A.M. Links: Obama Focuses Hot Air on Climate Change, Benghazi Security Decision Made By Top State Department Officials, Regulators Preparing to Sue Jon Corzine

• 

  C-SPAN

  President Obama will be talking about climate change today, the latest attempt to drive the discussion to any topic other than the many scandals that have beset his government.

• Internal State Department documents obtained by Fox News suggest the decision on security levels at the U.S. facility in Benghazi was made at the highest levels of the department.
• A federal judge does not appear to be buying the government's argument that air travel is not part of a fundamental right of U.S. citizens.
• The U.S. knows nothing, despite more than a decade of war in the Middle East, says Ron Paul.
• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency responsible for regulating MF Global, is preparing to sue Jon Corzine over the collapse of the company.
• The Russian foreign minister says Edward Snowden never technically crossed into Russia, remaining in a transit zone at the international airport, and so his government has no authority over his movements.
• Taliban fighters attacked the CIA headquarters and other buildings in Kabul, threatening the already precarious peace talks with the U.S.
• Fat Joe is sentenced to four months in prison for tax evasion.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Internal State Department documents obtained by Fox News suggest the decision on security levels at the U.S. facility in Benghazi was made at the highest levels of the department.

But by no future presidents, they can assure you.

[Ted S.]

It’s only Fox News reporting. I won’t believe it until it’s reported by naked Page 3 chicks from the Mail.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe the other journalists are waiting to see if Fox gets arrested for espionage.

[Aloysious]

So, is being first in the comments section called ‘Fisting’ or ‘to Fist’ or ‘ has Fisted’?

I might have missed that discussion.

As for the Stateless Dept., can we ship them all to Ecuador?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Making the first comment is a terrible burden. One must set the tone for entire commenting section. Reading through the links, choosing one and creating an insightful statement, coding it correctly… it’s all very stressful. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Or certainly not on any of these lame-o’s.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Fat Joe is sentenced to four months in prison for tax evasion.

Tried to claim too many def-pendents.

[a better weapon]

I thought he died a while ago, or was that Big Punisher?

I’m not up to date on my obese rap stars.

[LTC(ret) John]

Watch yerself!

– The Ghost of Heavy D

[Not Sure]

It was Pun.

[Matrix]

Our universe may have collided with another

[robc]

I think my definition of universe is different from theirs.

[Brett L]

I think the reporters are loosely using “everything which came into existence from our Big Bang singularity” as universe, rather than “everything which exists that humans can potentially interact with”, which is the more formal and correct definition.

[Zeb]

Yeah, in a universe where there is more than one big bang (or whatever it is), you should probably get a new word for each of the things like what we previously understood to be the universe. But I suspect we will just have to deal with the word being used that way.

[Brett L]

This is awesome. If it is true, then…

Sorry, my brain blew a fuse. Anyhow, the important thing is that we have eternity to colonize the Universe and should get started right the fuck now.

[Matrix]

eternity? Well, not really. All stars will eventually burn out. Life will, eventually, cease to exist. But, by that time, we will be long forgotten… an insignificant blip in time.

[Brett L]

No, see, if there is another source of matter outside of our Big Bang then the probability that a younger matter creating singularity will exist is pretty high. At that point, proton decay and start burnout are localized problems, not universal.

[RBS]

This kind of thing makes me wish I had studied the had sciences instead of history/law.

[Clich? Bandit]

Heat Death, while a valid, is not the ONLY scenario that is accepted.

[Rich]

I’m too lazy to DuckDuckGo it right now, but I recall reading that another Big Bang could occur at any time.

Seems like that’d be worse than getting hit by an asteroid.

[Zeb]

Depends. Since a big bang is expansion of space, it wouldn’t necessarily disrupt the space we live in that much. It’s not an explosion.

[Lord Humungus]

I’m not growing pot, I’m searching for Bigfoot
http://news.nationalpost.com/2…..r-bigfoot/

[DJF]

The Bigfoot that is growing pot?

[some guy]

That theory explains a lot, actually.

[LTC(ret) John]

STEVE SMITH CULTIVATE CANNABIS, YES.

[invisible furry hand]

damn you. I would have beaten you to this except reason.com very efficiently signed me out and I had to go through all the rigmarole of signing back in. They’re in your pay aren’t they

[Ted S.]

All the anti-social networking shit makes the pages load so slowly that by the time I was able to post my reply downthread, you’d already responded to Lord Humongous. 🙁

[Clich? Bandit]

wait a minute…don’t you live in the future ifh? Isnt it already tomorrow for you?

[invisible furry hand]

Greetings from the future Cliche Bandit! It’s just gone midnight and is now Wednesday. The air is suddenly thick with people using their new jetpacks. I am commenting here via a complicated time-typing device which must be carefully calibrated. Sometimes i enter the wrong number, time-type in the wrong moment, and get beaten by Lord Humungus, or write a response before the original post.

[Thane-kin]

For a second I thought you meant you were going to depose CB and assume his handle.

[Lord Humungus]

At Chernobyl, Radioactive Danger Lurks in the Trees

For 26 years, forests around Chernobyl have been absorbing radioactive elements but a fire would send them skyward again ? a concern as summers grow longer, hotter and drier
http://www.scientificamerican……-the-trees

RADIOACTIVE TREES!

[Matrix]

The Ents will march again!

[Ted S.]

Mildly creepy trees

[a better weapon]

Sounds like a good “soft target” for the turrurists.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Russian foreign minister says Edward Snowden never technically crossed into Russia, remaining in a transit zone at the international airport, and so his government has no authority over his movements.

Like this better when it was The Terminal.

[PS]

Krakozhia is the new whistleblowers paradise.

[thom]

He is surviving on a diet of duty free liquor, chocolate, and cigarettes.

[Not Sure]

The college lifestyle he missed!

[Jon Lester]

There are worse problems to have, I think.

[Matrix]

Michael Hastings sends chilling e-mail to colleagues before death
Some are saying his accident “weren’t no accident.”

[some guy]

So what if this was foul play by someone Hastings was investigating? What if it was another decision made “by individuals at the local level”? Will this finally be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?

[PS]

Mercedes always burst into flames upon impact. They are just like Pintos in that regard.

[Rich]

Law enforcement sources said the car was believed to have been traveling at a high rate of speed.

Is that so hard?

[some guy]

“high rate of speed”

Redundant is as redundant does.

[kinnath]

must have been accelerating

[Rich]

Jerk. 😉

[kinnath]

Most likely, it was the sudden deceleration that caused all the problems.

[Lord Humungus]

it’s not the fall…

[invisible furry hand]

I’m not growing pot, I’m searching for Bigfoot: Sasquatch hunter says he was wrongly arrested in Durham forest

more

[Ted S.]

Will the folks at H&R give the hat-tip to IFH or Lord Humongous?

[some guy]

Both names are quite apropos.

[Brett L]

H&R give the hat-tip

Haha, like Reason gives hat-tips when they steal our stories anymore.

[Zakalwe]

You fuckers would have demanded a hat tip for posting the first rumor of 9/11.

[Brett L]

I would demand a hat-tip for posting the first reports of the end of the world.

[invisible furry hand]

meh, hat tips are easy. It’s the slow monocle polish that’s hard to get

[Lord Humungus]

it helps to have a penis.

[Numeromancer]

Bigfoot cannot be defeated until Durham wood comes to Dunsinane!

[Fist of Etiquette]

…is preparing to sue Jon Corzine over the collapse of the company.

Is there anything that New Jerksey produces that isn’t terrible?

[invisible furry hand]

The Sopranos?

[KDN]

Pork roll, subs, and pizza.

We’re also much better at producing hockey players than you’d expect.

[Palin's Buttplug]

After nearly two years of stitching together evidence, criminal investigators have concluded that porous risk controls at the firm, rather than fraud, allowed the customer money to disappear, according to the law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/20…..=5065&_r=0

Just as a told the peanut gallery – Corzine didn’t steal a dime, MFG could never pass an audit.

The money has been located and returned.

[Don Mynack]

Not according to the regulators, he didn’t.

Now, the regulators could very well be wrong, but we all know how that worked out for the boys at Enron, don’t we?

[WTF]

Fuck that, Corzine is from Illinois.

[Lord Humungus]

Marc A. Thiessen: The Taliban is playing Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..story.html

Taliban leaders are not interested in sharing power. Their goal is to get the United States out of the way so they can take over Afghanistan.

So why are the Taliban negotiating? Simple. It knows that Barack Obama wants to leave Afghanistan and close Guantanamo Bay ? and they want to help him do both.

[gaijin]

The Taliban is playing Obama

Putin, the Chinese, Correa…Who isn’t these days?

[Ted S.]

Any relation to Tiffani A Thiessen?

[RBS]

Why couldn’t she have been in Showgirls?

[Brett L]

Printing plastic tough as bone on a 3D Printer. Totally need to see if we can print car frames at my buddy’s lab.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Does the name Preston Tucker mean anything to you?

[PS]

I’ll take one 3D printed flying car please.

[a better weapon]

Hey, That’s a medical device if I’ve ever seen one! Cough up the tax or destroy it, buddy!”

– IRS

[Fist of Etiquette]

A federal judge does not appear to be buying the government’s argument that air travel is not part of a fundamental right of U.S. citizens.

Anything on the right to petition?

[gaijin]

damn you and your minute to win it.

[gaijin]

that air travel is not part of a fundamental right of U.S. citizens

So like driving, it’s a priviledge granted by the state. Because Air Space is like ROADZZZ?

[some guy]

All large airports have to be build with government money and eminent domain because large projects can only be achieved through coercion because individuals are greedy and stuff.

[a better weapon]

You forgot to put “mmmkay?” at the end.

[Marginal]

First Fat Joe loses 100lbs on low-carb and then the feds send him to the clink fornot paying taxes? Dude’s a lbtrn for sure.

[Marginal]

forgotten linky.

[Lord Humungus]

Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson: The NSA’s metastasised intelligence-industrial complex is ripe for abuse

Where oversight and accountability have failed, Snowden’s leaks have opened up a vital public debate on our rights and privacy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..plex-abuse

Snowden will be hunted relentlessly and, when finally found, with glee, brought back to the US in handcuffs and severely punished. (If Private Bradley Manning’s obscene conditions while incarcerated are any indication, it won’t be pleasant for Snowden either, even while awaiting trial.) Snowden has already been the object of scorn and derision from the Washington establishment and mainstream media, but, once again, the focus is misplaced on the transiently shiny object. The relevant issue should be: what exactly is the US government doing in the people’s name to “keep us safe” from terrorists?

Prism and other NSA data-mining programs might indeed be very effective in hunting and capturing actual terrorists, but we don’t have enough information as a society to make that decision.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Valerie Plame was one hot spy.

[VG Zaytsev]

Remember the good old days when republican presidents released the preceding democrat president’s politica prisoners?

Any chance of that happening in again.

[The Last American Hero]

Sure, if Rand gets elected.

[Brett L]

When you start to lose the New Yorker on Snowden, it could be tough sledding.

Mea culpa. Having spent almost eighteen years at The New Yorker, I’m arguably just as much a part of the media establishment as David Gregory and his guests. In this case, though, I’m with Snowden?not only for the reasons that Drake enumerated but also because of an old-fashioned and maybe na?ve inkling that journalists are meant to stick up for the underdog and irritate the powerful. On its side, the Obama Administration has the courts, the intelligence services, Congress, the diplomatic service, much of the media, and most of the American public. Snowden’s got Greenwald, a woman from Wikileaks, and a dodgy travel document from Ecuador. Which side are you on?

[Sevo]

Mr. Cassidy forgot the IRS, but I’ll bet they don’t forget him.

[Hash Brown]

Welcome to the party, pal!

[Lord Humungus]

Fucking Magnets, how do they work?

MIT researchers discover a new kind of magnetism
Experiments demonstrate ‘quantum spin liquid,’ which could have applications in new computer memory storage.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/…..-1219.html

[Brett L]

I have no fucking clue. I mean, I can write the modelling equations, but I have no clue how they actually work.

[robc]

“Professor Eddington, you must be one of three persons in the world who understands general relativity.” Eddington paused, unable to answer. Silberstein continued “Don’t be modest, Eddington!” Finally, Eddington replied “On the contrary, I’m trying to think who the third person is.”

[Zeb]

I’m pretty sure that is apocryphal. General relativity isn’t that difficult to understand.

[Ted S.]

What kind of engnieer are you anyway?

[Brett L]

The honest kind? But trained as a chemical, so I’m better with charges than magnets, to be honest.

[T]

Nobody I’ve ever met does. They work, and that’s about all anybody can say. Maxwell was a goddamn genius to figure out the EM equations.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

My post-grad class on electromagnetics was an exercise in math to say the least. The professor gave the entire class from his 30 year old notes, no text. If you missed a lecture, you were screwed.

[Suthenboy]

neither does anyone else.

[Zeb]

Here is the best response I have heard to a layperson asking how magnets work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMFPe-DwULM

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

As usual, Feynman rules.

[Brett L]

Why the fuck does the NIH have to fund this? Shouldn’t drug companies be doing this for their own gain?

The fledgling National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) says that it will oversee the spending of US$12.7 million on the ambitious projects, which aim to produce treatments for ailments including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, alcoholism and calcified heart valves. As Nature wrote last October, the awardees have their work cut out for them: all the compounds, donated by big pharmaceutical firms, have been shown to be safe in humans but were discarded for lack of effectiveness against their original targets or for business reasons.

[gaijin]

Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, alcoholism and calcified heart valves.

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong.

[Ted S.]

It wasn’t government funding that determined Pfizer’s anti-angina drug Viagra didn’t work as intended.

[SIV]

Schizophrenia has no pathology.

[gaijin]

ding.ding.ding…you win your very own copy of the DSM V!

[Thane-kin]

Yet you brought it up.

[gaijin]

yes. SIV correctly identified the ‘condition’ that has no pathology. He wins a useless book.

[Thane-kin]

A condition doesn’t need a pathology to be eased by drugs.

So, no, he doesn’t win a (mostly) useless book.

[gaijin]

A condition doesn’t need a pathology to be eased by drugs.

true. Then again, a condition with no pathology might just as effectively be eased by aromatherapy as drugs.

[Thane-kin]

It is possible, but highly unlikely in cases of schizophrenia (where it has been diagnosed based on actual, significant impairments on quality of life, rather than on a doctor thinking that the patient is a weirdo or doesn’t properly align with societally imposed values).

[Christina]

Well, almost.

http://brain.oxfordjournals.or…..4/593.full

[Christina]

By the way, this is a great book on brain development by a research neuroscientist. I read it while pregnant with my first.

What’s Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot
Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553378252/reasonmagazinea-20/

[Thane-kin]

I dunno about gaijin, but that won’t get you far with MonkeyAIDS. He doesn’t “believe” in neuroscience.

[SIV]

“Neuroscience” is a strange choice of study for your career as a fry cook. Then again my hippie cousin studied holistic massage and ended up as a barista.

[Thane-kin]

The problem with your little theory, you dumb piece of shit, is that I didn’t go into neuroscience without a backup plan. I can program and I can administer Linux systems. I won’t have any trouble finding a job, much less be relegated to frycook.

[gaijin]

I dunno about gaijin,

fwiw, I have a bias toward neuroscience over psychology for looking into questions of brain function and disease…with the caveat that much of the brain imaging work to date seems superficial (i.e., whole brain versus local bloodflow/electrical activity).

[Thane-kin]

I’m basically in the same boat, gaijin.

[Rich]

Obama’s climate change plan goes around Congress

The wide-ranging plan … has programs to help harden communities against climate-fueled extreme weather.

“Climate-fueled weather”, eh?

[gaijin]

EXTREME weather. The kind that is unexpected…or that is more than forecast…or less. Or something.

[some guy]

Screw the chicken and the egg. Which came first, the weather or the climate?

[Rich]

And this “hardening” — Would it involve DOMES, by any chance?

[a better weapon]

I bet house and senate dems up for election are fucking THRILLED that he’s going after coal again.

Its like he doesn’t want a majority in both chambers or something. The executive branch is swimming in yes men.

[Bardas Phocas]

I applaud the alt text.
Also appropriate would be:
“This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!”

[Lord Humungus]

A Beagle, Basset Hound & Boxer Mix Named Walle Wins The 2013 World’s Ugliest Dog Contest
http://laughingsquid.com/a-bea…..g-contest/

A Beagle, Basset Hound & Boxer mix named Walle beat out 29 other canines on Friday, June 21, 2013 to win first place in the 25th annual World’s Ugliest Dog Contest at Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, California. Walle and his owner Tammie Barbee traveled from Chico, California for the competition and entered mere minutes before it began. Huffington Post has photos of some of the other dogs that competed. Last year, Mugly, an 8-year-old hairless Chinese Crested rescue dog, won the contest.

[some guy]

That is a horribly misshapen dog, but not that ugly. I mean it has all its fur and its eyes are actually inside its head.

[RBS]

Poor dog.

[invisible furry hand]

Frankly, if that’s all that’s needed to win this competition then standards are slipping. Check out these beauties

[Matrix]

really?… yeesh. This isn’t even close to the previous “ugliest dog”.

I mean, it’s by no means a handsome dog, but ugliest in the world? hardly

[VG Zaytsev]

That dog’s not ugly.

I have uglier dogs in my neighborhood.

[SugarFree]

That dog is adorable. It’s people like you that are the monsters.

[Lord Humungus]

granted.

[Lord Humungus]

when you gotta go, you gotta go:

Man arrested after exiting car and defecating in Holland Tunnel booth
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/20…..371957477/

Port Authority police say they saw the 21-year-old exit a car traveling in the north tunnel and walk inside a tunnel booth. Police allegedly found him defecating inside, Coleman said.

Coleman said Nam had been in the car with three other passengers about 10 p.m. when he felt sick and told the driver to let him out as they headed through the tunnel, the newspaper said.

The incident forced the closure of the north tunnel for 5 to 10 minutes as police conducted a “standardized security sweep,” Coleman said.

[Brett L]

Just to be clear, it is now illegal to eat bad ethnic food in NYC if you’re driving out. Fuckers. This aggression should not stand. Man.

[gaijin]

The incident forced the closure of the north tunnel for 5 to 10 minutes

Dont give the terrorists new biological weapons ideas!

[invisible furry hand]

Gee, compulsory education and government social workers really work to protect children from being beaten to death by their fucked-up parents

[Lord Humungus]

Robert J. Samuelson: Cheap money can’t buy a strong economy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..story.html

The most charitable verdict on this massive monetary experiment is that it’s done modest good. In the United States, it did reduce long-term interest rates and, to some extent, bolster stocks. Even so, the speed of the U.S. recovery (about 2 percent annually) is roughly half the average of all recoveries from 1960 to 2007. As for the global economy, it grew 2.5 percent in 2012, down from the 3.7 percent average from 2003 to 2007, says IHS Global Insight. Few major countries are doing better now than before the financial crisis. Cheap money hasn’t been a smashing success. Still, when the Fed suggested last week that it might curb bond-buying later this year, stocks swooned.

That’s one downside: Cheap money is hard to reverse gracefully. The larger problem is that central banks are trying to do things beyond their powers.

[Palin's Buttplug]

down from the 3.7 percent average from 2003 to 2007

Gee, how did the economy grow at that rate then? The FUCKING HOUSING BUBBLE, IDIOT!

2% is the new normal.

[some guy]

And why is 2% the new normal? The US has been at the head of the world economy for decades. Why can’t we match growth rates from last century? Why is our productivity stagnating? Why is our employment rate crashing?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Our Gross National Income is higher than ever. We’re still #1 by a mile.

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

We’re efficient. We don’t need the labor pool we have. We also have overcapacity in plants. That is why there is zero chance of inflation.

[Jordan]

That is grossly distorted by massive government spending.

[Sevo]

That’s been explained to shreek more times than he can count.
Doesn’t matter; he keeps lying in the hopes someone is fooled. Shreek’s a lying idiot.

[Citizen Nothing]

We don’t need the labor pool we have.

Why doesn’t this surprise me? Derp.

[Jordan]

2% is the new normal.

Until the latest bubble pops.

[some guy]

Its almost as if all that cheap money never made it out into the real economy where collateralized loans are made, payrolls are met and goods and services are bought and sold…

[Palin's Buttplug]

We have cheap money and very tight credit for everyone less than perfect.

Loose credit/tight credit cycle – old as dirt.

[some guy]

Foreseeable consequences are not unintended, right?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Well, tight money AND tight credit would have been disastrous for the economy.

“Hey, you with the 700 FICO? We give you 12% loan for 15 years..”

[Sevo]

Ever heard of ‘false dichotomy’ dipshit?

[LTC(ret) John]

Heard of it? He lives it!

[KDN]

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency responsible for regulating MF Global, is preparing to sue Jon Corzine over the collapse of the company.

Wait, wait, wait. That can’t be right. Shrike told us that there was absolutely no wrongdoing on Corzine’s part and this was all another Republican witch hunt.

[Palin's Buttplug]

No, I said Corzine didn’t steal anything – as has been confirmed.

MFG was a basket case before he joined up. And that clown was buying stock as late as August before the October blowup.

[KDN]

Knowing Corzine’s history, brutal incompetence was always the most likely outcome. Such incompetence is often not enough to shield one from criminal prosecution, though.

[Palin's Buttplug]

That’s fair except for the criminal part. This regulator lawsuit is civil only.

[KDN]

Well yeah, that’s my point. They probably could have gone after him for it anyway but they chose not to, especially if the shoddy controls were put in after he arrived and with his approval.

Not that it would have mattered, if they were to bring such charges it would have been a decade before it saw the inside of a courtroom; odds are that he’d be dead before anything was settled one way or the other.

[DJF]

If he did not steal anything then where did the money go?

Its still stealing if you take money that is not yours and pay off company debts.

Just because it might not have ended up in his pocket does not mean that he did not steal.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Counterparties had it and were reluctant about giving it back.

JP Morgan had over $500 million of it.

[Sevo]

So he didn’t ‘steal’ it, he sort of ‘borrowed’ it and loaned it to other people?
Doesn’t that make you dizzy?

[T]

When you give away $500 mmillion dollars of other people’s money under circumstances that make it difficult, if not impossible, for you to get it back, your incompotence has risen to a level that is usually considered criminal. Theft may niot be an accurate charge, but criminal negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and possibly constructive fraud come into play.

[invisible furry hand]

He punctures the tyres too!

Masturbating man caught molesting bicycle

[Brett L]

A 35-year-old man was arrested in 2007 after having slashed the tyres and ejaculated over some 20 bike seats in the city.

The man was sentenced to secure psychiatric care and is reported to have since been released.

Jesus. This guy would fit right in.

[gaijin]

and ejaculated over some 20 bike seats in the city.

In one day?! That’s sure a whole lotta bike seats.

[Brett L]

Kegels, man. Gotta keep working on the Kegel muscles.

[Ted S.]

What the hell are tyres, you antipodean freak? 😉

[Rich]

Boy fatally impaled on statue outside Texas Tech’s Ranching Museum

Yippee ki-yay! Let the lawsuits begin!

[Brett L]

Damn. That’s a realistic statue.

[a better weapon]

What the hell are 2 adults and 2 “youths” doing playing hide and seek at 3 am? I was out and about doing stupid shit at that hour when I was 14 but I sure as hell wasn’t being encouraged by adults.

[Not Sure]

Could have been cousins who happen to be 18?

[Don Mynack]

Damn, sad story, but that’s a Darwin Award finalist right there.

[Lord Humungus]

Palin: Holes in the Border as Big as the Holes in Their Amnesty Bill
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-G…..nesty-Bill

Just like they did for Obamacare, the permanent political class is sugaring this bill with one goody after another to entice certain senators to vote for it. Look no further than page 983 of the bill, which contains a special visa exemption for foreign seafood workers in the 49th state despite huge unemployment numbers in the American workforce. This is obviously a hidden favor designed to buy the votes of Alaska Senators Murkowski and Begich.

And just like Obamacare, this amnesty bill fails on every level of economic sanity and sane reform. It offers no solutions. It will barely slow the flow of illegal immigration, which means we can expect millions and millions of new illegal aliens in coming years. Sort of what happened when we passed amnesty in 1986 without securing our borders first.

[some guy]

Why can’t we just give illegal immigrants two choices:

1. Pay back taxes, go through a background check, pay a fine and get legal status, but give up any chance of ever becoming a citizen, OR

2. Leave the country, go through the process of legal entry, residency and eventually becoming a citizen.

It is possible to make these people legal residents without letting them become citizens.

[VG Zaytsev]

How does that benefit democrats?

[some guy]

Cutting right the heart of the matter, aren’t we?

[thom]

Permanent residence without citizenship is the ideal status for most undocumented immigrants in this country, so I assume number one would be highly desirable.

Additionally, many, many undocumented immigrants either file a tax return or over-pay their taxes by failing to file a return to claim their refunds. From a government receipts perspective, I have a hard time believing that forcing compliance with the tax code would increase tax revenues.

[some guy]

From my perspective the point isn’t to increase revenue, but to ensure as best as possible that these people have complied with all other laws before we forgive them their immigration offenses. So, the back taxes part only applies to the few who actually would owe back taxes.

[Don Mynack]

I don’t understand why they need to be citizens. Just make them resident aliens and be done with it. Why the drive to full citizenship?

[thom]

Non-citizen residents can’t vote.

[Fatty Bolger]

What thom said. No new citizens means no new Democratic voters. And without that, the Democrats won’t antagonize the unions by making it easier for foreign workers to enter the country and get higher paying jobs.

[invisible furry hand]

awesome lizard cow dinosaur dscovered

[gaijin]

Isn;t that the kind that Moses rode through the desert to escape the Egyptians?

[bostonaod]

OT: Somebody fairly recently (few months?) posted a great legal essay or speech from a law professor explaining the interpretations of law were almost completely dependent on individual opinion and finding data and cases to back up that opinion. Any help finding that link based on my hazy recollection is much appreciated

[Citizen Nothing]

Try this.

[generic Brand]

Excellent essay. Depressing considering the reality we live in, but I found it very insightful.

[bostonaod]

This was exactly it, thanks very much!

[Lord Humungus]

Alms for the Upper Middle Class: Subsidized Apartments Aim at $200K Earners
http://observer.com/2013/06/al…..k-earners/

“New York has made it so difficult to build that you forget what free and easy supply really does,” said Harvard economics professor Ed Glaeser, who co-authored a study a decade ago that found that half of the cost of housing in Manhattan could be blamed on artificial supply constraints. “Chicago remains a vastly more affordable city because Mayor Daley unleashed the cranes on Lake Michigan”?a reference to the Windy City’s far more lenient land-use regulations and commensurate low rents.

When it comes to New York City housing policy, said Mr. Glaeser, “there’s been a funny combination, from an economic point of view, of on one level making it difficult to build housing supply, and then trying to make up for it on a smaller scale by giving a privileged few access to housing.” In other words, those lucky enough to win the housing lottery like the couple at Elliott-Chelsea, who said they’d been applying for 15 years before they won a spot.

[Sevo]

The right crowd and no crowding!

[Ted S.]

who co-authored a study a decade ago that found that half of the cost of housing in Manhattan could be blamed on artificial supply constraints.

No shit, Sherlock!

[Corneliusm]

Half?

[John]

and then trying to make up for it on a smaller scale by giving a privileged few access to housing.

That sounds like a winning strategy to buy votes to me. Rent control is a dream for local politicians. You create a class of voters who are totally at your mercy. I don’t care what your overall interests are. You are going to vote whichever way allows you to keep your artificially cheap home.

[VG Zaytsev]

Plus it inflates the property value of the legacy owners.

[hamilton]

Now we know where Epi was yesterday.

I presume he’s the guy in #1.

[invisible furry hand]

Or number 53 after some hormone shots

[SugarFree]

What does this have to do with global warming? It’s almost like he’s writing an astronomy article or some shit.

[Brett L]

Changing it up for the lulz.

[Sevo]

AP says China and Russia fart in the general direction of Obozo:
“Indeed, Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday called U.S. demands for Snowden’s extradition “ungrounded and unacceptable.””
http://www.sfgate.com/news/pol…..620173.php

[Rich]

The state claims that because the Zimmermans may be witnesses for the state, they must be barred from the courtroom.

IANAL, but WTF?

You mean *Martin’s* parents *could not possibly be witnesses for the state*?

[RBS]

It’s pretty common for potential witnesses to be sequestered until they give their testimony.

[Rich]

“Please, simply answer the question.”

[Thane-kin]

I?ANAL, also, but it strikes me that having family members present could negatively affect the objectivity of the jury in general, and I don’t know why they allow it (other than to appear not be cold-hearted, bemonocled libertarians).

[thom]

Because criminal trials are conducted openly, and because the members of the public who probably have the most interest in the outcome are the defendant’s family members?

[Thane-kin]

But apparently they can bar certain people from the courtroom. It seems, given that ability, it would be in the interest of a fair trial to exclude them.

[Hash Brown]

It’s probably a wash, since members of both the victim’s family and the defendant’s family are free to attend.

[Thane-kin]

Kristen:

If you are still trying to make that site work in IE you might try:

* Testing it in 8/9/10 to see if it works in any of them, and if so, look up what changes were made in the interim. Among other options, you can test on different versions of IE by downloading VM images that MS provides.

* You can try IE8.js or IE9.js. Of course that could break any IE-specific hacks, though.

Apologies if you already know either of those options.

[Lord Humungus]

OT: for the summer most of my (crappy) ebooks are free. May or may not apply to Amazon since they have a very odd pricing structure – they don’t allow free books unless it’s a KDP select title or they are price matching a competitor.

Anyway, I’ve noticed that my (awful) erotica gets more downloads than anything else.

[SugarFree]

Go on…

[T]

Finally, a way to monetize your gifts. Or at least get them out to a wider audience.

[Hash Brown]

How can I find them?

[Lord Humungus]

B&N, Sony, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, Diesel – under the author “Paul Westwood”

For Kindle users, as mentioned above, the price may not be zero – it depends if they price matched or not. I know my book “Malediction” has recently been made free on Amazon.

[Adam330]

“The Russian foreign minister says Edward Snowden never technically crossed into Russia, remaining in a transit zone at the international airport, and so his government has no authority over his movements.”

I love this. It’s great when someone else gets to make up arbitrary rules and throw them back at the government, and make them stick.

[Andrew S.]

Alan Dershowitz is an unmitigaged piece of shit.

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.c…..hpt=pm_bn2

[Brett L]

Who cares why he did it? What effect does that have on the information that was released?

[John]

Pretty much. Greenwald is a nasty socialist. And yes, he hates the US. I will never like Greenwald. But my abiding dislike of Greenwald has nothing to do with my opinion of the NSA.

[Andrew S.]

Sure, he’s a socialist economically, but at least he actually cares about civil liberties, and is the only lefty journalist I know of that’s consistently willing to call out the Obama administration and Team Blue on its constant bullshit.

Besides, I’m not sure hating the US is a very uncommon opinion around here at this point…

[John]

He cares about them some. The problem is he is a total apologist for Hamas and the PA. Somehow his concern for civil liberties doesn’t extend to victims of Hamas (including Palestinian victims) or if caring interferes with his pathological hatred of Israel.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Well, yes, but that just makes it all the more amusing that a gay Marxist Hamas-apologist kkkorporation-hater still doesn’t have enough identity politics cred to go against Obama in the minds of his fellow travelers. (Although quite frankly even if he were also nonwhite and a woman–or, better yet, trans–I still think that wouldn’t be enough to absolve him of the mortal sin of pointing out the Lightworker’s lack of clothes.)

[John]

They will go after him for being gay. You watch.

[Rich]

“I would think of a journalist as someone who is neutral.”

*** facepalm ***

[Thane-kin]

I had a nightmare lastnight wherein I sent in a tip for a news story, yet Tucille or the Polish guy, whoever it was, made up a sender rather than H/T me.

[Lord Humungus]

Taliban militants storm Afghan government compound
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s…..FGHANISTAN

Taliban militants stormed the presidential compound Tuesday after bluffing their way past two checkpoints, triggering a gunbattle that left eight attackers and three guards dead and sent journalists attending an official event scrambling for cover, officials and witnesses said.

The well-planned daylight assault in a highly fortified zone of the capital was a bold challenge to Kabul’s authority just a week after the Taliban opened a political office in Qatar as the Islamic militant movement said it was willing to begin a U.S.-led peace process.

[LTC(ret) John]

So the Talib all end up dead, and the Afghans lose three guys.

I think I would have a different definition of “well-planned”. You know, one that includes getting my people out.

[RBS]

Yeah, I think their definition is something like “as long at least one infidel dog is killed.”

[Lord Humungus]

Surge in ‘digital dementia’
Doctors in South Korea are reporting a surge in “digital dementia” among young people who have become so reliant on electronic devices that they can no longer remember everyday details like their phone numbers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…..entia.html

[Thane-kin]

Why Ed Krayewski isn’t credible or patriotic (Reason, immigration)

I stopped reading after this:

“The government” is a political entity representing the joint interests of all Americans, it isn’t a separate entity that’s been imposed externally. “The government” is us. Saying that “[t]he government doesn’t own the country” is the same as saying that U.S. citizens don’t collectively own the U.S.

PS doing a quick search, it appears “24ahead” has been alleged to be lonewacko.

[SugarFree]

Not alleged. That is Chris Kelly, Epic Shitgargler.

[Thane-kin]

Apparently Shitgarlgler is the vocalist for a band called Bumilingus, whose most recent album is “Fifty Shades of Poo”.

Sounds right up your alley, Sug.

[SugarFree]

Poop: The Rock Opera

[John]

I think you are misunderstanding him. The government doesn’t own the country. But we certainly own the government. And Americans have every right to expect the government to act in their interests.

One of the more annoying arguments open borders people make is that open borders are good because they increase the overall well being of the world at large. So what? The US government isn’t supposed to look out for the world. It is supposed to look out for Americans. So the only relevant question is “is this good for Americans, you know the people who own the government, fund it and whose interests it is supposed to look after.

[Thane-kin]

I understand. However, the government should be owned by us. But it is not; it is most certainly imposed externally.

[John]

Imposed externally by whom? I disagree. I understand that the government is separate from the people. All of this bullshit about the government being “us” and thus infallible is just that bullshit. But we created the monster. The American people are the ones who voted for the people who did this and supported the policies that created this thing. They own it and ultimately are responsible for its existence and for doing something about it. No one imposed the government on this country. We did it to ourselves.

[Citizen Nothing]

we created the monster.

Who the fuck is this “we,” kimosabe?
I’ve voted in nearly every election for 34 years, and never voted for a winner above the level of township trustee.

[John]

You motherfucker. Unless you want to live on an Island, you are stuck with the consequences of many of the decisions your neighbors make. Sucks to be you. But hey, it sucks to be a lot of us these days.

[Citizen Nothing]

we created the monster.

[John]

We did. Just because you and I tried to stop it, doesn’t mean we didn’t help create it, if for no other reason than we failed to stop it.

[Citizen Nothing]

You know who else some people tried to stop but failed and so must take collective responsibility for?

[Citizen Nothing]

Oh. Sorry. I see you already Godwined yourself below.

[Citizen Nothing]

we

[Lord Humungus]

oui.

[LTC(ret) John]

Whee!

[Thane-kin]

The (federal) government was created in the late 18th century by men long since dead. I happen to be distantly related to a couple of them, but that by no means binds me to their decisions. Nor do I legitimate it by voting (and of course, there are quite a few people in the US who have never voted).

[John]

Then move. The fact is you live here. And as long as you live here, you are in some measure responsible for what happens here. It is like people in Nazi Germany who claimed that they were not responsible. Bullshit. If you live here and let it happen, you are to some degree responsible for what happens. It is a small degree. But to some degree you are. If you find the government that loathsome and objectionable, you need to leave. Staying here is immoral and cowardly on your part. By staying here and paying taxes, you are supporting this immorality. I don’t understand how anyone who thinks the government is that horrible would voluntarily stay here. The day I conclude the government is that bad, I am leaving because I will no longer morally be able to stay and support it even via taxes.

[Rebekah]

Then move.

Fuck you. Do you have any idea how difficult and expensive it is to expatriate, especially if you want to go somewhere halfway fucking decent? And just what do you suggest we should do about the current state of affairs? When we live in a defacto democracy and the majority of our neighbors are completely mindfucked by more than a decade in government indoctrination centers public schools to think that the status quo is both moral and just, that leaves one with precious few options.

By staying here and paying taxes, you are supporting this immorality.

So the slave is guilty of the master’s evil deeds. Gotcha. Now go DIAF.

[Thane-kin]

By staying here and paying taxes, you are supporting this immorality.

So the slave is guilty of the master’s evil deeds. Gotcha. Now go DIAF.

And even if you expatriate, you will still have to file a tax return with the U.S., and in many cases pay taxes.

[SugarFree]

“Why should I have to change my name? He’s the one that sucks.”

[Ska]

You should never have told those fudgepackers that you like his music.

[mad libertarian guy]

Love it or leave it? Really, John?

I never thought you’d sink that low.

[John]

You don’t have to love it MLG. But don’t tell me that you think the government is this horribly immoral thing. If you honestly believe that leave. If I had lived in Nazi Germany, I would have been morally obligated to leave if I could or if I couldn’t make war on the government. If I did neither and sat on my ass and did nothing, then yes, I am at least partially responsible for what happened there.

The bottomline is that the people above are talking out of their ass. They don’t think the government is that immoral or they would do something about it. Since they are not doing shit, they are either liars or cowards.

Stop it with they hyperbole and stop it with the bullshit about how the government is some kind of alien being imposed from above. Bullshit. The government is the creation of the American people. And we all own a little bit of that shit sandwich whether you like it or not.

[thom]

Do open borders people actually make that argument? It seems like a straw-man to me. I’ve never met an open borders person who argued that open borders, although detrimental to America, are justified because they are good for the world at large. The argument instead is usually that open borders are good for America and Americans, and that they benefit the world at large is a nice side benefit.

Regardless, the government isn’t me, I’m not the government, and I have no particular interest in owning any part of it. Unfortunately, my rejection of any ownership stake in that sinking ship is considered unacceptable by other people, who dismiss it out of hand.

[John]

They totally make that argument. Reason has made it several times. They talk about overall increase of standard of living achieved by moving to the United States. It drives me crazy.

Regardless, the government isn’t me, I’m not the government, and I have no particular interest in owning any part of it.

No one said it was you. And you most certainly have an ownership stake in it. You fund it. How can you say you don’t have any ownership of it?

[thom]

I don’t want any ownership stake in it. Consider my tax payments to be rent.

When I was younger I lived in shitty houses. I rented them, but I never wanted to own them.

Same thing.

[Outlaw]

If we are the government, then I’m my car.

[John]

No one says you are the government. You own the government. And yes, you own your car. You paid for it didn’t you?

[Thane-kin]

Lonewacko did in the passage above. So someone says that.

[Outlaw]

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen other progs say the same stupid shit too.

They do this because they want to be able to frame anyone that’s “anti-government” as anti-society. Again, it’s the old socialist lie.

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society.” – Bastiat

The only way it would be accurate is if we were a direct democracy.

[John]

Just because society creates government and owns it and is ultimately in some sense responsible for what they create, does not mean there is no difference between society and government.

You bought your car. You are responsible for owning it. But you are not your car. You do not become one with the things you create or buy.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

“You’re not your fucking khakis” – Tyler Durden

[VG Zaytsev]

You bought your car. You are responsible for owning it.

That’s a false analogy because none of today created the government, we can’t sell (dispose of) it collectively or individually.

The situation is more akin to one where ancestors made a deal that binds us with no opportunity to exit the ‘deal’.

[John]

with no opportunity to exit the ‘deal

You can totally exit. Leave. No one says you have to stay here. And in fact you may be morally obligated to leave.

[T]

No alleged to it. 24ahead is the internet home of all your ImmigrationPhobia and other AssortedInsanity.

[Hollywood]

Excellent alt text, man.

[Ken Shultz]

“Internal State Department documents obtained by Fox News suggest the decision on security levels at the U.S. facility in Benghazi was made at the highest levels of the department.”

It’ll work that way in the IRS scandal, as well. Lower level bureaucrats in the federal government don’t have the discretion to think for themselves–that’s one of the big reasons why putting bureaucrats in charge of any aspect of the economy is such a bad idea.

And it works that way in every government bureaucracy. Lower level bureaucrats don’t have the discretion to make decisions that might embarrass their bosses, and any time their bosses force them to do something out of the ordinary–something that might be misinterpreted in the future as a decision they made for themselves? They write a memo just to cover their asses.

Lower level bureaucrats couldn’t think for themselves if they wanted to!

And it’s been that way since time immemorial–Babylonian bureaucrats chiseled CYA memos thousands of years ago. The only sure things in life are death, taxes, and government bureaucrats writing memos just to cover their asses–in case someone tries to blame them for their boss’ decisions.

[John]

It’ll work that way in the IRS scandal, as well. Lower level bureaucrats in the federal government don’t have the discretion to think for themselves–that’s one of the big reasons why putting bureaucrats in charge of any aspect of the economy is such a bad idea.

That is not entirely true. They have a lot of discretion and spend most of their lives fighting with other agencies to keep it.

It would not have shocked me at all if some lower level bureaucrat had killed the security funding at Bengazi to save their own pet project. That kind of shit goes on all of the time. The head people have very little control over what actually happens.

That said, bureaucrats generally are not looking to go to jail or get fired. So while cutting someone else’ funding is fair game, breaking laws and going after people politically not so much. The IRS scandal certainly came from the top.

[Brett L]

How to win at Twitter.

[RBS]

I like when people don’t get the joke/reference and they start posting random stuff they think is funny.

[The Late P Brooks]

Holy shit, Dershowitz is a despicable little slug.

[Brett L]

Detroit man tears off penis after eating ‘shrooms. I have never, I would like to emphasize, NEVER, wanted to separate my penis from my body on even heroic doses of psilocybin.

[invisible furry hand]

found the 41-year-old man naked, screaming and bleeding from his groin.

there’s a certain poetry in that line

[SugarFree]

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, screaming and bleeding from their groin,
dragging themselves through the elementary school at night looking for an angry dick,
mushroomheaded autoeunuchs burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of PCP,

[invisible furry hand]

thankyou for putting your queer shoulder to the wheel

[Brett L]

You really need to get someone to cover the American Pop animated version of Howl with your words. YouTube would eat this up. And throw up.

[SugarFree]

Two Girls, Two Hundred Cups

[T]

Yeah, but it’s not news if a woman is doing that.

[Lord Humungus]

nothing to see here:

Do new IRS revelations prove there is no Tea Party scandal?
http://theweek.com/article/ind…..ty-scandal

Along with conservative and small-government tax-exempt applicants, IRS officials in Cincinnati also flagged groups whose applications contained words like “progressive,” “occupy,” “medical marijuana,” and Israel. The final BOLO list from April contained the search term “Green Energy Organizations.”

“House Democrats can hardly contain their delight” at the new revelations, says David Weigel at Slate. The extra scrutiny for “lefty/libertarian causes” seemingly “contradicts the theory that conservatives and only conservatives came under the laser.”

[John]

Flagging is not the same as harassing. So what if they flagged them? Show me where they held up their applications or harassed them the way we know they did the Tea Party. It is not surprising at all they would have thrown out a few flags for the other side as a way of covering what they were really doing.

But it will give some talking points to their trolls and that was the point of doing it.

[SugarFree]

We’ve known all along that they also looked at liberal groups, but processed them much faster, approved them more often, and subjected them to far less scrutiny.

They can’t get a hold of Snowden for lynching, so they cough up a mysteriously uncovered new document. Uh-huh.

[robc]

I dont think it changes anything, even assuming the harassment. Only TEAM people would think it matters. Harassing both sides is a WORSE scandal, not less of one.

[John]

Not necessarily. Going after both equally could just mean they didn’t understand the law. Going after one means they were corrupted to support one political side.

[robc]

Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

[John]

I am not saying it is good. But being incompetent is what you expect from government. That is nothing like being used as a political tool for the President.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Weigel’d again. You know, I’ve made a lot of terrible decisions during the course of my life, but at least I can say I never hired David Weigel to work for my libertarian periodical.

[robc]

http://www.reactionface.info/s…..qzsyre.gif

[Sevo]

Shreek posted that last night, doing his best Ron Ziegler.

[John]

They just need a reed. A single nugget of truth to build their lies on. I have no doubt the people who planned the IRS operation flagged other groups for that purpose. You have to give people like Shreek a base upon which to lie.

[Lord Humungus]

Markets upended because Fed has “no clue” how it will end bond buying-IMF
http://www.reuters.com/article…..M120130625

Markets have overreacted to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans to stop buying bonds but part of the problem is a lack of clarity over how it will be done, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.

“The Fed has no clue what will happen when it starts selling assets,” IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard told a meeting of the Institute of International Finance in Paris. “So it cannot make any commitments in term of quantities.”

[The Late P Brooks]

Detroit man tears off penis after eating ‘shrooms.

I was thinking about that stupid “transgender” kid I posted the link abut yesterday, and that was exactly what I was thinking. His parents are fomenting this bizarre schizoid behavior to buff up their tortured notions of social justice, or whatever the fuck drives them. They think they’re being totally awesome by putting him in dresses and dying his hair purple, and letting him pee in the girls’ room.

What will they do when their precocious little whacko becomes completely untethered from objective reality and cuts his own dick off with a pair of tin snips at the age of eleven?

[Somalian Road Corporation]

http://fourtimesthefun.blogspo…..in-on.html

I’m going to weigh in on this, because I’ve “known” this mom online for six years and I’ve got some perspective on this story, given the background information I am privy to.

My opinion, based on my knowledge, is the mom of this child is a fame-seeking attention whore, who will stop at nothing to prove how edgy and non-mainstream she is, even at the expense of her child’s privacy. I “met” her online six years ago when she came to the Triplet Connection and made a huge ruckus because she was dead-set on homebirthing her “natural” triplets in a kiddie pool in her living room. I thought she was a faker, so I immediately set out to see if she was real, or not, where I discovered that she didn’t, in fact, have “natural” triplets. She had ordered clomid from Mexico, and gotten pregnant using non-prescribed fertility drugs. Here’s her post about that. It’s still public all these years later. Her name is Kathryn.

[RBS]

I never would have guess this woman is a “fame-seeking whore.”

[John]

I never realized this until my wife went to work for a medical center. But I guess in the rest of the world mushrooms are rarely poisonous. So picking wild mushrooms is a big hobby in a lot of places, particularly China and Russia. And sadly, a number of immigrants poison themselves in the US not realizing north American mushrooms are often deadly.

[Zeb]

Most mushrooms are non-poisonous everywhere. But there are a lot of poisonous ones that look a lot like ones that are good to eat, so when people go to a new part of the world, it is easy to make mistakes in identifying them.

[UnCivilServant]

Koontz Decision is in.

SCOTUS Opinion here

[UnCivilServant]

Still reading, but I think it’s a win for Koontz (the property owner)

[Eduard van Haalen]

Haven’t read it, but I noticed this:

“ALITO, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and SCALIA, KENNEDY, and THOMAS, JJ., joined. KAGAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which GINSBURG, BREYER, and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined.”

I’m guessing the decision is good news for the property owner.

[Fluffy]

It looks like a win, and they threw in a nice reference to an unconstitutional conditions doctrine, which I think is not employed nearly enough.

[mad libertarian guy]

Vertigo

“Vertigo” is the longest track off of Deafheaven’s new album Sunbather, my album of the year so far. It’s both beautiful as well as crushing and emotional.

[Fatty Bolger]

A ‘Far Broader’ BOLO List?

Acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel on Monday told reporters that the now-infamous “Be On The Lookout” list was far broader than originally disclosed in the Treasury Department inspector general’s report. News accounts in outlets such as the Associated Press and Bloomberg News supported Werfel’s claim, indicating that terms on the list ran the gamut, politically speaking, from “tea party” to “progressive” and “occupy,” and even to groups whose applications included the word “Israel.”

A November 2010 version of the list obtained by National Review Online, however, suggests that while the list did contain the word “progressive,” screeners were instructed to treat progressive groups differently from tea-party groups. Whereas they were merely alerted that a designation of 501(c)(3) status “may not be appropriate” for progressive groups ? 501(c)(3) organizations are prohibited from conducting any political activity ? they were told to send applications from tea-party groups off to IRS higher-ups for further scrutiny.

[Fatty Bolger]

continued

That means the applications of progressive organizations could be approved by line agents on the spot, while those of tea-party groups could not. Furthermore, the November 2010 list noted that tea-party cases were “currently being coordinated with EOT” ? Exempt Organizations Technical, a group of tax lawyers in Washington, D.C. Those of progressive organizations were not.

[Don Mynack]

On the other hand, putting the words “Barack” or “Obama” into your org’s name got you extra-speedy approval.

http://articles.washingtonpost…..pplication

[UnCivilServant]

Does that extend to the “Comittee to Impeach Barack Obama”?

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Nope, that one will get you droned, then audited.

[Jason2k]

Everything is a show off. They play it like a DJ and mix and match.