Reason Morning Links: East Coast Buried in Snow, Iraq PM Wants U.S. Out, State GOPs Plan New Abortion Restrictions

• East Coast digs out from a blizzard.
• Hungarian president asserts new power to police "unbalanced" journalism.
• Iraqi PM: No U.S. troops in the country after 2011.
• Joe Miller won't fight Lisa Murkowski's certification as winner of November U.S. Senate election.
• GOP victories could lead to more statehouse challenges to Roe v. Wade.

Comments

[MNG]

"Joe Miller won't fight Lisa Murkowski's certification as winner of November U.S. Senate election."

He's not going to have her handcuffed to a chair on the Senate floor? I guess he's lost his edge already...

[Mr. FIFY]

I'd pay big bucks to see that...

[Warty]

Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow

[AA]

Excellent

[wingnutx]

As much as I love Nick Cave, the dancing in that video makes me want to punch people.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Poor MNG, always has to be the first on the morning comment thread. What a loser with no life.

[MNG]

Perhaps I should post eight straight links to start the day?

[Johnny Longtorso]

Why would we want 8 straight links to left wing idiot talking points?

[MNG]

Well, we know pretty much daily you see the wisdom in eight straight links to right wing idiot talking points...

[Johnny Longtorso]

When you can come up w/ a response to one of them, then you can talk.

[Pip]

CRIPPLE FIGHT!!!

[cynical]

Eight straight links? Your heteronormative bias sickens me.

[Rather]

lol. You win with that one MNG. I'm not even reading his reply.

[Rather]

I hate this fucking out of order replies-don't you shit heads at Reason all have OCD; fucking fix-it!

[Rectal]

WAAAAAAAH

HEY OVER HERE LOOK AT ME

[yes!]

No Heller, there is nothing wrong with liking rectal sex. I'm so glad you've come out 🙂 Wow, now that DADT is law you can play soldier!

I'll dress as your drill sergeant MAGGOT

[Montani Semper Liberi]

East Coast digs out from a blizzard.

Just more proof of global warming. Try not to laugh.

[Brett L]

Like every pack of millenialist fundies, everything is a sign or portent of TEOTWAWKI for warminists.

[Johnny Longtorso]

That which explains everything explains nothing.

[Johnny Longtorso]

I responded

"That which explains everything explains nothing"

and got flagged by the SPAM filter.

[Slut Bunwalla]

Yeah, man, it's like how, you know, when your house is all warm, but then you open the door for a little bit, and so it gets colder! You know? That's how it is, to put it in terms you unscientific fundies might understand!

[prolefeed]

Comic gold:

As global temperatures have warmed ...

followed a couple paragraphs later with:

That is why the Eastern United States, Northern Europe and East Asia have experienced extraordinarily snowy and cold winters since the turn of this century. Most forecasts have failed to predict these colder winters,

They left off:

Step 3: Profit!!!!

[MNG]

The real story of the day: Obama Weighs in on Vick

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....id=topnews

No comment on McNabb?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Those dogs acted stupidly.

[NoVAHockey]

And PETA praises him for it.

[Jerry]

Apparently, democracy is fragile only when right-wingers control the media, not when the left controls the media.

[MNG]

Lawsuit: Apple sued over alleged aps privacy violations

http://www.businessweek.com/ne.....isers.html

So what would be the libertarian response to this if the allegations are true?

[Pro Libertate]

Fire. Pure, cleansing fire.

I'm sorry, what was your question again?

[Loki]

Not to buy Apple products?

[Johnny Longtorso]

I would remove Apple's legal right to force us to buy their products, because our not buying them impacts "interstate commerce".

Oh, wait, that's the govt.

[MNG]

Brilliant, so no remedy for people who already purchased the products and aps without knowledge this was going on?

[Johnny Longtorso]

Do you think someone w/ the disposable income for an iPhone should be the govt's priority to "help"? What if I don't like what a product I buy does for some other reason? What if it turns out the battery life sucks? What if it turns out that cleaning up my email inbox on it deletes the email on the server?

There are any number of things an electronic gizmo can do that could have been dealbreakers if I knew about them when I bought them.

[JW]

so no remedy for people who already purchased the products and aps without knowledge this was going on?

Never to trust Apple again and buy a competitor's product?

[Johnny Longtorso]

If people care enough about this to not buy the product, that's disincentive enough for manufacturers. If they don't care, then why should the Almighty Govt?

[JW]

We are talking about Applista's here. We need a gummint Genius!

[Pro Libertate]

I saw someone refer to Apple as not a tech company but a luxury/status brand. Like Cartier, only without the intrinsic value or commitment to quality.

[Jill]

"I saw someone refer to Apple as not a tech company but a luxury/status brand. Like Cartier, only without the intrinsic value or commitment to quality."

+lolz

[JW]

I know a few people for whom Apple products are (rightly) just useful tools, but I know many, many more people who use them as a public signal of their underlying pretentious douchebaggery.

My stepfather is one of the former. He's a Unix geek and loves his Mac desktops, but uses a Nintendo DS for his handhelds as he can do so much more with them than he can an iPhone.

[Pro Libertate]

They aren't even close on the handheld market. And, of course, they lost the computer market decades ago.

[Pro Libertate]

On the handhelds, I should say they aren't close on value (overpriced) or on features and quality. They do retain market share there, unlike in computing.

[hurly buerhle]

No kidding. I know a lot of people who would pay $100 for a dog turd if it came in a silver box with an Apple logo on it.

[cynical]

People who buy Apple products deserve exactly what they get.

[Brett L]

"The lawsuit, claiming the transmission of personal information is a violation of federal computer fraud and privacy laws"

This is almost certainly false. Especially with regards to the Unique device ID which is essential to DRM required by Apple's contract with content providers and Millenium Act copyright protection requirements.

Internet privacy is tough, because its kind of like trying to force your neighbors to not note your comings and goings through their window.

[TrickyVic]

Every device that talks to a network has a unique number. It's essential to get the data to you.

[Brett L]

I assume the UDID is different from the NIC. Only because surely nobody's that stupid, right??

[TrickyVic]

""I assume the UDID is different from the NIC.""

I would assume so too, and I would assume all cell phones use an unique ID scheme made for the particular tech it uses. Not a MAC address on a NIC card.

[cynical]

Didn't they just get sued? I don't know what the anarchist response is (probably "suck it up, butterup, and don't buy Apple products ever again"), but minarchists still allow for courts and torts.

[Fatty Bolger]

So what would be the libertarian response to this if the allegations are true?

To not give in to the typical knee jerk response and the call to "do something," which typically leads to one or another intrusive government bureaucracy creating yet another set of burdensome regulations that accomplishes nothing other than to facilitate rent seeking by the same corporations the new regulations were supposed to protect consumers from?

[Obama]

Thanks Fatty

I get my best ideas from reading H&R.
I'm appointing you Czar Unused New Taxscrews. I
That's to long for your letterhead; I'll need to think of an acronym

[CaptainSmartass]

I'll add to the echo-chamber responses of "don't buy from Apple, buy from their competitors".

[Ted S.]

Why would anybody even want an IpHone?

[Ip Man]

What is this Ip Hone of which you speak?

[kinnath]

Class action lawsuit -- no need for government intervention

[TrickyVic]

""So what would be the libertarian response to this if the allegations are true?""

I welcome it. I think people using your data or reducing your right to privacy should have to spell it right out front. We should start with airline tickets purchases.

Over the weekend there was an article about a woman being arrested for refusing to be pat down. Usually consent applies when you are about to do X and your refusal means you can walk away from X. I guess you don't have consent rights to the searches. You give up consent when you enter the security line.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hungarian president asserts new power to police "unbalanced" journalism.

I don't know why we here in the US never tried to enact some sort of doctrine to promote fairness in journalism.

[MNG]

Iirc the Fairness Doctrine applied to those with broadcast liscences from the government and not to, say, newspapers and such. Those with broadcast lisences happily take the government's designation and protection of their having frequency X or whatever so I'm a little less concerned if the government makes conditions on them in that situation.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't know how "happily" they are about it, but your tangential point about agents of the state attaching self-serving conditions to every enterprise of which they seize control is valid.

[Warty]

I think MNG just made that point without realizing it.

[MNG]

I think the bog lisencees of broadcast frequencies are only to happy to have the government police the frequencies when it is in their favor, and they repeat the mantra of it being in the public interest, sometimes that goose bites back...

[MNG]

"big licensees"

[cynical]

Works either way.

[Brett L]

I thought bog licenses was some sort of pirate radio slang for unlicensed stations in Southern conservative areas.

[hmm]

I tried to license my bog. But the peat content was not high enough.

[Dello]

You need a re-peater to extend it.

[Maximum Flow Control]

/shoots self in face

[Fatty Bolger]

So would you also be "less concerned" if the government set the condition that only Christian religious broadcasts would be allowed on radio and TV frequencies they control? Or perhaps, no religious channels whatsoever, or a requirement of exactly equal time for all religions?

[Slut Bunwalla]

He would if a Democrat administration set that condition.

[Mr. FIFY]

But... but... newspapers use phone lines and roads, and... are you getting where this is headed, MNG?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Iraqi PM: No U.S. troops in the country after 2011.

First no free oil, and now no military base? America really got gypped in that whole Iraq War deal.

[Tim]

We should ask for a refund.

[Uncle Sam]

I want my exploded munitions back!

[Gypsie]

It was the joos

[TrickyVic]

""First no free oil, and now no military base? America really got gypped in that whole Iraq War deal.""

All Bush really wanted was to get rid of Saddam, everything else was a bullshit excuse. So we did get what Bush wanted.

[yes!]

Oh please, the "my daddy got his feelings hurt" theory.

[TrickyVic]

""Oh please, the "my daddy got his feelings hurt" theory.""

No dumbass, the we are tired of isolating Iraq and waiting for them to get rid of Saddam theory.

How much longer did we really want to do the no fly zone thing?

[TrickyVic]

Bush said he wanted regime change.

[yes!]

"No dumbass, the we are tired of isolating Iraq and waiting for them to get rid of Saddam theory." You're a bigger idiot than I thought.

[Warty]

Falling Snow

[Warty]

We need CO control right fucking now. Think of the children.

[Tim]

Children like snow, in fact the more the better. Only adults hate snow.

[Kreel Sarloo]

...police are examining the hotel's inspection and fire records to determine whether it was required to install carbon monoxide detectors.

I'm not sure what can be done to save the cluesless.

The kind of guys that would leave a car running in a closed garage are the kind of guys that would say, "I'm gonna disconnect that motherfucker, that noise is bugging me."

Sounds like a Darwin awards candidates to me.

[Mokers]

I was really expecting a four loko reference in the story somewhere.

[Rich]

I *told* you not to use Lifebuoy carbon!

[P Brooks]

"We need CO control electric cars right fucking now."

[libertarian democrat]

Last paragraph in the article about media control was so fucking random.

[P Brooks]

people who already purchased the products and aps without knowledge this was going on?

What are the chances there is a disclosure and acceptance in the User Agreement contract those people couldn't be bothered to read?

[Brett L]

Turnabout. Suspect kills police dog in shootout.

[CaptainSmartass]

And how much do you want to bet the cops are all teary eyed over the loss of their "fellow officer"?

[Brett L]

They did give the suspect a cop killer's arrest.

[TrickyVic]

Hey, dogs are just dogs. A family pet is just a pet. A police dog is an honorable hero you should be jailed for looking at the wrong way.

Sound about right?

[P Brooks]

More impressive reporting from our betters at WaPo:

These so-called cluster killings of more than one officer helped make 2010 a particularly dangerous year for law enforcement. Deaths in the line of duty jumped 37 percent to about 160 from 117 the year before

But-

Last year's toll of 117 officers killed was a 50-year low that encouraged police groups. But this year's total is more the norm than an anomaly: The number of police deaths has topped 160 five times since 2000, including 240 in 2001. The annual toll routinely topped 200 in the 1970s and before that in the 1920s.

And, of course, the obligatory fellatio:
"There is a more cold-blooded, brazen criminal element prowling the streets of America today," Floyd said, suggesting that cultural and economic changes could be spurring the trend. "These people have a lack of respect for human life, and they don't think twice about killing a cop. They pose a real threat to our law enforcement officers."

[Journalist]

Statistics, how the fuck do they work?

[hmm]

Hey, at least they got percent and percentage points correct in the first quote. That's a fucking miracle in journalism.

[Slut Bunwalla]

Prowling the streets of America. Like filthy alley cats. They're in heat. They have an insatiable lust for cop blood.

[Cold Blooded, Brazen Criminal]

Shoe thrown at me by a mean old man.
Get my dinner from a garbage can.

[cynical]

I'm sure that as cops behave worse and worse, there will be a steady increase in the number of people who won't think longer about killing a cop than about killing any other violent, armed criminal. I suppose you could call that a lack of respect for human life, although most people don't have completely unqualified respect for human life when push comes to shove.

[Some dude]

GOP victories could lead to more statehouse challenges to Roe v. Wade.

What? You guys actually like Roe v. Wade? I mean, do you think it was like, good law and stuff?

[Pip]

You never hear anyone say "go ahead, its a free country" anymore.

[Brett L]

I actually make a point of saying it, but only because no one else does.

[Slut Bunwalla]

Hipster.

[Brett L]

I wear a skinny monocle, too.

[Brett L]

I wear a skinny monocle, too.

[Brett L]

Fuck you, squirrels.

[Ska]

Skinny jeans, thick monocle.

[hmm]

No jeans, top hat, bunny slippers, ski goggles.

[cynical]

Because he must be saying it ironically?

[Mike M.]

While everyone was getting ready for Christmas, the Obama administration declared war on the state of Texas.

"The opening shot of the War Between the Red and Blue States may have been fired last Friday when the Environmental Protection Administration announced its intention to take over Texas's authority on issuing clean air permits to new industrial facilities as of January 2. It is hard to imagine a more stark confrontation between public and private sector-oriented economies. Texas has the strongest economy in the nation, based on its philosophy of limited government..."

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

I'm not sure I would accuse Texas of being about "limited" government. Less out of control than most of the rest of the nation, sure. Tending to focus their efforts on different things than the coastal liberals care about, absolutely. But they have their share of curtain twitchers and busybodies, too.

[Brett L]

In their defense, it is unconstitutional to legislate in even numbered years. That's pretty limited.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

That is one of the better features of the system down there, isn't it?

[DesigNate]

You're damn straight it is. Unfortunately we do have more than our fair share of busybody nannies that have a knack for getting all kinds of stupid bullshit passed when the legislature IS in session.

Like in 2005 when they quietly amended the state constitution to say that marriage could only be between man and woman. Never heard a peep about it till I was doing some research on Prop 8 a few years back.

[GoNavy]

I saw someone refer to Apple as not a tech company but a luxury/status brand. Like Cartier, only without the intrinsic value or commitment to quality.

Apple, the Volvo of computers.

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, Volvos can withstand a nuclear attack. That's what they tell me, anyway.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Wait.

Volvo makes refrigerators?

[Pro Libertate]

That's correct. Little known fact: The film accurately depicted what would happen if you were in a Volvo fridge during a nuclear attack.

[P Brooks]

In other "News About the News" news:

At some ski area in Wyoming, two people died and a third was severely injured in a collision; idiot skateboarder (note: personal prejudice on display), out of control, mows down two stationary skiers. It all sucks, ompletely and utterly.

Reuters now reports both deaths were result of chest injuries. What is the opening of nearly every story coughed out by google news? "People killed in ski crash not wearing helmets!!!!!" Actually, the little girl who died *was* wearing a helmet.

I hate those fuckers. Next up, "Why, there oughtta be a LAAAAAAW!"

ps- I never wear a helmet when I ski.

[Warty]

He ran into a 5 year old girl who was standing with her mother in the middle of a fucking black diamond. The dipshit mother deserves at least half the blame.

[GoNavy]

What is the significance of a "black diamond?"

Real question; I don't ski/snowboard/skateboard.

[Warty]

It means it's fast and dangerous. I think. I skied once.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

In the west it means "steep, icy, bumpy, fast, and dangerous".

In the east it seems to mean "a good warm-up hills, now where is the big boy's run".

//Used to be able to ski a Colorado black-diamond on a good day. Since then switched I to a board, and now I have warm, happy feet, and utter confidence in my ability to get down the bunny slope...

[P Brooks]

Oops- "skateboarder" should be "snowboarder". Personal prejudice, indeed.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Having taken up a board, I would ask you to break this dislike into two pieces:

1. for the different way that boarders move on the hill: that you can (and should since they are around to stay) learn to anticipate and get over
2. for the mind numbing number of gormless young idiots who ride them without any care for the others using the hill: loath these with my blessing

[B.P.]

As for point the first, intermediate snowboarders are absolute destroyers of powder (and other desireable surfaces), because they get onto terrain too steep for their abilities and skitch sideways down the slope.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

I'd call that a third point that had slipped my mind.

I've seen more than a few near misses and actual crashes caused because skier don't understand how boarders more or vice versa, which is what I was trying to get at above.

Of course, the irresponsible jerks have always been around but they seem to be predominately on boards these days.

[P Brooks]

I find it easier to avoid other skiers when they are stationary than having to guess their next change of direction.

[Warty]

Maybe, unless they were hidden by a corner. In any case, it's absurd to take a small child where people are doing fast and dangerous things.

[B.P.]

Taking young kids on blacks is not an uncommon thing. Expert terrain in the West is not densely crowded. My 2 1/2 year old was on skis for the first time on Sunday. He will be skiing blacks in 3 years (if he ever wants to see his dad during the winter).

[P Brooks]

What is the significance of a "black diamond?"

Trails are rated (imprecisely, to say the least) by difficulty; "most difficult" are marked by black diamond symbols.

[Pro Libertate]

Trails? I think we've become a bunch of wussies.

Just kidding--never skied (on snow, anyway) in my life.

[Maximum Flow Control]

most dangerous is actually marked by red triangle with ! in the middle, second most is double black. black diamonds are for pussies. CO double black diamonds included. In MT only a double black if you have cliffs. In CO just takes a little steepness to get double black

[B.P.]

Colorado has an orange marker with "EX" in the middle for extreme conditions for the trails with coulouirs, cliffs, and such.

[P Brooks]

it's absurd to take a small child where people are doing fast and dangerous things.

Maybe, but where will our next generation of Bode Millers come from? There are some pretty small kids at Bridger skiing parts of the mountain I stay away from.

Christmas Eve Day, MTV ran a "Nitro Circus" marathon. Deranged idiot kids doing ridiculous shit, much of it lethally ridiculous.

Upon reflection, I decided these guys, whose "ringleader" is Travis Pastrana, make me cautiously optimistic about the future. Not everybody succumbs to the lure of easy, sensible comfort. And they most assuredly pay no heed to their self-appointed nannies.

[Pip]

I hit all of the runs at Bridger when I was a younger man. Now days, I'm lucky to cross-country ski without getting hurt. Aging is a mean, heartless motherfucker.

[P Brooks]

"Escaped"-

Aside from the gormless and utterly unaware idiots (anybody who boards/skis with earphones in should be thrown into a snowblower), I have seen VERY FEW boarders with truly good edge control, meaning they cannot be trusted to turn or stop when the situation demands it.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Hmmm...that is the thing I struggle with when I venture off the bunny slope. I need enough room on the hill to allow for the chance than my turn will happen a couple a meters farther along than I planned.

Stops are a little more reliable because you can always feather and dig in the whole back trailing edge.

[Maximum Flow Control]

The problem is that by definition a snowboard will have a longer stopping distance then skis (one edge versus two edges, = half the stopping friction). but yeah very few boarders seem to be able to link tight turns (it took me about 4 years). also all boarders in the terrain park should not be allowed on the rest of the mountain.

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