Reason Morning Links: Obama Speaks in Tucson, Emerging Middle Class in Africa, Flooding in Brazil

• Obama calls for healing, civility in Tucson speech.
• Lebanon talks begin Monday to assemble new government.
• Africa's rising middle class.
• Loughner's community college files released.
• Flooding, landslides after heavy rains in Brazil.

Comments

[Rep. Kanjorsky]

Missed Obama's eulogy last night. This morning,Meredith Viera and Dan Rather were calling it a "pep rally." Huh?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I couldn't believe how much those college kids kept cheering and "woo hoo"-ing and whistling, etc. For every fucking thing anyone said. Jeez, people, how about a little decorum once in a while. We're honoring a bunch of murder victims, not the team that won the basketball championship or something.

[College Kid]

That was decorum. Otherwise, we'd have shouted "Fuckin' A!"

[-]

Behold The Daily Show generation.

[Ska]

Behold the required demographics for presidential approval.

[Cecil]

Behold the required IQ for presidential approval.

[Tacos mmm...]

Behold young people everywhere and for all time. Death has no reality to most twenty-year-olds.

[-]

They don't vote. They whoop and call it a day.

[P Diddy]

Not true. They vote... or they die!

(In a world where two sides of the same coin spell disaster for the American people...)

[Suki]

+1

[Tacos mmm...]

I can almost see you shaking your cane with impotent fury.

[Dude]

Impotence, thy name is blog commentary.

[Suki]

I heard that on every audio clip, including the messiah moment about the congresswoman opening her eyes.

Now I am hearing that they opened it with a witchdoctor? Maybe a rain man? Sounds like I missed a lost Michael Jackson video.

[Student]

I went to a funeral and a campaign rally broke out.

[John]

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....williamson

US on the way to losing its AAA credit rating. No wonder they want to talk about Sarah Palin.

[Chonymax]

Because Bush drove the car onto a ditch, you stupid christfags.

[Trespassers W]

I was going to say "good mashup", but that was really more of a shriek-spoof.

[John]

How did Loughner's college records get released? He is in jail. So I doubt he signed a release. And I don't think he has a lawyer yet.

[SugarFree]

They are campus police records about their interactions with him.

[John]

Ah. ok

[hmm]

But campus police, are accredited police departments as far as I know. That comes from experience where they arrested my ass, and knowing someone who is basically a state police officer because she is a campus cop for a state college. (in her defense of being a kiddy cop, she was a HWP but moved and took the campus job to be closer to her sick mother)

[robc]

He has a lawyer already. Same chick who defended the unibomber, Eric Rudolph and Susan Smith.

[John]

At the law firm of Smith and Smith we specialize in defending the indefensible.

[robc]

Someone has to.

[hmm]

I think this is great. I don't know your what your intention is when you mention this, but what better example of an adversarial system than the most reprehensible person (per their perceived actions)getting the best defense possible.

John Adams successfully defended all but two of the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre with the two convictions receiving leniency. He did so knowing that at the time it was thought to be a significant detriment to his political ambitions and legal career. (in the short term it was) This is how a system should work, and the people who maintain the integrity of such a system in spite of public opinion should be seen as heroes and not villains.

[Suki]

If only the sheriff's department followed AZ law so well, but they are still trying to protect county employees who blew off his other murder threats.

[Tulpa]

Archaeologists discover 6,000 year old winery in Armenia.

I can't wait to taste that vintage 3990 BC port.

[SugarFree]

Is your tongue retarded? Everyone knows that the 3991 is the only decent year that decade produced.

[hmm]

It's port. There is no such thing as a decent year. The stuff is used to keep you warm and get you hammered.

[Almanian]

I hear that you haven't LIVED till you have the 3985 white - DIVINE, they say, although with an insoucient little nose and a slight, naughty little aftertaste.

[John]

That is what I hear to. My local wineshop carries the 3984. But the 3985 is just a bitch to find, even on Ebay.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

with an insoucient little nose and a slight, naughty little aftertaste.

Reminds of a woman I "knew" in Cleveland.

[Gourmet]

What was her vintage?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

She was 8 years older than I was, and absolutely amazing in the sack.

[hmm]

I'm waiting for the vintage Boons Farm.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Drunk-Driving PE Manager Who Smashed His Porsche Into The 2ND Story Of A House Says He Was Just Driving 35 MPH

Glock Sales Increase After Arizona Shooting

[Almanian]

So, last night I watched "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" for, like, the umpteenth time, instead of the President's "Memorial for Tucson" blather.

How'd all the suckers that watched the Pres think he did?

For the record, "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" was, once again, FUCKING AWESOME. Robert Rodriguez...you da man.

[Ska]

I played some Black Ops and some BC2 Vietnam. CoD has nothing on Battlefield.

[John]

Took my wife out for her birthday. Had a fabulous dinner. Why anyone watches the President on TV is beyond me.

[Almanian]

Cool! Happy birthday, Mrs.John's wife!

I can't watch him...I can't listen to him.

His voice is like a fingernails on a chalkboard any more. I'm like Pavolv's dogs - Obama starts talking, my BP goes up and I start throwing shit at the TV.

[John]

I can't watch any of them since Reagan. I couldn't watch either Bush and I supported them. The speaches are just banile garbage. Even when I agree with it, it still bugs me because I think I could write or say it so much better. And when I disagree it is just torture.

[Almanian]

YEah, Bush the lesser took me a little longer, but I couldn't listen to him after a couple years, either.

Obama took about 6 months - what a destructive fuck.

[SFC B]

I can't listen to President Obama because he sounds like every moralizing teacher I've ever known. I couldn't tolerate that tone of speaking when I was 13 and in high school, there is no chance I will be able to sit through it as an adult.

I dread the thought of one day being stationed someplace where he comes to speak. I will volunteer for CQ duty that day.

[James Ard]

Even had I wanted to watch the speech, my wife wouldn't have let me. She is repulsed by Obama.

[Tacos mmm...]

Took my wife out for her birthday. Had a fabulous dinner. Why anyone watches the President on TV is beyond me.

What, you don't hang out here ALL the time?

[captitol l]

I watched the Pens demolish the Habs(finally). With Jesus out with a concussion nonetheless.

Ditto on OUATIM. The whole Mariachi trilogy owns.

[Tulpa]

Does that make Big Ben Mohammed?

[captitol l]

I'll let Warty, answer any Roethlisberger related questions. He's so eloquent when he speaks of Pittsburgh's favorite raper.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Fleury duplicated the Price douchey arm folding move at the end of the game last night. I guess you can take the boy out of Lower Canada but you can't take the Lower Canada out of the boy... when back in Lower Canada.

[Tulpa]

I only ask because Mohammed was known to be a bit randy with the young stuff too.

[Young Stuff]

I'm rooting for Baltimore. Their quarterback is actually cute and doesn't look like Randy Quaid teaching a daughter how to kiss.

[Warty]

That rapist scumfuck is the perfect hero for that hole he lives in. I'm rooting for Ben Roethlisberger to get hit so hard that he dies on the field, the Steelers to suffer a monumental blowout, and then the Ravens' plane to crash into Art Modell's house on the way back to Baltimore.

[Tulpa]

I can't wait to see how you react when he runs for Senate in a few years. Which you know he will.

[hmm]

I watched while reading through a PPM. I was not satisfied with either.

[SugarFree]

After an incident in February 2010 in which Mr. Loughner blurted out in a poetry class that dynamite ought to be attached to babies, a campus police officer wrote, "I suggested they keep an eye on him and call us if anything else developed that concerned them."

Mr. Loughner explained the remark matter-of-factly. "He said that the class had been talking about abortion, which made him think of death, which made him think of suicide bombers, which made him think of babies as suicide bombers," wrote Mr. Conover.

It is wrong that I can follow that chain of association so easily?

[Almanian]

Napalm sticks to kids

[SugarFree]

72 virgins? or 72 wet nurses?

[Almanian]

virgin wetnurses would be pretty awesome

[Almanian]

That would also be a great name for an all-chick rock band.

"The Virgin Wetnurses - LIVE at The Magic Bag in Ferndale!"

[hmm]

Or wet virgin nurses...

[Pip]

^^THIS^^

[T]

Napalm sticks to little children
All the children of the world
Red or yellow, black or white
They all scream when they ignite

You learn such cheerful things in the military.

[Almanian]

Officer Candidate School, 1980's

[Almanian]

There's another line in there about "burning like candles in the night" - FUCK I loved that song!

[T]

I think I learned that one when I was in the 82nd. I remember "Beat Me, Beat Me" and "Burn the Town" from 3d ACR.

[Almanian]

I need to be clear - I wasn't OCS, a bunch of guys in my fraternity were. I learned more shit about the Marines from those guys...mostly remember the hilarious songs and chants...

My brother was 101st, so you and he could fight about which airborne is better 🙂

[SFC B]

Kill the people;
Burn the village.
Point the missiles at the square.
Do it on a Sunday Morning;
While the people are at prayer.

My favoritest cadence of all time. OF ALL TIME!

[John]

I like the one about throwing the candy out in the school yard. I am so glad I got in on the tail end of all that before the PC military banned them.

[SFC B]

It's "banned" in the sense that you don't call them when someone with a flag on their car is within ear shot. But you can still hear it.

[John]

No. That is the thing with real insanity. The individual connections they make all make sense. It is just when you put the whole chain together you end up with nonsense. That is why you can't fake being crazy. Even expert actors can't do it.

Read a Paul Kuginuts or Andrew Sullivan column sometimes for an example.

[robc]

Yep. The insane make rational(ish) decisions based on insane premises.

[hmm]

Someone with the same philosophy of rational decision making as myself. It's either the premise or the information that's flawed, not the decision of the human.

I tend to get in a lot of "rational decision making people" discussion with left leaning and right leaning people who want to make the better decision for all.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Ledger's Joker seemed pretty crazy.

[John]

If you had him go into character and talk to a trained psychiatrist, the psychiatrist could tell he was faking. It is amazing. But sane people can't do it. Someone like Ledger who is a trained skilled actor could fake it for a little longer than you or I. But if he talked to the psychiatrist long enough, the gig would be up.

[John Thacker]

We are talking about the guy who died from a toxic combination of prescription drugs shortly after that movie, right?

[SFC B]

Oh man. Sullivan is beyond doubling down on his Palin crazy now.

He has split 2s when the dealer is showing an ace and has doubled down on the 2s. I'm going to run out of blackjack metaphors shortly if Sullivan doesn't stop.

[Solanum]

Sully is slowing down a bit. He only had 16 posts about Sarah Palin yesterday.

[CaptainSmartass]

Then the dealer flips to show a five, hits and gets a King. Who's crazy now, huh?

[Pro Libertate]

I think we're supposed to report you to someone.

First question, though, is whether you've ever seen any infographics from Sarah Palin? Be honest.

[SugarFree]

When they ask why I did what I did, tell them internet trolls drove me to it.

[waffles]

toddler suicide bombers just don't have the payload of a fully grown adult. and forget about using infants, that just a waste of food.

[SugarFree]

And they have a hard time yelling "Allahu Akbar!"

[Almanian]

I disagree, you throw them like hand grenades. Crowds gather, cause they think, "shit, someone's throwing BABIES!" Then, "BOOM" - decorate the room with baby and concerned adults.

God, I could be a terrorist so easy....

*recoils in horror*

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Because, hey, free baby.

[John Thacker]

Deep Thought man.

[SugarFree]

I think to do truly terrible and shocking things requires a sense of humor. Something that truly evil people are mostly incapable of.

[hmm]

semi seriously, I'd say if you lack a sense of humor the some horrors of life would drive you insane. The ability to make light of the most disturbing of things can allow you to deal with some of the most disturbing of things. Otherwise you might be a drooling, swaying, muttering, mess.

[hmm]

I'd say if you lack a sense of humor over some of the horrors of life would drive you insane.

I swear I'm freakin' retarded sometimes. (or most of the time)

[Slut Bunwalla]

It's not really wrong, I mean, it's a weird thought and all but most of us have strange thought associations like that all the time. We just learn pretty early to keep it to ourselves rather than announcing it to everyone in poetry class.

[CoyoteBlue]

Joe Biden celebrates in Iraq

[Fist of Etiquette]

Obama calls for healing, civility in Tucson speech.

While pointedly glaring at the Republican mourners in attendance.

[Mike M.]

Meanwhile, while Obama was pleading for more civility and better behavior in our discourse, many of the liberals and ignorant college kids in the crowd were hooting, hollering, whistling, and acting in a completely appalling manner at what was supposed to be a somber and reflective memorial service.

Listening to those morons in the crowd made me realize that America is in even deeper trouble than I thought.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Yup.

[Suki]

Was he clean and articulate? Did he use the Negro dialect or did he have that turned off?

[hmm]

Oh god the potential racism backlash!!!

[Almanian]

Loughner's community college files released.

I'm still more interested in Barack H. Obama's grades. Really interested in his college grades...

[J sub D]

At the memorial service Barack Obama said -

Only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation."

That is just plain fucking idiotic.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Well, it did come from Obama's mouth, so...

[John]

That is one word for it. Sick and opportunistic would be two others.

[T]

I find there's a stark dichotomy between civility and honesty. There's no polite way to tell someone they're an idiot.

[John]

That is a great point. Civility is the last refuge of scoundrals.

[Almanian]

Way to continue provoking all the crazies with your violent and provocative rhetoric, T.

[Fist of Etiquette]

There's no polite way to tell someone they're an idiot.

Have you tried doing it with a British accent? Sometimes that makes other pronouncements sound better than they actually are.

[John]

There is this great scene in the movie The King's Speach. In it the then Duke of York soon to be King tells the speach therapist that his doctors tell him smoking relaxes the vocal cords. Geofery Rush playing the therapist says in a deadpan "your doctors are idiots". The Prince responds "but they have all been knighted" to which Rush responds in an Austrailian/English accent "then it is official".

It is a great example of what you are talking about.

[T]

Nah, idiot isn't violent or provocative. Sometime, a spade is just a spade.

[Bee Tagger]

You, kind sir, are a racist.

[SFC B]

RACIST!

[Dude]

Civilized people generally avoid blog commentary.

[T]

But we can still write blogs and be civilized, right?

[Dude]

I don't know. Can you?

[James Ard]

Those that are busy robbing you blind, of course, want their victims to be civil.

[Straw Man]

I resent that.

[Tulpa]

Only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation.

It starts with you, you lying sack of shit. As a wise man said, if you want to change the world, shut your mouth and start this minute.

[Anonymous Coward]

Civility is great. But the better portion of actual civility is knowing when to be tactful and when to let someone have it.

Uh-oh! I think I just used violent rhetoric! OH GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?

[Pip]

Yeah, I posted this on another link, but it really ticks me off:

After last night's spectacle in Tucson, it will be hard convincing foreign nationals that the US is not a Christian nation.

And who's bright idea was it to have the Head of Homeland Security read from the book of Isaiah, a Jewish prophet???

[Brett L]

More evidence that Nobel Prizes may make winners crazy. Or DNA can quantum teleport itself. Or water has a "memory" under certain conditions. Science is weird.

"Physicists in Montagnier's team suggest that DNA emits low-frequency electromagnetic waves which imprint the structure of the molecule onto the water. This structure, they claim, is preserved and amplified through quantum coherence effects, and because it mimics the shape of the original DNA, the enzymes in the PCR process mistake it for DNA itself, and somehow use it as a template to make DNA matching that which 'sent' the signal "

[Old Mexican]

I knew it! I knew psychic water was not nonsense! A Nobel Prize winner said so, it must be true!

Also, deficits don't matter! Another Nobel Prize winner has told us since forever, so it must be true!

[Fatty Bolger]

I would think this could be confirmed or debunked rather quickly, unlike his 2009 electromagnetism study leading up to this.

[hmm]

For the sake of argument it seems that at almost every significant revelation in science the guy making the revelation and the revelation were thought to be a little fuckin' crazy, at least for some period of time.

Nothing wrong with exploring the crazy shit. Just have to be careful not to believe your own bullshit.

[R C Dean]

Where did I see that the geniuses in DC sent a whole crapload of FBI agents to Tucson to "investigate" the shooting.

What is there to investigate, exactly? Isn't it pretty clear who did it?

[J sub D]

Take away judge and congresscritter, no fed involvement whatsoever. Some are more equal than others.

[.]

None of your insolence, serf!

[Patch the Pony]

Isn't it pretty clear who did it?

Either that bald crazy dude or Sarah Palin. The FBI will figure it out.

[John Thacker]

What is there to investigate, exactly?

Maybe they could investigate why the Sheriff kept arresting and investigating the guy, but never charging him.

I'm still extremely skeptical of locking people up before the fact, but this guy seems unusually nuts, not just your average antisocial loaner or harmless schizo.

[hmm]

You can't write convincing federal legislation without the backing and selected quotes from some federal agency reports.

[Virginia]

Local govt urged by county employees to buy privately-owned/operated incinerator for $400 million to realize cost savings.

I hope they do it so their budget implodes that much quicker.

[Old Mexican]

Africa's rising middle class.

Clearly, the foreign aid has been a dismal failure as it had no effect on curbing its rise.

Back to the drawing board...

[Old Mexican]

Obama calls for healing, civility in Tucson speech.

"We'll bring back the 'Fairness' Doctrine to insure it!"

[Tony]

I can almost see you shaking your cane with impotent fury.

Seconded. You people are just looking for reasons to pretend to be pissed off.

[.]

Who the fuck has to pretend?

[hmm]

I'll have you know I've been in a permanent state of pissed off since Betty Wojewski turned down my dance invitation in 6th grade.

[Tony]

Which is to say, even Glenn Beck praised the president's speech.

What does that make you idiots?

[Brett L]

Not Beck's lapdogs?

[Tony]

It makes you more cranky than Glenn Beck, a man who is paid to criticize the president in the most hyperbolic ways.

[Brett L]

Get off my lawn!

[Tulpa]

We get paid more to do that. KOCHTOPUS!!!!!!

[Bee Tagger]

Not Glenn Beck?

[hmm]

People who don't blindly follow Glenn Beck, which I thought you thought was a good thing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Tony, the only person who actually cares about Glenn Beck around these parts is you.

[P Brooks]

You people are just looking for reasons to pretend to be pissed off.

Pretending?

Not even close.

[Tony]

Well, you're probably not pretending. But that's why you have no friends. It's just a freaking memorial service, unbunch your panties.

[hmm]

I'll be your friend P, don't listen to Tony.

[P Brooks]

Memorial service?

"SIX MORE YEARS! SIX MORE YEARS! SIX MORE YEARS! SIX MORE YEARS! SIX MORE YEARS! SIX MORE YEARS! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[Tony]

Well it was at a university. I don't think it's appropriate to applaud at a funeral, but what are you gonna do?

I think you're just pissed off that there exist people who like Obama.

[Mike M.]

Well it was at a university.

There was a time in this country once when universities were largely bastions of intelligent, educated people. Sadly, today they're mostly full of moronic losers like you. It's a big part of the reason why our country is going down the shitter.

[Kenny]

It's almost like something subsidized by the feds turns into crap. Couldn't be though...

[JD]

Not pissed off. Just confused.

[Tulpa]

Having been to several memorial services for faculty members at universities, which were attended by a lot of students, I can attest that hooting and cheering has never occurred at any of them.

[Tony]

So what, something's in the water at U of A? It's not really Obama's fault they cheered.

[Shocked]

Its the cult of personality. Which is how we elect presidents anymore.

[Shocked]

Its the cult of personality. Which is how we elect presidents anymore.

[Tulpa]

Perhaps Obama, being a former professor himself, should have verbally discouraged them from acting in this inappropriate fashion.

[Tony]

I actually thought about how he could do that as he was speaking. I concluded that it was best for him not to scold the audience or draw more attention to the cheering, which wasn't going away. How presidential would it have been for him to say "please, stop cheering, this is a memorial service" like some school librarian?

[Tulpa]

I can barely imagine the reaction of some of the MCs at the memorials I spoke of if people started cheering during the service. It wouldn't be pretty.

[PAC 12]

I mean UA is about the biggest jock/brodude/meathead public school in the country. Maybe Ohio State is worse, but haven't visited there.

[Pointless Commentary]

The students were confused. They thought it was a campaign rally. With death. Kinky, but whatever, duuuude! Whooooo!

[hmm]

I've only been to one kinda of happy memorial service. It was for a the wife of a blues/jazz musician who insisted on a jazz funeral. Was a touching event and day. I don't think I've ever received more grandmotherly hugs in such a short time in my life, and I only knew the husband and met his wife maybe twice.

As far as the UofA people, talk about classless. I didn't know there was cheering. I must have missed it. Fuck that's sad, frightening, angering...hell I think you can invoke just about every negative emotion with something like that.

[Student]

Whooooo!

[hmm]

It was mostly "Woot" as I remember it.

[smartass sob]

Palin Death Threats Rise to Unprecedented Level

[hmm]

I hate having to preface Palin posts with this, but I'm not a fan of Palin politically. However, I would get a chuckle out of her doing public events with a side arm. You have to admit as far as chicks go, armed good lookin' chicks are right up there. Of course, it helps if they don't say silly shit and make comments you disagree with.

For Palin fans, Dershowitz defends Palin's use of "blood libel" some liberal heads implode:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com.....Libel-2956

[Tony]

STOP! YOU BASTARDS! LEAVE OBAMA ALONE! *SOB*

[Tony]

Independent-minded contrarian libertarians: Leave Sarah Palin alooone!!

[bookworm]

What libertarians like Sarah Palin? I sure don't.

[Trespassers W]

It helps to keep in mind that most of the time Tony is arguing with the voices in his head.

[Tony]

Because my head is so far up my ass it echoes.

[Enough About Palin]

I certainly don't.

[hmm]

I think MNG has a crush on her.

[PAC 12]

I picture this being said with a sheet over his head and a flashlight. ala the Brittany Spears dude/chick.

[P Brooks]

but what are you gonna do?

Scorn and defiance, slight regard, contempt and any thing that may not misbecome the mighty sender

[Mike M.]

Get a load of this garbage folks: Alexandria, Virginia and the federal government are trying to work out an arrangement where Pentagon employees will get free public transportation on the local bus system at U.S. taxpayer expense.

Total likely cost to the U.S. taxpayer, half a million bucks a year.

[Virginia]

Also $600,000 up front to rehab four city buses.

[R C Dean]

Well it was at a university. I don't think it's appropriate to applaud at a funeral, but what are you gonna do?

Perhaps, not hold the event at a university, where whooping and hooting are likely to occur whenever Obama takes the stage?

Why was it held at the U, anyway?

[Enough About Palin]

My guess is that was the only venue available on short notice.

I liked the Mexican / Native American who opened the concert. But for my money, the rest of the acts sucked ass.

[Student]

Whooooo!

[hmm]

I'm pretty sure the President can talk his way into any venue, in any city, at any time.

I'd say UofA was a crowd size and political move for his base. He has to carry the younger crowd to win again, and that crowd disappeared in the midterm. (not uncommon) Now he will spend the next two years trying to re-energize that base.

One of the reasons I found this to be more political than actually from the heart.

[Tulpa]

Perhaps, not hold the event at a university, where whooping and hooting are likely to occur whenever Obama takes the stage?

That's not necessarily a given anymore when talking about the general student population. Though, the people who went to a memoriarally where Obama is speaking may not be an unbiased sample.

[hmm]

Why isn't it a given considering a student population? Are you arguing campuses are farther left and not satisfied or moving right? Everything anecdotal and scientific that I have seen say the political mood on campuses both in the aggregate and individually remain fairly constant over a number of years. Even the last two years. The turn out has varied as far as actual voting, but the political sentiment seems to be pretty consistent.

[Tony]

Yeah college students are not suddenly turning into conservatives. They may be, in small part, turning away from Obama, but that's because he's not liberal enough.

[SFC B]

A gunstore Knoxville is having a "Shoot Lane Kiffin Bobble-Head Day," to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Kiffin's departing the University of Tennessee.

[????? ??????]

Thanks