Reason Morning Links: A Reporter, a Gangster, and a Surfing Madonna

• Barack Obama announces his troop drawdown plan in Afghanistan.
• Minot, North Dakota, prepares for floods.
• A former Washington Post reporter reveals that he's in the country illegally…
• …and he does it in the Times, because the Post passed on the story.
• Fugitive mobster (and onetime beneficiary of police protection) Whitey Bulger is arrested.
• Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei is out on bail, though strict restrictions on his movements still apply.
• New Age guru James Arthur Ray is found guilty of negligent homicide.
• Geert Wilders is acquitted of hate speech.
• The Gingrich campaign is still imploding.
• The Surfing Madonna comes down.

The latest from Reason.tv: "All The President's Wars."

Comments

[John]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9485.....abdc0.html

Millionaires now richer than they were before the recession. Wow. It is almost as if it pays to be a crony in crony capitalism.

[Knutsack]

I didn't read the article. How many of these millionaires are cronies?

[Liberal]

All of them.

[John]

It was more general snark. Odd how policies that are sold to benefit the poor and reduce the income gap have done just the opposite.

[Otto]

I find it funny that Bush much-ridiculed "stimulus" giving tax filers $300 was far more egalitarian than Obama's direct payments to billionaires and massive corporations. (And while Bush also pushed TARP, Obama took it to 11).

"Hope and Change" are such a fucking sick joke, I wonder if it was a cynical attempt to see how much hypocrisy he could get away with.

[Chupacabra]

It's the Obama version of "trickle down".

[Pip]

Don't tell me it's raining.

[John]

+1

[Mike M.]

Yep. The Wall Street-to-Washington Axis of Evil that has seized virtually total control of the country has never been more well off, or more sheltered from reality.

[Restoras]

A+

[John]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06......html?_r=1

In probably the most un selfaware article this decade, the New York Times finally notices that black people are moving out of the Blue Northeast and back to the racist South.

Special bonus, one of the subjects of the article is quitting a government job in New York and moving to Atlanta to start a business. BWWAAAAAA

[mr simple]

But, but living in a tiny apartment and working a government job is he epitome of the African-American dream! So sayeth the all-knowing Times.

[OO]

careful, many blacks serve in the military which is a govt job

[Abdul]

Reading the article, it is kind of fascinating how many black people ended up "making it big" in the city by going into government work. There's a similar phenomon in DC, which (IIRC) has the wealthiest majority black neighborhood in the country.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

They're just continuing the long venerable tradition of corrupt northeast city politics.

Disclaimer - I lived in Baltimore for 5 years or so and my wife's family is from Philly. That may be tainting my opinion of the northeast somewhat.

[Otto]

Where aren't city politics corrupt?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Baltimore, Philly, DC, NYC, Boston seem to have all achieved a level of corruption that is admired by the amateurs elsewhere (except Chicago and LA).

[TrickyVic]

Yeah, but what beats a small town where the Mayor, sheriff, and judge are related.

[Sparky]

One where they're the same person.

[Jonas]

This is no joke. I live in a city of 9,000 and it's astounding how corrupt our city management is.

What I truly don't understand is, when a few dozen people with a city budget of a few dozen million dollars making decisions that affect only a few thousand people can mess shit up as badly as these jerk-offs do, people can still support the concept of a few hundred people in DC with trillions of dollars getting to make decisions that affect three hundred millions of Americans and countless others elsewhere.

Politics is pure evil.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a hypothesis.

The larger a city government is, the more competing interests there will be, therefore, while the level of per capita corruption remains the same, the corruption is spread across more people and interests, therefore it is slightly less felt.

In smaller cities and towns, there are fewer competing interests in government, therefore the per capita corruption is greater, allowing those who are corrupt to accomplish more corruption, albeit on a smaller scale, than they would in a larger city.

In other words, Bumblefuck, USA may have less money and manpower than Big City, USA, however, there are fewer people fighting for a slice of the government power pie, so it is concentrated in fewer hands.

[NoVAHockey]

Not DC, but Prince George's County, MD -- right next to DC.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Which is still a crime ridden shithole compared to the other DC suburbs.

[Au H20]

Abdul, it's called machine politics. It's long been the way that outsiders in the U.S. advanced to the middle class. See: Irish, Italians, Poles, etc.

[Spoonman.]

But who could possibly want to live in the South over dirty, cramped, corrupt, smelly, and racist New York City?

[Resto Druid FTW]

I lol'd a bit at this^

[hipsters]

smelly yet very very hip!

[John]

http://www.howtobearetronaut.c.....star-wars/

Victorian Star Wars. I did not know wookies were evil libertarian capitalists who sported monocles.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That's not right. Everybody knows that the evil Trade Alliance are the libertarians. Wookiees are freedom-fighting naturalist hippies.

[Brett L]

Its a trap?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's always a trap

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Golden Girls quotes, favorite scenes, lessons learned

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Generation Gossip: Royal Rant: Lessons From The Golden Girls

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

BTW, for work reasons y'all will most likely be Golden-less next week (until after the 4th of July holiday), unless someone wants to take up Bea Authur's banner.

[Tim]

I am sure you will spread the word where ever work takes you:

"This next graph shows rising costs over time adjusted for inflation and you will note is shaped like Bea Arthur."

[John]

The dirtbag FBI agent who tipped off Bulger and allowed him to murder and pillage South Boston for 20 years, actually has a support page of former agents. The big blue wall.

http://justiceforjohn.com/

[OO]

wiseguys & thugs killing each other is public service

[Chupacabra]

Bulger had plenty of money to give around.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Private emails detail Obama admin involvement in cutting non-union worker pensions post-GM bailout
New emails obtained by The Daily Caller contradict claims by the Obama administration that the Treasury Department would avoid "intervening in the day-to-day management" of General Motors post-auto bailout.

These messages reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions. ...

[Major Media]

Why would we want to read those emails when there are 24,000 really important Sarah Palin emails?

[mr simple]

You're slipping, Johnny. John's way out ahead this morning.

[Trespassers W]

Yeah, but that's not "day to day". Another promise kept by the Obama administration!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Fuckers were making a mockery of bankruptcy law. Now who doesn't believe we live in a socialist country?

[shrike]

Fuck you, Scruffy. You Christ-fags say the stupidest shit.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

You're not exactly Thomas More yourself, chump.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Video: Guy with four kids [Al Gore] endorses "fertility management" to save the planet

[Hermy Rore]

It just struck me that the notion of "empowering women" is somewhat condescending. Where are the feminista on this?

[Bee Tagger]

Having a masseuse reject your advances really screws with a guy's head.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's very hypocritical, since everyone knows it was the ozone hole that finally released his second chakra.

[Otto]

So does Sting (Gordon Sumner) - who has 6 kids (IIRC).

[-1]

It's John ahead by a length, but Johnny is pulling up fast on the outside!

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Clinton and Weiner
...But liberals, wipe those self-satisifed smiles off your faces. How many times in the past 15 years have you ripped into Republicans for trying to impeach President Clinton over his sexual indiscretions and untruths? Somehow all these Democratic leaders who have spent years painting Ken Starr and the congressional GOPers as waging a puritanical crusade against the will of the people took just a few days to conclude that Weiner had to go.

Weiner sent tweets to young women; Clinton had an actual affair with his intern.

Weiner lied to the press; Clinton lied under oath.

Weiner lied for a few days; Clinton lied and roped his Cabinet into the lies for about eight months.

And another thing: Most of the people calling for Weiner to take a hike don't even live in his district. Clinton was everybody's business.

So why exactly did Weiner have to go but Bubba had to stay?

OK, OK, that's politics. But still....

[Post-Coital Rat]

So why exactly did Weiner have to go but Bubba had to stay?

Because Clinton was our first black president?

[Restoras]

+1

[Monica]

nope not black -3"

[robc]

Thomas Jefferson disagrees.

[Tim]

"Winsome Packer"

[Zeb]

Well, the real answer, of course, is that a president resigning fucks shit up a lot more than a congressman. Clinton was a sleaze, but his resignation wouldn't have made anything better. Did you really want President Gore?

[Sparky]

Go The Fuck to Sleep gets some press. Concerned author is concerned.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion.....-so-crude/

[John]

Besides, a book with the title "Go the F*** to Sleep" is only one short step away from a hypothetical book written by a husband about his nagging wife, titled "Shut the F*** Up!

That is a really good idea for a book.

[mr simple]

It could be a self-help book.

[Brett L]

Or the lazy man's wife's Go the Fuck to Work if we're going to stereotype.

[John]

It could be a whole series. You could do one on slutty daughters Close Your Fucking Legs and lazy kids Go The Fuck To College

[Sy]

Most lazy kids do just go to college

[John]

I thought of that after I wrote it. I should be Get a Fucking Job

[Tim]

Pay for your own fucking BA.

[kinnath]

Get a haircut and a fucking job

[Restoras]

And let's not forget prudish wives and girlfriends in Shut Up and Swallow.

[KDN]

You mean Shut the Fuck Up and Swallow.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The obvious sequels for teenagers - Get The Fuck Out of Bed or Mow The Fucking Lawn

[The Ghost of Abbie Hoffman]

Steal This Fucking Book

[db]

Children's book for future Presidents:
Go the Fuck to War

[Mr. FIFY]

That would be, in Obamaspeak, Go the Fuck to the Next Kinetic Military Action.

[-1]

And down the stretch they come! It's John, now it's Johnny, they're neck and neck...!

[Sinic]

Minot, North Dakota, prepares for floods.

Are both residents leaving?

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

If I post too many links the editors start deleting my posts.

[John]

NO kidding? But they never remove anon bot or all of those bizarre US and Israel empire ones? WTF?

They are just jealous Johnny.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Basically. It only happened once, but it happened when I got to 6 posts. I've started waiting longer between posting links to appease the Reason Gods.

[-1]

Free minds, free markets, limited posts.

[sage]

Drink!

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Your left wing drivel of the day:

Ciudad Juarez is all our futures. This is the inevitable war of capitalism gone mad

[John]

They blogged that on H&R last night. To call it stupid is an insult to stupid things.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Sorry, missed that when I pulled up Reason and saw the morning links up so early.

[Anonymous Coward]

This very male war is opposed by women, in the workplaces and barrios, and in the home.

And what does a "female war" look like? A bunch of women jumping on someone wearing last years sandals? Maybe a little like gang activity?

Does the knucklehead who wrote this article get paid by the word?

[John]

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....-fox-news/

Media matters should probably not be tax exempt.

[Team Blue]

It's okay when our side does it! And we thought libertarians were opposed to taxes because they are theft.

[Group Libtoids]

we prefer tariffs & fees like the founders intended

[Appalachian Australian]

You confused the group libtoids with conservatives.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A former Washington Post reporter reveals that he's in the country illegally...

Plus, he's gay. So he's doubly illegal!

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Yes, but FoE got Speed mixed up with The Net in a thread yesterday, and so must be shunned by all Right Thinkin' People.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That was almost 24 hours ago. I've gotten treatment since then and have been able to put the incident behind me.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

NEVER FORGET!

[Sinic]

Barack Obama announces his troop drawdown plan in Afghanistan.

After the drawdown there will still be 2x more troops there than when Obama took office.

[John]

It is just him leaving the anti-war left cab fair on the nightstand. They can take it and think "he really does love me".

[Minge]

Yes but 80 people complained about the war back in March so the anti-war left still has integrity, or something,

[Restoras]

+1

[MNG]

Yes, yes, everyone is pure but you guys. It has nothing to do with the otherwise logical connection between drawing down in Iraq and Afghanistan always being popular=dwindling protests, it's that everyone but you is an evil hypocrite.

[Minge]

Shhh...don't mention 'Libya".

[MNG]

Which is exponentially smaller operation than the ones that drew major protests. Yes, that couldn't explain less protest, it must be they lack your blinding purity.

['Anti-War' Left]

It's okay, we'll be back as soon as there's a Republican President!

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

And the "Fuck the War Powers Act" defense from your Obamassiah wouldn't have drawn large protests if done by a GOPer?

['Anti-War' Left]

But the Libya kinetic action is exponentially smaller or some such bullshit so we're totally cool with fuck the WPA.

[Mr. FIFY]

We still shouldn't be involved in Libya, MNG.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Nitpicker

[Trespassers W]

New Age guru James Arthur Ray is found guilty of negligent homicide.

If you don't know that story, you should watch the episode of 20/20. What a dirtbag.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ray used the sweat lodge as a way for participants to break through whatever was holding them back in life.

He warned participants in a recording of the event played during the trial that the sweat lodge would be "hellacious'' and that participants were guaranteed to feel like they were dying but would do so only metaphorically.

And then he locked the door to the sweat lodge? Held a gun on the participants, forcing them to stay?

[John]

Taking advantage of the tragically stupid is now negligent homicide.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The welfare staters had better lawyer up then.

[Brett L]

Negligent homicide. He conducted an unsafe ceremony and fraudulently guaranteed their safety.

The few sweat ceremonies I've attended always emphasized you should try to hang in but GTFO when you can't stand it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Do you think you would have stayed past that point if the organizer had guaranteed your safety?

[Brett L]

I might not have understood that being overwhelmed by the heat was a real danger. There was so much hippie bullshit surrounding the thing that it was nice to get clear directions like:
1. This can be dangerous, if you have lung or heart problems, this ain't for you.
2. People can be overwhelmed by the heat. Try to hang in, but there's no enlightenment in passing out or dying
3. If you're having trouble breathing or with the heat, lie down and get your face as close to the dirt as possible, it is substantially cooler and dryer there.

Telling people that 'warriors' or anyone else can't die in sweat lodges is false. He claimed to know the risks, but didn't. Same as shooting someone with a gun that you 'know' wasn't loaded. Even if they told you you could point it at them and pull the trigger.

[Bee Tagger]

The few sweat ceremonies I've attended always emphasized you should try to hang in but GTFO when you can't stand it.

That's probably a pretty good rule of thumb for any event in life.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Especially one of SugarFree's key parties.

[Ice Nine]

He warned participants in a recording of the event played during the trial that the sweat lodge would be "hellacious'' and that participants were guaranteed to feel like they were dying but would do so only metaphorically.

I don't know anything about the law but I just have to think that the authority figure's telling the sweaters that they will feel like they are dying but to stay in the lodge anyway pretty much defines negligent homicide, even if the sweaters were retards.

[Sparky]

Let's have sex, I promise it will make feel better.

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com.....epressant/

[Brett L]

Sparky

You accidentally the whole thing.

[Sparky]

I accidentally ???? the whole thing. There appears to be something missing from your comment.

[Brett L]

Internet memes, you should google them.

"I promise it will make feel better."

You also left out the object.

[Sparky]

Ah, I see I left out a word. Very good.

Using Google to look up Internet memes? I'd rather not spend all day looking up every obscure thing that comes up. The only thing I bother to look up is acronyms, pardon me if I'm not as Internet savvy as you.

[Brett L]

Dude, memes are the social lubricant of the intertubez. That and bigfoot rape jokes.

[Sparky]

Maybe that's why I still have my sanity largely intact. I can't imagine what it would be like to be aware of every dipshit idea posted by every dipshit that posts on the Internet. That would be like getting a good long look at Cthulu or something.

[KDN]

Good thing for you there's a meme encyclopedia.

[Sparky]

There's no way I'm clicking that link. I like my eyes where they are, I don't need them liquefying and running out of my skull thanks.

[cynical]

Internet heathen!

[WTF]

A new book idea for dealing with depressed wives: Suck my Fucking Cock

[OO]

...and lose weight plus ditch the ann taylor & get some sexy threads

[Fist of Etiquette]

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich had a second line of credit at the high-end jewelry store Tiffany and Co. for as much as $1 million dollars, his presidential campaign acknowledged Tuesday.

Does Tiffany's also sell real estate?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Gingrich really is a blowhard of the highest order. He must be insufferable in person.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Perhaps a fetching Mother of Pearl necklace with matching earrings might change your opinion?

Sweet Mother of Pearl!

[Tim]

Things are going so badly for him, even his mistresses are resigning.

[JW]

When I worked at Heritage, the elevator door opened one day and Gingrich was on it. The guy with me tried to board and a big hand thrust out to block him getting on, to say, "take the next one, peon."

Another day at the elevator, the door opens and Quayle was on it. No problem getting in with him. He's a lot shorter than I thought he was.

[Ice Nine]

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich had a second line of credit at the high-end jewelry store Tiffany and Co. for as much as $1 million dollars,

So Newt's not exactly going to go the populist route then, right?

[Mr. FIFY]

No way I'd ever vote for Newt, but the Tiffany's thing is no Watergate.

[Anonymous Coward]

Newt knows how to do it. Chill that bitch out...with ice.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Prosecutors, who were forced to file charges against Wilders by a higher court, also called for the politician to be cleared, saying his criticism was aimed at Islam as a religion and not at Muslims.

The courts forced prosecutors to bring charges? Are judges paid by the case over there?

[Rich]

his criticism was aimed at Islam as a religion and not at Muslims.

1) "Ahmed, you are delightful, despite the stupidity of your essential beliefs."

2) "I love *people*; it's *humanity* I can't stand."

[Ice Nine]

also called for the politician to be cleared, saying his criticism was aimed at Islam as a religion and not at Muslims.

Either way the dude still clearly needs to have his head cut off and a hate-filled note tacked to his chest with a butcher knife.

[Sparky]

I think they usually use rusty machetes.

[MNG]

Business, politicians and the media have made much over the National Labor Relations Board's complaint against Boeing, but the outrage has been misdirected. The board was right to bring the complaint, because the law is on its side, and such complaints are a step in the right direction.

The National Labor Relations Act says that it is an unfair labor practice to retaliate against workers for union activity such as organizing and "protected concerted activity" such as striking...

The NLRB is not claiming, as columnist George F. Will has argued, that moving businesses to right-to-work states "constitutes prima facie evidence of 'unfair labor practices.'?" Contrary to what Boeing chief executive Jim McNerney and others have said, the board is also not creating a world where it is unsafe for a business to open shop in a union state if it planned to operate anywhere else in the world that has lower wages or working conditions. Boeing's statements, made as threats before the move and then as explanations afterward, were clear violations of the law. The board had no choice but to act.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[Sinic]

So crony capitalism is noble when it benefits unions?

[MNG]

You're getting your memes mixed up, the NLRB action is "Kreeping Socialism" not "Krony Kapitalism." If you're going to hurl slogans try not to get them confused!

[Sinic]

It's all the same.

[MNG]

To careless thinkers, yes.

[Res Publica Americana]

What a shit-for-brains asswipe you are.

[MassiveNougatGaper]

But you still feed my massive ego by replying to me. Om-nom-nom-nom. More! MORE!

[MNG]

Yeah, I especially like the posts that add no substance at all but just chime in to say the equivalent of "you're stupid" a la third grade, or these cute adolscent spoofs. My favs!

[The Gobbler]

Seconded.

[The Gobbler]

@Res Publica Americana, BTW.

[MNG]

Haha, shit you can't even get your substance-less attack post correct!

[Pip]

The fucking NLRB shouldn't even exist.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Spare me the bullshit. The entire case against Boeing revolves around their motives for setting up a plant somewhere else. This is the business equivalent of a hate crime charge.

[MNG]

Motivation is often important in determining if a law is broken, no? That's hardly some recent innovation of legal theory a la hate crimes.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

You're conflating motivation and intent.

They intended to move their plant, which is in of itself not a crime nor prohibited. Their motivation for doing so is irrelevant. The NLRB is criminalizing the motivation.

[MNG]

Think animal cruelty laws that criminalize the "unjustifiable killing" of an animal. Motivation is critical for that determination.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

When the act in of itself is a crime, motivation plays a key role in absolving the accused party of guilt. Self-defense is the obvious example. Animal cruelty is a somewhat vaguer area of law as it ascribes human rights to what traditionally has been treated as property.

How is opening a plant somewhere else, in of itself, a crime?

[Res Publica Americana]

This is beside the point -- no such organization or authority or laws should exist in the first place -- tough shit for leftist MNG, I guess

[MNG]

"tough shit for leftist MNG"

Haha, tough shit for you I guess because the law presently exists!

[Gibby]

So no gay marriage in the USA?

[MNG]

There are many acts that you can do to an animal that depending on the motivation can be as lawful as opening a plant for purely business reasons or as unlawful as opening a plant based on retaliation for protected labor activity, all depending on the motivation behind it. For example, shooting an animal that is eating your cabbage can be found to be OK, but shooting the same animal for shits and giggles can be found to be a crime. Same act, same intent, different motivation.

But a more apt analogy are laws punishing firing/demoting employees for retaliation for whistleblowing or reporting safety violations or discriminating or such.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The animal cruelty analogy is not working for me as I have problems with the way that system functions anyway. Animals are property, yet are afforded human rights. This poses all sorts of problems and is really tangential to a discussion about union retaliation.

I'll tell you a little something about retaliation charges against employees. In cases where employees who make up charges against employers and the employer is later found to be innocent, are still afforded protection from retaliation under federal laws. It's an outrageous system.

In any case, you never answered my question. Outside of considering motivation, how is opening a factory a crime?

[MNG]

I did answer your question, outside of motivation it is not, just like firing an employee is legal, unless the motivation in in retaliation for filing a discrimination complaint or for retaliation for protected whistleblowing. The same action with a different motivation, say firing them for being tardy excessively is not a crime.

In the same way killing an animal for eating your garden is ok, the same act but with a different motivation can be punishable.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Thankfully, I live in a right to work state, where this BS is limited (somewhat). Employer/employee relations should always be at will. My right to run a business and provide for myself and my family is not contingent on the permission of the State. The NLRB is based upon a wrong-headed notion that the State has a protected interest in managing the employer/employee relationship outside of enforcement of contracts and basic criminality, including violence.

[MNG]

" I live in a right to work state, where this BS is limited (somewhat). Employer/employee relations should always be at will"

You've got it backward; in a right to work state a union and an employer are barred by the government from a collective bargaining agreement that provides that future hires be union members. It's the government that bars this in those states, even if the union and employer want to make that agreement.

"outside of enforcement of contracts and basic criminality, including violence"

Well, they were addressing a violence problem, the endemic violence surrounding labor strife pre-NLRA.

[Gibby]

I live in the city so I can NEVER shoot an animal that's eating my cabbage. Your analogy is useless to me, dipshit.

[mad libertarian guy]

The guys in charge say it is.

[Azathoth]

They didn't intend to move their plant--they built an ADDITIONAL plant. Be clear on this--people like MNG would prefer that the idea that Boeing was going to close the plant in WA be the idea that people have in their heads when this is discussed.

No union jobs would be lost....and no union jobs would be added.

There is no loss in this for the union. They just want to force Boeing to help them expand.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Retaliation like not firing anyone and actually increasing their workforce in Washington?

[MNG]

If they originally planned to open the plant in WA and changed it in response, then yes.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

You have a civil right to a job that requires you to give money to unions that fund politicians MNG supports.

[MNG]

That's not it at all. The NLRB is tasked with enforcing the NLRA which has as its stated goal to reduce the labor strife that was endemic in pre-NLRA times. As such it makes illegal certain practices that were and are seen as excaberating labor strife. Some of the restrictions are on such actions by unions (secondary boycotts, wildcat strikes) and some are on management (such as retaliations like this). There's a lot of credible evidence that Boeing made this decision at least in part in retaliation for activities that are protected by the act, therefore a finding of unfair labor practice is warranted. It's not as if they are bring targeted simply for locating their new plant in nonunion territory, companies do that all the time and don't run afoul of the NLRB.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Shorter MNG: "The worse the unions act, the better, because that provokes a rational response from corporations that we can use against them to make them give money to unions that support politicians I've attached my massive left wing ego to."

Opening a plant in SC isn't cracking skulls.

[MNG]

It's interesting that none of your points seems to address mine at all. The law seeks to prevent the labor strife that was endemic before the law. As such, certain practices by both labor and management that were seen as particularly provoking such strife, such as wildcat strikes by unions or retaliatory decisions by management, are regulated.

Opening a plant in SC in retaliation for protected activity isn't cracking skulls, correct, but it's one of a list of activities that has been found to provoke labor strife and thus is barred by the law.

[Almanian]

Again, Mung, you continue to demonstrate that you have NO experience negotiating contracts with labor unions, and NO experience dealing with the FUCKING NLRB, and no undersanding of labor law. Because you're basically wrong about everything you've written today re: this. Everything.

Other than that, you're spot on.

[MNG]

It's hilarious that you write an entire paragraph with just one point: "you are wrong!" without being able to point out even one area where I am.

[Joe M]

Define "labor strife"? Does that just mean pissed off unions and strikes?

[Restoras]

Wait - the purpose of opening the plant is to generate a return on investment. Removing, or reducing, the risk of 'labor strife' improves the probability of the investment generating the required return. This does not seem to me to be retaliation but just a sound business decision.

Boeing would probably rather open the plant in WA given existing corporate infrastructure and, presumably, an established labor force. I doubt that the company would just move a plant at the drop of hat for 'retaliation'.

[MNG]

Many practices that would cause labor strife of the type the NLRA prohibits could be seen as good for furthering the mission of a company (crushing unions) or unions (wildcat strikes etc). The goal of the NLRB is to prohibit those that cause labor strife.

[Restoras]

Ok, but it seems to me that almost any corporate decision regarding return on investment could be seen as causing labor strife. It also thusly seems that organized labor could claim such, and prevent a company from doing the best by all stakeholders (at least theoretically).

Wondering, if you are a memeber of the union, could you quit and move to location of the new plant? Frankly, that's what I would do.

Back when 'labor strife' was truly disruptive to the national economy I can understand the reasoning for creating the NLRB - but it doesn't really seem like we need it around anymore and has become another tool for labor to use to force its union-job-preservation agenda. Just sayin'.

[MNG]

"Ok, but it seems to me that almost any corporate decision regarding return on investment could be seen as causing labor strife"

Sure, which is why the NLRB tries to distinguish between those that are less likely to do so/have a stronger claim to be purely business matters and those that are not, barring the former and not the latter.

"but it doesn't really seem like we need it around anymore "

It's working great so let's get rid of it, we don't need it!

[MNG]

There's lots of things that in theory could generate a return on investment that companies are by law are barred from doing (breaking minimum wage, workplace safety, child labor, and other laws for example).

[Restoras]

Yes yes thanks for the anti-top hat and monocle snark but let's face it, part of the reason so many jobs have bveen shipped overseas is because of an unattractive labor force on a relative basis. The only reason Boeing hasn't moved jobs overseas is because it needs the highly skilled labor required to build airplanes. At least for now.

[OO]

so 3d world kids & women are an attractive labor force?

[Brett L]

Nike didn't pioneer sweatshops just because they hated 3rd world kids.

[Restoras]

If only the third world had men, I guess. Plus farming is much better.

[MNG]

Not trying to be snarky, just trying to say that many things are prohibited in the pursuit of investment maximization, for many reasons. In this case the reason is to mitigate labor strife.

[xanax]

In this case the reason is to mitigate labor strifepander to unions.

FTFY

[MNG]

If it was simply to pander to unions then why is a big part of the law restrictions on union tactics that were commonly (and often successfully) employed by unions pre-NLRA like restricting secondary boycotts and wildcat strikes?

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

So the defense of the NLRB is "The Washington Post" says so. Gotcha.

Face it, Obama is going after the economies of any state that doesn't get in line. That's to punish his enemies, and to prevent them from pointing to economic successes when running against him. That's how depraved your left has become, MNG. This and the EPA thing in TX are perfect examples.

[Gibby]

And not declaring a national disaster in the Texas wildfires.

Obama. Is. Evil.

[cynical]

Fuck you, commie.

[Mr. FIFY]

So, from now on, when any business wants to expand in right-to-work states... they're going to get fucked by the NLRB.

Commerce Clause powers, activate!

[CrackertyAssCracker]

It's just plain old Union thuggism. It's completely out in the open. Boeing wants to hire people who aren't in the union, and the union wants to use violence to protect "their" jobs, and Unions are part of Obama's racket, so he is doing what he can to help out. Why is this even noteworthy?

[Bee Tagger]

New Age guru James Arthur Ray is found guilty of negligent homicide.

The Ignorance Is Bliss argument backfired, I see.

[Sinic]

Newt Gingrich had a second line of credit at the high-end jewelry store Tiffany and Co. for as much as $1 million dollars

How else is he going to score some young tail?

[John]

Could someone who understands the story better please explain to me how the Fast and Furious program was supposed to work? I can't see how it would have worked even if everything had gone to plan. And I can't see how there was any purpose to it other than to send guns to Mexico to give gun control advocates political ammunition.

[Restoras]

And I can't see how there was any purpose to it other than to send guns to Mexico to give gun control advocates political ammunition.

Nail, meet Hammer.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Govt creates problems for govt to solve. Govt 101. If you die, that's a small price to pay to feed the liberal egos that attach themselves to govt.

[MNG]

I've been asking the same thing for over a week now. Is it just defended as some type of 'intelligence gathering' tactic?

[John]

I am not trying to be a jerk about it. I am serious. Okay, the plan went wrong. Got it. But what would have happened had the plan worked perfectly? I can't figure that out.

[WTF]

But what would have happened had the plan worked perfectly?

The BATFE wouldn't have gotten caught.

[BATFE Spokesperson]

But what would have happened had the plan worked perfectly?

We're sorry, Sir, but that's classified. You understand. National security.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

The BATF puts on a show and gets more funding? Like Waco?

[WTF]

And I can't see how there was any purpose to it other than to send guns to Mexico to give gun control advocates political ammunition.

I'm pretty sure that is how it was supposed to work.

[Restoras]

This really shouldn't be that hard to believe.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

"I don't care about crime, I just want to get the guns." --Howard Metzenbaum, former US Senator

[Bee Tagger]

Could someone who understands the story better please explain to me how the Fast and Furious program was supposed to work?

Well, I think the original plan was that we were supposed to take Paul Walker seriously as an actor. Only after the initial audience reaction did the franchise become more campy.

[Sparky]

Don't forget Vin Diesel.

[Kolohe]

The guns were supposed to 'tracers' to help id and analyze networks.

[John]

Tell me more. So they go to Mexico. How were they supposed to be traced there?

[BATFE Spokesperson]

TOP. MEN.

Oops ...

[MNG]

I think the very fact that they would 'turn up' at crime scenes would suggest where they were ending up, or something. I guess it was like when those nature folks tag animals to see where they end up at. In theory that information is supposed to be helpful for something...

[John]

So they go from one peon, to another peon and then are found at the crime scene in Mexico. I am still not tracking how that is a case.

[MNG]

I've heard of similar drug operations. The police let (or worse engineer) sales and then wait to see where the drugs end up at in future arrests in order to get a sense of the extent and nature of the dealing networks.

Such operations are always morally dubious imo.

[John]

But those operations occur in the US. So you can arrest the people after the big buy. But this was in Mexico. There was nothing the ATF could do once the guns crossed the border.

[WTF]

There was nothing the ATF could do once the guns crossed the border.

They could claim that lax US gun laws were causing death in Mexico.

[Restoras]

Winner!

[BATFE Spokesperson]

Must ... Control ... Urge ... Of ... Transparency ...

[Brett L]

John:

In fairness, I am sure there is some level of cooperation between BATFE and the Federales. And perhaps they were trying to get a hold on whether weapons were coming back over the US border with drugs. But it was a clusterfuck. No way you should let hundreds or thousands go.

[MNG]

It's not unheard of for the US and Mexican authorities to work together.

[The Gobbler]

So if you can send guns to Mexico in order to track criminals and you can distribute drugs to inner-cities in order to track dealers, then why can't you send a Boeing plant to SC in order to track laborers?

[MNG]

It looks like Gobby keeps up with logic as well as the ATF does with those guns...

[Mo]

GPS chips work worldwide, as long as the battery still has power.

[John]

So what. GPS chips don't confer jurisdiction. A Mexican citizen can't be prosecuted in the US for a crime committed in Mexico.

[Mo]

Has lack of jurisdiction ever stopped US law enforcement from acting before?

[John]

Shockingly enough, yes.

[mad libertarian guy]

Tell Mark Emery that.

[Lord Humungus]

only when it suits them.

[Mo]

Well, illegally buying guns in the US and transporting them to Mexico is a US crime as well.

[John]

YEs. But the guy in Mexico who buys them has not committed a crime.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

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

[Mo]

They put GPS chips in the handles of the guns. Apparently, none of the people that worked on this realized that GPSes are battery hogs and the battery that you can fit in the handle of an AK would last about 4 hours. So the GPS chips died and they could no longer track the guns.

[John]

But that still doesn't make sense. So you track the gun in Mexico. You still don't have jurisdiction over the crime. And knowing where the gun is does you no good if you can't go arrest the person holding it.

[Mo]

I'm not saying that it's a good plan, but that's how it would work. Presumably, ATF would give the intel to the Mexican government and have them raid the place or, more likely, the ATF/CIA would go into Mexico and act without jurisdiction because not having jurisdiction has never stopped the US before and damned if they'll start now.

[John]

It is at best a completely goofball idea. I understand the depths of stupidity that bureaucracies can stoop to. But it seems a lot more likely that they did this for political purposes to push gun control than any real expectation of making any cases.

And it appears that the low level agents, who actually might know something about law enforcement, objected from the start. It was the higher ups who wanted it. That screams political motive to me.

[Restoras]

Dead on.

[MNG]

I guess you could argue that you don't have to end in prosecuting the people in Mexico, that just knowing the nature, extent and structure of the networks the guns move through could provide valuable intel for dealing with the American end of it.

But valuable intel in exchange for allowing the very things your agency is tasked to prevent is morally dubious at best.

[Restoras]

STEVE SMITH, Cetacean Researcher.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Although dolphins are not alone in the animal world of gang-rapists, research suggests they've the perfected the art to a degree unseen in any other species, and it seems they don't limit their advances to their female partners, either: there are several reports claiming divers and swimmers have also been accosted.

So much for swimming with the dolphins on that next trip to the Bahamas.

[Mr. Limpet]

Get to the blow hole first.

[SugarFree]

Dolphins have a large S-shaped penis. Don't not invite a dolphin penetrate you anally. It could be fatal.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

rendered speechless........

[Somalian Road Corporation]

At this point I would not be surprised if SugarFree had his own personal archive of dolphinse.cx for research porpoises. Excuse me, purposes.

[SugarFree]

Dolphin sex

When the man lays behind a woman with her legs closed and fucks her from behind. Then slides it out and slips it in her asshole unexpectedly causing her to make an Eeek eek noise commenly associated as a dolphins mating call, and wiggle on the bed much like a dolphin swimming in a futile attemp t to wiggle away.

Dude my bitch is sooooo pissed, I hit her with a bit of the dolphin sex last night 😉

Ah, Urban Dictionary...

[Ice Nine]

Don't not invite a dolphin penetrate you anally.

So you're still OK with manatees, then?

[bosty]

the double negative makes me think this is some sort of trap

[John]

http://americanpowerblog.blogs.....-said.html

Gloria Molina, L.A. County Supervisor, Said She'd Like to 'Cut the Testicles Off' Agency Executive Under Her Authority

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Ever since the blame started flying in the wake of the Loughner shooting stuff like this particularly stands out to me.

[MNG]

ZOMBIE STOCKS!

Fantom is one of many zombie stocks that have continued trading long after falling out of compliance with basic Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure requirements. Some have been delinquent since the 1990s, according to SEC records.

The SEC stepped up its attack on the zombies this year, linking them to several types of investor scams. About 1,200 companies are delinquent by more than a year, according to the SEC.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....l?hpid=z10

[John]

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

You shouldn't make fun of how people look. But you can make fun of how they dress. Does Rachel Madow have any idea how ridiculous she looks? Check out the picture at the link. She looks like Dennis the Menace's slow, dark haired brother.

[Dave Seville]

SIIIIMONN!!

[Mike M.]

I'm sure she looks pretty good to the women in comfortable shoes crowd.

[John]

That is an insult to lesbians. I know a few lesbians and none of the ones I know look that ridiculous. Granted they don't look like they are described in Penthouse. But they don't look like that.

[Chupacabra]

Really? She looks like every lesbian that I've ever met.

[Sean]

Seconded. Pacific Northwest lesbians definitely sport Maddow style sets.

[bosty]

right down to the boys regular haircut

[Azathoth]

They don't start out that way. They transmogrify. They start out, quite often, as cute bi-curious girls.

Costumed one in mid transformation for a fetish fashion show once. She was with some serious diesel dykes, but she was still shaped like a girl, still nice to look at--even though her wardrobe had already mutated into K-Mart redneck standard. She was hot in the fetish gear--even though we were limited in what we could put her in--nude, she was well into the late hairiness phase.

The dykes who were with her drooled when they saw her re-feminized.

And I've always wondered, if they're so turned on by what we did, why do they all turn into old fat guys?

It's like butterflies in reverse--they go in beautiful, and emerge as slugs.

[Mainer]

This came up in a thread a few months ago. People like Maddow want others to know they don't care about their appearance. So they make a fetish of not dressing in an attractive or even dull commonplace way. Thus drawing attention to their appearance. Thus contradicting herself, and showing that in fact she cares very much about her appearance. And she's a douchebag.

[The Gobbler]

The article is a good read too.

[The Gobbler]

I found this to be priceless:

We suspect the confusion in our sentence is the fault of the unwieldily named Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "Wasserman Schultz" sounds like two people, and in fact it is: Wasserman is her father, Schultz is her husband. In this instance, however, it refers to only one person, a person who, despite being married, insists on identifying herself by her father's name in order to make a statement against patriarchy. And the feminists' War on Logic drags on.

[Sparky]

I'm guessing her husband is too afraid of her to slap the pretentious out of her.

[Quetzalcoatl]

James Taranto is surprisingly funny, for a Republican.

I just roll my eyes when he tries to take on Balko.

[MNG]

Former Vice President Al Gore is doing what few environmentalists and fellow Democrats have done before, criticizing President Barack Obama's record on global warming.

In a 7,000-word essay for Rolling Stone magazine that was posted online Wednesday, Gore says Obama has failed to stand up for "bold action." Gore contends that Obama has made little progress on the problem since Republican President George W. Bush.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[John]

Easy for Gore to say. He isn't running for re-election.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Maybe Obama could take some bold action like having his mansion use more electricity than an average neighborhood.

[The Gobbler]

He also should sire two more kids.

[MNG]

But how can anyone criticize Obama from the left? We hear daily on H&R that he is the UberLeftistSocialist, this is unpossible.

[John]

Same way Stalin shot Trotsky and Bukharin, who last I heard were pretty faithful communists. No one is ever pure enough for the pure.

[MNG]

"No one is ever pure enough for the pure."

When did we start talking about the GOP nomination contest?

[Quetzalcoatl]

It's been a couple months now at least...

[Restoras]

I thought Trotsky got the ice pick treatment?

[Pro Libertate]

Ice axe. Everyone gets that wrong.

It's a common murder weapon in Mexico--hey, wait a second. . . .

[Restoras]

It really doesn't pay to be a commie.

[db]

Over 70% of ice axes used in Mexican murders and submitted for tracing were found to originate in the U.S.

[Pro Libertate]

It's a damned capitalist lie that Stalin had Trotsky killed. Stalin loved Trotsky! Like a comrade!

[Xenocles]

And 80% of those came from the National Parks Service.

[Restoras]

We hear daily on H&R that he is the UberLeftistSocialist, this is unpossible

While this is true, Obama wants to get re-elected, and the Green Agenda doesn't play in a really, really crappy economy. He doesn't need them to get re-elected, so they can pound sand.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Ron Paul. War. Thats "more left" isn't it?

Standard false left-right paradigm disclaimer applies.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Former President Al Gore practices his pickup lines on college age girls in Rolling Stone this month.

[Algore]

Take care of THIS!

[MNG]

Is he visiting a masseuse college soon?

[Al Gore]

"Got your 'global warming' right here!"

[Al Gore]

"The sea level's not the only thing that's rising!"

[College Age Girl]

"Al, I have to tell you an inconvenient truth."

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Al Gore or the Unabomber?

http://www.crm114.com/algore/quiz.html

[Mike M.]

Gore is apparently too stupid to realize that he's whistling past the graveyard. Hardly anyone still gives a crap about this garbage anymore.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

I just realized something. I think Al Gore has passed Ron Paul as a dude that nobody gives a shit about and everybody just rolls their eyes when he starts talking. Could just be my echo-chamber reinforced reading habits, but it feels good. Whatever dude, have fun in journalism school.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The media struggles to pigeonhole Huntsman:

"Is Huntsman the Next Ronald Reagan, or the Next Pete Wilson?"--headline, RealClearPolitics.com

"Jon Huntsman at Liberty Park: The Next Wesley Clark?"--headline, The New Republic website

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

And one more (damn posting limits)

"Is Jon Huntsman the Next John McCain?" CFIF.org

[Brett L]

Next big Gingrich more likely. Dude generated less enthusiasm than anyone I've ever seen.

[Big Media]

We love him.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Is he the next Eric Estrada?

[The Truth]

The "dissident" is alleged to have taken funds from fronts for foreign organizations like the CIA who want to ferment revolution to undermine China ( it's the only way the US, whose power peaked in the year 2000, can delay its decline).

No country would do anything differently.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Bill Clinton is still running free last time I checked.

[The Gobbler]

The word is "foment" asscunt.

[Pro Libertate]

Mmmm, fermented revolution. Tastes like. . .anarchy.

[[John]ny [Long]torso]

Spare me the bullshit. The entire case against Boeing revolves around their motives for setting up a plant somewhere else. This is the business equivalent of a hate crime charge.

By MNG's "logic", a union could prevent any moves by killing the children of the company execs. The execs thinking their families aren't safe would have to come up when moving, thus proving "retaliation" for union activities. Yea, a couple of union kneecappers would go to jail, but to socialize a major corporation, it would be worth it.

BTW, "other companies build plants outside of WA all the time" just proves you can or can't build on the whim or political needs of the regulators. Not exactly the rule of law.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I should improve my analogy.

It's the business equivalent of a hate crime charge without the crime.

[MNG]

" just proves you can or can't build on the whim or political needs of the regulators"

Not at all, the critical difference here was a lot of credible evidence the move was motivated by retaliation.

"By MNG's "logic", a union could prevent any moves by killing the children"

The law doesn't allow anything that could ease relations, many things are prohibited to both sides. It tries to balance prohibiting immoral acts with keeping the peace so to speak.

[Mr. FIFY]

In theory, shouldn't the Commerce Clause prevent the NLRB from interfering in, ah, interstate commerce?

[MNG]

You got that assbackwards.

[Mr. FIFY]

So the NLRB *and* the Commerce Clause say "we can do whatever the fuck we want". Got it.

[Res Publica Americana]

Some faggots slipped in training and licensing requirements into Wisconsin's newly signed concealed-carry legislation. Fucking assholes.

[MNG]

"Some faggots"

My, but you're eloguent and charming.

[Res Publica Americana]

I'm pretty sure you're already aware of this, but it's not at all difficult to read and generally memorize people's writing patterns -- I use profanity very liberally, and in my vocabulary, "faggot" can be anything that's as terrible and sucks as much as the perception the most hateful homophobe would have of a homosexual. Do you understand what I'm saying?

I can be an ass-kissing poet when I absolutely, unquestionably need to be -- college and job interviews, for example -- but I don't like to hide behind false congeniality and artificial courtesy. If I respect and like the person I'm talking/the subject I'm discussing, I'll be polite and generous in my dispensation of praise, and if I do not, I will shower him/her/it with profanity, charged criticism, and I'll bash the fuck out of him/her/it, and I don't apologize for that.

You want to be a sanctimonious, filing-cabinet-up-my-ass dipshit, be my guest.

[The Truth]

IOW you have Tourette'sSyndrome. Perhaps you should stop posting here and start asking your doctor if Luvox is right for you.

[Res Publica Americana]

Yeah, that could be it -- or it might be that I'm tired of fuckbags like you bullshitting their way into power and skull-fucking civilization to ruin. Go fuck yourself.

[Sparky]

+100,000,000 fucking shitbags

[Libertymike]

No pharmaceutical shills allowed here!

[robc]

Concealed carry in WI? WTF? Do they reciprocate, will I finally be able to carry on my trips north?

Still doesnt answer how I get my weapon thru the state of Illinois.

[Brett L]

Tell them you're a Chicago alderman.

[The Truth]

The iPhone of subways, build in under a year:

http://www.treehugger.com/file.....ubways.php

[Restoras]

Good God, how did I fucking know this was in China before I opened the link.

[Res Publica Americana]

Nobody here gives two ocelot shits about red China. Go do something more useful with yourself, like watching paint dry.

[Libertymike]

Do you know that Li Na, the women's French Open champ, regularly lurks around here?

[cynical]

wha?

[The Gobbler]

Speaking of iPhones:

Workers in China: 'Your iPhone Cost Us Our Health'

We arrived at the factory in Suzhou, China, a few hours early, anxious not to miss our opportunity to speak with workers.

Through a labor rights activist based in Hong Kong, NewsHour producer Mary Jo Brooks had made contact with a group of employees of a supplier involved in the production of iPhones that had complained that toxic fumes from the process poisoned them.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/ru.....ealth.html

[MNG]

Gobby watches PBS, the newshour comes on after his favorite show Martha Speaks.

[Resto Druid FTW]

"Barack Obama announces his troop drawdown plan in Afghanistan."

Amazing, just in time for the election. What a pig.

[Restoras]

Not an uncoincidence!

[P Brooks]

Not at all, the critical difference here was a lot of credible evidence the move was motivated by retaliation.

Of course. Just as I "retaliated" against the electric sockets by not sticking my fingers in them anymore after I got zapped as a little kid.

[Res Publica Americana]

Public unions are infinitely more hazardous and ruinous than electric sockets -- so bring on the electric apocalypse!

[P Brooks]

Electric sockets don't have Political Action Committees trying to pass laws to compel me to stick my fingers in them; that is true.

[P Brooks]

I read that Guardian article about Ciudad Juarez.

Holy fuck. When all you have is a socialist hammer, everything looks like a capitalist nail, I guess.

[Res Publica Americana]

Yeah, it's not often that I get mind-fucked so thoroughly. What a deluded little pinko.

[Almanian]

LAST!

Just wanted to note that I see Johnny Lontorso has rearranged his []'s. Very fetching, JOhnny.

OK everyone, carry on.