Not satisfied with being credited with killing countless women and children in Vietnam, John Kerry's history is about to be rewritten (once again) to include his heroic deeds battling the most dastardly terrorist of all: Nesfaratu!

From the Seattle Times (via FARK):

John Kerry in the latest issue of "Sword of Dracula"....The Democratic presidential candidate turns up for a sighting of the fanged one in an unusual place: Vietnam, 1968, where Kerry served in the U.S. Navy....his appearance as a swift-boat skipper in the Mekong Delta is just a flashback within the modern-day "military horror" story — in which writer Jason Henderson reimagines Drac as the world's foremost terrorist.

"I didn't put Kerry in to push a leftist doctrine. I just thought people deserved to remember that this man, when he was a young man, actually walked away from a wealthy and comfortable life and went to a place where there were pieces of metal flying around that could tear you apart."

It's times like this that I wish I knew how to photoshop.

Other vampire slayers: James Joyner

Posted by: Rusty at 04:59 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Kevin Aylward has a brilliant idea. Give til it hurts baby. Redstate has a similar plan. PS-Screw you Kos.

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Who did Rove bribe (or kill) this time? (via Paul at Wizbang)

Or, maybe it was just Bush's new blog that turned the tide. (via Glenn Reynolds)

Update: What I didn't know was that Bush really has a blog. Even better, so do Jenna and Barb! (via Slantpoint)

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Matthew Yglesias and James Joyner both have pretty good posts today on Pres. Bush's hopes of winning the all-important Electoral College vote.

Matthew says:

If you look at the latest state by state numbers, Kerry's actually doing well enough that he could drop Florida and Pennsylvania (he's already losing in Ohio) and still win the election based on the other states where he's leading.

Still, I agree with Matt: the math favors Kerry

A scan of the site reveals that it is a highly partisan front in favor of the Kerry campaign. For instance, on one page President Bush's record is examined with links to a site accusing the Bush family of ties to the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. It also links to an article on how Bush stole the election. Electoral-vote.com is more than a partisan front--it is run by nutjobs!

A better analysis of the state-by-state electoral numbers can be found at election-projection.com. This site is run by Scott Elliot who is up front about his partisan leanings. But what makes Scott's site so good is that his electoral college vote count predictions are made using a publicly available formula. To add credence to his site, his prediction now is that Kerry wins.

These differences are very important. For instance, Scott's numbers show that Bush is ahead in several states that election-projecton show in Kerry's camp. These include TN, AZ, OH, WV, & NV. Update: Matthew Yglesias just e-mailed and, as a result I had to go back and change this--see why we use peer review in academia?). In fact, it seems that Scott has both OH and NV in Kerry's camp--the exact opposite of electoral-votee.com. It turns out, the differences aren't as important as I earlier suggested--both polls yield almost identical results! (hat tip to Matthew Yglesias for pointing that out)

The moral of this story is not to trust just any website. Yes, Kerry is slightly ahead in some state-by-state polling numbers but the race is still early. My own prediction is that Bush wins with either the exact same electoral margin as before, or slightly ahead, this time carrying MN and NM. Just a guess, but it is at least as well informed as those of election-projection.com---and probably a whole lot closer to the target.

UPDATED MORAL OF THE STORY: Blogs can be and often are wrong. This one included. Especially when writing in the heat of the moment. Ok, so both sites have similar outcomes, but I am still sticking with my original charge the electoral-vote.com is a DU fringe front and should not be the source of any credible information.

Why would I stick to this, even after my glaring mistakes were pointed out? Because, I just don't trust someone who is so far out in left field that he would actually site material linking Bush to the Nazis!!! That is beyond partisanship, that is wacko land. Our biases come out in many ways, especially when we select pieces of information used in analysis. I can't but help to think that someone who thinks Bush stole the election (literally) won't have some major data selection biases.

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Available at Aarons Rantblog or find the link in this post.

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...is what the headline will read over at Talking Points Memo. But Jeff Quinton has the goods on the real story:

Pakistan has arrested two more foreigners believed to be members of al Qaeda in the last 24 hours, local intelligence officials said Tuesday.

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Holy Schneike! My Blogfather, the Commissar, is blogging live from the Citigroup Center---which was listed as a specific target in the latest terrorist alerts. This guy has one giant set of cajones!

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My patented John Kerry's Secret Plan to End the War in Iraq® is getting some serious attention (and I'll forgive the copyright violations). People at the WaPo must be reading this blog. Captain Ed and Glenn Reynolds both notice the similiarites, too.

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Where else?

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My heroes, the creators of South Park, are at it again, but this time it's the War on Terror. You can check out the trailor for Team America:World Police here.

Drudge reports that the White House is not happy:

I really do not think terrorism is funny, and I would suggest PARAMOUNT give respect to those fighting and sacrificing to keep America safe," a senior Bush adviser told the DRUDGE REPORT this weekend...

"This is just unconscionable. Not funny. And I believe it makes fun of everyone in law enforcement... and in the armed services who work tirelessly to keep us safe from harm."

Also, if you can't laugh at the War on Terror, what can you laugh at? The reason I started this blog was because of a SP episode called "Osama bin Laden has farty pants," which is Stone and Parker's tribute to WWII propaganda cartoons. Comedy can be an essential tool in the War on Terror inasmuch as it makes fun of our enemies.

Listen to this clip of Osama wooing the love of his life--a camel! Does that sound like anti-war Bush bashing? They may bash Bush, on occasion, but not over the war.

The trailor only lists one Republican who, it claims, will be mad over the film: George W. Bush.

But let's look at all the D's and lefties the film will piss off (again, according to the trailor and in order):

Alec Baldwin
Sean Penn
Tim Robbins
George Clooney (who I suspect is in on the joke)
Liv Tyler
Susan Sarandon
Martin Sheen
Janeane Garofalo
Michael Moore
John Kerry
Kim Jong Il

The film appears to be a play on the new Thunderbirds movie, set for release this week---only Trey and Matt stick with the original puppet format.

From the trailor, the following things can be seen which will definitely cheer up the Bush people. First, there is a quick blurb of a puppet (Kerry or Edwards?) getting what appears to be a botox injection. Second, there is a Michael Moore puppet. What is in his hand? A hot dog. Third, several shots are of places/people in France getting blown up.

From an article about some clips that were shown at this years Comic-Con we also learn that, " the opening of the film in which France is obliterated by Team America" got a loud applause.

Now, does that sound like an anti-war movie to you?

Drudge, to his credit, saves this for last:

Parker and Stone save most of the mocking for left-wing pundits and Michael Moore.

As for me, I'm going to buy my ticket early and make sure the theater has stadium seating and THX sound!

This site has a cool poem marking the occasion!

Posted by: Rusty at 02:39 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Remember my thoughts on Kerry's speech and my nihilism toward's the whole DNC?

There is nothing to make fun of. Nothing worthwhile is being said. It's worse than that, there is nothing un-worthwhile being said either. The convention is not happening to me. It is not there and no one is writing about it. I feel nothing.

Combine that with the Newsweek Poll, which will be released tomorrow, showing J Freakin K with a measly four-point bump and I think the obvious conclusion is that the American people just didn't give a rat's ass. The speech didn't matter, Michael Moore didn't matter, Ben Damon or Matt Affleck or whatever gettin it on with JK's daughter didn't matter....even that hottie Sarah Bender didn't matter.

Like I've been saying to everybody: The convention didn't happen.

Posted by: Rusty at 12:37 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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John Kerry is an even more dangerous man than I thought (from AP):

On the War on Terror? End it. Instead, let's assign lots of FBI agents to the case and get real tough. Maybe we'll get that dude from CSI! And then, once bin Laden is caught, we'll get that guy from Law and Order. Or that chick. Yeah, she's tough.

I want him tried for murder in New York City, and in Virginia and in Pennsylvania," where planes hijacked by al-Qaida operatives crashed Sept. 11, 2001...

He called the Bush administration's attempt to create a Muslim security force in Iraq an overdue act of desperation. "Great idea," he said. "Should have been done from the very beginning."

Kerry has long been an opponent of the death penalty, but in recent years has made an exception for terrorism. The former prosecutor said crimes like rape and child murder do not warrant the highest punishment.

"It's certainly terrorizing to the person who's undergoing it. I understand that," Kerry said. "But terrorism is a political act to terrorize a nation, to try to challenge a way of life and a standard.. It's just a different act."

Asked whether he believes abortion is taking a life, Kerry said a fetus is a "form of life."

"The Bible itself - I mean, everything talks about different layers of development. That's what Roe v Wade does. It talks about viability. It's the law of the land."

Michelle Malkin also notes the disaster Kerry's foreign policy would be:

So, this is how Kerry proposes to make America "stronger and more secure?" By adopting the Clinton law enforcement approach as the primary means to combat Islamic terrorism? "Fastest, surest route" to a murder conviction? What about the need to interrogate bin Laden and gather critical intelligence on al Qaeda? Where did Kerry ever get the idea that putting bin Laden through our civilian courts would be "fast?" And how clueless could he possibly be to ignore the fact that much of the evidence against bin Laden (for example, statements of interrogated al Qaeda detainees such as Ramzi bin al Shibh and Khalid Sheik Mohamed) would be inadmissable at trial?

The idea of prosecuting suspected terrorists like burglars or drug dealers seems to make sense in principle, but jury trials for War on Terror suspects are fraught with peril.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:27 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Via Cranky Neocon

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I'm downloading my copy, why aren't you downloading yours?

I used Wizbang's mirror site. Download by clicking here. It took me about two minutes.

Other links can be found via Kevin at Wizbang.

Looks like my afternoon will be filled with some heavy reading.

Posted by: Rusty at 05:51 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Still scratching my head over this one. Iowahawk, on the other hand, has the story pretty well handled.

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