Reason Morning Links: Drones Over Libya, Ensign Pullout, Metalobbying

• The White House approves the use of drone strikes in Libya.
• John Ensign resigns from the Senate.
• BP sues Halliburton.
• The lobbyists have a lobbyist.
• Coming next week: the Fed chief's first press conference.

The latest from Reason.tv: "Ask a Mexican Already!"

Comments

[John]

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/jurassic-president/

Great Article on Obama.

Remember how in Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton had dinosaurs recreated from dinosaur DNA frozen in amber and coupled with frog DNA? Remember how it all went awry because these time displaced creatures couldn't safely exist in the modern world?

Jurassic President starts with the soft-lighted comparisons between Obama and FDR leading up to the 2009 swearing-in. People who weren't on board with the ethos of Obama's campaign rolled their eyes and mumbled things like depression chic and there they go again, but I submit to you that Obama believed it. He not only thought he was the new FDR, he thought the world wanted and needed a new FDR. He knew FDR was the change we'd all been waiting for.

[Tim]

He hired Hillary to stand in for Eleanor?

[Nomic]

Bill Clinton emulated John F. Kennedy, elected 1960.
Barack Obama emulated Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected 1940.
So by my calculations the next Democrat president will emulate Warren G. Harding.
Cool! He cut government by half. When do we get that guy?

[Tim]

Drones are kicking so much ass in Pakistant that we just had to use them in Libya.

[Name Nomad]

... and ratchets up the inevitability of continually doubling down on our shitty bet until we put ground troops in there.

[cynical]

Maybe by that time we'll have infantry drones. Of course, humanity is fucked at that point.

[JOhnny MAckson]

+1 LOL

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

[West Texas]

Boasts on Facebook lead feds to the arrest of 4 in Houston bank robbery

In all fairness, critical thinking was cut from the school curriculum down here due to budget cuts.

[Facebook Friend]

I am so clicking "Like"!

[Pip]

No shit. I know a guy who shot video of himself teaching his 15-year-old nephew how to roll and smoke blunts and then posted it on YouTube. He's in jail at the moment.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Four people have $62K to split and they think they are a group of Tony Montanas or something?

[Fist of Etiquette]

BP sues Halliburton.

It's just like that time Hitler sued Stalin.

[mr simple]

In court papers, BP said Halliburton concealed critical information that could have prevented the disaster.

Of course they did. You don't get to twirl your mustache if you disclose all information and prevent disasters.

[Nomic]

But but but... BP CEO Lord Browne said BP stands for Beyond Petrolium.
Am I the only one who finds humor in the fact Browne and the Greens he catered to turned the Gulf Shore black?
Tough crowd. [sigh]

[R C Dean]

Maybe if you hadn't ended on a RAAACIST note, there.

[Nomic]

Petroleum's racist. Who knew?

Richmond Area Ambulance Authority's Certified Information Security Manager?

[rather]

He says some of the suggestions of watchdog groups like the Sunlight Foundation just wouldn't work

...for us

[CUNT-VOMIT ALERT!]

EOM

[Rich]

"[Bernanke] needs to know going into that press conference what the market got wrong at 12:30 (p.m., when the statement is released) and where he wants the market to end at 3 (p.m.)."

With all due respect, WTF?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is Senator Ensign the guy who took his shirt off for craigslist? Or am I thinking of Congressman Second Lieutenant?

[West Texas]

No, Ensign is just a straight up crook.

[Tim]

I loose track of all the depraved sex scandals. Whatever happened to family values?

[Nomic]

Too many responses:

a) Dan Quayle got savaged for the mention of them.

b) Which family's values? I got neighbors who go to church Wednesday night and twice on Sunday. We see the place for weddings and funerals.

c) With so many depraved sex scandals, wouldn't you think people wouldn't be so scandalized?

d) de?prav?i?ty/di?pravit?/Noun
1. Moral corruption.
2. Having more fun than you.

[SugarFree]

You'd think Ensign would have resigned a long time ago. He's got to know that Congress will eventually beam down to a planet and a salt vampire will get him.

[Tim]

I'd root for one of those sharpened frisbie things.

[SugarFree]

Tim, you seem like a nice guy and all, but your Xena fetish is starting to wear thin. It was a crappy show. You need to let it go. Your getting to be like those people that try to drag Dr. Who into any and all discussion of science fiction. You know what we call those people, Tim? British. You wanna be British, Tim? Huh?

[Tim]

Objection you Honor!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday's_Child_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series)

[SugarFree]

You have half-pleased me by posting a half-dead link.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Which is worse, vaporized by space geek or taking a giant spear in the back? You decide.

[SugarFree]

Rape by Gorn.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Death in a war started by Space Lincoln?

[SugarFree]

Death by heavy-handed race relations allegory?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Death by toxic face paint or latex prosthetics adhesive.

[kilroy]

Wait, that's taking a spear in the back, right?

[Tim]

Was that the inspiration for STEVE SMITH?

[Tim]

Correction, this episode was obviously STEVE'S first appearance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Private_Little_War

"Suddenly the two are attacked by a mugato (pronounced "mugatu"), a hornY gorilla-like creature. The beast bites Kirk, injecting him with poison before McCoy can kill it with his phaser.

[John]

He injected Kirk with "poison"? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

[Tim]

Then Kirk got to meet and bone that hot, biker looking chick, the wife of his friend, which brings us neatly back to Senator Ensign.

[John]

That is a great link.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Nevermind. I just realized it was Governor THE COMMANDER.

[[J[o]h[nn]y] L[[o][n]]gt[o]rs[]

Blog.PinkNews.co.uk: Golden Girls erotica - we are not making this up
The MuuMuu's. The housecoats. The AquaNet. The cheesecake. Several things come to mind when you think of the Golden Girls, but Bea Arthur's stacked rack isn't one of them.

That's about to change thanks to Lenora Claire, who just a couple of short years after placing the winning bid for a nude painting of Bea Arthur on eBay, is hanging her piece next to dozens of others in an ode to Dorothy (Arthur), Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia (Estelle Getty)?Golden Gals Gone Wild, the art show. ...

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I recently stumbled across nude pics of Betty Young when she was a young and pretty thing. I was quite surprised, but they evidently are genuine and legit. I don't know the story, but apparently she was a young and aspiring actress or something. I will say she looked pretty damn good in those pics. Can't find them right now (at work) but do a little Googling and I bet you'll find them.

[[J[o]h[nn]y] L[[o][n]]gt[o]rs[]

Twitter users masturbate more

Vegetarians are much more enthusiastic about giving oral sex than carnivores

[Fappy McFee]

Odds of Masturbating Today

A) Seve, come eleven!

B) I'll raise you.

[[J[o]h[nn]y] L[[o][n]]gt[o]rs[]

Coming Soon From the Air Force: Mind-Reading Drones

The Government Internet ID Proposal's Pros and Cons

[[J[o]h[nn]y] L[[o][n]]gt[o]rs[]

Your history lesson for the day:

On This Day: Iron Workers Bomb Los Angeles Times Building
On Oct. 1, 1910, dynamite set by union member J.B. McNamara exploded and set the Los Angeles Times building ablaze, killing 21 and injuring more than 100....

...The International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, a national union headquartered in Indianapolis, was determined to unionize the workers in Los Angeles. They often resorted to violent measures, bombing upward of 70 factories, bridges and railroad tracks between 1907 and 1911....

McNamara Brothers Trial: 1911
...Two brothers, James B. McNamara and John J. McNamara, were active in the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Both men were in their late 20s. The union represented workers in the construction industry, and was particularly active on the West Coast. Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, was the Union's arch enemy. Otis used his newspaper as a public platform for his tirades against the unions and to promote the interests of the pro-management Merchants and Manufacturers Association. On the morning of October 1, 1910, a bomb exploded in the Los Angeles Times building, killing 20 people and causing considerable damage to the building. Shortly thereafter, there was another bombing at the Llewellyn Iron Works in Los Angeles....

...[Clarence] Darrow had suffered a humiliating defeat by being unable to rescue his clients in the face of the evidence against them. Worse was yet to come, however.

One of the people on Darrow's payroll was Bert Franklin, a former investigator for the U.S. Marshal's office. District Attorney Fredericks had learned that Franklin was trying to bribe jurors to acquit the McNamaras and had approached at least two jurors, namely Robert Bain and George Lockwood. Fredericks arranged a "sting" operation, and on November 28, 1911, three days before the McNamara trial, arrested Franklin in the act of handing money to Lockwood. In January 1912, Franklin pleaded guilty to charges of jury tampering, and on January 29, he testified that Darrow had known and approved of the bribery efforts....

[MNG-esque]

...The International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, a national union headquartered in Indianapolis, was determined to unionize the workers in Los Angeles. They often resorted to violent measures, bombing upward of 70 factories, bridges and railroad tracks between 1907 and 1911....

God bless those violent assholes.

[John]

Hey, the were out there in some of America's toughest neighborhoods doing God's work.

[John]

They never mentioned that in Inherit the Wind.

[The Ghost of Tim McVeigh]

HEY!!

[Now, now,,,,]

that was different...those were Government Workers.

[oncogenesis]

Today is October 1st?! Man, I gotta stop with the tequila.

[Parfour DeCours]

The White House approves the use of drone strikes in Libya.

The White House also approves the use of teacher strikes in the U.S.

[West Texas]

But what does a honey shortage have to do with getting Qadaffi out of power?

[SugarFree]

-2 internets

[hungry honey badger]

you'll see

[Mommy and daddy]

he had an affair with a female aide who was the wife of another top aide, and that his parents subsequently gave money to the aides' family.

WTF is the world coming to when paying-off a whore doesn't work anymore?

[Tim]

Obviously your attempt to pay her off with MacDonald's gift certificates and unused frequent flyer miles was inadequate incentive.

[CoyoteBlue]

Think of the conversation when he asked his Mom to pay off his mistress.
Awkward? Not for a shameless and veteran politician.

[Brett L]

Didn't Archer cover this already?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Did you not?

[rather]

Mommy and daddy are the type to have had to pay for a couple of procedures when he was in college-chances are that this wasn't their first time at the rodeo

[Silvio Berlusconi]

Lo so, lo so - ? terribile

[Tim]

One good things about drones, you won't catch one having sex with the Admiral's toaster.

[Drone]

Correct. We're way too smart to get caught.

[SugarFree]

Possibly the dumbest article of the week. And it's been a vintage week for dumb...

Is "Game of Thrones" Racist?

They are, in short, barbarians of the most stereotypical, un-PC sort. As I watched, I kept thinking, "Are they still allowed to do that?"

I wasn't the only viewer who found the depiction of the Dothraki uncomfortable, to say the least. Time's TV critic James Poniewozik, noting that the Dothraki seem to be made up of a "grabbag of exotic/dark/savage signifiers," wondered if it was "possible to be racist toward a race that does not actually exist."

[John]

You have to understand Suger Free, this allows thumb sucking douche opinion writers all over America to recycle all of their idiotic Lord of The Rings is racist thumbsucking columns. They can just run a search and replace for Lord of the Rings with GOT and Orc with Barbarian.

[SugarFree]

The Conservation Of Stupid Genre Criticism. It is Earth Day, after all. You gotta economize, man.

[Tim]

This is why Glen Larsen went with robots.

[SugarFree]

There's a nice comment to that effect...

Joshua Klein
We're getting to the point where the only villains allowed in media are robots, zombies or aliens. If you're feeling any sort of...anything regarding a racial component in this show, it's entirely on you as an individual.

[John]

Yeah. Jonah Goldburg had a great riff on that. One side, Tolkien Fans, sees a bunch of horrible dark evil semi human mythical creatures and thinks "cool orcs". The other side, liberals, sees a bunch of horrible, dark, evil, semi human mythical creatures and thinks "those are black people". But somehow it is really the former group who are the racists?

[Tim]

You have to give props to C.S. Lewis who made the big bad in the Narnia books"The White Witch" waaay before anybody heard of Stevie Nicks.

[John]

Thank heavens he did that. If it had been the black witch we would have heard no end of how the whole series is a metaphor against Michelle Obama.

[Tim]

Frank L. Baum gets honorable mention for his green witch.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Yeah, and Wiccans have been pissed about that ever since.

[rbenchley]

Unused audio commentary by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky for Lord of the Rings

[Nipplemancer]

raaacccisst.

[Lepus]

Also Harry Potter didn't have enough Dark...er..African American Wizards.

[Anonymous Coward]

Time's TV critic James Poniewozik

DIAF.

[rather]

BP has had bought-off whores with the "we are the only ones paying -out" taking points for the last month.

Yes, they are suing Transocean, Cameron and Halliburton to spread the inevitable jury verdict but their goodwill investment is a strategy to reduce the % of blame assigned to them

[cynical]

So... are you saying that none of these other companies deserve a share of the blame for what happened? It seems a little odd to criticize someone for not wanting all of the blame if they don't deserve all of the blame.

[John]

http://www.professorbainbridge.....tence.html

SEC can't be held liable to Madoff victims for its gross incompetence

[mr simple]

The SEC is really more of a football conference.

[Pip]

The SEC is really more of a football women's basketball conference.

[dbcooper]

Greek wogs can piss off:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13166589

[SugarFree]

The country was the first of three to ask for special help from the European Union and its partners after it became clear a year ago that it could not close the gap between spending and borrowing.

How could you possibly close a gap like that?

[cough][cough] Sorry, I inhaled some of the sarcasm. [cough]

[Jerry]

The Greeks should issue an European Arrest Warrant for the trader's arrest. No better way to show the idiocy of that system.

[kilroy]

They should put the whole country up for auction.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

As much as I dislike Obama, I'm glad that this douchebag isn't our President.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/.....tml?hpt=T2

[John]

I know. If he were we would probably be at war in Libya or something.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

And half a dozen other countries. McCain has never seen a country he wouldn't like to carpet bomb. I'm really glad I chose not to vote in 2008.

[John]

Neither has Obama. You really have to go to a new level of self dellusion if you think that electing Obama has kept the country out of wars.

[Tim]

Thank goodness he closed Gitmo and isn't downloading cell phone data.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

John,

I'm sorry John, did I insult your hero? You're such a partisan hack, you're just as bad as Joe Boyle. You will never admit that a republican could be worse then a democrat in anyway. Especially someone you voted for. If McCain were President right now, instead of Obama. You would be defending McCain attacking Libya. Just like you defended Bush going to war in Iraq. It's all red team vs. blue team BS with you.

[John]

Stop projecting. The facts are what they are. Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, is currently bombing the shit out of Pakistan, is making moves like he plans to keep troops in Iraq past the end of next year and has us in a whole new war in Libya.

Sorry but the whole "it is a good thing we at least didn't elect that war monger McCain" line rings pretty fucking hollow. I would say the election didn't change one singe thing with regards to the country's commitment to wars.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

Did I say anything about Obama ending America's wars? Obama campaigned on expanding the war in Afghanistan into Pakistan. I never for one minute did I think Obama was a peace candidate. I knew that no matter who was elected America would never pull out of Iraq.

I am probably the one person who read Myth of a Maverick. If Matt Welch was accurate, then America is in fewer conflicts with McCain not in the white house.

[Nobel Peace Prize Committee]

I never for one minute did I think Obama was a peace candidate.

Well shit, we wish you would have told us that.

[kilroy]

I'm sure you posted some comments to that effect around here somewhere before the election. I'm sure you did. Now where'd they get to?

[Matt Welch Makes Me Sleepy]

Did someone knock? Who's there?

[Oye, Cabeza]

If Bloody Obama is the peace president, we are really totally fucked. Who is an alternative to the war crap? Hillary has proven herself to be a bloody warmonger also.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

Ron Paul

[Otto]

And Iran... and North Korea... and Zimbabwe... and helping the Ivory Coast defeat the rebels... and...

[Obama The Nobel Warrior]

Out in front, sword raised, leading the charge into Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran.....what honors would he achieve by invading China? Uh......

[dbcooper]

Unhappy with font-rendering in FF4 on vista/win7? Get the latest nightly build - you can keep full HW acceleration and change font rendering back to classic cleartype settings.

[mr simple]

You could just use Chrome as it is a superior browser.

[dbcooper]

Nah, I've come back to FF from Chrome. Prefer the customisation and the UI.

[Otto]

I tried Chrome. Every time I opened it, it put tracking cookies on my computer (which my firewall couldn't catch, apparently).

[mr simple]

Yeah, I'm just joking. Use whatever you want, I don't care. I just like the feel and flow of Chrome compared to FF. I thought it was more secure, though I'm no expert. There's always the incognito window, which seems to work for me. Plus I run cleaning programs like cleaner and windows washer all the time to clean any trackers out. Although I just found out my iPhone is tracking my movements and downloading the info to my computer when sync, which is nice. I'll have to figure out how to delete that.

[dbcooper]

Chrome is sandboxed by default, which is good. It has a more responsive UI too (process separation).

FF also has a "private mode" for porn browsing. Do you guys use ABP to block tracking cookies etc?

[ABP, yes]

Always looks strange when I go back and use IE with the ads. Hah -- ABP also available with Chrome.

[Otto]

It actually has some very good aspects. I just hated having to delete cookies every time I opened my browser. If you're doing that anyway, I can see why you'd prefer it.

[Chrome is fast...]

...but still a little glitchy. I prefer FF. Latest IE version is much improved also especially for those occasional uncooperative web pages.

[John]

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

Iowahawk puts things in terms wonkette can understand.

[John]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/o.....6178ca87,0

Timmmay!!!

[Tim]

Ira Einhorn was on stage hosting the first Earth Day event at the Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970. Seven years later, police raided his closet and found the "composted" body of his ex-girlfriend inside a trunk.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42.....e-science/

[rather]

composting?

[Tim]

He joins Manson in the ranks of deranged hippies.

[CUNT-VOMIT ATERT!]

EOM

[dbcooper]

Hmm, the Guardian is recommending the box set of the TV western series The Virginian. Any good?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-a.....xt-box-set

[Brett L]

"Smile when you say that." Oh wait, that's from the novel.

[Mike M.]

The dollar, less almighty: Big investors see possible long-term currency weakness.

"I would recommend against buying long-term fixed-dollar investments," Buffett said at a public appearance in New Delhi. "If you ask me if the U.S. dollar is going to hold its purchasing power fully at the level of 2011 five years, 10 years or 20 years from now, I would tell you it will not."

[Otto]

Oh no! Shriek will be crushed!

[WungToo]

those coward drone pilots kill anything that moves. Women, Children, reporters..., Entire city blocks, true cowards.

http://www.complete-privacy.au.tc

[Aresen]

If only they would kill anonimity bots.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

This is a very interesting story.

Several weeks ago, Ira Glass of NPR's "This American Life" did a show all about this one drug court down in Georgia and how draconian the judge was in handing out sentences and dealing with defendants. The judge, who is a woman, hands out much more severe sentences and punishments than most drug courts around the country. The This American Life show did sort of an expose of the court.

Well, now the judge has an attorney and is filing suit against Ira Glass and the show for defamation. Problem is, of course, that Glass is saying that what they reported were facts that are demonstrably true. And of course, truth is an absolute defense against a libel suit.

Anyhow, here is a brief article about it. The article links to the This American Life show, which I highly recommend - it definitely is worth a listen. It's about an hour long, but it will make your head asplode. If even half of what they report is true, this judge needs to be taken off the bench.

[Aresen]

I think Balko covered this, both here and in The Agitator.

[Anonymous Coward]

Amanda Williams skipped the class about habeas corpus. Too busy reading about indefinite detention.

[Xzibit]

"The lobbyists have a lobbyist."

Yo dawg, I heard you like K-street so we got a lobbyist for your lobbyist so you bribe while you bribe.

[Brett L]

I just found out that Ron Paul was in my town last night, and I missed him. Doh.

[Where's that "The Truth" Cunt?]

Thousands of truck drivers clash with police in Shanghai, China
With fuel prices up over 5% in the last few months in China, a two-day strike in Shanghai turned violence as about 2,000 truck drives clashed with police. The drivers had blocked roads with their trucks and stopped working on Wednesday. Police arrested at least six people, and beat up people with batons. China has something like 100,000 anti-government mass incidents every year, by its own figures, and has a history of massive rebellions.

http://af.reuters.com/article/.....F120110421

[The Truth Cunt]

The Yellow is taking over with great leaps forward -- you all are buried by the GREAT Chinese efficient economic green clean machine.