Reason Morning Links: McConnell's Deal With the Devil, the Latest From Wisconsin, the Truth About Salt

• The Weekly Standard shreds Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell's debt ceiling plea deal with the White House.  
• The House Oversight Committtee claims Senate-confirmed political appointees to the DOJ were involved with Fast and Furious.  
• Mitt Romney joins Gary Johnson and Newt Gingrich in refusing to sign that silly FAMiLY LEADER pledge. 
• BREAKING NEWS: The connection between excess salt and heart disease is tenuous, perhaps totally BS. 
• Wisconsin Supreme Court justices "can't kick each other off cases for alleged bias, the court ruled Tuesday." 
• "Every day in America, an average of 18 veterans commit suicide." 

New at Reason.tv: "C-SPAN's Brian Lamb Interviews Nick Gillespie"

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The House Oversight Committtee claims Senate-confirmed political appointees to the DOJ were involved with Fast and Furious.

Whether it's the film or the operation, that's grounds for dismissal.

[kwais]

well played sir.

[kwais]

well played sir.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

I initially interpreted "Fast and Furious" as a reference to the twin threats in the Tide back field last year.

Which would have been excuseble.

[JEP]

+1

Roll Tide!

[Aqua Buddha]

Krugnuts: I didn't mean that stimulus
...Hmm. That's not what I remember him saying back in 2009. In 2009, if I remember right, job-preserving aid to state and local governments was almost the most important thing in the world. Let's see ? searching ? searching ? Sorry I'm a little rusty ? searching ? whoops, hit the Times paywall ? searching ? ah, yes:...

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's fun to beat on Krugabe, but it's starting to feel useless. His loyal commenters fellate him at every chance. Krugman will never admit he's wrong. He's not going to go head to head with anyone that can pick him and his arguments apart. What's the point anymore?

[Fatty Bolger]

This is the point:

Town hall audience laughs when Krugman cited as source

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That is priceless.

[Au H20]

My favorite part is how the guy asking the question continues to go on, even after having an entire room laugh at him.

Conclusion: People who believe Krugman are idiots.

[Jon Schaffer`s Right Hand]

Thanks for sharing. That video ruled.

[Gaia]

It's fun to beat on Krugabe, but it's starting to feel useless. His loyal commenters fellate him at every chance.

He really has turned into a cult figure.

I've linked to article where he explicitly called for a housing bubble in 2002 only to have the cultists say that I missed his sarcasm.

[Joe M]

How do people take him seriously? All of his nonsense is preserved for review and disassembly. Does he not realize this, or is he just so far gone? He's like a character out of an Ayn Rand novel at this point.

[Tony]

We don't care about results.

Go Team Blue!!

[Number 2]

Krugman was recently quoted as saying that liberals understood conservative/libertarian positions on issues (and are therefore better able to refute them) better than conservatives/libertarians understand liberal arguments (which conservatives/libertarians supposedly misunderstand and misrepresent). And to prove his point, he proceeded to completely misstate and misrepresent the reasons why conservatives/libertarians opposed mass transit funding.

He also dismissed all critics of Keynesian economics by summarily declaring that none of its critics understood it.

[Audrey the Liberal]

Frankly, I'm curios why Krugman thinks libertarian and conservative are in any way related. There for, I highly doubt his assertion.

[PIRS]

They are related in that they both deviate from Krugman's views in some way shape or form.

[Tim]

If Gingrich is agin it, I'm fer it. Even if I haven't seen it yet.

[Brett L]

Even if Bachmann is fer it?

[Tim]

To have to agree with him sickens me.

[Rhywun]

I'm baffled that this "organization formed last year and positioning itself to be an influential player in the 2012 caucuses" is getting so much MSM attention. It's too bad people are taking them seriously instead of just telling them to fuck off.

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

CAUSE AND EFFECT! ? Of Empire increasing the debt ceiling

[OZYISM ASKS]: -- will the [EMPIRE] regime increase the debt ceiling?

[HTS REPLYS]: Yes the American - Israeli Military Industrial Complex - the [EMPIRE] will in fact raise the debt ceiling as it has at least [70] times in the past that is a given.

[OZYISM ASKS]: -- Will the increase of debt ceiling help the [EMPIRE] avoid a catastrophe?

[HTS REPLYS]: No! the raising of the debt ceiling will not avoid an economic world wide catastrophe, in fact it will only bring it on must faster, there is no possible way that the debt can ever be repaid, and saying that everything is going to be better in the future by looking into some crystal ball is not reality.

[OZYISM ASKS]: -- Will the increase of debt ceiling come with tax rises and spending cuts? If not, how will that work out?

[HTS REPLYS]: It will in fact come with a tax increase but it may be more of an INFLATIONARY TAX increase, as their own [DR. RON PAUL] has shown again and again, the value to its currency will decline on the international level making the cost of Wally World items increase along with the cost of Oil and other necessary resources for production, Rare Earth from China, Lithium from Afghanistan, Food and all costs across the economic spectrum.

[OZYISM ASKS]: - Will US go on default?

[HTS REPLYS]: The Empire crossed the default line a long way back, the reality of that default has not sunk in.

[OZYISM ASKS]:-- Where will the cuts come from? More teachers lay offs? Or maybe cut aid to pregnant women and children.

[HTS REPLYS]: The better question is where the cuts, not come from, will everywhere except from the [1%] Empire wealthy, and the Military Industrial Complex the war machine.

[OZYISM ASKS]: -- Will they cut funds from the military?

[HTS REPLYS]: No! the Nuclear Choke Chain Blue and Gold Necklace running from the Black Sea, around the under belly of the [ME] Middle East, to the Far East and then to the Pacific Arctic Region must be maintained, and used against those nations that have the oil and resources the [Empire] must have to continue to exist.

[OZYISM ASKS]: -- Will they increase the taxes? How will that affect anything and everything?

[HTS REPLYS]: Again Inflation will be the tax, with causes sales tax's to rise, and city, county, state, federal, rents, which are all taxes of one form or another will rise while unemployment will also rise, this is cause and effect with one effecting each other.

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN

[Aqua Buddha]

Too short a post.

[Tim]

Not his best work.

[Ice Nine]

But, pithy.

[Almanian]

Herc - 2012!

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

HERCULE TRIATHON SAVINIEN, would you accept an invitation to debate PAUL KRUGMAN from the NEW YORK TIMES?

If the opportunity presents itself, I believe that you should. I do not think Dr. KRUGMAN would fare well, and you would make his arguments sound crazy.

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

[A SECRET BAND OF ROBBERS ASKS] |7.13.11 @ 9:38AM|#
HERCULE TRIATHON SAVINIEN, would you accept an invitation to debate PAUL KRUGMAN from the NEW YORK TIMES?

[HTS REPLYS]

We are not afraid to debate anyone, and no not Paul Krugman [NEW YORK IMPERIAL TIMES], he is a member of the Blue Party [IMPERIAL SOCIALIST] and the ideology of Imperial Socialism is bankrupt and shown to be more and more false everyday, as is the Red Party [EVANGELICAL NATIONALIST], We will defeat Mr. Krugman and all his false works.

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN

[Loki]

"We will defeat Mr. Krugman and all his false works"

This may be the most epic statement I have ever read.

[Terr]

I now find myself looking forward to Herc's posts.

[T]

Can we get somebody to set this up? Seriously, I want to watch this.

[PIRS]

Hercule, your posts are fascinating, could you tell us your thoughts on fractional reserve banking?

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

[PIRS ASKS]
|7.13.11 @ 9:53AM|#
Hercule, your posts are fascinating, could you tell us your thoughts on fractional reserve banking?

[HTS REPLYS]

WHAT'S THE [$USD] WORTH? ? It's time to Audit the Fed!!

[VVVVvv]

Now, Ee are not a financial expert but it seems to make common sense that at some point in time when as on the [USS Enterprise the trouble with Tribbiles] those little cute animals that multiplied like rabbits, and as they multiplied their value went down as their numbers went up, causing more harm than good, that the [$USD] United States Dollar has reached the same position. Well, we read an excellent article at (WWW.CHINADAILY.COM.CN), entitled [Beijing seeks assurances on assets in [US]], by Li Xiaokum and Tan Yingzi [China Daily], and the question is not only being asked by the [PDRC] Peoples Democratic Republic of China, but increasingly by the worlds financial community at large. What is the [$USD] really worth today, what is its value? With each passing day a new [QE] Quantitative Easing is put into play producing only short term spurts of upturn as even George Soros has written about in his site (www.project-syndicate.org) is the [$USD] unstable, and are [QE's] simply, creating a series of increasingly smaller and smaller VVVVvv recovery patterns, at the same time devaluing the dollar, while trying to force the Chinese Yuan to appreciate in the hope that some how it will bring about a miracle recovery within the American-Israeli Military Industrial Complex.

[Can [US] raise its game?]

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, admits that even if the Federal Reserve were to pass an audit as is being called for by Dr. Ron Paul a U.S. Representative from Texas to the U. S. House of Representatives, and even if the Chinese Yuan is forced to appreciate in value it would force the American-Israeli Military Industrial Complex to up its game and reverse its downward spiral of non-productivity. Now, this would take a real leap of faith that this turn around could or would occur at the snap of the finger, we took a survey on the Canadian site (www.TheGlobeAndMail.Com.), and the results were interesting, [40%] of those surveyed said if they were to purchase a new automobile they would [NOT] purchase one produced in the Military Industrial Complex, and out of the ones that were most likely to be purchased would be the [CC] Canadian Confederation manufactured [FORD] a company that said no to a bail out, they did it the old fashioned way they earned it.

[NAFTA created the [BRICS]]

Let's face it the jobs are gone, Bill Clinton shipped all the jobs to the counties of the [BRICS] Brazil, The Russian Federation, India, The Peoples Democratic Republic of China, and South Africa, countries that had educated and trained workforces but no work. And, with the creation of the [NAFTA] North American Free Trade Agreement you could hear the sound of jobs being sucked out of the American-Israeli Military Industrial Complex, that were not Military Industrial Complex related work, or high tech. which was spread over the [50] states for the political purchase of Senate and Congress members who are now puppets of the Military Industrial Complex. And, who is reaping the profits from those jobs shipped to the [BRICS] well beyond creating global [Spheres of Economic Influence] the companies of the [NYSE] New York Stock Exchange], why pay for Unemployment Insurance, Paid Vacations, Health Insurance, [401K's] or deal with possible union costs, when these are not part of the employment packages of [BRICS] manufacturing.

[CONCLUSION]

The American-Israeli Military Industrial Complex needs to STOP!!! Printing [$QED's] Quantitative Easing Dollars, have an Audit of its Federal Reserve, to assure the [PRDC], the [BRICS], the [EU] European Union, and beyond that it's own citizens that the [$USD] is stable, that it can meet its obligations within the global economic community, and that its not creating just a series of smaller and smaller VVVVvv lesser and lesser value [$USD's], where a wheel barrel of which will be needed to purchase a loaf of bread.

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN

[Rhywun]

Just - wow.

[Almanian]

Fucking "Trouble with Tribbles" reference for the WIN! Herc's a Trekkie! Awesome!

[Trekkie Nerd Girl]

Herc: Are you available for the procreation of small sentient beings? I think I have achieved some sort of brain chemical-induced emotional epiphany in regards to this discourse.

[Apostate Jew]

Imperial Socialist Party and Evangelical Nationalist Party are pretty accurate monikers.

[Lord Humungus]

The Nineteen Most Hated Companies in America
http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.....ca/241344/

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I have Cox, and I've always been happy with them. Maybe they have problems in other markets. Comcast is just a whipping boy at this point.

[Brett L]

The last straw for me was when Comcast started running commercials about how great their customer service was, failing to mention that many of the "benefits" they mention are the result of people being so pissed off they had legislation passed about it.

[Almanian]

Time Warner cable is SO bad, it makes me pine for the days when I had Comcast.

So much suckitude in Ohio - it's amazing one state can retain so much.

[Tim]

"I have Cox"

Heh heh, "cox"

[Bee Tagger]

Weird, it seems like nearly all of these companies operate in heavily regulated industries. I should probably stop thinking now before I reach a conclusion that could get me in trouble with Janet Nepolitano.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Net Neutrality will make it all better!

[the ghostly voice of Tony]

Regulation Regulation
We need more regulation!

[Mike M.]

I knew PEPCO deserved to be #1 before I even looked, and sure enough the list didn't let me down! I sure feel sorry for all those poor slobs living in Montgomery County.

[NoVAHockey]

I don't.

[JW]

Fairfax County elitist!

[Rhywun]

"the most-hated companies include large banks, airlines, power and telecom companies"

It must be a coincidence that almost every American and European stadium is named after a bank, airline, power or telecom company...?

[Au H20]

My favorite is the comments from WuxMoo. Here they are:

"OH wow, OK thats kinda crazy when you think about it. Wow."

AND

"Oh wow, pretty impressive list no doubt."

Spambot has become sentient and is no posting on the Atlantic Monthly site.

[Clich? Bandit]

Airlines, power companies, big banks, and cable providers. There is zero surprise there. The Wikipedia thing is cool though.

[Name Nomad]

Regarding the veteran suicide rate, there's a book on the subject of the psychological effects of war that I found rather interesting: On Killing by Dave Grossman.

[rather]

His point will be moot after the development on the stress erasing drugs.

[PIRS]

I remember in the first episode of Star Trek The Next Generation when the Human Race was on trial, it was mentioned that soldiers were put on drugs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wisconsin Supreme Court justices "can't kick each other off cases for alleged bias, the court ruled Tuesday."

But they can still choke each other, right? Literally kicking each other isn't off the table, is it?

[John]

http://www.tennessean.com/arti.....ltercation

Woman has the nerve to object to TSA goon groping her teenage daughter and is of course arrested.

[OO]

redneck refused BOTH the scanner AND the patdown.

[Cheeseburger]

As well any free person should.

[Brian D]

No, the woman did. If your only retort is an ad-hominem attack, that says something about the validity of your position.

[John]

Lets see, I can have my teenage daughter go through a scanner so the goons can see her naked or I can let said goons grope her. What is to object to there? But she is just a redneck so fuck her right? Not like she is entitled to any personal dignity. My God you are a piece of shit.

[OO]

naked & groping? quit being drama queens

[John]

That is exactly what it is and you know it troll.

[OO]

john a troll drama queen

[Almanian]

naked and groping

But enough about how Tuesday ended for you, Urine.

[sloopyinca]

In piss facktory's defense, he is a complete idiot.

[Pip]

Better a redneck than a state fellating brown nose.

[Lord Humungus]

^^^ this

[Cyto]

I came to post about that article myself. This quote is full of win:

"(She) told me in a very stearn voice with quite a bit of attitude that they were not going through that X-ray," Sabrina Birge, an airport security officer, told police.

"No, it's not an X-ray," she told Abbott. "It is 10,000 times safer than your cell phone and uses the same type of radio waves as a sonogram."

Same radio waves as a sonogram. Well done, Ms. TSA officer.

[Fatty Bolger]

I noticed that, too.

Did she just make that shit up? Or are they actually trained to say that nonsense?

[robc]

Hmmm...just had an idea. I know I will be accused by some of holding government officials to "too high a standard", but how about all statements made by government employees "on the clock" be subject to perjury charges.

When they start to work, they are under oath.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

I was going to comment on the same thing. Those numbers are complete BS.

[Citizen Nothing]

"...with quite a bit of attitude..."
Well here's your problem.

[SugarFree]

Class Warfare, Red In Tooth and Claw

Some of the commenters at least get it.

[John]

What is funny about those kinds of posts is they never consider the future. What happens after you have spent the money your stole from the 400 richest households? Are they supposed to go make more money so you can steal it?

[SugarFree]

But we could have all our credit cards paid off!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I thought Obama was going to do that for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36x8rTb3jI

[Pro Libertate]

Yes. They need to go squeeze more dimes out of the workers they exploit.

[JW]

Why can't we just make the rich ride the Tilt-a-Whirl for hours each day and stand under the ride, collecting whatever money that falls out of their pockets?

[SugarFree]

For that, just make them surrender their couches to The People.

[Au H20]

The problem is, the rich may enjoy a tilt-a-whirl. And we couldn't have that.

[Invisible Finger]

What happens after you have spent the money your stole from the 400 richest households? Are they supposed to go make more money so you can steal it?

There will always be 400 richest households.

[Name Nomad]

Did I miss your review of The Unincorporated War or have you not finished it yet? Everything I've seen seems to indicate that it's about as satisfying as Lonewacko/Max erotic fanfiction, but people on Amazon can be wrong.

[SugarFree]

It was in the July 5th Morning Links.

[Name Nomad]

Thanks. Even a direct link! That's service.

[Nipplemancer]

the stupid in that article is burning my retinas.

[Zeb]

It's always funny when people point out that rich people can buy things that non-rich people can't as if it is some scandalous revelation. That's what "rich" means.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

No shit. They always act as if we're living in Tudor-era England where most people would be lucky to make a few pence, and basically lived hand-to-mouth year after year, instead of the 21st Century US where even perpetual welfare cases have a nice TV, video games, eat out constantly, and possess a car.

[Arcaster]

Thanks for sharing, SF. I can see hours of fun on that website in the future.

[T]

To put on my tin foil hat for a moment, you know what they really buy with that money that we can't? Congresscritters.

[Lord Humungus]

and Monkey Servants.

[Loki]

How many Monkey Butlers will there be?

[Zeb]

So do people seriously think that the super-rich are just sitting on piles of cash that they could use to do the things on their stupid list? If a bunch of billionaires suddenly decided to spend all of their money on everybody's rent or some stupid shit, the markets would completely fall apart. Their wealth is not sitting in the bank waiting to be spent.
And I still have yet to hear a convincing argument for why income or wealth inequality is, in itself, a bad thing.

[SugarFree]

The leftist mind's sole understanding of wealth is Scrooge McDuck doing the backstroke in a vault of gold coins and jewels.

[Au H20]

So that explains why the leftist want to rewrite history.

To be like Huey, Louie, and Dewey.

[Pip]

"The richest 400 households can buy every single house that was foreclosed on in 2007 and 2008."

But to their credit, they're not that stupid.

[R C Dean]

There's a reason they're rich, after all. I suspect it has something to do with not throwing their money down the rathole-of-the-month.

[MJ]

That quote you cite confuses the distinction between wealth and money. Wealth can expressed in terms of money, but is not money. The richest 400 may have equivalent assets to all the homes foreclosed in '07 & '08 but that does not mean they have the money to buy them

[CrackertyAssCracker]

If you laid all the rich people on the planet end to end they could reach the moon and back 0.0054 times.

[Matrix]

these things really make me want to vomit. But how much of this "money" these rich people have is actually cold hard cash? Most of it is not liquid. It's tied up in real estate, stocks, bonds, other investments, or other property. It's not like they have a big money bin like Scrooge McDuck, and swim around in it all day.

[Brett L]

Macho Man Randy Savage Benefit event a travesty.

"The show hadn't even reached the tag team matches when the fracas erupted. The band demanded to be paid. The undercard wrestlers wanted their money, too. Facing an angry backstage crowd, veteran wrestling promoter Dino Puglia announced he was having a cardiac emergency ? and took off."

What a fuckhead.

[MP]

Sounds like an old school wrestling event to me. A perfect tribute.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Agreed--damn shame because it was a benefit, but at the same time, that kind of shit has been going on in wrestling promotions for decades.

[John]

http://blogs.the-american-inte.....-near-you/

Great article by William Russell Mead on the possible coming urban crisis.

[Almanian]

RACIST!!!!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

My business sits right next to rent-controlled low income housing. The urban unrest is already here as far as I'm concerned. In the last two months, we've been broken into and someone set off a Molotov cocktail in the street.

[Almanian]

It wasn't city residents. Must've been those jerks from the suburbs coming downtown to try to TAKE OVER OUR JEWELS!!!!1!

/Detroit

[OO]

nope white suburbanites r too scared of blacks.

[Van Jones]

We been robbed!!!!1!!!

[Almanian]

Not according to Detroiters. Do try to keep up with the memes, Urine.

[Almanian]

Oh, PS, did I say "whites"? No, so RAAAAAAAAAACIST Urine.

[Pip]

Hey dipshit, if you did a bit of reading you would learn of a recent development. Tha majority of minorities now live in the suburbs, not urban cores.

[Pip]

OH NOES! THE DARKIES IS RESTLESS!!!

[Bee Tagger]

Best thing from the CSPAN interview: Nick referred to his "main residence."

This means he has multiple residences.

This means he is just like John McCain.

This means Matt Welch secretly encoded monumental takedowns of Nick into his portions of the book.

[cynical]

I thought he just meant as opposed to VdR's apartment, or something.

[Joe M]

Woo at jury duty today! Any tips?

[SugarFree]

Keep your dong in your pants.

[Joe M]

Would not following that advice get me out of it?

[SugarFree]

George Carlin said the getting out of jury duty was easy:

"Judge, I would make an excellent juror.. I can spot a guilty person [snaps] right like that."

[Ska]

When one of the attorneys asks you if you believe cops to be more trustworthy than your other fellow citizens, just tell the truth.

[Joe M]

Yeah, I don't think I'm going to last long, if they ask about the police, drug laws, or jury nullification.

[Almanian]

This is excellent advice. Thank you - I shall retain it for future reference.

[Ice Nine]

Tattoo a swastika on your forehead; you'll be home in an hour.

[Brett L]

Say something like, "I'm not letting any Casey Anthony shit go down here."

[Pip]

Very good.

[Lord Humungus]

The last (and only) time I was called for jury duty, fate intervened - the gas line broke outside the courthouse and everyone had to evacuate.

Since the jury selection process hadn't even started, the judge let us all go home w/o serving.

[anomdebus]

You forgot the quotes around "fate".

[Lord Humungus]

My servants are well-trained.

[T]

My wife never gets picked, so you could try her strategy: get a law degree. Kind of expensive and inconvenient, tho'.

[Joe M]

I don't think I can get one of those from inside the jury waiting room, either. I'll have to check the vending machines.

[Abdul]

Got news for ya--does not apply in urban areas. I know several lawyers in DC and Philly who were picked.

[T]

Houston isn't an urban area? Odd, it looks like one.

[Joe M]

Trust me, it looked very urban on the drive to the courthouse.

[JEP]

Or a STEM degree...lawyers hate scientists and engineers on juries

[Zeb]

Get on as many juries as you can and refuse to vote to convict anyone of anything.

[Otto]

Zeb, if someone actually murdered another person, I think they belong in prison. If you're talking about consensual "crimes," then I'd agree.

[Zeb]

Oh, I agree with you. Just some days I feel like being all contrarian and anarchistic.

[cynical]

It's the jury version of omerta.

[The Other Kevin]

Last time I was called for jury duty, it was for a 3x offender who sold drugs and was caught with a weapon. They asked us a bunch of questions, including "Do you think drugs should be legal?" I answered Yes, and just like that, The Other Kevin was dismissed. It was a proud day for me.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Ah, yes. Had the same experience. I proudly told the judge I could not even consider the minimum sentence for a victimless crime. The other potential jurors looked at me like I'd just landed from Mars.

[The other jurors]

To be fair, you *were* wearing deely-boppers.

[Otto]

Print out this and bring it with you.

[R C Dean]

Probably too late now, but keep a low profile and get on the jury if you can. You can do more good on the jury than off of it.

[T]

So, RC, is it better to lie to them to get on the jury or should you answer honestly? Because, let's face it, most of us here are going to get kicked off if we answer honestly.

[Joe M]

I've struggled with that question myself.

[Matrix]

is it perjury to lie when being questioned for jury duty?

[cynical]

You don't owe the unjust anything, including the truth.

[robc]

Jury nullification.

Use it (if applicable).

[rac3rx]

If impaneled, during voir dire, have very definite opinions; never say that you're "not sure" or "it depends on the facts of the case". It is the mushy middle who are quiet and indecisive that they want. They want moldable personalities.

If you had asked before you went, I would've had a whole host of tips (if you don't want to be picked). But this is the best advice I can give you on the fly.

[Axman]

You say "mushy middle" and "moldable personalities" as if the only people you admire are dogmatists unwilling to look dispassionately at facts and consider competing interpretations of them. People who refuse to listen to reason, or Reason.

[T]

Drink!

[Alan Vanneman]

"The Weekly Standard shreds Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell's debt ceiling plea deal with the White House."

Hmmm. Boehner squishy, McConnell squishy. Ever get the feeling that some Republicans are being told by their big business buddies that defaulting on the debt isn't a good idea?

My theory here: http://avanneman.blogspot.com/.....obins.html

[Almanian]

So Boner and McNoChin are flaccid dicks - who would have guessed it?

[Pablo]

McConnell even looks like a flaccid dick.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course, since default isn't actually a risk at this point and is only being claimed as a risk for political purposes, I'm not sure that makes any sense.

The fact is that politicians have the backbone of an invertebrate.

[cynical]

You're assuming that their buddies in business aren't ignorant fucks who drank the koolaid. It's much easier to be a successful Masterful Bullshit Artist if you believe what you're selling.

[shrike]

their true masters called (from Bloomberg)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and other organizations yesterday released a letter to Obama and Congress urging action "to raise the debt ceiling as expeditiously as possible."

The letter, which the chamber said was signed by 470 chief executives, supports long-term efforts to reduce federal deficits while saying that failure to increase the government's borrowing authority "would create uncertainty and fear, and threaten the credit rating of the United States."

Fuck the TeaHicks - Chamber wants this shit to end.

[PIRS]

Shrike,

Are you siding with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? I am curious as to why you think they support raising it. Do you think it is because they think it is what is best for the little guy?

I await your response.

[shrike]

Absolutely.

Drop the US credit rating to BB and we end up paying $50-100 billion more in interest per year to start with.

This token little exercise by the TeaHick House is a gimmick to evade real measures for lower deficits.

[PIRS]

Two questions:

1. How would not spending even more money that you do not have hurt your credit score?

&

2. What "real" measures do you mean? I suppose more taxes?

[Gaia]

Drop the US credit rating to BB and we end up paying $50-100 billion more in interest per year to start with.

Gee, maybe we'd have to cut some bureaucrats to fund that level of interest payments.

Let it burn, bitchez.

[John]

I thought the black Jesus declared the Chamber to enemies of the people last year. Have they been rehabilitated now?

[PIRS]

Whenever they support the Emperor's policies they are wonderful patriotic citizens. Whenever they oppose the Emperor's policies they are enemies of the state.

[OO]

an enemy of the national evangelical party is my...

[Tony]

Way to miss the point, idiot. Funny thing is, both you and I have an "us vs. them" mentality. I just don't think you know why you do.

[John]

Tony you are really stupid. But you make up for it by being dimwitted and humorless.

[rac3rx]

This...

[OO]

-1 for unoriginality

[shrike]

More like The Chamber of Christ-fags.

[Citizen Nothing]

Wasn't that a Harry Potter book?

[Ska]

Something tells me that we don't want to know what is in the Goblet of Fire.

[sloopyinca]

Was "Harry Potter and The Half-Black Prince" about the young wizard's trip to America to help the dems magically formulate a budget proposal?

[Gaia]

It's when he interviews the president.

[Mike M.]

It's your hero president who is sticking his thumb in his mouth and threatening to starve grandma and put our credit rating in jeopardy unless we continue the insane levels of spending he, Reid, and Pelosi have run up through the roof.

Get this through that little pea brain of yours, it's not going to happen. Some spending is getting cut whether you like it or not.

[Bee Tagger]

a verbal altercation with a Parking Authority officer whose behavior can be described only as gay-bashing.

http://www.philly.com/philly/n.....=124488749

The grey cloud to the silver lining of this PPA official getting (probably) fired is that this wouldn't be a story without the gay slurs, despite the official's reprehensible behavior absent the slurs.

[Surly Chef]

They tore up Frankford Ave last Friday night, towing 100's of cars in preparation that evening. Some were impounded, and some were moved. They claimed they could do it because they put up signs as notifications. I live right in the middle of it and there were no signs. Even if there were they claim to have put them up less than 24 hours ahead of time. On top of it they moved many cars into illegal spots just so they could impound them later.

[Otto]

[DeJohn has been suspended without pay, with intent to dismiss in 10 working days.

"Mr. DeJohn's conduct towards two citizens while on duty as a Parking Enforcement Officer . . . was totally inappropriate and completely unacceptable," Fenerty said in an email. . . . The PPA is proud of our history of inclusion and diversity - where our employees and managers represent the diverse nature and makeup of our city."

But... if they just have the power to fire some bigoted asshole, who knows what might follow? Pretty soon they'll be getting rid of incompetent doctors.

[Matrix]

suspended without pay? Heck, I thought they'd give the guy a medal.

[cynical]

Civil egalitarians, not civil libertarians. If everyone has to sit at the back of the bus, it's cool.

[Bee Tagger]

Wisconsin Supreme Court justices "can't kick each other off cases for alleged bias, the court ruled Tuesday."

This just means figuratively kicking, right? Underground Supreme Fight Nights are still on, right?

[Almanian]

Ahem - Rule Number One....

[Pro Libertate]

Fight Court, the sequel to Fight Club.

[Almanian]

I am Almanian's churning stomach, moments before we engage, the Gladiators of the Basement...

[Lord Humungus]

I prefer Rule 34

[Brett L]

Even after reading some of SF's slashfic?

[Lord Humungus]

there are always exceptions to the rule.

[robc]

Being on the same side of an issue with the Weekly Standard bugs me just a bit.

[P Brooks]

On CNBC, earlier, they showed a clip of Boehner claiming McConnell's plan doesn't hurt their negotiating position.

WTF?

Can't we just get monkeys to run the government?

[Joe M]

We're there already. We just need to eliminate their paychecks.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Shorter version of Boehner - "I wish I had thought of that."

[Pro Libertate]

It's a dumb idea. The GOP should just keep insisting on major spending cuts and ignoring calls to raise the debt ceiling.

Naturally, they'll do no such thing.

[rather]

I touched on this subject this morning
http://rctlfy.wordpress.com/20.....t-on-mias/

[PIRS]

"Can you believe people would take a picnic to watch a war?"

Sure, people watch boxing matches while eating Sunday Supper. Boxing is the most insane sport of all - just people giving one another concussions.

[rather]

Yes, boxing is bloody but unless Tyson is fighting, it is unlikely that someone's ear will fall into your potato salad

[Matrix]

"can you believe people would take a picnic to watch a war?"

First battle of Manassas anyone?

[Mongo]

Hey rectal ~ I like the design of your blog.

[Fist of Etiquette]

BREAKING NEWS: The connection between excess salt and heart disease is tenuous, perhaps totally BS.

Wake me when they get back to pushing cocaine to fortify and refresh body and brain, to promote vigor and buoyancy and to restore health and vitality.

[Almanian]

I volunteer to be a test subject for the cocaine-producing companies (probably all owned by Koch Industries?, of course).

For the good of humanity. Taking one for the team and all.

[JW]

"Every day in America, an average of 18 veterans commit suicide."

So that's why I hear so many bells ringing.

[Almanian]

*facepalm*

AND I almost shot Mountain Dew out my nose. Almost...

[rather]

Mountain Dew? Are you one of those hillbilly rapist from Deliverance?

[Almanian]

yes

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Just to let you know, I don't have a purty mouth.

[STEVE "Almanian " SMITH]

STEVE "ALMANIAN" SMITH NOT CARE! PRETEND ASS IS MOUTH! ASS MOUTH RAPE PRETTY ALL THE TIME FOR STEVE "ALMANIAN" SMITH! STEVE "ALMANIAN" SMITH HOPE SCRUFFY LIKE CAMPING!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

No more Appalachian Trail for me.

[SugarFree]

Appalachian Trail

That's what STEVE SMITH calls the line of hair that connects back hair to asshole hair. It's his favorite part of a hiker's body.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Thank god I'm mostly hairless.

[T]

What, you think that'll save you?

[R C Dean]

Just the palms?

[Bee Tagger]

BREAKING NEWS: The connection between excess salt and heart disease is tenuous, perhaps totally BS.

Couldn't food nannies stay relevant by changing their brochures to say salt causes Cardiac Change?

[Pro Libertate]

Salt creates or saves lives.

[Ska]

Mmmm.....salt wives.

[Jon Schaffer`s Right Hand]

Spoilers!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Arterial warming?

[Almanian]

Piltdown Salt?

[JW]

Sodium chloride deniers!

[Otto]

Saturated fats are fine for you, and now salt is okay.

I wonder how much the government will pay to settle the claims of all those who died young following their health advice.

[Pablo]

Of course they want us to eat less salt because salt makes food taste good. I think it has to do with the New Puritanism that is running rampant today. The idea is that if something tastes good or feels good or is fun it must be bad for you. Thus we get all this finger-wagging from the govt. about saturated fats, red meat, salt, sunlight,etc--advice that is misleading or downright wrong.

[Mike M.]

Washington gets $200 billion a month, Social Security costs $50 billion a month, and Obama is threatening to starve Grandma?

[OO]

doesnt matter since the gop already shoved grandma off the medicare cliff

[John]

But but we passed Obamacare. I thought that meant healthcare was solved. It was historic after all. You mean you were lying?

[OO]

tell that to NY26

[Mike M.]

What the hell is that response supposed to even mean? Way to not address the question, Mr. Non Sequitur.

[OO]

red red NY26 electing a blue blue dem over medicare shows that john was wrong that "healthcare was solved". try to keep up

[Mike M.]

Hochul won that race because a fake TEA Party candidate tricked enough voters to throw it her. A brilliant trick by the democrats to be sure, but one that isn't likely to work again now that everyone is onto it.

Good try though, I'll give you an A for effort.

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I have no earthly idea what this tweaker is ever talking about.

[TRTB]

Fine article. Would that those basic numbers were a consistent part of the mainstream discussion.

[PIRS]

"Mitt Romney joins Gary Johnson and Newt Gingrich in refusing to sign that silly FAMiLY LEADER pledge."

Interesting. This may be one of the few things I can actually respect him for. But I wonder who he expects to vote for him? He alienated fiscal conservatives because of Romneycare and now he has alienated the social conservatives with this? So who will vote for him in the Republican Primary?

[Brett L]

I eagerly await Mitt's opposal to all farm subsidies next.

[Joe M]

Are you kidding? The only reason he didn't sign it is because he's trying to maintain his "centrist" position. The guy has zero principles.

[Otto]

Zactly. He's looking at an apparently weak R primary field, and thinking about the general election already.

[John]

I was trapped in the dentist's office yesterday and subjected to CNN. I am astounded how stupid people on the news networks are. All the pledge said was that black children were more likely to be in a two parent home under slavery than they are now. The point of the statement was to accentuate how bad things are now not say slavery was good. In fact it was the opposite. It was saying "things are so bad now that even slavery did a better job of providing two parent families" using slavery as an undisputed evil. But the journalists were so stupid they didn't get it. I don't think they were being hacks. I think they really are too stupid to understand. All they see is a buzz word (slavery) and then proceed to froth at the mouth like Pavlov's dogs.

[OO]

corollary to godwin's law - evoke slavery and lose

[John]

The facts are what they are. Black children were more likely to be raised in a two parent home under slavery. And the country should be ashamed of that. But to understand that requires a higher level logic than most reporters and certainly nearly all liberals posses. So I might as well have written a polynomial equation. You would have had a better chance of understanding it.

[OO]

wingnut TP's is all u got

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Well, it wasn't like one of the parents could leave or anything...

[Brett L]

Can we all agree that any favorable mention of conditions during slavery is a poorly thought out PR move? They could have picked, oh, the Jim Crow South, and been fine.

[John]

It is only a poor PR move because people are stupid, which is my point.

[Brett L]

Great. And Family First or whoever they are should be trying to convince real people, not just the sympathetic. Congratulations, the noise they created blotted out the signal they were trying to transmit. They failed.

[John]

I am not arguing that point. Just saying it is a shame people are so stupid.

[cynical]

"People"? Anyone who can't predict what will happen when you say shit like that can be literally, if misleadingly, summarized as "blacks were better off under slavery" is pretty goddamn stupid, or at least living in a bubble (belt).

[PIRS]

"A managed democracy is a wonderful thing, Manuel, for the managers? and its greatest strength is a 'free press' when 'free' is defined as 'responsible' and the managers define what is 'irresponsible.' "
~ Professor de la Paz

From the Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

[Aresen]

What floored me in that article was this:

"...making him [Romney] the first Republican presidential candidate to reject it."

Beaumont needs a kick in the head.

[Joe M]

He meant the first "serious" candidate.

[Ice Nine]

Every day in America, an average of 18 veterans commit suicide.

Wonder how many non-veterans commit suicide each day. Ie., I wonder if this vet figure is actually out of the norm for Americans in general. (And yes, I cursorily Googd it.)

[T]

It's probably a little high. I recall reading about the same effect in WWII vets and Korea vets a long time ago. A significant portion of the WWII combat vets never made it to the 50s.

You also need to remember the suicide rate for men is higher anyways, so there's a bit of statistical work to try to parse out the relevance of the number.

[Otto]

It's definitely high. The US rate for white males (the group most likely to commit suicide, and probably the largest cohort in veterans who saw combat) was 17.7 in 2005. That's 17.7 people out of 100,000 deaths. If the figure of 18 a day is correct, it's horrifying - b/c it's based on a population of... what? 500,000? Maybe?

[Brett L]

No. There's over a million veterans living in FL alone. Something like 3M in service, there were approximately 24M living veterans in 2007. Even assuming that WWII and Korea vets are dying of natural causes in higher rates than people are joining the service, I think 20M is a safe number.

[Brett L]

Sorry, found 21.9M in 2009 as the latest number in the next Google result. So less than 1:1M are dying every day of sucide, even if you exclude the 1.5M female veterans.

[SFC B]

There are currently ~2,000,000 currently serving in an active status between all the services and components. The Army loses about ~100,000 a year through attrition, and I think the other services combined lose about the same so each year there are another 200,000 "veterans" added to the population.

If White Males kill themselves at the rate of 17.7/100,000, 18 veterans per day isn't going to be too far out of the "norm". It's still worrying, but there are a lot of veterans.

[Otto]

Sorry - I thought the reference was only to the pool of Iraq & Afghan vets.

[Zeb]

I would be very surprised if veterans didn't have a higher suicide rate. War may occasionally be necessary, but it just sucks and does nothing good for the people who have to fight.

[R C Dean]

Keep in mind that the vast majority of veterans never saw combat.

But, yeah, you need to compare them to their demographic cohort for this number to make any sense.

[T]

I remember, years ago, of reading about an Viet Nam era Air Force guy with PTSD who had fought the VA and DOD for years over his diagnosis. They claimed since he had never left the states, there was no way he had PTSD. The fact that he had spent two years at the height of the war at Dover AFB unloading coffins off transport planes apparently didn't matter to DOD/VA. It never occurred to the feds how two years of that might be a wee bit traumatizing to someone.

Shorter version: just because you're not getting shot/shooting at someone doesn't mean you get out unscathed.

[Au H20]

The Monocle List: Things the 400 richest families can buy that you can't

The lack of baby seal skin coats on that list is truly appalling.

Oh noes! Google +'s only three options on gender are male, female, and other!!!

Yes, how dare they risk alienating, possibly, less than one percent of the population. Going to lose a ton of money on that. Oh, and because it's Jos Truit, of "That's a man, baby!" fame, we get a screed against capitalism thrown in there...

"Look, I can think of reasons that make a lot of sense for why Google+ would make this decision. Social networking sites often use pronouns, so having that information is useful. And let's not forget, it's super useful to advertisers (always gotta think about the money angle). But that doesn't make the decision OK."

[SugarFree]

Thou hast been pwn'd on the first matter. Verily, I have PWN'D thee!

[Hodor]

Hodor!

[SugarFree]

7% the way through Dance of Dragons, according to the Kindle app.

[T]

No spoilers, please. My copy arrives today.

[Hodor]

HODOR! Hodor Hodor Hodor! Hoooooooooodor!

[SugarFree]

I am and shall remain spoiler-free.

[robc]

Its a sled.

[Otto]

Vader was Luke's father.

[Au H20]

Norman Bates was the killer all along.

[Brett L]

Verbal is Kaiser Soze.

[Au H20]

Samus is a chick.

[Almanian]

IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!!!11!!

[Ska]

She's actually a man.

[SugarFree]

Can we not discuss your dating life in such detail...

[Sparky]

He has multiple personality disorder and all of the characters are just his other personalities.

[Au H20]

Damn you and damn your quick fingers!!!

By Grabthor's Hammer, the Sons of Warvan, I shall have...my revenge.

[HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN]

[THE IDEOLOGY OF THE BLUE PARTY]

Now, for the past few days We have been developing a doctrine to explain the Political Degeneration in the American-Israeli Military Industrial Complex [EMPIRE] into the Democracy Plutocracy of Hypocrisy, you may be asking yourself what is this doctrine? Well, We will tell you in due time, as we will below, just as Moses was given the Ten Commandments [TABLETS OF THE LORD GOD] you too will be led to truth.

[THE IMPERIAL SOCIALIST PARTY]

Now, the first of the two [EMPIRE] Parties in the Political Duopoly Democracy of Hypocrisy is the Blue Party [IMPERIAL SOCIALIST PARTY], which follows the Doctrine of Imperial Socialism. Imperial Socialism was first developed by [PRINCE OTTO VON BISMARCK] of the Federated German Empire [SECOND REICH], the idea was for the leaders of the [SECOND REICH] to bribe the People with Bread and Circuses such as pensions, socialised healthcare, generous unemployment subsidies, farm & industrial subsides etc. in exchange the elite [TOP 1%] could continue to pursue a Grand Strategy of global hegemony unobstructed by demands of the People they ruled over through bribes and payoffs, of course eventually the piper must be paid, massive debts pile up through transfer payments and must be dealt with either through tax hikes or inflation which is another kind of tax under a different name, both of which kill economic growth and guess what no more money for Bread and Circuses, this is what is happening in the [EMPIRE] today, not even the Media Messiah Imperial President can hide the fact that the Blue Party [IMPERIAL SOCIALIST] is following a backward, bankrupt, [20th] Twentieth Century Old-Think ideology unprepared for the real world of the [21st] New Twenty-First Century of Dreamers, Thinkers, Netizens, Entrepeneaurs.

Later we shall examine the Red Party [EVANGELICAL NATIONALIST] and see that the ideology of Evangelical Nationalism is as bankrupt as that of the Blue Party [IMPERIAL SOCIALIST].

HERCULE TRIATHLON SAVINIEN

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Herc, too many shorter posts. One really long post per thread is a more effective method for expressing the crazy.

[Tim]

Don't listen to him, he has cox.

[R C Dean]

And he's happy with them.

[Ice Nine]

There's some poor guy in the news today who might well be interested.

[Citizen Nothing]

I have a friend who has worked for both Cox and Dix(Communications).

[Citizen Nothing]

Oh -- and he once worked in my office. Which means he's also worked for dicks.

[Au H20]

So has anyone been compiling Herc's posts, in case I've missed any?

[T]

Doesn't he have a blog somewhere? I seem to recall it being mentioned.

[Pablo]

Yes Herc has a blog which is a compilation of all his posts. I don't have the address handy but all you gotta do is google him.

[rac3rx]

http://herculetriathlonsavinien.blogspot.com/

[Au H20]

The weird thing? I mentioned that blog, and then forgot all about it.

[Almanian]

Herc - 2012!

[Fist of Etiquette]

[Family Leader] said signing the oath is a condition of winning its endorsement before the caucuses.

So that means both Bachmann and Santorum are getting their endorsement? Or was it a race to be first? (Not that I think Santorum - even if he didn't get an endorsement out of it - wouldn't have signed it by ejaculating onto the page (if the Church allowed that kind of thing.))

[Koan]

Watch out! Herc is on an epic roll . . .
And I love his party descriptors - Repubs = Evangelical Nationalist
Dems = Imperial Socialist
Anyways, I live in Kentucky and I absolutely loathe Mitch McConnell. Can't stand the sound of voice (which must be pure affectation. No one really talks like that - he sounds like a goddamn cartoon) or his last minute snatching defeat from the jaws of victory antics. I rank him at about even if not a pube below Lindsey "shut the fuck up and love your government" Graham.

[Au H20]

Woman cuts off husbands penis, puts it down a garbage disposal.

Quick game? Can you guess what the reaction on Jezebel will be? No points if you peek before you check.

After Gay marriage comes polygamy. And that's not a bad thing.

"But I'm no marriage equality advocate. I'm happy that marriage equality is here in many places in the U.S., and I hope that we have more of that. We need less of the government in our bedrooms and in our pants. But I honestly don't get the argument that Mr. Brown's arrangements can be criminalized by the state based on some vague assertions of "morality," while at the same time holding up Lawrence v. Texas as a shining beacon of fundamental freedoms. Frankly, as I argued in my law review article, Lawrence v. Texas must also necessarily free transgender and transsexual people from the laws that discriminate based on gender identity, denying the fundamental freedom of gender autonomy."

Yeah, it always amazes me how gay people, who will argue up an down about marriage equality, can get quite pissed at people like me, who support them but also support polygamy.

Love can only exist between TWO people at a time, obviously.

[Tim]

Again with the penis cutting...

[Lord Humungus]

Lady Humungus has a girlfriend that I wouldn't mind adding to the harem. Of course she would kill me first, but a man can dream...

[John]

Pakistan, a country where polygamy is widely practiced, has a joke. It says that the only reason the CIA got Bin Ladin was because after being trapped in a compound with his three wives and various kids for a five years, he called the CIA and asked them to kill him. What kind of a sadist would want more than one wife?

[Au H20]

I dunno. I think I could handle say, a Clan or Group marriage.

Robert Heinlein, FTW.

[SugarFree]

I, of course, don't care how people live their sex lives, but it seems to me that jealousy would make all polyamorous relationships fairly unstable in the medium- and long-run, unless it was subordinated by some oppressive external ideology. Even the slightest of imbalances in treatment or care resonate horribly in binary relationships; it seems they would become a deafening roar with other people added to the mix.

It seems utopic to suggest that jealousy could be internally suppressed for it to work. "In a perfect world with perfect humans..."

[T]

The few polys I've known bear that out. Inevitably, someone gets sand in their crack about something and everything implodes.

[Otto]

Lots and lots of money might make it work. Of course, if you had lots and lots of money, I don't know why you'd want to commit...

[sarcasmic]

Those Sister Wives seemed pretty happy.

[SugarFree]

Those Sister Wives seemed pretty happy.

...unless it was subordinated by some oppressive external ideology...

[sarcasmic]

Oh yeah. They were pretty high on religion.

[Jon Schaffer`s Right Hand]

Maybe it depends on how you go about it? I dislike the term polyamorous because I don't generally love more than one person at a time. I just fuck other people sometimes. I've had reasonable success with this in relationships, but I'm also under 30 and not married.

[robc]

I explained the concept of line marriage to a female friend of mine and the ickyness of the concept of sex with old people turned her off the idea.

Not that I was proposing it or anything, just came up in discussion.

[Brett L]

The secret is to always be the oldest in the line.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm concentrating on the positives!

Though I know they would team up to browbeat me.

[Aresen]

What kind of a sadist* would want more than one wife?

*I believe you mean "masochist."

[John]

Yes. Good catch.

[Joe M]

Oh good, everyone immediately decried the one person's idiotic comment.

[Au H20]

Yeah, but the "Featured" comment skeeves me out a bit. Cutting off dicks is no laughing matter?

[Au H20]

Damnit, who typed a question mark at the end? Remember, Ron reads it exactly as it is on the teleprompter.

[Brett L]

If the government would just get out of the marriage business all together... Nah. That's just crazy talk.

[SugarFree]

Can you guess what the reaction on Jezebel will be?

Mock outrage?

[Brett L]

When do they ever mock outrage? HOW DARE YOU THINK THEIR OUTRAGE IS PUT ON!

[Au H20]

Well, the old featured comment was someone trying make a joke about how much meat you could put down the disposal, but the new one features the hashtag #someonethinkofthepenises.

So, you win SF, but only forget half points, because you forget to add, "Well, if this was a WOMAN..."

We'll be back next week, same time, same place, for our round of champions.

*All Jezebel competitors stay in the fabulous Holiday Inn Hotel in Hollywood California. Today's runners up will also receive a year's supply of... RICE-A-RONI!! RICE-A-RONI, THE SAN FRANSISCO TREAT!!!*

[Patrick]

+1, but would have been +2 if you had remembered "but you do win your complimentary version of "Jezebel: the Home Board Game!"

[SugarFree]

"Jezebel: the Home Board Game!"

You get that for free when you marry a feminist.

[T]

No, that's the Home Bored Game.

[Au H20]

HEY-O!!!

[Patrick]

I expect a righteously-indignant thread to emerge when I tell Jezebel you think feminists are boring.

[Sparky]

As long as you don't dare accidentally call it the Home Broad Game.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Throwing cold water on the notion that Wall Street paved the way to the housing crisis

"The authors are correct. Far from being a marginal player, Fannie Mae was the source of the decline in mortgage underwriting standards that eventually brought down the financial system. It led rather than followed Wall Street into risky lending.

This history does not appear in the FCIC majority report, and Mr. Johnson was not among the more than 700 witnesses the commission claims to have interviewed. Edward Pinto (a former chief credit officer of Fannie Mae, and now a colleague at the American Enterprise Institute) presented the evidence to the commission showing that by 2008 half of all mortgages in the U.S. (27 million loans) were subprime or otherwise risky, and that 12 million of these loans were on the books of the GSEs."

[AT]

18 veterans kill themselves every day?! 6570 a year? That can't be right.

[Kolohe]

Per wiki, there are 33K suicides in the US a year. Suicides skew young and male, as does the Iraq/Afg veteran population. So from an order of magitude look, the numbers look right.

[Otto]

Actually, suicides skew older (but male). I linked to the stats above.

[MattJ]

6750 suicides / 24.5 million veterans is about a 0.027% suicide rate

33000 suicides / 307 million Americans is about a 0.01% suicide rate.

Given that veterans probably skew male quite a bit and males succeed in killing themselves much more than women, (anywhere between 3:1 and 10:1) the statement seems likely to be true.

[Au H20]

Murdoch to buy Daily Prophet.

Maybe this will finally end their Pro-Ministry of Magic bias.

Elliot Spitzer: US government should go after News Corp. for crimes committed in other countries.

New York? I heard there was a murder that went unsolved in New York last week... but you wouldn't know anything about that, now would you Spitzy boy?

[John]

I hear NewsCorp was hiring teenager runaway prostitutes. Spitzer is a real law and order kind of guy when it comes to whores.

[Au H20]

Yeah, I used my google friend account to leave a comment to this effect.

[John]

That fucker should never be able to set foot in public again without someone reminding him of that.

[SugarFree]

"Elliot? Have you caught drug-resistant gonorrhea yet?"

[Au H20]

No, I just always enjoy pointing out how he never served a day in jail for soliciting a prostitute, but was all to happy to let other people rot for the same crime.

[SugarFree]

That's my "remind him of it" question he should be asked in public, as John suggested.

[Au H20]

Oooo, fun fact: It would appear that a number of comments scrutinizing Spitzer re:prostitutes have disappeared.

Hmmm... I wonder why?

[Kolohe]

Mitt Romney joins Gary Johnson and Newt Gingrich in refusing to sign that silly FAMiLY LEADER pledge.

FTFA

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign said Tuesday that he will not sign a conservative Iowa Christian group's far-reaching pledge opposing gay marriage, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to reject it.

What the fuck does Gary Johnson have to do to get some press attention?! He was a governor for chrisake! A governor that served out a full term! (2 of them!)

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It really is kind of unsettling how they just ignore his existence.

[Kolohe]

I know! Johnson's officially announced, correct? He's not in some sort of exploratory committee phase where the AP article would be techinically correct, right?

[NoVAHockey]

he skipped the committee and declared.

[sarcasmic]

Johnson doesn't exist.
Ron Paul exists only because his nutty followers are loud and obnoxious. He's the token libertarian that's allowed some media attention for comic relief.
There can't be two kooks agreeing about libertarian type issues because that might give the ideas an air of legitimacy.
Therefore Johnson doesn't exist.
He can't exist.
If he did then that would mean libertarian ideas are not just the deranged ravings of some lunatic fringe stoned anarchist anti-government cult.

[Joe M]

+1

That is, I wish it were plus one.

[sarcasmic]

penis + potato + ocean liner = dictatership

[Clich? Bandit]

What do you call a midget fortune teller running from the law?

A small medium at large!

(I know, I already posted it but it is SO DAMN FUNNY!)

[Old Mexican]

Mitt Romney joins Gary Johnson and Newt Gingrich in refusing to sign that silly FAMiLY LEADER pledge.

But did Ron Paul sign it? Because I couldn't care less about Romney, or Gin the Grinch, or even Johnson.

[Au H20]

Okay, let's give up for the best Morning Links in a while. Remember to tip your dancer and your server and coming up next on the stage is...

Sunderman!

[Mike M.]

Huge breaking news: Ben Bernanke stops lying and admits for the first time what I knew all along: Quantitative Easing 3 is likely in the works.

[Au H20]

Well, who else is going to be dumb enough to buy European junk bonds?

[sarcasmic]

We can't let the market decide winners and losers based upon merit. That would mean the politically connected might lose their shirts.
So rather than allow misallocated resources to be put to productive use and get the economy going, the Fed must step in and prevent its cronies from feeling the consequences of their mistakes.
This will allow for more consolidated political power while giving the illusion of "doing something".
Because, as we all know, if the government doesn't "do something" the world will come to an end.
Keynesian Economics is nothing but a doomsday cult.

[Isaac Bartram]

Yes, and it has the added benefit of allowing demagogues to claim that unbridled libertarian laissez-faire policies have created a class of plutocrats

[Joeyjojojrshabadoo]

The jacket for the hardcover version of the Declaration of Independents should be "the jacket".

[rather]

Holy crap, pot was legal for a day and you reasonoids missed the story:

The resolution, signed by Snoqualmie tribal Chairwoman Shelley Burch declared marijuana would be legal on July 30 when Willie Nelson, who has been known to use pot, would be performing at the Snoqualmie Casino, The Seattle Times reported.

"It was just tongue in cheek at a council meeting; we know marijuana is illegal," Burch said. "It was a joke. We don't allow it and we don't back it. We passed it, but it was supposed to be just for him."

The resolution passed 4-2 Thursday

[Michael]

If no one has mentioned it here yet, it's worth noting that PBS has made the documentary Enemies of the People available online: http://www.pbs.org/pov/enemies/full.php

[Clich? Bandit]

WOW...an incredible documentary...the level of monster is astonishing.

[NotSure]

Stupid question, if increasing debt all the time is good for the economy, why not get rid of the ceiling in the first place ?