I need this anxiety?

No, I do not need this anxiety. Neither, I'm sure, do you.

***UPDATE FROM DRUDGE – CAMPAIGN DRAMA: VIDEO MADE 6 YEARS AGO SURFACES ON EVE OF FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE… DEVELOPING TONIGHT… ***

This from Drudge:

Curious tape dropping tonight. NOT from MOTHERJONES. Will cause controversy,ignite accusations of racism — in both directions!

— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) October 2, 2012

Internal debate at news network about airing tape tonight, on eve of debateÂ… MORE

— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) October 2, 2012

I honestly don't need this.

Possibly just to steel myself against bad news, here's my speculation: The tape hurts Romney, in an unfair way. The "network" that has it wants cover, to release it, and not be called out as a partisans pushing an unfair October Surprise.

So, they let Drudge know about it. Knowing he will build interest.

Now, interest built up, the public will clamor for the tape, and thus the media network can't be called out for partisan motive. After all, they're just doing what the public demands, right?

via @benk84

Posted by: Ace at 12:40 PM | Comments (501)
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No one's calling this out.

Perhaps I'm being overliteral here.

But Plouffe's defense of Obama fundraising hours after a major terrorist attack is that he's "on call 24/7."

NBC’s DAVID GREGORY: “Was it inappropriate for him to go to a fundraiser the day after this attack now in retrospect knowing that it was a terrorist attack, inappropriate for him to engage in politics as usual?”

DAVID PLOUFFE: “No. The president obviously is 24/7 engaged in the job of the presidency. He has spent an enormous amount of time in these weeks, by the way, in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy. So absolutely not. A president is on call 24/7, and that just comes with the job.”

What does "on call" mean? It means you might not be working, per se, but you are ready, willing, and able to work, at a moment's notice, if something important comes up.

Did nothing important come up? I rather thought something important came up. Something that he would be "called in" about. Something about a major terrorist attack in which four Americans, including our ambassador to Libya, were murdered in a coordinated military raid.

If they don't trouble to call him into the office for things like this, what exactly do they call him in for? To approve garbage man ads?

Call me crazy, but this is one of those things I think I might call the Smartest Man in the World in on.

Turns out when the 3 a.m. call came in, Obama was out fundraisin'.

Vid of Pfouffe below.

Plus, even Jon Stewart understands how bad this is for Obama. Perhaps if they did bother to rouse Obama from his Fundraisin' n' Golf layabout lifestyle, he might have informed himself of the actual facts of the matter, and not continued blaming "the video" days after his press secretary announced the attack was "self-evidently" terrorism.

News of the coverup is trickling out to the general masses. Worth a view, I think. Not terribly funny, but bless his heart, he tries.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:08 PM | Comments (247)
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Taking the second headline first: Wired's Danger Room reports on a long string of Al Qaeda-like attacks on Western interests (including the consulate itself) in Benghazi in the months leading up to the deadly attack. And Obama seems to have been the only person not anticipating an attack:

As Danger Room first reported, the U.S. military never protected the Benghazi outpost. That job was instead left to a small British private security firm, named Blue Mountain, that was paid $783,000 for it efforts. In the weeks leading up to the September 11 assault, the unarmed Libyan guards employed by Blue Mountain Group were “warned by their family members to quit their jobs… because there were rumors in the community of an impending attack,” Issa and Chaffetz write. There were no smoke-protection masks or fire extinguishers, so consulate staff couldn’t put out the flames once the place started to burn. A source tells Fox News that the only protective equipment stationed at the consulate were a few video cameras.

All this despite an April 11 battle — which included antiaircraft guns and RPGs — that erupted just two-and-a-half miles from the consulate. Fifteen days after that, an American Foreign Service Officer had to be pulled out of a firefight by members of a local militia, the February 17 Brigade.

Just a few weeks later a militant group launched RPG attacks at a Red Cross office in the vicinity of the consulate. The group then updated its Facebook page to read:

“We didn’t want to hurt the Christians; it is just a warning. Now we are preparing a message for the Americans.”

When Jake Tapper asked the White House if consulate staffers had asked for increased security prior to the attack, the White House said "No comment."

Issa and Chaffetz wrote:

“[M]ultiple U.S. federal government officials have confirmed to the Committee that, prior to the September 11 (2012) attack, the U.S. mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi. The mission in Libya, however, was denied these requests by officials in Washington.”

Jay Carney's response? Same crap they keep saying.

“I’m not going to get into a situation under review by the State Department and the FBI,” Carney said.

Well that's convenient.

What level of naivete is required to blow off serious threats to US personnel? Who denies a request for more security in a roiling Al Qaeda town?

The Administration denied, Chris Stevens died.

A suspect in the attacks is one Muhammad Jamal Abu Ahmad. He seems to have been released as part of that Arab Spring that Obama was once so crazy about.

Fighters linked to one freed militant, Muhammad Jamal Abu Ahmad, took part in the Sept. 11 attack on U.S. diplomatic outposts in Libya that killed four Americans, U.S. officials believe based on initial reports. Intelligence reports suggest that some of the attackers trained at camps he established in the Libyan Desert, a former U.S. official said. Â…

On returning to Egypt in the 1990s, a former U.S. official said, Mr. Ahmad became head of the operational wing of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which was then headed by Ayman al-Zawahiri, a physician who is now the chief of al Qaeda. Associates of Mr. Ahmad agree he was part of Egyptian Islamic Jihad but say he wasnÂ’t among its leaders....

So this guy is a disciple of Zawahiri, and a day before the attacks Zawahiri called for "vengeance" for the death of an Al Qaeda operative there.

And he was sprung from prison, it seems, in an effort to appease the Muslim Brotherhood -- which now controls Egypt, and which is pressuring Obama to release the Blind Sheikh who masterminded the 1993 WTC bombing.

Despite Nina Totenberg chuckling off this murder/terrorism cover-up business, it does appear the Administration is covering up a case of colossal negligence and incompetence.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:31 AM | Comments (212)
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I would prefer the term "downturn" because I think we're still in the same recession -- or depression -- that started in 2008. In this depressionary economy, we will have cycles of growth and contraction, but all zeroed around the reduced, depressionary level of the New Normal.

As I keep saying, this happened in the Great Depression too. An economy never remains perfectly static-- it grows some, it contracts some. But in a Depression, its equilibrium is set several big steps below its optimum level.

Economists have mistaken this natural, inevitable "growth along the bottom" for a recovery.

That said, it could very well be that we're now in the middle of a recession within our depressionary economy.

[I]t’s more than a little frightening that we’re seeing a spate of depressing numbers that could signal a recession on the horizon — or that one is already here. On Thursday the Commerce Department revised down its estimate of second-quarter GDP growth to 1.3% from an already sluggish 1.7%. If that weren’t bad enough, the Department also reported that orders of durable goods – long-lasting pieces of equipment like airplanes or heavy machinery – fell 13.2% in August. And Friday, the Project Management Institute was out with a survey which showed that manufacturing activity in the Chicago region was contracting, surprising many analysts. While it’s unwise to read too much into any one of these data, the three in succession are unsettling.

These data also give ammo to bearish commentators who have long been predicting a recession in either late 2012 or early 2013. John Hussman, president of Hussman Economectrics Advisors, is one of those bears and he has recently reiterated that prediction. In his most recent note Hussman wrote:

“We continue to infer that the economy has already entered a recession – something that will probably take several more months to be broadly recognized. We’re seeing fresh lows on the most leading economic component that we infer using unobserved components methods . . . matching weakness that emerged in late 2000 and late 2007. On a slightly positive note, we don’t yet see the near free-fall in these measures that occurred later in 2001 and 2008 as economic weakness rapidly gained momentum.”

(MORE: Home Sales, Prices Rise: Is Housing Finally Ready to Lead a Recovery?)

And Hussman isn’t the only one. The Economic Cycle Research Institute – which has good track record calling recessions – has also been predicting a downturn. Now the ECRI is saying that the U.S. is in recession as we speak...

Posted by: Ace at 10:44 AM | Comments (321)
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Global warming, like pollution and smoke due to indoor fires.

Indeed, 1.4 million deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution, which is almost entirely unrelated to global warming. This air pollution, of course, is still predominantly caused by fossil fuels, but only because that is what we mostly use for fuel in the world. So, while the report is technically correct in saying that these 1.4 million deaths are caused by "the present carbon-intensive economy," these deaths are in no way caused by climate change. Rebranding air pollution, mostly from particulate pollution, as "carbon" appears both disingenuous and designed to confuse. It was clearly intended to convey the message that these deaths were somehow relevant for the global warming debate.

Moreover, 3.1 million deaths in 2010 were due to indoor smoke, which in no way is caused by global warming and has little or nothing to do with fossil fuels. According to the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution is due to cooking and heating with biomass fuels (agricultural residues, dung, straw, wood) or coal products, and biomass, which is entirely unrelated to fossil fuels, constitutes more than 85 percent of the total. So, while the study lumps all these deaths together as resulting from the use of carbon-based fuels, it is only true in the most exaggerated meaning of that word, in that all biomass contains carbon.

The bottom line: When the study reports that 4.975 million people die in 2010 from the "combined climate-carbon crisis", the reality is that 4.575 million have not been caused by global warming.

And he's got a problem with the 0.4 million left over, too.

But this headline has gone out to all the liberal media today, including Businessweek. Global warming, it is claimed, will kill 100 million people by 2030.

Just nonsense and mummery, like the Prophets of Doom of old.

We seem to have become a Post-Enlightment culture. Mysticism and prophecy are all the rage again, as they once were.

Smoke Inhalation Counts As A Global Warming Death? Alex seizes upon this to suggest Susan Rice's next talking point:

bviously Ambassador Steven's death due to indoor smoke inhilation is more evidence that we must redouble our efforts to fight global climate change.

Posted by: Ace at 10:10 AM | Comments (226)
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First from the Telegraph (doing the journalistic work American journalists won't do):

But the real smoking gun is whether the Obama administration was warned in advance that al-Qaeda was planning an attack. A number of Israeli newspapers have suggested that Washington was warned as early as September 4 – a week earlier – that the environment in Benghazi was becoming increasingly hostile and anti-American, while in London the Foreign Office took the decision to withdraw all its consular staff from Benghazi two months before the murders. This decision was based on an intelligence assessment made by MI6 that al-Qaeda was openly operating in the area following a failed assassination attempt on Sir Dominic Asquith, Britain's ambassador to Libya, in June.

It is well known that British intelligence works closely with its counterpart in America, and if MI6 knew al-Qaeda was operating in the Benghazi region, then it is highly likely that the CIA did too.

American diplomats in Libya made repeated requests for increased security for the consulate in Benghazi and were turned down by officials in Washington, leaders of a House committee said Tuesday.

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chairman Darrell Issa and Rep. Jason Chaffetz said their information came from "individuals with direct knowledge of events in Libya."

Issa, R-Calif. and Chaffetz, R-Utah said the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans was the latest in a long line of attacks on Western diplomats and officials in Libya in the months before Sept. 11.

Full-blown scandal.

Posted by: JohnE. at 08:40 AM | Comments (529)
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Mitt Romney's garbageman thinks Mitt's a mean guy because he's never hugged him or offered him something to drink.

Seriously.

The ad is from AFSCME, the largest public employees union.

Here's my question for the butthurt garbageman...Have you ever thanked Mitt Romney or anyone else for working hard to pay the taxes that cover your salary?

It's bad enough so many public sector workers demand high wages and outrageous benefit and pension plans, now they expect us to kiss their asses for the privilege.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:54 AM | Comments (415)
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• CNN: None Of Our Sources Corroborate Obama's Bullsh*t Story
  
• The New Left Fascists
  
• Wisconsin Military Ballots Sent Out After Deadline By Municipalities
  
• Lizzie Warren Cites Dick Lugar As Republican She Can Work With. Dick Lugar Lost His Primary Months Ago
  
• Obama Calls Debate Prep "A Drag"
  
• John Elway Endorses Romney
  
• New Romney Ad Hits Obama For Tax Raises
  
• Obama Guarantees White Sox Will Make The World Series. White Sox Elimitated Last Night
  
• Pro-Western MIkheil Saakashvili Loses Election
  
• Ruling Expected Today: PA Voter ID Law Ruling Could Mean Political Swing
  
• Much To CNN's Dismay, Romney's Winning The Economist Vote
  
• The Cost Of Purity
  
• How Can ABC Laugh At Media Bias When George Stephanopoulos Is Their Post Debate Anchor?
  
• More Problems For IPhone 5
  
• ABC, NBC, CBS Dont Report On New Findings From Univisions F&F Special
  
• Forkstabbed. You Got Forkstabbed Charlie
  
• For Those Of You Who Don't Get The Forkstabbed Reference
  
• Obama Leads By 4 In Quinnipiac Poll That Has A 24 GOP Sample

Update: Court passes injunction for PA Voter ID law. Votes cast without ID will still count. Apparently a year, TV ads, free ID and a primary dry run wasn't enough.

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Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:35 AM | Comments (376)
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Happy Tuesday.

NRO's Robert Costa has your definitive debate prep post. The short version: he's gonna try real hard and keep humanizing and be aggressive, but statesmanlike and try and talk in complete sentences while not letting Obama's smarm or the moderator's half-truths get under his skin. Okaaaaaay.

The Weather Channel has decided to start naming blizzards and big snowstorms. Because they're bored over there, or something.

Jerry Doyle will take over Michael Savage's time slot on talk radio. If you listen to the radio this might matter to you.

The Romney campaign has a new TV ad out today: "Already Has."

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:51 AM | Comments (307)
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[Above-the-post Update - Andy: I broke out the emergency comment site while we wait on Pixy to round up a spare TRS-80 floppy. Old-school comments are back.]
[Above-the-post Update - Pixy: Do you know how hard it is to get TRS-80 floppies these days? I had to overwrite my copy of Zork. ]

Neil Armstrong Buried at Sea

He was buried at sea with a US Navy honor guard aboard the USS Philippine Sea (CG 58 ) on Sept. 14th. Captain Steve Shinego, commanding officer of the USS Philippine Sea presented the US flag to his wife, Carol Armstrong, following the service.

Space Combat vs. 'Aircraft Carriers in Space'

Naval analyst Chris Weuve explains the difference and how movies and books get it wrong:

There are so many that are so bad. Star Wars is probably the worst. There is no explanation for why X-Wings [fighters] do what they do, other than the source material is really Zeroes [Japanese fighter planes] from World War II. Lucas quite consciously copied World War II fighter combat. He basically has said they analyzed World War II movies and gun camera footage and recreated those shots. Battlestar Galactica has other issues. One thing I have never understood is why the humans didn't lose halfway through the first episode. If information moves at the speed of light, and one side has a tactically useful FTL [faster-than-light] drive to make very small jumps, then there is no reason why the Cylons couldn't jump close enough and go, "Oh, there the Colonials are three light minutes away, I can see where they are, but they won't see me for three minutes?"

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:10 PM | Comments (757)
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