Bradley Manning Court Martial Begins, Big Post Office Cuts Slated for May, Americans Prefer Spending Cuts to Tax Hikes: P.M. Links

• The court martial of suspected whistleblower Bradley Manning began today. 

• The USPS will begin consolidating "virtually all" of its service centers in May. 
• Poll: Americans prefer spending cuts to tax hikes for deficit reduction. 
• Think tank hosts "lunch-in" to protest federal nutrition guidelines. 
• Virginia legislature tables awful abortion bill until 2013. 
• Aghans continue to riot over burnt books.  

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Comments

[sloopyinca]

Fist!

[sloopyinca]

Hell yeah, you bastards! I dedicate this first comment to Banjos.

And on that note, here's a big, fat kick in the nuts to get you all started.

[Pro Libertate]

Is that for everyone in Washington? Hey, where's Episiarch? He'll be so pleased.

[sloopyinca]

I'm sure it is. I mean, now that it's been declared a disease for one of their own to get over a quarter-million taxpayer dollars for getting drunk at over 2x the legal limit and driving and the ensuing hit and run (that went unpunished in an especially sweet plea deal, btw), I'm sure the WA cops will be asking drunk drivers if they are suffering from the same ailment, just before they drive them home or to a hospital.*

*I know, I know. One cop in WA got a stiffer than usual sentence for throwing a chick out a window, so this is fair.

[Pro Libertate]

I wish I were cop and not little people.

[Coeus]

Easy to do. Just join up. Sleeping at night might be difficult, though, as would shaving in front of the mirror in the morning.

[RedDragon6009]

Well done on the Blade Runner reference.

[Pro Libertate]

This is so fucked up. We're making an aristocracy of our worst and dumbest. I'm not just picking on the cops--this goes for the other bureaucrats and elected officials, too.

[sloopyinca]

You must not have heard about that cop who threw his ex-girlfriend out the window. His treatment by the judge apparently offsets this kind of fucking shit. At least according to "one of the good cops" out there.

[Res Publica Americana]

At least now you know what job to sign up for if you ever feel like beating a mentally unstable homeless guy to death as he screams for his father, or breaking into a Marine's home and emptying your magazine into his face and torso because FUCK YOU, that's why, bitch.

[Ted S.]

*I know, I know. One cop in WA got a stiffer than usual sentence for throwing a chick out a window, so this is fair.

You mean he was only suspended with half pay?

[R. Marsh]

Stan, daddy's very sick..

[Coeus]

I did find some good news today. This cop got tried and sentenced like a normal person:

http://www.policeone.com/offic.....-shooting/

[rather]

Marginally good news. He was off duty. Had he been in uniform, he would have walked.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

The linked story was only mildly annoying. It would have been a "fat kick in the nuts" if the collision had resulted in a victim fatality. A bigger nut punch if four other officers showed up to the accident scene and beat the crash victims to death with their fists and flashlights.

[sloopyinca]

FTA: Thoma was driving a pickup on Sept. 23, 2009, when he hit another pickup near the intersection of Farwell Road and U.S. Highway 2, then drove away.

The victim and another driver followed Thoma to a supermarket, where Thoma told a state trooper he'd been planning to buy steaks.

No word on how much damage he caused to the other driver's property, or how it was paid. But there was a victim.

[Nipplemancer]

Jesus fuck Sloop. Don't you realize that alcoholism is a disease and cops with diseases need their jobs so they can... aw hell I can't even troll this. Where's super-libertarian-cop when you need him?

[Joe M]

Bob Dunn, Thoma's attorney, said Thoma had a disability ? alcoholism ? that resulted from stress from his job. He argued that the police department knew Thoma struggled with alcoholism and didn't try to get him help. Thoma filed a complaint about his firing with the Washington State Human Rights Commission soon after he was terminated.

There's so much wrong with that paragraph, I don't even know where to begin.

[Loki]

Hey now, when they re-hired him they demoted him to "detective" from "sergeant", which I'm sure means a pay decrease. How's he supposed to support his family or himself with that decrease in pay? Why do you hate cops families so much?

[yy]

My neighbor just met a bisexual man on ---datebi*cOMit's where for men and women looking
for bisexual and bi-curious individuals to meet in a friendly and comfortable environment.
It's a nice place for the people who have the same sexual orientation.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Handcuffs and batons stimulate you? Then come to copcurious dot COm and meet people who are happy to administer the punishment you deserve.

[Ghost]

Stop fisting.

[Pro Libertate]

Spending cuts. Aren't those impossible, given our current understanding of physics?

[Matrix]

The beast can never shrink. It can only grow until it either implodes or consumes us all.

[wylie]

I expect teleportation or faster-than-light propulsion before I expect the invention of this "spending cut" nonsense you just made up.

(Fun Fact: firefox's dict doesn't include teleportation.)

[Doctor Whom]

It's perfectly possible to cut spending a little bit after a whopping increase in the baseline from which we're making the cuts.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, to be clear, I mean actual cuts in spending that mean we're spending less than we were before. No less growth, not less magically excluding some spending.

[Fist of Etiquette]

4st!

[Double D]

The USPS will begin consolidating "virtually all" of its service centers in May.

Yay!

Aghans continue to riot over burnt books.

This is me not giving a shit.

[Abdullah Ibn Zaid]

Print the Koran on toilet paper - one sura per square. Every day, put one sura behind you.

[Joe M]

Yet by 56 percent to 31 percent, more embraced cuts in government services than higher taxes as the best medicine for the budget...

ATTENTION REASON: Please go out there and do a survey asking people what the fuck is it they actually want to cut! Because time and again, polls show people favor cutting in the abstract, but faltering when asked whether or not we should cut any specific program. So get those bastards to cough up some names already. If we can get a program which a plurality of people want cut, we're making a teeny tiny scrap of progress, instead of this endless treadmill of cognitive dissonance.

[Double D]

^^This^^

Sigh...

[Matrix]

but we're talking about it! Isn't that enough?

[Rich]

Right. One of my favorite challenges is "Name *one* government program you would be willing to eliminate." Most people can't.

[T]

It's like when Rick Perry whiffed on departments. Me, I can usually name a round half-dozen at the drop of a hat.

[Double D]

Keep State, Justice, Defense, Interior. Give me 50 distinct and valid reasons to keep any of the rest. Reasons having to do with keeping bureaucrats employed or passing money to "good" causes will be thrown out.

[Joe M]

I'm pretty sure the idea came from this site somewhere, but why not just list every single item in the annual budget, and vote on how to prioritize them? Tally them up from the top priority on down, and when your expenditures equal the revenues, everything below that point doesn't get funding.

[kbolino]

Keep Treasury: Somebody has to mint the money, collect the revenue, and pay the bills.

Also, I propose we name departments after what they do, not what they pretend to do. So Defense would return to being called War, and Justice would be called Law Enforcement.

[Pro Libertate]

Cut anything. Stuff I like, whatever. Please.

[wylie]

You can have my NIF when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

Actually, no, go ahead and cut it so I can buy that shit on eBay. (calling dibs on the cap banks)

[Joe M]

Looking back, I think Harry Browne's offer wasn't so bad: would you cut your favorite government program if it meant you never had to pay income tax again? Of course, seeing as how we're about to cross the threshold of the majority of the population not paying income tax anyway, that approach might not work anymore.

[sloopyinca]

UC Davis now being sued over pepper-spraying incident.

Say what you want about the Occutards, but I sure hope the 1A wins out over police thuggery and the school has to pay out the ass. (I hold out no hope that the criminal act will be punished, however.)

[Old Mexican]

Poll: Americans prefer spending cuts to tax hikes for deficit reduction.

It's obvious those Americans are part of the 1%!

And the other 99% suck at math!

[Loki]

Publik Skoolz rul!!!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Fifty-four percent in the poll gave Democrats favorable ratings compared to 46 percent for Republicans, similar to results in January 2011, at the start of the newly elected Congress in which Republicans have run the House and Democrats wield a slender Senate majority.

And here I thought Fox News had better ratings than MSNBC, CBS News and CNN.

[Joe M]

Not combined!

[shrike]

Fox News is #1 in CABLE news - of which there are three (CNN, MSNBC).

Big Fucking Deal.

[Raston Bot]

What's AlJ, RT, and HK? Okay, HK is crap except for those times when Japan has a nuclear meltdown.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Think tank hosts "lunch-in" to protest federal nutrition guidelines.

This shit is getting real when suburban, white, "soccer moms" begin to protest government encroaching on liberty. Hopefully they remember this feeling when it comes to drugs, guns, gays, immigrants, wars in deserts, taxes, and all the other ways government nips your ankles.

[Double D]

No. They will fight like the devil when they are inconvenienced. But they will never empathize with injustice done to self-medicators, gun lovers, gays, immigrants, etc...

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Yeah, you're probably right. No one can get between a mama bear and her cub. But millions of people incarcerated for victimless drug crimes, fuck 'em. And gays de-value the sanctity of marriage, and kill the Muslims, etc...

[End Child Unemployment]

Gays kill the muslims? It seems like breeding more of them by allowing them to marry would be a win-win-win-win-win for America if that is the case.

[Apatheist ?_??]

There may be a flaw in your strategy...

[Wondrin Amazement]

What would satisfy those Afghan rioters? Killing people and wrecking stuff is not going to ... Oh, I suppose it ... No, I do not understand.

[Rich]

Wondrin, how many Korans do you think are defiled when these folks riot? I'll bet it's a non-trivial number.

My answer is: Nothing.

[Old Mexican]

Aghans continue to riot over burnt books.

Ahh, those Aghans...

What is an "Aghan", anyway???

[Two-bit punk]

uck off!

[sloopyinca]

Shouldn't that be, "uck o!"?

/pedantic dick

[wylie]

*pedandick

[Ska]

Some kind of rug or something.

[Loki]

A type of blanket, usually crocheted from yarn.

[gaijin]

It's a type of Whig

[Fist of Etiquette]

As for the differing strategies for deficit reduction, more than three-fourths of Republicans and the largest share of independents preferred cutting government services. Democrats leaned toward tax increases, but by a narrower 49 percent to 38 percent.

Until specifics are brought into the discussion.

[mr simple]

Afghanistan is bracing for intensifying protests, as outrage over the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base led to the first American casualties

Fuck, this sounds like a great reason to pull all Americans out of there and let them destroy their country if they want.

[Double D]

^^THIS!^^

Let em all go to hell in their own way.

[Double D]

Or triumph and ascend. Either way, it's not our look out anymore and we shouldn't give a shit.

[sloopyinca]

How can we help them rebuild if we leave, though?

-or-

Where are we supposed to stage our bombers going to Iran from?

[Doctor Whom]

But ... but ... America has to be the world's hall monitor because ... because ... it just does.

[UCrawford]

Bradley Manning is not a whistleblower...he's a traitor. He wasn't looking to point out actual abuses in government or improve how government does things, he was just looking to settle a grudge he had. Most of what he disclosed didn't involve government abuse at all...it was simply classified.

Personally, I don't care if they shoot the little shit.

[Old Mexican]

Re: UCrawford,

Bradley Manning is not a whistleblower...he's a traitor. He wasn't looking to point out actual abuses in government or improve how government does things, he was just looking to settle a grudge he had.

So what matters to you is the intention and not the actual result? Because government abuses and shenanigans were made public through his actions, his intentions notwithstanding.

[Old Soldier]

He made no effort to separate the shenanigans from legitimate secrets. He showed no regard for releasing the identities of allies and agents whose lives depended on remaining anonymous.

He is a Traitor. I doubt he'll die for it, but he will rot in Leavenworth for a long stretch.

[Libertymike]

His primary, most important allegiance is to the constitution and the founding values.

Is that too hard to understand? It is more important that the constitution be vindicated not military protocol or serving the interests of the empire.

Got it slaver?

[NotSure]

This soldier is a real hero, not the ones who blindly kill others in the name of following orders. History will eventually vindicate this guy, sadly this guys life is now destroyed.

Not a single person has died because of his revealing the truth, his crime was simply to expose government incompetence and nastiness.

[Double D]

WHat exactly do his actions have to do with DEFENDING the Constitution.
Whatever you think of the government actions and discussions revealed by his unlawful divulging of classified material does not matter. Explain how he was upholding his oath.
Hint: he did NOT.
Fail.

[Libertymike]

The constitution does not permit the government to create "state secrets" and "classified information" as there is no grant of power contained in the constitution authorizing the same.

The constitution does not permit the government to maintain a standing army.

The constitution does not permit the government to invade foreign lands.

The constitution does not permit the government to make and expand empire.

The constitution does not [permit the government to create and fund a military industrial national security national surveillance state.

Don't be such a doormat for the nation state.

[rsi]

He shouldn't have joined the army, he shouldn't worked in intel if he was so principled.

[Old Soldier]

Libertymike - you are quite the self-righteous little talker. Your hero, Bradley Manning enlisted in that Army that shouldn't exist. Why should you care if we put him on trial and shoot him?

[An unnamed source]

"identities of allies and agents whose lives depended on remaining anonymous"

You mean he exposed other traitors and quislings.

[Xenocles]

But I thought it was good to betray your state if that state is bad. All those agents just deserved death for betraying the nice guys that they did, I guess.

[Double D]

Just so. His betrayal of his oaths, both to his service and from his non-disclosure agreements and attestations for access to CLASSMAT is what the real issues are. What he actually revealed, whatever its value to the public, is secondary (unless it can cause serious national security damage).

[Libertymike]

His primary, most important oath is to protect and defend the constitution-even if that means breaching the other oaths.

Is that too hard to understand?

[Double D]

And he is suddenly a Constitution defending patriot?! Bullshit.

[T]

So, I guess Manning didn't read Article III, Section 3? Didn't quite understand the document he swore to uphold? Is that your argument, LM?

[Libertymike]

The constitution does not authorize a standing army.

The constitution does not permit the government to make war in foreign lands.

The constitution does not permit the government to have military installations in any other nation.

The constitution does not permit empire.

The constitution does not permit the government to have "state secrets" and to have "classified" information.

The constitution does not permit the government to wage covert warfare in foreign lands.

There is no language specifically authorizing any of the above in the constitution. If the framers and the ratifiers had intended the government to have such powers, they would have so said.

THEY DID NOT.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Amazing patience. These diners never get their drink orders.

[R C Dean]

Try this:

No society that engages in murderous, days-long riots over burned books can support a pluralistic humane government.

Yes/No?

Time to declare nation-building in Afghanistan over, tell the Afghans that we think they are hopelessly mired in primitive, tribalistic barbarism and we will waste no more time or money on them, and come home?

[sloopyinca]

We need to do it Baltimore Colts-style as well. One big, massive airlift out and leave a note on the embassy door: "Sorry, but you people are Klingons. We humans have nothing in common with you and are no longer interested in having people killed because you are more upset about books being disposed of than you are of women being beaten for looking at a man the wrong way. K'Pla!"

[Pro Libertate]

We could also append a threat not to let anyone blow up shit here again, because we're mucho loco and there's no telling what we might do.

[RoboCain]

Ted Nugent
Secretary Of Defense

[Lotta Guise]

As a final gesture, spray all the construction we did with pig blood.

[wylie]

"I swear to god, if you kids don't knock it off back there, I'll occupy you for a decade, blow up all your shit, and then leave you to your own self-destructive devices."

[Pro Libertate]

It's our unpredictability that makes us strong.

[T]

Sounds good to me. That should have been a straight-up punitive expedition from the get-go, but apparently we don't do that anymore. Black Jack Pershing and Phil Sheridan would cry.

[Old Soldier]

I honestly thought that was what we were doing for the first year or so. Kill AQ, kill the Taliban, put the Northern Alliance in power because they are friendly towards the U.S. and they like killing the Taliban and AQ, then leave.

But then we never left - and even Army NCO's were scratching their heads wondering why we were moving heavy units in instead of packing up and leaving. WTF was Bush thinking?

We could have (before we made a decade + boondoggle of it) gone back and killed more AQ and Taliban if necessary.

[BigT]

F*ing candidate Bush said we don't use troops for nation building. Prez Bush spent 7 years and 4,000 lives nation building. May he rot in hell.

[Res Publica Americana]

Absolutely. Thousands of Americans have died as a result of our involvement with these thirteenth-century imports. We should leave and allow the barbarians to rip each other apart. They don't deserve another second of our time or another drop of our blood.

[Invisible Finger]

The world definitely needs another place for all the ideologues and fuckups can emigrate to besides Washington DC.

[Loki]

Actually why don't we just go ahead and move the seat of out federal government there? Then, with any luck, the Afghans will take care of our pesky politician problem for us.

[Coeus]

If you ever get pissed at your landlord, just realize it could be worse:

http://www.policeone.com/bizar.....nants-dog/

[RoboCain]

It doesn't describe the molestation though.

[Warty]

The dog was not unresponsive.

[RoboCain]

"Cop Rapes Dog" is a much better headline then.

[Loki]

If I was that dog's owner, the landlord would just disappear one day, never to be seen or heard from again.

[Old Soldier]

I have a female Mastiff. He is welcome to enter my house while I'm not home, with his pants down, and have at it.

[invisible furry hand]

Sing along with this

[Mr Whipple]

The USPS will begin consolidating "virtually all" of its service centers in May.

Bring back the American Letter Mail Company and the three cent stamp!

[Res Publica Americana]

It's the 21st century's second decade, and government monopolies are still tolerated? We're so fucking retarded.

[protefeed]

Monopolies are the only thing a government CAN do. If they allow competition on a level playing field from whoever, said government service will quickly cease to exist.

[RoboCain]

"Late last year Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) cited the fact that many prisoners convert to Islam as cause for blocking legislation that would make synthetic drugs illegal."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi....._islam.php

[Eduard van Haalen]

See this discussion:

http://reason.com/blog/2012/02.....nt_2861395

[RoboCain]

NY Post: Playmate Strips NY of $1.2M

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.c.....ore-109975

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Schwinnnggg!!!

[shrike]

A 22-year-old Cobb County man is accused of sending pornographic pictures of himself and a woman to contacts in the woman's cell phone, including her juvenile brother.

.....

Shah allegedly used his cell phone to take pictures of himself and a woman having sex, according to Kennesaw Police, who secured the warrant. Shah then allegedly sent the pictures to contacts in the woman's phone, including her mother, sister, friend, and 14-year-old brother, the warrant states.

ajc.com

[RoboCain]

"Arizona Schools May Allow Acknowledgment of Bible's Existence; Liberal Heads Explode"

http://moonbattery.com/?p=8470

[Double D]

I'm gonna say screw the author's "moral compass" crap. However, despite my atheism, I see nothing wrong with teaching about Christianity's influence on our culture. That's a big part of our origins and what we have become as a nation. As long as it isn't some form of indoctrination.

[Invisible Finger]

The problem is Jesus didn't have a zero-tolerance policy. That is sacrilege to public madrassah indoctrination.

[Skwisgaar Skwigelf]

OK, prove it - shows me a miracle, some evidence that religion exists!

[Nathan Explosion]

Well, there's a bible right there.

[Nathan Explosion]

Well, there's a bible right there.

[Apatheist ?_??]

+1

[Drake]

Take out the miracles and the Old Testament is the most valuable historical document in existence.

[Xenocles]

Miracles are so integral to the OT that if you remove them there's little left. How did Sarah conceive at such an advanced age? How did the Hebrews escape Egypt? How did they take Jericho? Then there's that whole furnace episode, etc.

[Loki]

I think what he's more refering to is the stuff where things happened that they didn't have the scientific knowledge to explain, so OMG, it's a fucking miracle!, but now we can explain, and you're left with a pretty detailed history of the Jewish people.

The Jericho story is actually a pretty good example that comes to mind (resonance frequencies).

[Drake]

Yes - down to the names and ethnicity of specific Pharaohs at specific times. Battles, political upheavals, etc...

In the 19th and 20th Centuries, the easiest way to make a name as an archeologist was to read determine the approximate location of an Old Testament battle or city, go there and dig.

[John]

See Our Lady of Guadalupe and the miracle of Fatima. The Fatima one is some weird shit. So is the Guadalupe. They are verified by large numbers of witnesses. They just can't be explained.

[Apatheist]

"They just can't be explained."

Mass hysteria + nonsensical bullshit.

What you meant to say was "They are incredibly easy to explain unless you accept the word of a bunch of nutjobs that believe in fairy tales".

[DesigNate]

Um "religion" exists. Now you can argue the validity of the scriptures of the different religions, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

Also, if you think Christianity (in particular) hasn't had an influence on Western History and Politics you are a fucking retard.

[RoboCain]

"A jilted boyfriend is facing felony charges after he allegedly placed a series of phony Craigslist ads directing men to the Oregon home of his pregnant ex-girlfriend for sexual encounters."

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/d.....-ex-457123

[sloopyinca]

There's a lot of crazy yet to come out in that story.

[wylie]

even if the woman isn't a prostitute, don't his actions still constitute pimping?

[sloopyinca]

No, because what he did seems pretty easy. And if Big Daddy Kane taught us anything, it's that the opposite is true.

[Xenocles]

That is a controversial opinion.

[Double D]

Win

[JeremyR]

That's illegal now?

I did the same thing to my friend in college as a prank. Only in the classified ads of a newspaper...

[rac3rx]

Nekkid wymynz of all shapes and various sizes strut the runway at London's Fashion Week:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....-Week.html

[RoboCain]

So they show the naked pregnant, but blur out the non-pregnant? WTF?

[Double D]

Because ART! or nature or something. The other stuff is obscene objectification.

[Loki]

In that case how come some of the fetish sites that show pregnant women fucking aren't considered "art"?

[RoboCain]

Why interior decorators need to be licensed by the government:

http://theberry.com/2012/02/16.....-8-photos/

[Double D]

I support and defend her right to be tacky and craptacular.
Ima still talk about her, though.

[T]

I'll make a bet an interior designer was responsible for that.

[Gross Point Blank]

The wallpaper was actually hung, not with paste, but with the spooge of 200 NBA players. True story.

[Dekedin]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/.....lucy_l.php

Xena, Warrior Princess commandeers an oil-drilling ship with Greenpeace. This better not taint my fond memories of watching the show as a teen.

[Double D]

It's ruined. She is forever associated with hippie bullshit now.

[Ken Shultz]

Don't ever let hippie BS get in the way of...

I mean, seriously, gotta keep politics in perspective. If you've got so much...um...on your hands that you can turn away primo...uh...'cause you don't like her politics? I'd say more power to you, but that's such a waste of premium...um...you know what I'm talking about.

[A Serious Man]

Well she still did BSG and Spartacus (where she flung herself into the show's gratuitous sex nudity). Let's hope she doesn't board anymore oil ships.

[Loki]

Did she at least don her old Zena costume and sword? 'Cause that would be awesome.

This better not taint my fond memories of watching the show as a teen.

Just remember the "lesbian overtones" and you'll be fine.

[Coeus]

"I'm here today acting on behalf of the planet and my children," said Lawless. "Deep-sea oil drilling is bad enough, but venturing into the Arctic, one of the most magical places on the planet, is going too far. I don't want my kids to grow up in a world without these extraordinary places intact or where we ruin the habitat of polar bears for the last drops of oil."

['nando]

Fuck Monsanto

[Killazontherun]

The worst part in that article, christfag and mohamedbuttboy Obama is intent on violating the first amendment: President Barack Obama vowed to hold coalition officials accountable for the "inadvertent" sacrilege.

['Nando]

Monsanto found GUILTY in farmer illness
http://www.naturalnews.com/035.....rance.html

[Killazontherun]

Mr. Priest, this likely come as a surprise to you, but I have some bad news. Not only are you supremely ignorant of history and the political philosophy this nation was founded, but you are indeed a goddamn communist:

http://kdvr.com/2012/02/21/den.....of-crease/

Ray Priest, owner of International Passport Visas in Denver, said your passport isn't actually yours at all; it belongs to the US government.

To have a passport is privilege, it's not entitled to you by citizenship," Priest said. He said the issue may be with a microchip embedded in the back of all new passports. "They have no reason in the world to let you travel if it's been damaged," Priest said. "It's like cutting your photo out or something if that chip doesn't work.

[Christina]

As a Virginia resident I'm giving a huge sigh of relief over the Personhood bill's tabling. They can have my IUD when they pry it from my cold, dead uterus.