A.M. Links: Boehner May Be Facing Leadership Cliff, Jobless Claims Up 10K This Week, Israel Bans Skinny Models

• The fiscal cliff deal's done nothing to rein in runaway spending, but it may have made John Boehner's hold on the Speaker's gavel more tenuous.

• New jobless claims jumped to 372,000 last week.
• Christina Kirchner, Argentina's president, writes to the British prime minister, David Cameron, demanding the Falkland Islands be surrendered.
• Chinese censors appear more interested in shutting down social media than websites that sell guns and drugs.
• Meanwhile in France, the socialist president promises to keep pushing more taxes on the wealthy.
• Israel has set a minimum Body Mass Index of 18.5 to work as a model in the country.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...but it may have made John Boehner's hold on the Speaker's gavel more tenuous.

Not much of a silver lining.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I checked out the idiots at Free Republic to see who they were pushing to replace Boehner.

Louis Gohmert, Newt Gingrich, and Allen West came up most often. They are the comedy gold standard.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think the Speaker of the House actually has to be a member of the House of Representatives.

[Bee Tagger]

You lack the imagination of a Newt Gingrich, then.

[Palin's Buttplug]

It doesn't stipulate that in the Constitution (according to FR).

[protefeed]

Link to the relevant article of the Constitution?

If you're gonna make claims about easily googled stuff, make sure you have your facts correct.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The House of Representatives shall chuse [sic] their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section 2 Clause 5

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

If only you were as scrupulous about the literal meaning of some other parts of the constitution.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Huh, by gum they're right. I've wasted all this time when I could have been promoting myself for the job! I can golf with Obama and cry on demand with the best of them.

[T]

Can you turn your skin an odd shade of orange?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Probably. And if the unfortunate were to happen, I could end up being the greatest unelected president in history!

[NeonCat]

You've got my non-vote!

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Hmm. In A1S2 we have

The House of Representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

While it doesn't literally say so, in the parliamentary tradition the officers always came from the membership of the house.

[robc]

But the chief officer of the senate doesnt come from that house, so their is precedent in the US.

[robc]

there

[ChrisO]

Except that the Constitution expressly states that the Veep is president of the Senate. No such express description is given for the Speaker of the House.

In the absence of an express provision, where language could be ambiguous, statutory and constitutional analysis then moves to the intent of the drafters. Since they were coming from the British parliamentary system, it's pretty obvious they meant the Speaker to be a member of the House.

[Pro Libertate]

While there's likely a lot of truth in that implication, what's to stop the House from allowing an outsider as Speaker if a majority says it's okay? Provided that the Speaker doesn't get a vote or otherwise circumvent the Constitution, I suppose it could be done.

The courts defer quite a bit on internal questions like this, so the real question is whether an outside Speaker could come in without somehow violating other aspects of constitutional law.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Why elect someone outside their club?

That would be like Survivor contestants awarding the million $ to one of us.

[Charlotte Falcon]

Not true

[invisible furry hand]

NHS nurse suspended after giving patient Lucozade instead of glucose drip. This is not her best cock-up, however

more

[LTC(ret) John]

We can so look forward to O!care stories like that, come 2014.

[MP]

That's simply a ridiculous statement.

[Randian]

How so?

[MP]

Because it's a classic extrapolation of anecdotal evidence.

I happen to live near the hospital where a habitual Hepatitis C infector was finally brought down. After many years across many hospitals and many states.

But I'm not going to extrapolate that into a mass failure of US health care.

[Randian]

LTC John was making a comparison between two systems of government run health care and saying "If this happens a lot in one, it's probably going to happen a lot in the other"

[MP]

If this happens a lot in one

Except there was no evidence presented of "a lot".

Anecdotal stories are worse than useless when it comes to predicting the efficacy of large scale systems.

[Randian]

If this discussion were being held in a vacuum, you would be right.

But it isn't - the NHS's incompetence and perfidy is well documented, even through studies.

I just read something the other day where only 22% of their doctors even bothered washing their hands. This is in 2010.

[MP]

But it isn't - the NHS's incompetence and perfidy is well documented, even through studies.

Irrelevant in regards to this particular anecdote.

The large scale studies are useful. Anecdotes are just good copy.

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah. Lucozade isn't sold in the US.

[Restoras]

That is ridiculous.

[Groovus Maximus]

- Checking a patient's temperature instead of blood pressure;

- Assessing a patient with Parkinson's disease as being independent and needing no care or support;

- Attempting to give drugs which had already been given;

- Preparing drugs for oral administration for a patient who was nil by mouth;

- Being unfamiliar with equipment on the resuscitation trolley;

- Making four errors in relation to giving Heparin;

- Giving prescription eye drops, when not authorised, and giving them to the wrong patient;

- Failing to register patients and putting the wrong hospital number on a patient's wristband.

Magnificent. Simply magnificent.

[Tim]

What? No : "Feeding the wrong end"?

[Brett L]

Thank God for sovereign immunity, eh?

[invisible furry hand]

Doesn't apply to the NHS - it can be sued for negligence.

http://www.nhsla.com/Pages/Home.aspx

[Groovus Maximus]

Yes, IFH, but the standard of proof to bring a claim is quite staggering; this is also assuming that your claim will be heard. It is extremely difficult to sue the NHS for damages, and even harder to win.

[invisible furry hand]

but that's true for all medical negligence claims, not just claims against the NHS

[Brett L]

Haha. You've never experienced the American way. Anyone who can convince a lawyer that they can take 46% of the winnings can sue and probably find standing.

[Groovus Maximus]

Not quite; I've been dragged into court on a total bullshit claim for no other reason than to get a settlement (I won. Bench trial and summary judgement FTW.)

The NHS (and way centralized medicine is designed) purposefully sets up the system to discourage lawsuits, and barring res ipsa loquitur cases (such as amputating the wrong member or botching a delivery), your case has a less than stellar chance of getting heard, and this is straight from a few NHS docs that are currently in UKR on medical tour. Governments hate losing money.

[Groovus Maximus]

And FTR, this is one of the reasons I expy'd to UKR, as medical law, even for those in private practice, sets the burden of proof bar very high for standing. Otherwise, from what I saw of the State-Run clinics I saw, every single person would have standing to make a claim of some kind. I am a very ethical practitioner with the record to prove it (I had one of the lowest rates of surgical site infection in OK when I left), which is why the private hospital that hired me found my CV so desirable.

Though I absolute despise the TORT system of the USA, this is the main reason I hate socialized medicine more. I would simply change the USA system to a "loser pays" and eliminate punitive damages. Actual damages only.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Loser pays is going too far. Non-rich people couldn't risk even a legitimate suit if that were implemented.

[Groovus Maximus]

Loser pays is going too far. Non-rich people couldn't risk even a legitimate suit if that were implemented.

Too fucking bad. I didn't say anything about eliminating % of damages awarded. The slimy ambulance chasers will still have incentive to file a claim if merit permits.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Too fucking bad.

So someone harmed by a doctor and with a 75-25 shot of prevailing at trial should be forced to roll the dice on basically a 1 in 4 chance of probably having to go bankrupt in a loser pays scenario? Spoken like someone with a med-mal insurance company going to bat for him.

[Groovus Maximus]

So someone harmed by a doctor and with a 75-25 shot of prevailing at trial should be forced to roll the dice on basically a 1 in 4 chance of probably having to go bankrupt in a loser pays scenario?

Medical care is a not a right. Caveat Emptor, no? You want your licenseless panacea? Then I want to be able to write on my operative consents in big letters: YOU CAN'T SUE ME NO MATTER WHAT. And that goes double for pharma, too, with the "make everything OTC" business.

Spoken like someone with a med-mal insurance company going to bat for him.

And a big, fat target on his back every time he picks up a scalpel, writes a 'script, and agrees to treat a patient.

My potential mistakes are the kind that can take a life very easily and can never be taken back. If you think I take that responsibility lightly, then you don't know me very well.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Medical care is a not a right. Caveat Emptor, no? You want your licenseless panacea? Then I want to be able to write on my operative consents in big letters: YOU CAN'T SUE ME NO MATTER WHAT. And that goes double for pharma, too, with the "make everything OTC" business.

Not sure what that has to do with loser pays, but OK.

I don't think writing it on your operative consents would be enough. If you can video people when you tell them that no matter how badly you fuck up, they can't sue you -- and, I'm guessing they can't sue the hospital or anyone else, because it's hard to imagine a hospital leaving itself on the hook for your use of its facilities -- and you get their agreement to that, good for you. I wonder how much of a competitive advantage contractual immunity from liability would be for you, long term.

[Groovus Maximus]

Not sure what that has to do with loser pays, but OK.

Liability. Full stop.

If you want a procedure done under the magical "no licensing" scheme, then you take your chances. Otherwise, do it yourself.

Video doesn't help, actually. Juries (laymen juries, to be precise) can see anything they want in the presentation and award a judgement for no other reason than they hate doctors. I can spam this thread for the next day with colleague anecdotes and links testifying to that.

Hospitals are not on the hook for what occurs in OR: that's totally 0 my responsibility. Surgery is a case where shit rolls uphill. A scrub tech fucks up, my ass. Circulating nurse, my ass. Physician first assistant, their ass and my ass. That is my OR, and I assume the risk for everything that happens in it.

I wonder how much of a competitive advantage contractual immunity from liability would be for you, long term.

How qualified are you to perform herniorraphies, colostomies, and lap bands? Lap appies? You want to be your own doctor, fine. You want any bozo to practice medicine with the licenseless system? Awesome. I'll put my 12 years of surgical experience against some newbie, and good luck to them getting underwritten. I'll get a much better rate since I am demonstrably a better risk. Even in a free market there will be TOP. MEN. meaning one will be better qualified than another.

[robc]

So someone harmed by a doctor and with a 75-25 shot of prevailing at trial should be forced to roll the dice on basically a 1 in 4 chance of probably having to go bankrupt in a loser pays scenario? Spoken like someone with a med-mal insurance company going to bat for him.

If its 75-25, the lawyer who is going to take 50%, in case of victory, would be more than willing to cover it himself.

Cost of doing business.

[Rasilio]

Loser pays is not the answer and it really only takes a few seconds to see why.

Just because you lost the case does not mean you were wrong in bringing it.

Further there is a standard that is possible between loser pays and file anything you like with no reprocussions.

You can have a system where there are 3 possible outcomes of a Tort.

Judgement for the plaintiff, the defendant pays for the damages as well as the plaintiff's expenses.

Judgement for the defendant, the defendant is acquited of responsibility for the harm but the case is deemed to have had sufficient grounds to warrant bringing the case therefore nobody pays anybody anything.

Judgement against the defendant, the case is deemed to have been groundless on it's face and the plaintiff and their legal representation are jointly responsible for covering the legal expenses of the defendant.

Then with punitive damages, I see no reason to eliminate them, however I also see no reason why the plaintiff should benefit from them, I would change it such that punitive damages were still assessed but that the proceeds from them were directed towards a charity of some sort and the plantiff and their legal representation would be barred from recieving them.

[Groovus Maximus]

Judgement for the defendant, the defendant is acquited of responsibility for the harm but the case is deemed to have had sufficient grounds to warrant bringing the case therefore nobody pays anybody anything.

My malpractice premiums will take a hit, even if I get the judgement in my favour, therefore punitve.

Then with punitive damages, I see no reason to eliminate them

See above, and premiums will definitely go up, and the the added bonus of board review and notations and even restrictions added to the medical license. This will affect the practice negatively, therefore punitive and no need for the awarding of punitive damages. Incidentally, this is precisely why medical, nursing, dental, and allied health licensing exists.

[Rasilio]

"My malpractice premiums will take a hit, even if I get the judgement in my favour, therefore punitve.

"

So?

If my home is burglerized and I file a claim against my insurance my homeowners rates go up.

If I am in an accident and sued and found not liable my auto insurance rates still go up.

If any other business owner gets sued and found not liable his insurance rates still go up.

Why should you be any different.

Don't like the price your malpractice insurance carrier charges you then you should certainly feel free to drop them and not carry malpractice insurance asnd realistically in a world where there are no punitive damages bonanza's and truely frivilous lawsuits cost both the plaintiff AND their lawyers a good doctor probably would suffer very little risk from not carrying malpractice insurance, just have a legal retainer agreement with a law firm to ensure you have the ability to defend yourself should you get sued.

[Groovus Maximus]

Why should you be any different.

Immediate (and spectacular) risk.

You didn't ask for your home to be burglarized. You don't have to drive. Other businesses, not necessarily so. If someone gets sued for fraud, like if they knowingly sell a knockoff iPAD, that won't kill the customer. Once again, every patient encounter I have does have that risk exposure, and quite concentrated.

I operate on Baby Reason, and something goes wrong and she dies, even if not my fault, I can pretty much kiss my career goodbye (and probably eat a self-administered bullet). The argument that medical care as a "weird" commodity has some teeth.

Your last paragraph would be acceptable, though the Trial Lawyers' Assn., therefore both stategov and fedgov, will never permit it.

[invisible furry hand]

I'm pleased you won.

I think you're conflating a few things, and perhaps missing my point (which isn't that interesting, to tell the truth).

Granted: The US system is not identical to the Anglo-Australian one. In both, there are bullshit claims which are instituted to get walk-away money. And the UK Government certainly has some quirks to protect itself with respect to The Best Health System In The World.

But: my point was simply medical negligence claims (if litigated) are often bloody hard to prove, wherever you are, but especially in the UK/Australia. That stems from the complexity of the issues (blatant cases get settled), the cost (which is huge), the fact that the UK and Australia don't allow lawyers to recover % of damages (so lawyers have a disincentive to take bullshit no-win, no-fee cases to trial) and doctors' unwillingness to testify

[Groovus Maximus]

You're point is well taken, spunky sheila.-) Apologies. I was just shaken by what I witnessed at the State-Run clinics, and apparently is still a sore spot with me.

[invisible furry hand]

Mate, I'm still slightly shaken by what i experienced in the state-run system. I can't have injections in my left arm, and a nice doctor wrote a big message in texta on my arm to that effect (after another doctor who had read my notes still tried to do it!). Sure enough, nurses ignored the message and kept going for the arm...

And no apologies are ever required

[Groovus Maximus]

I can't have injections in my left arm

I am assuming you cannot have BP taken from it either, correct?

a nice doctor wrote a big message in texta on my arm to that effect (after another doctor who had read my notes still tried to do it!). Sure enough, nurses ignored the message and kept going for the arm...

I just gritted my teeth and sprung a RAGEBONER! You have no idea how angry that makes me. I should have been an acountant...-(((

I have my assistants well-trained though, as I have very exact and specific orders on how I want my theatre arranged and set up. Any deviations will be met with a very unhappy Dr. Groovy and I will make you break it down and start over.

[GILMORE]

hardy herp. Yeah, we're all going to die.

McKenzie was also found to fail at:

- Checking a patient's temperature instead of blood pressure;

- Assessing a patient with Parkinson's disease as being independent and needing no care or support;

- Attempting to give drugs which had already been given;

- Preparing drugs for oral administration for a patient who was nil by mouth;

- Being unfamiliar with equipment on the resuscitation trolley;

- Making four errors in relation to giving Heparin;

- Giving prescription eye drops, when not authorised, and giving them to the wrong patient;

- Failing to register patients and putting the wrong hospital number on a patient's wristband.

[Lord Humungus]

Moody's Anticipates Further US Fiscal Action Following "Fiscal Cliff" Deal
http://www.moodys.com/research.....dysratings

Moody's Investors Service said that the fiscal package passed by both houses of Congress yesterday is a further step in clarifying the medium-term deficit and debt trajectory of the federal government. It does not, however, provide a basis for a meaningful improvement in the government's debt ratios over the medium term. The rating agency expects that further fiscal measures are likely to be taken in coming months that would result in lower future budget deficits, which are necessary if the negative outlook on the government's bond rating is to be returned to stable. On the other hand, lack of further deficit reduction measures could affect the rating negatively. Notably, yesterday's package does not address the federal government's statutory debt limit, which was reached on December 31. The need to raise the debt limit may affect the outcome of future budget negotiations.

[LTC(ret) John]

The rating agency expects that further fiscal measures are likely to be taken in coming months that would result in lower future budget deficits

Moody's = damned fools.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Market don't care. Treasuries remain low and the S&P 500 and Dow are points away from all-time highs.

[protefeed]

Apparently investors are relieved that most of the tax increases didn't happen, if I'm reading the current mini-rally correctly.

[GILMORE]

protefeed| 1.3.13 @ 9:21AM |#

Apparently investors are relieved that most of the tax increases didn't happen, if I'm reading the current mini-rally correctly.

Uh, probably not.

Markets have strong quarterly/seasonal technical behaviors, as funds take profits in winners end-of-year then engage in buying sprees early on in 'cheaper' assets...which they may then dump by end of Q1 if there's no legs to the secular buying.

There's also just short-term headline-trading... sure, the fiscal cliff provided some artificial kickers and headwinds...which traders love. on the more important "volume of cash flow trading", many funds are still quite defensive in bonds (high yield corporate *& EMB)

[R C Dean]

Of course, as Plugs has been told many times, the low Treasury rates aren't the result of markets, but of Fed manipulation.

This isn't some conspiracy theory either. Its the Fed's overt policy.

Anyone who regards the current equity markets as a reflection of actual economic reality is delusional. Given the liquidity pumping, high frequency trading, and various other forms of fraud and manipulation winked at by the SEC, that is.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes, Operation Twist was designed to affect the long bonds.

But corporate profits are at all-time highs and manufacturing activity is robust. The market is reflecting economic reality.

I know, the preppers and ZeroHeads won't agree until there is a Republican in office.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

There was a Republican in the presidency in 2007-08 and they didn't agree then.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Our economy was literally falling apart then. It was apparent to anyone with a pulse.

Now even the big banks are talking up the economy.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Yet, despite the numbers on the big board, stock sales have exceeded stock purchases for the FIFTH YEAR in a row.

[Michael S. Langston]

& that was a problem with having very cheap money loaned to money hungry Americans. A great deal of which was used on housing.

& the US government is solving this problem by keeping money cheap and introducing more of it. For instance, there are still tax breaks for first time homebuyers (incentives to buy homes) even though the housing market has yet to really show the bottom in most places.

Yeah, I might not be an economist of note, but not sure how smart one needs to be to understand that the cause of and solution to our fiscal problems cannot be the exact same policy.

[R C Dean]

manufacturing activity is robust

Oh, really?

Of the 18 manufacturing industries, seven are reporting growth in December in the following order: Furniture & Related Products; Paper Products; Petroleum & Coal Products; Wood Products; Primary Metals; Computer & Electronic Products; and Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products. The nine industries reporting contraction in December ? listed in order ? are: Nonmetallic Mineral Products; Chemical Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Plastics & Rubber Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Transportation Equipment; Machinery; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; and Apparel, Leather & Allied Products.

http://www.ism.ws/ismreport/mfgrob.cfm

[Randian]

Fuck you, cut troll responding.

[R C Dean]

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Palin's Buttplug]

"I am delighted to see the PMI above 50, closing out the year in positive territory," said Bradley J. Holcomb, CPSM, CPSD, chair of the ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, in an interview. "And all of the 'anchor' indices?New Orders, Production, Employment, Supplier Deliveries [up 4.4 percent to 54.7]?were all above 50. The only one down was Inventories [down 2.0 percent to 43.0 to its lowest point since September 2009], which is really not a bad thing. You generally see inventories down at the end of the year as manufacturers try to reduce costs. It means that they will go back up and also set the stage for a good beginning to 2013."

http://www.scmr.com/article/is.....high_note/

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

RTFAing reveals he's putting lipstick on a pig. Manufacturing has been down four of the past 7 months. Hardly "robust".

[Palin's Buttplug]

I don't get you Doom/Gloomers.

Interest rates are fantastic, inflation is contained, exports are at all-time highs, energy prices are cheap and falling, innovation is high, the Europe is stumbling around as a poor second to us.

We are on the cusp of a tremendous boom.

The S/P was 806 when Obama was elected and is 1460 now and will be 1800 plus in Jan 2017.

[mad libertarian guy]

We are on the cusp of a tremendous boom.

We could have been on one all along were it not for government intervention at every turn and in to every facet.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Well, the media has been saying we're on the cusp of a boom for four years now.

[el esc?ptico]

Palin's Buttplug| 1.3.13 @ 10:02AM |#|?|filternamelinkcustom

I don't get you Doom/Gloomers.

I guess when you're stuck up a MILF's ass, blissful ignorance is one of the results.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Question, PB: how long ago did those things become true? And yet unemployment is still high and it's nearly impossible for SBs to get loans.

You might also want to look at gold, silver, gun and ammo price behavior since BO took office.

[Palin's Buttplug]

We still have overcapacity (CE, RE, plant, and labor).

A non-political issue.

[Michael S. Langston]

Ummm.... so.... you're stating overcapacity is a good thing huh?

Then why should we stop at 10% UE - wouldn't 25% be that much more overcapacity?

[Jersey Patriot]

Natural gas prices are cheap; coal and oil are not. Labor force participation is at 30 year lows and is not rising. Median income continues to stagnate or decline.

The S/P...will be 1800 plus in Jan 2017.

Well, this thread just got bookmarked.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

I could see it being 1800+ by the end of the year. Of course gold would be around 3000 an ounce.

[Bobarian]

Bread could be $20 a loaf...

[Palin's Buttplug]

Coal and oil are at least 40% off their highs. Cheap is relative and solar is maturing.

Face it, in today's global workforce 10% of Americans are unemployable. They are just not worth it when garment companies or FoxConns can pay less than $1 a day.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

So your boom includes 10% unemployment?

[Way Of The Crane]

Face it, in today's global workforce 10% of Americans are unemployable. They are just not worth it when garment companies or FoxConns can pay less than $1 a day.

Are you saying that minimum wage laws are hurting our competitiveness in the global market?!?!? Blasphemy!

[R C Dean]

Here we see Plugs' favorite trick: cherrypicking the time frame for his data so that it supports his conclusion-o-the-day.

[Randian]

and look who enables him.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

An anti-troll concern troll is just too meta for my brain to comprehend.

[iggy]

I like that you say 'in today's global workforce 10% of Americans are unemployable' when 5 years ago we had unemployment around 5%. What happened in the intervening 5 years to magically make twice as many Americans unemployable?

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

You know......stuff!!

[R C Dean]

energy prices are cheap and falling

Oh, really?

http://chartsbin.com/view/oau

http://www.steelonthenet.com/k.....rices.html

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yeah, and the labor participation rate is STILL at 30 year lows, you fucking moron.

You can't have a booming economy if people aren't working.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The S/P was 806 when Obama was elected and is 1460 now and will be 1800 plus in Jan 2017.

Keep in mind this is the same idiot who said the deficit was going to be less than a trillion in FY 12.

[R C Dean]

If the rest of the fiscal year plays out like the first quarter, our deficit will be north of $1.4T this year.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

PB, I think you belong back in February 2010.

[Sam Grove]

Interest rates are fantastic,

How were interest rates in the 1020's?

[Rasilio]

"We are on the cusp of a tremendous boom.

"

Oh we are on the cusp of something alright but Boom is certainly not the right word for it.

I suppose it just barely may be possible that we are on the cusp of one final bubble before the end of the road is reached and one could certainly mistake that for a boom.

More realistically however we are already in the bubble and we've just reached the point where even inflationary bubbles just look like stagnation.

No matter how you slice things however there is no way you can project anything but a total fiscal collapse of the American economy at some point in the next 20 years because there is no level of taxation which could produce the revenues needed to meet the pension and medical care obligations all levels of government have committed themselves to paying out and with the political clout of seniors and near seniors, and their useful idiots like yourself who stick your heads in the sand claiming the problem can be solved with small increases in tax rates on the rich and small cuts to defense spending, there is just no realistic way to expect that any meaningful cuts to those benefits will occur soon enough to matter.

[GILMORE]

http://mediaserver.fxstreet.co.....75aa57.pdf

"We are on the cusp of a tremendous boom."

Uh, the trend on margins is lower now, and cash-flow conversion is slowing...

So where did you get your fantasy-economics degree?

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

the S&P 500 and Dow are points away from all-time highs.

in Zimbabwe dollars?

[R C Dean]

Apparently.

http://www.aboutinflation.com/.....n-adjusted

[R C Dean]

Certainly not in constant US dollars.

http://www.aboutinflation.com/.....n-adjusted

[robc]

Is that CPI inflation adjusted or M2 inflation adjusted? Because Im betting the former and the latter would look even worse.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Have you noticed that really elite investors don't fixate on the money supply?

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

I made 200% returns in silver in three years. Does that make me an elite investor?

[iggy]

In this thread, Buttplug gets called out for being wrong about the Dow being percentage points away from all time highs, since those numbers are almost entirely inflation funded. Buttplug ignores the point and changes the subject.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Join us tomorrow for "As the Stomach Turns" when Buttplug will call for MOAR BUZTED WINDOWS....

[robc]

Our dollars arent that bad...yet.

How close is NASDAQ to an all-time high? Yeah, thats what I thought.

[generic Brand]

Israel has set a minimum Body Mass Index of 18.5 to work as a model in the country.

John books his ticket and plans his ex-patriation immediately.

[invisible furry hand]

Doubt it - he looks lousy in a bikini

[LTC(ret) John]

So....you've seen that, have you?

[Ted S.]

I didn't know John was a black mayor.

[invisible furry hand]

Israel has set a minimum Body Mass Index of 18.5 to work as a model in the country.

Finally, a reason for sarcasmic to post another Bar Rafaeli story

[nicole]

They're "stories"?

[invisible furry hand]

No - more than stories, they're literature:

See Bar Rafaeli.

See Bar Rafaeli jiggle.

See sarcasmic drool.

[invisible furry hand]

No - more than stories, they're literature:

See Bar Rafaeli.

See Bar Rafaeli jiggle.

See sarcasmic drool.

[LTC(ret) John]

Of course you could swap out sarcasmic with just about any living male commenter at H&R.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I do keep scrolling up to look at the picture.

[Groovus Maximus]

I'm glad you said just about, as Bar does little to nothing for me. I have seen much better.

[protefeed]

She has nothing TO jiggle.

Tons of better looking, non-anorexic babes at any beach on Oahu.

[tarran]

Plus, she's not that great of a conversationalist...

It puts me in mind of a bit of grafitti:

"There is nothing so overrated as a bad fuck."

[Brett L]

She clears my minimum effective attractiveness bar by a good margin. Even knowing that Leo hit it.

[Restoras]

Well, sure...a single picture is worth one thousand words, right?

[mr simple]

Like we need a reason.

While it's ridiculous for the government to regulate an industry like this, I'm ok with using Bar as the standard model.

[protefeed]

Israel has set a minimum Body Mass Index of 18.5 to work as a model in the country.

Likely response -- models going to the gym to pack on muscle.

Saw an anorexic model-ish woman at the gym yesterday, hardly able to do anything from what appeared to be low blood sugar. Pretty face, but wanted to order her a burger, stat.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Meanwhile in France, the socialist president promises to keep pushing more taxes on the wealthy.

Hollande wouldn't be much of a socialist otherwise.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I am surprised there is no exit tax in France. That has to be coming, right?

[Jerry on the road]

They cannot impose exit taxes on people moving to other EU member states.

[Ted S.]

At which point the EU starts calling for tax "harmonization" which is always pressuring the low-tax states to increase their tax rates.

[Lord Humungus]

David Malpass: Nothing Is Certain Except More Debt and Taxes
The Senate fiscal-cliff bill still means higher taxes on every working American. So much for just going after 'the rich.'
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

No wonder many House Republicans balked at what was presented. The New Year's Day legislation is breathtaking in its largess. The Senate bill extends 52 tax credits, mostly for one year, ensuring huge annual lobbying fees and political contributions. Section 206 provides a juicy capital-gains tax exemption for contributions of property for conservation, meaning wealthy environmentalists with extra acreage will be able to take a tax deduction for the appreciated property and have the environmental organization preserve it, adding to the value of the primary property. Section 312 provides faster tax deductions for "motorsports entertainment complexes." Section 317 allows expensing of film and television productions, meaning lower taxes for Hollywood.

[MP]

I'm sorry, but as much as this "GOP Obstructionist" spin is bullshit, so is the spin of the "tax hike on working Americans", regardless of its technical accuracy.

[Translucent Chum]

Technically accurate = bullshit. I don't see what you did there.

[T]

Yeah, but when everybody sees their first paycheck this year, it'll stick.

[Randian]

Did taxes not go up or what?

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Technically it's not a tax hike, it's the expiration of a temporary tax cut.

When Walmart has an advertised sale from 5am to 10am on Black Friday, it would be silly to say they raised their prices at 10am.

[MP]

Agreed.

[Way Of The Crane]

it's the expiration of a temporary tax cut.

HA HA HA

When Walmart has an advertised sale from 5am to 10am on Black Friday, it would be silly to say they raised their prices at 10am.

If I don't pay full price for shit at Walmart, they can't take me to prison or garnish my wages.

And while you may think it's silly to say that they raised their prices at 10am, it doesn't change the fact that the price customers paid at 10am is higher than the price they paid at 9:59am. Deny it all you want, that is an increase.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Not agreed. The price went up between 9:59 and 10:01. This action was done purposefully by Walmart. Therefore, Walmart raised prices.

[Fatty Bolger]

So it's... accurate but fake?

[Bee Tagger]

Israel has set a minimum Body Mass Index of 18.5 to work as a model in the country.

That seems barely legal.

[LTC(ret) John]

There, what you did, I saw it.

[mnarayan]

This is the shittest meme ever.

[shamalam]

+17 years, 11 months, and twenty nine days.

[invisible furry hand]

"it's not wrong if you get a best-selling erotic novel out of this"

Oh Prudie!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Chinese censors appear more interested in shutting down social media than websites that sell guns and drugs.

Chinese officials know that information is more dangerous to their power than anything else.

[Bee Tagger]

Finally, a market for my invention.

Bulletgrams: When you want someone to get the message.

[Lord Humungus]

Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nyti.....urrent-tv/

Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab news giant, has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization, not a parrot of Middle Eastern propaganda or something more sinister.

It just bought itself 40 million more chances to make its case.

Al Jazeera on Wednesday announced a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore, a former vice president, and his business partners seven years ago. Al Jazeera plans to shut Current and start an English-language channel, which will be available in more than 40 million homes, with newscasts emanating from both New York and Doha, Qatar.

[Bardas Phocas]

Al takes the Blood Carbon money and runs.

[db]

Yeah, pretty much. Gotta love that irony.

[Bobarian]

"has long tried to convince Americans that it is a legitimate news organization"

And it then buys Current?

EPIC FAIL

[Brett L]

Nah. He's actually helping to bankrupt the oil industry by selling them a worthless business at way over market value.

[Lord Humungus]

The only time I watched Al Jazeera was during their coverage of the "Arab Spring". I thought it was quite good.

[Timon 19]

Their coverage of the Haiti earthquake and Japan tsunami was fantastic.

It's especially sad that their coverage of something that happened in the US' backyard kicked the crap out of any US-based coverage.

They actually gave information, while Anderson Cooper cried.

[Timon 19]

This makes some sense. They've been trying hard to get into the US market (outside of DC and, for some reason, Toledo). Last year they went and bought themselves a whole ton of English-language US rights to various soccer leagues and essentially replaced GolTV in its entirety, including grabbing its main commentary talent.

They launched the channel late last year, just as the European leagues were starting up. They call themselves BeIn Sport, which is fairly retarded-sounding, but whatever. Interestingly, it's exactly the same name as their network in France, also launched last year.

[invisible furry hand]

Time Warner Cable just dropped Current in response to the deal, so it will be interesting to see what others do once it actually starts putting out Al Jazeera content

[Timon 19]

I'm not totally certain where CRNT even is on DirecTV.

I know where largely-lefty Free Speech TV and LinkTV are (they seem to be on a KOCHTOPUS!!!! kick lately), but no idea about Current.

[Ted S.]

Current is channel 358, I believe.

I don't have it in my favorites. I liked Newsworld International before Current bought the slot out from under them. When Current first appeared, I wondered how long it would take before the Ernie Guevara image showed up. It was sometime on the first weekend, and I was only flipping back and forth.

[Timon 19]

Yeah, that pissed me off. NWI was good.

[Ted S.]

This is the country that won the rights to host a World Cup, after all.

[fights urge to laugh uncontrollably]

[Timon 19]

Shut your whore mouth!

(The US was absolutely screwed on that, as was England for 2018 - hell, Oz would have been a vastly superior choice for 2022).

Interestingly, that criminal Bin Hammam resigned from FIFA after managing to fight off several strong corruption allegations.

[Ted S.]

You couldn't figure out from my italicized stage directions that I don't quite agree with FIFA's decision?

[Timon 19]

And you couldn't figure out that I wasn't actually telling you to shut your whore mouth?

Just filling in blanks for others while having a bit of a laugh.

[SugarFree]

and, for some reason, Toledo

Nearby Dearborn has the second highest concentration of Arab immigrants in America.

[Timon 19]

Good point.

[Enough About Palin]

"or some reason, Toledo"

There is a massively huge mosque and Muslim presence in Toledo.

[Enough About Palin]

http://www.emptywheel.net/wp-c......33-PM.png

http://www.icgt.org/

[Timon 19]

Thanks, got it a half hour ago.

[Lord Humungus]

Japan's Population Falls by Record in 2012 as Births Decrease
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....rease.html

Japan's population last year declined by 212,000, the biggest drop on record, according to an estimate by the nation's health ministry.

That's the largest reduction since the ministry started recording the data in 1947 and a sixth straight year of declines. The number of births fell by 18,000 to a record low of 1.03 million last year, the ministry said.

[T]

I know somebody here will be willing to go to Japan and attempt to make as many babies as possible to help out.

[LTC(ret) John]

Warty? STEVE SMITH?

[Lord Humungus]

so an American goes to Japan version of GTO? (Great Teacher Onizuka)

[db]

I would think Japan had experienced several larger drops in population before. Say, in the mid 20th century?

I wonder how the tsunami figures into the current decline?

[generic Brand]

They still have decreasing births every year. Even with no major catastrophically deadly events (like H-bombs or tsunamis or earthquakes), they would still be on the decline.

[Rasilio]

You really have to wonder how long it will be before they start paying people to emigrate there just so they can maintain their industrial base, and who they'll want to come in?

My guess is ~30 years and they'll prefer Americans to the Chineese or Phillipino alternatives (can't imagine very many South Koreans would want to bother)

[Enough About Palin]

"Japan's Population Falls by Record in 2012 as Births Decrease"

You know if they would just come in the schoolgirl's vagina instead of her mouth...

[el esc?ptico]

I don't know what the hell you're talking about. There's more Japanese creampie vignettes than any other ethnicity!

I mean, someone told me something to that effect...

I mean, I don't even know what a creampie is... or a vignette.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Christina Kirchner, Argentina's president, writes to the British prime minister, David Cameron, demanding the Falkland Islands be surrendered.

Just like a woman to nag.

[Translucent Chum]

At least she isn't constantly calling.

[T]

Only because Cameron changed his mobile number. Otherwise, his phone would be blowing up with insane text messages about the Malvinas.

[Raven Nation]

Uh-uh: it's the Maldives according to our fearless leader.

[Drake]

Nobody pay attention to the complete failure of Peronist socialism - let's all get worked up about the Falklands again instead.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That dog needs wagged.

[Gladstone]

It worked well for the 70s Military Junta.

[invisible furry hand]

What could have entered the public domain on January 1, 2013 under the law that existed until 1978?

Hint: Readers of Mad will just get madder

more

[robc]

Dammit, that means I still cant publish my Forbidden Planet fan fic!

[Lord Humungus]

Jonah Goldberg: What Is the Future of Conservatism?
http://www.commentarymagazine......servatism/

For good and bad reasons, liberalism has managed to cover itself with a patina of libertarianism. Some of this stems from changing attitudes about sexuality. Conservative opposition to gay marriage sends a powerful cultural signal that makes the GOP seem Comstockish and scary, at least to the elites who shape the culture and to younger voters.

That argument is familiar enough. But what allows the Democrats to seem more libertarian isn't just cultural marketing, but a widespread acceptance of the idea that positive liberty is more important than negative liberty. The former, an idea near to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's heart, is that you can't be free unless the state gives you the material aid necessary to enjoy life to its fullest. This was the point of his "economic bill of rights." Negative liberty, an idea dear to the Founders, defines freedom as independence from government intrusion and meddling.

[Palin's Buttplug]

positive liberty is more important than negative liberty

Who has said this (elected official only)?

JG making shit up again.

[Jordan]

Wake me up when pro-regressives fight as hard to oppose the NDAA as they fought to pass Obamacare (HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT!!!1)

[nicole]

what allows the Democrats to seem more libertarian isn't just cultural marketing, but a widespread acceptance of the idea that positive liberty is more important than negative liberty

Does...not...compute. I see what he means but that's sure not how I would put it.

[SugarFree]

Jonah Goldberg is an idiot. He convinced us long ago, but I guess he secretly fears that we don't know he's an idiot, and so has to prove it again and again.

[nicole]

He just doesn't want you to forget about him with all the Jezebel writers competing for your idiot-attention.

[SugarFree]

True, it is a very crowded marketplace of moronic ideas.

[T]

May the best moron prevail!

[Groovus Maximus]

Talles midget?

[Dweebston]

I'm not altogether certain what's wrong in stating this (tbh I didn't rtfa, fwiw). I can't think of a single hot-button issue in the past decade in which the democratic punditry or media have insisted on a level-headed, back-to-basics approach to qualifying government's proper role in addressing it. Instead, it's ever the wailing cry of SOMETHING MUST BE DONE.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ooo, libertarianism has made the big time. The progressive left in recent years had been working to grab the mantle of Christianity, now maybe they'll try to usurp libertarian messages (but not on civil liberties, of course).

[protefeed]

Civil liberties are the only way Democrats could appear remotely libertarian-ish. I mean, what -- economic liberties? From DEMOCRATS??!?

[nicole]

No no, protefeed, the way that it works is you redefine libertarian to mean progressive.

[Dweebston]

I thought they're redefining libertarian as hacky right-wing loonies.

[mad libertarian guy]

No no, protefeed, the way that it works is you redefine libertarian to mean progressive.

Yep.

Many of the left's successes is that the left controls language. Even when they aren't the vaunted experts in something, firearms for example, they control the language.

In order to combat this, I'll have to go grab my assault rifle and load in the clip. Even though I own neither, everyone understands exactly what I "meant" by it, because the left has ensured that they control the language on everything.

Things mean what the left wants them to mean.

[SweatingGin]

Don't let them control the word "clip", too. Magazine, magazine, magazine!

[Brett L]

Let them ban 30 round clips -- IIRC, the Garands don't have much market for them. As long as I can have magazines of at least that size.

[invisible furry hand]

The lethal lap-dance

[BigT]

A nice rack is a terrible thing to waste.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I noticed this little gem before I left work last night.

For 2013, the 35% tax bracket for single individuals projects to be $398,350 to $400,000.

Good job congress, a tax bracket that spans a whopping $1,650.

[robc]

With the way they are monetizing debt, it will expand in size rapidly.

[Lord Humungus]

Crony Capitalist Blowout
A tax increase for everyone but the favored wealthy few.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

In praising Congress's huge new tax increase, President Obama said Tuesday that "millionaires and billionaires" will finally "pay their fair share." That is, unless you are a Nascar track owner, a wind-energy company or the owners of StarKist Tuna, among many others who managed to get their taxes reduced in Congress's New Year celebration.

There's plenty to lament about the capital and income tax hikes, but the bill's seedier underside is the $40 billion or so in tax payoffs to every crony capitalist and special pleader with a lobbyist worth his million-dollar salary. Congress and the White House want everyone to ignore this corporate-welfare blowout, so allow us to shine a light on the merriment.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Obama paying off his NASCAR pals!

[mad libertarian guy]

That ought to make the KULTUR WARRIERZ on Team BLUE really fucking happy.

[Lord Humungus]

The HHS Mandate and Judicial Theocracy
If we are to preserve our First Amendment rights, judges must refrain from telling plaintiffs challenging the HHS mandate that they've got their theology wrong.
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/01/7403/

These decisions set a dangerous precedent by arrogating to government officials the authority to make determinations about what a religion does, and does not, require its followers to do or refrain from doing. If we continue down this path, soon judges will be telling Jews that their religion does not require male circumcision, devout Muslims that wearing the hijab is merely optional, or Catholic doctors and nurses that their religion permits them to perform or assist in abortions. To put such power in the hands of the government is to eradicate the separation of church and state and to deal a death blow to the free exercise of religion. If we are to preserve our First Amendment rights, Judge Heaton's ruling must be overturned. More generally, as these HHS mandate cases make their way through the appeals process and eventually reach the Supreme Court, judges must scrupulously avoid deciding them based on theological claims.

[Lord Humungus]

Cliff Deal Only Whets Obama's Appetite For More Taxes
http://news.investors.com/ibd-.....-taxes.htm

But as the fiscal cliff agreement looked increasingly likely, Obama started talking more specifically about additional tax hikes. On Monday, he told a White House rally that "revenues have to be part of the equation in turning off the sequester."

Translation: If Republicans want to prevent devastating defense cuts from automatically kicking in two months from now, they'll have to choke down another round of tax hikes.

[gaijin]

Devastating defense cuts? I don't think devastating means what it used to.

[el esc?ptico]

It will be devastating to the companies that have been leeching off of the "military industrial complex" for decades, whilst being a boon to the actual economy. I guess it depends on whose perspective you're taking. For me, not so devastating, for many a lazy asshole on the gov't dime... how would you feel if you had to actually do something productive for a living after free-loading for all these years? Devastated, maybe?

[gaijin]

perhaps. But my understanding was that all the cuts were actually just cuts in growth. So the lazy teat suckers would continue to do so...just with smaller raises....kind of like most of the rest of the people in the non dotGov world.

[el esc?ptico]

Perhaps it is devastating to the brother-in-law that was promised the cushy job at some defense contractor this year and wouldn't get it. And can you imagine the pie on the face of the guy who made that promise. How devastated would you feel having to tell your wife that the job you promised her lazy ass brother would not be materializing because of cuts in growth? It's shameful.

[DJF]

The same with the word 'Defense".

[SugarFree]

You might want to have a seat...

Jezebel screams and rends clothing when BMI is used to determine who is over weight, approves when it is used to determine which models are too skinny.

Israel's ban on models with a B.M.I. of under 18.5 goes into effect this week. Don't hold your breath for similar legislation or even voluntary industry regulation in the U.S. "We never had an approach of mandate or enforce," says the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Steven Kolb. "We create awareness and education."

Did I just blow your mind?!?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Yeah that's right, fuck those skinny bitches.

[Groovus Maximus]

Mind blown...

[tarran]

You want to really blow your mind? Replace Jezebel with Al Jazeera which is how I originally parsed it.

[SugarFree]

Al Jazeera? The cable news network that Al Gore just sold his American TV network to?

[tarran]

Yes....

Although I question whether it's a real news network;

On Verizon Fios, all the cable news channels are in a band between 90 and 110. Current TV is in the 190's sandwiched between Chiller and some station I can't remember - the kind of channel where there might be a monster, or some kind of weird mirror. These are just examples; it could also be something much better.

[Way Of The Crane]

Sadly, if you want the Cooking channel on Verizon, you have to sign up for a package that includes Current TV.

[Ted S.]

Did I just blow your mind?!?

Didn't I?

Well, let's blow your mind some more!

[invisible furry hand]

you were doing so well with the Delfonics, and then you had to go and do that. Damn you to hell

[Ted S.]

That's because I've got the right stuff, baby.

Seriously, I have my brower set not to automatically play plug-ins, so when somebody includes a Youtube link, the video doesn't start up; I only get the title, which 99% of the time is enough information.

[Warty]

I recently discovered that my BMI is 33. FUCK YEAH

[Matrix]

Girl with no name

Possible brickbat? Iceland won't allow her to have her given name.

[Lord Humungus]

a list of approved names?! yikes.

[Groovus Maximus]

This is actually very common in Euro-landia. UKR has a list of approved baby names, and I believe Czech-sylvania does as well, for example.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know who else's name isn't allowed to be given?

[T]

Voldemort?

[Lord Humungus]

Shikelgruber?

[invisible furry hand]

All I said was this fish is good enough for Jehovah

[Restoras]

Halibut!

[Kaptious Kristen]

White Indian?

[Way Of The Crane]

Mxyzptlk? or was it Kltpzyxm?

[Ted S.]

I've been through the desert on a girl with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain.

[T]

Fuck you for making me think of America. Goddamn but the 70s had some terrible dreck.

[Ted S.]

They made they 80s pretty lousy too.

[Shmenge]

Say what? Tin Man and Sister Golden Hair are both great songs.

[generic Brand]

Her mother is hoping that will change with her suit, the first time someone has challenged a names committee decision in court.

How used to statism do you become that no one challenges a "Names Committee" in the country for decades? Is America heading this way? I hate being paranoid, but I think we are.

[gaijin]

no way...that would be racist

[Rich]

The list would contain formation rules rather than actual names, so "FridChik'nisha" would still be allowed.

[mad libertarian guy]

There goes the theory that all Icelandic women are hot.

[tarran]

I don't know, those eyes communicate a certain mischievousness and with.

[mad libertarian guy]

Ugly chicks MUST be mischievous. Otherwise they get nowhere.

[T]

There's always ice cream, cats, and ranting on Jezebel.

[shamalam]

+1 Sheniqua

[Groovus Maximus]

In former Soviet Russia, Gerard Depardieu YOU!

More on Rasputin, from the archives of The UK Fraudian.

[Jerry on the road]

Damn you!

[Jerry on the road]

Putin gives tax exile Depardieu Russian citizenship. Talk about executive order power.

[Groovus Maximus]

PWND, gospodin.

[invisible furry hand]

The nerve of some people...

"Save us from saviours" is the piercing refrain of a growing human rights movement demanding that sex workers be recognised as more than victims to be rescued or strategic populations to be targeted for public health campaigns. It's likely to strike a nerve among some in the traditional aid and development industry, often criticised for top-down, paternalistic projects.

[mad libertarian guy]

How about we recognize sex workers as people using an asset for financial gain in a transaction that takes place between two (or more) consenting adults?

Weird, I know.

[Enough About Palin]

It also takes place between adults and 12-year-olds, so there's that.

[shamalam]

Pedophiles exist, therefore adults can't have consensual sex?

[sloopyinca]

If a "civilian" leaves a dog in the car for an hour, they're likely to get charged with a crime. If a police officer leaves a group of minors in a police van for 14 hours with no food, water of communication with the outside world, they get a few days vacation.

Ain't unions swell?

[Ted S.]

Procedures were followed.

[Tim]

THEY KILLED KENNY! YOU BASTARDS!

[SugarFree]

HAHAHAHA.... OK... HA!... get this...wait a minute, need to catch my breath... woo, OK, OK... get this:

Gawker derides Narcissism Masquerading as Journalism

Oh, man. I didn't think I could get that out. Oh, shit! And it's cross posted on JEZEBEL!

THE CLUELESSNESS IS DELICIOUS! MOAR! WANT MOAR!

[T]

I think we've truly reached peak irony with that one.

[SugarFree]

Where else can it go?

[nicole]

Is that a dare?

[SugarFree]

No way, nicole. You take dares too seriously. Someone's going to get hurt.

[BigT]

Shapiro is, in essence, telling her students that they only way they will get published and sell stories and books and have careers as professional writers is to exploit every last tawdry twist and turn of their own lives for profit. Why, she could be the editor of any number of popular websites! Her takeaway from editors' and agents' demands for interesting stories is, "Sharing internal traumas on page one makes you immediately knowable, lovable and engrossing." She is teaching a gimmick: the confessional as attention-grabber.

She advises politicians to write not one, but TWO autobiographies.

[invisible furry hand]

Did it work for this guy?

[Bobarian]

It would have blown up in his face, if anyone had actually read them.

[Way Of The Crane]

"Sharing internal traumas on page one makes you immediately knowable, lovable and engrossing."

So only the most dysfunctional individuals (or the best liars) should be writers?

[Enough About Palin]

A Million Little Cups of Tea?

[Ed]

To Hamilton's credit he does include Gawker Media as a place to find the kind of first-person essays he's lamenting.

[mr simple]

Los Angeles photog killed shooting Bieber's car

The kicker:
Bieber says he hopes the tragedy will inspire legislation to protect the lives of celebrities, police, bystanders and photographers themselves.

If only someone had legislated against this.

[gaijin]

More shooting violence?

[Ted S.]

The guy was exercising his 1A right to film the cops. Any legislation Bieber wants is going to violate the 1A.

[AuH2O]

If that ever happens to me, spare me the pain and tell my family I died of auto-erotic asphyxiation

[Brett L]

Actually, that's better than what I came up with in the PM links last night.

[generic Brand]

Couldn't the answer just be to stop giving a shit about celebrities?

[SugarFree]

Paying attention the Alpha Apes got us fed, keep us warm, and got us laid for millions of years. Your pleas will fall on deaf ears.

[mad libertarian guy]

Paying attention the Alpha Apes

We're defining Da Beebs as an alpha male now? The fuck?

[SugarFree]

He's rich, desired and famous. If he liked having sex with women he could get more tail than a toilet seat in a stadium during the Superbowl and sire 10,000 children.

Alpha Ape.

[Enough About Palin]

Our alpha apes are becoming feminized. See Johnny Depp.

[Way Of The Crane]

If only someone had legislated against this.

I agree... how can our government continue to allow the Biebster to roam free? He and his Ferrari should be locked up for the safety of the paparazzi.

[Groovus Maximus]

Meanwhile, in Brazil,things are going bumbum. (You're welcome.-)

[invisible furry hand]

I give you a nurse who fills in forms rather than staunch a patient's bleeding, and I get an arse shot in return? Where is the love?

[Ted S.]

You're not the only person to wonder where is the love, you know.

[mr simple]

Please make it stop!

[Ted S.]

Mr. Simple just wants to stop.

[Ted S.]

Things going bumbum, Finland-style.

[gaijin]

I don;t speak Ukranian or whatever, but it's heartening to see that bumbum would seem to be a universal term.

[AuH2O]

5 things not going away in 2013

#1. The NDAA Will Remain, as Liberals Continue to Sleep on the Job

So come 2013, we will have the NDAA again. None of the abuses to our due process have been remedied. And do you know the worst part? No one cares. You can find testimonials on YouTube, but the subject is ignored by mainstream media, and most people still don't believe that a "liberal" like Obama could sign such a bill. All my liberal friends were correctly up in arms when Bush pursued such wrong-headed measures, but it seems like as long as you're not pushing church-based legislation (like banning abortion and gay rights), a whole bunch of liberals don't seem motivated to keep watch over our Constitution. The apologists will come forth in the comments, and before they explain why our president's hands were tied on this one, I hope they read the first NDAA column and the court decision linked above. Their arguments, which were overly optimistic and flimsy, are even more tenuous now. It's not that I want to be right. I just want to remove some of the calming rationalizations that enable the present liberal apathy, because this apathy means that 2013 and beyond will see no shortage of abuses to our basic freedoms.

It's sad when a website like cracked, meant to be funny, is better on this shit than the MSM

[Ted S.]

Is the list all on one page, or as cracked normally does, split up into multiple pages?

[Lord Humungus]

TWO PAGES! TWO!

[AuH2O]

Thanks, Count von Count.

[R C Dean]

Two, as always.

[hold up three fingers]

[AuH2O]

2 pages

[Randian]

The Cracked Commentariat is sure to go apeshit, especially given that they got called out about it.

[sloopyinca]

Sex, intrigue and physical assaults. Just a day in the life of a Lowell, MA police officer.

Too bad the victim of the assault wasn't a city planner named Joe.

[RG]

Peak stupid?

"For many of the Republican Party's Tea Party insurgents, the choice is even more fundamental: whether there should be a government at all. Their unbending position, demanding an ever-diminishing role for the federal government, has levied an enormous unnecessary cost on everyone else."

http://blogs.reuters.com/nicho.....overnment/

[Jerry on the road]

Ghosts from the eighteenth century are preying on our school-children, abetted by those who believe that compromise on amending our gun laws is surrendering to the forces of big government. Such unbending absolutism costs human lives.

[RG]

But government controlled drones or drug warriors with badges don't.

[DJF]

"""demanding an ever-diminishing role for the federal government"''

Yes, the government has withered away to almost nothing. Washington DC is a ghost town with vacant government buildings everywhere. The military does not have troops enough to guard the tomb of the unknown solder. The President, Congress, and Supreme Court have to stand on street corners begging for food. When will this madness stop and the all powerful Tea Party allow the government to do its job.

[RG]

Just think of the costs those demands have on us and ignore the actual deficit and accumulated debt.

[KMA Too]

I dunno....those commenters certainly were gobbling up that horse shit and regurgitating it easily enough.

[AuH2O]

This might be the most revealing paragraph Jezebel has ever written

In most if not all contexts, I don't really think wearing makeup is a "choice." At least, it's not a choice in the sense of a decision where the branching options are neutral and equally weighted and carry few, if any, negative social consequences, the way making a ham sandwich or a veggie wrap for lunch is a choice. Culturally speaking, the playing field is tilted pretty heavily in makeup's favor.

Emphasis added, because holy shit does that explain their world view on shit like why I should pay for their abortions.

[tarran]

Aren't you supposed to be out at sea, mister?

[generic Brand]

I think that's Auric that went on the cruise.

[MP]

Those douchebags could really use an editor. I could condense that to two words...

PEER PRESSURE

[nicole]

Wow. That is a hell of a find, Goldwater.

[nicole]

We're only supposed to appreciate or be interested in makeup as a form of play and personal expression; we're supposed to ignore the social and political contexts of makeup. I'm not interested in that narrative.

This is so sad. Also, the entire post is really classist, which she like, sort of realizes, but also not. She says, "I wear makeup because I recognize that I live in a culture where makeup is normalized for people of my sex, age, and profession," which is true, but then she also says she has "no illusions about the fact that makeup is, for women, considered standard in 21st Century America" when what she means, again, is "21st Century Professional New York."

And the saddest part is that makeup is really fun, and if all you're willing to allow for is a political narrative of makeup you are probably not having fun.

[Rasilio]

I thought that not having any fun was part of the defining traits of a radical feminist?

I mean if you were actually having fun somewhere then you might just miss the oppression you are obviously being subjected to at that moment.

[Randian]

This is what liberals like Tony have been pimping for a while. Any choice that has negative social consequences but is based on what they deem to be irrational or superficial criteria should be equalized through the use of force via the State.

[SugarFree]

Leftist only express concern about coercion in trivial matters or a narrowly defined slice of behaviors. Otherwise, they are the first to get their face-boots on.

Faceboot: The Social Media Site for Statist Shitbags

[AuH2O]

It actually explains their culture war bullshit really well.

We can't just have legal abortion. We must also approve of the abortions- no one should protest or ever make anyone feel any negative consequence, including emotional ones, about abortions.

We can't just tolerate gays. We have to actively like them and accept them into societal institutions like churches.

Etc.

[Randian]

Precisely. For Jezebel in particular, you could add "we can't just tolerate overweight / traditionally unattractive women. We have to make it illegal to discriminate against them"

"We can't just tolerate sex. We have to subsidize it."

Part of it is driven by a childish impulse to stick it to the old fogies and the other half is driven by a bad case of "gimmie".

Progs have arrested development.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Part of it is driven by a childish impulse to stick it to the old fogies and the other half is driven by a bad case of "gimmie".

Pretty much all of Gawker media is one big cesspool of "FUCK YOU, DAD!"

[John]

We can't just have legal abortion. We must also approve of the abortions-

That is because they are totalitarians. That is what it means to be a totalitarian. Non totalitarians just want their own freedom. Totalitarians want to control everything. It is not enough for totalitarians to win politically. It is not enough for them to get their own freedom. They must control people's thoughts. The fact that anyone anywhere is doing something they object to is what drives totalitarians.

[R C Dean]

So, its only a choice if nothing is at stake?

If your decision has actual consequences, you shouldn't have to make it?

If its a meaningful choice, its not a choice at all? The only choices are the trivial ones?

[JD the elder]

Yup. See, if the choice would have real, meaningful consequences, it's too important to be left up to us, because we might choose the wrong thing. We're allowed to choose things without any obvious impact, like which TV show to watch, in order to keep us happy and give us the idea we can still make choices.

[db]

Those women who complain that you have to wear makeup to be accepted in the world are completely full of it. I prefer women without makeup. I know lots of women who don't wear it and I can't see that it's held them back professionally nor romantically.

[Brett L]

There is a time and a place where tastefully applied makeup gives a woman a confidence and a sparkle. Like a dress they know makes them look great. I won't knock it, but I have reliably dated women who didn't wear makeup to work or going out every time.

[db]

That's the thing. When worn sparingly and infrequently, it can be a treat. But everyday use and excessive use make it drab and uninteresting.

[mr simple]

Are you sure they're actually not wearing any or is it just a natural look? I've known lots of guys who think the know women who don't wear makeup and are surprised when they find out they're wrong.

[Randian]

Women look better in makeup. The end.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Makeup is basically a physical Photoshopping. It's almost certainly going to help if it's done well but, even then, it can be more a case of "different" than "better."

[nicole]

Yeah, I was going to suggest that at least some of these women actually were wearing makeup.

I agree with Randian, although his statement probably shouldn't be limited to women.

It just baffles me why anyone would think of this differently from how they think of dressing in general. Some people are comfortable going out and about in sweatpants and tshirts; others aren't. Some people think foregoing makeup is acceptable in some contexts and not others; other people draw different lines. Big fucking deal.

Of course, the whole point of this is that it somehow does have to be a big fucking deal because someone might judge you for going out in sweatpants, and we can't have that!

[SugarFree]

I think that the idea that women can wear or not wear makeup as they prefer and men can like it or not like it as they prefer leaves men with an uncomfortable amount of agency for Marcotte and the Jezebellians.

[Brett L]

I agree with Randian, although his statement probably shouldn't be limited to women.

What? They put makeup on actors because it makes them look better? Fuck me. Next you'll tell me Rock Hudson was gay.

[db]

No, they're actually not wearing makeup.

[Emmerson Biggins]

so a choice isn't actually "choice" if it actually matters which option you choose.

that makes total sense.

[AuH2O]

Is it just me, or is the Benghazi thing starting to resemble a bad political thriller?

Petraeus about to testify? Mistress.
Clinton? Blood clot.

EVERYONE WHO KNOWS ABOUT THIS FILE IS DEAD!

[Tim]

Benghazi? What are you talking about?

[Tim]

Anybody know what he's on about?

[Jerry on the road]

Ben Ghazi, wasn't he a famous actor?

[Bobarian]

a famous actor?

Sure, he played the bad guy in Road House.

[Enough About Palin]

Everyone was bad in Roadhouse.

[GILMORE]

I thought Ben Ghazi was like, sports cream for cramped muscles...

[KDN]

It's a glorified Republican witch hunt. Move along, nothing to see here.

[DJF]

My TV told me that it was all some film makers fault.

[SugarFree]

The Neverending War on Men Stating a Preference; Or, You Can't Win So You Might As Well Stop Playing Their Game

I fully support Amanda Marcotte wearing all the makeup she wants, up to and including a plastic dry cleaning sack over her head.

I especially like the part where she mocks the guy who finds his wife beautiful with or without makeup. That disgusting pig-fucker. How dare he!

[invisible furry hand]

I especially like the comment which says Amanda Marcotte looks like a rodeo clown

[SugarFree]

You don't think every man longs for the raspy caress of her lipless beak?

[invisible furry hand]

you make it sound so damn sexy

[SugarFree]

When you stare longingly in to Amanda's beady, close-set eyes, you get as close as anyone can to pure exultation.

[Groovus Maximus]

*BARF*

[nicole]

I read that poor sap's piece yesterday amid wailing and gnashing of teeth, and couldn't find anything at all wrong with it. And neither can Marcotte, in reality--she's complaining about some fantasy version she read in her own head, about how "It's not liberating to hear a man who has never had to live a day as a woman tell us that we're silly bunnies who don't know what we're doing with that powder brush."

[Brett L]

"How DARE men tell me this cage is of my own making!"

[SugarFree]

That's her whole game. Rather than respond to A, she responds to B, C, D, E, and F. Which would be fine if she provided all the way to F and then made a comment. But that you take too much work. She only preaches for the choir, and most of that singing is only going on in her head.

[nicole]

I need to remember not to get depressed purely about the state of essay and argumentation because it seriously doesn't fucking matter.

[SugarFree]

because it seriously doesn't fucking matter

I don't think your fully developed your argument enough to support this conclusion.

[nicole]

You did that part for me.

[SugarFree]

That's what she said.

[AuH2O]

Imagine grading her papers in college.

"In this paper about Thomas Aquinas, I will be deconstructing how The Merry Wives of Windsor reinforces 1500s patriarchal institutions from Shakespeare's time into our present day."

[Eduard van Haalen]

Her paraphrases sometimes boil down to "how dare you say I'm stupid," even if that's not what they said.

[Randian]

I especially like the part where she mocks the guy who finds his wife beautiful with or without makeup.

In fairness and not to defend She Who Shall Not Be Named, but I do see that crap on Facebook and elsewhere from guys who are saying that shit just to get laid.

[SugarFree]

Well, of course. But Marcotte could have made the argument that it is a trend rather then dredging up a single .jpg of a pathetic emo kid.

And imputing a wider trend onto a person writing about their personal experience is fundamentally dishonest. The guy is 58. I doubt he has much to do with a bunch of tweener sad-sacks.

[Randian]

Yeah, she shoehorned that one in there.

[Brett L]

Where's that PM link from earlier this week with the two creepers talking about how much they "respected and worshipped the feminine"?

[AuH2O]

They respect the feminine so much that they have vaginas preserved in jars!

Just don't ask where, or rather who, those vaginas came from.

[T]

You can get anything on eBay.

[AuH2O]

Well, SF, it looks like we are playing duelling retard banjos of Gawker/Jez/Marcotte. With that in mind...

DA NA NA NA NA NA NA! VAWA is no more

Hear that ladies? The beatings will continue until I get some GODDAMN MEATLOAF!

[nicole]

Shoulda been here last night, THIS HAS BEEN COVERED. Who even likes meatloaf?

[MP]

I love meatloaf. Second favorite homemade meal after tacos.

[nicole]

I know a lot of people like it, actually. My mom was a terrible cook, and my dad wanted everything to be overcooked, so you can imagine what meatloaf was like when I was a kid.

[Ted S.]

You know who else likes tacos? Hennifer Lopez.

[Lord Humungus]

Meatloaf?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NTDHjVKQyo

[mr simple]

*uncontrolled vomiting*

You had to pick that song. Why would I even click that link?

[SugarFree]

I like meatloaf. I form it in a loaf pan, turn it out on a cast iron griddle and then smoke it on the grill.

[T]

Interesting. I may have to experiment, but this weekend I have a 5 pound ribeye (bone-in) that's going on the smoker after some dry-rub.

[KDN]

Who even likes meatloaf?

Meatloaf is fantastic. Leftover meatloaf is even fantasticker, especially when put on a sandwich with leftover gravy and too much mayo.

I'll eat meatloaf prepared in any manner: plain, onions, stuffed with cheese, "Italian", hell I'll even accept mushrooms even though I hate them. The awesomeness of the loaf is more than enough to make up for the terribleness of the fungi.

[SugarFree]

Use a coffee grinder on dried mushrooms and add to the meat. You get the glutamate flavor boost without having to actually eat them.

[SIV]

Mushrooms through a coffee grinder?
Just use Accent.

[Randian]

MSG FTW!

[SIV]

Kikunae Ikeda

[Randian]

Don't give me that umami crap. I don't buy into Eastern mysticism.

[Ted S.]

Mayonnaise is disgusting.

[invisible furry hand]

not the artisanal type

[sloopyinca]

Easy now. This is getting dangerously close to going where we don't want it to go.

[mr simple]

Yeah, but just think of how long they have to study and practice to get good at making artisanal mayo, as well as the hours put in making it.

[AuH2O]

nciole, it is covered. Under the 1956 AM-PM Links Treaty, which brought an end to the Great Links War. It allows for a reposting in the next link, provided they are of a different time classification. I could not, however, post it in the next PM links. Obviously.

God, learn fake international internet law sometime.

[AuH2O]

To be fair, meatballs are better, but they are dago food, and therefore not really fit for human consumption

[KDN]

Sweden disagrees! Everything's better with brown gravy.

[nicole]

See, you forget that I am a dago. And I make fucking amazing meatballs.

[Randian]

See, you forget that I am a dago. And I make fucking amazing meatballs.

I swear this is how I read it at first.

[nicole]

Wow, Randian, guess I did traumatize you last night. Sorry.

[Randian]

I live as a slave to the matriarchy.

[el esc?ptico]

Get a room!

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

She just left out the comma. Should have read: "And I make fucking amazing, meatballs.

[Suthenboy]

Been kinda busy this morning so playing catch up here. Reading the links here....and catching up some past articles I missed I have decided that I fucking hate people.

There are a few individuals I love and will spend the rest of my life pouring myself out to, fewer that I actually like, but the bulk of humanity I fucking hate.

[invisible furry hand]

If the choice is between being hated by you or being poured onto by you, then I'll go through Door A

[Suthenboy]

I said 'out to' not 'onto'. I see where your mind is.

But hey, what is wrong with a little kink now and then?

[Brett L]

I've long said that I love individuals and hate people.

[gaijin]

Which probably explains why collectivists always see teh legislations as the way to purify humanity.

[T]

I know how to purify humanity: cleansing nuclear fire. Short of that, I got nothing.

[Groovus Maximus]

Hopping in The Wayback Machine, an interesting look at Soviet medicine circa 1970.

[db]

I love the picture of the guy getting a "medical exam" at his work station. Nothing like maximizing online time of all the cogs in the State machinery. How dehumanizing!

[Ted S.]

The comments, on the other hand, leave something to be desired.

[Lord Humungus]

Free Medical Care! FREE!

[Brett L]

As an aside, I'd just like to thank the University of Florida Gators for making my night and costing me nothing in the Bowl Pick'em standings. Delicious.

[John]

Remember, other teams just can't compete with that SEC talent.

[Brett L]

Just ask LSU!

[KDN]

Nothing like that Big East speed. They're like track stars out there!

[Brett L]

Fuck. I might have to cheer for Oklahoma. Although, given how hard a time I had typing that sentence, I doubt it will happen. However, it won't pain me if A&M loses. Texas Exes really have a pretty good deal for the Cotton Bowl. No matter who loses, we get to feel good.

[Ted S.]

Cut Alaska in two and make Texas the third biggest state.

[John]

I am totally rooting for OU. And I hate OU. But I really want to see aTm reminded of what a loser middle of the pack program they were in the Big 12.

[T]

Yup. It pains me greatly to even think I want OU to win a game, but fuck aTm and fuck the SEC.

And my wife hates aTm, like all right-minded college graduates from Texas. But she's especially bitter, since she has two degrees from UH and Sumlin leaving crippled that program.

The Cotton Bowl is gonna be a fun game at our house.

[Drake]

I laughed out loud when the commentators talked about the awesome schedule Florida had played (SEC Teams and a few joke games against Div 1A teams).

The SEC is so awesome, they shouldn't have to play other conferences to prove it.

[AuH2O]

It's actually a really smart con-game. You play 6 top 10 teams- they all just come from in-conference. You play a cupcake schedule otherwise, and then all you need to do is go .500 in December bowls and the media will buy your crap next year.

[robc]

Florida hasnt left the state of Florida for an OOC road game in over 20 years.

[AuH2O]

BUT THE SEC IS THE BEST CONFERENCE IN FOOTBALL!

Despite their performance in bowl games (BTW, thanks for that, Michigan. Couldn't have fucking won that one to make the SEC look bad, huh?)

[Randian]

I think this is making my ND pick look better and better.

[Brett L]

Can't root for ND, no matter what. Much as I hate seeing the SEC win yet another national title, I can't stomach ND winning instead.

[sloopyinca]

That scUM game was a tough one to watch. On the one hand, I hate Michigan more than almost anything in the world. But the SEC fans are just unbearably smug and assholish (yeah, this coming from a Buckeye may be odd). I actually found myself cheering for the stadium to implode during the 4th quarter.

[Brett L]

I actually found myself cheering for the stadium to implode during the 4th quarter.

My dream finish to the Cotton Bowl is meteor strike late in the 3rd of a 0-0 tie.

[KDN]

I was openly rooting for Michigan in the end, as dirty as it made me feel. The hogs fans' conduct on gameday at the Sugar Bowl two years ago and having to endure a one wrecked season and a bowl-less one following it because of the successfully covered up malfeasance of an SEC member has sullied my attitude towards that conference forever.

Similarly, I will be rooting for ND even though I'll have to deal with scores of Irish fans and bandwagoneers crowing about it for the next 7 years if they win.

[AuH2O]

Charlie Strong pulled off two stunners: He spurned the SEC, then he beat it up.

That's the ESPN byline.

Yes, this foolish fool of a coach- why wouldn't he want to coach in the best conference in football? And how did he ever assemble the talent to beat such an amazing conference?

[robc]

My comment from last night on last night's game:

The better team kept shooting themselves in the foot, which allowed the weaker team to make the score close.

[mr simple]

Exactly: Florida didn't show up to play and Louisville played their best game of the year. This gives them a good shot at being national title contenders next year, if they can hold it together.

[Brett L]

I think you've misread that.

[invisible furry hand]

I think I'm disturbed by this

Tom Waits (ANTI-) ?@tomwaits
Tom Waits guest stars on The Simpsons Sunday, January 6 on Fox. Check your local listings. http://ow.ly/i/1k4JS

[sloopyinca]

Sexual intrigue, physical assaults and back-biting investigations are the order of the day if you're a Lowell, MA police officer. Link: http://www.lowellsun .com/local/ci_22302841/lowell -police-officer-charged-assault

All the story needed was a guy named Joe in it to make me smile.

(take out the space after lowellsun and lowell in the link to make it work. Fuck you, spamfilter!)

[sloopyinca]

Sexual intrigue, physical assaults and back-biting investigations are the order of the day if you're a Lowell, MA police officer. Link: http://www.lowellsun .com/local/ci_22302841/lowell -police-officer-charged-assault

All the story needed was a guy named Joe in it to make me smile.

(take out the space after lowellsun and lowell in the link to make it work. Fuck you, spamfilter!)

[sloopyinca]

Sexual intrigue, physical assaults and back-biting investigations are the order of the day if you're a Lowell, MA police officer. Link: http://www.lowell sun.com/local/ci_22302841/lowell -police-officer-charged-assault

All the story needed was a guy named Joe in it to make me smile.

(take out the space of lowell sun and after lowell in the link to make it work. Fuck you, spamfilter!)

[Tim]

You fool. Don't anger the Spam Filter, you'll get us all killed!

[sloopyinca]

Fuck the spam filter.

Do you hear me?
[looks around into the void]
Fuck youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, spam filter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[invisible furry hand]

shut up you fool you'll get us all killed

[Rasilio]

Hey, Lowell Ma, I grew up there.

And yes, it is just as much of a shithole as it sounds like.

The one really good thing it has going for it is the food because every wave of immigrants for the last 150 years has settled there is mass numbers

[AlmightyJB]

Not sure if this has already been thrown out there but noticed that the Pennsylvania governor is suing the NCAA for their sanctions.

[Ted S.]

Part of me would like to see them win the suit, if only to watch the reaction of the Nancy Grace types who were calling for ridiculously severe sanctions just so they could show their righteous indignation.

[Drake]

I'd like to see him win because I hate the NCAA. If the President of Penn State had any guts, they would never have accepted the sanctions. (Of course, if Penn State hired Presidents with guts, none of this would ever have occurred.)

[sloopyinca]

If Penn State hired Presidents with guts, the term "Man-made climate change" would be heard more often on the comedy club circuit than the evening news shows.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

University presidents don't control the research activity of the professors. Which is a good thing more often than not.

[sloopyinca]

No, but I bet they have the power to have one removed or at least put them before the Board of Regents, especially if they're involved in what basically amounts to a fraudulent enterprise.

[tarran]

Yes, it was kind of funny reading their investigative report, where they failed to interview anybody other than the accused and a couple of his friends, willfully excluded all but the evidence the accused wanted considered and concluded that Michael Mann must be a good scientist because bad scientists wouldn't get government grants and he gets lots of government grants.

I was quite unsurprised when a year later it turned out the very same people who looked the other way from Mann because he brought them money were looking the other way from Paterno as well.

[Randian]

If PSU doesn't like the way things are run by the NCAA, then it can leave the NCAA.

[Drake]

Or not submit to voluntary sanctions for activities not covered by their contract with the NCAA.

[sloopyinca]

Agreed. And I'm curious, what would keep all of the big schools from removing football from their NCAA membership and making it a club sport where they are able to pay players a stipend and set their own eligibility rules? It's not like the NCAA could stop them, as there are several Div 1-A schools that don't have a football program.

[robc]

what would keep all of the big schools from removing football from their NCAA membership and making it a club sport where they are able to pay players a stipend and set their own eligibility rules?

Nothing at all, except it makes them look bad.

[Drake]

That and a whole shitload of NCAA TV cash they don't have to share with the players.

[mr simple]

I thought they might actually do that when all the talk about the move to 4 super conferences was going on.

[tarran]

I love how PSU is claiming that they have nothing to do with the Attorney General's lawsuit.

So if the Attorney General loses, they can pretend they never caused problems, if he wins they get the benefits, and the taxpayers foot the bill!

PSU. A sleazy university of mendacious fucks.

[John]

If he had had any guts, he would have fired Paterno years before he did and they would have reported Sandusky in 2002. No one in that program had any guts.

Fuck Penn State. If you are letting your football team serve as a honey trap to a monster, you don't deserve to have a football team. They should have given them the death penalty.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Unfortunately, the president of a university is essentially a fundraiser. It's the gazillions of vice presidents who actually make the decisions.

[Spoonman.]

That's ridiculous. If he had any balls he'd have eliminated PSU's sports programs.

[sloopyinca]

Did anything happen with the NHLPA last night? I'm wondering if they decertified, because if not the owners can force them back to work by law.

[Drake]

Aren't they all playing in Europe and not paying attention?

[sloopyinca]

A few are, but not enough to destroy the NHL for good...yet.

[John]

Just sad. Hockey is a great sport. And the players are generally much less loathsome than your typical pro athlete. Hockey should be in the teens what NASCAR was in the 00s. Instead they are destroying it.

[sloopyinca]

Hockey will be in the teens what NASCAR was in the 00's. They'll begin to lose the interest of their fans and will slip int irrelevancy.

NASCAR was awesome in the 80's and 90's, but once they got the sweet TV deals and multicar teams and the ability to look good in front of a camera became paramount, the sport lost a lot.

Hell, I can remember sitting in Turn 4 of North Wilkesboro throwing chicken bones at Rusty Wallace's #2 MGD Ford Thunderbird in 1993 (as he won his third race in a row) and getting cartons of cigarettes before the race from the ticket-takers. That shit all died in the 00's.

[John]

True. I missed my decades. NASCAR of the 90s is what I should have said.

And they are similair in that they both are regional sports who ruined themselves by over expanding. There shouldn't be NASCAR tracks in Chicago or hockey teams in Nashville.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Also sad that Old Dominion Speedway closed down. After the national part of the NASCAR went all Vanilla Corporate Big Time, the only good, real racing was to be found at local tracks.

[Drake]

What is the benefit of an union to the players? De-certifying would make player pay a case of contract law in every instance.

[nicole]

So I saved the Jezebel makeup link for my BFF, who was all ready to pass me this. Thought Catalog is truly crap as a rule, but this is a gem of especial idiocy. Credit card debt is a "horrible burden to bear," not your own fucking fault for buying too much shit, and getting to college is super dehumanizing, because no one cares about your little snowflake self anymore, and who on earth would ever want to work for an insurance company if they weren't CRIPPLED BY DEBT?

[invisible furry hand]

Actually, the most dehumanizing thing in the first world is the constant barrage of bad articles written by entitled little shits who piss on your life choices of education, frugality and hard work.

Oh, and here's someone who wanted to work for an insurance company: Franz Kafka

[nicole]

A+, would read again

[Brett L]

Don't forget Wallace Stevens.

[mr simple]

The person has been replaced with a job title; the personality and soul with a job description. A man/woman is no more. There is only a collection of sad jobs and menial "skills" like proficiency in Microsoft Word.

You're writing your resume wrong. No wonder he can't find a job.

[John]

And sorry but BMI girl Lobster Girl. BMI girl is awesome.

[mr simple]

Well, it is Bar Rafaeli.

[John]

I didn't recognize her. But it is. I guess I never got around to really looking that closely at her face.

[ChrisO]

Oh, Krayewski posted text? Didn't notice it.

[nannasin28]

If you're gonna make claims about easily googled stuff, make sure you have your facts correct. ICL7107CPL