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A.M. Links: London Summer Olympics Start, Justin Bieber Chasing Paparazzo Charged Under New Law, Bo Xilai's Wife Charged with Murder

Ed Krayewski | 7.27.2012 9:00 AM

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  • The Olympics in London began today as Mitt Romney continues to face criticism for observing that hey, maybe London's not iron-clad ready for the Olympics and the British press decides Britain doesn't like Romney. The ex-pats at his London fundraiser do though.

  • The Department of Justice and the city of Seattle are expected to announce a settlement containing reforms of the police department that the feds investigated. Some city council members and the members of the community that called for a federal investigation complain they've been cut out of the process.
  • A federal judge overruled a decision by immigration authorities to reject Jamal Abusamhadaneh's application for citizenship. Immigration authorities were worried about the man's associations with a Virginia mosque where Anwar al-Awlaki once served as imam, but he took the oath of citizenship yesterday.
  • A photographer chasing Justin Bieber in L.A. will be the first prosecuted under the state's new anti-paparazzi law; the man was charged with "reckless driving with the intent to capture a picture for commercial gain."
  • The wife of former Chinese Politburo member Bo Xilai was charged with the murder of a British business man and will face trial as early as next month.
  • Facebook stock was down 11 percent in pre-market trading despite a better than expected earnings report, its first as a publicly traded company.

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NEXT: Chip Bok on Joe Paterno's Legacy

Ed Krayewski is a former associate editor at Reason.

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  1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Zooey Deschanel has boobies! Who knew?
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....dress.html

    1. Fluffy   13 years ago

      Me.

    2. John   13 years ago

      Those look real.

    3. robc   13 years ago

      Im still trying to figure out how to use her clear bad taste in men to my advantage.

      1. John   13 years ago

        Learn to play guitar and become a hipster. But I will say her ex husband's band is actually pretty good despite having the gayest name for a band maybe ever.

        1. Joe M   13 years ago

          Glad you finally took a listen, geez.

      2. Somalian Road Corporation   13 years ago

        She's a vegan with a gluten allergy that also doesn't like tofu. Work at it from that angle.

        1. John   13 years ago

          If she can't eat bread, meat or tofu, what the fuck does she live on? Vitamin C and cocaine?

          1. Bobarian   13 years ago

            Don't forget the reds.

        2. robc   13 years ago

          IIRC, she has given up the veganism, but I might be confusing her.

          I saw that episode of Top Chef Masters though. The look on the chefs' faces was amazing.

          1. benji   13 years ago

            She did give up the veganism because she couldn't do a true vegan diet because of her allergies. It limited her nutritional intake or something.

            And some of that from Masters was for effect though, and plus it was just sprung on them.

    4. Elim   13 years ago

      Now that your silly manchildren views have been completely crushed under the weight of intellectual and academic research I leave you all to your cess pool of idiocy.

    5. Peter L   13 years ago

      Meh, it's just the camera angle and the way she was standing/leaning forward. I would look like I have boobs too if I was wearing that and standing that way.

  2. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Lady Gaga naked. Keep the barf bag handy.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....chair.html

    1. RBS   13 years ago

      Kill it!!!

    2. ALHaines   13 years ago

      Why do I have this funny feeling that there is a penis hiding down there?

      1. Ice Nine   13 years ago

        Why do you have the feeling that it's hiding?

        1. ALHaines   13 years ago

          lulz

        2. R C Dean   13 years ago

          Any self-respecting penis would be embarrassed, that's why.

          1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

            Any self-respecting penis would be embarrassed

            John's penis has no self respect. I bet it'd go there.

            1. Pound. Head. On. Desk.   13 years ago

              John's penis has no self respect. I bet it'd go there.

              Penises have self-respect? Now I have to go back in time (pre-marriage) and tell my favorite appendage it was allowed to have self-respect?

              Where did I put that greasy old chronoton redirector?

    3. John   13 years ago

      At least Lana Del Ray is hot. If we have to have no talent female pop stars, can we at least have really hot ones? For the life of me I can't see why Lady Gaga is popular. It is all bad pop techno crap anyway. If we have to have that crap, why not make Del Ray the big star. At least she is very easy on the eyes.

      1. $park?   13 years ago

        At least Lana Del Ray is hot

        Wrong.

        At least she is very easy on the eyes

        Also wrong.

        1. John   13 years ago

          Lana Del Ray can't sing a lick. But she is hot as hell. If you don't think she

          http://static.nme.com/images/g.....230412.jpg

          is hot, you have a weirder sense of beauty than Sarcasmic.

          1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

            Uh, no?

            She is not entirely unattractive, but certainly not hot.

            1. John   13 years ago

              You just don't like her because she has hips, albeit small ones.

              1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                Her figure ain't bad.
                It's her face. She isn't downright ugly like that Gaga creature, but she ain't no beauty.

                1. John   13 years ago

                  She is definitely on the fat side for you. But I think her face is perfectly fine. She is very attractive. Better looking than that blond with the weird jaw line you linked to the other day.

                  1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                    Ali Larter is a hundred times better looking than Lana Del Ray could ever be.

                    1. John   13 years ago

                      If you like deformed asymmetric jaws, Ali Larter is a goddess. She is one step above Sarah Jessica Parker.

                    2. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                      Besides, once Lana was linked to Axel Rose, any chance of finding her attractive went out the window.

                    3. John   13 years ago

                      That is a buzz kill.

          2. RBS   13 years ago

            Something about her face in that pic is a little off. I wouldn't kick her out of bed though.

          3. $park?   13 years ago

            You call Ali Larter a butter face because you don't like her jaw line. Then you call Lana Del Rey hot?

            1. John   13 years ago

              Ali Larter has a deformed jaw line. Her face is totally asymmetrical. She is not very pretty.

              1. $park?   13 years ago

                Ali Larter

                Lana Del Rey

                Yeah, Ali is the one with the fucked up face.

                1. John   13 years ago

                  Yeah. That is under perfect lighting and makeup. Her jaw line is huge and her face is way too round. She is just not that pretty. She looks like a character from Family Circus in the pic.

                2. John   13 years ago

                  And Del Ray is massively cute in that picture.

                  1. RBS   13 years ago

                    She looks like someone took a 2x4 to the left side of her face.

                  2. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                    And Del Ray is massively cute in that picture.

                    She looks like she just left the dentist with one half of her face all swollen and numb.

                    Or maybe she had a stroke?

          4. Fluffy   13 years ago

            I have to vote No on the face, too.

            I really, really don't like Denise Richards type faces.

          5. mr simple   13 years ago

            Her facial features are too big for the size of her head or something. I can't quite put my finger on it.

    4. SIV   13 years ago

      I think Lady Gaga looks pretty hot here

      1. EDG reppin' LBC   13 years ago

        Yes! A new Machete movie! If it weren't for Rodriguez and Tarantino, I would give up on Hollywood altogether.

  3. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Daily Mail can't go three days without some Christina Hendricks pics.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....dress.html

    1. Restoras   13 years ago

      Looks like someone just pulled the cord on an inflatable life raft.

      1. DJF   13 years ago

        I am no fashion person but she needs to get who every picks out her clothes for TV or movies to pick out her clothes in real life. Her real life clothes never seem to fit right.

        1. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

          I suspect the underwear has a lot to do with it. On MM the women are all wearing authentic 60s underthings, which really force you into a particular upright posture. She also might be deliberately trying to dress in very contemporary clothing to draw a sharp distinction between her and her character. Either way, bad move

          1. RBS   13 years ago

            Yeah, it looks like she just threw on an empty potato sack and hit the streets.

          2. SIV   13 years ago

            authentic 60s underthings

            Much more on the subject is available at my blog.

            (Linked page is SFW)

    2. Kaptious Kristen   13 years ago

      She looks nice, but why is she holding that lamp in front of her funbags?

  4. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Don't know who Eliza Doolittle is, but I could do her a lot.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....ncert.html

    1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

      Oh wouldn't it be loverly!

    2. mr simple   13 years ago

      What happened to her face?

    3. BakedPenguin   13 years ago

      C'mon folks. It's "I think she's got it!"

    4. JW   13 years ago

      Wow. I think I'd do GaGa before that insanely average and completely forgettable K-list celeb.

  5. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    2000 foot tall dust storm hits Phoenix.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....homes.html

    1. Kaptious Kristen   13 years ago

      Haboob...one of the best adopted-from-foreign-language words evar.

      1. EDG reppin' LBC   13 years ago

        Hehe. You said "boob".

  6. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Good intentions lead here.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....YEARS.html

    1. tarran   13 years ago

      That is ... awesome... mainly because I don't live there.

    2. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

      And why aren't the AGWers there yelling at the Earth to knock it off already? How much C02 has that hole release in 40 years?

    3. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

      What could go wrong when you have a hole dug by "Soviet geologists"?

      "Say, Ivan, lets just toss a match down there, it'll burn the gas and we can make more hole bigger!"

      FOOSH!

      1. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

        "Hey, comrade. We must save the People's tractor stuck in pit. Throw torch down so we get light."

    4. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

      Why don't they pitch this as the world's biggest BBQ / luau?

      1. $park?   13 years ago

        I don't think I'd want to eat anything cooked over that fire. Just in case.

    5. Fluffy   13 years ago

      In Soviet Union, natural gas burns YOU.

    6. JW   13 years ago

      Where's Buffy and the Scoobies?

    7. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

      No, I said a Bud Light.

    8. Gray Ghost   13 years ago

      Waste of a good natural gas reservoir. Wonder why they haven't bothered trying to drill it and deplete it?

      Isn't Centralia still burning?

  7. DJF   13 years ago

    Here is a link to the FDIC Debt Guarantee Program from Oct 2008 to Oct 2009 published yesterday. It lent out 600 billion plus to banks at low or even 0% interest. It must be nice to be in a "business" that gets is product supplied for free so that it can sell it at a nice markup.

    The Web page is large so it might take a little time to load

    http://www.fdic.gov/regulation.....ebt.html#h

    Here is the same thing in PDF which is faster.

    http://www.fdic.gov/regulation.....aldebt.pdf

  8. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    "reckless driving with the intent to capture a picture for commercial gain."

    Profits! Aauugh! Must! Stop! People! From! Making! Profits!

    1. DJF   13 years ago

      If he was reckless driving why do they need a special law, isn't reckless driving already against the law?

      1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

        Yeah, but this is even worse because they're trying to make profits!

        I mean... profits!

        Must! Outlaw! Profits!

        1. Ice Nine   13 years ago

          Why didn't he just insist that he was taking the photo to give to his daughter?

          1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

            How could he prove it?
            Intent is one of those things were once you are accused, the burden of proof is on you to prove otherwise.
            Guilty until proven innocent.

      2. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

        Yeah, basically criminalizing motive just allows them to slap on extra penalties.

        1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

          Correct - same as "hate crimes'. Sure, you murdered someone, but it is really extra-ungood that you did it hatefully.

          1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

            Funny thing about "hate crimes" is that you can kill someone while shouting "I hate you!" and it isn't necessarily a "hate crime" if the victim is not a member of a protected class.
            But we're all equal, right?

            1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

              Correct! "Hate" can only be directed toward protected classes, not just any WASP/cracker/white trash can be so protected.

              1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                Oh, and none of you hetero-breeders need apply either.

    2. Restoras   13 years ago

      The sooner CA officially becomes a failed state the better.

      1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

        Me thinks that boat sailed.

        1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

          Apparently sans urinals.

          1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

            +69

  9. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

    Some city council members and the members of the community that called for a federal investigation complain they've been cut out of the process.

    You invite the feds in because you can't control your people, this is what you get.

  10. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    Nearly 1 in 5 People Have a Disability in the U.S., Census Bureau Reports
    http://www.census.gov/newsroom.....2-134.html

    1. Rhywun   13 years ago

      I'm sure those numbers aren't ginned up at all.

  11. PowerBottom   13 years ago

    Was having a conversation with a lefty friend yesterday about the Col shooting, when he made the argument that citizens owning guns is useless since our military has advanced weapons and air power, etc, etc, and that there's nothing we could do to stop them. I then pointed out that Afghanistan farmers with old Enfields and Kalishnikovs were stale mating the mightiest military in the world. Over ten years and a giant powerful military can't bring dirt farmers under control? And this asshole thinks our military could take over and occupy the whole of the US?

    1. John   13 years ago

      The military isn't the ones we have to worry about oppressing us. It is the police.

      1. PowerBottom   13 years ago

        I agree. But for the purposes of this argument I was trying to show that in the face of a determined enemy, it's difficult, if not impossible, for any military to bring a whole population under control. This person was trying to say that American civilians were no match for a modern military.

      2. ALHaines   13 years ago

        I wonder sometimes what would happen if there were a bloody revolution here. With whom would the military side? Someone, I think at Vox's place, posited the Navy/AF go pro-gov, Marines go rogue, Army splits. And cops go with whomever will protect their power.

        Would we be at risk from our military should a civil war become reality?

        1. John   13 years ago

          It depends on who was rebelling and over what. I think the military would be loath to ever shoot American citizens. Most of the military would refuse to do that. But again it depends on the nature of the revolution. If we really had violent mobs who were killing innocent people, the military would act as ordered and restore order.

          If we had anything approaching a nonviolent movement, the military would disobey orders and refuse to step in. The cops on the other hand would think nothing of mowing down protesters.

          1. ALHaines   13 years ago

            I am thinking of outright rebellion against the government and possibly a race war or class war that features real violence, not just ideological babble.

            Agreed on cops. And on the majority of the military. I worry about the few hardcore, unwavering, follow orders at all costs types, but they likely make up a minority.

            I suppose it could also be a question of power-grabs. If the COs feel the power shift from the Prez to the people, they command troops to be on our side. If the Prez/Gov looks to be the most lucrative option, they attack the people.

            I want to believe people will be righteous, but the lust for power destroys.

            1. John   13 years ago

              The big stuggle would be between the feds and the governors over federalizing the National Guard. If you had real issues in one area of the country, governors would refuse to let their national guards' be federalized to deal with it. That is when shit would really hit the fan.

            2. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

              Pretty much the entire National Guard wouldn't go off on the peopulation - if it isn't indescriminant killing, looting and such. There is a reason the Guard are called "citizen-soldiers" (note which term is first).

              1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                "peopulation" - wow, that has to be my most creative misspelling yet.

              2. John   13 years ago

                And in a real emergency, the Governors wouldn't let their NGs be federalized.

              3. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                National Guard didn't seem to have any qualms about killing people in New Orleans if I remember correctly.

                1. $park?   13 years ago

                  Kent State anyone?

                  1. John   13 years ago

                    And the Guard is still very angry at themselves and the politicians that that happened. Avoiding another Kent State is pretty much a religion in the Guard.

                2. Auscifer   13 years ago
                3. John   13 years ago

                  The Guard didn't kill anyone in the New Orleans sarcasmic. It was the New Orleans cops who killed people, not the guard. The Guard didn't even have ammunition in their weapons.

                  1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                    I stand corrected.

                    1. John   13 years ago

                      Like I said sarcasmic, the cops would have no qualms about mowing people down.

                    2. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                      the cops would have no qualms about mowing people down.

                      Qualms? Dude, they'd welcome the opportunity to kill people.

                      I thought I told you that I'd overheard a drunk cop lamenting to his drunk cop buddies how he'd never had the chance to kill someone, and rather than be horrified (like I was) they consoled him.

                      Since then when I see a cop I see someone who is looking for an excuse to kill me.

                4. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                  Heh - that was the biggest waste of time and manpower evah! I was 4 months back from Afghanistan and would have gladly gone back rather than spend one more day in Nawlins.

                  1. John   13 years ago

                    I was there too John with 5th Army. God what a cluster fuck waste of time that was.

          2. Ice Nine   13 years ago

            Whatever good reasons there might be for not having a draft, there is at least one good one for the draft - draftees are much more likely to act as you have suggested than professional soldiers. I was a draftee and I served with mostly draftees, enlisted and JOs alike - believe me, draftees are an unsettled, rebellious lot and they aren't going to be shooting their homies.

      3. Restoras   13 years ago

        Yep. Thankfully, I think that cops are just as much bureaucrats as they are anything else, and would probably back down when faced with any kind of organized, determined resistance.

      4. R C Dean   13 years ago

        The military isn't the ones we have to worry about oppressing us.

        It is the police.In an actual uprising, the cops would be swept away like chaff.

        As for which way the real military breaks, I think it is entirely situational. For the right kind of uprising, they would split. Some will always go "I vus chust obeyink orders", of course, but not all.

        1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

          I think most military officers take the oath to support and defend the Constitution very seriously. I'd like to believe that would be the driving force in the decision to come down on one side or the other.

        2. Gray Ghost   13 years ago

          I am not as sanguine as some of you that the military wouldn't shoot Americans. They didn't seem to have a problem with it when the Bonus Army was dispersed. I think it would be very tough, the first time they were asked to do it, and a hell of a lot easier each time thereafter.

          It just requires framing the problem properly for the military. If it's couched as, "restoring order and stopping armed, cop-killing anarchists," then I can see the U.S. military doing just that.

    2. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

      WOLVERINES!

      1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

        +2.2

    3. Night Elf Mohawk   13 years ago

      Over ten years and a giant powerful military can't bring dirt farmers under control?

      I'm not sure that "can't" is the right word there. I'd say it's much more a question of restraint and political will than actual ability.

      1. RBS   13 years ago

        Yeah, Afghanistan would be a wasteland if they really wanted it to be. Well, even more so.

        1. Drax the Destroyer   13 years ago

          Well, with that in mind, wouldn't they want to NOT make the U.S. even less of a wasteland? They'd be even more politically hamstrung here than abroad...in theory.

          1. R C Dean   13 years ago

            Speaking of the wasteland, I am enjoying FONV muchly.

            1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

              Did they get rid of those terrible crab-persons? Those were a real pain to shoot.

              1. Ska   13 years ago

                I don't think there are still Mirelurks, but there is a variant of the mirelurk kings called Lakelurks.

                It's the radscorpions, beefier deathclaws, and these freakin' rattlesnake-mountain cats that are a bigger pain in the ass. And the grey supermutant guys (forgot their names...).

            2. Ska   13 years ago

              Do yourself a favor if this is your first playthrough - there is a certain point in the main campaign where you'll see there are many faction choices you can make. Keep a save at that point so you can easily go back for different endings.

              I don't want to go into further detail, but I believe right after the House Always Wins would be a good place for it.

              1. Gray Ghost   13 years ago

                Fantastic game. The giant radscorpions are a huge PITA to the early player. In fact, most of the wildlife will hand you your ass until you get much better equipment and skills.

                Save early and often. There's a lot more crafting---if that's your thing---in New Vegas vs FO3. Oh, I found that you die much more easily in NV. VATS doesn't soak up damage like it did in FO3.

                I liked it much more than I liked FO3.

              2. R C Dean   13 years ago

                Hell, I'm already lined up with the Californians against the Legion (seriously, if you want to get on my good side, don't go crucifying people and taking slaves).

                And I pissed off the raider gangs right out of the box.

                Its weird, but I invariably play these games as a "good" character. Even when I've tried to be "evil", I always wind up drifting back to "good".

                That's why they call it fiction, I suppose.

                1. Ska   13 years ago

                  Hey man, me too. Something about running with the Legion was impossible for me. But how about siding with the Yes Man? Siding with House?

                  1. Jake Badlands   13 years ago

                    Siding with Yes Man is the game's most libertarian ending, even if it is a little grimmer than I would have depicted it. How can you not like an achievement called "No Gods, No Masters?"

                    That game just plain kicks ass. It's got Wayne effing Newton!

                  2. R C Dean   13 years ago

                    I'm not that far, yet. I'm holding in chapter 1 and trying to clean up that corner of the map some more.

      2. PowerBottom   13 years ago

        I suppose that's true, but even our military would be hesitant to go all scorched earth on people when there are a considerable amount of innocent people in the crossfire. And if the battlefield was the US, I find it even harder to believe. Point is, a local, guerilla campaign is nearly impossible to defeat, even with all the bells and whistles modern militarized have.

        1. Drax the Destroyer   13 years ago

          Especially when considering, "cheap" home-made weapons can take out multi-million dollar platforms full of troops with millions of dollars worth of training. Asymmetrical warfare will be around a long time until they can invent force fields or something.

          1. Pound. Head. On. Desk.   13 years ago

            Asymmetrical warfare will be around a long time until they can invent force fields or something.

            And even then. Everything has a weak spot of some sort. If nothing else, the occupiers have to let their hair down sometime. Or worse for them if they can't.

          2. Surly Chef   13 years ago

            I know I'm late to the party, but there's another point I'd make about civil war: That a protracted engagement would not be as sustainable when waging a campaign against the tax base. If it was localized that might be possible, but if it were widespread the fed military can only be funded for so long without extracting revenue from the populace. That's okay if you're everywhere that's not the US, but the dollar being the "tallest midget" is the lender of last resort that directly and indirectly funds these things in other countries.

            I'm of the impression that widespread civil war in the US, creating a massive drop in federal revenue for an extended period of time, causes the entire house of cards to fall worldwide.

        2. JW   13 years ago

          Has any state ever prevailed against an uprising which primarily relied on guerrilla tactics?

          What's our record on that? 0-3?

          1. R C Dean   13 years ago

            Well, we actually beat the VC in Vietnam. After Tet, which they lost, they were done, and it was the NVA that did the fighting after that.

            There was a guerrilla group in the South Pacific that was wiped out by the government a few years ago (I forget their name). I believe the Shining Path is done as well.

            Lots of "people's revolutions" fail. You just don't hear about them.

            1. JW   13 years ago

              True, but how long did it take to "win?" I wouldn't call Viet Nam a win for the US in any real sense, esp. in light of the post-war events.

              The point remains that with comparatively few resources, a determined and crafty guerilla group can tie up a much larger larger state for many, many years.

              1. Gray Ghost   13 years ago

                But Vietnam after Tet wasn't a guerrilla war anymore; it was a conventional conflict against primarily light infantry. (Well, until the NVA sent several hundred tanks and APCs against the South in 1973 and 1975.) The NVA wasn't relying on the S. Vietnamese peasantry to supplement their manpower or to provide much in the way of logistical support after 1968. They already had logistical pipelines---the Ho Chi Minh Trail---and safe harbors in Cambodia and Laos.

                The guerrilla war had been won, at that point. Unfortunately, there wasn't the political will for an invasion of the North.

                Has it been simulated, an invasion with a conventional amphibious assault up the Red River Delta and, say, the 1st Cav going up Highway 1, with no restrictions on targeting? Curious what was found. I don't see how the USA loses. Well, until the Chinese show up.

          2. Gray Ghost   13 years ago

            Has any state ever prevailed against an uprising which primarily relied on guerrilla tactics?

            Sure. The Indian Wars come to mind here. For modern times, you could look to South America (Peru v Shining Path; El Salvador vs whomever they were fighting; etc...)

            A problem comes in defining victory conditions. Conflicts like those take awhile to peter out, often requiring the victor to declare amnesty for the combatants.

            1. Gray Ghost   13 years ago

              Forgot about the Tamil Tigers, which is what I think Dean is referring to above. It's a lot easier to make your enemy stand and fight when you've got him trapped on an island.

          3. NeonCat   13 years ago

            The Brits won the Malayan Emergency, more or less. It helped that there were no communist nations bordering Malaysia through which supplies could come, as well as (according to Wikipedia) there only being about 8000 insurgents.

          4. Jake Badlands   13 years ago

            Well, the state handled Daniel Shays, God rest him.

          5. generic Brand   13 years ago

            Well, 1-3 if you want to count our victory against the Brits. But then we were the guerrilas so not sure how that factors in.

    4. Pro Libertate   13 years ago

      To be sure, it's unlikely that a serious insurrection here would fail to divide the military as well as the rest of the population.

    5. Elim   13 years ago

      Most Americans love their country and would put down the traitors who dare take up arms against their nation in an attempt to impose a fascist corporate state.

      That's why the right-wing anarchist gun nuts will never be more than a fringe and have to carry out these terrorist attacks. If they tried to really challenge the government they know they'd be put down. And fast.

      1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

        Ladies and Gentlemen. We have a troll.

      2. PowerBottom   13 years ago

        Just like the Taliban, right? I mean, it was a swift and glorious victory against the dirt farmers, right? It's not like we've been there ten years and can't stop them....right?

        1. Elim   13 years ago

          That's because they're fighting for liberation, just as the American people would be against the militia nuts who listen to talk radio.

          1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

            Wait, wait, wait. Did you just say the Taliban are fighting for liberation? Liberation for who? Certainly not for anyone without a Y-chromosome. So that takes care of about 50% of the population they are trying to forcibly oppress. Then take the % of the male population that aren't hardcore Muslim fundamentalists...we'll call that group at about 1/2 of the male population.

            Right off the bat you have 75% of the population that will be oppressed by the Taliban as a course of their daily routine. Doesn't sound very liberating to me.

            Look, if you're gonna troll, you have to know when you've gone a bridge too far. And you, sir or ma'am, have just done so.

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              They're fighting for liberation from the Western Capitalist system that the GOP tried to impose on them.

              1. NeonCat   13 years ago

                Gosh, I hope they win their struggle to be dirt-poor forever. Maybe you can go and help them make some puppets or something, encourage non-violent means of being a nitwit.

              2. Pip   13 years ago

                Words fail.

          2. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

            You are forgetting...

            Your side doesn't have any guns.

            1. NeonCat   13 years ago

              And I bet Bloomberg won't let his bodyguards lend you any, either.

      3. sticks   13 years ago

        you're cute.

  12. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

    ...the man was charged with "reckless driving with the intent to capture a picture for commercial gain."

    So it's still legal to drive recklessly with the intent to capture a picture due to Bieber Fever, right?

    1. Bee Tagger   13 years ago

      Yeah, do they view personal profit the same as commercial gain?

    2. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

      Well that's a documented illness. It's totally excusable, like crashing into someone while having a seizure.

      1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

        Are you insinuating that various Kennedys and Cabinet Secretaries have Beiber Fever? We're more screwed than I have ever feared...

  13. sloopyinca   13 years ago

    Remember Mary Stack and her YouTube videos of reason commentators? Well, not only is she at it again, she's resorted to making some of it up.

    From her comments: All? characters appearing in this work are fictitious. All anonymous chat room commentators using fictitious names are anonymous and fictitious. We do not assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the commentators who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Kizone Kaprow. We reserve the right to delete any comment or disable your ability to comment for any reason at any time. Any resemblance to real persons, living? or dead, is purely coincidental.

    What a fucking psycho.

    1. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

      I am anonymous and fictitious? Who made me up and why do I have a name, albeit a ridiculous one? I haz teh confused 🙁

      1. Ed   13 years ago

        I'm a tangerine.

        1. Bobarian   13 years ago

          I am a jelly donut!

      2. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        I guess now she's resorting to putting words into our mouths and claiming they are fictitious. That doesn't work too well when you start your description: Actual comments ripped from the comment threads of a libertarian blog!

        What's the libertarian position on libel again?

        1. R C Dean   13 years ago

          We're split. Some regard it as an infringement of free speech.

          Others (like me) regard it as restitution for harm done. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of speech.

          1. JW   13 years ago

            Others (like me) regard it as restitution for harm done. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of speech.

            Exactly this.

      3. T   13 years ago

        This just confirms what I've always suspected. My life is an elaborate fiction by a crappy author.

        On the plus side, at George R.R. Martin isn't writing my life. There'd be way more dead bodies.

        1. Ska   13 years ago

          Would you even survive through the second book?

        2. ant1sthenes   13 years ago

          Once I started noticing people with names obviously tied to the author's view of them (e.g. Sandra Fluke), I realized I was in an Ayn Rand fanfic.

      4. Drax the Destroyer   13 years ago

        I'm having a hard time finding anything objectionable with her choice "damning" comments. For one, I agree with most of them. Two, they are intentionally over the top for comedic purposes. And three, FREEDOM OF FUCKING SPEECH BITCHES.

        1. SugarFree   13 years ago

          One of the easy to spot symptoms of troll-crazy is an inability to understand humor. Which is why she wasn't trying to be funny when she expressed a desire to have diabetes rot my limbs off so she could "laugh" about it.

          1. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

            It could have been worse. She could have expressed a desire to ride you like a bitch from hell. Luckily for you, her heart belongs to John

          2. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

            Na. She fully understands the humor. She is intentionally taking posts out of context to misrepresent libertarian philosophy to the rest of the world.

            Kinda begs the question...

            "What is she afraid of?"

            1. $park?   13 years ago

              Kinda begs the question...

              This is why terms can't be used properly anymore.

              1. Ska   13 years ago

                Your just a bitter looser.

              2. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

                Thanks. I learned something today. Now I can start drinking early.

            2. SugarFree   13 years ago

              Her feeble efforts are nothing but part of her obsession with us. She would like to think she trying to breathlessly expose us to the world, but really she's just try to get the attention she so desperately craves.

              Even this is too much attention really. The only thing that hurts her is to ignore her... it burns like throwing battery acid in her eyes.

          3. robc   13 years ago

            I think we will all laugh when that eventually happens.

            BTW, did you see that Oldham Co is more wetterer now?

            Restaurant limits of 100 seats/70% food sales down to 50/50%. Package stores are approved, but will be limited in number. Ditto for beer bars, but bars still wont be able to sell liquor.

            1. SugarFree   13 years ago

              In other beer news, we are getting another brew pub. They can't brew on site, but it will be more of a sit down restaurant. It will be around the corner from Beer Trappe.

              And Pazzo's gastropub, The Village Idiot, opens next weekend.

              1. robc   13 years ago

                we are getting another brew pub. They can't brew on site

                Ummm....

                Beer Engine has a space to open a brewpub in Louisville. Dont know if the Danville one will stay open or not.

      5. JW   13 years ago

        I'm obviously not trying hard enough.

    2. John   13 years ago

      I think Youtube made her do that.

    3. o3   13 years ago

      thanks for the am laughs

    4. SugarFree   13 years ago

      Seriously? "Die in a fire!" is the worst thing she can find that I said? She's not just insane, she's lazy as well.

      1. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

        But the photo she picked for you was weirdly accurate

        1. SugarFree   13 years ago

          It was like a window into my very soul.

    5. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

      She seems to have fatally misunderstood at least one comment. When Warty says "Fuck you, pig!", he's not been violent and hateful. That's just him talking sechsy

      1. Warty   13 years ago

        I never once wrote "Fuck you, pig!" here, for what it's worth. Neither with or without the exclamation point. Ask the google.

        But we all knew she was a lying cunt, anyway.

    6. tarran   13 years ago

      I was laughing out loud reading them...

      I thought DoubleIPA's comment about sodomizing Chapman was high-larious.

      1. EDG reppin' LBC   13 years ago

        Yeah. Double IPA won. I think it was a variation of a line from Reservoir Dogs.

    7. Restoras   13 years ago

      Only got one reference. I am disappoint.

      1. Citizen Nothing   13 years ago

        I didn't get any! Now I must redouble my efforts.
        Shit! Piss! Cunt! Fuck! Cock-sucker! Mutherfucker!

        Tits!!!!!!!!

        1. Pound. Head. On. Desk.   13 years ago

          Only got one reference. I am disappoint.

          I didn't get any!

          Me neither, in any of my incarnations. I'm gonna go ball up in the corner and suck my thumb for a while.
          The pain.
          The pain.
          Sniffle.

    8. Fluffy   13 years ago

      Why did no one tell me about this before?

      I just laughed my ass off.

      My only regret is that I don't appear. I has a sad.

    9. Mike M.   13 years ago

      Hopefully this psychotic, loser cunt has finally been permabanned.

    10. Ice Nine   13 years ago

      Wow. I hadn't heard about the Haldol shortage in Dallas, had you?

    11. kinnath   13 years ago

      I don't now how I wound up in her fantasy world, but she certainly made up the words she associated with my handle.

    12. Troy muy grande boner   13 years ago

      I was kind of hoping to see my name.

    13. Pip   13 years ago

      The John donkey picture makes me giggle every time.

  14. Chloe   13 years ago

    Some city council members and the members of the community that called for a federal investigation complain they've been cut out of the process.

    Well, you know, officer safety and everything. Don't want a reform that would prevent them the ability to beat and shoot who needs to be beat and shot.

    Also, fuck you, that's why.

  15. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

    Octomom now pimps Octoloans. Bonus: photo reveals her upper thigh dewlap

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

    1. T   13 years ago

      I'm not clicking on any link that's described with the phrase 'upper thigh dewlap'. If you're going to lure us in, you need to be more subtle about it.

      1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

        I, for one, am grateful I was not tricked. I appreciate warnings of such hazards!

    2. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

      IT BURNS

    3. JW   13 years ago

      I've seen better tranny strippers.

      NTTAWWT

      1. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

        Have you been one too?

        1. JW   13 years ago

          The money, fame and adoring fans? Why *wouldn't* you?

  16. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    Romney-Obama debate formats set: But they matter less this time
    http://news.investors.com/arti.....romney.htm

    The political reality though is that debates, like college mid-terms, seem important at the time but end up mattering less at the end. Arguably, in hindsight only two presidential debates over their 52 years have been decisive:

    The first in 1960 when Richard Nixon's make-up and shaver failed him on black-and-white TV while the country discovered a young, well-spoken senator in John F. Kennedy.

    The other occurred in the final days of the 1980 campaign when two former governors faced off. President Jimmy Carter actually lead Ronald Reagan going into that set-to, as incumbents tend to do, even those burdened by a terrible economy.

  17. Bee Tagger   13 years ago

    Facebook stock was down 11% in pre-market trading despite a better than expected earnings report, its first as a publicly traded company.

    The Obama administration is surprised by this, they thought expectations only worked the other day.

  18. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    Avoiding Another Shutdown
    Democrats are setting up Republicans for an autumn ambush.
    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

    Republican leaders in Congress haven't done very well negotiating on the budget, and now a new threat looms: a showdown in the fall, before Election Day, that could force Republicans to choose between more spending and higher taxes or the risk of a government shutdown.

    That increasingly looks to be the Democratic strategy, pushed quietly by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Senate Democrats are refusing to complete individual spending bills, much less an overall budget, and the federal government will run out of money at the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

    1. wareagle   13 years ago

      I keep wondering how the Senate gets away with being a do-less-than-nothing body.

      1. Alack   13 years ago

        If only the House did nothing as well...

    2. Whiterun Guard   13 years ago

      This is like me pitching to Prince Fielder, but I'm sure the Repubs will screw up this at bat like they do every time.

    3. mr simple   13 years ago

      Why does this automatically make the republicans look bad? The democrats haven't passed a budget in 4 years and continue to hold out for spending more money we don't have. Personally, I would welcome a government shutdown.

      1. wareagle   13 years ago

        it makes Repubs look bad because the media narrative will be how they are holding the entire nation hostage so the evil, filthy, putrid rich can have their tax cuts.

        By the way, can we stop calling them tax cuts and refer to them as tax rates since they have been in place for a decade?

        1. robc   13 years ago

          The GOP deserves it for time limiting the tax cuts, instead of just changing the rate.

      2. Elim   13 years ago

        Republicans seized the House.

        1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

          illegally!!!!

  19. o3   13 years ago

    Romney's most excellent [APOLOGY TOUR]

    Mitt Romney visits London while stumbling on almost every frontThe Obama campaign could scarcely have thought of a better outcome for Mitt Romney's first UK visit as presumptive nominee
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....s-uk-visit

    1. John   13 years ago

      Obama has spent the last four year fucking our allies every way possible. Yeah, we pretty much owe the Brits, the Germans, and especially the Canadians a lot of apologies for electing the Kenyan village idiot President.

      1. o3   13 years ago

        so you dont appreciate the humorous start of romney's euro apology tour?

        1. Bee Tagger   13 years ago

          Yes and No,

          No because it's just another failed opportunity for one Team to take the high road.

          Yes because I enjoy when politicians are viewed more and more like clowns.

        2. Ice Nine   13 years ago

          Romney could fart in front of the queen and he would never be in close to the same fuck-up league as Barack "Shove-Your-Churchill-Bust" Obama.

          1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

            But would he supply an iPod with a recording of said flatulence?

          2. Jeff   13 years ago

            Farting on the queen would be less egregious than Obama's giving her an iPod loaded with his narcissistic blather.

            1. rac3rx   13 years ago

              Or Chewbacca giving her a fat, hairy, sweaty wookie hug...

    2. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

      The Brits frantically spinning may have something to do with this - British lawmakers tore into the chief executive of the security contractor that will be unable to deliver enough guards for the Olympic Games, forcing Nick Buckles to agree Tuesday that the fiasco is "a humiliating shambles."

      Buckles, the chief executive of G4S, said the company should not have agreed to provide 10,400 guards for the Olympics, six days after the security giant admitted it could not do so.

      "We regret signing the contract," Buckles said under pressure from lawmakers.

      The company's failure forced the government to call in 3,500 military personnel to help, and will also require extra police to be deployed.

      G4S has a ?284 million ($444 million) government contract to provide security staff for the Olympic Games, but only 4,000 guards are trained and ready.

      1. wareagle   13 years ago

        but Romney is the bad guy for spilling a malicious truth? And I always thought the Brits had a sense of humor.

        1. NeonCat   13 years ago

          No, they have a sense of humour.

      2. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

        Things have calmed down a bit in Libya (have we won there yet, Tim?). I bet some of those mercenaries would be willing to come up there and help out.

      3. o3   13 years ago

        "The comparisons with Romney's trip to Europe and Obama's visit at almost exactly the same stage in the electoral cycle four years ago are almost too embarrassing to mention. Obama wooed a quarter of a million people in Berlin while Romney was mocked by the British prime minister"
        http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....s-uk-visit
        _
        luvs me sum queen's english!

        1. wareagle   13 years ago

          all this over telling malicious truths about how the Brits fumbled security, which is something the Guardian itself has mentioned. I guess it's different when one of those Yanks points to the turd in the punchbowl.

        2. Jake Badlands   13 years ago

          You know who else wooed a quarter million Germans?

          1. Bobarian   13 years ago

            Michael Jackson?

          2. Bobarian   13 years ago

            David Hasselhoff?

      4. JW   13 years ago

        forcing Nick Buckles

        Is that the gay porn version of Miss Daisy?

    3. R C Dean   13 years ago

      What an embarrassment. The whole purpose of this is to smile and wave and look Presidential, and he's barely off the plane before he steps on his dick.

      1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        No, the point is to grin and wave and look Presidential. Smiling will make them think he's mocking the fact that 90% of the British have seriously fucked up teeth.

        You grin at the British and smile for the Germans.

        1. JW   13 years ago

          I thought the Germans regarded the showing of teeth much as the Kzin do? That could explain a lot of the 20th century.

    4. Zeb   13 years ago

      I'm not sure why Romney should care what Brits think of him. Seems like annoying some English people might help his campaign.

  20. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    U.S. District Court rules that stem cells are drugs
    http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/.....are-drugs/

    Peter Aldhous from New Scientist reports today that the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, has ruled that a person's own cultured stem cells are drugs subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

    1. RBS   13 years ago

      So when they ban all stem cells does that mean they will ban all humans?

      1. o3   13 years ago

        nah, bans take too long

        2d amendment mass shootings!...now that's the quick ticket!

        1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

          You seem a bit off your game today - that one was about as flat as you can fall.

        2. ant1sthenes   13 years ago

          No, the second amendment doesn't protect the right to shoot crowds of innocent people -- I think Congress could pass a law banning that and have it pass Constitutional muster, as long as Kennedy sides with the left wing of the court.

      2. Elspeth Flashman   13 years ago

        hey baby, want to kill all humans?

    2. mr simple   13 years ago

      "I think it's a good ruling, and I'm glad to see that that the FDA has exercised its muscle on the case," says Christopher Scott, who heads the Program on Stem Cells in Society at Stanford University in California.

      Of course you do, you boot-licking, patent-wanting, statist.

      1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

        So his battle cry is not "fuck off, slaver" it is "fuck ME, slaver!"

    3. Anomalous   13 years ago

      Are there stem cells that can be used as recreational drugs? Because then you can really say that you get high on life.

  21. Elim   13 years ago

    I've seen people noting how businessmen also pay taxes so they did help build society.

    What all these useful idiots are missing is that business owners exploit the labor of the working class by stealing their surplus value, so in reality they actually DON'T pay any taxes thus making the working classes effectively pay entirely for society.

    It's a classic case of false consciousness.

    1. PowerBottom   13 years ago

      "stealing". You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

      1. Elim   13 years ago

        So you think you own the labor of the working class?

        I think they may disagree.

        There's a storm coming, Mr. PowerBottom.

        1. T   13 years ago

          Surplus value theory? Really? That's all you got? Try moar harder.

        2. RBS   13 years ago

          There's a storm coming, Mr. PowerBottom.

          Sure there is, but I don't think it's going to happen the way it does in your head...

          1. Elim   13 years ago

            The people will resist Bain just as they did Bane.

            1. mr simple   13 years ago

              Okay, people, is the sock-puppetry obvious enough yet?

            2. RBS   13 years ago

              You know Bane basically advocates your position in the movie right?

              1. Elim   13 years ago

                Bane was lying, just like Romney.

                If you want someone to save society and get the girl, it's Obama.

                Objective proof:
                http://i.imgur.com/ivRcf.jpg

                1. EDG reppin' LBC   13 years ago

                  Elim, that's not a photo of President Obama. That's a photo of Dunphy on vacation.

              2. Drax the Destroyer   13 years ago

                And essentially sets up a de facto dictatorship as well. The coming revolution will apparently involve rationing and military occupation. What a bright future.

        3. tarran   13 years ago

          Elim, the grocery store called.

          They are tired of you exploiting them for their bran muffins.

          They demand you return the surplus value you created by eating them.

          1. Jeff   13 years ago

            Too late, he's already smeared the surplus value all over HR.

            1. Jeff   13 years ago

              H and R. ampersand, y u no work?

        4. Night Elf Mohawk   13 years ago

          If they disagree, they're free to stop taking the paycheck and go elsewhere.

        5. R C Dean   13 years ago

          So you think you own the labor of the working class?

          Of course not. But I can rent it for a mutally agreed price.

          1. Elim   13 years ago

            And then steal their surplus value instead of returning it to them as increased wages.

            1. Elspeth Flashman   13 years ago

              while I should know better than to tangle with this: RC Dean is right, willing seller of labor willing buyer of labor = value of labor.

              1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                The value of a thing is what that thing will bring.

            2. Pip   13 years ago

              Do you have any idea how many workers STEAL from their employers? You know, real theft, not the theoretical theft you're talking about.

    2. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      business owners exploit the labor of the working class by stealing their surplus value

      Stealing?

      Oh. I get it. Not giving is taking, right?

      So if a businessman gives me the opportunity to produce, say, $50 worth of value per hour which I could not do on my own without the investments made by the businessman, and he pays me $30/hr, he is actually stealing $20/hr from me.
      Right?
      The fact that I am now $30/hr richer means I am actually $20/hr poorer, right?

      You fucking leftards are fucking retarded.

      1. o3   13 years ago

        sar didnt get stupid all on his own, no sir.

        VVV just look at all the stupid help he has below VVV

      2. Troy muy grande boner   13 years ago

        my law school valedicktorian thought this way. If you didn't get a COLA every year for your SSI, the gov't was cutting your pay in his world.

    3. Bee Tagger   13 years ago

      We're all business owners. At the very least, each of our businesses sell our labor.

      1. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

        Or appearance of labor.

        1. T   13 years ago

          Marketing is important in a post-industrial economy, FoE.

    4. wareagle   13 years ago

      meet the new and improved concern troll; 30% more vapid than the old trolls.

    5. Restoras   13 years ago

      That. That right there. That is what you call 'weapons grade stupid'.

    6. Kaptious Kristen   13 years ago

      Yeah, I totally entered into my employment without any free will whatsoever. Fluffy-headed woman that I am, I have no negotiating skills and have no knowledge of my market value in my field. I had no idea when I signed on that while my company is paying me $X, they're actually taking in $X x 2. Those bastards! I need super-duper smart liberal elitists like you to hold my hand and do everything for me.

      1. Elim   13 years ago

        Don't you work for the government?

        1. $park?   13 years ago

          If she were wouldn't that mean the government is ripping her off and stealing from her? But the government doesn't do those things...

        2. Kaptious Kristen   13 years ago

          Shows what you know.

          1. Elim   13 years ago

            Oh, so you only leech off the government through a corrupt contractor?

            1. Kaptious Kristen   13 years ago

              Shows what you know.

            2. Drax the Destroyer   13 years ago

              Hey it's your glorious leader (who hasn't changed shit of consequence since Bush slunk out in disgrace BTW) that lets these corrupt contractors permeate government "business". Funny thing about contractors, they are only as corrupt as their customer.

      2. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

        You're othering yourself!

    7. mr simple   13 years ago

      Kind of an obvious troll. You hit all the buzz words just a little too easily.

    8. Spoonman.   13 years ago

      All those damn customers exploiting your tailoring skills.

      1. Elim Garak   13 years ago

        Hey! Don't confuse me with this bum!

        Say, could you transport an isolinear rod for me?

    9. ant1sthenes   13 years ago

      I'm tired of people like you supporting the right of filthy laborers to steal the surplus value of capital with wage increases. Where I came from, they put robbers in jail, and they paid those jailers the minimum that they would take.

  22. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    How to rip off the taxpayer: SIGTARP shares secrets
    http://washingtonexaminer.com/.....le/2503226

    Investigators overseeing the federal bank bailout program have turned up multiple ways dishonest bankers tried to scam taxpayers out of their money -- a whole bunch of their money.

    The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program -- SIGTARP in government-speak -- has released its latest quarterly report to Congress, summing up the watchdog work it's done so far. You can read the complete document here.

    We thought part of the study, which recounted a number of fraudulent schemes SIGTARP uncovered read like a primer for bankers on how to try to rip off Joe Citizen through the bailout. Here's what such a primer might look like.

  23. Bee Tagger   13 years ago

    "reckless driving with the intent to capture a picture for commercial gain."

    Just imagine how bad the punishment would be if he was driving recklessly because he assumed a black man was chasing him to rob him.

  24. $park?   13 years ago

    Mumbles Menino "clarifies" his anti-Chick-fil-A comments.

    "Originally, I said I would do every?thing I can to stop them." Menino said in an interview at City Hall. "And that was mostly using the bully pulpit of being mayor of the city and getting public support. But I didn't say I would not allow them to go for permits or anything like that. I just said we would do everything we can, bully pulpit-wise."

    1. wareagle   13 years ago

      so basically, "I am instilling a purity test for businesses who want to be here. Their CEOs must hold the 'correct' positions on issues or else.'

      What an interesting precedent. I look forward to the whining from the left when another mayor gets in the way of a company because its CEO supports gun control or other left-leaning position.

      1. Bee Tagger   13 years ago

        Maybe he can get Celtics "KJ and Hondo" to help.

      2. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        Ditto wareagle. Even better, though: what happens when the first right-leaning mayor refuses to let an abortion clinic open up because of the politics of the owner and points to Boston and Chicago as his/her precedent? What will fascists like Mumbles and Rahmbo say then?

        1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

          They don't hold to the Kantian view of ethics, that we should act according to principles that we would want universally applied.

          It's never abstract with them. It's always ok to ban things they don't like and never okay to ban things they do like. They don't think any deeper into the issue than that.

          1. grrizzly   13 years ago

            THIS

          2. alex griggs   13 years ago

            Boom, exactly this.

      3. Whiterun Guard   13 years ago

        Don't be daft. Right wing mayors would never get away with this, as the media would actually attempt to do their jobs in that case.

    2. sloopyinca   13 years ago

      Looks like they do have a legal department in the mayor's office after all.

    3. Pro Libertate   13 years ago

      Frankly, I think even that should be illegal. In any event, the slightest hindrance of the chain by the city, regardless of whether it's connected to his bloviating, can now be challenged on First Amendment grounds.

      1. wareagle   13 years ago

        you act as if the left gives a shit about the 1A..

        1. Pro Libertate   13 years ago

          They don't, but lawyers seeking money do.

  25. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

    Aliens has teh intertubez: A crop circle in the shape of an URL

    http://www.thelocal.de/society/20120726-44001.html

    1. Bee Tagger   13 years ago

      Biggest rick roll ever.

  26. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    By now, you know the statement by heart: "If you've got a business, you didn't build that ? somebody else made that happen." (And you have to say it meanly, accusatorily, rebukefully.) A reader whose father-in-law was a dissident in the Soviet Union makes the following observation:

    "When the Soviets denied people the right to emigrate to America or Israel, they often said, 'The State has educated you, so your know-how is State property. It does not belong to you.' These people had not built themselves, so to speak. The State, in its benevolence, had built them, and it had a right to all they produced."

    http://www.nationalreview.com/.....nordlinger

    1. John   13 years ago

      I like Nordlinger. Since Derbyshire left, he is by far the best writer on NRO.

      1. Elim Garak   13 years ago

        Nordlinger was always NRO's best writer.

        1. benji   13 years ago

          Yeah, Derbyshire is meh. Nordlinger's musings despite their lockstep GOPisms are fun.

          And the writing is nice. Like VDH's.

  27. $park?   13 years ago

    DEA cracks down on synthetic drug makers.

    The agents raided smoke shops and other sellers of synthetic marijuana and other synthetic drugs that have been linked to psychotic episodes and deaths of users. Leonhart said agents shut down 29 manufacturing sites that ranged from massive warehouses to residential basements. She said many of those arrested Wednesday had extensive criminal histories.

    They're LINKED I tell you. LINKED!

    1. tarran   13 years ago

      IF they didn't arrest Kevin Bacon, then they didn't go after people who were merely linked.

      1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

        I feel like you're not getting enough appreciation for this gem.

    2. mr simple   13 years ago

      She said many of those arrested Wednesday had extensive criminal histories.

      Way to build up the narrative. Nevermind that what they're doing is only criminal because you arbitrarily decided one day that it should be.

      1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

        Reminds me of the Probable Cause hearing where the officer testified he saw a guy going in to a known crack house, and when asked how he knew it was a crack house, the officer said because he saw the guy going in to it...

        1. $park?   13 years ago

          If circles represent perfection does that mean circular arguments are perfect?

          1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

            Unfortunately for the LEO, the judge was NOT amused and denied PC.

            1. NeonCat   13 years ago

              Judicial activism! Didn't the judge know it was for the children?

  28. John   13 years ago

    http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/.....are-drugs/

    Your own stem cells are "drugs" subject to the jurisdiction of the FDA.

    1. ALHaines   13 years ago

      There could be a tremendous market for renegade scientists and doctors to provide underground stem cell therapies. Works for other drugs, why not your own stem cells?

      The more they tighten their grip...

      1. John   13 years ago

        I think the FDA is the federal agency that most needs to go. As bad as things like DHS and such are, they don't outright make war on the sick like the FDA does. The FDA is basically in the business of denying drugs to the sick.

        1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

          Wouldn't it be better to put all of the FDA employees and all of the EPA employees in a death-cage match? Whichever agency survives the combat can continue operating, albeit with the now-smaller staff and emasculated power.

          1. John   13 years ago

            FDA is worse. EPA may kill people indirectly. But the FDA flat out denies medical care to sick people.

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              The FDA is ensuring that these illegally expensive corporate scam drugs aren't murdering innocents.

              1. wareagle   13 years ago

                right Elim...because everyone knows that drug companies like nothing more than killing people. Because there would be no repercussions at all for knowingly putting dangerous things on the market.

                Are you really this dim or simply regurgitating talking points from Freshman PolySci?

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  I have a Masters in Political Science.

                  1. RBS   13 years ago

                    I have a Masters in Political Science.

                    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                    1. Drax the Destroyer   13 years ago

                      Yeah, that's much worse.

                  2. T   13 years ago

                    Which I guess makes you perfectly qualified to troll blog comments. Do you feel that was a worthwhile investment of your time? All that school, and all you can do is come here and make incoherent, obsolete arguments?

                    Shoudl gone for the PhD, man. Then at least you could get people to call you Dr.

                    1. Elim   13 years ago

                      Having a PhD wouldn't be fair for you people. Could you imagine how much further up the actuarial tables I'd be over the rest of you at that point?

                    2. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                      Neither in earnings, nor, showing your lack of awareness, life expectancy...

                    3. T   13 years ago

                      Wait, is that the 'I make more money than you and I (almost) have a doctorate' argument?

                      MNG has spawned! Somebody send him and John congratulations!

                    4. wareagle   13 years ago

                      actually having a PhD would explain everything. I'm surprised it's only a Masters. Usually, nuclear levels of stupid require full marination in academia.

                    5. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

                      But, wait! Money is evil. Under your glorious future, your earnings would be taxed so you make the same as a janitor despite your advanced degree! You just torpedoed all of your work today. Well done! I give you a F for trolling. Remember, you can't let the mask fall!

                    6. R C Dean   13 years ago

                      Could you imagine how much further up the actuarial tables I'd be over the rest of you at that point?

                      I doubt Ph.Ds are up the actuarial table over JDs, and this place is infested with JDs.

                    7. Pip   13 years ago

                      Didn't work for Minge.

                  3. R C Dean   13 years ago

                    It shows.

                  4. kinnath   13 years ago

                    That still puts you one rung down the ladder from MNG.

              2. sloopyinca   13 years ago

                illegally expensive corporate scam drugs

                [citation required]

              3. Zeb   13 years ago

                Because the high cost of new drugs has nothing to do with the FDA.

                How about a compromise: the FDA tests drugs for safety only. Effectiveness can be studied in other studies and people and their physicians can decide for themselves which drugs to try.

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  Why should needed drugs cost anything? The "high cost" argument is a non-sequitur.

                  If these drugs are free and provided to those who need them, the cost "issue" doesn't matter.

                  1. John   13 years ago

                    You are not Mary. You are a regular. Whoever you are stop it. You have gotten too obvious and taken the fun out of it.

                  2. sloopyinca   13 years ago

                    If these drugs are free and provided to those who need them, the cost "issue" doesn't matter.

                    If the drugs are free, who's gonna develop and produce them? Last I checked, the Keebler Elves were a little too busy to expand operations.

                    1. Elim   13 years ago

                      Really? You don't realize that the government already produces tons of research every year? If it was fully funded we wouldn't need these greedy corporations as it could both develop AND produce any medical drugs we need.

                    2. Pip   13 years ago

                      "Really? You don't realize that the government already produces tons of research every year? If it was fully funded we wouldn't need these greedy corporations as it could both develop AND produce any medical drugs we need."

                      THIS IS WHAT STUPID PEOPLE ACTUALLY BELIEVE.

        2. ALHaines   13 years ago

          My brother is a director in the regulatory affairs department of a huge pharma and says pretty much the same thing. Whenever he hears he has to go to Washington to liaise with the FDA, he dies a little inside. Most of what frustrates him is the bureaucracy. One forgotten signature on the reams of filings they make, and their drug just got sent into limbo for a year. It's almost like they do it on purpose.

          1. John   13 years ago

            No FDA bureaucrat ever got promoted for approving an needed drug early. But all of them live in fear of letting some "unsafe" drug on the market.

            It is very intentional. Their entire careers depend on denying new drugs. If it doesn't get approved, it can never be a failure pinned on the FDA.

          2. tarran   13 years ago

            When I handed in my resignation papers at the pharmaceutical co I worked at in the early 2000's, I felt reborn because I would never have to smile and shake the hand of an FDA regulator as if he were a decent human being instead of a depraved manslaughterer.

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              He was trying to protect citizens from you.

              All you wanted was to take money from people for things they needed to survive.

              1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

                take money from people for things they needed to survive.

                Sounds like a voluntary and fair exchange if ever there were one.

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  How it is voluntary and fair to let someone die or suffer when you have something to save them?

                  1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                    So it is fair to "steal their labor" (ie. get what they produced for nothing)?

                    1. Elim   13 years ago

                      No, that's why business owners need to be replaced by the workers.

                  2. RBS   13 years ago

                    How it is voluntary and fair to let someone die or suffer when you have something to save them?

                    You tell me.

                  3. Zeb   13 years ago

                    How it is voluntary and fair to let someone die or suffer when you have something to save them?

                    There are people in the world dying and suffering. Since you are apparently using a computer right now, I would bet that you have more resources than absolutely necessary for your survival. Why won't you stop depriving those poor people who need what you have to survive?

                    1. Elim   13 years ago

                      I am fighting to get them what they need. I am doing my part. What are you doing?

                  4. sloopyinca   13 years ago

                    How it is voluntary and fair to let someone die or suffer when you have something to save them?

                    Ask the British NHS. They'll explain how, and they'll even use tables and charts!

                  5. Pip   13 years ago

                    "How it is voluntary and fair to let someone die or suffer when you have something to save them?"

                    Pay my rent, motherfucker. Pay my rent!

                    1. Rhywun   13 years ago

                      I'm hungry. Somebody buy me a cheeseburger.

            2. John   13 years ago

              Here is the other thing about the FDA. Big Drug company A is making millions selling a drug that treats X disease Big drug company B develops a new drug that treats X disease even better. Company A has every reason to manipulate and influence the FDA to keep drug B off of the market as long as possible.

            3. tarran   13 years ago

              I should explain...

              My company made drug that corrected an enzyme-defficiency. If you had the condition that caused your body not to produce the enzyme, your cells would have trouble excreting wastes, and you would die a painful death sometime between your 6th and 10th birthday.

              Because the company screwed up its paperwork, the FDA wouldn't allow it to sell the drug in the U.S.

              We could save British Children, but not the American Children.

              Of course, given the time and expense of building a manufacturing facility to create the drug (we used live biological cultures as part of the drug making process), nobody else would enter the field. So if you were born with the disease and you lived in the U.S. you were doomed to die a painful lingering death. To teach us a lesson about paperwork. Oh, and if you tried to import the drug from overseas, then the FDA would have you locked up in a cage to teach you a lesson about circumventing their attempts to teach us a lesson.

              1. Elim   13 years ago

                Again you prove my point, you wanted to SELL this drug that people needed.

                You could have been saving lives. But you cared more about acquiring massive profits.

                1. Pip   13 years ago

                  Are you really this stupid? Do you really think that the FDA would okay the drug if you promised to just give it away? Are you really this stupid?

              2. John   13 years ago

                That is just sick Tarran. And like I said, the FDA is by far the worst federal agency. It is not even close.

          3. wareagle   13 years ago

            that's what I don't get - it's like the FDA comes hard-wired with the notion that pharma companies purposely seek to harm folks, as if drug-makers who knowingly put bad stuff on the market would never face the possibility of prison and multiple lawsuits.

            1. SIV   13 years ago

              History lesson

              By the 1930s it was widely recognized that the Food and Drugs Act of 1906 was obsolete, but bitter disagreement arose as to what should replace it. By 1937 most of the arguments had been resolved but Congressional action was stalled. Then came a shocking development--the deaths of more than 100 people after using a drug that was clearly unsafe. The incident hastened final enactment in 1938 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the statute that today remains the basis for FDA regulation of these products.

              The poisoning coming while "legislation was stalled" sounds almost like one of those "false-flags" the conspiracy theorists point to.

              Still in business

          4. Spoonman.   13 years ago

            My sister had to spend an entire day to get permission to give a 6-year-old girl a drug that might cause birth defects.

  29. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

    Bus weirdness 1: PC Gary Blee, of Torbay police, said: 'The male offender was on a number 12 bus in Paignton and has chewed the seat he was sitting on, causing around ?200 of damage.'

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z21pRYZaBM

    1. General Butt Naked   13 years ago

      To be fair, there isn't much difference between a foul-smelling foam bus seat and most British cuisine.

      Guy was probably just hungry and the smell of the bus reminded him of his mum's cooking.

    2. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

      I thought George 'the Animal' Steele died.

      1. MP   13 years ago

        According to the Wiki, he's still around, hairy as ever.

  30. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

    Bus weirdness 2:

    I take the bus to work every day. Every now and then I come across a completely normal-looking woman who touches other people's hair. By touching, I mean caressing it lovingly over and over, staring at it longingly, and smelling it, too.

    http://www.slate.com/articles/.....ingle.html

    1. Brett L   13 years ago

      That's so funny. That's what I do when I'm bored as fuck and on the bus.

  31. Elim   13 years ago

    You have to understand that a progressive properly recognizes that there are forever two classes. An exploiters/civilized class and the uncivilized masses who exist to be used by society.

    In capitalism/free markets/libertarianism the exploiters class are the corporate elite, and this simply isn't fair.

    They aren't radicals though and thus are willing to compromise if the political and "cultural" elite are allowed to transform this into a civilized class. This isn't perfectly fair, but it is a fair compromise for the time being until the true managers of society can regain their proper permanent place at the top.

    Thus why they're moderates you fucking GOP hacks.

    1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      Exactly how much do you charge to cross the bridge?

      1. Elim   13 years ago

        If you had just accepted progress the first time instead of listening to that scumbag Kennan they wouldn't have to move society forward the hard way.

        1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

          Fifty cents?

          A dollar?

        2. wareagle   13 years ago

          sorry, sell "progress" somewhere else. We have seen how well your version worked in the old Soviet Union, its failed client states, and all the other places that tried to instill your wondrous two-class system. On the other hand, you tacitly admit that our affirmative action POTUS seeks such an outcome and early returns show the public not happy about it.

          1. Elim   13 years ago

            The Soviet Union only failed because the Capitalist West continued to exploit their working class instead of instituting a people's democracy then waged years of war against further democratic revolutions

            1. Restoras   13 years ago

              Denial. It ain't just a river in Egypt.

              1. John   13 years ago

                She is trolling Restoras.

            2. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

              Please be here all day. I leave for vacation next week, and will be without access.

              1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

                Please be here all day. I leave for vacation next week, and will be without access.

                Where are you going that will have no internet access? Camping in Haiti? A Canadian city?

                1. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

                  Canada is too far south for me. TC and Mackinaw. And no internet by choice so I can't be wrangled into getting work done.

                  1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

                    It always confuses me that there's Mackinaw and Mackinac.

                    1. Elim   13 years ago

                      It's just the shitty city unlike the shitty island.

                    2. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

                      The city is blah, but the area is very nice. The island is fun to bike with the kids. It costs a fortune to use the ferry to cross, and they charge for each bike you bring as well. The city and state shut out any competition for ferry service.

                    3. Elim   13 years ago

                      Yes, Traverse City is nice as well.

                    4. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

                      The French and English kept fighting over it...

                  2. sloopyinca   13 years ago

                    Oh, Michigan. It all makes sense now. There's no better place to cure yourself of a technology addiction than a place you are forced to go off it cold-turkey.

                    1. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

                      Hey, not all of Michigan is Detroit, Flint, Saginaw, and Benton Harbor. We have nice beaches away from the cities and most of the water is E-coli free.

                    2. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

                      Fine. Some of the water.

                    3. benji   13 years ago

                      Despite Elim on the rest of this thread he's accurate about Traverse City mostly. And sorta accurate about the City and Island too, never really saw what made them so great.

                      Beaver Island, now that's an island! Cult's are where it's at!

    2. Restoras   13 years ago

      That. That right there. That's what you call 'even more weapons grade stupid'.

    3. PowerBottom   13 years ago

      "GOP hacks". You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.

      1. BakedPenguin   13 years ago

        It's a troll, probably Mary, who is calling us GOP because she knows plenty of people will respond.

        1. ant1sthenes   13 years ago

          No, Mary is serious as a nutter can be. This is a regular who thinks everything he's saying is ludicrous crap but also knows which things will irritate people into responding. Probably whoever was running the Darko alt last night.

    4. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

      take the Marx (the unfunny one) glasses off.

      1. Peter L   13 years ago

        There is this guy where I work who has a big nose, thick-rimmed dark glasses, and a bushy black mustach. Every time I see him walk by I giggle to myself and because he looks like he is wearing marx glasses.

    5. Troy muy grande boner   13 years ago

      In capitalism/free markets/libertarianism the exploiters class are the corporate elite, and this simply isn't fair.

      So I was thinking getting Bobbi Starr to headline "Exploited Up The Ass #6" in time for the next AVN awards. I take it your advice to do this as a sole propritership and not (I assume) as a Chapter C corp. What about an LLC? Does that mitigate the corporation sleaze factor?

      1. bobbi   13 years ago

        She sorta beat you to this. She directed a film called Occupy My Ass this year.

  32. Colin Fraizer   13 years ago

    Yo, Ed, some hyphens would make your headline's meaning clearer.

    "Justin Bieber Chasing Paparazzo Charged Under New Law" would indicate that Bieber is being charged for (or while) chasing a photog.

    "Justin-Bieber-Chasing Paparazzo ..." shows that the first three words just describe the photog.

    1. RBS   13 years ago

      So you failed basic reading comprehension?

      1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        So you failed basic reading comprehension?

        Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!

        1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

          Nice. Working in an Ali-Frazier riff in commentary... +12 (rounds)

      2. Zeb   13 years ago

        Basic headline reading comprehension, you mean? Without an understanding of how headlines are written, they can be pretty incomprehensible.

        1. RBS   13 years ago

          Yeah, I thought about that after I posted, I also had something for his nonsensical corrected version. But I figured Mr. Frazier's comment was just a one off and he would never see mine so I left it alone.

  33. John   13 years ago

    http://wtop.com/628/2885164/US.....rate-in-Q2

    GDP falls to 1.5% in the first quarter "unexpectedly". What do you want to bet that number gets quietly adjusted down at some point?

    1. Elim   13 years ago

      Maybe if Romney wasn't running around suppressing the Recovery Summer with his anti-American speeches calling on a ban against us working together we'd have better GDP growth.

      Not to mention the simple objective fact that if the GOP House got on board and passed far more stimulus larger than the 2009 one then GDP would grow even more and faster.

      1. Restoras   13 years ago

        Face it. You and Team Blue own the worst recovery in history. I hope your elected representaives have their shine boxes ready to go this fall.

        1. Elim   13 years ago

          Who was in office when society basically collapsed before Obama's election halted things? The Republicans.

          Who saved the economy before the GOP seized power and started looting again? Who saved the global auto industry? Who saved tens of millions of lives by actually providing them with medical care? The Democrats.

          This shit is simple. Do your part already.

          1. wareagle   13 years ago

            who was in office, you ask? Splendid question. It's true a Repub was in the Oval. It is just as true that Dems held both houses of Congress. It is lunacy to believe that Obama's election "halted" anything beyond the typical American's ability to earn a living.

            The rest is talking points too stupid to even debate.

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              The seeds were set by the Republican Revolution and then the Bush Administration took a hatchet to good government.

              Obama winning basically saved us from total societal collapse.

          2. Restoras   13 years ago

            Did things fall apart under Bush? Yes, they sure did. Congress was Democratic at the time, so they get plenty of blame too. Funny how you left shitforbrains conveniently forget that.

            Economic cycles halt themselves without respect to who is in office. Politicians have limited ability to actually control the behavior of individual agents that make up an economic entity.

            The economy hasn't been saved when it hasn't created enough jobs to absorb the new workers that enter workforce every year, much less the ones that were downsized.

            No one saved the Global auto industry. Obama only saved a few thousand UAW jobs, and only temporarily. That's called 'payback' for the political support of the unions.

            No one in DC has supplied anyone with medical care - actual medical professional do that.

            You are right, this shit is simple and I do my part every day. I have a job. I create value for my customers clients. They pay me for that. I use that wealth to provide for my family and save for the future.

            What do you do besides demand that I give you a share of my wealth, you useless, pathetic, fascist cocksucker?

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              No one is demanding you do anything but actually do you part for society.

              Hoarding whatever you can get your grubby mitts on while millions die is not a moral position.

              It's accessory to murder.

              1. Zeb   13 years ago

                Well, now aren't you just claiming ownership of my labor and the value I produce?

                And I'm pretty sure you have more that you need too. Nobody needs to comment on the internet. Especially while there are people in the world starving and suffering. By your standards, you should immediately sell whatever computer devices you are using now, as well as any other things that you have that are not necessary for your survival and help those people. How can you live with yourself, you monster?

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  No, you're owning your labor under a democratic society because you have a say in how that labor is rewarded back to you.

                  And I am doing my part, I'm fighting for a global democratic society.

              2. wareagle   13 years ago

                except that millions are NOT dying, but you already know that. Concern trolling requires overlooking facts that do not fit the narrative.

              3. Restoras   13 years ago

                You are. You are demanding soemthing from me that isn't yours. That's called stealing.

                It is a moral imperative for me to provide for my family and prepare for the future. Nothing is morally higher.

                Millions die? Where? From what? Certainly not from my actions - or inactions, even. From government actions? Well yes, of course - government has killed many, many millions more through action and inaction than I ever will.

                In fact, my actions save lives. Your actions, however, are the ones that destroy them.

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  Yet you got an education, you used the roads, you get electricity, you have clean air. You have to give back at some point. In a crisis like we have now, this is when you need to be giving back instead of trying to hoard and damage the community further.

                  1. RBS   13 years ago

                    I'm about to brew another pot of coffee, will you still be here when I get back?

                    1. NeonCat   13 years ago

                      Unfortunately, it probably will be.

                  2. Enough About Palin   13 years ago

                    "you get electricity"

                    I've got news for you, Elim. I make the fucking electricity.

          3. Troy muy grande boner   13 years ago

            Who saved the global auto industry?

            What an amazing dumbfuck idea to think that Chrysler and GM represent the "global auto Industry." Or the idea that if they went down, every one else would tumble. God Damn, where did you get your Masters? Kaplan University. Anywhoo, I don't recall Obama giving Lamborghini, well Audi, Porsche, BMW, Mercedez,Daimler, Fiat, Nissan, Honda, Kia, Toyata, any bailout money.

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              Right because they didn't need it after he saved the first two. Had we let those collapse it would have started taking down all of the rest until we were left with no auto industry and millions on the street.

              1. Restoras   13 years ago

                What epic stupidity.

                No one will buy cars if GM and Chrysler go out of business. You really do have to be immersed in some useless academic position to come up with mental masturbation like this.

      2. RBS   13 years ago

        The Recovery Summer? Is that like the Summer of George?

        1. Translucent Chum   13 years ago

          Nope. Can't afford a block of cheese.

          1. T   13 years ago

            Not even Gummint Cheese?

      3. Ed   13 years ago

        Obvious troll is obvious.

      4. John   13 years ago

        That was A+ trolling I have to admit. Please come clean and admit it was trolling. That is better quality than we usually get around here. Take a bow.

        1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

          A+? You grade too easy. I'd say solid C.

          1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

            D-
            waaaay too obvious

          2. John   13 years ago

            I was being nice. Chances are it is Mary. She is nuts. So you have to grade on a lower scale.

        2. Elim   13 years ago

          It's trolling to point out the objective fact that if the GOP agreed to a stimulus ten times what we got in 2009 that our GDP growth would be near the top of the world?

          1. Restoras   13 years ago

            Yes, because borrowing from the future with debt to pay for stuff now isn't growth. Just ask Greece/Spain/Portugal/Italy.

            It seems you know nothing about economics. You must be a politician.

            1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

              "The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics."
              Thomas Sowell

            2. Elim   13 years ago

              Don't borrow. Just raise taxes and make the business owners actually pay for a change.

              1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                Obviously the rich don't pay their fair share.

                We know this by virtue of the fact that they are rich.

                If they paid their fair share then they won't be rich.

                So let's raise taxes on the rich until they aren't rich anymore!

                Fairness rules!

              2. Restoras   13 years ago

                That's not what your idiot elected officials have done. They have borrowed, have continued to borrow, and we are beyond the point where the future can be saved. Congratulations on espusing economic policies that have guaranteed our progeny a lifetime of indentured servitude. I know you are very, very proud of this accomplishment.

                Businesses don't pay taxes. People pay taxes. Very, very simple.

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  Right, the GOP has done all that, that's why we need action now to get taxes up to sustainable levels.

                  1. Restoras   13 years ago

                    The GOP has done that in full cooperation with the Democrats.

                    It's why they both need to be voted out of office, and why spending needs to be cut.

                    1. benji   13 years ago

                      but but but if you vote the GOP out and the Democrats out, WHO WILL GOVERN US?!?!

          2. wareagle   13 years ago

            no, it's trolling to say things that are so demonstrably stupid with an apparently straight face. But that's okay; a good laugh is welcome on Fridays.

          3. sloopyinca   13 years ago

            10x as much? You wanted a $10Trillion stimulus? 10 Trillion dollars?

            Does the concept of a devaluated currency mean anything to you at all?

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              The GDP Growth would far outpace any inflation. Especially if taxes were restored to sensible levels.

              1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                If we remove money from the economy through taxation and borrowing, then distribute it based upon politics, the result will be much better than if the money was left in the economy and invested into things that create wealth!

                I mean, it is so much better to destroy wealth than to create it, because when you destroy it everyone become more equal! Equally poor, but still more equal!

                Shared poverty is preferable to inequality!

                (how am I doing?)

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  It's not removing money, the stimulus is injecting money into the economy.

                  1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

                    The money comes from somewhere.

                    It is either removed through taxation or removed by selling bonds.

                    Unless you mean that that stimulus money is magically created out of thin air.

                    1. Elim   13 years ago

                      The bonds grow in value, it's called interest rates.

                    2. Restoras   13 years ago

                      The bonds grow in value, it's called interest rates

                      Bonds don't grow in value. You get your principal back plus the coupon payment, determined by the risk of not being repaid your principal.

                      You are clueless. Not surprised that you have an MA in a useless degree.

                  2. Restoras   13 years ago

                    You really don't know the difference between money and wealth, do you?

              2. gaijin   13 years ago

                Let's restore taxes AND spending to the levels of CLinton...you get behind that?

                1. Elim   13 years ago

                  Why would anyone want to go back to the Clinton era?

                  We're taking the steps needed to restore the safety net after the GOP butchered it then.

                  We also need to go further in expanding the tax base.

                  So no. No going back, this is about progress.

          4. Drax the Destroyer   13 years ago

            10 times? 10 FUCKING TIMES?

            I guess 40 dollar loaves of bread are the price of progress.

            1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

              The Weimar Republic was bitchin'! Don't you want to relive the fun here?!

          5. Emmerson Biggins   13 years ago

            yes. That is trolling. Not even good trolling. I can't believe somebody gave you an A+ upstream.

        3. R C Dean   13 years ago

          I'm just curious about which of the regulars is having a little fun with us.

          1. Zeb   13 years ago

            Yeah, the idiotic Marxism is a bit too on the nose.

        4. ant1sthenes   13 years ago

          Dude, there's no way it's A+. This is just someone making really lousy prank calls to his friends, even though all the smarter ones recognize his voice.

  34. SugarFree   13 years ago

    Men treat women like objects? Men's fault!
    Women treat women like objects? Men's fault!

    If everything is going to be blamed on us anyway, what is the point of restraining our behavior whatsoever?

    1. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

      You restrain your behaviour?

      1. SugarFree   13 years ago

        Yes. Very tightly restrain. I have a gibbering and howling inside me I can't ever let out.

        1. T   13 years ago

          And we're thankful for it.

        2. $park?   13 years ago

          I feel like I'm looking in a mirror. And knowing you are on the other side just frightens me more.

          1. SugarFree   13 years ago

            Turn off the light and say my name into the mirror ten times.

            1. $park?   13 years ago

              I have a feeling that you are the abyss that Nietzsche was talking about.

              1. SugarFree   13 years ago

                If you listen carefully, you can hear him screaming to get out.

            2. Ska   13 years ago

              Clever - you know everyone would stop at nine times, frozen in terror.

              Even though it only takes three.

        3. Kaptious Kristen   13 years ago

          So you're like Worf? YOu require a Klingon female for mating?

          1. SugarFree   13 years ago

            If Worf fought not with his fists, but with hurtful comments, you would be essentially correct.

            But nevertheless, my wife is quite rugged.

            1. Elim Garak   13 years ago

              As a former associate, I can assure you that Worf knows about hurtful comments:
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edflm7Hh3hs

          2. Spoonman.   13 years ago

            Dax isn't Klingon.

    2. Tim   13 years ago

      I read recently that the Navy is eliminating urinals from all new ships. No doubt the next big complaint will be that the seat was left up, followed by "the seat has pee all over it". Enjoy equality.

      1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

        I always assumed that one of the benefits of the Navy was just peeing off the side of the boat.

    3. Fluffy   13 years ago

      This is soooooo stupid.

      I would have no problem identifying changes in the pictures of women because while looking at the pictures of women I would actually give a damn.

      When looking at the pictures of men, I'd be thinking, "Douche...douche...loser.... asshole...thug...douche...douche..." and not noting any individual trait about them.

      We scrutinize more closely the stuff we care about. We're not "perceiving men as whole people" - we're not bothering to perceive their traits because their traits aren't important.

    4. Night Elf Mohawk   13 years ago

      One was the original image, while the other was the original with a slight alteration to the chest or waist (chosen because these are sexualized body parts).

      It seems to me that typical mesomorph women's chests and waists are more variable and distinct and curvy than typical mesomorph men's. It doesn't seem especially surprising that these differences result in different perceptions without necessarily indicated objectification. But, then, again, patriarchy, blah, blah, blah.

    5. mr simple   13 years ago

      More top-notch researchy stuff from the European Journal of Social Psychology, aka the overly emotional version of a social pseudoscience.

      Everyone checks everyone else out, either to compare themselves to or to find compatible mates or friends. How can these stupid women not understand that? They probably think the preceding sentence was an insult to all women.

  35. sloopyinca   13 years ago

    What have we sunk to as a society when a man is willing to accept three slices of Domino's Pizza for acting as lookout for a robbery?

    We are well and truly fucked as a society.

    1. John   13 years ago

      My wife loves to watch the show Hardcore Pawn. It is a about a pawn shop in Detroit. I can't watch it. It just depresses me too much. Yeah, we are so fucked. You want to know what 70 years of progressive policies does to a society, watch that show and then remember Detroit used to be one of the richest and most productive cities on earth before the progressive vampire sunk its teeth into it.

      1. ALHaines   13 years ago

        It's just normal behavior in some parts.

        iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MAutLr38mQA" allowfullscreen/iframe

      2. ALHaines   13 years ago

        http://youtu.be/MAutLr38mQA

    2. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

      How did they find him? Was he sitting on a corner with a sign saying "Will be accessory to robbery for food"?

      1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        Only someone outside America would consider Domino's Pizza "food."

        1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

          It is much better now - it is food-like or maybe foodish?

          1. BakedPenguin   13 years ago

            a "food by-product"

        2. invisible furry hand   13 years ago

          Hey, I wasn't the one eating it.

        3. o3   13 years ago

          imagine what "food" becomes after the know-nothings abolish the FDA!?!

          pass the brocolli please...

          1. ant1sthenes   13 years ago

            Cheaper?

    3. Restoras   13 years ago

      I think that is just a case of someone who doesn't understand the value of the service provided?

      1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

        It's anticompetitive pricing! He's driving his competitors out of the marketplace so that he can have a monopoly, then he'll jack the prices to the MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

      2. TheBombDiggity   13 years ago

        No, he's just a really bad lookout. How do you think they caught them?

    4. Somalian Road Corporation   13 years ago

      Going to wager that there may very well have been the promise of drugs or cash later that he didn't want to mention.

      1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        Can anyone blame him if he was jonesing for some Epicac after three fucking slices of Domino's?

        1. Somalian Road Corporation   13 years ago

          Admittedly I haven't had any for a few years, but I don't remember Domino's being bad. Middling and inexpensive, yeah.

          Then again I also like deep dish more than thin crust and I know how some people around here feel about that.

          1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

            Then again I also like deep dish more than thin crust

            **Rends garments**

            1. R C Dean   13 years ago

              Which is worse, deep dish pizza or artisanal mayo?

              1. RBS   13 years ago

                What about deep dish with artisanal mayo instead of pizza sauce?

                1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

                  I want to kill RBS at this moment more than I've ever wanted to kill another living thing.

                  1. Zeb   13 years ago

                    Dude, no one else makes Mayonnaise at home. Being able to buy some mayo of better quality that what you get at the store is a good thing.

                    1. Gray Ghost   13 years ago

                      Dude, no one else makes Mayonnaise at home.

                      What? Making mayo is one of the easiest things in the world, and easier ^2 with a food processor. Not at all like hollandaise/bearnaise, though those are pretty easy too with a blender. And if you don't make mayo, how are you ever going to get aioli?

                      It can get pricey, depending on the oil you use.

                      Now the hate for deep dish, I don't get. An pie from the original Uno or from Lou Malnati is a thing of beauty. So's a thin-crust pizza, fresh from a coal-burning oven, and whatever the hell they do at Nick's to make their 4-cheese.

                  2. tarran   13 years ago

                    Mary, you need to quote this in your next youtube expose!

          2. benji   13 years ago

            Domino's was just low rent, the new version actually wasn't that bad. It definitely went up a notch.

            Of course, I haven't had it since they first changed though.

    5. BakedPenguin   13 years ago

      It's worse than you think -

      Domino's worker Jose Reyes told police that he was delivering a pizza around 9 PM...

      the Marlin's shortstop has to deliver pizzas just to make ends meet.

  36. R C Dean   13 years ago

    Re the FDA discussion above, an absolutely top-shelf discussion on the evils of the corpo-kleptocratic bureaucratic state:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/.....-and-kafka

    Its caught a lot of links. If you haven't read it yet, DO SO NOW.

    1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

      DO SO NOW.

      Hey, don't tell me what to read, friend!

      1. Citizen Nothing   13 years ago

        Don't call me friend, pal!

        1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

          Who you callin' "pal", buddy?

          1. JW   13 years ago

            I ain't your buddy, chief.

          2. Citizen Nothing   13 years ago

            Don't call me buddy, friend.

  37. Elim Garak   13 years ago

    Hey guys, what's going on he....nevermind.

    1. Somalian Road Corporation   13 years ago

      Yeah, I liked that Elim so much better.

      1. Elim Garak   13 years ago

        Thanks. Might you have some cargo space on a shuttle I could use?

        1. Elim Garak   13 years ago

          It's on the up and up I assure you.

    2. Spoonman.   13 years ago

      Hey, I already made that reference. Thought nobody liked DS9 for a second.

      1. Elim Garak   13 years ago

        Look at your original comment. 😉

  38. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    It's a classic case of false consciousness.

    It's a classic case of something, by golly.

  39. John   13 years ago

    http://www.bostonherald.com/ne.....ick-fil-a/

    Mumbles Menino was at a ribbon cutting of a Boston mosque that teaches that gays should receive the death penalty.

    1. Elim   13 years ago

      So he agrees with the GOP?

      1. John   13 years ago

        Because Gays are being put to death every day by the GOP. F- trolling.

        Go take your meds Mary.

        1. Mike M.   13 years ago

          Cleanup on Aisle 2, Mike Alissi please report to Aisle 2...

        2. Elim   13 years ago

          If they had power, they might. Or throw them into camps like Libertarian leader Bachmann wants.

          1. John   13 years ago

            Stop it. Your trolling has gotten too obvious. You have run your run. Now go away.

            1. Elim   13 years ago

              It's okay John we can get some drones to bomb some gay weddings, they'll be of militant age. I promise!

              1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

                Derp

    2. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      But no Chick fil A cannot set up shop because the owner supports traditional marriage.

      1. Zeb   13 years ago

        I think it's because he opposes gay marriage, not that he supports traditional marriage. I'm sure Menino supports traditional marriage as well.

    3. ant1sthenes   13 years ago

      Maybe he thinks that gays should be executed, but marriage is a good fallback punishment?

  40. SugarFree   13 years ago

    HA! We took down Twitter!

    1. Somalian Road Corporation   13 years ago

      So looking forward to the day when Twitter goes out of vogue.

      1. RBS   13 years ago

        Yes and no. I think twitter is dumb but it does allow professional athletes a forum to say some of the most hilariously retarded things ever recorded.

        1. Elim Garak   13 years ago

          Like beer, proof that god wants us to be happy?

  41. Warty   13 years ago

    Why do you fucking idiots insist on feeding it? You are morons.

    1. PARROT PUPPETS   13 years ago

      INSIST ON FEEDING IT *SQUAWK* MORONS *SQUAWK* RAPE *SQUAWK* DANCE *SQUAWK* AWESOME MUSIC

    2. PARROT PUPPETS   13 years ago

      INSIST ON FEEDING IT *SQUAWK* MORONS *SQUAWK* RAPE *SQUAWK* DANCE *SQUAWK*

      AWESOME MUSIC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Ux9Sp66b8

      1. John   13 years ago

        Oh Mary. When are you going to get the help you so desperately need?

    3. Elim   13 years ago

      See, this is how you all should do it. Instead of showing yourself to be intellectual inferiors to anyone who might read these comments, just cover up your ears and pretend reality isn't whizzing past you.

  42. Pip   13 years ago

    "The Department of Justice and the city of Seattle are expected to announce a settlement containing reforms of the police department that the feds investigated. Some city council members and the members of the community that called for a federal investigation complain they've been cut out of the process."

    Isn't this where Dunphy works?

    1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

      All he'll tell us is that he works in the area. He refuses to say which department because then we'd be able to call him on all of his made up bullshit stories and absurd anecdotes find out who he is and sic Epi on him.

  43. TigDooo   13 years ago

    Dude is like totally rocking it out man, Wow.

    http://www.Anon-Webs.tk

  44. Fluffy   13 years ago

    I haven't had to load the Reasonable plugin for a long time. Pretty much since registration.

    Ahhhhhhhhhh....

    1. robc   13 years ago

      Ive mostly switched to chrome. For some reason, sound is crappy in chrome so I have to fire up firefox if I want to watch a video.

      I like reasonable, the new psot-indentation incif failed with large threads. However, I wished reasonable would block responses to blocked posts. To go old school, I dont want to see John's responses to MNG either.

  45. sloopyinca   13 years ago

    Has anybody on here ever had butter made from Goat's milk? We're thinking of getting goats and selling the milk, butter, cheese and a few other things from our little farm (like eggs, olives, olive oil, some herbs and possibly artisanal mayonnaise) at the farmers market and perhaps to some reasoniods that may be interested in a little cash on the side mail order action.

    As a metter of fact, who on here would be interested in doing a little co-op thing? Lots of us brew beer and do some pretty cool shit. Anybody interested in doing some trades? If we form a co-op, I don't think the state can keep us from shipping beer or food.

    1. SugarFree   13 years ago

      Yes. It is delicious. It's white and a little thicker at room temp, but has a little goat funk that goes well with white wine and light beers.

      Supposedly getting butter from goat's milk requires a centrifuge. Just word on the street, mind you.

      1. Citizen Nothing   13 years ago

        Supposedly getting butter from goat's milk requires a centrifuge.

        That's what the Iranians are doing with theirs.

        My six-year-old, animal-loving daughter really wants a goat. We've got the land -- and at least it's not a pony.
        But here's a bit of Amish humor I heard recently:
        "Everyone should own a goat at least once, just so they know how wonderful it is not to own a goat."
        Those Amish can really yuk it up.

        1. SugarFree   13 years ago

          I had a pet pygmy goat. He was pretty cool, but got angry, then happy, then really angry when I tried to milk him.

    2. robc   13 years ago

      Be careful with beer. A coop probably violates the homebrew rules, and gets you into excise tax zone. And that requires licensing and shit.

      Basically, avoid anything that involves excise taxes.

      1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        I hope you're wrong but I don't have a lot of confidence after a quick bit of research. I'll look into it more.

        And for SugarFree: check out this video.

        1. SugarFree   13 years ago

          That's not that bad. But how would it scale? You and your bride shake-weighting your way to a business. Big forearms, though...

          1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

            Second-hand industrial paint shaker with the motor turned down.

            PWNAGE!!!!!

    3. Zeb   13 years ago

      I'd go for some olive oil and artisanal mayonnaise. My gardens aren't as good this year as some, but I've got shit loads of blackberries.

      1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

        Um, I'd be happy to trade some. But first, you have to make it clear that that picture at the top of your blog isn't you.

        Seriously. That's not at all what I expected when I clicked the link.

    4. Enough About Palin   13 years ago

      STOP EXPLOITING THE LABOR OF GOATS YOU FUCKING BASTARD!

  46. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    FUCK THE OLYMPICS

    That is all.

    1. benji   13 years ago

      Is this really you? You're back?

    2. Zeb   13 years ago

      That actual sporting events are alright. The IOC should die, though. Why not do it in places which already have the facilities? I don't know why any place actually competes to host.

    3. Elspeth Flashman   13 years ago

      part of me wishes I had a tv that could receive a station so I could watch something. . . . In other IOC news, this (or Winter 2010) was supposed to be the year ballroom dance would be an Olympic sport, but is seems that hasn't come to pass.

  47. Eduard van Haalen   13 years ago

    Meant to post this here but put it in another thread -

    Business claims First Amendment rights of religious conscience against contraceptive mandate - DoJ says it's not a religious freedom issue because they could simply quit their business:

    http://cnsnews.com/news/articl.....r-business

  48. Loki   13 years ago

    Greek triple jumper hottie banned from the olympics over some "racist" tweet. Racist or not, I wouldn't kick her out of bed.

    1. sloopyinca   13 years ago

      We're glad you came out of that cave you've been living in for the last three days, Loki. Welcome to July 24, 2012!

      /sarcastic asshole

  49. Eduard van Haalen   13 years ago

    Olympics officials just can't find time to memorialize the Olympic Munuch massacre of 1972.

    Nothing to do with the fact that the victims were Israelis. They just don't want anything that's a downer.

    http://www.volokh.com/2012/07/.....f-the-ioc/

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