Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

A.M. Links: Charter Schools Outperforming Public Schools, Rand Paul Says GOP At Risk of Extinction, Chinese Daily Reports Onion's Kim Jong Un Sexiest Man Alive Story

Ed Krayewski | 11.28.2012 9:00 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
  • A new report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says cuts in the Pentagon could actually lead to much-needed beneficial reforms.

  • A Stanford University study shows New Jersey charter schools outperforming comparable public schools. In Los Angeles, meanwhile, a charter school group became a finalist in the federal government's "Race to the Top" but the LA Unified School District did not.
  • Senator Rand Paul says the GOP is at risk of becoming a dinosaur if it doesn't embrace libertarian ideas.
  • A state senator in Idaho is not letting the election go. She believes if states that voted for Romney refuse to participate in the electoral college, the election would be thrown to the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. She says Democrats have set the precedent by avoiding votes on legislation in places like Wisconsin.
  • The European Commission ruled that credit card companies who blocked donations to WikiLeaks did not break the Eurozone's "competition rules."
  • The Onion fools another authoritarian government. This time it's China, whose English-language daily is so disconnected from reality it reprinted an Onion article declaring the North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un as the "sexiest man alive."

Follow Reason on Twitter and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here.

Have a news tip? Send it to us!

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

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Idaho State Senator Has a Plan to Get Mitt Romney in the White House

Ed Krayewski is a former associate editor at Reason.

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (323)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

    Senator Rand Paul says the GOP is at risk of becoming a dinosaur if it doesn’t embrace libertarian ideas.

    The GOP doesn’t think six thousand years old is too bad.

    1. Tim   13 years ago

      A cool meat eating dinosaur? No. One of those big fat jobs.

      1. Whiterun Guard   13 years ago

        Seriously. I would risk becoming a velociraptor (the movie kind, not the lame real ones), but not like a brontosaurus (coincidentally, my high school nickname).

        1. generic Brand   13 years ago

          Your nickname in high school, or your high school’s nickname?

          1. Whiterun Guard   13 years ago

            In high school.

            The mascot was a diplodocus.

  2. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    are these the A.M. Links?

    1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

      I seem to recall at least one from yesterday’s AM Lynx comments, so they’re actually made from 17% recycled materials.

      1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

        but now with flavor!

        1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

          Less filling!

          1. Bobarian   13 years ago

            No MSG!

            1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

              more like no MNG!

              1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

                You can say that again!

                Wait, don’t bother, I’ll do it for you.

            2. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

              No MNG, these days.

              1. hamilton   13 years ago

                huh, nice save.

            3. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

              Unless it’s gluten free, I’m not touching the shit.

  3. SugarFree   13 years ago

    I will reluctantly admit that for a brief time in the early 1990s, I had Kim Jong Un’s haircut.

    1. Tim   13 years ago

      What about the pouting lips?

    2. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      As long as you didn’t dress like Gadaffi.

      1. SugarFree   13 years ago

        Dresses never looked good on me.

        1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

          Never stopped Jon Fishman.

          1. SugarFree   13 years ago

            If I wasn’t so fat, I’d wear a kilt. But as it stands, if I did I just be yet another fat, bearded guy in a kilt.

            1. Brett L   13 years ago

              Is there any other demographic than that for kilts? Fat, can’t quite grow a beard guy?

              1. Tonio   13 years ago

                Kilts are big (lol) in the Bear community, where Sug would fit right in – except for the hetero part.

                1. SugarFree   13 years ago

                  Every attempt to by someone to locate me with gay-dar has failed. The Bears have no SugarFree… That’s why they are so grumpy.

                2. Rasilio   13 years ago

                  They are also pretty big with a not insignificant number of women. Especially on larger guys.

                  I would estimate that wearing a Kilt doubles your chances of getting laid at a renaisance faire and odds are even better at a Sci Fi Con.

                  1. protefeed   13 years ago

                    I would estimate that wearing a Kilt doubles your chances of getting laid at a renaisance faire and odds are even better at a Sci Fi Con.

                    So, double 0%? Doubleplusunhappening?

              2. Belgian   13 years ago

                Fat, neck-bearded guys in kilts?

            2. Dagny T.   13 years ago

              I don’t know, Sug. I feel like skinny fucks lack the gravitas to pull off a kilt. Plus, the right menacing grimace can be the perfect accessory to any look.

              1. SugarFree   13 years ago

                Well, I do like being able to pee without fumbling with zippers or buttons.

                1. Bobarian   13 years ago

                  I’m always able to pee without fumbling with zippers or buttons.

                  And the spreading warmth reminds me of childhood.

            3. Tonio   13 years ago

              Sug, Kilts are incredibly comfortable particularly (I’m told) for the girthy set. Also, Utilikilt(tm) makes a special gut-cut model for bigger guys.

              Need an adjust? Spread and shake, no problem.

              The only disadvantage is the possibility of flashing. I had a woman friend teach me how to sit in a skirt when I bought my first kilt.

              1. generic Brand   13 years ago

                Couldn’t someone just wear briefs underneath, or does that defeat the purpose?

                1. Tonio   13 years ago

                  Defeats the purpose, GB.

              2. SugarFree   13 years ago

                Oh, I see all the advantages. I’ve gotten close to buying a Utilikilt a few times. The only straight black male librarian in the state of Kentucky owns one and he says it’s very comfortable.

                1. Citizen Nothing   13 years ago

                  You’d have to learn the bagpipes, though.

              3. Ted S.   13 years ago

                What, you don’t want to do a Basic Instinct?

            4. Ted S.   13 years ago

              How about a kaftan?

            5. Killazontherun   13 years ago

              Charles Bronson didn’t have the gravitas to pull off a kilt. No one does. It’s like giving your scrotum a big smothering silly hat.

              1. Ted S.   13 years ago

                But do you want to see a Scot like Sean Connery not wearing a kilt?

              2. Dagny T.   13 years ago

                All I know is they look sexy as hell on the massive brutes who do the caber toss. But doing awesome things like throwing logs around pretty much greenlights any sartorial choice.

                1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                  I’m sorry, but when I see a guy in a kilt I just want to take a match to him. It lets me know right off that I’m going to hate him even before he tells me he is a McBurnisses from the Klan Kelly of old Yorkshit County.

                  1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                    The fashion choice of ginger hipsters everywhere.

                    1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                      Ginger hipsters who wear steam punk themed fanny packs.

                2. Ted S.   13 years ago

                  At least now we know Dagny is turned on by big brutes.

                3. Warty   13 years ago

                  I have some porn for you, beloved Dags.

                  1. Warty   13 years ago

                    And an even more porny one.

                    1. Dagny T.   13 years ago

                      Sweet Jesus, Glenfiddich Guy. Do you think there’s any chance he is at least semi-literate?

                    2. Warty   13 years ago

                      It seems he’s studying in the offeason for a degree in strength and conditioning science, so…no.

                      But, on the other hand…

                      Future

                      A lack of money in the sport has led to him studying strength and conditioning science in the hope of creating a future career as an equestrian massage expert. “You can make a lot of money because it’s very difficult to do. You need big strong hands to massage a horse.” “And,” Gregor says with a laugh, “horses can’t complain if you do a crap job.”[2]

                    3. nicole   13 years ago

                      You need big strong hands to massage a horse.

                      Shut. Up.

                      I’ll be in my bunk.

                    4. Dagny T.   13 years ago

                      And he was brave enough to shack up with a very strong, very blonde Finnish chick. Well played, Gregor.

                4. nicole   13 years ago

                  All I know is they look sexy as hell on the massive brutes who do the caber toss. But doing awesome things like throwing logs around pretty much greenlights any sartorial choice.

                  Yes, this is true.

                  I did see a sort of National Front-looking type wearing one the other day, tall skinny dude who was all but a skinhead. He looked good. But also because it was a real, nice kilt, not a utilikilt, and he had on some really nice brogues too.

                  Okay, so he obviously didn’t look National Fronty at all, but he did look a lot like my Uncle Andrew, who really was a skinhead.

                  1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                    That really raises a lot more questions than it answers.

                    Plus, I find that the libertarian ladies of this site think kilts are hot, disturbing. The ones I know tend to point behind the guys’ backs and laugh.

                    1. nicole   13 years ago

                      Oh, I’ll point and laugh at a hipster in a kilt. Rarely, rarely can someone actually pull it off without looking at a douche (outside of Highland Games).

                    2. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                      I’m far more exposed to the hipsters wearing them. Especially on Saint Patrick’s day when your typical Irish-American band of fun loving midgets wear blue jeans and a t-shirt, the hipster comes prancing in the bar in his never worn before and spent a fucking fortune on kilt. It sours the mood.

                    3. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                      His very height and girth from being raised on whole milk tends to piss them off.

                    4. Tonio   13 years ago

                      Yes, the dawning knowledge that one’s views are, how shall I put this, “quaint,” can be a disturbing thing. Good luck with that.

                    5. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                      Well, Tonio, you obviously own the future, so good luck with that.

            6. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

              If I wasn’t so fat, I’d wear a kilt. But as it stands, if I did I just be yet another fat, bearded guy in a kilt.

              You look like Sam from Game of Thrones, don’t you?

              1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                I bet Sam has a much better hairline.

              2. SugarFree   13 years ago

                I’m not that fat. Geez. More Seth Rogan fat, but without a lisp.

                1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

                  So, chunky.

                  1. SugarFree   13 years ago

                    I prefer Rubenesque.

                2. Tonio   13 years ago

                  Seth Rogen…bear icon. Poor Sug.

              3. Rasilio   13 years ago

                I’m fat like a character from GOT…

                But it’s more like King Robert than Sam and if I was a bit taller I could probably pull off a credible Greggor Clegain (The Mountain) impression.

                So can I wear a Kilt?

                1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

                  If you want your balls sagging down to your knees when you are fifty, sure, go for it.

    3. deified   13 years ago

      It’s an awesome haircut.

    4. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

      For a brief time I did, too. And then my barber finished the buzz cut.

    5. Ted S.   13 years ago

      I don’t see what the big deal is. I thought Kim Jong is one of the unsexiest men alive. I don’t see what’s sexy about mass-murdering dictators.

      (Then again, I’m not a pervert like Thomas Friedman.)

    6. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

      Didn’t every guy?

  4. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    Moral Machines
    http://www.newyorker.com/onlin…..z2DWLSgrr6

    Google’s driver-less cars are already street-legal in three states, California, Florida, and Nevada, and some day similar devices may not just be possible but mandatory. Eventually (though not yet) automated vehicles will be able to drive better, and more safely than you can; no drinking, no distraction, better reflexes, and better awareness (via networking) of other vehicles. Within two or three decades the difference between automated driving and human driving will be so great you may not be legally allowed to drive your own car, and even if you are allowed, it would be immoral of you to drive, because the risk of you hurting yourself or another person will be far greater than if you allowed a machine to do the work.

    1. gaijin   13 years ago

      it would be immoral of you to drive

      why does every disturbing theme in science fiction novels I read as a kid have to look less and less like the distant future?

      1. Tonio   13 years ago

        ^This.

      2. SugarFree   13 years ago

        The notion of driverless cars is in the background of Roger Zelazny’s The Dream Master.

        Of course is more like Zip-cars. You don’t own them, and just pick one out like roving autonomous cabs. You feed in an address string to get to your destination. People play a game called “blindspin” where you punch in random numbers and use the cars as mobile love hotels.

    2. SugarFree   13 years ago

      I’m not too upset at this possibility. It’s not the act of driving I value in having my own car, but rather the ability to get places without having to interact with random strangers on my own schedule.

      If we had point to point personal pod travel, I’d get rid of my car altogether and buy a subscription in a second.

      1. Whiterun Guard   13 years ago

        Why is it ALWAYS about pods with you?

        Like every time, pods this and pods that.

        1. Name Nomad   13 years ago

          Are you some sort of anti-pod luddite, sir?

      2. Tim   13 years ago

        Wait till the sexbots decide it’s too risky for us to have sex.

        1. SugarFree   13 years ago

          Fuck the sexbots.

          1. Rich   13 years ago

            Yeah. With a *taser*.

      3. Ted S.   13 years ago

        We don’t want to interact with you either.

    3. db   13 years ago

      Yeah, I saw that coming. Then wait until your car says it can’t take you to unauthorized locations. But you’ll still have freedom of movement and travel, because legs.

      1. Tonio   13 years ago

        But it will then be a crime to cross public roadways except at designated crossing-points, you know, for safety and all. Our only hope is to setup a conflict between the people who want everyone to walk everywhere and the anti human-driver crowd.

    4. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      Like the government is going to give up the revenue it takes in from traffic violations.

      1. Zeb   13 years ago

        Good point. That’s like half of a lot of towns’ budgets.

        1. Atlas Stoned   13 years ago

          As well as providing our Police State with a steady income.

          1. Whiterun Guard   13 years ago

            Oh please, they can make that up with higher registration fees and network usage fees. And of course safety inspections!

            Then they won’t even have to leave their desks.

          2. Tim   13 years ago

            We can replace them with robots.

            1. Rich   13 years ago

              “We’ve got a malfunctioning officer in corridor 7A.”

        2. Tonio   13 years ago

          But I’ll enjoy the inevitable conflict between the greedy governments and the safety nazi’s. The safety nazi’s always win.

          1. thom   13 years ago

            A big component of police stops is the ritual of forcing people to halt and be put in their place by government agents. It’s a routine exercise in authoritarianism. Safety nazis are also just authoritarians, albeit with different clothes. My guess is that police will just resort to stopping people and “inspecting” their vehicles. Also: checkpoints.

            1. Tim   13 years ago

              “Police shoot unarmed robot. Officers say they thought it was reaching for a weapon.”

    5. db   13 years ago

      Perhaps apropos.

      1. gaijin   13 years ago

        Love it. Also, here’s the original story it was based on: http://www.mgexperience.net/ar…..drive.html

        1. db   13 years ago

          It’s a good story. Published in Car and Driver originally, right? Now, the auto magazines practically fall over themselves to approve of the latest environmental and freedom-reducing regulations on cars.

          1. robc   13 years ago

            But in the late Seventies, with no major wars, cancer cured and social welfare straightened out

            lol.

            I havent read that in about a decade.

          2. Tonio   13 years ago

            Which doesn’t make any sense to me, db. The people who care enough about cars, driving and automobile culture to buy those mags are the people who tend to oppose nanny regulations.

          3. robc   13 years ago

            Road and Track, but same diff, at least to me.

          4. Bobarian   13 years ago

            Car and Driver is still a pretty good bastion of libertarianism in the automotive world. I read it regularly and don’t get any statist flavor to their insights.

            1. db   13 years ago

              I probably over generalized here. The only time I read car magazines is when I’m looking for a new one. Last time around, it seemed like they were all cheering on the relentless march of progress toward a GPS tracked, ethanol-and-electricity-powered future for personal transportation.

              BMW sent me a survey last year or so, wherein most of the questions were geared toward getting me to justify their move toward hybrids and “green” cars. I let them have it, saying I but cars based how fun and economical they are to drive, not whether they contribute to some sort of environmentalist hairshirting or smug sense of social responsibility.

            2. Tonio   13 years ago

              Car mags are essentially adverts. When the car companies are forced to manufacture POS golf-cart cars, then they have to convince people that those POS cars are actually sexy. Advertising dollars talk.

              1. Bobarian   13 years ago

                Correct, Car mags are essentially adverts, but C&D tends to focus on the driving experience and goes out of their way to ridicule electronic nannies, stop light cameras, and the NHTSA.

                They’ve been running a “Save the Manuals” campaign; and what is more libertarian than a manual transmission?

                1. protefeed   13 years ago

                  Transmissions are apolitical.

      2. robc   13 years ago

        That video is perfect example of something I said on here a few months ago.

        Geddy just cant hit the high notes on the old songs anymore. And it sounds bad. But, on the newer stuff that is written for his current range, he is fine.

        1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

          Geddy just cant hit the high notes on the old songs anymore.

          He sure tries, though. And notice that the more difficult songs tend to come about 1/4 of the way through the set to give him time to warm up a bit (Free Will, anyone?)

          He has openly admitted that if he thought he’d still be singing these songs nearly 40 years after they were written, he would have written them lower. You never imagine singing the same songs at nearly 60 that you wrote at 20.

          1. robc   13 years ago

            I think he would be better off not trying.

            Adjust the register on the songs.

            1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

              That’s blasphemy!

        2. Mike M.   13 years ago

          Can he still do “Take Off”?

    6. Ted S.   13 years ago

      I was a short-wave radio listener back in the days when a lot of countries still had programs broadcasting on SW. Belgium’s broadcaster had an “environmental” feature every week which amounted to little more than a screed against the car. One of the more memorable pieces was on how bad speeding was, and how it could be solved by putting radio-activated governors in all cars, and transponders along the road that would broadcast the speed limit to the governors, thereby preventing the cars from going faster than the speed limit!

      I wrote in suggesting that I would love to see the computer hackers hack the system so that cars going on the highways to the coast or other vacation resorts would have their speed maxed out at stalling speed, while cars would be forced to do 100 in school zones. (Won’t somebody think of the children?)

      1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

        The good news is that since computers have much faster reaction times, the “speed limits” should go WAY up.

      2. Tonio   13 years ago

        “Should,” but won’t. Because higher speeds use more fuel. Remember personal automobiles (incl self-driving) are tolerated; the grand collectivist vision is mass transit.

    7. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

      Can’t wait. Driving is an enormous waste of time.

      Invest in bars. They should see a HUGE resurgence when we eliminate the DUI.

      1. Tonio   13 years ago

        As stated above, the municipalities are not going to give up that revenue. So expect DUI to stay – remember, you’ll still be “operating” that vehicle even if you only punch in a destination.

        1. SugarFree   13 years ago

          Given the panic over DUI, I marvel over the fact that we don’t have ignition interlocks on all cars. Such an easy sell on the moral panic circuit. Anyone opposed to them want drunks on the road, right?

          1. thom   13 years ago

            Give it a few years. Pretty sure this is already on MADD’s wish list.

            1. T   13 years ago

              They already tried it in New Mexico or Arizona.

    8. Stormy Dragon   13 years ago

      Do you hate elevators as well, since humans no longer get to drive them either?

      1. Tonio   13 years ago

        Yes.

        Next question?

  5. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Is Cara Delevingne the new Kate Moss?
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem…..wards.html

    1. Rich   13 years ago

      Jeepers creepers ….

    2. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

      Who’s Kate Moss?

    3. JW   13 years ago

      By the looks of those woolybears over her eyes, she’s the next Brooke Shields. That, or she’s half-Vulcan.

    4. Bobarian   13 years ago

      I see little evidence of hard drug use and poor taste in men, so … not yet?

  6. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Boys like boobs.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem…..young.html

    1. RBS   13 years ago

      Humorless comment of the day:

      “Breasts are for feeding babies, so it’s no wonder that young children are fascinated by them. To make out that a small child looking at or touching breasts is in any way sexual or ‘breast obsessed’ is really gross. I think you will find that lots of little girls do the same. I wonder what spin you would put on that DM? Yet another ridiculous story dragged up by a desperate journalist (or underpaid researcher no doubt).”

      1. wareagle   13 years ago

        baby feeding must explain all those women, both mothers and not, who go out of their way to make sure everyone can see how nice their boobs are. What bullshit. Smart women know breasts are power. The ones who bitch about it are ones no one wants to look at anyway.

      2. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

        Yet another ridiculous story dragged up by a desperate journalist (or underpaid researcher no doubt).

        Hey, now! I’m sure that sarcasmic is well compensated for his extensive research.

      3. Tonio   13 years ago

        Maybe humorless, but she’s fighting on our side against puritanism and anti-sex hysteria.

  7. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Revealed: Teenage honeytrap who brought down Chinese Communist Party official after sex tape pictures were leaked online

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..nline.html

    1. Jersey Patriot   13 years ago

      “Honeytrap” is my new favorite word.

  8. sarcasmic   13 years ago

    Is this the most terrifying prank ever?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..pears.html

    1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

      I would be pretty freaked.

      Also: I think that the captions on their photos are the definitive example of how explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog.

    2. Rich   13 years ago

      Is this the most terrifying prank ever?

      Well, perhaps after the Susan-Rice-Sunday-Morning ones.

    3. Rasilio   13 years ago

      Not really, I never would have fallen for it.

      I would have known something was up the instant the elevator floor indicator started changing because there would have been no acceleration.

      I suppose the sudden apperance of freaky girl would have momentarily startled me but after that I’d have known it was a prank.

      That said the peoples reactions were hillarious, especially that last guy she chases out of the elevator

      1. Azathoth!!   13 years ago

        never been in an elevator simulator, hmmm?

    4. T   13 years ago

      I saw some of the videos. I would not have reacted well.

    5. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      Just thinking, good thing they didn’t do that to a cop or that girl would be dead.

    6. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

      Good way to get shot.

      It’s always funny until I have a heart attack.

    7. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

      Suspicious. Is it a prank on the elevator riders or the audience? Wife’s theory…everybody covers their face to hide their laughter? Third or fourth from the end, the lady starts screaming before the lights come on.

      BS

  9. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    From the Fiscal Frying Pan into the Debt Ceiling Fire
    http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/…..aspx#page1

    Until Federal ReserveBoard Chairman Ben Bernanke raised concern about it in a speech last week to the Economic Club of New York, the fact that the Treasury will once again hit the debt ceiling in a few months has received scant attention from Congress, the White House and the financial markets.

    A little more than a year ago, Washington was caught up in a suspenseful political drama as President Obama and House and Senate Republican leaders fought over the terms of raising the national debt limit to avoid the Treasury’s first default on borrowing in U.S. history. Republican House Speaker John Boehner insisted that any increase in borrowing authority be matched dollar for dollar with cuts in spending. But today, with all eyes on the looming fiscal cliff, the soon-to-be-expiring $16.4 trillion debt ceiling has become a relative after thought compared to the fears of the effects of year end spending cuts and tax increases.

    1. Red Rocks Rockin   13 years ago

      “Here it comes”

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

    2. Mike M.   13 years ago

      A “few months”? Unless Treasury does some serious number fudging (which is never out of the question under this horrible administration), we’re going to hit it at the end of the year.

  10. db   13 years ago

    Some jackass at work propped a copy of the Rolling Stone with Justin Bieber on the cover with the teaser headline “Justin Bieber: Hot. Ready. Legal.” up on one of the urinals in the bathroom.

    1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      Did you pee on it?

      1. db   13 years ago

        Somehow I think that would have been even dirtier.

        1. Bobarian   13 years ago

          Dirtier than maturb…

          uh, I mean, uh…

          You guys are just sick!

    2. gaijin   13 years ago

      just remember, more than three shakes at the urinal and that guy next to you isn’t quite done.

  11. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

    She believes if states that voted for Romney refuse to participate in the electoral college, the election would be thrown to the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

    Maybe Congressional Republicans can get Romney in through budget reconciliation.

    1. Auric Demonocles   13 years ago

      Those were votes for Obama, they were taxes!

      1. Auric Demonocles   13 years ago

        weren’t votes

        Damn it Reason! Give us an edit button!

    2. Chinny Chin Chin   13 years ago

      Always good to be reminded that there’s bipartisan disregard for that musty old Constitwhosit document.

    3. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

      She believes if states that voted for Romney refuse to participate in the electoral college, the election would be thrown to the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

      Will the temper tantrum never end? Her tears taste like honey to mine tongue.

  12. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    Kathleen Parker: The double standard in affairs
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..story.html

    As events have unfolded in what shall ever be known as “The Petraeus Affair,” one cannot escape noticing that the women in this sordid saga have been handed the short end of the shtick, as though the men are mere victims of ambitious, hormonally driven vixens.

    There’s the so-called “socialite” in Tampa, Jill Kelley, who courted generals and exchanged at least hundreds of e-mails with our lead commander in Afghanistan, John Allen. And there’s the biographer with toned arms, Paula Broadwell, who wore tight jeans and allegedly seduced America’s most darling general, David Petraeus.

    1. Tim   13 years ago

      Meow. Nobody wants to bump fuzzies with Kathleen.

    2. AuH2O   13 years ago

      Doing the judging? Other women. The single biggest group judging and “othering” the shit out of women is other women.

    3. JW   13 years ago

      A buddy of mine has worked a couple of her the parties she’s thrown in Tampa. Told me that she was a stone cold bitch to the help. I know, shocker.

  13. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    No President Obama, We Can’t “Outcompete” Other Countries
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/ha…..countries/

    In a campaign speech, President Obama said: “I know we can outcompete any other nation on earth.”

    No we can’t. We can’t outcompete Germany, China, France?we can’t compete any other country. In fact, no country can outcompete any other. The very concept “outcompete” makes no sense on a national scale. One business can outcompete another business, but a nation can’t outcompete another nation across the board.

    1. gaijin   13 years ago

      One business can outcompete another business, but a nation can’t outcompete another nation across the board.

      oh yeah? well maybe we just need to nationalize those businesses…then ‘we’ can outcompete ‘them’…amirite?

      1. Bobarian   13 years ago

        I thought that nationalizing all those businesses was a given…

        The O has a mandate!

  14. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

    A Stanford University study shows New Jersey charter schools outperforming comparable public schools.

    WHO ALLOWED STANFORD TO EVALUATE PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS?

    1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

      Racists. All of them.

  15. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    Obama Vetoes a Carbon Tax?in Europe
    At last a levy the White House doesn’t like.
    http://online.wsj.com/article/…..oveLEFTTop

    President Obama has said he’s going to continue his crusade against carbon energy in a second term, and we believe him. Yet there he was Tuesday signing a bipartisan bill shielding U.S. airlines from paying a carbon tax merely for flying to Europe.

    The European Union imposed its scheme to tax foreign airlines this year in one of its aren’t-we-virtuous climate change gestures. Never mind that the tax ignored the usual multilateral forum for dealing with international aviation issues. The move drew a furious reaction from China and U.S. airlines, which estimated the tax would cost them $3.1 billion through 2020. The costs would be passed along to airline passengers.

    Congress may love taxes, but not if foreigners are taxing Americans and keeping the money. So in September the Senate passed by rare unanimous vote a bill directing the Transportation Secretary to protect U.S. carriers from the air tax if he deems it necessary, and the House followed upon returning after the election.

    1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

      Only WE can tax our industries.

    2. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

      Good for them.

    3. Copernicus   13 years ago

      How exactly will the US Transportation Secretary “protect” U.S. carriers?

      Amerkin: We won’t pay your taxes.
      EU: Be a shame if anything happened to your pretty airplanes.
      Amerkin: This is the 45Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world…

      1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

        44

  16. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    booo.

    2013 Pirelli Calendar Features Something New: A Pregnant Adriana Lima, Clothes
    http://shine.yahoo.com/beauty/…..00347.html

    Known for its sexy pictures of nearly (or totally) nude models posing for famous photographers, the 2013 Pirelli calendar?which comes out on Nov. 28?features something never seen before: A pregnant supermodel, Adriana Lima, and other beautiful people who are actually wearing clothes.

    1. Ted S.   13 years ago

      Translation: Why are they denying me an opportunity to fap?

      1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

        Yeah, and?

      2. T   13 years ago

        You have the internet. You always have fap material.

    2. VG Zaytsev   13 years ago

      They’re pandering to the growing Hispanic segment.

  17. PowerBottom   13 years ago

    Hungarian politician calls for list of ‘dangerous Jews’ in the country.

    http://www.reuters.com/article…..L920121127

    1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

      you know who else… oh, nevermind.

      1. Stormy Dragon   13 years ago

        Oscar Schindler?

    2. Ted S.   13 years ago

      Didn’t we discuss this one yesterday?

      Why yes, yes we did.

      1. Rasilio   13 years ago

        Hey, where’s Perry?

        1. T   13 years ago

          I know what we’re gonna do today, Rasilio.

          1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

            grrr grrr grrrr grrrrr

            1. Art Vandelay   13 years ago

              Ahhhh, Perry the Platypus…

          2. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

            And you have it exactly backwards. It’s, “Rasilio, I know what we’re gonna to today.”

  18. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    A new dawn for Greece? Would it were so
    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/f…..um=twitter

    “Tomorrow, a new day starts for all Greeks,” the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras apparently told reporters. Somehow I doubt it.

    Mao Zedong may have been a cruel tyrant, but he sure did come up with some great one liners. My particular favourite is this: “It’s always darkest just before it gets completely black”.

    Why it is that Greek premiers keep on announcing new dawns when they know that things are about to get even worse is a source of complete mystery to me. Hope springs eternal, I guess.

    okay, that’s pretty funny for a commie.

    1. Ted S.   13 years ago

      It sounds more like something Yogi Berra would have said.

      A quick google search doesn’t yield any solid information on who coined the phrase.

    2. Whiterun Guard   13 years ago

      Will he never be hungry again?

    3. Ted S.   13 years ago

      What’s wrong with the old Dawn?

    4. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

      “It’s always darkest just before it gets completely black”.

      As in, the soul never sees a darker time than the moment before the body is executed by gunshot to the back of the head.

  19. PowerBottom   13 years ago

    Sandra Fluke on the short list for Time’s Person of the Year.

    http://www.time.com/time/speci…..76,00.html

    1. db   13 years ago

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

      HAHAHAHAH!

      *sob*

    2. Brett L   13 years ago

      Quick survey, which award has burned away its prestige faster: Time’s Person of the Year or the Nobel Peace Prize?

      1. Zeb   13 years ago

        Did the Time thing ever have any prestige?

        1. Ted S.   13 years ago

          Time always argued their award was for the person who most influenced the news, for better or worse.

          1. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

            Shouldn’t it basically always go to the President then?

          2. robc   13 years ago

            And then they named me their man of the year one year, proving themselves wrong.

            1. hotsy totsy   13 years ago

              I’d nominate that Korean guy in the Oppa Gangnam Style video. 800,000,000+ views, yo. Plus North Korea would go apeshit.

      2. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

        If Limbaugh had actually called her a cum dumpster should would be sporting a Nobel right now.

      3. db   13 years ago

        Did Adolf Hitler ever win the Nobel?

        1. Rich   13 years ago

          Not *yet*.

    3. Rich   13 years ago

      Correction: Time’s SEXIEST Person of the Year.

      1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

        quick, where’s John?

    4. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

      Her children will be proud.

    5. Tim   13 years ago

      Rush Limbaugh’s Ego should be person of the Year.

    6. Jerry on the road   13 years ago

      They should and will pick Chris Christie, just to mess with Team Red.

    7. AuH2O   13 years ago

      Anyone else excited when MSNBC is bringing her on in a few years, when she is a professor of Gender Studies at Smith or some shit?

      God, the fact that this woman is going to have a career, a long and lucrative one, in the academy simply because Rush called her a bad name, pisses me off to no end.

      1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

        She’ll be dumped the minute she’s no longer useful.

        1. flye   13 years ago

          Nah, look at Cindy Sheehan. Oh wait….

    8. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

      Well, being Time’s Person of the Year may be fine for old, worn out, dried up, ignorant sluts like yourself Jane Sandra.

  20. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    Jenkins: The Media Choke on a Twinkie
    Why nobody is allowed to hear what the bakery union is saying.
    http://online.wsj.com/article/…..on_LEADTop

    Nevertheless, one of the major parties to the Twinkie bankruptcy, the bakery union, has been unstinting in explaining the company’s trouble in written and spoken word to anyone who wants to listen. The Hostess brands are valuable. The Hostess bakery and packaging operations are reasonably competitive and efficient, and while some ?reorganization and downsizing are inevitable, these properties are still worth owning.

    Hostess’s problem, as the ?bakers point out in bankruptcy filings printed in legible English, and as Hostess management has pointed out in its own equally readable filings, is that Hostess’s valuable parts are held back by Hostess’s high-cost, Teamster-staffed system for moving Twinkies and other delights from production facility to store shelf.

    1. robc   13 years ago

      Those assets are still valuable without the Teamsters union and without the Bakers union.

    2. db   13 years ago

      This is a pretty good breakdown of motivation for the parties involved.

  21. Brett L   13 years ago

    Taxes have consequences?

    In the 2009-10 tax year, more than 16,000 people declared an annual income of more than ?1 million to HM Revenue and Customs.

    This number fell to just 6,000 after Gordon Brown introduced the new 50p top rate of income tax shortly before the last general election.

    1. Auric Demonocles   13 years ago

      Nah, you’ve got it backwards! Those people stopped earning money first, so that’s why they had to raise the tax rate!

    2. Fist of Etiquette   13 years ago

      They left to avoid taxes? Sounds pretty unpatriotic. Good riddance, I say.

    3. Jordan   13 years ago

      Warren Buffett says that this is not possible.

  22. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    The other evening, I was watching the teevee when one of those “Doomsday Prepper” show ads came on. It featured a beginning quote of, “I’m prepping for…” followed by a jumpy run-through of a bunch of yahoos’ pet paranoid fantasies.

    It occurred to me that I suddenly wanted to be on that show, so I could say, “I’m preparing for PEAK RETARD!”

    1. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

      if it gets any peakier, I’ll have to move to a bunker.

      1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

        Oh, there’s always room for more retard.

    2. tarran   13 years ago

      That would be AWESOME!

    3. SugarFree   13 years ago

      You cannot prep for retards… retards always find a way.

      1. AuH2O   13 years ago

        It’s their retard strength!

    4. db   13 years ago

      “Cover yourselves in hot butter and carry lemons just in case!”

    5. Tim   13 years ago

      The first rule of prepping for doomsday is to not go one National TV bragging about all the supplies you have hoarded and how they are only protected by two morbidly obese losers.

      1. Rich   13 years ago

        Didn’t the woman say they weren’t giving away *all* their secrets? A not-so-veiled warning to you and your ilk, Tim.

      2. Brett L   13 years ago

        Learned it from Lucifer’s Hammer.

        1. Rasilio   13 years ago

          Some Cable channel really needs to get the rights to that book and turn it into a tv series. Say about 4 seasons, 10 50 minute episodes a each and you ought to be able to do justice to the book.

          Then when they are done with that they can go do Footfall.

          1. robc   13 years ago

            If we are going to do Niven/Pournelle books, how about Legacy of Heorot? Its got an obvious 3 season arc built in (some additional character development will be needed to fill in, but there are plenty of bit parts).

            1. Rasilio   13 years ago

              Yeah that would be a great one as well.

              Another thing that would fit in well with the modern Cable TV shows is that Niven and Pournelle were never shy about putting sex into their books.

              I mean they don’t go into great detail about the sex scenes but there is absolutely no question that it is happening so they can include it in the tv shows as well.

              1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                Not a lot of sex scenes in The Mote in God’s Eye or The Gripping Hand – both of which would make fine movies.

                1. robc   13 years ago

                  The Adventures of Renner and Bury would make good episodic TV.

                  Fill in the gap between the novels. Part 1 of The Gripping Hand, as a novella, is a good idea of what an episode would be like.

                  1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

                    Hey, that would make for excellent TV. Some of them were hinted at it The Gripping Hand. Do the Mote movie first, fill in the middle with TV and then do the next movie. GRAVY TRAIN!

                2. Rasilio   13 years ago

                  I’m not so sure that the tech exists to really do Mote or Gripping Hand very well right now.

                  Way too much big budget effects needed.

                  The advantage of the other books is that the technology levels are not significantly beyond what we have today for the most part and most of the story happens in interpersonal interactions

                3. Rasilio   13 years ago

                  Oh and for a Sci Fan libertarian’s wet dream they could do Fallen Angels as well.

                  Course Hollywood would never let that anti environmentalist screed get through.

              2. robc   13 years ago

                Ive been waiting my entire life for a decent “Colonization” tv show. Desperate enough that I watched all of Terra Nova. ugh.

                Heorot seems like a perfect plot concept. HBO doing it would be best, they arent as concerned about getting to 100+ episodes so they can syndicate.

                Shorter, tighter seasons works for them.

                Plus, nudity.

                1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

                  Plus, nudity.

                  HBO, in Game of Thrones, has tapped in to the world’s largest and best source of natural titties. Those producers and casting people deserve a fucking nobel prize (or they would if it were actually worth anything).

                  1. JW   13 years ago

                    Footfall would be an excellent film, esp now that the CGI could easily do the Fithp. I’d watch just for the final battle sequences.

                    It could be fleshed out as a series, but the occupying alien invader motif is pretty well worn by now.

                    1. Rasilio   13 years ago

                      yeah but the scene where the Military and Sci Fi writers Mutiny on the Liberal President who wants a negotiated settlement with the Fthip would be pure gold.

                      Also I’d say that this would be pretty different from any occupying alien shows out there because very little of it takes place in the occupation zones.

                      If you were doing it HBO tv series style I’d guess that it woulf go something like

                      Season 1 – Discovery and lead up to the arrival of the Fthip, final clifhanger ending is the Space Station being attacked.

                      Season 2 – The invasion of the US Midwest with the climactic ending being our Nuking Kansas to drive them out. This would be the only season which would appear anything like the alien invader TV shows.

                      Season 3 – We start building “Michael” and people adjusting to the new reality Culminating with their dropping their “foot” on us.

                      Season 4 – Focus moves to be more based on Message Bearer and ends with the final Battle where we defeat them.

      3. Emmerson Biggins   13 years ago

        I think thats all the first rule of moonshining.

        1. Emmerson Biggins   13 years ago

          s/all/also/

  23. Brett L   13 years ago

    Who woulda thunk it. Pro-ana websites and blogs abound.

    Teenage girls are becoming involved in dangerous games of competitive dieting thanks to the proliferation of pro-anorexia websites.

    Between 400 and 500 websites promoting anorexia and related eating disorders, which are visited by thousands of young girls each day, have been identified in the first review to quantify the phenomenon.

    Girls, your boobs are made of fat, try to walk a balance.

    1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

      Second comment:

      Anything is news now provided it takes attention away from this last rigged election

      Peak retard is here.

      1. generic Brand   13 years ago

        Maybe he’s just stuck in the year 1800.

    2. Zeb   13 years ago

      That’s just weird. What the fuck is wrong with people? I can’t even understand how anorexia is even a thing. You look like shit when you starve yourself that much.

      1. Ice Nine   13 years ago

        Why do you hate Sarcasmic?

        1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

          That comment makes you look fat.

          1. Francisco d Anconia   13 years ago

            Only from the front.

    3. Ted S.   13 years ago

      It’s funny how the nannies shriek about the so-called “epidemic” of obesity, but when people try to do something about being fat or out of shape, that’s a moral panic too.

      1. SugarFree   13 years ago

        Different ends of the moral panic community. Pro-ana shows that you can control your eating and you appearance is not the result of luck. It offends the the cherished notion that fat is destiny.

        And besides, pro-ana is a very loaded term. If you think doing anything other that eating anything you want any time you want in whatever amount you want is “disordered eating,” anything but fat acceptance websites are promoting anorexia.

        Controlling you eating and exercise is not automatically anorexia. As always, they’ve turned a real problem into a joke by using it as a term of abuse for anyone they don’t like.

        1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

          They’re just jealous of the thin girls getting all the hot dudes.

        2. Ted S.   13 years ago

          They want to control your eating. They don’t want you to control it yourself.

      2. Zeb   13 years ago

        I actually heard some earnest Canadians ont eh radio last night going on about their new study that shows how a “disturbing” number (I think it was like 6% of boys or something) of teens use supplements or PEDs to try to get more muscular. When asked if these things were actually harming kids, they admitted that they didn’t know of any evidence of long term harm, but were concerned about body image among teens, so it is still worth getting all moral-pannicky over.

        But anorexia really is pathological and harmful and some concern is warranted, I think.

        1. Ted S.   13 years ago

          We discussed this one here just last week. Canadians are, as usual, behind the times.

    4. Quetzalcoatl   13 years ago

      So they found Perez Hilton’s blog?

      1. Ice Nine   13 years ago

        +1

        And why the hell isn’t it ano?

        1. Art Vandelay   13 years ago

          I thought he was referring to “pro-anal websites”, and I got really excited.

          1. Ice Nine   13 years ago

            Um, that was Quetzal’s joke.

      2. Tonio   13 years ago

        Within the community of crazy girls with eating disorders anorexics are Anas and bulimics are Mias (from buliMIA).

        1. Tonio   13 years ago

          And while I defend peoples’ right to starve themselves, or binge-n-purge, these behaviors really are unhealthy.

        2. Ice Nine   13 years ago

          My question stands.

        3. Tonio   13 years ago

          Damn, you’re persistent, Frosty.

          Because the formation of Reason-commentatorer-approved abbreviations was not high on the priority list of young girls with eating disorders. And they wanted names which sounded like commonly-given girls’ names Anna and Mia so they could talk amongst themselves without the adults catching on. And because, at least where I’m from, the first two syllables of Anorexic are pronounced “ana” not “ano” by most people in informal discourse.

          1. Ice Nine   13 years ago

            It’s all so clear now. Fucking Philistines.

    5. mr simple   13 years ago

      In addition to the websites there are “thousands” of blogs by individuals on sites such as You Tube and Tumblr, many featuring sexualised images of scantily clad girls, Dr Bond said.

      Sexualized images of scantily clad girls? And on the internet? Say it isn’t so!

  24. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

    aww… old love is still in the air

    Gennifer Flowers claims Bill Clinton wanted to visit her in 2005
    http://washingtonexaminer.com/…..LYGCGdvEYQ

    1. Brett L   13 years ago

      Or she finally spent the last of the settlement money.

    2. Red Rocks Rockin   13 years ago

      Pretty lame if Flowers is trying to get some mileage out of this. Everyone knows the Clintons’ marraige has largely been one of convenience for about 15 years now.

      1. T   13 years ago

        The Clintons do not have a conventional relationship, but that partnership seems to work for them. The inner workings of someone else’s marriage are not something I’m gonna worry about. I’m still trying to understand mine.

        1. Red Rocks Rockin   13 years ago

          The point is that no one is going to give a shit if Clinton is hitting on her or not, because that kind of behavior is expected of him.

  25. Brett L   13 years ago

    The smartest men in the world become insanely dumb when offered hot tail. Are the coeds at UNC that bad? Maybe he should teach a physics for BSNs and get it out of his system.

    CHAPEL HILL – The 68-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill physics professor arrested in Argentina early this year after being caught with more than 4 pounds of cocaine hidden in a suitcase has been convicted by an Argentine court.

    Paul Frampton, the Oxford-educated Louis D. Rubin Jr. Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, told investigators he was duped into unknowingly carrying the drugs after being lured first to Bolivia with a promise of meeting a famous bikini model.

    1. Rich   13 years ago

      “If this had happened in the United States, a jury would have obviously acquitted me.”

      Right.

      1. db   13 years ago

        Smartest. Guys. In. The. World.

        1. Zeb   13 years ago

          In my experience a lot of very specialized and brilliant people are pretty clueless outside of their fields.

          1. T   13 years ago

            The worst part of that is when they think because they’re so smart and accomplished in the one field, it translates into everything they do.

            1. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

              The worst part of that is when they think because they’re so smart and accomplished in the one field, it translates into everything they do.

              THIS.

              It’s the number 1 reason why I quit the academy. People who can read some of the densest literary criticism and understand it fluently don’t get that it doesn’t somehow give them omniscience.

          2. db   13 years ago

            That’s been my observation too.

        2. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

          Top. Men.

      2. tarran   13 years ago

        You see, in the old days the horny profs would bang the coeds and nobody went to jail.

    2. Ted S.   13 years ago

      I guess Frampton won’t be coming alive again any time soon.

      1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

        He wont be saying hello to San Fransisco anytime soon.

      2. Rich   13 years ago

        +4

      3. Lord Humungus   13 years ago

        I see what you did there.

        1. Bobarian   13 years ago

          Not enough ‘talk box’.

    3. Killazontherun   13 years ago

      Are the coeds at UNC that bad?

      Hell no. The man is the ultimate loser. It is not even that difficult to find hot Argentinian tail at UNC.

      1. tarran   13 years ago

        Nah. He probably took the “don’t have sex with your students” rule seriously.

        1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

          That’s what makes him a loser. Nobody takes that rule seriously. I bet he never even jaywalked Franklin Street like everyone else either.

          1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

            As for obtaining coke, back in my day, the message parlor on Franklin Street that featured white girls (owned by the Hells Angels) was the place to go, and it was certainly cheaper than flying. Maybe they closed it down since then.

        2. robc   13 years ago

          If UNC is like most schools, its a “dont have sex with students IN YOUR CLASS” rule.

          A math professor friend of mine has been married for nearly 10 years to a woman who was originally one of his graders. She was undergrad, but as he never had her in one of his classes, it was okay.

      2. Brett L   13 years ago

        I’m relieved to know that UNC upholds the standards of a Southern university.

        1. Pro Libertate   13 years ago

          A strong, rich, firm tradition.

          1. Brett L   13 years ago

            Godalmighty. The FSU-UF game, while disappointing in result was an Eden of cute southern girls in short, tight dresses and boots.

    4. Jerry on the road   13 years ago

      …after being lured first to Bolivia with a promise of meeting a famous bikini model.

      Lobster Girl?

    5. robc   13 years ago

      He sounds like he fits right in at UNCheat.

    6. Brett L   13 years ago

      Follow up: The bikini model in question. If you like fakies, she’s damn hot. But really, if you’re a budgy astrophysicist twice (thrice?) her age, unless you’re carrying the briefcase full of cocaine to a private destination where only you and she will be meeting, there’s no fucking point.

      1. protefeed   13 years ago

        Fake tits are a turnoff to me. If you’re that skinny from working out and dieting, own it, go with the lack of body fat in the tits.

        She’s hot despite the fake tits, not because of them.

  26. Palin's Buttplug   13 years ago

    http://bismarcktribune.com/bak…..963f4.html

    $1.8 billion Bakken pipeline to Oklahoma canceled.

    1. Rich   13 years ago

      Release the Bakken!

  27. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    Bakken pipeline to Oklahoma canceled.

    Mother Gaia is saved! YAY!

  28. Palin's Buttplug   13 years ago

    The final line for me to cross in complete alienation from the right was my recognition that Obama is not a leftist. In fact, he’s barely a liberal?and only because the political spectrum has moved so far to the right that moderate Republicans from the past are now considered hardcore leftists by right-wing standards today.

    GOP economist Bruce Bartlett

    1. T   13 years ago

      Gee, isn’t there a Republican website you can post that too? Maybe spark some discussion about the direction of the GOP with people who are actually members of it?

      1. robc   13 years ago

        Im registered GOP, but only to vote for the Pauls.

      2. Killazontherun   13 years ago

        We’re a lot nicer to him. In his defense, Free Republic is full of daddy rapist and momma killers.

    2. OldMexican   13 years ago

      Re: Palin’s Buttwipe,

      The final line for me to cross in complete alienation from the right was my recognition that Obama is not a leftist.

      I just laughed.

  29. Red Rocks Rockin   13 years ago

    Student loan bubble set to blow:

    As of September 30, Federal (not total, just Federal) rose to a gargantuan $956 billion, an increase of $42 billion in the quarter – the biggest quarterly update since 2006…

    …We’ll let readers calculate on their own what a surge in 90+ day delinquency from 9% to 11% (or as footnote 2 explains: 22%) in one quarter on $1 trillion in student debt means.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/…..ncy-rate-g

  30. Sevo   13 years ago

    Pretty sure this’ll retire the chair for “Bureaucrat Pats Self on Back”
    Did you know “S.F. called model for affordable housing”?
    Yes, a ‘study’ done by an agency now run by the woman who is most to blame for SF’s grossly distorted housing market claims *SUCCESS*!:
    “San Francisco is now renowned nationally for its best practices in housing and community development.”
    At least by brain-dead bureaucrats.
    http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/…..071941.php

    1. Auric Demonocles   13 years ago

      When I think Bay Area I do not think “reasonable housing costs”.

      1. Bobarian   13 years ago

        When I think Bay Area I do not think “reasonable”.

        FTFY

  31. db   13 years ago

    OMG! Alert Hank Johnson!”

    1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

      All they found in the water at that location was a floating donkey wheel.

  32. John Galt   13 years ago

    You’re a little late Rand, I was warning the GOP of the same since before the last few general elections.

    Yep, just keep disenfranchising those they agree with on most issues over the unwillingness to budge on a few involving individual liberty. What a winning strategy!

  33. nicole   13 years ago

    I’ve been “away,” but have y’all seen this seriously ridiculous post at the Volokh Conspiracy about how the TSA gives dudes performance anxiety? Excellent Popehat takedown here. A taste of the original:

    There’s no doubt that [TSA hatred is] virulent. As a privacy skeptic and national security conservative, I’m used to hostile comments. But it’s only when I defend TSA that the comments go beyond hostile to visceral and occasionally even spittle-flecked.

    Why is that? Notwithstanding the venom of the TSA-haters, polls show that most Americans support TSA, including the decision to use whole body scanners. But for a very vocal minority opposing the agency isn’t political. It’s personal.

    I can’t explain the women who hate TSA with a passion, though I’m not sure how many there are. Anti-TSA sites and comments have a distinct whiff of testosterone.
    …
    And if I’m honest with myself, the rituals of the screening line aren’t really about speed. They’re about performance.
    …
    Every once in a while, though, everything goes right, and I feel great. I’m Michael Chertoff, baby, all smooth competence, no wasted motions, no hesitation, no gaps on the conveyor belt.

    1. Red Rocks Rockin   13 years ago

      When did Lena Dunham start writing at Volokh?

    2. Ted S.   13 years ago

      Only looking at the fact that you linked to Volokh, I immediately thought, “That has to be Stewart Baker”. Wasn’t surprised to find out I was right.

  34. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    At Thanksgiving, I was treated to a dissertation about how some high tech company had “wrecked” the San Francisco apartment market by having the unmitigated gall to expand their operations and hire a bunch of young overpaid techies who gobbled up all the nice apartments and drove rents even farther into the stratosphere.

    For a group of people who call themselves “Progressives” they certainly don’t like progress very much.

    1. Sevo   13 years ago

      The Late P Brooks| 11.28.12 @ 10:29AM |#
      “At Thanksgiving, I was treated to a dissertation about how some high tech company had “wrecked” the San Francisco apartment market by having the unmitigated gall to expand their operations and hire a bunch of young overpaid techies who gobbled up all the nice apartments and drove rents even farther into the stratosphere.”

      And the reason the supply is so limited is a combination of building codes and ‘rent control’; both beloved by the regressives.

    2. mad libertarian guy   13 years ago

      For a group of people who call themselves “Progressives” they certainly don’t like progress very much.

      That’s because their idea of “progress” is to impoverish the rich and bring them in line with the already impoverished. So long as there are rich people, life will be unfair to the poor. Or something.

      1. sarcasmic   13 years ago

        The rich don’t pay their fair share. We know this because they are rich. Had they paid their fair share, they wouldn’t be rich. Or something.

  35. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    Speaking of the Securities and Exchange commission (which they’re doing on my teevee right now), is John Corzine in jail yet?

    1. LTC(ret) John   13 years ago

      HAHAHAHAHA – good one.

  36. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago


    Every once in a while, though, everything goes right, and I feel great. I’m Michael Chertoff, baby, all smooth competence, no wasted motions, no hesitation, no gaps on the conveyor belt.

    “I’m an EXCELLENT bootlicker.”

    1. nicole   13 years ago

      And that’s why the ladies fall all over themselves in line behind him. Duh.

  37. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    I think boots require a type of lingual expertise not transferable to other realms.

    1. Heroic Mulatto   13 years ago

      They often taste better.

  38. Mike M.   13 years ago

    If you read Spring Fever, Egypt’s crisis is no surprise.

    Andrew McCarthy: “I’m also grateful to Lou Dobbs for observing last night that events in Egypt are playing out exactly as predicted in Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy ? my eBook which is about to be published in paperback. The country is aflame again because there is no “Arab Spring.” We are witnessing the rise of Islamic supremacists who regard democracy not as a way of life but as a route to power. Rather than opposing them, Obama is the wind at their backs…

    …As I argued in Spring Fever, the Brotherhood in Egypt is following an easily accessible, albeit widely ignored, game-plan. It is the one by which Islamists moved Turkey back into their column, away from real democracy. It took Erdogan’s Islamist government a decade to flip Turkey. I predicted that things would go much faster in Egypt, where they never tried an 80-year secularization project, where Islamic supremacism has deep roots, and where the Brotherhood has always been a powerhouse. It’s happening. Fast.”

    1. Timon 19   13 years ago

      My only experience is with Ankara and relatively well-off engineers, but Turkey does not in the least strike me as Islamist in any real sense. MAYBE relative to pre-Erdogan years, but I can’t really see how it’s some major shift. My impression from talking to colleagues there is that Erdogan (and AK in general) moved pretty dramatically back in the direction of secularism once in power for a while.

    2. tarran   13 years ago

      Turkey has never been a democracy. It’s always been a fascist parliamentary republic. And no, it’s not Islamist, it’s just that they aren’t beating up religious people as strenuously.

    3. Ted S.   13 years ago

      I didn’t know the guy from Less Than Zero is an “expert” on the Middle East now.

  39. The Late P Brooks   13 years ago

    Wow- that Volokh post in its entirety is truly barftastic. I don’t know who that useless twat is, but now I want to beat him with a sock filled with nickels.

    Now I see why Fearless Fosdick likes Volokh so much, and I can believe him when he says they treat him “respectfully”. They probably fight over who gets to polish his badge.

    1. Killazontherun   13 years ago

      When you have a masters degree in psionics, you tend to command respect where ever you choose to post. Except here amongst the rubes.

  40. Don Mynack   13 years ago

    Link o’ the Day:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/…..fare-state

    …”the single mom is better off earnings gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045.”

    1. nicole   13 years ago

      Well I guess if I don’t win Powerball tonight I can still quit my job, as long as I get knocked up first.

      1. Auric Demonocles   13 years ago

        I might be able to help you out with that. (For a fee, of course.)

        1. nicole   13 years ago

          Ha, watch what you offer. I don’t think your fee would work out to much in the face of impending child support payments.

          BECAUSE IT TAKES TWO PEOPLE TO HAVE A BABY. Or something.

    2. Rasilio   13 years ago

      I actually used this argument against a friend of mine to get her off welfare.

      She was sitting around feeling sorry for herself collecting benefits after getting knocked up in High School then marrying and having a second kid with the guy before they split up.

      I pointed out to her that she lived in a rather nice 2 bedroom townhouse style apartment had a TV, Cable, VCR, Playstation, and a few other niceties around the house and was able to have her kids in a few extra curricular activities (like a bowling league) and still have some spending money left over or her every month.

      On the other hand I was living in my parents (unfinished) basement, owned pretty much nothing save for my vehicle which was my source of income (I was a courier at the time) and I had to work 55 + hours a week to maintain that.

      After having the numbers laid out for her she became much more receptive to getting off her but and getting a (free) degree and making something of herself.

      1. Auric Demonocles   13 years ago

        So you guilt tripped her?

      2. nicole   13 years ago

        I don’t get it–why would that make her want to work? I mean, other than guilt-tripping.

        1. Rasilio   13 years ago

          Part of it was the guilt tripping, part of it was that she was not naturally a leech, she was just down on herself and spent more time thinking about how bad she had things rather than what she could do to get out of the situation.

          These days her boys are grown and she makes somewhere around $90k a year as a computer professional.

          I admit however that there are large classes of people for whom this line of reasoning would not have resonated.

  41. Robert Jordan   13 years ago

    Unseated by new contender Kim Jong Un!!!

    I vow a comeback.

  42. joey89924   13 years ago

    I let them have it, saying I but cars based how fun and economical they are to drive, not whether they contribute to some sort of environmentalist hairshirting or smug sense of social responsibility.

    4N25

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

As American as Due Process

Billy Binion | From the July 2025 issue

How Tariffs Are Breaking the Manufacturing Industries Trump Says He Wants To Protect

Eric Boehm | From the July 2025 issue

The Latest Escalation Between Russia and Ukraine Isn't Changing the Course of the War

Matthew Petti | 6.6.2025 4:28 PM

Marsha Blackburn Wants Secret Police

C.J. Ciaramella | 6.6.2025 3:55 PM

This Small Business Is in Limbo As Owner Sues To Stop Trump's Tariffs

Eric Boehm | 6.6.2025 3:30 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!