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A.M. Links: China Warns U.S. About Possible Default, Obamacare to Release Sign-Up Numbers Monthly, Researchers Getting Closer to Nuclear Fusion

Ed Krayewski | 10.8.2013 9:00 AM

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Large image on homepages | healthcare.gov
(healthcare.gov)
  • how'd they expect a government website to work?
    Healthcare.gov

    China warned the US about a possible default while the White House insists it remains open to a short-term debt limit deal. Senator Tom Coburn says the US won't default if the debt limit is not raised and Senator Rand Paul called the president irresponsible for suggesting otherwise.

  • Jay Carney says the Obama Administration will release numbers on Obamacare sign ups monthly, like Romneycare and Medicare Part D did.
  • House Republicans say they're going to investigate reports of federal officials shutting down businesses and evicting residents on federal parklands because of the partial government shutdown.
  • The Obama Administration is reportedly no longer using "black sites" in foreign countries to interrogate extraordinarily rendered individuals, so that the government can still try them in civilian courts.
  • Arizona will continue to require proof of citizenship to vote despite the Supreme Court striking down the law. In California, Jerry Brown, who has recently signed bills into law allowing illegal immigrants to get drivers' licenses and practice law, vetoed a bill that would allow them to serve on juries, comparing the activity to voting.
  • The FBI helped arrest an auxiliary cop in Massachusetts who was allegedly selling drugs out of his police cruiser.
  • Chinese state media reports the government has two million "public opinion analysts" in the country policing the Internet.
  • Peter Higgs and Francois Englert were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for predicting the existence of the Higgs-Boson, observed last year, half a century ago.
  • Researchers at the National Ignition Facility in California say  they've reached a milestone toward self-sustaining nuclear fusion.

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NEXT: North Korean Army To Be Put on High Alert

Ed Krayewski is a former associate editor at Reason.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Arizona will continue to require proof of citizenship to vote despite the Supreme Court striking down the law.

    Disenfranchising the lazy voter.

    1. Redmanfms   12 years ago

      A State saying FYTW to the Feds.

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

      Bee-eeee-aaaaa-youtiful.

      1. Brett L   12 years ago

        Technically, they said, "Anyone who wants to vote in a state/local election needs to show ID, still. Fuck you if there happens to be federal elections on the same ballot." Although there IS a Federal form which you can request.

  2. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    I temporarily allowed all the scripts on H&R - what an unholy mess of ads and social networking.

    1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

      I started getting this 10 second delay with 'processing request' every time I refresh with Chrome. So I disabled Javascript but that screwed some stuff up and still got the delay. How do you disable scripts other than adblock?

      1. Mokers   12 years ago

        Try the safescript extension or no script on Firefox

        1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

          Okay, thanks.

      2. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

        I'm using Firefox - running Adblock and, more importantly, NoScript.

        NoScript is a PITA initially since you have to allow your favorite site. But once in place - no more banner ads, side google ads, pop-ups, or social media loading. It makes H&R so much faster to boot.

        1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

          You don't use Reasonable?

          *gasps*

          1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

            I should...

          2. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

            Comments are useless without reasonable.

            1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

              I tried it, and didn't like it. I think that was more to do with Chrome than anything.

            2. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

              Reasonable is like my DVR. I didn't know how much I loved and needed it until I got it.

            3. Sy   12 years ago

              The reviews are good, also:

              You really need to re-think the process of adding people to the troll list. MNG and I are now on it and neither of us fits the profile of a troll.

              Guess who.

              1. grrizzly   12 years ago

                This reasonable thingy is too sophisticated. Somehow I managed to hide every single comment.

              2. GILMORE   12 years ago

                ""d neither of us fits the profile of a troll.""

                Guess who.

                I'M NOT AN ANIMAL!! I'M A MAN!! A MAN!!

      3. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        On Chrome use reasonable and set it in your options.

  3. Redmanfms   12 years ago

    Chinese state media reports the government has two million "public opinion analysts" in the country policing the Internet.

    But how many pedobots?

  4. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    The Obama Administration is reportedly no longer using "black sites" in foreign countries to interrogate extraordinarily rendered individuals...

    International waters. They're not just for monkey knife fights anymore.

  5. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Lust-Filled Spiders Come Above Ground, Terrify Everyone

    Male tarantulas mostly live underground in burrows, but during mating season, their lust brings them up to the outside world in search of females, who are waiting in their own burrows.

    If droves of randy tarantulas running amok wasn't creepy enough, their mating process is. Males carry their sperm on the outside of their bodies. They weave a "sperm web," where they keep their sperm until they find the lady tarantula of their dreams.

    1. Matrix   12 years ago

      Warty approves

      1. Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!   12 years ago

        Warty imitates

        1. Bobarian   12 years ago

          Warty leaves a sticky trail during mating season

    2. darius404   12 years ago

      A term you never want to hear: "mating hooks". Warty comes to mind.

    3. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      You know who else wove a "sperm web"?

  6. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Find the Bastard who Shat down my Chimney

    1. Jordan   12 years ago

      So that's where Sandi went.

    2. Brett L   12 years ago

      This is why shotguns must remain legal. Winging the bastard with #2 Buck would probably hurry his evacuation and give injuries that would make him easier to find.

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Why do I get the feeling they're pranking the tabloid?

    4. Aloysious   12 years ago

      What a crappy thing to have happen.

    5. Rich   12 years ago

      flue poo horror

      Nice band name.

    6. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      What's the British term for TP? Because I didn't see any up there on that roof.

      1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

        What's the British term for TP?

        "Toilet paper" is a pretty common term there too. When I was there (middle school age), the kids called it "bog paper" or "poo tickets." The adults typically referred to it as "toilet roll" or "two ply."

        1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

          What a strange, alien language.

    7. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      'Poopetrator' Defiles Clothes With Feces At Yale Dorm Laundry Room

      http://newyork.cbslocal.com/20.....ndry-room/

  7. Bee Tagger   12 years ago

    Chinese state media reports the government has two million "public opinion analysts" in the country policing the Internet.

    Policing the internet or following FLOTUS on twitter, you decide.

    1. Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!   12 years ago

      Both?

  8. Ted S.   12 years ago

    The FBI helped arrest an auxiliary cop in Massachusetts who was allegedly selling drugs out of his police cruiser.

    I assume he's on a paid vacation?

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      He needed some auxiliary cash. His fellow LEO were saddened by the arrest because they couldn't really use "stop resisting" tactics on one of their own and with the feds there.

    2. Redmanfms   12 years ago

      totality of circs, due process, best of 'Murica.

      toll-a-meter .01 hth

  9. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Dozens play chess in public to defy SF crackdown

    At least for an afternoon, the chess players were back at the usual spot they've occupied for years along downtown San Francisco's busy Market Street.

    But instead of hustling a dollar here and a dollar there with deft openings and clever traps, the mostly homeless players and their supporters were playing Sunday in defiance of a recent police crackdown and ban on the public games. And they were backed by a brass band and several homeless advocates who helped organize the three-hour "chess-in" under bright, blue skies on a hot San Francisco afternoon.

    1. Drake   12 years ago

      If I ever decide to become a bum, I'm moving back to CA.

      1. mr simple   12 years ago

        Going back to Cali? Hmm, I don't think so.

        1. Sy   12 years ago

          +1 black corvette

      2. Restoras   12 years ago

        Don't become a bum, but instead just decide to walk the earth...

    2. Bam!   12 years ago

      Two things.

      First: A brass band? Frickin' A. Better than a stupid drum circle.

      Second: "Homeless advocate?" That's a thing?

      1. Redmanfms   12 years ago

        Second: "Homeless advocate?" That's a thing?

        Yeah, it's a rent-seeking political parasite closely related to the "community organizer."

    3. Doctor Whom   12 years ago

      When chess is outlawed, only outlaws will play chess.

      1. KMA Too   12 years ago

        well, considering the alternative...

  10. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

    Peter Higgs and Francois Englert were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for predicting the existence of the Higgs-Boson, observed last year, half a century ago.

    Obama didn't get the Nobel Prize for Medicine yesterday, despite his ground-breaking work crafting Obamacare, and today he didn't get the Nobel Prize in Physics despite his ground-breaking work in reality distortion fields.

    I think it's pretty clear the Swedish Academy is racist.

    1. Zeb   12 years ago

      Well maybe next time. I think they really wanted to give Higgs the prize before he died.

    2. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      So Boson gets shit then, eh?

      1. Zeb   12 years ago

        The boson gets the stupid and silly title of "God Particle".

      2. Christophe   12 years ago

        Assuming this isn't sarcasm: Bosons are name after Satyendra Nath Bose. It's an entire class of particles.

  11. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Senator Tom Coburn says the US won't default if the debt limit is not raised and Senator Rand Paul called the president irresponsible for suggesting otherwise.

    Since when is the politics of fearmongering irresponsible?

    1. John   12 years ago

      I love how the liberals are constantly citing the 14th Amendment as authority for dumb ass to borrow money at will. Ah no, it means the village idiot in the White House is obligated by law to use taxes to service the debt before using it for anything else. The 14th Amendment makes default illegal.

      1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

        I think it is even more narrow than that. I think it only meant that Congresses could not 'cop out' on the debt, especially to military pensioners, from the Civil War.

        1. John   12 years ago

          But it is written broadly. The language is pretty clear that the Feds have to honor all of their debts.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            We take the context of ratification in mind in interpreting the 14th in other areas. For example, while the 2nd Amendment RKBA was not meant to apply to state governments, the SCOTUS has argued that by the time the 14th went through the RKBA was considered a fundamental liberty guaranteed by due process (well, more likely P&I, but precedent forced it into the former).

            I guess you could argue that it would then to apply to any Civil War debt style situation.

            1. Doctor Whom   12 years ago

              The doctrine of incorporation is a separate issue. Also, just as matter of construction of legal instruments, "including" doesn't mean "consisting only of."

            2. Zeb   12 years ago

              I think that the main purpose of the debt part of the 14th was to reassure creditors that though the Confederate debts would never be paid, the US would definitely pay its debts. And to give people who fought in the Civil war what they were promised.
              The left liberals who want to use the 14th to force the issue seem to think that all spending that goes to individuals is also "debt". It seems to me that paying pensions, etc. for people who fought in the Civil War was a special case and otherwise it is meant to apply to government borrowing.

          2. The Last American Hero   12 years ago

            +1 Lannister

        2. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

          I think it is even more narrow than that. I think it only meant that Congresses could not 'cop out' on the debt, especially to military pensioners, from the Civil War.

          Even more important at the time was the clause that prevented the feds or states from honoring Confederate debt.

      2. Doctor Whom   12 years ago

        I love how they quote part of the 14th Amendment but leave out the words "authorized by law," which change the meaning substantially. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost start to believe that they weren't quite intellectually honest.

        1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

          Out of genuine curiosity, what work do you think that language ('authorized by law') does in this context?

    2. Gilbert Martin   12 years ago

      If there is any default on Treasury debt it will be because the administration actively chose to do so.

      Net interest on the debt is only about 6% of federal outlays and principal payments can be refinanced/rolled over without increasing the debt limit.

      Cash is fungible. All the administration has to do is prioritize paying debt service before everything else and there will be no default.

      Refraining from paying anything other than debt service does not constitute a default.

      Default is a specific legal term that applies to contractual debt obligations. It does not apply to anything other than that.

      The adminisration scaremongers and their MSM lackeys are deliberatly trying to redefine the term to mean not paying all sorts of other things such as social security payments, etc.

      Default has nothing to do with whether any of those other things get paid or not.

      1. John   12 years ago

        Choosing not to pay the debt over a political dispute is a real no kidding impeachment offense.

      2. Root Boy   12 years ago

        I love reading all the sturm and drang about the .gov having no money. The latest excuse I heard for not being able to pay $25B a month in treasury interest (from the $200B in vig they get every month) is that there are millions of payments a month by the treasury and it is just too hard to prioritize payments.

        Damn government is like the titanic, can't steer that bitch.

      3. Zeb   12 years ago

        They seem to want to call all spending debt.

        1. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

          The latest whining (and this happened in 2006 by Team Red, it's in the Congressional Record alongside Obummer's mendacious "I won't vote to raise the debt ceiling" statement) from Team Blue is that Congress needs to authorize funding for programs its already voted for.

          Really? Because if I found out my income wasn't going to meet my wishlist, I'd start looking for where I could go without instead of asking the bank to increase my credit limit. And it's rather audacious for President Cornball to scold Congress to "pay your bills." How big is the executive branch again?

      4. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        At a certain point, not raising the debt limit would cause a default. But if we're at the point that we need to borrow more to pay the debts we already owe, we are already bankrupt.

        1. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

          Yep.

      5. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

        All the administration has to do is prioritize paying debt service before everything else and there will be no default.

        Except of course that is illegal under the terms of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

        1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

          Except, of course, that the Constitution is the supreme law and requires that debts be paid.

        2. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

          I hear this stated a lot but I never hear an explanation. how and why is such an action illegal under the cited law?

          1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

            If Congress appropriates money for some purpose, the President isn't allowed to not spend it. We've basically got a situation with two contradictory laws, one of which says the president can't pay for things because it would incur more debt and another that says he can't not pay for things because that's a power reserved to congress.

            It's not clear which of the two laws "wins" if the debt ceiling isn't raised.

            1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

              So, in other words, you're not entirely clear whether it's illegal at all.

              1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

                In other words, no one is. When you have one law that says you MUST spend money and one that says you MUST not spend it, what are you supposed to do?

                1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                  Which means the talking point pimped by you and (among others) MattY that prioritization is "illegal" should never rear its ugly head again.

                  1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

                    Well if the president is free to ignore the law in this situation and not have it be illegal, why would he ignore the impound act and not the debt ceiling law?

  12. John   12 years ago

    School bus forced to take dangerous mountain road because asshole feds close down the safe road in the name of punishing America for the shutdown. Remember this then next time someone tells you Obama cares.

    http://www.foxnews.com/opinion.....access-to/

    1. WTF   12 years ago

      They don't count because they're only racist rednecks.

    2. Doctor Whom   12 years ago

      Here's how an Obot explained it to me. The NPS is under the death grip of the obstructionist teathuglicans. The Anointed One is apparently completely powerless over the branch of government that he heads (although he still gets the credit for everything).

  13. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    The Most Dangerous States in America

    10. Oklahoma
    9. Maryland
    8. Florida
    7. Louisiana
    6. Delaware
    5. South Carolina
    4. New Mexico
    3. Alaska
    2. Nevada
    1. Tennessee

    I blame the dueling and a' feuding.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      Most dangerous for sisters and cousins.

    2. John   12 years ago

      Those and moonshine runs. Those mountain roads are dangerous.

      1. Bam!   12 years ago

        Hold my beer and watch this.

        1. Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!   12 years ago

          #1 last words heard in Wisconsin?

    3. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

      4. New Mexico

      Gary Johnson's fault, of course.

      1. Drake   12 years ago

        I was expecting a Walter White joke.

        1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

          In your dreams.

          1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

            That was a Norm McDonald joke.

            1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

              I saw that Welch was retweeting some of that. I don't get what Norm's point was. I mean, what's the "so what?" to take away from it? You can't ever prove that it was a dream.

      2. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

        It's not a surprise, though. New Mexico's a giant welfare state. 70% of the births are paid for by Medicaid. The Indian reservations are filled with the hopelessly dependent and socially dysfunctional. Except for a few WASP-ish enclaves, a lot of folks live just a step or two removed technologically from their ancestors in the 1800s.

        If you took away even half of the government tit, New Mexico would go back to being a glorified sheep ranch.

        1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

          Yeah, I grew up there.

        2. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

          If you took away even half of the government tit, New Mexico would go back to being a glorified sheep ranch.

          Perhaps in the short term, but I suspect that the state would find other means and become a better place without being a welfare state. Welfare is part of the problem, not simply an inadequate solution. Welfare begets more welfare.

    4. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      It was clear from the outset that this ranking would be a bag of shit, but it totally lost me with:

      It has among the highest rates of drug use in the country, which is known to encourage criminal activity.

      Drug use doesn't encourage criminal activity other than using itself. Prohibition sets the stage for violence, not use.

      1. Bam!   12 years ago

        Addiction can lead to crime.

        1. cavalier973   12 years ago

          Laws can also lead to crime.

          1. Bam!   12 years ago

            I was arguing against prohibition leading to crime. Just pointing out that addictions can lead to crime.

            1. Bam!   12 years ago

              I meant "wasn't arguing against"

              1. cavalier973   12 years ago

                Poor grammar can also lead to crime. You just murdered that sentence.

          2. Bobarian   12 years ago

            I'm addicted to law?

            1. Numeromancer   12 years ago

              You might as well face it.

    5. cavalier973   12 years ago

      Memphis's violent crime rate was the nation's fifth worst, while Nashville's was the 18th worst. Like many states with high violent crime, poverty in Tennessee is acute, and high school and college graduation rates are lower than most of the country.

      As one who grew up in Memphis, I can say with some certainty that this is primarily "black on black" crime. I blame the looney welfare state and the diabolical "War on Drugs".

      In addition, pointing to "graduation rates" is a little disingenuous, because there are some places that "graduate" the students without having actually educated them.

      1. cavalier973   12 years ago

        I should also like to add this.

        The South tends toward violence because the culture ultimately derives from the English-Scottish Borderlands. We just don't know no better.

        1. cavalier973   12 years ago

          Also, this.

          Dr. Sowell borrows from the above tome to argue that the "hip hop culture" is actually a derivation of the "redneck culture" of the American South, which is itself a derivation of the English-Scottish Borderlands.

    6. cavalier973   12 years ago

      It may seem incongruous that Alaska, which has a low poverty rate and high levels of high school and college graduates, would be among the states with the worst crime rates. It has among the worst violent crime rates in part because of its forcible rape rate: 79.7 per 100,000 residents, the nation's highest rate.

      It's all those moose wandering about without any supervision at all.

  14. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

    -House Republicans say they're going to investigate reports of federal officials shutting down businesses and evicting residents on federal parklands because of the partial government shutdown.

    I think this will backfire. It will look like the GOP and conservatives are saying 'Hey, we welcome a shutdown of the government, who needs it anyways? [day later] Hey, we do not like how you shut it down, you were not supposed to shut down all the stuff people like!' And the administration will be able to trot out technical defenses under measures like the anti-deficiency act and prior established plans.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      No matter what the House Republicans do, the President and his sycophants in the media will say the House Republicans are wrong and terrbile.

    2. WTF   12 years ago

      Are you really that dense? The point is that there is no reason for the Feds to be expending resources to go out of their way to cause difficulty for people, in order to try to score political points and pretend government workers are necessary for people to be able to live on federal parklands or operate businesses.

      1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

        The problems are several: they have reasonable defenses to fall back onto: for liability and maintenance reasons it makes sense to close off even open air parks/momuments, plans to do so likely pre-date the shutdown talk and can be produced at these hearings. So far there is only the charges (some of which will likely prove less than fully founded) and optics against the administration, in hearings their defenses will be given lots of time.

        1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

          That's fine. Let them stand up in front of Zod and everybody and make those defenses. People will decide if they are reasonable.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            As of now we are only getting the charges against the administration and the optics against it (shots of open air monuments with 'barrycades'). Why give the administration the limelight to offer up their defenses and cast doubt on some of the charges?

            1. robc   12 years ago

              Because they have no defense.

              1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                I wish I could be so cocksure about things based on unfriendly news reports, but I often find there is a lot more to things than on the surface.

                The surface strikes me as quite negative to the Democrats, with such a baseline the only direction left to go would be one they will likely welcome.

            2. WTF   12 years ago

              As of now we are only getting the charges against the administration ...

              No, the majority of 'news' outlets are pushing the administration line that the Republicans are responsible for the 'shutdown' and the 'hardships' that supposedly result from that.

              1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                The charges about 'barrycades,' guards and cones in front of open air monuments and such is currently out there and well known among the public. More importantly it is largely uncontested. Like most reports in the coming weeks we will find that some of them at least will be less founded than others and defenses, perhaps at the least technical, will surface as the situation is better understood. Why invite publicity into that?

                1. WTF   12 years ago

                  Because if the administration had any reasonable defenses, they would have already used them. And the 'barrycades,' guards and cones in front of open air monuments and such are not just 'charges', they are documented evidence.

                  1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                    The barrycades and cones are 'documented evidence' but they are evidence of charges that they are being done out of purely spiteful political reasons. Those charges can be rebutted (since there appears to be possible legal justifications for such things, there may be pre-shutdown contingency plans that could be pulled out for at least some of them, and there will be some cones/barricades that will be justified in any shutdown). A congressional hearing will invite, and give equal time, to the administration and its supporters to provide that.

                2. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

                  More importantly it is largely uncontested.

                  Because this thin-skinned administration is always so reticent about defending itself.

                  Why invite publicity into that?

                  For about the tenth goddamned motherfucking time, because your hypothesized defenses will not be seen as reasonable. Do you get it now, or are you going to continue to pose the question as if it provides some kind of insight?

                  1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                    -For about the tenth goddamned motherfucking time, because your hypothesized defenses will not be seen as reasonable.

                    I imagine you thought there would be no reasonable defenses of Obama's administration that would inspire a majority of Americans in the last election to vote him back into office.

                    Not being able to see that people other than you might find what you think unreasonable to actually be reasonable is a major liability in politics.

                    These stories are almost uniformly being reported by media institutions unfriendly to the administration. That does not make them any more or less false than anything else, by the way. But it does make it likely that less than full effort was made to get what are likely to be the defenses offered by the administration and supporters. Since these are essentially only being reported in unfriendly venues, why invite the public to focus on a hearings where the administration will be able to trot out its defenses? Because you are so sure no one will find them reasonable?

                    1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

                      OK, so maybe you disagree with the projected outcome but, for fuck's sake, surely the concept of why those who disagree with your risk assessment would invite publicity has penetrated the neutron-star level density that is surrounding you, right?

                      So you can stop asking why. You've been told why. You potentially disagree with the outcome, some maybe argue about that, rather than rehashing the fucking "why" question. You've been told why. The "why" is that people probably won't agree that the government's rationalizations stand up to scrutiny. That's why. Clear enough?

                    2. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      Sure, much as I can see that at least some people that otherwise would not might find the administration's defenses, when given that kind of light, reasonable I can see what you fellows are saying. I just think you are wrong. I get that you think I am wrong, and I am only answering why I disagree.

                    3. GILMORE   12 years ago

                      ""I can see that at least some people that otherwise would not might find the administration's defenses, when given that kind of light, reasonable I can see what you fellows are saying. I just think you are wrong. I get that you think I am wrong""

                      ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER - DO YOU SPEAK IT??

                      This is what happens when dumb people learn Lawyerese before Logic.

                    4. Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!   12 years ago

                      Why are continuing to wallow in the Blue Tulpa swamp?

        2. WTF   12 years ago

          Bullshit. "Park Ranger: "We've been told to make life as difficult for people as we can."

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            The Washington Times' unnamed source is the foundation of such confidence?

            1. WTF   12 years ago

              Sure, just ignore all the other evidence that that is exactly what they are doing, such as shutting down roads, closing private businesses, and fencing off open-air monuments, for fuck sake. You really are the new MNG.

              1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                I am merely saying that if you are that confident on the back of things like the Washington Times quoting an single, unnamed source, you may want to step back and reassess how sure you are this will play out the way you think under scrutiny. If Mother Jones had an article with a single unnamed source I am sure you would laugh it off.

                1. WTF   12 years ago

                  If Mother Jones had an article with a single unnamed source I am sure you would laugh it off.

                  No, I would evaluate the rest of the evidence available, and if the evidence overwhelmingly supported the source's statement, I would make my judgment based on that.

                  Can't you read, or are you just disingenuously ignoring the rest of the evidence at hand, MNG?

                  1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                    I thought I was Blue Tulpa?

                    As for the substantive question, can you not see that the 'evidence available' as of now comes from, and as you might expects, favors those who share your strongly partisan point of view. There is quite a mountain of political defeats made up of fellows who thought such a foundation was sure to win the battle for them. Forgive me if I am wary of hunkering down on that foundation.

                    1. WTF   12 years ago

                      As for the substantive question, can you not see that the 'evidence available' as of now comes from, and as you might expects, favors those who share your strongly partisan point of view.

                      The evidence is what it is, dipshit. You didn't actually see the fuckers trying to bar the WWII vets from their open air memorial, for no good reason other than FYTW? If the evidence favors a certain point of view, then that is reason to hold that point of view, unless refuted by better evidence.
                      And now I'm supposedly the 'partisan' for looking at the evidence for what it is. Fuck off, you disingenuous fuck.

                2. GILMORE   12 years ago

                  ", just ignore all the other evidence that that is exactly what they are doing, such as shutting down roads, closing private businesses, and fencing off open-air monuments,

                  i am in central VA at the moment. consistent with an earlier H&T post, there was a story in the local paper about how area school field trips were diverted to privately - run historical parks... and when the county parks dept people found out, rushed to said locales and promptly revoked their 'permissions' ... because you see, the proper forms had not been submitted. Yeah, i sincerely doubt anyone is going to buy some narrative about how this is about saving money or reducing liability. its about making people hurt BECAUSE WE CAN. super classy bureaucratic territorialiam. A++

              2. Mainer2   12 years ago

                You really are the new MNG.

                You are just now figuring that out ?

                1. WTF   12 years ago

                  Yeah, well, I guess I was just giving him the benefit of the doubt.

                  1. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

                    I want FULL CREDIT for calling it first. Fisty may post first but I identified this simpering, intellectually dishonest,goal post moving style as MNGs long before you simple rubes picked up on it. AND IF I AM NOT mistaken I believe ProL disagreed with me. Even if this isn't the exact MNG he is close enough...I wonder if his PHD still makes him feel superior.

                    1. Mainer2   12 years ago

                      Noted, Bandit.

                    2. WTF   12 years ago

                      Who can forget MNG's classic "People with PhDs who probably make more than you are trying to have an adult conversation" rant?

                    3. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

                      Ahh the good old days.

                    4. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

                      If I post first then I also get credit for ALL firsts. So if a commenter is identified as a probably sockpuppet of another, infamous commenter then I get the thanks.

                    5. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

                      Tractor pulls!

                    6. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

                      Ohh the memories...I forgot about the tractor pulls.

                    7. Mainer2   12 years ago

                      I INSPIRED THAT. The subject was Walmart. MNG was slamming their crap products. I said they carry name brands at good prices, so I shop there. He said I could stop at Walmart on my way to the Tractor Pull. My one claim to reason.com fame, and it's all but forgotten.

                    8. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

                      TRAKTOR PULLZ!! But only after I go to the Walmart first.

                    9. Mainer2   12 years ago

                      See someone remembers.

                    10. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

                      I remember...just not who was involved. Priceless.

          2. GILMORE   12 years ago

            replace "park ranger" with "career democrat".

            because if people didnt have problems, why would they look to Government to solve them? MAKE THEM NEEDS US

        3. robc   12 years ago

          Except they didnt shut down ALL the open air parks/monuments, only selective ones, so the argument fails.

          And fuck off with the DA bullshit.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            Again, they will simply show up with predated contingency plans and such to explain all that away.

            1. Root Boy   12 years ago

              We've seen Obama and Carney in action. They have little ability to justify their closure strategy - Andrews AFB Golf Course, anybody?

              Their shitty strategy needs more exposure.

              1. wareagle   12 years ago

                who's gonna expose it? The same press that is either ignoring or excusing it?

                1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                  The same people who are exposing it now. The conservative press has done a good job of getting the word out about this, and in a way where the administration's side does not get much play. My question is, why invite the administration's view and give it air time (which is what a hearing will do)?

      2. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

        Are you really that dense?

        No, he's mendacious not dumb.

    3. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

      Because putting up cones to keep people from pulling over and taking pictures has one iota of relevance to a government shutdown. It's foot stomping petulance and I think that will backfire.

      1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

        -"If I were a lawyer for the Park Service, I'd advise it in no uncertain terms to close the parks to the public during the government shutdown, because it would be irresponsible to do otherwise," writes Richard Seamon, a University of Idaho law professor who previously advised the National Park Service as an assistant to the solicitor general in the US Department of Justice, in an e-mail. If parks remain open, "there are bound to be accidents or crimes that would have been avoided or ameliorated had officials been on duty to respond or patrol."

        1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

          Surely this lawyer knows the law says that the police have no duty to prevent crime so there would be no liability for the failure to do so. Also, good luck suing the feds for any of that.

          1. WTF   12 years ago

            Bo is pretending he never heard of sovereign immunity.

            1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

              Some people might want to look up sovereign immunity law. Thankfully, it is not as blanket as some here seem to think/imply.

              1. WTF   12 years ago

                Thankfully, it is not as blanket as some here seem to think/imply.

                The actual application of it, however, is.

                1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                  Yes, because no one ever wins (or more often) settles a lawsuit against the federal government!

                  1. WTF   12 years ago

                    I'm waiting for your examples of people successfully suing the federal government for getting injured in a national park.

                    1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      This took one minute:

                      -A judge has ruled in favor of a family that sued the federal government after their son was crushed to death by a retaining wall at a national park in Northern California.

                      http://www.actionnewsnow.com/c.....nzUWw.cspx

                    2. WTF   12 years ago

                      So the presence of park officials made no difference. Thanks for playing.

                    3. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      My goodness but you are interesting in your dogmatism!

                      -I'm waiting for your examples of people successfully suing the federal government for getting injured in a national park.

                      -Here is one

                      -Er, subject change!

                    4. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

                      Asking that the response bear some relation to the context under discussion is not a subject change. You could cite a breach of contract case, too, and it wouldn't be any more relevant to potential federal liability because of the absence of park rangers.

                    5. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      Let's stipulate that WTF asked for, and denied, that federal lawsuits for injury on National Parks successfully occur because of sovereign immunity. He was flat wrong on that, proven in less than three minutes. In the worst tradition of the internet he offers not mea culpa, sorry, I misunderstood this part of the law, it is indeed possible for the federal government to be liable for injuries that occur on park service lands. Instead he wheels to 'well, this would not involve the rangers being present or not.' Is that not at the least a bit 'smelly?'

                      Now, as to the context, NEM, I believe you have said you are a lawyer, no? So can you not see how the actions of park rangers could be a factor in a lawsuit over injury? One thing that is often asked in such lawsuits is, did the owners or maintainers of the land take reasonable steps to prevent the injury? When the owners or maintainers are not even present that opens up wide avenues for any lawyer with any acumen. Can you not admit that?

                    6. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

                      Then cite a case in which the Park Service has been held liable for failing to prevent a crime.

                    7. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      -Then cite a case in which the Park Service has been held liable for failing to prevent a crime.

                      That is not necessary to justify keeping people out of the parks given you seem to have conceded the point about potential tort liability for other things, right?

                    8. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      That is not necessary to justify keeping people out of the parks given you seem to have conceded the point about potential tort liability for other things, right?

                      The case you cited had nothing to do with the presence of Park Personnel. If anything, the retaining wall case is a justification for permanently closing all parks, right?

                    9. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      The case was cited to smash WTF's and NEM's silly assertion that sovereign immunity foreclosed lawsuits against the federal government for injuries on park grounds. That is demonstrably false, OK?

                      Now, the relation to the presence of employees supervising has been explained. I imagine when NEM returns to comment he will concede that having employees present and supervising would be a potential factor in a lawsuit where someone was injured while using the facility, since whether landowners are liable often has something to do with what reasonable steps they took to prevent such an injury.

                      But of course, the mountain goat case I site below makes this superfluous.

                    10. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      Correction: NEM's initial comment seems more based on the doctrine of police having no legal liability to prevent crimes in general* than in sovereign immunity.

                      *Which of course is distinct from the liability land and enterprise owners have to protect people from injuries while on their land, a liability that has often included taking reasonable steps to prevent attacks from third parties

                    11. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      But of course, the mountain goat case I site below makes this superfluous.

                      You spoke too soon.

                    12. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      Consider two potential clients of yours, both who own, let us say, an enterprise where families come and children play on the things on that property. At both places a child was injured while doing that.

                      The first potential client usually had employees supervise such activity who would warn them about this or that danger when it was relevant, and the second did the same. But in this instance the second client had sent all of his employees home because of a contract dispute, but he still let people come in and use the facility and the injury occurred during this time.

                      Are you going to tell me that you would not prefer to have the first one as a client rather than the second? I do not know of any tort lawyer would not.

                      If you concede this then you can see why the park service might want to keep people out of facilities and lands they are not supervising, and you can then explain that to WTF who has concluded the only possible reason that can be offered for them doing is instead political machinations.

                    13. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      Are you going to tell me that you would not prefer to have the first one as a client rather than the second?

                      That is not relevant to the main point. The main point is that there is no justification for using even more personnel to close open-air memorials, because you cannot point out a time and place where the federal park service has been successfully sued on a "duty to warn/prevent" basis.

                      Seriously, monuments like the WWII Memorial are open 24/7. You aren't seriously claiming it's guarded the entire time, are you?

                    14. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      -A federal judge has dismissed most of a widow's claims against the federal government after her husband was killed by a mountain goat while hiking in Olympic National Park two years ago.

                      -She also alleged that the park failed to act quickly once the attack was reported ? the one claim that was not dismissed in Judge Robert Bryan's ruling in U.S. District Court in Tacoma this week.

                      OK, mea culpa's anyone? Here is a case of a judge refusing to dismiss a count of a lawsuit against the federal government which is based on the theory that the park service did not act quickly enough in response to a fatal attack by wildlife. An entirely unsupervised park would, I think even you fellows would have to see and admit, be at far greater peril of such a lawsuit, right?

                      http://www.peninsuladailynews......ntain-goat

                    15. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      An entirely unsupervised park would, I think even you fellows would have to see and admit, be at far greater peril of such a lawsuit, right?

                      Uhhh, no. Just the opposite. If it was well known that the park was unsupervised, there is no duty to act on the part of nonexistent supervisors.

                      Which is exactly my point with the national monuments and memorials. These things are practically like sidewalks - there's no citywide duty to monitor them.

                    16. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      In a tort case a defendant's lawyer will want to be able to stand up in front of a jury and say 'we took reasonable steps to prevent this from happening. We put up a sign. We had people present to watch the kids and tell them not to play on this or that rock. We etcetera, etcetera. We are not expected to stop every accident, just to show we took reasonable steps to fulfill our duty of care. We did that.'

                      If that third sentence is not true it detracts from the case.

                      Don't trust me, ask any lawyer working in torts.

                    17. robc   12 years ago

                      So there are wild mountain goats at the WW2 memorial?

                    18. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      Yes, robc, that is exactly how the law works. The duty to warn, supervise or timely come to assist someone on your property only applies to mountain goat attacks and nothing else that could conceivably occur on said property.

                    19. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      Assuming Bo Cara is right and there is some conceivable set of facts concerning "wilder" parks, that still has no bearing or relevance on memorials planted in the middle of a city.

                    20. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

                      Mea culpa this: "Bryan had dismissed Susan Chadd's final negligence claim against the federal government Oct. 10.

                      The claim had asserted that the park failed "to summon a rescue helicopter in a timely manner" after Chadd's husband, Robert Boardman, was fatally gored in the thigh on Switchback Trail on Klahhane Ridge while trying to protect his wife and their friend Pat Willits of Port Angeles from the 370-pound male mountain goat that was harassing them before Bob Boardman separated from the party and the animal followed him.

                      On Tuesday, Bryan dismissed the entire lawsuit, saying there were no remaining claims, after he refused a motion for reconsideration of an Aug. 20 ruling in which he had dismissed most of Chadd's claims."

                      Entire suit dismissed

                    21. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

                      http://www.peninsuladailynews......k-mountain

                    22. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      You are supposed to be a lawyer, right? The dismissal of this claim does not mean that there could be no set of facts that would warrant a claim for not acting fast enough in response, just that it did not in this case. To the contrary, the fact that it survived the first round of dismissals kind of shows that.

                      I mean, I think you are being coy or obstinate here, so let us bring it to the forefront and ask you point blank: you do not think there is a conceivable legal advantage to keeping people out of a facility or property that you usually supervise?

                    23. robc   12 years ago

                      you do not think there is a conceivable legal advantage to keeping people out of a facility or property that you usually supervise?

                      So the fuck what?

                      It doesnt fit with the pattern of closing the administration went with, so they cant successfully use that excuse.

                      Use that excuse to explain closing a park in which a private entity has contracted to run and maintain the park?

                    24. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      For the 100th time, Bo, the Park Service did not "usually supervise" these memorials or other federal lands. Do you really think if you were way out in the middle of Lake Mead that the Park Service would arrive in time to save you from a bear? They probably see you once a week at best.

                    25. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      -the Park Service did not "usually supervise" these memorials or other federal lands

                      Do you know this to be true? I doubt they left even the open air memorials totally unsupervised. Certainly parks like Yellowstone were supervised.

                      I am not arguing that some actions during the shutdowns are not petty political motivations. Some almost surely are, I have always said that.

                      My point is that at least some are also almost surely able to be reasonably justified by the kind of things I am talking about.

                      At present the negative stories are from unfriendly presses and the justifications are practically unheard of. My only point this entire conversation is, why ruin that by having a congressional hearing and giving the administration a spot light to offer up what it can?

                    26. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      Do you know this to be true? I doubt they left even the open air memorials totally unsupervised.

                      I know for a fact that open air memorials are routinely unsupervised and open 24/7. Did someone from the Park Service show up at these things from time to time to make sure giant chunks weren't carved out of the Vietnam Memorial? Yeah, but that's not what you were saying.

                      My only point this entire conversation is, why ruin that by having a congressional hearing and giving the administration a spot light to offer up what it can?

                      Because if the order to barricade the WWII Memorial (for example) came from the President, the whole nation is going to go nuts. There is literally almost nothing to lose. Any excuses (like yours) have been proffered by Team Blue Dogs already.

                    27. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

                      It may not mean that there are literally no facts that would warrant a claim, but it means that the facts you posted which purported to show a claim, and asked for a mea culpa, do not.

                      So, again, cite a case in which the Park Service has been held liable for park personnel's failing to prevent a crime or injury.

                    28. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      OK, NEM, fresh from Lexis Nexis Law School I have your mea culpa case, and I must say it is even more on point here than I could have hoped.

                      The case is Ducey v. United States, 713 F.2d 504, 515 (9th Cir. 1983).

                      In this case two men were at a NPS park. They were killed in a sudden flash flood. The lawsuit alleged that the NPS negligently failed to act to warn and guard the deceased from the flood. The NPS tried to argue that since the deceased were admitted without charge the NPS was not liable, but since the deceased did business with an independent enterprise operating on the property via an agreement with the NPS the Court held the NPS could be liable. Importantly for this case, the NPS could be liable for the omissions of the independent, private enterprise as well!

                      Certainly this shows why not only would the NPS have to be worried that it could be liable if, due to discontinued supervision they could not act to warn or guard against a sudden action like a flash flood, but it might also rightly be concerned about the failure to act of independent private organizations who operate on their lands (such as the ones much furor is being made over being closed during this shutdown).

                      Well, what say you now?

                    29. FYTW   12 years ago

                      Well, what say you now?

                      "Hi, my name's Bo, and I'm one of those super-annoying 1Ls who thinks that by engaging in wank-tastic legal pedantry he's demonstrating how smart he is, rather than providing an object lesson in why normal people and even many lawyers hate lawyers."

                    30. WTF   12 years ago

                      Asking that the response bear some relation to the context under discussion is not a subject change. You could cite a breach of contract case, too, and it wouldn't be any more relevant to potential federal liability because of the absence of park rangers.

                      Exactly. Although I'm about done trying to have a reasonable discussion with MNG II.

                    31. robc   12 years ago

                      And dont forget the parks that were shut down even though the workers arent federal employees and therefore there would be no more liability issues than normal.

                    32. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      WTF, your claim of sovereign immunity blocking such suits is demonstrably false. No one else is defending it now. Your inability to just say 'hey, I was wrong on that' speaks volumes, and it is not about my 'reasonableness.'

                    33. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

                      NEM has a point there, Bo.

        2. Brett L   12 years ago

          Perhaps. However, I fail to see how the NPS would be liable while furloughed. They aren't the owners, they are the managers.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            They would be liable, the distinction you are thinking of would not stand up in court.

            1. Swiss Servator, Kneel to Zug!   12 years ago

              I would gladly oppose you in court on that. You admitted to the Federal Bar anywhere?

        3. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

          So instead of a "closed" sign and a barricade you put up a sign that says "There is nobody here to help you if you should need it. Enter at your own risk."

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            Assumption of risk is far less protecting of owners of land, enterprises and such than it once was. This would leave open considerable potential liability.

            1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

              Yeah, and we're also operating in a world where a burglar can sue his victim if he hurts himself in the act. Only a lawyer...

              1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                Well, I am conducting this conversation based on what the law is, not what it should be, since the administration will be able to rely on the former.

    4. Brett L   12 years ago

      Right. A shutdown where the government stops working, not where they actively work to make people uncomfortable. I disagree with you. The Government is clearly owned by the Democrats in the mind of the public and clearly acting exactly like a protection racket.

      1. Drake   12 years ago

        I marvel at how the Federal Bureaucracy has aligned itself with one party. If Republicans ever come to control the Presidency and both Houses of Congress again, what is to stop them from massive federal layoffs(other than incompetence)?

        1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

          Civil service laws, bureaucratic inertia, and GOP insincerity.

          1. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

            GOP insincerity.

            I hate to agree with Bo, but - this.

        2. Rasilio   12 years ago

          I believe there are actually laws on the books preventing this.

          Now if they actually eliminated those jobs they could do it but otherwise no they couldn't

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            This would be the easiest way, pass laws eliminating the agencies and the jobs.

            Remember how much of that happened the last time the GOP controlled the White House and Congress?

            1. Drake   12 years ago

              Incompetence / Insincerity

              It would be fun to watch a budget showdown between President Paul and a Republican Congress - because he refuses to fund the Departments of Education and Commerce.

            2. Brett L   12 years ago

              Oh, you're not wrong. I'm hoping the people see the farce of governance, not that one party or another wins.

              1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                I do not think either Team has any interest in people seeing the 'farce of governance.' The theory around here seems to be the GOP will help out with that, but since the shutdown they have used theatrical stunts to 'reaffirm' that things like the NIH, national parks and monuments are part of the 'core mission of the federal government' (the actual words of GOP Congressman Kingston (Ga) during their pro-NIH rally the other day).

                What I would have liked to have seen in the face of the stories about the parks and monuments and the NIH is for Congresscritters to say 'Now, this is why these should be privatized as soon as possible, so they can cease to be political footballs and be run in a more sane, efficient, and less coercive manner.' Good think I did not hold my breath on that.

                1. robc   12 years ago

                  The theory around here seems to be the GOP will help out with that

                  False. The theory is one or two guys in the GOP will help out with that, which is one of two more than, currently, among elected Dems.

                  I will register Dem (which I was from 1987 to 2007) to support zombie Cleveland in the 2016 primary if he runs. But I suspect its as likely as my support for zombie Coolidge in 2012.

                  1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                    Then robc let's condemn the other GOP when they act the fool, during the shutdown and not.

                    1. robc   12 years ago

                      Then robc let's condemn the other GOP when they act the fool

                      I do, all the fucking time. I spent 2011 and 2012 blasting Romney.

                      I ridicule McConnell and Boehner as much as I possibly can.

                      Its hard right now though, with Boehner kinda, sorta showing some spine for a change.

                    2. robc   12 years ago

                      Right now, though, Obama and Reid are worse, so they get the biggest share of my condemnation.

                      Unlike you, I start at the top (or bottom).

                    3. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

                      rob, two things:
                      1. Is Coolidge your best on the GOP/Whig side? I do agree with Mr. Veto Cleveland however and wish he were still with us, the tubby bitch.
                      2. Don't you think it is interesting that the person to which you responded did not bother to see (or acknowledge) that your views are not tied to the GOP thus demonstrating, at the least, a level of intellectual laziness? If so then why continue? A great man once said play on your own field, not your opponents.

                    4. robc   12 years ago

                      1. Coolidge was the best president of the 20th century (the competition was staggeringly weak). There could be a number of 19th century guys I would prefer if I took the time to think about it.

                      2. For the same reason I never filtered joe? Although he got filtered in about 5 minutes when he returned. I still argue with Tulpa too, so maybe Im just a fool. It took me years to get around to filtered about MNG.

                    5. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

                      I assumed you were going by party affiliation not century. In that case I agree. I think Cool Cal had some missed opportunities (the Fed, KILL IT WITH FIRE) but overall didn't break much. Ike is in a similar bucket. As for Party affiliation I would probably lean back to Garfield, he was in office only 6 months...not enough time to do anything too bad.

                    6. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      -Don't you think it is interesting that the person to which you responded did not bother to see (or acknowledge) that your views are not tied to the GOP

                      Where would I see this? I have not seen his '2011 and 2012' posts he refers to as evidence of such.

                    7. robc   12 years ago

                      There is a search feature at the top of the page.

                      And my posts go back much, much further than 2011.

                      At least the first term of Bush 2.

                    8. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

                      so it is laziness then.

                    9. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                      Instead of going off what I have heard from him the few months I have seen him post I should scour the archives for any proof he has denounced the GOP here? That is certifiable.

                  2. trshmnstr   12 years ago

                    I would be proud to vote for either of those corpses any day!

        3. Ted S.   12 years ago

          As opposed to Yes, Minister, where the UK Civil Service was aligned with itself against the parties.

        4. Redmanfms   12 years ago

          what is to stop them from massive federal layoffs(other than incompetence)?

          They'd be crucified for doing so.

          If the Republicans actually did what Dems do when they are in office (fire all bureaucratic appointees and hire new ones that are good little Team players) the news media would go apoplectic. The Dems would screech about the GOP politicizing the civil service and the MSM would lap that shit up.

          Remember the ongoing outrage over Bush firing 11 U.S. Attorneys?

          Remember when Clinton fired 80 of them?

          Don't forget the wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanied Reagan's treatment of the air-traffic controllers.

          1. Redmanfms   12 years ago

            Besides, The GOP has never shown much interest in reducing the size of Federal government. They've just never been as smart or brazen as the Democrats in making the civil service a functioning wing of their party.

            So yeah, incompetence.

          2. Drake   12 years ago

            So what? Only the mainstream media and the left would be angry. It wouldn't cost the GOP one vote in the next election.

            Reagan won another term in a landslide after standing up to a public union.

            1. Redmanfms   12 years ago

              So what? Only the mainstream media and the left would be angry. It wouldn't cost the GOP one vote in the next election.

              They aren't called the Stupid Party for nothing.

          3. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            Did the Dems fire bureaucratic appointees?

    5. waffles   12 years ago

      The Pew research polls on the subject seem to indicate a fairly even split on the "who to blame" question. I really doubt what the Republicans are doing is as dangerous as the Democrats. The public at large isn't going to look too closely at this or employ any real critical thinking. Most people just see the news through a lens that supports their preconceived notions.

      My bias is towards chaos. So I'm at least a little bit happy with this turn of events.

      1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

        Even an even split, if it lingers, is not good news for the GOP which is likely hoping that they have their usual turn-out and enthusiasm advantages in off year elections.

        1. WTF   12 years ago

          An even split, with the MSM actively promoting the democrat position, is actually not good news for the democrats.

        2. waffles   12 years ago

          I really think that the people who are turned off by a partial government shutdown aren't people who could be turned on to the GOP in a midterm election. The venn diagram doesn't have much overlap.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            The concern, for the GOP, would be the people who could be turned on to vote for the Democrat Party in the midterms who otherwise would have stayed home and watched MTV.

            1. robc   12 years ago

              The concern, for the GOP

              Not even hiding your concern-trolling now?

              1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                Is concern trolling expressing, or in this case merely identifying, something that might be concerning? Using the word?

                1. robc   12 years ago

                  Concern trolling is expressing "concern" for your enemy in a way that implies you are trying to help them.

                  Just speak for yourself and stop devil's advocating or being concerned about the actions of the stupid party.

                  They are going to act stupid and destroy themselves, sit back and enjoy it with the rest of us.

                  1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

                    I consider the GOP and the Dems to be enemies, but my ideal outcome for this shutdown would be something the GOP would like better. Ideally something would happen like the GOP taking the Senate which would snap the Democratic party into conceding on something big like Obamacare.

                    1. robc   12 years ago

                      I consider the GOP and the Dems to be enemies

                      Good, not stop concern trolling for either one.

                    2. robc   12 years ago

                      s/not/now/

        3. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

          Even an even split, if it lingers, is not good news for the GOP

          This is just flat out false.

          And even split works to the GOPs advantage because they are the outsiders and nominally anti-government.

      2. gaijin   12 years ago

        My bias is towards chaos.

        Then you might like Obama as Chaos!

        Obama as chaos

        1. waffles   12 years ago

          That's not chaos, just gross mendacity. It's close but it doesn't play with this breakfast pastry.

  15. Bee Tagger   12 years ago

    Peter Higgs and Francois Englert were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for predicting the existence of the Higgs-Boson, observed last year, half a century ago.

    They should have said this award was given to them 50 years ago, they were just finally able to confirm it this year.

    1. Stilgar   12 years ago

      They should not have given this award. Higgs did not want it and the reality is there were 5 theorists (4 alive) who all made very significant contributions to the theory. Trying to split hairs to eliminate other researchers on the same topic so you can meet the magic 'no more than three' is not the way the award should be determined.

      1. Bee Tagger   12 years ago

        I don't get it, where does the dumb joke arrive in your plan?

      2. Ted S.   12 years ago

        Say Higgs refused it (if he really doesn't want the award) and give it to the other three who are alive.

      3. LynchPin1477   12 years ago

        I'm surprised that an experimentalist wasn't also included. The problem is the LHC is a HUGE experiment and singling one person out to recognize is probably almost impossible. But it was still a monumental effort to confirm the theorists' predictions, and without that the theorists have nothing more than a nice idea. As you said, the "no more than 3" rule simply doesn't work in an era increasingly dominated by big science.

        1. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

          interesting aside, it is the exact same as the specialization of the workforce in econ. And with it we have seen the explosion of scientific discovery. I Pencil or I Boson?

  16. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Jay Carney says the Obama Administration will release numbers on Obamacare sign ups monthly...

    And numbers revisions every other month.

    1. gaijin   12 years ago

      Seasonally adjusted of course.

  17. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    This is pretty rich coming from the WAPO:

    Venezuela, on the path to implosion, expels diplomats

    THE EXPULSION of three U.S. diplomats by Venezuelan President Nicol?s Maduro last week should be taken as one more symptom of the unravelling of the crackpot socialist regime inflicted on the country by the late Hugo Ch?vez. Mr. Maduro, a former bus driver picked by Mr. Chavez to replace him as he was dying of cancer, accused Charge D'affairs Kelly Keiderling and two colleagues of plotting to sabotage the crumbling national electric grid, histrionically shouting "Yankee, go home" for good measure.

    The charges are ridiculous, but there is logic to their timing. Mr. Maduro's government is besieged by the consequences of 14 years of disastrous economic policies: inflation that has risen above 45 percent; severe shortages, including of food staples and toilet paper; chronic power outages, including one that turned out lights in 70 percent of the country last month; and one of the world's highest rates of violent crime.

    1. John   12 years ago

      But it will work in America. Our top men can handle it better.

      1. robc   12 years ago

        Like in California, which has eliminated poverty.

    2. LynchPin1477   12 years ago

      A small price to pay for sticking it to the rich. Nobel cause and such.

    3. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      Without implying that socialism hasn't been the primary culprit in ruining Venezuela, to believe that the CIA didn't have a hand in the implosion would be folly.

    4. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      "severe shortages, including of food staples and toilet paper"

      Wouldn't this create a balancing act of sorts? No food, no need for poo tickets.

      1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        I've always thought that the most effective weight loss plan is living in government mandated poverty.

  18. Rich   12 years ago

    The Obama administration plans to release data on health insurange [sic] signups through Obamacare exchanges on a monthly basis

    Maryland says only 326 have actually enrolled

    The state has about 600,000 people without health insurance.... Officials say there's still plenty of time, so long as people aren't deterred by website problems

    or Republican obstructionism.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Something like half or more of the people who are eligible for medicaide bother to enroll. Most people don't pay a lot of attention to things. There is going to be a huge number of people who have no idea they are supposed to buy health insurance and are going to be shocked when the penaltax is taken out of their tax refunds. You watch. It is astounding how out of touch a lot of people are.

      1. Rich   12 years ago

        How can this be, John? I thought Democratcare was placing a "Navigator" on every street corner.

        1. Root Boy   12 years ago

          Obama just needs to do another round of speeches to get the word out

        2. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

          If you need "navigators" to help people negotiate a law that is supposed to save America, you're doing it wrong.

          1. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

            Ya know, I made a forced spice evolution joke a few weeks back about the navigators and got NO PLAY! Screw you guys, I am going home.

    2. LynchPin1477   12 years ago

      I've tried to visit the home page of the Virginia site 4 times in the past week. Not log in to the system, not request any information, just visit the front page. The past three times I got the "site is busy" message, which didn't go away even after 15 minutes of waiting. Today it changed to "down for maintenance". I'm sure they'll get these issues worked out eventually, but my God. If this were a private company launching an IPO they'd be laughed out of business by now.

  19. Brett L   12 years ago

    Researchers at the National Ignition Facility in California say they've reached a milestone toward self-sustaining nuclear fusion.

    Fusion is now only 20 years away, comrades!

    1. Mokers   12 years ago

      Looks like somebody was worried their research budget would be cut in the next budget.

    2. gaijin   12 years ago

      Fusion is now only 20 years away, comrades!

      It is always and forever just one generation in the future.

      1. robc   12 years ago

        I think you missed the joke.

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      What's next? A story on how Voyager has finally left the solar system?

      1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        Oh boy, Pro Lib and I haven't talked about space in like 14 hours!

    4. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

      It's just like magnetism & energy perpetually skittering away at 299,792,458 m/s

    5. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

      I cannot remember which Fusion project it is that is being funded by the Feds, but there is at least one that is doing all this to develop a pure Fusion bomb. Basically a nuclear bomb without all of the nasty fission products you get in a fission-fusion weapon.

      It is being characterized as a more elegant weapon for a more civilized age.

      1. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

        While the fallout is zero the Gamma burst is going to be a muthfukka.

    6. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

      I really do not understand the lust for fusion. It is by all acounts much more difficult than fission and will suffer from all of the same anti-nuclear zealotry that fission suffers from if it ever comes to produce useful power.

      We went from discovering fission in 1938 to having a fully functioning fission power reactor putting electricity into the grid in 1957 (Shippingport). And that was even delayed because of WW2 secrecy issues.

      Fission is simple, safe, clean, and very efficient. Fusion is very difficult and not very efficient. It is something to continue to research but it will not be anything that will improve any of our lives or likely even our childrens lives.

      1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

        You really think turning hydrogen into helium will meet the same anti-nuke zealotry? Possibly, but I kind of doubt it.

        1. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

          It still irradiates the material containing the whole reaction. Fussion creates strong neutron flux fields (which is why a fission/fusion reactor would work much better than pure fusion). It is still "nuclear".

          There is no reason for the current anti-nuclear zealotry, from a objective standpoint. These people are fighting for the cause on a completely emotional basis. Facts are completely and 100% not in their favor yet they continue the fight. Fusion will meet the exact same idiocy from these green peace/environmentalist sheep. To think otherwise is completely naieve.

          1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

            There is no reason for the current anti-nuclear zealotry, from a objective standpoint. These people are fighting for the cause on a completely emotional basis. Facts are completely and 100% not in their favor yet they continue the fight. Fusion will meet the exact same idiocy from these green peace/environmentalist sheep. To think otherwise is completely naieve.

            This.

  20. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    John McCain: He Beat Us in War but Never in Battle
    To defeat any adversary, the late North Vietnamese Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap permitted immense casualties and the near total destruction of his country.

    Giap was a master of logistics, but his reputation rests on more than that. His victories were achieved by a patient strategy that he and Ho Chi Minh were convinced would succeed?an unwavering resolve to suffer immense casualties and the near total destruction of their country to defeat any adversary, no matter how powerful. "You will kill 10 of us, we will kill one of you," Ho told the French, "but in the end, you will tire of it first."

    Giap executed that strategy with an unbending will. The French repulsed wave after wave of frontal attacks at Dien Bien Phu. The 1968 Tet offensive against the U.S. was a military disaster that effectively destroyed the Viet Cong. But Giap persisted and prevailed.

    1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

      Of course Giap was helped tremendously by LBJ and McNamara.

      1. WTF   12 years ago

        And Walter Cronkite following Tet.

        1. Rasilio   12 years ago

          Brokaw had a lot to do with it too.

          1. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

            And a $100 billion a year in Communist block aid didn't hurt either.

      2. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

        I'd say he was helped most by having China as a neighbor, which was perhaps the biggest deterrent of a US invasion of the north. I think if the US had leave to invade from the beginning - just to force the NVA to stop their invasion, not to occupy the place (and SLD here) - we'd be looking back at a completely different war.

    2. gaijin   12 years ago

      an unwavering resolve to suffer immense casualties

      No general actually suffers the casualties unless he is one of them.

    3. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

      "You see, killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their limit and shut down."

      1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        The Spiderians, though weak and girly in combat, are masters of the textile arts. Taste like king crab, by the way. The lazy bugs actually wove this tapestry celebrating my victory as I was killing them.

    4. Rasilio   12 years ago

      " The 1968 Tet offensive against the U.S. was a military disaster that effectively destroyed the Viet Cong"

      Um, that was a feature not a bug in the NVA's strategy.

      While the Viet Cong was integral in the early phases of the war they were considered politically unreliable for the later stages and needed to be done away with.

      That made the Tet Offensive a double political win for them, they embarrassed the US government who had been assuring the public the war was winding down and killed off the overwhelming majority of the Viet Cong so that the few survivors could just be integrated into the NVA regulars and controlled.

  21. mr simple   12 years ago

    "Prioritization is default by another name. If you pay some of your bills and not all of your bills, you're in default on the bills that didn't pay," Carney said.

    This is what the mouthpiece of a childish and wildly irresponsible administration says. Tarring, feathering and being run out of town on a rail are too good for these people.

    1. Fatty Bolger   12 years ago

      This seems to be the new strategy, to try to get the word "default" into as many mouths as possible. Ignoring the fact that there is zero chance that we will default on the debt, and that by law interest payments have to be made regardless of what happens with the CR or debt ceiling.

    2. Rasilio   12 years ago

      Um, funny thing that, the 2 biggest federal expenditures are not debts and therefore can just not be paid no default at all

      1. Root Boy   12 years ago

        Meaning SS and Medicare? Are you saying it is default to not pay them...on time that is? They will get paid, but maybe strung out.

        I think they can cover almost all mandatory spending and interest without borrowing. We borrow less now than what is paid for defense and other discretionary.

        Not paying some corporate welfare for farming or biofuels cannot be considered default.

        1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

          IIRC there was a ruling from SCOTUS that despite public perception there is no implied contract between the government and any individual through those programs.

          1. MJGreen   12 years ago

            Yep. You have no right to SS payments. The government could stop disbursing them tomorrow if it wants.

        2. Rasilio   12 years ago

          Yes, I mean SS and Medicare.

          Technically the government is not obligated pay those benefits at all as there has been a SC ruling that the recipients do not own the benefit and the government is not obligated to pay it should they decide not to.

          1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

            Technically the government is not obligated pay those benefits at all as there has been a SC ruling that the recipients do not own the benefit and the government is not obligated to pay it should they decide not to.

            All while uphold the necessity to pay SS taxes.

    3. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

      If you're perpetually borrowing to pay your bills you are basically in default already.

  22. Coeus   12 years ago

    This is how you troll feminists.

    Title vs content. Epic pwnage. And he's linked from every damn feminist blog in existence today.

    1. Aloysious   12 years ago

      I don't even know what 'rape bait' means.

    2. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

      Geez. The girl interviewed in the clip who is studying journalism gave us a glimpse of the stellar intellectualism being produced among its ranks. It explains what we see on TV or the papers.

  23. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Forget life on Mars, we could soon design and 'print' alien cells on Earth, claims scientist

    We could soon be able to design cells or entire organisms using computer software and 3D printers, a scientist has claimed.

    The cells could be used to create biofuels, combat global warming, develop new healthcare and medicines and even recreate alien lifeforms on earth, if alien DNA is ever found.

    wait a minute, wasn't this the plot to _fill in the blank_?

    1. John   12 years ago

      Two words, Andromeda Strain.

      1. gaijin   12 years ago

        + 2 more: excellent story

        1. Root Boy   12 years ago

          What about Species with the hot chick??

    2. Brett L   12 years ago

      Look guys, lets make them really delicate and totally dependant on some synthetic chemical, just in case.

      1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

        +1 case of White

    3. Redmanfms   12 years ago

      Species

      BTW, you Pansted the link, it goes to USA Today's Editorial Board fluffing Obamacare.

      1. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

        such is the life of a linker.

        here we go:
        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....ntist.html

  24. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Sex shop forced to close due to lack of 'kinky' locals

    A sex shop that opened in 2004 in the West Wales seaside town has had to close amid a distinct lack of interest from the locals.

    Any hopes of cashing in more recently on the supposed new openness the E.L. James book has engendered to experimentation in the bedroom have been dashed amid a tough economic climate.

    Trish Murray, the businesswoman behind the Nice'n'Naughty store, was left to conclude that the residents she was trying to cater to just were not "kinky" enough.

    1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      All those consonants inhibit the sex drive.

    2. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Oh, I'm sure they're kinky enough. They just don't need sex toys to get their kink on.

    3. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

      residents she was trying to cater to just were not "kinky" enough

      The local sheep beg to differ.

    4. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

      The internet must have taken a bite out of adult stores like this. I'd be mortified to buy these things in person but it's game on online even though that transaction creates a link between my name and the items.

  25. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

    For SoCon Group, the Problem is Not Government Censorship of 'Indecency' but That Government Does Not Censor Violence as Well

    But here's the problem: there is no regulation of violence on broadcast television, or anywhere else. None. Zip. Zero. Nada.

    The only content regulation of the broadcast medium is of obscenity, indecency and profanity at certain times of day, while none of which address violence. What's more, the FCC indecency rules haven't been enforced in the past five years, despite more than 100,000 Americans urging the FCC to act.

    http://w2.parentstv.org/blog/i.....ood-story/

  26. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    Let's see if we can count the double-standards and cop-fellating in this article.

    1: Cop not named for "civil rights reasons". Yeah, they afford that courtesy to all suspects until charged.

    2: Video not released. They never release surveillance footage when a "civilian" is accused of committing a crime.

    3: Note how the story says "they said he pointed a gun at them. But there's no mention of there ever being a gun.

    4: Note how this officer is a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of guy...and that's put forward as a good thing.

    5: Note how when they see things a cop does that "aren't appropriate", especially with UOF issues, it results in a closed-door internal investigation. But when a "civilian" goes a little off the rails (as he apparently did in this story), he is charged with every possible law under the sun in order to ruin his life.

  27. Coeus   12 years ago

    I predict many more racist receipts with the offending words written in another color pen.

    Things are looking up for a Tennessee waitress who received a racial slur instead of a tip on the job.

    Toni Jenkins works at Red Lobster in Cool Springs. A few weeks ago, someone wrote the N-word on a receipt at her table.

    Instead of sweeping the incident under the rug, Jenkins went public with the matter.

    From KLTV 7:

    Her decision brought criticism. Some suspected she faked it, especially when the customer ? through his attorney ? denied writing the slur. In a written message to Channel 4 News, the customer said, "I do not approve of the use of that type of talk, not now or ever." When the story went viral, a man in California took action and posted the details on the website YouCaring.com. People donated to the fund called "Tips for Toni." And late last week, Jenkins received a check for more than $10,000.

    1. WTF   12 years ago

      My first thought when I read about that was that it was likely a phony incident.

      1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        My first thought when I read about that was that it was likely a phony incident.

        I have as much certainty as one can have without having personally witnessed the event that she is full of shit on this one.

        1. Root Boy   12 years ago

          Yep, most racists are cowards and would not put a comment on a receipt that I assume has their name and CC on it.

    2. Zeb   12 years ago

      Jeez. Someone was a dick to me the other day. Can I have $10,000?

      1. WTF   12 years ago

        Look for a rash of people writing mean, racist, misogynist, homophobic things on receipts.

        1. BladeDoc   12 years ago

          Seems like the best way ever to give someone a big tip.

  28. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    Burglar caught by cucumber

    During the raid, however, he couldn't resist sampling the home-grown produce and his DNA was later discovered on a cucumber.

    The honorary Recorder of Hull and the East Riding, Judge Michael Mettyear, declared in disbelief: "He was caught by a cucumber."

    is it standard practice in the UK to take DNA samples of all crimos?

    1. tarran   12 years ago

      In the UK, at one point, they were building a DNA database of everybody.

      Freedom has been dead in England for a very long time.

      1. Drake   12 years ago

        To be fair, England itself has been dead for quite a while.

        1. cavalier973   12 years ago

          To be fair, England Airstrip One itself has been dead for quite a while.

  29. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    USA TODAY:

    Exchange launch turns into inexcusable mess: Our view

    Over the first four days the new online health insurance exchanges were open last week, more than 8 million people visited them, according to the Obama administration. At the very least, this casts doubt on the Republican claim that Americans hate Obamacare and want it repealed. It seems millions of people desperately want the coverage the law will allow them to get, regardless of their medical histories.

    Alas, the administration managed to turn the experience for most of those visitors into a nightmare. Websites crashed, refused to load, or offered bizarre and incomprehensible choices. Even though the system was shut down for repairs over the weekend, Monday's early reports continued to suggest an epic screw-up.

    Why have things gone so wrong?

    1. John   12 years ago

      It is almost as if the government is really bad at doing such things. You could have seen that coming?

      1. Restoras   12 years ago

        Certainly nothing in the past experience of government would have predicted this.

    2. gaijin   12 years ago

      At the very least, this casts doubt on the Republican claim that Americans hate Obamacare and want it repealed.

      No, it doesn't.

      1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

        Right, Americans signing up for something they are legally required to means that they agree. What a bunch of assholes.

    3. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

      They assume high visit counts means everyone wants to sign-up. How many of those visits were curiosity inspired?

      1. Drake   12 years ago

        Who doesn't want to glimpse the lower levels of Hell without actually diving in?

        I'll check it out eventually - if only to make myself feel good about the mere 25% increase in insurance costs during open enrollment.

      2. Restoras   12 years ago

        Funny, back in the dotcom bubble everyone was valueing companies based on eyeball. Didn't work out to well.

    4. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

      -At the very least, this casts doubt on the Republican claim that Americans hate Obamacare and want it repealed.

      That is absurd for so many reasons. First, the number of people they are talking about is a small fraction of Americans. Secondly, even people who abhor Obamacare have visited the site (people that hate it are actually more likely to be aware of its legal requirements or to be curious as to how terrible the websites and what they offer are).

      This is straw clutching.

      1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

        This is straw clutching.

        But presented as ironclad fact. The modern media is nothing but a bunch of mendacious fucks. The MSM cannot die soon enough or suffer too gruesome a death.

    5. GILMORE   12 years ago

      Ah, leave it to the hard hitting editorial board of USA Today to tell it likt it is... fuck, at this rate, "Highlights" is going to do an investigative piece on Democratic cronyism with insurance companies...

  30. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    Cleveland Browns let down local cops one more time by telling them off-duty officers cannot pack heat at their stadium...you know, like the "civilians" attending games.

    PoliceOne reacts as expected.

  31. Derpetologist   12 years ago

    The FBI explains in great detail the techniques for weaseling information out of people:

    http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/in.....techniques

    No luck yet on finding tips from the IRS on how to cheat on your taxes, but I'm sure it's out there.

    1. Restoras   12 years ago

      That's easy - just stop working.

      1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        It's not really cheating if you take advantage of the rules they make.

        1. Restoras   12 years ago

          While technically true to anyone with a modicum of logical thinking abilities, in the eyes of the government not getting the money it thinks it deserves is cheating it out of what is rightfully theirs...

  32. Rich   12 years ago

    Park Service OKs immigration reform rally on 'closed' National Mall

    the Park Service will allow the event to take place under the group's rights granted by the First Amendment. About 30 members of Congress are expected to attend the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.

    So, I suppose the First Amendment allows rallies in any closed public venue, then?

    Also, talk about "upholding the law", Pelosi and Menendez.

  33. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    Violent cop with violent history gets violent. Unfortunately for the officer, it was caught on video this time and he might possibly face criminal charges...after a months-long investigation by his own department and DA's office turned up nothing...until the video made it to the press and the mayor called on the DOJ and state AG to take over the investigation.

  34. robc   12 years ago

    Whats the saying?

    When you owe the bank $100k, they own you.
    When you owe the bank $100MM, you own them.

    China should realize which position they are in.

    1. Night Elf Mohawk   12 years ago

      When you owe the bank $100K, you have a problem. When you owe them $100M, they have a problem.

      1. Drake   12 years ago

        Unless you are Curt Shilling.

      2. robc   12 years ago

        Yeah, thats it. Thanks. I knew I was close.

    2. WTF   12 years ago

      China should realize which position they are in.

      Oh, I'm sure they do.

      1. Restoras   12 years ago

        They'll just take Japan as payment. Fine by me.

  35. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

    This is probably behind the WSJ paywall, but here is the story from Zero Hedge:

    NSA's Utah Spy Supercenter Crippled By Power Surges

    The first arc fault failure at the Utah plant was on Aug. 9, 2012, according to project documents. Since then, the center has had nine more failures, most recently on Sept. 25. Each incident caused as much as $100,000 in damage, according to a project official. It took six months for investigators to determine the causes of two of the failures. In the months that followed, the contractors employed more than 30 independent experts that conducted 160 tests over 50,000 man-hours, according to project documents.

    This summer, the Army Corps of Engineers dispatched its Tiger Team, officials said. In an initial report, the team said the cause of the failures remained unknown in all but two instances. The team said the government has incomplete information about the design of the electrical system that could pose new problems if settings need to change on circuit breakers. The report concluded that efforts to "fast track" the Utah project bypassed regular quality controls in design and construction.

    Tiger Team?

    1. Drake   12 years ago

      There used to be a real kick-ass armored unit called the "Tiger Brigade" - back when the enemy wasn't American civilians.

    2. tarran   12 years ago

      In the Navy during my time in, a Tiger Team was a team put together in an adhoc manner to tackle some problem, granted resources and authority that allowed them to fix the problem without much bureaucratic interference.

      Generally, the tiger team operates 24X7 until the problem is fixed.

      1. Redmanfms   12 years ago

        Huh. I never heard the term used, but I suppose only officers and very senior enlisted would have been assigned to one.

      2. Lord Humungus   12 years ago

        when I hear tiger team, I think of a bunch of cub scouts.

        1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

          +1 Orange kerchiefs

      3. Rasilio   12 years ago

        This is not a military term, it comes from the Business world and it is intended to be an independent collection of experts assigned to investigate of fix some specific problem

    3. Jordan   12 years ago

      The report concluded that efforts to "fast track" the Utah project bypassed regular quality controls in design and construction.

      Guess what would happen if a private company tried to pull this.

    4. Redmanfms   12 years ago

      Likely the writer's words and not the Army's.

      Here's the wiki definition.

      I've only ever heard the term used in the civilian world.

    5. Brett L   12 years ago

      Huh. The Tiger teams I dealt with inspected for code violations before we fried millions of dollars worth of equipment. And Gods help you if they found food in your lab.

    6. DJF   12 years ago

      Tiger Team, the military likes to use the term, I have seen it used everywhere from some experts trying to fix a computer system to a bunch of guys being assigned to clean a toilet.

      Freedom in America would be in real trouble if we could not count on government incompetence.

    7. Loki   12 years ago

      Tiger Team?

      You see the term a lot in engineering companies. It's more of a general term for when you stand up a team of experts to go off and solve a specific problem seperate from normal program engineering, and then disband once the specific problem is solved.

      The more interesting problem to me is how the hell did they build this facility with incomplete information about the electrical system? That's beyond DERP, even by government standards.

    8. Rasilio   12 years ago

      Revenge of Stuxnet

    9. Troy muy grande boner   12 years ago

      this makes me think that the NSA isn't as omniscient as people think.

  36. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

    http://moneymorning.com/ob-art.....t-oc-taxes

    Obama cares about the middle-class.

    1. John   12 years ago

      America is about to be hit by a big bus.

      1. Restoras   12 years ago

        Are you counting the bus that America has already been thrown under?

    2. Jordan   12 years ago

      Jeff Duncan provides a full list of Obamacare's taxes.

  37. Rich   12 years ago

    Parents were upset that kids were being encouraged to wear hoodies to school during the Trayvon Martin theme day.

    After getting numerous complaints, the school now says the theme has been cancelled ..., and Wednesday is now Bucco hat day.

    "Bucco hat day"? WTF?

    1. John   12 years ago

      Pirates.

      1. Rich   12 years ago

        Oh. Glad it's not hats made out of *cheeks*.

    2. Somalian Road Corporation   12 years ago

      The 17-year-old's shooting death let loose a firestorm of protests in February of 2012. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in February 2012 in Sanford, Florida.

      No mention of self defense or that Zimmerman was found innocent.

      Also, I've personally found that voicing wrongthink about Zimmerman/Martin is one of the surest and shortest ways to piss people off and endanger future cocktail party invitations.

    3. WTF   12 years ago

      After getting numerous complaints, the school now says the theme has been cancelled ...,

      No word on whether they are also cancelling 'catch a cracker' day.

    4. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      After getting numerous complaints, the school now says the theme has been cancelled ..., and Wednesday is now Bucco hat day.

      I, for one, am glad to see our government school system focusing on the important things.

  38. Derpetologist   12 years ago

    Florida Man in hot water again- judge rules he must continue to pay child support for children that are not his:

    http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/.....index.html

    from the article:

    A Tampa court earlier this year disestablished him as father and relieved him of his future child support payments. But by law, he is unable to get back the $80,000 he already paid.

    Carnell Smith, who founded a group called U.S. Citizens Against Paternity Fraud, wants mandatory DNA tests when a child is born to avoid legal wrangling and anguish.

    "Unfortunately, today it's not a crime for someone to lie about which man is the father," Smith said. "The mother doesn't have to return the money and rarely, if ever, is she prosecuted for perjury, for fraud."

    1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

      -But by law, he is unable to get back the $80,000 he already paid.

      If ever the phrase 'the law is an ass' seemed more warranted, I cannot recall it.

      1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        You clearly have not heard of the shimmering beauty of lawmaking known as the Bradley Amendment:

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

        1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

          What in the world, that is truly the most foolish law I have seen in a while.

          1. KDN   12 years ago

            Senator Bill Bradley, Democrat of New Jersey, introduced the amendment in an earlier bill on May 5, 1986. It passed in the Senate with amendments with an 88-7 yea-nay vote on September 20, 1986

            Bipartisanship in action.

        2. Coeus   12 years ago

          Bobby Sherrill, a Lockheed employee in Kuwait from North Carolina, was captured by Iraqis and spent nearly five months as an Iraqi hostage. Sherrill was arrested the night after his release for not paying $1,425 in child support while he was a hostage.[9][10][11][12]

          That greedy bastard.

    2. Rasilio   12 years ago

      I can understand why he could not get the money back from the mother. In reality the money was owed to the child by the father.

      The question is why could he not get the money back from the actual biological father?

      1. WTF   12 years ago

        But he didn't legitimately owe any money to the child, either. And since the mother was acting fraudulently on the child's behalf, he should be entitled to get his money back from the person committing the fraud (the mother).

        1. Rasilio   12 years ago

          He didn't owe the money to the child, but the money was owed, rather than trying to get it back from the child (via the mother) why couldn't he go after the person who actually was legally owed the debt?

  39. Loki   12 years ago

    China warned the US about a possible default

    What happened to you China, you used to be cool.

  40. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    Billionaire couple donate $10million to keep initiatives for poor families running despite government shutdown
    John and Laura Arnold have dipped into their personal $2.8 billion fortune
    They have stumped up the cash to keep seven Head Start centres open
    The donation means 7,000 youngsters will continue to receive care
    They had been left high and dry by the government shutdown

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ilies.html
    Give it to a fucking private charity that actually helps fucking people, not some fucking government program! Fucking idiots!

    1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      John Arnold, known as the "King of Natural Gas", is a big Obama donor.

      1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Hmmm. I wonder if Obama's not allowing drilling on federal land is a benefit to this guy. Lower supply and less competition means bigger profits. Bootleggers and Baptists?

        1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

          Obama's not allowing drilling on federal land

          Quit listening to redneck AM radio, we are drilling our fool asses off on public and private land.

          Coal is the victim and the enemy.

          1. Loki   12 years ago

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYVwVvCn2Zs

          2. trshmnstr   12 years ago

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2k4jM-efdM

        2. Loki   12 years ago

          Not to mention the delays of the Keystone XL pipeline. Afterall, if I was the "King of Natural Gas" I'd certainly hate for Canadian shale oil to be easily and cheaply transported to refineries in the south and potentially compete with my natural gas. I'm guessing Mr. Arnold considers his Obama campaign donations money well spent.

          1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

            KXL tar oil is forced into Mid-West refineries thereby lowering the cost of finished product 10-15c a gallon there.

            Fuck TransCanada. We don't owe them a cheap route to the Gulf.

          2. Root Boy   12 years ago

            That's Buffet's rice bowl, since he owns the RR that ships the dirty, stinkin' oil now.

      2. John   12 years ago

        Yes. Obama loves his cronies.

        Go suck his cock somewhere else. No one here is ever going to like your hero.

      3. Jam   12 years ago

        he's a libertarian, started at Enron as the crack trader, left with millions before it blew up to start a hedge fund to make his billions, it's his wife is the lefty.

        1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

          Or you can call him a liberaltarian - there are lots of us.

          Only on Hit&Run; are you required to vote GOP to be a "true libertarian".

          1. Andrew S.   12 years ago

            So, I know I shouldn't feed you, but I have a question.

            Have you ever read a single post here, or do you have some kind of bizarro-Reason that you read, where everyone loves the GOP?

            1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

              Have you ever read a single post here, or do you have some kind of bizarro-Reason that you read, where everyone loves the GOP?

              Criticism of Democrats equals love of the GOP. You should know that by now.

            2. Jordan   12 years ago

              You're asking a guy who thinks that "Tu Quoque" arguments are logical masterstrokes.

      4. Rasilio   12 years ago

        I'm not sure what his political leanings have to do with the argument that private charity would meet the needs of the truly needy

        1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          Who a person is is more important than what the person does. You should know that.

          1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

            Principals Principles in the world of TEAM politics.

        2. Root Boy   12 years ago

          Head Start has been proven multiple times to make no difference to poor kids. Yet everybody still thinks it's a godsend.

          Warehousing and feeding program for kids with shit head parents who can't raise their kids correctly.

    2. Loki   12 years ago

      Meh, it's their money, if they want to piss away on some ineffectual government program that's their problem.

  41. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    Gulf states to introduce medical testing on travellers to 'detect' gay people and stop them from entering the country

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....untry.html
    Er, what? Do they measure for loose sphincters? WTF?

    1. Rich   12 years ago

      Perhaps they use plethysmography.

    2. waffles   12 years ago

      They test if they talk like a fag and if their shits all retarded.

      Or maybe they wear brown shoes, black belts, and white socks to see if they notice the fashion crime.

  42. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    Carter: Middle class today resembles past's poor

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....7-23-47-05

    "The disparity between rich people and poor people in America has increased dramatically since when we started," he said. "The middle class has become more like poor people than they were 30 years ago. So I don't think it's getting any better."

    Today's poor watch cable television on flat screens, have internet, cell phones, and a host of other things no one had even heard of thirty years ago, but they're worse off because of inequality!
    Liberalism truly is the politics of envy.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Since when does inequity mean the same as poverty? What a joke. I remember the 70s. It was back when your mom ironed patches on your jeans because you couldn't afford to buy new ones and you rarely called anyone long distance. And I grew up in the middle of the middle class. We are so much more wealthy now. Fuck Carter rotten old bastard.

      1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Basically he's saying that the poor would be better off if they were poorer, as long the rich were also poorer. The logical conclusion of that is everyone living in poverty, but it would be happy poverty because there wouldn't be anyone to envy.

        1. John   12 years ago

          Yes. That is really evil when you think about it.

          1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

            When I think about it, it's even the little things. Like air conditioning. Everyone has air conditioners in their homes and cars. In the 70s those things were a luxury. Or VCRs. You had to rent them in the 80s because the machines cost so much money. Now they're obsolete. Yet the poor are worse off. Unreal.

      2. Loki   12 years ago

        I remember the 70s. It was back when your mom ironed patches on your jeans because you couldn't afford to buy new ones

        Fuck, I grew up in the 80s and likewise was not "poor" by any measure, and I still remember having jeans with patches over the knees and being embarrassed when I had to wear them to school. Most of the time I ended up just re-wearing a dirty pair of jeans rather than wear the patched ones.

        and you rarely called anyone long distance

        I also remember the old "collect call" trick. When you took a trip and wanted to call home to let them know you made it to your destination OK, you'd give one name for everything's fine, and the person would say "sorry, no one here by that name" and they'd know everything's fine and wouldn't have to pay for the call. Likewise you'd use a different name if you really did need to talk to them. All to avoid having to pay for a fucking phone call.

        1. Somalian Road Corporation   12 years ago

          Haha, that brought back a few memories there. It's nice living in the distant future of the 21st century sometimes.

        2. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          Bob Wehadababyitsaboy

        3. Andrew S.   12 years ago

          That collect call message thing was... a thing? I thought I was so smart when I did it, that I figured out a trick that nobody else could. Dangit.

        4. #   12 years ago

          Damn, I remember doing that.

      3. Gbob   12 years ago

        My parents were both journalists. My Mom stayed at home for a number of years, but we were middle class. I remember being a kid in the seventies. There were any number of nights where we didn't have meat because it was out of the food budget for the week. This was considered to be pretty normal. Patches on jeans or on shirts were, as you mentioned, the norm. My parents couldn't afford a new car, let alone two. We had a small black and white television set and gas, when you could buy it (every other day depending on your license plate number, and assuming the station wasn't sold out), and most canned goods in the house were with yellow generic labels.

        This isn't a "I had to walk ten miles to school in the cold" kind of story. This was simply the reality of middle class life in that decade.

        Today even the poor kids have new designer sneakers. They have all manner of electronics, and you can eat like a king on what food stamps pay.

    2. Rasilio   12 years ago

      Nevermind the fact that the poorest welfare recipients in the US live lives that would be indistinguishable from the middle class in Europe

    3. Steve G   12 years ago

      "since when we started" ?
      Care to elaborate on who "we" is? and what exactly did you "start"?

      Or

      Perhaps this is a giant indication that the implied experiment you "started" failed miserably and it's time to change tactics.

  43. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    Undercover NYPD cop DID take part in savage Manhattan SUV attack claim sources as 4th biker is taken into custody

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-part.html

    Sources have told the New York Post that the unnamed officer, who is a veteran of seven-years, initially told investigators he did not intervene because he arrived too late to stop the vicious beating.
    However, video footage unreleased by the NYPD apparently shows the exact opposite and the officer, who has already handed in his badge and gun is facing the wrath of the Internal Affairs Bureau.

    Note that the officer isn't in trouble for participating in the attack or lying about it. He's in trouble for not immediately telling his supervisors. They don't care what he did to little people, only that he didn't immediately tell the big people.

    1. Troy muy grande boner   12 years ago

      So there were like 6 of these pigs. These 6 pigs couldn't have gotten together to stop this? Oh, yeah they are under cover. What you want to bet these pigs are under cover for some lame shit like cigarette trafficing or child support enforcement?

    2. Steve G   12 years ago

      Were these guys "undercover" or "off-duty"??? I've heard so much conflicting info and the distinction is somewhat important.

  44. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    A very sweet 16! Bella Thorne rings in milestone birthday on the red carpet with sister Kaili at jeans event

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....arpet.html
    They didn't look like that when I was 16.

    1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      I like Zendaya, her co-"star" on Shake it Up Chicago, far more than Bella.

  45. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    'I was called pig and Shamu the whale': Depressed mother who weighs 616lbs finds new confidence as an obese pin-up girl

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

    1. Rich   12 years ago

      PSA: Do NOT click that link.

  46. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    Parents' outrage after high school Spanish teacher, 21, revealed as Playboy model
    Cristy Nicole Deweese posed naked for the magazine when she was 18 as a 'coed of the month'
    Miss Deweese teaches Spanish at Townview Magnet High School in Dallas

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

    'Are her male 16- and 17-year-old students looking at her without picturing her nude?

    Who doesn't?

    'And for the female students, is this someone they can respect as an educator, someone that they can look up to?'

    I dunno. Is she a good teacher?

    1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      Just looking at the clothed picture they showed, they were going to be picturing her nude regardless of whether or not they found nude pictures of her. Now those mental images are just a bit more accurate.

    2. Loki   12 years ago

      If my HS Spanish had looked like that... I would have taken Spanish instead of French to satisfy my foreign language requirements.

  47. sarcasmic   12 years ago

    Revolutionary $35M airship damaged as the roof of its World War II era military hangar collapses
    The Aeroscraft is a prototype helium dirigible that developers hope will change the way the world ships its goods
    The Department of Defense and NASA have pumped $35 million into the project in the hopes it will become an indispensable military craft

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

    1. Bam!   12 years ago

      I didn't know NASA was into steampunk.

    2. DJF   12 years ago

      The government has had at least a dozen airship projects after the Navy got rid of its airships in the 1950's and all of them have failed

      1. Bam!   12 years ago

        But this is using modern helium, which is now lighter than air.

        1. Brett L   12 years ago

          Put out that light! Do you want to kill us all, goddammit?!

      2. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        In the past airships could only land where they could refill their helium. That made their use very limited.

        What makes this one unique is that it reuses its helium with on-board compressors, so it can land anywhere.

  48. Guillotined   12 years ago

    No Risk of Default via Economist Greg Mankiw

    My Harvard colleague Martin Feldstein writes me in an email:

    The WSJ and FT continue to write about the risk of default, quoting the Treasury, Boehner and others.There really is no need for a default on the debt even if the debt ceiling is not raised later this month. The US government collects enough in taxes each month to finance the interest on the debt, etc. The government may not be able to separate all accounts into "pay" and "no pay" groups but it can certainly identify the interest payments. An inability to borrow would have serious economic consequences if it lasted for any sustained period but it would not have to threaten our credit standing.

  49. Rich   12 years ago

    The time, ... or DEATH?

    *** glances at Tikker watch ***

    Gotta go!

  50. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

    Re the penaltax - if your insurance covers everything rxcept birth control, are you still taxed?

    1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      I believe that a plan like that simply won't exist, or it's a supplemental plan which would not get you out of being penaltaxed by itself.

  51. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

    Coal miners suffer as U.S. production of natural gas increases

    The US has overtaken Russia as the #1 producer of oil/gas.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18.....increases/

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      There was an interesting article within the last year about the head of UMWA in the 1960s who basically committed himself to never letting another coal miner die underground in the US. He didn't quite succeed, basically his negotiating made coal so expensive, he helped kick off the domestic LNG boom.

      It was an interesting and nuanced article about someone who significantly lowered the number of jobs in his industry because he cared more about the lives of the workers.

    2. Tonio   12 years ago

      FU, PB. You never consider the coal miners when you talk about shutting down coal powered generating plants, yet you're all boo-hoo about them when it suits your purpose.

      Drown in your own crocodile tears.

  52. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

    BEIJING (Reuters) - China will replace four coal-burning heating plants in the capital Beijing with natural gas fired ones by the end of next year as it steps up efforts to clean up pollution, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

    http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-c.....IAZaTQtDMD

    1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      Meanwhile they'll open another 40 coal burning plants in the same time frame.

      1. #   12 years ago

        Also China isn;t really interested in curtailing CO2, which is why westenr greenies hate Coal so much. In Chian's case they just burn so much coal in such an inefficient manner that conventional polution and coal dust is a huge problem.

  53. John   12 years ago

    I really hope the government stays closed until the Booker special election. The Dem get out the vote vote fraud organizations are generally funded by the federal government and are not getting their checks right now. If the government is closed for that special election, I will be very curious to see who under performs and over performs the polls. It will be sort of a controlled experiment on how much of an effect these sorts of organizations have on elections.

    1. Bam!   12 years ago

      I'm sure they'll declare those organizations to be in the 83% of the government that is essential and still open.

    2. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      You don't need to shill for the GOP here, doofus.

      1. John   12 years ago

        CRISTFAG!!

        Griefer troll is griefing. Go fuck yourself you little wierdo.

    3. Gbob   12 years ago

      Since unions are exempt from the "pain" of the shutdown, I'm sure they'll manage. You also have a state machine controlled by team blue that will do just fine busing in transients, hobos and whores to their nearest polling place.

  54. Konima   12 years ago

    Damn, I usually like watching Jon Stewart. He's obviously a democrat, but usually he is capable of maintaining some semblance of neutrality. However, he has been in full partisan mode since the government shut down. It's as unwatchable as Bill Maher right now.

    1. Somalian Road Corporation   12 years ago

      There's a certain subcategory of my friends and family who I watched the Daily Show/Colbert Report with regularly when it was good (you know, Bush's reign of terror) and yet to this very day they just cannot understand why I don't want to watch it with them anymore.

      In their minds, absolutely nothing about it's changed. There's heavy crossover here with NPR listeners who claim there's no bias in its coverage--which, as someone who's listened to a fair bit of NPR myself, is the kind of thing I can only shake my head and laugh at.

      1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        See my comment below. Jon hits both sides.

        He just doesn't parrot the wingnut lies you here on Fox News/AM radio - death panels, socialism, Kenyan, - you know, all the things that make conservatives in this country fucking brain dead idiots like John is.

        1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          ...here...

    2. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      Jon hammered Kathleen Sibelius on the mandate inequity and the sorry ass rollout of the web site repeatedly. Seriously - he did not let up last night. She squirmed like a whore in church.

      1. Konima   12 years ago

        He will point out when the government really fucks something up on occasion. However, he fails to comprehend that inefficiency and bureaucracy is something innate with government. I might hold more disdain for Republicans than Democrats on most issues, and I am capable of recognizing that he is often very tendentious.

        Besides, he has already said that he's in favor of a single-payer system. He sees that the government can't even handle Obamacare, and yet he wants to give them even more control over healthcare? Irrational, non sequitur.

        1. #   12 years ago

          Also the website fuckups allow him to go after the dems without having to go after the core of the law.

    3. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      I posted about this last week when I happened to catch an episode. His entire response to clips of Republicans saying that Democrats refuse to negotiate was "bullshit".

    4. Gbob   12 years ago

      I think I stopped watching around the time The One was elected. At first I wondered if it was just me being partisan, but then I figured it out. What works on the show is when the make mockery of those in power. They did it to Clinton, and they sure as hell did it to Bush. I loved every minute, even if I disagreed with it.

      The problem in the past six years is that they decided to make fun of those not in power. When the jester makes fun of the King, it's funny. When the King makes fun of the peasants with the help of the jester, it's far less amusing.

      The vitriol of the attacks against concerned citizens who had the audacity to question such things as "is it right to tap journalists phones, spy on the American people and use the IRS as a political tool?" or "does the country need to spend over a quarter of it's net worth each year?" was petty and low. Just because somebody lives in "flyover country" or questions the government isn't a good enough reason to hold them up for ridicule.

      If folks find it funny, then great. I just can't watch it, myself.

  55. Rich   12 years ago

    Governor Bars State From Asking Job Applicants About Felony Records

    [Rep. LaShawn K. Ford (D-Chicago)] says he anticipates federal bank fraud charges against him ?- unrelated to his service in the General Assembly -? being tossed out of court soon.

    Just what *is* it with Illinois? (And California? And Maryland? And Connecticut? ....)

    1. John   12 years ago

      That is a bad idea. I don't how you could ever bond anyone if you couldn't ask them about their criminal record.

      The real shame is that people are such assholes they refuse to give anyone a second chance. I understand you don't hire the check kiter to do your books. But everyone deserves a chance to do something.

      1. Rich   12 years ago

        I understand you don't hire the check kiter to do your books.

        Apparently you do *not* understand.

  56. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

    Local media is calling the murder of that woman on Capitol Hill last week "last week's fatal shooting" and comparing it to the Navy Yard shooting (as in, comparing the victim from the Capitol Hill incident to Aaron Alexis). No mention that the cops did the shooting & murdering on the Hill.

    1. John   12 years ago

      The women was clearly nuts. But I have yet to hear why they had to shoot her. Sure she was ramming the barricades. But that is why you have the barricades. She wasn't a danger to get through them.

      1. Rich   12 years ago

        "She was using her car as a lethal weapon" is the reason I've heard.

      2. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

        Not to mention they fired zod knows how many shots in the open in public in broad daylight with 100s of workers and tourists around. I thought police derpartments had policies to break off chases if there was a danger to the public. I also heard that they shot her as she was bailing out of the car, so not sure how, at that point, the car would have been a "lethal weapon".

        1. John   12 years ago

          That is the real scandal. They put a lot of people in danger.

          1. robc   12 years ago

            Ditto in NYC at the Empire State shooting.

            And nothing else happened.

        2. Loki   12 years ago

          Officer Safety uber alles. As soon as the "shots fired" call went out over the radio, and it was reported that she had alledgedly attempted to hit a cop, her life was forfeit. If a few proles accidentally get gunned down in the process, so be it. /cop-DERP

      3. Whahappan?   12 years ago

        If I'm not mistaken said "ramming" was of movable barricades pushed in her path, not stationary barricades that she deliberately targeted.

      4. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        But I have yet to hear why they had to shoot her.

        She disobeyed a "lawful command." That carries a death sentence these days.

      5. tarran   12 years ago

        I suspect that two things factored into the shooting:

        1) The cops are frequently warned to be on the look out for terrorist attacks and assasination attempts. So they are biased to see any transgression as the beginning of a serious attack. I seem to recall that you, John, had a great comment on this effect that I cannot find.

        2) The cops thought they were executing a cop-wounder. The people who shot her heard on their radio (a) "shots fired" and (b) "officer down" and assumed she had been shooting and injured/killed a cop. That's a death sentence; cops piss themselves in panic or go into full terminator mode at the hint of a little person laying a finger on them.

        Everything I have seen is consistent with the cops
        1) Trying to control her after she came to her attention
        2) Using an over the top escalation (shooting at her when she initially fled), triggering the street barriers
        3) Misusing their comms (again the cop injured in the car crash had no warning the barricades were about to be deployed) (the reports of shots fired and officer down provided no context)
        4) Executing a person whom they had categorized as a cop killer

        In the end, this was yet another situation where the police escalated what was at most a misdemeanor and escalated it until someone died. And are being praised for their courage in doing so.

        1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          The cops thought they were executing a cop-wounder.

          I think you nailed it right there. The moment "shots fired" and "officer down" went over the radio, her death sentence was sealed.

  57. AlmightyJB   12 years ago

    Vikings stadium deal

    http://www.nbc4i.com/story/236.....-to-chance

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      Is AP the collateral guarantee?

    2. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

      If they do unload a majority stake in the team, they'll have to split the profits with the public.

      Never mind that the public should have never been made to pay for this boondoggle in the first place. And look at the shitass team they're getting for their money. Yet another revolving door of QBs. I don't think they've had a long-term "franchise" QB since Fran Tarkenton.

      1. Rasilio   12 years ago

        I don't know, the Culpepper era wasn't that bad.

        He was the starter for 5 full seasons and into a 6th before he got injured and he went to 3 pro bowls in that time and had a QB rating above 95 for 3 of those 5 years and was the best QB in the league for one of them.

    3. Andrew S.   12 years ago

      Unsaid in that article: How thoroughly the stadium deal screwed Minnesota taxpayers.

      1. robc   12 years ago

        At a quick glance, less than Cincy and Louisville got screwed in their recent stadium deals.

        I cant figure out who got screwed worse in those deals, but I think they are the runaway leaders.

      2. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

        The article omits the most important news on the Vikings - that I was able to win my FF game despite Peterson being on bye week.

    4. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      Arthur Blank (Falcons owner and Home Depot co-founder) has some bad timing on his new stadium deal since the Falcons are stinking it up on their way to a 5-11 season.

      1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

        "...Home Depot co-founder..."

        He should just build it himself.

        1. Jordan   12 years ago

          Not possible, according to Obama and Elizabeth Warren.

        2. Andrew S.   12 years ago

          The owner of the Miami Dolphins tried (and failed) to get $250 million of public money to renovate the stadium. He said he couldn't afford to do it himself.

          He then turned around and donated $200 million to his alma mater (the University of Michigan).

    5. KDN   12 years ago

      For the 350-plus days the Vikings aren't playing, the stadium can be used for a range of events - from rock concerts to fantasy football days to amateur sports competitions to political conventions. But not everything goes: There'll be no events that sell guns, adults-only entertainment and periodicals, pawn-style offerings or head shop paraphernalia.

      Fitting, considering that the plans look like a church.

      1. PD Scott   12 years ago

        That's what I get for not refreshing.

    6. PD Scott   12 years ago

      Found this near the bottom.
      STADIUM NO-NOs

      For the 350-plus days the Vikings aren't playing, the stadium can be used for a range of events - from rock concerts to fantasy football days to amateur sports competitions to political conventions. But not everything goes: There'll be no events that sell guns, adults-only entertainment and periodicals, pawn-style offerings or head shop paraphernalia.

      I didn't want to go in their crummy stadium anyway.

  58. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

    Lost Dr. Who episodes discovered, fan nerdgasms expected:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ente.....s-24448063

    1. cavalier973   12 years ago

      "Dr." Who? "DR." Who?

      Freak.

  59. Coeus   12 years ago

    Skeptic feminists prove that they actually know what the word means, don't care.

    ACA edition:

    Well, I think the House Republicans are really onto something here. We, as skeptics, should really be skeptical of Obamacare! Like this lady, for instance. Quote Stacie Smeal: "In general, I don't need health care. I exercise and eat healthy, so I'm generally a healthy person."

    Wow! What a great outlook! The 27 year old fitness entrepreneur said the Affordable Care Act "disgusts" her. You know, the same thing that gives women free preventative medicine, and that allows young people to stay on their parents' insurance plans until they're 26, and that prevents insurance companies from discriminating against people for preexisting conditions, and that dictates that insurance companies must spend 85% of premiums on health care?you know, that thing. It disgusts her.

    1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

      The Skeptic Movement just replaced God with Blue Governance.

      1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

        Just?

        1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

          To mean "simply", not "recently"

        2. Zeb   12 years ago

          Just as in "only", not as in "recently".

    2. Coeus   12 years ago

      mrmisconception October 7, 2013, 3:23 pm
      Those are some interesting predictions there Nostradamus, but let me ask you, did the Bush tax cuts create jobs? Did the bailout of GM get paid back? Did the stimulus actually hurt the economy?

      I ask because the same sources you are using to make these backward predictions also predicted all of these things, incorrectly. This is the reason I don't like "debating" libertarians, they make assertions that are backed up only by the think-tanks that push their same agenda, then when the failures of said policies are pointed out in becomes all tu quoque arguments and selfish justifications.

      Keep on believing you are right, in 5-10 years when Obamacare is highly popular (and the rest of your predictions are laughably backward) and there is a push to expand it try to remember this time and maybe, just maybe be humble enough to admit to yourself that you were wrong.

      There are no words.

      1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        There is however, a song!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0aSF_wHLmQ

      2. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        Obamacare Yakety Sax!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6osXQmRm5g

      3. John   12 years ago

        They have their narrative, and then believe whatever facts fit it. They are in what amounts to an intellectual prison.

      4. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

        The lone voice in there was throwing pearls before swine. I mean, this "mrmisconception" still believes the IRS wasn't targeting Tea Party Groups for zod's sake. If that's not an article of faith in contravention of the evidence, I don't know what is.

        1. John   12 years ago

          I don't understand that one. Lois Lener took the 5th. What do thing she was taking the 5th about?

          1. Neoliberal Kochtopus   12 years ago

            ***puts Derp Hat On***

            Because the Teahadists would find an excuse to make her the villain no matter how valiant of a job she was actually doing.

    3. Derpetologist   12 years ago

      If only some state, perhaps in the northeast, had implemented this program, we'd know what the effects would be...

    4. creech   12 years ago

      It should disgust any proggie because it doesn't go far enough. Kids should be allowed to stay on the parents policy until at least age 40, all medicine for women should be free, insurance companies should be spending 100% of their premiums on health care, and people with pre-existing conditions should actually be given money from the rich in order to show compassion for their condition. Blame the damned teathuglicans for not making Obamacare even more compassionate!

    5. cavalier973   12 years ago

      miserlyoldman just had a weird experience, I'm sure, when he saw my hand reach out of his computer screen and slap him for this comment:

      "...even middle middle class people will get cheaper care from the competition."

      Because we don't have competition in the free market unless the government makes it happen, right? Right??

  60. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

    This is from last month, was it covered before?

    "Charges against an Ellicott City [Maryland] man who was arrested after speaking out at a public meeting on new national education standards known as the Common Core were dropped Monday by the Baltimore County state's attorney.

    ""It was clear that Mr. Small violated the rules of the meeting and disrupted the meeting," State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger said. "It was also clear that the officer acted appropriately and did have probable cause to make an arrest on both charges."

    ""In the interest of justice, further prosecution will not accomplish anything more," Shellenberger said. "Therefore, the charges have been dismissed.""

    The prosecutor didn't say Small was actually guilty of assaulting a policeman - a telling omission. Just that the cop can't be sued.

    School officials realize their error - they simply haven't explained the wonders of the Common Core adequately:

    "Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dallas Dance Monday afternoon released a statement saying the "meeting helped us realize that we must do a better job of communicating what the Common Core is and what it is not.""

    http://ellicottcity.patch.com/.....re-meeting

  61. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    Local media is calling the murder of that woman on Capitol Hill last week "last week's fatal shooting" and comparing it to the Navy Yard shooting (as in, comparing the victim from the Capitol Hill incident to Aaron Alexis). No mention that the cops did the shooting & murdering on the Hill.

    SHE TRIED TO KILL THE PRESIDENT!

    I am surprised at how completely uninterested people seem to be in that story. She got what she deserved, I guess.

    1. John   12 years ago

      It is because it turned out that she was mentally ill. People are incredibly unsympathetic to the mentally ill.

      1. Brett L   12 years ago

        Well, they've accused her of being mentally ill. I'm not following that closely, but she was a pretty high functioning crazy.

        1. sarcasmic   12 years ago

          they've accused her of being mentally ill

          Dehumanize her so her murder isn't a loss.

          1. cavalier973   12 years ago

            What's worse is that she was, apparently, a fairly poor driver. She couldn't even get around a barrier that someone was pulling into her path without hitting the barrier and the person manhandling it.

  62. Coeus   12 years ago

    More black girl representation in comics.

    When she was done, I thanked her, but as I turned to leave, she stopped me. Her eyes nervously darted between meeting my gaze and staring at the ground as she told me, in an almost hurried, whispered tone that she didn't know black girls were "allowed" to cosplay, that she hardly knew any black female superheroes, and that she had no idea "people like us" could join in on things like comic books, cosplay and conventions.

    Listening to her, my heart stopped ?- for once, I was at a loss for words. Because 13 years ago, I probably would have said the same thing. I want better representation for women of color in comics, video games, movies and cartoons for many reasons -? but mostly, I want it for that girl.

    This misconception is apparently the (white) cosplayers fault, and not the result of being raised in a culture that actually does exclude other races.

  63. cavalier973   12 years ago

    OT: President Obama works surreptitiously to stop same-sex marriage.

    1. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

      Isn't it policies similar to this that keeps people in socialist "utopias" like Sweden from marrying? European friends tell me nobody gets married anymore over there.

      1. Derpetologist   12 years ago

        If you want to have fun, inform a prog that Sweden has a lower per capita income than Mississippi.

        1. #   12 years ago

          Generally speaking if the EU were a state, it would rank 49th in income. Only Mississippi and West Virginia would be lower.

        2. Protagoronus   12 years ago

          I am seeing Sweden at $40,130 (2010 GNI/capita data.worldbank.org) vs. Mississippi at $19,977 (Income/Capita 2010 census - Wikipedia.org)

          Sweden has been moving toward a more free economy and it is possible there are some larger issues at work in Mississippi.

  64. Derpetologist   12 years ago

    MSNBC goes full retard!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7HpgwzCW5Q

    1. KDN   12 years ago

      So, just another Tuesday?

    2. sarcasmic   12 years ago

      Wow. That's pretty retarded.

  65. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

    Dogs are awesome.

  66. Zeb   12 years ago

    I think Lennon knew that it was just a fantasy. It's just nice to imagine.

  67. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

    You would have loved the press conference yesterday when both the coach and gm said that Ponder is still the number one guy.

    WTF?

    Meanwhile their official Facebook page is just one Freeman post after another.

  68. Kaptious Kristen   12 years ago

    Are they trying not to hurt Ponder's feelings, or is he so dumb he doesn't realize that them bringing in a vet last year and a trade-in last week doesn't look good for him?

  69. Andrew S.   12 years ago

    Are those the things that were supposed to pay for the stadium, except instead of the expected $35 million(?) in revenue last year they brought in zero?

  70. Brett L   12 years ago

    I will say that Ponder played the hand God dealt him to the best of his ability. He isn't a pro QB, but managed to get a smoking hot wife with a decent job and several millions of dollars out of being good at taking 4 steps backwards and handing the ball to AP.

  71. Brett L   12 years ago

    It was probably nice to pick up a new royalty check that he wasn't splitting with McCartney, too.

  72. Rasilio   12 years ago

    4 years, 11 million and a nice post football career as a sportscaster or something similar.

    I wish I was as fucked as he is

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