Reason Morning Links: Sex Pistols and Nuclear Arms

- The U.S. and Russia sign an arms treaty.

- Florida hosts what may be the biggest school choice rally in American history.

- Tea party activists form a federation; SEIU activists form a third party.

- A Nepalese deity considers a career in banking.

- Malcolm McLaren -- that "modern day Fagin, conjuring cash from chaos" -- dies at age 64.

Comments

[American Devil]

the tradition violates the child's human rights and leaves her unprepared for life after retirement.

Unlike traditions in the West.

[mr simple]

But [the Tea Party] has also openly aired embarrassing internal disputes and has been slow to respond to critics who've painted protesters as racists.

Never miss a chance to paint the Tea Partiers with the racist brush.

[Rich]

Nice dynamic:

"I won't dignify that with a response."

"RACIST!!"

[cmace]

You missed the big story ( at the bottom of the Nepalese Deity link):

Australian man mauled in rare attack by wombat

http://www.reuters.com/article.....2616666:z0

[Mad Max]

'The 59-year-old man from rural Victoria state killed the bare nosed wombat with an axe after it mauled him on Tuesday.'

Hand-to-hand wombat.

[C-man]

+1

[Art-P.O.G.]

+Awesome

[Steve Nash Equilibrium]

MORTAL WOMBAT!!!

[CoyoteBlue]

NO
COMBAT WOMBAT

[cynical]

Yes, luckily for the man.

[robc]

Was it rabid?

[.]

Are only Firefox users getting through this morning?

[IE User]

Nope.

[C-man]

"They include anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, the socially conservative Family Research Council, National Taxpayers Union, FreedomWorks and Republican direct mail consultant Richard Viguerie."

Yep, The FRC is all about freedom and personal liberty. Good job guys.

[Tonio]

Can't speak for anyone else, but including the FRC makes me suspicious of the Tea Party Federation.

I realize the temptation for fringe groups to find allies wherever they can, but a formal alliance with the religious right really kills their libertarian cred in my opinion.

It's one thing for individual TP members to express anti-gay and anti-abortion sentiment, but much more troublesome when your umbrella organization cozies up to the people who have been running conservatism into the ground since the mid-eighties.

Also understand the desperation of people like the FRC, and mindful that they may be doing a deliberate strategy to keep the TPM marginalized by making them unacceptable to moderates and secular rightists.

[?]

Are only Firefox users getting through this morning?

Safari works, too. But it's slow to respond to critics who've painted its name as racist.

BWANA

[Mike M.]

Having helped stab America in the back for a couple of airport runways, Bart "Judas" Stupak is running away from Congress like the spineless little weasel that he is.

[hmm]

I wonder how much that vote cost? Change vote and the retire looks a lot like avoiding any investigation or moving on with the help of someone else.

You know Chicago style...

[ed]

It has nothing to do with his being one of the most hated men in America. He wants to spend more time with his family.

[You didn't hear it from me but]

he's getting an abortion.

[ed]

Never has a congressman had a more fitting name than Stupak.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Guffaw!

[ManikMonkee]

Gutted about Maclarren

Its funny how all the obituaries just talk about the Pistols but he was one of the first people to release a hip hop record, play South African music (way before the Talking Heads or Paul Simon), and mix classical and house

funky bloke

[New Wave]

I believe he had lots to do w/ Bow Wow Wow and Adam Ant, too.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Sugar (Free) Rush

[Steve Nash Equilibrium]

So now tea partiers must answer every attack no matter how ridiculous. I wonder how this headline would read in other situations:

But [gay marriage proponents]... have been slow to respond to critics who say they are responsible for the recent Upper Big Branch mine explosion.

[Fun Lover]

Excellent! I am so coding up a random sentence generator for "X have been slow to respond to critics who say they are responsible for Y"!

[Tonio]

And do please post that here. Thx.

[Art-P.O.G.]

+1

[ed]

The left (and their enablers and apologists in the MSM) are scared shitless about the Tea Party and the general mood of the nation. Otherwise they wouldn't be devoting so much time on anti-Tea Party propaganda. They project their own hysteria on peaceful protesters who are exercising their Constitutional rights to assemble and have their grievances redressed. The left have retreated into their own political version of Bizarro World.

[MNG]

I kind of agree. Too many people on the left just assume the right is about racism and other bad motives (the right and libertarians are guilty of this too, look at the motives imputed to liberals on this site all the time). In recent decades some vocal racist groups felt more at home with the right. Those on the left who are ignorant of the right and insulated from it just then assume that any right wing expression must be filled with racism. It's very silly because a better explanation for the Tea Party's activism is that Obama is pushing major changes. He says so himself. Such major changes are going to get people worked up.

[ev]

What bothers me is the blindness behind it all. They were (rightly so) up in arms when Bushites called everyone unpatriotic for not supporting something. Apparently missing the part of the brain that computes irony, they immediately blame anti-Obamites racist.

I guess it is all just human nature. Children learn the effectiveness of name-calling so early.

[John Thacker]

They were (rightly so) up in arms when Bushites called everyone unpatriotic for not supporting something.

And the hilarious thing is that the one person who definitely used the word "unpatriotic" to describe his political opponents and opponents of the war was... David Frum.

But Republicans turning on Frum and turning on Bush policies in general is a sign of intolerance.

[Fred Phelps]

Are you telling me they aren't?

[Mike Kole]

I'm surprised anyone knows McLaren died. After all, he isn't around to self-promote his part in the event.

[SugarFree]

Jezebel still bringing the funny.

A fart-fetishist says he was sexually assaulted by a man he met online. He says he went to the man's house expecting that they could "fart and be friends" but was forced to engage in a variety of sexual acts.

link

[sage]

Good lord, there are levels of stupid in our culture. Like anyone who believes this guys was "forced" to do anything.

"Yeah, after like three hours I got sick of him hitting on me and I left."

[ed]

That story stinks.

[sage]

I think it's a gas.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Ewwwwwwww

[Mick]

Jumping Jack's ass is a gas gas gas.

[Warren]

SEIU?
Socialist Emplyees Insignificant Union?

[Warren]

SEIU?

Socialist Employees Insignificant Union?

[Warren]

SEIU?

Socialist Employees Insignificant Union?

[John Thacker]

They're annoyed because North Carolina has one of the strongest laws against public employees collective bargaining (they can join a union-like association, but can't collectively bargain or strike) and is right to work.

[Kolohe]

More than anything else, early buy-in by the SEIU (and Silicon Valley money) is what gave Obama the early and ultimately decisive edge to overcome Hillary Clinton's inherent 'incumbent'/'establishment' advantages, so I wouldn't dismiss that union to lightly.
(and relatively speaking, they're significantly more 'third way' than old school outfits like the AFL-CIO.)

[John Thacker]

Hopefully the tea party folks won't do something as dumb as the Bergen County Education Association. Joking about the governor dying in a memo doesn't really get you in trouble, but the Secret Service takes an extraordinarily dim view of joking about the President dying.

[ed]

In not entirely unrelated news, former journalist, White House ObamaCare Propaganda Minister--and exposer of diabolical "fishy e-mails"--Linda Douglass is stepping down.

[John Thacker]

Remember those US cotton supports and tariffs that the WTO has found illegal and that Brazil was threatening to impose massive retaliatory tariffs over?

Good news: There's an agreement with Brazil.

Bad news: Rather than the agreement dropping our price supports and government assistance, it consists of us sending Brazilian cotton farmers $147 million a year so that they can be subsidized by us as much as we're subsidizing our own farmers.

[Ghost of Schr?dinger's cat]

from my Facebook, the smug comment of the week:

"I have discovered a severe dislike for suburbs. If you don't have a car they are impossible to get around in. How can we be so dependent on cars? I like having a bus route outside my door and more importantly walking access to everything I need."

replies include:
"I'm loving living downtown! Living a car free life is pretty sweet - most of the time. Those things do come in handy for some things, though..."

[Solanum]

Odds are he/she lives in the gentrified portion of downtown, so the bus isn't filled with those icky lower class types.

[T]

How can we be so dependent on cars? I like having a bus route outside my door and more importantly walking access to everything I need.

Curiously, Scientific American published some research a few years back that indicated the percentage of time people spend in traveling is fairly invariant across all technology levels/modes of transport. People just aren't willing to spend their time in transit. So by deliberately choosing low speed methods, she limits her daily circle of activities. Good or bad? I dunno.

[Steff]

There's no cruising with the windows down, the radio up and setting your own speed on a bus, man. They can keep the bus. I'll keep my car.

Sadly, they're gonna be the types who try to outlaw cars five years from now thanks to their enlightenment.

[Bingo]

The suburbs DO suck and are a result of government interference in the market.

[John Thacker]

Good news: US reaches agreement with Brazil on cotton subsidies to avoid tariff retaliation.

Bad news: The deal involves subsidizing Brazilian cotton farmers by $147 million a year so that they're just as subsidized by us as our own farmers, to make it fair.

The idea of reducing the subsidies? Ridiculous.

[John Thacker]

Good news: A deal with Brazil over cotton supports has been reached, avoiding retaliatory tariffs.

Bad news: Instead of dropping our cotton supports, we're paying Brazilian cotton farmers $157 million a year so that it'll be "fair" and we'll be supporting them just as we support our own.

[John Thacker]

Links are here.

[John Thacker]

I'd love to post a link, but the spam filter refuses to let me.

[P Brooks]

I like having a bus route outside my door and more importantly walking access to everything I need.

Well, hurray for you, young lady!

By all means, move to Manhattan, and live the life of your dreams. Just don't try to tell me to live in some congested shithole because you disapprove of the way I want to live.

[Steve Nash Equilibrium]

I love living downtown, too. Having a 1 bed 1 bath 100 sq. ft. apartment is sweet and makes me feel so hip!