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Gun Rights To Feature During President's Speech, Long-Term Unemployment Persists, Government Tracking Raises Fears: P.M. Links

J.D. Tuccille | 2.12.2013 4:30 PM

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  • Zombie
    Bob Jagendorf

    Self-defense rights, and attacks by politicians on the same, are expected to take center stage at President Obama's Sermon on the Mount State of the Union speech (which Reason's crack staff will be live-tweeting).

  • Short-term unemployment may almost be back to normal, but the long-term variety remains at exactly triple its average from 2001-7. Economists say they're perplexed.
  • Privacy advocates worry over the government's growing ability to track our movements by car, by drone and through social media.
  • The lower house of France's national assembly approved same-sex marriage, moving the country's gays and lesbians one step closer to the ability to cheat on their spouses with the same wild abandon as their heterosexual compatriots.
  • The U.S. is, at long last, withdrawing 34,000 troops — just over half the total — from Afghanistan.
  • In one of the coolest pranks ever, hackers broke into the emergency broadcast system and inserted a voice and text alert of a pending zombie apocalypse that then went out over the air.
  • Exercising the due diligence for which it has become famous, the Washington Post fell for a gag story that Sarah Palin is joining Al Jazeeraa.

Have a news tip for us? Send it to: 24_7@reason.com.

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The Rattler is a weekly newsletter from J.D. Tuccille. If you care about government overreach and tangible threats to everyday liberty, this is for you.

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NEXT: SOTU Pivot to Jobs and the Economy Means More Talk About Raising Taxes, Blaming Republicans, and Not Reducing Government Spending

J.D. Tuccille is a contributing editor at Reason.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    ...fell for a gag story that Sarah Palin is joining Al Jazeeraa.

    Nice to know she can still make them lose their shit.

  2. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    Breaking news: KCAL-9 reports that authorities are currently engaged in a shootout with Christopher Dorner in Big Bear.

    1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

      One officer wounded, hostage situation

      1. A Serious Man   12 years ago

        The cops are driving the reporter away. Just heard one yell "Get the fuck out of here" on the air from the guy's phone.

        1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

          Go to NBC4. They have aerial shots of the gas that was dropped from the helicopter

    2. playa manhattan   12 years ago

      Plus, he carjacked a white 4 door dodge pickup. So don't drive one of those in CA until this is over...

    3. playa manhattan   12 years ago

      I posted the link about Dorner buying scuba gear in another thread. Apparently, it was to outlast tear gas in his last stand...

    4. A Serious Man   12 years ago

      Two more officers down according to unconfirmed reports.

      1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

        And now they are saying he may have gotten away. They are putting up roadblocks around redlands airport now..

    5. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      Is it actually Dorner or some 12-year-old albino girl in a wheelchair?

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        Don't talk smack about Johnny Winter! He still owns "Highway 61" like no one else...

      2. JW   12 years ago

        GET HIM!

  3. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

    Notice anything unusual about this lung scan? Harvard researchers found that 83 percent of radiologists didn't notice the gorilla in the top right portion of this image.

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/healt.....lain-sight

    1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

      Be fair, there are very few gorilla shaped lesions or tumors.

    2. rts   12 years ago

      Selective Attention Test.

  4. mr simple   12 years ago

    Youth is wasted on the young.

    1. $park?   12 years ago

      My wife thinks I'm crazy for thinking Victoria Justice is hot.

      1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

        You're wife is crazy, she is hot.

        1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

          Your*

        2. $park?   12 years ago

          That was my retort when she called me crazy.

          1. $park?   12 years ago

            I also told her to rethink her position that I have bad taste in women.

        3. gaijin   12 years ago

          You're wife is crazy, she is hot.

          Sparkys wife is crazy AND hot?

          1. Mechafenris   12 years ago

            If we've learned anything from Steve McNair... it's not to stick your dick in crazy.

          2. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

            Hey, I fixed your, isn't that good enough?

            1. gaijin   12 years ago

              yes, yes it is.

      2. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        Probably because you were supposed to be saying that the blonde one is the hot one.

  5. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    In one of the coolest pranks ever, hackers broke into the emergency broadcast system and inserted a voice and text alert of a pending zombie apocalypse that then went out over the air.

    Way to cry wolf hackers. Let's just hope you're the first to get your brains eaten when the apocalypse strikes.

    1. Episiarch   12 years ago

      This Book is Full of Spiders is the instruction manual.

      1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

        You can't fool me. That's just Scott Thompson's pen name.

    2. Brett L   12 years ago

      Its a coverup!

    3. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      BATH SALTS WENT ON SALE!

    4. Almanian!   12 years ago

      The COOLEST prank would be having LOLCATS taking over the world. THAT would be the COOLEST prank.

      Stupid hackers...

  6. Matrix   12 years ago

    Heart Attack Grill spokesman dies of a heart attack

    There goes another one.

    1. JW   12 years ago

      Now, *that's* truth in advertising.

  7. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Self-defense rights, and attacks by politicians on the same, are expected to take center stage at President Obama's [SOTUA]...

    So will he actually bring the coffins out or will he keep it subtle?

    1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      Self-defense rights =/= A2

      1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        Unless you count self-defense against tyrants.

        1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

          What I take issue with is the phrase "Self-defense rights". Them are weasel words. Like "social justice" or "fair share".

          1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

            I hadn't heard the phrasing until recently.

  8. Killazontherun   12 years ago

    Because you all are so awesome and so deserving

    1. mr simple   12 years ago

      When did Olivia get boobs?

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        They look smacktacular there.

        1. iggy   12 years ago

          I keep scrolling down to read other comments, but for some reason I keep getting drawn back here.

        2. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

          Lactacular

          1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

            Licktacular.

    2. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      You must really think I'm awesome for that gift.

      Made my day!

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        I think I'm just going to stare at those for the evening instead of doing the State of the Union comments with you guys this evening.

        1. Almanian!   12 years ago

          And who could blame you? No one.

          1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

            My wife could, but she doesn't give a crap about online materials.

    3. fish   12 years ago

      Damn you killaz....I have to go to a meeting...and I'm wearing khakis!

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        You know what's weird. My hair looked EXACTLY like hers in the mirror this morning. Color, body, muss up, everything.

      2. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63CBo7Z83-Q

        1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

          I can guarantee the lady, she was not the source.

  9. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

    I am so sick of zombies. Can we move on to some other form of undead? Something obscure and untapped?

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      Lent is coming up.

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        Jesus: the first zombie.

        1. NeonCat   12 years ago

          Lazarus was the first zombie.

          1. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

            who reanimated based on contact from Jesus, our patient zero

            1. Episiarch   12 years ago

              Wow, you guys know your Bible way better than I do.

              1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

                You took the effort to capitalize Bible. Get a load of Churchy LaFemme over here.

                1. Episiarch   12 years ago

                  (begins exorcism on FoE)

                  THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!

                2. $park?   12 years ago

                  It's the title of a book, it's supposed to be capitalized. Neanderthal.

                  1. Mensan   12 years ago

                    It's supposed to be italicized (or underlined) as well.

            2. NeonCat   12 years ago

              So Jesus was a carrier of "zombieism" before dying and developing a full-blown case? What medical school did you pay 35 cents for a diploma from, huh?

              1. NoVAHockey   12 years ago

                Hollywood Upstairs Medical College

              2. Episiarch   12 years ago

                I think he went to Brown. What a jerk.

                1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

                  No, Smith.

          2. rts   12 years ago

            Ezekiel had a zombie army:

            So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

            ...

            So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet?a vast army.

            1. Episiarch   12 years ago

              Master Shake: Why do you disappoint me? [Ezekiel starts crying] Second by second, you waste my time.

              Frylock: Shake Shake Shake, lets just have some fun out here, okay?

              Master Shake: Why? He sucks. C'mon Sucky, before you ruin the entirety of my future.

              Frylock: Shake--

              Master Shake: The only reason God doesn't erase you from the face of the Earth is because you amuse him somehow.

            2. NeonCat   12 years ago

              OK, that beats Lazarus.

              And if they had attacked Pearl Harbor, the movie could have been called Torah Torah Torah.

              1. rts   12 years ago

                Terrible. Just terrible.

    2. Killazontherun   12 years ago

      Ghast? But after LOTR, people are sick of elves too. Probably even undead ones.

    3. mr simple   12 years ago

      Maybe Liches will help spice things up. They know magic.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        They're all magical and stuff, right? That's better than zombies, who are the retards of the undead world.

      2. Alack   12 years ago

        Fucking love Liches. Every spellcaster I've made in D&D aspires to lichdom.

    4. $park?   12 years ago

      Banshees?

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Too Irish.

      2. Mensan   12 years ago

        Banshees aren't undead; they're fairies.

    5. A Serious Man   12 years ago

      Succubus.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        And we have a winner.

        1. $park?   12 years ago

          Succubi aren't undead, they're demons. Come on, man.

          1. Episiarch   12 years ago

            Didn't we establish in an earlier thread that ProL is stupid?

            1. Archduke Pantsfan   12 years ago

              it's written right in the membership pamphlets.

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                Godlike stupidity, maybe.

        2. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

          No one wants to watch a program about my ex-wife. No one.

      2. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        They are more technically demons than undead.

        1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

          But they're sexier than undead. Well, except for vampire strippers.

          1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

            Vampire strippers who bite you on the neck. MMMM, be in the bunk.

      3. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

        Second.

    6. Almanian!   12 years ago

      Goddamn it - LOLCATS or nothing!

      1. NeonCat   12 years ago

        Pfft, everyone knows they're stuck in the intertubez. Just don't leave any catnip (or cheezburgers) by any Ethernet jacks.

      2. Mensan   12 years ago

        Undead lolcatz?

    7. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      Strigoi?

      1. alittlesense   12 years ago

        I thought that was Greek yogurt........

  10. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Short-term unemployment may almost be back to normal, but the long-term variety remains at exactly triple its average from 2001-7. Economists say they're perplexed.

    Of course they are. Policies increasingly discouraging and disincentivizing hiring couldn't possibly be having an effect.

    1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      But ALL economists agree that these policies are EXACTLY what was needed to bring the economy back to life!

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        The science IS settled.

        1. fish   12 years ago

          ...and in happier news for those of you holding Ruger, Smith & Wesson and the shares of other gun makers.

          65 million new personal firearms sold since sugar coated Barry-O's took office.

          How bout a vigorous round of applause for our "Salesman of the Decade"

          (Oh shit...I meant to post this at Dailykos...you guys won't give a damn!)

          1. Almanian!   12 years ago

            wow - WOW!

  11. wakeup   12 years ago

    The true story of aspartame

  12. Archduke Pantsfan   12 years ago

    Squids can fly 100 feet in the air

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Yes, how relieved I was to find that my principal escape route, in the event that the pythons totally infest every square foot of Florida, is blocked by flying squid.

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        There's no escape from Florida, ProL. Unless your name is Snake Plissken. Which would be weird considering the pythons.

        1. Almanian!   12 years ago

          "Name's Plisskin.."

        2. Killazontherun   12 years ago

          I made the comment the other night while the nephew was watching Walking Dead, or whatever that show is called, 'that dude there was obviously modeled on Snake Plissken'. He had no idea who I was referring to.

        3. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I don't want to escape. Really, all I want is for the pythons to be gone and for a mountain range to be built down the middle of state, like Italy. But no volcanoes, thanks.

        4. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

          I escaped from that shithole! Though many would argue that moving to KY was no upgrade.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            I like Florida, at least where I live.

    2. $park?   12 years ago

      Well they come with a built in propeller. What would you expect?

  13. Matrix   12 years ago

    Woman dies from drinking 10 liters of coke a day

    Gimme a litre o' cola.
    What?
    A litre o' cola.
    Litrecola? Do we sell litrecola?
    Will you just order a large, Farva?
    I don't want a large farva. I want a goddamn litre o' cola!
    I don't know what that is!
    Litre is French for give me my fuckin' cola before I break VOUS FUCKIN' LIP!

    1. Matrix   12 years ago

      Anyway, I think this is a wakeup call that we need liter limits to 5 a day.

    2. Almanian!   12 years ago

      Rum and Cocaaaaa-Cola
      Go down Point Koomahnah
      Both mother and daughter
      Workin' for the Yankee dollar...

      /Andrews Sisters

      1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

        Dirty, dirty bitches.

  14. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

    Texas may improve beer laws a bit.

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      It mystifies me that TX is so pro-business, unless that business is alcohol. I don't get it. The Baptists don't even hate strip clubs with the same fervor.

    2. SIV   12 years ago

      "a bit" is far too generous

  15. $park?   12 years ago

    Another reason to love Maryland.

    A child's project, but also an online app or lesson plan a teacher creates, could be fair game.

    According to a draft of the proposal obtained by FoxNews.com, "Works created by employees and/or students specifically for use by the Prince George's County Public School or a specific school or department within PGCPS, are properties of the Board of Education even if created on the employee's or student's time and with use of their materials."

    1. Almanian!   12 years ago

      All your art are belong to us

  16. A Serious Man   12 years ago

    Senate passes Violence Against Women Act.

    Guess we'll finally find out what's in it.

    1. Alack   12 years ago

      They couldn't throw the word "Preventing" in the title of the bill? This is worse than people who do marathons to "raise money for cancer".

      1. Alack   12 years ago

        "The Violent Assault and Gender Inequality Neutralization Act" maybe?

    2. Coeus   12 years ago

      Never fear, The house will hold the line.

  17. Archduke Pantsfan   12 years ago

    Stripper arrested after being booed offstage

    1. $park?   12 years ago

      You bastard!

    2. Almanian!   12 years ago

      Mother FUCKER. I just haaaaad to look...just had to.

      "Oh, it's not SugarFree, so this link will be OK..."

      Son of a BITCH!

      1. Marshall Gill   12 years ago

        Thanks for taking one for the team, dude.

      2. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        Dark-haired Fabio had been forced to pull out at the last minute and he had been replaced by "scruffy" novice Leon Zbudowskyj, wearing grey tracksuit trousers and braces.

        I'm not entirely sure I would've used the phrase "pull out" in this story. The quotes from the attendees are worth the click:

        In fact he looked like he had been hit in the face with a wok.

        1. rac3rx   12 years ago

          The wok comment was worth the entire article.

  18. $park?   12 years ago

    Another sci-fi writer for the do not read list?

    Orson Scott Card, a well-known science fiction author, is part of a team of writers and artists assembled by DC Comics to create "Adventures of Superman."

    Card, who is Mormon, is also an opponent of same-sex marriage. He once called gay marriage the end of democracy in America.

    He once wrote that "the left is at war with the family" and suggested gays could change.

    "Same-sex attraction is not a strait jacket; people's desires change over time; gay people still have choices; a reproductive dysfunction like same-sex attraction is not a death sentence for your DNA or for your desire to have a family in which children grow up with male and female parents to model appropriate gender roles," he wrote in an op-ed.

    1. A Serious Man   12 years ago

      He's a Mormon.

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      I wouldn't let someone's retarded views limit your entertainment choices. However, Card is vastly overrated, so you might want to consider that too.

      1. $park?   12 years ago

        Only thing I ever read by him was the Homecoming series. It wasn't horrible...

        1. mnarayan   12 years ago

          The Homecoming series was far and away the worst stuff he wrote. I'm pretty sure even his Mormon propaganda is more entertaining.

          1. Cheradenine Zakalwe   12 years ago

            Is that the US political conspiracy stuff? It's the stupidest thing I remember ever skimming.

      2. Brett L   12 years ago

        I actually kind of enjoyed The Gate Thief. And Wyrms. Ender's Game is a YA standard. But yeah. Flogging the Ender universe for every last penny is off-putting.

      3. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        However, Card is vastly overrated, so you might want to consider that too.

        ^this. I didn't even like Ender's Game, it was tolerable at best. The sequels are morally perverted crap.

        1. Episiarch   12 years ago

          I got 10 pages into the first sequel and then took it back to the library.

          1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

            I made the mistake of buying Speaker for the Dead right after finishing Ender, and it's been glaring at me from my unread books pile for 10 years.

      4. gaijin   12 years ago

        christ is it groundhog day around here?! I think I've already read entire threads about appreciating artists work separately from their political views, the MD school system claiming intellectual property over student's work, and terminal stupidity mixing with coke...or as they say down south, co-cola.

        1. $park?   12 years ago

          So sorry.

    3. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      I'm not all that into Card, anyway, but I still like Ender's Game well enough (though I gag when people put it high up on "best science fiction ever" lists).

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        Most people have no fucking taste whatsoever, so that's going to happen.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          The only use I get from those lists is that sometimes the list contains something I haven't read yet that I decide I want to read. The ordering is almost always beyond dumb.

          1. Episiarch   12 years ago

            Just look at how many retards put the Foundation series on such lists. That just proves how idiotic they are.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              My "Fuck you, Episiarch" was implied.

          2. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

            Create "Pro Libertate's non-retarded top trn sci-fi books" list.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              SF's more well-read in the genre than I am, because I just don't have the time to endure the mounds of shit out there. I give him my proxy.

    4. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      "He once wrote that "the left is at war with the family" and suggested gays could change."

      Of course they can change. It's not like they only own one outfit.

    5. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

      Does anyone besides emotionally broken nerds even read comics anymore?

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        nope - just Epi

      2. Coeus   12 years ago

        I just finished "The Boys". So I guess that supports your theory.

  19. rts   12 years ago

    L.A. cocaine bust threatens Canada-U.S. police relations

    The dispute threatens police co-operation between Canada and the U.S., as a number of sources affiliated with U.S. law enforcement accuse Canadian police of secretly operating an agent on U.S. soil without permission.

    1. Agammamon   12 years ago

      I'm not sure how the US can complain - we do that shit all the time. Hell our own police forces set up surveillance ops in neighboring *states*.

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        DAs and police chiefs in New York always sound like they are at a literal war with the rest of the United States at their press conferences. I know it is rhetoric to cover their own failures but, damn, they need to put a fucking break on the hot headed tone.

  20. rts   12 years ago

    Conservatives killing off controversial Internet surveillance bill

    Less than a year ago support for Bill C-30, the so-called Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act, was presented to Canadians by the government as a binary choice.

    "He can either stand with us or stand with the child pornographers," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews scolded a Liberal critic in the House of Commons last February.

    The comment set off a public fire storm concerning the Internet and personal privacy ? a nasty fight that resulted in unsavoury details of Toews' divorce being splashed across the web by a Liberal party operative.

    Toews, who introduced the legislation, did not attend Monday's news conference where Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Bill C-30 is dead.

    1. Matrix   12 years ago

      Those evil conservatives HATE CHILDREN!

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        "He can either stand with us or stand with the child pornographers."

        *walks over and stands with the child pornographers*

  21. $park?   12 years ago

    You're not supposed to bring politics to the prayer breakfast!

    I am no fan of the president's policies, but the National Prayer Breakfast is billed as one of the few nonpolitical events in a very political city. Each year, the co-chairs, one Democrat and one Republican from either the House or Senate, put aside their political differences, as they do in weekly gatherings, to pray for the nation's leaders.

    Carson, who spoke at the same event several years ago, has a compelling and inspirational personal story. He and his brother grew up in Detroit. His parents divorced when he was three. His mother kept an eye on her children and made them turn off the TV and read books. Carson said he did poorly in school and was mocked by classmates until he later caught the learning bug. He retold part of that story, but it was overwhelmed by his criticism of the president's policies.

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      What's political about suicide avoidance?

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        It's anti-choice.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I want more choices. Like someone not evil, stupid, or corrupt for president. Or, at least, only one of the three.

    2. Brett L   12 years ago

      Cal Thomas has the butthurt. Dr. Carson must have scored a hit.

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        I can't figure out Cal Thomas, other than that he appears to be a big fucktard. I avoid his columns with extreme prejudice.

        1. Mechafenris   12 years ago

          He shaved off his mustache. It was the only thing sentient on his body... perhaps excluding his asshole.

    3. JW   12 years ago

      "Gentlemen, this is a war room! There's no fighting allowed in here!"

      How the fuck is something sponsored by slimy old pols not political?

    4. NeonCat   12 years ago

      Pray for the nation's leaders as they prey upon the nation?

  22. Mike M.   12 years ago

    Gas prices in the United States the highest they have ever been at this time of the year.

    1. Almanian!   12 years ago

      "Our plan is working perrrrrfectly...."

      *rubs hands together*

      /Koch Brother

  23. Brett L   12 years ago

    Happy last day of Carnival, everyone.

  24. Brett L   12 years ago

    Advice for women from 1949. Can still work if you read it the right way.

    If you are asked to pick another girl for a foursome, do you pick one obviously less attractive than you are?
    You are unwise to do so. Get the most glamorous girl you know and both men will be pleased

  25. Archduke Pantsfan   12 years ago

    Sri Lankan inmate stashes phone in rectum

    1. JW   12 years ago

      He's keeping it for his old cellmate's son.

      1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

        Sugarfree has admitted the same. Says he keeps it on vibrate.

  26. Archduke Pantsfan   12 years ago

    NFL could go to Canadian sized field?

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      I'll be goddamned if I'm gonna stand here and allow 'Murca's game to be corrupted by a bunch of beady-eyed people whose head aren't fully attached to their bodies.

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      You do realize all this "safety" blathering is just some words to appease the Safety Nazis out there, right? Little changes will get made but overall not much will change.

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        Sure - you say that now.

        Then, one day, out of the blue - BLAM! Sarcastaball.

        You'll be sorry...

  27. Coeus   12 years ago

    Thank you federally gaurenteed student loans.

    I thought about this for a few days. Honestly, I think I was still in shock. Why did no one tell me before? I would have been down for the cause a long time ago if this was more publicized. However, it was not until the second day of my Psychology of Women class that I had my click! moment. My professor came in the room dressed in black combat boots any girl would be jealous of, a pink polka dot skirt, and a black shirt that read "Vagina Warrior" (which I had no idea what it meant at the time). She was unlike any other woman role model I have had in my life, strong, confident, and passionate about diversity and the women's movement. She showed a video to coincide with our discussion of feminism and what it means.

    1. Alack   12 years ago

      I too celebrate poorly dressed, unprofessional educators. If it weren't for them, it'd be so difficult to convince people that higher education has become watered-down and pointless for a growing segment of the population.

  28. Coeus   12 years ago

    The verdict is in. We lost.

    As a part of the survey, Pew posed the following statement for response?a posit that cut right to the heart of the choice between big and small government:

    "A free market economy needs government regulation in order to best serve the public interest."

    The response was more telling than any bit of data I've seen in a very long time as a whopping 63 percent of respondents agreed with the statement while only 31 percent disagreed. Americans, in very large numbers, affirmed their believe that the public interest is served by government regulating the free market because Americans overwhelmingly trust in government more than they trust in business.

    And why shouldn't they?

    What too many have failed to acknowledge or understand for too long is the simple premise that it was big business that created big government.

    1. gaijin   12 years ago

      Of course the same survey made no attempt to ask any of the respondents just what the hell they thought the 'public interest' was. amirite?

    2. Unindicted Co-conspirator   12 years ago

      Enh. Ungar is a certified rider of the short bus.

      I mean, I reckon a lot of free-market types could answer affirmatively to Pew's question. I think that a free market needs government regulation, too: robust protection of property rights, including remedies for coercion and fraud.

      But Ungar tries to spin the Pew answer as a triumph of Progressive ideology, and, further, tries to pin that on the failures of big business to behave "responsibly" (whatever the fuck that means), which in turn has left the common man seeking equitable reward for his labor with no other place to turn but the fedgov.

      You have to be seriously weapons-grade stupid to believe all that.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        You have to be seriously weapons-grade stupid to believe all that.

        Agreed. The spin he starts around halfway through is moronic. But the core observation is correct. We lost. All that remains is to see which of the obvious calamitous consequences occurs first.

    3. Proprietist   12 years ago

      Sure - we need government to regulate against acts of force and fraud for a free market to function in a manner that protects individual rights.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        Right, but that's not market regulation. That's legislative criminal code.

        1. iggy   12 years ago

          Well, it's legislative criminal code that has the effect of helping to regulate the behavior of people who don't want to go to jail.

          1. Coeus   12 years ago

            The free marked is facilitated by a simple criminal code which protects property rights (including your own body). It is dishonest to classify that as "government regulation". The market regulation practiced in this country for the last 200 years or so has had the effect of reducing and removing property rights, and as such, is the only thing meant by "government regulation". Not to mention that regulations are created by un-elected regulatory bodies, and not the legislature.

  29. GILMORE   12 years ago

    British Street Food: Even Worse than Most Believe

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foo.....firms.html

    "The agency and police are looking into the circumstances through which meat products, purporting to be beef for kebabs and burgers, were sold when they were in fact horse."

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