Reason Morning Links: GOP Wants More for Allowing More Doubt, New Terror Alert System, Utah Takes on BCS

Radley Balko | 4.21.2011 9:24 AM

GOP demands more concessions for debt limit increase.
Dave Weigel profiles Gary Johnson.
DHS will begin new terror alert system next week.
Utah Attorney General sues college football's BCS system.
Obama meets Facebook.
New from Reason.tv: "The Top Five Environmental Disasters that Didn't Happen"

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

NEXT: Forget Big Old Jet Airliners; It's Big Old Jet Air Traffic Control System That's the Problem.

Hide Comments (183)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

Fist of Etiquette 14 years ago

Dave Weigel profiles Gary Johnson.

Yeah, I guess it's been a while since we've had a bunch of people dump on Weigel.
1. capitol l 14 years ago
  
  2xOT + Neal + Bob Errey called goal = good morning^pumped for the day
  1. wiffles 14 years ago
    
    I like Penguins too!
  2. Fist of Etiquette 14 years ago
    
    Better than Bob Errey spending an entire two periods plus post-game talking about Kovi getting crosschecked into Rolly.
    1. capitol l 14 years ago
      
      People dump on Errey, but I like him. his Homerisms (think: 3 ass= 1 goal) are entertaining, especially when him and Steigy are drunk.
      
      OT: Is the Pens announcer Steigy brothers with the Steigerwald guy that writes stuff for Reason? I know he's from p-burgh.
  3. NoVAHockey 14 years ago
    
    crazy shot. don't know what roloson was thinking
    1. Fluffy 14 years ago
      
      Ha ha Rangers!
      
      Sorry to intrude, but I just had to say that.
      1. Fist of Etiquette 14 years ago
        
        They blew a three goal lead, right? Stupid Rangers, you weren't supposed to let Boudreau dump all over MSG unanswered.
        
        Ted S. 14 years ago
        
        Madison Square Garden: The Most Overrated Arena on Earth
      2. capitol l 14 years ago
        
        Between the rags and the caps, I don't know who to hate more.
        
        Maybe the decrepit MSG will collapse and after all the bodies are found the NHL will declare a tie.
        
        John's a Caps fan, hopefully he'll come by soon to talk some shit.
        
        Nipplemancer 14 years ago
        
        c'mon, the rangers just barely squeeked into the playoffs. they were doomed before the puck dropped in game 1.
        
        capitol l 14 years ago
        
        Montreal and Philly barely made it last year (1 pt above the Rags) and tore up the playoffs.
        
        Nipplemancer 14 years ago
        
        as an official Rangers Hater, I can say nothing good about them ever (it's in my contract).
      3. NoVAHockey 14 years ago
        
        Caps are up 3-1. that rarely works out for them.
        
        capitol l 14 years ago
        
        It's about this time that visions of the golf course start dancing through their heads.
        
        NoVAHockey 14 years ago
        
        cherry blossom time in DC = more tourists and a Caps playoffs choke.
        
        Fist of Etiquette 14 years ago
        
        I hate to break it to you, but since the Caps won the Winter Classic Swim Meet, they are destined to lose in the SCF. It is tradition.
        
        NoVAHockey 14 years ago
        
        there's another one about the one of teams from the previous year's WC appearing in the SCF.
2. Mike M. 14 years ago
  
  It's only a matter of time before the P.O.S. pulls some kind of underhanded smear job on Johnson.
  1. Davey Boy 14 years ago
    
    He's just another rat fucking tag beaer nut job.
dbcooper 14 years ago

http://www.tcoasttalk.com/2011.....hree-days/
1. Brett L 14 years ago
  
  "Get off my parking lot!"
Shirley Knott 14 years ago

Well, certainly the doubt limit is far too low given those we apparently trust...

no hugs for thugs,
Shirley Knott
Fist of Etiquette 14 years ago

Obama meets Facebook.

Next up: Farmville subsidies.
1. Brett L 14 years ago
  
  +internets
2. Mike Laursen 14 years ago
  
  Good one
3. SugarFree 14 years ago
  
  I hope they pay me for not playing.
  1. Jerry 14 years ago
    
    Obama will have you paying for not playing farmville.
    1. SugarFree 14 years ago
      
      Dammit!
a dude's balls 14 years ago

Yeah, I guess it's been a while since we've had a bunch of people dump on Weigel.

Speak for yourself.
rather 14 years ago

DHS will begin new terror alert system next week

I just want to know it the Air Traffic controller is awake
OO 14 years ago

any pro-BSC argument is negated by all other divisions of college football having playoffs...which, in div 1A could be rotated thru the major bowls thruout the months of dec & jan.
1. Free2Booze 14 years ago
  
  You think the non-BCS schools are getting screwed now? Just wait to see what happens if a play off system is ever implemented. Boise State and TCU may be able to get a lucky win in an individual bowl game, but in a tournament, they will get destroyed by the major programs. After that happens a few times, it will become harder for small programs to be ranked high enough to make it into the playoffs.
  
  A playoff system will make college football more top heavy, not less.
  1. Mo 14 years ago
    
    You're right, look how rarely mid-majors make the Final Four.
    1. Night Elf Mohawk 14 years ago
      
      Because a 5-man sport with teams populated by seniors playing against highly talented but usually younger underclassman because the Durants, etc. are gone is just the same as how college football is played.
      
      Needing credible depth on both lines and being able to play beyond the first 22 certainly wouldn't present more issues in a tournament situation than in a one-off bowl game, right?
    2. Free2Booze 14 years ago
      
      And how many of those have won?
      1. robc 14 years ago
        
        UNLV, Louisville twice, just off the top of my head.
  2. OO 14 years ago
    
    prob is too many marginal 1A programs should be 1AA (not those 2).
    1. Free2Booze 14 years ago
      
      I forgot that TCU is joining the Big East, so they will have a shot at an automatic bid. Boise should have joined the PAC 10 instead of staying in the Mountain West.
      
      Still, in an eight team, single elimination tournament, I don't see them doing so hot.
      1. robc 14 years ago
        
        Boise should have joined the PAC 10 instead of staying in the Mountain West.
        
        Wow, that sentence is wrong in two ways. Lets see if you can get them both.
        
        Hint: If the P10 had offered...
        
        Nick 14 years ago
        
        I know don't, robc. Seems pretty WAC, yo.
        
        Nick 14 years ago
        
        Holy shit.
        
        OO 14 years ago
        
        the broncos shoulda joined the big 12
  3. Tulpa 14 years ago
    
    BCS busters are 4-1 in bowl games against teams from BCS conferences, so the idea that they only win if they get lucky is pretty silly. Yeah, odds are they wouldn't get past a second round, but that's true of 98% of the teams in the BCS conferences too.
wiffles 14 years ago

The joke was on them?twice. Johnson won, and Republicans won enough seats to sustain his vetoes. And he vetoed everything. In eight years in office, he vetoed 750 bills. In his second term, he came out for legalizing and regulating marijuana. He was the most libertarian governor in America, no contest.

As far as I can read, what's not to like? Not even a whiff of ratbagging teafuckery here.
Fluffy 14 years ago

Montana: Let's let private companies employ eminent domain directly, without even having the state steal property FOR them as an intermediary:

http://www.businessweek.com/ap.....NCVLG0.htm

Please, please Unabomber. Please break out of jail and blow up this company's power lines once they're built. Thank you, Unabomber.
1. wiffles 14 years ago
  
  Stop inciting violence! You know your hateful rhetoric is a crime, don't you?
  1. wiffles 14 years ago
    
    After reading the article I take back my previous comment. These bastards deserve anything they get for such flagrant abuse.
    1. Free2Booze 14 years ago
      
      Senate President Jim Peterson, R-Buffalo, said it was an important power to grant to develop the state's economy.
      
      "I'm a land owner, and I have deep respect for property. But I'm also totally committed to the development of our natural resources in a responsible manner," Peterson said.
      
      Responsible manner? It's good to know that stealing other people's land is now considered responsible.
      
      If this proposal becomes law, I hope this guys land is the first to go.
      1. J. Peterson (Statist, Buffalo) 14 years ago
        
        No no no, "other people's land" = "our resources". What's not to get, comrade?
      2. T 14 years ago
        
        Dude, Montana has always been seriously fucked on property rights for one reason: Anaconda Copper. For a horrifying read, check out how mineral rights work up there.
        
        Gray Ghost 14 years ago
        
        I'm not familiar with Montana mineral law, but at a very rough glance, they look similar to Texas's, T. The mineral estate has superior rights to the surface estate, in order to facilitate the extraction of those minerals. There are limitations of course, such as the need to use only as much of the surface as necessary, not be negligent in the use of the surface estate, etc... and the specifics of those limitations may be different in Montana.
        
        It's really important when buying real property to see if the mineral rights have been severed or not. Question for the eminent domain experts here: would the acquisition be kosher if it were done by a quasi-governmental utility board, like a MUD or a PUC, with powers duly delegated by the state legislature, rather than the utility itself doing the acquiring?
2. SugarFree 14 years ago
  
  Sickening.
3. Sal Paradise 14 years ago
  
  'Democrat Mitch Tropila of Great Falls agreed: "This time, I am going to vote for private property rights, and I'm going to stick up for the little guy."'
  
  Classic. It's nice to know you don't normally support property rights or the little guy.
  1. Really? 14 years ago
    
    Do libertarians find their young especially tasty or what?
    1. SugarFree 14 years ago
      
      "We're outta rolls."
      1. Clich? BaNDIT 14 years ago
        
        but not trolls evidently
    2. Otto 14 years ago
      
      If you kidnap other people's kids to barbecue, they get all pissed.
4. Kolohe 14 years ago
  
  Unfortunately, this is both the future and the past. The past in that this is pretty much how the railroads got built. The future in that this is the essential feature of every centralized alt energy proposals - exemplified by he Pickens/AEP/Daily Kos plan that made a splash a couple of years ago - to build big windfarms in the central plains (and/or solar plants in the western deserts) and connect them to the coasts with a massive (by the standards of today) network of 765 kV power lines.
  
  The only way that's going to work is through coordinated easement deedings, and the only way you do that is to strech (and in some cases objectively break) the limits of eminent domain.
  1. Fluffy 14 years ago
    
    The feds already owned most of the land the railroads were built on, and chose to give it away to politically connected businessmen.
    
    Corrupt, but not directly expropriatory as in this case.
    1. robc 14 years ago
      
      Except for directly expropriating the property in the first place (although, I guess technically, in the case of La Purchase territory, France did the original expropriating, we bought it fair and square from them).
    2. Jersey Patriot 14 years ago
      
      I was unaware the federal government had mixed its labor with the land.
      1. robc 14 years ago
        
        Injun killin is labor.
      2. Tulpa 14 years ago
        
        Locke said it, you believe it, that settles it.
        
        Is that pretty much right?
John 14 years ago

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/hea.....icals.html

But the German scientists claimed that several carcinogenic chemicals and toxins were released when the environmentally-friendly compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) were switched on, including phenol, naphthalene and styrene
1. Abdul 14 years ago
  
  You know who else used German scientists and toxic gasses in order to reduce human impact on the environment?
  1. prolefeed 14 years ago
    
    Heh. for once that meme was actually funny.
    1. Fatty Bolger 14 years ago
      
      Definitely one of the best.
Fist of Etiquette 14 years ago

Obviously, with the popularity of NCAA Basketball's "March Madness", I suggest a bracket system for college football. Double elimination. Sixty-four teams start out and from there-

Aw, hell, let Congress work out the details. I have more important things to worry about.
John 14 years ago

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....l?x=0&.v=8
1. wiffles 14 years ago
  
  Greece's finance minister also said that the country's debt was "absolutely sustainable."
  
  Yeah, absolutely!
  1. CaptainSmartass 14 years ago
    
    As long of the German and Belgian printing presses are going day and night, that is.
John 14 years ago

http://legalinsurrection.blogs.....count.html

Kloppenburg demands recount. Gee where are all the concern trolls saying that the other guy should have not demanded one for the good of the state?
1. WTF 14 years ago
  
  Concern trolls are not concerned?
Cyto 14 years ago

The piece on Gary Johnson was OK for the Slate audience. My only real complaint is the typical horse race focus. He spends the majority of the time explaining why Johnson can't win.

I wonder how the political sausage is made. Pretty much every year there's a mainstream storyline that almost never gets overturned. Clinton was pegged 2 years out at the governor's conference - and even though nobody in the country knew who he was, every news story told us he was the guy.

Then 'everybody' knew that it was Dole's turn, and that he was going to lose. Then somehow or another Bush became the guy who was going to lose, because he had the machine on his side. (They still can't believe they didn't get their guy in the oval office on that one)

The last go-round was a little different. They had pegged Obama at the last Democratic national convention, but for another election down the road. Still, the media split between two horses on the D side (zero on the R side) - finally jumping ship on Clinton long before there was a clear winner.

The media choice never seems to be about policy - it always seems to be about the horserace. They want to pick the winning horse. It makes for some very strange editorial choices.
1. ClubMedSux 14 years ago
  
  Yeah, it wasn't so much a profile on Johnson as it was a profile on the primary. Personally, I'm hoping that Paul decides to sit it out as I think Johnson brings all of Paul's positives to the table but has the advantages of (relative) youth and (hopefully) less baggage.
  1. Name Nomad 14 years ago
    
    Paul needs to back him up in the debates and then drop out, funneling all his money and supporters to Johnson.
    1. Gray Ghost 14 years ago
      
      Wouldn't Paul make a much better Secretary of the Treasury than President anyway?
    2. GJ2012 14 years ago
      
      Indeed, dividing the small libertarian vote during the GOP primary process guarantees failure - Paul needs to sit this out and let Johnson take a shot at it - endorse him early on, etc. If GJ miraculously ends up with the nomination, Paul may be a good VP pick (or at least key member of administration...) - ok, I just woke up.
      1. kinnath 14 years ago
        
        I want to see both Paul and Johnson in at least the first debate so that it's obvious that Paul isn't out in the wilderness by himself.
        
        But after Iowa and New Hampshire, one of them will need to bow out.
      2. Zeb 14 years ago
        
        Let's be realistic. Failure is guaranteed in any case. Just try to look surprised.
  2. kinnath 14 years ago
    
    The Christian Science Monitor had a good profile of Johnson. I didn't think to grab the link, but I found it through Google News.
    1. GJ2012 14 years ago
      
      Election 101: Who is Gary Johnson?
      
      A Libertarian-leaning, tee-totaling triathlete often dubbed "the next Ron Paul," Mr. Johnson is a maverick whose liberal views on marijuana might smoke his White House bid.
      1. GJ2012 14 years ago
        
        damn, here is the link:
        
        http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/E.....-he-anyway
  3. cynical 14 years ago
    
    Failing that, Paul could just give up on the GOP and run as an independent. If, due to some happy occasion horrible tragedy, all the GOP contenders other than Johnson were killed in one fell swoop, then Paul could drop his campaign and endorse Johnson.
    1. Gray Ghost 14 years ago
      
      If, due to some happy occasion horrible tragedy, all the GOP contenders other than Johnson were killed in one fell swoop,
      
      Ah, the Guy Fawkes solution. Otherwise known as "voting from the rooftops." Unfortunately, it'd take something like that for Johnson to win the nom. (And no, killing all of the other candidates is not a good thing.)
      
      I think Pawlenty is probably who you're going to see as the GOP guy when it's all said and done---if Daniels had the charisma to win it, we'd have seen it by now---though the GOP could shoot itself in the foot with Barbour, I suppose.
      1. cynical 14 years ago
        
        I could see myself voting for Barbour, if only as a fuck you to reality. Ha ha, whoever's writing this show, that was a good one, putting some fucking Pappy O'Daniel/Boss Hogg pastiche up as an actual candidate. I get it, you've gotten bored of wry snark and went for absurdist humor. We all see what you did and you made your point, so can we go back to a world where I can suspend my disbelief? You know, a dark and gritty reboot or a deconstruction or something?
Gary 14 years ago

Happy Judgment Day!
Fist of Etiquette 14 years ago

One day after being named to a presidential task force to negotiate deficit reduction, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor fired off a stark warning to Democrats that the GOP "will not grant their request for a debt limit increase" without major spending cuts or budget process reforms.

House Republicans are going to settle for budget cuts totalling no less than... one million dollars!
1. Cyto 14 years ago
  
  Brilliant!
P Brooks 14 years ago

rom Fluffy's link:

Democrat Mitch Tropila of Great Falls agreed: "This time, I am going to vote for private property rights, and I'm going to stick up for the little guy."

"This time."

But don't get your hopes up.

I thought they had taken this bill out back and killed it, but apparently not. Hopefully, Schweitzer will veto if it gets to him.
Gary 14 years ago

How exactly is Johnson "the original Tea Party candidate?"
John 14 years ago

http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_.....trig_palin

Wonkette finally decides to pick on someone their own size and maturity and so picks on the retarded kid.
1. wiffles 14 years ago
  
  No, it's funny because he's retarded. Oh.
2. SugarFree 14 years ago
  
  You'd think they'd have more sympathy considering the number of mentally handicapped people the current administration employs.
  1. Tim 14 years ago
    
    Shh! They don't know they're "special".
    1. SugarFree 14 years ago
      
      Let's give them all medals!
      1. Kolohe 14 years ago
        
        Yet another way Obama is the third Bush term
  2. Brett L 14 years ago
    
    Just like every other TEAM issue, this one boils down to "our retards are better than their retards"
  3. John 14 years ago
    
    http://bigjournalism.com/dloes.....mea-culpa/
    
    The apology from it is hysterical. "Palin is the problem with America". Really? You may not like her or think she is stupid, but she is "the problem with America"? No deficits, crime, wars, hate, racism, rape. mysogony or whatever but Sarah Palin? Hyperbole much? How could someone of reasonable intelligence or sanity having the time to consider their thoughts write something that stupid and hateful?
  4. John 14 years ago
    
    And then there is this
    
    "although she certainly encourages the sleaziest possible behavior from her grown children"
    
    Getting knocked up in high school and going on Dancing With The Stars is the "sleazist possible behavior"? Did one of Palin's kids make a porn movie or get caught running a traveler con scheme and I just haven't heard about it?
    1. prolefeed 14 years ago
      
      There is a failure of imagination going on here about the possible depths of depravity kids are capable of. When the Palin kids get caught running a donkey sex act in Tijuana and having heroin and cocaine-fueled orgies with Hell's Angels in airport men's room stalls while increasing the national debt limit, then get back to me.
      1. R C Dean 14 years ago
        
        get back to me
        
        Me, too. With video, pls.
  5. Timmeh 14 years ago
    
    TIMMEH!
3. NoVAHockey 14 years ago
  
  from the link "We are better than this"
  
  Apparently not.
4. Abdul 14 years ago
  
  Wait, since when is H&R above mocking (a) a politician's kids (yummy sweet); (b) retards?
  
  Is it the combination that's wrong? Like caffeine and alcohol?
  1. John 14 years ago
    
    True. But imagine the case of the vapors Wonkette would get if someone made fun of Mika and Mayan or whatever Obama's brats' names are?
    1. Ice Nine 14 years ago
      
      Maliceia?
    2. Trespassers W 14 years ago
      
      I pretty sure one is Malum and the other is Prohibitum.
      1. Barely Suppressed Rage 14 years ago
        
        heh heh. I lol'd.
      2. Dr. Malapropism 14 years ago
        
        He started working on those names shortly after the little woman missed her mens rea.
  2. wiffles 14 years ago
    
    No, most of us don't pretend to be above it. No hypocrisy here.
  3. Four Loko 14 years ago
    
    Your ideas intrigue me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
    1. ratherd 14 years ago
      
      Go away. You are banned.
  4. TrickyVic 14 years ago
    
    ""Wait, since when is H&R above mocking (a) a politician's kids (yummy sweet); (b) retards?""
    
    Ever since Seth McFarland started ghost writing?
5. ClubMedSux 14 years ago
  
  I like how their justification is that Palin is using the kid as a prop. Even if that's true (and I try to ignore Palin as much as possible, so I have no idea), does that mean you now have carte blanche to make tasteless retard jokes? I mean, if Obama panders to his African-American base during the 2012 campaign, does that mean it's then okay to make racist jokes about him?
  1. John 14 years ago
    
    She never really did. No more than any other politician uses kids. I mean they stood up on the podium and waved.
    1. Fluffy 14 years ago
      
      Well, maybe a LITTLE bit more than that.
      
      Trig is trotted out as the poster child for "pro-life figure keeps handicapped baby rather than selectively aborting after the amnio". "Isn't she brave? Isn't she LOVING?"
  2. Ice Nine 14 years ago
    
    "If"? Dude did you see those pix from yesterday's fundraiser accompanying the Politico piece? It looked like the BET Hip Hop Awards. Loved the one of O and Stevie Wonder doing a ghetto grip.
Au H20 14 years ago

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night: Green Lantern Official Trailer.

Yeah, I am way too excited for this movie
1. Arcaster 14 years ago
  
  As am I.
Mike M. 14 years ago

Government likely to hit the debt ceiling in less than one week.
1. wiffles 14 years ago
  
  Whatever, the prez can just 'raise the roof'
  1. Barely Suppressed Rage 14 years ago
    
    The roof is on fire.
    1. Cyto 14 years ago
      
      Very appropriate. The leadership is definitely chanting "we don't need no water..." right now.
      
      They need a trillion in cuts (per year, not per decade) and they are stuck fighting over a couple of tens of millions. It absolutely is like bringing a dixie cup to a 12 alarm fire.
ZungRee 14 years ago

Wel lthat makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

total-privacy.int.tc
P Brooks 14 years ago

Montana is a weird soup of populist socialism and crony capitalism, with a thick layer of "ruggedly individualistic" sponging off the federal government melted on top.
1. mikey 14 years ago
  
  I've lived in Montana (loved it) and my parents live there now. This is great description of it's contradictions. The dissonance between Montanan's image of themselves as rugged individualists and the statist reality is strong.
  1. cynical 14 years ago
    
    Is the contradiction in the people, or just a result of its political system?
    
    It seems like, in a free society, the right sort of people really loathe the idea of getting into government in the first place, so you're stuck with a self-selected group of assholes. Yet another reason that the jury duty approach to filling legislative seats would probably prove superior to electoral democracy.
dbcooper 14 years ago

@ChrisRRegan

Homeland Security revamps terror alerts. Levels "Yellow," "Orange" & "Red" replaced by "Imaginary," "Extra-Gropey" & "Election Year."
1. DJF 14 years ago
  
  No, the two alerts will be, lowest "Groped with lubrication" and highest "Groped without lubrication"
2. TrickyVic 14 years ago
  
  Good one DB.
P Brooks 14 years ago

Meanwhile, the legislature is "fixing the medical marijuana problem" by bizarrely endeavoring to drive the evul moneys out of the market.
rather 14 years ago

Michigan State Police have technology that can download cell phone data wirelessly during a routine traffic stop. So if you're pulled over for rolling through a stop sign, the cops can now take everything on your cell phone against your will and without even telling you about it. This was uncovered and is now the subject of an ACLU request which, of course, the state police refuse to grant.
1. Charlotte Sometimes 14 years ago
  
  And then there is this (I apologize if this has already been covered here):
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/tech.....vacy-fears
2. oncogenesis 14 years ago
  
  I'm skeptical of the claim that a phone can be scanned wirelessly. That would mean that no phone is safe from eavesdroppers anywhere, ever.
3. CaptainSmartass 14 years ago
  
  How is doing so not a DMCA violation? Especially if the phone is password protected?
  1. Cyto 14 years ago
    
    There might be child pornography on the phone. Why do you hate children?
4. omg 14 years ago
  
  Take out your battery when you get pulled over, I guess.
  
  I wonder how many other departments have that device?
  1. DesigNate 14 years ago
    
    since iphone won't let you take the battery out, do you think just shutting it down would work?
    1. Zeb 14 years ago
      
      Keep it wrapped in tin foil when you are not using it.
5. TrickyVic 14 years ago
  
  I've posted that three times in last couple of days. No real interest here.
  1. rather 14 years ago
    
    I've posted that three times in last couple of days. No real interest here
    
    Ya, but I am illustrious 😉
Au H20 14 years ago

Today's entry in the Tom Friedman Memorial Award for Most Tortured Metaphor goes to... Feministing, for this little gem:

"You are the sibling nobody listens to, despite the fact that you could really use some help. Your father (don't worry about the mother, this is a straight-up patriarchy) makes all decisions for you, and what you say makes absolutely no difference to him. You have siblings who rebel against your father, and siblings whose opinions he respects, but they all get to vote on the big family decisions. They strong-arm, negotiate, form alliances and make decisions and law through this voting? you can only add your strongly worded opinions, so nobody takes you seriously. You get what your father doles out, and if he decides to take something away, there's nothing you can do about it. You try speaking reasonably, you try yelling, you try acting out, you try to enlist your more important siblings, but you are D.C., and your father is the federal government, so your opinion counts for nothing"
Ice Nine 14 years ago

DHS devises a "new terror alert system" - LOL, the car alarm of the WOT.
1. Tim 14 years ago
  
  +1
rather 14 years ago

...Texas police can draw your blood.

I just need a pap smear. Which state takes care of that?
1. Ice Nine 14 years ago
  
  A state of blindness.
Au H20 14 years ago

5 Outdated Modern World Ideas, courtesy of Cracked..
1. kinnath 14 years ago
  
  They were partly right and partly wrong on corks. 99% of wine should be bottle with a screw top; the remaining 1% that benefits from corks should use real corks. Synthetic corks are an abomination.
  1. Gray Ghost 14 years ago
    
    Just go to crown caps already. If they're good enough for aging Champagne on lees for years on end, they're good enough for long term storage of everything else.
  2. John 14 years ago
    
    Actually the trees that produce the bark that makes corks support a lot of wildlife. When they went to synthetic corks and stopped growing them it hurt the wildlife. So a natural cork is good.
    1. Gray Ghost 14 years ago
      
      So use the cork for flooring, or acoustical tile, or insulation: just don't let it come anywhere near a wine bottle. (And since when did you become a treehugger, John?)
      
      Losing between 2-10% of your product to a treatable defect---cork taint---is absolutely insane. Why can't the Urkobold wither away that taint? Plenty of female bouncy-bouncy in the wine business that would be very happy to see that happen.
  3. Zeb 14 years ago
    
    I don't really care. I just enjoy using a corkscrew to open a bottle.
  4. TrickyVic 14 years ago
    
    Farggin corksucker
Au H20 14 years ago

Unpacking the Invisible Messenger Bag: Liberals want people who bitch about white privilege to get off their ass.

"Today, white kids from Williamsburg to Berkeley are still trying to grasp the vast implications of being born white, wealthy, able-bodied, etc. This will always be a critical practice, but we have to also push beyond this stage. After we see through the fog of privilege, what do we do with that new vision?"
1. Fluffy 14 years ago
  
  The implications are only vast to those who subscribe to the Proudhonistic fallacy.
2. R C Dean 14 years ago
  
  After we see through the fog of privilege, what do we do with that new vision?
  
  Apply for a job at McDonald's? I hear they're hiring.
Au H20 14 years ago

Poll finds that no one is too enthusiastic about the shitty field of Republicans. In other news, grass green, sky blue.
MacGhil 14 years ago

Esquire profiles Ron Paul:

http://www.esquire.com/feature.....ofile-0511
1. Fluffy 14 years ago
  
  Thank you for that.
  
  Paul chose to use the new Congress's ceremonial reading of the Constitution ? a tribute to him ? to chastise his colleagues for the hollowness of the stunt. "Will there be no more wars without an actual congressional declaration?" he asked. "Will the Federal Reserve Act be repealed? Will only gold and silver be called legal tender? Will we end all the unconstitutional federal departments, including the Departments of Energy, Education, Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Labor? Will the Patriot Act be repealed and all the warrantless searches stopped? Will the TSA be restrained or abolished? Will the IRS's unconstitutional collection powers end? Will executive and judicial quasilegislative powers be ended? Will we end the federal war on drugs? Would we end the federal government's involvement in medical care? Will we end all the federal government's illusionary insurance programs? Will we ban secret prisons, trials without due process, and assassinations? Will we end our foreign policy of invasion and occupations?"
  1. MacGhil 14 years ago
    
    Charles Ponzi kept it short and sweet:
    
    http://twitter.com/charlesponz.....0976349184
    
    It was a surprisingly flattering piece, though Richardson's 10 Libertarian Commandments are pretty much what you'd expect from a statist's perspective.
    1. Gray Ghost 14 years ago
      
      I was expecting a certain tone from Esquire, the same magazine that had a columnist admit to crying when Obama got elected, and it did not disappoint:
      
      The way Ron Paul explains it, the U. S. Constitution was all about setting up a balance of powers in order to prevent a recurrence of government tyranny, a purpose emphasized by the Bill of Rights. The underlying principle was freedom. But there was a birth defect, in Paul's view, and that was Alexander Hamilton's success at pushing the other Founders down the path of centralized federal control. He doesn't care that it was a powerful American government, based in Washington and willing to invest in its people, that ultimately made the United States into the world-historic power that it is today, with a huge economy and a vast middle class. [Emphasis added] Nor does he care that it was that strong central government that ensured the survival of the young country, which was on the brink of failure without it. Nor does he care that the U. S. Constitution actually came into existence to take power away from the states, [Ditto] leaving them but the scraps in the vestigial Tenth Amendment. And he doesn't care that it was actually the sainted Jefferson who executed the Louisiana Purchase (unconstitutional in Paul's view), which doubled the size of the country. If we had stuck to what Congressman Paul views as our founding principles, we would have undoubtedly been a smaller and poorer and less consequential country, but also purer and freer and more peaceful. It's a trade he is willing to make.
      
      I'm not surprised at such historical ignorance from an article in a major magazine, but I am disappointed. Pauli's quote of, "Not only is it not right, it's not even wrong!" comes to mind.
      1. Fluffy 14 years ago
        
        Smaller and less consequential?
        
        Probably.
        
        Poorer?
        
        Highly debatable.
        
        Less complicit in murder and expropriation?
        
        Definitely.
        
        Gray Ghost 14 years ago
        
        The "powerful American government...that ultimately made the U.S. into the world historic power..." quote just about made me swallow my tongue. Between the mushy-headed political "analysis" like the profile, and the puerile, sophomoric philosophizing---every other lifestyle article is navel-gazing crap on 'what it means to be a Man'. (Usually it involves purchasing something from one of their advertisers.) Add to that an inability to recommend any clothes or accessories costing under $500 and/or suitable for wearers with BMI's over 20, and I was happy to throw Esquire into the trash.
        
        Too bad, as they used to have some great stuff, e.g. David Foster Wallace's article on tennis.
prolefeed 14 years ago

Congress will not permit the nation to default on its obligations because it would be beyond irresponsible to do so," said Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Sen. Charles E. Schumer

Because, apparently, in the minds of leftists, it's the height of responsibility to pile up debt with no plan whatsoever to ever balance revenues and expenditures.

If the GOP leaders had any common sense, this would be where they draw a line in the sand and say, nope, not a penny more in debt, balance the budget or the feds default on paying interest on the current debt.

Cut off the effing money spigot.

Not gonna happen, though.
1. Ice Nine 14 years ago
  
  ...because it would cause "a mid-air stall in America's fledging economic recovery..." according to Vermont Rep. Peter Welch, who is leading House Democrats in demanding a 'clean' vote. You did know that there was an economic recovery going on right now, didn't you? BTW, how concerned do you think Mr. Welch is about how Obama's tax dreams would 'stall' this mythical recovery?
  1. Tim 14 years ago
    
    Welch has maybe the safest seat in America. He could vote to sovietize our farms and the local media wouldn't blink.
2. TrickyVic 14 years ago
  
  ""Because, apparently, in the minds of leftists, it's the height of responsibility to pile up debt with no plan whatsoever to ever balance revenues and expenditures.""
  
  I've always heard team blues was tax and spend. That philosophy is at least a little more fiscally responsible than the spend and not tax philosophy of the other team.
  1. cynical 14 years ago
    
    Not really, since it's more like
    
    RED: Don't tax, Borrow X, spend X
    BLUE: Tax Y, Borrow X, spend X + Y
P Brooks 14 years ago

"Today, white kids from Williamsburg to Berkeley are still trying to grasp the vast implications of being born white, wealthy, able-bodied, etc.

Diane Moon Glampers, an unfair world needs you!
Au H20 14 years ago

Online games hocking to kids. Prepare to be bombarded with even more annoying shit from your kids.
Aresen 14 years ago

DHS will begin new terror alert system next week.

If it were an honest system it would have two alert levels:

1) "We have no idea what they're planning."

and

2) "Shit, we fucked up again."
1. Trespassers W 14 years ago
  
  I have snickered.
Tim 14 years ago

The Alert levels:

1. Touching your scrotum
2. Prodding your scrotum
3. Happy ending soecial!
Hobo Chang Ba 14 years ago

Johnson's officially in!
1. GJ2012 14 years ago
  
  Long and decent GJ profile at (of all places) the CFR blog...
  
  http://blogs.cfr.org/lindsay/2.....candidate/
  
  He announced this morning on the steps of the State House in Concord, New Hampshire that he is running for president. Yes, you heard that right. He's not forming a presidential exploratory committee to assess the possibility. He's all in. If elected, Johnson would be the first president born in North Dakota and the first to have lived much of his life in New Mexico. He would also be the first president to enter the White House as a single man since Grover Cleveland back in 1885. And he would be the third person named "Johnson" to be president.
  1. Aresen 14 years ago
    
    And he would be the third person named "Johnson"
    
    That is not a good omen.
2. Brett L 14 years ago
  
  I shouted this last night in a different context.
Slap the Enlightened! 14 years ago

So the Great Libertarian Hope job went to the only applicant: Ron Paul. He was imperfect. The more cosmopolitan members of the movement frowned on Paul's abortion stance (life begins at conception), his immigration stance (he ran spine-tingling commercials about Mexicans climbing over the border), and his views on international trade. But Paul tapped into an anti-war, anti-state, pro-gold sentiment that few people knew existed. He raised $35 million. He came fourth in the delegate hunt.

And that is where he dies - the "more cosmopolitan members of the movement" are pretty thoroughly disliked by most Republican voters, not even mentioning a non-trivial number of libertarians.
1. Zeb 14 years ago
  
  Fuck you.
Not a Libertarian 14 years ago

Reason Morning Links: GOP Wants More for Allowing More Doubt, New Terror Alert System, Utah Takes on BCS

Wait there a minute...

Why is the GOP even considering to allow more doubt?

I can hear the concerned calls to Capital Hill from the Christian Coalition from here. 🙂
????? ?????? 13 years ago

Thanks

Please log in to post comments

Reason Morning Links: GOP Wants More for Allowing More Doubt, New Terror Alert System, Utah Takes on BCS

Latest

Rise of the Samurai Lawyers

Marco Rubio Says He's Revoked 300 Student Visas Over Campus Activism

Pam Bondi Aims To Revive a Moribund Legal Process for Restoring Gun Rights

Trump Is Sabotaging His 'Drill, Baby, Drill' Agenda

How Backpage Became MILFS.com

Recommended

Login Form