Sandy Says "Hiiiiiiiiiii!", Forbidden Marches, More Islam Ad Bans: P.M. Links

• 

  Hurricane Sandy is the largest tropical storm ever recorded in the Atlantic. Hundreds of flights out of Chicago have been cancelled. Atlantic City may have to introduce underwater casinos.

• Not even natural disasters can stop election polls. Mitt Romney holds a slim lead in Florida.
• A judge has ruled that Michigan's Transit Authority can ban political ads that advertised help for folks wanting to possibly leave the Islamic faith.
• The far-right English Defence League was banned from marching in east London over the weekend.
• Elsewhere, Turkish authorities banned a march by secularists and then fired tear gas and water cannons on them to break them up.
• Britain's National Health Service has lost at least 1.8 million sensitive records over the course of 12 months.  Some records were even being auctioned off on the Internet.

Have a news tip for us? Send it to: [e-mail].

The updated Reason app for Apple and Android now includes Reason 24/7!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mitt Romney holds a slim lead in Florida.

The polling questionnaire was a butterfly type.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Do you even have a job that requires your attention?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Don’t be a h8r. It just so happens 4:30 PM EDT is a perfect time for me to sit down at my computer and peruse me some P.M. links.

[Randian]

If you perused them you would never be first.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It took me a full minute to pick one of those links to try to make a joke out of. That should have given one of you hungry comers ample time to scream first into the comment box.

(Go ahead, try to make a joke out of any phrase in that post.)

[Randian]

Slim Lead should be a name for a rapper.

[VG Zaytsev]

His rival would be Hairy Read.

[db]

Now I’m Slim Lead and I’m here to say
I’m all about voting for Obama-ney
It doesn’t matter which one wins the Oval Office
Neither fool will take the yoke of State off us.

No diff’rence anymore voting R or D
They take our cash and flush it to the sea
Hand it to their favored interests
And keep some for their own just to line their nests

So if you want some real change better vote for 3
Parties that is, Lib or Green or Tea
And pray this shit will change before you die
Fat chance you mother fuckers–fuck you, that’s why!

[Paul.]

Now I’m Slim Lead and I’m here to say

You can always spot a white person writing a rap lyric. The first line always ends in “and I’m here to say”.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

or:

I’m the hiphopapotamus and my lyrics are bottomless.

[Paul.]

My personal favorite…

[db]

Yeah, yeah, Vikings can’t rap. Racist.

[C. S. P. Schofield]

You can always spot a genuine Rap lyric; they’re illiterate. Clever, like Cockney Rhyming Slang, even biting, but illiterate. If you run into a literate one, you know it was written by some clown, of whatever color, who would soil himself if he ended up in the ‘hood.

If the poor inner city minorities ever figure out just how badly they have been screwed by their schools, there is going to be a vast long-pig barbecue of the membership of the teachers unions.

[Killazontherun]

That is one rapper who’s not getting out of the concert hall alive.

[Pro Libertate]

I don’t buy it for a second. He’ll win big here.

[Fist of Etiquette]

He being Mittler?

[Pro Libertate]

Willard. Yes.

[carol]

Romney is up by six in the I4 corridor. Its a blowout. I was at the rally in Land O’Lakes Saturday and any time you get 17,000+ people to spend an evening out in the middle of nowhere on a weekend night to listen to a politician you’ve got some enthusiasm going.

[Paul.]

Remember when everyone was high fivin’ eachother before the Supreme court Obamacare ruling? Yeah, I do too.

[Pro Libertate]

Who knew that the Dread Justice Roberts was insane?

[Killazontherun]

I suspected.

[Isaac Bartram]

I think you’re right about the I-4 corridor swinging it.

I’m pretty sure that’s what made the difference last time.

I’m pretty sure North Florida will continue Red, perhaps slightly moreso and South Florida will still go Blue but a little less so.

It’s Central Florida that going to swing. Seminole County went 55% for McCain, I expect it to go closer to sixty fro Romney.

Counties like Orange and Hillsborough might still go Blue but not nearly by the margin they did in 08. The fact that they have higher populations may swing it for Romney.

[CE]

If drawing big crowds mattered, Ron Paul would already be the President.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Williams F1 is “frustrated” over the state of education in Britain today after the majority of school leavers applying for its apprenticeship scheme this year failed a basic maths test.

Test included. No calculators!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I went back to college recently to complete my degree in Finance. There were kids in their senior years that couldn’t figure percentages and fractions. For group projects, I was ALWAYS in charge after realizing no one (besides me) actually understood the difference between million and billion. No big deal. We’re turning out generations of morons. As libertarians, we should capitalize on this phenomena. For instance, if I have a son, I would train him to throw lefty, train him to be a long snapper, or TEACH HIM BASIC MATH. Either way, he will have a lucrative career in professional sports, or a lucrative career solving math problems for the rest of the idiots in the world.

[Anonymous Coward]

Idiocracy: Comedy? Or prophecy?

[db]

Tragicomedophecy.

[db]

It’s a tragicomedophecy.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Look around. Is there any question?

[Bobarian]

So, History.

[Paul.]

actually understood the difference between million and billion.

I was watching some youtube video about Britain’s national debt, and he was asking people on the street how big a number was (trillions). Almost everyone on the street started trying to read the number from left to right.

9,000,000,000,000

Who does that? When the number gets huge like that, you always read from right to left.

[Brett L]

I thought a million million was a billion in Brit-english.

[Xenocles]

A billion would be a thousand million, in the same way that a million is a thousand thousand. A million million would be 10^6 * 10^6 = 10^12, or a trillion.

[VG Zaytsev]

The brits call that number a billion.

What we call a billion they call one thousand million.

[Xenocles]

That’s effed up.

[Paul.]

Used to be.

[C. Anacreon]

I agree about the generation of morons. Even more perplexing is that just about all of them have straight-A’s from high school and perfect/near perfect SATs.

[CE]

It’s because they’re graded on group projects, and someone in the group does know what’s going on.

[Paul.]

I bombed the logs. (q13 and 14) Haven’t done logs in…forever.

In fact, that kind of threw me. Everything on that test was basic math, except q13 and 14. I’m not sure if I’d call logs ‘basic math’.

[C. Anacreon]

Good to teach logs as basic math, so if you are ever in an earthquake you can understand the Richter scale.

[Brian D]

Agreed. Logs =/= basic math. Aced everything else.

[Brett L]

But the log rules are easy. if log x=y then log 10x=1+y. If log x=a and log y=b then 0.1xy= (log x-1) + (log y-1).

If you just remember that multiplication by any number that isn’t the base is addition, and the rest is just factoring the base to its power.

[Pi Guy]

Not that it’s easy but think of it like this:

– Adding is a fast way of Counting
– Multiplying is a fast way of Adding
– Exponents are a fast way of Multiplying

Their inverses are:
– Subracting is a fast way of Counting Backwards (Subtraction un-does Addition)
– Division is a fast way of Subtracting (Division un-does Multiplication)
** Logarithms are a fast way of Dividing (Logs undo Exponents) **

[Pi Guy]

Example:

If 2^3 = 8 then Log _base 2_ (8) = 3.

Logarithms undo Exponents.

[Paul.]

Thank you for that.

[hotsy totsy]

I wish I would have known that about logarithms when I studied math in high school.

[Generic Stranger]

Yeah, I could do most of the others either in my head or on a piece of paper, but the logs one kind of threw me. I don’t know that I was ever properly taught how to do those. If we were it was a basic “FYI” and then we did the rest on calculators.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

WTF are ‘wedge trainers‘, and why would I even consider wearing them?

[generic Brand]

You shouldn’t consider it, but thanks for posting that because I had no idea Jordin Sparks was looking that good now.

[Generic Stranger]

They look like a cross between cross trainers and high heels. I don’t think you’d want to wear them unless you wanted to be the Canadian Ru Paul.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Elsewhere, Turkish authorities banned a march by secularists and then fired tear gas and water cannons on them to break them up.

They got to use deterrents in gaseous and liquid form. The next would be solids. You don’t want solids.

[Cytotoxic]

OT: I wanted to download the ACLU police recording app but I have heard it is bad with Android. Is this true? Should I get it?

[Xenocles]

OpenWatch might be a viable alternative.

[generic Brand]

The far-right English Defence League was banned from marching in east London…

…until they learn to spell “defense” correctly.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The far-right English Defence League was banned from marching in east London over the weekend.

Marching leads to dialogue, and nothing ever good came from talking.

[Zeb]

I think that the impulse to ban marches like this and other forms of speech/expression is a lot like how people justify regulation and restriction of advertising and other commercial speech. The people are just too stupid and easily led, so we can’t risk exposing them to things like ads for beer or racist marchers. It will break their minds. Or something.

[Fatty Bolger]

Rasmussen: Romney takes the lead in Ohio, 50% to 48%

The race for Ohio’s Electoral College votes remains very close, but now Mitt Romney now has a two-point advantage.

[VG Zaytsev]

Obama hasn’t cracked 48% in any national or swing state poll.

Throw in some Bradley effect and some discourage progs and he’ll be lucky to crack 43% overall.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I think we’re looking at about 50-47 in favor of Romney.

It will be interesting to see how the EC plays out.

[Cytotoxic]

OPTIMISM IS EVIL

[Killazontherun]

It’s Romney beating Obama; that’s not so much optimism as it is a toilet flush.

[Syd Henderson]

The Bradley effect is a myth.

[A Serious Man]

Man beats pastor to death with electric guitar, cops taser him, arrest him, and he is later found dead in the back of a police squad car.

[Virginian]

Obviously cops shouldn’t be dishing out vigilante justice, but they caught the guy in the act of beating a man to death. Like, they actually bust into the church and watched it happening.

Sorry, I just can’t work up all that much outrage.

[Paul.]

The victim died at the scene. He was beaten so badly that police have yet to positively identify him, though he is believed to be the church’s pastor.

Always nicer when a guy like that gets a legit death sentence, though. Presuming of course, that he’s of his right mind. And that’s the problem here, the article doesn’t provide a motive, id for the assailant, nothing.

So yeah, tough to muster up any outrage, but it’d be nice to know the particulars before we kill him.

[Pro Libertate]

“Largest tropical storm?” WTF? Does it cover a greater area than other storms? Because it damned well isn’t remotely powerful compared to the storms endured elsewhere.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Yes. They say it’s over 1000 miles in diameter.

[Pro Libertate]

Big deal. Some winds, some floods, then everything goes back to normal. If it were at Cat. 2 or better, maybe I could understand the hype.

Is it getting absurd press because of the Northeast getting hit, or is this some sort of climate alarmist thingee?

[Francisco d Anconia]

I don’t know, but the media and local governments seem to have lost their fucking minds. It may be large but, like you said, only a Cat I.

If this thing doesn’t pan out as the mega disaster they are predicting, NO ONE will listen to them the next time when it may actually be dangerous.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

We already don’t believe them!

[Pro Libertate]

Is it maintaining gale force winds? Or is this all really about a tropical storm?

[Pi Guy]

Hey – we lost power for over an hour!

On the upside, my physics training finally paid off for something practical: No power, no sump pump so connected two 50-foot garden hoses together to syphon water to the lowest part of the yard. Aside from the still-nasty taste in my mouth (insert your fave chrome-trailer hitch joke here…) It worked, basement still dry, power back on.

There’s a chance I’ll need to do it again overnight. Insert fave golf ball-garden hose joke here…

[Generic Stranger]

Make sure to wash your mouth out with a strong alcohol. I suggest a rinse with a cheap vodka or Everclear and then ingesting some fine sipping whiskey, scotch, or rum. You know, just in case you swallowed some.

[CE]

physics trainin’? Siphonin’ stuff is first grade in Arkansas….

[db]

In the ‘burgh, evidently schools are canceling for tomorrow already. People are blowing this way out of proportion. I feel like I should be out selling generators and milk or some shit.

[Gray Ghost]

Is it getting absurd press because of the Northeast getting hit, or is this some sort of climate alarmist thingee?

Mainly the former, but the large wind field means that the storm surge will be unusually large. That and its landfall at around the time of the full moon, means that tides will be a touch higher. All combined, the surge will be higher than usual for a the low Cat 1 this’ll be when it hits. It could be high enough to flood NYC’s subway system, which, IIRC, requires 10.5 feet of flood. Sandy’s forecasted to come in with 11 feet plus and preliminary surges have been ahead of forecast. See http://www.wunderground.com/bl…..ticle.html for more. (Surprisingly, Dr. Masters isn’t being his usual AGW alarmist self about this storm, which is nice.)

So, if you’re near the shore, you might have a problem. If you’re projected to get 2-3 feet of snow, when Sandy smacks into the cold front that’s coming from the west, you might have a problem. And if your NE building codes mean that you freak out at the prospect of 60 MPH winds, then problem. Power’s going to be out for awhile, in any event, if y’all’s response during the derecho and snowmageddon’s any judge.

[Trespassers W]

That and its landfall at around the time of the full moon, means that tides will be a touch higher.

Sure, the Moon uses some magical Moon-powers to affect water here on Earth. Why don’t you go back to astrology college or wherever you came from?

[Xenocles]

Tide comes in, tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

[Entropy Void]

You mean PresBo didn’t cancel his Orlando appearance just to use his magic sceptre to stop the tides?

[jdgalt]

There’s nothing mystical about gravity, even if you haven’t done your math homework.

[db]

If the meteorologists didn’t predict DOOOOOOM! they would get their asses thrown in prison. I honestly thought for a while that they were soing all this overhyping in protest of the Italian verdict against those geologists.

[VG Zaytsev]

Meterologists call geologists pussies.

[AlmightyJB]

And we have the obligatory weather people standing out in the storm at oceans edge getting blown around trying to prove something to someone. Al Roker, get in the damn truck ya maroon. WTF?

[CE]

I must admit, I kinda liked seeing Erin Burnett out in the wind and rain.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Is it getting absurd press because of the Northeast getting hit, or is this some sort of climate alarmist thingee?

It is getting absurd press for the same reason (drink!) the Yankees, BoSox, Eagles, Jets, Phillies, and Patriots get so much coverage. Not because these teams are particularly the best at any time, but it happens near New York, so it is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD. Plus, it’s cheaper to cover news when it happens within 4 hours of New York, which is THE MOST IMPORTANT CITY IN THE WORLD. God forbid ESPN should cover any sports team West of Pittsburgh, that is not the Dallas Cowboys. And although Sandy may not be the insane apocalypse it’s being sold as, it is still raining on New Yorkers who are THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yes, how dare the media focus on the part of the country with the highest population density, and thus the most potential customers.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I’m waiting for that big tsunami that will make the east coast a nice place again.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Or the west coast for that matter.

[AuH2O]

Man, us people of the Rockies are gonna look smart when that happens. Also, they will finally stop stealing our dang water.

[Gray Ghost]

+1 La Palma

[Cytotoxic]

That La Palma business is seriously scary and I think if it’s possible to defuse it somehow it is a place for government to step in.

On the other side, it’s possible part of Hawaii might collapse someday and do the same thing.

[db]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T…..rand_Banks

[Stormy Dragon]

How’s this? http://twitpic.com/b8l4v0

[Entropy Void]

Aren’t we all …

[Entropy Void]

Aren’t we all …

[AuH2O]

ESPN sometimes acknowledges the existence of Chicago, and I have heard rumors of a city named Denver, although whether they play sports is a mystery.

[jdgalt]

Gee, I wonder if any casinos in Vegas are taking bets on exactly where the storm will go or what it will destroy? This might be a good way for some people in its potential paths to “insure” themselves at the last minute.

[Paul.]

Is it getting absurd press because of the Northeast getting hit

Ding!

Everyone important lives along that corridor where the hurricane is getting hit. Thousands… THOUSANDS, I SAY… of people in Rhode Island are without power.

[Xenocles]

If the storm is able to linger over an area for a long time, the damage could very well be greater than a more intense storm that passes quickly.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Stop talking sense Xeno. Let the Southerners and others get off on their silly regional pissing matches.

Jus’ sayin’

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Ooooooohhhhh. Sounds like HM is ascared of a widdle wain storm. 😉

[Heroic Mulatto]

Hey, cut me some slack. I live on the bank of a river.

[Brett L]

In a van?

[Heroic Mulatto]

With no windows.

[Entropy Void]

Do you have lotso candy? … and a lost puppy?

[Fist of Etiquette]

It is currently the size of Jupiter times a thousand.

[Pro Libertate]

Egad. Perhaps this is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot coming to Earth!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yankees losing their collective minds over a little wind and rain.

[Stormy Dragon]

Power != Wind Velocity

Given the ridiculous pressure differential it’s creating (740 milibars!), this storm is extremely powerful.

To put it another way, which is more powerful? A smart car going 60mph or a freight train going 30 mph?

[Fatty Bolger]

Man Divorces and Sues “Ugly” Wife, Wins $120,000

[Fist of Etiquette]

He could have spent that money on plastic surgery for the kid. Then everybody wins.

[Fatty Bolger]

You know, that’s exactly what I thought.

[Brett L]

If Chinese people have $100k to spend on plastic surgery and divorce, I’d say they’ve come up. Maybe not evenly, but at least somewhat.

[A Serious Man]

Joss Whedon says a vote for Romney is a vote for the zombie apolcalypse.

[Delroy]

Further proof that creative minds are not so good with logic.

[A Serious Man]

The libertarian-ish memory of Firefly is fading more and more with Whedon. I think he’s about as libertarian as Shrike/PB

[wingnutx]

Whedon has said that he’d be an Alliance supporter.

[Bobarian]

Well, I’m thinking some fish tanks full of zombie heads would be pretty cool, so…

[A Serious Man]

Great casting of David Morissey as the Governor. Funny how TWD found British actors in Morrisey and Andrew Lincoln that could do a good folksy, Southern accent.

[Delroy]

France Considers “Google Tax”

http://news.yahoo.com/france-e…..25z;_ylv=3

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Regarding the English Defence League:

I would encourage anyone who is curious about the organization and its supposed “far-right” leanings to look at both their mission statement and FAQ, and to look at the organization’s many statements denouncing fascism in general and the BNP in particular (opponents of the organization have attempted to link them to both organizations).

http://englishdefenceleague.org/about-us

There is nothing “extreme” about wanting a rational discussion of the merits and demerits of Islam as a religion, both in terms of its doctrinal content and practice. They have not called for any bans on the practice of the religion, nor for any restrictions on non-violent expressions of Islam. (In fact, they spoke against the headscarf ban in France.) It is execrable that they are being banned from participating in the most basic form of political protest for no reason at all — and frankly, it’s confirmation of the need for such an organization in the UK and other Euro countries with a large Muslim minority.

[DJF]

The wonders of government accounting.

The US Air Force in Japan does not have enough money ($5,000 per person) in its on base housing account to keep personnel on base. So they are going to use another account ($35,000-$45,000 per person) to pay for off base housing

http://www.stripes.com/news/pa…..e-1.194659

Or we can just pull US troops out of Japan and have the Japanese defend themselves which will save even more US tax dollars

[Delroy]

I work with the Defense Dept and I’ve seen this type of thing a number of times. The budget is cut up and placed into different accounts (sometimes referred to as “buckets” or by different “colors”). When money gets tight in one account, but another account is flush with money, they just change their approach, even if it costs much more. They don’t have to balance at the bottom line, so they never think of it in “total costs” terms.

Another reason why government spending will always be less efficient.

[Not an Economist]

And they can’t easily switch money between “buckets” or “colors”.
This is one thing, but not the only thing, that drives me nuts about government accounting.

[Xenocles]

It depends on the amount they are proposing to reprogram. There’s a threshold.

[BigT]

They can’t move money because that practice led to numerous scandals.

[tarran]

The Navy did this when my carrier was in drydock:

We didn’t have berthing for the crew. The logical thing would have been for them to be allowed to rent off base. But that isn’t allowed for unmarried enlisted below a certain rank.

So instead the Navy rented motel rooms for them, at about three to four times the cost.

We also had berthing barges (think floating barracks) that were going unused tied to the piers surrounding the drydock. The whole thing was quite baffling.

[DJF]

I was in the Navy many years ago and the ship I was on was always in short supply of rags which were classified as a consumable item. Since consumable money was always used up quickly someone found that they could reclassify rags as a repair part and since there was more money for repair parts the ship had plenty of rags.

In government its all about getting the right blocks checked off.

[Anonymous Coward]

The logical thing

I’m sorry, but why do you want the terrorists to win? We don’t need logic, we just need everyone to pay their fair share and salute the flag.

[Xenocles]

“The logical thing would have been for them to be allowed to rent off base.”

You’re forgetting that those dirty blueshirts would get in trouble without a khaki to hold their hands before leaving the ship.

(Sarcasm should be obvious here.)

[A Serious Man]

You know who else was happy with letting the Japanese ‘defend’ themselves in Asia?

[Delroy]

Godzilla?

[T]

Mothra?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Godzirra.

[Delroy]

lacist!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Truman?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Emperor Meiji?

[A Serious Man]

I’m going with Tom Cruise.

[generic Brand]

Or we can just pull US troops out of Japan and have the Japanese defend themselves which will save even more US tax dollars

But how else will geeky anime fanboys and girls get to travel to the Orient?

Seriously, the two times I lived in Japan it was pretty appalling the number of US forces who were on leave in Tokyo (they love the Roppongi district… must be the Outback Steakhouse). Not to mention the political blowback of the alleged rapes by the Marines in Okinawa.

[Heroic Mulatto]

But how else will geeky anime fanboys and girls get to travel to the Orient?

The JET program?

[generic Brand]

Noooo! How’d you get a copy of my resume???

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Today’s fashionable Kiwi

[gaijin]

the specs are hideous. 8-p

[Fist of Etiquette]

Some records were even being auctioned off on the Internet.

SOPA couldn’t be brought to bear to bring down the internet, maybe HIPAA can.

[Banjos]

Update to baby Reason’s middle name auction:

Currently in the lead for baby Reason [?] Spicer’s middle name auction is commenter Jimbo with a $200 bid for the name “Jessica”. Unfortunately for sloopy, Jessica is the name of his ex-wife. So sloopy is desperately hoping that someone will come in with a higher bid before December 1st (the auction close date). The baby is due December 17th. We will name her any thing you want as long as it is not profane. All proceeds will be donated to the Reason Foundation. Please contact sloopy or I at [e-mail] or [e-mail] if you wish to bid.

[T]

Hmm. A higher bid for Jessica sounds fairly amusing right about now.

[generic Brand]

Are group bids acceptable? And what about double names (or possibly hyphenated)?

Because I’m thinking we could pool a decent amount of people together for “Reason Aritisanal-Mayo Spicer”.

[generic Brand]

Reason Aritisanal-Mayo Spicer”

Damn you, joe’z law!!!

[BakedPenguin]

Heh, heh – “Reason Pelosi Spicer”

[Bobarian]

She said nothing profane!

[Banjos]

Both group bids and hyphenated names are acceptable.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

he looks thrilled

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Wonder what our hockey players are doing during the NHL lockout? Well, one Vancouver Canucks goaltender is hitting the poker circuit.

Roberto Luongo is playing on the World Series of Poker Circuit at River Rock Casino.

[AuH2O]

How badly is Canada handling the lockout?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

TSN has been playing RockyIV non-stop in place of NHL games.

[sloopyinca]

Soooooo, fine then?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Meet the backyard chicken lobby!

One woman, Louise May, even snuck a live chicken ? stashed in a box ? into council chambers to show that the birds are quiet and clean.

But committee chair Coun. Paula Havixbeck said it is illegal to bring a chicken into the chamber, so she had May and the feathered friend escorted out.

[Banjos]

The comments are painful.

[AuH2O]

Jesus Christ they are.

“BUT HOW WILL THIS BE REGULATED???!!!”

[Francisco d Anconia]

This was an issue in Great Falls MT a year or so ago. The chicken lobby was not victorious.

I guess it’s a better issue than gang violence.

[T]

I would have asked for citation to the actual code that makes it illegal to bring a chicken into the chamber.

[Xenocles]

Check chapter F, section Y of the local code.

[sloopyinca]

+1. I see what you did there.

Although, I would have paid to see a council member stand up and say, “License and registration, chickenfucker. B-kawwwwww!!!!!!”

[Heroic Mulatto]

Laws against backyard chickens and such were designed to keep those icky ‘ethnics’ at bay.

[Juice]

…Winnipeg city committee…

Is Winnipeg an itty bitty city?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Woman legally changes name to include 14 different Bond Girl titles

Meet Miss Pussy Galore Honey Rider Solitaire Plenty O’Toole May Day Xenia Onatopp Holly Goodhead Tiffany Case Kissy Suzuki Mary Goodnight Jinx Johnson Octopussy Domino Moneypenny. The 28-year-old woman formerly known as Emma-Louise Hodges decided that it was time to make her Bond Girl aspirations come true, and change her name to include a handful of the most famous Bond ladies. She plans on going by “Miss Moneypenny” for short (even though she wasn’t technically a Bond Girl).

[Delroy]

With the new Bond, I could see a Bond character named Emma-Louise Hodges. In fact, the Bond franchise should do that just to annoy her.

[PapayaSF]

+1

[Entropy Void]

+007

[A Serious Man]

In many ways Miss Moneypenny had the most intimate relationship with Bond than any other woman in the franchise, or at least the version played by Lois Maxwell. I hope they put her into the new movie.

[0x90]

I still like Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop.

[Fatty Bolger]

See Christina Aguilera’s Sexy, Skin-Baring Halloween Costume!

[C. S. P. Schofield]

Skin baring I see. Sexy? *shudder*. Am I the only one who thinks that picture makes her look like she could cancel out six months of penicillin shots with a handshake?

Liked her look in Burlesque. But that ‘costume’ is Just. Awful.

[db]

My honest to god reaction to that was “Ye gods!”

[Rhywun]

Looks like she draguated with top honors from RuPaul’s last season.

[A Serious Man]

Oliver Stone: Obama asserted presidential power in ways that must have made Dick Cheney jealous.

Recall that Stone was a Ron Paul supporter during the GOP primary.

[C. S. P. Schofield]

Based on what I’ve seen of his films, Oliver Stone has the political acumen of a concussed whelk.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Oliver Stone is one of the people of whom other Paul supporters say, “well, this campaign was bound to attract a few folks like that…”

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Obama’s election “felt like a kind of expiation for the sins of a nation whose reputation had been sullied, as we have shown throughout this book, by racism, imperialism, militarism, nuclearism, environmental degradation and unbridled avarice,” they wrote.

A superficial leader for a superficial generation.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Do you think I should change my locks now?

[Auscifer]

“Slut Sauce” has been trademarked…

http://www.facebook.com/photo……2528182882

[A Serious Man]

Bengals cheerleader who had sex with her 17-yeard old student reportedly will be getting her own reality TV show.

That kid has inexhaustable man-cred for the next ten years.

[C. S. P. Schofield]

“She is basically being rewarded for breaking the law”

She is basically being rewarded for fulfilling, however vicariously, the sexy teacher fantasies of millions of men.

No, a sexy babe boffing a seventeen year old boy is not going to be treated the same as a paunchy hairball bedding a seventeen year old girl. Life ain’t fair. Deal. With. It.

The older I get the more I think that the proper punishment for statutory rape not involving incest should be to lock the convicted person, handcuffed, in a room with the parents of the ‘child’ in question and an assortment of clubs. If the person walks out alive, that should be the end of it. If he or she has to be carried out, even in a bucket, well life is rough sometimes.

[robc]

This wasnt even statutory rape, as the age of consent in KY is 16.

This was abuse of the parent/student relationship.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And the fact that she’s a “butterface”.

Jus’ sayin’

[C. S. P. Schofield]

Would YOU kick her out of bed for getting crumbs in the sheets? OK, Grace Kelly she aint. There’s lots worse faces out there.

Obviously has no morals to speak of. Probably a bright future in Politics.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I find my wife to be a lot more attractive to be honest.

*shrugs*

{And, no, pics will not be linked.}

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I find my wife more attractive than the linked pic, too.

Hispanic women ftw.

[Heroic Mulatto]

BTW…have you seen the cheerleader’s mom?

Not a pretty future.

In Thai they say, “When inspecting an elephant, look at it’s tail; when inspecting a woman, look at her mom”/

[Pro Libertate]

I’m in–wife’s half-Colombian.

[A Serious Man]

I see that a lot with the sorority girls at my college. Banging bodies but faces that are either meh or covered in make-up.

[db]

The bodies won’t last and those faces only get worse with age.

[Anonymous Coward]

I see that a lot with the sorority girls at my college. Banging bodies but faces that are either meh or covered in make-up.

The solution to ugly women!

[A Serious Man]

I was expecting a bottle of Jack Daniels, but that’ll work just fine and without the hangover the next morning.

[Pi Guy]

Round these here parts (uh, central MD) we refer to that type as “Penn State”:

Nice uniform, ugly helmet.

[AuH2O]

Eh, I feel even that is to harsh. No dad is cool with any dude and his 17 year old, even if the dude were a male model astrophysicist.

I think we should just say that if the state age of consent is 16, its 16. None of this, “But only until you are 21, and then only if X, Y, or Z.”

[Francisco d Anconia]

But I do think it’s important to have an age differential protecting the 17 year old having sex with his 15.9 year old girlfriend.

[jdgalt]

The graduated law they have in Germany makes a lot more sense to me.

It can be summed up as:

Rule 1. No one under 12 can be charged with a sex crime. [Aside: There was one case where a younger boy managed to take part in a rape; he did 3 years for aggravated assault.]

Rule 2. Persons in a “position of trust” may not have sex with their charges, regardless of age, unless the “charge” is over 21. Position of trust includes parent, teacher, babysitter, work superior, priest, scout leader, doctor and so on.

Rule 3. Sex between two people within 3 years of the same age is not a police matter unless it violates rule 2. (This is not to be considered approval of two kids having sex; rather, the system is saying it’s a matter for the parents, not police, to handle.)

Rule 4. With the exceptions in rules 1-3, the age of consent is 16.

[db]

What a monster. This “man” should know that the likelihood of his generous benefactor getting caught was very high, and yet he went with his animal male instincts, never thinking for a second about what society’s reaction would do to destroy her career and reputation.

[A Serious Man]

The OK Cupid profile of Cannibal Cop.

[AuH2O]

This Hurricane is clearly punishment for the East Coast’s dominance of AM Links and a sign that the Gods favor the true links, the Evening Links!

[Episiarch]

DEATH TO THE EAST COASTERS

Maybe that’s a little too extreme.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Too late. Me and AUH20 already sacked Boston.

[AuH2O]

I have taken a harem full of Cambridge Square women.

Someone please save me!

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Are you telling me that you can’t handle the fierce, untamed beauty of these fine wymyn?

http://jwa.org/system/files/im…..vardsq.jpg

[tarran]

Ahem.

If you are seizing your sex-slaves from Cambridge Square, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!

The lasses of the colleges along the E-Line between Longwood and Northeastern are far more comely and willing.

[Episiarch]

I lay claim to Portland!

[Pro Libertate]

Maine or Oregon? Or both?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

PM links isn’t Evening Links.

[Ed]

The AM links are the One True Links

[Joe M]

Hurricane Sandy is the largest tropical storm ever recorded in the Atlantic.

Bloomberg should’ve limited those instead of soft drinks.

[AuH2O]

So, the reaction to the Lena Dunham thing by the proglodytes is as tiresome as predicted.Plan: find the biggest idiotic reaction (in this case, some idiot who tweeted that it was made by Satan) and then use that to dismiss all criticism.

Also, apparently, while the video wasn’t that good, it was great because:
1) You just don’t get the joke! See, stupid regressive people just don’t get edgy satire like us hip progressives!
2) Its a trap! All the criticism of this ad just proves how much Rethuglicans hate women and WAR ON WIMMENZ!

Theory: Is all of this focus on “Women’s Issues” not just a base strategy, but a product of Obama’s background? Born to a single mother who was a leftist, and had most of his early life center around academia, another area where things like abortion and contraception and equal pay and every issue of that ilk takes on outsized importance, I could see it. It is also a by product of the fact that most progressive thinkers and pundits are no longer from the drug, sex, rock and roll 60s and 70s but now more from the speech code, PC 80s, 90s, and 00s. Just a thought.

Lastly, at this point, I wonder if the Obamatrons are going to have a full break from reality if he loses. They thought the first debate was planned. They think the Dunham ad is a good idea. I could seriously see me talking to one of these people in two years, and out of the blue they say, “Aren’t you so glad that President Obama finally passed universal healthcare yesterday?”

[Heroic Mulatto]

Theory: Is all of this focus on “Women’s Issues” not just a base strategy, but a product of Obama’s background?

I think six of one and half a dozen of the other.

[Episiarch]

All the focus on “women’s issues”, which really just boils down to free contraception in this case, is a result of TEAM BLUE using that issue to tweak TEAM RED, especially the social cons, because contraception gets them all worked up. But TEAM BLUE is composed of some really dumb sheep and they tend to come to believe that current issues, even if manufactured and pushed as super-important only to tweak TEAM RED, are in fact super-important.

They believe their own hype, which actually makes sense because if you are a mindless follower and your TEAM keeps drumbeating “women’s issues/free contraception” as the most important thing in the world, you’re probably going to start believing it.

[A Serious Man]

I’m curious to see if Jon Stewart comments on it. He was pretty sharp in his satirizing of the Obama Big Bird ad, and this one is even worse since it’s not just stupid, it’s creepy.

But what is really surprising to me is how in an election that is totally defined by the economy, the only thing the Obama zealots get riled up over is the War on Wimmens and abortion rights. They know Obama has royally fucked up on the most important issue and are desperately trying to scare monger their way the rest of the way, completley oblivious to how crazy and unhinged they look to non-progressives.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Someone on this board (John, I think?) made the point that it was dumb to make this ad — but that it was doubly stupid to make it using some ugly, priveleged sow like Lena Dunham. She’s probably the worst possible person to choose for that kind of ad — not only because she’s the last person in the world you want to hear talking about sex, but also because she looks trashy, has a hipster, limousine liberal background (which for the 2000th consecutive week beat out the Illinois Nazis for most hated group in America), and appeals to no one outside of already cloistered white, upper class feminists.

If you’re counting on the upper class feminists to give you the election, then you’re already lost.

[Joe M]

Oh, and people shouldn’t scoff at tropical storms. Allison trashed Houston back in 2001.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Toronto wants to feel important, too!

[AuH2O]

Oh, Canada, its so cute when you try to act like a big boy country.

*ruffles Canada’s hair*

[Cytotoxic]

Someday, we’ll crush you like a bug.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

You had your chance in 1812 and blew it!

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I have nothing but sympathy for those poor, deluded serfs who live north of the border. They live in a third-world absolute monarchy with nothing but snow, sodomy, and Celine Dion to comfort themselves with.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

and no NFL blackouts

[Francisco d Anconia]

It isn’t even a real country anyway…

With their beady little eyes and flappin heads.

Serious question. Were Canadians offended by the South Park movie?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Serious question. Were Canadians offended by the South Park movie?
Serious answer:
Only serious people who lack a sense of humour.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Seriously?

[Episiarch]

He’s super serial.

EXCELSIOR

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Guide to Trading Candy

[Francisco d Anconia]

That was fantastic!

[jdgalt]

EDL is not “far right.” They are simply the only group that cares about stopping Islamists from remaking their country into another Iran.

[Cytotoxic]

They’re racist xenophobic assholes containing anti-semites and thugs that once saw fit to occupy an Asian’s store to protest him.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

The next Gangnam Style?
(Bloomberg’s SIgn Language interpreter)

[Killazontherun]

If not for touchdown dances I would know less than nothing about that except for Gangnam itself. My eyes bleed to unsee it.

[Cytotoxic]

Telegraph writer makes case that Nate Silver is an overrated partisan hack

What does HandR think?

[Brett L]

Pretty good, except for citing David Brooks in making an argument. You can’t cite a stopped clock to make your argument that Nate Silver’s 2008 primaries performance was a stopped clock.

[Brett L]

Cool article, but one quibble 10 sqkm != 6.2 sqmi. Math is hard!

In his latest photography book, Ukrainian photographer Kirill Golovchenko documents how people pump iron at a special place in his home country. “Kachalka: Muscle Beach” explores a Soviet-era open-air fitness area covering ten square kilometers (6.2 square miles) on the island of Tuhev in the heart of Ukraine’s capital. There, entry has been free to anyone who wants to stay fit for the last 40 years.

[db]

“Do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia? I said do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia!?!?”

“They don’t have bills in Russia. It’s all free.”

“Free? Free, my ass. What are you, a commie? I don’t allow commies in my car….

…no Christians, either!”

[tagtann]

Come on man, you just gota roll with it dude.

http://www.is-anon.tk

[Dunphy (the real one)]

in this country, officers have been fired for advocating the legalization of MJ, or even the loosening of MJ laws.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12…..d=all&_r=0

the ACLU has taken on some cases, and the case law is still somewhat unsettled on this issue

i’d be curious as to whether reasonoids think about

q: should an agency be able to fire an officer for expressing political views (like joining LEAP) even when the officer makes clear his decision is made as an individual LEO and not as a representative of his agency?

my answer is no, and i would qualify this as a DOUBLE no, when the officer works for a govt. body (like for a city), vs say boston university PD. and i’d distinguish between MY viewpoints and whether i think it should be LEGAL to do so for an agency.

i would guess that many , if not most reasonoids would say the officers should be firable, since most people here support the right to fire “at will”. but i am curious if that is the case or not.

not a trolling question, i am curious. i will continue to advocate for MJ legalization , but i’m the first to admit i’m hesitant to do some publically via letter to the editor. i love my job and i don’t want to get fired. does that make me a coward? fair enuf. but i’m honest about it. i may change my mind. i’ve WRITTEN said letter, but i haven’t sent it. maybe i should contact my union attorney first 🙂

[0x90]

If that’s the policy, and you don’t like it, quit and get a job elsewhere. If it’s justice you love, consider establishing a competing private police force. In which case you would be able to pick and choose which laws you wanted to enforce. Because if, in enforcing the law, you also strictly observed it, I don’t see how you could get into trouble, except in that you would take heat from the officially-sanctioned police for setting yourself up in competition. A hyperbolic suggestion, sure, but at some point in time, the official policing bodies will have become bad enough for this to become an economically-viable idea.

But it illustrates that the reason there is any question here is because the people are currently forced to pay for your services — to pay for the organization that employs you. In which case, it seems reasonable that it would not be able to fire you for holding certain political views. That’s not something that’s inherently logical, though, it’s just an artifact of the perverse setup of the system. Were that system not fundamentally extortionist in nature, the question would never arise.

For the time being, the more pertinent question might be: is protesting enough? Which law would you currently not only protest, but refuse to enforce, and why? Simply fearing to lose your job for having spoken out, let alone disobeyed, seems pretty weak, when viewed from the outside.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

i can respect that opinion. thanks for it. i disagree obviously (i think it’s a first amendment issue, also, when talking of LEO’s who work for public employers).

and for the record, of course i think officers should be fired if they refuse to ENFORCE the laws. this is merely about disagreeing with them, not refusing to enforce them.

again, thanks for the input

[0x90]

I’m not sure why it should be a 1st amendment issue. I am a freelance software developer; were I to go running my mouth politically in public, would not those with whom I do business be perfectly within their rights to terminate their relations with me? Should it be any different with an employee? Or with a public employee? I say no. No more than it should be outside an employee’s rights to quit, should his employer decide to devote profits to supporting a particular political position, with which he does not agree.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

the 1st amendment is a restriction on govt.

it is (to some extent – see case law) ALREADY different with a public employer and an employee vs. private employers.

i am saying the distinction imo does not extend far enough

if you work for subway, and criticize jared – you are out.

if you work for the Dept. of justice, in which respect obama is ultimately your boss, and you write a letter to the editor saying he sucks, can he fire you? well, it depends…

currently, a local agency has one cop who is running for sheriff against the current sheriff. CLERARLY, in that case, he cannot be terminated for criticizing his employer. grok the distinction?

i certainly think an individual officer should be able to have leeway to critize the govt., or in the case of legalized mj -govt policy – without having to worry about being fired.

that’s why i draw the strong distinction

[0x90]

I’m well aware of all that, my younger brother is a navy pilot, and the restrictions on him, accepted voluntarily when he signed up, go much further than those being applied to you. Difference in that case is that he can’t just up and quit tomorrow if he wants to.

In the end, you are essentially arguing that because you are employed by a government organ, you should somehow be able to express your political views with no repercussion to your employment status. That’s not the reality in which most people live, and it shouldn’t be, unless we prefer employment to be constituted as a system of mutual enslavement.

As for your cop running for sheriff, again, the situation can be clarified by comparing to its analogue in the private space. Were a private company granted monopoly, the same problem you have here would arise; when that is not the case, the problem cannot exist. What you wish for is only to have your cake and eat it too.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

good points. i look at it in regards to discussions of the law and justice system etc. as amongst the “highest” forms of speech deserving of protection. iow, arguing about law X vs. law Y and freedom to do the same is the very basis for having a 1st amendment, a democratic process- that the unfettered exchange of ideas allows the populace to get the best answer and vote for it

im not saying an officer should have carte blanche. clearly, writing a letter to the editorial saying his boss, the chief, smells funny, is an asshole, is an embarassment to men, etc. should be actionable

i would contrast with a letter to the editor criticizing a POLICY like no knock raids, even if the current chief loves them, as being the sort of political discussion that deserves the strongest first amendment protection

but again, i really do appreciate the civil discourse and the exchnage of ideas.

i am going to run this by my union attorney, though. i suspect he will say “don’t write it” 🙂

[0x90]

Realistically, if the attorney says no, but seeing that you do want to express your views, the solution might be to maintain anonymity. Perhaps the paper does not accept anonymous submissions, though; if so, you might be able to get around that by first writing to let them know the reason why you need to remain anonymous, and see if they would be willing to publish you as “name withheld.” That’s not a zero-risk proposition, but your department would have to be a bit nutty to pressure the paper too much to disclose your name.

[0x90]

Any bets on which side will be first to call for a postponement of the election, and why?