Reason Morning Links: Union Men, Content Farms, and Lizard People

• Wisconsin protesters stay put as supporters rally around the country.
• Anonymous, or a leftist cluster within it, targets the Kochs; other Anons argue about the idea.
• The Afghan government says a recent NATO operation killed 65 civilians.
• New York City threatens to lay off more than 4,600 teachers.
• Google's algorithm change: the biggest losers.
• Louis C.K. to Donald Rumsfeld: "Are you a lizard?"
• Fianna Fáil fails.

Comments

[JW]

Wisconsin protesters stay put as supporters rally around the country.

An excellent cost-saving measure. Now they can just walk the pink slips down instead of mailing them.

[Sal Paradise]

Yep, they are good at doing nothing. Who knew?

[cynical]

So, I'm sure we're going to see all sort of people noting that the counter rallies are funded by MoveOn, a well known Soros front. Billionaires are trying to force powerful unions on us! Boo oligarchy!

[Mr. FIFY]

It's okay when MooOn.borg does it.

[Upgrayyed]

So if a pack of bums decided to live in the capital because it's a 'public space', would the cops leave them be?

[Herbert Hoover]

Well THAT could never happen.

[Johnny Longtorso]

NY Teachers Union Calls for Members to 'Agitate'

The left hates violence

[Doktor Zombie]

Get in their faces!
- Obama

[Johnny Longtorso]

Why liberals love trains.
...Forever seeking Archimedean levers for prying the world in directions they prefer, progressives say they embrace high-speed rail for many reasons?to improve the climate, increase competitiveness, enhance national security, reduce congestion, and rationalize land use. The length of the list of reasons, and the flimsiness of each, points to this conclusion: the real reason for progressives' passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans' individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.

To progressives, the best thing about railroads is that people riding them are not in automobiles, which are subversive of the deference on which progressivism depends. Automobiles go hither and yon, wherever and whenever the driver desires, without timetables. Automobiles encourage people to think they?unsupervised, untutored, and unscripted?are masters of their fates. The automobile encourages people in delusions of adequacy, which make them resistant to government by experts who know what choices people should make....

[generic Brand]

Case in point: Tokyo, Japan.

While riding between Tokyo station and Urayasu station once, the train suddenly stopped along the rails. It wasn't particularly windy that day, my friend and I were really surprised that the train had just stopped like that. We asked another passenger what had happened, and in a very nonchalant manner they replied that someone had jumped on the tracks.

Because of the dependency on the train lines there, a suicide is seen as nothing more than an inconvenience. While most people here are annoyed by a delay caused by a car accident and the rubbernecking that ensues, there are still alternative ROADZ!!111!1 that one can usually take to get where he is going.

[wylie]

there are still alternative ROADZ!!111!1 that one can usually take to get where he is going.

All roads lead to Somalia.

[Amakudari]

Yeah, but the "cleanup" for those suicides usually only takes like 30 minutes. Trains here are on time something like 99% of the time.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Odd this happens after Adrianna sells it for big bucks to someone who will most likely make it less left wing political....

Did Google's New Search Algorithm Hurt the Huffington Post's Google Juice?

[Johnny Longtorso]

Dads in despair
SUN columnist Jane Moore has been indundated with letters and emails from heartbroken fathers fighting to see their children....

[Marshall Gill]

Reason needs to put Balko on this subject. Their are decades of Full Nut Shot articles to be had. Family Law is scary if you are a man who cares about his children. It is not based upon anything more than the whims of your wife.

[Jordan Elliot]

+1

Balko on this would be possibly more ball crushing then his whole "Isolated Incident" angle. Hopefully it would also show how ridiculous the systems is skewed here.

[R C Dean]

No, no, Balko is fine where he is. Its not like he's running out of isolated incidents or anything.

Perhaps the Kochs could be induced to fund a new reporter position to look into the various abuses on the civil side of the litigation street?

[Anonymous]

"Anonymous, or a leftist cluster within it, targets the Kochs; other Anons argue about the idea."

Holy fuck. I may have never read as much stupidity in one place as I have in the second link. We're doomed as a species. And just love the continuous use of "Enron!!" by the idiots.

[Brett L]

Anonymous (the group) is really starting to feel like one of the synthetic clades from Diamond Age.

[Gabe E]

Almost ALL of my hacker/programmer friends are Zeitgeist-oriented conspiracy nerds.

[kwais]

Same here, I wonder what that is about?

[Spazmo]

Engineers tend to be technocrats who think that the same principles that work in a technical domain can be used to "fix" human society.

On the other hand, there's a lot of CS nerds who are into Ron Paul, Austrian economics, and libertarianism.

[Dave T]

Too much time staring at computer code, and not enough time studying economics or, you know, how the world actually works.

[Name Nomad]

I should send you a link to my local paper's comments on a proposed bill which would remove licensing requirements for barbers, hairstylists, and tanning salons. 80% of the responders equated the proposal to legislators trying to get them sick and have to deal with filthy hygienic conditions, since obviously barbers will have no incentive to clean their scissors or avoid stabbing you after license requirements are gone.

[wylie]

80% of the responders equated the proposal to legislators trying to get them sick and have to deal with filthy hygienic conditions, since obviously barbers will have no incentive to clean their scissors or avoid stabbing you after license requirements are gone. were barbers, hairstylists and/or tanning-bed jockeys

ftfy.

[Name Nomad]

That would be much more comforting, but I think that many people are that stupid, unfortunately.

[Spartacus]

There's an article in this week's Economist that states (without giving a source) that in 1950, 8% of occupations in the U.S. required a license, and today it is around 26%. I actually thought it would be higher.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Painfully obvious that the ability to manipulate IT is not directly correlated to intelligence.

[Brett L]

You've met some of my coworkers, eh?

[Name Nomad]

Their DDoS technique amounts to a group of kids pressing a button on an application. Hell, they didn't even write the tool they use to do it. To count that as IT skill is like saying an 85 year old who mixes up the gas pedal with the brake and smashes into a farmers market in his Cadillac is a sophisticated mechanical assassin.

[West Texas]

I used to work across the street from ENRON! in the same industry and did a lot of business with Enron back in the day. Most people who use ENRON! as shorthand for corporate malfeasance actually have no idea what ENRON!'s business was or what really happened when it collapsed.

So what's ironic here is that Koch's business model is almost completely opposite of what ENRON!'s ended up being.

Koch is a conglomerate based around a group of highly productive PHYSICAL ASSETS in several industrial sectors: oil refining, paper and timber, carpet and fibers, etc etc.

ENRON!'s whole shtick was that they were so far evolved that physical assets were irrelevant and they could just make money off of other people's assets. But then, when business got rocky, they started cheating lenders and shareholders in an effort to prop up the financial appearance of their highly evolved business model and the whole thing eventually collapsed when there were no physical assets and cash flow to fall back on.

These ignoramuses seem to think that since the Kochs espouse politics with which they disagree, Koch therefore must be nefarious and fraudulent like ENRON!

What a bunch of morons.

[Spoonman.]

Yep. And anybody who knew their shit in the industry that Enron "evolved" from knew Enron was going to fail. I remember my dad talking in 1999, maybe, about how Enron was never going to work. He didn't have any insider knowledge, he's just an intelligent man who had been in the energy industry for awhile.

Yet when actual fraud was obviously going on, the feds did nothing.

[Scruffy Nerf Herder]

The Feds only care about covering their own asses, and certainly don't understand how the market works. As long as Enron kept the political donations up combined with Enron's own PR machine, nobody was going to touch them.

[Brett L]

Yeah. I had a similar conversation about that time with a guy who'd been in Midland during the 70s and whose wife as still doing permitting for one of the Bigs. His take was that whats-his-name was a sleazeball, and that anyone who found a way of making that much money in a mature industry was doing something either illegal or so risky that a single bad decision could collapse the whole house of cards.

[wylie]

ENRON!'s whole shtick was that they were so far evolved that physical assets were irrelevant and they could just make money off of other people's assets.

The corporate equivalent of Stargate's Ascension?

[Anonymous Coward]

The poor grammar...the idiocy...the fallacies...THEY BURN!!!!!

*Shields his eyes and creeps back into the sanctuary of his crypt.*

[mr simple]

Seriously, I can't believe Reason linked to that. My head hurts from the amount of fail on that site.

[Scruffy Nerf Herder]

From what I can gather, most of Anonymous is basically a bunch of would-be anarchists with no real knowledge of political theory or history. Therefore, they revert to old Marxist tropes most of the time, never really understanding the irony of it.

Any attempt to discuss the differences between corporatism and a free market with them is pretty much doomed to failure as tkwelge demonstrated on that second link.

[tkwelge]

Sigh, I should really stop banging my head against that wall.

Although, not all of anonymous is like that. It is simply the leftist Americans and the UK/Australian collectivists that have such a black and white view of reality.

Even when I point out how the Koch's have supported their causes, they just say, "well that's all propaganda meant to dupe libertarians into corporatism." Not one of them seriously attempted to argue fact and figures in any way. I tried to engage them in actual debate, but they don't debate. All they care about is "teh lulz."

So much for anonymous being a source for good.

Personally, I think that the Koch's would have far more to gain from aligning more with anonymous rather than trying to call their lawyers. If David Koch actually attempted to directly talk to anonymous, they might actually listen to him.

[tkwelge]

This is the new warfare. Guns and lawyers aren't going to help you anymore. All that you can do is make a personal appeal. Lawyers and force will accomplish nothing. Anonymous has the new monopoly on a certain kind of force. It can't be fought head on.

[cynical]

I think the lesson to be learned here is that it's much more useful to use Anonymous than to fight them. Their weakness is paranoia, so just ratchet up the fear and watch them go.

[tkwelge]

I've spent the last 3 days arguing with the anon-pussies. I agree with some things that anonymous does, but the attack on the Koch's goes far beyond protecting freedom of speech, which is what anonymous was supposed to be for. In fact, they are stifling speech, and they are going after people who have funded Reason, which supports wikileaks and assange more than anybody in the mainstream media.

[tkwelge]

Well, most of the mainstream media, at least.

[rather]

The shift could usher in a new era in Irish politics, opening the way for younger leaders focused more on competing views of the modern state than the bitter legacy of Ireland's 1922-3 civil war.

Ireland is now a country of immigrants rather than emigration. The history of political unrest has little meaning, and the economy is the catalyst for change.

[Isaac Bartram]

Emigration from Ireland since the bubble burst is running at over a thousand people a week.

[rather]

Because of the housing bust many former citizens are returning for the value. The loss of population is tied to youth unemployment and their economic impact is less.

Ireland under EU is no longer the Irish stereotype and the demographics reflect a less provincial view of history

[rather]

Koch brothers are "usurping" democracy clearly echoes liberal talking points, who have cast the Kochs as the evil financiers behind everything from the Tea Party to global warming-deniers.

So it isn't true! There

[Johnny Longtorso]

Andrew Sullivan Leaving Atlantic For NEWSBEAST

[wackyjack]

Thank science. I actually like the Atlantic most days. Maybe now they'll bring in someone worthwhile.

I'd bet Niall Ferguson will be looking for a job once Newsweek's 3 subscribers revolt against him.

[Brett L]

Never thought I'd link to AOL, but the headline is too much fun:
Opinion: The Left's Unhealthy Koch Habit

Ah. Guest post by John Hinderaker. If this is Arianna's doing, I believe AOL just might be able to grab a toe-hold in the interwebz newsopinion biz.

[I Love the Koches]

Koch Industries is suing two Utah-based web hosting companies to uncover the names of the people who set up the fake site and maliciously made people think Koch Industries actually cared about the environment. In a statement, Koch claims the prank was a "willful act of identity theft, theft of intellectual property and impersonation that extends beyond the boundaries of free speech." In other words: You pretend to be us? Get ready to be piled upon by 1,000 identically-clad corporate lawyers.

You do not want to mess with Koch Industries. (Well, you really, really do but would probably be well-advised not to.) The company's billionaire sibling co-owners, Charles and David Koch, are basically single-handedly funding and organizing a massive anti-Obama network, complete with secret evil meetings of conservatives! When New Yorker writer Jane Mayer wrote a long expose of the brothers' political dealings she became the target of a (probable) smear campaign.

[Old Mexican]

The company's billionaire sibling co-owners, Charles and David Koch, are basically single-handedly funding and organizing a massive anti-Obama network, complete with secret evil meetings of conservatives!

Uh... What would be the point? The greatest anti-Obama apparatus is Obama himself.

[rather]

The point is they are pussies

[Old Mexican]

Rather than making a point, rather, you're just making an ass of yourself... rather.

[rather]

Please, is there anything more idiotic than a bunch of cry-baby billionaires releasing the Kraken lawyers on a bunch of nerds

[Anonymous Coward]

The bones of nerds are the best medium for lawyers to sharpen their fangs and claws on.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Rather,

Please, is there anything more idiotic than a bunch of cry-baby billionaires releasing the Kraken lawyers on a bunch of nerds

I wouldn't know.

http://www.mediaite.com/print/.....it-threat/

[rather]

OM, you aren't actually arguing the 'others do it too' defense?

[SugarFree]

Don't bother, OM. She's as useless to talk to as Tony. Maybe more useless, as she's essentially Dan T. with a yeast infection.

[rather]

run away litle boy-you are such a coward, I love it

[rather]

'little' but since you'll be losing appendages one less 't' seems appropriate

[Anonymous Coward]

but since you'll be losing appendages..

ELIMINATIONIST. RHETORIC.

[rather]

Illuminationist

[Shorter Rather]

Committing crimes is OK as long as you commit them against rich people.

[rather]

Little Koche boys don't like being punked because it hurts their feelings-call the whahhhhhhhbulance.

[Bleary Ayad]

Fianna F?il fails.

Wasn't this covered ad nauseum in the Oscar blogging last night? Fianna is "too young" to win an Oscar, but she has a great career in the works.

[Lindsay Lohan]

We'll see...

[Johnny Longtorso]

Fox News Reporter Assaulted By Wisconsin Protesters

[Jesse Walker]

Well, they chanted at him. I wouldn't call that an assault. He says that one of them hit him off camera; if that's true, it is an assault, but in that case the last word in your link should be "Protester," not "Protesters."

[Rhetorical ?]

If Jesse posted an infinite number of links in his Morning Links, would Johnny still try to add to the list? And how many typing monkeys would it take?

[Old Mexican]

Re: Jesse Walker,

I was actually seeing that segment, and indeed they were chanting "Fox News Lies!", but all of a sudden, the image got lost and the reporter yelled "They just hit my cameraman" or something.

[Abdul]

At one point, when his audio feed is on but the camera is not on him, the reporter says he got hit.

[cynical]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[hmm]

Someone hit him. What I've seen is that he makes no big deal of it, but he was hit in the arm and that is battery.

The guy hit shrugged it off when anyone mentioned it.

[hmm]

More power to the guy, because he looks like a fairly big and in shape fella, and my first instinct would be to lay waste to the asshole that hit me.

[MJ]

"Well, they chanted at him. I wouldn't call that an assault."

If the chant contained a threat, that would be an assault. Though perhaps one may judge the level of threat minimal. Actually being hit is battery, and not assault at all.

[Jesse Walker]

If the chant contained a threat, that would be an assault. Though perhaps one may judge the level of threat minimal. Actually being hit is battery, and not assault at all.

Wouldn't deliberately hitting the guy constitute both assault and battery? I am not a lawyer; correct me if I'm wrong.

At any rate, I don't hear any threat in "Fox News lies."

[Montani Semper Liberi]

"The operation was non-partisan and remains so"

So when is the attack on Soros?

[Jesse Walker]

Since anyone can represent themselves as Anonymous (including, in this case, people calling for a consumer boycott -- not exactly the typical Anonymous tactic), I wouldn't be surprised if we see some "right-wing" Anon actions before the end of the year.

[Kreel Sarloo]

When New Yorker writer Jane Mayer wrote a long expose of the brothers' political dealings she became the target of a (probable) smear campaign.

So writer who participateded in a smear campaign is upset that the smearees are smearing back, eh?

[mitch]

What is the "probable" for? The smears have not started yet, but likely will? Or the criticisms are likely untrue, but may be true? Or someone meant "predictable" but put "probable" in error?

[Mike M.]

Countdown to shutdown: possible two week stopgap budget deal in the works.

I don't know what kind of difference two freaking weeks is going to make in this debate, this is beyond absurd.

[Brett L]

In the best possible world, the Senate Dems will see the polls go through the roof for spending cuts and start goring some of TEAM RED's sacred cows giving us more than $60B in spending cuts for the remainder of the fiscal year and Rand Paul style cuts for FY '12. Or maybe I drank too much cough syrup this morning.

[Marshall Gill]

Yep, gotta be the cough syrup.

[BakedPenguin]

New York City threatens to lay off more than 4,600 teachers.

Why do I get the feeling - if this actually happens - that none of these will be "rubber room" teachers?

[Brett L]

Hell no, they're going to throw out people like my friend who moved there to pay off her JD and decided she liked NYC and teaching English to middle-schoolers. Okay, that may be prima facie evidence of insanity, but when she gets the axe because she's not part of the official protected group, everyone will be worse off except the unions.

[capitol l]

"We can't lay off rubber-room Ralph; he's got seniority."

"But he's a convicted pedophile!"

"Yes, we realize that, but he's a pedophile with seniority"

[Old Mexican]

New York City threatens to lay off more than 4,600 teachers.

Pupil test scores will surely suffer.... upwards.

[Warty]

Yacht-and-quad-bike joyride to the South Pole goes tragically wrong

Paschendale

[capitol l]

That expedition appears to be poorly conceived, poorly planned, and poorly executed; now it is eating up a ton of rescue resources.

Find their frozen corpses and give them a bill for the effort.

[Warty]

Who could have foreseen that such a trip in the fall would go wrong? You heartless bastard.

[capitol l]

It sounds like something some kids would try after watching too many Mt. Dew commercials.

[pancakes]

I'm just sad that I'm not as HARDCORE and EXTREME as a bunch of JAGOFFS from Norway.

[capitol l]

At least you aren't as DEAD as a bunch of JAGOFFS from Norway, that's good.

[Brett L]

Anyone who names their yacht Berserk is destined to die in some poorly considered scheme. Or raid the coast of Somalia as pirate hunters.

[db]

I would totally be down with starting up a pirate hunting charter company. Now that would be a cruise!

[R C Dean]

Dibs on the port-side chaingun!

[Rich]

It sounds like something some kids would try after watching too many Mt. Dew commercials.

You just *know* Four Loko is involved.

[Upgrayyed]

FOUR LOKO- It gives you downs!

[SugarFree]

I wonder if it was some sort of global warming stunt.

[hmm]

Sailing any southern oceans is fuckin' insane. It's like one giant washing machine just spinning an churning. Takes some balls or a lack of brains, or a combination of both.

[Old Mexican]

Victimized Again: Former Duke U. Lacross Player Exonerated From Famous Rape Case Now Being Targeted By Government Jack-Booted, Tax-Fed Leeches... For Allegedly Not Paying Taxes On His Settement.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....z1F4iDU2Gk

"The Detroit News reported on Thursday that Seligmann, one of the three lacrosse players exonerated in a 2006 rape case that divided the Durham, N.C., campus, owes $6,492,377 in income taxes from 2007.

'This is just an monstrous and terribly destructive mistake,' Seligmann's lawyer Richard Emery told the Daily News in a phone call Friday. 'I don't know how it occurred and we will get to the bottom of this.'

He did not deny that the IRS believed Seligmann owed that much money.

In the now-infamous rape case, a black exotic dancer accused Seligmann and two of his teammates of raping her after she and another dancer worked a party the team threw. The first prosecutor in the case, Mike Nifong, was eventually charged with ethics violations and disbarred over his handling of the case.

Duke was also criticized for its handling of the scandal and settled with the three lacrosse players for an undisclosed amount.

If the IRS bill is not incorrect, the amount that Seligmann reportedly owes in taxes is significant because it could shed light on exactly how much the university paid out."

[Mike M.]

I don't believe for a second that the university paid THAT big a settlement to those guys. Not a chance.

[Gray Ghost]

Who the hell structured that settlement? I thought P.I. proceeds that compensated for pain and suffering were exempt from taxable income? I also thought that only exemplary damages counted towards your taxable income?

Shit, $6.5M in taxes?! Assuming top marginal rate of 35% applied to the whole settlement, that's around 18.6M. Innocent guys have gone to PMITA prison for 20 years, and not received a 5th of that kind of money.

[CaptainSmartass]

Over $55 million (assuming my math is anywhere near right) split three ways? That just doesn't seem possible.

[P Brooks]

New York City threatens to lay off more than 4,600 teachers

Randi Weingarten was on Morning Joe earlier. How could you possibly be in the same room with that woman and not jump out of your chair and stab her in the eye with a mechanical pencil? Not only does she steadfastly refuse to answer the questions put to her, she evades them in that ostentatiously weary/patient teacherly way that screams, "You're retarded and you'll never amount to anything, and I'd rather be in the teachers' lounge smoking a cigarette and reading Cosmo" as she resolutely steers the "discussion" back to her talking points.

I hate her.

And another thing- what purpose does Mike Btfsplk serve? She sits there, slackjawed, in a sort of bovine state of Pure Existence; occasionally she will become aware, looking around with a, "Where am I? Why am I here? Who are these people? Who am I?" face.

[wackyjack]

stab her in the eye with a mechanical pencil

Make sure you use #3 lead. Just to really mess with her.

[Brett L]

Like this?

[Old Mexican]

Last Known WWI Veteran Dies At 110

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

"Mr. Buckles, who was born by lantern light in a Missouri farmhouse, quit school at 16 and bluffed his way into the Army. As the nation flexed its full military might overseas for the first time, he joined 4.7 million Americans in uniform and was among 2 million U.S. troops shipped to France to vanquish the German kaiser.

Ninety years later, with available records showing that former corporal Buckles, serial No. 15577, had outlived all of his compatriots from World War I, the Department of Veterans Affairs declared him the last doughboy standing. He was soon answering fan mail and welcoming a multitude of inquisitive visitors to his rural home."

Finally, the last of the victims of Wilson's folly can rest at last.

[Spoonman.]

As the nation flexed its full military might overseas for the first time

Pretty sure that happened in 1898, before the man was born.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Spoonman,

Pretty sure that happened in 1898, before the man was born.

Probably WaPo's penchant for historically-inaccurate hyperbole, but I believe the Spanish-American War was not the stage for the full military power of the US, as the Army was strictly made of voluntaries, and part of the navy's fighting vessels was already dated.

[robc]

What about the shores of Tripoli under Jefferson? I realize that is only Navy and Marines, but that was our full military might at the time.

[Old Mexican]

Re: robc,

What about the shores of Tripoli under Jefferson? I realize that is only Navy and Marines, but that was our full military might at the time.

But for the WaPo that doesn't count, because the effort was not made in the name of making the world safe for democracy. Those assholes are still pretty much Wilsonian in their views.

[Pip]

I'm old enough to have known a man who fought in the Spanish-American war.

[Spoonman.]

Shit. Oldest guy I ever knew was my great-grandfather, who was born in 1891. He lived to be 104.

Of course, I don't remember the Soviet Union, so I'm pretty damn young (1989).

[Old Mexican]

You're too young to be posting here. Your mind is still unspoiled!

[The Gobbler]

The oldest man I ever knew was my grandfather, born in 1880.

[robc]

I had a neighbor born in 1899. In the early 90s, he climbed up on his roof to check out storm damage.

[robc]

For memorial day, the Louisville Bats AAA team used to have a vet from each war throw out a first pitch. Until a few years ago, there was a WW1 vet. Same guy every year, there wasnt any rotation. 🙂

[Pro Libertate]

That's last known American veteran, isn't it?

My grandmother told me about meeting a Civil War veteran when she was a kid. Weird how close the past can be sometimes.

[Isaac Bartram]

My great-grand-mother died in 1956 when I was nine years old. She was born in 1863 (IIRC).

One of the first recollections of her childhood was sitting in front of her father on his horse when he led his regiment in a parade in Washington at the end of the Civil War.

[Pro Libertate]

Amazing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Finally, the last of the victims of Wilson's folly can rest at last.

Forgetting something?

Wilson had many, many, many, many follies. World War I might be the one in all the history textbooks, but it wasn't as damaging as the Federal Reserve.

[Old Mexican]

Wisconsin protesters stay put as supporters rally around the country.

They protested on a Saturday so people would not realize just how irrelevant they really are.

[creech]

Do you suppose that 10,000 Tea Party protestors would be allowed to occupy the Wisconsin capitol rotunda for three weeks? Why the MSM would be wondering why the National Guard wasn't called out at the end of day one.

[Old Mexican]

Re: creech,

When Tea Party protestors occupy any space, they're white, reactionary, racist, gun toting old ladies... When the Union thugs and leeches do it, it's "the people speaking out!"

[Brett L]

The Wisconsin teachers union is definitely white, reactionary, and old.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

But not gun-toting, therefore ok. Bonus points for Jesse Jackson.

[Concerned Citizen]

Tea Party members have to go to work.

[Cytotoxic]

Where were the TP protesters this weekend?

[Haggard Lee]

The reason Progressives are going after the Koch brothers, is because of that god damn ObamaCare monstrosity. They want to guilt Scalia and Thomas into recusing themselves when it comes before the SCOTUS. Progressives should be put into camps.

[Spoonman.]

You're an idiot.

I feel the need to point this out because otherwise somebody will say "See, Reason commenters think progressives should be put into camps!"

[Haggard Lee]

I stand by my assertions.

[Haggard Lee]

Deliberately trying to weaken the SCOTUS for political gain is nothing short of treason.

[cynical]

That might be true in principle, but I don't think guilt trips count, nor do I imagine that Scalia and Thomas care about progressive butthurt.

[T]

Care about progressive butthurt? I'd think they revel in it.

[Marshall Gill]

I feel the need to point this out because otherwise somebody will say "See, Reason commenters think progressives should be put into camps!"

He didn't say "death" camps. Couldn't we, just this once, forgo the non-coercion principle and put them into re-education camps? Ok, I guess not. It was just an idea....

[Brett L]

What if we established camps and convinced them to go voluntarily? We'd still want to put them in camps, but we wouldn't force them.

[Virginia]

Just tell them they are high-speed rail camps.

[Concerned Citizen]

Just tell them they are high-speed rail *communes*.

[Pip]

Yes:

On Saturday night, he used his speech to a Federalist Society conference at the University of Virginia to say that his critics "seem bent on undermining" the legitimacy of the Supreme Court as an institution. He said such fiercely ideological attacks could erode the ability of Americans to protect their freedoms.

"You all are going to be, unfortunately, the recipients of the fallout from that -- that there's going to be a day when you need these institutions to be credible and to be fully functioning to protect your liberties," he said, according to a recording of the speech provided to Politico.com. "That could be either a short or a long time, but you're younger, and it's still going to be a necessity to protect the liberties that you enjoy now in this country."

Justice Thomas's critics claim that his attendance at a 2008 meeting of conservative donors in California should have required him to recuse himself from the court's 5-4 decision last year in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which held that limits on independent campaign expenditures by corporations or unions violate the First Amendment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....LEFTSecond

[Pip]

It's impossible to figure out all of the motivations behind the attacks on Justice Thomas, but it's a safe bet that several liberal groups have decided that the constitutionality of ObamaCare is under serious assault. They want to lay down some markers for declaring that any adverse decision by the Supreme Court is morally -- and legally -- illegitimate.

[P Brooks]

Warren Buffett's son (if I heard the intro correctly) was just on Bloomberg, talking about the awesomeness of ethanol. Great.

And then he throws in some "America should lead Green Technology!"
Because we're America, dammit!

[Scruffy Nerf Herder]

Fucker. Buffett is a rent-seeking SOB

[hmm]

+1

[Brett L]

Why doesn't he get his dad to fund his startup? Oh yeah, because you can't make it profitable.

[nekoxgirl]

Yay ethanol! We all get to pay more for food!

[Almanian]

AND get worse mileage in our cars! Everyone wins!

[P Brooks]

Painfully obvious that the ability to manipulate IT is not directly correlated to intelligence.

see also: "idiot savant"

[Ragin Cajun]

I think that is being generous to the script kiddies.

[waffles]

wtf?
So why is America's "win the future" administration so fixated on railroads
oh, wtf,
Win
The
Future!

[SugarFree]

The Lamentable Lack of Male Groupies

[Marshall Gill]

Ah, up to the usual SF high standard of crazy.

But the biggest reason for the lack of males in the groupie workforce likely stems from the power dynamic inherent in a sexual negotiation. A female fan, for all the chutzpah she may possess to throw herself in the path of R. Kelly, is chasing after a male of higher status. But the man standing outside by the stage door, despite the boldness of his move, is rarely viewed as her sexual equal.

Science what utter bullshit. If these women aren't getting laid it is because they are not pointing at an audience member and saying "come backstage and fuck me". It isn't the "power dynamic" it is the sexual one. They are not Vince Neil or R. Kelly because they are not willing to fuck anything that moves. Duh.

[Nick]

Has it occurred to these female rockers that most guys who go to a rock concert where a female is primary on stage are probably there with their girlfriend? How many of those guys are even gonna try to go backstage? If they try, they risk the chance of not getting any that night from their own drunk/high girlfriend. Risk not worth potential reward.

[Gray Ghost]

Um, yeah. I'm guessing Neko Case can pretty much get her pick of male fans if she wants. What, she doesn't have a roadie with back stage passes to hand out?

Agree with Marshall, this is another fine SugarFree link. Glad you sort through them so we don't have to.

[Brett L]

Holy shit. I'd throw myself at Neko Case. Must remember this at SXSW in a couple weeks.

[SIV]

"I realize for myself, I didn't want to be hit on BY lots of men so much as I wanted to be hit on AS MUCH as men.

Attention whore.

[R C Dean]

Unless you're an out-lesbian, getting hit on as much as a male rock star will mean getting hit on by lots of men.

Or am I missing something here?

[Lord Humungus]

'back in the day', I used to run PA for touring punk rock groups. One band had two female members, one who was hitting on me with a zeal I hadn't seen since college.

I smiled politely at her and setup my gear while I was under the baleful stare of my-then-girlfriend-soon-to-be-wife. Needless to say, I didn't get any reverse-groupie action that day.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Deborah Harry proves this theory beyond a reasonable doubt.

[P Brooks]

I don't believe for a second that the university paid THAT big a settlement to those guys. Not a chance.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. The school and its representatives (at least some of them acting in their official capacities), not content with hanging them out to dry, slandered them.

[quibbles over the technical definition of "slander" will be serenely ignored]

[P Brooks]

otherwise somebody will say "See, Reason commenters think progressives should be put into camps!"

Band camps; this country needs a string quartet in every high speed rail car.

[Brett L]

I strenuously object to your slanderous discrimination against horns and percussion! This aggression will not stand, man.

[Solanum]

Meet Supatra Smith

[Pip]

Jesus! Trim those nose hairs!

[Brett L]

Oh dear sweet FSM. This is obviously a bad idea. Humanoid robots and cheetahoid robots? Don't do it, DARPA!

[Brandybuck]

No one comments on lizards yet? I had a facebook friend post that this was the PRUF and SMOKING GUN. Not sure how much longer he'll be on my facebook list.

What is it about libertarianism that attracts such mindfucking craziness? This isn't isolated, I know several libertarians who believe in David Icke's lizard conspiracy. Most won't admit it in public, but if they think you're one of them they will start talking about it.

I don't agree with, but do understand, the mindset that wants to attribute all evil in in the world to a shadowy conspiracy. But I simply cannot understand why so many of them step beyond that to subsist on a diet of pure woo.

[SIV]

At the heart of his theories lies the idea that a secret group of reptilian humanoids called the Babylonian Brotherhood controls humanity, and that many prominent figures are reptilian, including George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, Kris Kristofferson, and Boxcar Willie.[3]

Not Boxcar Willie!

[Almanian]

When you've lost Boxcar Willie to the lizards....

[alan]

What is it about libertarianism that attracts such mindfucking craziness?

So, your saying Louis C K is a libertarian?

Are you sure your Facebook friend wasn't being sarcastic?

I don't know any libertarians who believe in it, but if I did, I'd just shrug it off. Still far less crazy, less boring and in my opinion, more respectable than the Marxoid crap coming out of liberal friends and associates. I'm really getting at the age where I avoid them as they seriously annoy me.