Getting the hang of the car seat…

Ex-Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has died, according to media reports.

UPDATE BY BRENDAN: To be more specific, she was assassinated by terrorists in a suicide bombing that also killed at least 20 others.

UPDATE 2: According to the BBC, Bhutto was “shot in the neck by a gunman who then set off a bomb.” Blog roundup here.

UPDATE 3: Andrew Sullivan:

It seems to me to be hard to understand the implications of the Bhutto assassination until we know who actually murdered her. Al Qaeda is taking responsibility and they have every reason to hate her, but a little skepticism is always in order, when it comes to their pronouncements. The assassin was a suicide bomber, but he shot her first, and shot her in the neck. If you were part of the military or ISI, it would be in your interest to shoot Bhutto to ensure she was killed and then blow yourself up both to associate the murder with Jihadists outside the military and to destroy the evidence.

Until we know more, it seems to me that al Qaeda’s responsibility is actually the more optimistic scenario. If Islamists within the military or ISI did this, then we have the possibility that this is the beginning of something more ominous than the surface event. The collapse of Pakistan into a Jihadist nuclear power is the great nightmare. Here’s hoping that however grim this news, the worst isn’t yet to come.

Purdue leads Central Michigan 48-41 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter of the Motor City Bowl. Purdue led 34-13 at halftime, but the Chippewas have stormed back to make it a ballgame. If they complete the comeback and win, Andrew Long and Joey Kaufman will be tied for the lead in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick ‘em Contest; if the Boilers hang on to win, it’ll be a nine-way tie among the other current co-leaders.

UPDATE: Tie game! CMU just scored a touchdown, and it’s 48-48 with 1:09 left.

UPDATE 2: Purdue gets a field goal as time expires, and the Boilermakers win 51-48. Beat the drum!

So it’s a nine-way tie. Updated standings here and after the jump.

P.S. Tomorrow at 8:00 PM on ESPN, San Diego will host the first bowl worth two points in the pick ‘em contest: Arizona State vs. Texas in the Holiday Bowl. (Go Sun Devils!) Of the current co-leaders, David K., John Chung and Timugen picked ASU; Anthony H., D. Brooks, Gerry DeSimas, Hal Strickland, Mark Gardner and Chris Healey picked Texas. Overall, 48 contestants picked the ‘Horns; 42 picked the Devils.

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The NFL Network’s broadcast of Saturday’s potentially historic Patriots-Giants game will be simulcast on both NBC and CBS.

Glenn Reynolds offers his thoughts on the presidential candidates.

A new Iowa poll shows Hillary suddenly up 15 points on Obama, McCain suddenly at 17 percent in a state he had written off, and Ron Paul jumping from 4 percent to 10 percent. Color me skeptical. Sounds like a screwy poll.

Besides, the arcane rules of Iowa’s caucuses — in particular the “viability” requirement, calculated in each precinct — mean that statewide polls in a multi-candidate race have the potential to be extremely misleading. The proper answer to “who will win Iowa?” remains “who the hell knows?”

P.S. The Weekly Standard’s Richelieu, in a week-old post, offers more reasons to mistrust Iowa polls. (Hat tip: Kaus.)

All I want for Christmas is… guns and knives!!!

P.S. Note the Starship Enterprise ornament:

:)

At Becky’s and my baby shower four months ago, Hugh Manatee, who had only recently returned from his Denver ordeal, was peacefully minding his own business as we opened our presents…

…and then, suddenly, he was gone. His disappearance was sudden and without warning, and to this day, no one is quite sure just when and how it occurred. What’s clear is that Hugh was mysteriously spirited away by unknown parties engaged in a nefarious kidnapping conspiracy, which investigators have tied to a known criminal mastermind in the western New York region:

“Westside!”

Some feared Hugh Manatee would never return to his Knoxville home. It appears, however, that he made a daring escape from his captors, with the help of an anonymous holiday hero, a few days ago. The day before yesterday, we received a package in the mail from “The Christmas Stork” in North Tonawanda, NY. Inside the box?

Jeez… your stuffed animal spends a couple months in New York, and he comes back looking like Rudy Giuliani. ;)

But we don’t judge. We’re just glad to have Hugh home for the holidays!

I don’t understand all this banking mumbo-jumbo, but I don’t like the sound of it:

York professor Peter Spencer, chief economist for the ITEM Club, says the global authorities have just weeks to get this right, or trigger disaster.

"The central banks are rapidly losing control. By not cutting interest rates nearly far enough or fast enough, they are allowing the money markets to dictate policy. We are long past worrying about moral hazard," he says.

"They still have another couple of months before this starts imploding. Things are very unstable and can move incredibly fast. I don’t think the central banks are going to make a major policy error, but if they do, this could make 1929 look like a walk in the park," he adds.

Where’s George Bailey when you need him?

Boise State went from being last bowl season’s Cinderella to this bowl season’s most overwhelming favorite, according to the contestants in the Irish Trojan Bowl Pick ‘em Contest — and it seems the Broncos preferred the glass slipper. Boise lost to East Carolina last night, 41-38 in the Hawaii Bowl.

Only five people in the Pick ‘em Contest — Chris Healey, Edward Eylar, Larry Caplin, Marge, and Becky Loy — saw that coming. The other 85 contestants picked the Broncos. That’s 94.4%, the largest percentage picking any one team in the bowl contest’s three-year history. (111 of 118 contestants, 94.1%, picked Texas over Iowa last year, and were just barely right.)

This isn’t the first time a huge majority in the Pick ‘em Contest has been wrong. In 2005-06, the two heaviest favorites both lost: Nebraska stunned 115-13 favorite Michigan, and Utah defeated 119-9 favorite Georgia Tech. Last year, the five most lopsided games, prediction-wise, all went according to form, but the sixth-biggest underdog, Florida State, beat a UCLA team that was favored 99-19.

Anyway, East Carolina’s win means that nobody has a perfect prediction record in this year’s Pick ‘em Contest. Healey joins the previous co-leaders in an 11-way tie for first with 5 points out of a possible 6. In the contest’s three-year history, this is the earliest point, by far, that everyone has missed at least one game. Mark Gardner, Darrin Bartley and Carl Lindecrantz started 10-0 in 2005; Colin Pedicini started 11-0 last year.

Complete standings here and after the jump.

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“Can I put Elton John under ‘lesbian’?” –Becky

If the sky is clear where you are right now (and it’s, um, nighttime), step outside and look up. The Full Moon is right next to Mars.

Mickey Kaus on Hillary Clinton’s “much-rumored staff shakeup“:

Implicitly blaming her staff [for a possible loss in Iowa] seems more promising than blaming her husband. She’s stuck with her husband.**

**–Unless … you don’t think … Now that would be a staff shakeup.

Heh.

I think Kaus is right, though, that neither the staff nor the hubby are Hillary’s main problem. Hillary’s main problem is… Hillary.

There’s a 1-in-75 chance that a Tunguska-sized asteroid will hit Mars on January 30. It would leave a scar on the Red Planet’s surface the size of Arizona’s Meteor Crater. More likely, however, new data early next month will reduce or eliminate the odds of an impact. (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)