A.M. Links: Syria Launches Ground Assault Against Rebels, Dow Returns to Its Glory Days, House Votes to Overturn Kelo

• Bashar al-Assad sends tanks into Homs.

• Dow tops 13k.
• House votes to overturn Kelo.
• Evangelicals turn to data mining.
• White House passes waiver allowing domestic law enforcement to detain terrorism suspects.
• Turmoil in the Tea Party Patriots.     

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

All hail, President Romney.

[WWNGD?]

In what election would he win?

[Pip]

I for one welcome our new Mormbot Overlord.

[Sparky]

What's the worst that could happen?

[Allahu Akbar]

Hi!

[Lib-Chat!]

This is like the worst chat room ever.

[Lib-Chat!]

Gentlemen, paste your comments!

[Troll-Chat!]

I've been hitting refresh on my browser for the last two hours just so I can post worthless, obsessive comments!

[49 others]

You too?

[49 others]

Here's a fun game: which of the first obsessive posters is now commenting under the handle "Troll-Chat!"? Vote below.

RoboCain (  )
John        (  )

[49 others]

Hey everyone! Pay attention to me! ME!

[49 others]

We are!

Hahahahaha!

[50 others]

[sigh]

It's so simple, kids. All you have to do is ignore the trolls. But you won't. You can't. So you rise to the bait, and bitch and moan, and never learn that you're the problem.

[Shut the fuck up]

"you're the problem."

And rape victims are asking for it.

[Yup]

See? "Shut the fuck up" gets it!
Keep responding, but blame the troll!

[Yup]

Not that being trolled is not just as traumatic as being raped.

[Anyway]

I vote RoboCain. Way obvious.

[Lord Humungus]

Here's a big fucking hint, anono-griefer. If you don't like this board, then move on to somewhere else. You don't offer anything here, unless you want to include a high level of insanity. You're like the neighborhood crazy cat lady who shouts at the passing cars.

We get it - you're not a Libertarian. But seriously, what do you "get" out of being here? It's like a disorder.

[Anono-griefer?]

Being here...It's like a disorder.

Exactly!

[Rich]

*cough*AmericanswithDisabilitiesAct*cough*

[Rectal Thermometer]

I love assholes.

[fish]

So what's the difference between Rectal and Orel....thermometers I mean?

The taste.

Thanks I'm here all week!

[zarcasmic et al]

Me too!

[Crazy Drunk Lady]

Where the fuck did I put my big purple vibrating dildo?

[Funny Guy]

Where you always put it...in Warty's bunghole!

[Cornholio]

Are you threatening me?

[Wartys Bunghole]

Sorry. No vacancies.

[John the crybaby]

I'LL SUE YOU!!! I'LL FUCKING SUE YOU BECAUSE YOU SAID SOMETHING I DIDN'T LIKE THAT WAS FACTUALLY ACCURATE!!!

STOP STALKING MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I'LL CONTINUE TO MAKE OBVIOUSLY EMPTY THREATS TO SUE YOU IF YOU DON'T STOP STALKING MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

[50 others (encore)]

[sigh]

It's so simple, kids. All you have to do is ignore the trolls. But you won't. You can't. So you rise to the bait, and bitch and moan, and never learn that you're the problem.

[RoboCain]

"How dare Ron Paul suggest that some women lie about rape!"

http://falserapesociety.blogsp......html#more

[Marshall Gill]

When a woman can claim that she was improperly touched and receive thousands of dollars it seems pretty likely that there will be some who lie. Incentives, how do they fucking work?

[Suki]

Fucking work is voluntary. Slavery and rape are involuntary.

[mad libertarian guy]

Fucking work is voluntary. Slavery and rape are involuntary.

But women would NEVER lie about rape and put other women at risk of not being believed.

[Duke lacrosse team]

Jessica Wakeman, who writes for the Frisky, said this: "The thing I would love to know about people who claim women lie about rape all the time is whether any of them actually know someone who has lied about a rape."

We do!

[Jessica Wakeman]

I meant in the Biblical sense.

[Bill Clinton]

I could name a few!

[A Regular Here]

I do, too. A woman I knew in college faked a rape so she could get Valium. It worked, even though neither the cops not the ER staff believed her. At least she didn't ruin anyone's life for this, but still.

[Chupacabra]

I knew a guy that did a full year of prison before the girl admitted that she lied about the rape charge.

[Konfounded Kristen]

On the other hand, my college roommate did NOT lie about being raped. But she had the unfortunate circumstance of being raped in DC, where solving crimes is the last item on cops' list of priorities.

[RoboCain]

"There is, of course, a problem with the question itself. Morgan is working under the assumption that the daughters and granddaughters of prominent politicians are "unlikely" to face a sexual attacker. Reality doesn't work that way."

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.co.....onest-rape

[RoboCain]

"The facts were wrong, but the narrative was right."

http://www.americanthinker.com.....urder.html

[The Reverend Al Sharpton]

And your point is ...?

[RC]

I like to comment.

[RoboCain]

"The Colorado State Patrol issued a citation to the school bus driver who hit three teenage girls while they crossed the street. When asked whether Shaw would have been hired if the district had known he'd been in and out of addiction rehab treatment, a representative cited the American's with Disabilities Act, which reads "'It is illegal under state and federal disability laws to deny employment solely on the basis of a history of treatment for alcohol or substance abuse."

http://kdvr.com/2012/02/24/sch.....-students/

[Loki]

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

[sloopyinca]

He didn't happen to be a cop from Spokane, did he? Because he suffers from the same "disease."

[RoboCain]

Upper East Side moms are engrossed in a lousy XXX novel about a 27-year-old billionaire a who seduces a college grad and trains her to become his submissive sex slave.

http://www.nypost.com/p/entert.....DnH2npoL/0

[T]

Lousy? I take it you've read it, then?

Hmm. Robo, are you an Upper East Side mom?

[SugarFree]

Close your eyes, flip to a random page, point to a line and you're basically guaranteed to land on a graphic, adjective-laden sex scene (often involving multiple props).

Go on...

[John]

Haven't they ever heard of the Story of O?

[SugarFree]

From the comments...

angry_red_planet (signed in using yahoo)
This book trilogy is available to read for free by googling "Master of the Universe" and Twilight. It's a Twilight fan fiction that has just had a name change. http://www.publishersweekly.co.....ction.html - Why buy a poorly-written book when you can read it for free?

[John]

Twilight fan fiction has morphed into upper west side MILF pornography? Wow. I guess moms and daughters now have something to share.

[Rabbi Luria]

From the article:

'Alison Brod...hails "Fifty Shades" as "the new kabbalah for female bonding in this city."'

Oy, I think I'll go throw up now.

[Abdul]

Warty wrote his memoirs?

And just because you have a billion pre-euro italian lire lying around doesn't make you a billionaire.

[Warty]

Warty: An Erotic Life is not for sale, dude. I wouldn't let Moloch sully something so pure and beautiful.

PS: I could use some help editing the firehose enema scene, if you're not busy.

[Pro Libertate]

My favorite Warty story is the time he went to Oslo to accept the Peace Prize, wearing Viking garb, and told the committee to fuck off, breaking the award in half with his bare hands. There are other parts to that story, but they can't be related on a family blog.

[edcoast]

Since when is this a family blog?

[RC]

It became a porn site sometime in 2008.

[WTF]

Is that 'firehose' or 'firehouse'? Not that they're mutually exclusive.

[Abdul]

Enema scene? just use lots of colons.

[Dagny T.]

Awesome; that is all I have to say about this pun.

(What? I could only work in a semi.)

[sloopyinca]

The above pun: awesome.

[Warty]

I could only work in a semi.

Just use lots of lube and keep working at it. Rome wasn't built in a day.

[Ska]

Wouldn't Greece be more applicable in this scenario?

[DesigNate]

I believe that wins an internet.

[Joe M]

I know it wasn't Warty because there aren't any tentacles.

[Warty]

Those are hemorrhoids, you dick.

[SIV]

The Billionaire part is what makes 'em really wet.

[Suki]

I am shocked.

[Vanity Press]

Spitzer's autobiography is out?

[RoboCain]

1% Buys OWS

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....66178.html

[Ice Nine]

Ice's First Rule of Political Action: Anything Ben & Jerry support is to be avoided, voted against and dismissed out of hand - except of course, Chunky Monkey.

[Ewwww]

Do you know what those monkey "chunks" really are?

[db]

Ben and Jerry's can take a long walk off a short catwalk over a vat of molten steel.

[Anacreon]

I went to a free outdoor concert in San Francisco in the 90's that was sponsored by Ben and Jerry's. They would give you a free ice cream bar if you would sign a pre-printed card to send to Congress endorsing some PC nonsense. I wouldn't do it but asked if I could pay for the ice cream instead. Answer:no.

So I didn't get any ice cream.

[Konfounded Kristen]

Real Vermonters don't eat Ben & Jerry's.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Is Edy's still okay?

[Konfounded Kristen]

Newp.

Real Vermonters eat maple creemees.

[Sparky]

Maple sugar is what you eat when a pure sugar injection just isn't quite enough.

[Mr. Cooter]

But true Scotsmen do.

[sloopyinca]

So the Jooz are aligning themselves with the OWS'ers? Sharpton ain't gonna like this. As a matter of fact, not too many residents of Hymietown are gonna be happy.

[Toasted]

Like a liberal, I hope Ben and Jerry get raped so they'll understand.

[RoboCain]

"Exaggerated" in this case serves as a synonym for "flat-out lie."

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....-tip-hoax/

[WTF]

Well, the facts were wrong, but the narrative is right.

[RoboCain]

It's not easy being two.

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

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

[Sparky]

Hey, it's easy to beat to death a kid that's not actually yours.

[Loki]

What the fuck is wrong with people. Assholes like those 2 are the single biggest argument in favor of the death penalty. We don't need human diaper stains like that walking around breathing.

[Hey]

in favor of the death penalty

You'll lose your membership papers saying shit like that. Repeat after me: Only cops deserve the death penalty. Only cops deserve the death penalty.

[Roman Polanski]

To get the death penalty,

OR

To recieve the death penalty?

[Roman Polanski]

I meant give, but you get the point 🙁

[Hey]

Too late. Fail.

[DesigNate]

Yeah, cause everybody on here agrees with everybody else.

God damn you are annoying.

[50 others]

everybody on here agrees with everybody else

That's what Group-Think is all about, Charlie Brown.*

 
* see any cop-shoots-dog story

[Cranberry]

No, they just decided the girl was too much of a burden, what with her pooping and crying and all that, so they did the compassionate thing and after-birth aborted her.

[Ice Nine]

Cavort with Neanderthals, get Neanderthal behavior. Who knew?

[JW]

I'll pay my own way to Phoenix, just so this sub-human thug can have 5 minutes in a room with someone his own size.

[Child Molesting Priest]

I'd like the evolutionary biologists to explain to me the survival value of the human infant tantrum.

I realize that infants cry because it triggers a protective response in their parents. But it only does that a certain percentage of the time.

The times that it doesn't, it's literally the worst and most enraging sound in the world.

I can tune out a jackhammer. But not a 2 year old.

And a lot - A LOT - of these "crazed child killer" stories seem to go: "The kid started crying, so I hit him and told him to shut up. That made him cry more, so I hit him harder." Where's the survival value in that?

You'd think that in gamboling bands, where everyone was hanging out together in a big group like baboons all the time, there would have been an evolutionary premium on not crying in a way that would make one of the other savages so frustrated that they would beat you to death.

[Sparky]

A two-year-old has not been given sufficient time to realize it is not the most important thing in the world. Since their brain is nowhere near being fully developed, they isn't capable yet of realizing that their needs are not the top priority of anyone else.

[Sparky]

they *aren't capable yet

[RoboCain]

So you are saying two-year-olds are essentially the same as liberals?

Why do you hate the children?

[Sparky]

Hey, I let my children live through their toddler years.

[Tonio]

Squalling infants could also be a problem when trying to avoid predators or hostile people. However, we know very, very little about the gamboling times because they left no written records.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

It wasn't a chicken! It was a baby!

[John]

http://thehill.com/homenews/se.....gas-prices

Worried Dems press Obama on gas prices. But I thought high gas prices were a good thing? That is was the energy secretary said!

[Montani Semper Liberi]

C-c-c-c-combo breaker

[John]

They want him to break out the strategic petroleum reserve to get prices down before the election. First, I thought we couldn't drill our way out of this? What you mean increasing supply lowers the price?

Second, what exactly do they plan to do after the reserve is gone?

[WTF]

Second, what exactly do they plan to do after the reserve is gone?

Once the election is over, what the fuck do they care?

[RoboCain]

That their only reason to lower gas prices is to win an election seems awfully crass. So much for being the party for poor people.

[wareagle]

That their only reason to lower gas prices is to win an election seems awfully crass.
-------------------------------------
EVERYTHING this group does is geared toward elections. Campaigning is the only time when Obama seems lifelike, and when the bullshit meter really pegs into the red.

[Barack Obama]

Let me be clear.

Once the election is over, our Green Initiatives will be well under way.

[Barack Obama]

They want him to break out the strategic petroleum reserve to get prices down before the election.

Let me be clear: I'm totally going to do this.

what exactly do they plan to do after the reserve is gone?

You mean after the election? Don't know, don't care.

[Loki]

what exactly do they plan to do after the reserve is gone?

With the reserve gone it will be that much easier to get gas prices up to European levels. It's a win-win; gas prices are taken off the table for Obama's re-election, and then in his 2nd term there's no more strategic reserve, so let the gas prices soar.

[Mr Whipple]

And, of course, that will trigger widespread price inflation that has been simmering in the pot for about 3 or 4 years. Then, the Bernank will have no choice but to raise interest rates, making it more difficult to finance the debt, putting even more pressure on fiscal policy...from there, who knows.

[Ice Nine]

what exactly do they plan to do after the reserve is gone?

Same thing they do after the money is gone - give a shit.

[RoboCain]

Lacist?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/ho.....youth.html

[Lib-Chat!]

Dude! You are one dedicated paster!

[Troll-Chat!]

And I'm one dedicated obsessive loon!

[Lib-Chat!]

You're supposed to ignore me. I'm telling SugarFree.

[Lib-Chat!]

It's not like I have a creepy obsession with SugarFree or something!

[Troll-Chat!]

Leggo of him! He's mine!

[Rectal Thermometer]

Do you know Ben Dover?

[Dick Hertz]

Do you know Cathy Derr?

[Wartie]

I know them all!

[WTF]

I think it kind of puts the Che t-shirts in the proper perspective. Why be outraged over one totalitarian murderer but not another?

[Loki]

Che was the "right kind" of totalarian murderer.

[Bobarian]

These are at least mocking or irreverant, not supportive.

[Louis Farrakhan]

As was Hitler.

[Louis Farrakhan]

At Loki, BTW.

[Bobarian]

Yeah, Hitler wasn't ever really mocking or irreverent.

He was more into puns.

[RoboCain]

""Without insurance coverage, contraception, as you know, can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school," Fluke told the hearing."

http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-.....si-hearing

[Jerry]

If she's prostituting herself to pay for college she ought to be able to deduct the contraception as business expense, but then she has to report her income to the IRS as well.

[Ice Nine]

The prostituting of herself will only begin after she graduates from law school.

[fish]

Hey shut up! She's "sharing voices"........

[WTF]

And I still fail to see how that obligates someone else to pay for it.

[wareagle]

decades and decades of liberal "someone else owes you everything" dogma beaten into people's heads, that's how. This girl was raised on the belief that she is entitled to what she wants when she wants it, at your expense.

[T]

Law school is three years. So $85 a month for contraception? Can somebody let us know if that number is right?

[SugarFree]

If you throw in the once-a-year mandatory pelvic exam to keep the script going, 3K might be right, assuming she went to a private doctor and not planned parenthood or the county health clinic.

[JW]

Wha???? Do you actually expect Princess to go slumming with the middle class?

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Dude, no way. Even at $100 per month and a $500 pelvic exam per year, that's $1700, and I am being extremely generous on those prices.

[SugarFree]

It was the costs for three years.

[Sandra Fluke]

Saran Wrap is just so darned difficult to keep properly positioned, so I go through A LOT.

[Cranberry]

Depends on the drug and your pharmacy. Generic Micronor (mini pill, prosgestin only) can be as little as $36 a month without insurance or if insurance will not cover it. Combo pills range from $20 to $70 in my area sans coverage.

Planned Parenthood and a site called http://www.birthcontrolforcharity.com offer the pill for no or low cost, about $20 a month, but you cannot get the pill without a pelvic exam every year which costs ~$250 if you don't have insurance.

The cost is the cost; if you want the product, you have to pay what it is worth. It is no more my responsibility to subsidize your birth control pills as it is your education, internet, food, or car insurance (and yet I am in the unfortunate position of doing so anyway, by force).

[Cranberry]

Oh, and the Mirena IUD is now being approved for use in women who have not had a child. It lasts for 5 years and costs $850 plus the cost of the pelvic exam and the insertion visit. So about $1500 all told - a big savings compared to the pill.

[rac3rx]

+1 Cranberry...or...if she attended a law school which was part a U with a health clinic, she could get the exam and pills for much much less. The pills at a University health center can run less than $10 depending on the drug.

[Cranberry]

I was thinking the same thing rac3rx. All schools now require that you purchase health coverage from the school or another provider, or prove you are covered by some form of insurance. My school offered supplemental insurance if my parents' insurance was not adequate (this was back in the 90s). Now with the mandate that all children be covered until age 26, that would fit most students in the grad school population too, so I would think grad programs have similar insurance requirements.

The campus health center is there for emergencies and general health care. Birth control was freely prescribed at the health center at my college. You needed an exam to get the scrip but it cost almost nothing compared to a private doc.

[mr simple]

The health center at my school also gave condoms away for free. They usually had them sitting out so you could just walk in and grab some.

[Abdul]

Too many of america's graduate students are living a life of poverty and chastity. Sure, that's ok in divinity school, but the rest are in grad schools intended to get them presitigious jobs or husbands.

Won't you help today?

For the cost of a large pizza a week, you two can sponsor a needy law student. She'll get laid once a week, typically after happy hour on Friday night, and once again saturday morning if she's lucky.

give today

[John]

+100

[Abdul]

As a former law student, you'll appreciate the grafiti in the men's room at my alma mater:

"If cum loudly as a 1L, you won't cum laude as a 3L"

[Loki]

Not to mention prostitution teaches many valuable skills that will undoubtedly be useful in the workforce. Especially for future lawyers.

[John]

Those skills have certainly served Nancy Grace and Gloria Alldred well.

[Nancy Pelosi]

Are you serious?

[Abdul]

Oh please, if they ever elevated their careers to the level of whore, they'd starve to death.

[R C Dean]

That number is way high.

For one thing, nobody says it has to be the pill. Rubbers are cheap, and I'm guessing even a dedicated fuckbuddy could keep herself in rubbers for a lot less than $1,000/year.

Plus, with a little shopping around, she should be able to find the pill for less than $80/month.

Even if it is $80/month, that's less than she spends on her smartphone. Make your lifestyle choice and move on, already. Nobody should have to subsidize your hobbies, sweety.

[John]

But that would require her to make choices. And princess don't do that. She not just entitled to birth control. She is entitled to the birth control she wants at someone else' expense.

[RoboCain]

With a little shopping around she could find a guy who would buy his own condoms.

[wareagle]

but if the guy is providing condoms, there is no chance that sweetie pie might, ahem..forget to take the pill a few times when she thinks Mr Right Now has a chance of being Mr Wallet, I mean Mr Right.

[Cranberry]

The male pill will be the best thing to happen in the war against welfare, feminism, and free-riders of all stripes.

[RoboCain]

I can also see many more gullible young women getting pregnant.

[JW]

To get around this issue, there will be an additive to the pill that will turn your cock green.

[Bobarian]

The Obama Administration will be able to claim 'green jobs created or saved'.

[Sparky]

Based on how much sex she seems to be having, I don't think she has the time to be shopping around.

[RoboCain]

"Never raw dog a random"

[JW]

But...but...she's one of tomorrow's leaders! How do you expect her to succeed later at being a professional parasite if she can't undertake her studies in sponging and leeching today?

[SugarFree]

I would think that the terrible hair and double chin would be contraceptive enough.

[JW]

Not to mention being named after an actual parasite.

[John]

What a frump. Would a little hair product hurt? Maybe a wardrobe that is something besides the modified nun look. She doesn't have a horn growing out of her head or anything. But her whole look and demeanor screams "don't oppress me with your male gaze". Got it sister. Don't you worry about that.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"I'm an American woman who uses contraceptives," Fluke said, when asked Thursday by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., about her qualifications to speak on the issue.

I guess she figured "I'm a huge slut who wants other people to subsidize my lifestyle" didn't sound quite as authoritative.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I'm amazed how reasonable the comments on that HuffPo article are.

[sloopyinca]

Um, last I checked, abstinence was free.

[F Hart]

...it's too expensive to have sex in law school without mandated insurance coverage.

Perhaps, the government can provide her with a nice assortment of vibrating dildos, instead.

[Juice]

Her smartphone bill will cost her way more than that.

[RoboCain]

At least she showed tits on that gladiator show:

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02.....hypocrite/

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

[Lib-Chat!]

New record!

[Troll-Chat]

Hey everyone, lllloooook at me!

[??^]

Unself-aware, doesn't get "irony."

[^]

Angry, obsessive.

[?^]

Can't...let go...
Must...respond!

[^]

Unself-aware, doesn't get "irony."

[RC]

Now I'm confused. Which one is the obsessive troll and which one is the obsessive troll?

[WTF]

She didn't age very well.

[RoboCain]

How old is she?

[WTF]

She's 43 according to Wikipedia.

[Sparky]

22.

I'm kidding, she's 43.

[jacob]

I don't agree with LL, but the first article is a bit of a stretch. She had a bit part in a Shell commercial once upon a time. It's not like she was the face of their company or a known spokesperson.

[BakedPenguin]

Agreed. Also, people can change their minds.

[F Hart]

Xena arrested: Actress Lucy Lawless held with five Greenpeace activists after four-day sit-in on oil-drilling ship bound for Alaska

For someone who is against oil drilling, she sure looks Diesel to me.

[Pip]

THE DAILY CALLER SUCKS ASS.

The site is so fucking slow and often seizes my browser.

[Mr Whipple]

Try this, if you haven't already

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_pipelining

http://egonitron.com/2007/05/2.....ing-trick/

[Raston Bot]

didn't DC hire Michelle Fields? so they got that going for them.

[Tim]

Bad move by Assaad: he can kill all the syrians he wants but once he nails a few well connected reporters there'll be a response.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Haven't they already killed several?

[Tim]

Which is why this is escalating.

[Tim's Sidekick]

Have we won in Syria yet?

[Lord Humungus]

Rick Santorum strains the libertarian-conservative alliance.

I first read that as "stains".

anyways:
http://spectator.org/archives/.....con-fusion

Santorum's anti-libertarianism manifests itself in the fairly exapansive view of state police powers he appears to endorse in his criticisms of, naturally, Griswold and Lawrence v. Texas (the latter decision struck down Texas' anti-sodomy laws). The one exception is Santorum's strong criticism of the state-level individual mandate imposed by Romneycare. Otherwise, he seems concerned only by the legal limits on government imposed by the Constitution rather than other principled limits on government power.

[R C Dean]

Otherwise, he seems concerned only by the legal limits on government imposed by the Constitution.

Really? I hadn't noticed.

[jacob]

On one occasion Santorum stated, "I am not a libertarian, and I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement."

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02.....z1nmZU7dwF

[wareagle]

curiously, Santorum's blatant anti-personal liberty sense is lost on the talkocracy, which after months of watching one hoped-for "true conservative" after another implode was stuck with Ricky from PA.

[Fluffy]

No, it isn't lost on them at all.

They just don't consider libertarian economic concerns to be a legitimate element of conservatism.

Or put another way, if you're a socon who favors big government, you're still a conservative; but if you're socially liberal and favor small government, you aren't. Socon values are considered a more legitimate marker of conservative status than small government values.

[Rev. Blue Moon]

Yes, this. I have watched with severe disappointment those movement conservatives who embraced the Tea Party in its nascence now totally ignore Santorum's ignominious record on economic issues. The Talk Radio Punditocracy (which I surmise has a symbiotic relationships with the Tea Party) has gone all in the tank for Santorum, and so goes the Tea Party.

Sad.

[fish]

"I am not a libertarian, and I fight very strongly against libertarian influence within the Republican Party and the conservative movement."

Well you'll have plenty of time to fight the good fight when you're busy not being president.

[Loki]

I first read that as "stains".

I'm sure Santorum does that too.

[Pip]

I heard a newsperson say, "When Romney was trailing Santorum" last night. Made me laugh.

So did Santorum in his speech last night that ended with him saying "and be able to build a great and just society, a free society from the bottom up. That's how America works best, from the bottom up. And that's the solutions that we're going to propose for America, the bottom up."

That last one nearly killed me.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Dallas, an evangelical Christian, has since become a voter. He now runs United In Purpose, a nonprofit startup company that uses data mining to identify unregistered Christians.

The company persuaded wealthy Silicon Valley conservatives to help fund the creation of a database of as many adults in the U.S. as they can find. So far, UIP has added 180 million.

I can't wait for the scandal when Simon of Cyrene and Mary Magdalene show up on PrayCORN's voter registration applications.

[John]

They plan on giving all Christian voters voting cards with registration numbers each of which begin with "666"

[Bee Tagger]

Christian conspiracy theorists' numbers will start with 665 or 616.

[John]

The sad world of David Brooks

He complains that Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Richard Lugar of Indiana have tacked rightward in the face of potential primary challenges: "It's not honorable to adjust your true nature in order to win re-election." Then he complains that conservatives are too honorable: "Republicans on the extreme are willing to lose elections in order to promote their principles."

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....TopOpinion

[DJF]

How soon before David Brooks goes to work for the Obama admin? After all he is the official conservative of the PBS Newshour and the David Gergen who formally held that position went to work for the Clinton Admin

[John]

I am guessing August when Obama goes into full tack right mode and brings in a "wise man" to help with his administration.

[DJF]

Sounds about right. He will then declare that he was never a conservative or even a republican but just a citizen who cares about getting things done in Washington

[R C Dean]

No, his only value is his veneer of conservative/republican. He'll keep that.

What we'll hear instead is much Deep Thinking about bipartisanship, good government, etc.

[DJF]

True, David Gergen became a nobody after his coming out, so you might be right that Brooks keeps the conservative/republican labels

[Mike M.]

The Brooksies of the world were the guys who thought that Reagan was a lunatic who would start World War III and could never possibly get elected.

[Prison Pete]

I've been away for awhile.
When did A.M. Links become a competition?

[rather]

No one will pay attention to me no matter how many names I post under!!

[Prison Pete]

Especially you!

[Prison Pete]

(John)

[Lord Humungus]

Geithner and the 'Privilege' of Being American
The Founders argued that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were rights that preceded government?not things to be granted by it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

Philosophically, the concept that being an American is a "privilege" upends the whole basis on which America was founded. Privileges are things granted to one individual by another, higher-ranking, individual. For example, in my house my children's use of the family car is a privilege. One presumes Mr. Geithner believes that the "privilege" of being an American is granted by the presumably higher-ranking, governing powers that be.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Private Property Rights Protection act, H.R. 1443, would prevent states from using eminent domain over property to be used for economic development, and establish a private right of action for property owners if a state or local government violates the new rule. It would also limit federal funds to states in which property is taken in violation of the law.

Activist legislators. Who knew?

[Jerry]

Wait, are these House Republicans trying to kill off the Keystone Pipeline project?

[DesigNate]

PRIVation PROPerty!!!1!!1!! Ahhh White Indian was right, run for the hillllllsssssss!!!!!!!!!111!!!!

[mad libertarian guy]

Get it right, dude. It's Run to the Hills.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama's Union Speech a "Load of You-Know-What"
http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....13287.html

Now, the auto bailouts began under President George W. Bush -- abandoning free market principles to save the free market since 2001 -- but Obama seems to believe that pumping money into failure is an economic starter kit. Some unpatriotic rube might even ask: If bailouts can really save jobs, grow the economy and cost taxpayers absolutely nothing, why not bail out more industries -- or every industry? Why not bail out every corporation that's headed in the wrong direction?

[Bee Tagger]

RoboCain, may I ask why you don't space your links out more? On the off chance that others wish you would, I thought I'd ask you.

[John]

Shut up, rather. No one is paying attention to you.

[Bee Tagger]

I'm not sure which if more offensive, being called rather or being told to shut up rather than something else.

[John]

Sorry. Hard week. Meds not working again.

Did "RoboCain" ever answer you? Or was he busy chasing "Lib-Chat!" around under the handle "Troll Chat!"?

I need another drink.

[655321]

Fuck off, you spoofing cunt.

[?^]

Unself-aware, doesn't get "irony."

[^]

Angry, obsessive.

[RoboCain]

Fail.

[Hey]

Hey Robo, you never answered Bee Tagger's question. Here it is again.

RoboCain, may I ask why you don't space your links out more? On the off chance that others wish you would, I thought I'd ask you.

RSVP

[Hey]

I see.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If you're not first you're last.

[Banjos]

And if you are not fist?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Turmoil in the Tea Party Patriots.

They were caught filming the opposing sidelines.

[Mongo]

A gay marriage that didn't work out...

[Christian Baal]

You get points if you like NASCAR or fishing.

Negative points if you like Family Guy or Project Runway.

[RoboCain]

Hot or Canadian?

http://www.celebrityodor.com/g...../index.php

[RoboCain]

Avril Lavigne is still hot:

http://www.celebrityodor.com/g...../index.php

[RoboCain]

15 Celebrities Dressed as French Maids

http://www.uncoached.com/2012/.....nch-maids/

[Resto Druid FTW]

The hottest IMO? Denise Milani.

[RoboCain]

Hot or Canadian?

http://tinyurl.com/75b93s3

[Bee Tagger]

tinyurl = automatic nsfw

[Troll-Chat!]

Shut up! You're obsessive!

[RoboCain]

It's work safe, but the spam filter blocks certain domains for no apparent reason.

[sarcasmic]

They can "exorcise" me anytime!

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

[RoboCain]

Teenage girls who hate Twilight?

[Sparky]

That's funny. If you start with the one on the right and move left it looks like one girl getting progressively thinner and hotter. The opposite being true if you go the other way.

[Brett L]

Mmmm. PK and redhead. Please to send the one on the left for my exoricism.

[sarcasmic]

Yo John! Have I found the woman for you!

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

[John]

Good. I found one for you

http://abcnews.go.com/Business.....d=14522370

[sarcasmic]

no?

[Jerry]

He looks like Natalie Portman.

[Ice Nine]

Too fat for Sarc.

[sarcasmic]

Yes. Yes, you are.

[DesigNate]

That is just wrong on so many levels sarc.

[sarcasmic]

Lindsay Lohan is morphing into Kirstie Alley...

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

[Sparky]

What a waste. She could have been something.

[Bobarian]

Who?

Kirstie Alley?

[SIV]

Lindsay Lohan

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama issued an order Tuesday night laying out broad new waivers that allow U.S. law enforcement agencies to retain custody of al-Qaeda terrorism suspects rather than turn them over to the military.

The new waivers are Obama's response to a law passed by Congress last year that requires that alleged al-Qaeda terrorists who are not U.S. citizens be held in military custody rather than being processed through the civilian court system.

Yeah, who was the president who signed that terrible law last year anyway? Obama should blame that guy.

[Vy Golli]

I trust those al-Qaeda terrorism suspects are granted waivers from ObamaCare.

[cynical]

I like the precedent he's setting. Once I become president, I will grant a universal waiver on all federal law. What can Congress do about it?

[Warren]

House votes to overturn Kelo.

That's swell. But it's not the same as having a SCOTUS that will uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.

I rent so eminent domain isn't a practical matter for me. It doesn't matter much if the state chooses not to be as big of a douche as they might be. I want to live in a country where property rights are fundamental and the state is prohibited from trampling on them.

[John]

Last I looked the House alone can't make something a law. And there is no way the Dems in the Senate or Obama will agree to it. And even if they did, I don't see how the feds have the power to prohibit the states from doing this. This battle has to be one state by state.

[Metazoan]

Money. For instance, no highway funds if you don't ban eminent domain for economic development.

[sarcasmic]

But it's not the same as having a SCOTUS that will uphold the Constitution

Oh how quaint.
Didn't you get the memo?
All legislation is assumed to be Constitutional if Congress voted for it and POTUS signed it.
The job of the SCOTUS is to defend legislation against those with the gall to judge it against the Constitution.
Checks and balances? Ha!

[Leftists]

Radical, extreme individualist! Oops, gotta go, can't be late for my abortion!

[Loki]

Heard about this on the radio this morning:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/.....day-sept-5

My first thought was why the hell is the NFL changing its schedule to accommodate a politician's speech? They should tell the president and the DNC to kindly go fuck themselves.

[John]

Last I looked the NFL still files tax returns and the like. I would imagine they would like to avoid being Gibsonized.

[RoboCain]

True, but the DNC isn't the government. So it's not the same as a SOTU address. Would they also move a game for the RNC, or only if the GOP was the incumbent?

[John]

Doubtful. But I doubt they would worry about the retribution from a GOP President. Things like the Gibson raid send a message.

[Loki]

I was thinking there might be a sort of "hey, that's a nice sports league you've got there, be a pity if something happened to it" aspect to it, but wasn't quite prepared to don the tin foil hat this early in the morning.

It would just be nice if someone would actually stand up and tell some of these assclowns to go pound sand just once.

[JW]

What happened to Debbie Gibson?

[SugarFree]

The hat eventually ate her.

[JW]

Drat. I was hoping that being Gibsonized involved Tiffany, Debbie and a kiddie pool of lime jello.

[Fluffy]

She now makes monster movies for SyFy.

[Sparky]

She's on Celebrity Apprentice this season.

[tarran]

They have the military do fly-by's. They have military color-guards parade the flag. They make everyone stand while the national anthem is sung.

Altering the schedule at the pleasure of the president sounds like business as usual to me.

[Loki]

I think there's a big difference between a little "rah-rah" patriotric pregame pageantry and moving a game entirely just so it doesn't interfere with a political speech.

And for the record, if they were moving it for the RNC I'd be just as irritated. Like I said above, it would be nice for someone just once to tell the politicians to pound sand instead of bending over backwards to accomodate them. It's just annoying.

[PC]

I'd bet race has more to do with the decision than anything else. The NFL is completely chicken-shit about ANY criticism so this will keep all the Sharpton/jesse/Naacp loonies at bay.

[Auric Demonocles]

I posted this last night. You're the NFL. Don't schedule around others. Others schedule around you.

[Enough About Palin]

Man-up and die, people. Man-up and die:

It's not something that we like to talk about, but doctors die, too. What's unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared with most Americans, but how little. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care that they could want. But they tend to go serenely and gently.

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....ifferently

[RoboCain]

A Brief History Of Angelina Jolie's Leg On The Red Carpet

http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-.....ed-carpet/

[Pro Libertate]

I have a bleg. Does anyone here have any connection to Penn Jillette? Since sloopyinca and Banjos are getting married in Vegas, it seems to me that they should do so at the Slammer, with Penn (in his new Penn's Sunday School role) presiding.

This should appeal to Penn for the following reasons:

1. The couple are both crazy libertarians.
2. They met on a blog he's publicly endorsed on a number of occasions.
3. It's just the kind of crazy gimmick that fits his new side gig.
4. The couple may be willing to include monkeys in the ceremony, to supply new Monkey Tuesday stories.
5. They're crazy libertarians.

[Warty]

I think the best way to do this would probably be to call into his show to ask. Who wants to do it?

[Pro Libertate]

Put Penn on the spot publicly, eh? Probably need a West Coast resident to map up with the live broadcast.

[Warty]

I just checked the site, and the show is live around noon Vegas time. So that should be manageable for everyone.

It would probably be harder to resist if a chick called in, I think. Dagny?

[Pro Libertate]

That's a good idea. They like women.

[SugarFree]

And she has that charming Canadian accent. "Don't be a hoser, Penn. Perform the service, eh?"

[Pro Libertate]

She should lie and say she's a stripper. To make sure she gets on air. A Canadian stripper.

[SugarFree]

I thought they imported all their strippers, like Iran and gasoline.

[SugarFree]

I sent him a URL to this post on Twitter, the worst way to email someone.

[Pro Libertate]

It's just absurdly pointless enough to just barely fail!

I feel like there need to be more reasons.

[SugarFree]

-Jillette's sarcasm will be welcome, even mild compared to some they marinate in most days.

-sloopy waxes his balls until they glitter in moonlight like the hungry eyes of a ravaging panther.

-There is a rumor afoot that a piece of The One True Jacket might be there to bless the proceedings.

-Banjos has a nice rack.

[Penn Jillette]

Thanks, I'm flattered. Really.

But I'd rather watch my own colonoscopy while eating a bowlful of broken glass. Nothing personal.

[Pro Libertate]

I have another one: We need to breed more libertarians.

[Warty]

It would piss rectal off, as seen above, and he would certainly love that.

[Pro Libertate]

Pretty rude to insult people who are getting married.

[Warty]

Yeah, well, she's utter scum. What do you expect?

[We]

Pretty rude to insult people who are getting married.

Hahahahaha! Best comment today.

[We]

We are all very much interested in this romance and especially the Big Wedding. It's the talk of the blogs! Please do keep us updated!

? ? ? ? ?
x x x x x
o o o o o

[Trespassers W]

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

Come to think of it, never a bridesmaid either.

Come to think of it, never a wedding guest.

[JW]

One extra half-gallon of Ben & Jerry's Fat & Alone coming up!

[Big Fan]

How is it? Good?

[Ouch]

I sent him a URL to this post on Twitter

Big mistake. Failure assured.

[Bill]

Isn't the "crazy" assumed? Just say they're libertarians.

[Banjos]

Sloopy and I will wear top hats and monocles at the ceremony if this happens.

[Enthralled]

This isn't narcissistic at all.

[jacob]

"What happens when you sponsor a Republican debate and you try to explain to your friends who are Democratic tea partiers or independents that we're not Republican? It doesn't fly anymore"

The complete lack of insight displayed in this article is hilarious. "Anymore?" He really thinks nobody saw that the TP was more closely aligned with Repubs than independents??

[RoboCain]

When the TP started they were protesting the bailouts under Bush.

[P Brooks]

VILE T-shirts featuring cartoons of Nazi monster Adolf Hitler have become the latest fashion must-have in Thailand.

Wait- a fucking "Teletubby Hitler" shirt is vile?

Get some Ben & Jerry's and swab out that vagina, Mate.

[P Brooks]

The Israeli ambassador to Thailand is among the T-shirts' critics. Itzhak Shoham said: "You don't want to see memories of the Nazi period trivialized in this manner.

"It hurts the feelings of every Jew and every civilized person."

So, they're pissed about copyright infringement, I guess.

Damn those pesky Thai pirates!

[Pro Libertate]

Who holds the Nazi copyrights and trademarks these days, anyway? The German government? That seems wrong somehow.

[MNG]

"Damn those pesky Thai pirates!"

When they board your trademark you won't be so flippant!

[Untermensch]

"It hurts the feelings of every Jew and every civilized person."

If they're going to phrase it that way, I guess Jews aren't civilized.

[P Brooks]

This should appeal to Penn for the following reasons:

Penn could also make Sloopy disappear, and spirit Banjos away to his secret island hideout, to be incorporated into the stage show.

[RoboCain]

Sometimes I forget he's a magician.

[Tim]

He should make the ponytail disappear.

[Concerned Citizen]

No, he has to keep it to display his unconventionality. Just look up his kids' names.

[JW]

I'm shocked, Shocked! to find that you disapprove of my sexuality in here!

WaPo gins up outrage on the front page over Bob's inability to participate in superstitious ceremony to appease Sky-God.

[RoboCain]

Does the bible even mention girl on girl action?

I'll bet Rick Santorum knows.

[T]

Check Leviticus. Most of the crazier rules are in there.

[BakedPenguin]

The anti-gay verse is right there with a rule against eating shrimp, yet none of the super Xians talk about Long John Silver's being the devil fast food.

Also, selling your daughter into slavery.

[BakedPenguin]

Some do, though.

[Greg]

Girl on girl is the only biblically acceptable sex. "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination." - Leviticus 18:22 (KJV) See?, no one can sleep with a man, that just leaves girl on girl.

[Ice Nine]

"He put his hand over the body of Christ and looked at me and said, 'I can't give you Communion because you live with a woman, and in the eyes of the church, that is a sin,'?"

So wouldn't going to confession right before the communion have taken care of that little problem? Seems to for every other Catholic.

[Cranberry]

No, proper reconciliation of the mortal sin of maintaining a homosexual relationship would mean not only penance but a complete renunciation of her lifestyle, and commitment to live in grace as a celibate who gives service to others.

I don't write RCC doctrine, I'm just reporting it. I know many disagree, but the Church has its policies and its rights to enforce them.

[Cranberry]

She announced herself as a lesbian to the priest minutes prior to the service and he had no chance to conference with her regarding Communion, so his hand was forced.

She introduced her partner, left the sacristy, and her partner blocked the priest when he tried to talk with her further. They were going to have their Communion bread and eat it too.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

She announced herself as a lesbian to the priest minutes prior to the service and he had no chance to conference with her regarding Communion, so his hand was forced.

She introduced her partner, left the sacristy, and her partner blocked the priest when he tried to talk with her further. They were going to have their Communion bread and eat it too.

In other words, their motivation wasn't worship, but narcissistic grievance-mongering.

The priest should have just sent them to the local Episcopelian branch instead of dealing with their bullshit.

[Cranberry]

"You brought your politics, not your God into that Church yesterday, and you will pay dearly on the day of judgment for judging me...but first I will do everything in my power to see that you are removed from parish life so that you will not be permitted to harm any more families."

She made the funeral all about her, not about a loving farewell ceremony honoring her mother. At funerals and weddings where the congregation will likely have non-Catholics in attendance, priests always give the rules for receiving Communion: you must be Catholic, have made a recent and genuine confession, be in a state of grace, not have committed a mortal sin...whether you agree or not, the Church has its rights to exercise its doctrine and adhere to its dogma.

[RoboCain]

I've been to Catholic funerals, and I don't remember hearing all that.

[T]

It's generally assumed on some of that. If you're a practicing Catholic, you know whether or not you're eligible to take communion. Nobody should have to tell you.

[Cranberry]

I have been to a few recently and the priest has always done this. That is my experience and I thought it was more or less policy when the congregation was mixed.

It was reported in another comment thread on a Catholic blog that the priest did announce this to the congregation before Communion. Whether this is true or not, I don't know.

[R C Dean]

It may depend on whether they are doing a full-boat Eucharist service as part of the funeral, too. I've been to Catholic weddings with and without Eucharist. I didn't take Communion, because I'm not a Catholic and didn't qualify, and because I'm not a self-centered asshole who wants to make a spectacle of myself disrupting other people's religious services.

[JW]

It's not even that. Why should anyone outside the lesbian community, and possibly the Catholic community, give 2 shits about this incident?

Front page story? Are you fucking kidding me? No, no agenda driving there at all. Just the objective press.

What the priest did was crass and rude, it was her mother's funeral after all, but what the fucking fuck?

[Cranberry]

I wonder if this would be news if it happened in a non-Christian religious tradition that had similar views of homosexuality. They do exist, you know, and some of them are much more...excessive in their treatment of homosexuals.

This is just Catholic persecution. Would the government or SIGs try to challenge and change the dogmatic teachings of Islam or Conservative Judaism, or Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism? All of these religions dogmatically have similar proscriptions against homosexuality, to varying degrees.

[AuH20]

Silly Cranberry. Only Christians are bigoted. Muslims are oppressed by Amerikkkan society!

[AuH20]

Silly Cranberry. Only Christians are bigoted. Muslims are oppressed by Amerikkkan society!

[Tonio]

And I totally agree. Their church, their rules. End of story.

Happy to see them publicly called out on their assholery, though. Only hastens their demise.

And why any gay or lesbian (etc) person would seek to be a member of organizations like that is totally incomprehensible.

[JW]

And why any gay or lesbian (etc) person would seek to be a member of organizations like that is totally incomprehensible.

Now, that's just crazy talk. Maybe she's pushing to be canonized as the Saint of the Perpetually Outraged.

[AuH20]

You should probably avoid the feminsit and lesbian blogosphere. You see, the priest is just a big jerky jerk face for not letting this woman express who she is.

Remember kids: It's okay to hate Bad People (Conservatives, Libertarians, Christians) for who they are, but a high crime to hate good people (gays, liberals) for being who they are, and how dare you judge them.

Seriously, they have gotten super sanctimonious about this, and it is ungodly irritating. Yes, just being who you are isn't approved by the Catholics. Guess what? No one is forcing you to bury your mom in a Catholic church. Or to bring your partner there.

People are allowed to have views you disagree with, and the right to associate also means you can kick people out.*

*Yes, I know the 1964 civil rights act disagrees.

[Enough About Palin]

Obama administration plan would kill rival bird to save spotted owl

WASHINGTON ? To save the imperiled spotted owl, the Obama administration is moving forward with a controversial plan to shoot barred owls, a rival bird that has shoved its smaller cousin aside.

The plan is the latest federal attempt to protect the northern spotted owl, the passive, one-pound bird that sparked an epic battle over logging in the Pacific Northwest two decades ago.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[Pip]

"a controversial plan to shoot barred owls, a rival bird that has shoved its smaller cousin aside."

Dawin be damned.

[Tim]

SHoot bar owls? Is that even sporting?

[Loki]

Why the hell not? He's picking winners and losers in the economy, why not nature too?

[Thread Winner!]

Lord Humungus|2.29.12 @ 9:24AM

Being here...It's like a disorder.

[P Brooks]

Who holds the Nazi copyrights and trademarks these days, anyway?

The Israelis, duh.

They made Eichmann sign over all rights. You don't think it was just about revenge, do you?

[MNG]

"Supreme Court appears to back corporations in torture cases

Conservative justices indicate that multinational firms and political groups should be shielded from lawsuits in the U.S. over atrocities overseas."

http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....8783.story

Legal persons when it suits 'em, not when it don't!

[Tim]

Fuck! Those corporate bastards need to bring those torture jobs back to the USA where they belong.

[Child Molesting Priest]

I actually think the entire concept of suing in US courts for events that occurred overseas is absurd, regardless of the case.

The US court system does not and should not have jurisdiction over the entire world.

In these particular cases, you know that the suits brought would be, "You sold paper clips to Egypt, therefore you owe me eleventy billion dollars in damages because an Egyptian soldier kicked my ass" and similar specious garbage anyway. So I'm not crying my eyes out over this one.

[R C Dean]

Fucking jurisdiction. How does it work.

Here's a clue, though: things that don't happen in the US, aren't under the jurisdiction of the US. Claims of "universal jurisdiction" over anything anyone does anywhere on the globe are simply illegitimate.

[John]

But RC it is the KKKorporations and Torture. Jurisdiction is just a right wing meme.

[MNG]

The one thing everyone agrees on is the clause is a jurisdictional grant Mr. Law Talking Guy.

The issue at hand is whether the "laws of nations" holds corporations liable.

[MNG]

Take it up with the founders, they wrote the clause.

[US Congress]

We beg to differ. Our laws have jurisdiction wherever we want them to. Because we say so.

Also, fuck you...

[John]

A non US person violates a non US law outside of the United States. To say that someone can bring that dispute into US courts is to say that US courts have universal jurisdiction, which they clearly don't.

Take the human rights context out of it. Suppose a German Company gets into a contract dispute in Italy with an Italian citizen, should that citizen be able to sue in US courts? This is no different. People just want to torture the law because human rights law is their pony.

[MNG]

Here is the exact clause passed by the Founders:

"The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States."

So it clearly gives US courts jurisdiction to hear cases where an alien sues for a violation of the laws of nation.

Good policy? I dunno, but that's what it says. Take it up with the Founders if you don't like it.

[Tim]

You practicing law without a license again?

[R C Dean]

The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.

Raising the question of what is the "law of nations."

For US purposes, Congress has the authority, not to determine what is the "law of nations, but only to "define and punish ... Offenses against the Law of Nations".

What this means, taken together with the grant of jurisdiction, is that US courts have the authority to take up cases relating to "Offenses against the law of nations" as recognized by Congress. Defining "offense" against the law of nations is not the same as determining what the law of nations actually is.

[R C Dean]

So what is the law of nations?

Its not treaties, which are mentioned separately alongside the law of nations.

At ratification, the law of nations was more or less the common law prohibitions against piracy, etc. that all nations consistently adhered to.

Laws against torture were not part of the law of nations at ratification, and are not part of the law of nations now, given the very widespread practice of torture by sovereigns to this day.

[P Brooks]

-Banjos has a nice rack.

Maybe she should offer to participate in the ceremony wearing naught but a pink ostrich feather boa.

[SugarFree]

Pink ostriches are endangered.

[Trespassers W]

What were formerly known as pink ostriches are now called "flamingoes". This makes it appear that the population of pink ostriches declined precipitously in recent years, but it's really just a shift in accounting conventions.

I don't fault you, though -- it's a common misunderstanding.

[R C Dean]

Pet Peeve Alert!

Congress cannot "overturn" a SCOTUS decision.

Congress can impose a higher-than-Constitutional standard on federal takings. But I don't think it can impose a higher-than-Constitutional standard on state (or local) takings. Congress generally can't boss the state governments. They can bribe them, but they can't boss them.

[MNG]

"They can bribe them"

Indeed, like they did with the "no alcohol until 21"/state highway funds thing.

They could write a law like the RRFA in response to Kelo.

[Libertardian]

Congress cannot "overturn" a SCOTUS decision.

Really? Huh.

Oh! Maybe that's why they call it...The Supreme Court!

[P Brooks]

Make your lifestyle choice and move on, already. Nobody should have to subsidize your hobbies, sweety.

"Six years of college; down the drain!"

[tarran]

It's Feb 29th, so this is appropriate:

From Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance: Paradox

[Banjos]

Awesome, Tarran. Pirates is my favorite operetta.

[Banjos]

More importantly, it reminded me of this.

[tarran]

I'm actually a huge Mikado fan. Oddly enough, though, I hated it the first time I listened to the music.

My second most favorite is the short but hysterical "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Iy5xMeaP8&feature=related".

[tarran]

Me links!

Trying again:

[P Brooks]

The US court system does not and should not have jurisdiction over the entire world.

Why do you hate America?

[Jack Stamos]

Dude makes a whole lot of sense man, I mean like seriously.

http://www.Gone-Anon.tk

[Tonio]

The Private Property Rights Protection act, H.R. 1443, would prevent states from using eminent domain over property to be used for economic development, and establish a private right of action for property owners if a state or local government violates the new rule.

RC, could you explain this further? I thought that the states had to give you permission to sue them, being sovereigns and all. Also, not understanding the private part - as opposed to what? TIA

[John]

The feds are a sovereign too. The states have to give you permission to sue them in their courts. The feds can let you sue the states in federal court.

[Tonio]

Yeah, I knew about the feds. So basically this would allow private individuals to haul states and municipalities into federal court even if the state didn't want to be sued?

[John]

It would appear so. You can always sue them in federal court under the 14th Amendment if you don't think you were properly compensated. I am not sure this will fly nonetheless. I don't think Congress has the power to prevent states from doing this. Sure, they can bribe them. But this is a direct prohibition that creates a private right of action. I doubt that is constitutional.

[R C Dean]

This is getting deep into the weeds of federal authority over the states, which is a difficult issue.

Here's my take: The feds can give citizens a private right of action against states for Constitutional violations. However, I'm not sure that the feds can do the same for something that is not a Constitutional violation.

There are sovereign immunity issues (the states have sovereign immunity, and I'm not sure the feds can waive that for non-Constitutional violations). There are federalism issues (the feds are very constrained in what they can do to state governments).

I'm just not sure this is going to fly.

[Pro Libertate]

Is the law based on extending Fifth Amendment rights? If so, I think it could work.

[R C Dean]

SCOTUS has said that the Fifth Amendment allows eminent domain for economic development.*

Congress can pass a statute prohibiting federal eminent domain for economic purposes, even though its allowed by the Fifth Amendment.

The question is whether they can prohibit the states from doing something allowed by the Fifth (or, same thing, allow citizens to sue the states for doing something allowed by the Fifth).

*I know, they were wrong, but for these purposes its Gospel.

[Pro Libertate]

Another interesting question, then, is whether the Court would attempt to undo an expansion of civil liberties. It usually won't go there, certainly not to protect state prerogatives.

[ChrisO]

Possibly. However, federal courts love to find any excuse not to expand their caseload, so expect the harshest possible interpretation of the Eleventh Amendment.

[ChrisO]

Yeah, I expect the Eleventh Amendment is going to flush this law down the toilet.

[Tonio]

Thanks, RC and John.

So, basically congress is giving the appearance of having done something. Yet again.

[Big Mike]

Hey, who's the alpha dog in this freak show? Me and my gf are getting hitched and we thought it'd be a hoot to use his place for the reception. We ride Harley's. Indoors. Is that a problem? Get back to me.

[nicole]

Guys, did any of y'all use Cheggit? My bf is pretty sad about its demise and can't find anything else that seems as good (especially for "content discovery"). Any tips?

[Colonel_Angus]

From the eminent domain article:

"Protection act, H.R. 1443, would prevent states from using eminent domain over property to be used for economic development, and establish a private right of action for property owners if a state or local government violates the new rule."

Good job.

"It would also limit federal funds to states in which property is taken in violation of the law."

Had to fuck it up.

[X]

if she was married, $300 would easily cover a lifetime supply of rubbers.

(50 cents X 12 screws per year X 50 years)

[R C Dean]

12 a year? Oh, you mean with her husband. I'm betting she'd be casting a wider net.

[Trespassers W]

14, not 12. You forgot birthdays and Valentine's Day.

[DesigNate]

Don't forget Christmas, New Year's, and Anniversary. And if it's both birthdays and Valentine's Day that makes 18.

[Bobarian]

You got to figure at least one of those is a blowjob, at least for the first 7-10 years. After that, the once a month thing gets kinda bold.

[Bobarian]

Oh yeah... and menopause, too.

so really 16 x 25 x.50 = $200

[Bobarian]

I mean $100.

Preview... How does it work?

[freeforall232]

FTA: "The government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more," [Maxine Waters] said. "The founders cannot have intended this perverse result."

Does Ms. Waters think the founders advocated government taking from those with more resources to give to those who have fewer?

[R C Dean]

I wonder if la Waters is aware of the fact that Social Security and Medicare also "transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more"?