AND HYPE ON OBAMA: 15 things women most regret buying

OKAY THEN: Man slapped when he looks at Facebook ‘to increase productivity’

KEEP CALM AND FINISH HIM: Hey Obama, Your Firewall is On Fire

FIFTY SHADES OF GROSS: S&M boasts of boss who exposed herself at care home.

UPDATE: Link fixed.

ELIZABETH BATHORY CALL YOUR PHLEBOTOMIST:Transfusion of young blood could delay onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s.

DID I SAY WE NEED AN ADULT IN THE WHITE HOUSE?  Officials: Obama ready to veto a bill blocking ‘fiscal cliff’ without tax hike for rich.  Enough of the wounded child and his fractured ego, already.

YOUR THURSDAY MORNING DOSE OF DOOM AND GLOOM:  (Why wait for Friday, I say)

Terrorists ‘acquire nuclear container to smuggle uranium’

Hizbollah ‘launching rocket attacks into Syria’

Syrian rebels may have acquired surface-to-air missiles

Now get out there and work to get an adult in the White House.  We won’t have another chance.

FOUR CALLS: from the Obama campaign, one after the other.  Each answered in rude and obnoxious fashion (I’ve asked to be taken off their lists politely before.)  In Colorado.  Do you know what this reminds me of?  The McCain campaign where they called us nonstop for days despite requests for them to stop.  In contrast, Romney called once, I told them all voters in my house were voting Romney, don’t waste your time on us, and that was it.  Ground game?  Or running the game into the ground?

BIDEN OFF THE LEASH: [VIDEO] Biden Emerges, Demands ‘Every Single Operation’ for All Girls  Er… including vasectomies?

YEAH, WE’RE IRRATIONAL: Experts: Dogs, Bathtubs Scarier than al Qaeda.   Or as a (then) friend told me shortly after 9/11 “but I don’t understand why you’re so upset, more people die in car accidents every year.”  I realized then I was in the presence of one of the world’s great nitwits, unable to distinguish between accident and purposeful attack.  Apparently she’s not alone.  Somehow that doesn’t make it better.

TERRIFYING WINDOWS INTO OBAMA’S THOUGHTS:  Big Brother Reads Minority Report  — I do think this debate, like the VP one will prove more and more of a loss for Obama as people look at what he actually said.

THIS MIRRORS MY EXPERIENCE: ‘Paul Ryan Girl’ Video Reveals Fear of Being Openly Conservative in Show Biz

Coming out of the political closet didn’t hurt her.  It didn’t hurt me either. I blacklisted myself, but I’m still working.  I don’t know how many of you know the first time I saw my name at Instapundit (turned out it was about the afterword for Heinlein’s Puppet Masters) I was terrified.  I thought it would be the end of my career in publishing.  All the same, I felt compelled to come out of the political closet more and more.  Turned out I was right.  As soon as I started working at PJM and being more vocal about my politics in books, all but one publisher dropped me. OTOH that publisher is allowing me greater freedom than ever and my indie efforts are starting to show signs of paying off.  Also I seem to have more fans than ever.  Perhaps there’s a lot to be said to being brave and admitting to your beliefs or as Pratchett calls it “Being yourself as hard as you can.” Say it after me “I am Spartacus!”   Be Not Afraid.

I MAKE A GUEST BLOG APPEARANCE: in my guise as Elise Hyatt, author of the Daring Finds Mysteries.  (Lighter than air and completely non-political.)  A Fatal Stain is the newest book in the series.

THIS MADE ME LAUGH ALOUD: The H.P. Lovecraft Institute of Software Design

AND I THOUGHT THIS ONLY HAPPENED IN PUBLISHING: Suit claims looker snooker I wonder how many industries depending on freelancers are rotten all the say through.  With the new tech encouraging freelancing in everything, I wonder how it will shake out.

I WANNA GET OLD LIKE THIS: 82-year-old Austrian woman takes on bank robber

COL. HUNT SPEAKS: Col. Hunt On The Newest Libyan Revelations.  FIXED.  Sorry.

“During this six hours all these decision-makers are being updated by their staffs … these are constant video, written, digital, audio updates to the chain of command that did not function, that just seized up. … Pakistan blowing up a nuke, that, that was an intelligence failure.  9/11– big intelligence failure.  What happened in Benghazi is, was an operational leadership failure on an entire government chain of command that did not act and had six hours to do so and did nothing.” Col. Hunt to Howie Carr

[Do not listen if you have blood pressure issues.  The management of this site is not responsible for rage-induced heart attacks. — SAH]

THE FOG MACHINE: Speaking of Fog.

ANY CRITERION BEYOND COMPETENCE WILL DO THIS:  Female quotas ‘negatively affect’ business, says minister. Quotas are also based on the flawed idea that individuals are fallible and have prejudices but a concatenation of politicians, bureaucrats and regulations is pure and has no ulterior motives.  If that sounds sane, carry on with  quotas.

THEY KEEP USING THAT WORD: The Endless, Empty Refrain of ‘I Take Responsibility’  Hint — for adults responsibility comes with another word “consequences.”

AM (Not is.  BAD FB HABIT) BRINGING DOWN THE TONE AT VODKAPUNDIT: … and the refined commentary at Ace’s.  I love the new media.  (I swear I’m not drinking yet, despite my total grammatical dysfunction here.)

HE MIGHT TRY IT, IT WON’T WORK:  Will Obama attempt to use 2nd debate to make campaign referendum on Romney? As Glenn said, it’s a substance, not an image problem.

WHEN ALL YOU GOT IS YOUR LADYPARTS:  You still shouldn’t use them to think with. DWS: I desperately hope women’s issues come up in the debate

DON’T READ THIS TITLE WITH ANYTHING IN YOUR MOUTH: Obama Claims to have Created More Jobs than Reagan. Pretty well debunked at the Tatler, of course, but we’re not responsible for sprayed monitors all the same.

FREE ON AMAZON THIS WEEK:  Something Worse Hereafter.  A short story (by me) originally published in Out of Hell, an anthology of escapes from hell.