Indicted Blagojevich advisor dead.

Death by aspirin overdose.

The man federal prosecutors pressured to cooperate in the corruption probe of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich died of an apparent aspirin overdose on Saturday, law enforcement sources said.

Christopher Kelly, 51, of Burr Ridge, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 10:46 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today, a Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman said.

Death. By aspirin overdose.

Uh-huhh.

Moe Lane

(H/T streiff)

Crossposted to RedState.

400 lb snake seized in Florida.

This is pretty much why Fark has the Florida tag.

(Sept. 12) — Wildlife officials seized a 400-pound python from a Florida home on Friday.
Delilah, a pet Burmese python, was removed from her chain-link cage in her caretaker’s backyard — shortly after she finished eating seven rabbits for breakfast, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The snake measures around 18 feet long.

Click the link for a picture of the snake, which is freaking huge. The owner swears up and down that it’s a happy, docile four hundred pound python; which is good, because I’m not entirely sure that bullets can kill it. Seriously: I got nothing against snakes or keeping them as pets, but this is a specimen that you’d get experience points for killing.

Moe Lane

I’m sorry, I thought that I was clearer.

Spent the day at an SCA event.  The wife needed an A&S judge, the kitchen needed somebody on fennel-chopping duty, and the barony needed both of us there to get awards*.

And, to be honest: it’s nice to have days off.  And beers!  These days it’s just one beer if I get to have one at all.  I might have felt mildly guilty about it all if there wasn’t beer involved.

Moe Lane

*Baronial service award for her; AoA for me… yes, Gwalchmai: I smiled, was sincerely thankful for the honor, and said that this was all very unexpected.  Because, really, what the heck else can you do?

Three observations before I go out the door.

I am certain of three things:

  1. The Democrats are trying to manage expectations about today’s DC demonstration by coming up with a number of ‘expected’ protesters that is far above actual expectations;
  2. The media will play along;
  3. It won’t actually work.

But you can blame it on me, if 2 million don’t show up.  My wife has made some few comments about how nice it would be to see my face during daylight hours, for a change.

Crossposted to RedState.

Census Bureau Fires ACORN.

Big Government 1, ACORN 0.

In the wake of devastating video reports revealing corruption at local offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, the U.S. Census Bureau has cancelled its agreement calling for ACORN to work on the 2010 census.

“The Census Bureau has established criteria for partnerships…and reserves the right to decline partnership or terminate an existing partnership agreement with any group that 1) may create a negative connotation for the Census Bureau; 2) could distract from the Census Bureau’s mission; or 3) may make people fearful of participating in the census,” wrote Census Director Robert Groves in a letter today to ACORN President Maud Hurd. “To that end…we are today terminating our Partnership Agreement with ACORN.”

(Via Instapundit) Further comment unnecessary, except of course for my pious hope that ACORN tries to fight this decision all the way to the White House.  That’s the only way that this situation could be improved upon.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Ben Smith: Wilson wins?

Time:

The controversy over Republican Representative Joe Wilson’s shouting “You lie!” at the President over his claim that illegal immigrants wouldn’t benefit from health-care reform apparently sparked some reconsideration of the relevant language. “We really thought we’d resolved this question of people who are here illegally, but as we reflected on the President’s speech last night, we wanted to go back and drill down again,” said Senator Kent Conrad, one of the Democrats in the talks after a meeting Thursday morning. Later that afternoon, Baucus said the group would add a proof-of-citizenship requirement for participation in the new health exchange — a move likely to inflame the left.

Wilson wins, Ben.  Oddly, in much the same way that another particular dispute was won by THAT WOMAN.

See also Hot Air, Ace of Spades, Sister Toldjah, and –  for that special extra flavor of whiny Lefty exasperation, TPMDC:

But though Wilson’s allegation was false, and the political impact has been largely negative, Democratic leaders on the Senate Finance Committee seem to think it’s worth fixing the non-existent problem Wilson was complaining about.

Seldom does one see a sentence quite so at war with itself as this one is.

Moe Lane

PS: Yeah, kids: I saw the Democratic flash poll, and I saw that the current state of the potlatch is at, what, $750K at this point?  Alas, I also saw Wood & Sabato’s current estimate of the GOP’s likely gains next year (20 to 30, and Wilson’s not on their competitive races  list).  This just isn’t a cycle to topple a R+9 incumbent.  Particularly since none of the people currently at white-hot levels of hatred are going to remember his opponent’s name in two weeks.

Or possibly even one.

PPS: I tell a lie.  AMERICAblog is even whinier than TPMDC.

Crossposted to RedState.