Reason Morning Links: Investigation Finds Thousands of Florida Cops Should Be in Prison, Postal Service to Make Mail Delivery Slower, BP Accuses Halliburton of Role in Deepwater Spill

• One in 20 Florida police officers working right now would be unemployed or in prison if it weren't for the state's police unions. 
• The United States Postal Service is going to make mail delivery slower by two-to-three days. 
• BP filed documents Monday claiming Halliburton destroyed evidence of its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. 
• Attorney General Eric Holder is apparently not to blame for Fast & Furious because he believed his underlings when they said Congressional Republicans had no idea what they were talking about. 
• Citi Chief Economist Willem Buiter says the Euro bailout will not fix things long-term. 
• Newt Gingrich continues to climb in Iowa. 

New at Reason.tv: "'Shut Up. You Don't Get a Lawyer!': The Defense Authorization Act Guts Civil Liberties"

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Newt Gingrich continues to climb in Iowa.

So apparently in fifteen years Cain can try again because no one's going to care about old scandals.

[John]

The same way Bill Clinton and Dick Nixon could become an elder statesman. If you just hang around long enough and kiss enough journalists' ass, anything will be forgiven.

[O3]

TRENDING: Pelosi ready to tell all on Gingrich

Posted by
CNN Congressional Producer Deirdre Walsh
(CNN) ? Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office said Monday that any potentially-damaging information she had on Newt Gingrich was all open to the public, defending earlier comments that she had "a thousand pages" of investigative material on Gingrich during his time as House speaker.

[O3]

link:http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/05/pelosi-ready-to-tell-all-on-gingrich/?hpt=hp_bn3

[John]

The good news is Pelosi has dirt. The bad news is it is Pelosi with the dirt. Like anyone who isn't already a fanatical Democrat will believe a word the woman says. I really don't think putting Pelosi out front in your attack is a particularly good idea.

[Nancy Pelosi]

Are you serious?

[Nancy's tits]

You've got to READ the dirt to see what's in the dirt.

[CoyoteBlue]

Yes, they need to use someone with public crediblility ... and that would be who?

[SugarFree]

I really don't think putting Pelosi out front in your attack is a particularly good idea.

Wrong. Considering her base +5 harridan damage attack and the fact that her flesh is poisonous, she is the perfect point creature. Put her in a +12 pantsuit and give her a few 50 point legislative damage scrolls, and she is a partisan tank.

[John]

She also has pysionic powers as well.

[Matrix]

psionic

[Hank]

Newt has Resist Muck as a class feature. Actually all Oompah-Loompahs with gigantism do.

[John]

Actually that would make a really kick ass fantasy game. Make the Capital and the various hill offices one giant dungeon inhabited by evil creatures such as the Pelosi monster you describe.

[Hank]

This would be a fantastic Fallout 3 mod as well.

[Ska]

Nancy Pelosi as a ghoul reaver?

[T]

Which is a change from reality, how, exactly?

[Ska]

More hit points.

[O3]

oops - except the house cmte that investigated newt was gop majority

[O3]

derp de derpity derp

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Yes - unlike Dems, the Reps actually investigate their own when evidence of wrongdoing comes to light.

[teh rael o3]

which doesnt help newt does it?

[Fist of Etiquette]

We'll see if she actually has anything new that wasn't gathered by the ethics committee (and therefore apparently unreleaseable by members). If she does have something she's allowed to release, she'd be stupid to do it before he gets the nomination.

[John]

Maybe they want him to get the nomination. Pelosi attacking him will just make Republicans close ranks around him. The only way to kill the titties is for other Republicans to do it.

[Pro Libertate]

Pelosi. What a piece of crap she is. I knew the Democrats were finally full-bore insane when they named her Speaker.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Insane like a fox. The powers that be got individual House members to vote for PPACA (et al.) even though the writing was on the wall it was going to cost them their seats.

[Pro Libertate]

It's because they're stupid and insane.

[John]

To read the writing on the wall, you have to be able to read. And it is pretty clear that was beyond the dems in the 08 Congress.

[R C Dean]

What I read made it sound like she was planning to release the dirt the ethics committee itself has on him.

[SugarFree]

"I knosh shings about you, Newt," Nancy slurred, as she jacked off the Japanese eggplant with a handful of rancid bacon grease. Newt was hugging Lady Justice, his hands tied together on the far side. He weakly struggled to get free and sobbed. He was nude and his pale buttocks and pallid thighs puckered in the cold rotunda.

Nancy leaned forward and rasped in his ear, "I'm nowsh Diana! Of the Hunt!" Newt screamed in pain, the agony of hearing your own shitty prose read back to you.

"Are are a Nazi sex kitten?!?" he yelped, uncontrollably. The script was locked in by Nancy's words. There was no going back. He needed to pee very badly, but he knew that would only make Mother angry.

Nancy slipped the greased eggplant into Newt's slack anus. It grated against his enlarged prostate, blown up to the size of a baseball. Newt moaned.

"Get s'hard for you Nashi sex kitten!" Nancy screamed. Newt could feel her wiry nipple hair grating across his hairless back. She reached around and squeezed his flaccid penis. "Get S'HARD!" she screamed again, her shrill voice ringing in his giant round head.

"I can't," Newt gasped, "Not even Callista, my sweet Apple of Discord, can make Hades rise from His work in Tartarus."

"No allusions!" Nancy ordered, digging the eggplant deeper.

[WTF]

Awesome.

[Warty]

I can't suspend belief enough to buy the assertion that Newt's back is hairless. I give you the lowest grade possible: A minus.

[SugarFree]

Uncontrolled diabetics often lose all their body hair.

White, hairless, pudgy and wrinkled, like an enormous maggot burrowing deep into the infinite pit of rot that is politics.

[Warty]

"Ne'wt clawtear you! Clawtear!"

[Ska]

I will never order the roast pork with eggplant ever again. But it's worth it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Your posts need to come with a warning label.

[SugarFree]

"SugarFree" is the warning label.

[Silver Fox]

"This movie/book/album/etc has been rated SugarFree. Approach with caution."

[Brett L]

Sadly, after listening to old Bill Hicks albums last night, this is not the sickest political slashfic I've been exposed to in the last 24 hours.

[Zeb]

That's too far fetched. Where is she going to get a handful of rancid bacon grease in the Capitol?

[Proprietist]

Funny as hell.

[_]

This is the worst chat room ever.

[Fluffy]

Isn't Gingrich correct that Pelosi revealing any of this stuff would be a gross breach of the rules of the House and possibly illegal?

But then again, if you have nothing to hide you should have nothing to fear. Right, Newt?

[John]

I think he is. But who is going to hold Pelosi responsible for anything? And all other criminal records are open, why not House records? Why should the House be allowed to seal the records of its members misdeeds from the public?

But she is bluffing. She will never release it. I am sure there is lots of interesting dirt on Newt in there. The problem is if she releases it, Republicans can start releasing shit on Democrats. And no one wants that. I am sure the entire Democratic Caucus is in her office this morning politely telling her to shut the fuck up.

[cynical]

"And no one wants that."

I do.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, please, please let this happen.

[Brett L]

Charlie Rangel will assassinate her berfore allowing this to happen.

[Mr. FIFY]

Isn't there a confidentiality agreement on that "dirt" Pelosi says she wants to spill?

Then again, she'd break the law for The Cause, just like virtually every other politician...

[free2booze]

Nancy had a torrid affair with Newt, during his Speaker of the House days. She is threatening to release pictures of Newt with a ball gag in his mouth, and Nancy giving him the business end of the Speakers gavel.

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Which end is the business end, in this context?

[Mo]

As soon as he figures out that China has nukes.

[Lord Humungus]

Ramesh Ponnuru: Heartbreak Awaits Republicans Who Love Gingrich
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....nnuru.html

The race for the Republican nomination appears to have come down to two intelligent, knowledgeable men in Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Neither of them has a history of down-the-line conservatism. Gingrich can match Romney flip-flop for flip-flop and heresy for heresy. He has supported cap-and-trade legislation, federal funding for embryonic stem- cell research, the expansion of Medicare to cover prescription drugs and a federal requirement for everyone to buy health insurance. He has been neither more consistent nor more conservative than Romney.

True, Gingrich has done more to advance the cause of conservatism than Romney. But he's also done more to damage it. He lost his job as speaker of the House because conservative representatives were fed up with his inconstancy.

[SugarFree]

The race for the Republican nomination appears to have come down to two intelligent, knowledgeable men in Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

[citation needed]

[Ron Paul]

Errh, hello?!

[Lord Humungus]

no citation available - does not compute.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

You mean cite needed for the proposition that Newt and Mitt are intelligent, knowledgeable men?

[Poet Laureate sloopyinca]

The race for the Republican nomination appears to have come down to two intelligent, knowledgeable men in and also Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

FIFY

[R C Dean]

That's FIFY FTW.

[Restoras]

So, we have the opportunity come November 2012 to vote for the incompetent buffoon currently occupying the White House, or a) a robot chameleon, or b) the creepy, half-drunken uncle.

I'm going to start a write-in campaign for Lord Humongous.

I'd rather vote for Lord Humongous.

[Lord Humungus]

My campaign for governor was a wreck. Perhaps there is hope yet.
http://www.inch.com/~william/humungus.html

[Restoras]

This is nothing a Dream Team like Rove/Carville couldn't fix!

[Pro Libertate]

Just walk away.

[Elspeth Flashman]

+1.

[Koan]

This is what you call the true and certain death of the Republic.

[cynical]

I wouldn't call him a creepy uncle. More like Baby Face Nelson in O Brother Where Art Thou.

[Lord Humungus]

David Brooks: Republicans have many strong arguments to make against the Obama administration, but one major criticism doesn't square with the evidence. This is the charge that President Obama is running a virulently antibusiness administration that spews out a steady flow of job- and economy-crushing regulations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12.....ef=opinion

[Fluffy]

It is a testament to the scope of Brooks' douchebaggery that he believes that adding regulations doesn't hurt the economy if the regulations are partially written by existing firms in each industry.

"These are pro-business regulations!"

[Lord Humungus]

exactly - it's an intellectually lazy argument that Brooks is making.

[O3]

oops - legit business wants regs against unfair comp

[John]

No. Big business wants to screw their competition.

[O3]

so ALL big business is unethical?

[John]

No. All big business wants to manipulate the government to their advantage. Isn't that the reason why liberals are always screaming about Citizens United? If Big Business is so benign, why do you object so much to Citizens' United?

[O3]

so only in anarchy would big business become ethical?

[O3]

like all peepulz with o in there name are idiotz?

[Mr. FIFY]

Never forget:

Citizens United happened because a group of individuals pooled resources and made a movie critical of a presidential candidate (Hillary Clinton).

Period.

[Azathoth]

movie critical of a liberal presidential candidate

FIFY

[Mr. FIFY]

Thanks for clarifying. I should have pointed out that, were Michael Moore to make a movie critical of [insert any non-leftist candidate], he'd be able to do so with impunity.

[Maxxx]

No. Big business wants to screw their competition.

O3 said the same thing, he just doesn't know it.

[teh rael o3]

i just wanted to hear a supposed libertarian say that big biz is ethical only in anarchy...which john implied.

[Restoras]

Weapons grade stupid, right there.

[o3]

agreed, john's comment was stupid.

[mad libertarian guy]

That's the only kind of stupid Triple Asshole knows how to bring.

[O3]

derp de derpity derp

[John]

Is he really that stupid or just that dishonest?

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes.

[Typical Left-wing Douche]

lolz you conservatards are so stupid! the businesses like the regulations so they must be okay!!!!!

[teh rael o3]

so how is that diff than the gop position?

[Dumbass Brooks]

"Whether it be in anti-terrorism or regulation, we can rely on government to figure out a good trade-off". It's not like they'd throw me in jail without a warrant!

[mad libertarian guy]

No they wouldn't do that.

But they would drone you without an iota of due process.

[Mike M.]

I don't know what friggin' planet Brooksie is living on. Obama is the guy who is illegally refusing to allow any further offshore drilling in defiance of a federal court order, and is stonewalling on the Keystone Pipeline to pander to his extremist environmental lunatic base.

He's the biggest job-killer to ever occupy the White House.

[Koan]

Jeezus Christopoulos, I think Brooks has finally done it - he's officially entered Krugman-Friedman territory.

[Au H20]

All NY Times writers are approaching the Friedman Singularity

[SugarFree]

One in 20 Florida police officers working right now would be unemployed or in prison if it weren't for the state's police unions.

Dem's a lot of bad apples, but nothing can possibly be wrong with the orchard.

[KDN]

The union's only keeping 5% of fireable people on the books? Seems like they need to get some lessons from the teachers.

[KDN]

Blegh, math-fail. Still, 5% of the employee population being fireable yet not getting the axe seems to be low.

[JW]

No, you were right he first time.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Weren't we having a discussion about public employee unions a few months ago and how they're a bad idea?

[Coeus]

Public sector unions are a cancer.

[Pro Libertate]

Unemployed or in prison. Whoa.

[Hank]

Excellent way to phrase the findings. Also, nearly every former US President was either just fine or assassinated on his last day in office!!

[cynical]

Let's wait for MNG to show up a defend this. Highly likely he'll go to bat for them harder than dunphy.

[KDN]

Let's skip to what's really important: NHL realignment! The conferences are now set up perfectly for a move by Tampa Bay and Florida to Quebec and Windsor. Also, the Devils, Isles, and Hurricanes can expect to miss the playoffs for the next 5 years.

[John]

The Caps will be in the same conference with the Pens, Flyers and Rangers. The Caps may be regressing. But at least we will get a better quality of visiting team.

[KDN]

My view on the division:

Losing Semin this summer will hurt, but they're still set up well for long term success.

The Flyers are absolutely stacked at forward but their defense will suck in maybe as early as next year and I don't know if Bryz is going to be able to cover up for it.

The Rangers have a 3-5 year window to win a cup and might be my favorites next season (as a Devils fan I hate to admit this).

The Pens are the Pens and not changing anytime soon.

The Devils need to further develop and are in desperate need of puck and injury luck but have the talent to be able to compete and a good coach.

The Isles have high end talent and entertaining goonery but are still a few years away. Should be a fun team to watch and very dangerous if they can pick up some veteran d-men.

The Hurricanes will be the bottom feeders. Save for a couple of players, tere is not much I like about this team.

[John]

I really thought the Caps would win a cup over the next few years. But they and Ovechkin in particular have really regressed. They are terrible right now. And I am not sure anyone knows how to fix them.

[NoVAHockey]

Have you seen pictures of his new girlfriend? Maria Kirilenko.

[John]

I just googled her. Perhaps he has lost interest in hockey.

[Mickey]

All these jocks watch the part where I tell Rocky that women weaken legs, and no one ever thinks it will happen to them.

[Nipplemancer]

The Devils won't be competitive until they stop using Brodeur. He's been shit since his injury a few years ago and should just retire already. They squeezed every drop of talent out of him by working him 70+ games a year for the past decade. The last 'good' season they had was with Brodeur on the IR for 6 months and Clemmonson in goal.

[KDN]

Two years ago they won the division and the Jennings with Brodeur playing 77 games. He's seen better days and should be splitting time with Hedberg at this point, but the problem isn't Marty. The defense is atrocious. Tallinder and Volchenkov are disappointments, Salvador is a has-been, Fraser a never-was, Larsson and Fayne are still learning, and Andy Greene is Andy Greene. Put the lack of defensive acumen together with a lack of true centers and it's a recipe for own-zone disaster.

[Nipplemancer]

Oh I know the D is bad. The last good Dman we had was Paul Martin and he got traded away, and with Colin White leaving this past summer, we're left with this haphazard crew. Hell, Johnny Oduya was a better Dman than most of the 6 who dress now. Andy Green is the only one worth a damn.
Brodeur though is done. The other night he let in 3 in 4 minutes and I'd only blame the D on 1 of them. As a life-long fan, I'd really like to see him retire after this season is done. He turns 40 in May and I don't see any late-in-career brilliance like Detroit got from Hasek.

[NoVAHockey]

Paul Martin signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent.

[Nipplemancer]

after a while Free Agencies and Trades blend in my head.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm hoping the Wings move to an Eastern conference. That will save wear n' tear during the regular season and the playoffs.

[KDN]

Divisions are best described as Pacific, Central, Mid-Atlantic, and Canaflorida. I'm sure Detroit would have preferred to just move east, but I doubt that could have happened without NSH, CBJ, and CHI throwing a fit. Except for the fact that my team's division is going to be a warzone, I'm happy with the alignment.

[Brett L]

Why would they be angry that a powerhouse moved out of their division? As a Blues fan, I was praying the hated 'Wings would finally be gone.

[KDN]

Because they all would love to leave the west for the same reason Detroit does and would also lose out on a big road draw. Chicago is down to one regular O6 matchup at this point, do you think the owners want to give that up?

[Fluffy]

I saw the conference composition, but no explanation of how the playoffs will now work. Will it be the top 4 teams in each conference?

[KDN]

The top four teams in each Conference will qualify for the playoffs. The first-place team in each conference would play the fourth-place team in the same conference; the second-place team would play the third-place team.

The four respective Conference champions would meet in the third round, with the survivors playing for the Stanley Cup.

[NoVAHockey]

but i think it's TBD on how the final four will handled.

[Restoras]

It's the NHL, don't all the teams make the playoffs?

[Fluffy]

As a lifelong Islanders fan, I can assure you that is definitely not the case.

[Nipplemancer]

I always look at the Isles as the kid brother of the Atlantic Division that everyone picks on. Also Worst Arena Ever.

[Toronto Maple Leafs]

We can assure you not every team gets to be in the playoffs.

[Columbus Blue Jackets]

We agree.

[Buffalo Sabres]

I love this new system. Same 7 team division as Toronto, Forida, TB, and Ottawa and the top 4 make the playoffs! Beautiful.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Until they agree to meet my demand that they return to the Campbell and Wales Conferences, I will continue to hold Gary Bettman in contempt.

[Lord Humungus]

Radley Balko: SWAT Raids, Stun Guns, And Pepper Spray: Why The Government Is Ramping Up The Use Of Force
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....23848.html

The amount force government authorities use, then, is no longer based not on what sort of threat a suspect poses to the government or those around him, but on the political implications of the laws being enforced. It isn't difficult to see how we get from here to pepper-spraying and beating peaceful protesters, particularly if the protesters are becoming a thorn in the side of politicians or are losing support from the public.

[Liberage]

Yet some of HuffPo's readers were perfectly ok with the Gibson Guitar raids.

[O3]

Mandelbrot Beats Economics in Fathoming Markets: Mark Buchanan
December 06, 2011, 2:26 AM EST

It seems that we're complete suckers for the illusion of certainty and the seeming unlikelihood of the unthinkable, even though financial and economic history is one long string of crises. This time always seems different, until it turns out not to be.

Nothing in mainstream "neoclassical" finance theory explains these persistent crises. Almost without exception, economists since Adam Smith have viewed economic systems as being in balance or equilibrium, and as having a natural tendency to return there after any disturbance. In this view, crises can be understood only as anomalies, the consequences of unusual outside shocks.

All this makes for tidy and comforting theory, with simple mathematics, but it fails utterly to account for the most basic market dynamics. Most notably, large and violent events -- like the stock market crash of 1987 or the flash crash of last May -- happen far more frequently than equilibrium theories suggest. In fact, the pronounced frequency of market upheavals is precisely what's most constant in economics.

Over the past 15 years or so, physicists have demonstrated this in mathematical studies of market volatility. Inspired by work of the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot in the 1960s, these scientists have used enormous sets of historical data -- hundreds of millions of minute-by-minute prices stretching over more than a decade, and daily and monthly prices over half a century -- to show that large market movements, up or down, follow a single mathematical pattern.

A credible economic theory of markets -- something we do not yet have -- would explain why the distribution of market returns shows such a preponderance of large events. It would account for why the mathematical form of this distribution is so uniform in markets the world over.

And, importantly, it would explain why markets share the same pattern with many other natural systems

http://www.businessweek.com/ne.....hanan.html

[Jerry]

Finding the expected disorder in the marketplace, and understanding its origins, could give economics a much stronger scientific foundation.

It's not a fcking science.

[NotSure]

Agreed, trying to apply the scientific method on the economy (which Marx was the most extreme), is both immoral and ends up with the problems happening now.

That is why I believe the austrian economics school is best, unlike the others, it does not pretend that one can scientifically direct the economy. The foundation of the economy is the our collective wants and needs which are all graded differently by our own subjective values and circumstances in life. We are not atoms that all have identical properties and thus can be easily controlled and predicted, we are agents with free will.

[O3]

"-- hundreds of millions of minute-by-minute prices stretching over more than a decade, and daily and monthly prices over half a century -- to show that large market movements, up or down, follow a single mathematical pattern."
_

math not science

[O3]

derp de derpity derp

[teh rael o3]

^spoof fail. doesnt add up !

hahahahahahahahahahaha

[NotSure]

Astrologers also use maths to calculate the positions of planets, what does that mean, that astrology is valid ?

I repeat, the economy is our collective wants and needs, that is what determine prices, that still does not make it possible to predict what our future purchases will be, it does not make it possible to calculate what the price of wheat, gold or porn will be in the future.

Until you can scientifically predict the stock markets or economic growth, it is not a science. If a computer told you it scientifically calculated that you would die tommorrow in a Macdonalds, you would obviously not go to the Macdonalds, so it cannot scientifically predict your behaviour in the first place, you have free will.

[teh rael o3]

so ur counter-factual is astrology?

[Neu Mejican]

Understanding and controlling are different.

[cynical]

You could say the same thing about our bodies and genes and physical needs, and yet medicine is a science.

[BigT]

Nonsense. You will need food, water and oxygen every day for the rest of your life. The amounts and quality vary withiin a well known and predictable window. Your wants and needs for music, clothes, porn, travel, living space, etc are completely changeable and arbitrary. Hence the unpredictability of economics.

[cynical]

More talking about healthcare, disease, cancer risk, pharmacology, that sort of thing. Genes matter, quite a bit. Needs vary, quite a bit. Even so, medicine is a science.

[gaijin]

Please explain the Placebo Effect.

[cynical]

Please explain why we can't reconcile general relativity with quantum mechanics. You can't? Oh shit! Physics isn't science!

[gaijin]

I suppose you are right cynical

[T]

Medicine is empiricism writ large. Biology is a science. Medicine is statistics.

[Restoras]

It's also not a closed system, a requirement for equilibrium. It's more of a complex, evolutionary system - it isn't static.

[Fluffy]

One problem lies with the notion that equilibrium is desirable in the first place.

It's a philosophical bias left over from antiquity. The hope of achieving "equilibrium" is also the source of a lot of statism.

[Restoras]

You might be interested in The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker
http://www.amazon.com/Origin-W.....951&sr=1-1

[Maxxx]

Disequilibrium is an inherent part of any evolving system. Free markets economics, in the last two hundred years have increased the pace of human beings mastery of the physical universe by several orders of magnitude. The resulting market disequilibrium is a feature of that transformation and not a problem. Only a romantic douche sees it as a problem in the long run.

Schumpeter's phrase creative destruction is an accurate and concise description of that process.

Economic market equilibrium is impossible, even if all progress stops because of random changes in the natural environment.

[WTF]

One in 20 Florida police officers working right now would be unemployed or in prison if it weren't for the state's police unions.

But that's unpossible! It is a rare and unusual case where cops aren't treated just like other citizens would be! Someone on H&R told us so!

[John]

http://legalinsurrection.com/2.....-complete/

Think Progress and White House merger complete. From the comments

"I am Barrack Obama. And George Soros approves of this message."

[Lord Humungus]

Nude Veena Malik cover stuns Pakistani Twitterverse
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/.....itterverse

Naturally, mayhem ensued. The Pakistani Twitterverse exploded with commentary and screenshots. FHM India's site temporarily crashed. Malik denied posing nude, claimed the picture had been "morphed," and threatened legal action (the magazine has been accused of altering pictures in the past). FHM India retorted that it had a video of the photo shoot and an email from the actress to prove the image's authenticity.

[WTF]

Shwing!

[T]

I niote the cover also promises Hot Girls in Wool Hats

I would think that's a fairly specfic fetish to be targeting with a general circulation magazine like FHM.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Seems appropriate

http://i452.photobucket.com/al.....y-bunk.jpg

[protefeed]

"Hot girls" is not a fairly specific fetish.

If you even notice the wool hats, you might not be as hetero as you thought.

[John]

Women from the sub continent. Wow.

[Warty]

Most Indian women look like hairy raisins. But the outliers like her, man, are they good.

[Clich? Bandit]

PADMA IN A BIKIN!!!!

[mad libertarian guy]

This.

Indian and Middle Eastern/Central Asian women are either uglier than a Pelosi/Newt fuck, or they're insanely hot.

[JW]

I'll be in my bunk.

[JW]

Ah, thanks Scruffy. Much better.

[Apple]

Also from the cover:

"Why naked protests are just amature porn."

Tell me more about these naked protests involving (I assume) Indian women.

[RoboCain]

Wait, is that a Dakota Arms?

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.c......com_1.jpg

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I'm too blinded by the huge tracts of land to tell

[BigT]

Typical response of government:

"India has vowed to crack down on offensive internet content, accusing web firms of failing to cooperate.

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal met officials from Google, Facebook and other websites on Monday.

On Tuesday he said the firms had told him they were unable to take action.

He said the government would introduce guidelines to ensure "blasphemous material" did not appear on internet. Doctored photos of the PM and Sonia Gandhi have angered the government."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl.....a-16044554

[Clich? Bandit]

I say shooped

[Lord Humungus]

Hot on Trail of 'Just Right' Far-Off Planet
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12.....ef=science

At least four times in the last few years, astronomers have announced they have found planets orbiting other stars in the sweet spot known as the habitable zone ? not too hot, not too cold ? where water and thus perhaps life are possible. In short, a so-called Goldilocks planet fit to be inhabited by the biochemical likes of us.

[Domtar the Space Alien]

Don't go there, Earthlings.

It's a trap.

[Damon Knight]

It's a cook book!

[Pro Libertate]

Thanks, but we can't even get out of Earth orbit, so no worries.

[Lord Humungus]

in the heyday of the 70s (thank you NASA, Buck Rogers, Star Wars, etc etc) - I thought as a kid that space travel would be just around the corner. I imagined a life mining asteroids, orbiting around Saturn with my greenhouse and robots, or something equally exciting... *sigh*

[Pro Libertate]

As did I. If you'd told me then that we'd not return to the Moon for nearly forty years (and counting), not do anything manned outside of LEO, and not have landed men on Mars, I'd have said, "Why, was there a nuclear war?"

One of the reasons I'm an attorney and not something useful to society is that the focus on the shuttle and the ISS made it clear that we weren't serious about manned spaceflight.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

All these worlds are yours, except Europa. Attempt no landing there.

[Pro Libertate]

Fuck that.

[Clich? Bandit]

One thing that gets me is that historical man has not even had the imagination to set his sights beyond his town and now almost all of humanity can easily grasp the concept of spacefaring people but our actions remain back in the stone ages. It really bothers me.

[Pro Libertate]

[Displeased, Pro Ug hits Clich? Bandit with rock. Pro Ug happy now.]

[rather]

Taxpayer Sponsored Porn Fair, And It's Blamed On The USA!

We do more than export war 😉

[rectal]

Exploiting women! Exploiting women! buck buck buck begak!

"rather crazy than libertarian." And i got my wish!

[Pip]

My company blocks rather's blog. I can't thank them enough.

[rather]

Some people need to be babysat

[Rich]

Wrt F&F: The Justice Department also made the rare step of turning over 1,364 pages of what they considered "highly deliberative internal communications" about the drafting of a response letter to congressional investigators.

With all due respect, WTF? How many *more* pages were *not* turned over?

[Res Publica Americana]

"Thousands of Florida officers remain on the job despite arrests or evidence implicating them in crimes that could have landed them in prison, a Herald-Tribune investigation has found."

-----------

I bet the sea of crimes these cocksuckers have committed are all isolated incidents, right?

Fucking paramilitary police states, this is how they start setting in -- when there are no consequences for wrongdoing by agents of the state.

[Koan]

The cops have become a sort of praetorian guard. In this sense, it reminds me of the Roman Empire, circa early third century, when Severus told his sons on his death bed to pay attention to keeping the guard (the soldiers) well paid and happy and to ignore everything else. Needless to say, a few decades later Rome had became an armed camp, what few civil liberties there were had evaporated, and the soldiers were in charge.

[Koan]

Jesus Christ . . . had *become* an armed camp.

[Res Publica Americana]

It kind of causes an I-still-can't-fucking-believe-it divide in my mind when I imagine the signing of the Declaration of Independence, or the ratification of the Bill of Rights, and how THAT group of people and the current governments fly the same flag, and it's disgusting. This is isn't the same country anymore.

[o3]

u miss slavey that much lolz

[Fist of Etiquette]

Weinstein told his boss Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer that in hindsight he wished he hadn't relied so heavily on the assertions of officials at ATF headquarters and in the U.S. Attorney's office.

So it's come to this. The United States Congress is more diligent in looking for the truth about crimes than is the United States Department of Justice.

[rather]

Einsten, Saved From Zombies But Not Prima Donna Doctors

[rectal]

More irrelevant crap. It's all i can think about. Body parts cut into slices. When i have a mastectomy they will cut my tits into small slivers for Epi.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.examiner.com/gun-ri.....buckwalker

How many have died from DEA's 'Project Buckwalker'?

"Undercover American narcotics agents have laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington's expanding role in Mexico's fight against drug cartels, according to current and former federal law enforcement officials," The New York Times reports.

Several readers sent me this link requesting insights. I have no special information and am dependent on this report to draw any conclusion, and would only note this is The New York Times we're talking about.

My initial reaction: I wonder if any of this money ended up being used to buy Gunwalker guns.

It would appear somewhat similar concerns were voiced by the unidentified "former agency official" interviewed for this story:

[T]he D.E.A. could wind up being the largest money launderer in the business, and that money results in violence and deaths."

Yeah, no kidding. Hey, you can't make an omelet without scrambling some eggs."

--------------------

Hail the Federal Titan, the protector of civilization!

[CoyoteBlue]

Well, it looks like the ATF, the DEA and the US Attorney's office(s) have all gone rogue.
Zero their budgets.
Shut them down.
Fire all of them.
Nuke them from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.

[RoboCain]

Well, we need a U.S. Attorney, but the other two seem redundant.

[Teh rael MNG]

This is all proper law enforcement procedure, using well accepted and effective law enforcement techniques. Nothing to see here. Move along, please.

[O3]

oh so now the lamestream media is correct huh ?

[O3]

derp de derpity derp de derp derp derpity [DERP]!

[Res Publica Americana]

Eat shit and die in a fire, you disingenuous ass.

[teh rael o3]

already have. it tries moar harder

[Zeb]

Stop with the lame ass spoofs. When has MNG ever said anything remotely like that?

[John]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....er-warning

NAACP appeals to the UN on voter suppression in the US. That would be requiring an ID to vote. Joe Boyle used to claim with a straight face that you couldn't require IDs to vote because immigrants often didn't have them. I am not kidding.

[T]

Yeah, the usual idiots are complaining about the new Texas Voter ID law. Let's skip the fact that I don't see how you, as an adult human being, function in today's world without a valid form of ID. The law provides that if you cannot afford an ID, the state will give you one for free. But even that is disenfranchisement, because people can't be bothered to go get the free ID but they can get off their ass and go vote. Riiiiight.

Why don't the people who bus the possibly disenfranchised to the polls bus them down to get an ID prior to the election?

[John]

There is a libertarian argument that we live in way too much of a papers please society. We are required to produce ID way more than we should. But liberals never seem to make that argument in any other context except for voting. They are so transparent.

[O3]

except that's not the argument since there's is no demonstrable voter fraud in the first instance & many other forms of identification have been successfully used for decades.

[O3]

derp de derpity derp de derp derp derpity [DERP]!

[John]

No evidence for vote fraud at all. Except this

http://www.freerepublic.com/fo.....1482/posts

And this

http://www.redstate.com/soren_.....n-indiana/

[John]

and this

http://www.peachpundit.com/201.....ks-county/

and this

http://newsandtribune.com/loca.....oter-fraud

[John]

and this

http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....dictments/

And that is just the top few results from a single google search for "indictments for voter fraud".

[teh rael o3]

red state? freerepublic? faux?

kidding right?

[John]

Go to the link dipshit. Everyone of those stories link to local news stories about the indictments. If you don't believe redstate, click through and read the local news stories.

[teh rael o3]

team blue for teh winz derpity derp

[teh rael o3]

i already read the state of ohio investigation for the last 3 state-wide elections including the presidental election. >the alledged fraud was either WIDOWS SIGNING INCORRECTLY ON THEIR DEAD HUSBANDS LINE OR FOLKS WHO MOVED YET VOTED IN THEIR OLD LOCATION...and neither materially effected the outcomes.

>so i ask again, what voter fraud?

[John]

there are four different stories about four different indictments. What about the other three? Including the one for "massive voter fraud" in New York?

[protefeed]

So it's not fraud if there isn't enough of it to affect a given election?

[teh rael o3]

not enough to justify the expense, during tight budgets, of HAVING to provide the state ID to voters below the poverty line,

[Red Rocks Rockin]

not enough to justify the expense, during tight budgets, of HAVING to provide the state ID to voters below the poverty line

Not enough to justify the expense during times of tight budgets, but god forbid any of those third-tier trash government clerks take a pay cut, right, Orrin?

[mad libertarian guy]

All government clerks are 3rd Tier Trash, or TTT for short.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Right, because if it's reported on a site that I tend to disagree with, it of course can't possibly be true.

See "confirmation bias." And then DIAF.

[teh rael o3]

i dont put media matters or kos links on here outta respect.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Evidently, you are unable to grasp the concept that most people here would not simply reject a story out of hand just because it was reported on Media Matters - particularly if it had a link to the original story, as reported by local press.

And I don't believe you understand what the word "respect" means.

[BigT]

If we don't require any identification to vote, how can there ever be voter fraud? It's not fraud unless it can be documented. So I would expect NO incidences of voter fraud where no ID is required.

[teh rael o3]

except that in ohio, the widows & folks who moved would've voted anyway. so that's ur voter fraud. some fraud...

[CoyoteBlue]

I have to show ID to get fucking allergy medicine. Can I complain to the UN and the Pope about that? A voting franchise comes and goes, and is about the value of the scum that are usually elected, but allergies are forever.

[RoboCain]

Can you hook me up with a teenth?

[Rich]

Here's the report.

The summary of the "suppressive" measures starts on Page 11. Undocumented convicted felons who sleep all day, take heart: Your voice *will* be heard.

[V. Putin]

I have some tips on how to win an election. Call me.

[Maxxx]

The idea that requiring an ID to vote is unfair to the poor is such utter bullshit.

My mother in law is a 90 year old Polish immigrant with very poor english skills and has never driven a car.

And she has an ID.

So what the fuck.

[cynical]

It makes it unfair because they need multiple votes to balance out the power of the 1% or something.

[Zeb]

I object to a requirement that voters have ID (and I really don't get how this has become a partisan issue). Where I live, the people with the voter list know who I am. If I don't happen to have ID when I go to the poll, there is no good reason I should not be allowed to vote anyway. The people running the polling places should have some discretion or people will be disenfranchised by laws like this. It doesn't matter if anyone could have got an ID. Having the brains and forethought to get one in not a requirement to vote.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.examiner.com/gun-ri.....rld-anthem

Mexican pledge controversy recalls similar incident with 'World Anthem'

by Mike Vanderboegh at Sipsey Street Irregulars the other day caught my attention this morning:

Texas student's refusal to say Mexican pledge, anthem starts controversy.

Evidently a teacher instructed the class to stand and perform both "with right arms straight out and palms down, which is how the school district says Mexicans say their pledge," prompting one brave young lady, "15-year-old Brenda Brinsdon," to remain silent and seated.

Good for her and kudos to her parents for encouraging an independent thinker not afraid to stand up--or sit down for herself.

The story recalled a similar one, from years back, when a high school in Colorado decided to play the "World Anthem" at their graduation ceremony instead of our National Anthem.
Advertisement

"Though my daughter was required to stand with the other graduates," wrote Gail Wagner of Wellington, CO, "she was so disgusted with the lack of patriotism and sincerity, she ended up humming the national anthem to herself."

--------------

The author's comment at the end's good, too. Internationalists from Dumbfuckistan are butthurt, and somebody SHOULD CARE!

[O3]

shouldnt there be a link to send patriotic donations?

[O3]

[DERP]

[Res Publica Americana]

Shouldn' you join the military of some backwater, piece-of-shit African country and request service with UN peacekeepers?

[teh rael o3]

im already a vet fool

[Red Rocks Rockin]

im already a vet fool

Playing with your GI Joes doesn't count.

[jerry sandusky]

what?

[Lord Humungus]

hmm... as a teenager I often refused to stand for the pledge. I was pretty much left alone, but once, during study hall, I had an aide come up and ask why. I said something about war and government policies... and she left me alone. I think she was mostly pissed because I sat right in front of the flag where everyone could see me while making the pledge.

Now? Meh - I'll stand for the National Anthem for a hockey game...

[Zeb]

What the fuck is a world anthem?

[John]

Has war with Iran already begun?

http://www.nationaljournal.com.....204?page=1

[Restoras]

Well, if it isn't Eurasia its Eastasia, right?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Serious incidents of officer misconduct erode public trust in a profession granted an uncommon degree of power and authority in a free society.

That's not true. They work under the same laws as you and I. I'm told that LEO have no special privileges and, in fact, are often scrutinized and penalized much more harshly than the civilian population.

[Fatty Bolger]

Sure! You just can't fire them. That would be inhumane.

[Fist of Etiquette]

[FDLE's Criminal Justice Professionalism Program Director Mike] Crews acknowledged some would find it odd that [FDLE's Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission] wouldn't use prior misconduct when determining if someone is fit to serve the state as a law enforcement officer.

"To the public eye, that makes good common sense," Crews said. "But with our rules and statutes, we don't have that ability."

Apparently you can't. A few of the examples of repeat offenders in the article were only fired after ultimately being convicted of serious crimes, and then only because the dismissals were automatic. Union officials are going to have to work to remove that provision so LEO can continue to get paid while serving time.

[dumphy]

Serious incidents of officer misconduct erode public trust in a profession granted an uncommon degree of power and authority in a free society.

this just doesn't happen, i know cops that get disciplined all the time, and even arrested and prosecuted for stuff civilians would never even be charged on

[Silver Fox]

Well, if you clean out all the donuts and coffee from the coffee shop before your fellow officers get a chance to get any, you'd be prosecuted for stuff civilians aren't prosecuted for, too. :3

[Zeb]

If that doesn't happen then why are 5% of officers in FL on the job still despite having committed fireable offenses?

[Loather of Cops and Feds]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/a.....&tc=pg

1 in 20. That is, 1 in 20 that were caught.

[Joe M]

The United States Postal Service is going to make mail delivery slower by two-to-three days.

Woohoo! It's the beginning of the end.

[Ice Nine]

You know things are going to get bad when the Post Office tries to do things more slowly.

[The Post Office]

Ha! Just try to hack our human-based, permanent-paper delivery NOW, biotches!

[JW]

You know things are going to get bad when the Post Office tries to do things more slowly.

So, it should get here even faster then, right?

[P Brooks]

One in 20 Florida police officers working right now would be unemployed or in prison if it weren't for the state's police unions.

Organized labor- saving the middle class, one goon at a time.

[John]

Organization and principle could yield a Paul victory in the Iowa caucuses:

Rep. Ron Paul rarely makes news, and his candidacy is frequently ignored by Beltway reporters. But headlines, his aides say, are overrated. In fact, the Texas Republican's low-key autumn was strategic. As Paul's competitors stumbled and sparred, he amassed a small fortune for his campaign and built a strong ground operation. And with January fast approaching, his team is ready to surprise the political world and sweep the Iowa caucuses.

"This was a movement when he first started running in 2008," says Trygve Olson, a senior Paul adviser. "Now it's turned into a highly professionalized campaign, but the energy from that last run is still there, and at the heart of what's keeping up his momentum."

The latest polls back up that confidence. In the influential Des Moines Register poll published over the weekend, Paul placed second. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, captured 25 percent of likely Iowa GOP voters, but Paul garnered 18 percent, two points ahead of Mitt Romney, who in 2008 placed second in the caucuses.

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....bert-costa

[Spoonman.]

"Newt Gingrich secures his front-runner status with second-place showing in Iowa caucuses"

[Atanarjuat]

He is going to get 18 percent in the caucuses no matter what. If there's a snowstorm, he'll probably win, since he has such dedicated, passionate supporters.

"Due to the snowstorm, only fringe voters made it to the polls, but still Mitt Romney triumphantly captured 3rd place."

[Joe M]

Newt Gingrich continues to climb in Iowa.

Come on, Riggs, you buried the lead. Ron Paul is kicking ass in Iowa, officially.

He's ahead of Romney, and is moving up faster than Gringrich at this point. If you consider that Gingrich has zero ground game and very poorly motivated supporters, Paul has this shit in the bag.

[John]

See above.

[Joe M]

Yep. And we're only four weeks away now. I'm thinking libertarians get a late Christmas present.

[rac3rx]

With the new proportional representation rule for all states that hold primaries/caucuses prior to April, be prepared for a brokered convention with Paul going into the event with the most delegates, just not enough to win outright.

I can almost FEEL the butthurt...

[Joe M]

What? They all have proportional distribution of delegates now? That's news to me.

[Ice Nine]

Here's a pretty much straightforward declaration, complete with example, of how it works - in case you'd forgotten:

A former MF Global employee accused former president William J. Clinton of collecting $50,000 per month through his Teneo advisory firm in the months before the brokerage careened towards its Halloween filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Teneo was hired by MF Global's former CEO Jon S. Corzine to improve his image and to enhance his connections with Clinton's political family,

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47938

[John]

I read that yesterday. Isn't it pretty much a perfect snapshot of how our political class works? Scumbag former governor takes over investment fund, hires scumbag former President to a do nothing job at 50K a month. And then proceeds to steal all of the clients' money buying worthless Eurobonds because he is convinced that the European model will actually work.

[Mike M.]

Yep, it's the stupidity of Krugman and the criminality of Ken Lay all rolled into one vile little package.

[Krugs]

Hey, Geithner, Barack, you think we should bail them out? They're too big to fail. It'll save lots of jobs!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Corzine is basically Le Chiffre without the poker skills.

[Mike M.]

Here's hoping Congress makes Corzine bleed from the eyes.

[rac3rx]

He's one of them. This whole incident will die quietly.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://minnesota.publicradio.o.....n_ba.shtml

Minnesota court upholds gun ban

A lifetime ban on handgun ownership by people who have committed a crime of violence does not violate the Constitution, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled.

The court ruled today in the case of Andrew Craig, who was stopped by Mounds View police on suspicion of domestic assault in 2009. Police found a gun in the car, which he claimed was put in his backpack by his girlfriend. Craig had previously been convicted of possession of drugs, which Minnesota considers a crime of violence.

Craig appealed the ban on gun ownership but the court said "... the Supreme Court did not explicitly hold that the Second Amendment right is a fundamental right, so that restrictions on this right are subject to a strict-scrutiny standard of review."

The court said Minnesota law, which declares "a fundamental, individual right to keep and bear arms," does not bolster Craig's appeal because the 2003 concealed carry law recognizes persons the Legislature "has deemed ineligible to possess a firearm."

---------------

Blood = boiling

[WTF]

possession of drugs, which Minnesota considers a crime of violence.

So now possessing something the state doesn't want you to have is 'violence'. These people are scum.

[RoboCain]

Illiterate scum.

[Res Publica Americana]

Astoundingly retarded illiterate scum.

[Zeb]

Yep. Just make up definitions to words as you go along and everything is constitutional.

[Rich]

possession of drugs, which Minnesota considers a crime of violence

I gots to know: What else does Minnesota consider a crime of violence? And what waivers are there for favored persons?

[sarcasmic]

Funny, but the Second Amendment I read never said anything about "committed a crime of violence", but then again I am not a lawyer or Constitutional scholar so I can't see the fine print that only those who have gone to law school are able to see.

[WTF]

That's okay, it doesn't actually say anything about 'reasonable restrictions', either, but I guess we aren't wise enough to correctly understand the true nuances contained in 'shall not be infringed' like our betters in the black robes.

[sarcasmic]

There's this magical fine print on the Constitution that appears only after you have completed law school. I've been told it glows with an eery green light in the dark, and that if you stare at it too long it will impart upon you demonic powers.

[teh rael o3]

so sarcasmic is ok w felons, kids, & the mentally ill owning guns?

[sarcasmic]

Committing a felony means having the right to protect your life and the life of your family from violence taken away?
So the life of a felon and the lives of the felon's children are worth less than the lives of someone who has not been convicted of a felony?

As far as kids go, that's up to the parents.

As far as the mentally ill goes, no I do not think you should own a gun.

[teh rael o3]

then let us agree there are reasonable restrictions on gun ownership & possession.

[sarcasmic]

I was not agreeing with you dimwit.

[o3]

sarcasmic|12.6.11 @ 10:42AM|#

"As far as the mentally ill goes, no I do not think you should own a gun."

[sarcasmic]

It's called sarcasm you dimwit.

[Tonio]

Emanations and penumbras, Dude, emanations and penumbras.

[Res Publica Americana]

It also authorizes, in fine print, the federal government to create de facto bans. IT REALLY IS THERE!

[cynical]

Are you suggesting that the government cannot take away your rights as punishment for a crime after giving you due process?

[Res Publica Americana]

Not after you've served your sentence, no. Wanna keep murderers and serial rapists off the streets? Jail them for life. A man that can't be trusted with a gun can't be trusted without a custodian.

[cynical]

Do you think that prison sentences have always been and must always be the go-to means for punishing crime? There's no reason that different aspects of a sentence need to have the same duration.

[SFC B]

But once the sentence is expired there shouldn't be anything left.

I think that losing some basic rights while serving punishment for a crime isn't unreasonable. However, once that punishment is finished the default should be that all rights are fully restored. We don't have that.

[cynical]

So what's the inherent philosophical problem with having two punishments: a temporary prison sentence, and a lifetime restriction on gun rights? Is it wrong to have two separate aspects of punishment for a crime? Would it be wrong to have a fine and a jail sentence? A fine to be paid back over several years and a jail sentence of two months?

Look, the eighth amendment still holds -- I don't see a gun ban as valid punishment for a non-violent crime, and drug possession is not violent. But for the violent, well, your old droog buddies will fuck you up and you can't protect yourself? Tough shit.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

"No person shall ... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ... "

As long as you are given "due process," then yes indeedy the gubmint can take away your rights - including your liberty and property.

Also, there is the question of what the "right" in question actually is. Was the "right" to keep and bear arms understood at the time of the drafting of the Constitution understood to extend to the mentally feeble, insane, violent criminals, etc.?

I am a huge proponent of individual gun rights, but I'll never understand the argument that the government has no legitimate power to or interest in preventing those who have demonstrated themselves to be violent felons from possessing firearms.

I agree that there are lots of cases that do not seem to warrant it - i.e., this case - possessing a little pot is a "crime of violence"? That's bullshit.

[sarcasmic]

Wouldn't a violent felon, because of who they have associated themselves with in the past, have more of a need to defend themselves with deadly force than the average Joe?
Who knows who might have a grudge against them for something real or perceived and come after them?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Well then I suppose perhaps they should have made better choices in life, eh? I mean, if you don't go around committing assaults and batteries and robberies and shit like that, then you wouldn't have been arrested and forfeited your rights.

Doesn't seem to me to be too hard to NOT be a violent felon and then not have to worry about such things.

Now, granted, when the law defines too many bullshit "crimes" as "felonies," that's where the problem comes in. It's one thing when you've got a gang-banging, repeat violent offender whose actions have made it quite clear he cannot be trusted to behave himself in society, it's another when you've got some upper-middle-class spoiled kid who has a couple baggies of pot for his soccer buddies, but who never would engage in any violence against another person.

But in general, I'm all for personal responsibility and being held accountable for your actions. If you make obviously bad decisions, where the repercussions of your actions are easily foreseeable, oh well, you're going to have to live with the results of your poor decision-making. If you're a violent criminal who has associated himself with lots of other violent criminals and made those kinds of enemies, I guess that was pretty stupid, wasn't it?

How can we know when a person with a violent criminal past truly has "reformed" himself such that he now can be trusted with firearms? Particularly if he has a history of using them to commit violent crimes?

[sarcasmic]

I oppose restrictions on gun ownership for felons on the same principle that I oppose the sex offender registry.

If a person can not be trusted to conduct themselves in society, then they should not be set loose.

This notion of being semi-free for the rest of your life is a bunch of shit as far as I am concerned.

[cynical]

So, you think that if a person kills someone driving while drunk, it is better to leave them in prison for life than to let them go but ban them from drinking?

I think we need a presumption of personal liberty, but I think such a system is more stable when those who've shown they can't handle it lose it. When they get to keep it and abuse it, it strengthens the case for taking it from everyone, even those who handle freedom responsibly.

[sarcasmic]

When people lose personal liberty, then there must be people in government whose sole job is to enforce that loss of liberty.
I think that that is much more likely to lead to liberties being taken away from everyone, because once the tools are set up for taking away peoples' rights selectively, the case will be made to use those tools against everyone.
The mechanism will already exist, the zealous enforcers will be there eagerly awaiting orders, all they need is the word.

[sarcasmic]

Why do you think so many crimes are felonies?
I think it is so basic rights can be taken away from as many people as possible.
Once a person has been put through the "justice" system, and sees how much of a sad joke it actually is, they might want to vote for someone who would act to change it. But they can't because they're now a felon. Because of some stupid shit they did as a teenager they are barred from voting for the rest of their life, just as they are barred from protecting themselves and their family from an intruder. They are second class citizens.
I think it is a bunch of shit.

[rac3rx]

You can't be barred from voting for the rest of your life if you did some "stupid shit" as a teenager. If you did some "stupid shit" as a teenager and are convicted of such "stupid shit" in a juvenile court, then the records are sealed when you turn 18. However, if you murdered someone or committed a similar heinous crime at the age of 16 or 17, then you may be tried as an adult. If convicted, you would then serve time as an adult and subsequently forfeit your voting rights. I seriously doubt that the types of crimes committed by teenagers which qualified them for adult trial would be considered by any reasonable person to be classified as merely "stupid shit".

[sarcasmic]

Nothing is sealed and a felony is a felony.

[Bones]

Agreed, sarc. If they are on probation, sure, they can have rights suspended, but once a sentence is complete, full rights should be restored. But ultimately, we need to repeal the laws that criminalize that which should not be criminalized so that only the perpetrators of actual crimes get punished.

[Brett L]

Felons have universally had their rights denied. You aren't a citizen anymore, you're a resident felon. The problem is that the felony class has become so broad as to be nonsensical. You used to have to be a murderer, rapist, traitor or brigand to be a felon. This is no longer the case.

[Res Publica Americana]

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

Whatever you think of InfoWars, watch the video -- it's fucked up beyond belief

[Ice Nine]

Yes, it is. Surely the Supremes will have a shot at this one, no?

[Rich]

Another aspect of this stuff is that S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act, is yet another ~1000-page tome no one reads, much less understands. 8-(

[Res Publica Americana]

Let's hope Republicans come to control two-thirds of both chambers, Paul becomes president, and pushes his party in Congress to repeal that piece of shit straight after PPACA.

[cynical]

Republicans are the ones pushing this shit hardest. On the other hand, President Paul could use it to build political capital with the Democrats, maybe.

[sarcasmic]

If Republicans get both chambers they will only create more legislation.

Nothing will be repealed.

[Res Publica Americana]

I was hoping for Paul-spawn Republicans.

[sarcasmic]

The party leadership will not change, the people with seniority will still be calling all the shots, the committees will still block good legislation from Paul-spun Republicans, and nothing will change.

[Bones]

I'm hoping for a Paul presidency and somewhere around a 50-50 split in both chambers. Just by slashing executive departments to death, it will be worth it since he's not likely to get anything else done, but we don't want any overridden vetoes by some R or D majority.

[Brett L]

They'd band together to override on the second spending bill he vetoed.

[mad libertarian guy]

As horrible as PPACA is, this new bill is even worse by several order of magnitude.

This needs to be the very first priority of repeal.

[Fluffy]

Here's one additional thing to consider about the LEO Criminals story:

You can reasonably say that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and that merely being accused of a crime shouldn't mean the immediate application of punishment, and that police officers are entitled to due process both in the courts and with regard to the status of their public employment.

As libertarians we pretty much HAVE to say that.

But that's not actually the society we live in any more. It is absolutely routine for criminal suspects to be held in jails for long periods while awaiting trial due to the imposition of excessive bail. And those suspects are also routinely subject to the whims and fancies of psychotics like Joe Arpaio, who makes no bones about the fact that he considers a big part of his role to be the imposition of punishment, even though a large number of the people in his jail have not been tried and convicted yet.

This is a part of our legal system to which citizens are subject but these men, we can trust, are not.

[John]

Bail is pretty easy to get. The criminal defense attorneys I know, and I know several of them, tell me their clients usually get bail and get it on multiple offenses. They have guys who get arrested for one thing, get bail, and then commit another crime and get bail for that too. The county jails are wildly overcrowded. They give bail pretty leniently. Most people who don't seek it are people who know they are going to do some time no matter what and figure every day in the county jail is one less day in state prison.

[OJ]

Yeah, who's gonna pay me for the 9 months I sat in jail. I coulda been out there finding the real killers!

[sarcasmic]

Chubby Chaser Special!

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

[John]

That is a total photoshop. That woman is fat, but they photoshopped out the cellulite.

[P Brooks]

Over the weekend, Google News linked to a story on Military.com about Jose Guerena. I just sort of skimmed part of it, intending to go back to it later (which I failed to do). I did not read it carefully, but I swear to Bog they quoted the sheriff as pretty much saying, "Well, it doesn't matter what his service record was, and we couldn't care less what all those so-called 'character witnesses' say; if we shot him, that obviously means he was guilty."

So much for due process and the presumption of innocence; for those pesky civilian plebs, anyway.

[John]

I can't believe how stupid or craven you have to be to think police unions are a good idea.

[Res Publica Americana]

I can't believe how stupid or craven you have to be to believe it's anything but a colossal injustice and gut-wrenchingly disgusting that the fuckers responsible for Guerena's murder are still walking around not only unchained, but IN UNIFORM and UNDER THE COLOR OF LAW.

It makes me sick.

[Loather of Cops and Feds]

But Dunphy said he deserved to die, so there.

[dunphy]

PRESENT!

[Restoras]

Was this the story?
http://www.military.com/news/a.....trage.html

[kinnath]

"You point a gun at police, you're going to get shot," Kastigar said.

This is why I left Arizona.

[Res Publica Americana]

Arizona's pretty great compared to most other places, but that, I guess, just highlights how fucked up everything is.

[kinnath]

I worked with a tech who came into work on a monday morning with his entire face black and blue. He was pulled over for driving while mexican and lipped off to the officer.

[Res Publica Americana]

At which point, in that encounter, he would have been completely justified in shooting the pig in uniform dead in self-defense.

But I guess nobody wants to get a one-way ticket to death row.

[teh rael o3]

justified if the officer was using a gun instead of his fists

[Matrix]

People can kill with fists and feet.

[kinnath]

There was a case that made the local news where the police shot and killed a deranged 20-something guy.

The guy was in the front yard with kitchen knife in his hand. Both hands were down and the guy was visibly distraught.

It was about 10 seconds from the first command to drop the knife till 3 or 4 officers started to shoot.

[Res Publica Americana]

Yeah, that's basically the "fuck this, let's just take him out because we can response", and I argue that that's first-degree, capital murder. An electric chair for the cop that shot first/ordered the take-down, and life without parole for the rest.

[John]

And he was mentally ill which makes them even more trigger happy. The mentally ill and handicapped are just lesser humans to most cops.

[Silver Fox]

And he was mentally ill which makes them even more trigger happy. The mentally ill and handicapped are just lesser humans to most cops.

I ran into someone at a bus stop who, out of the blue, asked if it was fair that people should be beaten by the police. He then proceeded to show me the bruises on his ankle and told me his teeth were chipped.

What happened that caused this? In the middle of a seizure he walked into the wrong motel room, and apparently, this led to the cops being called.

It wasn't his first run-in, because he' been beaten before for resisting, when he happened to be drunk at the time.

[I told him he should probably get his mother to talk to a lawyer about this, seeing as he could've been under 18 at the time, though I don't think his odds are that great, if Reason has taught me anything.]

[teh rael o3]

that's an offensive statement you cannot prove.

[teh rael o3]

for john. threading is effed-up

[John]

I have a sister who is mentally handicapped. While she has never had a run in with the cops, i can tell you doctors and nurses treat her like a lesser human being. And considering the number of cases like the one described above, I am inclined to think cops are no better.

[Silver Fox]

You're not making me feel good this morning.

At least the people who are my support workers actually do give a damn about me and treat me like a human being, instead of something lesser.

[I do wonder how things will go - health care-wise - once the autism diagnosis goes through. The people I know are decent, but there are dicks in every profession, and if I go for specialised help, I might get one of the dicks.]

[tarran]

John, I am so sorry...

[rac3rx]

Many people treat elderly the same way.

[Maxxx]

This poor fuck was gunned down for holding a water hose.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....ozzle.html

http://www.ktla.com/news/landi.....1345.story

[cynical]

So, I was watching network TV, and I saw an ad for some holiday themed show that was pretty much just a Christmas-themed montage of guys getting hit in the crotch, with the tagline "Deck the Balls".

Why the fuck did I have to live in the future predicted by Mike Judge? It could have been Firefly or Star Trek or something, but noooooo...

[President Camacho]

You talk like a fag and shit

[South Carolina Rep #1]

That's what you said last time, dipshit!

[RoboCain]

New York Times Suddenly Notices Police Militarization

"When the coppers roll out their armored personnel carriers to clear out the kids demonstrating against Wall Street, capitalism and student loans, that's a whole 'nother kettle o' fish. These are the good people. The ones we agree with. This kind of police brutality has to be exposed, discussed, dealt with. Therefore, now it's time the NYT's dwindling readership is made aware of the situation."

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.c.....arization/

[Res Publica Americana]

Don't you miss the days when cops were armed with revolvers and didn't have access to APCs?

[Phillips and Matasareanu]

Yes.

[sarcasmic]

That was before teh drugz.

[RoboCain]

Actually, it was after 9/11. It's DHS not DEA that's the problem here.

[sarcasmic]

It was the 80s and Reagan's campaign against teh drugz.

[RoboCain]

No, it wasn't.

[RoboCain]

Except it wasn't. The current trend of militarizing local police with heavy equipment did not occur until after 9/11.

[sarcasmic]

Heavy equipment. Yeah, that did come as part of the War on Terra.

I was thinking of the military tactics and fully automatic weapons. Didn't see much of that until the 80s and the war on cocaine users.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

So then you never saw the TV show "S.W.A.T." in the 1970s?

[sarcasmic]

No I did not.

[RoboCain]

There were SWAT teams in the 70's, but nothing like the way it is now.

[Pablo]

Yeah and IIRC they always went up against dangerous guys--assassins, snipers, kidnappers, bank robbers, violent fugitives, etc. Cant recall seeing an episode about busting an illegal poker game, video poker, underage drinking raids, pot smokers, etc.

[Pablo]

Not true--cops started carrying high capacity auto pistols in the 80's and were doing so overwhelmingly by the mid 90's. Providing surplus military gear, esp. assault rifles, started under Reagan and really picked up under Clinton. Likewise the use of SWAT teams to apprehend petty offenders skyrocketed in the 90s.

[Clarence Gilyard Jr]

[laughing as a LAPD SWAT armored vehicle is hit with a missile] Oh my God, the quarterback is TOAST!

[RoboCain]

It's all from federal money, with almost no oversight.

[Res Publica Americana]

The feds couldn't perform effective oversight over the cocks dangling between their legs. Overseeing a nation of local departments? Roflmfao.

[Charles 3E]

Does anyone know how the most recent spam bot(s) work? You know the one that introduces us to a randomly-named European girl who lives life to the maximum, who has a petite structure but full curves.

How does that make money? They never have links or a website address.

[Rich]

I'm sure Anon-Bot will offer up an explanatory comment soon.

[P Brooks]

a Christmas-themed montage of guys getting hit in the crotch, with the tagline "Deck the Balls".

Was it sponsored by Gawker/Jezebel?

[RoboCain]

What?

[Silver Fox]

The continuing tragedy of Attawapiskat...

About 1,800 people live in the northern Ontario community, where a severe housing shortage has forced families to live in tents and unheated trailers, some without access to running water and electricity. Many others live in crowded, substandard housing.

Local leaders declared a state of emergency at the end of October.

The decision last week to appoint a third-party manager angered Spence, who described the move as "very shameful." Spence has said the government has focused too much attention on the band's finances instead of working to solve the housing crisis.

The government says it has given Attawapiskat around $90 million since 2006, including $4.3 million for on-reserve housing. It has also ordered an independent audit of the community's finances.

"If there are problems identified, we will take immediate action to address them to ensure long-term solutions for the community," Duncan said.

How long before Ottawa finally admits that it is the reason why so many Native Canadians are in the sorry state they're in?

[mad libertarian guy]

They will NEVER realize it. They will ALWAYS think that the answer lies in more government.

[chris]

Can you imagine a private company telling you that mail is going to be slower?

What a shame that we have to wait for the postal service to close its doors....so many billions flushed unnecessarily.

[teh rael o3]

so who do you propose deliver mail to every rural addy like the USPS ?

[Hank]

No one. Get a PO box in town or use the Internet. I don't owe you hand-delivered Kroger coupons.

[enoriverbend]

Yeah, it's not like rural people (like me) get packages via FedEx and UPS or anything. Clearly government is the only possible solution for us.

[o3]

fine w me since rural voters are overwhemingly gop. have at it

[Bones]

It's dumbasses like Hilary Clinton that push for rural voters to get high speed internet, you know, to make everyone equal. Well guess what Thunder Thighs, we're not equal. I don't have 50 acres and a mountain view and they don't have high speed internet, so shut your fat mouth and get out of the fucking government. What a worthless cunt.

[P Brooks]

Restoras-

Yes that was the story.

Thanks.

[P Brooks]

But the sheriff's office said just because Guerena was a Marine and worked at a mine doesn't mean he couldn't be involved in drug trafficking.

"We know from our experiences that good people turn their lives around and do bad things, and this guy was bad irrespective of his honorable discharge as a Marine," said sheriff's chief of investigations Rick Kastigar.

If you're not cop, you're little people.

[Res Publica Americana]

If I ever get a terminal disease and no longer have a life to look forward to, I'll volunteer to hunt that fucker down and beat him to death with a barbed cane.

[Bones]

Do you accept PayPal?

[kinnath]

"It's a horrible, horrible tragedy, but if they walked in the door and somebody came at them with an assault rifle, that would be a justifiable response," said Drago. "It doesn't matter whether he's innocent or not."

Nothing left to say after this one.

[President Camacho]

Fucking 4th Amendment, how does it work?

[sarcasmic]

It doesn't. Pretty words putting limits on government power are worthless if the courts rubber stamp everything.

[Res Publica Americana]

I think I just threw up.

[Drago]

If he dies.. he dies.

[John]

I don't care. Even if he was a drug runner, that was still an unlawful shoot.

[teh rael o3]

medical SCIENCES are...well, obviously science while math is obviously math. it triez moar harder

[teh rael o3]

damn threading n stuff

[teh rael o3]

holy fuck am i stupid

[JW]

We know from our experiences that good people turn their lives around and do bad things

Turning your life around means that YOU GO FROM BAD TO GOOD, not the other way around.

Moron.

[Qwarty?]

This is like the worst chat room ever.

[Anthony Weiner]

How ya doin'?

[teh rael o3]

good n turgid thx

[Ringtone Retard]

Gross!

[Atanarjuat]

Anyone need dating advice?

[?]

OMFG!

[-]

LOL

[John]

Liberal is honest enough to admit that Obama was a fraud on war and WOT issues. This is great.

If we listen to [New York Magazine's Jonathan] Chait, there is nothing at all disappointing about Obama's expansion of drone attacks in Pakistan and Somalia, with their routine "collateral damage" to innocents; his flagrant violation of the War Powers Resolution (not to mention the Constitution and his campaign promise) with his intervention in Libya; his intensification of the war in Afghanistan; his sanctions (an act of war) against Iran; his broken pledge to close Guantanamo; his support of indefinite detention without charge; his policy of assassinating even American citizens abroad without due process; his renewal of the Patriot Act; his placement of Marines in Australia with the words, "The United States is a Pacific power, and we are here to stay"; his failed attempt to lift the UN ban on cluster bombs; or his invocation of state secrets to keep torture victims out of court.

Chait thinks Obama should get credit for "ending the war in Iraq" -- but hold on. The Dec. 31 withdrawal date is set in the Status of Forces Agreement negotiated between the Iraqi government and the Bush administration. Obama tried -- but failed -- to persuade Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to let U.S. troops stay longer. As it is, they will simply be moved down the road to Kuwait, and a large contract mercenary force will likely be left behind at the humongous embassy in Baghdad.

http://www.houmatoday.com/arti.....?p=2&tc=pg

I made all of these same points to MNG about a month ago.

[?]

You should link it. We love reruns.

[John]

Half wit troll is a half wit.

[Res Publica Americana]

You know what's hilarious? When authors write articles that are basically "my point is 2232422323424, as evidenced by qqreqwwerewrr (link/statistics/etc), stuffed full of evidence, and the only response you get to them is "you should link it, we love reruns," or "tea-bagger propaganda!".

These dipshits have never listened, don't listen, and will never listen. They'll vote Obama into office again unless a decent Republican candidate gets the nimination.

Ignorance, eh?

[?]

Somebody needs a hug.

[Res Publica Americana]

That tree in Central Park. Go help it out with that, fucking hippie.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Yeah, and someone else needs a kick in the dick.

[Double D]

piss. off.

[Wholly Suppressed Rage]

I think he's cute!

[Double D]

John, I don't think this guy is a liberal. If you look at his bio info below the story, it states he writes for Freeman magazine.

[John]

He is clearly anti-war. And his points are valid.

[Double D]

Agree, but in your original post it seems like you're making much of the fact that a liberal is anti-Obama. It's not a big deal if he isn't a lib. You don't have to be liberal or progressive to be anti-war.

[John]

I agree. I just assumed he was a liberal. Good catch.

[Wholly Suppressed Rage]

Thinking before you write. How does it work?

[John]

You certainly can't tell us.

[Confused Fish in Barrel]

We're like sitting ducks!

[John]

Here you go Sugar Free. A little payback for the gross stuff you put on here. Read at your own risk

Q. Weird Public Massages: My brother is 19. He has chronic muscle tenseness, and it sometimes soothes him when his back is rubbed. We're both home for the holidays and have been spending time with our parents as a family. Thrice now, in public, my mom has, at his request, begun to massage his back. Under the shirt. For several minutes. She's done this for years, but now that he's grown, I think it's weird to do this in public and in private for that matter. My parents and brother get offended when I mention that museums and restaurants aren't the best spot for a mom-and-son massage. They say I'm dirty minded and being rude. Am I a prude, or are they committing a social faux pas?

http://www.slate.com/articles/.....jerk_.html

[Res Publica Americana]

She should wait until they cross the Rubicon and she catches them fucking like rabbits in the garage. Then she can write some more, and I'll have fun reading her thoughts and feelings on that one.

[Double D]

It's a mother easing the pain of her son. Not at all inappropriate regardless of their ages. So what?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

What if his "pain" was in his dick and she "eased his pain" by rubbing that until he "felt better"?

Reminds me of an old porno movie - the first one I ever saw, if I remember correctly - called "Taboo", in which our protagonist, named Paul (can't believe I still remember that), who is endowed with about a 10-inch schween, porks his mother. She first wakes him up in the middle of the night by being unable to resist giving him a blowjob when she sees him lying in bed naked and asleep. A masterful work of film-making art, to be sure.

[Double D]

Gross. Out.

[Double D]

What, are they breaking the law? My point is, a mother rubbing her son's back, whether he is shirtless, under his shirt, whatver...is just a mother rubbing her son's back. Seeing that as creepy or inappropriate says more about the complainer than the mother and her son. Granted, someone who doesn't know the situation may see it differently. But, again, so what? If one my close female relatives needed that treatment, I'd do it gladly and not give a damn about what some stranger thought.

[Pip]

"My point is, a mother rubbing her son's back, whether he is shirtless, under his shirt, whatver...is just a mother rubbing her son's back. Seeing that as creepy or inappropriate says more about the complainer than the mother and her son."

That depends. Is the kid moaning?

[SugarFree]

This one is worse. Ew.

Q. None of Her Beeswax: My boyfriend's daughter has begun, when we are alone together, to ask me about my sex life with her dad. She's 14, well past the age of knowing that's inappropriate behavior, I think. The first time I gently told her that the answers were private, and she seemed embarrassed, so I didn't mention it to anyone. Last night she asked very graphic questions about what positions we liked and if her dad was a good lover. I was so surprised I walked away. I haven't had a chance since then to pull her dad aside and explain the situation to him. Probably it's also because I am dreading this conversation. How do I approach this issue with my boyfriend, and what's up with his daughter's behavior?

[John]

There are a bunch of gross ones today.

[Warty]

Oh, to be a boy at that girl's school...

[Chatroom Crackpot]

LOL

[teh rael o3]

that may be an indicator of previous abuse.

[John]

That is what I thought too.

[Fluffy]

Where's Mom in this situation?

Because if Mom isn't around, tough shit letter writer. You imposed yourself in this girl's mom's place, now you get to listen to her uncomfortable questions now that she's all "curious".

[John]

and maybe you ought not to be leaving a two year old unattended long enough to find the gun behind the couch. Just a thought.

[Apatheist]

Thats what I thought, further back she posted a comment that this girl either has Asbergers ("the best case scenario") or has been abused by her father.

Or maybe a teenage girl is purposefully making her Dad's girlfriend uncomfortable? Is that really out of the range of possibility? No no, she must have asbergers.

There was not one redeeming piece of advice in that whole article. Just a whole bunch of garbage.

[Warty]

OMG OMG OGM OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG GUNS GUNS GUNS GNS GUNS

Q. Gun-Toting Grandparents: My in-laws recently nonchalantly mentioned that they keep four loaded guns unsecurely hidden throughout the main level of their home. This was a shock to my wife and me as we visit their home with our 2-year-old every few months or so. They assured us that they "move the guns" prior to our visits. How do we address this with them? My father-in-law is retired military, grew up around guns, and he is very stubborn. M-i-l is old-fashioned and goes along with whatever f-i-l says. They are good grandparents otherwise, but we don't feel comfortable bringing our curious 2-year-old over to their house. We don't want to give ultimatums but we want to make sure they understand how strongly we feel about this. It's nice that they say they move the guns to a more secure place each time we come over, but what if they forget or what if the more secure place isn't secure enough? Even when we aren't visiting, it bothers us that they feel the need to have four loaded guns throughout their house. They already have a security system and they live in a nice neighborhood. They are approaching their 70s and we worry about their judgment.
A: Loaded guns and visiting grandchildren don't mix. It's good they've told you what they've got stashed before your child explores the house one of these days and finds some really exciting toys! Why they need four loaded guns is their business. What's your business is that this is not safe. This is a conversation for your wife to have. She can say their gun ownership is their concern. But your concern is that the guns be unloaded and secured?in a locked garage, for example?before your child has the run of the house. If they won't agree to this, then explain of course you want them to see their grandchild as often as possible, but they'll have to do it at your house.

What a bunch of fucking whiny cunts.

[sarcasmic]

Maybe they should try supervising the kids?

[Silver Fox]

"People still do that? Child supervision?"

[sarcasmic]

I supervise my two year old. I guess I'm an odd duck.

[T]

We know you're an odd duck, sarcasmic. But around here, that's not saying much.

[Fluffy]

If your 2 year old can pull the trigger of a real live gun, stop worrying about this shit and enroll him in Superhero Academy immediately, because the kid has freakish superstrength and we need him to start fighting crime as soon as possible.

[John]

and maybe you ought not to be leaving a two year old unattended long enough to find the gun behind the couch. Just a thought.

[Obersvientati]

What if the gun is in her juice cup? OMG!

[Confused Fish in Barrel]

LOL

[Apple]

I don't know, two year olds are fast. But putting it somewhere they can't reach seems easy enough. They tend to be pretty short. I mean, his wife made to adulthood without shooting herself in her parent's house, right? I think the grandparents probably know what they're doing.

[mad libertarian guy]

They raised an idiot who might as well be Canadian with her "GUNZ R TEH EEEEEEEEVUL" nonsense, so probably not.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Depending on the gun, I have no problem believing a 2 year-old would have sufficient strength to pull the trigger. Have you ever handled one of Para Ordnance's LDA guns?

[Clich? Bandit]

My .357 SA yeah concievable (not concievable to have a 2yo get it to SA)...DA, no fucking way.

[Gun-phobic Bedwetter]

What if it just "goes off"?

[Hank]

The wife and I had a similar concern at my mom's, so we bought mom a biometric gun safe. She was thrilled, and there were virtually no letters written to anyone for advice.

[cynical]

Well, it's true that 2-year-olds are pretty much looking to kill themselves any way they can. A little paranoia isn't a bad thing (better too much than too little). Besides, so long as "secured" means "not accessible to a curious toddler", I think that's not a lot to ask.

I mean, I don't think they would be whiny to ask that poisonous cleaning supplies be placed out of reach or behind a childproofed cabinet. If grandparents don't want to do that, it's not like the kid has to stay with them without the parents' supervision.

[Warty]

I guaran-fucking-tee you that the loaded guns are not in a place a toddler could get to. This is nothing but whiny liberal pants-shitting.

[sarcasmic]

Do you think the average liberal has enough common sense to keep guns where a toddler can't reach?
Seriously.
Most liberals I know have common sense deficit disorder.

[R C Dean]

Whenever we have any kids over that haven't been trained in gun safety, all of our guns go in the safe. Period. No exceptions.

Kids can and will find anything. And once they get their sticky mitts on a gun, you have to assume it will go off with freakish accuracy and maximum damage.

[Neu Mejican]

RC's got it right.

Twenty-four percent of firearm-related deaths in children younger than 5 years of age are attributable to unintentional shootings; 26% for children 5 through 9 years of age; 21% for children 10 through 14 years of age; and 5% for adolescents 15 through 19 years of age....The National Pediatric Trauma Registry data indicate that the proportion of trauma admissions attributable to gunshots in general and children's hospitals increased during the period from 1986 through 1993 from 3% to 5%. A higher proportion of pediatric trauma cases were gunshot wound victims in general hospitals (8%) compared with children's hospitals (4%). The case fatality rate for those admitted for treatment of gunshot injuries during this period was 10%, 10 times higher than the rate for stabbings

[mad libertarian guy]

I don't know what the fuss is about with this one.

Guns jump up all the time and start shooting people all on their own.

[PermaLurker]

My grandparents had a gun rack at the top of the stairs. The top two were loaded, the bottom 4 were not, but the ammo was on the bottom shelf. None of us grand kids ever touched it--when we were really little we couldn't reach it. When we were tall enough to reach the ammo, then we got the gun safety course (including grandpa's patented shooting a rabbit with a 12 gauge and then making us clean it up..really makes a lasting impression that does).

[Ska]

I guess none of you watched this week's Boardwalk Empire.

[Fluffy]

http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/.....interview/

Gingrich to Glenn Beck:

Damn right I support cap and trade!

Damn right I support the individual mandate!

Damn right I think Paul Ryan is a piece of shit!

Damn right I support the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit!

Damn right I support ethanol subsidies!

Wasn't he all indignant a day or two ago about people claiming he supported these things?

[John]

And that was this morning. I guess his position on those things depends on whether he took his meds that morning. He really is fucking nuts. I am starting to think he might not just be an ordinary bad president. But instead someone who should be no where near nuclear weapons.

[cynical]

"I guess his position on those things depends on whether he took his meds that morning."

Told you. Baby Face Nelson.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"I'm George Nelson! Not Babyface!"

/O Brother Where Art Thou

[IPFreely]

ZOMG Ron Paul is a crazy racist you guys!!1!0!ONE

http://www.vice.com/read/ron-p.....leprechaun

[Warty]

DONT: Ron Paul! LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[rac3rx]

So why does this ad make me want to sing
AMERICA! FUCK YEAH! ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....redirect=1

[P Brooks]

If they won't agree to this, then explain of course you want them to see their grandchild as often as possible, but they'll have to do it at your house.

What kind of incompetent negligence is this? Tell her to report them to the AMA!

[P Brooks]

She's 14, well past the age of knowing that's inappropriate behavior, I think.

Think harder.

Convince her teh ANAL is bestest, if you don't want to worry about the pitter patter of little feet.

[Libertarian Party Plank 2012]

No fair guessing!

[P Brooks]

All fucking morning, Bloomberg has had a parade of "experts" all in a tizzy for a EuroZone version of Quantitative Easing. They just had some guy on who basically said Timmay needs to give those crackpot Germans a good scolding, and force them to turn on the taps.

And, of course, it's all about the stock prices, because the DJIA = the economy! Won't somebody think of the stock options?

[rac3rx]

Why would they? The US is already QE'ing Europe with US Dollars. Hello Weimar!

[P Brooks]

Timmay speaks!

Platitudes for everyone!

[P Brooks]

"We face very challenging challenges."

Thought you'd like to know.

[P Brooks]

his wife made to adulthood without shooting herself in her parent's house, right? I think the grandparents probably know what they're doing.

Spoilsport.

[Res Publica Americana]

Warty was right. Everything about that shitty, whiny piece of shit of a complaint was coded bitching. When my nephew and niece visit, I just carry my gun with me, and all the rest are in my room, or I put my carry gun in there too, and the door to that is locked. My other nephew and my friend's kid are already gun nuts and know firearms safety (at 8 and 10!!! OMG GUNS N KIDS WTF BBQ PMG WTF LOLOLOLOLOLOOLWQ EWERE).

Watching an eight-year-old disassemble a handgun is pretty amusing in the context of comparison with progressives -- this small kid knows how to do it like the back of his hand, but we've got entire movements of people who's so full of shit they campaign politically for their prohibition.

[Clich? Bandit]

WOO HOO Porn now, properly categorized!!!!

[The Midget of Love]

GREAT!

[Loather of Cops and Feds]

Where is Dunphy to defend the poor, misunderstood 1 in 20 sociopaths that got caught in Florida? After all, 40 IA complaints against 1 cop could all be spurious.

[Loather of Cops and Feds]

Kinda debunks the "cops get shit on by the system" meme he is famous for.