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Former Email Provider Attacks Surveillance State, Germany Regulates Truck Drivers Out of Existence, Bob Filner To Become a Touchy-Feely Private Citizen: P.M. Links

J.D. Tuccille | 8.22.2013 4:30 PM

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Large image on homepages | City of San Diego
(City of San Diego)
  • Bob Filner
    City of San Diego

    The man who closed encrypted email firm Lavabit to escape a government order to snoop on customers says the Obama administration created a surveillance state that hearkens back to the McCarthy era. For its part, the White House finds itself constantly on the defensive, dreading the next NSA spying revelation.

  • Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper takes to Tumblr to convince us his operation is as cuddly as lolcats.
  • San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is expected to, at long last, resign. Well, maybe one grope for the road.
  • In recent years, Germany imposed tough qualifications on truck drivers and stiff fines on those who who work without official permission. Now, shockingly, the country has a shortage of people willing and able to drive trucks.
  • A Department of Homeland Security employee responsible, in part, for acquiring guns and ammunition for the feds has a sideline in promoting vitriolic anti-white, anti-gay views.
  • Thailand is poised to become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. This is not a surprise.
  • While education choice explodes in popularity around the United States, Virginia has all of five charter schools, since local school districts have veto power.
  • California lawmakers move to give prosecutors the option to be more lenient with drug charges. Wait…prosecutors?

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

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  1. Warrren   12 years ago

    Filner is a goblin!

    1. some guy   12 years ago

      That picture has been photoshopped, right?

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        Yes, he actually looks less human in person. TFIBHAW

        1. fish   12 years ago

          That photo was taken right after Filners last molting. He having swallowed a whole goat a week prior to the official portrait.

          Look at that mottling....exquisite!

        2. sove739   12 years ago

          I work at Home with Google. It's by-far the nicest job I have had. I've made $64,000 so far this year working online and I'm a full time student. I've made such great money. It's really user friendly and I'm just so happy that I found out about it. Here is what I do, http://www.Bling6.com

      2. Warrren   12 years ago

        My wife thinks he looks like Stitch (from Lilo and Stitch not Stitch Hessian from Firefly.)

    2. Tonio   12 years ago

      Also, First! Well done, Commentator; it's good to keep Fist on his toes.

      1. Warrren   12 years ago

        I would strut around Jagger-like a bit more if my post were a bit stronger.

        Still, though, anything that negatively affects FoE is a good thing.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is expected to, at long last, resign.

    Who did he think he was, anyway? Bill Clinton? Ahnold?

    1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      Filner's "fondle rate" is 94.5% according to TPM - an all-time elected official high.

      Seriously.

    2. The DerpRider   12 years ago

      Think of the opportunities he missed by the no campaigning laws at poll locations. Lines of women just waiting to be hugged.

  3. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to arm-wrestle Hulk Hogan

    1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      The *Onion* bought the Edmonton Journal?

    2. CE   12 years ago

      My money's on Hogan. If I can get that auto-title loan....

  4. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    California lawmakers move to give prosecutors the option to be more lenient with drug charges.

    Like suddenly prosecutor resume-padding is going to go away.

  5. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Thailand is poised to become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage. This is not a surprise.

    Bad news for Western tourists who have a wild night in Phuket and wake up the next day married to a Ladyboy.

    1. Jerry on the boat   12 years ago

      I guess even the wedding officiants had trouble figuring out whom they were marrying.

  6. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    It's a bear eat bear world

    1. Francisco d Anconia   12 years ago

      Ugh...the comments...

    2. fish   12 years ago

      Cannibalistic bears......eeew!

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        Wait, is it cannibalism if they're the same family but different species?

        I need to know before my cloned neanderthal burgers get cold.

        1. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

          Male brown bears will happily eat other brown bear cubs if allowed. And if hungry enough, I imagine. I don't know if they'll do it to cubs they've sired. I don't know if black bears do too.

          There's a documentary on the brown bears that congregate at the McNeil River in Alaska, where one cub makes the mistake of getting too close to a large boar, who then kills the cub, peels it, and eats it. As gross as it sounds. I guess it was easier to catch than a king salmon.

          1. Francisco d Anconia   12 years ago

            Brown bear males will kill their own cubs.

  7. Bam!   12 years ago

    NASDAQ trading halted for 2 hours today.

    1. Raston Bot   12 years ago

      How much did Government Sachs lose from not front-running?

      1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        Front-running is just good IT practice.

  8. Brett L   12 years ago

    Did you know T. Rex was a vegan? Jesus told this guy so.

    1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

      I thought he was a Jeepster.

    2. NeonCat   12 years ago

      Jesus rode them, didn't He? So He'd know!

      1. Generic Stranger   12 years ago

        Dude, that's a utahraptor, you speciest.

    3. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

      Linking to addicting info, really Brett?

  9. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    ...James Clapper takes to Tumblr to convince us his operation is as cuddly as lolcats.

    i can has 4th amendment?

  10. Irish   12 years ago

    Journalist speaks the truth.

    You Think America's Racist? Look at Europe

    Of course, there's no reason to single out Hungary. Racism is a problem throughout much of Europe. Italy's first black government minister was compared to an orangutan by a senator and had bananas thrown at her by a citizen. Dutch politician Geert Wilders exploits racial tensions to advance an anti-immigrant (particularly anti-Muslim) agenda. And a terrible tragedy unfolded recently in Poland, when Mexican sailors were attacked by Polish soccer hooligans.

    1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

      Some of my peers on a trip to Spain had abrupt wake-up-calls when they heard how some Spaniards talk about North Africans.

      1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

        Soccer is notorious for this:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.....n_football

      2. Irish   12 years ago

        You know why FIFA games have those big 'Say no to racism' signs? Because black players kept having bananas thrown at them during games. There have been black players who got in fights with people in the stands because they wouldn't stop abusing them.

        Nothing like that has happened in America since the 60s.

        1. Brandon   12 years ago

          But LIMBAUGH AND MCNABB IS TOTALLY THE SAME THING!!!

          -Standard lib response.

        2. robc   12 years ago

          Actually, a banana was thrown at a MLB player just the other day.

          In San Francisco, IIRC.

          1. mauricegirodias   12 years ago

            San Diego. And the player was Adam Jones (a local who made good with Baltimore.)

            1. robc   12 years ago

              San Diego/San Francisco, whatever. CA is CA.

          2. mr simple   12 years ago

            Maybe they thought he was low on potassium?

            1. robc   12 years ago

              The guy who did it came forward, apologized, and said it wasnt racist, just that he was mad, and it was convenient.

          3. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

            Lance Berkman has had Twinkies thrown at him.

            He'll eat them.

    2. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

      Jesus, *finally* someone said it.

      America's pussified obsession with race makes me crazy.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        They've warped it so out of perspective that they don't even know what racism is anymore. Witness how many people think dressing up like Flava Flav for a 40's party is racist.

        1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

          They've warped it so out of perspective that they don't even know what racism is anymore. Witness how many people think dressing up like Flava Flav for a 40's party is racist.

          I'd point to being labeled a racist because you don't agree with the particular policy positions of our Dear Leader. Or for pointing out that welfare programs have created intergenerational dependency on government and a permanent underclass of ghetto-dwellers.

          1. fish   12 years ago

            I'd point to being labeled a racist because you don't agree with the particular policy positions of our Dear Leader.

            Democratic party feature...not democratic party bug!

          2. Coeus   12 years ago

            That's another. But I was picking an example that some libertarians seem to agree with as well.

        2. Francisco d Anconia   12 years ago

          Couldn't agree more. The word is now officially meaningless. EVERYONE is a racist.

          1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

            Things that have gotten me called a racist in recent months:

            ? Saying that I thought the jury made the right decision, and that Zimmerman was not guilty.

            ? Saying the the killers of the baseball player in OK might not have simply been "bored," but were perhaps trying to gain "street cred" as Crips and/or rappers, because it's not unknown for young gangsters or rappers to do such things.

        3. Coeus   12 years ago

          Another example of what we find racist:

          "When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race: sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up, diabetes is something that's prevalent in the genetic makeup and you just can't help it," Marble said. "Although I've got to say, I've never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down south and you ? I love it."

          "The Mexican diet, in Mexico, with all of the fresh vegetables, and you go down there and they're much thinner than they are up here, they've changed their diet," she continued.

          So if food has nothing to do with minority obesity rates, what does? And how the fuck is singling out food when talking about obesity racist? Cause she said, among other things, chicken? What the fuck is the definition of racism that encompasses that?

          1. Irish   12 years ago

            "The Mexican diet, in Mexico, with all of the fresh vegetables, and you go down there and they're much thinner than they are up here, they've changed their diet," she continued.

            This is a lie. Mexico just passed us as the most obese country on the planet. Everyone involved in that article is stupid.

            1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

              +1

            2. Coeus   12 years ago

              I didn't say she was smart, just not racist.

            3. fish   12 years ago

              This is a lie. Mexico just passed us as the most obese country on the planet. Everyone involved in that article is stupid.

              Nonsense! For every obese Mexican there are six skinny ones behind them!

            4. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

              Mexico just passed us as the most obese country on the planet.

              Every time I hear bullshit like "obesity epidemic" I point out we have a shit-load more Mexicans in this country that we did 40 years ago and Mexico's obesity rate.

              Plus the fact that baby boomers get heavier as they age and they dominate the demographics.

              So it's NOT an epidemic as it was all predictable by demographics and immigration patterns. The result is usually a passive-aggressive change of subject.

          2. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

            She's talking complete bullshit:

            Fried chicken is one of the few fast food things I could eat on my diet. That was when I was losing weight so fast the nurses next door were worried I had cancer.

            Mexico is more obese than the USA. They changed their diet there too. It's full of sugars and carbage.

            Barbecue isn't a sauce, it's a cooking style. Pulled pork with vinegar sauce isn't fattening. Smoked brisket isn't fattening.

            1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

              Obesity rates correlate to soda consumption.

            2. Joe M   12 years ago

              What was your fast weight loss diet? I need to lose five pounds in a week.

              1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

                My guess, he's low carb or paleo.

                Try Atkins for fast weight loss.

    3. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Oh, absolutely. Anyone who has spent any time in Europe knows this. I remember being in Spain (Granollers) and having my Spanish then-girlfriend's mother remarking on how an Ethiopian woman actually shopped in the Spaniard supermarket. It wasn't hateful or anything, it was just that she was shocked, because the Ethiopians have their own markets and are supposed to stick to them and their ghettos and stay out of sight. And for the most part, they do.

      But they don't even see this as racism, just the way things are.

      1. Art Vandelay   12 years ago

        When I lived in Spain, I saw several guys dress up as black men for Halloween. It was very strange.

        But, as you say, I didn't notice much hate, apart from one guy at a newsstand who wouldn't sell to any foreigner. He was fucking bitter.

    4. Drake   12 years ago

      Being anti-Muslim, or probably more accurately, against special privileges for Muslims is not "racism".

    5. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

      You Think America's Racist? Look at Europe

      While you're at it, look at Asia and Africa, too.

      I'll give the Ozzies a pass for the time being.

    6. ant1sthenes   12 years ago

      It's like an eating disorder -- if you judged American culture by the amount of self-flagellation going on for every perceived pound gained impolitic comment or cookie eaten grievance, you'd think we were heifers the KKK. But it's more about our obsession with being thin tolerant than our actual weight racism.

  11. playa manhattan   12 years ago

    "Germany imposed tough qualifications on truck drivers"

    Like what? The ability to drive a truck?

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      Not be Serbian or Greek.

    2. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

      Euro Truck simulator is huge in Europe.

    3. Rrabbit   12 years ago

      That article is misleading. Germany does have a truck driver shortage, but this is not new, and the reasons are different, mainly
      o poor work conditions
      o very low pay (15k to 24k Euro/year) due to competition from low wage Eastern European countries

      40% of new German truck drivers (i.e, drivers who already have the necessary license) quit within the first year.

  12. Episiarch   12 years ago

    A Department of Homeland Security employee responsible, in part, for acquiring guns and ammunition for the feds has a sideline in promoting vitriolic anti-white, anti-gay views.

    Promote him to Border Patrol!

    1. Tonio   12 years ago

      You know who else promoted anti-gay views?

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        Uh...Jesus?

        1. Tonio   12 years ago

          No, I think the anti-gay stuff is all old testament. Plus, not the answer I was looking for. Hint: closer to home...

          1. Brett L   12 years ago

            Its coming from inside Tonio!

          2. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

            Nope, Jesus didn't care, he was too busy cursing fig trees when he was hangry.

            Paul on the other hand wrote things like Romans 1:26-27

            For this reason [idolatry] God gave them up to passions of dishonor; for even their females exchanged the natural use for that which is contrary to nature, and likewise also the males, having left the natural use of the female, were inflamed by their lust for one another, males with males, committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error.

            1. mr simple   12 years ago

              Paul was big into slashfic.

          3. Xenocles   12 years ago

            IIRC Paul warned against being "effeminate," and in context it seemed mostly like a reference to being gay.

      2. Art Vandelay   12 years ago

        Slick Willy?

      3. fish   12 years ago

        Me!

        Nahh....just fucking with Tony!

      4. Tonio   12 years ago

        The answer is was hoping for was American!!1! Thanks, everyone. Here's your consolation prizes.

    2. JW   12 years ago

      "You don't want the truth, because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall."

    3. Brett L   12 years ago

      FTA: War on the Horizon calls Obama a "a treasonous mulatto scum dweller," and lists him among the movement's enemies (also on the list? Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Condoleezza Rice, among others)

      You know who brought down black people? The richest black woman in the world. This guy is awesome.

      1. fish   12 years ago

        I eagerly await the Tosh.0 episode!

      2. Heroic Mulatto   12 years ago

        a treasonous mulatto scum dweller

        As tempting as it is to change my handle to that for the week, I won't.

      3. ant1sthenes   12 years ago

        It would be fun to read off that sentence (War on the Horizon calls Obama a "a treasonous mulatto scum dweller," and lists him among the movement's enemies (also on the list? Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and Condoleezza Rice, among others)) to liberals and watch them react in horror when you tell them that this guy works for the DHS purchasing guns and ammo.

        Then, and only then, let them know that he's black. I mean out of context, who would guess?

  13. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    For its part, the White House finds itself constantly on the defensive...

    The best part of this terrible scandal is watching the Obama team scrambling to explain their last lie.

    1. Episiarch   12 years ago

      The longer they are on the defensive, the better. It keeps them from doing other shit.

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        Maybe, Epi. My fear is that they'll come up with other shit to distract us: Syria, CAGW, etc.

        1. Episiarch   12 years ago

          Oh, they're going to try. But Snowden and Greenwald are still out there, promising more slow drip leaks.

          Obama and crew are going to have a tough time distracting from that.

          1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

            This is apparently why the huge push to get Snowden and intimidate Greenwald. They no doubt knew what the two had on them. But they kept telling the lies anyway.

    2. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      The best part of this terrible scandal is watching the Obama team scrambling to explain their last lie.

      Which shows the brilliance of Greenwald/Snowden's strategy in making the leaks a slow drip rather than a massive dump. They allow Obama to take a particular stance, then release the next bit of info which contradicts it.

  14. NeonCat   12 years ago

    Russians don't feel the need to hide how many Russians they surveil.

    1. RBS   12 years ago

      All of them?

    2. some guy   12 years ago

      And no one was surprised in the least.

    3. Tonio   12 years ago

      In post-Soviet Russia, state surveil you. Wait, that doesn't work.

      1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

        Yes it does

        /Putin.

  15. Brett L   12 years ago

    Fuck. I would have risked decompression if this shit happened.

    On the way back, he pondered what he would do if the water reached his mouth. The only idea he came up with, he said, was to open the safety valve on his helmet and let out some of the water.

    1. Bam!   12 years ago

      Tell me again why we send people into space. Besides the cool/ego factor.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        If by "we," you mean the government, I have no idea. If you mean as a species, I have a long list of good reasons.

        See, government does it on a cost-level that's absurd to contemplate. But it doesn't have to cost billions each launch.

      2. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        Because it is there.

        1. Brandon   12 years ago

          Because it is not here.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            That's actually a great answer.

      3. Raven Nation   12 years ago

        Money. I think this goes back to the sixties when some of the NASA people argued that the best way to win public support for spending on a space program was to have people going into space.

      4. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        Because you aren't there.

    2. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

      This may sound stupid, but I wondered what prevented him from drinking it?

      1. Brett L   12 years ago

        Good question.

        1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

          Was it really water, and not some other (poisonous) liquid?

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            Semen. This isn't reported very widely, given the subject matter, but semen production is extremely high in low-gravity environments.

          2. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

            I mean, it says "water". Maybe that's not the best idea in the world, but it's better than drowning.

          3. Tonio   12 years ago

            They have hydration systems built in, so basically his water hose was leaking.

        2. tarran   12 years ago

          It could be contaminated with some pretty poisonous shit.

          The coolant system, for example, probably uses something like Ethylene glycol to make it functional in the cold.

          I'd decompress before ingesting it. Poisoning on a space-walk = death sentence. Throwing up in a space suit = death sentence.

          Dumping half the air in your suit? Not good, but at least you probably will live.

          1. Brett L   12 years ago

            Surely NASA has moved onto propylene glycol like everyone else.

      2. some guy   12 years ago

        Good point. Maybe he was worried about possible contaminants. But I guess he could have upchucked it after he got to safety.

        Also, it sounds like it never reached his mouth, so maybe his mouth could not reach it.

      3. Nikkis enthusiastic dissent   12 years ago

        When I heard about it on the news last night, it sounded like he didn't know what it was, and water was just an assumption. Maybe that's why.

      4. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        He should have just drank the hydrogen molecules, then he would have been left with oxygen to breathe. Duh.

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          SCIENCE!

          1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

            Okay, I did some research and what I said there was wrong. It should have been drunk, not drank.

            1. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

              I laughed.

            2. ant1sthenes   12 years ago

              +1 hug /Filner

      5. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

        Where did it come from?

    3. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      When I think of ways you might die in space, drowning is pretty far down the list.

    4. NeonCat   12 years ago

      "Luca Parmitano sleeps with the space fishes."

    5. playa manhattan   12 years ago

      I would have found myself thirsty all of a sudden.

    6. Tonio   12 years ago

      FTFA: He knew that because of the repressurisation, he could always open his helmet if the water overwhelmed him.

      I'm assuming that "open his helmet" means the safety (pressure equalization) valve.

      Not ideal, but better than drowning.

      1. tarran   12 years ago

        No... he meant in the air lock. If he had popped his helmet, he'd have blacked out almost instantly (your lungs start scavenging O2 out of your blood). However, the anoxia would only have lasted a minute or two until the partial pressure of O2 was high enough that it started flowing the right way across the membranes.

        1. Tonio   12 years ago

          I know that.

          I think the "open the helmet" is the reporter's invention; all the actual quotes talk about the valve.

          Plus, due to the vacuum his lungs would have been pulled out through his mouth. Ugly.

          1. Brett L   12 years ago

            Your lungs don't turn inside out at a pressure differential of 100kPa. You'd rupture a bunch of alveoli and experience some capillary bleeding. Depends on if you have a chance to hyperventilate and exhale as much as possible.

      2. Brett L   12 years ago

        That was inside the airlock. I think outside, he considered hitting the helmet valve to hope that some of the water would evaporate and flow out as the pressure fell.

    7. Francisco d Anconia   12 years ago

      Why is Jean-Luc Picard working for NASA and not the Federation?

  16. Irish   12 years ago

    New York, California, and Illinois all hemorrhage tax dollars.

    One of the trends driving blue boosters to despair is that the most extensive government programs require taxes hikes which tend to cause businesses to flee, eventually taking residents and their tax dollars with them. This erosion of the tax base forces states to hike taxes further to keep the system running which only accelerates the process. The pension crises in states like California and Illinois suggest that this cycle may be reaching some sort of natural climax. Reversing the trend will require some gut-wrenching changes to business-as-usual.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      I'd never heard about this before!

      1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        Meanwhile, in Cleveland...

        1. Warrren   12 years ago

          Get Let Down In Funky Town!

          1. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck44NGcQRTI

    2. Art Vandelay   12 years ago

      "Reversing the trend will require some gut-wrenching changes to business-as-usual."

      So NOT wasting money on high-speed choo-choo's is "gut-wrenching"?

      1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        So NOT wasting money on high-speed choo-choo's is "gut-wrenching"?

        If it means delaying our progression to being just like Europe, then yes, it's gut wrenching.

  17. playa manhattan   12 years ago

    Hot Dog Legs!
    http://www.buzzfeed.com/samir/.....the-summer

    1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

      What the hell

    2. JW   12 years ago

      Suddenly, I want some brats. Weird.

    3. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

      So when I want to put mustard on my ladyfriends legs, it's no longer weird?

      1. Ted S.   12 years ago

        When you want to do it, or when other people want to do it?

      2. Brandon   12 years ago

        Was it ever?

      3. playa manhattan   12 years ago

        What kind of mustard? If it has honey in it, then no, it's not weird.

    4. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

      "Hot Dog Legs" is the dumbest thing the internet has come up with in a long time.

      1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

        That sounds like a challenge

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          Will the porn version be more or less dumb?

          1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

            I dunno, but it will be saltier.

  18. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

    In all seriousness, and yes, this has some risks associated with it, the Congress should pass a bill suspending the operation of the NSA altogether until this shit is sorted out. If the administration wants to stop that from happening, it can fucking open the kimono to Congress. All the way.

    There is and never has been a national security exception to the Constitution. Time to straighten this shit out.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      Now, which Congress are you talking about here?

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Sexual congress.

      2. some guy   12 years ago

        He said "should", not "will", "could", or "might actually consider".

      3. Tonio   12 years ago

        The fictional congress which can muster a collective pair between them all.

    2. John   12 years ago

      It used to be that Congress Critters cared about the institution. Now they don't give a shit. They are perfectly willing to destroy the institution they serve to further their party.

      1. Raven Nation   12 years ago

        And, as long as individual Congress Critters get re-elected so they can keep getting the freebies & the power.

        My local guy campaigned last year against Obama's big government agenda but then blithely voted against the Amash Amendment. And when myself and some others bitched about it on his FB page, the posts were deleted.

        1. Tonio   12 years ago

          When I do posts like that I always take a screen shot afterwards.

          1. Raven Nation   12 years ago

            Yeah, good idea. I did post again the next day and bitched about the deletion & that stayed up for a while. The weird thing is that he only had a narrow win last year but doesn't seem to want to separate himself from the chosen one. It's kind of a split district but voting that way is going to get him support from the left and will cost him support from the right.

            Probably time for a primary challenge.

      2. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

        Now they have plausible deniability, so it costs them nothing to feign surprise when it comes out.

      3. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

        John,

        In case you missed this...

        1. Generic Stranger   12 years ago

          In the 1860s, German statesman Otto von Bismarck challenged doctor Rudolf Virchow to a duel. Weighing his options, Virchow supposedly skipped the rapier and pistol and chose to arm himself with sausage. He challenged Bismarck to eat two pork sausages, one of which was infected with the roundworm Trichinella. Bismark bowed out.

          That story is so German it's busy trying to forge the Fourth Reich, but is being bogged down by the engineering challenges inherent in designing the world's largest tank.

          1. Generic Stranger   12 years ago

            Whoops, wrong comment section...

  19. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

    IP Arrow's DMCA Takedown Notices Claim UFC And Lynda.com Hold The Rights To Child Porn

    Just a heads up: TechDirt did not censor the (alleged) CP URLs from the DMCA requests.

  20. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    ...the Obama administration created a surveillance state that hearkens back to the McCarthy era.

    To be fair, I don't know that they created it. Expanded it, yes. Perfected it, maybe. Disingenuous about their intentions to toward civil liberties, definitely.

    1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      See, you are not a true wingnut.

      According to Wingnut.com, Obama created the PATRIOT Act, the Keep America Safe Act of 2007, and the FISA Telecomm Immunity Act of 2008 and forced Bush to sign all three.

      1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        You take that back.

      2. Andrew S.   12 years ago

        You know, sometimes I think John is a bit harsh on you... but damn, you do love to blame everything on Bush, don't you?

        1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

          I am cursed with Total Recall.

          1. Brett L   12 years ago

            It wasn't THAT bad. There are some good scenes...

            1. Warrren   12 years ago

              I'm just not into three-titted dwarf whores.

              1. mr simple   12 years ago

                I'm just not into three-titted dwarf whores.

                Really? Takes all kinds, I guess.

                1. Warrren   12 years ago

                  I do enjoy othering them though.

            2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              You mean the remake, the original, or the short story the film was based on?

      3. CE   12 years ago

        Create, reauthorize at sunset, what's the difference?

  21. JW   12 years ago

    Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper takes to Tumblr to convince us his operation is as cuddly as lolcats.

    There's a tumblr section just for NSAonies.

  22. NeonCat   12 years ago

    Russians developing new toys for their armed forces: unpowered exoskeleton, robotic vehicles and one sweet combat dune buggy.

    1. Brandon   12 years ago

      Command & Conquer was prophetic!

  23. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    If you ate a Cronut Burger at the CNE, Health Canada would like a word with you.

  24. NeonCat   12 years ago

    Learn the secrets of disarming your opponent!

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Oh, I thought you were linking to this.

      1. NeonCat   12 years ago

        Both are funny.

      2. tarran   12 years ago

        I'm pissed off: they did *NOT* mention that you have to feed the tiger.

        I recently was mugged by a man wielding a packet of raisins, and when I pulled the lever instead of leaping out an mauling the man, the tiger lay there - skeletonized.

        I AM DISSAPOINT.

    2. Brett L   12 years ago

      Wow. So much stupid.

    3. JW   12 years ago

      But, what if he's attacking me with a banana?

      1. JW   12 years ago

        Stupid refresh.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          Your commenting powers are weak, old man.

          1. JW   12 years ago

            You can't win, ProL. If you strike me down, I shall become more fruitful than you could possibly imagine.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              Yours is the superior. . .fruitiness.

  25. Res Publica Americana   12 years ago

    http://news.yahoo.com/public-s.....38247.html

    Public school kids no longer forced to kneel before principal

    Article I of the United States Constitution forbids any grant of nobility in the United States. Sadly, Dana Carter, the very important new principal of Calimesa Elementary School in Southern California's Inland Empire, failed to get the memo about the 226-year-old document.

    An already-changed policy instituted at Calimesa Elementary for the start of the school year had forced students to kneel down in front of Carter ? and potentially other administrators? before being sent to class, reports CBS Los Angeles.

    School officials described the bizarre kneeling policy as a postive effort to protect students. During its brief life, the policy was most frequently implemented at the official beginning of each class day and right after recess.

    Several parents didn't love the procedure. A flyer opposing the policy circulated among offended moms and dads.

    1. Res Publica Americana   12 years ago

      Mandatory kneeling before state-employed bureaucrats? Each shit and fuck right off.

    2. John   12 years ago

      That is the most fucked up thing I have ever heard. Do you have to be completely insane to get promoted to Principal?

      1. Bam!   12 years ago

        Based on what I've read, yeah. You have to be able to survive a soul-crushing bureaucracy. Those who reach the top must have something wrong with them.

      2. Res Publica Americana   12 years ago

        As God is my witness, I would have punched that self-entitled petty tyrant right in the fucking face had she even suggested I kneel before her.

        What the fuck is the matter with these people?

        1. John   12 years ago

          This is why my wife and I have not had kids. Fate or God or whatever has decided that I will not end up in prison. If that were my kid, I would have punched her in the face and gone to jail as a domestic terrorist.

          1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

            This is why my wife and I have not had kids. Fate or God or whatever has decided that I will not end up in prison. If that were my kid, I would have punched her in the face and gone to jail as a domestic terrorist.

            I'm not arguing that there aren't plenty of good reason for not wanting kids (not liking the filthy little disease-carrying motherfuckers is perfectly acceptable - and this is coming from a stay-at-home dad of 2 boys who are filthy little disease-carrying motherfuckers), but not wanting to be arrested is not one of them.

            And by that I mean that private school or home schooling is a way to keep yourself from having to ever see petty tyrant government school bureaucrats, much less feel the urge to fucking strangle them.

    3. hamilton   12 years ago

      "Principal Zod was unavailable for comment."

    4. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Wait, before we rush to judgment, what planet is he from?

      1. a better weapon   12 years ago

        Asgard. Principle Loki.

        1. a better weapon   12 years ago

          Principal*

          I've got a feeling I'm about to lose my top hat for a mistake like that.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            I thought you meant Prancy Pal.

        2. Loki   12 years ago

          Even I wouldn't stoop to being an elementary school principal. I still have a little tiny bit of honor, dignity, and self respect.

    5. Brett L   12 years ago

      School officials described the bizarre kneeling policy as a postive effort to protect students.

      From WHAT?

      1. Res Publica Americana   12 years ago

        From inclinations toward independence, individuality, appreciation for freedom of spirit, and the American way.

        I'll be damned if I ever send my kids to a public school.

        1. Brett L   12 years ago

          My fiancee has already made it very clear that I am not to have any contact with public school educators when the fetus gets old enough. She's afraid of the legal costs.

          1. T   12 years ago

            We're going to have to send the kid to private school. I might get pissed off and punch somebody, but the wife would walk in with a bucket of gasoline and burn the place down.

            1. Res Publica Americana   12 years ago

              My girlfriend's pregnant. And this is now something I might have to deal with in the future. The anger I feel when I try to imagine my own child in this sort of situation is indescribable.

      2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Zod's righteous rage?

      3. Episiarch   12 years ago

        Individuality and independent thought.

        1. Brett L   12 years ago

          Serious question. Is this sort of psychological abuse enough of a violation of the NAP to warrant a physical response or am I just a bad libertarian for thinking that tarring and feathering and posting the video on the internet is a proportional response?

          1. Episiarch   12 years ago

            Technically, no. However, I can see myself looking the other way if the parents of children that some megalomaniacal principal made kneel for him/her put some hurt on that principal. Within our culture, that's fucking outrageous.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              The appropriate response to a kneel demand is a knee. . .to the manly parts.

          2. Res Publica Americana   12 years ago

            I'll give you my take on this: I have a searing hatred and disgust for interpersonal totalitarianism. If you force my children to kneel before you in submission to your authority as a state-employed bureaucrat empowered by nothing but the word of illegitimate law, you'll lose your teeth and your kneecaps.

          3. robc   12 years ago

            I think tar and feather needs to make a comeback.

            As long as its one of your kids at the school, I dont see the problem.

    6. Heroic Mulatto   12 years ago

      The fucker started as a gym teacher.

      1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        You know what other phys ed teacher wanted children to kneel in front of him?

    7. Loki   12 years ago

      What the fuckity fuck? I'm glad I'm not a kid going to that school. I'm pretty sure I'd have detention for life. "Kiss my ass, principal fuck-head!"

  26. Coeus   12 years ago

    In light of the skeptic article today, I give you:

    What passes for rationed analysis from a feminist skeptic.

    Anyway? here we have an obvious and explicit understanding that Kitty is not old enough to consent to sex, but her fake ID says she can, and Puckerman is cool with plausible deniability? for his brother. Puckerman is willing to rape his brother's boner's interest to protect him from his own boner.

    This is fucked up, geeks. Puckerman ASKS if sex with her is going to be rape. She says yes, but that her fakey says it's cool. Then he runs out to the car to show her his disgusting yarn-ball man muscles and make her buy him a #3 combo meal with a large fry? because rape makes him hungry? and he has less than an hour to rape her.

    This is about fictional sex between a 16 and a 19 year old.

    The author, in the comments:

    Elyse January 25, 2013, 7:18 pm Log in to Reply
    It doesn't matter where the show happens to be set in. This is not REAL LIFE Ohio where the REAL LIFE laws exist in actual jurisdictions. This is fictional Ohio. And in this version of Ohio, we know that Kitty is not old enough to consent.

    These people don't even know what consent means. And they want their standards made into law?

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      Last night, a bunch of never before seen extras on Fox's show Glee performed an unaccredited cover of Jonathan Coulton's cover of Sir Mix A Lot's Baby Got Back. When confronted with the outrage of a million angry geeks on Twitter, Glee was all "yeah, but it's a cover of a cover. BFD. Besides, EXPOSURE AND SHIT, YO. Coulton should be THANKING us." And JoCo was all "Fuck you. It's not exposure if you don't put my fucking name on it, crotch fuckers." And Glee was all "*blink blink* It's not like it's illegal. *shrug*." And everyone kept raging and then Peter Sagal started tweeting and more rage ensued:

      There is something almost magical in the fact that feminists are universally incapable of writing a coherent sentence.

      1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        Oh, I get it. She's trying to be funny by imitating the way vapid, teenage girls talk.

        Which is interesting because she appears to be a vapid, adult girl.

      2. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

        I would fund a kickstarter to send this girl to a basic composition class, but she'd probably just whine about patriarchy and drip her menses all over the notebooks.

    2. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

      Because she's not old enough to have sex.

      That about sums up the author's mindset.

      Fuck off, slaver.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        Check out her scambling in the comments to make some kind of logical argument. She gives up pretty quickly and resorts to repeating the same bullshit over and over.

        And then there's this:

        Elyse January 26, 2013, 9:26 am
        I get that consent laws are tricky and weird and often don't make much sense. But in this specific case, we have a scene set in such a way that it is determined this sex cannot be consensual and is wrong? I guess to make the sex hotter? So once you have a situation where you've determined the other person's inability to consent, and you go ahead and have sex anyway, that's rape.

        1. Irish   12 years ago

          we have a scene set in such a way that it is determined this sex cannot be consensual and is wrong

          Isn't the age difference between the two characters like 2 years? If that's considered statutory rape, then that's a sign that the laws are fucked up. This girl basically is arguing that whatever the government says is the same thing as morality.

          1. Coeus   12 years ago

            But they aren't even consistent in that. Even in the matter at discussion, consent.

        2. Nikkis enthusiastic dissent   12 years ago

          But in this specific case, we have a scene set in such a way that it is determined this sex cannot be consensual and is wrong

          Actually, even in the scene, as described, you have a situation where the sex is consensual, is not wrong, but happens to be illegal. So fuck off, slaver.

          1. Coeus   12 years ago

            The going back and forth is what gets me. It's not consent if it's not enthusiastic, but that's not a legal standard. But in this case, the legal standard overrides what is very clearly extremely enthusiastic consent.

          2. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

            I wonder what she would say if we took this "illegal =/= nonconsensual" thing to its logical conclusion.

            After all, if she cannot consent to sex, she cannot consent to a contract, right? That means no birth control and no abortions. Ruh-roh.

            1. Coeus   12 years ago

              It's like that comment I found on fark last week. about how they should just go ahead and say consent means whatever the woman wants it to mean. Not at the time, but whenever she decides to revoke it.

    3. lap83   12 years ago

      Consent has nothing to do with it. It's the word and all it signifies. Try sneaking up behind a feminist and whispering "rape" in her ear and see what happens. It would probably be funny until the police are called.

    4. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      What I find most interesting about the consent argument is that this girl isn't capable of consent to have sex, but in the event she does have sex, she's perfectly capable of consenting to an abortion.

      These people need a class in basic logic.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        These people need a class in basic logic.

        And it's from a supposed skeptic site.

  27. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    Granny loves her some Elvis Costello

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      When krumping fractures a hip.

  28. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    Marcotte Counters Specious Speculation About Spontaneous Combustion By, Uh, Speciously Speculating About Domestic Abuse:

    Take this ridiculous and upsetting "news of the weird" piece that's going around and being covered by places like the New York Times and Gawker. I can say with 99.9% certainty that this baby in India is not suffering from "spontaneous combustion"[...]

    If you're oblivious to the way that things like child abuse or domestic violence function, you might be overlooking what is the likeliest explanation for a family having a kid who repeatedly "catches fire", one parent who is angrily and preemptively denying abuse, and another parent that is quietly and stoically staying out of the spotlight. You might also know that abuse is so taboo that it might be easier for doctors to play along with running tests that play into the parents' preferred explanation than to ask hard questions about the likelier possibility that someone who is repeatedly set on fire is being deliberately set on fire.

    Yes that's fascinating, Mandykins, but how are the Joooooos and Lizard People involved?

    1. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Amanda knows a lot about Indian culture. Way more than me, that's for sure.

      1. John   12 years ago

        She is right out of Stuff White People Like. One of the things on the original list was explaining a foreign person's own culture to them.

    2. John   12 years ago

      Funny how feminists are totally okay with profiling white men as abusers and potential rapists yet think that Trayvon Martin was a victim.

      1. NeonCat   12 years ago

        He was on the verge of being a potential abuser/rapist when his life was cruelly ended by the certainly old enough and probably is a rapist/abuser Zimmerman.

        So, in a way, TM was lucky.

    3. PapayaSF   12 years ago

      Actually, I think Marcotte is correct here. Spontaneous combustion of infants is b.s., and abuse of some sort is a far more likely explanation.

  29. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Guess who?

    A society is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, public universities, and so on.

    Public institutions are supported by all taxpayers, and are available to all. If the tax system is progressive, those who are better off (and who, presumably, have benefitted from many of these same public institutions) help pay for everyone else.

    "Privatize" means "Pay for it yourself." The practical consequence of this in an economy whose wealth and income are now more concentrated than at any time in the past 90 years is to make high-quality public goods available to fewer and fewer.

    In fact, much of what's called "public" is increasingly a private good paid for by users -- ever-higher tolls on public highways and public bridges, higher tuitions at so-called public universities, higher admission fees at public parks and public museums.

    1. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Is this as utterly incoherent as it seems?

    2. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

      Much of the rest of what's considered "public" has become so shoddy that those who can afford to do so find private alternatives. As public schools deteriorate, the upper-middle class and wealthy send their kids to private ones. As public pools and playgrounds decay, the better-off buy memberships in private tennis and swimming clubs. As public hospitals decline, the well-off pay premium rates for private care.
      [snip]
      But that's not the whole story. America no longer values public goods as we did decades ago.

      The great expansion of public institutions in America began in the early years of 20th century, when progressive reformers championed the idea that we all benefit from public goods. Excellent schools, roads, parks, playgrounds and transit systems would knit the new industrial society together, create better citizens and generate widespread prosperity.

      Education, for example, was less a personal investment than a public good -- improving the entire community and ultimately the nation.

      In subsequent decades -- through the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War -- this logic was expanded upon. Strong public institutions were seen as bulwarks against, in turn, mass poverty, fascism and then Soviet communism.

      1. Irish   12 years ago

        As public schools deteriorate, the upper-middle class and wealthy send their kids to private ones.

        Newsflash to liberals: American public schools haven't 'deteriorated' they've been this bad for decades. The reason no one noticed was because there were fewer countries that were beating us at education because fewer countries were wealthy.

        It's not that our schools have gotten worse. It's that they've gotten worse relative to other people. Since our schools are stagnating almost entirely because the left is unwilling to allow any changes to the status quo, blaming conservatives for this is ridiculous.

      2. hamilton   12 years ago

        Much of the rest of what's considered "public" has become so shoddy that those who can afford to do so find private alternatives.

        Someone oughta develop some kind of wacky theory to explain that somehow.

        1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

          Given that spending hasn't gone down, either, one can only assume that Reich's prescription is TO CLAP HARDER DAMMIT

      3. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

        Where is the proof that the past existed in this manner? Did people really think like that? Were public institutions that much better?

        If you talk to a conservative they may say that in the past people didn't rely on public institutions so much and that private ones were more respected than now. Or that public goods were always crap and haven't changed.

        I don't know why, but it really pisses me off when people give this idealized account of the past and why we should emulate it. Whether liberal or conservative, it's fucking obnoxious.

      4. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

        Best comment:

        Strong public institutions were seen as bulwarks against, in turn, mass poverty, fascism and then Soviet communism.

        Gee, guess that explains why half the budget back then was spent on the defense industry.

    3. Bam!   12 years ago

      "and who, presumably, have benefitted from many of these same public institutions"

      Why would you presume that?

      1. Irish   12 years ago

        Because Amanda Marcotte has never actually used evidence and has no intention of starting now. She knows what she knows and doesn't need any of your bourgeoisie 'evidence' to prove her point.

        She speaks the revolutionary truth, man.

        1. Episiarch   12 years ago

          It's not Amanda, it's Robert "Napoleon" Reich.

          1. tarran   12 years ago

            Whenever I am reminded of Rob Reich, I am reminded of this song and Dr Diminutive shrieking that "Napoleon had a *ME* complex!".

            1. Episiarch   12 years ago

              Referencing a cartoon? When did you get so depraved, tarran?

              1. tarran   12 years ago

                I would think you would be enthusiastic at the prospect of the existence of a League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments in Naughtiness existing rather than getting all upset about it.

                1. Episiarch   12 years ago

                  Because it was a joke because I constantly reference cartoons? You sicken me, tarran.

                  "We need the intelligence helmets...go give them reason. Frylock, order the intelligence helmets immediately."

                  1. tarran   12 years ago

                    Oh yeah?!?

                    Well the jerk store called, Episiarch, and they're all out of YOU!

        2. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

          It's not Marcotte.

          1. Irish   12 years ago

            Oh...I saw the Marcotte article posted right above this one and thought it was her.

            I criticized John for doing the exact same thing yesterday. This is what I get for being smug and complacent.

            1. robc   12 years ago

              Its a form of joez law.

    4. Raven Nation   12 years ago

      I love the way these eggheads start off these kinds of things: "A society is defined..."

      By whom? Is this the only definition? Is there a manual somewhere that solemnly affirms this to be the one true definition.

      This is as bad as someone starting off a debate by saying, "I'm sure we can all agree that X."

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        Reich's pomposity is surpassed only by his fascistic impulses.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          Is there any doubt he'd join the Nazis if he time-traveled to 1930s-40s Germany? Instead of killing Hitler like all of the rest of us?

      2. John   12 years ago

        That and how they all talk about "the organizing principles of a society" as if those are made on high rather than rising organically from the bottom. Only an egghead moron thinks a few top men can decide how a society should be organized.

      3. JW   12 years ago

        A society is one that can extract as much wealth from you as possible and then criticize you for being an ungrateful oaf when you don't appreciate their magnanimous, spendthrift ways for things you never asked for.

        Theft and shame. That's what makes a society great.

    5. Killazontherun   12 years ago

      I was going to say an economic ignoramus and history philistine on taxation policies, and hey, I was right!

    6. Marc F Cheney   12 years ago

      A society is defined as...

      Me, I'm going to define a society as a set of twelve doughnuts with a variety of glazes and sprinkles. Then I'm going to argue that society is (1) delicious, (2) causes type II diabetes.

    7. PapayaSF   12 years ago

      "Privatize" means "Pay for it yourself."

      Uh, no.

    8. MJGreen   12 years ago

      A society is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, public universities, and so on.

      Who knew that society did not exist until the mid-19th century!

  30. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

    Your washing might smell fresh but don't be lulled into a false sense of cleanliness.

    The move away from the high-temperature washes and harsh detergents of our grandmothers' era may be kinder to fabrics, the environment and sensitive skin but it could costing us our health.
    Research has shown that potentially harmful bacteria in our laundry is not being killed off in low-temperature washes, turning the average spin cycle into a breeding ground for germs.

    1. NeonCat   12 years ago

      I always add a squirt of anti-bacterial dishwashing liquid.

      1. Bobarian   12 years ago

        So, you're the guy breeding the super germs?

        1. NeonCat   12 years ago

          We all are, Bobarian, we all are.

    2. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

      You wash your clothes?
      After I wear an item, I sell it to the less fortunate then go buy something new.

    3. John   12 years ago

      The greens deny basic hygiene and health. They are the picture of the dangerous idiot.

      1. tarran   12 years ago

        It's infuriating!

        We remodeled our house right after they outlawed good toilets. We threw out perfectly good toilets never imagining the new stuff we were getting would be a crummy step backward to a less hygienic time.

        1. John   12 years ago

          Thanks to greens convincing hotels not to wash their sheets in bleach, a lot of good hotels now have bedbugs. Fucking bedbugs!1

          1. tarran   12 years ago

            Yep...

            My kids came back covered with bed bug bites from staying in a hotel with my ex.

            I fucking hate the greens with a passion. They are welcome to buy some land in Idaho and recreate their medieval paradise. They can shit in artisinal chamber-pots, hang their wet clothes to drip dry (and get shit upon by birds) and eat recycled tofu for all I care. Just leave the rest of us the fuck alone!

      2. Bobarian   12 years ago

        A proper green never washes his clothes [or his nasty hippy smelling ass] and is thus proof from this scourge.

    4. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      I will have to remember to stop putting the cuffs of my pants into my mouth or open wounds.

      This is gonna be a tough one for me.

    5. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

      There was no bacteria problem back when they made the laundry soaps out of Jews.

      1. Gus   12 years ago

        You know who else made the laundry soaps out of Jews?

  31. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

    Cornell University website that ranks sorority girls causes controversy/a

    One of the site's creators told Jezebel that there exists in the school an unspoken 'sorority hierarchy', and that the women on the site will be judged accordingly.

    'All we're doing is formalizing an unspoken consensus. We're not saying this general perception is right or even fair. We're just saying it exists,' he said.

    Despite posting their female peers' photographs and sorority information online, the creators have chosen to remain anonymous - a choice they didn't grant to the hundreds of young women whose appearances are now being judged.

    Personally I'm less concerned with the dickishness than I am with the unoriginality of the project.

    1. Raston Bot   12 years ago

      lemme save everyone some time...

      top 10

      http://www.cornellfetch.com/top10.php

      yer welcome

      1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

        That list is clearly racist.

      2. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

        That's crazy. It looks like a picture of the same girl over and over again.

    2. a better weapon   12 years ago

      Despite posting their female peers' photographs and sorority information online, the creators have chosen to remain anonymous.

      Olbermann. I bet it's Keith Olbermann.

  32. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

    Darwin Award of the Day: 70-Year-Old Man Forks Himself in the Most Painful Way Possible
    An Australian man has set a new bar for disturbing sex practices. Doctors at a hospital in Canberra released a report complete with horrifying photographs of a penis that had been mutilated by a fork intentionally lodged into the urethra for "sexual gratification." The urologists went on to note several cases in which patients had inserted other bizarre foreign objects into themselves, expressing their bewilderment with the autoerotic practices.

    1. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

      I'm not falling for that the 4th time.

  33. Coeus   12 years ago

    Krugman's at it again:

    Now, the thing you need to realize is that the whole era since around 1985 has been one of successive bubbles. There was a huge commercial real estate bubble (pdf) in the 80s, closely tied up with the S&L crisis; a bubble in capital flows to Asia in the mid 90s; the dotcom bubble; the housing bubble; and now, it seems, the BRIC bubble. There was nothing comparable in the 50s and 60s.

    So, was monetary policy excessively easy through this whole period? If so, where's the inflation? Maybe you can argue that loose money, for a while, shows up in asset prices rather than goods prices (although I've never seen that argument made well). But for a whole generation?

    So what was different? The answer seems obvious: financial deregulation, including capital account liberalization. Banks were set free ? and went wild, again and again.

    1. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

      Never forget:

      Krugman's Call for a Housing Bubble

      1. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

        Credit Where Credit Is Due

        Paul Krugman: As Paul McCulley of PIMCO remarked when the tech boom crashed, Greenspan needed to create a housing bubble to replace the technology bubble. So within limits he may have done the right thing.

        1. Irish   12 years ago

          I like that the left-wing response to one bubble bursting is invariably to create a new and larger bubble.

      2. Bam!   12 years ago

        Never forget: Krugman sat on the board of Enron.

        Never forget: Krugman said the destruction of the WTC would stimulate economic activity.

        Never forget: Krugman is a unbalanced loon.

  34. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

    My review for Jesse Walker's new book
    Jesse Walker is merely attempting to dismiss conspiracy 'theory' to further Reason's laissez faire conspiracy to enslave the human race to the pan dimensional being who takes on the 3D avatar that humans without the proper sunglasses see as a leather jacket usually worn by the lizard people's representative to the human race, Nick Gillespie, who the Reptilians have placed as editor of Reason Magazine so he and Walker can get themselves invited to the proper cosmopolitan cocktail parties where their monocles are polished using the tears of a human/sheep hybrid named Tony, who supplies their needs for tears, milk, wool, and inane left wing commentary. Don't be fooled.

    1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

      C-. Use more periods and be funnier.

  35. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

    I just saw this comment at Yahoo Sports.

    Kenneth ? 1 day 17 hours ago Report Abuse

    Detroit is going to regret passing on Jason Collins. It amazes me no one has signed him yet... I'm a new NBA fan but he is a great player and whoever signs him is going to get a stud. He'll probably go beast because people have doubted him. Much better signing then "Jorts". #Equality.

    real or troll?

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      I have to believe that is a joke. There's no way someone seriously believes that Jason Collins being gay magically makes him a good basketball player.

      1. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

        Here's his profile. I'm leaning towards real.

      2. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

        Perhaps he means "stud" in a different way.

  36. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    Matty is back and in force, making sure that Marcotte doesn't steal his dunce cap:

    The NASDAQ stock exchange has been shut down essentially all afternoon thanks to some technical problems[...]

    And yet the great engine of capitalism powers forward without them, just as a non-scheduled halt in trading has very little impact on the gears of industry in the real world. Now obviously if you didn't have stock markets at all, that would be a big change. But the fact that one can go away for hours unexpectedly without it being much of a disruption to anything anyone is doing is a reminder of the fairly marginal role of stock trading in actual economic activity

    Yep, "fairly marginal" if by that you mean "an enormous driver of prosperity that has made the difference between, say, the US/UK and places like Mexico".

    Here's an Econ 101 tip for Slate's Economics/Business Correspondent: every change in the economic condition, important or not, is marginal.

    1. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

      Well, NASDAQ is shut down every morning and night so it's not like the world doesn't know how to do stuff without it.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        True, but Matty is talking about stock markets as a whole which has to be right up there with banning usury as a Top Ten Stoopid Matty Idea To Kill An Economy.

  37. NeonCat   12 years ago

    I know this may light the Shreek signal, and if so I am sorry.
    School caves on removing Crucible "God is Dead" posters after parent's complaint/concern trolling.

    1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      The students were moved by the Arthur Miller classic - good for them.

      The artwork forcibly removed only reinforced the lesson. A theocracy is the primary enemy of freedom.

  38. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Don't you dare compare Chris Lane to Trayvon Martin!

    The white conservative media believes it has its own Trayvon Martin in the case of Chris Lane, an Australian baseball player who was killed in Oklahoma, where he had been studying, by three black teenagers in an apparently random act of violence (note: there's actually some question as to the race of one of the three teens, the driver, who faces lesser charges).

    Oh, so now the media is being extra careful to get the race of the half-white, half-black kid correct.

    It's not that difficult to understand so we'll spell it out: It was not only that a light-skinned Zimmerman killed an unarmed black teenager ? but also that police didn't do anything about it. The killing was horribly tragic, as is Lane's senseless murder, but if Zimmerman had actually been arrested for the shooting, the sad reality is that far fewer Americans would know his name. But that's not what happened. Instead, police let Zimmerman go under Florida's "stand your ground" law. It smacked of institutional, state-sponsored racial favoritism of the worst kind. It was only after public outcry that state prosecutors took over the case and pressed charges. Some could argue that Zimmerman didn't need to be convicted for justice to be done, but he did need to stand trial.

    Will there be 12 year old photos of Mr. Lane shown on NBC News?

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      It's not that difficult to understand so we'll spell it out: It was not only that a light-skinned Zimmerman killed an unarmed black teenager ? but also that police didn't do anything about it.

      Since a jury of his peers agreed that he had done nothing criminally wrong, it appears that the cops were right in not arresting him.

      1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

        The jurors were obvious pawns of the kyriarchy.

      2. Nikkis enthusiastic dissent   12 years ago

        Yeah, I love the "whatever if he was innocent, but you still have to go through the hell of a trial for the fairness." Now let's apply that "you must pay a bajillion in legal fees and spend at least one night in jail" to legal activities they might be more likely to do...

        1. tarran   12 years ago

          There was a time when getting pulled over for speeding automatically meant a trip to the station...

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Dude, it was so obvious they would do this that I can't believe you even bothered to comment on it. I mean, this is right out of the playbook.

      1. John   12 years ago

        Yes. And I am sure they are pissed that the Australian PM mentioned this case preventing them from ignoring it. Black on white crime is never supposed to be a national story.

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Oh, so now the media is being extra careful to get the race of the half-white, half-black kid correct.

      Mulatto.

      1. robc   12 years ago

        But not heroic.

      2. Bobarian   12 years ago

        Wrong--

        Presidential

      3. MJGreen   12 years ago

        Butts!

    4. Derpetologist   12 years ago

      Words I always see: "unarmed black teenager"

      Words I never see: "assaulted, knocked to the ground, and pummeled"

    5. Calidissident   12 years ago

      I think a lot of people here are missing the real reason why the Zimmerman case got so much attention. It wasn't just about a white(ish) guy killing a black teenager. It was the fact that it was a particular instance of a white(ish) guy killing a black teenager that could be used to divide the country and stir up controversy, because the facts of the case were not clear-cut. Had the Martin case happened exactly like this one, there would have been no controversy, because outside of a small handful of extreme racists, nobody would have defended Zimmerman. I recently read a story about an old white guy in Wisconsin who confronted, shot, and killed an unarmed 13 year old black kid who had not attacked him or anything, because he thought the kid had previously stole something from him. The reason that case didn't get the attention the Zimmerman case did, even though it was a far more egregious and clear-cut example of white on black murder, is precisely because the vast majority of people of all races agree that such a crime is horrific and that the killer should be convicted of murder. The facts were not so cut-and-dried in the Zimmerman case, which meant that the public would be divided by it

      1. JW   12 years ago

        "Never let a crisis go to waste."

      2. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

        Good point. Hadn't thought about it like that.

        (Roll that beautiful bean footage)

  39. Raston Bot   12 years ago

    Virginia's On Farm Activities Working Group was born out of the Boneta Bill (Right to Farm Act) quarrel with zealous local zoning. The group consists of Salatin, Boneta, and other farmers on one side vs govt and enviros on the other side.

    http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/.....ties.shtml

    A recurring argument from the govt and enviros is:

    It is a well accepted concept that the best government is that which is closest to its people. Assuming this is true, the constituents of local boards of supervisors are the most empowered to influence the decisions made at that level.

    Could you take that to its logical conclusion and say that the individual is closest and therefore knows best how to govern his own land? It seemed obvious to me.

  40. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    The New Fiery Doritos Locos Taco Is a Triumph of Human Ingenuity and the Best Bargain in Fast Food Today

    It's also delicious. As with the rest of the DLT series, the slightly odd mouthfeel of Doritos blends quite nicely with the equally odd mouthfeel of Taco Bell ground beef. But with the Fiery DLT you really get heat. This is one spicy taco shell. The spicy shell plays brilliantly off the cool blandness of the shredded iceberg lettuce that tops the taco, and is wonderfully complemented by the fatty goodness of the cheese. The beef adds some heft and protein. You're left with a Fiery Doritos aftertaste that's quite pleasant and the urge for another bite. It's an extremely well-balanced dish, and at a $1.49 price point at the location I visited you really can't beat it.

    What is it with Yglesias and burritos? Is this a fetish I'm too old to grok? Help an old guy out: there's a Yglesias-certified lollipop in it for whoever comes up with the best answer for why Yglesias is so burrito-obsessed.

    1. SugarFree   12 years ago

      1. It's a taco.

      2. They fill the emptiness inside him for a second. Then the tears start again.

      1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

        Aw. Sadbeard.

  41. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Photos: Peter Dinklage and Lean Headey twirl glow-in-the-dark hula hoops at a gay bar in Calgary

  42. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

    This is why I hate humanity:

    Ecce Homo Fresco Painter Who Turned Jesus into 'Hairy Monkey' Signs Lucrative Royalties Deal

    1. John   12 years ago

      We can't do art anymore. What do you say to that other than DOOOM?

      1. tarran   12 years ago

        We do do art.

        The best artists are doing videogames right now.

  43. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

    One of Obama's 'outside experts' to review NSA surveillance will be Cass Sunstein.

    1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

      "There is nothing wrong with enforcing privacy protections against the NSA, we just need to "nudge" citizens into making the proper choice. For example, instead of requiring the government to get a warrant to surveil someone, we should instead require individual citizens to obtain warrants exempting them from surrveilance. That way the vast majoirty of americans who don't care about living in a police state will default to allowing us to snoop while the small majority that really cares about it will have thier privacy protected."

      1. tarran   12 years ago

        Stormy, that was awesome!

      2. John   12 years ago

        No fucking way. He really said that? My God Sunstein is a dangerous idiot. Remember, this guy poisons young minds at one of the most prestigious colleges in the world.

        1. tarran   12 years ago

          He didn't actually say that, but he said something very similar on another topic. Stormy substituted the words about the NSA and surveillance to replace their analogues in the actual essay he wrote.

          1. John   12 years ago

            So he is just too polite to say it with regards to the NSA.

        2. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

          He didn't actually say that, I was doing a parody of his "friendly paternalism" proposals.

          1. John   12 years ago

            Sadly, reality has passed satire. But good job on the satire. Great stuff even if it did troll me.

            1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

              Great stuff "even if" it did toll you? Or great stuff "because" it did toll you? 😉

    2. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      Nudge.

    3. NeonCat   12 years ago

      I feel so much better, since he's an expert on so many things.

    4. T   12 years ago

      Wake me if he appoints Bruce Schneier. Until then, I'll assume it's the usual collection of power-fellators.

  44. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul not only responds to people who tweet at him, he even called 10 followers on the phone after he solicited their numbers

    Aaron Paul is making house calls. The "Breaking Bad' star decided to reward a few of his fans with a personal ring-a-ding-ding. He dialed up the first ten people who responded to his Tweet, asking for fans' phone numbers.

    "Happy Breaking Bad day b??s!" read the Tweet. "What's your number? Calling the first 10 people to answer questions. Ask me anything."

    Many were dubious, but many more Tweeted their digits back to the actor. "Aaron Paul called me. I'm serious. I am at a loss of words. He actually did it," @vbizzlebeee Tweeted. "He asked if it was vbizzlebee then asked if I was crying and then I said he was my fav person ever and then he said he loved me."

    The Emmy winner, who's nominated again this year for yet another golden trophy for his role as Jesse Pinkman in the series, didn't disappoint the ten lucky fans. "OMG @aaronpaul_8 just called me," @joshfishr Tweeted. "Super cool down to earth dude."

    Yeah, bitch!

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      Ever since I saw that video of Aaron Paul on The Price is Right freaking out about how awesome it was to be a contestant, I've loved that guy. He seems like a pretty cool, normal guy.

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Not being a pompous asshole is a nice thing to see in an actor.

  45. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

    Oh, feminism is still alive? Thanks for the tip! It sure is invisible, except for the random whine from some maleducated product of the elite schools who's found a plush berth in glossy magazines. It's hard to remember those bad old days when paleofeminist pashas ruled the roost. In the late '80s, the media would routinely turn to Gloria Steinem or the head of NOW for "the women's view" on every issue ? when of course it was just the Manhattan/D.C. insider's take, with a Democratic activist spin. Their shameless partisanship eventually doomed those Stalinist feminists, who were trampled by the pro-sex feminist stampede of the early '90s (in which I am proud to have played a vocal role). That insurgency began in San Francisco in the mid-'80s and went national throughout the following decade. They keep dusting Steinem off and trotting her out to pin awards on her, but she's the walking dead. Her anointed heirs (like Susan Faludi) sure didn't pan out, did they?

    Guess the Author...

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      Isn't that from Paglia's Salon article? The part where she shits on Hilary Clinton is awesome.

      1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        Camille loves Madonna though.

        (the singer for you conservatives)

        1. Irish   12 years ago

          Yep. I'm a crazy Socon. You got me, PB.

          I'll let John take care of the screaming monkey video. He seems to really enjoy it.

  46. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    Further confirming John's theory that Yglesias is somewhere on the Aspy spectrum...

    I would go one further. Let's tax churches! All of them, in a non-discriminatory way that doesn't consider faith or creed or level of political engagement[...] Whichever faith you think is the one true faith, it's undeniable that the majority of this church-spending is going to support false doctrines. Under the circumstances, tax subsidies for religion are highly inefficient[...]

    The basic problem with subsidized religion is that there's no reason to believe that religion-related expenditures enhance productivity. When a factory spends more money on plant and equipment then it can produce more goods per worker. But soul-saving doesn't really work this way. Upgrading a church's physical plant doesn't enhance the soul-saving capacity of its clergy.

    It goes without saying that this reflects both a fundamental lack of economic understanding as well as being strong evidence that Matty will die a virgin, found dead in his mom's basement after a fatal overdose Doritos Locos Tacos.

    1. John   12 years ago

      He is just strange. He is the most pathetic person ever to appear in the American media. Sometimes I feel sorry for him. But if you read him enough you realize he is actually a pretty nasty hateful person. He doesn't mean well. He means ill most of the time.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        Yep. To be honest, I don't really have a problem with the stated position -- taxing churches is a defensible position though I'd disagree with it -- but what is bizarre is how Matty proceeds to defend it.

        Arguing it on the grounds of economic efficiency (and incorrectly so)? Um, OK...

        1. John   12 years ago

          That is just it. the other day he was arguing against zoning. But his premise was that zoning forced him to have a yard. Even when he has the right position, he has taken it in a really strange or hateful way and for a reason that is both bizarre and usually quite authoritarian.

    2. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

      I'm in favor of taxing churches too. The should get a deduction for any actual charity they're involved in, but most of the money they pull in is spent on combination self-help/therapist/social club for the churches own members.

      1. Irish   12 years ago

        I don't necessarily have a problem with taxing churches. I have a problem with claiming that not paying taxes is a subsidy.

        1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

          You have no problem with the EITC then, Irish.

          I always knew you were a statist.

      2. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        most of the money they pull in is spent on combination self-help/therapist/social club for the churches own members.

        That's not close to being true for most churches. Larger churches, sure -- but most churches don't get past the 200 people mark, much less get to the point where they are lavishing on their members. The vast majority of church expenses are spent on operating costs (church rent ain't cheap!), staff costs, and community projects.

        There is a reason that potlucks are so popular in churches -- they are a dirt-cheap event for members.

        1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

          Operating and Staff costs are the major expenses for ANY business. The question is whether the nature of a church's business is such it should be treated differently than, say starbucks.

          People hang out at Starbucks, do book groups (i.e. bible study), community events, etc., but no one says that justifies making them non-profit.

          And as for community projects, this is actually a far smaller part of church activities than a lot of people seem to think. Case in point, for the Southern Baptist Convention (the second largest church in the US), only about 10 percent of the money donated to member churches was spent on projects outside the congregation. If any other charity did that, they'd be considered a scam.

          1. robc   12 years ago

            Considering the primary purpose of the SBC is to minister to its members, I dont see the problem.

            And how do you count visitors to the church? Is the money for a service with visitors inside spending or outside spending? How should it be split up?

            1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

              Yes, but I don't see how giving a church money you know is largely going to be spent providing services back to yourself is charity. That's just commerce in my book.

              If someone hires a psychologist to give them and their spouse family counselling, no one would accept the argument that paying the therapy bill qualifies as charity. It's very odd to me that if the psychologist claims to be a minister, suddenly it's charity.

              1. robc   12 years ago

                But the money donated also goes for services to non-donating members (as well as visitors).

                Like charities dont have events that benefit the givers. Charity dinner? Yeah, never heard of that.

                1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

                  I'd apply the same rules to all non-profits. Organizations should not be for-profit or non-profit. Specific activities should be tax exempt or not based on the nature of the activity.

                  1. robc   12 years ago

                    I'd apply the same rules to all non-profits.

                    So would I, repeal the 16th amendment.

                    1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

                      Yeah, but until libertopia arrives, I want Rev. Lovejoy going through the same hell I am every April.

          2. robc   12 years ago

            That is liking saying that when a soup kitchen feeds people inside its building, its a scam.

            They should be feeding people in the park, Tulpa be damned!

            1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

              No, but what if the soup kitchen passes around the hat and gets all it's money from the people feeds? Is it still a soup kitchen or just a really weird restaurant then?

          3. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

            That's a fair argument.

            To address your points:

            1) You are talking in terms of percentage of income for all churches; I am discussing in terms of churches in general. Large churches are very insular and spend large amounts of money on their own people, that is already known. The average church in the country is small and doesn't operate the same way.

            2) There is an overlap between spending money on the poor and spending on members, since much of a church's expenses will be in helping members who have either fallen into hard times or who are poor. Example: many churches with a large Hispanic immigrant component host and pay for ESL classes that their members can take free of charge.

            3) Many, many charities do just that. Clearly you are unfamiliar with the state of charities and non-profits; many of the most well-know spend exactly that percentage (10%) on their stated purpose, while the rest of their funds go towards advertising, staff costs, and miscellany. Churches are not charities; charity is part of what they do.

            I am open to an argument about bringing churches and non-profits into the world of taxation and perhaps taxing charities differently, but let's not pretend that churches and non-profits are qualitatively distinct from one another in the areas you've mentioned.

            1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

              And I should say a lot of this is colored by the church I went to growing up, which was more of a really cheap country club where everyone said Jesus a lot than a charitable enterpise. I'm agree some churches do a lot charity work, but a lot, particularly in the suburbs, are really more of a social institution than a charitbale one.

              Which is why I think the decision should be based on specific activities (if you're running a soup kitchen, you can deduct the costs of doing so) than on the type of organization (you're a church so the youth group's white water rafting trip is now tax exempt).

              1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

                Agreed.

    3. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

      The basic problem with subsidized religion is that there's no reason to believe that religion-related expenditures enhance productivity. When a factory spends more money on plant and equipment then it can produce more goods per worker. But soul-saving doesn't really work this way. Upgrading a church's physical plant doesn't enhance the soul-saving capacity of its clergy.

      Not taxing is subsidizing?

      1. NeonCat   12 years ago

        "All your monies belong to U.S."

      2. Warrren   12 years ago

        Upgrading a church's physical plant doesn't enhance the soul-saving capacity of its clergy.

        It...doesn't? Having a better, cleaner, more welcoming place doesn't entice more people in and allow them to have the gospel spread upon them? Hence more souls are saved?

      3. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        What does religion contribute to GDP?

        1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

          Why does religion have to contribute to a nation's economy?

          That's no different than saying each individual has to be productive for the sake of society or the state gets to make them do so.

          1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

            State-sponsored wastes of time should get no tax breaks.

            Commercial aerobics is taxes - why not commercial voo-doo?

            1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

              State-sponsored?

        2. Marc F Cheney   12 years ago

          What does trolling contribute to GDP?

    4. Irish   12 years ago

      Under the circumstances, tax subsidies for religion are highly inefficient

      How do churches get Tax subsidies? They aren't taxed. Not being taxed is not a subsidy.

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        I see that you haven't followed the "not giving is taking and not taking is giving" meme that the statists have evolved to.

        1. John   12 years ago

          It all belongs to them. So anything you keep is no different than welfare. Spending money to send someone welfare is no different than not taking a dollar of your income in taxes.

      2. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        I hoped y'all would pick up on that.

        Good to see that Reason is on its game.

    5. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      I bet Matt gets more pussy than Ralph Reed. $100 only - not too sure.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        This sentence frightens and confuses me -- I'll be honest, I have no idea what it could possibly mean. Anyone got that screaming monkeys Youtube clip handy?

        1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

          You just predicted Matt would die a virgin - the post I responded to.

          1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

            Guys... it keeps spouting gibberish. I'm not sure what to do; should I give it 50 cents for bus fare and hope it decides masturbating on public transportation would be more its speed, or ignore it and bear with the insane ramblings?

            1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

              The latter

    6. Derpetologist   12 years ago

      Not taxing something is subsidizing it?

      I would appreciate it if progs wrote their own dictionary. It would make it easier to figure out what they mean.

      Productivity, he says? Wouldn't repealing regulations and cutting taxes increase productivity?

  47. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

    Your Afternoon Stupid
    ...Yet I still think we can learn something from the weird little story of Onan in the book of Genesis. Neglecting our duty to provide a safety net for those who need it is shameful behavior ? a lasting shame so severe it forever alters our very name and how we are perceived throughout the community. But it's even worse to attack the very idea of such duty while simultaneously exploiting those we are duty-bound to protect.

    I think we are on solid biblical footing, in other words, to say that the current effort among House Republicans to gut SNAP is an example of the sin of Onanism. The anti-welfare rhetoric and ideology of the tea party ? with its denunciations of "takers" and "moochers," and the rallying cry of its founding in rejection of mortgage assistance for soon-to-be-homeless families ? is a virulent, vicious strain of Onanism,

    And this weird little story in Genesis suggests that God takes that sin very seriously indeed.

    1. NeonCat   12 years ago

      So... House Republicans should knock up welfare moms?

      I'm sure some of them are down with that, but it seems more like a Democrat thing to do.

      1. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

        It gets better:

        ...Judah points out to Er's brother, Onan, that it is now his duty as a brother-in-law to impregnate his dead brother's widow. Onan takes this as license to have sex with his late brother's wife, but he always pulls out so that he won't have to worry about having a new son/nephew and another mouth to feed. That wasn't the deal with "the duty of a brother-in-law" so Onan is put to death as well.

        Alas, Onan's name has also lived on in a flagrant misreading of this story. "Onanism" became something of a euphemism for masturbation, and this text has been, for centuries, cited as forbidding masturbation....

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          That's mostly correct, but it wasn't just that he'd have another mouth to feed, he'd be cutting himself out of the inheritance in favor of his brother's line, even though it would've sprung from Onan's loins.

    2. John   12 years ago

      Not wanting to pay taxes to support some Obama crony is just not taking care of the needy. God looks pretty unkindly on envy and theft too last I checked.

    3. Irish   12 years ago

      Neglecting our duty to provide a safety net for those who need it is shameful behavior ? a lasting shame so severe it forever alters our very name and how we are perceived throughout the community.

      And yet you're writing this article instead of working at a soup kitchen. That's weird.

      1. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

        And yet you're writing this article instead of working at a soup kitchen. That's weird.

        He's doing more good demanding power for those politicians he has attached his ego to and punishment for those he hates than he ever could by sacrificing himself.

  48. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    In the criminal justice system, crimes committed by White(ish) people against blacks are considered especially heinous. The dedicated TV show writers who raise public awareness of these vicious felonies are a part of an elite show called Law & Order: SVU: this is the future story they're writing

    Wednesday, pictures from the SVU set emerged on BuzzFeed and speculation mounted about whether or not the images might suggest that the show was taking on the controversial George Zimmerman trial so soon. In fact, the SVU writers have taken things one step further and combined two of the year's biggest headlines: The trial of Zimmerman over the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin and the Paula Deen scandal.
    "[Jeffrey] Tambor is a defense attorney representing a very high-profile celebrity woman chef who thought she was being pursued by a rapist and turned around it was a teenager. And she shot him," said Leight in an interview with EW. "There's a lot of stop and frisk elements to that as well."

  49. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    In the criminal justice system, crimes committed by White(ish) people against blacks are considered especially heinous. The dedicated TV show writers who raise public awareness of these vicious felonies are a part of an elite show called Law & Order: SVU: this is the future story they're writing

    Wednesday, pictures from the SVU set emerged on BuzzFeed and speculation mounted about whether or not the images might suggest that the show was taking on the controversial George Zimmerman trial so soon. In fact, the SVU writers have taken things one step further and combined two of the year's biggest headlines: The trial of Zimmerman over the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin and the Paula Deen scandal.
    "[Jeffrey] Tambor is a defense attorney representing a very high-profile celebrity woman chef who thought she was being pursued by a rapist and turned around it was a teenager. And she shot him," said Leight in an interview with EW. "There's a lot of stop and frisk elements to that as well."

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      I guess SVU means the Squirrels' Victimization Unit.

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      That's going to be an interesting episode because there's no way she would plausibly have an unrestricted pistol permit (required for concealed carry in NY). My guess is that they won't even cover that aspect at all because most writers have zero clue about carry laws. I've seen other shows where they showed people carrying guns in NYC like they were in Vermont.

      "Greendale Community College is represented by two separate yet equally important types of people: the goofballs that run around stirring up trouble, and the eggheads that make a big deal out of it. These are their stories."

      1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        "In a ham-fisted Team Blue morality play, the characters are represented by two separate yet equally insipid groups: the Team Blue Mary Sue good guys, and their preposterous right-wing strawman adversaries. These are their fantasies."

        1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

          +1

      2. PapayaSF   12 years ago

        +1

    3. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

      "There's a lot of stop and frisk elements to that as well."

      WTF?

      1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

        SVU has gotten baaaaaad.

        I mean, shitty bad. They shoehorn the most ridiculous shit in there.

        Even worse, they did stop-and-frisk once already, so I am hard-pressed to see how it's going to happen again.

    4. Warrren   12 years ago

      who thought she was being pursued by a rapist and turned around it was a teenager. And she shot him,"

      And this is like Martin/Zimmerman exactly how?

  50. Mr Whipple   12 years ago

    Elon's comin'
    Elon's comin' (Elon's a-comin')
    Well you better hide your car, your stinky car
    Elon's a-comin' and the cards say... electric cars!

    Elon's comin', hide your car, girl
    Elon's comin', hide your car, girl
    Girl, Elon's a-comin', you better hide
    Girl, Elon's a-comin', you better hide
    Girl, Elon's a-comin', you better hide
    Girl, Elon's comin', hide your car, girl (hide it)
    You better, better hide your car
    Elon's comin', better walk

    Walk, but you'll never get away
    No, you'll never get away from the burnin' the fossils
    I plugged in the supercharging bay
    Everywhere I go though,
    Elon's a-comin' (she walked but she never got
    away)
    Elon's a-comin' (she walked but she never got away)
    Elon's a-comin' and he's comin' to git ya (she walked but... she walked
    but...)
    Get down in the tubes! (she walked but she never got away)

    Elons comin', (hide it, hide it, hide it)
    Girl, Elon's a-comin', you better hide
    Girl, Elon's a-comin', you better hide
    Girl, Elon's a-comin', you better hide
    Girl, Elon's comin', hide your car, girl (hide it)
    You better, better hide your car
    Elon's comin', better walk

    1. Mr Whipple   12 years ago

      Walk, but you'll never get away
      No, you'll never get away from the burnin' the fossils
      I plugged in the supercharging bay
      Everywhere I go though, Elon's a-comin' (she walked but she never got
      away)
      Elon's a-comin' (she walked but she never got away)
      Elon's a-comin' and he's comin' to git ya (she walked but... she walked
      but...)
      Get down in the tubes! (she walked but she never got away)

      Get down in the tubes!

      No-no, no-no
      Fuck, I said no-no, no-no, no-no

      (hide it) She can
      (hide it) hide it
      (hide it) You better
      (hide it) Somebody
      (hide it) You got t'
      (hide it) Oh, my
      (hide it) Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

    2. Mr Whipple   12 years ago

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A2eet1bttY

  51. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Simon Pegg to 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Haters: Fuck you!

    The movie which opened in May has been criticised by fans, but Simon has hit out at claims that the latest flick may be the worst of the franchise.

    Pegg tells The Huffington Post: "It's asinine, you know? It's ridiculous. And frustrating, as well, because a lot of hard work and love went into that movie, and all JJ wanted to do was make a film that people really enjoyed," he said.

    "So, to be subject to that level of sort of, like, crass f**king ire, I just say, 'F**k you'."

    Simon compared the movie's reaction to 'Into Darkness' to that of "when you tire of an indie band that you love because they get a number one single".

    "Star Trek Into Darkness is the most successful Star Trek movie ever made," he said, "It is, in terms of what it took at the box office and how many people went to see it. More people saw that film than any iteration of Star Trek that existed before. That is probably slightly annoying to some Star Trek fans - which I totally understand."

    Well you did rip-off and bastardize elements from the best film in the franchise.

    1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

      Honest Trailer

      Also, I've never seen any non-Abrams Star Trek so I'm coming at this from a different perspective than most of you, but Into Darkness sucked.

      The one before it was OK, albeit simplistic. Though I hate time travel.

      1. NeonCat   12 years ago

        Damn you, Thane!

      2. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

        A+, they hit just about every point.

      3. Episiarch   12 years ago

        I still haven't seen it, but that was funny, and brought up all the complaints that friends have seen it have brought up.

        I think I'm going to have to get really, really stoned for STID when I finally do watch it.

        1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

          Probably your best bet, it'll make the audience-insulting plot holes and deus ex machina ending more palpable.

      4. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        I liked the 2009 Star Trek.

        STID is just astoundingly bad.

        1. NeonCat   12 years ago

          I know I am in the minority on this, but I don't see the need for a reboot/rewrite of ST universe history. When a different set of actors performs Macbeth, for instance, they don't create a scene so you accept them as the characters instead of some other blokes who trod the boards before them. JJ could have just told a ST story. New Enterprise, new actors, not bothered to say "this is why it's different from what was on TV." And I think people would have gone with it. But no-o-o-o, JJ has a VISION.

          1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

            The thing is, Star Trek isn't exactly known for rigorous scientific accuracy, it just patches up a lot of plot holes with the Treknobabble, and it's fine, we can buy it.

            But oh my God, is the storytelling in the Abrams Trek franchise awful. It's just ridiculously contrived. In the first movie it was a special matter that can create a black hole...which somehow sends you back in time.

            And then in the new movie they invent this special transporter thing that can beam you anywhere in the universe, which as the Honest Trailer points out, makes starships essentially obsolete.

            Vger, the Genesis device, even the frickin' humpback whales were far more believable and less distracting plot devices than this shit.

            1. Episiarch   12 years ago

              The writing in the reboots has been strangely bad. I expect head-slapper moments from Abrams--whether in film or TV, though his TV tends to be better--but this level seems off the charts. I really don't get it.

    2. NeonCat   12 years ago

      I laughed until I cried: the honest trailer for STID.

      1. Thane runs off sobbing   12 years ago

        HA!

    3. NeonCat   12 years ago

      Hey, Simon? How much money a movie makes has ver-r-r-y little to do, unfortunately, with how *good* a movie is. And lots of stinkers had a "lot of hard work and love" put into them.

      Fuck JJ in the ass.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Actors are such whiny bitches.

      2. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

        How much money did Armageddon and The Rock make?

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          Also, one thing that irks me is how everyone goes along with the Hollywood bullshit of not adjusting for inflation (and, of course, leaving aside altogether the increase in population and distribution abroad). To this day, Gone with the Wind remains, by a substantial margin, the biggest moneymaker ever. A movie I don't much like, for the record.

        2. Episiarch   12 years ago

          Uh oh, you've gone and insulted FoE's favorite movies.

          I would have used Pearl Harbor as my example.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            Is that the biopic about Pearl Bailey's vagina (euphemistically referred to as her "harbor")? That was a big hit at Cannes, though a commercial disaster.

      3. tarran   12 years ago

        And lots of stinkers had a "lot of hard work and love" put into them.

        Yep

    4. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

      well fuck you too, Simon. Your movie sucked and you got called on it. Here's the world's smallest violin for you.

      1. JW   12 years ago

        What he said.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          Look at Michael Caine. He's a fine actor who has been in great movies and some of the worst ever. He just does the gig and accepts the massive paychecks. You don't hear him whining.

          1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

            Isn't that pretty much all British actors, though? Malcolm McDowell was in the worst Star Trek movie of all time, and also in some pretty good stuff.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              You mean Dr. Bashir's uncle? Sure, same thing. But I bet there are some whiny Brits, too. They're not the men they used to be. And women.

              1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

                The only thing stopping the UK from going full Airstrip One is the fact that the UK's military rightfully fears Christopher Lee's righteous vengeance.

                Hell, even in death we can't be sure that Christopher Lee won't be there watching the UK's government.

                And waiting.

                1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                  He's so far beyond badass that he is single-handedly preserving the value of the term.

                  I'll give the British this--when they go cool, they go all the way. Something left over from when they were run by Vikings, I guess.

  52. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    Let's check in with Kathryn Jean Lopez, shall we?

    We teach children to have no higher expectations than possible pregnancy at age eleven. So they grow up believing that no one can be trusted (not the least themselves) in the realm of sex; it's always about managing the evils of jealousy and monotony, while hoping for finding something that looks like it could be love and happiness in a culture that has stripped fundamental words of meaning. "Freedom" is in having no standards by which to make choices, and having anyone who wants to propose something better marginalized.

    We... we do? Must have missed that memo.

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      We teach children to have no higher expectations than possible pregnancy at age eleven.

      I tell my little cousin all the time: "I expect you to knock a girl up by 6th grade."

      1. NeonCat   12 years ago

        "Anal, at least, or you're not trying."

      2. Warrren   12 years ago

        Well, your cousin is Irish.

    2. John   12 years ago

      I am always amazed at how easy SOCONS are trolled by the media. Lopez watches HBO or Cinemax after midnight and thinks things like Real Sex are real. She really thinks that the entire world is out there telling their 10 year old daughters they need find a girlfriend and screw.

  53. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    Let's tax churches!

    I have no problem with this.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Except that Sad Beard wants to do it because he doesn't think they contribute enough to the GDP. So that won't be the only thing he will want taxed.

      1. Warrren   12 years ago

        He is a taxing individual.

      2. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        One day, progs say Americans should work less and take more vacations like Europeans because money isn't everything.

        Another day, they say the government should tax churches because they don't add to GDP.

        Well, which is it? You can't be for both these things at the same time.
        Unless you're a blithering idiot that is.

    2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      I do. Tax no one.

      1. robc   12 years ago

        This.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I'm on record as favoring, if we must fund the government, a telethon. Once a year. An Americathon, if you will.

          1. robc   12 years ago

            Works for me.

            Also, the Bernardo de la Paz suggestion of letting congressmen pay for stuff. They passed the laws, they can pay for it.

      2. Warrren   12 years ago

        Crazy!

      3. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        Butbutbut if we free the slaves, who will pick the cotton?

        1. Warrren   12 years ago

          True, there's no profit in textiles if you have to pay for labor.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            As the Chinese have proven to the world so effectively.

  54. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

    What did the Oberlin Board of Trustees know about the racism hoax, and when did it know it?

    Oberlin continues the wall of silence which delayed for months disclosure of the hoax. It's time for Oberlin to reveal who knew what, and when, particularly as to the oversight exercised by the Board of Trustees.

    1. John   12 years ago

      They knew it was a hoax and let it go on. you know they did.

      1. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

        http://dailycaller.com/2013/08.....race-hoax/

        The police caught the guys red-handed on Feb. 27, a week before the Klan blanket sighting.

    2. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

      Damn, you beat me to it.

      Universities are such echo chambers of activist leftism these days that they have to make up boogeymen on campus to rail against.

      An LOL excerpts from the Daily Caller article on this:

      Bleier also describes himself on Twitter as an "atheist/pacifist/environmentalist/libertarian socialist/consequentialist."

      "Libertarian socialist"--someone doesn't appear to understand what a libertarian actually is.

      1. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

        Prepare to be quote PWND.

        http://oberlinreview.org/artic.....ir-debate/

        "Free speech should be protected unless it's actively inciting hate or violence against a group," said Bleier. "If so, legal action should be taken."

        1. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

          From the link:

          "I've comforted my friends who have cried because of things that have been said on ObieTalk," said College senior Anna Zeemont.

          "MUH FEELINZ!!"

          1. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

            What happened to "sticks and stones"?

      2. Episiarch   12 years ago

        It's gotten to the point where every single time some kind of "incident" happens on a campus, you can bet a lot of money that it was a hoax. What's funny is that the low foreheads who do this stuff (presumably to "raise awareness" or some other bullshit) and then get caught just create a boy who cried wolf situation for claims of racism/sexism/whatever on campus. So the geniuses are having the exact opposite effect of what they are (presumably) going for.

      3. NeonCat   12 years ago

        Free to obey the greater good for everyone.

      4. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

        Bonus: Here's what Dylan Bleier looks like:

        http://new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/3860515.JPG

        Yeah, BIG shock this sad-sack nerd is an Obama supporter.

        1. John   12 years ago

          I don't even know what to say.

          1. Warrren   12 years ago

            He looks like he should be forced to wear a bicycle helmet every time he goes outside. And maybe be covered in bubblewrap.

        2. Sidd Finch   12 years ago

          I'm guessing these hoaxes were a nighttime thing.

      5. John   12 years ago

        Now he truly is a liberal who just wants to smoke dope. Freedom is great as long as it only means gay sex, abortion and dope!! Not that whole exploiting and making a living thing.

      6. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        From my cursory research, a tenet of libertarian socialism is that private ownership of the means of production infringes on liberty because it means that some people will be able to hire workers and that is "wage slavery".

        Wage slavery, libertarian socialism- one oxymoron is used to explain another.

        They want a society that has an economy without money or property. Which is about as possible as a society that has a language without words and grammar.

        1. John   12 years ago

          So what your telling me is that don't want a job or to have to work for a living.

          1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

            Yes.

            Have your cake and eat it too, everyday at Crazy Al's libertarian socialist buffet!

  55. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    Patrick McConlogue, Startup Founder, Suggests Homeless Learn To Code, Is Shocked By Backlash

    On Wednesday, Patrick McConlogue, a 23-year-old software engineer, penned a blog post describing what he believed to be a novel idea to help a homeless man he passes while going to work: Give him the option of taking $100 in cash, or a cheap laptop and three Javascript books to learn to code.

    McConlogue told The Huffington Post he was "surprised" by the negative reaction to his blog. "I'm a software engineer," said McConlogue, a founder of Echo Republic, a music website. "I see a glitch and I want to fix the glitch."

    However, other bloggers erupted to criticize the post. Valleywag called McConlogue "a 21st century asshole Henry Higgins." Betabeat's Jessica Roy wrote that the "homeless are not bit players in your imaginary entrepreneurial novella."

    1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

      I don't know if the blogger in question is being sincere or if it is a bizarre social experiment, but either way it strikes me that this is a win-win for the homeless guy: whichever choice he makes, Homeless Dude is better off than if he'd never been approached. Quite frankly, it is far from ludicrous to suggest that practical work experience would be a bad idea. Many of the most successful womens' shelters and mens' rehabilitation centers have integrated teaching practical trades as part of their work, and it's an excellent way to get homeless people out of their ditch.

      This strikes me as another example of how far-removed progs are from the poor and how little concern they have for them outside their convenience as an outrage inducer.

      That said, I do think he would be better off offering his services to an established organization helping the homeless -- there are plenty out there that would love to have an experienced software engineer teaching their clients a trade.

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        It has nothing to do with wanting to help the poor. This guy put something out there that TEAM OUTRAGE could find a way to get upset about. I'm telling you, this isn't going away. The people who absolutely love to be outraged have been binging on it for a while now, and they are addicted. They will make ludicrous statements like "homeless are not bit players in your imaginary entrepreneurial novella" even though it's monumentally stupid because OUTRAGE.

        I mean, think of how innocuous what the guy said really was: a marketable skill could go a long way for someone who has no job. OUTRAGE!

        1. John   12 years ago

          And they will latch on any behavior no matter how strange, immoral or self destructive and label it a unique culture worthy of saving. How dare this guy suggest the bums get a job. Living in your own vomit and begging for a living is a unique and valuable way of life.

        2. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

          I keep forgetting that homeless people are supposed to be bit players in Upton Sinclair-like works of fiction about all the compassionate and wonderful things government does for the homeless.

          Keep looking picturesquely poor, homeless guy. You're doing the Lord's work by living in a cardboard box and wondering where your next meal's coming from -- keep waiting for help from the government that never comes.

          Wouldn't want to become a capitalist oppressor, would you?

          1. John   12 years ago

            That is it. Other people are not human beings to liberals. To liberals other people function as props in their internal psychodrama.

            1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

              I hate to credit Epi with it since doing so will just encourage that irascible Dago, but he is 100% on the money when he says that leftist really are anchored to projection. The "bit players in your imaginary entrepreneurial novella" is amazingly un-self aware.

              1. Coeus   12 years ago

                There's also the fact that they are just completely insane when it comes to welfare and incentives.

          2. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

            Every city used to have dozens of transient hotels and flophouses.

            Government shut them all down.

            What did they think was going to happen to the people that stayed in them? Handing them a welfare check only made the prices on all the other sheltering options go UP. So the economically intelligent thing to do is NOT go to a shelter as often as possible.

            So the homeless are actually economically smarter than the people who allegedly try to help them.

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Wait, Henry Higgins is bad?

    3. robc   12 years ago

      Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Well, it's hard to argue the truth of that statement.

    4. Warrren   12 years ago

      I mean it's not like there are three job openings for every student coming out of these programs or anything.

      He's just holding out false hope that they could get one of those jobs.

      He's oppressing them via encouragement!

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Hope and Pain.

  56. Loki   12 years ago

    San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is expected to, at long last, resign. Well, maybe one grope for the road.

    Either that or he's just going to end up jackin' it in San Diego.

    1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      +1 Jason Russell

  57. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Has this been covered by Reason? New Mexico photographer loses discrimination case after refusing to shoot gay wedding

    In Elane Photography v. Willock, the New Mexico state supreme court has decided to reject a professional photographer's statutory and constitutional claims that she could not be required to photograph a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony. Filed under a state law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation in "public accommodations" (which nowadays is often defined to include small businesses that offer services to the public), the case has been kicking around in the state's court system since 2006. The next stop for the photographer would be the United States Supreme Court since there are First Amendment free speech and free exercise claims.

    They break down the court's opinion nicely.

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      How long until people are drafted into doing work?

      You know, somebody has no interest in being a photographer or cake-maker or wedding planner but yet they'll be forced to provide the service anyway.

      1. John   12 years ago

        So much for the 13th Amendment. And I hope this asshole couple understands they just gave a lot of people a reason to hate them. Yeah, suing your way to social acceptance. That will work out well.

    2. NeonCat   12 years ago

      How long until bakers, photographers and others learn, don't say you don't want the icky gays money, say you have a scheduling conflict and you're very sorry you won't be able to help them?

      1. NeonCat   12 years ago

        I almost feel like there's a career to be had, teaching small business owners how to convincingly lie to clients they don't want.

        1. Warrren   12 years ago

          It won't matter because first-come-first-served will not apply to the special snowflake population.

          Mandatory set-asides for protected groups. You will always have to find room in your schedule.

    3. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

      Btw there is no Gay Marriage in NM and this case has been around since 2006. This is Exhibit A that SSM laws and anti-discrimination/public accommodation laws are completely separate issues.

  58. Loki   12 years ago

    A Department of Homeland Security employee responsible, in part, for acquiring guns and ammunition for the feds has a sideline in promoting vitriolic anti-white, anti-gay views.

    IOW, just the type of TOP. MAN. you'd want to be responsible for large amounts of guns and ammo.

    1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

      He's like an anti-white Uncle Ruckus.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt0CpG6CjZ4

  59. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    California Gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly plans to offer $250,000 to assist in the firing of California's worst teacher

    Many California politicians have taken a crack at education reform in recent years, but the latest effort by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a 2014 gubernatorial candidate, is an interesting one to say the least.

    "I'm going to raise a half-million dollars," he told KQED in an interview. "I'm going to hold a press conference and tell them, 'tell me the worst teacher. I want the worst teacher story.' ... We'll have thousands of people send in videos."

    KQED reported:

    Donnelly said after his campaign selects a "winner," it will offer $250,000 to the teacher's school district to fund the lengthy teacher dismissal process.
    The other $250,000, Donnelly said, would be used to find the state's best teacher, and allow him or her to travel around California sharing techniques and practices.

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      It's bad teachers all the way up.

  60. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    California Gubernatorial candidate Tim Donnelly plans to offer $250,000 to assist in the firing of California's worst teacher

    Many California politicians have taken a crack at education reform in recent years, but the latest effort by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a 2014 gubernatorial candidate, is an interesting one to say the least.

    "I'm going to raise a half-million dollars," he told KQED in an interview. "I'm going to hold a press conference and tell them, 'tell me the worst teacher. I want the worst teacher story.' ... We'll have thousands of people send in videos."

    KQED reported:

    Donnelly said after his campaign selects a "winner," it will offer $250,000 to the teacher's school district to fund the lengthy teacher dismissal process.
    The other $250,000, Donnelly said, would be used to find the state's best teacher, and allow him or her to travel around California sharing techniques and practices.

    1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

      Can we also offer money to exterminate the squirrels who have got me twice on this thread?

      1. Warrren   12 years ago

        The Squirrels' Victimization Unit victimizes you not the other way around.

  61. Coeus   12 years ago

    I found this via an outrage link on feministing labled "how to be a privileged white guy".

    9 tips for women starting out in standup.

    1. If you can't get booked, blame it on sexism! Everyone loves a good sob story, and what better than casting a vaguely-defined, ephemeral concept as the enemy and yourself as the victim? Pay no attention that the dudes getting booked ahead of you are at open mics 8 times a week, starting their own shows, driving hundreds of miles to do guest sets at clubs in other states, or staying up until 3:00 AM editing video clips and emailing bookers ? that stuff is misogynistic. Just show up, do your jokes, ignore audience response, and then demand to be taken seriously. You can blog about your experience. Jezebel will boast it as "brave."
    2. Speaking of which, Jezebel is a REAL NEWS SOURCE. No, it's not an amalgamation of emotional drivel, written by people who seemingly used to write for Bazooka gum; it's serious. The War on Women is alive and kicking and we need you to enlist. Aunt Sally needs you!

    1. Coeus   12 years ago

      3. Do you have a blog? If not, GET ONE! Listen, some time down the line, someone is going to tell a rape joke and you need to be armed and ready to write about it. Even if you were not raped, you could be, so that rape joke is definitely about you. And what better way to demonstrate that than a lengthy self-righteous blog post about why rape isn't funny?! Never mind the fact that there are hundreds of other horrible topics that go completely unchecked ? murder, genocide, cancer, the Holocaust, suicide ? this one might happen to YOU. Also, completely avoid the fact that the concept of rape is something that men often think about and have their own personal feelings about as someone who might be seen as a rapist without them knowing. They have no right to this topic. It's YOURS, ladies. It's your n-word. Don't give it up.

      1. Irish   12 years ago

        9. Make sure you tell all your friends how this list is "part of the problem." Post about it on Twitter and Facebook and Tumblr.

        That right there is a master stroke. Nothing gets internet feminists angrier than having it pointed out that their impotent postings about THE PATRIARCHY on Facebook serve no purpose.

    2. Derpetologist   12 years ago

      I know Drew Michaels and have seen him perform a few times. He's a great guy.

      He once covered a girl's car in saran wrap to get her to notice him.

      It worked.

  62. Crusty Juggler   12 years ago

    Richard Belding?

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