Reason Morning Links: Arson, Corruption, Heat Gun, Murkowski's Run

• A fire at a forthcoming Muslim community center in Tennessee is ruled an arson.
• The latest congressional corruption case features Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.).
• Ron Paul proposes a Tea Party foreign policy.
• The Los Angeles County sheriff acquires a heat gun.
• The hidden history of the changeover from Tony Blair to Gordon Brown.
• Lisa Murkowski's strange quest for the Libertarian Party's nomination should resolve itself today.

Comments

[John-David]

And the first commenter at the Murkowski link is...

DONDERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Warty]

We are providing full coverage at LibertarianRepublican.net.

"We".

[SugarFree]

All the various sockpuppets have finally developed their own personalities. They argue all night long.

[Warty]

Do you suppose that Dondero has to pay his Vietnamese hooker persona for handjobs, or do you think she gives him freebies?

[SugarFree]

Neither. He just rapes his own hand while screaming "Di di mau!"

[prolefeed]

Hookers don't give freebies, even imaginary hookers.

[MNG]

"As many frustrated Americans who have joined the Tea Party realize, we cannot stand against big government at home while supporting it abroad. We cannot talk about fiscal responsibility while spending trillions on occupying and bullying the rest of the world. We cannot talk about the budget deficit and spiraling domestic spending without looking at the costs of maintaining an American empire of more than 700 military bases in more than 120 foreign countries. We cannot pat ourselves on the back for cutting a few thousand dollars from a nature preserve or an inner-city swimming pool at home while turning a blind eye to a Pentagon budget that nearly equals those of the rest of the world combined."

I've said it before, but that guy is one of the most principled dudes in our national political scene.

[Tulpa]

One of?

[Johnny Longtorso]

Oikophobia: Why the liberal elite finds Americans revolting.

[capitol l]

I like the Wall St. Journal because they are not effete east coast elites like those pansies at the Times...

[Johnny Longtorso]

Yet the oiks' vision of themselves as an intellectual aristocracy violates the first American principle ever articulated: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . ."

This cannot be reconciled with the elitist notion that most men are economically insecure bitter clinging intolerant bigots who need to be governed by an educated elite. Marxism Lite is not only false; it is, according to the American creed, self-evidently false. That is why the liberal elite finds Americans revolting.

[Fluffy]

This cannot be reconciled with the elitist notion that most men are economically insecure bitter clinging intolerant bigots who need to be governed by an educated elite.

Sure it can, since that is the sentiment behind the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights is animated by the sentiment that many men are scum, and if given the opportunity to wield power over other citizens via the ballot box will do so in an unjust and tyrannical way. Therefore, to prevent them from doing this, a political elite wrote and engineered the approval of a constitution that prevents them from doing so.

[Mike M.]

They're about to find out just how mutual the feeling is in fairly short order.

[mr simple]

If you want to make sure people know you're an idiot, quote Charles Krauthammer. His "article" that Taranto gushes over is completely devoid of logic and support for his claims. Of course they both employ the "if you support me you're team red, if you're against me you're team blue" mementhe idiots need to know which side of an argument they should be on.

[creech]

Krauthammer frequently dives into things of which he knows nothing. That he is in a wheelchair demonstrates this.

[PapayaSF]

Oooh, you're mean this morning....

[DJ Drugs]

Krauthammer; what a waste of an awesome name.

[Corduroy]

What a load of crap. The Republicans are the ones making issues out of these things, not the liberals. It's pure wedge issue politics prior to an election.

[Jesse Walker]

It's certainly curious to see a column about "promiscuous charges of bigotry" that manages to avoid the words "Andrew Breitbart." Crying wolf about racism is a bipartisan sin these days.

[Johnny Longtorso]

For the Houston folks:

MFAH, Now Playing: The Complete Metropolis

In Metropolis, a towering city of the future, society is divided between the working class and the city planners. The only son of the city?s ruler falls in love with a working-class girl who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

In 2008, an essentially complete copy of Fritz Lang?s silent science-fiction masterpiece Metropolis was discovered by a Buenos Aires museum curator. The complete copy was considerably longer than any existing print. It included not only additional scenes, but twenty-five minutes of "lost" footage, about a fifth of the film, that had not been seen since its Berlin debut eighty years ago. This discovery spearheaded another restoration of the film; the Argentine footage is clearly identifiable because so much of the damage remains. The unintended benefit is that the found footage provides convenient earmarks to the recently reintegrated scenes. "The work on the restoration teaches us once more that no restoration is ever definitive," says film restorer Anne Wilkening.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

That's awesome I love Metropolis. I look forward to finally being able to watch the whole film.

[Ska]

Word. I was amazed the first time I saw it. The sets and the special effects just blew my mind.

Then I had to listen to some Kraftwerk afterwords.

[PapayaSF]

Great film. Bonus political angle: the author was Thea von Harbou, Fritz Lang's wife, who later became a Nazi (and thus Lang's ex-wife).

[Brett L]

I leave and then H-town gets superfantastic sci-fi culture? Why do the gods hate me so?

[Johnny Longtorso]

Union thug Richard Trumka complains about Sarah Palin calling union leaders thugs

[Warty]

A friend of mine's dad is a non-union welder. One of his rules is that he won't work on job sites underneath union workers, since they have a strange habit of accidentally dropping tools near him.

"if you strike a match and put your finger in, common sense tells you you're going to burn your finger."

So strange to hear a union guy issue veiled threats.

[-]

That qualifies in unionese as waxing poetic.

[John]

My older brother was a union steward a few years ago. The contract came up and the company said "take this contract or we close the plant". He told them to take the contract. The union big wigs came down and convinced the workers the company was bluffing. And the workers voted down the contract. And sure enough the company closed the plant down. But the union didn't give a shit. They were perfectly content to see that plant shut down rather than see a bad contract set a bad precedent for other plants. As for the people that lost their jobs after the union lied to them, oh well.

Union leaders are really scum.

[creech]

Hope your brother survived. A old friend's dad challenged the union bosses at a famous brewery. Shortly thereafter a stack of kegs mysteriously toppled over on him, crushing him to death.

[PapayaSF]

My mother liked to tell the story of getting a late-night phone call from a woman making not-so-veiled threats about some union matter. It was a wrong number and Mom said so, then proceeded to give her a "You should be ashamed of yourself for threatening people" lecture. The caller actually listened: apparently she *was* ashamed of herself.

[The Thinking Man's NASCAR]

I could tell some similar stories. A friend of mine's father is a non-union painter, and a friend of his was restoring a building in a heavily pro-union neighborhood and asked him to work on it. He refused, and counseled his friend that if he wanted to avoid trouble, he'd use union labor for everything.

So he did. But as the restoration was nearing completion, someone came by in the night and shot out every window on one side of the building. Know why? While the guy used union glass-fitters, the glass wasn't union made.

[Tulpa]

Know why? While the guy used union glass-fitters, the glass wasn't union made.

How do you know that's why?

[DJ Drugs]

Richard Trumka? The name certainly sounds like Frank Sobotka.

[Warty]

I don't remember so much coverage of previous poor bastards sentenced to stoning. Maybe there's a tiny chance that this has something to do with the fact that we're about to bomb those savages. Maybe.

More Metal Than You

[BeltwayLurker]

Don't forget the poor bitches.

[Subsidize Me!]

That comment thread is mosque-tastic. I love America.

[brotherben]

Thought ya'll might find this interesting. I haven't been here for awhile. Don't know if it has been covered. A judge in Alabama sentenced a man to join the military.

[brotherben]

Judge sentences man to join the military here

[brotherben]

damned spam filter judge sentences man to military service

[brotherben]

http://www.wtvy.com/home/headlines/101646318.html

[brotherben]

WTF does it take to get a link around the fikin spam filter?

http://www.wtvy.com/home/headlines/101646318.html

[brotherben]

WTF does it take to get a link past the spam filter?

[brotherben]

Great story outta Montgomery Alabama about a judge sentencing a dumbass to join the military. I haven't been here in months and don't know if it's been covered yet.

[brotherben]

http://www.wtvy.com/home/headlines/101646318.html

[John]

No it hasn't. And the spam filter sucks. I am starting to think Lonewacko is the web administrator.

[John]

No it hasn't. And the spam filter sucks. I am starting to think Lonewacko is the web administrator.

[PapayaSF]

And yet we lack a double post filter....

[DG]

When he comes back, he'll be a dumbass trained on various weapons and hand-to-hand combat. What could possibly go wrong?

[SugarFree]

AL. judge orders man to join military

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A judge ordered an Alabama man to join the military as a condition for of his probation for a provocative Facebook message about the mass killing at Virginia Tech.

Zachary Lambert pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassing communications, and a judge in Montgomery placed the 23-year-old man on probation. She ordered him to follow through with his plans to join the service to stay out of jail.

A recruiter says the Army can't take Lambert while he's on probation, but the judge says that part of the sentence can be adjusted if Lambert enlists.

Lambert was a student at Faulkner University in December when he posted a message on Facebook about breaking the record of the Virginia Tech shooter, who killed 32 people.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

Obviously, giving military training to a man who likes to joke about mass shooting sprees is a great idea.

[Warty]

That seems like an awfully low bar for a harassment conviction.

[brotherben]

Thanks for takin up the slack for me Suge.

[SugarFree]

Me and the filter go out drinking on Tuesday nights. We tight.

[brotherben]

Management calls that networking.
Workers call it brown-nosing.
Tomatoe, potatoe.

[Isaac Bartram]

As far as I'm aware, any action to enlist taken as a consequence a a judge's lenience in sentencing would be unlawful.

As far as I know one of the many affidavits that a recruit must sign is one to the affect that he or she is not enlisting in consideration of leniency in a criminal prosecution. So unless they've changed that to increase recruiting levels, they'd have him on perjury at a minimum.

Of course considering that recruiters have been telling recruits to lie about any previous drug use, i wouldn't be surprised if a shitload of recruits have enlisted because some judge said "enlist or go to jail."

[DJ Drugs]

Whatever happened to just joining the Foreign Legion under an assumed name?

[Isaac Bartram]

You can still do that.

I suppose it depends on how badly you want to be French. 🙂

[SFC B]

Having spent three years under the tender loving care of the Army Recruiting Command, I can tell you that is there is anything written down which says "Join the Military or Go to Jail," you're not joining the military. Military recruiting in a huge agency with offices across the US, so I'm sure that somewhere a recruiter is really good friends with a judge or prosecutor and some backroom deals are worked out, but a blatant deal like this is no-go.

[brotherben]

http://www.wtvy.com/home/headlines/101646318.html

[mr simple]

Look, just because these people oppose all symbols of Islam everywhere, randomly attack Muslims, vandalize their property, set fire to their property, and say this like:

"No mosque in Murfreesboro. I don't want it. I don't want them here," Evy Summers said to WTVF . "Go start their own country overseas somewhere. This is a Christian country. It was based on Christianity."

doesn't mean these people are bigots. It's the Muslim's fault for believing in the wrong prophet to the man in the sky.

[John]

If you can show me one of these people did it and it is not a false flag operation like the stabbing in New York, then you will have a point. Otherwise, you are just talking out of your ass.

[mr simple]

Are you seriously saying that the man almost killed a Muslim cabbie just to cast doubt on others? You're an idiot. Bigoty has no party affiliation. What about the drunk who broke into the mosque and pissed on the prayer rugs while insulting Muslims? What about the quote from the article I copied and the protests around the country, far away from Ground Zero? If you can give a reason for this that doesn't include conflating all Muslims with terrorists, I would like to hear it. Your rants have the desperate sound of a man whose worldview is crumbling around him.

[Pip]

The guy who stabbed the cabbie belonged to a pro-mosque organization. Go educate yourself a little and then get back to us, 'kay?

[Pip]

"What about the drunk who broke into the mosque and pissed on the prayer rugs while insulting Muslims?"

Even the imam at the mosque said he was so drunk that he didn't even know where he was.

Again, Go educate yourself a little and then get back to us, 'kay?

[Pip]

"What about the quote from the article I copied and the protests around the country, far away from Ground Zero?"

Anecdotal evidence. Again, Go educate yourself a little and then get back to us, 'kay?

[Pip]

"If you can give a reason for this that doesn't include conflating all Muslims with terrorists, I would like to hear it."

Leftist BS. Again, Go educate yourself a little and then get back to us, 'kay?

[waffles]

Even the imam at the mosque said he was so drunk that he didn't even know where he was.

That's kinda awesome. It could happen to anyone, anywhere really.

[Samael]

The guy who stabbed the cabbie belonged to a pro-mosque organization.

Complete and utter bullshit. He did not "belong" to that "pro-mosque" group but had in the past done volunteer work for a group that has now in the controversy come out as pro-mosque but had in the past nothing to do with it. Where are you getting your facts from? The Geller-thing?

[Fluffy]

Well, Evy Summers is proven to be a bigot just by her statement.

It's not necessary for her to be found guilty of arson for her to be a bigot. And that would make mr simple's post correct to that extent. So he "has a point" regardless of the identity of the arsonist, and isn't "talking out of his ass" no matter how you look at it.

[John]

Nothing she is saying is any worse than the things you say about Christians. You are a bigot. Most people are about something. But being a bigot and acting on that bigotry are two different things. I don't find bigotry and irrational hatred for Christians to be threatening or of any concern.

I would think that you, being a fellow bigot, would be equally unconcerned about Evy Summers statements.

[Isaac Bartram]

John, come down off that fucking cross. The most extreme atheists at H&R have never said anything remoetly resembling:

"No mosquechapel. in MurfreesboroAnytown. I don't want it. I don't want them here," ..."Go start their own country overseas somewhere. "

Seriously, can you just stop with this whole bullshit line about how motherfucking persecuted the adherents of a religion that 80% of the county's residents subscibe to.

[John]

It is funny to see you talk about Evy Summers being a bigot like it is some big deal, when you freely admit to being a bigot against anyone who believes in God. Is your bigotry special and hers not? Honestly, I think you and Evy are probably similar kinds of people and could probably get along at some level if your bigotries didn't clash so much.

[Isaac Bartram]

There's a big difference between saying that someone's ad idiot/moron/what haveyou? for beleiving in God. It's another thing entirely to want the state to prevent people from worshipping their own way.

Seriously, John, you often strike me as an intelligent thoughful commenter but the way bullshit like this sets you off I wonder what the fuck is wrong with you.

[Fluffy]

Please link to any occasion where I have demanded that the state prevent the construction of churches anywhere in the United States.

I'll wait.

[Fluffy]

John, answer honestly:

Do you or do you not think that people who give a lot of money to mediums who claim to speak to their dead relatives are fools?

Are those people fools, or are they geniuses?

You were on these boards the other day opining about how Scientologists and people who subscribe to New Age religions are "crazy" and how it's all the fault of atheists that these crazy people are out there. You also assert that environmentalism has become a religion and a "crazy" one.

Why is Christianity privileged in some way? Why is it impolite to point out that, for example, the Trinity is an out-and-out absurdity - but not impolite to point out that spirit thetans causing depression is balderdash?

[John]

It is not impolite at all to point such out. I find atheism to be absurd and the people who claim to be such to be fools. And their atheism is inevitably the result of some inner conflict or anger. As I said above, everyone is a bigot in some way. It is not that you can't say what you say. It is that you can't say it and then condemn people on the other side for being just as narrow minded as you are.

[Isaac Bartram]

No, John, I believe most atheists become so because the see absolutely no evidence of the existence of a supernatural being that directs the world, nor do they feel a need to construct a belief system around some fictional being in order to find some cosmic comfort (as many believers do).

But that is all subjective.

I will challenge you to explain in what way atheism is absurd. How is refusing to believe in something in the absolute absence of any evidence at all for that something absurd?

[Cytotoxic]

+me

[Citizen Nothing]

...most men are economically insecure bitter clinging intolerant bigots who need to be governed by an educated elite.
What if I agree with the first clause but not the second?

[brotherben]

Follow Beck's lead and loom to the Father for guidance.

[Pip]

Say what you will about Beck, but that POS Howard Dean was on Morning Joe insinuating that the 500,000 people who showed up at the mall were all Tea Party bigots.

[brotherben]

I wasn't hackin as much as trying to riff off him for a joke. apparently I failed.

[-]

the 500,000 people who showed up at the mall

That figure keeps getting bigger and bigger. Soon they'll be calling it the Million Dipshit March.

[-]

Make that the Million Moron March.
Alliteration rules!

[Pip]

Way to contribute to the discussion.

[-]

Don't mention it.

[brotherben]

Or you could also looK to the Father,

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah. The Father hates it when I loom.

[R C Dean]

most men are economically insecure bitter clinging intolerant bigots who need to be governed which is why governance by an educated elite is a delusion and a pipe dream.

[cynical]

Evy Summers sounds like a douche.

[DJ Drugs]

"No Mosque in Murfreesboro" sounds like a C.S. Lewis song.

PS - No fatties.

[James Ard]

My bet is the fire was started by a Democrat trying to further the culture war strategy.

[John]

http://tammybruce.com/2010/08/.....idiot.html

"A Village in Kenya is Missing an Idiot".

[Mike M.]

They much not teach that sort of thing at Harvard Law!

[Pip]

Eddie Bernice Johnson? Another African-American? WTF?

[Brett L]

This is the CBC cleaning its own house. I think they're trying to get out in front knowing that, at some point during the hearings on Rangel and Waters, the CBC's books and records are going to be audited.

[Fluffy]

This will probably get me accused of being TEH RACIST, but I think that African-American politicians have a tendency to believe that it's just not fair that they missed out on the Golden Age of Graft, and therefore feel entitled to steal.

"Every other group had its day at the trough, now it's our turn!" seems to be the attitude.

Also, the much-referenced "African Cultural Norm" of sharing out good fortune to family members also seems to come into play. "I didn't know the rules forebade nepotism" seems to be CBC code for "I'm black and that means I can't turn away family members with their hand out even if I know better".

Of course, white politicians engage in exactly these kinds of corruption, too - but with the CBC there seems to be a "What do you expect, stop giving us shit for stuff you know we're gonna keep doing!" attitude about it all.

[Rich]

A fire at a forthcoming Muslim community center in Tennessee is ruled an arson.

Whew! Glad it wasn't ruled an act of God.

[-]

That would be embarrassing.

[Your Local S&M Club]

"The neat thing with this [Assault Intervention Device] is you experience pain but you are not injured by it"

Cool! We'll take two.

[SugarFree]

Why California Won't Legalize Pot

[Fluffy]

If it's true that the heat ray causes pain but doesn't actually do any real damage, then the device is a recipe for cops to get fucked up.

As soon as it's generally known that the device causes no actual harm, then it's just a matter of pushing through the pain until you can get to the cops manning it.

Heck, given how crazy a lot of inmates are they might make it into a frickin' contest - "Let's see who can ignore the pain ray and hit the guard".

[Heat Ray Salesman]

We get that a lot. Here, simply flip this switch, then fire. The target's eyes temporarily fill up with blood.

[Mike Laursen]

You don't even need to push through the pain. You can get lots of nifty drugs in prison. Of course, the guards have regular guns, too.

[SugarFree]

Zombie dildos

[cynical]

So, how long until prison guards are chaining someone up so they can't move and then leaving the heat ray on them for hours?

On the plus, once we're subjecting people to endless heat and pain of fire without being consumed, we've really earned the title Great Satan. Well, at least our prison system has.

[JEP]

to endless heat and pain of fire without being consumed

How else are we to test for the kwisatch haderach?

[T]

What poison do we use for the Gom Jabbar? I'm still fuzzy on what exactly meta-cyanide is.

[Brett L]

We set you up like the dude in A Clockwork Orange and force you to watch either MSNBC or FOX until your brain gnaws its way out the back of your skull.

[Brett L]

Oops. To complete the analogy: Or your brain plays dead until they unhook you.