Reason Morning Links: Testicles and Little Livers

Jesse Walker | 11.1.2010 8:42 AM

The TSA's new "crotchal" strategy.
A new bombing plot gets the authorities fretting about cargo security.
Jon Stewart's movement goes global.
Russians rally for freedom of assembly.
Brazilians elect a guerrilla-turned-economist as president.
Stem-cell researchers grow a miniature liver.

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Fluffy 15 years ago

In other news, the latest polls show Rand Paul up by 15 points. So I feel a little better about the whole stomping thing than I did last week.
1. John 15 years ago
  
  I never was worried about that. The internet ended the ability to pull those kinds of dirty tricks. Once the video was up on Youtube, anyone who might have changed their vote on it could watch the video for themselves and see that it wasn't anything like what the liberals made it out to be.
  1. MNG 15 years ago
    
    Yeah, it was just an assault, not an aggravated assault. What's the big deal?
    1. Jesse Walker 15 years ago
      
      I don't think the YouTube video had anything to do with it. Most people simply aren't going to vote against someone just because a few of his supporters act like thugs. Not unless the candidate himself seems to be encouraging or excusing it.
      1. John 15 years ago
        
        But the video showed beyond doubt that it was one guy and that Paul had nothing to do with it. The availability of the video prevented Paul's enemy from portraying the incident as anything other than what it was. That makes a difference. Take away the video and Paul's opponents could have muddied the water and been more effective.
    2. John 15 years ago
      
      It wasn't even that. And the woman in the video obviously a little deranged and was looking for a confrontation. And it was one guy. No it is not a big deal. And everyone but the real partisan fanatics like you admitted as such. And the polls bear this out.
      1. MNG 15 years ago
        
        Partisan fanatics? "not a big deal?" I'm sure we all remember John lessening the gravity of similar thuggery in the Coakely affair and the Dem Congressman who accosted that dude on tape (eyes H&R search mechanism)
        
        Partisan fanatics indeed...
        
        Brian E 15 years ago
        
        Bit of a difference between a supporter of a candidate assaulting a heckler and a sitting congressman giving a heckler a Weigel hug. Hint: anyone can declare themselves to be a supporter!
        
        Note: none of this is to say that the violence wasn't deplorable. Of course it is! Reasonable people understand who can and can't be held responsible after an incident though.
        
        Mo 15 years ago
        
        Not that it speaks against Paul, since he didn't know that Profitt was a violent freak, but he wasn't just a random supporter. He was a county coordinator for the campaign and the Paul campaign did highlight Profitt's support in an ad. Paul did the right thing by kicking him out of the campaign and forbidding him from being involved.
        
        Pip 15 years ago
        
        When people came to understand that she was a MoveOn.org plant in a wig, who was trying to get a picture of Rand with a vile poster she was carrying to use in an attack ad they said, Oh look! Another MoveOn.org plant in a wig trying to get a picture of Rand with a vile poster she was carrying to use in an attack ad."
        
        And who can blame them?
2. MNG 15 years ago
  
  fluffy, you act like you have never heard of the 5 point head stomping bump, a normal element of Kentucky politics.
  1. Fluffy 15 years ago
    
    Actually, that may have happened.
    
    2.5 points from people who said, "That's right! That's what we need to do to those libruls!"
    
    2.5 points from people who said, "See? That nice doctor fired that guy who got in a scuffle, and banned him from future events! I guess he's not so bad after all."
    
    It's nice when the same series of events improves your standing both among psychos and among scaredy-cats.
    1. MNG 15 years ago
      
      Often the psychos are the scaredy-cats.
      1. Pip 15 years ago
        
        The self-awareness is strong in this one.
3. robc 15 years ago
  
  Off topic - but back from vacation and I give the Brookside collection 1.7 thumbs up.
  
  I actually preferred Jericho over Lemers.
  
  One quick nit though - there was one bit that was...ummm...atextual (avoiding the word ahistorical for reasons you covered in the appendix). There was looting - silver, gold and articles of bronze and iron went into the treasury. See Joshua 6:19 and 6:24.
  
  On the other hand, I agree with your comments about Act 2 and thought that while reading it.
  1. Fluffy 15 years ago
    
    Thank you, sir!
    
    That's actually pretty gratifying to hear. I know you wouldn't just blow smoke up my ass to be nice; this isn't that kind of board.
    
    With regard to the looting: in some ways you're dealing with an unreliable narrator, and I also try to limit him to what he can actually see. Compared to how thoroughly the city might have been picked clean, from his perspective it looks like there hasn't been any looting because the bulk goods are all still there. Other than the necklace, does the narrator report any other items that would be covered in those sections of Joshua? I'll have to check. If so, you win the "Find a plot hole" contest.
    1. robc 15 years ago
      
      I agree, somewhat, not sure how big a plot hole it is. The storehouses would be untouched and that was his primary concern. Also, not sure how much gold and silver they would have had. I just figured a comment along the lines of noticing some bronze works missing or something would have been better. Would have stressed the point about not taking the stuff in the storehouses.
      
      Also, was a bit disappointed the circumcision bit was only mentioned in one sentence. I expected more confusion over them stopping to hack their penises instead of pursuing the army. 🙂
      1. Fluffy 15 years ago
        
        I originally intended to do more than that. The problem is that the practice wasn't entirely unknown. Some Egyptian cults had been doing it for some time, and Jericho was partially in Egypt's cultural orbit. The scale of the mass self-circumcision described in the OT would have been striking, but I didn't want to act like the act itself was something that was completely unheard of.
    2. robc 15 years ago
      
      Oh, and wrt the zombies: I enjoyed the Villa portion, but he final battle left me a bit "meh". Not a big fan of the zombie genre though, so I might be a poor judge.
      1. Fluffy 15 years ago
        
        I'll take 1.7 thumbs up, believe me.
        
        The standard criticism of the zombie title is that it's too short and ends abruptly, so you're not alone in finding the last portion of the book a little wanting. I probably should have done more with the final battle than I did.
        
        It was just my excuse to try to do a little fake David Drake while mixing in a little fake Homer and Virgil, anyway. So many things are there just to entertain myself that if they entertain other people even a little I'm content.
        
        robc 15 years ago
        
        .7 more than you were expecting. Maybe I spend too much time around atheists/secular humanists or maybe I missed a point you were making, but I didnt really find anything to be offended about in LDoJ*.
        
        *I figure its a positive when your title gets reduced to a common acronym, so thought I would try to get that kickstarted for you.
        
        Fluffy 15 years ago
        
        Yeah, an acronym is a good idea.
        
        Could I be a dick and ask for an Amazon review?
        
        For the one you liked, of course. Please do not review the one you did not like.
        
        robc 15 years ago
        
        I would respect you less if you werent a dick.
        
        Of course, the dick move in reverse would be to review both on them.
MNG 15 years ago

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween.

I was going to go as something to scare conservatives, like a Muslim or an immigrant, but that seemed too obvious. Then I thought I would go as something that terrifies liberals: a shadowy, undisclosed donor! But then I had an idea: I went as something that terrifies libertarians: a socialist! It was easy to get sucha costume, according to some libertarian fundies around here all I had to do to appear as a socialist was to dress as anyone with economic views even slightly to the left of a libertarian!

Boo!
1. waffles 15 years ago
  
  The scariest thing about socialists is that they look just like you and me. Well, especially you. Happy All Saints Day.
2. Fluffy 15 years ago
  
  The best costume was the guys at the Patriots game who dressed as the rescued Chilean miners.
  
  And MNG, I thought you were going to go as Lady Gaga, but then you realized that everyone you know would just think you forgot to wear a costume.
  1. Meh 15 years ago
    
    More people dressed as Chilean miners than there are people in Chile...
    1. Nick 15 years ago
      
      4 at my office party alone. My favorite touch, even more than the sunglasses was they all got wait staff aprons from Chili's and wore those. I commented to some co-workers that I thought that was clever and mildly humorous. They didn't get it. We're so fucked.
3. Enough About Palin 15 years ago
  
  "I was going to go as something to scare conservatives, like a Muslim or an immigrant, but that seemed too obvious."
  
  Once again, the stool fucker is both spot on and hilarious! I'm starting to think he has a team of writers.
John 15 years ago

http://american.com/archive/20.....controller

The wages of price controls. Very interesting AEI piece.
John 15 years ago

http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....itics.html

Charlie Crist isn't all bad. His cravenness apparently ended the careers of a ton of pols in Florida.
John 15 years ago

http://bigjournalism.com/pjsal.....candidate/

Nothing on the reporters in Alaska hoping to find child molesters at a Miller rally?
Fist of Etiquette 15 years ago

Jon Stewart's movement goes global.

October, 2012, Stewart will be having a Rally to Restore Democrats to control of the House.
Blay DeRunir 15 years ago

"Whilst 'off the shelf' new livers sex slaves are clearly still a long way off, this work gives a glimmer of hope that this is no longer just the stuff of science fiction."
SIV 15 years ago

Now vat-grown goose liver could produce foies gras w/o gavage
1. wylie 15 years ago
  
  Without the goose, even. I can't wait for the vat-Tuna. I'm gonna eat nothing but In-vitro Sashimi for weeks.
  1. wylie 15 years ago
    
    In-vitro Sashimi
    
    Great Band Name?
    1. Nick 15 years ago
      
      That is fantastic.
  2. EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy 15 years ago
    
    ::calls broker with frantic orders to buy wasabi stock::
    
    I'm on board for that.
2. T 15 years ago
  
  I want a vat-grown liver to replace the one I'm ruining with bourbon and beer.
SugarFree 15 years ago

The Boys (And Girls) From Brazil; or, Yay! National Healthcare!

To look at Joanne Watson, you would never guess she was almost five months pregnant with her 16th child.
1. Rich 15 years ago
  
  bsolutely no idea what he is ?letting himself in for.
  
  A born-again Christian, Craig is not intending to move in with Joanne ? and the 11 children still living at home ? until they are married. ?
  
  Seems that Craig Le Sauvage [sic] has already "moved in".
2. JW 15 years ago
  
  He looks a bit dead behind the eyes, or maybe he's just blind drunk, which would be helpful (and explain a lot) considering that mutant cougar he's attached himself to.
Joe M 15 years ago

The story about the rally going global read like a get out the vote propaganda piece.
1. Cyto 15 years ago
  
  I thought the same thing. The evidence they hold up for an unprecedented global movement is that they found a few ex-pats living overseas who planned to watch the show on comedy central. Maybe even have a watch party at their apartment.
  
  I did appreciate the unintended irony of a "rally" funded by a big media corporation in conjunction with its flagship show and flagship personalities staged as a counter-protest against big-media created rallies featuring personalities from big-media shows.
  
  In fact, there was a lot of unintentional irony in the Stewart rally. From the claims that tea party rallies are creations of the pols instead of grass roots movements (while having Huffington buss people to your rally) to claims that tea parties are racist because they don't have a lot of minorities (classic line about the Stewart rally - "This is the whitest rally we've attended") to the faux claims of outrage at the lack of civility (all the while ripping your opponents and prominently featuring a fake "conservative" character designed to portray conservatives as ignorant, hateful blowhards). The layers of irony were palpable. Added irony points for the complete ignorance of all of the ironic content by Stewart, his fans and his cheerleaders in the media (I'm looking at you, Today Show).
2. mattrue 15 years ago
  
  We've had Tea Party rallies for 3 years now and the haters were finally pull off a massive counter-rally in the heart of Washington D.C. Bureaucracyville D. Bureaucracy.
  
  I bet if we raised the retirement age to 67, or froze public salaries and benefits, a lot of these "sane" protesters would be hurling rocks at government buildings.
MNG 15 years ago

Good article on the upcoming "violent video games" case. This kind of law is why I'm less impressed by gridlock arguments. Bi-partisan crap like this is often the worst...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....05315.html
2q
1. Joe M 15 years ago
  
  Well, let's see if the Supreme Court can consistently defend the first amendment. They've done a good job on that count lately, so it would be sad if they attacked one form of media, just because ooh it's new and scary. This is twenty years ago gansta rap, seventy years ago comic books, etc, all over again.
2. waffles 15 years ago
  
  This line caught my eye In "BioShock," the player meets genetically modified people who have been victimized by a mad ideology
  see? Objectivism kills.
  
  At most Walmart/BestBuy/Target type places the cash register will flash "customer 17 Y/N" when you buy an M-rated game. My guess is that this law does pretty much nothing to change anything.
  1. SugarFree 15 years ago
    
    In "BioShock," the player meets genetically modified people who have been victimized by a mad ideology
    
    Yay! WaPo believes the unreliable narrator! And stupidity marches on...
3. Brian E 15 years ago
  
  The bi-partisan crap happens all the time. Gridlock just filters out the uni-partisan crap. It's imperfect, but it'll do.
4. John 15 years ago
  
  I think violent video games are a god send. Young males have a ton of energy and are generally violent as hell. I was when I was a yut. And I am sure they are the same today. When I was a kid we roved around beating the crap out of each other and doing thrill crimes like vandalism for fun. We were not really bad. But we were not very good either. But we needed an outlet for all of that aggression. If we had had access to the kick ass games they have today, I guarantee you we would have caused a lot less mischief in real life.
  1. Cyto 15 years ago
    
    Yeah, we had football for that...
  2. Joe M 15 years ago
    
    Exactly! We used to play guns outside when I was a kid.
    
    Honestly, why would anyone want to go out and cause trouble when the games are so much fun these days?
    1. mad libertarian guy 15 years ago
      
      Because when I was a kid, we didn't have those shitty orange caps on the muzzle to completely ruin the fun of feeling like I was carrying a real gun, shooting at real bad guys.
  3. Pope Jimbo 15 years ago
    
    As my old gunnery sgt used to say every Monday as he read the Provost Marshall's report "young, dumb and full of cum".
    
    I'm not sure, though, that violent video games would have completely solved that issue. I can't see myself staying home to play a game instead of going out to meet some local lovely.
    1. Chony 15 years ago
      
      Those are two entirely different needs. Unless you were to poll the commenters at Jezebel.
    2. Joe M 15 years ago
      
      Those are two entirely different needs!
    3. Pip 15 years ago
      
      "As my old gunnery sgt used to say every Monday as he read the Provost Marshall's report "young, dumb and full of cum"."
      
      He sounds kind of gay.
J sub D 15 years ago

Opposition activists gathered to protest in two separate rallies Sunday after Moscow City Hall gave a rare approval for the rally but placed a cap on the number of participants at 1,000 people, down from the requested 1,500.

In America we have raves that draw more than that.
1. Ska 15 years ago
  
  They have raves bigger than that in Russia as well.
Citizen Nothing 15 years ago

I'm seriously afraid my wife will go nuts next time she has to go through airport security. And we'll be flying with our little ones. I could see her snapping like a mama bear if the TSAr goes "crotchal" on our five-year-olds.
Pope Jimbo 15 years ago

Is there a scientific instrument that is powerful enough to detect any trace of intelligence in the TSA?

The whole "we're going to feel your nuts if you don't get in the backscatter line" is so dumb it is beyond belief. Do they really think that people are as dumb as they are?

How long will it be before we hear of some TSA guy flipping out when a passenger blows in his ear as he gropes his "crotchal" area?
1. Ex-Screener Rolando Negrin 15 years ago
  
  How long will it be before we hear of some TSA guy flipping out when a passenger blows in his ear as he gropes his "crotchal" area?
  
  Or opines out loud "A lot bigger than yours, huh!"
  1. OO======D 15 years ago
    
    The only reason I fly is for the crotchal pat downs.
2. Invisible Finger 15 years ago
  
  Sure, you can feel my crotchal area. Because you're gay.
  
  Enough people request pat-downs and you'll make the job so awful that fewer people will apply for them.
  
  The bad thing about blowing up airplanes is that there probably aren't many government employees on the plane. Blow up a security line and you are certain to take out at least a dozen government employees.
  
  Once a security line is blown up, people will NOT get in a long line anymore. Then the government is truly fucked, because long lines are the only solution they have to anything.
  1. wylie 15 years ago
    
    Then the government is truly fucked, because long lines are the only solution they have to anything.
    
    *Standing Ovation*
  2. Slut Bunwalla 15 years ago
    
    Somebody needs to start a Creep Out the TSA Day where they get as many people as possible travelling on one day to request a pat-down/testicle feel and do something to creep out the goon doing the search. Moan orgasmically, make homoerotic comments, scream RAPE if you're a female, etc. Make this as unpleasant for the TSA as it is for us.
    1. Pope Jimbo 15 years ago
      
      Go all the way. It would be great to pick a day and have everyone buy a cheap 1 way ticket somewhere, show up go through the pat down line, then leave.
      
      Think of the hysteria if enough planes began flying without the requisite number of passengers.
      
      You could even buy a cheap printer and check it through as luggage. Thousands of unclaimed bags on one day would surely freak the poor TSA goons out.
  3. Atanarjuat 15 years ago
    
    Enough people request pat-downs and you'll make the job so awful that fewer people will apply for them.
    
    I disagree. Within the ranks of government there are probably plenty of sick fucks who would volunteer for the job. I doubt the Viet Cong had trouble finding torturers.
    1. Invisible Finger 15 years ago
      
      You may be right, but they'll have to change their own laws and start hiring sex offenders.
3. Wesley 15 years ago
  
  I got patted down a couple of weeks ago in Calgary (by US TSA Agents). I chose the pat down over the penis-measuring machine for many of the same reasons as the article's author. They made me feel like I was putting them out, then brought a little gay Asian guy with a pronounced lisp to do the pat down. He stayed away from my crotchal area, but if one weren't into little gay Asian guys*, I could see how it would make him uncomfortable.
  
  * - It's not gay if they're under 5'5".
  1. TrickyVic 15 years ago
    
    If they do hit your crotch, cough.
4. Ernie the Bear 15 years ago
  
  Somewhere in Tulsa, there's some minimal-wage TSA goon who had to look at a scan of my junk. It was so awesome, I would have gone through again if I'd had the time.
Janet Napolitano 15 years ago

No, no, NO!!

You people have it all wrong!

My -- unfornatately verbal -- orders to the TSA said "test tickle."
Fluffy 15 years ago

OK, ethical question for the H&R crew.

So my wife emails me that she went to the supermarket this morning and used a 50 cent coupon, and the cashier mistakenly entered it as $50, leading to $3.19 cart full of groceries for the Fluffy family.

She did not notice this until she got home. She now expects me to decide if she has to drive back and bring the error to their attention.

So do I say
1. Citizen Nothing 15 years ago
  
  A major supermarket? If its a WalMart Supercenter, you can have a credit for the $25 bucks those bastards owe me for selling me a defective air mattress then refusing to give me a refund. (Really. Fuck WalMart. They've entered the downhill Woolworth's, "fuck you customers - we're the king!" slide, it seems to me. Go Meijer!)
2. Spoonman. 15 years ago
  
  She doesn't have to go back, but I would.
3. waffles 15 years ago
  
  What is your wife's alignment, current karma level, and reputation in the village where she shops? Since the evil modifier for this honest mistake is likely minimal I would say she is fine.
  
  Unless the market takes it out of the cashiers paycheck, which a minimarket I register-jockeyed did do for amounts over $50. She could call customer service if it really plagues her conscience.
4. JW 15 years ago
  
  It depends how far it is to drive back. If I'm going to go way out of my way to correct an error of one their idiot employees, there best be something to make it worth my while, other than an honesty compulsion on my part.
  
  Personally, I'd go back and correct the error, but only when it's convenient to me.
  1. J sub D 15 years ago
    
    ^This^ Save the receipt and fix it next time she goes back.
5. Ska 15 years ago
  
  Sheer laziness would make me choose the less moral option.
6. Fluffy 15 years ago
  
  Personally I'm torn.
  
  On the one hand, "It's like stealing".
  
  On the other hand, we routinely enter into economic transactions where the presumption is that the seller is not charging us the "right" price for an item. As in, every transaction on the stock market.
  
  I tried to punt the decision back to her. We'll see if that works.
7. John 15 years ago
  
  The cashier seriously fucked up. And it is going to show at the end of the day. He or she could lose their job over it. I would drive back. If it were just about taking money from a nameless corporation, I would keep it. But, this does affect a real person. I would go back for that reason.
  1. Pip 15 years ago
    
    I would call as this has happened to me and that's what I did.
8. Russ 2000 15 years ago
  
  How can someone not immediately know something went wrong when a cart-full of items cost $3.19? The cashier has shit for brains and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near money. And your wife is lying.
  
  I'd flag the email as spam.
  1. Fluffy 15 years ago
    
    Actually, that's pretty easy to do.
    
    I just swipe my card and don't really look at what the cashier is doing. And they put the receipt in the last bag.
    
    By even taking the receipt out at home and reviewing it, my wife showed more care than I would have.
  2. Fluffy 15 years ago
    
    Clarification: it's pretty easy to get charged $3.19 and not immediately notice.
    
    It should be FUCKING IMPOSSIBLE to do as the cashier.
    1. EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy 15 years ago
      
      When people actual used and counted money it would have been.
      
      Watch how the average cashier actual operates: they're just the most flexible and fault tolerant part of the machine.
  3. TrickyVic 15 years ago
    
    ""The cashier has shit for brains and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near money. And your wife is lying.""
    
    It's probably pretty easy. The more you automate things, the less the human is fully engaged. The cashier was probably just going through the motions and not paying attention.
9. SugarFree 15 years ago
  
  Your wife didn't steal $50 from them, their incompetent employee stole $50 from them, in two ways, in fact, by ringing up the coupon wrong in the first place (how hard could it be to $.50 instead of $50.00... hell, it's not even an error of laziness... it actually took some effort to fuck up that bad) and being so brain dead, they didn't notice they just sold $53.19 worth of groceries, for $3.19.
  
  There are often winners and losers in the market due to asymmetries in information, skill and expended effort. The grocery store not taking the time, effort and renumeration to attract employees that are brighter than the burnt-out cinder who checked out your wife is all on them, not you.
  1. waffles 15 years ago
    
    There's the libertarian position. I guess I too sometimes feel the progressive urge to protect the stupid from themselves. Time to turn in the decoder ring.
  2. Timon19 15 years ago
    
    To my knowledge, any coupon that is to be redeemed for any amount more than some set number ($2.00, I think, at my Giant Eagle) needs a cashier override at the very least, manager approval more typically.
    
    Is WalMart that loose with their coupon policy?
    1. Ted S. 15 years ago
      
      Put barcodes on coupons.
10. Fluffy 15 years ago
  
  Arrgh! She is driving back as we speak. There goes $50.
  1. robc 15 years ago
    
    $49.50
    
    Just trying to make you feel better.
    1. SugarFree 15 years ago
      
      Plus the cost of gas there and back.
      
      Anyone want to take bets the retard cashier doesn't get fired?
      1. Ska 15 years ago
        
        It is a union position after all (UFCW I believe).
        
        Fluffy 15 years ago
        
        She now reports that they gave her a $5 gift card for being honest and helping them out. So I guess it's OK.
        
        Joe M 15 years ago
        
        The system works!
        
        Butts Wagner 15 years ago
        
        This is the exact(dollar amount: variable) resolution I would have expected.
        
        Ted S. 15 years ago
        
        Not at Walmart it isn't.
  2. BrokeBroker 15 years ago
    
    50$ ain't worth a night of sleep. If she felt bad enough to talk to you about it, it's better to go back.
11. Abdul 15 years ago
  
  If your wife accidentally overpaid $50.00 instead of 50 cents, and the supermarket found out about it later, she'd want them to refund the over-payment, wouldn't she?
  1. Pip 15 years ago
    
    Exactly. I went to Target and used my debit card. I pushed the button that said I wanted $40.00 cash back. I'm a friendly guy so I got to talking with the cashier and she (and I) forgot about the $40.00. I noticed about a block away when I went to put the cash in my wallet. I went back, they reviewed a security tape, determined i hadn't received my $40.00 and gave me my cash.
SugarFree 15 years ago

The TSA's new "crotchal" strategy.

And once again, a situation arises that makes me wish I could make my testicles bleed on command.
1. Citizen Nothing 15 years ago
  
  Is that something you find yourself wishing for a lot?
2. JW 15 years ago
  
  I'm going to pretend to enjoy the grope a little too much.
  1. Ska 15 years ago
    
    Exactly. I'll tell my girlfriend to start talking dirty to me (and loud enough for the agent to hear) when the TSA agent starts their search at my ankles.
    1. Butts Wagner 15 years ago
      
      This is more like it. Raging boners and intense eye-contact with the TSA agent is the way to go.
3. Joe M 15 years ago
  
  Why not just stow a little packet of ketchup with a hole in it? Or maybe pour a little hot coffee on yourself right before you get in line?
  1. SugarFree 15 years ago
    
    Because my crotch-blood is a powerful pathogen. It eats right through latex. My last vasectomy killed everyone in the entire hospital.
    1. T 15 years ago
      
      My last vasectomy
      
      ?
    2. franz kafka 15 years ago
      
      How many vasectomies have you had?
      1. SugarFree 15 years ago
        
        I get one or two a week. It keeps me semi-sterile.
Fluffy 15 years ago

Whoops, post eaten by shitty website software.
nicole 15 years ago

This makes my mission of getting everyone I know to demand a pat-down instead of the backscatter machines both more important and more difficult. We are all fucked, and somehow demanding to be groped is the right answer. (Other than not flying. Sorry, not feasible for everyone.)

Honestly, it's the bitchiness of the TSA agents that bugs me most about this. And the fact that you can't respond to it because of course then you really are getting the cavity search.
1. Citizen Nothing 15 years ago
  
  Go, nicole! I'm on the same team. Just one percent refusing the backscatter would be a major monkeywrench in the system. That's probably what the TSAr fears. I wonder if there are any stats about the number of passengers who refuse the backscatter.
  1. nicole 15 years ago
    
    I've been wondering the same thing. I've seen a couple articles lately that imply it is almost unheard of. I'm avoiding them myself because I don't want to deal, but thinking I should start picking that line on purpose to perhaps spark a trend among fellow passengers. Thinking of myself in line, telling people, "You know that machine will let all those dudes look at you naked, right?"
    1. Citizen Nothing 15 years ago
      
      In my city you don't have the option. Backscatter at every security station. I think we're a test market. I've been beating the drum in my newspaper column, but every time I go through security, I'm the only one refusing.
      (Plus, the "warning" signs blend in and occasionally are hidden behind poles.)
  2. waffles 15 years ago
    
    I let them look at my junk. Yeah I understand why I should care about this, but I was running late. I saw 4-5 people waiting to get groped or I could step into the teleporter tube and let them take a good look at my balls. If I arrive early enough next time I guess I'll go for the groping.
    
    This was in Canada, and it seemed to me that many people knew of the backscatter and avoided it from overhearing various conversations of other passengers.
    1. Citizen Nothing 15 years ago
      
      Yeah -- they make sure to take their time, and the feel-up is actually a worse invasion of privacy than the scan. But I feel strongly enough about it, and fly often enough, that I make it a point to arrive 20 minutes early to allow time for the fuckers to give me a pat down.
      1. Passenger gas 15 years ago
        
        Is it OK to fart while they're groping you?
        
        franz kafka 15 years ago
        
        It's your duty to do so.
        
        wylie 15 years ago
        
        Is it OK to fart while they're groping you?
        
        It's actually a good idea. Shows how relaxed you are. A suicide bomber's anus would be an impermeable balloon knot.
        
        Nipplemancer 15 years ago
        
        next time i fly i'm drinking a twelve-pack of the cheapest beer i can find and visiting an all you can eat chinese buffet. I might even want to vomit after letting a few rip.
        
        mad libertarian guy 15 years ago
        
        I'm totally going to have a fucking beenie-weenie fest the day before I fly next.
        
        Nothing but beenie-weenies from the can for a full 24 hours.
        
        That way not only do I have the necessary fuel to blast one, but that fucker will be nasty too.
John Kruk's missing nut 15 years ago

TSA = Taint Search Administration

The job will be filled by so many perverts, they'll all be looking at genitals and the guns will be completely ignored.
P Brooks 15 years ago

After reading that Jeffrey Goldberg piece, I have this to say: Fuck you, you cowering statist pussy.
Mike M. 15 years ago

Did Greek communists attempt to assassinate French president Sarkozy?

Details are a bit hard to come by, but it looks likely. Apparently these psychotic losers have decided that if they can't live on the dole forever, they're going to try to start World War III.
Mike M. 15 years ago

Did Greek communists attempt to murder French president Sarkozy?

Details are still a bit sketchy, but it looks pretty likely. Apparently these psychotic losers have decided that if they can't live on the dole forever, they're going to try and start World War III.
Mike M. 15 years ago

Did Greek communists attempt to kill French president Sarkozy?

Details are still a bit sketchy, but it looks pretty likely. Apparently these psychotic losers have decided that if they can't live on the dole forever, they're going to try and start World War III.
Mike M. 15 years ago

Did Greek communists attempt to bump off French president Sarkozy?

Details are still a bit sketchy, but it looks pretty likely. Apparently these psychotic losers have decided that if they can't live on the dole forever, they're going to try and start World War III.
Mike M. 15 years ago

Did Greek communists attempt to assassinate French president Sarkozy?

Details are still a bit sketchy, but it looks pretty likely. Apparently these psychotic losers have decided that if they can't live on the dole forever, they're going to try and start World War III.
1. Fluffy 15 years ago
  
  I saw the story about the 'splosions in Greece today and assumed it was toner bombs that didn't get found in time.
  
  It's nice to know there are some good old fashioned secular bombers still out there, too.
2. Jaybird 15 years ago
  
  It was a hug.
3. DanD 15 years ago
  
  KKE (Greek Communist Party) supporters are a small but dangerous lot. They're really seizing the moment to throw out as much propaganda and cause as much chaos as they can.
P Brooks 15 years ago

Next time you fly, wear a kilt.
1. Nipplemancer 15 years ago
  
  and go commando
Citizen Nothing 15 years ago

What's the current doctrine of public/private/free speech status at airports? (There don't seem to be any Hare Krishnas any more.) If they've got to let you leaflet, it seems like it would be a good joint LP/ACLU project to inform passengers of the gauntlet they're about to run and that they have the option to opt out of the scanner.
1. Gully Foyle 15 years ago
  
  What's the current doctrine of public/private/free speech status at airports?
  
  Not very good: The last time I yelled "GOT GO MAKE POOPY!" in the secuirty line, the TSA beat me within an inch of my life. Fascist bastards.

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