1 | Our Precious Bodily Fluids Thu, Jul 5, 2012 6:17:33pm |
Still makes more sense than a Pamela Gellar post.
2 | Gus Thu, Jul 5, 2012 6:32:36pm |
Romney: I'd no longer nominate judges like John Roberts tpm.ly/M88HPL— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 6, 2012
Hilarious. So does this mean that he would have nominated a John Roberts in his (Mitt's) previous form?
4 | goddamnedfrank Thu, Jul 5, 2012 6:40:33pm |
re: #2 Gus
[Embedded content]
Hilarious. So does this mean that he would have nominated a John Roberts in his (Mitt's) previous form?
Basically Mitt is confirming that he's the kind of guy who surrounds himself with yes men.
5 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Thu, Jul 5, 2012 6:46:59pm |
re: #3 Gus
The important thing about a news channel isn't facts--it's knowing what I watch pisses off the black socialist president!
6 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 6:50:47pm |
It is brutally hot tonight in Chicagoland, and so humid I could not wear my glasses outside after it rained. So if I seem not up to par, blame it on the heat.
7 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:14:12pm |
So according to customer service, I advance order my book 3 weeks in advance so I can have it shipped to me one day early, which means it will finally show up at my house 1 week after I could buy it in the store.
9 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:35:28pm |
Taxpayer revolt vs. Wildfires
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Not surprisingly, it turns out that refusing to raise taxes and firing your police and firefighting force instead is not a recipe for success now that we live in the new normal of record-breaking heat waves, drought, and wild fires.
.......
Colorado Springs, which depends on sales tax for about half of its revenue, was hit harder than most. The city -- the birthplace 20 years ago of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which later passed statewide and has been pushed around the country to restrict government spending -- became a high-profile example of cost-cutting.
[Link: www.bloomberg.com...]
10 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:37:25pm |
re: #8 Dark_Falcon
Damnit, Kragar! You broke the thread again!
Its a living.
Let me fix it:
On March 31st, 2012 some of the greatest voice talent on the planet descended on the Emerald City Comicon to give you one of the greatest, most outrageous readings of Star Wars you will ever hear!
11 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:47:19pm |
re: #9 jaunte
Taxpayer revolt vs. Wildfires
...
The fires won't change a thing there when it comes to taxes. The highly restrictive funding rules Colorado still labors under mean that support from foundations is crucial there. And just try winning support from large GOP organizations if you break The Pledge and cross Grover Norquist.
12 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:49:33pm |
re: #10 Kragar
Its a living.
Let me fix it:
On March 31st, 2012 some of the greatest voice talent on the planet descended on the Emerald City Comicon to give you one of the greatest, most outrageous readings of Star Wars you will ever hear!
[Embedded content]
...awesome.
13 | Political Atheist Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:50:10pm |
[Link: littlegreenfootballs.com...]
Varek? Thanks for the loan of the propulsion unit..
Got to Flagstaff in almost no time!
14 | Ojoe Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:51:30pm |
A fairly typical Towercam sunset.
San Gabriel Mountains of California, Pacific time zone.
15 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:51:43pm |
re: #11 Dark_Falcon
I'm sorry those people lost their houses. The Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights seems to be an experiment that's failed. [Link: www.cbpp.org...]
16 | Ojoe Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:53:31pm |
re: #9 jaunte
Clear the brush around your house, citizens.
No wood shingle roofs either.
Etc.
There is much you can do to help yourself and the firefighters.
17 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:54:03pm |
re: #15 jaunte
I'm sorry those people lost their houses. The Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights seems to be an experiment that's failed. [Link: www.cbpp.org...]
It would have worked had it been coupled with caps on government worker pensions and benefits. As it is, Colorado Springs is either going to give in and majorly hike taxes or they'll default on their pension plan. I predict the latter, through Chapter 9 in Colorado law allows for that.
18 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:59:03pm |
re: #17 Dark_Falcon
Don't just downding, PS, explain yourself.
19 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 7:59:29pm |
Hi folks! Wanted to comment earlier, but I found that Joe Walsh made my blood boil to the point that I was only capable of finger vomiting on the keyboard. That man has the manners and morals of a spirochete.
20 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:01:28pm |
re: #19 austin_blue
Hi folks! Wanted to comment earlier, but I found that Joe Walsh made my blood boil to the point that I was only capable of finger vomiting on the keyboard. That man has the manners and morals of a spirochete.
Well, at least he isn't a blight on your state like he is on mine.
21 | Ojoe Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:02:04pm |
22 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:02:45pm |
re: #19 austin_blue
Hi folks! Wanted to comment earlier, but I found that Joe Walsh made my blood boil to the point that I was only capable of finger vomiting on the keyboard. That man has the manners and morals of a spirochete.
I just want to say...
ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH! ASHLEIGH!
23 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:03:30pm |
re: #17 Dark_Falcon
If they default on their pension plan, some of the employees will probably move on.
The lowest paid employees are a Pikes Peak Highway Ranger and a Parking Meter Mechanic, who both make $16,669.37 a year.
The highest paid employee is a City Attorney who pulls in $183,735.99 a year.
Most police officers make around $67,000 a year, and most firefighters make around $61,000.
[Link: www.coloradoconnection.com...]
24 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:04:54pm |
re: #21 Ojoe
A brick building with iron shutters, designed against fire. Nevada City, California.
Using Goats to Prevent Wildfires
"Goats are good for this sort of fuel management because they are primarily browsers," said Brea, explaining that brush, once ignited, acts like a ladder carrying the fire to the treetops. "Goats would rather eat brush than grass," she added. "They like their food right at eye level. At home, the goats ignore the wonderful green grass and look longingly at the scruffy taller stuff beyond the fence."
After the disastrous Oakland Hills fire destroyed more than 2,400 houses in 1991, local governments with vulnerable open space began to seek ways to prevent a recurrence. Fires in the area have been better contained in places where goats have browsed.
25 | Interesting Times Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:05:40pm |
re: #15 jaunte
I'm sorry those people lost their houses. The Colorado Taxpayer Bill of Rights seems to be an experiment that's failed. [Link: www.cbpp.org...]
And naturally they're demanding all sorts of aid from the big, bad federal government:
The city has been aggressive in applying for federal grants, too, which have funded wildfire mitigation efforts, said Bret Waters, emergency management director.
Dunn notes that the city, where there is strong anti-federal government sentiment, is now turning to the U.S. for assistance.
Would be something if they were told, "Sorry, no federal aid available; it went down the drain of Grover Norquist's bathtub." 9_9
26 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:06:13pm |
re: #23 jaunte
If they default on their pension plan, some of the employees will probably move on.
I know, and I wasn't suggesting they should default, I was just saying what I felt was likely to happen.
27 | Killgore Trout Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:07:19pm |
When you refuse to accept the humanity of other you become inhuman
Image: qyMrA.png
29 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:09:46pm |
re: #20 Dark_Falcon
Well, at least he isn't a blight on your state like he is on mine.
Oh, we've got numerous blighters down here, trust me. All you need to do is start at the top and work your way down. There is is nothing but R's in state-wide offices/elections. And not any Mod R's, either. I live in Jesus-stan. And Jesus is pale-skinned with light brown hair and blue eyes. He's just like us!!!
As Kinky Friedman so correctly noted, "They ain't making Jews like Jesus anymore."
30 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:10:47pm |
re: #27 Killgore Trout
When you refuse to accept the humanity of other you become inhuman
Image: qyMrA.png
John Derbyshire Reaction:
And that photo is why I could never trust George W. Bush: He refused to see poor black people as the inferior wretches they really are.
/Not really kidding.
31 | Interesting Times Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:10:48pm |
Guess which filthy un-American socialist said the following:
The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People's Money out of their Pockets, tho' only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors' Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell'd to pay by some Law.
All Property, indeed, except the Savage's temporary Cabin, his Bow, his Matchcoat, and other little Acquisitions, absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the Creature of public Convention. Hence the Public has the Right of Regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the Quantity and the Uses of it. All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.
32 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:14:05pm |
re: #31 Interesting Times
Guess which filthy un-American socialist said the following:
That would be the only President of the USofA who was never the President of the USofA.
33 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:16:08pm |
re: #30 Dark_Falcon
John Derbyshire Reaction:
/Not really kidding.
National Review Contributor: ‘Most Of The World Worked Better In Colonial Times’
34 | Interesting Times Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:17:45pm |
re: #32 austin_blue
That would be the only President of the USofA who was never the President of the USofA.
Tax-and-spend librul! Heretic! BURN HIM!!!111!!!
35 | Bubblehead II Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:19:05pm |
Night Lizards, Time to crawl back under my rock and sleep the night away.
But first, well you know...........................
:-)
Afterwords. Enya.
Sleep well Lizards. May the Deity of Your Choice Smile Down Upon You and Yours.
36 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:19:41pm |
re: #33 Kragar
National Review Contributor: ‘Most Of The World Worked Better In Colonial Times’
No comment.
37 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:23:32pm |
Official count confirms Pena Nieto win in Mexico
The Federal Electoral Institute found that Pena Nieto still had a more than 6 percent lead after a nearly 100 percent count, which included a extra review of more than half the ballot boxes in response to indications of possible problems.
38 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:23:37pm |
National Review: Where pasty European neo-nazis tell gullible Americans about the good ole days which never existed.
39 | bratwurst Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:26:47pm |
re: #36 Dark_Falcon
No comment.
So does this mean you are giving up your steadfast defense of that particular sewer?
40 | Four More Tears Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:32:16pm |
You're all just jealous because you don't have offshore bank accounts.
41 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:32:52pm |
re: #33 Kragar
National Review Contributor: ‘Most Of The World Worked Better In Colonial Times’
Yup, back when there was child labor, black, brown, and yellow people supplying' us industrial feedstock, that was the Golden Age.
Or, as Archie Bunker sang, "Those were the days!"
42 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:34:29pm |
re: #41 austin_blue
Yup, back when there was child labor, black, brown, and yellow people supplying' us industrial feedstock, that was the Golden Age.
Or, as Archie Bunker sang, "Those were the days!"
Don't forget, and being forced to buy our overpriced crap.
43 | bratwurst Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:37:30pm |
re: #41 austin_blue
Yup, back when there was child labor, black, brown, and yellow people supplying' us industrial feedstock, that was the Golden Age.
Or, as Archie Bunker sang, "Those were the days!"
His logic: people in the formerly colonized world have subsequently done things to each other that were actually worse than what Europeans did to them...or something.
44 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:39:25pm |
re: #40 It's a cookbook!
You're all just jealous because you don't have offshore bank accounts.
[Embedded content]
I'd just like to have something to *put* into an offshore bank account!
45 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:39:37pm |
re: #33 Kragar
When wars and ruling were the province of Lannisters and Baratheons, and the peasants knew their place.
46 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:46:35pm |
re: #45 jaunte
When wars and ruling were the province of Lannisters and Baratheons, and the peasants knew their place.
The Starks will rise again!
(By the way, just got finished reading A Dance With Dragons and GRRM is "unclear" about when he will finish the next volume. Maybe a year, maybe two).
Cocksucking motherfucking son of a bitch.
47 | Gus Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:47:06pm |
re: #33 Kragar
National Review Contributor: ‘Most Of The World Worked Better In Colonial Times’
This cracks me up:
...It is verging on secular heresy to make the point, especially in the week of July 4, but the American colonists didn’t have much to complain about, either. The British pretension that the Mother of Parliaments could represent the Americans although they had no members of it was nonsense, especially as America had 30 percent of the population of Great Britain by the Revolution, and was the most prosperous British entity. But the taxes imposed were less than the British Isles were already paying; Britain gave the Americans a year to propose alternative sources of revenue; and all Britain was seeking was help in reducing the national debt, which had doubled during the Seven Years’ War (largely owing to the effort to throw the French out of Canada, at the insistence of the Americans). The original tea partiers, disguised as Indians, were overreacting to a tax that was confined to tea and was not excessive. Their current emulators are less colorful and imaginative.
The colonists had the better of the argument with the British, but individual Americans did not have substantively more liberties at the end of the Revolution than they had had at the beginning, nor more than the British in the home islands had (then or now or at any time in between), apart from having a resident sovereign government. The whole American notion of liberty came from the British, along with the common law and the English language. If the Americans had maintained their British status, they would control Britain and Canada and Australia and New Zealand now (another 120 million people and over $5 trillion of GDP), have all their energy needs met, and enjoy better government than they have actually endured for the past 20 years. It would have been much easier to abolish slavery and, if there had been a Civil War, it would not have lasted long, nor cost a fraction of the 750,000 American lives that it did. There would have been no World Wars or Cold War, or at least no conflict remotely as perilous as those were. The United States would also have less than its current 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated people, and wouldn’t have a legal cartel that devours 10 percent of its GDP. These are matters that, though they verge on secular heresy, Americans may want to consider, in between singing splendid anthems and rereading Jefferson’s defamation of poor old George III and his blood libel on the American Indian in the Declaration of Independence, this national holiday.
He's effectively saying that the USA, the world, would have been better off had we remained a British colony.
In National Review...
And on the 4th of July!!!
48 | Gus Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:47:40pm |
re: #47 Gus
This cracks me up:
He's effectively saying that the USA, the world, would have been better off had we remained a British colony.
In National Review...
And on the 4th of July!!!
The original tea partiers, disguised as Indians, were overreacting to a tax that was confined to tea and was not excessive. Their current emulators are less colorful and imaginative.
50 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:49:07pm |
re: #47 Gus
This cracks me up:
He's effectively saying that the USA, the world, would have been better off had we remained a British colony.
In National Review...
And on the 4th of July!!!
Meh, fucking Tories. What are you going to do? Wrong side then, wrong side now.
Whinging bastards.
52 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:49:50pm |
re: #47 Gus
This cracks me up:
He's effectively saying that the USA, the world, would have been better off had we remained a British colony.
In National Review...
And on the 4th of July!!!
Old School Tory, that's what this post is. Pre-Thatcher as PM, too. Pre-Churchill as PM, for that matter.
53 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:50:16pm |
re: #46 austin_blue
The Starks will rise again!
(By the way, just got finished reading A Dance With Dragons and GRRM is "unclear" about when he will finish the next volume. Maybe a year, maybe two).
Cocksucking motherfucking son of a bitch.
I'm still waiting on the last Wheel of Time novel.
54 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:53:18pm |
re: #53 Kragar
I'm still waiting on the last Wheel of Time novel.
I have never read those. Worth the time? As good as the Nine Princes in Amber series?
55 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:57:16pm |
56 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 8:57:29pm |
The story behind the weirdest NYT correction in a while: bit.ly/PgiGrm via @Salon
— Jessica Winter (@winterjessica) July 6, 2012
57 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:00:01pm |
58 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:01:32pm |
59 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:02:46pm |
The beards are ranked on Underwood’s Pogonometric Index of 0 (“Very very weak”) to 60 (“Very very heavy”), which attributes numerical values to “poetic gravity” and relative “beard weights,” citing 10 to 24 as the normal range for the average person, with the exceptionally gifted scoring upwards of forty.
61 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:07:36pm |
Mitt Romney bravely stand up to his detractors and says "Okay, you win!"
After Conservative Ire, Romney Campaign Plans To Add Communications Staff
62 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:08:15pm |
re: #58 Kragar
I will destroy you.
No, you won't. GoaF has me as an ally and I have a pair of 500 KT nukes that say you'll leave him/her alone.
63 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:08:20pm |
re: #57 austin_blue
Thanks. I set my reading time-investment bar pretty high.
Then I'll expand and say: I wouldn't. There's a couple of nice ideas (the magic system) and a few characters with charm, but it's bloated, borrows a lot of ideas from other epic sci-fi/fantasy, and its subplots don't have the vigor of the ones in SoF&I (which are still getting a bit far-strung)
Right now my go-to recommendation is The City & The City by China Mieville, but if you're specifically looking for fantasy you might want to try Perdido Street Station.
64 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:09:12pm |
re: #59 jaunte
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sara Teasdale, Elizabeth Barret Browning, and Emily Dickenson are so fucked...
I claim Testosterone Fail!
65 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:10:44pm |
re: #62 Dark_Falcon
No, you won't. GoaF has me as an ally and I have a pair of 500 KT nukes that say you'll leave him/her alone.
Prepping cyclonic torpedoes and virus bombs...
66 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:11:14pm |
re: #63 The Ghost of a Flea
Then I'll expand and say: I wouldn't. There's a couple of nice ideas (the magic system) and a few characters with charm, but it's bloated, borrows a lot of ideas from other epic sci-fi/fantasy, and its subplots don't have the vigor of the ones in SoF&I (which are still getting a bit far-strung)
Right now my go-to recommendation is The City & The City by China Mieville, but if you're specifically looking for fantasy you might want to try Perdido Street Station.
Go with the Horus Heresy.
67 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:11:50pm |
re: #64 austin_blue
I see that I've screwed up the link once again.
Maybe this one:
[Link: www.brainpickings.org...]
68 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:12:27pm |
re: #60 Ojoe
10 points for Firesign Theater reference.
Dogs Flew Spaceships! The Aztecs Invented the Vacation! The South Really Won The War!
Everything You Know Is Wrong!
69 | Ojoe Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:14:33pm |
70 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:17:39pm |
re: #66 Kragar
Go with the Horus Heresy.
Well, Horus was an incredible badass. He took the Emperor to the very limit. But the Emperor did defeat him, albeit at dire price.
71 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:19:55pm |
Argentine ex-dictator Videla was sentenced to 50 years for stealing baby
The former dictator Jorge Videla of Argentina (1976-1981) was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in prison, while the former dictator Reynaldo Bignone (1982-1983) to 15 years in prison, guilty of a systematic theft of babies, children of prisoners -disappeared, said the court.
"Sentencing the former general Jorge Videla (86 years) to 50 years imprisonment (...) and the former general Reynaldo Bignone (84) to 15 years," read the court's president, Mary Roqueta, before a packed room in the presence Estela de Carlotto, the leader of the humanitarian organization Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo.
[Link: translate.google.com...]
72 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:21:17pm |
re: #63 The Ghost of a Flea
Then I'll expand and say: I wouldn't. There's a couple of nice ideas (the magic system) and a few characters with charm, but it's bloated, borrows a lot of ideas from other epic sci-fi/fantasy, and its subplots don't have the vigor of the ones in SoF&I (which are still getting a bit far-strung)
Right now my go-to recommendation is The City & The City by China Mieville, but if you're specifically looking for fantasy you might want to try Perdido Street Station.
Thanks, but I'm still a hard SF dude. SoF&I was a diversion. I'm diving right back into Iain Banks's Surface Details. I do like me some hard science space opera.
(Although this book is, so far at the halfway point, kind of meh. Some great concepts, but not much subtlety. The best antagonists are grey, as are the best protagonists.)
73 | dragonath Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:21:36pm |
74 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:25:11pm |
re: #73 Be Zorch, Daddio
Kermit would probably get high points for "galvanic response."
That "exalted dignity, that certain solemnity of mien," lent by an imposing beard, "regardless of passing vogues and sartorial vagaries," says Underwood, is invariably attributable to the presence of an obscure principle known as the odylic force, a mysterious product of "the hidden laws of nature." The odylic, or od, force is conveyed through the human organism by means of "nervous fluid" which invests the beard of a noble poet with noetic emanations and ensheathes it in an ectoplasmic aura. This, according to Underwood, is the same force which facilitates the divinatory faculty and affords occult insight into matters of travel, voyages and accidents. More importantly, magnetic waves sparked by the od force give off a radiation whose "wattage" can be calibrated in angstroms of net effect. These waves generate electrical essences which register on special laboratory equipment developed by Underwood and a team of researchers.
[Link: 50watts.com...]
75 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:26:37pm |
I should also note that National Review's readers are taking Conrad Black to the woodshed in the comments on his article. And they're doing it without being vile:
[Approved commenter] Cloudbuster
07/04/12 06:52Wow, the concluding sentences really caught me by surprise. What complete speculation and fantasy. Really? On the Fourth of July, considering the state Britain is in, you really want to try to dress down the United States of America?
Kiss my red, white and blue butt, Conrad.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
Brandabar
07/04/12 08:34What Cloudbuster said.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
This one's even better:
An Historian
07/04/12 07:11This is all well and good... so long as you ignore the millions who died in India and Ireland from famines exacerbated largely by the British. And so long as you ignore the horrors of the sugar plantations and the diamond mines. Yes, European colonists brought a number of institutions and a number of practices that improved the lives of the natives. India is now a democracy rather than a Maratha-run kingdom. That is all an improvement, but once you begin a scorecard comparing the atrocities of one group to the atrocities of another, you've already admitted that your argument is flawed and weak. Empire is a dirty word for a reason.
I'd also remind Mr. Black that our ancestors did not revolt over taxes. They revolted over the threat of tyranny. They revolted over the capricious dictates of an emperor and feared what could happen more than what was happening. I would say all people have that right, no matter how benign their chains.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
One more, this one taking Black's presentation of history head on:
JohntyD
07/04/12 09:05It seems disingenuous to sing the praises of colonialism by citing the violence that was perpetrated after independence from those seeds usually cultivated by the imperialist powers in order to divide and conquer in the first place.
But the lack of internecine warfare is not really a fair measure by which to judge the matter.
How many wars were fought between the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish before they arrived at their present state? Would the English agree that the Pax Romana justified a continued Roman presence on English soil?
Freedom means that we have the right to evolve through the same self-killing, war and murder that the luxury of England had also done for a 1000yrs.
Mr. Black you're just saying self-development is something permitted only to the European Powers. Why and how do you say so? Because the bones of colonials bleach whiter that those of England or Europe?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse
76 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:26:48pm |
re: #73 Be Zorch, Daddio
Kermit the frog is so screwed
Yes, but his fundamental question remains unanswered:
Why *are* there so many songs about rainbows?
It's a philosophical question of epic proportions.
77 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:31:03pm |
re: #70 Dark_Falcon
Well, Horus was an incredible badass. He took the Emperor to the very limit. But the Emperor did defeat him, albeit at dire price.
They've done a great job with the main story line. The ones providing background for other events have been pretty good, but you can pass them up without missing much.
Main storyline being:
Horus Rising
False Gods
Galaxy in Flames
The Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
Mechanicum
A Thousand Sons
The First Heretic
Prospero Burns
Know No Fear
78 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:44:26pm |
re: #75 Dark_Falcon
I should also note that National Review's readers are taking Conrad Black to the woodshed in the comments on his article. And they're doing it without being vile:
This one's even better:
One more, this one taking Black's presentation of history head on:
It's cold comfort that the commenters are pushing back. That's good for them, but it speaks poorly of the NRO's editing and publishing staff that they saw this fit to print. Black is either lying or ignorant about the subjects he purports to write about...both the body counts of past empires and the origins of current violence in post-colonial regions. His obfuscations are apparent with minimal source checking on the time and periods he's mentioning.
79 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:51:03pm |
re: #78 The Ghost of a Flea
It's cold comfort that the commenters are pushing back. That's good for them, but it speaks poorly of the NRO's editing and publishing staff that they saw this fit to print. Black is either lying or ignorant about the subjects he purports to write about...both the body counts of past empires and the origins of current violence in post-colonial regions. His obfuscations are apparent with minimal source checking on the time and periods he's mentioning.
I doubt they wanted to spike Black's column, and given the holiday, that's what sending it back would have had the effect of doing. So they decided to run it and hope for the best.
80 | dragonath Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:51:38pm |
Well, Conrad Black is (was?) a former Canadian... so...
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
81 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:51:41pm |
The red in this image is actually vegetation — NASA’s satellite covers both the visible and infrared spectrum to get a more accurate image, which is why it looks like that. So unburnt forest is bright red, and lighter vegetation is pinkish. The white parts, pretty obviously, are buildings. And that huge dark-brown chunk — well, that used to be vegetation, and some of it used to be buildings.
82 | austin_blue Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:51:52pm |
Sleep time for me. Sweet dreams to all Lizardii.
BTW, did it feel like we had two Mondays this week to anyone else? If I had a 4 X 10 workweek, I would never choose Wednesday as my day off. Odd.
83 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:55:34pm |
re: #80 Be Zorch, Daddio
Well, Conrad Black is (was?) a former Canadian... so...
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
Conrad Black isn't her fault.
84 | Dark_Falcon Thu, Jul 5, 2012 9:57:00pm |
I missed this yesterday: It's a nice little change from some of the celebrity stuff I've been putting up.
85 | jaunte Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:04:13pm |
Climate Change Is Already Shrinking Crop Yields
Goldman Sachs projects that this year's corn yields will come in 7.5 percent below the USDA's projection of 166 bushels an acre.
.......
Projections:
...yields will fall by the end of this century by as much as 43 percent "under the slowest warming scenario" and 79 percent "under the most rapid warming scenario."
86 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:05:54pm |
87 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:09:56pm |
Currently up at NRO:
Only You Can Exploit Forest Fires by Michelle Malkin. DERP.
And Jonah Goldberg is trying to spin the recent lifeguard firing and this story into a parable of how union rules and the social safety net mean that our culture is sick. Funny how stories at the time of the suicide (sfgate, NPR) present things differently; if by unions, one meant budget cuts to rescue training, safety issues for dealing with a drowning suicide who may or may not be a threat without proper equipment and/or local government's aversion to liability, then the stories match up. Also not mentioned: the lifeguard in question was fired by the private company contracted to provide lifeguards to the public beach.
89 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:12:37pm |
re: #87 The Ghost of a Flea
Currently up at NRO:
Only You Can Exploit Forest Fires by Michelle Malkin.
How to exploit a forest fire? Blame environmentalists while you cripple firefighters.
90 | freetoken Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:15:14pm |
May be too late for Iowa GOP to end gay marriage
Ever since gay couples began flocking to Iowa to marry three years ago, conservative Republicans have been looking forward to amassing enough political power to put an end to it. But now that the opportunity is finally approaching, their goal may be slipping out of reach.
Conservative lawmakers are watching public opinion move away from them on the same-sex marriage issue, and now fear that voters might not approve a ban even if the GOP can put one on the ballot by winning control of the Legislature in November.
The shifting views come as a disappointment for the state's prominent Christian conservative community, which has long bridled at Iowa's status as a gay-rights haven in the heartland - the only place outside the Northeast where gays and lesbians can marry.
"People are getting comfortable with it and that's a shame to tell you the truth," said Susan Geddes, an Iowa Republican and social conservative organizer who worked for Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign in the state.
Even Republicans seem to be more accepting, said Julie Summa, marketing director for the Family Leader, a social conservative advocacy group. She and other evangelical leaders attribute the change to libertarian Republicans, like supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who oppose restrictions on personal freedoms.
[...]
RON PAUL!!
91 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:17:18pm |
re: #90 freetoken
May be too late for Iowa GOP to end gay marriage
RON PAUL!!
People tolerating other people beliefs and way of life which has zero effect on them?
That's a shame.
///
92 | engineer cat Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:45:16pm |
Romney: I'd no longer nominate judges like John Roberts
how long before the Last True Conservative excommunicates the Second To Last True Conservative?
93 | freetoken Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:46:59pm |
Tabs I have open with stories/headlines that one doesn't commonly see in some corridors of the internet:
[Link: www.childreninmilitarycustody.org...]
In September 2011 a UK delegation of 9 lawyers, from the fields of human rights, crime and child welfare, travelled to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to assess the treatment of Palestinian children under Israeli military law.
[...]
Kenyan Muslims team up to protect Christians
A group of Muslim leaders in Kenya has agreed to help their Christian countrymen defend their churches, after a rash of attacks that killed 15 Christians, according to the BBC.
94 | freetoken Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:55:27pm |
Some days ago I linked to the breaking story about South Korean educational officials bringing creationism into their public schools. Creationists have been targeting SK for a while (remember that SK had been the target of evangelical sorts stretching way back, with strange spin-offs.)
Here's a recent example of what is published in a Korean outlet:
[...]
Genetic research, in particular, must be free to find new models to explain, and enhance, 21st-century scientific discovery. Today, Darwin’s theory of evolution is more a hindrance than a help, because it has become a quasi-theological creed that is preventing the benefits of improved research from being fully realized.
The author is himself not Korean, yet he runs an article full of misstatements about Darwinian evolution in a Korean paper. The author (Didier Raoult) is not known to be a creationist per se, but he has been making a name for himself as anti Darwinian, and thus finding himself being hearted by creationists.
Which explains why his opinion piece shows up in a Korean outlet when their is a stirring brouhaha over creationism.
95 | freetoken Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:57:28pm |
As an example, here are the IDiots giving Raoult press:
96 | palomino Thu, Jul 5, 2012 10:59:50pm |
re: #6 Dark_Falcon
It is brutally hot tonight in Chicagoland, and so humid I could not wear my glasses outside after it rained. So if I seem not up to par, blame it on the heat.
You live in Chicago without A/C? Uggh.
97 | Mich-again Thu, Jul 5, 2012 11:35:54pm |
re: #96 palomino
You live in Chicago without A/C? Uggh.
Well if the glasses were colder than the dewpoint of the humid outside air which caused the glass to fog up, those glasses must have previously been in a cooler environment, so there has to be A/C involved..
98 | Sol Berdinowitz Thu, Jul 5, 2012 11:40:16pm |
re: #91 Kragar
People tolerating other people beliefs and way of life which has zero effect on them?
That's a shame.
///
If you are a Dominionist, then gay marriage affects you - and us all.
We are Exceptional as a nation only because we have a Covenant with God, in which we reflect His Divine Laws in our own legislation.
(These people being final arbiters of what constitutes His Divine Law, of course)
As soon as we start allowing things like gay marriage, abortion, contraception, prostitution, legalized drugs, progressive taxation, etc., we are shaking our fist at God and inviting His Divine Retribution.
That is why these people cannot and will not back down on issues like gay marriage. Our nation's destiny depends on it, you see...
99 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 11:42:24pm |
re: #98 Expand Your Ground
If you are a Dominionist, then gay marriage affects you and us all.
We are Exceptional as a nation only because we have a Covenant with God, in which we reflect His Divine Laws in our own legislation.
(These people being final arbiters of what constitutes His Divine Law, of course)
As soon as we start allowing things like gay marriage, abortion, contraception, prostitution, legalized drugs, progressive taxation, etc., we are shaking our fist at God and invitin his Divine Retribution.
That is why these people cannot and will not back down on issues like gay marriage. Our nation's destiny depends on it, you see...
I never made a deal with any supernatural entity. Too many strings attached.
100 | Sol Berdinowitz Thu, Jul 5, 2012 11:44:01pm |
re: #99 Kragar
I never made a deal with any supernatural entity. Too many strings attached.
This is not an offer you are free to refuse...
101 | Kragar Thu, Jul 5, 2012 11:51:12pm |
102 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:10:49am |
I know you are being facetious, but the point is that a lot of people cannot accept the notion that what happens between two consenting adults and does not affect them is not any of their business.
And they see teh gey as such a massive abdomination unto the Lord that they immediately associate with with paedophilia, bestiality and spouse abuse.
They do seem to brood on the issue a lot. Self-hatred is the most intense and complex form of hatred.
103 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:17:11am |
William Lynch Found Not Guilty in Beating of Priest He Said Sexually Abused Him
William Lynch, the 44-year-old California man who admitted he pummeled a Jesuit priest who he said abused him as a boy, has been found not guilty of felony assault and elder abuse charges.
The jury of nine men and three women could not reach a verdict on a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault for the 2010 attack at a retirement home, deadlocking 8-4 to convict him.
Lynch could have faced four years in jail if convicted on all the charges.
"I honestly thought I was going to jail," Lynch said after the verdicts were read, according to The Associated Press. "It turned our better than I expected."
104 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:21:36am |
re: #102 Expand Your Ground
I know you are being facetions, but the point is that a lot of people cannot accept the notion that what happens between two consenting adults and does not affect them is not any of their business.
And they see teh gey as such a massive abdomination unto the Lord that they immediately associate with with paedophilia, bestiality and spouse abuse.
They do seem to brood on the issue a lot. Self-hatred is the most intense and complex form of hatred.
I get the distinct impression that future generations will look back at these decades as a dark age of superstition and zealotry.
105 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:23:02am |
re: #103 Kragar
William Lynch Found Not Guilty in Beating of Priest He Said Sexually Abused Him
He has just given the Catholic Church another martyr, I am afrad...
106 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:24:34am |
re: #105 Expand Your Ground
He has just given the Catholic Church another martyr, I am afrad...
My bets still on the lions.
107 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:31:03am |
The Catholic church thrives on persecution, or rahter the image of being persecuted, and they will certainly play up the angle of a helpless old man being beaten up and his "tormentor" getting away with it.
108 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:39:35am |
re: #107 Expand Your Ground
The Catholic church thrives on persecution, or rahter the image of being persecuted, and they will certainly play up the angle of a helpless old man being beaten up and his "tormentor" getting away with it.
I don't think the Church is in nearly as strong a position as you do. Too much evidence of their tacit approval of child molestation for generations now has been established as fact.
Just my opinion.
109 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 12:55:46am |
There are objective facts, and there is the church's position on things and the spin it puts on them for PR purposes.
I agree that their position has weakend over past decades, but at the same time we have seen them redoubling their efforts to paint themselves as some sort of victims.
113 | researchok Fri, Jul 6, 2012 1:39:08am |
re: #112 freetoken
First cousin to that girl from Ipanema.
114 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 2:14:47am |
re: #107 Expand Your Ground
The Catholic church thrives on persecution, or rahter the image of being persecuted, and they will certainly play up the angle of a helpless old man being beaten up and his "tormentor" getting away with it.
"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
115 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 2:25:57am |
re: #114 Decatur Deb
"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
It takes a great deal of talent to be able to persecute people for centuries and still sell yourself as a victim...
116 | Ziggy Standard Fri, Jul 6, 2012 2:30:47am |
New Giant's Causeway Centre made into creationist laughing stock by National Trust:
[Link: littlegreenfootballs.com...]
117 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 2:30:51am |
re: #115 Expand Your Ground
It takes a great deal of talent to be able to persecute people for centuries and still sell yourself as a victim...
Just total immersion in a perspective-free cosmology.
119 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 2:37:33am |
re: #115 Expand Your Ground
It takes a great deal of talent to be able to persecute people for centuries and still sell yourself as a victim...
"Just total immersion in a perspective-free cosmology."
Not just talking about my old creed:
MARTYRDOM POETRY CONTEST
120 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 2:58:24am |
re: #117 Decatur Deb
Just total immersion in a perspective-free cosmology.
You don't need perspective when you have a monoply on The Truth
124 | freetoken Fri, Jul 6, 2012 4:21:06am |
The end of the last one was a bridge to the next cut:
126 | freetoken Fri, Jul 6, 2012 4:29:06am |
127 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 4:34:54am |
128 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 4:35:34am |
BTW, the proper, non-gangsta name is "YourYour Mother"
129 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 4:57:39am |
Morning Lizardim. Happy Friday from the hot and humid wild north country. We're set to have a rollicking good time today, as thunderstorms are finally going to sweep this heat wave off the map and usher in some cool Canadian air to bring things back to normal. I'm in an extra good mood, as this is my one weekend off amidst a bunch of crazy family stuff and I'm looking forward to crashing on the couch and doing exactly NOTHING for the duration. What's new on the front lines of the war on derp?
130 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 5:22:55am |
Good morning.
It's hot now.
It'll be hot later.
It'll be real hot tomorrow.
It'll be hot on Sunday.
It'll be nice Monday.
The sun sucks.
131 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 5:25:49am |
re: #130 Varek Raith
Good morning.
It's hot now.
It'll be hot later.
It'll be real hot tomorrow.
It'll be hot on Sunday.
It'll be nice Monday.
The sun sucks.
Well, then, blow it up. You CAN do that, right?
132 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 5:27:48am |
re: #131 thedopefishlives
Well, then, blow it up. You CAN do that, right?
Are you implying I can't?!
*PEW!*
...
..
.
Dammit, sorry Mercury....
133 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 5:32:43am |
re: #132 Varek Raith
My favorite line from the original Stargate series:
"You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water."
134 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 5:35:57am |
re: #133 thedopefishlives
My favorite line from the original Stargate series:
"You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water."
Carter?
I CAN SEE MY HOUSE!
135 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 5:37:06am |
Colonel Jack O'Neill: They didn't go for it.
Major Samantha Carter: They didn't approve the mission?
Colonel Jack O'Neill: Well no, they did that. Once they knew the stakes and the whole fate of the universe stuff, both the President and Hammond realized we had no choice. He sends good luck, God speed and all those things he says when he thinks we're gonna die.
Major Samantha Carter: So what didn't they go for?
Colonel Jack O'Neill: The name I suggested.
Major Samantha Carter: For the ship?
Colonel Jack O'Neill: Yeah.
Major Samantha Carter: Yeah, sir, we can't call it the Enterprise.
Colonel Jack O'Neill: Why not?
136 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 5:39:41am |
re: #135 Varek Raith
Mmm, Amanda Tapping. Hot chick with guns.
/Oh, hi, Mrs. Fish, I was just +++CARRIER LOST
137 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:04:13am |
We are experiencing the most extensive head wave in recorded history and yet teabaggers continue to deny Global Climate Change.#tcot #p2— Dr. Matt (@DrMatthew) July 6, 2012
How can this "government" scrap even a single soldier when they've still got a whole department dedicated to the myth of Climate Change?— Richard Delingpole (@DickDelingpole) July 5, 2012
138 | Mich-again Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:15:33am |
Its so hot here that I just saw my dog chasing a squirrel in the yard and they were both walking. /
139 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:36:21am |
re: #137 Learned Mother of Zion
I am sure he would be in favor of "scrapping" those memebers of the military rewponsible for the reports on the threats to US security posed by climate change...and the ones pressing for alternate/renewable energy sources for the armed forces as well.
140 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:37:20am |
re: #131 thedopefishlives
Well, then, blow it up. You CAN do that, right?
You got paid off by Burns didn't you. Now the streetlights will stay on all the time...
141 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:42:24am |
re: #138 Mich-again
Its so hot here that I just saw my dog chasing a squirrel in the yard and they were both walking. /
Not quite as exciting when they're just going through the motions, eh?
Sounds a bit like when I was chasing down a cat who had been given a tranquilizer pill before leaving on a trip. The cat very "I must run... but I don't want to" where he'd flee (slowly) about three feet and then stop. Repeat.
142 | Flounder Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:43:45am |
I hope this arsehole goes to jail:
[Link: www.nypost.com...]
15-passenger capacity boat had 27 people on board
"Don't blame Sal, we all got on the boat"
143 | William Barnett-Lewis Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:44:26am |
re: #54 austin_blue
I have never read those. Worth the time? As good as the Nine Princes in Amber series?
Late to the post, but not even close.
144 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:47:42am |
re: #140 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste
You got paid off by Burns didn't you. Now the streetlights will stay on all the time...
No, I'm just sick of the heat. We could use another Ice Age.
145 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:48:02am |
re: #142 Tommy's cone of shame
I hope this arsehole goes to jail:
[Link: www.nypost.com...]15-passenger capacity boat had 27 people on board
"Don't blame Sal, we all got on the boat"
Yes, blame Sal. His boat. His responsibility.
146 | Flounder Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:48:25am |
re: #143 William Barnett-Lewis
I really enjoyed the Wheel of Time series. Damn author went up on died on me tho...:(
147 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:54:00am |
re: #146 Tommy's cone of shame
I really enjoyed the Wheel of Time series. Damn author went up on died on me tho...:(
I never bothered to start it. Large, and appeared to be unending, series of doorstop books. Due to being burned with other series taking so long to be completed I generally hold off until they're done, and then read them. (Though I have read the first three "Song of Fire and Ice" books, so there are exceptions granted.)
Comparing "Wheel of Time" to "Nine Princes in Amber" is sort of interesting. SF literature from two different time periods, and I think all of the latter's volumes is probably a lighter page count than any two of the former's volumes. So the features of SF writing in the interim have changed. (Whether it's for the better or the worse is open to debate. Wandering down some of the side trails about characters is interesting at times, but horribly distracting from plots in other cases.)
148 | Flounder Fri, Jul 6, 2012 6:59:23am |
re: #147 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste
I research a book more than I research an investment. THe Wheel of Time's first book was given to me in college, loved it. Now I will be getting Nine Princes in Amber, as soon as I finish A Game of Thrones, and watching the HBO version...
(Almost better than zombies!!!!!!!)
149 | Flounder Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:00:29am |
re: #147 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste
oh yeah, Jordan was definately fluffing his last few books.
150 | William Barnett-Lewis Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:05:46am |
I've found very little in modern SF to be particularly memorable, at least positively, outside of David Brin, William Gibson, & Lois Bujold. So much of it is derivative, repetitive & dull writing that is over written so they can sell 3 volumes rather that one much better written book. And I won't even begin talking about the pro-monarchist & far-right politics of many of them...
For what it's worth, I'd rather go back and re-read "Lord of Light" by Zelazny, "Earth" by Brin or even the real deal LOTR again than try Song of Fire & Boredom or Wheel of Time again. Thankfully Brin has a new novel "Existence" coming out about a first contact situation 50 years in the future so at least I know I'll have one good novel to read this summer. After that, I'll find my copy of John M. Ford's (RIP, Mike :( ) "The Dragon Waiting" which remains the best alt-history novel I've ever read.
151 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:09:53am |
Is Jasper Fforde science fiction? It is "alternative present" speculative detective fiction with a lot of droll humor in it, more along the lines of a Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett.
He has managed to turn out a whole series of books without getting too terribly repetitive or derivative.
152 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:13:33am |
re: #150 William Barnett-Lewis
I've found very little in modern SF to be particularly memorable, at least positively, outside of David Brin, William Gibson, & Lois Bujold. So much of it is derivative, repetitive & dull writing that is over written so they can sell 3 volumes rather that one much better written book. And I won't even begin talking about the pro-monarchist & far-right politics of many of them...
For what it's worth, I'd rather go back and re-read "Lord of Light" by Zelazny, "Earth" by Brin or even the real deal LOTR again than try Song of Fire & Boredom or Wheel of Time again. Thankfully Brin has a new novel "Existence" coming out about a first contact situation 50 years in the future so at least I know I'll have one good novel to read this summer. After that, I'll find my copy of John M. Ford's (RIP, Mike :( ) "The Dragon Waiting" which remains the best alt-history novel I've ever read.
I do like GRR Martin's writing, but I think SoFaI got way out of hand in terms of chasing around various characters to follow plot points and development "on screen". I pretty much buy Bujold and Banks upon appearance.
Tim Powers is generally a good read. But he has never quite caught the lightning of _The Anubis Gates_ again, though _Declare_, _Last Call_ and _On Stranger Tides_ are all quite good in my opinion. Secret history novels are very entertaining when done well.
153 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:14:43am |
Good on him:
154 | NJDhockeyfan Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:17:13am |
Good morning lizards!
I can't wait for this heat wave to go away. Damn dog days of summer!
155 | William Barnett-Lewis Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:20:30am |
re: #154 NJDhockeyfan
Good morning lizards!
I can't wait for this heat wave to go away. Damn dog days of summer!
That's not till August when Sirius is back above the horizon at night...
156 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:26:41am |
U.K. Terrorism Officials Arrest 7 More Suspects
Seven more terrorism suspects have been arrested and detained in the United Kingdom in what is now the fourth security-related incident this week as the world counts down to the London Olympics, which begin three weeks from today.
...
The arrests follow the six arrested Thursday in an early morning raid. New details that have emerged since those arrests indicate that it was three brothers and three other men who are suspected of being Islamic terrorists planning a strike in the U.K. during the Olympic Games.One of the suspects is Muslim-convert Richard Dart, a former BBC security guard who uses the name Salahuddin al Britani, and rails against Britain's royals and Britain's military. Another one of the three suspects, detained in West London Thursday, is Jahangir Alom, a former community police officer in the United Kingdom.
Three of the men were arrested in a house approximately one mile from Olympic Park.
"There wasn't any specific threat to the Olympics," said Tobias Feakin, an expert on British security. "It's the fact that now the police intelligence services will act far earlier on in a plot, an active plot, because risk appetite is diminishing rapidly as we reach closer and closer to the Olympic Games."
157 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:28:35am |
Massive spreadsheet of doom!
Oy, what a mess.
158 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:29:12am |
re: #156 Killgore Trout
The arrests follow the six arrested Thursday in an early morning raid. New details that have emerged since those arrests indicate that it was three brothers and three other men who are suspected of being Islamic terrorists planning a strike in the U.K. during the Olympic Games.
Expect the usual suspects to absolutely explode with their anti-Muslim rhetoric when they catch wind of this. And they will. They always do, somehow.
159 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:31:13am |
re: #158 thedopefishlives
Expect the usual suspects to absolutely explode with their anti-Muslim rhetoric when they catch wind of this. And they will. They always do, somehow.
Remember: to these people, Islam = Islamism = Jihad
160 | Eventual Carrion Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:33:46am |
re: #159 Expand Your Ground
Remember: to these people, Islam = Islamism = Jihad
And christian = christ's army = new crusade. Twin brothers from different mothers.
161 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:34:49am |
re: #160 RayFerd
And christian = christ's army = new crusade. Twin brothers from different mothers.
Yes, but the Crusades were good, don'tcha know.
/That one burned just coming off my fingertips
162 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:40:11am |
Don't forget: Judaism = Zionism = domination of world finances
163 | NJDhockeyfan Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:41:42am |
re: #156 Killgore Trout
Police in the United Kingdom impounded a vehicle after a routine stop Saturday on a highway north of London, suspecting the driver didn't have valid car insurance. When police searched the vehicle, they found firearms and other material hidden inside.
"As soon as the items were discovered in the impounded vehicle, our priority was to protect the public by pursuing and arresting those we believed to be involved," Det. Chief Superintendent Kenny Bell said.
Sounds like this was just a lucky find. The security teams still have a lot of work to do running up to the Olympics. I'm sure searching for these unknown terror cells is like finding a needle in a haystack.
164 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:42:18am |
re: #158 thedopefishlives
Expect the usual suspects to absolutely explode with their anti-Muslim rhetoric when they catch wind of this. And they will. They always do, somehow.
It'll be even worse if these dicks make a successful attack during the Olympics. What a mess.
165 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:42:37am |
So glad @PCUSA is joininng @BoycottAhava! No profit from stolen land. #divestforpeace #churchdivest— Alissa Wise (@AlissaShira) July 6, 2012
168 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:47:05am |
re: #163 NJDhockeyfan
Sounds like this was just a lucky find. The security teams still have a lot of work to do running up to the Olympics. I'm sure searching for these unknown terror cells is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Yes and no, from what I gather is that they usually let the things run on as long as possible once discovered to find out more about the networkds behind them, usually only stepping in at the last minute.
But with the Olympics coming up, they had to act sooner rather than later.
170 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:48:08am |
171 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:52:11am |
Kaspersky sucks. Never thought I'd say that but it's official. Looks like their run has come to and end.
172 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:53:49am |
re: #171 Gus
Kaspersky sucks. Never thought I'd say that but it's official. Looks like their run has come to and end.
Glad you figured it out, at least.
173 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 7:55:01am |
re: #167 Gus
55 followers! ;)
All this BDS shit gets retweeted by Mondoweiss. He's like Neturei Karta but without the Hasidic costume.
174 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:00:35am |
Greets and saluts from the sweltering Baked Big Apple. The unemployment figures are out, and it's a mixed bag. ADP says private payrolls grew 176,000, well above the consensus estimate of 100,000. That was bolstered by an upwards revision of May to 133,000. However, the Labor Department's job figures were worse than expected. Only 80,000 nonfarm jobs were created.
The unemployment rate has remained at 8.2%. The U-6 rate is up to 15.1, after falling to 14.3 for May (unadjusted). Adjusted for seasonal, the rate is still higher - at 14.9.
175 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:03:22am |
176 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:03:40am |
Background on one of the suspects.
White Muslim one of six arrested over ‘terror plot'
The Daily Telegraph understands the police moved over fears that a group had obtained a sword which could potentially be used in a terrorist attack.
Mr Dart, 29, the son of Dorset teachers, featured in a BBC documentary last year filmed by his own brother about his conversion. During the film, called My Brother the Islamist, he was seen protesting about British soldiers in Afghanistan and accused them of being “murderers”.
He also called for Sharia law to be established in Britain, as well as saying that one of his friends used to be “in the police”, but is not any more. Mr Dart has changed his name to Salahuddin al Britani. Salahuddin comes from the medieval leader who drove King Richard I from Jerusalem during the Crusades.
It emerged last year that the former BBC security guard was living off state benefits in a luxury flat in Mile End, east London.
Anjem Choudary said he had converted Mr Dart but had not been in contact with him for more than a year.
I hope they have more evidence than a sword. Interesting to see Choundary's name mentioned.
177 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:08:33am |
re: #175 Kronocide
Ted Nugent: 'I'm Beginning to Wonder if it Would Have Been Best had the South Won the Civil War'
A rock musician shares his opinions on politics. Now let Justice Roberts tell us what he thinks of rock 'n' roll...
178 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:09:23am |
Never trust a man who wears a black robe. He might be naked under there.
Oookaay.
179 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:09:59am |
re: #175 Kronocide
Ted Nugent: 'I'm Beginning to Wonder if it Would Have Been Best had the South Won the Civil War'
Hey Ted, Chris Rock on Line 2 for you!
/
180 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:16:00am |
Forking A. Turn off Kaspersky and everything works again. Was working fine for a couple of days after I did a clean reinstall of KAV with the latest installer. Suddenly BOOM! This morning it goes back to pre-reinstall mode.
181 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:16:01am |
re: #176 Killgore Trout
Background on one of the suspects.
White Muslim one of six arrested over ‘terror plot'I hope they have more evidence than a sword. Interesting to see Choundary's name mentioned.
I love how the Torygraph can't resist throwing in "luxury flat" and "state benefits".
182 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:22:54am |
Daily Telegraph "luxury flat":
[Link: www.rightmove.co.uk...]
183 | NJDhockeyfan Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:23:09am |
re: #168 Expand Your Ground
Yes and no, from what I gather is that they usually let the things run on as long as possible once discovered to find out more about the networkds behind them, usually only stepping in at the last minute.
But with the Olympics coming up, they had to act sooner rather than later.
I think this was just a lucky break. As soon as they saw what was in the car they quickly went out and grabbed them.
A spokesman said: “The arrests followed a routine stop of a vehicle by police on the M1 motorway in South Yorkshire on Saturday.
“The car was impounded on suspicion of having no insurance.
“Firearms, offensive weapons and other material were later found hidden inside, prompting police to take action to trace and arrest the driver, passenger and others suspected of being involved.”
184 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:23:17am |
re: #175 Kronocide
Ted Nugent: 'I'm Beginning to Wonder if it Would Have Been Best had the South Won the Civil War'
I am sure that if you press him on it, he will say that he did not mean that in regard to slavery, (which only played a minor rolr in the Civil War in his mind) but in the issue of States' Rights...
185 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:27:23am |
re: #184 Expand Your Ground
I am sure that if you press him on it, he will say that he did not mean that in regard to slavery, (which only played a minor rolr in the Civil War in his mind) but in the issue of States' Rights...
Of course. There's little regard for slavery, that's been made very clear. State's Rights are much more important.
186 | Big Steve Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:28:25am |
With all the controversial topics in the last day here and yet not one down ding in the last 24 hours....have we become that much of an echo chamber?
187 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:28:30am |
re: #181 iossarian
I love how the Torygraph can't resist throwing in "luxury flat" and "state benefits".
Pics of the house here: Seven more terror arrests as police find 'weapons hidden in car' just a day after Olympic round-up that saw white Muslim convert captured
That does look pretty nice for London. Almost American sized yard.
188 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:30:52am |
re: #186 Big Steve
You're just itching for a down ding... aren't you /
Must.Resist.Urge.
Traffic is probably lighter than usual so that means fewer of the hits due to the holiday week.
189 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:34:36am |
re: #165 Learned Mother of Zion
[Embedded content]
Is she thinking wishful? Last I saw the Presbyterians voted not to divest.
190 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:36:13am |
re: #187 Killgore Trout
Pics of the house here: Seven more terror arrests as police find 'weapons hidden in car' just a day after Olympic round-up that saw white Muslim convert captured
That does look pretty nice for London. Almost American sized yard.
I think that's a different house - caption says "three weeks ago". Besides it's in East Stratford, which is not exactly Mile End (though they are essentially next to each other).
191 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:36:14am |
re: #188 lawhawk
You're just itching for a down ding... aren't you /
Must.Resist.Urge.
Traffic is probably lighter than usual so that means fewer of the hits due to the holiday week.
We could talk about OWS and their single great virtue vs Tea Partiers.
192 | GunstarGreen Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:36:19am |
re: #171 Gus
Kaspersky sucks. Never thought I'd say that but it's official. Looks like their run has come to and end.
I find that Avast! covers all of my needs. Good protection, highly configurable, small memory footprint, regular and efficient background updates, and free.
193 | Henchman 25 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:36:22am |
re: #186 Big Steve
With all the controversial topics in the last day here and yet not one down ding in the last 24 hours...have we become that much of an echo chamber?
Neither Buck nor rwmofo have stopped by to drop any turds in the threads.
194 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:38:43am |
Dagnabbit. Pushed some buttons and it appears to be normal for the moment.
195 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:39:23am |
re: #193 Artist
Neither Buck nor rwmofo have stopped by to drop any turds in the threads.
We're like sheepdogs without a wolf.
196 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:41:16am |
197 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:42:22am |
First some people complain about down dings and making bottom comment sweeps then they complain about no bottom comments. Make up your fucking mind.
198 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:43:04am |
re: #196 Expand Your Ground
that's a coyote
Nope. It's Ralph E. Wolf. Wile E. Coyote was drawn almost identically.
[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]
199 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:43:24am |
re: #197 Gus
First some people complain about down dings and making bottom comment sweeps then they complain about no bottom comments. Make up your fucking mind.
Make me make up my mind.
200 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:44:22am |
re: #199 thedopefishlives
If I wanted your opinion, I'd have given it to you. /
202 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:45:53am |
re: #198 Decatur Deb
Nope. It's Ralph E. Wolf. Wile E. Coyote was drawn almost identically.
[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]
I remember the cartoon as a kid, but was never aware of the distinction.
203 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:47:13am |
re: #198 Decatur Deb
Nope. It's Ralph E. Wolf. Wile E. Coyote was drawn almost identically.
Dude, you are the man. That is awesome cartoon trivia.
204 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:47:44am |
re: #202 Expand Your Ground
I remember the cartoon as a kid, but was never aware of the distinction.
Wiki says the red or black nose is about the only giveaway. (I edited the wiki into the comment above.)
205 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:49:04am |
re: #203 iossarian
Dude, you are the man. That is awesome cartoon trivia.
Got it here. I think it's a recurring LGF theme.
206 | GunstarGreen Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:49:18am |
re: #197 Gus
I believe it stems from two different interpretations of the significance of downdings. Are downdings supposed to signify bad posts (trolling, poorly-constructed content, etc.), or simply posts that the reader disagrees with?
In that way, one can either view it as "opposing views should not be buried with downdings simply because they're opposing views", or "the lack of downdings signifies a lack of opposing views which is unhealthy for open discussion".
207 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:50:34am |
Today's jobs report came in with 15,000 less jobs than predicted...
Seriously? Big. Fucking. Deal. Of course the Republicans will make it seem like the end of the world. No wait. They already are. Unemployment remains unchanged.
Let's start another war! [Hurl]
208 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:51:24am |
re: #205 Decatur Deb
Got it here. I think it's a recurring LGF theme.
Hey, if you stick around one place long enough, you become the embodied knowledge. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants. Or pygmies, as the case may be.
209 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:52:01am |
re: #208 iossarian
Hey, if you stick around one place long enough, you become the embodied knowledge. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants. Or pygmies, as the case may be.
Turtles. Another LGF theme.
210 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:53:40am |
re: #209 Decatur Deb
Turtles. Another LGF theme.
So tell me, ladies, what do you know about sea turtles?
211 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:54:31am |
re: #207 Gus
Today's jobs report came in with 15,000 less jobs than predicted...
Seriously? Big. Fucking. Deal. Of course the Republicans will make it seem like the end of the world. No wait. They already are. Unemployment remains unchanged.
Let's start another war! [Hurl]
Why not? Wars are great for the economy. Terrible for bumfuck all else, especially international relations, but we don't need no stinkin' international relations, we're AMERCIA, dammit!
//
212 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:55:57am |
re: #210 thedopefishlives
So tell me, ladies, what do you know about sea turtles?
They confuse easily. You can't show lights on the nearby beaches when eggs are laid. TPGOPers are like that, but they don't get laid.
213 | Flounder Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:55:59am |
God loves marines, because marines keep heaven full of fresh bodies!
215 | NJDhockeyfan Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:58:41am |
re: #207 Gus
Today's jobs report came in with 15,000 less jobs than predicted...
Seriously? Big. Fucking. Deal. Of course the Republicans will make it seem like the end of the world. No wait. They already are. Unemployment remains unchanged.
Let's start another war! [Hurl]
I believe this is considered a big deal by most Americans sitting at home without a job. Of course the Democrats are going to continue to blame George Bush for this.
217 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:59:48am |
re: #211 thedopefishlives
I know this wasn't the point of your comment, but I think the "war is good for the economy" angle is overplayed. Sure, WWII basically forced the US to implement the jobs program that it needed to finally kick the depression. But that's a completely different animal than spending a bunch of money to blow stuff up, and then cutting social programs to pay for it.
218 | GunstarGreen Fri, Jul 6, 2012 8:59:48am |
It has always struck me as odd that, in all of the myriad economic mental masturbations that have gone in throughout our present financial woes, nobody (or at least, nobody that gets much play in the mainstream) has brought up the idea that a decade plus of continual war, with absolutely no tax increase of any kind to support the increased expenditures (and, in fact, simultaneous tax CUTS) might just have a significant effect on the national debt.
219 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:00:12am |
re: #215 NJDhockeyfan
I believe this is considered a big deal by most Americans sitting at home without a job. Of course the Democrats are going to continue to blame George Bush for this.
Of course. It's not the "Republicans fault" but it's the "Democrat's fault" yet it's no ones fault. Don't say anything about the record profits of the Fortune 500 companies either... Got it.
220 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:01:05am |
re: #215 NJDhockeyfan
I believe this is considered a big deal by most Americans sitting
at homeoutside their recently repossessed homes without a job. Of course the Democrats are going to continue to blame George Bush for this.
They certainly do not have any GOP policies to thank.
221 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:01:15am |
re: #215 NJDhockeyfan
I believe this is considered a big deal by most Americans sitting at home without a job. Of course the Democrats are going to continue to blame George Bush for this.
Says the man who will vote for a guy who will make millions if the dollar declines.
222 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:01:21am |
re: #217 iossarian
I know this wasn't the point of your comment, but I think the "war is good for the economy" angle is overplayed. Sure, WWII basically forced the US to implement the jobs program that it needed to finally kick the depression. But that's a completely different animal than spending a bunch of money to blow stuff up, and then cutting social programs to pay for it.
Well, it was the point insomuch as it is one of the examples any good Teabagger will point to when asked why, exactly, they feel that going to war with Iran is such a Good Thing (tm) for the United States. Obviously, we all know that defense contractors will make a mint during wartime. However, it's not the huge depression-ending bump that the rapid modernization/industrialization programs of WWII were.
223 | Big Steve Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:01:53am |
re: #197 Gus
When I check in each day I check the bottom 10 list first. Some are down dinged for being a-holes but some are down dinged for just not spouting the current LGF party line. I find those more interesting to read than the top 10 which tend to be more of the "hooray for our side" type comments. But I am jaded because I am most often on the bottom 10 myself. Its been interesting because when I first joined LGF the Karma thing wasn't on but once it got turned on, I was often down dinged for being way too liberal. Then there was a period of time, albeit short, where I was main stream. But now I routinely down dinged for being too conservative. I am kind of the less loquacious, less good looking version of Killgore.
224 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:02:03am |
re: #220 Expand Your Ground
They certainly do not have any GOP policies to thank.
Yeah. Let's pass another bill to probe womens' vaginas once again.
Next up. Homosexuals and Mexicans!
225 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:03:16am |
re: #224 Gus
Yeah. Let's pass another bill to probe womens' vaginas once again.
Next up. Homosexuals and Mexicans!
I think the GOP is way ahead of you when it comes to probing homosexuals.
/Yeah, I just went there
226 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:07:04am |
re: #215 NJDhockeyfan
I believe this is considered a big deal by most Americans sitting at home without a job. Of course the Democrats are going to continue to blame George Bush for this.
I'll be happy to. It's just possible that the people who had been running the government and their buddies running the economy in the years before 2009 have fucked it so well that it will never be unfucked.
227 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:08:33am |
When employment crashes massively under one president, and then increases steadily, albeit slowly, under the next, I tend to place blame for unemployment on the earlier guy.
But that's just me and my strange fascination with mathematics and logic.
228 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:09:26am |
REQUEST FOR DOWN-DING.
If you hate stinky cheese, please down-ding this comment.
Otherwise, please down-ding this comment.
229 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:09:49am |
re: #227 iossarian
When employment crashes massively under one president, and then increases steadily, albeit slowly, under the next, I tend to place blame for unemployment on the earlier guy.
But that's just me and my strange fascination with mathematics and logic.
I tend not to blame the president at all. I do, however, completely blame the collection of idiots in charge of details like financial sector oversight.
231 | wrenchwench Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:10:36am |
re: #228 b_sharp
REQUEST FOR DOWN-DING.
If you hate stinky cheese, please down-ding this comment.
Otherwise, please down-ding this comment.
B-sharp has run the entire Bottom Comment category!!!1!
232 | GunstarGreen Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:11:38am |
re: #227 iossarian
When employment crashes massively under one president, and then increases steadily, albeit slowly, under the next, I tend to place blame for unemployment on the earlier guy.
But that's just me and my strange fascination with mathematics and logic.
It's a classic case of moving goalposts. First it was that the economy was worsening under Obama. Then, when that turned out not to be true, it was that the economy wasn't recovering fast enough under Obama.
The idea that recovering from over a decade of bad policy takes more than a couple of years is foreign to a lot of people.
233 | wrenchwench Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:11:39am |
Well, for a second there, he did. And I do hate stinky cheese.
234 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:11:58am |
re: #229 thedopefishlives
I tend not to blame the president at all. I do, however, completely blame the collection of idiots in charge of details like financial sector oversight.
I quite agree, though of course the president bears some responsibility for appointements, legislation and so on.
235 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:12:02am |
re: #229 thedopefishlives
I tend not to blame the president at all. I do, however, completely blame the collection of idiots in charge of details like financial sector oversight.
I blame the push for deregulation, trickle-down economics and faith in the magic hand of unfettered corporatism.
236 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:12:50am |
re: #184 Expand Your Ground
I am sure that if you press him on it, he will say that he did not mean that in regard to slavery, (which only played a minor rolr in the Civil War in his mind) but in the issue of States' Rights...
The Smithsonian Channel has a series called Aerial America which is bascailly helicopter shots of all 50 states while a narrator voiceovers facts and trivia.
They were doing Mississippi the other night and got to the Jackson Court House. When talking about MS seceding, they mentioned the proclamation read from the porch as to why MS was outta there.
In plain English, MS was leaving the Union because they wanted to preserve slavery. Couldn't have been any clearer.
I'm always amazed at all of these revisionists who claim that the Civil War was about everything else but slavery. It's like deep, deep down they know slavery's wrong, but they bring themselves to say it.
237 | A Mom Anon Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:12:56am |
re: #184 Expand Your Ground
Ted Nugent. Really? The man whose deepest thoughts are contained in the lyrics to WangDangSweetPoontang? Why oh why is he even remotely relevant? GAH. He totally creeps me out.
238 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:13:21am |
re: #234 iossarian
I quite agree, though of course the president bears some responsibility for appointements, legislation and so on.
On that, we agree. And I will admit that my former rabid support for George W. Bush has tempered considerably over the last few years.
239 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:13:26am |
re: #229 thedopefishlives
I tend not to blame the president at all. I do, however, completely blame the collection of idiots in charge of details like financial sector oversight.
I look at the private sector. There is plenty of cash at hand to create and enormous amount of jobs. Instead it's being horded by a small percentage of citizens that keep claiming they're unsure about the future while paying for breast implants; lousy basketball players; and reality TV. I think it's strange that we're talking about creating employment which requires "cash at hand" while we have a luxury class that's living better than ever and providing little to no value to society including the creation of jobs.
240 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:13:32am |
There has been a rather laid-back mood here since the USSC Obamacare decision, then the holiday. That might reflect the slow improvement in the Prez's numbers shown in RCP and Nate Silver's blogs.
241 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:14:43am |
STAY CLASSY DOUCHEWADS
Obama: Funemployment means more simple family vacations ... for you plebs bit.ly/M92TW3— TwitchyPolitics (@TwitchyPolitics) July 6, 2012
242 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:14:56am |
re: #239 Gus
I look at the private sector. There is plenty of cash at hand to create and enormous amount of jobs. Instead it's being horded by a small percentage of citizens that keep claiming they're unsure about the future while paying for breast implants; lousy basketball players; and reality TV. I think it's strange that we're talking about creating employment which requires "cash at hand" while we have a luxury class that's living better than ever and providing little to no value to society including the creation of jobs.
B-b-but those luxurious lifestyles are creating MILLIONS OF JERBS!
243 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:16:33am |
re: #231 wrenchwench
B-sharp has run the entire Bottom Comment category!!!1!
Yah!!
See, we don't live in an echo chamber!ho chamber!chamber!amber!er fuckit!
244 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:16:35am |
15,000 people making 30,000/year = $450,000,000 or
90 reality TV and pop stars making $5,000,000/year.
That's how America work.
245 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:17:07am |
re: #242 thedopefishlives
Actually, on a more serious note on that topic, I think that's one of the arguments from the rabid right wing that burns me the most. Rush Limbaugh can sit his fat ass behind the Golden EIB Microphone and declare that his buying luxury goods is driving the economy, but that doesn't make it true. Luxury goods generate a lot of revenue, but almost no volume; that means that it's making a very few people very wealthy. Why, it's almost like rich people are building a system to keep themselves rich...
246 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:18:49am |
Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Watson, says she had no idea that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s overhaul of the state’s educational system might mean taxpayer support of Muslim schools.
“I actually support funding for teaching the fundamentals of America’s Founding Fathers’ religion, which is Christianity, in public schools or private schools,” the District 64 Representative said Monday.
From the derps of derp...derp.
247 | wrenchwench Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:18:56am |
re: #245 thedopefishlives
Actually, on a more serious note on that topic, I think that's one of the arguments from the rabid right wing that burns me the most. Rush Limbaugh can sit his fat ass behind the Golden EIB Microphone and declare that his buying luxury goods is driving the economy, but that doesn't make it true. Luxury goods generate a lot of revenue, but almost no volume; that means that it's making a very few people very wealthy. Why, it's almost like rich people are building a system to keep themselves rich...
Class warfare!
Marx didn't have the answers, but he was asking the right questions.
248 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:19:47am |
re: #228 b_sharp
REQUEST FOR DOWN-DING.
If you hate stinky cheese, please down-ding this comment.
Otherwise, please down-ding this comment.
I'm SO conflicted!!
You'll have to read between the dings to see mine!!!
249 | wrenchwench Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:20:05am |
re: #246 The Ghost of a Flea
From the derps of derp...derp.
"When I say 'religion', I mean MY religion!!"
250 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:20:29am |
If Ted Nugent had been alive in 1860, would he have fouled his breeches to avoid serving with R E Lee?
251 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:20:57am |
re: #247 wrenchwench
Class warfare!
Marx didn't have the answers, but he was asking the right questions.
Marx was a philosopher, not an economist so his ideas were rooted in fairness to labour, not an interactive global economy.
252 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:21:19am |
re: #248 sattv4u2
I'm SO conflicted!!
You'll have to read between the dings to see mine!!!
You weinie.
253 | NJDhockeyfan Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:21:40am |
Douchebag Alert:
JEAN-Marie Le Pen is trying to play a jovial patriot unjustly portrayed in the French press as an anti-Semitic Nazi sympathiser. He dotes over a photograph of his nine grandchildren, talks of his love of dogs and paints his household as a haven of peace.
But in an interview with The Times, the far-right leader lets the mask slip now and then, proclaiming his admiration for skinheads, lauding Enoch Powell and warning that "Pakis" - he uses the English term - are a threat to the British way of life.
He calls Marine Le Pen, his daughter and successor as National Front leader, une petite bourgeoise, exactly what her political opponents say of her. The next Le Pen family reunion at their manor in Saint-Cloud, outside Paris, promises to be stormy.
...
254 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:21:44am |
re: #247 wrenchwench
Class warfare!
Marx didn't have the answers, but he was asking the right questions.
Heresy!!
Groucho had ALL the answers!!!
255 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:21:46am |
re: #215 NJDhockeyfan
I believe this is considered a big deal by most Americans sitting at home without a job. Of course the Democrats are going to continue to blame George Bush for this.
Of course they are. Because they should.
I suppose if Obama didn't spend any $ on Stimulus and let the auto companies fail, and lowered taxes, more people would be back at work now. That's what the Free Market Fairy sez.
256 | GunstarGreen Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:21:49am |
re: #246 The Ghost of a Flea
From the derps of derp...derp.
Yeah, been hearing about that over the last couple of days. Frankly, I'm pretty enraged that there hasn't been an accompanying story of someone, ANYONE, walking up to these "constitution-loving" Republicans and saying, "What does it say here about Government and Religion?"
Because taxpayer funds being direct specifically to private schools of one and only one religion? It doesn't get much more "regarding the establishment of a religion" than that.
As funny as it is to watch them squirm when they realize that, oh hey, we forgot to specify "christians only", it's equally infuriating that nobody is calling them on it in any capacity other than snarky blog posts.
257 | Eventual Carrion Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:21:59am |
re: #250 Decatur Deb
If Ted Nugent had been alive in 1860, would he have fouled his breeches to avoid serving with R E Lee?
He would have been too busy off fornicating with the great white buffalo.
258 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:22:19am |
259 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:22:46am |
re: #244 Gus
15,000 people making 30,000/year = $450,000,000 or
90 reality TV and pop stars making $5,000,000/year.
That's how America work.
Don't forget, TV and Poop Stars should be paying even less taxes, because that means more tax $ and they hate because of our freedoms.
260 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:22:59am |
re: #247 wrenchwench
Class warfare!
Marx didn't have the answers, but he was asking the right questions.
Man, when I see Fox News pushing that class warfare meme, I just see 50 shades of red. It's like saying Godzilla is being picked on because the mean old Army is shooting at him.
What's worse, the people who watch that friggin' propaganda network are on the losing end of our current "class warfare", yet repeatedly support the people who are backing them into the corner.
261 | wrenchwench Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:23:02am |
re: #254 sattv4u2
Heresy!!
Groucho had ALL the answers!!!
Actually, Harpo did, but he wasn't sharing....
262 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:24:04am |
re: #246 The Ghost of a Flea
From the derps of derp...derp.
Even the royalty of derp could choke on that derp.
263 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:24:09am |
re: #257 RayFerd
He would have been too busy off fornicating with the great white buffalo.
The great white buffalo has far better taste than to take up with Ted Nugent.
264 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:25:22am |
265 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:25:28am |
re: #254 sattv4u2
Heresy!!
Groucho had ALL the answers!!!
"I am a Marxist of the Groucho sort."
-Anonymous
[Link: www.goodreads.com...]
268 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:26:58am |
re: #245 thedopefishlives
Actually, on a more serious note on that topic, I think that's one of the arguments from the rabid right wing that burns me the most. Rush Limbaugh can sit his fat ass behind the Golden EIB Microphone and declare that his buying luxury goods is driving the economy, but that doesn't make it true. Luxury goods generate a lot of revenue, but almost no volume; that means that it's making a very few people very wealthy. Why, it's almost like rich people are building a system to keep themselves rich...
The GM bailout created confidence in the auto industry, which lead to jobs opening up at the auto companies, which lead to the newly employed feeling confident enough to invest in their employers by purchasing new cars...
270 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:27:34am |
re: #246 The Ghost of a Flea
From the derps of derp...derp.
Louisiana Revelation: School Voucher Funding – It’s Not Just For Christians Any More
271 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:28:02am |
re: #261 wrenchwench
Actually, Harpo did, but he wasn't sharing...
I prefer Zippo for lighting fires.
272 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:30:31am |
re: #270 Varek Raith
Louisiana Revelation: School Voucher Funding – It’s Not Just For Christians Any More
If someone wants to start a madrassa, wiccan academy, or LGBT refuge-school, and name it for Bobby Jindal, I'll toss in a few bucks.
273 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:31:09am |
re: #268 Learned Mother of Zion
The GM bailout created confidence in the auto industry, which lead to jobs opening up at the auto companies, which lead to the newly employed feeling confident enough to invest in their employers by purchasing new cars...
That tiny popping sound you hear? Wingnuts' heads asploding.
274 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:31:29am |
re: #264 Varek Raith
HAHAHAHA
Don't laugh! That's part of the Republican jobs and manufacturing platform.
//
275 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:32:01am |
re: #268 Learned Mother of Zion
The GM bailout created confidence in the auto industry, which lead to jobs opening up at the auto companies, which lead to the newly employed feeling confident enough to invest in their employers by purchasing new cars...
How would you know? ...Oh...
276 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:32:35am |
re: #210 thedopefishlives
So tell me, ladies, what do you know about sea turtles?
They're less evolved than "G" turtles. And they like to refer to clownfish (and almost everything else) as "dude".
;)
277 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:33:02am |
re: #246 The Ghost of a Flea
From the derps of derp...derp.
I play this card whenever someone insists we need prayer in public schools. 99% of the people who tell me this want only Christian religion in school. I point out that if a school were to open the day with a Jewish or Muslim prayer, the school board would be fielding death threats for weeks.
The honest ones at least admit they want to force their religion on everyone. The rest usually just shut up.
278 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:33:28am |
re: #273 thedopefishlives
That tiny popping sound you hear? Wingnuts' heads asploding.
If you're talking WND level wingnuts, Alouette's comment had way too many big words in it for them to understand.
279 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:34:38am |
re: #256 GunstarGreen
Yeah, been hearing about that over the last couple of days. Frankly, I'm pretty enraged that there hasn't been an accompanying story of someone, ANYONE, walking up to these "constitution-loving" Republicans and saying, "What does it say here about Government and Religion?"
Because taxpayer funds being direct specifically to private schools of one and only one religion? It doesn't get much more "regarding the establishment of a religion" than that.
As funny as it is to watch them squirm when they realize that, oh hey, we forgot to specify "christians only", it's equally infuriating that nobody is calling them on it in any capacity other than snarky blog posts.
One of the features the "original intent" concept is that you can retroactively claim that the Founders really only meant Christianity to be protected. Heck, that's the entire basis of David Barton's career: ignoring all historical materials that point out that the Framers of the Constitution were (1) pretty well versed in world religion, for the time, (2) were Enlightenment Christians whose ideas about religion were Deist (and perhaps Freemasonic Deism specifically).
The only thing scarier that a-historicity is the built-in conceit that Christianity always means Protestant, evangelical, charsimatic, and ideologically overlapped with modern far-right politics.
280 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:34:50am |
re: #278 b_sharp
If you're talking WND level wingnuts, Alouette's comment had way too many big words in it for them to understand.
The Dunning-Krueger effect applied to political discourse.
281 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:34:56am |
re: #222 thedopefishlives
Well, it was the point insomuch as it is one of the examples any good Teabagger will point to when asked why, exactly, they feel that going to war with Iran is such a Good Thing (tm) for the United States. Obviously, we all know that defense contractors will make a mint during wartime. However, it's not the huge depression-ending bump that the rapid modernization/industrialization programs of WWII were.
And there was a huge worry post-WW2 that we would demobilize, have a gut of men seeking employment, a glut of industry not producing war goods, and promptly slip right back into another Depression.
282 | NJDhockeyfan Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:35:48am |
How bad is the job market? Depends on your state
...Only 14 states have unemployment rates above the national average. But most of them have large populations. Thirty-four states — more than two-thirds — have rates that are below the national average of 8.2 percent. Two states — Arizona and Kentucky — are at the national average.
Unemployment is highest in Nevada (11.6 percent), where the effects of the housing bust are pervasive. The four states with the next highest rates are: Rhode Island (11 percent), California (10.8 percent), North Carolina (9.4 percent) and New Jersey (9.2 percent).
Unemployment is lowest in North Dakota (3 percent). It's an agricultural state that avoided the housing boom and bust and has benefited from an oil-drilling boom. The four states with the next lowest rates are Nebraska (3.9 percent), South Dakota (4.3 percent), Vermont (4.6 percent) and Oklahoma (4.8 percent).
The Labor Department's state-by-state unemployment data is for May.
...
North Dakota? Hmmmmm...I will keep an eye on that should I find myself looking for a job.
283 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:36:26am |
re: #277 Mattand
I play this card whenever someone insists we need prayer in public schools. 99% of the people who tell me this want only Christian religion. I point out that if a school were to open the day with a Jewish or Muslim prayer, the school board would be fielding death threats for weeks.
he honest ones at least admit they want to force their religion on everyone. The rest usually just shut up.
Yep. "Creationism in public schools" means "Christian creationism in public schools" and not any other religion. I would also say that it also doesn't include not only Judaic (if there were to be creationism here) or Muslim religions but include "Catholic creationism." When these Republicans speak of "Christianity" they're largely speaking of Protestantism or Baptist.
284 | Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:36:26am |
re: #246 The Ghost of a Flea
I LOL'd when I saw that article.
285 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:37:15am |
re: #268 Learned Mother of Zion
The GM bailout created confidence in the auto industry, which lead to jobs opening up at the auto companies, which lead to the newly employed feeling confident enough to invest in their employers by purchasing new cars...
I keep seeing reports that the auto bailouts are costing the US billions of dollars that are lost forever. Is that true, or is that warmed over Tea Bagger talking points the networks are just regurgitating?
EDIT: I meant auto bailouts
286 | William Barnett-Lewis Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:37:40am |
re: #247 wrenchwench
Class warfare!
Marx didn't have the answers, but he was asking the right questions.
His analysis tended to be spot on. The problem was his tendency to utopianism that got magnified out of all reality by Lenin and company.
287 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:39:44am |
re: #285 Mattand
I keep seeing reports that the bailouts are costing the US billions of dollars that are lost forever. Is that true, or that warmed over Tea Bagger talking points the networks are just regurgitating?
It's twice-baked horse hockey. I thought I heard a report that at least in the case of GM, the bailout funds were largely repaid.
288 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:41:18am |
Yes. And removing "critical thinking" from our education process will really bode well for our research, technological, and scientific future on the national front. Yep. Keep teaching them about ghosts and goblins and Bronze age idols. That should work wonders for America's future.
289 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:42:02am |
Ted Nugent: 'I'm Beginning to Wonder if it Would Have Been Best had the South Won the Civil War'
Yogi Berra said that when you come to a fork in the road, take it. When supposed-conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. came to a judicial conservative-liberal fork in the road, he veered left.
With Chief Justice Roberts‘ vote to save Obamacare, I was reminded of what my dad told me more than 50 years ago: Never trust a man who wears a black robe. He might be naked under there.
…
The bottom line is that Chief Justice Roberts‘ traitor vote will ensure more monumental spending and wasted taxes and put almost 15 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) under one of the world’s most bureaucratic, ineffective, incompetent and grossly expensive systems ever devised by man: our out-of- control federal government.
Chief Justice Roberts squandered the opportunity to restore judicial, financial and legislative sanity to a government that by any sane person’s standards is insane and addicted to centralized federal control of our lives.
Because our legislative, judicial and executive branches of government hold the 10th Amendment in contempt, I’m beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War. Our Founding Fathers’ concept of limited government is dead.
…
Obamacare will now join Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as another unaffordable, unsustainable, runaway, unaccountable social program.
Our entitlement programs have bankrupted America. We have dug a financial crater so deep that many doubt we can ever climb out. With his vote, Chief Justice Roberts didn’t give Fedzilla an even bigger shovel, he gave Fedzilla an earth mover with which to dig bigger financial holes.
Quite possibly, with his vote, Chief Justice Roberts just engineered the ultimate demise of this great experiment in self- government. If you think we are skating on financial thin ice now, just wait until 2014 when the full financial tsunami of Obamacare comes crashing down.
The president should have Chief Justice Roberts over for dinner, give him a ride on Air Force One and apologize for not voting for him during his confirmation hearings. It’s the least the community-organizer- in-chief can do for the turncoat chief justice who saved the president’s socialist health care program.
Limited government is dead. The smothering era of socialism is here.
290 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:42:16am |
How Four Supreme Court Justices Misquoted Alexander Hamilton
If Congress can do that, the dissenting justices write, “then the Commerce Clause becomes a font of unlimited power, or in Hamilton’s words, “the hideous monster whose devouring jaws ... spare neither sex nor age, nor high nor low, nor sacred nor profane.”
Those are indeed the words of Alexander Hamilton, but, as they’re quoted here, it seems that he must have been warning against the ever-present tyranny of the federal government. But that was not what he was saying.
The image of the devouring monster in Federalist 33 is, in fact, Hamilton sarcastically denouncing the scare tactics of the Anti-Federalists -- the men who opposed the Constitution. Hamilton wanted to assure the voters of New York that far from the tyrannous monster they had been warned about, the broad power of taxation in the Constitution was perfectly consistent with republican government.
The relevant clauses of the Constitution, Hamilton wrote, had been “the source of much virulent invective and petulant declamation…” He castigated his political opponents who had criticized the powers the Constitution gave to the federal government “… in all the exaggerated colors of misrepresentation as the pernicious engines by which their local governments were to be destroyed and their liberties exterminated; as the hideous monster whose devouring jaws would spare neither sex nor age, nor high nor low, nor sacred nor profane.”
Hamilton did not decry the federal government as a constitutional Godzilla. He denounced the Anti-Federalists for their distortions and lies.
So how could such a misreading find its way into the dissenting judgment on the health care reforms?
291 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:42:59am |
re: #223 Big Steve
I am kind of the less loquacious, less good looking version of Killgore.
Unpossible
292 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:44:03am |
re: #285 Mattand
The auto bailout monies are in two categories - the direct bailout, which has largely been repaid by Chrysler (Fiat) and GM, and the stock ownership that was part of the reorganization of both GM and Chrysler.
It's the stock ownership portion of the bailout that is a persistent loss for the taxpayers unless the stocks for those companies rise above the strike price (which I think is in the mid 40s for GM). Selling at less than that price would mean a loss. So, as of now, the losses are paper losses. If GM stock price rises to that strike level, the taxpayers would be fully covered. If it goes above that level, taxpayers get a windfall profit.
The selling of GM stock would depend on the politics - not wanting to take undue losses versus needing to divest from the position. IIRC some 500 million GM shares are owned by the feds.
*added* - the feds sold their remaining shares to Fiat, giving Fiat more than 50% ownership in the company, and the feds lost $1.3 billion on the whole from Chrysler.
293 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:44:52am |
re: #282 NJDhockeyfan
How bad is the job market? Depends on your state
North Dakota? Hmmm...I will keep an eye on that should I find myself looking for a job.
If you check Canada's top two provinces, you'll see they're sitting on the same or similar oil fields to those in ND. Oil (and potash in Sask) is the main driver of those economies since the price of oil skyrocketed. When it was $20/brl it wasn't worth it to pull oil from the oil-sands, but $120.00/brl oil makes it worth it to squeeze oil from a rock. If production increases too much and the price drops, the economies of the west are going to take a hit.
294 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:45:32am |
re: #288 Gus
Yes. And removing "critical thinking" from our education process will really bode well for our research, technological, and scientific future on the national front. Yep. Keep teaching them about ghosts and goblins and Bronze age idols. That should work wonders for America's future.
I never understood why people thought it was a good idea to start de-emphasizing real math and science in the classroom and to start "teaching the controversy" instead. Concrete reasoning skills are important.
295 | Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:45:51am |
re: #290 The Ghost of a Flea
BECAUSE SHUT UP! THAT'S WHY! //Scalia
296 | Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:46:51am |
oh, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the documentary "Gasland".
297 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:47:24am |
298 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:47:30am |
re: #285 Mattand
I keep seeing reports that the bailouts are costing the US billions of dollars that are lost forever. Is that true, or is that warmed over Tea Bagger talking points the networks are just regurgitating?
What is the breakdown in funds. How much was in loans, how much was in gifts and how much in stock?
299 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:47:39am |
300 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:48:36am |
re: #294 thedopefishlives
I never understood why people thought it was a good idea to start de-emphasizing real math and science in the classroom and to start "teaching the controversy" instead. Concrete reasoning skills are important.
I was talking to my hippie neighbors. They are moving because they want a better school system for their kids. Portland schools are notoriously awful. I was surprised when they said they wanted a school system with classes in gardening, composting and music. No mention of fundamentals. Those are all things I enjoy but it's really hard to make a living composting.
302 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:49:35am |
re: #300 Killgore Trout
Pundits seem to be able to quite well in flinging the compost..
303 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:49:36am |
re: #300 Killgore Trout
it's really hard to make a living composting
I dunno. I can point to lots of people that make a good living shoveling shit!!.
304 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:51:37am |
re: #283 Gus
Yep. "Creationism in public schools" means "Christian creationism in public schools" and not any other religion. I would also say that it also doesn't include not only Judaic (if there were to be creationism here) or Muslim religions but include "Catholic creationism." When these Republicans speak of "Christianity" they're largely speaking of Protestantism or Baptist.
Which is partially amusing given where the Baptists stood on the separating church and state issue a few hundred years ago. All part of evolving divinely re-creating one's position on such issues.
305 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:52:49am |
re: #292 lawhawk
The auto bailout monies are in two categories - the direct bailout, which has largely been repaid by Chrysler (Fiat) and GM, and the stock ownership that was part of the reorganization of both GM and Chrysler.
It's the stock ownership portion of the bailout that is a persistent loss for the taxpayers unless the stocks for those companies rise above the strike price (which I think is in the mid 40s for GM). Selling at less than that price would mean a loss. So, as of now, the losses are paper losses. If GM stock price rises to that strike level, the taxpayers would be fully covered. If it goes above that level, taxpayers get a windfall profit.
The selling of GM stock would depend on the politics - not wanting to take undue losses versus needing to divest from the position. IIRC some 500 million GM shares are owned by the feds.
Goddamn, do you just know all of this stuff, or do you research at Flash levels?
Appreciate the info. I was just poking around FactCheck.org, and they mentioned that we're still $40 billion in the hole. They do mention the Treasury Department's TARP udpdate, but if there's a mention of stocks, I couldn't figure it out.
I'd be curious to see how all of this is reported if the stocks bounce back.
306 | Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:53:29am |
re: #304 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste
but see that's when the baptists were more of a minority and were threatened. Now it's time for payback....
//
307 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:53:35am |
re: #298 b_sharp
What is the breakdown in funds. How much was in loans, how much was in gifts and how much in stock?
308 | Mostly sane, most of the time. Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:54:11am |
re: #300 Killgore Trout
I was talking to my hippie neighbors. They are moving because they want a better school system for their kids. Portland schools are notoriously awful. I was surprised when they said they wanted a school system with classes in gardening, composting and music. No mention of fundamentals. Those are all things I enjoy but it's really hard to make a living composting.
Where are they moving to?
309 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:54:12am |
An UPDING for former President GW Bush and wife Laura
[Link: www.voanews.com...]
310 | William Barnett-Lewis Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:54:18am |
re: #300 Killgore Trout
I was talking to my hippie neighbors. They are moving because they want a better school system for their kids. Portland schools are notoriously awful. I was surprised when they said they wanted a school system with classes in gardening, composting and music. No mention of fundamentals. Those are all things I enjoy but it's really hard to make a living composting.
Music is critical to the fundamentals though. A real grounding in music generally improves both reading and, especially, math skills. Mind, this is only from serious music classes not sitting around regurgitation bad folk songs. Theory, scales, an instrument and voice as a minimum. Unfortunately no one wants to pay for that because it's not something they can force people to teach to the test about.
311 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:54:38am |
re: #305 Mattand
Having a real good memory doesn't hurt, and knowing where to find information in a jiffy is a bonus.
312 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:55:05am |
313 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:56:06am |
re: #293 b_sharp
If you check Canada's top two provinces, you'll see they're sitting on the same or similar oil fields to those in ND. Oil (and potash in Sask) is the main driver of those economies since the price of oil skyrocketed. When it was $20/brl it wasn't worth it to pull oil from the oil-sands, but $120.00/brl oil makes it worth it to squeeze oil from a rock. If production increases too much and the price drops, the economies of the west are going to take a hit.
My brother said last night that in two hundred years those writing the literature on human history will be saying "They did *what* with the oil!?!" along with lamenting that their predecessors had foreknowledge of global warming effects and opted to do nothing about it. And that Bangladesh will be the new Lyonesse.
314 | NJDhockeyfan Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:57:01am |
re: #309 sattv4u2
An UPDING for former President GW Bush and wife Laura
[Link: www.voanews.com...]
Good stuff!
LUSAKA — Former President George W. Bush has kept a relatively low profile in the United States since leaving office. But in Africa this week he is publicly promoting his institute's initiative to prevent and treat cervical cancer. While Bush is following a familiar post-presidential path in supporting humanitarian causes, he would prefer to focus on quiet service, to lead through example and hard work.
He worked alongside other volunteers in Kabwe - Zambia's second-largest city - to renovate a health clinic which specializes in the early detection and treatment of cervical cancer.
“You're always the former president but I wanted to come here as a laborer...I do want to say that on this particular trip that myself and friends have left behind a clinic and hope to inspire others to come and refurbish clinics as well,” Bush said.
Bush is helping lead the fight against cervical cancer in his post-presidential years and has so far helped raise more than $85 million. But he is a reluctant public spokesman for the cause and says he would prefer to contribute outside the media spotlight.
“I hope you don't see much of it because I don't want to be in the news. In other words, I believe that quiet service is the best kind of service,” he said.
In Zambia, Bush and his wife Laura also visited an orphanage where many of the children were born with HIV. The children are alive today because of President Bush's 2003 AIDS initiative in Africa that provided billions of dollars for retroviral drugs and treatment. It is an emotional tour full of hugs and picture taking.
“I believe freedom is important for peace and I believe one aspect of freedom is people to be free from disease. And so Laura and I are very much involved in this initiative,” Bush said.
That's a class act.
315 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:57:09am |
re: #310 William Barnett-Lewis
Music is critical to the fundamentals though. A real grounding in music generally improves both reading and, especially, math skills. Mind, this is only from serious music classes not sitting around regurgitation bad folk songs. Theory, scales, an instrument and voice as a minimum. Unfortunately no one wants to pay for that because it's not something they can force people to teach to the test about.
There's nothing wrong with the arts. However, people need basic education in fundamental math, science, and language, as well. The ability to reason logically is at least as important as raw creativity, even in "creative" or "artsy" career paths.
316 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:57:15am |
Check Your Computer for Malware -- Or Lose Internet Access on Monday
Click to see if you're infected or not.
[Link: dnschanger.detect.my...]
317 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:57:18am |
re: #300 Killgore Trout
I was talking to my hippie neighbors. They are moving because they want a better school system for their kids. Portland schools are notoriously awful. I was surprised when they said they wanted a school system with classes in gardening, composting and music. No mention of fundamentals. Those are all things I enjoy but it's really hard to make a living composting.
Music, I can understand. Gardening and composting? Um. Wow.
318 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:58:17am |
319 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:59:01am |
re: #316 Varek Raith
Check Your Computer for Malware -- Or Lose Internet Access on Monday
Click to see if you're infected or not.
[Link: dnschanger.detect.my...]
conundrum
Do I trust Varek enough to click on a link about a VIRUS !!!
hmmmmm,,,,,
//
320 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:59:13am |
re: #313 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste
My brother said last night that in two hundred years those writing the literature on human history will be saying "They did *what* with the oil!?!" along with lamenting that their predecessors had foreknowledge of global warming effects and opted to do nothing about it. And that Bangladesh will be the new Lyonesse.
God moves in mysterious waves.
322 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 9:59:57am |
re: #316 Varek Raith
Check Your Computer for Malware -- Or Lose Internet Access on Monday
Click to see if you're infected or not.
[Link: dnschanger.detect.my...]
Hey, that's Muslim security! Probably installing creeping sharia virus while you're not looking!
Note: Malaysian site doing that security check. :)
323 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:01:00am |
re: #314 NJDhockeyfan
Good stuff!
That's a class act.
That's nice.
It's a shame he opposed providing African women with contraception when he was in power. That would have done a whole lot more good.
324 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:01:01am |
re: #305 Mattand
The Dept. of Treasury (aka the Feds) own 31.9% of the outstanding stock or more than 500 million shares in GM. At current prices, that's a little more than $11.5 billion. Breakeven is at $53 a share, meaning that the feds are down about $14.5 billion.
325 | Mostly sane, most of the time. Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:01:35am |
re: #317 Mattand
Music, I can understand. Gardening and composting? Um. Wow.
Piano lesson. They're not just about piano. They're about brain training as well.
326 | Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:01:38am |
BWHAHAHAHAHA Obama buys reporters cookies that romney trashed.
327 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:01:39am |
re: #322 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste
Note: Malaysian site doing that security check. :)
The US version of that site is overloaded atm.
[Link: www.dns-ok.us...]
328 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:01:50am |
re: #316 Varek Raith
Check Your Computer for Malware -- Or Lose Internet Access on Monday
Click to see if you're infected or not.
[Link: dnschanger.detect.my...]
I'm pretty careful with my home networks.
329 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:02:02am |
330 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:02:29am |
re: #319 sattv4u2
conundrum
Do I trust Varek enough to click on a link about a VIRUS !!!
hmmm,,,
//
It's OK, it's from Malaysia.
331 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:02:40am |
332 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:02:48am |
333 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:03:39am |
334 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:04:28am |
re: #333 Kragar
Fischer: Government Should Mandate that Everyone Attend Church and Tax Those Who Don't
*epic facepalm*
Ugh. Why can't my fellow Christians actually be Christ-like instead of bigoted derpy dipshits.
335 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:04:49am |
re: #332 sattv4u2
Tell Karen J for me that I know a guy that mowed the lawn of a lady whose daughter babysat for a family that had a cat that once got into a fight with a dog that used to live down the street from that guy that used to wash Cantors cars, so I should be investigated also!!!
You should start listening for the black helicopters right about ... NOW!
336 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:04:50am |
re: #333 Kragar
Fischer: Government Should Mandate that Everyone Attend Church and Tax Those Who Don't
I'm rubber and Bryan Fischer is glue a dolt.
337 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:05:12am |
re: #330 b_sharp
It's OK, it's from Malaysia.
[Durian v1.1.003 sucessfully installed. Please reboot your system. This makes your computer smell bad enough to repel all known virii and malware.]
;)
338 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:05:16am |
re: #335 b_sharp
You should start listening for the black helicopters right about ... NOW!
Sorry. Fleet's down for maintenance today.
339 | brennant Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:05:29am |
340 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:05:30am |
re: #335 b_sharp
You should start listening for the black helicopters right about ... NOW!
You never hear them coming!
341 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:05:40am |
re: #335 b_sharp
You should start listening for the black helicopters right about ... NOW!
You can't hear them silly.
Also, thanks to me, you can no longer see them. Cloaking devices FTW.
342 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:06:07am |
re: #332 sattv4u2
Tell Karen J for me that I know a guy that mowed the lawn of a lady whose daughter babysat for a family that had a cat that once got into a fight with a dog that used to live down the street from that guy that used to wash Cantors cars, so I should be investigated also!!!
Yeah. Did you see that? Suddenly Eric Cantor gets thrown into the conspiracy. Seriously? And this is coming from my so called secular, and SKEPTICAL peers? Even Retweeted by LOLGOP? WTF. SNAFU.
343 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:06:27am |
re: #335 b_sharp
You should start listening for the
blackAfrican American helicopters right about ... NOW!
ftfy!
//
344 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:07:11am |
re: #338 thedopefishlives
Sorry. Fleet's down for maintenance today.
I didn't get the memo.
OK, then send the black Fiats.
345 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:07:22am |
re: #270 Varek Raith
Louisiana Revelation: School Voucher Funding – It’s Not Just For Christians Any More
I suspect that it is all part of a subtle creeping Sharia trick: she is practicing a form of Taqqiyah - lying to infidels - in order to play stupid on the issue.
Becasue I refuse to belive that anyobdy, even in Louisiana, could be that friggin' dumb.
/
346 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:07:30am |
re: #342 Gus
Yeah. Did you see that? Suddenly Eric Cantor gets thrown into the conspiracy. Seriously? And this is coming from my so called secular, and SKEPTICAL peers? Even Retweeted by LOLGOP? WTF. SNAFU.
Seriously
I don't tweet. So I'll give you a dollar if you send that to Karen J!!
347 | Mostly sane, most of the time. Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:07:33am |
re: #333 Kragar
Fischer: Government Should Mandate that Everyone Attend Church and Tax Those Who Don't
In Colonial Williamsburg, they showed us the balcony that the students at William & Mary used to sit in. They were locked in by their professors. (Causing me to wonder what happened in a fire?)
I propose that if everyone should have to attend church, Fischer should be forced to attend a church he doesn't actually believe in, just to be fair.
Not my ward, though. No thanks.
348 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:08:15am |
re: #308 Mostly sane, most of the time.
Where are they moving to?
I don't know. They were talking about some new eco-friendly housing development further south. Maybe a commune.
349 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:08:32am |
re: #324 lawhawk
I'm an idiot. It's all explained by Footnote 10 in the TARP Update PDF.
Appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.
350 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:08:33am |
re: #347 Mostly sane, most of the time.
In Colonial Williamsburg, they showed us the balcony that the students at William & Mary used to sit in. They were locked in by their professors. (Causing me to wonder what happened in a fire?)
I propose that if everyone should have to attend church, Fischer should be forced to attend a church he doesn't actually believe in, just to be fair.
Not my ward, though. No thanks.
Fischer would fail to answer the riddle of steel.
351 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:09:16am |
re: #346 sattv4u2
Seriously
I don't tweet. So I'll give you a dollar if you send that to Karen J!!
I already Tweeted the others:
@Mondoweiss Give me a break. That's a bullshit conspiracy theory from 2001. #p2 #tlot— Gus (@Gus_802) July 6, 2012
@LOLGOP Not really good for your reputation to be RT'ing crackpot conspiracy theories by way of Mondoweiss and Antiwar.com.— Gus (@Gus_802) July 6, 2012
352 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:09:45am |
re: #344 b_sharp
I didn't get the memo.
OK, then send the black Fiats.
When did we switch to Fiats? Last I checked, they were Smart cars.
353 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:10:06am |
re: #348 Killgore Trout
I don't know. They were talking about some new eco-friendly housing development further south. Maybe a commune.
I hear you can get one of these ,, cheap
[Link: images.travelpod.com...]
354 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:10:52am |
357 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:11:47am |
re: #350 Kragar
Fischer would fail to answer the riddle of steel.
I think he'd fail to answer the riddle of "what common household pet starts with c and rhymes with hat?"
358 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:11:54am |
re: #347 Mostly sane, most of the time.
In Colonial Williamsburg, they showed us the balcony that the students at William & Mary used to sit in. They were locked in by their professors. (Causing me to wonder what happened in a fire?)
I propose that if everyone should have to attend church, Fischer should be forced to attend a church he doesn't actually believe in, just to be fair.
Not my ward, though. No thanks.
Heinz Field Megachurch of the Steeler Faithful. Our only dogma is "black and gold".
;)
360 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:12:20am |
re: #352 thedopefishlives
When did we switch to Fiats? Last I checked, they were Smart cars.
Fiat bought Chrysler.
361 | Feline Fearless Leader Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:12:33am |
re: #348 Killgore Trout
I don't know. They were talking about some new eco-friendly housing development further south. Maybe a commune.
Are you going to get them a box of rats as a going away present?
//
362 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:12:42am |
363 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:12:43am |
re: #300 Killgore Trout
I was talking to my hippie neighbors. They are moving because they want a better school system for their kids. Portland schools are notoriously awful. I was surprised when they said they wanted a school system with classes in gardening, composting and music. No mention of fundamentals. Those are all things I enjoy but it's really hard to make a living composting.
Go ahead--talk them out of the move. You know you should.
365 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:13:19am |
366 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:13:26am |
re: #246 The Ghost of a Flea
From the derps of derp...derp.
There is only one defense from here: double down and insist that Islam is not a religion, it is a political system contrary to the Constitution.
367 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:13:35am |
Isn't Polonium some new club drug or boy band?
369 | The Gender Ambiguity of a Flea Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:15:07am |
Free Speech Under Siege: Obama ‘Jokes’ About Turning Off Fox News At A Bar
...during an impromptu visit to Ziggy’s Pub and Restaurant, the President imperiously demanded that all dissent be stifled forever. As the nascent dictator talked with “supporters” in the bar, a member of the group of locals, Jeff Hawks, pointed at one of the TV’s and said, “You’re in a building that has Fox news on.” Pool reporter Mark Landler of the New York Times captured the chilling conversation that followed:
Obama suggested that Hawks ask for it to be changed. “The customer is always right,” he said.
“I’ll arm-wrestle you for your vote,” Hawks said to Obama. “No, I’ll play basketball for your vote,” he replied.
This is what prompted the Twitchy freakout?
Man, they really live up to their name.
370 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:15:18am |
re: #366 Expand Your Ground
There is only one defense from here: double down and insist that Islam is not a religion, it is a political system contrary to the Constitution.
It's a political system based on a religion. Based on a some dude several hundred years ago that loved. And smited. Lots of love and smiting. Sorta goes together, love and smiting.
371 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:16:01am |
TOO FUNNY
The same old ideas of the past that have failed. My plan calls for action & will create jobs. America can do better mi.tt/KYlXWi— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 6, 2012
I think this is the "real" Mitt Romney account, not a spoof.
372 | Douchecanoe and Ryan Too Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:16:07am |
re: #369 The Ghost of a Flea
Free Speech Under Siege: Obama ‘Jokes’ About Turning Off Fox News At A Bar
This is what prompted the Twitchy freakout?
Man, they really live up to their name.
Oh, that there's funny, I don't care who y'are.
373 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:16:36am |
re: #365 Learned Mother of Zion
Actually, after Daimler Chrysler went bust, Daimler sold Chrysler to Cerebus, which was the entity running Chrysler when it declared bankruptcy.
Fiat ended up buying Chrysler in the reorganization process.
374 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:16:51am |
re: #367 Kronocide
Isn't Polonium some new club drug or boy band?
club drug boy band
club drug
club boy
club band
drug boy
drug band
boy band
Why do they all make sense?
375 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:16:59am |
re: #371 Learned Mother of Zion
TOO FUNNY
[Embedded content]
I think this is the "real" Mitt Romney account, not a spoof.
I HAVE BETTER IDEAS
YES
VOTE FOR ME
YES
I WILL MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER FOR EVERYONE
MITT ROMNEY 2012
YES
376 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:17:15am |
re: #369 The Ghost of a Flea
Free Speech Under Siege: Obama ‘Jokes’ About Turning Off Fox News At A Bar
This is what prompted the Twitchy freakout?
Man, they really live up to their name.
Wait till they here my priest jokes!
377 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:17:19am |
re: #369 The Ghost of a Flea
Free Speech Under Siege: Obama ‘Jokes’ About Turning Off Fox News At A Bar
This is what prompted the Twitchy freakout?
Man, they really live up to their name.
Wonkette is becoming my new favorite site. Jon Stewart should hire them for TDS.
378 | Eventual Carrion Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:17:22am |
re: #333 Kragar
Fischer: Government Should Mandate that Everyone Attend Church and Tax Those Who Don't
Why does this person hate the US Constitution? Should this person be charged with sedition for making these kinds of statements to incite revolution against our founding principals?
379 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:17:53am |
re: #375 iossarian
I wonder if he can buy some old HOPE and CHANGE signs?
380 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:19:29am |
re: #363 Decatur Deb
Go ahead--talk them out of the move. You know you should.
I would rather have them stay. They're ok folks. It's always a crap shoot with new neighbors.
381 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:19:38am |
re: #369 The Ghost of a Flea
Charles will post this for sure. What irreducible douchenozzles.
382 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:20:03am |
383 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:20:56am |
re: #380 Killgore Trout
I would rather have them stay. They're ok folks. It's always a crap shoot with new neighbors.
There's your problem
Never shoot craps with the neighbors
Shitty idea!!
384 | Henchman Ghazi-808 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:21:00am |
re: #374 b_sharp
club drug boy band
club drug
club boy
club band
drug boy
drug band
boy bandWhy do they all make sense?
Yeah, after the seventh reading really fast, there seems to be some concoction.
385 | Eventual Carrion Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:21:32am |
re: #358 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste
Heinz Field Megachurch of the Steeler Faithful. Our only dogma is "black and gold".
;)
Go Stillers 'n 'at
386 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:21:36am |
re: #384 Kronocide
Yeah, after the seventh
reading really fastVodka Martini , there seems to be some concoction.
ftfy
387 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:21:41am |
Reagan-Appointed Judge Defends Roberts, Says GOP Has Become ‘Goofy’
In a candid interview with NPR Thursday, Posner opened up about what he sees as a “real deterioration in conservative thinking” over the last decade.
“I’ve become less conservative since the Republican Party started becoming goofy,” Posner said.
388 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:22:01am |
389 | iossarian Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:22:15am |
re: #369 The Ghost of a Flea
Free Speech Under Siege: Obama ‘Jokes’ About Turning Off Fox News At A Bar
This is what prompted the Twitchy freakout?
Man, they really live up to their name.
From the comments:
Sarah Palin responded by visiting Wasilla library and asking them to turn all their books off.
390 | Vicious Babushka Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:22:23am |
Some Twitter accounts are worth following just for the world class DERP.
Did the American Revolution violate the Romans 13 command to submit to government? Column is up: bit.ly/NbiljS— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) July 6, 2012
391 | Mostly sane, most of the time. Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:22:52am |
re: #388 Killgore Trout
They were actually very sweet about it and thanked me for "enriching their environment" this the sounds from the pond and the frogs.
I have trouble seeing hippies not liking frogs and greenhouses.
Are they moving to the Beaverton school district?
392 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:23:30am |
re: #390 Learned Mother of Zion
Some Twitter accounts are worth following just for the world class DERP.
[Embedded content]
Why does he hate America?
393 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:23:40am |
re: #388 Killgore Trout
They were actually very sweet about it and thanked me for "enriching their environment" this the sounds from the pond and the frogs.
A commune of cat-people who hate frogs could replace them..
394 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:25:01am |
re: #393 Decatur Deb
A commune of cat-people who hate frogs could replace them..
worse,,,,, a commune of frog eating frogs!!
Image: Cambodia_Frog_Eating_Frog.JPG
STEALTH!!!
395 | Mostly sane, most of the time. Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:25:02am |
re: #393 Decatur Deb
A commune of cat-people who hate frogs could replace them..
Our neighbors were talking loudly outside at 3 am this morning. And banging on something--couldn't figure that one out.
396 | William Barnett-Lewis Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:25:21am |
re: #334 thedopefishlives
*epic facepalm*
Ugh. Why can't my fellow Christians actually be Christ-like instead of bigoted derpy dipshits.
Amen.
397 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:25:38am |
re: #390 Learned Mother of Zion
Some Twitter accounts are worth following just for the world class DERP.
[Embedded content]
"Bryan Fischer @BryanJFischer
Did the American Revolution violate the Romans 13 command to submit to government? Column is up: bit.ly/NbiljS"
Yes.
Next question.
398 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:25:48am |
re: #395 Mostly sane, most of the time.
Our neighbors were talking loudly outside at 3 am this morning. And banging on something--couldn't figure that one out.
tell your neighbors to bang in the privacy of their own bedroom
((unless you have a real good video camera!!))
399 | b_sharp Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:25:57am |
re: #389 iossarian
From the comments:
The ability to think critically and logically has taken a nose dive since getting a 'liberal education' has been de-emphasized.
401 | Sol Berdinowitz Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:26:01am |
re: #394 sattv4u2
worse,,, a commune of frog eating frogs!!
Image: Cambodia_Frog_Eating_Frog.JPG
STEALTH!!!
Didn't Ted Nugent write a song about that?
402 | Decatur Deb Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:26:40am |
re: #395 Mostly sane, most of the time.
Our neighbors were talking loudly outside at 3 am this morning. And banging on something--couldn't figure that one out.
Were they sitting in a circle, smelling of pepperspray?
403 | Gus Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:26:54am |
Ah, just a new movie called "Savages." Whew. Thought it was another pronouncement to be adhered to by Puritopians.
//
404 | lawhawk Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:27:18am |
re: #387 Kragar
Posner = RINO! /
Mind you that Judge Posner is one of the most respected jurists in the country. He gets it, even if he didn't go far enough in denouncing the right wing wackaloons who are running the show.
405 | Kragar Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:27:46am |
406 | sattv4u2 Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:27:50am |
And on that note, being awake for 32 straight hours is taking it's toll on me
C
Ya
407 | Mattand Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:28:14am |
re: #395 Mostly sane, most of the time.
Our neighbors were talking loudly outside at 3 am this morning. And banging on something--couldn't figure that one out.
We're in a state of detente right now, but my neighbor threatened us a few years back because we asked him to stop letting his dogs shit on our yard.
Granted, I was bagging the stuff and dropping it on their side, but here's the interesting thing: once the cops got involved, the problem went away. Go figure.
408 | Varek Raith Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:28:56am |
re: #406 sattv4u2
And on that note, being awake for 32 straight hours is taking it's toll on me
C
Ya
TV CRASHED!
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
FIX IT
Also
409 | Killgore Trout Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:30:16am |
re: #391 Mostly sane, most of the time.
I have trouble seeing hippies not liking frogs and greenhouses.
Are they moving to the Beaverton school district?
I think a bit south of Sellwood but I'm not really sure.
410 | Mostly sane, most of the time. Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:31:48am |
re: #407 Mattand
We're in a state of detente right now, but my neighbor threatened us a few years back because we asked him to stop letting his dogs shit on our yard.
Granted, I was bagging the stuff and dropping it on their side, but here's the interesting thing: once the cops got involved, the problem went away. Go figure.
The folks before them we had had to call the cops for noise. That was after we lay awake from 1-3 listening to a drunken party or fight or something.
They stopped after they found out what the ticket was for making a lot of noise in the middle of the night.
411 | Lidane Fri, Jul 6, 2012 10:47:23am |
Not from The Onion:
Republican Horrified to Discover that Christianity is Not the Only Religion
It's an honest mistake, assuming that the Constitution only protects your own personal megachurch faith. But one Louisiana Republican is learning the hard way that religious school vouchers can be used to fund education at all sorts of religious schools, even Muslim ones. And while she's totally in favor of taxpayer money being used to pay for kids to go to Christian schools, she's willing to put a stop to the entire program if Muslim schools are going to be involved.
Valarie Hodges admitted that when she supported Governor Bobby Jindal's school voucher program, she only did so because she assumed the religious school vouchers could only be used for Christian schools.