A.M. Links: Foreign Policy Can Wait Till November, Online Sales Taxes Gaining Steam, USS Gerald Ford Going Urinal-Less

Ed Krayewski | 7.17.2012 9:00 AM

The U.S. government has indicated Syrian rebels looking for Western support must wait until after the November election. In May, Mitt Romney criticized the White House's reluctance to intervene. "The world looks to America to lead and we've been sitting in the back burner hoping things would become arranged in a way that was attractive to the world," he said. In March, Barack Obama told then Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to wait until November, when he'd have more flexibility for negotiation.
Mitt Romney is drawing the line at releasing two years' worth of tax returns. But will they be the long-form? Meanwhile, unconvinced by the Drudge report that Condoleezza Rice was at top of Mitt Romney's VP list, the New York Times suggests Tim Pawlenty could be Romney's pick.
Some Republican governors are starting to get behind the idea of collecting online sales taxes in their state, and Senator Lamar Alexander is crafting federal legislation for online sales tax collection he's framing as a state's rights issue.
Documents acquired through FOIA related to internal probes of Treasury officials show complaints ranging from soliciting prostitution to accepting gifts from corporate executives.
Nearly three hundred uniformed Olympics enforcement officials will descend on London to ensure only officially licensed sponsors of the Olympics games associate themselves with the events for marketing and other purposes.
The USS Gerald Ford will be the first navy carrier to eschew urinals, starting in 2015. "There's a lot more at play in the design objectives than gender-neutral. We're saving money in maintenance costs, and we're improving quality of life," said Captain Chris Meyers of the navy's Future Aircraft Carriers Program.

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Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

Some Republican governors are starting to get behind the idea of collecting online sales taxes in their state...

Out. Standing.
1. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  shocking...isn't it.
  1. o3 13 years ago
    
    like a hot wire on norquist's balls
    1. MattRomney 13 years ago
      
      Like a broke Caps Lock button on your computer.
      1. o3 13 years ago
        
        like a boring pendantic bore
        
        Killazontherun 13 years ago
        
        Like you.
2. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  Less money for the marketplace, more for the government. It's like the Death of a Thousand Cuts.
  1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
    
    Thank the heavens Republican lawmakers are ideologically against that.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      Against "that"? Well, I suppose you structure all of your sentences without using "that", but I'm not sure why you'd want to.
      1. mnarayan 13 years ago
        
        Cause its the law?
  2. mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
    
    Less money for the marketplace, more for the government. It's like the Death of a Thousand Cuts.
    
    THIS
    
    In many cases, this will KILL online sales. And .gov won't be receiving said revenue, both killing a market AND still reeling for tax cash.
sarcasmic 13 years ago

Don't jaywalk in Florida if you know what's good for you.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....lking.html
1. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
  
  'The officers were polite the whole time through and gave good verbal commands,' Del Rosso told the news station. 'You hear the officer saying why he stopped him.'
  
  Sit, Ubu, sit.
sarcasmic 13 years ago

More info on Florida dude who was murdered by cops for being armed while answering the door.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....spect.html
1. John 13 years ago
  
  It is appalling that that story is in an English paper and not an American one. I honestly hope the entire US news media goes bankrupt.
2. John 13 years ago
  
  It infuriates me that that story is in the Mail and no major US papers. I honestly hope every paper in America goes bankrupt.
  1. Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
    
    It's the difference between legitimate news and sensationalism.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      This is not legitimate news?
      1. Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
        
        No. It's sensationalism, "a type of editorial bias in mass media in which events and topics in news stories and pieces are over-hyped to increase viewership." You could argue with the "mass" media description, as this is Reason.com.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        There is nothing sensational about it. The prevalence of these kinds of events is a national story. Anytime a leo shoots and kills someone unlawfully, that is a big deal. The media doesn't make a big deal about it because they refuse to be critical of cops.
        
        Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
        
        Anytime a leo shoots and kills someone unlawfully
        
        "Unlawfully?" How do you know it was unlawful?
        
        invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        Anytime a leo shoots and kills someone unlawfully
        
        But Geminis can do as they please
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        the facts would seem to point to that. That is how.
        
        Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
        
        the facts would seem to point to that
        
        John, serious question. I'd like the others here to answer it as well. If you could, on the basis of a Reason.com story, be the judge and jury of those cops; if you had the power to vote, internet-poll style, on their guilt or innocence, without ever leaving the comfort of your home or office, and based solely on what you have read here, would you do it?
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        No dingbat. We have a jury system for a reason. But just because we have a very high standard of proof to send someone to jail does not mean that we are privately allowed to make our own conclusions based on a lower standard of proof.
        
        Joe R. 13 years ago
        
        John was wrong to put "unlawfully" in the sentence. It should be irrelevant. There's no need for proof that a police shooting was unlawful in order for media to report it.
        
        sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        Any news outlet that is critical of the cops will not get any cooperation from law enforcement.
        How can you continue to sell papers if the cops tell you to get bent when you try to investigate a story?
        It is in the newspaper's self interest to lick cop balls, or else they will go out of business.
        
        Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
        
        How can you continue to sell papers if the cops tell you to get bent....It is in the newspaper's self interest to lick cop balls, or else they will go out of business.
        
        Awesome. Let me see if I have this right. Newspapers, which have been losing readership, circulation and ad revenue for two decades, will "go out of business" unless they continue to "lick cop balls." Is that about right? Cops control the press in your world? Do people here take you seriously, or merely tolerate you?
        
        sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        Let me see if I have this right...
        
        Stupid trolls are stupid.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Now. Kravitz, newspapers can and do ignore and refuse to cover stories that don't fit their narrative even when said stories are interesting and will sell papers. That is why the Mail is making a fortune and the New York Times will cease to exist sometime in the next ten years.
        
        sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        John, you'd be best to ignore it. Kravitz is just another incarnation of one of our idiot trolls.
        
        VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        Mrs Kravitz demonstrates its progressive cred by excusing cops killing citizens. Going so far as to say that such a thing is not news. And implying that the peasants should not be informed of the actions of their masters.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        It is both appalling and scary how liberals have transformed themselves into cop worshipers.
        
        Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
        
        About 98% of the commentators on yesterday's thread found the cops guilty of murder without ever hearing any evidence in a legitimate court of law.
        
        John: We are privately allowed to make our own conclusions based on a lower standard of proof.
        
        A "lower" standard. But still high enough to find the cops guilty from the comfort of your chair? Thanks. You answered my question.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        I think it's more likely than not that the cops fucked up and killed a guy without sufficient justification, all the more so now, in light of the bullet holes in the door.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        A "lower" standard. But still high enough to find the cops guilty from the comfort of your chair? Thanks. You answered my question.
        
        Yes. Judging from the facts I can rationally conclude that it is more likely than not these guys fucked up and murdered someone.
        
        Do you deny, this guy was innocent? Do you deny they had the wrong house? Do you deny, he never fired a shot? And do you deny the cops shot him?
        
        Those undisputed facts alone prove the cops guilty of at best gross negligence and at worst outright murder.
        
        sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        Judging from the facts I can rationally conclude that it is more likely than not these guys fucked up and murdered someone.
        
        The way I look at it is to turn it around and ask yourself what would happen if the people doing the killing had not been cops.
        
        In this case it is pretty damn obvious that the killers would be facing murder charges. I mean, you don't get away with killing someone because they armed themselves before answering your call to their door at one thirty in the morning.
        
        Not unless you're a cop that is.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        and Mrs Kravitz, if you have some facts we don't know about and want to talk about them, feel free. But just sitting around whining that people are upset about an innocent person being shot by cops is of no help and just amounts to concern trolling.
        
        Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
        
        VG Zaytsev..."progressive cred by excusing cops killing citizens"
        
        If you were honest you'd admit that it's not a question of whether the cops killed that man, but whether the killing was justified, whether it was self-defense or murder. But you are not honest. Your language demonstrates it. Do you really consider yourself a powerless peasant? In America? That's kind of sad.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Well Mrs. Kravitz,
        
        If the cops ever come to my house and shoot me, it is highly unlikely they will be charged with murder. That position is very peasant like i would say.
        
        VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        If you were honest you'd admit that it's not a question of whether the cops killed that man, but whether the killing was justified, whether it was self-defense or murder.
        
        Your original position, Mrs Krvitz, was that the killing was not news, as in something that should be reported by "legitimate" new sources.
        
        Further, you are accepting the story of cops killing a man in his own home, with no evidence to support that story and plenty of evidence contradicting it.
        
        So yes, my assessment of you as a cop worshiping dumbfuck is accurate.
        
        mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
        
        Not to mention any description describing her* as a typical mover of goal posts.
        
        *Based on name alone.
        
        mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
        
        If you were honest you'd admit that it's not a question of whether the cops killed that man, but whether the killing was justified,
        
        Killing a man in his own doorway for answering the door with a gun at zero dark thirty can NEVER be justified. Add to that the cops ADMITTEDLY didn't identify themselves and you have straight up murder.
        
        wareagle 13 years ago
        
        newspapers are more concerned about access than about actual journalism. It's why so few are afraid to ask Obama a serious question and why so many golf writers covered for Tiger. They know what a story is; they just don't think it is more valuable than the possibility of losing their beloved access.
    2. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
      
      It's the difference between legitimate news and sensationalism.
      
      Not sensationalism.
      
      The new media in the US exists to serve the state and reporting this story does not serve the state so it is not reported.
      
      The legacy media here is almost as bad as that in any totalitarian country. The only think that they honestly and accurately report are sport scores.
      1. Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
        
        And it WAS murder by the cops, who should have not been at that house in the first place.
    3. DesigNate 13 years ago
      
      Fuck off Mary.
  2. Elspeth Flashman 13 years ago
    
    It's on the Yahoo! main page today, in their rotating headline.
    1. Mrs. Kravitz 13 years ago
      
      Now that's mass media.
3. robc 13 years ago
  
  For Tulpa:
  
  "Andrew Scott answered the door holding a gun."
  
  "On seeing that Scott was armed officers immediately opened fire"
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    Goes back to my debate with Dumphy. The officers' job is to risk their life for the public. That means they should take the risk that the person will shoot. They have to tell the person to drop the weapon before they shoot. Otherwise, you run the risk of shooting the wrong person.
    1. sarcasmic 13 years ago
      
      The officers' job is to risk their life for the public.
      
      Officer safety, dude.
      
      Otherwise, you run the risk of shooting the wrong person.
      
      Eggs. Omelets.
    2. wareagle 13 years ago
      
      how difficult would it have been for officers to ID themselves and the man his name, or something else that did not require summary execution. Holding a gun is not the same thing as pointing a gun at cops and firing it.
    3. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
      
      I'm guessing the police here thought they were dealing with a murder suspect. Door opens a bit (or whatever happened). A gun is seen and the cops think - without making a positive ID - "this murder suspect has a gun!". And that's all they wrote.
      1. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        Because the relatively pale guy with long blond hair looks just like the darker skinned guy with short black hair. That's not the kind of New Professionalism we were promised.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Hey, it was 1:30 in the morning. Officers of the law cannot be expected to know positively who they are dealing with, even if the guy on the other side of the door can be.
        
        BTW, the angles of the bullet holes show that the door was either opened just a foot or so, or it was opened all the way and they shot the guy as he stood at least 5-6 feet inside of his apartment. I'd like to see where the bullets entered the wall in the apartment. It would actually tell a lot about where the cop was that shot him.
        
        Lord Humungus 13 years ago
        
        ah, didn't know the physical differences - that makes it even more f*cked up.
  2. sarcasmic 13 years ago
    
    Did you notice the angle of the holes?
    That door wasn't opened more than a crack.
    1. tarran 13 years ago
      
      I am amazed how they managed to draw and gun down a guy who was pointing a gun at them so quickly that he didn't even get off a shot!
      
      I mean even Kathryn Johnson got off a shot before she was gunned down.
      
      These guys have to be modern day versions of the Waco Kid!
    2. generic Brand 13 years ago
      
      ^This.
      
      I was saying yesterday how since we only have the word of the police now, it's not even clear that Scott opened the door for them. While it doesn't look like it was busted open, it's very possible the police could have opened it on their own, which would basically nullify Tulpa and dunphy's whole claim that you shouldn't open the door if you are scared of who's out there.
      1. sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        "Who's at the door? I've got a gun."
        
        BLAM BLAM BLAM...
    3. thom 13 years ago
      
      Seems like there's more to this story. Why would the police want to gun this guy down so badly?
      1. generic Brand 13 years ago
        
        He had drugs in his apartment. Case closed.
      2. Vapourwear 13 years ago
        
        Because his yard was dog-free?
        
        Joe R. 13 years ago
        
        Or maybe he looked vaguely schnauser-ish.
      3. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        Because the could.
  3. Ice Nine 13 years ago
    
    I'm on Scott's side on this but I'm wondering why in hell he would open the door if he perceived - as he obviously did - that there might be danger on the other side? Bad decision every time, pal. Me? I'm going to get in the best defensive location I can find inside, get ready to shoot if necessary and, call the PD. What I'm not going to do is open the door.
    1. wareagle 13 years ago
      
      it was 1:30 in the morning..the man was rousted from sleeping, he may have thought a neighbor was in trouble since no good news ever comes of a knock that time of night.
      1. Ice Nine 13 years ago
        
        Nothing a little "Who's there" from behind his closed, lock door wouldn't clear right up. I mean, c'mon, doing that is almost spinal reflex.
      2. Restoras 13 years ago
        
        I had a 1:00am experience with the police once.
        
        My wife and I were asleep in bed when I heard pounding on our apartment door (a new, non-doorman building in urban NJ). I approached the door and barked in as authoritative a voice as I could "Who is it??". The reply came back "Police, sir, could you please open the door". I looked through the peephole of the door and replied "Can you move where I can see you and can you tell me what this is about?". They did (there were three of them) and one responded "There was a report of a domestic disturbance." At this point, as my wife and I had been a sleep for a few hours, I knew they had the wrong apartment. I opened the door (by this time my wife had joined behind me) and the five of us preceeded to have a civil discussion and determined that, indeed, they did have the wrong apartment.
        
        I guess we got lucky.
    2. Francisco d Anconia 13 years ago
      
      I'm wondering why in hell he would open the door if he perceived - as he obviously did - that there might be danger on the other side?
      
      Doesn't matter:
      
      a. It's not a crime to open your door.
      b. It's not a crime to hold a gun.
      c. It's not a crime to open YOUR door while holding YOUR gun.
      
      Bad fucking shoot!
      1. Ice Nine 13 years ago
        
        I never suggested any of those things. I merely suggested that he was stupid.
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        Yep, and dunphy thinks it's cool for cops to kill people for being stupid. "Fuck him" I believe was the exact quote.
        
        Ice Nine 13 years ago
        
        And Dunphy's comment figures into this particular conversation how, exactly?
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        I was merely pointing out that dunphy's only point of contention was the the guy was "stupid" and felt the shooting was justified because of it. Not implying you're agreeing with dunphy. Just that apparently cops think stupidity is an executable offense now.
        
        You can go wash that sand out of your vagina now.
        
        Ice Nine 13 years ago
        
        Oh. Sorry to be confused by non sequiturs; I know that's weird.
        
        Francisco d Anconia 13 years ago
        
        Sorry. Didn't mean to suggest you did.
        
        More aimed at our Keystone Kop and Tulpa the Red, who were, yesterday, defending these morons.
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        Ice Nine, we had a long discussion about this yesterday.
        
        A wee hours knock on the door is one of two things: somebody needs help, or somebody wants to mess you up. If you refuse to open the door because it could be the latter, well, that's tough luck if its actually somebody who needs help.
        
        Personally, in that situation, I have opened the door with a gun in my hand, and would do it again.
        
        Other commenters, including dunphy and Tulpa, refuse to take the risk to find out if somebody needs help.
        
        Ice Nine 13 years ago
        
        Fair enough.
        
        mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
        
        A wee hours knock on the door is one of two things: somebody needs help weed, or somebody wants to mess you up.
        
        Though I supposed getting a guy weed at 1am would follow under "help."
4. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  On seeing that Scott was armed officers immediately opened fire with a shower of bullets that killed the 26-year-old and left several holes in his front door.
  
  How are there several bullet holes in the front door? Honest question as I'm not even remotely well-versed in these areas. I'm having a hard time lining that up with the picture we had yesterday of a man standing in the doorway pointing a gun at the cops.
  1. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
    
    It almost looks like the guy was standing behind the door and peering around the edge of the door when the cops killed him by shooting through the door.
    1. RBS 13 years ago
      
      Well, as dunphy told us all last night if you answer the door with a weapon you deserve to be murdered. I believe his exact words were "he got what he deserved. fuck him."
      1. Restoras 13 years ago
        
        Yup, those were his exact words, along with some other lovely, chouce words like moron, idiot, etc., etc. I like how we get lectured by him on Constitional Law when the man, if he was armed and simply holding a gun and not pointing it at anyone, was exercising his Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
  2. tarran 13 years ago
    
    He opened the door partially, and then they started firing. The bullets impacted the door at a shallow angle, probably from the gangbanger gunman heroic defender of freedom standing on the left.
  3. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    Door cracks open - "what do you..."
    
    Cops - "GUN!" BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG, clickclickclick /empty mag.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      Say, he has a gun!
    2. db 13 years ago
      
      Something tells me these cops weren't carrying 1911s.
    3. Gray Ghost 13 years ago
      
      I think LTC John hits it on the head. It makes sense to me that Scott cracks the door, sees it's cops outside, and lowers his weapon (assuming it was even at high ready/pointed out the door to begin with, and not at his side. I'm also assuming that the cops didn't just bust in the door) Regardless, once one of them starts shooting, it seems like everybody wants to join in. I'm surprised there aren't more holes in the front door, actually. Or that the geniuses didn't end up shooting each other.
      
      As for the merits of answering the door of your own home with a weapon in hand, I've seen my own LEO father do so. The weapon doesn't do much good sitting in the drawer, if you really need it.
      
      I really don't know why you all bother to engage with dunphy. The man comes off as a thug (or someone who's just been a cop too damned long) pretty much every time he puts electron to screen here. Just disgusting what police work has devolved to these days.
      
      I fail to see how a non-LEO, lawfully carrying a concealed weapon, in the same situation as the Florida officers---knocking on a door at 1:30 AM and shooting the homeowner when seeing a weapon---doesn't end up going to jail for manslaughter. Even in Florida. That these officers will suffer no sanction for their actions---why in God's name didn't they identify themselves!?---is a travesty.
      
      And nothing else will happen.
5. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
  
  They found drugs in the man's apartment but it wasn't until an hour and half after Scott was killed that officers realised their mistake.
  
  At least their cracker jack police work after the fact gave them time to find or plant the drugs and put it out there that the dude they shot in a panic was a druggy.
  1. robc 13 years ago
    
    Im trying to figure out how the search was legal. They didnt have a warrant.
    1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
      
      Does that matter when the subject is dead?
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        They've had plenty of time to address this point. They can say he gave consent to search his place after they shot him but before he dies.
        
        ...and people will nod their heads in belief.
        
        Gray Ghost 13 years ago
        
        Search incident to arrest would seem to cover the search of the premises after the shooting. Had Scott lived, it's easy to see him getting arrested for pointing a gun near a LEO. And if any of his drug priors were a felony, then you get an easy arrest for felon-in-possession.
        
        If the police were in hot pursuit of the attempted murderer, would they even have needed a warrant to enter Scott's residence? Or does 'hot pursuit'/exigent circumstances mean, "We saw the guy run through the door"?
sarcasmic 13 years ago

New Zealand prostitutes destroy street signs by pole dancing on them...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....tunts.html
1. $park? 13 years ago
  
  "Some of the prostitutes are big, strong people."
  
  *barf*
2. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  they're hefty lasses, and have to work hard for their clientele, especially as they charge more than sheep
3. DJF 13 years ago
  
  They obviously need to put up a sign saying that there is a weight limit for pole dancing on signs.
sarcasmic 13 years ago

Mashed potato and gravy dispensers... Don't expect to see them in the Land of the Free anytime soon.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....S-yet.html
sarcasmic 13 years ago

Evil gingers get the last laugh!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....HEADS.html
1. Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
  
  If only I could buy a souls there as well.
  1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
    
    I'm just worried they'll buy skin products that allow them all to be daywalkers
sarcasmic 13 years ago

Land of the Free, my ass.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-year.html
1. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  Nobody saw barbecue smoke for over a year?
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

The TSA is on the ball

Man with world's largest willy in security scare at airport
Guards feared bulge was 'biological threat'

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/ho.....rport.html
1. Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
  
  LOL. "One of the guards asked if my pockets were empty and I said 'Yes.' I said, 'It's my d**k.'
  1. wareagle 13 years ago
    
    so you're saying the man was happy to see the TSA?
2. sloopyinca 13 years ago
  
  So dunphy's real name is Jonah Falcon, eh?
  
  What do you mean, I'm wrong? I thought he told us he had the unofficial world record for largest penis but wasn't part of the porn industry because he would rather serve the public?
3. Ice Nine 13 years ago
  
  Why, Lord, are long dorks wasted on dorks?
  1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
    
    I don't understand why dudes think length is all that important when it comes to penii attractiveness/usefulness. Don't believe the hype. Length is probably 3rd or lower on the list of desirable penis traits.
    1. kinnath 13 years ago
      
      So tell us traits are 1 and 2 on the list.
      1. Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
        
        Well, I can't speak for Kristen, but I think cleanliness is first and girth is prolly second.
        
        Francisco d Anconia 13 years ago
        
        Well, at least I'm clean!
        
        I was worried there for a second.
      2. $park? 13 years ago
        
        If length isn't important, I can see one trait being whether it leaves a bruise when you get smacked with it. Not sure of the second though.
      3. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        Girth, cleanliness and shape all come way before length on my list. I might even say cut/uncut, but I've only ever seen one uncut, so that really doesn't come into play too often.
        
        db 13 years ago
        
        Who has a dirty penis? Seriously? Do some people not wash down there?
        
        Gray Ghost 13 years ago
        
        Db, consider the Occutards...
        
        Too much length bangs the cervix, which I'm told is Not A Good Thing.
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        Bingo!
        
        db...some dudes are just unhygenic (hipsters, Occutards, to name a couple). Some dudes work in highly physical professions and may need a little bit of a scrub when they come home from work.
        
        Bobarian 13 years ago
        
        Most of us clean our junk with a passion.
        
        "Honest, Mom, I was was just cleaning it, and it went off!"
        
        rac3rx 13 years ago
        
        The member has a tendency to smell.
        
        rac3rx 13 years ago
        
        For some, yeah, they just don't wash properly, but otherwise, the member just has a tendency to smell...probably because it spends all day locked in a small contained space with the gas exhaust area.
    2. Ice Nine 13 years ago
      
      (Dying to ask two questions...thinking better of it...)
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

The USS Gerald Ford will be the first navy carrier to eschew urinals, starting in 2015.

It will still be equipped with heat-seeking pardons though, right?
1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  I know my quality of life is going to go way up when I have to use a stall for all my peeing needs. And by "quality of life" I mean "time on the internet".
  1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    I wonder what the Ford will have as far as wi-fi capability?
    
    "Hey, Petty, you've been in there long enough - finish that You Tube video some other time!"
2. RBS 13 years ago
  
  I expect to see a lot more injuries related to falling in the toilet in the middle of the night.
3. JW 13 years ago
  
  It'll trip out of the dock and sink in the harbor.
4. Rasilio 13 years ago
  
  So what are the regs regarding whether the seat should be left up or down gonna be?
Bee Tagger 13 years ago

complaints ranging from soliciting prostitution to accepting gifts from corporate executives.

How about complaints about redundancy?
Mike M. 13 years ago

It's Lobster Girl!
1. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  Why the hell would that link not let me close it out? Damn pop-ups
$park? 13 years ago

"The world looks to America to lead and we've been sitting in the back burner hoping things would become arranged in a way that was attractive to the world"

Sure they do. Anything to avoid having to spend their own money doing something about this. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!
sarcasmic 13 years ago

Meet John's dream girl...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....-plan.html
1. Mike M. 13 years ago
  
  That is just... disturbing.
2. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  Judging from the shirt she's wearing in the last picture, I think she ate "THE Ohio State University".
3. sloopyinca 13 years ago
  
  That's gotta be Nick Mangold's sister. He's from Dayton (well, Kettering) as well.
  
  And FWIW, fuck Kettering Alter. Those fucks beat us in the last game of my high school basketball career, after we beat them earlier in the year.
  1. Concerned Citizen 13 years ago
    
    She is Nick's sister. I hope she wins a gold medal and decides to lose some weight.
  2. T 13 years ago
    
    Way to hold a grudge, sloop. You graduated from hs, what, 25 years ago? Let it go, man.
    1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
      
      Hey, it was only 23 years ago. I'll have let go sometime in the next two years.
Bee Tagger 13 years ago

officials will descend on London to ensure only officially licensed sponsors of the Olympics games associate themselves with the events for marketing and other purposes.

YEAH, BUT WHERE ARE THEIR CLOTHES MADE?
$park? 13 years ago

Your feel-good story of the day.

Neat and tidy from the outside, a two-story stucco home in an upscale San Jose neighborhood was a house of horrors on the inside, authorities say -- a place where disabled adults were beaten, starved and not even allowed to use toilet paper.

The victims, mostly Vietnamese immigrants who speak little English and are unable to tend to themselves, lived among rotting food and more than two-dozen dogs whose pools of urine and feces littered the home, authorities said.
Eduard van Haalen 13 years ago

Ah, yes, the problem in this country is we haven't been fighting enough wars.

Are you Syria-ous?
robc 13 years ago

I dont get the clock thing. One (or both the others) is off by 4 seconds.

Im expecting Im missing something obvious.
1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  I'm missing it too.
  1. $park? 13 years ago
    
    Same here.
  2. John 13 years ago
    
    I think it means the day after the election in Washington will be midnight for Syria, meaning we will start bombing.
    1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
      
      After? I'd wager "before" should O! keep sliding downhill.
    2. wareagle 13 years ago
      
      of course, since our pro democracy efforts in the ME have been so sterling thus far. Let's just turn the whole area over to the Muslim Brotherhood and its fellow travelers. Surely peace and harmony will spread across the land.
      1. db 13 years ago
        
        You know, Maine really gets a bad rap. It's not their fault they have live near all those Massachussetts liberal true-believers.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        They did zero out all those caucus results because they didn't like the outcomes.
        
        $park? 13 years ago
        
        live near all those Massachussetts liberal true-believers
        
        Huh? The have the entire state of New Hampshire as a buffer zone.
        
        db 13 years ago
        
        That's not going to last. Massholes are corrupting NH as we speak. The Free State Project was doomed once it chose a state bordering a Progressive haven.
      2. sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        I'm proud to say I voted for LePage, and will vote for him again.
    3. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      I think Syria is on the short list for a li'l "October surprise" if Obama doesn't have a health lead by then.
2. sarcasmic 13 years ago
  
  I thought that the time was adjusted by a few seconds recently. Read something about expecting computer systems to crash and all that. And nothing else happened.
  1. Timon 19 13 years ago
    
    There was a leap-second automatically added sometime in the last couple of weeks. It's really a non-event, especially for most of the world's computers, which is pretty easily taken care of via NTP.
    
    And it's nothing remotely like the end of the world if YOUR computer doesn't have the right time.
3. sloopyinca 13 years ago
  
  Maybe it's part of the whole "It's 5 o'clock somewhere, and they're all saying we should be partying in Wellington, NZ instead of worrying about war.
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    ^^This^^ might have been my all-time worst post. I really wish there was a delete button on here somewhere.
4. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  "The world looks to America to lead and we've been sitting in the back burner hoping things would become arranged in a way that was attractive to the world," [Mitt Romney] said.
  
  Maybe we lead by slowly adjusting the clocks until we are ahead of Damascus?
5. Abdul 13 years ago
  
  You guys are idiots. It means we're sending Flav-o-flay to Syria. Two birds, one stone.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

Alexander's bill would set up a national framework for states to make online retailers collect sales taxes, and he and allies ? including brick-and-mortar retailers, online giant Amazon.com and others ? have cast the matter as a tax that is already owed and as a states' rights issue.

Speaking of gifts from corporate executives...
$park? 13 years ago

Once a porn star, always a porn star.

The letter states "it has been the practice of Roanoke County not to interfere in the internal membership decisions of volunteer rescue squads like Cave Spring. These decisions are left to the volunteers."

But the letter points out safety personnel are held to a higher standard than other employees. "They must exhibit the highest degree of trustworthiness and public esteem since they will be dealing with citizens when they are most vulnerable, or entering citizens' homes and businesses under emergency circumstances."

"Anything that results in public ridicule of volunteer squads, departments, or the County must be avoided."

It's awesome how people decry women in porn but then won't let them do anything else.
1. T 13 years ago
  
  On the other hand, I haven't seen the busty EMT in the latex uniform perform oral resuscitation as the 'plot' of a movie yet. Hmm. I sense an opportunity here.
  1. Bobarian 13 years ago
    
    I think that is the plot to roughly 1500 movies...
    
    or so I've heard.
2. SIV 13 years ago
  
  Not just any porn star that's Harmony Rose.
3. Abdul 13 years ago
  
  Who's better qualified? She has no fear of bodily fluids and extensive experience in mouth to mouth, as well as other openings.
  1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    "Never go mouth to ass!"
4. Anonymous Coward 13 years ago
  
  that volunteers must "exhibit the highest degree of trustworthiness and public esteem since they will be dealing with citizens when they are most vulnerable"
  
  Who is more trustworthy than someone who has been in 400 porn films without contracting an orally communicable STD?
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

The Problem In A Nutshell: Annualized GDP Growth Of 1%; Annualized US Debt Growth of 21%
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/.....-growth-21

While economists may waste lots of hot air debating this, that and the other about the future growth trajectory of the US economy, in the aftermath of Goldman's cut of US GDP to just a 1.1% annualized rate of growth. And with the fiscal cliff, debt ceiling, Europe, China, and a plethora of other unknowns up ahead, this number will certainly decline further. Now here lies the rub: as the chart below shows total US marketable debt has doubled in the past 4 years, or an annualized growth rate of just above 21%. And as Zero Hedge has shown before, total US Debt/GDP is on the verge of crossing 102%, the highest since WWII. Simply said, the divergence between the two data series will only accelerate as every incremental dollar of debt generates ever less bank for the GDP buck. And that, from a "sustainability" perspective, is what the problem is in a nutshell.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  I honestly won't mind if Obama wins. What can't last forever won't. And I would like to see Obama be around to get the full blame he deserves when the collapse comes.
  1. sarcasmic 13 years ago
    
    Obama won't get blame. Free markets will be blamed. And more government will be the answer.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      That will be the answer alright. But there won't be any money to pay for it.
      1. sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        As long as there is wealth to be plundered, governments will have money.
        
        My bet is that they'll go after retirement accounts, and then a wealth tax will follow.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Possible. The risk of that is why I think savers are suckers. They will try to do it. But the person or party that tries will be finished even if they succeed.
        
        sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        But the person or party that tries will be finished even if they succeed.
        
        No they won't.
        Those who rob Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
        Since there are more Pauls than Peters, the robbers will remain in power.
        
        LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        And a VAT, beloved of slavers everywhere.
        
        SIV 13 years ago
        
        LP candidate Gay Jay is for a VAT
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        tell us how HSBC was *incentivized* to launder cartel drug money?
        
        thom 13 years ago
        
        Politically, the Roth IRA is low hanging fruit. Anybody who puts any money into one of those things is the biggest sucker around.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        Why is putting money in a Roth IRA worse than putting that money in "normal" after-tax investments?
        
        Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
        
        Yeah, I am also curious about the rationale there.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        Lots more people have regular IRAs and 401ks. Very few have Roths. And Roth gains are supposedly tax free forever, while IRA and 401k taxes are just delayed.
        
        Thus, its only "fair" if we also tax the Roth gains when they are removed form the account.
        
        thom 13 years ago
        
        Because once people really start withdrawing from their Roth IRAs "tax free", Congress will move quickly to close that "loophole". Theoretically they are great, because taxes now are lower than they are going to be in the future. But the political reality is that you're going to pay taxes twice. Given a choice between a regular or a Roth, better to go with the traditional IRA.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        Because once people really start withdrawing from their Roth IRAs "tax free", Congress will move quickly to close that "loophole".
        
        Close it how? By taxing withdrawals at marginal rates?
        
        thom 13 years ago
        
        Yes, why wouldn't they tax the withdrawals as income? Especially after some journalist does a "special investigation" that reveals that already comfortable people are not paying any taxes, and the scoffers among us start scoffing when those people claim that they paid the taxes already. Unintelligent people hate it when their intelligence is insulted, which is why corporations aren't people, and also why you didn't pay the taxes on this year's income decades ago.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        Yes, why wouldn't they tax the withdrawals as income?
        
        Maybe for the same reason they don't tax withdrawals from savings accounts as income or don't tax the full proceeds from stock sales.
        
        Of course, nothing prevents them from trying to say, "Well, you put in $5000 after tax and then withdrew $5000 so we're going to tax you again at your marginal rate" but I think that's pretty unlikely. I think it's much more likely that they'd try to tax the gains, but the logistics of that are non-trivial.
        
        thom 13 years ago
        
        You've got a lot of faith. Think about it. It people with Traditional IRAs have to pay income taxes on the entirety of their withdrawals, how is it fair that people withdrawing from Roth IRAs would only have to pay taxes on the gains?
        
        Regardless, Roth IRA holders have actually already paid the taxes on the gains, they just did it upfront. That said, I've seen finance students who didn't understand the time value of money, so I can't imagine it it something that your average Congressman could grasp.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        It people with Traditional IRAs have to pay income taxes on the entirety of their withdrawals, how is it fair that people withdrawing from Roth IRAs would only have to pay taxes on the gains?
        
        1. Because they knew those were the rules when they put money into traditional IRAs.
        
        2. The money put into traditional IRAs hasn't been taxed yet, so it is reasonable to tax it upon withdrawal.
        
        3. The money put into Roth IRAs has already been taxed, so it is unreasonable to tax it again.
        
        4. Let's say you put $5000 into a savings account. Then you withdraw $5000. How much of that withdrawal should be taxed? How is that meaningfully different from withdrawing your contributions from a Roth IRA?
        
        None of that means they can't try to tax Roth IRAs but the defense of doing so is an uphill battle even for people who are well practiced in taking the money of others.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        4. Let's say you put $5000 into a savings account. Then you withdraw $5000. How much of that withdrawal should be taxed? How is that meaningfully different from withdrawing your contributions from a Roth IRA?
        
        They wont be taxing the Roth contribution amount, but the money earned.
        
        If you put $5k in a saving account and withdraw $5500 later, you will be taxed on the $500.
        
        The concept behind the Roth was that you get the $500 tax free. That is what will go away. Its easy pickings because that is money that hasnt been taxed, so its "fair".
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        They wont be taxing the Roth contribution amount, but the money earned.
        
        Well, thom did say, "Yes, why wouldn't they tax the withdrawals as income?" And, if they only tax the earnings then how is a Roth IRA worse than investing the same after-tax money in a regular mutual fund account, especially considering that the Roth is able to compound without having to pay taxes on dividends?
        
        OK, let's they're only going to tax the earnings. To tax the earnings, you need cost basis. What if people didn't track cost basis because there was no reason to? When I pull out $5000, am I withdrawing a contribution or earnings?
        
        SIV 13 years ago
        
        I put the max in a Roith every year. I expect I'll get burned in that we really do go to a consumption tax or the gov seizes and converts all IRAs and Roth holders don't get any "extra" of the now government money for having already paid the taxes on it. Congress can change retirement account rules at any time.
        
        SIV 13 years ago
        
        Or suppose we do eventually get hyperinflation and the markets go to the moon. Traditional IRA holders are going to envy those ants who already paid the taxes on their IRAs.
        
        thom 13 years ago
        
        SIV, you got it exactly. Traditional IRA holders are going to envy those with Roths. Politically, there's no way the promises attached to that Roth can survive. When you fully fund a Roth you're essentially gambling that Congress will restrain themselves and keep their hands off your money.
        
        generic Brand 13 years ago
        
        Not that this means anything anymore, but isn't it unconstitutional to retroactively tax? For normal IRA's and 401k plans, no taxes have been paid, so the taxation on withdrawals is always subject to uncertainty. On Roth IRAs or 401k plans, anything taxed when put in is as such, and they could only tax anything put in after a the date they change the rules.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        In the end, given the massive debt and unfunded liabilities we face, the government will confiscate savings by taxation or printing press.
        
        It wouldn't hurt, people, to dollar cost average a portion of your wealth into gold just so you have soemthing of value when the dollar becomes worthless.
        
        VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        Not that this means anything anymore, but isn't it unconstitutional to retroactively tax?
        
        Don't worry. The progressives have this asshat on SCOTUS called Roberts that justify anything as constitutional.
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        isn't it unconstitutional to retroactively tax?
        
        See, it won't be a tax, it'll be a commerce clause-type regulation of the financial industry, or something.
        
        Hey, if a penalty can be a tax to make it Constitutional, why can't a tax be a penalty for the same reason?
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        Roth is not an after tax investment. You pay taxes on your contributions and in return your earned interest is untaxed. Well at least that is the way they work today, however given that relatively few people have them and most of those who do are rich it would be politically easy to "alter the terms of the arraingement" at any point in the future where Congress wished to.
        
        VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        My bet is that they'll go after retirement accounts, and then a wealth tax will follow.
        
        The end game is always flat out money printing.
        
        With the political cowards that we have running the country I expect they'll skip the confiscation stage and go straight to for hyper inflation.
  2. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
    
    There are still people who blame Hoover's "free market economics" for all 12 years of the Great Depression.
    1. Bill 13 years ago
      
      Yeah, like 97% of the population. Even a lot of republicans won't point out that Hoover was not free market. Probably don't know.
      
      I remember in a H.S. honors course our teacher told us one of the main reasons the depression happened was that 5% of the people had 95% of the money (or something like that) and that FDR saved us.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        I remember in a H.S. honors course our teacher told us one of the main reasons the depression happened was that 5% of the people had 95% of the money (or something like that) and that FDR saved us.
        
        I know people with graduate degrees who will tell you that there was no middle class until Roosevelt invented it. People are appallingly stupid. Even Howard Zinn isn't that stupid. So apparently they don't even bother to read the lefty propaganda fed to them.
        
        T 13 years ago
        
        A graduate degree usually means you know a lot about one particular subject. I've met a staggering number of PhDs who were completely worthless outside their fields.
        
        $park? 13 years ago
        
        ^This. One of my dad's cousins has a PhD in nuclear physics. He fails hard at Trivial Pursuit.
        
        mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
        
        That's one of the reasons I said "fuck academia." I couldn't take those within it. They all thought that their PhD in Victorian poetry qualified them as smart in everything.
        
        What they never realized is that education != intelligence.
    2. John 13 years ago
      
      Sure they believe it. But World War II covered up the history. The fact is FDR was not popular and got killed in the 38 mid terms. He sacked most of his advisers and ran on foreign policy and the new "fair deal" in the 1940 election. All that got forgotten because of the war.
      
      And also note that the country revolted in 1946 when Truman wanted to keep war rationing after the war. They tell themselves that, but the reality of what happened and what people at the time actually thought is different.
      1. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        Large swaths of new deal legislation were repealed during WWII of the basis of war necessity.
2. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  We have chosen...poorly.
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    I liked the Indiana Jones reference. Bunch of savages on this thread.
3. Mike M. 13 years ago
  
  The most infuriating aspect of what's going on today in the west is that the psychotic left that controls almost everything in it would rather see that entire civilization burned down to the ground than ever admit that they were wrong about anything.
  1. wareagle 13 years ago
    
    you misunderstand the left because you are applying the calculus of reasonableness. The burning down that you see as a bad thing, the left sees as its goal.
    
    That's the unreported story about Obama. What we consider bad outcomes are not because of lousy policy or incompetence; they are intended. This is the same govt advertising for more food stamp takers and rewriting welfare reform so massages and bed rest count as work.
John 13 years ago

I don't think anyone outside of the true believers is going to buy the Bain and tax return issue. The economy is going into a double dip recession and the best Obama has is Romney's tax returns? Really?
1. o3 13 years ago
  
  so just release the same records he provided mccain
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    Right after Obama drops his executive privilege claim on Fast and Furious. Which is more important, what Romney was doing 15 years ago, or the details of how the current AG sold guns to Mexican drug cartels?
    1. o3 13 years ago
      
      radio meme
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        Truth hurts. It wasn't the radio that held Holder in contempt. It wasn't the radio that put 1000s of guns into Mexico courtesy of the US government.
        
        T o n y 13 years ago
        
        It was the NRA.
        
        LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        You spelled that wrong - "DoJ' via "BATFE".
        
        Francisco d Anconia 13 years ago
        
        $
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        I love it when our idiot trolls confirm their idiocy. It is to laugh...and I am.
      2. $park? 13 years ago
        
        Soooo, anything that has been discussed on the radio is now a 'radio meme' and therefore irrelevant? OK, I can live with that, but somebody should let NPR know.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        +100
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        who u gonna believe ?
        
        issa says they got nothing
        
        teh radio says holder's guilty.
        
        it confuses entertainment w reality
        
        LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        Indeed Issa says they have nothing - because Holder is hiding everything behind "executive privilege". The whole point of the exercise is that nobody can tell what is what because the Executive Branch that never heard of anytrhing, until they learned of it on TV has suddenly decided that they were intimately involved in tens of thousands of document that the Republic would crumble should they be given to the Legislative branch.
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        so tell me then, if issa says they got nothing, how would you characterize radio memes except as entertainment same as any fiction or comedy?
        
        sarcasmic 13 years ago
        
        Soooo, anything that has been discussed on the radio is now a 'radio meme' and therefore irrelevant? OK, I can live with that, but somebody should let NPR know.
        
        If right wing radio tells the truth, it doesn't count because it came from right wing sources.
        
        If NPR tells a lie, then it's perfectly acceptable because it came from a left wing source.
        
        Source trumps content. Principals over principles.
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        issa says they got nothing so the RW memes are entertainment. it takes a fat blohard to get beyond "nothing"...like a nancy grace
    2. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
      
      Clearly the most important issue facing America today is resolving who Romney worked for 13 years ago.
  2. wareagle 13 years ago
    
    no o3. Fuck the request, fuck Obama, and fuck anyone else who believes they are entitled to know every detail of what Romney earned. He is wealthy; no stunner there. And he didn't steal the money. Romney should stick to two years and tell anyone who "demands" more to go to hell.
    1. o3 13 years ago
      
      romney previously released those tax records
      1. T 13 years ago
        
        When Obama release all his records, he can call on Romney to do the same. And Romney can still tell him to go piss up a rope. The candidates file disclkosure forms. That's all Romney needs to provide.
      2. generic Brand 13 years ago
        
        If he already released those records, why is it such a big deal now? Shouldn't someone already have them? It's only a big deal now because 4 years after Romney released them the first time, Obama has taken class warfare up another level and has to somehow prove why being wealthy is bad.
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        no, the mccain camp didnt disclose them...and didnt select romney as vp.
      3. wareagle 13 years ago
        
        and releasing them again does what beyond giving Obama one more excuse to whine about rich folks.
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        it meets the conduct of all the other candidates in presidental elections...including his father
2. Jerry on the road 13 years ago
  
  "When will Romney finally release his long-form tax return."
Bardas Phocas 13 years ago

Athiests are sexual predators.
http://www.religionnews.com/cu.....nt-problem
discuss
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Either that or just men who are so nerdy they can't even get women to come to a conference full of desperate men. I mean Jesus, even the comic book nerds get hot chicks to come out to comicon.
  1. Dagny T. 13 years ago
    
    To be fair, they do that by paying the booth babes, right? Any nerd- or anime-con I've ever been in the vicinity of has had a female population comprised primarily of nerdy fat chicks.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      I have never been. But a friend of mine and his wife go every year. The wife is very cute. And they both say there are a lot of cute girls there. I think at some point a few women figured out there was a market failure for reasonably cute nerdy and well paid guys.
      1. Dagny T. 13 years ago
        
        I have only viewed from a distance as I used to have to walk past the Seattle Convention center on a regular basis. I would always try to guess what kind of conference it was based on the sorts of people milling around. Based on my limited observations the best supply of reasonably cute nerdy and well-paid guys was at the gaming convention. Alas, video games are probably one of the more tiresome things to pretend to like.
        
        db 13 years ago
        
        Dr. Girlfriend attends DragonCon annually and has taken me to ComicCon a few times in San Diego. The number of seriously hot women who love sci-fi is astounding.
    2. Restoras 13 years ago
      
      Booth Babes are paid models, that is correct. Can't speak to attendees - when I've been to E3 it is almost 100% sausage in that regard.
    3. Rasilio 13 years ago
      
      If you go to the small regional cons this is likely to be mostly true. However there are a TON of REALLY hot girls who are heavily into both Steampunk and Cosplay and they come out in droves for the big media cons like Dragon Con in Atlanta and Comic Con in San Deigo.
      
      Those hot chicks are also REALLY fond of wearing costumes that barely qualify as costumes. I was at Dragon Con one year about 12 years ago and saw a girl who could have chosen between being a professional model or porn star (which ever she preferred) whose costume consisted of about 6 sq inches of duct tape placed strategically enough that she didn't get arrested, and her badge said she was a paying customer, not a vendor (aka booth babe).
      1. Azathoth!! 13 years ago
        
        For the better looking girls one wants anime cons, the bigger s/f cons, steampunk cons, big horror cons, and of course, fetish and sex cons(these, however, are priced punitively for single males)
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        Eh, skip the fetish and sex cons and just go to the Steampunk and Horror cons, more than likely all the girls that showes up to the first will be at one or the other of the later.
2. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  http://www.religionnews.com/cu.....nt-problem
  
  Ken's not gonna like this one bit...
  1. Matrix 13 years ago
    
    damn, beat me to it!
3. Matrix 13 years ago
  
  the shortening of the link is quite humerous..... "cu.....nt-problem"
  
  Yes... it is!
4. Fluffy 13 years ago
  
  You know what's really pernicious about that article?
  
  The fact that one of the things it demands is the extension of sexual harassment law beyond the sphere of employment and to purely social gatherings.
  
  IOW, now that people have been inured to the gross injustice of sexual harassment law in employment using the boiling frog method, there are actually scumbags out there who want to create liability for hitting on someone at a bar at a convention.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    You are surprised by this? Go look at Jezebelle or any feminist blog sometime. They are filled with crying women complaining about how "that nerd looked at me".
5. DesigNate 13 years ago
  
  I wonder what will happen to those women when some nerd is able to perfect a fully functional AI pleasurebot?
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

OK, how many of you are members of Swiss men's groups?

A Swiss organization for men and fathers is pressing for teachers to be given the freedom to show pornographic materials to children in class.

http://www.thelocal.ch/page/view/3768
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  Er, I work for a Swiss multi-nationl corp-oar-a-shun? But they are pretty fastidious about no pron.
  1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
    
    You're obviously working for the wrong one
    1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
      
      Indeed - but it pays the bills. At least I can see Reason through the censorwall.
2. Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
  
  Why can't they show it to their kids at home, if that's what they want?
3. Jerry on the road 13 years ago
  
  Aside from heading M?nner.ch, Theunert also recently became Zurich's first ever male affairs representative, a post his critics feel he has now jeopardized.
  
  You can't say the Swiss don't have any humor.
4. Rasilio 13 years ago
  
  I don't know after reading the article it actually sounds like it could be somewhat valuable if done right.
  
  They only want to show it to 16 year olds in the context of a sex ed class and only short clips of softcore porn to be used as a basis for a discussion about porn itself.
  
  Given that pretty much every 16 year old in Switzerland has probably already seen harder core porn than they will be showing and the kids (and presumably their parents) can opt out of that class I can't see any harm and I can see value in having a frank honest discussion with teens about porn and how what you see there on the screen is not actually how things work in the real world.
Arcaster 13 years ago

Team Blue showing the intellectual power of a junior high kid.

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....ers-romne/
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

Look Who's Holding the Economy Hostage Now
http://news.investors.com/arti.....ostage.htm

Democrats say they'll let all the Bush-era tax cuts expire if they can't raise taxes on the rich. Apparently, economic catastrophe is a reasonable price to pay for class warfare politics.

On Monday, Sen. Patty Murray, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said that "unless Republicans end their commitment to protecting the rich above all else, our country is going to have to face the consequences of Republican intransigence."
1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  unless Republicans end their commitment to protecting the rich above all else
  
  Perhaps I'm wrong, but didn't the Republicans want to extend all the tax cuts?
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    Unless you want to just tax the rich into poverty, you are protecting the rich.
    1. sarcasmic 13 years ago
      
      Every dollar that you don't take from a rich person and give to a poor person is a dollar robbed from the poor person and given to the rich person.
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        If you're gonna state DNC policy, at least use ellipses and give them credit for their work.
2. Don Mynack 13 years ago
  
  Every time I hear Democrats talk about "the rich", I know they mean "middle class".
  1. o3 13 years ago
    
    what middle class?
    1. T 13 years ago
      
      Those of us with jobs. It's a bizarre concept to you, I know.
      1. o3 13 years ago
        
        ok, so the gop now refers to the working poor as the middle class!?
        
        T 13 years ago
        
        Start working and maybe you'll find out, bum.
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        ass umptions are like assholes
        
        LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        It was wrong of T to assume you would ever work. T, now say you are sorry!
        
        $park? 13 years ago
        
        The working poor, what a fantastic new euphemism for the people who work for a living but aren't 'rich'. If only those evil 'rich' bastards would let more money flow from their grasping claws.
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        I'm working poor because I can't afford an iPhone and I can only afford to vacation within driving distance of my house! Gimmie!
        
        Francisco d Anconia 13 years ago
        
        I'm poor too. I can only afford ONE flat-screen. And cable...don't even get me started...what these rich bastards are charging me for HBO is criminal.
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        I thought this was an english language blog? No throwing around foreign words like vacation. Sounds French, what the hell does it mean anyway?
        
        DesigNate 13 years ago
        
        What is working poor to you orrin?
        
        Knutsack 13 years ago
        
        Obviously, it's anyone making less than $250,000 because there is no middle class--except for Joe Biden and his $400k a year.
3. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  Look Who's Holding the Economy Hostage Now
  
  Radio meme, disregard.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

The world looks to America to lead and we've been sitting in the back burner...

ERROR---BAD OUTPUT---INCORRECT IDIOM USE
1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  I think he just called America retarded.
2. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  Leading from the behind burner?
3. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  LAL!
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

New York Fed to Barclays: 'Mm hmm'
If Libor-fixing is such a great scandal, why did Geithner and other regulators do so little?
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

Well, let's see. In June 2008, Timothy Geithner, then head of the New York Fed, sent Bank of England Governor Mervyn King two pages of recommendations for "Enhancing the Credibility of LIBOR" and wrote that he would be "grateful if you would give us some sense of what changes are possible."

This is not exactly the language of a regulator who has just uncovered what we're now told is the financial crime of the century.
1. Palin's Buttplug 13 years ago
  
  They were trying to hold Libor down in the great Credit Crash of 2008. 90 day rates popped to over 5% when credit was almost entirely frozen. McDonalds borrowed from the Fed to make payroll.
2. John 13 years ago
  
  But I thought regulators were incorruptible? Tony told me so.
  1. Palin's Buttplug 13 years ago
    
    Chris Cox was either corrupt or incompetent.
    1. T 13 years ago
      
      No reason he couldn't have been both.
  2. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    The failure of reglators can only mean there were not enough regulators. And NEEDZ MOAR REGULASHUN.
    
    Turbo Tax Tim strikes again.
  3. T o n y 13 years ago
    
    You're a good Republican. You lie with such ease.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      That is exactly what you say on a daily basis Tony. Corporations need to be regulated right? Implicit in that is the assumption that the regulators can't and won't be corrupted by the evil corporations.
      
      You are just so stupid and so used to mindlessly spewing talking points, you don't understand your own arguments.
      1. Restoras 13 years ago
        
        There is nothing to understand, it is all dogma to them. No thinking required, no knowledge of history or economics, just blind devotion to power and thier sacrosanct talking points.
        
        They are altogether evil.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        They really are. You can understand why our ancestors believed in demonic possession.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        And limited government.
    2. Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
      
      And Democrats never lie, eh, Tony?
    3. DesigNate 13 years ago
      
      $
3. Jerry on the road 13 years ago
  
  The Bank of England did not have regulatory authority over UK banks back in 2008, so Geithner was even sending the wrong people emails.
  1. Restoras 13 years ago
    
    Top! Men!
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

Two steps closer to growth, liberazione, and the Italian lira
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/f.....lian-lira/

Stripped bare, Moody's two-notch downgrade of Italy to near junk status last night is an indictment of the eurozone's whole policy of contraction and shock-therapy.

Italy's near-term economic outlook has deteriorated, as manifest in both weaker growth and higher unemployment, which creates risk of failure to meet fiscal consolidation targets. Failure to meet fiscal targets in turn could weaken market confidence further, raising the risk of a sudden stop in market funding.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

Omitting urinals lets the Navy easily switch the designation of any restroom ? or head, in naval parlance ? from male to female, or vice versa, helping the ship adapt to changing crew compositions over time, Meyer said.

Commander Harmon Jag is rolling over in his Davy Jones' locker right now.
1. DJF 13 years ago
  
  USN shipbuilding has been run by idiots for at least the last ten years
  
  They are building the DDG1000 multibillion dollar 14,000 ton 'destroyer' whose main armament is two 155 mm guns to sail up and down a coastline and bombard it. Yet the ship has to get to less then 100 miles of the coast which puts in right in the area where mines, missiles and coastal subs make it a very dangerous place.
  
  They decided to cut back DDG 1000 to just 3 ships and restart the DDG-51 class destroyers to save money. But they waited to long to make this decision and most of the part supply system for this class of ships went out of production so they have to restart production which has added huge costs so that the 'cheap" DDG 51 class is almost as expensive as the expensive DDG 1000 class
  
  They came up with a new ship the "LCS' which was suppose to save money by having a very small crew and be able to swap out modules so that it could change from anti-surface, to anti-submarine, to anti- mine warfare. But they have already found out that the crews are too small, they can't get the various modules to work right and it will take weeks to swap from one set of modules to another which will probably mean that they won't bother to swap them out but instead have to send other LCS to the area with the proper modules if they ever work.
  1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    Looks like the USN will edge out the USAF to win the Piss Away Procurement $ Cup.
  2. tarran 13 years ago
    
    It's been 60 years since anybody fired serious weaponry at the USN (serious = capable of putting a ship on the bottom).
    
    And it shows.
    1. Restoras 13 years ago
      
      It's almost as if the Navy is trying to come up with missions that it doesn't have ships for, as an excuse to keep building ships.
      1. db 13 years ago
        
        "A Global Force for Good."
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        Those ads make me puke. I have to mute the tv when they come on, along with all the stupid Viagra/Cialis ads.
        
        LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        The USN soundly defeats the USA's old "Army of One" for dumbest recruiting slogan!
        
        Somalian Road Corporation 13 years ago
        
        The first time... hell, every time I hear that slogan I found/find it extremely creepy.
    2. Gray Ghost 13 years ago
      
      U.S.S. Stark, perhaps include Princeton getting mined and whatever ordnance the PRK, Vietnamese, and Iranians were able to throw at the USN, but your larger point is definitely correct.
      
      The USN has been able to defeat every other navy combined for at least the last 20-25 years, and probably longer than that. At what point is enough, enough?
      1. tarran 13 years ago
        
        Those are very good points. I think that had one of those ships gone to the bottom, the Navy would be a little less tolerant of fiefdom-growing silliness in the design/procurement process.
        
        Looking back, I don't think we took the near loss of the Princeton as seriously as we should have.
        
        Gray Ghost 13 years ago
        
        It amazes me, re-reading the wiki of the account. Getting hit by two mines has sunk plenty of stronger ships in the past. Princeton got through it w/o even a fatality. The lesson I take from it is that the USN spends a lot of time on, and consequently is really, really good at, damage control.
        
        The larger problem the USN has, I think, is finding a worthy foe/mission at this point. There really isn't any one out there---breathless reports of the D-21, Van Ripen's exercise, the odd PRC sub, or the Indian Air Force getting over on the USN aside---that can give the USN even a light workout. Unless the Indians or Chinese really improve things on the drone/UAV front. Or an CVBG admiral fucks up catastrophically in the Persian Gulf. And so the question is, just how and what do you spend your USN dollars on? Like db, I don't think the LCS is it. And the D1000 concept just seems silly, saboted super cannon with laser-guided projectiles or not.
        
        Switching things, I really hope that TPTB's mine-clearing is up to snuff in Hormuz. One very easy causus belli I can see happening is for Stennis's group to run into a submarine-delivered minefield in the Straits. Especially if the Islamic Guards start doing anymore of their motorboat regattas during the transit.
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        The larger problem the USN has, I think, is finding a worthy foe/mission at this point.
        
        While they're waiting, sterilizing the oceans of pirates might at least keep them entertained.
        
        LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        Hey now?! Its not like fighting piracy is a naval task...er, right?
2. Francisco d Anconia 13 years ago
  
  Head? Who said head? I'll take some of that.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

As recently as this summer, the risk remained real that Alexander's legislation could run afoul of powerful lobbyist Grover Norquist and create dissent within the Tennessee delegation.

Please let this scheme not only fail but be Alexander's undoing.
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  Between his shilling for RPAA and this, I hope he gets Lugared in his primary.
ZendoTinn 13 years ago

Well now that jsut makes all kinds of sense dude. Wow.

http://www.Privacy-Been.tk
1. Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
  
  GDI Anon-bot. You will never take over the world spouting that banal shit. Wow.
  1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    Jsut so!
    1. Ice Nine 13 years ago
      
      Has anyone ever clicked Anon's link? What lies behind?
      1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        Things That Man Was Not Meant To Know.
        
        invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        Women, on the other hand...
        
        It is a site claiming to offer an anonymising service:
        
        You won't find fancy graphics, hard to understand technical nonsense or frustrating procedures, just easy to use, no nonsense applications that work. Anyone can utilize our service. We have been providing quality Anonymity Privacy services to concerned computer users like yourself since January 1997!
        
        Sadly, but unsurprisingly, there's no About Us section where I can learn more about TampyDampy
        
        $park? 13 years ago
        
        Well, now we know what's going to destroy the world on December 21. IFH just pierced the veil and let the slimy things on the other side into our universe. Thanks, thanks a lot.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Don't waste your time. Since LimpoSimpo stepped down from the Board of Directors, their customer care has fallen off dramatically.
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        I give much better than even odds that its an NSA front.
  2. T 13 years ago
    
    I dunno, I kind of like the vision of Skynet as an incompotent overlord, sending drones out to bombard us with semi-literate spam messages and/or threats.
    
    I mean "BUY V!@GRA OR BE DESTORYED, PUNY HMUANS!" has a certain ring to it, ddoesn't it?
    1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
      
      surely "BUY V!@GRA OR BE DESTORYED, PUNY HMUANS! LOL!"
      1. Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
        
        It is true, Anon-bot is a rather chipper sort.
      2. T 13 years ago
        
        I should have worked a WOW. in there somewhere.
Dagny T. 13 years ago

Well, this isn't all that new, but I just found out about it via an int'l travel communique from my work. And it sure is shitty. France is implementing mandatory breathalyzers in your car starting in November.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Rest assured they will want it in the US next.
2. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  Is it only in new cars? If so I could see a rise in used car sales.
  1. Dagny T. 13 years ago
    
    No, based on my quick read, the individual driver either needs to get a disposable one, or a more expensive re-usable one.
    
    Naturally:
    
    the breathalyser manfufacturer Contralco ? one of only two government-approved manufacturers, which stand to make a hefty profit from the new rules.
3. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  In memory of Lafayette, we should develop a device that defeats this mechanism and drop the devices all over France in a great airlift.
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    We've had to do massive airdrops over France to save them in the past. I'd say we're overdue for the next one.
  2. Nephilium 13 years ago
    
    You mean balloons?
4. SFC B 13 years ago
  
  They gave us a head's up about that during my German licensing class last week. I'm close enough to the French border I was considering taking a couple of trips there on weekends. Guess I'll be going to Switzerland, Austria, or Italy then with my vacation Euros.
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

A 19-year-old Swedish woman has been caught in the middle of an internet storm after her Twitter account matched the name of US President Barack Obama's "Life of Julia" women's rights campaign.

http://www.thelocal.se/42070/20120717/
1. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  The parody account, which now has 2,500 followers, had the name @LifeofJulia too, except the "L" in the word "Julia" was actually a capital "I".
  
  This meant that when outraged people wanted to respond to the parody account's messages, they were inadvertently sending their messages to a 19-year-old dance student from Eskilstuna.
  
  Haters gonna hate.
  1. R C Dean 13 years ago
    
    they were inadvertently sending their messages to a 19-year-old dance student from Eskilstuna.
    
    Well, who hasn't? Except for the inadvertant part, anyway.
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

Millions in taxpayers' dollars paid to Ford Australia was money well spent despite the car company's announcement it will shed 440 jobs, Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu says.

http://theage.drive.com.au/mot.....227s9.html

it's on the bones of its arse, but the Australian car industry must be kept afloat at all costs, it seems
John 13 years ago

They say Obama modeled himself after Devel Patrick. It shows

Gov. Deval Patrick ? adamant that taxpayers have no business knowing what hours top state officials keep ? again refused to release electronic State House parking lot records, daring the Herald to conduct its own surveillance.

"First of all, you're not entitled to them," Patrick said about the parking records yesterday when asked why he was denying the Herald's public records request.

Asked to explain, a petulant Patrick said: "Because you're not."

http://bostonherald.com/news/p.....1061146325
1. $park? 13 years ago
  
  It's Deval Patrick. Or, if you prefer the way many people in MA refer to him, Devil Patrick.
2. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  all together now: fuck you, that's why not.
3. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  "Look there's a limit, right?" Patrick told the Herald. "You want to find out who comes and goes from the garage, go put a camera in front of the garage."
  
  So the "privacy and security" concerns are BS then?
  1. R C Dean 13 years ago
    
    "You want to find out who comes and goes from the garage, go put a camera in front of the garage."
    
    Please, please, please take him up on this. Give it a live net feed, and a cloud-based storage device. Hook up one of them license plate readers, so we can know whose car each one is.
sloopyinca 13 years ago

Banjos and I were chatting yesterday, because that's what married people do. Anyway, I came up with the perfect Election2012 scenario:
Romney wins in a squeaker and Team Red gets to 50 people in the Senate and holds a huge majority on the House. Two days after the swearing in, Obamacare is repealed. A day later, John McCain disappears after suffering a PTSD-induced meltdown where he steals a Cessna and flies off toward SE Asia, never to be heard from again, but is not removed from office. That gives Team Red control of the Senate agenda, but not enough votes to even use reconciliation. A week later, Breyer and Ginsburg are found engaged in some bizarre sexual act involving a live goat and a stuffed rhesus monkey wearing a latex diaper. They resign and Romney replaces them with conservative justices.

Can anyone improve my fap-worthy fantasy?
1. $park? 13 years ago
  
  because that's what married people do
  
  [Citation needed]
  1. Restoras 13 years ago
    
    Maybe that's what happily married people do, but the rest of us just try to:
    a) engage in passive agressive behavior to exact a small, sweet measure of revenge for some unbeleivably miniscule transgression, like loading the dishwasher incorrectly,
    b) stay out of each other's way,
    c) engage in hallway sex. That's when you walk past each other in the hallway and you say "fuck you" to each other as you pass.
    1. Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
      
      like loading the dishwasher incorrectly,
      
      This made me laugh, inasmuch as I have to physically restrain myself from reloading the dishwasher sometimes. Ah well, we all have our little quirks. I hate people doing stuff in the kitchen; it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
      1. RBS 13 years ago
        
        Hahaha, whenever my wife walks in the kitchen I brace myself for the giant mess I will inevitably have to clean up. Twice as bad if the blender is involved.
        
        EDG reppin' LBC 13 years ago
        
        Twice as bad if the blender is involved.
        
        My wife is a great cook. But how come she uses every fucking pot, pan, utensil, and appliance in the goddamn kitchen every time she cooks? I mean, it's just the two of us. Yet, a pair of smothered pork chops, rice, and collared greens produces the same amount of dishes as if she was cooking for a banquet of 20 people. I'm the official dish washer/kitchen scrubber, and I just don't get it.
        
        Every goddamn pot, pan, and utensil...
      2. some guy 13 years ago
        
        like loading the dishwasher incorrectly
        
        Long ago I decided this was one of those "if you want something done right you have to do it yourself" situations. I still don't get it, though. Why do so many people ignore the shape of the racks?
        
        Hell's Librarian 13 years ago
        
        I don't know either, apparently there are lots of people who simply do not understand the Tao of the dishwasher.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        Tao of Dishwasher. I'm stealing this. Expect it to be the title of book for which I make MILLIONS!!!
        
        $park? 13 years ago
        
        My wife gets mad when I try to 'load the dishwasher' while she's busy washing the dishes. I most certainly do not ignore the shape of the rack. All I ever get for my trouble is a dirty look.
        
        I generally do the cooking when it involves something other than throwing something in the oven.
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        I am always acutely aware of the shape of any Racks near me
    2. o3 13 years ago
      
      since i prefer to be happy, i kicked her to the curb and restarted dating
      1. $park? 13 years ago
        
        Those were tears of joy when you threw her out o3, trust me.
      2. T 13 years ago
        
        You preferred for her to be happy? True love, man.
        
        o3 13 years ago
        
        it's me not you. so is ur stuff packed yet?
        
        EDG reppin' LBC 13 years ago
        
        and do you mind if i start dating ur sister?
        
        /o3
    3. Somalian Road Corporation 13 years ago
      
      like loading the dishwasher incorrectly,
      
      Hahaha, this makes me absolutely furious. You can push that to the limit if you put still-dirty dishes back in the cupboards. Jesus Christ, I have no idea how people can do that. Makes my skin crawl.
2. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  Romney and Obama fall in love and run off together the day before the election, after publicly repudiating the election and, in Obama's case, resigning his office. In an emergency ruling, a federal judge decides that both of the major parties have, in effect, withdrawn from the election. Gary Johnson wins in a squeaker.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    Obama would never run off with Romney. Michelle would take out an epic can of whoop ass on both of them.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      I was thinking something like that, but I didn't want to imply violence. It suffices that they are on the run in SE Asia somewhere.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        On the run from Michelle and the Mormon Church. They have my prayers.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        At least they won't have pissed off Scientology.
3. tarran 13 years ago
  
  Dude, if *that's* what you fap to, I pity Banjos; she will have her work cut out for her.
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    I said fap-worthy, but as I have no need to fap (until Banjos' prego-belly gets too big anyway), I thought I'd share it with the masses that could use it.
    
    Fine. You want topical and fap-worthy? Go back to the Harmony Rose story.
4. Dagny T. 13 years ago
  
  A week later, Breyer and Ginsburg are found engaged in some bizarre sexual act involving a live goat and a stuffed rhesus monkey wearing a latex diaper.
  
  Improvement: Sug's write-up of this scene is the one that all the papers run front page.
5. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  Banjos and I were chatting yesterday, because that's what married people do
  
  When a mummy and daddy, loving each other very much...
John 13 years ago

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/.....aspx#page1

Obama stalls in Michigan. If he loses Michigan, he is done.
1. Gray Ghost 13 years ago
  
  If he loses Michigan, he is done.
  
  I thought that too---especially how much he bent the rest of the country over for the UAW---but he still is inexplicably ahead in OH and PA. VA's a dead heat, and even if the GOP takes FL and NC, I can see this going right down to the wire.
  
  It'll be really fun if it gets to something like 270-268 and we get any elector vote-switching hijinks.
  
  Oh, and politics related, the GOP will not be letting Paul speak at the Convention. 'Least, that's how I read the article.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    Here is the thing. Most of those polls are skewed towards Democrats. I think Romney is going to like most Republicans outperform the polls by two or three points. Basically any state that is within the margin of error is likely to go Romney.
    1. rac3rx 13 years ago
      
      Actually watch sampling. A lot of these polls are sampling anywhere from D+9 to D+11. Obama was elected under a D+9 scenario, but it doesn't happen very often. If O is running w/in the margin of error on a D+9 sample, then he is in trouble.
      
      All that stated, national polls are meaningless. Presidential elections aren't national; they're 50 individual state elections.
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Presidential elections aren't national; they're 50 individual state elections.
        
        One good thing about living in California. I don't get stuck being bombarded with battleground state advertising by the lying, stealing, conniving and downright evil fuckheads from Team Red or Team Blue.
John 13 years ago

American education system so bad, many Nigerians sending their kids back to Africa for school.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  Clearly it is because not enough 'resources' are being given to 'education'.
2. sloopyinca 13 years ago
  
  This is bullshit. I got a call from A Nigerian prince just three days ago, and he fully intends to came back to America as soon as he is able to access the family treasure.
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    That's a fraud, because he reached out to me, personally.
    1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
      
      Ha - you are too late. I have already sent my bank information, and soon the $100,000,000 USD Euros will be mine!
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Dangit--I lose again!
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

Flash mob overruns Northwest Jax Walmart
http://www.wokv.com/news/news/.....art/nPwh8/
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Shoot them. Make this shit a contact sport or it is only going to get worse.
2. John 13 years ago
  
  Shoot them. Make this shit a contact sport or it is only going to get worse.
3. Fluffy 13 years ago
  
  I like videos of flash mob destruction as much as the next guy, but I can't see the mob actually doing anything in that video.
  
  The quality is really low, though. And the kid with the phone can't seem to hold it fucking still.
  
  But usually these things have goods being torn from the shelves and stuff.
4. robc 13 years ago
  
  When the term "flash mob" first started getting used on the internet, I used to correct people. However, since its come to refer to organized events, Im glad they got it wrong.
  
  That allows us to reserve the proper term, "flash crowd", for situations that are spontaneous.
  1. Gray Ghost 13 years ago
    
    Rob, they seem to me to be acting like the Permanent Floating Riot Gang. And we didn't even need to invent displacement booths yet.
5. Ice Nine 13 years ago
  
  Why did the cameraman keep panning over the watermelons? Just askin'.
Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago

My neighbor told me that a few years ago, when the cable company thought she was stealing cable, they sent SWAT out to handle the situation. Must be nice to have your own private, yet taxpayer-funded army, to handle potential fraudsters.

On a good note, the judge lectured the po-po and prosecutors on wasting time and money and dismissed the case. (she wasn't stealing cable - she was using an antenna, FCOL).
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

AP and Yahoo aids Obama with get out the "black" vote campaign:
"Report: Obama needs better than 2004 black turnout"
http://news.yahoo.com/report-o.....28827.html
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

Iran drought part of 'soft war' by West: VP
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/iran-.....44201.html
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  So my front lawn is collateral damage in this "war" - pretty dry here.
some guy 13 years ago

http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....14812.html

Thomas Sowell on racial violence. Anybody know if there is anything to his claims? (Yeah, I know. I should read the book). I understand most media outlets not covering this, but it seems like something that would have popped up here at Reason from time to time. Did I just miss it?
1. Pip 13 years ago
  
  I'm not doing a search, but it has been discussed here. There are young black who take delight in beating up random white folks. It happened to me in 1984. On the plus side, black adult males made them stop. Didn't make the papers.
  1. Pip 13 years ago
    
    "young black males" (and sometimes women too).
2. John 13 years ago
  
  His facts are correct. And he is right. The media is setting us up for a hell of an explosion. White people are not going to take this lying down forever. And neither will Latinos who are also the targets of these kinds of attacks. When the backlash comes it will be tragic. The worst thing you can do is ignore and by implication encourage this kind of violence.
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    I'd like to see a statistical analysis of which ones were racially motivated. More likely, it is a poverty thing, and with a government goading these people to violence with their class-warfare rhetoric, it would appear to be an uptick in racial violence because more blacks live in poverty in America...not to mention, they are more often targeted by police than whites and are more often charged more severely than whites.
    
    Sorry, but I'm just not buying the Race War meme as much as I'm buying the Class War one.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      There is no evidence it is poverty driven. These people are not starving. And the victims are always white.
      
      racial violence because more blacks live in poverty in America
      
      That is just not true. A higher percentage of blacks live in poverty. In raw numbers many more whites and Latinos live in poverty than blacks. Get your facts straight.
      
      And if it is poverty driven, why aren't poor white people out doing this stuff?
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        I meant to say a higher %age live in poverty. Thanks for the correction.
        
        As far as the victims always being white: that's what racial violence is (or is reported as, at least). They're not gonna go on about black racial violence unless it's against another race. Yet most victims of violence perpetrated by blacks are also black.
        
        As to your last point, I have no answer to that. Perhaps it's because poor whites don't listen to white race and victimhood hustlers with the same frequency and blind devotion that poor blacks listen to black race and victimhood hustlers.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        They're not gonna go on about black racial violence unless it's against another race. Yet most victims of violence perpetrated by blacks are also black.
        
        Sure there is a lot of black on black violence. But we are not talking about all violence. We are talking about mob violence. Show me cases of black mobs attacking other black people. I can't find any examples. The mobs seem to be targeting white people.
        
        Perhaps it's because poor whites don't listen to white race and victimhood hustlers with the same frequency and blind devotion that poor blacks listen to black race and victimhood hustlers.
        
        Doesn't that support the idea that it is racial? The race hustlers blame everything on white people.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        In some guy's original post, he spoke of "racial violence" and so did Pip. I didn't know you were talking only of the mob violence that happens on the most rare of rare occasions in this country and accounts for perhaps 1/100'th of 1 percent of the violent crime in the nation.
        
        Sorry, John, but I just don't think black on white mob violence is nearly as big a deal as the class warfare being preached to the poor and pseudo-poor in America and elsewhere.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        The class warfare rhetoric may be encouraging it. But the result is the same, increasing numbers of black mobs attacking white people. Now we are very lucky in that it is fairly rare at this point. But it is happening more and more. At some point we will get to a tipping point where white people start to respond. When that happens we will have a huge problem on our hands. That is Sowell's point. And it is a good one.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Meh. Again, I think it occurs for racial reasons on such a small scale as to be statistically irrelevant. Of course, that doesn't matter when we're talking about a media that values sensationalism.
        
        Look at the # of stupid laws and regulations that are the result of overreaction to rare but violent occurrences. I don't overreact like our legislatures do or when our media pundits (that are trying to profit from sensationalizing rarities) do. I suggest you take a deep breath and realize these are extremely are and often mis-reported events.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        RTFA. These events are not rare at all. They are just not being reported so people think they are rare. Eventually the truth will come out.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        I did read the article, and there was absolutely zero statistical data in it. A couple of anecdotes and not a single person speaking on the record, followed up with an example in Sri Lanka which had to do with culture and not race.
        
        Sorry, John. Until I see some hard data, I'm gonna take it with a grain of salt and go on about my business normally (read: armed regardless who I am around).
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        That phrase was spoken by a member of a mob of young blacks who attacked whites at random at a Fourth of July celebration in Milwaukee last year. What I was appalled to learn, in the course of my research, was that such race riots have occurred in other cities across the United States in recent years -- and that the national mainstream media usually ignore these riots.
        
        The Chicago Tribune has publicly rationalized its filtering out of any racial identification of attackers and their victims, even though the media do not hesitate to mention race when decrying statistical disparities in arrest or imprisonment rates.
        
        Such mob attacks have become so frequent in Chicago that officials promoting conventions there have recently complained to the mayor that the city is going to lose business if such widespread violence is not brought under control.
        
        Reading Colin Flaherty's book made painfully clear to me that the magnitude of this problem is even greater than I had discovered from my own research. He documents both the race riots and the media and political evasions in dozens of cities across America
        
        Again Sloopy, RFTA. These events are not rare at all. The facts are what they are.
        
        Gray Ghost 13 years ago
        
        Reading the article now, but wanted to chime in that our local paper is infamous for not reporting the race of criminal suspects. So, I doubt the Tribune is alone in their practice.
        
        Are there any good stats on just how common or rare these mob attacks are?
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Sorry, John, but you reRTFA. All I see are a couple of anecdotal claims and a few uncited comments by "convention promoters". Now if Flaherty's book or Sowell's book have a statistical breakdown re: the rise of this type of violence, I'd like to see it and analyse it before I just take it as the gospel truth.
        
        Maybe I'm just a skeptic, but I want data not anecdotes.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I think if it such a problem in Chicago that the convention people are complaining about it killing business, it is more than an anecdote. And you read the papers as much as I do. You see the stories.
        
        And what good would it do to show you the statistics? No matter how many times it happens, you could just say "well that is not enough to matter". More importantly, even if there were only two or three of these events, that in no way takes away from Sowell's point, which is that the media covers these things up and every time something like this happens we are one step closer to a real cycle of violence.
        
        In the end, you are left with claiming that Sowell and lying or exaggerating. And considering Sowell's reputation for integrity, I can't buy that. Sorry, but I am taking his word over your wishful thinking.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        I think if it such a problem in Chicago that the convention people are complaining about it killing business, it is more than an anecdote.
        
        These unnamed sources?
        
        And you read the papers as much as I do. You see the stories.
        
        Yeah, and I don't think the racially motivated mobs are as common an occurrence as theft-motivated mobs.
        
        And what good would it do to show you the statistics? No matter how many times it happens, you could just say "well that is not enough to matter".
        
        Why would you say that? I think I'm pretty open to reanalysis if given stats that counter my argument. I think I've done it on here many times. I assume others would correct me if I'm an ideologue and am wrong in saying this.
        
        In the end, you are left with claiming that Sowell and lying or exaggerating. And considering Sowell's reputation for integrity, I can't buy that. Sorry, but I am taking his word over your wishful thinking.
        
        Not necessarily. I'm just saying I want to see some statistics before I buy his argument. Just because he has a reputation for integrity doesn't mean he's infallible. Hell, a lot of smart people bought into the whole man-made global warming scam based on anecdotal evidence.
        
        Azathoth!! 13 years ago
        
        The article is referencing the book--White Girl Bleed a Lot which DOES provide cites and facts.
        
        It's a lot more widespread than you would think.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        All I ask is to be provided with some data beyond a few anecdotes. I'm not trying to be a bastard about it, but I'm just skeptical of anyone unlit they provide date to support their claims. And in this case, Sowell did not provide a shred of statistical data to support his claim. And if it's such an epidemic or such a rising trend, one would think that data is pretty easy to come by.
        
        Robert S 13 years ago
        
        You live in a town that is 2% black. How high-minded of you.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        In the past 15+ years, I have lived where whites were a majority for less than 5 years. And it took me looking up the rest of the cities on the internet (as well as Visalia) to figure that out.
        
        Fajardo, PR; Augusta, GA; Richmond, VA; and Portsmouth, VA before here...and I never knew whites were a minority in any of them until you compelled me to look it up. It's just never been the least bit important to me whether I live among whites, blacks, hispanics, asians or any other identity group.
        
        Sorry, but I don't get your point.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        In the past 15+ years, I have lived where whites were a majority for less than 5 years. And it took me looking up the rest of the cities on the internet (as well as Visalia) to figure that out.
        
        Fajardo, PR; Augusta, GA; Richmond, VA; and Portsmouth, VA before here...and I never knew whites were a minority in any of them until you compelled me to look it up. It's just never been the least bit important to me whether I live among whites, blacks, hispanics, asians or any other identity group.
        
        Sorry, but I don't get your point.
      2. Fluffy 13 years ago
        
        White people do it in England.
        
        I think it's a class problem, too, and only a race problem for practical reasons.
        
        Any large group of poor people that realizes it is momentarily more powerful than the forces of order arrayed against it has the potential to explode into mob violence. That's why people loot after disasters - because the consciousness that the authorities are handicapped temporarily changes the obey / don't obey math in the mind of the potential mob member.
        
        The modern problem is that technology has mainstreamed the ability of people to create local imbalances by assembling large groups of people. To get 1000 people to converge on a mall in the past, you either needed a radio station, or you needed to knock on doors. Poor people don't have radio stations. Now you can just tweet.
        
        "There are more of us than there are of them and the cops can't get here in time!" gives people a sense of power. Power they act upon to do what they want to do all the time, but can't.
        
        Race comes into it because the crowd has to be able to easily identify itself to itself, and has to have some basic kind of internal trust. Everybody being black accomplishes both at once. Notice that another time stuff like this happens is after sporting events - because the sports fans have their own, non-racial tribal identification, they can pack together with ease. When everyone isn't wearing a University of Maryland sweatshirt, everyone having a black face does the job too.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        The sporting events don't produce beat downs, they produce looting and burning cars and stuff. I am talking about the beat downs.
        
        And yes, it is tribally motivated. That is the point. It is a bunch of young black kids getting together via twitter and attacking some white or latin person. That is a real problem. Eventually white people will start doing the same thing or arm themselves and start taking revenge. And that is exactly the cycle of violence that Sowell is talking about.
        
        db 13 years ago
        
        It's interesting about comm tech being used as a force concentration tool. It sounds like these people are almost engaging in real life WoW-style "raids."
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        And there is no solution to it other than an armed populace. The police can't get there in time. And no one or two people can fight off a mob. A fire arm is the only solution in that situation.
        
        ant1sthenes 13 years ago
        
        And no one or two people can fight off a mob. A fire arm is the only solution in that situation.
        
        Listen up, you primitive screwheads...
        
        ant1sthenes 13 years ago
        
        They should be aiming for orange and purple then, not random whites.
        
        Azathoth!! 13 years ago
        
        Please, Fluffy, a single example of a mob of white people attacking blacks in the UK. Just one. In this century.
        
        Don't think you'll find one.
        
        Never mind enough to generate a book.
      3. Mike M. 13 years ago
        
        And they even have a charming little name for this activity: it's called a "polar bear hunt".
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Sloopy says that is just not true. It never happens. And when it does the reporting is wrong. No black person could ever be guilty of racism or ever attack a white person. It can't happen. Sloopy says so. Take a deep breath and ignore your lying eyes.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        I never said that, John. I just said I think it is being sensationalized and that the occurrences are rare.
        
        I just want to see the stats instead of a couple of anecdotes and something about the Tamil Tigers by a guy who has a vested interest (selling books on the subject) in making this a big deal.
        
        Mike M. 13 years ago
        
        It looks to me like Sloopy is being deliberately obtuse on this issue.
        
        It's definitely happening, the incidents of it are increasing, and the reason why it has particularly been on the rise in Illinois is because the gang-bangers and thugs who enjoy doing this know that it's virtually guaranteed that they won't get shot, because it's basically completely illegal to carry a gun in Illinois.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        If I come across as obtuse, it is unintended. I just hate to see knee-jerk reactions based solely on anecdotal evidence. If it's on the rise in Chicago, then he should put out the stats showing it's increase.
        
        Your point about gun control in Chicago being a large contributing factor in any increased violence is a very shrewd one, by the way. It needs to be repeated regularly.
        
        db 13 years ago
        
        I, like sloopy, want to see some real data on this. If it really is happening, it shouldn't be hard to prove. I don't believe it is or isn't happening at this point. A simple list of links to news stories and police reports might suffice to establish a pattern. They can't come from a single source, and they need to be verifiable (multiple sources for each incident).
        
        EDG reppin' LBC 13 years ago
        
        Come on John. That is not what Sloopy was arguing. At all. Seriously, is it so important for you to win every argument, rather than just engage in argument, that you would mischaracterize what Sloopy was saying?
        
        You're better than that.
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

"Could one word take down Obamacare?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....obamacare/
1. robc 13 years ago
  
  "This is a 2,000-page bill that was put together in extraordinarily messy circumstances," says Yale University's Abbe Gluck, who has studied the issue. "The provisions that establish the exchanges are separated, but critically in the reconciliation bill [cited above] and in Congress, they always talked about the two exchanges as interchangeable."
  
  Maybe they should take more time to fucking read the bills so that these kind of errors dont take place?
  
  I say if they want to be sloppy, they get sloppy results and have to deal with it.
  1. R C Dean 13 years ago
    
    The statute clearly only authorizes subsidies through state, not federal exchanges.
    
    Sad that the conventional wisdom is that judges will be "practical" and do a de facto amendment of the statute.
Pip 13 years ago

Heard a Tony Bennett / Lady Gaga Duet this morning. What a waste of Tony Bennett's time.
sloopyinca 13 years ago

Back to the Andrew Scott shooting story above. The way that door is set up (It's a RH inswing), for the cops to even see his gun, Scott would have to have been holding it with his left hand. Being that 10% of the people are left-handed, let's just say that it is very unlikely he would be holding it in his left hand, meaning it is very likely the gun was behind the door the entire time.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing the photo, but I never hold my gun with my off-hand and I'd never be moving my gun from hand to hand when opening a door, especially at 1:30 am when I wasn't expecting anybody to call on me.

I'm a lefty, and if the door was situated the other way, nobody on the other side would see it until the door were opened much more than the entry angles suggest from the picture. This whole story is getting more fucked-up as it goes along.
1. db 13 years ago
  
  You should become proficient in weak-hand shooting.
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    You're right that I need to, but given the choice I'm going to go into a situation with my strong-hand holding a gun and putting a door between a potential intruder and my property/wife/self.
    
    Based on the photo, it looks like the victim practiced good gun technique and still got capped by trigger-happy cops that very likely never saw a gun until they moved his bullet-riddled body out of the way so they could get into his apartment.
    
    All conventional wisdom says there is a 90% chance he would have had the gun in his right hand, which would have been behind the door, and for the cops to have seen the gun prior to shooting, he would have had to have opened the door in its entirety, meaning the entry angle of the bullets in the door would have come from a policeman directly in front of it, which is contradicted by the bullet in the left door jamb. The only way they would have seen the gun is if he stood in a very unnatural position (to the right of the door from the angle in the picture) and flung the door open, but even then if he did so with his left hand, the gun would not have been visible until his body rotated back...and that would be a very unnatural way to open a door under any circumstances.
    
    If this man had the gun in his left hand, it is very likely a bad shoot. If it was in his right, it is without a doubt a fabricated story meant to cover up a murder.
    1. db 13 years ago
      
      It would be interesting to see which of his fingerprints were in gripping positions on the gun. Personally, I wouldn't answer a door like that but demand identification prior to doing so. In a situation like this where answering the doo would be unavoidable, the gun should be held strong hand, in retention. If you ask for, and get, proof that the cops are cops and they have a warrant, holster the gun( or set it aside) and answer.
R C Dean 13 years ago

Personally, I wouldn't answer a door like that but demand identification prior to doing so.

I would also ask for identification, but I wouldn't trust whatever they said, so at 2:00 am, I'm going to have a gun in my hand unless I see a cruiser with its lights flashing in my driveway. In that case, the gun will be on the table next to the door, in easy reach but out of view of the (probable/assumed) trigger-happy state enforcers on my porch.
1. db 13 years ago
  
  I once had a state constable show up at my house with an actual warrant for my arrest. He showed identification immediately and the warrant. It turned out I had failed to put a stamp on the payment for my ticket for out-of-date state inspection on my car and the Magistrate doesn't take kindly to that. The constable had a hilarious look on his face when he told me, "db? I have a warrant for your arrest." The look on my face mustht have been priceless. I actually said, "whaaaaat?"
  
  He didn''t actually arrest me but he did notice the handgun on the table behind me. After I had paid the fine (PA law allows this) and got my receipt along witg a signed copy of the warrant from him saying I was cool (in case I were to meet up witg any other LEOs in the comng days), he tried topimp his gun shop to me. He was carrying a nice Kimber Procarry.
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