" and "mutant genital pustules that have evolved a malevolent cunning and a hunger for human flesh"?

Because that's the sort of word I'm grasping for here.

We on the right are so dumb we of course could not possibly have foreseen this before Lord God Obama explained it to us.

...

Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.

Stupid tea-bagging racists, "noting" stupid stuff like that.

Thanks to JackStraw.

Posted by: Ace at 03:54 PM | Comments (73)
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And this is going to get worse, and worse, and worse.

Most people have a threshold at which they'll act corruptly -- and with the government taking over more and more of the economy, and able to dole out bigger and bigger cash-money favors, more government employees will succumb to the temptation.

Obama's building something here that will be bigger than the Teapot Dome. A lot of people are going to be drinking your milkshake.

Here's the story:

Accusations against the two lawyers - a man and a woman whose names have not been released - are detailed in a report by the SEC inspector general obtained exclusively by CBS News.

The report, based on a review and analysis of "more than two years of e-mail and brokerage records," puts increased pressure on a commission that has come under fire lately for failing to detect the $60 billion Bernard L. Madoff Ponzi scheme, and turning a blind eye to the Wall Street financial crisis.

Thanks to muffy.

Sorry for the comments outage, by the way. Hopefully... soon, really, we should be moving to the new site.

Saturday was mentioned. Fingers crossed.

Posted by: Ace at 03:22 PM | Comments (32)
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At long last. Some real, hot-buttered popcorn.

Posted by: Ace at 03:02 PM | Comments (35)
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I'm cribbing the quote from Brett Baier's show:

"It's inconceivable, absolutely inconceivable, that the briefers would not be as explicit as possible about what we were doing and what we were going to do. It's fundamental survival in our culture that you fully and completely brief."

The intelligence officer was not named. Not sure if he's an anonymous source or Baier just didn't mention his name.

Also (vid coming soon): Nancy Pelosi hailed the professionalism and integrity of CIA officials on the floor of the House:

Her quote:

"The brave and dedicated men and women of [the] intelligence community perform an invaluable service for our country and I want them to know how impressed we have all been by the work they do under frequently dangerous and demanding conditions. They deserve our appreciation."

She went on to praise then-House Intelligence Chair Porter Goss for his bipartisanship. He went on to lead the CIA; and he's lately been accusing Pelosi of having a highly selective memory.

This speech was delivered November 2002, two months after the briefing in which the CIA records show she was briefed about the EITs used on Zubaydah.

By the Way: I suspect the "former senior intelligence officer" giving that quote is Porter Goss. I suspect it's him, because I also suspect he tipped Baier to Pelosi's speech praising the CIA (and he himself). In other words, I think Goss was the source for the bulk of this information-dump.

Not that that undermines the quote or anything. Just background.

Steny Hoyer: I Think I'll Pass on This Wonderful Opportunity You've Afforded Me to Support my Speaker of the House... But Thanks for Asking! No, seriously, thanks.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi's deputy in the House declined to back her up on her stunning claim Thursday that the CIA misled Congress about its use of enhanced interrogation techniques.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, panned the recent criticism of Pelosi as a "distraction" during a verbal tangle with Republican Whip Eric Cantor on the House floor.

But when asked directly whether he shares Pelosi's belief that the CIA misled Congress, he backed off.

"I have no idea of that. I don't have a belief of that nature because I have no basis on which to base such a belief," Hoyer said. "And I certainly hope that's not the case. And I don't draw that conclusion."

Cheney Will Appeal Obama's Refusal to Release "Torture" Docs. Yeah, we really need to shut Cheney up. It's so obvious he's doing nothing but hurt the team.

(Sarcasm, please note.)

Flaming Skull Added: It probably should have been added earlier, but with all the drip-drip-drip accumulating, at some point the whole gestalt of the thing is flaming-skull-worthy. I'll just say that point is now come.

Bob Graham Claims the CIA is Just Making Stuff Up: The new meme from the left. If you forget Bob Graham, he was a Democratic Florida Senator who was on the Intelligence Committee during his service. Supposedly moderate, he ran for President in 2004 and became, if not a Truther, certainly one of the more rabid "BushHitler" style liberal panderers in his failed campaign.

He's old and busted, and now he's saying the CIA is just making up briefings that never happened, or something.

Graham then went on to repeat his claim that he had no recollection of being told about waterboarding Zubaydah or anything else about extreme interrogation.

In related news, Graham also then repeated his claim that he had "no recollection" of his last bowel movement, or the exact date upon which the moon landing was faked.

Mirror, Mirror: You know, in the Evil Alternate Universe the Democratic Party exists in, the only way to advance in rank is through blackmail and assassination.

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Posted by: Ace at 02:16 PM | Comments (106)
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