Reason Morning Links: Palestine, Ron Paul, Zombies

• The Palestinians prepare to seek membership at the United Nations.

• Ron Paul wins California straw poll.

• At least 23 protesters killed by government forces in Yemen.

• Dominique Strauss-Kahn apologizes to France for his "moral error."

• "A physically disabled Atlanta woman says a police officer threw her to the ground and arrested her when she refused to move from her chair."

• Archaeologists discover evidence of a zombie scare in 8th century Ireland.

The latest from Reason.tv: "Peter Schiff on the Dismal Future of the U.S. Economy."

Comments

[$6M RoboTorso]

First post, and I got nothin'.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn apologizes to France for his "moral error."

Kahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnn!

Yeah.

[Ice Nine]

Mistakes were made.

[WTF]

"A physically disabled Atlanta woman says a police officer threw her to the ground and arrested her when she refused to move from her chair."

STOP RESISTING!

[Tonio]

I'm sure Officer Dunphy will be along any moment to tell us all how this report is idiocy, and how good LEO's would NEVER do anything like this.

ROOL of LAW!!1!eleventy

[Azathoth]

Well, look at what you said. Do you really need dunphy? Of course good cops wouldn't do something so stupid.

But why would that make this report idiocy? We'ce clearly not dealing with a good cop.

The thing that dunphy points out that annoys people so much is that there are thousands of civilian interactions with police every day. Things look bad because we talk about the few that go bad--or horrific. We don't do much talking about the thousands that just go--or the few that are great.

The view is skewed.

[Matrix]

"A physically disabled Atlanta woman says a police officer threw her to the ground and arrested her when she refused to move from her chair."

Another hero fighting against the epidemic of disabled people minding their own business. Give this officer a medal!

[Chupacabra]

Or at least a paid vacation!

[Maxxx]

""She did stand her ground," attorney Dan Grossman told the AJC. "She clearly gave him defiance and some attitude.""

And that is grounds for arrest in Obama's America.

[John]

http://www.esquire.com/print-t.....1?page=all

Jon Stewart has lost Esquire.

[Troy]

That is a bad thing?

[Randy]

I think he left it in the guest bathroom.

On a side note, have you ever noticed how you always seem to find things in the last place you look?

[Name Nomad]

That's because you [George Carlin]STOP LOOKING AFTER YOU FOUND IT. WHAT KIND OF ASSHOLE WOULD KEEP LOOKING FOR SOMETHING AFTER HE FOUND IT?[/George Carlin]

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Holy crap that article could have been 10% the length and not lost any important content.

Here is what I was able to glean while still awake:

1) John Stewart can be a dick sometimes.

2) Author doesn't like him any more becasue he isn't a 100%-24-7 TEAM BLUE shill.

[John]

http://www.esquire.com/print-t.....1?page=all

Jon Stewart has lost Esquire.

[MNG]

wow, he lost them twice?

Seriously though I heard on NPR this morning that Stewart's show, with all its juvenile mugging, won the Emmy for the 9th year in a row. Hollywood has become as sanctomonious and predictable as a church service....

[John]

Squirrles. I think that is an interesting article from the Liberal perspective. Stewart takes up all this attention and air but then refuses to really take any responsibility or stand for anything. I am not sure he does liberals much good. And that seems to be the point of the article.

[MNG]

My problem with Stewart is more that he is much less talented than Colbert...

[Art-P.O.G.]

Do you also hate him for being less talented than Steve Carrell?

[prolefeed]

Oh, that stings. Because Carrell isn't very funny. He's frankly kind of icky and a dick.

[Art-P.O.G.]

I demur.

[prolefeed]

but then refuses to really take any responsibility or stand for anything.

He stands for clueless liberal crap All. The. Fucking. Time. It is annoying as hell to listen to.

Colbert does that too, but at least is funny more often while doing it.

Both shows need a lot of fast-forwarding through at Chez Prolefeed to be bearable.

[CaptainSmartass]

Stewart is more of a humorist than a politician. If it gets a laugh, he'll go with it, even if it does against his own personal opinions.

[Mike Laursen]

It just makes me wonder if he snubbed one of the Esquire editors at a cocktail party or something like that.

[Mike Laursen]

Three times. John got tired of waiting for Morning Links and posted all these links on the previous thread, too.

[Ska]

The guy was hosting Remote Control with help from Colin Quinn and Adam Sandler. I have a lot more respect for that version of Jon Stewart...

[Ice Nine]

I remember when Jon Stewart was a really funny stand-up comedian. Most of them tend to decline but, jaysus, Stewart's humor trajectory was sort of like that guy's at the Reno Air Show.

[Clich? Bandit]

I remember when Olberdoodle was an excellent sports caster...ahh the good old days.

[John]

http://pajamasmedia.com/zombie.....ion-flops/

The day of rage in photographs.

[Mr. FIFY]

Fucking anti-capitalists... do they work?

[John]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09.....ef=opinion

Obama is only failing because of Bush. The evil bastard.

[John]

My favorite bit of paranoia.

Against Obama we have a cast of Republicans who talk about the federal government with a contempt that must have Madison and Hamilton spinning in their coffins. The G.O.P. campaign sounds like a contest for the Barry Goldwater Chair in States' Rights: neuter the Fed; abolish the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Education and a few other departments; turn Medicare and Social Security into individual 401(k) programs; dismantle national health care and revoke consumer protections.

He says that like it is a bad thing. If only it were true.

[Surly Chef]

I know Madison the champion of centralized power, the EPA and DoE. I mean it's not like he meant what what he wrote in the fucking Constitution or the Federalist. Obviously what he meant was "Do whatever the hell you want as long as you win elections." I'm just a crazy libertarian though.

[Clich? Bandit]

Even Hamilton would be considered small government by todays standards and he was a giant douchebag.

[teh rael o2]

"The decline in Obama's political fortunes, the Great Disappointment, can be attributed to four main factors: the intractable legacy bequeathed by George W. Bush; Republican resistance amounting to sabotage; the unrealistic expectations and inevitable disenchantment of some of the president's supporters; and, to be sure, the man himself."
_
the opinion piece lists 3 [REASONZ] besides lil w.

[teh rael o2]

and by [REASONZ] i mean fake excuses derp

[2O]

tell it to john. he evidently misread the article to which he linked

[Ice Nine]

Obama inherited a country in such distress that his Inaugural Address alluded to George Washington at Valley Forge, marking "this winter of our hardship."

I'm just shocked to learn that the sycophantic tool Keller thinks that the country was in "such distress" because The One decreed it so.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Not to mention that Obama's statement wasn't even in line with what Washington said; it's just a poorly-executed allusion playing on the "winter of our discontent" line from Richard III.

Except in the play, Richard III isn't saying that discontent is dominating, he's saying that it's in hibernation and the power of the Yorkists was in full blossom. So Obama can't even get the allusion correct.

[Ska]

Dead Ireland, a new four player co-op game where players select an 8th century celtic druid and try to escape to....nah, you're pretty much fucked but you can bash in zombie skulls real good.

[Brett L]

Protip: Don't forget to kill it with fire.

[Clich? Bandit]

Legacy of Cain, AWESOME game. too bad they finished as if someone forgot to tell them the deadline and tuesday rolls around and the boss says "we readdy to ship" and the programmers say "FUCK"!!!

[Ska]

I've been having a lot of fun with DI, it's entertaining for sure - but yeah, the PC version is buggy beyond belief. Thank the gaming gods that modders have taken it upon themselves to fix some of the more annoying things (like alcohol auto-equipping and being drunk, or making a deodorant bomb and promptly rifling it at the wall in front of the work bench).

Then there's the screen tearing and poor lighting (screen flashes black when an environment has flickering light bulbs). There's also the bloom overdose built into the world. Hint - tropical islands aren't so fucking bright they whitewash everything, or give off an aura when seen from looking out of a building's interior.

I know it's a zombie game, but it's only the game environment that should be a disaster - not the actual game. And yet even with these bugs the game is still so much fun. There isn't much that can get in the way of enjoying cracking open a zombie's head with a barbed mace.

[Matrix]

I just beat the game. I was a bit surprised at the ending. Intense game, that's for sure... especially when you have groups of Infected running at you. I really hate them.

[Lord Humungus]

I've been experiencing this with Red Orchestra 2. Sudden crashes, sound dropouts, and some general weirdness. They had a 2 Week beta - and that's it!

I'm sure everything will eventually be corrected, but it is annoying + it will turn off potential players.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Additionally, the review board found that during a five-month period, [Officer Kenneth] Thomas had made 38 arrests, 27 of which were for disorderly conduct. The total of 27 arrests for disorderly conduct was three times the amount made by two other officers that patrol the same area, during the same shift, the letter sent to Turner states.

He offered Atlanta ORDER!

[General William T. Sherman]

I say, I do think we need more officers like Kenneth Thomas in the rebel city of Atlanta.

[Auric Demonocles]

Finally!

Hey Sugarfree, help a fellow HnRunner out. I have a date with a library science major this weekend and I need something to talk about other than the Dewey Decimal system.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Tell her you like her stacks.

[Auric Demonocles]

That sounds as perfect as my mathematical computation jokes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Make sure you're looking at her tits while you say it, too. That way she feels flattered for the right reason. (But don't actually say tits during the date. Apparently that's crass.)

And if the night goes well, be certain to tell her you want to stamp her card.

[Auric Demonocles]

FOE, your comments have made this post worth it. Not like those savages who want to go into a date with no plan or prep work.

[sloopyinca]

I'm trying to think of a "night drop" joke or an "overdue penalty" joke but seem to be drawing a blank.

You could always call her a tax leech and tell her without your benevolence, she'd likely be working on a volunteer basis, but that might not serve your purposes.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Tell her she's the kind of fine you'd go to the library to end up with.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sloppy, think outside the box. In other words, come up with something like, "Tell her you want to scribble in her margins." Or, "Say you want to dog ear her pages." Shit ain't that hard, man.

[StupendousMan!]

Not to break up the joke but every library science major I know work in the private sector. Many are also learning DB and working with document and data management systems. That major, and skills learned on the job, seems to lend to an easy grasp of these technologies. Watch out DBAs and business logic techies.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Not to break up the joke...

He's right. Be sure you have the book jacket on when the plot thickens, if you know what I mean.

[Clich? Bandit]

Go with a physics joke:
A hydrogen ion walks into a bar, says to the bartender "I think I lost my electron" and the bartender says " are you sure?" and the ion says ":I am posititve"

*rimshot*

[tarran]

Ask her what the favorite part of her day is. Then listen.

[JW]

But, then she'll expect that the next time too.

[JEP]

I know a library science major and she dabbles in some computer science stuff, mainly because she has to create databases - so you might be able to talk a little software programming. She's also into sci-fi/fantasy. I've joked with her about the hot librarian stereotype - you know, Marian the Librarian from The Music Man...

And if you don't know what she's interested in, you could, you know, always ask her...that counts as conversation too..

[R C Dean]

Auric hooking up with a sexay librarian.

Live the dream, brother. Live the dream.

[JEP]

"You're heterosexual, too! Wow, we have so much in common!"

[Matrix]

That makes me think of those "we should probably have sex" memes on memebase/ragecomics.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well librarian-in-training. Though she does work at the MIT archives a few hours a week.

[Clich? Bandit]

work at the MIT archives a few hours a week

That would be awesome...ask her how to do the Philedelphia Experiment without melting people.

[JEP]

And if she understand that reference...you better lock that shit down...

[SugarFree]

MIT Archives? She might work for an old colleague of mine.

Small world.

[Auric Demonocles]

Sweet, I'll work that in. Impress her with my library connections.

[SugarFree]

You could also get her an "Archivists make it last longer" bumpersticker.

[Troy]

Here is a piece of advice, don't ever ask Lord Doomcock for relationship advice and NEVER ask Warty to re-sequence your DNA.

[Devil's Advocate]

Hmm. Well, clearly a library science major is a bibliophile, so you could always ask about her reading habits as a safe (and boring) topic. But I think I'd ask her what made her decide on that particular career... is she into conservation, is she into data acquisition, was it because she had a chance to find and deal with with rare manuscripts? Has she had a chance to do any of the above in the course of her scholarly efforts? Did she enjoy it? Etc.

Or if all else fails you could say "I don't have a library card, but do you mind if I check you out?"

[Pip]

Just take her ice skating. Studies show that if your first date involves potential risk (which breeds excitement), you'll have a much better outcome than if you took her to a feminist poetry reading.

[SugarFree]

Going to a feminist poetry reading with a Hit'n'Runner is a date with potential risk.

[Lord Humungus]

Rocky flashback.

[Devil's Advocate]

I actually do think ice skating would be a pretty fun first date.

Certainly it would be much better than a one-man play about Jeffery Dahmer. I also recommend not mentioning one's trading card game championship status either.

Cautionary Tale that has been mentioned here before (although I personally think this girl is a jerk): http://gizmodo.com/5833787/my-.....ing-player

[Warty]

Ask her if she likes to be choked. Those librarians are freaks, yo.

[Au H20]

And that firefighter is choking the shit out of you. And right before you die, a big drop of drool drips out of his mouth and lands right in your eye.

[Brett L]

+Archer

[Ice Nine]

You could ask her what the fuck library science is.

[Name Nomad]

Ask her why, now with the internet and the rise of ebooks, libraries are needed (or even desirable) anymore. Plus, why do you need a masters degree to order books and then sort them on a shelf?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hey Sugarfree, help a fellow HnRunner out.

SugarFree is dead weight on this.

[Auric Demonocles]

Why? Is there some candy bar too close?

[Lord Humungus]

You are asking reasonoids for dating help? May the gods have mercy on your soul.

[Pro Libertate]

Talk about the Library of Congress system instead. She'll be impressed.

[Jaybird]

"I'm glad I brought my library card... because I am checking you out!"

[SugarFree]

Sorry, off having to do work. The nerve of some people...

Girls that go into librarianship fall into two rough and unequal types. The smaller, and least relevant variety, are the happy-young-go-getter who probably yearns to be a young adult librarian. Those are just slightly geeky regular girl type and 99.9% of them have boyfriends that don't appreciate them.

The other is the standard-issue librarian type. Quiet. Bookish. Deeply unaware of how attractive she is or can be. They key to connecting to any shy girl is to realize that they probably aren't shy on the inside. All the sarcastic, biting remarks she's not making out-loud are still happening, just under the surface. The best course is to be the naked Id she has been conditioned not to unleash.

Watch the librarian jokes. She's heard them before.

[Art-P.O.G.]

So is Tears for Fears' Head Over Heels video required viewing for library science majors?

[SugarFree]

No, but there is a distressing amount of alt-country in the profession. A distressing amount.

[Art-P.O.G.]

Ha ha ha. I do kinda like Neko Case and this one My Morning Jacket song. The world of the library seems like an interesting place, but it's forever closed off from me to the extent that I will forever be an outsider. Nevertheless, something tells me it's sort of like a less sloppy version of the art milieu I'm so tragically acquainted with.

[Art-P.O.G.]

No jokes about "checking her out"?

[SugarFree]

You could come be a library after you get out of the service. Plenty of people take it up as a second career. And with security clearances there are a few NARA that aren't to low paying.

It's not really art, it's where the undergrad English majors end up. Conformity conformity instead of non-conformity conformity.

[SugarFree]

*a librarian* Jesus, can't you people leave me alone? It's like I have a job or something lately.

[Pro Libertate]

Suggest she's stacked.

[SugarFree]

Ask what she thinks about "the bound periodicals" problem.

As she is about to answer, blurt out: "FREE THE BOUND PERIODICALS!"

[mad libertarian guy]

A a former English Ph D student (medieval studies and manuscript restoration), all I can say is FUCK BOUND PERIODICALS.

That is all.

[Karl Hungus]

"Hey baby, I wanna open your cover."

Trust me, they love that.

[T]

I was looking for something and found this. It's historical income tax rates and brackets, and includes inflation adjusted data.

[John]

The women of the New York Times have a case of the vapors over Rick Perry being from Texas.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2.....dents.html

[Brett L]

""We have had several Texas presidents, but none so deeply, intensely Texas as this guy would be."

They think Rick Perry is more "Texas" (in the sneering sense of nekulturny knuckle-dragger) than LBJ? Where are the stories about him picking up dogs by the ears and taking phone calls on the crapper? Fucking ignorant cityhicks.

[WTF]

You forget, according to the Times, LBJ was on the correct team.

[Ice Nine]

the g-dropping glad-hander

Sort of like Obama with a Black audience, then?

[Pip]

the g-dropping glad-hander

If he's dropping his g's wouldn't tha be pronounced lad-handler?

[kilroy]

lad-handler

I see what you did there.

[John]

CBC If Obama were not President, we would be marching on the White House

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-.....hite-house

[WTF]

"Because it's our guy, he gets a pass."

Good of them to actually admit it.

[Proprietrist]

It's not a racial thing. The anti-war movement obviously feels the same way.

[Troy]

Wow. That is pretty fucked up. I can't imagine a cracker being able to get away with being so overtly racist.

[College Admissions]

We can.

[kilroy]

See: University of Wisconsin, Madison.

[Mike M.]

The vile Ben Bernanke is about to formally announce the next round of quantitative easing, and get this, it's going to be called "Operation Twist".

Pretty appropriate, as the American people are going to continue being the ones to twist in the wind.

[Fluffy]

He wanted to call it Operation Ass Rape but Steve Smith's lawyers successfully defended his trademark.

[Roman Polanski]

Who's trademark?

[Gibby]

It's a stabbing reference. If you want to ensure death, you push the knife in, up and twist.

BTW, my cat's name is Twister.

True story.

[John]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....;=&ccode;=

UAW gets paid before tax payers.

[GM mgmt]

we agreed

[UAW/Feds]

We made them an offer they couldn't refuse.

[GM mgmt]

like 2 tier pay which will reduce labour costs

[UAW/Feds]

which is still far higher than non-union competition from manufactuers like toyota herpitty DERP

[toyota nissan kia]

except that we had to offer similar prevailing wages or risk being organized ourselves.

[O2]

i just make up lies and post them herp

[old mex]

i spoof o2 poorly

[O2]

i just spoofed in my pants again

[Mongo]

Duluth head shop has dozens of customers lining up every day to buy illegal drugs. Owner clears $6 mil a year and dares state to shut him down.

http://www.startribune.com/gal.....98878.html

[db]

What's a Duluth head?

[P Brooks]

Have a nice helping of wealth envy, served up by Robert Reich (He's an economist, you know).

But a 20 percent rate is still ridiculously low compared to what millionaires and billionaires ought to be paying. Officially, income over $379,150 is supposed to be taxed at 35 percent.

And even 35 percent is a pittance compared to the first three decades after World War II. Before Ronald Reagan slashed taxes on the rich in 1981, the highest marginal tax rate was over 70 percent. Under Dwight Eisenhower it was 91 percent. Even if you include deductions and credits, the rich are now paying a far lower share of their incomes in taxes than at any time since World War II.

Fucking wealth creation- how does it work?

[Fluffy]

Total income tax collected rose in real terms after Reagan adjusted the marginal rates.

So the question becomes - if we can collect more revenue at 35% than we did at 70%, why keep the top rate at 70%?

Answer: Because we're dicks who just want to hurt people.

[T]

Avoidance behavior must be a feature, not a bug.

[Maxxx]

Exactly right.

Higher marginal rates increase the social engineering power of DC dickheads and empower lobbyists and increase the amount of money in politics in general.

[Auric Demonocles]

Alt answer: Intentions are all the matter.

[Art Laffer]

But...but...

[Old Mexican]

Archaeologists discover evidence of a zombie scare in 8th century Ireland.

It was called the "Celtic Zombies" level in Call of Duty: Dark Ages At War.

[MNG]

John, take a breath man! Your posts represent 4/10 of all of them here so far...

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,
Must be a slow Monday at work for John...

[Apostate Jew]

Well, I am sure he has the time as he is a parasitical employee of the state of some type.

[Auric Demonocles]

And with out help he hopes to one day reach 7/10 of "Morning" Links posts.

[MNG]

I'm worried he's going to get carpal tunnel syndrome...

[Auric Demonocles]

Negative feedback!

[Gibby]

Naw, you just enjoy being confrontational.

[Proprietrist]

Copying and pasting from Drudge is hard.

[Proprietrist]

Speaking of which, imagine how even more popular Drudge could be if he had an internal comment board for each post...

[Old Mexican]

The Palestinians prepare to seek membership at the United Nations.

Nonsense! This idea that some supra-national body conjures up nations out of thin air is ludicrous! Why, if that ever happened, imagine the territorial conflicts that would arise and decades of fighting and....

.... Oh. Uh. Never mind!!!

[Krugman]

I suggest that the US stop recognizing both the Israelis and the Palestinians, partly because its none of our business and mostly because both are annoying. Also this will mean that both will stop bothering the US and go back to what the really enjoy, throwing rocks at each other and proclaiming that God loves them best.

[WTF]

That actually makes more sense than most of what the real Krugnuts has actually written.

[Fluffy]

I think that further study will probably show that this was not a zombie scare, but an actual infestation, and the corpses in question were zombies that had been destroyed by the 8th century equivalent of head shots - namely, sharp stones through the mouth to the brain stem.

I would also advise them to stop their dig immediately, before they uncover something they don't want to find.

[MNG]

I think it is great the GOP is using this obviously focus-group tested, Luntz approved "job creators" phrase for rich people so uniformly these days. Often I debate people here on the subject of whether in our economy employers have the advantages in bargaining power of employees, and it is nice of the GOP to concede that with this phrase (it is the employer that "creates" and bestows the job at their whim).

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

Often I debate people here on the subject of whether in our economy employers have the advantages in bargaining power of employees, and it is nice of the GOP to concede that with this phrase (it is the employer that "creates" and bestows the job at their whim).

When you contract somebody to paint your house, don't you "create" and "bestow" the job at your whim? Wouldn't you have a "bargaining" advantage by virtue of you being the holder of the money?

By the same token, don't contractors also have a bargaining power by virtue of their experience? Things are not as lopsided as you want to believe, MNG.

[MNG]

And they are not so unlopsided as you choose.

The GOP meme these days is that our regulation and taxes will make "job creators" decide it is not worth their time and effort to "create jobs"; rather they will sit on it or spend it.

Many working people don't have that option to "sit out" the game. There's a baseline of basic human need that one side is in much more peril of falling under that gives the edge to our "job creators"

[Proprietrist]

The yoke of government is preventing low-capital entrepreneurs (aka the poor) from escaping a life of minimum wage or unemployment and becoming autonomous - much less, job creators.

When people are prevented from selling sandwiches or tacos out of the back of a truck, or setting a chair on a street corner and cutting hair or giving back massages, or rolling and reselling cigarettes or selling homebrewed beer because they can't afford the education, licenses and fees to get off the ground and can't yet afford to pay their family members or friends $8.50 an hour to help them out, you do not have a free market, and you will not have significant progress for the poor if the poor exist completely at the whim of the wealthy "job creator".

There's no problem with going to work for a big company for little pay, but de facto that has generally become the only option for the poor. The only people in the ghettos who earn enough income to escape poverty are the very best athletes and musicians, and entrepreneurs: drug dealers who don't get caught. Cut barriers to entry (and drastically improve the public school system), more people escape poverty.

[Fluffy]

That's one way to look at it.

When I was a job creator, I was not rich.

In fact, I have many more assets now that I am not a job creator.

In fact, the difference between when I was a job creator and when I was not boiled down to whether or not I took any initiative or was just a lazy sack of shit.

The #1 reason people are employees rather than employers is initiative. The #2 reason is whether you've structured your life to be able to create jobs, or whether you've bogged yourself down with other responsibilities or activities you prefer. (A case could be made that this falls under "initiative", also, indirectly.)

I know people who are self-employed or employers who lack education.

I know people who are self-employed or employers who started out pretty low on the "lower middle class" totem pole.

I know people who are self-employed or employers who were not endowed by nature with genius-level intelligence.

These people aren't "employees" because they weren't passive people who just want to show up somewhere 8 hours a day and take home a check and not have to think about shit.

It can be tempting to be that passive. Fuck knows that's how I am now, too. But that's my own personal character flaw. It's not an evil plot by "employers" who want to have "greater power" than me.

[MNG]

"The #1 reason people are employees rather than employers is initiative."

That's laughable. It's resources.

[MNG]

I can want to operate a chain of movie theaters very badly right now but if I had a ton of capital I could make that a reality with a fraction of the desire and initiative.

[R C Dean]

Or, you could try to set up a business that is not so capital-intensive.

[Gibby]

Or you could develop a sound business plan and court investors. Perhaps via mezzanine financing.

[Fluffy]

Oh, OK.

Because you can't immediately open General Motors with the lint in your pockets, you consider yourself forced to be an employee.

Silly me. I forgot that "Open the type of business you have the resources to open" was completely out of the question, because, like, that would be humiliating and shit, and would take a long time, and people should be able to be Hollywood moguls on their first day. Thanks for reminding me.

[sloopyinca]

I can think of a lot more basement inventors who had minimal resources than I can reluctant millionaires starting companies.

[Citizen Nothing]

MNG, you're such a goofball.
When I graduated from college, the first thing I did was start a newspaper. I had almost zero capital, and yet I (and those who worked for me) found a way to churn that thing out for a complete year. Yes, the enterprise ultimately "failed," but several influential subscribers were impressed, and it led to other things for almost all of us.
And I discovered that I much preferred receiving a paycheck each week to writing them. So I probably lacked enough entrepreneurial spirit.

If you really want a chain of movie theaters, MNG, I suggest you can have them. You may have to start out small, but you act as if it's beyond the realm of possibilities. This, I posit, is your problem.

[Gibby]

Col. Sanders started out with a single chicken. Jay Cicinelli, a single sheep.

[Mike M.]

You seem to have this bizarre notion that large corporations instantly spring up from the ground fully formed.

In reality, it pretty much never works that way, you doofus. Most employers don't start off rich, they start off employing themselves and maybe a couple of other people, working out of a garage or a small shop. You probably don't even have any clue about what the odds are that a new business enterprise will end up succeeding.

[Lord Humungus]

I started a little audio business in my basement. I came up with a new phono preamplifier design, bought the hardware and parts. I sold a few but ultimately failed because of the competition (lower-priced Chinese goods). It was still a nice learning experience though and if I was to do it again, I would take a different tack. btw - startup costs were only a few thousand $$$.

[MNG]

"I sold a few but ultimately failed"
"Yes, the enterprise ultimately "failed," "

Yeah, starting successful businesses is so easy, contrary to your actual experience of course.

[Fluffy]

My five year old made $50 over costs with his farm stand this year with just a little mentoring.

So he's one for one in the successful business column, and he's five.

[Lord Humungus]

geez, a man tries, a man fails and a man (at least some of us) learns.

It certainly wasn't capital costs (I broke even actually), but there was a product out there that was considerably cheaper if not as high in quality. I was hoping consumers would recognize that but they didn't.

Tell me - what business have you tried to start, genius?

[Fluffy]

I could start a business today with $50 and so could you. (Assuming you already own a car and a computer.)

I'd go down to Walmart and buy some cleaning products, and then find one of those sites online where you can print 500 business cards for free.

Then I'd print up business cards for the Fluffy Maid Service and tack those cards up in diners and supermarkets and bus stops and shit.

Voila. Self-employment.

Then I'd go to library book sales and try to buy some of those software guides for a quarter each. The ones they never sell and that just lay around until the end of the sale and get thrown in the dumpster. Then I'd read the books, and walk down to my state's unemployment office / career center, where you can get them to pay for you to take the certification test in different types of software. Once I was certified, I'd sign up for a free website somewhere and declare myself the Fluffy Software Service.

And those are the things that I just thought of in five minutes after reading your post, and that would cost less than 50 bucks. If we upped it to 3 or 4 grand (which is not chump change, but which is certainly well within the savings range of quite a few of those poor souls out there who you think are doomed to be employees by their "lack of resources") I'm sure I could come up with dozens of businesses you could start.

[R C Dean]

If we upped it to 3 or 4 grand (which is not chump change, but which is certainly well within the savings range credit card limit of quite a few of those poor souls

[Chupacabra]

Will your maids be hot, French maid types? If so, I could use a "cleaning" this week.

[Clich? Bandit]

put me down for thursdays Fluffy.

[db]

That's bullshit, MNG. Anyone with a sound business plan can get ahold of startup capital (or could before the collusion between big government and big business fucked up the capital markets ), and with enough work ethic they can be successful. It's drive and determination that affect success most profoundly. How many lottery winners have you read about who started successful businesses? Resources need not start iut as assets.

[MNG]

You guys are hilarious. The world is just awash with capital for any business to start for the ambitious, yet here you guys are posting for five hours a day instead.

Those with capital have large advantages getting more capital and large advantages in starting capital intensive businesses. The ability of anyone to just go and start a successful business is incredibly unequally distributed.

It's funny to see so many people try to otherwise by pointing to all the big companies which started with "a single chicken" ignoring the many more counter-examples of people who went broke quickly (often b/c not enough capital to see them through the start).

[Fluffy]

Way to move the goalposts.

I didn't say the ability to start a business was "equally distributed". Frankly, it shouldn't be. The only way it COULD be that if being successful (whether as a business owner or even just as a plain old employee) could be made irrelevant to the outcome of future activities. And why should it be?

I said that anyone who wanted to could open a business, and that the reason most people don't is a lack of initiative. Or perhaps a lack of inclination if you prefer.

You have to throw inclination in there because a great many people who HAVE education, savings, and come from an affluent background make the specific and deliberate decision to pursue careers where they can "get a good job". If the average kid enrolling at Boston University this year said, "You know what? Screw this, I'm going to spend four years setting myself up to own a small machine shop," he'd be able to do it. He just doesn't want to, because he wants to go into journalism or library science or something else where he will end up working for someone else pretty much by definition. But once again that's his choice and not a plot of evil people with capital to have superior bargaining power or what have you.

[db]

Clearly you missed the parts about "sound business plan" and "work ethic." Not everyone (even libertarians!) can come up with those. Even if one has a sound business plan, but doubts his own ability to execute it, he might not risk a venture. You might make the counter argument that if he had enough capital he could hire someone to help, but how much is that? As someone else pointed out, business help can be had cheap sometimes. Paying 2 or 3 salaries at $30k-$50k a year might not be that hard with a good startup loan and a plan. But you'd rather argue that, gee, if, for example, Solyndra were just able to have $1 billion in startup money instead of a measly $500 million, damn that would have been the next Microsoft.

Business plan and effort dude. Have one and be able to execute it. Not everyone can or deserves to start up a business.

[Pope Jimbo]

I'd be more sympathetic to the argument that businesses fail to show any loyalty or fair play to workers if those workers had shown any loyalty themselves when times were good and unemployment was super low.

What I did see is tons of workers leave on position for nothing more than more money!. Good for them too. Just don't complain when times are tough and the head hunters stop calling with offers of even more lucrative jobs.

[P Brooks]

Warren Buffett says he has no problem with so-called "Buffett Plan" to levy a punitive surtax on high earners, as he only "makes" $100k.

[Ska]

I would love to see the numbers on the stacks of K-1s with his name on it (or more likely the trusts he set up so that he isn't holding more assets when he dies).

[Old Mexican]

The latest from Reason.tv: "Peter Schiff on the Dismal Future of the U.S. Economy."

That was a good interview, Nick.

See also Peter's testimony in front of Congress, where he gives the Congresscritters (and a doctor in faux economics) a few lessons in sound economics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

[MNG]

We've spent billions of dollars, lost lives and exerted lots of diplomatic capital to 'win hearts and minds' in the muslim and arab world to try to push them towards friendly and democratic governments and now we are going to dump on that by issuing a unilateral veto of a proposal to take a group of people occupied for decades and give them an autonomous state of their own. I can't think of something we could do more stupid (except maybe when we refused to restrain Israel's bombings of Lebanon and crapped on the previously much-ballyhooed Cedar Revolution there as a result).

[MNG]

I'd love to hear all the right leaning folks here who often pose as foriegn policy realists defend this move. The costs to US interests of such a unilateral veto clearly outweigh any (if any) benefit.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

I'd love to hear all the right leaning folks here who often pose as foriegn policy realists defend this move.

You mean from the bloodthirsty warmongers? I would like to hear from them, too. They seem to not be in short supply in this country.

[MNG]

I'd say actual realists are the opposite of warmongerers. It's often idealist that get us involved in that.

[susan rice]

dont worry, we'll scuttle this behind the scenes

[MNG]

I think the moral and practical thing to do is to offer the following compromise: we will either support recognition or abstain from voting if the recognition is conditioned on Hamas recognizing the right or peaceful existence for all of its neighbors.

Hamas, being a group of zealots and thugs would likely reject this and we could veto with a bit more moral ground to stand on.

[MNG]

should read "right of peaceful existence"

[sloopyinca]

This makes sense. Unfortunately, the moral high ground is something American politicians of both major parties abandoned a long time ago.

And it's an election year.

[R C Dean]

we will either support recognition or abstain from voting if the recognition is conditioned on Hamas recognizing the right or peaceful existence for all of its neighbors.

Add "and terminates all attacks on its neighbors", and we have a deal.

[Mike M.]

The Palestinians absolutely deserve to have their own country.

However, the idea that Israel is going to return to the borders they had in 1967 is never going to happen, period, end of story. You liberals really need to get this through your tiny little pea brains.

[multiple israel govts]

the 67 borders WITH ADJUSTMENTS was our idea silly wingnutz.

[Mike M.]

Hey double-asshole, the crux of the problem is that Palestinians refuse to accept the adjustments, moron.

[o2]

but that has nothing to do w the wingnutz [AGIPROP] that obama dreamed-up the 67 border proposal

[Matrix]

Jordan

[Matrix]

The US should do exactly what the President did when he was in Congress... go in, vote "present", turn around, and leave.

[R C Dean]

a group of people occupied for decades

Realistically, those are people that either been have been kicked out of, or abandoned, their former states. The current Palestinian Authority territory used to belong to states other than Israel, you know.

And who, exactly, is "occupying" the current Palestinian Authority? Not Israel, which doesn't, as far as I know, have a single soldier posted outside of its current borders, including the West Bank or Gaza.

There is, of course, a dispute about where Israel's borders should be. Since those borders run alongside of/through a stateless area, its an interesting question about who even has standing to dispute those borders.

And, yes, the only way to save the Cedar Revolution was to completely ignore Syrian/Iranian support for the Muslim militants that ultimately destroyed it, and oppose Israel's fight against those militants.

[Fluffy]

And who, exactly, is "occupying" the current Palestinian Authority? Not Israel, which doesn't, as far as I know, have a single soldier posted outside of its current borders, including the West Bank or Gaza.

If the US government "withdrew" from St. Louis, but patrolled its borders and only let people in and out on its say-so, and periodically bombed the city, or sent tanks in to bust shit up, and also continued to assert the right to send agents into the city to arrest anyone it wanted at will, it wouldn't make much sense to claim that St. Louis was "independent".

It would be more like we had deliberately set up a quasi-anarchy to punish the St. Louis population while keeping it at arm's length, while retaining whatever law enforcement prerogatives we still wanted.

All that being said, I don't see how declaring Palestine a state improves that situation any, so the entire UN exercise is a fool's errand. Israel isn't going to lift the blockade or refrain from "pursuing criminals" within the borders of the territories anyway, so who gives a shit?

[R C Dean]

No question, Fluffy, its a totally effed-up situation. And I continue to be agnostic/apathetic on the whole Pali statehood thing. Mostly, I find the arguments for it to be faintly ridiculous. I also find the current status of the West Bank and Gaza residents to be, well, sub-optimal to say the least.

I just don't think you can really call the West Bank and Gaza "occupied" by Israel if there are no Israeli troops there.

Those who lay the blame for West Bank and Gaza's current woes on the Israelis are, I think, profoundly misguided. Statelessness occurred when the former sovereigns abandoned their jurisdiction over those areas. Many residents got stuck there because of their history of trying to overthrow various governments/nations. The genesis of Pali statelessness certainly has little enough to do with Israel.

And, the continuation of statelessness has much to do with the regrettable tendency of the Palis to randomly kill Israelis every chance they get.

I think the solution is largely within the power of the Palis. Stop trying to kill Israelis, negotiate in good faith, and I think they'd have their very own state within a few years.

[Neu Mejican]

I think the solution is largely within the power of the Palis. Stop trying to kill Israelis, negotiate in good faith, and I think they'd have their very own state within a few years.

The negotiate in good faith thing has to be two sided. Israel's lack of good faith negotiations is a primary cause of the current situation.

[Ice Nine]

what he called an ill-judged but consensual liaison..."It was a moral error, and I am not proud of it,"' Strauss-Kahn said

Ya know, Dom, I can't say that I'd be all that proud of it either.

[P Brooks]

What are the chances the President will include this little nugget in his impending morning sermon?

How do you make a contribution to reduce the debt?

There are two ways for you to make a contribution to reduce the debt:

* You can make a contribution online either by credit card, checking or savings account at Pay.gov
* You can write a check payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt, and in the memo section, notate that it's a Gift to reduce the Debt Held by the Public. Mail your check to:

Attn Dept G
Bureau of the Public Debt
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188

[Warty]

Way too many words about why the author doesn't drink Budweiser

Vader

[JW]

He must be getting paid by the needless word.

[T]

Shorter Pour Fool: I'm a socialist, and Bud sucks.

[Fluffy]

I find anti-lager people tedious.

Yes, yes, yes, you're just SOOOOOOO much more interesting a person than everyone else, and you're so much more of a REAAAALLLLLLL beer person, because you like your beer to be the consistency of untreated sewage or spoiled milk. We all acknowledge that. Can you please shut up about it now?

[Warty]

An odd thing is happening to me as I get older: I like shitty beers more, and "good" beers less. I don't understand it.

[T]

Your taste buds are dying.

Hell, I finally figured out the reason for drinking American light beers just last year. That only took me 25 years of beer drinking.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Sometimes you just want a damn beer. You don't want to smell it before you drink it. You don't want to talk about the unique characteristics of the particular sub species of hops that was used this year. You just want a damn beer. Bud fills that role with well engineered precision.

[T]

As much as I don't like Bud, I don't hate it. And I give AB credit for one thing: every bottle/can/keg of Bud tastes exactly like every other bottle/can/keg. And that's no small feat when you're pumping out as much product as they are.

[Aresen]

I read that headline as

"Palestinian Ron Paul Zombies"

I presume that would be another marginal group supporting Ron Paul.

;P

[Mr. Saveloy]

Given the news that Syracuse and Pitt are going to the ACC I stumbled on a really good essay by Taylor Branch on the business of college athletics http://www.theatlantic.com/mag....._page=true

One of the issues he brings our is that the NCAA makes it a violation if you consult an agent in negotiating with a pro team. But what about your right to have a lawyer represent you in negotiations? It turns out that there was such a case and the judge ruled in favor of the athlete, but later the NCAA brought countersuit and forced the athlete to take a settlement which vacated the judge's previous ruling. Anyway-it's a really interesting article that I would value the inpur of anyone here who is interested.

[P Brooks]

Ask her what the favorite part of her day is. Then listen.

The HORROR.

horrorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Warty]

There's no need to go that far. Try to pay just enough attention so that you'll know when to nod or grunt at the appropriate times.

[Auric Demonocles]

Plus that is super generic.

[Fluffy]

You could always ask her if there are any other women at her work / in her classes / in her dorm that she doesn't like.

[P Brooks]

I'd go down to Walmart and buy some cleaning products, and then find one of those sites online where you can print 500 business cards for free.

Then I'd print up business cards for the Fluffy Maid Service and tack those cards up in diners and supermarkets and bus stops and shit.

Voila. Self-employment.

Are you nuts? That would be, like difficult, and risky. And you'd have to talk to strangers.

And what if they wanted you to actually do a good job?

[T]

And you'd have to talk to strangers.

You'd have to talk to strangers in person, P, and not through a computer. Based on the last round of personality test scores everybody here posted, I'd say that disqualifies damn near all of us from going that route.

[R C Dean]

God knows my one attempt at self-employment foundered on my complete lack of sales skills.

[db]

This is what scares me about going into engineering consulting (my dream job). I am a competent engineer, but I agree know myself well enough to foresee that I could would have a difficult time establishing and maintaining a client base.

[Brett L]

See, I want the most borderline autistic person I can find to consult on IT and engineering. But I've worked in those fields, so I guess I just recognize the signs of people who will do ridiculously good work as long as you don't require them to speak to your company's board or interact with persons of the opposite sex in person.

[SFC B]

I'm willing to bet you could find an unemployed college grad with a "business" degree who'd be willing to help with that for not much more than the cost of ramen and a good reference on their resume.

[db]

Sure, but I've also read The Door into Summer 🙂

[Neu Mejican]

Dating advice from Hit and Run?

[SugarFree]

I've been with my librarian since 1992. I must be doing something right.

[Neu Mejican]

I've been with my librarian since 1992. I must be doing something right.

Or she's doing something very, very wrong.

/kidding

[SugarFree]

She's only tried to poison me twice. Quitter.

[Auric Demonocles]

That you know of.

[STEVE SMITH]

WALK THROUGH STREAM AFTER DATE SO THAT TRACKERS AND BLOODHOUNDS HAVE HARD TIME FINDING YOU.

[Auric Demonocles]

Not really dating advice so much as librarian advice.

[R C Dean]

"Look, baby, would you do something for me? Tie your hair back in a ponytail, and put on these horn-rimmed glasses. Oh, yeah, that's the stuff.

"Now, take off the glasses, slow-like, and take your hair out of the ponytail and shake it out . . . . Oh my god, so hot . . . "

Is that how it works, Suge?

[JW]

I'll be in my bunk.

[mad libertarian guy]

I thought you'd be there, Jayne.

[Lord Humungus]

Fury over Solyndra loan threatens to sunset solar energy investments
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wi.....nvestments

""Should we be in the business of facilitating something that should be in the purview of the private sector? And if we're picking winners and losers, then we're going to make mistakes," Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) told The Hill in the Capitol Thursday."

[Lord Humungus]

Obama's urgent jobs plan: Right now, 'right now' means sometime next month maybe
http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....urbin.html

"And, well, it seems the urgent jobs bill hadn't actually been written yet but should be ready in a week or two. When the laughter died, the White House said on second thought the legislation would be ready for a photo op the next Monday.

Well, here we are on the next Monday after that next Monday and we've just learned from the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, that actually it seems that body won't really be seriously getting into the legislation for a while yet. The Senate has some other more important business to handle. "

[Lord Humungus]

China's One-Child policy is an epic disaster. Why does it have so many cheerleaders?
http://www.weeklystandard.com/.....tml?page=1

"The One-Child policy didn't officially go into effect until September 25, 1980, but it was a long time in the making. Between 1950 and 1970, the average Chinese woman had roughly six children during her lifetime. In the West, this was viewed with alarm, as various Malthusians, from Margaret Sanger to the Ford Foundation to the Club of Rome to Paul Ehrlich, became increasingly haunted by the specter of overpopulation?especially in Asia?in the postwar era.

China was, for a while, indifferent to these worries. Malthus was viewed as an enemy of the people, rejected by both the Soviets and the Chinese revolutionaries. Both species of Communists viewed the idea of overpopulation as a "false alarm." But as the Cultural Revolution ground onward, the Chinese gradually became concerned about a problem that population growth presented to their fight for prosperity: Economic gains are easier to see when they aren't diffused over an increasing number of people."

[Matrix]

Just wait another 15-20 years, and the rest of us will get to see just how disasterous it really is. And I'm not saying that many more countries will adopt such policies. It's that all those boys in China will be looking for girls outside of China, and they won't be so peaceful about it.

[cynical]

Are there any Russian mail-order bride companies listed on any of the major stock exchanges? I might take a long position.

[Lord Humungus]

Voters Want State Government Reform
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

"The top priorities for resolving current fiscal issues are to cut government spending (47%) and to ask for greater sacrifice from current public employees, by having them contribute more towards their benefits (31%). By almost two-to-one, they think that current public employees should have to contribute more toward their pension benefits because of budget problems. "

[lerm]

I'm just not feeling it.

[Nike Dunk High]

thanks