A.M. Links: Kerry Says NSA Spying Went Too Far, Only 248 Signed Up on Obamacare Site in First Two Days, Chinese Security Chief Blames Uighur Islamists For Tiananmen Attack

Credit: United States Department of State/wikimedia

• Secretary of State John Kerry has said that sometimes NSA spying went too far.
• According to documents released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, only 248 people enrolled in a health plan through healthcare.gov in the two days after it was launched.
• An increasing number of Saudi men are trying to help end Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving.
• German journalists have been urged by The German Federation of Journalists to avoid using Google and Yahoo because of recent reporting on snooping by British and American intelligence.
• China's domestic security chief has blamed Uighur Islamists for the recent attack in Tiananmen square.
• Liberal billionaires have been spending a lot of money on campaigns this year.

Have a news tip for us? Send it to: [e-mail].

Get Reason.com and Reason 24/7 content widgets for your websites.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Secretary of State John Kerry has said that sometimes NSA spying went too far.

Yaaaaaaaaaawn.

[SweatingGin]

why the long face?

[Copernicus]

Horse walks into a bar,
bartender says....

[Copernicus]

Also,
alt-text:
This man's face is used as a template for cinder blocks.

[Rich]

For instance, when they spied on *his* ass.

[Ska]

Well in that case:

http://www.eyebleach.com/

[Suthenboy]

Wow. That really works.

[mad libertarian guy]

Finally, a website that's appropriately named.

[Pathogen]

It's.. it's.. like a soothing ointment..

[Kaptious Kristen]

Where's the hetero chick version of that?

[Pathogen]

Check your cis privilege..

[Ska]

I'm pretty sure that website has a link to what you're looking for. Also, a link to a kittens version for Warty.

[Tonio]

Just google "Ben Cohen," hon.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Who is that and why have I never heard of him before? Cause, dayum.

[Tonio]

You're welcome. 😛

[jesse.in.mb]

Behind the scenes of his new benefit calendar.

Lady Bertrum hadn't heard of him either. He's extra popular with the gays for his charity work.

[hamilton]

Click on the "alternate version" link at that site.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Like I said - where's the hetero chick version?

[Ted S.]

"Sometimes" meaning "one time in a million" here.

[Fist of Etiquette]

An increasing number of Saudi men are trying to help end Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving.

Yeah, tow truck operators and collision repair specialists.

[Slammer]

Betas

[Rich]

"Maaco Akbar!"

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

+1 call to prayer collision center

[KMA Too]

I would just like to thank you, Rich, for that great laugh this fine Friday morning.

[some guy]

Their just tired of having to pick up the dry-cleaning, go to the store and shuttle the kids around.

[some guy]

They're...

[GILMORE]

Thats whats makes a libertarian *different*, people. we corrects are own grammar.

[Rich]

"Young man, where's your grammar?"

"She ain't home neither!"

[CatoTheElder]

Having lived in Saudi Arabia for several years, I can tell you first-hand that this is why many Saudi men want women to drive.

In addition to a real or make-work job, most Saudi men have have a second job as chauffeur and errand-boy.

[Lord Humungus]

gag.

President Obama, off the record

Obama does opine: journalists said that one reason the off-the-record meetings run so long is because the president spends so much time talking: "The confidence he exudes in these sessions is even greater than the confidence he exudes in public," one attendee said. "And, as in public, it's the president who does most of the talking."

Still, no one doubts that the president values hearing the thoughts and opinions of his contemporaries.

"The president cares a lot more about the opinions of Fred Hiatt or Tom Friedman than he does about the average U.S. Senator," said one journalist. "He's naturally predisposed to analysis. In his own mind, that's what he is: he's like us. He wants to be a writer, and so he likes to talk to writers."

[wareagle]

one man's confidence is another's arrogance. And Obama has far less reason to display either than most people, even those in DC.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Obama truly bootstrapped himself. He wasn't born standing on third base like Dumbya was.

[wareagle]

nothing says bootstrapping like a wealthy grandma that gets you into a tony private school in HI, various benefactors and affirmative action getting you into Ivies, and guilty white liberals ignoring every red flag while fawning over you.

Bootstrapping is what Clarence Thomas did. It's even what Bill Clinton. It's the opposite of what Obama has done.

[Jordan]

Obama was a Harvard legacy, which makes it even worse. Then he managed to get a Con Law degree without ever having read the Constitution.

[some guy]

Don't hate the playa. Hate the game.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I know, right? Obama has lived the life of Riley and PB equates his life to the Jefferson's theme song?

It's almost as if he's a bigot (of soft expectations) who can only comprehend one narrative of Black success.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's sooooo convenient to know sooooo much of Bush's past and be able to use it but when it comes to Obama, not only is his past murky but off limits to the same debates!

The hypocrisy is astounding and the fact that Palin keeps bringing Bush up time after time after time after time five years after he left office points to just how burnt people can get about all this.

Let it go for fuck sakes. Can't you see how idiotic and infantile it is?

Mr. "Classical Liberal"

/pounds desk laughing.

[Ted S.]

Let it go for fuck sakes

Or move on.

[Rich]

At least lean forward.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

There is no reason for him to let it go because you idiots keep giving him attention. That's all he wants.

At this point, I am starting to think PB is brilliant in that he has a bunch of you giving a near-Pavlovian response to every post he makes, which is exactly what he wants

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm guilty. But NK....that claim of being classical liberal. It's just too much for me.

[Lord Humungus]

agreed. But like bum-fighting, it's hard not to watch.

[Ken Shultz]

Bum-fighting?

Is that like a gay subculture thing?

I think it's great you people participate in these forums.

[Ken Shultz]

Yeah, that's what's great about this country?

America, where any fucking idiot can be president.

Obama wouldn't have survived a year running a fast food restaurant, and if merit doesn't have anything to do with what it takes to become president, then bootstrapping doesn't have anything to do with it either.

[Citizen Nothing]

This is why there are no fucking idiot libertarians.

[WTF]

BUSHPIGS!!1111!CHRISTFAGS!!11!!!

[Ken Shultz]

"He wasn't born standing on third base like Dumbya was."

Ever notice how all the Obamabots are always talking about how stupid Bush was...and then comparing Obama to Bush?

Their politics really are just about aesthetics. They don't like an idiotic president who speak with a drawl; they want an idiot who sips lattes!

They don't even care if the president is an idiot. They just care about the way he presents himself.

[Pathogen]

Well, to be fair.. there's more similarities between the two than either dyed-in-the-wool team partisan groupies care to admit...

[Ken Shultz]

That's true.

But we're talking about Shrike's side at the moment.

[Bill Dalasio]

They don't like an idiotic president who speak with a drawl; they want an idiot who sips lattes!

Well, that's actually pretty simple. A lot of this crowd is part of or has adopted the non-drawling, latte-sipping culture. These traits are markers for the particular subculture in question. They then proceed to take arrogance to new heights by identifying identification with their own subculture the supreme marker of intelligence. So, they have to want the latte sipper. Otherwise, they'd have to acknowledge that their participation in their subculture doesn't identify them as smart.

[Pathogen]

BOOOOOSH?!?

[WTF]

Well yeah, that's the only 'argument' shreeky knows.

[Pathogen]

He's like an autistic child, playing with one of those annoying "A cow says MOO" toys that's stuck on "BOOOSH!", where's the Ritalin when you need it...

[KMA Too]

I figured he was more apt to be the guy with all the commemorative plates of O hanging on his walls, with his Jergen's sitting on an end table next to his recliner.

[SweatingGin]

He just needs to expand his audience on those. Instead of doing a weekly radio address, do a three or more hour ranting TV show, like Hugo Chavez used to do. Call out the Kulaks and wreckers directly on his show. It'll be great. MSNBC can carry it, I'm sure everyone will want to soon enough.

[some guy]

MSNBC can carry it

I think you mean, All major national networks will carry it.

[Ken Shultz]

If we heard what he really said during those sessions, we'd hear a lot more like where that "You didn't build that" came from.

That's his test audience.

It all works great with them!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"He's like us."

Fuck.

Me.

[Fist of Etiquette]

When you're in a herd faithfully taking your cues from someone, yeah, everyone's going to be alike.

[VG Zaytsev]

The guy that wrote that is a blowhard douchebag - so yeah, Obama's just like them.

[BakedPenguin]

The president cares a lot more about the opinions of Fred Hiatt or Tom Friedman than he does about the average U.S. Senator...

Wow, Obama is dumber than we thought.

[Brett L]

I don't know. At this point I'm surprised he manages to walk and breathe at the same time. Probably has Jarrett's help with that.

[gaijin]

He's the smartest person in the room...full of idiots!

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Tallest midget.

[Pompey]

Heightist!!!!

[Ken Shultz]

Wow, Obama is dumber than we thought."

He operates in a fantasy world built out of the way things could be.

In the real world, we call that "psychosis".

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

CONFUSED METAPHORS FTW

[Rich]

"The confidence he exudes in these sessions is even greater than the confidence he exudes in public. And, as in public, it's the president who does most of the talking."

Sounds like these sessions are great for out-of-body practice.

[RBS]

In his own mind

Yep.

[A Frayed Knot]

We just live in a modern day feudal society with now that the press has evolved from the 4th Estate to modern day courtiers.

[DesigNate]

"He's naturally predisposed to analysis.

and

Fred Hiatt or Tom Friedman

are not congruous.

[MJGreen]

That was my first thought. Tom Friedman? Analysis?

[CatoTheElder]

The source of that quote must be confusing analysis with analogy. The two words sound a lot alike.

Friedman is great at making stupid analogies and pointless metaphors.

[Bill Dalasio]

"The president cares a lot more about the opinions of Fred Hiatt or Tom Friedman than he does about the average U.S. Senator,...In his own mind, that's what he is: he's like us."

A second rate bullshit artist with an overinflated sense of his own intelligence? Yup. That sounds about right.

[waffles]

Liberal billionaires have been spending a lot of money on campaigns this year.

Well, it's true. There's never too much money in politics.

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

*splutter* CITIZENZ UNITED! KOCH BROTHERS!!!11!

/progtard

[hamilton]

The Koch brothers are evil manipulative capitalist thugs. These liberal guys are philanthropists. Don't make me libsplain it to you again.

[Dead or In Jail]

libsplain

Holy shit, this needs to be a thing.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yeah, progressives are whacked out about Citizens.

Obama raised 3x more than McCain and more than Romney.

It is time to shut up about campaign finance.

[Restoras]

So shut up.

[Pathogen]

"This post is a stub. You can help Palin's Buttplug by adding more BOOOOSH!"

[Moe19]

+1 CHRISTFAG!!!!11!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...only 248 people enrolled in a health plan through healthcare.gov in the two days after it was launched.

Only? That's like saying there are only 248 unicorns in existence.

[waffles]

Good thing this law basically mandates unicorn husbandry. I was really getting worried I would never get my unicorn ride.

If this is as successful as we all hope it will be I will open a unicorn petting zoo and retire on my rainbow ranch.

[Brett L]

Unicorn husbandry is a sin against all mankind.

[robc]

my unicorn ride

So you are a virgin?

Just checking, nothing wrong with that.

[Tonio]

Meh. Not surprising considering the website problems. Use their own beliefs against them - "Only 248? Gee, that website is really having problems. Should have been tens of thousands, right? RIght?"

[Pathogen]

"Expanding affordable healthcare Medicaid to millions of ~248 Americans.." Thanks.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

I posted this originally in the Friday Funny, I heard it on the radio today. A quote from a doctor about O-care.

"Remember when Nancy Pelosi said 'You have to pass it to find out what's in it'? Well, that's the definition of a stool sample"

I almost wrecked my car laughing so hard.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Wrecked 'em? Damn near killed 'em!

[gaijin]

That's a good one!

[Fist of Etiquette]

German journalists have been urged by The German Federation of Journalists to avoid using Google and Yahoo because of recent reporting on snooping by British and American intelligence.

They should avoid enigma.de as their search engine, as well.

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

+1 Ultra

[Jerryskids]

Here I use BellSouth's DSL and ATT cell service so I assume the NSA has blanket surveillance of my web browsing, but my niece has the Comcast cable connection - is anybody aware of what the policy is vis-a-vis Comcast turning over data to the NSA? What about HughesNet or Charter?

[Juice]

Assume they'll turn over whatever. Hell, VPN companies are closing down because the government is up their asses trying to get them to install backdoors.

[Tonio]

up their asses...backdoors

Hmmm.

[Lord Humungus]

Why is Hillary Clinton's popularity sliding?
Since leaving the Obama administration, Clinton's favorability ratings have plunged a net 18 points

The drop is seemingly quite mysterious, given that Clinton has been largely absent from the spotlight for months. It's not like she oversaw a disastrous rollout of an online exchange for health insurance, for example. So why is Clinton bottoming out now?

For one, it's possible her apparent move to campaign mode has polarized people who previously viewed her as more of an apolitical figure during her time as the nation's top diplomat. "It's not that voters all of the sudden have seen a new side of Hillary that has caused them to take a second look," pollster Peter Hart told the Wall Street Journal, but rather that "she is no longer the non-partisan secretary of state and that brings out the partisan fangs on the part of former supporters."

[John]

See my point below about the Obama campaign, at least according to the new book, concluding adding her as a VP wouldn't have helped. That is pretty surprising. I thought at the time that adding Hillary would have been a big help. But apparently not.

[wareagle]

seriously, who are the people who saw Hillary as "apolitical?" Ever?

[John]

People who get their information from the major media. It is the same people who thought, but probably don't think so anymore, that Obama is a centrist and a pragmatist.

[wareagle]

I guess. Lot of proggies still see Obama as a moderate Repub. It must be defeaning inside their echo chamber.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Obama is a pragmatist. Not sure about centrist, given that I can't identify one thing he stands for. I have no idea what the guy's ideology is.

[John]

Obama doesn't seem very pragmatic dying on the hill of Obamacare being great.

I don't see him being pragmatic Kristen. Just because you have a really confused ideology and are a narcissist doesn't make you pragmatic.

[Kaptious Kristen]

The definition of pragmatism is doing something for the sake of expediency and practical considerations. The definition does not say that these actions need be successful to be pragmatic.

And having a confused and unprincipled ideology pretty much guarantees pragmatism.

action or policy dictated by consideration of the immediate practical consequences rather than by theory or dogma

[John]

But is being short sighted and stupid really pragmatic?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Being pragmatic has nothing to do with intelligence. It's simply acting for expediency, without consideration to a central principle or ideology.

[CatoTheElder]

Obama is a pragmatist. But he is no centrist. He is a neo-Marxist, of the Frankfurt school and Fabian socialist variety, in the sense that his worldview is rooted in the Marx's dialectical materialism. As a progressive, he looks forward to a socialist America. (Just to be clear, I am not saying that he is a Bolshevik revolutionary or a Stalinist.)

Throughout his career, Obama has been unalterably opposed to any restriction whatsoever on abortion. Otherwise, he understands that he must play his cards close to his vest, but a close reading of his books, a few unguarded comments, and his associations reveal his worldview. If you don't agree now, I expect it will become clearer after 2017.

[Pathogen]

"seriously, who are the people who saw Hillary as "apolitical?" Ever?"

Those who want to believe.

[BakedPenguin]

I'm amazed that shrill harpy is viewed positively by anyone other than feminists of the Jezebel variety.

[John]

Spend a week getting all of your news from the New York Times or other big city paper and or the Today Show or six o'clock news and you wouldn't be amazed at all.

My mother in law really tries to be informed. She reads the Boston Globe front to back every day. And I bet you anything she thinks that.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Will she balance the Globe with the Herald?

[John]

Nope. She means well. But she has no idea how sheltered she is. There are a lot of people like her out there.

[Elspeth Flashman]

So the analysis is that: She's just doing her job and I respect that(before); to: She's annoying me since she wants me to vote for her (now)?
But she was always annoying, that's her mode of communicating everything.

[SweatingGin]

seemingly quite mysterious

Joyous weasel words!

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

At this point, what difference does it make?

[AuH20]

I blame Kristen and her slutty Hilary Clinton costume.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

248? Why, that's 124 in two days! Success!

[Brett L]

Only 38,876/day more and they'll be at their initial target, which is now at about 50k/day.

[Kid Xenocles]

It was 6 the first day, so enrollment grew by almost two orders of magnitude. That makes this the fastest growing program in the country!

[hotsy totsy]

It's almost the same odds as winning the Lotto.

[sarcasmic]

Still an English rose: Kate Beckinsale embodies casual European glamour for shopping spree in Los Angeles

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....geles.html
Those legs...

[invisible furry hand]

Man arrested for not returning book to Texan library

more

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Was the book Tropic of Capricorn?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Man arrested for stealing book from Texan library?

[gaijin]

So they threw the book at him?

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

*narrows gaze*

[Lord Humungus]

Man calmly walks into hospital with 10 INCH knife buried in his skull

The injured man cheated death after a prank with friends went horribly wrong and he ended up with the fruit knife embedded in his brain.

Following the mishap he walked into his local A&E at Yanji in Jilin province in northeast China and told shocked staff: "I'd like to see a doctor please."

He was so calm that medics said the receptionist was at first not sure if it was some sort of stunt and it was only when the man leaned down for her to have a closer look that she really realised he had been given a potentially life-threatening injury.

great pic.

[Brett L]

"Its not about the knife!"

[a better weapon]

Liberal billionaires have been spending a lot of money on campaigns this year.

Bite your tongue! These heroes are just trying to reinforce the pillars of democracy that right wing teathuglican billionares are trying to bulldoze

[Pathogen]

Speaking truf to powah...

[John]

The interesting thing about the revelation that Obama thought about dumping Biden for Hillary in 2012 is not that he thought about dumping Biden. I think everyone pretty much assumed that. It is that the campaign decided not to dump Biden after they concluded adding Hillary would not give them a bump in the polls.

Whatever you think about Obama's competence, he did win two elections. So I think he can at least back then read the public mood. If adding Hillary wasn't going to give him a bump, kind of makes you wonder if she isn't quite as popular as the media thinks she is.

[BakedPenguin]

Propaganda is his - and his campaign's - only area of competence, and even that was greatly aided by the DemOp media. Daily Caller has a story about how he doesn't even allow photos that haven't been taken by his personal photographers. They have been tightly controlling the story since 2008. That's only starting to unravel because his administration's massive fuckups are coming home to roost.

[John]

The other thing is that you never know what people's agendas are. A lot of Democrats hate the Clintons. Every time I see the media finally getting around to covering a story that makes Hillary look bad like Bengazi, I wonder if it is the anti-Hillary Dems behind it.

[hotsy totsy]

I think Obama personally doesn't like Hillary. And Michelle has sheer hatred for her.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I think it's evident he's an effective campaigner.

[CatoTheElder]

His experience as community organizer was directly applicable to his role as a campaigner. That experience has also been somewhat applicable to his role as Commander-in-Chief, but only because it confers absolute authority over the armed forces. With this authority, Obama has accomplished his objective of demoralizing US armed forces. However, Obama's community organizing skills have proven useless, even counterproductive, in his role as Chief Executive.

[Ken Shultz]

"The interesting thing...is that the campaign decided not to dump Biden after they concluded adding Hillary would not give them a bump in the polls."

They would have made that decision long before the Benghazi fiasco, too.

It would be one thing if they had avoided Hillary because they didn't want to make a bigger issue of Benghazi, but that all happened long after the time to switch vice presidents came and went.

I'm leery of indulging in wishful thinking, but I don't think a lot of people voted for Obama because they really like him on the issues. I think they just liked Obama personally.

...and Hillary doesn't exude that kind of charisma--at all. If they judged trading the uncharismatic Biden for Hillary to be a wash or worse, then that's really saying something.

Biden's job was to be a pit bull anyway, though, right? To say all the ugly attack stuff about whatever opponent to keep Obama above the fray?

They must have thought Hillary wasn't going to be better than Biden at that either. Hillary is apparently too nasty to be sweet, and not sharp enough to be nasty. ...and that all sounds like good news to me.

[John]

A good number of people voted for Obama because they desperately want to like a black President. No one is going to feel that obligation for Hillary.

[Ken Shultz]

She's a revolting human being.

And the problem isn't that she got to where she is by sleeping with the president; it's that she's so easy to dislike.

The MSM is going to have to work twice as hard as they had to do with Obama--just to make her seem kinda likeable.

If I were Hillary, I'd hold a baby or a puppy up next to my face during every interview.

[John]

The other problem is that she will have been on the public stage for 24 years by 2016. The media were able to sell Obama so successfully because no one knew anything about him beyond his 2004 convention speech. He was a blank slate that people could project onto. People so wanted to believe that he was a pragmatist and a healer and would end all of the nastiness and partisanship of the Bush era. And they didn't know him. So it was easy for the media to convince people that is what he was.

Everyone knows Hillary. Love her or hate her, no one is going to project onto her what they want. If she manages to win, it won't be the way Obama won. It will have to after a nasty, horrible negative election where she and media manage to convince the country that the R nominee is just such a monster that even Hillary is the better option.

[mad libertarian guy]

It will have to after a nasty, horrible negative election where she and media manage to convince the country that the R nominee is just such a monster that even Hillary is the better option.

That's definitely in the media's wheelhouse.

[Pathogen]

"Whatever you think about Obama's competence, he did win two elections. "

He didn't build that... Obama didn't win shit, without the perfect mix of disconnected, barely affable, and completely milquetoast Rethuglikkkans, Acorn trolling for potential voters and virtually dragging people from their couches to the booths, a totally compliant MSM completely in the tank, and a shitload of cash and prizes from the regressives most powerful and elite, a carefully crafted and spun lore about an ordinary man, this shitstain would still be dedicating rec centers, and getting Al Sharpton his coffee...

[John]

All true. But I think if they didn't think Hillary would help, that is probably the truth.

[sarcasmic]

Spice lovers rejoice! Company will continue to produce Sriracha hot sauce after judge overrules request to close factory

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ctory.html
Yaaaaaaaaay!

[Jordan]

The spice must flow.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

And there was much rejoicing!

[Lord Humungus]

hurrah.

[The Late P Brooks]

"The confidence he exudes in these sessions is even greater than the confidence he exudes in public,"

If only his estimation of his own worth were accurate. Or even only off by a factor of ten.

[DontShootMe]

^this^ Can I steal it?

[Lord Humungus]

School Shut Down and Kids Hospitalized After 6th Grade Boys Spray Too Much Axe

It is hardly news that pre-pubescent boys have no idea how to properly administer Axe body spray.

It is news when said inappropriate Axe use causes a school-wide shutdown.

Eight students were hospitalized, and two others were taken to their own doctors, after someone released the especially pungent body spray in a sixth grade classroom at 1 p.m. Emergency crews rushed to Medgar Evers College Preparatory School in Brooklyn to investigate the "hazardous" smell.

[John]

The hospital? Really?

[Rich]

Given that the stuff is called "Axe" they should all be in juvie.

[gaijin]

They were just trying to axe the teacher a question.

[Ska]

In Brooklyn - not surprising.

[Rhywun]

It's more of a Jersey thing, but yeah - the fug does waft across the Hudson and cover the whole fucking tri-state area.

[Anomalous]

If you put on too much of that stuff and somebody dies as a result, does that make you an Axe murderer?

[Lord Humungus]

Fly those flags at half-mast:

Exploding-whale engineer George Thornton has died at age 84

He will be forever known as the man who blew up eight tons of whale with a half ton of dynamite, thereby creating an Oregon legend that was often thought a myth.

George Thornton, the Oregon Department of Transportation highway engineer who won the job of removing a massive beached whale near Florence in November 1970, died Sunday. He was 84.

[John]

Now there is a great America.

[Brett L]

Engineers and dynamite, is there any problem that combination can't solve?

[Ken Shultz]

I was gonna say, "How to stop my girlfriend from bothering while I'm watching football", but I suppose engineers and dynamite could solve that problem.

[Brett L]

How important is keeping your girlfriend alive to the solution?

[invisible furry hand]

There is a French rapper called Booba!

[Elspeth Flashman]

Eminem performing in France too, who'd have thunk it?

[Lord Humungus]

Cushing man gets jail for striking estranged wife with genitalia

Fred E. Thomas pleaded guilty to 180 days in jail with all but five days suspended and was placed on probation for a year for domestic violence assault and indecent conduct. A third charge of unlawful sexual contact was dismissed.

The incident occurred in July in Warren when his wife of 39 years, who was estranged from him, stayed at his place. He offered her $20 for sex, and when she refused he took out his penis and struck her with it, according to the prosecution's version of events to which he pleaded guilty.

[Ted S.]

Isn't Sarcasmic from Maine?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Hard to imagine any woman would stay married to him for 39 years though.

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

To be fair, it did say "estranged"...

[Dr. Frankenstien]

Meh, They're all eh strange.

And yes this is why there are no libertarian women.

[Heroic Mulatto]

He said his estranged wife was planning to go to Pakistan to meet a man she met online.

Woah...woah...woah...stop right there.

[tarran]

It's like a fractal. Every detail contains its own train-wreck.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Wait, are you talking about the story or just Maine in general?

Either way, your observation is profound.

[tarran]

The story, not Maine.

One of the most beautiful, charming and intelligent women I have ever met was from Maine. I cannot criticize a state that produces such perfection.

[Brett L]

You could tell she was smart because she wasn't in Maine anymore, right?

[Anomalous]

He was just joking around. A little slapstick humor.

[Lord Humungus]

Why he's like a modern day Robin Hood.

Infamous phallic sculptor strikes again in Windsor park
For the 2nd time this month, a shrub in a public park has been reshaped into a penis

Windsor's infamous phallic sculptor has struck again.

Someone has trimmed a public bush into the shape of penis on Windsor's riverfront.

It's the second time this month that a bush near the Odette Sculpture Gardens had changed shape.

[BardMetal]

Yes but he prefers the name Throbin Wood.

[Lord Humungus]

I lulzed.

[Juice]

wow

[WTF]

All kinds of win right there.

[Rasilio]

You owe me a new keyboard

[Elspeth Flashman]

He takes from the parks and gives to the public?

[a better weapon]

"He takes from the parks and gives to the pubic"

FTFY

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

"It's the second time this month that a bush near the Odette Sculpture Gardens had changed shape."

Nice use of the passive voice - the bush changed shape all on its own, eh?

[invisible furry hand]

well it was thinking about a very hot shrub at the time

[SweatingGin]

Said it last night. "Windsor: Less Depressing than Sarnia"

[Caleb Turberville]

http://freethoughtblogs.com/ph.....d-display/

Not that I hate him or anything, but I don't really like for people to think "John Stossel" when they hear that I'm a libertarian.

[Caleb Turberville]

...Not that I disagree with him in principle, just that I could stand a little more depth in the popular exemplar of libertarianism.

[a better weapon]

I agree, I'd like him to utilize rhetorical questioning less and add depth of argument in its place.

[Rasilio]

Yeah John's heart is in the right place but his his ability to really present his views is exceedingly weak.

He works much better as a journalist than a commentator

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Yeah, because if you gave PZ Myers a thoughtful, deep exemplar of libertarianism, PZ Myers wouldn't be a total intellectually dishonest fuckstick about that guy either.

I don't even know why you bother reading this guy. He's an A#1 political crank.

[KMA Too]

Isn't he just a hipster in a lab coat? I mean, the irony of his website's name...

[Metazoan]

Stossel's approach often seems shallow to intelligent people, sure. But he's targeting low-information voters, so I think it's an appropriate strategy. In fact, it's good that we have people who can express things in sound bites, no matter how much that makes us cringe.

[Ken Shultz]

+1

He's selling libertarianism to people who get their advice on which laptop to buy from QVC.

[Tonio]

Meh. There are worse standard bearers.

Plus, do you really expect intellectual honesty from Myers? LOL.

[Zeb]

Does that guy even know what a libertarian is?

Hey, I'm in my 50s, why should I subsidize your greater health care needs, old man?

I'm pretty sure Stossel doesn't think PZ Myers should be subsidizing his healthcare either.

[Caleb Turberville]

If you read the post in combination with the comments, PZ is just doing his usual schtick of characterizing libertarianism as not only the hyper-selfish wing but also the hyper-misogynistic wing of the Republican Party.

[Zeb]

Willful ignorance or outright dishonesty, I wonder?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Dishonesty. Myers revels in his evil and willful ignorance.

[mr simple]

Straight dishonesty. He completely misrepresents what was said, not that what he said they said is even bad.

[Juice]

The comments are especially stupid. This little comment was praised by another commenter.

You aren't paying for care, you are paying for risk reduction.

All men will now have their risk for getting pregnant covered.

And no, Obamacare is trying to shift people away from paying for only risk reduction.

[John]

Wow. You are paying to reduce your risk from 0. Math really isn't their strong suit is it?

[Tonio]

Yes, Myers actually knows what a libertarian is, sorta. But he don't like it, none. He, like all proggies, refuses to acknowledge that there might be something to our core principal of self-ownership.

The biggest difference between them and us: We are perfectly OK with them spending their own money to subsidize others. They are not OK with us opting out of their plans.

[RBS]

Only took 12 comments for...

Why do I have to pay for roads I don't drive on?
Why do I have to pay for prisons since I have never committed a crime or been a victim of one?

We live in a society and infrastructure benefits all of us. I do better when kids are fed and get a quality education even if they aren't mine. I do better when people can travel freely and safely. I do better when people get the care they need. That's why I pay for it. It benefits the society in which I live.

[invisible furry hand]

If the benefits are so damn obvious, you wouldn't need to extort the money from me

[Juice]

Because you're too stupid to know what's good for you.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Price for....CIVILIMA...ZATION!

[Tonio]

No "SOMALIA!!1!"?

I are disappointed.

[mr simple]

Really? Pharyngula? If they're against it, then it must be right.

[Tonio]

Well, they do a good job on calling out the socons on their BS.

Just because libertarianism is a bush-league team doesn't mean that it's not a team.

[Kid Xenocles]

So, about twice a day they're right, then?

[mr simple]

Like calling out socons is difficult or rare. They are against everything said by any Repub, regardless of what it is, so of course they're going to get a few right.

Just because libertarianism is a bush-league team doesn't mean that it's not a team.

I'm not sure what this means or how it relates to my post.

[Tonio]

It's a warning about falling into the Team mindset. IOW, just because someone like Myers is anti-freedom on the huge majority of things doesn't mean that he can't occasionally be right on a few things.

[Kid Xenocles]

Yes, but it's like looking for corn in a pile of shit. It's unpleasant and what little you get can be found elsewhere.

[Juice]

The only thing they're right about is that creationists are retarded.

[Lord Humungus]

Another Obamacare Deadline Blunder Is Worrying Democrats

Senate Democrats facing reelection next year aren't just fretting about a balky website and President Barack Obama's misleading campaign statements on health care. Now they've begun worrying about another deadline a year away.

According to an Affordable Care Act timetable established by administration officials, early next October insurance companies will announce their new menu of health care plans for the ACA marketplaces -- plans that may be more varied and numerous than those offered this year, but that almost certainly will come with higher prices.

The likely price hikes will hit the individual and small-business insurance markets only weeks before Election Day on Nov. 4, 2014.

[gaijin]

when will all the lucky people who have insurance through their workplace find out the impact of the corporate mandate? Wasn't that delayed until just before next year's election too?

[a better weapon]

I saw a Forbes article that said end of 2013.

My guess is they'll redefine the interpretation to allow policy holders to renew it up until that time which would (they hope) give enough people the chance to not lose it until end of 2014.

That strategy would only mitigate the damage marginally though. I am already laughing at how bad it is going to be for them.

[a better weapon]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/th.....obamacare/

Here it is!

Mid range estimate from HHS officials predict 51% of ALL policy holders (individual, group, employer) will lose their current insurance. And like all government predictions, this will be painfully low. I bet it ends up being 75%

[Ted S.]

And, of course, the only "solution" to all this is going to be a complete government takeover of the system.

[gaijin]

holy crap! You mean at least 51% of all insurance plans in this country are substandard! Who knew? (thanks for linking to that article).

[Juice]

51% are scam policies? We've never seen a scam of these massive proportions!

[Floridian]

I found out this morning. Our premiums went up 50% and we had an HMO so our insurance plan is being cancelled. Also to survive my independent anesthesia group is being sold to a national corporation because our billing department is no longer cost effective to deal with Obama care compliance. So the death of a small business augments the size of a big corporation. You know the thing progressives always champion, the little guy being crushed by a corporation.

[Brett L]

You know the thing progressives always champion, the little guy being crushed by a corporation.

It is funny how their policies always have that effect.

[Zeb]

Small businesses and self employed people are a threat. Too hard to keep track of people's income and activities if they aren't attached to a large organization with lots of reporting requirements. Despite all of the anti-corporate talk, progressives really want everyone to work for a large corporation (appropriately regulated, of course).

[John]

Big corporations can afford to pay for the kind of bullshit progs love. And also big corporations are happy to see government step on the throats of small business and create lots of entry barriers to markets.

This is why Progs always end up being crony capitalist fascists. Their relationship with big corporations is just so symbiotic for them to walk away from.

[Juice]

Big corporations can afford to pay for the kind of bullshit progs love.

But not at the expense of the worker. Never. Living wage now!

[Zeb]

Fascist is a very loaded word and I try no to use it too much to talk about contemporary politics, but it really isn't inaccurate at all.

[BuSab Agent]

You are right. Fascism, under the classic definition as an economic system where the means of production are privately owned but production is controlled by government, is quite accurate. However, fascist, like so many other words has been overused and fuzzified by liberals to mean "anything evil". Corporatism, I guess is the new suitable substitute word for the concept once described by the word "fascism".

[CatoTheElder]

The typical progressive would really be surprised to learn that the policies that he favors are properly called corporatist, and that corporatist is a euphemism for fascist.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Europe - 1930's

[Floridian]

The new company is large enough to self insure. I don't know if this is good or bad. Anyone an insurance expert that can give some insight?

[Jordan]

BUT HOME DEPOT!

[John]

My father is friends with a woman who owns a restaurant and bar. She is a huge "war on the womenz" Democrat. Her healthcare costs are doubling thanks to Obamacare and she is having to totally reconsider how she is going to run her business. My dad, being a total smart ass and asshole, told her upon hearing this "well this is just the price you have to pay so women can have access to abortion and birth control." She had nothing to say to that. Nothing. Just changed the subject.

[gaijin]

so women can have access to free abortion and birth control.

enhanced for clarity! 🙂

[gaijin]

*free

[Palin's Buttplug]

Likewise, rebate notices will be going out to individuals around election time.

(meaning the 80% MLR ratio won't be met by the majority of insurers)

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I still remember the party I threw with the $34 I got back last year. I mean, sure, my monthly premium will go up by more than than under Obamacare but still, $34 once a year!!

[Kid Xenocles]

$34 can buy a lot of vodka. I'm surprised you can remember the party at all.

[Jordan]

Meaning insurers will raise prices even more.

[John]

yeah, I am sure it is going to work out just fine. I mean Obama's approval rating is 42% nationwide. It has to be higher than that in places where the Dems need to win to keep the Senate like Louisiana, Arkansas and Montana. Right?

[Jordan]

But a poll from June said some people like Obamacare!

[CatoTheElder]

Likewise, rebate notices will be going out to individuals around election time.

Ha! This year I got a $150 rebate. It was followed shortly by a $1400 rate increase.

Thanks ObamaCare!

[hamilton]

The likely price hikes will hit the individual and small-business insurance markets only weeks before Election Day on Nov. 4, 2014.

This is a tremendous feature-not-bug. There oughta be a rule that ALL major programmatic changes have an effectivity date of, say, 4-6 weeks immediately prior to the next election.

[John]

Thanks to Obama being a moron, we are going to get just that.

[Rich]

Nah. They'll delay it on some trumped-up pretext.

[John]

I bet they don't. Obama won't agree to it. He can't admit he is wrong and he won't ever back down and admit the Republicans are right about something.

[a better weapon]

They'll be getting notices much further in advance though.

[Ken Shultz]

"The likely price hikes will hit the individual and small-business insurance markets only weeks before Election Day on Nov. 4, 2014."

The important thing is that it happens before November 2016.

Obama is a fool, but he's a fool that doesn't have to stand for reelection. The Democrats are fools for following him.

[sarcasmic]

NYPD cop found dead in front of police station after he 'shot himself inside his car'

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

A teenager in the area overheard the gunshots and said that he did not immediately know that they were gunshots.

'I was down the block and heard two funny noises, like firecrackers exploding,' 15-year-old Efriam Baruch told The Daily News.

Two shots? That doesn't seem right. At least there was a happy ending.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

No, two shots sounds about right for a cop shooting at that range.

[Tonio]

No, that gun went off by itself, as guns will do. We're lucky it didn't empty its entire newspaper or whatever those thingies are called.

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

+1 clip

[Brett L]

Right there with you, buddy.

[Brett L]

Clip?

[Rich]

Isn't that the thing that goes up?

[Steve G]

Must have been a dog in the car

[Elspeth Flashman]

I see what you did there.

[Brett L]

Now that is a good dog.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Liberal billionaires have been spending a lot of money on campaigns this year.

But don't worry, they're still just totally outraged at all that NSA spying.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama: The Myth of the Master Strategist
His poor maneuvering before and after the Obamacare rollout shows that he's not three moves ahead.

Or consider Obama's only clear-cut political victory since his reelection. Republican demands were a bit of a moving target, but basically the GOP wanted either an all-out repeal of Obamacare or, as a fallback, a one-year delay of the individual mandate. By the end, they would have taken even less.

But Obama wouldn't consider it. Instead, he played hardball with everything from national-park closures to, temporarily at least, denying death benefits to military families. As the debt ceiling loomed, the GOP relented. Conventional wisdom says Obama won, and I basically agree with the conventional wisdom.

Or at least I did. There's something those of us scoring that bout didn't know: The president desperately, urgently, and indisputably needed to delay the rollout of Obamacare.

[John]

A leader who was thinking ahead would have realized last summer the website was probably not going to work and started playing down expectations and doing some battle space preparation.

[BakedPenguin]

Hell, the Republicans were fighting for a delay - something that would have helped him. In a scenario where your opponents are demanding something that will help you, you demand additional concessions before reaching a "compromise".

He could have played the R's to get something else that he wanted, and walked away looking like the smart and reasonable one in the room. Instead, he demanded that a completely fucked up program be pushed immediately on the American people.

I can't imagine that level of incompetence and hubris.

[John]

He is totally incapable of a strategic retreat. All he knows is to go forward. He lives from day to day and the goal every day is to do some damage to the other side. So when he was able to damage the Republicans by denying them a delay, that is what he did. It never occured to him that granting the Republicans that tactical victory would benefit him in the long term.

He is the total opposite of the strategic thinker. People always compare him to Frado as a way to call him stupid. But really he is Sonny, a vicious and nasty street fighter who cannot see beyond the fight in front of him.

[Brett L]

Yeah, well I pray that Michael is in the cards for us. It would be nice to have some intelligence for a change.

[John]

Yeah, we need someone to play out that scene with Carlo, only with the Congressional leadership of both parties and the major media playing the part of Carlo.

Today I settled all family business so don't tell me that you're innocent.

[CatoTheElder]

He lives from day to day and the goal every day is to do some damage to the other side.

Indeed. It's the job description of an Alinsky-style community organizer.

[mad libertarian guy]

He could have played the R's to get something else that he wanted, and walked away looking like the smart and reasonable one in the room. Instead, he demanded that a completely fucked up program be pushed immediately on the American people.

Is it even remotely possible that Team RED planned it this way? I know they're the stupid party, but only the most loyal followers and economic illiterates didn't see Obamacare as a disaster waiting in the wings to stumble out on to the stage, and even Team RED has to know that Obama's Ace in the Hole is simply being in completely opposition to Team RED.

[John]

Some of Team Red did but not many. Most of lot of team red are just as dumb as team blue and thought that this thing was going to be a huge success and get people hooked on welfare and be a disaster for the Republicans. A bunch of them, including Ted Cruz, wanted to delay it because they believed it would work so well the Republicans would be doomed.

The same people who thing granting citizenship to 11 million illegal Mexican and largely Dem voters is the way to future power thought Obamacare coming into effect was going to make the Democrats unbeatable for the next generation.

The GOP is less dangerous but really more stupid than the Dems. The Dems are stupid about things that really hurt the country but they do at least know sometimes what is in their best interests. The GOP is so stupid they can't even understand how to act for their political survival.

[BakedPenguin]

John, you really think Cruz thought this would be a success?

[Brett L]

I think Cruz knew that being out in front of this was a way to jump the line for de facto leader of the national party. He didn't have to win, he just had to fight. In 2015, when this thing is irrevocably broken, he'll be the guy who "risked everything" to stop it.

[BakedPenguin]

That's pretty much what I thought - he was trying to raise his profile.

[Kid Xenocles]

He's doing the Grant. ("I can't spare this man - he fights.")

[John]

I read in several places he thinks or thought that once the subsidies kicked in so many people would like it that you couldn't defeat it.

[BakedPenguin]

It's possible, but that would be a new level of strategy from team RED. Then again, Ted Cruz is one of their sharper guys.

[Steve G]

Poor execution of a plan doesn't necessarily imply the "Strategist" failed, as much as it implies he's got incompetent "Tacticians" to implement.

[Brett L]

Maybe, but a strategist would probably fire poor tacticians. More like Lincoln going through generals than Obama sticking to his incompetent people well after their competence is shown lacking.

[Rasilio]

The problem is the plan was not poorly executed. The problem is it was a horrible fucking plan.

Obama executed his plan on the shutdown masterfully, he dicked over Americans in ways he didn't need to in order to make them feel pain and got it ALL blamed on Republicans.

The problem is that was the wrong friggin plan, sure he got a short term win and made Boehner look like even more of an idiot/wimp than he is dropping Congressional Republican approval even further. Problem is with no election for another year he got no long term benefit out of it and with the fiasco the rollout of Obamacare has been giving in to them while extracting additional concessions would have saved him huge damage and gave him a big win in appearing to be the reasonable smart one.

His tactics were flawless, his strategic plan was abysmally moronic and the argument that he didn't know how unready the technology of the exchanges were at the time makes things even worse than if we assume he did know and barreled ahead anyway.

[CatoTheElder]

ObamaCare was designed to fail forward into Canadian-style state monopsony or full-blown British-style NHS. It was obvious at the outset that ObamaCare was going to fail and Team Barack were quite explicit about it being a transitional program in certain forums.

However, the Healthcare.gov fiasco and negative responses to the "unexpected consequences" of the rollout strongly suggest that Team Barack may have screwed the pooch this time. Other than the Healthcare.gov fiasco, increased premiums and deteriorating quality/ accessibility to actual health care (as distinct from insurance), and other negative consequences under ObamaCare were quite predictable. If quality and accessibility of actual health care delivery begin to deteriorate sooner rather than later, this may just be a disaster for Team Blue. And recent events suggest that ObamaCare will fail too soon for Team Red to make it fail forward to their desired outcome. If it fails too soon, it is simply an enormous Team Red failure since Team Red will not have enough time to co-opt sufficient Team Blue support to spread around the blame. If young middle-class people finally figure out that they are the target to fund a huge income transfer scheme, this failure could have profound consequences for Team Blue. So, I concede that ObamaCare could collapse without failing forward. But they don't call Team Blue the stupid party for nothing.

[DontShootMe]

I guess even Obamacare has some redeeming features: Sex Workers embrace Obamacare

[invisible furry hand]

They're not kissing it, however

[Juice]

lol

[Lord Humungus]

Well they do have good fries.

Woman runs boyfriend over for McDonald's

A Kingsport woman's food cravings allegedly ran amok Wednesday morning, as her boyfriend's refusal to visit McDonald's spurred her to run him over with a pickup truck ? striking him three times.

Crystal Greer Brooks, 33, of 156 Glenburn St., was arrested on West Carters Valley Road. Officers were called to the 400 block shortly after midnight.

[DontShootMe]

When are people going to wake up in this country and support reasonable restrictions on potentially deadly vehicles?

[Brett L]

The Saudis have it right.

[Andrew S.]

http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....ty-to.html

Local city more or less steals cars from arrestees. Fun times.

[Ken Shultz]

I was in a city--city within LA County--where the local tow service was owned by a guy that owned a lot of businesses in town.

Thing was...the other businesses in town he owned--he owned in partnership with the local cops. Some of them had been around for a long time and were higher ups. Some of them were beat cops...

So, yeah, the auto parts store in town? that's owned in conjunction with a couple local cops by the guy that owns the tow yard that has the contract with the city. The gas station and and auto repair place? Same way. ...on and on and on.

Seems to me the cops on that beat have a perverse incentive to tow as many cars as possible.

In most cities, you want to tow as few cars as possible because you don't want to piss off the residents and voters. In that city, they're looking to tow your car like no other place I've ever been in my life.

[Ken Shultz]

They'd tow your car if it has expired tags--even if it isn't in the street.

Even if it's a project car, they'd tow it out of your driveway!

[KMA Too]

Oh, tell me they got the shit sued outta them for that.

[Lord Humungus]

Top Hospitals Opt Out of Obamacare
Americans who sign up for insurance on the state exchanges may not have access to the nation's top hospitals, Watchdog.org reports.

The Obama Administration has been claiming that insurance companies will be competing for your dollars under the Affordable Care Act, but apparently they haven't surveyed the nation's top hospitals.

Americans who sign up for Obamacare will be getting a big surprise if they expect to access premium health care that may have been previously covered under their personal policies. Most of the top hospitals will accept insurance from just one or two companies operating under Obamacare.

it's like all the features of the NHS minus the good parts.

[Ted S.]

They'll be threatened with having their licenses revoked.

[invisible furry hand]

Matt Yglesias wonders why "socialistic" Sweden produces so many billionaires, decides it's because the market is lightly regulated, Slate readers' brains break

more

[Metazoan]

I love how he sees that regulations harm the economy, then sees it as a downside, because that harms leftism.

LOLOL

[Raston Bot]

Sweden has no taxes on inheritance or residential property, and its 22 percent corporate income tax rate is far lower than America's 35 percent. Even after spending cuts by the current center-right government, the Swedish public sector is still about half the total economy (much higher than here), but the taxes that finance it fall more heavily on consumption and less on business investment than in the U.S.

I'll admit, I'm intrigued.

[Raston Bot]

In Stockholm, for example, taxi fares are completely unregulated and for-profit charter schools are common.

And here in the U.S., the arcane, three-tier liquor distribution system and baroque car dealership rules similarly prevent the most efficient firms from growing and putting the others out of business.

WTF! This is Yglesias?? It must be an intern or... [checks calendar] nope, it's November 1st, not April.

[BakedPenguin]

Wow.

C'mon Matt... just a little further. You can get this.

[Juice]

To be fair, this is what MattyY is known for. A "progressive" for less regulation, or at least "more sensible" regulation. Hell, I can get behind that if it means people have more freedom than they did before.

[mad libertarian guy]

To be fair, this is what MattyY is known for. A "progressive" for less regulation, or at least "more sensible" regulation. Hell, I can get behind that if it means people have more freedom than they did before.

This.

I don't care if he supports abortions for free or whatever liberal bullshit he supports. If I can find common ground on certain issues, I'll take it.

[MJGreen]

Yglesias is pretty good on licensing and such. I think he also gets that corporate taxes are stupid, though he probably tries not to say that often.

[trshmnstr]

Matt dressed up as a sane person for halloween!

[mr simple]

German journalists have been urged by The German Federation of Journalists to avoid using Google and Yahoo because of recent reporting on snooping by British and American intelligence.

Microsoft elated. Finally, someone will use Bing!

[db]

Then the EU will sue MSFT for having a search monopoly.

[Palin's Buttplug]

US budget deficit down to $680B, lowest in 5 years

http://news.yahoo.com/us-budge.....gAghzQtDMD

Obama said he would cut the $1.4 trillion deficit he inherited in half by the end of his first term.

I guess that is another one of his failed promises.

[Lord Humungus]

thank god for gridlock.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Gridlock does help, no doubt. The GOP is a great opposition party whereas the spineless Dems could never say "No" to Dumbya.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

-1 Social Security reform

[Biden's Scroteplugs]

a moron could have cut that TARP heavy deficit in half in one year. it takes a retarded moron for it to take 5 years.

[Juice]

They kept passing "clean" continuing resolutions.

[WTF]

BUSHPIGS!!1111!!CHRISTFAGS!!111!!!

[John]

2012 marked the fourth straight year?and the only four years in the history of the nation--when the federal government's deficit topped $1 trillion.

Last year's $1.087 trillion deficit was even greater in inflation-adjusted dollars than the peak World War II deficit of fiscal 1943?which was $54.554 billion in 1943 dollars and $723.8714 billion in 2012 dollars, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics online inflation calculator.

The deficit has also remained at a higher percentage of GDP over the last four years than at any time since the conclusion of World War II (which ended during fiscal 1946, which began in June 1945).
- See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/ar.....rXbvz.dpuf

For all of that money in the 40s, we saved the world from the Nazis. For all of the money under Obama, we got a bunch of bankrupt solar companies and a crappy website selling crappy insurance.

Hope!! Change!!

[Palin's Buttplug]

The bankrupt solar company and the shitty website cost a tiny fraction of the spending Dumbya imposed on us.

[Jordan]

How does that excuse it?

[Restoras]

Because it's a TEAM BLUE! hack.

[John]

Oh so we didn't even get a bankrupt solar company out of the deal. Well that makes it all better I guess.

And we did get some drones and a lot of NSA spying and bombing Libya. So there is that.

[wareagle]

hey dumbass, no one here championed Bush's spending. But they haven't ignored Obama's either. It is amazing how the man you folks claim the worst/stupidest president ever has managed to castrate the smartest man in global history.

[gaijin]

spending Dumbya imposed on us.

Wait, you mean spending originates in the Executive Branch? And all this time I've thought something different.

[John]

spending Dumbya imposed on us.

Of course it was. Bush was President in spring of 2009, when all of the spending bills for FY 09 were approved. It is totally his fault.

Shreek is useful in some ways. He tells us which lies the Dems tell themselves. The reality is the Congress knew they were going to win in 08 and didn't pass any spending bills during that summer and fall. They just passed CRs and waited. Then when Obama got in, they passed all of the FY appropriations in the form of new CRs that put spending through the roof.

But mendacious cunts like Shreek tell themselves and the world that spending for FY 09 happened the way it usually does and was approved by Bush in 08. Ah no.

[Dr. Frankenstien]

Is it wrong that I read that initally as Fuck You appropriations?

[a better weapon]

Dave's not here, man

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Well that settles it. It's okay because....Bush.

I'm running out of adjectives to describe your positions, Palin.

[KMA Too]

That's Mr. Buttplug to you!

[CatoTheElder]

Are we sure it is human?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

5 of the 6 largest deficits in the country's history, with the only one of those not during his term being at the height of WWII in 1943.

[John]

But NEM, you got Obamacare, solar panels, NSA spying and drones for all of that money. What a bargain.

[BardMetal]

I know. The biggest nut punch of all from these deficits is that we have absolutely nothing to show for it.

I mean damn. If you're going to spend the country into oblivion at least colonize the moon, or build another hoover dam.

[John]

I agree. Couldn't we have built some pyramids or gone to Mars or something? They just stole it all and blew it on retarded shit and giving it away.

[robc]

FDR ran up a huge debt but at least he defeated Nazis and Nips.

[John]

And if we happen to have to face such a threat again, thanks to Obama, we won't have the money or the credit to pay for it.

[Elspeth Flashman]

And good luck getting help with any future threats, because other foreign leaders won't trust the US because of the spying problem.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Of course. He inherited a $1.4 trillion deficit (CBO numbers) and a -8.9% GDP.

Both the worst ever.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

You were on firmer ground claiming that Apple didn't release sales numbers before the end of the quarter.

[KDN]

In raw dollars he's correct on the first point. The second point is typical Shriek. -8.9% was the annualized rate for the fourth quarter and not the worst quarter ever (#2 since 1946); the -3.1% for the year was the sixth-worst since official records start (1929).

[Mike M.]

Weigel the scumbag still thinks he's kidding everyone by ignoring both the crapulus and the fact that the 2009 FY budget was passed in March by Obama and a democratic majority congress.

But lying is what Weigel the scumbag does like breathing, just like the dude that he worships.

[Ken Shultz]

When the Washington Post hired him to cover libertarians and the Tea Party, it made me laugh.

I wretched a bit, too, but then I laughed some more.

How could somebody who understood us so poorly and who triggered a visceral, disgusted reaction from libertarians--be a lens through which Washington Post readers could understand them and the Tea Party?

His experience exiting the Post should have been totally predictable.

I guess they decided that after seeing what he thought of them, the Post's readers couldn't take what he wrote objectively anymore--but they didn't have to read an invite only journalist blog to find that out.

They could have just skimmed the comments section at any random post of his at H&R and found out the same thing way ahead of time.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

And, of course, this has nothing to do with having a Republican House.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes, we talked about gridlock - which is when you have a 'D' POTUS and GOP House.

[Rasilio]

" the deficit is still the fifth-largest in history. It was exceeded only by four straight deficits above $1 trillion."

Yeah, that's really quite the accomplishment there.

Do basically nothing but the inevitable economic recovery and the scheduled winding down of the war in Iraq (exactly on your predecessor's schedule), claim how awesome you are for "cutting the deficit"

[sarcasmic]

The aspiring actress who 'dates for dinner' and exploits men to eat at the fancy restaurants on her 'hit-list'

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

She says dating for dinner isn't easy - in fact, it's harder than she thought it would be.

'Exploiting men for meals is tough. I have to put up with a lot of bad conversation and to be honest for awhile there I didn't think I was up for the challenge,' she writes.

'Yes, I had some good food but was it really worth my time? Keeping up with all the silly text messages, feigning interest in things I don't care about and trying to figure out who the f*** is who.'

Miss Wotherspoon says that through all the free meals, she hasn't met a single man who has piqued her interest.

'I'm not completely heartless. If I did meet Mr Right, I'd probably be receptive to him, but at this point, I just keep meeting Mr Unibrow and Mr Weirdo,' she told AM640 talk radio.

She has yet to go on a second date with any of the men she's met.

I'm guessing the bitch don't put-out.

[John]

That women gives proper whores a bad name.

[BardMetal]

I can't believe she calls it her "fancy restaurant"

[Brett L]

I'm sure she'll be surprised 10 years from now to learn that several Mr. Rights discerned that she was a soulless vacuum of vapidity and went on their way to find a woman who wasn't using men.

[Ted S.]

I'm sure she'll find a way to blame it on men.

[Tonio]

Well, people who might be considered Mr. Right by objective standards. Less mercenary women than her often find themselves single at forty due to their unrealistic expectations.

[Restoras]

Funny, I've been trolling around match.com and the number of women in their 40's (basically all of them) still looking for a "Prince Charming" and all other unrealistic expectations is simply pathetic.

[waffles]

I'm a simple breakfast pastry with simple tastes. If I ask a woman out on a date the first place I take her isn't going to be a fancy schmancy restaurant. That's for special occaisions, not hey I just met you.

She's a manipulative cuntbag and the guys taking her out are just as culpable because they go along with it.

[gaijin]

She's a manipulative cuntbag and the guys taking her out are just as culpable

A self correcting system over time.

[BakedPenguin]

Yeah, she whine about all the guys dating her being boring. I think there's a reason for that, namely any guy with something on the ball can suss her out, and she's left with the less perceptive, or guys who are willing to pay a lot to have a relatively hot girl on their arm in public.

[BakedPenguin]

Or what Brett said.

[Tonio]

Well, being seen with her could raise the prospects of the guys she "dated" provided that the people they are actually trying to impress don't recognize her as a professional escort.

[Brett L]

That may be their strategy. I have a friend with CP who is also a pretty surly guy until you get to know him. He has very, very strange ideas about women -- many of which he has probably earned. I could see him considering this strategy. Although, god bless his cheap hide, he'd never buy a girl an expensive dinner without a contract for sex.

[Brett L]

Yeah, that's why she's only getting losers. Even most losers don't bother with that shit. These are guys trying to punch way out of their division.

[Tonio]

What do you mean, aspiring? Sounds like she has a quite successful acting career. Unfortunately, the people paying her do act don't know that they're paying for acting instead of performance.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I just keep meeting Mr Unibrow and Mr Weirdo

Well, who else is the proper match for Ms. Boobs Look Like Two Rotting Oranges Stuffed Into Pantyhose?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

She's a prostitute who doesn't put out. It's not surprising she isn't exactly dating the cream of the crop.

[John]

The thing is that if she is hot enough to be an "aspiring actress" and get these losers to take her out, why can't she just get a proper b/f who has a little bit of cash so she doesn't have to do that?

Ten bucks says she has a continuing series of loser boyfriends who abuse the shit out of her and sponge off of her.

[Brett L]

Is that what aspiring actresses look like? I saw 20 women in their mid-20s at least that good looking last night, and I didn't even go to the trendy parties. There were less than 200 people out there, and it was 21 and up. But I do live in a southern college town.

[Brett L]

Speaking of which, I have a modest proposal whereby fit young people will provide escort services for schlubs like me under Obamacare, and have their college paid for. Whores and gigolos for everyone! Free college for the young and healthy.

[Dr. Frankenstien]

Sugardaddy.com already beat you to it.

[Brett L]

No, I want the government to provide it for me. Free shit!

[Mike M.]

She's not too bad for a Canadian.

[Steve G]

If there was ever a requirement for revenge pron, this is it

[invisible furry hand]

One for the Mad Men fans: January Jones' excellent Halloween costume

[PowerBottom]

No black-face? I am disappoint.

[invisible furry hand]

Black-face would obscure the bitch-face

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

She should have gone for Fat Betty.

[John]

One of the great what ifs in entertainment history is that HBO turned down Mad Men. Imagine Mad Men with no kidding T&A.

[Lord Humungus]

When I was a little kid, there was always the rumor of the neighbor giving out full-sized candybars for Halloween. I never got one.

But last night, my son came home with two of 'em.

[RBS]

My grandmother used to give out king size candybars. Oddly enough, My cousins and I used to get a lot of king sized candybars at halloween.

[Lord Humungus]

it must be your pretty face.

[sarcasmic]

Inside China: Nuclear submarines capable of widespread attack on U.S.

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....f-widespr/

All the state-run press reports stressed the point that the PLA's missile submarines are now on routine strategic patrol, "which means that China for the first time has acquired the strategic deterrence and second strike capability against the United States."

[Palin's Buttplug]

If you'd like to buy stock in an NFL player but you realize that Texans running back Arian Foster is getting much closer to the end of his career than the beginning and may have taken $10 million in exchange for 20 percent of his future earnings as some sort of an exit strategy, how about buying stock in an even older player?

Darren Rovell of ESPN.com reports that 49ers tight end Vernon Davis has become the second NFL player to sell a chunk of his future earnings to Fantex in exchange for cash now.

http://profootballtalk.nbcspor.....is-coming/

I like this trend.

[Lord Humungus]

jeezus christ

Tapes show mentally ill prisoners forced from cells with pepper spray

The six tapes, created by guards abiding by a state policy to record all cell extractions, were shown in court in October as part of a lawsuit by inmates' lawyers seeking a ban on the use of pepper spray against the mentally ill. The tapes were ordered released by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, who is holding hearings on the issue in Sacramento.

In one tape shot in July of last year at California State Prison at Corcoran, a screaming, naked prisoner is sprayed five times in 15 minutes before being tackled to the ground by about half a dozen guards and then strapped to a gurney.

[John]

If people had any clue how horrible and unjust our justice system is they would be ashamed to be Americans. It is not that they just think criminals deserve anything they get, though there is some of that. It is that people live in total denial about what actually is going on.

[BardMetal]

Out of sight out of mind. I think that is why a lot of people support various social programs directed at various groups like the mental handicapped, etc. It isn't to help them, but it's so they don't have to think about them.

[John]

Exactly. People in the Soviet union believed in the gulags and people in Germany convinced themselves the death camps were just re-location camps solving the Jewish problem. People can rationalize anything.

[CatoTheElder]

The so-called "justice system" should be called a legal system. It does not dispense justice.

When one considers how poorly the US government, which is widely regarded as one of the finest and most successful examples of government, administers justice, anarchy seems like a reasonable alternative.

[Tonio]

Sebelius will be with us for a few more months. Once the website starts to work, and people start getting enrolled, look for her to "resign." That way she will be a sink for all the failures, and the new . Much as Baron Harkonnen played the people by replacing The Beast Rabban with the less obviously psychotic Feyd Rautha.

[John]

That makes sense except that the website might never work properly. Maybe they sort of kind of get it working and then call it a good enough for government work. But it is very unlikely it will ever work as advertised.

The other thing is that working or not, the website is going to fade from public attention. The thing now is going to be all of the people losing their health plans. And no one is blaming Sebelius for that.

So it wouldn't surprise me if she never resigns. If she resigns, you have to put someone through confirmation. That is not something Obama is likely to want to do.

[Swiss Servator, Burn B??gg!]

+1 na-Baron

[Jordan]

Germany gives the U.S. a big middle finger:

BERLIN (AP) ? Germany's top security official said Friday he will try and find a way for Edward Snowden to speak to German officials if the former National Security Agency contractor is willing to provide details about the NSA's activities including the alleged surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone.

The Light Bringer is really bringing the world together.

[gaijin]

I think they are pissed that we're taking so long to give them their gold back.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Greenface is never acceptable.

[Brett L]

Lily Allen is weird person, even by British girlpop standards.

[mr simple]

Well, she is Theon Greyjoy's older sister.

[hamilton]

This is why there are no female libertarians.

We're all a bunch of racist white dudes, apparently. Which is a surprise to me, personally.

[robc]

Hobbes.

Blech. Anyone who considers Hobbes remotely valid is a moron.

[sarcasmic]

What about Calvin?

[Brett L]

The man watched the worst of the Cromwell period. I can forgive him for being right about the dangers of radical democracy but coming to horrible conclusions based on that. Also, I think he's wrong in a far less dangerous way than Rousseau.

[robc]

He should have paid more attention to the best of the Cromwell period, primarily lopping off the Kings head at Charing Cross.

[BakedPenguin]

I'm willing to bet he was nasty, brutish, and short.

[John]

Charles was a bad king. But Cromwell was a worse dictator. People welcomed the glorious revolution for a reason. And the reason why they kept the monarchy was in hopes that nothing like Cromwell ever happened again.

Hobbes was wrong because human beings, because they are social creatures, never lived in the state of nature as he describes it. From the start they always had families and tribes that functioned as government in that they gave people rules and kept people in line and gave them a reason to work together.

The question is not "should we live in a state of nature or have a government" it is "should we live in a state of tribalism or have a government". Hobbes didn't get that.

[robc]

The glorious revolution was when William of Orange came over and overthrew James II.

I think you are confusing events.

[John]

No. I know that happened later. But they were willing to take William of Orange as King and were so happy with the Glorious Revolution because they didn't want that revolution to turn out like Cromwells. They just as easily could have kicked James II out and gotten rid of the King altogether like they did under the commonwealth. They didn't because they didn't want to have another Cromwell.

Sorry, I didn't make that clear. I know the Glorious Revolution was not when they threw out the Commonwealth.

[robc]

But Cromwell was a worse dictator.

That entirely depends on your religious affiliation. Ask a London Jew who was better.

[John]

But that is true of any dictator Rob. Some people always benefit no matter how bad it is. See my post about about William of Orange. When they kicked out James they were kicking out a second king. It is kind of surprising they still wanted one at all. The reason was that although they were not happy with James, they were very afraid of getting another Cromwell.

The sad fact is that people have thrown away monarchy and forget what a good system they created. You have a king who can't do much except step in when the democracy goes off the rails. That is not a bad system

Imagine if the US had had a King to step in and say no to Vietnam or put Obamacare in abeyance until after the 2010 midterms. Not just stomp all over things. But step in and say "hold on a bit" when the country periodically goes insane.

[sarcasmic]

But that is true of any dictator Rob. Some people always benefit no matter how bad it is.

I remember hearing stories out of Iraq of how many people missed the days of Saddam because they could walk around at night in safety. So what if they had to show their papers to police every block. They were safe.

[John]

Sarcasmic,

I met a good number of people in Iraq who missed Saddam. If you were a higher up member of the Bathist Party life was good, as long as you didn't get cross ways with them. We always like to pretend these sorts of regimes just involve and benefit a few designated villains. In fact they benefit a lot of people or they wouldn't stay in power.

[robc]

But that is true of any dictator Rob.

Yes it is. And Kings are just another form of dictator, especially in that era where the Parliament was still relatively weak (although it was strengthening itself at this very point because King/Cromwell/King all sucked).

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's a surprise to Robert Sarvis, too.

[BakedPenguin]

He only married a black woman so he could oppress her.

[invisible furry hand]

I suggest you try to prove that either Koch is a "co-founder" of the LP. I was there at the time it was founded. Were you?

Yay Sharon Presley!

[John]

So many libertarians express so much admiration for a writer like Thomas Sowell just to cover up how racist they really are.

And if women can't be racist, does that mean Sarah Palin is not the racist?

[Citizen Nothing]

Wait. I though scary Ayn Rand was the face of libertarianism.

[The Late P Brooks]

Anyone who considers Hobbes remotely valid is a moron.

Agreed.

[Bill Dalasio]

I've a quick question. In a libertopia, would there be a capital? Specifically, I'm not wondering what city, but whether you'd want to have a capital city in the first place. The framers created Washington DC partly to avoid the notion of any one interest taking control of the government. What I don't think they imagined is that the government would become big enough to become its own interest. So, in the era of telecommuting, would we need a capital? It strikes me as much more logical to have the presidency move to the home of whoever is elected and for the legislative branch be distributed with Congressmen remaining in their district. Any thoughts?

[John]

The framers had no idea that transportation would change so much. Remember, in 1789, other than on sailing ships, people traveled no faster than the Pharaohs. The framers rightly figured that if you put the national capital in its own District, where a state couldn't hold it hostage and being in one place took most people a long time to travel to, it would stay pretty small. For example, it took Jefferson six days, requiring the crossing of three rivers to get from Washington to his home in Charlottesville. If Congress had to spend weeks or months just getting to Washington and there was no telephone or telegraph, we could never have anything like the government we have.

So really our best bet is to move the capital to Mars. That would recreate the situation the founders intended.

[Bill Dalasio]

Oh, I have no disagreement with you that a physical capital would make absolute sense to the framers. But, barring sending it to Mars today, wouldn't eliminating the capital be the best alternative?

[John]

The federal government still has to be somewhere. Maybe you should put it on an Island maybe off Alaska that is deserted and hard to get to. And then make it legal to travel and stay there only during the months of June, July and August or in other short cases if there is a national emergency.

[Bill Dalasio]

The federal government still has to be somewhere.

But, that isn't really all that clear to me. Maybe I'm wrong. And if I am, I'm perfectly happy to learn why. But, we live in an era where you can meet just as easily by video-conference as you can in person. You can easily manage electronic signatures remotely. There's no reason you couldn't have pretty much all of the legitimate functions of government done virtually.

[Restoras]

1) It should be moved to Kansas - physical center of the country.
1a) This won't happen, so...
2) It should be dispersed. Send the major bureaucracies outside of DC, preferabley to smaller urban centers and in the case of something like "Agriculture" to the midwest somewhere (not Chicago) and "Energy" to Oklahoma or Texas. You get the idea.
3) The IRS goes to an inhospitable place. Western North Dakota works for me.

[Raston Bot]

No physical capital is required. Skype it in.

[Zeb]

Hadn't really thought about it, but I don't see why a capital is necessary. Just have the legislature meet every 2 years at a hotel convention center and pass a budget. Then they go home and do something else. Sounds good to me.

[robc]

I like it.

[robc]

Rotate it around so that everyone has to put up with. If you dont rotate it, it will just end up in Vegas every 2 years.

[Citizen Nothing]

I agree. But -- and this may put my libertarian bona fides into question -- I really like my state's historic statehouse, which is right across the street from my office. I often go over during my lunch hour and just walk the halls, look at the art, visit the museum there. I hate nearly everything that happens inside, but I love the building itself. If the entire state government were of a size that could still be contained within that building, I could happily live with it.

[Brett L]

CN. Florida even ruined that. But I do appreciate the crypto-libertarian architect who made the Capitol into a giant cock and balls.

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah. Florida's capitol sucks. (Get it?) If you're gonna go phallic, do it like Nebraska. They've got a beautiful capitol, even if it does rise up from the prairie like the very penis of Lincoln.

[Citizen Nothing]

And I give FL credit for at least not tearing down their old capitol.

[Brett L]

It would've made it less phallic. We need the balls.

[Zeb]

What would America's wang be without balls?

[Rhywun]

NY has a beautiful old capital building too - now overshadowed by a totalitarian array of skyscrapers of course.

[Brett L]

Don't we want it somewhere where they just want to pass the last miniscule budget and gamble and whore, rather than retire to an enclave to tweak the budget according to the newest theories?

[Kid Xenocles]

This raises an interesting philosophical question. We know that the worst scum will eventually gravitate to whatever power structure gets established, so in some ways it's best to neuter that establishment, perhaps even being worth the waste of money it would be to cater to their vanity by setting up figurehead powers for them. On the other hand, we need good people to have power for at least a little while in order to get the necessary reforms in place. So it seems to me that there is no permanent structural solution; perhaps we need a strong temporary government that dissolves itself.

But then there's the problem of who can we trust to carry the Ring?

[Citizen Nothing]

who can we trust to carry the Ring?

The fucking eagles, obviously.

[Kid Xenocles]

I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man.

[BakedPenguin]

Get out of my cab!

[Bill Dalasio]

Well, I don't think it should just be the legislature. My notion is everyone stays home (more specifically at their day jobs) - legislature, executive and the courts - and works remotely on an as-needed basis.

As a result, you never have a capital and thus never create a capital culture that looks to government as unusually insightful or wise. You never get politicians' status being judged on a day-to-day basis on where they rank in the beltway hierarchy. You make lobbying both easier for everyone and a lot harder to do on a mass scale.

[Tonio]

In my vision of libertopia (admittedly minarchist) we would probably keep the capital where it is.

Too hard to retrofit a series of private residences with all the security stuff they white house has.

But the buildings now housing the department of education would be sold off.

[Bill Dalasio]

Well, to be fair, in a minarchist libertopia, the president would be much less a target. If the government is a minor part of society, the head of the government isn't all that important.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

A How-to Guide to Blowing Up the Constitution

America, we've got some bad news: Our Constitution isn't going to make it. It's had 224 years of commendable, often glorious service, but there's a time for everything, and the government shutdown and permanent-crisis governance signal that it's time to think about moving on. "No society can make a perpetual constitution," Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1789, the year ours took effect. "The earth belongs always to the living generation and not to the dead.? Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years." By that calculation, we're more than two centuries behind schedule for a long, hard look at our most sacred of cows. And what it reveals isn't pretty.

Yes, the constitution is written in stone and allows for no addition or subtraction of amendments... wait...

The butt-hurt over the (non-issue) government shutdown is incredible.

[Zeb]

Well, at least they are talking about changing the constitution and not just pretending that it allows whatever they want.

[mr simple]

Wow, so that's what question-begging, equivocation and a complete mis-understanding of our system of government will get you. Scary.

[Anomalous]

China's domestic security chief has blamed Uighur Islamists for the recent attack in Tiananmen square.

Uighur please!

[Tonio]

Yeah, total sympathy for the legitimate aspirations of the Uighur people for self governance. Tempting to support anyone who annoys the government of the PRC. But no support for religious fanatics. Better sit this one out.

[Rhywun]

I'm reminded of the Tibetans - suck to be them but they're no saints either.

[The Late P Brooks]

In a libertopia, would there be a capital?

In the Age of Teh Intertube, I see no compelling need.

There are distinct benefits to direct human interaction, but a permanent full time physical infrastructure seems an extravagance.

[Warty]

Do you know why you own a gun? Because you're racist.

Aside from all the question-begging idiocy, I liked this bit:

Gallup poll data from 2007-2012 released earlier this year found that 50% of U.S. gun owners are white men and 64% are southern married men. Black gun owners totaled 21%.

Black people are around 13% of the population. So you're telling me that black people are more likely to own guns than crackers, are you? Those fucking racists.

[Rhywun]

England and Australia are perfect arbiters of racism in America.

[CatoTheElder]

The study had no questions to determine whether black respondents were racist because black people cannot be racist.

[The Late P Brooks]

Some of my best guns are black.

[Citizen Nothing]

OK. I laughed.

[Kaptious Kristen]

My gun is silver. So. Racist!

[robc]

You win the internet for today.

[Kaptious Kristen]

So, is the reincarnated Arsenio Hall Show the worst thing to hit TV since the firs incarnation of The Arsenio Hall Show? I caught his monologue last night and holy fuckballs. So unfunny. Soooooo unfunny. Plus I'd never heard of the person who was supposed to be his only guest.

[Rhywun]

I remember it being pretty big but I never watched it then and I have far less intention of doing so now that I have negative zero interest in late night gabfests anymore.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Arsenio Hall was horrible the first time around. I have no idea why it was so popular for the short period it was around. If it was so good, he'd still be around like Letterman et all.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Robert "Ike" Reich to Republicans: Look what you made us do, Tina!

"While Republicans plot new ways to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, it's easy to forget that for years they've been arguing that any comprehensive health insurance system be designed exactly like the one that officially began October 1st, glitches and all.

"For as many years Democrats tried to graft healthcare onto Social Security and Medicare, and pay for it through the payroll tax. But Republicans countered that any system must be based on private insurance and paid for with a combination of subsidies for low-income purchasers and a requirement that the younger and healthier sign up....

"Now that the essential Republican plan for healthcare is being implemented nationally, health insurance companies are jubilant....

"There's a deep irony to all this. Had Democrats stuck to the original Democratic vision and built comprehensive health insurance on Social Security and Medicare, it would have been cheaper, simpler, and more widely accepted by the public. And Republicans would be hollering anyway."

http://robertreich.org/post/65155134884

[robc]

Reich is unfamiliar with the voting pattern on the ACA, methinks.

Actually, I know he is familiar, which makes him a liar.

[Kaptious Kristen]

ACLU sez public photography is not a right.

[John]

The ACLU needs to die and be replaced. They do more damage than good.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I don't see that they do much of anything, really (except harass photographers, apparently)

I put them on the same list as organizations that use their mission statement to raise money, and only raise money. These include the United Way, PETA, Komen and the NRA.

[Citizen Nothing]

Take a pill, John. This was just some chick working a temp job for the org.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Yeah, I'm going to defend the ACLU on this one. I strongly doubt her action was authorized by the ACLU, when the link shows there's a right-to-photograph cartoon on their Web site.

[Kid Xenocles]

ACLU foot soldier, you mean.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Don't care. She's representing the organization.

[Kid Xenocles]

Give me a break. If a McDonald's cashier used a racial slur against a customer you wouldn't come out and say that McDonald's was racist - at least not until seeing how the company dealt with it.

[Citizen Nothing]

Just like the guy with the rebel flag cap at the libertarian convention?

[mr simple]

No, she's just some misinformed idiot gathering signatures. She's not making policy or publishing an article in their name.

[Enough About Palin]

Best jack-o-lantern ever

[Kid Xenocles]

I did one of those this year, without the booze.

[damonzgp640]

Benjamin. even though Julie`s article is incredible, last wednesday I got themselves a Jaguar E-type after making $6424 this past five weeks and-a little over, ten-k this past month. it's certainly the nicest work I've ever had. I began this five months/ago and right away got me over $85... per-hr. check my site........... http://www.BAM21.CoM