Reason Morning Links: A Whole New War

• To the shores of airspace over Tripoli.
• The Senate approves another stopgap funding bill.
• The Justice Department reports that New Orleans police systematically abuse people's rights.
• The U.S. advises Americans in Japan to stay 50 miles away from the Fukushima power plant.
• The Arizona Senate says no to five new bills aimed at illegal immigration.
• ICANN is expected to approve a .xxx domain for porn today.
• A plagiarism scandal hits The Washington Post.

The latest from Reason.tv: Shikha Dalmia on immigration.

Comments

[Wind Rider]

ah, the .xxx domain space. ICANN's football to all the Internet Charlie Browns with hand lotion at the ready.

[Abdul]

Yeah, it's so hard to find porn without the .xxx tag.

[Ice Nine]

Maybe it is really easy anyway but wouldn't this new suffix make it utterly effortless for censorious powers that be to locate, filter out, and smite porn from the internet with a couple taps on the 'ol keyboard?

[Jess Asken]

Must a site be porn to have the .xxx tag?

[Ice Nine]

Good question. Think about it, what an incredible marketing ploy - think of the exponential increase in eyes on the product - after widgets.com switches to widgets.xxx.

[JOhnny MAckson]

reason.xxx LOL

Jess
http://www.anon-lol.com

[Pro Libertate]

Brilliant.

[Amakudari]

Maybe it is really easy anyway but wouldn't this new suffix make it utterly effortless for censorious powers that be to locate, filter out, and smite porn from the internet with a couple taps on the 'ol keyboard?

Yes, and this is the point.

[Anonymous]

So after over ten years of pretty much no body wanting this domain, it happens... This may be the first reverse Bootleggers/Baptists situation I've ever seen. The Bootleggers (porn people) don't want this cause the Baptists will use it to censor them; and the Baptists don't want it because they think it'll give the Bootleggers legitimacy...

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

I was checking out the Kos Kiddies after last night's U.N. vote. They're not unanimously in favor of this new war, but I doubt if many of them will make any real effort to oppose it. Many of them are putting on their horned war helmets and breaking out the same arguments Bush used to use.

I guess the temptation of having their president crowned as a Tuff Gai is just too great.

[OO]

same arguments? so where r the nukes?

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

I was referring to their disdain for the Constitutional requirement that Congress declare war, the assurances that this would be a cakewalk, and so on. Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that they're using the specific excuse of WMD (although there is still time for that too, if push comes to shove).

[Hey]

Go fuck yourself.

[DERP!]

Urine, your brand of stupid just never goes away. Thanks for dropping the average IQ of the human race!

[Lost]

Is this YouTube?

[Number 2]

So the man who won a Nobel Peace Prize simply by taking office not only has failed to end the two wars he inherited -- including the one he promised to end as soon as he took office -- but is now preparing for a third. Hope and change strikes again!

[Rich]

the two wars he inherited

You're forgetting the WOD or whatever it's called these days.

[Mr Obama]

Don't forget my War on Airline Passengers.

[Restoras]

At least he closed GITMO. What an embarassment that was.

[resident TARD]

he closed Gitmo! fuck yeah Obama!
I knew he would come through and wouldn't lie to us.

[Libertymike]

Um, I believe he is reopening the same.

[db]

That place is like a furniture store--always has a "going out of business" sign on it but still manages to hang in there.

[Joe M]

Nice.

[gaijin97]

I lived in a place where it was declared illegal to have a going out of business sale and then not go out of business. A local furniture store created a huge sign and permanently posted it in the window. It read "Going Out For Business Sale". So, the moral of this stupid story is that we probably just misread Obama.

[pancakes]

Switch the "o" and the "f", grab an "r" and you got yourself a SALE!

[TrickyVic]

Arkansas?

[gaijin97]

Georgia...

[BG]

So the man who won a Nobel Peace Prize simply by taking office not only has failed to end the two wars he inherited -- including the one he promised to end as soon as he took office....

To be fair, US military activities in Iraq have largely ended, and the US is not mostly involved with training Iraqis. And there is good reason to think that remaining US bases will be vacated and turned over to the Iraqi government at the end of this year as scheduled.

As for Afghanistan, Obama said during his campaign that he was going to increase troop levels in Afghanistan; and he always distinguished between that war and the Iraq "war of choice". This seems like a reasonable distinction to me; since the Afghanistan war was a direct response to the 9/11 attacks (and previous smaller attacks by Al-Qaeda) while the Iraq war was not.

[Mr Nobel Obama]

To be fair, I haven't really "invaded-invaded" Pakistan. Our involvement is limited to surgical strikes by drones.

[OFG]

Hand Off Libya! No War For Oil! FTS!

[Hey Hey Obam-A]

How many...........today?!

[Stupid left wing idiot]

Democrat bombs and cruise missiles are good, republican bombs and cruise missiles are bad.

[Still Pissed]

Well, it's been over 12 hours since the resolution passed. So much for the French being ready to start operations in a few hours. I guess what they really meant to say is, "We will be ready to go in a couple hours, but we'll wait until the Americans get here and take out all the AA defenses. Why should our boys get shot at when the US President is dumb enough to volunteer his military to fight our wars for us?"

[Tim]

"Prepare ze aircraft carrier"

"Pardon, do you mean for us to take ze volleyball nets?"

"Oui!"

"Mon Dieu!"

[Amateur Sociologist]

Merde-it is ze bonne chose that ve have stocked up on ze drapeaux blancs and ze pantalon brun.

[omg]

But I am le tired!

[Fluffy]

I think having Norway announce they're attacking Libya as soon as they can is very shrewd.

Nobody thinks of Norway as some sort of hegemonic or imperialistic power, so it makes it harder to point at the effort and say, "It iz TEH COLONIALIZM!!!"

I no longer smoke the military intervention crack, but limited air strikes in support of a genuine popular uprising against a dictator won't outrage me too much. If we had just launched decapitatory air strikes against Saddam and let the Kurds and Shiites declare their independence, instead of spending $1 trillion on a ground occupation and torture and murder fest, I would have been a lot less pissed off about W's wars, too.

[DJF]

"""Nobody thinks of Norway as some sort of hegemonic or imperialistic power"'

So you have already forgotten the Vikings. They took over large parts of Britain, Ireland, France, Russia. Now once again they begin their reign of conquest.

[Juvenile Lurker]

Q: What's a "Norman"?

A: A Viking who just learned to shave.

[Pro Libertate]

A Viking who preferred rich sauces?

[Fluffy]

+1.

Nice.

[Pro Libertate]

I couldn't remember where I was getting "rich sauces" from (other than the fact that French cooking often uses rich sauces), but I realized it was coming from a movie--Woody Allen's Love and Death:

Sergeant: Imagine your loved ones conquered by Napoleon and forced to live under French rule. Do you want them to eat that rich food and those heavy sauces?

The sergeant was a drill instructor for the Russian army. A black drill instructor.

I like his earlier, funnier movies.

[Devil Inchoate]

Not sure if you are praising Love and Death or not, but it is one of his best.

[Pro Libertate]

I am--love it.

[OFG]

I agree about his early works--brilliant comedy on a level with the best of Monty Python.

"Serious" movies and later comedies--not so much.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

What do we know about the popular uprising, though? In the past, we have supported what would become the Taliban in Afghanistan and a terrorist group, the KLA, in Kosovo who ended up treating the Serbs worse than the Serbs treated the Albanians. The problem with taking sides in a conflict like this is that we get blamed when the new boss ends up being as bad or worse then the old boss. We don't need to get involved in another country's civil war.

[We We Alldawayhome]

Well, we don't actually need to, but ... we kinda like to.

[CaptainSmartass]

We never supported the Taliban. Those guys came into Afghanistan a few years after we ended our support for the various warlords.

[Esteban]

Yeah, this is a false assumption many people make.

[Mongo]

Yep. Western governments only gave the Taliban a pass as Afghanistan was spiralling into chaos and the Taliban offered stability. Iron-fisted, dogmatic stability but, at the time, Afghanistan was a bloody mess.

[Sean]

In other news, Norway is planning to return to a pillaging-based economy in the wake of the global financial meltdown.

[Moammar W Kadafi]

"Bring it on!"

[Fluffy]

The pundits talk about how clear Qadafi is and how he's a survivor, but he's kind of an idiot.

All he had to do going into the UN vote was make a lot of noise about how he was willing to negotiate, and how he wanted a UN mediator selected, and how there would be a general amnesty for rebels and a ceasefire and blah blah blah blah -

- And Russia or China would have vetoed.

And then he could just wipe out Benghazi while the UN was picking its mediator.

If he really only needed 48 hours, and he couldn't think of a way to immobilize the international community with lies for a measly 48 hours, I don't know how he stayed in power as long as he did. That's like First Day of Lying School lying. Didn't this guy ever date? He can't come up with a lie that can hold for 48 hours?

[Moammar W Kadafi]

I'm an honorable man.

Besides, the international community does an excellent job of immobilizing itself.

[Pro Libertate]

Honorable like Cassius?

[deified]

brilliant

[dbcooper]

make a lot of noise about how he was willing to negotiate

Ambassador Neeson would've just shot him in the head mid-sentence.

[db]

Anyone else wanna negotiate?

[PapayaSF]

It's also possible that the 48 hours thing was a bluff. He always kept the army weak, they've been fighting for a while, and suffering some defections.

[Da Marines]

wait one...over

[Phil N DeBlank]

[Hillary Clinton] predicted that ___________ would do "terrible things" to Libya and other countries because "it's just in his nature."

[William Hungover]

Hitler?

[Jon Voight]

Michael Moore?

[that gay utube brittany guy]

leave qadaffi aloooone !

[Fred Phelps]

Yahweh?

[waffles]

Zarkozy?

[Fist of Etiquette]

waffles?

[robc]

Obama?

[JW]

My barber?

[DERP!]

SugarFree?

[Jim]

Voltron?

[Mongo]

Gregory Smith?

[Tulpa]

Ben Roethlisberger. Has to be.

[Inigo Montoya]

Sen. Charles Schumer ... said Thursday that Republican leaders in the House must break with tea party freshmen or a government shutdown is assured.

"Shutdown." You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

A government shutdown sounds great. When the government stops and the world doesn't end, maybe people will see that the fuckstains in Washington really are useless and we can start rolling back programs.

[deified]

You mean just like what happened in 1995?

[Pro Libertate]

The GOP caved pretty quickly then. If they're smart, they won't this time.

[Rich]

I think what Inigo is saying is ... there are "shutdowns" and there are "SHUTDOWNS".

[waffles]

or maybe he is saying "you killed my father, prepare to die". but I may be thinking of another Inigo.

[Inigo Montoya]

I do not mean to pry, but does Senator Schumer by any chance happen to have six fingers on his right hand?

[JW]

Come to think of it, he does!

BTW, I have a holocaust cloak you can borrow, if you like.

[Clich? Bandit]

where did we leave that wheel barrow the albino had?

[Anonymous Coward]

Charles Schumer doesn't even know how government functions, much less what a shutdown government would look like.

[DJF]

I wonder how many billions of dollars this war will cost? Flying military aircraft is not cheap, even if they don't fire a shot.

[Jane Dickey]

The war will pay for itself.

[rummy]

the oil will pay for it

[Greek Shipping Magnet]

The olive oil.

Fucking magnates, how do they spell?

[gaijin97]

^^lol

[Nancy Pelosi]

Flying military aircraft is not cheap, even if they don't fire a shot.

Are you serious?

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Don't worry, they'll put this war off-budget just like the others. Presto! It won't add to the deficit!

(And of course anybody who doesn't buy this silly argument will be accused of not supporting the troops.)

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Justice Department reports that New Orleans police systematically abuse people's rights.

Is that place even still around?

[Eric Holder]

I assure you that DOJ is alive and well.

[Ice Nine]

Amazing to learn such a thing about a legendarily upstanding PD like NO's.

[T]

Yeah, I grew up hearing about how NOPD was a shining beacon to law enforcement everywhere.

Wait, that's not right. I grew up with stories from cousins about getting police beatdowns in NOLA and bribing the cops to get out of everything. Same thing, I guess.

[Rob M]

Can we send the NOPD to Libya as a "peacekeeping" force?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Justice Department reports that New Orleans police systematically abuse people's rights.

FTFY.

[deified]

So, wait, the social conservatives in the Bush administration were against .xxx ? WTF? From the article:

The Department of Commerce has received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails from individuals expressing concern about the impact of pornography on families and children," Michael Gallagher, an assistant secretary in the Bush Commerce Department, wrote in a letter to ICANN in 2005.

I always thought .xxx was a way to segregate pornography so it would be easier to censor, er, regulate, and filter.

[Fake Sean Connery]

I'll take the Penis Mightier for $200!

[Mongo]

That was the plan.

Unfortunately, so-cals believe that Jimmy Carter invented porn.

[Mongo]

Ha-ha! Southern Californians!

So-CONS...

[Tulpa]

I seriously doubt the SCOTUS would allow the government to censor a website just because it doesn't have a .xxx domain, so that won't work. All the porn sites will keep their .com domains and probably add an .xxx one.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A plagiarism scandal hits The Washington Post.

OMG, who gives a shit anymore? Write whatever the fuck you want, WaPo. Trade from each other, make shit up, nobody really cares. The next generation of reporters is going to have been brought up on wikipedia, anyway.

The lesson none of these veteran journalists learn is to make sure to go out on a high note. You win that Pulitzer? Quit. You get hailed as the woman who broke the glass ceiling in the White House Press Corps? Take the accolades and don't spout off about the Joos. A long and distinguished career as a newsman? Ride out the clock reading CBS's teleprompter and don't go chasing your ideological nemeses.

[capitol l]

Did you happen to read the whole story?

The reporter for the Post even plagiarized her excuse for plagiarizing from that Daily Beast guy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Owning a Pulitzer means never having to come up with an orignal way to say you're sorry.

[Pro Libertate]

I almost respect that. Chutzpah at its finest.

[Cyto]

Sooo...Anon-Bot works for the Washington Post?

[Wind Rider]

Tim Russert a trailblazer for proper journalistic etiquette. Hmm.

[capitol l]

Too soon!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wrong! A real pro who knew when the time was right.

[deified]

I read that "Wrong!" in John McLaughlin's voice. Hi-larious!

[Al Odin]

A Whole New War

"No one to tell us 'No'"

[Johnny [Long]torso]

Bureaucrats to [union] thugs: Come out fighting

20 Days of Left Wing [Thuggery] in Wisconsin

[Rich]

We will throw our baseballs in your lawn, you cranky oldpieces of shit, and then we will come get them back. What are you gonna do?

Are these clowns eight years old? Sheesh. Get off my lawn.

[R C Dean]

That 20 days link should be required reading for anyone interested in the question of whether pubsec unions should even exist, or in the question of whether we should be looking left or right for domestic political violence.

[Neu Mejican]

or in the question of whether we should be looking left or right for domestic political violence.

Always look both ways or you are likely to get run over.

[Tulpa]

Not if it's a one-way street.

[Clich? Bandit]

talk to me about "driving" in Rome.

[Rock Action]

Okay, I disagree with the sentiment, but that was funny.

[pancakes]

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

[John]

http://armsandthelaw.com/archi.....ents_w.php

This should be a bigger scandal than it is.

[John]

The contents of their letter are pretty stunning. A few samples:

"The Bureaus second most powerful manager Deputy Director Edgar Domenech, himself filed a whistleblower complaint and publicly stated that the Bureau of ATF has a propensity for reprisal and he "knew" such actions would result in career suicide."

"A Special Agent attempts to resist an investigation using unlawful wiretaps. The Special Agent openly challenges and reports it to superiors. After 20 + years of exemplary service, the next 1 ? years results in the Special Agent and his family being transferred 5 times, suspended for 3 days, attempts made to have a psyche evaluation conducted, 2 letters of reprimand, and ultimately a termination."

"Complainants or those who would challenge unethical and/or illegal acts by Special Agents in Charge or senior managers are often threatened with collecting their next pay check in Fargo, North Dakota or Anchorage, Alaska."

"An anonymous letter was sent to the Department of Justice OIG from Las Vegas, Nevada alleging government Fraud waste and abuse. The OIG provided the letter to ATF Internal affairs for follow up investigation into the allegations contained in the anonymous letter. One of the primary objectives by ATF Internal Affairs investigators was to identify the author of the anonymous letter. During theInternal Affairs investigation, ATF identified an Agent who ATF had perceived to have been the whistleblower. This Agent became the recipient of vindictive personnel actions that ranged from a letter of reprimand to a notice of proposed removal from Federal service. Further investigation identified the true author of the letter and he/she admitted to being the author of the letter. ATF management then directed their attack on the actual whistleblower. ATF continued their attack on the perceived whistleblower and terminated him from Federal service. The Agent was later reinstated by ATF after appealing his removal to the MSPB [Merit Systems Protection Board]."

This should be a bigger scandal than it is. I would link it but the fucking spam filter blocks it

[John]

http://sipseystreetirregulars......house.html

[Fist of Etiquette]

[Republican Sen. Russell] Pearce and other supporters [of the Arizona legislation] said cracking down on illegal immigration would provide relief to taxpayers by cutting costs for education, health care and other services.

If only there were some other way to ease that taxpayer burden.

[John]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

SEC going after FANNIE and FREDDIE execs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

So, Chicago's new mayor might be in hot water?

[Barney Frank & Chris Dodd]

Don't look at US!

[robc]

Come on congress, this is the perfect opening to cut off all federal support of F&F.

Odds of it happening: 1 Million to 1 against.

[John]

The usually briliant Ann Althouse

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2.....liant.html

March 17, 2011
"Still waiting for any of the brilliant liberals to explain the difference between Leiter's 'philosophical musings' and Sharron Angle's discussion of Second Amendment remedies."

"My prediction: a circular argument which boils down to 'He's a philosopher, so anything he says is philosophical. We know he's a philosopher, because he says philosophical things. And she's not a philosopher, because we say so.' The art world uses this 'argument,' so why shouldn't the philosophers?"

[Fluffy]

I don't get why Leiter is being such a little bitch about this.

We live in a country founded by a violent revolutionary movement.

ALL political events in the US, ALL THE TIME AND NO MATTER HOW TRIVIAL, occur in a context where the potential for political violence is a factor.

The Declaration of Independence can be boiled down to: "If the state does enough things we don't like, and those things are bad enough, it's violence time, bitches!" That means that for ANY act undertaken by any level of government, one of the unspoken questions that is always there is, "Will this state action, by itself or in combination with all other state actions, cross a line that will lead people to undertake political violence?"

GASP! SHOCKING.

[John]

He is being such a bitch because he is a hypocritical bastard who wants to have it both ways. IF he admits what you say, then he has to also admit that maybe the other side has a point to or that people like Sharon Angle are not out of line. But he won't do that. He wants the freedom to advocate violence but then also excoriate anyone on the other side who does the same.

[Fluffy]

Oh, OK.

You are absolutely right.

I forgot about that "wanting to excoriate the Tea Party" factor.

[JW]

He is being such a bitch because he is a hypocritical bastard who wants to have it both ways.

He's a partisan in a philsopher's coat, which supposedly makes him objective and above the small thoughts of the hoi poloi. He only has mankind's best interests at heart!

No, it just makes you a passive-aggressive twerp in a rumpled suit.

[Scott]

I just pray that we can at least keep our troops off of Libyan soil. That way no can say "pulling out so fast endangers our own troops!"

[Fred Phelps]

Genesis 38 tells you everything you need to know about pulling out.

[waffles]

We are NOT a nation of Onanists. We will fuck Libya til she's pregnant and then make sure she carries to full term. To do otherwise would be hypocrisy.

[MNG]

It is now clear that O'Keefe's editing of the raw video from his interview with NPR's top fundraiser, Ron Schiller, was selective and deceptive. The full extent of this distortion was exposed by a rising conservative Web site, the Blaze. O'Keefe's final product excludes explanatory context, exaggerates Schiller's tolerance for Islamist radicalism and attributes sentiments to Schiller that are actually quotes by others ? all the hallmarks of a hit piece. Schiller's comments were damaging enough without O'Keefe reshaping them into a caricature.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z5

[John]

"Oh, bullshit. If O'Keefe is to blame, NPR should have defended Schiller. It didn't. The full video was there. If it undercut O'Keefe's edit, NPR could have reframed the narrative. Such an effort would have gotten plenty of play in the media. But NPR didn't even try. Of course, O'Keefe put his video together in a strong way to make his point, but he exposed himself to a powerful counterattack... that didn't happen. QED."

Ann Althouse today. And she is exactly right.

[MNG]

Wow, the "usually brilliant" Ann Althouse is pretty pathetic arguing here. If you can grasp the idea, as Gerson does in my post, that Schiller's comments, even taken apart from the deceptive editing, were troubling, warranted his exit then Althouse's goofy 'deduction' falls apart.

[John]

If you admit that Greyson still said horrible stuff and deserved to be fired, then so what if O"Keefe selectively edited? The facts are still damning.

[MNG]

"If you admit that Greyson still said horrible stuff and deserved to be fired, then so what if O"Keefe selectively edited?"

Who is "Greyson?" DO you mean Gerson? And Gerson is the author of the article attacking O'Keefe, so you also mean Schiller.

Shit, no wonder you dont mind how careless or deceptive the O'Keefe/Brietbarts of the world are!

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

Who is "Greyson?"

Alan Grayson, former [by good fortune] Congressman for Florida.

[R C Dean]

MNG, you realize that O'Keefe posted the unedited footage, and that no one has been able to actually say what was exculpatory in the raw footage, or what was misleading about the edited release, don't you?

[Chinny Chin Chin]

how 'bout this?

[Tim]

"He's a bastard, but he's our bastard."

[John]

Even if you are right and you are not, it makes NPR look even worse. They unfairly fired their CEO and another person without even looking into what happened.

[MNG]

This was your exact same line when you had egg on your face after calling for Shirley Sherrod to be fired.

"Hey, it's not my and all the other uncritical audiences for conservative bloggers fault for uncritically accepting their crap and calling for Sherrod's head, it's not the fault of the bloggers deceptive reporting, it's the fault of the agency for acting in response to our uncritical anger!"

And you also miss the basic point I explain @ 9:45.

Hilarious.

[John]

The people in the video are out of a job and NPR is going to probably lose funding. That means either one of two things, either the video was dead on, or your side has managed to kill off one of your most sacred cows even though the cow was really innocent. Neither scenario puts liberals in a particularly good light.

[MNG]

That means either one of two things, either the video was dead on, or your side has managed to kill off one of your most sacred cows even though the cow was really innocent

My goodness, yet another fallacy (false dilemma). Are you trying to match Scottie Pippen's three point record with fallacies today?

[Mr. FIFY]

Either way, it's time to cut NPR's umbilical cord.

[John]

If the video was truly deceptive, NPR would have counterattacked and walked away without a scratch. As Althouse points out, that never happened. The dog didn't bark MNG, give it up.

[MNG]

This was waaay back in my original post. See if you can grasp it this time:

Schiller's comments were damaging enough without O'Keefe reshaping them into a caricature.

See, even given O'Keefe's deceptive 'journalism' Schiller's comments warranted a response. Heck, I said that throughout this.

[John]

"Schiller's comments were damaging enough without O'Keefe reshaping them into a caricature."

Then so what? Would it matter if it turned out that Madoff only stole a hundred million rather than the 500 million the SEC said he did?

[MNG]

The so what is that O'Keefe is a very unreliable reporter of news, his tactics can be criticized apart from the rightness of what Schiller said.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

The so what is that O'Keefe is a very unreliable reporter of news, his tactics can be criticized apart from the rightness of what Schiller said.

O'Keefe is not a reporter, MNG. He's a prankster that happens to target self-absorbed, sanctimonius, pompous, liberal assholes. That's all.

[Pip]

O'Keefe is not a reporter, MNG. He's a prankster that happens to target self-absorbed, sanctimonius, pompous, liberal assholes. That's all So watch your back.

[waffles]

So then it's not a big deal at all that the video was edited because NPR needed to fire the guy either way? That means your point is that there is no point. This is pointless.

[R C Dean]

Schiller's comments were damaging enough without O'Keefe reshaping them into a caricature.

Now I'm confused. If what he said was damaging enough to get him fired, what was misleading about the edited video which got him fired?

[Fluffy]

I don't think there was much egg on my face for finding fault with Shirley Sherrod.

Personally, I always found her quick rehabilitation based on the full tape highly questionable.

[Azathoth]

What 'egg'?

Sherrod told a story about her own racist actions and feelings--NAACP members applauded those racist actions and feelings....and then, the story turned out to be about her getting the man help in spite of her racist feelings toward him.

That doesn't change the NAACP members apparent glee at her racism.

As far as firing goes, the administration fired the woman before anyone had much of a chance to opine on the issue.

As with most things, the 'egg' is on the faces of the left, and they spend their time convincing anyone who will listen that the egg isn't really there.

[Fluffy]

I thought that the people who claimed that Sherrod had been vindicated were also racists.

All you had to do was retell her story with her recast as a white male to see that.

If I, as a white male, was facing a confirmation hearing for some federal posting, and I sat there and told a story where I said, "You know what? I really used to hate chinks. But then I got older and I realized chinks ain't so bad. I like chinks so much now that I even like gooks, too. So you see? People can change," I would not get confirmed.

And none of the people getting all misty about Sherrod's "personal growth" and complaining about how unfair the tape was to her would have anything to say in my defense.

[Abdul]

The difference between O'Keefe, and Dateline, 60 Minutes, etc, is that O'keefe is more transparent. We'd never know if his highlight reel was misleading except for that he posted the entire footage, himself, soon after the highlight reel.

[John]

Liberals never seem to mind when the MSM does things like set up tests to make SUV's look more rollover prone than they actually are. But let O'Keefe edit one video and that is it. He must be burned at the stake.

[MNG]

Ah, the always fallacious tu quoque!

And how many years did you have to go back to get the SUV coverage?

[waffles]

How you can constantly defend this, MNG? John may be a bloviating ass but you're a mendacious prig. Why are you partisans so willfully dishonest?

[MNG]

From the very beginning I criticized Schiller and called for his firing (go to the searchee thingee in the corner). Not only were his comments about the Tea Party indicative of improper political bias, but they were downright ignorant (the Tea Party is one of the lesser 'Taliban-esque' segments of the right). So Im not defending anyone here, nor have I. I'm just additionally criticizing yet another conservative outlet's deceptive reporting.

[waffles]

OK, just as long as we can agree that it's assholes all around.

[Another Useless Cunt]

This, from the faggot who just a week or so ago referenced Oklahoma as proof that Right-wingers are violent.

[kinnath]

12 steps John, 12 steps.

[Brett L]

The unedited video went up on O'Keefe's site 6 hours after the edited stuff. Now, after a House vote to defund NPR, the WaPo judges it "selective"?

[MNG]

Many media outlets questioned it right away, you just probably don't read/listen to those outlets.

[Fluffy]

"Excludes explanatory content" is kind of a dodge, dude.

If it's not valid to critique what someone has said without including all necessary or useful explanatory content, then anyone who has ever criticized Ayn Rand in a blog post without reposting every word she ever wrote is "guilty" of the offense you're ascribing to O'Keefe here.

[John]

And of course no one ever mentions just what this "exculpatory content" is.

[SFC B]

He added a Borat-style "NOT" after everything he said.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

Schiller's comments were damaging enough without O'Keefe reshaping them into a caricature.

Yes, O'Keefe clearly and unnecessarily made the warthog more ugly than he already is.

[Chris Mallory]

We know the MSM never edits in a selective and deceptive manner.

[Tim]

Airstrikes are needed to support the no-fly zone. Of course we should also bomb his tanks while we're at it. And ship weapons to the resistance. And advisors. Lots of advisors. Maybe some commando raids to go after those missing NYT reporters.

[MNG]

Another Group of Government Employees Getting Wasteful Largesse

Given the debate over the federal budget, I wonder whether Congress could find some savings by restricting what places are deemed combat zones. There is a mammoth difference between life on our bases in Bahrain and the company-size combat outposts or forward operating bases (FOB) in rural Afghanistan. Should troops on all these bases earn the same combat entitlements? Consider:...Combat benefits pay out for the month you arrive and the month you leave, not how many days you are in theater.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z5

[John]

People in Bahrain and Kuwait should not be getting combat pay, althoug that may be changing in Bahrain. It is a total boondoggle.

[Abdul]

Is this actual combat pay, or hardship pay? Civilian employees in foreign countries often get hardship pay whether there is likelihood of combat or not.

[John]

Same pay. They need to have some kind of medium pay. Getting stuck in Kuwait sucks bad. But it is not combat. You shouldn't get paid the same as someone dodging IEDs in Afghanistan.

[SFC B]

Hardship Duty Pay and the Combat Zone Tax Exemption are not one-in-the-same. It's the CZTE which is the real money-maker.

[CaptainSmartass]

Combat pay = no taxes. Hardship pay = an extra couple hundred per month. Normally you get the former with the latter, but you can get the latter all on its own.

[Agammamon]

My own Navy is the probably the worst offender in this. We do circles in our deployment boxes for 30 days and then dart in over the nearest line and then collect hostile fire pay and get our pay tax free for that month.

[Rich]

Libya declares immediate ceasefire

[West Texas]

And now all he had to do is wait them out.

The wisdom of whether we should be involved in the first place notwithstanding, waiting this long has now made the whole thing essentially meaningless.

[Fluffy]

Q must have read my post.

What? No hat tip, Q?

You ungrateful swine.

[Ice Nine]

Guess who will momentarily take a break from today's golf game to claim credit for backing the evil Gadaffi down.

[MNG]

Same Group of Government Employees Fight to Preserve Sweet Retirement Deals

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/.....n-Premiums

Many are enrolled in Tricare Prime, the Pentagon's managed health care program for retired service members. Since Tricare began 15 years ago, its beneficiaries have never had a hike in premiums. They pay $460 a year ? about one-tenth what other federal employees pay.

[John]

Of course twenty years ago, retirees didn't pay anything for healthcare and had their own system. Then in the 1990s, they were thrown onto Tricare prime. They had a fit about it and they generally overcrowded the system for dependents.

The military is one of the few areas of public service where people generally do take less money and incur a generally hard life and a lot of risk in return for the retirement. Most people who stay 20 years could leave and make better money on the outside. But they stay because they want the retirement.

Regardless, so what? Maybe retirees should pay more for their health care. I don't think there are many people on here who would argue with you.

Moreover, even if it is true, that doesn't make state and local public employees any less over paid.

And on a last note, federal workers and the military have no right to collective bargaining. Yet, somehow they don't seem to be very oppressed. Kind of puts lie to all of the knashing of teeth over Wisconsin doesn't it?

[West Texas]

I would agree with this. Unlike the Jesse Jackson Jr's of the world (and the DMV), people in the military really do *serve* their country and really do *sacrifice* quite a bit while doing it.

[SFC B]

We're also an enumerated power!

I think that's the word I'm looking for.

[Jim]

Maybe the enlisted, but two of my best friends are officers (both captains), and when deployed (taking in the bonus pays, esp. the guy who is married), and with their housing allowance that is more than their actual rent, both of them are clearing pretty big bucks. Now you could argue that they earn it, but they are by no means making less than they would in the private sector (PROBABLY; of course we can never know for certain), being only 28 yrs old.

[John]

Tehy make more money than they otherwise would when they are deployed. But when the war is over and they are doing a staff job making slides and living at Fort Drum or Fort Polk making normal captain or major's wages and their wife can't find a job in the hillbilly community they are stuck living in, they will find out what underpaid is.

[mad libertarian guy]

But when the war is over

John, you're a fuckin' hoot, man.

When the war is over. HA!

[Pro Libertate]

I pay that a month. As a working man. I guess that's what I am [guitar riff].

[John]

Pro,

How have you managed to do this without the gift of collective bargaining? Don't you know that anyone who works without that right is an oppressed slave of the state?

[MNG]

Does tricare cover straw-man related injuries?

[Pro Libertate]

It's a lot of money for a relatively young and healthy family. I would like to see a little more competition in the health insurance market (and ye gods, I don't mean the government as a "provider")--I've had one of three insurers my entire adult life.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

Does tricare cover straw-man related injuries?

Those are caused by pre-existing conditions.

[Fluffy]

I don't think it's erecting a straw man for John to demand that you account for the fact that federal workers and veterans don't have collective bargaining but somehow are not seen as oppressed.

That goes directly to the core of the state-level disputes we've seen lately.

[MNG]

Study: Divide Between Academic and Athletic Success

Using the Academic Progress Rate, by which the NCAA tracks academic eligibility and retention of players at schools, this year's four No. 1 seeds would be Butler, Michigan State, Kansas and Texas. All four schools earned a perfect APR score of 1,000 based on 2005-09 data.

When it comes to the NCAA Tournament, Belmont (No. 13 seed) and Wofford (No. 14 seed) are two of the biggest underdogs. But based on Graduation Success Rates (GSR), which measures six-year graduation rate data from 2003-09, each would be a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. According to the the study, seven schools posted a perfect 100 percent.: Belmont, BYU, Illinois, Notre Dame, Utah State, Villanova and Wofford.

Based on the GSR, 51 teams graduated at least 50 percent of their basketball student-athletes, 42 teams graduated at least 60 percent, and 32 teams graduated at least 70 percent.

Seven teams ? Akron, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, Temple and UAB ? graduated less than 40 percent...The biggest disparity was in graduation rates between white and black players. White players have a 91 percent graduation rate compared to a 59 percent rate for black players.

http://www.chron.com/disp/stor.....74084.html

[West Texas]

That is so racist.

[Old Mexican]

The biggest disparity was in graduation rates between white and black players. White players have a 91 percent graduation rate compared to a 59 percent rate for black players.

But are these African blacks or American blacks? That's important.

[Cyto]

interestingly, the 59 percent graduation rate is quite a bit higher than the general student population graduation rate, this despite a number of student athletes gaining admission as an exception to normal admission standards.

[CaptainSmartass]

How many of those college drop outs do so to get jobs with the pros? If you've already got a six- or seven-figure salary, do you really need a degree?

[Another Useless Cunt]

Alan Page would tell you yes.

[Jim]

See Leaf, Ryan.

[Old Mexican]

Obama's OMB nominee admits proposed 2012 budget does not pay down deficit

Obama's nominee, Heather Higginbottom [no joke], crumbled under questioning from Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, ranking member of the committee, about the accuracy of statements the president and OMB Director Jacob Lew have made that the proposed budget will not add to the national debt.

The more than six-minute long questioning consisted of numerous exchanges that saw Higginbottom trying to dodge direct questions regarding the impact the president's budget would have on the national debt:

Sessions: Did Mr. Lew or the President of the United States, when they made that statement "we will not be adding to the debt," did they say, "by the way American people, what we really mean is some arcane idea about not counting interest payments the United States must make as part of our debt?" Did they say that?

Higginbottom: I'm not sure exactly what they did say.

Sessions: Well if they didn't say that, would that be an accurate statement?

Higginbottom: The interest costs on what we're borrowing add to the debt...

A few minutes later:

Sessions: Youre saying that what the president really meant but that he didn't say, is that one year or so, that you calculate, if you don't count the interest... then we can tell the American people we're not adding to our debt?

Do you think that's a legitimate way to discuss with the American people the debt crisis we now face?

Higginbottom: ...It puts us on a path to stabilize the debt as a percentage of our economy, which is a very important first step in eventually being able to able to pay it down, which is the large task in front of us.

Eventually...

By the way, is there a measurable confidence level for a nominee for OMB who's a blonde and has the last name "Higginbottom"???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

She does look cute with glasses and her pulled-back hair... like a naughty teacher...

[Pro Libertate]

If I were president, with that name, I'd call her Huggy Bear. In staff and in public announcements.

[John]

If I had that name I would call myself Huggy Bear. Who doesn't want to be called Huggy Bear?

[Old Mexican]

Well, I am going to start calling my wife "Ms. Higginbottom..." That should spice-up foreplay, I believe...

[Mainer]

But what will you do when she cries out.."OH Senator !"

[Old Mexican]

Then I will say to her "Yes, Huggy Bear?"

[Pro Libertate]

Huggy Bear is among the best nicknames, ever.

I wonder how many kids became pimps watching Starsky & Hutch? The TV show, I mean.

[Another Useless Cunt]

I'm more partial to Huggy Face, as in Captain Huggy Face of Word Girl fame.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Making the President look bad right out of the gate by not being able to perform a simple task like stonewalling Congress? Not a good start.

[Mainer]

Why is Forest Whitaker sitting behind Sessions ?

[MNG]

Sportscenter just said Obama is in the 97th percentile in his bracket picks, choosing Richmond and Gonzaga for example.

[Fluffy]

Too bad there is no bracket pick pool for actual governing.

[R C Dean]

You obviously haven't visited Iowahawk recently, as he has just posted the Obama bracket.

[Ska]

Maybe ESPN will do the country a favor and hire Obama as their NCAA analyst.

Let me know when he learns to throw like a man, and when he can bowl an acceptable 160 game.

[John]

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/io.....ident.html

[Old Mexican]

The Justice Department reports that New Orleans police systematically abuse people's rights.

In other news: Water boils at 212 deg F @ 14.7 PSI air pressure.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't think you're allowed to reference water in a NOLA joke.

[John]

The National Weatehr Service has also determined that New Orleans is systematiclly hot and humid.

[OhioOrrin]

bet no bodies had moorehead vs richmond in the 2d round...ok maybe jimmy the greek

[Old Mexican]

Sorry, OO - you mooed?

[Butts Wagner]

I did, suckas!

[John]

Two questions,

Doesn't the UN resoluution effectively put the US at war with Libia?

And two, when does BO the Magnificant plan to ask for Congressional authorization for that war?

I don't want to go all "no undeclared wars" on this. But, even Bush and Clinton got Congressional authorization.

[Old Mexican]

Re: John,

Doesn't the UN resoluution effectively put the US at war with Libya?

It's not a war, John - it's a police action. Remember your Truman 101.

And two, when does BO the Magnificant plan to ask for Congressional authorization for that war?

Oh, he will simply "deem" to have received it. Worked for ObamaCare...

[Mainer]

There's just something darkly funny wehn a comparison is "even Bush and Clinton" . My god the bar is low.

[R C Dean]

What's really sad is the current Resident can't even clear that bar.

Its not like they haven't been asked, either. Last week this issue came up in the Senate.

And I do believe Congress is leaving on a little break, so they would have to be reconvened.

[John]

Apparently, even Andrew Sullivan has taken time out of his intensive study of Palin's vagina to get his panties in a wad about Obama going to war with no public debate or Congressional authorization.

When you have lost Andrew Sullivan, you have lost crazy America.

[Old Mexican]

There I sat on Buttermilk Hill,
who could blame me cry my fill?
And every tear would turn a mill. Johnny has gone for a soldier.

Shule, shule, shulagra,
sure and sure and he loves me.
When he comes back we'll married be, Johnny has gone for a soldier.

Me, oh my, I love her him,
Broke my heart to see him go
And only time will heal my woe.
Johnny has gone for a soldier.

I'll sell my rod,
I'll sell my reel,
likewise I'll sell my spinning wheel. And buy my love a sword of steel. Johnny has gone for a soldier.

With fife and drum I marched away,
I could not heed what she did say, I'll not be back for many a day. Johnny has gone for a soldier.

I'll dye my dress, I'll dye it red, and through the streets I'll beg for bread,
The lad that I love from me has fled. Johnny has gone for a soldier.

[Another Useless Cunt]

"Johnny has gone for a soldier."

That is so gay.

[Pro Libertate]

Huggy Bar?

[Old Mexican]

ICANN is expected to approve a .xxx domain for porn today.

And not a moment too soon, I might add!

[Devil Inchoate]

We can finally get some porn online.

[John]

Doesn't this make Bill Press a racist?

"Are Americans prone to violence after natural and man-made disasters? That's the assertion of libtalker / Democratic Party strategist Bill Press, who used yesterday's syndicated radio program to compare post-quake Japan to the US in derisive terms.

Citing looting after Hurricane Katrina and rioting in South-Central Los Angeles during the Rodney King incident, Press claimed the calm atmosphere in Japan proves Americans are "ruffians and thugs" by comparison."

http://radioequalizer.blogspot.....s-are.html

Katrina and the LA riots were two events driven by minorities. Does Press think black people are "rufians and thugs"?

[Not quite racist]

Was there any looting after the midwest floods of 2008?

[P Brooks]

You know the feeling you have, as the rollercoaster goes over the top of the arc, and begins to rapidly accelerate as the track plunges downward?

That pretty much how I feel all the time, now.

Half a league, half a league,
? Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
? Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
? Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldiers knew
? Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
? Rode the six hundred.

[Mainer]

Well said. My father is 86, and he said recently that he'll be gone before the end really comes. I can see myself in 30 years, an old man looking back and saying, I remember when the final unraveling of the American experiment began. And no one seemed to have the will to stop it.

[cynical]

Throw your hand in the air and scream! And be sure to buy the photo of yourself when the ride is over.

[sloopyinca]

OK, gentlemen. Here are the standings after Day 1:

Group Standings
Rank Team Name Score Correct Best Score Best Correct Champion
1 The Schwartz 14 14 111 58 Kansas (138)
2 captain ahab (2) 12 12 114 58 Ohio St. (223)
2 Les Boules 12 12 116 59 Ohio St. (149)
2 TW 12 12 114 58 Duke (145)
5 david sterner 11 11 113 57 Ohio St. (109)
5 Derek Onstott 11 11 113 57 Kansas (130)
5 Lance Thomas 11 11 96 52 San Diego St. (153)
5 Rock Action (1) 11 11 99 52 Pittsburgh (142)
5 sloopy's deuce 11 11 111 56 Ohio St. (119)
5 sloopyinca (1) 11 11 102 53 Ohio St. (138)
11 captain ahab (1) 10 10 100 51 Villanova (206)
11 David Blunier 10 10 110 55 Duke (156)
11 heller 10 10 112 56 Duke (142)
11 kilroy 10 10 105 53 Duke (165)
11 mr simple (1) 10 10 103 52 Kansas (150)
11 mr simple (2) 10 10 100 53 Kentucky (140)
11 sloopyinca (2) 10 10 112 56 Kansas (145)
18 Terry Mazanec 9 9 102 51 Ohio St. (153)
19 Rock Action (2) 7 7 107 52 Connecticut (145)

sloopyinca (2) is actually Pro Libertate...sucking on the ass of the group back there with Rock Action but with a potentially high score if things shake out well today. Back to Rock, whose picks in his second bracket are mind-boggling to say the least. Expect his race to the bottom to continue today. Although, I would expect Terry Mazanec to continue giving him a run for his money, especially with that St John's/Michigan State Sweet 16 matchup. Ouch.

Ayn Randian (Les Boules), capitol l (Captain Ahab), TW and some as-yet-identified "The Schwartz" are leading the way, and heller has the highest possible score, so don't count him out. Also, I've still got a great chance to win since I'm the admin and can change anyone's picks whenever I want. Keepp that in mind as you reply to my posts over the next few weeks.

I will update again tomorrow morning with the results through today.

*It sure would be nice if they gave us an NCAA open thread tomorrow. Editor. Editor! EDITOR!!!

[Pro Libertate]

Fucking Louisville.

[Almanian]

Are they giving you an open thread for this weekend?

REASON? What up with sloopy's bassettball thread? We on?

[Pro Libertate]

Fucking Tennessee.

To think, I was dead on for most of the first two rounds last year. Now, I'm a doofus.

[The Schwartz]

Wow I am really dominitating this bracket. Why the fuck didn't i pick these same teams in my 2 money brackets.

Face palm...

[heller]

Don't worry, Kansas is going down. Also, St. John's is killing you.

[RandomGermanDude]

Art Carden
Can You Love Free Markets and the Poor?

http://blogs.forbes.com/artcar.....-the-poor/