Reason Morning Links: Soaps, Trolls, and Schrödinger's Cat

• The budget deal passes.
• Obama, Cameron, and Sarkozy say it's time for Qaddafi to go.
• The country's most infamous copyright troll backs down from a case.
• A big step forward in quantum computing.
• States consider criminalizing some forms of farm exposés.
• The War on Soaps claims two more victims.
• Headline of the week.

The latest from Reason.tv: "47 Ways to Say IRS."

Comments

[The Republicans]

The budget deal passes.

Mission accomplished!

[Sandi]

I passed a budget deal in DC once.

[R C Dean]

So much win. Years of laying the groundwork, relentlessly, pays off.

[wylie]

Years of laying the groundwork pipes, plumbing relentlessly, pays off.

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

Carmen Maura stars in Spanish 'Golden Girls' remake

[Au H20]

The real reason I have this site bookmarked: It's like the Drudge Report for Golden Girls.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The War on Soaps claims two more victims.

Daytime television? Is that thing even still around?

Wtf could they possibly be planning to put in the place of these soaps? Shows about cooking and decorating and pleasing your man? Infomercials about truck driving schools? Cartoons? What?

[rather]

Wtf could they possibly be planning to put in the place of these soaps?

Shows about men cooking, and pleasing women

[cynical]

I didn't realize cannibal fetishists were that big of a demographic

[rather]

Yes, bravery from eating a man's heart and the ability to lie from eating his ....

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

....wife's heart.

[R C Dean]

Telenovelas?

[Tulpa]

"The Chew" and "Revolution", the latter unfortunately not being a Paul family reality show.

What puzzles me is why they can't just fill that space with reruns of the shows from 10 years ago if they don't want to spend money; those things just recycle the same plots over and over again with different actors anyway.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I could get into watching a handsome soap actor in MC Hammer pants melodramatically courting a beautiful soap actress sporting a Farrah 'do, against the backdrop of the Y2K disaster.

[SugarFree]

I often wondered if the typical soap watcher would even notice if the shows were randomized within, say, a month's timeframe.

[Typical Soap Producer]

** laughs up sleeve **

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Often" is not meant to be taken literally, I assume.

[SugarFree]

It just a turn of phrase, like "Fist of Etiquette is a doodoohead."

[Fist of Etiquette]

I've always wanted to enter the national lexicon. Also, Halle Berry.

[Kristen]

Helllooo...court shows & "talk" shows! I telework once a week, so I'm exposed to the likes of Judge Alex, Judge Mathis, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Milian (hot!), Judge Judy and Judge Christina and that other one with the trout pout.

[wylie]

Netflix is your telecommuting partner.

[Tulpa]

Fucking TV judges. They are a big problem with what's going on in our justice system, since real judges try to emulate them. Even this law-and-order libertarian sees no place in our justice system for blackrobed thugs like Judge Judy.

Judge Wapner, now there was a good judge. Alas, he's gone the way of Bozo and the Muppets.

[OO]

"Not surprisingly, most of the states that experienced growth in populations of minority children are the ones where white children are in the minority: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Maryland."
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011.....10-states/
_

the gop's racist southern strategy is reaching its end.

[Restoras]

D-

Try harder.

[Attila the Huh]

Not surprisingly, most of the states that experienced growth in populations of minority children are the ones where white children are in the minority

Huh?

[OO]

in others words white kids are the new minority in states which are critical to the gop.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Like anybody here really gives a shit

[OO]

except those who posted like you.

[Tulpa]

...such as California, Hawaii, and Maryland.

[R C Dean]

Not surprisingly, most of the states that experienced growth in populations of minority children are the ones where white children are in the minority

Isn't that pretty much a tautology?

[Otto]

Not necessarily. Those white people fuck like bunnies.

[Brett L]

At least the Irish and the Poles.

[SugarFree]

"Ladies... START YOUR EXCUSES!"

Prepare to be sickened, and not in the funny way.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Let me guess. It's a man's fault...**checks article**. Looks like I nailed that one.

[rather]

Take your pick:

It is always a man or defective brakes

[Zeb]

I don't know. It seems like the main thrust is that society is at fault because the government isn't "aggressive" enough in seeking out and treating people with mental problems (whether they like it or not, I assume). Blaming men for all problems is silly enough to be somewhat amusing. This is just sickening, as SF warned.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

And if CPS had swooped in a some point and taken the kids away and compelled this women to get treatment for whatever hypothetical mental issue she had, I'm sure there would be widespread support from those loons. Right?

[Abdul]

This is Big Oil's Fault--A hybrid vehicle would never have had enough power to get in the river past the wheel wells.

[wylie]

No, it's because the weight of the batteries prevents the car from taking flight, movie-style, when it leaves the pavement.

[capitol l]

I'd usually find some cringe worthy quote in the comments sections, but these people are fucking monsters who need no additional exposure.

And, what the fuck is the 'rape culture'? This has been popping up a lot lately, has another shitty idea been released from academia?

[SugarFree]

It's been around awhile. It's the paranoid fantasy that our whole culture is dedicated to facilitating, cover-up, and apologizing for rape. "Rape culture" is also the driving force behind efforts to resist the expansion of rape to mean everything from forcible rape to cat-calling.

[capitol l]

It sounds like something that you would read on a flier passed out at school.

Investigations Into Patriarchal Abrahamic Traditions: The Roots of the Rape Culture
We are holding a teach-in seminar at Clay Hall this Saturday to explore the beginning

[capitol l]

Damn squirrels! It wasn't that funny anyways.

[mad libertarian guy]

Though the extent to which they decry our ENTIRE culture as a rape culture, there should be no mistaking that there are absolutely places which do all of those things used to describe what rape culture is. College campuses for example, excel is covering up rape. Even the women are involved in the cover up, because they know if they talk, all of the cool Greek parties won't be around anymore.

As a teacher at UK for years, it was very sad to see women justifying rape so that they can continue to party.

[mad libertarian guy]

The first sentence should read "Though the extent to which they decry our ENTIRE culture as a rape culture is ludicrous, . . ."

[Susan Cringeworthy]

what the fuck is the 'rape culture'?

Obviously you're a part of it.

[zoltan]

I don't get it--it was brought up a lot during this recent Penny Arcade blow-up. If I, as a woman, can laugh at jokes about 9/11, I can sure as hell laugh at rape jokes.

[Au H20]

Wait, Nurtasweet, let me look in my "Lifetime Presents... Solving Mysteries" Book.

Hmmm... says here, "The man did it." Did I get that one right?

[Au H20]

Aw damn... reading the comments on Jezzie, the entire system failed her.

Quote: "This is a woman who had her first child at 15, had three more children within the next ten years, had an unsupportive and possibly abusive partner (she asked to have the locks changed on the doors), was single parenting and working and going to school. Combine that with potential suffering from a mental illness, possibly no health care, and little-to-no outside support and that's a ticking time bomb. The system failed this woman. That doesn't excuse what she did, but it could explain an awful lot of it. If she had had access to and knowledge of birth control, the means to leave an abusive partner, help to access education and work without living in utter poverty, adequate health care, etc at any point in her life, this could have been avoided."

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Notice most of them are discussing her choice and don't pay much attention to the kids.

[Fatty Bolger]

If she had had access to and knowledge of birth control, the means to leave an abusive partner, help to access education and work without living in utter poverty, adequate health care, etc at any point in her life, this could have been avoided.

Wow. Sooooooo much condescension in that comment. What is she saying? That the woman was too primitive to understand how babies were made? She popped them out on the floor of her hut, with no medical assistance? Her boyfriend kept her as a virtual slave?

[Lord Humungus]

If you gave me a million dollars, I could be a millionaire!

[Brett L]

But those bad decisions couldn't possibly come from underlying mental illness, right?

[JW]

Remember now, these are strong, independent perpetual victims.

Hear them roar.

[SugarFree]

The man or the younger woman. They are inclusive.

[cynical]

What a sad story. Why is it that when decide to whack their whole family, they go for a traditional weapon, but when women do that, they opt for mass ophelia? Are chicks just hardwired for drowning shit or something?

[cynical]

missing word: men.

[Au H20]

What is it raining, Alex?

[Apple]

I knew it was out there. I'd just successfully avoided seeing it until now. Damn you.

[robc]

Hey reason editors and/or squirrels:

Can we have a weekend open thread for commenter reviews of AS?

Well, I guess not technically an open thread if it has a theme, but you know what I mean.

[Draco]

Good idea robc, I'm going to see it Saturday night -- with extremely low expectations.

[Ska]

I thought every thread welcomed comments about Adult Swim. Shit we reference AS stuff all the time.

[Restoras]

That's what I thought too.

[Gramps]

a crime to produce, distribute or possess photos and video taken without permission at an agricultural facility.

"Agricultural facility."

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

[Gramps]

Brothel, I mean.

[JD]

Only in Scotland.

[Amateur Sociologist]

"But U.S. District Judge John Kane has no interest in allowing his court to be used as the equivalent of Western Union. In a highly unusual order issued in the wake of Righthaven's dismissal filing, Kane declared that the majority of the document was "immaterial and impertinent." With that in mind, he struck from the record the text following the sentence "The notice closes the file for this case" -- meaning everything after page one of the three-page document."

Bwahahahaha-love to see a good smackdown of a group of legal vultures like Righthaven.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A bill before the Iowa legislature would make it a crime to produce, distribute or possess photos and video taken without permission at an agricultural facility.

Thus putting poultry on equal footing with police.

[Rich]

😎

[Tulpa]

"Bessie's Law"

And you don't want to know how much jail time you get if you produce a video edited to make it appear as if you were singing sexually explicit lyrics to the animals.

[SugarFree]

"Cow bitches ain't shit, 'cept hoes and tips."

[Resto Druid FTW]

I LOL'd at this^^^

[wylie]

hooves instead of hoes?

[Zeb]

I can see trying to ban the making of such videos or photos (but couldn't they just be charged with trespassing?), but "distribute or posseess"? Have the legislators in those states really never heard of the First amendment?

[Fist of Etiquette]

And I see a person who wants it to be legal for him to own crush porn as long as he didn't create it. You sick bastard.

[cynical]

I'm surprised you didn't say "pigs", but to each his own.

[John]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....;=&ccode;=

Inflation coming to China. I wonder how long the CHICOMS can hold out once inflation renders their poor masses into starving masses.

[The Truth]

LALALALALALALALA I can't hear you.

[Restoras]

The city folk won't starve becasue they'll just take a page from good 'ol boy Stalin and steal grain from the farmers and shoot those that resist.

Of course, Tony would think this is just dandy since the state owns everything.

[John]

They will try that. But I think things might be different this time. It is going to be ugly.

[Tulpa]

It was ugly that time too, given that the farmers reacted by not growing anything the next year.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

It got very ugly in isolated parts of Russia & the Ukraine. The Kulaks were frequently in open revolt against the Soviet government. With no allies to arm or help them. These revolts were ruthlessly crushed with whole villages & towns being slaughtered.

[John]

But Russia at that time had a core of fanatics who really beleived in Communism. The Chicoms don't have that. The city dwellers hate the regime to. I think it will end in chaos and open civil war followed on by some kind of hellish failed state.

[John]

And also this is a different problem than what faced 1930s Russia. There, there wasn't enough food so the city dwellers went out to steal it. Here, there is plenty of food, but the poor can't afford it. The city dwellers won't be starving, they will be just a bit poorer. The poor in the countrside will be starving. I think that creates a different dynamic.

[Restoras]

But won't the poor in the countryside actually have the food, as that's where it's grown, and it will be the poor in the cities that starve?

[JoshINHB]

The city dwellers won't be starving, they will be just a bit poorer. The poor in the countrside will be starving.

Sounds like a replay of the Irish potato famine.

[Cytotoxic]

There is already a hell of a lot of unrest in the countryside. I doubt a failed state happening. I fear China's military-which is already feeling its oats-could muscle into power explicitly or gradually. Guess which economic system they'll scapegoat?

I generally favor US military disengagement from that region, but the rise to power of a nationalistic military government in China would actually be a situation where I think the US should make long term plans to beef up in the region.

[Tulpa]

Nationalistic military govt would mean a return to 1980s China, essentially. I don't recall us having much reason to fear China at that time.

[Cytotoxic]

It would be that China without a common Soviet foe and lots of national wealth to be plundered-er, nationalized,-in the name of the people. Then they will look for a common enemy/enemies. Bad times.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Where's The Truth?

Over at Max's, getting handled.

[Lord Humungus]

*man-handled

[CoyoteBlue]

Inflation is a teafucking, ratbagging myth.
ooooh, gold an silver up, wonder why?
http://www.thestreet.com/story.....rries.html

[John]

Those are only up because of tea bagging ratfucking hoarders.

[Tulpa]

Gold is actually down today and up only about 5% over the past two months.

[Restoras]

Cue shriek saying "It's supply/demand, you simpleton."

Get ready for $5.00 gas.

[Au H20]

I'll raise you that even the NY Times is getting worried.

[Tulpa]

The soaring prices have even affected relationships -- only men who can afford nice apartments are considered marriage material.

Somehow I doubt that the housing bubble is the main reason that's a problem. The ratio 110:100 comes to mind for some reason.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

China is headed straight for some serious shit. At least in the US, we have the resources to feed ourselves, assuming that we start setting fire to some ethanol plants.

[Spoonman.]

North America is the best continent for growing food, I'm pretty sure.

[Tulpa]

Europe has by far the highest percentage of arable land IIRC. North America has a lot of desert and tundra.

[Spoonman.]

Percentage, sure. But Europe is small and mountainous.

[Spoonman.]

The US has the most arable land of any country: wiki

[Tulpa]

Yes, because the countries that are of comparable size or larger have gigantic swaths of tundra (Russia,Canada) or deserts and mountains (China) or impenetrable jungle (Brazil).

But Canada and Mexico being mostly barren dooms NA in the continental arability contest.

[robc]

I think the key is "potentially arable land", not "arable land". The US has lots of meadows that havent been plowed under for crops but that could be.

[Tulpa]

The US, particularly in New England, has a lot of former farmland that's been abandoned and re-forested.

[Nick]

I'm not worried since I live down the road from an apple orchard. I'll just live on cider donuts if need be.

[Restoras]

Yeah, will make for a big army, eh? Given the demogrphic decline Russia is in the midst of I wouldn't be surprise if the ChiComs made a grap for eastern Russia/Siberia. They'll need the resources.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Anybody with resources in the immediate vicinity of China should be worried.

[Kim Jong Il]

Now you see the brilliance of my plan.

[R C Dean]

I don't think anyone is going to be making a grab for the territory of any nuclear state.

[Restoras]

Doesn't China have teh nukes, too? Sure it will cause hardship and suffering on the part of the Chinese population that gets incinerated but Russia will suffer just as much, maybe more in the long term given their demographic decline.

I suppose China could buy up huge tracts of farmland in far-off places and de facto colonize it with their surplus male population.

[Nick]

What's the point of nuking the country you want to buy or steal food from? "Mmm, these radiated veggies are fucking awesome!"

[Lord Humungus]

over Putin's shirtless dead-body.

[FlyoverCountry]

Quick ethanol fact: Only about 20% of the corn kernal is converted into ethanol - the remaining 75-80% goes back in to the food chain, either in some form a dried grain product, a syrup or an oil.

These products are used by cattle/pork producers as a feed additive and are more efficent then feeding whole or cracked corn.

As corrupt as the subsidies and the federal mixture mandate are, ethanol does not take corn out of the food supply in any appreciable amount.

[FlyoverCountry]

Sorry, that was a reply to Scruffy NH up at the top of the thread...

I'm no good at this

[kinnath]

The byproducts of ethanol production do go back into the production of meat for wealthy nations like us. That does not help the people in poor countries that would have used the grain directly as a foodstuff.

[Brett L]

Right. Stop subsidizing it and see if cracked corn isn't cheaper with the inefficiency built in. I'm betting on yes.

[Mike M.]

Who is that troll who comes in here every one in a while and writes long screeds about how it's all over for us and the Chinese are going to take over within the next year or two?

[TheTruth.com]

Chinese tobacco production is through the roof. LOL American Spirit.

[John]

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04.....olitician/

Mickey Klaus gets ahead of the curve and self identifies as rube who will vote for Obama in 2012 even though he is obviously an incompetant menace.

[Lord Humungus]

because Republicans are evil! gawd, I hate the two-party system.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Researchers from Australia and Japan have successfully teleported wave packets of light...

Does this mean if I forget my flashlight at home I will still be able to use it wherever I have internet access? Because that's what they seemed to promise me with conventional fibre optics and that didn't pan out.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wait, that should read "fleshlight".

[wylie]

Isn't your portable-internet-access device ALREADY your flashlight? I know my phone is.

[Restoras]

"Obama, Cameron, and Sarkozy say it's time for Qaddafi to go."

Funny how they don't specify where, or when.

Conveniently, GITMO is still open so he could go there. Weather is nice, three hots and a cot, a brand new, shrink-wrapped koran waiting on your bunk. Paradise!

[Brett L]

Sweet. Another endless fucking war for no particular reason. I'm now marking time until the Canadians march on and sack DC.

[cynical]

I plan to go and throw flowers at the Canadian liberators.

[Brett L]

I was thinking more of a Vandals sack Rome sort of affair where they loot a bunch of shit and march off to South Carolina to establish a new nation.

[Restoras]

I wonder if they'll take mercenaries.

[Brett L]

They might. I think the South Carolingians may be more warlike than the Gauls.

[VikingMoose]

OMG! OMG! OMG!

Kirk Cameron says that???? then we must do it!!!!

[Nick]

And it's in Cuba. He loves Cuba! Win-win!

[John]

http://dailycaller.com/2011/04.....arenthood/

Olberman wishes on Twitter that SE Cupp had been aborted in the womb. Fuck you Olberman, the world can never have to many hot women.

[robc]

ESPN - this is what happens when you are assholes to your staff and you cause them to leave.

[Au H20]

So ESPN is like Con Air for broadcasters?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I had never even heard of S.E. Cupp before I heard this story this morning. So I went and Googled her.

What's up with all these extremely hot but very right-wing conservative women? Makes me wonder if they're wild in bed, or just up-tight as they are in daily life.

[sloopyinca]

Wanna know something else about her that'll really get the boners up here?

She's an atheist.

[Cytotoxic]

Boner Time!

[NSA]

Researchers from Australia and Japan have successfully teleported wave packets of light

Uh, oh.

[Pro Libertate]

God's encryption?

[John]

The would be a great name for a popular science book on the subject.

[Jerry]

Soon we will have pretty god privacy.

[John]

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel.....s-2475128/

Ah poor baby, chivalry is dead. She just can't have it all.

[SugarFree]

That whole site is a massive iceberg of fail.

[John]

Yes it is.

[SugarFree]

Imagine if it started drifting toward Jezebel. It'd be like a Thomas hardy poem.

[zoltan]

Heh, I got that...does that make me smart?!?!?!

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Yes, but their headline editor is da bomb:

World Penis Size Map Is Hard News to Swallow

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Women need to make up their minds. Do they want to be treated like men or not? If you want to be treated like men, you can open your own doors and pay for your own food.

[Pat]

Whatever you want, Honey.

[Au H20]

It's PAT!!!

Seriously, that was an awful SNL skit back in the day. Can't believe it became a movie.

[Au H20]

Some squirrel is going to die!!!

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

If you want to call that a "movie"...

[Au H20]

It's PAT!!!

Seriously, that was an awful SNL skit back in the day. Can't believe it became a movie.

[DJF]

""""Women need to make up their minds"''

Silly man.

[TRTB]

Yeah, good luck with that one.

[zoltan]

Women need to make up their minds. Do they want to be treated like men or not? If you want to be treated like men, you can open your own doors and pay for your own food.

We're not a monolithic block who all want the same thing. Determine what YOU want and start from there.

[robc]

Premiums for gold bars were steady at between 70 cents and $1 an ounce in Singapore.

Huh. I would have guessed the premium for physical gold to be higher than that. You still have to pick it up and haul it away and store it, so there are other expenses. And, of course, its harder to trade than paper gold, but still.

[R C Dean]

Its also harder to confiscate than paper gold. Fundamentally, gold is about security, after all.

And, of course, there continue to be serious doubts about the validity of paper gold contracts and, for that matter, the inventory of various depositories.

A $1 an ounce premium is decimal dust on a commodity going for nearly $1500/ounce.

[Au H20]

"English is an inherently patriarchal language, a language of colonialism and empire"

[Spoonman.]

It's like they don't have a "battles worth fighting" filter.

[Brett L]

That would imply they have some fairly accurate model of reality in their head.

[John]

The language of Milton, Donne, Shakespeare, Yeats, and so forth. These people are just fucking barbarians. And not good ones who drink copeous amounts of beer and burn shit down.

[Au H20]

Beer and burning shit reinforce patriarchal values, John.

[cynical]

Most children are.

[SugarFree]

Make it all picture menus. They can just nod and point at whatever they are complaining about today.

[NoVAHockey]

that's a big menu

[SugarFree]

It could be a huge mural, painted by children of all races and sexualities, speaking to each other in Gaysperanto.

[Leon DNS Ren]

"When the swallows come back to capistrano..."

[Lord Humungus]

+100

[Somalian Road Corporation]

It only took until the second sentence for income inequality to come up. Surprise surprise.

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

I want your screen name dammit

[Au H20]

Introducing: The People's Budget

[Au H20]

Introducing: The People's Budget

[Au H20]

DAMN YOU SQUIRRELS!

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

I'll see your People's Budget and raise you with a slideshow of the 7 meanest budget cuts:

http://money.cnn.com/galleries.....tml?hpt=T2

[sloopyinca]

So, it's a "tragic" cut for us to stop funding land mine removal? When was the last time anyone heard about some poor sap in Missouri that had his leg blown to bits by a mine?

But, the real beauty of that cut is the misleading headline: Land Mine Removal. Of course, here's the (un)surprising last couple of sentences: " It's not clear if the $14 million in cuts will come out of the land mine program's budget. If they do, Hudson said it would be "detrimental.""

Ah yes. Nothing better than a bit of good old-fashioned fear-mongering and outright bullshit to get your point across.

[OO]

ud feel way diff if u stepped on a land mine made in the US of A. doah

[sloopyinca]

Of course I'd feel way different. I'd feel like I was missing a leg.

[OO]

Please ignore me. I am stupid and don't regularly take my meds.

[wylie]

When was the last time anyone heard about some poor sap in Missouri that had his leg blown to bits by a mine?

I'd think those funds would be for removing ordinance from Vietnam/Laos.

[sloopyinca]

Here's another gem. This one from the $16M cut in the $2B budget for the Administration on Aging, which is nothing more than a federal bureaucracy that helps old people navigate federal bureaucracies (you can't make this shit up).

"We need to keep in mind that these programs serve less advantaged families," said Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in the economic studies program at the Brookings Institution. "No sacrifice has been asked of the wealthy who don't rely on such programs but do pay taxes."

Uh, I'd say the taxes they pay for services they don't use are sacrifice enough, bitch.

Gotta love t

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

Carmen Maura stars in Spanish 'Golden Girls' remake

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

An Observer of the public's 'speech crimes'

[cynical]

Make sense. If you think it's acceptable to punish women who don't stay in the home or fully veiled, rather than punish rapists, you probably think it's acceptable to punish protestors rather than the murderous savages who will be set off by their actions.

Of course, lefty shitstains forget that what applies to the BNP today, applies to them tomorrow.

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

'Eating Local' Is Unethical

The Never-Ending Debate Over Olive Garden's Tuscan Cooking School

[sloopyinca]

I did the self-taught version of the Olive Garden cooking school.

I went out and bought a can opener.

[wylie]

I'm guessing you only had to buy the can opener as you already had a microwave at home.

[cynical]

Eating local is just as ethical as not. Frankly, I can see value in maintaining a nearby agricultural sector in case the world goes Mad Max.

[wylie]

A decentralized agricultural sector would also protect against smaller disasters like a dry season or late frost. It just sounds like a good plan to me, and that's why I started my Victory Garden last spring.

[Au H20]

California to consider bill requiring teaching of LGBT, People with disabilities, history

[The Ghost of Ambrose Bierce]

What, not the contributions of men similarly warted?

[Scruffy Nerd Herder]

Identity politics, where each group jockeys for most favored victim status.

[John]

Peggy Noonan today made the point that Obama by all rights should lose in 2012 but the GOP may blow it, which is a fair point. The really disturbing thought is how bad would a second Obama term be? He is already board and barely paying attention. He already has the midas touch to turn anything into a political disaster. And even really successful Presidencies like Eisenhower and Reagan ran into problems in their second term. There has never been a President who was such an unmitigated disaster get a second term. How bad could it really get? Answer that question and then imagine something much worse and you probably are getting close to reality.

[Tulpa]

He is already board

His delivery is a bit wooden, but I wouldn't go quite that far.

There has never been a President who was such an unmitigated disaster get a second term.

Bush II, FDR, Nixon qualify for that one in my book.

[John]

Nixon's first term at least politically was reasonably successful. No one but the anti-war left hated Nixon during his first term. That is why he won in a landslide in 72. And his second term ended in Watergate. That is not exactly a positive precedent if you are Obama.

In Bush II's first term, the economy was good and people still supported but the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Obama wishes he were in as good a shape as Bush II was in 2004. And again, how exactly is Bush II's second term anything for the country or Obama to look to as a positive example of a second term?

And FDR was wildly popular. He may have been a fool and wrong. But there is no denying he was popular.

So none of those examples are analogous to now.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

And FDR was wildly popular. He may have been a fool and wrong. But there is no denying he was popular.

One can be both popular and an unmitigated disaster. This country would be far better off if FDR had died as a child. Barry is really going to have to stretch to compete with that level of disasterousness, but I don't think we can rule it out yet.

[Gray Ghost]

This country would be far better off if FDR had died as a child.

I sometimes wonder how the country would've turned out if that idiot Italian could've shot straight and John Nance Garner ended up being President? I don't think the Nazis would've ended up winning WW II, but still, it's hard to think of all of the possible changes.

[Gavrillo DNS Princip]

Imagine if I failed to plug Archduke Ferdinand! There's ya some full blown "What if?"

[JD]

Germany was itching for a war. If Archduke Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated, they would have found another excuse.

[Pro Libertate]

Don't scoff. I understand that the Democrats are giving serious thought to replacing the president with a full-sized, wooden cut-out.

[John]

Didn't they already do that after Obamacare was passed? At the very least I thought they had gone for a celebrity impersonator stand in.

[Pro Libertate]

You'll know when his lips start moving like a Clutch Cargo cartoon.

[kinnath]

A cigar-store Indian. That way they can capture another minority voting block.

[sloopyinca]

Don't scoff. I understand that the Democrats are giving serious thought to replacing the president with a full-sized, wooden cut-out.

Jesus. Is Biden really gonna end up in the White House?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Sloopy FTW.

[capitol l]

All these people that claim that either Obama won't be nominated or will lose handily in '12 seem to forget what the opposition is looking like right now.

As of now the R's that have intentions of running aren't serious threats to a sitting president. It's a type of devil you know-Stockholm syndrome.

There also seems to be this perception on the right that Obama is HUGELY unpopular(like the left though of GW in '04) and that any fool they nominate will win handily. My experience in dealing with politically uninterested people(the bejeweled undecided centrists) is that they are agnostic towards Obama, but would definitely vote for him over someone like Trump, or Titties.

I am not making an argument for or against these things; it' just my observation.

[West Texas]

My experience in dealing with politically uninterested people(the bejeweled undecided centrists) is that they are agnostic towards Obama, but would definitely vote for him over someone like Trump, or Titties.

Unfortunately, this is completely accurate.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Let's see what $5 a gallon gas and a double dip do for their agnosticism.

[Tulpa]

Obama isn't your average sitting president. Bush was in a much stronger position in 2004 than Obama is likely to be next year; the Iraq War hadn't really gone south yet and the economy was in seemingly good shape.

But that's why I consider it a strong possibility that BO steps aside in Nov and Hillary takes the nom (she's the only one who can raise money on short notice)... then the GOP would be massively screwed if they have the same pool of candidates they do now.

[Tulpa]

Of course, it's likely the GOP takes back the Senate regardless. There were a lot of Democratic senators elected in deep red states in 2006 and they're all coming up for reelection with no Bush to run against.

[John]

The problem the Democrats are going to have is that Obama won with a historic turnout among blacks and a large youth vote. He is unlikely to get either in 2012 no matter what happens. He has to find a way to scrape together votes to make up for that. And if he stepped aside for Hillary, black turnout might fall off a cliff destroying Dem cadnidates up and down the ballot. For that reason my guess is he doesn't step aside.

It is really an electoral college issue. Hard to imagine him winning states like Virginia or North Carolina again. Right now, he is at best looking at the same situation Al Gore was in having to pull what amounts to an inside striaght winning the industrial midwest and then picking off Florida. In this economy, I don't see how he wins Ohio and Pennsylvania.

[Tulpa]

I'm not sure black turnout would drop to below normal levels if Obama gave up voluntarily.

And if Clinton runs, she could easily pick up all those states after two years of frustration with Boner and company in the House.

[John]

"I'm not sure black turnout would drop to below normal levels if Obama gave up voluntarily."

I think they might. Time would tell. But if black turnout drops to normal levels, Hillary is back to the same electoral math that were facing Gore and Kerry. That didn't work out too well the last time.

And Hillary is serving in this administration. She is the one who got us into the war in Libya. Basically you are telling me that people will be frustrated with Bonior because they are not doing enough about the deficit and in turn vote for someone who is part of the administration that prevented Bonior from doing anything about the deficit. That is too retarded even for American voters.

And no President in living memory has walked away voluntarily from the Presidency and had their party retain the office. It divides and demoralizes the party too much for the replacement to have any hope of winning.

[Tulpa]

Hmmm, I'm not sure how many presidents even walked away voluntarily (excluding resignations). LBJ would be the only post-22nd amendment one. Before that, while technically you could run for a third term, it was strongly discouraged -- only the two Roosevelts tried -- so I don't know if you could count Truman in 1952 and Coolidge in 1928 (who was followed by his veep).

[John]

Truman had only won one election. So I think he counts. And no one has ever walked away after one term.

[robc]

I posted the Polk stuff below in response to Tulpa without seeing John's lack of historical knowledge.

[robc]

James K Polk.

It only took him 4 years to achieve all his goals, so he didnt run again.

Or something like that, I think thats what TMBG said.

[robc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwIcWt1HKt8

In 1844, the Democrats were split
The three nominees for the presidential candidate
Were Martin Van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist
James Buchanan, a moderate
Louis Cass, a general and expansionist
From Nashville came a dark horse riding up
He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump

Austere, severe, he held few people dear
His oratory filled his foes with fear
The factions soon agreed
He's just the man we need
To bring about victory
Fulfill our manifest destiny
And annex the land the Mexicans command
And when the votes were cast the winner was
Mister James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump

In four short years he met his every goal
He seized the whole southwest from Mexico
Made sure the tarriffs fell
And made the English sell the Oregon territory
He built an independent treasury
Having done all this he sought no second term
But precious few have mourned the passing of
Mister James K. Polk, our eleventh president
Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump

[Skip]

Martin Van Buren was an abolitionist? That Amistad movie made him look like Jefferson Davis.

[R C Dean]

Hillary is back to the same electoral math that were facing Gore and Kerry.

Actually, its worse this time, as electoral college seats migrated to redder states under the 2010 census.

[mad libertarian guy]

Lesson #1: NOTHING is too retarded for American voters.

We currently have as unimpressive a president as we've ever had, and all because American voters desired to be "part of history".

If that isn't the dumbest fucking reason to vote for someone, I don't know what is.

[cynical]

We currently have as unimpressive a president as we've ever had, and all because American voters desired to be "part of history".

I think they'll get their wish, though perhaps not like they had planned.

[Nick]

In a general election for the President, the American voters will always elect "I like him better than the other guy." Always.

[West Texas]

If Obama were to drop out before the primaries, black turnout would likely drop to normal levels and almost all of the first time "just show me how to vote for Obama!" types would stay home.

But in any other scenario, whether he's primaried and drops out, or simply loses the nomination or the general election, and they'll all stay home.

And I can see some civil unrest occurring, too, in some of the latter scenarios.

[Tulpa]

It would be funny if the Greens nominate him in that case.

[Fatty Bolger]

He's already running again and kicked off his re-election campaign today in Chicago. (Mostly fund raising at this point, of course.) There is no way he is going to voluntarily drop out.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Black turnout is a no-brainer. But the "yute"?

Half the kids my oldest son's age (26) who thought I was a deranged monster when I critiqued Obama in '08 and dismissed him as a cult of personality, now see 2012 as a turd sandwich/giant douche contest when I talk to them.

[NoVAHockey]

Obama stepping down would indicate he has even some humility -- I just don't see it. only if his internals are really bad and he doesn't want to be embarrassed. and they'd have to be awful.

[capitol l]

Obama has >>80% approval rating among voting democrats, he'll be the nominee.

And if I were the gop, I wouldn't be counting on Obama's fuck-ups to propel a party hack to the White House.

[Tulpa]

And Trump has as much likelihood of getting the nom as Ron Paul, that is, none. I don't know who Titties is...Chris Christie?

[Pro Libertate]

Newcular Titties. And neither he nor Trump has a prayer of getting nominated.

[SugarFree]

Joke's on you. Trump is going to rape an entire field of sweet corn. Iowans will go gaga for him in no time. "Oh, yeah... you like that? You like in the cob, bitch?"

[Pro Libertate]

No man with his hair has ever won the presidency before.

[Tulpa]

Speaking of presidential grooming:

Last president with facial hair: William Howard Taft, 1913.
Last president with a beard: Benjamin Harrison, 1893.

WTF?

[Pro Libertate]

I'd totally vote for a bearded president. We need that kind of thinking in the White House.

[Tulpa]

I'd totally vote for a bearded president. We need that kind of thinking in the White House.

Unfortunately, the only potential nominee who would fit the bill is Hillary.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

"I'd totally vote for a bearded president"

Only if he had an "evil alternate universe" goatee.

[John Thacker]

John Bolton has a crazy mustache, though that's not all about him that's crazy and he also wouldn't win the nomination.

[sloopyinca]

John Bolton has a crazy mustache, though that's not all about him that's crazy and he also wouldn't win the nomination.

Please stop using the word crazy as it degrades lunatics, psychos, whack-jobs and schizos across the country. People like the poor deranged son of Chrisa Hickey may be offended.

[JD]

Speaking of presidential grooming:

Last president with facial hair: William Howard Taft, 1913.
Last president with a beard: Benjamin Harrison, 1893.

WTF?

Women's suffrage. We also haven't had a fat president since the 19th Amendment was ratified.

[SugarFree]

First black president, then the first flock of seagulls president. Come, smell TEH HISTORY!

[Pro Libertate]

And Iran, Iran's so far away.
It's just Iran, Iran all night and day.
Gonna bomb it anyway.

[DNS]

^^ LULZ! ^^

[Flock of Seagulls Candidate]

..and I raaaaan I ran for presideeennnttt. I ran for president.

[grrizzly]

Trump will get a nomination only if a major problem is discovered with Obama's birth certificate. In this case the entire establishment (both parties, media) collapses and the characters who were previously considered crazy conspiracy theorists (like Trump) would be the only ones left with any credibility. In other words Trump's birtherism is the smartest political strategy available to him.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not voting for him no matter what. I think I'm far from alone in that.

[robc]

Im sure Im voting for random LP candidate again.

Unless Paul or Johnson win the GOP primary...so yearh, Im voting for random LP guy.

[Pro Libertate]

What's slightly different for me is that I can cast a libertarianish vote in the primary again. Usually, I have to wait for the general, where I vote LP. If one of the quasi-libertarian Republicans wins the general, I'd likely vote for him.

[mad libertarian guy]

^^THIS^^

[Tulpa]

During the next 18 months, I will convince you to love Mitt Romney as I do.

[Draco]

Her point is that they can blow it by acting out (like so many do on these comment threads), stamping their feet, screaming that the end of the world is nigh, and nominating a wild eyed extremist (or someone who can easily be portrayed as such by the MSM). I was curious as to exactly which candidates she had in mind (she declines to mention any of them by name).

[robc]

Anyone named by the GOP will be portrayed as a Wild eyed extremist by the MSM. So might as well go for it.

Also, insert Cicero quote here.

[mike]

The best thing for this country would be for Obama to win a second term. Yes I know, it sounds peverse but think about it - will any of the Republiclowns do any good? Can you count on more than your fingers house and senate members who will?

The situation is not yet dire enough for a complete flush of the politicians of both parties. The sooner things crash and burn, the better. I would far prefer a barnburner of a fire soon so I can start rebuilding quickly than an uncontained brush fire that takes an acre a day and eventually consumes everything while people stand with their ****s in their hand hoping to pee it out.

[Tulpa]

Two problems with this:

1. Obama has shown himself completely willing to circumvent Congress on issues like CO2 regulation.

2. Scalia and Kennedy aren't going to live forever. You want Obama nominating their replacements? Say bye-bye to Heller and Citizens United.

[Draco]

Spoken like a man without a job, a house, a wife, children, and elderly parents. Here's some advice for all of you libertarians and conservatives who want to bring on the apocalypse so you can start anew: go pound sand.

[John]

Yeah. and like there is any gaurentee that burning it down will not produce something much worse than what we have now. We should never forget, it can always get worse.

[John Dickinson]

I concur!

[R C Dean]

Here's some advice for all of you libertarians and conservatives who want to bring on the apocalypse so you can start anew: go pound sand.

Draco, the fiscapocalypse is pretty much wired in at this point. The issue isn't whether the dollar, the bond market, and the economy craters, its when and how hard.

[John]

No it is not. You are just one of the people Draco is talking about engaging in wishful thinking. But unless you have lived somewhere besides the US in your life, you have never known a real no kidding breakdown of the economy and society. And thus you have no idea what you are wishing for and will regret the hell out of it when you get it.

[robc]

There is a huge difference between acknowledging what is coming and wishing for it.

I think there are fixes to avoid the fiscal apocalypse, but they are things politicians are willing to do.

Letting the banks collapse in 2008 would have been a huge fix, for example, but the will to do it didnt exist.

"Oh noes, life might be hard for 24 months, lets screw up the next 20 years instead."

[robc]

arent willing to do.

[John]

We should have let the banks collapse in 2008 and things are going to be a lot worse when it comes now.

[robc]

See John, you are one of those engaging in wishful thinking people too.

[DNS]

See John, you are one of those engaging in wishful thinking people too.

Perhaps John should Go West and have a peak at our dystopian and pastel future.

[Zeb]

Well, the apocalypse is not very likely to be brought on by some fringe libertarians hoping for it.

[Mike Laursen]

Thanks for writing this. I didn't understand when I was younger, either. I probably would have been calling for the financial apocalypse, too.

[Brett L]

The biggest favor the Republicans can do themselves is have everyone (even Paul) who lost to McCain retire from campaigning. Seriously? Mitt Fucking Romney is going to suck up valuable oxygen at debates? Suckabee? All of these guys are going to soak up time and resources that could be going to actual viable candidates.

[John]

True. But these people are in politics. That means they are craven and immoral and will never step aside.

[Tony]

Obama bad grunt grunt.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Obama good - tee hee hee.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Obama bad grunt grunt.

Finally, something on which we agree. Except for the "grunt grunt" part.

[Au H20]

The Great Produce Robbery

[Au H20]

Well, I thought it was a cool link.

Jerks.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

*jerks*

FIFY

[Rock Action]

It was pretty cool - and neatly illustrative of rising food prices and demand. No comments doesn't necessarily mean nobody is reading.

But that said, did they really have to steal food that was headed for Detroit? Isn't that sort of like cutting off the food supply to a war zone?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Justin Bieber fans form new settlement outside Tel Aviv hotel

Secretary of State Clinton is on her way over to persuade them to take down that settlement.

[Cruise Missile]

So am I.

[John]

Hamas can help its world standing by just rocketing there.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And out comes the Haterpillar armored bulldozer to pancake some Bieber fans. Shame on you anti-Canadian bastards.

[John]

The Hataerpiller has to flatten someone.

[Brett L]

Or Gaza becomes the first nation to be razed by an international force of pissed off 14yo girls.

[Au H20]

The University of Iowa is more prepared for the zombie apocalypse that you

[JEP]

Purdue has one of these games as well. When are people from my generation going to grow the fuck up?

[Au H20]

The 6 Most Ridiculous Things Ever Taxed

[robc]

Income, property, sales and sin.

What are th other 2?

[SugarFree]

Capital gains and dividends.

[John]

savings interest

[Taxman]

My patience.

[Maryland]

What's funny about that?

[Draco]

Big step forward in quantum computing

Always amusing to watch a reporter try (and inevitably fail) to explain anything involving quantum mechanics.

Most people can't understand classical physics (I believe physics is still more feared than chemistry in high school). Far fewer can understand quantum mechanics. Far fewer of those can understand quantum electrodynamics. And reporters don't usually fall into any of these categories. Which is probably okay, because neither do almost any of their readers.

So why do they even bother trying?

[John]

IN fairness, no one understands quantum physics. At best you can just understand the math and describe phenomea. But understanding it? No way. Nature is too fucking wierd for that.

[Tulpa]

For those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.

* Niels Bohr, quoted in Heisenberg, Werner (1971). Physics and Beyond. New York: Harper and Row. pp. 206.

I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.

* Richard Feynman, in The Character of Physical Law (1965)

[Pro Libertate]

There are levels of ignorance. At the very bottom is science reporting.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Right below political reporting.

[Pro Libertate]

Strangely, I think that's correct. While the biases and lack of skepticism in political reporting are bad, the ignorance and willingness to run without facts in science reporting is just silly. As a general rule, of course--there are exceptions.

[Brett L]

That article from Gary Taubes in the NYT yesterday was more what science reporting should be. He was careful to delineate what he thought from what he could prove. Does he have a side? Yep, and he was upfront. However, he was very open that they don't have good longitudinal data on humans to support his claims.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Just barely above that is reporting on anything related to guns. There is, after all, a fair amount of science involved with how firearms operate.

[robc]

I dont remember who it was now, but physicist being interviewed:

Interviewer: [discussion of Einstein] blah blah, it is said that you are one of 3 people who understand General Relativity.

Physicist: Who is the third?

[SugarFree]

The Wiki Hath Spoken...

In the early years after Einstein's theory was published, Sir Arthur Eddington lent his considerable prestige in the British scientific establishment in an effort to champion the work of this German scientist. Because the theory was so complex and abstruse (even today it is popularly considered the pinnacle of scientific thinking; in the early years it was even more so), it was rumored that only three people in the world understood it. There was an illuminating, though probably apocryphal, anecdote about this. As related by Ludwik Silberstein, during one of Eddington's lectures he asked "Professor Eddington, you must be one of three persons in the world who understands general relativity." Eddington paused, unable to answer. Silberstein continued "Don't be modest, Eddington!" Finally, Eddington replied "On the contrary, I'm trying to think who the third person is."

[John Dickinson]

Danke.

[robc]

Damn you Dickinson, you screw up everything.

[Pro Libertate]

I know that quote. If I had to guess, I'd say Heisenberg or Bohr.

[Pro Libertate]

Or Eddington.

[Breaking bad]

heisenberg makes great blue meth !

[Trespassers W]

Poincare.

Of course, the quote is apocryphal in any case.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Maybe I'm just lazy, but I can't make myself want to learn much about quantum mechanics. I'm willing to take it on faith that it's the best explanation we have right now, but I think one day somebody smart is going to figure out a much better explanation for all our observations and its going to retroactively make quantum mechanics look very silly. And then I'll be really happy I never learned the stupid version.

[Rich]

Snappy music in the IRS video.

[OO]

Israeli town rallies against African refugees~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eilat is home to thousands of refugees and their lives in the small town are often marred by open hostility.
Mya Guarnieri Last Modified: 13 Apr 2011 14:59
_
African refugees, and the misconceptions that come with them, have become a major issue in the Israeli town of Eilat, inspiring the "red flag" campaign against the newcomers [Mya Guarnieri]
>The shift is most obvious, perhaps, in Eilat, the small city in the south where Anei and several thousand African asylum seekers live. Here, refugees find their children barred from municipal schools. And in a move that has alarmed both human rights organisations and the local branch of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the municipality has hung red flags throughout the city as part of a municipal campaign against African migrants - initiated by employees of the state of Israel and financed with public funds.
>The flags are part of a campaign called "protect our homes", hung by residents under the auspicies of local solidarity against the migrants.
>I visited Eilat in the wake of several media reports that the 1,500 red flags had been taken down. I found that they were not removed but reduced; some were replaced by Israeli and municipal flags.
>Shimon Hajiani, the 19-year-old son of Jewish immigrants who came to Israel from Morocco and France, remarks that the state needs to "throw" African refugees out.
"They make problems," he says.
When asked what those problems are, Hajiani answers: "Rape and robbery. Also they work in the hotels instead of Israelis."
>Eilat's economy is dependent on tourism. While many African asylum seekers are employed in local hotels, the commonly held idea that they have "stolen" jobs is untrue. These are jobs that Israelis do not want - which is one reason why government initiatives encouraging Israelis to move to Eilat and work in this sector have failed.
>Other interviewees repeated Hajiani's claim that African refugees are robbing Israelis and raping Jewish woman. But according to statistics compiled by the Knesset, asylum seekers have a lower crime rate than Israelis. And in fact, as the community of asylum seekers grows, their crime rate goes down.
http://english.aljazeera.net/i.....50535.html
_
racist zenophobia is the same whether arizona or israel

[Restoras]

Nice comfy life ya got there, in your parent's basement. Be ashame if anything happened to it.

[VingVee]

Wow, I never really thought about it like that. Makes sense.

http://www.internet-privacy.pro.tc

[Old Mexican]

States consider criminalizing some forms of farm expos?s.

"Come back here, boy! You have defiled my darling daughter!"

[Brett L]

I was thinking about the ones that catch Farmer Brown practicing his special form of animal husbandry on the sheep.

[Old Mexican]

Obama's $5 Billion Weatherizing Program Wastes Stimulus Funds, Auditors Find

The most dramatic example can be found in Delaware, where "gross mismanagement and potential fraudulent activity" that federal auditors found last year could affect hundreds of homes, a senior administration official told FoxNews.com. The subsequent repairs and inspections reportedly will cost the state a significant chunk of the $7.5 million remaining from $13.7 million of stimulus it received in 2009.

Fraud and waste, in a govenment program??? Say it ain't so, Shoeless! Say it ain't so!

[Cyto]

From the "Child Protective Services uses SWAT teams to force a kid to take medicine" files.

Mom doesn't want kid to take drug she deems dangerous and apparently FDA hasn't approved for this use. Government brings in tanks.

Now she's going away for multiple felonies. At the crux of the state's argument, they say she's guilty of "discharging a weapon in a residence". I'm not sure exactly how that could be a crime in and of itself... (walls being relatively poor at stopping bullets I could see reckless endangerment if pointed in a dangerous direction).

Anyway, CPS got what they wanted. Oh wait, no they didn't. Apparently they decided the kid doesn't need the drug now after all.

[Tulpa]

For those of us who prefer non-Troofer media, here's a link to a real news site.

[Cyto]

That is indeed a better source, although it leaves out the SWAT goodness. I got the other link from Drudge. I love the irony when the state proceeds to do exactly the thing that it tosses someone in jail for doing. Brings to mind Richard Paey.

[Otto]

To be fair, the state of Florida gave Paey more drugs than he was taking on the outside.

[zoltan]

That woman's a fucking hero for defending her child.

[P Brooks]

When are people from my generation going to grow the fuck up?

Thirty is the new fifteen.

[mad libertarian guy]

Especially after Obamacare.

[R C Dean]

Gold is actually down today and up only about 5% over the past two months.

Actually its up today (as of 10:30). And 5% over two months is one hell of healthy gain in my book. Annualizes to 30% a year, after all.

[P Brooks]

I know some people who voted for the Ascended One. A couple of them are still completely in awe of his awesomeness ("He was, like, Boss of the Harvard Law School, and stuff!"), but most are deeply, deeply disappointed.

But not so disappointed that they would vote for GOP Hobgoblin of the Week, Michelle Bachman. Get serious; they'll go in the tank again.

[West Texas]

I have heard this, too.

"I am so disappointed in Obama, but, I mean, the alternative is just so scary that I would probably just have to vote for him again."

Exactly the same thing as the GOP voters who held their noses and lined up for McCain despite him not being anyone's first choice in January 2008.

[John]

The genius of Obama is that he completed the transformation (that had been building for a couple of decades) of politics from ideology into culture and brand. No matter who the Republicans run, all right thinking people in the media and culture will brand them a haratic and a symbol of ignorance. And the more the GOP candidate might actually mean to change things the more this will occur.

You laugh at Bachman because she is not part of your culture in now balkinized country. But what they would do the exact same thing someone like Rand Paul.

So pretty much we are doomed. The Democrats have managed to convince the country and the country has managed to let itself be convinced that they only thing that matters is being one of the "smart people" and not being one of "them".

[mad libertarian guy]

^^THIS^^

No matter who gets the Team Red nomination, he will be labeled by the media as a crack pot ignoramus out to destroy America with his hatred for anyone but white men.

And somehow, in the liberal media, it will all be libertarians' fault.

[OO]

nah. libertarians barely show-up on the radar

[Brett L]

I'm thinking that Obama may fall off the SWPL list by 2012. Although, none of those people want to vote against him in the primary. It would make them feel racist.

[West Texas]

That was certainly a component in 2008, both in the primary and the general election. A whole lot of white people voted for him for no other reason that they thought it would be morally wrong not to.

That said, one thing going against Obama in 2012 is that many of these white people are now absolved of that sin and they still have and hate Obamacare.

[cynical]

All they have to do is stay home in despair to lose him the election.

[R C Dean]

I don't see anybody in the early field of Repubs who is likely to beat Obama (barring a truly colossal fuckup or serious economic downturn, neither of which can be ruled out).

Let's hope somebody else takes the field and strikes a spark.

[John]

The media knows the game plan. The will try to do what they did to Palin to any Republican who pops up with any kind of momentum or popularity. The game plan is to scream hysterically about them, selectively edit everything they say to create "gaffs" that would be ignored if done by a Democrat, and make so much noise that brain dead independents assume that something must be wrong with the guy.

[DNS]

"gaffs"

Oh, the irony! Are you really Joe Biden, John? And stop making my spellchecker throw up.

[John]

So a single missing "e" makes your spell checker throw up? I think it probably has bolemia.

[DNS]

bolemia.

You're way too clever to be Ole' Plugs Biden! Well played, sir. Well played.

[Brett L]

I'm holding out hope that Christie will jump in two weeks before the first primary. He's super-popular as a governor and in a huge media market so he can do his job and gain recognition at the same time.

His best strategy is to let all the other guys look like suits while he's working, then get 'drafted' just after Christmas. Make a few visits to Iowa and NH, and see where he is. He doesn't have to resign, and he'll be the big name in 2016.

[Cytotoxic]

I'm surprised Jeff Flake hasn't been mentioned. He's electable. I think.

[sailshonan]

I named our cat Schrodinger. We got him eight months ago and he's getting his balls chopped off on Monday, Income tax day.

[robc]

Maybe.

[Trespassers W]

Well played.

[Pro Libertate]

The cat will simultaneously have balls and not have balls. The only danger is if he impregnates/doesn't impregnate another cat.

[sailshonan]

And the cat he may/ may not impregnate will be named Heisenberg.

[Werner DNS Heisenberg]

Ja, it is far from certain. Though I'm uncertain at this point.

[Brett L]

"?All You Zombies?" as played by quantum cats.

[Ice Nine]

Nice

[Trespassers W]

I named our cat Schrodinger.

That's kind of like naming your monster Frankenstein.

[West Texas]

Nice.

[Walter]

Don't let him alone with any Lady Gaga fans!

[P Brooks]

I expect the Republican Party Masterminds to come out of the convention with a completely unelectable imbecile, and then spend four years woefully asking themselves how Obama got re-elected.

[P Brooks]

I cannot think of a Republican even marginally on the radar who *isn't* an unelectable imbecile.

[Spoonman.]

Gary Johnson?

[CrackertyAssCracker]

He's not an imbecile. His TV presence seems pretty craptastic though, so I think he is sadly unelectable.

[P Brooks]

But unless you have lived somewhere besides the US in your life, you have never known a real no kidding breakdown of the economy and society. And thus you have no idea what you are wishing for and will regret the hell out of it when you get it.

And every time it snows a foot in Chicago, there is a complete breakdown of law and order.

Do you seriously think there is going to be a military coup, or secession, or roving bandit armies in this country when bond yields hit ten per cent?

Have a little faith in humanity, John. You sound like a Democrat.

[VM]

"And every time it snows a foot in Chicago, there is a complete breakdown of law and order."

really? I must live in a really, really, really good neighborhood.

and Trespassers - no it isn't. it's like naming your cat F'stein's monster. doo-mass.

[Trespassers W]

I respectfully disagree, Msr. Dumas -- the cat is named "Schrodinger", not "Schrodinger's Cat".

P Brooks was being sarcastic. Chicago handled Snowpocalypse pretty well, I thought. It did highlight for me the need to have emergency supplies, though.

[VikingMoose]

kewl.

what part of town are you in?

[P Brooks]

I named our cat Schrodinger.

Whatever you do, don't let him talk you into getting in that box.

[West Texas]

Thing is, the GOP has a golden opportunity with Obamacare in 2012 by campaigning on the need to capture both houses of Congress AND the presidency in order to get that POS law repealed. Just hammer hammer hammer that point and I think they would have a chance.

Nonetheless, the current field is going to fuck this up majorly and it's going to take the GOP's version of Bill Clinton (i.e. an attractive unknown) to pull it off. But who the hell is that right now? Alan West? Chris Christie? Bobby Jindal?

[kinnath]

We've already determined that Hillary switches parties to take the Republican nomination in 2012.

[Pro Libertate]

She just met with Karl Rove today to finalize her secret plans. She's getting Bill out of the way by having him named Pope.

[kinnath]

A month ago, thiw was a joke.

After contemplating President Trump, I'm ready to start the draft Hillary movement.

[Pro Libertate]

She's probably no less incompetent. 310 million people, and all we have before us is venal mediocrity.

[sloopyinca]

Woman in Alabama has to sue to get her camera back after taking photo of a cop arresting someone. Also had her car towed.

Man in California arrested for filming arrest...from his own garage. At least he had the balls to tell the cop to fuck off.

[Libertymike]

Ah! More joys from the wonderful order brought to us by having the common sense to monopolize the administration of justice.

[Tulpa]

I'm sure the Mafia would let you film them taking you for a ride to the warehouse.

[sloopyinca]

Where would I sit? The back seat and trunk are already full of strawmen.

[Another Phil]

You're right. Civil war and the eventual re-establishment of monopoly government would be better for all of us. How could I have missed it?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Man in California arrested for filming arrest...from his own garage.

The article states: "Vallejo police said that the [arresting] officer could face a corrective action."

Corrective action?

Is that like:

My girls sir, they didn't care for the overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches and tried to burn it down. But I correced them sir and when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty, I corrected her.

[sloopyinca]

Corrective action should involve some jail time for false imprisonment.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse...unless you wear a badge.

[P Brooks]

Gary Johnson?

I don;t know enough about him; possibly. Flake, maybe.

The Masterminds will ruthlessly marginalize (if not expunge) anybody *I* deem appropriate, of this I have no doubt.

[sloopyinca]

Sheriff Joe Arpaio misspent nearly $100 Million dollars over the past 8 years. County Supervisor says they may need more oversight.

[Libertymike]

Is it too much to expect some nice, clean cut, freedom fighter to torture Sheriff Joe to death?

[OO]

waterboarding isnt torture

[Tulpa]

Yes, especially if you value articulateness too.

[R C Dean]

County Supervisor says they may need more oversight.

Remember, any time you see the word "may", you can substitute "may not" without changing the meaning.

[Libertymike]

Indeed.

Hence, in drafting trust clauses regarding the quantum of discretion to be afforded to the trustee on the issue of distributions of trust income and / or principal to the grantor, the drafter must be real careful about his or her use of "may"-REAL CAREFUL.

[John Thacker]

So, err, if it's "time for Qaddafi to go," does that mean that we're sort of more officially committed to escalation now? Or are those "just words?"

[Brett L]

Dude rode an open car through Tripoli the other day, waving to the people. Drone strike would have fixed the problem. But nooo, we're gonna talk shit and kill poor people for taking the Q's paycheck. Or being in Libya, depending on which flag is painted on the planes flying the sortie.

[Pro Libertate]

That raises a good question: Why won't we target a bad dictator but are perfectly willing to kill everyone doing his bidding? I know there's a little concern that assassinating leaders may result in people returning the favor, but there's really no moral justification when you're blowing people up already just for following the guy.

[kilroy]

This is a feature, not a bug.

[P Brooks]

Why won't we target a bad dictator but are perfectly willing to kill everyone doing his bidding?

Professional courtesy.

[Pro Libertate]

If Obama had any balls, he'd go take down this guy personally. And bring back Osama bin Laden.

[Robert]

Oof! I was afraid the war on soaps was going to affect my thing (see link)?