Justices Skeptical About Abortion Clinic Buffer Zones, Yet Another Obamacare Deadline Delay, Yemeni Drone Strike Kills Farmer: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Blyzz / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

  Supreme Court justices seem skeptical that a mandated protest-free buffer zone around abortion clinics in Massachusetts is constitutional.

• Another day, another Obamacare delay: The deadline for people with pre-existing conditions to enroll for health coverage has been pushed back to March.
• A poll shows New Jersey voters don't blame Gov. Chris Christie for the politically motivated George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal. They do, however, think it's going to bite him in the ass if he runs for president in 2016.
• A farmer was allegedly killed in a drone strike in Yemen meant to target Islamist militants.
• A third civil lawsuit has been filed against disgraced former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, this time alleging he offered to perform favors for a disabled vet if her nurse "performed favors" for him – wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
• The Marines are investigating a series of photos published by celebrity gossip site TMZ.com showing Marines burning the bodies of dead Iraqis in Fallujah in 2004. The Marines are trying to authenticate that the photos are real.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ciao?

[Ted S.]

Arrivederci!

[Mad Scientist]

Aloha!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Oh, hello there, friend.

I have complement you on posting a "hello" comment first and then STILL having the first actual comment on a story.

You are a beast, sir.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't know what's going on today. This place is dead right now.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Yeah, I was just noticing that. I guess it's not as impressive as I thought. I hereby retract my compliment.

[Ted S.]

Is it me, or did H&R change their layout? Perhaps that might have something to do with things?

[Mad Scientist]

Count your blessings. At least we're not suffering a Shrike, Tony, Tulpa, or Bo infestation.

[Brandon]

Or the Stack.

[Ted S.]

That'll come in the Independents post.

[Tonio]

Mentioning their names summons them. It's like you never read any Lovecraft Mythos stories.

[Mad Scientist]

Damn it. No one say Betelgeuse three times!

[Agammamon]

I thought it was Bettlejuice, not Betelgeuse?

[CE]

That makes 3 times, dimwit.

[trshmnstr]

SoCons SoCons SoCons!

[Spoonman.]

Bo gets put on that list? That seems over the top.

[trshmnstr]

A little bit. Bo is a normal guy 75% of the time. However, he's got a pretty big hard on for the SoCons that borders on trollish at times.

[R C Dean]

He's still marinating in the provincial and bigoted preserves of academia.

[jesse.in.mb]

I thought someone mentioned that he was encouraged to post SoCon critical articles at one point, but I don't remember where.

[playa manhattan]

Don't know about the encouragement part, but he has been strongly discouraged from continuing...

I don't care about the SoCon stuff either way. The irritating thing to me is that he thinks being argumentative is intelligent and persuasive.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

It's not so much his hard-on for SoCons as it's his tendency to go full Tulpandic when he argues that gets him listed.

[Ted S.]

Fisty doesn't need you to complement him!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ciao!

[Fist of Etiquette]

A poll shows New Jersey voters don't blame Gov. Chris Christie for the politically motivated George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.

You can keep him then, Jersey.

[mad libertarian guy]

A poll shows New Jersey voters don't blame Gov. Chris Christie for the politically motivated George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.

Meanwhile, Dems outside the state are all over this like Christie was running guns to Mexican Cartels.

[R C Dean]

You mean, they're ignoring it as hard as they can?

[mad libertarian guy]

You mean, they're ignoring it as hard as they can?

No. Christie is a Republican. Had a Republican been president during F&F, you can bet that the media would have hung him out to dry for it.

[Aloysious]

Something different. Animated short. Sci-fi. SFW. Helped me forget, briefly, all the police brutality.

[PD Scott]

From SNL, a somewhat risqu? video about the difficulties in going home to the parents for the holidays, featuring all the women in the cast at the time. And Jimmy Fallon, but he doesn't ruin the bit by bursting out laughing.

[Enough About Palin]

Jimmy Fallon, the poor man's Mike Myers.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Of course. Myers is Canadian and we Canadians are funny.

Seriously, different style. Fallon does impressions.

[Mickey Rat]

That's a damn poor man.

[Corning]

Akira, Heavy Metal, Aeon Flux, Neuromancer mash-up all in a 5 min youtube package:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC2liU3cFR8

Warning: NSFW cartoon boobs and ultra violence

[Fist of Etiquette]

The deadline for people with pre-existing conditions to enroll for health coverage has been pushed back to March.

Calendars? Obamacare don't need no stinking calendars.

[Sevo]

"Calendars? Obamacare don't need no stinking calendars."

Except when the rethugs say it should be delayed.

[MikeP]

The deadline for people with pre-existing conditions to enroll for health coverage has been pushed back to March.

Everyone suffers from the pre-existing condition of mortality.

[Restoras]

And prior to that, the pre-existing condition of aging.

[R C Dean]

And the statutory provision that authorizes this delay is . . . .?

[Almanian!]

Statute BHO 1:1:1 - "Fuck You, That's Why"

[Fist of Etiquette]

A farmer was allegedly killed in a drone strike in Yemen meant to target Islamist militants.

Don't worry, Yemen. Obama will just pencil his name into the disposition matrix.

[Ted S.]

They guy could have been both a farmer and an Islamist militant.

[Enough About Palin]

Look, Islamist militants travel on their stomachs, so the farmer was clearly an accessory to Islamist militarism.

[PD Scott]

Clearly by growing food in Yemen he was providing material support to terrorists, in that his food, even if not eaten by terrorists, contributed to the national market where food could be purchased by terrorists.

Why can't Wickard be used as an excuse?

[SusanM]

I know I've linked this before, but...

[BakedPenguin]

You can't help it if it remains relevant.

[paranoid android]

The Marines are investigating a series of photos published by celebrity gossip site TMZ.com showing Marines burning the bodies of dead Iraqis in Fallujah in 2004.

TMZ EXCLUSIVE: US soldiers committing despicable war crimes, and you will not believe what they're WEARING!

[Zeb]

So you're not supposed to burn the bodies of your dead enemies?

[jesse.in.mb]

Unless they're magical in some way, disease vectors, Hindoo or the undead...

[hamilton]

Is eating them to gain their powers still OK?

[jesse.in.mb]

While Hindoos are quite tasty, seasoned for a lifetime with interesting flavors, it is not recommended that you eat them.

For magical creatures you only need an organ. Have a spleen; only gluttons eat an entire witch. Then you burn the rest to avoid curses.

[R C Dean]

disease vectors

Ding.

Ding.

Ding.

We have a winner.

[VG Zaytsev]

So you're not supposed to burn the bodies of your dead enemies?

No, it's more effective to feed them to pigs.

[wingnutx]

Burning a rotting, fly-covered corpse?

Surely that serves no purpose but EVIL.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

artisanal toast

[Mad Scientist]

No one tell Sloopy.

[Zeb]

It's funny how that is attached to Sloopy, as he is probably the most dedicated producer of artisanal foodstuffs on here.

[Mad Scientist]

Sloopy's beef wasn't with good food, it was with douchebag hipsters "discovering" that you can like totally make your own mayo at, like, home and stuff, and then claiming it was artisanal when it was just a boring mayo recipe.

[mad libertarian guy]

It went beyond that though. It was that hipsters found out you can make fucking mayo, call it artisinal, and then charge 10 fucking dollars a jar.

[Zeb]

And then he got all bent out of shape and declared that everyone should make their own mayonnaise.

Not trying to slag on sloopy, but I think that some people get a little carried away with their hipster hate. Hipsters can, and sometimes do, appreciate things that normal people also ought to appreciate.

[mr lizard]

Y'all know what artisanal mayo actually is right?

[Mad Scientist]

People?

[playa manhattan]

More like people seeds.

[teenage girl]

ewwww

[mr lizard]

So how much do I charge to put artisanal mayo on it? And am I the first one to say 'artisanal mayo' ?

[Aloysious]

I like toast.

[Zeb]

There is a local bakery near where I live that makes a onion, cracked pepper and Parmesan sourdough bread that makes some amazing toast. Could almost be worth $4. But I can get a whole loaf for $7, so not quite. Who the hell goes out for toast?

[Jerry on the boat]

When toast becomes artisanal toast it can never go back.

[hamilton]

FOUR BUCKS A SLICE? What the hell are they using to toast it, the flames of burning Iraqi bodies?

[R C Dean]

Sure. That way, its halal.

[PD Scott]

It's an artisanal fire.

[Ska]

Handcrafting with a fire bow makes it that much better. Survivorman's scorpions are way more expensive than the average roasted scorpion.

[HazelMeade]

The deadline for people with pre-existing conditions to enroll for health coverage has been pushed back to March.

Shouldn't the people with pre-existing conditions have been the FIRST people to sign up for the law? Not the last?

If you really wanted health insurance and couldn't get it before, why would you wait until March 31 to sign up?

[tarran]

In order to limit adverse selection, they are having an enrollment window.

If you have a pre-existing condition and don't enroll within the window, it's no insurance for you!

It's less hearthless than the free market, because penaltax!

[Raven Nation]

Tarran: did you see you were the victim of a non-sequitur trashing in one of the comments at "Liberty Papers" this morning?

[Ted S.]

The stalker from here who comments at my low-traffic blog mentioned Tarran in a comment today.

I wish I could figure out who here is posting those comments....

[tarran]

It's Mary Stack of Fort Worth Texas. She used to harass people on Hit and Run and tried to get Heller kicked out of Brandeis and John in trouble with his bosses. Not to mention posting like 3 - 10 griefer posts a minutes 8 hours a day while constantly changing her name to defeat Reasonable. She degraded and often mission-killed discourse here for more than a year in an attempt to deny people the use of the board.

One day at the height of her harassment, she made the mistake of posting a link with her email addy, and heller, being eagle-eyed, spotted it and figured out who she was.

She then tried to scrub herself out of the Internet.

Several weeks later Reason instituted mandatory commenter registration, and her reign of harassment was effectively ended.

She occasionally registers and harasses people for a few hours before she is once again outed and deleted.

Now, a pale shadow of her former self, she is reduced to making youtube videos expressing her rage at the people here.

[Raven Nation]

Someone (Irish?) told me the other week that she also hijacked White Indian's name at one point as well.

[tarran]

She didn't hijack White Indians name. She introduced it.

Poor Godelsky, he probably has no idea why suddenly everyone was sending him subscriptions to Scat Fetish magazine at his work.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Nice historical recap, thanks. Concise, too.

[playa manhattan]

I didn't know about the heller and john parts. She actually contacted his employer? How?

[tarran]

My memory of the details is hazy.

IIRC she actually contacted Brandeis, which after carefully weighing her 'evidence' of his violation of uni policy told her to fuck off and warned Heller that some psycho bitch was trying to make trouble for him.

AS to John, I infer from a massive blow-up/comments deletion that occured a while back that she posted PID about him on Hit and Run in an attempt to get people to harass him at work, and threatened to contact his bosses and out him for goldbricking. The webmaster went apeshit on her for that stunt and killed the comments section of that page with nuclear fire.

[playa manhattan]

Jesus.

Thanks.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Got a link?

I have a bad, bad migraine and need a laugh.

[VG Zaytsev]

Whatever happened to Heller?

[Frosty]

I do not know how to contact you privately. R C Dean does. I am interested in this "Mary" character. I may be able to help.

R C. Can you help?

[Frosty]

...tarran...

[tarran]

Frosty,

To be frank, I am not interested in getting involved with helping Mary.

I've known several people like her, and I say what follows from experience.

If she wants help, she will have no problem getting it.

If she doesn't want help, no amount of trying to help her is going to work. It will just suck you into a black hole of her personality disorder with tidal forces that tear you emotionally apart.

[Zeb]

Got to be Mary/rectal/rather. I even got a comment from that creature (or something like it) on my blog that absolutely no one reads.

[mad libertarian guy]

Goddammit.

My blog doesn't even get enough readers to warrant trolling from Mary Fucking Stack?

That's fucking shameful.

[pmains]

I have a few comments from her on my blog. She wasn't able to fully articulate and support some point about HSAs, but promised she would come back later with documentation to bolster her case. I guess she lost interest.

[playa manhattan]

If it's on your blog, can't you get the IP of the poster? If you can, please post it here and I'll take over from there...

[Mad Scientist]

Is that really going to be effective? Even Mary can figure out how to use a Tor browser.

[Thane ? the booty]

You'd be surprised how much shit people do without using Tor, a proxy, and/or a VPN. Or even private browsing mode.

That said, I'm also curious about what play manhattan intends to do. There's not much you can do with a typical residential IP address besides getting a rough location.

[playa manhattan]

I'm not going to "do" anything. I am just curious to see how accurate the speculation is.

Knowing some of the regulars here, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that it is a prank.

[tarran]

I don't think it would be very useful... she knows how to use proxy servers...

More to the point, there has been too much griefing. Too much pain. But I have an honorable compromise. Mary Stack just walks away. If she leaves the various blogs and websites of Hit and Runners alone, we'll spare her reputation. She will be given safe passage away from this site; We will nevermore mention that she is mentally disturbed and prone to stalking people. She just walks away and there will be an end to the horror.

[Irish]

We all know that will never happen. Mary is too obsessed and insane to stay away.

[playa manhattan]

She did accidentally post her email in a URL, so you never know.

[pmains]

That's the thing. The Dread Pirate Roberts was eventually caught because of a post he made years (I believe) before founding Silk Road. We all leave bigger footprints than we think.

[Elspeth Flashman]

+1 Australian wasteland.

[tarran]

That's fucking hilarious.

[Raven Nation]

Yeah, in a post on double standards, the poster says "but, but, but, what about you guys."

[Irish]

That's because it's Mary. The video she linked to was posted yesterday on Mary's youtube account and the name she commented under was 'K. Kaprow' which is also what Mary's youtube account is called.

[Ted S.]

Thanks for mentioning that. The comments I got must have been from Mary, then, because they included this Youtube video.

[tarran]

Even funnier: consider what she attempted to do to John, Heller, and a few other people.

It's like Ted Bundy weeping about how executing him would be the willful taking of a human life and a very immoral act.

[Bobarian]

"less hearthless"

Does this mean they don't have a fireplace? How will they make their artisanal toast?

[Ted S.]

Shhh! Don't worry the pretty little heads of the Obamabots with logic!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

10 Stories That Prove Bill Murray Really Is The Most Interesting Man In The World

[Freedom Frog]

I know a guy who delivered weed to him for his weed dealer friend in Manhattan. They smoke up and Bill asks if he wants to hang out. He said they hot boxed a car and drove through Central Park. Then he'd unroll the window and yell "Hey!" to some random person. When they'd turn around and look he'd say "Fuck You!" And they'd drive away.

[Donut-san]

Bill Murray's awesome. I love the French fry story.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Study: Men who drink heavily lose memory with age

We all lose some mental sharpness as we age, but men who drink heavily at midlife can expect a steeper, faster decline in memory and thinking skills a decade down the road, a new study suggests.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Neurology, defines heavy drinking for men as more than 36 grams of alcohol a day, the equivalent of 2.5 drinks. Men who drink less or don't drink at all still lose some cognitive ground, the researchers say, but not as much. The study looked at women but found no clear results for them.

The study suggests lighter drinking does not contribute to cognitive decline.

"The findings are in agreement with previous studies and suggest that moderate alcohol consumption is probably not deleterious for cognitive outcomes," says lead researcher S?verine Sabia, an epidemiologist at University College-London.

Some studies even suggest light or moderate drinking might be better for aging brains than abstinence, but the new study did not show that, she says.

The mental acuity of many posters here would suggest otherwise. Right?

[Mad Scientist]

I drink 2 or 3 beers a day, and I can't remember jack anymore. But I don't blame it on beer. I blame cell phones.

[playa manhattan]

How old are you?

[Mad Scientist]

43, so right in the middle of "mid-life" memory, um, uh, memory losing, uh....Look! A squirrel!

[playa manhattan]

I'm 34, and I just started to notice it. My 3 beers a day are wine strength, though.

[Mad Scientist]

It could be worse than we think. What if the researchers are considering Bud Light to be beer? A single Lagunitas Li'l Sumpin' has got to be equivalent to 4 Bug Lights. So, great, now I'm drinking 8 to 12 beers a day.

[robc]

They consider 14.4 g of alcohol to be a drink, apparently.

Which, if my calculation is correct, is a 5.36% abv 12 oz beer.

Or, more likely, as is normal, a 5% abv beer. So Budweiser, not Bud Light.

[playa manhattan]

Li'l Sumpin and Maximus (also Brown Sugga when available) are my primary beers.

Anyone who considers Bud Light to be a "drink" has questionable scientific credentials.

[Mad Scientist]

People who drink Bud Light don't like to drink beer, they just like to pee a lot.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Li'l Sumpin is 7.5%, it's no where close to 4 times the alchol content of Bud light or a standard unit of beer. Less than double actually.

But yes if you care about such things you need to remember beer often has more than a standard unit.

[paranoid android]

Pssh! Bullshit! I can think just as well as I could back in...well, I forgot where I was going with that.

Fuck it, who wants a drink?

[Thane ? the booty]

I am shocked and appalled by the results of this study.

[Ted S.]

I have lots of sex to counter the effects of the drinking.

[Death Rock and Skull]

I recently found out I have had lots of sex that I have no recollection of.

[Ted S.]

Got raped by Warty again?

[Brandon]

Isn't that the point?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Wait, what were we talking about again?

[B.P.]

2.5 drinks per day? Where do they find these pikers?

[Zeb]

The mental acuity of many posters here would suggest otherwise.

Maybe. Or maybe we'd all be even smarter without all the drinking.

Caffeine improves memory, so it probably all evens out.

And who the fuck measures alcohol in grams? Or "drinks" for that matter.

[playa manhattan]

400 mg of caffeine in the AM, 3 beers in the PM. Repeat every weekday.

[playa manhattan]

ROBC translated that above.

[SusanM]

Christie has a lot of ass to spare. I don't think it'll hurt him too bad.

[rts]

Mexican Vigilantes Battling A Drug Cartel For Control Of A City with lots of photos.

Fed up with a corrupt police force that is often in bed with the cartels and a military that has to this point been ineffective, some Mexicans have taken it upon themselves to fight the cartels and protect their families ? with an incredible conflict happening this week in the city of Paracuaro.

[paranoid android]

Over the last year, vigilante groups, known as fuerzas autodefensas have sprung up all over Mexico, particularly in the southwestern state of Michoacan, an area plagued by the Knights Templar cartel.

Somewhere, the writers of the Assassin's Creed games are doing some furious storyboarding.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

That somewhere is Montreal. The montr?alais accents in the latest game are fucking hilarious too.

[BakedPenguin]

Tabernac!

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Calice!

[BakedPenguin]

Ostie!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Guys,

It's spelled 'tabernak,' 'chalice' and 'Hostie.'

And do you notice what's common to those swear words?

Maudit anglais.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I am not Canadian.

[PapayaSF]

I thought Mexico had strict gun control laws. It doesn't look like that stopped the vigilantes from arming.

[Brian D]

Mexicans apparently have the right to keep arms in the home for defense, but not bear them outside of their homes unless their part of the police or military.

[R C Dean]

Interesting tidbits:

The battle was bloody. One vigilante, two members of the Knights Templar, and two federal police were reportedly killed in the shootout.

The federales were likely fighting on the side of the cartel.

Naturally, the government has targetted the self-defense militias for eradication, not the cartels.

[Homple]

Of course the government targets the militias who don't have spare cash for protection like the cartels do.

[pmains]

If these autodefense militias want to disarm the cartels, I'm betting that one of two things happens. One, the cartels use their enormous financial edge to defeat these militias. Two, the autodefense militias realize that they need a funding source comparable to their opponents' and become the new cartels.

[Death Rock and Skull]

"this time alleging he offered to perform favors for a disabled vet if her nurse "performed favors" for him"

"I'll go down on you if she goes down on me"?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Since Obama has unsheathed his executive pen, how about some action on gender pay?

Not knowing how you're paid relative to co-workers is the single biggest barrier for women in getting equal pay. In many companies, you can be fired for talking pay with others. While the PFA would outlaw that, it would not require public disclosure of pay statistics by gender and job category. This situation is what gave rise to Ledbetter v. Goodyear, the infamous case in which the Roberts Court ruled that Lilly Ledbetter couldn't collect damages for unequal pay because she hadn't complained within 180 days of her first short paycheck, even though she didn't learn about her discriminatory pay until she had been on the job for 15 years.

The Fair Pay Act was then -- and is now -- the bill we need, because it would shine the light on unequal pay once and for all. But realistically, no pay equity bill is going to pass a lukewarm Senate and woman-hostile House. It's already been two decades, and the business lobby is too strong for mere women's groups to overcome.

Instead of just giving lip service President Obama could do something on his own. He could issue an Executive Order mandating that government contractors publish pay data by gender. That way women could see if they're being shorted...Taxpayers have a right to know their dollars are supporting businesses that play fair.

[Enough About Palin]

Has anyone else heard about Martha Burk's alleged practice of fellating sheep? I'm not sure what to believe.

[mad libertarian guy]

woman-hostile House

Citation needed.

[BakedPenguin]

No, I watched that show, and it's pretty accurate. He was kind of a dick to them.

[mad libertarian guy]

I'm just looking for a definition of "woman-hostile" that doesn't default to "anti-abortion."

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

It's way more diluted than that, mlg. All you have to do is not think someone else should pay for my pills and, boom! Woman-hostile.

[mad libertarian guy]

Well then I must be hostile as fuck. Because you know how being a stay-at-home dad and taking care of the kids and house while your wife is out working and doing extremely well at her job is hostile because I simultaneously think that a portion of her paycheck shouldn't be devoted to paying for other women to not get fucking pregnant.

[Pro Libertate]

I don't think House was anti-abortion. I recall an episode where he urged an abortion on a patient.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I remember that episode. At the end he actually softens since while operating on womb the tiny hand of the fetus reaches out and grabs him.

After that he starts referring to the fetus as a 'him' rather than 'it'.

[Pro Libertate]

That was back when House was a more nuanced character. Then they Homer Simpsoned him a bit. Always a danger with a good character, that they'll make him into a cliche.

[Rasilio]

There is a lot of Derp there but I wouldn't be too upset by a law which prevented employers from firing employees for discussing pay

[R C Dean]

Yeah, what's another imposition on freedom of association and freedom of contract at this point.

[mad libertarian guy]

It isn't company policy most of the time, but part of the contract.

When you signed on you agreed to not discuss your pay with others.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

He could issue an Executive Order mandating that government contractors publish pay data by gender. That way women could see if they're being shorted...

Someone's gonna have to femsplain how on earth that would let women see whether they were being "shorted."

[jesse.in.mb]

Passing a law like that benefits everyone: feminists get a victory and the status quo doesn't change at all so feminists can still be angry about the issue.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Uh, jesse, that doesn't sound like it benefits me very much now does it?

Oh I guess that's because you were femsplaining. Which also explains why you didn't actually explain how it tells they're getting shorted.

/DEFEATED BY ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF KNOWING

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm sorry Nikki, but you aren't part of the everyone involved here. "Everyone involved" is right-minded feminists, men experiencing liberal guilt, and the politicians who benefit by pandering to those people.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I'm sorry but if you've been pulling paychecks from somewhere for 15 years you have no argument that that pay wasn't fair.

[Zeb]

mandating that government contractors publish pay data by gender. That way women could see if they're being shorted.

Uh, no. That doesn't make any sense. Women are not a collective and pay data by gender won't tell any individual if they are getting paid less that another person in the same position.

[mad libertarian guy]

Women are not a collective

You, sir, are woman-hostile. How dare you make the observation that each woman is an individual?

[R C Dean]

Not knowing how you're paid relative to co-workers

means you must be some kind of idiot. I've never worked anywhere where most everyone had a pretty good idea what everyone else was making.

The errors, of course, were always on the high side.

[Tim]

Can I get a 35 foot buffer zone around my house to keep out the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Greenpeace fundraisers, jerks with petitions and school board candidates?

[Restoras]

A free fire zone would be more effective.

[Tim]

Who do you think I am, Obama?

[PD Scott]

If you have a yard, you could surround it with a locked chain link fence topped with concertina wire.

If you have a HOA, paint the fence to blend in with the house.

[PapayaSF]

Has anyone done a comprehensive assessment of Obamacare? I know Suderman and others have written about it, but so much has gone wrong, I think it all needs to be assembled in one place. Lies, broken promises, delays, cost overruns.

Keep your plan: Nope.
Keep your doctor: Sorry.
Reduce the deficit: Hahaha, no.
Create vast numbers of jobs: Uh-huh.
Lower premiums: Not for most of you.
Cover everyone: Not happening.
Illegal delays: Many.

Plus, the coming catastrophe for employer plans, and the inevitable bailouts of the insurance companies to attempt to prevent the inevitable death spiral. Has any government program ever been sold with so much hype, only to fail so completely? How many people understand that two of the ways Obamacare (partly) pays for "making healthcare cheaper" are taxes on medical devices and on health insurance plans? Yes, we are taxing healthcare and subsidizing it at the same time. It's just completely insane.

Maybe we need a crowdsourced ACAfail wiki to keep track of it all, before the inevitable books appear and it all becomes a subject for autopsies in university courses.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

There's no beer in space?

[Ted S.]

I'd think microgravity would play havoc with microbrews.

[Tonio]

You'd need gravity, but I don't think the yeast care whether that gravity if artificial or not.

[Pro Libertate]

Nothing cares about that distinction.

[PD Scott]

Everyone knows artificial gravity is bad for you and probably causes cancer. You should insist on all natural gravity all the time.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm anti-acceleration.

[jesse.in.mb]

All natural gravity is for lower middle class folks aspiring for more. The be-monocled among us should take their gravity organic or not at all.

[PD Scott]

Say NO! to GMG!

[Coeus]

"And if another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue," she wrote. "The college-age daughters of many of my friends voted for Obama because they were completely turned off by Neanderthal comments like the suggestion of 'legitimate rape.'"

Then what should we call it? Actual rape? Real rape? non-feminist rape? Cause rape as a definition has been pretty diluted.

[Irish]

I don't know why those same daughters weren't turned off by the multiple sexual predators the Democrats have turned out in recent years, like Filner.

Oh, I forgot! In modern times, the things you say matter, but your actions are of no consequence. When a Republican says something bad, that should be counted against him, but when a Democrat actually commits sexual assault, it's of no relevance.

[Ted S.]

There is a double standard, but that doesn't change the fact that the Tood Akins of the world are monumentally stupid.

[Irish]

Unquestionably. I just don't know why Todd Akins saying something idiotic and offensive has this power to turn off 20 year old women from voting Republican but Filner grabbing a handful of tit at every opportunity has no impact.

[mad libertarian guy]

BECUZ TEH WAR ON WIMMINZ!!!

[paranoid android]

That is a mystery. Wait...by any chance, was one of these stories endlessly repeated in all corners of the media, presented in the context of fitting it into an overarching narrative about the attitudes of a major political party, while the other was barely reported on outside of the politician's home city?

Nah, that's probably just crazy talk.

[PapayaSF]

That's part of it. Part of it is the magical power of supporting abortion, which protects sexual harassers and rapists like Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy from charges of being "anti-women."

[Agammamon]

Or Boxer talking about the devastation of our coast line due to climate change.

[mad libertarian guy]

I approve!

[Coeus]

He looks like a comic book version of the joker.

[PapayaSF]

Paging David Icke: another lizard person has been found.

[Enough About Palin]

It's not what I do... but who I am underneath.... that defines me.

[Agammamon]

You're a nice person? who give a shit? Good father? Fuck you, go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here, CLOSE!

[jesse.in.mb]

rape-rape?

[Brandon]

That's the point. Now stop raping her eyes with your mansplanations and get to the camp!

[Brandon]

This is also from November 2012, btw.

[Coeus]

pulled it off a feminist daily links page. Guess there's not enough to rage about today.

[SusanM]

I've been meaning to ask why you do that at all. I'm not planning to bust your balls about it, just wondering what your angle is.

[Coeus]

The sheer amount of legislation these idiots get passed merits keeping an eye on them and how their philosophy develops. Also, I find it amusing. I also like that youtube video of a monkey drinking it's own pee.

[SusanM]

😉 Okay. At least it's gratifying that you consider watching monkeys pee on the same level as feminism.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

That's cute that her friends' daughters tried to convince her that they wouldn't have voted for Smoove B otherwise.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

When the state has defined rape as a crime that is frequently nonviolent, I really don't want people claiming it's always a violent crime.

[Enough About Palin]

Guten Tag Fraulein.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Tag!

[Enough About Palin]

The college-age daughters of many of my friends voted for Obama because they were completely turned off by Neanderthal comments like the suggestion of 'legitimate rape.'

Damn that Mitt Romney for using that term.

[Rasilio]

She's absolutely right, because even when they have a legitimate point they should be politically adept enough to realize that anything they say on the subject will be spun in the most retardedly negative way imaginable.

[lap83]

"I want to personally cut out his tongue"

So using adjectives she doesn't agree with is worse than her making a threat regarding horrific violence she actually wants to do? The best way to describe that would be morally perverse.

[lap83]

And by the way, if you base your politics totally off a distaste for someone's choice of words and completely ignore their behavior (for example, did Todd Akins want to legalize rape?) then you are no better than a petulant child. Grown ups don't run away crying because a word made them have a sad. They can see the big picture.

[The Late P Brooks]

Another day, another Obamacare delay: The deadline for people with pre-existing conditions to enroll for health coverage has been pushed back to March.

They're slow readers.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Christie Brinkley is about to turn 60.

[PapayaSF]

Wow, she's hotter than 99.9% of women one third her age. She'll still be hot when she's 80.

[BakedPenguin]

Raquel Welch, at 72. Sexy senior citizen.

[PapayaSF]

Oh, yeah. And Sophia Loren still has it at 78.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Real, natural beauts all of 'em.

60, huh? I'm depressed. I remember her in the 80s when I was a young lad full of promise.

[PapayaSF]

But something I said the other day in another thread still intrigues me. Most women start mediocre and get worse as they age. The lucky ones are hot when young, and may or may not lose their looks. But the most interesting category are the ones who seem to get better looking (at least in their age cohort) when they get older. The prime example is Helen Mirren, who was nothing special when young, but is a total knockout as a senior citizen.

[BakedPenguin]

I agree that she's holding up well, but I'd take issue with the first part of your last sentence.

[PapayaSF]

I'd say she was about a 6 when young, but now she's a 10.

[lap83]

Helen Mirren seems to smile more in her old age than she did as a young lady. Maybe the difference is the increased confidence?

[Irish]

I think a better example of 'gotten hotter with age' is our very own Lisa Kennedy.

I legitimately don't even think it's close. 40 year old Kennedy is much better looking than 25 year old Kennedy.

On the male side, Johnny Depp is way better looking now than he was 30 years ago.

[PapayaSF]

Kennedy is doing very well, but it's not uncommon for women to look better at 40. It's very uncommon to look better after 50 or 60.

[William of Purple]

Sandpaper.
Dry Leather.

[The Late P Brooks]

Here's a question for the "Law of DEMAND" crowd: What will they say when their pet projects of showering poor people results in increased sales of cigarettes, malt liquor, and mac n cheeze?

I think I'll buy a few hundred shares of Altria.

[Tonio]

I don't see how regular washing increases purchases of those products.

[paranoid android]

What do you mean, "when"? You're talking as if this is some untested hypothetical and not what has actually been happening for decades.

[The Late P Brooks]

"...showering poor people WITH CASH..."

[SIV]

Some Secrets Are Meant To Be Kept

[playa manhattan]

I though bikini fashion was trending towards camel toes?

[SIV]

Not on beauty pageant stages.

[playa manhattan]

I guess the contestants aren't serious about winning.

[Juice]

What secret? That you've got a vulva?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

How the Redskins reveal Republican's lack of empathy

To recognize that names matter means recognizing that human experience matters ? not just the experiences of approved people, but of all people. Republican ideology is based on protecting its in-group, fighting off solidarity with out-groups, and claiming that success and failure in American life is a moral story of meritocracy alone ? to the extent, of course, that government regulations don't get in the way.

As much as Republicans may formulaically say that they care about everyone, the party is scared to death of empathy. It could lead Republicans to get past their false moral narrative and see the many ways that their policies harm minorities, women, and the poor. Empathy could even lead Republicans into embarrassing historical terrain where they might learn that, through germs and violence, whites killed off millions of Indians, and that "Manifest Destiny" is just a marketing catchphrase hiding the fact that the United States broke off from one empire and immediately started its own on this continent. And once they recognize that, they might even start noticing our empire abroad or getting serious about equality at home. Next thing you know, they might start pushing to increase taxes on the rich and funding for Food Stamps or Head Start or Medicaid? Republican Armageddon.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Republicans have a convenient belief that when it comes to racism, it's all about intent.

This must be why everything is racist these days.

[mad libertarian guy]

It could lead Republicans to get past their false moral narrative and see the many ways that their policies harm minorities, women, and the poor.

Because welfare programs hasn't hurt poor people one bit. I mean, what else could be better than creating an entire class of people that have been trapped in poverty where multiple generations are dependent on welfare? Trying to prod those people in to being dependent on themselves is harmful. Trapping them in government dependency is empathetic.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Worst of all is the "Trinity of Evil," the "Socialist Trifecta": Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and above all President Obama. They've all come out against the Redskins name.

See a common thread here? Democrats. Liberals. Progressives. Minorities. The Left.

Say what?

Obama: If I were the owner of the team and I knew that the name of my team ? even if they've had a storied history ? was offending a sizable group of people, I'd think about changing it.

[Pro Libertate]

That Obama. Always thinking about doing something. But never quite getting around to it. Unless it's something bad. Then he's right on that.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Empathy at the point of a gun isn't empathy at all.

[PapayaSF]

And hypersensitivity also isn't the same thing as empathy.

[Coeus]

And linked from that previous story, lets play headline vs quote:

Virginia GOP candidate: Spousal rape isn't a crime if she is 'wearing a nightie'

"I do not know how you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape, when they're living together, sleeping in the same bed, she's in a nightie and so forth," Black says. "There's not injuries, there's no separation or anything."

[BakedPenguin]

Jesus. It's a fucking absolute refusal to learn not to say completely dipshit things on this subject for some of them.

[robc]

Im not sure where the dipshit thing is in that quote.

Seriously, in the scenario he lays out, where is the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt?

[Apatheist ?_??]

It was in the context of opposing a spousal rape law entirely. It's hard for me to a non-biased source on whatever law it was he was talking about (its from a decade ago) but if true then it's a complete dipshit thing for him to say. And he said this in a speech in the legislature, its not like some reporter tricked him.

[robc]

The quote, without context, read literally, is 100% correct.

[Apatheist ?_??]

The context is pretty important when it's a politician making a speech in session.

I found one which I posted below. I'm guessing many of these places didn't provide context because it is more nuanced because he ended up voting for the bill.

[Rasilio]

But he didn't say anything dumb here, he is actually 100% correct.

He does not say it is not a crime, he says that a conviction would be almost impossible to secure because absent some sort of injury or other evidence it is basically his word vs hers.

That said, the headline is why Republicans should know better than to ever discuss the subject in the current media climate.

[Thane ? the booty]

It's one of those things that's literally correct, but that will quite predictably be misinterpreted -- so someone in the business of communicating with the public shouldn't say it, correct or not.

[Thane ? the booty]

Note that I'm talking about that specific quote, out-of-context.

[paranoid android]

I'm having difficulty finding more context for his remarks--the articles all link to a video which I can't watch right now--but the way they're presented suggest he was advancing an argument that there's no reason to ever charge a man with raping his wife.

That presentation could be complete bullshit, of course, but it could not. Is there a transcript or something with the context of his statements?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Sorry Coeus, the headline is sadly far too close to the quote for me to take issue. And the quote is fucking retardedly insane.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Yeah, that's just awful. Abusive husbands exist and they do force themselves on their wives.

Why is the Virginia GOP so exceptionally stupid on these sex issues?

[Coeus]

Absent a confession, he's not wrong. How do you get a conviction without evidence? He didn't say it wasn't rape. He said it was impossible to get a conviction with evidence.

[robc]

No, the quote is 100% accurate.

It is impossible to get a conviction under that scenario.

[Irish]

He didn't say it's not rape. He said it's very difficult to prove.

He's a moron for even allowing himself to get involved in that discussion, but saying that his accurate comment about burden of proof is the same thing as an endorsement of spousal rape is absurd.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Those morons should still shut the fuck up about rape though. It's just not going to lead to anything good, taking his quote out of context or not.

[Mickey Rat]

So, GOP legislators cannot make reasonable, logical points about the legal practicality of a law touching on the subject of rape because somebody might react emotionally to it? You are essentially saying that GOP politicians cannot participate in debates about laws pertaining to sexual violence. We cannot have our political speech debased in this way and have any hope of rational government.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Still a biased source but at least this article provides context and the actual amendment to the law being debated.

TL:DR this was the part of the law that was attempting to be removed:

However, no person shall be found guilty under this subsection unless, at the time of the alleged offense, (i) the spouses were living separate and apart, or (ii) the defendant caused bodily injury to the spouse by the use of force or violence.

Ultimately that part was successfully removed.

In Black's favor, it turns out he did in fact vote for the final bill.

[The Late P Brooks]

Then what should we call it?

How about going back to the notion of FORCIBLE rape.

Not, "OMFG you guys, you won't believe who BETTY slept with" rape.

[Agammamon]

Supreme Court justices seem skeptical that a mandated protest-free buffer zone around abortion clinics in Massachusetts is constitutional.

Yeah, wouldn't fall under the whole 'no bills of attainder' thingy?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Jezebel discovers that the money government gives back to you is still your money

oday, the House Judiciary Committee ? which consists of almost entirely old dudes?marked up HR7, a bill designed to further fuck with women's access to abortion by limiting what private insurance companies are allowed to cover with plans purchased over health care exchanges. They're calling it the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act, which makes about as much sense as barring people from using their tax rebates to purchase hamburgers and calling it the No Taxpayer Funding For Hamburgers Act, because accusing people who use their own money of spending "the taxpayers'" money is ridiculous. Do House Republicans know that women also pay taxes?

At one point, pro-choice New York Rep. Jerry Nadler attempted to strike the entire bill and replace it with something called the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, pointing out that there's nothing "pro life" about starving children and mothers who can't take care of their families. In response, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona countered that pregnant women have nothing to do with abortion funding. So, there's that.

Doesn't this mean that government does NOT "give billions" to rich people in tax breaks? Isn't that a common rally cry from the inequality-obsessed left?

But I guess strings attached to your money is okay for causes they agree with.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

HAHA oh man someone quick tell them about education tax credits and vouchers.

[Mickey Rat]

They seem eternally surprised that having government controlled health insurance makes the particulars of health insurance a political issue.

[Coeus]

This really pissed off the regulars at slate

The assertion that pro-lifers don't really care about abortion?that what really motivates them is misogyny, controlling other people's bodies, and forcing anyone who has sex to have a baby?is morally comforting to a lot of pro-choice people. It reassures us that we're on the side of compassion, justice, and progress, and that there's no reason to feel ambivalent about this issue. We have nothing to heed or learn from our enemies. Our only challenge is to defeat them.

This is one of those echo-chamber beliefs that won't survive a reality test. Here are some results from a Gallup poll of U.S. adults, taken in May 2012:

[paranoid android]

This is one of those echo-chamber beliefs that won't survive a reality test.

Yeah, I don't think the author knows quite who he's dealing with here.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Air Force: 34 missile operatives disciplined in cheating scandal

The Air Force says 34 nuclear missile launch officers have been implicated in a cheating scandal and have been stripped of their certification in what is believed to be the largest such breach of integrity in the nuclear force.

Some of the officers apparently texted to each other the answers to a monthly test on their knowledge of how to operate the missiles. Others may have known about it but did not report it.

The cheating was discovered during a drug investigation that involves 11 Air Force officers across six bases in the U.S. and England.

Of the three missile launch officers involved in the drug scandal, two are at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana and one is at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. The two at Malmstrom are among those implicated in the cheating scandal.

It's the latest controversy involving the service members who maintain and operate the nation's 450 nuclear missiles.

Well great, now who will implement Armageddon?

[Agammamon]

The US Navy of course.

[PD Scott]

I always figured starting WWIII would be open book. I imagine it would be a very stressful time, easy to forget things.

[Agammamon]

Well, it helps if you know *which* book you need to be looking in.

[PD Scott]

Nuclear War for Dummies: A Reference for the Soon To Be Resting in Peace of Us

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

A couple who took their children on a week-long holiday during school term time have been ordered by magistrates to pay ?993 in costs and fines.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

They luck they were charged with kidnapping those children who belong to the State.

[paranoid android]

The couple, their two daughters, aged 15 and 13, and six-year-old son went to the Greek island of Rhodes for a week at the end of September 2013.

Telford and Wrekin Council said stricter laws about taking children out of school specified that leave can only be granted in term time in exceptional family circumstances.

...

"Parents should never simply discount a possible penalty notice from the cost of a cheaper holiday, because this is a criminal offence and when doing so they are always risking prosecution," he added.

OK, I'm done looking at the Nanny State as something amusing and ridiculous to make fun of, that shit scares me.

[mad libertarian guy]

OK, I'm done looking at the Nanny State as something amusing and ridiculous to make fun of, that shit scares me.

^^This^^

Especially when you think that those kids like got a far better education for that week in Greece than they would have at school.

I'd purposefully fail to adhere to any ruling of the state on this and dare them to imprison me. hose are my fucking kids, and I'll be damned if anyone can tell me when I can or can't take them on vacation.

[Virginian]

Especially when you think that those kids like got a far better education for that week in Greece than they would have at school.

Oh oh oh I have a wonderful story that goes along that. I skipped an exam in high school to go to a lecture/panel discussion where John Bolton and Margaret Thatcher, among others, were discussing conservatism with an emphasis on foreign policy, terrorism and civil liberties and all that. No kidding, one of the most interesting afternoons I've ever spent/had.

My mother, who ran the lecture series, was honest. I told her to lie and say I was sick, but she told them the truth. I came very close to failing the class. Now, for the record, I had eight exams. Two a day M-Th. Friday was reserved for makeups. So literally nothing was harmed by me skipping one, I could just make it up on Friday. Almost failed the exam and did have to do work detail for the disrespect of skipping my freaking Comparative Government exam in order to attend this extraordinary educational opportunity.

TLDR: Lie to your school if you decided to take your kids on a vacation during term.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yup.

Do people understand this is not about the children? It's about the government OWNING your pathetic ass.

[Mickey Rat]

Another sign that Britain has become unfit for human habitation.

[tarran]

Britains never, never, never will be slaves!

[BakedPenguin]

If I were Britannia, I'd waive the rules.

[Tonio]

That was brilliant, BP, just plain brilliant. Sorry you wasted that after five eastern, but how often does the opportunity arise. [Raises martini glass, nods approvingly.}

[BakedPenguin]

Tonio, while I'd like to take credit, it's actually the title to a Budgie album.

[Juice]

*Britons

[playa manhattan]

What are the "costs"? The kids weren't in attendance, so wouldn't those costs be negative?

I took my kids out of school for a week last month to go to Hawaii. If there was even a hint of a problem with that, they would never be allowed to set foot in the school again.

[Coeus]

Attendance-based funding

[Rufus J. Firefly]

My wife, a school teacher, tells me teachers look down on parents who take their kids out of school for vacation. Of course, that doesn't stop us from yanking our kid out on our yearly junket to NYC.

Anyway. I tell my wife I don't give a shit what they think. She agrees.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

After hearing Peyton Manning yell "Omaha" more than 40 times at the line of scrimmage during Sunday's victory over the San Diego Chargers, an official with Omaha Steaks says the company is considering offering the star quarterback an endorsement deal that could include calling out their name within the game.

[PD Scott]

Now I'm picturing Peyton sitting at home, eating a steak. Suddenly, a ball of pizza dough breaks the window. Outside, we see an old Camaro speeding away, weaving, as if it's driver were seeing through tears...

[BakedPenguin]

He can like two things. Why can't he like two things?

[PD Scott]

As long as he doesn't yell "Deep dish! Deep dish!" I guess he will be okay, at least with the Reason commentariat.

[Sudden]

As a Chiefs fan, Peyton Manning could save my as-of-yet-unconcieved infant children and I would still pray nightly to Beezelbub for his torment and death.

[PD Scott]

OK, except for the Reason commentariat who root for other teams.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The funny thing is that this has been a standard scrimmage call for the Broncos for years. It started in NE with Brady and McDaniels brought it over with him when he became coach--in the video of their comeback win over the Texans in 2011, you could hear Tebow yell it out on several snaps.

[playa manhattan]

That was one of the audible calls on my high school team. It is easy to hear while wearing a helmet.

[Sudden]

Its a staple of the Erhardt-Perkins offensive scheme. Been around for a long time.

[BigT]

Damn! I thought he was yelling: "Obama" indicating he'd unilaterally changed the play from what was agreed in the huddle.

[BakedPenguin]

No. Because "Obama" would guarantee that the play would fail, whether it was the play he promised, or a different one he decided to go with because it was more convenient.

[Eduard van Haalen]

From the abortion article (they brought it up!)

"Painted semicircles outside Planned Parenthood clinics in Boston, Springfield and Worcester mark the spot beyond which abortion opponents are free to protest and try to dissuade women from ending their pregnancies. Inside the line, protesters and supporters alike risk arrest."

Numero uno, prolifers *want* women to end their pregnancies...with birth.

Numero two-o, as far as "protesters and supporters alike risk arrest," that's true in the same sense as the rich and the pauper alike being forbidden from begging.

[PapayaSF]

I have found it telling that leftists tend to resist any legal restrictions on protests, except protests against abortion.

[Agammamon]

Or protests against their favored politicians.

[PapayaSF]

Indeed. Only the wildest-eyed lefties seem upset about "designated protest zones" at Democratic conventions.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Only the wildest-eyed lefties seem upset about "designated protest zones" at Democratic conventions.

And that's only because they ALSO want to protest. If the protest were against their little niche of the left, they'd change their tune pretty quick.

[Tonio]

Meh. Many of them are also OK on restricting Westboro Baptist-style protests. But your point is well taken that each team likes to restrict protests by its opponents; one team more than the other.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Clayton Kershaw: The man with the $215 million left arm

The Dodgers and ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw have agreed to a seven-year, $215 million contract.

Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles first reported the news and she also reports that there's an opt-out clause in the contract after five seasons, meaning Kershaw could hit free agency at 30 years old. That also means this contract might not be Kershaw's one big pay day.

Kershaw wasn't yet a free agent, as he had one year of arbitration remaining. This deal buys out the final year of arbitration plus up to six years of free agency -- though, again, Kershaw can opt out of the deal after five years and test free agency if he so chooses.

The contract is a record-breaker, as the previous largest contract for a pitcher was Justin Verlander's seven-year, $180 million extension to stay with the Tigers. Kershaw shatters that, and rightfully so.

Kershaw was 16-9 with a 1.83 ERA (194 ERA+), 0.92 WHIP and 232 strikeouts in 236 innings last season. He won the Cy Young for the second time in the past three seasons, with the other season resulting in a runner-up finish. He's led the majors in ERA in each of the past three seasons and has easily established himself as the best pitcher in baseball. And he's still only 25 years old.

Arms break down, but damned if he hasn't earned it more than anyone.

[robc]

Doing it at a young age too.

You dont give a 7 or 10 year contract to a 30 year old, you give it to a 25 year old, if anyone.

That said, if I were a Dodger fan, I would hope that 5 year option goes both ways, but I doubt it does.

[Almanian!]

Doug Kershaw - the man with a bow shredded to ribbons while he saws out "Louisiana Man" on the fiddle again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgxCI5EWCc8

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Nasty curve he has. Dominant.

My grandfather used to always tell me to get out of soccer and get into baseball because if you make it, that's where the money is in North America. Of course, he was a baseball fan but he was right. The NASL aside, it was pretty much a dead-end.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The Atlantic: Privileged white women shouldn't sneer at marriage

Often, self-described feminists question the merits of marriage and urge their fellow women to remain independent if they choose. As Carol Gilligan, a New York University professor who sat on a panel with Ehrenreich, put it, "Does anybody know the word patriarchy?"

Taking a stand against patriarchy is much easier if you're well-educated, have a stable income, and live in a community where you could theoretically find an educated, employed man to marry. For poor, uneducated women, especially those who have kids, the question of whether to get married looks a lot different: It's the choice between raising children on one or two incomes, between having someone to help with household chores and child-rearing alone while working multiple jobs.

And that's the big difference: For a poor woman, deciding whether to get married or not will be a big part of shaping her economic future. For a wealthier woman, deciding whether to get married is a choice about independence, lifestyle, and, at times, "fighting the patriarchy." There's a cognitive dissonance in Ehrenreich's straight-up dismissal of the economic benefits of marriage, because the statistics tell an awkward truth: Financially, married women tend to fare much better than unmarried women.

[Thane ? the booty]

Wow, something that talks about "privileged white women" and taking a "stand against the patriarchy" that actually makes perfect sense (or at least the excerpt does).

[robc]

Well, not entirely.

Because this is BS: "Taking a stand against patriarchy is much easier if you're well-educated, have a stable income, and live in a community where you could theoretically find an educated, employed man to marry."

Im not sure how not getting married is "taking a stand against patriarchy."

[Pro Libertate]

Not the real spouse, dummy. That's just the one they use to finance their lifestyle. Their real spouse, of course, is a womyn.

[Thane ? the booty]

I can see an argument for it from a symbolic perspective, though I wouldn't agree.

[Pro Libertate]

By marrying a member of the patriarchy, the woman can reclaim some of the wealth he has stolen from other women.

[Mad Scientist]

Especially if she also divorces him.

[Pro Libertate]

And takes all of his money, children, and sperm.

[mad libertarian guy]

Educated in this context is academese for "is a feminist beta male."

[Irish]

100% right. Feminism is privileged white women telling poor people to take actions that actively destroy their futures.

Sort of like all progressivism, actually.

[mad libertarian guy]

100% right. Feminism is privileged white women telling poor people to take actions that actively destroy their futures.

Sort of like all progressivism, actually.

Nail, head, etc.

[Coeus]

These people are actively evil

With one out six young people without work, youth unemployment is higher than at any point since most people under the age of 25 have been alive. Close to half of the four million young people without work are African-American or Latino. They are joined by another six million young people of all racial backgrounds who have given up looking for work out of frustration.

The good news is that youth unemployment is entirely fixable. The most important thing is to jumpstart overall job growth and get the economy functioning normally again.

Consequently raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, lowering the wage gap between men and women, and expanding tax breaks for low-income workers?including those without children?would be great places to start. Together these programs would raise the incomes of tens of millions and lift millions more out of poverty. A shot in the arm to the economy on such a scale would help push the labor to function more normally, allow older workers to move up the earnings scale, and clear the way for young people.

[tarran]

I see the Pirate Captain in Pirates Band of Misfits talking about his chances of winning Pirate of the Year:

I know it hasn't
worked out perfectly for the last [20 years]

The point is, every time I've entered, I've failed to win.

So by the sheer law of maths I must have a really
good chance this time.

Are you with me, lads?

...

This can only end brilliantly.

[BakedPenguin]

Evil and stupid. Don't forget stupid.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Together these programs would raise the incomes of tens of millions and lift millions more out of poverty.

Yeah, for about a year or two until inflation renders all of that shit moot.

[Agammamon]

Not even that long - about six months before all the workers who aren't worth $10/hr get fired.

[creech]

Bartender, I'm about to puke, but give me another shot of the same.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

From the obvious files:

Detox cleanses may not live up to the hype

[Irish]

Salon publishes moronic review of Lone Survivor.

Now, I'm no fan of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, but Salon seems upset that the movie didn't portray the Taliban in a more positive and nuanced light.

Now, war movies have often or always done this, you may protest ? always demonized and belittled the so-called enemy. Yeah, the bad ones have. You wouldn't say that about "All Quiet on the Western Front" or "Paths of Glory" or "Full Metal Jacket."

Yeah, but All Quiet on the Western Front, Paths of Glory, and Full Metal Jacket are about fighting an enemy that isn't really pure evil. The first two are about WWI which was fought entirely because of jingoistic nationalism and had no real villain.

I don't know how you're supposed to show the Taliban as being anything other than pure evil. They decapitate and rape women. They kill reporters. They've murdered infants.

[PD Scott]

Clearly they're just misunderstood. I mean, that whole thing with Al Qaeda, they just asked the Taliban if they could crash at their place for a while, get their act together. The Taliban didn't really want them there but just didn't have the heart to kick them out. Then 9/11 happened and suddenly the Taliban is in trouble, just for helping out a friend!

It's a sad, sad world we live in, where helping some friends gets you bombed, deposed and occupied.

Clearly the folks at Salon understand this.

[Warty]

Salon: The Worst Site on the Internet (tm)

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yeah, the bad ones have. You wouldn't say that about "All Quiet on the Western Front" or "Paths of Glory" or "Full Metal Jacket."

I suspect a movie that showed members of the Nazi army in a nuanced, even sympathetic light wouldn't recieve this kind of special pleading.

This idiot's just an overgrown child saying "My dad's better than your dad!"

[Virginian]

I suspect a movie that showed members of the Nazi army in a nuanced, even sympathetic light wouldn't recieve this kind of special pleading.

I'd love to see someone make a film showing the final months of the war in the East, with outnumbered and ill equipped German forces attempting to buy time for the civilians, especially the women, to get away from the Soviets.

Imagine what Salon would say about that.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Shit, that actually sounds like a great movie.

[Vulgar Madman]

"The iron cross" awesome film with lee Marvin.

[Vulgar Madman]

I mean James coburn.

[Vulgar Madman]

I also mean "cross of iron"

[PapayaSF]

I don't know how you're supposed to show the Taliban as being anything other than pure evil. They decapitate and rape women. They kill reporters. They've murdered infants.

I believe the "thinking" is that because the US is such an evil, imperialist, racist, sexist place, anyone who fights us can't be all bad. The left was rather upset with the Taliban right up until 9/11, when suddenly opposing the US took priority.

[Tonio]

^This. Never forget it.

[BigT]

"They decapitate and rape women. "

They even got that back-asswards.

[Mickey Rat]

"I don't know how you're supposed to show the Taliban as being anything other than pure evil."

The Taliban are brown people, to Salon they are not morally responsible for their behavior, they are driven to their atrocities it by western imperialism.

[Boisfeuras]

Yeah, but All Quiet on the Western Front, Paths of Glory, and Full Metal Jacket are about fighting an enemy that isn't really pure evil.

Are you fucking kidding me...? Full Metal Jacket even has a scene depicting the aftermath of the Hue Massacre, where the communists systematically murdered 3,000-6,000 men, women, and children. The Vietnamese communists absolutely were "pure evil". Read The Viet Cong Strategy of Terror.

[mad libertarian guy]

Kentucky continuing its legacy of making doing business afbitrarily epensive:

The prohibition on grocery stores, gas stations and other retailers selling wine and liquor is back.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reinstated the 76-year-old ban, saying it serves a legitimate purpose and doesn't violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

[...]

Judge Deborah L. Cook wrote the state "indisputably maintains a legitimate interest" in reducing access to liquor and wine. Cook said the law doesn't affect the "liberty interest" of any business.

"The state's interest applies not only to the general public; minors, inexperienced and impressionable, require particular vigilance," Cook wrote in an opinion joined by judges Jane Branstedder Stranch and James G. Carr. "And the state's interest applies to abstinent citizens who, morally or practically objecting to alcohol exposure, wish to avoid retailers that sell such drinks."

It's For the Children? and strawmen, apparently.

[paranoid android]

Cook said the law doesn't affect the "liberty interest" of any business.

Unless they're interested in the liberty to sell wine and beer, I suppose.

Seriously, what does that even mean? Is "liberty interest" a term with some actual meaning in jurisprudence?

[Sudden]

Magic: The Gathering: The Movie

OK, I've posted my former sexless middle-school uber nerd cred.

[Mickey Rat]

The train wreck potential of this is off the scales.

[Irish]

Oh God, the comments!

I'm guessing you're right about the Taliban--through no fault of their own, they're probably still very disturbed, often massively abusive people, whom the fully sane would want to see stopped, helped--but if their prejudicial ? if their cruel tendencies were really our foremost concern, somehow I guess war and blasting them all to death would have only played out as an option.

Through no fault of their own?!?!? I guess all of those women got raped by accident.

I am not surprised the movie is a hit. The advertising describes it as the next "Saving Pvt. Ryan". Also we have an appetite to show Americans as the "good guys"and the moral superiors to our enemies.

I feel like American soldiers probably are morally superior to the Taliban...

[PD Scott]

Irish, American soldiers carry assault rifles. Clearly they're blood crazed killers, wantonly murdering innocent Taliban.

[mad libertarian guy]

Great. Let's spend almost a billion dollars (which will end up being far more than a billion dollars) widening a road that has very little traffic to begin with.

Gov. Steve Beshear wants to commit $753 million over the next six years to widen the Mountain Parkway, the transportation backbone of Eastern Kentucky, to four lanes from Campton to Prestonsburg.

"It is a long-overdue project for which leaders in Eastern Kentucky have long advocated, to strengthen the region's ability to attract jobs and visitors," Beshear said Wednesday at a news conference, flanked by lawmakers from the region.

Beshear said his state highway plan, to be presented to the General Assembly next week, will recommend paying for the project with $595 million in state and federal highway funds and $158 million from the sale of toll revenue bonds.

I've been on the Mountain Parkway lots, and its a road with very little traffic, certainly not enough to justify widening it to the tune of a billion dollars.

[Agammamon]

I've been on the Mountain Parkway lots, and its a road with very little traffic, certainly not enough to justify widening it to the tune of a billion dollars.

Do you mean justifying it because there's too little traffic? That's not how they're justifying it here.

Its needed so that some local and state pols can spread some money around in advance of the upcoming elections.

[Agammamon]

See the traffic thing is a lie they tell you. And since its such an obvious lie and no-one of any intelligence would fall for it, its not really a lie at all (actual proggie 'logic' used to defend Obama's lie about 'you can keep your doctor).

[Agammamon]

Plus, I think they need to widen it to add the 'special access' lanes for high level government bureaucrats fleeing the state for vacations.

[Warty]

Continuing the death metal theme: Nile

[Killaz]

Following Karl Sanders was the only other reason I started a fake Facebook account. The first one was to stalk, of course.

[mad libertarian guy]

Will. Not. Press. Play.

Nile is band full of talented musicians, but their songwriting sucks, and the genre in which they participate is obnoxious.

And I LOVE the metal.

[NebulousFocus]

Amen.

[Coeus]

It's different, cause it's men

I have openly admitted many times before that I'm not a super big fan of taking and posting pictures and videos of people, no matter who they are or what they are doing, without their permission. However, there's something to be said for doing it to tackle a prevailing problem, such as the one Tzipporah (and lots of others) face repeatedly on her daily commutes. We can all relate. One of the worst memories I have is riding the subway when I was 15 years old, watching a man across from me spread his legs like an Olympic gymnast and stare directly into my eyes.

[Bobarian]

"watching a man across from me spread his legs like an Olympic gymnast and stare directly into my eyes."

Does this make you horny, baby?

[Coeus]

And that is her worst memory. Unfucking-believible. She's so horrible oppressed that it's a wonder she has the will to blog.

[lap83]

That's the worst thing that's happened to her on public transportation? Lucky.

[Agammamon]

Eh, why not - its shameful behavior and creeps need to be outed.

Of course I imagine that she takes it further than some guy crudely coming onto a girl and post pictures of men checking out women's butts.

[Agammamon]

Oh, nevermind - she's just bitching about rude behavior because a man 'takes up too much space'.

[Virginian]

Yeah women never take up too much space on public transportation. Women never have bags, or luggage. Women are never obese. Women never sprawl across seats. Never ever.

[RishJoMo]

JIng Sung is not gonna like that at all man.

http://www.AnonGlobal.tk