Reason Morning Links: Jobless Rate Drops to 9 Percent, Obama Drone-Murders Two Innocent Pakistani Teenagers, Regulator Overseeing MF Global Was Jon Corzine's Buddy

• AP: "The regulator overseeing the investigation of collapsed securities firm MF Global built close ties to Jon Corzine as they rose through the ranks of Goldman Sachs. Later, they collaborated on Capitol Hill to pass an anti-corporate fraud law. When Corzine ran for New Jersey governor, Gary Gensler gave $10,000 to the state Democratic Party, which was trying to get Corzine elected."
• Two teenage boys who had been gathering evidence in Pakistan in order to prove that the U.S. was killing civilians with drone strikes died Monday in a CIA drone strike. 
• Chicago Sun-Times: "Reefer madness is a reality for some users."
• Jobs report is out, unemployment goes from 9.1 percent to 9. 
• Sarah Palin, supporter of film tax credits, speaks at Disney World, one of Florida's largest recicipients of corporate welfare, about "crony capitalists."
• "Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate." Look for the TSA-run Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response program on a road near you. 

Video: "Steven Pinker on The Decline of Violence & 'The Better Angels of Our Nature'"

Comments

[rather retarded]

Two teenage boys who had been gathering evidence in Pakistan in order to prove that the U.S. was killing civilians with drone strikes died Monday in a CIA drone strike.

It's like raaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn...

[$6M RoboTorso]

CIA Drone Strike > Tebow

[wareagle]

the silence from the anti-war left is defeaning.

[rac]

Two instances of actual irony in one fell swoop. God is on a roll.

[TrickyVic]

""the silence from the anti-war left is defeaning.""

That's so 2009.

[the pointy end]

"Two teenage boys who had been gathering evidence in Pakistan in order to prove that the U.S. was killing civilians with drone strikes died Monday in a CIA drone strike."

I am pretty sure that not a single detail of this story is true. If they got killed by a Hellfire, there was a damned good reason.

[R C Dean]

Note, of course, that you can be both an active Taliban member and a teenage boy gathering evidence, etc.

Of course, we don't know, but if these boys were at a meeting of Talibanis that was righteously rocketed, then the story would be truthy as written.

[cynical]

The description is off anyway. The article just said they were picking up an aunt in another city or something. And the younger wasn't a teenager, he was 12.

[Tulpa]

And if a private insurance company gets targeted by HHS for overcharging its customers, that means it must be legit.

Oh wait, Team Red doesn't get the thrill up their leg about HHS like they do about DOD.

[TrickyVic]

""If they got killed by a Hellfire, there was a damned good reason.""

Because govenment never fucks up on target selection?

I like the way government is a bunch of morons that can't do anything right except when we want to believe they can.

[Quetzalcoatl]

For a magazine called ideological consistency -- wait...

[Tulpa]

This.

[Number 2]

Hey, at least we aren't doing something really offensive like wiretapping their phone calls, like Bush used to do.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Bailey Bait:
Ronald Bailey will be on this like Human Serum Albumin on rice!

According to the authors of the study, the findings suggest that the transgenic rice seeds may be a cost-effective source for HSA and might help satisfy an increasing worldwide demand for the protein.

Disclaimer: I frequently eat rice. Sometimes even for breakfast.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Look for the TSA-run Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response program on a road near you.

Viper! From this point forward, all DHS programs must add up to kick-ass acronyms.

[Joe M]

VIPAR, as in Viparded.

[free2booze]

Enforcing TSA's VIPR program, with be the newly established Response And Prevention Emergency Unit.

[AlmightyJB]

I think they should change it to Administrative Secret Service Force Utilizing Counter Kill Strategies. Seems more appropo.

[bosty]

Special Tactical Urban Pacification and Interdiction Department

[TrickyVic]

Good one.

[Ice Nine]

VIPAR, as in Viparded.

Not if you say it in Latin.

[Joe M]

You're gonna make me cry.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Viparis, viparus, viparia, viparum...

[Ice Nine]

No, et & and (VIPER & VIPAR).

Never mind.

[Hank]

It doesn't even make sense. Are they preventing visible intermodals? Responding to intermodals that are visible?

The only thing that mattered was being awesome. "Make the name fit, Cletus!"

[CoyoteBlue]

The Intermodals of the Patriarchy are well known to us all.

But are the interstates really the best place to find terrorists? I was thinking public bathrooms - especially those out of the way ones in parks. Just a suggestion.

[AlmightyJB]

It doesn't make sense at all. What a bunch of f'tards. Thet're like the Apple Dumpling Gang for those of you old enought to remember that.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know what else is completely badass? Sharks. I give you Mobile Ass Kicking Operations.

[cynical]

You can't put Ass Kicking in the name. Mobile Antiterrorist Kinetic Operations, more like.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I can, but that's just an indication of how awesome my unit would be. Our logo would be a shark with a huge set of testicles.

[WTF]

Sharknutz

[cynical]

Or you could call your murderbot program:
Automated
Search and
Surveillance for
Kinetic
Interdiction and
Counterterrorist
Killings
In support of
National
Greatness

[Suki]

Mossad trained sharks?

[Rhywun]

"VIPR". This is a joke, right...?

[John]

Reason why there will never be a socialist revolution in this country.

Developer with shotgun scared off Oakland rioters

Best quote

"I was standing there and they saw me there, and I lifted it - I didn't point it - I just held it in my hands," Tagami said. "And I just racked it, and they ran."

That sound will tend to do that.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....z1ck3K1c1E

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Holy shit! They still allow private citizens to defend their property with firearms in California?

"Get off my country."

[Name Nomad]

I clicked the link to see which language he develops in... then I realized it meant real-estate development.

[tarran]

🙂

[Kristen]

Jinx buy me a coke! I thought the same thing.

[PapayaSF]

"I'd advise you boys to leave my code alone...."

[rac]

Darkroon came to mind. But, I'm an old fuck.

[Auric Demonocles]

Was your second thought a stone arrowhead developer?

[Benjamin]

Flint Knapper Holds Aloft Spear...Scares Away Marauding Neanderthals.

Nearby Caves Still Covered in Graffiti.

[JW]

Crews were boarding up broken windows at the Tully's Coffee shop just steps from Occupy Oakland's camp at Frank Ogawa Plaza outside City Hall. Graffiti was sprayed on the Rite Aid and Walgreens drugstores across from each other at 14th and Broadway. The city estimated it would cost up to $25,000 to replace broken windows at city buildings.

Stimulus!

[rac3rx]

http://bit.ly/tFFZEA
The 53%

[Tulpa]

That sound will tend to do that.

Shotgun Myth #1.

That sound gives away your position, the fact that you're armed, what type of gun you have, and most of all it takes close to a second that you might not have in a real life-threatening situation.

Keep a shell in the chamber, buttmunch.

[Brett L]

Actually, it isn't a myth. It worked. Although I'm with you on this. Discharging the firearm is at least as fear-inducing as racking the slide.

[sarcasmic]

I'm starting to believe the rumors of Kate Moss having a drinking problem may have a basis in fact.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....thday.html

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Someone should tell the black chick in the yellow dress that if she's going to wear granny panties at least make sure everyone can't see them through her dress.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm sure there are some posters here on H&R who like a nice pair of granny panties.

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

Jesus, did heroin make a big comeback in limeyland?

Oh, and Michael Stipe couldn't look more like a penis if Bok had drawn him.

[Restoras]

Gotta say, even though she's been around the block a few times and is aging poorly, I'd still tap that. Hard.

[sarcasmic]

As long as she kept her mouth shut. She's got the most annoyingly squeaky voice I have ever heard. It's like nails on a chalk board.

[PapayaSF]

Doesn't seem to be aging poorly to me. I think she's better looking than ever, but then I like women her age. And those cheekbones enchant me.

[Clich? Bandit]

I see nothing wrong traveling cum vinum

[sarcasmic]

Naomi Watts wears a dress that could only look better on the floor.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....erful.html

[Hank]

Hooray! A formless cylinder!

(To each his own, of course.)

[Ice Nine]

Yeah, but at least Liev Schreiber is looking very natty.

[AlmightyJB]

You have to remember that on the coasts they like their women to look like 14 year old boys. Make what you will of that.

[Troy]

Compared to all the obese fucks in this country, she would look like a 14 year old.

[RoboCain]

I also like the cock ring necklace.

But who is the tranny in the white dress?

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

Who cares. Revel in the fact that you've seen a horse walk on two legs.

Jesus, where's her feedbag?

[Zuo]

LOL +1

[Restoras]

...a dress that could only look better on the floor...

Sorry dude, I'm stealing this. Oh, and thanks for brightening my day.

[AlmightyJB]

I've used that line before.

[Fist of Etiquette]

While job growth last month was less than expected, details of the report suggested the economy was gaining some momentum.

And the market for expecting things continues to hold steady for some reason.

[John]

Unexpectedly. It is always unexpected.

[Rich]

This.

Such economic "news" should be reported as "So-called 'experts' exhibit their ineptitude yet again."

[Tulpa]

Exactly. I'm still waiting for the headline, "Economists wrong about job numbers for the 15th month in a row."

[Lord Humungus]

for the past 2 years, I've heard that the economy is just about to turnaround.

[gaijin]

Motion is relative you know. We've gained so much momentum it only seems like we're standing still 😉

[PapayaSF]

It's relative depending on whether the President has a D or R after his name. For some reason, when it's a D, signs of impending recovery are always more frequent.

[mad libertarian guy]

Especially when election season is starting to heat up and the economy sucks balls.

[Kristen]

I keep hearing on the MSM about "the recession that ended two years ago" or "the recession of two years ago", and I find my aging brain just can't do those kinds of mental leaps anymore.

[Tulpa]

Or my personal favorite, worries that some event could cause us to "slip back into recession".

[WTF]

This is the summer of recovery! Oh, wait...

[Underpants Gnome]

The Summer of Recovery has passed...I believe now is actually the winter of our discontent.

[Fatty Bolger]

Google economy gaining momentum

January, February, March, April, May, June... it just keeps gaining momentum yet gets nowhere.

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

You know who else gained momentum without going anywhere?

Wil E Coyote.

[WTF]

You mean eventually the economy will look down and realize it's run off the cliff and there's no ground beneath it?

[Tulpa]

Wil E Coyote went somewhere -- down to the bottom of the cliff.

That metaphor has been used before, as a search for "wil e coyote economy" shows. It also yields this funny headline:

China is more Wile E Coyote than Superman, professor warns Europe

[db]

Momentum and inertia are technically the same phenomenon.

[Zeb]

Yeah, they need to start saying "less than projected" and then specify who made the projections. Enough of this vague passive voice crap. Someone set the expectation and that person fucked up.

[Lord Humungus]

Union Chief: 'We Need More Militancy ... Blocking Bridges, Occupying Banks'
http://nation.foxnews.com/occu.....ying-banks

GERARD: You're damn right Wall Street occupiers speak for us. They do in Pittsburgh, they do in Chicago, they do in Oakland, they do in San Francisco, they do all across the country. And I think what we need is, we need more militancy.

SCHULTZ: What does that mean, more militancy?

GERARD: I think we've got to start a resistance movement. If Wall Street occupation doesn't get the message, I think we've got to start blocking bridges and doing that kind of stuff. This doesn't have to be this way. The economy doesn't have to be this way. It's being put this way because the Wall Streeters are getting their way.

and more:
ACORN Officials Scramble, Firing Workers and Shredding Documents, After Exposed as Players Behind Occupy Wall Street Protests
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011.....r-exposed/

Officials with the revamped ACORN office in New York -- operating as New York Communities for Change -- have fired staff, shredded reams of documents and told workers to blame disgruntled ex-employees for leaking information in an effort to explain away a FoxNews.com report last week on the group's involvement in Occupy Wall Street protests, according to sources.

[John]

They are out there doing God's work in some of America's toughest neighborhoods.

[CoyoteBlue]

I was thinking they were doing God's work in some America's toughest financial districts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....plpp_video

[RoboCain]

Then they can go do that without my tax dollars.

[T]

If it's God's work, God can provide the funding.

[IRS Agent]

[knocks]

I'm on a mission from God..

[Warty]

Oh yes, union slobs, please do start blocking bridges. That'll get the people behind you. Just make sure to do it before election day.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

This is what happens when OWSers try to block traffic.

[Ice Nine]

The driver was driving a Benz. Perfect!

[WTF]

The driver, who was not identified, sat in his silver Mercedes-Benz sedan looking through his monocle and twirling his moustache.

[Fatty Bolger]

No mention of the top hat sitting in the passenger seat?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Hartwig said witnesses had differing accounts of what happened, with some saying the driver appeared to have gunned the Mercedes into the victims in frustration and others saying he had been provoked by activists pounding on his car.

I saw the video, and it shows one of the OWSers pounding on the guy's hood right before he plowed into them. Not that it excuses the guy, but still, don't try hulking out on a someone who's in a 1.5 ton vehicle and not expect that your bluff won't get called.

[Tulpa]

Unfortunately, Reason doesn't believe there's any right to defend yourself from mobs attacking your vehicle and your person.

[Brett L]

Somebody learned his lesson from Reginald Denny (sp?) during the LA riots. Do not exit the vehicle.

[Zeb]

I fail to see what the unions expect to gain with this shit. Anyone?

[R C Dean]

The election of Democrats.

[Zeb]

I guess. But I really don't see that working out for them if they start to get all violent and aggressive and disrupting things.

[Ice Nine]

Start? It hasn't hurt them heretofore.

[Atanarjuat]

The economy doesn't have to be this way. It's being put this way because the Wall Streeters are getting their way.

Because there's nothing people on Wall Street want more than a bad economy.

[Chupacabra]

If Wall Street didn't put employment before profits, we wouldn't be in this mess.

[DesigNate]

^THIS^

I am utterly amazed at the mental gymnastics of the idea that Wall Street is a bunch of greedy evil people that at the same time want to destroy the economy and the middle class that buy all of their companies shit.

[JD the elder]

Remember the recent surveys about how people think the rich get rich? A lot of folks think the economy is a zero-sum game; if the economy is bad for middle-class folks, then it must be because all the money disappeared into the hands of the wealthy; ergo, the wealthy want a bad economy.

[TrickyVic]

""Because there's nothing people on Wall Street want more than a bad economy.""

Only the short sellers. 😉

[sarcasmic]

Spank bank material for the chubby chasers.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....ikini.html

[John]

Just for you. Justin Beiber in an evening gown.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....edger.html

[Supreme Generalissimo Fluffy]

The short hair version is so Mia Farrow-y that it's a big turn off, but the long hair version is very, very hot.

[John]

The long hair version is way hot. The short hair older version looks like a teenage boy. And I generally like women with short hair. But not her.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

If she kept it neck-length or just above, it would be a good compromise. She'll hold on to the pixie cut because it's comfortable (after being in the military, I can relate to not wanting to grow my hair out anymore), but damn, she really does look better the longer her hair gets.

[Kristen]

I have short hair (think Michelle Williams only without the sad sack face & body language - and I lost an ex in much the same manner she did, so that ain't no excuse) - it weeds out the wheat from the chafe in the dating pool.

[JD the elder]

the chafe in the dating pool

Typo of the day! But if there's chafe, either you're doing something wrong, or you're doing too much of something right.

As for the short hair thing, I think short hair can look very good on women, but the Michelle Williams cut is not it; the overall effect is "I got a bowl cut and can't be bothered to keep it trimmed."

[Kristen]

I know - my kingdom (a 50-year-old condo in Huntington, Alexandria) for an editor!

Let me be clear - there is no chafing happenin' in my bedroom (in a good way).

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

chafe

Perhaps your dating pool needs more lubricant.

[John]

Ture story about Farrow. After Sinatra married her, Sinatra's ex-wife Ava Gardner said "I always figured Frank liked little boys"

Snap

[BakedPenguin]

Okay, that was funny.

[sarcasmic]

Speaking of the Bie, the freakizoid claiming to be the mother of his love child may fact statutory rape charges.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-rape.html

[John]

What a joke.

[Quetzalcoatl]

It's probably worth it if she gets child support payments for life.

[WTF]

Probably, since child support is based on how much the father earns and the mother doesn't have to account for how it's spent.

[Quetzalcoatl]

It's nice work, if you can get it. And you can get it if you try.

[Warty]

Who is this landwhale?

[Abdul]

Be nice, the camera dds ten pounds.

Why she ate 7 or 8 cameras, I'll never know.

[Mongo]

I am sooo stealing this line, Ab!

[Devil's Advocate]

Oh honey, no.

Some of these girls' sartorial choices make me want to do a mom on them: "ARE YOU REALLY LEAVING THE HOUSE LIKE THAT??!!! GO BACK UP TO YOUR ROOM AND CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES, YOUNG LADY!!"

[T]

My wife and I often wonder if people look in a mirror after they get dressed.

[Chupacabra]

Yes. Funhouse mirrors.

[Resto Druid FTW]

I would not kick any one of the females outta my bed. If that makes me a "chubby chaser," so be it!

[waffles]

but she is attractive. You all are too hung up on skinny bitches. I just think some men are afraid to admit they sometimes want a lot, a a whole lot, of T&A.

[sarcasmic]

I've has skinny ones, fat ones, and many in between, and I must say I like the skinny bitches best.

[Mainer]

Spank bank material for the chubby chasers.

THANk YOU !

[John]

I was thinking about the Herman Cain thing this morning. He seems to be raising more money and doing as well or better in the polls despite this. I think this might be the chickens coming home to roost for the 2008 election. The major media spent all of its credibility on Obama. And now fewer and fewer people care what they have to say. Everyone knows that no one vetted Obama and that if he has something like this in his past we will never hear about it. So I don't think most of the country cares.

My guess is that when the facts on this come out the complaints will be straight out of Jezebel with talk of the male gaze and how he told them how nice they looked or something. But who knows. He might be a real letch. But I don't think it matters because so few people believe or care what the media says anymore.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I think the vagueness of the accusations is behind the collective "meh".

With DSK at least we had a specific person (not named at first) referring to a specific encounter that they could describe, anonymously, in detail.

[John]

And with DSK it was rape. Most people know that what counts as sexual harassment in corporate America is often hardly outragous.

[Zeb]

I think that the vagueness of what exactly is meant by "sexual harassment" is a lot of it too. We have no idea if the accusations were about an off color comment or an insinuation that success might depend on the quality and frequency of blowjobs.

[John]

Totally. But that just shows how much credibility the feminists pissed away defending Clinton. In 1991, when Thomas was accused, the mere use of the term was serious. Now everyone just laughs. Unless they have a video of him telling a woman blow me or look for a new job, no one is going to care about this.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Be careful what you wish for! James O'Keefe might be a Perry supporter!

[Quetzalcoatl]

Quid pro quo vs. hostile work environment

[sarcasmic]

I think that the guy thinks he's a lot funnier than he actually is, and when such a person makes jokes at humorless women things get blown way out of proportion.

[Abdul]

Man, have I been in that doghouse. I saw a few co-workers going out to lunch on Wednesday and said "Hey kids, have a nice lunch!"

The youngest one took it as an insult, has given me the cold shoulder all week.

[sarcasmic]

I almost got fired for referring to a 4'8" homosexual woman as a "lesbian midget".

I thought it was just a statement of fact.

[RoboCain]

I could never follow that dwarf/midget thing.

[sarcasmic]

I'd been listening to the Dead Milkmen.

http://www.lyricsmania.com/les.....n_the.html

[Abdul]

Wow, the left-handed lesbian midget Eskimo student union is pretty powerful.

[rac3rx]

It's at least 400 people...

[Zeb]

Midget are normally proportioned. Dwarves have beards and fight with axes and love gold.

[RoboCain]

It all makes sense now.

[JD the elder]

It varies a lot by the individual. I know one...person of less height...who will just straight up walk out of a gig if someone calls her a midget. I know another PoLH who says, "I'm a midget. Fuck Little People of America."

[T]

Probably better than calling her a "tiny dyke".

[Quetzalcoatl]

I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're probably right.

[Lord Humungus]

I was thinking about the Herman Cain thing this morning.

That's not quite what I think about in the morning.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Romney fan, eh? Yeah, we all have our shower musings. I, of course, was pondering Gingrich. But then, I take a bath.

[sarcasmic]

I had a Garbage song stuck in my head and was pondering Shirley Manson naked.

I've said too much...

[JW]

I used to think Manson might be attractive, years ago, but after seeing her on Sarah Conner Chronicles, I will never think of that hideousness again.

[sarcasmic]

I guess I should be glad I've never watched that show.

[Restoras]

IF only just her voice was tappable.

[sarcasmic]

That accent has a stirring effect, does it not?

[Quetzalcoatl]

Awwwwww...
That show was okay until they make JC all whiny!

Disclaimer: I also liked Terminator 3.

[Troy]

This is what I think of in the morning.

WARNING NSFW!!!

http://www.flabber.nl/linkdump.....schel-1836

[Abdul]

The GOP is so used to media pile-ins, that negative PR has become a postiive with the GOP base.

If a GOP candidate's poorly sourced improprieties were was treated the same wayClinton, Edwards and Jesse Jackson's were, I think the based would worry that the candidate wasn't conservative enough.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Former reason intern and noted high school graduate James Taranto had an interesting piece yesterday about the Perry campaign's possible role in outing the scandal.

[Lord Humungus]

State Department training Islamic political parties in Egypt
http://thecable.foreignpolicy......s_in_egypt

U.S. assistance to Egypt is helping political parties of all ideologies prepare for the upcoming elections -- even Islamic parties that may have anti-Western agendas.

"We don't do party support. What we do is party training.... And we do it to whoever comes," William Taylor, the State Department's director of its new office for Middle East Transitions, said in a briefing with reporters today. "Sometimes, Islamist parties show up, sometimes they don't. But it has been provided on a nonpartisan basis, not to individual parties."

[Elspeth Flashman]

Possibly this qualifies as material support to a terrorist organization? Under Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project (2010), not OK.

[Rich]

"What we do is party training."

With all due respect, what doe that even mean?

[Rich]

Yes, dear, *does*.

[R C Dean]

Sounds like pledge week.

[William Taylor]

Thank you for the question Rich. We at the Middle East Transitions office appreciate your interest and support.

Our philosophy is that preparedness and organization make all the difference between a successful party, and a lost cause. Our clear and easy-to-follow program calls for the following initial steps:
-create invitation list
-decide on a theme
-plan the refreshments menu
-plan the musical selections

Then, when the date of your party is a week away:
-thoroughly clean the event space
-1st round of food and supplies shopping
-stock the bar

Finally, in the hours before the arrival of your first guest:
-set the tables or buffet
-buy and arrange the flowers
-place chairs

Following these easy steps will guarantee your success!!!!

[Rich]

That's *awesome*, William.

And the fact that the US taxpayer picks up the tab is icing on the cake!

[Eqyptian Islamic Partiers]

There better not be any pork fat in that cake, or we'll make it so you lose your deposit.

You've been warned.

Oh, and make sure there's some Copts there for us to knock around. Can't have a good party without some beatdowns.

[##]

Are they sure he didn't say, "potty training"?

[Kristen]

new office for Middle East Transitions

Gotta love those makework bureaucracies. Government cuts! In your face!

I guaranetee all these people do is sit in an office somehwere in DC (probably Main State) and write reports that go to the Secretary's office, are read by some 23-year-old international relations graduate from Georgetown, then filed away in some Radiers of teh Lost Ark-esk cabinet by a 30-year tenured clerk-typist from Fort Dupont who makes $100k.

[Lord Humungus]

Man charged for phone threats against Rep. Eric Cantor's family
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-.....ors-family

The FBI charged a man on Thursday for allegedly threatening House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.).

The FBI said that Glendon Swift was charged for leaving threatening messages on Cantor's work voicemail in Richmond, Va. According to the FBI, Swift threatened to assault or murder a member of Cantor's family.

[Ted S.]

I'm sure the threats were very civil.

[Lord Humungus]

Thou family shall tremble under my forced aggression in a manner that you will find most reprehensible.

[T]

Dude, you gave the definitive threatening speech. What's with the weak sauce?

[TrickyVic]

That's pretty funny.

Such a wise person this Glendon Swift for ensuring the authorites would have ample evidence of his threats.

[$6M RoboTorso]

Mike Riggs > Tebow

[Crackers Boy]

"Two teenage boys who had been gathering evidence in Pakistan in order to prove that the U.S. was killing civilians with drone strikes died Monday in a CIA drone strike."

If it wasn't black on brown crime, they'd be calling Obama a murderer by now...

CB

[sarcasmic]

The irony! It burns!

[Ice Nine]

In one instance, they matched missile fragments with a photograph of a dead child

Incontrovertible, indeed.

[R C Dean]

they matched missile fragments with a photograph of a dead child

Erm, whut?

[Ice Nine]

Whut, whut?

[Bite Mark Expert]

Charlatans!

[Abdul]

The system works!

[$6M RoboTorso]

Driving "> Tebow" meme into the ground, because I'm hurting and need to lash out > Tebow

[lemmiwinks]

Orton > Tebow?

[Corey S.]

Wikileaks > Tebow.

[Troy]

I don't even know who or what a fucking tebow is. So the whole thing is a mystery to me.

[Fatty Bolger]

This is a Tebow.

[Tulpa]

A strange creature that wears crocs, throws like a girl, and prays after touchdowns.

[Kristen]

Ponder >>>>>>> Tebow

[AlmightyJB]

I'm sure hoping he is.

[Brett L]

Hi five.

[Lord Humungus]

Romney: How I'll tackle spending, debt
http://www.usatoday.com/news/o.....51063454/1

President Obama inherited a severely imbalanced budget, and he made it much worse. Many now question whether we can ever return to fiscal sanity, let alone fiscal strength. A point of no return may well be approaching ? a decade of huge deficits could drive our principal payments and interest rates beyond our reach while starving the economy of the capital it needs to grow.

We can still correct course because our economy retains tremendous capacity for growth. As president, I will bring to Washington the turnaround philosophy it so badly needs. *blah* blah*

[Joe M]

By the end of my first term, I will bring federal spending as a share of GDP down from last year's staggering 24.3% to 20% or below.

That's actually a pretty bold claim. But as we can see, his plan anticipates "economic growth of 4% a year" and says "meeting this goal will require approximately $500 billion of spending cuts in 2016." There is no way in hell he could achieve either of those aims, since he immediately follows up with "that would still allow us to undo the Obama administration's irresponsible defense cuts." Not bloody likely. I'm assuming he means $500 billion in cuts total, not per year. If the tax revenues are ~$2.6 trillion, by 2016 they would jump about 17% to $3.04 trillion. The current budget was already $3.8 this year I thought. So his budget would be maybe $3.6 trillion in 2016. Which means we'd still be dumping $560 billion onto the debt per year.

[T]

Wait, he'll cut spending by 500 billion in 2016? What about'13,'14 and '15? He'll wait until his last year in office to make cuts? Ruck Fomney.

[Warty]

A point of no return may well be approaching

So he's pandering to Ron Paul sympathizers now, I guess.

[TrickyVic]

""As president, I will bring to Washington the turnaround philosophy it so badly needs. *blah* blah*""

Blah, blah, indeed. There's that superman philosophy I speak of. Romeny to the rescue. The fact is, aside from vetos, there is very little the President can do about spending.

[rac3rx]

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that Mitt Romney really really wants to be President...the Al Gore of the GOP.

I just can't wait for him to lose already, gain 100 pounds, grow a nasty beard, and stagger about the country in ugly sweaters sweating and screaming about man-bear-pig.

[Al]

But Manbearpig is real. I'm super cereal.

[Lord Humungus]

Do government innovation policies actually work?
http://blog.american.com/2011/.....ally-work/

The clearest implication of our research is that to the extent that policymakers choose to subsidize innovative activity by firms, they should consider the full set of tax and regulatory policies that impact aggregate innovation through firm profitability. Taxing corporate profits or enacting regulations that make it more costly for firms to start up or operate has a significantly negative influence on innovation, undercutting the stimulative impact of R&D subsidization. The net effect may be to depress, rather than encourage, innovation by firms.

[Joe M]

Ugh, that Chicago Sun-Times article is utter garbage. It's the kind of ignorant fear-mongering I'd have expected in the 1980s.

[Kristen]

Ugh, that Chicago Sun-Times article is utter garbage. It's the kind of ignorant fear-mongering I'd have expected in the 1980s 1920s.

FIFY

[Lord Humungus]

What If Middle-Class Jobs Disappear?
http://www.american.com/archiv.....-disappear

There are two widely circulated narratives to explain what is going on. The Keynesian narrative is that there has been a major drop in aggregate demand. According to this narrative, the slump can be largely cured by using monetary and fiscal stimulus.

The main anti-Keynesian narrative is that businesses are suffering from uncertainty and over-regulation. According to this narrative, the slump can be cured by having the government commit to and follow a more hands-off approach.

I want to suggest a third interpretation. Without ruling out a role for aggregate demand or for the regulatory environment, I wish to suggest that structural change is an important factor in the current rate of high unemployment. The economy is in a state of transition, in which the middle-class jobs that emerged after World War II have begun to decline.

[Ted S.]

Who's Jim Corzine?

[Ice Nine]

The name John Corzine has been going by the last couple days.

[Bob O'Mup]

Corzine is another of Michael Jackson's sleeping aids.

[Lord Humungus]

RomneyCare Led the Way
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....DDLESecond

The same pattern played out across the country -- states including Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Kansas and others seriously tried to replicate Mr. Romney's reform, only to see their ambitions crash on the shoals of fiscal reality. And as Mr. Stern noted, the Massachusetts plan became the political health-care template for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards in 2008, and then the Democratic majority in Congress. Mr. Romney might want to reflect on the spread of his own ideas before he accuses others of ideological cross-pollination.

[Supreme Generalissimo Fluffy]

Aide: Cain to Sue Politico

http://www.thedailybeast.com/c.....itico.html

It's just an aide saying this, but if Cain really said this, he's way, way too stupid to be President. I don't care if he's a rocket scientist or not. This is Elizabeth Warren levels of stupid. This is "I am a dangerous idiot if I can think this for even a second" stupid.

Earth to Herman: If people accused you of sexual harassment in the 90's, you don't get to sue if I publish an article saying that people accused you of sexual harassment in the 90's.

It doesn't matter if you think it's fair and it doesn't matter if you think the accusations had merit. The statement "Women accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment in the 90's" is indisputably true and you don't get to sue someone for putting that statement up on their website.

You stupid dumbass.

[John]

He is threatening them. He won't sue. He just needs to shut up and ignore it. As I said above, no one cares what the media thinks about anything. What he should have said in the beginging was "since the story is totally anonomous I don't know who they are talking about or what the accusation is so I can't comment". And just left it at that. What would the media have done?

However, if anything in the politico story is untrue, he should sue. Fuck them. If they relied on the tales of an anonomous source and didn't bother to check it and it turns out to be false, then they get what they deserve.

We still don't know how much of the politico story is actually true. Maybe Cain's people do. I don't know.

[Supreme Generalissimo Fluffy]

We know that everything in the initial Politico story is true, John.

Even if the women who made the complaints were totally lying at the time, it doesn't matter.

If someone accuses you of rape today, and you are subsequently cleared, I can still print a story every day that says, "John was accused of rape on 11/04/11" and there's nothing you can do about it. Not a damn thing.

And if Cain doesn't know that, he's a dumbass. If he's pretending not to know it so he can engage in empty posturing about how he's going to sue, he's just another BSing scumbag (as if we didn't already know that).

[John]

"We know that everything in the initial Politico story is true, John."

No we don't. We don't know who these women are. You can say I was accused of rape. But that doesn't mean I was. And until you come up with the name of the person who accused me and some kind of evidence beyond anonomous sources, I don't see why a third party observer should believe you.

Since we don't know who Politico was talking about, I don't see how we know if it was true. Has Cain admitted that it was true? And even if he did, they could be talking past each other. Maybe the women in Politicos story are lying but Cain got accused by someone else. Since we don't know who Politico is talking about we can't know.

At this point it is all theater. I don't think anyone cares. Cain could sue whomever he wants. He seems to be raising more money and doing as well or better in the polls after this.

That may not be a good thing. But that is the price the media is paying for selling what credibility it had left for Obama.

[Supreme Generalissimo Fluffy]

We're either going to require honesty and common sense from our candidates or we aren't, John.

At this point it is all theater.

I don't know why I'm continually surprised when you demonstrate yet again that you're totally OK with that.

But at least that reminds me not to take you seriously when you complain about some other candidate's lies or faux outrage.

Since we don't know who Politico was talking about, I don't see how we know if it was true.

Politico wrote that two women accused Cain of sexual harassment while he was head of the restaurant association.

Precisely because they don't name them, there is no way for that statement to be proven false. It's incontrovertibly true, and the Cain camp concedes that it's true. They now are just alternating between accusing the Perry camp of leaking the info (that they concede is true) and fulminating about how evil Politico is for printing the info (that they concede is true).

[John]

I don't know why I'm continually surprised when you demonstrate yet again that you're totally OK with that.

Where did I say I was okay with that. But you need to understand reality. We had a President in the 1990s who got blowjobs from interns in the Oval office and then lied about it both to the American public and under oath. That President served out his terma and is now an elder statesman. In 2008, we had a Presidential candidate who launched his political career with at the home of a real no shit domestic terrorist and attended a black supremicist church for 20 years. That guy is now President.

And now I am suppose to take you seriously when you claim that Cain may have grabbed some women's ass 20 years ago? Really Fluffy, you really think this shit matters? Even if it should matter it is too late. We can't set one standard for ten years and then all of the sudden decide on a different one when we can apply it to the other side.

There may be good reasons to vote against Cain. But this is definitely not it. And sorry but your outrage over this is kind of comical.

[MNG]

Cain is a fool to sue, but the allegations against him are, at this point, the worst kind of hearsay. At this point they are "two people accused him of sexual harrassment, though we can't hear from them about it at all." Is it good for Cain, no. But yeah, I doubt this should shake many people's support for him.

But you're missing the point again (wow). Fluffy's entire point, stated several times now, is that the charge that two women accused him is true. He's not commenting on the truth of the accusations.

[John]

You completely miss the discussion we were having MNG and then are smug about it having no idea you just missed the point.

[MNG]

I seem to have paid better attention to the discussion than you were John, though that rarely says much.

fluffy @ 9:21: If people accused you of sexual harassment in the 90's, you don't get to sue if I publish an article saying that people accused you of sexual harassment in the 90's.

John replies: We still don't know how much of the politico story is actually true.

fluffy again states his point that John missed: If someone accuses you of rape today, and you are subsequently cleared, I can still print a story every day that says, "John was accused of rape on 11/04/11"

[MNG]

BTW-Cain has conceded he was accused. Here it is in pictures and sound so you won't have to deal with tricky written words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEi5SVEVeBo

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

Sorry, John, but I've got to agree with MiNGe here. The facts of the politico story are true, and he can't sue them for conjecture.

That said, it may be a smart move from the Cain camp. If the two women signed non-disclosure agreements and are now running their mouths, this could get them to STFU and honor their side of the settlement. It could also expose whether Politico paid them for the info, exposing them as the JournoListers they most likely are.

[Zeb]

As Cain is a public figure, wouldn't he have to prove that they knowing published false information with actual malice? Seems like a pretty hard standard to meet even if there is something false in the article.

[MNG]

As fluffy said it is either a bs meant-to-intimidate threat of a suit or Cain and his legal advisors are idiots.

It would be interesting to know Cain's stance on tort reform...

[Abdul]

In the telephone-game that is modern unsourced journalism, it's entirely possible that Cain asked his lawyer "Is there any legal action we can take?" and it got filtered down to "Cain whipped out his sue-gun!"

[N. O. W.]

So, he lied about sex, what's the big deal?

[RoboCain]

calling people stupid > Tebow

[Lord Humungus]

As Greece woes ebb, other Eurozone problems surface
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/201.....ozone.html

Among the promises Berlusconi made to EU partners but has failed to keep is selling off state companies, undertaking infrastructure spending to create jobs, and reducing Italy's notorious government bureaucracy to make its businesses more competitive. Separate from the EU promises, Italy is sinking under an aging population with costly government pensions and outdated labor laws.

Italy also has debts of about $2.6 trillion. The ratio of Italy's debt to its overall economy is around 120 percent. That debt ratio is what European leaders are trying to bring Greece down to by 2020, and it underscores how Italy and Greece face similar challenges.

[Spoonman.]

I was shocked yesterday that part of the "radical reforms" that Berlusconi couldn't possibly pass are selling off local state-owned enterprises. What the hell, Italy?

[Kristen]

Well, shit, Virginia can't even sell its damn liquor stores.

[$6M RoboTorso]

Romney in 2002: Hey, liberals, "you really need me in Washington"

Romney > Tebow

[R C Dean]

Tough call.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Memory and productivity suffer among kids who abuse marijuana, [Dr. Joseph] Lee said. "Some kids come in with government conspiracy stories, mild levels of paranoia or disorganized thinking," he added.

Stories like the federal government conspiring with local law enforcement, prison unions and private treatment facilitators to ignore state laws and raid legal marijuana shops.

[John]

Sounds to me like they are just preparing for a life in politics.

[AlmightyJB]

I thought he was talking about the OWS'ers. These f*in' guys.

[R C Dean]

Some kids come in with government conspiracy stories

Like various government agents and agencies aren't colluding All. The. Time.

mild levels of paranoia

When your choice of recreational activity means that said agents and agencies are, in fact, out to get you, that's not "paranoia". That's "not being stupid."

or disorganized thinking

OMG! Teenagers with disorganized thinking! [clutches pearls]

[T]

Shall I direct you to the fainting couch, RC?

Mild levels of paranoia in this day and age are a survival mechanism. The question is not whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid enough.

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

Just because those kids are paranoid doesn't mean the government isn't after them.

[P Brooks]

After several paragraphs of dancing around the campfire and waving his tomahawk, Krugabe finally tells us whom he will scalp for their crimes against humanity:

Who's in that top 0.1 percent? Are they heroic entrepreneurs creating jobs? No, for the most part, they're corporate executives. Recent research shows that around 60 percent of the top 0.1 percent either are executives in nonfinancial companies or make their money in finance, i.e., Wall Street broadly defined. Add in lawyers and people in real estate, and we're talking about more than 70 percent of the lucky one-thousandth.

How do you even respond to this?

Sometimes I feel like Nell Fenwick, tied to railroad tracks while Krugabe and the rest of the Washington Nexus Juggalo Assemblage are bearing down on me in the Super Chief, guzzling sterno and shoveling money into the boiler as fast as they can.

[John]

I always joke about various leftwing douches being modern day Marats. But Kurgabe really is becoming that. How long before he just comes out and calls for the death of someone?

[Supreme Generalissimo Fluffy]

It's his fucking fault that "lawyers and people in real estate" make so much money.

In the system of micro-control of all real property that he favors, the difference between a parcel being highly valuable and a parcel being a vacant tax loss is "Can I get someone to let me build what I want on this parcel?"

That means that nearly all the value in any new project is created by the lawyers and hustlers who can scam a project through all the community hurdles and get it built.

You couldn't come up with a better system to see to it that lawyers and deal-brokers get all the money, and construction workers, engineers and architects get the scraps.

So cry me a fucking river about the compensation lawyers and real estate people get, Krugabe.

[#]

"You couldn't come up with a better system to see to it that lawyers and deal-brokers "

Generally speaking finance is a field of deal brokers. Similar dynamic in play - the money to be made on wall street often has to do with your ability to navigate the insane legal and regulatory framework that rewards people with political connections.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Obama campaign has decided a villain is necessary for re-election. Marching orders have been delivered.

[BakedPenguin]

In case it hasn't already been said, Washington Nexus Juggalo Assemblage > Tebow.

[R C Dean]

Who's in that top 0.1 percent?

Well, Michael Moore, for one.

And, I suspect, Pauly Krugnuts his own self.

Are they heroic entrepreneurs creating jobs? No, for the most part, they're corporate executives.

Which is to say, successful entrepeneurs.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Man, I hope Krugman doesn't get paid that much!

At least Moore produces garbage in a relevant medium!

[JW]

And, I suspect, Pauly Krugnuts his own self.

Not to mention, the Moustache.

[Spoonman.]

Evidently Michael Moore coming to downtown Houston isn't a big enough deal for the Chronicle to report on it on its website, so I guess we'll have to wait for Apatheist's report.

[Hank]

Sarah Palin, supporter of film tax credits, speaks at Disney World, one of Florida's largest recicipients of corporate welfare, about "crony capitalists."

Oh... snap?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why won't anyone confront Disney about their greatest crime? High School Musical.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Like Hannah Montana wasn't enough to condenm them?

[##]

Or Britney Spears.

[Editor]

Sarah Palin, supporter of film tax credits, speaks at Disney World, one of Florida's largest employers

Funny how the story changes when you change the spin...

[Ben P.]

Even more ironically ... Governor Rick 'Skeletor' Scott is in the picture accompanying the article talking about Palin talking about crony capitalism. That's just high-larry-us.

[Lord Humungus]

Dear Wendy: "My Boyfriend Doesn't Think I'm Hot Enough"

One time, we were talking about cartoons, and he said (jokingly) how even a proper portrait of mine would look like a cartoon, I'm so ridiculous looking. I try to take these things sportingly because I have no illusions about how I look. I'm short, and though I'm not fat per se, I'm rather curvy and could do with losing at least a few pounds. A few days ago I had gone out for dinner to this nice place, and I had called him up to tell him how fantastic the food there was, and how I had stuffed myself. But before I could properly launch into my story, he started talking about how, if I eat so much, one day I will blow up to the size of a balloon and how he is sad that he will never have a hot girlfriend. I fell silent, and he probably realized that maybe (even jokingly) he had crossed a line. He apologized, and we hung up.

[Supreme Generalissimo Fluffy]

Pop quiz:

Is the fact that she gets treated this way the fault of:

1. The patriarchy and the male gaze

or

2. Her, for letting someone treat her like that and still fuck her anyway.

[Joe M]

Seriously, dump the jerk and move on.

[Lord Humungus]

We need a H&R dating/relationship advice column. It would probably draw more hits than OWS, financial Armageddon, pot, etc etc combined.

[SugarFree]

I'll take the lead on that, if need be.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I nominate Associate Editor Lucy Steigerwald.

[Troy]

Excuse me, that is Atomically Awesome Asskicking Associate Editor Lucy Steigerwald to you.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Maybe we just need to start posting "Dear Lucy" questions in the ML comments until she agrees to do a weekly column.

[PantsFan]

Maybe someone can help COOTER out with his lady problems.

[rather]

Or instead, get a number 2 jar with a lid, unload a hefty wheeze into it and lid it up. Use it for powering your car, huffing, chasing away wild animals - you pick it.

[Spoonman.]

Only one cure for dating an asshole.

[AZ]

Whining to internet columnists?

[JW]

Dumping him and then going back to him repeatedly?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

On the other side of the ledger, there's my cousin's land-whale girlfriend, who sees pretty women on TV and cries, "Why can't I look that beautiful?" right before stuffing her mouth with ho-hos and Pepsi.

[Lord Humungus]

it's genetics!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Seriously, if he ever joins the military, I'm telling him to go into the Navy, because all his girlfriends have been the size of battleships. I could at least have given him a pass if they were nice, but they all to a woman have had the shittiest personalities possible. Poor guy's suffering for having been raised by my functionally retarded, fatass aunt.

[Eric Cartman]

I'm big boned!

[PR]

He's incredibly kind and is giving her the best advice anyone could: don't get fat.

[Mainer]

Short, not fat "per se", but curvy.

What's the problem ?

[rac3rx]

"Curvy" is the new "fat".

[P Brooks]

And then there's this little excrescence:

Both Jobs and Gates had immeasurable impacts on the world. Apple ushered in the era of personal computing in many respects. Microsoft's platform made it possible for a generation of computer scientists to learn and flourish. Apple seems to have perfected the art of delivering fantastic consumer products. Microsoft has worked diligently to make the enterprise more and more efficient. Regardless of which camp you fall in today, it's impossible to deny each corporation's contribution. Jobs and Gates each deeply respected each other's contributions.

But at the end of his life, Steve Jobs worried about Apple, Inc. Walter Isaacson quoted the wizard of Cupertino saying, "Hewlett and Packard built a great company, and they thought they had left it in good hands. But now it's being dismembered and destroyed. I hope I've left a stronger legacy so that will never happen at Apple." At the end of his life, Jobs saw his legacy as Apple.

Bill Gates stepped away from Microsoft in 2006 and, despite the company's growing troubles in the face of the mobile disruption, has devoted his genius to solving the world's biggest problems, despite the fact that solving those problems doesn't create profit or fame.* Gates committed his talents to eliminating diseases, increasing development standards, and generally fighting inequality.

---------

As much as I love Apple, Inc, I would happily give up my iPhone to put food on the plates of starving children. Steve Jobs turned his company into a decade long leader in the truly new space of mobile computing. Bill Gates decided to eliminate malaria. Who do you think we should be putting up on a pedestal for our children to emulate?

Let's all worship at the feet of the ostentatiously selfless! I'm surprised he didn't toss in a plug for Buffett.

[Warty]

I would happily give up my iPhone to put food on the plates of starving children.

That's a goddamned lie.

[T]

If he still has an iPhone and doesn't give considerably more than it's purchase price to charity, yes it is.

He'd gladly forgo other people's iPhones so their money can be taken for charity, though.

[Abdul]

I would happily give up my iPhone to put food on the plates of starving children.

But unfortunately, there is no way to donate that money to Oxfam, so the poor kids have to keep starving. Damn you Steve Jobs!

[Quetzalcoatl]

I'm not sure he's giving enough credit to Melinda Gates.

[Kristen]

would happily give up my iPhone to put food on the plates of starving children

Solution: sell it on ebay, send profits to charity (or government, which would probably be more up his alley).

My second most hated personality trait is hypocrisy.

[Kristen]

Oops...MSL beat me to it.

[Clich? Bandit]

Jobs created more jobs and helped bring more people out of poverty than any ammount of "giving" by having a company that is successful.

[##]

"Let's all worship at the feet of the ostentatiously selfless!"

I understand that Steve Jobs liked to soak his feet in the office toilet. I'm going nowhere near them.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

As much as I love Apple, Inc, I would happily give up my iPhone to put food on the plates of starving children.

Then fucking do it. Sell your iPhone on ebay and give the money to a soup kitchen. God do I hate people like this.

[John]

I bet two or three bucks a day would feed an entire family in a place like Haiti. His data and phone plan is at least $60 a month. Give up your Iphone and feed a family Pauli. what is stopping you.

[Zeb]

If he really wanted to, he probably could have fed everyone in Haiti for a year.

[Ice Nine]

His iPhone is quite safe as long as he doesn't leave the country.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It's the putrid SWPL status-mongering that's so irritating about that statement.

:libgoon:"LET ME SHOW YOU HOW MAGNANIMOUS I WOULD BE IN THE FACE OF OPPRESSION! MY HEART EXPANDS FOR THE PLIGHT OF THE POOR!!!"

[Hank]

To be fair, I believe he is saying he would give up a world where the iphone exists to feed starving kids.

Which of course isn't his to give up, so fuck him anyway, but it isn't exactly the same level of idiocy.

[Supreme Generalissimo Fluffy]

That means he's really saying,

"I'd be OK with not having an iPhone as long as no one else had one. But if anyone else has one, I'm buying one too, and the poor can suck it up."

He's saying he wants the resources that developed the iPhone to have gone towards the poor. Not his own resources. Those resources, he has to keep, to be sure he can buy the stuff he has to buy for other people to think he's cool.

That's why it never occurs to him that someone like John might read what he wrote here and advise him to get rid of his toy and adopt a family in Haiti.

[Hank]

Yes, this.

[Fatty Bolger]

That's even dumber.

A world without iPhones is not more capable of feeding starving kids.

[PantsFan]

Why Ryan Gosling is the man of the future
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le2216280/

[Fist of Etiquette]

He'll be the man of the future when he shaves his head and wears a silver jumpsuit. Wake me from my cryogenic sleep when that happens.

[Warty]

Is it just me, or is his face too small for his head?

[Quetzalcoatl]

It's an evolutionary defense that makes him harder to punch.

[T]

That is quite possibly one of the dumbest things I've read lately.

[Kristen]

Too pretty.

[Ice Nine]

His iPhone is quite safe as long as he doesn't leave the country.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Interesting article from our good friends at Salon, addressing the Occupy movement's reaction to homeless people. The piece contrasts the experiences of Occupy Detroit with other cities' groups.

One interesting passage: "[Occupy Detroit] joined forces with the United Way and they are assisting us in getting shelters for some of these homeless people to go to, and soup kitchens and showers and clothing."

That sounds suspiciously like reliance on charity and individual goodwill to ameliorate a problem. Could the Occupy-ers be inadvertently discovering libertarianism?

[BakedPenguin]

Charity and individual goodwill? You obviously haven't read the Daily Caller piece in Nick's article. We're all heartless, cane clutching, be-caped and be-monocled plutocrats. Now if you'll excuse me, I must overthrow a third world government and establish a crony government that will let me hire 4 year-old to mine their coal.

[Troy]

be-monocled

He, he, that's funny.

[Joe M]

This whole section makes me puke:

At New York's Zuccotti Park, Joan Starr, a 63-year-old retiree from the New York Board of Education, said, "My husband and I are just hanging on by a thread. We have a small pension and Social Security that we paid into for 40 years and now they act like we are on the dole." Her son spent seven years training to be a union electrician, but "he can't get work because companies are using low-paid, non-union labor." The petite, fiery Starr adds, "My grandchildren are on food stamps. We bought into the American dream and got fucked over."

First of all, she's retired at 63? WTF? Second, she worked on the NY Board of Education. That's a public sector job, so I fail to see what it has to do with Wall Street. Third, she says she has a pension and Social Security. She doesn't mention any personal savings like a 401k or an IRA. So she didn't plan for her retirement at all.

Then we get to her son, who can't get a job because he's a union electrician and companies are hiring non-union workers who get paid less. I guess he's physically unable to work for less money? Her grandkids are on food stamps? Because she's an idiot, and raised an idiot son. They are unable to take care of their shit, and yet somehow, they "got fucked over"? I don't think so. As Ice-T says, "You played yourself."

[Resto Druid FTW]

/applause

+10

[Red Rocks Rockin]

So much goofy stupidity, where to start:

"My husband and I are just hanging on by a thread. We have a small pension and Social Security that we paid into for 40 years and now they act like we are on the dole."

Yes, sweetie, you are on the dole. Other people's taxes are providing your income, the result of you not saving a damn thing for your retirement. Just because you're not ballin' in a Cadillac while collecting food stamps doesn't mean you're not on perpetual welfare.

Her son spent seven years training to be a union electrician, but "he can't get work because companies are using low-paid, non-union labor."

"low-paid, non-union labor" usually = "immigrants," but she doesn't want to blow up her SWPL bonafides by saying "They took my son's jerb!" After all, her cultural demographic supported such Celebrate Diversity! policies for decades.

The petite, fiery Starr adds, "My grandchildren are on food stamps. We bought into the American dream and got fucked over."

No, your ilk disparaged the American Dream at every opportunity during your "Fuck You Dad!" phase in the 60s. Now that the fruits of that ideology have finally come for harvest, you're expressing regrets? What the fuck did you expect? Be careful what you wish for, bitch.

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

Her son trained to be a union electrician? What is different than training to be a union electrician and a non-union electrician?

And 7 years of training? Her dumbass son could have completed his M.E. And trained to be an electrical engineer in the same time frame.

Fuck her. Fuck her husband. Fuck her son. And fuck anybody who feels sympathy for anybody in this story other than the person who had to do the interview and her grandiose, who are doomed to a life of poverty because they were born to mouth-breathing idiots.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Union Electricians aren't required to take the class in Competitive Pricing.

[Kristen]

I was talking with a friend last night about our parents and how we were deprived of anything "cool" or "trendy" or "designer" as kids. My dad would freak out if the oil heat kicked in and would get up in the middle of the night to feed the wood-burning furnace. How we drove around in a rusted out Plymouth Horizon that wouldn't shut down when you turned off the ignition for all of the 80's. How I drove the family 1986 Hyundai Excel all the way up to college graduation in 1994.

Guess what? Now my parents are living large at age 70 (my dad having retired at 57ish) with $2000 massage chairs in front of their 10' projection screen in their multimedia room.

So, suck it Board of Education welfare whore!

[WTF]

You expect people to forgo immediate gratification and plan for the future? You monster!

[MNG]

Remember when John said that everybody knew that Obama wanted badly to stay in Iraq but just couldn't negotiate a deal? Guess this guy didnt get the memo...

He failed, though he hardly tried very hard. The excuse is Iraqi refusal to grant legal immunity to U.S. forces. But the Bush administration encountered the same problem and overcame it. Obama had little desire to.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z3

[John]

Bush got over the issue of immunity during the SOFA negotiations in 08. OBama couldn't get over the issue in 11. So that means Obama is a better negotiator how?

[MNG]

Methinks you're missing the point, which is about motivation.

"though he hardly tried very hard. The excuse is Iraqi refusal to grant legal immunity to U.S. forces. But the Bush administration encountered the same problem and overcame it. Obama had little desire to."

[MNG]

Those with better memories than John may remember that this was nearly exactly Fluffy's response in that discussion, that Obama failing to negotiate a further stay, likely due to lack of motivation, when Bush would have pushed harder to do so, is a feature not a bug of Obama's handling of this.

[John]

That wouldn't be post hoc rationalization or anything. You choose it to be the gospel truth "they didn't try hard". If that is what you want to believe feel free. But, that is doubtful, espically considering that the military was in full planning mode to keep troops there as late as last summer.

You are just impossible. Even when the facts say you are wrong, you point to them as evidence of you being right.

[MNG]

"You choose it to be the gospel truth "they didn't try hard""

Er, no you're conservative commentator Krautie thinks that...

Since neither you, I, fluffy or Krautie were there we don't know how hard he tried. Notice that includes you too there John...

[John]

I was there. Everyone from the DOS through DOD figured it would get done. No one thought the administration wasn't trying. It is just post hoc rationalization. Again, you can believe it if you like. But the reality of what actually happened last summer says otherwise.

[TrickyVic]

I think time has more to do with it. The immunity issue has been a big issue ever since the Blackwater incident. It's easy to believe that Iraq wants to stand more firm on removing immunity as time goes by.

However, a last minute agreement could happen.

[John]

And of course I saw the point. I just didn't figure even you were dumb enough or shameless enough to take the post hoc claim that "they really try" seriously. I just give you too much credit sometimes. I need to relax and take your posts as performance art.

[Apostate Jew]

You're both wrong.

In 2011, what did the administration have to offer Maliki in exchange for immunity? Nothing except the likelihood of Maliki being thrown out of office by enraged Sadri and defectors from his own government. Not a very good a deal for the Prime Minister.

In 2008, America was forced to agree to a departure date. During the negotiations, Maliki dragged his feet until the impending expiration of the mandate made the previous administration agree to it.

No amount of huffing and puffing from the deluded functionaries of State and Defense can change the fact that Maliki is not an idiot.

It's depressing how stupid arguments about the meaning of events in Iraq become when the participants completely ignore that there are Iraqis involved in the equation.

[Mainer]

Remember when John said........

No, I don't. I don't have a John scrap book, or doodle his name on my notebook during study hall either.

[Ray]

Florida State Trooper pulls gun and arrests Miami police officer in uniform after she caught him speeding over 120 mph going to an off duty second job.

Video and local news story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBHOTK4sQPY

[Joe M]

Oh, that's delicious.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

That's pretty sweet. The Miami cop sounds like an idiot. "There are some pretty high level people there and I thought I was late."

So that gives you license to drive a city police car, while in uniform, on your way to an off-duty gig, at 120 mph? Asshole deserves to lose his job as a cop.

[TrickyVic]

""Asshole deserves to lose his job as a cop""

I'm not sure about FL, but in many states driving 90 mph or over is felony. If that's true, he needs to be charged accordingly.

[Ray]

13. A person commits a 2nd Degree Felony if they attempt to elude a law enforcement officer who is operating a marked patrol vehicle with siren and lights activated and the person drives either (1) at a high speed or (2) "in any manner which demonstrates a wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property...." The sanctions for this offense are imprisonment for not more than 15 years, a fine of not more than $10,000 and license revocation for not more than 1 year. ??316.1935(3) & (5), 775.082(3)(c) and 775.083(1)(b)

[TrickyVic]

0

[MNG]

But where the president sees simple fairness, Republicans see class warfare. Last week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) blasted Obama for his call to raise taxes on millionaires.

"The president is barnstorming swing states, pushing a divisive message that pits one group of Americans against another on the basis of class," Ryan said. "This just won't work in America."

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/04/.....ttleground

Yeah, can't we get back to dividing Americans based on sexual orientation like in 04 or immigration?

[John]

Yeah taxing "millionaires" is pretty stupid policy. I guess you missed the memo on that. Ryan is a serious person. Obama is not.

[MNG]

I don't think it is necessarily stupid, but of course that's another point. You missed another one here as this is about the hypocrisy of the GOP complaining about pitting one group of Americans against another. Unless they are just mad that the Dems are stealing their schtick they got little ground to complain on.

[John]

It is totally stupid. It would never raise even close to enough money to solve the deficit problem and would do more harm that good. And Obama knows that. But Obama is touting it as a sollution becuase he thinks Americans are dumb enough to believe him. That is what makes him a buffoon.

[MNG]

When you are talking about striking programs or cutting spending in areas where the amounts would not "solve the deficet problem" cons are all like "well, every little bit helps" but when you talk about doing the same via taxes they are all like "that won't solve the deficet problem!!!"

[John]

But it doesn't help. And millionairs already pay more than their fair share anyway. It is just nasty envy warfare.

I am sorry your life didn't work out so well and you hate those whose life did. But no matter how much you want to tax the evil successful, it won't be enough to pay for your fantasy state.

[TrickyVic]

""but when you talk about doing the same via taxes they are all like "that won't solve the deficet problem!!!"""

Getting more money to pay down your debt doesn't solve the reason why you are in debt. If we froze all spending and raised taxes, then it would help some. I hate to quote Dr. Phil, but money doesn't solve money problems. To control debt, you must control spending.

[Zeb]

The GOP is terribly hypocritical. They also happen to be correct in this case.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Don't try logic. It only bounces off the thick shell of stupidium, which rejects all incoming factual information that is in any way inconsistent with previously-held beliefs.

[PR]

MNG is just deflecting from the main point of OWS: they don't think the product he produces is worth paying for.

[Mike M.]

When is president Obama going to order the I.R.S. to put his good old buddy Warren Buffett in prison and seize all of his assets to refusing to pay the billion dollars in back taxes that he owes?

[P Brooks]

Could the Occupy-ers be inadvertently discovering libertarianism?

I shall contain my jubilation, awaiting further detail.

[Ice Nine]

Steven Pinker on The Decline of Violence & 'The Better Angels of Our Nature

That's really someone's old spinster aunt wearing a tie, isn't it?

[Jon Corzine]

I am the 99%

[R C Corzine]

I own 99%, anyway.

[PantsFan]

Radio this morning: Co-Ops are morally superior to Corporations.

[Lord Humungus]

Tintin banned from children's shelves over 'racism' fears
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cul.....fears.html

George Remi, the Belgian artist better known as Herge, first published his tale of derring-do in Africa in 1930. When he re-worked it in 1946 he removed several references to the Congo being a Belgian colony.

But the book still contained a number of images that were perceived as racist. One of these showed a black woman bowing to Tintin and saying `White man very great?White mister is big juju man`.

[John]

Bastards. Tintin is great pop art.

[Quetzalcoatl]

I think you could remove "pop" from that sentence and it would still be true.

Although it still doesn't change the fact that some of them are fairly racist.

[Chatroom Crank]

The truth is often racist.

[horselips]

The truth is usually racist. That's why political discussion is a waste of time. Anything that's true can't be said in polite society, and anything that can be said in polite society is either irrelevant or a flat-out lie.

[Lucy Steigerwald]

I grew up with Tintin and I now recognize that yes, they are great art and they are also often racist. My parents didn;t even need to point out to me, ya know, I just eventually figured it out.

They're children's books and they're not. But you don't need to prevent kids from reading them.

Plus, I have a feeling that whatever Spielberg has done to Tintin is at least as offensive.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Plus, I have a feeling that whatever Spielberg has done to Tintin is at least as offensive.

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

[MNG]

I don't think taking it off the children's shelf is so bad. We don't want our children to grow up with these racist stereotypes anymore.

Should it be banned for adults or older kids who can understand and appreciate the good stuff in there? Of course not. But we are talking about the children's shelf.

[T]

They're going to have ban Asterix in it's entirety, then. Asterix is nothing if not a continual series of ethnic jokes and slurs set to a background of slapstick comedy.

[Quetzalcoatl]

If you look at the old TinTins (mainly just the one in Africa), it tends to go beyond the "Hoho, British like tea and Spaniards are irascible!" caricatures of Asterix.

Standard libertarian disclaimers apply, however, and it would probably be wiser to go the WB route.

[R C Dean]

Any store owner who chooses to put it in the adult section can do what he wants.

But it shouldn't be banned for anyone at all, or the store owner required to move it or allowed to sell it only to the Right People.

[Quetzalcoatl]

It sounds like this is pretty much what happened.

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

Yes we do, MiNGe. We want our children to grow up exposure to racist stereotypes. At least I do.

If we expose our kids to the outdated forms of racism, sexism and gay-bashing from older media, their certain reaction is going to be, "Jeez, that's so racist.". Then we can explain to them that man has evolved culturally beyond ignorance of that type.

Or we an keep it from our kids, like you want, and hope they grow up to be tolerant and accepting of other people who happen to be different in one way or another.

[cynical]

Kids are natural bigots. They have to be taught not to be.

[horselips]

We don't want our children to grow up with these racist stereotypes anymore.

Oddly enough, our children seem to acquire to the same racist stereotypes when they grow up no matter how many books we hide from them. Wonder why that is?

[Little Black Sambo]

Yum, pancakes!

[P Brooks]

Meanwhile, the parade of geniuses on Bloomberg are talking about "astronomical" Spanish and Italian interest rates of six per cent.

Something tells me we'll be seeing (both in Europe and here) substantially higher government bond yields than that in the not-so-distant future.

Maybe we'll see a twenty per cent prime rate again. Won't that be fun?

[R C Corzine]

Since 1960 (if memory serves) the average Treasury rate has been around 6.5%. The current average is around 2.3%

So there's that. A reversion to the mean for US Treasury rates would triple our debt service from around 1.5% of GDP now to 4.5% of GDP. On our current debt, which is increasing at an appalling rate.

So, by, say 2014, don't be surprised if debt service consumes as much as 6% of GDP. That would be more than 1/4 of the current budget.

Fiscapocalypse is pretty much wired in, folks. And, because the geniuses at Treasury have been shorting our maturities, we can't even really inflate our way out of it - as inflation goes up, all that short-term debt rolls over with new interest rates that exceed the rate of inflation.

[R C Dean]

Dadgum joke handle off.

[Mike M.]

And this is why we're now stuck with Quantitative Easing forever, and the dollar is doomed.

[R C Dean]

Exactly so.

QE is essentially a mechanism for printing dollars to suppress interest rates. The Fed prints money to spend at Treasury auctions to clear those auctions at below-market rates.

Like all market manipulations, it works until it doesn't. Theoretically, it can work forever, since the Fed can, theoretically, print an infinite amount of dollars.

However, as it prints dollars to clear those auctions, the value of the dollar drops and prices increase, which in turn pushes up interest rates. That can't go on to infinity, so the whole game ends when inflation becomes intolerable.

I honestly believe that we have passed the point of no return, and the only question is when, not whether, the dollar collapses.

[P Brooks]

Apparently, the Grand Poohbah of the Washington Nexus Juggalo Assemblage will be speaking momentarily. I await with bated breath his assurances that all is well in the world.

[Mr. FIFY]

What did the Lord High Juggalo Puddin'-Head say, P?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Get out the ruler and make sure your front tires are behind the white line - or get a ticket via camera!

Maybe they should use that technology that they tried years ago at Wimbledon, where the ball had wires in it and set off an alarm when it hit the white line - so that if your tires hit the white line while the light is red, it snaps your pic.

[Mike M.]

Wow, I thought Maryland was completely out of control with this stuff, but it sounds like Colorado is trying to outdo them.

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

By the logic of these fuckheads, a 1970 Thunderbird can be further into an intersection than a 2011 Prius because there is about 2 more feet if car past the tires on the T-Bird.

I went through something similar in Riverside County. I got a red light ticket because the tires were behind the white line for the crosswalk, even though the front bumper of my 1973 Cadillac was at least a few feet into the intersection. I went to court and lost as well, even though there were no witnesses for the prosecution, the judge could not clearly state the statute and there was no serving officer.

I was told I could appeal, but I would have to pay in advance to the tune of a $700 bond to do so.

[Sammy Davis, Jr.]

Ouch, babe.

[Mr. FIFY]

That's shit. IMO, the car itself must pass *through* the intersection, not just go over the line.

Guess they're hard-up for ticket money there, eh, sloop? How much they nab from your hard-earned pay?

Oops, forgot Tony's Maxim: It's not your money.

[Joe Biden]

Be patriotic! Break traffic laws! The cities NEED that money!

[P Brooks]

Co-Ops are morally superior to Corporations.

Well, duh...

Of course, this completely papers over the horrible truth that both corporations and co-ops are merely groups of people(!) acting in concert toward a mutually agreed-upon goal.

[Almanian]

BUT COPORRAYSHUNSZ ARE A CREATION OF THE GUMMINTS!!11! THEY'RE FICKTISHUS!

[P Brooks]

We don't want our children to grow up with these racist stereotypes anymore.

Communitarian troll is communitarian.

[P Brooks]

So, by, say 2014, don't be surprised if debt service consumes as much as 6% of GDP. That would be more than 1/4 of the current budget.

I have brought this up in conversations on numerous occasions. The Obamatrons really don't like to hear it.

[R C Dean]

Just to salt the wound, point out that this would be like someone who makes $50,000 a year paying over a thousand dollars a month in credit card interest.

[Almanian]

"Jobless Rate Drops to 9 Percent"

Come on, everybody, sing along!

"Happy Days
Are Here Again
The Skies Are Gonna
Clear Again...
da da daaaa da
da da
da da daaaaa
Happy Days Are
Here Again!"

Woo hoo!

[Auric Demonocles]

Thank god Obama managed to avoid those horrible depression unemployment numbers that he predicted.

[TrickyVic]

Jessie Ventura's suit against TSA and DHS tossed.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....3-18-42-29

[TrickyVic]

Jessie Ventura's suit against TSA and DHS tossed.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....3-18-42-29

[P Brooks]

I have a feeling that whatever Spielberg has done to Tintin is at least as offensive.

Does Spielberg dress up as Little Bo Peep when he does it?

[Cytotoxic]

Two teenage boys who had been gathering evidence in Pakistan in order to prove that the U.S. was killing civilians with drone strikes died Monday in a CIA drone strike.

The moral burden of which entirely rests upon the Taliban and AQ.

[Tulpa]

All right, free play for murder! Woohoo!

Why don't we kill every man, woman, and child in Afghanistan and Pakistan while we're at it? We have the military technology to do it 25 times over.

[Cytotoxic]

It's not murder when it's justified or accidental. Killing all those people would be unnecessary and that's plainly obvious. I've made these points before and your repetition of the same BS is just telling me you've got nothing beyond the facetiousness.

[bradley gonzales]

my roomate's sister-in-law makes $81/hr on the internet. She has been fired from work for 7 months but last month her income was $8779 just working on the internet for a few hours. Read about it on this site NuttyRich dotcom

[Nike Dunk Low]

thanks