Reason Morning Links: Day Two of Sotomayor Hearings, Dems Lay Out Tax Plan To Fund Obamacare; Chicken Fights in the Cities

- House outlines plan to fund Obamacare. Includes an extra $1,500 tax on families making more than $500,000 per year; $9,000 on families making more than $1 million. Employers with a payroll over $400,000 who don't provide health insurance would pay a fine equal to 8 percent of wages.

- In second day of hearings, Sotomayor promises "objectivity," not to let personal experience influence her decisions.

- Obama may do away with Bush administration's color-coded terror alert system.

- Federal toxic assets program moves forward, even though the problem maybe taking care of itself.

- Urban areas see fights over raising backyard chickens.

Comments

[Kyle Jordan]

Of course! The rich don't deserve the money they make simply because they make SO MUCH of it...

:sigh:

And fix the title mang. Though, I'm sure they're cooking up plans for the Obama Car too.

[robc]

"Obama Car"

Funny* thing is, I didnt think that was a typo until I read the bullet point.

*and by funny, I mean sad and pathetic

[robc]

What is the use of having a magical latina on the court if she isnt going to use her personal experience?

[SugarFree]

Chicken story:

But critics of the backyard coops say chickens attract raccoons, coyotes, and other pests and that they create unsanitary conditions.

OMG! Raccoons! And coyotes! They were never any raccoons and coyotes in town until my neighbors had chickens. Oh, wait. They don't. And we always have had.

And the foes say the cited economic benefits are nonsense. Just building a coop can cost hundreds of dollars and raising hens is time-consuming.

And she never spends a dime on a hobby, right? "Why should people have backyard grills? McDonalds sells hamburgers!"

"Eggs aren't even that expensive anyway. What's next? Goats? Llamas?" Her advice to hen-loving neighbors: "Get a farm."

I'd rather live next to a Llama than that yippie little rat dog that refuses to die that I already live next to. And a neighbor with goat might sell me some milk or cheese.

In summary:

Modest chicken coop > Redneck neighbor who has been re-shingled his garage all summer by himself starting at 7am

[SugarFree]

What is the use of having a magical latina on the court if she isnt going to use her personal experience?

The confused look on her face the first year they throw her a Cinco de Mayo party is its own reward.

[Bob]

I'm sure this "surtax" won't increase over time either. Just like the original income tax and social security payments stayed at their original rates over time.

[bookworm]

"What is the use of having a magical latina on the court if she isnt going to use her personal experience?"

To help Obama shore up his support from latinos in the 2012 election.

[BlueBook]

They could replace the colored terror codes with background music cues. Lowest threat would be relaxing ambient tones, rising to pensive strings, then growling bass, staccato percussion, and finally maxing out with a deafening, discordant orchestra plus shrieking ethnic vocals.

[Jim Stewert]

LOL, looks like it is shaping up to be a crazy day!

RT
http://www.privacy-tools.tk

[Warren]

Federal toxic assets program moves forward, even though the problem maybe taking care of itself.

You wish. The other shoe has yet to drop on the "toxic assets problem". Another wave of mortgages are going to default in the next few months. Financial institutions are going to have to write down their assets as much again as they have since last year. The only thing the Federal program does is rewards bad decisions and punishes prudent ones.

[!]

SF,

I'd rather live next to a Llama than that yippie little rat dog that refuses to die that I already live next to.

I think you need Kramer and Newman to solve that problem.

[Art-P.O.G.]

BlueBook | July 15, 2009, 9:23am | #

Simply awesome.

[SugarFree]

!,

Well, even when the dog is gone, it won't keep his shrieking city goat daughter from coming over. "Papaw? Yew doin' ALRIGHT? PAPAW?"

[Pro Libertate]

Do away with the color-coded alert system? At last, substantive change! In which I can believe!

I like "Obama car." I vote to keep it.

[SugarFree]

?Don't you wanna ride in my
Obama car?
We can take the long way home
Through Central Park?

[Hugh Akston]

Without a sleek, customized Obama Car, how do you all expect Him to prowl the streets of the nation by night, fight crime* and bringing HOPE to the beleaguered citizens of America?

*Crime here refers to real crimes, like income inequality, inadequate access to health insurance, and racial imbalance in higher education.

[Hank]

INGAPORE (Reuters) - A dramatic warming of the planet 55 million years ago cannot be solely explained by a surge in carbon dioxide levels, a study shows, highlighting gaps in scientists' understanding of impacts from rapid climate change.

During an event called the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, global temperatures rose between 5 and 9 degrees Celsius within several thousand years. The world at that time was already warmer than now with no surface ice.

"We now believe that the CO2 did not cause all the warming, that there were additional factors," said Richard Zeebe, an oceanographer with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-41050320090715

[Art-P.O.G.]

Hmmm...is the Obama Car like the Mammoth Car?

[Xeones]

Sweet'n'Low, you did NOT just bust out some old Fountains of Wayne.

Now i gotta dig that album up and listen to it.

[Hank]

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies:

It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology - and a 20th-century horror movie.

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find - grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

Robotic Technology Inc.'s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot - that's right, "EATR" - "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable," reads the company's Web site.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,532492,00.html?test=latestnews

[Xeones]

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies

Fortunately, shortly after creation its operating system will be infected by Anonymity Guy, and it will subsist entirely on shit.

[Pro Libertate]

We're building robot zombies? Am I alone in considering this a monumentally poor decision?

[SugarFree]

Xeones,

Dig up? That first album should never be far away.

[Xeones]

Dig up? That first album should never be far away.

Nine moves in five years will do terrible things to a man's once-organized cd collection.

[Art-P.O.G.]

The last 5 posts (X @9:49 to SF @9:54) read smooth...real smooth.

[Lamar]

The chicken story is absolutely perfect. Every argument against is a big "what if". What if they build a coop and let it deteriorate? Is it any different than any other kind of shed? What if they get loose? Dogs, cats, giant snakes and other animals don't get loose all the time? Somebody's dog might not like having chickens next door! Yet somebody's dog also doesn't like the cat next door, the squirrels in the tree, etc.

I'd rather have a chicken coop next door than that Terri Frohnmayer. At least chicken shit is useful.

Truth be told, I should be thankful. Real estate tools like Terri Frohnmayer are what puts real estate people one rung below lawyers as shittiest people on earth. Thanks Terri!!

[SugarFree]

I solved that with ever-increasing capacity iPods. Two months of ripping CDs while watching TV and the CDs are safely stored away.

I wish I could feed dead bodies to my iPod.

[R C Dean]

Employers with a payroll over $400,000 who don't provide health insurance would pay a fine equal to 8 percent of wages.

A payroll of $400,000 is a pretty small business. You could easily bust that cap with 8 employees. And insuring a small group can be hella expensive.

That 8% fine would be $32,000, or about what it would cost to employ someone at you would pay $13.00 an hour. So guess what small employers will do to raise the money to pay the fine?

Nothing reduces unemployment like increasing the cost of employing people.

[Hank]

White House turns up heat on Arizona senator

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is firing back at Sen. Jon Kyl for calling for an end to economic stimulus spending, and they're aiming for where it hurts the most - at home in Arizona.

The White House on Tuesday released letters from four cabinet secretaries to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, citing Kyl's comments and outlining transportation, housing, Indian education and other projects in his home state they said would be eliminated if the senator has his way.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090714/D99EGOPO0.html

[Pro Libertate]

Hit & Run needs to post something specifically on the zombie robot so that we can waste a whole thread on that topic.

[Xeones]

Two months of ripping CDs while watching TV and the CDs are safely stored away.

It's all fun and games until you drop an external hard drive with 60+ Gb of music on it and have to start over with the ripping.

[Xeones]

Hit & Run needs to post something specifically on the zombie robot so that we can waste a whole thread on that topic.

Agreed. 400+ comments, easy.

[Steven Hill]

"The White House on Tuesday released letters from four cabinet secretaries to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, citing Kyl's comments and outlining transportation, housing, Indian education and other projects in his home state they said would be eliminated if the senator has his way"

Did the Whitehouse also threaten to start killing the animals in Arizona's zoos if they don't get what they want?

[skynet\'s friendly suggestion]

"We're building robot zombies? "

this is even scarier that the robot apes!

now if we can only build terminator ape zombie robots...

[Steven Hall]

"Agreed. 400+ comments, easy."

Yeah, baby!

[Pro Libertate]

I hear a second.

Radley,

Please post the robot zombie story provided by Hank above for our commenting pleasure. Or make the intern do it.

Thank you,

The Hit & Run Commenting Team

[Steven Hall]

NH man swipes debit card for smokes, charged 23 quadrillion dollars (plus $15 overdraft fee)

http://www.startribune.com/nation/50842607.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUZ

[randy]

terminator ape zombie robots...

will they be fast?

[Steven Hall]

And don't forget to hat tip Hank!

[Pro Libertate]

Good ol' Hank.

[Hank]

Aw shucks, you guys.

[FrBunny]

I'm betting slow... can't do over 20mph on biofuels

[Johnny Longtorso (aka jsh)]

I'm going to name my band, or my children, "Flesh Eating Robot Zombies".

[Jozef]

And the foes say the cited economic benefits are nonsense. Just building a coop can cost hundreds of dollars and raising hens is time-consuming.

Unemployment in Georgia has passed 10%. That's a lot of people who have the time to raise hens and make some extra cash selling eggs or chicken meat.

(In my personal experience with raising hens, it's relatively cheap and requires very little time for the owner. For personal consumption, the rate of return if very high.)

[Kyle Jordan]

Robot zombies...

Damn. Just...damn...

[Nick]

a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find - grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

You know what else is organic and may be in the path of a robot zombie? Actual live humans. This is brilliant. Can we aim them at Congress and then blast the shit out of them after the meal?

[Nick]

From the Brickbats:

Caitlin Robinson's mother died from skin cancer, and her family says she's at risk for the disease. But officials at Robinson's Worcester, England, school have banned the girl from using sunblock when she goes outside. They say other students may be allergic to the lotion.

I wonder if this school also prohibits peanuts, nuts, strawberries, wheat, dairy products, or anything else that anyone anywhere might be allergic to. Fucking UK.

[Hank]

Is 30 Rock a Muppet Show Rip-off?

http://bloglynch.blogspot.com/2009/06/30-rock-is-rip-off-of-muppet-show.html

[R C Dean]

Caitlin Robinson's mother died from skin cancer, and her family says she's at risk for the disease. But officials at Robinson's Worcester, England, school have banned the girl from using sunblock when she goes outside. They say other students may be allergic to the lotion.

The battle of the Nannies, I see.

I can't imagine that her exposure to the sun in England (England!) during recess is going to affect her propensity for skin cancer later in life, at all. Her parents are being ridiculous.

And, of course, so is the school.

Yet another example of how extreme risk aversion inevitably piles up into one giant steaming pile of self-contradictory idiocy.

[Invisible Finger]

It's all fun and games until you drop an external hard drive with 60+ Gb of music on it and have to start over with the ripping.

Having trouble with the concept of backups?

[ChicagoTom]

I can't imagine that her exposure to the sun in England (England!) during recess is going to affect her propensity for skin cancer later in life, at all. Her parents are being ridiculous

I wouldn't say that.

I see dermos all the time telling people to wear sunblock even for short walks/strolls. The last one I saw on TV says she puts it on every morning before walking to the train she takes to work. They also tell me that a white T-shirt is the equivalent of SPF-4 and doesn't protect against the sun's rays. And with a family history of skin cancer, I wouldn't say that the family is over-reacting.

But the risk aversion of the parents/child isn't really relevant at all. What if she just wanted to put a lotion on (after all sunblock is really just lotion with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. -- in fact that family can order zinc oxide and titanium dioxide off the internet and add it any body lotion and it would work.) or perfume or deoderant or any number of things someone MIGHT be allergic to?

[Solanum]

Will those zombie robots be operated by monkeys using mind control?

[Pro Libertate]

Well, monkey-controlled zombie robots are the next logical step, true.

[FrBunny]

FrBunny | July 15, 2009, 10:28am | #

I'm betting slow... can't do over 20mph on biofuels

WTF? That's either the lamest spoof ever or the strangest intertubes coincidence I've ever seen.

[Johnny Longtorso (aka jsh)]

What would a wise latina do about the problem of Monkey Brained Flesh Eating Zombie Robots?

[skynet]

Planet of the Monkey Brained Flesh Eating Zombie Robots!

(can we blame this on Obama or would that be racist?)

[2012]

wait wait..lemme try this!

what do Obamacare, backyard chickens, color-coded terror alert systems, wise latinas, fed toxic assets and Monkey Brained Flesh Eating Zombie Robots have in common?

[Johnny Longtorso (aka jsh)]

Planet of the Monkey Brained Flesh Eating Zombie Robots!

The robots would make much better decisions about who to kill and eat if they had the brains of wise latinas instead of the brains of monkeys.

[!]

Hit & Run needs to post something specifically on the zombie robot so that we can waste a whole thread on that topic.

Looks like we are already wasting this thread on it.

[Tits & Ass]

"what do Obamacare, backyard chickens, color-coded terror alert systems, wise latinas, fed toxic assets and Monkey Brained Flesh Eating Zombie Robots have in common"

The letter "a"

[Pro Libertate]

Suki,

That's what I was trying to avoid.

[P Brooks]

"Monkey-brained zombie robot"! That's why there's no birth certificate!

[Lamar]

Is this where we throw in random stories? Cause this is a good one from the Orlando Sentinel:

MIAMI - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is calling for tens of thousands of pythons believed to be in the Everglades to be hunted and killed.

Nelson sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday, asking for permission to have deputized agents and volunteers kill as many of the snakes as possible in an organized hunt.

The senator's request comes after a 2-year-old central Florida girl was strangled by an unlicensed pet python in her home.

[alan]

I caught the high light real of the second day of hearings. Any one Schumer? He was speaking to Sotomayor in such a condescending baby talk voice I thought he was going to break out into singing, 'The wheels on the bus go round and round.'

[jason]

what do Obamacare, backyard chickens, color-coded terror alert systems, wise latinas, fed toxic assets and Monkey Brained Flesh Eating Zombie Robots have in common?

-----
there's gotta be a blockbuster script in there somewhere... or at least a tarantino & rodriguez one

[!]

PL,

Suki,

That's what I was trying to avoid.

Actualy, this is John. I will say hello for you when I hear back from her.

[Pro Libertate]

John, Suki, what's the difference?

[Mike Laursen]

Federal toxic assets program moves forward, even though the problem maybe taking care of itself.

The one thing they can't stand in Washington, D.C. is the thought that some problem might take care of itself.

[!]

John, Suki, what's the difference?

Chromosomal, height, weight, eye color, career path, age, race, ethnicity. But otherwise we might have similarities.

[Pro Libertate]

Those things don't matter on the Internet.