A.M. Links: Congress Now Fears the Tech Industry, D.C. Has No Jobs Count After Almost $1 Billion in Stimulus, Syrians Hospitals Are Torturing Wounded Rebels

• Post-SOPA Washington: "The nerds are more powerful than anyone thought, and the tech industry flexed its muscle like never before."

• Still more on the NYPD's Muslim fetish. 
• Government-approved green lightbulb costs $50. 
• D.C. has no job count from stimulus.
• The White House lied about its involvement in firing Shirley Sherrod.  
• Move over, Greece, it's Spain's turn to have a crisis.
• Syrian hospitals are literally filled with torture chambers. 

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New at Reason.tv: "Journalist Sam Slovick on Occupy LA: Scenes From a New Revolution"

Comments

[RoboCain]

“Gloria Allred request that you open an investigation into whether or not Mr. Rush Limbaugh is in violation of Section 839.04 of Florida Statues… “whoever speaks of and concerning any woman, married or unmarried, falsely and maliciously imputing to her a want of chastity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree”

http://www.ibtimes.com/article…..d-slut.htm

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I don’t think “want of chastity” means what Allred thinks it mean. I wonder if Fluke really wants to be wrapped up in Allred’s publicity grab.

[Devil's Advocate]

What I wonder is if the term “attention whore” is a misdemeanor in Florida.

[Spartacus]

Not during Spring Break!
Woo-Hoo!!

[Ice Nine]

I’m thinking that most of the H&R commenters probably ought to avoid Florida.

[Spartacus]

I agree, but then I also think this about pretty much everybody north of Alachua. Including Tallahassee and Jacksonville.

[Brett L]

That we should avoid Florida? I’m confused.

[Spartacus]

Yes. But I’ll make an exception for you.

Actually, Tallahassee isn’t too bad, except during session. Jacksonville should definitely be handed over to Georgia, and then we close the border.

[Brett L]

I’m having the time of my life. The state Senate’s redistricting plan got thrown out by the FLSC while the House plan passed. No budget today! Its going to be a giant shit-storm of stupid. I kind of enjoy it, as my new office is an underground layer a block from the Capitol.

[Pro Libertate]

Some of us live here, you know.

[John]

I think this calls for a national “Call Gloria Allred the whore she is” Day.

[RoboCain]

+1

[Post-Coital Rat]

Good job, liberals! You won a moral victory with lost advertisers and as much of an apology as you’ll ever get from Rush, and just by raising the lawsuit possibility you can snatch that defeat from the jaws of victory by being a bunch of censoring jackholes who wipe your butts with the First Amendment. That’s good work, boys.

[shrike]

Why do you hate markets?

“Look, fuckers, I won’t buy your product” is a legit market action.

Some attention whore like Gloria Allred is not a market trigger.

First Amendment? Read it, pal.

[Auric Demonocles]

It’s a retarded market action.

[RoboCain]

Shrike doesn’t grok how people can be against private behavior they think is particularly bad without being against private behavior in general.

[Post-Coital Rat]

Could someone explain to me what shrike’s comment means? Is it unclear that I’m OK with the moral victory via protests (more speech worked!)? I simply don’t get whatever point he’s attempting to make.

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

Forget it, PCR. It’s shriketown.

[Mr. FIFY]

I’m surprised a liberal like him actually gives a shit about free speech.
They usually look down their noses at stuff that comes out of the Constitution, considering it’s like a hundred years old and stuff.

/Ezra Klein

[sloopyinca]

He doesn’t give a shit about free speech, FIFY. That’s why he silently supports Gloria Allred’s call for prosecution over a man’s words.*

*His silent assent of this cunt’s demand that a man’s speech is criminal = support in my book.

[Post-Coital Rat]

OK, as long as it was clear the non-brain-damaged.

[Mr. FIFY]

I know, sloop… I’m just poking the badger with the wooden spoon.

[rac3rx]

Yes, Shrek, you really should read the 1st Amendment. I mean it might be slightly above your reading level, but you might give reading the entire Constitution a try. You might actually learn something.

[R C Dean]

I really, really hope they take her up on this.

Because Limbaugh’s defense, of course, will be to put Fluke on the stand, under oath, for a grilling on her sex life. Really, its his only defense.

The drama! The pearl-clutching!

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

Too bad Allred can’t relate the complaint herself.

[protefeed]

Anyone calling for prosecution of Rush under the FL statute, and think Fluke is gonna come out of that fight unscathed, is unclear on the meaning of “chastity” or “legal discovery process”.

[Tonio]

Oh, come on, RC, do you really think that Florida law would withstand a 1A challenge? Allred is just saber rattling.

[TrickyVic]

“”Because Limbaugh’s defense, of course, will be to put Fluke on the stand, under oath, for a grilling on her sex life. Really, its his only defense.””

And he probably wouldn’t have a problem with that. Unless the judge allowed Fluke to question him on his use of Oxycotin and the doctors that prescribe it.

The hunt is OK if it’s not him.

[Brett L]

Its not his stupid lawyer putting their client in the position of explaining and defending her sexual behavior in order to prove a civil offense.

[Jeff]

Considering the fact that Sandra Fluke complained of requiring contraceptives in such quantities as to require government intervention, I don’t think there’s anything false about imputing to her a want of chastity.

[RBS]

I like the comment to that article, who knew that porn was really an entire industry that basically calls women sluts?

[Hat Tip to Grandpa Whithers]

I’ll tell you ’bout old Sandra Fluke,
Man! Does she love to fuck!
The whole time she’s grinding,
She’s not one whit minding,
It’s all on the taxpayers’ buck!

https://reason.com/blog/2012/03…..nt_2898307

[RoboCain]

Four hospitalized after Kate Moss collapsed and crushed them:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..treet.html

[Ice Nine]

Thank god it wasn’t Melissa McCarthy.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

+1 overrated comedian

[RoboCain]

Best news ever:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..locks.html

[invisible furry hand]

Hey RoboCain, here’s that alcoholic cheesecake recipe from yesterday’s morning links.

1 packet Nice biscuits (or similar semi-sweetened plain biscuit)
125 grams margarine or butter
500 grams cream cheese (ricotta etc)
? cup sugar
2 tablespoons Kahlua, Tia Maria, Baileys, or whatever
? cup strong black coffee
1 heaped tablespoon gelatine
125 grams cooking chocolate
300 ml cream

To make the base
Crush biscuits
Melt margarine (not too hot!) and mix with biscuits
Press into base of pie plate and refrigerate for several hours

Filling
Dissolve gelatine in hot coffee and refrigerate until cool but not set
Lightly whip cream
Gently melt cooking chocolate over hot water
Beat cheese and sugar until smooth
Add booze, coffee mixture and chocolate to cheese and sugar and beat until combined
Fold in lightly whipped cream and pour into the chilled base
Refrigerate until set

[invisible furry hand]

Or for those who prefer a baked cheesecake (but I’ve never made this one)

2 ? cups crushed chocolate biscuits
140 grams margarine or butter, melted
1 small egg (optional)

Filling
150 grams dark chocolate, melted
500 grams cream cheese
? – ? cup castor sugar
3 eggs
1 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons of coffee or chocolate flavoured booze OR 2 teaspoons vanilla essence if you want to puss out

Combine biscuit crumbs, margarine, and the beaten egg if you want to use the egg
Press the mixture into the base and sides of the pan
Beat together the melted chocolate, softened cream cheese and sugar, mix thoroughly
Add the eggs and beat, stir in the sour cream and booze or booze substitute
Pour into the prepared crust and bake in a moderately low oven, whatever the fuck that is, for 1 hour. Cool in oven, then chill for several hours (yourself and the cake).

[RoboCain]

Thank you!

[Ice Nine]

Now for a little chin tuck and she’s good to go.

[Ice Nine]

Now for a little chin tuck and she’s good to go.

[Ice Nine]

That was for the Lindsay Lohan one above. Squirrels are out of control.

[Devil's Advocate]

She still looks like she’s in her 40’s, although admittedly anything is better than the platinum hair. What a terrible look on her (and anyone, for that matter). It’s also the weirdly puffy body (which I think we internet diagnosed awhile ago as probably due to her overingestion of alcohol as a source of calories).

[Lord Humungus]

She definitely reminds me of some of the “party-hardy” gals of years past. In their early twenties, they looked good. But after awhile, the constant boozing and late nights start to catch up.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

And Lindsay hit it harder than most. The only thing she’s been known for the last seven years is boozing, partying, and whoring. And gingers like her don’t exactly have a huge margin of error when it comes to taking care of themselves.

[RoboCain]

Related: http://www.wwtdd.com/2012/03/l…..-this-guy/

[Devil's Advocate]

Yeah. Doing a photo shoot of LiLo making her look skanky and strung out is quite an artistic stretch.

[invisible furry hand]

Only 25 and she’s already brain-damaged from the booze:

Lindsay thinks he’s really cool and hip and could be great for her career.

[RoboCain]

“When Innocence Isn’t Enough”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03…..enough.htm

[John]

The way the system is supposed to work is the courts give you procedural protections. And then the governor or the executive then goes and makes sure justice is done. This guy should have been pardoned.

But our system is broke because our society and political class are broke. Instead of trying to do justice with their pardon power, exectitives generally either won’t use it for fear of not being tough on crime or worse use it for bogus reasons like the guy’s family gave my party a lot of money or sure he killed his wife but he has found Jesus and is a wonderful guy now. Actually pardoning an innocent person and doing justice never enters these creatures’ minds.

[MNG]

“Instead of trying to do justice with their pardon power, exectitives generally either won’t use it for fear of not being tough on crime”

It’s almost as if one side of the spectrum spent a few recent decades screaming about the other side being “soft on crime” and urging the importance of “law and order…”

Hmmm.

[John]

It is a good thing that liberals stepped up to the plate and stopped that and didn’t you know go right along with them. Right? It is also a good thing that we didn’t have an explosion of crime in the 1970s that made such calls resonate with the voters and was generally blamed on liberal policies.

You are right. Liberals’ hands are totally clean in this. In fact, there isn’t a single Democrat or liberal who is guilty of what I am talking about. They are all clean as the driven snow.

Liberals just amaze me. They are like saints on earth. Everyone of them.

[MNG]

Wait John, do you want to deny that conservatives made a big deal about liberals being soft on crime and promoting law and order for decades? Answer please.

[MNG]

Or do you want to argue equivalent blame because Democrats did not stand up to those charges better or more or were not perfect themselves? Because while that might prove the Dems were not blameless it doesn’t warrant equal blame. The conservatives and the GOP led a blistering “law and order” attack on those who were “soft on crime” for decades and it has had a terrible impact on the righs of the accused. While Dems and liberals maybe could have stood up to it better and likely had some culprits themselves, this is a conservative baby John. Got your eyes and everything 😉

[MNG]

“It is also a good thing that we didn’t have an explosion of crime in the 1970s that made such calls resonate with the voters and was generally blamed on liberal policies.”

Good lord, he engages in some of it even here as he tries to whitewach his side of it!

[John]

I am serous MNG. Liberals are totally without sin. They have never advocated a bad policy or made a single mistake. I have been reading your posts long enough, you have finally convinced me. You win. Liberals are perfect. Every problem in the world is the result of us not following liberals’ advice. You have been making that argument for years on here. And you have finally convinced me.

[MNG]

You sound like a passive aggressive wife.

Sure, Dems and liberals are not blameless on crime issues, but it’s your movement that made something of a full time job of attacking people and policies as being “Soft on crime”. It’s just your mania to not admit that on some issues your side is worse in any way that has you engaging in this goofy projection.

[sloopyinca]

You sound like a passive aggressive wife.

How would you know, unless your home life sucks. Now sit down over here and tell us about your wife’s passive-aggressive tendencies.

(I keed! I keed!)

[Glenda]

This is like the worst chat room ever.

[sloopyinca]

Then go back to the Munchkins and leave us the fuck alone.

[Azathoth]

That’s Glinda–Glenda’s the guy in the pink angora with the fuck-me pumps.

[Ice Nine]

How do we know H&R has become Democratic Underground Lite?

[MNG]

Worked on that one for two days huh? It’d be nice if you actually had a situation that made sense to use it, but hey, everyone should get a chance to display their work sometime.

[Tonio]

Hurts to be pwned, eh Mange?

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

IceNine, you fucking Freeper. You make me sick.

[RoboCain]

“What children see in cartoons where someone gets shot and they get up and next week, they’re back on their cartoon. So they don’t understand the seriousness of playing with a gun”

http://www.wafb.com/story/1711…..gun-deaths

[Night Elf Mohawk]

How about when characters get hit in the face with a frying pan, then see the face conform to the shape of the pan, only to pop back to its normal shape?

[RoboCain]

Clearly, that’s science.

[Rich]

I understand the seriousness of playing with NEM.

[Tim]

Leaving a pile of ball bearing laced birdseed in the middle of the road near a gigantic concealed electro magnet attached to a rocket-bomb with a coup de gras of droppping a piano suspended from wire between two, thousand foot high cliffs won’t work either kids.

[Janet Napolitano]

Noted.

[Rich]

“What children see in cartoons where someone gets shot, falls off a cliff, gets crushed by a safe, etc. and they get up and next week, they’re back on their cartoon. So they don’t understand the seriousness of playing with a gun, of gravity, of kinetic energy, etc.”

[invisible furry hand]

But we did learn that Acme has the best products ever, so cartoons aren’t all bad.

[Tim]

Bigger warning labels with photos of gunshot wounds, etc?

[Pip]

The same can be said for Smokey and the Bandit.

[T]

And The Dukes of Hazzard. Did you know you can’t jump an old Dodge Charger 20 feet in the air, land it on a dirt road, and drive away? Totally doesn’t work.

[Brandon]

I would like to note that it does work at about 6 feet in an early 90’s Chevy Astro full of 16 year olds. And at various heights in an early 90’s Chevy Cheyenne, a ’93 Mustang and a ’76 Ford pickup.

[Bill]

I guess the HUGE increase in cartoons over the last few years where characters shoot each other is responsible for the recent surge in kids shooting each other. (sarc)

[Ice Nine]

Anyone here have this misconception when he was a kid?

[Rich]

Not I.

Of course, I had seen what a .22 does to a gopher.

[kilroy]

OH My God!! They Killed KENNY!!!!

[Underpants Gnome]

We really need to make a law that bans child death. It will be called the “Baby Jessica Just Wants a Chance” law, and if you don’t vote for it you hate children. Attached to it will be the single line “There Is Now No More Debt Problem”. And all our problems are solved. You’re welcome, world.

[RoboCain]

Friday Funnier:

http://clatl.com/freshloaf/arc…..ontroversy

[RoboCain]

Stick it in her pooper?

http://motherjones.com/mojo/20…..ned-sodomy

[Sparky]

My state may not have but my wife sure has.

[Ice Nine]

Roses, dude, roses.

[RoboCain]

You misspelled, “Jagermeister”.

[nicole]

You misspelled “clonazepam.”

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

You all misspelled “Roman Polanski Special”

[Ice Nine]

Sparky’s wife is 13?!

[Roman Polanski]

She was not unresponsive.

[RoboCain]

Klonopin is really slow.

[sloopyinca]

10 month old stories nor, RoboCain? I understand you wanting to post the most links every day, but I swear if I see a “Dewey Defeats Truman” or “Japs Surrender” headline, I will be severely disappoint!

[Lord Humungus]

wait, Dewey lost?

[sloopyinca]

Yep. And so did the Japs..kind of.

[James Ard]

It’s tough to be forst on the slowest loading page on the internet.

[RoboCain]

“As much as she may believe the audience will be so focused on the quivering, sweeping feathers to not notice the apparently nude children holding them, her intentions clearly suggest she wants onlookers to think ‘prostitute’ when they see the dancers.

‘I’m hot, I’m mean, you can’t have me, you can’t afford me’ she says to the girls during practice. ‘It’s crotch, boobs’ she says of the fan positioning – despite all of the girls being too young to have much in the way of breasts.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem…..tines.html

[Devil's Advocate]

The indomitable Dance Moms are not happy with the idea of seeing their girls dance suggestively an in a state of apparent undress

But yet they don’t grab their kid and haul them out of there. It reminds me of the Milgram Experiments, where otherwise sane people continued to do obey an authority figure despite their own misgivings. It does beg the question of why a dance instructor has assumed the position of an authority figure, however.

[Ice Nine]

I don’t know; I’m thinking I’d give Abby Miller a pretty wide berth, myself.

[Benjamin]

I’m guessing its the extra dough thrown in by the crappy cable network that airs this crap kept the shrill hypocrites from walking. I just hope some guy in the crowd watching these escorts-in-training lets slip the word “slut”, so we can have a good old fashioned boycott.

[Pedobear]

what time does this show air?

[WTF]

The fuck? What is wrong with these fucking people?

[tarran]

Words fail me….

How does one not just take their daughter’s hand and walk out of there?!?

[RoboCain]

“Mexico is in the grips of a civil war. The two major cartels, the Mexican government and God knows who else (us) are waging a bloody battle to gain control the oil-rich, drug-fueled Mexican economy. In the run-up to the Mexican presidential elections, all hell has broken loose. Criminal and government forces are killing dozens of people every day, without any sign of an end to the slaughter.”

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.c…..ore-114299

[RoboCain]

“Teen Set on Fire in Racial Attack; Media Silent”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/…..dia-silent

http://www.americanthinker.com…..ching.html

[Media]

We’re only silent because we agree: that white boy got what he deserved.

[Fatty Bolger]

There is definitely racism involved. The teen’s last name is “Coon.” That’s offensive!

[Mr. FIFY]

Disgusting no matter the color of the victim.

[Rev. Wright]

Not so fast there, cracker.

[Sharon Stone]

Just saw this comment on that article’s page.

Terrible crime, for sure.

Pales in comparison to what Whites have done for millenia to people all over this planet, but still terrible nonetheless.

Oh, and that anger you’re feeling? Welcome to what Black people go through EVERY DAY in America.

Every.

Single.

Day.

Hopefully, you’ll now have a modicum of understanding when one of us (yeah, I’m Black) gets soooo pissed off about some egregious injustice carried out upon our backs.

This is fucking scary

[Louis Farakhan]

It SHOULD be scary, White Devil. More of this sort of thing needs to happen, to pay you White tools of Satan back.

[WTF]

Huh, I didn’t realize white people were setting blacks on fire Every. Single. Day. I wonder why the media has been covering this up?

[University of East Anglia]

White people setting black people on fire is a significant contributor to climate change. We recommend a global initiative to stop this. Just don’t use CO2 extinguishers because that’s bad, too.

[Rev. Al Sharpton]

I’m working on how to spin this on my show on MSNBC, that is if I decide to cover it.

[RoboCain]

Lenny Kravitz is still hot?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..sique.html

[Devil's Advocate]

Why yes, yes he is!

[Konfounded Kristen]

Not bad. Wish he wouldn’t wax his chest.

I wouldn’t kick him out of the sack.

[Sandi]

I took a shit on Lenny Kravitz’s waxed chest once.

[Konfounded Kristen]

Hey, whatevah turns you on.

[invisible furry hand]

Don’t like tatts, but otherwise, yes, he’s a bit tasty

[Dagny T.]

You have good taste in men. Lenny just gets better with time.

[John]

Really? He looks like hasn’t taken a bath in years. As woman, please explain why dirty and smelly is so appealing? NTTAWWT Just curious.

[RBS]

I don’t get it either, a girl I work with think white boy dreads are the hottest thing ever. Makes no sense.

[sloopyinca]

Disclaimer: RBS works with retarded people in an outreach program.

(I hope)

[RBS]

RBS works with retarded people in an outreach program

Close, I work in the local prosecutors office.

[RoboCain]

So you work with retarded people in an overreach program.

[sloopyinca]

+1

Now that’s fucking funny.

[RBS]

Hahaha, it’s not really as bad as I thought it would be when I took the job though. Don’t get me wrong there is plenty of bullshit, but a lot of that comes from cops sending shitty cases our way. There is a pretty big divide between the younger attorneys who are pretty skeptical about what the police say and the older attorneys who are much more law and order types.

[Konfounded Kristen]

Because real men aren’t perfumed and coiffed and tailored to within an inch of their lives.

I don’t like the Johnny Depp brand of dirtiness, but a little sweat from exertion like sports or hard work ain’t so bad.

When the man comes to my place directly from work and his hands are dirty, prefer that we get it on before he washes up.

[Devil's Advocate]

Signed. A little sweat is sexy.

[sloopyinca]

You naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasty, Kristen.

[Tonio]

Kristen, I hereby make you an honorary member of the gay bear fraternity, replete with clubhouse privileges. You shall henceforth be known as Goldilocks.

[Dagny T.]

I think a certain amount of scruffiness conveys an attractive lack of giving a fuck. As RBS shows below it can be taken to unhealthy extremes. Consider this the female equivalent of dudes’ attraction to “crazy” in women.

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

I think a certain amount of scruffiness conveys an attractive lack of giving a fuck. As RBS shows below it can be taken to unhealthy extremes. Consider this the female equivalent of dudes’ attraction to “crazy” in women.

The “crazy” is directly correlative with sexual abilities and adventurism. Dirt is equivalent to…dirt?

[Devil's Advocate]

Scruffy does not equal dirt.

[John]

Yeah. I kind of get that. Back when I used to do real work for a living rather than being in an office, I always got nicer looks from women at the end of a day. It wasn’t quite the magical powers that a uniform has. But it was definitely there.

[Warty]

When I was working as a landscaper in the summers when I was a kid, you wouldn’t believe how many housewives would go out of their way to just happen to be out in the yard while we were working. Apparently dirty, sweaty drug users are teh hawt.

[Dagny T.]

It’s hilarious to me that this is at all puzzling to men. Would you believe watching athletic endeavors is appealing to women too? Crazy, I know.

[Dagny T.]

I have read studies where they show women actually physically respond to chemicals in men’s sweat. That’s why it’s such a shame when dudes douse themselves in nasty shit like Axe.

But the uniform thing is a whole other level of dangerous. I find myself succumbing to it despite being actively aware it is stupid.

[RBS]

I have read studies where they show women actually physically respond to chemicals in men’s sweat

That’s what I tell my wife…

[protefeed]

I have read studies where they show women actually physically respond to chemicals in men’s sweat.

Those studies, IIRC, said the sweat helps women subconsciously determine which men have different genes for disease resistence, said difference being a sexual turn on because it prevents inbreeding and results in healthier babies.

[John]

Dagny,

The uniform thing is magic. When I was on active duty, I would go to lunch in my uniform and 20 year old ballerinas who would never have given me the time of day otherwise would chat me up. The difference in how women treated me in and out of uniform astounded me.

[invisible furry hand]

Well, not all sweat. The really rank male sweat, urrgh. But yeah, there definitely is something in the faint whiff of sweat. Even a guy in a shirt and tie at the end of a busy day can be a bit arousing

[Devil's Advocate]

Yes. Sexy sexy pheromones.

[invisible furry hand]

this one is for the other libertarian laydeez

[Konfounded Kristen]

LOLWTFBBQ?!?!

That was fucking funny & weird

[protefeed]

Ummm, I think that one is for the libertarian dudes who like fem dudes.

[Tonio]

No, it’s a joke. One of my pet peeves with beefcake is when the model is posed in one of the classic cheesecake pinup poses. Kills it for me.

This site simply takes that over the top.

[rac3rx]

Are libertarian ladies all fruit flies?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I approve

[Warty]

John, you have to understand that Dagny suffers from the Canadian ideal of male beauty.

[Dagny T.]

Looks like he still has too many teeth.

[Brett L]

You’ll fit right in down South.

[Silver Fox]

Not doing it for me and I’m Canadian.

[rac3rx]

Yeah, no thanks…that much body focus IMO is neither natural nor attractive. Plus, the dude looks like he hasn’t showered in weeks.

[Brandon]

Lenny Kravitz has a daughter….Robo, that’s your cue.

[RoboCain]

Elisabeth Moss: “I don’t walk around in a Burberry trench coat and bra all the time, but it’s fun to embrace that part of yourself. I think every woman has a sexy, adventurous side.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..shoot.html

[Ice Nine]

Jaysus, someone tranq dart Robocain, quick!

[omnibot]

What is she doing with Fred Armisen?
I guess chicks do dig funny over looks when money isn’t an issue.

[invisible furry hand]

They’ve split:

She said: “It’s so hard to talk about. One of the greatest things I heard someone say about him is, ‘He’s so great at doing impersonations. But the greatest impersonation he does is that of a normal person.’ To me, that sums it up.
“I’ve never told anyone that. And I don’t want to waste any more of my life talking about it.”
Asked if she was still in contact with Armisen, she added: “Oh, God, no.”

[Devil's Advocate]

And clearly she is not bitter at all.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

You almost have to get older to understand that you’re too young to know

If you don’t say what you know, no one will know you know it. You know?

[Devil's Advocate]

I guess this is her incoherent way of saying “Youth is wasted on the young.”

I said that to my ten-year-old the other day, and she wistfully replied “I know!” as she watched some kindergarteners frolicking gamboling playing.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama orders oil-speculation task force back into action – but it says it never stopped
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/201…..-task.html

His own administration claims, however, that the panel never stopped working, which makes the White House announcement that he’s ordering it back into action somewhat curious. It comes at a time of growing political pressure on Obama to curb financial speculation in energy markets, which many analysts blame for accelerating the recent oil and gasoline price spike.

SPECULATORS! KULAKS!

[RoboCain]

Because market speculation is the role of government?

[shrike]

The CFTC has been trying to implement new margin/position limits for over a year.

With energy prices generally falling it seems they are in no rush. (Crude, coal, natgas were much higher a year ago AND 4 years ago).

I know – Ron Paul WINGNUTZ — HYPER INFLATION IS HERE!! I hear that bullshit a lot.

[R C Dean]

This time last year, crude was just under $100/bbl.

Today, it is . . . just over $100/bbl.

Just checkin’ facts.

Carry on.

[shrike]

Crude passed $115/bbl a little later when Libya went off-line (April?)

Coal and nat-gas were higher. They are at 5-yr lows today.

These markets are functioning well – that is my point. Speculation is healthy and Nov 2012 gasoline (rbob) is less than $3.00.

http://www.cmegroup.com/tradin…..oline.html

Gas prices falling! John will be so angry!

[John]

No futures are falling. That doesn’t mean the futures will be right. Someone is selling those futures and betting on the price being higher.

And given that the world economy is spiraling in the ground and demand is falling, it makes sense that prices should fall.

Obama’s plan to lower gas prices by destroying the economy is full proof in that regard.

[shriek]

Facts? PFFFFFTTT!!! Fuck you and your facts!

[Mr. FIFY]

Now THAT’S how shrike really thinks.

[Fluffy]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012…..latestnews

The Pittsburgh psych hospital shooter has no ID and untraceable fingerprints.

So the question is:

What movie are we living in here?

12 Monkeys? Terminator 2?

Obviously the guy is a traveler from the future here to kill someone to change destiny. But I just don’t know what destiny is being changed.

[John]

12 Monkeys. If it has been the Terminator, they wouldn’t have been able to arrest him.

[RoboCain]

He could have been a human sent by the Resistance.

[robc]

I think he is here to prevent Jesus Christ: Time Traveler from being published.

Not sure how the Pittsburgh hospital connects.

[robc]

I thought of another section for the book. At some point he outwits the CIA, gets to the time machine, travels with it into the future. Eventually he returns to the exact time he left and the logs on the machine are wiped clean, so no one will know the date he went to.

[Tim]

Because there was no backup file, because they cancelled the Carbonite contract, because Rush Limbaugh called that woman a slut…
We got summer blockbuster material here boys.

[invisible furry hand]

Because I ran out of gas! I–I had a flat tire! I didn’t have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn’t come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!

[H man]

Dark Knight. All we found were knives and lint.

[Warty]

He was probably high on PCP. Broke every bone in his hand and never felt a thing.

[Frequent Lurker Bastard]

John Doe from Se7en?

[Lord Humungus]

Speaking With the Speaker
John Boehner talks about the need for Republican unity and why the House is in ill repute.
http://online.wsj.com/article/…..on_LEADTop

It’s late Wednesday morning and the speaker of the House is seated in his Capitol office smoking and sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup. What the conference is feeling is “the normal state of affairs for a majority that’s frustrated by a president who doesn’t want to work with us and a Senate that doesn’t do the bills we send over. And then the frustration builds and they get to nipping at each other. And so it was one of those mornings where you had to kind of re-set the table.”

[John]

Grow a pair of balls and shut the whole place down. Pass bills that specifically authorize paying the debt, funding DOD and a few other truly essential functions like the courts and border patrol and shut the rest of it down. Tell Obama and the Senate Dems to go fuck themselves. No more spending of any kind until after the election or until he agrees to actually do something about the problem.

[MNG]

Yeah, cut that spending! But oh, keep those fat DOD and border patrol contracts coming!

I love conservatism sometimes, I truly do!

[John]

I didn’t say not cut DOD. I said fund DOD. We kind of need a defense department. So we can’t really shut it down. We also need a border patrol. Again, we can’t shut it down.

If you want to cut those as part of the final deal, great. But you can’t just shut them down anymore than we cannot pay the debt.

You knew that is what I was saying. Read the posts.

[MNG]

John, I have to go by what you said, I can’t mindread (seems I have something bookmarked about that…:) )

[John]

You can’t mind read but you can read the post. It was obvious what I was saying.

[MNG]

What you specifically said was “No more spending of any kind” with the exception of “funding DOD and a few other truly essential functions like the courts and border patrol”. You said nothing about cuts in those areas.

Again, like you said earlier, if someone doesn’t explicitly say something one mustn’t mindread, so I just went with what you explicitly said…

[Night Elf Mohawk]

You can’t read minds but, perhaps, you can avoid being purposefully obtuse. Perhaps.

[MNG]

It’s purposefully obtuse to quote someone exactly?

Wow.

[Pip]

For the love of gog just shut the fuck up. Jesus.

[Neu Mejican]

We also need a border patrol.

Seems VERY low on the needs list to me.

[John]

Really? Without a border patrol, all of the international ports would shut down. You would either have totally open the borders and put the US in violation of about a 100 international treaties or stop all trade.

CBP does more that stop Mexicans in the Texas desert. Come on NM, dd you take stupid pills this morning?

[MNG]

You can’t have customs without border patrol?

[John]

No. You can’t. It is pretty much a team effort between CBP and ICE. Also, CBP runs all of the border crossing points.

I think ICE and CBP would both count as essential. At least at the ground level.

[Neu Mejican]

No. You can’t.

Yes you can. Here’s how it works. You fun the C and not the BP.

[Neu Mejican]

Really? Without a border patrol, all of the international ports would shut down.

No they wouldn’t.

You would either have totally open the borders and put the US in violation of about a 100 international treaties

Okay. That could be dealt with.

or stop all trade.

Trade can’t happen without the government regulators?

[Neu Mejican]

I am really impressed with John’s premise here. BP is essential to trade occurring? No port could be open and running if it weren’t for the CBP? Not just regulators but federal regulators are “essential” to keep trade going?

[John]

Again, we could open the borders, but if we did, we would violate any number of treaties.

You really impress me with your ignorance. Not only do you not understand how the world actually works, you are proud of it.

If the government shut down totally tomorrow, no one would ship their goods and run the risk of later liability. And the world would have a stroke if we just opened our borders and stopped living up to our treaty obligations. Someone has to run the ports to meet our treaty obligations to enforce customs law.

And No the states don’t have the authority to enforce federal customs laws. That whole Constitution thing.

I always knew you were silly and ignorant. But I never realized you were so proud of it.

[Neu Mejican (~_?)]

Again, we could open the borders, but if we did, we would violate any number of treaties.

There are many laws that place requirements on the government that would be unmet when closing down large chunks of the government. No department closure would be without complications.

If the government shut down totally tomorrow, no one would ship their goods and run the risk of later liability.

The premise was that BP was closed. As stated above, if you want to keep customs open, fine. If you want to close down all of CBP, fine, somehow I think the ports would figure out a way to do business.

And No the states don’t have the authority to enforce federal customs laws. That whole Constitution thing.

So the bill that closes the BP could include a provision to give them that authority…the whole -how the world works thing.

[MNG]

NM-gotta keep those checks to “build the danged fence” coming…

[Ice Nine]

How do we know H&R has become Democratic UndergroundLite?

[Neu Mejican]

and a few other truly essential functions

And here is where the endless debate would begin.

[John]

Not really. We do this whenever there is a government shutdown. The government has put a lot of thought into what is actually essential. It is called continuity planning.

[Neu Mejican]

Not really. We do this whenever there is a government shutdown. The government has put a lot of thought into what is actually essential. It is called continuity planning.

They’ve got top men on it.
Got it.

[John]

Fuck off. It is true dipshit. We have been through numerous government shutdowns and the world didn’t end.

Sorry you don’t know anything about government and I caught you with your ass showing.

[protefeed]

John, I think MNG and Neu are questioning your prioritization of “keeping brown-skinned people from engaging in mutually beneficial trade with consenting employers” as a top governmental priority.

And with good reason.

[Neu Mejican (~_?)]

Sorry you don’t know anything about government and I caught you with your ass showing.

[face palm]

Your self-delusion knows no bounds.

[Mike M.]

Grow a pair of balls and shut the whole place down. Pass bills that specifically authorize paying the debt, funding DOD and a few other truly essential functions like the courts and border patrol and shut the rest of it down. Tell Obama and the Senate Dems to go fuck themselves. No more spending of any kind until after the election or until he agrees to actually do something about the problem.

I couldn’t agree more. What a shame it is that Boehner is a fucking crybaby pussy who really just wants to play golf and work on his fake tan.

[John]

it is a good point and that is why the liberals above immediately changed the subject.

[Neu Mejican (~_?)]

You didn’t like people questioning your priorities. On topic criticism of your idea upsets you.

[Neu Mejican (~_?)]

Grow a pair of balls and shut the whole place down.

Here’s the thing. If the issue is that we spend more than we can afford, the entire debate is about what those “essential” functions of government are. The cop out John proposes is an attempt to avoid the hard work, which is figuring out long-term answers to the underlying problems. It is gutless at its core.

[bosty]

All I took away from that is that he can smoke in his office.

[Bee Tagger]

panic driven in part by fear of what Fox News would do with it

I’m struck by how consistently thin-skinned the Obama administration is. I think a lot of the same blowback-themed arguments that people make as criticism of America’s foreign policy can be applied to critiquing Obama’s handling of Fox News.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The administration’s been obsessed with Fox News since the beginning. They probably watch it more than the bitter clingers in flyover country they condescend to on a daily basis.

[Mike M.]

Of course they are. Fox is the only major player in the media that does any scrutiny whatsoever of this dickhead and his administration.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. government last year announced a $10 million award, dubbed the “L Prize,” for any manufacturer that could create a “green” but affordable light bulb.

L Prize, my ass. I don’t even think lesbians will go for a $50 lightbulb.

[The Story of "L"]

Depends on the shape.

[Lord Humungus]

Can You Trust The Jobs Number?
http://pointsandfigures.com/20…..bs-number/

[rac3rx]

Shorter Article: No.

[Lord Humungus]

The Unchained Woman
What used to be a normal family life is now available only to the affluent.
http://online.wsj.com/article/…..TopOpinion

Eventually, however, her career “succumbed,” as Reuters oddly puts it. In truth, this is no tragedy but a hypergamous happy ending. Mancini left the labor force because her husband was doing so well that he could afford to support the whole family: “She quit in 2005 when her six-digit income was overtaken by his seven-digit one.”

For Mancini, it was a liberation. She tells the wire service: “At that point, it was clear that my wage had become family pocket money. There was a real opportunity to do other things that did not require being chained to a desk.”

[Fluffy]

If you need your spouse to have a 7 figure income before you’re willing to leave the workforce, it’s not society’s fault, it’s yours.

And it’s totally OK that she made the choices she made. More power to her. But don’t write commentary articles claiming that it was necessary for her to wait until her husband made a million plus a year before she left work – because it most certainly was not. That was her choice.

[Lord Humungus]

ja, my wife hasn’t had a full time job for over ten years now. A few part time and now school. But yes, we’ve managed to live quite well on just one income.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

My wife stays home with the kids and has for years now. I’ll concede that we probably fit the definition of affluent, but I make much less than 7 figures. And my wife started staying home when I made much less than I do now, when our income was definitely a middle class income. The reality is that many middle and upper middle class mothers work not out of necessity, but to afford pure luxuries — BMWs, private schools for the kids, and of course the obligatory 3,000 sq foot (or more) house. The notion that anyone needs a 7 figure income to enable mom to stay hom is ridiculous.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I wouldn’t count private school as a “pure luxury.” Before I started homeschooling, private school was right after food, clothing, and shelter.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Point taken, though I would classify some private schools with price tags of $20k and up as luxuries.

[protefeed]

Quite a few spouses find they can quit working and live quite well when the other spouse earns six figures.

One of my sisters quit working on her husband’s five figure salary. Required some budgeting, but totally doable.

[R C Dean]

I love the way her career “succumbed” to her husband’s massive, throbbing salary.

You’d think a lawyer would know what words mean.

[Neu Mejican]

You’d think a lawyer would know what words mean.

That’s the funniest shit I have read in years.

[RoboCain]

You’ve never actually spoken with a lawyer, have you? lol

[Sparky]

Psst, not to blow the surprise but, he is a lawyer.

[Neu Mejican]

You’d think a lawyer would know what word’s mean.

FIFY, there was a punctuation error.

[RoboCain]

I knew that, but thanks.

[Devil's Advocate]

I wonder if there is a trend back to a family with one spouse working, and the other staying home to take care of household and kids. It seems like I have been reading a lot more articles along this line– although I concur that waiting until your spouse makes in the millions before making that decision is just silly. But child care is not cheap, and neither is commuting these days. It may be more economically feasible for many families for one parent to stay home while the other works.

[Pro Libertate]

We’re doing it. My wife has an MIS/MBA degree, too, so she could work.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I’ve been noticing a lot more articles like this recently–not just the hyper-entitled SWPL types who finally decided they could live a life of ease without two six-to-seven figure incomes, but ordinary middle class families who cut back on luxuries so that one person can stay home and take care of the household.

My best friend and his wife are doing this, too–she was all about her career until they had their first kid last year, and within a month of the birth she decided to become a stay-at-home mother.

Feminist academics everywhere must be weeping at this.

[Pip]

The point of the artical is that women’s lib created a society where middle and lower-class women are chained to a desk job while women with affluent husbands can stay home baking cookies.

Time was, the middle and lower-class women were all staying home too.

[P Brooks]

I saw a most excellent bumper sticker yesterday. It read:

S*RRY YET?

* the “O” was represented by the Obama Campaign logo.

I expect to see a lot more of those between now and November.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, it’s not just about getting the idiot out of office; I want an apology, too. A personal one.

[Ice Nine]

Even complete douchebags have their moments.

[RoboCain]

Doesn’t about half the population support legalizing marijuana?

[R C Dean]

Well, yeah, half of TEAM BOTTOM does.

But practically nobody in TEAM TOP does.

And what do tops do to bottoms? That’s right . . .

[Mr. FIFY]

Wait… which one’s which, RC? Or do they take turns?

[Tonio]

Top = Pitcher, Bottom = Catcher, Versatile = Pitch and Catch.

[Mr. FIFY]

So the Teams are Versatile. I figured as much.

[rac3rx]

Day late, dude…this was posted yesterday.

[Ice Nine]

Oh no!

[Lord Humungus]

In 2009 the United States graduated 89,140 students in the visual and performing arts, more than in computer science, math, and chemical engineering combined and more than double the number of visual-and-performing-arts graduates in 1985.

There is nothing wrong with the arts, psychology, and journalism, but graduates in these fields have lower wages and are less likely to find work in their fields than graduates in science and math. Moreover, more than half of all humanities graduates end up in jobs that don’t require college degrees, and those graduates don’t get a big income boost from having gone to college. . . .
http://chronicle.com/article/T…..ut/130967/

[Fist of Etiquette]

At the time, then-White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs blamed Sherrod’s firing on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and said the White House had been informed but not “consulted” about the firing. In fact, the White House was involved almost from the moment the story broke, and USDA officials understood some of the larger context of her statements before they forced her resignation.

And we’re finding out about it now. So, transparency.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Nick Kristof Says “PRINT MOAR MONEY!”

[P Brooks]

the speaker of the House is seated in his Capitol office smoking and sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup.

I hate that guy. Drinking coffee from a styrofoam cup, at his own desk in his own office? What a puke.

[Mort Udapoint]

SMOKING?! In a PUBLIC BUILDING?!

[invisible furry hand]

He’s stickin’ it to The Man

[RoboCain]

So he is sticking it to himself?

[Translucent Chum]

Meet the City of Detroit’s one man union –
http://www.detroitnews.com/art…..oit-s-woes

[P Brooks]

If you need your spouse to have a 7 figure income before you’re willing to leave the workforce, it’s not society’s fault, it’s yours.

Don’t you see? Even millionaires are living hand-to-mouth in the dystopian nightmare which is post-Boooooosh America. There are like eight families in the entire country who are not starving. That’s why we need to re-elect the President.

[robc]

I agree with your points but need to get pedantic for a second.

A person making 7 figures isnt necessarily a millionaire. A millionaire has $1M worth of wealth, not income. There are people with 7 figure incomes who have a negative net worth (how, I have no clue, but they pull it off).

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Big firm lawyers make up a sizable percentage of the million dollar income but no net worth crowd. It’s actually fairly easy to spend it all. Private school for he kids, country club membership, 2 very expensive cars, 2 to 3 outlandish vacations per year, and a large house will generally do it. These are people who have never read the Millionaire Next Door.

[reason staff]

Yeah, I understand that, having read MND. But I still dont understand it.

[R C Dean]

Eckchually, the definition of millionaire used to be $1mm/year in income. Its only fairly recently that it became $1mm in net worth. Which is a much, much lower standard.

Back in the day (and I’m talking way back, like Victorian/Edwardian), there just wasn’t a good way to know what a lot of assets were worth (unlike now, where there is a liquid market for just about everything). So, the only thing you could count and compare was income.

[reason staff]

Hmmm…I dont see any evidence of this. First look at a dictionary website (to verify before I made my post) only gave the one definition – wealth based.

[robc]

stupid joke handle.

grumble grumble.

[MNG]

Black high-school athletes from the Jim Crow era have been denied place in history. It’s time to change that

These legends’ absence from the historical record?and their resulting exclusion from news stories about modern-day prep basketball stars?is a direct consequence of the Deep South’s segregationist past. Before the late 1960s, whites played against whites and blacks played against blacks. Arkansas, like many other states, separated its athletics associations by race. In 1967, what had been the all-white association incorporated its black counterpart, and what’s now the Arkansas Activities Association was born. This merger, though, was not accompanied by the integration of the state record book.

http://www.slate.com/articles/…..ooks_.html

[John]

Prairie View A&M, outside of Houston was known as the black Notre Dame. None of the SWC or SEC schools would recruit black players. So they, along with Grambling, pretty much got their pick of the black athletes in Texas and Louisiana. In the late 50s there were some Prairie View teams that could have beaten most if not all of the major college football teams in the country. And no one remembers them.

[MNG]

Doing this would be a just and sensible move. It seems non political (though I will, unusually for me, defend the author’s bias against the South here: the lead and other lines say this is a problem of “the South” but at least one line clearly indicates it is a problem in other areas as well). The chief issue seems to be documentation and everyone involved seems reasonable about that issue…

[Red Rocks Rockin]

the lead and other lines say this is a problem of “the South” but at least one line clearly indicates it is a problem in other areas as well

To the hipsters at Slate, everything having to do with segregation only happened in the South. It’s basically a knee-jerk pathology with them.

[LOLWUT?]

“In the late 50s there were some Prairie View teams that could have beaten most if not all of the major college football teams in the country”

AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHHAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHA

You DO realize prejudice against black players you’re talking about was largely in the south, and that MANY of the northern schools recruited black players?

Prairie View A&M got what the big schools left.

Stop talking out of your ass John.

[John]

Oh really. PV and Grambling got leftovers like Otis Taylor and Buck Buchanan? They put 30 people in the NFL during the 1960s. How many other schools did that. And yes northern schools integrated, but not every kid wanted to go out that far away. And scouting wasn’t the same. People didn’t recruit nationally like they do now. Go back and look at the rosters from say Ohio State in the 1960s and see how many kids from the South are on them. That would be none.

The Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs both built great pro teams by being the first teams to actively scout southern HBCs.

You only think I am talking out of my ass because you don’t know anything.

[Brett L]

And then they went winless for the 90s. Strange but true story.

[John]

No money and everyone recruited black athletes.

[Translucent Chum]

Man walks into police station to confess to murder. Cops think it’s a joke and turn him away.
http://www.detroitnews.com/art…..sion-joke-

[sarcasmic]

Gentz, who has an IQ of 67, according to Macomb Circuit Court records

He could have been a cop.

[R C Dean]

Well, if he’d been a cop, he wouldn’t have been confessing to murder, he would have been bragging about it.

[sarcasmic]

And the others would have believed him.

[Loki]

And he would have gotten a medal for it.

[sloopyinca]

After his paid vacation.

[MNG]

The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the pardons issued by former Gov. Haley Barbour during his final days in office, including those of four convicted killers and a robber who had worked at the Governor’s Mansion.

Barbour, a Republican who once considered running for president, pardoned 198 people before finishing his second term Jan. 10. Most of the people pardoned had served their sentences years ago, but crime victims were outraged and created a furor that lasted for weeks.

Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood challenged the pardons based on the argument that many of them didn’t follow a requirement in the state Constitution to publish notices in newspapers for 30 days.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponlin…..&seid=auto

[MNG]

Let me give a special f*ck you out to the Democratic AG who challenged these on what is surely just partisan grounds. Barbour tried to give these people a fair shake at a second chance at life and for Hood to challenge it for partisan reasons is sickening.

[John]

Good for the Dem AG and fuck Barbour. He gave a bunch of scumbags who sucked up to him and probably paid him off pardons. Nothing in those guy’s records indicated they deserved a pardon other than they got to go to the governor’s mansion and whine to Barbour.

I would love to be a governor and have one of these murdering bastards tell me how they have found Jesus. I would tell them that is great. And Jesus has given you this amazing opportunity to help others in prison. Help the real outcasts. Who am I to deprive you of your God given mission?

[MNG]

I disagree, especially as to the ones that had finished their sentences. a pardon gives them a much better second chance at life. The AG could only have blocked that.

[John]

Great. The one guy murdered his wife. And now after just a few years in prison, he gets to go on with life like it didn’t happen. He won’t even have a criminal record.

That is disgusting. I hope he marries Barbour’s niece.

[MNG]

Just upthread you were lamenting the politicalization and sparseness of pardons and now…I’ve seen you contradict yourself from thread to thread, but in the same thread?

[John]

It is not political. You pardon people because they are innocent or got a really unjust sentence. You don’t pardon them when they are guilty of a horrible crime and are serving a fair sentence.

[MNG]

Weren’t the majority of these guys finished their sentence? Why go to court to block their pardons?

[John]

I am speaking of the ones who hadn’t. The ones who had finished their sentences is not an issue for me.

[MNG]

Hoods suit was to block them all.

[MNG]

The result of this grandstanding by Hood is the next governor will be less likely to use his pardon power in any way. Wonderful, eh?

[John]

OR as the result of Barbour abusing the power, the next governor will be less likely to use them. It is not like people were not up in arms about this.

[Pro Libertate]

The pardon power is just about unreviewable. The challenge was on (apparently) bullshit technical grounds, so it was a non-winner out of the gate. I suppose if bribery or corruption could be associated with specific pardons that they might be undone. Has that ever happened?

[invisible furry hand]

Got more money than sense? Behold, it’s Occupy Wall Street: The Kickstarter project

[RoboCain]

She’s hot, although it doesn’t look like she is a good artist.

Anyway, how do people who pledge money make on their investment, or is it charity?

[invisible furry hand]

Down the right-hand side is a list of funding levels and what you get for each level. Unmentioned is the general and insufferable sense of smugness you get for funding art that paints truth to power

[RoboCain]

So it’s just like giving money to NPR?

[Neu Mejican]

The column to the right details that.

[RoboCain]

Ironic or just tits?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..-milk.html

[invisible furry hand]

who’s minding the kid while she’s off gallivanting?

[Lord Humungus]

who’s minding the kid while she’s off gallivanting gamboling?

[Fluffy]

Her husband the French billionaire.

[Devil's Advocate]

I like that she is poking fun at herself. So: amusing and ironic.

[sloopyinca]

The FBI would like a word with the AdCouncil for implying that raw milk is fit for human consumption by having the star of their commercial try to go through a fence with a bucket.

Unless she was planning on pasteurizing and homogenizing the milk before getting it home, and I don’t know how the fuck she would have done that, they are saying raw milk is fine!

[sarcasmic]

Jamie Oliver is still a pud.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..tions.html

[Devil's Advocate]

He looks like Axl Rose’s long lost twin brother.

[sloopyinca]

What kind of faggot wears skinny ties? It’s the 21st Century, dickhead, and you’re wearing a fucking skinny tie. What, was the one with a keyboard pattern in the wash?

What a douchebag.

[Silver Fox]

Jamie Oliver loses his cool.

He’s used to taking politicians and parents to task over healthy eating.

But when questioned about his own diet in Australia this week, Jamie Oliver wasn’t quite so happy.

The celebrity chef, 36, bristled when asked by a female reporter if he had gained a few pounds recently and called her a ‘b****’.

[sarcasmic]

first!

[John]

So can I expect feminists to now boycott the advertisers on his show?

[RoboCain]

I see what you did there.

[Silver Fox]

He’s a liberal. Liberals get b-word privileges.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

More to the point, he harangued small-town American yokels on his Healthy Food Crusade, so he gets a pass.

[Feministing]

We probably won’t gripe, because he’s on our Team.

[Translucent Chum]

A person would have to drink more than a thousand cans of soda in a day to match the doses administered in studies that showed links to cancer in rodents, Douglas Karas, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokesman, said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lif…..z1od9NxRmm

[rac3rx]

These are just like the saccharin studies.

[shrike]

Concerning the record February deficit reported yesterday – its due to income tax refunds.

Jan deficit was a paltry $40 billion or so. Feb is tax refund month for early filers – those who over withhold.

[Tim]

Ae you suggesting that there is no more deficit? Woo Hoo! USA USA USA!

[shrike]

No, but John noted the absence of someone with my superior reasoning skill on that thread.

I thought an explanation would help.

[...---...]

“No, but John noted the absence of someone with my superior reasoning skill on that thread.”

Don’t recall that, do recall he noted you were wrong about Obama reducing the Deficit. You were.

“I thought an explanation would help.”

It doesn’t. You were and are still wrong about Obama reducing the deficit.

It’s ALWAYS due to something.

What’s really sad is that you were so upset about being shut the fuck up and proven wrong that you felt like shoehorning that in, somehow thinking that claiming “oh it’s tax returns” means that we will forget about the fundamental point.

YOU WERE WRONG

[LOLWUT?]

“No, but John noted the absence of someone with my superior reasoning skill on that thread.”

Don’t recall that, do recall he noted you were wrong about Obama reducing the Deficit. You were.

“I thought an explanation would help.”

It doesn’t.

You were and are still wrong about Obama reducing the deficit.

It’s ALWAYS due to something.

What’s really sad is that you were so upset about being shut the fuck up and proven wrong that you felt like shoehorning that in, somehow thinking that claiming “oh it’s tax returns” means that we will forget about the fundamental point.

YOU WERE WRONG

[shrike]

Bullshit.

http://www.politifact.com/trut…..istration/

The annual DEFICIT is down. Not by much and certainly not “cut in half”.

So, Obama failed on that promise. He merely cut the deficit 10-15%.

[RoboCain]

Are you actually retarded?

[Mr. FIFY]

No, shrike isn’t retarded, but he IS an arrogant cocksucker who idolizes dangerous multi-billionaires like Soros and Buffett… oh, but he does think Steve Jobs is still alive, so maybe he’s not as smart as he says he is.

[LOLWUT?]

“The annual DEFICIT”

Do you honestly think we won’t see this as the pathetic attempt to avoid admitting you were wrong that it is?

[BigT]

Sure, it has nothing to do with over the top spending. Dream on. The Dems are proposing perpetual $1T+ deficits.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

So deficits for the previous months were really worse than reported since they counted revenue the government didn’t really have, right?

[R C Dean]

Niiice.

[shrike]

Yes, he is right on an accrual basis.

“didn’t really have” is non-sensical since Govt has taxing authority though.

[Invisible Finger]

Why yes. They have the authority to tax eveyyone at eleventy jillion percent. Therefore, there is no deficit.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Jan deficit was a paltry $40 billion or so.

Wrong:

Debt to the Penny charts:

January 1, 2012: 15.222 trillion

January 31, 2012: 15.356 trillion

Delta: 134 billion

[shrike]

That is DEBT. You are not counting receipts. Treasury was borrowing to pay February refund obligations.

Am I the only one here that understands accounting?

Smooth out the lumps and we will run a $1.0 trillion FY deficit.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

That is DEBT. You are not counting receipts. Treasury was borrowing to pay February refund obligations.

The DEFICIT is what increases the DEBT, you fuckin retard.

Am I the only one here that understands accounting?

You certainly seem to be the only here who doesn’t understand basic math.

[shrike]

Bullshit. BORROWING increases debt.

You can borrow while you run surpluses. Most profitable companies borrow.

[sloopyinca]

If you started a month with a $1T debt and your debt increased to $1.2T in a month, you ran a $.2T deficit that month. That’s basic math, shrike.

Debt interest service is real, and therefore needs to be counted toward monthly deficits, you disingenuous fuck.

[shrike]

No, you borrowed $.2T.

You may be collecting more in taxes while in surplus.

And debt service is easy to calculate and has never been omitted from deficit projections.

[sloopyinca]

No, you borrowed $.2T.

Right. You borrowed $.2T to meet your obligations because you took in $.2T less than it cost you to operate.

The borrowing is the result of running a deficit, you nitwit. Read any corporate balance sheet where they borrowed money.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

And debt service is easy to calculate and has never been omitted from deficit projections.

We’re not talking about projections, we’re talking about actual deficits, you dumbass–you know, deficits which lead to increases in the national debt.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Bullshit. BORROWING increases debt.

Considering you still haven’t cited your source for the deficit being “$40 billion,” I’ll take your assertion for the bullshit that it is.

You can borrow while you run surpluses. Most profitable companies borrow.

The government isn’t running a surplus, you fucking retard.

I’ll lay it out for you one more time, dumbass–when spending > revenue, there is a deficit, which leads to BORROWING to cover the deficit. That debt, the result of the DEFICIT, is tacked onto the the Historical Debt Outstanding on a daily basis, the same way it has been since 1957.

[Fatty Bolger]

Smooth out the lumps and we will run a $1.0 trillion FY deficit.

Oh, well that’s just fine, then. Only a trillion. Nothing to worry about. And you guys were getting all upset! Don’t you feel silly now?

[Mike M.]

Who gives a fucking crap about the official monthly deficit statements, which are manipulated like crazy anyway do to us constantly running up against the debt ceiling every few months now.

What matters is the amount of our debt (especially relative to our GDP), the speed with which the debt is rising, and the ever increasing amount of interest on that debt we have to pay.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Smooth out the lumps and we will run a $1.0 trillion FY deficit.

We’re currently on track for a fiscal year deficit of $1.4 trillion.

[shrike]

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-th…..-estimated

$1.08 trillion. CBO.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

$1.08 trillion. CBO.

09/30/2011 14,790,340,328,557.15
02/29/2012 15,488,891,296,248.02

$1.4 trillion. Dept of the Treasury

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/…..ication=np

[T]

Close enough to one trillion for shrike to claim victory. After all, .4 trillion is a rounding error, right?

[Auric Demonocles]

The nerds are more powerful than anyone thought

How do politicians keep finding new ways to be even dumber than before? It’s been pretty clear that we are the basis of the world’s economy for quite a few years now. The odd thing is that quote was from a SOPA critic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

“Not that it matters, but it’s shameful that since we got here at USDA, this is the issue that garnered most press attention,” Matter complained to Cherlin. “After all the great stuff we have done. Press doesn’t care.”

Cherlin, who has since left to become a journalist himself, agreed.

“They are craven assholes,” he replied.

Ha! Reid Cherlin is now a craven asshole himself, then? Or is he doing puff pieces on the USDA?

[Silver Fox]

I. have. no. words.

[John]

It shows how sexist we are. Imagine a show called “Dance Dads” where this happened only it was their fathers doing it. There would be a federal raid shortly after the first episode aired. But it is perfectly okay for women to whore out their 8 year old daughters.

[RoboCain]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Silver Fox]

I has reading problems. Already posted. >(

[Sparky]

This is a direct result of RoboCain madness. He uses up all the good links just so he can use those smug little ^^^.

[sarcasmic]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Silver Fox]

I shall bow to the master then.

[Lord Humungus]

Tea Party senators unveil five-year plan to balance the budget
http://thehill.com/homenews/se…..d-medicare

[shrike]

I read that plan. I criticize Romney and the Ryan/Boehner House for do-nothing plans.

That Senate plan is bold. It should be debated. Too bad candidate Romney won’t ever mention it.

[Brett L]

My only quibble is there are no defense spending cuts. I do like the elimination of whole Federal departments.

[rac3rx]

Whether you disagree with specifics or not, at least this one is serious.

[Carbman Jones]

OK you have to admit that dude makes a LOT of sense man!

http://www.Done-Anon.tk

[invisible furry hand]

Dammit anonbot, not only are your comments often on point, your handles are now beginning to sound like plausible H&R names.

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

Carbman Jones if pretty great. I’d take it, but I have to maintain truth in advertising here.

[Silver Fox]

“R” rating for “Bully”.

On the other end of the scale is the big-budget adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” due out March 23. The film, which features teens and young children forced to hunt and kill one another as a form of mass entertainment, was recently given a “PG-13” by the MPAA. This means that anyone over the age of 13 can see the film unaccompanied. The film received the rating due to “intense violent thematic material and disturbing images — all involving teens.”

[invisible furry hand]

Was Battle Royale PG-13?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I don’t get why this movie’s getting pushed so relentlessly–the whole premise looks retarded as hell. Maybe it’s just because it’s another vehicle for emotionally crippled nerds to pull in some spank bank material by seeing Jennifer Lawrence in leather.

[RoboCain]

Her Mystique in X-Men: First Class wasn’t nearly as hot Rebbecca Romin-Greekdouche.

[Fatty Bolger]

It’s extremely popular in a key movie-going demographic. The basic premise seems solid to me. I haven’t read the book so I can’t judge the details.

[T]

They’re okay teen lit. They’re pretty unrelentingly grim, which I always appreciate. You have to do a lot of suspension of disbelief, though, and just roll with the story.

[JW]

My 11-year old boy just finished the book and loved it. He’s pushing to go see the movie, which I’ll probably take him to see.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It’s extremely popular in a key movie-going demographic.

My prediction: the target audience will spend inordinate amounts of time after the first viewing trying to convince themselves that it wasn’t a huge steaming pile of crap. This will be followed by an extended period of fighting off the few obsessive dorks bashing it for not being “authentic” enough with a series of “Yeah, this could have been better, but”s, then the realization that they wasted two hours of their life and countless hours on the internet defending this stupid movie, after which they’ll pretend they never liked it to begin with.

[Lord Humungus]

Consumer Reports:

Bad Karma: Our Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid breaks down
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/ba…..-down.html

We buy about 80 cars a year and this is the first time in memory that we have had a car that is undriveable before it has finished our check-in process.

[Silver Fox]

No greater indictment against electric cars than this.

[Fluffy]

I saw a Chevy Volt in the wild yesterday.

I frantically took out my cell phone and snapped a pic and then sent it to my wife. (TEXTIN’ WHILE DRIVIN’ BITCHES!!! 11!!!)

Funny thing is: it turned into the gas station.

[Lord Humungus]

Last night, we got a light dusting of snow. Driving in to work today, I saw a minty 1970s-era Firebird. Weird. But that was more impressive to me than any electric car.

[Silver Fox]

Funny thing is: it turned into the gas station.

The inescapable reality that fossil fuels trump electric-powered vehicles and will for some time yet.

[TrickyVic]

Yeah. Trying to throw money at them thinking they will be the car of today is just plain stupid. But plain stupid has been my expectation of government for over 30 years.

[John]

Electric cars suck.

[Eco-nut]

But, they’re the wave of the future!

Once we work out the bugs that is.

[Mr. FIFY]

Electric cars have been around since the late 1800s, so every time Obama goes on about the technology of the past… he’s full of shit.

[TrickyVic]

Except this one
http://www.teslamotors.com/roadster

[No, even that one]

http://www.extremetech.com/ext…..-you-40000

http://seekingalpha.com/articl…..car-makers

[No, even that one sucks]

http://www.extremetech.com/ext…..-you-40000

http://seekingalpha.com/articl…..car-makers

[TrickyVic]

http://www.itworld.com/it-mana…..care-tesla

[No, even that one still sucks]

From YOUR article

“Sam, talking about misrepresenting information – this article is doing likewise.

Both articles are strew with half-truths, but of the two, this one is worse. And here’s why:

In the original blog post, it warns that people can be left with a $40,000 bill to fix their car – ”

One of the many things your marketing guy leaves out in his shilling.

[No, even that one still sucks]

And by the way, your article didn’t say it didn’t happen, just that it was misrepresented.

Total power drain = brick. Your article even says so.

[No, even that one still sucks]

Tesla themselves are quoted as saying that if the battery is totally drained, “it may not be possible to recharge”

[Translucent Chum]

I love the first reply. “Does it cost more for one that runs?”

[Pro Libertate]

When you’ve lost Consumer Reports. . . .

[Gray Ghost]

IIRC, Car and Driver was brutal in its takedown of the Karma. Basically, a heavy, underpowered piece of shit.

Now, if it were a BMW, it might’ve read differently.

[sloopyinca]

You guys and your Jesus Christ: Time Traveler.

I’ve got a better idea that Hollywood would actually buy:
A new Star Trek series shot as a reality show (think “The Office” or “Trailer Park Boys”). It could go much more indepth with the crew’s feelings and their interactions with each other. It would be a hit with Trekkies and with the new, mindless drones that crave reality TV, even when it’s scripted.

Well?

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

As long as Season Three gets dark with this plotline.

[omnibot]

sounds like something Jonathan Frakes would direct.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You’re out of your Vulcan mind. Space Cops, maybe. Going around to trailer space parks and arresting drunken hill-space-billies.

[sloopyinca]

OK, fine. That actually sounds better. I was just looking for a way to remove the stain of Enterprise being the last series in the Star Trek Universe.

And on that note, enjoy this vomit-inducing theme song.

[invisible furry hand]

The sickness must be purged!

[Pro Libertate]

I liked your idea well enough. Anything but the reboot.

It would be nice to see something that didn’t involve Starfleet.

[sloopyinca]

No reboot and no Starfleet. Just in the same Roddenberry Universe. All of the Enterprises came across a shitton of Federation and non-Federation craft that weren’t run by starfleet officers, so it would be pretty easy to pull off.

Hell, make them merchants or mercenaries. There were plenty of both around. And both interacted enough wit starfleet to use them as a background figure.

[Pro Libertate]

Star Trek: The Adventures of Cyrano Jones.

Or

Star Trek: The Adventures of Harry Fucking Mudd. Oh, yeah.

[Fatty Bolger]

This is really a great idea. They could always tie it in by putting a Starfleet representative on board for some purpose or other, or make the captain former Starfleet. Maybe a more mercenary Kirk type who finally went too far and got permanently shitcanned.

[Script Reveal!]

Kirk(to everyone on deck): Who put my phaser in Jello?! This is the third time it’s happened, and it’s not acceptable!

Sulu turns to camera, makes goofy face, shrugs shoulders

[Ghost]

Talking of nerds why hasn’t Reason reported on the Great and Powerful Sabu ratting out the rest of LulzSec, the criminal organization that worked alongside Wikileaks to steal and make public thousands of e-mails from Stratfor (as usual to cause as much harm to those who defend Western freedom as they possibly could)? Guess it’s just because Reason loves Wikileaks thiiiiiis much.

[John]

Wasn’t the big LUTZSEC guy they arrested in Chicago just an identity thief? All of their bullshit posturing and in the end they are just common thieves.

[sloopyinca]

Didn’t it turn out that the head of LulzSec was an FBI Informant, and the whole thing was a sting operation?

It’s like every DHS arrest all over again, except with nerds instead of scary Muslims.

[John]

LUTZSEC was real. They just got the top guy to go FBI. It wasn’t like DHS. It was more like the mafia. The top guy sold them out.

[Ghost]

Come on, cut him some slack, the guy was facing 124 years and six months in jail, wouldn’t you rat out your fellow criminal scumbags to save your skin if the FBI caught you with your pants down in the same way? Better the FBI catch you with your pants down than a fellow prison inmate right?

And John is right, these were not petty identity thieves or lulz-seeking skiddies, they were top dog hackers who may have affected more than eight hundred thousand people with their antics. They dictated to major corporations who they were are were not allowed to do business with, bullied media outlets when they said things they didn’t like and smashed security firms to pieces to cause as much harm as they could. If they were head of state and not twenty something nerds they would be called dictators and tyrants. I hope they spend many decades behind bars for what they have done.

[BigT]

Good news, fellow boozehounds!!

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/he…..lcoholism/

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

Sounds like Ibogaine deserves a second look from the FDA too.

[RoboCain]

They both do, as do a number of tryptamines.

[robc]

50 year old links?

[Tonio]

They had teh intarwebz back then?

[sloopyinca]

And yes, you all probably knew I would post another link to the Reason Hit & Run Superpimp March Madness College Basketball Pick-em.

And yes, the password is: reason.

And of course it’s free…and anonymous…and fun, goddammit.

[Fluffy]

How can we do this when they haven’t had Selection Sunday yet?

[sloopyinca]

You’re just signing up. After the brackets are filled out Sunday, I’ll keep posting until the tourney starts.

[robc]

Looking for a 2nd wife?

[RoboCain]

He’s figuring Romney will be President.

[robc]

Thats a good idea for an anti-Romney ad.

Target straight, single men: If Romney is elected, there wont be enough women to go around.

[a fan]

What’s this obsession with the NC2A? Don’t you have a new woman to hump?

[sloopyinca]

I can do both, dammit.

[Fatty Bolger]

At the same time?

[sloopyinca]

Yes, even if this isn’t Banjos.

[P Brooks]

Treasury was borrowing to pay February refund obligations.

Is this supposed to make me feel better?

[Loki]

The U.S. government last year announced a $10 million award, dubbed the “L Prize,” for any manufacturer that could create a “green” but affordable light bulb… The price is $50.

Is the government that disconnected with reality that they actually consider $50 for a fucking lightbulb to be “affordable”? Affordable for who? Government elites and Hollywood types who want to pat themselves on the back for being so environmentally concious (all the while flying in private jets all over the world)? It’s not even 9:00 AM where I am and I already feel like that guy from Scanners. It’s gonna be a long day.

[Auric Demonocles]

Does it light my entire home?

[TrickyVic]

“”Is the government that disconnected with reality that they actually consider $50 for a fucking lightbulb to be “affordable”?””

Yes.

But you knew that already.

[P Brooks]

“At that point, it was clear that my wage had become family pocket money. There was a real opportunity to do other things that did not require being chained to a desk.”

Like actively court ridicule and derision?

I read both the WSJ and Reuters articles, and probably know less now than I did before. Self-obsessed yuppies feel compelled to broadcast their every move to the world at large?
Praise-for-no-reason Mob strikes again.

[T]

Self-obsessed yuppies feel compelled to broadcast their every move to the world at large?

There’s this thing called Twitter that may shed some light on this phenomenon, P. You should check it out.

[Devil's Advocate]

And Facebook. I seriously do not get the whole “The whole world must know what I am doing at all times” mentality. It’s as if some people–particularly younger people– have no concept of privacy anymore.

[invisible furry hand]

Or of enjoying the moment. I have seen people update Facebook while watching bands. Presumably it’s better to tell the world you’re enjoying a song than it is to, you know, listen to the fucking song

[Loki]

Social media Venn Diagram T-shirt:

http://www.despair.com/somevedi.html

[T]

Hey, for any ATX Reasonoids, we’ll be at Sherwood Forest tomorrow. If the weather’s nice, I’ll be the drunk guy in the kilt. If the weather sucks, I’ll just be the drunk guy.

[P Brooks]

You should check it out.

I’ll get right on that.

It’s on the list, right below “cut dick off with rusty tin snips”.

[T]

It’s on the list, right below “cut dick off with rusty tin snips”.

That’s not on my list, but whatever works for you, man.

[RoboCain]

LOL

[DEG]

Valuable science:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci…..would.html

[Fatty Bolger]

Myth finally busted: A penny thrown from a skyscraper WOULDN’T kill you

Pretty sure they already figured that out on Mythbusters.

[T]

It’s a surface area to mass issue. It’s hard to get something with the ratio of a penny to achieve terminal velocity. A nice small teardrop shaped lump of copper might do alright, though.

[sarcasmic]

It’s a shape issue more than surface area to mass.

Darts, or flechettes have what I would imagine to be a similar surface to area ratio but can be very deadly.

[rac3rx]

Nekkid Persians Protest…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..ead_module