Nooooo.

Board this sumbitch, examine its cargo please. Shoot if necessary.

Thank you.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:35 AM | Add Comment
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Sweet. Now the ACLU is silencing people before they've even transgressed.

...In January, the Santa Rosa County School District settled out of court with the ACLU, agreeing to several things...

...the district also agreed to forbid senior class President Mary Allen from speaking at the school's May 30 graduation ceremony on the chance that the young woman, a known Christian, might say something religious...

To my non-lawyerly techie brain, there is a very "slippery slope" here. The ACLU didn't just put one foot on it, they took a headlong flying leap down it. It makes me sick to think I actually donated money to the ACLU in decades past. NEVER. EVER. AGAIN. EVER.

This is the fucking insane world of Phillip Dick's Minority Report and the notion of "pre-crimes" that haven't happened yet. We are there NOW. more...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 10:35 PM | Comments (2)
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It happened about 20-25 minutes ago (about 8am local time according to the CNN reporter in Kabul) in the area of the US embassy and NATO HQ.

The explosion came less than a week before the country will hold elections for presidential and provincial councils. Afghanistan has braced for attacks because of the elections, with the Taliban warning people not to participate.

U.S. military spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the explosion occurred near the NATO headquarters' main gate. She said the area is restricted.

No word on casualties yet.

Update: First casualty report: 3 dead, 14 wounded.

From Jim Sciutto of ABC News who is in Afghanistan to cover the elections:

Explosion was huge, felt it more than a mile away. This is first attack inside capital in months. Afghanistan

You may want to check his Twitter feed overnight, I imagine there will be further updates there.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:39 PM | Add Comment
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AoSHQ: Your one-stop source for all the latest news about Astroturfing.

” LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - AstroTurf LLC, a leading maker of artificial grass for athletic fields, has agreed to a stringent new lead-safety standard in California that virtually eliminates traces of the hazardous metal from its products. The standard was adopted under a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the state and local authorities after the nonprofit Center for Environmental Health reported finding high lead levels in the artificial turf made by dozens of manufacturers. AstroTurf, a division of privately held Textile Management Associates in Dalton, Georgia, was one of six companies targeted by the litigation and the first to negotiate a settlement.”

Oh, did you think that was gonnaÂ’ be about something else? SuckasÂ…

Meanwhile, allow me to present The AoSHQ Lifestyle: Example Number 3,738.

”WELLINGTON (Reuters) - An extremely drunk, naked man lost his way at a New Zealand hotel and ended up sleeping in the wrong room, forcing its female occupant to hide in the bathroom, local media reported.”

Ok, ‘fess up: Which one of you was it?

more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:00 PM | Add Comment
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and the hunter home from the hill.

Where do we get such men? They leave this ship and they do their job.

Where indeed.

RIP, Captain Speicher.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:51 PM | Add Comment
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Tom Maguire not only proves Obama's had his eyes on death panels for as long as he's been talking about the presidency, but that the NYT can't apparently operate the "Search" function on its own archives.

From the NYT's own interview with Obama:

THE PRESIDENT: So thatÂ’s where I think you just get into some very difficult moral issues. But thatÂ’s also a huge driver of cost, right?

I mean, the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill out here.

LEONHARDT: So how do you — how do we deal with it?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place. It is very difficult to imagine the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And thatÂ’s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance. ItÂ’s not determinative, but I think has to be able to give you some guidance. And thatÂ’s part of what I suspect youÂ’ll see emerging out of the various health care conversations that are taking place on the Hill right now.

Ah. So we have "independent groups" making decisions out of the normal "political channels" (to avoid political pressure against their unpopular decisions) deciding which treatments will be refused to the elderly in order to reduce the costs of elder-care.

Because, of course, death is always cheaper.

But death panels? No. What a silly rumor.

By the Way: I see I've substantially copied Maguire's point, even with regard to word choice ("scurrilous").

Didn't mean to. I'm a bit space-headed today. The words just came to me. Of course, that was because I'd just read them at Maguire's. Pardon the inadvertent plagiarism.

Posted by: Ace at 11:14 AM | Comments (7)
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This time, he's hoping for some unattractive protesters to speak up so he can use them as a foil.

Analysts noted this earlier -- he wants someone angry and uninformed to use as the face of the opposition. Bill Samon, I think, noted if he gets good questions, he loses.

Posted by: Ace at 11:01 AM | Add Comment
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But this is certainly not astroturfing. An Obama campaign office manager invites a lead organizer for Organizing for America Obama and lies about being a doctor to provide an Obama supporting Representative with the "cover" of authority but...

... it's not astroturfing.

Astroturfing is only what you do.

By the Way: The Chron runs a decent piece about this, finally. This time, they admit she's an Obama delegate, but of course they don't mention she's a lead organizer for Obama's astroturf organization, Organizing for America.

If they mentioned that, it would raise too many questions they don't want people wondering about, I guess.

But the link is barely visible on the front page. All the way down the the "Houston & Texas" section.

Burying it.

Now, they will say, "How much press do you think this is worth? It's just one person lying?"

Well, we don't know it's just one person lying just yet.

Further, it is the White House itself (and Nancy Pelosi and the DNC and the MSM as a whole) that has been pushing the "astroturfing" claim for two weeks.

The Chron finally has proof of a real live astroturfer, and they.... bury it?

Funny, I don't think that would be their response if they found a conservative-leaning astroturfer sent by the insurance industry.

I think they'd be proclaiming their scoop from the rooftops, not hiding it.

Posted by: Ace at 08:49 AM | Add Comment
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Well, you know, it is vandalism. It is also vandalism when Obama Cultists put up his HOPE poster. Or when kids put up their dumb ads for their bands.

All these things are vandalism, technically. By and large the cops don't sweat it.

All that's different with The One, though.

CLERMONT - Clermont police have interviewed one suspect who is admitting to putting up the dozens of posters pasted around the city depicting President Obama as the Joker character from the Batman film The Dark Knight, city officials confirmed.

Assistant City Manager Darren Gray said city officials have an individual "admitting to putting up 500" of the posters.

Clermont Police Capt. Eric Jensen said the male individual has admitted to putting up some signs, but investigators suspect others were involved and their investigation is continuing.

"We have talked to an individual," Jensen said. "He only admitted to some of it...We're still tracking down leads and talking to folks. We have not arrested anybody."

At this point officials are not sure how much damage was caused by the signs or the dollar amount associated with the clean-up.

Dozens of the posters were pasted around the city earlier this week. A pair of the posters were pasted to a Clermont Post Office collection box. They prompted the postmaster to contact the Postal Inspector's office, which is looking at potential federal crimes for defacing federal property.

City officials, meanwhile, are trying to determine what local crimes might be associated with the posting of the images on public and private properties. They've also been busy ripping down the sticky signs because they're a violation of city ordinance regarding illegal signs.

They've got a suspect, but they're still trying to figure out the crime he's to be prosecuted for.

Unbelievable.

Thanks to AHFF Geoff.

Obama Endorsed "Hope" Posters Being Put on Stop Signs: I am trying not to link Alex Jones' nutty Prison Planet and InfoWars site, but it seems that this "vandalism" is due to a contest they're running re: putting up the Joker poster.

They have this quote of Obama's:

In the wake of a Florida news station covering the “vandalism” of Obama as Joker posters going up around the country, Infowars has discovered an Obama quote published in The Washington Post thanking Obamanoids for posting the artwork of Shepard Fairey on government property. Fairey created the now famous image of Obama used during the election.

“I would like to thank you for using your talent in support of my campaign,” Obama wrote the artist last year. “The political messages involved in your work have encouraged Americans to believe they can help change the status quo. Your images have a profound effect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign.”

A stop sign? Pretty much the one truly critical piece of roadway signage there is?

Here's the link to the Jones site.

Posted by: Ace at 08:32 AM | Comments (1)
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I know, it's on Drudge, gee thanks Ace for pointing out the obvious.

But just in case...

Posted by: Ace at 07:54 AM | Comments (2)
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