A.M. Links: UN Weapons Inspectors Visit Sites of Suspected Chemical Attacks in Syria, US To Sell Indonesia Apaches, Porn Production Halted After Actress Tests Positive for HIV

Credit: The Naughty American/wikimedia

• United Nations weapons inspectors are visiting the sites of last week's possible chemical attacks in and around Damascus today. One of the vehicles used by the inspectors was hit by sniper fire.
• Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has announced that the U.S. will sell Indonesia $500 million worth of Apache attack helicopters.
• Porn film production in the U.S. has been halted after an actress tested positive for HIV.
• Der Spiegel is reporting that the NSA has been spying on the United Nations for nearly a year.
• According to Russian newspaper Kommersant NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was stuck in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport because Havana would not allow let him fly from Russia to Cuba.
• Prosecutors are demanding a severe punishment for Bo Xilai, the former rising star of China's Communist Party, who could be sentenced to death if convicted on charges of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the U.S. will sell Indonesia $500 million worth of Apache attack helicopters.

The gunships are worth $500 million, but how much are they paying us? We have a sequester, you know.

[Copernicus]

That's roughly 5 TRILLION rupiah. Sounds pretty cool, huh?

[Houkt Un Fanixs]

61 million a pop at the highest configuration

[Fist of Etiquette]

...who could be sentenced to death if convicted on charges of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power.

And we can't even vote our corrupt politicians out of office.

[some guy]

His crime wasn't being corrupt. Every official in China is corrupt. He did something else wrong. Maybe he didn't kickback to right people. Maybe he pissed off the wrong people. Maybe he didn't gather dirt on everyone else.

Ultimately he just didn't play the game right.

[Anonymoose]

I think what he did wrong was attracting attention. Or more specifically his wife attracted attention by murdering a foreigner and causing an international incident. They had to make an example out of them, otherwise foreigners would think twice about doing business in China and other Chinese leaders might think murdering foreigners was an acceptable business practice. In a world where everyone is a criminal the only defense is not attracting attention.

[Lord Humungus]

http://www.thelocal.de/nationa.....51545.html

Two women in central Germany ended a lifelong friendship over a broken toilet. One tried to sue the other when she ripped the toilet from a wall by sitting on it and refused to pay half of the repair costs.

[Brett L]

Thin privilege! Wait, am I using that right?

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

+1 dicke Frau!

[Fluffy]

"Thin privilege is not having to worry that you might lose a lifelong friend when you destroy a toilet simply by sitting on it."

[SugarFree]

+1 bottle of fine whine

[bmp1701]

I guess this was a wall-mount toilet? The standard floor toilets don't "rip" out of the wall. Of course, Fattie was probably lucky that this was a wall-mount unit. As for floor toilets, well, "Thin privilege is not having to worry that your toilet will shatter under your ass, causing a razor sharp piece of porcelain to slash your buttcheek so deeply that the paramedics are able to see your pelvic bone."

[Ted S.]

Got any photos of that?

[bmp1701]

It was a Reddit horror story. There may have been post-incident photos. Honestly, it was a pretty mild story compared to the one about the fattie who'd been shooting heroin into her perineum using dirty needles. The story was about the inevitable surgical intervention and the 7 foot jet of Satanic filth that belched out.

[Lady Bertrum]

Love Paradise:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/473846

[sarcasmic]

DoD Training Manual: 'Extremist' Founding Fathers 'Would Not Be Welcome In Today's Military'
Manual lists people concerned with "individual liberties, states' rights, and how to make the world a better place" as potential extremists

http://www.infowars.com/dod-tr.....-military/
Yep. Better weed out people who actually believe in the principles that the country was founded upon. Wouldn't want them to refuse orders to kill Americans on American soil.

[WTF]

Wouldn't want them to refuse orders to kill Americans on American soil.

Bingo.

[Matrix]

Well, that is much of the military from my experience.

But it makes sense given today's climate. There is a push to significantly reduce the size of the military (while not reducing it's scope and presence all over the world). Besides kicking people out that don't meet physical fitness standars, which are the low hanging fruit, it is also easy to target these people.

But I've been to plenty of training, and they have said over and over that people having such opinions are not dangerous.

[Gbob]

I don't see anything wrong with this. I mean, it's not like anything bad could happen if you use political screening to make sure that the only armed troops are devoted to the building of state power over liberty.

[Matrix]

City demolition crew knocks down the wrong house... TWICE!
Kept knocking over perfectly good houses next to houses they were clearly falling down. Oh, and the code enforcement officer responsible is on paid leave.

[Matrix]

Facebook friends could affect your credit worthiness
Well, that sucks...

[robc]

FICO scores are such a joke that some of those methodologies make a lot more sense.

[Matrix]

Yeah, the months leading up to buying a house, I was monitoring my credit score all the time. I have a couple of credit cards and would keep the balances pretty low. I have one card with an 11,000 limit. Put $500 on it and watched my credit score take a dive. WTF?

[some guy]

It's a tangled web they weave. You have to have credit and you have to use it, but not too much... or too little... or too irregularly.

[KDN]

Seriously. My credit report has more contradictions then the Bible.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

A joke how?

[robc]

Well, for one thing, if you are debt free for too long, your score goes to zero.

While someone who is capable of sticking to a budget and avoiding debt is the exact kind of person who is loan-worthy.

[robc]

And by "zero" I mean "empty set", but you get the point.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

So if there's no current evidence on how you handle credit, the score meant to evaluate how you handle credit will be an empty set? That's a fucking outrage.

[robc]

Actually, there is plenty of evidence of how you handle it. You are so well financed that you have no need of using credit.

You can live within your means. That is the best way of handling credit. That should be a perfect score.

[Fluffy]

You can live within your means. That is the best way of handling credit. That should be a perfect score.

Not really.

You could have no credit history because you're a child. Or a recent immigrant. Or a housewife who never applied for credit in her own name.

Or you could have just awoken from a 30 year coma. Or you could have been in prison since your 18th birthday.

Saying that having no credit history should make your score perfect is like saying that before you answer any questions on a math test, your score is 100.

[robc]

Fluffy,

True enough.

Which is why those other methods mentioned in the story work.

Its why manual underwriting works.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

And manually evaluating every college applicant might work better than relying so much on the SAT or ACT, but that doesn't mean it is feasible. Hell, I'd much rather present my SAT or FICO than hope my attitude or appearance doesn't piss off some low level functionary.

FICO provides value or people wouldn't use it, even if it can be gamed by some people or isn't accurate for some people.

[robc]

My university showed a pretty strong correlation between SAT scores and college GPA. Much more so than HS GPA, for example.

They studied it to see if it should be used.

And lots of colleges go WELL beyond SAT scores, they are only one factor. That is why there are essays and interviews and lists of extracurriculars and so one.

Im not saying FICO should be ignored, just that it, in certain cases like mortgages, should be a small factor.

If someone has a crappy FICO, that is a warning sign, if someone has NO FICO, that doesnt necessarily indicate a problem. Just like being home schooled shouldnt be an automatic exclusion from college admissions.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Try getting in with good high school grade and NO SAT. "But my grades show my likelihood of success and it's not like I have a crappy SAT score."

Are you arguing that FICO doesn't have a strong correlation with loan repayment?

[robc]

Are you arguing that FICO doesn't have a strong correlation with loan repayment?

I think that is isnt that strong, yes. Especially when you consider the people without a FICO score. Although I dont know how to run the correlation in that case.

There is a reason all these other methods are being created, because FICO isnt the best indicator.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

If you don't do it, there's no evidence of how you handle it.

Avoiding credit is not handling credit.

[robc]

Avoiding credit is not handling credit.

Disagree.

Arranging your life so you never need to use credit is, very much so, handling it.

And its why Im distinguishing between the types. For a CC company, judging by FICO makes a lot of sense. For a mortgage, not so much.

FICO is a goodish measure of handling retail-level credit.

[MP]

Arranging your life so you never need to use credit is, very much so, handling it.

It's handling money management. It's not handling credit. Simple things like making ontime payments are important markers. A FICO score is about having a proven track record of being responsible when you are loaned money. That's different than being responsible with your money.

[robc]

That's different than being responsible with your money.

No it isnt.

A person that is responsible with money, will be responsible with loaned money. If you pay your electic and cable and water bill on time and pay your rent on time, you will pay mortgage on time.

[MP]

Arranging your life so you never need to use credit is, very much so, handling it.

Except there's not documented proof of that. The whole point of a credit history is backing up words with deeds.

[robc]

Except there's not documented proof of that. The whole point of a credit history is backing up words with deeds.

The deeds are your other bill paying. Did you pay your rent on time? Did you pay your utilities on time?

Paying your rent is at least as good, if not better, of an indicator of whether you will pay your mortgage as average monthly credit card balance.

[Invisible Finger]

Simple things like making ontime payments are important markers.

And generally one's payment of utility bills are rent are a larger part of such credit handling than bank loans (credit cards, car loans, mortgages)

[Night Elf Mohawk]

That sounds a lot like atheism is faith. Arranging your life so you never need to use credit is handling your financial life, but it isn't handling credit.

Mortgage processing uses more than FICO. Or at least I'm not aware of any mortgage lender that makes a loan decision purely on FICO or that don't include evidence from your financial life such as debt to income ratios. Undoubtedly there are some people with poor FICO scores who will never miss a mortgage payment and people with 850s who will default. That doesn't mean it isn't useful or doesn't have predictive value in the aggregate.

[robc]

Arranging your life so you never need to use credit is handling your financial life, but it isn't handling credit.

I dont see credit as some unique form of bill paying.

If you are good at budgeting, you can handle credit. But probably not in a way that maximizes profit for the creditor.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I dont see credit as some unique form of bill paying.

What happens if you don't pay your electricity bill? What happens if you don't pay your VISA bill?

Credit, particularly unsecured credit, is, IMO, every different from paying utilities, for example. Mortgages are a bit different but, again, mortgage lenders almost universally evaluate more than FICO.

[robc]

mortgage lenders almost universally evaluate more than FICO.

True. However, it was those other things, like, you know, verifying income levels, that they stopped using back during the housing bubble.

Verifying that the person has enough income.
Checking out total debt balance levels.
Etc.

All useful tools to check, that werent being checked a decade ago.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

That's hardly FICO's fault, though, is it?

And, as far as that goes, they were basically ignoring FICO, too. There were mortgage programs for sub 620 and even down to 550 that I know of. Hell, if I loaned lunch money to someone with a 550 I'd never expect to be repaid.

[robc]

That's hardly FICO's fault, though, is it?

They were basically relying just on FICO at that point, so yes?

And, as far as that goes, they were basically ignoring FICO, too.

But, yeah, this too. Those programs were charging higher interest rates for the lower FICO scores.

But my larger point still stands, the guy without a FICO score at all couldnt use most of the banks, he had to hunt down the ones willing to do manual underwriting.

Even though he was a far better candidate that those 550 FICO people.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

They were basically relying just on FICO at that point, so yes?

Kinda like how relying just on an airbag would make it the airbag's fault when you died because you weren't reasonably diligent in your driving?

But my larger point still stands, the guy without a FICO score at all couldnt use most of the banks, he had to hunt down the ones willing to do manual underwriting.

That's a different point from FICO's being a joke. A dogmatic over-reliance on it might be a joke, but that's an entirely different thing.

[robc]

That's a different point from FICO's being a joke.

Not really.

If I want to test how good FICO is as a measure, I need to know how to treat those people without FICO scores. Do I score them as a zero in the database?

And that group is going to dramatically throw off the correlation.

The fact is, that even if you never use credit, you have other stuff reported to the credit agencies, and that should lead to a score. Then we could properly test FICO.

[robc]

Kinda like how relying just on an airbag would make it the airbag's fault when you died because you weren't reasonably diligent in your driving?

Im not talking about fault, but about correlation. If an airbag without a seat belt is a crappy tool, then an airbag with a seat belt is a crappy tool.

Its kind of my point, the seat belt should be the primary tool, not the airbag. Airbag provides a useful bit beyond the primary tool. Ditto for FICO. It should be the accessory, not the primary tool.

[creech]

Most useful tool is having a Rocco and Vinnie to make collection calls for you.

[robc]

Most useful tool is having a Rocco and Vinnie to make collection calls for you.

Every loan is a secured loan!

[sgs]

"So if there's no current evidence on how you handle credit, "

Because "effectively used credit, then paid off debt, then chose to temporarily avoid using it" is the same as "no current evidence".

Jesus Christ you're a fucking disingenuous asshole.

[sarcasmic]

Your credit score is supposed to tell lenders if they'll make money off of you or not. If you pay all your bills on time and don't pay interest, then they're not going to make money off of you. So of course your score will be zero.

[robc]

Yeah, but people dont pay off mortgages in 30 days.

So someone who can meet a budget is a good candidate to make money off of on a mortgage, for example.

FICO makes perfect sense for credit card companies to use. It is exactly in their wheelhouse. Its horrible for bank loans though.

[robc]

Your credit score is supposed to tell lenders if they'll make money off of you or not.

And I think this is the point. Is it supposed to measure if they can make money off of you, or is it supposed to measure your risk of defaulting on a loan.

The two are contradictory at certain points.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

To an extent, but obviously the more likely you are to pay back a loan, the lower the rate can be, while still leaving room for profit.

Even if you never pay a penny in interest, credit card companies make money off of ou, or via you, if you use them.

[sgs]

Shut the fuck up asshole, you can't even disagree honestly with people without lying about their arguments.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A joke how? I mean a joke like it's a clown? FICO scores amuse you?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Finally.

[bmp1701]

Now GET YOUR FUCKIN' DEBIT CARD.

[Jon Lester]

I had an online introduction go sour with a girl who had immigrated, married, divorced, cleaned the guy out and moved out to do her own thing, and who made such a big noise about how her FICO score was 720. Soon after that, by simply applying, I was told by AMEX that mine was 730.

[sarcasmic]

Amazing aerial photos of Mexico City show that no natural boundaries can stand in the way of endless suburban sprawl

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....e-see.html
Wow.

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

Looks like a wave of houses washed o'er the land.

[Lord Humungus]

As a Democrat, I am disgusted with President Obama

And I voted for you. I'll confess you were a second choice. I supported Hillary Clinton first. I said at the time that your rhetoric about change was empty and that I feared you would be another Jimmy Carter: aggressively ineffectual.

Never did I imagine that you would instead become another Richard Nixon: imperial, secretive, vindictive, untrustworthy, inexplicable.

[Irish]

And I voted for you. I'll confess you were a second choice. I supported Hillary Clinton first. I said at the time that your rhetoric about change was empty and that I feared you would be another Jimmy Carter: aggressively ineffectual.

Never did I imagine that you would instead become another Richard Nixon: imperial, secretive, vindictive, untrustworthy, inexplicable.

Every adjective he used to describe Richard Nixon also describes his 'first choice' for president.

[wareagle]

the self-awareness gene is not known for its prominence in the liberal DNA.

[some guy]

Every adjective he used to describe Richard Nixon also describes his 'first choice' for president.

And he should have known in 2008 that she held all those qualities. Obama was a blank slate back then compared to her. His story doesn't add up, but it's better than him just sychophanting along like the rest...

[Palin's Buttplug]

"True progressives" hate Obama - this has been known for years.

[wareagle]

and yet they voted for him. Twice. And make excuses for him at every turn. So, it appears "true progressives" are mendacious fucks, which has also been known for years.

[Palin's Buttplug]

They overestimate their own weak political power.

Its like that fat fuck Michael Moore who hates Bill Clinton and called him "the best GOP president in US history" for his pro-market NAFTA support and welfare reform. Yet Clinton is the most beloved ex-President in my lifetime. Dems have captured the American political center.

[John]

Go fuck yourself you little monkey. You spend your entire life jerking off about how great Obama is.

[some guy]

I'd say Reagan is more beloved than Clinton. Every Republican candidate must pay homage to him, and many Dem candidates choose to do so. Are you too young to remember Reagan?

[Mike Laursen]

And yet he'll be the headline speaker at this Wednesdays MLK civil rights march. Civil rights being a subject he is not familiar with.

[WTF]

Sure, whatever. It was clear what Obama was to anyone who cared to examine him just a little bit. I didn't RTFA, but I bet this clown even voted for Obama in 2012 as well.

[hamilton]

And, in fact, would vote for him in 2016 if he could. Even after writing this.

I double-down guarantee that over 90% of the "disillusioned liberals" who write scold articles like this would trivially vote for him again.

[mr simple]

If they don't the evil rethuglicans would win!

[Slammer]

I believe 9/11 was allowed to occur through a failure of intelligence.

That's a strange way of putting that.

[bmp1701]

Only conservatards embrace crazy conspiracy theories about their political opponents. [/shriek]

[Ted S.]

As if Slickette would have been any better.

[John]

I love that article. Fuck off dude. You re-elected him. No one cares what you think anymore. The Dems know you will be out shilling for Hillary or whoever they nominate in 2016. So they have no reason to care what you think. Might as well go full on with the security state and get a few voters who support that and get even more cronies rich. The liberals will be there waiting for you at home.

In the end, people like this guy love this shit. They love the feeling of betrayal. Betrayal is a big liberal meme. It alleviates them of any responsibility for their reprehensible actions. Crying about how they were betrayed is a favorite liberal activity. IN 2017 after Hillary is in office and doing even worse things, this clown and his friends will get together and have a cry fest about how betrayed they were and how there was just nothing they could have done. They will all be happy doing exactly what they love to do.

[VG Zaytsev]

Plenty of republican voters are useful idiots too, John.

[John]

No. They are just idiots. They actually support this shit no matter who does it. Liberals are a special breed of idiots. Liberals honestly think it is different when their side does it.

[VG Zaytsev]

Meh,

Read Red State once in a while. The commenters there hate establishment republican pols with a passion, but keep voting for them because the don't want to waste their vote or it's the lesser of two evils.

God forbid anyone suggest putting their votes into play so pols have to compete for them, or strategically run 3rd party candidates to kill off the establishment pols that they hate.

[John]

But the Republicans have killed off a few of their own, Castle, Bob Bennet, and given a few others close calls. I can't think of a single Democrat who has been primaried other than Joe Lieberman.

[Jon Lester]

I had a pretty spectacular falling out with Red State about 5 years ago over how candidate McCain wanted to respond to FSR Georgia's predictably disastrous decision to attack Russian peacekeepers. Going into that, I'd like to be able to take more credit for helping Team McCain over the cliff with the decision to run Sarah Palin for VP, because I thought her credentials looked good on paper (before I knew how redneck Alaska really is), but I think they brought that on all by themselves.

I wish I'd voted for Bob Barr that year and another choice last year, because as a Georgia voter, in a state that generally goes solid red, there's no reason not to help third-party candidates add to their totals. I no longer believe there's any such thing as throwing a vote away for the benefit of the worse marquee candidate.

[Clich? Bandit]

welcome.

[Elspeth Flashman]

As a non-Dem, I'm disgusted with him too. But it is good to see at least one of his voters admit to this in print.

[AuH20]

I forgive people like Walter Russel Meade, and myself (I voted split ticket. I wanted gridlock. And I fucked up, I admit that, but given what we've seen of John McCain... not like he would've been great, although yes, perhaps less bad) who voted for Obama in 2008. We were dumb, but not fucking morons.

But this guy admits doing it twice. And by 2012, Obama had already asserted the power to kill American citizens whenever he wanted. So there was a way to imagine it, you fucktard.

[some guy]

What's it called when you keep doing the same thing, expecting a different outcome?

[Heedless]

A cliche.

[Clich? Bandit]

touche...and STAY OFF MY TERRITORY!

[mr simple]

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has announced that the U.S. will sell Indonesia $500 million worth of Apache attack helicopters.

Why? Who cares why; it's payday.

[robc]

Havana would not allow let him fly from Russia to Cuba.

Its a damn good thing yall got rid of Lucy.

[sarcasmic]

Police department 'forced women to needlessly strip in their cells and recorded them using the toilet'
12 claimants sue after being recorded by jail cell cameras
Alleged victims filmed as they undressed after being booked for DUI
Police say cameras are for safety of officers and inmates

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....oilet.html

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

"Officer Safety" (and entertainment)...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Der Spiegel is reporting that the NSA has been spying on the United Nations for nearly a year.

The UN must be thrilled right now. They got something to get pissy about.

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

Syria first, then the US can get an angry letter!

/Hans Brix

[Bam!]

Only a year? That seems optimistic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They had already gotten around to bugging everything else, so someone said, "Why don't we bug the United Nations?" and no one realized he was joking.

What a waste of time.

[Mickey Rat]

Is not the UN the sort of thing the NSA is supposed to be spying on?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Miley Cyrus twerks, stuns VMAs crowd

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/26/.....?hpt=en_c2

The collective outrage!

[Brett L]

What, did all 10 people watching it at home call their Congressperson?

[Not a Libertarian]

Well it was apparently cringeworthy

http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/.....tumblr.jpg

[BakedPenguin]

I saw a bit of it. Japanese TV programmers would have found it strange.

[sarcasmic]

Climbing the greasy pole... with painful consequences! Contestants grapple with crazy game at religious festival in Malta

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....Malta.html
No thanks.

[Rich]

Climbing the greasy pole... with painful consequences! No thanks.

That's what *she* said!

[Xenocles]

The frosh at my school do that every year, and it's way more phallic than that pole in Malta.

[Lord Humungus]

Man Acquitted of Champagne Bottle Attack on Dubstep Fan

A 52-year-old man accused of smashing a champagne bottle over his 30-year-old coworker's head after the younger man changed the music from classic Michael Jackson to dubstep has been acquitted of all charges, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi announced today.

[Brett L]

As someone who appreciates both form of pop music, I believe this to be a justified assault on someone who should wait their goddamn turn to play that goddam wub-wub shit that sounds like glue-sniffing feels. Or so I hear.

[SugarFree]

Glue-sniffing is far more enjoyable than listening to a dial-up modem at 120 db.

[some guy]

As far as I can tell there are about a dozen "good" dubstep songs and the rest just make your head hurt.

[Bee Tagger]

This doesn't tell me much, unfortunately, for what isn't described as dubstep these days?

[Fist of Etiquette]

A tacit indictment of dubstep.

[John]

What is Dubstep?

[invisible furry hand]

this video is for you

[SugarFree]

Ugh.

Bleeps, boops, screams, and breaking glass.

[Lord Humungus]

from Wikipedia: The music generally features syncopated drum and percussion patterns with bass lines that contain prominent sub bass frequencies.

In my book, it's subpar electronic music, but da kidz luvz itz.

[invisible furry hand]

in its defence: Burial

[John]

I would have kicked the little hipster's ass too. Jury nullification.

[Brett L]

I saw The Crystal Method do a dubstep set at SXSW and it was awesome. So was the guy before them. Go see some local douche with a FrootyLoops set cued up on his Macbook and you'll probably be disappointed. But I was running with wannabe DJs in the late '90s, so it seems like deja vu to me.

[Ted S.]

at SXSW

There's your problem.

[Brett L]

No, my problem was that SXSW coincided with my now-fiancee's ovulaion cycle. Everything else about it was a blast.

[Lord Humungus]

crazy kids with their rock music and hoola-hoops!

[BakedPenguin]

Damn punks!

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

Yes!

[mr simple]

Slowed down drum 'n bass. For the slow kids.

[Spoonman.]

Officer fired for excessive force rehired

Police chief:

If you can't terminate someone for using excessive force and conduct unbecoming an officer, what can you terminate them for?

[sarcasmic]

Snitching on another cop.

[Atanarjuat]

Protecting a citizen's 2A rights. Well, so far he's just been suspended without pay and charged with a crime, not actually terminated.

[Matrix]

that is fucked up...

[Bee Tagger]

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has announced that the U.S. will sell Indonesia $500 million worth of Apache attack helicopters.

Do they have some marijuana warrants to serve?

[sarcasmic]

Tread lightly, Superman! Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston cast as Lex Luthor in Man Of Steel sequel

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....equel.html
That could be interesting.

[bmp1701]

Lex Luthor begins his plan to acquire total joke-telling immunity?

[sarcasmic]

Atheist campaigner becomes first in country to wear pasta strainer in government ID photo by claiming it is part of his 'religion' in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....igion.html
One invisible friend is as good as another.

[robc]

If you worship the FSM, you arent an atheist.

[Auric Demonocles]

You might be a dick though.

[Coeus]

You might be a dick though.

As someone who was regularly mocked by students and teachers alike for "thinking we come from monkeys". I can see the appeal.

[some guy]

No one actually worships the FSM.

[mr simple]

The clerk replies: 'If you choose to do that, that's great.'

This is the correct response. It doesn't block his face so who cares. But then the bureaucrats feel like they may be the butt of some joke.

The Texas Department of Public Safety later seemed to suggest that it didn't agree with the decision made in the Lubbock license branch.

It said it planned to have the legal department contact Mr Castillo and 'rectify the situation.'

I think they smell asset forfeiture.

[Lord Humungus]

Women Reach Peak Nudity-Happiness at Age 34

Women are most at peace with their naked bodies when they're 34 years old, the magical age when, after 20 years of being overly self-critical, they finally realize how great they really are?just in time for the curtain call of the real shit show that is aging.

According to a study by a UK-based skin and body care firm women are "happiest" with their birthday suits 34. Experts attribute this to a number of different factors, like how, by their early 30s, most women have finally figured out which diet and exercise regimens work for them; or that, by that age, women have settled into long-term, loving relationships that boost their confidence "inside and out."

[Irish]

If peak nudity happiness is anything like peak oil, they will spend the rest of their lives finding new sources of nudity happiness.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Luckily, strippers mature earlier than regular women.

[Brett L]

Huh. Mine hates clothes at 26.

[Lord Humungus]

In college I knew this goth 20yo art model. First time I went over to her apartment with her, she took off all of her clothes as soon as she got through the door. Completely 100% certifiably crazy chick, but I didn't mind at the time.

[Slammer]

Go on...

[Brett L]

Yup. The hot-crazy line gets better defined as you get older and the possible downside of crazy gets larger.

[Lord Humungus]

eventually I said, "I can't give you the help that you need."

It went quickly downhill after that.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I think it's true. I'm still happy (peak nudity happiness-happy? maybe) about my nudity past 34. But I was self-conscious for a long time before that.

[John]

Some women get a lot better in bed after 35.

[Fluffy]

Men reach peak nudity happiness whenever they no longer give a shit.

I can walk around any locker room anywhere in America with my ugly bone-white middle aged body and my back hair, because I no longer have anything at stake. "Of course I look shitty. I'm fucking old!"

You know that old guy in the locker room who appears to give exactly zero fucks about how rotten he looks naked? That's me, now. I have become him.

[sarcasmic]

'I had sex every day for a year': Meet the insecure size 16 mom who faced her fear of being naked in front of her husband

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....-fear.html
John pron!

[Drake]

Sometimes fears are based on reality.

[Fist of Etiquette]

One of the vehicles used by the inspectors was hit by sniper fire.

Is this actual sniper fire or Hillary Clinton sniper fire?

[Rich]

Oh, SNIPE, er, SNAP!

[Atanarjuat]

Apparently the delays caused by the sniper fire were enough time to allow the evidence of the gas to be much less conclusive. So it might have been quite real and intentional.

[sarcasmic]

Last dance at America's only unionized and worker-run strip club the Lusty Lady as landlord evicts San Francisco stripper co-op
The landlord of a San Francisco icon, the Lusty Lady, has refused to re-sign the club's lease
The Lusty Lady is the only unionized and worker-owned strip club in the U.S.
The club's landlord, Roger Forbes, owns almost all the clubs in the city - including the one next door
Forbes denies evicting the club to poach its business
The club's workers say Forbes refused to negotiate and plans to expand his 'Hustler' strip club next door
The club is known for hiring interesting, edgy dancers who don't fit into the usual generic pneumatic blond mold

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....victs.html
More John pron!

[John]

I have actually been to that one. And not all of the dancers are fat even by your strange standards.

[bmp1701]

And not all of the dancers are fat

A ringing endorsement.

[John]

What would you expect in a place like that? To have quality strip joints you need a good supply of dumb, hot country girls who need a paycheck. You are not getting that in San Fransisco. You get that in places like Houston or Atlanta.

[sarcasmic]

To have quality strip joints you need a good supply of dumb, hot country girls who need a paycheck.

Or a college. The local strip club boasts of how it puts girls through college.

[bmp1701]

To have quality strip joints you need a good supply of dumb, hot country girls who need a paycheck. You are not getting that in San Fransisco. You get that in places like Houston or Atlanta.

As a born and raised New Englander, I thought that strip clubs simply appeared from thin air after you reached a critical mass of largish Italian men named "Vinnie" or "Tony".

[KDN]

To have quality strip joints you need a good supply of dumb, hot country girls who need a paycheck.

Or absent that, a large eastern European population.

[John]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....76501.html

Police One reviews Balco's book and immediately proves that police are in fact worse than even Balco claims. The lead editorial contains gems like...

What would it take to dial back such excessive police measures?" the author wrote. "The obvious place to start would be ending the federal grants that encourage police forces to acquire gear that is more appropriate for the battlefield. Beyond that, it is crucial to change the culture of militarization in American law enforcement."

We trainers have spent the past decade trying to ingrain in our students the concept that the American police officer works a battlefield every day he patrols his sector.

and

The fact is, more American police officers have died fighting crime in the United States over the past 12 years than American soldiers were killed in action at war in Afghanistan. According to ODMP.org, 1,831 cops have been killed in the line of duty since 2001. According to iCasualties.org, the number of our military personnel killed in action in Afghanistan is 1,789.

Cops on the beat are facing the same dangers on the streets as our brave soldiers do in war.

Understand, the clown writing this is from some piss ant Michigan suburb with a crime rate just above Mayberry. But it is a war out there.

[sarcasmic]

It sure is. Just read the police blotter.

Probation violation. Outstanding warrants. Violating conditions of release. DUI. Warrants.

Yep. It's a war alright.

[tarran]

... and most of those cops who dided died in traffic accidents.

BTW, last night I saw two near accidents while driving back from my ex-wife's apartments.

Both were due to the unsafe, aggressive driving of police, including the statie tailgating someone at 60 miles an hour (I estimate no more than 2 inches of bumper separation).

[John]

They all died at their own hands due to their own negligence in traffic accidents. But it is a war out there. As dangerous as they are to the rest of us, they are actually more dangerous to themselves.

[WTF]

And the cops are not even in the top 20 as far as labor statistics for on the job mortality. Even sanitation workers have more workplace fatalities than cops do.

[Atanarjuat]

So America is doing a great job of protecting our troops at war, while simultaneously ridding ourselves of our most ignorant, tribal, thoughtless, and violence-prone men and women? Sounds like cause for celebration.

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

"We trainers have spent the past decade trying to ingrain in our students the concept that the American police officer works a battlefield every day he patrols his sector."

NEEDS. TO. BE. FIRED.

[WTF]

No shit. His "sector" - not his "neighborhood", his "sector".

[Brett L]

You know, eventually people are going to start taking them at their word that this really is a war, and they aren't going to like the outcome.

[sarcasmic]

By then people who believe in liberty and the Constitution will have been weeded out of the military, and soldiers will be more than happy to kill Americans on American soil.

[John]

No they won't. At least not right now. The military is still scared by Kent State and absolute refuses to do police work.

This is why they have militarized the cops. They knew that they couldn't rely on the military.

[sarcasmic]

Did you miss this one?

http://reason.com/blog/2013/08.....nt_3962033

[John]

They are working hard to change that. But they haven't yet. Most of the people who will read that manual will fit the definition of "extremist". The military is a bit smarter than the cops. They know they have to have public support if they want any money. And they don't want any part of policing America. Only cops are dumb enough to want to do that.

[Slammer]

Why shouldn't officers utilize the same technologies, weapon systems, and tactics that our military comrades do?

Because you're NOT the military!! And I like how the mask slipped with comrades

[Slammer]

Why shouldn't officers utilize the same technologies, weapon systems, and tactics that our military comrades do?

Because you're NOT the military!! And I like how the mask slipped with comrades

[R C Dean]

I'd love to know if actual soldiers think cops are their "comrades".

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

I never did.

[Arkansaustrian Economics]

No. Not at all. Not even a little bit. The exact opposite, in most cases.

Anyone who has ever served in the military knows, cops in military towns make their numbers by harassing the dogshit out of soldiers.

[Damned Fool]

Will We Ever Want to Have Sex with Robots?

Expect a piece from Matty soon on why robot women are better than real women.

[Irish]

When you cry on them they don't even judge you and if you just want to sit inside all day eating Doritos they're totally okay with it! /Future Yglesias

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

When they look like this, definitely.

[WTF]

How do you know that you're not actually a replicant yourself?

[invisible furry hand]

Let me tell you about my mother.

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

There's no way those memories of band camp were implanted. No one is that sick...

[bmp1701]

"You just don't get it, do you? She'll find you! That's what she does! THAT'S ALL SHE DOES! You can't stop her!"

[mr simple]

As for Roxxxy, she weighs in at 60lb (27kg) is 5ft 7in (1.70m) high

Are they programmed to check their thin privilege?

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Thin privilege is not being passed up for a robot.

[Lord Humungus]

The Real Reason College Costs So Much

Nor is the president addressing what Mr. Vedder believes is a fundamental problem: too many kids going to college. "Thirty-percent of the adult population has college degrees," he notes. "The Department of Labor tells us that only 20% or so of jobs require college degrees. We have 115,520 janitors in the United States with bachelor's degrees or more. Why are we encouraging more kids to go to college?"

Mr. Vedder sees similarities between the government's higher education and housing policies, which created a bubble and precipitated the last financial crisis. "In housing, we had artificially low interest rates. The government encouraged people with low qualifications to buy a house. Today, we have low interest rates on student loans. The government is encouraging kids to go to school who are unqualified just as it encouraged people to buy a home who are unqualified."

[John]

You missed the money quote

Today, only about 7% of recent college grads come from the bottom-income quartile compared with 12% in 1970 when federal aid was scarce.

All those billions in aid and a lower percent of degrees are awarded to poor today than before we started. The entire program was a sham sold as help for the poor but actually just a rip off for the Universities.

[Ted S.]

"How dare you question our intentions!"

[robc]

One simple fix, that wont be taken: Four year universities need to stop offering remedial courses. If you need those, go to a CC first.

Of course, the Universities arent going to kill their cash cow.

[Spoonman.]

Honestly it was kind of silly that Cornell Engineering had a large cohort that got kicked out of multivariable calculus and had to retake Calc 1. I understand that not all high schools offer calculus even to the brightest students, but surely most CCs do, right? And if you were so outstanding at such a hick high school, shouldn't you have been pretty much done with their classes by senior year?

[robc]

I dont know the incident you are referring to, but I dont consider Calc 1 to be remedial. Sure I started with 2, but I knew plenty of people that started with 1 because they didnt trust that their HS calculus was of good enough quality.

And actually, GT required you to test out of Calc 1, to prove you were ready to start Calc 2. They gave the tests at freshman orientation.

I didnt take the test because my HS calculus was co-sponsored by Bellarmine University, so I just transferred in my Calc 1 credits.

shouldn't you have been pretty much done with their classes by senior year?

I ran into this problem at a city school. I took that Calculus class my junior year. So there was no math available my senior year.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

uggh shut up math nerds

[Spoonman.]

I just left high school after junior year because I was done with its classes. Turns out most universities don't really care if you have a high school diploma.

[Spoonman.]

It wasn't really an "incident", it just happened every year. Multivariable was used as a bit of a weed-out class.

[robc]

At GT, all the calculus classes were weed out.

And Chemistry and Physics and statics/dynamics.

Physics and the ESM classes were more weed outs of engineering. Freshman classes caused people to leave school. Sophomore classes drove them to the Business school.

[Ebriosa]

GT has always had the goal of a graduating class smaller than the crowd it accepts. If only more things weeded out people by letting them try and fail maybe Americans would be better at figuring out what's a bad idea.

[robc]

I loved the GT approach. Reasonably easy to get in, difficult to get out. Little to no grade inflation.

I needed that approach, as my HS GPA was mediocre. My Tech GPA was about .4 higher than my HS GPA.

Unfortunately, they seem to be going away from this somewhat. Admission standards are going up and so are graduation rates.

[Invisible Finger]

At my junior college, Accounting was the weed-out. First thing out of the professor's mouth in fact.

[sarcasmic]

I didn't even have calc available at my high school, so my didn't take any math my senior year.

[robc]

That is why, re the point above, I dont consider Calc 1 to be remedial.

But if you are having to take a pre-calc class in college, you probably should be at the local CC doing it.

[Auric Demonocles]

Honestly it was kind of silly that Cornell Engineering had a large cohort that got kicked out of multivariable calculus and had to retake Calc 1.

I actually felt like Cornell didn't have that many really smart kids (though that was a lot more common with the grad students). Almost all of the undergrads fell into one of two categories: stressed out, insanely hard workers who are slightly smarter than average, and rich kids. Though this impression is coming mostly from a TA (but I did have a few classes that included seniors, and a lot of the people working on my project were undergrads), so there may be a selection bias.

And if you were so outstanding at such a hick high school, shouldn't you have been pretty much done with their classes by senior year?

That didn't stop them from requiring me to take at least 6 classes a semester (out of the 8 slots available).

[Raven Nation]

I try to explain this to colleagues & they just don't get it. Sure, people with college degrees earn more but at least half of them aren't using any college skills in their jobs. Since high school is such a crap education in most places, employers are using a college degree as a filter.

And, on the money. Stupid. I was just reading the editorial in my alumni mag this morning where, within three or four paras, the author noted that college grads earn more than bemoaned that tuition is going up. Thus, one is left to conclude that those who will be earning more money in the future should not have to pay for their education.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Porn film production in the U.S. has been halted after an actress tested positive for HIV.

Celluloidus interruptus.

[invisible furry hand]

OMG no new porn! Government should stockpile it so no-one need go without

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe the porn industry will be nationalized.

[Palin's Buttplug]

80's porn still leads in aesthetic quality anyway.

Look at a pic of Cameron Bay (the HIV riddled pig) - she is disgusting.

[thom]

I'm pretty sure that attractive people didn't exist in the 80s.

[bmp1701]

80's porn still leads in aesthetic quality anyway.

Umm, what? Cameron Bay is gross, but I'd never even heard of her. The Big Name actresses are usually pretty hot. Also, modern porn doesn't have the ridiculous poofy hair.

[Atanarjuat]

Gotta agree with PB for once. There are some hot chicks now, but I prefer Angel, Candy Evans, Nikki Dial, Sade, etc.

[Auric Demonocles]

Like... the whole country? Because of one chick?

[Raven Nation]

And, according to what I read about this yesterday, they have determined that she did not contract it from any sex on set.

[Gbob]

The whole country. There shall be no videotaping of your sexploits until this crisis is over.

Damn shame. I had a hooker chained up in the basement all weekend, and now I find out I can't film it for a while. Now I have to decide if I should feed her or not.

[Lord Humungus]

Linda Ronstadt: Parkinson's disease has left me unable to sing

The 67-year-old, who sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and is widely regarded as the most successful female rock singer of the 1970s, said she was diagnosed eight months ago and "can't sing a note".

"No one can sing with Parkinson's disease. No matter how hard you try," she said.

[tarran]

"No one can sing with Parkinson's disease. No matter how hard you try," she said.

What a fucking loss.

[John]

She had a great voice. Very sad.

[invisible furry hand]

Julian Assange makes a tit out of himself by making a shitty pop video for his political campaign

the horror, the horror

[Rich]

Obama flag at MLK celebration

Since "The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature", I'm certain the perps will soon be brought to justice.

[Slammer]

That's a dive into the bedrock under the concrete of the deep end. They've totally lost it.

[VG Zaytsev]

I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of Obama, and to the dictatorship which he commands; one state, under surveillance, divided, with free shit and injustice for all.

[Apatheist ?_??]

That's unconstitutional anyways.

[Lord Humungus]

One million cockroaches escape Chinese farm

AT LEAST one million cockroaches have escaped a farm in China where they were being bred for use in traditional medicine, a report said.

The cockroaches fled the facility in Dafeng, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, for surrounding cornfields earlier this month after an "unknown perpetrator" destroyed the plastic greenhouse where they were raised, the Modern Express newspaper said.

[Rich]

This has all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda.

[Slammer]

That would have been awesome if caught on film.

[KDN]

So? I believe that's only half the local cockroach population of any Chinese restaurant in NYC.

[Rich]

ROR

[WTF]

LACIST!!11!!!

[Brett L]

This really needs to be illustrated by a fire drill on Capitol Hill.

[Lord Humungus]

Why Is Obama Caving on Tobacco?

This week, however, the Obama administration bowed to pressure from the tobacco industry and dumped the safe harbor provision from the trade compact. The tobacco industry was joined by other business interest groups that were fearful that the safe harbor provision would lead to other products' being singled out in future trade accords.

So instead of the safe harbor, the Obama administration is now calling for a clause requiring that before a government can challenge another's tobacco regulation under the treaty, their health authorities must "discuss the measure." The administration will also try to ensure that a general exception for matters to protect human life or health (typical in trade agreements) applies specifically to tobacco regulation.

[Irish]

HOLY SHIT! I didn't even realize that was written by Michael Bloomberg.

Countries (and cities) that have adopted such regulations have had great success reducing smoking rates and saving lives. In New York City, where we have adopted some of the most comprehensive tobacco policies in the world, the smoking rate among adults has fallen by nearly one-third, and among high school students it has been cut in half. This progress helped to increase average life expectancy: in 2010, it was 80.9 years in the city, more than two years longer than in the country as a whole.

I like that he just assumes some fucking words on the carton are the reason people smoke less. Are you sure it isn't because they realized how disgusting it is or because of how high the cigarette taxes are, Bloomberg? Those seem like more likely reasons for a drop in smoking than the cartoons the print on cigarette packets.

[wareagle]

please. You are expecting Mayor Nanny to believe that concepts like free will and individual choice are legitimate. Nothing beneficial to society, nothing I tell you happens without govt, according to these people.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Not to mention the fact that you can't smoke out anywhere anymore. Of course, I just stopped going out; I don't understand why bars are still in business.

[Raven Nation]

"increase average life expectancy: in 2010, it was 80.9 years in the city"

1. Is it even POSSIBLE to prove that the increase in life expectancy is due to any one change?

2. That number seems high: I thought the national average was in the low 70s?

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

United Nations weapons inspectors are visiting the sites of last week's possible chemical attacks in and around Damascus today

Fortunately we now have an enlightened president who would never consider contravening "international law" and unilaterally bombing a country without the full approval of the UN, or at least the UN Security Council. And of course asking Congress for permission.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was stuck in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport because Havana would not allow let him fly from Russia to Cuba.

You know what other traitor went to Havana and broke the heart of a criminal enterprise's leader?

[Damned Fool]

Hitler?

[Fluffy]

"Never date a computer geek, they treat their girlfriends like shit!"

- Lindsay "Deanna Corleone" Mills

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

Lee Harvey...no, I just can't do it.

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

James Wormold?

[bmp1701]

Fredo "Look at that Wang" Corleone?

[Troglodyte Rex]

Jay Z and Beyonce?

[John]

http://thehill.com/business-a-.....-lobbyists

Write a bill that destroys the health care system and causes untold misery for millions of Americans. And then move on and get rich helping the connected mitigate the impacts. Yeah, maybe it is time to rename L'Enfant Plaza Revolution Plaza and build a gallows.

[Lord Humungus]

Dionne: Threatened by the Armageddon Caucus

But after three years of congressional dysfunction brought on by the rise of a radicalized brand of conservatism, it's time to call the core questions:

Will our ability to govern ourselves be held perpetually hostage to an ideology that casts government as little more than dead weight in American life? And will a small minority in Congress be allowed to grind decision-making to a halt?

er... that's a feature, not a bug.

[John]

All they have left is lies and histrionics. The know they are out of money and ideas and the country is about to go broke. They sound like a compulsive gambler raving about how the banks are out to get him after they repo his car.

[Not a Libertarian]

Surely libertarians can set Mr Dionne straight that Republicans in congress are nothing at all like what he is describing.

[Fluffy]

Not enough of them are like what he is describing.

Will our ability to govern ourselves be held perpetually hostage

This is the real problem with his entire article.

When the GOP brings House pressure to bear to change policies, that's "governing ourselves". The people are acting to change policy via our representatives.

Just because they aren't doing what this fucking cocksucker wants doesn't make it a failure of self-governance.

[The Last American Hero]

The so-called Tea Party Caucus has fewer members and less seniority than the Congressional Black Caucus. The idea that they control the congressional agenda is laughable.

[Mike M.]

Funny how there's still nothing but deafening silence from the so-called "anti-war" left. You know, Cindy Sheehan and the girls at Code Stinko, International A.N.S.W.E.R., the Workers World Party, and all the other usual suspects who leafleted all the major cities and never stopped screaming about Bush the warmonger during his entire administration.

[sarcasmic]

Just wait until a Republican is in the White House.

The war protesters will return and the TEA party will fade away.

It's all about TEAM.

[Not a Libertarian]

Just wait until a Republican is in the White House.

Well what if that never happens?

Eventually these groups would reassert themselves, even against a Democratic administration, surely?

[sarcasmic]

Well what if that never happens?

It will.

[John]

It is a fact that never gets old pointing out. The one upside of Obama being in office is how he has robbed these people of all of their dignity. And they know it. It is so fun to make a drone or an NSA joke in front of a liberal. They just kind of turn away and mutter some talking point about how they really don't like that. Being pro civil liberties and anti-war is a big source of liberal smugness. And Obama has robbed them of that and it is killing them. They of course will never turn against him. They will just continue to take the abuse and suffer in silence, which makes it all the more fun to watch.

[Hyperion]

They'll all be happy again soon, as they jump on the Hildebeast Express and once again get that warm and fuzzy feeling that their true savior is finally about to arrive.

[tarran]

Here in MA, a surprising number of people are believing all sorts of nutty rationalizations why the evil conservatives are forcing Obama to go against his own judgement.

Also, apparently I am a horrible nihilist for pointing out that the establishments of both parties support all the bad stuff that Obama was supposed to fix.

[John]

They turn to conspiracy theories because they have no other way to maintain any self respect. Being the peace and justice party is a big part of who they are. Remember, for the boomers Watergate was one of the defining moments of their lives. They have spent 40 years feeling smug about how the Republicans were the party of big brother. And now Obama is robbing them of that.

[tarran]

They turn to conspiracy theories because they have no other way to maintain any self respect. Being the peace and justice party is a big part of who they are.

What worries me is that there are several people I know who have so bought into this insane idea of Republicans stabbing Obama in the back that they are convinced the only extirpating their political opponents from the government can save America.

They are a minority, but they are vocal, energetic, and are psyching themselves up to eliminate their enemies from the political system. If they get traction, their policies would end, inevitably, with sending enemies to concentration camps for reeducation. They would regret it, and blame the {Jews,Goldsteins,Objectivists,Libertarians,Kulaks} for making them do such distasteful things to save society.

It's really freaky to observe.

[John]

That is scary. They are so personally invested in their politics, they will never admit they failed. So, yeah, they are going to go looking for scapegoats. And that is when they become very dangerous.

[Mike M.]

Here in MA, a surprising number of people are believing all sorts of nutty rationalizations why the evil conservatives are forcing Obama to go against his own judgement.

Yeah, conservatives want the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamists to take over the entire Middle East. That's the ticket.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Cindy Sheehan has stayed consistently anti-war, including anti-democrat. She even went so far as primarying Nancy Pelosi and running against Obama as a VP candidate in 2012. Not really fair to lump her in with the rest.

[Raven Nation]

Actually, I think Sheehan is still pretty active; it's just that the media won't cover her anymore e.g.:

http://cindysheehanssoapbox.bl.....taken.html

I remember in early 2009 when she was still getting some public coverage, some reporter (Brian Williams?) actually said in a news story, "You know what? It's enough already Cindy."

[invisible furry hand]

Ms Ryan said that they have been contacted by people overseas, interested in having the "Vagina Soit" edition mailed to them.

"In the end, having thousands of people hear about 'Vagina Soit' combats the silence around vaginas, which is only a good thing".

There's silence around vaginas?

more

[Rich]

silence around vaginas

Nice band name.

[tarran]

The Silent Vags would be an awesome name for a thrash metal band.

[invisible furry hand]

Except it will be used by Lindy West and Hugo Schwyzer for their progressive folk pop bad

[wareagle]

only if you're doing it wrong.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

If you're using legs as earmuffs.

[WTF]

There's silence around vaginas?

Better than a noisy vag, I guess.

[Ted S.]

Make music with your vagina and post it to Youtube.

(This is why there are no female libertarians....)

[Fluffy]

Make music with your vagina and post it to Youtube.

I heard a rumor they do it in Iceland.

Unfortunately, I don't speak Norse, so I can't Google it.

[Rich]

Two Kenyan men have signed an agreement to "marry" the same woman .... Lawyers said their "marriage" would be legally recognised if they could prove polyandry was part of their custom.

Thanks to that trail-blazing SSM!

[The Late P Brooks]

Bo Xilai, the former rising star of China's Communist Party, who could be sentenced to death if convicted on charges of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power.

THIS IS WHY NOBODY TAKES CHINA SERIOUSLY.

[Lord Humungus]

beer update: my Brown Ale turned out to be quite delicious. Almost up there with one of my favs: Short's Bellaire Brown

I currently have some Stout fermenting away. Saturday, I was down in the basement, trying to match up some vintage Mullard EL34s when I heard a loud WHUMP! My wife came running, thinking I had fallen down the stairs. Turns out that the fermenting bucket blew the lid of the pail off - it landed some five feet away. The airlock got gunked up with foam. I cleaned the lid off and put everything back in place.

[robc]

NEVER USE AN AIRLOCK ON PRIMARY FERMENTATION.

That is all.

Blow off tube, dude. Blow off tube.

[John]

I never had a problem using an air lock. Why not?

[robc]

They clog and lead to exactly what happened to him or worse.

It depends on the amount of head space you have and how vigorous the fermentation is. My bucket isnt large enough when I have a vigorous fermentation. And since I brew lots of wheat beers, and since the hefe yeast I use is notorious for going hyper, an airlock is insane for me.

The blow off container has been too small at times, but that is minor compared to stuff blowing everywhere.

[John]

I have a big bucket and generally make lower alcohol content beers like Hefeweisons and ales and such. So it has always worked for me.

[robc]

lower alcohol content beers like Hefeweisons

???

WLP300 is an insane and awesome yeast. Im not sure there is a bucket large enough in the universe to contain it.

And my hefe is in the 5.5% range, so not low abv.

[John]

I would consider 5.5% to be low. To me high is something like a double or a triple. I have made all kinds of batches with an air lock and never had an issue. I don't get how you guys are having problems.

[robc]

My bucket is maybe 7 gallons. A 5.5 gallon batch doesnt leave a lot of head space. With vigorous fermentation I can get more than 1.5 gallons of foaming.

Ive run into problems with vigorous fermentations in 3 cases:

1. Large beers (9%+) where I pitched onto a yeast cake.
2. WLP300
3. Random times you arent expecting it

This is why I havent used an airlock since summer of 2004 on primaries.

[Clich? Bandit]

i should have refreshed...rob, you and I need to brew together, we seem to have the same desired profiles.

[R C Dean]

"I like big buckets and I cannot lie . . . "

[Clich? Bandit]

wlp300?

[Nephilium]

Because blow off tubes are simpler, and prevent items being launched when something gets clogged.

[robc]

Of course, open fermentation is even simpler. Just put the lid loosely on top to keep things from falling in.

More of a clean up than with blow off tubes, but its both simple and historical.

I would point out that pros either use blow off or open ferment.

And realistically, a blow off tube is nothing more than a really large airlock.

[sarcasmic]

A vigorous fermentation produces enough positive pressure that an airlock really isn't necessary.

[robc]

Exactly. Hence the lid loosely placed on top to keep out cats or etc, the positive pressure would keep out anything else.

[kinnath]

Rubbermaid Brutes with loose fitting lids.

Something I picked up from the wine guys. Comes in 10, 20, 32, 44, and 55 gallons sizes. Food-grade plastic. I like the white ones in particular.

[robc]

Airlocks lead to mopping the ceiling.

[Auric Demonocles]

Not in any of the ~20 brews I have done.

[thom]

Not in my first 20 brews either, but don't play with fire. Eventually you end up scrubbing your ceiling.

[sarcasmic]

I've only twice had a primary pop, and both times all it did was push out the airlock and ooze out over the lid.

One of my coworkers on the other hand started a batch and then went on vacation. It blew off the lid and got all over the ceiling and walls. Then dried. What a mess.

[sarcasmic]

What rob said. And did you get a chiller yet?

[Lord Humungus]

no - a bag of ice plus what I had in the freezer was enough - 10min cool down time.

[thom]

Der Spiegel is reporting that the NSA has been spying on the United Nations for nearly a year.

Can't blame this one on Bush.

[Swiss Servator - past LTC(ret)]

Give the trolls a minute or two.... BOOOSH!

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

It's Bush all they way down.

[DJF]

The NSA was designed to spy on the UN, why is anyone surprised? The only people its not suppose to spy on is US citizens and they do it anyway.

[Bam!]

The UN was designed to be spied on. We fought to get it on US soil.

[Rich]

The U.S. government's efforts to determine which highly classified materials leaker Edward Snowden took from the National Security Agency have been frustrated by Snowden's sophisticated efforts to cover his digital trail

Is there *nothing* those low-level contractors are incapable of?

[John]

http://www.powerlineblog.com/a.....ailure.php

AP finally notices Obama is a complete failure and incompetent. Nice they could notice that after he was re-elected.

[Palin's Buttplug]

AP? Or wingnut blog Powerline?

[John]

[T]he perception of a president lacking in international influence extends beyond the Arab world, particularly to Russia. Since reassuming the presidency last year, Vladimir Putin has blocked U.S. efforts to seek action against Syria at the United Nations and has balked at Obama's efforts to seek new agreements on arms control.

AP. But don't let that stop you from sucking Obama's cock. You are such a classical liberal you can't help yourself, you fascists little freak.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I have to say I really don't have a problem with a world where America has less international "influence". Let the barbarians sort out their own troubles.

[John]

I am sympathetic to that. But to the extent that that works, it only works if they are afraid of you. And no one is afraid of Obama right now. And that makes the world very dangerous. Wars start when people underestimate their foes and miscalculate doing something they thought they could get away with but can't.

Obama is so incompetent and so weak and talks so damned much that I am very afraid that we are going to end up in a real war because someone miscalculates figuring he is so incompetent and weak they can do anything.

[Spoonman.]

Yeah, I didn't really have a problem with antipiracy missions for example. You take American citizens hostage? Punitive expedition to Puntland! Then everybody knows you're real. But screw nation building.

[John]

Yes. The thing that wasn't ever mentioned is that most of the pirates were on our side against Al Quada. You would have thought we could have gotten them to pirate other people's ships.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes, more conservative love of Putin I see. They are polishing their authoritarian war boners in tandem. You are not on a conservative blog here John.

Obama is "weak" for not aggressively invading Syria - got it.

[John]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnYUFKFs5As

BUSHPIG!!1

[Irish]

Nearly five years into his presidency, Barack Obama confronts a world far different from what he envisioned when he first took office.

Shockingly enough the world refuses to conform to left-wing academic theories. I'm sure the next super smart professorial candidate the Democrats nominate will have a better theory and the world will finally conform to that one.

[John]

World doesn't conform to dimwitted faculty lounge intellectual's expectations. Who could have possibly seen that coming?

[CatoTheElder]

The world refused to conform to neo-con theories as well as trendy left-wing academic theories.

They are all bullshit justifications for interventionalism.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Beer Drone: Unmanned Plane Delivers Drinks For South African Concert Goers

http://www.ibtimes.com/beer-dr.....rs-1378541

[hamilton]

Yeah drones are bad and do awful things and I hate them, but they're legal so I guess everything is OK.

God damn but I hate stupid shit like this.

[OldMexican]

I hate Obama's drone war - but, under the law, he has a perfect right to fight one. Armed drones in war may be new, but their use introduces no new ethical or legal issues.

"I know he slaps me around 'n shit, but his schlock is so big, I can't simply leave him!"

[OldMexican]

Porn film production in the U.S. has been halted after an actress tested positive for HIV.

But doesn't the risk make the sin more delicious? Just sayin'.

[Rich]

Stanford economist says it's gonna be all right

The combination of low investment and low consumption resulted in an extraordinary decline in output demand, which called for a markedly negative real interest rate, one unattainable because the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate coupled with low inflation put a lower bound on the real rate at only a slightly negative level. As output demand recovers, the lower bound will cease to be an impediment and normal conditions will prevail again.

[OldMexican]

With a stable, bullet-proof nancial system, policies of low infation are quite safe.

I'm just dumbstruck by all this precision.

Are we talking economics here or tarot card interpretation?

[Rich]

Just wait a while. Then he'll tell you *precisely* why his predictions were wrong.

[Lady Bertrum]

As output demand recovers...

I love the assumption that output demand will recover absent wage and income growth.

People working part-time or experiencing stagnant wages won't spend more, dipshit. (the economist is a dipshit, not Rich)

[The Last American Hero]

Hey, he's just waiting for Keynse's animal spirits to get warmed up.

[R C Dean]

Reality calls for a markedly negative rate (read: deflation). Reality is sidelined by digital money issuance, with (apparently) no ill effects! Really, you can apparently print trillions of dollars, use them to buy garbage assets at full price and/or monetize the debt, and Nothing Else Will Happen.

Its a miracle!

[SugarFree]

Have any little kids you want to scare straight?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

there's only one left!

[Rich]

You lie! I saw *lots* of little kids over the weekend!

[SugarFree]

shrike and Tony bought them all. They are very comfortable, but can barely survive more than two sessions of them wearing them while watching each other jack off.

[BakedPenguin]

You're really a rodeo clown, aren't you, SF?

[SugarFree]

Darn tootin'!

[AuH20]

There's no science here! This is the skeptic community!

The blogosphere and Twitter in the atheist and skeptic community have been raging this week about a white man telling a black woman that her response to a racist question in a Q & A session at an atheist conference was too angry. Blag Hag does a particularly spectacular takedown on the phenomenon of silencing minority voices.

As someone who is frequently told that I'm too angry in arguments, I'd like to calmly contribute to this discussion. But I'm afraid that's just not possible. I'm too angry. The anger is good in that it fires me up and incites me to write, but the avalanche of infuriating memories of being told to shut up in the face of some mind-bending injustices threatens to overwhelm me.

So I will start with this story:

I'd been having fun for a few months participating in spirited debates on a Facebook page dedicated to skepticism of alternative medicine, spiritualism and religion. They seemed like an interesting group who professed a love of critical thinking and debate.

Then one day it suddenly goes horribly wrong.

A reincarnated Neanderthal starts attacking feminism using nefarious, berry-picking evolutionary-psychology arguments as proof of the naturalness and inevitability of the gender wage gap, the glass ceiling and anything else he can think of to rationalise his position as top dog.

[AuH20]

If this isn't bad enough, things get worse. Much worse.

Mr Stone Age begins using this pseudo-science to explain rape.

I can't bear to dwell on his argument, which is full of scientifically illiterate claims, suffice to say that it boils down to testosterone ? a chemical that apparently unleashes an unbridled craving in anyone intoxicated by it to spread as many seeds as possible while also creating the aggression needed to ensure compliance. I know. Sorry, readers.

Conversely, those passive recipients of strewn seeds who are not blessed with the precious chemical are more placid, less competitive and conveniently more attracted to repetitive tasks, like vacuuming and hand jobs. And less able to defend themselves against unrequested seeds.

When a thread full of outraged women showing no sign of passivity start shouting back, the tranquil troglodyte responds calmly that women are too emotional to discuss the subject rationally like men. The evidence for our emotional frailty is the tears and blood dripping from the torn threads of the discussion. It is proof of why men rule the world. Their semen-sprouting superiority has won the Darwinian race and the teary ones should take it lying down.

I am so angry I feel I am typing with bullets in my finger-tips. My heart is beating so loudly I think the neighbors might complain. I want to vomit or punch a wall.

[SugarFree]

Have fun diagramming this sentence:

The blogosphere and Twitter in the atheist and skeptic community have been raging this week about a white man telling a black woman that her response to a racist question in a Q & A session at an atheist conference was too angry.

Apparently you can't be skeptical about gender and race politics. You must be very serious.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I checked out the "BlagHag" referenced in the post. Boy, talk about truth in advertising:

Jen McCreight is a liberal, geeky, nerdy, scientific, perverted feminist atheist who recently escaped Indiana for Seattle

So she's one step removed from being a shitkicker and probably thinks her indie lifestyle in Seattle makes her that much better than the hicks and rubes back home.

URGE TO KILL RISING

http://freethoughtblogs.com/bl.....ty-voices/

[SugarFree]

To be fair, Indiana sucks. But then, everywhere ends up sucking if you hate yourself. Have fun eating quinoa and pooping 8 times a day, Jen.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I know these shitkicker "liberal geeks", and they're the fucking worst. They have a wildly outsized sense of their own fealty to "culture" as a defense mechanism because they're ashamed of their trailer park upbringing.

[SugarFree]

And they define themselves in the negative. "I'm not a redneck, I'm not a Christian, I'm not heteronormative."

It must be exhausting to have to think of all the things you're not in order to build up a self-identity that is little more than a cliche.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Oh Jesus:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/blaghag/about-jen/

[SugarFree]

So many contradictions:

Anyway, I'm mainly just some sarcastic gal with a lot of strong opinions. I just graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana with a double major in Genetics and Evolution and a minor in Psychology. Yeah, good ol' Indiana ? I've lived here my entire life, though I consider myself a Chicagoan. I've been doing research in an ecological genetics lab for almost three years, and in the fall I'm going to the University of Washington to get my PhD in Genome Sciences.

Other than being a giant biology nerd, I'm also really active in the atheist movement. I wasn't raised in a religious household, so moving to a conservative Midwestern community for college was a bit of a culture shock for me.

You've lived in Indiana your whole life and found West Lafayette a shock? Horseshit.

[Warty]

And it's not like West Lafayette is even particularly conservative. Maybe her attitude about Indiana wouldn't be so shitty if she'd just had a good session with Tom Raper.

[SugarFree]

Tom Raper RRV, the extra R is for all the Rape.

[Warty]

"Free" "thought" "blogs".

Well, that might be a little unfair. I suppose it might technically be a blog.

[DJF]

Sounds like she is two steps away from faking a hate crime.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Here's how people like Jen come into being. They're in the band or music in their small-town high school. They read some progressive nonsense like What's The Matter with Kansas? and convince themselves that the reason they are miserable is because they're in a hick town full of backwards rubes. Meanwhile, they adopt some "edgy" sexual manifestations because they're ugly, but they justify it as embracing an enlightened sense of self.

[Lady Bertrum]

+1 My guess is she's very, very single. If she were getting laid regularly she wouldn't be so angry.

[SugarFree]

She just wants a guy to look deep into her eyes when they make love. But no guy can find them.

[Brett L]

She just wants a guy to look deep into her eyes when they make love

The downside of Gorgonism.

[SugarFree]

At least he can keep it up that way.

His penis, I mean. Because he's been turned to stone. Because she's a gorgon and gorgon turn people to stone when you look in their eyes. Which he did. And he needs the help because she isn't very attractive.

[Irish]

I am so angry I feel I am typing with bullets in my finger-tips. My heart is beating so loudly I think the neighbors might complain. I want to vomit or punch a wall.

Nothing says 'I am a strong and independent woman' like a total and complete inability to control your emotions. I find it hilarious that feminists claim to be women who are opposed to sexism and yet they are so incapable of controlling their emotions that they live down to the worst anti-female stereotypes.

This is why the strongest women I know never call themselves feminists. It's a political philosophy populated in its entirety by broken losers.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

"That's why I love PZ Myer's blog, Pharyngula."

Aaaaand that's enough of that.

[SugarFree]

The comments!

The comments on Testosterone by the 'Neanderthal' are inane. However, there is one problem I have with belittling the power of Testosterone, and that is it's affect on ones desires and emotions. I do not, and would never, condone rape in any way, at all. It is wrong, wrong, wrong.

I do not condone violence against women or children, nor against men in most circumstances.

My experience of Testosterone is that I'd rather have less of it now that I have had my kids, and my marriage is over and now I don't think I want another relationship.

I have asked my doctor about chemical castration. Not because I am a rapist, nor a potential rapist. However, in this modern world, where sex is used to market everything, and where there are so many beautiful women walking around, one feels HURT by ones attraction. I'd rather not want something I cannot have, than have a desire for it that can never be realised.

[Almanian!]

Wow, the self hate.

How 'bout just masturbating, bro? Like a normal guy?

[Irish]

Oh my God. What broken human beings. That's not funny at all. I have never felt so bad for someone whose political views I despise.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Goddammit Sugarfree

[John]

OMG. The poor kids. For once I am taking the wife's side in a divorce. Get your kids as far away from this freak as you can.

[Hyperion]

have asked my doctor about chemical castration. Not because I am a rapist, nor a potential rapist. However, in this modern world, where sex is used to market everything, and where there are so many beautiful women walking around, one feels HURT by ones attraction. I'd rather not want something I cannot have, than have a desire for it that can never be realised.

Just kill yourself already, really it's best for you and the rest of the world.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I don't think even Bo Cara can get upset about that suicide call.

[John]

How do you manage to make yourself like that? You couldn't write that guy in a book or movie because no one would believe you.

[OldMexican]

I can't bear to dwell on his argument, which is full of scientifically illiterate claims, suffice to say that it boils down to testosterone ? a chemical that apparently unleashes an unbridled craving in anyone intoxicated by it to spread as many seeds as possible while also creating the aggression needed to ensure compliance. I know. Sorry, readers.

But I thought ALL men were rapists the moment they were born. Scientific and shit. The Feminists(TM) told me so!

[Hyperion]

I want to vomit or punch a wall

I think both of those are better alternatives for you, as opposed to writing, or thinking.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

What kills me is there is an excellent and obvious retort to anyone who talks about how rape and multiple sexual partners are natural for men.

"Yes, but that's why we have civilization...to tame destructive natural urges".

The problem for the feminist is she doesn't believe in civilization, because that's a white male kyriarchial construct that limits the noble savage and the matriarchy.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Yeah, I'm super confused. I'm just like...I thought we all knew this. I mean there is a lot of stuff in evo-psych that is questionable and just-so but "men naturally want to rape" was, I thought, less arguable.

[SugarFree]

Rape is very complicated out on the edges. RedFems want to argue that rape only occurs because of power differences and that it is not a sexual act. MRAs call bullshit on that by arguing that it is a natural act that has its place in reproductive strategy. They make a caricature of their own arguments to makes sure there isn't even the remote possibility of common ground.

[Irish]

THERE IS NO GENDER PAY GAP!

Say it with me: There is no gender pay gap.

Those articles are from the Atlantic and CBS News. It isn't as if these dipshits have an excuse not to know because the only people reporting it are Breitbart and Townhall. It's been known to be a lie for 25 years, and the persistence of this lie on the left is unbelievable.

[Hyperion]

There has to be, it's one of the feminists bestest whining points. If you take it away, they will have to think of another whining point, and thinking hurts them, a lot.

[Long Range Boredom]

Hell, Sowell was already pointing this out in the 70s.

[OldMexican]

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has announced that the U.S. will sell Indonesia $500 million worth of Apache attack helicopters.

That should be about... 10 helicopters, at a rounded fair market price of $50 million per chopper.

That's still a lot of Apache helicopters for a nation that would not see too many TANK battles, ever.

[John]

They are fabulous in ground support of any kind.

[OldMexican]

Re: John,

They are fabulous in ground support of any kind.

I'm pretty sure, but for that purpose they could've purchased Cobra helicopters which are far cheaper (at $10 million a piece, fair market value) and much less complicated (and very tested and very true) weapon systems, and still have $400 million to play with.

[John]

Actually a country that is facing low intensity guerrilla warfare would be better off having old prop planes like the late great Skyraider. They are slow, carry a ton of ordinance, are virtually immune to small arms fire, can stay on target much longer than a jet, and are easy to maintain. Sadly, the prop planes are so old the airframes won't stand up to combat. But, they would work much better in such an environment than expensive helicopters or jets.

Indeed, this is why the Army is buying its own drones. They provide tactical air support in ways the current air force just can't provide.

[tarran]

Yep. That "no fixed wing aircraft for the Army" rule when the Air Force was split off from the Army was a huge mistake.

[BakedPenguin]

Why did they retire the A-10?

[John]

Because the air force hates ground support and low and slow planes.

[tarran]

My CO in the navy was a fighter pilot. He bitched that escorting A-10's was a miserable experience of flying just above stall speed for long periods of time.

They really got no love from the fighter pilots.

If the Army had been allowed to maintain 6 squadrons of A-10's, they would still be flying.

[CatoTheElder]

The worked really well against those pesky infidels in East Timur back in the 70's and 90's.

http://www.democracynow.org/20.....t_timorese
at around 45:00.

[CatoTheElder]

The = They and Timur = Timor.
Need more coffee.

[CatoTheElder]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.....East_Timor

[AuH20]

An Open Letter to Activists about self care. Libertarian activists just call it alcohol.

Dear activists,

Be kind to yourself.

It's important to pay attention to criticism, to be aware of your privileges, to challenge your assumptions, to listen to and respect the voices of people who are marginalized. It's important to work in good faith to build bridges with people unlike yourself, to work together for the liberation of all.

But while you're doing that, take care of yourself.

We live in a culture of speed, a culture that demands everything?including thoughtful responses to complex, messy, painful issues?right now. But sometimes, that isn't possible. And that's ok. It's ok to step back and take some time to process. It's ok to let people know you're listening, and then give your brain and heart a break before returning to the work.

And keep in mind that by committing yourself to that work, you're already doing more than most people.

I am in awe of the work you do. I don't know how you do it, day after day, in addition to the work of making a living and making a life.

Activism opens you up to criticism, both internal and external. But it also means that you're already going above and beyond what it takes to be a decent human being. Don't forget that.

[Rich]

I am in awe of the work you do. I don't know how you do it, day after day, in addition to the work of making a living and making a life.

It's the government assistance.

[John]

If there is one thing I could change about this country, it would be to end the idea that being a political activist is some kind of noble profession and the way to change the world. You want to change the world, change your world. Go help someone you know out. Go start a business and give people a good or a service that makes their life better. We need more of all of that. What we don't need is more well meaning people out trying to change the world at large. Take your good intentions and mind your God Damned business for once.

[Hyperion]

Go start a business and give people a good or a service the government some more revenue to make things more miserable for everyone.

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

It's important to pay attention to criticism, to be aware of your privileges, to challenge your assumptions, to listen to and respect the voices of people who are marginalized.

It's a well known fact that all scientific breakthroughs came as a result of checking privilege and listening to professional victims whine.

[Fluffy]

It's important to pay attention to criticism, to be aware of your privileges, to challenge your assumptions, to listen to and respect the voices of people who are marginalized.

I wish to articulate a principle here. Let's call it the Fluffy principle:

If a human being with whom I share a language wishes to articulate a concern, they should be able to do so coherently and understandably. Their concern should be accessible to any listener, regardless of the listener's background or experiences, simply on the basis of the logic and explanatory power of the words they choose to use.

If they can't do that, they can go fuck themselves.

[The Late P Brooks]

Their semen-sprouting superiority has won the Darwinian race and the teary ones should take it lying down.

And they all lived happily ever after.

[AuH20]

The March on Washington just wasn't leftist enough!

I spent eight hours today amongst thousands at the March on Washington, and the people present were some of the most remarkable, resilient people I have ever had the privilege to be around. The number-one face on T-shirts, placards, and even homemade drawings was not President Obama or even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was Trayvon Martin. I also witnessed homemade signs calling for jobs programs, speaking out against the school closures and in solidarity with those overseas victimized by US militarism. The people at this march are the face of resistance to what Dr. King called the "evil triplets of militarism, materialism and racism."

The main speakers at the march, however, did not match the politics and urgency of those who gathered in the Saturday heat. Even more frustrating is that few tried. I expect to get all kinds of hate mail for what I'm about to write, but not to write it would be an act of duplicity based on what I saw and what I heard. I saw the great Julian Bond get only two minutes to say his piece before being shuttled from the stage.

Cont...

[AuH20]

I saw Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has done remarkable work in recent years against the banks and predatory lending, also get less time than a pop song. I saw Reverend Lennox Yearwood, who is doing some of the most important work in the country connecting climate change to racism, get ninety seconds before being cut off. There was one speaker at the 8 am pre-rally who said the word "drones," and that was it for any discussion of US foreign policy.

Based upon the speeches during the main portion of today's events there can be little doubt that the Dr. King who was murdered in Memphis in 1968 would not have been allowed to speak at this fiftieth-anniversary commemoration of his life. There was no discussion of the "evil triplets." Instead, we had far too many speakers pay homage to the narrowest possible liberal agenda in broad abstractions with none of the searing material truths that make Dr. King's speeches so bracing even today.

[Rich]

doing some of the most important work in the country connecting climate change to racism

With all due respect, WTF?

[John]

It was climate change that killed Trayvon Martin. Didn't you know that?

[SugarFree]

Well, it was raining that night. Do you have any evidence that it ever rained in Florida before climate change?

[Brett L]

This year, we've had slightly more rainy days than the average tropical rain forest.

[sarcasmic]

Deniers are racist.

[Rich]

a student group from Howard University, led a group to the rally to draw awareness of the impact of Climate Change, racism and production of fossil fuels on communities of Color in the United States. Two of the lead members of the group ... felt it was vital for large Environmental Organizations to conduct more intentional and respectful outreach to communities of color.

IOW, few people give a crap.

[widget]

Dark people absorb sunlight onto themselves, light people reflect it onto others. Dark people have a smaller thermodynamic footprint than light people. Duh.

[Hyperion]

Everyone knows that climate change is connected to racism and the patriarchy. How could it not be?

Just look at all the privileged white males here at H&R, driving their giant polluting SUVs around the block a 2nd time to check out the perfectly round backside of some totally unaware and innocent female in a skin tight skirt.

PIGS, all you here, PIGS! And you're destroying mother Gaia with your privilege!

[John]

The funny part is that MLK's speeches contain all kinds of truths that are still bracing today. But the truths that he spoke about personal responsibility and the need for a color blind society are just the kind of truths this nitwit can't handle. They don't even know their own icons.

[Almanian!]

THOSE AREN'T "THE TRUTHS" THEY WANT TO HEAR ABOUT, JOHN! BRING UP THE OTHER TRUTHS, PLEASE!

[sarcasmic]

Did those truths come from your invisible friend? Because if not then it's just stuff that you like.

[John]

In an ultimate sense, yes they are just stuff some people like. If being a racist makes you happy, have fun. It is not like you are not going to end up dead and forgotten either way.

[widget]

MLK was an Uncle Tom.

Ward Connerly, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas are Uncle Toms. Barack Obama is not.

[CatoTheElder]

I prefer Malcolm X, and his argument that, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." (Google it if you don't believe it. It's not original to X, but it's not original to AuH2O either.)

After he went on hajj, Malcolm X rhetoric is actually pretty good.

[The Last American Hero]

Except that pesky word justice is hard to agree on and usually means "give me your stuff".

[Acosmist]

Wasn't it Cicero?

[AuH20]

And the people organizing her high school reunion sighed in relief

The year was 1998. I was partway through my first semester of graduate school and ready to celebrate ten years of post-high school excitement. It was a nice event even though I was on my own. I saw some old friends and one nemesis who actually apologized to me. It was also a little sad because the class disparities were sort of trumping the old bonds ? I felt bad for the folks I suspected were lying about their awesome lives, but I could empathize with their desire to do so. I also got pretty drunk with my friend Missy and ended up passed out in my other friends car on the way home. Good times.

The year was 2008. It was the twentieth anniversary of my high school graduation. Rather than a traditional setup, the organizers selected a bar with booth seating. I was already not in a good place healthwise and it took about 20 minutes for me to have a panic attack. So I left. Just left. It really sucked. Talk about an environment recreating the experience of high school ? restrict seating to groups of 4 or 5, set up narrow walkways and add alcohol. Add the guy who repeatedly explains being single with guffawing "she has to be hot and have the brains" and then stir in a few very unhappy spouses. Did I mention no one else was there who was openly gay?

[AuH20]

There are two women (sisters, actually) whom it would be nice to touch base with, but I doubt they will attend. Otherwise, I've been unfriended by half of my class for being "too political/opinionated" aka too gay and I unfriended the other half after I was lesbian bashed on someone's page. Well, that's an exaggeration ? about 1/3 of my class. After that experience, I systematically went through each name on my list and kept the folks with whom I would like to have lunch. That was sort of my rule of thumb ? a metaphorical lunch. I deleted the people who were abusive, nasty, jerks that raped girls and assaulted boys and never took ownership for that. I deleted the folks who used fake names (??) and those who drunk posted. I deleted a bunch of avowed haters. I deleted the people that I had absolutely no reason to maintain contact with at this point. In doing so, I realize I had been unfriended by a lot more people than I thought. Huh.

[Snip]

There are people who think we should let it go, that those of us who were abused are hanging on to old pain. And to some extent that is true ? most of us are still figuring out how to let go, but that doesn't mean we want to spend time who were abusive to us and have never tried to make amends.

[SugarFree]

I have a high school girlfriend I'm still ducking. There's no way I'm going to a reunion.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Holy shit. To modify the divorce quote, if you have problems with hundreds of people, maybe YOU'RE the problem, not them.

[KDN]

I deleted the folks who used fake names

Why the hate for teachers?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

There are people who think we should let it go, that those of us who were abused are hanging on to old pain. And to some extent that is true ? most of us are still figuring out how to let go, but that doesn't mean we want to spend time who were abusive to us and have never tried to make amends.

The jocks who spend their adult years reminiscing about the glory days are far outnumbered by the losers who continue to stew about getting shoved in lockers decades after it happened.

Look at Charles Pierce, a pathetic jock-sniffer for his favorite teams whose articles are a template for sour-grapes nerds who never had the chance to be Mr. Popular in high school.

[Almanian!]

God, my 20th and 30th HS annivs were WAY TOO FUN! Of course, I always say that time knocks down most of the stupid cliquey barriers. Not all, but most.

These dipshits who make it into a passion play - in my experience - are people just bound and determined not to have a good time, anticipate not having a good time, and then ensuring they don't have a good time.

Fuck, I loved it. Hanging out with people I NEVER hung out with in school, finding out what they were doing - losers who'd become winners...no winners who became losers, oddly enough.

Good times. Can't wait for the 35th!

[Almanian!]

that doesn't mean we want to spend time who were abusive to us and have never tried to make amends

THEN DON'T SPEND TIME WITH THOSE PEOPLE! GAH!!!

*pulls out what's left of hair*

[The Late P Brooks]

I spent eight hours today amongst thousands at the March on Washington, and the people present were some of the most remarkable, resilient people

How odd- I read that as "remarkably repellent people" at first.

[Rich]

How odd- I read that as "plastic people" at first.

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.....e_Universe

[widget]

because Havana would not allow let him fly from Russia to Cuba.

My writing style is catching on!

[Almanian!]

In Russia, "Cuba not allow let him fly" YOU!

[Long Range Boredom]

Anna Gunn on Skylar from Breaking Bad and the fan responses: "My character, to judge from the popularity of Web sites and Facebook pages devoted to hating her, has become a flash point for many people's feelings about strong, nonsubmissive, ill-treated women."

[Almanian!]

Yeah, Skyler's annoying. So is Walt's wife. They're sisters.

Genetics. #SCIENCE

[bmp1701]

As someone whose favorite character was Gus, I don't like Skylar. Or Jesse. Or Walt.

[Long Range Boredom]

Fuck'em for killing Gale. Now that was a libertarian drug chemist.

[CatoTheElder]

I'm looking forward to Walt getting his for killing Gale.

And I have no love lost for the DEA, so his B-I-L, too, though his character is really not so bad for a pig.

[KDN]

I don't hate Skylar because she's strong or nonsubmissive. I hate her because she's an idiot.

I missed yesterday's episode, But after 4 1/2 seasons I can scarcely recall any decision she made that didn't leave me in awe over what a moron she is. She's the opposite of Machiavellian, emoting her way from one crisis to the next like Hitler.

[CatoTheElder]

Yeah. She's not a strong woman. She's a dope.

[SugarFree]

School admins knew the Oberlin racial incidents were hoaxes all along.

One of the two students removed from Oberlin College earlier this year for allegedly circulating virulently racist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay messages around campus is an ardent leftist and committed supporter of President Barack Obama, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

Dylan Bleier, one of the two students, organized a voter registration drive on behalf of Obama before the 2008 election. That voter drive is still listed on the website for Organizing for Action, the non-profit group whose mission is to advance Obama's agenda.

The Oberlin Police Department identified Bleier and his partner in the spree, Matt Alden, as two of the principal architects of a month-long spate of racist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay messages at the small, private campus.

On his now-defunct LinkedIn page, Bleier noted that he was the founder and president of the Ithaca High School for Obama club. He also identified himself as a member of the Oberlin College Democrats.

Bleier also listed his participation in a group called Ithaca White Allies Against Structural Racism. He joined the group in May of this year, he reported. He said the group's goal is to "eradicate structural racism in Tompkins County [NY], via forums discussing racism."

[John]

And they closed down campus for several days. People were paying thousands of dollars for classes and were deprived of going thanks to that little douche and the lying administration. Every student who had a class canceled should be able to sue for their money back.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Oh please. Most students would *pay* for those days off.

[John]

If Oberlein wants to defend such suits by claiming that their classes are so worthless students were better off not going, such honesty will be a good thing as well.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Even though it's Oberlin, I like to think enough of them are normal and just went drinking for a few days. That's what we did on "social justice in-service days"

[Long Range Boredom]

You think that's bad, you should have seen the student protests in Quebec. Exams were frozen so the social science students could go out protesting. The engineering and hard science students were not happy.

[bmp1701]

He said the group's goal is to "eradicate structural racism in Tompkins County [NY], via forums discussing racism."

No need to make a joke. Just read it and laugh.

[AuH20]

Oh, come on! Didn't your high school teacher make you watch the sheriff of Tompkins County, NY, bust out the dogs and the fire hoses in the 60s?

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Look, you have to really work hard to get that gold medal in the Oppression Olympics these days.

[SugarFree]

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

One of these things is not like the other;
One of these things just doesn't belong.

[BakedPenguin]

"I'm for what I'm for, when it suits me."

[Lady Bertrum]

libertarian socialist = I want to do whatever I want to do, but I want you to pay for it. Or, childhood.

[Not a Libertarian]

What is a "consequentialist"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkD1VgtrdP8

[John]

They all want to be victims. They want the world to conform to their prejudices so bad they would rather be victims and have their prejudices confirmed than have to reconsider their views. There are not any racists at Oberlein. And that really disappointed these people. How are they supposed to play out their little psychodrama about fighting for the good if there are not any racists to fight? They needed to be victims and get that feeling of self importance so badly, they victimized themselves. It is such a sick ideology.

[AuH20]

See, John, they want to be victims so badly that they believe this shit. They just KNOW that there are racists lurking under the bed of every American, and incidents like this serve the greater good by outing them.

[WTF]

You know, if you have to lie to advance your argument, maybe your position isn't very strong to begin with.

[Warty]

Oberlin...fucking Oberlin.

[widget]

Chuck Ross, the author of that article, is a restaurant waiter not a professional journalist. His website is glpiggy.com (Gucci Little Piggy). He unraveled the Oberlin skullduggery through the freedom of information act, in his spare time, not by talking to officials.

[Lady Bertrum]

+1 for Chuck Ross.

[The Last American Hero]

So not a real, licensed, Feinstein approved journolist?

[Fluffy]

Oberlin merely wanted to TEACH here.

They wanted to teach their students that to modern liberalism it doesn't matter what the facts are, if someone feels bad.

If someone feels bad, we must all stop and embrace them...regardless of the facts.

Nothing Oberlin did that year was more educational than when they closed down and held a love-in while suppressing the fact that the love-in wasn't needed and was based on a hoax.

[John]

What matters is the narrative not the facts. Olberlin advanced the narrative and made important points. So, it being based on a lie is not an issue.

This is what they actually believe.

[The Late P Brooks]

One of the two students removed from Oberlin College earlier this year for allegedly circulating virulently racist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay messages around campus is an ardent leftist and committed supporter of President Barack Obama

"Seven years of college, down the drain. Now I'll have to join the fucking Peace Corps."

[Warty]

Here is a courageous dog who rejects your cissubspeciesnormative caninarchy by expressing his true wolfiness. What a hero to all oppressed minorities he is.

[invisible furry hand]

Too pale, too male, it's a fail

[BakedPenguin]

My dad had a dog that howled whenever she heard a siren. This was her comment on police abuse in the inner cities.

[John]

One of our old German shepherds would howl every time the phone rang. He would put his nose to the air and let it fly. I would stand the hair up on your neck.

[John]

There is an episode of Too Cute that follows a litter of Alaskan Malamutes. The two biggest males in the litter literally get into a howling contest to see who will be the alpha dog. It is amazing.

[The Late P Brooks]

listen to and respect the voices of people who are marginalized.

To paraphrase my dad, "Generally speaking, people are marginalized for a reason."

[SugarFree]

Is there a word, preferably long and German, for "I think what they did is wrong, but I understand what they were feeling and would probably do the same in their shoes."?

[robc]

Im not sure it was wrong.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Gotta agree with robc. I wanted to do this to a lady this morning. Twice, she almost ran me off the highway because she was looking at her goddam phone.

It was no surprise when she got a little ahead of me and I saw the "I'm ready for Hillary" bumper sticker.

[John]

"I am Ready for Hillary"? That is idiotic even for that type.

[invisible furry hand]

she could have had this one instead

[Warty]

The best I can do on short notice: Unrechtaberrichtig.

[mr simple]

Ask Alison: The App That Lets Women Rate Men by Looks and Income

[Warty]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"But how many of you think traditional public service is the best way to help your community and country?" I asked. "In other words, how many of you will make a career in politics or government?"

Not a hand went up. No chirping. Nothing -- the only noise in the abruptly silent room was the electronic hum of a fluorescent light. Finally, Shayan Ghahramani, a student, whispered, "Is this a joke?"

The horror...the horror.

[Irish]

Thank God. Hopefully even if young people decide to be good little statists there just won't be anyone to fill those jobs.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Well, first off, I'd say that "But how many of you think traditional public service is the best way to help your community and country?" and "In other words, how many of you will make a career in politics or government?" are two very different questions indeed.

[Thornton Melon]

Craziness of Fed dominated markets being demonstrated today. S&P is up on bad economic news (lower durable goods orders), because that means the Fed will be in less of a rush to scale back QEInfinity. Down is the new up.

[Warty]

Oh man, The Atlantic is a treasure trove today. A Convicted Murderer's Case for Gun Control

I'm where I belong. But without a gun I would not have killed. Like most misguided, impulsive youth in America, I was emotionally and socially retarded, with a killing machine on my waist.

If this isn't them scraping the bottom of the barrel, I can't wait to read their shitty arguments when they are.

[John]

Nothing makes for more powerful arguments than the post hoc rationalizations of a sociopath. Next up, Ariel Castro makes the case for banning porn and handcuffs.

[Brett L]

I'm still trying to work up the courage to read an article titled I, Pedophile at work.

[The Late P Brooks]

I was emotionally and socially retarded

Yglesias posts his column from a prison cell?

I did not know that.

[The Late P Brooks]

My first gun was a chrome .25 caliber automatic with a pink, pearl handle. It was beautiful.

So gay.

So

very

very

very

gay.

Also, whoever actually wrote that should be in the running for some sort of "short fiction" award.