A.M. Links: Karzai Thanks U.S. Taxpayers, 2,000+ Wrongful Convictions Since 1989, Bilderberg to Choose Rubio for Romney

• U.S. taxpayers got a shout out from Hamid Karzai at the NATO summit in Chicago. "I'm bringing to you and to the people of the United States the gratitude of the Afghan people for the support that your taxpayers' money has provided Afghanistan over the past decade and for the difference that it has made to the well-being of the Afghan people," the Afghan president said.

• A new registry shows at least 2,000 people have  been wrongly convicted in the U.S. since 1989. "Nobody had an inkling of the serious problem of false confessions until we had this data," said Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University.
• The former Rutgers University student charged with bias intimidation and other crimes related to an incident leading to the suicide of his gay roommate faces sentencing today as gay rights advocates from Jim McGreevey to Dan Savage are calling for him to be spared jail time.
• Conspiracy theorists say the Bilderberg conference will choose Marco Rubio as Mitt Romney's 2012 nominee. Like Bilderberg picked Hillary in 2008!
• The latest allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the almost-President of France and former IMF chief, include gang rape.
• The Oregon state board of education banned the use of American Indian mascots, because they might be offensive.

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Comments

[sarcasmic]

Who does Mark Zuckerberg think he is? John Lennon?

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

[Hell's Librarian]

Hmm. Well, she neither looks nor sounds (based on the brief bio here) as insufferable as Yoko Ono.

[BakedPenguin]

"I want a plum served in a man's hat, floating in perfume."

[sloopyinca]

We would have also accepted "Woody Allen" or "Jim from HR", Alex.

[invisible furry hand]

What, no love for Rupert Murdoch?

[Groovus Maximus]

Asian lasses are not just for media moguls...

Also, some yummy man meat for the ladies served well done.

SFW (And the ladies are thinking...dammit!)

[rac3rx]

*barf*

[Heroic Mulatto]

What am I, pad thai?

[sarcasmic]

Visit Slab City, the freest anti-government place in America (where everyone depends on Social Security).

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

[General Butt Naked]

Vice TV went there not too long ago.

Interesting place.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Cognitive dissonance reigns supreme again

[sarcasmic]

"Get your government hands off my Medicare!"

[Kreel Sarloo]

In Britain all welfare is called Social Security.

Although, I'm sure that many of these people are collecting SS disability, they are likely collecting money from any number of other government programs.

[Rich]

A little empathy lifted from the comments:

These people are drunk not only on cheap beer but the wilderness. Something the rest of us sometimes forget, because we work hard and follow the trends too much.

[Brandon]

You misspelled "idiocy."

[Brandon]

They had time to include this in a fucking movie 5 years ago that was based on a book written 16 years ago, but the Daily Mail is reporting it as a revelation. What a scoop!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Oregon state board of education banned the use of American Indian mascots, because they might be offensive.

They had reservations about the mascot choices.

[Bardas Phocas]

Can a Tribal college or high school on the reservation have a "American Indian" mascot? What exactly is the defiinition of an indian mascot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....iversities

[invisible furry hand]

What exactly is the defiinition of an indian mascot?

Dunno precisely, but it definitely involves this

[Pope Jimbo]

When MN started its ban on native american mascots, it allowed some of the schools on the reservations to keep their nick names.

The Mahnomen Indians were the team we occasionally matched up with at various levels of sports. They were on the White Earth reservation.

[Rich]

What are the "Spartans", chopped liver?

[Entropy Void]

I see what you did there, Tonto.

[sarcasmic]

Miley Cyrus tries, and fails.

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

Olivia Wilde doesn't have to try.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/uss.....-date.html

[Rich]

MC's got a Hillary Clinton look going.

[Restoras]

The Bieb looks like a dyke.

[Hell's Librarian]

LOL. I have a friend who refers to him as the "World's Cutest Lesbian."

[Pip]

The littlest dyke.

[Hell's Librarian]

Miley Cyrus is NINETEEN. Why is she trying to look like she's in her thirties. FFS. Another one who needs a good friend to tell her "Oh honey. No... just no."

[invisible furry hand]

It might be nineteen human years since she was born, but it's a lot longer in celebrity years

[Restoras]

So, are celebrity years similar to dog years?

[invisible furry hand]

yes, but it's 2.5:1. So Miley is a raddled aging slapper

[Hell's Librarian]

You know, American English needs a word like "slapper." I love that. We don't have really anything (that I can think of offhand) that really covers that connotation of vulgarity and dissipation.

[Isaac Bartram]

This is the reason most Americans can't talk stryne right. It isn't just that they can't get the accent, it's the vernacular as well.

I've simply forgotten most Australian slang and some of what I remember has gone out of style.

[JW]

So, are celebrity years similar to dog years?

The correct term is "Lohan years."

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'd say she succeeded in looking like she's in her 30's!

[Hell's Librarian]

It's such a shame. She's this fresh-faced young thing, and she makes herself look 15 years older than she really is.

[Groovus Maximus]

The sad thing is, Demonica Archiva, when she is 30, she will be trying to look like she is 15. Pan...flash...etc.

[?Ex Nihilo?]

The former Rutgers University charged with...

I think something is missing here. Long weekend?

[invisible furry hand]

The former Rutgers University, now downgraded to Montclair State, charged with...

FIFY

[sarcasmic]

Is disco finally dead?

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

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

As long as KC lives, disco will never die

[invisible furry hand]

As long as a white man has an overbite and a desire to boogie, it will never die

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I figure disco will die about the same time that Travolta's lounge lizard suit from Saturday Night Fever decays away. Probably a few millenia from now.

[sarcasmic]

damn

[gaijin]

So much for Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive.

[Hell's Librarian]

I was trying really, really hard not to go there. Thanks for throwing yourself on that grenade.

[gaijin]

yeah, I have a headache, so my willpower isn't what it normally is 😉

[mr simple]

Ha ha! Before you get started ,I just want to warn you - I'm not Bill O'Reilly!! You start and SMART TALK with ME, and I will END IT!! I didn't go to your hasty pudding, "Let's all dress up like girls" school! I grew up on the streets of SYDNEY!! And no matter where I am in the studio-o-o-o.. I'm never more than fi-i-ve seconds away from a gu-u-unn

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Nobody had an inkling of the serious problem of false confessions until we had this data," said Rob Warden...

And nobody is going to give a shit about it now. Prosecutors have resumes to pad and LEO are, well, LEO.

[Tim]

Justice for you plebes.

[invisible furry hand]

insert wood joke here

Barking mad for a tree: Canadian mother who is in love with an Oak flies 7,000 miles every year so she can be with it

[General Butt Naked]

I can't believe she leaves her family and friend to be with a tree. She should just put some roots down and decide where she wants to live. Spending all that green on plane tickets has got to hurt the pocketbook. Maybe she should branch out and try to find a love closer to home.

[JW]

It's quite awful how she just splits like that, but her bark is worse than her bite.

[Groovus Maximus]

She's turning over a new leaf and planting a seed for a new offshoot in her personal growth.

[JW]

I'm sure she's squirreled some cash away for these trips. She's already packed her trunk and I have no doubt that she'll stick to the romance. Just axe her.

[SugarFree]

Damn Daily fail. The condition has a name, you know: Dendrophilia.

[invisible furry hand]

From the Greek: dendros, from the word for tree, and philia, from the verb to fill

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Wasn't that the premise of an Evil Dead movie?

[SugarFree]

I think that was actually about a tree having Gynophilia.

[JW]

insert wood joke here

Q: Do you know what kind of wood doesn't float?
A: Natalie

[Tim]

The Afghans are going to miss all the greft once we leave/quit/get thrown out.

[Fist of Etiquette]

U.S. taxpayers got a shout out from Hamid Karzai at the NATO summit in Chicago.

Karzai for President 2012! It would be nice to have a U.S. leader who knew whose money it is they're handing out.

[Drake]

I'm sure his Swiss and Qatar bankers would like to thank you too.

[db]

I'd be happy to discuss with Karzai terms for the repayment of my portion of that tax money. Perhaps our elected officials could come to some sort of agreement for repayment in bulk and do a tax credit for prior years' taxes paid to Afghanistan.

[mr simple]

He said thanks. Isn't that repayment enough? What more do you want from the man?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The move is believed to be one of the nation's most sweeping prohibitions of its kind in favor of native Americans who say their culture is stereotyped by a number of sports teams.

The teams are coming onto the field drunk and lazy?

[Restoras]

No, just weighed down by lots of casino bling.

[SugarFree]

Your "No, duh" of the day: Organic food purchasers more likely to be awful people.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Moralistic and judgmental food choices attract moralistic and judgmental people. Who would have thunk it?

Next up - New Study Suggests Overweight People Like Eating

[Mo' $parky]

I wish I had written down the name of the commenter that originally posted this but I forgot it. Anyway, I learned this on HandR:

It has been clear to me for decades that there is something easily ten times as unhealthy as tobacco, sugar, fat, or salt; Sanctimony.

[Warty]

It's obvious that filthy hippies are scum, but that fake little study they did makes my science gland hurt.

[SugarFree]

Science, Schmience. By biases were confirmed, so it's all good.

[mr simple]

Correlation, causation, whatever. The point is people are doing something that makes me uncomfortable, so we need a science-ey study to justify the laws we are going to pass to get them to stop.

[Marshall Gill]

There is a LIIIIINNNKKKK! Causation, schmausation. Literally millions have died since NutraSweet started posting here!!

[Warty]

On that, the science is settled.

[sarcasmic]

Does organic food turn people into jerks?

Obesity turns people into over-eaters, fitness causes people to exercise, and police work makes people violent.

[BakedPenguin]

This was good:

"At my local grocery, I sometimes catch organic eyes gazing into my grocery cart and scowling," says Sue Frause, a 61-year-old freelance writer/photographer from Whidbey Island. "So I'll often toss in really bad foods just to get them even more riled up."

[Bee Tagger]

catch organic eyes gazing into my grocery cart

That's crying out for a Hall Oates' Private Eyes parody

[gaijin]

or Loggins and Messina...Angry eyes.

[kinnath]

one of my favorites

[Restoras]

This is the kind of thing I do. I also enjoy slowing down when being tailgated and watching the ensuing hand gestures in my mirrors.

[sarcasmic]

I also enjoy slowing down when being tailgated and watching the ensuing hand gestures in my mirrors.

I've had someone gesture at me with a pistol for doing that.

[Restoras]

Bet it was a cop.

[sarcasmic]

He was a meathead with sunglasses, so probably.

[Rich]

I'll often toss in really bad foods just to get them even more riled up.

You mean, toss into *their* cart, right?

[Hell's Librarian]

She was ORGANIC GAZED. And probably felt Othered by their harsh demeanor and judgmental attitude.

[SugarFree]

"knocking me out with those non-GMO eyes"

[Groovus Maximus]

Such an awful subject deserves worse music...

[Brett L]

I like this person already.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"ORGANIC GAZE!!!"

[Bee Tagger]

"There's a line of research showing that when people can pat themselves on the back for their moral behavior, they can become self-righteous,"

Research also shows that when I haven't eaten in 10 hours I can become hungry and when drink 3 shots in 5 minutes I can become drunk?

[Marshall Gill]

Only 3 shots? What do you weigh 50 pounds?

[Mo' $parky]

"We found that the organic people judged much harder compared to the control or comfort food groups," says Eskine. "On a scale of 1 to 7, the organic people were like 5.5 while the controls were about a 5 and the comfort food people were like a 4.89."

WTF! And this asshole is an assistant professor. I yell at my kids when they can't talk without saying "like like like like like like like".

[sarcasmic]

"and stuff like that, you know?"

[Brandon]

No, no, no. They all vote for Obama, see, so they support *fairness* and *equality,* so they're exempt from doing anything kind or useful to other people in their personal lives. You just don't understand. Also, racist.

[Rich]

[DSK] is under investigation for "aggravated pimping"

The Reverend Al Sharpton had better mind his P's Q's.

[invisible furry hand]

He's giving pimps a bad name with his depressingly drab dress sense.

[JW]

Oh, he's got that covered.

[WWNGD?]

"U.S. taxpayers got a shout out"

At least someone appreciates us.

[Mo' $parky]

It's not stealing when the government does it.

In the lawsuit titled "United States of America v. 434 Main Street, Tewksbury, Massachusetts," the government is suing an inanimate object: the motel that Caswell's father built in 1955. The U.S. Department of Justice intends to seize it, sell it for perhaps $1.5 million and give up to 80 percent of that to the Tewksbury Police Department, whose budget is just $5.5 million.

[John]

It is even worse than that Mo. IN light of this and other cases, what kind of a nut would run a low price hotel? So they will all close. Good thing poor people don't ever have to stay in hotels or anything.

[Restoras]

Not only that but where will all the bored suburban hubands and housewives meet to bang each other?

[John]

That is what spare bedrooms were made for.

[BakedPenguin]

The Godfathers explain the FYTW principle in PG-13 language.

[Bee Tagger]

"I'm bringing to you and to the people of the United States the gratitude of the Afghan people for the support that your taxpayers' money has provided Afghanistan over the past decade and for the difference that it has made to the well-being of the Afghan people," the Afghan president said.

Recent study shows the rich overwhelmingly support nations with a history of supporting terrorism.

[John]

Have a Balko kick in the nuts for old times' sake.

When the Brown County, Wis., Drug Task Force arrested her son Joel last February, Beverly Greer started piecing together his bail.

She used part of her disability payment and her tax return. Joel Greer's wife also chipped in, as did his brother and two sisters. On Feb. 29, a judge set Greer's bail at $7,500, and his mother called the Brown County jail to see where and how she could get him out. "The police specifically told us to bring cash," Greer says. "Not a cashier's check or a credit card. They said cash."

So Greer and her family visited a series of ATMs, and on March 1, she brought the money to the jail, thinking she'd be taking Joel Greer home. But she left without her money, or her son.

Instead jail officials called in the same Drug Task Force that arrested Greer. A drug-sniffing dog inspected the Greers' cash, and about a half-hour later, Beverly Greer said, a police officer told her the dog had alerted to the presence of narcotics on the bills -- and that the police department would be confiscating the bail money.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....22328.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I'll remember this next time the POA calls for a donation to their "Take A Kid to Walmart" fundraising drive.

[invisible furry hand]

consider my ladyballs bruised, tender, and out of action for the foreseeable future

[sarcasmic]

"I had a case last year in Fond du Lac County where they tried to say my client could only pay in cash. My guess is that they probably intended to do the same thing that happened here. We brought a cashier's check anyway, and they knew they had to accept it."

And even then only because a lawyer was present.
Had the lawyer not been there, the cops likely would have insisted the checks be converted to cash so they could steal it.

[DJF]

"""The police specifically told us to bring cash,""'

Isn't that what the drug dealers also demand? Sounds like they are copying each others procedures, except that the drug dealers don't steal as often.

[Brandon]

I've never had a bad or involuntary interaction with a drug dealer. On the other hand, I've had a cop pull me over for having suspicious out of state plates and then confiscate my driver's license, give me a ticket for driving without a license, and impound my car. I'd much rather interact with drug dealers.

[Rich]

Yet another reason to spray your money with essence of female dog.

[db]

That is just so fucking evil.

[mr simple]

Poteat says he's aware of some studies from the 1980s about traces of narcotics on most U.S. currency, but that he didn't know about the more recent research. "Our dogs are trained with currency that's taken out of circulation. So they wouldn't alert to bills that have the same traces most other bills have."

Wow, they really train their liars to be professional grade.

[John]

http://bostonherald.com/news/u.....1061133073

Massachusetts Dems circle the wagons around Warren. Plan to go on warpath and stand by Warren as long as the rivers flow and the grass grows.

[Mo' $parky]

They have no other choice at this point. Also, they actually believe the garbage they're pushing, and so do most of the residents of MA.

[John]

Sure they believe it. But they generally can come up with a candidate who can at least lie without embarrassing themselves.

Scott Brown is going to spend 8 years in the Senate because of Democratic incompetance and arrogance. Hard to imagine two worse candidates than Warren and Coakley. But the Mass Dems honestly don't seem to understand that you have to at least come up with a passable candidate even in Mass.

[Restoras]

It seems that MA Dems really do believe they have a right to the Kennedy seat.

[Mo' $parky]

This.

[db]

To be fair, the Kennedys have a long established tradition of occupying Massachussetts residents' "seats."

[Cytotoxic]

Oh John. I think you may be overestimating the MA electorate.

[Brandon]

"...stand by Warren as long as the rivers flow and the grass grows."

Wait, are they indians or country singers?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Among them is Aaron Hicklin, editor of Out magazine, who said in an article that Ravi was being made a scapegoat for Clementi's suicide.

Another, E.J. Graff, who writes about gay and lesbian issues, said in her column in The American Prospect, "I fear that Ravi is an easy scapegoat for a complicated problem."

They began to realize to keep Ravi as the sole scapegoat means the momentum of their cause could slip. Focus might shift to other societal ills once the single perpetrator of this problem is identified and punished. (NBC's The Office already felt safe enough to make light of the It Gets Better campaign.)

[John]

Damn nice of them to realize their mistake after their lynch mob ruined Ravi's life. Now that lynching him is no longer of political use, they decide that perhaps he isn't quite so guilty. He can be rehabilitated now and brought back from the camps.

[Zeb]

Was it "their" lynch mob? Did any of the people calling for him not to get prison time now attack him before?

[John]

Damn straight they did. Or at the very least never said shit when this charade started. The media was all over railroading this kid. I don't recall anyone from the gay rights establishment saying boo.

[Zeb]

I honestly don't know. I just have an automatic skeptical reaction when someone starts saying that "they" did such-and-such. Maybe they should have spoken out sooner, but that by itself does not necessarily imply complicity in the railroading.

[John]

Sure it does. You don't think major figures in the gay rights movement standing up and saying this was wrong wouldn't have made a difference? It sure as hell would have. The bottom line is these assholes wouldn't give a shit if they had shot Ravi provided doing so didn't hurt their political cause.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's a good question. Anyone calling for him to be prosecuted in the first place was, in my opinion, calling for him to be imprisoned, because that was the probable consequence of conviction.

[John]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejm.....a-campaign

Big donors to Obama dry up. Rats, sinking ship?

[Brandon]

Wait for it. MSNBC will tell you that this means Romney is the big evil corporate candidate and Obama is the candidate of the little guy. He got him some of that re-form.

[John]

http://americanpowerblog.blogs.....n-and.html

Interesting post on how hard leftists about ruined the life of the blogger Pattricio. In light of our current stalker it gives one pause.

The left really is just evil.

[Restoras]

I think they have the same self-rightousness than all idealogues have. Throw in a good dose of general human tendencies and voila, instant douchebag.

[John]

True. But are there any cases of anyone from even the farthest and most crazy sections of the Right doing something like this? If there are, I can't think of any.

[Mo' $parky]

Progressives are more violent because they can't understand why you won't let them help you live your life right.

[Cytotoxic]

Breivik?

[Cytotoxic]

However, Breivik did not receive funding from Tides and Ms Kerry.

That was a disturbing story. I was totally unaware before. Thank you John.

[Marshall Gill]

I think they have the same self-rightousness than all idealogues have. Throw in a good dose of general human tendencies and voila, instant douchebag.

A good point that ALL of us would do well to remember.

[Apostate Jew]

Stop being reasonable, Mr. Gill. It's attitudes like yours that will ruin the decline and fall of this blog.

And drink.

[perlhaqr]

Aaron Worthing != Patterico

[John]

http://freebeacon.com/cory-boo.....usinesses/

Big city east coast mayor seems to have a basic grasp of capitalism. How did this guy get elected?

Newark Mayor Cory Booker credited Bain Capital with growing businesses and said attacks on private equity must stop, during "Meet the Press" Sunday.

As far as that stuff, I have to say from a very personal level, I'm not about to sit here and indict private equity. It's?to me, we're just getting to a ridiculous point in America. Especially, I know, I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record, they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses; this to me, I'm very uncomfortable.

[BakedPenguin]

He backed off those statements tepidly (almost surely after receiving a phone call from Obama 12 or the D machine).

[edcoast]

"Nice little political career you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it."

[Ken Shultz]

Strauss-Kahn has been formally warned by French authorities that he is under investigation for "aggravated pimping" in connection with the prostitution investigation and has been released on 100,000-euro bail. He has pushed back against the accusations, saying he did not know young women at parties he attended were being paid for sex.

I think it's important to remember that just because Strauss-Kahn is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law? Doesn't mean, in the meantime, we can't call him a jackass a-hole, deluxe.

[John]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhasti.....aganda-ban

Congress now has a bi partisan movement to end the prohibition against government propeganda efforts directed at the US public. What? MSNBC and the New York Times are not effective enough?

More proof that more "bi partisan" something is, the worse and more stupid it is.

[Ken Shultz]

Hasn't this law been flaunted for eons?

If the food pyramid isn't propaganda, then what the hell is propaganda?

[John]

In some ways. But the big thing is DOD, DOS and the CIA don't engage in it now. With this law they will. Good luck with that.

[Rasilio]

Says you.

Transformers
Battle Los Angeles
Battleship
Stargate SG1
Top Gun
Iron Eagle
... and so on

All made with explicit help of the US military for the overt goal of casting US military forces in the best light as the Heroes.

Sure the government didn't come up with the ideas for the movies/shows, but they definately were more than happy to help "guide the message"

[John]

Oh please. Like the military got those movies made. They would have been made anyway. And for every one of those, I can name ten anti war anti American, all vets are crazed lunatic movies that get made.

[Zeb]

But the fact is that the military contributed materially to the production of the other movies. It is not at all relevant what other kinds of movies other people make in Hollywood. "Those people don't like us" does not justify the production of propaganda.

[John]

But their contributions to movies that would have been made any way hardly makes it "propaganda". And it is not the kind of thing that Smith Mundt was designed to stop. At most those movies are recruiting ads. That is different than outright government propaganda.

And by claiming that it is, you guys are cheapening how awful ending this prohibition really is.

[Zeb]

I'd agree that the movies themselves probably don't count as straight propaganda pieces. But the contributions made by the military to their production is part of a campaign to increase good feelings about the military.

[Cytotoxic]

If the military contributed to Top Gun, there should be charges laid.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Pentagon refused to cooperate with the producers of my beloved JAG at first because it portrayed individual service members as possible criminals. They went a full season without that cooperation until the Military changed its tune for some reason.

[Brandon]

Name them.

[Kaptious Kristen]

We follow it where I work. It's a topic of conversation at most of our meetings when we're thinking about new product lines.

[John]

It is a Golden Rule in Homeland security. No PSYOPS on the American public. And trust me Kristen, give these people a rope and they will think they are cowboys you watch.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I like Smith Mundt. All the inbred and ingrained bureaucrats around here hate it, of course. I just smile at their frustration at not being able to directly tell the American public about how holy the Obamessiah is (although anyone can find our materials - everything is public, it's just not marketed to Americans).

[John]

I like it too. It is one of the last things that separates us from being a full fledged banana republic. The government should not be running propaganda ops on the American people.

[Kaptious Kristen]

The law says you can't propagandized how great wonderful the U.S. and its government are to American citizens. Apples oranges with the food pyramid, which is a different kind of propaganda and not covered by Smith Mundt.

(flout, not flaunt = to treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt; scoff at; mock: to flout the rules of propriety.)

[Rasilio]

All I can say is that if they do repeal this law they better get Paul Veerhoven to make the propaganda, after Robocop and Starship Troopers he has shown himself to be a master of the craft.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Hhmmm...inneresting. That would direct affect my work.

[Zeb]

That's pretty awful. The government gets to do too much self-promotion as it is.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Thornberry warned that in the Internet age, the current law "ties the hands of America's diplomatic officials, military, and others by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible way."

Seems relevant

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Jesus, sorry for the huge image

[SugarFree]

It's to be expected. We've seen before how big your hands are.

[Kaptious Kristen]

You people are thinking of Smith Mundt all wrong. It doesn't cover all propaganda, just the type that is generally used on hostile populations during wartime. Think of leaflets dropped on cities or the Voice of America. That shit can't legally be directed at Americans, and for damn good reason.

[Mo' $parky]

and for damn good reason

Because most of the American populace is so stupid they'll believe anything they're told? That's the same reason companies can't use cartoons to market cigarettes.

[John]

No because the government has a lot more power than a commercial entity. And thus has no business pushing propaganda.

[Mo' $parky]

And thus has no business pushing propaganda.

Because people are stupid and can't be trusted to think for themselves. I get it, I really do. I understand that it's fine for commercial entities to push the "America, Fuck Yeah!" image but not for the government to do it. I also agree that it isn't right for the government to appropriate a citizen's funds and use them to convince the citizenry how much they need the government. And I'm glad that stuff like that doesn't happen.

[John]

I think there is a line between people being too stupid to think for themselves and government propaganda being completely ineffective. If it is not effective, why do totalitarian regimes love using it so much?

I guess what makes government propaganda so much worse than commercial propaganda is that I have the ability to get away from commercial propaganda. But government propaganda can be all embracing. And worse, it can hide itself in things.

[Mo' $parky]

I'd like to introduce you to Julia.

Let me also wish you a happy Mother's Day.

[John]

Julia is done by his campaign. There is supposed to be a difference between the campaign and the White House. You are not supposed to use official resources for your campaign. To my knowledge Obama isn't. He is raising millions and that is enough to create a stupid ad.

And to the extent that those things are bad, that is with the law. How much worse will it be if there is no law against it?

[Mo' $parky]

How much worse will it be if there is no law against it?

I'm not quite sure how much worse it's even possible to get. In my opinion government propaganda would be a waste of money that could be better wasted elsewhere. At this point the majority believes that government has the right to do anything they do anyway. I can't see any reason to need to drop propaganda at home.

[Entropy Void]

... or candy bar size, either.

[John]

http://www.extremetech.com/com.....her-future

This is scary

Japanese researchers have created a hand-held gun (pictured above) that can jam the words of speakers who are more than 30 meters (100ft) away. The gun has two purposes, according to the researchers: At its most basic, this gun could be used in libraries and other quiet spaces to stop people from speaking ? but its second application is a lot more chilling.

The researchers were looking for a way to stop "louder, stronger" voices from saying more than their fair share in conversation. The paper reads: "We have to establish and obey rules for proper turn-taking when speaking. However, some people tend to lengthen their turns or deliberately interrupt other people when it is their turn in order to establish their presence rather than achieve more fruitful discussions. Furthermore, some people tend to jeer at speakers to invalidate their speech." In other words, this speech-jamming gun was built to enforce "proper" conversations.

[Ken Shultz]

In other words, this speech-jamming gun was built to enforce "proper" conversations.

Most of friends achieved the same thing simply by marrying their wives.

[Zeb]

That's just weird. What, are the Japanese worried that they will all turn into noisy, rude Americans?

[Brandon]

Anybody read "The Braindead Megaphone?"

[perlhaqr]

I wonder if this would work on my neighbor's dog.

[Heroic Mulatto]

U.S. taxpayers got a shout out from Hamid Karzai at the NATO summit in Chicago. "I'm bringing to you and to the people of the United States the gratitude of the Afghan people for the support that your taxpayers' money has provided Afghanistan over the past decade and for the difference that it has made to the well-being of the Afghan people," the Afghan president said.

Ain't no love like a pimp's love.

[John]

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2.....ed-36.html

Ladies and gentleman your right thinking political class

That's the question for the man who's trying to oust Scott Walker in the recall election, and Mike Gousha asked it straight to Tom Barrett's face on his show "Up Front." Video at the link. This is my transcription:

I would have done it the same way I've balanced 8 consecutive budgets for the city of Milwaukee. I would set priorities, and as the mayor of the city of Milwaukee, I've always set priorities, particularly as they related to public safety, and at the state level, I would set priorities as they relate to education, because we saw the largest cut ever in education in the state's history, 30% cut for the technical schools, university took big hits....

The question was how would you deal with the deficit, and Barrett goes right toward ideas about spending more! He's muttering out this list of things and Gousha jumps in with: "So you want to restore all that?" Barrett ? whose face remains impassive ? says:

Well, it's not going to be restored overnight...

[John]

He totally misses the cue in Gousha's question, which was: You're supposed to tell us how to cut the deficit! Instead, Barrett falls more deeply into the idea of how will we get back what Scott Walker took away. He goes on:

... and I have to be honest with the people: You can't restore all those cuts overnight, but that would be my priority.

So, he plans to erase the deficit by setting priorities, and his "priority" is restoring "all the cuts"!

[Restoras]

I don't think the left really understands what the word "deficit" means.

[John]

Math is racist.

[Rich]

Math is also sexist, at least when it's hard.

[Rasilio]

I thought girls liked it better when it was hard?

[Pip]

No doubt you'll never know.

[VG Zaytsev]

Deficit means spending limits on the left.

Reducing the deficit therefor means more spending by them.

[John]

The Dictator. It makes it sound like it is offensively funny in a way most movies don't have the courage to be. I love this part

After being cast off into American society, Aladeen meets a feminist protester named Zoey ? played by Anna Faris, perfect in this role ? who runs a mini version of Whole Foods called the Free Earth Cooperative, a feminist vegan store that employs only political refugees and is adorned with pictures of Obama and Che. Zoe, who declares herself so anti-racist that she hasn't had a white boyfriend in ages, has unshaven underarms and organic deodorant that would "gas the Kurds," in Aladeen's words. "I know what I'm talking about because I majored in feminist lit!" she barks at a cop.

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2.....epage=true

[BakedPenguin]

According to one of the review, The Dictator falls in love with her because he sees what a controlling authoritarian she is. I had to give Cohen credit for that.

[sloopyinca]

I wonder why the DEA doesn't just send a few goons to this guy's campaign stops and have him arrested? Being a Team Blue politician couldn't have anything to do with it, could it? There's no way in hell the Obama DEA would play favorites in an election year, is there?

[sloopyinca]

Go here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/......DTLtsp=1

[Mo' $parky]

This is the only link of the bunch that works.

[Brandon]

The first one worked for me.

[sloopyinca]

There is not a penny's worth of cuts that can made to the federal budget.

(Bonus points for an unprofitable public transit system)

[Mo' $parky]

Is that why they haven't bothered to write one for the past three years?

[sloopyinca]

This will end up being a very important case this fall. I hope the SC doesn't fuck it up, but I'm not betting on it.

Question: will the leftists on the court try to stop the wiretapping if it looks like their guy will lose the WH?

[sloopyinca]

Here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....e=politics

[sloopyinca]

Out of touch politician figures the best path to reelection is to stay away from his district and avoid answering questions. Probably a winning strategy when your name is Pete Stark and you're senile.

BTW, 19 terms? 19 terms? This is not what our founders intended.

[sloopyinca]

Bonus from the article: The California congressional delegation's longest-serving member has faced an unusually strong challenge from his 31-year-old Democratic challenger, Alameda County prosecutor Eric Swalwell, who is also a Dublin city councilman.

No conflict of interest there...

[sloopyinca]

Obama is gutless when it comes to actually defending gay marriage. Why am I not surprised?

[Mo' $parky]

Your links, they are dead.

[sloopyinca]

Try following this. It goes to the same place, but for some reason embedding isn't working.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....e=politics

[invisible furry hand]

that got me an error page too. But we already have enough proof that he's gutless without another link

[Brandon]

This "Item not found" article is fascinating.

[Brett L]

"The former Rutgers University student charged with bias intimidation and other crimes related to an incident leading to the suicide of his gay roommate faces sentencing today as gay rights advocates from Jim McGreevey to Dan Savage are calling for him to be spared jail time."

Now that you've destroyed his life by making him a convicted felon, now you want to act like you're all merciful. Fuck these guys.

[Mo' $parky]

They never meant for it to go this far, they just wanted to give him a little scare. Honest.

[sloopyinca]

Go here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....e=politics

Not sure why the link didn't work.

[sloopyinca]

Well fuck it. Go to SFGate.com and scroll down to "Nation World and open the politics tab. Stupid-assed internet blocking my links.

[Pip]

ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- The Ron Paul revolution has completed its sweep over the Minnesota Republican Party convention here.

Paul backers won 12 of 13 Republican National Convention delegate slots filled in balloting Saturday, May 19, at Rivers Edge Civic Center.

They might have taken all 13 seats if one of the Paul state delegates had not graciously conceded the final slot to Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The results mean 32 of Minnesota's 40 national delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., in August will be committed to Paul. Supporters of the Texas congressman and presidential candidate won 20 of the 24 national delegate slots filled at Republican congressional district conventions earlier this spring.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_2.....ost_viewed

[Brandon]

So the GOP is going to recognize Michele Bachmann as Minnesota's sole representative in Tampa?

[ant1sthenes]

Spent the weekend playing the Torchlight 2 open beta. Was everything Diablo III should have been, at a third of the price. Highly recommended.

[Brandon]

Am I the only person still playing Skyrim?

[Warty]

Oh, look, baby jaguars.

[invisible furry hand]

i want one! On a leash! It can prowl adorably in front of me and charm passers-by. Then, when it's older, it can rip out the throat of those who displease me

[Hell's Librarian]

I want one (with a leash... a diamond encrusted leash, of course!) to ride next to me on my chariot, as I tool down the means streets of the Baltimore suburbs.

[JW]

This one is up for grabs.

[JW]

"We eagerly await the day where we reach our full weight and can rip your face off with our claws."

[Hell's Librarian]

My kitties fantasize about that all the time, I am pretty sure. Fortunately for me, they haven't figured out how to open the food container, and their lack of opposable thumbs means they can't operate the can-opener without help.

[Brandon]

Our greatest move ever was to get our cat another cat so she would be forever too distracted with internecine power struggles to seriously contemplate a change to the status quo. Cats are very libertarian that way.

[Pip]

"The latest allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the almost-President of France and former IMF chief, include gang rape."

It's okay. He's French.

Depardieu, who has two children, 19 and 17, with his wife Elizabeth, also likes life in a big glass. As a child, though, he drank too much too soon -- so much so that his early years play like a more desperate version of his first hit film, Going Places, in which he was a petty thief and vicious womanizer. The son of an illiterate weaver in the nowhere town of Chateauroux, young Gerard stole cars and sold black-market cigarettes and whiskey to American soldiers at a nearby Army base. He carried a gun at school. "But that was a child's game," he shrugs. "I just had the gun a week, to show it to my friends." And what of his story that at nine he participated in his first rape? "Yes." And after that, there were many rapes? "Yes," he admits, "but it was absolutely normal in those circumstances. That was part of my childhood."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magaz.....z1vWD5jb2F

[Hell's Librarian]

You know, it absolutely doesn't surprise me that Time writes an asskissing apologia for an admitted serial rapist.

[db]

So...rape is OK if there are a lot of rapes going on? And if "the circumstances" are right. Got it.

[invisible furry hand]

No, no, it's OK if you're a French actor, because they're not "rape-rape". It's that famous European sophistication about sexual mores

[db]

Oh, OK. It's "Euro-rape," nor "rape-rape." We Americans are so backward in our understanding of such things.

[invisible furry hand]

it's your Puritan ancestry that makes you think a gang of men violating a terrified girl is to be condemned

[db]

We have a long way to go, we Americans. The rest of the civilized world needs to be more patient with our lack of culture. Really, we haven't even got our heads around genital mutilation; how can we be expected to hold enlightened opinions on sexual practices?