Reason Morning Links: Rebellion, Expulsion, Seepage

• Obama on the insurance mandate: It's a tax after all.
• A mysterious clampdown takes more than 70,000 blogs offline.
• The authorities step up their raids on private food clubs.
• A rebellion in Arizona overthrows the reign of the automated speed cameras.
• The FEC fines Vice President Joe Biden $219,000.
• The National Tea Party Federation expels Mark Williams for writing a racist blog post.
• BP update: uh oh.

Comments

[Joe Biden]

The FEC fines Vice President Joe Biden $219,000.

I'm glad it wasn't the FCC fining me. That really would be a BFD!

[Suki]

+1

[The Libertarian Guy]

Good deal. It's about time that fucker Biden got SOME kind of punishment.

[Suki]

The picture of him washing his Trans Am in the White House driveway, with his shirt off, was more punishment for my eyes than it was for him I'm sure.

[ev]

Ah, it IS a tax! I hope he gets hell for this, but he won't.

Greetings from Korea.

[Jiggy Carter]

I know what's best for you proles.

[Jordan]

Teaching ESL in a foreign country is looking better everyday.

[Zeb]

I think it's just called "English" when you are in a non-English speaking country.

[Suki]

+1

[swillfredo pareto]

I think it's just called "English" when you are in a non-English speaking country.

Mrs. Featherbottom: Okay, who'd like a banger in the mouth?
Mrs. Featherbottom: Right, I forgot, here in the States, you call it a sausage in the mouth.
Michael: We just call it a sausage.

[Joe M]

Re: The Penalty, er, Tax, er, Whatever...

A is A. Except when A is !A.

[cynical]

So apparently it was the Technocrats causing Paradox the whole time...

[CoyoteBlue]

Steve McCroskey: Johnny, what can you make out of this?
[Hands him the weather briefing]
Johnny: This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl...

[Rich]

For a membership fee of $25, consumers can purchase ... eggs that are not only organic but unwashed

Perhaps you'd smear on a little more chicken excrement ... for Mr. Washington?

[hmm]

Chickens usually don't shit in their nest boxes. Usually where they roost is where they shit. I can't remember ever washing any eggs we collected.

[FDA Stooge]

You'll be getting a call soon.

[Rich]

Perhaps you'd smear on a little more chicken excrement juice ... for Mr. Washington?

[PapayaSF]

Don't the eggs and the excrement come out of the same hole?

[zoltan]

Do women shit and have periods out of the same hole? Dear Christ.

[Lamarck's Giraffe]

Hey look at that, birds are different from placental mammals. They have cloacas. They urinate, defaecate, mate, and lay eggs through that sucker.

Some human women with congenital disorders can shit and have periods out of the same hole. So in answer to Zoltan: yes, they can. And Dear Christ had nothing to do with it.

[Suki]

Thank goodness they are not trying to pass unhealthy mineral eggs to people who want to buy organic.

[Joe M]

Re: Mark Williams

The Tea Party should've officially expelled him about a year ago. The media just loves interviewing him and acting as if he's the typical Tea Partier.

[robc]

How does a non-existent organization "officially" expel someone?

[robc]

Quoting the article (bolding mine):

The National Tea Party Federation, an organization that seeks to represent the Tea Party political movement around the country

[Maverick]

Top Secret America. The Washington Post's article (long) about the US intel community.

[Suki]

Thank you for the WaPo link. Saw someone reading that this morning and am curious.

[Mike M.]

Remember when we were told by media liberals that the leaking of Valerie Plame's work and identity was the greatest crime in history? I guess that whole thing went right out the window, huh?

[Zeb]

Who said that?

[Mike M.]

You're kidding, right?

[Lost in Space Robot]

"This bill is a tax. Because it's a tax, it's completely constitutional."

Warning! Warning! Danger, Will Robinson!

[Jordan Elliot]

Good call.

[Linda Douglass]

Now I feel unclean.

[Dr. Smith]

Nooo!

[Jordan Elliot]

"The authorities step up their raids on private food clubs."

This is absurd. Perhaps it's the way the story is written, but how cowardly are these fools? Anytime the government's monopoly is threatened is a cause call out the jackboots.(drink!)

Just let people consume what they want so long as they don't hurt anyone else. Why is that such a hard idea to comprehend?

[Joe M]

Anything that has been deemed unsafe must be made illegal. Except for an arbitrary list of socially-accepted activities.

[Nanny]

It's not "an arbitrary list!" Much time and effort (not to mention taxpayer money) was expended by many Commissions in determining it! And we'll keep updating it for as long as it takes!

[JW]

Just let people consume what they want so long as they don't hurt anyone else. Why is that such a hard idea to comprehend?

In late 2008 and early 2009, the representatives of state agriculture agencies in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois met via phone conferences with representatives of the FDA to map a plan for targeting raw-milk buying clubs in the Midwest.

Because the competition doesn't like it.

[Virginia]

We waste too much money on these bureaucratic parasites in charge of enforcing counterproductive regulations to let them sit around doing nothing at their work programs all day. Besides, if we kept them cooped up in their offices all the time, then they'd start pecking at each other and defacating in their own water supply. These are free-range bureaucrats.

[theocrat]

I think these producers need to make some "campaign contributions"

[Brett L]

You can't fight Big Dairy!

[Nanny]

Just let people consume what they want so long as they don't hurt anyone else. Why is that such a hard idea to comprehend?

Just don't let people consume what they want so long as they hurt themselves. Why is that such a hard idea to comprehend?

[Barack Obama]

Obama on the insurance mandate: It's a tax after all.

I'm gonna go ahead... and save y'all... some time and trouble. Everything I said... during the campaign... that was pandering. Everything I've said... since inheriting the worst country... in the history of time... those have been lies. Let's move on.

As for those of you taxpayers... who would complain about these new taxes... I say to you... that I don't want to hear from those... who created this problem... in the first place.

If you want compensation... for my new policies... you can have the House of Representatives. I don't care about them anymore anyway.

[John]

"What's behind all these raids? They seem to stem from increasing concern at both the state and federal level about the spread of private food groups that have sprung up around the country in recent years -- food clubs and buying groups to provide specialized local products that are generally unavailable in groceries, like grass-fed meats, pastured eggs, fermented foods, and, in some cases, raw dairy products. Because they are private and limited to consumers who sign up for membership, these groups generally avoid obtaining retail and public health licenses required of retailers that sell to the general public."

And compete with big grocery stores and ag companies. That is just corporate fascism straight up as Jenine Garafalo would say. But, the inane labeling laws and food regulations liberals so love are exactly what enables this. Liberals are nothing shills for corporate America. But you have to hand it to them. They are really good shills. So good that they manage to do so and still project everything they are on anyone who disagrees with them.

[robc]

as Jenine Garafalo would say

Was that clause necessary?

[Janeane Garofalo]

This is misspelling straight up.

[Ska]

The slightest chance of someone thinking John is adopting the line from Ms. Garafolo made it so.

[MNG]

That's right John, it has nothing to do at all with any concerns about possible illness, it's just liberals doing their usual shilling for corporate America.

What color is the grass on your planet?

[ev]

Why do you care if I buy raw milk? You should laugh at me dismissively when/if I get sick.

To me that's what religious folk should do. Laugh at me because I'm going to hell and leave it there.

[MNG]

I don't want you to give raw milk to your kids and neighbors and a comprehensive regulatory scheme is suited to that end.

[MNG]

I also don't want have to pay when you get sick, through either a court case (court enforcement of torts ain't free) or your Obamacare.

[Fluffy]

You don't have to pay if I get sick.

I can just go and find a doctor and compel him to treat me at gunpoint. Right?

[Suki]

Maybe if you didn't advocate fascist healthcare you wouldn't be paying when others get sick.

Don't they have raw milk in Gaza?

[Cunto]

Fascist healthcare for fascist food for a more fascisty America brought to you by liberals like MNG.

[Corduroy]

So therefore, armed raids are the appropriate solution to the problem. Now I understand.

[hmm]

For the kids right?

[Suki]

+1

[The Libertarian Guy]

They're not YOUR kids, MNG. Mind your own goddamned business.

[John]

Who do think are behind those rules? Big Ag that does not want any competition. And liberals know that and happily take Big Ag's money to do their bidding. What makes liberals more disgusting than most is that they do that and then claim that they are doing it for the common good rather than for the benefit of big corporations.

The bottom line is this MNG' ordinary Americans doing benign activities that interfere with big corporations oligarchies are having their doors kicked down because of policies you support. You can claim it is for the greater good all you want. But fascist is as fascist does.

[MNG]

You don't think supporters of that kind of thing don't have health concerns in their minds? I support it, and that's what's on my mind.

[John]

They might. I can't read their minds. But it doesn't matter. They effects of these laws is so obvious. Yet, they purposefully ignore that and pretend that it is all about health when everyone knows it is not.

I am really not interested in your rationalizations MNG. How you soothe your conscience and sleep at night is your own business.

[MNG]

We weigh the benefits of such regulation with the restrictions on some. It's a balancing act. But don't pretend we do it for "Big Ag."

[John]

You don't do it for "big AG" and you use a balancing act. Yet, Big Ag always seems to win. As I said above MNG, whatever gets you through the night.

[MNG]

OK, then I say your motivation is that you are callous to people getting sick and dying.

See how this game is played?

[John]

MNG,

If I supported a policy that resulted in the deaths of thousands, would my good intentions make it okay? No, it wouldn't. My intentions would be incidental. It is the same thing here. Liberals are supporting a policy that results in few if any health benefits, but hugely benefits Big Ag and greatly damages freedom. The fact that they mean well, even assuming they do, doesn't excuse them. The result is the same regardless of their intentions. And further, the result is so obvious that they are either lying or being willfully ignorant when they claim to mean well.

[MNG]

" Liberals are supporting a policy that results in few if any health benefits"

Citation needed.

[John]

No, you need a citation jackass. Have these people killed anyone? Do you think their customers are so stupid they would buy food that would kill them? You can buy unpasteurized cheese and milk in Europe and they seem to be doing okay. Further, we managed to build the richest civilization on earth without the FDA.

The burden is on you not us. We have a case of law abiding people having their rights violated. And you immediately default to the position that they must be at fault because the government did it. No, the burden is on the government and its defenders to come up with proof that these people were endangering anyone's health.

[MNG]

That richest civilization looked at its state of food and drug production and sale and said holy shit we need to address this! And they did. They knew the situation. After all, they presided over the richest civilization ever.

[John]

"That richest civilization looked at its state of food and drug production and sale and said holy shit we need to address this"

So they passed a law, it must be right. That pretty says it all about your world view MNG. It isn't too hard to get you to drop the mask is it?

[Zeb]

You do understand that pasteurization was invented before refrigeration was widely available, don't you, MNG? Raw milk poses much less of a danger than it did when the regulations were put in place.

[#]

"Do you think their customers are so stupid they would buy food that would kill them?"

Thats at the heart of liberal thinking.

Typical liberal: "im smart. I must know what is good for people. Other people tare oo stupid to breath. Therefore I must tell t em what they can and can not do - for their own good."

[Fluffy]

OK, then I say your motivation is that you are callous to people getting sick and dying.

Why, yes, I am.

Pork, for example, can be dangerous to eat if not properly cooked.

One solution would be to make it illegal to sell uncooked pork. We could write a law forcing producers to cook all pork before it is sold.

OR we could leave the law as it is, and simply accept the fact that people who don't properly cook their pork are going to get sick once in a while.

We face the same choice in the unpasteurized milk story.

[Joe M]

You might not personally support Big Ag, but plenty of lawmakers do, and that's what they support this type of activity.

[Joe M]

The persecution, that is.

[?]

The Royal "we" ?

[Seward]

Actually, we do it for Big Ag. It is the Baptists and Bootleggers problem front and center.

[BakedPenguin]

It is the Baptists and Bootleggers problem front and center.

Or Baptists and feminists on porn.

[wylie]

Or Baptists and feminists on porn.

Wake me up when the sequal, Porn & Bootleggers: Wet'n'Wild, comes out.

[Tim]

I don't expect John to pay for my healthcare or worry about my tummy ache if I decide to drink milk the way it has been prepared for the last 10,000 years.
Why are you posting here anyway MNG? Shouldn't you be watching the neighbors through the curtains? They might be smoking indoors or riding bikes without helmets...

[wylie]

Why are you posting here anyway MNG? Shouldn't you be watching the neighbors through the curtains?

That's what all the surveillance cam...i mean Public Safety CCTV cameras are for.

[Fluffy]

The supporters of these raids absolutely DO NOT have health concerns on their minds, no.

They are simply enraged by noncompliance with the will of the state.

If you found out your neighbor was drinking unpasteurized milk, do you think you would be personally justified in kicking his door down and sticking a gun in his face to force him to stop? Or do you think that would be an absurd overreaction?

[John]

For some of them I think it is a neurosis. I honestly think some people get up every day worried that someone somewhere is doing something that might not be the safest possible choice and want desperately to stop them. It really is some kind of a collective madness.

[MNG]

I would support taking action if this kind of thing were undercutting a comprehensive regulatory scheme which overall protected the health and safety of most Americans, yes.

I mean, I can play this game too. If your neighbor were selling milk that was killing children wouldn't the state be justified in kicking his door down and stopping him?

[John]

"I would support taking action if this kind of thing were undercutting a comprehensive regulatory scheme which overall protected the health and safety of most Americans, yes."

How is this undercutting anything? You can still go to the store and buy milk that is FDA approved. This is just private people selling food to each other knowing full well what it is.

In order for it to undercut the regulatory scheme, they would have to be selling this stuff marked as FDA approved when it wasn't. That would be fraud and everyone here I think would support shutting them down.

Where the rest of us see voluntary activity, you see a crime.

[The Gobbler]

"You can still go to the store and buy milk that is FDA approved."

I look at the selling / purchase of these products as being akin to sex parties. Sure, there is an increased desease risk, but since it's between consensual adults, it's none of the government's business.

[John]

That is a really good analogy.

[Fluffy]

If your neighbor were selling milk that was killing children wouldn't the state be justified in kicking his door down and stopping him?

Yes, absolutely.

And as a result, if they want to launch raids on producers whose milk has killed people, I would support that.

In this case, they are launching raids on producers whose milk has not hurt anyone yet.

So, yeah, for me it's pretty straightforward. If my neighbor kills someone with his product, he should expect to face legal action for negligence [and to have the opportunity to defend himself against that charge]. If my neighbor's product doesn't hurt anyone, I will let him alone, even if I think the product isn't the safest choice available.

[MNG]

Well yes fluffy, regulation tries to solve problems before people are dead.

See, I don't like dead people.

[John]

What problem. People in Europe consume these products.

[Zeb]

People in the US too.

[JW]

See, I don't like dead people.

But, producers that are counting on repeat buyers to generate a profit do like them some stiffs. Oh my GOD, do they love their dead customers.

Nothing starts a buying run on your products like customers dying from your products.

[BakedPenguin]

Nothing starts a buying run on your products like customers dying from your products.

When interviewed about the "Better By You..." suicide court case, Rob Halford said something like "it would be pretty counter-productive to kill off our fans. If we were going to put subliminal messages on our records, 'buy more of our albums' would be a better thing to tell them".

[Fluffy]

You apparently also don't like free people.

[Fluffy]

MNG, will you come over to my house and cut my meat for me?

I might try to take too big a bite of my steak and choke myself.

Can't you fix this problem for me before it happens?

Thanks.

[The Libertarian Guy]

Better get crackin' on that cure for death, then, MNG. 'Cuz it's gonna happen no matter how many rules and regulations are in effect.

[JW]

I mean, I can play this game too.

You might want to take your toys and go home now.

Fluffy: Are you justified in taking violent action against a neighbor harming no one, except perhaps himself?

MNG: But CHILUNZ...

[Michael]

If your neighbor were selling milk that was killing children wouldn't the state be justified in kicking his door down and stopping him?

As there is no Godwin-type rule that applies to this, I'd like to attempt coining one. Dude, you totally Emengee'd your own thread.

[Zeb]

This is some pretty weak shit, MNG. Raw milk producers/consumers are not undercutting anything. No one is saying that the milk you buy in the supermarket shouldn't be pasteurized. Only that the few weirdos and lovers of good food who want to consume the very slightly less safe product should be allowed to if they understand the risks. You need to shut the fuck up before you look even stupider.

[Warty]

I mean, I can play this game too. If your neighbor were selling milk that was killing children wouldn't the state be justified in kicking his door down and stopping him?

What the fuck is this pitiful attempt? You're much too stupid to play this game, you gigantic prolapse.

[Adolf Hilter]

THE JEWS ARE UNDERMINGING THE GREAT NATION! ANNIHALTAE THEM!

[Tim]

"If you found out your neighbor was drinking unpasteurized milk, do you think you would be personally justified in kicking his door down and sticking a gun in his face to force him to stop?"

Depends on which neighbor, a couple of them are dangerously individualistic.

[Seward]

Most of those concerns are overblown. Or are you going to defend each and every dietary restriction the stat enacts?

Anyone remember why Coors was banned in many states until the 1980s?

[Joe M]

It was cold-filtered instead of heat-pasteurized.

[Seward]

I'm fairly certain the main reason why it was banned was to curb competition.

[JW]

No, it was to give Burt Reynolds a vehicle for a shitty movie.

[Isaac Bartram]

Yes, the laws said it was because it wasn't pasteurized, but I think a quick check will show that most states that banned it were heavily unionized. In those states it was banned because Coor's was a non-union brewer.

If you want to check on the origin of an anti-competition law it's always a good bet to "Look for the Union Label".

[hmm]

So don't purchase or consume the stuff? Maybe take a little responsibility for what you put in your mouth and don't expect someone else to do it for you?

[Ska]

But how would he explain the herpes sores on his lips?

[hmm]

Dissertation defense.

[capitol l]

Ha!

[PapayaSF]

"Possible illness," perhaps, but how many people in these food clubs have died or even been sickened? Once again, the government jumps in with both feet to "solve" a problem that doesn't actually exist....

[John]

http://www.washingtonexaminer......36719.html

This article make me willing to vote for either Paul. I don't care what they do to foreign policy as long as they stick to people like Lott and the GOP leadership. Anything to shut those assholes up.

[J sub D]

Wow! Trent Lott is a tool. Color me aghast.

[The Unborn]

Being aborted is starting to look like our best option. If only it was our decision to make...

[James Ard]

I believe we are seeing the unraveling of Obamacare. The tax isn't going to fly because congress is supposed to say they're taxing someone when they're taxing someone. Apparently, Obama's people decided the commerce clause wouldn't work either.

[John]

Did they make a bunch of findings in the Bill itself calling it a use of the "tax power"? The problem is that the critters who voted for it are going to try to claim this fall that they never voted to increase taxes on anyone. The lawsuits and that defense are going to make that difficult.

[James Ard]

If they're not running scared they should be.

[John]

And also remember how the talking points that came out of the White House and down to their journolist disciples last spring was that the a commerce clause challenge was "ridiculous". All the while they were planning on defending it using the tax power.

[Congress]

congress is supposed to say they're taxing someone when they're taxing someone

James, you haven't had to cough up your tax yet, have you? We'll be taxing you soon!

[MNG]

Anyone who paid any attention to the health bill months ago should have known it was organized under the taxing power. It's a smart legal strategy as that power has been read so very broadly by SCOTUS.

And it's not really a tax, you only pay it if you don't have insurance. It's a legal fiction sort of, it's no more a tax than the penalty one pays at the DMV for not having car insurance.

[James Ard]

Silly MNG, car insurance is mandated by states. The federal government holds no such power.

[MNG]

They do under the tax and spend clause James.

[James Ard]

Then let them write a bill with a tax in it.

[MNG]

They did.

[The Libertarian Guy]

Figures you'd support a cowardly end-run like this, MNG.

[Seward]

Anyone who watched the U.S. go to war in 2003 should have realized that ...

When scumbag politicians engage in deception I'm not really that concerned with what one "should have known."

[John]

"Anyone who paid any attention to the health bill months ago should have known it was organized under the taxing power. I"

So anyone paying attention should have known the Democrats who said that it was a commerce clause use were lying? Yeah, it is a pretty good bet that Democrats are lying whenever their mouths are moving. But that is a bit surprising coming from you.

[MNG]

It could, and was, defended on both grounds.

Do you read Balkinization?

[Seward]

Actually, the bill itself does not draw on the taxing power. Or rather, it calls it a "penalty." Let's face it; this is the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress trying to have their cake and eat it too. They wanted to dodge the tax issue when the bill was being debated, etc. and now they want to call it a tax when it is law. They really can't have it both ways.

[Seward]

No, it was not defended on both grounds! The article itself states that it is only called a "penalty" in the legislation. They don't call it a tax ... and its obvious why. The bill would have been DOA if it were called a tax.

[Joe M]

They really can't have it both ways.

I wish that were true, but I'm starting to have my doubts. We apparently really do live in a world where things can be different things at different times, and no one has a problem with it. Or at least, not enough people have a problem with it to stop it.

[Mike Laursen]

Your last sentence describes the situation that commonly occurs.

The good news is that with the Internet, everything politicians say in public is recorded and archived. The new thing under the sun is that someone always notices and points it out when some slimey politician contradicts himself. And they can usually prove it!

[CrackertyAssCracker]

So we should have known Obama was a lying right to our face?

[cynical]

Well, he was talking.

[Aresen]

MNG wrote:

"should have known it was organized under the taxing power...

And it's not really a tax,"

You really have doublethink down to a science.

[Fluffy]

It's a legal fiction sort of, it's no more a tax than the penalty one pays at the DMV for not having car insurance.

The problem is that if it's not a tax it's a fine.

And if it's a fine, that brings in the 5th, 6th and 7th amendments.

And although the SCOTUS has refused to incorporate the 7th Amendment against the states, it definitely applies to the federal government.

To have the IRS administer the penalty, it has to be a tax. The other choice is a federal civil or criminal trial for each and every offender.

[MNG]

But it's a "tax" that is only paid if you fail to do something that most Americans do.

[Spoonman.]

Wasn't the point of this clusterfuck of a law that not enough Americans did this thing?

[Mike Laursen]

And I only pay a tax on my farm income if I have farm income. And I only pay capital gains tax if I have capital gains. Your point?

[John]

Bingo. If it is a fine, I have due process rights.

[R C Dean]

Anyone who paid any attention to the health bill months ago should have known it was organized under the taxing power.

Except that the bill contains no references at all to taxing, and a laundry list of claims that it is an exercise of the Commerce Clause.

They structured this thing as a fine for violating a Commerce Clause mandate, that happens to be collected and enforced by the IRS, without the IRS using any of its ordinary tax collection or enforcement powers.

[The Angry Optimist]

Really?

Because you spend this entire thread arguing it was constitutional under the Commerce Clause.

[capitol l]

it's no more a tax than the penalty one pays at the DMV for not having car insurance.

I have never had car insurance, and have never been penalized for not having it.

You're being real bitchy today, MNG. You should go and spy on your neighbors, like Tim said, as they might be eating raw eggs or something. How anyone survives, especially teh chilluns, when you take time out of being a dickhead meddler giving the divine guidance from your moral highpoint to post here is a mystery. Also, we all know the thrill you get when the raids happen and the dogs get shot...

[Mike Laursen]

Where is this state where you can just pay a fine if you don't have car insurance? Where I live you cannot legally drive a vehicle unless you have insurance.

[DanD]

From the food raids article:
Before they seek out a search warrant, regulators invariably nose around and infiltrate private buying groups or raw milk herdshares to gain information on "probable cause." They'll often make up sad stories as to why they should be allowed to join. Gary Cox of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund recalls how an undercover agent from the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets infiltrated Meadowsweet Dairy LLC, a private organization of 120 Ithaca consumers who bought shares to gain access to raw dairy products, in 2007: "He was insistent. 'I live so far away, and I only come here so very infrequently, so can't I at least have some (milk) today, PLEEEEEEEASE, because otherwise I won't be able to get any for a long time.' Barb Smith felt sorry for him and relented. We know what the consequence was of her kindness." The consequence was an open-ended search warrant that agents used several times in late 2007 and early 2008 to confiscate product

Motherfucker these people have no shame.

[Virginia]

Glad to hear the clubs are getting the word out and advising raidees how to prepare/respond.

There are only so many enraged, profanity laced calls to your local representative you can make.

[rhofulster]

I've been watching a few "gangland" episodes lately. Maybe these buying groups need to employ some motorcycle club seargent at arms to screen new members. Or hell, maybe this is a new MC profit opportunity.

[Johnny Longtorso]

American politics has caught the British disease

America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution

[John]

I posted that second link this weekend. And no one read it. Perhaps your influential status will get people to read it. It is one of the best articles I have read in years.

[cynical]

Well, it's "ok" for libertarians. It has a decidedly social-conservative bent that won't appeal to people that care less about family values or God's role in the public sphere. But it was still worth reading.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

I agree. Pretty good stuff.

Cool thing about it that I noticed: You can like the article, or have cool, calm disagreements with it, and be either in the country or the ruling class. If you hate it though, you are definitely in the ruling class.

I love how many reactions I've seen that are basically, "those rubes sure are racist. they must be to believe this crap". Thank you elitest jerks. Nothing will keep the revolution going as efficiently as more of your jerkness.

[Jordan Elliot]

I'm part way through the second one, (at "The Faith") and I'm already starting to get angry.

[Jordan Elliot]

Not done yet. He's making some good points, but then his bias towards "science" as he dubs it and his religious paranoia start detracting.

[Isaac Bartram]

Re; the first link:

What is more startling is the growth in America of precisely the sort of political alignment which we have known for many years in Britain: an electoral alliance of the educated, self-consciously (or self-deceivingly, depending on your point of view) "enlightened" class with the poor and deprived.

I'm not sure why anyone thinks this is new. I've been seeing it since the sixties.

So the Democrats, who once represented the interests of ferociously self-respecting blue-collar America, are now seen ? under their highly educated president, who wholeheartedly embraces the orthodoxy of the liberal salon ? as having abandoned their traditional following.

The Democrats have being losing blue collar voters for years. Remember the Reagan Democrats, Nixon's hardhats etc.

The only reliable part of the "working class" that the Democrats can count on are the AFL-CIO leadrship and they represent a minority of America's workers. And you'll have to look pretty hard to fine any journeyman tradesmen among them. These days, law school is where you have to go to become a labor boss.

[Isaac Bartram]

Still, she seems to have a better handle on "what makes America tick" than any other Limey writer I've seen.

[Johnny Longtorso]

A Dangerous Disaffection

[John]

That is the thing. It is amazing how polite the Tea Parties have been. If the Republican leadership gets in on the back of this disaffection and then goes back to business as usual (a pretty safe bet sadly), the next Tea Party movement isn't going to be so nice. The political class is going to find out what an actual no shit revolutionary movement looks like. And God help us and them when it happens.

[James Ard]

I'll agree with God help us. But I'd say God damn them. Short of violence, I'd like to see them all humiliated in the most embarrassing way possible.

[John]

True. Fuck them. But unfortunately, they won't go quietly and that will be bad for everyone.

[Cytotoxic]

John, I really want to believe what you say is true, but I have a bad feeling many Tpers will not be very motivated by the same crap they protest today if team red is in charge. Much like the 'anti-war' movement that was really a vote democrat movement.

[Flush 'n Blow!]

"This is not to assert the silly proposition that there is no major difference between Democrats and Republicans."

Um, but the graph, um...it's like right there.

"But still: experience shows that voting for Republicans hasn't been enough to offset the power of the political class."

So Nixon was the solution?

[J sub D]

PT: In an interview, a BurstNet spokesman declined to identify the law enforcement agency that ordered Blogetery shut down or provide the reason but did say that it had nothing to do with copyright violations.

Maybe I'm getting paranoid but I suspect it had something to do with alleged free speech violations.

OMG! Terrorists on the web!

[Mohammed Mohammed Al Mohammed]

We command your unreasoning fear! Behold as we post with impunity, ride your airlines and sell your hippies spoiled milk.

[Hank]

Many people will be eligible for federal subsidies their fellow taxpayers to help them pay premiums.

I wonder how people would react if things were presented to them more clearly?

[Mike Laursen]

More accurately: Many people will be eligible for their fellow taxpayers, and anybody who uses the U.S. dollar, to help them pay premiums.

[J sub D]

In an audit released Friday, the FEC said Biden's 2008 White House election bid accepted an illegal in-kind campaign contribution by accepting a ride on a corporate jet and only paying the first-class rate, not the more expensive charter rate. In addition, the then-Delaware senator's presidential campaign was plagued by some messy record-keeping that led to prohibited excessive campaign contributions from individual donors.

Damned Republicans in the pockets of the wealthy and corporations.

Team Blue fanboys, please explain why your party is less beholden to wealthy private interests than Team Red.

[James Ard]

I first read it the FCC fines Biden.

[Warty]

Good morning, you reprobates. Have something you'll probably hate.

[Jordan Elliot]

Nice selection. "Black Winter Day" by them was the first "Death Metal" song I ever liked.

[hmm]

MNG is on today.

He has managed to defend the children from milk and eggs, redefined tax, and come from a magical land where the constitutionality of Obamacare has already been tested w/o going to court.

I'm starting to think Captain Citation has his own tights and cape.

[Warty]

But he hasn't won the thread yet. Only one man can do that.

[JW]

Chuck Norris?

[hmm]

I dare them to raid my farm.

[hmm]

Granny was packin' a needle and thread. She had it commin'

http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/new.....ton-071910

[hmm]

And...Ireland gets the downgrade.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38304187/ns/world_news-europe/

[P Brooks]

A spokeswoman for Redflex, whose camera systems in 14 cities in Arizona are unaffected by the state's withdrawal, predicted speeding would spike on the freeways.

"Though few government agencies have opted to deactivate road-safety camera systems, we have learned from those that speeds will spike to dangerous levels," said Shoba Vaitheeswaran, a spokeswoman for Redflex.

CARNAGE ON TEH HIGHWAYS!

The crazy rat-baggers want you and your precious little children to DIE!!!

[hmm]

Arizona stops and a 1/4 mile stretch of highway through a town with a population of 1300 gets cameras. Sheriff doesn't like the idea, the state doesn't like the idea, the area is not prone to more accidents, and this isn't about generating income.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/l.....f4ce1.html

[The Gobbler]

Arnold Kling has a great post this morning on the "neo-Reactionaries." The best part:

I think that ideology is partly endogenous. I do not think that it is an accident that an ideology of rational technocratic control grew up as America urbanized and as enormous scale economies emerged in the industries made possible by the internal combustion engine, the electric motor, radio, and television. I do not think it is an accident that the Progressive ideology will be challenged as the Internet starts to alter the economy and society, reducing the comparative advantage of mass production and mass media while increasing the comparative advantage of local autonomy and individual expression. The Internet serves as a constant reminder of the wisdom of Hayek.

http://econlog.econlib.org/arc.....actio.html

[JW]

The Internet serves as a constant reminder of the wisdom of Hayek.

But, but...DARPANet! Roads!

[Fluffy]

This stupid skank.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/sarah.....d=11194148

Guess what, Sarah?

The existence of your witch-burner church is an unnecessary provocation of ME.

Please tear it down in the interest of healing.

Thanks.

[John]

Don't worry. The people building that Mosque will get right on that for you.

[Fluffy]

Tell them to fucking shake a leg.

[capitol l]

So it is true that you, Fluffy, do not refudiate this mosque?

[mr simple]

But that's how you heal, Fluffy: you tell everyone who's somewhat similar to the offending party that they are lesser people whose rights need to be violated to even the score. Duh.

[John]

http://apnews.myway.com/articl.....MFFG3.html

Mom and pop growers of marijuana in California are worried about being squeezed out by pot being 'Wall Marted"

Fuck you, you dirty hippies. It is called the capitalist system. You want to come out from the underground, be ready to compete for the market.

[Axman]

And, eventually, a ban on unpasteurized weed from non-union operations.

[West Texas Boy]

We can't have that well capped! We need the story in the news until Cap and Trade is passed! C'mon fuckers, the expansion of the nanny state is at stake!

[prolefeed]

There is no glitch. The state, the first to adopt such cameras on its highways in October 2008, has become the first to pull the plug,

Hawaii pulled the plug on the infamous "van cams" and red light cams several years ago. Not exactly the same thing as what Arizona was using, but close enough for bragging rights for being the first to shut down this step toward The Total Police State TM.

[?????]

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