MichellO's Turn to be a Common Man
— Gabriel Malor

How stung have the Obamas and the Nutroots been about Dijongate? Legal Insurrection writes about the insane overreaction here but there's a breaking development.

Apparently, the Obamas are so worked up that they sent out MichellO to erase the bad taste from our mouths. Also, there's a cellphone picture here. No word on whether or not her indispensable chief of staff had to order for her. MSNBC is probably already on the scene...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:47 AM | Comments (154)
Post contains 87 words, total size 1 kb.

Making Bad News Good
— Slublog

Unemployment hit a 25-year high in April, but that's great news!

The Anchoress has some good examples of the bad headline/good context treatment economic news is given at the link. Here are a few more:

A little different from how it was once reported, isn't it?

UPDATE (lauraw): I hope Slublog will forgive my intrusion here to append a link to geoff's excellent and succinct post on this at Splitters.

Posted by: Slublog at 05:01 AM | Comments (155)
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

Top Headline Comments 05-08-09
— Gabriel Malor

Happy V-E Day!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:47 AM | Comments (205)
Post contains 11 words, total size 1 kb.

Somali pirates shoot at Navy supply ship
— Purple Avenger

The Navy ship apparently outran the pirate boats.

Shouldn't the US Navy have a general policy of not fleeing from dirtbag pirates? I'm just saying...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:32 PM | Comments (103)
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

Star Trek Was Good
— Gabriel Malor

Just got back from seeing it. No time needed to mull this one over. It was great. They did a very fine job with the characters, the plot, the setting (which was like an Apple Store meets 1966). There were so many shout outs to the original show and the original crew, plus many nice references to the other TV series that I'm sure I missed some. IOW, I will be seeing it again while it's in theaters.

The only thing that wasn't perfect was the music. They used some of the Star Trek themes we've come to love, but overall it was quite a break from Jerry Goldsmith's iconic work. The new Enterprise theme wasn't all that satisfying and it certainly doesn't have the room for growth or breadth of emotion of Goldsmith's.

I won't give anything away except to say that, yes, there is some green babe action. Go see it.

Also, in reply to my little joke in this morning's Star Trek thread my bro sends this: more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:39 PM | Comments (89)
Post contains 180 words, total size 1 kb.

Overnight Open Thread: Which has come back from the lightÂ…(genghis)
— Open Blog

Two days. It only took two days for Krakatoa to ruin all my efforts here. All that time spent trying to grind down and destroy all your hopes and spirits, only to see them pop back up in some sort of bloggy version of The Prague Spring of 1968. So I apologize/take glee in the fact that Krakatoa has given you that false glimpse of freedom. HeÂ’s been relieved of duty and I hear is on his way to a comfortable, permanent retirement at one of the PolitburoÂ’s luxurious state owned ski retreats in Siberia where he can hopefully get the help he needs. Pay no attention to the armored columns and paragraphs that just rolled into the margins. TheyÂ’re here to provide you protection from trolls and spam. Please resume your normal commenting activities. *shuffles papers*

On tonightÂ’s non-agenda:

Item #1: From yesterday (and itÂ’s been covered on FNC and elsewhere, but not sure if itÂ’s been yakked about here), the Oklahoma State House of Representatives is working on an attempt to override Gov. Brad HenryÂ’s (D) veto of a bill fashioned to reassert the stateÂ’s sovereignty and push back against the federal governmentÂ’s infringements against stateÂ’s rights and violations of the 10th Ammendment. Which is all fine and dandy, and itÂ’s nice that the 10th gets trotted out every once in a while. But for whatever reasons these things end up being mostly symbolic and the states never stick to the stated principleÂ…itÂ’s a grand rebellious vote with lots of flourishes but then they always sneak back in the dark of night to get the federal payola theyÂ’re addicted to. Just once itÂ’d be nice to see them stick to their principles. I mean if they had them, that is. (ThereÂ’s been talk and/or legislation in Wyoming and Texas recently as well about similar issues)

(More inane babble and the return of the bestiary sponsor below the fold)
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:30 PM | Comments (165)
Post contains 714 words, total size 5 kb.

Wolverines!!!! [dri]
— Open Blog

In Our Time, no foreign army, has ever occupied American soil. Until now...A Red Dawn reboot is in the works and every Wolverine lovin' bastard better take aim. A remake of the 80's classic flick Red Dawn is set to hit theaters next year. Jed and the rest of the gang will be back to kill every Russian and Cuban bastard in sight. Yes there will be some PC changes such as adding an African American character and an Asian-American but as long as they roll up the commie body count who cares?
This AoSHQers, is the best American movie ever made! In the comments section, please reflect on your favorite scene or how Red Dawn changed your life.

Posted by: Open Blog at 01:53 PM | Comments (255)
Post contains 121 words, total size 1 kb.

Decisions, decisions (genghis)
— Open Blog

Ooh! A shiny new thread, ripe with possibilities (for failure and disappointment that is)
The highly respected business journal MSNBC has tasked a number of their senior fellows (nearly all previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics) to compare and contrast the remaining economic models we have to choose from. Here are the four theyÂ’ve pared it down to:

• The Mediterranean model (Italy, Spain, Greece): Social spending concentrated on old-age pensions and a focus on employment protection and early retirement schemes — inefficient both in creating employment and in combating poverty.

• The Continental model (France, Germany, Luxembourg): insurance-based, non-employment benefits and old-age pensions and a high degree of employment protection — good at combating poverty but bad at creating jobs.

• The Anglo-Saxon model (Ireland, the UK and Portugal): Many low-paid jobs, payments linked to regular employment, activating measures and a low degree of job security — relatively efficient at creating employment but bad at preventing poverty.

• The Nordic model (Denmark, Finland and Sweden, plus the Netherlands and Austria): High spending on social security and high taxes, little job protection but high employment security — successful at both creating jobs and preventing poverty.

I likes me some choice…and maybe we can just do this in an ala carte fashion, picking out only the parts we like. I still think they may have left out a couple of good alternatives though. Such as the Mongol model. (A more refined version of the nascent “Hun” model which was tried several centuries earlier but never really allowed to play itself out.) Vikings tried using that economic model on a more localized scale as well, but results are mixed. For more information, please see Adam Smith’s lesser known companion to his masterpiece ”The Wealth of Nations” entitled ”Sacking and Pillaging the Wealth of Other Nations” for more info.

Posted by: Open Blog at 12:42 PM | Comments (105)
Post contains 314 words, total size 2 kb.

Open Thread
— Ace

I wonder if I should open up at least one of these a day. I dunno.

Anyway, there's a lot of stuff in the sidebar -- today is a lot of sidebar-level stuff. I know Gabe posts a Headline thread everyday, but it tends to get buried.

So combination Open Thread/Fresh Headline thread.

Posted by: Ace at 11:38 AM | Comments (142)
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

"The Keep Terrorists Out of America" Bill
— Ace

"If there's ever time for protectionism, this is it," says Rep. Cantor.

A tipster explains by email:

he Keep Terrorists Out of America Act was revealed today, sponsored by House Republicans. The Keep Terrorists Out of America Act requires pre-approval from governors and state legislatures to transfer or release any terrorist detainee into their respective state. The legislation establishes strict criteria and certification standards that must be met before any detainee is released into the United States.

Boehner offers this list of the top ten most dangerous terrorists at Gitmo.

Vid of Democratic Rep. Schiff urging that terrorists be given the same due process rights our own lawful soldiers enjoy when court martialed -- "Nothing more, and nothing less."

And an add about releasing terrorists into their natural habitats -- densely populated urban areas with plenty of sympathetic community infrastructure to help them flourish in their profession of choice:

I dig Cantor's proposal. It's sound policy and of course crafty politics.

Posted by: Ace at 11:22 AM | Comments (60)
Post contains 175 words, total size 2 kb.