On NBC (so everyone can see it) at 8 edt.

The series is tied at 2-2.

Chicago made it close at the end of game 4 but it was a weak effort. They are really going to need to step it up tonight.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:00 PM | Comments (328)
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Not worth full blown posts, but probably worthy of comment:

Charlie Rangel accuses the President of fighting Dick Cheney's dirty wars. The ethics-challenged representative for NY-15 has (so far) four challengers in his bid for reelection.

BP says the "top hat" is collecting around 10,000 barrels per day and hopes to increase that with a second procedure this week. The estimated flow is 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day, so that's pretty darn successful.

Fifteen years later, a mother finds her kidnapped kids on Facebook. This is an awful story. The ex-husband kidnapper faces charges and the kids don't want anything to do with the mother who is, after all, a complete stranger.

Afghanistan's first "peace assembly", state-sanctioned and with delegates from around the country, has determined that the best course of action to end the war is to reach out to the Taliban. Obama's "off ramp" deadline for Afghanistan looms.

Classy dame Sandra Bullock makes first appearance since divorce news to accept Troops Choice Award for Entertainer of the Year. To standing ovation, she jokes: "I would do it over again if it was to entertain our troops , and our extraordinary troops deserve something much more than some actress in a tight dress talking about herself." I bet the tight dress doesn't hurt, though.

Glenn Reynolds writes about the higher education bubble. Story of my life.

The UK avoided a public inquiry into the 7/7 bombings because it would upset Muslims. Best end of civilization ever. Really, five stars.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:33 PM | Comments (405)
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It's about the missiles, stupid:

Iran's elite* Revolutionary Guards are ready to provide a military escort to cargo ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

*The word "elite" is used to distinguish these individuals from ordinary Iranian troops who can't wipe their asses without detailed verbal instructions from superiors. The elite troops are literate enough to puzzle out an instruction manual.

I doubt the Israelis would have trouble dealing with Iranian ships attempting to break the blockade. But does Iran even have the force projection capability to challenge Israel by sea? This sounds like an empty boast from the Ayatollah.

It also has the unintended benefit of stripping cover from the "peace activists" and the U.N. Israel has been saying all along that the challenge to the blockade was orchestrated by Iran via useful idiots (read: liberals) from the West. Surprise, surprise, Israel was right.

More: The IDF just released the names of terrorism-linked "peace activists" captured on the Mavi Marmara.

Fatimah Mahmadi (born 1979), is a United States resident of Iranian origin, and an active member of the organization “Viva Palestine”, she attempted to smuggle forbidden electronic components into the Gaza Strip.

Ken OÂ’Keefe (Born 1969), an American and British citizen, is a radical anti-Israel activist and operative of the Hamas Terror organization. He attempted to enter the Gaza Strip in order to form and train a commando unit for the Palestinian terror organization.

Hassan Iynasi (born 1982), a Turkish citizen and activist in a Turkish charity organization, is known of providing financial support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Terror organization.

Hussein Urosh, a Turkish citizen and activist in the IHH organization, was on his way to the Gaza Strip in order to assist in smuggling Al-Qaeda operatives via Turkey into the Strip.

Ahmad Umimon (born 1959), is a French citizen of Moroccan origin, and an operative of the Hamas Terrorist organization.

I am shocked, shocked that the Iranians would have anything to do with smuggling terrorists into Gaza. Shocked.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:16 AM | Comments (217)
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Once Again, AOSHQ Commenters Prove Themselves More Useful Than The MSM

Thanks to, um, 'conscious and not laying in a pool of urine any longer' in the Tinkle Poll comments thread:

An illegal immigrant from Iran named Hamid Malekpour was discovered last month smuggling a huge load of sniper rifles and high-powered weaponry across the Canadian border into Washington State. He has since been arrested and charged with entering the country illegally with firearms and ammunition, as well as filing a false report with a federal agency.

Fortunately, our first layer of national defense kicked in. That layer being the terrorists' own bountiful stupidity and bungling. That one has saved countless American lives. And God knows we'll always be able to depend on it. /sarc

When questioned by agents about the cache in his car, which included all the .50-caliber ammunition, he claimed to be a hunter. As evidence, he produced a computer image of a recently expired North Dakota hunting license.

In his wallet, agents found a Canadian hunting license, issued the previous day in the name of Hamid Malekpour. They also found a valid British Columbia driverÂ’s license in the name of King, issued in 2008, and a Canadian postal receipt from the previous day in the name of Malekpour.

Please do check out the links to see what kind of serious weaponry they found.

Apparently the only place this was reported was in the East Overshoe Weekly Reminder, between a nifty 20% coupon for wallpaper at Mort's Hardware and an ad for some guy with a pickup truck who does junk removal.

The MFM doesn't find stories like this interesting unless the guy is named Bob and he's been to a Tea Party. But the average American finds this sort of thing positively scintillating. You could say our interest has been permanently piqued by an event that happened almost nine years ago.

They have become such parrots and narrative pushers that they even refuse to recognize a story that will sell papers.

Useless.

Posted by: LauraW at 11:01 AM | Comments (119)
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1.) Yes, you're really REALLY tired and would rather not move.
2.) It's a nonporous floor. Let's say the kitchen floor.
3.) Somehow you know it's your urine and not somebody else's.

Posted by: LauraW at 08:12 AM | Comments (310)
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Every once and awhile, I write something good. In the spirit of "don't reinvent the wheel", I'm linking to last year's D-Day commemoration post. Hopefully, Dave will come along later & put up a companion post to this one. That goober always finds the best pictures to use, and I don't even want to try to compete.

(What am I going to do today? I don't know, Moses and I are probably going to put on our bicycle helmets and run into the wall over & over again and giggle like morons. It's funny how just having a kid along with you can turn "dumbass drinking games" into "spending quality time with your son".)

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 04:58 AM | Comments (67)
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Back when I was in college majoring in Anguish and felt the kind of existential pain that only snot-nosed college kids with no real experience of life can feel, I drew up a list of so-called "Desert Island books": books that I'd want to have with me if I were ever stranded on a desert island. The idea being that these books would serve as food for brain and spirit during the long years of isolation.

The list has changed over the years as my tastes and philosophy changes, but it's remained pretty stable now for a number of years. I'm not sure if this means that I've (finally) attained maturity, or if it just means that I'm getting cranky and mulish in my dotage.

List of books after the jump. more...

Posted by: Monty at 03:32 AM | Comments (145)
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And so what's it gonna be guys? Amateur hour? You're all on effin notice.

Retro Ace: The Paul Anka Rant

Okay it's probably been a few months since Ace has linked to the classic Paul Anka rant which means it's a good fuckin' time to do it again for some of the recent refugees who aren't up to speed on the integrity we expect around here. So let me put you some goddamn knowledge - way back in 2004 Ace somehow discovered this recorded rant by Mr. Paul Anka where he lectures his band for continuing to screw up the show using his own unique style of phrases and profanity.

It's a work of beauty and has become a long running gag here. You'll regularly hear echoes of it in the posts here and it probably is the oldest meme here at the HQ. In fact Anka actually hosted this site one weekend and gave his unique take on boobies, hobos, and gay marriage. So click on Paul's picture below and straighten yourself out with some wisdom from the master:

Of course there's also the Buddy Rich rants which you can listen to here. But to my ears there's a big difference between Anka and Rich's rants. Anka sounds exasperated with his crew and you get the feeling that he's already covered every one of the points he mentions several times and yet they're still screwing up. Most of his comments are profane but constructive and I think he'd be totally happy if they just stopped fucking up.

Buddy Rich on the other hand comes off as a bullying prick who's just looking to start a fight with one of band members. Which pretty much corresponds to every story I've ever heard about him including the one where he stole a gun from Mel Torme. Doc Weasel has more thoughts on Paul Anka vs. Buddy Rich here. more...

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:08 PM | Comments (1091)
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Jim Greer, no not that Jim Greer, says that Governor Crist knew all about his confidential fundraising role with the state party.

"You guys work hard. You deserve it,'' Chase said Greer was told by the governor as they played pool in February 2009 at a Palm Beach golf tournament.

Crist, an independent candidate for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat, said Saturday that he didn't know about Victory Strategies until after Greer resigned in January. He said he knew Greer wanted to replace O'Rourke with Johnson, but was unaware that they set up a separate company and that Greer had a stake in it.

"Jim thought a change would be a good idea and I said, 'Whatever you think needs to be done, and if you need to bring in Delmar, that's fine,' " Crist said.

Greer has been charged with money laundering and fraud, while Crist and Sen. George LeMieux run for cover.

I don't know whether there's any truth to this and obviously Greer isn't a credible source for anything. Still, there's actually a bit of karmic justice to this story. All of it came out after Crist charged Marco Rubio with financial irregularities. The ensuing investigation by federal authorities turned up irregularities all right--with Crist-aligned establishment politicos like Jim Greer.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:25 PM | Comments (291)
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Obama Admin gaffe machine strikes again:

An official statement from the US foreign policy chief paid tribute to the "Queen’s life and legacy,” despite the fact that the Monarch does not celebrate her official birthday until next weekend.

The diplomatic faux pas, sent on behalf of President Barack Obama and the American people on Friday, also celebrated the "special relationship" between the British and US governments.

[...]

A spokesman for Mrs Clinton attemped to make light of the gaffe.

"We were a week early," Philip Crowley joked to reporters in Washington.

"As always, it is better to give a greeting a week early than a week late."

And still better to get the timing right, dingus.

The Obama Administration's foreign policy has been fundamentally unserious from the very beginning. Actually, the amateur mistakes go back even to the campaign when, for example, Obama made a gaffe-prone victory lap through Europe. It continued the next month when his thoughtless initial statement on Russia's invasion of Georgia had to be "corrected" to parrot McCain's.

Once installed in the White House, Obama's crack diplomatic team managed an embarrassing first two months with insulting treatment of Gordon Brown and his wife, followed a month later by an insulting gift to the Queen along with a protocol breach by Michelle Obama for good measure.

Clinton's own start wasn't great either, as she encouraged the Russians to "overcharge" our diplomatic relationship. By March, the list of foreign policy gaffes included:

1. Canada: NAFTA fiasco.
2. Poland: missile shield "misunderstanding".
3. UK: Churchill bust return.
4. Russia: "overcharge" button.
5. UK: insulting the Browns, the Queen.
6. France: not realizing that Chirac has been out of power for two years.
7. Brazil: Misspelling the Brazilian president's name.
8. Mexico: NAFTA
9. India: Thinking Kashmir is in Poh-kee-stan.

A catalog of diplomatic faux pas followed over the summer. Between then and now, the gaffes have been too numerous to count (though we try our best to document them all here at the HQ).

Obama and his amateurish administration are trying to learn on the job and failing miserably at it.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:05 PM | Comments (113)
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