A.M. Links: Gingrich Plummets, Paul Surges, Egypt Implodes

• Ron Paul leads the polls in Iowa. 

• Newt Gingrich goes from 27 percent, to 22 percent, to 14 percent in Iowa. 
• Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush pens op-ed in Wall Street Journal, GOP fantasizes that he'll run. 
• Four Congress critters got special loans from Countrywide Financial Corp., say investigators. 
• Czechs bid adieu to Vaclav Havel.
• Egypt: still a police state. 

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New at Reason.tv: "Radley Balko Talks HuffPo, Nashville, OWS, & Cory Maye"

Comments

[Lord Humungus]

A.M.?

[Arduin Grimoire]

Well, it sure is lookin' like a beautiful day in Hazzard, the little town where any old thing can happen... and usually does. Today, though, Hazzard's as quiet as a cat in socks. The sun is out, the sky is blue, and the Hazzard Ladies Auxiliary is lookin' prettier than ever. Daisy's busy as any beehive makin' her famous huckleberry pie, Ol' Cooter done gone and fell asleep while workin' under Uncle Jesse's truck again, Sheriff Roscoe is giving out phony parking tickets, and the Duke boys, Bo and Luke, are makin' this month's farm mortgage payment at the Bank of Hazzard. But, uh-oh... what's this here? Fetch a look over yonder. It's that low-down mean ol' Boss Hogg putting somethin' in the General Lee, something that looks a powerful lot like bank bags. If I was them poor Duke boys, I'd get a-ready for some slick shuckin'.

[Lord Humungus]

In 1984(ish), I went on a trip to California, since my brother was looking to get into UCLA. At one point during the trip, my parents dropped the two of us off at Burbank studios for a 'special' tour.

there I got to a) stand in William Shatner's parking space b) see the bar set from TJ Hooker c) hear the Ghostbusters soundtrack from the master tape (oh boy) d) see a DoH scene being filmed - where Boss Hogg had to fall out of the dentist chair. A stuntman in fat suit was brought in for this.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Too bad you didn't get to see Daisy Duke.

[PS]

"A stuntman in fat suit was brought in for this."

To be fair, it was a bit of a slump for Jerry Brown.

[Tim]

Jong Il dead, Ron Paul topples Gingrach. Boy Howdy what a start to the week.

[Mike M.]

He's ronery, so very very ronery.

[Funny Every Time]

Hahahaha!

[Proprietist]

Yeah, still sad about Havel and Hitchens though.

[Proprietist]

And the State women-beating in Egypt. Those images should be enough to spark a full-scale revolution.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A.M. Links? My donation paid for the rebranding, didn't it?

[Lord Humungus]

I'm still waiting for 'Breakfast Links'.

[Live Free or Diet]

Groan.

[AlmightyJb]

I want afternoon links. Twice a day isn't enough.

[?]

Missing Links would be perfect. Not that the commentary is not chat-tastic!

[Auric Demonocles]

You jerk, I was waiting for evening links to become an established thing before making that joke. Now I demand Midnight Links!

[AlmightyJb]

Don't blame me for your procrastination:)

[AlmightyJb]

Don't blame me for your procrastination:)

[sarcasmic]

This just in! Kate Beckinsale is still hot!

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

Sinead O'Conner is not!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....g-gig.html

[RoboCain]

Kate Beckinsale still seems like a bit of a prude.

[Live Free or Diet]

She just needs me to introduce h...
Oh, hello, dear. Just commenting on Reason H&R. Yeah, "oh, politics" is right.

[Pip]

Sarah's prettier.

[RoboCain]

Sarah who? We need a last name, and preferably a link to nude pics.

[sarcasmic]

I believe that may be a reference to the Terminator, but I could be wrong.

[RoboCain]

Lena Heady or Linda Hamilton?

[AlmightyJB]

Linda Hamilton back in the day for sure.

[Pip]

Who's Sarah? Let's just say they can stop making women now because they finally got it right.

[Arduin Grimoire]

Fannie, Freddie At Heart Of Financial Crisis, Fraud Charges Show
...As recently as 2008, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman stated: "Fannie and Freddie buy only mortgages issued to borrowers who made substantial down payments and carefully documented their income."

Now, the government's own market watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, says that's false. They're going after former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd and former Freddie CEO Richard Syron to prove it.

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives told the world that their subprime exposure was substantially smaller than it really was," was how Robert Khuzami, director of SEC enforcement, described it Friday.

But that's an understatement.

From 2007 to 2008, according to SEC documents, executives at Freddie and Fannie together estimated their total exposure to subprime loans at about $10 billion.

The real amount? Nearly $300 billion total.

In short, Fannie and Freddie are frauds. They systematically hid their exposure to potential losses from investors, taxpayers and regulators....

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Were Into Subprime Lending, and Lied About It
...As Cato Institute economist Mark Calabria notes, "Back in 2008, Paul Krugman went so far as to say, 'they didn't do any subprime, because they can't.' Just taking 10 minutes to read the actual statute and regulations would have revealed to him that they actually could. Krugman went on to say, 'Fannie and Freddie buy only mortgages issued to borrowers who made substantial down payments and carefully documented their income.' Of course, just reading Fannie's 10-K would have revealed that claim to be false. But why let facts get in the way?"...

...After James A. Johnson, a Democratic political operative and former aide to Walter Mondale, became chairman of Fannie Mae in 1991 . . . it became a political powerhouse, intimidating and suborning Congress and tying itself closely to the Clinton administration's support for the low-income lending program called "affordable housing." This program required subprime and other risky lending, but it solidified Fannie's support among Democrats and some Republicans in Congress, and enabled the agency to resist privatization or significant regulation until 2008. "Under Johnson," write Ms. Morgenson and Mr. Rosner, "Fannie Mae led the way in encouraging loose lending practices among banks whose loans the company bought. . . . Johnson led both the private and public sectors down a path that led directly to the financial crisis of 2008.". . .Far from being a marginal player, Fannie Mae was the source of the decline in mortgage underwriting standards that eventually brought down the financial system. It led rather than followed Wall Street into risky lending. . .Edward Pinto (a former chief credit officer of Fannie Mae) . . . presented . . . evidence . . . showing that by 2008 half of all mortgages in the U.S. (27 million loans) were subprime or otherwise risky, and that 12 million of these loans were on the books of the GSEs....

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Paulie Krugnuts wrong = dog bites man.

[Mike M.]

I know. Poor Krugnuts, the government just made him look like even bigger fool than he already is.

[SugarFree]

If only there was some ways to hook him up to the national energy grid. We could power the East Coast with the methane from his bullshit.

[JW]

The joke's on you! Cats are easily digested.

[SugarFree]

"Go down smooth. Like Japan recession. Krug want more!"

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Reality is a right wing meme.

[Brett L]

I thought it was the quantum coherence forced on the universe through Teh Male Gaze.

[Lord Humungus]

Top 10 things Obama got wrong
http://blogs.dailymail.com/don.....ives/48154

Shortly after Barack Obama began his presidency, I ran a piece 100 mistakes in hist first 100 days. It was fun. It was light and whimsical, with a little serious stuff thrown in. He was living the life of Riley. Then reality set in. Now he is living the life of Jimmy Carter. How did he wind up here?

[sarcasmic]

Someone get LeAnn Rimes a cheeburger!

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

[sage]

What a porker!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Never understood her appeal. Even when she wasn't super-thin, I thought she looked like a lizard.

[Arduin Grimoire]

To promote the global warming scare, Jane Lubchenco's NOAA continuously changes past temperature records to create fake warming - on a monthly basis

Climategate Bombshell: Did U.S. Gov't Help Hide Climate Data?
...Making that case in 2009, the then-head of the Research Unit, Dr. Phil Jones, told colleagues repeatedly that the U.S. Department of Energy was funding his data collection -- and that officials there agreed that he should not have to release the data.

"Work on the land station data has been funded by the U.S. Dept of Energy, and I have their agreement that the data needn't be passed on. I got this [agreement] in 2007," Jones wrote in a May 13, 2009, email to British officials, before listing reasons he did not want them to release data.

Two months later, Jones reiterated that sentiment to colleagues, saying that the data "has to be well hidden. I've discussed this with the main funder (U.S. Dept of Energy) in the past and they are happy about not releasing the original station data."

A third email from Jones written in 2007 echoes the idea: "They are happy with me not passing on the station data," he wrote....

[Mike M.]

I suppose this is probably why the warming suddenly mysteriously stopped showing up in the tree rings. Because the warming doesn't even really exist, it was invented by a bunch of lying con artists!

[RoboCain]

Has the Daily Caller been hacked? Whenever I click on anything it goes to some site called newstogram or some shit.

[RoboCain]

Anyone here try? I'm wondering if it's just me.

[Brian D]

Daily Caller is working for me.

[TomD]

Nope. Works for me. Clearly your browser got a redirect bug while you were surfing for "pictures" last night.

[bosty]

It's working on my end, headline is about Romney trying to woo Tea Party voters

[Post-Coital Rat]

It's a javascript redirect from a script on the page that's doing it. I'm getting the same thing in Konqueror, which there's no way a bug was written for it.

Block everything from pagesinxt.com and newstogram.com, and you won't get the redirect

[RoboCain]

OK, how do I do that? I looked at Adblock Plus but couldn't find an option that did anything.

[Post-Coital Rat]

Go to Adblock Plus > Filter preferences > Ad Blocking Rules. Click Add Filter. Type in (including the asterisks) *pagesinxt.com* and hit return. Do the same thing for *newstogram.com*

[RoboCain]

I tried that and it didn't work.

Anyway, they seem to have fixed it.

[Lord Humungus]

China's land grab is undermining grassroots democracy
The standoff in Wukan exemplifies the growing tensions between state and society in a rapidly urbanising country
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm.....-democracy

[Brett L]

Yeah, big surprise. Eminent Domain unpopular with ignorant peasants.

/sarc

[pmains]

Has anybody explained to them that it's for the common good?

[DJF]

Since all land in China is owned by the communist government then its just the government taking back what is theirs. Individuals don't own land in China, they just lease it from the government.

[Arcaster]

So they pay property taxes?

[Lord Humungus]

10 Pieces of Nasty Ancient Graffitti ? Now Translated!

10. "Sydromachos has an ass as big as a cistern."

etc etc
http://io9.com/5867518/10-piec.....t-graffiti

[RoboCain]

"By age 23, up to 41 percent of American adolescents and young adults have been arrested at least once for something other than a minor traffic violation, according to a new study published today in the journal Pediatrics."

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/a.....d=15180222

Does the Journal of Pediatrics ever write about sick kids?

[sarcasmic]

But the study's authors say such a high percentage of arrests may point to a host of potential health and behavioral problems that put young people at risk for criminal activity.

Or maybe there are too many stupid laws and too many assholes enforcing them.

[J. O'Pediatrix]

Does the Journal of Pediatrics ever write about sick kids?

They used to, but this is the 21st Century.

[R C Dean]

WTF is "up to 41%"? Doesn't that mean any percentage between 0 and 41?

[SugarFree]

That is academiksprach for "We can't prove it, but we prefer to believe so based on factors we don't care to cite."

[invisible furry hand]

I once saw a voodoo priest on TV talking about his hobby in raising the dead and turning them into his infernal slaves. He said his success rate was between 0 and 50%, which seemed to leave a lot of wriggle room

[db-witchdoctor.com]

Arise, Chicken!
Chicken, Arise!

[Sofa King]

ho ho...you say...funny thing.

[JW]

Why is it that the public health industry never writes about the growing epidemic of weasel words?

[Chris Tmassale]

"Savings up to 75%!"

[KMA]

Sixty percent of the time, it works every time.

[Lord Humungus]

Swedish Auto Maker Saab Runs Out Of Road
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....45564.html

Saab Automobile, the Swedish auto maker which filed for bankruptcy Monday after a desperate three-year fight for survival, will be missed as a once-innovative manufacturer of turbo-charged cars.

The company's demise, barring a last-gasp salvage of Saab's operating assets as they are liquidated, underscores how tough it is for niche auto makers to survive in the increasingly competitive global industry when development and manufacturing costs are so high. Marrying originality with mass production has proved too difficult for Saab's different owners.

[Citizen Nothing]

My 15-year Saab, with 170,000 plus miles, is a cream puff. It's a bitch to get repaired, but it was built right. RIP, Saab.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Early '90's Accords are topping 300K with regularity if my periodic survey of my mechanic's work is anywhere close to reality and the parts are still decently priced.

My '94 Volvo is approaching 200K, but god, some of the parts are ungodly expensive.

[JW]

This bums me out a bit. I never owned a Saab, but always wanted one, ever since I saw the first new 900 Turbo.

[rac3rx]

Same here...

[Old Mexican]

Re: Lord Humungus,

Swedish Auto Maker Saab Runs Out Of Road

Good riddance. Ugly, boxy symbols of what happens when good ol' European cronyism replaces entrepreneurship and talent.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

You are like John of the Libertarians.

Are you ever "off"? Do you have a setting other than 11?

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Thank god, no he doesn't. If he weren't doing it, I might have to try, but I don't have the bandwidth.

[Chris Dodd]

Investigators say 4 Reps got discounted loans

And your point is ...?

[Brett L]

From the Jeb article:

"The right to rise does not require a libertarian utopia to exist. Rather, it requires fewer, simpler and more outcome-oriented rules. Rules for which an honest cost-benefit analysis is done before their imposition. Rules that sunset so they can be eliminated or adjusted as conditions change. Rules that have disputes resolved faster and less expensively through arbitration than litigation"

I totally disagree about the arbitration part. Anyone should be able to get a civil trial at any time if they have the standing, loser pays. The real fantasy is the "more honest CBA". The whole point is that there are too many unknowables, so when in doubt, don't make rules.

[R C Dean]

The notion that arbitration is faster and cheaper than litigation is increasingly less valid. It has become so widely used for such high-dollar issues that it often turns out to be almost as bad.

[Matrix]

Well, a lot of tech companies are changing their TOSs to get rid of class action suits and any other suits in court and settle all disputes in arbitration, which takes power away from consumers individually and as a whole, and gives it to corporations. I really hated when Sony and Microsoft went that route.

But then again, does that mean a judge has to toss a law suit brought about by individuals or groups that begrudgingly agreed to these TOSs?

[Brett L]

I just don't want the State deciding for me. If binding arbitration becomes the major contractual issue in tech services, one of the service providers (or a new one) will make a point of providing a different contract.

[John]

Mostly arbitration is a great way for crooks to fuck people over. Let's say I owe you $100,000. So I say "fuck you sue me". And then you do sue. I then put the case to arbitration or mediation and get took look like a reasonable guy by coming up to 50K from zero. Come on RC. lets just split the difference. That is fair isn't it?

[PS]

My wife had good experience with arbitration here. It was a straightforward case of goods delivered and not paid for, ~$100,000 worth of goods, actually. She got the money owed plus legal fees. Arbitration doesn't necessarily mean splitting the difference.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Depends on the fairness and effectiveness of the arbiters. Its basically asking for a judicial summary judgement, correct?

[PS]

Yes, at least in this case. It was really just about enforcing a contract, yet nerve-wracking nonetheless because the company's future was riding on a proper judgement. The fairness of the normal court system here in CZ leaves a hell of a lot to be desired.

[pmains]

There are other forms of "Alternative Dispute Resolution." I'm waiting for David Friedman to hang out his shingle advertising classical Icelandic dispute resolution. Appropriate wergilds are determined beforehand. 36 man juries, with no more than 6 dissenters to reach a decision. Loser pays or goes to a private prison to pay off his debt (or some such).

[RoboCain]

A fraternity at the University of Vermont has been suspended because of an online survey asking the frat brothers who among their fellow students they would rape.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/.....RxRzDEXO6O

[Brother]

That's why I always say "do".

[Auric Demonocles]

As I mentioned in a recent post: I went to UVM undergrad and during orientation they claimed that 1/2 girls would be raped by the end of college.

[Auric Demonocles]

Oh yeah, also frats are even dumber than usual at UVM since only like 3-4 percent of the school is involved in "Greek life".

[mad libertarian guy]

You can totally trust the Occupy movement.

From his spot at the center of Duarte Square in Lower Manhattan, Matt Sky watched on Saturday as hundreds of protesters streamed into the public areas of the triangle-shaped space at the center of an ideological tug of war between onetime allies turned adversaries: Occupy Wall Street and Trinity Church.

Demonstrators, including Episcopal Bishop George E. Packard, center, were arrested in Lower Manhattan on Saturday after they went onto property belonging to Trinity Church.

That began a long day of demonstrations and marches that extended as far as Times Square and resulted in at least 50 arrests.

By noon, protesters had streamed into the square from all directions under cold, cloudy skies to reinforce the vibrancy of a movement swept last month from another space, Zuccotti Park, and signal a resolve against ecclesiastical leaders resisting their wish to set up an encampment on property owned by the venerable Episcopal church.

"Everything about this movement is momentum," said Mr. Sky, 27, an Internet consultant from the East Village. "We need to show people that we are still relevant."

Even before the protesters were displaced on Nov. 15, Trinity gave many of them hot chocolate, blankets and a place to rest at a space owned by the church. But when the Occupy movement expressed an interest in setting up an organizing camp on vacant Trinity property at Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas, the church said no.

The Occupy Wall Street forces then directed their skills at the church: They took their arguments to the streets. In familiar fashion, police officers converged on the area, standing around the perimeter.

They gladly accept what charity is offered them, then take by force the rest. These entitled little fucks need to disappear. One must wonder at what point a protest movement turns in to criminal enterprise.

[SugarFree]

Internet consultant

What a colorful way to say "unemployed."

[Arduin Grimoire]

Occupy Group Faults Church, a Onetime Ally
..."We need more; you have more," one protester, Amin Husain, 36, told a Trinity official on Thursday, during an impromptu sidewalk exchange between clergy members and demonstrators. "We are coming to you for sanctuary."...

[R C Dean]

"We need more; you have more,"

Occupy [Your Wallet] in a nutshell. Anyone interested in hacking the Occupados should carry one of these signs at their little gatherings.

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah -- I think they finally have found their mission statement.

[JW]

They gladly accept what charity is offered them, then take by force the rest.

And their organizational strategic goal.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Demonstrators, including Episcopal Bishop George E. Packard, center, were arrested in Lower Manhattan on Saturday after they went onto property belonging to Trinity Church.

Hardly a surprise that a rep of the most pozzed-out Christian denomination was involved in this.

[BakedPenguin]

What about Unitarians?

[Citizen Walter]

Unitarians? Fuck me. Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

[T]

Unitarianism is a club for people who like going to church, not a religion.

[PermaLurker]

That's a fair cop.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

These entitled little fucks need to disappear. One must wonder at what point a protest movement turns in to criminal enterprise.

In the good old days, they would have gotten that mentality quite literally beaten out of them by their parents. Now there's so much indulgence their whole life revolves around "GIBMEDATS!"

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

They gladly accept what charity is offered them, then take by force the rest. These entitled little fucks need to disappear. One must wonder at what point a protest movement turns in to criminal enterprise.

Incredibly they think of themselves as more civilized than us unenlightened folk, when they don't even know how to say "thank you" to somebody who is nice to them.

[JW]

"O.W.S. protestors call out for social and economic justice; Trinity has been supporting these goals for more than 300 years," Dr. Cooper said in a statement.

And you got it, good and hard.

[tarran]

I know it's fashionable in this socialist dystopia, but I consider unemployment a badge of failure

[Quetzalcoatl]

Is that show good?

[tarran]

It's one of those British shows that's funny for two or three episodes and then they're out of material.

[Matrix]

They gladly accept what charity is offered them, then take by force the rest. These entitled little fucks need to disappear. One must wonder at what point a protest movement turns in to criminal enterprise.

Wow... this perfectly illustrates the desire of the OWS movement. Oy va voy

[Matrix]

maybe I should ****ing preview my comments before posting them! Grr. That first paragraph should have been a quote.

[SugarFree]

L.A. schools' healthful lunch menu panned by students

Earlier this year, the district got rid of chocolate and strawberry milk, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, nachos and other food high in fat, sugar and sodium. Instead, district chefs concocted such healthful alternatives as vegetarian curries and tamales, quinoa salads and pad Thai noodles.

There's just one problem: Many of the meals are being rejected en masse. Participation in the school lunch program has dropped by thousands of students. Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons and uneaten entrees being thrown away. Students are ditching lunch, and some say they're suffering from headaches, stomach pains and even anemia. At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.

[Fist of Etiquette]

At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.

The free market is a chubby chaser.

[RoboCain]

Yet we didn't have this problem back in the 70's.

[mad libertarian guy]

Grade school kids don't like vegetarian curry or pad thai? Who the fuck knew?

[Devil's Advocate]

It's almost as if whoever designed these lunches never actually cooked lunch or dinner for a grade school kid. I'm not saying that is actually the case, but come on, L.A. School System. Common sense and all that.

[SugarFree]

Wha? You mean kids don't like quinoa? It's hard to pronounce and tastes like dirt? It must be good for you!

[robc]

There are a few beers made with quinoa. Not sure how that applies here though.

[SugarFree]

I've eaten it a few times. It's pretty bad straight up. It is fairly alkali and needs an acid to offset it.

[Timon19]

I found it completely flavorless, having less flavor than unadorned white Uncle Ben's.

[Field Marshall Gill]

This is clearly an act of some underground Libertarians! What better way to eliminate the government subsidy of school lunches than by making them so unappealing people will have to provide for their own children's lunch.

[PS]

"What better way to eliminate the government subsidy of school lunches than by making them so unappealing people will have to provide for their own children's lunch."

Thank God the public schools are fighting back. http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....7867.story

[Devil's Advocate]

I rather like quinoa. It sounds as if you had some that whoever made it didn't prepare properly. It has a chemical in it (saponin) that requires rinsing to remove, otherwise it has (as you say) an alkaline, bitter taste. But be that as it may, and even liking quinoa, it would not be my first choice for a kid's lunch. Or any vegetarian-based meal, for that matter.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

Those saponins can be pretty tough on people's digestive system. For non-celiacs, it's probably a step backwards.

[pmains]

I got the microwave quinoa from "Fresh and Easy." Dumped in some canned chicken and a lot of Sriracha to make it edible.

[Devil's Advocate]

It is one thing to handle-jack me, but to do so in order to come out in favor of quinoa is simply too much to bear. Have you no shame?

[T]

Why? Is this a gluten-free thing like the sorghum beers?

[robc]

In some cultures, it was the grain they had available.

[robc]

In parts of South America, chicha was sometime made from quinoa in part or in total.

In modern brews, its often because they can, or to make a historic recipe. The gluten-free thing would also apply.

[robc]

I can only find one commercial example, 1516 Brewing Company in vienna makes a weissbier with quinoa.

[T]

I wonder if anybody's made amaranth beer.

Via google, I see they have. I like how there's no grain or pseudograin mankind won't make beer from. It gives me hope for the future.

[BakedPenguin]

I like how there's no grain or pseudograin mankind won't make beer from.

Best thing anyone could do with it. That or use it to fatten animals.

[robc]

I like how there's no grain or pseudograin mankind won't make beer from.

Duh? If it will ferment, we damn well will ferment it.

[Clich? Bandit]

Quinoa is fine, SF just had it prepared poorly. It is a healthier but arguabley more bland cream of wheat type thing but it can be prepared in a variety of ways. On the Inca Trail I ate it everyday, three times a day. The Peruvians really use the crap out of it...I guess because it is their grain of choice. It is also low glycemic so my wanna be SF ass can eat it without worry. Hummus, quinoa, and dead animals (the occaisional leafy green too) the only way to live (at least live and keep your toes and eyesight).

[Clich? Bandit]

p.s. It is not for kids...kids eat simple flavors and textures from my experience.

[Devil's Advocate]

kids eat simple flavors and textures from my experience.

I agree, which is why whoever came up with curry and pad Thai as acceptable school lunches for kids had to have been smoking crack. Awesome for adults; for kids, not so much.

Although given that it was L.A. schools I was surprised about the tamale thing. One, because tamales per se aren't all that healthy (unless they were vegetarian tamales, which I don't even want to think about); and two there is a huge Hispanic population in LA and I would have thought that tamales would have been just fine as a possible meal.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

That's what's so striking--it's one thing to migrate to a healthier menu, but they went to something that was obviously concocted by a bunch of stiff-necked vegans. And in a school system now occupied with large numbers of first and second generation immigrant kids, who likely aren't getting anything particularly healthy at home, it's hardly a surprise that they've set up a black market.

A future article will have the story of some goon named Big Worm who tried to kill one of his dealers for eating the stock of Doritoes, because "playing with my money is like playing with my emotions."

[Lost_In_Translation]

Kids love broccoli with cheese. Can't we come to some sort of culinary compromise?

[PS]

Hold on there, pardner. I'd argue that immigrant families are more likely to be eating healthy, traditional fare like meat and veggies.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Only if they're parents are taking the time to make the food, and aren't loading everything down with fried stuff and layers of cheese. The fact that these kids are buying their lunch at school tells me that their isn't a whole lot of time being devoted at home to meals.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

they're=their

[PS]

If they are frying stuff in lard I don't see the problem, nor with layers of cheese.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Nor I, at least from a taste perspective. From a health perspective, though, it's not the most ideal.

Unless this spare tire I've grown since grad school is actually a Dunkin' Donut of Vitality.

[racist parent]

And seriously, who wants their kids coming home smelling like curry anyway? I have to put up with it from the guy in the adjacent cube all day!

[Jews 'n Things]

RACIST!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Amusingly enough, the most racist person on The Big Bang Theory is Howard Wallowitz.

[SFC B]

There has to be something on the "healthy" continuum between "processed chicken nuggents" and "quinona salad".

[Robert]

The fact that they're throwing away food shows they won't get fat. Fat people aren't picky eaters.

[rac3rx]

That is so not true...I have an entire family of fat arsed picky eaters.

[Matrix]

At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.

It's a good thing we don't see this kind of thing in the world outside of school...

[Neu Mejican]

But the naked chef said they'd love it.

[PS]

"Principals report massive waste, with unopened milk cartons"

Unopened skim milk cartons, IOW just the lactose(a sugar) and water.

[Timon19]

Make those curries mean-laden and drop the quinoa (most overrated grain ever) and that sounds pretty awesome. Of course when I was that age, I'd have probably rejected it, too.

[Ted S.]

I'd like some mean-laden curry!

[Timon19]

Shit. Meat-laden. Only took you a bit over 3 hours, though!

[Ted S.]

I don't spend 24 hours a day reading H&R like some people do.

[MJ]

A vegetarian curry is well laden with meanness.

[mad libertarian guy]

Clearly parents have failed at their jobs for not properly indoctrinating their children to enjoy such delicacies as quinoa salad.

Surely it is they who are at fault, not health nanny bureaucrat chefs preparing food menus for kids.

[Timon19]

Looks like tabbouleh, except shitty.

[pmains]

I don't understand how anyone can eat quinoa (yeck) but the rest of that sounds pretty good. Curry? Pad Thai? I'm sure it's the preparation that's lacking. Maybe they should try something simpler, like chicken nuggets.

(And the cycle is complete.)

[johnl]

Cover quinoa with a spicy meat stew. It's fine.

[juggalosaurus]

fucking unintended consequences, how do they work?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush pens op-ed in Wall Street Journal, GOP fantasizes that he'll run.

Jeb Bush, Shining Star of Sugarloaf Mountain

[John Thacker]

Unlike his brother, in his case he actually would have had a better shot at the nomination if his last name hadn't been Bush.

Except possibly for the whole part about not getting to be FL Gov in the first place.

[mad libertarian guy]

Pao de azucar.

[P Brooks]

In ur welths, spreadin um.

Enough is enough. Congress should reform our tax law to put the brakes on further inequality. Specifically, we propose an automatic extra tax on the income of the top 1 percent of earners ? a tax that would limit the after-tax incomes of this club to 36 times the median household income.

Importantly, our Brandeis tax does not target excessive income per se; it only caps inequality. Billionaires could double their current income without the tax kicking in ? as long as the median income also doubles. The sky is the limit for the rich as long as the "rising tide lifts all boats." Indeed, the tax gives job creators an extra reason to make sure that corporate wealth does in fact trickle down.

Here's how the tax would work. Once a year, the Internal Revenue Service would calculate the Brandeis ratio of the previous year. If the average 1-percenter made more than 36 times the income of the median American household, then the I.R.S. would create a new tax bracket for the highest 1 percent of income and calculate a marginal income tax rate for that bracket sufficient to reduce the after-tax Brandeis ratio to 36.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Brett L]

Fucking envious twats. "How dare they be rich whilst I'm poor!" Why don't you create something other than hot air and bullshit, both of which have supplies which outpace demand. FSM, I can't abide those where envy and righteousness coexxist.

[mad libertarian guy]

Because it's easier to get government to do your bidding than come up with a useful product/service?

[R C Dean]

That's what, $45,000?

So they want to cap income at $1.62MM?

The average income of the top 1% is $31MM.

http://www.nytimes.com/interac.....ncome.html

Given the spread of incomes above that $1.65MM that the top 1% is earning, I'm not sure how you calcluate a marginal rate that brings each of them down to $1.65MM. Let's say its intended to bring the average down to $1.65MM. If so, he's talking about a marginal rate of around 95%.

The oppo ads write themselves. Pro sports icon after pro sports icon looks into the camera and says "Fuck off, slaver."

[Brett L]

Well, they obviously aren't talking about sports icons of color. Only rich white people are part of the 1%. And not Elway or Gretzky either. Maybe Tebow, he's a southern boy. Which raises a good point about the conflation of assets and income.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Pro sports icon after pro sports icon looks into the camera and says "Fuck off, slaver."

LeBron James: "I'm taking my talents to Southern Europe."

[Maxxx]

The average income of the top 1% is $31MM.

Reading failure.

That is the top 00.01% (1 in 10,000)

[Ted S.]

Er, according to the graph the top 1% starts at $386K.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Median income is about $48K, 36X that is a little over $1.7 million. they aren't talking a percentage cap, they're talking about a hard salary cap.

LOL at the thought of Albert Pujols giving up a penny of that new contract.

I don't think these clowns have thought the math on this all the way through. This proposal of theirs is a blatant recipe for runaway inflation.

[Rich]

a tax that would limit the after-tax incomes of this club to 36 times the median household income

With all due respect, why 36? Why not 1 and be done with it?

[Res Publica Americana]

I don't think I've read dumber shit since the Communist Manifesto. 100 Internets for digging that up.

[Maxxx]

Specifically, we propose an automatic extra tax on the income of the top 1 percent of earners ? a tax that would limit the after-tax incomes of this club to 36 times the median household income.

Fools!!!11!!1

Everyone knows the fair ratio is 33 times median income.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Importantly, our Brandeis tax does not target excessive income per se; it only caps inequality. Billionaires could double their current income without the tax kicking in ? as long as the median income also doubles. The sky is the limit for the rich as long as the "rising tide lifts all boats." Indeed, the tax gives job creators an extra reason to make sure that corporate wealth does in fact trickle down.

"Why no, this won't be an incentive to inflate the currency and bloat the credit market even further!"

[mad libertarian guy]

Horrid public health nannyism at work. Even worse comments.

So last week, when the City Council approved Loma Linda's first McDonald's restaurant, many residents bemoaned the decision, worrying that the officials were jeopardizing the city's reputation as a paragon of healthy lifestyles.

Wayne Dysinger, a physician and public health professor in the preventive medicine department at Loma Linda University's School of Medicine, grew up in the city and remembers a time when there were no such restaurants. A generation ago, it was nearly impossible to even find meat within city limits. Now, he worries about his children.

"We know from research that if a school is near a fast-food restaurant, the kids there are more likely to be obese," he said. "We will never eliminate unhealthy choices, and pretty much everyone has an unhealthy treat once in a while. I am going to drive by that intersection every day and it's fairly likely that they will say 'Oh Daddy, can we stop there' more often. Why do we need to encourage that?"

[. . .]

About 10 years ago, when the city denied plans for another fast-food restaurant, the developer responded with a lawsuit and the city eventually capitulated, said Mayor Rhodes Rigsby, who is also the assistant dean of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine.

"I don't think we should be getting into the business of legislating vegetarianism," Dr. Rigsby said, adding that he would support having a citywide vote on whether fast-food outlets should be banned entirely from the city. "If this is something that people are really opposed to, that's how we should deal with it."

Yeah. We should just outlaw it rather than allow the market to decide whether a fast food restaurant in a particular geographic area is a good idea. If the people of the city don't want it, the restaurant will surely close.

I'm about convinced that the public health nannies are the largest threat to liberty we have. Fuck. Them. All.

[RoboCain]

Dr. Rigsby seems to be contradicting himself there.

[SugarFree]

He's too busy picking up the rice where a wedding has been.

[Rich]

SF, that's just silly.

[SugarFree]

Bird's have to be forced to be low-carb, moran. Avian obesity is at an all-time high!

[PS]

Birds, unlike humans, are evolved to eat seads you frickin moran. Charlie Parker could eat seeds all day long without gaining an ounce.

[RoboCain]

That was the heroin.

[PS]

I know that Eleanor Rigsby was the heroine.

[SugarFree]

You live in a dream.

[Greg]

All the hungry people
Where do they all belong?

[Res Publica Americana]

Fucking totalitarian pricks. McDonald's semi-plastic beats that tasteless, revolting shit you asswipes keep trying to shove down everybody's throats.

I hope to God a habit soon springs up among LA County kids where they ALL bring cheeseburgers and soda to school, and ALL eat it while chanting "fuck this revolting shit, fuck this revolting shit" at the staff.

[Res Publica Americana]

Preferably line up at the serving line, and point at the gruel as they chant.

[P Brooks]

At many campuses, an underground market for chips, candy, fast-food burgers and other taboo fare is thriving.

Imagine my, ummmm, astonishment.

[P Brooks]

A generation ago, it was nearly impossible to even find meat within city limits. Now, he worries about his children.

Wait, what?

[Citizen Nothing]

It's a cookbook!!!

[RoboCain]

Well, if I were a a cannibal, vegan kids would be my first choice.

[Brett L]

I would think free-range would be more important to flavor.

[RoboCain]

It might toughen the meat.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

For the eating challenge, he could try to down "The Ol' 196er."

[Matrix]

I guess the bastard has a problem saying "No" to his kids. So he has to have stuff banned so he won't have to.

[Warty]

So, speaking of people who are dead, is it safe to assume that MNG was really Kim Jong Il?

[SugarFree]

Riding on public transpo certainly sounds like him.

[Field Marshall Gill]

MNG will not be back unless he thinks we have forgotten about Fast and Furious.

Hmm, maybe something good did come out of that program after all.

[P Brooks]

they finally have found their mission statement.

"What is our one demand? GIMME!"

[RoboCain]

Yes, that seems to be their only coherent message.

[robc]

I will taunt again, since he wasnt in the other thread:

27 to 22 to 14 -- is that a free-fall or not John?

[John]

There are other polls that have him higher. And I never said he wasn't freefalling. I asked where you guys were getting that he was since everything I was reading still had him up.

[robc]

I have eyes and I can see.

[robc]

The free fall starts BEFORE any polls show it. It requires acumen and judgement.

And fucking obviousness, in this case.

[John]

Oh Jesus Christ rob, even a blind pig finds a truffle sometimes. You called it right. Good for you.

[robc]

Dude, seriously, how was this not fucking obvious?

I will say one thing though, it happened a bit faster than I expected. But then again, free fall does that.

[John]

Because Newt has always been a bit nuts and it never seems to bother people. And I am still not convinced he is dead. You watch, he will make a comeback.

[robc]

Not in Iowa, he wont.

[John]

But Iowa is one small caucus. People only care about it because it is first.

[robc]

But it is what we were talking about.

As I said last week, he will finish 3rd in Iowa and New Hampshire. Beyond that, who the fuck knows. First have to see who quits after Iowa and NH.

[Lost_In_Translation]

At this rate, he might not even finish 3rd in Iowa. I'm thinking fourth, behind Perry or Bachmann. Then, if he finishes behind Paul in New Hampshire, we'll have avoided the newtacolypse.

[Ska]

Mmmm....new taco lips....

[Lost_In_Translation]

No, She turned him into a Newt, it was the old man that wasn't dead yet. Different scenes.

[Surly Chef]

John even your insults are inaccurate now.

[Lost_In_Translation]

John's insults were as olfactory deficient as that squirrel vis-a-vis an acorn.

[mad libertarian guy]

Why would a blind pig have trouble finding truffles being that they rely completely on their sense of smell to find them?

[T]

The usual phrase involves a blind squirrel and an acorn.

[Lost_In_Translation]

John, the polls showed the peak and fall a week ago. All we did is draw a trendline and make the basic assumption that people were waking up to the fact that they actually said they were voting for NEWT Gingrich. It was a matter of course that they would not make that mistake again.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Newt was the flavor of the week. Hell, I could lead the polls for a couple of weeks if I really wanted to.

[Lost_In_Translation]

I'd poll favorably for you. After all, you're not romney.

[Troy]

I don't give a shit about what Mr. Clean says about blues. And I am still pissed he left Reason. But sparing Cory Maye's life from the pigs..... Now that... that is a fucking role model ladies and gentlemen!

[P Brooks]

Adios, Saab; another victim of GM swerves into the ditch.

[Citizen Nothing]

I get about 30 mpg with my 900 SE's 2.5 liter V-6. Sweet.

[Clich? Bandit]

I got 30MPG with a '99 Mustang Cobra. I could also do 0-60 in 5.4 (wasnt getting 30 when doing that though, all time low was 11MPG, first week I owned it).

[Voros McCracken]

I _currently_ get 20 mpg with a 1995 Crown Victoria. 😀

[db]

That's too bad. I never owned one, but it's a shame when a market choice is extinguished.

[SugarFree]

Torture Lite--for "charity"

To motivate their fellow students to donate money for a struggling cafe/arts center popular with ETHS kids, seniors Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz persuaded administrators to let them blast Bieber's hit "Baby" over the school's loudspeaker system at the end of each class period ? and not stop playing the song until Runzel and Chatz had met their goal.

Oh, and the money was going to an off-campus private business.

And there's this:

Ali Hart, the school's assistant director of student support and racial equity, said the school encourages fund-raisers that are both "safe" and "really innovative."

[Warty]

There's nothing safe about a Beibering.

[SugarFree]

"My mom always told me there wasn't a Santa. This was her logic: She thought if I grew up knowing about Santa then finding out he wasn't real, that it would be like she was lying to me. And then when she told me about God, I maybe wouldn't believe her."

-Justin Beiber

[Warty]

"We played a game on Christmas Day where everyone brought a girl gift and a boy gift," he explained. "You roll the dice and if you get doubles, you get to pick a present and if you don't, it's the next person's turn. Then, the next time you roll doubles you get to choose someone else's present and switch."

He also added: "One time I really wanted a Game Boy but I ended up with pots and pans, which was disappointing. I think I gave them to my mom."

It explains so much. In a different time and place, he'd have become Hitler.

[Fist of Etiquette]

There's still time. Canada is itching for a F?hrer.

[invisible furry hand]

Wouldn't they choose Rachel Maddow? Anyhoo, what would the title be? Glorious True North, Strong And Free?

[SugarFree]

He was getting both and the boy and girl gifts. The gender problemization began years ago.

[Neu Mejican]

Science has not been able to establish a safe level of Bieber exposure, so health officials recommend complete abstinence.

[mad libertarian guy]

WTF a high school "director of racial equity"?

I think they misspelled "tax leech".

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Ali Hart, the school's assistant director of student support and racial equity, said the school encourages fund-raisers that are both "safe" and "really innovative."

Yeah, I saw that too--makes you wonder how much we could really pay teachers if we didn't have to fund bullshit TTT jobs like this.

[bosty]

They are so proud of themselves in that picture. "hey, making money is easy when you can abuse a position of power and authority!"

"There were certainly people who disagreed that it was a fun thing," Hart said. "Some people were truly annoyed, but that's kind of the incentive. If it wasn't going to be slightly annoying, then you wouldn't be motivated to stop the music."

Oh, well that explains it then. It's like she's just bright enough to explain the mechanics of the scheme, but to question the actual premise is well beyond her ken.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Her future role of Comrade Commissar is well underway.

[John]

http://nalert.blogspot.com/201.....-bush.html

Lefites finally figure out Obama worse than Bush on civil liberties. Don't worry, he only beats you because he loves you.

[Chris]

Bush won't run, but he'd be a good cabinet level staffer, Secretary of Education, should the position not be abolished.

[sloopyinca]

The Confirmation bias at the Washington Times would be funny...if it wasn't so sad.

FTA: Republican diners haven't yet picked their entree, but they've narrowed it down to the steak or the fish. Still, just as interesting as their main course will be their side selection: Will they go for a drab salad, or something more exciting? Maybe a spicy Rice dish?

Is Paul the steak or the fish?

[SugarFree]

Kosher meal.

[sloopyinca]

Joe Lieberman is completing the switch?

[Jews 'n Things]

LOL

[invisible furry hand]

Steak. Grass-fed. Black on the outside, bloody as hell on the inside. Mmmmm, steak

[FlyoverCountry]

Fuck grass-fed beef. Fuck it right in the tough, stringy, fat-less face.

Grain-fed is the only way to get proper marbling, and proper marbling is the only way to get good flavor.

God damn hippies and their grass-fed bullshit. It is not good meat!

[Clich? Bandit]

ummm...proper marbeling comes from Kobe Japan dude...Saki and daily massages is what creates flavor. NOW, if we had a farm in say TN or KY where it was bourbon or whisky that would be interessting...And maybe on in Scotland, on the Isle of Skye- you could get a briney, smokey, steak before even cooking it.

Holy shit, I think I just found my next carreer.

[Auric Demonocles]

I only have beef-fed beef.

[P Brooks]

seniors Charlotte Runzel and Jesse Chatz persuaded administrators to let them blast Bieber's hit "Baby" over the school's loudspeaker system at the end of each class period ? and not stop playing the song until Runzel and Chatz had met their goal.

These people will appear in the yearbook as "Most likely to be found dead in a 55 gallon barrel at an abandoned industrial site."

[OWS]

not stop playing the song until Runzel and Chatz had met their goal

We're so stealing that idea!

[Bee Tagger]

Once you force someone to donate the speakers.

Though, I would gladly pay to see the people's microphone attempt this.

[Res Publica Americana]

And they'll have deserved it, too.

[JW]

We're my child in this institution, I would gladly provide her with the boombox and Twisted Sister CD, for her to take into the principal's office.

Hilarious antics ensue.

[John]

What will the GOP do if Paul wins Iowa?

The principled, antiwar, Constitution-obeying, Fed-hating, libertarian Republican congressman from Texas stands firmly outside the bounds of permissible dissent as drawn by either the Republican establishment or the mainstream media. (Disclosure: Paul wrote the foreword to my 2009 book.)

But in a crowded GOP field currently led by a collapsing Newt Gingrich and an uninspiring Mitt Romney, Paul could carry the Iowa caucuses, where supporter enthusiasm has so much value.

If Paul wins, how will the media and the GOP react? Much of the media will ignore him (expect headlines like "Romney Beats out Gingrich for Second Place in Iowa"). Some in the Republican establishment and the conservative media will panic. Others will calmly move to crush him, with the full cooperation of the liberal mainstream media.

For a historical analogy, study the aftermath of Pat Buchanan's 1996 victory in the New Hampshire primary. "It was awful," Buchanan told me this week when I asked him about his few days as the nominal GOP front-runner. "They come down on you with both feet."

The GOP establishment that week rallied to squash Buchanan. Just after New Hampshire, Gingrich's hand-picked group of GOP leaders, known as the Speaker's Advisory Group, met with one thing on their minds, according to a contemporaneous Newsweek report: "How to deal with Buchanan."

While many Republicans dismissed Buchanan's New Hampshire win as irrelevant, arguing his support was too narrow to ever win the nomination, the neoconservative wing of the GOP darkly warned of a Buchanan menace. "People are panicked," Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard told Newsweek. "If they're not, it's only because they don't know what's going on."

http://campaign2012.washington.....owa/264111

I am not a Paul supporter. But the shitbird Republican establishment is making me one. Who the fuck are they to tell me who is a serious candidate and who is not?

[robc]

They have already had their meeting this time around.

The result was the simultaneous attacks on Paul lost week that drove his numbers up.

[kinnath]

If not Paul, who do you prefer?

[John]

No one. Paul is woefully naive on foreign policy. In some ways that assures me. Once he got into office and the responsibility of being President hit him, he would do things that would wildly disappoint his peacenik Libertarian supporters.

The problem is that if Paul wins, it will split the party. And the asshole establishment will run Guilliani or someone as a third party and ensure Obama's re-election. You watch. They are just that big of assholes. I might not vote this year. Fuck it, I already voted against Obama once.

[sarcasmic]

Paul is woefully naive on foreign policy.

Yeah. The thought that meddling in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries for half a century might piss some people off enough that they would attack this country is naive.
Woefully so.

Just like it is naive to think that if you poke a dog with a stick enough times it might rip your face off.
Woefully so.

[John]

The naive part is thinking that the dog needed the poke as an excuse. A Paul Presidency would be quite educational for both him and a lot of his supporters.

[sarcasmic]

The naive part is thinking that the dog needed the poke as an excuse.

Really. So if our government had not been meddling in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries and not propped up Israel, those animals would still have flown those planes into those buildings because they're just hateful animals, right?
I mean, they're not even human.
They're Mooslems.

[robc]

I blame Churchill and his lack of line drawing acumen.

[Res Publica Americana]

To be fair, Islam is a God-awful abomination as the religion that it is. Muslims? Entirely different.

While our meddling certainly fucked shit up seriously for us, bin Laden and his ilk hate us for who we are as well as for what we've done. That's something the sort of people John calls "libertarian peaceniks" are going to have to get to come to terms with.

[sarcasmic]

To be fair, Islam is a God-awful abomination as the religion that it is.

That can be said of any religion, depending on the interpretation.

If I remember correctly the KKK claimed to be a Christian organization.

Does that mean Christianity is a "God-awful abomination"?

[mad libertarian guy]

Christianity, the institution, was an abomination LONG BEFORE the KKK every claimed it was Christian.

[Res Publica Americana]

Technically, yes. Ever read the Old Testament? Deuteronomy? Job?

I'm an atheist, by the way.

And interpretation is really kind of beside the point when a verse here, there, everywhere reads "put the unbelievers to the sword."

Have you read the Hadith? That's even worse.

[sloopyinca]

Christianity doesn't hold that belief. It ended when Jesus showed up. Any Christian who says "put the enemy to the sword" isn't following the teachings of it's lord and founder.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Didn't stop the crusaders...

[sloopyinca]

Very true. What they did in the name of God is both sad and pathetic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't stop the crusaders...

Derpity, derp, derp, Crusades.

Because people are always EXACTLY what they claim they are, sort of like all of those champions of "democracy" currently residing in Washington, D.C. They would never lie to you, right?

[sloopyinca]

That can be said of any ORGANIZED religion, depending on the interpretation.

FIFY.

[Robert]

Why do they commit acts of terror in countries that haven't been meddling in Middle East affairs?

If you didn't believe Murray Rothbard's idea that the Russians were only responding to US & allied aggression, why would you believe Ron Paul's similar idea about the Arabs & Islamic extremists?

[Brian D]

Yes, one need only crack open a history book to see how much the Middle East mercilessly and continually harried America between 1816 (end of the Barbary Pirates) and 1953 (Shah set up in Iran.)

[Lost_In_Translation]

I must have missed the history lesson on the invading muslim hordes in the 19th century Americas.

[sloopyinca]

I must have missed the history lesson on the invading muslim hordes in the 19th century Americas.

If Gingrich gets in charge of the Dept of Ed, your kids might not miss it.

[sloopyinca]

John repaints history with rather broad brushstrokes.

[sarcasmic]

John repaints history with rather broad brushstrokes.

As a worshiper of all things military, John must rewrite history.

Else he would be forced to admit that sending troops to kill people in foreign lands while forcing Western values upon them has an annoying habit of pissing off the natives.

[Xenocles]

Just out of curiosity John, has the benefit from the poking outweighed the cost to us? I'll grant arguendo that our meddling had a negligible effect on the extremists' desire and ability to attack us.

Frankly I think it's naive to assume we can manage the world's politics to begin with, so that's where I'm coming from.

[Osama Bin Laden]

John you ignorant slut. You should have paid attention back in 1997, when I said:

We declared jihad against the US government, because the US government is unjust, criminal and tyrannical... The reaction came as a result of the US aggressive policy towards the entire Muslim world and not just towards the Arabian peninsula. So if the cause that has called for this act comes to an end, this act, in turn, will come to an end. So, the driving-away jihad against the US does not stop with its withdrawal from the Arabian peninsula, but rather it must desist from aggressive intervention against Muslims in the whole world.

[MJ]

In 1997, what "agressive" policy towards the Muslim world? Our agressive policy had been directed at Ba'athist Iraq which Muslims supposedly disowned as being too secular.

Exactly how did Bin Laden arrogate to himself the power to veto US diplomacy in the Middle East?

[robc]

The neocons are way way way more naive.

John apparently thinks George Washington was naive on foreign policy.

[Citizen Nothing]

John and his ilk saying "Paul is woefully naive on foreign policy," is like Bernake saying "Paul is woefully naive on economic policy" or Gil Kerlikowske saying "Paul is woefully naive on drug policy."
The beauty of Paul is as much who he pisses off/frightens as it is what he would do as president.

[John]

As I said, if Paul wins, he will do lots and lots of things that will disappoint his supporters. The disappointment will be quite funny. You guys sound like Joe Boyle in 2006 telling everyone who the Dems were going to take Congress and defund Iraq.

Good luck with that.

[sarcasmic]

Many Paul supporters, unlike the hopey-changey Obamaphiles, understand the limitations of the office.

[robc]

Exactly.

Also, most of us assume ALL politians are scum, so wont be surprised when the one we support turns out to be that also.

Power corrupts. This is law.

[JW]

To be fair, we have decades of Paul speaking *and* acting on the limitations of the state, unlike Hopey McChange.

[Surly Chef]

It's as if some people created some sort ideology around the idea and that power over individuals by government should be curbed at every opportunity, 60ish years ago gave it a name, and then sprang up think tanks and magazines about this philosophy and one of those publications had a open comments format, whose posters, realizing that their ideology is about individualism and that anyone who seeks to gain power over others cannot full be trusted and any support given to them is not a form of cognitive dissonance, but the best hope out of a sea of atrocious authoritarians, based on the voting records and history of the candidates running, not an all out revolution.

[Lost_In_Translation]

i don't even expect the fed to be gone by the end of Paul's presidency or the war in afghanistan to be ended. What I do expect is the discussion of what America should be to change. Maybe even a federal halt to marajuana harrassment in california and perhaps, just perhaps, an arrestment of the ever increasing budget.

[sarcasmic]

Oh the woe!
Woe the duh-oh!
John said so!

[Troy]

Oh the woe!
Woe the duh-oh!
John said so!

[spit-take]

[kinnath]

No one.

Are you planning to sit out the election in 2012 then?

One of the Republicans heading into the caucuses will be the nominee next year. There is no white night that's going to emerge from the convention next summer.

[John]

Fuck them. I will sit out. I don't have to vote.

[RoboCain]

It sounds like John needs to watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8NhRPo0WAo

[mad libertarian guy]

The problem is that if Paul wins, it will split the party. And the asshole establishment will run Guilliani or someone as a third party and ensure Obama's re-election. You watch. They are just that big of assholes.

I'd put money on this. The republican establishment would DEFINITELY rather see Obama win again than Paul. Why would they want Paul to win, when Obama is just as good as any of them in office?

[robc]

This isnt even theory, Trump has already stated he is gonna do it.

[T]

Trump isn't a republican or a democrat. Trump is a self-aggrandizing twatwaffle with no allegiance to anything but Trump. Hard to build a party around that principle, unless you happen to be a Kim.

[Lost_In_Translation]

twatwaffle

adding this to my array of hilarious cursing repetoire.

"Sir, please stop behaving like a twatwaffle"

[T]

My wife uses it so much she's started to shorten it to 'twaffle', which makes it even better as nobody but me understands what she's on about at that point.

[C. Al Currier]

twatwaffle

I like the convenient acronym 'SATW' (Self-Aggrandizing TwatWaffle).

[Proprietist]

Yes, it's completely obvious that if Paul gets the nomination, Trump will run as an independent. The others in the race are too establishment to run against him, but they will likely withhold their endorsements. Trump will win the neocon vote and Obama will win. The only way Paul wins is if he can successfully position himself as the more anti-corporate candidate than Obama and win over large swaths of Obama's base while still keeping a majority of GOP voters.

Still, I'm assuming he'd be Goldwater II - an important ideological shift in the long term (breeding a whole new generations of libertarians and Constitutionalists), a political disaster for the GOP in the short term (will lose to Obama miserably).

[RoboCain]

I could live with that, but I still doubt Paul will get the nomination.

[Maxxx]

The problem is that if Paul wins, it will split the party. And the asshole establishment will run Guilliani or someone as a third party and ensure Obama's re-election.

Good let. Either that or the cocksucking Neo-Cons can go back to the democrats.

Either way it's the only long term hope for the republicans to become a small(er) government party again.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Atleast we could be assured that he explored others options before disappointing us. Bachmann would be looking for Iranian connection to justify war on day 1.

[Anonymous Coward]

Paul is woefully naive on foreign policy.

In. What. Way?

The problem is that if Paul wins, it will split the party.

Maybe. Maybe not. Those who did split would be revealed for the big government loving statists that they are. Maybe the GOP could use a little housecleaning.

[Proprietist]

"Woefully naive"

Yes, only naive fools believe Americans would dare fight back against Chinese overlords after they invaded, built military bases across the US, bombed our cities, tortured our soldiers and rebels and imposed martial law and Confucian values upon us.

Only unpatriotic fools would fathom to criticize welfare for Lockheed Martin, Blackwater, Halliburton and Israel, which is obviously all that stands between America and the abyss of fullscale Sharia law.

Only historically ignorant idiots would call for replicating the most successful foreign policy in history: Switzerland, a country in the epicenter of the worst war in recent history that skillfully avoided invasion and destruction.

[Joe M]

Who do you support then?

[mad libertarian guy]

Competition is scary!

[Warty]

"We might see a fundamental shift that takes us where we may never see where we are today again," he said at a well-attended school board meeting Thursday night at the Doyle Center.

You mean our incredibly fucking successful public schools are going to be destroyed? NOOOOOOOO

[Lord Humungus]

a little Steve Forbert is in order
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5eFarMdsm4

[RoboCain]

Retarded:

"A 14-year-old boy who has Down syndrome has been suspended from school ... for sexual harassment for giving the school bus driver aide a hug,"

http://www.ksdk.com/news/artic.....harassment

[John]

Poor kid has Down's. But hey, it could be worse, he could be a school administrator.

[Neu Mejican]

Did you even read the story?

School: We are suspending your kid for dry humping the bus driver's aide.

Mom: my loving 14 year old doesn't have sexual feelings. I'm calling the newspaper.

[RoboCain]

Yes, I read the story. Funny the school won't release the video.

[SugarFree]

They are deathly afraid of the autotune remix.

[Clich? Bandit]

are the fries done?

[Brett L]

Yeah, I was afraid this might be the case. I had a friend whose brother had Down's Syndrome. They had several problems with inappropriate sexual arousal and behavior during puberty. It's unfortunate, but it just took a lot of explaining over multiple episodes before the brother understood what was and was not appropriate behavior. The mom's denial in this case will not make the situation easier for anyone.

[Neu Mejican]

Spot on.

[RoboCain]

Maybe, but I'm still skeptical given that young children -- no where near puberty -- have been suspended for sexual harassment. If I remember correctly, a five-year-old boy in Baltimore was also suspended from school for giving a teacher a hug.

[Brett L]

"He proceeded to lay on her and (mimic a sex act, while clothed). She tried to push him off her and hollered for help."

That's quite an alleged hug. I agree that people who deal with the handicapped on a regular basis ought to be better trained and/or plain skilled at dealing with what is innocent but inappropriate behavior.

[SFC B]

I too have a friend who has a teenage son with DS. She was caught off-guard when her son hit puberty and started to do the things pubescent boys do, but without the sense of shame and propriety other pubescent boys do. Eventually he learned what was and wasn't appropriate, but it made for some very exasperated phone calls from her to me venting about his latest misadventure in the grocery store.

[mad libertarian guy]

Hold the fuck on.

What the fuck is a "school bus driver aide", and why the fuck are the taxpayers of whatever locality that is paying for one?

[Citizen Nothing]

One steers, the other works the pedals.
Jobs!

[Neu Mejican]

A person who assist handicapped individuals transferring to and from the bus. Often necessary if you want transportation to happen in a timely fashion.

[Citizen Nothing]

So if they're exclusively employed to "assist handicapped individuals transferring to and from the bus," shouldn't they be more adept at dealing with the situation we are discussing?

[Libertymike]

Lincoln's pit-bull, Sherman, would handle it far more efficiently.

[Jews 'n Things]

Why are you calling Citizen Nothing Sherman?

[Neu Mejican]

So if they're exclusively employed to "assist handicapped individuals transferring to and from the bus," shouldn't they be more adept at dealing with the situation we are discussing?

That might require you spend the money to train them properly...

There is certainly not enough evidence in the story to indicate that the aide handled it inappropriately.

[Citizen Nothing]

So, wait. You're assuming the aide wasn't properly trained? There is certainly not enough evidence in the story to indicate that!
Some constructor of understanding you turned out to be.

[Neu Mejican]

I am not assuming that the aide wasn't properly trained. But if the premise, expressed by your comment above is true, that they handled it inappropriately, a first step would be to assure that proper training has happened. My experience in school districts is that this kind of staff position comes with minimal training. MLG was complaining about spending money on a staff...properly trained staff cost a tad more.

[Citizen Nothing]

My experience in school districts is that they waste astounding amounts of cash they could use more wisely, perhaps for training vital employees.

The premise, expressed by your comment above, seems to be that they don't.

Jesus, Neu. You are so quick to make assumptions! You should, like, slow down, big guy, and wait for the evidence to trickle in.

[Neu Mejican]

My experience in school districts is that they waste astounding amounts of cash they could use more wisely, perhaps for training vital employees.

I agree.

The premise, expressed by your comment above, seems to be that they don't.

Only if you have trouble with reading comprehension.

Jesus, Neu. You are so quick to make assumptions! You should, like, slow down, big guy, and wait for the evidence to trickle in.

I am gonna guess that I never see additional evidence on this story.

[Citizen Nothing]

I am gonna guess...
See, that's the kind of radical assumption that keeps anyone around here from taking you seriously.

[Neu Mejican]

I am nothing if not a radical.

[Maxxx]

for giving the school bus driver aide a hug

How fucking hard is it to drive a school bus?

[Jerry Sandusky]

Not very.

[Joe M]

I don't know if suspension is the correct response for a kid who doesn't understand at all what is happening to their body getting a little frisky. Perhaps separate travel accommodations could be set up.

[Neu Mejican]

Without knowing the child, I have no reason to assume that he didn't understand what he was doing.

[RoboCain]

But you can assume what he did, am I right?

[Citizen Nothing]

For some people, their default setting is to always give the benefit of the doubt to authority.

[Neu Mejican]

For some people, their default setting is to always give the benefit of the doubt to authority when extraordinary claims are made.

I know you are just trolling me here, of course. But you're doing a piss poor job of it. To take the mom's story at face value here shows only that you don't get out of your basement much.

[Neu Mejican]

But you can assume what he did, am I right?

Nope. I never claimed that the news story you linked to gave enough information to know the truth. But the information that was presented does not support a "the school is calling an innocent hug sexual harrassment" reading of the incident.

[R C Dean]

I have no reason to assume that he didn't understand what he was doing.

Perhaps a quick Google of "Downs Syndrome" might help with this?

[Neu Mejican]

Perhaps a quick Google of "Downs Syndrome" might help with this?

Your ignorance is showing RC.

[Joe M]

I'm not saying it was just a hug as the mom claims, but I am suggesting that he might not understand about what kind of behavior is appropriate when it comes to having sexual urges. That's indisputable based on his behavior.

[Neu Mejican]

Joe M...it is possible you are correct, but I don't think we have the information to determine based on the article. He could very well recognize the appropriate/inappropriate boundary and choose to act inappropriately. 14 year olds are known to do that. Particularly when they have 14 years to learn that people will assume they didn't mean to "cuz he doesn't know any better." Or, he could have known, but had difficulty with impulse control, etc...

My guess is that he knew he should listen to a "no" - but it is hard to say without more information whether he willfully chose to ignore it.

[H man]

From the progressive radio station this morning, I've learned that Ron Paul only dislikes war because it costs money and not for the reason we(progressives) do. Also he wrote racist newsletters.

[Matrix]

They are just as ridiculous with the racist newsletter as birthers are still claiming the birth certificate is a fraud.

[H man]

I was thinking more along the lines of this being Paul's Jerimah Wright issue as it's a few lines out of years of sermons being played over and over again and not even spoken by the candidate. But your right in that this will just fester for as long as Paul's in the race.

[Neu Mejican]

I agree it is closer to Jerimiah Wright and Obama. The difference being that JW didn't work for Obama, whereas the author of the offending newsletters did. It is one step harder for Paul to distance himself from as his name on the masthead indicates OVERT sanctioning, whereas Obama's attendance at of the church indicates only passivity on the issue. But in the end both are just distraction tactics.

[mad libertarian guy]

No. But Obama did voluntarily attend each and every one of those sermons.

[rac3rx]

...for over 20 years...and referred to the guy as his spiritual mentor, and named his book after one of the dude's sermons...

[Old Mexican]

Re: H man,

Also he wrote racist newsletters.

The best part is that it is not even true - the newsletters were nowhere near anything one could seriously construe as "racist" as the New Republic's snot-covered knave Kirchick and the clueless nitwits at Reason insinuated. The one available and from which the "evidence" was pulled has language not out of place from an Ann Coulter book. Not PC by any means, but not particularly racist.

http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/.....annon.0793

[Neu Mejican]

The best part is that it is not even true - the newsletters were nowhere near anything one could seriously construe as "racist"

Following that link, you are working against your point. The "LOS ANGELES RACIAL TERRORISM" essay is worse than any of the excerpts I've seen.

Every individual and act is couched in racial terms. Blacks are treated as a homogenous group. Motives are attributed to groups, not individuals. Pretty much definitional of racist.

Odd that you would defend such collectivist rants to vigorously.

[Neu Mejican]

so vigorously, that is.

[Name Nomad]

Here's a lovely quote from a licensed hairdresser in NH. She's explaining why unlicensed barbers and hairdressers would be Armageddon and Ragnar?k rolled into one:

But licensees like Nashua cosmetologist Pam New say that their training protects the public which trusts the state to regulate the industry. New says hairdressers use powerful, caustic chemicals like bleach that can cause scars from burns if used incorrectly. Consumers assume cosmetologists are trained and licensed now, she said.

"God forbid if anything happens,'' she said. "Literally, we could make bombs with these chemicals.''

[Maxxx]

The hairdresser's chemicals spontaneously create bombs and it is only the state certification that prevents that from happening

[Anonymous Coward]

Literally, we could make bombs with these chemicals.

I would hope that once word got around that you were turning people into walking chemical weapons, your customer base would shrink, license or not.

[Lord Humungus]

a note to RC and John - I put 'The First World War' on my Netflix queue. I've watched the first disc, and must say that it's a good overview. I thought the African episode was a little overdrawn, since it's really a minor footnote in the story of the war.

[John]

Yeah. Strachen loves to talk about Africa. His hook as a historian is how the World War was really a "World War" and not just in Flanders and Tennenburg. Yeah, he has a point. But it only goes so far. He takes it a bit too far. He does the same thing in his book To Arms, which is the first in a planned three volume history of the war. He goes on for hundreds of pages about Africa. Talks about it as much as he does the Marne. Sorry, Hugh it just wasn't THAT important.

[R C Dean]

Yeah, I noticed that. But I find these little excursions into the side alleys of history fascinating.

[Lord Humungus]

I am amazed by the footage they dug up. It really brings the story alive.

[Brett L]

Is nanotech the new GMO?

Does this mean that concern trolls are admitting defeat on GMO (which used to be called selective breeding when done in vivo).

The big problem? This "nanotechnology" is UNREGULATED!!1!

[Joe M]

Marion Nestle is professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University...

That's where I stopped reading.

[Res Publica Americana]

Did you also curse loudly at the screen for coming THIS close to reading that putrid bullshit? I did.

[Brett L]

BPA Panic:

"To see whether canned foods might affect BPA levels in the body, Carwile and her colleagues had 75 participants eat either a 12-oz serving of canned or fresh soup for five consecutive days. Then, after a two-day rest period, the groups switched and ate the opposite of what they had started with. The researchers measured their urinary BPA levels over the course of the study period.

They found a considerable change in urinary BPA concentration over the study's short duration: When the participants ate canned soup, their BPA levels rose by 1,221 percent, compared with fresh soup eaters."

Alternative study results phrasing: "Kidneys excellent at removing BPA from blood stream."

[Citizen Nothing]

BPA levels rose by 1,221 percent
But nowhere in the story does it say what those levels were. So if the fresh soup contained no BPAs and the canned soup contained any at all(and discounting other sources for the sake of argument), then we could say the level rose infinitely, no?
Scary!

[Citizen Nothing]

the level rose infinitely.

Er, you know what I mean.

[Nancy Pelosi]

We have to pass the urine to see what's in it.

[Brett L]

Yeah, more research is needed to determine "how long BPA stays in the system", but because they did the tests in both orders and got valid results, we know that a week is probably the high end.

[JW]

Funny how they didn't measure the levels in the blood. Also, since I'm neither a developing fetus nor a woman of breeding age, why should I give a flying fuck about BPA?

[Developing Fetus]

You should care because I'm a developing fetus, and I vote.

[Res Publica Americana]

Because health experts tell you to, or else.

[RoboCain]

I've read it can cause prostate cancer, but who knows?

[JW]

"Everything...gives you cancer..."

[Res Publica Americana]

100 Internets, Brett. Didn't these people figure out that it's in the urine, so the body's getting rid of it?

[The 90 Percent]

Do any of you people have jobs?

[Arduin Grimoire]

"developing fetus" should be the name of our acoustic progrock band we form for side projects.

[Joey Deesomore]

Dude does seem to bring up some valid points. WOw.

http://www.total-anon.tk

[sloopyinca]

In a totally unsurprising turn ov events, Holder charges critics with racism in Fast and Furious probe.

Yeah, that's the way to get Issa and Grassley to call off the dogs. Call them racists.

[RoboCain]

"Holder also attacked the media for covering the Fast and Furious scandal."

WTF?

[sloopyinca]

Has he been officially placed on suicide watch yet?

[RoboCain]

Is Ann Coulter insinuating that Newt has a tiny penis?

http://dailycaller.com/2011/12.....all-stick/

And how would she know?

[sarcasmic]

I don't know who she is, but damn!

http://dailycaller.com/2011/12.....y_winward/

[robc]

She is hot, but she is not close to being in the top 100 hottest women alive.

The campuses of Auburn and Clemson can probably come up with 100 hotter by themselves.

[Brett L]

Any state U in the South with >5000 female students. God bless college, its the one thing that makes Tallahassee bearable. Although we do have a blossoming homegrown food and bev movement.

[sloopyinca]

And the next pic in the slideshow is Pippa. And Pippa's a lot hotter than that chick, bucktooth smile and all.

[Pip]

Sarah's prettier.

[Clich? Bandit]

I was watching the Gypsie show on history/discovery/whatever...and those girls are super hot and dress like sluts ( I like that) but everyone of them has a mother that looks like a train hit her. This causes concern. There is no inbetween.

[Pip]

Huh?

[P Brooks]

Attorney General Eric Holder accused his growing chorus of critics of racist motivations in a Sunday interview published in the New York Times. When reached by The Daily Caller Monday morning, the Department of Justice provided no evidence to support the attorney general's claims.

It's self-evident. There is no need for further explanation.

And- I know people who actually believe any and all opposition to our current Chairwarmer-in-Chief is purely based on racism. What otehr explanation could there be?

[Dr. Sam Johnson]

He said the Attorney General's near.

[sloopyinca]

Ow, my balls--soccer edition.

[Timon19]

Sweet Jesus, how does that happen? Article never said.

The 300 beats per minute thing seems impossible.

[sloopyinca]

The 300 beats per minute thing seems impossible.

Well, they are on the metric system.

[Timon19]

That's 5 Hz! I call bullshit.

[Old Mexican]

Ron Paul leads the polls in Iowa.
Newt Gingrich goes from 27 percent, to 22 percent, to 14 percent in Iowa.

He'll meet one of the Flying Wallendas on his way down.

[Lost_In_Translation]

insider advantage just released a poll confirming the results of PPP, with Paul at 24, Romney at 18, Perry at 16 and Gingrich at 13.

I think we can raise our glasses now. The Newtpocalypse has been averted!!

[RoboCain]

It sure looks that way.

[sloopyinca]

The Daily Caller goes full retard.

OK, they may be right on a few, but some of these are downright absurd.

[sarcasmic]

They're British. What do you expect?

[sloopyinca]

Really? I thought it was Tucker Carlson's web-rag.

[RoboCain]

More or less...

I miss MKH. It looks like she hasn't done a video in months.

[RoboCain]

I have no idea why they are picking on Jennifer Aniston, but I don't find her attractive.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

If they were comparing her with other 40-year-olds, it would be more legit, but comparing Jennifer Aniston to twenty-somethings like Blake Lively, Scarlett Johannson, and Mila Kunis isn't exactly fair. Comparing her to a Victoria's Secret model like Rosie is downright absurd.

And Penelope Cruz hotter than Jennifer Aniston? Sure, whatever.

[veemee sashimi]

Listing Evan Mendes makes it not just wrong, but factually incorrect.

[Francisco d Anconia]

http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ws#comment

[cynical]

You know who else had a Green Book? And who else had a Red Book, for that matter.

[CE]

Las Vegas Review Journal calls likely Iowa caucus winner a "long shot":

http://www.lvrj.com/news/ron-p.....ml?ref=463

This is getting embarrassing.

[Old Mexican]

Re: CE,

Las Vegas Review Journal calls likely Iowa caucus winner a "long shot"

"Listenig to their inner Chris Wallace..."

They're getting more transparent by the minute, that's for sure.

[Appalachian Australian]

Winning in Iowa is hereby declared to be losing.

[Brett L]

Hulk SMASH

Lab mice with reduced thyroid enzyme Hulk out.

"The benefits of releasing those molecular brakes don't stop at increased muscle strength. The stronger mice also saw improved endurance, and were capable of running both faster and longer before tiring, covering twice the distance of normal mice in experiments. Researchers say the mutated mice were also more tolerant to cold."

Just give them the cheese. You won't like them when they're angry.