Reason Morning Links: Obama Asks France for Help, World May End Today, Free Speech and the Supreme Court

• Obama to ask France to send more troops to Afghanistan.
• Hadron Collider goes live today.
• Relations between U.S., Hamid Karzai are souring.
• States using accounting tricks to hide debt that would land corporate executives in prison.
• Ideology may divide Supreme Court on coming free speech cases.

Comments

[Johnny Longtorso]

Hadron Collider goes live today.

Cool, I've always wanted to see 6 months into the future. 🙂

James Lovelock: Humans (other than James Lovelock) are too stupid to prevent climate change
...One of the main obstructions to meaningful action is "modern democracy", he added. "Even the best democracies agree that when a major war approaches, democracy must be put on hold for the time being. I have a feeling that climate change may be an issue as severe as a war. It may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while."...

[Timon19]

So James Lovelock thinks that that Bush administration and Republican Congress did the right thing with the PATRIOT Act. Interesting.

[Chris]

That's a slippery slope that will lead to executions in the war on salt.

[Citizen Nothing]

Lovelock: "You need sceptics, especially when the science gets very big and monolithic."

[robc]

I remember how we suspended presidential elections in 1944, due to WW2. Dont you?

[Johnny Longtorso]

And Good Morning, Suki.

[Hadron Collider]

My black hole ingesting all ML comments in 3, 2, 1, ...

[Maverick]

Here's a particularly useful website that let's everyone know if you have succeeded in destroying the world.

[Brian Sorgatz]

The New York Times once called it the Hardon Collider. It sounds kinky, but I don't think it will end the world.

[Groovus Maximus]

The states can also take refuge in America's federalist system. Thus, if California were to get into hot water, it could seek assistance in Washington, and probably come away with some funds. Already, the federal government is spending hundreds of millions helping the states issue their bonds.

Udder genius (pun intended). States can't print their own money, so they go to Uncle Sugar Daddy Sam.

Also, officials and their lenders often refused to admit they had a debt problem until too late.

Denial is the first stage of addiction.

[capitol l]

That's it, America needs a fucking intervention.

"You know, America, these people love you like heck, but they're worried about what you are doing to yourself. "

"If you don't stop I will have to cut off all contact. I will call the police if you come around asking for money."

"You don't know me, fuck you. You don't know what I been through."

"Will you go?"

"Yes."

America has been tax-free since July 2009, and is now a counselor for other troubled nations

[The Vomiteere]

I believe using is the first stage of addiction.

[The Vomiteer]

Don't need that last e.

[Art-P.O.G.]

So you purged it, huh?

[Chris]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING.....tml?hpt=T2

More New York meddling.

[Jordan Elliot (Kyle Jordan)]

"New York's Adams isn't looking to sign a law against below-the-belt wear, but he hopes to get a conversation started."

No, he hopes to stomp out a trend he does not like or approve of and is hiding his true intention with typical Politician Diarrhea Speech?.

[The Vomiteer]

Should the government get involved? Hell no.

Do these guy look stupid saggin'?

http://www.thechessdrum.net/ne.....agging.jpg

[SugarFree]

The pain... THE PAIN!

[Bo]

Let me be clear.

This is a great film.

[Jordan Elliot (Kyle Jordan)]

That's really bad looking.

[SugarFree]

Jordan Elliot? Did you get married to Billy?

I always told you people that kid was like Ricky Martin level gay.

[Jordan Elliot (Kyle Jordan)]

Got my Deluxe Edition of "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow" yesterday and have been burnt out on Green Lantern for a while so I thought I'd take it back to Big Blue with the Superman reference.

[SugarFree]

Ah... Although I would have gone with "Jordan-5" or "Turtle Boy."

[John-David]

Gold Kryptonite is a bitch.

[Art-P.O.G.]

That Marmaduke trailer is rough. Really rough. Ruff!

Seriously, that movie looks really poor.

[Just a Maude gone minute]

Neddy used to watch Davey and Goliath, but he thought the idea of a talking dog was blasphemous.

[Chris]

It has to come out first before we can know what's in it.

[SugarFree]

+1 for the topical

[Citizen Nothing]

Can Family Circus: The Movie! be far behind?

[Art-P.O.G.]

Don't get my hopes up, CN (hopefully it would be followed by a gritty reboot).

[Todd Gaines]

There you are, enjoying your comics, when all of a sudden there's the Family Circus just waiting to suck, and ruin your whole experience.

[SugarFree]

The Nameless Dread

[Art-P.O.G.]

Yes! I was looking for some of those. Strange what a fantastic improvement they are over the original captions.

[Citizen Nothing]

Here you go.

[Xeones]

The pain... THE PAIN!

"Hey Marmaduke! On your website it says that you can only get it on for like ten seconds, and if it isn't totally silent you lose your wood!"

[CoyoteBlue]

Thank you X for a little Achewood in the morning. Onstad doesn't post much since he's got all famous/book publishing/heroin addict.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ideology may divide Supreme Court...

I'll believe that when I see it.

[WTF]

SCOTUS also has granted cert in another First Amendment case - Snyder v. Phelps.

The Fourth Circuit added injury to insult when it ruled not only that Phelps could not be held liable in tort because his hateful speech is protected by the First Amendment, but also that Mr. Snyder had to pay the cost of Phelps' appeal.

[J sub D]

The Fourth got it right. Phelps is an asshole, possibly a closeted fag, who still has the right to free speech.

[Warty]

A note of hysteria has crept into American politics. It has made the supremely foolish Sarah Palin a Right-wing heroine; spawned the anti-Obama Tea Party movement; made the rhetoric of hate respectable among rednecks, hillbillies and Right-wing TV stations.

Bonus: the author engages in some "But I worry for his safety...", if-they-kill-him-we-can-crush-them fantasies.

[Jordan Elliot (Kyle Jordan)]

I don't know which would be worse. Having to put up with shit like this until 2016, or the outrage, disbelief, and "pain" we'd have to hear about if he loses in 2012.

[Chris]

There's no way he's winning in 2012. America is racist, after all.

[Jordan Elliot (Kyle Jordan)]

Oh and I'm not trying to steal your thunder outright but I'm gonna toss up some Morning Metal here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7SLVblRZR8

[Warty]

Good selection. Not quite as good.

[Steve Nash Equilibrium]

I like Warren from Calgary's comment:

Of course the definition of a redneck is someone winning a debate with a socialist.

[Ragin Cajun]

My Lord, the stupid, the stupid!

Pity the Secret Service, who must protect the White House.

From what, the invasion of the Hutaree?

Chilling as it seems to Europeans, there are those in this nation with a tradition of attempted and successful assassinations, who believe it would be a patriotic act to shoot Barack Obama.

Unlike those unsuccessful assassinations in Europe, with Archduke what's-his-name? Alexander II? And besides, our tradition only involves presidents elected in years divisible by 10. It would be a most unpatriotic act to break the trend.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Two words: Joe. Biden.

[R C Dean]

Here in America, at least we have the decency to assassinate the powerful.

Unlike in Europe, where they seem to prefer assassinating film directors (Theo van Gogh), dissenters from the party line (Pim Fortuyn), and people investigating organized crime (miscellaneous Italian judges).

[Nick]

That was one of the most disgusting blow jobs I've ever read.

[dbcooper]

Ah, the daily mail. Exaggerations sans pareil.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Now I need some goat piss to get this taste out of my mouth. Warty, may I borrow a cup?

[hmm]

I swear it's the 90's again.

[hamilton]

Hey, the LHC fired up. So either nothing catastrophic happened or we're all living in an alternate universe now. Do they have budget surpluses here?

[hurly buehrle]

No, but Lost makes perfect sense to the average viewer now.

[SugarFree]

Does Steve Smith have hair in this universe? Has Warty ever known the love of a woman? Is Episiarch even remotely straight? Does my pancreas work? Does joe not need a step-stool to brush his teeth?

A yes to any of these would mean we have transitioned to another reality...

[Ska]

I thought you were writing the closing to H&R Soap.

[The Vomiteer]

I have heard that secretly, Warty is a woman.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Then, self-love?

[I, Kahn O'Clast]

1) I thought the same thing and 2) it actually makes the question better.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Now you've got to write a theme song, SugarFree. I recommend emulating Mantovani. Actually, where's that Sean guy who's really a composer?

[SugarFree]

I'd settle for a speed metal version of the theme from Sanford and Son.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Sean W. Malone. That's his name.

[Art-P.O.G.]

That's a brilliant idea, SugarFree. Sometimes I wish i had musical aptitude.

[Warty]

Go look in your basement. You'll find a bass.

[Art-P.O.G.]

LOL...that is the only instrument I can play in Rock Band.

[Fluffy]

I honestly have absolutely zero sympathy for the poor, frightened nymphs in the Washington case.

They didn't engage in speech. They engaged in the legislative function. Ballot initiatives take the law-making power usually assigned to legislatures and return it to the people, making them the direct legislators. I would no more support "secrecy" or "privacy" for those folks then I would support it for Congressmen.

[tkwelge]

Exactly what I was thinking. I really hated how the News article claimed that this case and the Citizen's United Case are linked. Citizen's united was about actual speech. This latest case is simply about privacy, and you give up your privacy when you sign a petition. The whole point of signing a petition, WITH YOUR NAME, is to let people know, publicly, where you stand on an issue. When you vote, you don't sign the ballot, because it is supposed to be secret. Unless they are going to argue that this petition counted as a "vote," they have no case.

The rest of the article just pissed me off for lambasting the Citizen's United case for saying that "companies have a right to free speech." WHy do they always present the issue this way? What the citizen's united case says is that investors don't give up their right to free speech just by forming their assets into a corporation, which has the right to protect their interests. There is also some other issues of media corporations vs news corporations being favored under Mccain Feingold, but that's moot once you realize that any restrictions are unconstitutional.

I guess the real philosophical question to be asked about Citizen's United is whether or not it is good for corporations to have free speech, regardless of what the constitution might say. I say yes, simply because freedom in a lawful republic such as ours, requires that risk takers and the people who invest resources towards a goal should have a right to the fruits of their labor. This is the essence of private property, which is protected even my international law. Even when your government falls apart into anarchy, your private property rights, are supposed to remain. THis is to protect people from losing their livelihoods just because they happen to live in a lawless region (like Mogadishu). Considering this, it seems apt to say that the essence of our extragovernmental rights hinges on our private property, and our ability to benefit from our efforts and investments (which makes civilization as anything greater than feudalism possible).

So yes, even in the absence of a constitution or government, companies have a universal right to speech as well as many other things.

[Fluffy]

I don't believe the LHC has done the specific experiment that ends the world yet.

They're toying around with lots of other stuff, but no hadron-creation yet.

[CaptainSmartass]

I don't believe the LHC has done the specific experiment that ends the world yet.

Well duh. We're still here.

[hamilton]

As far as you know. Maybe we've gone antimatter-virtual now.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

They're toying around with lots of other stuff, but no hadron-creation yet.

Er...pions are hadrons. And they've made lots of pions. You really can't help it, the damn things are ubiquitous and often a nuisance.

Perhaps you meant something else, but they are running in the physics mode that they're going to use for a while.

[P Brooks]

All 50 states have investment-grade credit ratings, with California the lowest, and even California is still considered "average," according to Moody's Investors Service.

What kind of an idiot believes Moody's?

Wait- never mind.

[P Brooks]

I remember how we suspended presidential elections in 1944, due to WW2. Dont you?

Yeah; and it was shameful how they canceled the one in 1864, just because of a little civil disobedience.

[hmm]

Speaking of the 1st amendment. St. Louis took a blow for both free speech and eminent domain this week.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.c.....m_roos.php

[Isaac Bartram]

Obama to ask France to send more troops to Afghanistan.

"It is not easy to explain that French people are dying in Afghanistan," Sarkozy said.

I'm having a hard time understanding why there are American people are dying in Afghanistan, myself, Nick, old pal.

Nor Canadians, Brits, Italians etc for that matter.

[Stormy Dragon]

Relations between U.S., Hamid Karzai are souring.

I'd actually say this is positive news, since it means that the government no longer needs the US to maintain control of the country. Plus, a bitter falling out is likely the only thing that will prevent a permanent US presence in that country.