In Case You Were Wondering…

Via Reuters: World's oldest joke traced back to 1900 BC. And let me tell you, they have unearthed some hy-larious stuff! The shocker of the day: the study "suggests that toilet humor was as popular with the ancients as it is today." The world's oldest recorded joke has been traced back to 1900 BC and suggests that toilet humor was as popular ...

AKP Escapes Ban (Barely)

Via the BBC: Turkey's ruling party escapes ban Turkey's Constitutional Court has decided not to ban the ruling AK Party, accused of undermining the country's secular system. But the judges did cut half the AKP's treasury funding for this year. That'll show 'em! (I honestly have no idea which funds or what they are used for--and the story does not elaborate.) In all ...

Yet Another Blow to the FARC

Via the BBC: Farc 'co-ordinator' held in Spain Spanish police say they have arrested the representative of the left-wing Colombian rebel group Farc in Spain. Maria Remedios Garcia Albert, a Spanish national, was detained near Madrid, as part of a joint operation by the Spanish and Colombian authorities. [...] It is claimed that Ms Garcia helped co-ordinate the group's wider activities in ...

McMaster Gets Star, ARCIC Directorship

H.R. McMaster has been officially nominated by the president for brigadier general and is "currently enroute to serve as director, concepts development and experimentation, Army Capabilities Integration Center, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virgina." Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell reports that, The ARCIC is a relatively new center that has the potential to be very influential in setting Army doctrine. ...

Only Muslim Extremists Get Upset About Cartoons

Good line, purportedly from Jon Stewart: Obama is not upset about the cartoon that calls him a Muslim extremist. Who gets upset about cartoons? Muslim extremists. via Steve Garfield. See "New Yorker Obama Terrorist Cover" for background and commentary on the story. UPDATE:  Amusingly, I see via Memeorandum, the hubbub goes on.  Obama is continuing to beat this dead horse: Democrat Barack Obama said ...

McCain and Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan

William Arkin contends that recent political maneuvering has put Barack Obama and President Bush in almost identical positions vis-à-vis Iraq: The Bush administration's potential Iraq withdrawal plan, floated in The New York Times over the weekend, to draw down brigades further before September of this year and to accelerate withdrawals in 2009, has collided with Barack Obama's own 16-month plan, which ...

The Importance of the Deficit

In commenting about John McCain's budget plans, Matthew Yglesias threw out this comment: Given the present circumstances, I can't think of any good reason for a presidential candidate to be promising to that we'll be at balanced budgets in four years. It would be nice to see the deficit on a decreasing trajectory rather than an increasing one, but achieving short-term ...

Iraq War Over? We Won?

Michael Yon says that we've won the war in Iraq and all that remains is clean-up. The war continues to abate in Iraq. Violence is still present, but, of course, Iraq was a relatively violent place long before Coalition forces moved in. I would go so far as to say that barring any major and unexpected developments (like an Israeli air ...

Anheuser-Busch Sold for $50 Billion

Anheuser-Busch agreed to sell to Belgium's InBev last night, demonstrating that all the howls about American pride were mere haggling over price.   All it took was raising the offer to $70 per share from $65 per share -- "a 27 percent premium over Anheuser's record-high stock price in October 2002" -- and giving a Busch a seat on ...

Caption Contest

Time for the Monday OTB Caption ContestTM I'm baaaaaaccckk!.... Happy Bash Steel Day! Thanks to Dodd for providing a couple excellent contests over the last couple of weeks. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso (SPAIN) Winners will be announced Thursday PM