A.M. Links: Obama Meets With Pope, Senate Democrats Want to Introduce Obamacare Fixes Ahead of Election, Dwarf Planet Detected

• 

  Gizmodo

  President Obama visited Pope Francis at the Vatican. He said the pope's message challenged him and others on economic and social issues, but focused his remarks largely on the former, where the two have more in common.

• Senate Democrats worried about their party's prospects in the November midterms are planning on introducing "principles" and legislation to fix Obamacare.
• Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) says the George Washington Bridge scandal he's been embroiled in since the beginning of the year isn't changing his thinking on running for president, but that he doesn't want to make a decision until the last possible moment.
• The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has signed a peace deal with the government of the Philippines. MILF is the largest Muslim rebel group in the country.
• The Wu Tang Clan plans to press just one copy of its "secret album" Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, take it on tour, and then try to sell it for seven figures.
• A new dwarf planet discovered in the inner Oort Cloud is renewing speculation about a giant Planet X beyond the orbit of Pluto. 

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Comments

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

So I am led to believe we have two posters who may be dating now? What’s with that?

https://reason.com/blog/2014/03…..nt_4406564

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Also, fried chicken.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Bonjour!

[UnCivilServant]

Guten Morgen

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Gruss Gott

[Homple]

Aber nicht heute.

[db]

I go.away for a week, and l9ok.what happens.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

can’t leave these hormonal teenagers alone for a second!

[db]

Damn kids, facebook twerking on my lawn all night with their.rainbow parties and butt chugging!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

friggin hippity hoppity music and baggy drawers…

[UnCivilServant]

You now use numerals for non-lookalike letters in addition to dot spaces?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I think he’s the first round of true AI experimentation.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

I thought he was using a telegraph.

[Brett L]

He doesn’t have the same control with his third typing appendage that Warty does.

[db]

I am at the.cutting edge.of.teledildonics, here.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Well it’s not like they’d be the first!

[SugarFree]

I wouldn’t say we dated. Hurling abuse on Skype was fun, but it’s not like you bought me dinner.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

And it’s not like you fucked me so we’re even aren’t we?!?

[SugarFree]

You said it happens to all guys eventually!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

dammit I had something about a pump in there!

[SugarFree]

Pump? Insulin or penis?

[kibby]

When I grow up, I want to be as awesome as you, Nikki.

[Auric Demonocles]

Although it sounds like they haven’t actually met yet? So this might be jumping the gun a bit.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

who can resist the romantic pull of a place like Hit and Run?

[Auric Demonocles]

The libertarian girl I went on a date with last night. Though she also seemed to be able to resist the romantic pull of pretty much anything.

[SugarFree]

It did get Epi and I together, the greatest brohatemance in history.

[kibby]

Seriously, everyone. CALM DOWN.

[Auric Demonocles]

Hey.. how you doing?

[kibby]

Uh…I’m fine? Nothing like last minute Neuroscience reading to wake you up in the morning!

[Fist of Etiquette]

He said the pope’s message challenged him and others on economic and social issues, but focused his remarks largely on the former, where the two have more in common.

They can bond over social justice and ignore the aborted baby elephant in the room.

[db]

I keep tlreqding that as “the Pope’s massage.”

[Rich]

Drudge had a headline this morning that I kept tlreqding as “Obama to Vacation for Pope’s Blessing”.

[db]

Nice.

[Ted S.]

I don’t think the Catholic Catechism has any opinion on whether deep-dish is pizza or not.

[Auric Demonocles]

It’s pizza the second the sauce is put on the dough.

[hamilton]

Hm. I presume you have a Calzone Corollary.

[Auric Demonocles]

Being calzone is a choice!

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Prince George: Marry? Never! I’m a gay bachelor, Blackadder. I’m a roarer, a rogerer, a gorger, and a puker. I can’t marry. I’m young, I’m firm buttocked, I’m, I’m…

Blackadder: Broke.

Prince George: Well, yes, I suppose.

Blackadder: And don’t forget, sir, that the modern church smiles on roaring and gorging within wedlock. And indeed rogering is keenly encouraged.

Prince George: And the puking?

Blackadder: I believe it is still very much down to the conscious of the individual church-goer.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Senate Democrats worried about their party’s prospects in the November midterms are planning on introducing “principles” and legislation to fix Obamacare.

There’s already a fix. It’s called ignoring it.

[Rich]

A brief history of Obamacare delays

[Drake]

If Congressional Democrats were not so fucking stupid, they could have convinced stupid Republicans to fix the thing last year. Now, even Republicans aren’t dumb enough to touch it.

[R C Dean]

Now, even Republicans aren’t dumb enough

Hmm. I dunno. The DemOp media chorus of screeching and squawking about obstructionism being the cause of all problems has rolled them before.

[Strapping Young Lad]

I thought it already was a clusterfuck of progressive principles. How can they top that?

[Rich]

Obamacare penalizes the ‘wrong’ insurance 18 times more than no insurance.

[Lord Humungus]

don’t worry, they’ll get it right this time. Really!

[Injun, as in from India]

Every once in a while, I see blurbs on F$@&book; from “progressives” saying that the ACA is a step towards Single Payer. They WANT the damn thing to fail.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I keep hearing that. Even Limbaugh says it. But is it? I mean, this would mean it had to be designed this way in the first place which makes little sense to me. Meanwhile, the left seems to have concluded the GOP made this mess and so there’s no option but SP.

Weird.

I suppose the ‘natural’ next step is single payer but can it mean something else?

[Injun, as in from India]

It doesn’t matter WHY it failed. They will blame the “market”, especially given the Orwellian “marketplaces” name given to the government-run exchanges. I think they just want single payer, period. Inch by inch, they want to get there.

I think what can really stop this is a full repeal of the ACA, but neither party is going to do it.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I suppose the ‘natural’ next step is single payer but can it mean something else?

Depends. Even if shitlibs use the fact that the ACA is a crapfest as a way to argue that single payer should be installed, they never actually say how we’re going to pay for it or how it will affect the current infrastructure for training doctors. Medicare and Medicaid together both cost well north of $1 trillion, and that’s only going to get worse as the baby boomers increase the retired population. Medicare is already cash-poor and its shortfalls are covered by the same “trust fund” that covers SS shortfalls–current Treaury bonds (debt) are sold to cover any unfunded obligations.

Current single payer systems “work” only in the sense that they’ve been operating for around 50-60 years now. If the US was going to establish one, it would have been at the end of WW2 when every other country was installing those systems. I suspect the limits of scale would make any implentation here a bigger PITA than ACA.

[R C Dean]

they never actually say how we’re going to pay for it

By printing money, duh. The DemOp talking points came out pretty recently on how printing money is harmless and debt is good. Try to keep up.

[Lord Humungus]

Big rig wreck causes corndog spill

A big rig wreck that spilled corndogs across the highway shut down I-220 in Shreveport for hours Tuesday morning.

The wreck happened around 3:40 a.m. on I-220 West, near the exit onto I-20. The highway was shut down until around 12:30 p.m. while crews cleaned up the mess.

[Rich]

corndog spill

Nice band name.

[db]

First album:

Sauerkraut Chili Squat

[Elspeth Flashman]

“That’s good eating,” says local hobo.

[Rich]

local hobo

Nice band name.

[db]

Not surprisingly, local hobo and corndog spill were involved in a copyright dispute as their first albums were.released within days of.each.other.

[Ted S.]

That’s not a hobo; that’s an undercover cop. 🙁

[Lord Humungus]

Cops with Corndogs

(my new band name)

[DontShootMe]

Why not just bring in dogs from the local animal shelter, they’d clean up the corn dogs in no time.

And no, you can’t use my monocle polishers, I don’t like grease all over the monocle.

[Lord Humungus]

Indiana jail official blames ‘a lot of electronic things’ for woman placed in all-male cell block

Gina Barger was arrested on March 19, 2014 after she failed to appear in court on a theft charge. She was taken to the Marion County Jail, where she developed a problem with one of her toes. She was taken from the women’s cell block to the infirmary, but was returned to the men’s cell block.

According to her mother, Roxanna, Gina called her in a panic. “Mom, I went to medical to have my toe fixed, when they brought me back, they brought me into a man’s cell block and I’m with complete men,” Gina said.

[Ted S.]

they brought me into a man’s cell block and I’m with complete men,”

As opposed to being with incomplete men?

[Citizen Nothing]

The put me in the goddamned Castrati Block!

[UnCivilServant]

+1 Opera

[Brett L]

Honestly, expecting a correctional officer to think, “hmm, we’ve never put a woman in the men’s block,” is too much. $28k/year to work in the worst of places buys you people who literally can’t find another way to make $14/hr.

[Ted S.]

Procedures were followed; nothing else happened.

[Fist of Etiquette]

…but that he doesn’t want to make a decision until the last possible moment.

He shouldn’t wait too long. Always allow time for traffic.

[Drake]

Signing or vetoing the gun magazine size limit on his desk will be a good indication. If he signs it, he’s done forever as a national Republican.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Another collapse scenario from the Center for a Stateless Society:

http://c4ss.org/content/25793

[db]

Anyone else find a little irony in the name “Center for a Stateless Society?”

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I get what you mean but actually…no.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Yeah no.

[db]

You’re no fun, either of.you. The state humor police will be serving a warrant soon.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Now that you mention it…

[SugarFree]

“A Left Market Anarchist Think Tank” and they are advertising a book called Markets Not Capitalism.

OK.

[Strapping Young Lad]

It doesn’t have to make sense because it just feels right.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don’t believe you can be a ‘left-libertatian.’ Makes no sense. A leftist wants state involvement to whatever degree they see fit.

[Juice]

I believe “right” and “left” are, at their base, descriptions of the general attitude toward hierarchy. If you believe that economic inequality is good or maybe that it’s simply inevitable so live with it, then that’s right wing. If you believe economic inequality is bad and want to do away with it somehow, then that’s left wing.

[R C Dean]

Yeah, its code for some kind of weird, incoherent anti-“corporate” anarcho-fascism, or something.

[mr simple]

And crises of Peak Oil, Coal, etc. will likely drive the collapse of long-distance industrial supply and distribution chains, and the relocalization of production, in the near future.

Considering we’re nowhere near peak oil or coal and already working on alternative fuel, I doubt it.

[R C Dean]

You don’t often find a lefty/proggy who doesn’t firmly believe that we can replace current petro-vehicles with electric ones. But apparantly anarcho-fascist wing of the movement is, dare I say, skeptical of this article of faith?

[Fist of Etiquette]

MILF is the largest Muslim rebel group in the country.

…

[Notorious G.K.C.]

They made peace because they were tired of the jokes.

[Hash Brown]

Boy was my face red when I attended one of their meetings!

[Atanarjuat]

Paraphrasing P.J. O’Rourke, “Vietnam will never be taken seriously as a world power while they’re using a currency called the ‘dong’.”

[Citizen Nothing]

Imagine the Vietnamese title translations of the “Man with No Name” series.

[John]

My father tells of being a young broke Marine in Japan in the early 60s. Getting drunk on cheap beer and going to see American Westerns dubbed into Japanese was apparently really good entertainment.

[Tejicano]

In the versions outside the US there is one point where somebody does refer to the Clint Eastwood character as “Manco” – a Spanish word for somebody with a wounded hand (with other connotations). Unfortunately, in Japanese this word is most commonly used for “pussy” (nothing to do with cats).

[invisible furry hand]

A MILF spokesman was told about this and he smiled and said his cause would take any publicity it could get, which seemed a very laidback attitude

[Rufus J. Firefly]

O’Rourke is better than Stewart.

Discuss.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

What’s to discuss? The awesomeness of P.J. O’Rourke is almost an axiom.

[Brett L]

Biggest losers of the Internet. Seriously, you have a 100+ year tradition, and in about 2 weeks you are completely destroyed by the fact, even more ironically completely antithetical to your movement, that the Internet is for porn.

[Pope Jimbo]

Think of the hell that their SEO contractor lives every day.

How do you explain to a bunch of fundamentalists that there is no way that they will ever show up on the first page of google results.

Even if they pulled off an attack bigger than 9-11, you know they’d be page 3 tops.

I bet their SEO has drinks every night with the SEO guy for Rick Santorum’s campaigns and they commiserate.

[JW]

WE ARE THE CLIT!

[Lord Humungus]

Levi’s Stadium, Home Of 49ers And Super Bowl L, To Ban Bugles, Reptiles, And Spilling Anything

Come this fall, there will be plenty of beer and football inside the new Levi’s Stadium, but don’t expect to tap your own keg, toss a football, play a bugle, spill any substance, or bring your pet Gila monster to any San Francisco 49ers games or Super Bowl L.

New preliminary regulations set for approval at tonight’s Santa Clara City Council meeting offer a long list of taboo items and behavior, in what is a preliminary draft for public debate prior to the official adoption of the ordinance before the “Field of Jeans'” first event August 2nd.

[Brian D]

I initially read that as banning bulges and thought it was a forced dieting/cold shower scheme.

[gimmeasammich]

So those “couple of wild and crazy guys!” wouldn’t be allowed then.

[Ted S.]

Are vuvuzelas allowed?

[db]

If nothing else, the vuvuzela proves that no one who attends a soccer game really cares about anything more than being loud and rowdy and getting piss drunk and.fighting. fucking watch thr game people rolling on the ground in faux agony, people.

[Timon 19]

Virtually everyone outside of South Africa deplores vuvuzelas. American children are an exception. Most American soccer fans would prefer to wrap those annoying fucking plastic horns around the kids’ necks, but most American soccer fans aren’t total assholes.

Most.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

When I was in junior high we had a tyrannical French-Canadian bus driver. The bus tool kids from two schools – one from the English and the other the French. We usually kept to ourselves with the odd jab and jokes but we didn’t really fight like other places.

But, kids being kids, we were excited. The bus driver had a ZERO tolerance policy against….talking. And if he caught someone talking he’d get in their grill or even kick them off the bus.

My point is that shit can only last so long. Like the “passionate” sports coach. Eventually, shit hits the fan. And it did. Funny thing is, after that, we never saw him again.

[Ted S.]

Aren’t all the French-Canadians tyrants?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Strong love for demagogues up here. Duplessis, Levesque, Bouchard etc. All had hypnotic pull on them. It’s been said the ‘herd mentality’ (moutons) is very strong here.

But I still think libertarianism can make head way here.

[Lord Humungus]

U.S. law firm plans to bring suit against Boeing, Malaysia Airlines

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law has filed a petition for discovery against Boeing Co, manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court. The petition is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said.

Though both Boeing and Malaysian Airlines were named in the filing, the focus of the case will be on Boeing, Ribbeck’s lawyers told reporters, as they believe that the incident was caused by mechanical failure.

[Ted S.]

the focus of the case will be on Boeing, Ribbeck’s lawyers told reporters, as they believe that the incident was caused by mechanical failure Boeing has more money.

Fixed it for them.

[RBS]

That’s like first day of Torts info right there.

[RBS]

I guess it was only a matter of time.

[Restoras]

Is this our old friend, the s____-_____r?

[Rich]

AAW, apparently not.

[Hash Brown]

Just to clarify:

The petition was filed on behalf of Januari Siregar, a lawyer who had known Ribbeck’s staff when working on a case involving Garuda Indonesia a few years earlier, Ribbeck said.

The firm said he was the uncle of Firman Chandra Siregar, a passenger on the flight, and legal representative for his family, correcting an earlier press release that had stated he was the passenger’s father.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Wu Tang Clan plans to press just one copy of its “secret album” Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, take it on tour, and then try to sell it for seven figures.

Well, I guess they’ll know who uploaded it.

[db]

They’re just copying Tool now.

[Restoras]

Speaking of metal, any NYC reasonoid metal fans TYR is playing at Irving Plaza Friday and Saturday. Wish I could go.

[Zeb]

What did Tool do? Is there a secret Tool album I don’t know about? Or ar eyou just referring to their disinformation campaign surrounding their last album?

[db]

Word is there is a.secret track recorded only on the.platinum pressings of “?nima.”

[Zeb]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tool put that out there just to fuck with people. Seems to be their MO. I think that before their last album came out they circulated a fake list of song titles to confuse fan sites.

[mr simple]

Diversify yo assets. #CREAM

[Lord Humungus]

Monster 16-inch rat terrifies Swedish family in kitchen: report

A Swedish family recoiled in terror when their trap did not immediately kill a 16-inch rat scurrying around their kitchen.

The gargantuan rodent, metal clasped tightly around its neck, powered through the pain and scampered off behind Signe Bengtsson-Korsas’ kitchen cabinets, The Sun reported.

“It was a monster, the worst thing I have ever seen,” she told the British tabloid.

Her husband, Erik, added, “The rat was so big it did not die.”

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Frightening.

Did he toss in the pan behind him?

[Fluffy]

General WoundRat called out,

“Come back, you fools! Traps aren’t dangerous!”

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

+1 Watership IKEA

[UnCivilServant]

Move out, the Skaven want the house.

[seguin]

+1d3 warpstone charges

[DontShootMe]

They’re in trouble now, how dare they try and trap one of Warty’s pets?

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Pet …or scout?

[seguin]

…or sexual aid?

[Jordan]

Jebus. I think even my cats would say “Fuck that. You’re on your own”.

[Elspeth Flashman]

My suggestion: Make it a pet, let it wear a studded collar to cover the scar on its neck from the trap, and give it its own Youtube channel.

[110 Lean]

I had a rat in my basement 20 years ago, so I bought a rat trap. He took the bait and the trap clamped down on his waist. He just stood up and pulled it down like it was a pair of shorts and ran away. Ghetto rats are tough motherfuckers.

[seguin]

Rodents of unusual size? Don’t believe in them.

[gimmeasammich]

Better stay away from the Fire Swamp then…

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

+1 Fireswamp

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Damn! REFRESH!

[gimmeasammich]

Damn! REFRESH!

HA HA HA! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Obviously the first is to never start a land war in Asia…

[Cdr Lytton]

They should do a cultural exchange with the Portland family that was terrorized by the family cat.

[Lord Humungus]

Fraternity Chief Feared for Son as Hazings Spurred JPMorgan Snub

Family considerations also motivated Cohen. He wanted to protect his older son, Devon, a high school freshman who is determined to join SAE in college. Devon wears bow ties in purple and gold — SAE’s colors — and knows its secret handshake.

“I don’t want him to be scarred mentally from hazing,” said Brad Cohen, relaxing with his family in their home near Los Angeles. “I don’t want him to want to join SAE so badly that he’ll do anything he’s told.”

[Fluffy]

“I don’t want him to want to join SAE JPM so badly that he’ll do anything he’s told.”

FTFY

[John]

I understand why fraternities haze. Psychologically if people don’t have to suffer or pay a price to get into an organization, they won’t value membership.

That said, I have no idea why anyone puts up with the various bullshit fraternities dish out. Yeah, I know it is a great way to get laid. But everyone gets laid in college and even if you don’t, getting laid isn’t that great.

I knew a guy in college whose brother went to some weirdo private school in New England and allegedly had to fuck a cow to get into the fraternity. Even the frats I was familiar with expected some real weirdo and frankly gay shit from the pledges (NTTAWWT). I never got the mentality of the person who wanted to put themselves through that. And every single person I knew who did, was bored with it and living in an apartment on their own by the time they were seniors.

[Brett L]

Pre-1980, it made a lot more sense. When most college kids couldn’t have their own phone, and meeting women on campus was harder. But yeah, even in the 1990s, I didn’t understand what they would be bringing me that I couldn’t get on my own.

[Auric Demonocles]

The ability to have friends without needing to have a personality.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

AD, thanks for that consuming debate. It was a good one. Lotsa people chimed in.

I’d like to add, ahem…TSN’s player power ranking maintains Crosby at #1 by a decent margin – again. I looked at the list of players below him and thought about you. I just can’t see how any are better.

Bah. Don’t mean to rehash but just adding a final ‘wink’ to it.

[Auric Demonocles]

Citing other people isn’t an argument.

[hamilton]

Yes it is.

– Mr. Vibrating, Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

[RBS]

That last part is true, I pretty much abandoned my fraternity my senior year. By that point the school’s attitude towards fraternities had gone from supportive and encouraging to outright hostility so most of the perks of membership were gone. My pledgeship wasn’t what I would call easy but the older brothers never made us do any of the really gay/dangerous shit you hear about. Probably because we were a single letter chapter of one of the oldest fraternities.

[RBS]

Also, we actually did do a lot of community service work. Actual work, not just some fratastic “fundraiser”.

[John]

Some of them do. And they run home coming and shit like that. They serve a purpose. I just wouldn’t want to be involved.

[RBS]

As for the getting laid part. That’s great for about one semester. After that, the girls get old because the same girls hang out every weekend.

[Apple]

And they run home coming and shit like that.

That was a fun sentence to parse.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

John is a treasured resource in that regard.

[invisible furry hand]

getting laid isn’t that great.

Discuss

[John]

It is great IFH, but if doing it first requires fucking a cow, I will take self abuse thank you.

[Auric Demonocles]

Technically speaking, wouldn’t fucking the cow be simultaneous with the getting laid?

[Lord Humungus]

You never know until you try /Farmer Brown

[BakedPenguin]

Can we have one thread that doesn’t devolve into a bestiality discussion?

[Auric Demonocles]

TIWTANLW

[Cdr Lytton]

This is why there are not libertarian ungulates?

[Brett L]

Well, there is that one where a person was alleged to have relations with a sheep. I believe all the bestiality was retconned from that thread.

[Rasilio]

“But everyone gets laid in college and even if you don’t, getting laid isn’t that great.”

They do? This is news to me.

Course being a Physics major on a campus dedicated to Math, Science, and Business majors so there were like 8 guys for every girl (all the girls were cross town at the nursing & liberal arts schools) at a commuter school (only about 20% of the students lived on campus in dorms, the rest drove in) probably impacted that some but still none the only instance of any of the guys I knew having sex would have been called rape today.

[Juice]

getting laid isn’t that great

*blink*blink*

[Emmerson Biggins]

allegedly had to fuck a cow to get into the fraternity.

dude. you don’t actually believe that part do you? That’s just crap they say to screw with the minds of 18 year old meatheads. Subtelty doesn’t work on them.

[CampingInYourPark]

All of that doesn’t begin to address the supposedly “fierce urgency of now” that demanded a top-down, command-economy government program to deal with the estimated 40 million Americans without insurance who should have flooded the system looking for coverage.

If this system works as well as the Obama administration insists, where are all of the uninsured? Why haven’t we seen massive numbers of enrollments from the beginning if that was such a crisis as to require the kind of intervention Democrats imposed, at an estimated cost of $1.5 trillion dollars over the next ten years?

That is the real joke, and it’s on us. Don’t expect us to laugh about it. Instead, we should double our efforts to jettison the jokers who are responsible for it.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/…..00219.html

[seguin]

He should know by now.

FYTW.

[Citizen Nothing]

Those IT threads look amusing. I’m gonna have to get a satellite dish or something.
Also, since I was on a full (academic) scholarship as an undergrad, does that now mean that I was an employee of my university? Where the fuck is my pension, Ohio State?

[Lord Humungus]

A $1.2 Tril Corporate Welfare State Lurks In U.S. Budget

This week is Sunshine Week in Washington, a designation made 10 years ago to promote transparency in government operations and how tax dollars are spent.

It’s an attempt to force federal agencies to release information on where the $4 trillion budget is really spent ? and Open the Books will release a new report on corporate welfare payments to the Fortune 100 companies from 2000 to 2012.

Over that period, the 100 received $1.2 trillion in payments from the federal government.

That number does not include the hundreds of billions of dollars in housing, bank and auto company bailouts in 2008 and 2009, because those payments and where they went are kept mostly invisible in the federal agency books.

[sarcasmic]

Fury as police investigate gay rights protestors for a HATE CRIME after vile homophobic sign outside a New York church is vandalized

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..homos.html

[seguin]

I was expecting a mildly offensive sign to homosexuals, then I read the article. Wow. That IS fucking vile.

Hate Crime Victim Status: It’s not what’s done to you, but who you are.

[invisible furry hand]

Here’s hoping the Homo Demons make an appearance in Warty Hugeman

[Rhywun]

Is that the “gays are scooping up all our black men” dude? He’s a riot.

[Lord Humungus]

‘Smuggler caught with diamonds in his pants’

A man from Hong Kong was caught at a checkpoint at Shenzhen trying to smuggle more than 7,000 diamonds in his underwear, according to a mainland media report.

The man was stopped at the Shenzhen Bay crossing last Thursday after customs officers noticed he was walking in a peculiar manner, the Guangzhou Daily said.

Officers searched him and found a small plastic bag in his underwear containing thousands of small diamonds, semi-finished stones and gold jewellery.

[db]

Should’ve kept them.on the.soles.of.his.shoes.

[Citizen Nothing]

+(spinning to) infinity

[Rasilio]

Idiots, they should have had a woman do it, glued them to her and if she was caught she could just say she just had herself vajazzled

[sarcasmic]

Every cloud has a golden lining! California’s three-year drought prompts new gold rush in same hills that drew fortune seekers in the 1880s

Low water levels have led to a mini gold rush in the Sierra Nevada foothills
Same area that drew fortune seekers in the mid-1800s
Gold rush from December – January saw amateurs dig for riverbed riches
Lack of water means miners try to get to the bedrock where the best gold is

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..s-ago.html

[Notorious G.K.C.]

“The Coalition of African American Pastors, a group of conservative, black men of the cloth, say Attorney General Eric Holder ought to be impeached for his stance on gay marriage laws….

“”If Obama was a white man, he would be impeached,” said Rev. William Owens, the group’s founder and president, in The Hill. “Obama has been given a free pass to do what he pleases, but I don’t give him a pass. I’m very black, been black all my life. He doesn’t get a pass. I don’t give him a pass.””

http://www.washingtontimes.com…..-marriage/

[Strapping Young Lad]

Internalized racism.

[sarcasmic]

McStupid? Norwegian teen has his McDonald’s dinner receipt tattooed on his ARM for a dare… and his dad’s locked him out as a result

Stian Ytterdahl tattooed the receipt from his McDonald’s visit
The 18-year-old did it as ‘punishment’ for his success with the ladies
Mr Ytterdahl, thought it was better than the alternative – a Barbie doll

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..kdown.html

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I’m gonna guess that one job that may be in demand in the near future are tattoo removal specialists. Getting a tattoo seems to be a fad and I reckon a good chunk of those people may regret their decision. Just my impression.

[Fluffy]

I thought it was a fad, too, but it’s lasted a long time.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

My wife’s nerdy best friend who is going through some mid-life mini self-awareness crisis just got some on the inside of her wrists and ankles.

So it’s probably got a ways to go. My barometer will be athletes – soccer players in particular who follow trends and fads. Once that slows down, it’ll probably cut across to the commoners.

[Rhywun]

Football players are covered head-to-toe now, too. I am pretty damn sick of the tatt fad but they do provide a handy means of identifying extreme narcissists so I can laugh at them – so there is that.

[mr simple]

It’s pretty ridiculous with basketball players, too, even at the college level.

[invisible furry hand]

As long as there are people who think every brainfart is worth tweeting or posting, there will be someone who thinks at least one of those brainfarts deserves a permanent record for the edification of total strangers.

[Rasilio]

I too think Tatoo’s are stupid but I am not so sure that they will go away this time.

Usually fads like tattoo’s come and go in 10 ish year cycles, this one has been going on for close to 20 and shows no real sign of fading. The fad also is usually tied to general economic conditions, more prosperity and economic confidence usually leads to a more experimental social sphere less economic prosperity and confidence leads to a more conservative social sphere. The current tattoo fad has survived 2 economic crashes and a prolonged economic slump.

Normally by this point people worried about finances should have started normalizing and homogenizing their appearance and eschewing individualized things like tattoos out of fear that they would harm job prospects a long time ago, certainly by 2010 but it hasn’t happened and if it hangs on for another decade then the last of the boomers will be out of power, Gen X’ers will be starting to retire and a much more socially tolerant group of millenials who realistically won’t care about employees with tats will be taking power.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Usually fads like tattoo’s come and go in 10 ish year cycles, this one has been going on for close to 20 and shows no real sign of fading.

The current fashion started off as an emulation of rock stars and rappers, and now that just about every professional athlete and celebrity seems to have ink of some kind, it’s not going away for a good long while. Count me in as one of those who think most tats are ridiculous.

This is going to be one of those phenomena that’s studied as part of American history courses just because it’s lasted so damn long. And yeah, whoever invents and patents a method to easily remove tats like you’d wash off paint is going to end up leaving behind massively wealthy heirs to be wastes of space on reality TV shows.

[Rhywun]

It’s not just tatts – style in general seems to have frozen around 1995. I can’t pick any other 20-year span in the last couple hundred years and find so little change. It’s weird.

[Brett L]

One very drunken tattoo as a newly-minted adult of 18 was enough to cure me. And even then I was smart enough to get one that really can’t be seen unless I’m wearing shorts.

[gimmeasammich]

So the ass antlers aren’t suiting you anymore?

[Rich]

‘I almost got it. Every time I just about got there, it would cut me off.’ We have a lot of people just like this through no fault of the Internet, but because people are not educated on how to use the Internet.”

But, enough about the H&R “comment squirrels” so-called scandal.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

the most under-reported story of 2014 (so far) has been Harry Reid’s rapid descent into mouth-frothing insanity.

[John]

In fairness, he didn’t have far to fall. If the Republicans were anything but sad sack losers, they would put together a 30 second mic of Harry’s greatest hits and then at the end have a voice over saying

“A vote for a Democratic Senator in November is really a vote for this man to be majority leader”

And run it in every single Senate race in America.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I always thought he was a sharp-elbowed hack and an unprincipled douche, but in the last month he has called the Koch brothers UnAmerican, accused the GOP of facilitating the annexation of Crimea, and now he thinks America doesn’t know how to use the Internet. Ye gods.

[John]

Remember back in 2012 he said that Romney hadn’t paid his taxes. When asked how he knew this, his response was “it is not up to me to provide proof it is up to Romney to show he did.”

He has a lot of competition in the Senate. But I think he might hold the title as the country’s most despicable politician not currently under indictment.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Just look at how deep the Kochspiracy goes:

http://www.ralstonreports.com/…..zL9mfldUht

The Federal Election Commission has sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s campaign, asking for more information on why he listed an expenditure of more than $16,000 in “holiday gifts.”

The gifts, I have learned, were purchased from his granddaughter, Ryan Elisabeth Reid, who is a jewelry vendor in Berkeley, CA. The gifts were later passed on to donors and supporters, a Reid spokeswoman told me.

[John]

They even run the FEC. Maybe I am a cynic, but there is no way in hell that someone could have risen to power in Nevada in the 1970s without having some dealings with and ties to the Mafia.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Maybe I am a cynic, but there is no way in hell that someone could have risen to power in Nevada in the 1970s without having some dealings with and ties to the Mafia.

Isn’t he supposed to be the “Senator” that Dick Smothers portrayed in Casino?

[Tejicano]

Yup, that would have been a tall order. I remember that the population of the entire state didn’t top a half million people until the late 70’s. Hard to imagine doing business of any kind there without rubbing elbows with some dude transplated from the east coast to “manage” some business interests.

[Bardas Phocas]

I’ve heard he’s an opium fiend.

It’s up to up to him to show that he’s not.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

+1 evilmongers

[Ted S.]

I remember back in 2008 there were Team Blue types thrilled that Russia had attacked Georgia (the country) because Georgia had supported GWB and vice versa.

[Ted S.]

If they were anything but sad sack losers, they would have beaten Reid in 2010.

[110 Lean]

“A vote for a Democratic Senator in November is really a vote for this man to be majority leader”

If you like your majority leader you can keep him. Period.

[sarcasmic]

He’s not insane. He’s just an unprincipled liar.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

First he calls them liars and then stupid.

Seriously. Anyone who has ever voted for this guy should be wondering about that decision.

[DontShootMe]

How can the dead wonder?

[sarcasmic]

The Californian building an ark in his back garden: Inventor claims ‘tsunamiball’ could survive any storm

Boat will kept on a high ‘perch’ in Palo Alto garden in case a tsunami hits
Has enough room for an entire family
In the event of a Tsunami, it simply floats with the wave
Set to be rented out on Airbnb until needed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci…..storm.html
Hope he’s got all his permits in order. I can see some government asshole demanding he tear it down for not asking permission to build.

[John]

And it is California, when the SWAT team shows up to enforce the various codes and environmental laws he is braking, I just hope he doesn’t own a dog.

[sarcasmic]

It actually floats! The world’s first 3D printed kayak that took 42 days to print… and it’s quite fetching too

Engineer Jim Smith built kayak using 28 printed sections of ABS plastic
Sections fixed together with brass screws and sealed with silicone caulk
Design was based on Siskiwit Bay kayak but modified for 3D printing
The bill for the 3D kayak came to $500 – after 1013 hours of work

Looks like it’s made of Legos.

[John]

It is a start. How many hours will it take in 10 years? I bet a lot less.

[Bam!]

Given that there are molded plastic kayaks, what is the point of this?

[UnCivilServant]

It’s like the people who build boats in their basement. It’s not about the boating, but the making.

[Tonio]

Excellent point, Bam! And one of the advantages of a mono-hull, rotomolded kayak is the strength and waterproofness of the one-piece hull.

3D printing holds a lot of promise, but this is not one of those areas.

[John]

This Tyler Cowen attack is unsurprising but disturbing none the less. The left is getting violent and they are in power. How crazy are they going to get if they are kicked out of power in the next two years?

The worst part about it is that Cowen is hardly a household name. You have to be an economics/policy geek to even know who he is. If someone like Cowen is in danger, how much danger is someone like Thomas Sowell or Michelle Malkin in? One of the more nasty sneers directed at Sarah Palin is how she “quit as governor”. What is never mentioned is that the State of Alaska wouldn’t pay for her to have any personal security. It was going to bankrupt her to hire her own. She had nuts coming up to her door practically daily. Given what happened to Cowen yesterday, someone about 1/100th as known or as hated by the left as Palin, how could you blame her from walking away?

[Restoras]

It was probably the shrieking moron. Also, imagine what happens when some progtard idiot tries this on someone with a concealed carry permit. Lulz.

[John]

While the thought of some prog moron meeting his end trying something like this makes me happy, I have a feeling such a story would immediately be picked up by the media and shown as an example of “right wing violence”.

They have gone full fascist. Part of how fascists operate is to use physical violence and mob intimidation against their political enemies while using their propaganda machine to portray their opponents as the violent ones if the opponents ever try to fight back.

[Restoras]

I don’t disagree, John. However at least there are alternative media sources increasingly available to people that want to seek out the truth. Those weren’t really available during the rise of fascism/communism in the 20s and 30s. Plus, in Europe at least, you had a largely disarmed population that was also (and still is) at least partly in thrall to state power/strongman mentality. While that is obviously also the case here with the progtard left, it isn’t the case everywhere.

Interesting times ahead.

[John]

Yes. America is (still thankfully) too big, too violent, and too well armed for paper hanging little bastards like our current Progs to ever really succeed. There were plenty of real fascists running around America in the 1930s. They just never got anywhere because if they had tried the shit the Nazis pulled in Germany, they would have gotten their asses kicked.

This is why the Progs want to disarm the country. People owning guns prevents them from using mob violence. Take away people’s guns and then what does someone do when the intellectual children of Bill Ayers show up with their little gang? Right now you point a shotgun out your front door and tell them good luck. Progs know this and hate it.

[Restoras]

I have to think they just despise the Bill of Rights. The entire purpose of the BoR is to preserve, in very clear and straight language that is unmistakeable to anyone getting enough oxygen, the ability of the people to revolt against and replace thier government. I agree with you 100% that is why they are gradually disarming the country. Take away the ability to fight back (or at least make it a lot harder and riskier) and it is a lot easily to go full fascist on the population.

[Michael Ejercito]

if it works for them, why should you guys not emulate their tactics?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

If these unfortunate incidences were to graduate into murder, the trend seems to be the act will likely be perpetuated by a left-wing prog more than anything.

I can’t think of an incidence where a Tea Party person attacked or was arrested for an aggressive act. I could be wrong.

[John]

I can’t think of one either. I think it is just a matter of time before someone well known on the right is murdered.

And didn’t the nut who shot up the family research council kill someone? Or did he just wound a few people?

[110 Lean]

DO NOT RESPOND TO IT (below)

[The Laconic Marc F Cheney]

This Tyler Cowen attack is unsurprising but disturbing none the less. The left is getting violent and they are in power.

Do we know now that the attacker was a leftist? Do you have a link? (Serious question.)

[califernian]

Plus Cowen is half lefty anyway. jeez.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced Wednesday afternoon a settlement with Bank of America for about $9.33 billion. The deal will end litigation over the bad mortgages issued leading up to the financial crisis.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101528427

[John]

Only took them six years and they got a fine that BofA will be able to pay by shacking out the change from the COO’s couch.

That is real justice there.

[Ken Shultz]

I think it may be disgracefully unjust.

The loans in question were originate by Countrywide, and both the Countrywide and Merrill acquisitions were probably forced.

http://www.businessinsider.com…..uy-merrill

[John]

But didn’t BofA get a TARP bailout? The only reason the feds were able to force them to buy those companies is because they wanted the bailout money.

Am I not remembering that right? If that is the case, then screw BofA. If not, then yeah, that is bullshit.

But if there were any justice Chris Dodd and Barney Frank and all of the other “Friends of Angelo” would be in federal prison right now.

[110 Lean]

STOP IT.

[Tejicano]

/\/\THIS/\/\

Hell, I stopped reading its crap long ago when it became clear that there was no intellectual content whatsoever. I hope it wastes its time responding to this comment since I will neve read that response nor care about it.

[tarran]

Hell, I stopped reading its crap long ago when it became clear that there was no intellectual content whatsoever

THAT’S BECAUSE IT’S NOT SENTIENT!!!!!!

Its mind is shambolic mess of neurons that survived the great die off of what had once been a human mind.

It cannot comprehend any of the concepts contained within the words it’s slapping on the pages.

[Aloysious]

A new dwarf planet discovered in the inner Oort Cloud is renewing speculation about a giant Planet X beyond the orbit of Pluto.

Zecharia Sitchin has an idea or two on names…

[Auric Demonocles]

I think Pro Lib and I could find this location useful.

[mr simple]

A new franchise location for the python meat restaurant?

Last food before next solar system.

[Auric Demonocles]

As another base for our rock dropping plans. Particularly on people with heretical views on where the solar system ends.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

So it looks like Voyager has NOT left the Solar System yet.

[Ted S.]

New Zealanders put Family Court recordings on Youtube

Service Consumers of the New Zealand Family Court have now begun covertly digitally recording Lawyers meetings, Counselling sessions, mediation sittings, and even Court room procedures, and uploading them to Youtube.

Convenor of http://www.nzfamilycourt.com Steve Taylor said that this was an overdue exercise in transparency, and that the practice would only grow over time.

“When an organisation such as the New Zealand Family Court acts in the manner of a corporate cult, deliberately insulating its people and practices from the public eye, and willingly practicing gross abuse of process and the law, Family Court Consumers harmed by this experience are eventually going to speak out publically, just as ex-cult members and families eventually speak out publically” said Mr Taylor.

Theoretically, the 6A should make Family Court proceedings in the US public.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sounds like what I’m reading about DCF in Massachusetts.

[Lord Humungus]

We had a corporate meeting the other day – part of the news is the new company policy regarding tobacco usage. If you declare yourself as a non-tabacco user (and get the resulting cheaper insurance), you will can be randomly tested. This random testing also holds true for your spouse.

So in my case, my wife can be called in by my company to be tested (via a swab) for nicotine usage.

Of course I can see the reasons for doing so – since a minority will lie on the form and continue to smoke, but this method does seem awfully heavy-handed and not conducive to employee morale. eg – you trust me with millions of dollars of computer systems – but not enough to take my word on a form.

(note – I do smoke on a rare occasion but I’m definitely not a smoker)

And on a side note, I mentioned the above, blaming the coming nanny state. And one of my lib friends said it’s actually the result of small government and conservatives.

[John]

Fuck them. I don’t smoke and neither does my wife. But I would never submit to random testing I don’t give a shit how much they want to charge me.

[Libertymike]

Yeah, fuck them and the whole anti-smoking nanny / Nazi state phenomenon.

You know, it presents difficulties for hard core anarchists like me. Take hotels, for instance.

As you know, there are many hotels which do not permit smoking. There is a real nice place in Stowe, Vermont at which my wife and I have stayed many times. The hotel requires patrons to sign a No-Smoking pledge at check-in. If the hotel determines that you have breached the pledge, your Visa is whacked for $250.00.

I have talked to the general manager of the resort and informed him that the policy sucks and is a by-product of the anti-smoking hysteria. He didn’t want to hear it.

We will not be patronizing the place, ever again.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Eh, I dare those places to try to charge my credit card. I’ll take that one as far as it will go.

[John]

My wife used to do fund raising at a private school. She wanted to set up a tent on a nice night in the fall and have Monday Night Football and cigar night. Have a fund raiser where parents could come and smoke cigars and drink and watch the game. She had a high end tobacco shop lined up as a sponsor. It was a great idea and would have raised a ton of money.

The school’s board got wind of the idea and threw a fit. They were a tobacco free campus and they didn’t want to set a bad example for the students. Pathetic.

[Citizen Nothing]

I hate, hate, hate tobacco smoke — I certainly wouldn’t stay in a hotel room that smelled of it. But like Libertymike, I think business owners should be allowed to set their own policy.

[Citizen Nothing]

But if you do smoke, what you do is complain after you check out/turn in rental car, that the guy before you must have smoked in the room/car, and that it was too much of a hassle to demand a new room/car, but they’d better clamp down on those idiots or you’re never coming back.
Not that this is ethical or anything. But it can save you some bucks.

[Auric Demonocles]

This is exactly my position, which is sadly not a very common one.

[RBS]

My stepdad’s restaurant went completely smoke free last year (smoke anywheresmoke at the bar/smoking sectiononly smoke at the bar). I was pretty adamant that he not do it but the pressure on the business was too great since we rely on tourist families and most of them come from places where non-smoking is the norm.

[Don Mynack]

And I would tell you that you are welcome to stay somewhere else if you don’t agree. It’s his property, he gets to set the rules. What about this is hard to understand?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The rule is idiotic.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Then he will go out of business, or do appreciably worse for it.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

seriously: Molon Labe, bitches.

[SugarFree]

Where do they swab?

[Lord Humungus]

the decks? /sarc

[SIV]

Nicotine usage would include vaping,”smokeless tobacco”, nicotine gum…

[Lord Humungus]

yep.

[Hash Brown]

And on a side note, I mentioned the above, blaming the coming nanny state.

Thanks for clarifying that.

[Lord Humungus]

should have read the above on FB

[OldMexican]

Re: Lord Humungus,

We had a corporate meeting the other day – part of the news is the new company policy regarding tobacco usage.

Does your company self-insure? Because that explains the change in policy. I get a $50 discount per payment period (to be more accurate, I don’t get penalized at the tune of $50 per payment period) if I say I am not a smoker – which I’m not – when preparing my benefits for the current year.

(note – I do smoke on a rare occasion but I’m definitely not a smoker)

And the name of your company is….

[Lord Humungus]

Yes, we do self-insure.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That’s the part the scares me the most. The last sentence. There’s no way to rationally discuss things with them. Even if something is a progressive policy they’ll just blame the other side if it goes bad for whatever reason (s).

It’s almost as if you have to banish or quarantine these people outright.

For the children. And this time, we really would be protecting kids.

[Don Mynack]

If they agreed to give you a larger discount for taking the test, would you? Have you ever had to take a blood test/health exam for life insurance? It’s the same thing.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

It’s not because the presence of nicotine is not necessarily indicative of a health concern.

[Lord Humungus]

Perhaps this sounds strange, but I would rather have them test everyone outright and decide the insurance rate based on that. The random testing – especially of the spouse – irks me. Or perhaps it’s the possibility of having my rate go up because I decide to have one cigar at a poker party, get hit by a random test a few days later, and then get marked as a smoker, even though that was the only tobacco product I had for months.

Also – warning: slippery slope argument ahead – I see this as part of a coming trend. For example, if overweight people – like smokers – consume more healthcare dollars, then I can see BMI being used to for rate changes. Or maybe cholesterol checks would be next.

[mr simple]

then I can see BMI being used to for rate changes.

It already is. My company gave an incentive (money back from insurance premiums) to have a medical screening and an additional bonus if you passed, or all your numbers were inside what they considered healthy ranges. My weight and waistline were inside the healthy ranges, but my BMI was high, so I didn’t get the bonus. I can only conclude that I’m too short for my own health.

[Rhywun]

Smokers do not consume more healthcare dollars. This is about nothing more than punishing disapproved behavior.

[Lord Humungus]

Life insurance? Never needed it.

[SugarFree]

As Warty Hugeman’s authorized biographer in this frame of reference, are there any questions you would like answered?

Keep in mind that I haven’t slept a wink and I only had Red bull and Vicodin for breakfast.

[sarcasmic]

Does he have anything to do with this?

[SugarFree]

No, but it is a 1:1 scale replica.

Also, I love that they covered up the treenis with cartoon jubblies.

[db]

I have to.catch up.on 5 and 6 yet.

[db]

I am afraid to do it at work since 4 had.me chuckling out loud.

[SugarFree]

5, 6 and 7 in one post.

[db]

Must.resist.temptation.

[Rich]

Does Warty have any Presidential aspirations?

[SugarFree]

Warty Hugeman has been President many times. He has ruled as King, Emperor, Tsar, Pharaoh and Caesar. He was the horse that sexed up on Catherine the Great. He held the sheet music while Nero fiddled. He had sex with a Pyramid.

[Rich]

He had sex with a Pyramid.

The one with the ever-widening hole, no doubt.

[Lord Humungus]

Who would win in an arm-wrestling match, Warty or STEVE SMITH?

[Citizen Nothing]

I don’t think they’d be arm-wrestling.

[Lord Humungus]

true, as the Doomcock stories revealed.

I was just hoping to get a measure of upper body strength.

[SugarFree]

Warty Hugeman can lift the weight of three Scolarian MegaOxen in a 1.3 Earth standard gravity field.

[SugarFree]

Warty, because he has opposable thumbs and STEVE SMITH cannot wear a backwards baseball cap due to abnormal cranial structure.

[invisible furry hand]

Is it true he refused to enter Bill Maher’s vagina?

[SugarFree]

Yes. There are some places not even the strongest of us can venture.

[db]

Has Warty ever met up with Lazarus Long, and what did the resulting.orgy look like?

[SugarFree]

Lazarus Long is a fictional character.

[db]

Multiverse, dude. All fictions are true somewhere and.vice.versa. It’s how Obamacare works.

[SugarFree]

cool story, bro

[hamilton]

Q1: Warty Hugeman or Chuck Norris?
Q2: What, if any, connection exists between W.H and Geddy Lee? It seems like there ought to be one.

[SugarFree]

1. They once fought to a draw, but that was in the 1970s and before the degeneration cause by the background radiation of filming Walker, Texas Ranger caused Chuck Norris to do infomercials.

2. They have met many times in many times. “The Fountain of Lamneth” is a thinly disguised biography of Warty Hugeman.

[Rich]

Is it true that Warty’s middle name is “The”?

[SugarFree]

Warty Hugeman does not have a middle name. He sold it back to his parents to buy his first car.

[invisible furry hand]

What was Warty Hugeman’s first car and how did he fit into it?

[SugarFree]

1979 Pontiac Firebird and with ease. He wasn’t born a huge man, he made himself one through will, tenacity and super science.

[Rich]

But I thought Warty was his own grandpa. I confused.

[Andrew S.]

He did do the nasty in the pasty.

[SugarFree]

That has never been established as canon. Stop reading trashy internet slash fic.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

“Stop reading trashy internet slash fic.”

*rises to begin thunderous applause*

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I only had Red bull and Vicodin for breakfast.

man that sounds good.

[SugarFree]

It has its ups and downs.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

That sounded like the idea.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Cut or uncut?

[SugarFree]

Cut. This has already been established.

Maybe ask a real question next time, lady.

[invisible furry hand]

Watch me splatter all of existence with the hot semen of my justice!

I dare you to say that to the next person who returns a book late

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

But what does he like?

[SugarFree]

Warty Hugeman is an intactavist, but he was accidentally circumcised as an infant in a terrorist bombing.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

“Someone who’s not David Gregory convicted of stupid DC gun law violation

“D.C. gun laws are for the little people.

“Yesterday, a D.C. Judge found Mark Witaschek guilty of “attempted possession of unlawful ammunition” for possessing an antique replica muzzleloader bullet….

“Ultimately, Mr. Witaschek was sentenced to time served, a $50 fine, and is required to enroll with the Metropolitan Police Department’s firearm offenders’ registry within 48 hours.”

http://legalinsurrection.com/2…..violation/

[CampingInYourPark]

The analysis we did with our navigator was an eye-opener. Not only did it show us a bevy of hidden costs like out-of-network charges, it confirmed the idea that we were getting a pretty good deal with our existing policy, although it will probably only be a bargain through this year.

What was vexing, though, wasn’t the trade-off between paying lower premiums in exchange for less-inclusive networks and higher out of pockets. It was the implicit “nudge” to get us to pay much more upfront ? up to $500 a month ? for a policy that would include our preferred doctors and hospitals.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/…..00671.html

[John]

Those are just tea bagging liars. Obamacare is a big nothing. It doesn’t affect anyone. Shreek told me so.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Harry Reid says you lie! Or don’t know how to use the interwebz.

[OldMexican]

President Obama visited Pope Francis at the Vatican. He said the pope’s message challenged him and others on economic and social issues, but focused his remarks largely on the former, where the two have more in common.

Yes. They’re both equally clueless on economic matters.

Senate Democrats worried about their party’s prospects in the November midterms are planning on introducing “principles” and legislation to fix Obamacare.

Because “Law of the land, bitches!” just doesn’t cut it anymore.

[UnCivilServant]

To be fair to Francis, the Pope’s primary job requirement is on theological matters. I got nothing for Obummer though.

[Injun, as in from India]

To be fair to Francis, the Pope’s primary job requirement is on theological matters.

But he is sticking his sh into temporal matters too. If he stuck with his theological matters, it would be okay.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

“Rand Paul builds 50-state network, courts mainstream support for presidential bid…

“Rand Paul’s nationwide organization, which counts more than 200 people, includes new backers who have previously funded more traditional Republicans, along with longtime libertarian activists. Paul, of Kentucky, has also been courting Wall Street titans and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who donated to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, attending elite conclaves in Utah and elsewhere along with other GOP hopefuls….

“In June, in a pilgrimage to Facebook’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Paul spoke with the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and wrote a Patrick Henry-inspired social-media message ? “Give me liberty to post” ? on a hallway chalkboard.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..story.html

[John]

No one believes me but Paul is, in the words of the great Kentucky Fried Movie, building and army of incredible magnitude. His organization is miles ahead of any other Republican candidate. And unlike most of the rest of them, he has an actual following and constituency. If someone else doesn’t start getting serious, the GOP is not going to know what hit them.

[kinnath]

Rand is the only reason why I am still a registered Republican.

[Emmerson Biggins]

ditto. not really registered. but voting in the primary puts you on a list.

[Michael]

Umm… that would be “a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude”.

Sorry. Carry on.

[John]

My mistake.

[db]

I’d like to compare the number.of.people who.have gained a favorable.impression of Rand Paul versus the.number.of.people.who.have signed.up.for Obamacare since.October.

[Injun, as in from India]

Don’t worry. Sheldon Adelson will swat him down. Rand is too non-interventionist and anti-foreign country welfare.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Obama, (or as Morely Safers calls you, President Obama) welcome to ‘It’s your move!’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TWqqSMRFbU

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/185896/

Damn, this is a good political ad against Al Franken. Have aliens kidnapped the Republicans and replaced them with beings that actually want to win?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

But…shadowy billionaires!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

yeah damn it’s about time. More like this please.

[Pope Jimbo]

I don’t know. I pay some attention to local politics here and I couldn’t tell you any of the names of the people who are running against Franken. I don’t think that bodes well.

Franken has also kept a pretty low profile in the senate. I’m as stunned as anyone, but he hasn’t really done anything so horrible that it got him in the news.

[John]

He is just an empty Prog party line voting chair.

[Pope Jimbo]

He’s practically Henry Clay compared to Amy Klobuchar and we re-elected her.

Sorry, right now I don’t see a way Franken loses.

[John]

I don’t know. He barely won in 2008, the biggest Democratic wave year in living memory. If he couldn’t win in a blowout then, how is he going to win at all in what appears to be a very bad year for the Democrats?

[Citizen Nothing]

Because he’s good enough, he’s smart enough, and doggone it, people like him!

[mr simple]

The same way he won in 2008? Voter fraud and sympathetic judges.

[John]

That only works if the election is close.

[Ted S.]

No transcript?

[Lord Humungus]

Luddite!

[Rich]

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have created a “thinking cap” that electrically stimulates the brain to increase its ability to learn from mistakes.

When we humans make a mistake, we have an instinctive “oops” reaction in our brains …. To examine what effect this mistake response has on our behavior, two psychologists … designed a cap that administers a low-level current to the brain to simulate the spike. They hypothesized that the spike plays a role in learning, allowing the brain to learn from mistakes.

Dr. *Venkman*?!

[DontShootMe]

So, that’s how we identify future politicians. Anybody for who that spike doesn’t function.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Yeah, keep artificially enhancing people’s brains…no harm could possible come of it!

http://www.comics101.com/comics101//news/Comics 101/28/leader2.jpg

[Notorious G.K.C.]

oops, my own brain wasn’t enhanced as that link showed, try this:

http://bit.ly/1hxaZGE

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I hear Obama has put in an order.

‘I’ll take it! Better make it TWO!’

[Homple]

Why, to put it on the guy who programs the teleprompter?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Slow reaction time to attacker in Tyler Cowen attack:

“Students in the class itself were slow to react, because the course in session was on law and literature, and they were in the middle of a unit about vigilante justice, so the students assumed that the arrest was part of the class.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/201…..g-justice/

[Pope Jimbo]

I love it when the “for the children” approach to law making bites a progressive in the ass.

Here in Sunny Minnesota there is a push to legalize medical MJ “for the sick kids”. Our recovering(mostly)-medicated-for-depression liberal governor (Mark Dayton) is under fire for threatening to veto it.

Dayton is worried that he will lose the LEO voters if he approves it. He tried to propose a solution where there would be clinical trials at the Mayo before it could be legalized. The mothers with sick kids didn’t like that and Dayton told them that they could just “buy it off the street.” After all any amount under 1.5 oz is just a petty misdemeanor.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/…..illegally/

Outrage ensues.

On the morning commute I was listening to a local radio station and they had a great clip of Dayton saying that “I have been told that in any city you can buy this stuff” and they should just do that. Can’t find a link to the actual audio.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

That is fookin’ amusing. Al Franken and this guy – what the hell is the matter with those frostbitten Minnesotans?

[Pope Jimbo]

How much time you got?

p.s. Don’t forget to add the Vikings to your list.

[Rasilio]

You know your state is screwed up when Jessie the Body Ventura is the best high profile politician you have elected in more than a decade

[The Late P Brooks]

All aboard the Gravy Train.

As a Transportation Security Administration officer, Milka Overton’s job is to keep people safe. Yet on her way to work Monday, Overton found herself in danger aboard the CTA Blue Line train that crashed at O’Hare ? and she questions how the operator fell asleep at the wheel given that she had dozed off at work before.

“The very first time, she should have been fired or let go because you literally have people’s lives in your hands,” said Overton, who suffered an arm and shoulder injury when the train jumped the platform onto an escalator at 2:50 a.m. Monday.

———-

Overton and another passenger, Niakesha Thomas, have filed lawsuits in Cook County circuit court accusing the CTA of negligence.

What ever happened to workers’ solidarity?

That poor woman. Now she’ll retire on a fat TSA disability pension; she should thank the train driver when she wakes up.

[Mokers]

As a Transportation Security Administration officer, Milka Overton’s job is to keep people safe.

Citation needed.

[OldMexican]

Dallas Council Of Meatheads Approves Fee-Based Ban On Grocery Plastic Bags

[…][B]eginning January 1 retailers will have to charge customers who want them “an environmental fee” of five cents per bag, and they will get to keep 10 percent of that money. The ordinance also says retailers who want to keep handing out plastic and paper bags will have to register with the city and keep track of bags sold.

The city says the money raised from the bag fees will help go toward funding enforcement and education efforts that assistant city manager Jill Jordan told the council could cost around $250,000 and necessitate the hiring of up to 12 additional staff members.

But it’s never about stifling the competition like all those 99c stores and such – nah! How cynical of you! No! It’s all about saving the environment!

[Homple]

Dallas TEXAS did this? What’s the Matter With Texas?

[mr simple]

He said it’s important for residents to know the ban does not cover a variety of bags, such as those in the produce section of grocery stores or at restaurants

“Folks need to understand that these are single-use carryout bags,” Caraway said. “These are simply those thin, flimsy bags that take flight and that are undesirable and bad for the environment.”

I fail to see an actual distinction.

[Rhywun]

The city says the money raised from the bag fees will help go toward funding enforcement and education efforts go directly into the pockets of unionized teachers and cops

FTFT

NYC is trying to pull this shit too – only it’s 10 cents a bag. Goddamn motherfuckers there is no way I will pay that. I will carry as much shit in my arms as I can before I submit to that joke.

[John]

More proof that Progressives are animists. The feds have now made it illegal to sell anything with ivory in it. So anyone who has an antique object made of ivory is now screwed since they can’t prove it wasn’t new.
The NYT runs a reasonably fair article about how stupid and unfair this is. The low sloped forehead crowd in the comment section chime in with this gem.

First, that some folks, who own ivory objects, can’t import them, export them or sell them, because they can’t prove they were legally taken, and that this is a sad thing for them because they have sentimental attachments to them. My response? Too bad. Those objects have the stench of death. This is why I had all those ivory keys on MY piano removed and destroyed. I did not want to touch those objects, once I was made aware of what they meant.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2…..rying.html

Ladies and Gentleman, here is primitive man posting on the internet. You cannot build an advanced civilization with people like that. We are going to end up back in caves if these people are not stopped.

[Jordan]

Unlike the War On Drugs, the War On Ivory will actually be successful, but not in the way they intend. It will certainly eradicate ivory trading, as the animals have been rendered worthless to the locals who live there, while they’ve become even more valuable to poachers and smugglers. Bye-bye rhinos and elephants; you must be sacrificed on the altar of economic illiteracy and good intentions.

[John]

Sadly, yes. Their solution to a poaching problem is to make the animals worthless to anyone but poachers.

[Tim]

Coming late to the links is like trying to surf a wave that has already crested.

[Auric Demonocles]

YOUR OPINIONS MEAN NOTHING AFTER 9:25!

[invisible furry hand]

Some people’s opinions mean nothing before 9.25 either

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Stop othering me!

*leaves the room, sobbing*

[Rich]

Guinea Bans Bat Eating

“The Kissi community eats bats and the epidemic is making a lot of devastation,” Moriba Traore, an inhabitant of Gueckedou, said by telephone. “Families in villages lost eight or ten members and people are dying. We are afraid.”

How the other half lives. 8-(

[Tonio]

Because the bats carry the Ebola virus and there is an outbreak in that region. Could turn really nasty.

[Brett L]

I have to say that I hope that the TSA doesn’t use Houston-Hobby as a model for training other airports. The people working the security lines were uniformly polite, quick, and professional. I almost didn’t mind the security theater.

[John]

I have never had an issue with TSA. I think their procedures are idiotic but that is not the employees fault. The actual people I have dealt with have always been very polite.

[Citizen Nothing]

You know who else could be polite, quick and professional?

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Andy Frain?

[gimmeasammich]

Jean Reno as Leon?

[Andrew S.]

I’ve dealt with decent TSA employees. I’ve also dealt with complete assholes.

“Good” TSA employees are like “Good” cops. Few and far between, if there are any. The “good” ones tend to cover for the crap the bad ones do.

[RBS]

I used to love going through security when I worked for the congressman. I’d show the TSA person my badge and skip everyone else. Douchey as hell I know but think of it this way, that many more people probably hate congressional staff. You’re welcome.

[John]

I could do that with my government ID but I refuse to. It just bugs me to no end that we have a Praetorian class in this country. I don’t care if I am one of the bottom members of it. I won’t support it.

[RBS]

Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t do it now that I’m slightly more mature.

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Do You Know Who I Am? /John Kerry

[OldMexican]

IMF Offers Ukraine An $18 Billion Dollar Bailout

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday pledged $18 billion in loans to prop up Ukraine’s sinking economy, as the nation’s prime minister forecast more pain ahead without reforms that will affect nearly everyone in the country.

In a lengthy and passionate address to parliament, Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned that Ukraine was “on the brink of the economic and financial bankruptcy” and laid out details for fixes needed to put the country back on track, including raising taxes, a freeze on minimum wage and radically higher energy prices.

The reforms will hit households hard, which is likely to severely dent the interim government’s tenuous hold on power.

Better to sell your sole to the IMF store than red, I’ve always said.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

“Better to sell your sole”

The IMF is fishmonging?

[kinnath]

If if “scholarships” mean football players are employees, doesn’t that may “scholarships” taxable income.

[Auric Demonocles]

Also it means smart kids are employees too.

[KDN]

I disagree. Receiving the scholarship isn’t what makes them employees, it’s the strings that come with it.

NLRB regional director Peter Sung Ohr cited the players’ time commitment to their sport and the fact that their scholarships were tied directly to their performance on the field as reasons for granting them union rights.

Ohr wrote in his ruling that the players “fall squarely within the [National Labor Relations] Act’s broad definition of ’employee’ when one considers the common law definition of ’employee.'”

Academic scholarship recipients essentially receive a 100% discount for a product they are purchasing. Athletes receive that product in exchange for services rendered; it’s employment compensation.

[RBS]

Maybe, but don’t you lose your scholarship if you suck at school?

[Auric Demonocles]

There’s strings on academic scholarships too. They require a particular GPA to maintain, so you’re still doing “work” for the university: You’re raising their prestige by bringing up their academic credentials. For that service, the university compensates you.

[KDN]

That’s not really work for the university. You’re using the product in the same manner as any other customer, but your discount is dependent upon you getting more from your purchase than others. If that counts as employment then anyone with a volume discount plan at Napa should count as one.

[Auric Demonocles]

Part of the product of the university is access to its athletic programs. The athletic scholarship kids are getting a discount dependent on them getting more from their purchase than others.

I’m not the one arguing that athletes are employees. But if you consider them getting a scholarship to play sports well an employment contract, you have to consider a smart kid getting a scholarship to do school well an employment contract too. Maybe if schools at some point forbids walk-ons there will be a distinction you could try to make about what counts as part of the “product” the students are “purchasing”, but I still probably wouldn’t buy that.

[Citizen Nothing]

Ding-ding-ding!

[Ken Shultz]

A DEMOCRATIC state senator in California–who campaigned for gun control–was just arrested by the FBI for arms trafficking.

“SAN FRANCISCO — A California state senator who advocated gun control legislation asked for campaign donations in exchange for introducing an undercover FBI agent to an arms trafficker and told him how to get shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.

The allegations against state Sen. Leland Yee were outlined in an FBI affidavit in support of a criminal complaint. The affidavit accuses Yee of conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to illegally import firearms. He was arrested Wednesday and appeared later in federal court, where bail was set at $500,000.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ca…..eral-raid/

LO freakin’ L

[Andrew S.]

He was also the “brains” behind the anti-violent video game law that got smacked down by the Supreme Court a few years back.

[Jordan]

Bonus LOL: He was anti-videogame as well. He was especially outspoken against Grand Theft Auto. And now he’s pretty much become a character in it. I hope the developers pay tribute to him in the next game.

Bonus Bonus LOL: The gangster he was doing favors for was nicknamed “Shrimp Boy”.

[Ken Shultz]

He must have thought he had nothing to fear from law enforcement in California or anybody in the state media, either.

Oh, the benefits of a single-party state!

And I doubt this is the first time. You don’t generally have these conversations if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

And I guess the FBI must have known something was up. Seems like this operation would have had a high publicity fuck up potential.

[Rich]

It’s like his prostitution misadventures, Ken — “mistaken identity”.

[Mokers]

The full indictment is amazing. Among the charges, former president of SF School Board is accused in a murder for hire plot.

[Ken Shultz]

I said it was a single-party state?

It’s more like a mafia state.

[John]

Holy shit. It is easy to forget just how bat shit crazy NOCAL is. SOCAL is full of idiot socialists. But NOCAL is a completely different breed of crazy. The area didn’t produce Altemont and Jim Jones for nothing.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I view Norcal as having a strong resemblance to Chicago. Entrenched mafioso Democrats.

[John]

Chicago with a lot more drugs and weirdness thrown in.

[Don Mynack]

There are no details at all in that story involving the murder. Just some run-of-the mill child support payment garbage. Talk about a let-down.

[CampingInYourPark]

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon, who has been in office less than six months, resigned Wednesday, just hours after he was arrested and accused of taking more than $48,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen who wanted to do work with North Carolina’s largest city.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/st…..id=9480719

[Ken Shultz]

See? This is the kind of FBI work I can respect.

So sick of hearing about federal law enforcement agencies saving us from terrorism by basically waging a war against the Constitution and the American people.

Yeah, go get some corrupt politicians! Go bust some kidnappers! People used to think of the FBI as the good guys.

[Kaptious Kristen]

This is my favorite story of the year so far.

[HazelMeade]

Among other ideas, they called for allowing “copper” plans on the government-run health exchanges. The new insurance plans would offer lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs than the “bronze,” “silver” and “gold” options currently offered.

And this is how we will gut the law, and leave it standing in name only. Allow a bare-bones catestrophic coverage type plan on the exchange, and all the healthy young people will flock to it, and draw money away from the other insurance pools.
Leaving only catestrophic coverage standing.

I predicted that the Democrats would be begging Republicans to help them gut the law, and it is happening.

Among other things, the “copper” plans should reduce the minimum essential benefits list to eliminate maternity, pediatric dental care, substance abuse, and mental health treatment (you’d never hit the deductibles anyway).

[Ken Shultz]

In some ways, it’s nice that the government sees the necessity of offering what the market was selling people anyway, on the other hand, that’s about one issue out of a thousand.

I’m still looking forward to seeing the major insurers report their earnings in a couple of weeks.

[OldMexican]

Re: HazelMeade,

The new insurance plans would offer lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs than the “bronze,” “silver” and “gold” options currently offered.

I’m beginning to think that we’ll not see the end of rapidly-degraded plans to the point we end up with the Gold-painted Resin plan or the Plastiline plan.

[invisible furry hand]

where does this leave insurance goldbugs?

[Ken Shultz]

Wouldn’t it be something if government watered the plans down so badly that they actually became the low quality plans they accused the industry of selling in the first place that no one should want?

I was presented a statistic yesterday that claimed 53% of all public projects are completed on schedule.

They were bragging! I put on my serious face and asked him if he had the same metric for the private sector; he responded that he thought the private sector’s number was probably higher.

[UnCivilServant]

Oh that statistic, the qualification to be a “project” in my office simply means that two ore more business groups are involved. Now if there were minimum budget numbers applied to these “projects” to be compared, that 53% would drop.

[Ken Shultz]

I think what drives developers crazy the most is the difference in the perception of the importance of time.

Most speculative development deals are split on the basis of an IRR function–which is extremely time sensitive. If it takes me twice as long, I lose a lot more than half of my revenue. If I do it twice as fast, I make a lot more than double!

And I’m working with people who can get things done on schedule 53% of the time and brag about it! Sometimes I think their perception of time is driven by their career motivations, like, “I have fifteen more years to put in before I get my full pension, and it’ll definitely be done before then”.

[UnCivilServant]

“I’m on the ‘Iron’ plan. It doesn’t cover injuries from wood.”

[Mainer2]

Do they offer a pewter plan ?

(’cause, you know, pewter is funny…cause it’s got the word pew in it……)

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

I am on the sandstone plan!

[GILMORE]

Pew pew! Pew pew pew pew!! Pew!

[OldMexican]

An Irony-Impaired President Makes A Case For Energy Independence And Free Trade Of Fossil Fuels As A Way To Reduce Dependence On Russian Climate-Changey Energy Supplies

Several of the 28 EU nations regret their heavy dependence on Russian gas now that they are seeking to punish Moscow for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

Obama showed his willingness to help with the EU’s energy quandary. “Once we have a trade agreement in place, export licenses for projects ? for liquefied natural gas destined to Europe ? would be much easier, something that’s obviously relevant in today’s geopolitical climate,” Obama said.

Currently, the EU imports more than a third of its gas from Russia and tapping into the plentiful supplies in the United States would alleviate a pressing problem.

Let’s save the Global [Geopolitical] Climate!

[Injun, as in from India]

LOL.

[UnCivilServant]

As an example of how bad things are in New York for business, I recently saw a local dollar store with a going out of business sale – all items $0.75 (I am not kidding). Since they tend to do more business around upstate when things are bad (which is often these days) it makes me wonder how bad their overhead got and why.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Wow. Those things are normally recession proof.

[CampingInYourPark]

“Why I’m Jealous of My Dog’s Insurance”

I know that Obamacare is helping a great number of people. I understand that for the first time millions of people are getting health insurance. It’s the one thing that gives me solace.

But let’s not pretend that this new policy is the affordable health care savior that many of us were hoping for. For us, our new plan is a big financial hit for a product that does not make it any easier to get basic health care.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03……html?_r=1

[Notorious G.K.C.]

There was a slight discussion of this last night:

https://reason.com/blog/2014/03…..nt_4406404

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Also:

I gave insurance to my dog
When he began to beg
When I paid his premiums
He did the wild thing on my leg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OP5EnaaYjQ

[lap83]

“I know that Obamacare is helping a great number of people.”

He beats me because he loves me

[Lord Humungus]

Obama: ‘The Government Should Not Collect or Hold This Data in Bulk’
‘Instead, the data should remain at the telephone companies for the length of time it currently does today.’

President Obama has released a statement “on the Section 215 Bulk Metadata Program,” saying that “Having carefully considered the available options, I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk.” The statement is released by the White House wile President Obama is in Rome.

“Earlier this year in a speech at the Department of Justice, I announced a transition that would end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it previously existed and that we would establish a mechanism to preserve the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk metadata. I did so to give the public greater confidence that their privacy is appropriately protected, while maintaining the tools our intelligence and law enforcement agencies need to keep us safe,” reads the statement.

[Strapping Young Lad]

while maintaining the tools our intelligence and law enforcement agencies need to keep us safe

Whew! Don’t worry guys, he can still keep us safe. I feel so safe right now.

[hamilton]

“Having carefully considered the available options, I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not claim to collect or hold this data in bulk.”

Fixed.

[db]

Whatever. i’ll believe it when the bulk data centers run by the NSA et al shut down and the parts get.auctioned.off.

[Lord Humungus]

Gen-X Are More Likely to Have Diabetes Than Baby Boomers

People born from 1966 to 1980, known as Generation X, are fatter and twice as likely to have diabetes as Baby Boomers were at the same age, according to an Australian study that predicts younger generations will be sicker and costlier to care for in old age.

National health survey data were used to compare the groups at age 25 to 44 years. While Generation X was better educated and less likely to smoke, their prevalence of obesity was about 50 percent higher than recorded for Baby Boomers, born from 1946 to 1965, at the same age. For males especially, the trend corresponded with increased diabetes, researchers at the University of Adelaide, in South Australia, found.

[Ken Shultz]

University of Adelaide? So they’re talking about Gen-X in Australia? The U.S.? World wide?

If they’re talking about the U.S., I’d rather be a little fatter and a lot less, disgustingly, Progressive.

I’m just sayin’.

And I’m runnin’ 20 miles a week!

[invisible furry hand]

Even worse, they could be talking only about Gen X in South Australia, which is a mendicant state with dying industries and a proud history of serial killers.

[gimmeasammich]

At least SA isn’t Victoria, otherwise known as Mexico. Or has that slang died out yet?

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

“a mendicant state with dying industries and a proud history of serial killers.”

May I adopt that for Illinois?

[LTV steel plant, Joliet Arsenal, John Wayne Gacy, Simon Peter Nelson, et al]

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Oh, and kudos for using “mendicant”, ifh.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hm.

I’m Gen X and we were pretty active as a group given the Internet age had yet to hit us.

So, there’s an obesity contradiction in there somewhere.

[John]

I am starting to believe that something about our food changed that made people fat. I am old enough to remember the 70s. And people if anything exercised less back then. The running craze was still on the fringe, there was no such thing as a gym membership. Yet, look at the pictures and see how much thinner people were. I am sorry, I don’t think that is all about them being active and us being lazy. People laid in front of the television eating popcorn and chips back then too. There were only three channels plus PBS, but we didn’t know any better. Something else is going on.

[lap83]

The people I know who have the most trouble with their weight approach food emotionally. They eat the same kinds of foods as skinny people but they eat it for different reasons…boredom, depression, etc.

[Lord Humungus]

Low fat diets? The theory being that eating fat is satiating, so people who eat low fat food end up eating more to feel full.

Another idea – the population in general does more work behind the desk instead of physical labor.

[lap83]

That could be. I’ve also heard that sugar substitutes make you hungrier. Also, portion sizes have increased.

[Tejicano]

I think the portion sizes have really grown and people just expect they can eat that much.

I left the US over 20 years ago and when I go back my wife and I, when eating out, order one main and a side dish or two and share it. If we have two main dishes at lunch we won’t be hungry by dinertime.

[John]

I think the physical labor argument makes sense when you are looking at say the 30s. But I don’t think people in the 70s did much more physical labor than we do now. It is not like people were still down on the farm or something.

[John]

And also LH, now even people who do physical labor are fat.

[Rasilio]

The ubiquity of air conditioning?

Being very hot or cold causes your body to burn excess calories to maintain proper core body temperature. Starting in the 1980’s Air Conditioning went from a rare luxury of the rich to something most people had reducing the calories they burned just sitting around on a daily basis

[John]

Maybe. Or the fact that everyone smoked. Smoking keeps you thin.

[Rhywun]

Smoking keeps you thin.

Ha, I wish.

My theory is that we are a richer nation than in the 70s and therefore we eat more. And if I am not mistaken, food is relatively cheaper than ever.

[jmomls]

People used to walk two miles FOR A SINGLE CAMEL, so hells yeah, of course.

[BigT]

Kids raised before about 1975 had many fewer indoor pursuits – TV was limited, no videogames, no interwebs – so we played outside more. And there were far fewer ‘organized’ baseball, football, soccer, etc leagues, so we self-organized. Both of these developed different habits than what today’s kids develop. Those habits are hard to change.

[lap83]

“A full 5 percent of folks have checked Facebook during lovemaking, a new survey finds.”

http://www.cnet.com/news/surve…..uring-sex/

Wtf is wrong with people

[Auric Demonocles]

Apparently their sex partners are boring.

[Lord Humungus]

what’s the percentage of people who posted on FB during lovemaking?

[RBS]

“Lord Humungus is the new Mayor of Vaginatown”

[invisible furry hand]

More importantly, what’s the percentage of people who post on Hit & Run during lovemaking?

[BigT]

Isn’t everyone getting fucked, like all the time?

[GILMORE]

I listen to Barry White & Love Unlimited Orchestra while posting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YS7sWCG_ZE

If that doesn’t count as ‘making love’, I don’t know what does.

Baby.

[Auric Demonocles]

“Balls deep! -With Jane Doe and 2 others at Warty’s Dungeon“

[db]

http://www.newscientist.com/ar…..death.html

I wonder why they specify gunshot or stabbing victims, instead of general major trauma like car accidents. Maybe because they expect the bleeding to be localized and identifiable?

[Mickey Rat]

“A new dwarf planet discovered in the inner Oort Cloud is renewing speculation about a giant Planet X beyond the orbit of Pluto.”

Which might be Sol’s brown dwarf companion.

[The Laconic Marc F Cheney]

I believe the preferred nomenclature is “little star”.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

“Spatially challenged”

[William of Purple]

Who’s to blame for Gym mirror selfies?

[Auric Demonocles]

Warty.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I think a pink dwarf planet that hangs out near Pluto should be named Minnie. Who’s with me?