A.M. Links: Look for the Union Label — At the Airport, Amtrak Isn't Good With Money, U.S. To Resist UN Internet Control

J.D. Tuccille | 8.3.2012 9:12 AM

TSA service and attitudes should improve dramatically now that transportation security workers have won the go-ahead to unionize. Oh, wait …
Amtrak pissed away $833 million over the last decade on food and beverages, managing to spend $1.70 for every dollar that it took in.
The United States government says it will resist efforts to give the United Nations control over the Internet.
Look up! Now look down! That's right, the Brits are developing armed, underwater drones.
The UN General Assembly is leaning on the UN Security Council to "do something" about Syria.
Loathe to interrupt their country's long tradition of massive inefficiency, Spain's rail workers went on strike to protest privatization plans.
After Chick-Fil-A's busiest day in history Wednesday, today gay marriage activists are planning a "kiss in" outside Chick-Fil-A restaurants nationwide.

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CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

"Farmer takes revenge for drug arrest by driving tractor over the top of seven police cars... leaving officers unable to pursue him"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z22ULYB5c6
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  Ha! Did he crush their *drones*?
2. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  No hat tip?
3. Tim 13 years ago
  
  "Working with their windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff's deputies said it was a neighbour's call to 911 that alerted them to what had happened outside. "
  
  That's some alert police work boys.
  1. Rich 13 years ago
    
    LOL
    
    "That guy sure can't take a joke."
    
    "He can't drive a truck, either."
    1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
      
      A truck just doesn't crush the cop car flat enough.
  2. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
    
    I grew up in that county (which is why I posted the link last night). Let's just say they don't have much police work to do in the NEK.
    1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
      
      You grew up in the NEK? That's badass hardcore, right there. Mad props.
      
      (I grew up all soft cushy in Chittenden)
      1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Yeah. Like anyone who can, I've since fled the area and live in Boston now. I did spend my undergrad years in Chittenden.
    2. The Dan 13 years ago
      
      Salisbury, Addison County, here.
4. Brutus 13 years ago
  
  I'm shocked and appall...pfffttt!! hahahahahaha!!!!!
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

the one-eyed trouser snake lives!
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  I'm thinking it's the next fad pet.
2. Francisco d Anconia 13 years ago
  
  Does it straighten out when it gets mad?
  1. Rich 13 years ago
    
    It straightens out in the warm waters of the mouth of the Amazon.
generic Brand 13 years ago

President Barack Obama, speaking to 2,400 screaming supporters at Rollins College on Thursday, said the 2012 election offers "two fundamentally different visions for America," between what he called Mitt Romney's tax cuts for the rich versus his own defense of the middle class.

Interrupted several times by a crowd chanting "Four more years!" the president's roughly 30-minute speech contrasted his own economic plan with a study released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that said Romney's proposed tax cuts for the wealthy would boost taxes for the middle class.

Part of me is glad I didn't go, but part of me wishes I had so that I could've been the sole "BOO!" voice. (Or possibly make a scene by puking with disgust.)
1. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
  
  Tax Policy Center that said Romney's proposed tax cuts for the wealthy would boost taxes for the middle class.
  
  WTF?
  1. $park? 13 years ago
    
    Hey, the money has to come from somewhere...
    1. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      I thought that's what the printing presses were for.
      1. The Bernank 13 years ago
        
        We're scheduled to hit Warp 6 in mid-September.
  2. kinnath 13 years ago
    
    Pay for tax cuts by eliminating deductions that would have the greatest effect on the middle class . .
    
    That's the analysis.
    1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
      
      That's not the fault of the tax cuts. That's the fault of excess spending.
      1. kinnath 13 years ago
        
        It's part of Romney's "tax cut plan".
        
        Someone in the chain of quotes above left out "plan" in the complaint that the "plan" raises taxes on the middle class".
    2. some guy 13 years ago
      
      Has Romney actually said that he wants to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction or has he been typically noncommittal on which deductions he wants to eliminate?
      1. Ptah-Hotep 13 years ago
        
        Has Romney actually said that he wants to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction or has he been typically noncommittal on which deductions he wants to eliminate?
        
        This is a sure way to destroy the housing market.
        
        CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
        
        "This is a sure way to destroy the housing market."
        
        I thought we'd already nuked the housing market?
        
        Ptah-Hotep 13 years ago
        
        I thought we'd already nuked the housing market?
        
        Never underestimate the power of a government to make a bad situation worse.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        How can you destroy what is already a pile of rubble, and why exactly do we need this form of middle-class welfare?
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        Great, so I'm already paying a higher tax rate than Mitt Romney. Jacking up my taxes further is "eliminating welfare", but slighty increasing his is "socialism"?
        
        Zombie Jimbo 13 years ago
        
        So what. Romney paid about $6.2 million in taxes over the last two years. About 13%. How much would make you happy? All of it? I paid about $230k over the last 2 years, about 24%. Did Romney consume 30x the infrastructure and gubbmint goodness that I got? I doubt it. Should his tax have doubled to be the same rate as mine? What would it matter? It would just be pissed away anyway. Should my taxes be lower?
        
        FUCK YES.
        
        WHat Romney is paying isn't the problem. What the government is pissing away is.
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        What would make me happy is not characerizing the higher rate I pay as "welfare" and suggesting that I'm not paying my share unless I pay even more so that we he can pay even less.
        
        some guy 13 years ago
        
        What would make me happy is not characerizing the higher rate I pay as "welfare" and suggesting that I'm not paying my share unless I pay even more so that we he can pay even less.
        
        Who said your higher rate was welfare? Where are you getting that quote?
        
        How about we all pay less? Isn't that an option?
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        Where are you getting that quote?
        
        From the comment I was responding to:
        
        "why exactly do we need this form of middle-class welfare?"
        
        Isn't that an option?
        
        Yes, but it's not the option Romney's proposing. He's proposing to lower his taxes and raise mine to offset the revenue loss, not lower everybody's taxes and cut spending.
        
        The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        Livejournal? Really?
        
        fried wylie 13 years ago
        
        How can you destroy what is already a pile of rubble
        
        You set the rubble on fire.
        
        lrn2pillage, noob.
        
        some guy 13 years ago
        
        This is a sure way to destroy the housing market.
        
        How? When mortgage interest deduction (MID) disappears most people only lose the difference between their MID-inclusive itemized deductions and the standard deduction. Basically, losing MID would pretty much only impact big mortgages. So you'd only be killing the McMansion market, not the housing market as a whole. And that's just in the short run. In the long run this would actually fix one of the biggest problems with the housing market. See below for more.
        
        http://reason.org/files/mortga.....uction.pdf
        
        Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
        
        Basically, losing MID would pretty much only impact big mortgages. So you'd only be killing the McMansion market, not the housing market as a whole.
        
        Exactly. Getting rid of MID would be great for renters and the small housing market, because people would be a lot more judicious about the amount they'd be willing to spend to buy a house. The $290K 2000s-era cookie-cutters would end up getting torn down by the bank or whoever owned titles, and housing more in line with the traditional 2/1 mortgage-to-income ratio would end up being built instead. In other words, more decent $65-150K homes as opposed to what happened during the bubble years. Hell, I wouldn't have a problem taking out a mortgage for that price.
        Keeping the MID is just a piece of making sre housing prices remain artificially inflated.
        
        Marshall Gill 13 years ago
        
        That is absolute bullshit perpetrated by the fucking Realtor monopoly. Very few, if any, people are calculating their mortgage deduction when they buy a house.
        
        Why did you buy that $200,000 home? To save a few hundred a year in taxes?
        
        Actually, the Realtor monopoly has/is destroying the housing market.
        
        Ptah-Hotep 13 years ago
        
        That is absolute bullshit perpetrated by the fucking Realtor monopoly. Very few, if any, people are calculating their mortgage deduction when they buy a house.
        
        And what do you think the realtors will do if someone suggests doing away with the MID? They will scream like banshees, and people will believe them. When I bought, the realtor made a point to tell me about the MID. People do not think, they would rather let the "expert" do the thinking for them. And the perception will be that this will kill the market.
        
        Actually, the Realtor monopoly has/is destroying the housing market.
        
        I agree 100% with you on this.
        
        Fatty Bolger 13 years ago
        
        Why did you buy that $200,000 home? To save a few hundred a year in taxes?
        
        Once you have a mortgage that takes you into itemized deductions territory, there is other stuff you can deduct, too.
      2. T o n y 13 years ago
        
        Noncommittal--but the analysis shows that there aren't enough deductions enjoyed mainly by the rich to make up for the cuts they'd get. So it would pretty much have to include such deductions, and the burden would have to fall on the nonrich.
        
        Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
        
        That's if you believe tax cuts = cure for cancer.
    3. Suthenboy 13 years ago
      
      'Pay for tax cuts'. I love that term. It assumes that the money must be had, if not from here then from there cuz god knows government has to be an ever-growing entity. There is no alternative.
      1. Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
        
        Reminds me of the only good thing about the Bob Dole WH run:
        
        "You shouldn't have to apologize for wanting to keep what you earn. It's your money."
        
        Well, that and having Jack Kemp as a running mate. One of the few good Republicans. Ever.
      2. Anonymous Coward 13 years ago
        
        Even better, it is an idea that craps all over the most basic rules of accounting. Taxes are a revenue. A decrease in revenue is not an increase in expenditures. A tax cut (decrease in revenue) no more needs to be "paid for" than a decrease in you annual salary needs to be paid for.
      3. Proprietist 13 years ago
        
        Shame that the pro-tax cut party was never for actually cutting spending to match the tax cuts. If they are intent on spending the same amount or more anyway, I'd agree that they should "pay" for it by raising taxes elsewhere.
  3. WTF 13 years ago
    
    nonpartisan Tax Policy Center
    
    They keep using that word nonpartisan. I do not think it means what they think it means.
    1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
      
      They think it means "beyond reproach".
  4. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
    
    if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters.
    
    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.
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

"Economy Creates 163,000 New Jobs but Rate Rises to 8.3%"

"June's anemic 80,000 gain was revised down to just 64,000."

Surprise Surprise

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48480887
1. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  Coming next month, the 163K gain revised down to ___k.
  1. Rich 13 years ago
    
    Oh, so *that's* what the gummit means by "The economy is 0k."
    1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
      
      +1
    2. CE 13 years ago
      
      The private sector is doing fine.
2. Night Elf Mohawk 13 years ago
  
  Five more months! Five more months!
3. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  What do you mean "Economy creates..."? Everyone knows that nice Mr Obama creates jobs. You have displeased him, hence the lower number
  1. NoVAHockey 13 years ago
    
    mercy! mercy!
4. some guy 13 years ago
  
  When the Obama administration said the Stimulus would keep unemployment below 8%, what they meant is that it would keep unemployment from crossing 8%. They misspoke, that's all.
  1. CE 13 years ago
    
    That 8.3 percent unemployment rate? He didn't build that.
5. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  were new jobs created or did people simply fill jobs that were vacated by retirement or people leaving one company to go to another?
6. John 13 years ago
  
  Has there been a single economic statistic since Obama took office that hasn't been later and quietly revised down?
  1. Rich 13 years ago
    
    Excellent question.
    
    Romney should jump on it.
  2. Alack 13 years ago
    
    May's numbers were revised up from 77k to 87k jobs added. But that's not really that relevant of a statistic.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      That is one. But it seems like they are nearly always revised down.
      1. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        There revised down about 90% of the time and up about 10%.
7. Alack 13 years ago
  
  The numbers from the BLS are even worse. Civilian Non-institutional Population increased by 199k, but the labor force went down by 150k; net increase in "Not in Labor Force" is 349k. Not only that, there are actually 195k fewer employed people in July than in June.
  
  I look forward to hearing stations trumpet the 163k number instead though.
  1. Alack 13 years ago
    
    Here's the linky
8. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
  
  "Stronger job creation could help President Barack Obama's re-election hopes."
  
  http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....44686.html
  
  Spin it, MSM!
$park? 13 years ago

As if you needed another reason to avoid Detroit.

From the street, the two decomposing bodies were nearly invisible, concealed in an overgrown lot alongside worn-out car tires and a moldy sofa. The teenagers had been shot, stripped to their underwear and left on a deserted block.

They were just the latest victims of foul play whose remains went undiscovered for days after being hidden deep inside Detroit's vast urban wilderness -- a crumbling wasteland rarely visited by outsiders and infrequently patrolled by police.
1. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  Why hasn't anyone made a video game using Detroit's post-urban wasteland as a setting? It's perfect!
  1. Rich 13 years ago
    
    "Video game"? Rent Detroit out for paintball and laser tag.
    1. The Hammer 13 years ago
      
      Should be cheap.
  2. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
    
    Since remakes of '80s movies are de rigueur these days, how about a fourth Mad Max movie, this time set in Detroit? It would sure be a lot more convincing as a post-apocalyptic hell then any location in Australia.
    1. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
      
      Mad Max 4th installment
      1. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
        
        Mad Max 4th installment
        
        Nice. Tom Hardy will make an excellent Max. And the same guy who did the originals will direct the remake.
        
        Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
        
        Is it a remake or a sequel?
        
        Karl Hungus 13 years ago
        
        Is it a remake or a sequel?
        
        Looking at it, I guess it's a sequel, since it'll take place shortly after the events in Thunderdome.
        
        CE 13 years ago
        
        A reboot, not a remake.
      2. Apple 13 years ago
        
        I think another movie with that crazy, alcoholic Aussie would have been awesome. Show Max as an old man, still wandering around in that wasteland 30 years later.
        
        PS 13 years ago
        
        "I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson." -Ricky Gervais, Golden Globes.
  3. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
    
    It would have been a better setting for Max Payne: 3.
  4. NoVAHockey 13 years ago
    
    zombie theme park in the works
    basically -- you get a paintgun and pay to have zombies chase you.
    
    http://money.msn.com/saving-mo.....9c8d1d97df
  5. Tim 13 years ago
    
    "Here at Security Concepts, we're predicting the end of crime in Old Detroit within 40 days. There's a new guy in town. His name is RoboCop. "
Karl Hungus 13 years ago

Young doctor, a top NYC urologist, is arrested after being caught surreptitiously pointing a pen camera up women's skirts on the subway. Here's the kicker - the guy who caught him is a former TSA screener.
1. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
  
  Why the hell didn't he just become a gynecologist?
  1. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
    
    Why the hell didn't he just become a gynecologist?
    
    Since the women would be willingly revealing themselves, gynecology wouldn't provide the same voyeuristic thrill.
    1. Groovus Maximus 13 years ago
      
      There's a number of reasons, most notably that the majority of complaints are less than...pretty. Not every womanhood is a beautiful lotus of joy and pulchtritude.
      1. EDG reppin' LBC 13 years ago
        
        It's like the donut maker. The last thing he wants to eat is a donut.
      2. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
        
        Not every womanhood is a beautiful lotus of joy and pulchtritude
        
        There's that, but also, after spending 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, indundated in the pink, wouldn't it lose its luster? Seeing a brand-new vulva for the first time should be a joyous, thrilling thing, every single time. That goes away when you're an OB/GYN.
2. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  He's just checking they haven't been injured by water slides:
  
  A German water park has banned women from a high-speed slide - claiming whooshing water was causing "intimate injuries".
  1. SugarFree 13 years ago
    
    It's been this way for years; I've seen it in action on a male.
    
    You've got to keep your legs crossed.
  2. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
    
    He's just checking they haven't been injured by water slides
    
    Some personal water craft have stickers on them warning of possible hydrostatic injuries to the rectum if they bail at high speeds, ass first.
    1. Groovus Maximus 13 years ago
      
      These are also less than fun to deal with. Similar can happen at high slide water parks, but you generally just get a freebie enema.
      1. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
        
        These are also less than fun to deal with.
        
        I would imagine that such an injury could be life-threatening, especially if it occurred at higher speeds.
        
        Similar can happen at high slide water parks, but you generally just get a freebie enema.
        
        If I ever fly off the end of the slide and land in a pool tainted with bloody poo, I guess I'll know now how that happened.
3. generic Brand 13 years ago
  
  Here's the kicker - the guy who caught him is a former TSA screener.
  
  He was too good at noticing suspicious activity so they canned him. He was making other agents look bad.
  1. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
    
    He was too good at noticing suspicious activity so they canned him. He was making other agents look bad.
    
    Or, nobody can spot a voyeur like another voyeur.
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

The controversial billionaire is rumoured to be planning to clone a dinosaur from DNA so he can set it free in a Jurassic Park-style area at his new Palmer Resort in Coolum.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily......ine-coast/
1. $park? 13 years ago
  
  What could go wrong. I've heard that nature, uh, uh, finds a way.
  1. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
    
    What's the worst that could happen, they eat a bunch of cassowaries?
  2. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    Yeah, our ability to destroy large fauna. . .wait, we could wipe out dinosaurs in a few hours. For fun. Minutes if we were serious. We've got, um, technology. And they're big and easy to find.
    1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
      
      This might be a better money maker than our Firefly spinoff with Jayne as captain (and Book's son secretly the gay kid who gets airlocked).
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        I thought we left off with Saffron as captain, with Jayne only thinking he was captain?
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Saffron is the real power, but Jayne has the title. Also he thinks he's got the power.
        
        But what do you say about the revelation that Jayne killed Book's son? It could make some references the kid makes about "My dad said this about you" true, even though with all the deception you thought it was because he was from Canton before.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        So Book's son is the secret? That seems a little "No, I am your father" to me. Maybe something more twisted than that. Like the kid was actually sent to kill Jayne and changed his mind.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        No, the secret was that he's gay for Jayne and not from Canton at all. But later we give Jayne some character depth by having him suffer some guilt when he finds out it was Book's son. And obviously this will be planned out from the beginning, so there would be hints dropped so when it happens it's not an asspull.
        
        Also, at the end of the character growth episode Jayne goes and kills a bunch of people for some reason.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        I'd like to set up an episode to make it look like it's a very special episode where Jayne learns an important lesson. But, in fact, Jayne learns nothing and kills some people.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Isn't that what I just did?
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        I was rephrasing for the audience.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        That's true, if Jayne is the main character we may have to suspect our audience needs things spelled out pretty clearly.
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        No, the secret was that he's gay for Jayne
        
        That's not a secret. Everybody's gay for Jayne.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Mal wasn't.
    2. Karl Hungus 13 years ago
      
      Yeah, our ability to destroy large fauna. . .wait, we could wipe out dinosaurs in a few hours. For fun. Minutes if we were serious. We've got, um, technology. And they're big and easy to find.
      
      That's what always struck me as silly about Jurassic Park. I've seen footage of fully grown bull elephants brought down with a couple quick bursts from a poacher's AK-47; imagine what quick work you could make of a t-rex with a few rounds of .50 BMG. Same with that Planet of The Apes movie that came out last year; the police and anybody else with a guns would've nipped that shit in the bud in a hurry.
      
      There's just no animals-take-over-the-planet scenario that's believable to me.
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        They have to be something much more than animals. In fact, they have to be something much more than men. That's why the dinosaur threat is such an incredible joke except in very narrow circumstances. Like a park without heavy weaponry to deal with large reptiles.
        
        In the original Planet of the Apes, it took a nuclear war to knock us off the top--a war we fought with ourselves. We blew it up, you see. We maniacs. Damn us all to hell.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        What about giant squids that capture nuclear subs?
        
        T 13 years ago
        
        Depends. If the squid is big enough to drag it deep enough, pressure will do the rest for you. It's not like subs have point defense system to deal with underwater beasties.
        
        But that'd be a pretty big squid.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Well, the squids still want the nukes functional. That's how they'll attack the land.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Squids? Well, maybe if they're smarter than us and have domes so deep that we can't really reach them.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        They're not smarter than us, but they're smart enough to utilize some of our stolen tech.
        
        And yeah, they've got shit super deep.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Guess we could get nukes down deep, though. We can reach the bottom of the Challenger Deep now, I believe.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        But can we stop the squids from repurposing the nukes we send down?
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        We don't have any way to deliver them quickly, I suspect. That may give the squids an advantage.
        
        Karl Hungus 13 years ago
        
        If the squid is big enough to drag it deep enough, pressure will do the rest for you.
        
        Or if a number of squids, working in unison, could roll the sub far enough off vertical to induce a reactor scram, while at the same time sabotaging the ballast tanks, thus preventing an emergency blow, the sub might sink past its crush depth on its own.
        
        Work smart, not hard - that's the squid motto.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Work smart, not hard - that's the squid motto.
        
        Notice how they avoid bones?
        
        Azathoth!! 13 years ago
        
        You're talking about those humboldts, aren't you?
        
        CE 13 years ago
        
        The fact that the apes spoke English should have tipped him off long before finding the Statue of Liberty.
2. Wilt Chamberlain 13 years ago
  
  Apparently stories are coming out saying the rumor is false. Damn, it should be a crime to build up expectations and destroy them that fast.
3. CE 13 years ago
  
  What could possibly go wrong?
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

...today gay marriage activists are planning a "kiss in" outside Chick-Fil-A restaurants nationwide.

Nothing brings people around to your way of thinking like a mass visual of the thing they dislike.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  If they were the right lesbians, what wouldn't be there to love? Sadly, I doubt they will be the kind of lesbians anyone wants to see making out.
  1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    Needz less softball teamz.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      It is funny. Softball players are never in the middle. They are either bull dykes or gorgeous cheer leader types. Watch a college game sometime, there will be a few really beautiful women on every team.
      1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        When I was in a sports bar for some playoff hockey this spring, there was some softball on. I think it might have been the college softball World Series (or whatever it's called). I was very impressed by both of the pitchers.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        The hot ones tend to be pitchers for some reason.
        
        Robert S 13 years ago
        
        Um... are we still talking about lesbians?
      2. JW 13 years ago
        
        P-Town in the summer is such an exercise in contrast. Many of the gay men are the fittest, hottest men you can imagine, that most straight women would trip over their own tongues around, and most of the lesbians look like train-wreck rejects from the Large Marge Festival.
        
        You occasionally see cute lesbian couples and dumpy gay couples, but those are the exceptions.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        And some of the nastiest lesbians can sometimes have the cutest g/fs.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Ellen and Portia de Rossi.
        
        JEP 13 years ago
        
        You have no idea how sad I was when I found out about Portia de Rossi.
        
        RickC 13 years ago
        
        Like you would have had a chance anyway. Sorry, that was begging for me so say something.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        If he's not more attractive than Ellen I feel damn sorry for him.
        
        JW 13 years ago
        
        You see that dynamic in Takoma Park quite a bit: a fem and a "Bob." Flannel shirts and work boots seems to be the dominant fashion choice.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        I think a lot of the cute lesbians are really just straight women with serious fucked up issues regarding men. They are not really attracted to females but they are too fucked up to be with men, so they find the most masculine woman possible.
        
        See the chick from Sex in the City who dumped her husband for a woman she admits is just a "guy with boobs" as an example.
        
        scaliwag 13 years ago
        
        I saw a bulldagger today with a Mohawk and sideburn ponytails like an orthodox Jew.
        
        JW 13 years ago
        
        sideburn ponytails like an orthodox Jew.
        
        For your edification: peyos.
  2. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
    
    I imagine bikes, leather, and unshaved legs. Vomit will be forthcoming.
2. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  Yeah, a bunch of us "breeders" could go and make out in a ghey bar...bet that would go over well.
  1. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
    
    Well at a lesbian bar. Gay dudes could care less.
    1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
      
      THAT'S NOT FUNNY
3. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  For some reason I expect a significantly smaller turnout.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    And no one would care if there was a larger turnout. The whole thing shows how paranoid and stupid gay activists are. Do they really think some poor manager of a Chick Fil A is going to care? And do they actually think the guy who owns the company is going to lose a minute of sleep over a bunch of women making out in his restaurants?
    1. Restoras 13 years ago
      
      I wonder how it will impact business...the second largest day in co. history? Third?
      1. Bardas Phocas 13 years ago
        
        After making out, who wouldn't want a nice chicken sandwich?
        
        Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
        
        After making out, who wouldn't want a nice chicken sandwich?
        
        I think they'd prefer a filet-o-fish.
    2. GW 13 years ago
      
      I think the CFA peeps will be too busy counting the cubic dollars they made on Wednesday to even notice.
      1. RBS 13 years ago
        
        Yeah, every operator should show up to work in a top hat and monocle and count their money right out front.
    3. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
      
      My prediction is that the main stream media, which didn't cover any of this yesterday, will suddenly care.
    4. robc 13 years ago
      
      If they buy sandwiches, CFA will be okay with it.
      1. JW 13 years ago
        
        As sick as I am of hearing about this whole thing, it's been a pretty good exercise in 1st Amendment rights. Other than the shithead mayors and their tuff gai routines, it's been pretty good of everyone expressing their views without resorting to dickheaded collectivist schemes, like sit-ins.
  2. SIV 13 years ago
    
    Reason is already giving it more coverage than Chick-fil-A 1st Amendment day on Wednesday.
    1. RBS 13 years ago
      
      That's just moronic, there have been articles about CFA vs The State all week.
      1. SIV 13 years ago
        
        Show me one on the "buycott" on Wednesday.
        You'd think a mass political protest expressed by market activity would be of some interest to this magazine. Must have been to un-cosmopolitan.
        
        RBS 13 years ago
        
        I'd say that a post in the PM links combined with all the pro-CFA vs the state commentary throughout the week vs. the single post in today's AM links makes your point fucking retarted.
        
        SIV 13 years ago
        
        The P.M. links post was on Thursday.
        
        RBS 13 years ago
        
        Good lord, you've pretty much taken over Max's role as the H and R pet yorkie, congrats.
        
        RBS 13 years ago
        
        And your point re: coverage is still wrong and moronic.
        
        The Hammer 13 years ago
        
        Did you steal Tulpa's vagina sand?
        
        VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        Must have been to un-cosmopolitan.
        
        Cosmo-tarians ignore the icky yokels, lest the journo-listers confuse the two.
4. ant1sthenes 13 years ago
  
  They probably aren't going to buy anything, so I think Chik-fil-A has the right to kick them out. Paying customers only, bub.
  1. RBS 13 years ago
    
    OOOh more trespassers, let's revive that argument from yesterday!
  2. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
    
    They give away water there. I imagine there will be a shortage of styrofoam cups and long lines at the restrooms.
    1. RBS 13 years ago
      
      How long until it devolves into an Occupy style abuse of CFA property?
      1. wareagle 13 years ago
        
        now THAT is a good question and, as we all know, nothing helps advance your cause more than trashing someone else's place. That is sure to win converts.
        
        Bardas Phocas 13 years ago
        
        Or the breaking the windows - they can nickname it the Night of Broken Glass, or shorter, Kristallnacht.
        
        EDG reppin' LBC 13 years ago
        
        You know who else had a Kristallnacht?
  3. SFC B 13 years ago
    
    I think that's why it changed from being inside the CFA to outside them.
5. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  Re the sign "It's okay to be gay", isn't that misstating the actual issue? The Chik-Fil-A owner (to my knowledge) hasn't called for anti-sodomy laws, but is only against gay marriage. I know it wouldn't rhyme as well, but "It's okay to be gay married" would be a sign that actually had something to do with what the guy said.
  1. SIV 13 years ago
    
    I thought Chick-fil-A was footing the bill for the gay genocide camps in Uganda where all those who fail forcible conversion therapy are going to be deported.
  2. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
    
    Well I think somebody pointed out that he donates to a group who advocate anti-sodomy laws but as far as I know that was never a secret. The comment that started the current controversy was just his personal opinion about gay marriage, the donates have been for years. Another reason why this whole thing is retarded.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      It's culture war bullshit. That's why it's suddenly news. Gotta economic issues to avoid, people!
    2. robc 13 years ago
      
      Actually, the comment that started the current controversy was more about divorce than gay marriage.
      
      Gay marriage was never mentioned. He said he supported the traditional family and then pointed out that both he and his Father were married to their first wives, as an example of the traditional marriage he supported.
      1. wareagle 13 years ago
        
        and that is what happens when you deal with a massively uninformed public - snippets from larger interviews are captured for blatantly partisan purposes, context is ignored, and the whole thing degenerates into a verbal food fight.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        This is so obviously being drummed up for election purposes that I'm surprised more media sources aren't acknowledging it.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        And considering Wednesdays response, it looks like it has backfired as a political move.
        
        Ramjet 13 years ago
        
        This is so obviously being drummed up for election purposes that I'm surprised more any media sources aren't are acknowledging it.
        
        FIFY.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        My point was that the screamingly obvious usually does get attention, where the media are worried that someone else will talk about what they're ignoring.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        Dont get me wrong, he opposes gay marriage too. But that interview never mentions it.
    3. The Dan 13 years ago
      
      so they donated for years to an organization I don't agree with. I just found out, so that negates my right to boycott?
      1. generic Brand 13 years ago
        
        No, but it makes the boycott rather stupid since it was public knowledge that CFA donates the way it does and has done so for years. Boycott to your heart's content, but make sure you know what the point of the boycott, because 99.3% of the people who DO want to boycott Chik-Fil-A have no clue why they are boycotting (a la OWS movement).
        
        The Dan 13 years ago
        
        just because 99.3% are boycotting for the wrong reason doesn't mean I can't boycott for what I perceive to be a valid reason. I can still crow to my friends that I don't want the heavy hand of government to shut them down, or shut their owner up. holy crap, maybe one liberal friend of mine will stop and think and reconsider their thoughts of boycott AND government intervention, and realize that government involvement is not the answer.
        
        Isn't this what the f libertarians are supposed to do when they don't agree with a business? Boycott rather than running for big daddy government to protect us form the evil thoughts?
      2. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
        
        Nice strawman you burned there. I think the boycotters are stupid and the buycotters are stupid. The whole thing is stupid, but I never said you didn't have the right to be stupid.
        
        The Dan 13 years ago
        
        what straw man? Others are saying it is stupid to boycott because their donations have been known for years. I'm merely saying they haven't been known to all. Come on, us gun owners here probably have a much better idea of what companies are anti-gun and have been for years. That doesn't mean that if it makes it into the mainstream media that people who just now learn can't decide to boycott as well.
      3. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
        
        It doesn't "negate" your right to do anything, you moron. Don't buy from CFA to your heart's content. But don't pretend that this recent dust-up is about discrimination against gays--it's about politics, pure and simple, and yet another retarded salvo in the culture wars.
        
        And it's been known for a while that the CEO of the company donates to anti-gay marraige organizations--it just didn't become a national issue until a bunch of pozzed mayors and civic leaders started thumping their chests about how wonderful their values were and how CFA didn't fit in with that (as if a bunch of cities with high crime rates and whiteopias can brag about their values).
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        What about people like me who have been boycotting CFA since the 90's?
        
        RBS 13 years ago
        
        Good for you! You're a veteran of the culture wars but by all means continue your boycott, nobody ever said you couldn't.
        
        EDG reppin' LBC 13 years ago
        
        Keep your boycott going.
        
        Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
        
        What about people like me who have been boycotting CFA since the 90's?
        
        Yeah, because it's all about YOU, isn't it?
        
        The Dan 13 years ago
        
        I didn't realize he was donating to them, shame on me for not researching every freaken company I do business with. I still believe he has the right to say whatever the heck he wants. I still don't think the heavy hand of government should be used to silence him. I will boycott because he gives to organizations that support and attempt to promote a view that I don't believe in.
      4. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
        
        You know why I'm boycotting Chik-fil-a?
        
        BECAUSE THEIR FOOD FUCKING SUCKS!
        
        NeonCat 13 years ago
        
        Lies! From Dwarf House I stab at thee! Eat Mor Chiken!
  3. Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
    
    Chik-Fil-A owner (to my knowledge) hasn't called for anti-sodomy laws, but is only against gay marriage.
    
    He's funding groups like the FRC that are lobbying for anti-sodomy laws.
    1. The Dan 13 years ago
      
      And this ^^ (donations to FRC) is why I will no longer eat there.
6. RBS 13 years ago
  
  According to a friend of mine everyone who ate at CFA wednesday and supports CFA in general has basically sold their souls to the devil in return for a chicken sandwich.
  1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
    
    I can't handle the moral proxyism on both sides these days.
    If my responsibility for a particular $20 bill doesn't end with me exchanging it for a good or service, then what on earth can I do morally?
    1. RBS 13 years ago
      
      It's pretty stupid. Someone pointed out yesterday that libertarians would basically have to boycott every corporation in America.
      1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
        
        But... but... Libertarians love corporations and big business!
    2. Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
      
      Not the "on Wednesday" qualifier. I think there's a distinction between going to a business in general and going there as part of a specific event dedicated toward expressing a particular view point.
      1. RBS 13 years ago
        
        Oh, you're back to peddle your bullshit that everyone who ate at CFA on Wednesday is out to destroy all homosexuals?
      2. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
        
        And again, it wouldn't have even happened had Twinkle-Toe Rahm and the Poz Brigade hadn't made it a national issue to begin with. Maybe you should take it up with those guys for inspiring a bunch of people to go get their hatewich and hate fries on Wednesday out of sheer spite of these Leading Lights' big flappy mouths.
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        Oh, I'm pissed at them too for giving the bigots an excuse to claim the moral high ground, but that's doesn't mean I'm going to come out to celebrate CFA. I support free speech for racists too, but if you're at a klan rally in robe and hood, don't try to tell me it's just your desire to support free speech and says nothing about your views on race.
        
        RBS 13 years ago
        
        The Klan? Really? If you're going to continue your culture war bullshit at least update your references.
        
        Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
        
        "EATING AT CHIK-FIL-A IS LIKE ATTENDING A KLAN RALLY HERPITY DERPITY DOO!" :Stormyrage:
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        RRR, explain one way that opposing gay marriage is different than lynching. Just one!
  2. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    What bullshit. If I boycotted every company that did something to offend me, I'd be living in a cave. In Greenland.
    
    I could conceivably see boycotting a company that did something awful or really went out of its way to promote something that really offended me. But I set that bar very high, because companies make lots of donations and involve lots of people. Chick-fil-A isn't even close, even if you're a big gay marriage proponent. Though people can refuse to eat there for any reason or no reason--it's a formerly free country!
    1. Alack 13 years ago
      
      Amen to that.
      
      Shit, there's a tea shop near me that gives some percentage of their profits to promoting all sorts of lefty social-justice causes. But who cares if I disagree with them? Their tea is fucking awesome and I'll buy it til it sucks, it gets too expensive, or someone else sells it cheaper.
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Exactly. I'm not shopping there because of their politics; I'm shopping there for their tea or whatever. If they're so devoted to their cause that shopping there is aiding and abetting whatever it is they support and I hate, then maybe a boycott is in order.
        
        For instance, I don't eat at McNazi Kaiser, even though the Big Goering and fries is a great fast food meal.
        
        SIV 13 years ago
        
        I'll have the ground beef victory sandwich with freedom fries please
        
        $park? 13 years ago
        
        You haven't had anything until you've tried the Super Goebbels with extra Hitler sauce.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        I have to admit that I like their commercials, with Mayor McHitler and the Himmlerburglar.
        
        Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
        
        Everyone knows the Big Goering sucks. People only go to McNazi Kaiser for the Arbeit Macht Fries.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        What? How can you not love the Aryan sauce?
        
        Michael 13 years ago
        
        Pants pissed. Thanks.
  3. Marshall Gill 13 years ago
    
    My soul for a chicken sandwich? Where do I sign up?
    1. EDG reppin' LBC 13 years ago
      
      I've sold my sold for far less than a chicken sandwich.
      1. CE 13 years ago
        
        Everett: What'd the devil give you for your soul, Tommy?
        
        Tommy: Well, he taught me to play this here guitar real good.
        
        Delmar: Oh son, for that you sold your everlasting soul?
        
        Tommy: Well, I wasn't usin' it.
  4. Spoonman. 13 years ago
    
    As Steven Colbert said (paraphrasing) "I'm glad we've finally politicized everything in this country, so that I now only eat food I agree with. From now on, when I go to Applebee's, I'm ordering only right wings."
7. Chris Mallory 13 years ago
  
  If they are there to cause a disturbance and not buy the product, I hope all of the "kissers" are arrested for trespassing.
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

"Exec Bullies Chick-Fil-A Worker, Then Promptly Gets Fired For It"

"'I don't know how you live with yourself and work here,' he tells the employee at the window. 'I don't understand it. This is a horrible corporation with horrible values. You deserve better.'"

"TUCSON, AZ--(Marketwire - Aug 2, 2012) - The following is a statement from Vante:
Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A. Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company."

http://www.businessinsider.com.....-it-2012-8
1. $park? 13 years ago
  
  There's nothing quite like seeing an insufferable douchebag get crushed.
2. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  The company was lucky this guy gave them a reason to ash can him. I cannot imagine that someone that lacking in judgment would make a very good executive.
  1. Scruffy Nerfherder 13 years ago
    
    That's what I was thinking. I can imagine the CEO saying "YES! An excuse to get rid of that pompous asshole."
    1. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
      
      Seriously. What kind of idiot joins a business at that level without doing some research first? It's not like CFA goes out of its way to hide their values.
  2. Suthenboy 13 years ago
    
    In his mind the young girl working the fucking drive through window for minimum wage is intricately involved with and responsible for a vast clandestine plot to oppress gays and murder kittens.
    
    Yeah, I would say dumping that douche was a wise move.
3. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  what is it that we've said all through this - your right to free speech does not mean that others have to agree with you.
  1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
    
    But according to dunphy, a cop being fired for this violates his first amendment rights!
4. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  The fact that he posted it to YouTube blows my mind. He was so proud of his bravery...
5. Warty 13 years ago
  
  Oh, how utterly delicious. Lesson: do not be a KULTUR WAR douche, and you'll probably never get fired for berating a teenage girl.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    I just can't stand the hate."
    
    So I will practice some of it myself on some poor teenager trying to earn gas money. I hope that girl has an older brother, boyfriend or father who kicks that guy's ass.
    1. generic Brand 13 years ago
      
      I hope that girl has an older brother, boyfriend or father who kicks that guy's ass.
      
      It's tough to know how serious John is with these sorts of comments. While it would probably do some people some good to get smacked around a bit, aren't we as libertarians supposed to be non-violent first? I prefer public shaming, which this guy is already getting.
      1. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
        
        Since he doesn't have a job now...justice would be him having to work at a fast food drive through where he should be subject to 50 teenagers an hour telling him what a stupid douche he is for working at his eevul corporashun.
      2. Azathoth!! 13 years ago
        
        While it would probably do some people some good to get smacked around a bit, aren't we as libertarians supposed to be non-violent first?
        
        No. The 'non violence' thing is leftist infiltration. It keeps libertarians standing around with their hands in their pockets while being attacked because the attack is subtle. It makes libertarians watch as forces are marshalled against them.
        
        Sometimes, you don't let the bully get the first swing--you push him down the stairs the first chance you get.
6. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  Progressive 2011: no one can get any jobs anywhere! There aren't any jobs! I can't pay off my massive student loan!
  
  Progressive 2012: how could you choose to work in such a place? Why don't you go get a job at a non-shitty company?
7. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
  
  Apparently, Smith's made more videos besides that one which make him seem like a borderline pedophile.
8. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
  
  "'I don't know how you live with yourself and work here,' he tells the employee at the window. 'I don't understand it. This is a horrible corporation with horrible values. You deserve better.'"
  
  He said, in response to being handed 'a free water'.
  
  The irony burns.
$park? 13 years ago

As if you needed another reason to avoid Facebook.

That's exactly what the Democratic party is doing. The upcoming presidential campaigns are eager to get their hands on the treasure trove of voter data that 900 million users have voluntarily posted on Facebook. Enter Social Organizing, a new tool developed by Democratic activist group NGP VAN. Using it, your friends can log in to Facebook and tell the service about you. You can then be added to a caller database, pinged for ads and harassed during the entire election.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Creepy is to weak of a term.
  1. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
    
    "Fisty" seems appropriate.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      Won't the good little Progressives turn into great government informers when they get the chance?
      1. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
        
        I'm sure a post referring to one's love of going the firing range would definitely result in pre-"crime" arrests. For the children.
John 13 years ago

Question. If I posted this

The foundation of Progressivism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Progressiveism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Conservative State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Progressive State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the "ethic" State....

..The Progressive State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone ... .

On say DU or Kos, would I get a lot of argument? I am not sure. But I suspect most of them would agree. What do you guys think?
1. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  If you disguised some of the more overt language you would quickly become a rising star.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    And the joke of course is that if you substitute "Fascist" for Progressiveism", it is a quote from Mussolini defining Fascism.
    
    It would be some A+ trolling if you could get them agreeing with it.
    1. Restoras 13 years ago
      
      Based on the dealings I have with hard core lefties in my area, it wouldn't be much of a stretch.
      
      Latest I heard from one - "People want to be taken care of!".
    2. JW 13 years ago
      
      Reminds me of college republicans reading aloud the Black Student Union mission statement, but replacing "black" with "white."
      
      Hilarity ensues.
      1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        They get kicked out of school for being racist?
    3. RickC 13 years ago
      
      You know that a professor at Cornell back in '68 or '69 did just this sort of thing with his classes don't you? At the time Cornell had been taken over by "activists" and as an experiment he decided to read some speeches on what needed to happen to change the world. The students reacted with enthusiasm until he informed them they were Mussolini's speeches. Classic example of the totalitarian bent of leftists.
2. Rich 13 years ago
  
  the Progressive State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality
  
  "He loved Big Brother."
  
  Other than this part, I think most would agree.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    I think they all would agree with this
    
    The Progressive State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alon
    1. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      Put a candy coating on it, and they would swallow it whole:
      
      "retains what is essential (such as marriage equality, sexual freedom and reproductive rights) . . ."
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        Yeah. I might have to try it this weekend.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        Call yourself the Ghost of Woodrow Wilson?
    2. Restoras 13 years ago
      
      Substitute 'deprived' with 'relinquish' or 'surrenders' and it becomes a lot easier for them to swallow.
      1. SFC B 13 years ago
        
        Use "sacrifice". Makes it sound almost altruistic.
        
        Restoras 13 years ago
        
        That's using your top hat-covered noodle!
3. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  Even most American progressives will get creeped out by the capitalization on State. If you make it a small-g government it might go down easier.
4. BakedPenguin 13 years ago
  
  Why not try and see? Where is it from, in any event?
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    See above. it is Mussolini defining fascism.
5. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  I think any mention of a Conservative State that makes it a benign counter to the proggie vision will lose points. Leave the Prog State description on its own so any frame of reference or comparison comes strictly from commentors.
6. scaliwag 13 years ago
  
  "Progressive State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality"
  
  So states, like corporations, are people?
7. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
  
  Change the word state with government and they'd love it.
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

That's right, the Brits are developing armed, underwater drones.

Can't they just train dolphins like everyone else?
1. DJF 13 years ago
  
  Or Sea Bass with freaking laser beams attached to their heads.
  1. Restoras 13 years ago
    
    Or just Cam Neely?
2. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  Day of the (drone) Dolphin?
3. $park? 13 years ago
  
  Really. That's the first thing the Allies even get to build at the shipyard. No prerequisites needed.
4. JW 13 years ago
  
  "Feh Meh Peh"
5. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  I suddenly realize what will drive man into space. Not the spirit of adventure, not economics, not for thrills. No, it will be to get away from the air, land, and sea drones.
  1. JW 13 years ago
    
    Orbiting brothels wouldn't hurt.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      Well, yes, the people fleeing drones need a place to go to.
      1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
        
        That's no moon.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        That's a whoretel!
        
        Turn the ship around, I think you passed it!
        
        Yeah, I think you're right.
6. Libertarian 13 years ago
  
  I doubt they're ahead of the good ol usa on this.
  
  From Inquisitor.com:
  The US Navy has deployed four-foot long underwater drones known as the "SeaFox" submersibles to monitor the Persian Gulf. The underwater drones are the next line in defense against an increasingly hostile Iran and its growing nuclear program.
  Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/27737.....JrMKGuj.99
  
  I love how we Americans can travel halfway across the globe and call our military actions "defense."
Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago

Well he's not quite Bill Clinton...
Danny DeVito Urges Putin to Free Punk Protest Girls Facing Jail
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  "Mr Putin...Pussy Riot...set e'm free," DeVito said on his Twitter Inc. account today
  
  Sheesh, what is with all this Twitter "newsmaking" crap lately?
  1. Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago
    
    The internet has made for some lazy journalists.
    1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
      
      These days the internet just filters directly into cable news. I can't recall the last story that was actually broken on air.
      1. Alack 13 years ago
        
        Well, there was that time CNN broke Obamacare getting overturned.
2. mr simple 13 years ago
  
  You know, kids are great. I love the kids... Not in a sexual way! No, I'm- I was married 20 years, and she was a bitch, but she was old, and I never had a problem getting it up with her
John 13 years ago

http://www.politico.com/news/s.....html?hp=f3

Democratic Party apologizes to Republican business man after calling him a Chinese Pimp.
1. T 13 years ago
  
  Saying stupid slanderous things about a billionaire with lawyers on staff never works out quite the way you'd hope, does it? Amazing, innit?
2. The Unknown Pundit 13 years ago
  
  Some of my best friends are Chinese pimps.
3. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
  
  I would take being called a Chinese Pimp as a compliment, but that's just me.
4. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  What this country needs to clean achieve that "civility" the Usual Suspects like to bleat about is a rash of libel/slander suits.
  
  Adelman should sue the Dem Party. Even with the retraction, he can still pursue damages.
  
  Romney should sue Reid.
  
  The real fun would come in discovery. With the lawsuit out there, you have a license to go through their files, phone records, put staff under oath, etc.
  
  The ruinous damages (which I think they could get, "public figure" or no) would just be icing on the cake.
  
  Until severe pain is inflicted, the lies and smears will continue.
  1. Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
    
    Guess that Team Blue "civility memo" got redacted.
  2. $park? 13 years ago
    
    Romney should sue Reid.
    
    You know that will never happen. Once one person opens that can there will be no way to get the worms back in. Plus, there's some kind of saying thrown around here from time to time. Something about me today...
    1. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      There's something to that, Sparks. On the whole, though, watching our ruling class and their institutions devour themselves in any orgy of suit and countersuit is a risk I'm willing to run.
      1. Marshall Gill 13 years ago
        
        Exactly, RC. If they spend all their time suing and counter suing they won't have as much time to steal from us. Sounds like a win-win.
        
        generic Brand 13 years ago
        
        Who do you think will have to pay for their attorney fees?
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        As individuals or political parties, I don't see any way they can tag the taxpayers with their bills.
  3. Whahappan? 13 years ago
    
    But didn't Reid make his comments on the Senate floor? Aren't Rep's and Senators immune from any consequences for stuff they say in such contexts?
    1. Eduard van Haalen 13 years ago
      
      They cannot be held accountable outside Congress. The Senate could still hold Reid accountable if it has the balls.
    2. R C Dean 13 years ago
      
      The Speech or Debate Clause, if memory serves, only protects what they say in a legislative capacity.
      
      I think they did give themselves broader immunities, though. What's the point of being in the Master Class, after all?
  4. Anonymous Coward 13 years ago
    
    If memory serves, members of Congress cannot be sued for comments made on the floor.
  5. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
    
    I agree, the ability of government and media figures to slander people has gone entirely too far.
Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago

Look out, Almanian!
State to Unveil Detroit Demolition Plan
1. John 13 years ago
  
  We would have been better off if the Socialists had just bombed Detroit.
  1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
    
    Ala "MOVE" in Filthadelphia?
John 13 years ago

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....eegan.html

Terrible day for history writing, John Keegan has died.
1. R C Dean 13 years ago
  
  One of my favorite writers.
  
  Anyone with an interest in military history should read his stuff. He's an excellent wordsmith and a thoughtful historian.
  1. John 13 years ago
    
    Face of Battle is pretty much essential reading.
    1. Restoras 13 years ago
      
      Mask of Command as well.
    2. $park? 13 years ago
      
      Essential for?
      1. Ice Nine 13 years ago
        
        Gratifying a minimal interest in military history?
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        Exactly Ice Nine.
      2. R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        Understanding human nature would be my take.
2. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  That is sad, sad, news. A great writer. Certainly the finest military historian in recent memory.
3. Ice Nine 13 years ago
  
  Looking over at my bookshelves now, seeing his name four or five times. The go-to guy for superb analytical military history. I stumbled on "The Face of Battle", a comparison of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme, years ago and was fascinated and hooked. RIP.
T 13 years ago

Saw a video clip of some twaffle hectoring a Chik-Fil-A employee about how could she work for such a horrible hateful company. Maybe it's just me, but harassing the counter people at the fast food joint isn't really making you, and by extension your position, look all that good. It ain't her that's making corporate policy. It's like going into the Halliburton building and screaming at the janitor about 'No Blood For Oil'. Perhaps you should be directing yoru ire at teh people that matter?
1. LTC(ret) John 13 years ago
  
  See above - he got sacked from his job for doing so. Ha!
  1. T 13 years ago
    
    Good to hear. I'm of the school that believes you shouldn't harass the people working crappy jobs. They have enough problems.
    1. Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
      
      Tony's good at that, T... he hates working-class people. So do most of his fellow Team mates.
    2. SugarFree 13 years ago
      
      The best way to judge someone's character is to watch how they treat someone that has no power over them. It doesn't take much effort to not be shit to the janitorial staff or your waitress.
      1. John 13 years ago
        
        ^^This^^
      2. T 13 years ago
        
        Its' one of my determining factors in who's an asshole in corporate America. If you treat the admins and the hourlies like shit, that usually means you are fucking toxic and I should keep my career as far away from you as possible.
    3. Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
      
      So what you're saying is you approve of economic sanctions as a method of punishing executives for expressing anti-social views outside of work?
      
      And what exactly is your issue with the Chick-Fil-A boycott?
2. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  Perhaps you should be directing yoru ire at teh people that matter?
  
  but you can't score cheap self-congratulatory points and post a video to YouTube that way. An $8 an hour drive-thru worker is an easy target.
3. $park? 13 years ago
  
  Perhaps you could take a gander at CampingInYourPark's 8:12 post. It might make your day a little brighter.
scaliwag 13 years ago

If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Someone else made that happen. Not God bless America, God DAMN America!
1. Rich 13 years ago
  
  If God damned America, someone else made that happen.
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

Australia's Labor Treasurer Wayne Swan says his political values are inspired by the music and philosophy of American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. That would be multimillionaire, picket-line-crossing Bruce Springsteen

http://www.dailytelegraph.com......6439835649
1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  He should have been honest and said "Rage Against the Machine".
SugarFree 13 years ago

But look on the bright side... at least it wasn't a boy this time.
1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
  
  Well he did write the book: "Dating with a Purpose: Common Sense Dating Principles for Couples, Parents, and Youth Workers."
  1. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
    
    I thought you were making that up at first. Crazy.
    1. SugarFree 13 years ago
      
      He also wrote the suggestive titled A Fresh Anointing. Hubba-hubba.
      
      And How To Speak Husband...
      
      "I love you so much, but her womanly altar is so fresh compared to yours. My dear wife... your labia is why I drink."
2. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
  
  The word "MegaChurch" always makes me think of this for some reason.
  1. SugarFree 13 years ago
    
    I think of:
    
    "And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
    1. robc 13 years ago
      
      Im not sure how that relates to megachurches.
      
      Jesus taught his disciples to pray both in private, and in groups.
      1. SugarFree 13 years ago
        
        I'm not trying to stop them from building them or attending them. If they want to Walmartize church, more power to them.
        
        Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
        
        They would probably consider "Your church is like Walmart!" a compliment.
        
        SugarFree 13 years ago
        
        "Your church is like Walmart!"
        
        Jesus was Chinese? [gasp]
    2. Apatheist ?_?? 13 years ago
      
      Yeah every time I drive by Lakewood "The Summit" Church it makes me want to vomit. And that was true in my pre-atheism days.
      1. robc 13 years ago
        
        I have a megachurch very close to my house. Driving by it is a challenge, as if you time it wrong, the traffic is insane.
      2. T 13 years ago
        
        Joel Osteen is a creepy fucker. Old man Osteen was apparently the real deal, but I think Joel saw a business opportunity and ran with it.
        
        Libertymike 13 years ago
        
        Ah, the joys of the prosperity gospel!
        
        Robert S 13 years ago
        
        But he has such pretty eyes.
    3. NoVAHockey 13 years ago
      
      my favorite passage.
  2. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
    
    I think of a church that's actually a transformer.
    1. mr simple 13 years ago
      
      I don't get it...Well, there's a million robots that turn into something. And this is a building that turns into a robot. So what's so fun about playing with a building? That's not any fun!
      1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        If you come across the religious bad guy he won't blow up a church?
      2. Jack the Reaper 13 years ago
        
        +Big
  3. scaliwag 13 years ago
    
    Are there laws against adults making out with consenting teens? Because I doubt it.
3. mr simple 13 years ago
  
  One more reason to password protect your phone.
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

Tom Coburn on "Morning Joe" discussing the Tea Party and giving a lesson on the US Constitution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSXTFQdEH0w
1. wareagle 13 years ago
  
  a Washington Post blowhard actually asked Coburn what he was talking about re: the part of the Constitution that enumerates powers. If you are just ignorant, it is never a good idea to broadcast that nationally.
CampingInYourPark 13 years ago

Gary Johnson on FBN last night:

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v.....t_id=87011

I like Gary, but what's up with the mildly retarded looking facial expressions?
1. Ice Nine 13 years ago
  
  I suppose for the conducting of a mildly retarded campaign it is de rigueur.
2. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  From what I've seen, he isn't real great in front of a camera.
  1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
    
    Because voting based on charisma has gotten us this Utopia we live in now.
    
    I think he's kinda chill, actually. So not what I'm used to seeing in and around DC. And then there's this badass shit.
3. Loki 13 years ago
  
  I like Gary, but what's up with the mildly retarded looking facial expressions?
  
  Well, libertarians do fall along the autism spectrum.
  
  [in Rainman voice]: "15 trillion dollars in debt. Yeah, yeah, definitely 15 trillion. Gotta stop the wars, definitely, definitely gotta repeal the Patriot Act. Yeah, yeah."
  1. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
    
    My favorite was Republican, Democrat...definition of insanity?
    
    I guess he was insane 7 months ago. Good to see they've found a cure.
John 13 years ago

http://www.politico.com/news/s.....79347.html

World's creepiest law professor, Cass Sunstein is returning to Harvard. Notice all sorts of talk in the article about the alleged benefits of his regulatory relook but not a single regulation he actually revoked.
SugarFree 13 years ago

The Law of Conservation of Kultur War: The total amount of Kultur War in an partisan system remains constant over time.

Yes, there is a constant basal rate--abortion, gun control, prayer in schools--but the peaks change subject frequently, without lessening the total output in facile-outrage-units (FOU).
1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  It's true. We haven't heard about prayer in schools much recently, or creationism. I guess those FOUs got redistributed to other areas.
  1. SIV 13 years ago
    
    I was surprised Stuebenville, Ohio being forced to change the city seal didn't cause more of a stir. Some Atheist group sued because the seal was a silhouette of the city skyline and there is a large cross in town.
    
    http://www.wfmj.com/story/1918.....us-symbols
    1. Eduard van Haalen 13 years ago
      
      One of the biggest, if not the biggest employers is a Catholic university. The cross is part of their building, and the city seal would have represented that building with the cross. Theocracy!
2. Eduard van Haalen 13 years ago
  
  I especially love that the side which started the Kultur Wars - that is, the aggressor - is the same side which professes astonishment that the stupid voters care about these issues.
  
  "Why do you pay attention when we legalize abortion, remove crosses from city seals, censor Chik Fil A and so forth? Why don't you pay attention to the economy...oh, never mind..."
  1. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
    
    "The progressive cries out when he strikes you."
np 13 years ago

http://www.insideline.com/car-.....cerns.html

* A San Francisco regional agency is exploring the idea of taxing drivers for each mile they drive, but the obvious hurdle to overcome is privacy.

* A GPS tracker would be installed in vehicles to monitor miles traveled. Drivers may be charged up to 10 cents per mile under the plan.

* The Vehicle Miles Travel Tax was first studied in Oregon in 2007.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  That is $1200 a year for a typical car. And that is in addition to gas taxes you already pay.
  1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
    
    But people are still driving too much!
  2. robc 13 years ago
    
    Gas taxes are a great proxy for user fees for roads, if they were used JUST for that.
    
    With the side benefit of encouraging better gas mileage cars.
    
    Tolls are better in areas where they make sense (interstates), but a properly done gas tax is darn close to a user fee.
    
    A mileage tax would, in theory, be better, but yeah, the privacy concerns are the problem.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      Gas taxes are a perfectly appropriate means to pay for roads. The problem is that these assholes have stolen all of that money instead of using it for roads. Now they are trying to find another way to fund roads.
      1. KDN 13 years ago
        
        The problem is that these assholes have stolen all of that money instead of using it for roads.
        
        Without pensions there could never be any roads. Why do you want to turn America into Somalia?
        
        In seriousness, I don't know why you couldn't just affix a mileage tax to the registration process. Renew registration, report mileage, misstating mileage carries a penalty. Could also be added to the title transfer process.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        That would handle the privacy issue quite well.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        Off-road driving. But the gas tax affects that too.
        
        That wouldnt be bad. Back when I used to get an annual emissions inspection, they could have checked the mileage then.
        
        Im sure they would find a way to add $10 in fees on in order to check that you arent lying.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Off-road driving. But the gas tax affects that too.
        
        Yeah, I almost made the same objection, but then came to the same conclusion.
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        That is a great point. Odd how they are so in love with this idea. It is almost as if they can't wait to get the ability to track every driver.
        
        robc 13 years ago
        
        The biggest problem (from the government POV) is collection. Collecting a big mileage tax is hard...gas tax gets collected by retailer, in little bits throughout the year.
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Plus they wouldn't get revenue from the last year the car is on the road. So they'd probably want to charge you upfront. Maybe you have to have 10000 miles of "credit" every time you register? The next year you have to pay for any extra you traveled, but if you went less it carries over to the next year (so that if you have 1000 miles left over you only pay for 9000 for the upcoming year).
        
        KDN 13 years ago
        
        Plus they wouldn't get revenue from the last year the car is on the road.
        
        I would think they'd make you pay for the mileage between the last registration period and the time you hand the title over. You have to declare the mileage on the title even when junking the car (that's how it works in NJ at least; don't know about anywhere else).
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Ah, I'm used to rural Vermont where you just ditch your car either literally in the woods or by selling it to some sketchy mechanic for like $200 cash and no paperwork.
      2. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        They are looking for another way to claim to fund the roads. Then they'll raid that and start looking for another way. One of the few things you can get basically everyone behind paying for is the ROADZZ.
    2. SugarFree 13 years ago
      
      I think most progressives don't see gas taxes as user fees, but rather sin taxes. They are freaking out about carbon now, so the sin is greater, requiring more absolution.
      
      But I agree that the mileage tax would be a better proxy if not for the massive privacy concerns. Of course, the way we are going, insurance companies are increasingly mandating use of GPS and driving monitoring devices. Once those devices are in the car, the state will boil the frog slow enough to eventually violate the privacy of everyone by getting into the system
      
      And then the usual suspects will defend them. "It just like having a LEO following you all the time, and there's nothing wrong with that, right?" or "If you don't want to have all your movements monitored take the bus (progressive solution) / stay in the house (cop-loving "libertarian" solution.)
      1. KDN 13 years ago
        
        insurance companies are increasingly mandating use of GPS and driving monitoring devices
        
        Is this actually the case? If so, I see a market niche for an enterprising insurance company. Hell, I'd pay $25 so the insurance company doesn't know that I, at minimum, drive 15 MPH over the speed limit at all times.
        
        SugarFree 13 years ago
        
        They are at the "offering discounts if you do" stage. But more accurate driving information is a going to hit the actuaries like a drug. Then it will be "pay more if you don't want it" and then "[airquote]Everyone[/airquote] already, why don't we just mandate them. We already mandate auto insurance after all."
        
        It will follow the trajectory of seatbelts: innovation to mandated in just a few years.
        
        Loki 13 years ago
        
        Unfortunately I think you're probably right. And now I'm depressed. Is it too early to start drinking?
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        Meh. It's Friday.
        
        rbenchley 13 years ago
        
        The driving monitoring devices are an abomination. They can pull up data from any given time and observe where you were driving, car speed, how fast you take corners and whether you come to a full stop at stop signs or just come to a rolling stop. Unfortunately, the chance of avoiding these devices is practically nil since all cars made 2015 and later will have data recorders built in.
      2. Rasilio 13 years ago
        
        Are they? I have not yet encountered a single instance where it was mandated.
        
        Sure there is that Progressive insurance thingie that hooks into your onboard computer to measure your driving habits but that is optional and used to provide a discount, not manditory.
2. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
  
  Heard an excerpt on the Jason Lewis show how diverting the gas tax revenue to things like rail is part of a plan to redistribute wealth from suburbs to urban integration zones.
  
  In other words, to get all of the proles into their fucking flats in the city where they will behave.
  1. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
    
    "'Having a real and functioning partnership with HUD and DOT was beyond my wildest dreams,' says Ilana Preuss, who spent seven years in the EPA's smart growth division under George W. Bush. Preuss, who is now chief of staff at Smart Growth America, says her work received consistent funding during the Bush years, but it wasn't because of leadership from the top. Bush's first two EPA chiefs, both former Republican governors ? Christine Todd Whitman from New Jersey and Michael Leavitt of Utah ? came from states that had strong smart growth policies."
    1. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
      
      http://grist.org/cities/presid.....an-agenda/
  2. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
    
    In other words, to get all of the proles into their fucking flats in the city where they will behave.
    
    And push all the welfare leeches out into the country, apparently.
    
    I seriously doubt that a bunch of left-wing city council members are prepared to deal with the consequences of compelling a bunch of conservative families to relocate to the urban wasteland.
scaliwag 13 years ago

Hit a cop car with a baseball bat? Death penalty.

DULUTH, Minn. - The father of a Duluth teen shot and killed by a police officer says he's suing the city, alleging authorities mishandled his son's situation.

Seventeen-year-old Joseph Carl was fatally shot near his home in August of 2010. A prosecutor's review determined the shooting was justified after Carl violently attacked an officer's squad car with a baseball bat.

http://www.startribune.com/local/164867146.html
1. John 13 years ago
  
  If someone hit my car with a ball bat and I shot them, no way I wouldn't go down for murder.
  1. T 13 years ago
    
    You live in the wrong state. This happened in El Paso when I lived there. 16 year old kid got shot 5 times with a .357 after vandalizing a car. Shooter was nol prossed.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      The car must have been on private property and the castle doctrine applied.
      1. T 13 years ago
        
        Long time ago, so no castle doctrine. But Texas is amazingly loose about the use lethal force during the hours of darkness. Link here, look at sections 9.41 and 9.42. You want to go screwing around with people's stuff at night, Texas is not the place to do it.
    2. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
      
      Technically, I don't think John lives in a state.
2. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
  
  Not that I'm a fan of tasers, and I'm too lazy to read the article, but why wasn't there a non-lethal resolution of the situation?
  1. wareagle 13 years ago
    
    you know the answer - fuck you, that's why
    1. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
      
      I kind of hope that answer replaces "To protect and serve." At least, it will be 10000000% more honest.
  2. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
    
    Tasers are only for situations that could be resolved through one or two sentences.
3. Rich 13 years ago
  
  I suppose this guy is screwed.
  
  /Captain Obvious
4. SugarFree 13 years ago
  
  Like a dog, or a horse, or a drone... the car is a police officer too. What if it had been scuffed or--godforbid--had a side mirror knocked off? Maybe just put yourself in the tires of that car's family? Would you want to see a loved one come home in that condition? Would you?
  
  The law is the law. If you don't like the law, feel free to fail at getting rid of it, cop-bigot.
  1. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
    
    Judge Dredd: "I AM THE LLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!"
5. GW 13 years ago
  
  Not enough details there, but if I was in my car and someone attacked it with a baseball bat, they'd get the death penalty too. And no courtesy warning to drop the bat.
  1. Loki 13 years ago
    
    Or you could, I don't know, just drive away and press charges for vandalism later.
some guy 13 years ago

Gary Johnson gets 19% in National Poll (when Romney is not named in the poll). This will give the debate planning committee something to think about.

http://www.dailypaul.com/24728.....nwide-poll
1. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  For about a nanosecond. Maybe.
  1. some guy 13 years ago
    
    The committee has stated that you can attend the debate if you get more than 15% in 5 national polls. To my knowledge, they didn't state a required form for the polls. They could change this, but to do so would either guarantee Johnson a spot on national polls (a small victory) or force the committee to admit that they are intentionally excluding all third parties.
    
    They will probably take the last option and hope that the electorate doesn't care. But at least they will be thinking about it. Any changes they make might even hit the mainstream news for 15 minutes one day.
    1. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
      
      "The CPD's third criterion requires that the candidate have a level of support of at least 15% (fifteen percent) of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recent publicly-reported results at the time of the determination."
2. SIV 13 years ago
  
  Zombie Hitler could outpoll 19% if he's the only one running against Obama.
  1. some guy 13 years ago
    
    Other/undecided was on the poll as well.
    
    So GJ gets 19% when running against "Obama or Other" and only ~5% when running against "Obama or Romney". I guess Republicans get confused when they can't look for the little "R" beside candidate names.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

This morning I caught a little bit of Morning Joke. The assembled nodders were huffing and puffing about the "near miss" at the Washington airport, and how this conclusively proves our airports are crumbling and we need to spend fifty billion dollars or more on them ASAP.

Also [cue spooky music] IT'S THE ANNIVERSARY OF THAT TIME WHEN REAGAN FIRED ALL THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS!!!!!

dunn-dunn-DUUUUUUUUNNNNHHH

And as always, watching that insufferable douchebag Donnie Deutsch sitting there in his handmade suit talking about how evil Wall Street billionaires like that horrible tax cheat Romney are wrecking the country was fun.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  It is too bad we didn't recently blow a trillion dollars on a stimulus or something.
  1. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
    
    Or over a trillion "rebuilding" backwater shitholes that would magically pay for themselves.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      That is the double insult of the stimulus. Not only did it not help the economy, it was also used for nothing useful. If they would have updated the air traffic control system and hardened the electrical grid and things like that, I would still not have liked it. But at least we would have something to show for it. They literally took a trillion dollars and gave it to their cronies.
      1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        I think you missed the Iraq/Afghanistan reference.
2. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  I listened to the recording of the series of incidents and while it was somewhat out of the ordinary, it wasn't all that unusual for DCA when they switch runways. Everyone remained calm except some slight irritation on the part of one of the pilots (also not unusual - I have heard much more contentious exchanges between pilots and ATC). If I had been listening live I probably wouldn't have even perked my ears up. Switching runways on an airport like DCA with its size and complicated flight restrictions is no mean feat.
  
  I have a sneaking suspicion that it was a slow news day.
  1. wareagle 13 years ago
    
    when stuff like this makes news, I always wonder what agenda is driving it.
  2. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
    
    BTW, if you're willing to sign up for an account at LiveATC.net, you can listen to the recording. DCA doesn't have the best feed, but you can make out pretty much what's going on. It's under "Interesting Recordings" on the left, or in the Forums under Recordings.
Ken Shultz 13 years ago

After Chick-Fil-A's busiest day in history Wednesday, today gay marriage activists are planning a "kiss in" outside Chick-Fil-A restaurants nationwide.

Distractions like this will make sure Barack Obama gets reelected.

Obama's reelection campaign sure as hell doesn't want swing voters thinking about whether his economic polices are a miserable failure.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Whatever Ken.
  1. Ken Shultz 13 years ago
    
    It's not about abortion; it's about Terry Schaivo and the Culture of Death. ...why would the Bush Administration want swing voters thinking about the Iraq War?
    
    It's not about gay marriage; it's about Chick-Fil-A. ...and why would the Obama Administration want swing voters thinking about his disastrous economic policies?
    
    Culture warriors are so easy to manipulate--you just wind 'em up, and they do what they're told.
    
    Some liberal or progressive in Massachusetts tells the social conservatives to do something? And the social conservatives do exactly what they're told.
    
    That's what progressives love about social conservatives--social conservatives are so very nice and obedient.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      You have lost your mind Ken. The gays totally lost on this one. Even liberals admitted Emmanuel and Menino were an embarrassment. No swing voter is going to decide to vote for Obama because they think Mumbles Menino needs to keep Chick Fil A out of Boston.
      1. Libertymike 13 years ago
        
        John, I agree that, for this "round", Mumbles lost.
        
        However, bigger picture, Mumbles has been the mayor since 1993 when he first won election. Since then, he's been re-elected Fo (4) times, 1997, 2001, 2005 and most recently in 2009.
        
        BTW, did you ever go and see Ted? I have gone back to see it a second time and I laughed my ass off even more!
        
        John 13 years ago
        
        No. I didn't. I need to. Maybe this weekend.
    2. wareagle 13 years ago
      
      Ken, stop. Even a good many liberals saw through the bullshit on this one. They disagree with the CEO but they are not advocating shutting him down.
2. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  I don't think their constant throwing of things against the wall is working. People are all too aware of the economic issues he's pointedly avoiding, and true believers will believe no matter what liberties he violates, economy he wrecks, war he fights, people he kills.
  1. Ken Shultz 13 years ago
    
    When we're talking about undecided voters at this point, people who've watched what Obama's done over the past four years and are still undecided? We're talking about people who maybe aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.
    
    I hope you're right and it isn't working. But it has worked reliably in the past. And I certainly think that staying on message in the face of distractions will be the key to seeing Obama cry like a Russian gymnast come November.
    
    If this persists, I bet Obama weighs in with his own two cents, for sure. He'll try to force Romney to go on the record with his Mormon take on the issue, too, but Romney doesn't want to do that. Obama might even bring it up in the debates.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      I think the persistence of this downturn, more than the current lackluster economy, is his downfall. I've got a very Carter feeling about these times. Not that Romney is Reagan, but he is Not-Obama.
np 13 years ago

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20120625-43359.html
1,699 nude in Munich. Pics

Question: would you participate?
1. Restoras 13 years ago
  
  Depends on how many college-age female fitness instructors participate?
  1. Loki 13 years ago
    
    I probably still wouldn't actively participate, but I would be more inclined to watch if there were a lot of those in the crowd.
    
    Sadly, most events like this never have enough people you'd actually want to see naked to make it worth while.
    1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
      
      Nah, it will be mostly superannuated German hippies
2. Rich 13 years ago
  
  If they marched at Chick-Fil-A.
3. Ice Nine 13 years ago
  
  Man or woman behind me?
4. T 13 years ago
  
  Stand outside naked in 50F weather? No.
5. scaliwag 13 years ago
  
  This is a very tired concept.
invisible furry hand 13 years ago

The French healthcare system paid for Julie Delpy's vaginal rejuvenation

Sorry, I couldn't find any pictures

http://www.vulture.com/2012/08.....er_vulture
1. John 13 years ago
  
  I have always really liked her.
2. SugarFree 13 years ago
  
  It sounds more like she had pelvic floor reconstruction. Which is an actual medical condition as opposed to labial beautification projects.
  1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
    
    From The Godfather?
    1. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
      
      Hahaha, that part never made any sense to me.
      1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Where the doc? He could explain.
        
        Groovus Maximus 13 years ago
        
        More on pelvic floor dysfunction.
        
        Well, Pro'L Dib, there are a number of reason's (drink)for the indication for surgical intervention, such a prolapse of the rectum, enteroceles and fissures/fistulas in the pelvic floor muscles (most notably the levator ani), and herniation, both primary and secondary. Childbirth with episiotomy (not Episiarch's slutty sister) can also require this, and could/would include reconstruction of Ms. Delphy's hoo-hah and could also require a cystopexy (surgical fixation of the bladder) to prevent bladder prolapse.
        
        So, this one is legit, IMMO, based on the info I have.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Strangely, I learned much of this from reading The Godfather. In fact, I think I could perform the procedure myself. Pre-law, pre-med, what's the difference?
        
        Groovus Maximus 13 years ago
        
        Malpractice and liability insurance, for one. I could think of a shitload (ha!)of others, yet I lack the motivation to do so today. I have been having cardiac distress as of late.
        
        invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        not literally?
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        No lawyer would sue me, the doctor-lawyer. It's in our secret code.
        
        Heart issues, or just metaphorical? Take it easy, either way.
  2. Tim 13 years ago
    
    Good point, irresponsible reporting like about this could cause a flap.
    1. Groovus Maximus 13 years ago
      
      That was the worst pun I have seen in a good while, Tim. Well fucking done! HA!
  3. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
    
    I throw you a beautiful French woman with a fancy new vajajay, and you get all dry and technical. Disappointing, Mr Free, very disappointing
    1. RBS 13 years ago
      
      True, no one likes a dry vagina.
      1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        au contraire, my dear RBS
      2. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        au contraire my dear RBS, au contraire
      3. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        au contraire my dear RBS, au contraire
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_sex
      4. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        au contraire my dear RBS, au contraire - many South Africans would beg to differ
        
        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_sex
    2. SugarFree 13 years ago
      
      I never joke around when it comes to women's sexual health issues.
      1. invisible furry hand 13 years ago
        
        It must be all that time you've spent at Jezebel
        
        SugarFree 13 years ago
        
        It must be all that time you've spent at in a jezebel.
        
        JW 13 years ago
        
        Tell us, why do you say that you feel trapped inside a jezebel's body?
        
        SugarFree 13 years ago
        
        I didn't say I was totally in it. It wasn't like it was a giant woman and she inserted me like a tampon.
        
        Uh... Gotta go. I'll be in my bunk.
        
        JW 13 years ago
        
        DEATH BY SNU SNU!
scaliwag 13 years ago

Give this man a medal!

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff's deputies didn't know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbor called 911.

A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles -- five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van.

By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road.

With their vehicles crushed, "We had nothing to pursue him with," said Chief Deputy Philip Brooks.

http://www.twincities.com/nati.....ost_viewed
1. John 13 years ago
  
  That is fucking awesome.
2. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  1) It was posted in the first comment.
  
  2) It was posted in yesterday's PM Links.
  
  3) "We had nothing to pursue him with". I grew up on a farm in that county. You can chase down a tractor on the roads on foot.
  1. Restoras 13 years ago
    
    You can chase down a tractor on the roads on foot
    
    Maybe you could when you were a young, strapping farmhand. I am willing to bet the cops have been fattening up on donuts for the last couple of decades and have not been training for triathlons.
    1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
      
      Vermont has some mean cider donuts, too. Not to mention maple creemees.
      1. Red Rocks Rockin 13 years ago
        
        "The state of Vermont will not apologize for its cheese!"
        
        Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
        
        GREAT state.
3. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  BUGGER!
4. JW 13 years ago
  
  We're going to have to get the jaws of life up here to pry the trunks open and see about the rifles and shotguns,"
  
  Oh, irony, you so funny!
5. Quetzalcoatl 13 years ago
  
  Chief Deputy Philip Brooks
  Chief Deputy Philip Brooks
  P Brooks
  
  ?_?
  1. T 13 years ago
    
    No wonder he's late. His car got crushed.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

labial beautification projects.

STIMULUS
1. SugarFree 13 years ago
  
  "Shovel-ready."
Tim 13 years ago

"Look up! Now look down! That's right, the Brits are developing armed, underwater drones. "

They've eliminated the need for seamen.
16th amendment 13 years ago

Unionize TSA? Thousands of them already stand around doing nothing. How much cushier can it get? Now if someone is incompetent, you won't be able to fire them. Well, you will be able to, after 1.5 years and $250K in legal fees to taxpayers -- so effectively, you won't be able to fire them. Repeal the NLRA now!
1. Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
  
  "You can't professionalize unless you federalize" - Tom Daschle
2. Drax the Destroyer 13 years ago
  
  Heck their demon-fueled union for the Stygian Pits would probably get them extra perks like only getting to frisk up 20-something hot chicks instead of grannies with diapers full of shit. Granted, they are probably doing this already.
Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago

In MN you die when you attack a police cruiser, in VT they take you alive after they find a drivable car.
1. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  BUGGER!
2. Loki 13 years ago
  
  Vermont State Police said in a statement that Pion would face seven counts of felony unlawful mischief, one count of misdemeanor unlawful mischief, one count aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of gross negligent operation, and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.
  
  Did the story leave something out? Where did he assault a police officer? Or was one of the vehicles he destroyed actually a deputized officer?
  
  In MN you die when you attack a police cruiser, in VT they take you alive after they find a drivable car.
  
  VT police are clearly amateurs.
  1. Alack 13 years ago
    
    The car was Kit from Knight Rider, who had been fully deputized.
Rasilio 13 years ago

Ok this is baffling me. Can someone please explain to me how it is possible to lose money selling Hamburgers for $9.50 and Soda for $2.00?

I mean the way the article has it written it seems to say that Amtrack is spending $16.15 for the ingredients in their Hamburgers and $3.40 for a glass of Pepsi. WTF are they doing buying the finished products retain from baseball stadiums or something? If these numbers are true it isn't waste it is outright friggin fraud and someone needs to be going to jail over it.
1. NoVAHockey 13 years ago
  
  I have family who work for Amtrak. this doesn't surprise me at all. and it's not fraud. they're too stupid to steal.
2. JW 13 years ago
  
  I had the same thought. The *one* time I ever rode a train, I was shocked by how expensive the shitty food was, that they served.
  1. SugarFree 13 years ago
    
    I drank a canned margarita on Amtrak. It was either that or Bud Light.
    1. Tim 13 years ago
      
      That was lime scent for the urinal.
      1. SugarFree 13 years ago
        
        It wasn't as bad as it should have been, which is not much of an endorsement.
        
        Tim 13 years ago
        
        AMTRAK is a visit to a paralell universe- a socialist America where Spocks have beards and drink canned margaritas. Next stop, The Twilight Zone.
3. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  They probably price it so high that no one buys it and then they throw a ton away.
scaliwag 13 years ago

I've always been a swallower. As a child, I swallowed anything the vacuum cleaner failed to pick up. Crayons. Paper. Nose boogers. Nothing felt dirty or wrong, even if the look on my mother's face told me otherwise. It wasn't until I started giving blow jobs that I thought about what I swallowed. I had given up breast milk long before then, and the idea of swallowing something out of someone else's body felt odd. But anything feels strange until you get used to doing it.

There's a lot of chatter over the age old sex debate, to spit or swallow, but when it comes to decisions, this is an easy one. If you love your partner and can muster up enough strength to take one for the team, take one for the team. Not only do guys love it when women swallow -- something about the whole completion thing -- but there are actually measurable benefits to swallowing, too.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/lov.....t_detested
1. Marshall Gill 13 years ago
  
  Thanks, scaliwag, I forwarded the link to my wife letting her know how much I was concerned about her health!
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

it wasn't all that unusual for DCA when they switch runways.

The WaPo article I rad a little while ago had a quote from somebody who said there was a miscommunication issue which should have been handled better, but on the whole, not a big fucking deal.

The braying jackasses on Morning Joke were claiming it clearly shows how inadequate the entire network of civil aviation radar and air control are. The country is in a shambles! SPEND SPEND SPEND!
1. KDN 13 years ago
  
  That's probably true. I recall reading in the journal ~5 years ago or so that a modernization was being prepped in the late 90's but the Clinton administration killed it over the objections of the ATC union. They were afraid that the automation inherent in the modernization would make them obsolete (probably correct) and, as we all know, protecting union jobs is a Democrat's top priority.
2. Kaptious Kristen 13 years ago
  
  The approach to runway 19 is a little crazy from a passenger, pilot and ATC perspective (it's the approach that comes over downtown DC), so I just can't get my panties in a wad that some mixup with switching runways happened. A wrong frequency was given, clearance was given that wasn't communicated down the line, the approach was changed. All normal incidences that happened to occur within a few minutes of each other. Oh well.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

You can chase down a tractor on the roads on foot.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

We're talking about policemen. Not actual humans.
1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
  
  Have you actually seen the speed of a tractor? I'm not even saying a normal person would have to run.
2. Tim 13 years ago
  
  "The pursuit reached speeds in excess of 9 miles per hour"
  1. Auric Demonocles 13 years ago
    
    Then it hit a slight incline.
Loki 13 years ago

After Chick-Fil-A's busiest day in history Wednesday, today gay marriage activists are planning a "kiss in" outside Chick-Fil-A restaurants nationwide.

This is still a story? My capacity to give a shit was tapped out about a week ago.
1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  I agree, but the story that should still be in the news is the one about multiple governments making unconstitutional threats.
  1. Mr. FIFY 13 years ago
    
    You guys with your homophobic hate-talk. Why do you hate brown children?
  2. NoVAHockey 13 years ago
    
    but that's hard.
    1. SugarFree 13 years ago
      
      It's not hard. Neither side of the Kultur War wants to admit that government shouldn't be able legislate their beliefs and prejudices.
      1. NoVAHockey 13 years ago
        
        for a local TV reporter? if it gets beyond he said/she said. forget it.
      2. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Which is the whole problem. People now support state intervention in everything. In fact, many can't even conceive of a reason for not running to papa government.
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        papa government
        
        So sexist. Why do you other the sistren with your patriarchal adjectives, Pro?
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        The government is both genders and neither. It is both nurturer and punisher. It takes and it takes.
        
        R C Dean 13 years ago
        
        both genders and neither
        
        So, its like an obese hermaphrodite that's had a orchiectomy and a hysterectomy?
        
        That works.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Exactly like that, yes.
2. JW 13 years ago
  
  My capacity to give a shit was tapped out about a week ago.
  
  Be careful. I'm told that this type of dangerous apathy can result in a lack of piss on you, should you happen to combust.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

the story that should still be in the news is the one about multiple governments making unconstitutional threats.

Actually, a major part of that story should be the interchangeability of "I" and "we" on the part of politicians.
The Late P Brooks 13 years ago

"I do not approve. Therefor, We must not allow it."
1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  The land and the king are one.
  1. T 13 years ago
    
    If we're going to go all Fisher King on a defeated President, I'm up for it. Either you post better metrics when you leave office or you feed the land.
    1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
      
      No, we're more enlightened than that. A simple tar and feathering followed by a ten-year exile should suffice. Oh, and paying back the deficit you're deemed responsible for.
      1. T 13 years ago
        
        Nope. If you want to be the man, you bet your life you'll be good at it.
        
        Pro Libertate 13 years ago
        
        Well, I suppose it could be a fatal tar and feathering if he were bad enough. Or maybe a permanent one?
Zombie Jimbo 13 years ago

So what. Romney paid about $6.2 million in taxes over the last two years. About 13%. How much would make you happy? All of it? I paid about $230k over the last 2 years, about 24%. Did Romney consume 30x the infrastructure and gubbmint goodness that I got? I doubt it. Should his tax have doubled to be the same rate as mine? What would it matter? It would just be pissed away anyway. Should my taxes be lower?

FUCK YES.

WHat Romney is paying isn't the problem. What the government is pissing away is.
1. Zombie Jimbo 13 years ago
  
  Threading failure. Moved to where it belonged. I for one am not having the best of time with this upgrade.
  1. Ted S. 13 years ago
    
    It belonged in a different article, and you're blaming the upgrade?
2. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  Yep, it's what's being spent, not what's being collected, that's at issue.
  1. Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
    
    Shifting more of the tax burden to me does nothing to fix the spending issue.
3. CampingInYourPark 13 years ago
  
  Strange, seems Harry Reid has an anonymous source that told him Romney hasn't paid taxes in 10 years. How can this be?
John Thacker 13 years ago

It's "loath," not "loathe," in the example at the end of the post. The Spanish workers are "loath" to change.
1. Pro Libertate 13 years ago
  
  Loaf.
Erik Jay 13 years ago

"Loathe to interrupt their country's ..."

That would be "loath" in this case. I am available for proofing. You guys need it.
Erik Jay 13 years ago

Loath vs. loathe.

Congrats to all my posting pals for catching it, too. Good on ya. ("Ya"? Well...)
Fate 13 years ago

Thoughts?

(I have no idea how to post links atm, so please google)
full spectrum operations in the homeland a vision of the future

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