1 Cannadian Club Akbar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 8:54:02pm

I decide to join in and I'm the only one here? Why do you people hate me?
And good evening honcos.

2 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 8:56:24pm

re: #1 Cannadian Club Akbar

I decide to join in and I'm the only one here? Why do you people hate me?
And good evening honcos.

No one hates you. You're well liked here.

3 b_sharp  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 8:58:08pm

This artist needs greater recognition.

4 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:03:08pm
5 Cannadian Club Akbar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:07:09pm

re: #4 Gus

MY friend is gonna make we watch this movie. He was talking about this scene the other night.

6 Page 3 in the Binder of Women  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:07:32pm

Night all. Its Project Runway and the Rockettes.

Gonna be a shit show!

7 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:11:00pm

re: #5 Cannadian Club Akbar

MY friend is gonna make we watch this movie. He was talking about this scene the other night.

Someone turned me on to it here. I think it was Kragar. I freaking loved it but never watched it. Yet.

8 jaunte  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:11:00pm

'Mike tears it right up, his hand looks like a creepy spider!' - Andy Mckee

9 Kragar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:15:23pm

Well, today consisted of learning a guy on another project was trying to hang me out on a limb, actually fixing the problem, cya and making sure he got nailed for fucking up instead of me.

Mission accomplished.

10 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:16:12pm

re: #9 Kragar

Well, today consisted of learning a guy on another project was trying to hang me out on a limb, actually fixing the problem, cya and making sure he got nailed for fucking up instead of me.

Mission accomplished.

That's rather creepy.

11 Cannadian Club Akbar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:19:29pm

re: #9 Kragar

Well, today consisted of learning a guy on another project was trying to hang me out on a limb, actually fixing the problem, cya and making sure he got nailed for fucking up instead of me.

Mission accomplished.

I hate those people. A friend of mine has 18 years in at the skool board in Florida. (he does construction repairs) He had a trainee with him. Going from one job to another, he stopped at his house, which was on the way, to get his mail. He was waiting for a big check. Next day he was written up for it. The trainee narked him out. Douche.

12 Mich-again  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:22:10pm

The song was awesome. I'm sitting here watching thinking.. How does someone come up with stuff like that? That's not how they teach you to play guitar.

13 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:23:46pm

re: #11 Cannadian Club Akbar

I hate those people. A friend of mine has 18 years in at the skool board in Florida. (he does construction repairs) He had a trainee with him. Going from one job to another, he stopped at his house, which was on the way, to get his mail. He was waiting for a big check. Next day he was written up for it. The trainee narked him out. Douche.

Douchecanoe and a paddle too.

14 freetoken  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:24:02pm

re: #10 Gus

That's rather creepy.

Nature - red in tooth and claw.

16 Kragar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:24:47pm

re: #10 Gus

That's rather creepy.

Yup.

He and I were put in touch about 6 months ago for a project he was working on, I was supposed to provide assistance. He worked with me for about 2 days, with the understanding that if he needed additional support, he could get in contact with me anytime. Every couple weeks, he would ask for me to run a test for him, but he never could get any of the details right, so neither he nor I really knew what in the hell he wanted done.

So today, I was working with the guy assigned to help him and see what the hold up's in his project were and apparently, he had been saying he never got any assistance from me and I hadn't helped him at all. Luckily, I archive everything and had the correspondence showing what a backstabbing little turd the guy turned out to be.

Fun times.

17 engineer cat  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:25:31pm

Mike Dawes - the Impossible

i wanna be able to hammer-on like a klingon

18 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:25:51pm

re: #16 Kragar

Is there HR involved? Or even possible. Maybe not.

19 Cannadian Club Akbar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:25:58pm

re: #13 Gus

Douchecanoe and a paddle too.

The thing I told my friend is that he has 2 years before he's eligible for retirement bennies. And the skool board is looking to cut cost where ever.

20 Cannadian Club Akbar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:28:03pm

re: #16 Kragar

Not only will that guy not fuck with you again, neither will the other guy.

21 Kragar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:30:33pm

re: #18 Gus

Is there HR involved? Or even possible. Maybe not.

We report to the same manager, and he is really pissed right now. He kind of figured the guy was stalling because I've been there 10 years and this guy's been around about one, and it didn't seem like me. When I spoke to him this afternoon, he said flat out, "I didn't bother telling you because if I thought you were the problem, I would have talked to you about it already."

I like the trust, but still don't like the idea of some asshole tossing my name around as a problem.

22 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:30:40pm

re: #17 engineer cat

Mike Dawes - the Impossible

i wanna be able to hammer-on like a klingon

Just watch out for the Romulan Ale. It's hangovers are brutal.

/Star Trek geekage in progress

23 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:31:51pm

re: #21 Kragar

Well. Tell him that if he doesn't knock it off you'll sue him.

24 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:33:04pm
25 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:49:46pm
26 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:52:16pm

Skynrd denouncing the Confederate flay. NFL Players supporting gay marriage. The world is coming to an end.

27 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:53:49pm

re: #25 Gus

[Embedded content]

The band felt that Neil Young was unfair to them and their state with "Southern Man", hence "Sweet Home Alabama". But being pro-Alabama does not mean being pro-Stars and Bars.

28 gwangung  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:54:18pm

re: #26 Gus

Skynrd denouncing the Confederate flay. NFL Players supporting gay marriage. The world is coming to an end.

"dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! "

29 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:55:07pm

re: #28 gwangung

"dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! "

"Alright, alright, alright already! But what if you're wrong?"

30 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:57:05pm

re: #27 Dark_Falcon

The band felt that Neil Young was unfair to them and their state with "Southern Man", hence "Sweet Home Alabama". But being pro-Alabama does not mean being pro-Stars and Bars.

What it means is that Skynrd is finally to the left of the wingnuts!

Woot!

31 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:58:26pm

re: #30 Gus

What it means is that Skynrd is finally to the left of the wingnuts!

Woot!

I'd just say they've never been insane, but they realized most who wave a Confederate flag outside of Civil War reenactments these days are insane.

32 Mich-again  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:58:28pm

re: #30 Gus

What it means is that Skynrd is finally to the left of the wingnuts!

Woot!

So don't ask no stupid questions, and I won't tell you no lies..

33 Mattand  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 9:58:30pm

re: #28 gwangung

"dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! "

"Yes, it's true. This man has no dick."

34 Mr. Crankypants  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 10:15:46pm

evenin' WHat's the buzz?

35 freetoken  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 10:15:47pm
36 Mr. Crankypants  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 10:17:39pm

Anybody happen to have heard the new Joe Jackson album? It's a set of recordings of Duke Ellington.

37 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 10:18:17pm
38 Gus  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 10:21:15pm

Over and out.

39 Mr. Crankypants  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 10:22:34pm

Iggy Pop Does Duke Ellington with Joe Jackson..

40 freetoken  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 10:31:58pm

re: #39 Mr. Crankypants

Perhaps with a dead ended contemporary music industry more of the real artists (versus the pop "celebrities") will start to reinterpret their heritage. Part of me really hopes so, though I also am afraid that pop music could just slide into never ending derivative muzak (as if it hasn't been there for some time now.)

41 darthstar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:02:00pm

Wish I was a fuckup. I could use another bonus.

42 Kragar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:04:14pm

re: #41 darthstar

Wish I was a fuckup. I could use another bonus.

[Embedded content]

Takes out a $20 million loan to get thru the convention, then turns around and gives his cronies a bonus.

Cocksucker.

43 darthstar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:07:46pm

Fiscal responsibility....just another word for crony capitalism.

44 freetoken  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:21:14pm

Paquito D`Rivera with his "Tributo A Lecuona":

45 Dark_Falcon  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:44:37pm

re: #42 Kragar

Takes out a $20 million loan to get thru the convention, then turns around and gives his cronies a bonus.

Cocksucker.

He took out that loan because he could not by law spend the money he raised for the general election until after the Republican National convention formally nominated him. Mitt Romney's campaign has the money to pay the loan back, so he's not cheating anyone.

46 AK-47%  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:49:30pm

re: #41 darthstar

Wish I was a fuckup. I could use another bonus.

Mitt Romney Campaign Gave Bonuses To Top Staffers, Disclosure Records Show

Borrow money (and deduct the interest), use it to give bonuses. That is what Bush did with his tax cuts, and it is also how Romney would run the nation.

47 Kragar  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:58:07pm

re: #45 Dark_Falcon

He took out that loan because he could not by law spend the money he raised for the general election until after the Republican National convention formally nominated him. Mitt Romney's campaign has the money to pay the loan back, so he's not cheating anyone.

Couldn't manage his budget properly, eh?

48 freetoken  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:59:25pm

Time to lay the day's burdens down, and prepare for a new morning...

49 goddamnedfrank  Thu, Sep 20, 2012 11:59:53pm

re: #45 Dark_Falcon

He took out that loan because he could not by law spend the money he raised for the general election until after the Republican National convention formally nominated him. Mitt Romney's campaign has the money to pay the loan back, so he's not cheating anyone.

It says something about the number of Romney's donors though. They may be wealthier but there aren't as many of them and they max out at the same contribution level.

This is why Citizen's United sought to equate money with speech, because conservatives began losing the numbers game. It's also the reason for voter suppression efforts, because in general as turnout goes up Republican chances go down. The Party's ideology is demanding more and more anti-democratic measures in order to survive at the polls.

50 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:13:25am

re: #47 Kragar

Couldn't manage his budget properly, eh?

He had to spend more than planned to win the nomination. The loan was careful vetted to make sure it is legal, and it was properly collateralized. And it will be paid back on time and in full, count on that.

51 engineer cat  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:13:53am

voter suppression efforts

i have a notion that this initiative will be subject to the law of unintended consequences

52 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:14:41am

re: #50 Dark_Falcon

He had to spend more than planned to win the nomination. The loan was careful vetted to make sure it is legal, and it was properly collateralized. And it will be paid back on time and in full, count on that.

Just like the 53% do when they borrow money...

53 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:18:49am

re: #52 47 turn it up to 11

Just like the 53% do when they borrow money...

Romney's conflation has no bearing on what I was saying. Loans exist for the sort of purpose the Romney campaign was in in August: They had cash that they were sure to receive but did not have right then. So they borrowed using the general election cash as collateral.

54 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:21:27am

C'mon, let us have a little left-wing outrage here, okay?

55 simoom  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:26:08am

SNL's combo leaked Romney video / Fox & Friends opening skit from tonight:
[Link: www.nbc.com...]

56 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:27:39am

re: #54 47 turn it up to 11

C'mon, let us have a little left-wing outrage here, okay?

Get outraged at things worth getting mad at. Don't get outraged at Mitt Romney over his campaign's taking out a loan and giving bonuses, because he didn't do anything wrong. His campaign is paying back the loan on time, and will pay it back in full plus interest. Yelling at him for it just makes you look like a hater.

Goodnight, all.

57 simoom  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:47:11am

I wonder if this guy spelled Barack with a Q intentionally as part of his whole scary Muslim theme, or if it was just a typo:
[Link: twitpic.com...]

58 engineer cat  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:56:01am

scott brown attacking liz warren at the debate for claiming that she is part native american, "when clearly she is not"

doesn't sound like a good idea to me. i think he loses points on that one fer sure

59 simoom  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 1:06:14am

re: #58 engineer cat

Yeah, his very first answer had him delving deep into that crap and included a number of long debunked lines of attack, "checked a box" on her job application for example, and then implied she may have got ahead based on her heritage and had an advantage, "that others were entitled too."

I think the line you're referencing went,

"Professor Warren claimed she was a Native American, a person of color, and as you can see [gestures at Warren] she's not."

60 researchok  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 1:07:03am

Morning, all

61 researchok  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 1:12:55am

re: #48 freetoken

Nice change of pace

62 freetoken  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 2:39:43am

Continuing to work through Georgiy Sviridov's choral works. I've posted some in the past, but online finds various people have lumped different songs into groups, and here is one such group of six songs titled "INEFFABLE MIRACLE":

63 freetoken  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 2:42:13am

Hmmm.... "ineffable" - definitely not a word that fits our current political scene.

64 Stoatly  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 3:29:53am

re: #63 freetoken


Douglas Adams:

“Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.”

65 Stoatly  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 3:45:57am

Anyone already linked to the "Obama's Anger Translator" 'tube?

66 Shropshire_Slasher  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 4:01:37am

My hound dog has yet figure out NOT to lick the peanut butter off the mouse traps.

(insert dog/peanut butter/balls joke here)

67 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 4:19:49am

Morning honcos.

68 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 4:37:09am

re: #51 engineer cat

voter suppression efforts

i have a notion that this initiative will be subject to the law of unintended consequences

I certainly hope so, given that the intended consequences are evil.

69 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 4:48:57am

Uruguay takes ‘war on drugs’ in new direction: state monopoly over the production and distribution of marijuana
[Link: www.rawstory.com...]
This drew applause from many ice cream truck drivers.
/

70 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 4:49:25am
71 ozbloke  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 4:54:28am

re: #69 Cannadian Club Akbar

This drew applause from many ice cream truck drivers.
/

Upding for the smile.

72 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 4:55:39am

re: #70 Sheila Brovlofski

To be as rich as 6 Walmart heirs you'd work at Walmart 7 million years.

even longer, as they only put people on 39-hour weeks to avoid paying benefits and overtime...

73 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:00:25am

re: #72 47 turn it up to 11

I think you are actually considered full time after 32 hours.

74 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:01:29am

re: #72 47 turn it up to 11

even longer, as they only put people on 39-hour weeks to avoid paying benefits and overtime...

And those employees have to apply for food stamps and Medicaid just to survive, which makes them "parasites" and "entitled to government handouts" plundering the hard-earned gains of the people who employ them.

75 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:05:07am

I'm working in retail right now and I can give you 2 facts:
1) There are 10 full time employees and 50 part time/seasonal employees.
2) EVERY FUCKING THING IS MADE IN CHINA

76 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:13:04am

re: #75 Cannadian Club Akbar

I'm working in retail right now and I can give you 2 facts:
1) There are 10 full time employees and 50 part time/seasonal employees.
2) EVERY FUCKING THING IS MADE IN CHINA

Fact #3: of the 10 Richest People in America, 5 are Waltons.

77 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:14:18am

Morning Lizardim. Happy Friday from the cool and rainy wild north country. What's new?

78 A Mom Anon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:30:11am

re: #75 Cannadian Club Akbar

Did the job for over 20 yrs and watched the changes. I was full time,didn't get paid alot,but my health insurance was top notch(this was back in the early 80's). Later jobs came with hours being cut back and no benefits at ALL being offered to new hires. I remember when WalMart prided itself on it's merch being Made In the USA,now I doubt 1 percent of their stuff is.

79 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:34:02am

re: #78 A Mom Anon

It seems that after Sam died the kids change everything. But the thing about Wal-Mart (I hate going there) is the fact that you can pick up socks, a car battery, some apples and get a hair cut all under one roof.

80 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:35:25am

re: #78 A Mom Anon

Did the job for over 20 yrs and watched the changes. I was full time,didn't get paid alot,but my health insurance was top notch(this was back in the early 80's). Later jobs came with hours being cut back and no benefits at ALL being offered to new hires. I remember when WalMart prided itself on it's merch being Made In the USA,now I doubt 1 percent of their stuff is.

Yes, and the state picks up the tab for emergency health care and additional benefits for all these people.

Great way to make a fortune.

81 Stoatly  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:43:35am
82 Eventual Carrion  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:49:54am

re: #78 A Mom Anon

Did the job for over 20 yrs and watched the changes. I was full time,didn't get paid alot,but my health insurance was top notch(this was back in the early 80's). Later jobs came with hours being cut back and no benefits at ALL being offered to new hires. I remember when WalMart prided itself on it's merch being Made In the USA,now I doubt 1 percent of their stuff is.

When the old man had it he made a point to get American stuff. Now the kids have it and they only care about profit. Fuck their workers and the American workers.

83 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:52:34am

re: #79 Cannadian Club Akbar

It seems that after Sam died the kids change everything. But the thing about Wal-Mart (I hate going there) is the fact that you can pick up socks, a car battery, some apples and get a hair cut all under one roof.

We don't have very many of them up here in the wild north country. Everything around here is Target, since their corporate headquarters is downtown. They do a reasonably good job of filling in what Wal-mart used to be.

84 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:52:39am

Once again, it's morning.

you?

85 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:55:13am

re: #80 47 turn it up to 11

Yes, and the state picks up the tab for emergency health care and additional benefits for all these people.

Great way to make a fortune.

Chicago ended up allowing Wall-Mart in, though the City Council demanded and got Wal-Mart to ensure its employees within Chicago were mostly full-time (during the fast-approaching Christmas Season, Wal-Mart really does need additional part-timers). They did not however, try to force Wal-Mart to allow in a grocery union, and did not do so as they felt Wal-Mart was need to combat so-called food deserts within Chicago. For what it is worth, Michelle Obama publicly the move, feeling that the gains for public health brought by the reduction of food deserts outweighed any concerns about Wal-Mart's behavior.

86 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 5:58:58am

re: #66 Tommy's cone of shame

My hound dog has yet figure out NOT to lick the peanut butter off the mouse traps.

(insert dog/peanut butter/balls joke here)

Hound dogs brains turn off when nose turns on!

87 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:00:23am

in·ef·fa·ble/inˈefəbəl/

Adjective:
Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words: "ineffable beauty".
Too sacred to be uttered.

Synonyms:
unspeakable - inexpressible - unutterable - nameless

88 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:07:16am

re: #87 ggt

in·ef·fa·ble/inˈefəbəl/

Adjective:
Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words: "ineffable beauty".
Too sacred to be uttered.

Synonyms:
unspeakable - inexpressible - unutterable - nameless

That's effing eneffable!

89 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:07:43am

re: #88 47 turn it up to 11

That's effing eneffable!

eff YEAH!

90 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:07:51am

Sheriff Grady Judd announces Polk education program that prepares inmates for success

"This program is the latest step in our holistic approach to reducing crime in Polk County. We began our approach in the jails by making jail a no-frills environment - we took away peanut butter, coffee, and milk, and replaced it with crackers, water, and powdered milk. We took away weights, basketball hoops, and entertainment television. Now we want to make the most of inmates' stay by teaching them how to be better citizens," Sheriff Grady Judd said.

The program is funded by the Inmate Welfare Fund and the SAO drug education and crime prevention fund, not tax payers.

Read more: [Link: www.abcactionnews.com...]

Someone will bitch.

91 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:09:18am

re: #90 Cannadian Club Akbar

Sheriff Grady Judd announces Polk education program that prepares inmates for success

"This program is the latest step in our holistic approach to reducing crime in Polk County. We began our approach in the jails by making jail a no-frills environment - we took away peanut butter, coffee, and milk, and replaced it with crackers, water, and powdered milk. We took away weights, basketball hoops, and entertainment television. Now we want to make the most of inmates' stay by teaching them how to be better citizens," Sheriff Grady Judd said.

The program is funded by the Inmate Welfare Fund and the SAO drug education and crime prevention fund, not tax payers.

Read more: [Link: www.abcactionnews.com...]

Someone will bitch.

Nice idea, but these guys need the physical outlet of basketball etc. . . . no?

92 A Mom Anon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:09:45am

re: #85 Dark_Falcon

I think that if you put in 40-50 hours a week at any job you should be able to provide food,clothing,shelter,education and healthcare to your family. It would also be nice if healthcare wasn't tied to your employer but provided on a universal level to everyone. Medicare for all in some form,or maybe use the VA system as a model and improve upon that. Employers would save alot of money that way,why more of them aren't for it I don't know. Employees would then have a little leverage on the job since they wouldn't have to stay at a crappy job because of the insurance. I knew women who worked retail back in the day just for the insurance because their husband's healthcare coverage was either awful or non existent. And trust me,back then women took alot of shit in the workplace,I know I did. I trained people who constantly got promoted over me,none of them women. While I had to ask,over and over for a nickel raise. Raise the damned minimum wage to make it possible to care for a family,or even yourself for heaven's sake.

I do agree with the notion of conquering those food deserts in urban areas,but companies should also have to treat employees fairly,they can do both. The thing is,they won't do it when no one is watching and they surely won't do it without enforceable laws on the books and people who will enforce them. This isn't about handouts,it's about fairness and it's time shareholders took a backseat to that.

93 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:09:59am

re: #91 ggt

Nice idea, but these guys need the physical outlet of basketball etc. . . . no?

They can break rocks! Or something.

94 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:11:24am

Ghent prostitutes told to wear more clothes
Prostitutes in the Belgian city of Ghent have been told to cover up and stop suggestive gyrating in their windows as of next month.
[Link: www.telegraph.co.uk...]
Quit acting like whores, you hookers!!
///

95 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:11:53am

re: #92 A Mom Anon

I think that if you put in 40-50 hours a week at any job you should be able to provide food,clothing,shelter,education and healthcare to your family. It would also be nice if healthcare wasn't tied to your employer but provided on a universal level to everyone. Medicare for all in some form,or maybe use the VA system as a model and improve upon that. Employers would save alot of money that way,why more of them aren't for it I don't know. Employees would then have a little leverage on the job since they wouldn't have to stay at a crappy job because of the insurance. I knew women who worked retail back in the day just for the insurance because their husband's healthcare coverage was either awful or non existent. And trust me,back then women took alot of shit in the workplace,I know I did. I trained people who constantly got promoted over me,none of them women. While I had to ask,over and over for a nickel raise. Raise the damned minimum wage to make it possible to care for a family,or even yourself for heaven's sake.

I do agree with the notion of conquering those food deserts in urban areas,but companies should also have to treat employees fairly,they can do both. The thing is,they won't do it when no one is watching and they surely won't do it without enforceable laws on the books and people who will enforce them. This isn't about handouts,it's about fairness and it's time shareholders took a backseat to that.

Employers cannot be trusted. I have worked the lower rung jobs too many times to not agree.

Shareholders need to starting thinking in terms of long-term profits, not short-term.

96 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:12:06am

re: #91 ggt

Nice idea, but these guys need the physical outlet of basketball etc. . . . no?

The idea is that their minds need to be pushed onto new paths, as well as making jails less hospitable so that people will not wish to return. It's got potential as long as the education programs are of quality and can be linked to continuing programs after an inmate leaves the jail.

97 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:14:42am

re: #96 Dark_Falcon

The idea is that their minds need to be pushed onto new paths, as well as making jails less hospitable so that people will not wish to return. It's got potential as long as the education programs are of quality and can be linked to continuing programs after an inmate leaves the jail.

Also, in Florida you can only do 11 months and 29 days (oddly called 11/29) in jail. One more day and you go to prison.

98 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:14:47am

re: #96 Dark_Falcon

The idea is that their minds need to be pushed onto new paths, as well as making jails less hospitable so that people will not wish to return. It's got potential as long as the education programs are of quality and can be linked to continuing programs after an inmate leaves the jail.

Taking all that stuff away tho --I may be wrong, but there aren't a lot of guys who come out of prison with a spare tire around their waist. If traditional educational settings worked for these individuals, they wouldn't be in prison in the first place.

Getting the GED is a great goal. Many are there because they have learning disabilities that weren't addressed earlier. It's not just a matter of making them go to school.

99 A Mom Anon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:17:48am

re: #93 Sheila Brovlofski

You can be rehabilitative and fair without being a stingy asshole too. It doesn't have to cost a mint. Most of those prisoners will get out of jail sometime, if there's not something in place to teach job skills,remedial education and so on,the rest of us will have to live with that. This program sounds like it is trying to do the right thing,mostly,but really,taking away peanut butter and basketball seems kind of petty. People cooped up like that need physical activity of some sort or things can get ugly. That asshole sheriff in AZ went the route of being Mr Cost Cutter and the people of AZ aren't getting more bang for the buck at all. Prison isn't supposed to be a luxurious place,but if you make it all about the punishment and not about rehabilitation(and have flexibility to change things that don't work)then you end up with more crime and no one "learns a lesson"from being in jail.

100 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:19:05am

re: #98 ggt

County jail isn't prison.

101 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:20:22am

re: #98 ggt

Taking all that stuff away tho --I may be wrong, but there aren't a lot of guys who come out of prison with a spare tire around their waist. If traditional educational settings worked for these individuals, they wouldn't be in prison in the first place.

Getting the GED is a great goal. Many are there because they have learning disabilities that weren't addressed earlier. It's not just a matter of making them go to school.

The thing is that the developers of this program thought of that. The program was developed working with organizations that specifically work with inmates and seems to focus on practical matters:

Examples of the courses covered include GED preparation, Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Science, Drug education and prevention, HIV & Disease prevention, Self-care (cleanliness, personal hygiene, etc.), Wellness (Diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.), Making better choices, and the importance of early childhood education.

102 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:20:26am

re: #100 Cannadian Club Akbar

County jail isn't prison.

If a person can be held there for up 364 days, what is the difference?

103 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:22:26am

re: #102 ggt

If a person can be held there for up 364 days, what is the difference?

They can't be held there for life.

104 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:22:35am

re: #102 ggt

If a person can be held there for up 364 days, what is the difference?

First, not as rough. Second, they are housed in the same county the crime was committed in, so they have easier access to friends/family coming to see them.
Prison is a more long term sentence. My brother did prison time and was sent to a prison 8 hours away.

105 A Mom Anon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:22:40am

re: #100 Cannadian Club Akbar

How about "in the system" then? Jail is supposed to be short term,prison long term. Which makes me wonder how much good a program like this can do in a jail setting,considering the shorter time frame involved. And then what happens to those in jail upon release? Are there follow up or community outreach/job training connections that reach from jail to potential employers? That's the key thing,IMO.

106 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:23:49am

re: #105 A Mom Anon

Generally when you get out of county jail you are out of the system.

107 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:25:29am

re: #105 A Mom Anon

How about "in the system" then? Jail is supposed to be short term,prison long term. Which makes me wonder how much good a program like this can do in a jail setting,considering the shorter time frame involved. And then what happens to those in jail upon release? Are there follow up or community outreach/job training connections that reach from jail to potential employers? That's the key thing,IMO.

You make good points, but they are arguments for augmenting this program, not that the program is a bad idea. Hopefully, Polk county has already thought about those needed augmentations. The need for close coordination and proper planning I wrote of the past two night regarding the Department of Veteran's Affairs applies in this case.

108 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:25:54am

re: #105 A Mom Anon

And in regards to community outreach, I know of a program called Jobs, Etc. They help people in general find employment, help with resume, etc. I'm sure they help former inmates as well as the general public.

109 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:29:46am

re: #108 Cannadian Club Akbar

And in regards to community outreach, I know of a program called Jobs, Etc. They help people in general find employment, help with resume, etc. I'm sure they help former inmates as well as the general public.

And as a matter of fact, I got a temp job with Jobs, Etc. pushing a lawnmower for 9 hours a night. Not mowing, just pushing. I did work with a guy who did prison time. (not sure if he was a fresh release) Job paid $9/hr but had 10 hours of OT with it.

110 A Mom Anon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:30:53am

re: #108 Cannadian Club Akbar

So does the Dept of Labor,I know there are programs out there,but they're scattered. People like the idea of these sorts of programs,but I think they're unaware of how much of a patchwork/hit or miss thing it is. Support post-incarceration is vital to any sort of success,hopefully this county has that covered. We need as much rehabilitation as we can get with this issue.

111 Gretchen G.Tiger  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:34:41am

bbl

112 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:35:01am

re: #110 A Mom Anon

Also, I have filled out a shitload of applications as of late. Most ask if you have been released from jail within the last 12 months. And most ask about felony convictions. The range for felony convictions is generally 7 years, 10 years or ever in your life, depending on the job. This doesn't make things any easier.

113 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:35:21am

re: #96 Dark_Falcon

The idea is that their minds need to be pushed onto new paths, as well as making jails less hospitable so that people will not wish to return.

This is a really, really stupid point of view, though. Only someone with complete ignorance of the jail system would think that they were in any way hospitable. As well as the constant tedium, the threat of physical violence, and the daily humiliations, there's a fundamental grinding reminded in jail that You Fucked Up.

There has never, ever, ever been any sort of study or anything of the sort that said that harshness of jail decreased likelihood of recidivism. It has made some criminals turn more violent, since they're determined not to return to jail, but there's never been anything like any reason to believe that being cruel to prisoners intentionally produces anything than what it would logically produce: brutalized people.

114 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:35:51am

National Review is not going to abandon Mitt Romney, but neither will Editor-in-Chief Rich Lowry let Romney off the hook for his '47%' FAIL. This excerpt is the first three paragraphs and the last two, in order to really give a flavor for the piece:

The best defense of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s instantly notorious “47 percent” remarks at a May fundraiser is that he made a bad point badly.

Romney mixed up three separate groups: the roughly half the country that will inevitably support President Barack Obama, the half that doesn’t pay federal income taxes, and the half that receives government benefits. Then he declared them all a collective lost cause. He will never win them over, or convince them to take responsibility for their lives. Next question.

In reality, these are distinct categories. Many Obama supporters are rich. We can be certain the attendees at the president’s fundraiser with Beyoncé and Jay-Z in New York City the other day have hefty tax bills. Meanwhile, many of Romney’s supporters — especially the elderly — don’t pay federal income taxes and receive government benefits.

SNIP

How does this look in the real world? If a couple earning $35,000 with two kids has no income-tax liability thanks to various exemptions, deductions, and credits (the child tax credit has been especially important in removing families from the rolls), how much should we tax them to get them to shape up and fly right? How much do they have to pay the Internal Revenue Service to learn a lesson in basic civics?

This tendency represents a backdoor return to country-club Republicanism, with the approval of part of the Republican base. Fear of the creation of a class of “takers” can slide into disdain for people who are too poor — or have too many kids or are too old — to pay their damn taxes. For a whiff of how politically unattractive this point of view can be, just look at the Romney fundraising video.

115 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:39:50am

re: #113 Obdicut

This is a really, really stupid point of view, though. Only someone with complete ignorance of the jail system would think that they were in any way hospitable. As well as the constant tedium, the threat of physical violence, and the daily humiliations, there's a fundamental grinding reminded in jail that You Fucked Up.

There has never, ever, ever been any sort of study or anything of the sort that said that harshness of jail decreased likelihood of recidivism. It has made some criminals turn more violent, since they're determined not to return to jail, but there's never been anything like any reason to believe that being cruel to prisoners intentionally produces anything than what it would logically produce: brutalized people.

I'm just stating the principal behind those changes, Obdi, I didn't say I supported them.

I'll say that Sheriff Grady Rudd seems to have an idea about how to reduce recidivism that relies on something other than punitive action, but whether it will work as he's got it set up is something I'd like you input on.

116 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:40:01am

Good morning lizards!

117 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:42:44am

Israel soldiers kill militants in Egypt border clash

At least two Israeli soldiers have been injured in a clash with armed militants on the Israel-Egypt border, Israeli medics have told the BBC.

The Israeli military confirmed its troops had intercepted and killed three armed assailants near Mount Arif.

....Israel Defence Forces spokeswoman Lt Col Avital Leibovich said the militants who crossed the border from the Sinai peninsula on Friday were heavily armed and equipped with bullet-proof vests and explosive belts.

The attack took place near Mount Arif, which is nearly half-way down Israel's 240km (150-mile) southern border, at a point where work is under way to complete the new security fence.

118 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:47:03am

re: #115 Dark_Falcon


It all depends. It sounds good-- the education portions of it-- but it's all up to whoever is leading it, whoever the teachers are. The structure of a program matters less than the individuals involved. Certainly on its own its still helpful for the prisoners that have drive and motivation.

It's got potential as long as the education programs are of quality and can be linked to continuing programs after an inmate leaves the jail.

Yeah. As CCA said above, the felony conviction is going to haunt them in job prospects for a long time. If they're a white person, it'll just make them slightly more likely to be employed than a non-felonious black person (American racism for the win), but if they're black it really puts them into one of the least employable categories. We need to be honest and not blow sunshine up people's asses about how if they fly straight now everything will be better. If you leave people no economic choice except crime, then only the most ethically pure will be able to keep themselves out of it.

We need to have much more robust ways of re-integrating inmates into society. Step one is not having so damn many inmates in the first place, by getting rid of stupid drug laws. Step two is starting programs like this in the jails that really focus on giving tools for success. But step three is, as you say, the continuing programs outside, where we can actually point the felons towards jobs and not set them up for an inevitable return to crime.

119 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:48:07am

Taking away entertainment television I totally agree with, though. If we want to improve the ethics and values of inmates, not letting them watch the ethically corrupt, fake-ass shitbaggery that is the majority of television is a very good idea.

120 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:49:15am

re: #117 NJDhockeyfan

Egyptian security sources said one of the militants died when his explosive belt was detonated, while the other two were shot dead by the Israeli soldiers. The nationalities of the assailants were not immediately clear, they added.

Oops!

121 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:50:09am

Quick note: Not all people in a county jail are there for felonies, FWIW. Some could be there for stuff like driving on a suspended license multiple times, probation violations, etc. The county jail where I lived actually housed the inmates in regards to the severity of the crime.

122 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:50:43am

re: #120 Killgore Trout

Oops!

The the premature detonator earned a shout of "Darwin Akbar!".

123 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:51:23am

re: #122 Dark_Falcon

The the premature detonator earned a shout of "Darwin Akbar!".

No relation.

124 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:52:46am

One of the Israeli soldiers had died...

125 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:53:19am

re: #118 Obdicut

It all depends. It sounds good-- the education portions of it-- but it's all up to whoever is leading it, whoever the teachers are. The structure of a program matters less than the individuals involved. Certainly on its own its still helpful for the prisoners that have drive and motivation.

Yeah. As CCA said above, the felony conviction is going to haunt them in job prospects for a long time. If they're a white person, it'll just make them slightly more likely to be employed than a non-felonious black person (American racism for the win), but if they're black it really puts them into one of the least employable categories. We need to be honest and not blow sunshine up people's asses about how if they fly straight now everything will be better. If you leave people no economic choice except crime, then only the most ethically pure will be able to keep themselves out of it.

We need to have much more robust ways of re-integrating inmates into society. Step one is not having so damn many inmates in the first place, by getting rid of stupid drug laws. Step two is starting programs like this in the jails that really focus on giving tools for success. But step three is, as you say, the continuing programs outside, where we can actually point the felons towards jobs and not set them up for an inevitable return to crime.

Well, I will say that the program's focus on immates making sure their children are properly educated is a good preventative measure. It might succeed in some cases in breaking the cycle of poverty.

126 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:54:30am

I was gonna camp out for the new iPhone 5 but then remembered I'm not a geek.:)

127 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:54:35am

re: #124 NJDhockeyfan

One of the Israeli soldiers had died...

[Embedded content]

Likely severely wounded at the time of the initial report, but died later. May angels sing him to his rest.

128 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 6:59:38am

re: #125 Dark_Falcon

Well, I will say that the program's focus on immates making sure their children are properly educated is a good preventative measure. It might succeed in some cases in breaking the cycle of poverty.

See, this is where I'm very 'conservative'. I don't like attempts. We can attempt stuff all day long. I want programs to have a solid basis in research, and to be well thought out, and to have good people in place. It's all well and good to say that we're going to emphasize how important it is for kids to get an education, but I want to know that the strategies being used to teach are really getting through to the inmates.

I'm always more interested in the details of the program than the goal of the program. I'd rather fund a program whose goal I only kind of half agree with but is done well than a program whose goal I'm totally behind but the methods of which won't fucking work.

129 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:02:17am

re: #128 Obdicut

See, this is where I'm very 'conservative'. I don't like attempts. We can attempt stuff all day long. I want programs to have a solid basis in research, and to be well thought out, and to have good people in place. It's all well and good to say that we're going to emphasize how important it is for kids to get an education, but I want to know that the strategies being used to teach are really getting through to the inmates.

I'm always more interested in the details of the program than the goal of the program. I'd rather fund a program whose goal I only kind of half agree with but is done well than a program whose goal I'm totally behind but the methods of which won't fucking work.

And on that you and I are of one mind.

130 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:04:52am

"Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he can eat every day."

A great adage - but it depends on a few factors, such as whether the guy is too weak to pull in a net, whether there are any fish to catch in the waters and whether you yourself are capable of teaching him how to do it well enough to live.

131 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:04:56am

re: #127 Dark_Falcon

Likely severely wounded at the time of the initial report, but died later. May angels sing him to his rest.

That's actually a semi-ironic statement in the Jewish tradition. Angels sing both at the death of good and wicked men, just different angels.

132 iossarian  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:05:14am

re: #128 Obdicut

See, this is where I'm very 'conservative'. I don't like attempts. We can attempt stuff all day long. I want programs to have a solid basis in research, and to be well thought out, and to have good people in place. It's all well and good to say that we're going to emphasize how important it is for kids to get an education, but I want to know that the strategies being used to teach are really getting through to the inmates.

I'm always more interested in the details of the program than the goal of the program. I'd rather fund a program whose goal I only kind of half agree with but is done well than a program whose goal I'm totally behind but the methods of which won't fucking work.

Just a fly-by, but an amazing* piece in the Guardian caught my eye last weekend, in which the venture capitalist who funded and produced a UK report supporting further deregulation of the jobs market basically admitted that there was no evidence, other than anecdotes and "common sense", to support the claim that such deregulation would improve the economy and create jobs. The actual quote (from the report itself!) was something like: it's hard to say exactly what contribution deregulation makes to the labour market.

So, basically, right-wing politics! Because we like them! With no other justification! So much right-wing policy today is wishful thinking with absolutely no concrete research or evidence to back it up.

The report is covered here:

[Link: www.guardian.co.uk...]


* Actually, it's kind of the opposite of amazing, unfortunately.

133 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:07:57am

re: #130 47 turn it up to 11

"Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he can eat every day."

A great adage - but it depends on a few factors, such as whether the guy is too weak to pull in a net, whether there are any fish to catch in the waters and whether you yourself are capable of teaching him how to do it well enough to live.

My dad taught me how to fish, and all I do is sit in the boat and drink beer.

134 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:08:16am

re: #132 iossarian

Yeah, it is fucking amazing how many business decisions are made basically on the backs of someone's ego, without really a firm rationale or even logic behind it. Most CEOs, in my experience, do not actually have a plan that differentiates them from other CEOs. They're mostly interchangeable and interchangeable from mangers in the lower ranks, and I have yet to work at any company where the hireups actually deserved their salary at all.

The fetishization of entrepreneurship has led to this bizarre mythos where the CEO is like the God-Emperor in the Warhammer universe, just pouring out his beneficence into the company. In reality, it's the individual workers who actually create the wealth, and the most that the management team can do is to create the right structure for that to happen. Most of the time, the management team has just inherited a working structure and they fuck around with it and claim credit for any success.

135 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:08:28am

re: #133 Mr. Crankypants

My dad taught me how to fish, and all I do is sit in the boat and drink beer.

That's how you are supposed to fish.

136 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:08:59am

re: #132 iossarian

Just a fly-by, but an amazing* piece in the Guardian caught my eye last weekend, in which the venture capitalist who funded and produced a UK report supporting further deregulation of the jobs market basically admitted that there was no evidence, other than anecdotes and "common sense", to support the claim that such deregulation would improve the economy and create jobs. The actual quote (from the report itself!) was something like: it's hard to say exactly what contribution deregulation makes to the labour market.

So, basically, right-wing politics! Because we like them! With no other justification! So much right-wing policy today is wishful thinking with absolutely no concrete research or evidence to back it up.

The report is covered here:

[Link: www.guardian.co.uk...]

* Actually, it's kind of the opposite of amazing, unfortunately.

Doing research is a dirty liberal practice and we will not sully ourselves with it.
//

137 iossarian  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:09:22am

re: #134 Obdicut

In reality, it's the individual workers who actually create the wealth, and the most that the management team can do is to create the right structure for that to happen.

You Marxist, you.

Gotta run.

138 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:10:02am

re: #134 Obdicut

Yeah, it is fucking amazing how many business decisions are made basically on the backs of someone's ego, without really a firm rationale or even logic behind it. Most CEOs, in my experience, do not actually have a plan that differentiates them from other CEOs. They're mostly interchangeable and interchangeable from mangers in the lower ranks, and I have yet to work at any company where the hireups actually deserved their salary at all.

The fetishization of entrepreneurship has led to this bizarre mythos where the CEO is like the God-Emperor in the Warhammer universe, just pouring out his beneficence into the company. In reality, it's the individual workers who actually create the wealth, and the most that the management team can do is to create the right structure for that to happen. Most of the time, the management team has just inherited a working structure and they fuck around with it and claim credit for any success.

Blankenship's rule of organizational effectiveness:
Most organizations succeed in spite of their actions rather than due to their actions.

139 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:12:01am

Fresh protester riot warning!

Controversial 'Piss Christ' art back in NY

The controversial “Piss Christ” artwork Sen. Alfonse D’Amato once branded as a “deplorable, despicable display of vulgarity,” is coming to New York, and security is being heavily ramped- up at the gallery that will show the piece.

140 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:12:41am

re: #131 Obdicut

That's actually a semi-ironic statement in the Jewish tradition. Angels sing both at the death of good and wicked men, just different angels.

Well that brave man will hear the songs of loyal angels, not Satan's rebels.

This next isn't really apt, but I'm posting it:

141 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:13:10am

re: #139 NJDhockeyfan

Fresh protester riot warning!

Controversial 'Piss Christ' art back in NY

I look forward to the Catholics burning stuff.
/

142 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:13:49am

re: #121 Cannadian Club Akbar

Quick note: Not all people in a county jail are there for felonies, FWIW. Some could be there for stuff like driving on a suspended license multiple times, probation violations, etc. The county jail where I lived actually housed the inmates in regards to the severity of the crime.

I spent a night in a very small county jail once due to a suspended license (@$#@ insurance company didn't file paperwork). Was a 15X15 foot room with 2 cells on one side each with four bunks. Spent the night reading and smoking. One guy was serving a 9 month sentence for marijuana posession (I think he was selling). Other guy was there for something else. Bottom line was that there wasn't any violence it was just damn dull.

143 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:14:13am

re: #139 NJDhockeyfan

Fresh protester riot warning!

Controversial 'Piss Christ' art back in NY

Pamela Geller could demand that it be displayed alongside with "Piss Mohammed"...

144 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:16:10am

re: #139 NJDhockeyfan

Fresh protester riot warning!

Controversial 'Piss Christ' art back in NY

That only attacks Christians and in the US Christians don't riot over insults, though some radicals may indeed try to deface the trash that is called artwork. That must not be allowed to happen, and the same Freedom of Speech that attaches to the French magazine that satirized Mohammad must also apply to Andres Serrano.

145 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:17:14am

re: #142 Mr. Crankypants

I spent a night in a very small county jail once due to a suspended license (@$#@ insurance company didn't file paperwork). Was a 15X15 foot room with 2 cells on one side each with four bunks. Spent the night reading and smoking. One guy was serving a 9 month sentence for marijuana posession (I think he was selling). Other guy was there for something else. Bottom line was that there wasn't any violence it was just damn dull.

On the positive side, you made a new connection for buying weed.

147 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:19:05am

re: #140 Dark_Falcon

Well that brave man will hear the songs of loyal angels, not Satan's rebels.

This next isn't really apt, but I'm posting it:

[Embedded content]

Okay, remember to try to not get too heavy with the Christian imagery when talking about the death of a Jewish person. It gets kind of weird.

148 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:23:12am

re: #147 Obdicut

Okay, remember to try to not get too heavy with the Christian imagery when talking about the death of a Jewish person. It gets kind of weird.

I know, I just felt moved to post that. I'm pretty careful about that normally, but thanks for the reminder.

149 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:23:41am

re: #146 NJDhockeyfan

BREAKING: Pittsburgh Gunman Takes Hostages and Claims to Have Bomb

The video on the sidebar: "Obama condemns Anti-Muslim film on Pakistan TV"
Ugh. I hate to see that.

150 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:24:14am

re: #149 Killgore Trout

The video on the sidebar: "Obama condemns Anti-Muslim film on Pakistan TV"
Ugh. I hate to see that.

Quite Concur.

151 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:27:24am

Speaking of Catholics, looks like the IRA if feeling the need for attention again

'New IRA' sets two bombs in Derry in attempt to kill security forces

Newly merged republican terrorist group leaves booby-trapped bicycle and pipe bomb in grounds of council offices

152 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:27:59am

re: #149 Killgore Trout

The video on the sidebar: "Obama condemns Anti-Muslim film on Pakistan TV"
Ugh. I hate to see that.

He should run another ad on Bangladesh TV...

Thousands protest anti-Islam film in Bangladesh

About 10,000 Bangladeshis took to the streets of Dhaka on Friday to demonstrate against an anti-Islam film made in the US and cartoons in a French satirical magazine caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed.

The protesters, many carrying banners from half a dozen Islamist groups, burnt an effigy of Barack Obama outside the national Baitul Mokarram Mosque, the country's largest, after Friday prayers.

They also set fire to a French flag as they carried placards and banners reading "Obama, you are a cheater", "Protest the disgrace of Prophet Muhammed!"

Security was tightened around the protest area with the deployment of hundreds of police and elite Rapid Action Battalion, armored personnel carriers and water cannon.

French authorities in Bangladesh also shut down three cultural centers and the French embassy in the capital, police said.

153 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:29:09am

Gitmo inmate 'led US embassy attack'

THE attack on the US consulate in Benghazi may have been led by a former inmate of Guantanamo Bay returned to Libya by the Bush administration.

US intelligence officials believe Sufyan Ben Qumu, one of the leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia, is likely to have been behind the assault.

Ben Qumu, who now lives openly in the Libyan town of Derna, 240 kilometres east of Benghazi, was released from Guantanamo Bay in 2007.

154 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:31:15am

Mornin' commies.

155 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:31:16am

re: #153 Killgore Trout

Gitmo inmate 'led US embassy attack'

If true, then Obama can fall back on his signature tactic: blaming George W. Bush.

156 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:32:48am

Oh, hey. More Ayn Rand language:

The fact that people have taken her idiocy to heart irritates me. WTF.

157 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:33:14am

re: #149 Killgore Trout

The video on the sidebar: "Obama condemns Anti-Muslim film on Pakistan TV"
Ugh. I hate to see that.

Why? He's just condemning a video that was designed to stir up shit with Muslims. Maybe by doing so it will prevent more Americans from getting killed by irate evangelicals.

158 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:34:07am

re: #155 Dark_Falcon

If true, then Obama can fall back on his signature tactic: blaming George W. Bush.

Although the attack probably would have happened without this guy Bush's Gitmo was a mistake as were many of the detainee releases. Obama's tactic of killing these guys solves a whole lot of problems.

159 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:34:29am

re: #153 Killgore Trout

Gitmo inmate 'led US embassy attack'

That was initially a Fox News report. Yesterday there were reports that the White House official saying he wasn't behind the attack.

160 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:34:57am

re: #157 darthstar

Why? He's just condemning a video that was designed to stir up shit with Muslims. Maybe by doing so it will prevent more Americans from getting killed by irate evangelicals.

Maybe but I doubt the ad has any effect.

161 Eventual Carrion  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:35:40am

re: #139 NJDhockeyfan

Fresh protester riot warning!

Controversial 'Piss Christ' art back in NY

Why? It's stupid to get all bent out of shape about a less than flattering depiction of your deity.

162 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:35:41am

re: #158 Killgore Trout

Although the attack probably would have happened without this guy Bush's Gitmo was a mistake as were many of the detainee releases. Obama's tactic of killing these guys solves a whole lot of problems.

And detaining many of them in the first place was a mistake, since they were just guys in the wrong place at the wrong time. We really shot ourselves in the foot on that one.

Round 'em all up is rarely a good tactic.

163 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:35:47am

re: #156 Lidane

Oh, hey. More Ayn Rand language:

[Embedded content]

The fact that people have taken her idiocy to heart irritates me. WTF.

But the system is collectivist, is it not?

164 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:36:07am

re: #156 Lidane

Oh, hey. More Ayn Rand language:

[Embedded content]

The fact that people have taken her idiocy to heart irritates me. WTF.

Fucking Ryan...he complains that the campaign won't let him 'cut loose' and in his next public appearance he compares social security to welfare(which his team has been using in attack ads). He's going to find himself waiting in the car at the next rally while Ann goes in to have a word with 'you people' to set them straight on whom they should vote for.

165 Eventual Carrion  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:36:58am

re: #141 Cannadian Club Akbar

I look forward to the Catholics burning stuff.
/

Why just the catholics? The baptists don't give a shit?

166 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:37:11am

re: #159 Gus

That was initially a Fox News report. Yesterday there were reports that the White House official saying he wasn't behind the attack.

There are a lot of confused and conflicting reports out of the White House about the Libya attack. I suppose they're just being cautious about definitive statements until all the facts are in.

167 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:37:56am

re: #165 Eventual Carrion

Why just the catholics? The baptists don't give a shit?

Not sure. I also don't know about the Baptist population in NY.

168 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:38:05am

re: #158 Killgore Trout

Although the attack probably would have happened without this guy Bush's Gitmo was a mistake as were many of the detainee releases. Obama's tactic of killing these guys solves a whole lot of problems.

Yes, but it also throws away the information that can be gained interrogating the jihadis. So the argument can be made either way.

169 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:38:51am

re: #163 Dark_Falcon

But the system is collectivist, is it not?

It's a social safety net designed to help people that are vulnerable. The alternative is having those same people either starve or die because they can't afford their most basic needs after working and paying into the system all their lives.

In Ayn Rand's world, however, collectivist systems are evil and must be destroyed. For a VP candidate to espouse her idiocy is problematic.

170 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:38:54am

re: #167 Cannadian Club Akbar

Not sure. I also don't know about the Baptist population in NY.

What about the Episcopalians? Don't forget them!

171 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:39:13am

re: #165 Eventual Carrion

Why just the catholics? The baptists don't give a shit?

No, because that would make the Baptists Honey Badgers.

///

172 Eventual Carrion  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:39:54am

re: #155 Dark_Falcon

If true, then Obama can fall back on his signature tactic: blaming George W. Bush.

I know. You shouldn't blame people for things they did. Blame them for made up shit.

173 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:39:58am

Morning. Now the proud owner of baseball playoff tickets. Never thought I'd see the day. I feel like a kid again.

174 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:40:11am

re: #160 Killgore Trout

Maybe but I doubt the ad has any effect.

There are tons of Pakistanis in the UK...and more than a few clerics who use fear of crusaders to keep their flocks close. It dilutes the message of "They hate and disrespect Mohammed" when a side-bar headline like that is in view.

175 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:40:58am

Hmmm. Subtle Muslim bashing isn't so subtle.

176 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:41:32am

Shorter Paul Ryan: "Groupons for Grandma!"

All this privatization and voucher shit needs to go. Yes, both systems need reform, but killing them off by privatizing them is not the answer.

177 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:41:39am

re: #173 HappyWarrior

Morning. Now the proud owner of baseball playoff tickets. Never thought I'd see the day. I feel like a kid again.

Nats?

178 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:41:42am

re: #165 Eventual Carrion

Why just the catholics? The baptists don't give a shit?

Baptists don't know how to use matches.

179 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:41:50am

re: #177 Cannadian Club Akbar

Nats?

O's.

180 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:41:57am

re: #149 Killgore Trout

The video on the sidebar: "Obama condemns Anti-Muslim film on Pakistan TV"
Ugh. I hate to see that.

Did you listen to the clip? If so, what part of what Obama and Clinton said do you disagree with?

181 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:42:11am

re: #168 Dark_Falcon

Yes, but it also throws away the information that can be gained interrogating the jihadis. So the argument can be made either way.

Agreed. I can see how at the time the intell might have been more important but then we were stuck with these guys and didn't know what to do with them. In retrospect it would have been better to keep them in blacksites.

182 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:42:12am

re: #179 HappyWarrior

O's.

Wild card?

183 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:42:41am

re: #182 Cannadian Club Akbar

Wild card?

Taking my chances with a possible divisional series game in case the wild card is in Oakland.

184 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:43:26am

re: #173 HappyWarrior

Morning. Now the proud owner of baseball playoff tickets. Never thought I'd see the day. I feel like a kid again.

We bought ours last week. Four seats through the series (if we get there). Our magic number right now is three.

185 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:43:34am

re: #169 Lidane

It's a social safety net designed to help people that are vulnerable. The alternative is having those same people either starve or die because they can't afford their most basic needs after working and paying into the system all their lives.

In Ayn Rand's world, however, collectivist systems are evil and must be destroyed. For a VP candidate to espouse her idiocy is problematic.

I listened to more of the audio. Paul Ryan was calling for what he describes as the 'personalization' of Social Security, feeling that such a program will "make every laborer a capitalist" and will better enable people to stand on their own two feet. That does have echoes of Rand, though not alarmingly for me. Though Ayn Rand wouldn't like the "every laborer a capitalist" part, given the extremely low regard in which she often held ordinary people.

186 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:43:51am

re: #183 HappyWarrior

Taking my chances with a possible divisional series game in case the wild card is in Oakland.

I haven't looked at the standings. I just know the Rays have a very slim chance to get in. But don't forget how things ended last year.

187 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:44:14am

re: #181 Killgore Trout

Agreed. I can see how at the time the intell might have been more important but then we were stuck with these guys and didn't know what to do with them. In retrospect it would have been better to keep them in blacksites.

Concur.

188 Eventual Carrion  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:44:34am

re: #178 darthstar

Baptists don't know how to use matches.

That's because they were never allowed to dance around a campfire.

189 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:44:54am

re: #185 Dark_Falcon

I listened to more of the audio. Paul Ryan was calling for what he describes as the 'personalization' of Social Security, feeling that such a program will "make every laborer a capitalist" and will better enable people to stand on their own two feet. That does have echoes of Rand, though not alarmingly for me. Though Ayn Rand wouldn't like the "every laborer a capitalist" part, given the extremely low regard in which she often held ordinary people.

Personalization = Privatization. You just get to pay for your personal plan privately.

190 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:45:03am

re: #184 darthstar

We bought ours last week. Four seats through the series (if we get there). Our magic number right now is three.

[Embedded content]

Sweet, I was glad to see the Giants wrap up the NL West. Always have liked them due to Mays being my old man's boyhood baseball hero. Plus, your stadium is awesome.

191 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:46:03am

re: #181 Killgore Trout

Agreed. I can see how at the time the intell might have been more important but then we were stuck with these guys and didn't know what to do with them. In retrospect it would have been better to keep them in blacksites.

Or we could have complied with the Geneva Convention from the beginning.

192 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:46:04am

re: #186 Cannadian Club Akbar

I haven't looked at the standings. I just know the Rays have a very slim chance to get in. But don't forget how things ended last year.

Of course, I haven't forgotten how things ended last year. It was the Orioles that eliminated the Red Sox. Really wish I had watched that game but I was so exhausted that night. Too bad about the Rays by the way. I really wanted it to be the O's and the Rays because I would love to see a playoffs sans Yankees and Sox.

193 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:46:11am

A friend of mine has decided on her thesis project. She's going to be answering the question "Why do we find the same joke funny when we hear it again?"

It's actually an interesting question. So much of jokes is about reversal, that it seems like repetition should dull the humor, but it usually exacerbates it.

She's doing it from an actual neurology-psychology view, but it'll be a fun thesis, I think.

194 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:46:37am

re: #189 darthstar

Personalization = Privatization. You just get to pay for your personal plan privately.

Exactly. And people get the joy of a government voucher so they can shop around and find the "best deal" for them, which really won't be much of a deal at all.

195 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:46:39am

re: #178 darthstar

Baptists don't know how to use matches.

Nah, they just have an air force, army and navy that occasionally invades the wrong country. What's the big deal?

196 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:46:41am

The only known photograph of Winston Churchill and Barack Obama

197 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:47:39am

re: #190 HappyWarrior

Sweet, I was glad to see the Giants wrap up the NL West. Always have liked them due to Mays being my old man's boyhood baseball hero. Plus, your stadium is awesome.

Went to the game yesterday...sat on the upper deck since I went with my company as a group outing. Forgot how nice the view up there is.

Image: 397191_10151184558723024_499403320_n.jpg

198 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:48:04am

re: #193 Obdicut

A friend of mine has decided on her thesis project. She's going to be answering the question "Why do we find the same joke funny when we hear it again?"

It's actually an interesting question. So much of jokes is about reversal, that it seems like repetition should dull the humor, but it usually exacerbates it.

She's doing it from an actual neurology-psychology view, but it'll be a fun thesis, I think.

Yeah that does sound neat. Humor's an interesting thing really. What we find funny and what we don't, etc.

199 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:48:38am

re: #180 garhighway

Did you listen to the clip? If so, what part of what Obama and Clinton said do you disagree with?

I don't think it makes any difference. It's a futile effort and did nothing to appease those who are going to be outraged anyways,
'Day of Love for the Prophet Muhammad' protests turn deadly in Pakistan

The government-sanctioned protests for the 'Day of Love for the Prophet Muhammad' turned violent in Pakistan. At least one is confirmed dead.
...
In an effort to distance the US from the anti-Islamic film, the US State Department has spent $70,000 in advertisements to run in Pakistan. The ads feature President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both denouncing the film.

200 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:48:53am

re: #186 Cannadian Club Akbar

I haven't looked at the standings. I just know the Rays have a very slim chance to get in. But don't forget how things ended last year.

As of this morning the Rays are 6.5 games back in their division.

The Chicago White Sox, however, lead their division by 2 games. But I'm not a White Sox fan, nor any species of American League fan.

201 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:49:20am

John Sununu haz a mad:

202 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:49:58am

re: #197 darthstar

Went to the game yesterday...sat on the upper deck since I went with my company as a group outing. Forgot how nice the view up there is.

Image: 397191_10151184558723024_499403320_n.jpg

Very nice view. It's a nice stadium. Great fans too. When I was in California in July, everyone was wearing Giants gear.

203 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:50:04am

re: #197 darthstar

Went to the game yesterday...sat on the upper deck since I went with my company as a group outing. Forgot how nice the view up there is.

Image: 397191_10151184558723024_499403320_n.jpg

There was a spot at the Trop, top level, 3rd base side called "The Beach". The good things were you had your own bartenders, your own bathrooms and a smoking section just outside. Was cool, never crowded.

204 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:50:11am

re: #163 Dark_Falcon

But the system is collectivist, is it not?

Some day, we will invent technology that allows us to hatch fully-frown adults who can be implanted with a basic education chip in their brains and be sent off to realize their potential as individuals.

Then a Randian, individualist self-interest-oriented society will be the optimal one. But until then, we spend a lot of our lives being dependent on each other, especially at the beginning and end of our lives. And to survive as a race, we need to do so colletively.

205 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:50:53am

re: #191 garhighway

Or we could have complied with the Geneva Convention from the beginning.

Which would mean killing combatants out of uniform and in civilian areas. I agree. Or we can just hold them as POW's until Al Qaeda sits down at a desk and signs an unconditional surrender.

206 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:50:55am

re: #200 Dark_Falcon

I think we're 5 games out of the 2nd wild card.

207 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:52:47am

re: #201 Lidane

John Sununu haz a mad:

[Embedded content]

You can tell they're getting frustrated because the down-ticket candidates want to distance themselves from Mitt.

208 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:53:10am

re: #205 Killgore Trout

Which would mean killing combatants out of uniform and in civilian areas. I agree. Or we can just hold them as POW's until Al Qaeda sits down at a desk and signs an unconditional surrender.

The Geneva Convention requires that? Could you cite me the part that says that?

209 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:53:13am

re: #185 Dark_Falcon

I listened to more of the audio. Paul Ryan was calling for what he describes as the 'personalization' of Social Security, feeling that such a program will "make every laborer a capitalist"

You mean that the workers should own the means of production? Stop the presses, PAUL RYAN IS A MARXIST!!!

210 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:53:43am

re: #199 Killgore Trout

So you denounce it sight unseen?

211 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:53:46am

re: #176 Lidane

Shorter Paul Ryan: "Groupons for Grandma!"

All this privatization and voucher shit needs to go. Yes, both systems need reform, but killing them off by privatizing them is not the answer.

But privatizing them lets the proper people loot the system more efficiently before the inevitable collapse (caused by lazy undeserving socialists rioting over a lack of handouts of course.) I'm surprised Ryan hasn't asked for government subsidized violin lessons for the 1% yet... ;)

212 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:53:47am

re: #200 Dark_Falcon

As of this morning the Rays are 6.5 games back in their division.

The Chicago White Sox, however, lead their division by 2 games. But I'm not a White Sox fan, nor any species of American League fan.

It may be the White Sox I'll be seeing. I think the last time I saw the Orioles play them, Ventura was still playing third base and now he's managing them. Surprised he's a good manager. Most former good players don't make decent managers. There are exceptions of course.

213 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:53:54am

re: #205 Killgore Trout

Or we can just hold them as POW's until Al Qaeda sits down at a desk and signs an unconditional surrender.

Can't tell if sarcasm or deliberate statement.

214 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:54:14am

re: #207 HappyWarrior

You can tell they're getting frustrated because the down-ticket candidates want to distance themselves from Mitt.

Fuck that, make em own him, since he is the purest distillation of Establishment Republican.

215 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:54:31am

re: #193 Obdicut

A friend of mine has decided on her thesis project. She's going to be answering the question "Why do we find the same joke funny when we hear it again?"

It's actually an interesting question. So much of jokes is about reversal, that it seems like repetition should dull the humor, but it usually exacerbates it.

She's doing it from an actual neurology-psychology view, but it'll be a fun thesis, I think.

Often has to do with the person telling it, some people can tell the same joke over and over and make it funny (take my wife, er, for example...) and others just can't tell a joke to save their lives.

216 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:55:31am
217 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:56:26am

re: #196 47 turn it up to 11

The only known photograph of Winston Churchill and Barack Obama

Directly behind the chair is General Crerar, the commander of the 1st Canadian Army in 1944-45. Like Field Marshal Montgomery he wears the black beret of the Royal Tank Corps instead of the normal peaked officer's cap.

218 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:56:29am

re: #215 47 turn it up to 11

Often has to do with the person telling it, some people can tell the same joke over and over and make it funny (take my wife, er, for example...) and others just can't tell a joke to save their lives.

This. It's also a learned response, I think. This is funny, I laughed really hard the first time I heard it, it made me feel good. I want to push that button again. How many people of a certain age can quote chapter and verse from Monty Python or SNL sketches?

219 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:56:31am

re: #193 Obdicut

A friend of mine has decided on her thesis project. She's going to be answering the question "Why do we find the same joke funny when we hear it again?"

It's actually an interesting question. So much of jokes is about reversal, that it seems like repetition should dull the humor, but it usually exacerbates it.

She's doing it from an actual neurology-psychology view, but it'll be a fun thesis, I think.

Ah, a fan of _The Aristocrats_ is she?

220 makeitstop  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:57:20am

Morning, Honcos.

As I was driving to my show last night, I heard on the radio that Money Boo Boo has started using the 'Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare' lie again on the campaign trail.

He also sounds extremely shrill and angry. Quite a contrast to the measured, composed adult-sounding president in the Univision forum.

Beautiful day here in New York. How's everybody doin'?

221 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:57:42am

re: #218 Mr. Crankypants

This. It's also a learned response, I think. This is funny, I laughed really hard the first time I heard it, it made me feel good. I want to push that button again. How many people of a certain age can quote chapter and verse from Monty Python or SNL sketches?

Is there something wrong about referring to the Book of Armaments?

222 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:58:08am

re: #221 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

Is there something wrong about referring to the Book of Armaments?

Albatross!!!

223 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:58:21am

re: #221 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

Is there something wrong about referring to the Book of Armaments?

Thou shalt count to three....

224 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:58:27am

re: #222 47 turn it up to 11

Albatross!!!

Very good. I giggled when I saw that comment.

225 Daniel Ballard  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:58:28am

Anyone else on shuttle watch here in SoCal?

226 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:58:38am

re: #214 Mr. Crankypants

Fuck that, make em own him, since he is the purest distillation of Establishment Republican.

Haha I don't disagree and maybe Sununu has a point about Thompson complaining but the fact is you are seeing Republican senate candidates distance themselves from Mitt. Saw three including Scott Brown distance themselves from the 47% fall out.

227 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:59:08am

re: #199 Killgore Trout

I don't think it makes any difference. It's a futile effort and did nothing to appease those who are going to be outraged anyways,
'Day of Love for the Prophet Muhammad' protests turn deadly in Pakistan

The government-sanctioned protests for the 'Day of Love for the Prophet Muhammad' turned violent in Pakistan. At least one is confirmed dead.

228 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:59:23am

re: #224 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

Very good. I giggled when I saw that comment.

I still laugh just thinking about that sketch. One of my MP favorites, don't know why.

229 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 7:59:34am

re: #209 47 turn it up to 11

You mean that the workers should own the means of production? Stop the presses, PAUL RYAN IS A MARXIST!!!

In a very odd way, eh? But Paul Ryan does believe in making investment and stock ownership widespread, feeling that a "stake in the system" will motive people better and will make them unwilling to support collectivism.

230 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:00:47am

re: #229 Dark_Falcon

In a very odd way, eh? But Paul Ryan does believe in making investment and stock ownership widespread, feeling that a "stake in the system" will motive people better and will make them unwilling to support collectivism.

Then the best way to do that is to promote a system that concentrates more money into fewer hands, isn't it?

231 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:00:48am

re: #227 NJDhockeyfan

[Embedded content]

Feel the love, baby!

232 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:01:12am

re: #229 Dark_Falcon

In a very odd way, eh? But Paul Ryan does believe in making investment and stock ownership widespread, feeling that a "stake in the system" will motive people better and will make them unwilling to support collectivism.

Are we back to "The Ownership Society"? That worked really, really well for the real estate, construction and banking industries.

233 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:01:59am

re: #221 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

Is there something wrong about referring to the Book of Armaments?

Back in high school, I wrote a D&D adventure called Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Ran it at GenCon a couple of times and had a great time.

The Holy Hand Grenade was there as was the Black Knight.
I also adapted the SPAM sketch to a weapons shop

We've got saws saws chainmail and saws
Saws saws, longswords and saws

(Saws saws saws saws)

Shut up you stupid lumberjacks!

Wojuh the Wanjuh- went to lumberjack school in the petrified forest. "Do you know what it's like to cut down the same tree for 5 years?!"

And to top it all off: The Paladin Song!

234 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:03:17am

re: #231 Dark_Falcon

[Embedded content]

Feel the love, baby!

Yep. And after 11 years of US presence what do we have?

235 Daniel Ballard  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:03:37am

re: #229 Dark_Falcon

Ever wonder why it's okay for government pensions to invest in the markets but not SS? If we fully embrace the rhetoric against allowing some SS monies to be invested, we must admit daily irresponsibility in every government pension that invests in the market for decades.

236 lawhawk  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:03:44am

re: #223 Mr. Crankypants

Thou shalt count to three....

One.... Two... Five!

237 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:03:56am

re: #234 Gus

Yep. And after 11 years of US presence what do we have?

We're in Afghanistan, not Pakistan.

238 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:04:37am

Gotta go get something done. Have a great day everybody.

239 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:05:59am

re: #233 Mr. Crankypants

Back in high school, I wrote a D&D adventure called Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Ran it at GenCon a couple of times and had a great time.

The Holy Hand Grenade was there as was the Black Knight.
I also adapted the SPAM sketch to a weapons shop

We've got saws saws chainmail and saws
Saws saws, longswords and saws

(Saws saws saws saws)

Shut up you stupid lumberjacks!

Wojuh the Wanjuh- went to lumberjack school in the petrified forest. "Do you know what it's like to cut down the same tree for 5 years?!"

And to top it all off: The Paladin Song!

My pet one was writing little side satires for the role-playing group I was in. I ended up with a six-episode "The Droids Who Say 'Ni'" file that was initially based on a Star Wars RPG group and eventually did a cross-over into the characters of a Pendragon game I was running with most of the same players. Very heavy use of Python skits and references.

I instilled a fear of R2 units in a few characters of that group.

240 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:06:15am

re: #235 Daniel Ballard

Ever wonder why it's okay for government pensions to invest in the markets but not SS? If we fully embrace the rhetoric against allowing some SS monies to be invested, we must admit daily irresponsibility in every government pension that invests in the market for decades.

And do you know what's really funny? Many of those pension funds invest in Bain Capital.

241 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:06:19am

re: #237 Dark_Falcon

We're in Afghanistan, not Pakistan.

Right. Not in Pakistan. At least no in "that way." But we're still "in Pakistan." Ask Lockheed-Martin.

242 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:06:30am

Damaged goods.

With the Soviet Union already covertly engaged in neighboring Afghanistan, the Nixon administration used Pakistan to try to deter further Soviet encroachment in the region.

243 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:07:52am

re: #241 Gus

Right. Not in Pakistan. At least no in "that way." But we're still "in Pakistan." Ask Lockheed-Martin.

Selling aircraft to a country does not mean we have forces in that country.

244 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:08:29am

re: #243 Dark_Falcon

Selling aircraft to a country does not mean we have forces in that country.

Do drones count?

245 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:09:29am

re: #244 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

Do drones count?

They fly, they spy, they shoot, they kill. They do not count. We have computers for that.

246 Daniel Ballard  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:10:31am

re: #240 Dark_Falcon

I guess Bain looked a lot better to professional money managers than campaign critics. Just a little inconsistency there, lol. Kinda reminds me of Meg Whitmans resume-well respected in IT professional circles before and after the election- but got nothing but ridicule/hyperbolic rhetoric during the election.

247 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:10:49am

re: #245 garhighway

They fly, they spy, they shoot, they kill. They do not count. We have computers for that.

I'm sure they can count to "1" at least.

249 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:12:05am

re: #237 Dark_Falcon

We're in Afghanistan, not Pakistan.

The border between those two countries is a bigger fiction than the US-Mexico border...

250 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:12:11am

Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally as part of the War on Terrorism and provides key intelligence and logistical support for the United States. A leading recipient of US military assistance, Pakistan expects to receive approximately $20 billion since 2001 a combination of reimbursement to Pakistan and training programs for the Pakistan counter terrorism units. However, in the aftermath of the Osama Bin Laden raid, Pakistan Army cancelled a $500 million training program and sent all 135 trainers home. The United States showed displeasure at this act and withheld a further $300 million dollars in assistance.

251 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:12:31am

Pakistan is a Major non-NATO ally of the United States, which is the second-largest supplier of military equipment to Pakistan after China, and largest economic aid contributor as well.[

252 lawhawk  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:13:48am

Should we be surprised that Ahmadinejad picked up on the BS and debunked claims that Jews/Israelis were behind the mystery film denigrating Islam and claims that it was an Israeli ploy? Oh, and he announces that his country has missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv.

He claims that Israel was behind the film to create sectarian conflict. As if the cognitive disonnance from his own pronouncements about his country's capabilities to hit Israel aren't inflammatory or raise tensions even further.

253 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:14:44am

re: #252 lawhawk

Should we be surprised that Ahmadinejad picked up on the BS and debunked claims that Jews/Israelis were behind the mystery film denigrating Islam and claims that it was an Israeli ploy? Oh, and he announces that his country has missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv.

He claims that Israel was behind the film to create sectarian conflict. As if the cognitive disonnance from his own pronouncements about his country's capabilities to hit Israel aren't inflammatory or raise tensions even further.

That guy's as predictable as a sunrise.

254 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:16:10am

re: #244 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

Do drones count?

No. Drones can fly over a piece of ground, they can photograph it, they can bomb it to hell, but they cannot seize it. For that you need soldiers.

255 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:16:43am

re: #253 HappyWarrior

That guy's as predictable as a sunrise.

He has his own "base" to play to. And he needs no dogwhistles in that political climate, he can just shout it from the minarets.

256 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:16:51am

Outcry swells over Pakistan's secret prisons

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — That last morning, they saw their three kids off to school, then shared eggs and flatbread for breakfast. Amina Masood, 43, remembers laughing when her husband walked out the door to catch a bus. They were always laughing.

Amina's husband, Masood Janjua, was heading 60 miles north to a retreat with an apolitical Islamic revivalist movement. He was to be back in three days.

On July 30, 2005, Janjua slipped into a black hole of secret prisons and interrogations. His wife has not seen him since.

Pakistan has rounded up hundreds of suspected terrorists since 9/11 and kept them in hidden prisons without charges. Some detainees have been turned over to the United States. The sweeps have netted top terrorist figures, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah.

257 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:17:06am

re: #250 Gus

Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally as part of the War on Terrorism and provides key intelligence and logistical support for the United States. A leading recipient of US military assistance, Pakistan expects to receive approximately $20 billion since 2001 a combination of reimbursement to Pakistan and training programs for the Pakistan counter terrorism units. However, in the aftermath of the Osama Bin Laden raid, Pakistan Army cancelled a $500 million training program and sent all 135 trainers home. The United States showed displeasure at this act and withheld a further $300 million dollars in assistance.

We are a very large part of Pakistan's nuclear surety program, assisting them in safe storage and maintenance of all or most of their weapons. That might extend to providing them with Permissible Action Links.
There is a concern (Indian) that there could be a 'second arsenal' unknown to us.

258 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:17:31am

re: #255 47 turn it up to 11

He has his own "base" to play to. And he needs no dogwhistles in that political climate, he can just shout it from the minarets.

I know. Just saying he's very predictable.

259 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:18:30am

Bosnian candidate banned from elections over porn

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Bosnia's electoral commission has kicked out an independent candidate from the race for the mayor of the country's fourth-largest city for using online porn to attract voters.

The electoral commission announced on Friday that Mirad Hadziahmetovic was banned from participating in the race for mayor of Zenica in the October elections for uploading pornographic video clips to his official campaign site.

Hadziahmetovic previously said he uploaded porn clips after realizing that large numbers of people use the Web to peruse sexual content.

To view the material on his site, visitors first had to answer questions about various issues related to local governance in Zenica. Each clip ended with a separately recorded video of Hadziahmetovic talking directly to camera and saying: "If you liked this clip, vote for me."

Heh.

260 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:18:43am

re: #256 Gus

Outcry swells over Pakistan's secret prisons

Gus, that's from 2007.

261 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:19:38am

re: #260 Dark_Falcon

Gus, that's from 2007.

If something like that happened in your country in 2007 wouldn't you remember?

262 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:19:56am

re: #208 garhighway

The Geneva Convention requires that? Could you cite me the part that says that?

I think it's article 4 but you can google it yourself if you're interested.

[Link: www.crimesofwar.org...]

Guerrilla warfare per se is not illegal under IHL, but guerrillas must follow the same laws that apply to all regular armed forces.

Like all fighters, guerrillas have different rights depending upon whether the armed conflict is international or internal. Under the Geneva Conventions of 1949, a person fighting in irregular forces, often the kind of fighter we today would regard as a guerrilla, is considered a lawful combatant in an international armed conflict provided that he fights under certain specified conditions. The importance of being a lawful combatant is twofold. First, if captured by opposing international forces (not by his government), he may not be prosecuted or punished for taking part in combat. Second, he must be treated as a prisoner of war under applicable international rules.

In order to be granted the privilege of being a lawful combatant, the fighter must, however, observe four rules:

1. Be commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; this requirement is intended to ensure that irregular forces have a structure of command and discipline capable of following the laws of war.

2. Wear a distinctive sign or article of clothing visible at a distance in order to indicate that he is a combatant and a potential target who may lawfully be attacked by opposing forces; this provision is for the protection of noncombatant civilians.

3. Carry his weapon openly to indicate his combatant status and to distinguish fighters from the civilian population.

4. Observe the laws of war.

Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions attempted to take into account the realities of guerrilla warfare, in particular the routine practice of concealment among the general population. In a controversial rule, the protocol requires only that a guerrilla combatant in an international armed conflict carry his arms openly just before an attack. The United States has, for a variety of reasons, not ratified the protocol. In this particular instance, the United States believes it represents a step backward in the protection of civilians since it increases the legal ability of guerrilla fighters to expose civilians to greater risk.

263 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:21:49am
264 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:22:08am

re: #261 Gus

If something like that happened in your country in 2007 wouldn't you remember?

We didn't open those prisons, the ISI did that. We don't control them, the ISI does. We're not to blame for what the ISI does.

265 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:22:24am

re: #263 Gus

Image: barrett-brown-09-0312.jpg

Brown's mug shot from a previous arrest in March 2009 (Dallas County Sheriff's Department)

266 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:22:27am

...

267 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:22:49am

re: #264 Dark_Falcon

We didn't open those prisons, the ISI did that. We don't control them, the ISI does. We're not to blame for what the ISI does.

Come on DF. Pakistan is another one of America's social experiments.

268 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:23:08am

re: #265 Gus

Brown's mug shot from a previous arrest in March 2009 (Dallas County Sheriff's Department)

Didn't he just recently get arrested again?

269 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:23:22am

re: #266 garhighway

I don't see anything in there that requires us to execute anyone, do you?

No, just an arrogant young punk who needs to be knocked down a few pegs.

270 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:24:13am

re: #267 Gus

Come on DF. Pakistan is another one America's social experiments.

No Gus, its not. You can call it one of the UK's social experiments if you wish, but its not one of ours.

271 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:24:37am

re: #270 Dark_Falcon

No Gus, its not. You can call it one of the UK's social experiments if you wish, but its not one of ours.

Sure it isn't.

272 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:25:52am

re: #262 Killgore Trout

I think it's article 4 but you can google it yourself if you're interested.

[Link: www.crimesofwar.org...]

So where in there does it require us to execute irregulars? That's still a choice, right? We could treat them like a law enforcement problem or like conventional soldiers if we choose?

273 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:26:12am

re: #268 NJDhockeyfan

Didn't he just recently get arrested again?

While online. I think Gus posted it the other day. (if it wasn't Gus, my bad)

274 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:27:41am

re: #265 Gus

Brown's mug shot from a previous arrest in March 2009 (Dallas County Sheriff's Department)

This is totally unfair to him, but to anyone who's seen the final episode of Luther, Barrett looks like the psychopath twins.

Image: tumblr_lnxvu9Z9lo1qer9jho1_500.gif

Also: Geneva convention discussion again? I feel like it's 2003 all over again.

275 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:29:10am

re: #274 Obdicut

This is totally unfair to him, but to anyone who's seen the final episode of Luther, Barrett looks like the psychopath twins.

Image: tumblr_lnxvu9Z9lo1qer9jho1_500.gif

Also: Geneva convention discussion again? I feel like it's 2003 all over again.

Were that it was: the mistakes we could fix knowing what we know now (and mainly knew then).

276 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:29:37am

re: #274 Obdicut

This is totally unfair to him, but to anyone who's seen the final episode of Luther, Barrett looks like the psychopath twins.

Image: tumblr_lnxvu9Z9lo1qer9jho1_500.gif

Also: Geneva convention discussion again? I feel like it's 2003 all over again.

I've been trying to ignore that. I think a lot of people get rush from thinking about running foreign policy like something out of "24."

277 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:29:42am

re: #272 garhighway

So where in there does it require us to execute irregulars? That's still a choice, right? We could treat them like a law enforcement problem or like conventional soldiers if we choose?

Trying to treat irregulars as a law enforcement problem usually doesn't work, because they do not behave as criminals normally do. They'll actively attack a police sweep hoping to kill officers and are actively seeking to destroy the police instead of subvert them as a gang might. They are also often better disciplined than a gang and normally have a good deal more firepower.

278 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:30:59am

re: #277 Dark_Falcon

Trying to treat irregulars as a law enforcement problem usually doesn't work, because they do not behave as criminals normally do. They'll actively attack a police sweep hoping to kill officers and are actively seeking to destroy the police instead of subvert them as a gang might. They are also often better disciplined than a gang and normally have a good deal more firepower.

I'm sory that I was unclear. I was referring to what we do with them once they are I custody. Apologies.

279 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:32:03am

First on CNN: Clinton to remove Iranian exile group from terror list
By Elise Labott

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to notify Congress as early as Friday that she intends to take the Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK, off a State Department terror list, three senor administration officials told CNN.

The notification will be followed by a formal de-listing from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in the coming days.

MEK was placed on the U.S. terrorism list in 1997 because of the killing of six Americans in Iran in the 1970s and an attempted attack against the Iranian mission to the United Nations in 1992. However, since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf "noncombatants" and "protected persons" under the Geneva Conventions...

280 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:32:37am

Iranian Terrorist Group M.E.K. Pays Big to Make History Go Away
By Elizabeth Flock

Come October 1, a federal appeals court decision will force the State Department to decide whether the exile-Iranian group Mujahadin-e Khalq, or M.E.K., belongs on the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.

As recently as 2007, a State Department report warned that the M.E.K., retains "the capacity and will" to attack "Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and beyond."

The M.E.K., which calls for an overthrow of the Iranian government and is considered by many Iranians to be a cult, once fought for Saddam Hussein and in the 1970s was responsible for bombings, attempted plane hijackings, and political assassinations. It was listed as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997...

281 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:32:44am
282 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:34:35am

re: #278 garhighway

I'm sory that I was unclear. I was referring to what we do with them once they are I custody. Apologies.

Yes, we can choose to give them pow status even if the aren't entitled to it. So far I don't think anyone has been granted POW status from either Bush or Obama. POW's can be held until the end of hostilities which in this case is a very long time.

283 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:34:40am

re: #273 Cannadian Club Akbar

While online. I think Gus posted it the other day. (if it wasn't Gus, my bad)

LOL!!! This will certainly get anyone arrested.

Anonymous spokesman's YouTube meltdown led to arrest

If anybody was surprised at the arrest in Dallas last week of Barrett Brown, self-described sometime spokesman for the hacktivist group Anonymous, it should not have been Brown himself.

He practically invited it. A three-part, 43-plus minute rant posted on YouTube on Sept. 11 and 12 included a threat to "shoot ... and kill" any armed government officials who sought to arrest him -- "especially the FBI."

"Dallas Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Carmen Castro told The Dallas Morning News Brown was arrested Wednesday night and 'released over to the FBI' in the morning," UPI.com reported last week.

284 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:36:00am

I hear the trucks arriving outside. Another day of jackhammers!

285 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:36:51am

re: #278 garhighway

I'm sory that I was unclear. I was referring to what we do with them once they are I custody. Apologies.

You still have to treat them differently from criminals. They ar more likely to riot and they need be screened to see if they can be pulled away from the insurgency. You can try to (re)habilitate those less-committed to the insurgency, but the hard-core guerrillas must be imprisoned till the conflict ends.

286 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:37:33am

re: #284 Killgore Trout

I hear the trucks arriving outside. Another day of jackhammers!

Hopefully the frogs are not scared away.

287 kirkspencer  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:38:18am

re: #262 Killgore Trout

I think it's article 4 but you can google it yourself if you're interested.

[Link: www.crimesofwar.org...]

Which does not say we can kill them out of hand.

Prior to the peculiar muddle of an alleged third group, the geneva conventions divided people in a war zone into two groups: civilians aka non-combatants and combatants. People captured in the process of fighting or sabotage or any other such activity were to be treated as criminals or as prisoners of war depending on the group to which they belonged. There are legal and practical protections to both, some of which are peculiar to one and not the other.

The thing that always showed me the so-called third group was an illegitimate definition was that they were said to have none of these protections.

288 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:38:44am

Iran and the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK)

Writing in the London Review of Books, Owen Bennett-Jones has a nice overview of the Iranian terrorist group MEK. He argues, quite persuasively, that the United States is making the same mistake with the MEK as it did with the Iraqi National Congress a decade ago, “demonstrat[ing] that once again it has failed to learn its lesson”....

289 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:38:49am

re: #285 Dark_Falcon

You still have to treat them differently from criminals. They ar more likely to riot and they need be screened to see if they can be pulled away from the insurgency. You can try to (re)habilitate those less-committed to the insurgency, but the hard-core guerrillas must be imprisoned till the conflict ends.

Like I said: treat them like criminals or POWs. But at least have some rules of the road. We are supposed to be all about the rule of law. Following the rule of law is like permitting freedom of speech: it matters most when it's hard, not when it's easy.

290 Cannadian Club Akbar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:38:59am

All righty. Time to make the D'oh!nuts. See y'all tonight.:)

291 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:39:42am
The MEK may have stopped killing Americans, but it maintained its commitment to violent struggle in Iraq and Iran. Its efforts on behalf of Saddam Hussein against the Kurds and the Shias were a sideshow compared to the bombs, assassinations and broader offensives it mounted inside Iran throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. Its violent history is well documented but the organisation insists it’s a thing of the past. This view has received substantial support from the European courts. In 2007, the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission, a specialised UK legal body, declared that the MEK had renounced the use of force and upheld the group’s appeal against a Foreign Office decision to keep it on the official list of terrorist organisations. In 2009, the EU delisted the MEK on the more limited, procedural grounds that it should have been told why it was put on the list in the first place.
292 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:39:51am

We haven't learned.

293 erik_t  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:40:38am

Can I have a work beer before noon? Because this shit is getting hilarious.

During an interview early this evening with Radio Iowa, Mrs. Romney directly addressed her fellow Republicans who’ve criticized her husband.

“Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring,” she said. “This is hard and, you know, it’s an important thing that we’re doing right now and it’s an important election and it is time for all Americans to realize how significant this election is and how lucky we are to have someone with Mitt’s qualifications and experience and know-how to be able to have the opportunity to run this country.”

LEAVE MITT ALOOOOONE

294 prairiefire  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:42:07am

This week's episode of "Louie" was pitch perfect from beginning to end. Whoever wrote the piano score deserves an Emmy nomination.
David Lynch as the seasoned TV producer ~ "One, two, three, Funny!"

295 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:44:08am

re: #293 erik_t

Can I have a work beer before noon? Because this shit is getting hilarious.

LEAVE MITT ALOOOOONE

If her and her husband weren't Mormon, I'd be expecting a profanity filled tirade soon. Heck I still kind of do.

296 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:44:18am
297 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:44:30am
A decade ago Donald Rumsfeld and the neocons were so in thrall to the INC’s Ahmed Chalabi that they provided helicopters to bring him and a band of diehard supporters to Nasiriya so he could be seen personally liberating Iraq. But when they landed, it was plain that none of the locals had ever heard of him. Chalabi was beaten to the top job by another former exile, Nouri al-Maliki, and had to satisfy himself with the Oil Ministry. Al-Maliki is now establishing himself as an authoritarian pro-Iranian leader: an outcome far removed from US objectives. But the never-say-die MEK lobbyists in Washington like to look on the bright side. Chalabi, they concede, was not what they thought. But this time it’s different. One retired US colonel who campaigns for the MEK likes to compare Maryam Rajavi with George Washington. The US may be about to demonstrate that once again it has failed to learn its lesson.
298 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:44:33am

re: #211 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

But privatizing them lets the proper people loot the system more efficiently before the inevitable collapse (caused by lazy undeserving socialists rioting over a lack of handouts of course.) I'm surprised Ryan hasn't asked for government subsidized violin lessons for the 1% yet... ;)

He's waiting for the world's tiniest violins.

299 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:45:04am

re: #280 Gus

Iranian Terrorist Group M.E.K. Pays Big to Make History Go Away
By Elizabeth Flock

MEK's got a weird collection of people supporting it that you'd never expect to otherwise agree on anything. Good article.

300 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:45:39am

re: #293 erik_t

Can I have a work beer before noon? Because this shit is getting hilarious.

LEAVE MITT ALOOOOONE

Really. He cares. He cares SO MUCH about saying the exact right thing to the exact right audience. And it's really hard, since he has so few core beliefs and he therefore tries to tailor his remarks to the particular time, place and audience.

301 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:46:10am

re: #299 HappyWarrior

MEK's got a weird collection of people supporting it that you'd never expect to otherwise agree on anything. Good article.

It is. This is the source which is very good. The unlinked quotes above are from this link...

From: Terrorists? Us? Owen Bennett-Jones

The story of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK), is all about the way image management can enable a diehard enemy to become a cherished ally. The MEK is currently campaigning to be officially delisted in the US as a terrorist organisation. Once off the list it will be free to make use of its support on Capitol Hill in order to become America’s most favoured, and no doubt best funded, Iranian opposition group.

The last outfit to achieve something similar was the Iraqi National Congress, the lobby group led by Ahmed Chalabi that talked of democracy and paved the way for the US invasion of Iraq by presenting Washington with highly questionable ‘evidence’ of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s links with al-Qaida. Then, as George Bush took the US to war, all that remained for the INC and its leaders was to sit back and prepare for government. Many in Washington believe that, for better or worse, the US will go to war with Iran and that the MEK will have a role to play. But first they will have to persuade Hillary Clinton to take the group off the US’s official terrorist list. Some of Clinton’s officials are urging her to keep the MEK on it but some of the big beasts in Washington are angrily demanding that she delist. After an exhaustive inter-agency process the MEK file is now in her in-tray. Recent State Department statements indicate that she is likely to delist the group.

Formed in the 1960s as an anti-imperialist, Islamist organisation with socialist leanings, dedicated to the overthrow of the shah, the MEK originally stood not only for Islamic revolution but also for such causes as women’s rights – an appealing combination on Iran’s university campuses. It went on to build a genuine popular base and played a significant role in overthrowing the shah in 1979. It was popular enough for Ayatollah Khomeini to feel he had to destroy it; throughout the 1980s he instigated show trials and public executions of its members. The MEK retaliated with attacks on senior clerical leaders inside Iran.

Continues.

302 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:46:18am

re: #297 Gus

Well, this IS the right season for Lucy and her football.

303 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:47:05am

re: #252 lawhawk

Should we be surprised that Ahmadinejad picked up on the BS and debunked claims that Jews/Israelis were behind the mystery film denigrating Islam and claims that it was an Israeli ploy? Oh, and he announces that his country has missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv.

He claims that Israel was behind the film to create sectarian conflict. As if the cognitive disonnance from his own pronouncements about his country's capabilities to hit Israel aren't inflammatory or raise tensions even further.

After this whole "Israeli director & 100 Jewish sponsors" BS was debunked in the regular media within 24 hours, the Jewish media kept on complaining about it.

Who are the 100 Jewish sponsors of the anti-Muslim film? They are from the 4000 Jews who stayed home from their jobs at the WTC on 9/11!1!1!ty

304 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:47:14am

re: #286 Dark_Falcon

Hopefully the frogs are not scared away.

They don't seem bothered by it. They will actually start croaking when they hear low grumbling noises like some trucks or helicopters. They think it's other frogs sometimes.

305 Varek Raith  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:47:29am

MEK, the enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy. Nothing more, nothing less.

306 kirkspencer  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:47:32am

re: #277 Dark_Falcon

Trying to treat irregulars as a law enforcement problem usually doesn't work, because they do not behave as criminals normally do. They'll actively attack a police sweep hoping to kill officers and are actively seeking to destroy the police instead of subvert them as a gang might. They are also often better disciplined than a gang and normally have a good deal more firepower.

Oh bull, DF. I'm sorry but no.

Let's start with organized. If you think the various drug cartels, or the mafia, or the gangs of Capone's time, and so on were unorganized you haven't bothered to read history.

And criminals setting ambushes for police - you mean like the various drug cartels in Bolivia and Mexico (just to name a couple)? Or should I discuss Tongs in Asia?

What you can't do is treat it like a rash of red light runners or occasional murders in small town anystate. But you do keep it as law enforcement.

I used to use the quote over and over in 2003 and 2004, and it appears it's time to do it again.

Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat?
This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down (and you're just the man to do it!), do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?

Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

307 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:47:46am

re: #300 garhighway

Really. He cares. He cares SO MUCH about saying the exact right thing to the exact right audience. And it's really hard, since he has so few core beliefs and he therefore tries to tailor his remarks to the particular time, place and audience.

The fact that he does that shows he is low on integrity. That he does it so badly shows that he's not high on intelligence.

308 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:47:57am

re: #305 Varek Raith

MEK, the enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy. Nothing more, nothing less.

It'll be different this time! Just you wait and see.

//

309 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:48:48am

re: #301 Gus

It is. This is the source which is very good. The unlinked quotes above are from this link...

From: Terrorists? Us? Owen Bennett-Jones

Interesting article. Thanks.

310 erik_t  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:49:11am

re: #305 Varek Raith

MEK, the enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy. Nothing more, nothing less.

I'd say MEK is the enemy of most everything.

solventnerd'd

311 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:51:11am

re: #307 Decatur Deb

The fact that he does that shows he is low on integrity. That he does it so badly shows that he's not high on intelligence.

Seriously, I don't think this is an intelligence issue. He's a smart guy. But his desire to win has so overwhelmed his sense of propriety that he does stuff that SEEMS dumb.

He sold his soul when he backtracked on every position he took when running in Mass. While I remain surprised that the GOP fell for it, it left him with no compass. Just the Etch-a-Sketch.

312 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:51:58am

re: #310 erik_t

I'd say MEK is the enemy of most everything.

solventnerd'd

Heh I thought of Ernest Scared Stupid there when he gives the troll miek instead of milk. I liked those movies. Cheesy, yes, but I was a kid.

313 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:53:47am
314 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:54:25am

re: #311 garhighway

Seriously, I don't think this is an intelligence issue. He's a smart guy. But his desire to win has so overwhelmed his sense of propriety that he does stuff that SEEMS dumb.

He sold his soul when he backtracked on every position he took when running in Mass. While I remain surprised that the GOP fell for it, it left him with no compass. Just the Etch-a-Sketch.

Stupid is as stupid does. I'm not talking about his SATs, talking about his results. It makes me think this guy has been hand-carried all his life.

315 Dark_Falcon  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:55:29am

I'm going to have to excuse myself at this point.

316 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:55:42am

re: #204 47 turn it up to 11

I'm happy I'm a beta...I'm not as good as an alpha, but at least I'm not a gamma. Yes, it's a brave new world out there.

317 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:56:20am

re: #315 Dark_Falcon

I'm going to have to excuse myself at this point.

I hope it was something I said.
//

318 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:56:58am

Meanwhile, on Politico they have a piece quoting Herman Cain saying how if he were the nominee he'd be kicking Obama's ass right now.

That is how low Mitt has sunk.

319 Varek Raith  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:57:18am

re: #316 darthstar

I'm happy I'm a beta...I'm not as good as an alpha, but at least I'm not a gamma. Yes, it's a brave new world out there.

I am Alpha and Omega...

320 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:57:35am

re: #318 garhighway

Meanwhile, on Politico they have a piece quoting Herman Cain saying how if he were the nominee he'd be kicking Obama's ass right now.

That is how low Mitt has sunk.

Heh sure Herman sure.

321 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:57:38am

Well, it's only fair that he not be required to buy defective goods.

322 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:58:53am

re: #314 Decatur Deb

Stupid is as stupid does. I'm not talking about his SATs, talking about his results. It makes me think this guy has been hand-carried all his life.

I wonder about that. I try to give him a BOD that he's an intelligent guy but his recent actions do make me wonder about his intelligence. Could be that he's intellectually smart and not all that high on common sense. Shrug. This much I am fairly certain of though, if his Dad isn't who his Dad is, he's not the nominee or a candidate for president.

323 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:58:58am

re: #316 darthstar

I'm happy I'm a beta...I'm not as good as an alpha, but at least I'm not a gamma. Yes, it's a brave new world out there.

gamma-gamma-hey!

324 erik_t  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 8:59:03am

re: #318 garhighway

Meanwhile, on Politico they have a piece quoting Herman Cain saying how if he were the nominee he'd be kicking Obama's ass right now.

I cain't tell if he's joking, but nine times out of nine I never could.

325 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:00:08am
326 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:00:09am

re: #324 erik_t

I cain't tell if he's joking, but nine times out of nine I never could.

Heh me neither. God I forget what that one fairly recent gag Colbert had with him was. But I laughed my ass off.

327 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:00:25am

re: #318 garhighway

Meanwhile, on Politico they have a piece quoting Herman Cain saying how if he were the nominee he'd be kicking Obama's ass right now.

That is how low Mitt has sunk.

329 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:02:41am

Huffpo publishes anti-Mitt article from a new perspective--Compassionate Mormonism:

[Link: www.huffingtonpost.com...]

330 palomino  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:02:47am

re: #163 Dark_Falcon

But the system is collectivist, is it not?

So what? It's the kind of collectivism Americans like, as opposed to straight welfare payments where recipients haven't paid into a system for decades. The rhetoric of frontier rugged individualism no longer makes any sense in a huge modern interconnected society.

331 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:02:58am

Great pic my friend just posted of the Shuttle flying overhead.

Image: 548080_10151221780964479_973870917_n.jpg

332 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:03:08am

re: #328 Varek Raith

Limbaugh: Penises Now '10 Percent Smaller' and Shrinking Because of 'Feminazis'

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

He must be speaking from personal experience.

333 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:04:01am

re: #328 Varek Raith

Limbaugh: Penises Now '10 Percent Smaller' and Shrinking Because of 'Feminazis'

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I have heard it has to do with hormones in the meat we eat.

334 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:04:05am
335 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:04:23am

re: #331 darthstar

Great pic my friend just posted of the Shuttle flying overhead.

Image: 548080_10151221780964479_973870917_n.jpg

Very cool, and it's the kid that makes it more than a passing incident.

336 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:05:23am

re: #335 Decatur Deb

Very cool, and it's the kid that makes it more than a passing incident.

She captioned it 'future spaceman'...

337 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:05:37am

re: #328 Varek Raith

Limbaugh: Penises Now '10 Percent Smaller' and Shrinking Because of 'Feminazis'

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Okay, I don't want to ever hear about how the left are bigger victims than the right because claiming feminists made my dick smaller and shrinking is probably the best Rushism ever.

338 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:06:48am

re: #336 darthstar

She captioned it 'future spaceman'...

God, I hope so.

339 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:07:43am

re: #336 darthstar

She captioned it 'future spaceman'...

Good night, Mrs Gorsky...

340 Big Steve  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:08:05am

re: #328 Varek Raith

Limbaugh: Penises Now '10 Percent Smaller' and Shrinking Because of 'Feminazis'

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

so do I have to rename myself to "10% Smaller Steve"

341 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:09:01am

We are the 10%!

342 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:09:11am
343 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:10:19am

re: #328 Varek Raith

Limbaugh: Penises Now '10 Percent Smaller' and Shrinking Because of 'Feminazis'

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

I thought it was because of CAFE standards.

344 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:10:53am

Just mentioning Annette Bening and Mimi Rogers in the same sentence makes my penis 10% larger.

345 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:11:02am

Some good news coming out of Libya...

346 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:11:08am

re: #328 Varek Raith

Limbaugh: Penises Now '10 Percent Smaller' and Shrinking Because of 'Feminazis'

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Can't be true..there are feminazis behind every lamppost, and Rush is a bigger dick than ever.

347 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:11:08am

You've got to hand it to Rush. He's very close to making Alex Jones sound somewhat sane.

348 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:11:26am

re: #332 Sheila Brovlofski

He must be speaking from personal experience.

What if their vaginas are just getting bigger?

349 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:12:07am

Why Does Michelle Malkin Hate Half Her Country?
by David Frum Sep 21, 2012 11:33 AM EDT

I'm about to quote something pretty deplorable, but not in order to deplore it. It is from the inimitable Michelle Malkin. (And when I say inimitable, I mean it literally. I confess: whenever I wanted a character in Patriots to say something truly over the top, I put a small portion of a Michelle Malkin transcript in his/her mouth. I could not - would not have dared - to try to invent anything near so vituperative.)

Continues.

350 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:13:19am

re: #327 Lidane

Back when Herm was on the ropes, there was a subset of GOP bloggers that blamed Obama for the stories that were surfacing. Their hypothesis was that BHO was scared of Herm and wanted him out of the race.

Of all the right-wing delusional crap I heard in the last year or so, that may have taken the cake. BHO would have given an arm to run against Cain.

351 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:14:39am

re: #345 NJDhockeyfan

Some good news coming out of Libya...

[Embedded content]

The armed militias were also planning protests today. Let's hope this doesn't get out of hand.

352 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:14:42am

re: #350 garhighway

BHO would have given an arm to run against Cain.

It was scary enough to see Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann considered "serious" candidates by their party.

353 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:15:49am
354 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:15:57am

US Lives Threatened in Malaysia’s Muslim Protests

About 3,000 Muslims marched on the US embassy in Malaysia, burning an American flag topped with the Jewish Star of David, over a US-made film that has sparked anger in the Islamic world.

...Protesters shouted “Allahu Akbar’’ (God is greatest) and held up signs denouncing the film, America and Jews.

One placard read: “Obama, our patience has its limit. Don’t blame us if your citizens die. Blame yourself. U started it!”

They are giving themselves permission to kill Americans. Wonderful.

355 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:16:05am

re: #350 garhighway

BHO would have given an arm to run against Cain.

He kept his limbs intact and ended up with an even more incompetent opponent. It's win-win.

Plus, without Herman around we can't make pizza jokes or hum the Pokemon theme. Heh.

356 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:17:09am

re: #351 Killgore Trout

The armed militias were also planning protests today. Let's hope this doesn't get out of hand.

Just get together and love Mohammed.

357 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:17:20am

Heh...

358 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:17:39am

Cough.

359 erik_t  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:17:49am

re: #355 Lidane

ended up with an even more incompetent opponent.

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. Let's not say things we don't mean.

360 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:18:00am

re: #357 darthstar

Heh...

[Embedded content]

Operative word there DS, supposed.

361 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:18:23am

Can Twitter Be Used to Fight Islamophobia?
Post by Sarah Posner

On the latest Bloggingheads, I spoke with Linda Sarsour, Advocacy and Civic Engagement Coordinator for the National Network for Arab American Communities, about the anti-Muslim New York City subway ads, the threat of domestic terrorism, the "Innocence of Muslims" film, and Islamophobia in the presidential campaign.

Continues.

362 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:18:37am

re: #359 erik_t

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. Let's not say things we don't mean.

Uz-beki-beki-beki-stan and nine-nine-nine.

363 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:20:43am

re: #360 HappyWarrior

Operative word there DS, supposed.

She's an asshole. I've always kind of suspected it and thought she came across as condescending, but she really is just an asshole. And there are four or five examples in that diary of her being an asshole.

I guess Mitt's right. Can't use her too much or people will get tired of her.

364 blueraven  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:21:22am

re: #345 NJDhockeyfan

Some good news coming out of Libya...

[Embedded content]

I'll take News that wont be on Fox News for a thousand Alex

365 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:22:31am

re: #363 darthstar

She's an asshole. I've always kind of suspected it and thought she came across as condescending, but she really is just an asshole. And there are four or five examples in that diary of her being an asshole.

I guess Mitt's right. Can't use her too much or people will get tired of her.

I had never really heard her before they started to use her in the spring. Wanted to give her the BOD since the rwnj's are so nasty to Mrs. Obama but man Mrs. Romney is just so condescending.

366 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:25:20am

re: #359 erik_t

Whoa whoa whoa, slow down. Let's not say things we don't mean.

Haha. OK, point.

Still, you have to admit that Romney has run a Dukakis-level campaign for POTUS. Even John Kerry and John McCain didn't look this bad.

367 efuseakay  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:26:00am

re: #311 garhighway

Seriously, I don't think this is an intelligence issue. He's a smart guy. But his desire to win has so overwhelmed his sense of propriety that he does stuff that SEEMS dumb.

He sold his soul when he backtracked on every position he took when running in Mass. While I remain surprised that the GOP fell for it, it left him with no compass. Just the Etch-a-Sketch.

He wants to win so bad... Let's face it. If a Republican wins after Obama, it'll be the easiest job in the world. All they will do is vacation, and blame Obama for everything. That's their platform. And that's what they will turn the government into.

368 Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:26:04am

re: #365 HappyWarrior

I was pretty hesitant to say much about Ann given that she has MS, she is the candidates wife and I do not like the way the right has treated Michelle. However her statements while stumping for Mitt just ooze entitlement, elitism and general disdain for everyone else. I mean c'mon, we should feel lucky to be graced with Mitt's presence in this campaign? Really?

369 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:26:49am

Peggy Noonan walks back her "Romney Campaign is incompetent" remark.

Romney Needs a new CEO

There is more than a month between the first debate and the voting: That's enough time for a healthy spiral to begin.

But: The Romney campaign has to get turned around. This week I called it incompetent, but only because I was being polite. I really meant "rolling calamity."

370 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:28:52am

"Prime suspect" in Libya consulate attack dares gov't to "arrest me"

(CBS News) BENGHAZI - Ahmed Boukhatala didn't look like a wanted man, sipping mango juice across the table from me in a Benghazi hotel.

Dressed in a crisp white robe, a long grey beard on his face, Boukhatala was happy to share his fundamentalist Islamic beliefs.

He calmly denied having anything to do with the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

"But the President himself, Mohammed Magariaf, told us you were one of the prime suspects," I told him.

He just smiled.

"If that's what the President is saying," replied Boukhatala, "Then he should come to my house and arrest me."

But that's something government security forces dare not do.

I suggest we let Libya rent a drone for a day.

371 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:29:31am

re: #367 efuseakay

He wants to win so bad... Let's face it. If a Republican wins after Obama, it'll be the easiest job in the world. All they will do is vacation, and blame Obama for everything. That's their platform. And that's what they will turn the government into.

They will need to do more than vacation, they will have to get up and actively fight abainst Obama's initiatives, which could make them look even worse.

Romney will have to really turn things around to win, the important races now are for the senate: if the Democrats can gain more seats there, they could possibly start to make Boehner's House majority look like obstructionists.

372 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:29:48am

re: #368 Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance

I was pretty hesitant to say much about Ann given that she has MS, she is the candidates wife and I do not like the way the right has treated Michelle. However her statements while stumping for Mitt just ooze entitlement, elitism and general disdain for everyone else. I mean c'mon, we should feel lucky to be graced with Mitt's presence in this campaign? Really?

Yeah the way Michelle has been treated and her MS are why I felt that way too. Plus, I give people common courtesy until they prove they don't deserve it. Yeah she acts like we should be so thankful that Mitt is running because Mitt's going to solve everything and he's great for everyone. She makes me dislike her husband even more.

373 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:31:14am
374 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:31:18am
375 Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:32:29am

Herman Cain:

I'd be way ahead if I was the nominee because I had some depth to my ideas.

When you've got someone whose entire plan was a slogan, 9-9-9 criticizing you for not having depth you know you are in deep shit lol.

376 calochortus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:33:56am

re: #365 HappyWarrior

I try hard not to criticize a first lady, whether I like her or not. It is a very public and difficult job without a lot of real power. To some extent I include candidates' wives.
I make an exception for totally unforced errors on the campaign trail, and Ann Romney has started making a fair number of them.

377 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:34:36am

If this keeps up, Paul Ryan is going to have to spend far more time campaigning for his house seat and run against his running mate Mitt Romney.

378 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:34:55am

re: #373 Gus

[Embedded content]

Last night's Colbert show featured Esteban Colberto on Mitt's Univision appearance.

379 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:35:28am

re: #376 calochortus

I try hard not to criticize a first lady, whether I like her or not. It is a very public and difficult job without a lot of real power. To some extent I include candidates' wives.
I make an exception for totally unforced errors on the campaign trail, and Ann Romney has started making a fair number of them.

Precisely.

380 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:36:49am

re: #378 Decatur Deb

Last night's Colbert show featured Esteban Colberto on Mitt's Univision appearance.

Esteban Colberto explains Romney’s Latino outreach effort (video)

381 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:37:24am

re: #376 calochortus

I try hard not to criticize a first lady, whether I like her or not. It is a very public and difficult job without a lot of real power. To some extent I include candidates' wives.
I make an exception for totally unforced errors on the campaign trail, and Ann Romney has started making a fair number of them.

And she's an asshole.

382 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:38:05am

Libyans hold giant march demanding militias disband in wake of attack on US consulate

More than 10,000 Libyans are marching through the eastern city of Benghazi, demanding the disbanding of powerful militias that run rampant in the city.

The giant march, which filled a major boulevard in the city of 1 million, is part of a new public backlash against militias sparked by last week’s attack against the U.S. Consulate here that killed the ambassador and three other Americans. At least one militia is suspected of participating in the attack.

383 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:38:08am

re: #355 Lidane

He kept his limbs intact and ended up with an even more incompetent opponent. It's win-win.

Plus, without Herman around we can't make pizza jokes or hum the Pokemon theme. Heh.

Throughout the primary season I thought Mitt was the most formidable general election candidate the GOP had. I really expected him to run a better campaign. I guess I have been surprised at the competence of the Obama campaign, as well. Surprises abound.

384 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:38:16am

Another LDS voice, a blogger critical of Mitt, is up for excommunication:

[Link: www.thedailybeast.com...]

385 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:39:34am

re: #376 calochortus

I try hard not to criticize a first lady, whether I like her or not. It is a very public and difficult job without a lot of real power. To some extent I include candidates' wives.
I make an exception for totally unforced errors on the campaign trail, and Ann Romney has started making a fair number of them.

Yunno, at the start of this campaign, I never really disliked Romney, I just did not see his as the better candidate.

But over the course of the campaign he has manged to convince me that he is a world-class jerk.

386 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:40:40am
387 calochortus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:41:37am

re: #381 darthstar

And she's an asshole.

I don't know if she is or not, and honestly I don't care-just so she doesn't become first lady.

388 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:42:33am

Jacobs Warns Obama's 'Anti-Biblical' Policies have led to 'Floods and Fires and More'

Self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs, who blamed freak bird deaths on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and predicted that the Obama administration’s support for LGBT rights will lead to a blizzard and the exposure of a major government scandal, warned Jim Bakker last week that more disasters are coming to America thanks to President Obama’s leadership. Jacobs told Bakker that she prophesied “that God had seen decisions made from our White House that were anti-biblical and that we were going to come into the season of the greatest weather patterns and disasters that we had seen, there were going to be floods and fires and more, and it all happened.”

She claimed that 2011 “historically was the worst year for weather-related disasters in our history, and I was mocked everywhere for that because they don’t understand spiritual things.” “We are going to have more weather disasters, it’s going to come up worse and worse, it’s not going to stop,” Jacobs contended.

Global warming is complete horseshit, but angering the man who lives in the sky is serious business.

389 dragonfire1981  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:42:41am

re: #336 darthstar

She captioned it 'future spaceman'...

Ground Control to Major Tom...

390 dragonfire1981  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:43:13am

re: #388 Kragar

Jacobs Warns Obama's 'Anti-Biblical' Policies have led to 'Floods and Fires and More'

Global warming is complete horseshit, but angering the man who lives in the sky is serious business.

Wait...Obama can control the weather now?!

391 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:43:31am

LMAO. This is so true:

392 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:43:52am

re: #388 Kragar

Jacobs Warns Obama's 'Anti-Biblical' Policies have led to 'Floods and Fires and More'

Global warming is complete horseshit, but angering the man who lives in the sky is serious business.

I guess Bush was a satanist then by that logic with Katrina and the tsunami in the Pacific.

393 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:44:29am

re: #390 dragonfire1981

Wait...Obama can control the weather now?!

Didn't you hear all the whining during the RNC? Obama somehow magically fucked with the weather in Tampa and made the GOP cancel their first day.

394 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:44:32am

re: #390 dragonfire1981

Wait...Obama can control the weather now?!

Tampa... Chemtrails.... HAARP... It all makes sense now.
/

395 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:46:08am

Yeah Obama does control the weather guys. Remember Krauthammer. "They knew" what the weather in Charlotte was going to be months ahead of his DNC address. Haha nutjobs.

396 dragonfire1981  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:46:21am

I finally figured out something I like about Romney: His name lends itself well to portmanteaus.

I was a big fan of Romnipresent and Romnipotent.

Also, "Romnified" is a cool sounding adjective.

397 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:46:34am

DERP.
Wingnuts still believe the LA Times is hiding some video of Obama luvin' him up some terrorist.

398 Mocking Jay  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:46:35am

re: #391 Lidane

LMAO. This is so true:

[Embedded content]

Wait until they start asking you for directions.

[Link: littlegreenfootballs.com...]

399 Kronocide  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:47:12am

Malkin's latest screed on NRO is the epitome of crass ideological pornography.

With a huge dollop of projection on top.

400 calochortus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:47:33am

Well, my second cup of coffee is gone. I'd better go accomplish something.

401 dragonfire1981  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:47:35am

re: #395 HappyWarrior

Yeah Obama does control the weather guys. Remember Krauthammer. "They knew" what the weather in Charlotte was going to be months ahead of his DNC address. Haha nutjobs.

Immediately I picture Obama as a James Bond style villain in an underground cave lair standing beside a huge laser beam thingy marked "Weather Ray" with a giant "O" logo on the side.

402 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:47:50am

re: #396 dragonfire1981

I finally figured out something I like about Romney: His name lends itself well to portmanteaus.

I was a big fan of Romnipresent and Romnipotent.

Also, "Romnified" is a cool sounding adjective.

remittigate: to return to a position you had formerly rejected

403 Mocking Jay  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:48:30am

re: #396 dragonfire1981

Someone has to take this pic and shop an "R" at the beginning.

[Link: www.geekscape.net...]

404 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:48:32am

re: #397 Sheila Brovlofski

DERP.
Wingnuts still believe the LA Times is hiding some video of Obama luvin' him up some terrorist.

[Embedded content]

Its next to the carburetor that lets you get 300 mpg, sitting on top of the Ark of the Covenant, out in Warehouse 13.

405 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:49:01am

Sarah Silverman: Let My People Vote

406 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:49:07am

re: #401 dragonfire1981

Immediately I picture Obama as a James Bond style villain in an underground cave lair standing beside a huge laser beam thingy marked "Weather Ray" with a giant "O" logo on the side.

[Link: t1.gstatic.com...]
I guess Jacobs is a fan of Doug, a show on Nickelodeon in the early 90's.

407 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:49:19am
408 Mocking Jay  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:50:19am

re: #407 Lidane

Whoa.

409 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:50:48am

re: #407 Lidane

[Embedded content]

I think ever since SCOTUS ruled Obamacare constitutional, they've been facing a downhill battle in that arena. I think people have seen that ACA isn't the disaster and government take over that the Tea Party and Republicans made it out to be and they see its benefits.

410 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:51:12am
411 darthstar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:52:29am
412 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:56:13am

re: #411 darthstar

Ryan BOOED at AARP for claiming Obamacare cut Medicare benefits

Those people don't deserve a Vice President like that

413 Mocking Jay  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 9:59:06am

re: #412 47 turn it up to 11

Those people don't deserve a Vice President like that

Could have sworn those people had already been written off as Obama voters.

414 Daniel Ballard  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:00:46am

Sounds in my office this morning

Doors Light My Fire played on a harp guitar.

415 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:01:06am

Interactive hostage taking...

Armed man holds hostage in Pittsburgh, while posting on Facebook

(Reuters) - An armed man claiming to have a bomb was holding a hostage inside a Pittsburgh high-rise building on Friday, authorities said, and he appeared to be posting messages about his situation on Facebook.

...Police identified the man as Klein Michael Thaxton and said they speaking with him by telephone and monitoring his Facebook page.

On Facebook, a man who appeared to be Thaxton was posting messages beginning at mid-morning. He also posted what he claimed was his telephone number.

"how this ends is up to yall," said one of his Facebook message.

In another message, he wrote: "I can't take it no more."

"this life I'm livn rite now i dnt want anymore ive lost everything and i aint getting it back," said another message.

Several people responded on Facebook with messages saying they were praying for him and encouraging him to cooperate with police.

416 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:03:22am

re: #414 Daniel Ballard

Sounds in my office this morning

Doors Light My Fire played on a harp guitar.

[Embedded content]

Very nice.

417 lawhawk  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:04:42am

re: #370 NJDhockeyfan

Challenge.... accepted.

418 ShaunP  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:07:14am

Good...

419 lawhawk  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:07:24am

re: #407 Lidane

It's tough to BS before an informed audience.

420 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:07:36am

re: #396 dragonfire1981

I finally figured out something I like about Romney: His name lends itself well to portmanteaus.

I was a big fan of Romnipresent and Romnipotent.

Also, "Romnified" is a cool sounding adjective.

Romnicious?

421 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:08:23am

re: #418 ShaunP

Lynyrd Skynyrd abandons confederate flag, symbolically cutting ties to racism

Good...

Give 'em three steps, mister...

422 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:08:32am
423 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:09:03am

re: #411 darthstar

[Embedded content]

But were they booing Ryan, or the "cuts"?

424 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:09:09am
425 lawhawk  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:09:32am

re: #409 HappyWarrior

I wouldn't go nearly that far. I think a fair number are resigned to the fact that it will be implemented even as there are GOPers who are hellbent on repealing everything (ignoring all the positive aspects of various provisions). Some will begin seeing positives from the program in coming years.

Besides, the cuts Ryan is complaining about are about the same size and type as the cuts he was pushing in his own budget recommendations. They're about cuts on the disbursement side to hospitals and providers in slowing the growth of the programs, not to the benefits side (which is what the consumer/patient sees).

426 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:09:42am

re: #420 garhighway

Romnicious?

mittabolize: a process by which 47% of a solution is decanted by one ill-advised speech.

427 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:11:06am

re: #425 lawhawk

I wouldn't go nearly that far. I think a fair number are resigned to the fact that it will be implemented even as there are GOPers who are hellbent on repealing everything (ignoring all the positive aspects of various provisions). Some will begin seeing positives from the program in coming years.

Besides, the cuts Ryan is complaining about are about the same size and type as the cuts he was pushing in his own budget recommendations. They're about cuts on the disbursement side to hospitals and providers in slowing the growth of the programs, not to the benefits side (which is what the consumer/patient sees).

Yeah, I suppose you're right but I do think that implementation and the affirmation of its constitutionality has helped ACA more than not with the public as a whole this is. Still amused at the whole thing because I remember Romney being here in Virginia being so certain that SCOTUS would shut it down and then they didn't.

428 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:14:16am

Daily Caller Editors Are Publishing ‘The Lizard King,’ A Novel About Obama And Reptilian Conspiracies

If it was written by anyone else, the idea that President Obama is actually a 12-foot tall reptile would be a genius satire of the conspiracies theories that argue Obama is everything from a secret Muslim to an obvious socialist driven by an anti-colonialist agenda. It may be easier to suggest the latter than to prove that Obama is not actually human (maybe he’s a Skrull instead), but possessing either theory says vastly more about the person who is desperate to see Obama as a deceptive enemy of the American public than Obama himself. But instead, The Lizard King will be coming to us people from a publication that’s consistently peddled misinformation about the Obama administration, even if they were never sufficiently possessed of the chutzpah and tabloid drive to sales to suggest that the president is an alien from outer space. That’s really too bad, because a killer satire of those conspiracies would be a real tonic for our current political climate. Maybe Weinstein and Rahn will rise to the occasion. But this seems more like a jab the people who, rightly, deny that Obama is a conspiratorial enemy of freedom, than the people who spin wild fantasies about him.

429 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:14:32am

re: #401 dragonfire1981

Immediately I picture Obama as a James Bond style villain in an underground cave lair standing beside a huge laser beam thingy marked "Weather Ray" with a giant "O" logo on the side.

That's not an "O" logo. It's an Ohio state flag indicating that the device was made by union automakers displaced by GOP profit taking...

;)

430 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:15:45am

re: #428 Kragar

Daily Caller Editors Are Publishing ‘The Lizard King,’ A Novel About Obama And Reptilian Conspiracies

Heh I guess they're on the same shit Limbaugh is. Limbaugh was claiming that "feminazis" have made penis size shrink 10%.

431 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:16:13am

re: #423 Our Precious Bodily Fluids

But were they booing Ryan, or the "cuts"?

They were shouting :"Booo..urns"

;)

432 NJDhockeyfan  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:16:47am

Liberal MP asks UN to ban Iranian prez

OTTAWA - Well-regarded international human rights lawyer and Liberal MP Irwin Cotler says enough is enough when it comes to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Fed up that the United Nations has, year after year, given the Iranian president a prestigious forum at its General Assembly in New York City to spew his vicious anti-Semitism and to blame the U.S. for the 9/11 attacks, Cotler says it's time to shut Ahmadinejad up.

Ahmadinejad is scheduled to deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

"Given President Ahmadinejad's hateful and incendiary incitement, flagrant disregard for principles of international law, massive repression of domestic human rights, and complicity with international terrorism, providing him with an opportunity - indeed privilege - to speak to the community of nations is simply as unacceptable as it is unworthy of the United Nations," Cotler said.

Cotler, who is a former Canadian justice minister and attorney general, sent a similar letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"Let there be no mistake about it: A person who pursues the most destructive of weaponry in violation of UN Security Council resolutions, who incites to genocide, who is complicit in crimes against humanity, who is engaged in a massive repression of the human rights of his own citizens, who assaults the basic tenants of the UN Charter - such a person should be the object of an indictment by this international body, rather than the beneficiary of its respected podium," Cotler said.

433 SpaceJesus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:18:32am

Obama up 4 in Ohio

[Link: www.purplestrategies.com...]

434 Kronocide  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:18:33am

re: #430 HappyWarrior

Heh I guess they're on the same shit Limbaugh is. Limbaugh was claiming that "feminazis" have made penis size shrink 10%.

Limbaugh has caused the brain of the average voter to shrink 29.65%.

435 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:18:36am

Malaysia... made me think of the region and some history in the region.

Indonesian occupation of East Timor

...In the mid-1970s, the United States was completing a painful retreat from Indochina. A staunchly anti-communist Indonesia was considered by the United States to be an essential counterweight, and friendly relations with the Indonesian government were considered more important than a decolonization process in East Timor.[177][191] The United States also wanted to maintain its access to deep water straits running through Indonesia for undetectable submarine passage between the Indian and Pacific oceans.[177]

On the day before the invasion, U.S. President Gerald R. Ford and U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger met with Indonesian president Suharto and reportedly gave their approval for the invasion.[192] In response to Suharto saying "We want your understanding if it was deemed necessary to take rapid or drastic action [in East Timor]." Ford replied, "We will understand and not press you on the issue. We understand the problem and the intentions you have." Kissinger similarly agreed, though he had fears that the use of US-made arms in the invasion would be exposed to public scrutiny, talking of their desire to "influence the reaction in America" so that "there would be less chance of people talking in an unauthorised way."[193] The US also hoped the invasion would be swift and not involve protracted resistance. "It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly," Kissinger said to Suharto.[194] Kissinger's main fear appears to have been that a violent take-over by the partly communist FRETILIN party might inspire similar Communist victories throughout Asia and possibly even lead to secessionist revolts threatening the very survival of Indonesia as a state.[195]...

Number of deaths

Precise estimates of the death toll are difficult to determine. The 2005 report of the UN's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) reports a figure of at least 102,800: 17,600 unlawful executions and 73,200 starvation deaths (applying the study's margin of error). CAVR did not estimate an upper limit though it speculated that this could have been as high as 183,000.[3]...

Also see Indonesian invasion of East Timor - US involvement

436 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:19:42am

re: #423 Our Precious Bodily Fluids

But were they booing Ryan, or the "cuts"?

He was reacting defensively to the boos...

437 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:21:07am

Geraldo Rivera: Muslims Are ‘Almost Childlike’

Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera described a “big big hunk of the Muslim world” as naive, “behind us in terms of political sophistication,” and “easily enrage,” during a segment on the unrest in the Middle East on Friday morning. “They have 100 years to evolve, to catch up to anything like the sophistication of the West. We have to appreciate that. In some ways, they are almost childlike, dare I say it.”

438 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:23:11am

[Link: usnews.nbcnews.com...]

Hmm, there is a word for people like this. Oh yes, assholes!

(I used to live about 5 miles from the town where this took place.)

439 garhighway  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:24:19am

re: #437 Kragar

Geraldo Rivera: Muslims Are ‘Almost Childlike’

Really? Geraldo calling ANYONE childlike is just astonishing.

440 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:24:27am

re: #437 Kragar

I find Geraldo childlike. Like a slightly precocious 13 year old who thinks he's a lot cooler and smarter than he is.

441 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:24:29am

1953 Iranian coup d'état

The 1953 Iranian coup d'état (known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup[3]) was the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh on 19 August 1953, orchestrated by the intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom (under the name 'Operation Boot') and the United States (under the name TPAJAX Project).[4][5] The coup saw the transition of Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi from a constitutional monarch to an authoritarian one who relied heavily on United States support to hold on to power until his own overthrow in February 1979.[6]

In 1951, Iran's oil industry was nationalized with near-unanimous support of Iran's parliament in a bill introduced by Mossadegh who led the nationalist parliamentarian faction. Iran's oil had been controlled by the British-owned Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), now known as BP.[7] Popular discontent with the AIOC began in the late 1940s, a large segment of Iran's public and a number of politicians saw the company as exploitative and a vestige of British imperialism.[8] Despite Mosaddegh's popular support, Britain was unwilling to negotiate its single most valuable foreign asset, and instigated a worldwide boycott of Iranian oil to pressure Iran economically.[9] Initially, Britain mobilized its military to seize control of the Abadan oil refinery, the world's largest, but Prime Minister Clement Attlee opted instead to tighten the economic boycott[10] while using Iranian agents to undermine Mosaddegh's government.[11] With a change to more conservative governments in both Britain and the United States, Churchill and the U.S. Eisenhower administration decided to overthrow Iran's government though the predecessor U.S. Truman administration had opposed a coup.[12] Classified documents show British intelligence officials played a pivotal role in initiating and planning the coup, and that Washington and London shared an interest in maintaining control over Iranian oil.[13]...

442 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:24:39am

re: #437 Kragar

Geraldo Rivera: Muslims Are ‘Almost Childlike’

I think Geraldo needs to be chained down and forced to watch the "700 Club" for about 100 hours straight.

443 dragonfire1981  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:26:48am
444 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:28:09am

Former Romney Campaign Chairman Turned Bank Lobbyist: Banks Should Regulate Themselves

Former Minnesota Governor and unsuccessful presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty announced yesterday that he was stepping down as co-chairman of the Romney campaign in order to take over the top spot at the Financial Services Roundtable, a lobbying group that represents the largest financial services companies in the country. Pawlenty assumed the role as a top bank lobbyist despite his tough words for Wall Street during his campaign.

As head of the FSR, one of Pawlenty’s key roles will be helping banks water down the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. And he got started during his first press conference by calling for banks to do more self-regulation, choosing “voluntarily” to stop doing “stupid things”:

Because that worked so fucking well over the last decade, you no talent ass clown.

445 dragonfire1981  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:28:18am
446 Hercules Grytpype-Thynne  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:30:49am

re: #445 dragonfire1981

I don't know if this is real or not but it's awesome

I don't want any of my peers resetting my connection.

447 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:33:05am

re: #439 garhighway

Really? Geraldo calling ANYONE childlike is just astonishing.

Heh that's what I was thinking too. Yeah the guy who links wearing hoodies to gang membership is calling people childish? E tu Geraldo, e tu.

448 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:34:04am

re: #437 Kragar

Geraldo Rivera: Muslims Are ‘Almost Childlike’

Idiotically stated, but yes, a lot of Muslim nations are way behind a lot of the world in terms of political and social progress. But the GOP is working on remedying that by reverting us back closer to their level...

450 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:36:07am

re: #444 Kragar

Former Romney Campaign Chairman Turned Bank Lobbyist: Banks Should Regulate Themselves

Because that worked so fucking well over the last decade, you no talent ass clown.

"voluntarily" "stop doing stupid things." Haha yeah I am starting to see why this guy was passed over twice for VP.

451 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:36:33am

Quantifying 'Muslim Rage'
Posted on 09/20/2012 by Peter Hart

Sometimes very little can tell you a lot. Here's Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News, updating viewers on protests that are linked to that famous anti-Islamic video:

Overseas tonight, new and deadly retribution from that amateur Internet film that's enraged much of the Muslim world.

The "Muslim world" is, well, enormous–somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 billion people. A good question that doesn't get asked enough: How many Muslims are out protesting this video anyway? A helpful analysis comes from Dan Murphy at the Christian Science Monitor ("Is the Islamopocalypse Really Upon Us?," 9/17/12). He writes:

While sensational headlines have played up the story, the cumulative total of protesters so far in about 30 countries appears well under 100,000. At Tahrir Square on Friday, wide angle overhead shots (rather than the tight, ground shots favored by TV news producers) showed a sparse group reminiscent of Mubarak-era political protests (when people ran a major risk of going to jail for simply shouting slogans) and not the hundreds of thousands that have routinely come out to protest against their own government in the past year-and-a-half.

Murphy notes that the protests in Jakarta were tiny compared to the massive showing in 1998 that helped topple Indonesian dictator (and U.S. ally) Suharto. Protests in Egypt are tiny compared to the waves of protest we have seen over the past year.

Continues.

452 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:37:15am

PART TIME, NO BENEFITS. DON'T DISCONTINUE THE FOOD STAMPS.

453 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:37:26am

re: #418 ShaunP

Cue the rednecks screaming that Skynrd are selling out to the PC crowd and turning their back on their Southern heritage in 3...2...1...

454 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:39:41am
455 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:40:22am

re: #453 Lidane

Cue the rednecks screaming that Skynrd are selling out to the PC crowd and turning their back on their Southern heritage in 3...2...1...

They already showed that in the article. Some idiot claiming that they should now have a song called "Sweet home Massachusetts".

456 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:41:02am

re: #454 Gus

[Embedded content]

Lovely.

457 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:41:34am

re: #456 HappyWarrior

Lovely.

Moderates.

458 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:41:37am
459 Lidane  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:46:44am

re: #455 HappyWarrior

They already showed that in the article. Some idiot claiming that they should now have a song called "Sweet home Massachusetts".

And the Freepers are right on cue:

Are they gonna substitute Sweet Home Alabama with
Imagine, mm’kay?
---

They’ll probably display the f-g flag.
---

Not putting up the Confederate flag anymore? It’s part of history. I have the L.S. box set. Maybe time to sell it. Yikes. (And I’m a Yank from Mass.: “That’s the cowboys and the hippies and the rebels and the Yanks, you just go and lay your hand on a Pittsburgh steeler fan and I think you’re gonna finally understand.”—Charlie Daniels band.)
---

That’s OK.

Southern Man don’t need them around, anyhow.
---

When you see this you wonder if the political correctness agenda has won.
---

Absolute must read, if you will permit me, on the subject of the abandoning of the flag:

[Link: www.wnd.com...]
---

They betray their base, for the benefit of people who will never like them no matter what they do.
The operating basis of the GOPe for decades.

460 makeitstop  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:47:18am

Heh.

President Obama on Friday reiterated his belief that Washington cannot be changed from the inside, mocking Mitt Romney's assertion that he could "get the job done from the inside."

"What kind of inside job is he talking about?" Obama said at a campaign rally in Virginia. "Getting outsourcers to write our tax code?"

461 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:50:02am

re: #459 Lidane

And the Freepers are right on cue:

Haha. I always preferred the Allman Brothers when it comes to Southern rock anyhow but hey it's their band and their right to do that. I've never been that big on the CSA flag period though.

462 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:52:13am

re: #461 HappyWarrior

I've never been that big on the CSA flag period though.

I am a big fan of Civil War history and re-enactors and the like, but I am quite aware of what the flag stands for.

463 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:56:04am

re: #462 47 turn it up to 11

I am a big fan of Civil War history and re-enactors and the like, but I am quite aware of what the flag stands for.

Yeah I am too. In fact, I have the Irish Brigade's flag emblem tattooed on my upper right arm.

464 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:58:00am

re: #463 HappyWarrior

Yeah I am too. In fact, I have the Irish Brigade's flag emblem tattooed on my upper right arm.

Get outta the way!

465 blueraven  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:58:39am

Romney to release full 2011 tax returns today, 3PM EST

Friday news dump.

466 makeitstop  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:59:30am

re: #465 blueraven

Romney to release full 2011 tax returns today, 3PM EST

Friday news dump.

Seriously?

(For some reason I misread that and thought he was releasing all his taxes. Just dropping 2011 is somewhat less impressive.)

467 erik_t  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:59:35am

re: #465 blueraven

Romney to release full 2011 tax returns today, 3PM EST

Friday news dump.

Oh the huge manatee! This thing's aflame.

468 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 10:59:49am

re: #465 blueraven

Romney to release full 2011 tax returns today, 3PM EST

Friday news dump.

And if they show that he paid more than 13.9%, it will be touted as major good news for his campaign...

469 blueraven  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:00:03am

re: #466 makeitstop

Seriously?

fer real.

470 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:00:05am

re: #466 makeitstop

Seriously?

[Link: livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com...]

471 erik_t  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:00:15am

re: #466 makeitstop

Seriously?

Seriously.

This morning, Gov. and Mrs. Romney filed their 2011 tax return with the IRS. At 3:00pm today, the Romney for President campaign will be posting the 2011 return online.

The complete 2011 tax return, with full schedules, statements, and attachments, will be made available with all other previously-disclosed information at [Link: www.mittromney.com...]

Also posted will be a notarized letter from the Romneys’ tax preparer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP (PWC), giving a summary of tax rates from the Romneys’ tax returns for the 20-year period of 1990-2009.

472 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:01:28am

Romney Releasing 2011 Taxes At 3 PM, ‘Summary’ Of 1990-2009 Returns

Mitt Romney will release a copy of his 2011 tax returns at 3 p.m. Friday as well as a summary of his tax rates -- but not, as requested by Democrats, copies of his actual returns -- for the years 1990-2009.

According to the campaign, Romney paid a 14.1 percent tax rate. Pushing back against speculation from Democrats, most notably Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), that he paid little to no taxes at some point in his career, Romney's campaign now claims the lowest effective rate he ever paid was 13.66 percent and that the average across the 20 year period 20.20 percent.

Romney deilberately did not claim about $1.75 million in charitable deductions for 2011 in order to avoid dipping below an effective tax rate of 13 percent, a threshold he said earlier in the year he had never crossed in his previous 10 tax returns.

473 makeitstop  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:02:25am

I penciled the comment above...

I read blueraven's comment quickly and thought at first he was releasing everything.

One more year? Meh. Reid should heckle his ass some more.

474 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:02:57am
475 erik_t  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:05:40am

Claimed summary of rates, but not a summary of the full-ish returns filed. You know, to keep you people from attempting to back-figure exactly how that 'summary' is calculated.

Try again, Romneybot.

477 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:08:58am
478 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:09:36am
479 Coracle  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:09:51am

The tax info release will work to defuse the main attack point. Sure there's lots to criticize, and a "summary" is a bit of a classic Romney half-repair. But the force of that attack will be blunted for all but the already decided. It will very likely cease to be an effective tool to get anyone off the fence, much less change their opinion.

480 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:10:56am

re: #477 47 turn it up to 11

O' Reilly: Obama is winning because the Intenet has dumbed us down

Love this attitude, our guy is losing because Americans are stupid. He wouldn't be saying this if his guy was winning.

481 ShaunP  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:14:21am

re: #477 47 turn it up to 11

O' Reilly: Obama is winning because the Intenet has dumbed us down

The flag-waving, America lovers have shown a lot of contempt for Americans lately. Patriots, the lot of them...

482 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:14:22am

re: #479 Coracle

The tax info release will work to defuse the main attack point. Sure there's lots to criticize, and a "summary" is a bit of a classic Romney half-repair. But the force of that attack will be blunted for all but the already decided. It will very likely cease to be an effective tool to get anyone off the fence, much less change their opinion.

He did this only to prove that he is one of the 53%, despite what Harry Reid once inferred of him...

483 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:16:23am

re: #478 Gus

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's Conspiracy of Silence

[Embedded content]

Boom! Coughlan616 blows Ayaan Hirsi Ali's "Conspiracy of Silence" out of the water.

484 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:16:37am

It's too little, too late honestly. First day of Fall, Mitt, and you're just doing this now. Seems like a move to distract from the stupid shit he says. Doubt it works.

485 Coracle  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:17:20am

re: #482 47 turn it up to 11

He did this only to prove that he is one of the 53%, despite what Harry Reid once inferred of him...

Likely. And we'll have the requisite "In Your Face Harry" chorus from the right now.

Romney still pays a lower rate than I do, though, and it seems he has for a very long time.

486 makeitstop  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:18:11am

re: #484 HappyWarrior

It's too little, too late honestly. First day of Fall, Mitt, and you're just doing this now. Seems like a move to distract from the stupid shit he says. Doubt it works.

He'll just say some more stupid shit, with Ann's help. His tax returns are the least of his worries these days.

487 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:18:57am

re: #485 Coracle

Likely. And we'll have the requisite "In Your Face Harry" chorus from the right now.

Romney still pays a lower rate than I do, though, and it seems he has for a very long time.

Because he is a Job Creator. Now shut up and get back to your menial task

488 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:19:05am

re: #477 47 turn it up to 11

O' Reilly: Obama is winning because the Intenet has dumbed us down

But Santorum said they'll never get the smart people.

489 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:19:10am

re: #486 makeitstop

He'll just say some more stupid shit, with Ann's help. His tax returns are the least of his worries these days.

Yeah. That.

490 ShaunP  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:22:16am

re: #472 Kragar

Romney deilberately did not claim about $1.75 million in charitable deductions for 2011 in order to avoid dipping below an effective tax rate of 13 percent, a threshold he said earlier in the year he had never crossed in his previous 10 tax returns.

January Mitt Romney:

I don't think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.

491 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:24:41am

Romney Artificially Inflated 2011 Taxes After Decrying The Idea

Mitt Romney's trustee said in a campaign press release that Romney artificially inflated his own effective tax rate so it would remain above 13 percent by deferring $1.75 million in charitable deductions. Romney had previously said that none of his last decade of tax returns dipped below that 13 percent threshold.

In an interview with ABC News in July, however, Romney dismissed the idea that he would ever pay more taxes than legally owed, saying if he did so he wouldn't be "qualified" to be president.

"I don't pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don't think I'd be qualified to become president," Romney said. "I'd think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires."

492 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:25:15am
493 blueraven  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:26:00am

Honestly, can you imagine the outrage if Michelle Obama said the things Ann Romney said to Mitt's critics?

Stop it...This is hard. You are lucky to have someone like him run for the presidency.

494 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:26:53am

re: #491 Kragar

Romney Artificially Inflated 2011 Taxes After Decrying The Idea

so he shoots himself in the foot releasing his tax returns. that takes talent...

495 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:27:34am

I hereby retract my statements in support of Ayaan Hirsi Ali on or around 9/11.

496 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:28:09am

re: #493 blueraven

Honestly, can you imagine the outrage if Michelle Obama said the things Ann Romney said to Mitt's critics?

Stop it...This is hard. You are lucky to have someone like him run for the presidency.

Yeah I can hear it now. Really, she needs to stop act like Mitt's running for president out of the goodness of his heart and because he cares about us. He's running for president the same reason everyone who runs for president does. They want the power to be able to push their ideas on the rest of the nation. There's no shame in it.

497 wrenchwench  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:28:13am

re: #495 Gus

I hereby retract my statements in support of Ayaan Hirsi Ali on or around 9/11.

Yo tambien.

498 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:29:26am

re: #497 wrenchwench

Yo tambien.

Watch #478.

499 wrenchwench  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:30:43am

re: #498 Gus

Watch #478.

It's playing now. 6 min. in.

500 blueraven  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:30:47am

re: #496 HappyWarrior

Yeah I can hear it now. Really, she needs to stop act like Mitt's running for president out of the goodness of his heart and because he cares about us. He's running for president the same reason everyone who runs for president does. They want the power to be able to push their ideas on the rest of the nation. There's no shame in it.

I dont actually believe that. No, they are not running out of goodness of the heart, but I do think there are different motivations.

501 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:32:01am

Romney paid 14.4%.

I paid more than that.

502 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:32:03am

re: #500 blueraven

I dont actually believe that. No, they are not running out of goodness of the heart, but I do think there are different motivations.

He is running because he feels entitled, just like the 47%.

503 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:32:26am

re: #500 blueraven

I dont actually believe that. No, they are not running out of goodness of the heart, but I do think there are different motivations.

I mean it's like when the right wing pundits say Obama's egotistical. I look at this way. You have to be an egotistical bastard to think you're worth of holding that position. Problem with Romney and his wife is they act like they're entitled to this because we somehow deserve them as our president and first lady.

504 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:33:30am

14.4%. Really, what a crock of shit it is when we're told that Obama's waging a war on the wealthy.

505 Kragar  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:36:42am

Romney's 'Makers' Take Lion’s Share of Tax Breaks

The Tax Policy Center has a detailed study of the distribution of tax expenditures, which in addition to the earned income tax credit includes reduced tax rates on capital gains, exclusion of retirement savings and the deductions for charitable giving and home mortgage interest that reduced household federal income taxes by $1.08 trillion in 2011.

It found that the top 1 percent of filers earning over $400,000 raked in 23.9 percent or about $258 billion in reduced taxes through deductions and exclusions. The top 10 percent of filers took in 40.3 percent, or more than $435 billion.

On the other hand, the bottom 60 percent of tax filers, which includes more than 99 percent of the people who paid no income tax last year (the non-paying group also included 7,000 millionaires), grabbed just 20.1 percent of the tax reductions from deductions and exclusions. That was worth $217 billion or half of what was claimed by far fewer top earners in the U.S. (Read more: Romney Under Fire From All Sides)

“If you counted tax expenditures as a form of spending, then the rich would be paying a lot more in taxes,” said Eric Toder, a fellow at the Urban Institute and co-author of a study on the distribution of tax expenditures. “If you didn’t have tax expenditures, the tax system would be more progressive than it is today.”

506 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:37:37am

re: #505 Kragar

Romney's 'Makers' Take Lion’s Share of Tax Breaks

It's because they think they're victims right, Mitt? Really fuck him and his candidacy of entitlement. He's the one who acts like he's entitled not the 47%.

507 Targetpractice  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:40:19am

re: #504 HappyWarrior

14.4%. Really, what a crock of shit it is when we're told that Obama's waging a war on the wealthy.

And that's without claiming every deduction he could, something he said he wouldn't be fit to be president if he did.

GOP done got themselves a pig in the poke and now they're trying to pass it off on the voters.

508 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:40:44am

Once more into the breech. How is everybody this afternoon?

509 Coracle  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:40:47am

re: #506 HappyWarrior

Go a few posts back to yesterday's Daily Show bullet. Stewart nailed it. 'If we get a break, it's because we deserve it. If YOU get one, its a handout and an entitlement.'

510 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:41:47am

re: #509 Coracle

Go a few posts back to yesterday's Daily Show bullet. Stewart nailed it. 'If we get a break, it's because we deserve it. If YOU get one, its a handout and an entitlement.'

Sounds right to me.

511 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:42:44am

re: #508 Mr. Crankypants

Once more into the breech. How is everybody this afternoon?

Excited. Bought playoff baseball tickets for the Orioles. Something I never dreamed I'd be doing this year or any time soon. Not bad for the first day of Fall and getting far removed from my favorite season of the year.

512 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:44:23am

re: #511 HappyWarrior

Excited. Bought baseball tickets for the Orioles. Something I never dreamed I'd be doing this year or any time soon. Not bad for the first day of Fall and getting far removed from my favorite season of the year.

Cool! Enjoy yourself. I got an email that one gig I was hoping to get interviewed for got filled internally, but I got a call on another gig that was a bit more promising. Second interview. If they hire me I go to San Francisco or somewhere in Utah for training with Adobe.

513 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:45:12am

re: #512 Mr. Crankypants

Cool! Enjoy yourself. I got an email that one gig I was hoping to get interviewed for got filled internally, but I got a call on another gig that was a bit more promising. Second interview. If they hire me I go to San Francisco or somewhere in Utah for training with Adobe.

even better, they're short on office space, so they will let me work from home.

514 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:45:13am

re: #512 Mr. Crankypants

Cool! Enjoy yourself. I got an email that one gig I was hoping to get interviewed for got filled internally, but I got a call on another gig that was a bit more promising. Second interview. If they hire me I go to San Francisco or somewhere in Utah for training with Adobe.

San Francisco is a nice city. Was just there and Santa Cruz in July.

515 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:46:07am

re: #514 HappyWarrior

San Francisco is a nice city. Was just there and Santa Cruz in July.

I've never been. I've only been in California once and never saw the outside of the hotel and the rental that got me there from the airport.

516 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:46:30am

re: #515 Mr. Crankypants

I've never been. I've only been in California once and never saw the outside of the hotel and the rental that got me there from the airport.

It was my first time even being on the west coast. Great time. Hopefully you get the chance.

517 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:47:11am

re: #516 HappyWarrior

It was my first time even being on the west coast. Great time. Hopefully you get the chance.

I care less about that and more about getting a job. The nice thing is that once I have the training, I may have better luck finding other work.

518 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:48:53am

re: #517 Mr. Crankypants

I care less about that and more about getting a job. The nice thing is that once I have the training, I may have better luck finding other work.

Heh of course,. I'm wating to hear back about a sports writer position I applied for with a local paper and an assistant librarian's position with the county.

519 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:51:06am

re: #518 HappyWarrior

Heh of course,. I'm wating to hear back about a sports writer position I applied for with a local paper and an assistant librarian's position with the county.

Good luck. What's your background? My wife is the mananaging editor for our local paper.

520 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:51:38am

Why did the Pakistani government sanction protests?

“The government thinks that tapping into the outrage over this film is the best way to get on the right side of the public. For a government that has failed in every major way that a voter would care about – governance, power, jobs, security – flashing its Islamic credentials may seem like the prudent thing to do,” says Ms. Zahra-Malik.
..
The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has “capitulated before the forces of the right in what is fast becoming a policy of appeasement and retreat,” says Zahra-Malik who adds that it is a particularly poor decision considering that the party lost its leader, the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, “to the same violence and extremism that it is today retreating and surrendering to.”
...
The Islamist group responsible for raiding the US Consulate in Karachi on Sunday might have been operating on the same logic. The little known Islamic political group, the Shia Majlis-e-Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen Pakistan, had been planning to register with the Election Commission of Pakistan, in an effort to participate in elections slated for next year. The frustrations surrounding the anti-Islam movie gave it an opportunity to propel itself onto the national stage, according to Zahra-Malik.

“Outbursts of rage in Pakistan, as elsewhere, often bring with them mighty political dividends for political and radical groups,” wrote Zahra-Malik in a recent column for The News.

I would guess the Muslim Bros in Egypt are using the same gimmick.

521 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:52:56am

re: #478 Gus

He's like the Yahtzee of free speech. Nice one.

Really cuts through a lot of the self-congratulatory bullshit from the anti-Muslim brigades.

522 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:53:02am

re: #519 Mr. Crankypants

Good luck. What's your background? My wife is the mananaging editor for our local paper.

Recent graduate with a history degree but I did some sports writing at my college's newspaper. Had the women's volleyball beat one fall, did a few profiles, and covered some baseball and basketball too.

523 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:53:11am

re: #520 Killgore Trout

Why did the Pakistani government sanction protests?

I would guess the Muslim Bros in Egypt are using the same gimmick.

As are the Republicans. If you can keep the plebes rioting over taxes, the War on Christmas, Gay Marriage or whatever, you can keep them from noticing that you aren't helping them in any meaningful way.

524 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:55:01am

re: #520 Killgore Trout

Why did the Pakistani government sanction protests?

I would guess the Muslim Bros in Egypt are using the same gimmick.

Excerpt:

The US government paid private Pakistani TV stations $70,000 to air a message from President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Pakistani people. The larger frustrations with US foreign policy in Pakistan and the region expressed by those present at the demonstrations indicate that the message will only have a limited effect on calming the protests.

Gee whiz. Ya think?

525 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:55:24am

re: #523 Mr. Crankypants

As are the Republicans. If you can keep the plebes rioting over taxes, the War on Christmas, Gay Marriage or whatever, you can keep them from noticing that you aren't helping them in any meaningful way.

I'm sure there are plenty of good historical examples when populist movements have had a positive effect but most recent cases are just an excuse for bullshit.

526 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:55:31am

re: #522 HappyWarrior

Recent graduate with a history degree but I did some sports writing at my college's newspaper. Had the women's volleyball beat one fall, did a few profiles, and covered some baseball and basketball too.

It could be worse, you could have an anthropology degree. What do anthropology majors say to business majors? Do you want fries with that?

527 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:56:35am

re: #524 Gus

Excerpt:

The US government paid private Pakistani TV stations $70,000 to air a message from President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Pakistani people. The larger frustrations with US foreign policy in Pakistan and the region expressed by those present at the demonstrations indicate that the message will only have a limited effect on calming the protests.

Gee whiz. Ya think?

Yeah, The ad buy wasn't the worst thing in world but it was pretty stupid.

528 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:57:09am

re: #525 Killgore Trout

I'm sure there are plenty of good historical examples when populist movements have had a positive effect but most recent cases are just an excuse for bullshit.

There are larger issues here beyond mere bullshit. Blowing it off as bullshit is just an example of simplistic hubris.

529 Sheila Broflovski  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:57:15am

re: #526 Mr. Crankypants

It could be worse, you could have an anthropology degree. What do anthropology majors say to business majors? Do you want fries with that?

I have heard that architecture degrees are the most worthless, in terms of cost, level of difficulty, and job prospects.

530 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:57:19am

re: #527 Killgore Trout

Yeah, The ad buy wasn't the worst thing in world but it was pretty stupid.

Uh, no.

531 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:57:29am

re: #526 Mr. Crankypants

It could be worse, you could have an anthropology degree. What do anthropology majors say to business majors? Do you want fries with that?

Or a philosophy degree. Not ruling out doing grad school necessary either. If I do that, I'm going for a MA in international relations. I'm the ultimate humanities guy though. BA in history, BA minor in English and liquor.

532 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 11:58:24am

re: #525 Killgore Trout

I'm sure there are plenty of good historical examples when populist movements have had a positive effect but most recent cases are just an excuse for bullshit.

I think it depends on who is behind the populist movement and whether it's truly grass roots or whether it's astroturf.

533 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:00:04pm

re: #498 Gus

Watch #478.

Could you summarize? I'm on a DSL line at work that's barely better than dial-up, and it would take about 3 hours to buffer a 20 minute video.

534 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:00:14pm

re: #525 Killgore Trout

I'm sure there are plenty of good historical examples when populist movements have had a positive effect but most recent cases are just an excuse for bullshit.

Depends but I must confess an aversion to populism simply for populism's sake. Populism can be effective but it can also be dangerous too.

535 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:00:58pm

re: #532 Mr. Crankypants

I think it depends on who is behind the populist movement and whether it's truly grass roots or whether it's astroturf.

You know who ELSE was a grass-roots populist movement?

536 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:01:15pm

re: #533 Our Precious Bodily Fluids

Could you summarize? I'm on a DSL line at work that's barely better than dial-up, and it would take about 3 hours to buffer a 20 minute video.

Summarize? Eek. I can't really. It's pretty complicated. Maybe Obdicut can do that. Obdicut!?

537 AK-47%  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:02:31pm

re: #535 Our Precious Bodily Fluids

You know who ELSE was a grass-roots populist movement?

The KKK?

538 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:03:22pm
539 Targetpractice  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:03:59pm

Yeowch, Intrade's got Romney down to 27% on the question of will he win the presidency, down 3 points over yesterday's close.

I don't get the feeling that this half-assed tax release is gonna help him.

540 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:04:09pm

re: #538 Gus

[Embedded content]

Haha Nowhere Man just came out on my ITunes shuffle just as I read this.

541 Killgore Trout  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:04:31pm

re: #537 47 turn it up to 11

The KKK?

That was an organic grass roots movement too.

542 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:04:47pm

re: #536 Gus

Summarize? Eek. I can't really. It's pretty complicated. Maybe Obdicut can do that. Obdicut!?

Two main points:

Ali says a lot of shit without ever backing it up, accusing faceless 'advocates of silence' of wanting to suppress all speech critical of Islam. She provides no examples of this. Additionally, the speech of Ali, of many other anti-Islam advocates, is extremely incindiary-- he cites her comparing Islam to Nazi-ism-- to such an extent that it is obvious there is no 'silence'.

This leads to the next point: They're completely free to spew their crap, but the actual statistics about the way that Muslims feel about Britain and the way ordinary Britains think about Muslims shows above-average patriotism in British Muslims, above-average desire to integrate, and the British public having a shamefully negative view of Muslims in general. So their speech is unsilenced, but it is harmful and they should shut the fuck up with their bullshit. Not should be forced to shut up, just should shut up.

543 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:04:51pm

re: #531 HappyWarrior

Or a philosophy degree. Not ruling out doing grad school necessary either. If I do that, I'm going for a MA in international relations.

Good move. I went for various topics I was interested in (anthropology, religion, broadcasting) instead of something useful. I ended up dropping out and getting a technical degree later. I've made a pretty good living, but I wish I'd had had more training that would have actually allowed me to be more successful.

544 lawhawk  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:04:56pm

re: #501 Sheila Brovlofski

That's a lower percentage than what most Americans pay, but not by all that much. In fact, he's cut his tax obligations significantly other more than those within his same income bracket.

USA Today ran an article earlier this year about the effective tax rates and how they differ from the bracketed rates:

The effective tax rate, meanwhile, is the amount a taxpayer pays in taxes as a percentage of total income. The average effective federal tax rate for American taxpayers is 11%, according to an analysis of 2009 IRS data by the Tax Foundation, a non-profit research organization. For individuals with adjusted gross income of $50,000 or less, the average effective tax rate is less than 5%, according to the Tax Foundation.

That rate doesn't include the amount taxpayers pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Confusion about the difference between marginal and effective tax rates often causes taxpayers to overestimate their tax liabilities, tax professionals say. Francis Degen, an enrolled agent based in Setauket, N.Y., says a retired client recently asked him whether withdrawing some money from his savings to pay for a trip to Italy would bump him into a higher tax bracket. The client feared that all his income would be taxed at the higher rate, Degen says.

While Romney's effective tax rate is higher than the national average, it's lower than the percentage paid by most high-income taxpayers. The average effective tax rate for taxpayers with AGI of $1 million or more is 25%, according to the Tax Foundation analysis.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said this week that his effective tax rate was 31% in 2010.

So, even when compared to the peer group (those with AGI over $1 million), Romney's effective rate is far lower than what can be expected. That's probably a result of his reliance on capital gains, plus charitable deductions to lower the effective rate.

For him to average that 20.20% over the period in question, it shows his reliance on the capital gains rates and charitable deductions to bring his tax position as low as it is.

545 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:05:54pm

re: #543 Mr. Crankypants

Good move. I went for various topics I was interested in (anthropology, religion, broadcasting) instead of something useful. I ended up dropping out and getting a technical degree later. I've made a pretty good living, but I wish I'd had had more training that would have actually allowed me to be more successful.

Yeah history, writing, lit, journalism, foreign policy, are my big interests. I try to keep up with the world by reading Foreign Affairs' magazine on my kindle. Real informative stuff.

546 wrenchwench  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:06:32pm

re: #526 Mr. Crankypants

It could be worse, you could have an anthropology degree. What do anthropology majors say to business majors? Do you want fries with that?

Just wait 'til Decatur Deb sees that....

547 Gus  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:08:27pm

re: #542 Obdicut

Two main points:

Ali says a lot of shit without ever backing it up, accusing faceless 'advocates of silence' of wanting to suppress all speech critical of Islam. She provides no examples of this. Additionally, the speech of Ali, of many other anti-Islam advocates, is extremely incindiary-- he cites her comparing Islam to Nazi-ism-- to such an extent that it is obvious there is no 'silence'.

This leads to the next point: They're completely free to spew their crap, but the actual statistics about the way that Muslims feel about Britain and the way ordinary Britains think about Muslims shows above-average patriotism in British Muslims, above-average desire to integrate, and the British public having a shamefully negative view of Muslims in general. So their speech is unsilenced, but it is harmful and they should shut the fuck up with their bullshit. Not should be forced to shut up, just should shut up.

Correct. Then uses the examples of BNP, "to a lesser extent" UKIP, Geert Wilders, the general rise of the far right in Europes, Pam Geller, Pat Condell, Robert Spencer, etc., etc., as an example of the opposite of the alleged conspiracy of silence.

548 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:08:55pm

re: #546 wrenchwench

Just wait 'til Decatur Deb sees that....

I hope she'll forgive me, but I really regret not having taken a more useful major.

549 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:09:15pm

re: #531 HappyWarrior

Or a philosophy degree. Not ruling out doing grad school necessary either. If I do that, I'm going for a MA in international relations. I'm the ultimate humanities guy though. BA in history, BA minor in English and liquor.

My brother met a student who was finishing up her philosophy undergraduate degree. What does she do as summer (and probable future) employment?

She is a hunting/fishing guide up in Idaho/Wyoming. Snake River country.

550 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:10:20pm

re: #549 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

My brother met a student who was finishing up her philosophy undergraduate degree. What does she do as summer (and probable future) employment?

She is a hunting/fishing guide up in Idaho/Wyoming. Snake River country.

Heh whatever works. I never thought I'd be an English minor when I went into college but you read so many Yeats poems while you're in Ireland and it happens. I've read more fiction these past few years than I had the prior 20 years.

551 Daniel Ballard  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:10:39pm

Ha! Donna got the shuttle on camera.

552 Obdicut  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:10:48pm

re: #541 Killgore Trout

That was an organic grass roots movement too.

Not really. It was started by, among other things, an ex-General in the Confederacy, and a lot of the people who promoted it were moneyed interests. If you're actually interested in learning about it, this is a great book:

They Called Themselves the KKK

Fun fact: It was started in a law office.

Basically, the KKK inherited a lot of ex-units from the Confederacy. It was in some places a real insurgency, with actual planning to overthrow the government. They enjoyed a lot of popular support, but grassroots they were not.

553 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:11:09pm

re: #535 Our Precious Bodily Fluids

You know who ELSE was a grass-roots populist movement?

William Jennings Bryan?

554 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:12:43pm

re: #548 Mr. Crankypants

I hope she'll forgive me, but I really regret not having taken a more useful major.

He. The nick is a reference to a B-17 with that name.

555 HappyWarrior  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:12:54pm

re: #553 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

William Jennings Bryan?

Isn't there a new bio out on him? May want to get that one for my kindle. My jury's still out on him but from what I know, I lean towards not being a fan despite his contributions to modern liberalism. It's not just Scopes but the fact he was critical of those trying to condemn the KKK in 1924 at the DNC such as my username namesake(which by the way is more a tribute to HHH than Al Smith).

556 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:14:02pm

re: #554 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

He. The nick is a reference to a B-17 with that name.

oh jeeze...now I'm really embarassed.

557 wrenchwench  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:14:13pm

re: #548 Mr. Crankypants

I hope she'll forgive me, but I really regret not having taken a more useful major.

Deb's a he, and I'm a bicycle mechanic with a degree in sociology... I say "Do you need an inner tube with that?"

558 makeitstop  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:14:27pm

re: #538 Gus

[Embedded content]

Mostly true.

/politifact

559 Mr. Crankypants  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:15:05pm

re: #557 wrenchwench

Deb's a he, and I'm a bicycle mechanic with a degree in sociology... I say "Do you need an inner tube with that?"

Why does noone tell me these things!

560 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:15:17pm

re: #550 HappyWarrior

Heh whatever works. I never thought I'd be an English minor when I went into college but you read so many Yeats poems while you're in Ireland and it happens. I've read more fiction these past few years than I had the prior 20 years.

My brother's opinion is that having an interest in a reading/thinking type area is not a bad idea if you're going to guide. Plenty of time when out there to think. But he was not so sure that the idea is worth four years of college expense. Would still be an interesting guide to encounter since I think the stereotype for guides is that they're rednecks making cash on the side and not college educated intellectual types.

561 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:20:22pm

re: #555 HappyWarrior

Isn't there a new bio out on him? May want to get that one for my kindle. My jury's still out on him but from what I know, I lean towards not being a fan despite his contributions to modern liberalism. It's not just Scopes but the fact he was critical of those trying to condemn the KKK in 1924 at the DNC such as my username namesake(which by the way is more a tribute to HHH than Al Smith).

Another complex person. Progressive, populist, and supposedly a truly outstanding stump speaker. From what I've read a mite too religious and idealistic in his orientation for my taste. Which I think was the key for his position regarding Scopes. So, if anything, he might have been someone who the world passed by coming into the 20th century. (And also probably not the ideal person to have serving as Secretary of State going into the World War I period.)

562 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:21:02pm

re: #557 wrenchwench

Deb's a he, and I'm a bicycle mechanic with a degree in sociology... I say "Do you need an inner tube with that?"

Do you recommend the kevlar armored tires?

563 Someone Please Beam Me Up!  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:23:26pm

re: #508 Mr. Crankypants

Once more into the breech. How is everybody this afternoon?

Or maybe the breach? Surely you're not trying to get into our pants!

564 wrenchwench  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 12:35:30pm

re: #562 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste

Do you recommend the kevlar armored tires?

Kevlar belts stop a lot of punctures from glass and wire and everything but the goat head thorns that cause most flats around here. Kevlar beads just make the tire lighter and foldable. Good tires with a high threads-per-inch count help prevent punctures with or without Kevlar.

565 Decatur Deb  Fri, Sep 21, 2012 1:08:48pm

re: #556 Mr. Crankypants

oh jeeze...now I'm really embarassed.

Caught another one.


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