A.M. Links: Troops Out of Afghanistan by 2014?, NYC Waiving Inspection Fees, Hiking Business Taxes, Glenn Beck Relaunching The Blaze as a Libertarian News Network

• The Obama Administration indicated it may be open to the idea of not leaving any troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

• New York City is waiving inspection fees for some post-Sandy reconstruction, but is also raising taxes in seven "business improvement districts" in the city.
• A man in Minnesota had his camera confiscated after recording a bloody-faced man getting frisked by cops. After he went to the police station to get the camera back he was charged with obstruction of legal process and disorderly conduct.  Cops in Santa Ana, meanwhile, freaked out over being recorded by an activist, calling it "odd" and "suspicious" behavior.
• Police in Phoenix fatally shot  a driver after he hit a brick wall at the end of a police chase. A five year old was found in the passenger's seat.
• John Lott accuses CNN's Piers Morgan of ambushing pro-gun guests and booking Alex Jones earlier this week to get exactly the kind of reaction he did.
• Glenn Beck announced he's relaunching The Blaze as a libertarian news network.  "I consider myself a libertarian," Beck said. "I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel."

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

John Lott accuses CNN's Piers Morgan of ambushing pro-gun guests...

Nobody is accusing him of being a journalist.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I accuse him of being British. A great sin indeed.

[tarran]

You know your career is on its last legs when you are booking guests of the caliber of Alex Jones.

[Whiterun Guard]

Seriously, it took Larry King like 30 years to be thought of as a joke.

Piers has done it in less than two. I guess that's that British efficiency they're always going on about.

[Way Of The Crane]

After the first one, can you really call any of the subsequent interview an ambush?

Hell, if people haven't figured out how an interview with Piers Morgan is going to go by now then screw them. It's like watching people get blown up after walking into a mine field then deciding that that field is the perfect place to hold a picnic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think ambush wasn't the right word. The accusation is that he brings on "excitable conspiracy theorist" Jones to paint all those opposed to gun control as that arguably objectionable sort.

[el esc?ptico]

Strawman journalism FTW!

[Way Of The Crane]

Fish in a barrel.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Ya, I even like Alex sometimes, no matter how much of a yokeltarian that makes me. But this was exactly the response he was going to get from Alex. No ambush required. That was like "ambushing" water into being wet.

[sarcasmic]

YouTube gun channel boss murdered with a shot to the head.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-road.html
Wanna bet some gun control advocate was involved?

[Drax the Destroyer]

Jesus...I wonder how this will be used.

"SEE, EVEN THIS BASTARD WHO WAS ARMED TO THE TEETH COULDN'T SAVE HIMSELF!!!! OBVIOUSLY GUNS DO NOT DO ANYTHING BUT KKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLL CHILDREN AND PUPPPPPPIESSSSSSSS!!!!!"

But in all seriousness...that sucks.

[generic Brand]

The only guns that kill puppies are the ones held by law enforcement. Citizens may be more willing to give up some of their guns when the stormtroopers do it first.

[hotsy totsy]

Agree 100%.

[sarcasmic]

I've never watched 30 Rock, but damn!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....Maxim.html

[robc]

I didnt realize she was 16 when that show started.

[Kaptious Kristen]

She's a fun character...the juxtaposition of her and Liz Lemon results in much hilarity.

[Whiterun Guard]

My wang prevents me from finding any hilarity whatsoever in that show, I guess.

[Zeb]

The itching is too distracting?

[Whiterun Guard]

It's pretty distracting.

[nicole]

"We both want to have babies while it's still cool. I already have all the names picked out. If it's a girl, Bookcase... or Sandstorm... or maybe Hat, but that's more of a boy's name."

"Bookcase" still pops into my head whenever I hear of someone giving a stupid baby name.

[wareagle]

We both want to have babies while it's still cool.

maybe I am just old, but the vapidness of that statement makes me weep for the children these folks believe they want to have. Hint: kids are not toys, they are not display items, they are not status symbols; they are people and the fact that you are able to conceive one no more makes you a parent than having a driver's license qualifies you to be a Formula One racer.

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's a sitcom, and the line is a commentary on the very thought you just expressed.

[Zeb]

That's the joke. The character is a silly vapid hot chick.

[sarcasmic]

Katy Perry without makeup. Scary. Seriously.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....awaii.html

[Kaptious Kristen]

I see she loves the manwhores.

[sarcasmic]

She hasn't always had access to the finest cosmetologists, and instead had to settle for guys who would fuck anyone (John and his friends). I guess old habits die hard.

[RBS]

Good lord. Those legs.

[Lord Humungus]

too sexy for words, eh?

[invisible furry hand]

that's scary? This is scary

[sarcasmic]

Kathy Griffin in the url is all I need to know.

[RBS]

I clicked on it anyway. Damn.

[alittlesense]

She looks like a painting of Queen Elizabeth I, assuming that the queen become demented at the end of her reign......

[bmp1701]

A senile Queen Elizabeth, who regressed to the mental state of a two year old and is now happy to have made poopy.

[T]

Kathy Griffin is frightening with makeup.

[Brett L]

Trying to eat breakfast, here. If it doesn't agree with me, I'll take a look.

[Ted S.]

I'm sure Sarca Smic looks gorgeous au naturel too. [barf]

(Helen of Troy had the face that launched a thousand ships. I've got the face that broke a thousand cameras.)

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I don't agree. Yeah, she's not OMG DEM TITS AND DAT FACE without makeup, but she wouldn't have any trouble getting an average boyfriend at this stage of her life. She's about a 6.5-7 looks-wise right now, which is perfectly reasonable for most men; once she hits 30-35, though, she's going to start deteriorating quick.

Without the fame, she's basically every twenty-something JC Penney clerk/college student that goes out to clubs and gets drunk on the weekends.

[hotsy totsy]

I dunno. I think she's scarier WITH makeup.

[invisible furry hand]

James M Buchanan has did

more

[invisible furry hand]

*died*

[Tim]

He's done?

[LTC(ret) John]

He done died.

[Tim]

Oh he did, did he?

[Translucent Chum]

Thiddle i ay di diddle dum thiddle i ay di diddle dum.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's okay, from you we read it as the same.

[robc]

Not as good as the Brett/Brit scene.

[MJGreen]

Yeah, fucking sucks. Lost a lot of great scholars over the past year.

But Coase is still going.

[sarcasmic]

Snow sculpture that says 'I love you' in sign language is guaranteed to be misinterpreted by some ignorant liberal asshole.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....dirty.html

[Whiterun Guard]

The gesture can also be mistaken to indicate a vulgar sexual act in the U.S, the gesture for which is nearly identical except it includes a raised a middle finger.

The shocker is a very intimate and caring act! There's nothing vulgar about it.

[robc]

Of all the offensive things it could be confused with, the shocker is not one of them.

Obviously, the most offensive, is the Texas "hook em".

[Whiterun Guard]

Only the Aggies' "hook 'em" has a raised middle finger.

[T]

That's not offensive, unless you went to some second-rate university with a shitty football team.

[Brett L]

His U is still using Darrell Royal's offense.

[robc]

Darrell Royal came from GT.

Him and Broyles were assistants under Dodd at the same time, talk about a powerhouse coaching staff (the Ross-O'Leary-Friedgen from 1990 compares well).

Texas had an opening and offered Dodd the job. He told them he was staying in Atlanta but he had an assistant they might want to give a try. Ditto for Arkansas.

[robc]

Correcting myself, Royal wasnt at GT. I know Broyles was (he is a GT alum).

The Dodd recommending Royal story is still true though, I think.

For some reason I thought he recommended him from his staff, but it appears it was just a general networking dealy.

[robc]

Johnson's offense came from modifying the run and shoot, not from modifying the wishbone. Georgia Southern was running the R&S the year before Johnson took over as OC.

Hatfield did that at Air Force. Ended up in two similar places, but have an entirely different history. Erk Russell wanted to switch to the I but it wasnt working well and Johnson suggested a compromise.

[robc]

Wow, two paragraphs mixed, let me try that again.

Johnson's offense came from modifying the run and shoot, not from modifying the wishbone. Georgia Southern was running the R&S the year before Johnson took over as OC. Erk Russell wanted to switch to the I but it wasnt working well and Johnson suggested a compromise.

Hatfield did that (modified wish bone) at Air Force. Ended up in two similar places, but have an entirely different history.

[wareagle]

Erk Russell...now, there's a name from the past. Went to my alma mater before setting in at UGA for a long spell, then starting up the program at GA Southern. Won a few titles in the old I-AA ranks and the school still has the plainest unis this side of Penn St.

By the way, Southern and Navy both use the offense Johnson took to Tech.

[robc]

And Army's HC was on the same staff with Johnson when Johnson was OC at Hawaii.

His offense isnt the same, but has more of the Johnson roots than the Hatfield Air Force version.

[robc]

By the way, Southern and Navy both use the offense Johnson took to Tech.

Southern has this weird thing that about every third HC, they try to go away from it. The team becomes mediocre, they hire a Johnson disciple, he wins with it. Repeat.

[robc]

Went to my alma mater

Speaking of which, how was bowl season? Everything go the way you wanted?

[wareagle]

how was bowl season?

our bowl season was and off-field thing, highlighted by hiring a new (old) coach. Nowhere to go but up after this season.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Johnson's offense came from modifying the run and shoot, not from modifying the wishbone. Georgia Southern was running the R&S the year before Johnson took over as OC.

We actually ran a similar offense my senior year of high school, except the slots weren't shifted inside to play wingback like in Johnson's offense--even though we called it a run and shoot and used a bunch of the same Mouse Davis-inspired formations, most of the actual plays reflected double-wing/flexbone principles, especially the trap and pre-snap wingback motion.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

The Shocker: Two in the Pink, One in the Stink!

[rac3rx]

That is neither "hook 'em", nor is it close to being the shocker. "Hook 'em" requires the thumb to be over the middle and ring finger.

And before the shocker was the shocker, it was the hand symbol for both Arizona State (palm facing signaler) & U of Houston (palm away from signaler, fingers spread). It still signifies both schools as far as I know.

Thumb to the side is ASL for I love you.

[gaijin]

My first thought was Ronnie James Dio's Devil Horns...

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Ditto. I'm singing "Holy Diver" to myself in memoriam.

[Bee Tagger]

The gesture can also be mistaken to indicate a vulgar sexual act in the U.S, the gesture for which is nearly identical except it includes a raised a middle finger.

The phrase "not even remotely close to" can sometimes be mistaken as "nearly identical" to some journalists.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Um...one involves the middle finger and this clearly does not? That the fuck? Have we confused the definitions of same and different?

Dumbest article of the morning.

[Way Of The Crane]

Obviously they are the horns of a cuckold and he's letting his neighbor know that he's bangin' his wife.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A man in Minnesota had his camera confiscated after recording a bloody-faced man getting frisked by cops.

I think we're violating HIPAA by even discussing this case electronically.

[LTC(ret) John]

Turn yourself in to the nearest law enforcement agency - and STOP RESISTING.

[Lord Humungus]

Politics or Ideology? Obama's Curious Indifference to Trillion Dollar Deficits
http://www.forbes.com/sites/pa.....-deficits/

So it boils down to this: Near the end of Obama's second term or in the first term of his successor, the American people will face a choice so clear that even the liberal media cannot obfuscate it: Do we all want to pay higher income taxes, a national sales tax, $10 gas, and much higher social security taxes to keep Obama's entitlement state that guarantee everyone, irrespective of circumstances or effort, a "decent standard of living," and "universal access" to health care, income security, and "healthy" food. Yes or no?

I believe, at that day of reckoning, American voters will deliver a resounding "No."

[Drax the Destroyer]

Well we "owe it to ourselves" so it's not like we will actually have to pay it. Right? Right?!!!??

[Matrix]

I, unfortunately, do not have such faith in my fellow Americans... *sigh*

[mad libertarian guy]

It's not all of them. There are just enough, however, that won't have to actually pay for any of it, so they won't give a shit and keep voting themselves more and more of our cash.

[Whiterun Guard]

It is the VAST majority of them.

Just a few of them hate gays and abortion even more than they like free shit.

[Drake]

Idiocracy is on IFC right now. I can't stop watching.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Go away! Batin'!

[Azathoth!!]

why was Frito 'batin' to 'Ow, My Balls!'?

[Restoras]

I don't know about this. There's a lot of people out there that don't understand the concept of TANSTAAFL and love love love the idea of getting something for nothing.

When these people are being given (eventually) worhtless benefits I am sceptical that they will want to go back to, you know, having to work for a living and being responsible for themselves. At least not right away.

[Mike Laursen]

This. Do young firefighters and police officers, for example, realize they're never going to get the sweet retirement benefits that their seniors are getting.

[thom]

Lol. They'll get them. And you'll pay for them. We've decided to elevate police officers to elite status. They're exempt from our laws, they're allowed to use their personal office to exact vengeance and extract favors, and they fiercely protect each other's privilege. We're past the point of return with them. No way they don't get "taken care of" for life. A way will be found.

[Mike Laursen]

OK, then the obvious thing to do so is for us all to become police officers. Would this be equivalent to anarchy?

[VG Zaytsev]

When these people are being given (eventually) worhtless benefits I am sceptical that they will want to go back to, you know, having to work for a living and being responsible for themselves.

You're assuming that the benefits received are anywhere near the cost of providing them. Which is of course absurd given government deadweight costs.

It's simply impossible to give a majority of people benefits without extracting a larger amount of money from those same people to pay for them.

And this ain't Europe. People reflexively hate and mistrust government.

[bmp1701]

At that day of reckoning, American voters will probably vote for MORE DEBT. Also, a fun little war.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

At this point, I can't see any other path that doesn't get us into solvency. The US's post-WW2 boom was built on the foundation of an industrial economy that had been smashed to smithereens over the course of six years. It's no coincidence that as soon as Europe and Japan's manufacturing sector rebuilt itself, with no small help from us, our own industrial base began its 20-plus year decline.

The thing is now, WE'D have to start the global war, and as I recall that didn't turn out too well for the previous instigator.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Well, we've certainly had enough practice over the last 12 years.

[Jeff]

I believe, at that day of reckoning, American voters will deliver a resounding "MOAR FREE SHIT!!!!!111"

[sarcasmic]

Be careful where you go zorbing.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....esort.html

[Whiterun Guard]

Good lord, that's horrible. But seriously. I mean if you zorb anywhere near something that you can't freaking see the bottom of, then you kind of deserve it.

Also, in former Soviet Russia, cliff doesn't avoid you.

[Reformed Republican]

'Oh f***, it's gone in the wrong direction again.'

So you did not learn after the first time it got out of control? Mistakes happen. The same mistake should not happen more than once.

[Citizen Nothing]

Now that's a trick shot!

[Ted S.]

So the bubble finally caught #6?

[LTC(ret) John]

I knew Rover was capable of killing!

[Brett L]

Is it too soon to comfort the widow?

[sarcasmic]

I know, right?

[generic Brand]

Never too soon. Wounds take a long time to heal.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel."

Ouch for Penn Jillette.

[Matrix]

I bet he shit a brick after reading that.

[Way Of The Crane]

I bet he shit a brick after reading that.

It made me throw up in my mouth a little.

[Rasilio]

Actually Penn and Beck get along. I won't say they are ideological allies but they see eye to eye on several issues and are able to civilly agree to disagree on the rest.

An apperance on Beck's show was actually what prompted Penn to write his last book

[Whiterun Guard]

He only meant in regards to having hair that's impossible to make look like a human's.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Can we come up with a fund to donate to to keep Beck from referring to himself as libertarian?

[Ted S.]

"I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel."

Get a little closer; don't be shy

[EDG reppin' LBC]

My wife is fascinated by the catalog of advertising jingles from the 1970's-1980's I have in my head. This is one of them.

It's a gift.

[Mike Laursen]

Penn has said many times that he really likes Glen Beck as a person, even though he thinks Beck is "five colors of chalk" crazy.

There's a recent episode of Penn's Sunday School that tells all about the five colors of chalk thing. Penn got yelled at by one of his childhood heroes, Tommy Smothers, for being willing to go on Beck's show. Penn didn't see the harm, since Beck lets him talk openly about atheism and libertarianism.

[Fatty Bolger]

Penn got yelled at by one of his childhood heroes, Tommy Smothers

He should just back him off with a punch to the head, like Cosby did.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

At the time I was very volatile, and thought everyone should take a stand. I guess I said something that really pissed him [off].

"At the time I was a raging asshole, and thought people who weren't an asshole like me were worthless."

[invisible furry hand]

Incense sticks that smell of monkey fart. Finally!

[Whiterun Guard]

So I can have incense that makes the inside of my house smell like the outside?

[LTC(ret) John]

?mettre d'Liberia?

[Whiterun Guard]

As terrible as it is, it's still better than Afghanistan was.

[Lord Humungus]

Face it: Guns are here to stay
Weapons do less harm and more good than many Americans will acknowledge
http://www.nydailynews.com/opi.....-1.1233435

We must simply accept the inevitability of an America teeming with guns (to the chagrin of Piers Morgan and his fellow liberals). If we at least agree on this realistic starting point, we can move the debate toward reasonable and effective policy proposals: better mental-health care to prevent seriously ill people with violent tendencies from acquiring weapons; background checks; better enforcement of existing laws.

None of these need to involve taking guns out of the hands of law-abiding Americans in order for us to avoid the next Newtown. In fact, guns may well help prevent it.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I think a big fallacy most Liberals make when it comes to gun control, is that it can help turn us into the mythical Europe they hold in their collective zeitgeist. In reality, we would look a lot more like Mexico with more fat stupid white people.

[Ted S.]

It's very clear;
Our guns are here to stay;
Not for a year;
Forever and a day.

[sarcasmic]

Catholic priest calls 911 after getting stuck in handcuffs and a gag. Rut ro.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ctory.html

[Tim]

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

[LTC(ret) John]

Lets not drag Warty into this, eh?

[Brett L]

On the plus side, no children were involved. The Church has really cleaned up its act.

[sarcasmic]

Taylor Swift is single yet again. Damn that girl gets around.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....split.html

[Drax the Destroyer]

She needs failed relationship to keep making her "music."

[Drax the Destroyer]

failed relationships*...they are like fuel for "singer-songwriters."

[SugarFree]

I'm prepared to offer her an entire album's worth of disappointment.

[sarcasmic]

I'd settle for giving her three minutes worth.

[Whiterun Guard]

Well, it is the amount of disappointment, not the duration that counts I think.

[sarcasmic]

I can dole out a lot of disappointment in a short amount of time.

[Groovus Maximus]

dole

Ah, I see you are the new spokesman for Viagra and Erectile Dysfunction? That would explain your lack of...fortitude.-D

[sarcasmic]

-D is all you've got and you're saying I lack fortitude?

/========D
(_)

[Groovus Maximus]

REAL men need not flaunt, sarc.-) You admitted to a noted lack of endurance. Pity.

[sarcasmic]

REAL men have two eyes you cyclops weirdo. =-)

[Groovus Maximus]

Yes, I can also invest in a glass eye and monocle, like so:-D

You, alas, will always be impotent, my happily married and (Kate Moss addicted) friend.

[robc]

I was going to go with, "There is something I would like to do to her 'swiftly'".

[Translucent Chum]

She could cut a roast with her face.

[Groovus Maximus]

MEh. Seen much better...

[Brett L]

There's a big difference between seein' and doin', Dr. Groovy.

[sarcasmic]

*ding*

[Groovus Maximus]

Once again, a gentleman never kisses and tells...

Patchouli Boy.-)

[sarcasmic]

a gentleman never kisses and tells

Neither does Rosy Palm 😉

[Groovus Maximus]

Dr. Podruga Groovova takes precedence, and is the mistress of my domain.

Also, speaking of riding yourself like a carney attraction, about your Kate Moss addiction and your impotence...a link, there is.

[sarcasmic]

I googled "Podruga" and came up with this:
http://cs10301.userapi.com/u15.....39e02e.jpg
To each their own.

[Brett L]

If my gf's father was a former Russian military guy, I'd be discreet about where and how I sowed my wild oats as well.

[Ted S.]

A man in Minnesota had his camera confiscated after recording a bloody-faced man getting frisked by cops.

There are apps that upload the stuff to the cloud as it's being recorded, right?

(I ony have a dumbphone, so I wouldn't know.)

[Matrix]

plenty, such as ustream. Not necessarily "the cloud" but it is a web service.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Qik

[sarcasmic]

Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea.
http://www.usnews.com/news/art.....th-america
You know who you are...

[invisible furry hand]

Meh. Where's the Warty-resistant gonorrhea?

[Groovus Maximus]

Behold! Gorilla-cllin!

The real, STEVE SMITH-proofing stuff.

[invisible furry hand]

Gang of evil Smurfs arrested

more

[Matrix]

so Gargamel was a good guy afterall?

[SugarFree]

We've Already Done $2.4 Trillion in Deficit Reduction! Derp!

Why can't someone take Sad Beard The Kinda Pirate aside and tell him that he should never go FULL KRUGMAN?

This might be even more stupid of a meme than the Trillion Dollar Coin circle jerk.

[Way Of The Crane]

I don't get it. By using that chart, is Yglesias saying that because the deficit isn't $2.4 trillion higher than it currently is that means we've reduced it by $2.4 trillion?

[SugarFree]

I treat Yglesias like the Oracle of Delphi, when he's not parroting lines fed to him by his masters it's mostly just nonsensical mumbling.

I mean, can anyone not high on volcanic fumes say this line with a straight face?

It would be great to do more if people have more examples of genuinely wasteful spending or of revenue ideas like a carbon tax or slightly higher alcohol taxes that have other social benefits.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

I guess he gets to decide what "genuinely wasteful" is.

[Jordan]

Remember, according to Keynesian derpconomists, cuts in spending growth are the same thing as cuts in spending.

[nicole]

It would be great to do more if people have more examples of genuinely wasteful spending or of revenue ideas like a carbon tax or slightly higher alcohol taxes that have other social benefits. But don't let anyone convince you that nothing's being done.

It's almost cute. He's SO SURE!

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

It was cute when it was people explaining how Notre Dame was going to beat Alabama. But this shit is serious.

[Lord Humungus]

Current situation: (Current Television) Staffers talk about first meeting with Al Jazeera
http://www.nypost.com/p/entert.....byqe6Z4pFP

"Of course Al (Gore) didn't show up," said one high placed Current staffer. "He has no credibility.

"He's supposed to be the face of clean energy and just sold [the channel] to very big oil, the emir of Qatar! Current never even took big oil advertising?and Al Gore, that bulls***ter sells to the emir?"

The meeting, while not contentious, was, according to staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, miserable.

[mad libertarian guy]

Poor wittle babiez. They can't take it when economic reality meets their reality.

[Whiterun Guard]

How do you say Schadenfreude in Arabic?

[Hyperion]

and Al Gore, that bulls***ter sells to the emir?"

The fact that they didn't know he was a bullshitter to start with is just surreal. Their level of naivete is stunning.

[JW]

Their anger and tears are like ambrosia to me.

[sarcasmic]

New Bowie song is terrible.
http://www.independent.co.uk/a.....41973.html
Some people need to learn to retire.

[Lord Humungus]

I heard it yesterday - as a big Bowie fan (for anything pre-1980) I thought the new song was rather bland/generic. Bowie sounds a little tired and his voice is much huskier.

[sarcasmic]

I thought the new song was rather bland/generic

You are too kind. It sucks. As in, "I should have retired thirty years ago" sucks.

[Whiterun Guard]

I'm still hoping for a Tin Machine reunion tour.

[Groovus Maximus]

Yes on Tin Machine Reunion, and fuck you all with a broken Grolsch for daring to sully the name of the ageless and perpetually awesome Bowie. Need I remind you he married Iman?

BOWIE. IS. GOD.

[Whiterun Guard]

So Mick Ronson writes a few good songs with him, and we have to suffer through Diamond Dogs, China Girl, Tin Machine and pretend like he hasn't sucked for the past thirty five years? I don't think so.

[Groovus Maximus]

Heretic!

[mr simple]

Someone should tell him 80s revival, with it's bland monotonous sound, is already over.

[Hyperion]

What has happened to Screaming Lord Byron?

[Tim]

Let's let the Afghan rockpile go.

[Drax the Destroyer]

But....but...what about the Women? WE MUST LIBERATE THE WOMEN FROM THE TYRANNY OF THE PENIS!!!!!!

[Restoras]

Women love penis. True story.

[Tim]

The pen is mightier...

[Brett L]

"I'll take the penis mightier for one hundred, Trebek."

[Hyperion]

But how will we make our green energy if we can't rape the fuck out of the Afghan countryside in search of rare elements?

[NeonCat]

If only we had developed some kind of drone based, very fast spectrometric system to analyze debris ejected from explosions, it might save us a lot of time finding them.

[Bee Tagger]

John Lott accuses CNN's Piers Morgan of ambushing pro-gun guests and booking Alex Jones earlier this week to get exactly the kind of reaction he did.

Up next on Piers Morgan: Alex Jones will discuss the merits of John Lott's accusations.

[sarcasmic]

Germans create laser system that can shoot drones out of the air.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20944726

[Drax the Destroyer]

Let me know when it's on sale on Amazon.

[sarcasmic]

Another Boeing Dreamliner has a fuel leak.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100363734
One of the comments got it right: "Look for the Union label..."

[SugarFree]

The plot of most recent adaptation of Casino Royale continues to play out.

[Lord Humungus]

Dana Milbank on Chuck Hagel: Battle-tested for a fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z2

President Obama hit the right theme in nominating Hagel on Monday to be secretary of defense ? the first enlisted man and the first Vietnam veteran to be so honored. "To this day, Chuck bears the scars ? and the shrapnel ?from the battles he fought in our name," Obama said during an appearance with Hagel and other officials in the East Room.

"Maybe most importantly," Obama added, "Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary."

[mad libertarian guy]

"Maybe most importantly," Obama added, "Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary."

Obama sure has a different definition of "absolutely necessary" than the rest of us . . .

[Way Of The Crane]

"He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary."

I think he's saying that Chuck plans to use more drones in the future instead of troops.

[$park?]

Glenn Beck announced he's relaunching The Blaze as a libertarian news network. "I consider myself a libertarian," Beck said. "I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel."

I'll bet Shreek is thrilled.

[invisible furry hand]

If he's next to Penn maybe Teller can make him disappear

[Drax the Destroyer]

Wait... so Penn is a Warmongering Muslim-triggered-pants-wetting Mormon?

[Generic Stranger]

They should get along quite well, as their libertarian credentials are quite similar.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

You mean Beck and Hagel, right?

[Generic Stranger]

No, Beck and Shreek, though Hagel works too.

[Lord Humungus]

Comrade Barroso, the existential threat to the euro is mass unemployment
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/f.....mployment/

Mr Barroso may well be right about the debt crisis. The ECB's `Draghi Put' has effectively taken default risk off the table (though not entirely, since political strings are attached to any rescue).

But the EMU disaster is not at root a public debt crisis, and never was. As EMU leaders themselves say ? correctly ? Euroland's aggregate public debt is lower than in the UK, US, and Japan as a share of GDP.

What Europe faces is a north-south incompatibility crisis, the result of ramming together misaligned economies and countries into a single currency.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I need someone to please kill me now, with fire. We are required to attend an all-day "training" tomorrow on the history and practice of public diplomacy. All. Day. Maybe drugs are the answer.

[sarcasmic]

Call up your doctor and ask for some Zanex.

[invisible furry hand]

I'll kill whoever is forcing you to attend, if that would help

[SugarFree]

Plants vs. Zombies. It is the only way.

[Tim]

Hillary fainted and hit her head. You could try it.

[Lord Humungus]

I had to attend a "Diversity Theater" all day class. It consisted of actors going through different diversity/racism/sexism scenarios. I wanted to scream. Luckily I brought a book with me which I placed on my lap and read.

[Tim]

I had one where the fucking sweater wearing doofus made us all stand in a cricle and give backrubs. As close to a circle jerk as I ever want to get.

[SugarFree]

Just loudly ask "When are we going to switch to the front? I have a thunderous erection!"

[Tim]

heh.

[Lord Humungus]

urgh... I would just walk out and feign illness before doing that.

[SugarFree]

Just excuse yourself to the bathroom and comeback complaining you are to hard to get any pee-pee out.

And, as a bonus, Kirsten can use that excuse as well.

[SugarFree]

*Kristen* Stupid sexlexia.

[Lord Humungus]

once again, where are the female libertarians? Driven away my your male glaze.

[invisible furry hand]

SugarFree's male glaze is really more a dribble, and anyway it dry-cleans out

[SugarFree]

"Glaze" is a better descriptor than you might imagine.

[nicole]

Oh man, "male glaze" is the best thing ever.

[Whiterun Guard]

Phrasing!

[nicole]

My phrasing was deliberate!

[Way Of The Crane]

I have a sudden craving for Krispey Kreme

[Ted S.]

What's a cricle, and how do you stand in it?

[Tim]

Cricle, Kirsten, Glaze....the magic words.

[Rasilio]

I had to do one of those once (fortunately only a half day) and pissed off the instructor something fierce when I told her that I thought this diversity mumbo jumbo was a bunch of racist claptrap that was more concerned with celebrating group identitied than actually treating each person as a unique individual.

[Ted S.]

How closely do you have to pay attention?

Bring some porn with you.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Clearly, the libertarian option.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Some good suggestions here...it's times like these I wish I had one of those smartypants phones, or the ability to sleep with my eyes open.

At any rate, I'm hitting up Tiffany Tavern afterwards for some clear liquors (much to Ron Swanson's dismay).

[Way Of The Crane]

At any rate, I'm hitting up Tiffany Tavern afterwards for some clear liquors (much to Ron Swanson's dismay).

This Tiffany Tavern?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Yes...it's my Cheers.

[Way Of The Crane]

Are you Tiffany Tavern's Norm?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Carla. Except I don't work there.

[Lord Humungus]

you need the booze before the treatment, not afterward!

[Way Of The Crane]

Just tell them that you have untreatable gonorrhea.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'm just getting over a cold, so maybe if I engage in a severe coughing fit they'll make me leave.

[Groovus Maximus]

Actually, that can work, Kaptious One. If you don't mind barfing too much, a teaspoon of syrup of ipecac will make you hurl rather quickly, you just have to time it right.

You hurl, they will make you leave. Snorting salt will also make you look like you are flushed and ill, and can make your nose run. All sorts of tricks there are to feign sickness...

[Kaptious Kristen]

Taking notes....

[Groovus Maximus]

Seriously, I have flushed out (in every sense of the word) both real illness and fake "I don't want to work" crap.

I will say, Kaptious One, if I was in your area, I would slap out a "mental health day" note for you without a second thought for no other reason than your posting awesomeness, and it's not the least unethical as I do believe:

A) Sick time is yours when needed.

B) "Mental Health Days" are not playing hookey.

C) Propaganda can be hazardous to your health.

[Lord Humungus]

If only you were around here, GM. I hated my last doctor.

[Rasilio]

I've hated almost all my Dr's. I have yet to interact with a GP who was worth my investment of time in going to see them, forget the money I paid them for the service.

In every single case I was able to diagnose the issue I was seeing them for myself and more than capable of talking to a pharmicist to determine which medication would work best for treatment (should any actually be necessary).

The only times I've considered DR's necessary are when I've needed an orthopedist for my knees (arthritis), or the 3 times in my life I've actually gotten significantly sick (Appendicitis, Double Pneumonia, and a staph infection in my knee and blood).

Every other time I've walked away thinking about the money I just wasted.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Dooooood! You almost make me feel un-captious with comments like that!

[Groovus Maximus]

MEh.-) That's Mr. Kaptious Squeeze's function. I just calls 'em likes I see's 'em.

[Rasilio]

Wait you mean there are still companies that want doctors letters for using sick time?

If any company tried that bullshit with me they'd be getting my resignation before any DR's letter.

[mad libertarian guy]

Glenn Beck announced he's relaunching The Blaze as a libertarian news network. "I consider myself a libertarian," Beck said. "I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel."

Great. Just what we need. Another pseudo-libertarian carrying the mantle of libertarianism.

[Citizen Nothing]

Eh. I'm not a big Beck-hater. He's a goofball at times, but he probably does more good than harm on balance. I think Penn has been a very good influence on him.

[mad libertarian guy]

I'm not a big Beck-hater. He's a goofball at times, but he probably does more good than harm on balance.

I'm not a Beck hater either.

But he isn't libertarian, with his warmongering MOOSLIMZ ARE TEH SKERRY ways and all, and it's a shame that libertarianism will be understood by not libertarians as something that isn't libertarian.

[John]

Because the last thing Libertarians would ever want to do is diminish the general conception that they are just get the US out of North America liberals who like to smoke pot.

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah - you don't want him going off on foreign policy. He's like John times 911.

[John]

So what if he did? Who is he going to offend? Liberals who have gone full on fascist total state and hate Libertarians anyway?

[mad libertarian guy]

So what if he did? Who is he going to offend? Liberals who have gone full on fascist total state and hate Libertarians anyway?

Me. For claiming to be libertarian.

[Stormy Dragon]

I am a Beck hater; he was on my local radio station before he went national, so I know that his entire current persona is an act. He saw the Tea Party starting and realized he could get rich by pretending to be one of them. Now that meal ticket is ending so he's decided we're the next bunch of rubes to get fleeced.

[wareagle]

big gap between the radio show and his old Fox program. The latter was heavily sourced and was done without his goofball sidekicks which give the radio show the sound of a cleaner version of Howard Stern. I can't listen to the radio program but I could fact-check the tv stuff, and it was interesting.

[Rasilio]

Jerry Doyle is better on the Radio.

I mean who wouldn't want to listen to Mr Garibaldi talk conspiracy theories

[Azathoth!!]

Does it offend your own pretense?

[Whiterun Guard]

It's not like anyone is ever going to bother trying to understand what we're promoting anyway.

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah. I gave up long ago myself.

[mad libertarian guy]

The best way to promote it is to live it. People don't listen anyways; they hear what they want regardless of what you say.

[Citizen Nothing]

I mean, I no longer bother to understand what we're trying to promote.

[invisible furry hand]

CN, we're promoting anon sites primarily, and the Daily Fail as a sideline

[Citizen Nothing]

Got it. Thanks, ifh.

[Mike M.]

Just what we need. Another pseudo-libertarian carrying the mantle of libertarianism.

At least Reason would never hire one of those!

[BuSab Agent]

+1 Virginia Postrel

[invisible furry hand]

Tina then asks if she can go and catch measles from Melanie. "That sounds like a great idea," her mother responds, and suggests some carrot juice and melon might help Melanie recover.

more

[Tim]

Send her to Warty. Send them ALL to Warty.

[Reformed Republican]

How long before Jenni McCarthy gets on this bandwagon?

[LTC(ret) John]

You are going to send Jenny McCarthy, on a wagon, to Warty?!

[Reformed Republican]

I don't think even Warty deserves that.

[T]

I'm in favor. She won't be able to natter on about vaccines after he's done.

[Ted S.]

Catch measles from this??

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Another Youtube link Ted S.? I think you are what educators call a "visual learner".

Also, Fuck Michigan!

[Way Of The Crane]

"Many wise people believe measles make the body stronger and more mature for the future."

Of course those wise people are all dead now, though.

[Brett L]

Many wise people believed that mercury was good for the nerves, too. Like Hooke. However, Hooke would have looked at the current science and told that stupid bitch not to expose her child to a disease that kills children.

[mousefeathers]

Like my father's youngest brother, who didn't quite make it to four because of measles. How wise and mature he must have been for his age.

[Lord Humungus]

Top Chicago Litigators to Retry 2,400-Year-Old Socrates Case Before 7th Circuit's Judge Posner
http://www.abajournal.com/news.....ekly_email

Star litigators in Chicago are preparing to retry a controversial 2,400-year-old free speech case that famously resulted in the death of Socrates, now considered the father of Greek philosophy, when he drank a cup of poisonous hemlock.

[Tim]

It's not like Obama's gonna pardon him.

[Drax the Destroyer]

But he can raise him from the dead. He's like a black Jesus-Che'.

[Tim]

He could but he doesn't want to.

[Jordan]

It's Chicago. No need to raise the dead there; they can vote from the grave.

[Matrix]

I loled

[Way Of The Crane]

Top Chicago Litigators to Retry 2,400-Year-Old Socrates Case Before 7th Circuit's Judge Posner

My guess is that, with these "Top" men on the case, the outcome is likely to be the same.

[Ken Shultz]

"Glenn Beck announced he's relaunching The Blaze as a libertarian news network. "I consider myself a libertarian," Beck said. "I'm a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel."

I'd like to think that's progress, but the last thing we need is Glenn Beck spoofing us without even realizing it.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Hell, I like Stossel, but even he doesn't help us much as spokesman. We basically need a new Ayn Rand... that isn't Ayn Rand. Ugh fuck it...time to have "breakfast" (8 beers).

[Reformed Republican]

I think Penn Jilette is one of our best spokesmen at the moment. Ron Paul would be better if he did not have his newsletter past. I do not hold it against him, but it makes him an easy target for ad hominems.

[Reformed Republican]

*spokesman

[Ted S.]

You were right the first time.

[Pro Libertate]

Damn you to hell!

[Ken Shultz]

"I think Penn Jilette is one of our best spokesmen at the moment."

I kinda like the team of Gillespie and Welch.

If Beck's production team is looking for spokesmen with experience delivering the libertarian goods on television, then they couldn't do much better than Gillespie and Welch.

Seriously, Welch and Gillespie are probably on the phone to Beck's production people already. Beck should have them on as guests as or more frequently than Napolitano. Oh, and while they're at it, Napolitano should probably be a frequent guest on Beck's show, too.

[sarcasmic]

I kinda like the team of Gillespie and Welch.... Seriously, Welch and Gillespie

So which is it? Jacket and Horn-Rims or Horn-Rims and Jacket?

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Those 3 plus Stossel for Mon-Thurs, then have a different guest on Friday (like an Amash type).

[Stormy Dragon]

The only thing Beck's team is looking for is new ways of making money. He's basically a modern day P. T. Barnum. He's not a libertarian today and he wasn't a non-libertarian yesterday. He just says whatever it takes to get people to throw money at him.

[sarcasmic]

It's hard to believe he's a failed standup comedian. No. Wait. Actually, that's very easy to believe.

[Stormy Dragon]

Again, he was on my local radio before he went national, and it was like one day someone flipped his switch from shits and giggles morning drive guy to crazy tea party guy. Anyone who was a listener knows his entire persona is totally an act. I don't think his libertarianism is any more sincere; he just exhausted the Tea Party well and has moved on to a new target.

[Azathoth!!]

Like most of your ilk, if you were listening at all(and I suspect you regurgitate this rather than having any actual experience of it), you didn't understand a word of it.

Becks' radio show was what the right needed--it was funny, it was biting, it kicked all the right people(left and right) in the face.

There was no 'switch flipped'. I can still listen to Beck on the radio and hear 'More On Trivia'. The TV show was markedly different. There was far less comedy.

But, of course, you didn't know that.

[Stormy Dragon]

I listened to him nearly every day on the way to work from 2001 to fall of 2006. Anyone who says he didn't change never listend to the show before he got his Headline News show. I'll admit I haven't heard him in the last few years, owing that he got kicked off the air in Philadelphia because he was scaring off all the advertisers with his constant end of the world talk. Considering that was originally his flagship station, his absence is pretty telling with regards to the claim he's the same old guy he always was. And his departure was a perfect example of how phony he is. For years he'd gone on about how great the station was; the second they were no longer useful to him he turned on them, launching into an incredibly childish on-air tantrum against them and the city.

Given his previous employment trouble, WPHT took a big risk putting him on the air back when no one had ever heard of him, and without their help he probably wouldn't be where he is now. A little gratitude might have been appropriate, but then Glenn Beck's never been accused of being a classy guy.

[Ken Shultz]

P.T. Barnum gets a lot of eyeballs on the screen. If that gets Welch and Gillespie in front of more eyeballs, then that could be a good thing.

It just depends on whether Barnum does more damage than good, and if he doesn't have real libertarians on (like Gillespie and Welch), then he'll probably be doing more damage than good.

[Stormy Dragon]

He can do damage with the real libertarians too if all he's doing is bringing them in as a clown act.

[Citizen Nothing]

Just curious, SD. Do you think his conversion to Mormonism is part of the schtick?

[Citizen Nothing]

And the whole "reformed alcoholic" thing?

[Stormy Dragon]

Again, I have to draw an analogy to Stephen Colbert. Both the real Stephen Colbert and the character Stephen Colbert are Catholic. Few would argue that character-Colbert's religiousity is an accurate representation of Colbert's actual beliefs, but that also doesn't mean real-Colbert's Catholicism isn't real.

[mnarayan]

This seems a bit far-fetched. I mean all libertarians might have mountains of monocles and such, but it seems like there are no where near enough of them to make switching to libertarianism for money worthwhile.

At worst I would say he's adopting the libertarian mantle for the same reason Bill Maher (and countless others) did; it's far easier to claim to be libertarian when your preferred brand of statism is on the outs.

[Stormy Dragon]

There's three hundred million people in this country. Even if only four percent of the population is libertarian, that more than 10 million potential suckers.

[VG Zaytsev]

The only thing Beck's team is looking for is new ways of making money.

There's that evil profit motive again.

How dare that a-hole try to make a buck off our religion!

[Stormy Dragon]

I sometimes wonder if Teller shares Penn's libertarian streak or if he's just basically been stucking going along for the ride.

[mr simple]

I've never heard him complain about it.

[Pro Libertate]

You were right the first time.

[Ken Shultz]

This would be good news if Beck ends up inviting Gillespie and Welch on the show a lot...

But I just don't imagine that's gonna happen. I bet Beck would denounce Gillespie on seven out of ten issues.

It might be good news if this is an indication that conservative pundits are starting to realize that their schtick is as stale as ten year old bread--and the logical way to freshen it up is to go libertarian.

But they got a lot of catching up to do before they can do that. A lot of conservatives, I guess, really do think that libertarians are just Republicans who want to smoke pot, and it would be a lot of fun seeing them disabused of that notion. ...if we get the chance to jump on their cases for their disgusting, traitorous statism.

[Citizen Nothing]

I think Beck is still reachable from our side. And he's quite unhappy with the GOP in general.

[Ken Shultz]

If he's reachable, that's a good thing.

But my bet is that he's libertarian the same way Michelle Malkin and Tucker Carlson are "libertarian".

It's an aesthetic thing with them. "Libertarian" is a style with them than anything else.

[Stormy Dragon]

Glenn Beck is libertarian the way Stephen Colbert is conservative. The Glenn Beck we all see is just a character being performed.

[VG Zaytsev]

But my bet is that he's libertarian the same way Michelle Malkin and Tucker Carlson are "libertarian".

You mean he's a Ken Schultz always vote team red libertarian?

Who needs another one of those?

[crazyfingers]

Stossel's 20/20 segments were great, and seen by millions. His new FBC show is lame though (if it's even still on), and he seems to play the libertarian fall guy on FNC. He is not a very good on-the-spot debater and he lets himself get bullied by blowhards like O'Reilly. He needs to get back to the government expos? pieces.

[mad libertarian guy]

He needs to get back to the government expos? pieces.

Agreed. Stupid in America is about as powerful a piece on the evils of government education as anything ever. It's what he does best, and it's what he should go back to doing.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Tune in next week, when he knocks over more boxes of paper.

[Rasilio]

Yeah this is the one criticisim I've had on Stossel's show. Even when he puts together the filmed narrative parts his arguments tend to be very weak and hole filled. If I was opposing I could easily trash them.

I love Stossel and respect him for what he tries to do, I just wish he had a LOT stronger voice in doing it.

[cavalier973]

I would think libertarians would prefer to distance themselves from someone who proclaimed on his radio show that Mitt Romney was our generation's "George Washington".

[wareagle]

and he did that after having been on the Bachmann bandwagon and, like so many on the right, tearing Romney a new one for real and perceived wrongs as both a businessman and governor. Romney's own team killed him.

[Brett L]

Romney's own team killed him.

Please. If Romney would have won, everyone would have talked up the power of contentious primaries. It doesn't matter. If you're the second for someone behind Bachmann, Santorum, or Gingrich, you've got bigger problems than their attacks on you.

[wareagle]

you're making my point. Romney's side, from the pundits to the opposition to anyone else, wanted anyone but him in pushing for this phantom "true conservative". Did they not think the public might notice?

[SIV]

Top Men

Member of Biden's Gun Control Task Force Has a Son Convicted of Planning School Mass Murder

[John]

He just understands the need to keep guns out of his deranged son's hands. That is called empathy, a personal connection to the issue.

[tarran]

Since the guy is/was a cop, I'm sure he'll argue that off duty cops should be treated exactly the same as the mundanes...

[John]

I am sure. And what do you want to bet his son got off easy thanks to dad being a cop?

[tarran]

I want to know how he was disciplined; the kid brandished his father's service weapon on the school bus!

What do you think the Army would do to an officer after his son brandished his sidearm in public?

[John]

End of career, no questions asked.

[Ted S.]

I want to know how he was disciplined

Paid administrative leave, I presume.

[SIV]

2.5 years. They threw the book at him.

Nee, the son of Boston Police patrolmen's union President Thomas Nee, served nine months of a 21/2-year sentence.

[John]

I don't know, but I am thinking if I ever brandished a weapon on a school bus, I would do a lot more than nine months.

[Tim]

That just makes his opinion more valuable.

[LTC(ret) John]

Hey?! That is just bringing subject matter expertise to the table!

[Lord Humungus]

Obama's Green Ethanol Bureaucrats Starve The Poor
http://news.investors.com/ibd-.....z2HQyGHhL7

The mandate has diverted so much corn to fuel, it's cut into the amount of corn available for exports. Corn exports have fallen nearly 50% since 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

As a result, corn prices have soared as much as 100% for Guatemalans, making corn not just expensive but out of reach for the impoverished population, which spends two-thirds of its money to buy food. The Times reported that half of Guatemalan children are malnourished.

wait, didn't we already dicuss this? Once again, H&R is on the bleeding edge.

[SugarFree]

Insta-Warrants! Let freedom ring!

[gaijin]

IN a county nearby in Illinois, they have a judge on call, via phone, for these no refusal weekends they hold to combat drunk driving. The best part is that they never catch anyone...and then claim it's their no refusal weekend that caused it. Automation or not, it sounds like the judge never refuses the request of the officers for a spot warrant.

[Hyperion]

Obama's Green Ethanol Bureaucrats Starve The Poor

That's just smart policy. That way you don't have to waste money on drones to kill them.

[BakedPenguin]

Meth problems out West. Specifically, in North Korea.

- Have there been any special orders received from the top leadership?

Was it April? Anyway, one about a special unit was handed down. It was about not selling drugs in the market. Stuff like bingdu (methamphetamines), I mean. Selling bingdu makes a lot of money, so now there are lots of people doing it. Things are hard, and those people who had been able to make money but now cannot start to sell it.

Selling it by yourself will never work, though, it has to be done in cahoots with the National Security Agency. They say that many people who got shaken down in the currency redenomination have started doing it. If an apartment building has 80 families, 20 will be smoking it, too.

[Ted S.]

They've got closed borders. Clearly they can stop everything from coming in!

[BakedPenguin]

Top. Men.

[John]

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-G.....es-In-2011

Planned Parenthood performed 329,445 abortions last year and got $500+ million in federal funding. So much for safe, legal and rare.

[SIV]

It's not a Constitutional right if you have to pay for it yourself.

[John]

What pisses me off is not so much the number of abortions. You can't stop those anyway. It is the federal funding and the way the media and the liberals lie their asses off pretending that abortion doesn't happen very often. I bet most people in this country would be shocked to know the number is that high.

[mad libertarian guy]

And that's just the PP number. How many is it if you include other clinics?

[John]

I believe it is over a million.

[Way Of The Crane]

To liberals, that's not high. Hell, to many that's not enough.

Margret Sanger, the founder of PP, was a proponent of abortion and birth control as a means of population control and eugenics. She also founded the Negro Project and argued for the forced sterilization of those she considered "unfit" for society.

[invisible furry hand]

she also disinherited her son when he married a girl who wore glasses

[Way Of The Crane]

Yet people don't believe that someone like her would ever take it as far as the Khmer Rouge who killed Cambodian children because they wore glasses or were left handed.

[cavalier973]

How does one live down being Sanger's offspring?

[wareagle]

How does one live down being Sanger's offspring?

be a liberal and hang out with them, as they have no interest in who she really was. For them, abortion is a sacrament and she is the high priestess. And while I'm not a screaming pro-lifer, I still believe that folks who use to exercise "choice" should pay for it themselves.

[mad libertarian guy]

Does it really cost $1500+ per abortion? Because that's what PP got for each abortion performed.

[John]

No it doesn't. Abortion is a money making machine for PP. That is why they won't give them up. The money. They don't give a shit about anything but that.

If we had anything but a state run media, someone would ask PP if access to abortion is so important, why are you operating an abortion mill for profit?

[nicole]

Does it really cost $1500+ per abortion? Because that's what PP got for each abortion performed.

No--and no federal funding can directly pay for abortions anway. Of course, since money is fungible, it doesn't really matter, but it's a crappy pro-life talking point. PP just does way too many other things for anyone who actually knows them to think, "Oh, that's $1,500 per abortion." Even considering that money is fungible, they have a bunch of other shit to pay for. Last year they did almost twice as many breast exams as abortions; almost twice as many pap smears as abortions; more than twice as many HIV tests as abortions; over a million pregnancy tests; and over 3 million contraception procedures.

Is it possible that PP is making a ton of money doing abortions? Sure, but I have never seen actual evidence of this, whereas all my real-life interactions with PP have involved seeing young and poor women go somewhere they can pay on a sliding scale to see a doctor.

[John]

I think the fact that they are doing so many of them is evidence they are making money. If they are not, lets see their books and see for sure. They are getting federal funding aren't they?

[nicole]

I think the fact that they are doing so many of them is evidence they are making money.

I'd love to see their books too, but this isn't very good evidence when they're a relatively small share of actual procedures performed.

[John]

If they were losing money on abortions, I doubt they could perform so many of them. Maybe but I doubt it. And moreover, if they are losing money on abortions and performing that many of them, it would seem the entire purpose of their operation is to perform abortions, something they deny.

[wareagle]

I don't much care if PP feeds the poor and cures malaria; why is the group on the public dime at any level? THAT is the question. Let folks who support PP in word do so with their wallets, too.

[mad libertarian guy]

Let folks who support PP in word do so with their wallets, too.

Yo're obviously one of those racist Tea Fucking Rat Baggers.

[wareagle]

and my new year's resolution is to build on that.

[John]

And Nicole, why is pointing out the money is fungible and that makes any funding of PP funding for abortion a crappy talking point? It is true.

[Whiterun Guard]

It's basically the same as saying if you support money going to the DoD, then you're paying for SSgts to go apeshit in Afghanistan and kill a bunch of civilians.

Or to shoot up hospitals in Texas.

The better argument is that they shouldn't be getting money at all, not quibbling over what they use it for.

[John]

No it is not. It is the same organization. If the KKK started handing out meals to poor kids and giving college scholarships, would federal funding to them not be going in support of their other more racist and controversial operations? It would sure seem to me that it would be. But by your logic it wouldn't. By your logic, if you do any single thing that is noncontroversial, it makes federal funding of your entire operation okay.

[Whiterun Guard]

By my logic neither of them would get funding. But that's not what you're arguing.

You're saying you don't care that they get funding, just that they don't use it to do Satan's work.

[John]

No you are confusing the issue of federal funding in general with the issue of if you do get federal funding is that funding effectively in support of your entire operation. Can you Chinese wall federal money.

Should they or anyone else get federal funding? Who knows. That is not what we are discussing here. We are discussing is whether the fact that they are getting federal funding amounts to federal funding of abortion. And the answer to that is clearly yes.

[Whiterun Guard]

So now we're back to where we were before:

You think if an organization does any single thing wrong, then it shouldn't get any funding at all. When every single organization out there does something that someone doesn't agree with, so none of them should get funding.

They're not getting money to perform abortions any more than the DoD gets money specifically to dump benzene in ditches.

[John]

You think if an organization does any single thing wrong, then it shouldn't get any funding at all.

No. I am saying that if an organization gets federal funding, that funding amounts to funding of their entire operation because money is fungible.

I am not saying anything at all about whether they should get funding. Maybe they should. But understand that when you give money to an organization that performs abortions, you are funding abortions.

[nicole]

And Nicole, why is pointing out the money is fungible and that makes any funding of PP funding for abortion a crappy talking point? It is true.

That's not the crappy talking point. The crappy talking point is "PP gets $1,500 in federal funds for each abortion it performs." It's ridiculous. Do you know how many people even know what "fungible" means? If you wanted to teach them that, and why federal funding matters even if it doesn't pay directly for abortions, that would be a good talking point. But that would actually be educational, and therefore not a talking point.

[Don Mynack]

I don't really care what they do. I just don't understand why the feds are paying them anything. Why do they get federal dollars?

[Whiterun Guard]

Because it wins votes from middle and high income white women and slows the population growth of minorities?

[wareagle]

does it slow the population of minorities? In my experience, that group is the least likely to either employ birth control or have abortions. Baby mamas figured out there was money in babies long before anyone called them baby mamas. The white trash learned that, too. War on Poverty and all.

[Whiterun Guard]

Hrm, I'm too lazy to dig it up, but I'm actually pretty damn sure that it's stilted hugely in the minority slowing camp.

Maybe I should just say black, since I think in recent years, if we're lumping in 'white Mexicans' as a minority, it'd probably skew the numbers the other way.

[nicole]

Why do they get federal dollars?

Because you're surrounded by a few hundred million slavers.

[rac3rx]

You should look up Abby Johnson, who used to run a PP somewhere in TX. Her personal experience is completely different than what you've described. According to her, PP is an abortion mill, and little more.

[A Frayed Knot]

I guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

[Lord Humungus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8JA9Qs2Mho

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

At $1500 per abortion, it isn't cheap either.

[Zeb]

I'm not for funding PP, but the safe and legal parts are all that the government or PP has any control over. The rare part is up to individuals.

[Gbob]

500 million in federal funds? What the hell are they spending the money on? It's not subsidizing their prices. I went there for some standard STD/AIDS testing and found they were charging about twice what my doctor would have charged, even without insurance. (Although I was told they charge on a sliding scale there.)

Abortions, I believe, are also a service the client has to pay for.

So you have a group that is capable of raising revenue for their services. They also fund raise like a son of a bitch. Why are taxpayers on the hook with these folks?

Ah. Right. I forgot. War on wymn, rape culture and such.

[Rasilio]

~ 4.2 million live births in the US annually
~ 1.2 million abortions annually in the US
~ 15% of all recognized pregnancies miscarry (greater than 30% of all miscarry but most women in this state never realize they were pregnant)

That means of the 6.4 million recognized pregnancies each year (recognized means that the woman realized she was pregnant) the final result was

19% aborted
15% Miscarried
66% Carried to term

However I would argue that this over represents the abortion count because obviously some of those aborted pregnancies would have gone on to be miscarried and some were specifically carried out because the the low odds of the a live birth. Realistically about 3 - 4% of those abortions would have resulted in a subsequent miscarriage had they not been aborted.

So is 15% rare? Obviosuly a matter of opinion, I wouldn't say it is rare but neither is it common.

That said, Planned Parenthood does not recieve any federal funding for abortions (they are prevented by law from doing so), what they do recieve federal funding for is womens health services which include reduced cost or free birth control for low income women. Without these services it is estimated there would be a further 600,000 abortions each year.

So, is that $500 million a good investment for a 33% reduction in the number of abortions performed each year?

[John]

Without these services it is estimated there would be a further 600,000 abortions each year.

Give me a citation for that claim and some basis in fact to believe that it is true and we can talk about the rest of your post.

[John]

And see above. Money is fungible. If you fund an organization that performs abortions, you are funding abortions. You can't chinese wall a fungible good.

[Stormy Dragon]

Money is fungible. If you fund an organization that performs abortions, you are funding abortions. You can't chinese wall a fungible good.

That's not what fungible means.

If it's impossible to "chinese wall a fungible good" between different sub-organizations within PP, how is it possible to do so between organizations within the broader economy? If we follow your logic, we're collectively responsible for any dollar denominated transaction that goes on anywhere in the world.

[John]

If it's impossible to "chinese wall a fungible good" between different sub-organizations within PP,

And the money for all of those organizations comes from the same pot. Every dollar they get from the feds and don't have to spend on the non abortion is available to fund the abortion arm.

Jesus Christ it is not that hard. We are funding abortions when we fund PP. Just be honest and admit it and defend the damn position. You are a liberal sock puppet, you ought to be able to give the party line on how funding abortions is a good thing. For God's sake give it and stop pissing on my leg and telling me its raining.

[Stormy Dragon]

All the money for Wegman's comes from the same pot too. That doesn't mean I'm funding alcholism if a drunk is shopping there at the same time I am.

[Enough About Palin]

My paycheck took one hell of a hit; Fuck you in the ass, Obama, with Michelle's dick.

Asshole.

[John]

The only thing that in anyway mitigates that is watching shock on all of the low information voters who voted for Obama because of the vaginas and the Big Bird faces.

[mad libertarian guy]

Yep.

Seeing liberals cry because Obama did exactly what he said he'd do, raise taxes, is fucking hilarious. They're just pissed because they thought he was only going to stick it to those eeeeeeeeeeeeeevul 1%ers.

Dumb fucks.

[John]

If you voted for Obama and are surprised your taxes went up, you should have to forfeit your franchise.

[Whiterun Guard]

Prices will go up soon to account for the increase in taxes.

So they'll be able to shift blame away from Obama/Congress and back where it belongs: evul kkkorporashuns.

[Ted S.]

Yeah, but why do the rest of us have to suffer for their stupidity?

[wareagle]

because there are more of them than us, and we were outvoted.

[mad libertarian guy]

because there are more of them than us, and we were outvoted.

That still doesn't adequately explain the plundering of my money.

[wareagle]

goes back to some dead white guy who opined that our system is govt works great until people figure out that they can vote themselves money from the Treasury. The number willing to do that exceeds the number who believe those funds are to be used for a limited set of purposes.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I shoulda' voted for Romney. John and Tulpa were right. Damn.

[Stormy Dragon]

Romney was running on raising the payroll tax too, as well as eliminating your deductions. When Romney said he was going to lower taxes, he only meant his taxes.

[Lord Humungus]

not exactly a major hit, but there goes my gas money for three weeks. Or a couple days of groceries. Being a single-income family, $$$ is pretty tight as-is and we don't exactly live big.

[Mike M.]

My paycheck took one hell of a hit; Fuck you in the ass, Obama, with Michelle's dick.

You've seen nothing yet, my friend. The YomommaCare taxes haven't even truly started kicking in yet in full force, those come next year.

[John]

http://mashable.com/2013/01/08.....ash-drive/

The terabyte flash drive. I don't even have a terabyte of information to store. But damn that is awesome. I want one any way.

[Ted S.]

I don't even have a terabyte of information to store.

Obvious.ly you need to download more porn.

[John]

That would be a lot of skanky women.

[invisible furry hand]

I got nearly 7 Tb. Documentaries, movies, tv ahows, music, articles...

[Lord Humungus]

...pron...

[Jerry on the road]

I only keep the rare stuff, since everything else you could easily dl again.

[Brett L]

I remember thinking, "There's no WAY I'm ever gonna fill up a 2 MB hard drive."

[Zeb]

How long ago was it that all of the computer storage in the world was measured in terabytes?

[John]

So AL McCarrans smoking hot Miss Alabama girlfriend was on the Today Show this morning. Matt Lauer spent like 30 seconds trying to lead her to giving the PC "As a woman I am offended by anyone commenting on any woman's looks" answer to the Brent Musburger thing. To her great credit she didn't bite and said she was flattered and didn't think Musburger had anything to apologize for. The sadness and disappointment in the Today show studio was palpable.

[Pro Libertate]

I bet they end up hooking up.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Musburger and Lauer?

[Jeff]

Lauer and McCarran.

[Mike M.]

The people running ESPN now are such a bunch of fucked up in the head lefties that they're more ticked off at Musberger's (relatively) harmless comments than they are at the racist comments that routinely come from guys like Rob Parker on that morning crapfest of theirs.

[John]

What Parker said about RGII should have gotten him fired. He said in so many words you can't trust people who are in interracial marriages. It was the most offensive thing I have ever heard in the sports media. Much much worse than anything Jimmy the Greek or Howard Cosell or any number of other people who have seen their careers ruined for an off hand comment.

[mad libertarian guy]

Are you a cornball brother, John?

[AZ]

ESPN decided not to pick up his contract, which is currently expired. So they eventually, quietly did the right thing, although it should have been harsher and more immediate.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Rob Parker was fired by ESPN yesterday for those comments.

[Kaptious Kristen]

One of my favorite Today show moments was back in '03 when Katie Couric interviewed the mother of the first soldier killed in Iraq. Couric said "But you do understand why we had to go into Iraq, don't you?", and the mother flat-out said "No, I don't". Couric looked like she swallowed a frog.

[John]

That is what she gets for interviewing an aggrieved parent. You really are a scum sucker if you are out finding the mothers who have lost their sons for an interview.

[wareagle]

in defense of the media, since i used to be one of them, none of the grieving is hog-tied and forced to go on the air. Most do it as a form of catharsis or a sense that if they don't tell their loved one's story, no one else will. It's much less difficult than you think to have one of those folks agree to an interview.

[Mike M.]

I made the mistake last night of watching "Fahrenheit 911" for the first time. I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle that fat heartless bastard to death watching him exploit these poor grieving families and slyly mock them the way he did.

[cavalier973]

http://espn.go.com/college-foo.....title-game

"ESPN announcer Brent Musburger remarked that Webb was a beautiful woman as the cameras revisited her. 'Wow, I'm telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women,' he said.

Some found the remarks from the 73-year-old Musburger out of line. On Tuesday, ESPN released this statement: 'We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test.
However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that.'

But Webb said Musburger's comments didn't bother her.

'It was kind of nice,' she said. 'I didn't look at it as creepy at all. For a woman to be called beautiful, I don't see how that's an issue.'"

[Brett L]

I never got the creep factor. Musburger doesn't control how long the camera stays on the girl, but he does have to keep talking about something relevant to the shot, that's his job.

[wareagle]

I don't get the creep thing, either. He basically said, hey you kids in AL..learn how to throw a football and you can get girls like this, too.

So noticing that someone is attractive is now offensive to the PC gods?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Othering male glaze!

[Rasilio]

You are just now realizing this?

Do you not have a job or something? I mean standard corporate sexual harrassment training says never comment on ANYONE's apperance (and by anyone they mean but can't specifically say any woman) lest they be offended by it

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The problem isn't the creep factor. The problem is that this country is now controlled by the Church of the Perpetually Aggrieved.

For god's sake, Betty White does the same thing on that shitty-ass Off Their Rockers show, and people think it's hilarious. But Musberger points out that a good-looking woman is good-looking, and it's supposed to be offensive.

The people chimping out about this make it look more and more like Osama Bin Laden had a point.

[John]

Where is this Yemen? You can't comment on a women being beautiful?

[John]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/01.....g-the-rich

Teacher's Union official says we should kill the rich. The stupid burns

The union chief then said she didn't think present-day unions and the working class are in a bad enough situation for violence to become necessary ? yet.

"We are in a moment where the wealth disparity in this country is very reminiscent of the robber baron ages," she said. "The labor leaders of that time, though, were ready to kill. They were. They were just ready. They were like, 'off with their heads.' They were seriously talking about that."

Once the laughter subsided, Lewis clarified that she didn't think today's unions were "at that point." She did maintain, however, that rich people are guilty of endorsing violence against teachers.

"The thing is, [the rich] think nothing about killing us," she said. "They think nothing about putting our people in harm's way. They think nothing about lethal working conditions."

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/01.....z2HUPjvFuS

[mad libertarian guy]

"The thing is, [the rich] think nothing about killing us," she said. "They think nothing about putting our people in harm's way. They think nothing about lethal working conditions."

The fuck is this lady talking about? Lethal working conditions? She's a FUCKING TEACHER!!

I certainly don't want to kill them, but forcing every single one of them out of a job and having them get productive jobs sounds like a good plan.

[Whiterun Guard]

Well if it does come down to killing, I sure as shit ain't putting my money on the teacher's union. They've already proven again and again how useless they are in a combat situation.

[John]

Check out the picture of that woman. If you are going to combat against her, you better bring an elephant rifle. She is large and in charge.

[Whiterun Guard]

Like I wouldn't bring an elephant rifle anyway.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

She cited the fact that not all Chicago schools have air conditioning as evidence that the union's opponents want teachers to work in dangerous conditions.

Fuck me.

[mad libertarian guy]

The fuck is wrong with you people?

1 hour and 28 minutes of Morning Links, and not a SINGLE FUCKING REFERENCE TO THE NEW SEASON OF JUSTIFIED?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Brett L]

I was busy drinking last night. Any good? No spoilers!

[mad libertarian guy]

Of course it was good. It's Raylan violating civil rights; what about that could be bad?

The storyline still needs another episode or so in the season to being to flesh out, but suffice to say that Raylan and Boyd are likely to have yet more meetings in the battle between evil and really evil (which is which I'll let you decide).

[Ted S.]

Your reference is justified... and ancient

[Jumbie]

If you live in Orlando, keep it neat:
http://now.msn.com/jason-and-j.....ing-garden

I wonder if the First Lady's garden would pass the 'finished appearance' test.

[generic Brand]

ORLANDOOOOOOOO! Fuck Lake Eola!

Also, I think this story was a main H&R piece yesterday.

[Warty]

Why I'm Giving Up My Guns

Fucking Elmer Fudds. Pitiful.

[John]

And I have never been under any illusion that I would use my guns for "home protection." Especially given that they are hunting rifles, not semi-automatic people killers, it would be a pointless exercise anyway. I can imagine the scene as I ask an assailant to wait while I finish loading my muzzleloader.

I think that guy is too stupid to be allowed to own a weapon. A bolt action or muzzleloading rifle would never kill anyone. They were still fighting wars with swords until they invented the evil semi-automatic rifle.

[John]

It just gets dumber.

How much more powerful then is that statement, that irrefutable image, of carrying a gun to human beings. Something that can kill a human opponent demands a sobering recognition. If you will, to carry a gun is to embrace the power to nullify life.

And the grief of death is no place where I want to stake a claim. But the presence of guns in my house is a sinister whisper in the back of my head, a reminder of this lethal power.

So does he plan to stop eating meat? I would say that steak in your freezer is a sinister whisper of death if there ever was one. If you don't believe me, go ask a cow.

[Warty]

The media loves to trot out these Uncle Toms. I wonder if they do it because they like the smug feeling it gives them, or because they're trying to shame normal gun owners into giving up their AR-15s. The have no idea how much we loathe guys like this.

[John]

It is both. And yeah, I hate that guy. He seems to get some kind of a sexual pleasure out of killing things. Good for him, it is a free country. But parts of that article are a bit creepy. I wonder if maybe he thinks he might start killing people.

[Warty]

The only thing I've ever shot is a couple deer, and I am the biggest pussy about doing even that, because I'm such a faggot for animals. I don't get these fucking weirdos who kill every animal they can for no reason. And yet I have an arsenal that would make anyone at CNN poop their pants if they saw it.

[John]

I am the same way. I love to shoot. And I love weapons. But I just can't bring myself to get any pleasure out of blasting an animal. Since I eat meat, I fully realize that makes me a total hypocrite. If I am willing to pay the slaughterhouse to do it, I ought to be willing to do it myself. And I suppose I would if I had to. But I don't see any fun in it.

And hunting is pretty damned boring. Mostly it is sitting in a blind bored out of your mind all day or at best armed hiking. I have had fun bird hunting a few times. But that is about it. And pig hunting is okay. But pigs are evil and a feral invasive species who don't belong anyway.

[mad libertarian guy]

And hunting is pretty damned boring.

You're doing it wrong.

[Rasilio]

"How much more powerful then is that statement, that irrefutable image, of carrying a gun to human beings. Something that can kill a human opponent demands a sobering recognition. If you will, to carry a gun is to embrace the power to nullify life."

Well, he's convinced me, I don't own any guns but I'mma gonna give up my kitchen knives, baseball bats, car keys, pens, pencils, car, and I've got to contact a DR about getting my knees, elbows, and hands amputated.

[John]

And your car too., Don't forget your car.

[Drake]

Thank goodness crazy-loser didn't do bloody donuts in the schoolyard during recess. I wouldn't be able to get to work after the ban.