A.M. Links: Nuke Inspectors Pressure Iran, Greece Nears a Second Bailout, MSM Discovers Ron Paul's Delegate Strategy

• U.N. nuke inspectors begin scenic tour of Iran. 

• The AP discovers Paul's delegate strategy. 
• Greeks await a second bailout. 
• More countries beg Israel not to start a war with Iran. 
• Things are changing at Foxconn.
• China accuses Western countries of starting a Syrian civil war.

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Comments

[RoboCain]

"The mother of a seven-year-old boy was told to sign a school form admitting he was racist after he asked another pupil about the colour of his skin.

Elliott Dearlove had asked a five-year-old boy in the playground whether he was 'brown because he was from Africa'.

More than 20,000 pupils aged 11 or younger were put on record for so-called hate crimes"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....frica.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Did the Brits just become inordinately stupid within the last couple of generations?

[WTF]

Did the Brits just become inordinately stupid within the last couple of generations?

Why, no, not at all.

[Amakudari]

UK government to demand access to all phone and internet user data

[DJF]

Once again the British make the mistake of thinking that the book "1984" is a instruction manual instead of a warning.

[Almanian]

IT'S A COOOOOKBOOOOOOK!!!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's for the children

[RoboCain]

Yes, but they seem to share that with most of the Western world.

[D?nadan]

Been to the Eastern world? The worse the twits are, the more they worship, fight and die for them.

[Isaac Bartram]

What strikes me in a lot of these stories is that the people who run public institutions in Britain may indeed be stupid, the people they are supposed to be serving are far more sensible.

The boy's mother said:

'I refused to sign it and I told the teacher in no way did I agree the comment was racist.'

The article also said she also said she was taking him out of that school.

[cynical]

"its zero-tolerance policy on racism"

lol

[The Pointer-Outer]

We're behind the curve, then. Britain's leading the way to the future.

Another Obama term or two will fix that.

[sl]

I found a great dating bisexual site DATEBI*C'O/'M. It is a serious& safe dating site for the bisexual and bi-curious individuals to meet in a friendly and comfortable environment. It hopes that all members can make new friends and establish romantic relationships. I have to say DATEBI*COM the best site I have ever joined so far. They verify all members. Unlike other sites,NO scammers or fake profiles here, and you can meet many rich or mature women as well, including celebs, famous stars.BEST OF LUCK!

[RoboCain]

"It's enough already. We have to be more disruptive!" Ensler referenced the implementation of dance as a community action "speaking to people." She suggested, "It takes up space, and allows expression of joy and outrage."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....84868.html

[RoboCain]

"Michele Bachmann,'They're extending unemployment, too, but the big thing that we get is no longer can a welfare recipient walk into a strip club and get money out of an ATM machine to pay for a lap dance..That's the big thing that we get out of this bill.'

According to the bill, welfare recipients won't be able to use government-issued debit cards to get cash through ATM's at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....85345.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Huge implementation costs, zero effect on actual behavior. Welfare reform by the modern Republican Party.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

A lap dance is a basic human right, why should they have to pay for it in the first place? We need single payer strip clubs.

[PapayaSF]

Why can't Obama just decree free lap dances for all??

[Loki]

Yeah, apparently it doesn't occur to Bachmann that welfare recipients can still use ATMs at locations other than strip clubs, casinos, or liquor stores. I think she just went full retard.

[Mr Whipple]

Just?

[PapayaSF]

The point is not to prevent ATM use, it's to prevent (or at least discourage) spending of welfare money at strip clubs, casinos, or liquor stores. It's like not being able to buy liquor with food stamps. Not a foolproof solution, but not unreasonable.

[R C Dean]

No, its a stupid "solution" that will not reduce the amount of welfarebux spent on strippers.

Unless you think po' folk are too stupid to stock up on cash before going to Tits R Us?

Pointless yet symbolic action has an opportunity cost, you know, so this little exercise on moral preening is a Bad Thing.

[Fatty Bolger]

It's a waste of time and money that will have no effect whatsoever.

[PapayaSF]

Locking your car doesn't prevent car theft, either, but we do it anyway. This sort of "nudging" is unobjectionable to me.

[Pi Guy]

_You_ locking _your_ car doesn't cost _me_ anything.

[PapayaSF]

Oh come on, what's the cost of this? It's got to be trivial.

[DesigNate]

Yeah, cause the gas station down the street doesn't have an atm for them to get money at to go spend on strippers and booze.

[db]

I didn't think most people who get cash for ATM were on welfare.

[sloopyinca]

I see what you did there.

And for the record, you never go ATM.

[Mr Whipple]

Automatic tittie manipulator?

[Tony]

What's wrong with going ATM?

[Abdul]

What about all the single moms who work in strip clubs, but are also on welfare because they use a stage name and don't report their income?

Won't someone think of the children?

[Abdul]

What about all the single moms who work in strip clubs, but are also on welfare because they use a stage name and don't report their income?

Won't someone think of the children?

[Jerry Sandusky]

Dismayx10

[RoboCain]

Significant Otter:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-food.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That's not praying, it's his morning Tai Chi exercises

[RoboCain]

I think those are pandas.

[Loki]

Everyone knows that otters are from the Allied Atheist Alliance...

[Brett L]

"Please, God. Kill all these fat fucking tourists and send me shell-less bivalves. And a hot she-otter."

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

"I've had lots of religious people call me up, saying that I was a tool doing the Lords work."

They got one word right. That's something.

[db]

Animal Rights Group's Video Drone Copter Shot Down at Live Pigeon Shoot

I posted this over the weekend but thought a wider discussion might be interesting.

Evidently the shooting club closed up its live pigeon shoot when the rights group showed up with a video drone aircraft, but the group decided to fly the drone over the club anyway.

I personally find live captive animal shoots to be very distasteful (and I shoot lots of rounds a year at steel and paper).

I'm curious about the law on this sort of thing though. What rights does a property owner have to the airspace over his property? If a neighbor decided they wanted to fly a drone in a pattern around my house, could I do anything to stop it?

Note that it's unclear whether the drone was shot at while over club property or not; it crashed in a public roadway after sounds of shots were heard. The article does not offer evidence the drone was shot at nor that it was hit.

[db]

Animal Rights Group's Video Drone Copter Shot Down at Live Pigeon Shoot

[Ice Nine]

"It is important to note how dangerous this was, as they were shooting toward and into a well-travelled highway,"

Wait, they were shooting 120mm mortars into the air at a drone? I would have assumed it was 12ga shotguns.

[RoboCain]

Or 20, these were pigeons.

[Almanian]

They disintigrate real good with the 12 gauge....

[Ice Nine]

Yep. And, 81mm, these were cars.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I believe that falls under federal law. Localities generally don't have jurisdiction over airspace, only when the aircraft land does it become a local matter.

[db]

So would I need to file a complaint with the FAA? Is it a valid complaint? Does one have a right to fly a drone airceaft in the low level airspace above another's private property? Is there any acceptable action for a property owner to remove a low flying nuisance in the airspace above his private property?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

For model (or any other type of) aircraft, you can file a complaint with the FAA for creating a nuisance, and they will respond. I've seen them conduct on the spot investigations when someone called.

[Commerce Clause]

Those drones can fly over so-called "private" property any damn time they want.

Because Commerce Clause said so.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Upon further research, the animal right's group was probably operating illegally. You need an FAA issued COA to either operate above 400 ft or with any kind of video monitoring equipment onboard.

[Jordan]

No, you own the airspace above your property up to a reasonable altitude (not sure what). It's trespassing.

[db]

It's probably up to about 250 feet--isn't that the minimum flight level for most areas in the NAS?

[db]

Looks like model aircraft are limited to a ceiling of 400 ft by FAA Advisory Circular 91-57. I haven't found anything on prohibition of video or photographic equipment.

[db]

Looks like model aircraft are limited to a ceiling of 400 ft by FAA Advisory Circular 91-57. I haven't found anything on prohibition of video or photographic equipment.

[db]

Looks like model aircraft are limited to a ceiling of 400 ft by FAA Advisory Circular 91-57. I haven't found anything on prohibition of video or photographic equipment.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

400 ft is the absolute minimum I believe. If you're fixed wing, you're expected to be at 1000ft AGL

[PM]

The FAA regulates all airspace down to your ground.. as for the FAR's There is a standard 500' AGL above or from "objects".. That doesn't include empty land. FAR 91.119 covers regular flying. For model aircraft, they have different rules depending on if they are line of sight, or drones, size, speed etc.

As for shooting into the air, a land owner would have a general right to do that as long as it doesn't interfere with air operations.

The Amateur Trap Shooing Association's range is adjacent to the Dayton OH airport, their firing line just isn't toward the air operations zones.

ATTA google map

Seeing them on final when I was landing on runway 36 was very interesting.

[RoboCain]

It sounds like another example of stupid vs. stupid.

[D?nadan]

Sounds like a case of fucking with people who can fuck you back.
Lucky they were nice and only shot down the drone.

[RoboCain]

Still think that both animals rights activists, and people who "hunt" captive animals, are both morons.

[D?nadan]

Oh, I didn't mean to sound like I was disagreeing. I just think if you poke dogs with sticks you should expect to be bit.

[rather]

Still think that both animals rights activists, and people who "hunt" captive animals, are both morons

I guess the beef, and fowl we eat from groceries stores report for duty from the wild every week.

I 'm not sure an animal cares

[D?nadan]

Turns out they weren't even shooting at animals, but clay pigeons.

[anon]

Yeah, I was skeptical when I first heard this story last week. I never heard of live pigeon shooting; it doesn't taste good. Generally rabbits or quail here in NC, because you can freaking eat it.

Not many people want to clean up dead nasty birds for absolutely no reward.

[Timon19]

Pigeon is eaten widely in a lot of places. It can be well-prepared. Never had any myself, but it's certainly not uncommon. That likely means it's better than "not good".

[anon]

Oh, I'm sure it's eaten in various places around the world; I just don't know that it's widely popular in the US.

[Brett L]

Its served as "squab". And was so popular at one time that the pigeons that now act as flying rats were introduced to the US as a food source.

[RoboCain]

I thought squab were juvenile pigeons, not adults out flying around.

[Gray Ghost]

There used to be live pigeon shoots in S. Texas and Mexico. See, e.g., this old SI article on the activity.

IIRC, it was a big gambling and social activity that was often part of a the entertainment at a pachanga. Doesn't the "trap" from trap-shooting, originally refer to the box-traps that used to contain pigeons and doves?

Here's a 2007 The Firing Line thread on the sport.

Not something that appeals to me. Incidentally, game pigeon is delicious, if a bit gamy and bony.

[db]

I've definitely heard of live captive animal shoots. The concept is repulsive to me.

[Whappan?]

Squaaab!

[Brandon]

Since when are cows "Hunted?"

[R C Dean]

Does deer season in Pennsylvania count?

http://standardspeaker.com/new.....-1.1071061

[anon]

Funny story: It was a clay pigeon shoot.

[D?nadan]

These morons don't even know what a clay pigeon is? Here's the flyer for the shoot:

http://www.connect.facebook.co.....e=1&ref=nf

[db]

Wow, I hadn't seen that. That's hilarious. Of course if the drone was shot over non-club property or in such a way as to make the projectile trajectory intersect with non-club land, the shooters were fucking stupid.

[RoboCain]

LOL

[Francisco d Anconia]

So how come the news story was posted on 14 Feb and the flyer says the event is on 18 Feb?

Time travel?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Several years ago, in Montana, there was a case of a hunter flying his ultralight into public land completely surrounded by private land. He shot a trophy elk and the surrounding landowner complained. Courts found in favor of the hunter. You don't own airspace, at least in MT.

Sorry, but I couldn't find a link.

[Fatty Bolger]

How did he get the elk out without trespassing?

[Francisco d Anconia]

I assume, small piece by small piece.

[R C Dean]

Hard to do without violating state laws on tagging and wastage.

[Gray Ghost]

What's the usable payload on an ultralight? I can see butchering the animal, placing the carcass (or just the meat, if he wanted to fully bone it out) in a muslin bag, hanging it, and flying out with the trophy cape/head, and then coming back for the rest as Francisco mentions.

I'd guess the hard part'd be trying to find enough flat open ground so he could take off again.

[RoboCain]

"I had my first sexual experience at 18 and by age 22, had slept with 75 men...not once did I think of myself as promiscuous. I was convinced that each of these young men was my soul mate, my knight in shining armor, the love of my life of the week."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....65852.html

[Fluffy]

Come on, NOBODY is that un-self-aware.

[WTF]

Women can rationalize anything.

[Loki]

I think of a man, and then I take reason and accountability.

[Bill Clinton]

"I still don't think I was a slut, but I guess that depends on your definition of 'slut.'"

Excellent! What's your phone number?

[Fluffy]

Come on, NOBODY is that un-self-aware.

[Abdul]

I was there around 36-39, and we knew she was pretty dense. We figured she'd shake it off by about #60

[RoboCain]

"Glad to hear it. As I read through, I realized that the reporter was trying to build up some gender divide."

http://jezebel.com/5886390/som.....a-meetings

[D?nadan]

A new "soul mate" (cough) every three weeks for better than four years? Geez! One Summer in college I was banging all three roommates in the apartment across from mine and thought I'd really done something.

[Mr. FIFY]

Jezebel, bitching about "gender divide"?

I slap me knee and howl in derisive laughter!

[Auric Demonocles]

How the hell did you pull that off?

[Loki]

...thought I'd really done something.

3 chicks at the same time?

[Lord Humungus]

I had a friend who was a "serial monogamist". Every few weeks, she would have a new boyfriend, who was "the one". Etc etc.

A few years go by and, she's blubbering to me at the bar - "No one will want to marry me, because I've been such a slut." Even now, she isn't married, but at least as settled down with a boyfriend of 4-5 years. Of course he's no winner - being unemployed for the past three years.

[RoboCain]

Honestly, I think few men care if a woman was a slut. So maybe the reasons why no one wants to marry her might be the same reasons why she couldn't keep a bf for more than a few weeks.

[Lord Humungus]

yep, she's a bit of a bitch. I used to be a little crazy for her, sluttiness and all, but I'm a sucker for psycho blondes.

[Auric Demonocles]

If she's had all these other relationships only last a couple of weeks this tells me there is probably some reason to avoid staying with her longer. This would lead me to be much more likely to pursue her for carnal reasons rather than the long term relationship I usually prefer.

Positive feedback loop!

[k2000k]

Sluttiness in general is a red flag for a host of other issues. In my expereince well ajusted girls just don't sleep around with a bunch of random guys.

[Proprietist]

She met a new soulmate every 19.5 days.

[Auric Demonocles]

This time it's real! I better sleep with him before he leaves me!

[Brett L]

Yeah. Seems like your soulmate could wait until week 4. In fact, I might make that my test. Ooh. Unless you can't know if they're your soulmate until after you've slept together. Yeah, yeah. Okay. I'll have to try this line out.

"I think you might be my soulmate, but I won't know until we've had sex. Wanna find out?"

I think this would work better if I were female and 18-22.

[Auric Demonocles]

I once waited 6 months for a girl I started dating during our college senior week (she was amazingly still a virgin). Why would I possibly have done that? Because I actually cared about her.

[Brandon]

You do realize this is the beginning of a false conciousness justification for requiring people to get permission from the government before they have sex with a new partner, right?

[RoboCain]

Did John write this list?

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

[D?nadan]

Kardashian? I've never understood the hoopla over her.

[Joe M]

She was prettier before she started going plastic.

[Lord Humungus]

Racism?

Breakout Stars Shine a Light on Those Left Out
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02.....l?_r=2&hp;

Midway through a discussion about the world of sports at the Connecticut Forum in Hartford last week, Rebecca Lobo, the former University of Connecticut basketball star, posed an intriguing question. Could anyone recall a black athlete who had come off the bench like Tim Tebow or out of the blue like Jeremy Lin, flared to immediate stardom and received the sort of impassioned outpouring of love that has enveloped Tebow and Lin?

The root of the question was that Tebow and Lin have received attention from the sports news media that seemed out of proportion to the time and duration of their successes.

[Karl Hungus]

Could anyone recall a black athlete who had come off the bench like Tim Tebow or out of the blue like Jeremy Lin, flared to immediate stardom and received the sort of impassioned outpouring of love that has enveloped Tebow and Lin?

Cam Newton?

[The Chinese]

No. Newton was the #1 overall pick in the draft and started immediately. He may have played better faster than what most people expected, but everyone knew from day one that he was a great athlete.

[Brandon]

Cam Newton at Auburn?

[Tom]

Cam Newton is my hero; who would've thought being a Panther fan could be bearable again after the Pickle's experiment at QB?

[RoboCain]

It's not a matter of race, it's a matter of being different. White quarterbacks aren't rare, but Tebow was unique for a number of reasons.

They don't have benches in golf, but Tiger Woods received attention from the sports news media that seemed out of proportion to the time and duration of his success. And just like asian basketball players, there are few black golfers.

[Anonymous Coward]

First Japanese football player to make it in the NFL will cause sports pundits to lose their collective shit.

[RoboCain]

There have already been successful half-asians and pacific islanders in the NFL. No one made a big deal out of it.

[Loki]

Most of the pacific islanders were most likely Samoans, who are known for being... let's just say "large". As for the half Asians, the one's that come to mind right away were half black IIRC.

People probably will lose their shit if a full asian ever becomes a pro football player and does well. Probably won't happen though due to the fact that american football isn't that popular outside the US, while basketball is.

[Scooby]

Does Dat Nguyen not count? He is full Vietnamese, and was an all-Pro linebacker.

[Loki]

I forgot about him. Maybe people are just more prone to losing their shit nowadays. Although he as pretty big in college, so he didn't "come out of nowhere" like Lin did.

[CE]

Tiger Woods received attention from the sports news media that seemed out of proportion to the time and duration of his success.

Huh? He was the greatest golfer ever, for a decade. The media attention was about what should be expected.

[Jerryskids]

Tiger Woods. My first thought exactly. He didn't exactly come out of nowhere in the world of golf? The world of golf *was* nowhere at the time. Tiger Woods made golf what it is today.

[sloopyinca]

I'll pose this question. Not to Lobo, but to a much more intelligent group of people, namely the reason commentariat.

Can you recall the last time a white or Asian athlete had come off the bench like Tebow or out of the brue like Lin, flared to instant stardom and received the sort of impassioned outpouring of love that has enveloped Tebow and Lin?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Out of the brue? For shame!

[sloopyinca]

So solly!

(Nice quick grab, BTW)

[Ice Nine]

out of the brue like Lin

Lacist.

[Almanian]

STOP MISPRONOUNCING HIS NAME!

Rin For The Win?!

[AlmightyJB]

I remember Rush getting kicked off his football gig for saying that the only reason McNabb got as much attention from the media as he did was because he was a black qb.

[Ice Nine]

I'll pose this question. Not to Lobo, but to a much more intelligent group of people, namely the reason commentariat.

I highly doubt it; Lobo was Academic All-American and was a Rhodes Scholar candidate.

[sloopyinca]

I said intelligent, not educated.

[Ice Nine]

Oh,OK; you were referring to all those unintelligent Academic All-Americans and Rhodes Scholar candidates. If you had only said so.

[sloopyinca]

From ESPN's Media Zone: Lobo was born in Hartford, Conn. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in liberal arts and sciences from UConn.
-and-
Lobo was named a Rhodes Scholar candidate

And based on what I've seen, being a candidate is as much a popularity contest as anything.

No offense, but if I was a better athlete in college, I'd have been an Academic All-American as well. My grades were stellar, and they weren't in Liberal Arts.

[Ice Nine]

This dance you're doing to justify your uninformed comment that the highly intelligent Lobo is not highly intelligent is absurd, Sloopy. But, have it your way.

[sloopyinca]

I've listened to her commentary, and frankly, I'm not that impressed. She's another mindless drone on ESPN as far as I can tell. Maybe it's because her husband used to be a quality writer before he met her and got all PC that's pissing me off.

[Libertymike]

Sloop, thank you for not conflating GPA and Rhodes Scholar candidacy with intelligence.

[CE]

Rhodes scholars aren't picked just for intelligence though. From Wikipedia:

Rhodes' legacy specified four standards by which applicants were to be judged:

Literary and scholastic attainments;
Energy to use one's talents to the fullest, as exemplified by fondness for and success in sports;
Truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship;
Moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one's fellow beings.

[Ice Nine]

Yeah, that's it. Everyone knows Rhodes Scholars aren't really intelligent. What was I thinking!

[sloopyinca]

Rachel Maddow, Russ Feingold, Bill Clinton, EJ Dionne, Michael Kinsley and Robert Reich were Rhodes scholars. And that's a who's-who of leftist idiocy.

So no, it does not denote intelligence nearly as much as education, connections and leftist ideology.

[Anacreon]

And those were actual winners. Lobo was just a candidate.

I'm not sure how far along in the process you must be to be able to call yourself a candidate, but I recall in medical school all of us being given paperwork for several scholarships including Rhodes, which you could nominate yourself for.

[R C Dean]

a black athlete who had come off the bench like Tim Tebow or out of the blue like Jeremy Lin, flared to immediate stardom

Let's start with that.

[pxpx]

P.K. Subban.

[insensitive monster]

And his two bro's in a few years, they will be the black version of the Staals.

[R C Dean]

Maybe, just maybe, top-level black athletes are less likely to fall through the cracks that Asians or whites with terrible throwing motions.

Gimme an example of a black athlete whose career arc mirrors Lin or Tebow, and we can compare their reception by the public and sports media.

[sloopyinca]

When all is said and done, I think Tebow's career arc will mirror Reggie Lewis's.

It's not still too soon, is it?

[KDN]

You think Tebow's going to die by 27? Is the holy spirit feeling claustrophobic?

[KDN]

PK Subban is the contemporary example, and apt considering the passions of their local markets.

Dontrelle Willis is the best I can come up with for someone whose career has basically ended.

[sloopyinca]

Ooh, good call on Willis. And I'd say if the fucking Reds let Aroldis Chapman pitch with any regularity, you could get a two-fer out of his blackness and Cuban-ness.

[KDN]

Black Hispanic baseball players don't count as black baseball players. If they did there wouldn't be any hand wringing over the decline of the black baseball player.

[sloopyinca]

In the socio-polical world, they can be counted and/or omitted as necessary for the narrative one grievance group or the other.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Lebron didn't come "out of the blue", but he came straight from high school, and given the ambivalence felt towards that fact when he first declared, I think that it should count to a certain extent.

[Libertymike]

First, off topic, I must commend you for your posts regarding DUI the other day.

As for the Lebron Lin link, not so much. The difference is that Lebron was herealded from the time he was an 8th grader. Most knowledgeable sports fans knew of Lebron while he was in high school. Heck, I remember ESPN televising one or two of Lebron's high school games-even one during his junior year.

Jeremy Lin? I first heard of him two weeks ago.

[CE]

The pro scouts were drooling over LeBron when he was in 8th grade, so no, there was no ambivalence when he declared for the draft. ESPN said he would have been the first pick, if he had been able to enter the draft after his SOPHOMORE year in high school.

[rac3rx]

1 FB, 1 BB:

RGIII, not pro, and a decent QB, but not close to one of the best, and definitely numbers not impressive enough to win the Heisman. Better white QB's didn't even get invited to the dance and the hype surrounding that guy was vomit inducing.

Shaquille O'Neal, that fuckin' guy couldn't play real basketball for shit, but he was huge, could throw elbows, and dunk.

STFU Rebecca Lobo. I'm sure you're a reasonably bright lady, but nobody fucking cares what you think about, well anything.

[gaijin]

Doug Williams?

[Libertymike]

At what point in time?

If you claim February 1, 1988, Super Bowl Sunday, you would be wrong.

If you said 1979, perhaps.

[gaijin]

then, 1979 😉

[CE]

Warren Moon. One of the best QBs in NFL history, relegated to the Canadian Football League to start his career.

[Sharon Stone]

I don't see how Newton and Tebow apply to this. Tebow especially.

They both were high profile 5 star recruits out of high school, it translated over to college ball. It is no mystery that it some how translated over to the NFL either.

The only public adversity Newton ever had to overcome was in his own legal troubles (when he was at Florida), not his actual abilities in a game.

[RoboCain]

Why Canada?

http://walrusmagazine.com/arti.....-americans

[Lord Humungus]

Obama's corporate welfare: No level playing field
http://campaign2012.washington.....eld/384151

First, there's the risk to the taxpayer. Obama bragged last week that Ex-Im's subsidies come "at no cost to the taxpayer." But that's only true as long as Ex-Im's profits on the successful deals it finances exceeds its losses on the loans that go bust. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were profitable for decades, but now they've cost the U.S. taxpayers more than $300 billion. And as part of his export-initiative, Obama wants to authorize Ex-Im to take on riskier financing.

Second, there are the businesses that lose out because Ex-Im chose to subsidize someone else. Banks do not have bottomless financing. When Ex-Im guarantees a Wells Fargo loan benefiting Boeing, there's a good chance some other company didn't get a Wells Fargo loan. In other words, taxpayer loan guarantees don't just create new financing out of thin air -- they displace some financing that would have gone to less politically favored companies.

And finally, this "venture socialism," as Sen. Jim DeMint calls it, breeds corporate dependency on government, undermining national prosperity and encouraging corruption.

[shrike]

Export-Import Bank has been around since 1934 and suddenly its noticed?

One great aspect of having a Democrat in the White House - people only then begin to scrutinize Big Gov.

"I love that Dubya, boys. He's a good ole boy like me. Them goddamn Irakis had it comin' fer 9/11"

[shorter shrike]

BOOOOSH!!111!!

[DesigNate]

I know it's 8 hours later but: NOBODY HERE DEFENDS OR SUPPORTS BUSH.

Now sit down and shut up Demfag.

[Isaac Bartram]

Reagan tried to end the Ex-Im.

The Democratic Congress saved it. Jerrrrrbs.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Crony capitalism at its finest

[R C Dean]

First, there's the risk to the taxpayer.

In a way, there's no risk to the taxpayer. Whatever subsidies were given are gone, a dead loss, financed with debt that any return to the Treasury will not be used to pay down.

And, of course, the "taxpayer" will enjoy none of the returns anyway.

Obama bragged last week that Ex-Im's subsidies come "at no cost to the taxpayer." But that's only true as long as Ex-Im's profits on the successful deals it finances exceeds its losses on the loans that go bust.

No. Ex-Im keeps its profits, and the losses on loans that go bust are taken by the Treasury.

[Jerry]

The risk is in the Ex-Im keeping foreign dictators afloat who then don't have to implement domestic policies towards economic and personal freedom.

[The Fed]

We'll just print some more, it's all good.

[Jerryskids]

I tried watching Obama take credit for saving billions of jobs at Boeing but knowing that this is the same guy who supported the union shut-down of the Boeing South Carolina plant caused my head to explode. Since that's where I keep my eyes and ears, I was unable to watch or hear him. I think I came out ahead on the whole.

[Lord Humungus]

'Taxmageddon' looms at end of payroll tax holiday
http://www.wpost.com/business/.....story.html

On Dec. 31, the George W. Bush-era tax cuts are scheduled to expire, raising rates on investment income, estates and gifts, and earnings at all levels. Overnight, the marriage penalty for joint filers will spring back to life, the value of the child credit will drop from $1,000 to $500, and the rate everyone pays on the first $8,700 of wages will jump from 10 percent to 15 percent.

The Social Security payroll tax will pop back up to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent under the deal approved Friday by Congress. And new Medicare taxes enacted as part of President Obama's health-care initiative will for the first time strike high-income households.

The potential shock to the nation's pocketbook is so enormous, congressional aides have dubbed it "Taxmageddon." Some economists say it could push the fragile U.S. economy back into recession, particularly if automatic cuts to federal agencies, also set for January, are permitted to take effect.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

To quote Glenn Reylonds, the country's in the very best of hands.

[Mike M.]

Read liberals' lips: we desperately need to raise taxes, but only on those evil one percenters, even though doing that won't even come remotely close to paying down the deficit.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

They don't need to raise taxes. It's not possible to raise enough tax revenue to pay for the welfare the left wants to continue to dole out, and they know it. They WANT to raise taxes for the sake of raising taxes. In the end, it just bothers them that people might keep the money they earn.

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

Seriously, it is always fun to point out to them that yes, repealing the Bush tax cuts would raise revenues. Oh, by the way, that includes the middle class tax cuts, not just the ones for rich folks.

The denial spiral they go into is funny.

[robc]

The 10%->15% bracket is where the extra revenue will come from.

And that hits lower than middle class.

[Anonymous Coward]

But I thought the Bush tax cuts were the root of all evil. Government revenues! Pay your fair share!

Or some shit like that.

[R C Dean]

Aren't these the Obama tax cuts yet? He's muscled them through twice now, after all.

[Mike M.]

I guess we're still in the "Bush Era" even though Obama has been the president for 37 months now.

[MSM Talking Point]

It will continue the "Bush era" until the economy rebounds. Then it will be result of the Great Leader's victory over the greedy 1%. Only then will the "Obama era" begin, and it will subsequently end the minute the economy tanks again. All hail the great and powerful O!

[Fist of Etiquette]

More countries beg Israel not to start a war with Iran.

Maybe they should try paying them not to.

[R C Dean]

I suspect there's a lot of winking, secret handshakes, and tapping on the side of the nose that goes with all that begging.

[Fatty Bolger]

Yep. Publicly they say "no war," privately they hope like hell that Israel can & will stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

[P Brooks]

Did the Brits just become inordinately stupid within the last couple of generations?

Maybe that business about how they killed off their "best and brightest" in WWI wasn't wrong.

[?]

Are you really John?

[badgirl]

Life is sometimes boring. My friend recommended a great place for casual encounters and one night stand thing..#### casual'mingle dot 'c-o-m ####, rediscover your lost passion, you can always find the right one for you there. What r u waiting for? sign up free and get hooked up right now !!!

[Actual World]

Your commentary is more interesting than the resident lifers'.

B-

[Eduard van Haalen]

Pfaugh - I know someone who arranged 75 encounters in four years without the aid of a Web site.

[CE]

75 in 4 years? I knew a guy who could arrange that in 2 months.

[P Brooks]

welfare recipients won't be able to use government-issued debit cards to get cash through ATM's at strip clubs, casinos or liquor stores.

Since those people almost without exception go to government schools, it will NEVER occur to them to swing by the bank or grocery store before they head out.

It works, the system.

[Actual World]

D-

[Jayna Oso]

Too many user-provided links.
Choice overload.
Must leave now.

[Lord Humungus]

We demand bland food!

[Actual World]

You get bland commentary.

[Lord Humungus]

just like Applebee's

[Ice Nine]

OK, but whatever you do, don't go outside today.

[sloopyinca]

But his mom already put on his helmet!

[Fist of Etiquette]

As part of the deal, the Greek government is expected to be required to maintain an escrow account with enough cash to cover nine to twelve months worth of debt. If the account runs low, the government will be forced to reallocate funds.

Additionally Greece will have to take 24 additional steps before the end of February, mostly things the government has promised but hasn't done so far. Greece's government also announced further austerity cuts ahead of Monday's Eurogroup meeting.

Gentlemen, start your torches.

[sloopyinca]

What's a "Greece," and why should I care?

[Suggestor 2000?]

If you don't care, don't comment.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

It's a musical. Movie version starred John Travolta and some Australian chick.

[db]

As part of the deal, the Greek government is expected to be required to maintain an escrow account with enough cash to cover nine to twelve months worth of debt.

LOCKBOX.

[R C Dean]

Lemme guess how they are going to fund that lockbox.

[Loki]

The Germans.

[rather]

Iran and Israel remind me of abusing spouses who won't leave each other; MYOB

[P Brooks]

What rights does a property owner have to the airspace over his property?

None whatsoever, if the owner of the drone is a government agency. If you shoot it down, they will undoubtedly treat it as the premeditated murder of a law enforcement officer.

[Fixed]

None whatsoever, if the owner of the drone is a government agency. If you shoot it down, they will undoubtedly treat it as the premeditated murder of a law enforcement officer.

[CE]

I own an infinite vertical column above my property, extending from the center of the Earth through the four surveyed corners of my one-quarter acre plot, extending upward without end, sweeping wide square cones throughout the universe as the Earth rotates and hurtles through space.

So be forewarned. (Most warnings are forewarnings.)

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ron Paul may not win the Republican nomination for president ? he has yet to win a single state ? but his strategy of trying to amass delegates in caucus states could land him a prominent role at the party's national convention this summer.

Imagine this: A primetime speech at the GOP convention in which Paul criticizes American military action overseas and condemns the war on terror as an overreach of government authority at home. It's enough to make some Republicans cringe.

So long as the establishment can hold Rand Paul's Senate career hostage, there is little "damage" Ron Paul can do openly. My guess is that he will use delegate leverage for something less overt.

[Fluffy]

Every delegate Paul gets delays the outcome.

That's damage enough.

Obama vs. Clinton was positively friendly compared to Santorum vs. Romney vs. Gingrich.

If this GOP thing continues until June, Niagara Falls wouldn't be able to put out the fires of internecine hate that will be raging between the factions by then.

Read FreeRepublic for some yuks. Everybody there now hates each other as much as I hate them. And that's a lot.

If there actually is a brokered convention it will look like a bar fight in Saigon in 1970.

[Lord Humungus]

Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle. /Willard

[sloopyinca]

When did Romney say that?

[Lord Humungus]

back when he served with John Kerry.

[Brett L]

sloopy,

Watch a movie sometime, bro. There's one with Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen that's particularly relevant here.

[sloopyinca]

I guess my sarcasm (from the /Willard tag) didn't play very well. Oh well, I'll make a joke that sticks by the end of the day.

[Brett L]

In your defense, it surprised me to think that you might have missed the reference. I guess my computer blocks the sarc tag.

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, but maybe I'm just not funny. And my library (well, mine and Banjos' now) has right at 600 movies so far, and that is on it. Now to see how I can tie it in with two others...
Damien Leake was in Highlander and Apocalypse Now, which also had Colleen Camp in it, and she also was in Wayne's World.

[Loki]

Is the site painfully slow to load for anyone else?

[?]

Waiting for reason.com

[Lord Humungus]

no - but I'm running a script blocker, so I don't get a lot of the Reason "value-added" portions.

[Lord Humungus]

I take it back - posting is slow... reading, not so bad (as Fluffy pointed out below)

[Fluffy]

The site is loading really fast when you're just reading, but posting is REALLY slow. My double-post above happened because I thought my browser had hung.

[Suggestor 2000?]

Hitting the side of your computer also helps.

[?]

It's the fund-drive "enhancements" you were promised.

[Ice Nine]

Yes; I believe "fubar" is the word.

[Michael]

USB stick can sequence DNA in seconds

http://www.newscientist.com/ar.....nline-news

[Fatty Bolger]

Gattaca here we come.

[sloopyinca]

Gattaca here we come.

If you mean I'm going to have to watch that movie again, please kill me now.

[robc]

Whats the price on a complete human DNA sequence now?

I said I will buy one once its under 1k.

[Fatty Bolger]

5K as of last year.

In a few years you should be able to get one at that price.

[Brett L]

Depends. there are several companies who will do one for you for several hundred dollars, but none I know of in that price range who will send you a full computer readable sequence on a thumb drive.

(The cheap guys' funding model is essentially to become a clearing house for [they claim] anonymized genetic coding that can be used with self-reported surveys to correlate genetic traits and conditions)

[robc]

No, I meant the full one. I want it all, even the parts we dont know anything about yet. That way, when later research says the sequence X implies disease Y, I can check.

Fatty answered my question, I knew it wasnt quite there yet.

[P Brooks]

Serial killer is the new hero.

With former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gatesgone, Vickers is the senior remaining holdover from George W. Bush's Pentagon. His background is nothing if not eclectic. He previously served in the Army Special Forces and as a CIA operative. In the 1980s he played a leading role in supporting the Afghan mujahedin in their war against Soviet occupiers. Subsequently, he worked in a Washington think tank and earned a doctorate in strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Even during the Bush era, Vickers never subscribed to expectations that the United States could liberate or pacify the Islamic world. His preferred approach to combating terrorism is simplicity itself. "I just want to kill those guys," he likes to say, "those guys" referring to members of Al Qaeda. Kill the people who want to kill Americans and don't stop until they are all dead: This defines the Vickers strategy, which has now become U.S. strategy.

For Vickers, this means acting aggressively to eliminate would-be killers wherever they might be found, employing whatever means necessary. Vickers "tends to think like a gangster," one admiring former colleague comments. "He can understand trends, then change the rules of the game so they are advantageous for your side."

AEI must love this exceptional American.

[Fluffy]

Some applications of game theory that you come across when discussing the Drake Equation say that as soon as you read about this guy, you should start planning how you'll kill him before he kills you.

[Brett L]

Isn't the Drake equation the one with 8 unknowable and 3 annually redefined variables about the probability of alien life? Are you saying that this guy proves that P=1.0?

[sloopyinca]

I thought the "Drake Equation" had to do with the inverse proportion you liked someone based on the big-screen TV you bought them ending up with someone else after they broke up with their girlfriend.

[Fluffy]

One theory why we haven't heard from any extraterrestrial species is that game theory tells you that if any other species MIGHT decide to wipe out all other intelligent life (including you) your best available course of action is to wipe out all intelligent life yourself FIRST.

This means that one possible reason we aren't hearing from any other intelligent life is because one species did this math, killed all the other intelligent species it could find, and is now hiding / maintaining radio silence.

A rational response to hearing that someone will prophylactically kill anyone he considers a threat is...to kill that someone ASAP, if there's any chance that he might eventually consider you threatening.

But I'm just talking about the math here. Math interests me.

[Brett L]

I prefer to believe they use pulsars to encode their pan-galactic transmissions and my tinfoil hat allows me to receive their orders.

In more seriousness, I've never before heard of the game theory angle to alien discovery mixed with the Drake equation. So I learned something new today.

[CE]

I thought these tinfoil hats were to PREVENT government/Illuminati/alien satellites/spacecraft from reading my subversive thoughts, not to be used as a RECEIVER!

[Brett L]

That's what we want you to believe.

[RoboCain]

Doesn't that also assume that the species that reached that conclusion also would be the able to wipe out all the other intelligent life? I think that such an attempt would draw unwanted attention from a more advanced species.

[WTF]

For Vickers, this means acting aggressively to eliminate would-be killers

So I guess his strategy is to whack them before they have the chance to actually kill anyone.

[sloopyinca]

I think the writer of Judge Dredd may want to talk to this asshole for possible copyright infringement.

[np]

In the 1980s he played a leading role in supporting the Afghan mujahedin in their war against Soviet occupiers.
...
"I just want to kill those guys," he likes to say, "those guys" referring to members of Al Qaeda.

I love how he doesn't realize that those Mujahedin he helped became the Al Qaeda.

[Brett L]

No, no. His Muj are the good guys. Well, "good" guys.

[Bee Tagger]

Who doesn't like built-in job security?

[Loki]

He should just legally change his name to John Rambo and be done with it.

[rather]

Why man's instinct to mark his territory is a dangerous vestigial trait  

[REASON POLL]

How many of you are at your jobs?
Does your boss know you are here?
Would you be reprimanded if he found out?

[Lord Humungus]

yes.
who cares.
who cares.

[R C Dean]

Yep.
Nope.
Nope.

[rather]

Why do Poles want to know? And, what's a job?

[Suggestor 2000?]

I don't have a real job.
See above.
Yes, but

[Cornholio]

ARE YOU THREATENING ME!?!!?

[sloopyinca]

I'm always at my job due to the nature of it.
Not likely, unless I finally got through to him.
Not likely, unless he wants to lose his best performer.

[robc]

Yes.
I am my boss.
Possibly.

[Somebody You Know]

Define "job."
He's not the boss of me.
I'd quit first.

[Brett L]

I'm "at my job" anytime I'm at my computer with certain software open. So "yes", "no" and "no".

[Almanian]

FUCK OFF, SLAVER

[Auric Demonocles]

No, it's a holiday.
No.
No.

[FlyoverCountry]

Yes
I am my boss also
No - though I do get work done more slowly, which then gets reflected in my check at the end of the month. But my day is more tolerable. I consider it a net-gain.

[CE]

I'm at my job, on a holiday, not getting paid. Just like when I travel on Sundays to get to a customer site by Monday morning. I assume my company can check my Internet activity logs, so I try to keep it reasonable. Judging from my last two performance reviews, they don't care.

[Joe M]

With the exception of Maine, the Texas congressman hasn't come close to winning the popular vote in any of the first nine states to vote.

And Iowa, bitches. What about Iowa? He was leading the polls there for a week or two.

[P Brooks]

you should start planning how you'll kill him before he kills you.

But- but- but- HE'S AN AMURRIKKIN!

Killing him would be WRONG.

[Suggestor 2000?]

Fascinating.
Will you be here all day?

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

Dude, you know this country is morally fucked when Christians are booing the golden rule.

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

From microagressions, this might be the best argument for Arizona cancelling its ethnic studies program:

What settler colonialism does is that it sets a ceiling on what the future can be such that we cannot even imagine a future without genocide. This tendency then leaves us to develop critical visions only within the constraints of the possible and then infects all the work that we do.

For instance if we look at the Academic Industrial Complex. We whine and complain about how racist it is. As if the only problem is a few racist administrators who need to be fired. And if we just convince them how great Ethnic Studies is, they'd just give us more money. But if we were actually to imagine a liberatory educational system would this be it? Professors, do we say, "Tenure was the most fun thing I've ever done, I wish I could do it again"? Do students say, "You know, I love it when I work really hard for my finals and then get a bad grade anyway, how empowering was that"? We don't even try to imagine building an alternative to the Academic Industrial Complex. We act as if the problem is that there is racism in the academy, not that the academy is structured by racism. And here's where we can learn from the Prison Industrial Complex. Is not that the organizing against the Prison Industrial Complex puts forth a model of abolition that doesn't just say that it's about tearing down prison walls now but it's about building alternatives that squeeze out the current system. Similarly, while we might have day jobs in the academic system, why can't we start building alternatives to this system, build the educational system that we would actually like to see that could then squeeze out the current system as it develops. So, for instance, when Arizona says something like they're going to ban Ethnic Studies, we think, "Oh no, there's not going to be Ethnic Studies because the State says so!" We presume the state owns Ethnic Studies and it actually can ban it. We don't say, "Uh, whatever, Arizona! Ethnic Studies is not a gift from the Academic Industrial Complex or from the state. It's a product of social movements for social justice, and as long as they exist there will be Ethnic Studies wherever and whenever we go." And did we ever really think Ethnic Studies was going to be legitimate in a white supremacist and settler colonialist academy? And if ever did become legitimate, we would know we had failed in our task.

Have at it, gents.

[A. Gent]

tl; dr

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

My favorite part...

But if we were actually to imagine a liberatory educational system would this be it? Professors, do we say, "Tenure was the most fun thing I've ever done, I wish I could do it again"? Do students say, "You know, I love it when I work really hard for my finals and then get a bad grade anyway, how empowering was that"? We don't even try to imagine building an alternative to the Academic Industrial Complex.

So, what, we should grade students by the effort they put into studying, not the output they showed on the actual tests?

Because Communism totally works!

[Brett L]

Academic-Industrial Complex? If you mean Cal-Tech/MIT/Rice and other quality science and engineering schools licensing patents developed in house and using that money to perpetuate themselves (UT Austin does a fine job of this), then okay. Otherwise, you're using the words wrong. Unemployable-Degree-Holder Diploma Mill Scam is a far more accurate description of the phenomena the writer is describing. Only she doesn't get that, which leads to logorrhea.

[x,y]

Rice trolling, nice.

[Loki]

Reading shit like this makes me glad I went to a private technical/ engineering school.

[cynical]

No, if they want to form a private sector Ethnic Studies program, they can have at it.

[Fluffy]

The Hispanic culture that was primarily the one being studied in Arizona under the Ethnic Studies program is itself a settler culture.

So that means the people whining that "white settler culture" shut down the Arizona ethnic studies program are too stupid to realize that Hispanic culture is also a "white settler culture".

Sorry, guys, it's genocide all the way down.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Paragraphs, how do they work?

[R C Dean]

Your adherence to patriarchal discourse structuring is othering me, you micro-aggressing racist.

[Brett L]

You'd be surprised how many non-English liberal arts majors don't know. I once proofed an undergrad paper -- a research paper for an honors distinction in a history major -- where I had to explain that paragraphs separate ideas within a paper and generally feature a topic sentence, at least one (usually 3-10 in a research paper) sentence offering support for the topic, and often a transition or summary sentence. This person assumed that they were to break up walls of text into more eye-pleasing chunks. To his credit, he immediately understood the concept and thought it was a great idea.

[Brett L]

non-English liberal arts majors should read "majors in liberal arts degree programs other than English"

[DesigNate]

I wonder if that person understands that what he just described was market forces and that getting government out of the way didn't mean that what he liked ceased to exist.

[robc]

http://www.courier-journal.com.....ille-arena

Stupid is as stupid does. Reason needs to add this into their failed sports stadia series.

[robc]

Some details not in that article.

$339M bond issue, leading to debt payments of $573M over 30 years.

That $573M is to be covered by:
1. $206M* from city of Louisville
2. $265M from taxing district
3. $179M from interior advertising
4. $84M from facility fee (???)
5. $63M from luxury suite revenue
6. $37M from naming rights

*That is minimum, if there is a shortfall in other areas, they can get up to $3.5M per year extra from the city, but there are certain requirements and strings attached to that money, so they are trying to avoid it. But as mentioned in the article, they have already informed the city that they should expect to pay it in 2013.

#2 is falling way short.

#6 has already received $13.5M from Yum, not sure how long that is for, but I assume it is on pace.

[robc]

#4 is on list of revenue but not on another list of sources of debt repayment, so strike thru that one. Maybe.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"This is the way capitalism is supposed to work," said David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "As nations develop, wages rise and life theoretically gets better for everyone.

"But in China, for that change to be permanent, consumers have to be willing to bear the consequences. When people read about bad Chinese factories in the paper, they might have a moment of outrage. But then they go to Amazon and are as ruthless as ever about paying the lowest prices."

Americans love paying higher prices to protect worker pay, don't they? And this makes worker pay here more competitive globally so, you know, win-win.

[AlmightyJB]

If the ChiComms can't get thier workers under control, I'm going to have to start buying from some other totalitarian state who can. Sheesh. What's the world coming to?

[DJF]

If you can't trust the Communists Party to keep the workers under control who can you trust?

[Fluffy]

When you drive down the price of manufactured goods, you are raising real income.

There is no reason to increase nominal wages if we just drive the price of manufactured goods down far enough.

Even low-wage Chinese workers can afford more manufactured goods today than they could 35 years ago.

[Homez]

Apple is making billions in profits off underpaid Chinese laborers.
Bring those jobs back to the USA and protect the middle class.

[Platitudes]

I resemble that remark!

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

Also, one other note on Arizona cancelling Ethnic Studies classes: I don't think they did this, but why don't states study the job placement rates and fields that various majors go into, and then cancel those majors based on that?

The whole argument for a state university system is that it is good for the state, stability wise and economically, to have a college educated population. For example, it is good for Arizona to have doctors and engineers and lawyers (although you may be starting to have a glut of the latter, that wasn't the case in the 1950s). However, it would be interesting to see where, say, a Chicano Studies major was going into.

For example, if most were becoming social workers, then isn't the state basically loaning these people money (with a lower tuition rate) that these people then pay back with the state's own money (social worker salary). How is that helpful for the state overall?

[sloopyinca]

Do people even use the word "Chicano" anymore? I thought we had been instructed to use something different, lest we be labelled a racist.

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

By even questioning the validity of ethnic studies, we are both racist.

RACIST!

[np]

Do people even use the word "Chicano" anymore?
No esse, the proper term is "vato".

[Loki]

What about wetback?
Beaner?
Spick?

[Rev. Blue Moon]

No "k" in that last one. And don't use racist terms, please.

[Carlos Mencia]

Why not, gringo?

[Loki]

What's more racist? Jokingly using the word "spic" or knowing the correct spelling?

[R C Dean]

I find "Mexican" works just fine.

[Brett L]

Actually, I think FL is going to mandate that all state universities begin collecting survey data on graduates of programs and the income quintiles they inhabit.

[Brandon]

Law school, despite its reputation, is absurdly easy compared to postgraduate engineering work or medical school, which creates an interesting conflict between the glut of law school graduates and the state law cartels seeking to limit the number of providers of legal services to prop up their margins. Something's gotta give in that area, and soon. Maybe scumbag lawyers not being able to treat clients like shit while gouging them anymore?

[nicole]

Goldwater, there are a lot of movements in this direction--or at least talk of this kind of movement. Academics are, unsurprisingly, not psyched about it--at least, academics in the liberal arts. They are expecting pretty large amounts of effort of the past few years trying to prove the value of this education, while simultaneously trying to reject the idea that they should have to prove any kind of real monetary value, because that's just not the kind of value a liberal arts education provides.

I mean, academics have done something sort of genius--figured out a way to bundle their work so that they do some monetizeable activities while also getting paid to keep up their hobbies. I wouldn't be psyched about losing that arrangement either, but such is life.

[Almanian]

Officer, am I free to gambol in the airspace above the shooters at a pidgeon-killing or dove-killing shotgun fest, taking video and

BOOM!

And once again we see the violence inherent in the {AGRI-PRIVATION-tard] society [unCIVILization].

/Injun Blanco

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

Also, for all the shitting on the Simpsons, let me say this: The Simpsons is still pretty funny. No, it's not as good or as trangressive as it was for the first 9 or 10 seasons, especially the crazy good run from about season 3 or 4 to season 8 or 9. But it's better than most other animated comedies, and most of the shit on CBS that consistently gets better ratings.

I'll miss it when its gone, and you all will too.

[db]

The final episode of The Simpsons should reunite the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as guest stars who entirely destroy Springfield in an attempt to permanently close the hellmouth located in Mr. Burns's mansion.

[robc]

Was last night the 2nd or 3rd time Springfield has been completely rebuilt just a few miles down the road?

[SugarFree]

My main complaint is that is has already been established that Lenny's full name is Leonard O. Leonard.

[Auric Demonocles]

It felt repetitive to me partially because of that. I thought it was a big disappointment for such a milestone.

[robc]

As South Park pointed out, the hard part is that whatever your idea, the Simpsons have already done it.

This is even harder on the Simpsons that other shows.

[robc]

Also, "Worst. Episode. Ever." was #200 wasnt it? If so, we are 300 past that.

[Almanian]

I have never watched the Simpsons.

True story. South Park, Beavis and Butthead - hellz yeah, huge fan. But no Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama...those shows just don't look funny to me. So - never watched.

DOH!

[SugarFree]

My God have mercy on your soul, for I will not.

[SugarFree]

No one will grant me mercy for my shitty typing.

[robc]

I highly recommend season 2-9.

[Solanum]

This. Season one was a little too cutesy, and the writing went downhill quickly around the same time Phil Hartman was killed.

[Auric Demonocles]

But no Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama...those shows just don't look funny to me

It's wrong, wash bucket. Oh, it would be sweet for a while, but in the back of our minds we'd know that I'm a man and you're janitorial equipment.

[robc]

Farnsworth: "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in... get the hell off my property!"

Free Waterfall Junior: "You can't own property, man."

Farnsworth: "I can. But that's because I'm not a penniless hippie."

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm gonna mix up this format a little. You're welcome.

[RoboCain]

You caramelized that link.

[Proprietist]

I'm so glad they have the 6th season on Netflix now.

[Fluffy]

I think American Dad is really funny.

I have never watched a single episode of The Venture Brothers and I probably never will.

Take THAT, bitches!

[Auric Demonocles]

American Dad is pretty good. Probably the best part of "Animation Domination" these days.

[Fatty Bolger]

Anything that crowds out yet another reality show is aces with me.

[robc]

I thought last night's Simpsons episode had some good points.

Massholes leaving MA and then trying to turn NH into MA-lite.

Californians moving to Nevada and complaining about the lack of laws and ditto.

[Almanian]

I'm headin' out Californy way to get some internet...

[Canadians]

Send us back some of that internet money.

[P Brooks]

Just for you, anonypussy.

[Suggestor 2000?]

The impact of your already-lame retort is greatly diminished by your refusal to use the threaded comments feature as designed. We suggest that you conform to the will of the Collective and wear the ribbon thread your replies. Don't make us come down there.

[Brandon]

Is this Jason's new gimmick?

[name withheld]

it's rectal

[Lord Humungus]

Campaign against Canadian Keystone XL pipeline driven by US foundation millions
http://dailycaller.com/2012/02.....-millions/

A Powerpoint presentation obtained by The Daily Caller shows that during a July 2008 meeting, the $789 million Rockefeller Brothers Fund proposed to coordinate and fund a dozen environmental and anti-corporate activist groups' efforts to scuttle pipelines carrying tar sands oil from Canada to the United States.

The most recent incarnation of that pipeline plan, the Keystone XL project, was the subject of intense public controversy until the Obama administration rejected it in January.

The 2008 meeting consisted of presentations from Rockefeller Brothers Fund program officer Michael Northrop, Corporate Ethics International Executive Director Michael Marx, Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Susan Casey-Lefkowitz and the director of a Canadian activist group called the Pembina Institute.

KOCH BROTHERS!!! Oh, wait, sorry.

[Periodic Warrior AuH?0]

LH, I thought we had been over this.

These are the GOOD kind of rich people. Enviormentalists, like the ones running the banner ads, are the GOOD kind as well.

Corporations are the BAD kind, and can you believe the dumb conservatives think they are people? Trollo1olo1lo12!!!

[R C Dean]

Corporate Ethics International Executive Director Michael Marx

snerk

[romulus augustus]

Just think how many homes we could power for a year if John D.'s grave spinning could be hooked to the grid?

[Loki]

And how many of those people have connections to railroad and/ or trucking companies?

[Honey]

If Obama can dictate coverage for contraception, can he also dictate coverage for assisted suicide? Infanticide? Are there no limits to his power?

[Almanian]

No, there are no limits to his power. He is the human form of a GOD.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

"...now I am become Death [Shiva], the destroyer of worlds..."

[nicole]

I don't think most people need insurance coverage for infanticide...

[CE]

No one needs insurance coverage for everyday contraceptive supplies either. What's next, insurance coverage for toothpaste and deodorant? Insurance coverage should be for unanticipated major costs.

[Honey]

Watching Dora the Explorer turns 5-year-old boy into tranny:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....order.html

[Brooksie]

I resemble that remark.

[Clich? Bandit]

Hello everyone.

[Clich? Bandit]

Hello MLs...what have I missed?

[Joe Biden]

"And the last thing you want somebody doing is going off message in primetime at a convention."

Unless, of course, they're clean and articulate.

[H man]

Today in 1933 Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment to end the prohibition on alcohol.

[Auric Demonocles]

I could drink to that.

/Only one of my friends with President's Day off

[Brett L]

Hmm. Preventable Adverse Effects from prescriptions kill as many Americans every year as car accidents?

"the turn of the new century, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report titled, "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System". Citing a number of large studies, the IOM report stated that each year approximately 50,000?100,000 people die in America because of preventable adverse events (PAE). These PAEs or medical errors are among the leading causes of death, ranking higher than breast cancer, AIDS and motor vehicle accidents in terms of the number of fatalities caused."

Note the huge range, take with grain of salt.

[Fluffy]

You know what I think we haven't talked about enough here at Reason?

Lightsquared.

So the government can sell you property at auction, but then stop you from using that property, because someone else is currently using it illegally, and it would inconvenience those illegal users if you actually used the property you just bought?

[db]

The best part is someone else can buy that property at pennies on the dollar during your bankruptcy proceedings and successfully use it if they have the right connections.

[R C Dean]

ranking higher than breast cancer, AIDS and motor vehicle accidents

Pretty sure that should be or.

[Brett L]

Yep. My understanding is the death by MVA is currently about 50k/year alone. If you take the high number, the "and" case might be true, but the methodology seems suspect with the range so large.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Mark Steyn on the link between national bankruptcy and reduced birthrates:

"But where is the compelling societal interest in the state prioritizing and subsidizing it? Especially when you're already the Brokest Nation in History. Elsewhere around the developed world, prudent politicians are advocating natalist policies designed to restock their empty maternity wards. A few years ago, announcing tax incentives for three-child families, Peter Costello, formerly Timmy Geithner's counterpart Down Under, put it this way: "Have one for Mum, one for Dad, and one for Australia." But in America an oblivious political class, led by a president who characterizes young motherhood as a "punishment," prefers to offer solutions to problems that don't exist rather than the ones that are all too real. I think this is what they call handing out condoms on the Titanic."

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....steyn?pg=2

[Eduard van Haalen]

"it" = contraception

[nicole]

Elsewhere around the developed world, prudent statist politicians are advocating natalist policies designed to restock their empty maternity wards supply of future taxpayers.

FIFY

[Eduard van Haalen]

Yes, but unless they become libertarians, that's the most prudent thing to do. If you're a New-Dealish kind of person (ie, like most of the citizenry) then you will have to be thinking of ways to pay for these programs, and that makes Santorum the only sensible candidate for such people.

And perhaps instead of speaking of "incentives for larger families," why not speak of "removing disincentives" for such families to compensate them for the advantages that large stable families provide to the very state which is overtaxing them, second-guessing their parenting decisions, etc.

[JEP]

Regarding the education topic appearing above...

RSA on shifting education paradigm

[CE]

Ron Paul's delegate strategy will look a lot more effective if he can win Texas and California....

[SAndy WOods]

Sometimes you have to wonder Whos your Daddy!

http://www.Totally-Private.tk

[Matthew]

"Greece nearing a bailout."

It's Xeno's bailout.

[Isaac Bartram]

shrike|2.20.12 @ 9:29AM|#

Export-Import Bank has been around since 1934 and suddenly its noticed?

One great aspect of having a Democrat in the White House - people only then begin to scrutinize Big Gov.

Ummm, actually, no shriek.

The Reagan administration and Congressional Republicans tried to close down the Ex-Im bank but the congress of the time (which party was that I wonder, eh, shriek?) blocked it. Their complaints were the usual demagogic bullshit (jerrrrrbs).

Perhaps you're to young to know such ancient history but that's really no excuse.

[Isaac Bartram]

Oh, and by the way,the Ex-Im bank was not the only corporate welfare program targeted by the Reagan administration and saved by the Demagoguesocrats.