Happy Thursday. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:52 AM | Comments (327)
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Operation Eagle Claw: April 24th, 1980

Commenter Ryan reminded me that yesterday was the 32nd anniversary of the failed Iranian hostage rescue. Just one of the many reason I keep a torch of hate in my heart for Jimmy Carter and the Iranians.

Under the cover of darkness, eight navy helicopters were to fly from the U.S.S. Nimitz, based in the Arabian Sea, to "Desert One," a secret staging area in central Iran picked by the CIA, where they were to meet up with U.S. Delta Forces aboard three C-130 transport planes flying in from Oman. Another three C-130 transport planes carrying 18,000 gallons of fuel for the helicopters were also supposed to land at Desert One. The eight Navy helicopters would then refuel and fly the Delta Forces to "Desert Two," another spot about 50 miles south of Teheran, where they would conceal the helicopters and hide out during the day.

Eagle Claw only got as far as Desert One when disaster struck. On the night of April 24, 1980, a dust storm (haboob) forced one of the eight Navy helicopters to turn back, and another crash-landed after being disabled. The other six helicopters landed at Desert One, but another was lost to hydraulic problems. With just five helicopters operational, the commander on the scene decided to abort the mission - but that's when the real trouble started.

As the U.S. aircraft prepared to evacuate, one of the helicopters crashed into a C-130 carrying fuel and troops, destroying both aircraft and killing eight U.S. personnel. In the ensuing panic, all the other helicopters were abandoned - but not destroyed - so the Iranians actually came out ahead by several helicopters (some of which are still in service in the Iranian Navy).

Despite the mission's failure plans were made for another rescue mission: "Planning for a second rescue mission attempt was authorized under the name Project Honey Badger shortly after the first failed."

And note that the State Department is still preventing the American hostages from suing the Iranian government based on an agreement that was never ratified and ended when the Carter Administration did.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:07 PM | Comments (725)
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It's always illuminating when these folks get comfortable and know they're alone with others of their stripe.

Herein, an EPA official discloses how abusing the power of the thug-state has salutary effects.

How to get compliance from the peasants?

“kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean: they’d go into little Turkish towns somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they’d run into, and they’d crucify them.”

Video is from 2010, but it's new to me.
Thanks to Teresa.

Posted by: LauraW at 01:29 PM | Comments (541)
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John Edwards' defense, suggested by his lawyer in opening statement, is that Andrew Young was up to all of these shenanigans for himself, not John Edwards.

John Edwards didn't know anything about a cover-up or secret payments or Andrew Young's sham claim of paternity of Edwards' child, you see. Andrew Young was doing all these things at his own initiative, in order to preserve a relationship with the wealthy Edwards.

Okay. Whatevs.

The Daily Beast digests Young's testimony.

The general thrust is that covering up Edwards' affair -- placating Reille Hunter, etc. -- became the sum and entirety of Young's job. Here are few snippets.

Young described how he was ordered to procure a special cellphone so the lovers could secretly communicate. “We called it the Bat Phone,” Young said. “He worried that Mrs. Edwards was checking his cellphone records.”

Because Edwards needed money to keep Reille quiet, get this -- the multimillionaire Edwards asked the salary-man Andrew Young for a loan.

In a stunning revelation, the witness alleged the multimillionaire Edwards first asked him for a loan knowing that the Youngs had recently come into a windfall of some $400,000 on the sale of their home. Asked for his response to Edwards by the prosecutor, Young replied, “I said, ‘No, sir.’ We needed that money to build our new house.” And, Young added, “We always had trouble getting reimbursed from the office. Giving him two or three hundred dollars once in a while was one thing, but …” His voice trailed off and the point was made. (To hear Young tell it, Edwards rarely dipped into his own pocket—not even the day Young drove the lovers to a clinic to get their shots prior to their alleged trip to Africa.)

Weird thing but I hear that happens -- some rich people just get used to people paying for them, oddly enough.

Kind of a con, I guess. I guess people of lesser means will lavish money on people like Edwards with the expectation they'll get a big windfall from their investment some day.

Young says he and Edwards discussed the idea of asking über-wealthy Texas lawyer Fred Baron for financial help since he had been generous in the past. The senator nixed that idea, said Young, saying Baron was too close to his political rivals—Bill and Hillary Clinton—and, besides, Baron was “too much of a gossip.”

Then, serendipitously, a note from one of Edwards' richest donors arrived offering help. Rachel “Bunny” Melon wanted John to be the next president so he could “rescue America.” Young said she sent a handwritten note suggesting she could funnel checks through her trusted interior decorator as a way “to help our friend (Edwards) without government restrictions.” Edwards called Bunny Mellon after receiving the letter and, according to Young, announced, “She was good to go!”

Eventually Edwards convinced Young to claim he was Hunter's babydaddy. But then some story got out that Young had had a vasectomy.

In perhaps the most damning testimony of the day, Young related a panicked phone call from Edwards in which he nervously asked his staffer if he had undergone such surgery. “If you have had a vasectomy, Andrew, this whole cover-up is no good,” Young quoted him as saying. Young said the truth was that he had never had such a procedure.

Here's a typical biased headline from the MSM: John Edwards Makes Rush Limbaugh Look Like A Feminist.

They just can't let the facts speak about a Democrat without dragging a completely-unrelated Republican into it. And they continue to be stone-cold stupid: Politics have very little to do with one's character.

Al Gore became the Crusading Avenger for Campaign Finance Reform when, exactly? Oh yes: Right after he got caught taking hundreds of thousands of illegal overseas campaign donations from Chinese nuns.

Hath no liberal ever read Shakespeare?

Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Do they have any idea what that means?

Public pronouncements can cover a whole lot of private squalor, can't they?

Posted by: Ace at 12:40 PM | Comments (152)
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The April release is here, with a focus now on four states, Colorado, Florida, Virginia and Ohio. Romney beats Obama in Florida, ties in Colorado, trails by two in Virginia, trails in Ohio by 5. Obama's approval rating has gone up a point, but dropped amongst independent voters, who break for Romney 46-44.

Obama leads by 4 in the combined sample from New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Virginia and North Carolina. New Mexico and Minnesota if you notice on the side bar aren't being tracked. I don't get why they are considered swings this cycle and state-by-state polling has confirmed my suspicions, but if Obama stumbles regionally I may begin tracking them.

In no swing region is Obama enjoying a positive approval rating. He carries the Swing South narrowly by a point and the Rust Belt and "Wild West" by two. With a lopsided margin in Ohio, I am a bit puzzled why he isn't carrying the Rust Belt by more. I mean, isn't there a large, poorly-drawn rectangle of a state right next to Ohio that is grouped into this region? A state with more voters than Ohio, and where just as many voters were polled? It couldn't possibly mean that Obama is losing the Keystone State. Or could it?

Not a bounce nationally for Romney, but his approval rating has swung twenty points from its nadir, and we are barely in week two of the general. The Colorado number, after months of PPP's ever-growing margins for Obama there, is a bit of a shock, but could reflect the willingness of Republicans to actually fight back- they have, after all, seen a boost in voter registration, enough to give them a 110k edge over the Democrats.

The underlying numbers for Americans in these states should worry the President. He has enjoyed a lead mainly because only 82% of the R vote here goes to Romney. Mitt locks up more of that, it will tie out or swing, depending on the independent vote. The economic outlook for those in these 12 states is dropping, and with the news out of Europe and hiring slowing here, that will probably continue to do so.

The twelve states polled per region:
Wild West: Colorado(TIED), Nevada, New Mexico (Obama leads by 2)
Swing South: Florida(R+2), North Carolina, Virgina(O+2) (Obama leads overall by 1)
Heartland: Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin (Obama leads overall by 6)
Rust Belt: Ohio(O leads by 5), Pennsylvania, New Hampshire (Obama leads overall by 2)

Posted by: CAC at 12:08 PM | Comments (119)
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Ed puzzles this out and weighs the "Romney's so liberal Jimmy Carter likes him" effect vs. "Romney's such a qualified and competent candidate even Jimmy Carter has to confess he'd be comfortable with him" effect.

I think this helps Romney-- slightly.

It makes it marginally more difficult to claim Romney is a Crazy Man Who Wants To Eat Your Children.

Meanwhile, Axelrod wants to know why we're talking about 40 year old dog stories, when we really should be talking about 25 year old dog stories.

Posted by: Ace at 11:43 AM | Comments (159)
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You know, unpredictable, ideologically-supple centrists such as these.

Posted by: Ace at 11:17 AM | Comments (111)
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I had this in the sidebar, but it seems more fun than that.

Freakonomics suggest this is a valid, but "possibly not repeatable" solution to the Prisoners' Dilemma.

Is it? It's fun, but doesn't the Prisoners' Dilemma situation assume no cross-communication and certainly no side-deals?

That said, I give this guy props for his Kirkian Solution. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:55 AM | Comments (64)
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Update: Good video, though not edited very tightly. It's below the fold.

Shades of the Celebrity ad from 2008.

This is pretty good ninja-sh*t right here.

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This is disappointing. I understand that someone like Jimmy Fallon certainly must have on the president if he's willing to come on, but usually it's an interview format.

This is a plain endorsement. It's a four-minute long stump speech, endorsed by Fallon.

Eh, I sort of liked the guy, and just started watching his show (sporadically). I'll stop that now. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:36 AM | Comments (255)
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Thanks to a tip from Master Photoshopper & Co-Blogger Slu-Diddy, I see that the Obama administration is bound & determined to lose what little support they enjoyed out here in "Flyover Country". Are you effing kidding me?

I've got nothing. If I argue the merits of this situation, I'm afraid that I'll suffer brain damage from close exposure to teh stupid. Besides, arguing won't change any minds where it matters in the Obama Administration. Much like the Ukranian firemen who put out the flames at Chernobyl, sometimes doing what needs to be done leaves you rotting in a Soviet hospital bed with terminal radiation exposure. Well, not me. I'm just going to be sitting over here grinding my teeth and counting down the days until I can vote for Romney.

PS - has anyone mentioned the fact that Obama has eaten dog meat yet today? Just thought I might throw that in there in case anyone has the short-term memory of a goldfish.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 10:15 AM | Comments (117)
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