GOP Sues Holder, Egypt President Puts Together Power Play, Obama and Ryan Spar over Farm Money: P.M. Links

• House Republicans filed suit Monday against Attorney General Eric Holder to attempt to get access to documents connected to the "Fast and Furious" operation.

• In Egypt, President Mohammed Mursi is being called "revolutionary" for forcing two top generals into retirement and pushing the leadership of the country more into civilian hands. Those civilian hands will also be putting two journalists on trial for "insulting" the president allegedly inciting murder.
• Paypal co-founder Greg Kouri is dead at 51.
• President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP vice president nominee Rep. Paul Ryan are both campaigning in Iowa today, fighting over the farm bill.
• A former FDA reviewer claims the agency leaders sought to suppress opinions about safety problems with devices they evaluated and retaliated against whistleblowers.
• Italy's public debt has hit a record high of 2 trillion euros. Their central bank blames it on Italy's share of bailouts of other euro nations.
• Unsurprising news of the day: New threat-detection security system leads to racial profiling.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A former FDA reviewer claims the agency leaders sought to suppress opinions about safety problems with devices they evaluated and retaliated against whistleblowers.

Wait, their whistles were defective?

[Archduke PantsFan]

Tired of dealing with Canadian cross-border shoppers, customers of the retailer Costco in Bellingham, Wa., are seeking shopping hours reserved exclusively for Americans, according to the CBC.

A Facebook page, called "Bellingham Costco needs a special time just for Americans," has generated more than 2,000 "Likes" and plenty of comments from supporters and Canadian defenders alike.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le4478423/

[Episiarch]

That's silly, everyone knows Canadians can't come out during the day. Just shop while the sun is out.

Man, some people.

[Archduke PantsFan]

Also avoid feeding them past midnight.

[Episiarch]

I warned you. With mogwai comes much responsibility. But you didn't listen.

[Chloe]

Damn their beady little eyes, and flapping heads so full of lies.

[Xenocles]

That is racist, sir! You are a racist!

[Generic Stranger]

It seems that everything's gone wrong since Canada came along.

[Dagny T.]

I imagine the patrons of Bellis Fair and the outlet mall in Marysville feel the same. Stupid Canadians, spending their dirty foreign money at our stores and restaurants and gas stations. Good thing patriotic border guards on both sides are doing their level best to discourage such unseemly fraternization.

[BakedPenguin]

I remember as a kid going to Canada by car. On a lot of occasions they would simply look at our family and wave us through - both directions.

Yes, I'm old.

[Rich]

See? Behavior-based threat-detection security systems work.

[Marshall Gill]

When I worked for Allied Van Lines back in the 80's we went to BC a couple of times. Our truck was over 90' long and we didn't have a single person look inside, anything.

[Brett L]

Ross Perot's giant sucking sound is finally here.

[A Serious Man]

So, why don't liberals have their own Ayn Rand?

Of course the question assumes Rand sits on some pedestal in both the conservative and libertarian movements when in reality she hated both libertarians and conservatives who didn't share her vision.

[SugarFree]

Because they don't have to have one. Primary, secondary, and post-secondary education have such a liberal bias, the left-viewpoint is unavoidable. That's why Rand, or Hayek, or Heinlein are seen as transformative... the status quo of left-liberalism is what they are transforming you from.

[A Serious Man]

I would say the Rawls/Nozick debate best summarizes the difference between liberals and libertarians.

[Episiarch]

What are you talking about? TEAM BLUE has intellectual powerhouses like Ezra Klein, EJ Dionne, and Pauly Krugnuts. What a silly question.

[Pip]

You forgot Dave Weigel.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Isn't Oliver Wendell Holmes the Ayn Rand of Liberals?

[A Serious Man]

In the comments section there are people who seriously think Krugabe is the best voice liberals have today.

[Drake]

Duh, Karl Marx!

[Lost_In_Translation]

Karl Marx agreed with liberals, you need someone that despised them while they held him up as their ideal.

[$park?]

Bill Clinton?

[Lost_In_Translation]

I think we're getting closer.

[Drake]

I'm not sure Marx liked them. I know that Vladimir Lenin despised them.

[hamilton]

You know who else despised liberals...

[Anacreon]

Ann Coulter?

[Xenocles]

I don't think that eliminates Marx as their intellectual icon. Rand hated libertarians, after all.

[MJGreen]

Didn't Karl Marx hate unionists and anyone who advocated for progressive, welfare state solutions? Socialism was inevitable and if you tried to emulate it under capitalism you were fighting the forces of history. Welfare is counterproductive.

[Jerry on the road]

Edward Bellamy comes to mind. Don't these Liberals know any history?

[Rich]

Hispanics traveling to Miami, for instance, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward ? are much more likely to be stopped

Traveling to Miami, for instance, or wearing baseball caps backward are non-racial, non-ethnic profiles in a "behavior based" system.

[Pip]

"Hispanics traveling to Miami, for instance, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward ? are much more likely to be stopped"

Anyone wearing baseball caps backward, should be put away for life.

[Mad Scientist]

Even this guy?

[Brett L]

No, that idiot should just be put down.

[Ska]

He was one movement away from completing his sig heil you fucking nazi apologist.

[Episiarch]

You leave Turtle out of this!

[Fist of Etiquette]

What if you want to keep the sun off your neck, or you're ashamed of your team?

[Episiarch]

So...all Mets fans?

[Rich]

"It's not a baseball cap. My deerstalker got caught in the shredder."

[Zeb]

I don't know. Backwards is tolerable. Sideways is right out, though. Fuck those people.

[kinnath]

Backwards is only acceptable for taking photographs with a high-end camera or putting on a catcher's mask.

[Archduke PantsFan]

How about hats worn at a jaunty angle?

[Enough About Palin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwCYBJe0o2M

[Fist of Etiquette]

Several days earlier, a court order saw the 11 August edition of the al-Dustour - which has been critical of Mr Mursi and his group - seized over allegations that it had insulted the president and instigated sectarian discord.

Nothing quells discord like forcing everyone onto the same page.

[Caleb Turberville]

The downfall of New Atheism?: a horrendous billboard campaign.

[$park?]

Ah good. I was hoping some dumb-fuck atheist group would give me another reason to be hated.

[Pip]

It looks like a membership drive so I think you're fine if you don't join them.

[$park?]

When people think of atheists they think of these retards and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Fuck them all with a rusty pipe.

[RedDragon6009]

I don't care if people choose to be atheist. Just don't shove it down my throat like some proselytizing Christian.

[Coeus]

It's just a billboard. Your throat is untouched.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I don't care if people choose to be atheist. Just don't shove it down my throat like some proselytizing Christian

"Have you accepted that there is no god into your heart today?"

[T]

"Have you driven the false belief in a savior from your heart today?"

[Brett L]

Magazine claims Mitt would pay 0.82% taxes under the Ryan plan. Apparently because they don't understand what a "pass-through" corporation is and are under the impression that distributions to owners of such corporations are taxed as capital gains (which Ryan would eliminate taxes on) rather than income.

But what about corporate taxes? Aren't they a double tax on savings and investment, so Romney's "real" rate is higher than his headline rate? No. As Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has pointed out, Romney has structured his investments as "pass-throughs" that avoid corporate tax.

Note: There is a link in the quoted paragraph elided, but the linked author does NOT make that mistake.

[VG Zaytsev]

The comments on that article are a steaming pile of stupid.

[The Hammer]

Jared Bernstein, as in "Joe Biden's former chief economist Jared Bernstein?" Yeah, that's a totally objective observer, with no incentive to lie his ass off at all.

[Brett L]

Coons invade Germany. EU advocates total annihilation.

There's no law against trapping raccoons ? in fact, quite the opposite is true. The EU recommends exterminating this invasive species on the grounds that it could pose a threat to biodiversity.

[$park?]

Nothing says biodiversity quite like eliminating some species.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Say, wasn't there another German fellow who wanted to exterminate an "invasive species"?

[Anacreon]

Karl M?bius?

[Pip]

I'm dealing with raccoons right now. First they came for the cherries, now it's the plums, soon to be followed by the apples. They take off if you spray them with the hose or throw hot sauce at them. I don't mind that they eat my fruit, I just want them to stop crapping on my roof. Although it has taught me that they eat cherries pits and all.

[$park?]

First they came for the cherries, and I said nothing because I didn't eat cherries.
Then they came for the plums, and I said nothing because I didn't like plums.
Next they came for the apples, and I didn't say anything because I have plenty of apples...

[Episiarch]

Raccoons are supremely annoying. I suggest shooting them.

[Pip]

I would, but the Minneapolis shot spotter would detect it and there'd be cops at the house and I have a dog.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Air rifle. Silent and deadly.

... Hobbit

[Generic Stranger]

Or a bow.

[Mad Scientist]

Antifreeze. Syringe. Plums. I'm not saying you should in any way combine those items to deal with your raccoon problem.

[Zeb]

Shooting them is more fun.

[Xenocles]

Probably not worth jail if you're in the wrong jurisdiction.

[BakedPenguin]

I have a cousin who was having a problem with some neighbors' dogs. They were ripping his garbage bags open time and again. He complained to his neighbors 2 or 3 times, then finally left some ground chuck sauteed in antifreeze on top of his garbage cans.

Shame the dogs had to die, they weren't the stupid ones in all of that.

[Lost_In_Translation]

and the neighbor can always get new dogs. I'd have put a laxitive in the chuck roast. A little diarrhea over the neighbors yard/house would have made a stronger point.

[RBS]

I worked for a carpet cleaning company that none of you have ever heard one summer and had to clean up after two dead dogs. They had been poisoned with anti freeze. They pretty much vomited their insides all over the house as well as shit out whatever was left. This guy called us about 2 months later.

[The Hammer]

They didn't have to die, your cousin is just a sociopath with anger issues.

[T]

Dogs. Admittedly, a big bull raccoon might hold his own against one of my dogs, but not all 5.

[RedDragon6009]

Nothing like having to deal with 5 rabid dogs...

[Mad Scientist]

Just name them all Cujo. There's no way irony will strike 5 times.

[Episiarch]

Name one Church for a Pet Semetary tie-in.

[T]

That's kind of why you get them vaccinated every year. More truthfully, any raccoon that ain't rabid is not going to get near 5 dogs barking up a storm.

[Charlotte Sometimes]

I had a Treeing Walker coonhound as a kid. She would occasionally corner a raccoon and though she always won those fights (with back-up--we had 2 other dogs), she was pretty torn up. Raccoons put up a hell of a fight.

[The Hammer]

Anything that is in mortal danger will put up a hell of a fight.

[JeremyR]

Except Jimmy Carter

[Rich]

the debate over the anti-gun-trafficking operation nicknamed "Fast and Furious" will go on for months, lasting through the U.S. elections on November 6

What a distraction! The President should just issue an Executive Order declaring the debate over.

[Auscifer]

Check out the article...

Republicans' focus on Fast and Furious has helped to energize gun owners, who are a large and important voting bloc in presidential swing states such as Pennsylvania and tend to vote Republican.

Or you know... anyone with a functioning moral compass that can see how providing top-notch firearms to murderers would be evil.

In a Twitter post on Sunday, Issa said the House would be "filing charges" against Holder, using a term that generally applies to criminal cases. The case is civil.

Is this accurate? I never knew "filing charges" was jargon for criminal cases only. WTF... isn't this a bit too serious to be pedantic?

Justice Department officials gave congressional investigators thousands of pages of documents about the trafficking operation, but the House held Holder in contempt of Congress for his refusal to turn over others it considered critical.

Issa says they've received around 3,000... out of some 80,000 documents requested. Nice of the article not too mention that.

Critics say the strategy amounted to allowing some guns to "walk" into Mexico.

Notice: "Some" guns... we knew it was over 2,000, but we choose to say "some", because why? Well I think we all know why...

[Brett L]

Oh shit, Mothra is real.

Japanese scientists say "abnormalities" detected in the country's butterflies may be a result of radioactive fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year. In a study published in Scientific Reports, an online journal, researchers say "artificial radionuclides" from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant caused "physiological and genetic damage" to pale grass blue butterflies.

[$park?]

Too bad the radiation isn't affecting any lizards or apes then. I guess Tokyo is really fucked now.

[Old Mexican]

researchers say "artificial radionuclides" from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant caused "physiological and genetic damage" to pale grass blue butterflies.

No word yet on seeing tiny twin pixies with angelical singing voices...

[EDG reppin' LBC]

You still need those tiny little twins to summon Mothra. So, until a pair of 8 inch tall Japanese twins are located, and trained to sing the Mothra song, I wouldn't worry.

[Bobarian]

What about giant flying turtles with flaming leg holes?

[Bobarian]

You only need a little fat japanese kid to get one of those, which is a lot easier to find than 8" twins.

[T]

Those are scarce around here. What can I get with a little fat Mexican kid? I can get tons of those, no problem.

[Ice Nine]

Turtle tacos?

[RedDragon6009]

Oh shit, Mothra is real.

Actually it's making the butterflies smaller and stunting their wing growth. But maybe it has the opposite affect on lizards.

[Brett L]

Tough crowd today.

[RedDragon6009]

In Egypt, President Mohammed Mursi is being called "revolutionary" for forcing two top generals into retirement and pushing the leadership of the country more into civilian hands. Those civilian hands will also be putting two journalists on trial for "insulting" the president allegedly inciting murder.

viva la revolucion

[Brett L]

The College Station shooting started over an eviction notice. Which makes it just like all those other recent mass shootings!

The shooting began when an officer attempted to serve an eviction notice, according to WFAA-TV. Brian Bachmann, a 41-year-old Brazos County sheriff's deputy, was fatally wounded in the shooting that occurred shortly after noon about a block away from the school's campus.

[Ice Nine]

Non-payment of rent - just another reason to hate on those damn Tea Partiers.

[Old Mexican]

Paypal co-founder Greg Kouri is dead at 51.

The good die young. The parasitic pricks live forever.

[Paul.]

I wonder if, right before it was lights out for Kouri, he said, "I wish I'd have spent more time at the office..."

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Peter Schiff plans to opens a gold backed bank in the Caribbean.
Americans need not apply.

http://thegodthatfailed.org/20.....gold-card/

[Xenocles]

Americans should stay away, since they'd incur capital gains paperwork with every swipe of the ATM card.

[The Late P Brooks]

New threat-detection security system leads to racial profiling.

Strangely enough, the program seems to be aimed aimed more toward catching drug traffickers and undocumented aliens than terrorists.

[A Serious Man]

Navy Commander relieved of duty after it was discovered that he met a woman online, got her pregnant, and then faked his own death to get out of the relationship.

[RedDragon6009]

Navy Commander relieved of duty after it was discovered that he met a woman online, got her pregnant, and then faked his own death to get out of the relationship.

Seriously though... who among us hasn't done this before?

[Paul.]

I for one want to hear his side of the story. If she was crazy hot, I give him a pass.

[Paul.]

'[Ward] asked me to contact you if this ever happened. I am extremely sorry to tell you that he is gone. We tried everything we could to save him

How is this faking his own death? He merely asked someone to email her that he was "gone".

I for one stand by our brave Naval Commanders.

[Marshall Gill]

Sounds to me like he needs to be promoted to special ops.

[Jerry on the road]

Did he also steer his warship into an oil tanker?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

That's somewhat similar to what happened to James Pou about 20 years ago:

"In May, 1987, Pou staged his own death so elaborately--making it appear he vanished in the Rio Grande near Albuquerque, N.M.--that the Air Force declared him dead after searching 10 days for a body. He left behind a wife and two sons."

http://articles.latimes.com/19.....-officials

[The Late P Brooks]

Actually, "traffickers" was the wrong word.

More like "anybody who still hasn't figured out that any excuse to ignore the Fourth Amendment will be seized upon".

[Brett L]

I say Hollywood's strip mining of my childhood has finally gone too far!

"A Christmas Story 2" is going straight to DVD and Blu-ray October 30th.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

It's okay Brett. Jean Shepherd wrote a number of (semi-autobiographical) stories about Ralphie and his family. Some have been made into films/TV films. They have all been funny. From the article, A Christmas Story 2 is from a Shepherd story, so it comes from good source material. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Merry Christmas!

[Nephilium]

There already is a sequel to A Christmas Story...

[Brett L]

Bridezilla fatally stabs groom

An eastern Pennsylvania woman who was supposed to be spending her first full day as a newlywed was instead in jail Sunday, accused of killing her fiance hours before they were to get married, authorities said.

[Pip]

STAY SINGLE OR DIE

/bumper sticker

[Fluffy]

STAY SINGLE OR DIE PRAY FOR DEATH

fify thxbai

[Anacreon]

Think of all the future pain she saved him by getting it over with in advance.

[Paul.]

See? See?

When asked if she understood the homicide charge, Franklin wept and choked out the words one at a time.

"I ? did ? not ? kill ? him ? on ? purpose," she said, according to the newspaper.

They never mean to hurt you. She should have waited the ten hours to get married. Is Pennsylvania a community property state?

[SteakFury]

It's PA. Hunting accident.

[Paul.]

Those civilian hands will also be putting two journalists on trial for "insulting" the president allegedly inciting murder.

Isn't that a popular notion in this country? "I'm all for freedom of speech but, [insert diatribe about Rush Limbaugh/Fox News/Drudge]," then follow up with comment about yelling "fire" in crowded theaters, etc.

[The Hammer]

Yep. It's pretty much the theme of every HuffPo article.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Texas shows itself to be part of the cultural avant-garde: Texas politician Mary Gonzalez is the first avowed "pansexual" in public office.

"Gonzalez specified to the Voice that she doesn't believe in a gender binary because 'gender identity isn't the defining part of my attraction," and that she never fully embraced the term 'lesbian.' Although she came out as bisexual at age 21, Gonzalez said she has also dated transgender and 'gender-queer' people, in addition to women....

"Gonzalez, who reportedly beat two opponents in the Democrat primary and has no opponent in the fall, continued: 'As I started to recognize the gender spectrum and dated along the gender spectrum, I was searching for words that connected to that reality, for words that embraced the spectrum. At the time I didn't feel as if the term bisexual was encompassing of a gender spectrum that I was dating and attracted to.'"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....r=Politics

[Ted S.]

I shouldn't ask what the hell "gender-queer" means.

[ant1sthenes]

It sounds like she has a PC fetish.