Reason Morning Links: NYPD Out-Spooks the CIA, New York Hipsters Ditch Obama, Kelly Thomas Investigation Mired in Politics

• Friends for Fullerton's Future unloads on the District Attorney's office for its ham-fisted investigation of Kelly Thomas' death. 
• The NYPD has been conducting secret anti-terror operations for years in places like New Jersey. 
• Brooklyn's pretentious 20-somethings are finding Obama less cool every day. 
• Evidence obtained from bin Laden compound suggests that he planned to launch another large-scale attack on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. 
• Where do foreign leaders go when they're not allowed to stay? Every dictator has an escape plan.
• Vice President Joe Biden's office attempts to explain away his remarks that he was not "second guessing" China's one-child policy.  
• Moody's downgrades Japan. 

New at Reason.tv: "Jay Beeber Defeats LA's Red Light Cameras"

Comments

[Aqua Buddha]

ATF Death Watch 62: Chaos vs. Control
..."Why waste a good crisis" became "why not make a good crisis and exploit it?" In theory. In fact, Operation Fast and Furious' genesis was a lot less complicated. The CIA convinced the ATF to change Project Gunrunner's rules of engagement to supply our allies south of the border with firearms. Any benefit to the ATF was a bonus. For the ATF....

...Let's be clear about this. Lenny and his Boyz at the ATF, CIA, DEA, FBI, ICE, DHS, CPB, IRS, State and White House were not?are not targeting the command and control (or drugs or cash) of ALL the Mexican drug cartels. Just the ones that they don't like. The ones that the Mexican government doesn't like....

[Aqua Buddha]

Whom Would Jesus Indebt?
...The religious left has monopolized the language of morality and justice when it comes to matters of government spending. If we should ask, "What would Jesus cut?", then we should also ask "Whom would Jesus indebt?" and "Whom would Jesus make dependent on government?" Since the poor are the first ones hurt by a damaged economy and high unemployment, there is a deeply moral case to be made for serving "the least of these" through policies that promote a flourishing economy and culture....

Life After Debt
In this month's market upheavals in the United States and Europe, we are witnessing the end of a seven-decade economic experiment. But does anyone have any clue what comes next?

[robc]

Whom Would Jesus Indebt?

Lets combine

the borrower is slave to the lender -- Proverbs 22:7

with

No one can serve two masters.... You cannot serve both God and money. -- Matthew 6:24

Seems to me Jesus' answer to that questions was pretty clear.

[Primitive Jesus]

Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and yet God feedeth them: of how much more value are ye than the fowls!

~Jesus, verse 40, chapter 4, The Jefferson Bible

Unless ravens have a nasty, brutish, and short life.

[White Idiot]

Three Indian commandos were out in the Iraqi desert. "I understand that you Indians have brought your own indigenous survival equipment" ventured their captain.
"Sir, I have brought an entire barrel cactus" said the Pima guy proudly. "When I get too hot, I just cut off the top and take a drink." The captain looked impressed.
Not to be outdone, the Pueblo guy said " Sir, I have brought the sacred corn pollen. When I get too hot, I pray with it, and then it rains". The captain looked even more impressed.
Not to be outdone the Pawnee guy said "I brought a car door off a 1959 Chevy Impala". "Why would you do that?" the captain asked. "Well," said the Pawnee guy "when I get too hot, I just roll down the window".

[KDN]

I've heard this joke before, but it involved a black guy, a Mexican, and a Polak. Does this make more or less racist?

[Cow College Alum]

You can always make it a Aggie...

[O2]

so the pawnee are the polocks of native americans?

[Old Mexican]

Only if they also finger-paint.

[O2]

you white people are stupid

[CaptainSmartass]

[Keynes'] ideas are being abandoned even though unemployment remains far above pre-crisis levels and the economic recovery is stalling.

Wait, what does a comic book series have to do with the economic recovery?

[Aqua Buddha]

Murdoch, Hackgate, Climategate, the Guardian and the vile hypocrisy of the Left
...In the last few months, you can't have helped noticing, the liberal-Left media, led by the BBC and the Guardian, have been dwelling on the News International phone hacking scandal with a shrillness and hysteria and foaming moral outrage out of all proportion to the nature of the offence....

...Autonomous Mind is especially suspicious of a Guardian journalist named David Leigh. And he's not the only one. Guido, too, has been on the case. He points out that, despite recent denials, Leigh confessed in a 2006 Guardian article to having been involved in phone hacking. (Good, noble, phone hacking it goes without saying ? because it's only bad when Right-wing newspapers do it.)...

...Steve McIntyre has examined the Climategate connection more thoroughly I have space for here. You can read his inspired sleuthing here, here, here and here. I certainly agree with his assessment that UEA's decision to recruit a man like Wallis represents a very strange use of public money. Surely, if you were an academic institution of genuine probity your first priority were one of your departments (in this case the CRU) to be implicated in skullduggery would be to investigate the allegations properly, rather than see it as a PR issue to be covered up by a hard man from the world of rock n roll and tabloid newspapers....

[the real O2]

"...Analyses of large representative samples, from both the United States and the United Kingdom, confirm this prediction. In both countries, more intelligent children are more likely to grow up to be liberals than less intelligent children. For example, among the American sample, those who identify themselves as "very liberal" in early adulthood have a mean childhood IQ of 106.4, whereas those who identify themselves as "very conservative" in early adulthood have a mean childhood IQ of 94.8.
http://www.psychologytoday.com.....servatives

[Gus]

My IQ is 134; I am a Libertarian.

[Joy Behar]

Wow! That'd be the same as if I were twins -- !!

[Non Sequitur]

Hi. Glad you worked me in today.

[the cereal O2]

even though i was in special ed classes, i still count as being smart

[Destrudo]

148 here. Libertarian. Suck it, double anus.

[O2]

can tell fm ur choice of words. smart yesiree

[O2]

sory i poped in my pants

[oncogenesis]

those who identify themselves as "very liberal" in early adulthood

What about full adulthood, when they, like, have responsibilities and stuff.

[Joe Biden]

"It is absolutely, positively, 110% a woman's choice... unless, of course, the Chinese government feels otherwise!"

[Republic of China]

"All good citizens make certain to pick up latest government-mandated manifesto: Your Bodies, Ourselves."

[DJF]

Biden supports the right to choose when it comes to abortions, especially if the choice is the governments.

Obama sure did make a great choice in Vice Presidents. Nobody wants anything to happen to Obama knowing that Bidden would take over.

[creech]

Really, what could Biden do except guarantee an American regime change next November?

[Nooge]

That's actually quite brilliant. Even the most foaming-at-the-mouth nutjob of a potential assassin would think twice, knowing that Biden would be taking over.

[Michael Ejercito]

Even the most foaming-at-the-mouth nutjob of a potential assassin would think twice, knowing that Biden would be taking over.

Or a Republican-supermajority in both houses of Congress.

[Agammamon]

Don't forget to also get a copy of "Our bodies, Yourselves" by - also a government mandated manifesto that requires you to do the exact opposite.

Failure to obey the directives in either manifesto is punishable by law.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Give him a break. Love of population control is knee-jerk for the left.

[Margaret Sanger]

On blacks, immigrants and indigents:
"...human weeds,' 'reckless breeders,' 'spawning... human beings who never should have been born." Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization, referring to immigrants and poor people.

*************

It's okay, though. We're progressives. We know what we're doing.

[White Indian]

Only white woman ever worth a damn.

[White Idiot]

Two Cheyenne guys on relocation spied a sign in a cafe window that said "hot-dogs". Thinking they were some other kind of dogs, they ordered two to go, and went to a park to have lunch. The first Cheyenne guy looked inside his sack, and then threw it down in disgust.
"What part did you get?" asked his buddy.

[White Indian #41]

Sanger's sentiments illustrate the way civilized people in mass society think of other people.

It is easily explainable. Dunbar's Number.

Dunbar's Number limits how many we can relate to in stable social relationships.

Beyond Dunbar's Number, it gets ugly.

? Trail of Tears.
? Pol Pot (trying to restart the Khmer Civilization.)
? Holodomor.
? Dresden.
? Hiroshima.
? Sacrifice religions. (only found in agricultural societies)
? 30 year war.
? Inquisition.

Mass-society Civilized people think just like Stalin, who admitted: One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is just a statistic.

[White Idiot]

An Indian woman went to the school to register her boys.
"How many children do you have?" asked the secretary.
"Ten" she said.
"And what are their names?" she was asked.
"Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, and Bob" she said
"They're ALL named Bob?" the secretary asked. "What if you want them to come in from playing?'
"That's easy" she explained. "I just call Bob and they all come running".
"And what if you want them to come and eat?" the secretary asked.
"I just say Bob, come eat your dinner, and they do". She said.
"But what if you want just ONE Bob to do something?" asked the secretary
"Oh that's easy" she said. "I just use their last names".

[Fluffy]

Are you fucking kidding me?

You advocate the extermination of 95/100ths of humanity in order to attain stasis as hunter-gatherers for the rest.

Hiroshima is a fucking kiss on the cheek compared to the first day of White Indian's policy regime.

You really have absolutely no grounds to walk around claiming that "civilization" devalues human life.

[White wikipINDIAN]

Buena Vista is a large residential neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C., east of the Anacostia River. Politically, Buena Vista is in Ward 8, the poorest ward in the District of Columbia. Although the neighborhood is dominated by detached single-family housing and multi-family complexes, as are the adjacent neighborhoods of Barry Farm and Douglass, the homes in Buena Vista tend to be privately owned by higher-income residents.
Buena Vista is on a hilly region of southeast Washington, which has resulted in narrow and winding roads within the neighborhood. However, its high elevation means that the neighborhood has expansive views of downtown Washington, including the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. Accordingly, one of the largest and most recognizable condominium complexes is called Washington View.
The western end of the neighborhood, near Sheridan Road SE, is sometimes called Sheridan. Also see article on Anacostia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buena_Vista_(Washington,_D.C.)

[White Idiot]

Indian Power

INDIAN POWER means pride in the fact that you have enough kid's to have a tribe of your own!

INDIAN POWER means maintaining your health is through a strict diet of nutritional USDA foods that just Commodities can offer, keeping that Comod bod in tip top shape!

INDIAN POWER means a way to a richer life is through the government!

INDIAN POWER means that those white guy's in government, still, never established a master plan to kill you and your people off--yet!

INDIAN POWER means having the stamina to party all night when all the good looking girls are all snagged out, no more beer left, or just getting too messed up and talking too much resulting in getting kicked out of the party.

INDIAN POWER means eating four to five Indian Taco's in one night at a powwow!

INDIAN POWER means having an Iron liver to drink any race under the table and laughing at them when they pass out...except, maybe, for those Irish!

INDIAN POWER means that you have a load of relative's to back you up...when needed!

INDIAN POWER means that your people are the epitome of all firefighter's!

INDIAN POWER means determination to save thousands of dollars, over a course of a year, for a pow wow knowing the fact it's all going to be given away in a matter of minutes. Unless, of course, your tribe has a casino!

INDIAN POWER means having extreme skill & concentration to play a multiple number of Bingo cards all at once while simultaneously visiting the person next to you!

INDIAN POWER means using that power to try, hard not to laugh when a wannabe tries to claim they're Cherokee and their great grandmother was a Cherokee princess.

INDIAN POWER means that if you met those pitiful pilgram's yourself they would have been dead on the spot, especially Christopher Columbus who was lost!

[the real O2]

The nation's second-largest Indian tribe formally booted from membership thousands of descendants of black slaves who were brought to Oklahoma more than 170 years ago by Native American owners...

Removal from the membership rolls means the Freedmen will no longer be eligible for free health care and other benefits such as education concessions.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/second-l.....ibe-exp...

[Brett L]

Google reminds me it Jorge Luis Borges birthday. Have some Borges.

[Barney]

Go back to Russia!

[Aqua Buddha]

The NYPD has been conduciting secret anti-terror operations for years in places like New Jersey.

Aren't we arguing a hypothetical about the NYPD operating outside their jurisdiction as an analogy to the Libya kinetic activities on the other thread?

[TrickyVic]

Well, 9/11 is "America's" tragedy, Mayor Guiliani is "America's" mayor, so it makes sense that the NYPD is "America's" police department. 😉

[Fist of Etiquette]

The NYPD has been conduciting secret anti-terror operations for years in places like New Jersey.

So that's why I feel the opposite of terrified when I visit those places.

[Bee Tagger]

You're telling me there's even more reason to be annoyed when New Yorkers bring their impossibly loud voices, boomboxes and Yankee hats to the Jersey shore?

[Fist of Etiquette]

There's no "i" in teamwork, Bee. (It can be found hiding out in "conducting".)

[O2]

but there's an "i" in win

[O2]

theres also an i in idiot

[the real O2]

quit thinkin about my eye

[TrickyVic]

""You're telling me there's even more reason to be annoyed when New Yorkers bring their impossibly loud voices, boomboxes and Yankee hats to the Jersey shore?""

It's NY's revenge from all the bridge and tunnel assholes that come from NJ. 😉

[JD the elder]

The NYPD cannot control crime in NYC, but it's adventuring around the nation and the world in search of largely imaginary terrorists. Wonderful. I guess they really _are_ taking their cues from the Feds.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If al Qaeda is holding, they better watch out! And Allah help them if they try anything with trans fats or salt.

[TrickyVic]

Or smoke in a park.

[JoJo Zeke]

As the election season approached, David Mahfouda, 29, tied an art project he had been working on to the Obama effort. [...] He had been, he said, "not so political, and not so good at being informed

Evidently.

[Art Vandelay]

"DERP in haste, repent at leisure"

[Fist of Etiquette]

When Obama was a blank slate, he was just like them and their friends. Unfortunately, someone has since scribbled all over Obama and it looks like graffiti.

[Random Rev. Jackson Offspring]

http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-as.....1293729577

[Proprietrist]

So utterly RACIST!

[Pablo]

The whole article was quite uninformative. What exactly are they disappointed about? That the economy sucks and we are still trying to be the world's policeman/nanny/daddy? That he hasn't been socialistic enough? That he's not as bright as everyone said he was?

I had to chuckle when someone in the article, trying to defend him, half-heartedly pointed to Obamacare (which everyone knows is a POS), the stimulus (well that one sure worked!), and the end of DADT (the only positive thing he's done that I can think of).

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

Flip it around: what were they impressed by in the first place?

While I don't image that they're all devoid of any self awareness, I'm sure we can find a few who never knew what they liked about the guy.

[Brett L]

Russia building railway tunnel from Siberia to North America. I say we call it the Tunnel from Nowhere.

[T]

Cynical prediction: much money stolen, much corruption ensues, no tunnel segments actually built.

[gaijin]

much money stolen, much corruption ensues...
in other words, epic win!

[R C Dean]

Jobs created/saved!

They could get double credit if the tunnel is for high-speed rail.

[Brett L]

It appears to be justified as a way to sell the white folk the raw materials of Siberia more efficiently so the Chinese don't get them.

[Mr. FIFY]

Big Dig II: Electric Boogaloo.

[Tulpa]

Russia has been pushing this for a while -- there was an "Extreme Engineering" episode on Discovery Channel about it -- but obviously it's not going to happen without the US agreeing, since the tunnel has to go beneath US territory about half of the way.

The Bering Tunnel is actually a very good infrastructure project -- if Obama was serious about infrastructure he would be going balls-to-the-wall to get it done. Huge gains in efficiency of trade are likely to result. There are some engineering problems, such as how to protect against the severe earthquakes common in the Bering Strait region, and building railroads in permafrost -- which may not remain permafrost after you run 50 freight trains over it per day...but these are probably solvable.

Of course the tunnel isn't even the biggest part of the project...there's the slight problem that the proposed tunnel location is thousands of miles away from the nearest existing railhead in Siberia (at the Lena River) and hundreds of miles from the nearest North American railhead in Fairbanks.

[cynical]

Red Dawn was a warning, not an instruction manual!

[Brett L]

"Vice President Joe Biden's office attempts to explain away his remarks that he was not "second guessing" China's one-child policy. "

I was wondering last night whether Biden was some sort of Soviet Manchurian Candidate whose handlers were liquidated during glasnost. Now the microchip in his brain just fires at random.

[Ska]

The Mongolian Candidate?

[Brett L]

Much better.

[R C Dean]

I prefer the Mongoloid Candidate.

[JW]

The Mongoloid Candidate.

[MNG]

In his nearly 11 years as the state's chief executive, Perry, now running for the Republican presidential nomination, has overseen more executions than any governor in modern history: 234 and counting. That's more than the combined total in the next two states ? Oklahoma and Virginia ? since the death penalty was restored 35 years ago.

He vetoed a bill that would have spared the mentally retarded, and sharply criticized a Supreme Court ruling that juveniles were not eligible for the death penalty. He has found during his tenure only one inmate on Texas's crowded death row he thought should receive the lesser sentence of life in prison.

And Perry's role in the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Wil?lingham ? who supporters said should have been at least temporarily spared when experts warned that faulty forensic science led to his conviction ? is still the subject of investigation in Texas.

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

[MNG]

I'm not theoretically opposed to the death penalty, but it amazes me that the same people that say we can't trust the government to deliver the mail right are so gung-ho about the government deciding who deserves to live or not...

[Aqua Buddha]

Which is why I'm not particularly in favor of the death penalty myself, except for Guy Fieri.

[sarcasmic]

Come on!
Just because he thinks he's Sammy Hagar doesn't mean he deserves to die!
Sammy Hagar on the other hand...

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, why? I used to come home from work and watch Good Eats for at least one of the back-to-back presentations of the program daily. Now, no Good Eats and it seems like Guy Fieri is on all the time. Yo, fuck the Food Network.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Do you remember when they had actual trained chefs doing most of the cooking shows and not a reality TV show in sight? East Meets West, Essence of Emeril, Molto Mario, etc. Halcyon days for sure.

[SugarFree]

It's all Rachel Ray's fault.

[Pro Libertate]

That's an indirect way of blaming Oprah.

[Ahem...]

http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-as.....1293729577

[Mainer]

Fuck Oprah. Well, not literally...

[sarcasmic]

Do you get the Cooking Channel?

It's tons better than Food Network.

[WTF]

The Cooking Channel is just the same people that own Food Network trying to sell you what Food Network used to be in the past. Then eventually they will also devolve into non-chef 'personalities' appealing to clueless housewives.

[sarcasmic]

Cooking Channel is VH1 or MTV2?

[Ted S.]

VH1 Classic, which has gone the way of VH1.

[wylie]

it's the DiscoveryChannel/LearningChannel bullshit, but with food.

[Ska]

This right here (wylie at 9:54). When Discovery channel was actually shows about animals and nature I would have it on often enough. Then you add one Mythbusters to it, and it's still OK, because most shows were still nature documentaries, with this one goofy nerdy science fair show (featuring a hot ass nerdy redhead chick). Two years later it's all stupid ass fake reality shows, with a weekend exception for UFO marathons.

Except Pawn Stars. I admit to actually enjoying that show. I feel dirty for it, but I can't deny it.

[sarcasmic]

Pawn Stars in on History, not Discovery.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Cooking shows can be addictive for men. The only cure is an old fashioned.

[R C Dean]

I'm with sarcasmic. Cooking Channel actually has shows about cooking. Food Network has shows about, well, foodies.

[Lord Humungus]

I read Cook's Illustrated...and watch their shows on DVD...

The end results are certainly better than many recipes I've tried. And for an engineering-type of guy, I do enjoy the articles for their experimentation.

[R C Dean]

Cook's Illustrated totally rules, no question.

[sarcasmic]

Is that the same folks as America's Test Kitchen?

[Lord Humungus]

yes - I've gotten more experimental with my cooking because of Cook's. I can now whip up some nice wine sauces using whatever is in the fridge - butter, wine, milk, etc

[SugarFree]

Their 30-Minute Meals book was great. A lot of good ideas for DINKs.

[Pro Libertate]

I was going to mention that. As noted already, it's another Scripps network (which is why Emeril and others from Food Network are there), and it's much more like the old, superior Food Network.

[Chupacabra]

I used to work at Cook's Illustrated, and yeah, some of their recipes are pretty good. I remember when we did an article on homemade doughnuts - it was insanely good times.

I don't read it any more, but it seems like they do much simpler things now.

[Devil's Advocate]

It seems as if all the FN shows have become reality shows rather than cooking shows, per se. It makes it hard to watch a show for ideas about what to fix for dinner. They do seem to have a spate of cooking shows around 4pm or so, but honestly, I will never, ever fix something Paula Deen recommends. I miss Good Eats.

[T]

Doesn't Good Eats come on at like 10? What, do you people go to bed when it gets dark?

[Pro Libertate]

It's all syndicated now. Alton Brown announced the end of new Good Eats programming a few months ago.

[wayne]

I have new found respect for Guy Fieri now that I know he grew up in Ferndale, CA.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I am against the death penalty, primarily (but not solely) for that reason. Prosecutors are generally self-serving politicians and therefore cannot be trusted.

[gaijin]

yes. plus death is the one mistake that cannot be undone...at least on this planet.

[Michael Ejercito]

I am against the death penalty, primarily (but not solely) for that reason. Prosecutors are generally self-serving politicians and therefore cannot be trusted.

So who will conduct executions if not the government?

[Ice Nine]

The "same people"

You're referring, in both cases, to the substantial majority of the US population, I guess, right?

[anomdebus]

Sounds like MNG is one of those anti-democracy people.

[Michael Ejercito]

I'm not theoretically opposed to the death penalty, but it amazes me that the same people that say we can't trust the government to deliver the mail right are so gung-ho about the government deciding who deserves to live or not...

Private delivery services are much less problematic than private execution services aka vigilante death squads.

[Democratic Underground]

He vetoed a bill that would have spared the mentally retarded

Great. So now we're gonna end up an online ghost town.

[MSNBC]

[::LONG-ABANDONED STUDIO, where the likes of Olbermann and Maddow once yipped and yawped::]

[::TUMBLEWEED rolls across foreground, silently::]

[::Somewhere, in the distance, a COYOTE howls::]

[White Indian's Mom]

"My baby! He was standing right there, in front of me -- juice box clutched in one chubby little fist; eensy, ineffectual 'argument' in the other -- and POOF! He just vanished!"

[A. Dingo]

Don't look at me - I wouldn't eat that shit.

[Aqua Buddha]

Why MNG, you're taking the execution of the mentally retarded rather personally. What's the matter, were you counting on the exception if you were ever accused of a capital crime?

[MNG]

I guess I just wondered how they differentiate between the retarded and just "Texans." I don't see any reliable mechanism...

[MNG]

Actually, I support his refusal to make an exception for the retarded. It would be unfair if the death penalty in Texas categorically did not apply to Mississippians who comit murder in Texas (this joke is dedicated to Naga Shadow, where has he been lately?).

[Pip]

Jesus what a self-agrandizing asshole.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Much like if you look around a poker game and don't see the pigeon you are the pigeon, if you can't differentiate between people who have the best economy in the country and retards maybe you are the retard.

[Contrarian P]

"I guess I just wondered how they differentiate between the retarded and just "Texans." I don't see any reliable mechanism..."

That was pretty good, MNG. +1

[T]

Yawn. Outsiders don't understand how the system works here. Film at 11.

[John]

He vetoed a bill that would have spared the mentally retarded

Just because you have a low IQ doesn't mean you are not fully responsible for your actions. To say otherwise is to say that the mentally retarded are somehow less than human, kind of violent animals. No thanks

And of course the Democrats feel so strongly about the issue of executing the mentally retarded that when Bill Clinton suspended his campaign in 1992 to go back to Arkansas to execute a mentally retarded murderer, the Democrats punished him by giving him the nomination.

[sarcasmic]

Sling Blade was a good movie.

[Carl]

Sure would like somma that potted meat uh huh.

[sarcasmic]

Doyle: What'cha doin' with that lawn mower blade Karl?
Karl: I aim to kill you with it.

[bosty]

This. Poor ol' Ricky Ray saved his last meal's pecan pie for 'later'.

[Carl]

Alright then.

[TrickyVic]

"". To say otherwise is to say that the mentally retarded are somehow less than human, kind of violent animals. No thanks""

Humans are violent animals.

[Old Mexican]

Perry, now running for the Republican presidential nomination, has overseen more executions than any governor in modern history: 234 and counting.

That tells me in a non-uncertain manner that I should be really carefull not to murder anybody in Texas.

[T]

More specifically, Harris County. I can't find the stats online, but Harris County sends more people to death row than any other jurisidiction in the country.

[Old Mexican]

Re: T,

Hey, I live there! I feel safer already!

But, seriously, I still cling to my guns, even in good old Harris County.

[Brett L]

Isn't Harris easily the most populous county in Texas? Presidio county may not have as many people as Harris county has murders.

[R C Dean]

That would be the Harris County where Houston is? The Houston that is a Dem stronghold?

Just sayin', in Texas apparently killing the retarded is not a partisan sport.

[Brett L]

I'm pretty sure if they could figure out how to Constitutionally build electric bleachers at the Prison Rodeo in Huntsville as the grande finale, it would carry 2 to 1 in every county in Texas. Well, in Travis it might only be 55-45.

[Brett L]

Perry didn't think it was right that his fellow Aggies should get away with murder while the rest of the state couldn't.

[DJF]

Except that Texas governors have very little to do directly with executions in Texas and don't even have the right to commutation of a murderer. They do have appointment power over some of those involved in executions but little direct power.

[Fluffy]

That's fine.

But Perry absolutely did have the power to cover up what happened in the Willingham case, and he used that power to protect his state from any possibility of embarrassment.

So you can try to protect him from claiming he's not that involved in the actual death penalty process, and you will be to that extent correct. But there's absolutely nothing you can do about the fact that Perry chose to abuse his power to prevent an inquiry into this particular execution. That's who Perry is, and that's the first and last thing we need to know about him.

[TrickyVic]

^^This^^

[John]

http://regretfulmorning.com/20.....y-anthony/

Eleven sluttiest pictures of Casey Anthony.

[Warty]

She's in hiding somewhere around here. Ohio makes good skanks, doesn't it?

[Dagny T.]

I have been very confused about the Casey Anthony reaction, because if I had to guess I would've assumed she was nasty looking. Is she actually hot, or is it just the trash factor that people are fascinated by?

[Warty]

She's quite cute, and you know she loves to fuck. The white-trash factor makes it all the better.

[Dagny T.]

I guess if you want trash, you've got to hit that shit early, because I'm pretty sure they all look something like this by the time they hit 35. (The movie that's from is hilarious, btw.)

[SugarFree]

Oh, what's that quote? Something about that even the lower classes can produce attractive women, if only when they are young?

[Warty]

The thing about trash is there's always more of it.

[Michael]

That movie is simultaneously awesome, hilarious and heartbreaking.

[SugarFree]

It's the shrewd calculation of attractiveness vs. DTFW (down to fuck whomever). Anthony has proven the latter, and therefore is graded on a curve for the former.

It's sort of like a great SAT making up for a poor GPA on a college application.

[John]

She has a smoking little body. Remember those pics are after she had had a kid. To me she is definitely average stripper hot.

[robc]

It's sort of like a great SAT making up for a poor GPA on a college application.

Thankfully, I found a school that allowed this.

My alma mater gets screwed on both ends by USN≀. Relatively easy to get into and relatively hard to get out of.

Which is perfectly legitimate model, despite what some say. A 79% 6-year graduation rate is a postive, not a negative.

[SugarFree]

That's how I got into college. I only had to take the ACT, but the principle remains. My GPA was super-sucky.

[robc]

I had about a 3.25 HS GPA, which isnt good at all really, considering.

My SAT score rocked though (I took the ACT in case I wanted to do something insane like stay in state for school, it also rocked).

Basically, I wasnt going to Stanford, MIT, or an Ivy, so I had to choose a school that would let me in, then challenge me.

When I have the money to do it, I want to set up a scholarship fund to pay the out-of-state portion of tuition to Georgia Tech for a (or more) Ky resident. The qualifications for the scholarship are pretty much going to be High SAT scores and crappy GPA.

[T]

3.25 is crappy? Mine was in the low 2s.

I'm thankful for my high SAT scores and state universities.

Although, I'm given to understand these days I couldn't get in to my alma mater.

[SugarFree]

2s? Wow. If only I could have aspired to 2s.

[TrickyVic]

""Ohio makes good skanks, doesn't it?""

Don't sell Ohio short Warty, they make great skanks.

[Pro Libertate]

I believe you have an unnecessary word in that comment. Simplify!

[robc]

I cant find it via gis, but I saw a version of the 2nd one (the OSU jersey) with "Skaters Gonna Skate" on it.

I would have linked, but cant find. 🙁

[Amakudari]

So seriously, when will we see the end of white chicks flashing gang signs?

[SugarFree]

Never. There's so many ways to be ignorant trash at this point, why limits your options?

[John]

And her parents seem normal. I have noticed that. Some of the nicest people can have some of the worst trash for kids.

[SugarFree]

Trash is a choice. The daughter of our next door neighbor is the biggest gee-haw hillybilly with an accent like a ripsaw going through slate, yet she grew up in the nicest part of the least hillbilly part of Kentucky to non-hillbilly and well-off parents. One of her brothers is a giant bubba-tard like her, and the other two brothers are nice, urbane men who speak English and have jobs.

Trash is a choice.

[robc]

nicest part of the least hillbilly part of Kentucky

Anchorage or Prospect?

[Brett L]

I couldn't agree more. Grew up in the 'burbs north of Houston. Most of my white trash friends have no excuse other than choice.

[Liberal Douchebags]

But... but... all Tea Partiers are hillbillies! Maddow said so!

[Maddow]

but not all hillbillies are teabaggers

[mr simple]

Right after they stop making those ugly duck lips in every picture.

[MNG]

This amazingly smug elitism from Richard Dawkins on Perry's Doubts on Evolution is dedicated to our anti-elitist crusader John

"There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be found in every country and every period of history, and they are not unknown in high office. What is unusual about today's Republican party (I disavow the ridiculous 'GOP' nickname, because the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt has lately forfeited all claim to be considered 'grand') is this: In any other party and in any other country, an individual may occasionally rise to the top in spite of being an uneducated ignoramus. In today's Republican Party 'in spite of' is not the phrase we need. Ignorance and lack of education are positive qualifications, bordering on obligatory. Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job."

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

[Old Mexican]

Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job.

Unlike liberals, who are clearly so well read and learned they voted for a guy who was received with open arms to prestigious law schools because of his race and who could barely write with some proficiency yet was able to churn out two books (by himself, he told us!) with perfect timing to win not only a senate seat but the presidency of the most powerfull nation of the world, despite the fact that the writing style in each is remarkably different, plus really not close to anything he had written before or since.

Yes, Republicans may know their own like Dawkins insinuates with his usual contempt. But liberals clearly don't - they're the most gullible and self-deluded individuals as one can find.

And yes, I wrote the above - by myself!

[MJ]

What matters is that Obama has documents that say he's intellectual and knowledgable. Whether or not whether that stands up in the real world does not matter, as his papers are in order.

[T]

Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job

As opposed to all the urban doucheoisie who voted for Obama because he was one of them, despite him being unqualified for the job?

Party affiliation is a social signifier as much as (or more than) an actual indicator of people's political views. The Democrats, for better or worse, have managed to cement themselves as the party of 'smug eltists'. We'll see if that's a winning branding strategy next fall, I guess.

[John]

Which is more dangerous, someone who believes theological explanations for things that don't concern government (Perry) or someone who believes very dangerous things like that the government should jail parents who teach religion to their children religion (Dawkins)?

[nicole]

Unfortunately, the fans of theological explanations often disagree with your assessment that their beliefs don't concern the government.

[MJ]

"Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job."

Exactly where does acceptance of evolution matter as a qualification for Chief Executive of a nation? Republicans tend to reject the idea that intellect and knowledge are to be found solely in people who have sheepskins from Ivy League schools. As the current occupant of theoffice proves, having such does not prevent one from believing in destructive ideololgies, in fact, it make the prospect more likely.

[nicole]

Exactly where does acceptance of evolution matter as a qualification for Chief Executive of a nation? Republicans tend to reject the idea that intellect and knowledge are to be found solely in people who have sheepskins from Ivy League schools.

I also reject the idea that intellect and knowledge are to be found solely in Ivy Leaguers, or even college attendees at all. I reject a huge amount of the alleged value of tertiary education. But something like evolution is a real litmus test for a pretty sizeable segment of the population that believes in it. What am I supposed to think about someone who doesn't believe in evolution other than that they're (a) stupid and/or (b) deluded, and in either case not qualified for any job involving any level of intellectual activity at all?

It's not a nice thing to say, okay, and everyone loves to hate Dawkins for being a jerk and so sure he's right. But how many of you would be comfortable electing a scientologist as president? Would you not think anyone who believed they were infected with alien souls was...stupid or deluded? If you found out Rick Perry was a Michael Bay fan, would you not just think he was unfit for...anything?

[Old Mexican]

Re: nicole,

What am I supposed to think about someone who doesn't believe in evolution other than that they're (a) stupid and/or (b) deluded, and in either case not qualified for any job involving any level of intellectual activity at all?

What am *I* supposed to think about a person that does not believe in economic freedom except that a) he's stupid and/or b) deluded, and in either case totally incompetent for the job involving any level of legislative work?

It's not the strange things some people believe that affect me, nicole - it's the strange things that they believe they HAVE TO DO, in order to run my life better than I can, which scares me the most.

[mad libertarian guy]

So Perry (who has about a billion things one can critique fairly) isn't qualified because he believe something that is inconsequential to governing, while folks like Obama believe in Keynes which have a very profound impact on his governing.

[Brett L]

Citing a religious dogmatist to object to a religious dogmatist is no way to win an argument.

[T]

What if the argument is about who's a bigger dickhead?

[Brett L]

I'm pretty sure everyone ties for the win.

[Fatty Bolger]

Hard to beat Dawkins, then. Really hard.

[KDN]

Really hard.

Oh yeah! Yeah, I'm a monkey! Give this monkey what she wants!

[MNG]

This is great. Remember when I was telling Epi that about half of the posters here these days are GOP shills? Here's some proof.

I'm no fan of Dawkins, but in that excerpt all he does is say that Republicans are full of teh stupid. He doesn't laud Democrats or liberals as genuises.

Now our resident GOP shills like to pop up here and say "a pox on both their houses, see I'm no shill!" And yet they cannot let a criticism of the GOP go without bringing up Team Blue. Like the Fonz trying to say he's sorry they can't just say "The GOP is teh stupid." I think that speaks volumes.

Of course everyone whom you would predict would do that did: John, MJ, OM, Brett L, T (Tman?).

Like trained seals I tells ya.

[T]

Wait, I'm a GOP shill now? Since when?

[Britt]

Since Minge decided you were. Try to keep up.

MNG, the calculus for a lot of GOP voters is simple: he may be believe in silly things when it comes to science, but he isn't going to raise taxes or strangle economic growth.

If you're coming at it from a perspective of what does more harm, the fact of the matter is that Obama's faith in government spending, central planning, green energy, ineffectual diplomacy on one hand and stupid wars on the other, and a refusal to restore civil liberties like he promised to do and all the other missteps and misguided policies that make him a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure, well, all those things dwarf a belief in creationism or whatever else you have your panties in a bunch about.

Plus, you'd have to be pretty fucking stupid to think any GOP pol gives a shit about the so cons. What exactly in 30 years has the supposed uber powerful religious right actually accomplished? Nothing, because all they want is to have the proper soothing words told to them every 4 years.

[JoJo Zeke]

If you're coming at it from a perspective of what does more harm, the fact of the matter is that Obama's faith in government spending, central planning, green energy, ineffectual diplomacy on one hand and stupid wars on the other, and a refusal to restore civil liberties like he promised to do and all the other missteps and misguided policies that make him a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure, well, all those things dwarf a belief in creationism or whatever else you have your panties in a bunch about.

^ THIS ^, x1,000,000,000,000. I don't give a wet, sour fart if Perry/Bachmann/Paul/Biden/[Insert Politician Here] honestly believes velociraptors used to cruise the primeval seas in crude flint Polaris subs, so long as he/she has their head on straight insofar as fiscal policy and the basic fucking laws of economics are concerned.

Remind me to dither and gibber to the breathless, panicky effect of "OHNOES!DINO ERRORS!!OMG!!!11!!", should said big boys ever stage a zoological comeback -- not before.

Not while Obama and his fellow gaggle of government grifters are currently using the nation's purse as their own communal spooge sock, at any rate.

[Sandi]

I shit on MNG's living room rug once.

[KDN]

He doesn't explicitly laud the liberals, but the implication of the entire post is that, by comparison, the Democratic party is the only one that can be trusted since stupidity is a prerequisite for a Republican to be elected and that its the first quality looked for by Republican voters since they are also universally stupid. Their positions on economics, foreign policy, etc cannot be credible because they have not accepted evolution as fact, largely for religious reasons.

It's really difficult to respond to a piece whose undercurrent is "VOTE DEMOCRAT OR AMERICA IS DOOOOOOMED" without commenting on the fact that the other party's leaders also often lack "intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery." By Dawkins' logic, a born-poor evangelical Christian with the identical education of Paul Krugman and the public reading skills of Barack Obama isn't qualified to be President if he doesn't accept Evolution for the scientific fact it is, despite the fact that said theory has very little to do with his intellect, knowledge, linguistic mastery, or the actual activity of the job he's applying for.

Sorry if it makes me a shill, but if I'm hiring a network engineer I want the one with the best knowledge of the technology he'll be dealing with. I don't care if he thinks the world was created in 6,000 BC and that dinosaurs are only in the ground to test our faith.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

I'm no fan of Dawkins, but in that excerpt all he does is say that Republicans are full of teh stupid. He doesn't laud Democrats or liberals as genuises.

This being a never-mind to you, it seems: "Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters[...]"

See how he is carefull not to say Republicans. No, he says Republican voters are the ones that mistrust intellect, which suggests that people who vote Democrat must trust intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

This is great. Remember when I was telling Epi that about half of the posters here these days are GOP shills? Here's some proof.

This being a never-mind for you, then: "Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters[...]"

He didn't say "Republicans mistrust intellect and knowledge;" no, he is carefull to say Republican voters, which implies that people who vote Democrat trust intellect and knowledge.

I believe you either missed the point of the objections being posted or you're simply wallowing in intellectual dishonesty, MNG.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

This is great. Remember when I was telling Epi that about half of the posters here these days are GOP shills? Here's some proof.

This being a never-mind for you, then: "Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters[...]"

He didn't say "Republicans mistrust intellect and knowledge[...]" No, he is carefull to say Republican voters, which implies that people who vote Democrat trust intellect and knowledge.

I believe you either missed the point of the objections being posted or you're simply wallowing in intellectual dishonesty, MNG.

[Rhywun]

It cheapens the trolling when you have to explain it to us.

[MJ]

You do notice that Democrat currently holding the office of POTUS was lauded as exactly the kind of intellectually superior candidate Dawkin's describes as Republican voters rejecting? Which the present course of events indicates they were absolutely correct in rejecting?

[PIRS]

"In today's Republican Party 'in spite of' is not the phrase we need. Ignorance and lack of education are positive qualifications, bordering on obligatory. Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job."

Please do not take what I am about to say as an endorsement of Bill O'Reiley's "culture war" concept. And I certainly disagree with Perry on this topic. But I think part of what is going on is a backlash against those who are trying to remove all symbols of religion from the public (and in some cases even private) sphere. I have been on both sides of the world of religion. I was once a Born Again Christian and then became an Atheist after reading Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein. Today I am a Pastafarian and follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Pasta Be Upon Him). But despite the fact I am not Christian I find nothing offensive about Christian symbology. I happen to love Christmas music - including songs the explicitly mention Jesus. If someone greets me with "Merry Christmas" I greet them back likewise. I find the hostility that some atheists have to religious symbology to be very strange indeed. As a former Christian I can understand why they might feel a desire to push-back against this. Some react by becoming more radical in their beliefs.

[Ice Nine]

Today I am a Pastafarian and follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Pasta Be Upon Him).

Why? - do you have something in particular against the Invisible Pink Unicorn?

[Sparky]

I'm with you 100% here. As a fellow atheist I don't understand all the ranting against people who want to believe. Especially since it then start those people ranting and generalizing about all atheists.

I hate being lumped in the same group as some poor fuck that can't mind his own business.

[SugarFree]

Atheists started this fight because they wouldn't believe as they were told to. They've totally got it coming.

[MJ]

Atheists only only tell us that all religion everywhere is responsible for wars and intolerance and if the species could only collectively reject all religion in favor of atheism we would have a oerfect world. Then someone brings up the fact that communism is an atheistic belief system but the atrocities committed in its name do not reflect badly on atheists because communism does not count as atheistic...somehow.

[Sparky]

AtheistsChristians only only tell us that all non-Christian religion everywhere is responsible for wars and intolerance and if the species could only collectively reject accept all Christian religion in favor of atheism we would have a oerfect world. Then someone brings up the fact that communism socialism is a(n) atheistic Christian belief system but the atrocities committed in its name do not reflect badly on atheists Christians because communism socialism does not count as atheistic Christian...somehow.

Hey, your template works pretty well.

[MJ]

That would be cute, if it were true. One of the tenets of Christianity is that humans are fallible and therefore prone to error, including the humans who represent the church. I don't see Christians regularly making the assertion you put into their mouths above. I've run into atheists painting the religious with the broadest of brushes, but getting grossly offended when communism is linked with atheism a lot.

[Fatty Bolger]

I agree. I see little difference between Dawkins and your typical evangelical. They both get off on telling other people what they must believe.

[Mr. FIFY]

J. R. "Bob" Dobbs can beat the FSM any day, and yet His Pipe would stay in His mouth during the entire battle.

[Fluffy]

But I think part of what is going on is a backlash against those who are trying to remove all symbols of religion from the public (and in some cases even private) sphere.

Can you give me an example of how anyone is using the police power to remove religion from the private sphere?

[Sandi]

I seem to recall some guy having to remove a cross on his own property, because it was too visible.

[CaptainSmartass]

If that's the same incident I'm thinking of, that was an HOA that did that.

[Tulpa]

The church I taught Sunday school at before my apostasy was forced to remove all the religious symbolism from the school building because during the week they rented it out to a daycare provider that itself took federal funds for servicing poor families.

Now technically this isn't coercion since the church was in theory free to find someone not taking federal funds (good fucking luck in the daycare industry), but it's an illustrative example of how deep the tendrils of separation of church and state can dig into the private sector. When half of the economy passes through government hands, restrictions attached to govt spending quickly become restrictions on private spending.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm an atheist of long standing - 27 years and counting - but really, I don't get annoyed by Christians unless they are of the extreme-type. Of course extreme "anything" - vegetarians, political activists, liberals, conservatives, etc - tend to annoy me to no end.

Heck, I was raised CRC but even after my "conversion" to atheism, I still enjoy Ben-Hur movies and the myth/stories of Christ.

[Jersey Patriot]

As an ex-fundamentalist atheist, I agree that hostility to religion is silly. I celebrate Christmas, enjoy hymns (from a wide variety of faiths), and find crosses, stars of david, crescent moons, etc. to be completely inoffensive.

However, I don't think the "angry ex-Christian" is as much as "Christian" as it is about "ex-". People who convert tend to hate the thing they were the most. St. Augustine tossed out the woman he loved with his own son when he converted, since sex was his personal demon.

[Lord Humungus]

I remember when I (for a ten year spell) became vegetarian. I was a semi-militant one, preaching the faith to the poor meat-eater of the world. God, the people I annoyed.

And then I started eating meat.

Same with a friend of mine who came out of the closet. He decided that all straight men were really just closet gays. That was annoying too.

[R C Dean]

I was a vegetarian for a few years.

I believe I was actually still a vegetarian when I took up deer hunting. At that point, though, it seemed kind of silly.

[Zeb]

"He decided that all straight men were really just closet gays."

That was probably just wishful thinking.

[T]

When we're out with our gay friends, every attractive male they spy is in the closet and just waiting for the right man to come along and bring them out. It's truly nothing more than wishful thinking, since it never seems to apply to, say, the fat busboy or the lumpy rednecks. It's only the pretty ones that are in the closet and denying the truth.

[gaijin]

So, if Perry has a a BS in animal science he's an uneducated fool? Is there no such thing as an educated fool?

[Contrarian P]

George W. Bush and John Kerry went to the same school (Yale) and both received bachelor's degrees. Bush had a higher GPA than did Kerry. But Bush was the idiot. Personally, I found them both to be idiots, but then I graduated from a state school, so clearly I am unqualified to judge my betters. I tend to agree with the Gump philosophy of judging someone's intellect by their performance, not by what papers they have on the wall.

[Pip]

"This amazingly smug elitism from Richard Dawkins on Perry's Doubts on Evolution is dedicated to our anti-elitist crusader John"

Still an asshole, I see.

[Bee Tagger]

Moody's downgrades Japan.

Paul Krugman wishes they would add injury to insult.

[Michael]

Can this possibly get any better? Krugman responds to what he and Iglesias believe to be nothing more than conservative hyperbole regarding Keynesian stimulus theory by citing.....World War II.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.c.....&seid=auto

[Michael]

P.S.: DON'T READ THE COMMENTS.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Michael,

I almost never do. Last time I read the comments in the NYT, I almost threw the paperweight towards the screen. I have removed all paperweights since that day...

[Inconvenient Truth]

Flashback: Obama calls adding $4 trillion to national debt "unpatriotic" [VIDEO]

Heh.

[Liberal Douchebags]

It's okay when Team Blue runs up the debt!

[Mike M.]

And Block Yo'momma is really the second coming of Einstein, instead of the Chauncey Gardineresque affirmative action benefit baby that he looks like to most people now.

Sure, you guys ought to be reeeeeeally proud of yourselves for your outstanding judgment.

[Mike M.]

That goes to MNG at 9:19 by the way.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Evidence obtained from bin Laden compound suggests that he planned to launch another large-scale attack on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.

There's still time. Maybe he can still celebrate by giving some late to the party crabs a bad case of indigestion.

[Muslim Tradition]

We'll get back to you on that.

[wylie]

Observant Muslims can't eat crabs. Pretty sure there's nothing about THEM being eaten by the crabs. That's totally halal.

[True, but...]

...they can kill their offspring just to save their "honor", and they can beat the shit out of their wives because they're only women and, therefore, inferior.

What's Jezebel and/or Feministing saying about that? Crickets? Do I hear crickets?

[R C Dean]

Why do I get a distinct flavor of Hitler in his bunker, ordering non-existent divisions to drive the Russians from the Fatherland?

[Muslim Jihadis]

Are you unaware of the earthquake delivered by Allah unto the infidels on the east coast, you infidel dog?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'll believe that when I see bin Laden on youtube, parody after parody putting false translations to his ranting about al Qaeda's Steiner not mobilizing enough rock tossers.

[Ice Nine]

So yeah, next time you're staying at the Holiday Inn be sure to pull that bedspread right up snug around your neck.

[T]

Hmm. I'll be sure to keep that in mind on my upcoming trip to New Orleans. I'm sure the hotle staff there is more diligent, plus no one goes to NOLA for carnal purposes.

[Amakudari]

The Frenchman's $3000-per-night Sofitel hotel room "contained the semen and DNA" of three unknown men, while a stain on the room's wallpaper contained the semen and DNA of a fourth unknown man.

Seriously, the wallpaper? Who busts on the wallpaper? Bunch of savages in this town.

[Ice Nine]

I wondered about that one, too. Peep hole maybe?

[Amakudari]

Maybe, but this is a $3000-a-night room we're talking about. I don't think there would be any holes in the wall.

Then again, at 3 grand a day I suppose you might as well get your money's worth. I'm not saying I'd spill my seed on wallpaper, but if I were to, it would be at the Sofitel on 44th Street.

[CSI: New Orleans]

Sir, I found semen under the stove.

[R C Dean]

Who busts on the wallpaper?

See, e.g., "knee trembler".

[Devil's Advocate]

I am thinking the individuals involved were going at it up against the wall.

[Ice Nine]

They need a little work on technique.

[Billy Barty]

Oh, that's mine. My bad.

[robc]

Just an FYI for those two of you who arent trolls...if you quote from the Jefferson Bible, you go straight to my incif file. No exceptions.

[T]

What, pray tell, is the Jefferson bible?

[robc]

Jefferson decided that clearly Jesus didnt really say all those things, so he edited the bible down to those things that he thought Jesus probably really said and did.

Based on...you know, hunches or something.

[Ice Nine]

edited the bible down to those things that he thought Jesus probably really said and did.
Based on...you know, hunches or something.

As with all bibles.

[White Indian #52]

Right.

There are more discrepancies in the ancient Bible texts than there are words.

Sure the Bible is the inerrant word of god. Wish we still had one around. LOL

[robc]

The difference being, the others have a common reference system.

You want to leave out, for example, John 7:53-8:11*, there are legit reasons. But numbering stays the same.

*the one I have on my desk right now has that section blocked off with a note that it isnt contained in the earliest reliable manuscripts.

[SugarFree]

robc, you arguing with something that just wants to rile up. It doesn't care what you think, it doesn't even care what it thinks. It just wants to irritate you and--by extension--the board.

[robc]

SF - Im not responding to random WI#whatever.

I didnt think Ice Nine was one of his, if so, my bad.

[SugarFree]

Very sorry. Stupid threading grumble grumble.

I'll be over here grumbling if anyone needs me.

[T]

I was unaware. I'll add it to my bible reading project when I get that started.

[White Indian #56]

It's a nice one to keep where the kiddies can read, as the Bible itself isn't, being a moral cesspool of evil.

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Psalm 137:9
http://www.evilbible.com

[Gus]

"Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."

That sounds Palestinian to my ear.

[White Indian #49]

The Jefferson Bible

Jefferson's Life and Morals of Jesus: a compilation of the teachings of Jesus extracted textually from the Gospels.

Compiled by Thomas Jefferson

http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/

[robc]

The worst kind of troll is those who change their name to avoid being filtered.

FUCK OFF.

[SugarFree]

Exactly. It ceases to even be trolling at that point. It's just a greifer, doing nothing but disrupting for the sake of disrupting. Ban the living shit out of it now, before it grows to rather proportions.

[Old Mexican]

Science When It Suits Them

by David Harsanyi

Excerpt:

So every now and then, liberals are treated to a big self-righteous laugh at the expense of some backwoods Christian conservative candidate who "ignores science" by doubting evolution or global warming -- or, gasp, both.

Much, for instance, has been made of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's recent suggestion that evolution is a "theory that's out there" with "gaps in it." He even insinuated that evolution and creationism should both be taught in schools -- because folks are "smart enough to figure out which one is right."

Sanctimony to red alert!

Now, I have no interest in watching my kids waste their time with creationism, but unlike progressives, I have no interest in dictating what other kids should learn. Remember that these folks, bothered by the very thought of their offspring's hearing a God-infused concept in school, have no problem forcing millions of parents to accept bureaucrat-written curricula at government-run school monopolies. They oppose home schooling. They oppose school choice. They oppose parents choosing a religious education with their tax dollars.

[...]

It is interesting watching the nation's defenders of reason, empirical evidence and science fail to display a hint of skepticism over the transparently political "science" of global warming. Rarely are scientists so certain in predicting the future. Yet this is a special case. It is also curious that these supposed champions of Darwin don't believe that human beings -- or nature -- have the ability to adapt to changing climate.

Like 99 percent of pundits and politicians, though, I have no business chiming in on the science of climate change -- though my kids' teachers sure are experts. Needless to say, there is a spectacular array of viewpoints on this issue. The answers are far from settled. There are debates over how much humans contribute. There are debates over how much warming we're seeing. There are debates over many things.

But even if one believed the most terrifying projections of global warming alarmist "science," it certainly doesn't mean one has to support the anti-capitalist technocracy to fix it. And try as some may to conflate the two, global warming policy is not "science." The left sees civilization's salvation in a massive Luddite undertaking that inhibits technological growth by turning back the clock, undoing footprints, forcing technology that doesn't exist, banning products that do and badgering consumers who have not adhered to the plan through all kinds of punishment. Yet there is no real science that has shown that any of it makes a whit of difference.

So no doubt, it is reasonable for voters to query presidential candidates about their views on faith, religion, God, Darwin and science. It matters. Sometimes, though, it matters less than they'd like you to think it does.

[MP]

If only the right people were in charge...

[Top. Men.]

[John]

http://energeopolitics.com/201.....ns-energy/

Apparently Utah has enormous oil shale reserves. If someone can just keep the greens from fucking it up, this is VERY good news.

[Paul Krugman]

Oooo, imagine if somewhere were to blow it up!

[Old Mexican]

Re: John,

Apparently Utah has enormous oil shale reserves. If someone can just keep the greens from fucking it up, this is VERY good news.

Maybe the Mormons can make a new alliance with the local Indians and shoot all environmentalist settlers to the last body, like way back when. This time, at least, it will be for a good cause!

[Bee Tagger]

Brooklyn's pretentious 20-somethings are finding Obama less cool every day.

So you're saying that they'll be ironically voting for him now? While listening to The Hold Steady once they get the cds out of storage?

[Brett L]

"Kimberly Salib, the proprietor of Art Gotham in Soho, asked 300 artists to make a 12-inch-by-12-inch work of art inspired by the election, and auctioned the pieces off in the fall of 2008. She is not planning on trying again either.

'I kind of lost my passion for it all, to be honest with you,' she said. Since the election, she has been audited, and a shaky economy and lack of support for galleries like hers 'has made me totally uninterested. I am no longer excited about doing these things.'"

Emphasis mine. What Obama needs is an art gallery bailout as part of QE3 to put him back in with the hipsters. Fuck Brooklyn, I'm glad my ancestors left.

[Mr. FIFY]

Audited? By Obama's IRS?

Unpossible!

[MJ]

She probably did not realize she was one of the "rich" shamefully avoiding being taxed her "fair share".

[GILMORE]

I'm glad my ancestors left

Ahh.

I've never met a Canarsie Indian

[Iraq]

Every dictator has an escape plan.

Dubya didn't seem to.

[Ice Nine]

Where do governments run when the worst case scenario arrives?

Martha's Vineyard, isn't it?

[Dagny T.]

The writer of the Brooklyn hipster piece needs to get some new hipster cliches. Pitchfork Media hasn't really been a big deal for what? Five years? I'm all for making fun of a) hipsters, and b) disillusioned Obama supporters, just come with something a little more original than kale and crochet next time.

[Bee Tagger]

Agreed. Pitchfork had a "what's cool in music" segment on some network morning show recently. Try as they might to review retrospectives of 70s Iranian psych-rock, they're mainstream now.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Did you ever consider that the author was being ironically unoriginal?

[Bee Tagger]

It's turtles all the way down from here.

[SugarFree]

When they start burning their The National red vinyl limited pressing LPs in the streets, I'll take hipster disillusionment as a reality.

[Lord Humungus]

grr...
http://bandweblogs.com/blog/20.....e-footage/

A few years ago, I used to like "The National". I've moved on since. It's also silly for any group to align themselves with a politician because there is a high-chance you will end up supporting a douchebag.

[SugarFree]

They are distant friends of friends, so I got 10 to 8th Facebook messages about that concert. Ugh.

[Trespassers W]

You know who knows that Pitchfork Media hasn't been a big deal in five years?

Hipsters.

[Doug]

Evidence obtained from bin Laden compound suggests that he planned to launch another large-scale attack on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.

Target a day when Americans' minds were on terrorism? And, incidentally, more alert to the threat? Perhaps I give the guy too much credit but I don't buy that he'd be this stupid. Smells like propaganda to me.

[wylie]

Where do foreign leaders go when they're not allowed to stay?

Where evr'body knows your naaaa-ame, and they're always glad you caaaa-ame...

[John]

It looks like Hurricane Irene is headed straight for Martha's Vineyard. Obama really does seem to destroy anything he touches.

[Aqua-Assault-Rabbit]

Salon: President Ron Paul will eat your babies (and make you birth them too).
http://www.salon.com/news/poli.....presidency

And I cannot really imagine any sort of economic recovery happening during a Paul presidency. A Ron Paul presidency would really not get very much done, at all, actually. That is by design, because Ron Paul does not much like the government he seeks to sit at the top of, and by necessity, because the things Ron Paul will want to do will be opposed by the legislature.

[Brett L]

Oh noes! They've seen through our cunning plan! In all seriousness, gridlock, coupled with dismantling of executive rulemaking would be fucking awesome.

[MP]

Typical douche can't even conceive of an economic bounceback without Government intervention.

[Old Mexican]

And I cannot really imagine any sort of economic recovery happening during a Paul presidency. A Ron Paul presidency would really not get very much done[...]

Only fools like those that write for Salon would believe that the economy is driven by politicians "doing something."

A non-effective presidency would be much better for the economy in actuallity, because it would give certainty to producers that Congress will not be able to screw the pooch with impunity, like it did in 2009 and 2010. And 2008. And 2007. And 2006. And...

[John]

I love this part

but I assume Congress would find Paul's budgets unacceptable and Paul would veto budgets sent to him by Congress. I can't think of how this impasse would be resolved. So ... government shutdown, again? (And, again, more job losses!)

These people really do think everyone's livelihood depends on the government. Every time I think liberals can't get anymore stupid I open up Salon or Slate and they prove me wrong.

[R C Dean]

I assume Congress would find Paul's budgets unacceptable and Paul would veto budgets sent to him by Congress. I can't think of how this impasse would be resolved.

Umm, veto override by 2/3 vote?

[SugarFree]

Is that in that dusty old Constitution thingy that no one can even read anymore? Like, OMG.

/Kleintard

[Nooge]

Oh no, not government job losses. I mean, the Department of Agriculture needs 100,000+ employees and and 130,000,000,000 dollar operating budget to do the people's work, right?

[anomdebus]

In the universe(s) where Paul gets elected, Salon would just excuse any deviation from their prediction because of the unusually high level of veto overrides by Congress.

[Old Mexican]

Bastiat! Help!

Bastiat! Thou should'st be living at this hour! Krugman (and America) hath need of thee!

Paul Krugman finally has stepped well beyond the world of space aliens. In a recent statement, he claimed that a more powerful earthquake would have been good for the economy. I make some comments about it here.

[robc]

Welcome to previous threads.

[Old Mexican]

Re: robc,

Hey, I used F3 to search for the Krumanism and all I found were some vague references. I was simply being more direct and to the point - live with it.

[robc]

Riggs posted that last night at 11:10. Your search sucked. Exactly two titles below the morning links was this:

Krugman: "People on twitter might be joking, but in all seriousness, we would see a bigger boost in spending and hence economic growth if the earthquake had done more damage."

[Old Mexican]

Re: robc,

I see what you mean. God, I need more coffee!

[Old Mexican]

I also went there and found a lot of White Imbecile's postings. The guy is becoming more inane the more he posts, like a crazy person that recites nonsense on street curbs.

[Warty]

Who wants a kick in the balls?

[Brett L]

Fuck you, Warty. I think my eyes started sweating.

[Rachel Maddow]

Who wants a kick in the balls?

No way! That'll knock the masking tape loose!

[R C Dean]

Jeebus, Warty. My monocle fogged up.

[R C Dean]

And I cannot really imagine any sort of economic recovery happening during a Paul presidency an Obama second term. A Ron Paul presidency An Obama second term would really not get very much done, at all, actually. That is by design, because Ron Paul Barack Obama does not much like the government country he seeks to sit at the top of, and by necessity rule, because the things Ron Paul Barack Obama will want to do will be opposed by the Republican legislature.

Works for me. As good an argument as I've seen for re-electing Obama.

[Warty]

The Titanic Taxonomy of Wrestler Names

[Tim]

Missed all the fun have I?

[Jack Moses]

that looks like its gonna be pretty cool dude. Wow.

http://www.web-anon.at.tc

[Gus]

Two hundred and third!

(not as good as first, but still somewhat satisfying)

[hmm]

So, when is Japan going to investigate Moody's? We know this administration won't since Warren "bailout" Buffet is an Obama buddy and owns 12.5% of Moody's.

[Lord Humungus]

Ron Paul and the Neoliberal Reeducation Campaign
http://spectator.org/archives/.....iberal-re#

"Because the Paul campaign is not just a campaign for president. This is a campaign -- a serious campaign -- to re-educate the American people to an alternate universe of reality. A campaign that goes far beyond whatever will happen at the polls in 2012.

And sorry to say, this re-education campaign does not present a pretty picture of itself."

[Brett L]

Hmm. Any time liberals want to drop Progressiveism and go back to classic liberalism, we'll welcome them back into the fold. We may have to rib them a bit, but it will be all in fun. Mostly.

[the real O2]

progressives:dems as teaparty:gop

[Mr. FIFY]

This Spectator post is the Team Red equivalent of the Slate article upthread.

[T]

If he just pulled Paul's name out and substituted Lew Rockwell, it'd be more accurate since almost every link he provides is to Rockwell's site.

Gee, establishment Republican hates Lew Rockwell. That's a shock.

[Lord Humungus]

yeah, I thought it was a strangely worded attack piece.

[Zeb]

What a strange article. He starts off saying that Paul is a libertarian, but then seems completely confounded that he is not a standard conservative.

[Mr. FIFY]

Oddly enough, the *same* American Spectator once praised (kinda) Ron Paul, whose views haven't changed much since the year this article was written (1999):

http://www.ninomiya.org/libertarian/ronpaul.html

[Nooge]

The hipsters will still vote for Obama, but they'll do it ironically.

[GILMORE]

Brooklyn's pretentious 20-somethings are finding Obama less cool every day.

Look... I've lived in Williamsburg since ~1999. First off, the characterization made in the article... here =

They passed around Obama speeches like they were bootlegged concert tapes. They carried around dog-eared copies of The Audacity of Hope. They quoted the 2004 convention address like it was poetry

...is probably written by someone who is themselves 20-something and is maybe 3 years fresh out of college, and has never voted in their life either, and has a completely distorted and overblown perception of the importance of their (and their peers) opinion on anything.

What I'm saying is, this is an article written by some kid on how *important* the hipster vote must have been for obama... (why, again? ... well... I mean....uhm....)

....and how, whoa, it really must be a sign something's seriously fucked up because, like, *we're* not even interested anymore?! (as though a brief, passing moment of political interest amongst Brooklyite hipsters was a veritable *revolution*)

""I mean, Obama must be in a lot of trouble *for us to have gone right back to our vapid, self-involved, oblivious lives?!?""

You see what I'm saying? Puh-leeease.

I would consider the actual "radical politicisation" of the Brooklyn Hipster to have probably netted the following =

- a bunch of silly "fundraising" parties that mostly funded the beer, the DJ's cab fare, and an 8-ball for the "fundraiser"s buddies... indistinguishable from similar events they'd be going to every weekend regardless

- and maybe a few dozen people who volunteered to help the campaign, but got drunk and overslept every time there was an occasion to participate.

The idea of actually *voting* for someone rather than just...hating on Bush? - the only political act they've ever even contemplated?

Whoa man! Serious stuff! It's like the 60s and shit! We have the power!1 Whoo hooo!!...

and what happened??

Zilch, zippo, nada, niente.

I was at a bar on the primary election night, and mentioned it to a roomful of people... they were like, "Whatever, it's NY... its not like it actually matters...of course Hilary will win the primary *here*..."

Like almost anything involving the hip-set kids-these-days... the rumours of their political naissance is pretty wildly overstated. Most often *by themselves*, as noted.

I mean, come the fuck on =

The next election is going to be a tough one that invites a question few campaign officials thought would ever be asked: Can Mr. Obama afford to lose the hipsters?

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Hmmmmmmmmmm......

At a spring benefit at the Hope Lounge in Williamsburg, the hip-hop artist Toothpick performed, slam poetry was slammed, and a stenciling station was set-up outside

Please understand = these guys weren't like Abbie Hoffman at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

They weren't even like an oversealous parent-fan at a kiddy soccer-match

It was maybe more like some dude who mentions his friend's band is playing down the street tomorrow night, and how awesome they are, and how you should tell all your friends, and like, they're going to be like *huge* and shit...!

And when you do go to the show? The door charge is exhorbitant. They suck. And that dude isn't even there. When you ask him WTF happened, he's like, "aw, man, there was this awesome roof party... a buddy was in from out of town... there was this chick there who does like, rope-routines, burlesque style, while dressed like Rainbow-Brite...it was sweet. What band again?"

I really do think that's probably the closest analogy.

Or maybe like a blog that some teenager started in a blaze of glory...and never got past post #2.

If the article wasn't actually *serious*, it would be fucking hilarious.

A dash of na?vet?..... helped too

You don't say.