Fort Hood Shooter on Trial, Anniversary of Hiroshima Observed, Boycott ObamaCare or Russian Vodka? P.M. Links

• 

  Bell County Sheriff's Office

  The trial of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, began today. Hasan is defending himself.

• Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius thinks conservative efforts to encourage young adults to refuse to enroll in ObamaCare will ultimately hurt said young adults. Of course, it will hurt all the older people who were hoping to subsidize their own healthcare costs with infusion of money from the young and healthy all the more.
• Damn the facts and full-speed ahead: The public spectacle of gay bars boycotting Russian vodkas continues, with Stolichnaya still being the public whipping boy, despite its tenuous ties to the country, its support of the gay and lesbian community in the face of Russia's oppression, and its complete lack of power or influence to create change in Russia on its own.
• The U.S. government is declining to boycott Russia, though, and will meet with defense and foreign leaders Friday despite being upset that the country has given asylum to Edward Snowden.
• We've noted this development in Hit & Run before, but tonight may be the night Deer Trail, Colo., decides to start offering hunting licenses to shoot down drones.

• Japan observed the 68th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing today with a minute of silence.

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Comments

[db]

This'll get you into a Poof! Magician to escape from coffin dropped from 14,500 feet in spectacular trickillusion.

[some guy]

Escape artists don't always employ illusion. And skydivers don't always leave the plane with a parachute on.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Tricks are what whores do for money.

[Almanian!]

Whores are what men do for money.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Or cocaine!

[Almanian!]

It's hookers and blow all the way down.

Hey - that sounds like fun!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The trial of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, began today.

Highlighting workplace violence. MORE GUN LAWS NOW.

[db]

A *gun-free* workplace, at that.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The irony? It already *was* a gun-free workplace.

[db]

Yes that was my point.

[Agammamon]

Double Irony - its a military gun-free zone.

[Rich]

I trust the people of the Book will throw the book at him.

[A Serious Man]

Japan observed the 68th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing today with a minute of silence.

We also dropped a nuke on Mars one year ago today.

[Episiarch]

We had to fight the Martians over there so we didn't have to fight them over here.

[some guy]

It was a warning shot to any Martians that might exist.

[Hyperion]

The Martians hate us for our atmosphere.

[Episiarch]

I thought they hated us for our water. Wait, were the aliens in Signs Martians? I get so confused by idiotic movies.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

It was a dud, no nuclear fireworks

[Almanian!]

"The Southwest Hiroshima's going to be a very quiet neighborhood fot the next...10,000 years..."

/Deakins

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Progressive policies, leaving cities looking like 1946 Hiroshima.

Nuclear bombs, leaving cities looking like 1946 Detroit.

[Almanian!]

1946 Detroit was a bustling, motherfucking GROWTH MACHINE!

~1970 - present...that's the comparison.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Commenting on what 1946 Detroit Vs. 1946 Hiroshima and 2013 Detroit Vs. 2013 Hiroshima looked like.

[Geoff Nathan]

Look, I know what much of Detroit looks like (I drive past it every day going to work), but some of it doesn't look like that. Just take a look at the DIA (search dia on Google Maps and use street view),
or try the Guardian Building or Fountain Bistro--all located in central or mid-town Detroit. And not exactly ruins. Take a look with Street View.
It's a cheap trick to compare 2013 Detroit to 1945 Hiroshima, and ignores the fact that some of us still live and work here and really hope the bankruptcy works. Or we get a decent candidate for mayor this evening.

[T]

Or we get a decent candidate for mayor this evening

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh, wait, were you serious with that line?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Hahah this entire comment makes me laugh. Calm down.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Or we get a decent candidate for mayor

Hint: You won't

... Hobbit

[db]

Korean news agency has a bit of fun making up fake American names for the pilots and passengers of Southwest flight 345, whose nose gear collapsed on landing at La Guardia on July 24.

The Korean news quoted "Captain Kent Parker Wright," among others.

[SweatingGin]

Did the Cleveland Browns let the pilots down one last time?

[Clich? Bandit]

seconds SG seconds...

[PapayaSF]

+1 reverse racism.

[Some call me Tim?]

...it's not reverse racism...it's just racism.

[Dweebston]

Can we at all refrain from calling droll humor like banal false cognate jokes "racist"? You're probably not actually accusing the Koreans of being racist, but the commentary on the gawker site that published the Asiana kerfuffle turned full-blown concern-troll braindead over the alleged racism of the news station that carried it. I was and remain gobsmacked by the mendacity and ghoulishness of those willing, in fact eager, to insinuate some insidious motivation rather than assuming good faith.

[anon]

Fucking racist.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

What do you call a black man flying a plane?

[Torontonian]

A pilot?

[Generic Stranger]

"The Korean news quoted "Captain Kent Parker Wright," among others."

That's not a pun. They've got to be offensive puns to work. Like Mike Hunt, or Hugh Wiener.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...despite being upset that the country has given asylum to Edward Snowden.

Advantage: Putin

[db]

If they were playing with '70s rackets, Obama would mop the floor with him.

[db]

Wait, that's not right. Obama's game is all about the spin.

[Almanian!]

Obama's definitely a "big head" racket guy.

Putin I could see sportin' a Jack Kramer Autograph? like I had in high school, and PWNING the Bamster.

Cause - fucking PUTIN.

[Jerry on the boat]

Where's your anti-missile shield now homeboy.

[Almanian!]

All your defense are belong to us

[A Serious Man]

The U.S. government is declining to boycott Russia, though, and will meet with defense and foreign leaders Friday despite being upset that the country has given asylum to Edward Snowden.

But you will NOT see Obama at the pancake social that morning.

[a better weapon]

I'm sure Putin will be receiving a strongly worded letter very soon.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Deer Trail, Colo., decides to start offering hunting licenses to shoot down drones.

Places with names like that aren't relevant enough for this development to matter. It's only disappointing they're requiring a license to shoot at something.

[db]

How high do they think drones fly? Are they duck drones?

[C. Anacreon]

On the guitar: Donald "Duck" Drone

[mr simple]

Exactly. Are they going to limit the hunt to a few months a year, too?

[Slammer]

New Japanese warship:

I still don't trust those little bastards! Remember Pearl Harbor!

[Almanian!]

Japanese - could they be any more fucking inscrutable?

[Brett L]

Hmm, that battleship looks an awful lot like a carrier...

[Agammamon]

It doesn't look anything like a carrier - it looks like an amphib.

[Rasilio]

Hmm, they did the same thing in the 1930's building "cruisers" the same size as everyone else's battleships

[Scarecrow Repair]

You exaggerate. They were only 1-2000 tons overweight, still less than half battleship size. And the US had several ships which were 3000 tons overweight. Everybody did it, and blah blah blah

[NeonCat]

Until they get F-35B fighters they won't be able to use it for anything but helicopters.

Now, if they had an Airwolf program?

[Brett L]

Airwolf you say?

[NeonCat]

Yes, and it will still be able to magically fire Copperhead shells despite lacking a howitzer. That's how awesome Airwolf is.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius thinks... ObamaCare will ultimately hurt said young adults.

I AGREE.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_n.....shill?lite

Steve Benen wonders how President Obama can be considered both a "radical socialist" and a "corporate shill." I think the fact that Benen considers these two categories to be mutually exclusive to be indicative of the Left's infantile and dichotomous view of economics.

[KDN]

Kevin Williamson of NR had a good article in a similar vein:

Far from being the intellectual hostage of far-left ideologues, President Obama does not appear to have the intellectual energy even to digest their ideas, much less to implement them. This is not to say that he is an unintelligent man. He is a man with a first-class education and a business-class mind, a sort of inverse autodidact whose intellectual pedigree is an order of magnitude more impressive than his intellect.

The result of this is his utterly predictable approach to domestic politics: appoint a panel of credentialed experts. His faith in the powers of pedigreed professionals is apparently absolute.

...

IPAB is the most dramatic example of President Obama's approach to government by expert decree, but much of the rest of his domestic program, from the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law to his economic agenda, is substantially similar.

[PapayaSF]

Yes, this is a good piece that I recommend as well.

[Rasilio]

"The result of this is his utterly predictable approach to domestic politics: appoint a panel of credentialed experts. His faith in the powers of pedigreed professionals is apparently absolute."

Isn't that pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a College Professor with no real world experience turned politician?

[mad libertarian guy]

He is a man with a first-class education and a business-class mind

Would it not be prudent that Obama work in business for even one day of his life before telling me how awesome his business acumen is?

[C. Anacreon]

I think the passage meant that his mind was only above average, while his education was superior. The three levels of service on a plane being first-class, then business-class, then everyone in coach.

[Mickey Rat]

That is exactly what one can expect of a President who was touted as an intellectual.

[Mickey Rat]

That is exactly what one can expect of a President who was touted as an intellectual.

[mr simple]

The answer, obviously, is Rethuglicans are racist.

[Anonymous Coward]

Because not only is corporatism not opposed to socialism, it is beneficial to socialism. It's easier to tax and regulate one big maker of toothpicks than to tax and regulate a thousand small, independent toothpick makers.

In a similar vein, the one big toothpick manufacturer is big enough to have money to "invest" in politics to retain its bigness, while paying armies of lawyers to navigate the labyrinthine tax codes and regulations.

[PapayaSF]

Obama supporters think he's not a socialist because he hasn't nationalized anything (besides student loans). But of course, socialists can simply tightly regulate industries, controlling without officially owning them, like the National Socialists....

[Whahappan?]

THEY WEREN'T REALLY SOCIALISTS, THAT'S JUST A RIGHT-WING MEME!!!

[Rasilio]

Technically both Socialism and Fascism are both offshoots of corporatisim in it's original meaning, the modern connotation of corporatisim fits in equally well with either as all are concerned primarily with collective action and group identity.

[pmains]

Not only that, but systematic socialist and communist thinkers tend to have a "revolutionary process" that they think will bring about their Utopian vision. This process usually involves moving from widespread ownership of property to the "inevitable" concentration of property.

Well, of course that inevitable process didn't actually happen, so what progressives, socialists and communists do when they get into power and are unable to directly abolish capitalism is kick off this "process." They hand the wealth to their allies, which allows them to more easily manage the economy for the "common good." The side benefit is you now have the dichotomy between the workers and the capitalists, so when you start nationalizing property, nobody is upset.

At this point, you've moved from progressivism to socialism. Without profit, the cost of living goes down, leading to greater prosperity. Eventually, all desired goods are so abundant that scarcity and hence the laws of economics has effectively been repealed. Let's suspend our disbelief and imagine such a thing is possible. You have now arrived at classical Marxist communism.

[KDN]

Entrepreneurs built our roads, rails and canals far better than government did. But, but but....ROADZ!

In all of these examples, building infrastructure was never the engine of growth, but rather a lagging indicator of growth that had already occurred in the private sector. And when the infrastructure was built, it was often best done privately, at least until the market grew so large as to demand a wider public role, as with the need for an interstate-highway system in the mid 1950s.

There is a lesson here for President Obama: Government "investment" in infrastructure is often wasteful and tends to support decaying or stagnant technologies. Let the entrepreneurs decide what infrastructure the country needs, and most of the time they will build it themselves.

[John]

Things like the Hoover Dam and the interstate highway system were vanity projects that were built as a result of us being wealthy.

[Episiarch]

How the hell are politicians supposed to pass money to cronies, bribe unions, and get shit named after them if it were done privately? Come on, man; think!

[some guy]

Good points, but the road problem isn't just a federal one. Ultimately local and state governments will also have to be on board with road privatization before anything constructive happens.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Unfortunately, this is how a modern builder/developer entrepreneur Forest City Enterprises operates:

Cause of Action released a report today that claims the Cleveland-based developer of uses "highly paid lobbyists, political connections, campaign contributions and strategic hiring of government officials" to obtain "lavish public subsidies, tax exempt financing and the seizure of private land from eminent domain condemnations."

Full report here:
http://causeofaction.org/wp-co.....pdf?e129f2

[Clich? Bandit]

Do they employ the Browns too? For basements and such?

[Mike M.]

I'll still throw the Panama Canal out there as one of the very few completely good and worthwhile things that our government has accomplished. It brought enormous benefit not just to our economy but the world economy, is still hugely important all these years later, and incredibly it was even done on time and on budget.

[Clich? Bandit]

and loss of life

[db]

One of my great- or great-great-uncles worked on the Panama canal as a steam shovel operator. I have some awesome postcards he sent back home...construction pictures, pics of him and his buddies on a hunting expedition in the jungle...really cool stuff.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Outside of the malarial deaths alluded to by Cliche Bandit, I would agree.

Related: Panama has become significantly more libertarian over the years, and there was a recent expansion of the canal to accommodate shipping. Good place to look into for retirement or as an alternative to the US...

[R C Dean]

Delightful people there. Went on a scouting expedition a few years back. Was reminded that it is still a Third World country in most ways.

We finished up in Boquete, a kind of expat haven. Absolutely gorgeous. I will go to my grave wondering if I should have bought one parcel we looked at, that had an actual no-fooling view of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

How many years ago? Last time I went was 2 years ago (after an absence of ~6 years), and I was amazed by how much the country had modernized, esp. in the Panama Canal area. Still Third World in some ways, but it's on the up and up and seems to be moving in the right direction.

Boquete is absolutely gorgeous. I plan to retire either there or in Yauco, PR.

[Killazontherun]

Just got around to reading it. Decent. The comments include a lot of derp, including this claim that the private sector is, like, 'soo yesterday' from some Goddamned dirty ass hippie:

This article pretty much confirms what many people have been saying about Conservatives?that they are stuck in the 19th century, particularly before Abe Lincoln came along. They conveniently forgot that since then, for instance, President Eisenhower developed the interstate highway system.

Oh, well, how can you argue with people who look backwards instead of forwards? And for argument's sake, is there anyone in the private sector who wants to engage in infrastructure development involving roads, rails and canals? Didn't think so.

So, what is the point of this article?

Only to illustrate how ignorant conservatives are. And that ignorance is as ignorance does.

[Clich? Bandit]

Methinks Scott has been imbibing at work:

Solichnaya

A "T" you have missed.

[Tonio]

Blast you, Sir.

[Slammer]

Teetotaler

[jesse.in.mb]

RT wants you to know Russia's law is not a big deal. British useful idiot agrees. I'd like to see the unexpurgated Nikolay Alekseev interview because it seems snipped in important places.

[a better weapon]

One might say, he forgot to cross his T's...

Fine closes down computer, turns out the lights, and leaves

[Tonio]

Yo, Shackford: Solichnaya? Nyet, Comrade. Stolichnaya!

[John]

Since they have to insure you for a prexisting condition, how could not enrolling ever hurt you? The only circumstance I can think is if you are injured in an accident that is your own fault of the fault of someone with no insurance. And that seems to be a fairly small risk.

[Hyperion]

how could not enrolling ever hurt you?

HHS: Hey, NSA, you got any data on this John guy?, he refuses to enroll in our wondrous new program.

NSA: Well, then certainly he's a menace to society, let's see what we can find here...

[some guy]

Or the other direction:

NSA: "This official is threatening our funding. What have you got that we can blackmail her with?"

IRS: "Looks like she had a nasty case of nether myiasis about 2 years ago."

NSA: "Perfect."

[Cytotoxic]

And now I know what myiasis is, and that it is real and does not just exist in movies. Thanks asshole.

[Gene]

Yeah I've seen cats with that, a very unpleasant fate.

[Cytotoxic]

GOOGLE IMAGES CAN'T UNSEE FUCK

[some guy]

Yeah, that's the only case. You would have to get hurt in such a way that you needed a lot of expensive health care immediately, before you could sign up for insurance. I can't wait to see what the enrollment rates are once the mandate goes live. It's going to be delicious.

[Rasilio]

And even then they still have to treat you and you could just declare bankruptcy on the medical bills

[Night Elf Mohawk]

A heart attack?

[Some call me Tim?]

Well, you can only buy insurance during open enrollment, which runs Oct through March.

The real question is why would you buy before March 31?

[AuH20]

Hey, White Women? Don't be "That Guy" ("That Guy" is George Zimmerman) Emphasis original

How do you decide what to do when facing a sketchy guy, or a sketchy situation?

Trust your intuition, right?

Not so fast.

Because I bet George Zimmerman thought he was trusting his intuition when he followed Trayvon Martin.

When teaching self-defense, I do tell my students, "Trust your intuition." What I mean is trust your intuition unclouded by what society has taught you about race, class, gender, and "otherness."

Of course that's impossible.

Here's how that programming works.

The D.C. area was targeted by two snipers in 2002; within two days after the killing began, witnesses at the sites of the shootings reported seeing a white box truck driving away.

Media spread the "news" that the shooter was driving a white box truck. White box trucks soon became the target of the investigation and of widespread fear. People steered clear of places where they saw white box trucks, and people who drove them for a living stopped going to work because they didn't want to inspire more fear ? or become a target.

[Snip]

Imagine the power of a lifetime of such messages. What people in the D.C. area came to believe about white box trucks is multiplied by lifetimes and generations of such messages about Black men.

[John]

Ignore all of your experience and common sense. Let the revolutionary truth guide you. Good luck with that.

[Mad Scientist]

To be a good progressive, it's more important that you do the wrong thing and feel guilty about it, than it is that you do the "right" thing.

[John]

When teaching self-defense, I do tell my students, "Trust your intuition." What I mean is trust your intuition unclouded by what society has taught you about race, class, gender, and "otherness."

Since intuition is unconscious, how do you "uncloud it'? I don't think I would want to take this man's course.

[Irish]

When teaching self-defense, I do tell my students, "Trust your intuition." What I mean is trust your intuition unclouded by what society has taught you about race, class, gender, and "otherness."

'You should trust your intuition, but first you must forget everything that you have ever learned.'

[AuH20]

Woman's course, John. Stop being so patriarchal in assuming all this retarded shit must be coming from a man.

Women can be idiots too!

[John]

So she is teaching other women how to be victims. How feminist of her.

[Cytotoxic]

Slam. Dunk.

[Rich]

Black men rape white women roughly in proportion to their numbers in the U.S. population.

OK .....

[PapayaSF]

It would be interesting to see what proportions of stranger rapes are committed by black men. The only two women I've known who were raped (that I know of) were white women raped by black men on the street.

But that whole post is just PC handwaving. Black men 14-24 are about 1% of the population and commit about 27% of the murders. Am I supposed to be comforted by someone saying "Don't worry, they usually only kill other blacks"?

[John]

Yes. Stranger rapes, which is what this situation would involve would be a completely different statistic.

[Calidissident]

"But that whole post is just PC handwaving. Black men 14-24 are about 1% of the population and commit about 27% of the murders. Am I supposed to be comforted by someone saying "Don't worry, they usually only kill other blacks"?"

I'd say that depends on where you live and other circumstances. Unless you live in a mostly black area, if you're not worried about getting murdered by a white person, I don't really see why you'd be worried about getting murdered by a black person (generally speaking). That doesn't mean there aren't legitimate instances where you can be afraid or at least cautious about a particular black guy you're passing on a street. I've come across sketchy characters of all races at some point in my life. I live most of the year in South LA, and the neighborhood around where I live is almost 100% Hispanic and black (majority Hispanic) and I'm well aware that it's not the safest place (though not nearly as bad as it was 20-30 years ago), but I somehow make it through life without shitting my pants every time I walk past a black guy on the street.

[PapayaSF]

I don't shit my pants, but the one time I was assaulted on the street it was by two black guys. White guys being assaulted by black guys in muggings or just out of racism is not uncommon. Ask Matthew Yglesias.

[Coeus]

Happened to me twice.

[Anonymous Coward]

Our warped notion of how "dangerous" Black men are leads us, like George Zimmerman, to focus a lot of anxiety on them.

So should I wait before, or after, I'm getting my head bashed into the ground before I respond to an attack?

[fish]

Hey, White Women? Don't be "That Guy" ("That Guy" is George Zimmerman) Emphasis original

We need a new game....."Marcotte...or not?"

I would have missed the first one!

[R C Dean]

Because I bet George Zimmerman thought he was trusting his intuition when he followed Trayvon Martin.

And it turned out, according to the trial, that he was right. Its hard to read the verdict in any other way than that Zimmerman thought Tray-tray might just be a thug up to no good, and Tray-tray acted, as it happened, like a thug up to no good by hanging back not far from his house and trying to bash ZImmerman's skull in.

[Hyperion]

Wouldn't it be a real bummer if your shiny new drone was shot down by some redneck in a hunting vest? I mean, it would wind up on the wall above the fireplace, next to the talking bass.

[Killazontherun]

Best laugh I got out of this day.

[Pro Libertate]

Do you think we have underwater bass drones?

[anon]

From the drone-hunting article...
Young mother Clarice Hoffer said, "To be perfectly honest I don't think it's a good idea." She would rather Deer Trail remain known for being the home of the world's first rodeo, rather than drone hunting. "Most of the people I talk to don't want it."

I got news for you honey; Deer Trail, Colorado isn't known for jack shit.

[Ted S.]

If most of the people don't want it, they'll vote out the concillors who vote for it.

[Clich? Bandit]

it sits at the first curve in I-70 for about 700 miles...that is something.

[db]

If that's true, then I drove through it and never even noticed a town there.

[some guy]

You mean you didn't take note of every exit in that great waste of rolling hills?

[Clich? Bandit]

technically it isn't right on I-70...but cmon they gotta have something.

[some guy]

C'mon. It's less than 200 miles from Colby, KS. I-70 is curvy as a snake compared to I-94 in ND.

[John]

http://blogs.the-american-inte.....employees/

California's praetorian guard.

[AuH20]

John, people who work for the government are nobly sacrificing themselves for the good of us all. Therefore they NEED special perks like being exempt from traffic tickets or the laws they write. Otherwise, they'd flee to the more lucrative private sector, and deprive us, the people, of top notch government services.

[Render Unto Caesar]

Hahahahaha!!!

Uuuugh...Good one.

[Not an Economist]

If you read the article, it is worse. People continued to use the special license plate after they left the government. Other people who got the plate were not government employees but related to them. There is at least one case where the person who had a special license plate had no known association with a government official.

[Episiarch]

Dude, I guarantee you that every state has tons of shit like this all over the place. There's no way that the fuckers who steal from us so blithely wouldn't give themselves perks that would make your head explode if you knew about them. Just look at those California towns where the town officers were making obscene salaries. That's everywhere, it's just that those guys got too bold.

[John]

I have never heard of it with ordinary employees. But if you have a badge of any kind, you will never get another ticket again. I have several friends who work at the Office of Special Counsel. They get badges. Show that badge to any flatfoot and all your tickets are forgiven. Everyone I know with a badge of any kind speeds with complete impunity.

[GPZsug]

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't regard that as a problem. Speeding laws are meant to reduce traffic accidents. If that's true then having a small number of people immune to the law doesn't hurt too much.

It's absolutely unethical, but when was the last time you met someone ethical? Hell, most of the HandR posters are utilitarians.

[KDN]

Speeding laws are meant to reduce traffic accidents.

You misspelled "raise revenue for the city."

[Heedless]

You do realize that vulgar utilitarianism is itself a system of ethics, right? A profoundly stupid and shortsighted one, but a system of ethics nonetheless.

Most people aren't nearly that systematic Bout their moralizing.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Around here every single cop exceeds the speed limit by 10+MPH, 30+ on the highways.

I followed a county mountie today on the way home. He got tired of doing 55 so he turned on his lights and ran it up to 65.

Don't ever put me on a jury.

Fuck you NSA

... Hobbit

[John C. Randolph]

This is of course, unconstitutional per the equal protection clause.

-jcr

[Fist of Etiquette]

...despite its tenuous ties to the country, its support of the gay and lesbian community in the face of Russia's oppression, and its complete lack of power or influence to create change in Russia on its own.

Well, the kindred spirits of the aggrieved must lash out at something or risk not being relevant.

[Paul.]

If gays don't drink Vodka Crans, who will?

[KDN]

But gays don't even have periods!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Girls?

[Lady Bertrum]

We prefer appletinis.

[A Serious Man]

Marcotte tries to explain why Europe has more restrictive abortion laws than the US

A nice, neat theory that, in true centrist fashion, imagines there really must be some kind of trade-off of freedom for economic security, as conservatives like to warn. But if you understand that the debate about abortion is less about morality per se than it is about religion?specifically, how much Christianity and its deeply patriarchal history is woven into the legal fabric of a nation?then Matchar's idea won't fly.

Americans technically have a stronger wall between church and state, but in practice, we have a huge contingent of religious fundamentalists who control much of the government and use it to impose their strict religious dogma as often as they can get away with it. Many European countries, including England, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden, either have a formal state church or church that is nationally recognized as the dominant church, and yet in daily practice, far fewer people in these nations are really religious, much less fundamentalist. Religion is often seen simply as a cultural/historical expression of national or ethnic character, but not necessarily a guiding force in everyday life.

[John]

But if you understand that the debate about abortion is less about morality per se than it is about religion?specifically, how much Christianity and its deeply patriarchal history is woven into the legal fabric of a nation?then Matchar's idea won't fly.

Yeah, only Christians ever objected to abortion. She is so stupid that you kind of have to feel sorry for her. As loathsome as she is, I don't hate Marcottee in the way I do other leftist nitwits. She is really too stupid to be worthy of anything more than pity.

[Cytotoxic]

How can she get paid for this shit and HandR denizens don't? The typical medium-length post in this place has more thought and wit than almost any of the hacks like Brook or whatever. NO JUSTICE

[John]

There really isn't. But thought and wit don't always tell people what they want to hear. And that is Amanda's market.

[C. Anacreon]

Also, by exclusion all the other religions in the world must not be deeply patriarchal? Nice, Amanda, attack religions that won't fight back, and here Christians -- in which many versions women can be ministers. Why don't you say something about the Moslem history of embracing women's rights? Don't want a jihad on your head, eh? Plus, to the wack left: any religion/culture that is not predominant in the USA is much better than what we have here.

[Damned Fool]

She doesn't have Salman Rushdie or Ayaan Hirsi Ali's courage.

[AuH20]

So, we're more religious, and more controlled by religion than Europe, despite them having state sponsored churches and more restrictive abortion laws?

Oooookay. See Marcotte forgot to take her anti-tard pills again.

[Tonio]

Well, US rates of religious participation are higher - more Americans go to church (visits per person-year) than do Europeans. Also, the state church thing has become mostly symbolic in some countries.

[John]

All of which is true and makes the case that objection to abortion is religious based that much weaker. Europe is not as religious as America, yet has much stricter abortion laws.

[Zeb]

This is also an oversimplification, but the way I look at it is that in Europe, the default state is that the state owns you and might be generous enough to grant you some rights and privileges, whereas in the US the default is individual freedom and the government needs a good reason to restrict that (obviously we are having some trouble with that lately). So in Europe, people were granted the privilege of being able to have an abortion in many countries. But in the US, a court said (right or wrong) that it is a right that people have on their own.
The fact that many countries in Europe still have state religions is also related to that dynamic, but I think has little to do with the abortion laws, except in some very Catholic countries like Ireland or Poland.

[Slammer]

we have a huge contingent of religiousprogressive fundamentalists who control much of the government

FTFY

[Episiarch]

She is literally the queen of projection.

[Almanian!]

She is literally the Queen of All Retards. Jesus. it hurts to read the words she strings together.

[Generic Stranger]

There's a difference? They both worship beings they claim to be all powerful. Progressive just chooses to call it 'the state'.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The English Major (with honors!) is in particularly fine form today:

That's because the link between wanting to rub one out and wanting to feel the power over a woman as she pleads for her safety aren't the same desire.

I too think that the link between Amanda's prose and good writing aren't the same desire, don't you?

He's not particularly concerned about the misogyny that's widespread in porn, probably in no small part because while misogyny is common in porn, it's hardly universal, and I doubt very much that Conley approves of men jerking off to porn that manages to depict sex acts without calling anyone any nasty names, spitting on anyone, or trying to get semen in anyone's eyes to see if they can fake a smile through the pain.

Truly the most delightful aspect of Amanda's writing style is her unparalleled talent for the bizarre, lurid non-sequitur. One minute you think you're reading an article about Christian hypocrisy, the next you're reading a run-on sentence detailing Amanda's unbridled anger at the misogyny inherent in cum shots (I think; hard to tell with a Marcotte article).

[The Immaculate Trouser]

All porn, misogynist and non-misogynist alike, is considered bad, because it's about lust, which he seems to think is somehow made worse not by having people around.

The first one to figure out the contextual meaning behind that one wins a night with Amanduh on the Marital Bed O' Oppression. Don't everyone flood me with responses all at once.

[Ted S.]

I recognize those words, but they don't mean anything put together.

[anon]

Dear god, please don't let me win.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

A strange game -- the only winning move is not to play...

[Anonymous Coward]

Amanda is trying to do too much in too little space. We're supposed to hate Ariel Castro (easily done), Christianity (because Christians are always bad, terrible people), and porn (whoa there, Amanda!), but we must hate Christians more than porn because Christians are higher in TEH PATREEARKY! than the producers of misogynist and non-misogynist (aka BORING) porn.

See? Simple.

[Cytotoxic]

This is how I write when I haven't thought it through for a second and should have taken a moment to put it together beforehand.

[C. Anacreon]

That's called "pulling a Marcotte."

[AuH20]

Whenever you see Amanda go off on a screed against Christianity, and Catholicism in particular, remember that she went to St. Edward's in Austin for college, and her first book was "It's a Jungle Out There: A Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable enviroments" (I took it out from the library, but kept getting too drunk to finish it. It really only goes down well with copious amounts of booze)

Basically, she's still pissed because a nun lectured her at college once, or something.

[Irish]

her first book was "It's a Jungle Out There: A Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable enviroments" (I took it out from the library, but kept getting too drunk to finish it. It really only goes down well with copious amounts of booze)

Didn't you say you were going to review that on H&R? What's taking you, man? I could use the laugh.

[Mickey Rat]

"What's taking you, man?"

Cirrhosis, most like from the above comment.

[Coeus]

Dammit, beat me by 4 minutes.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Yeah, we really double-teamed her in the Evening Links today.

/Goes onstage to receive the Marcotte Prize for Excellence in Vomit-Inducing Imagery

[Almanian!]

That made me LOL

[Enough About Palin]

Air-tight Amanda!

[AuH20]

I mean, I'll admit I find the obviously faked orgasms in a lot of porn to be a turn-off, but that's why I just have a ton of downloaded porn from Sweetheart Video (lesbian porn studio that is all about real orgasms, and they seem pretty real. Also, all the actresses are lez or bi in real life- no gay 4 pay stuff. And, funnily enough, they aren't all weird looking butches/gender queers like you'd find in "Feminist" porn. They actually look like hot women, with tits and everything)

[jesse.in.mb]

You get a kickback for that Goldie? Leave positive comments about their product in random places and you get free videos?

[Tonio]

Don't look, Jesse!

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Goldie is in hock to Big Queer. Well, BigBlackQueerHoneysLicking.com, to be precise but let's not quibble.

[AuH20]

C'mon, son. That's what torrents are for. I just enjoy their product and pimp them for anyone else who gets bored with the obviously faked orgasms and other shit in porn. Like, in their videos, even the making out foreplay is really hot.

They have a brother studio that does straight porn, but I don't think they have a gay-male affiliated studio in their umbrella. Then again... are fake orgasms really a problem in gay porn?

[jesse.in.mb]

Eh there are perfunctory orgasms and ones that the person is clearly enjoying. I'm pretty happy with the amateur stuff I tend to watch with a light dusting of studio works to mix it up, but if you hear about a gay version of this studio I'd take a look...for science!

[AuH20]

Well, Jesse, it seems that the main lines in that are Sweetheart Video (Lez) and Sweet Sinner (Straight). However, the distributor of the whole shebang, Mile High Media, does have a pretty extensive gay selection you could browse.

http://www.milehighonline.com/.....s/39/page/

NSFW obviously.

[Clich? Bandit]

Your ideas are intriguing. Perhaps you have a newsletter to which I, and the NSA, can subscribe.

[John]

I doubt very much that Conley approves of men jerking off to porn that manages to depict sex acts without calling anyone any nasty names, spitting on anyone, or trying to get semen in anyone's eyes to see if they can fake a smile through the pain.

It is like Amanda is speaking from experience there or something. The part about seaman in the eyes is just too strange to have come from anything but experience.

[AuH20]

The smile through the pain is the give away. Amanduh had a bad experience with a dude giving her a facial.

The problem is easily solved if you swallow, ladies.

[Calidissident]

The smile through the pain thing does kinda seem like it could cum from personal experience ...

[John]

I guess she got it in her eyes and it burned or something? Close your eyes Amanda. It is not hard.

[Almanian!]

Well, it won't be hard for long after you get it in your eyes...

You know what I mean...

[Gbob]

I would find it difficult to believe she had a bad experience with a facial. That would require a man being able to ejaculate while looking at her face. The more likely explanation is that the paper bag over her head would keep the semen from burning.

[Calidissident]

Have you ever watched porn? Cumshots are a pretty standard way to end the video (and I've never really been a fan of them. Don't really get the appeal)

[John]

Yes. but I have never seen any woman looking like she was in pain during the money shot. I have never heard of facials being associated with pain. It is a very odd thing to say.

[Almanian!]

I have never seen any woman looking like she was in pain during the money shot

ACTING!!!!

[Calidissident]

I do agree about the pain part. Facials always have seemed to me like they would be very unpleasant, but "painful" isn't a word I would generally use to describe my perception of them (of course I've never experienced one, so I wouldn't know)

[PapayaSF]

That is a distinct subcategory of porn: women cringing or otherwise not enjoying getting facials. But it's not what most guys want to see, so she's right that many actresses are faking enjoying it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Getting it on the face is messy but not painful. Getting it in the eye burns for a while and then you're walking around all bloodshot for the next hour or so. Be kind, don't splooge in your sex partner's eye.

[Irish]

Getting it on the face is messy but not painful. Getting it in the eye burns for a while and then you're walking around all bloodshot for the next hour or so. Be kind, don't splooge in your sex partner's eye.

What if I do it to someone who isn't my sex partner? Would that be okay?

I'm asking for a friend.

[jesse.in.mb]

What if I do it to someone who isn't my sex partner? Would that be okay?

Your "friend" is a dirty pervert. I approve, but I'm assuming the person who's getting blasted in the eye by "your friend's" love gun would not. As long as your "friend" has good running shoes on and doesn't have his DNA in CODIS, it shouldn't be a problem.

When that gypsy told me I'd end up the Miss Manners of facials I didn't believe her, but clearly I should have.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Give yourself some credit, jesse -- you're easily the Emily Post of facials, BJs, and proper gangbang etiquette.

Feel free to put that in your resume.

[PapayaSF]

As we learned in Silence of the Lambs, it can be a thing for guys in prison to fling some on any woman who happens to walk by their cell.

[Auric Demonocles]

It seems to me that a ton of standard 'straight' porn is made for guys who like to look at penises.

NTTTAWTT

[John]

And that is why porn doesn't do it for me. Too much dick involved.

[AuH20]

The argument I've heard is that you, for example, imagine that its your dick being sucked... which I just do not understand. Seems a lot of staring at dick to me. That's why I stick to lesbian porn.

[Zeb]

I just like looking at how the parts all fit together. But I could do with out extensive blowjobs or cumshots.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, but after 10 seconds of a close-up of some guy's balls flopping up and down, I'm either fast-fowarding, or moving to another vid.

Porn directors, I'm willing to trust you that penetration is happening. No need to fill my screen with images of a man's taint.

[C. Anacreon]

I also hate when you have a hot chick that you want to see in the midst of writhing from pleasurable fucking, but all the camera is filled with is an extreme closeup of balls, shaft and flesh that are just too clinical and not the slightest bit attractive.

[John C. Randolph]

Seems to me that a lot of it is made BY guys who like to look at penises. Put the camera on the GIRL, you freaking amateurs!

-jcr

[jesse.in.mb]

Or she recently watched this scene from Trick.

[Ted S.]

I have no idea why, but the top video in the sidebar for me was this.

[Killazontherun]

Uhm, spit is very practical in sex. Spit on my dick, rub it in with a quick handy, than blow me. Has the bitch ever even been laid?

[Killazontherun]

Obama homophone 'then blow me.' Christ cracker cool wiz.

[Almanian!]

I'd sworn off teh roodka, but I'm starting back on the Stoli just cause someone's boycotting it.

Sorry, liver!

[Atanarjuat]

I'm going to get some too, because they boycott is dumb, and also because my Russian co-workers keep talking about vodka.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Dinoshark vs Sharktopus in the Works

[Ted S.]

Can they add Megapython and Gatoroid, too?

[Almanian!]

What about Tyrannopuppeh vs Octokitteh? Have they made any progress on that one?

[Calidissident]

Will the final battle scene be interrupted by a sharknado?

[PapayaSF]

My preferred sequel is Bride of Sharknado.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' how, come on a safar with me

[PapayaSF]

What an idiot.

[Coeus]

Even when she's mostly correct, she still fucks it up with bullshit.

but I wasn't particularly surprised that Castro, who had a fairly classic domestic violence situation with his now deceased ex-wife?right down to drawn-out custody disputes and MRA-style self-pity on Facebook?would go to the same well of excuses again. Like Hayes said, this should be a teaching moment.

Not the most sympathetic group, but seriously?

There's zero evidence for a correlation between experiencing sexual fantasies, whether your own or those created by someone else, and violence. In fact, research into the relationship between porn use and rape shows no correlation, and frankly, the rape rates have gone down as porn use has gone up, though that's probably just a coincidence.

She had to look really hard to find a study that said that.

Bonus:

Dude is owning her in the comments, and she gets really pissy.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Guess who had a heart afterall

[Fist of Etiquette]

My old man had quadruple bypass this year. It's amazing how routine some heart surgery has become.

[A Serious Man]

Reminder: Porn sex is not the same as real sex!

[John]

Thus sayeth everyone who ever tried to make a sex tape.

[Libertymike]

Before I go home, I just wanted to tell you that a gorgeous, six foot blonde, about 30ish, tanned and wearing jean shorts, just walked by. Literally, legs for days.

WOW!

She would make you forget all about Johnny Manzell and A-Rod and contracts! I guarantee it.

[John]

I am sure she would. Have a good day. Maybe I will be as lucky going to my car.

[Ted S.]

Wait until your wife finds out. :-p

[Auric Demonocles]

Risky click.

[A Serious Man]

SFW and it actually has a lot of interesting information.

[Paul.]

Hover over link, youtube... always 'safe'.

[Ted S.]

I have Youtube set up to play the videos only with an extra click from me, so I don't even have to worry about them starting to play. I can just click on the link and read the title of the page.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Real people need 10-12 minutes to get going, while pornstar...*ding*"

Not accurate. Some pornstars...warm-up so to speak before the cameras start rolling.

"Male Pornstars can hump for days, but in real life, 75% of men ejaculate in 3 minutes"

Partially correct. Porn doesn't have room for Mr. Soft-Stroke, but there are breaks, restarts, repositions, time-outs for injuries, etc.

[Coeus]

"Male Pornstars can hump for days, but in real life, 75% of men ejaculate in 3 minutes"

Is this really true?

[Killazontherun]

Maybe I should have gone into porn. 3 minutes would be a mortal embarrassment.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

A long-distance swimmer who calls himself "The Shark" is in the middle of a 30-hour, 22-mile dip in Lake St. Clair near the Michigan-Canada border

[Almanian!]

WATCH OUT FOR MEGA-WALLEYE!!11!

[Coeus]

Yet another feminist refuses to understand what "stand your ground" is.

Everything about this story is fucking terrible, and it starts with the cultural hostility we have toward individual agency. Why on earth should paramedics and police be called to force an old man to accept a medical intervention he doesn't want?

Naturally, Illinois has a Stand Your Ground ("in defense of person") law, and here again we see that such laws are only designed to be used by privileged people, while a vulnerable person does not have the right to stand his ground against unwanted care.

[Ted S.]

I don't want to know how you find this shit.

[anon]

Seriously man, how can you tolerate reading so much shit in a day?

[Ted S.]

I think you meant to respond to Coeus, not me.

[Auric Demonocles]

What the fuck?

[Paul.]

I don't even understand her argument. That Stand-your-ground doesn't go far enough? Ok.

[sam the man]

Since when has IL had SYG? We just passed concealed carry and even that looks like it's causing problems with Quinn

[R C Dean]

a vulnerable person does not have the right to stand his ground against unwanted care.

Wait, what?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

A Marcotte Classic, folks:

Trying to talk about the struggle over reproductive rights while ignoring religion is like trying to understand sports while ignoring the existence of teams: You might come up with all sorts of compelling thoughts on why the ball is being tossed around, but you're no closer to understanding the goal of the game.

Oh, Amanda understands TEAM, alright.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://www.timesdaily.com/news.....f6eda.html

Geez, the State of Alabama has appointed new members of the state's "Music Hall of Fame Board." Not only is this a waste of money, but I doubt that the board members were selected for their musical expertise.

[Ted S.]

So are you accusing them of trying to keep Rush out?

[Caleb Turberville]

The Hall of Fame complex as basically been a boondoggle for those representing the Shoals region in Montgomery.

It has gone through several closing, the latest of which occurred earlier this year and is ongoing. I was pleased to see, when I went back to visit earlier this month, that somebody took the time to mow the grounds. It was getting kinda bad.

But other than the waste of money, the complex has always been a bit of a let down for fans of Alabama music. For one thing, it's located in neither Muscle Shoals or Sheffield (the respective homes of the FAME and Muscle Shoals Sound Studios). And the live acts they have had hosted have all been predictable country music acts (George Jones) or southern rock bands that are shells of their former selves (Lynyrd Skynrd).

What's more irritating is that Muscle Shoals Sound is privately owned and is still in use. The Black Keys recorded their album Brothers there.

[NeonCat]

Packing it with cronies? It looks like the resigning members who don't share a name with a NASCAR driver were musicians.

[Paul.]

Alabama has a... ministry of culture?

[Caleb Turberville]

Close...a Ministry of Tourism.

[Ted S.]

Alabama has culture? :-p

(Alabama v. Auburn football doesn't count as culture.)

[Coeus]

It's about time the professional victim set realized this.

DEAR PEOPLE WHO ARE HURT BY THE INTERNET EVERYWHERE: THE INTERNET IS NOT REAL, ONLY PEOPLE ARE

Guaranteed to fall on deaf ears.

[Paul.]

So sayeth the internets!

[A Serious Man]

University of Iowa ranked biggest party school in the nation.

Sodom-by-the sea UC Santa Barbara ranked second.

[Brett L]

Please. The only reason IU or UI or whoever they are are in the Top 10 is that actual party schools have been locked out for voting. Quick, do you want to drink your way from 6th street to the West Campus student ghetto in Austin or have your eyes freeze out of your skull running to the bar across the street in Ames? Exactly.

[Ted S.]

Just because you're a wimp who can't stand the cold doesn't mean the rest of us aren't.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Women in jeans or shorts or skirts versus women bundled in down and snow boots? Not being able to stand the cold and not wanting to are two different things.

[Episiarch]

Pretty much any big state school is going to be a huge party school, because a large percentage of the students will be there because they "need" to go to college but aren't sure what they want to do and the tuition is cheaper, especially for in-state students. That's going to inevitably lead to a lot of partying.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Pretty much any school really. Even though my alma mater is consistently at or near the top of "happiest students" and "best quality of life" I'm pretty sure they pull those kind of subjective rankings out of their ass.

[Episiarch]

Yeah, it's sort of ridiculous to rank them this way. Most colleges and universities, seeing as they are mostly full of young adults who are horny and have tons of energy and are now in a huge group of similar young people with vastly less oversight than they previously had, are going to be Party Central.

They should rank the opposite: least partying schools. That would be funnier and could be a guide to the rare teenagers out there who just want to go to school and not party.

[Apatheist ?_??]

That would be their stone cold sober rankings.

Obviously the Mormons won but looking at the rest of the rankings I'm betting they pulled it out of their ass too.

[Episiarch]

Ha, that's funny: Mormons, military academies, religious schools all make sense. So does the NYC City colleges, because they are mostly attended by people who are looking to increase their education later in life and function much more like community colleges. Wellesley being there is hilarious. But CalTech confuses me. A friend's older brother went there in the late 80s and he hated it; he said all the students did was smoke pot and have sex in the hot tubs scattered around the quads. Now that sounds pretty great to me, but I guess we're all different.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I went to a similar school and though we had the nerds who never left their rooms but plenty of people followed the work hard play hard motto. Hell we had two bars on campus while UT is dry. But schools like that are never going to be called a party school.

[R C Dean]

I'm betting that most people who were conscientous about "play hard" went pretty easy on the "work hard" bit.

At least, that's my experience with college students.

[robc]

Agnes Scott College

mmmm....scotties.

[A Serious Man]

They should rank the opposite: least partying schools. That would be funnier and could be a guide to the rare teenagers out there who just want to go to school and not party.

That definitely describes my alma mater.

[sam the man]

This. Every college I've visited has claimed to be the biggest party school because I've only been going to cheap, big state schools. It doesn't really matter where it's located considering U of I is in the middle of farmland and fosters a better drinking environment than Mel Gibson's house on July 4th.

[Brett L]

I don't always agree with Conor Friedersdorf, but this column, I am using as a primer for my view on the world when talking to progressives. THIS IS WHAT BRETT L ACTUALLY BELIEVES! (Or close enough. I have some quibbles.) Of course, the assholes in The Atlantic immediately jump to "your time machine or mine?"

[PapayaSF]

Good piece.

[Coeus]

Lonewhacko's in there:

24AheadDotCom Montemalone ? 4 hours ago ?
The problem is that the people obviously aren't capable of changing the behavior of the elites, because the elites are too smart, much saner, and much more driven.

The best method to challenge the elites is this:

24ahead.com/s/question-authori...

The best topics to challenge them on are immig. and trade, two issues where virtually all elites are united and where what they want differs from most Americans.

Instead of just doing that, we get Idiocratic popular movements like OWS and the TPers.

Giant puppets aren't going to keep elites in check, but OWS can't figure that out.

[Episiarch]

Giant puppets don't ask the hard questions and put them on YouTube?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Fuck, those comments are awful.

"Progressives seem to have no aversion to redistributing, without any principled limit, even the most legitimately earned wealth. If that characterization is correct, why? If not, what is the principled limit?"

I hesitate to respond, because I don' speak for "progressives" but I think the obvious, but difficult answer is: "There is no principled limit on what you have purely through circumstance or deceit, and the principled limit on what you have rightly earned is 'the least amount possible.'"

[R C Dean]

Question-begging.

The least amount possible to fund what, exactly?

Circumstance or deceit defined how?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

All to be determined by Top. Men. who have never been in a situation to make large amounts of money justly, just like "reasonable, common sense gun control" is to be determined by liberals who have never used guns.

It is incredibly twisted to suppose that a person should be locked in a cage for making an arbitrary amount of money that another person finds aesthetically distasteful. At least a common thief generally knows that what he's doing is wrong and doesn't try to wrap it up in pious nonsense.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Amanda reports on demon possession in Ukraine; can't find time to report on misogyny in the Middle East

We watch the girls press crosses to victims' foreheads as the victims writhe and scream, "demons" apparently escaping from their mouths. The possessed people are being watched intently by a crowd, which helps amplify the pressure on them to put on a very good performance.

Yeah, I don't like group feminist slam poetry, either...

[AuH20]

Hey, Reasonoids, I'm going away for a while, and plan to do a ton of reading on my Kindle. What T. Sowell book would you guys recommend if I'm totally new to his stuff? And any Friedman/Hayek that is worth picking up as well?

I already have some Edmund Burke I'm planning to flip through as well.

[Brett L]

Sowell: Economics Vol 1-3. Seriously. Until you memorize "...the allocation of scarce resources that have alternative uses..."

Also, if you want to get shit-faced, you can just drink every time you read that phrase or the word "innumerable". If you want to die, also drink every time he cites a Russian economist to prove why Russian communism/socialism can't work as long as the worlds resources are (a)fewer than enough to satiate all human demand and (b)have alternative uses.

[AuH20]

...the allocation of scarce resources that have alternative uses..."

Isn't that just "Production Possibilities" and its associated curve?

[Brett L]

I'm pretty sure the intro says: "Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources that have alternative uses." And then goes on to demonstrate how the efficient allocation thereof is what makes a group rich or poor.

[John]

Read The Constitution of Liberty, though it is a tough chew. Another good one that is actually a very easy and entertaining read is The Rise and Decline of Nations by MAncur Olson. It is an old book from the early 1980s. But it is fabulous. Very quick read and a great explanation of why economies fail and others succeed.

[Clich? Bandit]

John Locke...it is Gutenberg so should be free. Thanks for the J Sub warning.

[Render Unto Caesar]

Activate tangent in 3, 2, 1...

[Render Unto Caesar]

Damn, it started before I refreshed my browser. This should be good.

[Almanian!]

What T. Sowell book would you guys recommend

Any of them. The man's a genius. You'll love any of it.

[anon]

I second the Constitution of Liberty. Also, if you haven't read any of Bastiat's stuff, take that.

If you're really interested, take Human Action by Ludwig von Mises; if you aren't interested, it'll at least help you fall asleep. It's not a very exciting book, just warning you.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

T Sowell:
A Conflict of Visions
Race and Culture
Intellectuals and Society (I'd recommend that one or his Economics V 1-3 series)

Hans Hermann-Hoppe (if you want to get depressed):
Democracy: The God That Failed (maybe get a solid understanding of economic concepts first, though)

Pursuit of Glory (Great, great, great "history of Europe/the Enlightenment I just got through)

Little Black Book of Communism

Bloodlands (Great book on the WWII Stalin and Hitler conquests)

Richard Evans' Third Reich trilogy

I can also recommend some nice, breezy winter reading so you don't end up as a depressed alcoholic after reading my recommendations 🙂

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Ah yes, and bar none the best work of libertarian-leaning fiction I have ever read:

Red Plenty

Really damned good piece of writing and highly original.

[John]

I read the Pursuit of Glory a couple of years ago. Great book.

I just read a book called Basilica by RA Scotti on vacation. It is about the building of St. Peter's in Rome. Absolutely fabulous book. It is as much a history of Renaissance Rome and the creation of the Baroque as anything else.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

PoG was impressive for the sheer amount of history it was able to expound on in such a short work. Basilica is now on my list, thanks.

Oh, a couple more:

A People's Tragedy (history of the fall of the Tsardom/rise of the Bolshies)

Postwar (history of post-WWII Europe, also very impressive in how much history is described in so few pages)

[John]

POG is part of the Penquin history of Europe series. I have read a couple of the others. They are all good.

[Joe M]

A Conflict of Visions is interesting, because while reading it, I could clearly tell which side he favored, but I occasionally was sympathetic to the other side, because he angles it somewhat to the standard conservative/liberal split.

[Alack]

I'll second basically any recommendation for Sowell. He's pretty good all around.

For Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty is where it's at. It's big on rule of law, but worth reading even if you think that's a load of bullshit.

Free to Choose is a good intro to Friedman's thinking, assuming you're not looking for technical work.

[PapayaSF]

The book I always pimp around here: For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I read that one last year; it's very interesting though a couple of the specific examples are perhaps a bit oversold.

[PapayaSF]

Perhaps. It's a common fault of any author with a hammer to think everything's a nail. Still, lots of fascinating information there.

[C. Anacreon]

Away from his pure economics, and more cultural commentary about the Left, The Vision of the Anointed is great. It's from a few years back so I'm not sure how well it has held up, but I remember it as a spot-on examination of how the PC crowd thinks.

[Damned Fool]

A Conflict of Visions.

Any of the "culture" books like Conquest and Culture, Migrations and Culture, and Black Rednecks and White Liberals.

[Slammer]

Try to find an opportunity to read Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate sometime.

[Joe M]

Heh, he pissed off a lot of people with that one.

[Irish]

The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper is always good.

John mentions that Constitution of Liberty is a tough read and I second that. It's great and loaded with great info. but it took me forever to finish it. I'd read a chapter of Constitution of Liberty, put the book down, read three other books, and then come back for more Constitution of Liberty. It's just very dry and Hayek has a very academic writing style.

[Entropy Void]

probably too late for anyone to notice ...

Parliament of Whores by PJ O'Rourke

oh, and Asimov's Foundation Series

Stephen R Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

[A Serious Man]

Florida summer camp offers to give kids a 'Hunger Games' experience

The first day of camp brought girls with lunchbags and suntans and swimsuit strings hanging down the backs of their shirts. They smiled and jumped up and down, excited to see each other; many were classmates at Country Day School, the host of the summer camp. It was this friendship that made Rylee Miller, 12, feel a little conflicted. "I don't want to kill you," she told Julianna Pettey. Julianna, also 12, looked her in the eye. "I will probably kill you first," she said. She put her hands on Rylee's shoulders. "I might stab you."

The boys had gathered away from the girls, across the room. Eli Hunter cocked an elbow and pointed the fingers on his other hand, explaining that he was a sniper in a tree. He gunned down Liam Cadzow, a tiny blond boy in a bucket hat.

Aren't kids great?

[Clich? Bandit]

Where is Florida Man when you need him?

[Outlaw]

DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS.

[anon]

You fucking asshole. After a statement like that, of course I'm going to read the comments. Then I'm going to see all the dumb shit people are going to say about what sounds like one of the most awesome summer camps you could attend.

[Outlaw]

HAHAHA!

[Enough About Palin]

"Damn the facts and full-speed ahead: The public spectacle of gay bars boycotting Russian vodkas continues, with Solichnaya still being the public whipping boy, despite its tenuous ties to the country, its support of the gay and lesbian community in the face of Russia's oppression, and its complete lack of power or influence to create change in Russia on its own."

All that matters is that it makes me feel good to be boycotting it.

BTW what's the Urban Dictionary definition of boycotting (or boy-cotting)?

[AuH20]

Don't the gays know that colored liquors make you fat, like us ugly straight men?

[Outlaw]

boycott

138 up, 48 down

a Catholic priest's favorite place to sleep.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

AUGH

Gov. Rick Perry will not be letting legislators spend the rest of their hot Texas summer at home now that the major conquest of Texas vaginas has been completed.

STOP IT. We put up with the bad prose, we tolerate the nonsensical feminist idea behind the bad prose, but for the love of God Marcotte, stop making us imagine figures from the Christian Right doing it! What's next -- an article entirely composed of run-on sentences detailing an orgy between James Dobson, Mike Huckabee, and Michelle Bachmann?! Russell Kirk on the Bang Bus as described by an Italian immigrant with a rudimentary understanding of sentence composition? Palin Gone Wild -- well, actually that one's legit. Still, I'm not sure I'm ready for the new direction Marcotte's prose is taking us.

It only encourages Sugarfree dammit.

[AuH20]

Eventually, archaeologists may unearth Marcotte's writings and assume that in 2013, the Texas legislature fought a great battle to take a town known as Vagina.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Perry does need to cut the shit though. We have a part time legislature for a reason. Of course we wouldn't haven needed the 2nd Session if the end of the session hadn't been disrupted after the filibuster was busted.

[Enough About Palin]

Japan observed the 68th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing today with a minute of silence...

...followed by a massive fireworks display!

[A Serious Man]

New Hampshire cop discovers that a woman he let go for speeding lied about going to see her dying father in the hospital

Trooper Christopher Cummings stopped Williams, 28, of Nashua at about 9 p.m. on the Everett Turnpike in Merrimack for traveling 82 mph in a 65-mph zone.

Williams told the trooper her father was dying. She said she was rushing to get to Catholic Medical Center in Manchester before he died, according to police.

Based on Williams' emotional state and what she said, Cummings let her continue on her way.

But then state police checked with Catholic Medical Center and discovered they did not have a patient with the last name of Williams. Cummings then discovered an obituary for Williams's father ? dating back to 2008.
[...]
She was charged with speeding and driving with a suspended registration. After being booked at the Nashua police station, she was released on personal recognizance. She's due in Merrimack Circuit Court Sept. 5.

[Rasilio]

She's probably lucky they didn't layer on Lying to a police officer and obstruction of justice charges on top.

She shoulda just offered to blow him

[Paul.]

There's a SWAT raid in her future.

[anon]

All you fucking misogynists with your "BOY"cotting.

[Paul.]

I mancott!

[Episiarch]

Girlcaught?

[Mad Scientist]

Marcotte!

[Cytotoxic]

http://business.financialpost......ayer-risk/

President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed a broad overhaul of the nation's mortgage finance system, including winding down government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He declared that taxpayers should never again be left "holding the bag" for the mortgage giants' bad bets.

Something's wrong here. I don't like it, and I've got a real bad feeling.

[Ted S.]

He declared that taxpayers should never again be left "holding the bag" for the mortgage giants' bad bets.

So we should be foreclosing more quickly and selling off the foreclosed properties at auction?

[anon]

So we should be foreclosing more quickly and selling off the foreclosed properties at auction?

If Obama hinted at this, I'd know I've woken up in an alternate universe.

[PapayaSF]

He wants to funnel the subsidies somewhere else? Where will all those Democrat cronies find new positions? Really, this can't simply be a smaller-government move.

[Anonymous Coward]

He declared that taxpayers should never again be left "holding the bag" for the mortgage giants' bad bets.

We the taxpayers wouldn't have been left holding the bag if you and Dubya hadn't handed us the bag and then run off.

[Paul.]

White folks bringin' the game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sysri2CqXrY

[Paul.]

Russian police officers take different approach to aggressive dogs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dacYjws6Zc4

[Slammer]

Awesome!

[Anonymous Coward]

Juneteenth work party with fried chicken, Big Red triggers suit

Two former employees of a Dallas-area law firm are suing after the firm threw a Juneteenth party with fried chicken and Big Red among other alleged racial discrimination.

The two black employees allege unlawful employment practices, racial discrimination and having to work in a racially hostile work environment at the firm of Eberstein & Witherite, which does business under the name 1800-CAR-WRECK. The suit was filed in a Dallas County court on Aug. 2.

The suit alleges the firm threw a Juneteenth party in 2012 by serving fried chicken and Big Red soda "to its handful of African American employees only." The suit said the firm's management team, made up of white employees, made the choice to celebrate the holiday with the selected menu.

When a black employee asked for Juneteenth off, a white human resources manager allegedly wrote to the employee, "Y'all don't need no day off. Ya'll need to work."

One of the plaintiffs, Julius Jackson, said he was reprimanded and retaliated against after he complained to management about the Juneteenth celebration. The suit said he was disciplined for acting "superior," which the suit said is code for being an "uppity Black male."

I would sue if someone gave me a case of Big Red soda. Fucking disgusting stuff.

[Almanian!]

Come on - WHO DOESN'T LIKE FRIED CHICKEN?

This is The Onion, isn't it?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Fried chicken is the best... but this does seem kinda racist.

[anon]

No, it's not. Nobody is inferring that anyone is genetically inferior.

[Apatheist ?_??]

When the fuck did Big Red become a racial stereotype?

[Coeus]

Probably the same time "negro" became a swear word and mestizos became white.

[Anonymous Coward]

Allegedly, the story goes that way back when, slaves weren't allowed to drink expensive, strawberry-flavored soda. When emancipation came, the freedmen celebrated their freedom by drinking the forbidden drink, red soda. Somehow, strawberry flavored soda turned into any red soda, and the biggest red soda (which tastes like cough syrup and club soda) is Big Red.

And that's why black people drink Big Red.

Grape soda, however, is fucking delicious and goes great with fried chicken. I might go have one later.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Big Red is delicious. In Texas I haven't noticed a racial disparity in its consumption.

[robc]

Big Red and Rum, aka REDRUM.

I created that in college to drink while reading Reactor Physics.

[Paul.]

I thought Purple Drank was the stereotype. So confusing.

[Paul.]

Oh, is it schadenfreude that a law firm is getting sued?

[A Serious Man]

The suit alleges the firm threw a Juneteenth party in 2012 by serving fried chicken and Big Red soda "to its handful of African American employees only." The suit said the firm's management team, made up of white employees, made the choice to celebrate the holiday with the selected menu.

Only serving it to the black employees is problematic, IMO.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Yeah, sounds bad. If true. (Note to anyone from the firm who is reading this: Of course I'm not assuming the allegations are true, on the contrary, I'm expressing shock that such a distinguished firm would be accused of something that clearly didn't happen at such an upstanding institution)

[C. Anacreon]

Exciting news! Some of you may have seen posts on H&R in the recent past decrying Plan Bay Area, a horrendous and coercive eminent domain scheme concocted to force new construction of high-density subsidized apartment buildings in quiet, built-out San Francisco suburbs where all the other homes are detached single-family. Today the Pacific Legal Foundation has filed a pro bono lawsuit against the Plan. Hooray!

[PapayaSF]

Good.

[Slammer]

Cuteness alert! Tip: turn the volume up.

[Xenocles]

Got a response back from my rep re the Amash Amendment and it had an interesting assertion:

We need strong oversight to make sure there's not an abuse of these powers and Americans' civil liberties are protected.

There were two amendments on the Defense Appropriations bill to stop surveillance on Americans. I voted for one amendment that would explicitly prohibit that type of activity. The amendment I supported prohibits the federal government from acquiring, monitoring, or storing the content of electronic communications by an American. To me, that's critical.

A separate proposal, known as the "Amash amendment," was overly broad and went too far, and completely eliminates an important tool for preventing attacks. This amendment could have severely limited the intelligence community's ability to conduct surveillance against people overseas planning to attack the United States or Americans stationed or living abroad. What's more, the amendment received just 15 minutes of debate as part of the broader bill. Out of recognition of those concerns, the amendment was defeated (with my "no" vote as well as the Republican and Democratic leadership of the House and of its Intelligence Committee).

[Xenocles]

Aside from the bit about critically weakening our defense &c, does anyone know about this other bill he's talking about?

[anon]

Pretty sure it only exists in his head.

[Apatheist ?_??]

No there was another amendment that basically didn't address the issue that was created specifically so fuckwads like this could pretend they voted to reign the NSA in.

[Coeus]

Bullshit

Why Rush Limbaugh and the right turned on Trayvon Martin

Not suprisingly, "because the media lied constantly about Zimmerman and Saint Treyvon" isn't one of them.

[PapayaSF]

And because the left tried to turn this into a lesson about racism, gun control and Stand Your Ground laws when none of those things had anything to do with the case.

[Coeus]

Waaaah! Jenny McCarthy's hotter than me!!!

Jenny McCarthy's Playboy spread hurts older women
At 40, the celebrity insults women who don't have her advantages

[Brett L]

This woman should feel proud. I still think she's probably smarter and has caused fewer deaths in small children than Jenny McC.

[Pro Libertate]

She's upset that more men have masturbated to Jenny, see. She wants equality in masturbation.

[anon]

the lionization of the hot 40-year-old is in this case another way for society to demand more from women, and to continually objectify us.

That's it, right there. I've hit my limit of bullshit for the day. Maybe for the week.

[Lady Bertrum]

She's just pissed that there are hot 40-year olds. We're supposed to let ourselves go for the collective, or we're suppose to diet ourselves into Nancy Reagan giant-head tiny-body withered up asexual status. For the sisterhood.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

It's like Logan's Run, but with frumpiness.

[Irish]

Not finding older women attractive is sexist.

Finding older women attractive is sexist.

[Pro Libertate]

Reality is sexist for creating different sexes.

I'm surprised these hardcore feminists aren't moving to engineer people into breeding via binary fission.

[Episiarch]

This is the thing: these types of complaints are complaints about hardwired parts of our brains. Straight dudes like hot chicks. If a chick can stay hot as she gets older, they still like her. You're not going to change that. Ever. So literally what is the point in her complaining about it? It's like complaining that we get hungry if we don't eat, or complaining that blood is red. Like, fuck, lady, what do you want done about it?

[anon]

. Like, fuck, lady, what do you want done about it?

Just cut your dick and/or balls off, place them neatly in the purse, and leave her the fuck alone you sexist pig. Isn't it obvious?

[Episiarch]

I'm sort of serious, though. She can't possibly think that this is going to change, right? So what is the point of complaining? Just to whine?

I mean if someone wrote an article complaining about how gravity is so mean because if you fall off something you can get hurt or killed, how fucking hard would you laugh at them?

"You win again, gravity!"

[anon]

Your problem, Epi, is that you assume she's thought this through. She has not.

[Episiarch]

But there's nothing to think through. That's why this amazes me so much. This isn't some complex scenario that she doesn't understand; this is on the level of "why do babies have to shit all over the place?" or something. I mean, there's nothing to think through. It's just the way it is.

[PapayaSF]

Her complaint is that this does not reflect "average" women, which is of course idiotic because Playboy is not in the business of photographing average women.

The author is kind of cute in a nerdy way.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Maybe, but where's her cauldron and broomstick?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

That's the progressive ideology for you.

You have to give up your free will, change how you view sexuality and self-interest at a fundamental level, and voluntarily impoverish yourself for the sake of an ideal that even with all those concessions would never be implemented perfectly or even to the satisfaction of its exponents.

Other than that, it works great!

[Episiarch]

The thing is, this isn't hard-to-understand economics or something that in their ignorance they think can be changed. They're humans. They can look at themselves and the people around them and see quite clearly that you're not going to be changing this. Yet still she kvetches. I have to assume whining just gets it off her chest or something, because it's idiotic.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I think there really is something quasi-religious about it. It's not all that different from the Christians who assert that you "choose" to be attracted to a certain gender; you have to wonder exactly how different their puberty experience was from yours and how they can go through life without an intuitive understanding of how sexual attraction works.

[Mad Scientist]

They understand it. But they have also mastered complete and utter denial.

[C. Anacreon]

I just got back from a four-day boat trip with a group of friends. One was a 47-year-old with a mind-blowing body much better than the vast majority of 21-year-olds I've seen. She only wore skimpy bikinis and definitely should have, though all the other similarly-aged gals were in one-piece.

The gal in the bikini looked great, and was fun eye candy, but it never seemed degrading or sexist or that she was different than the others. Everybody chatted with everyone else about the same far as I could tell.

Perhaps this author should just grow up, and realize people can be attractive without it being a monster issue in adult interactions.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

Yeah, we talked about this nonsense a while ago.

If you look at what else the same author has written, you'll find that even though Jenny McCarthy flaunting her bod is "insulting," for some reason Christina Hendricks showing off her huge tits is apparently OK.

[Irish]

It's because Christina Hendricks is a larger woman so it's empowering.

Of course, she's a larger woman who looks great and is very well proportioned. The fact that she's not petite though allows fat women to pretend they look like Christina Hendricks. They'd never be able to pretend they look like Jenny McCarthy.

[Mint Berry Crunch]

I'd bet that's an accurate summary of what's going on in the Salon writer's brain.

The "HEY NO FAIR JENNY MCCARTHY HAS ALL THESE ADVANTAGES" argument is still bizarre, though, from someone praising Christina Hendricks. I don't know if Big Red's tits are real or fake, but it actually doesn't matter. Either way, she enjoys advantages of her own.

Assuming they're real, she just won a genetic lottery and grew her own rack that looks better than what 99.999....% of women are blessed with. Assuming they're fake, she had a highly skilled surgeon that - much like Jenny's personal trainers - the average woman can't afford.

[Anonymous Coward]

The anorexic look, of course, is toxic, but so is acting like it's no big deal that McCarthy still looks that way at her age. Of course, some people have incredible metabolisms, but it's just disingenuous to act like it does not take a load of money for trainers, gym memberships, doctor check-ups, proper workout shoes, and the like, as well as time. To work out for hours every day while maintaining a career and being a mother to a 10-year-old is unrealistic for most women.

So you can't carve out some time to bust out some push-ups, squats, and crunches every day?

Julianne sounds like one of those lazy people who imagines there is some magic trick to physical fitness.

[anon]

Julianne sounds like one of those lazy people who imagines there is some magic trick to physical fitness.

It is magical when you've never had to work for anything your entire life.

[Irish]

The anorexic look, of course, is toxic, but so is acting like it's no big deal that McCarthy still looks that way at her age. Of course, some people have incredible metabolisms, but it's just disingenuous to act like it does not take a load of money for trainers, gym memberships, doctor check-ups, proper workout shoes, and the like, as well as time. To work out for hours every day while maintaining a career and being a mother to a 10-year-old is unrealistic for most women.

I'll grant her the time issue, but even that is disingenuous. You can work out around the house in your spare time or even while watching T.V. I know women who bust their asses, who have kids, and who still stay in shape by doing situps, pushups, and running around the block. You can do situps and pushups in front of the T.V. I'm sure your 10 year old won't manage to kill herself in the half hour that takes.

The supposed expense of working out is bullshit. There are plenty of exercises you can do with no equipment. The only thing of those she listed that I have is a gym membership. It's like 20 bucks a month, which even someone who isn't rich can afford. An average income easily affords that.

I have no special shoes, have no idea why you'd need doctor check-ups to workout, and don't use a trainer. This woman is full of shit and is making up excuses.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

All excuses. You can get a copy of P90X secondhand cheap; it doesn't take long at all. There are always body weight exercises. Running and swimming are fantastic cardio workouts.

If you are fat and fine with it, that's fine -- but don't make it someone else's problem.

[Episiarch]

Exactly, and that's kind of what I was getting at earlier. She's just whining that Jenny McCarthy has bothered to take the time and effort to stay in shape, and she didn't. It's actually incredibly pathetic, which is another reason I don't get why people who write these types of article do it. Because it makes you look like a loser and a whiner and just screams to everyone that you're probably fat and have little to no discipline. Is that what you want to shout to the world, lady? Because that's exactly what you're doing.

[Lady Bertrum]

She's full of shit. It doesn't take private gym membership, personnel trainers, and unlimited time to stay in shape*.

There's only one necessary prerequisite and that's self-discipline.

*stay in shape is a relative status.

[Lady Bertrum]

personal

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

"Anorexic" is one of the most convenient terms ever invented for people who want an excuse to be fat. Another is "exercise bulimic."

Most attractive women are not even close to looking anorexic, but ever since a few fashion designers pushed extreme skinniness and the women in charge of fashion magazines stupidly went along with it, chubby women have had a useful slur to throw around to make their chubbiness sound like a health choice borne out of self-confidence, rather than just a preference for one bite brownies over gym.

[Tejicano]

Late to the party as usual...

As I turned 50 and the wife and I had the first of two kids I found there was no longer time for the gym. So I found a workout system on-line that I liked and kept in shape that way.

In fact the kids can make a good piece of workout equipment. Try doing leg lifts with a two year old on your knees. Or let a three year old jump on your abs while doing crunches. Push-ups with a kid on your back, climb a couple flights of stairs while carrying two kids, etc.

Life with kids has given me definition that eluded me before. You only need 30 to 45 minutes to get in a good, concentrated workout anyway.

[MappRapp]

Dude is jsut cool liek that .Wow.

http://www.Mega-Anon.tk

[Almanian!]

My best friend played with that first Wilson metal racket - I think it was Jimmy Conners?

My wife had the Chris Evert model, which looked to me like a Jack Kramer with different colors.

I had TWO Jack K's, strung with different tensions. HS tennis geek...

[John]

I bet he was in shock.