It's Constitution Day (Not That Obama Cares, ZING), Lindsey Graham is Nuts, About That Whole 'No Ground Troops' Thing… A.M. Links

• 

  The Hunger Games / Youtube

  A top U.S. military leader now says deploying American ground troops against ISIS could be a possibility—a direct contradiction of President Obama's proposal.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham is a crazy person.
• Much has been written about divisions in the Republican Party over foreign policy. But there is an interventionist/anti-interventionist split within the Democratic Party as well. Dem leaders remain largely committed to the president's vision, however.
• U.S. troops are definitely heading to West Africa to deal with the ebola crisis, though.
• Today is Constitution Day. So do something nice for the Constitution. (It's done plenty for you!)
• Watch the newly released trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Today is Constitution Day. So do something nice for the Constitution.

Another Hallmark holiday.

[WTF]

I'm thinking a nice memorial service might be appropriate.

[Citizen Nothing]

I'd prefer to be an optimist. A get well card?

[Rich]

"Thinking of you"?

[bostonaod]

"Wish you were here"

[Roger the Shrubber]

'I am sorry for your loss'

[RBS]

Elaine is sitting at her desk smelling a pen.

ELAINE (thinking): This pen smells really bad. So why do I keep smelling it? Is it too late for me to go to law school?

There's a knock on the door and several co-workers enter with a cake.

ELAINE: What is this?

MALE WORKER: You were out sick yesterday, so we got you a get-well cake.

FEMALE WORKER: It's carrot. It's good for you.

WORKERS (singing): Get well get well soon, we wish you to get--

ELAINE: Stop it! That's not even a song! I mean, now we're celebrating a sick day?

[UnCivilServant]

I could use some more constitution, I've been a bit ill of late.

[DontShootMe]

Try an Amulet of Health.

[hamilton]

Fuck that. Having a +5 Holy Avenger means never having to say you're sorry.

[UnCivilServant]

Acutally, given the alignment restrictions, you're probably on the Canadian appology tour out of force of habit.

[The Last American Hero]

Beat me to it by 20 seconds

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"U.S. troops are definitely heading to West Africa to deal with the ebola crisis, though."

Spray and pray?

[UnCivilServant]

Flame infantry.

Oh, and just in time for Malaria season. Do we know if Ebola can hitch a ride on mosquitoes too?

[WTF]

No, but I guess we're gonna find out.

[Cdr Lytton]

Airborne all the way.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

+82

[Cdr Lytton]

Puss dripping open sores lead the way.

[WTF]

Nuke it from orbit, to be sure.

[gaijin]

Today is Constitution Day.

I just completed my morning constitutional. Does that count?

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

Yes, keeping in spirit with Administration policy toward the Constitution...

[Jerryskids]

WaPo has a Constitution Day quiz and they link to a quiz at ConstitutionFacts.org, but no questions on when and how the Constitution died or who killed it and whether or not anybody plans to avenge the death.

[Steve G]

So do something nice for the Constitution

Defending it with my life...one email and/or staff package at a time

[Fist of Etiquette]

U.S. troops are definitely heading to West Africa to deal with the ebola crisis, though.

This will tell is if they'll be ready for the zombie apocalypse.

[WTF]

Depends on what the meaning of 'is' is.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Join the smelly tshirts for interns campaign
Sleep in an unwashed tshirt for 3 days and sent it to:

Reason Intern Pheromone Project
5737 Mesmer Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90230

Sexiest commentator will be announced Oct. 15. Bottles of cologne based on the winner (Eau de Jaquet) will be available for Xmas.

[waffles]

Is this real? My funk has always been highly prized.

[gaijin]

Is your funk overpowering?

Overpowered by Funk

[Rich]

Can't Stand Your Funk

[RBS]

Funkify Your Life

[SusanM]

I thought it was Eau de Humanitie.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

So, you are excluding Warty and STEVE SMITH from the competition then?

[Fist of Etiquette]

But there is an interventionist/anti-interventionist split within the Democratic Party as well.

Code Pink versus the elected Democrats?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Suderman has some alimony checks in his future

[robc]

I didnt make it all the way thru, but ending no-fault divorce and explicit marital contracts solves these problems.

Also, getting state out of marriage except for contact dispute resolution.

[Redmanfms]

I didnt make it all the way thru, but ending no-fault divorce and explicit marital contracts solves these problems.

Explicit marital contracts have been overturned in the past. Pre-nups mean exactly dick in divorce court nowadays.

[robc]

Hence the last sentence.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Instead of talking about how unfair it all is, it's probably more useful to talk about what we want to achieve. Do we want to encourage the formation of marriages in which one spouse charges harder outside the home and the other spouse assumes more domestic duties? Or should we penalize spouses who made the mistake of counting on their partner to provide the lion's share of the earning power?

Collective action and social engineering for the the win.

[Doctor Whom]

Did you honestly think that you own your life? No, foolish peasant, "we" own it.

[Auric Demonocles]

The old presumption that a woman was automatically entitled to most of her husband's salary, forever, is obviously out of step with the modern economy. But so is the presumption that it's every man for him- or herself. Family has never worked that way, and it would be pretty awful if it did.

Once you get divorced, what family are you talking about? If it is because the couple in question had kids, then you're talking about child support, not alimony.

[WTF]

But, women are entitled to a man's income, because, Patriarchy!!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Varieties of Liberal Enthusiasm
...Barack Obama must be elected President of the United States. . . . I have thrown myself into a new world?one in which fluffy chatter and frivolous praise are replaced by a get-to-the-point directness and disciple-like devotion. It's intense and intoxicating. . . . When I attended my second "Obama Live" fund-raiser last week at New York City's Grand Hyatt, . . . I was on my feet as Senator Obama entered the room. Fate had blessed me in this moment. . . . In a moment of divine intervention, he saw me, . . . grabbed my hand, and gave that brilliant smile of his. I literally said out loud to the woman next to me who witnessed my good fate, "I'll never wash this hand again."...

[Pro Libertate]

I have some friendly advice for such people: When you feel that way about a politician, any politician, vote against him and never have anything to do with him again.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'd also add that if you feel that way about anyone if you're over the age of 16, seek help.

[Jerryskids]

"That's one of the things that he finds was most in need when he was over there in Iraq for a year," Biden said, "that people would come to him and talk about what was happening to them at home in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being...I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of, um, these women and men while overseas."

ADL National Director Abraham Foxman issued a mild reprimand later Tuesday.

"When someone as friendly to the Jewish community and open and tolerant an individual as is Vice President Joe Biden, uses the term 'Shylocked' to describe unscrupulous moneylenders dealing with service men and women, we see once again how deeply embedded this stereotype about Jews is in society," Foxman said in a statement, first reported by Yahoo News.

So the wonderful friend-of-the-tribe Joe Biden using the term "Shylock" to describe unscrupulous moneylenders is somehow my fault?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

So, someone else recognizes that Joe Biden is a a polished turd.

He's unfixaxble.

"Nobody messes with Joe" - Barack Obama Feb 09; appointing him Stimulus Czar

"Nobody messes up like Joe" - Ted Nugent Jul 09

[Longtorso, Johnny]

VA Supervisor Made Her Employees Renovate Her House, Used Gov't Money To Do It
A former Veterans Affairs supervisor has been sentenced for stealing up to $20,000 of government property, a recent Justice Department release announced.

From 2010 to 2013, 48-year-old Venita Godfrey-Scott directed her employees to use materials and supplies intended for VA medical center upkeep on her own house. These taxpayer-funded home improvement projects included "a deck in her backyard, carpet installation, and various kitchen, bathroom and basement improvements." She also instructed employees to buy other necessary materials with her government-issued credit card, and had them work on these projects during normal work hours, when they were being paid by the VA.

Godfrey-Scott was a facilities supervisor, responsible for "carpentry, paint, locks, doors, and other minor construction projects," for the VA Medical Center in West Haven, Conn....

[Drake]

How could she be 48-years-old for 3 years?

[UnCivilServant]

The same way some people I know claim to have the same age for over a decade.

[Doctor Whom]

I'm Patsy Stone, and I'm 39.

[Ted S.]

I'm reminded of the old joke:

Q: If a woman was born in 1947, how old is she today?
A: 29.

[Drake]

A: Who cares?

[Ted S.]

Q: What are the three fastest forms of mass communication:

A: Telephone, television, tell a woman.

[Juice]

A: None of your goddamned business.

[Ted S.]

FAKE SCANDAL!!!111!!!

Nothing left to cut!

[Doctor Whom]

It's good to be the Queen. This is the model for health care for all Americans.

[Lord Humungus]

A grave error of judgement: Spanish cemetery worker suspended after posing for a photograph with body he had just exhumed... and the dead man's nephew

When you're getting up to no good at work, it's best to avoid having your picture taken - as this Spanish gravedigger recently discovered.

The man, identified only as Clemente, posed for a creepy photo while propping up the corpse of a man who had been dead for 23 years.

The other man grinning in the picture is thought to be the deceased's nephew-in-law, while the dead man's niece took the picture on her phone.

[bostonaod]

If the guy's family doesn't care.. *shrug*

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Internal emails: EPA rules part of 'progressive' agenda
Emails between top Environmental Protection Agency officials reveal they saw their fight against global warming as putting them at "forefront of progressive national policy."

"You are at the forefront of progressive national policy on one of the critical issues of our time. Do you realize that?" former EPA chief Lisa Jackson asked former EPA policy office head Lisa Heinzerling in a Feb. 27, 2009 email.

"You're a good boss. I do realize that. I pinch myself all the time," Heinzerling replied that same day to Jackson, who was using an alias email account under the fake name "Richard Windsor."...

[WTF]

Who didn't know this? Same can be said of the IRS.

[Ted S.]

Roger Goodell needs to resign for this.

[Kaptious Kristen]

"You're a good boss. I do realize that. I pinch myself all the time," Heinzerling replied

http://i284.photobucket.com/al.....-barfd.jpg

[Fist of Etiquette]

Watch the newly released trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.

I'm told it's like a libertarian version of Atlas Shrugged, Part III.

[Drake]

Part 1? How many of these damn things will there be?

[UnCivilServant]

How long will the viewing public keep giving their money away?

[Pro Libertate]

An excellent point. In order to preserve the cash flow, the studio should release an infinite number of films following Part 1. You know, Part 1.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
000000. . .1.

[Steve G]

damn..

[Steve G]

Like the twilight fliks, they are stretching the definition of trilogy, for moar cash

[Pro Libertate]

Trrrrrrriiiiilllloooggggyyy.

[Rasilio]

Well it was 3 books but they are separating the 3rd book into 2 movies which is surprising because the 3rd book was by far the worst in the series (the first was excellent and the second decent)

[gimmeasammich]

So it's the new Matrix?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Why does every movie have to be part of a "franchise??"

[robc]

Studios like recurring income.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I get that it's about the money. But it diminishes something about the story's worth. If you have a great movie, make it longer, don't split it into two or three parts to make the same point.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Too bad the first Hunger Games wasn't anything resembling a great movie!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Protestors In Ukraine Threw One Of Their Politicians Into A Dumpster

[WTF]

DC needs more of that sort of thing.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"They're throwing away a perfectly good politician!"

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+2 Dollars

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

There is no such thing as a perfectly good politician.

[SusanM]

We just recycle them here.

[Lord Humungus]

Uh - this is illegal?

American Front leader convicted on paramilitary training charges

Faella, 41, was originally charged with conspiring to shoot into a building, two counts of conducting paramilitary training and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, the Orlando Sentinel reported. But after two days of testimony, two of the charges against Faella were dismissed. He was convicted of two counts of teaching and conducting paramilitary training and faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in November.

Throughout the trial, prosecutor Sarah Hatch described the American Front leader as a racist who trained his followers for an impending race war.

[mr lizard]

Wow, I guess I better take the range markers down that are around my house.

[Drake]

I used to teach and conduct paramilitary training every month in the National Guard.

Maybe I shouldn't be posting this kind of admission.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

paramilitary? Were you Air National Guard - because in the Army National Guard we stuck to military training!!!!!

*ducks and runs from room, cackling*

[Ted S.]

If he had been part of a SWAT team, however....

[UnCivilServant]

Then I would have contempt for him and wish him jail time.

[Steve G]

teaching and conducting paramilitary training

In other words, Scoutmaster

[Lord Humungus]

A coach having some kids run through some tires = paramilitary training!

[Cdr Lytton]

And that gym down the street with a boot camp fitness program.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

What about Billy Blanks?

He has to be like the greatest monster, ever.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+1 Red Dawn

[Steve G]

Thank you, I knew it was pop culture reference, but was even too obscure for me to recall...

[Poppa Kilo]

WOLVERINES!!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

YoutubeA top U.S. military leader now says deploying American ground troops against ISIS could be a possibility?a direct contradiction of President Obama's proposal.

The president was accidentally reading aloud yesterday's newspaper story on what his plan is.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Severed head falls out of neighbor's trash bag
..."I'm like, man, what the hell you got going on, bro? He said something like he didn't mean to kill him. I said, kill who brother? I don't want to know who that is, I don't want to know. You don't got to tell me," Ruffin said....

[Rich]

"If that bag hadn't busted, I would have had a head going to the junk yard," said Ruffin.

Wow. Just thinking about *that* gives me the willies!

[trshmnster the terrible]

HEFTY! HEFTY! HEFTY! wimpy wimpy wimpy

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

Somehow it is appropriate that you would remember that particular ad...

*polite applause*

[Ted S.]

And it doesn't seem to be Florida Man.

[Bardas Phocas]

A Friend will help you move.
A True Friend will help you move the bodies.

[Poppa Kilo]

A friend will post your bail.

A TRUE Friend will be in the next cell.

[Lord Humungus]

CD-Loving Japan Resists Move to Online Music

Around the world, the music business has shifted toward downloads and streaming. But in Japan, the compact disc is still king.

On a drizzly Sunday afternoon recently, Tower Records' nine-level flagship store here was packed with customers like Kimiaki Koinuma. A 23-year-old engineer in a Dee Dee Ramone T-shirt, Mr. Koinuma said that, unlike most men his age around the world, he spends little time with digital services and prefers his music on disc.

"I buy around three CDs a month," he said, showing off a haul of six new albums, including the Rolling Stones' classic "Exile on Main St." and an assortment of the latest Japanese pop hits.

[Ted S.]

All my backups are on wax cylinders.

[Steve G]

I forget where I saw the article, perhaps Cracked, but it was talking about how despite everyone's perception of Japan being at the tech leading edge, it many ways they are often lagging, like a lot.

[Juice]

CDs are superior to mp3s. That's why I buy them.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Lindsey Graham is a crazy person.

The AMA no longer considers homosexuality a mental illness.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

And "Lindsey" is a perfectly fine name for a man...

NOT!!!

[hamilton]

It should be reserved exclusively for cyborg women.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Fa-nnn-n-n-n-n-n-n-n

[Cdr Lytton]

Graham's whacking it to the thought of doing another two week Annual Training at the in-country HQ in Syria and/or Ukraine and pretending to be a soldier in thick of it.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

No, no! That was Mark Kirk (Rino-IL)

[Cdr Lytton]

Did Kirk do that too? I remember Graham's "AT" to Bagram where he received briefings from the four star and other senior leadership. Just like any other JAG colonel gets. Just like my ATs for that matter and totally not like a CODEL visit.

[Lord Humungus]

College Launches Group for White Students to Combat Their White Privilege

Stonehill College has launched a campus group for white students to discuss "what it means to have whiteness" ? and what they can do help offset the perceived injustices caused by their skin color.

"Exploring Whiteness" was introduced at the private, Massachusetts-based Catholic college this fall, and will delve into how "identity and privilege intersect," an online description of the club states.

"White students want a place to explore what it means to be white," Liza Talusan, the director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs, told The College Fix in a telephone interview. "Forever, you've grown up being told not to talk about it ? that diversity is for brown people ?they're so scarred from being told for so long that they can't talk about it.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I am convinced college makes people dumber.

[thom]

College is a place to get drunk for 4 years. People who don't participate in that aspect go off and do all this shit.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

Hey, you should play rugby too!

[Furburguesa]

+1

[gimmeasammich]

Four??? Try five and a half!

*runs out of room ranting about one degree and three minors*

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

no words

[Auric Demonocles]

Being white means getting sunburns.

[UnCivilServant]

Only if you let the foul orb of flame see your skin. Keep rooves and clothing between you and its baleful gaze.

[hamilton]

Proof that God wants to punish you for the crime of whiteness.

[Auric Demonocles]

He also doesn't want me to go to this Raiders game. Stupid STHs wanting to go to all the 1 PM games (and Ticketmaster's stupid website making me log in a million times when there are tickets available)...

[hamilton]

Ugh, that sucks. Oddly all my kids want to go with me, so my 4 seats are spoken for. I will ask around for you...

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm suspecting some will pop up, I just have to keep refreshing.

Meanwhile, I got my pick of just about every section in the stadium for the Jets game.

[Juice]

Ha ha! Wow. You paid actual money to go see...The Raiders? Wow.

[Drake]

Have they tried going out in blackface?

[Drake]

Reminds me of this.

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2014/08/14/

[WTF]

Nice!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

A new one to follow.

[DontShootMe]

Awright, that's it. I have a kid, and I'm going to be keeping a spreadsheet from now on of colleges she can't go to (at least with my money). Stonehill College gets the honor of being the first on the list.

[Auric Demonocles]

That sounds more like a list.

[DontShootMe]

If I weren't such a lazy shit, I'd put it in a DBMS. Probably need hadoop to analyze all the data that's going to be in there. We're talking really Big Data.

[RBS]

Depending on her age, he's probably going to have to account for all sorts of nonsense to pick the least bad option.

[Drake]

I have a senior in High School - just about all of them are hives of leftist idiocy.

Prepare your kid to resist, ignore, and quietly laugh at the stupidity if s/he goes. Study something fact and results based like mathematics or engineering - the leftists seem to avoid those disciplines.

[Doctor Whom]

They avoid fields with objective standards of correct and incorrect answers and no room for appeals to emotion? I wonder why.

[thom]

At the right college, it's great to study Econ, because it's the one social science that hasn't been taken over by Marxists. Seriously, I remember taking Poli Sci classes where "marxist theory" was presented right next to mainstream political thought with no shame.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Then what's Bill Nye's excuse?

[Kaptious Kristen]

And Neil Tyson

[Certified Public Asskicker]

If you immediately exclude all out of state schools, that should help.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"And to show our shame at being white, we wear these white robes. And because we're ashamed to show our faces, we have these white cloth masks. Now to show our rejection of the oppressive Christian civilization, we burn a cross...AND SOON THE WHITE RACE WILL BE SUPREME AGAIN!"

[DontShootMe]

Ok, this was good.

[Tejicano]

I am pretty much convinced that by the time my kids, now pre-schoolers, go to university US society will have defined "yellow privilege" as well so they will be doubly screwed - except for the fact that I intend to raise them to just not GAF about that silly noise.

[Rasilio]

Craka Please!!!!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Group to Combat White Privilege?

I thought that was what the A/V club was for.

[Lord Humungus]

How long is the average tongue?

Californian Nick Stoeberl has just taken over as holder of the world record for the longest tongue. His measures 10.1cm (about 4in) from the tip to the middle of the closed top lip. How does this compare with the average person's tongue, asks Clare Spencer.

Guinness World Records, which will include Stoeberl in the 2015 edition of its famous book, says that the average tongue is 10cm long when measured from the oropharynx - the place in the back of the throat where the tongue begins - to the tip. In other words, the part of Stoeberl's tongue that extends beyond the lips is longer than the average person's tongue in its entirety.

[Xeones]

...Ladies?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

It's all about the girth.

[Lord Humungus]

Angry Mob Tosses Ukrainian Politician Into the Trash

One of Kiev's prominent politicians is full of rubbish ? or rather, the rubbish is full of him. Vitaly Zhuravsky, once a member of former President Viktor Yanukovich's Party of the Regions and now a member of the Economic Development Party, came face-to-face with an angry mob outside Ukraine's parliament.

Having a history of authorizing bills placing restrictions on anti-government protests and criminalizing libel did not appear to play well in his favor. Protesters, shouting profanities, tossed the neatly dressed lawmaker into a trash can, dousing him with water and clocking him with a tire. Zhuravsky was ultimately able to crawl out of the bin and escape the mob.

Warning: Autostart vid

[mr lizard]

Wow, hot women and they know how to sort out their elites.

[Ted S.]

It's too bad this is the same story as above, and not a different politician.

[Lord Humungus]

Brent Crude Rebounds as Libya's Sharara Oilfield Shut

Brent crude rebounded to trade near its highest closing level in a week after Libya said it halted its Sharara oilfield after a rocket attack on the connected Zawiya refinery. West Texas Intermediate traded near the highest price in almost two weeks.

Brent advanced as much as 0.5 percent in London, reversing an earlier loss. Libya halted the Sharara oilfield, which had been producing 250,000 barrels a day, as a precaution following the attack two days ago, Mansur Abdallah, director of oil movement at the Zawiya plant, said by phone. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' output target may fall next year, Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said yesterday.

[Lord Humungus]

G.O.P. Gains Strength and Obama Gets Low Marks, Poll Finds

A New York Times/CBS News poll shows that President Obama's approval ratings are similar to those of President George W. Bush in 2006 when Democrats swept both houses of Congress in the midterm elections.

A deeply unpopular Republican Party is nonetheless gaining strength heading into the midterms, as the American public's frustration with Mr. Obama has manifested itself in low ratings for his handling of foreign policy and terrorism.

[The Late P Brooks]

do something nice for the Constitution.

"preserve, protect and defend" it?

[Auric Demonocles]

Utilize the 1st via Alt-text!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

#iheartthebillofrights

[Lord Humungus]

#racistteabagger

[trshmnster the terrible]

Take it out and let it have a breath of fresh air?

[Pro Libertate]

Lawyers swear to that in most bar oaths, I think, too, so it's a double sin.

[widget]

I simmer over small things. Maybe I should get a Facebook account.

Yapping about the supposed leftyism of Joni Mitchell. Ed Driscoll writes

Other than the self-hating misanthropy of "Big Yellow Taxi"

http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/.....-mitchell/

That would be a Bob Dylan song that Joni Mitchell covered. JM has an anthology of hundreds of songs and Eddy picks the one song she didn't write to call her out.

[John]

There are few singers more overrated than Joni Mitchell. She was a lousy folk pop singer who went on to become an even worse jazz singer. For whatever reason Robbie Robertson liked her and made her a part of The Last Waltz. If you look closely at the scenes where she is on stage you can see Levon Helm and Rick Danko with these looks of utter disdain and wonderment at just what the fuck they are doing on stage with her. They are more noticeably annoyed by playing with Mitchell than they were by playing with Neil Diamond, which is saying something.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Mitchell is one of those artists whose album you buy and try because everybody says it's transcendent and important. Then you listen to it and think to yourself that you must be stupid because you hate it, but you keep it anyway and talk about how great she is.

[John]

Yes. She wasn't good at the time and didn't age well. There are some "important artists" that even if they don't live up to the billing, years on still sound pretty good. A good example of that and a artist that got big around the same time as Mitchell is Carol King. Carol King was the bomb among a certain type of young woman in the early 70s. And when you listen to her today, she still sounds good. It is good music even if it is not quite as important as people thought back when it was made. Mitchell in contrast just sounds worse.

[Lord Humungus]

Bob Dylan - The Bootleg Series, Volume 5 - has some Mitchell singing backup to Dylan. It's a great live show though there is a bit of a 70s vibe to it.

[widget]

I bought the "Hijira" when i was 13. I kept it. "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" i did not.

[Ted S.]

There are few singers more overrated than Joni Mitchell.

Bob Dylan being one of them.

Bruce Springsteen being another.

[John]

No one ever called Dylan a good singer. He is however an incredible song writer and musician.

And yes, Springsteen manages to be overrated in every single aspect of his art. He doesn't sing very well, he has only written a few decent songs, and he is not a particularly good musician.

There isn't anything he has ever done that someone hasn't done better. If you want songs that tell stories about real people living in east coast 1970s America, the first few Billy Joel records do that with a hundred times more flare, humanity and humor than Springsteen ever did. A song like Only the Good Die Young is what people are actually like. A song like the River is what douche bags living on the Upper East Side think people are like.

And if you want solid three chord American rock and roll songs, Tom Petty and Bob Seger both did better songs and music than anything Springsteen ever did. Springsteen never did a song that really had any swing to it. It is all heavy and contrived. Springsteen never made a song that made you want to tap your feet the way something like American Girl or Rock and Roll Never Forgets does.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

John, your assessment about Springsteen is wrong. My opinion.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

For the record, I come from a family of musicians (even successful ones!) and not one of them concur what you say. My sister is not a fan but considers him an enormous talent.

[John]

There is no accounting for taste I guess. I will give you that the E Street band had some great musicians. Max Weingberg is one of my five or six favorite drummers of all time. And yes there was some very good production and arrangement that went on in the better Springsteen records.

I shouldn't say he is not talented. He is. But for me at least the total never really added up to the sum of the parts. You have this great band and this great arrangement and this great production and record making and it should have been great but it all add up to a big eehh. I suppose for me at least what turns me off to Springsteen is that he just tries too hard. His music so much of the time sounds fake to me and without spontaneity.

There are some of his songs I like. And they are nearly always his lighter songs where he lightened up. A song like Aint Got You, is just him with a guitar and is quite clever and funny and seems so honest. I love that song. I like Pink Cadillac. It has a great beat and fun lyrics. But a song like the River or Badlands or the ever famous Born to Run always sounds fake to me. It is not that its bad. I don't want to rip the speakers out of the car. It is just not that great.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Taste I get.

Plenty of people are talented I don't care for too. But I see the talent.

[Ted S.]

Shouldn't you, as a Canadian, be rocking out to Gino Vannelli?

[Pro Libertate]

I actually like a few of his songs. Weird 70s nostalgia at work, I guess, though my parents' influence on music doesn't go much beyond that.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Rocking to Vanelli is a strong word. Maybe thrusting?

[John]

Don't you live in Montreal Rufus?

Come clean and just admit you are a Celine Deon fan. Everyone in Quebec is. I am pretty sure the law requires it.

[Brian.bs]

Don't go dissing Saint Celine!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Yeah! "Pink Caddilac" makes me tap my feet, otherwise, spot on.

[gaijin]

but, but, he's from New Jersey!

[Tejicano]

I grew up way west of the Mississippi and figured that was why I never "got" Springteen. Until I heard music people negatively critique his shit which echoed everything I thought from the first time I heard it.

[WTF]

I am a New Jersey guy, born and raised, and I never really got all the fuss about Springsteen either. I always thought he was just 'meh'.

[Pro Libertate]

I've never been a fan of his.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Springsteen's music is overwrought. He relies on a phony emotionality to "sell" his music to the audience. The songs suck. The musicianship is marginal at best. He is the epitome of East Coast blue-collar guy. It's a bar band, that for whatever reason, ended up playing stadiums.

I don't like it. But hey, dude's made some millions and other people seem to enjoy his music. Good for him.

Also Billy Joel, Tom Petty and Bob Seger suck balls too.

[John]

Tom Petty is great. His songs have a great beat and I love the twangy sound of his Richenbacher guitars.

And Seger isn't the greatest. But he isn't bad. He is more real than Springsteen.

As for Joel, he was at least in the late 70s one of the great lyric writers in the history of rock and roll. A song like Moving Out is almost Chuck Berry like in its meter and rythum and economy of words. Listen to the lyrics sometime. They are wonderfully descriptive. Something like "Sergeant O'Leery is walking the beat, at night he becomes a bartender. He works at Mr. Cattatore's down on Sullivan Street across from the medical center." You read that and you can see Sgt O'Leery and the Italian joint where he bar tends. That is great lyric writing for pop music.

[Lord Humungus]

Geeze - if you want some good singer-songwriters, listen to Tom Waits first two albums; back before his album got all gruff 'n' Cookie Monster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lndL46jiEFQ

Another "lost" late 70s artist is Steve Forbert who has great musicianship and lyrics. He was dubbed the "next Bob Dylan" which is a curse in itself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixTXmKauL8A

[John]

Tom Waits is considered one of the great song writers of the last 50 years. You can be pretty good and still not be as good as Tom Waits.

And Forbert was okay.

[gimmeasammich]

I agree with your assessment LH. Those two albums are definitely two of my favorites of all time out of everything that I've ever listened to.

[widget]

"Sandy, do you worry you're behind us?" is a lyric that Billy Joel couldn't come up with if his nuts were in a vice.

[Raven Nation]

Springsteen manages to be overrated in every single aspect of his art

Although his concerts are, IMHO, incredible shows.

[Steve G]

If you want songs that tell stories about real people living in east coast 1970s America

No thanks, I'm good.

[widget]

John,

No one ever thought Joni was a great singer, including Joni.

A strange boy is weaving
a course of grace and havoc
on a yellow skateboard
through midday sidewalk traffic

She's talking about us.

[John]

Fair enough. Maybe I have a blind spot for her the way some do for Dylan. I can't get past her voice to appreciate her songs.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Joni is a pretty good song writer, but not much of a performer.

Dylan lite.

Dylan is a terrible singer, but he manages to emote on some stuff to make it uniquely enjoyable.

Nearly everyone who has recorded a Dylan song, did it better than dylan. Same with J Mitchell.

[Reverend Mayhem]

Jeff Porcaro (the late Toto and widely-used studio drummer) was hired for one of her albums (don't remember which one) and he said it was one of the worst experiences of his life. She apparently knew nothing about music and was a complete bitch.

[dirk]

simmer no longer, it's the other way around. bob dylan covered it. joni mitchell wrote it.

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

[Lord Humungus]

Derp:

This is what happens when Republicans actually enact their radical agenda

Brownback's tax cuts were passed back in 2012 with the help of Arthur Laffer, the conservative policy hand who has made his career insisting in the teeth of contrary evidence that tax cuts increase revenue. Multiple experts warned that the Brownback/Laffer plan would actually crater the state revenue collection, but Brownback ignored them and did what he wanted. The results are in, and it turns out when you cut taxes you decrease revenue:

Kansas has a problem. In April and May, the state planned to collect $651 million from personal income tax. But instead, it received only $369 million. [The New York Times]

Naturally, the cuts have required more cuts to critical government services, and most of the tax benefits have been vacuumed up by the rich. Worse still, the promised job-creating effects have also failed to appear. On the contrary, Kansas has actually been performing worse than its neighbors on the jobs front.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

This is what happens when you use a utilitarian argument for tax cuts.

And extra points for liberal usage of strawmen.

[John]

But just imagine how badly Kansas would be doing if Brownback hadn't cut taxes. Hey, that argument works both ways you know.

And if the Dems win in Kansas it won't because of taxes. It will be because of the kulture war. It is all the Democrats have left.

[Drake]

He said "critical government services" - pretty funny.

[John]

It is. Notice he never says what those services are or gives even a single anecdote of the horrible effects cutting these services have had. I was born in Kansas and have been in and out of the state my entire life. I was there this last May. I didn't notice anything different or where it had turned into Somalia. I guess I didn't look hard enough.

[tarran]

I heard Brownback's policies turned someone into a newt!

[Ted S.]

Kathleen Sebelius?

[Poppa Kilo]

She got better.

Oh, no, wait - she didn't.

Carry on.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

A newt would be better.

[UnCivilServant]

"He shut down the tort courts!"

[Doctor Whom]

Why don't those stupid red-staters do what has worked so splendidly in Detroit and Baltimore?

[thom]

Don't compare Baltimore and Detroit. Baltimore overcomes its endemic political corruption. As a city, it's alive, whereas Detroit is just deader than a door nail.

[Jerryskids]

In the last three years, the Kansas state budget went from $14.5b to $14.3b to $13.9b - I can't imagine the horror of dealing with such radical budget cuts that critical government services must be cut and hacked and slashed to the bone and beyond.

Why have I seen nothing about the stream of malnourished homeless refugees in tattered rags fleeing the looting and pillaging that must be taking place in Kansas as society collapses and the populace is flung back into Stone Age-level barbarity?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

But you're not considering inflation adjusted dollars! But inflation doesn't exist! But radical agenda!

[John]

What is depressing is that Kansas has what, two million people living in it? No more than three for sure. And it still manages to have a $14 billion budget.

And yeah, cutting the budget by around 5% is just nihilism.

[tarran]

$14.5b to $14.3b to $13.9b

Those Teathuglican bastards! Let me guess .3 billion is to pay the contractors pitching old women off cliffs, right?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Well, it's Kansas, they have to build some cliffs first?

[tarran]

Would that be classed as a shovel-ready project?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Naturally, the cuts have required more cuts to critical government services

Where are these cuts you speak of?

[Rev-Match]

critical government services

I am interested to know what the author considers these to be, but not enough to follow the link and see if it is explained.

[Rich]

Nearly 200 Indian villagers have shaved their heads to mourn the death of a monkey from their local temple.

Afraid that its death may bring them bad luck, the villagers held a funeral procession and cremated the animal according to Hindu rituals. Another 700 villagers shaved their beards off. A group of villagers also travelled to the Hindu holy town of Haridwar to immerse the monkey's ashes in the holy river Ganges.

Can't be too careful with inauspicious signs.

[Ted S.]

I wonder if Joe Gillis showed up to bury the monkey?

[WTF]

bury the monkey

Band name, or filthy slang?

[gaijin]

I like 'Filthy Slang' as a band name.

[SugarFree]

All the atheists who haven't shaved their heads are just being smug assholes.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Obama: Constitution Day? Astronauts to the moon? Ha, ha, ha, HA!

[John]

It is amazing how Obama finds the sweet spot of the absolute worst thing to do in any situation. If there is one option worse than doing nothing about ISIS or going all in with another invasion, it is doing just enough to make a defeat meaningful but not enough to win. And that is exactly what he is doing. We would be better off doing nothing than doing this half assed commitment that will accomplish nothing except allow ISIS to claim victory.

[tarran]

I see a very similar dynamic to Vietnam; neither the stay-out crowd nor the go-all-the-way crowd are dominant enough to enact their agenda, and the president is so determined not to look weak he is going to pursue half measures to look like he is effectual.

In Vietnam, Kennedy wanted to cleanse the U.S. of the humiliation of the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and he set the stage for a conflict that was far more humiliating to the US.

Ironically, Kerry is now leading the charge into a war that's even dumber than the one he is lionized for publicly opposing.

[John]

That is what I see too. This is nothing but a replay of Johnson constantly upping the pressure thinking "this time they will know we mean it".

The irony of the whole thing is that they are doing it in the name of limiting the war and in pracitice all it does is draw the war out longer and make it worse. Thanks to Johnson's dithering, the Vietnam war ran on from 1965 until 1973 and resulted in the deaths of over a million Vietnamese. What ended it was when Nixon finally launched an all out no holds bar bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese and forced them to agree to peace. The media and polite company was horrified but it ended the war. If Johnson had done that in the first place and gone all in immediately, the war would have never lasted the way it did.

Here we have Kerry, who made his political career objecting to the Vietnam war, now making the exact mistake the Johnson did and forgetting the biggest lesson the US learned from that war and applied in Gulf War I. If it was so sad, it would be funny.

[tarran]

The Vietnam War did give us some cool TV shows in the 80's, though.

[John]

I loved that show. You know you can buy a Magnum PI Red Ferrari 308 for around thirty or forty thousand these days. The maintenance on them is horrendous and they are really not particularly fast cars. But as a child of the 80s part of me kicks myself for not buying one.

[Redmanfms]

The maintenance on them is horrendous

Not really true. If anything they are easier to maintain than most of the high-performance cars of that era.

I bought one earlier this year, a '76 Euro-spec GTB, it really isn't anymore difficult to maintain than my truck. Really, it's easier, because the stuff in the engine bay is easier for me to reach. Changing the oil can be a PITA, but almost any car requires some sort of lift to do that.

[John]

76 GTB. My complements. I have heard that the infamous cam belt changes are really easy to do to yourself. I have also heard that if you have a life, the entire drive train just unbolts and drops out allowing complete access to the entire thing.

But I have never worked on one or known anyone who owned one personally. So I don't know. I have just heard the $15,000 every two years maintenance horror stories.

[Redmanfms]

I have just heard the $15,000 every two years maintenance horror stories.

Those are people who are stupid enough to take it to a dealership to have it maintained. I haven't owned the car for two years though so who knows, I might end up being Ferrari-ed.

[Ted S.]

I was born in 1972. I've been sick of the 60s nostalgia for decades.

[John]

But Magnum PI is 80s nostalgia.

[Steve G]

Ditto and ditto.

[The Late P Brooks]

The results are in, and it turns out when you cut taxes you decrease revenue:

This wouldn't really be a problem if they would also stop doing all the things better left to the private sector.

[Lord Humungus]

Holder presses delay on Fast and Furious documents

Attorney General Eric Holder is again asking a federal court to delay the transfer of disputed documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious to a House committee.

In a new court filing Monday night, Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson not to require Holder to turn over any of the roughly 64,000 pages of documents to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee until after her rulings can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

"The Department respectfully submits that it would be preferable for the parties, this Court, and the D.C. Circuit ? if an appeal were taken ? to have any injunctive order await the conclusion of the district court litigation to allow for orderly and complete appellate proceedings," DOJ lawyers wrote.

[WTF]

Fake. Skandulz.

[John]

Hold them until they can appeal to the DC Circuit. You know the court that Harry Reid packed with Democratic hacks.

As if we couldn't already, I think we can all assume those documents prove Holder and probably a few other people are guilty of felonies or they would be turned over.

[WTF]

This is old news, John, it's time to move on.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If you need a good laugh.

[Rich]

That is good stuff. Thanks, Scruffy!

[sarcasmic]

Not exactly safe for work.

[Xeones]

Fantastic site. Some of the Apple Cabin Foods ads made me laugh until i cried the first time i saw them.

Also, i will never stop referring to raccoons as 'toilet bears.'

[Michael]

Fuck. Sean Tejaratchi is an undisputed genius. Thanks for posting that.

[John]

I read yesterday where ebola is what they call a "genetically sloppy" virus in that it rarely reproduces with the exact same DNA. It is constantly mutating. So that means with every new case of ebola we are spinning the genetic slot machine hoping the mutation that allows it to be communicable through the air doesn't come up. And now this.

http://thehill.com/policy/heal.....nize-ebola

A rogue state could turn Ebola into a weapon of mass destruction, a federal health official acknowledged Tuesday.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it would take a "state-type" actor to successfully weaponize the disease, noting that the Soviet Union stockpiled similar hemorrhagic fevers during the Cold War.

I seriously doubt any state would do that since there is no way to keep it from spreading back to where it came from. But still, its a depressing and scary picture all around.

[UnCivilServant]

Actually, in terms of bioweapon material, Ebola has traditionally been very close to the ideal because while highly leathal, outbreaks tended to burn out very fast, reducing the chance of pandemic. The question today is what is keeping this outbreak alive for so much longer than the others?

[tarran]

In theory, the virus should evolve to a less deadly form as the Black Plague did. In theory....

For the nerds who are wondering why this would happen, viri that don't kill their hosts tend to be more widely transmitted than similar viri that do kill their hosts. Thus a strain that isn't deadly is far more likely to survive than one that is, meaning that over time the strains that are dominant in the circles the virus runs in will be the less deadly ones.

Evolution in action, baby!

[Redmanfms]

Yersinia pestis isn't a virus, and is only less lethal than it was 500 years ago because of A. better sanitation, B. better understanding or its vectors and C. anti-biotics.

Without treatment it will still kill the fuck out of you.

[John]

Yeah. People show up with the plague once in a while and it is still deadly.

Ultimately, I don't see how ebola ever becomes much of a threat outside of Africa unless it mutates to become transmitted through the air. The West is just too clean and well kept up for it to ever spread here. You really have to live in each other's shit for it to spread.

[WTF]

Yeah, thousands of potentially infected troops coming back from Africa couldn't possibly be a cause for concern. I am just not confident in the abilities of our Top Men to not fuck us all.

[John]

But the troops won't get infected. Field hygiene is a really big deal in the military. They will be disciplined and shouldn't get themselves infected. Even if some of them do, we will know about it and can quarantine them.

The other thing about ebola is that its so horrible and sets in so quickly that it makes it easier to stop. The disease that really spread are things like TB or various STDs that people can get and not know they have. That doesn't seem to be a problem with ebola.

[WTF]

I understand how infectious diseases work. I just don't have your confidence that the troops won't get infected or if they do it will be handled properly. The government could fuck up a free lunch.

[John]

The military is not the rest of the government. They make their living living in the field. If we were sending the Depart of State, sure. But the military does still have a few basic competencies.

[WTF]

They are great at their core purpose, which is breaking shit and killing people. I'm not sure that caring for ebola patients fits under that umbrella. I hope I'm wrong.

[Redmanfms]

caring for ebola patients

Which is something very different from field hygiene.

Regardless, the US military is actually really good at treating casualties, it is easily included in one of it's core competencies.

[WTF]

Well, all speculation aside, we are all going to find out just how good of an idea it was to send thousands of troops into an ebola epidemic where they didn't need to be.

[Heroic Mulatto]

But the troops won't get infected. Field hygiene is a really big deal in the military. They will be disciplined and shouldn't get themselves infected.

A shame that couldn't be said for those Nepalese UN Peacekeepers who infected post-earthquake Haiti with cholera by shitting in peoples' drinking water.

Actually, can someone point me to a case where the UN Peacekeepers have actually made a net positive benefit?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

A shame that couldn't be said for those Nepalese UN Peacekeepers who infected post-earthquake Haiti with cholera by shitting in peoples' drinking water.

My anecdotal conversations with troops who served in Afghanistan suggests that they were not much better. In one case, they turned a dry well into a makeshift latrine. Of course when the rains came, the well wasn't dry anymore and people started getting sick.

[Redmanfms]

Of course when the rains came, the well wasn't dry anymore and people started getting sick.

So, you're saying they started using the now wet well for water?

I have a lot of trouble believing that story. But WTF do I know, I was only actually in the military.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I'm saying that the groundwater level rose and the wet well that wasn't that far away got contaminated.

I'm just relating the story from a guy who was over there and based on my experience with him, was probably dumb enough to do something like that.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

That must not have been a particularly aware bunch... Didn't see cases of failed field sanitation come through the hospital for the year I was around.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

Actually, can someone point me to a case where the UN Peacekeepers have actually made a net positive benefit?

Um...there was that one...no, wait I just had it...nope. I'll get back to you if I find one.

[ant1sthenes]

So, what, the doctors and nurses infected were just being lazy about hygiene?

[Andrew S.]

They've been ringing the weaponized ebola bell back since the post-9/11 "bioterrorism! we're all gonna die!" scare.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

The big warning gong was always anthrax - I got a whole bunch of shots for that one...had #7 scheduled, and they stopped giving them...

[Steve G]

What cracks me up is they are still giving the shots despite over a decade of zero evidence it being a threat..

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The anthrax vax program has always been a crony capitalist endeavor with little to no regard for safety.

[Steve G]

I forget where I was at but I even stopped taking my anti-malarial drugs when a medical dude casually mentioned there hadn't been a documented case in that area for decades.

[Cdr Lytton]

Cripes! Did you piss off the medics? I thought that was only 6 shots total.

Only had 3 or 4 so when the Great Crusade kicks off and they scrape the bottom of the last barrel, I guess I'll be a restart.

[Swiss Servator, Pikes FTW!]

The 7th was some sort of 18 month extra boost. Actually, I think after 3 or 4 they were just piling on, extending it out in duration.

[Xeones]

Tom Clancy used weaponized Ebola as a main plot point in Rainbow 6 back in 1998.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

I think it was "Executive Orders"

[Redmanfms]

People have been bleating about weaponizing ebola since the '80s. The DNA variance would seem to make that practically impossible.

[Scarcity]

I don't know how much sense this makes, but a guy interviewed during the NPR ebola story yesterday noted that it is very rare for a virus to evolve from being passed by contact only to being airborne. He noted Hep C and HIV as examples that have been contracted (thus given a chance to mutate) many orders of magnitudes more times than ebola and have never become airborne. Anybody got counterexamples?

[The Late P Brooks]

Attorney General Eric Holder is again asking a federal court to delay the transfer of disputed documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious to a House committee.

What difference, at this point, does it make?

Hey, look! Some football player did something we don't like; ASSEMBLE THE MOB!

[The Late P Brooks]

The question today is what is keeping this outbreak alive for so much longer than the others?

The KKKochBros and their evil KKKochBux, duh.

[WTF]

And racism, don't forget the racism.

[Pro Libertate]

It pisses me off to no end that Constitution Day is a trivia question holiday. It's in most ways more significant than the Fourth of July. Instead, it's like diecis?is de septiembre--no one (in the U.S., anyway) knows about it. And, similarly, celebrate some other day that's really not the important one.

[Auric Demonocles]

Needs more 'spolsions.

[waffles]

+1 Bomb bursting in air

[Andrew S.]

I generally celebrate it by pissing people off and sharing Lysander Spooner quotes.

[Auric Demonocles]

Just for you, Pro Lib:

I was reading my latest issue of Aerospace American, specifically an article about detecting and imaging a true Earth analogue (i.e. a planet with life). Near the end there was a short bit about how long it would actually take to get to if one was found. Naturally, they used Voyager for reference. This time, Voyager "left the solar system" in 2012!

[Pro Libertate]

When libertarians rise and take over and gut the government, on the list of things to do should be a constitutional amendment declaring the edge of the solar system to be the outside of the Oort cloud. Ye gods. I leave aside for the moment our intergalactic argument that the solar system's legal boundaries propagate as far as the sun's gravity reaches.

[Auric Demonocles]

Add in the phrase "at a minimum" and I could agree with you.

[Pro Libertate]

That's right. Yo, fuck the heliosphere.

[Lord Humungus]

For Constitution Day, my lawyer wife is off to an elementary school to give a short history lesson of said document.

[Free Society]

I hope she doesn't plan to lie about it like 99% of all the history lessons ever taught about the Constitution.

[Lord Humungus]

Of course not. Thanks to repeated beatings brainswashing exposure to libertarian ideas, she is pretty much a strict Constitutionist.

[Free Society]

We libertarians are renowned for our 'convert or die' mentality. Well done.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

I predict she'll be evicted from the premises after opining that the Constitution is easily the second-best highest law of the land the United States has ever had.

But seriously, good for her.

[Free Society]

'Second-best highest law ever' is a nice way to put it. A deceptively soft punch to a 1789 Constitutionalist's nuts.

[The Late P Brooks]

You gotta love the AP's economic analysis

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Income inequality is taking a toll on state governments.

The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been matched by a slowdown in state tax revenue, according to a report being released Monday by Standard & Poor's.

Even as income for the affluent has accelerated, it's barely kept pace with inflation for most other people. That trend can mean a double-whammy for states: The wealthy often manage to shield much of their income from taxes. And they tend to spend a lower percentage of it than others do, thereby limiting sales tax revenue.

Boldly putting forth the statist agenda at every opportunity.

"Shielding income legally from taxation"? There oughtta be a law!

"Spending a smaller portion of their income on consumption"! Pay no attention to the actual amount spent.

Fucking rich people, they're just a bunch of stingy unpatriotic assholes. They should be strung up.

[John]

The wealthy often manage to shield much of their income from taxes. And they tend to spend a lower percentage of it than others do, thereby limiting sales tax revenue.

The funny thing is that that statement is absolutely true. Of course it would never occur to the AP writer that maybe the fact that the rich shield their income means "taxing the rich" is nothing but a bullshit slogan that only results in taxing everyone but the rich.

[WTF]

Mainly because income taxes don't hit the rich, they hit the middle and upper middle classes. Rich people don't typically go to work to get a weekly paycheck, they have wealth that they invest, and then pay taxes on capital gains, not income tax.

[robc]

Actually, most rich do go to work. But they do make a large percent of their income thru cap gains.

Its possible for a middle class person to make a large percent thru cap gains too -- if they live beneath their means and invest heavily. Of course, they wont be middle class for long if they keep doing that.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Listen to Dave Ramsey for an afternoon, and you'll hear exactly why this wealth envy is bullshit. You'll hear single moms with 3 kids and a $35k income pay off $70k in debt in 3 years and start building wealth. You'll also hear DINKs making $90k struggle to live paycheck to paycheck. Yet somehow, the DINKs deserve a mortgage forgiveness, student loan forgiveness, and a new car according to these SJWs.

Personal responsibility is ebola to progressives.

[OldMexican]

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Income inequality is taking a toll on state governments.

Sounds like a The Onion headline.

[Rev-Match]

...shield much of their income from taxes...spend a lower percentage of it than others do...

Are they seriously implying that not spending money equates to "shielding" it from taxation? (rhetorical query)

[userve32]

And that sir is why we must roll with the punches at all times.

http://www.CryptAnon.tk

[Free Society]

Today is Constitution Day. So do something nice for the Constitution. (It's done plenty for you!)

"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist."

[Auric Demonocles]

Wouldn't the same be true of you?

[Knarf Yenrab!]

To the best of my knowledge, Free Society didn't sign the contract that is the Constitution. Neither did the vast majority of people who lived under its edicts in the early days of the federal republic.

And no one alive today agreed to it. As with all positive law/legislation, the idea that words on a page can successfully constrain political actors is silly, and Spooner pulls the curtain permanently on that charade for the few who read him.

[Auric Demonocles]

Free Society either authorized the government we have, or has been powerless to prevent it.

[Free Society]

But unlike the Constitution I have never been widely considered a mighty bulwark against state power. Auric Demonocles, either engages in sophistry intentionally, or is incapable of making an argument. In either case he is unfit to comment.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Today is Constitution Day. So do something nice for the Constitution. (It's done plenty for you!)

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Day is only a couple of months away, so get your Gadsden Flags and privately owned cannon ready.