A.M. Links: UN Official Says Syrian Rebels May Have Used Sarin Gas, Sen. McCain Says Obama Has No Coherent Plan for Closing Guantanamo Bay, Neo-Nazi Murder Trial Begins in Germany

Credit: AslanMedia / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

• A United Nations official has said that Syrian rebels may have used sarin gas. The news comes a day after a military research facility in Damascus was bombed. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that Israeli forces were involved in the bombing, however that hasn't stopped one Syrian official from saying that the bombing constitutes a declaration of war by Israel. 

• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said that the president has no coherent plan for closing Guantanamo Bay. McCain also said that the plan should not include sending prisoners "…back into the fight where they can kill more Americans."

• The largest neo-nazi murder trial in Germany's history begins today.

• Congressional Democrats have distanced themselves from the Obama administration's account of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last year. 

• Italy's new Prime Minister is visiting Spain, a potential ally in the fight against austerity. 

• North Korea says that Kenneth Bae, an American citizen who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor last week, will not be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the U.S.

Spice up your blog or Website with Reason 24/7news and Reason articles! You can easily add a widget here.

Have a news tip for us? Send it to: [e-mail].

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Congressional Democrats have distanced themselves from the Obama administration's account of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last year.

So suddenly they love youtube blasphemies.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....-his-wife/

Man bites dog.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's unclear who owns the dog. The resident who has been caring for the dog said it belongs to a homeless man.

[Suthenboy]

"The resident who has been caring for the dog said it belongs to a homeless man."

Nice try buddy, but if it was in your yard and you were caring for it, you are responsible. Prepare to be sued.

[Rich]

"I was just holding the dog for some guy!"

[invisible furry hand]

Westboro Parish Church plan protest at Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman's funeral

Fundamentalist Christian group say they will sing their cover of Ozzy Osbourne's 'Crazy Train'

more

[Zeb]

I'm guessing that spider bit him because of what the queers are doing to the soil?

[robc]

Westboro Parish Church?

And what Fundamentalist Christian group are you referring too?

Im really confused by your entire post.

[Palin's Buttplug]

A politically correct avoidance of "Baptist".

[Fist of Etiquette]

There must be some pretty good money in trolling funerals.

[robc]

There is if you piss off someone enough to punch you.

[Eduard van Haalen]

A "fundamentalist" group which pickets the funerals of US soldiers?

[BakedPenguin]

When Freddie Phelps dies, I wonder what his funeral will be like.

[Brett L]

The obvious answer is to blast Slayer on a hyperbolic dish pointed at the pulpit during services.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....lds-vigil/

Anyone who tells you getting attacked with bare hands is no big deal is an idiot.

[John]

Yeah. Most people really don't know how to fight. Being able to fight is a skill that takes work. And even if you can do it, it is, unless you are a lunatic, a rather distasteful experience.

[$park?]

What's that got to do with being sucker-punched?

[John]

Because not every fight is a sucker punch. The larger lesson is, sucker punch or not, anyone who thinks physically defending oneself from a attack is some kind of tame experience is a fool.

[Suthenboy]

"...it is, unless you are a lunatic, a rather distasteful experience."

No shit. It aint like the movies.

People break easy, as this story shows. It is easy to hurt people. Fixing them, not so much.

[John]

People break very easily if hit in the right spot. That is the thing about being male. When you are young, fist fighting is a bit fun and adventurous. But then you hit about 14 and you and your peers get a bit bigger and it is no longer fun. And basically a really stupid think to do whereby you risk either getting yourself really hurt or ending up in jail for really hurting someone else.

[cavalier973]

Thankfully, we have the Internets.

[a better weapon]

"It's not the ignorance of the child, it's the poor manners of the parents," said Lopez in Spanish, who played soccer professionally. "The yells and insults from the sideline from the parents make kids more violent."

So heckling at sporting events caused this? Unless the parents have a history of getting up from the stands, walking onto the field, and slaying the nearest official, I don't see how that excuses the kid in any way.

[a better weapon]

Its like saying that maybe if French fans weren't so unruly, Zidane would never have headbutted that guy in the chest. Had he done it at the right moment, that headbutt to the chest could have easily stopped the guy's heart.

[John]

And Zidane at least could claim he was enraged by the guy calling his mother a terrorist. In this case the referee was just giving the kid a red card.

[invisible furry hand]

Did he? I thought he'd been pulling Zizou's shirt - Zizou says, "if you like it so much you can have it after the game", and the Italian replied "I'd rather have your sister"

[John]

Maybe the initial report was wrong or Zindane made it up. But I remember reading somewhere that was the excuse he gave. That didn't surprise me. Why wouldn't the Italians send out an average player to taunt the France's best player who was known to be a hothead?

[Andrew S.]

Not even a red card. He was giving the kid a yellow.

[wareagle]

and once more, blame anyone but the person responsible. Parents being loud, even obnoxious, at their kids' games has gone on forever. Some are a pain in the ass but, usually, the kid is more embarrassed by it than spurred to violence.

[tarran]

My ex-wife's high-school had its parents banned from watching games because they were so abusive towards the refs and opposing teams.

I went to one of her sister's games post-ban when they were apparenlty being unusually well-behaved, and was tempted to lecture them on manners using claymore mines as a teaching tool.

I think it's yet another dark side of helicopter parenting. It baffles me why they act that way, but the helicopter parents turn vicious when their snowflakes are out on the pitch. I think it has to do with an inability to separate themselves from their children.

[Brett L]

As a young ref just trying to make $10 a game, I more than once red carded a coach who got out of hand with their heckling. You'd be surprised how fast players and fans settle down once you boot the coach. (BTW, depending on how you read the rules, this is totally legal. I had a good head of referees who thought that adult male coaches ought to be able to interact with 15 year old refs without making threats against our persons, pay, or careers.)

[Lord Humungus]

Check Out This Horrifying Brazilian Testicle Mascot
http://gawker.com/check-out-th.....-490513884

The mascot, we are told, goes by the "Mr. Balls," and he works to raise awareness about testicular cancer. According to the AAPC website and courtesy of some Google-translating, "Both children and adults loved taking pictures with the mascot , a friendly snowman in the shape of testicle."

[Rich]

"Ms. Vajayjay" is conspicuous by her absence.

[invisible furry hand]

gee he looks familiar

[Lord Humungus]

someone you know *ahem* personally?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"Don't let anything come between your testicles and you."

/Johnny Dangerously

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....o-life-in/

[Matrix]

sounds like Megan's Law worked as intended, right? Or is this one of those "unintended consequences"?

[Rich]

Also, "If you see something, say something".

[Virginian]

http://www.thegloss.com/2013/0.....e=outbrain

WTF?

[robc]

class valedictorian

Isnt that a little early to call, when they are only 15/16?

[Eduard van Haalen]

She's obviously been working at her community service requirement.

[Zakalwe]

When you really think about it it's obvious that Pam is the best character on Archer. Discuss.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

She might have been. She's pretty tedious now.

[Zakalwe]

I haven't seen Season 4. I'm still bathing in the warm glow of the kidnap episode.

[Virginian]

They're all great in their own way. I really don't know whos the best.

[Brett L]

Cheryl (or whatever her name is) has come on strong.

[Virginian]

Eh, shes getting Flanderized. She used to be kind of strange and ditzy. Now she's just psycho and retarded.

[Also Ran]

Krieger.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....ster-left/

This is bad news.

[Bee Tagger]

Did you wake up and think, "I bet I can do with fox news what sarcasmic does with daily mail?"

[Bee Tagger]

I guess I could have picked a more light-hearted story to make my sarcastic reply to.

[Ted S.]

I don't think Fox News has Page 3 girls.

[John]

Jesus.

[Lord Humungus]

hey, this story is on my beat 🙁

[tarran]

Tell your friend we are all praying for his relatives' safe return.

Except for the atheists; they're just keeping an eye peeled on every SUV they pass. 😉

[Fist of Etiquette]

North Korea says that Kenneth Bae, an American citizen who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor last week, will not be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the U.S.

Dangle some food in front of their faces and they'll be whistling a different tune.

[Suthenboy]

Do we want that idiot back?

[Fist of Etiquette]

That arrest can't be good for North Korea's tourism industry.

[prolefeed]

He's an "idiot" for taking pictures of starving children?

[invisible furry hand]

Progressives torn between two lovers: support our favourite public health policy or our favourite dictator?

Cuba seeks to legally challenge Australian plain packaging on tobacco products

[DJF]

Communist tobacco is not evil like capitalist tobacco, plus it is a cultural heritage that must be celebrated.

[mad libertarian guy]

FTA:

Besides trade and intellectual property concerns, tobacco companies say there is no proof that plain packaging reduces smoking and have warned that the law sets a precedent that could spread to products such as alcohol.

Who needs proof when we have nannies who feel better?

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....ut-police/

Teachers are great and good and loving and kindly.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....g-to-take/

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....b-for-600/

THE BEES!!!! NOT THE BEES!!!

[BakedPenguin]

How fitting that it should happen in Utah.

[Lord Humungus]

It's the end of the world as we know it (and that's great!)
Government spending on entitlements is unsustainable. But don't fret, author Kevin D. Williamson argues ? private industry will do a better job anyway
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/o.....4P6nzxrImJ

This is an almost entirely meaningless debate. The total fiscal overhang of our federal, state, and local governments ? their combined debt and unfunded liabilities ? is around $140 trillion, and growing. That is about twice the annual economic output of human civilization, and nearly the value of all the financial assets in the world. It is something close to a mathematical certainty that those debts and obligations will not be made good on at their present value.

The real debate for the next 30 years is not how we go about paying our bills, but how we go about not paying them. What is most likely is a much smaller and more modest government, something closer to what Robert Nozick called the "nightwatchman state." The reason for that is the fact that we have good substitutes for Social Security and the Department of Education but not for the army or the courts.

[$park?]

What is most likely is a much smaller and more modest government, something closer to what Robert Nozick called the "nightwatchman state."

Who does this moron think he's fooling? That's about as likely to happen as the sun going supernova.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

It's libertarian smut.

[Raven Nation]

Time to dump Berkshire Hathaway shares?

At the Q&A at the annual shareholder meeting this weekend both Buffet & his apparent successor declared that growing GDP would take care of "Social Security and other spending problems."

http://www.omaha.com/article/2.....59905/1685

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The problem is that every penny of our GDP growth the last 13 years has been built entirely on deficit spending, which Buffett of course never addresses.

GDP isn't some magical panacea. Yes, "growing GDP" will help keep those legacy welfare state programs viable for a bit longer (although who knows if they'll make it past the baby boom bubble), but that growth has to come from the private sector, not the government, or else it's not sustainable. If you have to rely on government spending as the cornerstone of your GDP growth, eventually you'll start eating up your seed corn.

[Bee Tagger]

Congressional Democrats have distanced themselves from the Obama administration's account of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi last year.

At this point, it does make a difference?

[Fist of Etiquette]

McCain also said that the plan should not include sending prisoners "?back into the fight where they can kill more Americans."

Well, if you're going to tie his hands like that, of course Obama isn't going to be able to close the prison.

[Ted S.]

McCain also said that the plan should not include sending prisoners "?back into the fight where they can kill more Americans."

So North Vietnam should never have released McCain then?

[WTF]

Damn! Should've hit refresh!

[WTF]

Ironic that the Vietnamese sent McCain back into the fight, to fuck up the lives of more Americans.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Quite the ingenious plan they had.

[Lord Humungus]

Secret communist plot!

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Yeah, they really had the last laugh with this one.

[sarcasmic]

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They'll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can't be trusted.

We have never been a people who place all our faith in government to solve our problems. We shouldn't want to. But we don't think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because we understand that this democracy is ours. And as citizens, we understand that it's not about what America can do for us, it's about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. And class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process.

http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....ranny.html
Take that straw man! And that! Got anymore? Oh yeah? Take that!

[Bee Tagger]

How did he manage to not put "self-rule" in scare quotes?

[hamilton]

Beat me to posting this sarc.

We are crashing as a country. The damn place was FOUNDED on the idea that the citizens would assume "tyranny always lurking just around the corner".

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Yeah but that was like 100 years ago or something. Now we are Progressive! We don't need to worry about tyranny as long as we let our Progressive leaders do all of our thinking for us!

[some guy]

Democracy guarantees that only good, upstanding, righteous people will run government, so we don't have to worry about how much power government has.

In completely unrelated news, Bush was an evil tyrant who nearly ruined the country.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

As long as his team is in charge anyway..

[Rich]

"Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity

"Fortunately, we have some heavy-duty treatments for that now."

[Suthenboy]

"They'll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices."

But if you sell a soda that is more than 16 oz you will be fined, and if you dont pay that fine you will be arrested. If you resist you will be shot.

I think what he is saying here is that you should drop your pants, turn around and bend over. He wont do anything, he promises.

[mad libertarian guy]

Who the fuck is "we", Kimosabe?

Tell me of some other entity that has the ability to, under the color of law, lock one up for smoking weed on their property at 3am while bothering no one. How about some other faction that can legally take one's shit away without due process. Is there some group other than government that can legally take money from people under the threat of being imprisoned if you refuse to comply?

Fuck you, Obama. I won't say that government is the only threat that individuals have, but it is by far the largest group to do so, and most likely to fuck up a person's day.

[sarcasmic]

When government agents do those things, they are serving the public. You see, the public means everyone except any individual with whom they are dealing at any one time. So whenever the rights of an individual are violated, the public good is being served.

[some guy]

The more individual rights are violated, the better off the public is. Ingenious!

[Pro Libertate]

Limited government is the cornerstone of our political system, as is a distrust of government. Most of the worst things ever done were done by governments, so it would be insane to trust them at all.

[cavalier973]

Wait...who, exactly, grew up--going to public schools, mind you--hearing that the government is a sinister entity, etc., etc.?

[sarcasmic]

The students with parents who listen to conspiracy radio.

[cavalier973]

He's trying to thwart the lessons of reality hitting these college graduates, as tends to happen when they finally look at their first paycheck.

[invisible furry hand]

How do I love thee? Let me count the paperclips

New Jersey Mayor Wrote Hilariously Unromantic Poetry to Mistress

[Brett L]

Its Jersey. "Your hair reminds me of the trash piles/ dyed with henna to reflect their burning"

[Eduard van Haalen]

So that's a New Jerseyan's version of romance, eh? How do they reproduce?

[Marc F Cheney]

Alcohol.

[T]

So, same as the rest of us, then?

[sarcasmic]

What does a week's worth of groceries look like?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....0-320.html

[$park?]

Where's the picture of the North Korean parents standing around their children?

[Lord Humungus]

In Russia it would be just a bunch of Vodka.

[sarcasmic]

The Germans have quite a bit of beer on their table.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Yet they look much thinner than all that beer and fatty foods would warrant. Did they leave Aunt Bertha and Uncle Gustav out of the picture?

[Zeb]

The Darfur people could use some meat and fresh veg, but most of those people all look like they are doing alright. The main lesson seems to be that food is really expensive in rich countries.

[sarcasmic]

I was thinking that as well, looking at some of the poor families with all that fresh produce that would cost an arm and a leg around here.

[Zeb]

The Egyptian and Indian food piles especially looked pretty good. Though some of the families are pretty big.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The Italian and Kuwaiti families have a pretty tasty-looking collection as well.

[Suthenboy]

I like the french girl playing with her pussy.

[Don Mynack]

The Americans looked like they stepped out of 1985. Look at that fridge! Are we sure these people know that cell phones exist?

[some guy]

When I saw that picture I scrolled back to the top to make sure this was a modern study.

[Joe M]

Actually, this set of food comparison photos have been getting passed around the internet for coming up on a decade now. So it makes sense that some things are starting to look a little dated.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Coupon crazy teen Jordon Cox buys ?105 of groceries for ?1

[Brett L]

I eat like a Mongolian.

[some guy]

Is it just me, or were the Ecuadorans the happiest of the group?

Is it Ecuadorans or Ecuadorians?

[wheelock]

Did you peep the 80 gallons of coca cola in the mexican family's shot? Jeebus... Someone get Bloomberg down there stat!

[sarcasmic]

Cool guns.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ntion.html

[sarcasmic]

Seriously? No one has anything to say about a VW bus armed with a GE minigun?

[Brett L]

You're worse than Hitler. Everyone knows you're supposed to mount them in the back of Toyota Hilux.

[John]

NYTimes reporter gives the funeral of a five year old Kentucky girl who died of an accidental gunshot wound, the full Westboro Baptist Church treatment. The media really is more disgusting than even its worst critics allege.

http://www.althouse.blogspot.c.....ed-as.html

[VG Zaytsev]

It's a good thing that the local airstrip is too small to accommodate Air Force 1.

[John]

There is always Marine 1. It can land anywhere. These people should count themselves lucky I guess.

[sarcasmic]

Public outrage over officer who left K-9 unit to die in car.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....night.html
So far nothing else has happened.

[John]

Sick lazy fuck.

[sarcasmic]

If you did that to the family pet and the cops found out, you'd be charged with a crime. If you did that to a police dog you'd be arrested on the spot. This guy instead gets sympathy from the cops since K-9 officers develop such a close bond with their animals that me must feel so awful about what happened.

Fuck.

[John]

If you accidentally ran over a police dog they would arrest you and you would be a public enemy.

[Tonio]

If you did that to the family pet and the cops found out, you'd be charged with a crime.

Perhaps, since there are laws against animal cruelty, but then libertarians would rise to the defense. I am often informed here that a dog is exactly the same as a lump of clay in that it's merely property to be used as its owner wishes.

Sorry, the libertarian position on animal welfare is obviously and laughably inconsistent. You want to be taken seriously on your outrage over this? Then start articulating consistent, anti-cruelty positions. Stopping shilling for cruelty (looking at you, Linneken) would be a start.

[Rasilio]

Wait are you seriously of the opinion that there is a single libertarian position on animal rights?

Let me clue you in, there isn't.

Animal rights are as contentious amongst libertarians as abortion is because the 2 issues are essentially identical from a libertarian perspective because the core question to be answered in both cases is what qualifies an entity to the right of self ownership.

Since there is no objective criteria to evaluate that question with it means that there is no single answer and therefore libertarians can come down anywhere in terms of whether they think animals are property or not.

I have met libertarians who were strict vegans because they believed anything less was a violation of the NAP and others who thought dog fighting was a-ok because the dogs were mere property and had no rights, and everything in between.

[BakedPenguin]

Yep. I'm conflicted on this.

However, I will never give up bacon.

[some guy]

Bingo. I come down in the middle on both issues. Animals and fetuses have some rights, but not all the rights of a fully functional adult human. That's what I believe, but I can see how others would see things differently.

Tonio is way off on this one. The libertarian position on animal rights is irrelevant in this case. The complaints from John and sarcasmic are related to the double-standard that is applied to existing animal cruelty laws.

[BuSab Agent]

I believe rights are predicated on having the ability to recognize and respect the rights of others. So a lion doesn't have rights because he will never accept or recognize your right not to be eaten. Dogs through long association with humans DO respect some boundaries, but not all, so they have some rights, certainly more than a inanimate piece of property.

[Tonio]

Wait are you seriously of the opinion that there is a single libertarian position on animal rights?

No, but I am often told here that there is, and that I'm on the wrong side of it. Tell you what, why don't you take this up with the lumps of clay people and get back to me when you've convinced them that they don't have a monopoly on libertarian thought.

Also, I've been fighting this battle for years, so your talking down to me on this is kinda...cute. Again, do your homework and get back to me.

[Azathoth!!]

No, but I am often told here that there is

No, you're not.

[thom]

If the libertarian position on animal welfare it that dogs are just lumps of clay, then the leftist position on babies is that they should all be aborted (as late as possible.)

[WTF]

No double standard. Dunphy says so.

[Enough About Palin]

Why even mention that rat fuckers name?

[mad libertarian guy]

Don't worry. Dunphy has assured me that all due diligence will be done when investigating this incident, and that this brave officer will be up against a higher standard than you or I.

[sarcasmic]

Megan Fox is still hot.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-time.html

So is Olivia Wilde.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....y-run.html

[Suthenboy]

Is that Megan Fox's boyfriend/husband/babydaddy?

I cant quite make out what is tattooed on his arms...does that say 'cliche'?

[Brett L]

The guy was an actor on the original 90210. Of course Brian Austin Greene is a cliche.

[Marc F Cheney]

Who would have thought a teen actor would become a successful string theorist?

[Lord Humungus]

Gerbils strut their stuff at New England pageant
http://www.boston.com/news/loc.....story.html

The American Gerbil Society's annual pageant brought dozens of rodents scurrying to New England this weekend for a chance to win ''top gerbil.''

The Bedford competition called for agility demonstrations in which the gerbils must overcome obstacles and race to the end of a course. Breeders of the small animals vie for coveted ribbons based on body type and agility.

insert Richard Gere joke here

[sarcasmic]

insert...

[DJF]

"""Breeders of the small animals vie for coveted ribbons based on body type and agility."""

Losers have Gerbil burgers?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Gere uses to pleasure Cindy Crawford at her stunning peak. You have to wonder how those rumors gained circulation. Like Birther CT no doubt.

[Zakalwe]

John Travolta has several kids with a hot woman. But he still sucked off producers for parts early in his career.

[Brett L]

Its not gay if you didn't enjoy it.

...I've been told.

[Rich]

A United Nations official has said that Syrian rebels may have used sarin gas.

In related news, this same official may be a sheep fucker.

[mad libertarian guy]

In the rays of the sun, I am longing for the darkness:

In honor of my attending a proper Opeth setlist this week in of a bunch of shit from Heritage (unless they change their set on this tour without notice which is highly unlikely), we'll get a selection of Opeth everyday, with one song being for those who love the metal, and one song for those of you (fools) who don't. Opeth is one of those gateway bands to the dark side because they bring the full gamut from soft and sensitive acoustic stuff through extreme death metal. It's the band that enabled me to listen to growls, and it's my gift to you.

[Tonio]

Huh?

[MP]

Warty says they went off the deep end after Ghost Reveries. I trust in the Warty and haven't been back to the well since.

[mad libertarian guy]

Watershed was written and recorded in the same style as Ghost Reveries, it just isn't nearly as good.

Then they went ahead and fucked up with Heritage, though I don't see that as a valid reason to ignore the 9 albums before Watershed, which are epic.

[MP]

98 albums

I still need to pick up Still Life. Otherwise, I'm all in on the first 8.

[Warty]

Watershed has its moments, and it's worth listening to. Even Heritage has its moments, but don't listen to it unless you want to become cripplingly sad about how bad it is.

[Warty]

Demon of the Fall

I've always particularly liked the call/response guitars at the end of this song.

[invisible furry hand]

Wrote my dad's eulogy to this at 4 in the morning

[Warty]

Grant me sleep, take me under

Heavy.

[Brett L]

Sorry for your loss.

[Enough About Palin]

Finally saw Coldplay last night on Austin City Limits. It was like one long, boring, poorly written song performed by people who aren't very skilled at playing their instruments or singing.

[Lord Humungus]

Teen Immigrant Angst - a Factor in Bombings?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS.....YeatkpUvDe

There is, in fact, a term researchers use to describe young people who, like Tabakh, were born in other countries but came to the U.S. between the ages of 5 and 12 and have a foot in two worlds. They call them "Generation 1.5."

They remember the places they came from but come of age in their new home ? and research shows that, while they may struggle at first, many end up adapting better than immigrants who arrive as teenagers.

It is a dynamic that could help explain why the two brothers suspected in the Boston bombings had seemingly different experiences in this country, in terms of how well they adapted.

[John]

Sure it was. These guys did it to be celebrities.

[MP]

Sorry. Don't give a shit. They had the moral code of a shit sandwich. I don't really care why.

[Virginian]

http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....18261.html

DC is an imperial capital. How long until the peasants start getting restless?

[John]

Leave the monuments and Arlington, and burn the rest of the place down.

[$park?]

If you leave the monuments, people might think they are the important things.

[John]

That is because they are. And if nothing else, they are good art. And good art is always worth saving.

[$park?]

You are officially out of your damn mind.

[John]

Yeah Sparky, lets go burn down the Vatican and Red Square while we are at it. And I am the one who is out of my mind. Lets tear down and destroy any piece of architecture that we happen to think is associated with something we don't like. I really out of my mind.

Would you go troll somewhere else? Are you actually Mary Stack?

[$park?]

Would you go troll somewhere else? Are you actually Mary Stack?

Are you having a bad morning? Isn't it a bit early for you to put on your Commander Douchebag outfit?

[VG Zaytsev]

Yeah Sparky, lets go burn down the Vatican and Red Square while we are at it.

So you think the MLK memorial is artistically on the same level as Red Square or the Vatican?

[Zakalwe]

+5 piles of rubble on the Mall

[Zakalwe]

There's a case for keeping the war memorials, but all of the presidential ones are surprisingly shoddy in construction and materials. I was embarrassed when I visited the Lincoln Memorial. Union labor and lowest bidder on the materials, I guess.

[John]

The Lincoln Memorial is beautiful. So is the Jefferson. I fail to see anything embarrassing about either.

The Korean Col Potter over at the MLK memorial is embarrassing. But that is a result of it being done by a sculptor who specializes in Mao.

[$park?]

Monuments are a monumental waste of time and energy. By all means, let's have more way to exalt people who have no business being exalted. Are you David Frum in disguise?

[Palin's Buttplug]

The National Gallery is worth defending from anything.

[$park?]

The National Gallery is worth defending from anything.

Then go defend it.

[Zeb]

Except that absurd WWII memorial (I haven't seen it in person, but what I have seen looks like it was designed by the Senate). The Washington monument, Jefferson and Lincoln memorials and the Vietnam memorial are definitely worth keeping. I'm sure there are some other ones, but those are the ones that made an impression on me 20 years ago when I went there.

[Zeb]

Here's a plan. Form a private foundation for each monument and let people decide which are valuable enough to preserve by paying for them.

[Rich]

Can we do that with the Capitol and the White House, too?

[John]

Turn them into museums Rich. That is what they did with the Louvre.

[John]

I don't mind the WWII memorial. I just don't think it belonged on the Mall. But the Vietnam and Korean ones don't either. Sadly, there will always be another war. Are we going to fill the Mall up with war memorials?

The best war memorial on the mall I think is the Korean. Especially at night it is just stunning. The Vietnam one is okay only because the veterans put their own meaning to it and made it their own. Fuck Mia Lin for wanting to put a giant black scar on the Mall.

[Zakalwe]

You are officially out of your damn mind.

[John]

Only to someone who is an idiot Zakalwe.

[$park?]

Some people died, let's carve their names on a rock. Some more people died, let's carve their names on a different rock. A president died, let's build a giant stone statue to worship.

You want art, paint a fucking picture.

[T]

I'm cool with giant stone statues, truthfully. But get somebody else to pay for them.

[Zeb]

Wars are giant black scars on history, so I think the Vietnam memorial is quite appropriate and suitable. And I'm not being all pascifisty here, even if they are sometimes necessary and the right thing to do, I think that the only proper way to memorialize war is to remind people how awful it is and what a waste of life.

[$park?]

I think that the only proper way to memorialize war is to remind people how awful it is and what a waste of life.

How about a giant statue of soldiers being stomped into the mud then? If you want people to dislike it, don't make it look glorious.

[Zeb]

I was responding to John's "fuck you" to the designer of the Vietnam memorial. I agree. I think a war memorial should have nothing to do with glory or hero worship. It should be somber and depressing and I think that the Vietnam memorial does this well.

[Lord Humungus]

I saw the WW2 Memorial last time I was in DC. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed. Of course the clog of traffic right next to the monument didn't make my heart soar.

[robc]

The FDR monument is longer than his administration.

It was awful. And tedious.

[John]

It was awful. And tedious.

And unintentionally appropriate. And it is totally hidden. No one ever goes t here. If there had to be one for FDR that wasn't going to just say "asshole" on it..

[Bee Tagger]

McCain also said that the plan should not include sending prisoners "?back into the fight where they can kill more Americans."

He must feel confident they'll never get trials with the way he's corrupting the jury pool.

[Lord Humungus]

German euro founder calls for 'catastrophic' currency to be broken up
Oskar Lafontaine, the German finance minister who launched the euro, has called for a break-up of the single currency to let southern Europe recover, warning that the current course is "leading to disaster".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin.....en-up.html

[mad libertarian guy]

He's probably just a cog in the Koch machine.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"German euro founder calls for 'catastrophic' currency to be broken up
Oskar Lafontaine..."

You mean Victor Frankenstein.

[Virginian]

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.....times.html

I laughed my ass of at this on Saturday, and I think it deserves a proper audience.

[a better weapon]

What's with the royal blue italicized text? Can't even read it without my eyes and head hurting.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

This is why I read everything I can through an RSS reader.

[PS]

The largest neo-nazi murder trial in Germany's begins today.

Germany's begins has always been a hotbed for Nazis murder trials.

[Lord Humungus]

Philip K. Dick and Our Predicament
http://www.americanthinker.com.....ament.html

Consider the reality we're living in today. Schoolchildren kept in line by use of drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall. Technology that is as exasperating as it is necessary. Criminal syndicates operating at the speed of light from the other side of the world. A president with a record so convoluted and opaque that it's impossible to tell what is false and what isn't. (See Dick's short story, "The Mold of Yancy," in which a presidential candidate is totally unavailable and never seen outside of his video ads, because, it turns out, he doesn't actually exist.) Masses of people living in virtual alternate universes -- game clubs, social media -- in preference to dealing with the world as it exists. An encroaching surveillance state intent on tracking every living individual at all times under every possible circumstance. A would-be aristocracy slowly separating itself from the masses. Effectively invisible weapons that can kill from high altitude without the victim even knowing he was targeted.

What is this but a Philip K. Dick universe?

[PS]

Obviously PKD was a pre-cog.

[Bee Tagger]

I hope the movie adaptation of reality is better than Paycheck.

[Virginian]

http://www.theblaze.com/storie.....onvention/

Gun porn

[T]

I went yesterday. I missed the 50K gun, but they did have some other nice toys to look at.

[Rich]

'I think many of you know that in America, our Constitution guarantees our individual right to bear arms,' Obama said. 'And as president, I swore an oath to uphold that right, and I always will. But'

Always with the "But".

[John]

http://www.althouse.blogspot.c.....nomic.html

John Maynard Keynes predicts the economic future in 1930. What a maroon. It is amazing anyone ever listened to that clown.

[Rich]

My purpose in this essay... is not to examine the present or the near future, but to disembarrass myself of short views and take wings into the future.

Like, "In the long run, we are all dead"?

[John]

Some day we would all lose that nasty affinity for money. Read that thing. He was appallingly stupid and had little understanding of human nature.

[sarcasmic]

He was quite smart in his pandering to the political class and to the envious masses. He was not an economist. He was a brilliant political shill. Same as Krugnuts.

[John]

Yeah, he really understood how to kiss the elite's asses and make them feel good about themselves.

[mad libertarian guy]

It's not hard when you gives governments the economic excuses they need to do what they want to do anyways.

He legitimized their theft, and people celebrate him for it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

And all US Presidents have been Keynesians. They want the stimulus during their terms.

[John]

And as a result we are now the brokest nation in history.

[sarcasmic]

We're the richest nation in history with the brokest government in history.

[John]

True.

[invisible furry hand]

sure, you're putting everything on the national credit card, but the rewards program rocks, right?

[Lord Humungus]

We can spend all of our award points on a gnarly vacation.

[Suthenboy]

"What are the economic possibilities for our grandchildren?...
When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. "

I think I know a communist/socialist/progressive fuck starting a rant when I hear one.

[Lord Humungus]

When the accumulation of wealth is no longer of high social importance, there will be great changes in the code of morals. "

because that idea worked so well in the USSR.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

1,000 years from now, historians and archaeologists will look back at the intellectual class's fascination with communism as the beginning of the western world's descent in decadence and cultural atrophy.

[kinnath]

So the beer is in the primary, bubbling away.

[Nephilium]

I'm up to my second batch sitting in primaries bubbling away myself.

[PS]

Speaking of beer, had one of these the other day. Interesting but a bit too smoky for my taste.

[sarcasmic]

Got my last two pilseners of the season into kegs where they will hibernate for a month at 32 degrees.

[robc]

Kegged two beers on Friday, an english mild that comes in at a whopping 3.0% abv and a pale ale.

Next up: Saison.

[kinnath]

I plan to keg this batch in about three weeks.

The starting gravity was 1.062, so it will be a bit higher that 3% 😉

[robc]

This was the smallest beer I ever made.

I was drinking it all day saturday without getting a buzz.

[kinnath]

I started out making mead at about 16%, then finally backed off to about 12%.

There are times when drinking stuff that tastes good and hanging out with good company is more important than getting a buzz.

[robc]

I was at a derby party. Drinking started about 1230, was going to go until dark (or later, but weather kinda killed this years party) and I was going to be driving home.

Having a 3% beer was handy.

[mad libertarian guy]

I have a 10 year old bottle of mead I made that I'll be drinking this coming weekend.

[kinnath]

I have a cellar full of 10-year-old meads that I'll be drinking for the next decade 😉

I got a wee bit carried away when I started out -- about 180 gallons the first year.

[sarcasmic]

A friend of mine give me a bottle of mead to try, and I noticed a ring in the neck. Dubious, I opened it, and *foosh* it was a gusher. Thought I'd try it anyway, but the odor of vinegar stopped me short. So much for trying homemade mead.

[kinnath]

Blame the meadmaker not the mead.

[Tonio]

sarc, it's not inherent to the mead. Home brewers and home winemakers occasionally have bad batches. It takes big bux for a dedicated, foodservice grade facility.

[sarcasmic]

I like to make session ales now and then specifically so I can drink them all day without getting sloppy.

[MP]

Still looking forward to the bottle of KBS I bought last week. Hope to try it this weekend.

[Lord Humungus]

Things aren't looking for our local missing blonde

The Search for Jessica: Day 10
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news.....nga-day-10

The police are apparently questioning anyone local on the "sex offender" list. Sounds like they're running out of leads. I'm thinking roaming serial killer who isn't from the area.

[Tonio]

"round up the usual suspects"

Yep, they're desperate.

Hope they find her (all of them).

[The Late P Brooks]

In retrospect, maybe he wasn't all bad...

Few presidents in modern times have been as interested in gun control as Richard Nixon, of all people. He proposed ridding the market of Saturday night specials, contemplated banning handguns altogether and refused to pander to gun owners by feigning interest in their weapons.

Several previously unreported Oval Office recordings and White House memos from the Nixon years show a conservative president who at times appeared willing to take on the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun lobby then as now, even as his aides worried about the political ramifications.

"I don't know why any individual should have a right to have a revolver in his house," Nixon said in a taped conversation with aides. "The kids usually kill themselves with it and so forth." He asked why "can't we go after handguns, period?"

Nixon went on: "I know the rifle association will be against it, the gun makers will be against it." But "people should not have handguns." He laced his comments with obscenities, as was typical.

You know they're getting desperate when they gaze fondly back on that notorious Enemy of the People, Richard M Nixon.

[John]

That is what happens when you embrace all of his tactics and a good portion of his politics. Few if any progs could actually explain what Nixon did that they hate so much that they wouldn't applaud and defend if their side had done it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I know why I hate Nixon. The Controlled Substances Act.

You could argue that it would have happened in the 80s anyway, though.

[John]

the funny thing is that Nixon's "war on drugs" was, compared to today, quite humane. Things didn't get out of control until the Rockefeller laws in New York and minimum mandatories.

[robc]

Quakers.

[Zeb]

And people are somehow always surprised when they "discover" that Nixon had these views about guns, the economy, etc.

[Matrix]

can't have those people shooting back at guardsmen, who were shooting war protesting students.

[db]

Has McCain actually visited the Guantanamo facility? I wonder if he'd maybe feel a bit of nostalgia?

[The Late P Brooks]

What is this but a Philip K. Dick universe?

Paranoia is its own reward.

[Virginian]

http://snarkybytes.com/2013/05/05/bias-what-bias/

Media malpractice in Houston.

[John]

It is so sinister and obvious. They want everyone to falsely believe that the majority supports gun control and gun owners are a strange, dangerous minority. This is right out of the state media playbook of totalitarian regimes.

[VG Zaytsev]

Gabby Giffords got an award for political courage yesterday for her gun grabbing advocacy.

Which confuses me because I don't see how it's courageous to advocate something that 90%+ of the public wants.

[Virginian]

They're both the overwhelmingly larger majority of common sense Americans AND a courageous group of people fighting against the tide of NRA money and influence.

Orwellian doublethink is fun.

[The Late P Brooks]

Surprise!

The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to draft a law prohibiting the possession of large-capacity ammunition magazines, sparking lawsuit threats from two gun rights organizations.

On an 11-0 vote, the council called for an ordinance labeling the magazines a public nuisance and "an immediate threat to the public health." Although the state already has a ban on the sale and transfer of high-capacity magazines, residents can still legally own them.

Before the vote, council members described the measure as a response to a series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 26 people ? many of them children ? at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December.

"Sadly, we've seen too many situations where people are attacking innocent people over and over and over," said Councilman Dennis Zine, a retired police officer.

More of your employees who think they should have total control over what YOU can have.

[Ted S.]

"Sadly, we've seen too many situations where people are attacking innocent people over and over and over," said Councilman Dennis Zine, a retired police officer.

You mean innocent people like little Asian ladies delivering newspapers?

[$park?]

What about the diabetics going into sugar shock?

[db]

"Sadly, we've seen too many situations where people are attacking innocent people over and over and over,"

Yeah, as an innocent person, I'm getting real tired of being attacked by my elected officials who seem fixated on criminalizing my lifestyle.

[mad libertarian guy]

On an 11-0 vote, the council called for an ordinance labeling the magazines a public nuisance and "an immediate threat to the public health." Although the state already has a ban on the sale and transfer of high-capacity magazines, residents can still legally own them.

And when the law comes in to effect, POOF!, all of the "high capacity" magazines that Californians currently have will simply disappear.

I'm not sure how it's legal to tell people that products they bought legally are no longer legal and that possession is now punishable by law. Does that not violate the takings clause?

[mad libertarian guy]

And I criiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied:

"When" is from Opeth's 3rd album My Arms Your Hearse (1997) and is the first album in which you can identify a sound that is uniquely Opeth. No longer are they struggling to find an identity, and the song writing has settled in. Though Opeth had previously used softer acoustic sections to bring a particular meaning to their hard stuff (what exactly is hard if there is no soft?), they begin to use acoustic(er) sections in their songs for more than simply as a means to greater emphasize their hard sections. Soft now plays as central a role in their music as hard. The production is significantly better than their first 2 albums, though MAYH is still slightly influenced by the Scandinavian death metal aesthetic of being low-fi (though Akerfeldt had certainly moved on from the then trend of purposefully being as lo-fi as possible). Combine that aesthetic with limited funding options to get top notch engineering and production (even in Sweden, playing death metal is to play for a very small niche group of people) and you get the sound we have on MAYH. It's all there and everything can be heard clearly, if but a bit thin in spots. That said, I picked up a copy of this album on vinyl (the original print) when I was in Norway last year, and it's brilliant.

Enjoy!

[Rich]

By using the weapon of choice for all terrorist organizations, extortion, the NRA has forced the action of about 45 ineffectual U.S. senators, a clear act of terrorism and treason.

That's by the editor of the Aurora Sentinel.

Hmmmm, let's see what the Hooterville World Guardian has to say ....

[John]

You are an enemy of the state and thus by definition an enemy of the people. The government is the people. Right?

[Zeb]

And all the other lobbying groups are doing....?

[Rich]

No job at the Sentinel for *you*!

[Matrix]

Doesn't the government use extortion?

Oh wait, they call it taxes.

[Virginian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDqPn7j89pA

For those of you who haven't seen this yet. Guy rolls out of the car with an AK and unloads on two cops.

[John]

Okay, I am blocked. Is there a reason why he does this?

[Zakalwe]

It doesn't look like it. Dead end life, maybe he was looking for an excuse, maybe he was en route to a target when he ran the stop sign.

[PS]

"He was a scumbag and a terrorist, and he's dead," Stanko said.

Since he didn't shout alahu akbar it clearly wasn't a case of workplace violence.

[Ptah-Hotep]

Cops recovered eight 40-round magazines and books titled "Backyard Rocketry: Converting Model Rockets Into Explosive Missiles," "Advanced Close-range Gun Fighting" and "Homemade Detonators: How To Make Them."

He should get his money back.

[tarran]

He stopped fighting after he got shot in the guy. He ends up kneeling by his car door waiting for death.

[Zakalwe]

It sounds like an old dude came up off camera saying "do you need help? I have a pistol." These were exceptionally competent pigs, you can hear them (understandably) freaking out and telling him to back off, but I'm somewhat amazed they didn't just shoot him out of hand. Well done, I guess.

[Zakalwe]

Does it have a happy ending?

[$park?]

You might have to define that. I think two cops getting shot up by a guy with an AK is a happy ending to some people.

[tarran]

Apparently it does;

that dude was on his way to shoot something up. When he got pulled over he had an arsenal in the back seat. So he decided to kill the cops.

However, he was clearly inexperienced and I think his nerve failed him; after shooting the cop who had been driving the squad car (the female one) he retreated to his car door and waited for them to shoot him.

I also love the bystander offering to help, "I've got a revolver..."

I think this was a poorly executed bid for fame/suicide by cop.

[Ptah-Hotep]

I think this was a poorly executed bid for fame/suicide by cop.

Seems like it was perfectly executed.

[The Late P Brooks]

Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems.

"Government is us. Now do what we tell you!"

[Lord Humungus]

H&R already covered this story, but the Yahoo comments are actually semi-sane (for once).
http://news.yahoo.com/teenager.....20139.html

The Methuen, Mass., high school student was arrested last week after posting online videos that show him rapping an original song that police say contained "disturbing verbiage" and reportedly mentioned the White House and the Boston Marathon bombing. He is charged with communicating terrorist threats, a state felony, and faces a potential 20 years in prison. Bail is set at $1 million.

[Lord Humungus]

"This is the price you pay to live in free society right now. It's just the way it is," Mullins adds. That has to be the greatest oxymoron ever written.

While what he said may not be acceptable, to arrest him for it is a clear attack on our first amendment right. You may not like what he said, but everyone has a right to say what they want as long as they are not putting the public in danger from it.

This is very dangerous folks, and it's not because of what he said, it's what happened after he said it.

etc

[John]

Wow. The price you pay for living in a free society is not being free. Got it.

[db]

The price you pay for having the right to keep and bear arms is strict limitations of your right to keep and bear arms.

The price you pay for having the right to free speech is strict limitations of your right to free speech.

The price you pay for having the right to be secure in your papers and effects is strict limitations of your right to be secure in your papers and effects.

&etc;.

[John]

It is shockingly easy isn't it?

[Rich]

Oh, so *that's* what they mean by "Freedom isn't free"! 8-(

[Virginian]

http://blog.joehuffman.org/201.....h-horwitz/

They espouse an insurrectionist, anti-democratic philosophy, and they have a lot of people on their board that, to put it lightly, you wouldn't want in polite company.

If he'd said this about black people or gay people, he'd be excoriated. But he said it about gun owners, so its cool.

[John]

you wouldn't want in polite company

That is the heart of it. It is all about the culture war for these people. They hate middle class and lower middle class white and rural people as way of defining themselves. Elites have to have an other to define themselves against. The only reason someone is "elite" is the contrast between them and some elite. It used to be the white elite in this country defined itself by hating blacks and Jews and Asians and Eastern Europeans and such. Well, you can't do that anymore. So all that is left is middle class and rural white people. So they are the new "other". And gun ownership is a mark of being in the other.

I don't trust the government as much as anyone. And I have no doubt that a lot of leftists want to disarm the populace so mob violence will be more effective. But that is not all that is going on. For a lot of people who don't think that deeply, going after guns is just a new avenue to hate and to feel superior to the inferior people of this country.

[Tim]

I caught a bit on NPR yesterday. They were interviewing a former air force drone pilot about his experiences. He described his first war shot- a firefight was going on and he was tasked to strike an armed group of men that wasn't actually firing their guns.

The NPR woman seized on that- the men had guns but they hadn't actually fired them, so it was possible that killing them was wrong.

Typical liberal right? Now she'll question the killing of armed men on a battlefield during a firefight where our own soldiers have called the strike, but shit if you're John or Tim in America and you own a gun, you are DEFACTO, a nutcase and potential mass killer.

[John]

Amazing.

[Loki]

Happy International Clitoris Week reasonoids!

[invisible furry hand]

"[Clitoraid's] first six years of humanitarian work have been dedicated to surgically repairing clitorises for female genital mutilation [FGM] victims, and on October 8 we'll open the world's first Clitoral Restoration Hospital"

I hate the fact this charity has to exist

[db]

Yes.

[Teenage Girl]

"Dr. O'Connell's work shows that the clitoris reaches 8 inches in length"

Eewww!!

[The Late P Brooks]

Haha- the Bloomberg girl interviewing Kindly Old Grandpa Buffet asked him if ghe was buying bonds, and he pretty much said, "Are you kidding? Bonds don't pay shit. I need yield."

But all you other guys, repeat after me: FULL FAITH AND CREDIT.

[John]

So Buffett doesn't pay taxes and won't buy government bonds. Remember that the next time he is on there shilling about how taxes should be higher. Come on grandpa. The country is in trouble. Don't you want to by Obamabonds to fight the recession?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yield (capital gains) made him $48 billion. He did loan to Bank of America at 6% though.

Almost seven months ago Warren Buffett pumped $5 billion into Bank of America. The investment had two components: 50,000 preferred shares yielding 6% ? redeemable at a 5% premium ? and 700 million warrants to buy common shares at $7.14 apiece. (Forbes)

An ass-raping is what he gave BAC shareholders.

[T]

After BAC shareholders didn't lawyer up about BAC being froced into the Morgan Stanley deal, I lost all my sympathy for them.

[Loki]

Woman gets arrested for DUI right after getting her license back after a previous... you guesed it: DUI! Stay classy.

[John]

There is a small group of people like this woman who are just degenerate drunks and will drink and drive in really dangerous states until they either end up in prison or kill themselves. It is this small group that produces 90% of all of the harm from drunk driving. But they are really hard to stop. So instead, the police concentrate on arresting people who have had two beers after work. That is easy and it lets them say they are doing something about the problem.

[Rich]

Serious question: What to do about this group? Confiscate their cars?

[robc]

Take away their licenses for increasingly long periods of time. Maybe require random sobriety tests before allowing them a license again after multiple occurrences.

And if they drive drunk without a license, jail time.

I would suggest the lash instead of jail, but I dont think that is an option currently.

[John]

I don't know. You can't lock them up until they have actually done a lot of harm. But then it is too late. You take their cars and they will just borrow one. I think maybe the answer is to make the legal limit at least .12, with the punishments for being over say .16 really really draconian. If you are caught driving that drunk, I don't have a problem with sending you to jail.

[PS]

I wonder what percentage of accidents are caused by serious drunks and what are caused by someone high and overconfident on 3-5 beers?

Being part Irish, I've had family members who were essentially functioning alcoholics who never got into accidents, whereas I've been in crazy situations with people who just had a few drinks and thought they were suddenly Formula One drivers.

[robc]

Accidents or serious accidents?

From my understanding the deaths and injuries and etc are seriously tilted to the small number of high BAC drivers.

The fender benders? Yeah, I can see a large number of those caused by the 3-5 beers drinker.

[John]

PS,

Sorry for not providing a link. But the studies I have seen say that the vast majority of accidents caused by drunk driving and nearly all of the fatal accidents are caused by people with over .16 BAC. The fatal accidents happen when someone blows a red light at 50 mph or goes the wrong way up an exit ramp or looses control of their car and goes across a median into oncoming traffic. Even over confident people don't do that after three beers. People who do that are people who are so drunk they can't function.

And yeah, there are those stories about people who can pass a field sobriety test and then blow a .19. I think what happens is eventually those people do feel the affects of the drinks they had and when they do it is often ugly.

[Loki]

I know a lot of states require a breathalizer to be wired into the ignition of your car after a DUI. Of course that doesn't always work either since they can always just borrow someone else's car like this woman did.

Ms. James purposely drove a car that she did not own to avoid the ignition lock device...

There really is no ideal solution. Some people are going to do stupid shit like DUI no matter what.

[Brett L]

Although, in most states, doing this is basically a permanent revokation of your license. She'll never drive legally again, most likely.

[db]

It's the same with guns. Go after the folks who care about the law.

[PS]

No, it's like anything. Easier to arrest people who've had two beers than to just arrest serious drunks and the incentives are in place to arrest these people.

It's like an old essay I read about jails being filled with 'the rabble' because the police suck at catching real criminals.

[John]

Yeah. Most of the people in jail are stupid people with poor impulse control and a complete inability to understand cause and effect. Some of them are legitimately dangerous. But most are just stupid.

And the few smart criminals the police catch are, absent the odd case of dumb luck, never caught by the police. If they are caught at all, they are caught by their victims and given to the police. For example, when is the last time you heard of the police cracking an embezzlement of theft case? Never. What happens is the companies the smart criminal is stealing from figures it out, gathers the evidence and calls the police.

[Lord Humungus]

reminds me of one of the Stainless Steel Rat stories where he gets himself arrested to he can "learn from the criminals." Upon his arrival at prison, he finds they aren't worth the time.

[John]

I have never believed the stories about prison being this graduate school for crime. At most they are like hazing for the fraternity of organized crime. If your goal in life is to join a drug gang or an outlaw motorcycle gang, doing some time in prison is probably a price of admission. But the idea that anyone learns anything in there always seemed a bit far fetched.

[Loki]

If the people in prison were really master criminals, they wouldn't be in prison in the first place.

[Virginian]

The contacts criminals make in prison are the dangerous part. They find likeminded people they can get together what to pull other crimes with.

[John]

Now the Virginian makes sense. And I would imagine various and gangs and such recruit heavily from prisons.

[The Late P Brooks]

Lets tear down and destroy any piece of architecture that we happen to think is associated with something we don't like.

Like these?

The winners write the history books blow up the losers' monuments. It will happen someday.

[John]

No they won't. The Romans lost and the coliseum is still there isn't it? And even in Germany, the Reichstag is still there.

And all of Sphere's monuments were complete crap. No one who wasn't under the insane spell of Fascistm missed them or liked them.

[$park?]

And all of Sphere's monuments were complete crap. No one who wasn't under the insane spell of Fascistm missed them or liked them.

Wait, are you now advocating that we tear down and destroy any piece of architecture that we happen to think is associated with something we don't like?

[John]

No. I am saying don't tear down good art and architecture. Crap can always be torn down. Can you pay better attention if you want to post responses?

[$park?]

No. I am saying don't tear down good art and architecture.

Define good.

[Pro Libertate]

Speer wasn't fat. That was Herman "The Sphere" G?ring.

[Pro Libertate]

Sorry, dropped an "n."

[sloopyinca]

Saying that all of Speer's* monuments were crap is about the dumbest fucking thing you've ever said. While most of them died on the planning table due to the war, some of what he erected was beautiful. Many of his unrealized monuments would have not only dwarfed the Roman stuff, but they would have lasted millennia as a testament to man's ability to create grand works of art. Too bad Speer was born a German, because the ideas were in his head regardless of what political master e was serving.

*I have a soft spot for Albert Speer since I am related to him. He was my great-grandfathers cousin and I have a signed copy of Inside The Third Reich that was passed to me.

[Pro Libertate]

What you're telling me is that the attack on Armstrong was a Nazi thing.

[sloopyinca]

You see, I knew an imbecile like you would put two and two together and come up with 5.

BTW, we're moving this week and our new house in Yucaipa is not a farm, which makes me a bit sad. However, we have a giant bass for a mailbox, which I thought was pretty cool.

[Lord Humungus]

so what happened to RC Dean? I always enjoyed his slash-n-burn comments.

[$park?]

I heard he went to Ukrainia to free Dr Groovus.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Pop star Justin Bieber has been attacked by a crazed fan who leapt on stage during one of his performances in Dubai.

[$park?]

Attacked by a crazed "fan?"

[John]

The rest of the world loves bad American pop.

[$park?]

I'm not sure I'd call a guy that grabbed him and kicked over his piano a fan.

[invisible furry hand]

certainly a public benefactor

[Loki]

Whoever he was he deserves a frickin' medal.

[T]

John Tesh had a fairly lucrative career overseas, which I still find baffling.

[John]

David Hasselhof is like Elvis in Germany.

[Lord Humungus]

the Germans are odd ducks.

[John]

They really are. In so many ways they are fabulously dignified and efficient. But then they have this huge affinity for the worst sort of American entertainment.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Do you know who else was popular in Germany and his name began with "H"?

[Rasilio]

Even more surprising, Rockapella, the band who in the States couldn't get a higher profile gig than house band on a childrens game show for PBS (Where in the World is Carmen San Diego) were able to sell out stadium tours in Japan.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out.

[a better weapon]

That was an epic game. A total blowout, but they kept butts in the seats and everyone got their money's worth.

[Virginian]

Exactly.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I live in Canada and have almost no interest in Hockey. I'm a big time minority. But that game last night was wicked. I randomly put it on to waste time until a good show came on but ended up watching the whole thing.

[The Late P Brooks]

Maybe require random sobriety tests before allowing them a license again after multiple occurrences.

In Montana, they have instituted a program of daily BAC tests (at the perp's expense, of course). It was sold as something reserved for the worst of the worst chronic offenders, but anybody with half a brain knows the incentive structure will lead to it being expanded to include any first time offender who does not repent him of his sins and prostrate himself before the Lord judge.

Any drunk driver involved in a fatal crash should be tried for murder.

[Brett L]

Pretty sure that, at fault or not, if someone dies in a drink-drive crash in FL, having a BAC over 0.08 guarantees 2nd degree manslaughter.

[sloopyinca]

Unless you're the formerly-of-CNN-fame Rick Sanchez.

[Brett L]

Read a little closer, the guy he hit was even more drunk and behaving erratically... And also didn't die.

[sloopyinca]

Ricky was twice the legal limit and involved in an accident. I thought the guy died right away, but it looks like it took him some time before he succumbed to his paralyzing injuries.

At the least, he should have been facing more serious charges than what he got.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Bloombergers re huffing and puffing about the NRA convention.

There were... GASP... anti-Obama political messages there!

The NRA is the Docteur Mesmer of the twemti-first century, you know.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Rifle Association!

You learn something new every goddam day.

[Virginian]

I wish that were true.

[John]

Me too.

[Virginian]

Like if Ted Nugent walked into Boehner's office and ordered him around.

Or Massad Ayoob staring down Pat Toomey.

[Virginian]

http://www.breitbart.com/Breit.....the-office

Bill Richardson calls Ted Cruz a Tio Tomas.

[mad libertarian guy]

You ever notice how at least 1/2 of the people claiming that some minority or another is a race traitor are almost always white?

[Brett L]

Bill Richardson is going to throw down the "not brown enough" gauntlet?

[Virginian]

http://www.iowastatedaily.com/.....TNNoMobile

Excellent piece on gun control.

I've come to realize after the Sandy Hook shooting that the reason we can't have a rational gun debate is because the anti-gun side pre-supposes that their pro-gun opponents must first accept that guns are bad in order to have a discussion about guns in the first place. Before we even start the conversation, we're the bad guys and we have to admit it. Without accepting that guns are bad and supplicating themselves to the anti-gunner, the pro-gunner can't get a word in edgewise, and is quickly reduced to being called a murderer, or a low, immoral and horrible human being.

This fucking exactly.

[John]

I read that. It goes back to my point above about the culture war. For pro gun people, gun control is about legal rights and policy. For liberals it is about the culture war. Liberals have spent the last 70 years torturing the Bill of Rights to have it cover every "right" anyone ever wanted to have. And now we come to the 2nd Amendment and they are now these big strict constructionists and insist on the most limited reading imaginable. Why? Because they look at gun owners as part of an inferior culture that needs to be eliminated. As a gun owner, you are immediately an inferior person in a liberals' eyes. Talking to liberals about gun control is like talking about Apartheid to a white supremacist.

[Auric Demonocles]

I was recently told "People like you are the reason we can't debate about gun control." This was because I said that having to take (and pay for) a safety course, pay for a permit, buy a gunsafe, buy a lockable travel case, and wait for the permit to be approved all to own (not carry-just own) a gun that I don't need to buy since I already own it in Vermont was too onerous to bother doing.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

This is exactly the case in Canada.

[Virginian]

Which is why people like Tulpa piss me off on this.

This is a civil rights issue. I see gun grabbers as the exact equivalent to segregationists. George Wallace and Mike Bloomberg are kindred spirits.

[John]

Tulpa and that shithead from CATO both think that gun owners have some duty to prove to liberals how reasonable they are. See, you have to agree to background checks and whatever other expensive and worthless requirements dream up because you own a gun and thus liberals have a right to assume you are dangerous and unreasonable. Only through giving liberals what they want so everyone can be assured you are one of the good gun owners.

Ten to one Levy has never owned a gun in his life and thinks owning one is a strange and destructive hobby.

[Auric Demonocles]

Lately I keep seeing the line "The only purpose of a gun is to kill people". Sometimes they replace "people" with "living things" to give themselves some cover for hunting.

In one debate, I pointed to target shooting as an obvious counterexample and the guy tried to argue that is still violent because the one time he ever shot a gun he went to a range and shot at one of those human outline targets and pictured shooting a real person.

[John]

The only purpose of mace is to spray people and burn their eyes. So what? Things you use for self defense are generally designed for such. They are so smug when they say that. They really think they have made some kind of profound point or something.

[Auric Demonocles]

I am surprised you didn't have anything to say about the liberal who thinks target shooting is violent because he had violent thoughts.

I agree that even if the only point of a gun was to do that it shouldn't matter until I use the gun to do that. But guns have other uses too. If you're going to say that guns only have one purpose, the most accurate thing to say would be "fire projectiles". But even that isn't true, since just having them to look at is a valid purpose.

[John]

For sure. And shooting people or threatening to shoot people can be a valid purpose. The assumption behind his statement is that shooting someone could never be a valid purpose, which is of course complete crap. That is unless you don't believe in self defense. And I honestly think most liberals don't believe in self defense. They really believe that if someone breaks into your home, you should take whatever beating they give until the cops get there.

One more example of how they are all totalitarians. If there is nothing but the state, than only the state can act in your defense. You don't have the capacity to act on your own behalf, only the state has that. If you take them at their word and think about it, liberals are absolutely terrifying people.

[Virginian]

To a liberal, there are no violent criminals, only disadvantaged youths who were probably abused as children and are expressing their legitimate rage at society.

The idea that there are people who will actually hurt them to get their stuff is very scary. Like with other very scary things, the liberal simply denies their existence.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

I am surprised you didn't have anything to say about the liberal who thinks target shooting is violent because he had violent thoughts.

I'll say it, I've been saying it forever. Projection is the cornerstone of the anti-gunner mentality.

I can't count the times I've heard the "well what's to keep you from just shooting someone because you're mad at them" line... How about human decency? Respect for life?

I've heard the "shooting targets is violence because you're pretending to shoot a person" more times than I'd like as well. No, I'm not. I'm shooting at circles and trying to keep the holes as close together as possible. YOU may be imagining blood spurting from a sucking chest wound, but not me.

As far as the "guns are only meant to kill people" argument. I've found an effective way to flummox them is to remind them that just because something was invented with the purpose of killing, doesn't mean every single iteration is therefore ONLY for killing. Baseball bats are nothing more than clubs. Clubs were designed to kill things. Knives too.

[John]

can't count the times I've heard the "well what's to keep you from just shooting someone because you're mad at them" line..

The same thing that keeps me from running them over with my car or building a fertilizer bomb to blow up their house. Decency, morality, or if all else fails fear of spending the rest of my life in prions perhaps?

God what a stupid line that is.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

There was an interview, and I can't remember who it was between, where the interviewer (anti gunner) asks the interviewee that question. The interviewee says "If I were to take out my 9mm and put it on the table in front of you, would you 'just shoot me' because you're mad at me"

I've said it before, but the guy who keeps using that line with me is completely lost by the fact that I have been in screaming matches with him while armed. I've several times wanted to punch him in the throat to shut him up, but never once thought to pull my gun. The fact that he is still drawing breath SHOULD be enough to get him to abandon that line, but alas, that would be rational.

[Cavpitalist]

They are so smug when they say that. They really think they have made some kind of profound point or something.

When someone asks you "what legitimate use does an assault weapon have other than assault?", say "armed insurrection". Their jaw will drop, and you won't have to listen to any more bullshit.

[John]

And even that is a lie. If everyone bought safes and insurance and so forth, they would just dream up some other "responsible" thing gun owners must do.

[Auric Demonocles]

Oh yeah, I forgot that I have to get fingerprinted for the permit application too.

But the guy said that since I think people shouldn't have to go through this much effort to get a gun I am exactly the type of person that shouldn't be allowed to own them.

[John]

That was just his way of saying that because you actually own or want to own a gun, you are just the kind of person who shouldn't be allowed in the gun debate. By owning a gun, you make yourself part of an inferior and dangerous culture and thus forfeit your right to participate in debate.

This is what they actually believe.

[Virginian]

Every responsible Negro crosses the street or walks in the gutter when a white man is using the sidewalk.

[John]

Every responsible Negro teaches his kids to respect white people.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

And even that is a lie. If everyone bought safes and insurance and so forth, they would just dream up some other "responsible" thing gun owners must do.

Gun control is actually a pretty good line in the sand to draw as far as the Bill of Rights is concerned. This is something that liberals have been trying to salami-slice for decades, and by constructing ever-more pharisaic laws, they hope to eventually render gun ownership an impossibility.

It's no accident that liberals have recetnly been making their Ruby Ridge fantasies openly known--they practically salivate over the idea of the government murdering private gun-owners.

[John]

Gun control combines all of their worst instincts, love of government control and hatred for the white middle and lower middle class. Not often do they get to worship at the alter of the state and wage war on the people they most hate.

[Virginian]

http://cafehayek.com/2013/05/i.....ences.html

Worrying about income (or wealth) differences as such has always for me smacked of childishness. It's envy elevated into public policy. I'm sure that it has something to do with how I was raised, but the very thought of fretting about how much money other people make relative to what I make has always seemed to me to be grossly impolite, anti-social, pointless, corrosive of one's character, and in horribly bad taste. This was so for me for as long as I can remember, even when my income was very low by American standards.

[John]

But for liberals obsessing about what other people make and how the wrong people are important in society is a way of life. The archetype liberal is a professor of humanities who just can't understand how someone who hasn't even read Toni Morrison could be paid millions of dollars and be considered so important.

[Virginian]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/o.....gvF1KIOSaO

NYC pays more money to retired cops then it does to active cops.

[John]

IN fairness, retired cops generally are not costing the city millions in civil rights judgements. So there is that.

[BakedPenguin]

Does that photo look like soldiers screaming at a bunch of Devo fans to anyone else?

[Brett L]

Screaming at people with sensory deprivation gear on is a perfect metaphor for so much of the State.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Today, though, the stands are usually packed and the attitudes are vicious. Parents are just obsessed with their kids "development" and are as math-challenged as progressives.

I've seen a couple of articles recently talking about the growth of the "summer club"-type of leagues in baseball and basketball that tied it into parents trying their damndest to get their kid a college scholarship since it's so expensive to attend college these days.

Even as little as 20 years ago, a two- or three-sport high school player wasn't particularly uncommon, but these summer leagues encourage specialization and parents essentially make their kid pick one sport and stick with it. Then their kid blows out his elbow or a knee and they seem absolutely shocked that year-long repetitive stress could result in a major injury.