A.M. Links: George Zimmerman Has an "Aggressive" Past, Mitt Romney to Challenge Obama on Foreign Policy, Household Income Fell in 2011

• "George Zimmerman was fired from his job as an under-the-table security guard for 'being too aggressive,' a former co-worker told the Daily News."

• Chuck Todd calls for an end to leaks in Trayvon Martin case. 
• Mitt Romney will somehow challenge Barack Obama on foreign policy. 
• "Taking inflation and taxes into account, the amount of income available to households fell 0.1 percent after declining 0.2 percent in January."
• Obama has done more to expand executive power than George Bush could ever imagine, reports the Wall Street Journal. 
• Mega Millions fever (and the promise of a $540 million jackpot) sweeps America.

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Comments

[Frayed Knot]

Premier!

[I Blame Videogames!]

Frayed Knot|3.30.12 @ 9:11AM|#

String Theory?

[Suki]

Poppie is the pizza topping authority:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lOG3rD5CrQ

[Lord Humungus]

Peggy Noonan: Not-So-Smooth Operator
Obama increasingly comes across as devious and dishonest.
http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html

If you jumped into a time machine to the day after the election, in November, 2012, and saw a headline saying "Obama Loses," do you imagine that would be followed by widespread sadness, pain and a rending of garments? You do not. Even his own supporters will not be that sad. It's hard to imagine people running around in 2014 saying, "If only Obama were president!" Including Mr. Obama, who is said by all who know him to be deeply competitive, but who doesn't seem to like his job that much. As a former president he'd be quiet, detached, aloof. He'd make speeches and write a memoir laced with a certain high-toned bitterness. It was the Republicans' fault. They didn't want to work with him.

[o3]

noonan's part of the vast LW media conspiracy so ck behind the curtain

[shorter o3]

derp

[Citizen Nothing]

Can't be the real o3. "Derp" is spelled correctly.

[R C Dean]

As a former president he'd be quiet, detached, aloof.

I suspect the Community-Organizer-In-Chief will be no such thing.

[The Facts]

True. We will be subjected to his "I am better than you" moralizing for years to come. At least Carter is right on Israel and can build houses.

[SFC B]

I fully expect that a One-Term President Obama will come out of his hole every 4 years and tease progressives with the thought he might run again.

[Maxxx]

No doubt that he won't be able to control himself.

And the threat of him doing so will fuck up democrat party politics for decades.

[Skip]

If Obama lose, I predict MUCH rending of garments. A lot of people are too invested in a cool black guy being successful no matter what his policies are.

[P Brooks]

Not it!

[invisible furry hand]

"George Zimmerman was fired from his job as an under-the-table security guard for 'being too aggressive'"

No, this is aggressive (well, microagressive):

"And ladies, please make sure you're not showing too much cleavage. We don't want our male students getting distracted!" Excuse me?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

When I try to explain to people that I am, indeed, a native Hawaiian, people usually either laugh or ask "What are you? Albino?" Yes. Yes I am.

He's ready for stand-up

[Zeb]

That shit is just amazing. I don't know where people find aggression in those things. Some of them are kind of asshole-ish or insensitive, but aggression?

[o3]

microagressions yo

[yogi]

nanoaggressions yo

[shrike]

picoaggressions yo

[shrike]

femtoaggressions yo

[shrike]

attoaggressions yo

[shrike]

zeptoaggressions yo

[shrike]

yoctoaggressions yo

[Mr. FIFY]

Planck-timeaggressions. No yo.

[invisible furry hand]

Planck-timeaggressions. No yomo.

FIFY, Mr FIFY

[o3]

winnah + h !

[yogi]

Don't worry, the injuries you sustain from yoctoaggression are covered by the PPACA act.

[Realist]

More "Reason" red meat to increase page views and comments.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Because femtoaggressions.com was taken?

"That motherfucker held a door open for me!!!"

[R C Dean]

Nope. femtoaggressions.com is still available!

So is nanoaggressions.com

Awesome blog names, IMO.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Hey Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!

[mad libertarian guy]

Hey, where's Perry?

[yogi]

nanoaggressions.com

My wife asked my to open a pickle jar, like I'm some kind of kitchen appliance.

[Socialistic Individual Sparky]

When will the world realize that men are more than just a set of hands?

[Rev. Blue Moon]

When helping my brother unload a truck recently, the men always insisted on carrying the larger items (which I was capable of carrying myself, mind you) and handed me smaller items. Carrying the larger items is apparently more appropriately mens' work. Even though they are just being considerate, they are making assumptions with no reasonable basis.

Why yes, yes it is. Get over it.

The odds are that men are stronger than you. This is a little thing we like to call "dealing with reality", and you would be best to start sooner rather than later.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Let the bitch open her own jars, too.

[X]

they are making assumptions with no reasonable basis.

hilarious. he's bigger and stronger. if he was richer, she'd certainly see a reason for him to carry the bigger tax burden. is rational thinking like math?

[Microagression Barbie]

Math is hard!

[Maxxx]

Math is aggression.

[Joe M]

Even though they are just being considerate...

Really, if you follow that up with a complaint, you're never going to be happy in life.

[Wheee]

Where I work, every blasted time someone needs furniture moved, they head straight for the men. It's the 21st century...women can move their own damned desks.

[invisible furry hand]

As a woman, I was just stunned. WTF else is cleavage for?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Ding!

[Brett L]

As if high school boys need cleavage to be distracted by girls.

[Loki]

This one made me laugh:

" Yes, I understand you're Asian Australian, but where are you really from?"

[T]

"Asia or Australia? Which is it, dammit?"

[Lord Humungus]

Conservative Distrust of Science
http://www.insidehighered.com/.....ce-science

Just over 34 percent of conservatives had confidence in science as an institution in 2010, representing a long-term decline from 48 percent in 1974, according to a paper being published today in American Sociological Review.

That represents a dramatic shift for conservatives, who in 1974 were more likely than liberals or moderates (all categories based on self-identification) to express confidence in science. While the confidence levels of other groups in science have been relatively stable, the conservative drop now means that group is the least likely to have confidence in science.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I see two reasons for this:

1) Climate science and politicization
2) The Socons

[Charlotte Corday]

And public health junk science like the Alar scare and everything being linked to cancer.

[Suki]

The latest: Autism

[Charlotte Corday]

When science becomes an appeal to authority to justify big government, it loses a lot of its cache.

[Lord Humungus]

I would add: every solution seems to involve MOAR government.

[cynical]

Sting is conservative?

[o3]

i blame teh stupit plus hesus

[shorter o3]

i am to blame

[R C Dean]

Key phrase:

science as an institution

[Zeb]

That leaps out at me as well. An awful lot of people seem to completely misunderstand what science is and what it does.

[o3]

no question looking at these comments. and these are the smart republicans.

[?]

The survey the guy's getting his data from uses the phrase "scientific community," and it asks to rate your confidence "people" who "run" it. So yeah.

The trend he's measuring is the one where a term that used to mean "scientists" became code for "enemies of your culture."

"Scientific community" when the survey was begun signified the people who'd just invented the microprocessor and sent dudes to the moon?so the survey's self-described conservatives identified strongly with them, and its liberals didn't.

Now "scientific community" means assholes who want everything invented by the earlier "scientific community" banned or ruined, and so the identification is flipped.

No shit yo.

[Lolbertarian]

An once of perception,
A pound of obscure.

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION!!!

[Ken Shultz]

I blame political advocacy masquerading as science.

A lot of political opinions being thrown about are backed up by science, but the political opinions are often presented as science itself in the media.

So, for instance, whether the long term survival of polar bears is in danger is a scientific question; however, assuming that polar bears are more important than our standard of living is not a scientific question.

If people on the right have watched such matters of opinion masquerade as science for so long, that they're starting to distrust what most people call "science", then I'm not sure that's entirely irrational.

In other words, science isn't the idea that polar bears are more important than people, but I can understand why a lot of people have come to think so. If I thought that was what science was, I'd distrust it, too.

[horselips]

Maybe they have good reasons to distrust it...

http://www.physorg.com/news/20.....ional.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

What are you going to do with your Mega Millions?

I'm buying Reason an intern just to delete WI posts.

[Old Boring Guy]

I just won $2 by NOT playing the lottery heh-heh.

[Rich]

*Please* clue me in on your system!

(A MM ticket costs $1.)

[Alack]

He's using GSM (government standard measurements). By this metric, him NOT buying 2 tickets he thought of buying is the same as winning $2. Next time, to make more money, he should contemplate buying a thousand tickets and then not get any!

[Rich]

Yeah. Thanks.

I forgot where I was for a minute.

[Pro Libertate]

Dollars saved or created.

[o3]

lottery clerk to o3: all u want is one?
o3: does it take moar than 1 to win?

[o3]

lottery clerk: do you want something? hello? *waves hand in front of Orrin's face*

o3: ...

[o3]

lottery clerk: do you want something? hello? *waves hand in front of Orrin's face*

o3: derp!

[o3]

ok that made me laugh babies thru my nose...plus cuban cigars

[Suki]

Custom monocle to go with this outfit. And some other stuff.

[Lolbertarian]

Been there, done that.

http://www.strangecosmos.com/i.....150647.jpg

[Suki]

No top hat fail.

[Lolbertarian]

She's sitting on it.

[Graphite]

Just send out a tweet claiming George Zimmerman is holed up at Mary Stack's address. Problem solved.

[Spike Lee]

On it!!

[SugarFree]

Hit and Run favorite Hugo Schwyzer advocating using condoms in relationships forever.

That sounds awesome Hugo. I assume that's what your lesbian wife that doesn't mind your impotence prefers as well.

[Charlotte Corday]

If it is that important to him, can't he just get a vasectomy? I thought being neutered was the proper hen pecked thing to do.

[Auric Demonocles]

This is clear grounds for commitment to an asylum, right?

[invisible furry hand]

Did you check his blog? There was this entry:

http://www.hugoschwyzer.net/20.....at-a-time/

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I've got a reality check for him: He's still self-obsessed

[Warty]

He even looks like a lesbian.

[invisible furry hand]

daisy - "what should i wear?"
tim - "i think you should dress something like a lesbian"
"how do lesbians dress?"
"kinda like suzi quatro?"
"well it's not really a lesbian magazine, it's more for modern, go-getting young women with something to say, you know? with a contribution to make, women like..."
"suzi quatro?"

[Ken Shultz]

Just for the record, nothing's cooler than Suzi Quatro.

It's like the speed of light. She's the universal constant.

She's cooler than zero Kelvin. Nothing can be cooler than Suzi Quatro.

[Ice Nine]

Playing to self-absorbed women at Jez? Who knew?

[Lord Humungus]

a beta play to get chicks, no matter how damaged they are.

[Suki]

Arugula flavored?

[Zeb]

What a weirdo. Has he never had sex without a condom or something? And he seems to think that only men dislike condoms. I haven't run into many women who don't also vastly prefer it "bareback" (I thought only gay guys called it that).

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's the smell...

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I haven't run into many women who don't also vastly prefer it "bareback" (I thought only gay guys called it that).

That's pretty much the whole foundation of Sandra Fluke's stance on birth control.

[Lowdog]

If that dude isn't closet gay (or not so closeted), I don't know what to say (nttawwt).

[Apple]

But Hugo, if you'd always used condoms you wouldn't have such inspiring tales of cuckholding to share with us.

http://goodmenproject.com/feat.....-for-sure/

[Lord Humungus]

FCC pushes for tablet computers in schools
http://thehill.com/blogs/hilli.....in-schools

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Education Secretary Arne Duncan led a discussion on Thursday with technology executives and education groups about how to replace textbooks with tablet computers in schools.

The United States spends about $7 billion per year on textbooks, but many students are still using books that are seven to ten years out of date, according to the FCC.

I'm so glad the FCC is on this!

[SugarFree]

Breaking the backs of the scholastic publishers would be a good thing. That "market" is as about a perfect example of cronyism, waste, and fraud as can be found.

[Charlotte Corday]

You mean that they don't need to publish a new textbook for basic subjects every year?

[SugarFree]

It's far, far worse than that. Academic publishing is a massive scam, but secondary education publishing is like cable monopolies x captive markets, with rent-seeking and the 3rd party payer problem all rolled up into a huge kickback scheme.

[Charlotte Corday]

The chapter in Feynman's book about judging science books for the State of California is both enlightening and depressing. And it is no doubt even worse now.

[Pro Libertate]

It was brutal. Saw an interview with him on the same topic not too long ago, too.

[Zeb]

Yeah, too bad the people who are actually smart enough to write a decent science text book have better things to do.

[SugarFree]

Robert Pirsig contends that the reason assembly manuals for furniture and BBQ grills and the like are so terrible is because when the technical writer goes to the manufacturing plant, the only person that can be spared to show him the product is the person least necessary to the operation of the plant. It's the Peter Principle in reverse.

[Charlotte Corday]

There is that. And there is also the problem of being too good at something. If you spend your life writing assembly manuals and figuring out how to assemble things, you get pretty good at it. And t hat is not conducive to writing clear instructions for someone assembling something for the first time.

[Pro Libertate]

There's also the fact that many of those manuals weren't written in English in the first place.

[Zeb]

I usually assume that the manuals were written by someone who doesn't speak English and translates using a dictionary.

[Pro Libertate]

Nah, they just run it through each language in Babelfish and back.

[Pro Libertate]

That will never change, so long as professors join in the scam.

[SugarFree]

True. Students are starting to but one textbook, run it through a scanner, and then distribute it out to their classmates on the college level. Or if it is something that can be borrowed through interlibrary loan, they just do it to a library book.

[Zeb]

I had a few professors in college who used Dover books as texts whenever possible (they have quite a few good math texts). It was always nice to be able to spend $30 for texts for a class instead of $300.

[Brett L]

Yes. Death to the publishers, and may their rotting corpses be raped by syphilitic dogs.

[Pro Libertate]

What? Why? So the kids can spend more time on Facebook in class?

[Evan from Evansville]

I teach in South Korea, where for some fucking reason every parent thinks it's a great idea to give their 8 year old children smart phones.

It is absolutely maddening.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Multitudes of kids in Israel had cell phones back in 1998. I think they might have been subsidized by the Israeli Government (in the end...US)for safety reasons, but I'm sure they were used primarily as status symbols by the populace at the time. I didn't have a cellphone until 2006. Part of me wishes I still didn't. But I do like looking at porn on the go.

[Zeb]

I still don't have a cell phone. At this point it's almost a point of pride. There are very few occasions when I wish I had one. The last thing I want is for people to be able to call me where ever I am.

[Ice Nine]

I got my first one two years ago. I've got nothing to hide but I always think of those bears that they tranqdart and put the locator collars on when I'm carrying mine.

[invisible furry hand]

Get one, and then turn the ringtone off. That way you can make calls as you need, and completely ignore the impertinent scoundrels who call you willy-nilly. You can then review your missed calls and arbitrarily reward someone with a returned call.

[mad libertarian guy]

Did no one ever tell you that you don't have to answer the phone just because it rings?

[CrackertyAssCracker]

Me too. I wish I had one about twice a year. The rest of the time I'm amazed at how enslaved everybody else seems by their phone.

[invisible furry hand]

But I do like looking at porn on the go.

Presumably at least some of this is in public. Do you make creepy appreciative noises as well? I do hope so

[Zeb]

They should start building classrooms that are Faraday cages. I imagine it must be really frustrating being a teacher with ubiquitous smart phones.

[Rich]

books that are seven to ten years out of date

Serious question (@ SF?): What does this even mean?

[SugarFree]

Current events textbooks that don't mention the 2nd Iraq war, for example.

But a lot of the "out-of-date" complaints are about the textbooks not reflecting the current passing fad in pedagogy. (i.e. a hollow complaint.)

[Rich]

Right.

"When I was your age, we mentioned the 2nd Iraq war on mimeographed handouts."

Of course, those probably weren't approved by The State.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The smell of freshly mimeographed papers and of a new box of crayons. Good times.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Someone explain to me how a math text can be seven to ten years out of date or how a basic science text can be out of date. Last I checked, colonial history doesn't change that fast either.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

A text for an advanced graduate class in mathematics could easily be out of date in seven to ten years. These are classes that typically serve as an introduction to areas of study that are being actively researched by professional mathematicians. As important new discoveries are made, they should be included in a textbook introducing students to the field.

[Charlotte Corday]

For advanced college level classes sure. But high school and basic college mathematics hasn't changed since when? Liebenitz?

[Ken Shultz]

Ever notice that the textbooks keep getting bigger, but the number of credits you get for the class has always remained the same?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Hardest text I ever had was about 130 pages. It was a graduate level math text translated from the origin Russian, badly.

[Ken Shultz]

It always seemed nutty to me that so many graduate Mathematics programs I've looked at required Russian or, at least, the ability to demonstrate proficiency sufficient to translate a proof. I guess they're still really dominant in Mathematics?

I guess math was one of the few areas that couldn't be distorted easily by the Soviet government. You can't throw a mathematician in a gulag for doing counterrevolutionary proofs!

[Charlotte Corday]

It is one of those fields that you can succeed in by brute force. You can lock a thousand mathematicians in a building and tell them to start writing proofs and you will come up with results. That method doesn't work so well when you are doing things like manufacturing toasters.

[R C Dean]

Of course, one wonders why this is any of the FCC's business in the first place.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Because "Fuck You" that's why

[FCC]

Commerce Clause, of course.

[Suki]

Commerce Clause?

[Pro Libertate]

Preamble.

[Suki]

Winner.

[Pro Libertate]

We have to ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Boom, right there, the government can do anything that's a "blessing of liberty." Like the draft and socialized medicine.

[Loki]

WTF does the FCC have to do with school textbooks?

[Pro Libertate]

"Communications."

[Fist of Etiquette]

No one wants the guy under his table to be too aggressive.

[Ice Nine]

AM links to closed sites; that'll sure stimulate the ol' discussion!

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Protip: Don't hitch rides from truck drivers who look like serial killers. They probably are

[Bee Tagger]

Chuck Todd calls for an end to leaks in Trayvon Martin case.

I call for leaks to end up on Chuck Todd's head.

[Suki]

+1

[Fist of Etiquette]

Chuck Todd calls for an end to leaks in Trayvon Martin case.

A little late to be trying to stick your finger in that hole, Chuck.

[Popular Girls]

Ewww.
Seriously?
Dude, that's so gross.

[REALLY Popular Girls]

I'm game.

[Chuck Todd]

What do you mean, "Wrong hole!"?

[REALLY REALLY Popular Girls]

I'm game.

[Mongo]

You girls need a ride anywhere...?

[Popular Girls]

We saw a protip on the Internet that said we shouldn't get in your truck.

[REALLY Popular Girls]

Oh, we'll give you a ride, alright.

[Mr. FIFY]

Did he call for an end to the death threats against Zimmerman's parents?

[Lord Humungus]

The one indicator which the Chinese Politburo can not fudge: power production and hence: demand, speaks volumes about the true state of China's economy.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/.....e-new-year

[BakedPenguin]

Their housing bubble is bursting, too.

[R C Dean]

The one indicator which the Chinese Politburo can not fudge:

Why not?

[Lord Humungus]

The Fudge-Packer Union has a say in it.

[Bee Tagger]

"George Zimmerman was fired from his job as an under-the-table security guard for 'being too aggressive,' a former co-worker told the Daily News."

Have the various media outlets made their closing statements yet? It's about time for the public to render their verdict and move on.

[Angle Iron]

I find this whole thing funny. Trayvon Martin was a stupid thug who brought fists to a gun fight. Imagine the look on his face when he came to that realization.

Priceless!

[Tacos mmm...]

Assuming, of course, that "thug" is just another word for "teenager."

[Angle Iron]

Deny it all you'd like. The kid glamorized thug life.

[Lord Humungus]

HURT: Brutal week for Obama, the worst of his presidency
http://www.washingtontimes.com.....ama-style/

The past seven brutal days will go down as one of the worst weeks in history for a sitting president. It certainly has been, without any doubt, the worst week yet for President Obama.

Somehow, Mr. Obama managed to embarrass himself abroad, humiliate himself here at home, see his credentials for being elected so severely undermined that it raises startling questions about whether he should have been elected in the first place ? let alone be re-elected later this year.

[shrike]

The Moonie wingnuts at the Washington Times are infallible, right? The same week a USA Today/CNN poll out Obama up 53-42 over Romney and ABC/WaPo rated Obama 53-35 over Romney in favoribility?

[Charlotte Corday]

So the moonbats at CNN are infallible right?

[shrike]

As shitty as CNN is they are a beacon of veritas compared to the nutfucks at WT, World Nut Daily, Brietbart, Beck, and the assorted other hacks and birthers on the right.

Luckily, Murdoch hasn't ruined the WSJ yet. He will though.

[Charlotte Corday]

I don't even know what half of those words mean.

[Ice Nine]

Just wait till you hear from Orrin!

[o3]

habla science?

[Charlotte Corday]

Nutfucker is a scientific term?

[T]

We prefer to say nutlover in front of the children.

[Sam]

Losing half of their viewers must be a fluke then

[shrike]

also, christfag

[Suthenboy]

Keep telling yourself that shriek. Remember, carter was leading 68% in the polls right up until people started to vote.

[shrike]

Those were in the days of conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans. People had little party loyalty then.

This is more like 1964 and the John Birch Society takeover of the GOP.

[Charlotte Corday]

People have great party loyalty. That is why Congress has changed hands in two out of the last three elections.

Keep whistling past that graveyard Shrike.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Those were in the days of conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans. People had little party loyalty then.

Oh, bullshit. Party loyalty has been a key feature of American politics for decades--up until about 1988, a Republican candidate had little hope for election unless he could make inroads in both the South and blue-collar North. Carter got his ass beat because Reagan projected a stronger image as a leader, not because the Democrats were populated by a larger number of your hated christfags at the time.

[shrike]

The Fundies voted for Carter over Ford in 1976 and became hard-core Republicans with Reagan. That was a seismic shift in party identity.

Reagan/Falwell rewrote the electoral map using religion/race very successfully.

[Charlotte Corday]

Congress didn't change hands from 1954 until 1994. Since that times it has changed hands three times.

Party loyalty means less now than before. You really are criminally stupid sometimes.

[Ken Shultz]

It was the South. They made inroads in the South.

I wish the GOP would kick the South out again.

That's why people don't understand George W. Bush properly--he was a Southern Democrat just like Lyndon Johnson. Expand the welfare state, foreign wars of liberation...

If Reagan hadn't brought the South into the GOP, then George W. Bush philosophically would have been a Southern Democrat on just about every damn issue.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I wish the GOP would kick the South out again.

Careful what you wish for:

http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_nhblack.html

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The Fundies voted for Carter over Ford in 1976 and became hard-core Republicans with Reagan. That was a seismic shift in party identity.

Are you daft? Ford nearly overtook Carter in 1976--it didn't have anything to do with Jimmy's religous beliefs.

Reagan/Falwell rewrote the electoral map using religion/race very successfully.

Really? Where does Reagan go out of his way to focus on race as a divisive issue?

[shrike]

RR announced his candidacy in a Mississippi small town famous for a Klan killing of civil rights supporters.

That won him the South in 1980.

[Ken Shultz]

Are we supposed to think the culture war had nothing to do with it?

Reagan was an anti-hippie icon.

Hippies rallied from thousands of miles around, just to come flip him off when he was the Governor of California. That helped him a lot.

The South will vote for anything hippies flip off. Reagan being a rabid anti-communist didn't hurt him in the least, either.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Are we supposed to think the culture war had nothing to do with it?...The South will vote for anything hippies flip off.

Proctor: All right, here's your last question. What was the cause of
the Civil War?

Apu: Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious
schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists, there were economic factors, both domestic and inter--

Proctor: Wait, wait... just say slavery.

Apu: Slavery it is, sir.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

RR announced his candidacy in a Mississippi small town famous for a Klan killing of civil rights supporters.

That won him the South in 1980.

That's a pretty bold claim--can you prove that the location is what won him the South in 1980, or are you just pulling that out of your ass?

[not muslim o3]

no no no shrike.
what's-his-dead-conservative-face ran off the birchers.
but they never ran-off the evangelicals like falwell who luvs em sum big govt under ur sheets

[shrike]

Buckley? There is no Buckley today though.

And he was a great conservative although he hated and feared Ayn Rand.

[Charlotte Corday]

Buckley was a Christfag, Rand was an atheist, doofus.

[Lord Humungus]

Street fires, violence in Spain protest
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/.....to-2754039

Protesters smashed bank and storefront windows with hammers and rocks and set fire to a cafe Thursday as economic protests in Spain's second-largest city turned violent.

The riots in Barcelona broke out during a nationwide general strike that closed factories, slowed transportation systems and crippled hospitals. Tens of thousands of people marched in Madrid and other cities protesting an economic plan of spending cuts and tax hikes.

[Citizen Nothing]

And Paul Krugman dances with glee!

[P Brooks]

please make sure you're not showing too much cleavage

Is this another story about yoga pants?

[Zeb]

Whoever invented yoga pants should win the Nobel Prize.

[WTF]

I just had to Google 'yoga pants' to see what you were talking about, and, I really must agree with Zeb.

[Lord Humungus]

"you just had to" eh?

[Bee Tagger]

Obama has done more to expand executive power than George Bush could ever imagine, reports the Wall Street Journal.

I always thought Bush was only limited by his incredibly poor imagination.

[Charlotte Corday]

And a tiny bit of shame. Obama doesn't have that problem.

[Fist of Etiquette]

GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

[Suki]

Dittoes!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Obama has done more to expand executive power than George Bush could ever imagine, reports the Wall Street Journal.

So now we're reduced to blaming Bush for his limited imagination?

[Charlotte Corday]

If George Bush hadn't been so stupid, he would have fully expanded executive power so Obama didn't have to.

Yes, it is Bush's fault.

[Bush's rovian brain stem]

pretty much turdblossum

[Bee Tagger]

How's it feel to be the Carlos Mencia of Morning Links on March 30th, 2012?

[invisible furry hand]

Damn, even deliberate gaucheness does nothing to Jon Hamm's hotness. *Sigh*

[Lord Humungus]

Rubio on the Race
He backs Romney, but seeks to quell veep rumors.
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....m-geraghty

[sarcasmic]

Trooper of the year!

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

[Charlotte Corday]

Lisa Steed admitted in court this week that she had removed her microphone during a 2010 DUI stop so her superior wouldn't know what she was doing.

This is not the first time Steed's actions on DUI stops have got her into trouble.

In 2009, a shocking police car dashcam recording caught her tasering a terrified man after he refused to get out of his car asking to call his lawyer. The man was later found to have been sober.

[sarcasmic]

And my favorite part about the tasing:

The case was settled in November 2011 when the state paid Jones $40,000 without admitting wrongdoing.

Of the case, Skordas said, she was reprimanded and had moved on.

The taxpayers pay the victim forty grand, and the cop gets off with a verbal warning.

[Charlotte Corday]

How long would you have a job if you cost your company 40K?

[sarcasmic]

If I was a public servant, until it's time to collect my pension.

Otherwise, about five minutes.

[Wall St Execs]

40k is for the lil people who pay taxes

[Britt]

I love how she's in court being accused of a violent crime, and she's got her fucking gun belt and uniform on.

I just paid a fucking traffic ticket and I had to turn in my tiny little pocketknife at the metal detector.

I swear, if there was some kind of virus that only killed public sector workers, I'd be sorely tempted to release it right now.

[WTF]

Odd how we always find out about these things in UK papers.

[P Brooks]

many students are still using books that are seven to ten years out of date

If we went all the way back to the McGuffey Reader, we'd probably see significant improvements.

[Rich]

Good idea. Except it'll never fly: The readers ... presented the White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant as the model American.

[sarcasmic]

White guy kills black kid, OH MY FUCKING GOD!

Black kid kills two white guys, meh.

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

[Bee Tagger]

Reason #576 why presidents shouldn't weigh in on such issues.

[Obama]

If I had a son he would look like Shawn Tyson.

[Obama's Son]

Fuck off, old man.

[Shawn Tyson]

Fuck off, Mr President.

[Shawn Tyson]

And you don't look like my father. He Black.

[Block Yomomma]

Read my book; the limey scum deserve what they get for oppressing my grandfather. Keep killing more of them, my little brothers!

[o3-Know Nothings Please Ignore]

Scientists have used GPS to search for variations in a constant that is at the heart of quantum physics.

To test whether Planck's constant is really constant, Makan Mohageg and graduate student James Kentosh of California State University in Northridge turned to the same GPS systems that help drivers find their way home.

Kentosh and Mohageg fixed on h, and specifically on whether h depends on where (not when) you measure it. If h changes from place to place, so do the frequencies, and thus the "ticking rate", of atomic clocks. And any dependence of h on location would translate as a tiny timing discrepancy between different GPS clocks.
http://www.bbc.com/future/stor.....s-change/2

[Charlotte Corday]

Real science rather than global warming nonsense. Good job Orin.

[o3]

bottom line - nothing appears constant.
so we're arrived at chaos theory after all. everything devolves back to noise even random organization...plus 10,000 monkeys

[Charlotte Corday]

And nothing exists at the quantum level until we look at it. Yet, the world exists even when we are not there.

[R C Dean]

the world exists even when we are not there.

But, how do you know if anything exists when you aren't observing it?

[Charlotte Corday]

I don't. Of course it always is there when I look. That is at least some evidence, although not conclusive, that it is there when I don't. If nothing else, it is extremely odd.

[Socialistic Individual Sparky]

If you want to get even deeper than that, how do you know if anything exists when you are observing it?

[metaphysical o3]

how do you know everything wasnt created just an instant ago complete w memory?

[o3]

and timestamps

[Zeb]

Solipsism is always a possibility.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Monsieur Descartes?

[Zeb]

Well, it's consistent. Also useless, but consistent.

[Descartes]

I drink therefore I am.

[invisible furry hand]

well you are a drunken fart

[Zeb]

That's not what chaos theory is.

[Trespassers W]

Dude, don't bother. Orrin will discuss everything, yet comprehends nothing. I've never seen anything quite like it, at least not on a regular basis.

[Brett L]

Uh, no. Their measurements were within the margin of error. As best they can tell h IS a constant.

[Zeb]

Amazing what reading the article can do for you.

[o3]

a whole lotta faith in that margin yo

[Lord Humungus]

Good news for the Baldilocks:

Clue to male baldness discovered
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17457098

In studies of bald men and laboratory mice, US scientists pinpointed a protein that triggers hair loss.

Drugs that target the pathway are already in development, they report in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The research could lead to a cream to treat baldness.

[Ping]

They say you grow hair. Look like Stalin.

[Loki]

Good to see those research dollars being put to use searching for cures for things that actually matter. You know, AIDS, cancer... uhh, nevermind.

[Richard Gere]

"In studies of bald men and laboratory mice"

That sounds interesting. Tell me more

[Fist of Etiquette]

If you have one friend in Canada, put the name of every person in Canada in a hat and pick one, you are five times as likely to pick your friend's name as you are to win the jackpot with a single ticket.

Oh, no. I'm not sharing my millions with that hoser.

[sarcasmic]

I did the math and figure that without buying a ticket my odds of winning are not significantly different than those of someone who did buy a ticket.

So I didn't buy a ticket and I hope I win!

[Suthenboy]

In spite of it being an astronomical long-shot at winning, someone always does, and without fail it is someone who bought a ticket.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

If someone always won the jackpot wouldn't be this high.

[P Brooks]

"You realize your chances of winning are the same as being mauled by a polar bear and a regular bear in the same day, right?"

[Charlotte Corday]

So you are saying I have a chance?

[Auric Demonocles]

So you're saying I should buy a ticket, then go to the zoo and piss off some bears?

[Goodfella o3]

lions not bears
forgetaboutit

[LIz Makers]

You have got to be kidding man, who comes up with all that stuff.

http://www.Anon-Nets.tk

[P Brooks]

Only if you're wearing your bacon dress, Charlotte.

[Just Dropping By]

Obama has done more to expand executive power than George Bush could ever imagine, reports the Wall Street Journal.

And I trust that if Romney wins the WSJ will relentlessly crusade for him to relenquish those powers.

[Charlotte Corday]

You are funnier than Chip Bock.

[Gus]

So is child rape.

[Charlotte Corday]

http://www.epmonthly.com/white.....shortages/

Get ready for drug shortages.

[sarcasmic]

Gotta love how the shortages are caused by government regulators shutting facilities down that make multiple products because the regulator has a problem with one of the products.
Then the evil capitalist profit seeking drug company is blamed for the shortage.

[me myself and i]

RoboBonobo: A Project To Outfit Apes With Tablets and Telepresence Bots

[me myself and i]

Dear server squirrels - links to slashdot articles aren't spam.

[Spoonman.]

I am a registered nurse and always get told that I speak English so well. I was born in Australia and I am of Filipino background. I don't think about my appearance until a patient or their family member points it out and they are quite amazed/baffled that someone who appears Asian "speaks so well" and could be considered a "real Australian." The number of people I want to slap is unbelievable.

Being a dick isn't aggression. Slapping somebody is.

[T]

So I guess the Aussies whitewashed (hah!) their 'White Australia' policy out of the schoolbooks?

[MNG]

In Thursday's issue of the journal Science, two teams of researchers published studies suggesting that low levels of a common pesticide can have significant effects on bee colonies. One experiment, conducted by French researchers, indicates that the chemicals fog honeybee brains, making it harder for them to find their way home. The other study, by scientists in Britain, suggests that they keep bumblebees from supplying their hives with enough food to produce new queens.

The authors of both studies contend that their results raise serious questions about the use of the pesticides, known as neonicotinoids.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03.....-find.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

neonicotinoids - fourth-hand smoke?

[o3]

they're quite obviously searching for grants...plus emails yo

[Zeb]

Interesting. I wonder if that has something to do with the colony collapse problems with bees.

[o3]

i read there's a tiny knat involved in colony collapse

[WTF]

the chemicals fog honeybee brains, making it harder for them to find their way home. The other study, by scientists in Britain, suggests that they keep bumblebees from supplying their hives with enough food

So, basically the bees are going through life shit-faced.

[MNG]

President Obama, many Democrats and editorial page writers have been working to convince the nation that it is wracked by inequality, a disappearing middle class and a lack of opportunity. The charge of growing inequality is partly correct, mostly because those at the top of the income distribution have pulled away from the rest of us. But the other charges are wrong or misleading.

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

[shrike]

State controlled PetroChina now larger oil producer than state-supported ExxonMobil.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/af.....-producer/

[Charlotte Corday]

Large does not equal better. The largest wheat farms in the world were once in the Soviet Union. The largest banks in the world in the 1980s were in Japan. Neither instance turned out well.

[invisible furry hand]

The largest breasts in the world were on Lolo Ferrari, and that too did not turn out well

[shrike]

Better dead than Red

[Graphite]

There have been more than a few Foxconn workers who agreed with this sentiment.

[obama]

what?

[Lolbertarian]

Man Saws Off Foot To Keep Jobless Benefits

[Suthenboy]

"A job center spokesman told the Austrian Times that lacking a leg doesn't necessarily get you a free pass from work. "He will be assessed once he is out of hospital," Hermann Gossinger said, "and we will see what work we can find for him."

I am guessing that his work ethic disqualifies him from a job more than the missing foot.

[R C Dean]

I think he would be an ideal candidate to process jobless benefit applications.

He will be lazy, so he won't process many. And he will be bitter, because he lost his, so he will deny plenty.

[Brett L]

Remind me never to piss you off.

[o3]

id kick him off teh bennies due to safety violations