Reason Morning Links: More Terror in Russia, Obama Supports Offshore Drilling, Bloomberg Wants More Federal Gun Control

• Obama opens East Coast, Gulf Coast to offshore drilling.
• New study says allowing payment for kidney donors would increase supply, would not increase proportion of poorer donors.
• New round of suicide bombers kill 12 in Southern Russia.
• Bloomberg demands Obama get tougher on gun control.
• Amnesty International says China executed thousands last year.

Comments

[NYT Commenters]

10.
joe
midwest
March 31st, 2010
5:48 am
drill baby drill!

I was against it, but if Barry is Ok with it then I am too. But I would kind of like to hear him actually say that.

Hope for our country's future
Texas
March 31st, 2010
5:48 am
Praise be, I hope all of this actually comes to fruition. We need our
own oil and gas resources for the security of nation and its people. God knows, it will create so many jobs. Thank you my dear President, Mr. Barak Obama. Great job your first year in office despite all of the naysayers.

[micsolana]

Thank you.

[The American Peasantry]

Thank you dear leader Mr. Obama! Whatever you want to do is okay on us! Hope and change yes we can!

[R C Dean]

I was against it, but if Barry is Ok with it then I am too.

Nope. No partisans here. Nobody sticking to their principles when Dear Leader goes in a different direction. Just move along.

[Pro Libertate]

Query: If Obama were to exactly copy everything the previous administration did, would his supporters still thank God for him? I rather think they would.

[spambot]

"If Obama were to exactly copy everything the previous administration did"

Other than HCR he pretty much has.

[Pro Libertate]

Seems like it at times.

[Pro Libertate]

Most times.

[cynical]

No, he entraps Christian radical morons for his security theater; Bush used Muslims.

[Ben Rosengart]

How quickly they forget.

[Rich]

"Over the past six months, approximately 6,000 Americans have been gunned down in intentional acts of violence."

Citation needed.

Here is Bloomberg's letter. Perhaps *your* mayor is a signatory.

[capitol l]

Yep, he's there, about what I expect though.

[robc]

Mine is there. Well, one of my two mayors is there. The one that I REALLY consider my mayor, isnt.

[SugarFree]

You guys have too many mayors. You should make them fight to the death like we do.

[robc]

We have exactly 1 mayor per city. The problem is my house is in two cities.

So, if he wins, will Abramson be the first gay Lt Governor of KY? I thought Henry was, but it turned it out he had surprisingly high standards instead.

[SugarFree]

The problem is my house is in two cities.

Is this a riddle? 😉

Abramson will be the first out Lt. Gov, but I doubt the first. I mean, we had dudes in wigs and tights back in the day.

[robc]

Is this a riddle? 😉

Not at all. I live in the city of Middletown, which from 1797-2002 was a normal city. Since 2003, it has been completely inside the city of Louisville, but still is its own city.

I pay taxes to two cities, have two mayors, etc, etc.

[Steve Nash Equilibrium]

So Louisville and Middletown are running a train on you?

[robc]

So Louisville and Middletown are running a train on you?

Pretty much.

[Enyap]

That's more of a spit roast, then a train.

[Death Panelist]

I live in a house with all four walls facing south. How can this be?

[SugarFree]

You are a really shitty carpenter?

[Death Panelist]

I don't care to be your straight man.

[Jesus]

Meh, been there, done it.

[CharlesWT]

And you're freezing your butt off Santa.

[dbcooper]

Ooh I know this one, santa claus.

[Hmm, my guess]

You have three kids named South?

[Art-P.O.G.]

You are a really shitty carpenter?

Best answer.

You have three kids named South?

Pretty good answer, too.

Of course, from all the Santa comments...

[Death Panelist]

You're all wrong. My architect was M.C. Escher. So there.

[Warty]

You built a crooked house?

[Hmm, my guess#2]

The house got fucked-up by the Hadron collider and is facing south in 3 other dimensions.

[Edward Witten]

Actually, that would be in 11 dimensions, so the house would be eleven sided and facing south in 10 other dimensions as a result of a Hadron rift.

[Hmm, my guess#2]

M-theory? Explain that to me, simply.

[SugarFree]

M-Theory postulates that there exists a letter in between "L" and "N" in the English language alphabet. The so-called "M" letter has been sought by hundreds of linguists since it's existence was suggested by the research of Edward Sapir (mentioned first as a footnote in the original publication of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis), but it has remained illusive.

[Hmm, my guess#2]

SugarFree, some days, I would like to slap you and not in the way you would like:-)

[Death Panelist]

Stupid threaded comments. View the correct answer above and marvel, fools.

[Art-P.O.G.]

I like all the answers, including the "correct" one. I also like SugarFree's "explanation" of M-theory.

[Hmm, my guess#2]

I'm so disappointed

[huh]

It's like waking up and finding yourself in the middle of a Borges story.

[Steve Nash Equilibrium]

Glad to see no one from West Virginia signed this bullshit.

[Timon19]

Not that it's surprising, but most of Northeast Ohio mayors are pussies.

Except Don Robart, goddammit!

[micsolana]

I'm pretty sure that Mayor Bloomberg is Satan.

Just throwing that out there.

[Satan]

HEY!!

(I like salt.)

[Zeb]

So does Bloomberg. Just not for little people.

[Satan]

He'll get lots of it, rubbed in his wounds.

[Corduroy Rocks]

Are they including dogs in the count?

[Rich]

+1

Bowling pins?

[Pete Mynack]

Man, a lot of jackasses from Penn and Ohio signed that. Only one guy from Texas, and his name is Richard. Well, Dick, looks like some schoolin' to do...

[Pete Mynack]

Wow, here's Dick's page. Looks like a retired busybody with nothing better to do than meddle with people lives. how about taking up golf, Dick? http://www.ci.hurst.tx.us/Coun.....asp?ccID=1

[Tulpa]

Mine is there, and I again notice that he hasn't changed his name to "Steelerstahl" as he promised last year.

[Warty]

You live in Pittsburgh? It all makes so much sense now. Eat a dick, fuckhead.

[BakedPenguin]

The Orlando mayor's there. Surprised he had time after all the work he put in on getting a $400 million welfare arena he gave to billionaire Rich deVos.

Fuck you, Buddy Dyer.

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, how long as he been in office?

[Pro Libertate]

Read that as the Cockney "has."

[Ska]

But then we have to read that as 'ow.

[BakedPenguin]

Since 2003.

[Pro Libertate]

That's a long time.

[Pro Libertate]

Tampa's mayor is in. Of course, her power is nearly infinite since Obama kowtowed to her.

We just had a shooting at a mall over in Tarpon Springs.

[dbcooper]

# New study says allowing payment for kidney donors would increase supply, would not increase proportion of poorer donors.

# Amnesty International says China executed thousands last year.

Two organ donor articles in one morning.

[Shirt on your back and]

Anything out of China is suspect:

http://www.canada.com/ottawaci.....456c176c4b

[J sub D]

Two organ donor articles in one morning.

Nasty db. I like it.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Global Warming Activist Freezes to Death in Antarctica
Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station, by the pilot of a ski plane practicing emergency evacuation procedures.

...Apparently, while all of Prof. Schneider's friends were assuming that the July trek would be to Greenland, during Northern Hemisphere summer, his plans were actually to snowmobile to the South Pole - which, in July, is in the dead of winter.

Mr. Dolittle related how some people do not realize that, even if there has been warming in Antarctica, the average temperature at the South Pole in July still runs about 70 degrees F below zero. "Some people think that July is warm everywhere on Earth."

[SugarFree]

I'd like to say I wasn't laughing, but I'm out in our airy granite and marble lobby and everyone on the first floor knows I am.

[The Ghost of Prof. Schneider]

That's cold.

[The Ghost of Charles Darwin]

If this isn't proof by now....

[Rich]

You can't fool *me*, JL. That's from The Onion.

[Atanarjuat]

Actually, it is from a satirical website, but it's funnier when you read it thinking it's a real news story.

[The Gobbler]

My Friend Tom -- Currently in Yemen -- Spent several years in Antarctica, including a winter-over at South Pole station. Anyway, I learned that when the temperature drops to 60 below zero, diesel fuel turns into a gel, rendering engines useless. Why were these morons out snowmobiling?

[Slim Charles]

That was an early April Fool's joke.

[Tulpa]

Uh, it's the first week of autumn in Antarctica right now. Not "the dead of winter".

[Scotticus Finch]

Prof. Schneider's friends were assuming that the July trek would be to Greenland, during Northern Hemisphere summer, his plans were actually to snowmobile to the South Pole - which, in July, is in the dead of winter.

[Marc]

Already covered on Snopes. Move along.

[SugarFree]

Venture Bros. Season 4.5 Sneak Peek

[Art-P.O.G.]

I love it.

[Thomas Friedman]

Amnesty International says China executed thousands last year.

+1

[micsolana]

HAHAHA

[Fluffy]

Thomas Friedman admires the way the Chinese get things done!

He likes the cut of their jib!

Can't you just smell the Aqua Velva coming off the Chinese executioners?

[Oops, that last one was Chris Matthews.]

[Thomas Friedman]

Suck on this, all of you.

[Early April Fool]

The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, Lake Michigan off the Chicago shore, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling

[monkeyman]

"Over the past six months, approximately 6,000 Americans have been gunned down in intentional acts of violence."

Unfortunately Bloomberg wasn't one.

[Stafford]

The real question is how many of those shootings were by cops...

[Solanum]

Amnesty International says China executed thousands last year.

Sierra Club says China made progress in reducing carbon footprint last year.

[monkeyman]

China; world leader in low carbon 'green' executions.

[sick]

puppy

[micsolana]

I just finished with the NYT piece, and the comments are priceless. I'll never get tired of people saying that we don't need oil. There are people who actually believe that it's a choice we make every day: clean energy or dirty energy.

We choose oil because we hate seals and puppies and the environment and poor/brown people.

Fucking ass clowns.

[Frank Rich]

We [...] hate [...] poor/brown people

AH-HA! I fucking knew it!

[Tony]

We do need oil. So it would be a pity to drain the last of our domestic supply, just in case we might need it some day, would it not?

[John Thacker]

It would also be a pity to block exploration that would let us know how far our domestic supply extends, and how much time we have to prepare, would it not? But as the NYT articles notes:

But those estimates are based on seismic data that is, in some cases, more than 30 years old.

And why is the data more than 30 years old? Because exploration has been banned too, and of course no one will explore if there's zero chance of getting to actually drill.

[Jordan]

That's why we buy so much from filthy foreigners.

[ed]

Like Canada.

[Jordan]

Exactly.

[Citizen Nothing]

We need cars that burn maple syrup, eh?

[LoneWhacker]

Or Mexico. Dirty, filthy, MexicanOil!

[T]

I'll never get tired of people saying that we don't need oil.

Even if we weren't burning it, those long chain hydrocarbons are just too useful for everything else. We'll quit pumping oil when we run out of the stuff.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Obama opens East Coast, Gulf Coast to offshore drilling.

I shale believe this when I sea it.

[rctl]

Clever today

[Art-P.O.G.]

+Indeed.

[Punny Bones]

Threadwinner!

[Mike Laursen]

Obama opens East Coast, Gulf Coast to offshore drilling.

This wouldn't be happening if there were a Democrat in the White House!

[CoyoteBlue]

He's a fucking tool of BIG OIL.
I knew it!

[BakedPenguin]

He's a fucking tool...

You could just stop there.

[Xeones]

Obama opens East Coast, Gulf Coast to offshore drilling.

Given how incompetent and wrongheaded the Obama administration has turned out to be on, well, everything, i am no longer sure that offshore drilling is such a good idea.

[Scotticus Finch]

This is how I was finally able to quit smoking!

[Ok, I' m slow]

on this one.
"This is how I was finally able to quit smoking!" ?

[Barry]

Because I'm a smoker, duh.

[Ok, I' m retarted too]

offshore drilling and smoking?

[Slut Bunwalla]

Obama is incompetent, so:

Obama wants offshore drilling=maybe offshore drilling is a bad idea

Obama smokes=maybe smoking is a bad idea

[Scotticus Finch]

Thanks, slut.

[SugarFree]

You can't tell, Xeones, but right now I am signing "I love you, I love you."

[Mike Laursen]

msnbc headline this morning: "Wall Street is driving up oil prices". Those Wall Street robber barons are at it again, forcing our dear President, Obama, to dunk baby seals in crude oil.

[John Thacker]

Yes, I'm not sure how MSNBC reconciles the ideas of:

"Evil conservatives lie and say we're not running out of oil, but we are," and
"Evil conservatives drive up oil prices."

[WTF]

Dear Michael Bloomberg:

Eat shit and die.

Sincerely,

WTF

[Michael Bloomberg]

pass the salt.

[Ska]

I'll sign on to that.

[SugarFree]

When Brown and Green Collide

Every morning when I shower, I put one foot in a small, oblong trashcan that holds about 2 gallons. Most of the water running down this leg is captured in the trashcan which I use to flush the toilet when I feel decorum would dictate it. The trashcan just sits in the bathtub, so it's easy to grab when I need it. That way no "new" water is used for these purposes.

[Mike Laursen]

Wow, taking a shower every morning. This person must hate the Earth!

[Tulpa]

Come on, civilization survived for millenia without flushing the toilet even once. No one's going to die if you wait a week in between flushings.

[R C Dean]

Come on, civilization survived for millenia without flushing the toilet showering even once.

[BakedPenguin]

Yeah, I'd love to eat dinner over there.

[SugarFree]

It's all organic. Just like that clod of dirt in the salad I was served at that hippie restaurant that time. (No, I'm not kidding.)

[Board of Health]

You'd like to THINK that was a dirt clod!

[Tulpa]

I always wondered where that diarrhea-smell at Whole Foods was coming from. Now I know (unfortunately).

[Kramer]

I do all my prep in the shower!

['the naked chef']

is already trademarked. You need another angle.

[rctl]

Yeah, I'd love to eat dinner over there too...on paper plates

[T. Hugger]

Really wasteful.

I urinate in a 2-gallon trashcan until it is full, and use that "old water" to flush the toilet.

[Golden]

bath?

[Pro Libertate]

There's talk here about converting waste water to drinking water. Mmmmmm.

[Fluffy]

They already do that. It's called "Da Earth".

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, yes, I know that. But this is a more immediate, government-controlled thing.

[dbcooper]

Done in a lot of cities already dude.

[Pro Libertate]

As fro the drilling, I'm all for it, though I'd prefer that the drills are far enough offshore to avoid any adverse effects on Florida's tourism industry.

Fixed structures are good for fishing, too.

[BakedPenguin]

Don't worry, we'll be fine...

Oh! That's right, you actually get some tourists in Tampa, too.

[R C Dean]

On the offshore drilling:

Remember, this is the Parsin' President, so we need to flyspeck everything.

Is he just lifting federal restrictions and allowing the states to block drilling?

Will he be charging the Evul Oil Companies for this privilege? Will he be imposing onerous conditions or requirements that amount to a de facto ban?

You know, that kind of thing.

[John Thacker]

Is he just lifting federal restrictions and allowing the states to block drilling?

He's acquiescing in letting the total federal ban drop. However, as the NYT article notes:

Actual drilling in much of the newly opened areas, if it takes place, would not begin for years....
But as a result of the Obama decision, the Interior Department will spend several years conducting geologic and environmental studies along the rest of the southern and central Atlantic Seaboard. If a tract is deemed suitable for development, it is listed for sale in a competitive bidding system. The next lease sales ? if any are authorized by the Interior Department ? would not be held before 2012.

Remember, nothing this Administration does can actually happen for several years. Not the stimulus, not the health care reform, not drilling. If there's one thing that President Obama absolutely will not compromise on, it's the importance of government unions and government red tape and process.

[TP]

Remember, nothing this Administration does can actually happen for several years.

Not really.

The leases exemplify the renewable energy initiatives Secretary Salazar has made a top priority and worked to accelerate. Under his efforts, the final regulatory framework for Outer Continental Shelf renewable energy development was completed in the first 100 days of President Obama's administration. The comprehensive framework, which regularizes the process and brings certainty to this nascent industry in terms of how applications for OCS wind, solar and hydrokinetic resources would be addressed, had been long delayed in the previous administration. Interior negotiated a breakthrough agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on April 9 that clarified the jurisdictional responsibilities for leasing and licensing renewable energy projects...

The President and the Secretary announced the final comprehensive framework on Earth Day, April 22, and it becomes effective on June 29

http://www.doi.gov/archive/news/09_News_Releases/062309.html

[John Thacker]

Actually, that's just more evidence for my point.

Yes, the final regulatory framework was completed in the Obama Administration's first 100 days. It wasn't started in those first 100 days. As the article notes, the process was started in the GWB Administration, hence the references to "had been long delayed in the previous administration."

It's similar to Obama and Biden's train corridors plan, where they had to use train corridors already established 5-20 years ago, rather than determine new ones, because it takes that long to go through the paperwork.

[Kevin]

Obama opens the coasts to offshore drilling. Cap & Trade here we come.

[Pip]

+ precient

[James Ard]

Obama is currently announcing the drilling decision. Almost the entire speech is about clean energy. Although he is couching it in energy independence, this is indeed a Cap and Trade push.

[.]

Of course it is. If Republicans obstruct it (Cap 'N' Trade) he can say they obstructed offshore drilling, to which any legislation would be cynically attached.

[T]

More boms in Russia. Who here said it looked like a really bad summer to be a Chechen? I'm thinking the Russians are about to pull a Chechnya delenda est out of the hat.

[robc]

Did the Russians learn nothing from a decade in Afghanistan?

[Kolohe]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WO.....index.html

Chechnya's population of 600,000 to 800,000 is primarily made up of Sunni Muslims and Russian Orthodox Christians. Thousands have been killed and 500,000 Chechen people have been displaced in their conflict with Moscow. Below is a timeline of the conflict

Displacing somewhere between 65 to 85 percent of a population is quite delenda-ey.

[hmm]

I said it and I believe it. I wasn't just being funny.

[T]

Oh, I agree with you.

[Forrest]

Gunman sprays DC crowd, killing 4 and wounding 5

Heller v DC: the gift that keeps on giving.

[Zeb]

Right. Because I am sure the gunman had his gun lawfully registered with the city.

[Isaac Bartram]

Yes, because before Heller there were never any homicides in DC.

[Forrest]

Yes, because before gun control there were never any homocides in DC. Just slaves!

[BakedPenguin]

Funny you should mention slaves. Most gun control laws were originated to keep guns out of the hands of blacks.

Which makes your name wonderfully ironic...

[T]

Homocides? Wait, were these rival LGBT groups?

[Jack Vincennes]

Just another D.C. "homo"-cide.

[Rich]

The D.C. councilman who represents the area said a dispute between groups in the neighborhood apparently caused the shooting.

So, make neighborhood disputes illegal!

[Citizen Nothing]

Four dead and five wounded in a DC shooting and not one a congressman?
Why does God hate America?

[Kolohe]

He broke the 'say it don't spray it' rule

[hmm]

I'm a little disappointed it wasn't two rival groups of congressmen.

[West side]

Who would be the Jets and the Sharks?

[Mike Laursen]

Republicans = Jets, Democrats = Sharks. No other possible interpretation.

[Nancy Pelosi]

I'm Maria

[barfman]

*barf*

[Lou Geeno]

Wonder if it will lower gasoline prices? Of course not. Bummer.

Lou
http://www.anon-browsing.eu.tc

[Tulpa]

Amnesty International says China executed thousands last year.

Keep in mind they have four times as many people as we do. But anyway, we need to execute more people here. It's not like murderers are going to be contributing to Social Security or anything.

[Citizen Nothing]

I bet that, per capita, Texas is still king!

[Kolohe]

Alabama had slightly more than Texas per capita in 2009.

(tx 24 al 6 - 4:1 ratio. Ratio of population 5.5:1)

[BakedPenguin]

Yeah, but 5 out of the 6 in Alabama were actually guilty, vs. 16 out of 24 in Texas, so Texas still wins.

[rctl]

"The possibility of payments nearly doubled the number of participants in the study who said they would donate a kidney to a stranger, but it did not influence those with lower income levels more than those with higher incomes" If this where the case, we would have already seen a preponderance of wealthier altruistic donors.

[Fluffy]

OK, here is some good news for a change.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....esort.html

An article titled "Five thousand British students spark outrage with drunken spring break in Spanish seaside resort" contains the news that 9 partygoers had to be treated for alcohol-related health problems - and also contains the following quote for the ages from an unidentified "British Student"

Only nine people treated by alcohol problems out of 5,000? Tonight we have to beat that.

I vote for "Unidentified British Student" for the next Prime Minister.

[Kolohe]

Tony Blair was somewhat of a hellraiser in his youth, and of course Winnie Churchill wasn't afraid to get his drink on anytime.

[P Brooks]

But anyway, we need to execute more people here.

As long as you're up next.

[alan]

WTF|3.31.10 @ 9:35AM|#

Dear Michael Bloomberg:

Eat shit and die.

Sincerely,

WTF

Dear Michael Bloomberg,

Eat shit tainted p?t? de foie gras and get so sick that the last twenty years of your life are spent immobile, with a tube running up your ass, another one lodged deep in your dick while in constant fear that your heirs are trying to kill you.

A quick, merciful death by gunshot wound is to good for you.

Worst curses,
alan

[Brandybuck]

Amnesty International says China executed thousands last year.

Now that Bush is out of office, AI has to find a new arch-villain. I mean, Bush needed to criticized harshly for his "enhanced interrogations", but that was no reason for Amnesty International to treat him as the Ultimate Evil.

[AJs]

Well I find thier report HIGHLY suspect. I mean, I don't doubt China's brutal mistreatment of prisoners, however if you read thier report it does make you wonder how they define state executions. I mean, they did report this in the same press release:

"Afghanistan, Indonesia, Mongolia and Pakistan did not carry out executions in 2009"

Who exactly is auditing Afghanistans records of prisoners?

[Rhywun]

Re: drilling, I spotted this in the Washington Post:

"But it's unclear what direct benefit Virginia would reap from the decision, because the federal government would receive the proceeds from any companies that drill off the state's coast...." (emphasis mine)

Um? what?! Whatever your position on drilling, if this is true one has to wonder why the hell any company would sign on to this.

[John Thacker]

Whatever your position on drilling, if this is true one has to wonder why the hell any company would sign on to this.

They mean that the federal government gets the payments that the company makes for the rights to explore/drill, not the state. The company still gets profits that exceed the payments.

Well, until the government decides that anyone who actually strikes oil deserves to fork over more for their windfall, whilst still making those who don't find anything pay up too.