“Erik Prince, whose company, Blackwater Worldwide, is for sale and whose former top managers are facing criminal charges, has left the United States and moved to Abu Dhabi, according to court documents.” [NYT]

You would think, almost two years since John McCain Released the Krakpot upon Our Fair Nation, we would cease to be amazed distressed disgusted amused by the proclamations of America’s Quitter. We’re not worried about her — worried, that is, that she has a polar bear’s chance on a globally warmed ice floe of regaining official power — but Talibunny’s ability to steer the national discourse into new depths of ugliness remains unparalleled.

Yes, Pam Geller gets credit for lighting a fire under the Not-Ground Zero Not-Mosque, and Newt did his best to raise the temperature. But it took Sarah Palin to fan the flames into unrelenting bigotry.

And now, it appears, she was only getting started:

SarahPalinUSA Dr.Laura:don’t retreat…reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence“isn’t American,not fair”)

SarahPalinUSA Dr.Laura=even more powerful & effective w/out the shackles, so watch out Constitutional obstructionists. And b thankful 4 her voice,America!

Those two tweets showed up in quick succession Wednesday night. If you’re unfamiliar with the backstory, we’ll get to it in a moment.

But here’s the executive summary: Sarah Palin is applauding the insulting use of “nigger” by a White person to a Black person in polite conversation.

Not just applauding — encouraging.

And no, we’re not being satirically hyperbolic. If only.

Read more »

“Ted Nugent will have to pay a $1,750 fine after pleading no contest in California to baiting a deer and not having a properly signed hunting tag… [G]ame wardens saw Nugent kill an immature buck on a February episode of his Outdoor Channel TV show ‘Spirit of the Wild.’ Investigators found that the deer had been eating bait called ‘C’mere Deer.'” [AP/HuffPo, via Ana Marie Cox]

Mirabile dictu, the Times scores an interview with the elusive Sharron Angle:

Q. Do you think that politically you are too conservative for this state? Obviously not for the Republican primary, but for this state?

A. People have always said — those words, ‘too conservative,’ is fairly relative. I’m sure that they probably said that about Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. And truly, when you look at the Constitution and our founding fathers and their writings, the things that made this country great, you might draw those conclusions: That they were conservative. They were fiscally conservative and socially conservative.

We’re not entirely clear what’s “conservative” about overthrowing a legitimate government and denying the divine right of kings. Nor are we sure what’s “socially conservative” about boffing all those fancy French ladies when John Adams isn’t looking.

Then again, boffing your own slaves? Nothing more traditional than that.

Interview With Sharron Angle [NYT]

[Image via Democratic Underground]

We swear, there’s a Peggy Noonan column in this.

[via Sully]

We’ve lost count of the number of things Wrong with this story. Perhaps you can help!

Dr. Frank Ryan, plastic surgeon to Heidi Montag and other celebrities, was sending a Twitter message about his border collie just before his fatal car accident, his ex-girlfriend tells PEOPLE.

“He lived up in Malibu on a tiny street and he was texting while driving and he accidentally went over the cliff,” Charmaine Blake says.

Blake, a celebrity publicist, says Ryan’s family was told by investigators that the Tweeting caused the wreck on Monday.

The dog, whose name is Jill — Blake’s middle name — was in the car at the time of the crash and survived injuries to the head, eye and paw.

We’re very happy Jill survived. Makes the Darwin Award nomination much easier to submit.

Plastic Surgeon Was Texting in Car Before Fatal Crash [People, via Daring Fireball]

Our guest columnist is Joseph Farah, publisher of WorldNetDaily and celebrated mustache-ride entrepreneur.

Conservative superstar Ann Coulter today was dropped as a keynote speaker for WND’s “Taking America Back National Conference” next month because of her plan to address an event titled “HOMOCON” sponsored by the homosexual Republican group GOProud that promotes same-sex marriage and military service for open homosexuals.

Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, said the decision was a gut-wrenching one for his team because of their fondness for Coulter as both a person and writer-speaker.

Read more »