A.M. Links: 007 Obama, Gore Vidal Dead at 86, Panetta Threatens Iran

J.D. Tuccille | 8.1.2012 9:11 AM

Congress wants to know why the White house thinks the president has the legal authority to order the assassination of Americans overseas.
Media-wise, Mit Romney's trip overseas hasn't really gone so well.
Gore Vidal, a literary juggernaut who wrote 25 novels, including historical works such as "Lincoln" and "Burr" and satires such as "Myra Breckinridge" and "Duluth," is dead at 86.
We just might bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran if the country doesn't accept limits on its nuclear program, says U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta,
India's massive blackouts in recent days may be a sign the country isn't quite ready to assume the coming economic superpower status some observers want to grant it.
Texas Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz sewed up a big win over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the GOP Senate primary.
A 12-year-old girl was tased by a police officer inside a Victoria's Secret in St. Louis. Officers were there to arrest her mother for outstanding traffic tickets, and the girl started crying and, police say, didn't back away quickly enough.

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Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

WARNING! All these links go right back to Reason. I suspect a trap.
1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  It's reasons all the way down...
  1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
    
    Is that what we're doing? Bolding the lower case r reason?
    
    Trendyism and hipnessitude are the enemy of clarity. I refuse to go with the lower case r. Reason is a word too frequently used in conversation. However, I might accept the bolding thing.
    1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
      
      I see no reason to eschew their chosen typeface.
      
      If they want it lowercase and bold, why not give it to 'em.
    2. rac3rx 13 years ago
      
      They're being anti-capitalist.
      
      HAR!
2. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  ITS A TRAP!
  1. Loki 13 years ago
    
    "We can't repel reason 24/7 linkage of that magnitude!"
3. RedDragon6009 13 years ago
  
  WARNING! All these links go right back to Reason. I suspect a trap.
  
  It's a tactic to improve their SEO. It creates more updated content (not that they need more) and gives greater variety to their internal link structure which Google favors. I can respect some of the changes they've done since they do make for a more optimized site, but regarding the look, I'm not pleased. Besides, given the sheer amount of regularly updated content (including thousands of user comments posted daily), these little changes are like adding a bottle rocket to the space shuttle in the hopes of giving it more lift.
  1. Tim 13 years ago
    
    When they came for comment#3174507 I did nothing...
Mike M. 13 years ago

First in your hearts.
1. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  A fist to your heart.
  1. Mike M. 13 years ago
    
    Rats, foiled by the FOE!
    1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
      
      LET THIS BE A LESSON TO ALL WHO OPPOSE ME.
Brett L 13 years ago

Hey JD, I'll bet you didn't know you were joining a conservative think tank when you came on with reason.

"J.D. Tuccille of the conservative think tank Reason Foundation discusses last week's news about the first working 3D-printed gun."
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

A 12-year-old girl was tased by a police officer inside a Victoria's Secret in St. Louis.

It was a Victoria's Secret. A dude surrounded by unmentionables like that is bound to fire off prematurely sometimes.
1. Loki 13 years ago
  
  Would that be premature electrocution?
SugarFree 13 years ago

Police say the officer came into the Victoria's Secret looking for the teenager's mom, who had warrants for her arrest. But it was the teen who got tased.

By definition, a 12-year-old is not a teen.
1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  She was probably claiming to be one. A good tasering should set her straight on lexical choices
  1. SugarFree 13 years ago
    
    The police spokesman says he believes the officer's actions were justified, but he admits it's a unique situation.
    
    He suggests the mother report the incident to internal affairs to have in investigated.
    
    And then he spit in the child's face and brayed with laughter.
    
    No, wait.., he didn't do that, because it would be redundant.
    1. Joe R. 13 years ago
      
      If the girl's dad tracks down the cop and tases him, and manages to get me on the jury, he'll walk.
      
      I know that's a lot of ifs. But just saying.
2. John 13 years ago
  
  You are just a cop hater Sugar Free. I am sure that little girl was terrifying. The cop had to maintain control of the situation. That is what Dunphy would say.
  
  You have to be a real sick piece of shit to taser a little girl crying over her mother being arrested. That is the sickest thing I have ever heard.
  1. RBS 13 years ago
    
    WTF? Why are they out arresting people for unpaid parking tickets in the first place?
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      They will do warrant sweeps every year or so. My guess is that she got caught up in one of those.
      1. RBS 13 years ago
        
        I get that, it doesn't make it any less retarded.
        
        Ptah-Hotep 13 years ago
        
        WTF? Why are they out arresting people for unpaid parking tickets in the first place?
        
        Money. If she can afford to shop at VS, she can afford her parking tickets. The state first, then whatever is left for you.
        
        BakedPenguin 13 years ago
        
        She didn't build what she puts in those bras. The plastic surgeon trained in state college, the regional hospital paid for in part with Medicare dollars...
    2. SIV 13 years ago
      
      Why do you hate civilization? Parking fines are the price we pay for civilization.
      1. RBS 13 years ago
        
        I know, I'm a monster.
      2. Scarecrow Repair 13 years ago
        
        Because simply putting a hold on annual registration would be too simple. I'm sure some scofflaws would skip the registration too, but most would toe the line. It would at least filter out some of the troublemakers. The ones left would probably be the most dangerous ones and make the police state look more necessary.
        
        alex griggs 13 years ago
        
        Yes, but that doesn't pay for overtime.
        
        Scarecrow Repair 13 years ago
        
        Or satisfy cop ego. No point in wearing a uniform if you can't show off your power.
        
        But it's rhetorical turtles all the way down.
    3. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
      
      St. Louis has no other crime, criminals with outstanding warrants or open investigations!
      
      It may look like a half abandonded shell of a city, and seem like the Devil's armpit in August - but it is really a slice o' Paradise.
      1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        There are a few pieces in the Missouri Historical Society museum that belonged to one of my ancestors, and I tried for months to find someone either living in, or traveling to, St. Louis to go and photograph the items. Out of 200+ Facebooks contacts, I couldn't find a single taker. Not even friends of friends. And of course, I wouldn't dream of going there myself! 🙂
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        It is a fun city to visit. They have a good art museum and a nice bar district down by the river and a great baseball park and a fabulous botanical gardens if you like that stuff. It is worth a trip out especially if you have a reason to go, which you do.
        
        BakedPenguin 13 years ago
        
        Plus, a big factory that makes a product almost related to beer, and riverboat gambling.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        The Brewery is actually pretty cool. It is still in the same building from the late 19th Century. It looks like a fantasy brewery.
        
        Loki 13 years ago
        
        It is a fun city to visit.
        
        Depends. I went there my senior year in HS for our spring band trip (yep, band nerd alert, although at least I never went to band camp). I'm pretty sure our tour bus driver was retarded. He got lost a couple of times despite being given very crystal clear direction by our band director.
        
        He got his lead vehicle priveleges revoked for good when we wound up somewhere in East St. Louis, in a neighborhood full of what looked crack houses. On the bright side, we all got to see a prostitute get picked up in broad daylight. Saw the money change hands and the gutter skank ho' get into some dudes old POS caddy. I remember thinking "how blue would someone have to be to go for that?" Bitch was hideous.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Sounds to me like you guys found some pretty good live entertainment Loki and educational too.
        
        Loki 13 years ago
        
        It was definitely an eye opener. Where's the Julia Roberts look-a-like hookers? Real hookers never look like they do in Hollywood movies (well, not hookers here anyway, Columbian hookers are a different story).
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        The good looking ones are not street walkers. They get hired by agencies or brothels.
        
        Pip 13 years ago
        
        I motorcycled solo through East Saint Louis. Scary as hell.
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        I did look into flying in there for a quick weekend to visit some of the places my ancestors lived (Lafayette Square, St John) and take pics of the stuff in the museum, but I was shocked at how expensive a flight was. Now that TWA is defunct, I don't think any airlines have a hub in St. Louis.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Try Air Tran.
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        Air Tran is about $500 out of DCA, and not a nonstop. I can fly nonstop DCA to Bermuda for about $250. Bermuda...St. Louis...Bermuda...St. Louis. Tough choice. Vermont is about $280 nonstop from DCA, too.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Bermuda for 250? Damn.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        I flew into St. Louis once for a wedding. On my way out of the rental car parking lot, near the runway, I heard the tremendous roar of a jet engine - looking at the source, I saw an F-15 doing a tailstand and ripping into the air. It was very cool.
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        I got a better one. I used to work on F-15's and was briefly stationed at Eglin AFB. Down there they have a road that drives just below the end of the runway.
        
        My car at the time had a sunroof and it being a nice day I had it off, just as I was driving past the runway there is this explosion sound, the ground is shaking and hot air is flooding down in through the sunroof.
        
        Some hotshot F-15 pilot was doing a max acceleration climb directly on top of my car, I was literally looking straight up into his tail pipes.
      2. Scarecrow Repair 13 years ago
        
        The "City Museum" is fantastic for kids of all ages. Wouldn't hurt to bring kneepads for all the tubes, but not really necessary.
    4. Loki 13 years ago
      
      Why are they out arresting people for unpaid parking tickets in the first place?
      
      C'mon, we all know the answer to that:
      
      FUCK YOU, THAT'S WHY.
    5. Sudden 13 years ago
      
      WTF? Why are they out arresting people for unpaid parking tickets in the first place?
      
      Reading the comments on the story state that the St Louis station that wrote it may have dropped the ball. Apparently per the comments there the warrants were actually drug related and the girl was actually 15. Not that any of that excuses tazering someone so young, but I think the reality of tazering a teenage girl is bad enough that we ought not need to paint them out to be bandleaders in order to further the narrative. That wreaks of leftism.
      1. The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        Reeks.
      2. thom 13 years ago
        
        So instead of arresting somebody who owed money to the state for minor violations of laws that regulate a public good, they were arresting somebody who owed nothing to the state for minor violations of laws that impacted the state in no way at all.
      3. Robert 13 years ago
        
        In the comment thread there were a few claimed witnesses, and their stories varied widely. It would be amusing, though, if "trafficking violations" got mixed up with "traffic violations".
        
        One thing that leads me to doubt the acc't of the commenter cited above was the alleg'n that the persons involved at the scene were a gang of known shoplifters. Isn't shoplifting less conspicuous if you do it alone? You might have a single confederate laying chickie, but that's about it. If you show up with a bunch of known faces of criminals, that tends to put people on their guard.
    6. The Hammer 13 years ago
      
      Fundraising. What else to police do?
  2. Heroic Mulatto 13 years ago
    
    You have to be a real sick piece of shit to taser a little girl crying over her mother being arrested.
    
    But she was Black. She probably got all uppity and said "Y'all can't arrest my mom," in a African-American accent. There might have been finger-wagging and head-shaking involved too. All of this makes her inherently more threatening than a middle-class teenager, just as 'pit bulls' are inherently more threatening than other breeds.
    1. SugarFree 13 years ago
      
      It was just a completely non-racial stop and frisk with electricity.
      1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        "stop and frisk with electricity"
        
        OK, that is so theftworthy. I'll try to remember to attribute it...
    2. John 13 years ago
      
      Dunphy says since most offenders are black it is totally okay to profile and harass black people.
      1. Restoras 13 years ago
        
        Officer safety, public good, blah blah blah RESPECT MY AUTHORITAY! and gimme gimme gimme my pension.
        
        The best part of the fiscal apocalypse that's coming is twatwaffles like him are going to see their pensions become worthless. Sucks for everyone else, but a little schadenfruede will make it a little sweet.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I could not believe him yesterday on the NYP stop and frisk policy. He was flat out saying it was okay to profile and harass minorities. Talk about letting the mask slip.
        
        LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
        
        It was a fine tribute to circular reasoning.
        
        Chris Mallory 13 years ago
        
        Of course since minorities make up 90% of all shooting suspects in NYC, to it would make lots of sense to use resources to stop and frisk the WASPs. Diversity kills. So does political correctness.
        
        The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        Fuck off, moron. At least Tony has some variety.
        
        Anonymoose 13 years ago
        
        They shouldn't be stopping and frisking anyone.
      2. Pip 13 years ago
        
        "Dunphy says since most offenders are black it is totally okay to profile and harass black people"
        
        But not if you're out fake-sick.
      3. Azathoth!! 13 years ago
        
        Well, there is something to that one. If a population is 13% and a percentage of that population are committing more than 50% of the crime, the odds are more in favor of getting a criminal if you randomly stop one of that population than if you simply stop at random.
        
        No bigotry, just math.
  3. RedDragon6009 13 years ago
    
    You have to be a real sick piece of shit to taser a little girl crying over her mother being arrested.
    
    I'm sure he just wasn't properly trained on how to deal with 12-year-old girls while surrounded by women purchasing lingerie. Truly, this was a unique situation.
    1. thom 13 years ago
      
      If she had been truly intimidating he would have just shot her in the face.
3. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  Things you hope you never find yourself saying in a court of law?
4. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  I dunno, maybe they count differently--twelveteen?
  1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
    
    It's misdirection. He's getting you to focus on the wrong thing.
5. Drake 13 years ago
  
  I was ready to be outraged when I followed the link to the story. Then I read the first comment and got real suspicious about the details.
  1. Sudden 13 years ago
    
    Agreed to an extent. But even if the first comment were to be substantiated, I don't think that sufficiently excuses the use of a tazer. Sure, the daughter was probably as much a POS as her mom and probably threw a tantrum of protest that may have even included escalating to physical attempts to stop the officer, but I sincerely doubt that the tazer was the only option the officer had at his disposal to control the situation.
6. Tulpa Doom 13 years ago
  
  "But Officer, I could have sworn she was 13!"
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

Romney: Culture Does Matter
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....itt-romney

As the case of Israel makes plain, building a free society is not a simple task. Rather, it is struggle demanding constant courage and sacrifice. Even here in the United States, which from our inception as a nation has been blessed with freedom, we faced monumental challenges in harmonizing our ideals with our institutions. We fought a bloody civil war against slavery and it took a nonviolent civil-rights movement to bring political and social equality to all Americans. In these epic struggles we changed our "culture" and vastly improved it.

I have just returned from a trip abroad. I visited three lands ? Israel, Poland, and Great Britain ? which are defined by their respective struggles for freedom. I met with some of the greatest heroes of those struggles. I am always glad to return to American soil. On this occasion, I am only strengthened in my conviction that the pursuit of happiness is not an American right alone. Israelis, Palestinians, Poles, Russians, Iranians, Americans, all human beings deserve to enjoy the blessings of a culture of freedom and opportunity.
1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  Soooooo... the return of Compassionate Conservatism?
2. Jerry on the road 13 years ago
  
  This is like a carte blanche in order to invade other countries so that they can have "freedom" too.
  1. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
    
    No, it's carte blanche in order for you to start thrashing straw men.
  2. Restoras 13 years ago
    
    This was the Athenian business model.
3. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
  
  hmm... I put blockquotes around the Romney statement but no worky. New secret?
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

Colour me shocked:

IN THE face of fierce opposition to plain-pack cigarettes from some American politicians, Australia's Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, has found high-profile allies.

Among them is the New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, who was ''terrifically enthusiastic'' about the cigarette plan when Ms Plibersek called on him.
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  I guess Bloomie isn't content to nanny NYC (and the rest of the US) alone.
2. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  You know something's wrong when Australia finds our nannyism inspiring!
Tim 13 years ago

Right, Left, they all are lining up to threaten war with Iran. Must be election season.
Brett L 13 years ago

Your post (#3174507) has been marked as spam by a third-party spam filter. If this is a mistake, please email webmaster@reason.com.

I am a registered commentor and will not be subject to the squirrel's indiginities! Free comment #3174507!
1. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  Would you please quit spamming about comment #3174507?
  1. Tim 13 years ago
    
    comment#3174507 has been taken to Area 51 where it will be studied and it's secrets revealed.
    1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
      
      PuT $50,000 IN a PlaIn BroWN eMaIL and sliP it TO tHe WEbmaSter if You WaNT tO seE CoMMenT #3174507 AgAIn.
      1. gaijin 13 years ago
        
        ^^xclnt!
    2. Loki 13 years ago
      
      Hopefully Jeff Goldblum can figure out how to post it just in time to plant a virus onboard the mothercomment and save us all. After Will Smith punches it in the head while saying "Welcome to Earf!", of course.
2. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  You know that if you washed occasionally and stopped letting your mother dress you the squirrels would stop fucking with you
  1. Brett L 13 years ago
    
    I told you last time. She doesn't dress me. She just picks out my clothes. Its different!
    1. RedDragon6009 13 years ago
      
      She doesn't dress me. She just picks out my clothes. Its different!
      
      At least let us all chip in and buy her a new light bulb for the closet, because it's obvious that she's picking out your clothes in the dark.
  2. T 13 years ago
    
    Look, ifh, the squirrels are all the play Brett gets. Don't ruin it for him.
3. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  I am not a number--I'm a free man!
  1. Marshall Gill 13 years ago
    
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
  2. JW 13 years ago
    
    Would you settle for being a free number?
  3. Restoras 13 years ago
    
    Hahahahahaha!
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      Who is Number 1?
      1. Loki 13 years ago
        
        Who does Number 2 work for?
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Which Number 2? This one or the old one? I'm so confused. Hey, why am I suddenly left-handed?
        
        Tim 13 years ago
        
        Be seeing you.
      2. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        You are number six.
Bee Tagger 13 years ago

tased by a police officer inside a Victoria's Secret in St. Louis.

So they had their things go off prematurely while standing in a Victoria's Secret. Who among us can truly say this has never happened to them? Any liars want to raise their hands?
Brett L 13 years ago

Giant Japanese mechs.
1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  its 6,000 round-per-minute BB gattling guns are controlled with the pilot's smile
  
  That is cold
  1. Loki 13 years ago
    
    You can't spell slaughter without laughter.
2. tarran 13 years ago
  
  SMILE SHOT!
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

Fuckin' civilians.

STOP RESISTING
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

Jenkins: Is Obama Beating Himself?
http://professional.wsj.com/ar.....94050.html

Team Obama can also have no illusion about the purpose of its campaign strategy. It doesn't kid itself that its attacks on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital will cause voters to flock to Obama. If anything, Mr. Obama knows his tactics cost him donor and voter enthusiasm on his own side.

The goal is to drive up Romney negatives. The payoff the campaign hopes for is that voters who would never vote for Mr. Obama will prefer to stay home rather than vote for that rich so-and-so Romney. The White House strategy is a "shrink-the-electorate" strategy. Team Obama will play the Mormon card at some point too. Count on it.
1. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  at long last, Barack Obama has a record and what does he do? Run from it as fast as possible.
  1. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
    
    If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things.
    
    And you know what? It's worked before, because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping and settle for what you already know
    
    He telegraphed his relection strategy four years in advance.
2. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
  
  How times have changed--used to be that Dems would try to get out the vote as much as possible. I guess they're worried not enough felons and dead people will be available to turn the tide in this election.
3. Pip 13 years ago
  
  "The White House strategy is a "shrink-the-electorate" strategy."
  
  This is truly evil. Truly.
Barack Obama 13 years ago

That $800 EBT card balance? You didn't build that. Someone else made that happen.
1. The Hammer 13 years ago
  
  Wait. This is actually true.
DJF 13 years ago

What a surprise, they are actually making Scify movies that aren't remakes

""Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies That Aren't Remakes, Sequels or Prequels"""

http://io9.com/5921089/upcomin.....r-prequels
1. Tim 13 years ago
  
  This could be a new feature for Hit and Run. Sure, we all get to REPLY TO COMMENT, but how about a PREQUEL TO COMMENT feature?
  1. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
    
    I'll be patiently waiting for JJ Abrams to reboot my tired old comments.
2. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  They can still do that?!
  1. DJF 13 years ago
    
    Someone must have pointed out to Hollywood that there is a thing called books, many of which have not yet been made into movies.
    1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
      
      Hollywood - "You don't say? Are there any comic books left unmovied?!"
      1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        More like "Are there any preschoolers' drawings left unmovied?"
        
        JW 13 years ago
        
        World War Z
        What it's about: Max Brooks' novel about the zombie apocalypse becomes a big splashy action movie starring Brad Pitt, directed by Quantum of Solace's Mark Forster.
        Status: Postponed until next year because of what are reportedly huge problems with the third act. Damon Lindelof has been brought in for massive rewrites.
        Prognosis: The best we can hope for is probably a fun generic zombie movie, since it apparently has little to do with the book.
        
        With the re-writes and delays and now that, this looks to be a massive fuckup of epic proportions.
        
        Chris Mallory 13 years ago
        
        WWZ was fairly vomit inducing with it's collectivist slant and big government cheer leading.
        
        Virginian 13 years ago
        
        So true. The part where Howard Dean is a Great War Leader and Cuba is the most successful country in the world because of all the "doctors" allowing them to get a handle on the situation quickly were particularly eye roll inducing.
        
        Robert 13 years ago
        
        You trolling for me when you bold Damon's name?
3. SugarFree 13 years ago
  
  Ender's Game
  What it's about: The movie adaptation of Orson Scott Card's famous novel about a boy genius who goes to a very special school during a war against alien "Buggers."
  Status: Coming out in November 2013.
  Prognosis: The makers of the film seem to be going to crazy lengths to be true to the novel, while also making something that looks cool. So fingers crossed!
  
  Oh, i09, you fucked up again. This is a remake of The Last Starfighter/
  1. SugarFree 13 years ago
    
    And here's keeping my fingers crossed that the long threatened Neuromancer and Snow Crash films continue to not be made.
    
    The obscene hash they will make out of two of my favorite novels fills me with dread.
    1. T 13 years ago
      
      Come now, you weren't inspired by the cinematic treatment of Johnny Mnemonic? Doesn't that make you think Hollywood will treat the properties you mention with respect and dignity in the process of making an excellent film?
    2. SIV 13 years ago
      
      New Rose Hotel wasn't that bad.
      Short stories make for better movie source material than novels.
    3. nipplemancer 13 years ago
      
      This
    4. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
      
      How about a film of The Diamond Age?
    5. Nephilium 13 years ago
      
      SugarFree,
      
      Neuromancer just got Liam Neeson (Armitage) and Mark Wahlburg (Case) attached to the project, so it appears that it's moving forward.
      
      As for Ender's Game being a remake of The Last Starfighter, I will just hope that's sarcasm I'm missing...
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Marky Mark? Didn't he get banned from science fiction after the movie he was in with the same name, oddly, as Planet of the Apes?
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        Speaking of remakes, isnt anyone in Hollywood interested in remaking Starship Troopers, only doing it right?
        
        Powered suits, please!
        
        Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
        
        I'd love to see a Forever War film too. The inertia-free bubbles or whatever would make for some great action scenes.
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        Nopt likely given that doing Starship Troopers right would involve delving into the depths of libertarian political thought.
        
        That said can someone put a bug into the guys over at HBO/Showtime's ears and clue them into the awesomness of series that could be made from any of the following...
        
        The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Heinlein
        Friday - Heinlein
        Footfall - Niven and Pournelle
        Lucifers Hammer - Niven and Pournelle
        
        Admittedly since the first takes place mostly on the moon it might be better to wait another 20 years until Bigelow gets it's first space station up.
        
        Oh yeah and on a related note, can someone go tell the guys at Bigelow to go talk to someone in Hollywood as a way to fund constructuion of their space stations, because if the cost numbers Bigelow is supplying on their website are accurate you could easily fit a couple months of filming in microgravity within the budget of a hollywood blockbuster (Enders Game anyone?)
      2. robc 13 years ago
        
        If its as good as TLS, I will be surprised.
        
        Is there an expanded TLS universe like with SW and ST?
        
        Loki 13 years ago
        
        I kind of doubt it. TLS (assuming that's short for The Last Starfighter) has always had more of a cult following as opposed to SW and ST's huge base of rabid fanboys. Although I suppose most SW and ST fans probably like TLS as well. Maybe it just never got spun off into books and comics and that's why it never developed an expanded universe. Who knows.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        Fun from wikipedia:
        
        In 2004, The Last Starfighter was adapted into an off-Broadway play.
        
        In 2008, a sequel was announced, but its still stuck in pre-production.
    6. robc 13 years ago
      
      Snow Crash is begging to be a movie. I dont see how it cant be made eventually. Of course, the longer it waits, the harder its going to fit in the backstory. Already, I think it would have to Hiro's grandfather in WW2, not his father.
  2. Restoras 13 years ago
    
    Please, God, I know it's asking a lot, probably too much, but please please don't let Hollywood fuck up Ender's Game. Please - for the sake of all that is great and good in the world, for the sake of your beautiful Creation - please intervene.
    
    I know this will go unanswered, but felt it was necessary anyway.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      I like Ender's Game well enough, but I don't get the people that think it's one of the best science fiction novels ever. Or, for that matter, the best. Ye gods.
      1. Restoras 13 years ago
        
        I wouldn't say it's the best ever - I honestly have not read enough to make that call. Stranger In a Strange Land maybe? When it comes to that particular book it just seems tailor made for Hollywood to fuck it up. Maybe it's just a desire for Hollywood to please stop turning almost everything it touches into shite.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        I'm not much for ranking books and movies, other than to lump some in the great category and others in lesser categories. Certainly, I'd put Dune ahead of either by quite a bit. Not that I don't like Stranger in a Strange Land (though it's not my favorite Heinlein) or Ender's Game--I do.
        
        Gray Ghost 13 years ago
        
        Fahrenheit 451, The Mote in God's Eye, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Childhood's End: all I'd put ahead of Ender's Game.
        
        And three of the above four---never mind all of the new British stuff---haven't been made into a movie, AFAIK.
        
        Hollywood sucks.
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        Mote in The Gods Eye would be awesome but I really don't see how it could be done in a single movie
        
        Gray Ghost 13 years ago
        
        So give it to Peter Jackson. By the way, how in the hell are they getting three movies out of The Hobbit?
        
        Yeah, you'd have to re-do the whole CoDominion thing and set up Mote's universe. Make it a two parter, with the infestation of MacArthur being the end of the first movie?
        
        Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        Based on what I read they are including stuff that was not in the book but was included in the notes and addendum that Tolkien had, mostly dealing with the rise of the Necromancer (which is also how they manage to keep Galadriel in the Hobbit movies, where she had no role in the book whatsoever).
        
        The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        Apparently Jackson wanted to add a bunch of stuff from The Silmarillion and Tolkien's other novels to The Hobbit movie.
    2. Azathoth!! 13 years ago
      
      Card has mixed Ender's Game with Ender's Shadow to round out the movie and move some exposition out of Ender's head, but so far, it sounds good.
4. robc 13 years ago
  
  I was going to make a comment about them leaving out Atlas Shrugged 2, but its a sequel, so nevermind.
  1. BigT 13 years ago
    
    AS2 is both sequel and prequel.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      It's a mequel.
      1. Pip 13 years ago
        
        Biquel.
5. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  I must admit that when I first saw the trailer for The Host I thought, "That looks decent, maybe I'll see that!"
  
  I'm so ashamed.
6. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  Jeremy Renner - nummy! Seems his star is on the rise and I'll get to see him in a lot more stuff.
  
  As far as adaptations, I would like to see Anna to the Infinite Power, adapted as an adult story with some actiony embellishments and a nice fat budget. I guess this could technically count as a remake, but the first one was low budget, short, made for a tweener audience, and pretty much unseen (I had to IMDB to see if an adaptation of the book had even been made in the first place).
7. Matrix 13 years ago
  
  is it just me, or does that robot from Tomo look a lot like the geth from Mass Effect?
8. mr simple 13 years ago
  
  Noah...adapts the Biblical story of Noah's Ark, with Russell Crowe...Aronofsky reportedly wants this film to portray Noah as "the first environmentalist." At the very least, the scenes of global flooding could be fascinating.
  
  Hollywood adaptation of biblical story turned into leftist claptrap. No, thanks.
  
  Also, prequel to Waterworld.
  1. Fatty Bolger 13 years ago
    
    Aronofsky reportedly wants this film to portray Noah as "the first environmentalist."
    
    The "kill all humans except me" part certainly squares with the modern environmentalist.
  2. CE 13 years ago
    
    I'm pretty sure Noah was a speciesist. There must have been a few species he intentionally or unintentionally left out. Unless he really just kept them all as DNA samples, not actual live animals.
John 13 years ago

If you really want to be depressed, go to any newspaper that has comments and read the comments connected with any story about Micheal Phelps breaking the Olympic medal record yesterday. About half of them will be "he is a degenerate dope smoker!!" It is just pathetic and sad especially when you consider that Phelps has spent most of the last 8 years as the most fit man in the universe and most of the clowns posting that are probably over weight and couldn't run a quarter mile. But he is the degenerate.
1. tarran 13 years ago
  
  I can't remember who said this (it was probably in some Heinlein novel):
  
  Most people aren't happy until they find someone they can look down upon.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    That and how is somehow a failure at the Olympics because he finished second and fourth in his two individual events. They act like he showed up fat and threw up after fifty meters. Being the fourth best in the world at anything is pretty amazing. And it takes very little to drop from first to fourth. It is pretty hard to stay motivated after doing what he did in 08. Meanwhile, Ryan Lochte, who is one of the best American swimmers ever in his own right, spent four years pissed off and supremely motivated to beat Phelps.
    1. wareagle 13 years ago
      
      the anything-but-gold-means-first-loser theme is strong in America. We treat anything other than title-winning effort as failure. Making the Olympics is monumentally difficult; making the final of your event is even more so; winning a medal is in its own place.
      
      Lochte, by the way, has found out there is more to swimming competition that Phelps. The French guy is the new king of the pool.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        Lockte won the 400IM. That is the glamor event that he wanted.
        
        wareagle 13 years ago
        
        just saying that there is a certain myopia within the American sports media - no other country competes and anything but gold is unacceptable. It makes no sense. If you are on that medal platform, it's been a great day.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        WE, spot on comment. I wish I were half as good at anything as the fourth place finisher in any Olympic event.
        
        People want to look at others who have attained great heights and bring them down to there own level in any manner possible, for only the selfish reason to make them feel less bad about thier own, at best, average existence.
        
        Loki 13 years ago
        
        ^^THIS^^
        
        Most people are unwilling to admit to themselves that they're really worthless peices of shit, so anytime someone excels at anything, instead of using them as inspiration to do better at something, anything, they instead turn into Donald Sutherland from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I guess that's easier than actually putting in an ounce of effort to improve yourself. And people wonder why I have no faith in humanity.
      2. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        We treat anything other than title-winning effort as failure.
        
        Yep look at the way people talk about teams that lose championship games - series.
      3. CE 13 years ago
        
        Yeah, and if the world champion gymnast that NBC prepared all the promos and human interest stories about comes in third and doesn't qualify for the all-around competition, it's supposed to be some sort of tragedy. Even though some other American gymnast may actually be better, and actually win the all-around.
    2. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
      
      Yes, this Phelps stuff astounds me. Yahoo had the following headline: "Phelps loses his golden touch as French win relay" and first sentence The days when everything Michael Phelps touched turned to gold have now officially gone. Not until the 5th paragraph does Yahoo say that oh, the anchor leg for the Americans had the lead when he started swimming.
      
      And Kornheiser, normally good at being skeptical of media-created stories, said that he thought Phelps's struggles were a big story because of how much he was built up in the media.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        He just broke a sixty year old record. He won medals in four straight Olympics. I don't think anyone will ever beat that record. And these events are so close. The guy from South Africa who beat him in the 200 butterfly (his first loss in 12 years) won because Phelps barely mistimed his stroke. He did to Phelps what Phelps did to the second place guy in 2008. He is having a great meet. He just wasn't going to do what he did in 08. But no one probably ever will.
        
        RBS 13 years ago
        
        The bigger story should be how the curmudgeons at the IOC wouldn't let the Russian gymnast present Phelps with medal 19.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        No kidding. God I hate the IOC.
        
        fried wylie 13 years ago
        
        But no one probably ever will.
        
        Some Chinese guy, circa 2020-2028.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Nope. The Chinese never last more than one or two Olympics. When you are kidnapped from your parents and put on steroids from age five, you tend to burn out young.
        
        fried wylie 13 years ago
        
        Someone, of some nationality besides America, in some Olypics in the future.
        
        Happy now, you fucking olympics-pedant-ass?
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I bet it won't be broken in our lifetime. That is a huge record. The one he broke stood for 50 years. It is just so hard to win that many medals. Gymnastics and swimming are the only two sports where you have a chance. And not every really gymnastics anymore since they rarely make more than one Olympics anymore before getting hurt or too old.
    3. T 13 years ago
      
      Yeah, and he got the silver by what, .05 of a second? Sure, I can make jokes with the best of them about being the first loser, but seriously. That's within the uncontrollable margin of error. Different airflow over the pool that day and it would have turned out differently.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        He won a couple or races by that margin in 08. Basically he got all of the breaks in 08 and none of them this time. That is how it works. At that level it takes a little bit of luck to win. It is not like everyone else isn't awesome and doesn't train really hard too.
      2. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
        
        In the subsequent interview he basically said he had a couple of lazy moments in the swim.
2. Ptah-Hotep 13 years ago
  
  Well, if he wasn't such a doper, he could have broken the record during the last Olympics. What a loser.
  
  /sarc
3. CE 13 years ago
  
  Seems like he did better when he was toking.
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

Social Security Disability Insurance's incentive not to work
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

It is nevertheless true that SSDI offers all the wrong incentives: Employers pay nothing when their workers go on SSDI. And for many workers, especially those with few skills, the alternative to a steady SSDI check (and, often, Medicare) would be a minimum-wage job, possibly one without insurance. Of course, the longer one stays out of work, the rustier one's skills get. The program has no training or rehabilitation component.

Not surprisingly, only about 1?percent of SSDI beneficiaries have left the rolls annually since the mid-1980s, according to data compiled by MIT economist David Autor, a leading advocate of reform.
1. tarran 13 years ago
  
  Hold on there, Tex. It's also really hard to get SSDI.
  
  Everyone who applies gets rejected the first time around. It takes years to get on the rolls. In my days in the financial advising biz, I heard horror stories.
  
  It takes years to penetrate the bureaucracy. Odds are, if someone is disabled long enough to get the payments, they are in pretty bad shape and will be for a very long time.
  1. Kwanzaa Cake 13 years ago
    
    It's so hard that the SSDI rolls are swelling like Michael Moore's waistline.
    
    And "pretty bad shape" these days often means PTSD, ADHD, or some other subjective and unverifiable mental condition. I know this from family experience. A family member discharged a crapload of student loans because she was "totally and permanently disabled" due to PTSD suffered during childbirth. It is a total and complete joke. She lives a completely normal life and is more than capable of working. This is pretty much the same thing as SSDI.
    
    The incentive to hop on SSDI is massive. Sure, it is not a lot of moeny, but it requires no work. After 2 years yiou get Medicaid. And I believe you also get food stamps, which is a major supplement to the SSDI income. Not to mention your free government cell phone. No wonder so many people are opting for SSDI over working.
    
    SSDI is a prime example of how the welfare state crushes the human spirit and makes us immeasurably weaker as a nation.
    1. tarran 13 years ago
      
      Interesting....
      
      My experience has been the opposite, but I may be guilty of sampling bias. The people I was interacting with wanted to work.
      1. Kwanzaa Cake 13 years ago
        
        I think the sheer increases in the number of people on SSDI and the overall expense is really strong evidence that not all of these people have cancer or other serious diseases. As the Op-ed noted, a huge percentage is back pain and mental conditions. Note that even if you are initially denied SSDI there is an appeals process, and the ALJs who hear those appeals are famous for rubber-stamping just about every application. The WSJ did a front page story on it some months ago.
      2. wareagle 13 years ago
        
        The people I was interacting with wanted to work.
        
        give Obama four more years and they will be stripped of that desire.
      3. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
        
        Given that the Obama administration is looking to massively expand Food Stamps, I wouldn't be surprised if they've also "loosened" requirements for SSDI.
      4. Chupacabra 13 years ago
        
        My wife's step-mother was put on SSDI without even applying. She was shocked when she received the notice.
    2. Ptah-Hotep 13 years ago
      
      due to PTSD suffered during childbirth
      
      Wait, WTF. Did she give birth in Afghanistan?
    3. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      PTSD suffered during childbirth
      
      There are quacks who can't get on a medical staff or a decent clinic who make their living rubberstamping disability applications.
      
      Sure, the bureaucracy may take some time, but the number of people on SSDI is growing by leaps and bounds (by coincidence, as employment "insurance" checks run out).
      1. Kwanzaa Cake 13 years ago
        
        She tried a natural chilbirth, so no epidural. This, of course, is how all babies were born before about 1960 or so. Then she claimed the experience was so traumatic that she was permanently disabled. If you saw her today you would immediately agree that it is ridiculous. She went to a "new age" doctor who, for the fees collected for a few office visits, was only too happy to sign a form "verifying" her disability. And that was that -- about $30,000 in federall insured student loans went off her balance sheet and onto ours.
    4. fried wylie 13 years ago
      
      Not to mention your free government cell phone.
      
      "...so they can hear everything that you say when you ain't home...It's all Mathematics."
    5. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
      
      And "pretty bad shape" these days often means PTSD, ADHD, or some other subjective and unverifiable mental condition.
      
      My pops was complaining to me about this just this past weekend. He's being treated at the VA hospital in Wyoming, and he remarked how most of the other guys there are just looking for a paycheck--they're always asking him, "Well, why don't you get disability for (fill in the blank) disorder or something like that?" He's responded that he's not going to get money for something he doesn't have, and mentioned one guy who claims to have PTSD from Vietnam, even though he graduated high school in 1975.
    6. Rasilio 13 years ago
      
      Illnesses like PTSD are problematic for any type of public benefits program.
      
      There really and truely are people who have it so bad that they cannot work and no amount of drugs or therapy will ever make them ok (I know, my father is in this camp and growing up with someone with severe PTSD was friggin scary), however it is also an incredibly easy "disorder" to fake. Further with something like SSI available it makes it easy for those suffering with subjective or difficult to prove disorders to give up on trying to deal with their disorders and just give up, falling into the comfortable living of life on SSI. SSI basically makes it too easy to turn your disability from something to fight to overcome into something that you can use as an excuse for everything bad with your life.
      
      This is why government run charity is such an abysmal failure, there is no personal element to it, no one is sitting with these people urging them to improve their lives and overcome their situations and become self sufficient, you just get a check every month.
Mike M. 13 years ago

OnStar, General Motors, and the federal government (courtesy of you the taxpayer) are teaming up to create a little Green Potemkin Village of liberal fantasies in Texas, charmingly called "Pecan Street".
1. Brett L 13 years ago
  
  Austin. Of course.
  1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    I always wonder why the rest of Texas doesn't put up a quarantine fence around Austin - do they have great BBQ or is it the U of TX football games still need attendance or what?
    1. Brett L 13 years ago
      
      Great food, good music, and net importer of incredibly fine women. No fence, pls.
      1. wareagle 13 years ago
        
        but is the sum total of those pluses greater than the effect of the hipster influx?
      2. fried wylie 13 years ago
        
        No fence, pls.
        
        The fence could have a gate. Just sayin'
    2. John 13 years ago
      
      The have great BBQ all over Texas. But if you put a fence around Austin, the weirdos who go there would infect the rest of the state. It is kind of a hipster honey trap for the rest of the state.
      1. T 13 years ago
        
        Exactly. By keeping Austin weird, you keep the completely insufferable douchebag wannabe hipsters out of the rest of the state.
        
        Nobody moves to Houston because it's cool and bohemian. The freaks here are the genuine article, not poseurs living off mommy and daddy in a trendy zip code.
        
        Having said that, I do like Austin. But I have a higher tolerance for pretentious faux bohemian than a lot of you.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I have a similar tolerance and like Austin as well. And there are normal people who live in Austin. I love Central Texas. I just can't take the climate. The older I get the more I hate the heat.
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        Humid heat, blecch.
        
        Dry, high desert heat - the ideal climate, IMO.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Central Texas is anything but dry. It is Houston only a bit hotter. And any heat dry or wet gets old after a while. When it is still in the 90s in late September, I am ready to slash my wrists. And then of course it is always either a drought or a flood, never anything in between. The climate of the entire state just sucks.
        
        T 13 years ago
        
        I try hard not to bitch about the climate since I made the conscious decision to move here. I fucking hate, hate, hate cold weather and snow. If living in a place where it only snows every 5 years means I have to put up with oppressive heat in the summer, so be it.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I am the opposite T. If having a nice summer means having to put up with snow, which I like anyway, it is worth it.
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        I hear ya about not bitching about climate. When I move to VT or NH, you will never, ever, ever, ever hear me complain about long cold winters. Long winters with lots of gorgeous snow is so much better than shortish winters with cold rain.
        
        Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
        
        But I have a higher tolerance for pretentious faux bohemian than a lot of you.
        
        Fauxhemian? Why not.
    3. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
      
      That's pretty much it. Franklin Barbeque and the Longhorns.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        Kretz Market in Lockhart.
        
        Brett L 13 years ago
        
        Salt Lick. Although not as much of an experience since the county stopped being dry.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I like the Salt Lick. But I am in the Kretz Market camp. Best piece of meat I have ever ate anytime any where.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        Best piece of meat I have ever ate anytime any where.
        
        Since you've obviously never been to Franklin's you really should try it if you ever get the chance. It's better than Kreuz and will make Salt Lick taste like something from Luby's.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        Kreuz, Black's, and Smitty's in Lockhart all pale by comparison to Franklin's. The only problem with Franklin is that he doesn't make enough.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Nothing compares to Kreuz you philistine. It has been there for a hundred years. You can't make meat better than that.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        Kruez is insanely good. I don't mean to knock it. Franklin's is better if you can get past waiting in line to get some before he runs out.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I have to admit NEM, I have not been to Franklin's. I am just giving you a hard time. Where is it? Next time I am down there I will have to check it out. If it is better than Kreutz, that is a bold statement.
        
        Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
        
        It's on 11th, just east of 35.
        
        Obviously, taste is subjective but it is really, really good. I don't think you can go wrong with with Franklin or any of the big three in Lockhart. I think once they get to a certain size, though, BBQ places shift too much focus to quantity rather than quality.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I agree. The best BBQ comes out of small places. The best place in Kansas City is a small place called LTs. It blows away the bigger more famous places like Gates. BBQ must be done in limited quantities to be truly great.
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        Best BBQ I had in NC was a random chance place that was had no plans to visit. We had planned on going to another BBQ joint, but we happened to spot the smoke from this one and pulled in. It was basically a shack (a nice shack, though) and some picnic tables in the parking lot behind some antique stores. Fucking delicious.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        It was only a shack to you Kristen. In North Carolina they call that a Mcmansion.
        
        Gray Ghost 13 years ago
        
        If you want to go to Franklin, and it is outstanding, you need to go early. There's often a---no shit---two hour line. Which is frankly ridiculous. I find it better than Kreuz, Smitty's, or Louie Mueller in Taylor, but only just.
        
        The Salt Lick is a step behind, and high priced. Great BBQ chicken and the rest is still good though. I think it's still BYOB, but I'm not sure. Zinfandel goes really well with BBQ beef and pork, incidentally.
        
        Austin would be great, were it not for all of the transplanted Californians, who promptly try to make it the Bay Area East. And I agree, the weather sucks in both Austin and Houston. Another two months of this shit...with the chance of an odd hurricane. We'll see what Ernesto ends up doing.
        
        The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        The best barbecue in Texas is the General Store in Castell, which only sells it on weekends (maybe only Saturdays?). This requires two trucks, but if you can make it out to Castell, and if you can find Castell, rent kayaks and ride the river down to Llano state park. A friend of my dad's built his retirement cabin on the river just outside of Castell, so I have gotten to go there several times in summer when he is working up in Yellowstone. But that is honestly the best barbecue you will ever taste. They have some tables around the bridge over the river where you put the boats in, so you can stop and savor the meat, and you'll probably be hungry again by the time you get down to Llano. Go to Cooper's in Llano, which is not quite as good as Castell, but is on the level of Franklin without the hours-long wait, before you drive back to Castell. Easily the best way to get your barbecue fix.
        
        rac3rx 13 years ago
        
        Screw that, the best barbecue in Texas comes out of the smoker in my backyard. And I have my choice of liquor and can eat it in my pajamas.
        
        The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        I would bet money that Castell General Store is better.
        
        Fatty Bolger 13 years ago
        
        In North Carolina they call that a Mcmansion.
        
        That's rude, John!
        
        You're thinking of South Carolina.
        
        RBS 13 years ago
        
        Hey! At least we know how to drive.
  2. Brian Combs 13 years ago
    
    What's strange is that I live in Austin, and this is the first I've heard of this. Doesn't seem to be big news here.
2. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  Naturally, they align themselves with soft nuts.
mr simple 13 years ago

I'm so glad I have to click on two links to get to the story I want read. Thanks for taxing us with page hits Reason!
1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  There oughtta be a law!!
Tim 13 years ago

LOOK! A CRYING CHILD! SHE'S COMING RIGHT AT ME!
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  Will the LEO be getting the Medal Of Valor or just a commendation for bravery?
2. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
  
  LOOK! A CHILD ON I LIT ON FIRE! BULLETS WILL PUT HER OUT!
  1. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
    
    Fucking Grammar
    1. The Hammer 13 years ago
      
      Oh, I thought you were just going for authentic cop-speak.
Brett L 13 years ago

I'm not sure that having the Dept of Labor send notices to contractors that layoffs must be delayed until after the first Tuesday in November is okay.
1. The Hammer 13 years ago
  
  I'm not sure that the Defense Department is supposed to be a jobs program.
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

Milton Friedman: An Economics of Love
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....omics-love

And that is what really should be remembered about Milton Friedman: He didn't argue for capitalism in order to make the world safe for the Fortune 500, but to open up a world of possibilities for those who are most in need of them. The real subject of economics isn't supply and demand, but people, and to love liberty is to love people and all that is best in them. And it is something that can only be done when we are free to choose.
1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  I can't stand people. I love liberty because I want to be left alone. But it's cool that non-misanthropes and misanthropes alike can ultimately have the same goal.
2. Dr. Frankenstein 13 years ago
  
  Power to the People.
  
  I'm taking it back.
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

A couple in Toronto have hit out after they were denied the chance to rent an apartment when their prospective landlord discovered that one of the pair played in a heavy metal band, Vilipend.

more here
1. End Child Unemployment 13 years ago
  
  Looked up some youtube videos - they're not very good, and definitely a hardcore band, not metal. This is probably the most publicity they'll ever get.
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

'A Climate That Helps Us Grow'
However the president's words about business are interpreted, his administration's policies have been hostile.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

Former SEIU leader indicted
http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....ted-1.html

The charges resulted from a nearly four-year investigation by the U.S. Labor Department, FBI and Internal Revenue Service that grew out of a series of reports in the Los Angeles Times on Freeman's financial dealings as president of SEIU Local 6434. The resulting scandal spread through the 2-million-member SEIU and cost several other union officials their jobs.

Citing records and interviews, The Times reports showed that Freeman, 42, funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of his union members' hard-earned dues to his relatives and lavished similar sums on golf tournments, expensive restaurants and a Beverly Hills cigar club.

Last month, his wife pleaded guilty to an income tax charge in connection with more than $540,000 she received in union consulting payments at Freeman's direction.
1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
  
  Hard-earned dues? There are multiple problems with using that phrase there.
2. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  Four years? You'd think a competent investigator armed with subpoena's and a grand jury would take about a week to lock up the top management of any union.
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

The Obama Ad That Starts 'The Dirty Season'
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012.....um=twitter
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  Direct link to ad.
  
  I, um, hope this stuff backfires big time: "When will he come clean" on college transcripts, medical records, FampF documents, and (dare I say it) birth certificate?
John 13 years ago

Ted Cruz won by 13 points despite all the polls calling it a toss up or giving Cruz a small lead. Makes you wonder about the Presidential polls.
1. Mike M. 13 years ago
  
  It's total bullshit. Most of these polls that have Obama with a slight lead are based on a model of a democratic turnout virtually identical to what they had in '08. Anybody who seriously believes that's going to be the case is simply out of their minds.
  1. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
    
    Identical to 2008 or even more Ds in the sample. It's just stupid.
    
    I know someone who worked with the Cruz campaign and she said they were expecting Cruz to win by around 10%.
    1. T 13 years ago
      
      The stink of desperation coming off the Dewhurst campaign was almost palpable. I expected Dewhurst to lose, but not by that much. Now if we can just boot his ass out of the Lt. Gov. seat, I'll be a happy guy.
      
      Also, I'm still tickled Craig James got beat like a drum in the primary.
      1. The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        Why the Craig James hate? Mike Leach fan?
      2. Ted S. 13 years ago
        
        Craig James? The shitty football announcer?
        
        rac3rx 13 years ago
        
        Yes, the shitty football announcer who hates all Texas teams except for SMU. He and his kid are idiots.
        
        He ran for Senate thinking he was some big popular celebrity and would sail right into office. I think he got less than 4%.
2. Ken Shultz 13 years ago
  
  Yeah, I bet there's a bias in these polls toward people who will waste their time talking on the phone to pollsters.
  
  Are people who don't care about caller ID evenly distributed between likely Democrats and Republicans?
  
  Assuming I accidentally picked up the phone without recognizing the number, as soon as a pollster called me up asking questions, I'd dump 'em quick assuming they were either trying to sell me something or that whatever they were doing, I don't give a damn anyway.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

Speaking of Nanny Bloomberg, he apparently accused the National Rifle association of engaging in fearmongering in order to advance their political agenda recently.
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  They probably use salt and drink 32 oz sodas too!
2. ftw 13 years ago
  
  +1 (was a like button too much to ask for?)
  1. Ted S. 13 years ago
    
    Yes. I think the "like button" crap is juvenile.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

Congress is considering two measures that would compel the Obama administration to show members of Congress what Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) calls Obama's "license to kill": internal memos outlining the legal justification for killing Americans overseas without charge or trial. Legislators have been asking administration officials to release the documents for nearly a year, raising the issue multiple times in hearings and letters.

Unfortunately those kill memos are stored in the same place as the Fast and Furious documents. But you keep on writing those letters, Congressional Republicans. Your newfound civil libertarian streak is probably only going to last another six months.
Lord Humungus 13 years ago

completely OT: I put my house up for sale last Friday. First person went through on Saturday afternoon. They revisited on Sunday.

Offer on Monday. We counter-offered. They accepted Today.

So less than a week to sell my house. Yikes!
1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  Well done! How long to pack up the vintage equipment?
  1. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
    
    not too long - been purging lots of stuff lately. Moving ~1000 records isn't going to be fun, but I recently sold my Grand Marquis and bought an old Toyota truck, so at least I won't have to rent anything.
2. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
  
  of course we have house inspections and the usual junk to deal with before the close.
3. Tim 13 years ago
  
  Recession's over baby! Back to the Crap table!
4. robc 13 years ago
  
  You didnt ask enough. 🙂
  
  Seriously though, in Louisville (back in the 2007 era when I was shopping), a house priced 20k too high would sit around forever. Price it correctly and it would last a few days.
  
  I saw it happen over and over.
  1. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
    
    yeah, my old man says I should have asked for more... but he has a tendency that everything is worth what you paid for plus what you put into it - classic Dutch.
    
    I'm just happy that I'll be 'breaking even' considering I bought only 2-3 months before the real-estate bubble burst.
    1. wareagle 13 years ago
      
      as the old saw goes, a thing is worth what someone will pay for it.
    2. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
      
      Besides, if you break even that means you've had a place to live since you bought it for only the price of taxes/maintenance.
      1. alex griggs 13 years ago
        
        And interest payments on the mortgage loan, assuming there was one.
5. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  So less than a week to sell my house.
  
  Underpriced it, I see.
6. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
  
  What about your dead hooker corpse-pile in the backyard?
  1. T 13 years ago
    
    Bonfire at LH's place, I guess.
  2. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
    
    I was going to mention that on the disclosure form, but thought it best for them to discover my 'little pets'.
7. ftw 13 years ago
  
  Congrats.
  Agent convinced you to price too low?
  1. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
    
    Well, he lives in the wasteland, after all. The smoking remains of oil derricks don't usually go for that much.
  2. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
    
    I don't think so - not based on the other properties that have been selling. More like a number of lucky events - a motivated buyer and location, location, location.
    
    Our little city suburb is about close as you can get to the city without being in the ghetto.
    1. JW 13 years ago
      
      Leaving the state for saner climes?
      1. Lord Humungus 13 years ago
        
        'fraid not. Looking for a better school district for my son and more flexibility for my wife's (future) job search - we want to be able to easily relocate within the next 6 months.
Ken Shultz 13 years ago

A 12-year-old girl was tased by a police officer inside a Victoria's Secret in St. Louis. Officers were there to arrest her mother for outstanding traffic tickets, and the girl started crying and, police say, didn't back away quickly enough.

Once internal affairs investigates, I'm sure charges will be filed, if appropriate,...

Because that's the way the system works.

Just like if any of us had physically assaulted a 12 year-old girl for crying and not keeping her distance.
mr simple 13 years ago

Re: tazing of tween

The police spokesman says he believes the officer's actions were justified, but he admits it's a unique situation.

Of course he does. Lying rats always have each others back. I just hope the security video in the store didn't "malfunction".
Jerry on the road 13 years ago

UC professor charged with setting 5 fires.

A professor at the University of California, Irvine, has been charged with arson after authorities say he set a series of fires at an Orange County high school and threatened to kill school officials and students after his son committed suicide.

Guess what the professor's research interests are...
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  "If I hear that expression 'neurons fire' just ONE MORE TIME, ...."
2. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  That's actually a very interesting story. It seems that he blamed the high school for his son's death, so he decided to burn it to the ground.
3. SIV 13 years ago
  
  I bet it has something to do with Phrenology.
John 13 years ago

It is terrible to say this about someone. But Gore Vidal would have been better off if he had died young. What a sorry old age.
1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  He certainly got loonier with age, especially about politics, but he was a really good writer in his prime. I highly recommend Julian and Creation.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    Julian the Apostate was a very interesting guy. I will have to read that.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      It's excellent. Not only was Julian fascinating all by himself, but the times were interesting as well.
      
      Creation is really good, too. The basic plot plays with the possibilities of some major religious and philosophical figures being rough contemporaries:
      
      The story follows the adventures of a fictional "Cyrus Spitama", an Achaemenid Persian diplomat of the 5th century BCE who travels the known world comparing the political and religious beliefs of various nation states of the time. Over the course of his life, he meets many influential philosophical figures of his time, including Zoroaster, Socrates, the Buddha, Mahavira, Lao Tsu, and Confucius.
  2. hamilton 13 years ago
    
    Creation was good, and even some of his wacky early stuff.
2. Heroic Mulatto 13 years ago
  
  What? And deny the world the opportunity to see what an arrogant, insecure little priss he was?
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    Yes, he was all that. But he was a great author.
John 13 years ago

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.....ssemc=rss

Obama supporters barraged with pleas for cash. The campaign really is a metaphor for how they run government; totally inefficient, corrupt, and able to bounce even a blank cheque.
1. CE 13 years ago
  
  Mitt Romney keeps asking me for money. Not sure why.
Rich 13 years ago

Congress wants to know why the White house thinks the president has the legal authority to order the assassination of Americans

Are you serious?
/Nancy Pelosi
1. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  FYTW - if that answer does not fit this story, then it fits no story.
2. Ken Shultz 13 years ago
  
  Congress wants to know why?
  
  Section 2 - Authorization For Use of United States Armed Forces
  
  (a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.
  
  http://tinyurl.com/3bbupx3
  
  Looks to me like Congress authorized targeting anyone associated with the Taliban or Al Qaeda anywhere in the world.
  
  And I don't see an expiration date on that authorization anywhere in sight.
  
  I'm actually pretty sympathetic to the president on this one point--if you don't want to be targeted by the president as if you were an enemy combatant at war with the United States?
  
  Then don't join with the enemy in waging war against the United states, when Congress has authorized the president to use force against anyone associated with that enemy.
  
  If Congress doesn't like that, then if I'm not mistaken, they can rescind or amend that authorization any time they like. In the meantime, Benedict Arnold should have the same rights as any other soldier waging war against us--if he's waging war against us, then he certainly doesn't have a right not to be a military target.
  1. The Hammer 13 years ago
    
    And how the fuck do you know that anyone killed by summary drone strike had actually joined the enemy waging war against the United States? I agree with you on the Congressional authorization, actually, but after your "expiration date" point you descend into some strangely familiar circular reasoning.
SugarFree 13 years ago

Hey? Remember when the left-media decried violent imagery in politics? Yeah, me neither.

You know, not being able to preview means this link probably doesn't work. Think of the human costs of your re-design, Reason.
1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  The link works. You're losing your touch
2. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  Who from the White House leaked this internal cartoon memo?
3. Heroic Mulatto 13 years ago
  
  A cartoonist advocating a military coup?
  
  You know who el....forget it.
  1. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
    
    Count von Stauffenberg?
4. John 13 years ago
  
  Holy shit. That is flat out advocating the assassination of the US Congress. Unbelievable.
  1. JW 13 years ago
    
    No, no, just those evil republicans holding America hostage with their extremist agenda. You know, the one that's separated from the democrat's by only a few degrees.
5. Tulpa Doom 13 years ago
  
  The bin Laden thing was not a "rescue mission", so if he's trying to advocate an analogous treatment of Congress it doesn't make any sense.
6. The Hammer 13 years ago
  
  Why can't you preview?
Loki 13 years ago

We just might bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran if the country doesn't accept limits on its nuclear program

Thank God that war-monger McCain didn't get elected back in '08...
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

The obscene hash they will make out of two of my favorite novels fills me with dread.

Or you could just stay home. I never saw the movie version of A Scanner Darkly and never will.
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  obscene hash
  
  Nice band name.
2. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  Count of Monte Cristo (with Guy Pearce) may have made the angriest.
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    That one pissed me off. That's one of my favorite novels. Well, the title is the same as one of my favorite novels.
    
    The miniseries version with G?rard Depardieu was decent, if you make some allowances (he's obviously way too old and flabby, but I think it works, anyway).
    1. The Hammer 13 years ago
      
      I love the novel, but I actually liked the Jim Caviezel movie, too. Not overly faithful to the book, but to do that right would take at least two movies, since the novel is only 200 pages shorter than LOTR. It was an entertaining movie on its own merits.
  2. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
    
    You must really hate Ben-Hur, since it's basically the same story.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

Lisa: Well, seeing as how Dave and I...
Joe: Do it?
Lisa: ...are romantically...
Joe: Doing it?
Lisa: ...sleeping together, I think this precludes me from taking part in any revolution.
Bill: Benedict Arnold slept with George Washington.
Lisa: You really need to stop getting your history from Gore Vidal.
1. mr simple 13 years ago
  
  Wow, a News Radio reference. Deep cuts, man.
  1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
    
    You know it.
2. The Hammer 13 years ago
  
  Love this. Not enough News Radio references on this board.
Barack Obama 13 years ago

Chicago likes to compare itself to other world cities, so Ward Room thought it would find out how we rank in violence. It turns out no one can top us. Among what are considered Alpha world cities, Chicago has the highest murder rate -- higher even than the Third World metropolises of Mexico City and Sao Paolo. Here's how we rank in murders per 100,000 among cities we consider our peers, based on a projected murder total of 505 for this year.
Singapore 0.4
Tokyo 0.5
Hong Kong 0.6
Berlin 1.0
Sydney 1.0
London 1.4
Toronto 1.7
Amsterdam 1.8
Paris 4.4
New York 6.0
Los Angeles 7.5
Mexico City 8.0
Moscow 9.6
Sao Paolo 15.6
Chicago 19.4
We could be doing worse: Caracas, Venezuela has a murder rate of 130 per 100,000.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blog.....z22IkSkv6o
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Worse than Mexico City is astounding.
  1. T 13 years ago
    
    Well, I think they're still a bit light on kidnapping. If they can bump those numbers up, they'll beat the DF in the all-around.
  2. Gray Ghost 13 years ago
    
    Worse than Sao Paolo?! How bad have you fucked up in city governance when you're worse than Sao Paolo?
2. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  "You didn't kill that..."
  1. Rich 13 years ago
    
    +9mm
3. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  Obviously, this is the fault of the Supreme Court gutting Chicago's gun control regulations.
4. robc 13 years ago
  
  Chicago is better than Cincinnati(2010 data).
5. widget 13 years ago
  
  I have visited about half of those cities. From what I've directly observed, the odd-ball here is Los Angeles. LA is not a city, it's a wildly shaped geographic/political area.
widget 13 years ago

Gore Vidal is the only person I know of who bothered to examine Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma massacre.

Here:

http://www.vanityfair.com/poli.....eigh200109
R C Dean 13 years ago

I'm curious: are there any age limits on tasering people? I would think the very young and the very old would be high-risk for a bad outcome from a good electrocutin'.
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  "Set tasers to stun."
2. John 13 years ago
  
  Not sure. But there is certainly limits on use of force. Cops are supposed to use the minimum force necessary to accomplish their job. The legal force a cop can use is directly related to the threat of force the cop is under. There is no way a 12 year old girl created enough of a threat to justify tazing. His actions were totally illegal and he should be up on assault on a minor charges.
  1. Pip 13 years ago
    
    Let me tell you something based on what I've seen on the number 5 bus: a big fat 12-year-old girl really can pose a threat that could require tasing. And I say this as someone you all know fucking hates cops.
    
    Just last week a cop pull some people over or something and what does he do? He parks his fucking cruiser blocking both westbound lanes forcing anyone heading west to drive into oncoming traffic. Then he steps out in front of the bus as it tries to go by. arrogant piece of shit. I flipped the fucker off right there.
3. Ken Shultz 13 years ago
  
  It's funny how...wasn't tasering supposed to be a humane alternative to shooting people?
  
  For some people, though, it probably would be more humane to hit them with a billy club.
  
  I'm wondering if they have the same threshold. How often do cops tazer people they wouldn't have clubbed?
  
  I guess tazers don't break any bones, and that's a plus. But then tazers can and have killed people where clubbing them probably wouldn't have.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    The rule is that it is a scale of force. Tazing is supposed to be a way to deal with someone who can't be physically controlled. A cop doesn't have to use gradual force. He can immediately go to the necessary force without trying less means. But he can only use necessary force. You can't taz someone when they can be subdued via lesser means.
    1. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
      
      You can't taz someone when they can be subdued via lesser means.
      
      Well, when you say "can't" you apparently really mean "are encouraged to."
      
      If this guy has to taze a petite 12 year old crying girl how the hell is he going to be able to cope with a situation that truly does require someone to be subdued? I'm guessing it will involve what would be called murder if he weren't wearing a badge.
    2. Tulpa Doom 13 years ago
      
      You can't taz someone when they can be subdued via lesser means.
      
      If the officer can spin fast enough to create a vortex I support anything he does.
4. Tulpa Doom 13 years ago
  
  It's a lot easier to change a baby's diaper after tazing it.
Dagny T. 13 years ago

Another isolated incident, foreign edition.
Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago

I finally found a "new reason" glitch that I actually want to vent about. The font size on the blog home page is smaller than the comments. So when I increase the size of the article text, the comment text is gigantic. I'm constantly readjusting the text size. Server squirrels - can't live with 'em, can't shoot, dress and stew 'em.
SIV 13 years ago

I have to raise mah XXX jug o' corn skweezins and drink a toast to this election result:

"It's heartbreaking," said Ashley Robbins, president of Citizens for Progressive Transit, one of dozens of organizations that worked for the referendum. She predicted a loss of valuable young workers to the region's economy. "If Atlanta's not the region that we want, the young energetic people that drove these campaigns are going to leave."

The tax was actually 18 Billion over 10 years statewide.
1. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
  
  Do something even more relevant to the region: put cocaine in your soda and rink that.
2. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  Atlanta has young energetic people? From what I saw, it was a really depressed and depressing place where anyone with a tiny bit of sense and cash fled to greener pastures long ago.
  1. SIV 13 years ago
    
    The "young energetic people" the article refers to are the paid lobbyists for the sales tax-funded transportation boondoggle.
  2. robc 13 years ago
    
    Yes, but the areas they fled to are still in the Atlanta metro area.
  3. John 13 years ago
    
    I like Atlanta. But it is a car city. No one rides that MARTA. And no one needs to. It has highways.
    1. Pip 13 years ago
      
      I lived in Druid Hills and used it (the bus) to get to work in Midtown. It was kind of fun actually.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        I lived right near there Pip in VA highlands. I loved it.
    2. NeonCat 13 years ago
      
      The only time I ride MARTA is when my car is in the shop. Used to ride the Braves shuttle since it is cheaper than parking but pretty much stopped doing that. Who wants to be packed like sardines in a bus with a bunch of sweaty, beery fans and cranky children after a game?
      
      The trouble with our highways is that people don't want to live near their jobs. Don't like your commute? Move! I live 5 miles from my job. My commute is less than 15 minutes each way.
nipplemancer 13 years ago

Searched, handcuffed, placed in back of squad car then shot in the head. Police claim suicide.
1. mr simple 13 years ago
  
  She says her son called his girlfriend while pulled over, to say he'd call her from jail. The mother said she was also told her son was shot in his right temple. But she says he was left handed. She says it just doesn't add up.
  
  "Sounds like we got a real 'Adrian Monk' on our hands here boys. I bet she can't help but resist a search and arrest."
2. Matrix 13 years ago
  
  Read Chad's response in the comments. What a boot licker.
Spoonman. 13 years ago

The Great Birther Challenge: Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta to a Cuban refugee to the United States and an American. He was raised in Katy, Texas.

Is Ted Cruz a natural-born citizen?
1. widget 13 years ago
  
  Since he's not running for President I don't see how that matters. But, OTOH, every dog-catcher political vacancy that is up for grabs is sought by someone who wants to the President.
2. RedDragon6009 13 years ago
  
  Is Ted Cruz a natural-born citizen?
  
  That depends on your definition of "natural-born."
  
  Do you see how this works?
3. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  born in Calgary, Alberta
  
  Nope.
  
  to a Cuban refugee to the United States
  
  Nope (assuming the Cuban wasn't naturalized yet).
  
  For persons born between December 24, 1952 and November 14, 1986, a person is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true (except if born out-of-wedlock)[8]:
  1.The person's parents were married at the time of birth
  2.One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person was born
  3.The citizen parent lived at least ten years in the United States before the child's birth;
  4.A minimum of 5 of these 10 years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday.
  
  and an American.
  
  Maybe. The rules are as follows for one American citizen parent, born abroad:
  
  For persons born between December 24, 1952 and November 14, 1986, a person is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true (except if born out-of-wedlock)[8]:
  1.The person's parents were married at the time of birth
  2.One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person was born
  3.The citizen parent lived at least ten years in the United States before the child's birth;
  4.A minimum of 5 of these 10 years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday.
  
  Obama's parents were married when he was born. The birthers argue that Obama can't meet number 4, if born abroad, because his mother was 18 and thus it is mathematically impossible for her to meet that test. Couldn't say if Cruz's American parent could meet it.
  1. Tulpa Doom 13 years ago
    
    Yeah, it comes down to the (missing) information which I'm sure will be revealed if he runs for prez.
    
    The interesting thing is that his Cuban refugee father fought on the same side as Castro, not against him. He was fleeing our pal Batista. So "Cuban refugee father" is a tad misleading, if technically correct, because people will automatically assume he was fleeing Castro.
    1. Spoonman. 13 years ago
      
      His father fought with Castro, then turned against Castro when he went full Commie, was tortured by Castro, and then escaped to the US.
      
      I thought that Cubans who made it to the United States were very easily naturalized.
  2. widget 13 years ago
    
    (except if born out-of-wedlock)[8]
    
    There's no 8 RC. I born out-of-wedlock, adopted shortly thereafter, and now I have a gun to my head. Save widget!
  3. Spoonman. 13 years ago
    
    Cruz's mother is from Houston and has a degree from Rice, so I assume she meets that requirement.
  4. Isaac Bartram 13 years ago
    
    A little late for this thread but IIANM, your 14th birthday is the day you become thirteen years old based on the fact that your first birthday is the day you were born.
    
    Hence in order to qualify a child must be born when their loan US citizen parent was eighteen years old. Therfore, Obama is qualified.
4. Chupacabra 13 years ago
  
  "born in Calgary"
  
  That was just a mistake by his literary agent.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

"You know- morons."

Could new gun laws have prevented the Colorado shooting? Mr. Holmes had legally obtained an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun, two Glock semiautomatic pistols, and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. Tighter gun laws might have at least forced him to use the black market, triggering law enforcement to his gun-buying activities.

Fucking black markets- how do they work?
1. Tulpa Doom 13 years ago
  
  If Bush hadn't deregulated the black market we wouldn't have that problem.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    +1
2. widget 13 years ago
  
  I have to wonder a bit about the reporting on suicide bombers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Israel too. Soldiers and contractors are being killed by IEDs, but its almost always reported as a suicide bomb. Radical muslims may be kooky but they are not stupid enough not to figure out how to remotely activate an IED.
Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago

BTW, Dick Dale rocked the fucking house last night. I'd say best show he's ever done, except he did not play my favorite song (a thoroughly Dick Dale-ized cover of Third Stone from the Sun). He also can't play the trumpet anymore because of all his chemo and radiation, but he makes up for it with a mean harmonica improv. His bassist, Sam Bolle, is totally cute and kicks ass. He's been with Dick ever since I first saw him about 12 years ago. And Dick's son Jimmy plays drums like Animal.

Twas and awesome evening. Get out and see Dick before he kicks the bucket, is my recommendation.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Fuck. He was in town and I missed it. I am so out of it. Damn, where did he play?
  1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
    
    Birchmere, per usual. He said he only has one more show on this tour, so you can catch him tonight, wherever he is! His web site will have the info - dickdale.com
    1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
      
      Looks like Richmond
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        Too far. Damn. I have heard he is the most insanely loud act not named Motorhead or ZZ Top. Is that true?
        
        Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        I don't have much to compare him to because I'm not a big live music connoisseur, but yeah, he is loud.
2. Proprietist 13 years ago
  
  Lucky!
3. JW 13 years ago
  
  Where'd he play? 9:30?
  1. JW 13 years ago
    
    Stupid refresh.
4. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  A helpful hint for you DC area peeps - he always plays the Birchmere, and it's always some time late spring or summer. I usually start checking the Birchmere web site around March or April and scroll through the calendar.
  
  He also always plays Ocean City and one of the Rams Head venues.
Proprietist 13 years ago

RIP Bill Doss, founder of Olivia Tremor Control and Sunshine Fix. http://www.rollingstone.com/mu.....4-20120731

OTC were one of the best and most creative indie bands of the past 20 years and Doss was a great musician and songwriter. Fortunate to meet him last year.

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