Reason Morning Links: White House May Arm Libyan Rebels, TARP Mostly Helped Only Banks, GOP Leadership Splits on Budget Fight

• Washington now debating the prospect of arming Libyan rebels, some of whom may have ties to Al-Qaeda.
• TARP inspector general says program helped banks, few others.
• FDA chemist is charged with insider trading.
• Boehner, Cantor shows signs of splitting over budget impasse.
• Syria's president vows reforms, including lifting a 50-year "state of emergency".
• New from Reason.tv: "Obama's War That Isn't a War"

Comments

[West Texas]

FDA chemist is charged with insider trading.

Well, obviously we need to spend more money on public employee salaries so they won't be tempted to break the law.

[A_is_A]

Regulatory Capture FTL

[sage]

Obama cuts in line to get an Ipad 2

I bet he stepped on a little kid's arm in the process.

[.]

Probably pissed on his head and told him to get in out of the rain.

[Barack Obama]

Let me be clear.

I've invited the kid to the SOTU, so just hush up.

[Ice Nine]

Barack, dude, a root beer summit is so obvious.

[Pro Libertate]

But which root beer?

[waffles]

IBC of course.

[Brett L]

Abita

[Pro Libertate]

Home brew.

[waffles]

You would.

[Pro Libertate]

With the sassafras roots grown and harvested by hand. As compost, use shredded copies of Reason. After reading them, of course.

[sloopyinca]

He could invite all the kid's friends and have a pizza party. Only, he couldn't do it in his hometown for fear of traumatizing the kids with teh deep dish.

[Gray Ghost]

While ProL's answer is far ahead on points, I'll put in a vote for Saint Arnold's Root Beer. http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/rootbeer.html

[Pro Libertate]

Ah, made with sugar. A good sign. Corn syrup is the sweetener of the statist.

[Ska]

Equal is the sweetener of the progressive.

[Ice Nine]

I relish inky cabernets but, root beer?

[Virginia]

Abita beats Dominion.

[mad libertarian guy]

Virgil's

[Ben P.]

I'll second on the Virgil's.

[WTF]

Washington now debating the prospect of arming Libyan rebels, some of whom may have ties to Al-Qaeda.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Tim]

Who could have seen this coming?

[sage]

Stevie Wonder.

[sloopyinca]

Ray Charles.

[mad libertarian guy]

Helen Keller.

[Abdul]

Hey, when we armed the mujaheddin in Afghanistan back in the 80's, there was no blowback.

When we backed Iraq against Iran, there was no blowback.

Oh, wait, that's not right.

[Tim]

Some fleeing rebels shouted, "Sarkozy, where are you?" ? a reference to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, one of the strongest supporters of international airstrikes.

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....onslaught/

[generic Brand]

When it says "arm the rebels" does that mean give them weapons or sell them weapons?

Not sure of the difference politically but at least it's like they're buying them on the black market, except just directly from us.

[gaijin97]

Weapons for oil anyone?

[Resto Druid FTW]

At least with that, we'd receive something quantifiable. : /

[Helen Wheils]

To be fair, the U.S. "has ties to Al-Qaeda."

[Ky Voter]

Let it ride!

[Uncle Sam]

who's ur daddy baby!

[sage]

You're the worst troll ever.

[Nuh Uh]

Worst troll ever

[Tim]

The Libyan rebel "army" is basically a Mad Max operation- converted trucks and cars chasing around in the desert.

We need to send them some gyro copters.

[Lord Humungus]

it worked for me

[Solanum]

+ filthy, unkempt children with steel boomerangs. Victory will be assured.

[Resto Druid FTW]

Is the last of the intercepters gonna be there too? 😀

[West Texas]

The obvious solution for getting rid of Khadaffi is for him to lose in the Thunderdome.

[DJF]

Yes, but can Obama beat Khadaffi? I suggest we send Hilary, she will won't leave any survivors.

[Tim]

" Hillary's big number : We don't need another hero"

[Pro Libertate]

If Tina Turner were our Secretary of State, all of our problems would soon come to an end.

[Solanum]

Until President Ike gives her an executive smackdown. Bitch needs to know her role.

[Pro Libertate]

Ike's dead, man.

[Tim]

No blood for pig poop!

[creech]

No survivors? Really? She couldn't beat an empty suit in the Democrat primaries and wept over a few slights.

[DJF]

""Arming Libyan Rebels""

So the US is involved in Libya because of a UN mandate and the US wants to supply weapons to Libyan rebels even though the same UN has ordered an arms embargo on Libya????? Maybe these won't be real arms but kinetic military action arms?

[WTF]

Don't try to make sense of it - just bask in the Glory that is Obama.

[Tim]

Obama: No more training do you require. Already know you, that which you need.

Luke: Then I am a Jedi.

Obama: No. Not yet. One thing remains. Qaddafi. You must confront Qaddafi. Then, only then, a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will.

[Luke]

NOOOOO!!

[DJF]

Maybe this is the problem with putting liberal lawyers in charge, they don't break the laws they just redefine it. It's a living document law. Up is down, war is kinetic military action, arms embargo is arms delivery.

[John Yoo]

u mean like "enhanced interrogation"?

[Free2Booze]

We're not supplying the rebels with weapons, we're providing them with humanitarian aid.

[sevo]

"Maybe these won't be real arms but kinetic military action arms?"

They'll be air-dropped, since we're assured there'll be no 'boots on the ground'.
Otherwise someone might think we're at war.

[John]

"Here's an entire op-ed column by John Kerry about what a humdinger nifty war this Libya thing is. That's how you know it's going to be a complete disaster."

http://theothermccain.com/2011.....surprised/

The Kerry OPED

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....20884.html

[WTF]

"Reporting for duty!"

[CoyoteBlue]

Lurch has spoken.

[Ky Voter]

John Kerry, the Waterworld of presidential candidates.

Assuming, of course, that Waterworld somehow narrowly lost the Oscar to Batman Forever.

[waffles]

Win-the-Future!

[Rich]

At least the links coughed up Libyan Rationalization Bingo.

[Mike M.]

I say that the real chickenhawks in life aren't the people who cheerlead for war and never served themselves, they're the lowlife pieces of crap like John Kerry who always cheerlead for war at the beginning, and then spin around on a dime as soon as the going starts to get a little tough.

[John]

It is okay to bomb people as long as it is easy and doesn't involve any political consiquences.

[generic Brand]

And as long as they're brown or yellow.

[John]

Naw. Bill Clinton bombed Serbia.

[JW]

They're kinda taupe.

[Isaac Bartram]

Well, they do talk funny, so that's almost like being brown or yellow.

[Abdul]

Syria's president vows reforms, including lifting a 50-year "state of emergency".

so, it took an emergency to end the emergency?

[Rich]

It's a meta-emergency!

[John]

Praise for the Trumpster

"Yes, I like Donald Trump. He may be a media savvy pimp but what's wrong with that? Apparently, being media savvy is what it takes to get elected President these days."

http://drhelen.blogspot.com/20.....trump.html

[WTF]

Plus, he has an epic comb-over, so there is that. And Dick Morris pointed out his commercial would be pointing at a photo of Obama and saying "You're fired!"

[Tim]

It will be like watching two hideous Japanese monsters from the 1960's fight.

[generic Brand]

Michele is fighting on Barack's behalf?

[The Donald]

For this week's task on "Celebrity Apprentice", we will see which team can produce the best anti-Obama attack ad for me to use in the 2012 presidential run.

[capitol l]

*barf*

[Montani Semper Liberi]

I don't think there is a question of if rebels have ties, but rather how many. I posted a link a couple days ago where one of their leaders admitted to an Italian reporter that he fought against the "foreign invasion" of Afghanistan by the US.

[John]

We all have our youthful indescretions.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Here's the link again:

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".

[John]

If you can't beat them join them.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Also,

Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan".

Yes, we need to give these guys weapons. There's no way that could possibly bite us in the ass.

[sevo]

"Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan"."

Two birds, one stone!
Empty Gitmo on the Libyan coast! No more Gitmo, and a whole new batch of 'freedom fighters'!

[Lord Humungus]

If we join our enemies than does that make us our own enemy? So confused.

[WTF]

No, that makes our government our worst enemy.

[Helena Handbasket]

We have met the enemy...

[mr simple]

We're just hitting the reset button. They're totally going to like us now.

[Rich]

The government has declared its mission accomplished, calling the program remarkably effective "by any objective measure." On my last day as the special inspector general of the bailout program, I regret to say that I strongly disagree.

As "inspector general of the bailout", how could Barofsky possibly be *objective*?! /snark

[John]

These days, lady blogs are the online ghettos where women collect. On feminist blogs like Gawker Media's Jezebel and Feministing, young feminists gather to analyze the latest Photoshop horrors and explore the relationship between their bras and genocide. Queen of the Mommy Bloggers Heather Armstrong, a.k.a. Dooce, rakes in a reported $30,000 to $50,000 a month in advertising revenue blogging about parenthood and bathroom makeovers, and the Pioneer Woman, whose Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story has been acquired by Columbia Pictures, entertains millions monthly with cat pictures and recipes. Meanwhile, BlogHer hosts women's blogs with posts on every conceivable women-oriented subject, from "Why I Hope My Girls Will Play Sports" to "Couples Who Make You Want to Puke."

http://blogs.forbes.com/susann.....e-a-woman/

[Lord Humungus]

I want you to call me Loretta...

[Reg]

Whaaaaa....?

[Fluffy]

The funny thing about the internet is that it empowers all sorts of niche crazies, and not just twee post-feminists.

Blogs and online communities seem to be spreading hair-covering and biblical marriage a lot faster and more effectively than Feministing's worldview.

I think it says a lot than I kinda would rather see Feministing win out than some of the crazy shit my wife forwards me that gets posted at mothering.com.

[Tim]

Is it really any worse than grown men talking to each other in Klingon?

[Fluffy]

I'll see your Klingon and raise you Elvish.

[Tim]

I thought Kate Blanchett looked really hot as Galadriel..

[sloopyinca]

I thought Kate Blanchett looked really hot as Galadriel..

I thought that was a dude.
[shudders]

[Fatty Bolger]

Not seeing it. She did a great job with the role, her opening narration was amazing, but she did NOT look the part.

[Helena Handbasket]

Elvish has left the building.

[Otto]

While a geek, I never understood the "fake languages" thing. If you're going to put that much effort into it, learn Spanish, French or Italian. If you need something exotic, Russian or Armenian. If you need a real challenge, there's always Thai, Japanese or Chinese. There's no shortage of choices, at whatever difficulty level.

Learning fake languages like Dwarvish, Elvish, Klingon, Farengi, or Swedish serves no purpose. SLD applies.

[Fluffy]

After the tsunami, when CNN was always showing Japanese TV feeds, my wife at one point asked me: "Do the Japanese use a different character for each word, like the Chinese, or do they use an alphabet?" And I answered that I thought they used a syllabary.

Of course, we then Googled it and it turns out that the Japanese apparently simultaneously use THREE writing systems, sometimes even in the same sentence: a glyphic system, a syllabary, and a modified alphabet on the Roman model.

Want a challenge? Learn that shit. Good fucking luck.

The Japanese MUST be the smartest people in the world just to be able to have their population be literate in that kind of ass-fucking system.

[generic Brand]

Of course, we then Googled it and it turns out that the Japanese apparently simultaneously use THREE writing systems, sometimes even in the same sentence: a glyphic system, a syllabary, and a modified alphabet on the Roman model.

Want a challenge? Learn that shit. Good fucking luck.

The Japanese MUST be the smartest people in the world just to be able to have their population be literate in that kind of ass-fucking system.

It's not that hard really. You don't "technically" have to know the Kanji (Chinese characters or glyphic as you called them) as the words are still written in the syllabary alphabet. Those are just substituted for quicker recognition as the same sounds can be used to make completely different words. For example sake means salmon and it means alcohol, but they use completely different glyphs.

While I probably know only about 500 or so Kanji, a Japanese student studying from about 3rd grade (when they start learning the glyphic system) will be able to read the newspaper by the time they are in middle school (about 3000 kanji).

Typically when you study a language as a foreigner, like myself, more emphasis is placed on speaking correctly than writing or reading. That's why my Kanji skills lag behind my ability to converse.

[Pro Libertate]

I learned about three kanji characters when I took Japanese. Not considered necessary for the beginning learner.

[John]

I can understand why someone like Tolkien did it. He was a linquist and interested in old celtic and anglo saxon and norse languages. He invented the languages as a hobby.

Now why your average Dork who doesn't know any other languages would want to learn an invented one is beyond me.

[mad libertarian guy]

I heard that Tolkien was a linguist too.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, speak it! Speak it!

[VikingMoose]

*sees what you did there*
**approves**

[Otto]

Fluffy - I knew that about Japanese - they have one system (I think it's called takakana) that is primarily used for foreign words. The characters are much less complex than typical Japanese characters. What I don't get is how they learn to type.

John - yeah, I agree about Tolkien, I was also talking about the guys who read these books obsessively.

Elg - Tak.

[Pro Libertate]

It's katakana, which is the syllabary used for foreign words. For regular Japanese words, they use the kanji and hiragana. Also, they do use the Latin alphabet in some situations.

[generic Brand]

They have two formats for typing. On most Japanese keyboards, one hiragana (Japanese alphabet) character is written on each key, alongside the Roman letters or the numeric keys. I imagine they learn to type on that the same way that we learn to touch-type the English language.

In addition, they also have a "fill-in-the-blank" way of typing, for lack of a better word. In this way they can use the Roman letter keys to type a word, such as S-A-K-E to type sake, and then they press a confirmation key (usually space-bar) to bring up a dropdown list of all possible Kanji to choose from and can choose the one for alcohol, for example.

The Roman keyboard for a Japanese computer is typically QWERTY format.

[Hentaigana]

This should demystify some of the misconceptions about the Japanese language while also giving you a lot of information you didn't ask for:

@Otto: It's katakana, and it's comparable to using italics in the English convention; i.e., foreign words, emphasis, sarcasm, etc. Hiragana are used for the stems that attach to the root of a word - imagine if "eaten" were written as "EAT-en". "Eat", the root, would be in kanji, while "-en", here indicating a past tense, would be written in hiragana. It's brilliant, really. Also, historically, the use of katakana and hiragana have wavered between which is preferred for what. Korean uses hanja ("characters") in a similar fashion, though this is increasingly rare as Korean is written in an incredibly efficient alphabet and has been since the 16th century or so.

Originally, hiragana were used mainly as the syllabary for women's writing.

Word processing has become increasing easy since the 1980s. One simply enters a word in a small box at the bottom of the screen in romaji (romanized Japanese) and a quick field of possible choices is presented to the right of the entered text - one simply selects 1-9 or clicks for more options. Same in typing Chinese, where one uses Hanyu Pinyi or Jyutping to type the word and then select the appropriate hanzi ("character").

[Pro Libertate]

Speaking of the new Otto, I have a complaint. I see that your (Otto formerly known as British Petroleum's, that is) icon over at Blogger is a non-Otto kaiser of some sort. Wrong! The perfect image--the only image--for you to use is this one. I believe the legs are the Lady Haden-Guest's, which, at least, continue your brief tradition of including nobility in your photos.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

You want to see a haven of goonery, check out the Something Awful forums. That's a small window into what life would be like if mentally and socially deficient nerds actually ran things.

[John]

I have found that parenting advice from virtually any source under the age of about 60 is generally insane.

[SugarFree]

That's because you eat too many food dyes and you have ADHD and the science is settled GMO Frakenfoods mumble mumble vaccines!.

[Fluffy]

It's also because of all the toxic people in your life!

Toxic toxic toxic!

But here, you can fix that by just learning The Secret.

[John]

That and internet bullying.

[WTF]

But here, you can fix that by just learning The Secret.

I had a girlfriend who was into The Secret. I finally convinced her it was nonsense by pointing out she could visualize a fire in the fireplace all she wanted, but nothing would happen unless she got off her ass and actually lit a fucking fire.

[Rich]

Hey, don't be dissing The Secret. It has *never* failed to get me a parking spot.

[Charlotte Sometimes]

And the bad boundaries. Never forget the bad boundaries!

[SugarFree]

There's an angry love song somewhere in the bad boundaries concept, Charlotte. We need good rhymes for soft, spongy, rigid, and flexible. All I can think of is erections; curse my smut-smudged brain!

[Fluffy]

Sometimes you can have a toxic boyfriend with no sense of boundaries, and that person doesn't respect your personhood, but you're stuck with him because you're using his student loans for rent money.

In that situation, you should consider buying an RV and just unschooling your kids and unhousing your life.*

*Not a satire.

[Charlotte Sometimes]

It's the trauma bonding, Fluffy. And something about an addiction cycle.

[Charlotte Sometimes]

^^Bad boundaries! Bad boundaries!

[Charlotte Sometimes]

Oops! This "bad boundaries" was meant to be in response to you, SF. Tongue in cheek, of course.

[Tim]

Why hasn't Reason caught on to the latest junk science media induced panic of food dyes? The children!

[sloopyinca]

Are they gonna pull the red M&M's again?

[Restoras]

A+

[Brett L]

My girlfriend's Medicaid patients call ADHD 'the hyper mental'. I love this term and have adopted it.

[db]

Any folk disease name beginning with "The" is winning.

[JW]

Whatever happened to "the vapors?"

[Otto]

After "Turning Japanese," they were pretty much done.

[waffles]

According to hyperbolic parenting sources have the hyper mental. I consider it a feature, not a bug.

[waffles]

sorry, got distracted. that is, waffles = the hypermental. which is, incidently, just one letter away from hypermetal.

[Spoonman.]

My sister had patients that called spinal meningitis "holy men and Jesus".

[R C Dean]

entertains millions monthly with cat pictures and recipes.

So, what goes with cat? I'm assuming a dry red wine?

[John]

You will feel the wrath of Warty for that little crack.

[Warty]

If I ever have enough money to get a serval, I'm going to train it to murder people who talk badly about kitties.

[Resto Druid FTW]

"[Y]oung feminists gather to analyze the latest Photoshop horrors and explore the relationship between their bras and genocide."

ROFL!!

[Brett L]

Except that the Forbes blogger provides a link. That is not an exaggeration, just a link she picked out.

[Fluffy]

TARP accomplished exactly what it was designed to accomplish:

Politically favored banks survived.

Politically disfavored banks did not; their assets were seized and politically favored banks are now profiting from those assets.

Politicians were able to convince people they were "doing something".

Asset prices were propped up so that overleveraged members of the ruling class were able to avoid going broke.

It's a total success.

[John]

When I think of all of the horseshit arguments that were made for TARP back in the fall of 2008 about how the government would make money and how brilliant Paulson was and so forth, I just want to vomit.

And what made it worse is that it wasn't idiot lefties who were making the arguments. It was people who knew better and were just making the argument because their buddies' asses were on the line. **Cough Mrs. Suderman Cough Cough**

[Fluffy]

You know what?

The government may actually make money on TARP.

That's not really the issue to me.

Pick an industry, any industry, and let me write a program where I can buy warrants in that company at dictated terms, then funnel free money to that company while deliberately crushing and closing its competitors, and then let me sell the warrants later, and I will make money for the treasury.

But I don't think people would like it much.

[John]

True. And they totally fucked all of the smaller banks who were not in trouble. It was just disgraceful. I will never forgive the finance people and writers on the right who advocated for it. Ironically it was the knuckledragers from both left and right who got it right. It was the fucking centrists who shoved it through.

[Otto]

Ironically it was the [knuckledraggers] from both left and right who got it right. It was the fucking centrists who shoved it through.

I'm starting to think the centrists are a worse problem than the nut job lefties. I think I'd take Kucinich over Obama at this point.

[SugarFree]

Wife? Kucinich > Obama
Height? Obama > Kucinich
Concern over me Lucky Charms? Kucinich > Obama

[Old Mexican]

Racist! How dare you make comparisons between Kucinich's hot and white wife against Obama's black wife, whom he married because... well, because... she was conveniently (in a political way) black?

[Pro Libertate]

You've hit on Kucinich's biggest impediment to high office. As a Leprechaun, questions about his birth will be asked. Assumptions will be made.

[SugarFree]

At least Kucinich will want to return to the gold standard.

[generic Brand]

Yeah, his gold standard.

[Pro Libertate]

It's not much of a standard if we don't get any.

[SugarFree]

All you have to do is find the end of the rainbow, lazybones.

[Tim]

+ 1/2

[R C Dean]

The truly great thing about TARP is that the rhetoric about making sure no bank was "too big to fail" was used to cover a program closing small banks and transferring their good assets to big banks.

[Pro Libertate]

Before the bailout, I was telling people that the medium-sized banks were going to do very well and help to aid in the recovery. Naturally, the government couldn't allow that.

This is open venality.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

I know a president of a smaller bank. He's still super pissed about TARP.

[Fatty Bolger]

It was used to push bad assets on them, too. Pretty screwed up all around.

[Fluffy]

Oh, and Warren Buffet made money.

WIN!

[Virginia]

Bill Gross too. Whew! Thank God for that.

[Ice Nine]

>>The SEC has long suspected that federal employees exploit government secrets in the financial markets

We're in good hands; these SEC guys are so on top of it.

[John]

Congress does that all the time. They and their staffers make millions. But they are convienently exempt from insider trading laws. No kidding.

[The American People?]

Since Congress works for me, I had jolly well better be getting a cut of that!

[Pro Libertate]

That's one of the most blatant pieces of venality in our system today. At the federal level, anyway.

[generic Brand]

PLEASE EXPLAIN!!! My rage is limitless at reading that!!!(and some ones for good measure)

[John]

Congress is exempt from insider trading laws. So if some hill rat knows that law X or earmark X is going to fuck or benefit some company before the public does, he can buy and sell based on that inside information and not commit a crime even though if anyone else does we would be going to the bar hotel for a few years.

[generic Brand]

Damn that's gayer than AIDS. And I think this also pretty much sums up why I became a libertarian. The political class, if anything, should be lower on the totem pole than the general public. But that's not the world that we live in now.

[Harry Reid]

Get elected to the Senate, and I'll explain it to you when you get here. Secret land deals are good too, but you have to be a little more circumspect with those. Just a little, though. Didn't seem to hurt Obama, and the man's President now! So don't worry too much about getting caught. We'll just slap your wrist a little and move on, if that.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

TARP inspector general says program helped banks, few others.

Wow, a program designed by investment bankers and their cronies in the Treasury to bailout investment bankers who over leveraged their companies worked exactly as planned. In other news, water wet, sky blue (unless you live in Pittsburgh, then it's gray).

[SugarFree]

Vegan Couple Starves Infant To Death

[John]

I have been having this argument with people for years. You can't feed a child a fucking Vegan diet. Vegitarian maybe. But no way can you do a vegan. Those motherfuckers ought to be walled up in a room with running water and left to starve Roman style. Sick fucking barbaric bastards.

[Vegan Couple]

You can't feed a child a fucking Vegan diet.

Evidently, you can.

[R C Dean]

You can't feed a child a fucking Vegan diet.

Evidently, you can.

Just not for very long.

[Helena Handbasket]

The mother breast fed the child. But her diet prevented the baby from getting the vitamins it needed. Even so, I bet she isn't convicted. Sending someone to jail for breast feeding her child seems a bit unlikely.

[John]

The bitch needs to be shot. You breast feed your kid and it is starving to death but you don't do anything about it because of your idiotic superstitious beliefs? That is criminal neglect.

[AU H20]

Yeah, I agree with John here. If we don't give the Christian Scientists a pass when those dumbasses don't treat their kids fever, we shouldn't do it for these dumbasses when five seconds of googling can tell you that a baby needs Vitamin B12, found exclusively in animal products, but with supplements that you can take.

[John]

Exactly. If praying for you kid to overcome cancer is neglect, and it is, then this is neglect to.

[AU H20]

Also, and I'm sure this is going to be a shocker to the HnR folks here, but all the Jezzies are talking about how this is everyone but the mother's fault.

Because, clearly, you can't possibly look up things about raising a baby on your own, and must be educated by your doctor on every little goddamn thing.

Hey, I understand that kids don't come with an instruction manual, but there is some basic shit you should probably know before you decide to have the little ingrate. Of course, by saying this, I probably just reinforced the patriarchy.

[The Patriarchy]

Your cheque is in the mail.

[Ska]

The patriarchy is Canadian? Shit....

[John]

And you might you know go to a doctor and try to figure out what is wrong when your kid doesn't seem to be gaining any weight.

[db]

Childhood obesity is bad news, man. You do NOT want to get those little ones started on the wrong path that early.

[Jim]

I'm actually a little uncomfortable telling parents they can't pray over their kids to cure them of cancer. I mean, I'm an athiest, so I've got no dog in the fight, but it seems like if that religious belief is shared by the child, it's opening up a big can of "we know what's best for you" worms to have the state intervene.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Also, and I'm sure this is going to be a shocker to the HnR folks here, but all the Jezzies are talking about how this is everyone but the mother's fault.

What the hell would a bunch of abortion-crazed sluts like the Jezzies know about raising a kid?

[Fluffy]

The funny thing is the most comment Jezbian comment is "Why didn't her doctor do something?"

Stupid Jezbians don't realize that to these vegan fucks [and to just about every other weirdo junk science fan out there] the pediatrician is an enemy. Evil doctors want to push Corporate Medicine and Speciesism and Toxic Vaccines on their holy golden children, and they must be defied by Brave, Strong, Informed Womyn.

I'm sure - SURE - that as the shit started to hit the fan these people HID from their doctor because they knew they wouldn't want to do what he would tell them to do.

[Brett L]

Yeah. He'd have them arrested and their baby taken away for murderous neglect.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

As an ex-vegan I must say, au contraire that there are no vitamins inherently lacking from a vegan diet. The weakest one is B12, which vegans can only get from flax and some kinds of seaweed. Every other vitamin can be easily found and abundant in a healthy vegan diet with a good mix of grains, vegetables, nuts, soy/beans and fruit. Of course, I wasn't healthy as a vegan, which is why I gave it up. My 6'8 frame had shriveled down to a gaunt 155 pounds...

[Hobo Chang Ba]

By the way, I never gave much of a shit about animal rights, and good meat's the best flavor on earth - I did it purely for the discipline.

[gaijin97]

If there were no fucking vegans, then this problem would not exist.

[kilroy]

"I'd eat a Vegan before I became one."

[generic Brand]

Are you sure you didn't just watch an episode of House, M.D. from like 6 years ago? I'm pretty sure this was the storyline and House rightly blacked on the parents and told them they were killing their child.

[Tim]

Is that the one where he gets bitter and insults and alienates everyone?

[Isaac Bartram]

I've only ever watched one episode of House and I think that's the one I saw.

[Wind Rider]

Skippy the Man-child is going for the full Nixon! (well, without wage/price freezing - yet)

Obama announced his 10 year visionary goal to wean US off oil! Just like Tricky Dick! No specifics, of course, but hey, just having a plan is sure to lower gas prices - right? If they fall by just plain market forces, how many milliseconds will it take for the Skipster to claim the credit? Faster than he claimed that sorta kinda but not really kicking Khaddafi in the tent was his brainchild?

[Rich]

Obama will seek to reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil by boosting domestic energy production, offering incentives to increase the use of biofuels and natural gas, and making cars and trucks more fuel-efficient.

Just mandate the Transporter already.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm surprised that a spendaholic like him who wants to do anything to get us off of oil (well, off of our oil, anyway) doesn't just throw a trillion at fusion or something along those lines. Not that I want him to do that, but from his perspective, it might make sense.

[Fatty Bolger]

Are you kidding? That would actually enrich the nation and the world if we managed to get it working. Much better to focus on technologies we know are dead ends.

[Pro Libertate]

You're right. Obama, forgive me!

[SugarFree]

More Black Men In Prison Now Than Were Enslaved In 1850

[Tim]

Nut puncher.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Fuck fuck fucking fuck. Shit like this should start the LA-style riots in every major U.S. city. Fuck.

[pancakes]

The institutional racism in this nation is obscene, and we have laws against obscenity. In a country where we strive for equality of outcome how can we let our hateful bias corrupt one of our most important institutions? I say we start an affirmative action program immediately to show whitey what real equality looks like.

[Brett L]

Fool troll. Everyone knows we 'Murcans hate people who can't afford lawyers, not dark people. It just so happens that a disproportionate number of dark-skinned individuals cannot afford a decent lawyer.

[sloopyinca]

FTA: We have built a massive war machine ? one bigger than all the other countries in the world combined...

You know, their argument holds a lot more water when they don't throw out absurdities like this.

Why do people who have a good view on an issue (,like these people do on the blacks in prison thingy,) diminish their credibility by throwing an easily-refuted comment like this in the article?

I wonder how the crowd would have reacted if it were a libertarian giving the speech and talking about individual liberty rather than group-think solutions.

[Tim]

Obama is begining to sound a lot like Johnson.

[Barack Obama]

Let me be clear.

You doesn't has to call me "Johnson".

[Pro Libertate]

Can I call you Ray?

[Old Mexican]

Call him Mr. Davis. F. Marshall Davis.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

And i shall call him Jay.

[John]

Prof. Paul Krugman's New York Times column of March 27th, "American Thought Police," made this startling assertion: "the hard right ? which these days is more or less synonymous with the Republican Party ? has a modus operandi when it comes to scholars expressing views it dislikes: never mind the substance, go for the smear." What would Dr. Freud say? Well, after careful study of Prof. Krugman's works and one trip to the couch, Dr. Freud diagnosed the patient and proclaimed, "projection bias." Yes, the ace of the ad hominem smear is simply projecting his own attributes and habits of mind and deed to others.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org.....nem-smear/

[Fluffy]

Whenever any figure on the left is hoisted by his own petard, it's always a "smear" to someone like Krugman.

The professor in question spent time researching a group that had supported Walker in Wisconsin - and by so doing he endorsed the notion that the ideas being debated in Wisconsin were less important than the personalities and "motivations" of the people involved in the debate.

Well, that applies to him, too. The people investigating him are only applying the maxim of his action.

In addition, during the course of this guy's work on "The Scholar as Citizen", it's just not really possible that he hasn't ever come across the notion of Open Records laws. In fact, given his political predilections, I'm sure that under any other set of circumstances, this professor would be the FIRST GUY standing up and complaining about others using state equipment for political purposes, or otherwise breaking state "conflict of interest" or "clean elections" laws.

All that's happening here is that those laws are being applied to him now.

Of course, to liberals that's always completely unacceptable. Just as sexual harassment law was in their minds never meant to apply to Bill Clinton, records laws and conflict of interest laws were never meant to apply to this professor.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I read the article that this professor originally wrote. It was about what you'd expect of a left-wing academic who claims to be "centrist": a cornucopia of special pleading and appeals to emotion, wrapped in a pastiche of false equivalency.

Yeah, Alinsky's not so much fun when it's turned on you; and the funny thing is, this guy's the head of the American Historical Association.

[Tim]

The Emperor: Come, boy, see for yourself. From here, you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance and the end of your insignificant rebellion.

"RAS LANOUF, Libya (AP) ? Libyan government tanks and rockets pounded rebel forces into a panicked full retreat Tuesday after an hourslong, back-and-forth battle that highlighted the superior might of Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces, even hobbled by international airstrikes."

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....onslaught/

[creech]

Say what happened to the 1,000 SAMs Libya was supposed to have? Were they all taken out on Day One by airstrikes?

[affenkopf]

Rusting in some forgotten shed in Northern Ireland.

[Brett L]

They had 1000 missles and 10 launchers. They were mostly truck-based from my understanding, not individually wrapped MANPADs.

[MNG]

Awfule News in Prosecutor Misconduct Case

An ideologically divided Supreme Court on Tuesday stripped a $14 million award from a wrongfully convicted man who had spent 14 years on death row and successfully sued New Orleans prosecutors for misconduct.

Conservative justices prevailed in the 5 to 4 ruling, which shielded the district attorney's office from liability for not turning over evidence that showed John Thompson's innocence.

It was the first decision of the court term that split the justices into ideological camps, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg emphasized her disagreement by reading a summary of her dissent from the bench.

"I would uphold the jury's verdict awarding damages to Thompson for the gross, deliberately indifferent and long-continuing violation of his fair trial right," she said, adding that she was joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

[MNG]

Here's the link, sorry

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z3

[SugarFree]

Smell the professionalism!

[John]

I love the smell of professionalism in the morning.

[sloopyinca]

Smells like........tyranny.

[Wind Rider]

What, you got a Balko Block? or something? He was all over it yesterday.

[Old Mexican]

Yes, we even had canap?s and beer! I mean, you missed it all, MNG!

[MNG]

Ya shoulda hung out, man!

Credit to Dave Attell

[Virginia]

there was even a midget and a donkey.

[Tim]

The Emperor will be pleased.

[Otto]

MNG - Balko or Sullum covered this yesterday.

[capitol l]

Yes, this was covered yesterday by either Balko, or Sullum.

[Ice Nine]

Did Balko or Sullum happen to cover this yesterday by any chance?

[Otto]

I think so. Let me check.

[Old Mexican]

TARP inspector general says program helped banks, few others.

Well, that WAS the idea, wasn't it?

[MNG]

Scalia Gets A Ticket

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z9

According to U.S. Park Police, Scalia was driving south on the parkway approaching Roosevelt Bridge when he rear-ended a car that had stopped for traffic, triggering a chain reaction.

the justice got a ticket for following too closely. Fine: $70, plus a $20 special assessment

[Fluffy]

Little known fact: the next car in line was driven by Clarence Thomas, who was ALSO following too closely, since as usual he was right up Scalia's ass.

Ba dump dump.

Take my wife, please.

[Helena Handbasket]

More kool aid, fluffy??

[Fluffy]

That was just a joke. Hence the Henny Youngman tagging.

[capitol l]

If only the punishment for following too closely was rotting on death row for 14 years.

[Old Mexican]

Boehner, Cantor shows signs of splitting over budget impasse.

And Chucky Shummer went off the deep end during a radio interview when he thought the mike was on mute...

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.....ng-orders/

[SugarFree]

Dude. That's so extreme.

[Otto]

Schumer is a walking ad for term limits.

And male breast reduction...

[SugarFree]

"I was a juicer. You know. Using steroids. Diabonol, Wisterol, they use that for racehorses for Christsakes."

[Otto]

"Go ahead, Cornelius. You can cry."

[JW]

Dude. That's so extreme.

Sen. Andrew W. K. said today that his EXTREME bill will. BE. EXTREME!

[Spoonman.]

The comments are amazing.

[sloopyinca]

My favorite was the first one: Interesting...I'd love to hear the same "fly-on-the-wall" comments from caught-off- guard, on-the-air Republicans. Probably those comments would be unprintable, though. Tar and feathering for everyone on both sides of the isle!

Your dude just gets caught issuing talking points and your response is, "Well, the Repubs sure would have been worse if they got caught."

Do the people who read and comment on the Times (which restricts commenting to the n-th degree) live in such a bubble that they cannot see how narrow-minded they really are? Do they really think anyone to the right of Pauly Krugnuts is a teabagger? If so, they deserve to read the tripe in that fish-wrap and nothing else.

[mad libertarian guy]

Do the people who read and comment on the Times (which restricts commenting to the n-th degree) live in such a bubble that they cannot see how narrow-minded they really are?

Yes.

Do they really think anyone to the right of Pauly Krugnuts is a teabagger?

Yes.

[Enough About Palin]

Yesterday, on the bus ride home from work, we were forced by the police to stop in the middle of the road. The house we were stop in front of was the scene of a bust. The cops (there were about seven or eight cruisers there) had two young black men handcuffed and kneeling in the front yard.

I was seated next to three high school girls, one of whom opened the window, started yelling at the "Fremont niggers" (her words) and then began filming the scene with her cell phone complete with commentary. She planned to post it on Facebook. Kids are so tech savvy these days.

Now I don't have a problem with what she did. In fact, it was pretty funny and she and her friends seemed to be basically descent kids.

But here's the thing: about twenty feet away from the handcuffed, kneeling young black men, was a cop using his cell phone to record the incident. There is no way he was recording for the official record. In fact, those Afghan kill team photos immediately came to mind. It had that kind of feel to it.

So my question is, should I report this sick fuck?

[The Year Of Reform]

Yes, report him and yourself for using public transportation-I love libertarians

[Old Mexican]

Yes, report him and yourself for using public transportation-I love libertarians to be gang-raped by liberal, unionized thugs.

There, more accurate, rather.

[Rather]

Sorry, I forgot about the Ayn Rand perquisitor?

[kilroy]

You are aware that not all "buses" are public transportation aren't you?

[rather]

Are you aware Libertarians say taxation is theft? Ergo, buses used for public transportation is teh evil.

[Enough About Palin]

Miss core points much?

Anyway, I wrote the following email to the Mayor and Cc'd the NAACP.

Dear Mayor Rybak,

Yesterday, on the bus ride home from work, we were forced by the police to stop in the middle of the road (Fremont and 34th Ave N). The house we were stopped in front of was the scene of a bust. The cops (there were about seven or eight cruisers there) had two young black men handcuffed and kneeling in the front yard. We sat there at least five minutes, directly in front of the arrest scene.

I was seated next to three high school girls, one of whom opened the window, started yelling at the handcuffed men and then began filming the scene with her cell phone complete with commentary. She planned to post it on Facebook. Kids are so tech savvy these days.

Now I don't have a problem with what she did. In fact, it was pretty funny and she and her friends seemed to be basically descent kids.

But here's the thing: about twenty to thirty feet away from the handcuffed, kneeling young black men, was a white cop using his cell phone to record the incident. There is no way he was recording for the official record. In fact, those Afghan kill team photos immediately came to mind (also 19th-century slave auctions). It had that kind of feel to it.

It also seems anti-public safety to force a busload of people to stop directly in front of the house where a police action is taking place. What if some action on the part of the arrestees required an officer to start shooting?

But the real concern is why is a white cop taking what appears to be video or photographs of two young black men who were handcuffed and forced to kneel in a muddy front yard?

Thank you in advance for looking into this matter.

Sincerely,
(redacted)

[MNG]

Spankings Hotly Debated

While the image of the high school principal patrolling the halls with paddle in hand is largely of the past, corporal punishment is still alive in 20 states, according to the Center for Effective Discipline, which tracks its use in schools around the country and encourages its end. Most of those states are in the South, where paddling remains ingrained in the social and family fabric of some communities.

According to estimates by the federal Department of Education, 223,190 children were subjected to corporal punishment in the 2005-6 school year. That was a nearly 20 percent drop from a few years earlier, Ms. Block said...In Mississippi, the family of a teenager who was paddled in school has filed a federal lawsuit. The suit, filed against the Tate County School District, claims that corporal punishment is unconstitutional because it is applied disproportionately to boys.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03.....?_r=1&hpw;

[SugarFree]

Good for him. A government employee beating children on a whim is a disgusting abrogation of self-ownership.

[Marshall Gill]

A government employee beating children on a whim is a disgusting abrogation of self-ownership.

What about a government employee paddling my child for me.

While I wouldn't trust my children to public schools, if I did, I would want them paddled when they broke the rules.

I got paddled in school dozens of times and look how I turned .... opps, never mind.

[John]

Drill instructors cannot so much as lay a hand on a basic trainee. But it is okay for school principals to hit a kid?

[Otto]

Legally, prison guards can't hit a murderer. But a kid who mouths off is different...

[R C Dean]

Legally, prison guards can't hit a murderer.

Unless they are chanting the ritual incantation "Stop resisting, stop resisting".

[Otto]

Jimbo: "It's coming right for us!"

[creech]

Don't worry, drill instructors have plenty of ways to make you wish you never enlisted.

[John]

True enough.

[AU H20]

Talkin' outta turn? That's a paddlin'.

Lookin' out the window? That's a paddlin'.

Staring at my sandals? That's a paddlin'.

Paddlin' the school canoe? Oh, you better believe that's a paddlin'.

[The Year Of Reform]

"Either the president takes immediate, drastic reform measures, or the country descends into one of several ugly scenarios. If he is willing to lead Syria into a real democratic transformation, he will be met halfway by the Syrian people," he told AP.

Analysts say there are divergent views within the Syrian leadership on handing the crisis - one group favours a crackdown on the dissent while the other prefers dialogue

Bashar al-Assad may set an example of how to handle demonstration if he chooses the latter

[R C Dean]

one group favours a crackdown on the dissent while the other prefers dialogue before the crackdown on dissent

[The Year Of Reform]

No kidding. Fox was showing footage of his car surrounded but it was unclear if they were all protestors against him.

[Mike M.]

Obomba calls for oil imports to be cut by one third by 2020. No word on what is supposed to replace all that oil of course.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Mike M.,

Obomba calls for oil imports to be cut by one third by 2020. No word on what is supposed to replace all that oil of course.

That's because nothing will replace it. We will be pedalling our rickshaws to work - "work" meaning driving rich politicians to their work.

[sloopyinca]

I thought Soros' Petrobras and the Obama admin had already inked the deal.

[OO]

how bout the fat suburbanites move closer to work?

[Old Mexican]

Re: OO,

how bout the fat suburbanites move closer to work?

Lefties sure have people in their hearts... no hatred or anything like it.

[WTF]

Because everyone should be forced to live where the lefty's want you live, not where you might want to live.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Because they don't want to place their families in the socially dysfunctional and highly expensive cesspits that progressives turned the cities into.

[Clouds]

The standard left move would be to force them onto trains and put them into gov't mandated neighborhoods. Its worked in the past.

[Jerry]

Obama is going to supply weapons to organizations on his own terrorist watch list? What could go wrong?

[Old Mexican]

And in the "Read My Lips: Don't Mess With Beer" section (Al Bundy special)

Big Brew-Ha-Ha Over Direct Shipment of Booze

Alcohol can have a blurring effect. Especially when it comes to politics.

"When politicians look at the beer industry, it doesn't matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, a libertarian or vegetarian, there's something for you to embrace," said Craig Purser, the president and CEO of the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

Purser was emceeing the second day of NBWA's legislative conference, which goes through Wednesday and has brought hundreds of beer wholesalers to Washington. The conference is dominated by the debate over a bill that would give states more power to regulate alcohol distribution. The NBWA supports the bill, while independent beer producers and wineries oppose it. The point of contention is whether producers can ship their wares directly to people who want to buy it, or whether they should have to use the middleman?wholesalers who now dominate the market.

The wholesalers want to maintain their nearly complete share of the market, and the producers want to have more options to distribute.

And there is evidence that Purser is right about the blurring effect. The bill?reintroduced in the House on March 17th?is a rare example of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, attracting many cosponsors from both ends of the political spectrum, from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. The dispute has also brought together disparate groups like the Progressive Policy Institute and the anti-tax FreedomWorks to oppose the legislation.

The bill would help consolidate the power of some of the most powerful middlemen in the country: alcohol wholesalers. Wholesalers are responsible for bringing 99 percent of all alcohol from producers to retailers and bars. This state-sanctioned monopoly has allowed wholesalers to become something of a marketing juggernaut, earning many of their owners billions of dollars, and allowing for the creation of heavy-hitting lobbies like the NBWA.

In 2005, a federal court ruling opened the door to more direct-to-consumer shipping of alcoholic products, thus allowing for the bypassing of the middleman. Even though direct-shipping only constitutes 1 percent of all sales, the wholesalers fear that the ruling is a chink in their armor, and could lead to larger-scale diminution of their power. The legislation in question would help stop any of that slippage and keep alcohol regulation firmly in the hands of the state regulators, with whom home-state wholesalers have a cozy relationship.

Hooray for lobby-ing!!!

And who said rent-seeking did not pay? Who said that, huh? Huh?

[John]

According to a new book, Gandhi was a pretty freaky dude

Gandhi's pejorative reference to ?nakedness is ironic considering that, as Mr. Lelyveld details, when he was in his 70s and close to leading India to ?independence, he encouraged his ?17-year-old great-niece, Manu, to be naked during her "nightly cuddles" with him. After sacking several long-standing and loyal members of his 100-strong ?personal entourage who might disapprove of this part of his spiritual quest, Gandhi began sleeping naked with Manu and other young women. He told a woman on one occasion: "Despite my best efforts, the organ remained aroused. It was an altogether strange and shameful experience."

Yet he could also be vicious to Manu, whom he on one occasion forced to walk through a thick jungle where sexual assaults had occurred in order for her to retrieve a pumice stone that he liked to use on his feet. When she returned in tears, Gandhi "cackled" with laughter at her and said: "If some ruffian had carried you off and you had met your death courageously, my heart would have danced with joy."

Yet as Mr. Lelyveld makes abundantly clear, Gandhi's organ probably only rarely became aroused with his naked young ladies, because the love of his life was a German-Jewish architect and bodybuilder, Hermann Kallenbach, for whom Gandhi left his wife in 1908. "Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in my bedroom," he wrote to Kallenbach. "The mantelpiece is opposite to the bed." For some ?reason, cotton wool and Vaseline were "a constant reminder" of Kallenbach, which Mr. Lelyveld believes might ?relate to the enemas Gandhi gave ?himself, although there could be other, less generous, explanations.

Gandhi wrote to Kallenbach about "how completely you have taken ?possession of my body. This is slavery with a vengeance." Gandhi nicknamed himself "Upper House" and Kallenbach "Lower House," and he made Lower House promise not to "look lustfully upon any woman." The two then pledged "more love, and yet more love . . . such love as they hope the world has not yet seen."

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

[Ice Nine]

>>Gandhi began sleeping naked with Manu and other young women.

Pure studliness, that guy.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I LOL'ed at Paul Johnson's treatment of him in Modern Times. He talks about how Ghandi was obsessed with bowel movements.

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, but not in the way you would think.

NTTAWWT

[Old Mexican]

Don't mess with my beer! (Al Bundy special)

http://nationaljournal.com/dai.....e-20110329

[The Year Of Reform]

He reportedly had sex with two nieces

[Old Mexican]

The day when a holy man cannot have sex with his two nieces... that day the world will end.

[rather]

Who hasn't?

[The Year Of Reform]

stop using my handle

[rather]

Why?

[rather]

Because it's incifed due to overfeeding.

[Old Mexican]

Washington now debating the prospect of arming Libyan rebels, some of whom may have ties to Al-Qaeda.

They concede that Al-Qaeda members DO have a God-given right to bear arms to defend themselves from government... their government.

Ours is just peachy. We don't need no stinkin' weapons: the government said so.

[P Brooks]

In the final analysis, it has been Treasury's broken promises that have turned TARP ? which was instrumental in saving the financial system at a relatively modest cost to taxpayers ? into a program commonly viewed as little more than a giveaway to Wall Street executives.

It wasn't meant to be that. Indeed, Treasury's mismanagement of TARP and its disregard for TARP's Main Street goals ? whether born of incompetence, timidity in the face of a crisis or a mindset too closely aligned with the banks it was supposed to rein in ? may have so damaged the credibility of the government as a whole that future policy makers may be politically unable to take the necessary steps to save the system the next time a crisis arises. This avoidable political reality might just be TARP's most lasting, and unfortunate, legacy.

Yer doin a heckuva job, Timmay!

[John]

http://online.wsj.com/video/th.....C398C.html

Is it just me or is Amy Chua one of the most vile humans on the planet. That bitch just makes my flesh crawl.

[sloopyinca]

She did make one comment I agreed with her on. At around the 2:30 mark, she said, "OK, I'm not an expert."

The rest of it was garbage.

[Joe Cabot]

"Chu, Toby Chu?"

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

This just in: I would pay money to watch a video of someone slapping Chuck Schumer in the face, hard.

[John]

Schumer is one of the few people on earth who actually deserves Amy Chua as a mother.

[Brett L]

Put that on craigslist.

[Trespassers W]

I've had ongoing fantasies about pummelling his face into oblivion since I finally saw "Waco: The Rules of Engagement".

[Berr]

No joke, I saw that movie years ago and swore on the spot, with witnesses, that if I ever met Schumer in person I would deck him in the face.

The most vile and obnoxious display of political obfuscation I've ever seen, and on the tank mangled corpses of children. Schumer's face at that hearing is the face of evil.

[SugarFree]

Anarchy

[Pro Libertate]

I saw that. And thought immediately of some who dwell here.

[Brett L]

Thinking about me without my permission? Fuck off, slaver!

[Neu Mejican]

Worth a quick read.

http://crookedtimber.org/2011/.....xceptions/

be sure to read the comments.

[sevo]

No, it's not.
Snarky comments about the 'invisible hand' from those who understand the concept as much as Tony understands the 'tragedy of the commons'.

[Neu Mejican]

Why am I not surprised that sevo lacks a sense of humor.

[Brett L]

Red on Red hostilities. Even cops hate cops.

[Clouds]

Supertroopers?

[Nike Dunk High]

thanks

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

Thanks

[alaamiah]

to provide the decisive vote, telegraphed his position by plainly