A.M. Links: Syrian Prime Minister Defects, Wisconsin Shooter Identified, Hillary Visits Nelson, Obama Campaign Office Stormed By Occupy, Curiosity Lands

• The Syrian Prime Minister, Riad Hijab, has defected to Jordan with his family. Three other ministers are rumored to have also defected. 
• Curiosity successfully landed on Mars. The rover is scheduled to carry out a two year search for evidence of life on the Red Planet. 
• Mitt Romney's campaign raised over $100 million in the month of July. Ninety four percent of all donations were for less than $250. 
• The gunman responsible for this weekend's shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin has been identified as ex-soldier Wade Michael Page. The FBI is treating the incident as an act of domestic terrorism. 
• Hillary Clinton has met Nelson Mandela on the last leg of her African tour. 
• Occupy protesters have vandalized Obama's campaign headquarters in Oakland, CA. 

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mitt Romney's campaign raised over $100 million in the month of July. Ninety four percent of all donations were for less than $250.

Bug report:

There's no link here.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Curse you, Feeney! You've made me look the fool.

...less than $250.

Romney and his backers from the 1%.

[Res Publica Americana]

Don't be so sure it's obvious. The Democrats are going to keep spinning the retarded ONE PURSENTER angle until their brains hemorrhage.

[Mo]

It was 94% of the count of donations, but 25% of the total haul.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Sounds like a progressive donation system.

[Tulpa Doom]

BO has similar numbers.

[CE]

Why is anyone giving any money to these guys at this point? We already know about them, and can look up their records in office and their current positions on the issues on their websites. Is anyone really going to be swayed by television ads at this point?

[T]

You don't need Feeney's help, Fist.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Thank you. You know, I've alway tried to achieve my goals without any outside-

Hey, wait a minute!

[Xenocles]

You looked like a fool? You didn't do that. Somebody else made that happen.

[generic Brand]

OT, only because it's not really news: Toure is a douchebag.

Here is an old ESPN article imagined by Toure: What if Michael Vick Were White?.

Here is Toure getting dismantled by Piers Morgan of all people over the Robert Zimmerman interview Piers did a few days before.

The good thing about Toure is that he gave us the "What if Michael Vick Were..." meme. Some of the best are "What if Michael Vick were some barbecue ribs" and "What if white Michael Vick were a black asian wearing a sombrero".

[Caleb Turberville]

Could someone explain Michael Vick to me? In particular, his FOUR pro bowl appearances?

I guess, I'm just curious as to why Eli Manning only has two, since when you subtract the two seasons Vick was in prison, they've pretty much been playing for the same length of time.

[Quetzalcoatl]

You know what they say: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight..."

[RedDragon6009]

You know what they say: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight..."

...it's the size of the tub you drown it in that counts.

[John]

He has been an effective QB. The problem is that he never can stay healthy. He is not big enough to take the punishment.

[wareagle]

Eli has only two because his stats have not necessarily been overwhelming, because for much of his career he was in the same conference as guys named Brees, Favre, Warner, and others. Also, folks sometimes back out of the Pro Bowl owing to injury or just not wanting to go.

[Mike M.]

Vick has probably been the most overrated player in the NFL for his entire career, mostly because he's "exciting" to watch, and the kind of idiots who work at places like ESPN think that "exciting" is the same thing as "great".

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I finally had my fill of ESPN's "coverage" when I noticed that their "Top Ten Plays" were usually plays made by someone on the team that LOST THE DAMN GAME, not the plays that were the turning point in the contest. They've been style over substance for at least 20 years.

[Proprietist]

Based on the quantity of appearances on SportsCenter, Blake Griffin is obviously the best basketball player to ever walk the earth.

[CE]

Eli Manning is pretty overrated as well. Most years, his stats have not been that impressive (lots of INTs), but people remember his two successful playoff runs.

Tony Romo, by contrast, has been much more effective in the regular season throughout his career, but people remember him for his struggle to win playoff games.

[robc]

They have been in the league the same seasons 6 times -- 2004-2006 and 2009-2011.

2004 PasserRating YardsRushing
Eli 55.4 35
Vick 78.1 902

2005
Eli 75.9 80
Vick 73.1 597

2006
Eli 77.0 21
Vick 75.7 1039

2009
Eli 93.1 65
Vick 93.7 95

2010
Eli 85.3 75
Vick 100.2 676

2011 92.9 15
Vick 84.9 589

[Caleb Turberville]

Why include yards rushing and not include yards passing?

[wareagle]

Vick still has him on passer rating in many of those years. Eli is not Peyton.

[mad libertarian guy]

Eli is not Peyton.

That's right. Eli has 2 championships to Peyton's 1.

[robc]

I had passer rating, which is a more inclusive measure of passing. I could have done yards per carry instead, but it doesnt show the impact.

Yards passing is primarily dependent on style of offense the coach chooses too (which sometimes depends on QB). What is important is being efficient when passing.

[robc]

Also, yards per catch (or attempt, but works out the same, as completion percentage is also part of formula) is a part of the passer rating.

[Caleb Turberville]

As John said above, Vick is an injury prone QB. Those injuries come in the rushing, which is where Vick is most effective (in his career as a whole) in picking up yardage and scores.

But Vick's passing and rushing yardage combined come no where near Eli's entire passing yardage.

Eli avoids injuries, picks up more yardage and scores, and puts his team in a better position to win.

[Mo]

Total yards is a garbage measurement. Frequently, the losing team is the the one with the most passing yards because they need to catch up. Manning throws TDs at a 7% higher rate,but INTs at an 18% higher rate. Not to mention, Vick has been on teams with mediocre receivers for most of his career. He had, by far, his best completion percentages on the Eagles than he ever did with Atlanta despite a 3 year layoff from the game.

Manning: 4.7%TD 3.3%INT
Vick: 4.4%TD 2.8%INT

[robc]

Also, rushing is inherently more valuable per yard than passing, due to the increased risks when passing.

If a team isnt getting about 2 more yards per attempt passing than rushing, they need to run the ball more.

[Gray Ghost]

When comparing Eli and Vick, you really have to consider that Eli's gotten a whole lot better these last few years. So has Vick, for that mattter. Eli's really progressed beyond the "let's throw it 6 feet over Plax's head and see if he can catch it?" days.

Football Outsiders' comparison over 2010 and 2011:

From their website: The simple version: DYAR means a quarterback with more total value. DVOA means a quarterback with more value per play. Effective Yards translate DVOA into a yards per attempt figure. This provides an easy comparison: in general, players with more Effective Yards than standard yards played better than standard stats would otherwise indicate, while players with fewer Effective Yards than standard yards played worse than standard stats would otherwise indicate.

2011 DYAR DVOA Eff Yards
Eli 1109 16.20% 4783
Vick 652 11.60% 3194

2010
Eli 547 4.20% 3630
Vick 663 14.10% 3019

So, Vick was much better in 2010 on a per play basis than Eli, and had more value overall. In 2011, Eli was better in total and on a per play basis. According to them.

Eli had a pretty good year last year. His DYAR ranked 8th among QBs with DVOA 9th. They don't rank Eff Yards, but eyeballing it, he came in 5th.

[Restoras]

I'll take the two Superbowls over the better paper QB?

[robc]

But pro bowls are based on regular season performance.

[Restoras]

I know not this Pro Bowl of which you speak.

[robc]

Well, it was what Caleb asked about, not which would you want...but why Vick leads in pro bowls 4 to 2.

[Restoras]

Fair enough. I don't have that much dog in this fight anyway...

[wareagle]

Super Bowls are a function of team; Pro Bowls are based on individual performance. If everything was judged on SBs, how come no one mentions Terry Bradshaw among the best qb's ever?

[Tulpa Doom]

Exactly. I'm so friggin sick of QB's being judged by their team's performance. NYG has had a stout DL every year Eli's been there, and an awesome WR corps.

This is the line of thinking that led people to believe Mark Sanchez was an elite QB because his team won a lot.

[Caleb Turberville]

But see, that's my point.

Let's turn this argument around from Vick vs. E. Manning to E. Manning vs. Sanchez.

When you compare E. Manning and Sanchez's first three seasons, they're clocking in at several rates. And since Sanchez has done well in the postseason, we get an even clearer picture of what Sanchez is capable of.

Yet, the Jets organization is trying to undermine Sanchez, and the Giants kept on investing in E. Manning until he was able to win two Super Bowls.

But where's the difference between Sanchez and E. Manning after three seasons?

[Caleb Turberville]

Oops, that was for Tulpa, by the way.

[Caleb Turberville]

similar rates

[Gray Ghost]

I do not find that Sanchez performed at a similar rate to Eli.

Suffice to say, that Football Outsiders finds Sanchez to be much worse than Eli, in any of the prior three years.

Going to profootballreference, you'll see more yards/attempt, yards/completion, net yards/attempt, better sack rate, INT rate. In most stats Eli beats Sanchez handily. It's not really Sanchez's fault, too much---I don't think he's suited to an outdoor, frequently windy stadium. He just doesn't have the arm strength to cope with it. Not that Sanchez is terrible, but I wouldn't put him in the top half of NFL QBs, whereas Eli is solidly in the top quarter, maybe better.

[Mike M.]

The media-created image of Vick is so out of line with the reality of Vick that a lot of casual football fans are totally shocked when you tell them that the last time he even won a playoff game was eight years ago.

[Tulpa Doom]

The last time his team won a playoff game, you mean.

The Falcons were awful then, and still haven't won a playoff game even after the new "Matty Ice" regime took over in 2008.

[Spoonman.]

Holy shit, that's one hell of a douchefight.

[Bee Tagger]

Ninety four percent of all donations were for less than $250.

The plan for white business owners to tank in order to ruin the economy for Obama has backfired if this is all they have left to donate.

[Clich? Bandit]

The masturbation of the Curiosity rover's success being due to Government makes me want to shoot my internet. I actually read one person who said "to all those who say the government can't do anything right, well this should shut them up." ... I don't have the energy to try to help these people anymore...I am thinking the Alien option is in order.

They're gunna come in her and get us! GAME OVER MAN!

[o3]

folks who try to politicise science smell bad like euro BO during a climate change heat wave!

[Whiterun Guard]

Aliens.

[Auric Demonocles]

Sure, all you have to do is horribly strangle an industry for decades, then lower the bar so much that you can accomplish a tiny goal of something done back in the 70's and it seems awesome.

[Tulpa Doom]

This wasn't done back in the 1970s. Don't even compare landing a stationary lump of metal with a complex, mobile piece of machinery like Curiosity in rough terrain.

[Gray Ghost]

I dunno. Landing is landing, whether the payload moves on its own later or not. Both of them had to land right-side up, etc. Could Viking take higher accelerations on landing, given it wasn't moving afterwards?

Viking 1 and 2 weighed 572 kg, per the wiki; Curiosity's rover comes in at 899 kg. So, a bit more than 50% again as big.

Certainly the data we can gather now, is greater than in the 1970s. It is a bit disappointing that this is only as far as we've achieved though. Still waiting on an Orion-powered probe, though that'll have to wait until/unless we spot a dinosaur killer approaching.

[Pro Libertate]

Didn't the Viking landers also travel to Mars with associated orbiters? I seem to recall something like that. So, payload-wise, is there really a difference? Could be mis-remembering that, I admit.

[Gray Ghost]

Well, they're not having to land the orbiter, and the difficulty of landing the craft is what I thought Tulpa was saying was much more difficult now, than in 1978.

The wiki for Viking 2 doesn't provide much data on the mass of the aeroshell or landing system, unlike the wiki for Curiosity.

I guess it's that much tougher to land Curiosity, considering the near-Rube Goldberg-ness of the landing procedure. I am guessing it's because of the requirement for much greater precision in hitting the landing site that NASA needed this time, compared to Viking. And while the rover itself is 50% bigger than Viking, they still have to brake and control the mass of the EDL system---Jesus!---another 2400 kg on top of the rover.

[Suki]

Curiosity had the added hurdle of landing close enough to the flag for Sheila Jackson-Lee to see.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The rover is scheduled to carry out a two year search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.

Someone missed a HUGE marketing opportunity by not putting an advertisement on Mars for the rover to find touting the Total Recall remake.

[R C Dean]

I would have bet on an ad for the next installment in the Doom franchise.

[Bee Tagger]

Occupy protesters have vandalized Obama's campaign headquarters in Oakland, CA.

Phew, looks like the media stopped caring about them just in time.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Well, you know, a few bad eggs... HEY LOOK, A TEA-PARTIER!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The media know to ignore the leftists from San Fran all year around.

[Eduard van Haalen]

What about Pelosi?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I imagine we're not hearing half the shit she says or does.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Looks like it's Oakland and not NYC that Snake Plissken actually infiltrates.

[Tulpa Doom]

No, it was a false flag attack by Romney supporters who went a few weeks without bathing or shaving.

[Quetzalcoatl]

You say "defected" I say "took a bunch of money and got out of Dodge".

[$park?]

I think he decided he liked being alive and wanted to continue being alive for a while longer.

[Quetzalcoatl]

He got while the getting was good.

[Rich]

"Hey, look over there! It's Haley's Comet!"

[T]

When the rats abandon ship, you know it's almost over.

[RedDragon6009]

When staying means having to choose between being killed by the rebels for being a collaborator or being killed by the government for being a traitor, what's a poor Prime Minister to do?

[John]

You know something is really good when you love even though it appears in a magazine whose politics you loath.

This, in addition to being one of the best and most brutal book reviews I have ever read, is also a great take down of the "Top Men" theory and the bullshit artists who peddle it with the added bonus of destroying the pretentious bullshit known as the TED series. Some of the best quotes

Today TED is an insatiable kingpin of international meme laundering?a place where ideas, regardless of their quality, go to seek celebrity, to live in the form of videos, tweets, and now e-books. In the world of TED?or, to use their argot, in the TED "ecosystem"?books become talks, talks become memes, memes become projects, projects become talks, talks become books?and so it goes ad infinitum in the sizzling Stakhanovite cycle of memetics, until any shade of depth or nuance disappears into the virtual void. Richard Dawkins, the father of memetics, should be very proud. Perhaps he can explain how "ideas worth spreading" become "ideas no footnotes can support."

[John]

AS IS TYPICAL of today's anxiety-peddling futurology, the Khannas' favorite word is "increasingly," which is their way of saying that our unstable world is always changing and that only advanced thinkers such as themselves can guide us through this turbulence. In Hybrid Reality, everything is increasingly something else: gadgets are increasingly miraculous, technology is increasingly making its way into the human body, quiet moments are increasingly rare. This is a world in which pundits are increasingly using the word "increasingly" whenever they feel too lazy to look up the actual statistics, which, in the Khannas' case, increasingly means all the time.

http://www.tnr.com/article/boo.....ted-khanna

[Quetzalcoatl]

Nice, thanks for the link.

I watched a few TED talks in my day. They have some interesting subjects, but the overall smugness got to me in the end.

[MP]

Statistics? BAH!

My father went on a Chik-fil-A rant in which he stated he was sure that 75% of the population agreed with him and his "stop being in my face" views about the Gay Rights movement.

It's a number I was sure he pulled straight out of his ass. Sometimes, it's just better to let the old man vent, then crack open a beer and go fishin'.

[R C Dean]

his "stop being in my face" views about the Gay Rights movement.

Personally, I think its hard to mix "We should be treated just like everybody else" and "Aren't we special."

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Sometimes, it's just better to let the old man vent, then crack open a beer and go fishin'.

It's always better to just let the old man vent.

[VG Zaytsev]

My father went on a Chik-fil-A rant in which he stated he was sure that 75% of the population agreed with him and his "stop being in my face" views about the Gay Rights movement.

It's a number I was sure he pulled straight out of his ass.

No doubt.

I'd say in reality it's more like 90%.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Syrian Prime Minister, Riad Hijab, has defected to Jordan with his family. Three other ministers are rumored to have also defected.

All hands, abandon ship!

[Lord Humungus]

Arthur Laffer: The Real 'Stimulus' Record
In country after country, increased government spending acted more like a depressant than a stimulant.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

[sarcasmic]

You mean that when the government removes money from the economy that could have been invested in something productive, then uses that money to reward sloth, that the economy does not grow?

OMG!

[MP]

removes money from the economy

Umm...what?

[Ptah-Hotep]

Read the rest of the sentence. It will make better sense that way.

[Quetzalcoatl]

(He's talking about taxes)

[sarcasmic]

And bonds. Money "invested" in bonds could have been used for something productive.

[MP]

For some reason I never thought about that. Embarrassing. Even though most of our debt is sold to foreigners, there's still a net drag on the world economy due to this.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Even though most of our debt is sold to foreigners, there's still a net drag on the world economy due to this.

The Fed actually owns most of our debt right now.

http://cnsnews.com/news/articl.....sing-china

[Brett L]

Eh. Bonds at least depend on having a competitive interest rate. Not that we're there now, and not that sovereign debt cant be abrogated with even more impunity than any other type of debt you finance, but bonds are at least (supposed) to pay some return interest rate that gives you a secure known return that you value more than a riskier investment.

The fact that people are still buying essentially zero percent government bonds is an indicator that they suspect inflation indexed T-Bills are the best return they can hope for in a market that still has a shit-ton of unwinding to do.

[VG Zaytsev]

Either that, or that the fed is creating a shitload of money and distorting the bond market.

[VG Zaytsev]

Either that, or that the fed is creating a shitload of money and distorting the bond market.

[wareagle]

it's like few people want to side-by-side what happened in the early 80s vs today:
--somewhat similar situations taken on by incoming presidents. One takes one route, the other takes the opposite tack, and surprise of surprises, they wind up with different results.

I submit to you that the difference is more than paper. Reagan wanted to spur economic growth and Obama wants/needs what he has watched over.

[$park?]

Yeah but we all know it's just because those government just didn't spend enough.

[Restoras]

All this has never been about getting economies jump started - it's always been about politicians in power flailing about for a solution that appears to come from them, so they won't look incompetent, and will also be able to remain in power.

[Quetzalcoatl]

+9
It's not about "fixing the economy" it's about "ME fixing the economy".

[Brett L]

I would say its about not being the one left holding the economy when it finally judders to a 20% contraction.

[VG Zaytsev]

Only deranged t-baggers let evidence discredit academic theories that a majority of experts believe.

[some guy]

While I often agree with Dr. Laffer's conclusions I rarely find that his evidence actually supports those conclusions. And here we are, yet again.

The table he posts has no corresponding plot, even though he claims a correlation between state spending growth and GDP reduction. I took it upon myself to create the plot and I see a very weak correlation.

Then there is the fact that he is only looking at 2007-2009. Where's the data from 2010 and 2011? Why choose to look at GDP growth from the top of a bubble to the bottom of a bust? Much of the spending growth wasn't even implemented until 2009-2010.

Really this chart just tells us that recessions cause government spending increases, which is something we already knew. It's telling us that everyone in power is a Keynesian and the worse your economy the more Keynesian you become.

If you want to see evidence that these policies don't work you need to look at the present, not 2009. What's our unemployment rate again?

[John]

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wi.....aunt-obama

Gas prices to haunt Obama in the fall. But Shreek told us gas was going to go down.

[Lord Humungus]

btw, I've been busy with house selling stuff but haven't seen PB (shrike) around lately.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's been here.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I'm not so sure about this. Demand isn't all that great right now and we look to be headed for a double-dip in Great Depression II. That could result in lower-than-expected prices, although there seems to be a lot of discrepancy in prices between states right now.

[Lord Humungus]

RomneyCare 2.0
With costs rising fast, Massachusetts moves to dictate medical care.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

Sure enough, 79% of the newly insured are on public programs. Health costs?Medicaid, RomneyCare's subsidies, public-employee compensation?will consume some 54% of the state budget in 2012, up from about 24% in 2001. Over the same period state health spending in real terms has jumped by 59%, while education has fallen 15%, police and firemen by 11% and roads and bridges by 23%.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts spends more per capita on health care than any other state and therefore more than anywhere else in the industrialized world. Costs are 27% higher than the U.S. average, 15% higher when adjusted for the state's higher wages and its concentration of academic medical centers and specialists.

[John]

And just think Obama has ensured that Massachusetts will not be alone in this.

[Restoras]

Talk about bending the cost curve!

[$park?]

Well, I'm going to stick it out here for a while longer. Maybe things will turn around sometime in the next few years. It is getting pretty close to flee the state time though.

[Lord Humungus]

so, we get 'free healtcare', but shittier roads? It's like Somalia mixed with Sweden!

[Restoras]

Swemalia? or Someden?

[wareagle]

just imagine the potential beach volleyball team.

[Lord Humungus]

The Oreos? *runs away*

[PapayaSF]

Swedalia.

[wareagle]

and at no point, will govt consider the cause and effect scenario -- that its presence in the health care delivery market artificially distorts the market. No, the answer will be more govt, another plan, and the ensuing result is as a predictable as the sunrise.

[Fluffy]

No registered provider is allowed to make "any material change to its operations or governance structure," the bill says, without the commission's approval. The commission can also rewrite the terms of provider contracts with insurers and payment levels and methods if they are "deemed to be excessive."

As the commission polices the market, it can decide to supervise the behavior of any provider that exceeds some to-be-specified individual benchmark?that is, doctors and hospitals that are spending too much on patient care. These delinquents must submit a "performance improvement plan" that the commission must endorse.

In other words, the commission is empowered to control the practice and organization of medicine. The Massachusetts left complains that this government control is too weak because the delinquents can only be fined $500,000 for disobeying the commission's dictates. But more teeth can always come in round three when this plan fails, as it will.

There was never any other way for this to go.

The only way to lie to the people and tell them, "You can get any healthcare you want regardless of your ability to pay!" was to brutalize the providers to stop them from offering health care for sale.

It's sleight of hand to reduce demand while not admitting you're reducing demand. It also is a pathetic attempt to avoid the accusation that rationing is occurring.

[tarran]

The way Romney has managed to thus far evade being held responsible for this monstrosity amazes me.

This clusterfuck was predicted by CATO back when it was being bruited about. And now, Romney, whose team basically came up with it, are trying to pretend that anything that goes wrong with it are problems with implementation, or the legislature's meddling, or that it's all the fault of Obama's economy.

[Tulpa Doom]

Considering Romney isn't governor anymore, and never proposed something like what you're talking about, calling it Romneycare 2.0 is beyond disingenuous. It's DevinCare at this point.

[Tulpa Doom]

DevalCare, oops.

[Res Publica Americana]

Guys, what would happen if someone linked the following song on Jezebel or Feministing and cited it as an example of great music and even, maybe, values?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSnkWzZ7ZAA

100 bucks says uber-feminist supernova likely to occur.

[Restoras]

Or maybe just cited it as an example of the roles that males and females play to ensure the continuation of the species? There's your super-nova, right there.

[Quetzalcoatl]

For the at-work, which song is it?

[Res Publica Americana]

It's a song by a black guy inviting women to suck his dick.

[Eduard van Haalen]

How does that perpetuate the species?

[$park?]

Any person who links to this as an example of great anything anywhere, even ironically, should have their head examined.

[Brett L]

Flo Rida? Pronounced Flow Rider? I refuse to listen on principle.

[Pro Libertate]

Florida should sue for tarnishment. And that's saying something.

[Res Publica Americana]

Now, now. Let's not HURR HURRR this early in the day.

[Lord Humungus]

is a quiet Derp! allowed?

[Res Publica Americana]

Only if you have the necessary permits.

[Clich? Bandit]

can I DURR this early?

[Warty]

So this music is what normals like, huh? You poor slobs.

The chick's definitely hot, though. Naked pics plz.

[Res Publica Americana]

I've actually seen her before. I think she's a career model. I'll look for pictures.

[Rich]

a heavily-tattooed, 40-year-old ex-Army soldier

Screw that description. Was he breastfed as an infant?

[$park?]

Never mind breastfed, was he at all interested in neuroscience?

[Rich]

We should ban that shit, too.

/Bloomberg

[VG Zaytsev]

No but he is known to have an addiction to large sugary HFCy beverages

[Lord Humungus]

John McCain, Joseph I. Lieberman and Lindsey O. Graham: The risks of inaction in Syria
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z2

Our lack of active involvement on the ground in Syria also means that, when the Assad regime finally does fall, the Syrian people are likely to feel little goodwill toward the United States ? in contrast to Libya, where profound gratitude for America's help in the war against Moammar Gaddafi has laid the foundation for a bright new chapter in relations between our two countries.

Much more than in Libya, moreover, the United States has significant national security interests at stake in Syria. These include preventing the use or transfer of the regime's massive chemical- and biological-weapons stockpiles ? a real and growing danger ? and ensuring that al-Qaeda and its violent brethren are unable to secure a new foothold in the heart of the Middle East. Our decisions and actions have been woefully insufficient to safeguard these interests and others.

[Bardas Phocas]

So we should just bomb a city or two to earn the "goodwill" of the Syrian people.

What's a 'bright new chapter'? Is that only on kindles?

[$park?]

What could go wrong?

[MP]

Occupation has a long history of fostering goodwill.

[Anonymous Coward]

McCain will never pass up an opportunity to bomb someone and Graham is a sissy trying to play tough guy using the military.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The gunman responsible for this weekend's shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin has been identified as ex-soldier Wade Michael Page.

ABC News' Brian Ross is reporting that there's a "Home Page" listed on the Wisconsin Tea Party website. He's not sure if Home is a nickname of some sort...

[WTF]

Nice

[Pro Libertate]

Why would anyone shoot up Sikhs? I mean, what have they done to us? Or to this guy, more specifically?

[Warty]

My thoughts were that it was one of the following:

1) he wanted to shoot up some Muslims, and Sikhs are Muslim, right?
2) it was something personal

2) seems more likely to me.

[WTF]

Yeah, if someone hated Muslims so much they actually wanted to shoot a bunch of them, I suspect he'd probably make sure the people he was targeting were actually Muslim. Then again, never underestimate the idiocy of demented loons.

[Drake]

But a Muslim soldier with Jihadist propaganda shooting a bunch of soldiers definitely isn't terrorism.

[WTF]

But a Muslim soldier with Jihadist propaganda shooting a bunch of soldiers definitely isn't terrorism.

No, that was workplace violence, duh!

[affenkopf]

Well, you could argue that he attacked a military target so it's not terrorism.

[Lord Humungus]

In my book, the Sikhs are actually a respectable bunch.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I think he was some kind of ignoramous who thought turban = Mooslim.

[Pro Libertate]

That seems unlikely. I bet it's something more personal.

I had a Sikh friend in college (was a neighbor with a Zoroastrian roommate). Nice guy.

[Isaac Bartram]

That's what came to mind with me. Remember the guy in Arizona (if memory serves) who shot the Sikh services station owner to avenge 9/11.

While Sikh separatists have been implicated in terrorist acts against Indian government targets (Air India bombing, 1985, I think it unlikely a Sikh temple in the US could find itself a tatget, especially by someoen with no discernable Sikh or othe Indian ties.

Domestic Terrorism" strikes me as a stretch. But then Domestic Imbecilism probably isn't an FBI crime designation.

[Gray Ghost]

While Sikh separatists have been implicated in terrorist acts against Indian government targets (Air India bombing, 1985) I think it unlikely a Sikh temple in the US could find itself a target, especially by someoen with no discernable Sikh or othe Indian ties.

Agreed. The U.S. hasn't stormed one of their holiest sites, which is one of the reasons that the Sikhs got pissy against India. And against Indira Ganhdi especially.

Here? I've lived next to several, and have had no complaints. People are people. They do go in for mega churches, which I've read irritates their neighbors (Coase!) but so does everybody else in Texas, it seems.

It'll be mildly interesting to figure out why this nut picked these people in particular.

[Isaac Bartram]

Until I hear a credible claim otherwise, I'm going with, "dumbass does not know the difference between Muslims and Sikhs."

No, I don't know that for a fact but I belive it to be the most reasonable assumption based on the fact that Skhs as well as other non-Muslim Indians have been the targets of loonies bent on vengeance against Muslims before.

[Proprietist]

Seriously, Sikhism is probably one of the most peaceful and least crazy religions in the world.

[Lord Humungus]

Reince Priebus: Sen. Harry Reid Is a 'Dirty Liar'
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/po.....irty-liar/

Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus called Sen. Harry Reid a "dirty liar" this morning on "This Week" for accusing presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney of not paying taxes for ten years.

"As far as Harry Reid is concerned, listen, I know you might want to go down that road. I'm not going to respond to a dirty liar who hasn't filed a single page of tax returns himself. (He) complains about people with money but lives in the Ritz Carlton here down the street," Priebus said. "So if that's on the agenda, I'm not going to go there. This is just a made-up issue. And the fact that we're going to spend any time talking about it is ridiculous."

[wareagle]

not a huge Preibus fan but good for him. More Repubs need to launch on Harry and stop with teh mealy-mouthed politi-speak responses.

[o3]

it wasnt "made-up" when mccain selected palin after seeing years of romney's returns.

[wareagle]

and your source for that being McCain's rationale is? Like Reid, you don't have one. McCain's choice was to rally a base not enthused about him; Palin fit that bill better than Romney. He went with a gimmick to counter the on-going gimmick that is Obama.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just saw an Obama ad lamenting Mitt's 14% federal tax rate and how he made $20 million (a cool $2.4 million). The feds put Wesley Snipes in prison for being into them for $1.4 million. If Mitt really owed the IRS even one year of backtaxes (because Pimp Daddy Uncle Sam has to have his cut), he wouldn't be breathing the free air right now.

[tarran]

I'm pretty certain there is something "embarrassing" but not illegal in Romney's returns. I'm sure that supporters within the IRS have provided Reid with Romney's returns already, and that's why he's hammering on the issue.

[wareagle]

on a tangential note, isn't it illegal to "provide" someone with someone else's tax returns?

[tarran]

Yes. Your point?

[wareagle]

not sure I would be lecturing anyone about alleged bad behavior by doing something illegal myself. Then again, it's Harry.

The Repub response ought to be how interesting it is that neither Obama or his dogwashing committee wants to run on POTUS' record. Re-elects are referendums on the incumbent; always have been.

[Anonymous Coward]

"As I make the rules, I can also break them. With impunity, Mr. Marx, which I'm afraid you cannot do."

[Quetzalcoatl]

Exactly.
Even if Mitt didn't pay any tax for a decade (unlikely) it was probably through completely legal loopholes. It wouldn't be illegal, it would just make people bitter.

[Pip]

"I'm pretty certain there is something "embarrassing" but not illegal in Romney's returns."

I'm not so certain. It's possible there is nothing there and the reason Romney is holding back is because when he does release them (and the longer he waits, the better) and there is nothing there, Reid will be fucked.

[VG Zaytsev]

I'm pretty certain there is something "embarrassing" but not illegal in Romney's returns.

It seams likely to me that he didn't pay much, if anything, in taxes for several years because he had not taxable salary while heading the Olympics and as governor of MA.

[Tulpa Doom]

If there were something obvious and embarrassing on Romney's tax returns, they would already have been leaked.

[NebulousFocus]

Bitching about Romney's taxes is the same as bitching about the Olympic badminton teams throwing games. Just because you are unhappy with how the rules are being gamed, doesn't mean you can retroactively punish people (who are clearly smarter than you).

[wareagle]

but with the media invested in your re-election, it's a good way of distracting attention from your record. The Obama camp never runs on its "accomplishments" as reasons why he should get four more years.

[Quetzalcoatl]

For someone who didn't want to go there, he sure went there.

[bostonaod]

"I don't think the burden should be on me," said Reid, whose history of intemperate, borderline adolescent remarks was detailed in The Times by Michael D. Shear and Richard A. Oppel Jr. "The burden should be on him. He's the one I've alleged has not paid any taxes."

-link

The Onion couldn't improve on this

[Quetzalcoatl]

Is 'Gaming Addiction' A Real Disorder

Overall a pretty good interview on the subject. Though I think there's a distinct difference between people who really ruin their lives through compulsive gaming (few though they may be) and "Oh golly, my 13 year old son would rather play vidya games than do homework! He must have teh addixions!", and equating the two doesn't help their case.

[$park?]

It sounds like the real answer is for game companies to go back to making shitty games.

[Lord Humungus]

Growing Up With Two Moms: The Untold Children's View
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/08/6065

I had no male figure at all to follow, and my mother and her partner were both unlike traditional fathers or traditional mothers. As a result, I had very few recognizable social cues to offer potential male or female friends, since I was neither confident nor sensitive to others. Thus I befriended people rarely and alienated others easily. Gay people who grew up in straight parents' households may have struggled with their sexual orientation; but when it came to the vast social universe of adaptations not dealing with sexuality?how to act, how to speak, how to behave?they had the advantage of learning at home. Many gays don't realize what a blessing it was to be reared in a traditional home.

[John]

Fuck her. If she had a fucked up childhood, well that is just the price to pay so her parents could indulge whatever desire they felt.

[Randian]

Him. And are you advocating the outlawing of gay relationships?

[Brett L]

Eh. People have fucked up childhoods all the time in every type of family. While it may be your parents' fault, its your problem. Whining about it in public is low class to me.

[Randian]

Are there valuable lessons to be taken from those who were raised by gay couples? Of course.

What I don't get is the impulse, though, to latch onto it and say "Ah ha! I knew dem queers weren't any good at raising kids!" I mean, better two parents than one parent and/or being a ward of the state. Not every childhood can be the Banks children post Mary Poppins.

[Lord Humungus]

In HS, I had a friend - along with his brother - who was raised by three (!) women. It was always interesting to hang out at his house. But he turned out (fairly) normal, had lots of friends, a smokin' hot GF, and eventually joined the army and learned demolitions.

[Brett L]

Not that the article wasn't interesting, but again, here is someone who spent 30 years figuring out how to tell the world that he really didn't like having romantic relationships with men. Because other people told him he was supposed to be gay. Unless his mother systematically removed his spine, that's his problem, not hers.

[Pip]

"Are there valuable lessons to be taken from those who were raised by gay couples? Of course."

Not anecdotally.

[John]

You people think I was being sarcastic. I wasn't. If marriage is a civil right, then the affect of a particular type of marriage on children is irrelevant.

If it turned out that interracial marriage was more likely to produce fucked up kids, would you want that banned?

In the end, the kids don't get a vote. So it really doesn't matter how good or bad it is for them.

[Brett L]

This guy sounds to me exactly like a person raised in a Pentecostal church who feels that NOTHING IN THE WHOLE WORLDS!!1! could be more damaging to a child's psyche and is therefore militantly atheist. I know several people who fit that mold, but they are a small subset of people I know raised in Pentecostal churches. Did it damage their psyche? Yes. Does that implicate the whole enterprise? No. Lots of people raised in Pentecostal churches grow up to be productive members of society with no more or less neuroses than people not raised in the Pentecostal church.

Similarly, anecdotally presenting his case and saying he knows 248 others who are also fucked up tells us nothing about how many are out there, their relative stability, or anything else that has much impact on the world.

One of the hardest and most liberating days of my life was realizing my parents weren't perfect, had behaviors I shouldn't emulate, and probably done some things that made me less well adapted than I could be. But you can either blame them and bitch or take responsibility and change. One of these solutions leads to different behaviors and therefore different outcomes.

[John]

And this guy may very well be a whining douche bag who can't get over his childhood. He wouldn't be the first. The point is that if you are going to claim gay marriage is a right, it doesn't matter how valid his claims are.

[Brett L]

I don't know that any marriage is a "right", but adults should have the freedom to configure their lives in any way they see fit that doesn't knowingly result in abuse of the children of whom they are guardians. In that we agree. One might hope that parents would strongly consider their children in making such decisions, but that's a totally different social issue that has no place in a rights/freedom discussion.

[wareagle]

you can almost hear the effort to discredit the writer heating up, much like the one aimed at the sociology professor who found that kids in traditional homes tend to fare better. You can't have versions of reality that deviate from the narrative.

[MP]

Because certainly she had no Uncles or Male Teachers or Friends with Fathers or ...

[Randian]

I sense that we are going to have a 50+ comment debate and everyone will keep calling Robert Oscar Lopez a "she"

[Brett L]

That may be the most polite way of saying 'RTFA' I've seen in a while. You're doing God's work, Randian.

[MP]

Oops. So much for relying on John and not RTFA.

Still, (and yes I still haven't RTFA), the same point applies, whether the child is male or female. The lack of a male/female role model in a household doesn't seem like much of an issue, particular since any single role model is unlikely to be the definitive source of guidance.

[Fluffy]

Wow, now that I RTFA I have even more contempt for this idiot than I had when I only read the blurb.

First of all, he wasn't "raised by gay parents". The mother's lesbian lover didn't even LIVE with them while he was a child. He was raised by a single mother.

That makes his assertion that his relationship isolation problems are the result of no father figure spurious, for exactly the reason I put in my 9:59 post - because every fucking 5 baby mama gang member playa out there had no dad, either. If you couldn't make friends and couldn't get laid, the odds are you're just a loser, and that being raised by a single mom had nothing to do with it.

To most outside observers, I was a well-raised, high-achieving child, finishing high school with straight A's.

Inside, however, I was confused. When your home life is so drastically different from everyone around you, in a fundamental way striking at basic physical relations, you grow up weird. I have no mental health disorders or biological conditions. I just grew up in a house so unusual that I was destined to exist as a social outcast.

In other words, they raised you just fine (the straight A's) but you were some kind of Aspergery dork who apparently couldn't figure out that you can pick up plenty of social cues by watching your fucking TV. That's all you, man.

[JW]

The lack of a male/female role model in a household doesn't seem like much of an issue, particular since any single role model is unlikely to be the definitive source of guidance.

Wow, you sound like you know absolutely nothing about that subject.

I can tell you from personal experience that opposite sex, single parent/child arrangements is a much less than ideal configuration. And a raft of boyfriends who come and go over 15 years is not really any kind of role model.

This isn't to say that *any* fixed same sex parent is also the ideal either, my old man would have sucked ha dh ebothered to stick around, but it beats the shit out of nothing or proxies chosen out of desperation.

[Fluffy]

This sounds like the problem was more that her parents were hippie freaks than that her parents were women.

If having no father figure meant you couldn't make friends and would be Forever Alone, all those black guys with no father wouldn't have baby mamas and gang homies.

[Isaac Bartram]

Well, there have been all kinds of articles, from both the left and the right*, and probably more than a few "studies"**, that the disfunction of young black males is due to a diproportionate number of them being raised in single mother homes*** with no positive male role models to emulate.

Anyone with a grievance can find any number of reasons for their failings in their upbringing.

*The left thinks it's because we don't spend enough money and the right thinks it's because we spend to much.

**Quotes refer to the fact that while some of these may have been conducted with some degree of rigor many seem to have a political agenda.

***The fact that many of these mothers are still children themselves has been noted as well.

[Isaac Bartram]

And by the "the disfunction of young black males" I mean, in part, the perceived propensity towards "baby mamas and gang homies".

[Res Publica Americana]

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Airs Television Ad Featuring Tucson Shooting Survivors To Demand A Plan To End Gun Violence From President Obama And Governor Romney

http://www.marketwatch.com/sto.....2012-08-05

NEW YORK, Aug. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- 30 Second Ad Aired During Sunday Political Shows and Olympics Coverage

48,000 Americans Will Be Murdered With Guns in Next President's Term - Unless Candidates Act to Prevent Gun Violence - http://www.DemandAPlan.org

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the bipartisan coalition of more than 700 mayors working to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, today released a television advertisement as part of the campaign to "Demand A Plan" from President Obama and Governor Romney on how they will reduce the gun violence that will claim 48,000 Americans lives during the next presidential term.

[$park?]

Proving once again that people are fucking stupid?

[wareagle]

48,000 Americans Will Be Murdered With Guns in Next President's Term - Unless Candidates Act to Prevent Gun Violence - http://www.DemandAPlan.org

so existing laws against murder and mayhem are not enough? We just need one more law and that fixes everything?

[$park?]

More than just one more. There needs to be one to make it extra illegal, then one to make it super illegal, then one to make it extra super illegal.

[Anonymous Coward]

We need a law that disarms the law-abiding public. That should fix everything.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's worked in Mexico.

[perlhaqr]

I don't mind 'em getting rid of the illegal guns, but they never seem to be able to do it without fucking with mine, too, and that's just not acceptable.

[sarcasmic]

Voyager I is leaving the solar system.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....urney.html

[T]

So, how many years until Reverend Camden and the dead Indian chick get apotheosized?

[Restoras]

Soon to return as V-ger?

[Pro Libertate]

Depends on your definition of the solar system. Some would argue that it's nowhere near the edge (the Oort Cloud extends nearly a light year from the sun); others say it's the heliopause. The latter is what everyone is talking about.

[Lord Humungus]

and next comes the grey uniforms:

German Officials Push For More ECB Control
http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=1579459

German politicians and former European Central Bank officials sharply criticized the ECB over the weekend and pushed for Germany, as the largest contributor to the euro zone rescue effort, to have more control in the central bank's matters, after President Mario Draghi signaled that the central bank could soon start purchasing government bonds.

"The new situation that Germany provides a growing share of the euro rescue, but has only one vote just like any other country no longer fits," Herbert Reul, a German politician and chairman of the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union group within the European Parliament, told German magazine Focus on Sunday.

[Brett L]

So we're skipping the "Brown" stage because they already have the German government, right?

[Restoras]

Well, at least Prussian feld-grey is a snappy uniform color. Let's hope they at least stay away from the black uniforms.

[Clich? Bandit]

I must say, for being horrendous evil bastards they have probably the best sense of fashion for a military regime since Naboonaga.

[Entropy Void]

You know who else used Hugo Boss to design their uniforms?

[Res Publica Americana]

NY: Times Photographer Is Arrested on Assignment

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08......html?_r=1

A freelance photographer for The New York Times was arrested on Saturday night while on assignment with two reporters who were conducting street interviews in the Bronx.
The photographer, Robert Stolarik, 43, who has worked regularly for The Times for more than a decade, was charged with obstructing government administration and with resisting arrest. He was taking photographs of a brewing street fight at McClellan Street and Sheridan Avenue in the Concourse neighborhood.
Mr. Stolarik was taking photographs of the arrest of a teenage girl about 10:30 p.m., when a police officer instructed him to stop doing so. Mr. Stolarik said he identified himself as a journalist for The Times and continued taking pictures.

[sarcasmic]

...and nothing else happened.

[Res Publica Americana]

He was threatening public safety with his dangerous flash.

[Res Publica Americana]

Arming the asylum

http://www.aljazeera.com/indep.....30331.html

With these casualty figures, one would think that gun-control laws would be a much higher national priority in the US than the far more loudly hyped fight against terrorism. After all, ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, left roughly 3,000 people dead, gun violence has killed almost 140,000 and injured more than two million.

But, when one looks more closely at why the US is so addicted to this unique kind of violence, the obvious is not so obvious. Why are gun-control laws so hard to pass?

-----------------

I'm finding it difficult to recall anything quite as fucktarded as this bullshit.

[Brett L]

Just what in the fuck does 9/11 have to do with guns (except that citizens didn't have them to fend off the hijackers)

[Brett L]

Things not to fuck up: Your wife's mercy killing

"It seems to be slanting that way. He wanted to take away her suffering," Zampelli told the newspaper.
Wise and her husband, John, have been married 45 years.
She remained in critical condition Sunday night at Akron General Medical Center.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....grove.html

65 Year Old CA Woman Shoots and Fights Off FIVE Armed Robbers

Police are still looking for five would-be robbers who were chased away from a Garden Grove jewelry store by a 65-year-old woman who fired at the suspects.

The attempted heist occurred Sunday at Continental Jewelry in the 12000 block of Brookhurst Street. Surveillance footage from the store shows a white SUV backing up to the front of the building and five men getting out, pillowcases in hand.

The men rush to the front of the counter and point handguns at the clerks and a customer. Seconds later the shots are fired and the men race back to the door, fighting to get out as the woman runs after them.

The SUV left before three of the suspects made it back inside the vehicle. Police said they were picked up about a block away.

[Res Publica Americana]

CA Businessman Kills Five Gang Members In Multiple Attacks

http://gunssavelives.net/self-.....e-attacks/

Los Angeles, CA watchmaker Lance Thomas shoots and kills 5 gang members who tried to rob his shop and kill him on multiple occasions.

[John]

That is awesome.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's about time they remade Death Wish.

[Res Publica Americana]

GUNS KIL PEOPL. MUST BAN GUN.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.valleycentral.com/n.....xgfocZrNBk

11 Year Old Texas Boy Shoots Home Invaders, Defends Mother (2010)

Three men are being held for a Palmview home invasion where an 11-year-old boy was shot defending his mother.

Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office deputies told Action 4 News that it happened off Minnesota Road and 8 Mile Line between Palmview and Mission around 12:30 a.m. Friday.

The homeowner said she and her 11-year-old son were in bed when she heard banging coming from the front door.

She got up to check and she saw two Hispanic males men wearing masks and armed with handguns walking towards her.

She quickly closed the bedroom door but one of the men allegedly tried to force it open.

The masked man kept telling her to open the door and she would not open the door.

The woman told deputies that the home invaders shot through the door and hit her son on the left hip area.

Her son had a 22 cal. Rifle and shot back at the alleged robbers.

The woman waited, opened the door, saw that the suspects were gone and called 911.

[Res Publica Americana]

Obviously, this Yank libertard insurrectionist anarchist redneck kid should have grown up in England or something, where he would have taken it up the ass and watched the crime being committed helplessly, which would have been far better.

[The Late P Brooks]

"The new situation that Germany provides a growing share of the euro rescue, but has only one vote just like any other country no longer fits,"

Nonsense, they have two votes.

Links, rechts, links, rechts, ein zwei, drei..."

[Quetzalcoatl]

Cool Runnings: Great Sports Movie, or THE GREATEST Sports Movie?

[Randian]

Greatest for sure. Followed closely by "Angels in the Outfield"

[Restoras]

Waiting...

[R C Dean]

Don't kid yourself: Germany has a veto.

They can withdraw from the Euro. Over the last year, they've put all the plumbing and wiring in place to do just that.

[T]

I was going to say 'stop writing checks' but withdraw from the Euro works, too.

[Lord Humungus]

Warning: Most Chinese Companies Reporting Losses, Profit Declines
http://www.forbes.com/sites/go.....-declines/

The fall in Huaneng's output is an indication the Chinese economy is tumbling. Eventually, however, Beijing's newest round of stimulus measures will translate into better corporate results. UBS believes net income will rebound in Q4. That's good news for China investors, but by then it will be too late to make up for the first three quarters.

And one more point. What Chinese companies tell the public is one thing; what they say in private is another. As Patrick Chovanec of Tsinghua University in Beijing notes, "Of the companies that I talk to throughout China, there isn't a single one that is looking at an increase in revenues or an increase in profits this year."

[Tulpa Doom]

Stimulus will fix everything!

[Res Publica Americana]

Columbus Mayor's Office Conspired With Liberal Groups to Politicize School Shooting

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/8480

"Emails obtained by Media Trackers reveal that Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman's office was conspiring to use the deaths of three high school students to limit Second Amendment rights within hours of the February 2012 shootings at Chardon High School. Coleman serves as the Ohio chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), a gun-control lobbying group co-founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg." ...

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.c.....-guns-too/

Bing Bans Bullets (And Guns Too)

"You may recall the kerfuffle when TTAG reported that Google's shopping section removed firearms and firearms-related products. [NB: After consulting with our far-flung Armed Intelligentsia, I reckon Google's ban is regional. Red state, blue state?] Just a quick heads-up: same deal at Bing, only worse. Microsoft's minions don't allow any firearms or firearms-related advertising of any sort anywhere on their system. Here's the skinny from disallowed content guidelines."

"Weapons, knives, firearms, and ammunition"

"Advertising is not allowed that promotes firearms or weapons of any kind. Such content includes . . ." ...

---------------

Fuck you, Microsoft.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_b.....is_an.html

Aurora shooting: Violence is an American archetype

"If ... the Aurora, Colo., shooter, had been a foreigner or, worse still, a Muslim, our nation would react with fury and vengeance. America would do what it does frequently and with great alacrity: we would once again declare war on our enemy. Yet, when the enemy is one of us, we respond with statements of incredulity, shock, and of course compassion for the victims' families and friends. We appear to accept these recurring acts of wanton violence as a necessary evil of living in our open society. More to the point, the majority of our nation defends gun ownership with a religious and zealous fervor. Let's examine what's going on here." ...

---------------

Being a delusional retard must suck.

[Isaac Bartram]

Especially, that when overall violent crime statistics from other countries are considered the statement that "Violence is an American archetype" is revealed to be utter bullshit.

[Lord Humungus]

Survey Says Women Tend To Hide Spending Habits From Men
http://www.yourtango.com/20121.....habits-men

I'm always amazed when my wife asks for some cash to pay for a $2-3 item. I give her a twenty spot and rarely get the change.

[Restoras]

I've heard stories (suburban legends?) of women in my area buying expensive handbags and then selling them on ebay to support drug habits. Possible, I suppose, depending on the level of control freak the husband is?

[Quetzalcoatl]

It's probably a legend. It's impossible to make a profit by buying something retail then selling it on eBay.

[T]

Profit's not the motive. Think money laundering. She can't pull enough cash for a drug habit out of the accounts without raising suspicion, but the credit card bill from Macy's is a wash. So she takes a loss on the ebay sale, gets cash, and buys some coke.

Junkies and drunks will go to extraordinary lengths to maintain and conceal their addictions.

[R C Dean]

It's quite possible, if you buy it with someone else's money and keep the proceeds.

[T]

This is why the wife and I have seperate bank accounts. She has a job, I have a job. I don't have to see what she spends and she doesn't have to see what I spend. It works nicely.

[Brett L]

Definitely the best relationship advice I ever got. "Have 3 bank accounts. Don't steal from the shared one, don't ask about hers."

[R C Dean]

Same here. I've managed to avoid money as a stressor on my marriage(s). Even when the first one went bust, money wasn't really a factor.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Doesn't really avoid the foundational issue, which is how much money goes into each one.

[Matrix]

Well, could depend on the agreement. To be fair, half of monthly expenses should be paid by each spouse into the joint account. The rest of their paychecks would fall into their separate accounts.

But then again, some may not like that. Especially if one spouses' income is so much more than the others. Then you take a percentage of total take home pay for each spouse, and use that percent to calculate how much each spouse puts into the joint account.

Or just say the man pays all the bills and whatever pittance is left, the wife takes for herself. And all the money she earns also goes to herself. Sounds fair, right?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Oh, there are any number of ways to make the agreement, but that's the core issue, not necessarily separate bank accounts. Deciding what money is spoken for and what can be spent by the spouses is what needs to be done. Where the money gets deposited after those decisions have been made is a trivial issue.

And yeah, the worldview of "What he makes is ours and what I make is mine" doesn't seem to be going away any time soon.

[Anacreon]

"Or just say the man pays all the bills and whatever pittance is left, the wife takes for herself. And all the money she earns also goes to herself. Sounds fair, right?"

Wow, it's like you have a video camera in my home!

[JW]

We have one shared account. I manage it and pay all the bills. ON TIME.

Problem solved.

[R C Dean]

Doesn't really avoid the foundational issue, which is how much money goes into each one.

True enough. Of course, the amount that goes into the individual accounts is usually what each one earns, unless one is getting an allowance.

As long as you're budgeting for your household expenses, then you know how much should go into the joint account.

If nothing else, now you've got a basis for having a rational conversation about how much each should transfer to the joint account, as some privacy about what you're spending your "personal" money on. It can do away with the resentment of seeing your spouse with some pricey item that she bought with "your" money.

Of course, it also requires that nobody is running up the credit cards.

[Rasilio]

You need a study for this?

My first wife was horrible with this and what was worse is that she never had anything of value to show for her spending.

Between us we made over $100K per year, we had no car payments (owned 2 cars outright), no debt payments (everything was cash and carry) and our rent was only $900 a month. The only abnormal expense we had was paying $4000 a year to send our son to a private school, yet we couldn't reliably pay our bills on time and had at least one utility disconnected at least every other month.

Her problem was that she used money to get people to like her (Hey everybody lets go out for Sushi, can't afford it, no problem I'll pay) and to make her feel better if she had a bad day at work ($60 trips to Borders or Tower records happened miltiple times a week) but then she hid her spending from me so when I went to pay the bills money I thought we had in our account wasn't actually there and then we'd bounce a couple of checks (we probably paid an average of $1500 a year in bounce fees).

Of course everytime I tried to argue with her about it I became the great satan for being mean to her, or rubbed the fact that she made about $10k a year more than me in my face.

[Res Publica Americana]

NY: NYPD less 'frisk'y -- Stops drop after outcry new policies

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/l.....tent=Local

"The number of stop-and-frisks conducted by cops plummeted by an astonishing 34 percent between the first and second quarters of the year, The Post has learned."

"A city official with access to the data said 133,934 people were stopped by police between April 1 and June 30, compared to 203,500 from January 1 to March 31."

"If the lower pace continues for the rest of the year, the total number of stops will be lower than in 2011. That has happened only once before during Mayor Bloomberg's entire tenure." ...

[Res Publica Americana]

http://gunssavelives.net/self-.....homeowner/

"When a FL man tried to break into a home, he was greeted by birdshot flying his way. After being shot at, the intruder fled to a neighbor's home, breaking in to escape the fire of homeowner #1. Unfortunately for him, this was the wrong house. The 68 year old couple physically attacked the intruder until the male homeowner (#2) also armed himself and held the intruder at gun point until police arrived." ...

----------------

That was a really shitty day to be a burglar.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.newson6.com/story/1.....d-get-shot

OK: 911 Puts Woman On Hold While She Watches Her Husband Being Shot (video available)

... "The owner of the Convenient Food Mart in the 1000 block of North Utica was filling in for an employee that night. As his wife watched the surveillance feed, she saw a robber burst into the store and fire off a warning shot."

"She immediately called 911. Because she was in Broken Arrow, her 911 call went there. When they realized the crime was happening in Tulsa, they transferred her."

"A dispatcher at Tulsa's 911 answered and asked her if she needed police, fire or EMSA."

"She said she asked for police and sat on hold until she finally gave up and hung up." ...

-------------------

To protect and serve.

[Randian]

The reporting in that story made me fucking sick. They spent about half the article trying to rehabilitate and make excuses for the 911 system. Has 911 been a success? Yes, definitely. That doesn't mean you have to fellate them every time they make a mistake. How is any institution going to get better when the media won't hold its feet to the fire?

[Warty]

"Have faith in the 911 system. If your call holds, stay on the line, we're gonna get to them," White said.

That's cute to put that at the end of a story about a counterexample.

[wareagle]

it's like no one ever heard of a triage system. If a crime is in progress, that call takes priority over someone who broke a leg.

[Solanum]

I hope they at least play some pleasant music while you're on hold and being brutalized.

[Brett L]

What? No theme music?

[R C Dean]

Well, even if they responded immediately, no way was her husband not going to get shot.

[The Late P Brooks]

"Advertising is not allowed that promotes firearms or weapons of any kind. Such content includes . . ." ..."

So no more anvils or pianos? Wylie Coyote will be disappoint.

[Butts Wagner]

doping?

[Butts Wagner]

doping?

I can't tell whether to laugh

[Brett L]

That's what you get for training on the Joe Rogan plan.

[WTF]

I fail to understand the logic of disqualifying for marijuana - it's not like it's a performance-enhancer.

[Pip]

Drugs are bad, m'kay?

[Clich? Bandit]

A. Sandusky, an unfortunate name nowadays.
B. Delpopolo from Yugoslavia...guessing he was adopted by Greeks?

[Jerry on the road]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lKwkn6JT74

Stephanie Pratt's Ferrari driving boyfriend meets NYPD.

[tarran]

I like how the cop moved in to put himself in front of the bumper so if the guy tried to move the car, he'd hit the cop.

Two douches - it's a pity they couldn't both lose.

[PapayaSF]

That's just a not-so-subtle way of saying "don't drive away." I see nothing wrong with that.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.c.....t-her-gun/

Gold Medal Winner Hounded About Her Gun

"When you become the first US athlete in an individual sport to medal in five consecutive Olympics, that's kindof a big deal. As washingtonpost.com puts it, you're 'Olympic royalty. Or should be.' If she was involved in any other sport, she'd be one of the toasts of London right now. 'But Rhode, 33, is confronted with questions that few other athletes face because she is a shooter ? a term embraced by Rhode and other athletes who shoot rifles and pistols for sport.' Hard to believe someone would actually call themself?a shooter, no? . . ." ...

[wareagle]

Hard to believe someone would actually call themself?a shooter, no?

wow; weapons-grade obtuse. What else would someone who shoots call him/herself? Wrestlers wrestle, swimmers swim, runners run. No, the only thing hard to believe is that shooters would call themselves something other than shooters.

[Res Publica Americana]

But it involves guns. Guns are Satan. Keep up with the enlightened crowd, dude!

[R C Dean]

"How can you live with yourself and call yourself a "shooter"?"

"I prefer the term five-time Olympic medalist, myself. How do you refer to your accomplishments?"

[T]

So, I guess Waylon Jennings' kid should just kill himself now?

[Res Publica Americana]

VT: 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.....-cars.html

"A farmer angry over a recent arrest surprised police in Vermont on Thursday by driving his tractor over seven parked police cars before driving away."

"Roger Pion, 34, had been arrested last month for resisting arrest and marijuana possession before rolling his farm tractor across their vehicles, demolishing five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van, police said."

"'We had nothing to pursue him with,' said Newport Chief Deputy Philip Brooks, who went outside to see seven of his fleet's 11 vehicles destroyed."

"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." ...

[sticks]

Take a quiz about it.

Obviously D is the correct answer.

[Quetzalcoatl]

That link was posted about three times last week.
That's what you get for taking a vacation.

[Auric Demonocles]

Posted at least 3 times in Links threads, then got its own (hat tip-less) article.

[Res Publica Americana]

Oops. My bad.

[Matrix]

Your eyes give away your sexuality So I guess this new "gaydar" I bought is now obsolete... darn!

[Brett L]

The finding that heterosexual women are aroused by both genders is in line with other studies.

So not just a liberal arts college thing, then?

[Warty]

Shit, anyone who's ever had a girlfriend who was into lesbian porn could tell you that.

[Apple]

I was surprised that the pupil tells us something more in line with what the people tell us, which is not what the penises tell us

The penis wants what the penis wants.

[R C Dean]

Occupy protesters have vandalized Obama's campaign headquarters in Oakland, CA.

Sounds like "blue on blue" to me.

[Romulus Augustus]

What rush said about Donovan??

[NebulousFocus]

News alert. Wikipedia is down. That is all.

[Ice Nine]

OK, I declare a moratorium on obscure pop culture references on HR today.

[Brett L]

What things will really be like when Skynet goes live.

[Apple]

"The gunman responsible for this weekend's shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin has been identified as ex-soldier Wade Michael Page."

This is why only trained military personel should have access to powerful weapons.

[temmseee]

Sometimes you jsut have to roll with it dude, what else can you do?

http://www.Ano-Web.tk

[Brett L]

Interesting how the media keeps pushing the idea that Romney is running the more gaffe-filled campaign. That is not my take. SLD, I'm not voting for either side, but the Obama campaign has been staggering from one fuckup to another for the entire summer. Their only smart move is having Joe Biden take yet another week of vacation.

[Fatty Bolger]

Ben Smith: Congress, Fed, Euro central bank, Corporations letting Obama down.
Politico: Obama's 4 economic letdowns

President Barack Obama hasn't been able to get the economy into good shape ahead of the election ? but he hasn't been getting much help.
Corporate America is sitting on vast piles of cash. Congress refuses to take the specter of massive tax hikes and spending cuts off the table. And central bankers from Washington to Brussels refuse to crank up the printing presses.

[NebulousFocus]

Yup. It's everyone's fault (except Dear Leader).

[Tulpa Doom]

I especially like how Mr Smith said there are no signs of inflation.

[Cdr Lytton]

So I came across a sign in downtown Boise for a waxing salon called LunchBOX featuring this logo:

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hp.....8991_n.jpg

It took my wife a little bit to realize what was going on in it. I personally liked the shaved heart. SFW.

[Jerry on the road]

American judo fighter Nick Delpopolo was expelled from the Olympics on Monday for doping, saying he unintentionally ate something before the games that had been baked with marijuana.

[Pip]

Got any links to stories about farmers destroying cop cars with their tractors?

[The Late P Brooks]

Your tax dollars at work

Spyker Cars NV, the tiny Dutch company that bought Swedish carmaker Saab from General Motors Co. for $74 million in 2010, said Monday it is suing GM for $3 billion in damages.

Spyker, along with its now-bankrupt Saab subsidiary, alleges that GM unfairly blocked deals that would have seen a Chinese manufacturer take over Saab production and save it from bankruptcy. It says GM feared competing with Saab in China.

"We owe it to our stakeholders and ourselves that justice is done," said Spyker CEO Victer Muller. "We tirelessly worked to save Saab Automobile until GM destroyed those efforts and deliberately drove Saab Automobile into bankruptcy."

Aren't you glad we "rescued" GM from the dungheap?

[John]

Add killing SAAB and all of its irreplaceable Scandinavian weirdness to list of Government Motors' sins.

[Citizen Nothing]

There's a Saab-only repair shop in town where I take my vehicle. The Scandinavian weirdness extends to the guys who fix them, it seems.

[John]

They were some of the strangest and best built cars ever. Every gear head loves Saab.

[Citizen Nothing]

Mine's 18 years old and going strong.

[Anacreon]

Have a 92 900 convertible still purring like a kitten. I am worried, though, about getting parts in a few years.

[The Late P Brooks]

And central bankers from Washington to Brussels refuse to crank up the printing presses.

Fire up the helicopters, dammit!

[Kaptious Kristen]

I mean, seriously.

[Brett L]

Aww. A cute bundle of sleeping puppies.

[Kaptious Kristen]

And that white round thing in the middle of the dogpile is a block of ice.

I mean, seriously. It's too much!

[Sevo]

Didn't see it mentioned, but this (and the 9th) should be days of national thanksgiving in Japan. Those bombs probably saved literally millions of Japanese lives.
Somehow, I'll bet the Japanese aren't giving thanks.

[ENDelt260]

Obama's War on Marijuana Turns to Public Employees

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org.....963f4.html

Weighing in on a proposed ballot measure to regulate medical marijuana collectives in Del Mar, Duffy cautioned that "State and City employees who conduct activities mandated by the Ordinance are not immune from liability under the [Controlled Substances Act]." Federal prosecutors in other parts of the country occasionally have made similar statements during Obama's Presidency.

Are Del Mar employees in real danger of going to jail if residents vote for the ballot measure in November? In a word, no.

First, notice Duffy's clever wording: Employees "are not immune" from prosecution, she writes. In order to face federal prosecution, however, a person has to do something that violates federal law. The Voice of San Diego is not immune from prosecution for heroin trafficking. But unless the Voice of San Diego is trafficking heroin, it has nothing to worry about.