Just announced that they will conviene the convention as planned Monday and then immediately recess until Tuesday.

Lots of scrambling going on now to rearrange speakers I'd guess.

One upside, Mike Huckabee was scheduled to speak Monday night. Now he can go hang out in Missouri with Todd Akin and the rest of us can forget he exists.

Also solves another problem, ABC, NBC and CBS weren't going to cover night one anyway.

That decision was causing big problems for the Romney campaign because because Ann Romney was scheduled to be the featured speaker that night. Since she's regarded as one of his best surrogates and a key to humanizing him they obviously want her to get as much exposure as possible. (Update: They had already moved Ann Romney's speech)

Of course, there are no such restrictions on the DNC convention. Those 3 networks will be there every night to cover all the brave Democrats will to be seen supporting soon to be ex-President Barack Obama.

Now the networks may say they are covering the same amount of nights at each convention and that's technically true. The thing is, the Democrats were supposed to have a traditional four night convention but back in January they announced something new and super exciting!

And in a twist, the party will forgo the convention's traditional Monday opening and instead entertain tens of thousands that day at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Except a few months later it turns out they couldn't raise the money, so they basically scrapped that plan.

So because the Democrats failed to successfully organize their convention, ABC, CBS and NBC now have an out to screw the GOP out of a night of coverage.

Bias? What bias?

Posted by: DrewM at 02:47 PM | Comments (344)
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Just standard boilerplate advice on menacing the public.

Remember, Uncle Janet says that Tea Partiers are dangerous domestic terrorists. The Tea Party, you recall, are that group of mostly older people who have a nasty habit of waving American flags and leaving the parks they use for their rallies fastidiously clean. Terrifying.

Meanwhile: A blah blah blah, Texas Governor's house bombed, YAWN 2008 RNC bomb plot, "Mostly Peaceful," oh whatever bricks and pipes left on rooftops to injure or kill 2012 RNC convention-goers.

Occupy has plans to invade the RNC as well, featuring maps of residences, hotels, and businesses to target. Mostly peacefully.

Quote from the Anonymous video:
..."the small businesses should be left alone. Unless of course, there is a Mitt Romney sticker in their window. Ha ha ha."

Hmm. For anarchists, they seem rather partisan, don't they. How very mysterious.

Thanks to JohnE. and @JazzShaw on Twitter.

Posted by: LauraW at 01:45 PM | Comments (220)
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Godspeed, sir.

Armstrong's family released a statement which concludes...

“For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”

People are calling for a state funeral. I agree with a sentiment but Armstrong was such a private and modest man, I'm not sure how that would fit with his wishes.

Below, what are probably the most famous images and words in human history. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 11:52 AM | Comments (343)
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Call me a cynic, but I'm beginning to think this Obama chap has a little trouble telling the truth.

Obama in an interview with AP today:

Obama's view of a different second-term dynamic in Washington, even if both and House Republicans retain power, seems a stretch given the gridlocked politics of a divided government. He said two changes — the facts that "the American people will have voted," and that Republicans will no longer need to be focused on beating him — could lead to better conditions for deal-making.

If Republicans are willing, Obama said, "I'm prepared to make a whole range of compromises" that could even rankle his own party. But he did not get specific.

Who does President "I won, you lost" expect to believe this?

Meanwhile, Team Obama has cut another ad. This one features Republican women showing their support for Obama. Not only does it bizarrely claim that "if you're a woman that favors small government, you should vote for Obama", but naturally it turns out they lied and the ad features a registered Democrat posing as a Republican.

As Treacher said, "Just throw it on the pile with all the rest."

Posted by: JohnE. at 10:40 AM | Comments (187)
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Via the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center Facebook page:

Today in 1971: the Northrop M2-F3 Lifting Body makes its first supersonic flight, achieving Mach 1.1 with test pilot Bill Dana at the controls. This photo, taken during a flight piloted by Bill Dana just two weeks before, shows the M2-F3 launching from a B-52 carrier aircraft.

The M2-F3 is on display at the Museum in Washington, DC: http://s.si.edu/de5yM

Photo credit: NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

And as we all know, a sister craft was lost in a flight piloted by Col. Steve Austin. more...

Posted by: andy at 08:15 AM | Comments (202)
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One of the big knocks on the idea of Keynesian pump priming through government-funded construction jobs is, as President Boy Genius found out, that there's really no such thing as a "shovel-ready" project.

Another criticism is that construction jobs are, by definition, temporary.

Well, the Chinese have solved both these problems in spectacular fashion:

One of the longest bridges in northern China collapsed on Friday, just nine months after it opened, setting off a storm of criticism from Chinese Internet users and underscoring questions about the quality of construction in the countryÂ’s rapid expansion of its infrastructure.

A nearly 330-foot-long section of a ramp of the eight-lane Yangmingtan Bridge in the city of Harbin dropped 100 feet to the ground. Four trucks plummeted with it, resulting in three deaths and five injuries.

The 9.6-mile bridge is one of three built over the Songhua River in that area in the past four years. ChinaÂ’s economic stimulus program in 2009 and 2010 helped the country avoid most of the effects of the global economic downturn, but involved incurring heavy debt to pay for the rapid construction of new bridges, highways and high-speed rail lines all over the country.

Brilliant! If you build "infrastructure" that has to be constantly rebuilt, those construction jobs become permanent.

And shovel-ready? Well hells yeah. There's 330 feet of bridge rubble to move right now. Not to mention the 3 shovel-ready dead bodies.

Construction can begin immediately because all the permitting and everything was already done once. Just change the dates on the forms, and you're off and running.

The auto industry even gets a little boost out of it but the results for healthcare are more mixed. On the one hand, there were injuries that required treatment but on the other hand, those dead folks' costs went to zero.

You know who loves this idea? more...

Posted by: andy at 05:20 AM | Comments (297)
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Content to follow after moar coffee is consumed.

New Scott Brown ad below the fold. more...

Posted by: andy at 04:29 AM | Comments (153)
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So morons, Are You A Hero Or A Bystander? I'm sure we all would like to think that we'll jump right in to any situation and try to save the day but you never know how you'll really react until the s@*t hits the fan. Some people that you think would be naturals to act sometimes freeze and lock up and vice versa. You never know until you face the test.

Certain traits make it more likely that a person will make a split-second decision to take a heroic risk. People who like to take charge of situations, who respond sympathetically to others, and who have a strong sense of moral and social responsibility are more likely to intervene than people who lack those traits, research shows. Heroes tend by nature to be hopeful, believing events will turn out well. They consciously try to keep fear from hampering their pursuit of goals, and they tend to block out the possibility of injury or material loss.

Posted by: CDR M at 06:30 PM | Comments (480)
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Delaying. He might still show up.

Maybe on next Friday. When it's over.

Posted by: Ace at 05:42 PM | Comments (123)
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This doesn't seem possible to me -- not because I doubt the movie, but how can a political documentary beat Batman? Or the Expendables 2?

But in fact the film is, for the moment, opening as the country's number one film.

Huh?

Not to step on Obama 2016, but there's another one coming out on DVD too. more...

Posted by: Ace at 05:00 PM | Comments (250)
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