A.M. Links: Congress Approves Fiscal Cliff Bill With No Spending Cuts, Contraceptive Mandate Blocked, Feds and Banks Coordinated Occupy Crackdown

• After tense posturing, the House of Representatives passed a fiscal cliff measure devoid of spending cuts and which raises taxes on those making more than $450,000 per year. The Senate had already approved the measure and the president is, of course, expected to sign the horrible thing.

• Observers wasted no time in taking the federal government to task for the non-solution to the excessive-spending problem.
• In a case brought by businessman Tom Monaghan, a federal judge blocked an Obama administration mandate that contraceptives be included in health coverage. The judge said the mandate would "substantially burden his exercise of religion."
• Airbases are the latest targets for Syrian rebels as they expand their campaign against the country's faltering government.
• The minimum wage is set to rise in ten states where officials seem to have a tenuous grasp on economics.
• Crackdowns on the Occupy movement may have been coordinated by the feds, local officials and banks, according to documents obtained through FOIA suits.
• The lethal stampede that caused 61 deaths in the Ivory Coast may have been caused by barriers set up by pickpockets.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

After tense posturing, the House of Representatives passed a fiscal cliff measure...

Thank God! Congress has been saved.

[mr simple]

A bill to raise revenue originating in the Senate? Didn't I read something somewhere about that not being proper? Bah, I'm sure that was written more than ten years ago and so has no proper place in modern society.

[Cdr Lytton]

It's the same logic as not increasing spending as projected is a "cut". Take one bill from the House, removed just about everything in it, replace it with entirely new text and pass it.

[Mike Laursen]

To be fair, they did go back to the House for reconciliation (and there were rumors for a while that it wasn't passing there). So, Schoolhouse Rock has not been ignored.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Observers wasted no time in taking the federal government to task for the non-solution to the excessive-spending problem.

And Congress and the president wasted no time in ignoring the fuck out of them and going home.

[Lord Humungus]

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2012 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in alphabetical order, includes:

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Ambassador Susan Rice
Attorney General Eric Holder
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL)
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
President Barack Obama
Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)
Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-G.....ns-of-2012

[Ted S.]

There are eleven people on that list.

[Quetzalcoatl]

This list goes to eleven.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Judicial Watch is far right wingnut.

http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/mostcorrupt

C.R.E.W is non-partisan.

[Ted S.]

And yet somehow Benghazi and Fast and Furious don't make their disproportionately Republican list.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Wingnut fantasy "scandals" don't cut the mustard.

Where was the payola? Who received it?

For example:

Rep. Ron Paul illegally pocketed thousands of taxpayer dollars by double-billing his travel expenses to the House and either his campaign or one of several libertarian nonprofits.

Granted, not top ten but definitely illegal.

[Mike Laursen]

Citation?

[T o n y]

Republicans are disproportionately corrupt (as is the nature of idiots and ideologues), and those two "scandals" are better described as trumped-up Republican witch hunts.

[Zeb]

I would think that idiots and ideologues would be least likely to be corrupt.

I'm not commenting on whether Ds or Rs are more corrupt, just an observation.

[Hyperion]

When the Buttplug says far right wingnut, he means anyone even slightly to the right of Pol Pot.

[Ted S.]

I shouldn't reply to my own post unless it's bitching about sever squirrels.

But I'd like to apologize to the reason commentariat for engaging the trolls.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Stay ensconced in that GOP anti-reality bubble!

It fits you just right.

[Restoras]

You know, if you don't respond to fuckhead sockpuppets, they stop showing up. Just sayin'.

[Randian]

At one point, I advocated engaging the trolls. Now I realize how very, very wrong that approach was.

[Whiterun Guard]

Triple J probably doesn't count, since he's in the loony bin or something.

[Groovus Maximus]

The ADA looms large.

[Groovus Maximus]

Also, HIPAA.

[Jerryskids]

I get that the ADA would loom large in anything to do with Congress - they're retarded. But HIPAA? Are you saying they are sickos? Wouldn't you throw in DOMA as well? They're all fucking retarded sickos?

[SIV]

Only 2 Republicans? They're slacking.

[Ted S.]

Republicans don't have as much power as the Democrats currently do. Therefore, the Democrats are going to have more ability to engage in corruption at the present time.

[mad libertarian guy]

Only 2 Republicans? They're slacking.

Those are the token Rs necessary to keep a sheen of non-partisanship to their group.

[Whiterun Guard]

Republicans are better at not getting caught. Since the media actually looks into their activities, they have to learn to obfuscate, unlike their D counterparts.

[Drake]

Yes - Bob Menendez doesn't even try to hide his corruption.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You mean when a ratfucker tried to tie him to a DR whore?

[Drake]

I mean when he rented his property to a "charity" for above market rent - then got them an earmarked grant.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The US Attorney investigated and found nothing.

And it was BELOW market rental pricing.

FAIL.

[Drake]

Us Jersey residents were SHOCKED when no wrong doing was found! Bob Torecelli and Jim McGreevey were squeaky clean too.

A Star Ledger did a word association poll last year. People most closely association Menedez with "corruption".

[KDN]

A Star Ledger did a word association poll last year. People most closely association Menedez with "corruption".

And he cruises to re-election every time. It's no wonder Booker's going to pass on the Governorship for the Senate; Governor is the only statewide office in NJ that the Democrats aren't given a complete free pass on. Once he gets old Frank's seat he's got a job bullying the proles and rewarding his friends for as long as he has the desire.

[VG Zaytsev]

People most closely association Menedez with "corruption".

And the people like it.

They must since they sent him back.

[KDN]

Apparently recreating Tammany Hall in Hudson County doesn't pass shrike's corruption threshold. It's one of the reasons he only got to 94% on his LP purity test.

[Brett L]

Wait, wait. Florida outshines California and Illinois? Also, what the fuck? Advocating for a bailout on your husband's bank doesn't get you on this list?

[Cdr Lytton]

They had to stop somewhere. The extended list has room for 535 names.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Crackdowns on the Occupy movement may have been coordinated by the feds, local officials and banks...

I thought we already knew the crackdowns were coordinated by the feds, who are, of course, coordinated by the banks.

[DJF]

What crackdown? I thought that they hung out on streets and parks until they got tired of it and then went home after everyone started to ignore them.

[SugarFree]

Rape, having to feed the homeless [gasp] and being arrested for shitting in public are all part of the shadowy government conspiracy.

[mad libertarian guy]

I hate the average OWS idiot as much as the rest, but are you really forgetting widespread police abuse, oftentimes towards people who were doing nothing more than sitting peacefully on a sidewalk?

[Whiterun Guard]

These are the same people who want MORE police.

I'd enjoy the irony, if it wouldn't make me more like them.

[mad libertarian guy]

I don't support OWS in any way, but that brush you're using is mighty broad.

Stop being a collectivist.

[Whiterun Guard]

Stop being naive, this was a Soros funded leftist collective activity, not some grassroots An-Cap activity.

[affenkopf]

Yep, everyone protesting was paid by Soros who also organized everything. Just like the Kochs controlled all tea party protests.

[Palin's Buttplug]

More wingnut Glenn Beck conspiracy theory.

Soros did no such thing.

http://theweek.com/article/ind.....y-theories

[Whiterun Guard]

Oh sure, what better source than a little e-zine that he owns...

[Palin's Buttplug]

Wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Week

And Soros is a libertarian anyway - a frequent contributor and guest at Cato.

He just opposes conservatives (blasphemy, I know).

[Whiterun Guard]

You're an idiot, as usual on all points.

Soros Fund Management owns 67% of Dennis Publishing which published The Week.

Of course if you think Soros is even one iota libertarian, then I wouldn't expect you to allow facts to get in the way of your foregone conclusions.

[Palin's Buttplug]

http://www.reuters.com/article.....1Q20111014

(Reuters) - George Soros isn't a financial backer of the Wall Street protests, despite speculation by critics including radio host Rush Limbaugh that the billionaire investor has helped fuel the anti-capitalist movement.

Limbaugh summed up the chatter when he told his listeners last week, "George Soros money is behind this."

You must be a dittohead.

[Whiterun Guard]

I'm pretty sure you listen to and read much more of Rush than I do (which is zero). So who is the dittohead, again?

In any case, Reuters is also partially (a fat 17%) by WHAT DO YOU KNOW? Soros Fund Management, so I don't know what other conclusion you'd expect them to find.

[Way Of The Crane]

And Soros is a libertarian anyway - a frequent contributor and guest at Cato.

[Way Of The Crane]

Screwed the link

And Soros is a libertarian anyway - a frequent contributor and guest at Cato.

You're essentially making a guilt by association argument in favor or your premise that Soros is a libertarian. I would disagree.

[Randian]

Well, even more directly on point, George Soros supports things like single payer and other government takeovers of health care. That's pretty much a lethal strike against any sort of libertarian bona-fides he could have possibly had.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Soros supports single-payer?

Quote, please. I don't believe it.

Only a quote will work (not a donation to a pol/NGO).

[Groovus Maximus]

Soros supports single-payer?

Orange Revolution, Shriek. UKR has Single-Payer, and he supported it. I also notice not only do I leave your medical care claims a smoking hole in the ground, but you shut up tighter than a haemorrhoided sphincter when I mention his involvement in UKR's Orange Revolution (which was largely a FAILure).

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Orange Revolution was for single-payer? You really do see everything as medical, don't you?

Democratic self-rule is a noble cause.

[Groovus Maximus]

The Orange Revolution was for single-payer? You really do see everything as medical, don't you?

Yes, it was. The only deviation was the use of "insurance" (state-issued and approved defined benefit "one size fits all". Sound familiar?) and that was Tymoshenko's idea, and has been indefinitely postponed in lieu of more social spending. And she is still languishing in prison, by the by.

To control a populance, you control its medical care. Europe knows this all too well. As did the former Soviet Union.

Democratic self-rule is a noble cause.

Wrong. Democracy is the refuge of thieves, knaves, Rousseau, and Plato.

[Stormy Dragon]

Well, even more directly on point, George Soros supports things like single payer and other government takeovers of health care.

So did F. A. Hayek. I wouldn't go so far as to call Soros a libertarian, but given his funding of anti-soviet groups in Eastern Europe, he's done more for the cause of limiting government than most of the "bona-fide libertarians" hanging around here.

[Randian]

Ah, yes, you're going into the filter too, Stormy. Happy New Year, fuckface.

[Rasilio]

So, that does not excuse corruption and abuse by police or elected officials.

[Zeb]

Well, a lot of them don't.

Of course their political philosophy is so incoherent that what they want will probably lead to that anyway.

[mad libertarian guy]

Of course their political philosophy is so incoherent that what they want will probably lead to that anyway.

That's a far better explanation.

[Hyperion]

They worship authority. Authority puts them up to going out in to public and causing some little pockets of anarchy, supposedly directed at the 'evil rich', then authority goes out and cracks their heads, so they double down on stupid and up their authority worship a notch or two.

I read a comment a few days ago on a blog that I still can't forget. It went something like:

'how did these hippies from the 60s go from the biggest critic of the man, to his biggest advocates?'

[Francisco d Anconia]

'how did these hippies from the 60s go from the biggest critic of the man, to his biggest advocates?'

Because their protests worked. They actually changed the world by turning "the man" from the oppressive dictator who hated the old, the poor and the chilrenz to a benevolent hero who takes care of anyone who decides that work just isn't for them.

[Brett L]

Don't forget that OWS was more effective than the local, state, and federal government at helping the needy during Larger-than-usual-storm Sandy.

[mad libertarian guy]

This actually raised my respect for the group. Or at least the individuals who helped coordinate those efforts.

Why they are unable to see what all of that means, that government blows and voluntary groups of people acting together to combat local problems is an all around better option 10 times out of 10, speaks to the edumacation they got.

[Lord Humungus]

5 disturbing trends you should pay attention to in 2013
You may think the survival of the tiny honeybee is insignificant. But as the honeybee goes, so goes humanity
http://theweek.com/bullpen/col.....to-in-2013

But what about the big stories that don't even land on our radar ? stories with deep, profound, and lasting impact on our lives, our well-being, and our planet? Because of their slow-moving nature, they lack drama and don't jump out at us. They should. From a long list of contenders, I've picked five stories ? actually trends ? that we should focus on more (but sadly won't) in 2013:

[SugarFree]

That author illustration is horrifying. He's very brave to be that stupid and that hideous in modern society. 200 years ago he would have been driven from polite society, or mercy-killed right out of grade school when the slack-jawed mutants that birthed him were made to realize that his intellectual capacities had peaked.

[Groovus Maximus]

So...the author is one of the members (ew!) of The Westboro Baptist Church? Or one of The Peacock Family?

[SugarFree]

Or he's fading away, like Greg Kinnear.

Like the Cheshire Cat, soon all that will remain is his derpish grimace.

[Whiterun Guard]

And that guy from Community.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That author illustration is horrifying.

It looks like someone skipped Neck Drawing 101 in art school.

[Ted S.]

Is the list all on one page?

[Whiterun Guard]

They've been yapping about THE BEEZE for like ten years now.

[Drake]

Honey Bees in the U.S. are an invasive species imported by European colonists. I'm supposed to worry that they aren't thriving here like pythons?

[SIV]

"White man's flies"

[Zeb]

The bee thing could be a really big deal, it seems to me. A lot of agriculture depends heavily on bees brought in for pollination.

Of course, unless it becomes a real crisis, most people don't really need to care, but it is a pretty scary prospect for bee keepers and people who farm things which flower.

[BlueBook]

Meh, we'll replace them with bee-like mini flying robots. Of course we'll also have militarized beebots with spy cameras and poison stings. Gotta take the the good with the bad...

[Brett L]

I want the bees from Singularity Sky that sting you with age-reversing genetic alterations.

[wingnutx]

And a cornucopia, please.

[Drake]

Plant some flowering vegetables in your backyard. You will see all kinds of pollinating bumblebees, moths, and flies. Everything except honey bees.

It only matters when you are talking about a 100 acres of beans or tomatoes that are beyond the capacity of the local insects. And of course, to people like me who like honey.

[Randian]

I of course have only anecdotes, but I saw a lot more honeybees this summer than in the past few years. I thought they were "back", so to speak.

[Drake]

Some of the wild ones look almost the same.

[Zeb]

I think that there are a lot of naturalized European honey bees around as well.

[Zeb]

It only matters when you are talking about a 100 acres of beans or tomatoes that are beyond the capacity of the local insects

That's exactly what I am talking about.

[SKR]

lol, nice plant picks there. You got 2 that don't need pollinators. Let's try almonds and plums.

[Whiterun Guard]

A recent U.S. Geological survey said that we lose a staggering 1.7 trillion gallons of water each year ? enough to supply 68 million Americans ? because of aging, leaky pipelines and 650 water mains that burst each day.

Where does the water go?! It disappears into a water black hole!

And of course while there are a couple things on that list that are relevant, they'll be ignored for this idiocy.

[Ted S.]

It may be idiocy, but the chattering classes won't think it so.

[Whiterun Guard]

I used to lament this, but now I don't care.

[Zeb]

People are very silly about water. Water is a local resource. My water use has no impact on water scarcity another parts of the world. Yet everyone in the damn country has to use stupid flow reducing plumbing fixtures.

[RBS]

Low Flow? I don't like the sound of that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrtQb24Qxw

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Reminds me of this story:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....457645.php

I honestly wonder how they could tell that SF stunk more than usual--this is a city that allows homeless people to drop trou and take a shit in the street like they're in Bombay.

[db]

Well, that water is fairly expensive to treat to drinking water standards. It is a major source of loss for municipal water systems. Interestingly enough, privately owned water systems take better care of their distribution piping because leaks before water hits a customer's meter are a big hit to the bottom line.

[tarran]

Paul Brandus is an pearl clutching MOTO, and his publisher is an idiot for hiring him.

The poorhouse thing is correct - except that he's completely misdagnosed the causes... why save when the government rips you off by currency debasement?

Erosion of public trust - So the public is realizing that politiicans are evil mendacious shit-bags? Quelle horreur. Of course, he doesn't imply that the problem is that politicians are evil, mendacious shitbags, but that the public doesn't trust them despite the widespread evidence that politicians are evil mendacious shitbags.

The failure to connect the dots? - Yes, Virginia, problems are complicated. Quelle horreur.

The water crisis - Widespread water socialism is failing. Wow? You mean coerced socialism doesn't work.... Again?!?!? Who would have thunk it?!? Stop the presses!

The extinction crisis - HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! 50% of species headed for extinction? Only a simpleton would buy this tripe. Newsflash moron, the vast majority of species are doing just fine - because the types of mammals is a fraction of the total number of species. The biosphere is doing just fine.

[Quetzalcoatl]

And a good portion of the public mistrust is not only because our current politicians are corrupt. It's also a benefit of the information age, learning how many of the political idols of the past were also corrupt or evil or incompetent.

[VG Zaytsev]

Or just plain wrong.

[VG Zaytsev]

The enviros have been warning that 30-50% of the earths species will be extinct within a couple of decades since the early 70s.

[Lord Humungus]

Big Government Is Mean
http://www.freedomworks.org/bl.....nt-is-mean

Why, just a fortnight ago, I was strolling to the opera when a lowly chimney sweep spilled soot upon my spats. After making him polish my monocle, I thrashed the young ne'er-do-well roundly with my ivory-handled walking stick. Off to the poorhouse with you!

The Dickensian caricature of conservative Scrooges still holds sway, despite the fact that most of today's elites are in Hollywood, the media, Washington-loving big business, or the government itself. If the board game was created now, the Monopoly man would drive a Prius, wear a black turtleneck, and work in Silicon Valley.

Conservatives don't want to reform government dependency because we're mean. We want reform because government dependency is mean.

[Ted S.]

This is one of the funniest posts I've read in some time.

[Lord Humungus]

Big Government Is Mean
http://www.freedomworks.org/bl.....nt-is-mean

Why, just a fortnight ago, I was strolling to the opera when a lowly chimney sweep spilled soot upon my spats. After making him polish my monocle, I thrashed the young ne'er-do-well roundly with my ivory-handled walking stick. Off to the poorhouse with you!

The Dickensian caricature of conservative Scrooges still holds sway, despite the fact that most of today's elites are in Hollywood, the media, Washington-loving big business, or the government itself. If the board game was created now, the Monopoly man would drive a Prius, wear a black turtleneck, and work in Silicon Valley.

Conservatives don't want to reform government dependency because we're mean. We want reform because government dependency is mean.

[Lord Humungus]

double click post. *shakes fist at squirrels*

[Ted S.]

This is one of the stupidest posts I've read in some time. NEEDS MOAR LABELZ!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The minimum wage is set to rise [in] ten states where officials seem to have a tenuous grasp on economics.

But an excellent grasp of populist vote-getting.

[Whiterun Guard]

If we force businesses to pay more, the employees will earn more, and nothing esle whatsoever will happen.

[Ted S.]

As we learned from Tupla the other day, businesses don't pass their costs onto anybody else.

[nicole]

I thought he was teaching us that everyone passes their costs on to everyone else?

[SugarFree]

Tulpa held two contradictory opinion in an argument? Shocked, I am. Reeling even. I must ring my servants to fetch the smelling salts.

[Cdr Lytton]

Officials? Try voters in at least two of those states.

[Lord Humungus]

David Brooks: Another Fiscal Flop
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01.....-flop.html

Whom should we blame for this? Again, we should not blame Obama and Boehner. In their different ways, they and a number of other people in the Congress are trying to find a politically palatable way to deal with these hard issues. They got what conditions allowed.

Ultimately, we should blame the American voters. The average Medicare couple pays $109,000 into the program and gets $343,000 in benefits out, according to the Urban Institute. This is $234,000 in free money. Many voters have decided they like spending a lot on themselves and pushing costs onto their children and grandchildren. They have decided they like borrowing up to $1 trillion a year for tax credits, disability payments, defense contracts and the rest. They have found that the original Keynesian rationale for these deficits provides a perfect cover for permanent deficit-living. They have made it clear that they will destroy any politician who tries to stop them from cost-shifting in this way.

[SugarFree]

Undermined by his post paragraph:

Over the course of the 20th century, America built its welfare state. It was, by and large, a great achievement, expanding opportunity and security for millions. Unfortunately, as the population aged and health care costs surged, it became unaffordable.

No shit? Really? People get older and healthcare costs go up? Who could have possible foreseen that?

Choke on the Iron Law, Brooks.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

It's worse than that, of course, b/c the cost projections used to pass Medicare in the first place were fraudulent. These programs did not become unaffordable through bad luck or unforseen circumstances. They were bound to fail from day 1.

[SugarFree]

Maybe if the CBO was an independent organization... Nah, never work. GIGO is too useful for Congress.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

Obamacare is a deficit reduction bill, don't you know.

[SugarFree]

The moronic NYT commenters seem to think so:

TK SungSF
You re so worried about cutting Medicare spending and covering younger families, why not talk about medicare for all which will cut our healthcare spending from 17% of GDP to 10%? That 7 percentage difference will solve all our fiscal problem and more. And we can have that when we boot a few more republicans out of the congress.

Damn those Kulaks!

[nicole]

The only question is whether the commenter (a) meant to write "7 percent", in which case I can write him off as a complete moron, (b) meant to write "7 percentage points", in which case I will consider him only a partial moron, still clearly not worth paying attention to in a political context, or (c) whether he thinks "7 percentage" is a thing, in which case, back to complete moron.

[KDN]

That 7 percentage difference will solve all our fiscal problem and more.

Math is hard.

[NoVAHockey]

I always respond to the Medicare-for-All argument by noting that as a health care lobbyist, such an move would make me more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

[Ted S.]

I respond by suggesting single-payer legal care, with the government deciding how low the pay is for every legal "procedure", and who can practice what type of law where. After all, there's not a single lawyer in the country who does anything worth more than minimum wage.

[Groovus Maximus]

I always respond to the Medicare-for-All argument by noting that as a health care lobbyist, such an move would make me more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Yes, it's done so much good for HIV+ children in UKR...

[NoVAHockey]

what a disaster.

Also, based on your posts, I'm not sure if I want to visit UKR or not. My family emigrated from the Ukraine shortly before WWI and it's been on my list to see.

[Ted S.]

Yalta is beautiful. The thing is, you have to fly in to Simferopol and then take a two hour bus ride. Yalta is on the coast and there are steep mountains so close to the coast that they couldn't really have a good airport or rail links.

But the bus goes over the mountains, and then when you get to the top you're almost right on the coast, with a spectacular view.

[Groovus Maximus]

Also, based on your posts, I'm not sure if I want to visit UKR or not. My family emigrated from the Ukraine shortly before WWI and it's been on my list to see.

Visting UKR is awesome, seriously. Take my posts with something of a grain of salt, as Kiev Post is something of a liberal rag. Odessa is really nice, Kiev is actually pretty cosmopolitan, heard pretty good things about L'viv, and I really can't complain too much about Donets'k.

Also, no rape scanners or molestering TSA people. Living here, however, it helps to have $$$$.

[NoVAHockey]

sounds good. thanks (you too ted)

[R C Dean]

Whether its seven percent or seven percentage points, it falls far short of solving our 40% annual deficits.

[VG Zaytsev]

why not talk about medicare for all which will cut our healthcare spending from 17% of GDP to 10%?

Yep, increasing the money spent in an area always reduces the amount of money you spend in that area.

[Whiterun Guard]

Next you're going to tell me that we're not going to get over 1 million riders per day on the high speed rail connecting Sacramento and Pasadena.

[Groovus Maximus]

Yes, and spending cuts can only occur logarithmically.

[Kwanzaa Cake]

This assumes that a serious President couldn't lead the voters towards accepting some cuts. And I think that's possible, if you make clear that the idea is to preserve the programs going forward and stop burdening our kids with the current debt.

Alas, Obama couldn't care less, hasn't tried, and the Repubs seem utterly incapable of delivering this message.

[Drake]

Bush tried to push some mild Social Security reform after the 2004 election. He ended up with more knives in his back than Caesar.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Mild? 1/3 of worker FICA would have been siphoned out of SS into a private account and taxpayers would fund that outflow.

It was racical.

[Drake]

Yes - mild.

Exactly what people were saying then too. No alternative, let's just pretend it's good as.

My radical idea would be to scrap the who mess and stop taxing savings and investments.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

1/3 of worker FICA would have been siphoned out of SS into a private account and taxpayers would fund that outflow.

Taxpayers are funding retirement paychecks at levels far beyond what the recipients put in during their working lifetime--and that includes medical care as well.

Yet you seem to think inflation isn't impacting the economy.

[Jerryskids]

1/3 of worker FICA would have been siphoned out of SS into a private account and taxpayers would fund that outflow

I don't have the exact figures in front of me, but I am reasonably sure that a large percentage of people who pay taxes are taxpayers. They are going to be funding SS regardless of whether the initial pay-in was spent three years ago by Congress or was put into an IRA for forty years. It's just that one way is better than the other.

[Restoras]

That phrase, "free money", I do not think it means what the slack-jawed Brooks thinks it means.

[The Late P Brooks]

the president is, of course, expected to sign the horrible thing.

Maybe he'll send it back for a bigger dose of tax fairness, just to show what a principled statesman he is.

[Whiterun Guard]

Boehner would still stab his own mother to be the first to sign it.

[Lord Humungus]

Mark Steyn: Laws Are for Little People
http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/336573

Three days after scofflaw Gregory committed his crime, a bail hearing was held in Massachusetts for Andrew Despres, 20, who's charged with trespassing and possession of ammunition without a firearms license. Mr. Despres was recently expelled from Fitchburg State University and was returning to campus to pick up his stuff. Hence the trespassing charge. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing a "military-style ammunition belt." Hence, the firearms charge.

His mom told WBZ that her son purchased the belt for $20 from a punk website and had worn it to class every day for two years as a "fashion statement." He had no gun with which to fire the bullets. Nevertheless, Fitchburg police proudly displayed the $20 punk-website ammo belt as if they'd just raided the Fitchburg mafia's armory, and an obliging judge ordered Mr. Despres held on $50,000 bail. Why should there be one law for Meet the Press and another for Meet Andrew Despres? Because David Gregory throws better cocktail parties?

[Ted S.]

I've been to Fitchburg State. Why the hell anybody would want to go to Fitchburg is beyond me.

[Restoras]

Because College! and everyone knows if you go to college you're wicked smaahht and will make a ton of money, just because.

[Ted S.]

There are colleges -- even relatively inexpensive second-tier branches of state schools -- in better places than Fitchburg.

[Whiterun Guard]

I bet this kid will still vote Democrat. Well, I mean, he would vote D except for the felony record.

[Jordan]

You think a felony record has ever stopped somebody from voting D?

[Groovus Maximus]

Shit, John, DEATH doesn't stop people from voting "D"...

[KalkiDas]

I cringe every time I think Fitchburg is a mere 45 minutes directly south of me. You could put a blindfold on and know when you've entered Mass. by the shitty state of their roads.

[nicole]

Nice column from Steyn. The Rosen quote about how Gregory wasn't "planning to commit any crimes," though, still has me spitting mad every time I read it. No, he wasn't planning to--he was actually committing a crime there and then. What the fuck do you think it means when the government criminalizes something and then you do it?

Oh, you mean he wasn't planning on doing anything wrong? No, he wasn't, only he was doing something that people like you think is wrong, which is why it's fucking criminalized.

[sarcasmic]

Crime can be prevented by outlawing pre-crime, just as unwanted pregnancy can be prevented by outlawing pre-come.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Crime could be prevented better by criminalizing pre-pre-crime. We could outlaw the use of the word "ammunition". If you don't know what ammunition is, you certainly won't buy it.

[Fatty Bolger]

Yes, I find that maddening. I keep reading excuses from his media buddies that he obviously wasn't out to hurt anybody. Well, no shit? The vast majority of people who own illegal guns or gun parts aren't out to hurt anybody, either.

[Brett L]

Well, at least mens rea still has some currency in American law, even if it is for the chatterati and kulturny only.

[sarcasmic]

That's sarcasm, right?

[Brett L]

Trying to find a way to polish the turd is a fun intellectual exercise for me.

[VG Zaytsev]

The Rosen quote about how Gregory wasn't "planning to commit any crimes," though, still has me spitting mad every time I read it. No, he wasn't planning to--he was actually committing a crime there and then.

The "clip" didn't just magically appear in his hands. So at some point, yes he was planning to commit the crime of possession.

[Zeb]

SO, was it even real ammunition? Or is it illegal to have things that look like they might be in Mass?

[tarran]

I doubt it was real. Unless the guys making the belt were fucking suicidal.

[nicole]

Based on another story, it was fake.

Just days after the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting, a college student was arrested for wearing a fake ammunition belt. 20-year-old Andrew Despres spent a week in jail before his $50,000 bail was reduced to $500. Did the police overreact to this "fashion statement" or is the arrest justified?

Prior to this incident, the student had been expelled from college for possession of a knife and marijuana. Before returning to the school to collect his belongings, he was supposed to contact the university police. When campus security recognized him, he was arrested for trespassing and carrying ammunition.

Friends and family, including his mother, are coming to his defense, saying he always wore the fake belt in the past and it's merely a fashion statement. Psychotherapist and school counselor Thomas Kersting isn't buying that excuse.

This morning on Fox and Friends, he said there's no justification for wearing a belt of that nature in the light of the Newtown tragedy. "Maybe he could get away with that 20 years ago but [?] you got to have a better sense, better common sense than to show up on campus with a fake belt of bullets on."

[Cdr Lytton]

And military-style ammunition belt is linked dummy 7.62 rounds.

Feast your eyes on a picture of the arrestee:

http://www.telegram.com/articl.....29778/1116

[Fatty Bolger]

What a menace to society. Thankfully cardboard assault weapons and fake bullets will be banned by Feinstein's new bill.

[Brett L]

I'm sorry, did he draw his abs on? He's like a 12 year old. He probably doesn't belong in college, even if the felony is bullshit.

[nicole]

Brett, I'm sorry, are you seriously suggesting that someone "doesn't belong in college"? I mean what the fuck do you think we're making it so affordable for?

[Warty]

I hate him.

[nicole]

Shh, Warty, it's okay. Just make sure to direct your rage at the psychotherapist and school counselor instead.

[Warty]

I hate them too. But I hate him.

[Bobarian]

I was going to say "I have the same tattoo on my belly!", but it sounds like I'd be ridiculed...

[Zeb]

"there's no justification for wearing a belt of that nature"

How about "because I want to"? What the fuck is wrong with people.

[nicole]

They're slavers.

[VG Zaytsev]

"Maybe he could get away with that 20 years ago but [?] you got to have a better sense, better common sense than to show up on campus with a fake belt of bullets on. you're not living in a free country anymore"

FIFH

[MJGreen]

You have to have better common sense, because we can't be held responsible for freaking out and throwing you in jail for it.

[Chris Mallory]

Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 140 Section 122 defines ammunition as:

"cartridges or cartridge cases, primers (igniter), bullets or propellant powder designed for use in any firearm, rifle or shotgun"

In other words, you must have a firearms license to even possess an ammunition component.

[Warty]

Sometimes a society becomes too stupid to survive.

Coincidentally, I'm getting that tattooed on my lower back in Old English script.

[Brett L]

The slut spot is an irony free zone!

[Lord Humungus]

I have a new free album out:
http://projectcommunique.bandcamp.com/album/four

[Quetzalcoatl]

That's a great photo of you.

[SugarFree]

Can decide if he is pooping or about to pounce on his hapless prey or some unhygienic combination of both.

[Ted S.]

Since you can decide, what was your decision?

[SugarFree]

You can either know when Lord Humungus pooped or where he pooped, but not both.

[Lord Humungus]

enough about my unpredictable colon!

[Groovus Maximus]

I can help you with that, for a price.-D

[Quetzalcoatl]

What else do you think propels his pounce?

[Whiterun Guard]

Free?!

You're like the worst libertarian ever.

[Rasilio]

Course he's not, what you don't realize is that there is a secret alpha wave emitting track embedded that induces a post hypnotic trance brainwashing one into doing whatever he says.

[Groovus Maximus]

Lindy West only wishes she was this cool..

She also says "fuck" a lot, which strikes an odd note in this place ? a muzak-oozing timewarp of a midtown Manhattan restaurant, all obsequious waiters and swaths of peach linen. Halfway through an answer she breaks off to frown at her finger and announce: "I just ate some of my own skin by the way. I'm so gross."

[Whiterun Guard]

Lindy West eats plenty of people's skin, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Ted S.]

Is she on bath salts when she does it?

[Warty]

"No no no no, like a big sweaty fireman carries you out of a burning building, lays you on the sidewalk and you think, yeah, OK, he's going to give me mouth to mouth. Instead, he just starts choking the shit out of you, and the last sensation you feel before you die, is that he's squeezing your throat so hard that a big wet blob of drool drips off his teeth and just, *plurp*, falls right onto your popped-out eyeball."

[Randian]

Pam: Wow. You are just a dog in a manger aren't you?

Cheryl: I don't know what that means Pam. I wasn't raised on a cheese farm.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

She also says "fuck" a lot, which strikes an odd note in this place ? a muzak-oozing timewarp of a midtown Manhattan restaurant

SO EDGY!

[The Late P Brooks]

they hung out on streets and parks until they got tired of it and then went home after everyone started to ignore them.
it got cold.

[Jerry on the road]

I guess all those House Republicans who voted yes are planning on retiring?

[Ted S.]

How many of them are going to be primaried?

[Whiterun Guard]

Nobody ever got re-elected voting for spending cuts in this country.

[robc]

Ron Paul?

[Brett L]

He probably meant "passing spending cuts".

[Jerryskids]

Here in Georgia, the House (R)s all said no, the two (R) Senators said yes. It's not as if Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson are any more conservative than Sam Nunn ever was.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...mandate that contraceptives be included in health coverage. The judge said the mandate would "substantially burden his exercise of religion."

That judge is a lot more tolerant of religious practices vis-?-vis the use of jimmy hats than my last girlfriend.

[Rich]

Hundreds of cars torched in New Year tradition

Screw those bailouts; *this* is the way to save the auto industry.

[Ted S.]

Do they qualify under "cash for clunkers" as clunkers?

[Whiterun Guard]

And you all thought I was crazy for practising my Chinese fire drills every day.

[RBS]

Via Facebook:

"Fiscal cliff averted, but tonight the United States House of Representatives pulled the plug on the bill offering disaster relief for states devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Last act before closing down Congress. Aid won't be taken up until the next session of Congress begins. Republicans, this is your party. What. On. EARTH."

[Jerry on the road]

How about they first pay us back for all the years of cheap living in high-risk flood areas?

[mad libertarian guy]

How about they first pay us back for all the years of cheap living in high-risk flood areas?

THIS.

[R C Dean]

No kidding. Let's say that you've got a half-million dollar house close enough to the beach that it you can expect it to be hit with a storm surge once every 50 years.

The premium on that would be at least $25,000/year.

If you can't afford to take the risk of living in the storm surge zone, don't live there.

[mad libertarian guy]

If you can't afford to take the risk of living in the storm surge zone, don't live there.

And don't expect me to pay for it if you ignore those institutions which make a living assessing risk and decide to live there anyways. Pay for your own bad decisions, asshole.

[Tim]

"Airbases are the latest targets for Syrian rebels as they expand their campaign against the country's faltering government. "

Well of course. Where else can they get hold of nerve gas and such?

[Rich]

You can't spell "Syrian" without "sarin".

[Romulus Augustus]

The progs at work are dancing with joy this morning. Our Glorious Leader has increased the unfairness of taxes on the rich and placed us ever more firmly in the hands of the Chinese.

[RBS]

Disgusting behavior. Wealth envy is so fucking pathetic.

[sarcasmic]

There you go, licking the corporate boots that hold you down!

The rich don't pay their fair share! We know this because they are rich! How can they pay their fair share and still be rich? They can't!

Only when all their wealth has been taxed away (and given to those of us who rightfully deserve it) will they have paid their fair share!

Sure, then there will be no capital, no means of production, and everyone (except the political class) will be living in poverty, but we'll be equal!

[Jerryskids]

The rich don't pay their fair share? One of the commenters I saw actually said that the rich had been getting a free ride for the last decade, and one who mentioned the subsidies the rich get. So not only do the rich not pay their fair share, they don't pay anything at all or actually get paid to be rich, depending on who you believe.

I'm not sure how you can top that for foaming-at-the-mouth lunatic ravings, but I'm sure they will find a way in a couple of months when the debt ceiling comes up again.

[mad libertarian guy]

The go-to is a chart (a simple one) which shows the percentage of taxes collected from which people. The bottom 50% pay virtually nothing, and the top 10% pay something like 70% of all income tax. And that's only their federal burden.

Shuts them right the fuck up, and if not, the only retort they have is derpity.

[Tim]

Yes no spending cuts either and the promise of a golden dawn of new gun control. They are ascendant.

[R C Dean]

placed us ever more firmly in the hands of the Chinese.

The Chinese stopped buying our debt a year or two ago. Its being monetized now.

Our Glorious Leader has placed us even more firmly in the hands of the Fed, which, of course, is a banking cartel.

Whether you would rather be mortgaged to the Chinese or a banking cartel is purely a matter of taste, in my opinion.

[sloopyinca]

Whether you would rather be mortgaged to the Chinese or a banking cartel is purely a matter of taste, in my opinion.

There's a "So we're either gonna be stuck eating nothing but Mu Shu Pork or Matzo Ball Soup in the near future? Well, that's just great!" joke in there somewhere, but I'm not the one to make it.

[Cdr Lytton]

The future is looking brighter already!

Can I get General Tso's chicken on rye?

[sarcasmic]

Who looks better in a bikini, Jennifer Aniston or Jimmy Kimmel's fiance?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-body.html

[Brett L]

I'll take the 45 (50?) year old who's still hot and has a better ass.

[Fatty Bolger]

Jennifer Aniston, hands down.

[mad libertarian guy]

Jennifer Aniston, hands down.

Yep.

[Jerryskids]

Jimmy Kimmel?

[sarcasmic]

Here's our future! Woo hoo!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-USSR.html

[Groovus Maximus]

More than you know, sarc...

Patriotism in its new guise feeds on resentments derived from confusion, poverty and the new image of the enemy (the Arab and Muslim terrorist) that have evolved in step with the West, with which Russians identify. The climate is no longer anti- imperialist; there is petty xenophobia towards nations that are still worse off in the threatening South. There is paradox: many people miss the spirit of friendship in the old multinational Soviet communities of workers and immigrants; and deplore the new frontiers, the political and financial obstacles to the freedom to travel and the dispersal of families and groups of friends. They accept massacres of Chechens, while savouring the 1930s cult film The Circus in which Jewish actor Solomon Mikhoels (whom Stalin had killed during the campaign against Zionists and Jews in the late 1940s) sings a Yiddish lullaby to a black child rescued from American racism.

[sarcasmic]

Polar plunge! How many bikini tops had holes punched in them by stiff nipples?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....s-Day.html

[sarcasmic]

Leo knows how to party.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....uties.html

[Francisco d Anconia]

Speaking of Jonah Hill. I watched Moneyball the other night. I have decided I'm a fan.

[sarcasmic]

Pron 4 John!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....lders.html

[sarcasmic]

Olsen twins are still weirdos.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....rneys.html

[sarcasmic]

Six year old suspended for threatening to shoot another student (he pointed his finger and said "pow").
http://washingtonexaminer.com/.....OQzJKwtRfJ

[Matrix]

peak retard... we're either there or very near it.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Someone will top it.

[Matrix]

Well, Tony is still around, so you're probably right.

[The Late P Brooks]

Now that we've slashed the moon colony out of the budget, we'll have plenty of money!

[Rich]

And don't forget about the 2014 Afghanistan peace dividend!

[Brett L]

That we'll realize sometime around 2050.

[Tim]

"Roboy is based on another, older anthropomorphic robot with a tendon system known as Ecce. Unlike Ecce, Roboy will be more comfortable looking to humans, as Ecce looked like a scary Cyclops robot."

Uh, that thing still looks like a Tim Burton inspired nightmare:

http://www.redorbit.com/news/t.....ch-122712/

[Quetzalcoatl]

Oh god. They actually made it look like a baby's skeleton and they thing it's comfortable?!

[Tim]

Yeah. These are supposed to be helpers for older people. Look what's coming to give you a spongebath granma! No use struggling...

[T]

That thing shows up at my house, it's getting a bullet through that creepy skull head. Then as many more are necessary to kill it. Then, fire.

[BakedPenguin]

It looks like it should be in a Tool video

[Fatty Bolger]

Holy shit. If this is "more comfortable looking," WTF did the old one look like?!!

[sloopyinca]

Here's an image, but in their defense, they said it was always meant to be a transitionary unit to get to the current one.

[Fatty Bolger]

I'll be honest, I think I would be more comfortable with Mecha-Hitler emptying my bedpan instead of Creepy Failed Abortion Robot.

[sloopyinca]

Case of mistaken identity almost turns deadly.

FTA: No formal complaint about the incident has been filed to the police department, Cragun said.

If people are willing to accept this shit then they're gonna continue to get more of it.

[sarcasmic]

Melanie Hill said one of the officers made a comment about her husband coming to the door with a bat, saying that had it been a gun, the officers would have "blown you away."

Like Dunphy said, don't answer the door with a gun unless you want to die.

Only agents of the state are allowed to defend their families with force.

[Scooby]

The Ogden UT police fuck things up again? Balko's going to have to open a Utah field office just to cover this little suburb's stories.

[The Late P Brooks]

If people are willing to accept this shit

Well, if the cops had made the guy get on his knees and pray to the Baby Jesus, the ACLU would be all over it.

[$park?]

The NY subway system's taste for blood will never be quenched.

New York City police say a young woman stumbling around on a Manhattan subway platform not far from Times Square fell onto the tracks and was killed by a train.

[Rich]

Subway deaths are common in the city. Last year, according to a report in the Daily News, there was about a fatality a week.

No civilian needs access to a vehicle that holds more than ten.

[sarcasmic]

No formal complaint about the incident has been filed to the police department, Cragun said.

Make a complaint and then see what happens if you call 911 or get pulled over.

[sloopyinca]

The charges appear pretty light (hello, Plaxico!), but at least this lunatic isn't going to be carrying a gun for the city anymore.

[sarcasmic]

They found Brun in the front seat... Brun was very intoxicated.

They found him drunk and in his truck, yet no DUI charge?

[Ted S.]

I'm sure if they looked hard enough, they could have found shake, too.

[Ken Shultz]

Congratulations to the Republicans in the House for refusing to cave on spending and managing to preserve as much of the tax cuts as possible.

They stood up to Obama, the Senate and Boehner, none of whom wanted this outcome.

Did we solve the problem?

No.

Will we be in the same mess in 2013?

Yes.

And that will keep Obama from being able to do pretty much anything else for the rest of 2013. And that's the best we can reasonably hope for--that the Republicans will obstruct whatever Obama tries to do until the next congressional election.

There is one important issue that still needs to be addressed. John Boehner needs to be replaced as Speaker. If fiscal conservatism is the order of the day, then Boehner is a fox in the hen house. No one should expect to see a truely fiscally conservative Republican House until John Boehner is no longer the speaker. Boehner has to go.

[robc]

Congratulations to the Republicans in the House for refusing to cave on spending

WTF? They absolutely caved on spending. The agreed upon "cuts" form last summer are gone. How is that not fucking caving?

[nicole]

Yeah, I was confused about this too.

[robc]

Of course, after I posted, I realized I was responding to team red.

[Ted S.]

I was wondering if the post was meant as sarcasm.

[Ken Shultz]

I'm not a Republican.

I've got nine years of posts on this site bashing Republicans, fer Christ's sake.

[Ken Shultz]

"WTF? They absolutely caved on spending. The agreed upon "cuts" form last summer are gone. How is that not fucking caving?"

Obama wanted hundreds of billions in more stimulus.

We're going through the same exercise next year.

Perfect!

They didn't cave on spending--they kept taxes down and Obama still didn't get the new spending he wanted.

That's the best they could hope for, and it happened specifically becasue of the Republican backbenchers.

[RBS]

He should have been gone after the 2006 midterms.

[Ken Shultz]

You're absolutely right.

John Boehner is one of the biggest reasons why the Tea Party didn't arise from within the Republican Party.

The Tea Party sprang into existence in no small part as a reaction to policies John Boehner pushed through the House.

That the Tea Party is what made him speaker should make everyone who cares about fiscal conservatism sick to their stomachs.

[Groovus Maximus]

Motion to treat Klown Shultz as the new LoneWacko with an obligatory "STFU"? What say you all?

[Warty]

Nah. Lonewacko was the paranoid schizophrenic who stumbles around the neighborhood and yells at you, but Ken is more like the jolly mongoloid kid next door who smiles so cheerfully when he manages not to poop himself. Treat him gently.

[Tim]

You truly have the soul of a poet.

[SugarFree]

He keeps it in a glass jar under his bed. Keats, if you believe him.

[T]

It's just the sooul of some homeless guy. Keats is haunting a library at Trinity.

[SugarFree]

That's just what the liberal lamestream media want you to believe.

[RBS]

Works for me.

[Randian]

Not to rehab Ken, but he may have a bit of a point. The Kos Kids are going apeshit about this deal, so there must be something to it, anyway.

[Ken Shultz]

Of course they are!

They kept marginal tax rates down for the wealthy, and the whole point of this, from their side, was to soak the rich.

They wanted to raise taxes on the wealthy, and they failed miserably.

Barack Obama sold them out. The Republicans won, and what they won was two things:

1) The hundreds of billion in new stimulus that Barack Obama was fighting for? That's gone.

2) Marginal income tax rates did not go up for people making more than $200,000 a year.

If you don't think that's a victory--for us libertarians--with the tax and spenders controlling both the White House and Congress, then you're being willfully obtuse.

[mad libertarian guy]

They wanted to raise taxes on the wealthy, and they failed miserably.

Wrong. All they did was do a less shitty job at defining what wealthy is in their estimation.

[nicole]

Aww, the poor Journal News:

A Clarkstown police report issued on December 28, 2012, confirmed that The Journal News has hired armed security guards from New City-based RGA Investigations and that they are manning the newspaper's Rockland County headquarters at 1 Crosfield Ave., West Nyack, through at least tomorrow, Wednesday, January 2, 2013.

According to police reports on public record, Journal News Rockland Editor Caryn A. McBride was alarmed by the volume of "negative correspondence," namely an avalanche of phone calls and emails to the Journal News office, following the newspaper's publishing of a map of all pistol permit holders in Rockland and Westchester.

Due to apparent safety concerns, the newspaper then decided to hire RGA Investigations to provide armed personnel to man the location.

[R C Dean]

Again, we see the proggies doing their "guns for me but not for thee" schtick.

[mr simple]

Don't they know that a majority of cases of guards committing gun violence happen in places where guards are allowed to carry guns? This is proof that guns are bad and cause bad things to happen. We should boycott this paper for their pro-gun views.

[sloopyinca]

Police officer that assaulted and terrorized teen will not be charged with assault or making terroristic threats to teen after his boss and friends investigate his actions.

The first cop acquitted himself well until he witnessed an assault and did nothing to prevent/end it. He's an enabler. As is the chief and DA. (Video of the incident included for your viewing pleasure.)

[The Late P Brooks]

Bloomberg is reporting that Chris Christie is all butthurt because Boehner didn't cut him a big check for SOOPERSTORM abatement.

Here's a crazy idea; what if the people who actually were affected, and who will actually benefit, pay for it?

[nicole]

In other news, Chicago has started the New Year with, um, a bang. 15, actually.

[mad libertarian guy]

It's all McDonald's fault. That decision is what allowed the masses o get guns.

/dumbfuckprog

[The Late P Brooks]

I was confused about this too.

It's less confusing if you don't read it.

[robc]

Yeah, Im seriously considering putting Ken in my filter.

Unfortunately, reasonable doesnt filter out responses to people in the filter.

And then there are the people who dont respond "properly" anyway.

[Ted S.]

Yeah, some posters ignore the threading.

[sarcasmic]

I love this idea that refusing to compromise is a bad thing.

"Hey, I want to shoot you in the face with this here shotgun, but I'll compromise and only blow off your nuts. No? Fine then, I'll let you keep your nuts and blow off your right foot. Does that work? What do you mean you don't want to compromise? Hey everyone! Look at this jerk! He refuses to compromise!"

[sloopyinca]

When professional courtesy goes too far. Officer demoted for covering up crimes and intentionally doing shoddy investigations of other officers and retired troopers.

FTA: Last month, Mayor James Fioretini suspended Officer Harry Miller for 10 days for writing untruthful or incomplete reports, unsatisfactory job performance and violating police ethics for his role in the handling of separate car accidents involving retired high-ranking state troopers in March and in 2005.

Yeah, when we do that it's called perjury and is a crime. When they do it, it's cause for a two-week vacation.

[Lord Humungus]

Brain image study: Fructose may spur overeating
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/2.....overeating

[Warty]

HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS HFCS

[robc]

Of course, its only 55% fructose. High in the sense that 55 is greater than 50.

[Zeb]

My favorite is that a lot of people who freak out over HFCS think that agave nectar is a nice, natural alternative. Yet it has far more fructose in it than HFCS.

[sarcasmic]

It's the corporations, man! Big Agra profits off HFCS! Anything that a big corporation profits from must be bad! I mean, profits and stuff!

[T]

Because all that agave syrup at Kroger was hand-bottled by artisans. No corporations involved at all...

[sarcasmic]

HFCS is a corporate processed food make just for profits!

Profits!

Corporations!

Processed!

Profits!

[Brett L]

I am slowly re-training the new gf, which is good because she wants to be a nutritionist. Yet had never heard of Taubes and insulin resistance. She started reading Why We Get Fat, and decided to go militantly paleo as of yesterday, so I'm gonna have to sneak around to get my cheese fix. But I'm pretty sure I've gotten through to her that all "natural" sweeteners (honey, sucrose, HFCS, agave, etc.) are about the same with regard to fructose content by weight.

[robc]

Why is cheese anti-paleo?

Didnt paleo nomad man have herds of goats or something?

[Zeb]

I don't know and I don't care. Life without cheese is not worth living.

[SugarFree]

Nomadic man would herd, but not hunter/gatherers. No herding and no agriculture means that they might have been opportunistic dairy consumers, but it wouldn't have been a regular part of the diet. And cheese is a result of excess milk production (you don't work out a storage and preservation method for something you aren't over producing deliberately.)

[Brett L]

rob,

I don't actually know that it is or isn't. At this point "paleo diet" like "libertarianism" has slightly more flavors than adherents. My food prophet is Gary Taubes and he says cheese is okay in nearly unlimited quantity, so I'm all for it. However, the gf is still fairly new and if I have to not eat cheese except at lunch at work to keep her happy, I'm willing to make that sacrifice at this point.

[sloopyinca]

However, the gf is still fairly new and if I have to not eat cheese except at lunch at work to keep her happy getting in her panties, I'm willing to make that sacrifice at this point.

FIFY!

[Brett L]

to keep her happy getting in her panties

Yep. I've done much more shameful things to get laid by much less compatible women. Pretending that I am okay with not eating cheese doesn't even twitch the meter.

[Warty]

Paleo is more or less good. Do that, and eat a pizza on the weekends, and you pretty much have Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale's old anabolic diet.

[Lord Humungus]

Recipe for a long life: overweight people have LOWER death risk
http://www.independent.co.uk/l.....34743.html

Being overweight can extend life rather than shorten it, according to a major new study that runs counter to widespread medical assumptions and years of warnings about the fatal implications of Britain's expanding waistlines.

It sounds too good to be true, coming at the end of the season of excess, but after one of the largest reviews of research ever conducted, doctors say that carrying a few extra pounds may actually reduce the risk of premature death. Experts have repeatedly warned that obesity would soon exact a greater toll than smoking and the current generation could be the first to die before their parents.

[Warty]

It's well-known that stronger people live longer than weak people, and they obviously weigh more. These researchers were stupid enough to rely on BMI instead of measuring bodyfat, so there you go.

[Groovus Maximus]

BMI is one step above chicken bones, IMMO. I don't use it. Ever.

BIA is much more useful is is water displacement and hydrostatic weighting.

[Brett L]

Isn't BIA the one that has problems because it only measures surface fat and underestimates organ fat? Which would still make it more useful than BMI, but seriously requesting clarification.

[Groovus Maximus]

It can be problematic depending on where fat and lipoid accumulates, but for the typical areas of fat accumulation (abdomen, hips, etc.), it is still very reliable. Which is why using all of the above will yield the most accuracy, especially for the morbidly obese.

[Brett L]

Thanks, doc.

[Warty]

Those scales that claim to measure bodyfat always say I'm like 55% fat. I think they may be exaggerating.

[Groovus Maximus]

Or you are just in denial, lardass.-)

[Warty]

Skinfold tests are useless for the morbidly obese, I assume. How good are they for normals?

[Groovus Maximus]

For a baseline, they are useful for children, but adults, IMMO pretty much worthless unless you are emaciated.

[Brett L]

My favorite is the "obese" guys with 45 inch chests and 32 inch waists who can't get life insurance.

[robc]

It makes evolutionary sense. The guy with a little bit of fat was more likely to survive lean times.

[Warty]

YOU IDIOT MY EXPLANATION IS THE CORRECT ONE YOU IDIOT

[Tim]

Look out! He's got a pointed stick!

[Groovus Maximus]

Commas, Warty. Commas.

[Tim]

Commies, Groovus, Commies.

[Zeb]

That would explain why people tend to get a little fat when there is abundant food, but not really why they would live longer now that very few people experience lean times (in the US anyway).

[The Late P Brooks]

Of course you know,
ALL YOU IGNORANT FOOLS WHO VOTED FOR GARY JOHNSON MADE THIS HAPPEN!!!

[T]

Are you going to blame meddling kids, too?

[Hyperion]

To be fair, a lot of us did warn the idiotic GOP that Obamney would lose.

[New Cassandra]

"The minimum wage is set to rise in ten states where officials seem to have a tenuous grasp on economics"

The maximum rise is 35 cents x 40 hours = 14.00 per week.

What sort of assholes are you? - and I am an employer and libertarian?

[Randian]

You pretty clearly aren't a libertarian.

[New Cassandra]

Randians are not Libertarians either. Lung cancer? - better let Medicare pay for it.

[Randian]

Randians are not Libertarians either. Lung cancer? - better let Medicare pay for it.

That is nothing more than a fancy ad-hominem. Regardless of whether you're right on the facts (you aren't, by the way, but I'll stipulate), it's of absolutely no relevance.

For example, if I think I give life advice that's solid, but fail to follow it myself, that doesn't mean my advice is suddenly bad.

[New Cassandra]

"The minimum wage is set to rise in ten states where officials seem to have a tenuous grasp on economics"

The maximum rise is 35 cents x 40 hours = 14.00 per week.

What sort of assholes are you? - and I am an employer and libertarian!

[sloopyinca]

Looks like you transposed two words in the last sentence. I'm assuming you meant to say:

What sort of libertarians are you? - and I am an employer and an asshole!

[Hyperion]

and I am an employer and libertarian!

Uh oh, now it is time for our very own Butthead to give you the Libertarian purity test. And no one has ever scored higher than him, except for Ron Paul.

So if you are trying to trick us, you will soon be outed.

[robc]

What kind of asshole employer wont pay his employees more without the government first mandating it?

[Hyperion]

No one has ever done anything of value, ever, without government intrusion. It's our only hope.

[R C Dean]

If the increase isn't big enough to make a difference, why do it in the first place?

Of course, if it is big enough to make a difference, you get both the good "intended" results and the bad "unintended" results.

Here, have an Iron Law:

Foreseeable consequences are not unintended.

[The Late P Brooks]

What sort of assholes are you?

Speaking solely for myself; the sort of deranged sociopathic asshole who believes state legislators have no business setting wage rates for private businesses.

[sarcasmic]

But, but, but without minimum wage the corporations will force people to work for pennies a day while funneling the savings into profits!

[Hyperion]

And you see a problem with that?

Don't make us force you to turn in your monocle.

[New Cassandra]

The pay rates are pitifully low. I suppose the Government has no business in preventing indentured Slavery either.

[Hyperion]

Not only are you clearly NOT Libertarian, you are not even making an interesting troll thus far.

do realize that you have to compete with Tony and Buttplug, don't you?

You had better step it up, quickly.

[Randian]

The pay rates are pitifully low. I suppose the Government has no business in preventing indentured Slavery either.

Was it voluntarily entered into?

Your mind-reading skills must be amazing: you can look at two adults who freely enter a contract, look at one of them and say "I'm going to void that transaction, because you're obviously not smart enough to take care of yourself!"

[sarcasmic]

Was it voluntarily entered into?

Oh, come on! You know that progressive liberals do not believe in the concept of doing things voluntarily. Everything is forced. EVERYTHING!

[VG Zaytsev]

The pay rates are pitifully low.

As an employer, why do you pay your people pitifully low wages?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The pay rates are pitifully low.

Actually, they're about what they were during the 1950s and into the 1960s, inflation-adjusted.

[Enough About Palin]

I just saw the film The Fifth Element and I have got to say that I have no difficulty whatsoever believing the Milla Jovovich is perfection.

[Randian]

Wow is it 1998? Do you have an AOL account?

[T]

Aren't you about 15 years late to this discussion?

[sarcasmic]

She is aging well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-body.html

[Hyperion]

GDit, sarc, the next time I click on a link to some skin, I better see at least a minimum of T&A!

[Lord Humungus]

the outy belly-button, ewww...

[nicole]

LOL I was not alone in thinking this...

True story: when I was in kindergarten, one of the "bad" kids in class showed some of us his outie belly button, and we were all like, "ewww!" I've been wondering for years whether he was actually showing us his dick. I'm thinking probably yes.

[Hyperion]

No. But of course she is aging well, I will concede that, in the sense that when you don't have anything to start sagging, gravity is more gracious to you.

[sloopyinca]

That's no belly button. It's a space station!

[Groovus Maximus]

You should have two crafted for Baby Reason, in honour of Gene Roddenberry.

And in 1973, four years after her appearance on Star Trek, that show's creator, Gene Roddenberry, had Hartley cast in yet another pilot for a planned sci-fi series, this one entitled Genesis II and co-starring fellow TOS alumni Majel Barrett, Ted Cassidy and Percy Rodriguez. Unfortunately, this series did not sell either. (In a humorous reference to the fact that Hartley was forbidden by the network censors to show her belly button on Star Trek, Roddenberry gave her two belly buttons for Genesis II.)

[sloopyinca]

You must have missed the rather lengthy thread about this a week or so ago. I was in the no-belly button camp and got a lot of shit for it.

I still think an electrical outlet on her belly would be the most appropriate.

[Groovus Maximus]

I was here for that, and admonished you properly. I do like the electrical outlet, and figured the dual navel would be the best compromise.

[sloopyinca]

Hey, thanks again for the time you gave us looking at the pics last night/this morning. It was reassuring.

[Groovus Maximus]

Anytime, sloop. "Dr. Natal'ja" wishes Baby Reason the best as well. She loved the picture of Baby Reason with the laptop.

[robc]

Leeloo Dallas Multipass is the hottest sci-fi babe of all time, hands down. Dissent will not be tolerated.

The fact that you are just now realizing this is sad.

[Hyperion]

Is that a real name?

[Brett L]

Have you not seen the movie?

[robc]

The character's real name was:

Leeloomina? Lekatariba Lamina-Tcha? Ekbat De Sebat

[Groovus Maximus]

Yep. And I live in her former neck o' the woods, robc. ENVY ME!

[NoVAHockey]

all the more reason to visit UKR I suppose.

[Groovus Maximus]

I'm flattered, NoVA, but I was talking about the wimminz.-D

[NoVAHockey]

those might be my distant cousins you're talking about.

but looking at my family reunion pictures, it's like central casting for babushkas

[Groovus Maximus]

Check this morning's Brickbats, lad.-D

[sarcasmic]

No fucking way! Alice is waaaaaay hotter!

[Ted S.]

Aunt Alice may not be hotter, but she's a damn sight more entertaining.

[Randian]

Leeloo Dallas Multipass is the hottest sci-fi babe of all time, hands down.

Hands down? You're smoking crack.

Jeri Ryan, Tricia Helfer, Estella Warren, Katee Sackhoff...

I could go on.

[Brett L]

Who are these people? Is this some sort of Star Trek fanboi post?

[Randian]

Are you serious? #nancypelosi

[Groovus Maximus]

It's ok, Brett. It's just TAO, being TAO.

(whispers) He's on the sauce.

**makes universal symbol for drinking**

[Randian]

I quit drinking like an hour ago. Cut me some slack!

[tarran]

Having met Jeri Ryan in person, I have to say that it's amazing what make up, lighting, camera work and post-production editing can do to make a skeleton look attractive.

[nicole]

Actually only one of them is from Trek. You could probably take this as the boobs vs. no-boobs hotness test. (Also a test of how much someone is into redheads.)

[NoVAHockey]

" (Also a test of how much someone is into redheads.)

more than is healthy.

[sarcasmic]

You could probably take this as the boobs fakies vs. no-boobs real hotness test.

ftfy

[nicole]

Do we really think Starbuck had a boob job? Come on now.

[sarcasmic]

Do we really think Starbuck had a boob job? Come on now.

She's a lesbian. What do I care?

[nicole]

Uh...I don't know, but you implied they were fake. I don't think there's much danger of the sexuality of any of these celebrities actually mattering to you.

[Randian]

LADY PWNED!

[sarcasmic]

Uh...I don't know, but you implied they were fake.

I just saw the first name and the first thing I thought of was silicone.

[robc]

boobs vs. no-boobs hotness test

Especially with Jeri Ryan on the list. Excluding her boobs, she just isnt that hot.

Plus, she wont have sex in public.

I will admit to not being much of a boob-man. I enjoy them, but find them attractive in a wide range of sizes.

[SugarFree]

(Also a test of how much someone is into redheads.)\

Wha? None actresses in discussion are redheads.

[nicole]

Jovovich's Fifth Element character was.

[robc]

I think she was an orangehead.

[SugarFree]

Orange hair dye doesn't make you a redhead, nicole. It makes you a girl with hair dyed orange.

This is a redhead, and the hottest girl in science fiction... despite being on the execrable Dr. Who.

[robc]

Hottest girl in sci-fi (which she isnt) and hottest sci-fi character are two different things.

[nicole]

Whatever, so her hair was awesome and she has a soul.

[Groovus Maximus]

This is a redhead, and the hottest girl in science fiction... despite being on the execrable Dr. Who.

Donna was much better looking, Saccarin Man. BTW, have I done something to offend thee?

[sarcasmic]

Donna was much better looking

Please say you're not serious. Please!

[Bobarian]

Rose was the best looking of the current crop of companions,

but when I was 13 or 14, Leela was smokin'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho.....ge20.shtml

As to hottest redheads in sci-fi --
http://www.google.com/imgres?i.....CEIQ9QEwAw

[Hyperion]

Meh. It always amazes me how some guys get all excited over some of these actresses, when I see women 10x hotter than any of them just walking down the street every day. Especially when I am in Brazil.

[sarcasmic]

Dude, I live in Maine. There is a reason there aren't many hotties in Stephen King movies.

[Hyperion]

Damn, Maine? I didn't realize that anyone actually lived in Maine. I thought it was only a prop for King books and films.

[robc]

1. I wasnt even considering TV, just movies.

2. No Planet of the Apes remake was ever made, so Warren is disqualified from consideration. Its like choosing something from Highlander 2, thats just silly, as no such movie ever would have been considered being made.

Even ignoring those points, Im sticking with Leeloo.

[Randian]

Then I humbly submit the Terminatrix for consideration.

[robc]

Summer Glau? I never watched that show, but was that even her hottest sci-fi role?

[Randian]

No, no, what's-her-face, the female Terminator from T3.

[robc]

Ah, Kristanna Loken. Never heard of her until now and never saw the movie.

Was she wearing a tape outfit in T3?

[Randian]

Do you know how Terminators arrive in this world? Sheesh.

[robc]

Do you know how Terminators arrive in this world? Sheesh.

Good point. The 5th element arrived the same way, however.

[Groovus Maximus]

Good point. The 5th element arrived the same way, however.

Yes, and she's all-natural, factory original goodness.

[SugarFree]

Those who have but themselves through Bloodrayne know that Loken has had some very regrettable boob surgery. It looks like they sewed her nipples back on with butcher's twine.

[nicole]

When I first found out that boob jobs involved moving your nipples...was when I lost any understanding whatsoever of anyone who had one. THEY MOVE WHAT NOW?!?

[SugarFree]

Well, they can also go in through your armpit and inflate them once in place. Those are the extra leaky ones. Or under the breasts, where every girl wants to have a big scar.

If you've ever put yourself through one of those surgery shows... the sight of them stuffing a 400c implant through the hole where a nipple once was is a sight you'll never get rid of. Never.

[nicole]

I assume that means we can't count the JJ Abrams Trek movie either? Because what's-her-face in that was super hot, no? Uhura, I mean.

[Randian]

JJ Abrams made a Star Trek movie?

[nicole]

JJ Abrams made a Star Trek movie?

And this right here is the real reason there are no female libertarians. All of my chick friends think there was at least one superhot guy in that movie.

[SugarFree]

All of my chick friends think there was at least one superhot guy in that movie.

The gay one or the date-rapey frat guy or the unshowered doctor?

[nicole]

Who's the gay one? Most of them like the date-rapey frat guy.

[SugarFree]

Zachary Quinto (Spock) came out in 2011, shocking absolutely no one.

[nicole]

Ah, well then I'm not at all surprised that I liked the gay one.

[Randian]

The frozen "hilarious" engineer.

[nicole]

Ah, yes him. He's the one my BFF likes, actually, and when I found that out, I was like, "What? Him?"

I like Spock. When my boyfriend found that out, he was like, "What? Him?"

[robc]

She was hot, but not Leeloo hot.

This may be a personal taste thing, but I stand behind my call.

[Groovus Maximus]

This may be a personal taste thing, but I stand behind my call.

Worry not, robc. Your wisdom here is immutable.

[robc]

GM,

The problem is you have a clear bias towards UKR women. But thanks for the backup.

[Groovus Maximus]

The problem is you have a clear bias towards UKR women. But thanks for the backup.

Honestly, the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, for realsies, is Canadian. But UKR wimminz are not far removed.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Barbarella, for me

[Rasilio]

Sorry, you have failed to mention Jewel Staite and therefore your post is invalid

[New Cassandra]

She is cum in pants hot!

[sloopyinca]

OT, but a serious question for any NoVa or C-ville to Richmond Reasonoids. Has there been any movement in the lawsuit following the police officer shooting Patricia-Ann Cook to death in the church parking lot? I know her husband died of natural causes in the fall, but haven't heard anything about the civil case or the criminal one, other than it is slated to start on the 22nd.

And with that in mind, I miss Riggs and Lucy. They both were on top of this story.

[NoVAHockey]

WTOP has been covering this online, but I've not heard anything since the death of her husband. I read the Post metro (local) section daily and haven't seen a thing about this case.

[sloopyinca]

Thanks. I guess there's nothing to report for another 20 days. And is the trial being held in Culpeper County or have they filed for a change of venue? I'd be shocked if they held it locally.

[Hyperion]

Do we have our first Lesbian troll?

[SugarFree]

Pfft. Warty has been here for years.

[Groovus Maximus]

Not to nitpick, but Warty still hasn't been classified definitively. Dan T. more than suffices.

[Hyperion]

Warty is a Lesbian? How could I have been here all this time and not know that? I thought Warty was a guy!

[SugarFree]

He is and isn't.

[sloopyinca]

Warty is without shape or form. Warty merely is.

[Randian]

He is large. He contains multitudes.

[SugarFree]

Warthu Akbar!

[Brett L]

Boehner tells Harry Reid to "go fuck [him]self" outside Oval Office. Then cries.

[Hyperion]

Damn, I was starting to feel this newfound respect for Boehner, half way through that sentence, before the crying part.

But going back to serious, fuck all of them, anyone who voted for this shit with no spending cuts, fuck them all. One day this shit is going to come back to haunt them when the money for free shit finally dries up, and I for one will enjoy seeing them scramble for places to hide like the cockroaches that they are(insult to cockroaches).

[Brett L]

He didn't actually cry. I don't think. I made that part up.

[Hyperion]

I know, the first paragraph in my reply was strictly sarcasm

[sarcasmic]

I sometimes wish politicians got into fist fights in this country.

[sloopyinca]

I sometimes wish politicians got into fist fights mainlining rat poison in this country.

FIFY!

[The Late P Brooks]

The pay rates are pitifully low.

Fucking productivity- how does it work?

[Hyperion]

It's like this.

Hey, your employer oppressing you by paying too low a wage? Well, just vote for me and I'll force them to pay you more.

What? You got laid off because your employer could no longer make payroll? Sorry, go to the welfare office and give up any last bit of self respect that you have left. We will take care of you! And they money is all free and will never run out! Trust us this time!