A.M. Links: Petraeus Investigation Claims Top Allied Commander in Afghanistan, Greece Given an Extension, Syria Bombs Town on Turkish Border, Cleric Escapes Deportation, Kerry Being Considered For Secretary of Defense, Congress Back in Session

• The investigation into the affair between ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell has snared Gen. John R. Allen, the top allied commander in Afghanistan. The FBI has at least 20,000 pages of "potentially inappropriate" communication between Allen and Jill Kelley, who first notified the FBI of emails from Paula Broadwell. 

• The can has been kicked further down the road after eurozone finance ministers gave Greece two more years to cut its deficit to 2 percent of GDP. 

• Syrian warplanes have been bombing a rebel-held town on the Turkish border for a second day. 

• A British court has ruled that a radical Muslim cleric cannot be deported to Jordan thanks to human rights concerns. Abu Qatada is now free, but under strict bail conditions. 

• Sen. John Kerry could be reporting for duty once again. The President is considering asking the Democratic veteran to be his next Secretary of Defense. 

• Congress is back in session. Presumably we can expect more of the same ahead of the fiscal cliff.

• A Florida man was tased by police for trying to put out a fire approaching his home.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. John Kerry could be reporting for duty once again.

Seared into his memory.

[Whiterun Guard]

I was against being Secretary of Defense before I was for it.

[gaijin]

But who will be the secretary of Offense?

[mr simple]

Everyone knows the best offense is a good defense.

[Whiterun Guard]

Just ask 'Bama.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Bobby Petrino.

[Julio Cesar Samper Uribe]

Like "Jenjis" Khan.

[Drake]

Well you guys want to stop the foreign adventures - maybe Obama does too - just not with budget cuts or a foreign policy that makes sense.

He'll stop any future military interventions with mind boggling incompetence and low morale.

[LTC(ret) John]

If that clown gets made SecDef, I will go throw my medals, over a fence, at him.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think you're supposed to throw someone else's.

[PapayaSF]

+1

[T]

That really is a slap in the face if he gets the job.

[carol]

Seriously, why would you nominate someone who hates the military to be SecDef? From what I hear from my Marine son-in-law, Obama is widely despised by the military. Appointing Francois Kerry just doesn't make sense.

[PapayaSF]

Why should Obama care? It's not as if people in the military can vote.

[Brett L]

You could pick someone off the street at random who would be more competent. In fact, I suggest that Obama do just that.

[Drake]

The same thing could be said for the President and most of Congress. I was watching Elizabeth Warren last week. I wouldn't trust her to pump my gas or take a food order.

[PapayaSF]

It is beyond me how that woman got elected after affirmative action fraud, academic fraud, practicing law without a license, and plagiarizing recipes. Her "old family recipes" include crab, mayonnaise, and cognac, all ingredients used by the Cherokee...? Sheesh.

[Belgian]

Short answer: It's fucking Massachusetts. Their other senator is Kerry.

[carol]

This the state that never blinked an eye at electing Ted Kennedy.

[AlmightyJB]

I remember thinking the same thing watching Diane Feinstein talk one time. I was curious how she made it through life at all. I guess there's only one thing crazed idiots are qualified for and that's ruining the country.

[Lord Humungus]

Flushed with pride, Korea celebrates toilet theme park
The Restroom Cultural Park showcases loos from around the world. Drop in to the Mr. Toilet House and, er, unload.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1793.....heme-park/

You know who else was flushed with pride?

[Ted S.]

Anita Loos?

[Rich]

Johnny Cash?

[invisible furry hand]

Thomas Crapper?

[LTC(ret) John]

T. Craper is a modern day hero!

[LTC(ret) John]

Er, Crapper, that is.

[hamilton]

Po?

[mr simple]

Colossus?

[mr simple]

Oh wait, that was Pryde.

[Bobarian]

An X-men reference -- nice.

[Whiterun Guard]

The Port MacQuarie Fire Department?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Simba?

[sloopyinca]

Prince Harry?

[Lewisite]

David Duke?

[invisible furry hand]

This would never happen in Europe where they have proper health care and a safety net for the poor. Oh, wait...

Spanish mother sells off her organs for rent money

[gaijin]

Don;t prostitutes do the same thing...just different organs?

[Zeb]

They just rent them. Big difference.

[R C Dean]

The sale of those bits requires a license. Specifically, a marriage license.

[Whiterun Guard]

I haven't read the article, but I'm going to assume they're Hammonds and not pipes.

[gaijin]

they're Hammonds and not pipes.

dunno...if that were the case they'd likely be swingin'

[Jerry on the road]

Both her and her daughter now live in a house owned by her ex-boyfriend from whom she had broken up with after he regularly beat her during their 15-year relationship.

She told the paper that she had reported him several times since they spilt up and things "had gone from bad to worse" and that he was now trying to throw her out because she could not pay the rent.

[mr simple]

So it's just a string of good decisions.

[VG Zaytsev]

things "had gone from bad to worse" and that he was now trying to throw her out because she could not pay the rent.

Probably one of those Romney bastards.

[PapayaSF]

The War on Women spreads to Spain!

[hotsy totsy]

She can sell her eggs, it's legal and they are fairly plentiful. You only have two kidneys after all.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A Florida man was tased by police for trying to put out a fire approaching his home.

Was he drunkenly urinating on it? Maybe the police were acting on the firemen union's grievance.

[Whiterun Guard]

Florida is right to work, so that seems unlikely.

He was probably just trying to save his dog or something.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hit & Run is right to joke, so shut your yap.

[Whiterun Guard]

Yeah well your mom is right..to...

Dammit, I had something, but then I got a phone call.

[mad libertarian guy]

Even still, every cop I ever knew when I lived in FL belonged to the union.

[invisible furry hand]

An Idaho scientist shrugging off skeptical fellow scholars in his quest for evidence of Bigfoot has turned his sights skyward, with plans to float a blimp over the U.S. mountain West in search of the mythic, ape-like creature.

http://www.newsdaily.com/stori.....oot-blimp/

[Ted S.]

STEVE SMITH RAPE BLIMP!

[Groovus Maximus]

That's a terrible thing to say about Chris Christie. Does the Portly Pol know he's about to be taken aloft Sheryl Crow style to find some hirsute hominid?

[LTC(ret) John]

All he wants to do, is have some....rape?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Hey doc, when are you leaving and are you going to be able to continue to grace us with your presence?

[generic Brand]

I was under the impression he already left. He must've gotten internet access pretty quickly over there. Pretty sure he had a gmail account before and now he's already gone native.

[Groovus Maximus]

I am in the UKR now. I arrived Sunday my time (USA CST + 8 hrs) and I have a couple of weeks to acclimate to time, culture, and do a little traveling before I begin accepting patients.

[Lord Humungus]

Top Ten US Generals
http://www.neatorama.com/2010/.....-generals/

1. GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-99)
2. WINFIELD SCOTT (1786-1866)
3. ROBERT E. LEE (1807-70)
4. ULYSSES S. GRANT (1822-85)
etc...

[John]

Grant should be above Lee. Sorry, losers don't make the top five let alone get ranked above the guy who beat them. Lee is the most overrated general in history. He was a tactical genius but a strategic bonehead. Even his greatest victories (Chancellorsville and Second Manassas) resulted in him losing huge numbers of people he couldn't afford to lose. And while he was running around throwing away men in Northern Virginia, the South was losing the war in the West.

[Whiterun Guard]

Did Grant get a car named after him?

I didn't think so.

[John]

What car is named after Lee?

[robc]

The "General Lee" maybe?

[John]

Yeah. I am sure some redneck in Ohio had a General Grant. They just didn't get a TV show.

[hamilton]

Not sure naming a car after a guy with a reputation for boozing is the best idea anyway.

[Citizen Nothing]

That's it. I'm hereby naming my Saab the General Grant.

[txgypsy]

Saab was owned by GM.....call it a Government Grant

[Citizen Nothing]

Naw. Mine is a '94: full-blooded Swedish

[John]

Destroying Saab and all of its wonderful Swedish strangeness and quality, is GM's greatest sin. The fucking bastards.

[T]

There goes my Dean Martin commemorative Chrysler idea.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Lee Iacocca got his personal friend, Frank Sinatra, to endorse a specially branded Chrysler Imperial, back in the early '80's. The marketing effort, as well as the entire Imperial line was a bust.

Before that, I believe Ol' Blue Eyes had another licensing deal with Chrysler in the early '60's, where they marketed a New Yorker Sinatra Edition. Now, I understand it came from the factory with a couple of tumblers, an ice bucket, and a bottle of Jack Daniel's in the glove compartment.

[Zeb]

Wasn't Uncle Jesse a bootlegger or something?

[Mickey Rat]

A moonshiner. Rhe General Lee was the bootlegging vehicle.

[VG Zaytsev]

Did Grant get a car named after him?

Did Lee get a government handout named after him?

[robc]

Lee won in Mexico.

[John]

He was Scott's Chief of Staff. That is like saying Beetle Smith won in Europe.

[AuH2O]

That's not something to brag about.

[John]

Yes it is. The Vera Cruz campaign was a military master piece. No one in the world thought the US had a chance.

[AuH2O]

Apparently, I am somehow related to Stephen Kearney, who gave us the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California.

For a while, this would be something to be proud of, but now I am well and truly sorry.

[Chris Mallory]

Grant was a drunken butcher.

[AuH2O]

They were Irish- it didn't count!

[John]

No he wasn't. There was no way to win that war without taking huge casualties. He was fighting a supremely motivated, well commanded army on its home ground in a era where defensive warfare had out paced offensive warfare. Grant lost the same number of people in the summer of 1864 that the Union Army had lost up to then. But, the losses before 1864 accomplished nothing. The loses in the summer of 1864 bottled up Lee in Petersburg and essentially won the war. Who is the butcher? McClellen and Burnside or Hooker who lost 1000s of men accomplishing nothing or Grant who lost thousands of men winning the war?

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Who is the butcher?"

Maybe the guy who was the boss of all these generals?

[John]

Grant wasn't in charge of those generals. He was out West when that happened. He didn't assume command in the East until the spring of 1864.

[robc]

That was a Lincoln reference.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Hard to get a good Lincoln thread going nowadays - surprising given the current Lincoln movie.

Which means he's having better luck with the entertainment business than he used to, ha ha!

Too soon?

[T]

Around here, immediately is not too soon, Ed.

[John]

Someone light the Liberty Mike signal.

[Francisco d Anconia]

surprising given the current Lincoln movie.

This?

[Eduard van Haalen]

The Spielberg one.

The vampire movie was supposed to feature Warren Harding - the original plan was to have him save flappers from the Nosferatu guy. With H.L. Mencken as the wisecracking Van Helsing figure.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. - except vampires, those things are nasty."

-H.L. Mencken

[Citizen Nothing]

I'd pay to see it.

[generic Brand]

Pretty sure he meant Lincoln, and it's not about a car company.

[mad libertarian guy]

I'd see that movie, but I'm sure the entire thing will be dedicated to justifying the various Constitution-busting policies he implemented, and the president-worship culture he started.

[$park?]

Who is the butcher? McClellen and Burnside or Hooker who lost 1000s of men accomplishing nothing or Grant who lost thousands of men winning the war?

So, if you win you don't have to be labeled a butcher. Only losers are butchers.

[John]

No. The point is that no general, winner or loser, was going to fight that war without losing huge numbers of men. There was no way around it. To call Grant a butcher is to imply that he somehow made things worse than they would have been under a different commander. And that is just not true.

[mad libertarian guy]

So call them all butchers. Because they are.

Except Sherman. He was just a plain old murderer.

[Citizen Nothing]

I love Sherman. True story.

[hotsy totsy]

So why, exactly, did they HAVE to fight it? Every place else in the hemisphere did away with slavery without having to fight a huge civil war.

Though God knows Latin America has had the absolutely worse civil wars. Just not so much over slavery.

[Whiterun Guard]

Grant was like Phil Jackson.

Yeah, he won, but really a well trained chimp could have won in the same situations.

[John]

Yeah, he won, but really a well trained chimp could have won in the same situations.

Totally untrue. If that were true, the North would have won the war in 1862 or 1863. They had just as much of a manpower advantage over the South then as it did in 1864. And it wasn't just that they lost battles. Grant lost battles too. Grant got his ass kicked as the Wilderness. That was every bit as bad of a defeat as Chancellorsville or Second Manassas. The difference was that rather than fall apart like his predecessors did, Grant kept coming. That is what made him a great general and what made his predecessors such failures.

[Whiterun Guard]

Great generals win when they lack resources and are outnumbered.

Regular generals win when they field superior numbers, logistics, equipment and technology.

[John]

Not true. Great Generals don't fall apart when things go against them. Regular generals do. That is the biggest difference. And Grant won with fewer resources and being out numbered at Donaldson and Henry and Vicksburg. His campaign at Vicksburg was brilliant.

By your standard no one who ever commands superior forces can ever be great.

[Whiterun Guard]

Sure they could, if they won decisively.

Or with great finesse.

By your standards everyone who ever won a war is great.

[John]

There was no way to win that war with finesse. And Grant did win it decisively.

[Whiterun Guard]

Well that's certainly an opinion.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

There was no way to win that war with finesse.

I think that's debatable. There was certainly no way to win the Civil War with finesse given the Napoleonic doctrines that were treated as gospel at the time. But it's not like finesse tactics and operations were unknown in military theory--the officers at the military academies were usually the cream of the social crop and would have been familiar with generals like Belisarius who managed to win wars despite sometimes severe disadvantages in manpower and resources.

Furthermore, despite winning in the Wilderness and at Chickamauga, the South was effectively finished as a military force after Gettysburg.

In many ways, the South was a lot like 18th century Prussia--a largely agricultural region with a landed gentry that could only win wars if they took the initiative and completed them quickly, because they did not have the manpower, resources, or international support to maintain a protracted conflict.

[Numeromancer]

It's war. Great generals win, period.

[Restoras]

Maybe he meant that Grant was 1) a drunk, and 2) before he was a general he was a butcher?

[Brett L]

So, just to be clear, you're arguing that a much smaller force led by (in your opinion) an inferior general forced Grant to take huge casualties to beat this inferior force? That's what I'm hearing.

[John]

I didn't say Lee was an inferior tactical general, just a strategic one. And yes, a smaller force well led and on its home ground could inflict enormous casualties. That was the nature of the war. Defense had outpaced offense. Put Grant on the defensive, give him a smaller force, and he would have done the same to Lee. That was the nature of the war.

NOVA was a much smaller theater than the West. Sherman could use his larger forces and just outflank the south all of the way to Atlanta because he had room to maneuver. There was no room to maneuver like that in between Washington and Richmond. There was one way there, through the Wilderness. And the North spent three years stuck in there. And once you got there, Lee was able to dig in and force Grant to attack him. Grant kept maneuvering but couldn't get behind or around Lee. They were just in a death embrace all summer in a semi circle around Richmond. But in the end, Lee ended up bottled up in Richmond and Petersberg and the war was essentially over. It was the only way the campaign could have been fought.

[R C Dean]

I dunno, John. Lee did a heck of a lot against a superior foe. He was in Virginia because he knew the South didn't have the resources to fight a multi-front war, and needed a knockout blow right away.

He came within a hair of winning Gettysburg, which would have left nothing between him and DC. Would the North have kept fighting? Maybe, but he had a narrow window of opportunity, and nearly made it through. I think he deserves a lot of credit.

Like Rommell, in a lot of ways: a great General fighting for a doomed cause is still a great General.

[Whiterun Guard]

^This^

Anyone can win with Joe Montana throwing to Jerry Rice.

Great ones win with Brad Johnson throwing to Keenan McCardell.

[John]

If anyone could win on the Union side, they would have done it.

[Whiterun Guard]

If they'd have had a great general, they'd have won in '62.

Winning in '65 was virtually academic.

[John]

Wining in 65 was only academic because of what Grant and Sherman did in 64.

[Whiterun Guard]

You mean overwhelm with superior numbers and technology, pointed directly at their GLOCs and COGs?

It's like they're military geniuses.

[John]

He was a great tactical general. But he didn't understand that his number one goal was to conserve his army. That is what Washington got that Lee didn't. Really his best victory was at Fredericksburg. That was the kind of victories he needed but never got. He was always taking the tactical win rather than digging in and murdering the Union.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Gettysburg was a disaster for Lee. He basically went stupid for three days straight. At the beginning of the battle all he needed to do was feint towards D.C. and draw the Union forces onto favorable ground. Instead he launched direct attacks on an enemy dug into the high ground.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

That's a good point, and it's also one of the best parts of the "Gettysburg" movie, when Longstreet is debating with Lee about withdrawing. Despite the impression that the movie gives regarding Union effectiveness on the first day of the battle, the South had essentially fought the Northern armies to a standstill and still maintained their ability to maneuver. Lee had shown a remarkable ability up to that point to move his army very quickly and force the North to engage him in circumstances favorable to the Confederacy.

He had a good point that not engaging an army whose ass they had kicked up to that time could be bad for morale overall, and it's obvious now that he was going for the knockout blow at Gettysburg. But not withdrawing when he had the chance and marching pell-mell to DC was a watershed decision, and it ultimately cost him the war in the long run.

[Bobarian]

JEB Stuart left Lee effectively blind at Gettysburg. Worst failure of a Cavalry Commander in support of his Army ever.

Additionally, Lee was at a point of desparation, he needed a victory against the north, in the north, to bolster southern support, break northern support, and facilitate european support for the south. The logistics of fighting the North were taking their toll.

[Rasilio]

Actually you have it backwards.

Lee was very good on the strategy front but sucked when it came to tactics. In his earlier victories his field general was Stonewall Jackson and HE was the tactical genuis. After he was killed Lee never won another battle.

That said Grant was not a very great general, he was a good one to be sure but not a great one. His entire strategy could be summed up with a marketing slogan...

Kill all you want, we got more.

True it takes a level of skill and nerve to recognize you have a massive advantage in numbers and use that to it's full extent casualty levels be damned but it hardly makes one a great general

[John]

Not true. Wilderness was a win. And Lee had a heart attack in the winter of 1862-63. He was not the same man as the war went on. He got old.

I will say this for Lee. He gave as good as he got in the summer of 1864. He fought a brilliant defensive campaign. He almost had Grant's army destroyed in detail at North Anna. He was tactically a great general.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I do agree that he was great at tactics--and he had to be, in order to fight off a foe that was much larger in total manpower and resources.

Lee's problem is that he had no margin for error given the risks he took and the manpower he lost, and despite the Wilderness win, Gettysburg effectively finished whatever initiative he might have had to close out the war on his terms.

[hotsy totsy]

Didn't the naval blockade of the South affect their ability to resist the Union forces? Or did Gone with the Wind totally lie to me?

[Kaptious Kristen]

I don't see my ancestor, William Gamble, on there. Could be because he died ignominiously of cholera in Nicaragua before he could even take his first command as a General (during peacetime).

[Drake]

MacArthur was way overrated. He had some big successes and some complete failures.

[Not an Economist]

That list is crap. They get historical facts wrong such as giving Washington credit for Saratoga.

[zandooo]

Sounds like a pretty crazy plan to me dude.

http://www.Privacy-Guyz.tk

[John]

Sloopy said that the Obama people surround themselves with people who are compromised so they can dispose of them when necessary. And it appears he is right.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Are you on the Santorum 2016 bandwagon yet, John?

He is next-in-line.

[John]

On are on the Biden 2016 band wagon? Or is he stupid enough but just not demonic enough for you? And Santorum didn't finish second, retard.

[Fist of Etiquette]

He's probably saying that it's Santorum's "turn", which it just may be if the current Republican establishment is still in place in 2016.

[VG Zaytsev]

Romney came in 3rd in 2008 not second.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It was McCain's turn. The other vote getting was irrelevant.

[Enough About Palin]

You're a buttplug.

[Drake]

Obama really does seem to be able to toss people in the trash with incredible ease.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Except for Holder.

[T]

All that tells me is Holder has enough dirt on Obama to bury him under a landslide. Holder probably has the real long form birth certificate stashed somewhere.

[R C Dean]

No kidding. He's got the FBI. You know they have a complete file on Obama - birth certificate, passport apps, SocSec documentation, college apps and files, taxes, etc.

One thing we know about these aff-act progs (see, e.g., Elizabeth Warren) is that they will put anything on their file if it gets them a leg up, so god knows what Obama claimed as he schlepped his way through academia and life.

[John]

Here is how you tell how much Holder has on him. If Obama nominates Holder for the Supreme Court. That would be a pointless and stupid waste of political capital. If Obama does it, it is because he has to.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Kagan's more of an aff-act Supreme than Holder would be. At least Holder has his AG time for legal credentials. Kagan doesn't have shit by comparison, but she's sitting on the highest court in the land due in large part to Team Blue nepotism throughout her career.

[JW]

Except for Holder.

And Turbo Timmah.

[Rich]

The FBI has at least 20,000 pages of "potentially inappropriate" communication between Allen and Jill Kelley

20,000 pages?! Email sex would appear to be a full time job.

[John]

No shit. That is a lot of cyber sex. Allen must have been one horny bastard.

[gaijin]

Well, it's the damn printing function in chrome...it ends up printing like 3 words per page in 27 billion point type, along with all those advertisements along the side and bottom.

Seriously, why does the press constantly try to equate digital information to 'pages' (rhetorical)?

[Spoonman.]

I assume some secretary who's never used Microsoft Word at the FBI printed them out.

[invisible furry hand]

it also sounds more impressive than "they used around 5% of their gmail allowance" or whatever

[DJF]

No wonder the US is losing the war in Afghanistan, the general did not have time to give any orders.

[Whiterun Guard]

To the troops you mean.

[DJF]

Maybe he got the E-mail address wrong and thought he was emailing his troops? She got the wrong impression on what their relationship was. "Advance to the Rear'?

[LTC(ret) John]

OK, I will have to say that I really appreciated that one.

[Ted S.]

That's just the Base 64/MIME-encoding for the photos.

[db]

This ASCII art sure is...avant garde!

[SugarFree]

If you add in all the repeated original text string when replying and headers, a 1,000 or so emails can hit 20,000 "pages" quickly.

[John]

You seem to know a lot about exchanging sexy emails.

[SugarFree]

I wouldn't call what Warty sends me "sexy" in any way.

[Hell's Librarian]

1,000 or so emails

That's still a fricking lot of emails.

[Ted S.]

One email per day per person for 500 days, which comes out to less than a year and five months?

[Res Publica Americana]

Overall update: 100,000 votes for secession overnight.

Texas and Louisiana petitions easily achieved the 25,000-vote threshold necessary for an official response, with 11 other petitions on their way to passing the same threshold within two to four days.

http://tinyurl.com/d32c95y

http://tinyurl.com/cxalerp

[sage]

I can tell you that the response rhymes with"brones"? And lots of them.

[Res Publica Americana]

3,500 more votes since I posted originally. That's some serious speed.

[carol]

Florida has 22,000+ votes

[Whiterun Guard]

I wish I lived in Texas...I love scones!

[Fist of Etiquette]

They're not going to buy their way out of this one with more Obama phones.

[hamilton]

I doubt the white house response will be moans.

[Groovus Maximus]

We certainly can't afford any more loans...

[Ted S.]

Free cell phones? That rhymes with "brones".

[Kaptious Kristen]

Free speech zone?

[Warty]

No more rhyming! I mean it!

[invisible furry hand]

just because no-one's found a rhyme for Warty yet...

[$park?]

I'm not speaking to Warty, could you ask him if he wants a peanut?

[invisible furry hand]

oh hell no. That's probably code for something immoral and unsanitary.

[$park?]

I suppose that's what you get for being an uncultured Aussie. You just never get the references. And here I thought you'd been studying up on us.

[Pi Guy]

Do you think they're using the same wind as us?

[Matrix]

I am in one of the states petitioning. Wish I could sign, but I'm sure my job would be in jeopardy if I did.

[Res Publica Americana]

Which state? Either way, the slowest one is Utah, and even ITS petition will be past the mark in about a week. It'll be great to see what the Dipshit-in-Chief's people have to say about them.

[R C Dean]

I predict their response will be:

[crickets]

[Brett L]

Dear Citizens,
Thank you for your concerns. At this time there is no Constitutional method for the Executive Branch to address them at this time. However, several of you gave addresses that don't resolve on Google Maps. Please remit your correct address to the following email: [e-mail]

Sincerely,
The White House

[Res Publica Americana]

No, it'll be personally signed by President Obama.

[db]

I'd just like to throw Philly and Pittsburgh out of Pennsylvania.

[Francisco d Anconia]

As would most of the rest of PA.

[db]

If Texas succeeds in secession they'll find out what a "secure border" looks like.

[R C Dean]

I pretty sure we can keep the Oklahomans and Arkansans at bay.

[db]

No doubt. I was referencing the fact that the U.S. would probably reinforce that border as a signal to other potentially straying states.

[Jam]

you have to build a wall around socialism not to keep the people out, but to keep them in

[invisible furry hand]

The benefits of being a fat fuck:

Burly landlord is saved by his BEER BELLY after being run down by suspected drug dealers in his car park

[Fist of Etiquette]

22 stone? What is a stone? SPEAK ENGLISH.

[Whiterun Guard]

It's 1370 newtons you heathen.

[Res Publica Americana]

308 lb.

[invisible furry hand]

one stone = 14 pounds.

14 pounds x 22 = 139.7 kilograms

[SugarFree]

That's a whole lot of cocaine!

[Zeb]

Kilograms? What are you, some kind of French communist?

[hamilton]

2.75 hundredweight (imperial), Fist. Jeez do we have to do all the work around here?

[T]

He was told there would be no math.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I lost interest half a sun dial ago.

[John]

Fat flabby annie was incredibly big
She weighed just about sixteen stone
And then a fake dietician went and put her on a diet
Now she looks like skin and bone.
Do the meditation and yoga
And she's thrown away the good food guide
And she's given up the alcohol and pizzas
And the pies and now she looks as if she's ready to die,
You can't see her walk by.

[Lisa]

'Because of my extra weight, I have more protection for my vital organs'

That quote is the best part. It's like he's saying the beer belly was planned in case of emergencies like being catapulted into the air.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...gave Greece two more years to cut its deficit to 2 percent of GDP.

That wasn't a very Nazi thing to do. What are the austerity protesters going to do for the next two years?

[R C Dean]

And when they run out of money again in a few months and aren't on track to hit that target?

[Lord Humungus]

Earth to GOP: Get a Grip
Conservatives should demand IQ tests of Republican candidates.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....LEFTSecond

Which reminds me: Can we, as the GOP base, demand an IQ exam as well as a test of basic knowledge from our congressional and presidential candidates? This is not a flippant suggestion: There were at least five Senate seats in this election cycle that might have been occupied by a Republican come January had not the invincible stupidity of the candidate stood in the way.

On the subject of idiocy, can someone explain where's the political gold in demonizing Latin American immigrants? California's Prop 187, passed in 1994, helped destroy the GOP in a once-reliable state. Yet Republicans have been trying to replicate that fiasco on a national scale ever since.

[AuH2O]

Here's the thing about religion: Most people don't think too deeply about nor do they read theology. It's why guys like Osteen do so well. So, Murdoch's claims of consistency, while honest and true, are not how most people view their faith.

That's why those same people never blame God for Haiti's earthquakes but do thank him for touchdowns.

[hotsy totsy]

The Haitians blame the loas.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

y'know, for some people, principles trump political benefit.

[Zeb]

Even for those people, choosing your words wisely is a good idea when you are running for office.

[Rasilio]

Exactly, a huge part of the skill in being a politician is to either give a meaningless non answer to a difficult question, or phrase the response such that it spins the issue in your direction.

If you truely believe that life begins at conception and that there should be no rape exception you don't come back with some half baked theory on how women don't get pregnant from rape, you ignore the abortion part of the question and talk about the need for tougher penalties for rapists or something similar. If really pressed on the issue you say "I'm sorry but this is just not an issue that is on my radar, lets deal with the use of abortion as contraception first, then we can work on a consensus for how to deal with the issues of rape and incest."

[Dunphy (the real one)]

well put and good strategy for the prolifers

[Brett L]

Look how much good they are doing their like-thinking brethren by NOT getting elected.

[DJF]

""California's Prop 187, passed in 1994, helped destroy the GOP in a once-reliable state.""

So getting the majority of voters to agree with you is bad for a party. It was not the voters who shot down Prop 187 but the courts and the party's establishment. If Prop 187 had been upheld then California probably would not be a one party state.

Also there is the crazy idea that the Hispanics especially Mexicans were going to vote Republican. Reagan passed an amnesty bill and the Republican Hispanic vote went down.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Also there is the crazy idea that the Hispanics especially Mexicans were going to vote Republican. Reagan passed an amnesty bill and the Republican Hispanic vote went down.

The biggest delusion the McCain/Bush wing of the GOP has is that Hispanics are culturally conservative and that getting past the amnesty issue is the only thing holding back the tide of Joses and Marias from switching their vote to Team Red.

They've never understood that Hispanics tend to view everything within a framework of ethnic chauvinism--what's good for La Raza is what ultimately matters to them, and are generally apathetic regarding questions of "liberal/conservative" policy. And no one caters to ethnic minority chauvinism better than Team Blue.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Hey, hey, hey. We cannot allow this loss to make us forsake our principles. It's every Republican's god given right to hate brown people. And I'm not going to stand here and listen to a bunch of libertarians tell me I need to be tolerant.

/Rush

[AuH2O]

The military is really trying to fuck up its reputation as the one thing the government does competently, huh?

[Whiterun Guard]

Well if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that John Freaking Kerry can straighten out this mess.

[DJF]

I would not say that the US military was competent. In the first half of the US existence the US avoided most big wars and survived because it was too big and in the second half it spent more money then its enemies.

[LTC(ret) John]

We have leveraged our national competencies into things like "overwhelming and accurate firepower", "Medivac that works" and such. We have problems and such, but you should see some of the other armies in the world...gah!

Kind of like being the tallest midget, thinnest fat guy. It is all relative.

[Ted S.]

Really, when did they have that reputation? Beetle Bailey has been lampooning military "competence" for over 60 years already.

[AuH2O]

"Well GOOLLLEEEEE Sarge!"

Eh, I guess its my age. I grew up in the 90s and 00s, "every soldier is a hero and we feel bad about calling them baby killers so we're going the other way"

[Ted S.]

Oh, I too hate the post 9/11 hijacking of the word "hero". Especially when it's used for so-called "first responders", another term that irritates me.

[LTC(ret) John]

If the military person isn't wearing at least a Soldier's Medal or a BSM w/V device - "hero" is inappropriate. We, literally, have ways to recognize a "hero".

[AuH2O]

LTC John, you forgot one other automatic hero identifier: If they are a Gurkha. Because those people are terrifying, and I'm not telling one he isn't a hero.

[Lewisite]

^There is truth to this statement^

http://www.policespecials.com/.....n-his-arm/

[Lewisite]

True, those terms have become the 'orange participation ribbons' in watered down significance, everybody's a winner when the media is selling some bullshit that requires some unquestionable reverence.

[Rasilio]

No, you can nuke the careers of any number of Generals you like and it would still be impossible to argue that the United States Military is the most effective killing force the world has ever seen.

Our equiptment, training, and theory of war is light years ahead of anything that exists or ever has existed. The next closest would probably be the Brittish redcoats of the colonial era and then the Roman Legions.

This does not make us invincible, we can surely lose wars on the political front and while we handle it better than any major army ever has we still have problems with asymetrical warfare but if any country wants a good ass whooping all they have to do is try to meet us on a battle field.

[Lord Humungus]

Saudi America
The U.S. will be the world's leading energy producer, if we allow it.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

The biggest potential threat may come from federal regulation in Mr. Obama's second term. Though he tried to take credit for the fracking revolution in his second debate with Mitt Romney, his EPA has long wanted to supplant state regulators and will grab any opportunity to do so. Perhaps the election of pro-fracking Democrats like soon-to-be Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota (home to the monster Bakken Shale field) can give the new energy revolution some needed bipartisan buy-in.

Historians will one day marvel that so much political and financial capital was invested in a green-energy revolution at the very moment a fossil fuel revolution was aborning. But politicians failing to spot the trend until they start taking credit for it is an old story. Let's hope they don't ruin it now that they've noticed.

[Palin's Buttplug]

But Fat Rush says that Obama won't let us drill.

[0073735963]

And you continue to stupidly presume anyone here cares what Rush says about anything...

[Enough About Palin]

You're a buttplug.

[R C Dean]

Did you miss the "if we allow it", Plug?

[Jersey Patriot]

Plenty of drilling is done in Texas, and I seriously doubt the EPA is as tough as the Texas Rail Road Commission. The oil & gas folks I know down there tremble at the thought of dumping or spilling. You spill, you pay out the ass. You dump, you go to jail. The TRRC will fuck you up.

[Lord Humungus]

WWII Nazi's Tank Manuals: Unexpectedly Hilarious!
http://www.darkroastedblend.co.....tedly.html

War is supposed to be serious business, right? Well, not according to German WWII technical writers who turned their thick and boring tank manuals for "Tiger" & "Panther" tanks into some sort of a "Popular Science"/"Playboy"/comic book combination.

These juicy manuals proved to be so popular, that they were even translated into Russian language and read throughout the Soviet Army tank corps. Let me show you a couple of genuine Nazi tank manuals, and see if you can learn something from them in a fun and accessible manner.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The investigation into the affair between ex-CIA Director David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell has snared Gen. John R. Allen...

Apparently the flag ranks are where all the swingers hang out.

[Rich]

General Disorder and Major Malfunction.

[Spoonman.]

John Kerry? Are you shitting me?

[Whiterun Guard]

You can't actually be surprised, can you?

[LTC(ret) John]

I am, rumors were State for him - how in the Hell would he expect to get any respect from anyone inside DoD?

[Whiterun Guard]

Why would he care?

[Kaptious Kristen]

The snotty prep schoolers at State would fucking love John Kerry as their boss. A Massatwoshits Senator with a patrician, foreign-born wife? State Dept orgasm time!

[db]

John Kerry, Reporting for doody!

[R C Dean]

John Kerry, Reporting for doody!

Apparently, in this man's Army, its "reporting for booty".

[LTC(ret) John]

Heh. The stories I could tell of the 25th Infantry Division (Light).

[db]

Nice one.

[Adam330]

I'd imagine it would be hard to be SecDef when every single person that works for you hates your guts. It should be a good show.

[Heedless]

First fragged SecDef in American history? Not a good precedent, but I'd bring popcorn.

[Restoras]

The lulz will be epic. I can't wait.

[Res Publica Americana]

Whiney dipshits respond to state secession petitions:

http://tinyurl.com/abdwmmv

"Deport Everyone That Signed A Petition To Withdraw Their State From The United States Of America."

And:

http://tinyurl.com/ax37j8u

"Strip the Citizenship from Everyone who Signed a Petition to Secede and Exile Them

Mr. President, please sign an executive order such that each American citizen who signed a petition from any state to secede from the USA shall have their citizenship stripped and be peacefully deported."

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

Soviet-style deportations are okay if we're doing it.

/Pinko fuck

[John]

See e.g. Shrike. These people are demonic little retards. They are angry, they are bitter, their entire personal identity is invested in a failed political ideology. As things get worse, they are only going to get worse.

[Res Publica Americana]

The Satanic immorality of the petitioners is just fucking unbelievable. Fuck them to death with a fucking barbed club.

[John]

The secessionists? They are just blowing off steam. I would rather have them signing petitions that will go nowhere than picking up a gun.

[Res Publica Americana]

I meant the petitioners seeking to deport secessionists, John. Lol. I'm in support of the secessionists.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I hear lots of your fellow wingnuts talking about leaving for Australia.

They don't know about Aussie universal healthcare, strict gun laws, carbon tax and mandatory voting (or their atheist prime minister).

[Res Publica Americana]

And who would that be, dipshit? Australia's a progressive hole. I'll castrate myself with a fucking pitchfork before I move to fucking Australia.

[Ted S.]

Eight years ago, the wingnuts were talking about emigrating to Canada.

[Lewisite]

Yeah, fleeing to Canada was always tre' chic for the libprogs when shit in the U.S. wasn't going their way. After coming back to tell their fellow American babykillers about how fucked-up they were for not adopting Canada's social sensibilities, namely universal healthcare. Then, when the Canadians try to move some tar sands through the U.S. to, you know...pay for their universal healthcare, The libprogs promptly return the favor...by breaking it off in the Canadians ass. So much for BFF4evar.

[John]

They are just angry retards. See Shrike above. And sadly shrike is one of the brighter ones. Sorry I misunderstood.

[Res Publica Americana]

John, if Shrike's one of the brighter ones, we're so very fucked. Is it too late to move to Antarctica?

[John]

The moon or mars RPA.

[Restoras]

There are are plenty of nice places in 'flyover' country too.

[tarran]

IF we are to complete the circle, we need a petition to deport the people who signed the petition to deport the secessionists.

[mr simple]

Maybe we should just start a petition to shut down that website.

[Jeff]

Here:

http://wh.gov/9uUq

[hotsy totsy]

Yet two weeks ago all the Dems were threatening to move to Canada if Romney won. Assholes.

[Lord Humungus]

really? I'll sign if I can get a free airline ticket to a destination of my choice and get political asylum.

[Res Publica Americana]

I'll sign it if I get to nuke Chicago.

[NoVAHockey]

http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

put in a zip code, select the weapon's yield and see the estimated results.

[Brett L]

Yeah. I like how it uses your location as the initial ground zero. I'm sure my playing with that site in my office next to the FL state Capitol just raised some NSA eyebrows.

[LTC(ret) John]

"Sir, we need to see you about something..."

/Midnight knock on the door

[Res Publica Americana]

That's for amateurs. Nowadays, they'd just send a Hellfire his way.

[nicole just can't even!]

Hey, I'm the one who told you about the petitions, and I'm here!

[Res Publica Americana]

God damn it, Nicole, stop messing up my nuking schedule!

[LTC(ret) John]

Oh sure, you'd turn me to iridescent slag - but since nicole asks nicely (I'll bet she batted her eyelashes at you too!) we are spared?!

[Res Publica Americana]

It's one weakness of the patriarchy -- hormones turn us into slobbering fools. Leave Chicago before Nicole gets tired of buying you time.

*Hysterical, malicious laugh*.

[nicole just can't even!]

It's only fair, since batting eyelashes is the only form of defense a lady has.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Thank you nicole for buying me time.

[gaijin]

Yes, but Chuck Schumer would like to discuss the disposal of your assets before you leave.

[Lord Humungus]

it's all tied up... sorry, Chucky,

[db]

Not making a canoe out of me!!!!

[invisible furry hand]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

But that was written in the olden times so it doesn't count

[Res Publica Americana]

The Conventions' attending delegates are spinning violently in their graves, creating the risk of a fucking singularity appearing and putting us all out of our misery.

[A Frayed Knot]

It was also written in that Old Tyme English that's too hard to understand.

/EzraKlein

[ant1sthenes]

Um, if you let them secede, isn't that effectively deporting them?

[mad libertarian guy]

Um, if you let them secede, isn't that effectively deporting them?

THIS.

It isn't about living in their little progressive utopia for these people. It's about forcing everyone to create it for them.

[sarcasmic]

They're just showing how tolerant they are by not tolerating intolerance.

[nicole just can't even!]

Okay now the statism actually became painful.

[R C Dean]

Oh, please, revoke my citizenship. I've got the scratch to qualify for permanent residency and citizenship in Panama (that I know of) and probably other desirable expat destinations as well, and this would get me clear of those bothersome IRS asset-stripping rules.

[mad libertarian guy]

Check out Uruguay. There's a couple of rather large US expat communities. And the weather is MUCH better than hot and humid as fuck Panama.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I'm thinking Chile.

[Francisco d Anconia]

In Soviet Russia...

Oh, never mind.

[Lord Humungus]

Meanwhile, in the land down under:

Big sewage dump puts out fireys
http://www.dailytelegraph.com......info_popup

Up to 50 firefighters and four aircraft were working on the 30ha bushfire at Kew, near Port Macquarie, on Tuesday when a helicopter mistakenly drew up the wastewater from the wrong pond at the nearby sewage treatment plant and dropped it on them.

More than half the firefighters had to be decontaminated, along with their equipment, and were treated by paramedics at the scene.

None reported any adverse symptoms from the incident.

[Ted S.]

They just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich.

[Whiterun Guard]

Wasn't that an exact scene from Police Academy 7: Cops Down Under?

Did anyone check the location of Mahoney during the 'sucking' operation? And wasn't Detective Harris undercover as a fireman at the time?

[db]

Those guys will never get a cold again. My immune system got an insane boost from an accidental dousing with secondary wastewater years ago.

[Ice Nine]

Twenty different kinds of dysentery and hepatitis is small price to pay for being respiratory infection free for life, I'm sure.

[mr simple]

Here's the door to your body, see? And these are oversized novelty germs. That's influenza, that's bronchitis, and this cute little cuddle-bug is pancreatic cancer. Here's what happens when they all try to get through the door at once. Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo. Move it, chowderhead. We call it, "Three Stooges Syndrome".

[Francisco d Anconia]

More than half the firefighters had to be decontaminated, along with their equipment, and were treated by paramedics at the scene.

IOW, they took a shower and hosed down their equipment. Fucking sensationalists.

[Lord Humungus]

Total Solar Eclipse Occurs Tuesday: How to Watch Online
http://www.space.com/18435-tot.....nline.html

[Ted S.]

Well, it's going to be raining where I live.

[Groovus Maximus]

On your wedding day?

[Ted S.]

You oughta know.

[Groovus Maximus]

I couldn't help it. It's all your fault.

[Whiterun Guard]

Thank you, Groovus.

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's hard to fathom that that song was written about this guy.

[$park?]

This is why you don't discuss politics at home.

A pregnant Arizona woman was arrested after allegedly running over her husband with her SUV upon discovering he did not vote in last week's election.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

nice. i had one not too long ago where a pregnant woman shot at her husband's car as he drove off because he was 'drunk and i didn't want him to hurt anybody'.

interestingly, the most serious charge against her was only a misdemeanor.

[Rich]

interestingly, the most serious charge against her was only a misdemeanor.

Because she had a friend in the FBI?

[Dunphy (the real one)]

lol, no. it was the most serious charge that applied under our penal code

mens rea and shit

all i could find the night i investigated was a misdemeanor to charge her with. later, when i went over the case with a prosecutor, he came to the same conclusion

i just found it kind of amazing she could shoot at his car as he drove off and only get a misdemeanor.

most people would assume that's a felony

not under the circs we had, and under my state's penal code

weird

[Brett L]

Women love to use them cars as weapons.

[John]

The situation in public housing projects in Coney Island, Brooklyn remains a "humanitarian crisis" in which the government and the Red Cross have been nearly completely absent, according to Eric Moed, a volunteer aid worker with Occupy Sandy.

Friday is Moed's fifth day volunteering with Occupy Sandy, an ad hoc hurricane relief group formed by former Occupy Wall Street activists. Moed, an architect from Brooklyn's Clinton Hill neighborhood, goes door to door in the 30-40 public housing buildings in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn to distribute food, water and supplies, and help address sanitation and medical needs. The projects in Coney Island remain without power, and often without water and necessities in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Accounts of these conditions have been corroborated in the New York Daily News.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....01396.html

Why does Obama hate black people?

[VG Zaytsev]

He doesn't hate them.

He just doesn't give a shit about them now that he's won the election.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Are the citizens shooting at helicopters and raping people in Mark G. Etess Arena?

[mad libertarian guy]

But there's NO WAY that groups of people could spontaneously gather and work toward a common goal better than Big Government!

[Res Publica Americana]

MO: Two great bills that could make a change for Missouri:

1) http://www.senate.mo.gov/12inf.....llID=92867

"A bill sponsored by state Sen. Brian Nieves, a Washington Republican, would have amended the Missouri constitution to prohibit state government from "recognizing, enforcing, or acting in furtherance of any federal action that exceeds the powers delegated to the federal government."

2) http://www.house.mo.gov/billsu.....012&code=R

"Another bill introduced in the Missouri House this year by Republican Rep. Kurt Bahr would have made it a crime for any government official in the state to enforce the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. The bill cleared the House and a Senate committee."

-------

RACIST STaTE's RITES!1!

[Rich]

Interesting stuff.

I suggest the authors of the first bill should tighten up "the powers delegated to the federal government" language to avoid being clobbered by "deeming"/executive-order/etc. crap.

[Res Publica Americana]

It's already surprisingly loophole-free, but there's support for making the language much stricter that I think the sponsors will go along with.

I'm eagerly awaiting the Democratic outrage over the neo-Confederate takeover of Missouri1!!!!

[Brett L]

"Not explicitly delegated to the federal government in the text of the Constitution."

[mad libertarian guy]

RACIST STaTE's RITES!1!

Does that make those who voted in favor of ending marijuana prohibition in CO and WA racist too?

[AuH2O]

I actually kind of feel sorry for the Elmo guy. He bonked a 16 year old, not a 6 year old, and honestly if his story is true he didn't even touch the kid till he was legal.

But there is no way in hell that he ever works anywhere near the Sesame people again. Can't go scaring the stay at home moms.

[John]

Yeah. I am sorry but your typical 16 year old can consent to sex. I am not advising or condoning older people having sex with teenagers. But it is not a crime and certainly not the same things as people who rape children.

[Zeb]

I hate it when people conflate sex with a sexually mature teenager and pedophilia. I agree that it is generally wise to steer clear of such relationships with much younger people, but way too often people talk about it as if it is the same as fucking a child.

[John]

If my 16 year old is having an affair with a 30 year old teacher, I am not going to be happy with him or her but I am also going to be unhappy with my 16 year old. It is a totally different thing than if he or she were 10.

[AuH2O]

I mean, people of that age difference were getting married in the 30s and 40s for God's sake.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Yeah, I think my Grandmother was 16. I guess that makes my Grandfather a sexual predator.

[mr simple]

Except in California. IANAL, but according to this site, and penal code linked, it illegal for anyone to engage in sexual relations with anyone under the age of 18, including other minors.

[Rasilio]

Well technically it may be a crime depending on your location but you are right, it should not be a crime.

While I generally oppose Age of Consent laws because of their one size fits all nature (some kids are ready at 14, others not till they are 20 and each case should be tried on it's own merits) I think a perfectly reasonable and sane system that would work for 99% of cases would have the age of consent at 16 with Romeo and Juliet covering kids down to 13 as long as the older person is no more than 5 years older.

[Lisa]

How do you define child when someone has gotten pregnant as young as five? That's barely past the toddler stage. On the other hand, I didn't reach menstruation until my 16th birthday. The law can't take into account the huge range where puberty can happen and we no longer have a culture that encourages people to become self-sufficient before they start making adult decisions. I think that's the biggest problem. If a 16 year old gets AIDS or pregnant from their decisions, their parents are responsible ...not the person who took advantage of them.

[robc]

While screwing a 16 year is legal, most places, its still a little to a lot creepy (depending on size of age differenece) and I dont have a problem with an employer making decisions based on that.

Do you want someone with that poor of judgement working for you?

[Zeb]

I'd have to look at the particular case to make that decision, but I think that if you work on a well regarded children's show, it is probably a pretty stupid move.

[T]

if you work on a well regarded children's show supported primarily by donations it is probably a pretty stupid move

Fixed.

[Zeb]

I'd say augmented. "fixed" is getting boring.

[AuH2O]

Hey, Thomas the Tank Engine had well known stoner George Carlin on it. And no one gave a shit.

[nicole just can't even!]

Plus well-known stoner Ringo Starr.

[AuH2O]

I think Ringo is in my top 5 of celebs. He never tried to do anything he couldn't, he seemed happy to get the fame he had, and he knew when to shut up after the limelight slid away.

He basically was happy to say, "Listen, I was in the biggest band ever, I have a hot wife, and insane amounts of money. I'm good."

[nicole just can't even!]

Plus, he sings "Octopus's Garden" and "Don't Pass Me By."

[invisible furry hand]

and his solo hit "Photograph"

And when the Beatles returned from India, Ringo said it was just like Butlins*

* a chain of family holiday camps

[John]

And he did those Ringo's all star band tours which were great. And Ringo is an underrated drummer. He kept great time, and he knew enough to stay out of the way.

[Whiterun Guard]

Plus he was in Caveman, one of the greatest movies of all time.

[LTC(ret) John]

Zug zug!

[robc]

Exactly. Despite Lennon's comment that he wasnt the best drummer in The Beatles (which wasnt true), he was a damn good drummer. Just not showy.

[T]

He never tried to do anything he couldn't

You've obviously never heard him 'sing' on his solo albums.

[AuH2O]

Also, Ringo seems like the type of guy who you hear stories about how one night, he showed up at some bar bands show in London and offered to drum for them, and made the kids' night.

[Whiterun Guard]

I heard he sat in with Napalm Death one time when their drummer didn't show up, and played everything off of Scum perfectly, including the stuff they had to over dub.

With only one bass drum pedal.

[nicole just can't even!]

Basking in the Ringo love. I always get made fun of!

[Brett L]

Yep, but this is a "play with fire, get burned" scenario. The type of 16 year old who is going to have a relationship beyond a short running casual hookup with a 45 year old is probably not the most stable.

[AuH2O]

Well, I've heard shit like that is more common in the gay community, because most teens don't want to be "out" in their high school or to their families and so on.

Gay male community. I have no idea about the gay female community, although Sally Ride WAS dating a much younger woman.

[db]

Sally Ride the astronaut? I didn't know she was gay.

[AuH2O]

Well, she was married to a dude at one point maybe bi.

[invisible furry hand]

yep, it was in all her obits a few months ago. Lived with a woman for 27 years. Less well reported was this cheery detail

Under the US Defence of Marriage Act, Ms O'Shaughnessy is not eligible for government benefits normally payable to the surviving spouse of a former federal employee.

http://www.theaustralian.com.a.....6438075641

[tarran]

BBC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep secret a list of 28 people who decided that the cult of Antrhopogenic Global Warming should reign supreme on its airways.

Unfortunately for the BBC, and fortunately for the rest of us, one of the organizers put the list on the Internet.

We now know that someone within the BBC told Bridcut ... that a seminar 'with the best scientific experts' informed a major editorial decision on how climate change was to be presented to the public at a crucial moment in the battle to persuade the public to take anthropogenic global warming seriously. And make no mistake, the BBC is not just a source of information, like Wikipedia or the reference section of a library, it is a major opinion former too. How the BBC decides to portray current affairs really matters and has an enormous effect.

The names on the list that Maurizio has published in no way justify the claim made in the 'Wagon Wheel' report. It is not enough for the BBC to merely make an apology and a correction at this late stage; much, much more is needed if the organisation's reputation is to be restored.

What the Saville scandal has shown us is that there is a culture of deceit - and of turning a blind eye to unwelcome problems - at the BBC which extends back over decades

.

[Zeb]

I can't remember who it was, but I actually heard a very good essay on reasons to be skeptical of global warming claims on the BBC a while ago.

[Rich]

The FBI has at least 20,000 pages of "potentially inappropriate" communication between Allen and Jill Kelley

And another thing: WTF does "potentially inappropriate" even mean? *Everything* is "potentially inappropriate".

[VG Zaytsev]

When you parse the wording of the reporting on this affair(scandal, situation, not even sure what to call it)
it is full of bullshit misrepresentations and innuendo.

The whole thing stinks and is reminiscent of an old Soviet style purge.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Adding a meaningless phrase sells copy.

[PapayaSF]

WTF does "potentially inappropriate" even mean?

That some are along the lines of "I am still thinking of our time under the desk," but they haven't read them all so the rest might be URLs to funny cat videos.

[Groovus Maximus]

HERE'S YOUR DAILY DOSE OF CUTENESS!!!

[tarran]

I like the nudity, but they're too young and too hairy.

[Brett L]

Keep scrolling.

[gaijin]

I look forward to the news item about the cute Tiger and Black Bear that grew up and ate their owner...so cute, so cuddly...so wild 😉

[Brett L]

Its a liger.

No, really.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....latestnews

Group turns to social media to rally support for Papa John's amid liberal backlash

Daniel Wetter is just 16 years old, but his plan to support pizza chain Papa John's amid a backlash of liberal criticism is no pie-in-the-sky idea.

Wetter is part of an upstart group called Rebooting America that is proposing that Friday be a national day of appreciation for the pizza chain, whose chief executive officer is being attacked for saying employees' hours might be cut to cover the cost of implementing their health insurance under ObamaCare.

The conservative group has hatched a social media-based campaign that centers on encouraging people to buy a pizza pie at a Papa John's store, taking a photo of the outing and then posting it on a Facebook page or tweeting it.

---------

Stupid progressives pass retarded, costly law; proceed to bitch about people's attempts to cope with consequences of said law.

Are comatose gerbils as dumb as Obamatrons?

[John]

No they are not. comatose gerbils don't do the kind of damage Obamtrons do.

It is so funny and sad that the very people who grew up calling everyone else "fascist" were the first ones to jump on the bandwagon when a real fascist movement and figure came along.

[Res Publica Americana]

But they're SMARTER than the old fascists, so it'll all work out! Why do you hate grannies, John?

[VG Zaytsev]

It was projection, John.

Just like their seeing racism everywhere.

[Zeezrom]

Don't you understand? A dollar today is worth more than a dollar-fifty a week from today. The majority agrees.

[Res Publica Americana]

IT'S FOR THE CHILDREN.

[Zeb]

Did they really think that a mandate to spend a bunch of money on benefits wouldn't affect employment at all?

[Fist of Etiquette]

This is about feelings.

[invisible furry hand]

when is it not?

[Groovus Maximus]

When the bill arrives, and the piper is demanding his money.

[invisible furry hand]

oh you big meanie you.

[robc]

This is an Iron Law type situation.

Cutting hours is an obvious consequence of the law. That and companies not growing to 50 in size. You can make a lot of money at size 45, we go to 50 if it lowers profit?

I had lunch with an ex-boss yesterday, he said their "office manager" (I dont know her exact title) has said she is going to retire if they hire a 50th employee (they are close, but not THAT close) because she doesnt want to deal with the extra paperwork. He said that, therefore, their 50th employee would have to be an HR person.

This is one of those things that is so obvious that people have been yelling it for years: SEPARATE HEALTH INSURANCE FROM EMPLOYMENT. Its a mistake 60 years old.

[John]

This is what happened in Europe. You end up with an hourglass economy. You have huge companies that have the economies of scale to deal with paper work, small companies that don't have to do it and nothing in between. It is a great deal for big companies since it eliminates any small companies from ever growing large enough to compete with them. This is why big corporations love big government.

[robc]

Absolutely.

And yet another proof that this was both foreseeable and intended.

[VG Zaytsev]

Yep.

[robc]

I can give another example of this that is affecting exactly 2 companies in the US.

The federal excise tax on beer.

The excise tax rate is $7/bbl on the first 60k barrels and $18/bbl above that. So far, no problem, its a progressive excise tax. EXCEPT, the $7 rate doesnt apply to companies producing more than 2M barrels per year.

So if you make 1,999,999 bbls in a year, your total excise tax is
60k*7+1939999*18=$35,339,982.
If you make 2,000,000 bbls, that goes to $36,000,000.

So the marginal tax on the 2 millionth barrel is $660018. Needless to say, there is no point in BARELY going over 2M.

Which is why I think Yuengling exploded into Ohio last year. To rush past that 2M barrier far enough to make it worth while.

Its also why Yuengling and Sam Adams have been lobbying hard to get that 2M limit changed to 6M (and also to get both rates lowered to get others on board).

Other than those 2, everyone is either significantly over or significantly under that 2M divide.

Its a really stupid way to make a law. Just give everyone the 60k lower rate, let Budweiser have a $660k tax cut.

[John]

But Bud is an evil corporation!!

[T]

And furrin, too!

[Mickey Rat]

And the arguments against will be that the government has to make up that money somehow, and only a corporate crony would suggest such tax leniency.

[robc]

"why go", not "we go"

And for those who say it was forseeable but not intended, I disagree. It was forseeable AND when it happened, gives the progressives a chance to demonize "big business" for doing the obvious.

This was absolutely intended.

[Palin's Buttplug]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

Local currency fad hits Washington - "Rachel Carson notes".

[John]

What do they give you malaria?

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012.....latestnews

Marine fatally shot by police in California desert

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. ? Police say they had no choice but to shoot and kill a Camp Pendleton Marine after he refused to pull over, drove into one officer, and tried to drive off with another officer hanging halfway out of his car window.

The Marine repeatedly ignored orders to stop after being approached by officers on bike patrol around 2 a.m. Saturday, the Palm Springs Police Department said in a statement Monday.

One of the officers partially climbed into the passenger window to stop the car, but the Marine accelerated, striking the other officer, the department said. The Marine kept driving with the officer hanging out of the window until the car crashed near the garage exit, it said.

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

To protect and serve!

[R C Dean]

I'm curious as to what having a cop halfway through your window does to your ability to control a car.

[VG Zaytsev]

Why the fuck would a cop crawl into the window of a moving car?

[R C Dean]

His gun jammed?

[Res Publica Americana]

Because it's a part of his state-of-the-art tactical training, right before the part when they're taught about how to pick the best donuts at Dunkin' Donuts.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

A homeless guy got into a scuffle with a LAX cop a few years back, and the homeless guy jumps into the cop's cruiser and starts to take off. The cop decides to go all T.J. Hooker and jumps on the hood of the cruiser as it speeds off. Of course, it is hard to steer when your view is being obstructed by a person on your hood. Homeless guy TC's into a fence/barricade, throwing the cop off the vehicle into the fence. The cop is decapitated. Homeless guy gets tried for capital murder. I do believe he is sitting on death row now.

My question, what part of this cop's training ever taught him to jump on a fucking moving cruiser? Dipshit made a bad decision, and suffered the consequences. Not homeless man's fault.

[Atanarjuat]

Apparently he didn't get the "OFFICER SAFETY" memo.

[Zeezrom]

So, is Petraeus going to be the fall-guy for Benghazi? Or is he just meant to be a distraction until we lose what little interest remains?

[Eduard van Haalen]

They've narrowed it down to Petraeus, Holder and Clinton. And some assistant sec'y who retired this month.

Or George Bush.

[The Late P Brooks]

Mr. President, please sign an executive order such that each American citizen who signed a petition from any state to secede from the USA shall have their citizenship stripped and be peacefully deported."

What, no insane asylums?

I am disappoint.

[invisible furry hand]

China's new first lady is apparently a famous folk singer. Judge her works, ye mighty, and quail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R5SCXKrWpo

[Groovus Maximus]

Oj! That reminds me! I need to order The Last Emperor from Amazon.

[Res Publica Americana]

Courtesy of the 24/7 Newsfee:

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

Man arrested for posting image of burning poppy on Twitter

A man has been arrested for posting an image of a burning poppy on a social network site.

Kent Police said in a statement that the man, from Aylesham, was detained last night on suspicion of making malicious telecommunications and that he was in custody awaiting interview.

The force does not say whether the arrested man actually burned the poppy, or just posted the photo online.

The arrest was met with incredulity on Twitter, where people mounted a fierce discussion over civil liberties.

Tom Williams, tweeting as @tomwilliamsisme, wrote: ''The scary thing is, the man wasn't arrested for burning a poppy - that's not illegal. He was arrested for putting it online.''

Jamie's Pants, under @thisisrjg, tweeted: ''We do not have a right to not be offended. We certainly don't have a right to lock up someone for offending some people'', while Thom Lumley, tweeting as @Hotstepperrr, wrote: ''Dear idiots at Kent Police, burning a poppy may be obnoxious, but it is not a criminal offence.''

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

Limetree Island goes Full Retard. Welcome to 1984.

[sarcasmic]

What is offensive about burning a poppy? I don't get it.

[Res Publica Americana]

It's a symbol of remembrance for the military dead on Limetree Island.

[sarcasmic]

gotcha

[John]

Oh the flower. yeah, they have gone full retard.

[WTF]

Remembrance Day, is also known as Armistice Day or Poppy Day. So burning a poppy on that day is a little obnoxious.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"What is offensive about burning a poppy?"

[Insert opium joke here.]

[LTC(ret) John]

OK "Burning poppy - ur doin' it wrong!"

[John]

What the fuck is a "poppy"?

[Res Publica Americana]

""""""The remembrance poppy (a Papaver rhoeas) has been used since 1920 to commemorate soldiers who have died in war. Inspired by the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields", they were first used by the American Legion to commemorate American soldiers who died in that war (1914?1918). They were then adopted by military veterans' groups in the Commonwealth; especially the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Today, they are mainly used in the UK and Canada to commemorate their servicemen and women who have been killed since 1914. There, small artificial poppies are often worn on clothing on Remembrance Day/Armistice Day (11 November) and in the weeks before it. Poppy wreaths are also often laid at war memorials.

The remembrance poppy is especially prominent in the UK in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Sunday. They are sold by The Royal British Legion for its "Poppy Appeal" and it is seen as befitting for public figures to wear one, which some have berated as "poppy fascism". The poppy is especially controversial in Northern Ireland and most Irish nationalists and Irish Catholics refuse to wear one due to the actions of the British Army during The Troubles. There has also been controversy over their introduction to the world of sport.""""""

[John]

Yeah. Now I get it.

[Res Publica Americana]

Irony: Americans came up with the idea, but you get lots of Limeys complaining that Americans don't wear poppies to commemorate the fallen.

Houston, this is Europe. Approaching Peak Retard at maximum velocity.

[LTC(ret) John]

Eh... the VFW and I think the Am Legion have "buddy poopies" - you may see old dudes at intersections handing them out and soliciting donations around Memorial Day.

[invisible furry hand]

they hand out poop? Jesus...

[EDG reppin' LBC]

"buddy poopies"

Two veterans one cup?

[Robert S]

*barf*

[NoVAHockey]

NHL coaches would have been wearing them this week. If there were an NHL. fuck.

[LTC(ret) John]

STOP REMINDING ME!!!!

[R C Dean]

I figured a "poppy" was one of those Britishisms. Or a typo.

[Zeb]

I fail to see ho burning a poppy is obnoxious, offensive or threatening at all to anyone. I guess it is because of poppies that grow on the battle fields/cemeteries from WWI. It's like people go out of their way to find things to be offended by.

[Rich]

It's like people go out of their way to find things to be offended by.

Now, *that's* offensive!

[Res Publica Americana]

Police states tend to be full of assholes as well as thugs.

[sarcasmic]

A tolerant society does not tolerate intolerance.

The more swiftly and harshly they deal with intolerance, the more tolerant they are.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Dollars to doughnuts, the "man" who posted the photo is, what the Brits call, "Asian".

[Res Publica Americana]

Pa. officials plan no probe despite extraordinary turnout, totals for Obama in Philly

http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....latestnews

Pennsylvania election officials say they are not planning to investigate the extraordinary turnout and vote totals that President Obama garnered from parts of Philadelphia last Tuesday.

"In a presidential election year, there are times where you get extremely high turnout," said Ron Ruman, press secretary for Pennsylvania's Department of State, in a telephone interview with Fox News. "We would investigate if we thought there was something shady going on. But at this point, we have no reason to think that."

Ruman's comments came as Philadelphia news outlets and election analysts have flagged the near-unanimity with which the Obama-Biden ticket swept pockets of the City of Brotherly Love. As the Philadelphia Inquirer first reported last week, six of Philadelphia's 66 wards handed the president victory shares of 99 percent or better. In 20 of the wards, the Obama vote totals exceeded 97 percent.

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

I smell enormous fraud that nobody will give a fuck about because it contributed to Hussein I's reelection.

[John]

The difference in the EC vote was 407,000 votes in a few key states. I think the Chicago machine easily manufactured that many or a few more votes. I don't see how a million or so would be beyond them. That was their strategy, divide the electorate, run on social issues (funny how Reason doesn't seem to care when Dems run on social issues), and get close enough to let the fraud carry them over the finish line.

[Res Publica Americana]

Un-possible. Only Rethuglicants cheat. Purest Demorats wouldn't dare!

[Palin's Buttplug]

So what? Romney got 99% in Dogdick, Ga.

[WTF]

Because the same thing happening in a city of 1.5 million is EXACTLY as statistically likely as it happening in a tiny rural town. Not that I believe you about any tiny rural town you dishonest assmunch.

[0073735963]

That's the whole thing, shrike is not only a fucking liar, requiring a made up example city to point to because no real example exists, but he also thinks that because he fabricated an example, that somehow makes the alleged Obama fraud OK.

It's like he's too fucking stupid to realize most of us aren't team assholes and just want the voter fraud to stop.

[John]

Stupid and evil pretty much sums up shreek.

[R C Dean]

Let's not forget that those were the areas where the Dems illegally evicted the Republican election monitors for a few hours.

[Jersey Patriot]

According to the Pew Forum's exit polls, black Protestants voted for Obama 95-5. They voted for Gore 92-7. I'm not at all surprised that there are poor black wards where Romney gets essentially 0 votes.

[mr simple]

Speaking of good decision:

Man with Mitt Romney face tattoo has no regrets

[Rich]

Hartsburg hopes his Romney face tattoo will open some doors in showbiz

*** facetattoopalm ***

[Whiterun Guard]

That's probably one of the most optimistic things I've ever read. Ever.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://radio.foxnews.com/todds.....nthem.html

Nearly 200 high school hockey teams in Pennsylvania have been advised to eliminate the national anthem because it takes too much time to perform and costs too much money.

"We are recommending the national anthem not be played or sung or whatever it is," Ed Sam, commissioner of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League told Fox News. "It has absolutely nothing to do with patriotism at all. That's the furthest thing from the truth."

Schools were notified of the directive in an email from the PIHL. He said teams are only allotted a certain amount of time to play matches.

Sam also said it had to do with economics. He said ice time is quite expensive and the national anthem eats into the clock.

"Ice is very, very hard to get and it's not cheap," he told television station KDKA, noting that it costs upwards of $300 per hour for schools to rent ice rinks.

The decision has been met with fierce opposition. Many hockey fans said the national anthem should remain.

"I go back to the 1960s with high school hockey and it's always been a part of it," Bob Mock told KDKA. "A part of our history and it should be a part of the game."

[John]

I can kind of get that. You have to rent the ice.

[NoVAHockey]

and it's not cheap. it's why my beer-league games start at at 11:00 some night.

[Zeb]

I've never really understood why the national anthem needs to be part of sporting events anyway.

[Ted S.]

Good. I think performing the national anthem before sporting events is a dumb idea. It's an excuse for bullies to claim they're more "patriotic" because they sing the song louder.

[db]

Thank god. What a waste of time.

[Cyto]

Actually, when played properly the anthem takes less than 50 seconds.

It is an old Irish drinking tune, not a funeral dirge.

[Ice Nine]

So Jill Kelley just generally fucks around it seems. I love the idea of a 21st century camp follower.

[John]

Pretty much. Where was her husband? And she was a quite attractive camp follower.

[Rich]

Where was her husband?

[John]

Maybe he is into it. There is a whole culture of men who get off on their wives screwing other guys. To each their own.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I can see Newt getting off on watching Callista get banged.

[Ice Nine]

The problem would be finding someone to bang her.

[LTC(ret) John]

Maybe shrike is volunteering ... *shudder*

[NeonCat]

His high pitched giggling would put me off.

[Tim]

The FBI couldn't connect the dots on 9/11 but they have connected Emails and hurt feelings and professionals behaving like horny...congressmen.

I don't feel safer.

[AuH2O]

Listen, the FBI has some score settling to do with the CIA, even if everyone else in America thinks that it is the dumbest pissing match ever.

[Tim]

It's like the Yankees and the Red Sox then?

[John]

No More like the Corelones and Tatalias.

[John]

Thread winner!!

[Tim]

I think America would be safer if having sex wasn't a career ending crime. "He was subject to blackmail"- Well, yeah, but it was the EMail that did him in.

[John]

Blackmail my ass. When has that ever actually happened? Do you really think Petreus or anyone would risk life in a Supermax to keep his wife from knowing he was screwing around? Possible but unlikely. Dulles was a great intelligence officer and fucked everything that moved.

[sarcasmic]

and fucked everything that moved

Being that you're an expert on the subject, if you say so then I believe you.

[John]

And I would have made a great intelligence officer too.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Robert Hansen - his kinky proclivities made him vulnerable to the Commies.

[John]

He just wanted money. I didn't think sex had anything to do with it. And the problem with Hanson was that once he turned the FBI didn't notice for 30 years.

[Kaptious Kristen]

They wouldn't have approached him, however, if they couldn't say to him "we'll tell your wife that your friend is watching to fuck her on CCTV". That gave them the opening, and the money made him take the deal.

[John]

He was close circuiting him screwing his wife so his buddy could watch?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Hansen had a friend, who was working for the Russians, to his home frequently. Hansen set up CCTV so this friend could watch Hansen screw his wife from the comfort of the den.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I mean, the friend was in the den, smoking & drinking and watching live porn coming from the bedroom.

[John]

Wow. Hansen's wife had to know. Who goes up to the bedroom to screw when a house guest is in the Den? She may not have known about the CCTV. But she was certainly into the guy being there and at least hearing them.

[T]

Never hung around big military bases, have you, Ice? There's plenty of camp followers. It's just that most of them don't manage to bag 4 star generals.

[John]

Most of them don't look like her.

[Rasilio]

Yeah the problem is a lot of them are just looking to get knocked up and marry a GI for the benefits

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-.....e-premiums

Obamacare to Jack Up Insurance Premiums

If you haven't already heard from your employer about open enrollment -- well, brace yourself. Premiums are high and rising. According to a survey from the National Business Group on Health, employers expect their health insurance costs to increase 7%. And, 60% of those employers plan to ask workers to pay higher monthly premiums.

Case in point, Wal-Mart stores - the Bentonville, Arkansas based retailer and the nation's largest employer - will ask employees to pay premiums that are eight% to 36% more next year. The company has said if you average costs over the more than one million employees who are covered - workers' contributions will rise just 4.4%. According to an Aon Hewitt survey, premiums will rise 9% on average nationally.

Wal-Mart says it is trying to cope with rising medical costs which make up a huge chunk of the retailer's costs. The company has gone so far as announcing the opening of six health centers where it will offer free heart and spine surgery to most employees.

-------

AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE INCOMING!

[Ted S.]

Foreseeable consequences are not unintended. Isn't there a neon law or something about that?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Wal-Mart insurance is $60/month for employees. It is cheap.

[LTC(ret) John]

It would have been cheaper and not had such high deductibles (who knows for co-pays).

[The Late P Brooks]

people mounted a fierce discussion over civil liberties.

"Bring out the comfy chair!"

[Ted S.]

It's been done

[SugarFree]

Tax-Dodging With Carrots

When new austerity measures in Spain bumped the tax on theater tickets to 21% over the summer, Quim Marc? figured his theater in the small town of Bescan? would go under. Then he had an idea: Why not sell carrots, plentiful in the farmland that surrounds the village, instead of tickets? "We sell one carrot, which costs [$16]?very expensive for a carrot," he explains to NPR. "But then we give away admission to our shows for free."

The theater pays just 4% tax on the carrots sold, since the vegetables are classified as a staple and thus not taxed nearly as much. Theater tickets, which used to carry just an 8% tax, are now taxed at the highest possible rate. Spain loves the "Carrot Rebellion," as it has been dubbed; shows at the theater are selling out and even the local mayor is on the owner's side. But an economist warns that the theater director is actually committing tax evasion, and is making things more difficult on the businesses that are paying what they owe.

[invisible furry hand]

You didn't even touch "Quim". Such restraint

[Whiterun Guard]

Especially when there are already carrots involved.

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH NUTRASWEET?

[SugarFree]

I am married, after all.

[LTC(ret) John]

To a carrot?

[SugarFree]

"Lisa, are you going to marry a carrot?"

"Yes. I'm going to marry a carrot."

"SHE ADMITTED IT!"

[Groovus Maximus]

What you did there, I sees it. Well, well played. -)))

[SugarFree]

"A Man Named Quim" was actually the B-aide to "A Boy Named Sue" but remained an obscure Johnny Cash song despite a popular 1986 cover by Whitesnake.

[invisible furry hand]

Whitesnake completely missed the poignancy of it, of course.

Portugal's second-choice goalkeeper is called Quim. Which is emblazoned on the back of his jersey. Happy days...

[Almanian_]

One of our safety engineer's last name was Watt, first name Tim.

Which maded his intracompany email [e-mail]....lulz ensued.

[Brett L]

Had a Michael Hunt who worked for a company with me. He was militant about being "Michael". Then he used the company credit card to keep a stripper mistress on an out-of-town assignment. I mean, $60k-$80k worth of mistress over three or four months.

[SugarFree]

Someone had a lot of fun writing that headline.

[db]

The little-known track did, however, spark the hit direct-to-video Dr. Quim, Medicine Woman franchise.

[mr simple]

But an economist warns

I wonder whose payroll this economist is on.

[The Late P Brooks]

But an economist warns that the theater director is actually committing tax evasion, and is making things more difficult on the businesses that are paying what they owe.

Filthy hoarders, trying to keep their businesses from going under, just so they can put carrots on the table!

[Ken Shultz]

"Sen. John Kerry could be reporting for duty once again. The President is considering asking the Democratic veteran to be his next Secretary of Defense."

I'm kinda torn on this one. On the one hand, Kerry might make a perfectly reasonable choice for Secretary of Defense, I suppose. On the other hand, if Obama wants to do something, that's probably more than enough reason to oppose it at this point...

Where's Swift Vets and POWs for Truth when you need them?

[LTC(ret) John]

I am hoping that means we will finally get to see his full record - including, I suspect, a pardon from Jimmy Carter.

[Ken Shultz]

"A Florida man was tased by police for trying to put out a fire approaching his home."

I'm waiting for the man bites dog angle on one of these stories.

Eventually, someone's gonna tase a cop. You know it's gonna happen.

[Res Publica Americana]

Twinkies maker Hostess closing 3 bakeries after strike

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure.....er-strike/

Hostess Brands Inc. is permanently closing three bakeries following a nationwide strike by its bakers union.

The maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread said Monday that the strike has prevented it from producing and delivering products, and it is closing bakeries in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati. The facilities employ 627 workers.

Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, operates 36 bakeries nationwide and has about 18,300 employees. It warned earlier this month that the strike, by about 30 percent of its workforce, could lead to bakery closures.

"We deeply regret this decision, but we have repeatedly explained that we will close facilities that are no longer able to produce and deliver products because of a work stoppage ? and that we will close the entire company if widespread strikes cripple our business," Hostess Brands CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said.

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

Union retards fuck up their own employment, threaten to fuck up entire company.

[Ken Shultz]

This is a HUGE story--becasue it's shaping up a lot like the GM takeover...

We haven't seen the Feds weigh in on this yet.

Problem is that the Teamsters union is now getting involved--they may refuse to ship any Hostess Brands products.

Meanwhile, Hostess Brands is already in bankruptcy. They've made it abundantly clear that if the union doesn't accept the concessions on the table, it's going to push Hostess Brands into liquidation...

http://professional.wsj.com/ar.....99942.html

Liquidation appears to be what the union wants! Why?

It's all speculation at this point, but this is exactly what happened with GM. I think they think the Obama Administration is going to come in and nationalize them. I mean, Obama isn't going to call it "nationalization", just like he didn't call GM that. But I think the unions think Obama is going to come in with a rescue package...

And given Obama's historical predilection for bailing unions out rather than seeing them make concessions, I think the unions might be right about what they think is going to happen.

[Ken Shultz]

This is a clear test balloon.

Will Obama nationalize Hostess?

If he doesn't, and the Teamsters follow up on their threats, Hostess will probably be liquidated.

[Res Publica Americana]

Hostess is tired of going bankrupt because of union buttfuckery. I understand their desire to just quit and say, "fuck this shit."

[Ken Shultz]

Well, it isn't up to Hostess. It's up to the bankruptcy court judge.

The judge approves a turnaround plan if you can show it would be better for your creditors if you weren't liquidated--because you're about to turn things around. And they'll get all their money back--where they'll just get a fraction back through liquidation.

It isn't up to Hostess. It's up to the judge. And if you can't follow through on your turnaround plan, then he says, "that's enough" and starts auctioning off your assets.

I think the union wants that to happen. I think the union is daring the Obama Administration to come in and save them. To nationalize them just like they did with GM.

Why should the union make concessions to Hostess, when it can be owned by the U.S. government and not have to make concessions to anybody? That's the way GM played it. And the Obama Administration is more powerful now than it was then.

[R C Dean]

It isn't up to Hostess. It's up to the judge.

Well, yes and no. A company has to put up the turnaround plan before a judge can order the company to implement the turnaround plan.

You are allowed to file just for straight liquidation, or convert your Chapter 11 (turnaround) petition to a Chapter 7 (liquidation) petition.

Now, somebody may buy the company as a going concern out of liquidation, but guess what? If they do so, they can make their offer conditional on breaking the union contracts, which the bankruptcy judge can do.

[Ken Shultz]

"Now, somebody may buy the company as a going concern out of liquidation, but guess what? If they do so, they can make their offer conditional on breaking the union contracts, which the bankruptcy judge can do."

That's what the Obama Administration did with GM.

It wasn't conditional on the union breaking contracts. He just went in and bought the company with taxpayer money--just before its assets would have been liquidated.

It it's liquidated, people are just buying the assets. I'll take that machinery! ...no labor contract attached to assets--just the company. That's why Obama will want to save the company.

They're gonna hold their breath until they turn blue--or Obama gives them their way.

[WTF]

Great, now we're going to have Government Bakeries.

"This Daily bread brought to you by the generousity of Obama (PBUH)!"

[NoVAHockey]

Twinkies don't adhere to Michelle's get fit program or whatever it's called.

[SugarFree]

They will after the nationalization. Spelt and quinoa Twinkies with Swiss Chard filling. Yum.

"I can't stop shitting! Thank you, Glorious Heaven Mother Obama!"

[Ken Shultz]

It is part of Hostess' problem that moms don't feed their kids Twinkies and Wonder Bread like they used to.

But, yeah, it's like a fundamentalist Mormon township in Nevada taking over the operation of a brothel for failure to pay property taxes.

Obama wouldn't let the fact that they're selling sugar to children stop him from saving a union from having to make concessions though. Saving people from having to face reality--from the UAW to deadbeat homeowners--is what the Obama Administration is all about.

[ant1sthenes]

He'll give the twinkie factories to his wife as a present.

[db]

Isn't Hostess still in Chapter 11? Seems like a particularly stupid move for the union to strike.

[WTF]

I don't know, it's not completely irrational to think Obama will pull a GM type takeover to benefit the unions, given his track record.

[Kaptious Kristen]

If Obama doesn't take over Hostess, the bakers' union can cry "Favoritism!" and cause a huge stink that auto workers are the precious little snowflakes.

Man, that would be fun if that happened.

[mad libertarian guy]

Calling those who make fucking twinkies "bakers" is also highly stupid.

[db]

http://www.rasmussenreports.co.....ullbrowser

By the way, have a look at the Obama approval ratings and tell me if there's a rational explanation for these trends.

[sarcasmic]

55% approval means 45% of the country is racist.

There is no other possible explanation.

[Lisa]

Could the lowering approval rating starting in 2009 coincide with the lowering of ocean levels? That's a lot of unhappy scuba divers and fishermen.

[Lisa]

Or maybe it represents doctors unhappy because Obama's widespread healing is putting them out of work.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012.....ith-sandy/

Utility worker attacked by LIPA customer upset with Sandy response

A utility worker from Florida was attacked outside a Long Island restaurant after working a 16-hour day by a power customer who was apparently upset with the progress of power restoration in the area, MyFoxNY.com reported.

John Applewhite, 34, who works for a Tampa-area power company, is recovering from a broken jaw. He was on Long Island helping the local utility Long Island Power Authority to restore electricity to the area.

He had gone to a restaurant in East Hempstead on Friday night after working a 16-hour day helping LIPA restore power after Sandy.

Applewhite says a man in a black BMW drove up and asked about the power restoration.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012.....z2C7GRPcRY

[mad libertarian guy]

Stay classy, New Yorker. Stay. Classy.

[Jam]

You take the 4 stars off these generals and what are they? white trailer trash

[LTC(ret) John]

Moe like Victorian Era upper class Brits - show one thing publically, do another behind closed doors.

[Whiterun Guard]

You realize he had an affair with a PhD holder who was also an author.

Not the chick that sells Dale Junior hats out of the back of a Winnebago, right?

[Jam]

your confused, that Missouri compromise under the Dale Jr hat being sold out of a rolling store is a capitalist, that coward behind the camouflage is central planning socialist. don't come a knockin when this trailer is a rockin...

[Ken Shultz]

"A British court has ruled that a radical Muslim cleric cannot be deported to Jordan thanks to human rights concerns. Abu Qatada is now free, but under strict bail conditions. "

Meanwhile, Abu Qatada once issued a fatwa justifying the killing of anyone in Algeria who converted from Islam--and also their wives and children.

[Res Publica Americana]

Drone the fucker.

[Ken Shultz]

He used to denounce the west, but now he doesn't seem to want to go anywhere else.

[The Late P Brooks]

What could possibly go wrong?

"The voters have trusted their elected representatives, even trusted me to some extent, and now we've got to meet that trust," Brown told reporters at a statehouse news briefing the morning after the Nov. 6 election. "We've got to make sure over the next few years that we pay our bills, we invest in the right programs and that we don't go on any spending binges."

[tarran]

I am a firm advocate of this type of gun control, meaning hitting what you are shooting at.

According to deputies, the woman says Sandoval grabbed a knife, put the knife to her chin and told her to take off her clothes. The woman told deputies she then reached under her pillow, grabbed a loaded gun and shot him. She fled from her home and called 911.

[Res Publica Americana]

In Illinois, you're supposed to puke on your rapist as a defensive mechanism. It's moral. Guns are bad, you know.

/Lefty.

[Whiterun Guard]

You don't shoot someone for just attempted rape.

[R C Dean]

You have to wait for them to actually, err, pull the trigger, before you can pull the trigger?

[Lisa]

What if you don't want to be raped or stabbed, is it OK then?

[The Late P Brooks]

we will close the entire company if widespread strikes cripple our business," Hostess Brands CEO Gregory F. Rayburn said.

The NLRB shall hear of this. After all, those stalwart union bakers are OWED a job for life! At a Living Wage!

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012.....p=trending

Oklahoma dad arrested after toddler daughter found locked in dog cage

OKLAHOMA CITY ? A Tulsa man was arrested after police found his 18-month-old daughter locked in a metal dog cage, his naked 4-year old daughter outside on a cold afternoon and him asleep in a drug or alcohol "induced stupor," police said Monday.

A neighbor called police after finding the older child outside the family's home and getting no response when he knocked on the door around 4 p.m. Sunday, as temperatures dropped to the low 40s. Officers' knocks also went unanswered, "then one of the officers looked inside and saw a small child in a dog cage," Tulsa police spokesman Officer Leland Ashley said.

After forcing their way inside, police discovered the toddler was covered in feces and that a 3-year-old child was asleep in another room. Their father was found asleep on a bed, "in an alcohol- or narcotics-induced stupor," Ashley said.

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

Execution by incremental dismemberment is in order here.

[R C Dean]

I bet the kid in the dog kennel has no idea just how close he came to catching a bullet.

[Almanian_]

Finding a toddler "covered in feces" is pretty normal in OK City. Unfortunately.

[Groovus Maximus]

This was in Tulsa, the more Progressive of the Tale of Two Okie Cities.

[nicole just can't even!]

I just want to note publicly and for the record that I totally almost cried this morning at the end of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Still upset.

[tarran]

Revolutions rarely end well.

[db]

Heinlein did well to explore the decay of the idealism of TMiAHM in The Cat Who Walks through Walls. It doesn't take long for people who own liberty to trade it away.

[db]

First time reading it, I was a little misty-eyed too.

[robc]

Dont read 1984 then.

[nicole just can't even!]

Nah, I was just sad about Mike. I'm not a big fan of 1984, although the message is good.

[mad libertarian guy]

Nah, I was just sad about Mike. I'm not a big fan of 1984, although the message is good.

Please have Nicole escorted to room 101.

[Rasilio]

Almost? It's been a while but the first time I read it I was bawling like a baby.

Same with Stranger in a Strange Land (which you should totally read next if you havn't read it already)

[mad libertarian guy]

The can has been kicked further down the road after eurozone finance ministers gave Greece two more years to cut its deficit to 2 percent of GDP.

And in 2 years the can will be kicked down the road again, ad infinitum.

[Turd in the Punchbowl]

Hey, it's nearly lunch! Where's our daily The Republicans Could Win More Elections By Not Being Republicans post?

[21044]

Sen. John Kerry could be reporting for duty once again. The President is considering asking the Democratic veteran to be his next Secretary of Defense.

First it was putting Joe Bidden one heart-beat away the presidency, then this. I did the right thing changing my vote at the last minute from Johnson to Romney, not that my vote means anything in Maryland.

Clinton learned his lesson quick about appointing men that have only ever blown wind (Les Aspin) to head the DOD, I doubt Obama is capable of learning anything.