Reason Morning Links: Obama to Give Debt Speech, France Bans Face Veils, Jobs Okays Biography

• Obama to give debt reduction speech this week.
• Quadaffi agrees to African Union peace plan.
• New 7.1 earthquake hits Japan. Nuclear evacuation zone expands.
• France begins enforcing ban on face veils.
• Steve Jobs authorizes a Walter Isaacson-penned biography.
• Recently at Reason.tv: "Final Countdown to Government Shutdown!"

Comments

[MNG]

What's going on in France is goofy. It would be better for them to simply restrict immigration than to allow it and then engage in these kind of measures because of all the (admitted) complications of being swamped with groups less than willing to assimilate. This is the goofy dance we do in this politically correct age.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know who else's followers, the Ku Klux Klan, hide their faces behind cloth?

[Wind Rider]

Now how, and why did you go and fuck that up? Simple is the key - ya should have just left it at "You know who else hides their faces behind cloth?"

Just haaaaaaaaad to stick in the spoiler, dinya?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I submit that it is you, sir, who have ruined everything, with your wild assumptions as to to whom I was referring.

I was talking about Hitler.

[Pro Libertate]

He was in the Klan?

[Fist of Etiquette]

He was also a gay drug addict.

[sloopyinca]

You know who else hides their faces behind cloth?

King Tut?

[Zeb]

Nathan Bedford Forest?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know who else's followers [redacted joke ruination] hide their faces behind cloth?

Ninja?

[Brett L]

The Budda Amida is a better answer.

[Nudist]

This is the goofy dance we do in this politically correct age.

Tell me about it.

[Pat D King]

NEWSFLASH! Alec Baldwin to release his column soon, see HUFF POST for details.

[pancakes]

Hey it's France, love it or leave it.

OR

They could just learn to enjoy their Muslims. I wonder if there's a French KULTUR WAR with their own professional blowhards and FoxNews equivalent.

[Chony]

Turning A Generation Of American Boys Into Homosexuals is an Externality of The Golden Girls

[waffles]

Johnny has followers, or a stupid spoof handle. Thankfully I am too young to have ever witnessed the horror of horrors that is golden girls. Instead I spent my time growing up playing dressup and finding that perfect shade of lipstick.

[MNG]

Civil War(s)

The war's sesquicentennial, starting Tuesday with the anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, provides a "teachable moment" for schools everywhere. But how and when students learn about slavery and secession, blue and gray, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, Bull Run (or Manassas) and Appomattox varies enormously from state to state, school to school and even teacher to teacher.

This year, Virginia learned anew the sensitivity of Civil War education when the state Board of Education withdrew approval of a fourth-grade textbook ? "Our Virginia: Past and Present" ? that asserted thousands of African Americans fought for the South. Most historians reject that claim.

Last year, the Texas State Board of Education voted to require eighth-graders to study the inaugural address of Confederate President Jefferson Davis alongside President Abraham Lincoln's first and second inaugurals and his Gettysburg Address. That was one of many controversial revisions to Texas standards.

Jeremy A. Stern, a historian who reviewed state academic standards this year for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said differences in the timing and scope of Civil War education across the United States are dramatic. Often, he said, the war is not taught systematically until middle school.

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

[Marshall Gill]

Last year, the Texas State Board of Education voted to require eighth-graders to study the inaugural address of Confederate President Jefferson Davis alongside President Abraham Lincoln's first and second inaugurals and his Gettysburg Address. That was one of many controversial revisions to Texas standards.

Just imagine, schools teaching about things that actually happened! Teh horror!

[O'Brian]

Hey, that was supposed to go down the Memory Hole!

[Rich]

Everybody know children can't handle the truth during their formative years.

[The Truth]

You got that right.

That's why I stopped dating 12 year old boys.

[Mr. Soul]

Nice.

[Matrix]

The one thing I learned about history in college is that history taught in schools is all political, meaning that it's what the establishment wants to be taught. It has nothing to do with telling what really happened.

Well, I guess we can't tell what really happened, only try to make our best guesses with the available evidence and writings.

[AU H20]

Actually, this always reminds me of the Simspons, when Apu is taking his citizenship test, and for the final question is asked about the Civil War. He begins to list off the reasons (economic, cultural, political, etc.) until the test taker quickly sighs and says, "Just say slavery."

I honestly don't think it's political as much as convenience and a general idea of "instilling values" (which is, admittedly, a political calculation). Basically, adults think children are stupid and can't handle nuance, so they often don't even try. See: every English course ever.

[Marshall Gill]

I think it is simply an attack upon Federalism. States rights=Slavery. You wouldn't want people thinking that States might have rights in areas besides human slavery, would you?

[mad libertarian guy]

Actually, I don't want people thinking that states have rights at all, BECAUSE THEY FUCKING DON'T.

Though I do get your point. That said, where is "TEH STATES RITES IS RACIST" argument concerning various levels of marijuana legalization?

[Zeb]

While I don't have much sympathy for the Confederacy, it would have been nice to learn more about the CSA in school. Basically all we got in high school was that they existed and were the enemy in the Civil War and Jeff Davis was the president.

[Marshall Gill]

Any chance that your lack of sympathy is related to that lack of education? If positions which might elicit sympathy are not taught they wouldn't get much sympathy, would they?

How many people in America today are unaware that the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in the CSA but did not free Union slaves?

[MJ]

How many people are aware that freeing the CSA slaves was all thought he had the constitutional authority to do as an executive order? The proclamation was a political manuever by Lincoln to make abolition a war aim while avoiding a messy debate in Congress.

Politics can be messy and not as black and white as we would like.

[West Texas]

This.

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as they toss in Alexander Stephens' Cornerstone Speech, it's all good.

[Joh[nn]y Lo[n]gtorso]

Landslide!
...It must be acknowledged that the pro-union left succeeded in making this campaign into a referendum on Walker. Had it not, it's likely that turnout would have been much lower and Prosser's margin of victory much wider, as in the primary. But they lost the referendum. With Prosser proffered as a proxy for Walker (we dare you to say that 10 times fast), the justice's approximately 50.5% of the vote is a swing of less than 2% away from Walker, elected last November with 52.3%.

"What does this change in Wisconsin?" asks Slate's Dave Weigel, who answers:

It's now likely that conservatives will retain their advantage on the court. Democrats can turn their guns on the recall efforts, with new vigor that's going to be informed by a sense--spread pretty widely on Twitter--that Kloppenburg was robbed.

Weigel certainly gives new meaning to the word "informed." But whereas we thought Kloppenburg had a real chance of beating Prosser, we've always been skeptical to the point of incredulity about the prospects for recalling Republican senators. That's because under Wisconsin law, an official has to have served for a year before being subject to recall. That shields both Walker and all Republican lawmakers who replaced Democrats in last year's election. As Wisconsin senators serve four-year terms, only those who survived the Democratic sweep of 2006 or 2008 can be recalled....

[MNG]

I realize those on the right can be a literalistic bunch not capable of much nuance, but it would be silly of you to think this guy winning means good things for you considering how heavily favored he was and how slim his margin of victory...Spin it how you want, but just saying...

[Joh[nn]y Lo[n]gtorso]

MNG, you and idiots like Weigel are basically saying a win is a loss, and it's OTHERS who are spinning?

[MNG]

Certainly you are not this literalistic JT? If a GOP candidate who was far down in the polls suddenly ran a squeaker against a much favored incumbent you don't think the GOP would be happy and the Dems would be a little worried? But hey, like I said, interpret it however you like, but don't come bitching to me about election fraud when Wisconsin goes blue in 2012...

[Joh[nn]y Lo[n]gtorso]

You and your idiot unionists went after him w/ everything they had in what is historically a low turnout election and lost. If you can't beat him, who can you beat?

[MNG]

Dude, I didn't even know about this election until two days after it occurred. Read it however you want, I'm just saying usually this kind of thing doesn't portend well for the winning side.

[DJF]

So this election is so unimportant that you did not hear about it, yet it is important in that it shows the republicans are losing even though the republican won?

[Joe M]

Hahaha best comment in this sub-thread.

[Mr. Soul]

"Dude, I didn't even know about this election until two days after it occurred."

Bull. Shit.

[prolefeed]

MNG -- Well, winning by just over 50% certainly isn't a landslide, but it is evidence that Wisconsin has gone from a Blue state to a swing state.

[Joh[nn]y Lo[n]gtorso]

Obama's Down on the Farm
...Again, the crowd applauded and laughed. One line that landed a little flat, though, was when Mr. Obama sympathetically noted that farmers have not seen an increase in prices for their crops, despite a rise in prices at the supermarket.

"Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" the senator said. "I mean, they're charging a lot of money for this stuff."...

[Ice Nine]

President Bush 41 is mocked to this day for similar supermarket elitism (even though that rap against him is apocryphal). How long do you think the press will ridicule BHO for this gem? Wait, you mean they won't even start?

[Matrix]

Obama is too cool for the media to make fun of... or if they do, time to pull out the tired, worn out card.

[Zeb]

Um, I think Obama was making a joke there.

[pancakes]

Arugula isn't funny. It's only popular as a hate vegetable to feel superior to those that would consume lowly lettuce, cabbage, or spinach.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It's only popular as a hate vegetable to feel superior to those that would consume lowly lettuce, cabbage, or spinach.

So arugula is the soccer of produce?

[sloopyinca]

More like the youth lacrosse league of leafy, green produce.

[Ice Nine]

Ah, of course, the old sympathetic note gag. I completely missed it.

[Ky Voter]

Quotes from 2007?

[MJ]

Has Obama noticed that the cost of transporting goods from farm to market has recently increased signficantly, i.e. a precipitous rise in fuel costs? The man really is an economic ignoramous or thinks his audience is.

[Zeb]

"Senator"

[Spoonman.]

This reminds me of a story from a few years ago where Vladimir Putin went into a grocery store and criticized the prices.

[gaijin97]

Every significantly sized farmer sells his crop on futures contracts...they are making plenty of money there. Corn is nearly $8. Cotton above $2. Historically, these crops have been around $4 and $0.75 respectively. Arugula, well, ok, maybe that's an exception. Obama ought to try getting his facts about farming and farmers straight.

[capitol l]

Four years ago?

Longtorso, you are such a fuck-up. Christ, next you'll be linking to some Bill Clinton sex scandal.

[cynical]

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was he was making a self-aware joke about the negative view of him as an arugula-eating elitist.

[Joh[nn]y Lo[n]gtorso]

This Domino's Pizza Guy Wanted To Get Fired, So He Showed Up On Drugs And Told Customers To "Go Straddle A Narwhale"

Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens' Property to Balance Their Budgets

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Those damn rich safe-deposit box owners, hoarding all that stuff.

[Mikey Moore]

See? I told you there was plenty of money available!

[Lord Humungus]

burying stuff in the backyard is looking better and better. Or else my 20 acres out in BFN.

[Ky Voter]

There are a lot of people who fantasize about letting their bosses know how they feel. Just letting loose then walking out with your middle finger held high. It's seems glorious doesn't it.

Quality writing from Business Insider.

[waffles]

I'm surprised he didn't get away with this. I was a Domino's driver and I regularly engaged in extra-economic activities. One of my cooworkers was a russian dude who was habitually shlittered and garnered frequent complaints for speeding the wrong way down one-way streets.

Being a pizza guy, not a bad job unless you live in a shooty/stabby area.

[capitol l]

Did you read the entire employee write-up? Hilarious.

I'd give the dude an extra fiver for being able to remember pi to 46 digits.

[pancakes]

but that bit is what makes it seem fake. Else, this guy is an extremely functional asperger's with a taste for acid.

[Mr Whipple???]

Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens' Property to Balance Their Budgets

I've been hearing a lot of chatter about safe deposit boxes, lately. One report said SDBs are subject to unwarranted searches by Homeland Security under the Patriot Act.

[Joh[nn]y Lo[n]gtorso]

Washington vs. America: D.C. doesn't doesn't act like there's a deficit problem
In effect, the respectable "pivot to entitlements" position says,"we're going to cut Social Security checks and Medicare for mid-income old people to save the jobs of $180K equal opportunity officers at the DOT."... Why not wring the fat out of government first?

QOTD
"since voting can result in laws that require men with guns to enforce them, the minimum ID requirement should be the same required to buy a gun."

[Rich]

I had this very QOTD this weekend. Got a liberal "thinking" that 1) if ID is not required to vote and 2) ballot is mightier than bullet then 3) ...

Of course, logic never works in religious discussions.

[Matrix]

Medicare and Social Security are separate lines on payroll deductions. All money paid into those systems should be set aside separately to fund those two things. If the money collected for them cannot sustain them, then they should decide to decrease spending on them. There is no justifiable reason that money collected for them should be put in the general fund.

[pancakes]

For those unfortunate minorities who have suffered systemic discrimination and oppression by slavery, white men, men, Jews, society, men, white men, rich people, pilgrims, settlors, farmers, men, etc, forcing them to obtain a valid picture ID is a further and deliberate oppression sure to hurt women, children, and minorities the most.

Yeah yeah, don't quote teh racist, but I never knew you could vote without ID. I didn't even know ID requirements were racist. But it is! So racist!

[Brett L]

Is the ID thing racist because all minorities look alike, anyway?

[troll]

Thousands of Mexicans protest against war on drugs.

[Otto]

Wow, and the media totally ignored that? Color me shocked...

[waffles]

My girlfriend got a talking to from her foreign policy professor for suggesting that the war on drugs was causing violence in Mexico and Afghanistan. Something to the effect of "Do you like going to school here? If you want to stay you better tow the lion".

I guess it really is that taboo. My libertarian mind poison is going to ruin her chances of being a successful progressive. Ah well.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The irony is that professor probably got more blitzed during college than the Polish did at the start of World War 2.

[DesigNate]

Hi-O!!!

[MNG]

OK, beat this one guys:

In a case with a truly unusual set of factors, Mr. Devoureau filed a discrimination lawsuit on Friday that could break new ground in New Jersey and across the country, turning on the question of who is or is not a man. An employer fired Mr. Devoureau because it said only a man was allowed to do his job: watching men urinate into plastic cups at a drug treatment center.

Mr. Devoureau, 39, says he has identified himself as a man all his life. In 2006, after he began taking male hormones and had sex-change surgery, he adopted the name El'Jai (pronounced like L. J.). A new birth certificate issued by the State of Georgia identifies him as male, as does his New Jersey driver's license, and the Social Security Administration made the change in its records.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04.....?_r=1&hpw;

[El?Jai]

Fap, fap, fap!

[DJF]

""""sex-change surgery"''

She did not change her sex, she was sexually mutilated. And just because the government says something does not make it true.

[Zeb]

What the fuck difference does it make to you?

[cynical]

Apparently it makes a difference to whomever is setting out the requirements for the "watch dudes piss" job, otherwise it wouldn't have been a sex-specific.

[Zeb]

As someone who doesn't really care who sees my dingdong, I find such controversies extremely silly.

[OhioOrrin]

""watch dudes piss" job"

Sounds like a dream job to me.

[DJF]

Its false advertising which could end up as fraud.

[Slap the Enlightened!]

OK, beat this one guys:

If you insist...

[MJ]

Reverse the genders and the question becomes would a male to female transexual get this kind of sympathetic hearing from the courts? Are the drug treatment centers clients right not to feel sexually harassed trump Devoureau's self-image?

[Slap the Enlightened!]

If you insist:

Secret FBI memo 'proves' govt. covered up Roswell alien landing of 1947

Happy now?

[Mr Whipple???]

This would be more interesting if he were a probation officer for Drug Court, or something. This is a private company that should have the right to hire or fire anyone. Unfortunately, in NJ, not only can the state tell an employer who they can or can not hire or fire, they tell people who can, or can not start a business. IN NJ, you do not have a right to own a business, but you do have a right to affordable housing. NJ is a "Slave State". You can't shit in the woods without a permit or a license.

[Pro Libertate]

Follow the chromosomes.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

This is the pronoun problem I mentioned last week. I spent the first paragraph thinking you were talking about a man.

[Lord Humungus]

LORETTA: I want to have babies.
REG:You want to have babies?!
LORETTA: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
REG: But... you can't have babies.
LORETTA: Don't you oppress me.
REG: I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb! Where's the foetus going to gestate?! You going to keep it in a box?!
LORETTA: [crying]
JUDITH: Here! I-- I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb, which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans', but that he can have the right to have babies.
FRANCIS: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother. Sister. Sorry.
REG: What's the point?
FRANCIS: What?
REG: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies when he can't have babies?!

[CaptainSmartass]

So it's OK to have a flaming homo (NTTAWWT) watch other guys piss into cups, but not someone who is genetically a female but self-identifies as a male? How does that make a lick of sense?

[John]

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=29732

Man arrested for using two dollar bills.

[MNG]

Under Lawrenc v. Texas it is now legal to use three dollar bills, don't know if that would apply here.

[Charlie Sheesh]

"It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

No, it's a sign many people are fucking retarded.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

who would have thunk it? two dollar bills hijacking a plane and flying into the local Best Buy?

[NoVAHockey]

I carry one in my wallet that was a gift from my grandfather . i guess they can get me for possession.

[SugarFree]

WTF? Raids on a racetrack could net thousands of these horrible criminals.

Sue Best Buy, fire that retard cop.

[Matrix]

old news is old

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Couldn't Best Buy be found liable for not accepting the US dollar as tender for a private debt?

[Nick]

How do that many people not know about 2 dollar bills? One cashier, sure. But it took a Secret Service agent to figure that out? Really?!

[Bingo]

Hah! One of the strip clubs around here actually gives out twos for change instead of singles. Inflation is a bitch.

[John]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/tex.....-squirrel/

Cops taser baby squirrel in front of horrified children.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Squirrel = rodent.

[Ice Nine]

Yes, and...?

[pancakes]

Therefore, not as delicious as cat. which eats rodentia

[Tolliver James]

In a further bizarre twist, the squirrel was found to be wearing a tiny face veil.

[Ice Nine]

No fool, he. An excellent idea when you are being pepper sprayed.

[JoshINHB]

The heroic officer's life was clearly being threatened by the two ounce rodent.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

It was a "good shoot".

[Mr Whipple???]

Cops taser [pepper spray] baby squirrel in front of horrified children.

Good. The earlier that kids understand that cops are not their "friends", the better.

[Robert]

WTF is a "resource officer"? Does that mean even more chickenshit than regular police?

You can't make stuff up fast enough to keep up with the self-parody of real life, it seems. Shoot the dog, shoot the cat, pepper spray the baby squirrel. I expect soon video of some sort of uniformed agent using a car for cover while trying to take a shot at a cockroach 50' away. The fire dept. meanwhile will be completely tied up trying to extinguish a lightning bug.

[Robert]

And I forgot, if the squirrel had been suspected to have rabies, how did he think it would react to BEING PEPPER SPRAYED??!!!!

[Rich]

"He's going to lay out his approach very clearly"

I don't want an "approach" "laid out". I want to see two hours of detailed analyses, with mathematics and explicit considerations of extreme contingencies. You know, grown-up stuff.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Cop with history of excessive force citations beats the shit out of drunk baseball fan.

[capitol l]

After those cops got shot up in
Clariton I figured there would be some beatings.

It seems like every time the local new hyperventilates about fallen heroes the next day some brutality is quickly mentioned and forgotten about.

It's a freakin' war out there.

[Randy Marsh]

I thought this was America!?

[Brett L]

Apparently fans were chanting "USA!USA!" during the beat-down, so I guess it is.

[Ted S.]

I thought they were chanting "Stop resisting!"

[Brett L]

No, that was the cops.

[Gilbert Martin]

"Obama to give debt reduction speech this week."

And it will undoubtedly contain more of the same old crap that the liberal democrats have been peddling their whole lives - making the "rich" pay their "fair share".

And of course "fair share" is ALWAYS, more more more. More handouts for the Democrats targeted constituency groups.

[Lord Humungus]

spend a shit-load of cash, push the country into a mountain of debt...

and then announce "We have to raise taxes to pay down the debt." Yeah, government work must be nice if you can get it.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Obama to give debt reduction speech this week.

Good news. That must mean this is still polling as an important issue.

[Gregory Smith]

Libertarians, explain this to me.

When the Klan goes on parade, they are NOT allowed to cover their faces.

So why is it politically incorrect to demand the same from Muslim women?

Do they deserve more rights than the Klan? I don't think so.

DC Comics destroys Wonder Woman's Americana.
http://libertarians4freedom.blogspot.com/

[capitol l]

Dude, no one is stopping you from wearing your little white hood.

[short fat bastard]

Go Fuck Yourself

[mr simple]

Libertarians, explain this to me.

So you've finally stopped calling yourself a libertarian? Thank you.

[Gregory Smith]

No, I was addressing the question to all of you, since y'all claim to be so smart.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Gregggggooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

The various state laws in this country outlawing wearing masks are widely ridiculed (sort of like you are) even by people who understand that many of them were directed at Klan activity.

This ban's even better. It gives us a[nother] reason to ridicule the French.

[capitol l]

I went on youtube and found many videos of rallies/parades/marches with klan members wearing hoods. Not that klan rallies in America have anything to do with French Muslim women.

[pancakes]

Barring all value judgments, it is the same thing. I want to wear a thing on my face that makes some people uncomfortable. Although you could argue the Muslim women do it for themselves and the KKK do it for the express purpose of making people uncomfortable.

I just hope France can finally admit that they are way more racist that the good ol' USA.

[capitol l]

I meant that the French have a different constitution than ours.

[WTF]

I just hope France can finally admit that they are way more racist that the good ol' USA.

I'm not saying the French aren't racist, but when did Muslim become a race?

[SugarFree]

but when did Muslim become a race?

When it's convenient for them to be so. When it isn't, they aren't.

[Marshall Gill]

Although you could argue the Muslim women do it for themselves

Well, of course they do. They do it to keep themselves from being murdered by their male family members. Nothing like being free to choose not to be murdered!

[Vermont Gun Owner]

My fellow Earthicans, we enjoy so much freedom it's almost sickening. We're free to choose which hand our sex-monitoring chip is implanted in. And if we don't want to pay our taxes, why, we're free to spend a weekend with the Pain Monster.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Not every state has an anti-mask law (in fact, most of the are probably local) so it's quite likely there' lots of footage of Kalnsmen parading in full regalia.

And good point on the relevance of klan rallies to French Muslim women, though the irrelevance of anything has never stopped Gregggggooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! from posting it since he arrived in these parts.

[Gregory Smith]

How old where those videos? Modern parades feature "hoods" let you see the face.

[R C Dean]

He's going to lay out his approach very clearly

Vague and revocable gestures toward spending cuts and entitlement reform, plus a promise to tax "the rich".

Do I get a prize?

[CoyoteBlue]

NO, we need a Bipartisan, Blue Ribbon Task Force to study the problem.

[BLUE FUCKING RIBBONS!!!]

[capitol l]

FUCK HEINEKEN!

[WTF]

Top. Men.

[Isaac Bartram]

Well, every cent of federal spending keeps some woman/child/minority/old person from dying in a snowbank so there's not really any cuts than can be made, are there?

[Vermont Gun Owner]

He already made all the 'easy cuts'... I'm not really sure when, but they've been made.

[Mainer]

"Do I get a prize?"

Sure you do, everyone gets a ribbon for participating.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

plus a promise to tax "the rich".

I'm guessing this part will be phrased as "everyone giving fair share."

[Jerry]

Peru election: choosing between AIDS and terminal cancer.

[Otto]

A link for Shriek, and anyone else (if there is anyone else here) who think the Fed had nothing to do with commodity prices.

[Skid Marx]

My sweet dog Heather received an offer in the mail Saturday. It was from our local PBS station. They are offering her a free one year membership. It comes with all of the benefits of a $50 membership (monthly magazine, discount card, etc.), but she gets it for free. It's pretty clear to both me and Heather that they are looking to inflate their membership numbers. Bastards.

[WTF]

Don't let her have the discount card. She will use it to fill your house with Pupperoni and squeaky toys.

[Syd Henderson]

Did she accept the membership?

[smz back again]

Chicago public school bans lunches from home. For da kids! Only gov lunch is nutritious

[Rich]

intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices.

Why stop there? Political and lifestyle choices are more important!

[Matrix]

only medical conditions such as food allergies are exempted... so I guess all those Jewish and Muslim kids on strict Kosher or Hallal diets are going to just have to starve for lunch.

School food is not even healthy. It's a load of crock, and the school is just looking for more lunch funding and more revenue from kids being forced to buy lunches.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

My mother runs the hot lunch program at her local elementary school. That is the only school I've been to that has decent food, and the only time I went long periods without brownbagging it.

But seriously, banning bagged lunch: What won't Chicago ban?

[SugarFree]

Police brutality, corruption, morons from voting...

[West Texas]

Police brutality, corruption, morons dead people from voting...

[SugarFree]

Why not ban both?

[Marshall Gill]

While an easy one, still worth a

+1

[Vermont Gun Owner]

I'm like Rajon Rondo when he's on his game.

[Ky Voter]

You mean you constantly illustrate Tubby Smith's inability to get athletes to play to their potential?

[Invisible Finger]

Life in gen pop sucks.

[Nick]

I have an allergy. I'm allergic to tyranny.

[Robert]

Hey, it's just like the movie theater...except run by gov't and no popcorn.

[Tim]

Uh-oh Department:

"BRADFORD -- Vermont State Police said troopers used a Taser to subdue a woman that they thought had broken into a residence Sunday, but it turned out she had permission to be in her father's apartment. "

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.....1104110313

[Corporate Drone]

maybe she was a squirrel.
did she have a bushy tail?

[Tim]

"He said she also scratched and kicked both troopers before she was controlled by a Taser, "

Sounds like squirrel behavior to me.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Wow, that's only a town away from where I go turkey hunting. I've actually run into several staties near there while both my father and I were carrying shotguns. They never tasered us though.

[Tim]

In Soviet Union, turkeys hunt you!

[Vermont Gun Owner]

The BFP doesn't have a huge commenter base, but as a Vermont native, this is still depressing:

Stupid is as stupid does. Police were doing their job. They responded. She resisted. Whether or not she was in a family home with permission she should of just gone with them to barracks and cleared it up. Stupid is as stupid does.

[Matrix]

Well, assuming the information presented in the article was the truth, the woman was out of line. Police should respond to a reported break-in and find out what is going on. If there was broken glass as a result of her getting into the apartment, that's all the more suspicious. They were there to see if a crime was being committed.

Again, if the article is accurate, the woman was out of line. But the use of a taser is excessive. It's supposed to be used as an alternative to using a firearm, but police routinely use it for forcing compliance.

[Tim]

But Matrix, she splashed them with SODA! It may even have been caffeinated...

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Yeah, her response was kind of stupid, but I object to the idea that you have to submit to police in your own (or a parent's) house.

[Tim]

The article is almost criminal in it's lack of detail with phrases like:
"troopers eventually made their way into the room,"
How? Why did they think they were entitled to enter? Because the neighbors said so?

[Zeb]

I wonder if I am the only one who has this problem. At the mere sight of the text "the Final Countdown" that fucking awful song by Europe or whoever it is starts playing in my head.

[Spoonman.]

too-doo-DOOO-doo
buh-duh-Buh-Buh-Buhhhh

Nope, you're not the only one.

[Tim]

Gaah!

[Marshall Gill]

I swear to Science, Zeb, that if my children see your reference and start singing that song all day long I can't be held responsible for the consequences.

[Ted S.]

You're supposed to link to it on Youtube (15 million hits so far).

[Baby Giraffe]

Obama to give debt reduction speech this week.

Like the caveman says to Ryan Zimmerman in that GEICO commercial, "save it".

[Jess Asken]

How much does it cost the taxpayer to produce Obama's speech?

[Nick]

Is "everything" a valid answer?

[Marshall Gill]

+1000

[Solanum]

Mexican drug cartels targeting and killing children

According to U.S. and Mexican experts, competing criminal groups appear to be killing children to terrorize the population or prove to rivals that their savagery is boundless, as they fight over local drug markets and billion-dollar trafficking routes to voracious consumers in the United States.

[Otto]

"It may seem contradictory, but the unfortunate level of violence is a sign of success in the fight against drugs," said Michele Leonhart, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The cartels "are like caged animals, attacking one another," she added.

Wow. If this woman found her next-in-charge shooting smack in the bathroom, she'd claim it as a "win."

[Amakudari]

are like caged animals, attacking one another

Christ, this is only an appropriate statement if our goal is genocide. Please explain to me slowly how 35,000 dead Mexicans is a "sign of success."

[T]

Hey, that's 35K Mexicans who won't be crossing the border. Win-win!

I'm joking, but I guarantee someone has made this comment in all seriousness.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

For a more complete profile of Ms. Leonhart

http://www.drugwarrant.com/art.....-leonhart/

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Also, note that Obama nominated her to head the DEA

[West Texas]

This quote is horrible. Really?

[Chinny Chin Chin]

This talking point has been around for a few years & predates Obama.

I'm gobsmacked that it doesn't cause more outrage.

[Matrix]

If their goal is only to hurt drug trafficking... well crap even that is a disaster. But it is CLEAR that they do not care about Mexican citizens.

so... again, what good is the DEA for the average American?

[cynical]

Well, when the revolution comes, it'll be good to have a few agencies whose ranks can completely purged without any crisis of conscience. The DEA, TSA, and BATF all seem to fill that role nicely.

[Michele Leonhart]

Clearly, if smack is flowing into the veins of DEA agents it isn't on the streets where it can poison our children.

[Pip]

Some guy on TV was saying that the ramp-up in violence is a good thing. He said it means the cartels have reached a point where they are in their death throes and the war will soon be won.

[Pip]

Hey Otto, you only beat me by 16 minutes and with better writing.

[Otto]

There's a first time for everything...

[Matrix]

This is why I oppose gun laws that prohibit private citizens from owning automatic weapons. The police, military, and criminals have them. But since the police and military are doing nothing to stop the criminals, the private citizens should be able to fight these thugs that are murdering their children.

[P Brooks]

MaunderingNannyGoat was up there fapping frantically over the "stunning" come-from-behind (no homo) election near-win in Wisconsin, but I must have missed the part detailing his concerns about the huge wave of spending from out-of-state sources by Team Parasite.

I mean, if corporations had suddenly rushed into a state Supreme Court election and thrown a shitload of money around in an attempt to predetermine an impending decision, that would be bad, right?

RIGHT?

[Team Blue]

It's okay when OUR side does it!

[P Brooks]

I want to wear a thing on my face that makes some people uncomfortable.

Funny- I read that as "wear a THONG on my face."

NTTAWWT

[R C Dean]

For me, the takeaway on the Wisconsin judicial election is that Prosser won with a margin 2% less than Walker got in the governor's race.

After months of negative media coverage and an all-out union blitz, the "referendum" on Walker showed a whopping 2% drop in support.

[Pip]

If even that.

[Auric Demonocles]

I would expect that in a recall election the people wanting the recall would have much higher motivation than those okay with the status quo. I'm not sure if this hypothesis matches historical data or not...

[P Brooks]

competing criminal groups appear to be killing children to terrorize the population or prove to rivals that their savagery is boundless

Nobody will truly respect them until they can inflict indiscriminate murder using technological marvels such as cruise missiles and remotely piloted drones. Until then, they're just amateurs.

[Brett L]

Texas may raise speed limits.

Time to update the old joke. A man is slowing traffic by driving in the left lane of the highway in Texas. State trooper pulls him over and says, "Sir, I'm going to have to write you a ticket for obstructing the flow of traffic." The man answers back indignantly, "but officer, I was going 90!" The trooper says, "okay, I can write you a ticket for speeding, too."

[P Brooks]

she also scratched and kicked both troopers

She attacked and kicked two strangers who entered a residence where they did not belong and attempted to abduct her? Shocking.

(have not RTFA)

[Amakudari]

France arrest two burqa-wearing women
French beekeepers protest "no veils in workplace" ban

And I quote:

A spokesman for the Muslim Womens Association of France told us, You know the French, they'll take one look at the faces of our women and start to masturbate immediately ? I guarantee it."

What a shit country.

[Pip]

I have always thought that the reason these folks want their women veiled, is because they are very prideful and the last thing they want is for people to see just how ugly their wife is.

[DesigNate]

Actually, I've met quite a few attractive muslim women. The men, not so much. That's the real reason they keep their women covered, if they knew how attractive they were, they wouldn't stay with his controlling, troglodyte ass.

[Nick]

If every Muslim woman is as hot as the chicks on Al Jazeera it is a crime to cover them up. France is on a roll, folks. Sarkozy killed pirates before Obama and his wife is way hotter.

[mad libertarian guy]

My experience with middle eastern women (Indian women too), is that they are either "holy fuck!" gorgeous, or "how many branches of the ugly tree did she hit on the way down?" ugly.

[Isaac Bartram]

Umm, you do realize that the beekeeper protest story was satire, don't you?

[sloopyinca]

A spokesman for the Muslim Womens Association of France told us, You know the French, they'll take one look at the faces of our women and start to masturbate immediately ? I guarantee it."

Now, say it in the voice of the Men's Warehouse guy.

[CaptainSmartass]

That woman should be happy they're not in Japan, they don't just masturbate to faces there.

[AU H20]

Ugh. So this woman is speaking at my school tonight. I know it won't change any minds, but I got a month less- should I go shred her argument to pieces? According to every Amazon review, she's not very good at coherent arguments, so it could be fun.

[waffles]

When my vegitarian girlfriend cooked me a surprise dinner, she bought and cooked a steak. I'm not sure about the moral implications of this, but much better than you'd expect.

Anyway, seems like an easy target. Just ask why she feels that personal dining choices must be thrust into the moral realm. Why is it okay to force other to make special concessions for your personal choices?

My policy is, if the girlfriend is eating with me, there is a meatless option. But this, like all things is a personal, not political or moral choice.

[Ted S.]

It's what I call the "Smug Diet". People think their food choices are more virtuous, and insist on imposing those choices on everybody else.

I got into an argument on an internet forum with somebody from Europe recently where he tried to impose his dietary choices on health spending grounds, so I pointed out that every time some Nanny State type tries to control the rest of us, I can feel my blood pressure rise, which certainly can't be good for health care expenditures, and that if we were all happy, we might be healthier. It was amazing the lengths the guy went to to rationalize his bullying.

[rather]

Was it March 14?

[pancakes]

Are you coming on to me? No it was on a Friday. and then again two weeks after that. It's pretty much always a win to have someone cook you a steak. A good steak > just about any blowjob.

[Matrix]

Steak is overrated. I'll take a burger over a steak any day of the week.

[AU H20]

Having worked as a canvaser for liberal groups one summer (I really needed the money), I can give you the short answer: The personal is political. That's the line right there, and while stupid, it's what many on the activist front believe.

I think my better attack on her is her weirdly American view of this all. According to Amazon, she ties both pornography and animal consumption to white American racism, and that's super easy to tear apart because I can quickly point out the African American tradition of Soul Food, and the Asian tradition of pornographic wood cuts.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Take advantage of every opportunity to dismantle her. I wish I could go back to school with what I know now. No prisoners would be taken.

[multi-syllababble]

Engaging overview, from a post-structuralist/postmodern vantage point, of the linkage between meat-eating and patriarchy and feminism and vegetarianism. One of the purposes of the book is to emphasize the role of the "absent referent" as an essential influence on cultural and social discourse. In doing so, Adams calls attention to the ways in which acceptable modes of thinking and behaving are structured within the cultural framework. All in all, a very readable, well-researched, and engrossing examination of the integral connections (oppression) between vegetarianism and feminism.

[WTF]

Holy shit what a freak show. I can't believe anyone would take this lunatic seriously. Some of the reviews over on Amazon are priceless.

[multi-syllababble]

Within the contexts of feminism, racism, speciesism, classism, and vegetarianism, the author lucidly demonstrates how our culture and language define and reinforce a political paradigm that supports marginalization and consumption.

[P Brooks]

Aside from the other obligatory SPEED KILLZ!!! bullshit in that USA Toady article, they laid this steamer:

On top of safety concerns, speeding increases fuel consumption. Every 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

I do not speak Bureaucratese; could somebody please explain the "logic" underlying this (like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon) assertion?

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Well, that would be a direct consequence of the old estimated mpg regulations. Most manufacturers optimized their mpg for 55 mph as that is how it was spelled out in the regs until 2008. The result is reduced mpg at other speeds.

[Auric Demonocles]

I think they mean you have to buy more gas to go the same distance, so they are dividing the higher total cost by the original amount of gasoline. Seems like an odd way to do the analysis though, I would have done it per mile.

This also neglects the fact that you save time by driving faster. It's possible the time makes up for the cost (think Bill Gates seeing a dollar bill on the ground).

[Pro Libertate]

And to think they call that thread dead.

The ultimate name in oppressive libertarianism.

[Auric Demonocles]

Who dares call it dead?

[Pro Libertate]

Not me, surely.

[Ted S.]

The tax on time is the most regressive of them all. It's possible to make more money; once you have time taken from you, you can never get it back.

[Amakudari]

You get fewer mpg when traveling over 60 mph or so. Maybe something like this:

(mpg65 - mpg60) * pricepergallon = $0.24

Driving time is a cost, too, and probably outweighs a lot of that additional cost anyway, though.

[Gilbert Martin]

"Driving time is a cost, too, and probably outweighs a lot of that additional cost anyway, though."

But the unwashed masses cannot be allowed to make such tradeoff decisions on an individual basis lest the aggregate result not align with the preferences of the self-appointed guardians of the "public good" (an exponentially expanding category).

Fuel efficiency has therefore become the holy grail to be slavishly pursued at the expense of all other considerations in personal transport.

[Invisible Finger]

You get fewer mpg when traveling over 60 mph or so.

That is really dependent on driving habits more than anything. Smooth acceleration and a somewhat constant rate of speed vs. jack-rabbit starts and frequent alternation between acceleration and deceleration makes all the difference. You can drive a fuel-efficient 70 mph or you can drive a wasteful 70 mph.

[PapayaSF]

Eh, kind of, but basic physics says that the faster the car is going, the more wind resistance it has to overcome, and so the lower the mileage.

[prolefeed]

More to the point, wind resistance goes up as the CUBE of the speed, which means that each increment in speed causes exponentially more wind drag.

That's why aerodynamic sports cars with powerful engines only have top speeds somewhat higher than regular sedans, rather than double or triple the top speed.

[Marcel Marceau]

Is clown makeup still OK?

[P Brooks]

That's all fine, if you call it COST PER MILE; this bizarre and completely arbitrary adjustment to cost per gallon is just idiotic.

And, yes, I will willingly sacrifice a little bit of fuel mileage (and money) to shave time off the trip. Plus, ninety is much more fun (even on the interstate) than sixty.

[Amakudari]

As a simple matter of course, if we use base mpg of 25, then it takes us 25 minutes at 60 mph to get there. Going 65, it takes just a hair over 23 minutes. That's two minutes faster for $0.24, so the question is whether it's worth an equivalent wage of $7.20/hour.

In most cases, I'd say yes. Not only do I make more than that at work, but traveling faster is fun.

[Invisible Finger]

That's two minutes faster for $0.24, so the question is whether it's worth an equivalent wage of $7.20/hour.

Only if someone is actually GIVING you the money.

Drive whatever speed you want, but leave the bullshit reasons behind.

[Amakudari]

That's not my reason. That's the reason of last resort and the one they're giving above: it saves money. I'm point out that it doesn't on most commutes, and few people would consider something worthwhile on a cost-saving basis when it pays about as well as bagging groceries for an hour. The government seems to be ignoring that faster cars get there quicker.

(Also, it's an argument to break the speed limit when you're going below 60, but I don't see anyone arguing that.)

[prolefeed]

My limiting factor in how fast I drive is the cost of speeding tickets, not the slight reduction in MPG. My leisure time is worth more to me than $7.20 an hour.

[P Brooks]

(think Bill Gates seeing a dollar bill on the ground).

He pays somebody to pick up dollar bills off the ground; they look tacky. Gates only wants to see hundreds on the ground.

[prolefeed]

Actually, I think someone calculated that it wasn't worth it to Bill Gates to pick up even a dropped hundred dollar bill, because his time is worth more than that.

[Auric Demonocles]

You know who else hides their faces behind cloth?

Spiderman?

[P Brooks]

Stupid is as stupid does.

Indeed, Grasshopper.

[Joe M]

Is there any particular reason why people are posting links from up to six years ago today? I thought we liked to keep things, you know, as least a little more on the current events side of the news here.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

We're still antiwar. We're stuck in the Bush years.

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

Thanks