Reason Morning Links: Conservatives Against McConnell, Student Loan Magnates Against Budget Cuts, Mercy For a Bad Man

• Erick Erickson has joined FreedomWorks, American Majority Action, Let Freedom Ring, and the Club For Growth to oppose Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell's backup budget plan. 
• Bill Clinton proposes using the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling. 
• The Justice Deparment now says that Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist who allegedly spread anthrax through the mail and killed himself in 2008, did not have the equipment necessary to make the poison.  
• If Rep. Michele Bachmann's husband can cure gay people, you'd think he could also cure her debilitating migraines. 
• Mark Anthony Stroman murdered two dark-skinned men and maimed a third in the wake of 9/11. Rais Bhuiyan lived, and is now requesting a stay of execution for the man who tried to kill him. 
• The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators is frustrated that the college subsidy bubble is inflating so slowly. 

New at Reason.tv: "Carmageddon or Lameageddon? Billion Dollar Project Isn't Apocalyptic After All"

Comments

[John]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07......html?_r=1

New York Times columnist visits the wild and exotic cultures of America. These people really have no idea what arrogant douchebags they are.

[Ice Nine]

He could have picked a better nom de plume.

["Charles M. Blow"]

I wanted "B. M. Blow" but it was already taken.

[Ice Nine]

Colin Blow would have worked well.

["Charles M. Blow"]

** facepalm **

Shit!

[Abdul]

Is there a Pulitzer for condescension? Nothing else explains that column.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Maybe it's because I'm one of those citified East Coast elites, what with the book learnin' and all, but I'm not feeling the "arrogant douchebaggery" from that column.

His argument is really no different than Mike Rowe's (of Dirty Jobs). And, sir, if you have a problem with Mike Rowe, then you have a problem with me.

[Trespassers W]

If you don't get it from the column, then take a look at his picture.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

As opposed to Mike Rowe, Chuckie Blow writes about the working poor as a group to be pitied, incapable of speaking for themselves, and in need of white knights because they're just either too dumb or too busy doing the unspeakable horrors of physical labor.

"Life is pressing down on them so hard that they can barely breathe."

"They are people whose bodies melt every night in a hot bath, then stiffen by sunrise, so much so that it takes pills for them to get out of bed without pain."

"People think of them as somehow part of America's past. But not so. No, most aren't STEM workers (science, technology, engineering and mathematics workers), who grow up high where all can see. But they are the root, underfoot and out of sight, growing just the same."

"They are the ones without champions, waiting for Democrats to gather the gumption to defend the working poor with the same ferocity with which Republicans protect the filthy rich, waiting for a tomorrow that never comes."

[Amy Winehouse]

"They are people whose bodies melt every night in a hot bath, then stiffen by sunrise, so much so that it takes pills for them to get out of bed without pain."

Tell me about it!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Hmm...I see. I should have read the article after my cup of coffee.

[Pro Libertate]

Let's just say this right now: When it comes to the truly wealthy, there's no difference between the parties. At all. Even when the Democrats say they want to raise taxes, they'll be sure to get some loopholes in for their wealthy supporters.

[Fatty Bolger]

How evocative! How original! Say what you will, but the man is a wordsmith!

[Citizen Nothing]

Ha ha.
A local guy I know who now works at the Washington Post writes just like this. Makes me crazy.
I like the guy well enough, personally. So fortunately, when his latest book came out, my editor let me do an interview instead of a review, which would not have been pretty.

[Clich? Bandit]

I agree with this. It is at least well written douchery...definite douchery though, kind of dripping.

[Warty]

No one mentioned the asinine argument about the debt ceiling. No one. Life is pressing down on them so hard that they can barely breathe. They just want Washington to work, the way they do.

They take no notice of Washington. Amazing! Clearly, they want it to do the things I want it to do.

[MNG]

So this activity by elite journalists causes you the RAGE but hacking into a murdered child's phone does not?

This is your brain on partisanship.

[Brainiac]

The child was dead, duh!

[SIV]

WTF?

[SIV]

Seriously MNG, you are fucking deranged if you think some Brit tabloid scandal across the pond has anything to do with...anything.

[MNG]

So you are OK with journalists hacking into the phone of a child murder victim, possibly with help from government buddies? Strange libertarianism you got there SIV. But we already knew you were a GOP shill.

[SIV]

The UK government and Scotland Yard are GOP? You're acting deranged, not partisan MNG.

[Warty]

This is an odd false dichotomy, even for MNG.

[Restoras]

+1

[MNG]

The freaks come out at night, the GOP shills come out in the morning.

[Restoras]

I will readily admit to being a GOP shill in my youth. No longer, however, so go take a nice long walk on a short pier, minge.

[Timon19]

Completely asinine subject change, anyone?

[MNG]

Here is the blatant dishonesty of the Right. Where were you yesterday when John responded to the Newscorp scandal story with "b-but, Dan Rather!?!" Seems the subject change police were getting donuts that day.

Or they were busy on Free Republic.

[Fatty Bolger]

Oh, I see. So this idiocy is just your latest salvo in another John/MNG pissing contest. OK. Maybe just try to make that clearer next time.

[MNG]

No. I just find it odd that people who normally decry "smug, arrogant, elitist journalist" can't get upset about a story in which smug, elitist journalist violate the rights of a murdered child and her family, for example.

No need to tie this into Fox news here in the US, can't one simply be outraged at, well, an ACTUAL outrage? When one's outrage is contingent on what the "other side" is doing or not then one has given themselves over to the rankest partisanship.

[Restoras]

Your projecting, minge. Who said anything about not being upset/angered/outraged by the actions of a group of sleazy, unprincipled journalists in a foreign country? Only you as far as I can tell.

[Michael]

Hey, Mange, see if you can spot the condescending rhetoric in the following passage:

They are the ones without champions, waiting for Democrats to gather the gumption to defend the working poor with the same ferocity with which Republicans protect the filthy rich, waiting for a tomorrow that never comes.

Try to recall that these are the same people that inexplicably deliver GOP electoral wins cycle after cycle. What do you say, Mange? Perhaps they could use some correction?

[Fatty Bolger]

a story in which smug, elitist journalist violate the rights of a murdered child and her family

Dude... it's a tabloid specializing in celebrity sex and drug scandals. Smug and elitist? Seriously?

[Zeb]

The phone hacking thing is terrible and criminal and the perpetrators deserve to be punished, and it looks like they will. Which is good. And the UK is fucked. Does anyone here disagree?

What else needs to be said?

[Clich? Bandit]

Yeah this needs to be said:

MNG, Lacking self awareness since 1972!

[Trespassers W]

Guys, we aren't allowed to talk about anything else until we express outrage about this particular event to MNG's satisfaction.

BOO NEWSCORP! YOU SICKOS! YOU SUCK! I HOPE JUSTICE CONTINUES TO BE SERVED!

[Timon19]

What the fuck, asshole? I can't post all day long, nor even read most of the comment threads.

Die in a fire, twat.

I'm thinking this is a possible spoof.

[Gaia]

What do douchebags hacking into voicemail in GB have in common with douchebag columnists in the NY Times?

Oh yeah, their both media douchebags.

And your point is?

[Justin Cases]

Dan Rather was trying to cause political change and influence a presidential election.

Acts of really poor taste by editors and investigators in another country with no real agenda other than getting a scoop is hardly the same. Your need to somehow pin the acts on the parent company and make the connection to the right is a desperate and unnecessary argument, especially since some of them will probably end up in jail.

[Rhywun]

JFC this Left/Right shit is so lame.

[Fatty Bolger]

Those British tabloid employees are Republicans? Who knew?

[SIV]

MNG apparently.

[cynical]

It was Brit on Brit crime. You wouldn't give a shit either except it gives you a tangential opportunity to bitch about Fox News.

[Pip]

"MNG|7.19.11 @ 8:52AM|#
So this activity by elite journalists causes you the RAGE but hacking into a murdered child's phone does not?

This is your brain on partisanship."

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU USELESS, PETTY LITTLE CUNT?

GOD HOW YOU SUCK.

GO FUCK YOU MOTHER.

[grylliade]

They are honest people who do honest work ? crack-the-bones work; lift-it, chop-it, empty-it, glide-it-in-smooth work; feel-the-flames-up-close work; crawl-down-in-there work ? things that no one wants to do but that someone must.

They are women whose skin glistens from steam and sweat, whose hands stay damp from being dipped in buckets and dried on aprons. They are men who work in boots with steel toes, the kind that don't take shining, the kind that lean over and tell stories when you take them off.

They are people whose bodies melt every night in a hot bath, then stiffen by sunrise, so much so that it takes pills for them to get out of bed without pain.

My lovely wife just pointed out that this column should have started out, "Dear Penthouse Forum: I never thought it could happen to me . . ."

[Pro Libertate]

Just wait until the book comes out!

[Rhywun]

Funny thing is that New York City is chock full of such people. Who does he think washes his dishes, folds his laundry...?

And boy are there plenty of Democrats around here "fighting" for them - mostly by taxing the shit out of them.

[Old Mexican]

Re: John,

New York Times columnist visits the wild and exotic cultures of America.

I thought Larry The Cable Guy was already doing that!

[Cheeseburger]

Yeah, but like Mike Rowe, Larry actually has some respect for and liking of his subject matter.

[heller]

Don't read the first comment. Oh God. It will scar you.

[Au H20]

Heller, you are too nice. I am not. The first comment, in full:

"Your points are so well expressed here. The descriptions are vivid and apt. These are the ones who would suffer if the retirement age is raised. Contrasted with the ones who say "I wouldn't mind working 'til 67 or 70, let's raise the age for social security so we can reduce the deficit".

Sure, from the viewpoint of comfy chairs in air conditioning, with authority over underlings, and doing work they actually enjoy. They don't have to take pain pills to get out of the bed. If they retire they will be bored and miss all their perks and authority. Some people actually have a kind of fun at work, in a weird sort of way. But millions, maybe most, don't. They just put up with it and do the best they can, adjusting their attitudes as they go.

Our political punditry and politicians mostly ignore the mass of workers and the reality of their lives. The media discussion of our national debt and budget is often quite technical, and above the heads of most listeners. This discussion assumes a background in financial terminology, etc. that most don't have. The ones who really pay attention to this are mostly investors with extra capital to throw into stocks. Even if the markets plunge, they've got their safety nets all set up, and won't have to worry about rent and food. Maybe postpone the vacation a bit. The people described here are quite a bit nearer subsistence level, because most or all of their income comes"

No, I didn't mispost. The sentence just ends at "comes". Which is what NY Times readers did over this column.

Yes, that's right kids, from BEAUTIFUL Hollywood, California, it's America's favorite gameshow... COLUMN BUKAKE!!!

[robc]

Apparently this commenter is unaware the SS retirement age has already been raised to 67.

[Au H20]

The comments are gold. A bunch of self-identified New Yorkers talking about how beautiful and poignant this essay is. Oh, and also about how evil the Republicans are.

This is the New York Times, after all.

[Apple]

I like how he has to go all the way to the "Deep South" to find hard working, blue collar people. I guess there aren't any forklift drivers, construction workers or dishwashers in New York.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Apparently he doesn't understand enough Spanish to survey the locals.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

That article reads like a transcript from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom:

"We left the comforts of our sophisticated urban paradise to brave the squalor of the American South, studying the social habits of the Blue-Collar Worker."

[Jonas]

I love how people think that mimicking Maya Angelou's overwrought and sentimental prose style makes them great writers.

"Steel-toed boots that don't take polish and tell stories when you take them off" or some shit like that. I worked in a factory with men wearing steel toed boots where I got paid 10 dollars an hour working 12 hours shifts in 100+ degree temperatures.

If I shared that quote with one of them they'd probably ask, "Did a fag write that?" And then they'd look at his picture and say, "Fuck... a nigger fag."

That guy should have gotten laughed out of a career in writing when he was an undergrad. It's the kind of prose angsty 18-year-olds write.

[John]

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor.....a-is-black

Sheila Jackson Lee fights to save segregated poor black school district.

[free2booze]

I love it when members of the Congressional Black Caucus scream racism.

[MNG]

You don't think there can be a sensible distinction between wanting to see a racial group long ill treated get better treatment and racism? I guess like Stephen Colbert the only sensible view in your opinion is to "not see color."

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I don't see how the "better treatment" has helped them all that much. Segregating by skin color has always and remains wrong, even when it is self-inflicted, as in the case of the CBC.

[MNG]

The idea is they segregate, or "caucus" as blacks to further the interests of blacks, as they feel blacks are currently still disadvantaged by hundreds of years of racism. If that = racism to you then I guess I can't help you.

[free2booze]

Only black members of congress care about blacks? There are no white members who care about racial equality, or represent districts with a black majority?

Racial segregation is racism. Opposing racism with more racism, doesn't seem like a winning plan.

[MNG]

Unless racism is about more than banding together in racial groups, perhaps maybe its about ill-will?

[Pope Jimbo]

Free,

Ask Stephen Cohen, a white congressman from a majority black district in Memphis.

[Fatty Bolger]

Excluding membership on the basis of race is racism. How can it be otherwise?

[Cyto]

Actually, I think they had a problem with JC Watts of Oklahoma too. So they don't just exclude people who don't have the appropriate race, they also exclude people who don't have the appropriate partisan view.

It's a twofer!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Exclusion based on ideas makes more sense to me than constructing a political group based on skin color.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

The idea is they segregate, or "caucus" as blacks to further the interests of blacks, as they feel blacks are currently still disadvantaged by hundreds of years of racism.

So that's their pretext? Because Chinese workers were historically treated prettly harshly and yet there's no "Yellow Caucus."

[CaptainSmartass]

OM, someone (Kennedy, I think) did try to start an Irish Caucus to support that historically-disadvantaged group, but all the members got black-out drunk, beat the crap out of each other, and knocked up the female members. At the first meeting. So it didn't really go anywhere.

[Old Mexican]

Re: CaptainSmartass,
Pitty, sounded like my sort of caucus.

The Black Caucus is simply too tighten up and gloomy: "Oh, we're victims! We're victims! See us? We're victims!"

[SFC B]

So, the "Irish Caucus" was basically what Kennedy called his "Weekday night"?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

My education on segregation by skin color came in college where I witnessed multiple groups willingly separate themselves from the rest based solely on their skin color or racial history. The results were as expected, fighting between the groups over status and for preferential treatment. It was painful to watch and really quite pathetic. My black roommate joined a black fraternity and my relationship with him went from friendly to non-existent as they squirreled him away and indoctrinated him into the "slave brotherhood." It was "black first, individual second."

[Au H20]

An All Black fraternity? When did New Zealand start opening fraternities on American campuses?

[SFC B]

Ka mate! Ka mate!

[Justin Cases]

I heard the black caucus now wants their own water fountains too instead of using the white man's fountain.

[Timon19]

In MNG's world, perhaps the Freedom Riders and SNCC should have been all-black.

[free2booze]

Any group that practices racial segregation, loses any credibility on the issue of racism.

If the CBC really was about better treatment for blacks, then they should allow any member of congress, who has a large black constituency, caucus with them, regardless of race.

[MNG]

Because a group long the victim of racism caucusing together as a group = the KKK.

Gotcha.

[Restoras]

Nice strawman ya got there. Be ashame if anything happened to it.

[hazeeran]

Shoulda been there when it was concluded I like the special olympics because I contend nationalism is another form of tribalism and I didn't go along with some quasi-subject change to the olympics.

[cynical]

Learn to read. Restated: If their goal is to promote the interests of black voters, as opposed black politicians, then any Congressperson with a lot of black constituents should at least be considered for a role, since he is theoretically representing black interests.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

What are "black interests," anyway?

[Old Mexican]

Re: Night Elf Mohawk,

What are "black interests," anyway?

The opposite of Wiccan, or good magik, interests.

[bosty]

MNG @ 8:52Am: This is your brain on partisanship.

Not even 20 minutes earlier. Priceless.

[Clich? Bandit]

I guess Snape's Defense Against the Dark Arts class is racist.

[proegg antichicken]

Nah man, Snape's a brotha. he got the dark mark yo.

[Sir Roderick Glossop]

It's MNG's main technique - that and moving the goalposts to Mars.

[Pip]

STFU, MNG.

[Mr. FIFY]

Oddly enough, MNG, Jackson-Lee IS racist. And here you are defending her.

[cynical]

They're just racist against people with Neanderthal blood. Fucking bigots.

[Og]

They're just racist against people with Neanderthal blood.

It not right.

[Brett L]

"Why did the leader of the Senate continually talk about his job is to bring the president down to make sure he is unelected?"

I assume that (a)she isn't talking about Harry Reid and (b)she means not re-elected. This is nonsensical even for SJL. Still the stupidest person in Federal elected office.

[Barack Obama]

No. No she isn't.

[cynical]

You're foolish, she's "special".

[John]

http://mrctv.org/videos/warren.....-fan-obama's-corporate-jet-rhetoric

Warren Buffet loves taxes that make him rich (estate taxes). But he is not a fan of taxes that he actually has to pay.

[Short Torso]

There's a new John(ny) in town.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I hate Buffett with a passion, he's a rentseeking piranha parading himself around as a lovable old grandpa.

[Mike M.]

Ditto. I can't stand that phony-ass "aw-shucks" persona he has cultivated so carefully in order to get kid gloves media treatment.

[Justin Cases]

I believe he owns a timeshare jet airline.

[Justin Cases]

Ah yes,

Warren Buffet bought netjets

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Buffet's comment about his secretary paying more in taxes shows just what a devious little vampire he is.

Any ordinary business owner makes that kind of comment to the media, and the IRS would be up their ass immediately--but with Buffett, it's used as a media talking point for how "unfair" the tax system is.

[Aqua Buddha]

Bill Clinton proposes using the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.

NYT: A Ceiling We Can't Wish Away
By LAURENCE H. TRIBE

...The Constitution grants only Congress ? not the president ? the power "to borrow money on the credit of the United States." Nothing in the 14th Amendment or in any other constitutional provision suggests that the president may usurp legislative power to prevent a violation of the Constitution. Moreover, it is well established that the president's power drops to what Justice Robert H. Jackson called its "lowest ebb" when exercised against the express will of Congress.

Worse, the argument that the president may do whatever is necessary to avoid default has no logical stopping point. In theory, Congress could pay debts not only by borrowing more money, but also by exercising its powers to impose taxes, to coin money or to sell federal property. If the president could usurp the congressional power to borrow, what would stop him from taking over all these other powers, as well?...

[John]

Nothing. And that is a great point. If anything the 14th Amendment means that Obama has to pay the debt first before anything else with tax revenues. It takes default off the table but not the way they think it does.

[Aqua Buddha]

What makes me think that if President Jeb Bush was vetoing budgets and debt ceiling raises from a 'progressive' Congress, the same people would NOT think Jeb had this much power to go ahead and do whatever the hell he wants?

[GRBW]

I represent conservatives who wouldn't. I'm relatively poor and generally a Republican. Why? Because I neither require nor desire the Federal Government's help running my family's day-to-day activities. Frankly it would be fine with me if we removed all family assets over $200M from everyone who does business with anyone in the US and use the proceeds to pay down the long-term debt. Social safety net? Yeah, even Milton Friedman said we need one. However, not for repayment by my great-grandchildren.

[Mr. FIFY]

"removed all family assets"

Yikes.

[JSinAZ]

Conservative? Seriously? Sounds kind of Chavista to me.

[Sy]

I would like to invoke the 16th amendment to have top-level warlocks open a dimensional portal to the abyss.

[Pro Libertate]

Clinton is a doofus. He was smart, once, so I figure his wife is poisoning him.

[Chupacabra]

You think he and Hillary have been in the same room since her presidential campaign?

[.]

I'd be surprised to find they had been in the same room since Monica.

[Gray Ghost]

When Larry Tribe is telling you the Constitution won't support your liberal ideas, it might be time to rethink your bullshit. That said, I'd have much preferred him to Kagan on the Court.

[John]

http://www.businessinsider.com.....ama-2011-7

Steve Wynn unloads on Obama. What is the over under on his being audited or indicted? Two months?

[Aqua Buddha]

Does being killed, along w/ his dogs, in a SWAT raid count?

[tarran]

Nahh, they'll just throw him in jail for income tax evasion as the Bush administration did when the CEO of QWest decided not to cooperate 'voluntarily' with their eavesdropping program.

[Clich? Bandit]

+all my Qwest Stock.

[Gray Ghost]

Kind of ungrateful, considering all of the business for his B&M gaming that the UIGEA crackdown provided. Maybe he's bent that the crackdown happened right after he acquired a big share of one of the leading poker sites? (I forger which one.) If the picture's a recent one of him then I'm surprised. I thought he had macular degeneration and was blind by now.

And while I thought that Joe Nacchio was rung up for insider trading, not tax evasion, it did seem at the time like a case of pour encourager les autres.

[cynical]

The government doesn't do subtle. Witness the attempt to pass more gun control regs by executive fiat in the wake of a scandal that some people said was perpetrated to give the president political cover to pass gun control regs.

[Justin Cases]

in the United States of America, they are frightened of this administration.And it makes you slow down and not invest your money. Everybody complains about how much money is on the side in America.

This has pretty much been in effect during the 2008 elections. Remember when congress was talking about appropriating all the 401Ks and massive increases in capital gains taxed. Everyone saw Obama was going to win, probably with democrats controlling the house and/or congress, and everyone put a freeze on investing and spending, some people even folded their businesses so they wouldn't have to do it under Obama and pay more taxes. That right their is one of the fundamental causes of this recession and continued causes of prolonging it.

[Ugh]

If Rep. Michele Bachmann's husband can cure gay people, you'd think he could also cure her debilitating migraines.

Wow. Cheap shot even for Reason.

[Ugh]

Not that rejoicing in other people's pain is not wholly consistent with libertarian ethics.

[Aqua Buddha]

Sure it is, as long as you actually inflict that pain.

[sage]

You know who else enjoyed other peoples' pain?

[Abdul]

Mistress Linda, the professional dominatrix in the East Village?

[Brett L]

The Marquis de Sade?

[Mongo]

Sage, are you talkin' OPP?

[Pro Libertate]

Those disembodied brains that bet quatloos on their thrall combatants?

[RyanXXX]

Ramsay Bolton?

[Mister DNA]

Yeah, Reason usually maintains such high standards of decorum.

[Reason Rulebook]

3.3 Schadenfreude
 3.3.1 Children
  Children shall always be in play if their parents belong to an officially sanctioned enemy team.

  

[Mister DNA]

3.3.1.a: The Salty Ham Tears thread shall be revived whenever possible.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm confused. I thought we were all social conservatives. Are we Democrats now?

[DesigNate]

Aparently

[Chupacabra]

It depends on the troll.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

If politicians wouldn't use their children as stage props to help get elected, their children wouldn't get made fun of. Until then they are fair game as far as I am concerned.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's not the kid's fault that their parents are assholes. Of course, by the time they reach 16 years old and start expressing opinions, then they should catch hell for being so damn stupid like their parents.

[Ugh]

children as stage props...they are fair game

Interesting choice of words, and very revealing. The children of politicians (whom you hate) are "fair game" because they are forced to attend their parents' political engagements, i.e., it's OK for adults to attack children because the adults disagree with the views of the children's parents. You may call it "fair," but it's still obnoxious, adolescent behavior (not that it is not not wholly consistent with libertarian ethics).

[SugarFree]

Please don't feed the troll.

[Ugh]

Obey your queen!

[Gibby]

I found this funny.

[Michael]

What's odd to me is that while Team Awesome (that's us) gets harangued over making light of a genuinely amusing photo of the Santorums, Team Blue can mount an active and arguably quite effective campaign to get their name associated with a frothy mix of semen and fecal matter and get away scot free.

[Fluffy]

I don't think I remember hearing that anyone here ever physically attacked the child of a politician.

Oh wait, you mean "criticize" or "laugh at". News flash: I'll criticize or laugh at whoever I fucking want. Oh boo fucking hoo for them.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

but that was actually funny.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If he could cure them, I'd offer him a BJ, then he could cure me of teh gey afterwards. I've got chronic migraines and they suck balls.

[Ugh]

But migraines are still, you know, funny, right?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

You'll have to ask my wife about that. Men tend to get neurological migraines with more odd symptoms like anger, loss of speech functions, general stupidity, strange tastes, etc.... I'm not really a pleasant person when I get a bad one.

[Reason Intern]

You take all the fun out of hating people.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Don't let me spoil your fun. Equal opportunity hating is a favorite pastime of mine.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Although, I suppose that when I get pissed off and can't get a fully formed sentence out without mangling all the words, it is kind of funny.

See here for an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

[JR]

They are funny when used as a lame euphemistic description of recurring mental instability.

[JR]

She's a whack job and he's a wide stancing toe tapper. Not that anything is wrong with either unless it means she ends up insuring another four years of Barry O.

[poetry]

Ensuring.

[JR]

Thanks, agreed.

[Aqua Buddha]

Posted for no good reason whatsoever

A Marine Just Asked Betty White To The Marine Corps Ball

[John]

the good news is she said yes and unlike that other bitch will show up and plans to put out. The bad news is she plans to show up and put out.

[Aqua Buddha]

"The other bitch" said she was going.

[John]

I thought she renigged on that?

[Fatty Bolger]

renigged

Oh, John.

[Ice Nine]

Racist!

[Carnac The Magificent]

What will Obama do when he leaves office?

[Mainer]

I lol'ed

[Ice Nine]

2:16PM It's terrible to waste those, isn't it.

[Allow me...]

Some moron Hollywood writer said she wouldn't be able to go because of a filming schedule. However, Mila has said that she is definately going.

[John]

My apologies then. Good for her.

[MNG]

John wrongly jumped to a conclusion?

In other news, world turns.

[Restoras]

F-

[Pip]

STFU, CUNT.

[Sir Roderick Glossop]

John hardly jumped - he was misinformed since the rumor was that she was backing out. Then he admitted he was wrong.

That sounds reasonable, unlike your personal attack.

[John]

http://www.howtobearetronaut.c.....1896-1976/

Cosomopolitan Magazine 1896-1976. Some of the older ones would make the women on Jezebel's heads explode.

[sage]

Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist who allegedly spread anthrax through the mail and killed himself in 2008, did not have the equipment to necessary to make the poison.

And yet he's dead, so he must have done it. Maybe he sold the gear on ebay after he was done using it.

[John]

If he is not guilty that means there was a terrorist attack in the US that didn't involve an evil white male. He has to be guilty.

[Brett L]

Maybe now that the witchhunt is officially ended, the FBI could get around to finding the actual person sending anthrax.

[O. J. Simpson]

I'm searching in here.

[cynical]

Don't worry, he only didn't do it because the government is getting sued now.

[Chupacabra]

I'm sure he was guilty of SOMETHING.

[Ice Nine]

Mark Anthony Stroman murdered two dark-skinned men and maimed a third in the wake of 9/11. Rais Bhuiyan lived, and is now requesting a stay of execution for the man who tried to kill him.
"I requested a meeting with Mr. Stroman. I'm eagerly awaiting to see him in person and exchange ideas."

Uh, riiight...exchange ideas. I'm trying to respect this guy for that but I can't get past the fact that it does little more than make him sound like a simp.

Though futilely raised as a Christian, I have nonetheless always tried to adhere to the basic Christian principles. But I could never, ever get into that turning the other cheek shit. Maybe I should become a Muslim.

[Chris Tians]

Maybe I should become a Muslim.

At least we won't kill your infidel ass if you convert.

[Torquemada]

Word. We'll only do that if you don't.

[cynical]

He handloads his own brand of ammunition, and calls it "ideas".

If it's any good, we can use it to replace incandescent light bulbs.

[Zeb]

Revenge doesn't help anything. Revenge culture is one reason (of many) why the muslim world is so hopelessly fucked up.

[cynical]

Revenge helps plenty. One just needs to account for the fact that one's perception of "proportionate" goes too far due to natural bias, and adjust accordingly.

Like, if you think someone should be staked on an anthill, what is proportionate is probably just to cut their throat cleanly while they sleep.

[Carnac The Magificent]

What will Obama do when he leaves office?

[OO]

havard prez

[John]

Would they really want to lose the rest of their endowment? They already lost billions thanks to Larry Summners.

[John]

You do make a great point. University President is generally a great job for political empty suits.

[Trespassers W]

Havard? Is that some kind of racist joke, racist?

[Harvard Man]

At Harvard, we do not end our sentences with racist slurs.

[cynical]

No, he's just tarded.

[Rich]

Community organizer.

[sarcasmic]

President of the U.N.

[Barack Obama]

Let me be clear.

First Dude, biotches!

[Cheeseburger]

If there is any justice he will become involved in a autoerotic hanging incident involving sheep fucking. Just so we won't be forced to listen to his preaching for the next 40 years.

[Brett L]

I'm pretty sure Jimmy Carter's continued self-righteous bleating proves there is no justice. At least Bush pere et fil have the grace to STFU unless they are fundraising for a global disaster. Clinton also did this well during the Bush administration, and I think, is only more exposed now because he shows up with his wife to administration functions.

[Just an Engineer]

Be bitter and give commencement speeches.

[Aqua Buddha]

Journo: If 9/11 victims were hacked, 'Fox News is finished'

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The lefties must be drooling over such a proposition.

[Huh]

That is a very credible story, from a very reputable source. I'm serious.

[John]

I would like to know why. They still would have millions of viewers and be profitable. I doubt most of their viewers would stop watching the entire network. It is good that this guy let the mask slip and admit that this whole thing is about destroying any view beyond the beltway media's.

[cynical]

Pretty much. Conservatives aren't going to let their only TV voice go quietly into the night. If the government actually tried to shut them down, that might be the straw that broke the camel's back.

[Mister DNA]

Not a chance. Even if concrete proof comes out that Fox hacked the phones of 9/11 victims, all Fox has to do is paint all the 9/11 phone hacking victims as America-hating Al Qaeda sympathizers and their viewers will swallow it hook, line and sinker.

[Brett L]

Don't confuse a sister company in a different nation with Fox. Just because Carlos Fox's Mexican companies may be corrupt doesn't mean the NYT is.

[Fatty Bolger]

Who is alleging that Fox News hacked anybody? All I see is charges that a British tabloid owned by the same parent company did it. Anybody who thinks that's going to take down Fox News is delusional.

[OO]

at this point in time, you cant know that faux wont be effected

[Fatty Bolger]

"faux" news? Very clever. You come up with that yourself?

They may be affected, if, for instance, Murdoch resigns, or somebody in Fox knew about what was going on (unlikely). That hardly means they are "finished."

[Old Mexican]

Re: Fatty Bolger,

"faux" news? Very clever. You come up with that yourself?

Actually, he didn't. Double-asshole has not shown to be that witty... or original.

[SIV]

See MNG upthread.

[MNG]

Citation needed.

I did not say anything about Foxnews upthread.

[Pip]

I don't think they grasp the concept of Operating Companies.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

CNN and MSNBC are celebrating the travails of Rupert Murdoch. MSNBC, in particular, has got covergae front and center in bold letters (looks similar to their coverage of the Fukushima earthquake) on their website.

[I]

I think Reason Morning Links is the bestest chatroom in the world.

[Mister DNA]

a/s/l?

[Anthony Weiner]

How ya doing?

[I]

OMG!

[Aqua Buddha]

More Lessons in Liberal Civility: Rape Yes, Target Maps No.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

You see, aggression is okay when initiated by the majority. Because the majority is always right because they're the MAJORITY, you see?

[Aqua Buddha]

And liberals, as they speak for those who either can't speak or say the wrong things due to a false social conscious, are always the majority.

[sarcasmic]

Except when the majority disagrees with liberals.
That's why we have liberal judges.
So the courts can overturn the majority when it is wrong.

[OO]

u mean like the roberts court?

[MNG]

I was just going to point out how the right loves two conflicting memes, the "left loves majorities to trampel rights" and the "left uses activist judges to thwart the majority of Real Americans", but sarcasmic did my job for me. As I've long said, you can't caricature the Right, they do it for you.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I didn't say the right doesn't love it just as much as the left.

[sarcasmic]

The left uses majorities to force their way onto everyone else, and when that fails they use the courts.
Where is the conflict?

[MNG]

Mmm, cake and eat it too! They're wicked Northeastern elites AND populists!

[Pip]

STFU.

[Aqua Buddha]

The majority never disagrees with liberals. When liberals lose elections, it is because the other side cheated.

[sarcasmic]

The majority has repeatedly refused to redefine marriage.

[MNG]

Republics, how do they work?

[sarcasmic]

We're a democracy when the majority supports liberals, and a republic when it doesn't.

[MNG]

This from the side that is constantly yelling "voter fraud" and passing voter ID laws as a result?

[MNG]

And that the "MSM" is "in the tank" to elect Democrat X?

[Justin Cases]

This from the side that is constantly yelling uncovering "voter fraud"

FIFY

[liberal dictionary]

Tolerance: liberals don't have to tolerate anything they don't like, and everyone must tolerate liberals.

Inclusiveness: liberals don't have to include anything they don't like, and everyone must include liberals.

Equality: liberals are superior to everyone they don't like, and everyone must treat liberals as equals.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Aqua Bubbha,

More Lessons in Liberal Civility: Rape Yes, Target Maps No.

"I sense a hint of hypocrisy in these liberal folk..."

[Zeb]

Pretty good article. Though I don't see where anyone was promoting of fantasizing about rape. And I take excepting to the "if you laugh at disgusting and unpleasant humor you are a bad person" part. Isn't that what we all do on H&R all day?

[Rich]

Congressional Republicans, [Bill Clinton] said, "can't say, 'Well, we won the last election and we didn't vote for some of that stuff, so we're going to throw the whole country's credit into arrears."

Correct. Only Democrats say, "We won."

[MNG]

Somebody doesn't remember W's "mandate" I guess...

[Moe19]

Team Blue. Rah Rah Rah!

[Sir Roderick Glossop]

I remember the MSM questioning Bush's mandate.

[sarcasmic]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....craze.html

Leisure diving overtakes planking.

[Ice Nine]

A craze that will end about the first time that guy goes to the OR with half a wine glass in his spleen.

[The Fun Couple]

That's why we do "leisure diving".

[CaptainSmartass]

At least with leisure diving there's some talent required to get the timing and exposure just right. Planking was just idiots laying down.

[sarcasmic]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ernet.html

Owling, it's the new planking.

[CaptainSmartass]

The stupid, it burns!

[Just Dropping By]

Why has Reason had all this coverage about "Carmageddon"? I haven't heard about this anywhere else.

[Brett L]

Lazy journalism. They can collect all their news on the drive into work and/or from their office windows.

[Staff]

Reason's reporting has been so awesome there has been no need for anyone else to cover the event.

[MNG]

They have a writer that lives in LA, it is not rocket science. And it's a tale of people going nuts because the government decides to fix one of their ROADZZZ. I think it is appropriate, if boring.

[Fixed]

And it's a tale of people going nuts because the government press decides to fix one of their ROADZZZ create a panic. And when the panic does not occur, it's proof that, um, the State is evil!

[Restoras]

No no, it's proof that the state is a brilliant manager of resources.

[California]

Hah! That was our plan all along, and it worked brilliantly!

[Citizen Nothing]

I learned all I know about Carmageddon on NPR.
Just an observation.

[Hank]

Same here.

And locals on Facebook.

[GILMORE]

Just Dropping By|7.19.11 @ 8:48AM|#
Why has Reason had all this coverage about "Carmageddon"? I haven't heard about this anywhere else

Stuff That Happens in L.A. has extra special significance compared to events in the rest of the world.

Seriously, a temporary traffic issue in L.A. is major news. It matters in ways you can't begin to understand.

All you need to know, though, is that as bad as L.A. is.... NYC is supposed to be much, much worse. Or so I've been told.

When it comes to the local paper, I believe I agree. See, "Charles M Blow".

Fuck it... just read the editorial page. Anything.

I think 90% of the NYT has been devoted to the "hacking scandal" of late. Strangely, I have managed to not read anything about it, and don't care at all. There's probably something wrong with me. It is apparently The Most Important Thing Ever. It's their own Carmageddon.

[Aqua Buddha]

More importantly, tell me more about this
Not to pry into Nick's private life, but he sorta brought up on his own in recent media appearances...but is Veronique his new squeeze?

Who is feeling "the long arm of the Kochtopus" now? Inquiring minds want to know......

[Aqua Buddha]

Does Gillespie use black leather condoms? 🙂

[sarcasmic]

Racist!

[Aqua Buddha]

First Weigel gets with Howley and now this?

Kerry, the H&H commentariat is all here because we have something to discuss. We all care about you and are concerned w/ some of the decisions you've been making. Now, 'intervention' is a big word...

[Brett L]

Hey Riggs, good job getting the MLs up early enough for the East Coasters. I'm sure you got tired of the H&R commentor torch and pitchfork brigade yammering. (Kidding: no one reads last night's threads to see us bitch.)

[Restoras]

Seconded!

[Warty]

Fuck you all.

[Mongo]

Michele Bachmann leaves her church.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_1.....cities.com

(I've mentioned before that she was Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. She's apparently Wisconsin Synod. Her Wiki page said Missouri Synod up until last week when it was changed.)

[JR]

The wacko is toast. The non-teabag Reps have decided to squash her before she gets too much momentum. I'm all for it - she's a loon.

[Brett L]

Just keep telling yourself that while she's pulling away from everyone but Perry in Iowa. (She's not even my 2nd choice, but I don't confuse my desires with actual reality.)

[OO]

fundie cornfield caucuses are hardly a national indicator.

[Gray Ghost]

Much as I hate to say it, I think Perry's got a great shot of winning this. Especially if he can tie into the fundraising arm (even without Ken Lay) that helped W get in. What if he, post doing well in Iowa/N.H., asks Palin to be Veep?

[Brett L]

Eh. If we have to be ruled by my inferiors, at least they'll have the best hair EVAR.

[P Brooks]

"Sustainability is one thing," said NASFAA's president, Justin Draeger, speaking of the future of financial aid programs. "Predictability is another. Congress is failing us when it comes to predictability."

Administrators' frustration, which boiled over during sessions on student debt and on federal regulation, seemed to spring from at least two sources: the recent and frequent changes in regulation, and the fact that they feel held responsible for factors they cannot control.

"Many of us are weary of the number of changes that are going on," one audience member said during the Education Department forum. When another expressed concern about the end of the year-round Pell Grant, others in the audience spontaneously applauded. "I wish you would ask us first, before you made changes, to see what we think," another participant said.

I thought "regulatory uncertainty" was a canard. But those Higher Ed guys are all a bunch of racists who hate our President because he's black; it's just a smokescreen.

[Au H20]

Woman arrested for groping a TSA agent in retaliation.

See, groping? That's just what a terrorist would do!!!

What's killing Feminist bookstores?

Satire, apparently.

Feminism- Serious Business!

[Brett L]

"What's killing Feminist bookstores?

Satire, apparently."

THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!

[Rolla Zize]

You just don't get it.

[Tim]

Have we won in Libya yet?

[Rupert Murdoch]

We are sorry.

[hazeeran]

Days, not weeks.

[Lord Humungus]

Days and Days... but no Weeks!

[heller]

#45 Cecilia Ann

[Old Mexican]

Bill Clinton proposes using the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.

Probably because Sheila Jackson Lee, my very esteemed Congresscritter, let out that opposing raising the debt ceiling, besides being a manifestation of pure racism, violates the 14th Amendment... or something.

[Tim]

Maybe he thought it was the adultery ceiling.

[Au H20]

Bikes beat planes in Carmagedon race.

Hear that sound?

fap fap fap FAP FAP FAP FAP FAP!!!!

That's the sound of a million environmentalists whacking off.

How pot cured the Neo-Nazi musical group Prussian Blue of their Neo-Nazism.

See? It is the DEVIL'S WEED!!!

[Au H20]

Damn, I SF'd the link:

How pot cured Prussian Blue

[Abdul]

I like how all they used to know was White Nationalism. then they went to public school and became ignorant about everything.

[Nipplemancer]

i remember when the internets went apeshit over these girls and their mom a few years ago. Three cheers for pot!

[Warty]

Lynx was diagnosed with cancer during her freshman year of high school and doctors removed a large tumor from her shoulder. Then she developed a rare condition called CVS, cyclic vomiting syndrome.

Lamb has struggled as well. She suffers from scoliosis and chronic back pain, as well as lack of appetite and intense emotional stress.

Those girls don't sound like genetic superiors.

[Au H20]

China is very angry of Darai Rama meeting!!!

But we should borrow more money from them, and this is totally the liberal path.

Old, but holy shit stupid: The Lure and Lie of Libertarian Gay Rights.

To the tale of the tape:

Right now, liberals and Democrats are hesitant supporters of gay rights, but they are making progress through "big" government. In fact, unlike individuals, the government moves comparatively quickly with change while half of America clings to biased, imperfect and unfair ideologies. Bound by the principles of the Constitution and with the responsibility of upholding equal rights for all, it is government, with all its warts, that confronts the will of the people and their sometimes draconian beliefs.

Those stupid libertarians with their stupid belief in individuals.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Government - we're here to drag you into our future

[Brett L]

I eagerly await the law requiring minors to report their missing parents within one hour after this travesty. Florida, where as long as you don't have family, you're pretty safe.

[Hadley]

Hadley had attended St. Lucie West Centennial High School, according to police, but had not graduated. They said they did not know what the motive was.

Because I hated school, you stupid fuckers!

[Au H20]

Feminsting can still not understand. The women have better fundamnetals. Why is this so called "dunking" important?

Seriously, the funny thing is that reports have shown that men tuned in to the Women's World Cup at about twice the rate of women.

Schr?dinger's Rapist

I get what this woman is saying (although a lot of this shit is common sense- don't approach women in alleys! No shit Sherlock) but when you have rules with your friends like, "If I do not call or email by 3PM after a date, call the police because I have probably been KILLED AND RAPED AND STUFFED IN A STORM DRAIN, you're also a little paranoid.

In addition HnR, I hope the title will lead to some good Steve Smith jokes. C'mon:

Schr?dinger's Rapist? I'm counting on you, HnR.

[Brett L]

Honestly, the Women's World Cup Final actually looked like soccer. Except for that mess in the US six-yard box on the first Japanese goal. I've seen 8 year olds handle that situation better. I don't think I saw a single dive the whole game, unless you count the US's PK efforts.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

"When you approach me in public, you are Schr?dinger's Rapist. You may or may not be a man who would commit rape. I won't know for sure unless you start sexually assaulting me. I can't see inside your head, and I don't know your intentions. If you expect me to trust you?to accept you at face value as a nice sort of guy?you are not only failing to respect my reasonable caution, you are being cavalier about my personal safety."

Did she do an away semester in the Congo or something?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Haiti, more likely.

[Rich]

Schr?dinger's Rapist

Nice band name.

[SugarFree]

The validity of any band name is to see how it sounds while yelling the following test phrase in a faux-Drunken British accent: "'ello, Seattle! We are [band name] and we are here to rock you!"

Sadly, Schr?dinger's Rapist just comes out as much.

[Sean Connery]

*The* Rapist, then, Trebek!

[SugarFree]

By the gods below, that is a lot of wishful thinking. By the way, the charming author of the rapist story--who gets hit on so much, she has to be constantly on her guard--looks like this.

Safe as houses. And as big as one.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

We'll call that article wishful thinking on her part.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I think it was Steve Sailer who theorized that most feminist theory and policy is wrapped up in the motivation to make ugly women socially acceptable.

[Zeb]

I'd be a bit concerned for my safety if she approached me in a dark alley. I wonder if she ever thinks about that, or if she just assumes that men are never at risk of being violently attacked. What an annoying, sexist, presumptuous bitch.

[cynical]

Whatever you say, Schrodinger's psycho-murderer bitch.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Seriously, the funny thing is that reports have shown that men tuned in to the Women's World Cup at about twice the rate of women.

It's pretty damn sad that the self-worth of these yentas is tied up in how many other people watch the things they are interested in. I recall similar hand-wringing for "Bridesmaids," as it was apparently the locus upon which feminist cinema would finally be accepted.

It's like these dumb bitches never emotionally progressed beyond middle school and are still trying to status-jump into the "cool kids group."

[Solanum]

While you may assume that none of the men you know are rapists, I can assure you that at least one is. Consider: if every rapist commits an average of ten rapes (a horrifying number, isn't it?) then the concentration of rapists in the population is still a little over one in sixty. That means four in my graduating class in high school. One among my coworkers. One in the subway car at rush hour. Eleven who work out at my gym. How do I know that you, the nice guy who wants nothing more than companionship and True Love, are not this rapist?

RAPE KULTUR

[Michael]

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

[CaptainSmartass]

From the Clinton link:
"The reason that raising the debt limit is so unpopular is that people think you're voting to keep [increasing] deficit spending, instead of voting to honor obligations that were already incurred," [Clinton] said. "I think [the Gingrich Republicans] figured I'd be smart enough to explain to the American people that they were refusing to pay for the expenses they had voted for when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were president. And that would make 'em look bad."

Did the former President just call the sitting President an idiot?

[Au H20]

Governors realizes what we already knew: DC is retarded.

I like the bipartisan disgust with DC. It's like the governors are finally learning or something.

Questions Jezebel wishes it could ask on a first date.

The comments are Lulz. Do you understand the horror it would be to date someone with different politics than you... like a Republican or... a LIBERTARIAN???!!!!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

"Do you have any extreme (or even moderately extreme) sexual perversions?"

- You'll have to ask my sex therapist.

"Have you ever set bugs on fire?"

- I'm male and I was twelve years old once, so YES.

"When is the last time you cried?"

- April 15th, 2011

"Do you have children and/or a psychotic ex?"

- None living.

"Can you read? Do you read?"

- Playboy articles

"Have you heard of the Arab Spring?"

- I hear it's beautiful in Beirut when Hezbollah gets fidgety.

"Are you going to try and win at every game? Even, for example, when playing badminton with your future children?"

- Why wouldn't I?

"Do you have a savings account?"

- It's called Social Security.

[cynical]

Governors realizes what we already knew: DC is retarded.

Yet they all still dream of running it.

[Au H20]

Those damn 3-D movies and their damn ablist glasses!!!

I mean, when will someone think of all the poor blind people who can't even watch Harry Potter, huh?

Geena Davis lobbying for bill to improve image of women in media.

I see no way that this could ever lead to later calls for censorship. No way at all.

[Appalachian Australian]

So not providing a good or service someone wants at the time and location someone wants is what the author considers "disabling me".

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Maybe she's missed every TV show and commercial in the last 30 years that show males as the incapable dimwits saved only by their wives' intelligence and compassion.

[Appalachian Australian]

The increased scrutiny of colleges' default rates has frustrated administrators who say they are doing all they can, but that they cannot force students to pay back their loans and fear their colleges might be penalized as a result.

In other words, schools want to have no accountability for students they saddle with $120k in debt, yet leave with no skills or qualifications they can use to get a job. (I'm looking at you, University of Phoenix.)

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Why limit it to UoP? Hell, look at any liberal arts college nowadays.

[Au H20]

And this last one is a bonus for SF:

Women ogle Harry Potter film's Neville Longbottom.

But, see, it's totally different when duded ogle Jessica Alba. Why? Because feminists say so, you damn mansplainer!!!

[SugarFree]

They like to talk up goofy looking guys every once in a while. It gives them cover when they drool over Eric Northman for the 8 billionth time.

[Bill Compton]

Goddamnit.

[Clich? Bandit]

Is that the Thor guy? I am straight but even I gotta say that dude was fucking HOT. I spent most of that movie feeling two things, completely inadequate and continual pokes from the Ms. Bandit with phrases like "ohh look at that"

And like any good male, I had to explain to her that unfortunately he is gay...i think she bought it.

[SugarFree]

Alexander Skarsg?rd

[Clich? Bandit]

see, that is not even a cool name or anything...

[P Brooks]

When I go on a date, I always leave the man's full name and contact information written next to my computer monitor. This is so the cops can find my body if I go missing.

"No, seriously, I've enjoyed talking with you. Call? Well, it's funny, and maybe I should have mentioned it earlier, but I'm leaving for Bolivia in the morning- tonight, actually- I have to get back to the tin mine. Seriously, goo9d luck with that stuff, or whatever. Gotta go!"

[Brett L]

And yet I'll bet the same woman regularly stays over on a first date if asked.

[Lord Humungus]

But if you go missing, one can assume your kidnapper/killer has your keys. Afterward, he can easily enter your place and change the name!

[P Brooks]

My advice to Geena Davis: if you are serious about improving the image of women in the media, you could start by disappearing Nancy Grace.

[Pro Libertate]

Dude, you don't think Nancy Grace is real, do you? She's just the modern version of Max Headroom. I thought everyone knew that.

[Warty]

No, no, no. Max Hardcore.

[SugarFree]

B-b-b-b-Baby-Baby-K-k-k-ler-er-er-BABY KILLER!

[Pro Libertate]

Tot Mom. If I ever see her in person, I'm going to brand those words on her chest.

[JW]

I'm wagering she already has the tattoo on her ass.

[SW_Ohio]

I have a TSA Story to share: My fiance was on a Dayton to Minneapolis flight last night (Delta 4814) and when they landed, everyone was individually frisked/groped and their bags were thoroughly inspected. This was because an elderly couple brought on some silverware to eat their salads on the plane. Apparently the TSA team in Dayton didn't see the silverware when the couple's bag(s) went through the x-ray machine. It sounds like the stewarde...er, flight attendant saw the couple using the silverware and notified the pilot who called ahead to the airport, where they had the gate exit blocked off with chairs. Many passengers took photos with their camera phones during the frisking, posting them on facebook. I haven't seen the photos yet.

[Au H20]

The TSA: You better not try to hijack the Rent-A-Car with those forks!

[Fatty Bolger]

My word. How did the brave flight attendants keep the entire plane from panicking when they saw the deadly eating utensils?

[Appalachian Australian]

The appropriate thing to do would have been to simply make all the passengers leave the sterile area and then undergo screening again.

The TSA never misses a chance to thoroughly grope.

[TSA Agent]

It's possible to secrete a fork. In. There.

[Pro Libertate]

They ate their salads with the inside fork, and Mrs. Manners was called in to make a ruling and to instruct the passengers who observed this faux pas in proper etiquette.

[Clich? Bandit]

it is easy...sometimes there are three tines, and sometimes there are four tines. (And sometimes there are two tines)

[Pro Libertate]

Three tines a lady.

[Justin Cases]

What if you refuse to be searched? They keep you on the plane?

[Mainer]

One of my friends has pointed out that the ubiquitous wheely suitcases have collapsing metal handles which could, with very little trouble, be modified to come apart and provide a very effective stabbing type weapon.

[P Brooks]

I realize this is probably confusing, but if the plane lands safely after you "missed" finding the terrorist contraband, there really isn't much point in re-screening the passengers.

I hope those old fogeys are in Supermax.

[Janet Napolitano]

if the plane lands safely after you "missed" finding the terrorist contraband, there really isn't much point in re-screening the passengers

This is why you are not suitable for TSA employment. You don't think like a terrorist.

[Janet Napolitano]

Also, the system worked.

[SW_Ohio]

That was my first reaction when I got the text from my fiance. But when I spoke with her later, she said the TSA told them that since SOME of the passengers had connecting flights and some silverware could have been passed on (maybe so someone could eat their Snickers bar, a la Seinfeld, on the next flight?), they had to inspect EVERYONE.

[The Eldery Couple]

Pass on our silverware?! FUCK YOU!!

[BakedPenguin]

Well, they know their colleagues are as incompetent as they are, so they had to nip it in the bud.

[Gray Ghost]

Drive, people. Drive.

Or get your employer to pony up for a charter. I'd go nuts if I had to fly now.

[P Brooks]

And besides, somebody might have had some dope.

[Mike M.]

Generic republican candidate takes 47-39 lead over Obama in latest Gallup poll; the eight point lead is easily the biggest one in any poll to date.

What's hilarious is that most liberals I know seem to honestly believe that Obama is a virtual shoo-in for reelection. Even after last November, they're amazingly still in deep denial and have no clue just how much trouble they're in.

[Brett L]

No offense, but you know he's running against Republicans, right? They may have some basis for thinking Obama has a good shot.

[Mike M.]

In somewhat normal times I might agree with you, but these aren't normal times.

Presidential reelection campaigns are a referendum on the incumbent and the state of the country. Unless things change pretty dramatically in the next year, this is a Jimmy Carter situation all over again.

[OO]

NY26 says different

[cynical]

True, maybe the Democrats can run a fake Tea Party candidate for president.

[Mongo]

Hmmm--I think it's going to be Clinton/Dole all over again. Clinton's first term wasn't exactly a success.

The Reps at the Federal level look pretty weak-ass.

[Pro Libertate]

Two points of distinction: (1) Federal spending, the debt, and the economy are in much worse shape than they were in the mid-90s and (2) Clinton shifted significantly to the right after 1994. All he cared about was staying in office. Obama would probably spontaneously combust if he were forced to say the words, "The era of big government is over!" Even if he didn't mean them, which, of course, he wouldn't.

[Mike M.]

Yeah, I think Mongo has some false memory syndrome going here; the economy was beginning to explode through the roof by the mid nineties. To compare now to late 1996 is pretty ludicrous.

[Mongo]

Ok -- how about it's going to be Obama/McCain all over again?

[Pro Libertate]

The problem for Obama is that he's no longer a mystery. People know he sucks now. Unless aliens land on Earth and give us peace and prosperity and credit Obama for their doing so, he's toast.

[Gray Ghost]

Not sure about that, Mike. Carter did need the giant foreign policy fuck-up of the Iran hostage crisis to make sure he was a goner. Obama hasn't done anything quite so stupid. Yet.

[Isaac Bartram]

Carter was also irreparably damaged by the primary challenge by Ted Kennedy.

Carter was always at odds with the Democratic leadership in Congress who constantly demanded higher spending levels and more generous welfare programs than Carter was willing to back.

Don't get me wrong, Carter wanted the welfare state too. He just didn't believe in financing it with borrowed money. He didn't believe in starting new programs until there was some way to pay for them.

He was probably the most pro-business Democrat to that point. He believed, like Bill Clinton, who was in many ways his follower, that to have a generous welfare state you need a productive economy.

The Republicans had an easy time of defeating Carter because his "friends" were Tip O'Neill and Ted Kennedy and the rest of the machine pols in Congress. By the time they'd finished with him all Reagan had to do was puff a little and Carter was blown away.

Of course, the Iran hostage deal did him no good at all, and that was almost entirely due to his mismanagement.

[Brett L]

Don't forget it was Reagan in the debate who first asked: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" I expect that question to be deployed early and often during the general election. I only meant to point out that the Republicans are the only people in the world capable of fucking up winning the Presidency against Obama.

[Mike M.]

Not sure about that, Mike. Carter did need the giant foreign policy fuck-up of the Iran hostage crisis to make sure he was a goner. Obama hasn't done anything quite so stupid. Yet.

I grant that there's nothing like the Hostage Crisis going on, but a lot of hard liberals are royally pissed that we're not only still in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in a new war in Libya of their would-be Messiah's own choosing.

I know that most of these liberals will vote for Obama anyway, but mark my words, the "Hope and Change" turnout for him next year isn't going to be anywhere even close to where it was last time.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I grant that there's nothing like the Hostage Crisis going on, but a lot of hard liberals are royally pissed that we're not only still in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in a new war in Libya of their would-be Messiah's own choosing.

A hard-left friend of mine suddenly blurted out one day to me that he won't vote for Obama again due solely to his foreign-policy adventures. We generally keep away from discussions of politics because we value the friendship more than our political positions, so for him to just bring this up out of the blue with no prompting from me was a surprise.

Of course, you hear the same thing from battered women all the time, so we'll see if he actually votes for someone else or just stays home. I have a feeling he won't be able to help himself in the end.

[Gray Ghost]

Who the hell else is your friend going to vote for, RRR? Obama's still black, and, judging by my d-bag brother-in-law, there are still plenty of SWPL-types who will buy a 70 GTO before they vote (R). They won't be able to look themselves in the mirror if O loses, and they didn't vote. Granted, they may not go out to the polls in the giant numbers they did in '08, and the shot n beer Union folks, if they even exist anymore outside the PubSec, may not vote, but the Dems have always been better about getting out the vote than the Repubs. (Evangelicals excepted. Maybe.)

No, Obama has to really shit the couch in the Midwest, PA, and FL in order to lose this election. I don't know whether he's taken a big enough dump in the eyes of the general public to do so.

[cynical]

Maybe this is like questions about spending, where everyone's happy when you say "a republican", but most everyone hates any individual republican you mention?

Like, if all the libertarians are thinking of Paul or Johnson and all the fundies are thinking of Santorum and Bachman and all the RINO establishent shitheads are thinking of Romney and Huntsman, then you'll get plenty of support. Whereas if you told the libertarians to think of Santorum and the fundies to think of Johnson and the establishment shitheads to think of Paul, it would be more like 4% support.

[Mongo]

Exactly.

Of course a Republican-That-Fits-My-Worldview would steamroll Obama.

Start naming names and it's quite a fractured party.

[P Brooks]

the charming author of the rapist story--who gets hit on so much, she has to be constantly on her guard--looks like this.

I hate you.

[SugarFree]

I only present the apple, you are the one who choose to gobble it down.

[BakedPenguin]

Actually, that story only made sense to me after seeing that picture. What other kind of guy would be attracted to her but the seriously deranged?

[SugarFree]

Fat, drunk and paranoid is no way to go through life, miss.

[JW]

As evidenced from my Wal-Mart shopping experiences, her condition is merely foreplay into the abyss of galactically fugly.

[Gray Ghost]

Always worth resetting: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

[JW]

Carmegedeon? I got your fucking carmegedeon right here. Cops close down major commuter route for 9 hours to investigate accident cop car was involved in, with minor injuries.

The arrogance of the cops never ceases to amaze me. That section of Maryland was an insane clusterfuck of traffic this morning. What were they doing, painting the fucking pictures?

[JW]

Oh, it just gets better; they've updated the story since I posted:

"Montgomery County Police say the collision involving Officer Brendan Hopkins, 25, occurred at 11:56 p.m. Monday. Hopkins, who was driving a 2004 Ford Crown Victoria southbound on Colesville Road, lost control of the police cruiser after crossing over the Capital Beltway, police say. At the time of the collision, Hopkins had been responding to a call."

A self-inflicted car wound and manages to take a couple old ladies with him. Fucking moron.

[P Brooks]

The arrogance of the cops never ceases to amaze me.

Particularly since a "civilian" would have been arrested for reckless endangerment and had a bunch of other bullshit charges piled on top.

[Brett L]

You can't stop perpendicular to traffic!

[Matrix]

I'm sure the civies will be blamed somehow, and the officer will get a medal.

[Number 2]

Threadjack warning...and apropos of Steve Chapman's recent article about why laws with names are a very, very bad idea.

From today's New Jersey Law Journal

COURT REJECTS 'HORSEPLAY' DEFENSE TO APPLYING MEGAN'S LAW TO MINORS
Two juvenile boys must register for life as sex offenders under Megan's Law as the result of committing forced sexual contact with younger boys that a state appeals court refused to treat as mere horseplay. The Appellate Division, though "keenly aware" that the ruling "may have profound, lifelong ramifications for these two boys as well as others similarly situated," said the conduct amounted to criminal sexual contact, triggering the registration requirement because the offenders had turned 14 while the victims were under 13. However, the cases, Interest of B.P.C., A-4322-08, and Interest of B.V.C., A-5855-08, were remanded on procedural grounds.

Thank God the court was "keenly aware" of what it was doing!

[ZekWoo]

Man I never even thought about it liek that before. Wow.

http://www.web-anon-tools.us.tc

[Almanian]

I see this is one of MNG's stupid days, so I'll just go with what Anon Bot said. LOL!

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Traffic on Mopac was really light last night by about 6:30. Just keeping everybody informed.

[RyanXXX]

OK, I generally find PETA to be as annoying as the next guy, but this is just barbaric. They have a point here.....

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

^EXTREMELY GRAPHIC!!!!

Honestly, what is it with Chinese and animals?

[RyanXXX]

Ok, apparently the footage was staged. Fuck PETA

[mike]

Erick Erickson? Who gives a rat what that douchebag does or thinks.

[nice]

classy crack there about the migraines.

[download movie online]

I'm sure the civies will be blamed somehow, and the officer will get a medal.

[ray ban]

I hope those old fogeys are in Supermax.

[Download Movies Online]

Here are the most classic films,Download Movies Online including of course the classic Hollywood film,if you like movies,then there must be a place where you have to come.download animation online There are also many classic TV series and drama, you will like.

[download animation online]

Here are the most classic films,including of course the classic Hollywood film,if you like movies,then there must be a place where you have to come. There are also many classic TV series and drama, you will like.