#Twitchy.com Entertains the Wingnut Base With Obama-Hate

Extremely twitchy
Wingnuts • Views: 43,138

twitchy.com, the site owned by Michelle “Internment Camps” Malkin, has hit on a winning formula with the right wing base — just copy their nastiest and most logic-deprived tweets from Twitter, repost them with equally nasty and logic-deprived one-liners, insert some advertisements, and bam, you have a website that’s sure to please the knuckle-draggers’ contingent. Tonight’s example is yet another dose of pure unvarnished hatred for Barack Obama, which is mostly what twitchy.com sells.

This is the tweet that sets off the hatefest, a photo posted by the White House on the anniversary of Rosa Parks’ famous bus ride:

In the bizarre echo chamber of the right, this photo is just more evidence that President Obama is an out of control malignant narcissist: Narcissist in Chief: President Obama Honors Rosa Parks Anniversary With Picture of Himself; Update: Adam Baldwin With the Win.

The commentary on this image, from “Twitchy Staff:”

Just when you think President Obama’s impossibly large ego can’t grow further, he makes it happen!

President Obama loves to insert himself in other people’s biographies. He also loves to honor people, most recently Neil Armstrong and Vice President Biden, with pictures of himself. All. About. Him. His laser-like focus never wavers from his own image.

And the narcissism continues: To honor the 57th anniversary of the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, President Obama paid homage with a picture of himself.

Yes, how dare the first black President of the US think he might be important. How much more uppity could a first black President be?

This is followed by several tweets from right wingers hurling insults at Obama, concluding with this one from Adam Baldwin (that the “Twitchy Staff” thinks is a “win”):

Wingnut humor is a sad, miserable, vindictive thing, full of fear and loathing. Twitchy commenters agree:

I don’t generally hate people, but I really do hate this man.

[…]

Is there really no end to that Pryck??

Why didn’t he dress in drag?? Bright RED lipstick would suit o’blamo to a T

[…]

I don’t hate him … its more a deep loathing, sizzling away on the front burner, with the gas turned all the way up. I don’t know him personally, therefore it hard for me to equate my feelings with regard to BHO to hate. I do hate what he, and the rest of the career kleptocrats are doing to this Nation.

[…]

Yeah…half white, half black….who cares? We care that he’s ALL Communist…

[…]

Hate, loathe and despise are just the tip of the iceberg of how I feel about him.

[…]

I’ve said before, I’ve enjoyed a whole life without feeling hate toward anyone…and then this man came along. Now I know what it feels like to hate.

There’s more in this vein, of course; a lot more, some of it openly racist. These are the people who consume what twitchy.com is selling.

Jump to bottom

521 comments
1 Ming  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:37:19pm

Well yes, Michelle “Internment Camps” Malkin may be apposite. But I think of her as Michelle “Anchor Baby” Malkin. Yes, Ms. Malkin, well-known back in the day for immigrant-bashing, really was an anchor baby herself. Her parents must be very proud.

2 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:39:51pm

Yes, I'm sure that b-lister Adam Baldwin knows a great deal of what it's like to be a black man growing up in a post Rosa Parks America. No wait, he doesn't. How very Christian of them.

3 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:42:39pm

TwitKKKchy

4 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:42:56pm

How dare the first black President of the US think he might be important.

How uppity.

5 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:43:20pm

re: #4 Charles Johnson

How dare the first black President of the US think he might be important.

How uppity.

Yes, they're that clueless.

6 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:46:55pm

Twitchy.com's whole reason for existence is to spread hatred.

7 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:48:38pm

Racists.

8 BroncD  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:49:10pm

I was really hoping it wasn't that Adam Baldwin.

9 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:50:11pm

re: #4 Charles Johnson

How dare the first black President of the US think he might be important.

How uppity.

Not that what you wrote isn't true as well.

He is first of all a man, a husband, a father and THE one that was elected to the Highest Office of the Land.

He is a human being.

The Whackos seem to think that the color of his skin is some sort of "get out of jail free or Win the election for free" card.

I'm tired, so tired, of that.

I hear every fucking excuse for *I'm not a racist*. "He is a smart guy, a good husband, a loving father, I just don't think he is an effective POTUS". "He has
such an enormous ego." "He is trying to use executive orders to turn us into a socialistic country." "He is a Marxist."

Sorry, ranted over.

10 austin_blue  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:50:31pm

Sheesh. ODS X a bazillion. Sad, really.

11 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:51:00pm

Did I mention that Obama is going to take your guns?

/

12 Tigger2005  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:52:06pm

re: #6 Charles Johnson

Twitchy.com's whole reason for existence is to spread hatred.

Even the leaders in "1984" only alotted two minutes a day to hate. In wingnut world it's 24/7.

13 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:52:23pm

This is what white guilt looks like. I never get why liberals get accused of having white guilt.

It's totally these assholes, who get so fucking furious at any reminder of how much black people have been systematically fucked over and victimized in this country, that show classic signs of guilt.

14 austin_blue  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:52:28pm

re: #11 Holidays are Family Fun Time

Did I mention that Obama is going to take your guns?

/

Nah, just you bullets.

15 PhillyPretzel  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:53:32pm

re: #14 austin_blue

He is going to microstamp those. /

16 abolitionist  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:53:48pm

Narcissist in Chief: President Obama Honors Rosa Parks Anniversary With Picture of Himself;

Rosa Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005)
made no effort to comment.

17 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:53:50pm

re: #14 austin_blue

Nah, just you bullets.

Well, that would certainly make more sense.

18 Belafon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:56:00pm

re: #4 Charles Johnson

Only white people are allowed to feel that they are important. Where would blacks be if it weren't for the white man protectng and civilizing them? Where would Hispanics in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California be if the US hadn't taken the land over and taught them English?

(Can you tell I'm white?)

19 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 5:56:29pm

Dear right wingers. Obama's second term hasn't even begun yet. We're still in year 4. Just a reminder. The presidents 5 year begins next month on January 20th. Obama will be president until January 19, 2017.

2-0-1-7.

2017

Let that sink in a little.

20 austin_blue  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:00:21pm

re: #19 Gus

Dear right wingers. Obama's second term hasn't even begun yet. We're still in year 4. Just a reminder. The presidents 5 year begins next month on January 20th. Obama will be president until January 19, 2017.

2-0-1-7.

2017

Let that sink in a little.

Wow, I'm in South Austin, which is a long way from Red Texas, but even here I could a dull popping sound out in the countryside. What could it have been?

21 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:01:35pm

re: #20 austin_blue

Wow, I'm in South Austin, which is a long way from Blue Texas, but even here I could a dull popping sound out in the countryside. What could it have been?

Splodey heads.

22 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:02:04pm

Tyreese!

Okay, shutting up now...

23 CuriousLurker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:05:32pm

I can't help but wonder what it does to one's heart & mind to make a career out of spewing such corrosive bile; to be constantly consumed with bitterness, hatred, and contempt; to abandon all notions of personal integrity, kindness, empathy, and tolerance as if those ideals are objects of scorn rather than goals to be striven for in some measure before one departs this life.

There's already so much pain & suffering in the world. Why would one want to add to those things instead of directing one's time & energy towards relieving them, or at least not adding to them? It's depressing, utterly baffling to me.

24 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:06:54pm

re: #23 CuriousLurker

I can't help but wonder what it does to one's heart & mind to make a career out of spewing such corrosive bile; to be constantly consumed with bitterness, hatred, and contempt; to abandon all notions of personal integrity, kindness, empathy, and tolerance as if those ideals are objects of scorn rather than goals to be striven for in some measure before one departs this life.

There's already so much pain & suffering in the world. Why would one want to add to those things instead of directing one's time & energy towards relieving them, or at least not adding to them? It's depressing, utterly baffling to me.

This.

25 philosophus invidius  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:07:29pm

Who the hell is Adam Baldwin and why does he need a "verified" Twitter account?

26 austin_blue  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:08:41pm

re: #25 philosophus invidius

Who the hell is Adam Baldwin and why does he need a "verified" Twitter account?

My Bodyguard, Full Metal Jacket, &c

27 Belafon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:09:02pm

re: #25 philosophus invidius

Jayne from Firefly.

28 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:09:06pm

re: #25 philosophus invidius

Who the hell is Adam Baldwin and why does he need a "verified" Twitter account?

B-lister.

29 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:09:25pm

Crazy wingnut and religious zealot.

30 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:10:25pm

re: #25 philosophus invidius

Who the hell is Adam Baldwin and why does he need a "verified" Twitter account?

He's a man who's bitter that he's not considered a 'real' Baldwin.

/Mostly kidding

31 Belafon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:10:48pm

re: #29 Gus

Are you thinking of Stephen Baldwin (not related to Adam, but to Alec).

ETA: I do know that Adam is wingy, but I don't know about the religious part.

32 philosophus invidius  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:11:31pm

I thought Hollywood actors were "out of touch" with America.

33 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:11:54pm

re: #31 Belafon

Are you thinking of Stephen Baldwin (not related to Adam, but to Alec).

Adam Baldwin frequently trolls atheists on Twitter with his God talk.

34 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:14:22pm

re: #25 philosophus invidius

Who the hell is Adam Baldwin and why does he need a "verified" Twitter account?

A RWNJ actor who's been in quite a lot of stuff over the years, most notably as Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket and Jayne in Firefly/Serenity.

Quoth the Wiki:

He has been a registered Democrat since 1980,[4] but admits reexamining his views after being given a copy of David Horowitz's book Radical Son.[5] Politically, he considers himself a "small government conservative libertarian",[6] and has contributed blogs to The Huffington Post[7] and Big Hollywood.[8]

Yeah, that explains a lot...no wonder the RWNJs love him.

35 researchok  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:17:34pm

re: #23 CuriousLurker

I can't help but wonder what it does to one's heart & mind to make a career out of spewing such corrosive bile; to be constantly consumed with bitterness, hatred, and contempt; to abandon all notions of personal integrity, kindness, empathy, and tolerance as if those ideals are objects of scorn rather than goals to be striven for in some measure before one departs this life.

There's already so much pain & suffering in the world. Why would one want to add to those things instead of directing one's time & energy towards relieving them, or at least not adding to them? It's depressing, utterly baffling to me.

You'd make a very poor bigot.

That is my professional opinion.

36 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:18:14pm

re: #32 philosophus invidius

I thought Hollywood actors were "out of touch" with America.

They are, unless they are not. The views of people can shift based on whether the actor is expressing their view or not. Thus some on the left thoughlessly accused Charlton Heston of racism when he was president of the NRA, though all biographies of him have shown that he strongly believed in racial equality. In the same way, some religious conservatives who had previously condemned Kid Rock's music applauded him loudly when his song "Born Free" was adopted as the theme song of Mitt Romney's campaign. Since the election, though, they've likely gone back to hating him.

37 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:21:16pm

re: #34 TedStriker

A RWNJ actor who's been in quite a lot of stuff over the years, most notably as Animal Mother in Full Metal Jacket and Jayne in Firefly/Serenity; he's more or less a character actor who the RWNJs love.

Quoth the Wiki"

Yeah, that explains a lot...

Radical Son was David Horowitz at his best, when he was still in transition and explained his life and his insights honestly, without the rage and ideology that permeated his earlier and later work. Once he transitioned fully over to the right, the rage came back to the surface. It seems at his core, Horowitz is ultimately too combative to keep in touch with the truth for too long.

38 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:22:44pm

I think I'm going to name my next pet Blaise.

39 jvic  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:22:52pm

re: #23 CuriousLurker

I was about to submit the following when I noticed it might address your post:

Michelle “Internment Camps” Malkin

Malkin's position on that has always struck me as bizarre. All by itself, the heroism of Japanese-American soldiers makes ridiculous any attempt to justify the internments.

Some Asians, American and otherwise, I've encountered have long memories, passed down through one or more generations, of the Japanese occupation during WW2. It makes me speculate whether Malkin's family suffered. I'm not condoning her (nor do I read her), but:

I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn,
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return
.

40 wrenchwench  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:33:24pm
I’ve said before, I’ve enjoyed a whole life without feeling hate toward anyone…and then this man Michelle Malkin came along. Now I know what it feels like to hate.

FTFMe.

Actually it's more like disgust and revulsion.

41 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:34:08pm

re: #39 jvic

I was about to submit the following when I noticed it might address your post:

Michelle “Internment Camps” Malkin

Malkin's position on that has always struck me as bizarre. All by itself, the heroism of Japanese-American soldiers makes ridiculous any attempt to justify the internments.

Some Asians, American and otherwise, I've encountered have long memories, passed down through one or more generations, of the Japanese occupation during WW2. It makes me speculate whether Malkin's family suffered. I'm not condoning her (nor do I read her), but:

Her ancestry is Filipino, and Japan brutalized the Philippines during World War II. I don't condone her either, of course.

She came up in conversation at the Battletech game I was playing in yesterday. She posted a part of an article in which a British official with some authority over local adoptions declared a couple unfit to adopt based on their membership in the UK Independence Party (UKIP, which seeks to have the UK leave the EU). Malkin held that up as an example of 'liberalism'.

She had however deliberately chose only a short excerpt. The full article explained that the official's decision was publicly rebuked and overruled by his superiors. (who were in fact left of center). So Malkin had straight up lied by omission. Sadly, that's par for the course with her.

42 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:34:43pm

re: #40 wrenchwench

FTFMe.

Actually it's more like disgust and revulsion.

Yeah, another reason for disappointment in the human race

*sigh*

43 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:35:26pm

re: #36 Dark_Falcon

They are, unless they are not. The views of people can shift based on whether the actor is expressing their view or not. Thus some on the left thoughlessly accused Charlton Heston of racism when he was president of the NRA, though all biographies of him have shown that he strongly believed in racial equality.

Charlton Heston was a strong supporter of civil rights in his early years, it's true, but when he was head of the NRA he made a number of extremely disturbing racially tinged statements.

44 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:36:21pm

bbl

45 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:36:23pm

And it's not just 'thoughtless' liberals who think so.

46 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:38:32pm

re: #43 Charles Johnson

Charlton Heston was a strong supporter of civil rights in his early years, it's true, but when he was head of the NRA he made a number of extremely disturbing racially tinged statements.

Such as?

47 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:39:18pm

I have a page open right now that thoroughly documents Charlton Heston's far right comments. If you really want to learn about it, it takes 5 seconds to Google.

48 CuriousLurker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:40:36pm

re: #39 jvic

Interesting. I suppose it's possible. Every time I read this kind of stuff I ask myself, "Why?" I'm never able to come up with a satisfactory answer. Is it fear? Misdirected payback for old hurts? Or something simpler like unabashed greed & opportunism?

49 CuriousLurker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:41:15pm

re: #39 jvic

Lovely poem, BTW.

50 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:42:53pm

It's seems that one of the guys who was in Full Metal Jacket alongside Adam Baldwin is doing well for himself:

His most famous character Joker spent his days living in army barracks and the jungles of Vietnam.

But Full Metal Jacket star Matthew Modine will not have to endure any such discomfort after forking out on a $2.5m beach house in one of the trendiest areas of Los Angeles.

The 53-year-old is clearly a fan of a more laid back style of living after purchasing the expensive property in Venice.

Too Big to Fail favourite Matthew and his wife, Cari, will surely enjoy living in the 'couples house' in the massively popular area of the city.

It boasts a strikingly contemporary design, and takes up a generous 2,000 sq ft location.

The house is on one of Venice's famed walk streets, and access to the golden sands is within easy strolling distance, which is no doubt a boon for the father-of-two.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

51 wrenchwench  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:48:07pm

Image: KoGYzkBBvE6wCJDwq3pP7A2.jpg

Later, lizards baboons.

52 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:48:43pm

re: #18 Belafon

Only white people are allowed to feel that they are important. Where would blacks be if it weren't for the white man protectng and civilizing them? Where would Hispanics in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California be if the US hadn't taken the land over and taught them English?

(Can you tell I'm white?)

You forgot your sarc tags, tends to make people nervous about whether your for real or not. Just saying...

53 Fortitudine  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:49:50pm

re: #19 Gus

Dear right wingers. Obama's second term hasn't even begun yet. We're still in year 4. Just a reminder. The presidents 5 year begins next month on January 20th. Obama will be president until January 19, 2017.

2-0-1-7.

2017

Let that sink in a little.

Nothing annoys like success.

54 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:50:25pm

Charlton Heston's Remarks to the Free Congress Foundation.

A cultural war is raging across our land -- storming our values, assaulting our freedoms, killing our self-confidence in who we are and what we believe. (Mr. Heston then asked those present who owned a gun to raise their hand.)

I wonder how many of you own guns but chose not to raise your hand? How many of you considered revealing your conviction about a constitutional right, but then though better of it?

If so, you are a victim of the culture war being waged against traditional American freedom of beliefs and ideas. You have been assaulted and robbed of the courage of your convictions. Your pride in who you are and what you believe in has been ridiculed, ransacked, and plundered! It may be a war without a bullet or bloodshed, but with just as much liberty lost: You and your country are less free!

Because you choose to own guns- affirmed by no less than the Bill of Rights- you embrace a view at odds with the cultural war lords. If that is the outcome of cultural war, and you are the victims, I can only ask the obvious question. What will become of the right itself? Or other rights not deemed acceptable by the thought police? What other truth in your heart will you disavow with your hand?

Rank-and-file Americans wake up every morning, increasingly bewildered and confused at why their views make them lesser citizens. The message gets through; Heaven help the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle- class Protestant-or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern- or even worse, rural, apparently straight-or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owing-or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff-or even worse, male working stiff-because, not only don't you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant, and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new-America and until you do, would you mind shutting up?

That is why you didn't raise your hand. That's how cultural war works. That's what happens when a generation of media, educators, entertainers, and politicians-led by a willing President-decide the America they were born into isn't good enough anymore. So, they contrive to change it through cultural warfare of class distinction! Ask the Romans if powerful nations have ever fallen as a result of cultural division. There are ruins around the world that were once the smug centers of small-minded, arrogant elitism. It appears that, rather than evaporate in the flash of a split atom, we may succumb to a divided culture!

The Constitution was handed down to guide us by a bunch of wise old dead white guys who invented our country! Now some flinch when I say that. Why! Its true-they were white guys! So were most of the guys that died in Lincoln's name opposing slavery in the 1860's. So why should I be ashamed of white guys? Why is "Hispanic Pride" or "Black Pride" a good thing, while "White Pride" conjures shaven heads and white hoods? Why was the Million Man March on Washington celebrated by many as progress, while the Promise Keepers March on Washington was greeted with suspicion and ridicule? I'll tell you why, Cultural warfare!

continued...

55 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:50:44pm
You don't see other Hollywood luminaries speaking out on this do you? Its not because there aren't any. Its because they can't afford the heat! They dare not speak for fear of CNN or the IRS or the SAG or NBC! It saps the strength of our country when the personal price is simply too high to stand for what you believe in. Today, speaking with the courage of your convictions can be costly, the price of principal can be so high that legislators won't lead and citizens can't follow, and so there is no arm to fight back. That's cultural warfare!

Mainstream America is counting on you to "draw your sword" and fight for them. These people have precious little time and resources to battle misguided Cinderella attitudes, the fringe propaganda of the homosexual coalition, the feminists who preach that it is a divine duty for woman to hate men, blacks who raise a militant fist with one hand while they seek preference with the other, New Age apologists for juvenile crime who see roving gangs as a means to only the merchandising violence as a form of entertainment for impressionable minds, and gun bans as a means to only the Lord-knows-what. We have reached that point in time when our social policy originates on Oprah. Its time to pull the plug!

56 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:51:09pm

Oh yeah, no racism there. Just thoughtless liberals making stuff up again.

57 CuriousLurker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:53:34pm

re: #54 Charles Johnson

re: #55 Charles Johnson

re: #56 Charles Johnson

Oh yeah, no racism there. Just thoughtless liberals making stuff up again.

Holy crap. O_o

58 bratwurst  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:53:58pm

re: #56 Charles Johnson

Oh yeah, no racism there. Just thoughtless liberals making stuff up again.

He was standing tall against the pervasive scourge of anti-white heterosexual male bigotry!

59 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:53:58pm

And that's just one of the worst speeches Heston made. There's a lot more.

60 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:58:22pm

I'd never known that speech was even given. I don't truly think it speaks to racism, but it does speak to an old man who found the nation he lived in changing greatly and not in a manner that was to his advantage. It's in serious error, though, in multiple places.

61 BongCrodny  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:59:33pm

re: #19 Gus

Dear right wingers. Obama's second term hasn't even begun yet. We're still in year 4. Just a reminder. The presidents 5 year begins next month on January 20th. Obama will be president until January 19, 2017.

2-0-1-7.

2017

Let that sink in a little.

Even if I wasn't an Obama supporter -- and I've voted for him twice now -- I'm deliriously happy that people I disagree vehemently with on almost every major issue are frothing at the mouth that BHO is going to be The Man for another four years.

62 calochortus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 6:59:49pm

re: #60 Dark_Falcon

Umm, I'd sure say it was racist. Sexist too.

63 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:01:45pm

More fun comments from twitchy...

Michelle (Lord Foggybottom) • 5 hours ago

I've said before, I've enjoyed a whole life without feeling hate toward anyone...and then this man came along. Now I know what it feels like to hate.

Linda Joy Adams (Michelle) • 3 hours ago

read my sites and you may not like is policies, but your hatred needs to be trned on the KKK that murdered his real Dad

Kelly Layne (Linda Joy Adams) • 2 hours ago

The KKK were Democrats get it through your thick skull

Bo Porter (Kelly Layne) • 2 hours ago

People go to prison everyday and are executed trying to use child abuse, hate, and neglect as a defence for their crimes. Obama should be arrested convicted and executed for treason and murder.

Guest (Linda Joy Adams) • 2 hours ago

People go to pirson every day and are executed trying to use the defense that their crime is the result of lack of a father or abuse as a child. Obama is a sociopath if not a pychopath who should be arrested, tried, and convicted of murder and treason then hanged.

LMAO...sure their hate is reasonable and not racist at all, it is because he is Communist/Socialist/Fascist/Muslim/Kenyan/Foreigner/Usurper/Sociopath/Narcissist/Psychopath/Treasonous/Murderer/Race Baiter.

The evidence for all of this is plain as the nose on your face, I mean just look at him! He isn't...uhh...I mean...well...this isn't about race! Because!

///

64 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:03:28pm

re: #60 Dark_Falcon

not in a manner that was to his advantage

Christ, do you even listen to yourself sometimes?

65 bratwurst  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:04:16pm

re: #60 Dark_Falcon

it does speak to an old man who found the nation he lived in changing greatly and not in a manner that was to his advantage

You know, lots of "old" people are able to accept significant change without spouting that kind of utter nonsense.

I am not even going to address the ridiculous notion that it somehow disadvantaged Heston that non-white non-heterosexuals and females got a louder voice in public discourse in this country, it would make me too angry.

66 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:04:36pm

re: #63 watching you tiny alien kittens are

More fun comments from twitchy...

LMAO...sure their hate is reasonable and not racist at all, it is because he is Communist/Socialist/Fascist/Muslim/Kenyan/Foreigner/Usurper/Sociopath/Narcissist/Psychopath/Treasonous/Murderer/Race Baiter.

The evidence for all of this is plain as the nose on your face, I mean just look at him! He isn't...uhh...I mean...well...this isn't about race! Because!

///

Wut? Especially the last one.

67 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:06:26pm

re: #65 bratwurst

I am not even going to address the ridiculous notion that it somehow "disadvantaged" Heston that non-white non-heterosexuals and females got a louder voice in public discourse in this country.

Charlton Heston was a multi-millionaire who lived in movie star luxury for most of his life.

68 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:06:37pm

re: #64 Four More Tears

Christ, do you even listen to yourself sometimes?

Yes, I do. You can add the word 'perceived' in front of "advantage" if you wish. But the fact remains that Mr. Heston did not see America's direction of change as being a good thing for him. You can argue he was wrong on that score, but it was what he believed.

69 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:06:45pm

re: #54 Charles Johnson

re: #55 Charles Johnson

Egads!

He certainly pissed all over his 50s and 60s civil rights cred before Alzheimer's set in, didn't he?

70 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:06:46pm

Wow, I wasn't expecting to hear a critique of US gun culture from Bob Costas during a NFL halftime.

71 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:07:06pm

re: #68 Dark_Falcon

Yes, I do. You can add the word 'perceived' in front of "advantage" if you wish. But the fact remains that Mr. Heston did not see America's direction of change as being a good thing for him. You can argue he was wrong on that score, but it was what he believed.

Then he was a fucking dumb-ass.

72 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:08:38pm

re: #70 dragonath

Wow, I wasn't expecting to hear a critique of US gun culture from Bob Costas during a NFL halftime game.

Not the first time he's done a rant on that issue. As before, I invite him to get lost.

73 CuriousLurker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:11:06pm

re: #60 Dark_Falcon

I'd never known that speech was even given. I don't truly think it speaks to racism, but it does speak to an old man who found the nation he lived in changing greatly and not in a manner that was to his advantage. It's in serious error, though, in multiple places.

He specifically brings up race, D_F:

[...] Rank-and-file Americans wake up every morning, increasingly bewildered and confused at why their views make them lesser citizens. The message gets through; Heaven help the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle- class Protestant-or even worse...

I know you have difficulty putting yourself in other people's shoes, but try to imagine yourself as a white man living in South Africa which has a similar black/white ratio (in reverse) to the U.S. (SA: black 79.4%, white 9.2% / US: white 72.4%, black 12.6%), then reread Heston's speech as if it were coming from the mouth of a black man representing a powerful lobby in South Africa. Still feel the same?

74 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:11:08pm

re: #72 Dark_Falcon

not the first time he's done a rant on that issue. As before, I invite him to get lost.

Yeah, it really has nothing to do with football.

Until a player puts a bullet in his girlfriend, goes to the team facility and blows off his own head. Then it kinda does.

75 jvic  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:11:25pm

re: #48 CuriousLurker

Interesting. I suppose it's possible. Every time I read this kind of stuff I ask myself, "Why?" I'm never able to come up with a satisfactory answer. Is it fear? Misdirected payback for old hurts? Or something simpler like unabashed greed & opportunism?

My guess is it's a synergy among all three, a combination worse than the sum of its parts.

76 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:12:22pm

re: #74 Four More Tears

Yeah, it really has nothing to do with football.

Until a player puts a bullet in his girlfriend, goes to the team facility and blows off his own head. Then it kinda does.

That's not about the gun culture. That's about the man who carried out that murder suicide. Don't blame the gun, blame the asshole who decided to use it to kill his wife.

77 Lidane  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:12:42pm

re: #60 Dark_Falcon

I don't truly think it speaks to racism, but it does speak to an old man who found the nation he lived in changing greatly and not in a manner that was to his advantage.

In other words, it was a rant by a bitter, racist old man who realized that white people weren't the top dogs anymore.

78 BongCrodny  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:13:01pm

re: #55 Charles Johnson

Mainstream America is counting on you to "draw your sword" and fight for them. These people have precious little time and resources to battle misguided Cinderella attitudes, the fringe propaganda of the homosexual coalition, the feminists who preach that it is a divine duty for woman to hate men, blacks who raise a militant fist with one hand while they seek preference with the other, New Age apologists for juvenile crime who see roving gangs as a means to only the merchandising violence as a form of entertainment for impressionable minds, and gun bans as a means to only the Lord-knows-what. We have reached that point in time when our social policy originates on Oprah. Its time to pull the plug!

If Heston had mentioned unions in his rant, he would have hit the wingnut quintella.

79 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:13:11pm

re: #77 Lidane

In other words, it was a rant by a bitter, racist old man who realized that white people weren't the top dogs anymore.

Now you're getting the hang of it.

80 jaunte  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:15:10pm

re: #33 Gus

Adam Baldwin frequently trolls atheists on Twitter with his God talk.

Proof that one actually can spend too much time in ones bunk.

81 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:15:38pm

re: #76 Dark_Falcon

That's not about the gun culture. That's about the man who carried out that murder suicide. Don't blame the gun, blame the asshole who decided to use it to kill his wife.

Dude, when we talk about gun culture we're not talking about a bunch of .45s getting together and going out to the museum...

82 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:16:08pm

re: #56 Charles Johnson

Oh yeah, no racism there. Just thoughtless liberals making stuff up again.

Oh dear. I really did not know he said some of that shit.

83 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:16:51pm

re: #78 BongCrodny

If Heston had mentioned unions in his rant, he would have hit the wingnut quintella.

Which would have been ironic, since he was a SAG member for most of his career and led it from the mid-60s to the early 70s.

84 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:17:34pm

Yeah. Thank God that the liberals are stopping all these people that Heston claimed they've stopped or shut. You know it is true. I never get to hear the opinion from ANY right winger or Christian (that happens to be a zealot). Nope. Their voices are never heard.

My ears are ringing.

85 bratwurst  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:17:40pm

re: #81 Four More Tears

Dude, when we talk about gun culture we're not talking about a bunch of .45s getting together and going out to the museum...

Who knows? MORE guns and concealed carry permits might just PREVENT the next murder-suicide.

Or something./

86 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:18:24pm

re: #62 calochortus

Umm, I'd sure say it was racist. Sexist too.

Really, really anti GLBT as well...which is weird as fuck considering that GLBT people have become enthusiastic gun owners is that past few years as a part of the Pink Pistols clubs that encourage self defense.

87 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:18:25pm

Wow, I am so not in the mood to sugar-coat things tonight to avoid offending ultra-sensitive Conservative sensibilities.

88 goddamnedfrank  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:18:36pm

re: #68 Dark_Falcon

But the fact remains that Mr. Heston did not see America's direction of change as being a good thing for him.

Neither do you, which is why you and your best friend were hoping and opening predicting that minority voter turnout would be down this year.

You can argue he was wrong on that score, but it was what he believed.

I'm sorry, but the sincerity of a belief doesn't invalidate whatever intrinsic racism it contains.

89 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:19:15pm

Weird. I hear their opinions all the time. Sometimes daily. Maybe it's just me.

90 jaunte  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:19:54pm
Rank-and-file Americans wake up every morning, increasingly bewildered and confused at why their views make them lesser citizens. The message gets through; Heaven help the God fearing, law-abiding, Caucasian, middle- class Protestant-or even worse, evangelical Christian, Midwestern or Southern- or even worse, rural, apparently straight-or even worse, admitted heterosexuals, gun-owing-or even worse, NRA-card-carrying, average working stiff-or even worse, male working stiff-because, not only don't you count, you are a down-right obstacle to social progress. Your voice deserves a lower decibel level, your opinion is less enlightened, your media access is insignificant, and frankly, mister, you need to wake up, wise up, and learn a little something from your new-America and until you do, would you mind shutting up?

That is why you didn't raise your hand. That's how cultural war works. That's what happens when a generation of media, educators, entertainers, and politicians-led by a willing President-decide the America they were born into isn't good enough anymore. So, they contrive to change it through cultural warfare of class distinction! Ask the Romans if powerful nations have ever fallen as a result of cultural division.

What a load of victim speak. Maybe the Romans just fell because of the whining.

91 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:20:03pm

Sorry, DF, but when I see one of these bullshit right wing memes pop up here at LGF, I'm going to call it out. It's far from "thoughtless" to be disturbed at Charlton Heston's racist comments. The right wants people to think this is much ado about nothing, but it's actually very illustrative of the NRA's batshit extremism.

And again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It's not going to fly around here to make excuses for this stuff.

92 calochortus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:20:57pm

re: #86 celticdragon

Really, really anti GLBT as well...which is weird as fuck considering that GLBT people have become enthusiastic gun owners is that past few years as a part of the Pink Pistols clubs that encourage self defense.

That too. There was just a lot of nastiness in there. Hard to keep track of it all.

93 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:21:11pm

re: #88 goddamnedfrank

I'm sorry, but the sincerity of a belief doesn't invalidate whatever intrinsic racism it contains.

That line made me shake my head too. We don't give creationists or climate-change deniers a pass because it's "what they believe" and it doesn't make sense that this should.

94 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:21:11pm

re: #90 jaunte

What a load of victim speak. Maybe the Romans just fell because of the whining.

Admitted heterosexuals! Wut?

95 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:21:35pm

re: #76 Dark_Falcon

That's not about the gun culture. That's about the man who carried out that murder suicide. Don't blame the gun, blame the asshole who decided to use it to kill his wife.

Pretty strange that you're denying the culpability of a gun culture, but defending Charlton Heston's whacko gang culture hypothesis without a second thought.

Uh huh.

96 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:21:57pm

re: #90 jaunte

What a load of victim speak. Maybe the Romans just fell because of the whining.

Those Visigoths are all just nasty Rome hating socialists...

97 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:22:49pm

re: #92 calochortus

That too. There was just a lot of nastiness in there. Hard to keep track of it all.

You know, I can remember when the President of the Congress Of Racial Equality was an NRA board member.

Things have changed since then.

98 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:23:14pm

re: #96 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Those Visigoths are all just nasty Rome hating socialists...

The classical edition of "Takers vs. Makers!"

99 jaunte  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:23:21pm

re: #94 Gus

"Your media access is insignificant"

Fox News: As of April 2009, the channel was available to 102 million households in the United States and to viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily from its New York studios.
[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]

100 Lidane  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:23:34pm

re: #68 Dark_Falcon

But the fact remains that Mr. Heston did not see America's direction of change as being a good thing for him.

Conservatives never do, especially when their power base is threatened. Why do you think so many of them have lost their goddamn minds since a black man got elected POTUS?

You can argue he was wrong on that score, but it was what he believed.

Sincere racists are still racist. Sincere bigots are still bigots.

They're still wrong, no matter how honestly they might believe in something.

101 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:25:13pm

re: #96 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Those Visigoths are all just nasty redistributionist Rome hating socialists...

I bet they were also SEIU thugs who followed some barbarian chief named George Soros while getting free birth control from high priestess Sandra Fluke.

//

102 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:27:32pm

re: #101 celticdragon

I bet they were also SEIU thugs who followed some barbarian chief named George Soros while getting free birth control from high priestess Sandra Fluke.

//

Blood for the blood god!

///

103 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:27:36pm

re: #70 dragonath

Wow, I wasn't expecting to hear a critique of US gun culture from Bob Costas during a NFL halftime.

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

104 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:27:38pm

re: #100 Lidane

Conservatives never do, especially when their power base is threatened. Why do you think so many of them have lost their goddamn minds since a black man got elected POTUS?

Sincere racists are still racist. Sincere bigots are still bigots.

They're still wrong, no matter how honestly they might believe in something.

This is why I am wondering when we will see actual, organized violence (to say nothing of an attempt to start impeachment proceedings).

They simply cannot and will not subscribe to a vision of America where this man can be POTUS.

105 BroncD  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:27:51pm

Fun story about Adam Baldwin:
My best friend Karl was neighbors with him when they were kids. Adam was always bigger than the other kids, even back then, and he was the neighborhood bully. My friend was bullied and beaten up many times by Adam.

That's right, the misunderstood gentle giant from My Bodyguard was, in real life, the bully.

106 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:28:31pm

re: #99 jaunte

"Your media access is insignificant"

Fox News: As of April 2009, the channel was available to 102 million households in the United States and to viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily from its New York studios.
[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]

In that respect he may have had a point given the year of the speech. But as far as who was in control it's way off the mark even in 1994. Clinton wasn't exactly progressive and gave us DADT and DOMA (signed). Congress was under Republican rule and the SCOTUS was conservative.

Panic.

107 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:28:52pm

re: #102 TedStriker

Blood for the blood god!

///

Skulls for the Skull Throne!

I just got two Khorne Bloodcrushers the other day. :)

108 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:29:27pm

re: #95 dragonath

Pretty strange that you're denying the culpability of a gun culture, but defending Charlton Heston's whacko gang culture hypothesis without a second thought.

Uh huh.

I did not defend that hypothesis. I explained why he said it.

109 calochortus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:31:01pm

re: #108 Dark_Falcon

I did not defend that hypothesis. I explained why he said it.

Because he was a racist?

110 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:31:05pm

The people who promote gun rights above all in this country are the same people who believe in young earth creationism, climate change denial, and Birtherism.

This is not a coincidence.

111 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:33:28pm

1994

Senate
Bob Dole (R)
Senate Majority Leader

House
Newt Gingrich (R)
Speaker of the House

SCOTUS
The Rehnquist Court

We have yet to have a liberal court. It's been rather conservative for decades.

112 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:34:00pm

re: #103 William Barnett-Lewis

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

Just So! The problem was not that Jovan Belcher owned a gun, it was that he decided that his hurt feelings towards his girlfriend gave him the right to kill her. If he hadn't used a gun he likely would have used something else. The gun was just a tool. The real evil was inside Mr. Belcher's head.

113 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:36:58pm

re: #111 Gus

"Bob Dole objects to your using Bob Dole to make a liberal point about Bob Dole" - Bob Dole

///

114 Lidane  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:38:35pm

re: #104 celticdragon

This is why I am wondering when we will see actual, organized violence (to say nothing of an attempt to start impeachment proceedings).

All the GOP whining about Benghazi is an attempt to gin up something worthy of impeachment. It didn't work to defeat Barack Obama in the election, so they'll just barrel along and try to get him impeached over it instead.

As far as organized armed insurrection, I'd love to see them try. They'll be in for a rude awakening when law enforcement and the military don't immediately fall in line behind them and their delusions and actually fire back.

They simply cannot and will not subscribe to a vision of America where this man can be POTUS.

It comes with the territory of being conservative. For the GOP, it's all about the straight white Christian male being in control. Any threat to that natural order of things is unacceptable.

115 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:38:35pm

re: #111 Gus

1994

Senate
Bob Dole (R)
Senate Majority Leader

House
Newt Gingrich (R)
Speaker of the House

SCOTUS
The Rehnquist Court

We have yet to have a liberal court. It's been rather conservative for decades.

Haven't had what one would call a liberal court in 44 years since Warren retired. Burger wasn't as conservative as Rehnquist but he certainly was more conservative than Warren and Warren's immediate predecessors. So yep, right on.

116 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:38:51pm

re: #113 watching you tiny alien kittens are

"Bob Dole objects to your using Bob Dole to make a liberal point about Bob Dole" - Bob Dole

///

Damn it.

117 jaunte  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:39:00pm

re: #113 watching you tiny alien kittens are

If this third-person-speak lasts for more than four hours, well, you know the drill.

118 wheat-dogghazi  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:40:30pm

While it is true people can kill with other weapons besides guns, statistically more crimes of violence involve firearms.

Image: 800px-Ushomicidesbyweapon.svg.png

To me, this suggests limiting access to firearms might not be such a bad idea.

119 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:40:32pm

re: #115 HappyWarrior

Haven't had what one would call a liberal court in 44 years since Warren retired. Burger wasn't as conservative as Rehnquist but he certainly was more conservative than Warren and Warren's immediate predecessors.

These people think Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are "far-left hippies." Too much.

120 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:40:51pm

re: #117 jaunte

If this third-person-speak lasts for more than four hours, well, you know the drill.

Conk you on the head with a rubber mallet?

121 Obdicut  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:41:11pm

re: #60 Dark_Falcon

I'd never known that speech was even given. I don't truly think it speaks to racism, but it does speak to an old man who found the nation he lived in changing greatly and not in a manner that was to his advantage. It's in serious error, though, in multiple places.

So:

Mainstream America is counting on you to "draw your sword" and fight for them. These people have precious little time and resources to battle misguided Cinderella attitudes, the fringe propaganda of the homosexual coalition, the feminists who preach that it is a divine duty for woman to hate men, blacks who raise a militant fist with one hand while they seek preference with the other,

That's not racist?

122 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:41:33pm

re: #103 William Barnett-Lewis

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

Did he express a desire to have anything banned?

123 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:41:58pm

re: #103 William Barnett-Lewis

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

Let me start by admitting I am an enthusiastic assault rifle owner. I have a PLA modified SKS that accepts stock AK-47 30 round mags (not the ones with the obnoxious extended lip) and an Auto Ordnance Tommy Gun, as well as several hunting rifles and a reproduction Rev War Brown Bess musket with bayonet.

The kid with a knife or sword in China is a fluke. It is really, really hard to kill a lot of people with a close combat weapon. They tend to run away from you. Bombs are hard to make without killing yourself if you do not have some technical skills.

Modern military guns, like Kalashnikovs and such, are the pinnacle of 500 years of handheld firearm development. They are designed to kill with little or no effort and with little or no training. They are very, very easy to use, and they can shoot through many obstacles that would defeat arrows, sling stones or quarrels. They can shoot with accuracy over 300 yards, making them difficult to escape. They can shoot as quickly as thought and muscles allow. They are death...perfected.

As gun owners, we have to also own that fact. We own things that can and are used to overthrow governments, kill leaders and destabilize nations. They are much better at it than crossbows, pikes and halberds. We have needs for self defense. As a trans woman, I have confronted that face to face. We must also acknowedge that societies, composed of the people at large, have to have some defense against people with powerful weapons who may use them for ill.

124 freekurdistan  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:42:00pm
President Obama loves to insert himself in other people’s biographies. He also loves to honor people, most recently Neil Armstrong and Vice President Biden, with pictures of himself. All. About. Him. His laser-like focus never wavers from his own image.

These people don't seem to realize that the President of the United States just tends to be photographed a lot. It doesn't really have anything to do with Obama's ego. Derp!

125 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:42:38pm

re: #119 Gus

These people think Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are "far-left hippies." Too much.

Yeah they're idiots. These are the same people who think Obama's a Marxist when it's debatable whether he is a liberal.

126 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:44:11pm

re: #124 freekurdistan

These people don't seem to realize that the President of the United States just tends to be photographed a lot. It doesn't really have anything to do with Obama's ego. Derp!

It's all so very stupid. Reminds me of the tiem where George Will was whining that Obama used "I" too much in a speech. When your job has pretty much become looking for things to bitch about it, I guess this happens.

127 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:45:57pm

re: #103 William Barnett-Lewis

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

Yeah but did Bob Costas say he wanted to ban anything or was he just discussing a gun culture -- of which there are several. One must not assume that a critique of a gun culture leads to ban guns.

128 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:48:22pm

Hang on a second...

[Link: twitter.com...]

Outrage!

129 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:49:06pm

re: #123 celticdragon

Let me start by admitting I am an enthusiastic assault rifle owner. I have a PLA modified SKS that accepts stock AK-47 30 round mags (not the ones with the obnoxious extended lip) and an Auto Ordnance Tommy Gun, as well as several hunting rifles and a reproduction Rev War Brown Bess musket with bayonet.

The kid with a knife or sword in China is a fluke. It is really, really hard to kill a lot of people with a close combat weapon. They tend to run away from you. Bombs are hard to make without killing yourself if you do not have some technical skills.

Modern military guns, like Kalashnikovs and such, are the pinnacle of 500 years of handheld firearm development. They are designed to kill with little or no effort and with little or no training. They are very, very easy to use, and they can shoot through many obstacles that would defeat arrows, sling stones or quarrels. They can shoot with accuracy over 300 yards, making them difficult to escape. They can shoot as quickly as thought and muscles allow. They are death...perfected.

As gun owners, we have to also own that fact. We own things that can and are used to overthrow governments, kill leaders and destabilize nations. They are much better at it than crossbows, pikes and halberds. We have needs for self defense. As a trans woman, I have confronted that face to face. We must also acknowedge that societies, composed of the people at large, have to have some defense against people with powerful weapons who may use them for ill.

Only quibble I'd have is that to me nuclear weapons are "death, perfected".

130 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:50:40pm

re: #129 Dark_Falcon

Death perfected = Captain Tripps...

131 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:50:56pm
132 jaunte  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:51:02pm
"I will not watch another game on NBC as long as Bob Costas has a job on that network."
-- Bryan Preston, PJ Media

After the initial hysteria subsides, I don't think he's going to be able to hold out.

133 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:51:11pm
134 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:51:36pm

re: #128 Gus

Hang on a second...

[Link: twitter.com...]

Outrage!

With an appearance by Twitchy. Complete with a cute little cartoon bird, hereafter known as Racist Robin.

135 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:52:11pm

re: #129 Dark_Falcon

Only quibble I'd have is that to me nuclear weapons are "death, perfected".

Let's just keep it on the scale of man portable firearms. Crew served strategic weapons are for another day...

136 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:52:59pm

Okay, I think we're taking multi-tasking to a ridiculous extreme here.

TrekDesk Treadmill Desk

137 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:53:11pm

re: #130 Four More Tears

Death perfected = Captain Tripps...

Yes, but that only exists in fiction, so far as we know. And bioweapons have a good number of unpredictables working against them, too.

138 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:53:36pm

re: #135 celticdragon

Let's just keep it on the scale of man portable firearms. Crew served strategic weapons are for another day...

OK.

139 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:53:46pm

re: #118 wheat-dogghazi

While it is true people can kill with other weapons besides guns, statistically more crimes of violence involve firearms.

Image: 800px-Ushomicidesbyweapon.svg.png

To me, this suggests limiting access to firearms might not be such a bad idea.

Too bad that chart does not go further towards today, the fact is that violent crimes are way down across the board. Lower than they have been in over 30 years, yet to listen to some people the country is going to hell and roving gangs of homicidal youth are taking over the country.

140 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:53:58pm

re: #137 Dark_Falcon

Yes, but that only exists in fiction, so far as we know. And bioweapons have a good number of unpredictables working against them, too.

Eggzactly...

141 bratwurst  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:54:57pm

Wanna bet that the same idiots calling for Bob Costas to lose his job tonight were all outraged when ESPN declined to continue promoting Hank WIlliams Junior's music last year after he compared Obama to Hitler?

142 jaunte  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:55:00pm

re: #136 Four More Tears

Maria Popova just uses a wobble board:

A fierce creature of habit, she begins every day by working out. On this morning, she alternates 20 chin-ups with 50 push-ups, then performs a series of planks and stretches. Once on the elliptical, she frantically highlights an obscure 1976 book, “The Creativity Question” (Amazon sales ranking: one million-plus), and checks her RSS feed on her iPad.

Exactly 70 minutes later, she returns to her modest one-bedroom apartment to write a brief essay about Freud and daydreaming, file her thrice-daily blog entries and schedule her regimen of 50 Twitter messages a day. She does this while balancing on a wobble board.
[Link: www.nytimes.com...]

143 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:56:53pm

re: #141 bratwurst

Wanna bet that the same idiots calling for Bob Costas to lose his job tonight were all outraged when ESPN declined to promote Hank WIlliams Junior's music last year after he compared Obama to Hitler?

Well that goes without saying and when Costas isn't fired. They'll cry about a double standard. Because criticizing gun culture is exactly the same as comparing POTUS to Hitler. //

144 jaunte  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:57:05pm

re: #131 Gus

At least Costas didn't come right out against magic thinking.

145 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:58:45pm

re: #139 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Too bad that chart does not go further towards today, the fact is that violent crimes are way down across the board. Lower than they have been in over 30 years, yet to listen to some people the country is going to hell and roving gangs of homicidal youth are taking over the country.

Firearms are used to protect people every day, and quite often by private citizens. As I tried to say above, I think it is dishonest to compare modern firearms to more tradition weapons like knives and clubs when it comes to murder.

Some one on that twitter thread said that an NFL linebacker could have killed his girlfriend in any number of ways.

The problem with counterfactual musing is that when you change the variables, you have uncertainty...and with most other means of murder (possibly with the exception of secret poisoning), the girlfriend would have had a much better chance of escape and survival.

146 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:59:08pm

re: #144 jaunte

At least Costas didn't come right out against magic thinking.

Did he bring up facts? Or ideas? How dare he express ideas.

It's funny you know. I was just reading about how Heston was feeling silenced. Seeing this tonight how they want to silence Costas is, well, expected.

147 freetoken  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:59:14pm

re: #90 jaunte

What a load of victim speak. Maybe the Romans just fell because of the whining.

Coming soon to an orchestra near you - The Whines of Rome.

148 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 7:59:59pm

See. It's happening. Tonight.

They're coming for your guns!

149 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:00:09pm

re: #144 jaunte

At least Costas didn't come right out against magic thinking.

No sportscaster would come out against that! Leaving all political matters aside, he'd be calling the basis of much sports fandom into question were he to attack magic thinking.

150 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:00:44pm

Costas put me to sleep in the first 5 minutes I ever saw him. Haven't watched him since. :D

151 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:01:15pm

re: #148 Gus

See. It's happening. Tonight.

They're coming for your guns!

Better get out the quad fifty cal and look for those black helicopters...

152 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:02:11pm

re: #151 celticdragon

Better get out the quad fifty cal and look for those black helicopters...

I was looking at SIG516 videos earlier.

153 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:02:13pm

Talking Dead coming on now. The governor had a real bad night tonight in Woodbury.

154 bratwurst  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:02:42pm

re: #149 Dark_Falcon

No sportscaster would come out against that! Leaving all political matters aside, he'd be calling the basis of much sports fandom into question were he to attack magic thinking.

Good point...as soon as they take superstition out of sports, spitting and ball scratching can only be next in line!

155 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:03:53pm

re: #123 celticdragon

Let me start by admitting I am an enthusiastic assault rifle owner. I have a PLA modified SKS that accepts stock AK-47 30 round mags (not the ones with the obnoxious extended lip) and an Auto Ordnance Tommy Gun, as well as several hunting rifles and a reproduction Rev War Brown Bess musket with bayonet.

The kid with a knife or sword in China is a fluke. It is really, really hard to kill a lot of people with a close combat weapon. They tend to run away from you. Bombs are hard to make without killing yourself if you do not have some technical skills.

Modern military guns, like Kalashnikovs and such, are the pinnacle of 500 years of handheld firearm development. They are designed to kill with little or no effort and with little or no training. They are very, very easy to use, and they can shoot through many obstacles that would defeat arrows, sling stones or quarrels. They can shoot with accuracy over 300 yards, making them difficult to escape. They can shoot as quickly as thought and muscles allow. They are death...perfected.

As gun owners, we have to also own that fact. We own things that can and are used to overthrow governments, kill leaders and destabilize nations. They are much better at it than crossbows, pikes and halberds. We have needs for self defense. As a trans woman, I have confronted that face to face. We must also acknowedge that societies, composed of the people at large, have to have some defense against people with powerful weapons who may use them for ill.

Understood.

The other problem is discussed well here:
[Link: www.theatlantic.com...]

The vast majority of gun control has been to disarm the poor and the minority - blacks everywhere but in the south & west especially, Asians in the west, the poor in the large north-eastern cities (especially Italians, Slavs & Jews) - while keeping firearms a white right. I'm far more interested in preserving the right of self-defense for all people.

156 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:04:06pm

The wonderful thing about sports superstition is just the thought that something works is enough to make it work. I'm more superstitious when it comes to football than baseball though. That's probably because there's so many baseball games and it would take too much time and effort to go all out.

157 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:04:45pm

You'll never take away my Big League Chew!

158 celticdragon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:04:51pm

Good night lizards. :)

159 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:04:53pm

re: #103 William Barnett-Lewis

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

You make some good points here. Gun crimes remains a symptom. There is no "single point" solution. But we need to remember not to ignore every symptom either to keep the disease manageable. Sort of like not just killing every AQ and seeing the overall picture.

160 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:06:05pm

I believe in gun control and CCWs. It's complex but workable. Heck we already have gun control.

161 goddamnedfrank  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:07:25pm

re: #127 Gus

Yeah but did Bob Costas say he wanted to ban anything or was he just discussing a gun culture -- of which there are several. One must not assume that a critique of a gun culture leads to ban guns.

He basically said that if Belcher wasn't permitted to own a gun that he and his girlfriend would likely be alive today. I'm not so sure. This country is absolutely awash in firearms and Belcher had a $1.9 million contract for 2012. I kind of think that even with an absolute ban on gun sales a guy like that is going to be able to get himself one if he really wants it.

162 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:08:08pm

re: #161 goddamnedfrank

He basically said that if Belcher wasn't permitted to own a gun that he and his girlfriend would likely be alive today. I'm not so sure. This country is absolutely awash in firearms and Belcher had a $1.9 million contract for 2012. I kind of think that even with an absolute ban on gun sales a guy like that is going to be able to get himself one if he really wants to.

Yeah, probably not.

163 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:09:32pm

September 29, 2012 3:48PM
Does the Secularism Movement Need to Check into Rehab?
Post by Sarah Posner

164 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:09:54pm

re: #160 Gus

I believe in gun control and CCWs. It's complex but workable. Heck we already have gun control.

QFT.

We have a hell of a lot of gun control. What we need more of is Single Payer that covers both physical & mental health...

165 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:13:32pm

re: #164 William Barnett-Lewis

QFT.

We have a hell of a lot of gun control. What we need more of is Single Payer that covers both physical & mental health...

For sure.

166 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:14:45pm

re: #164 William Barnett-Lewis

QFT.

We have a hell of a lot of gun control. What we need more of is Single Payer that covers both physical & mental health...

I'm also a realist. The 2nd Amendment guarantees gun ownership in its barest forms. Which means citizens still have a right to be armed. You would have to amend the 2nd Amendment and on that I'd vote no with reservations.

167 freetoken  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:15:01pm

One thing I observe about Heston: his famous "Fighting the Culture War in America" speech came only 5 years before he announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. And since the disease manifests itself subtly often before it is properly diagnosed, it is possible that in 1997 he was already in notable mental decline.

I don't offer this as an excuse, but as a warning: there are many age corresponding dementia problems and changes in personality, or extravagant expressions of previous traits, can and often do occur as one gets old.

I tend to de-weight the opinions of people as they get very old, not to be ageist but simply because I can't take the time to evaluate every assertion that I come across. There are many people who can be in peak mental fitness in their 60's or even 70's, but many of their contemporaries are not. Some of the differences no doubt are genetic, but I expect many are simply lifestyles (diet, drugs, etc.) that catch up with a person.

Heston's change came before the 1990's - he seems to have switched his opinions some time in the late 70's or early 80's.

168 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:16:00pm

re: #164 William Barnett-Lewis

QFT.

We have a hell of a lot of gun control. What we need more of is Single Payer that covers both physical & mental health...

But one has to be willing to seek treatment for mental health help to be useful in most cases. And it is there that cultural concepts of male self-reliance often prove an obstacle. I didn't believe that till I worked on an event dealing with Military Health last year and found it out for myself while doing leads research.

169 Lidane  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:16:15pm

re: #160 Gus

I believe in gun control and CCWs. It's complex but workable. Heck we already have gun control.

I think it's fairly straightforward. We don't need new laws. We just need to enforce the ones we already have.

About the only thing I'd add is a requirement for some sort of gun safety training and some mandatory, documented time at a firing range before you get a gun permit. If you don't know how to properly store, clean, load and maintain your gun, and you've never spent much time learning how to properly use the damned thing, then you have no business with one in your house. Period.

170 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:16:57pm

re: #167 freetoken

I've always given that point to him, especially remembering how he was in the early 60's long before it was fashionable or profitable to back civil rights.

171 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:18:34pm

re: #169 Lidane

I think it's fairly straightforward. We don't need new laws. We just need to enforce the ones we already have...

That could have prevented 9/11.

172 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:20:25pm

re: #145 celticdragon

Firearms are used to protect people every day, and quite often by private citizens. As I tried to say above, I think it is dishonest to compare modern firearms to more tradition weapons like knives and clubs when it comes to murder.

Some one on that twitter thread said that an NFL linebacker could have killed his girlfriend in any number of ways.

The problem with counterfactual musing is that when you change the variables, you have uncertainty...and with most other means of murder (possibly with the exception of secret poisoning), the girlfriend would have had a much better chance of escape and survival.

When someone with 250 pounds of muscle on their side wants to kill you they don't really need a gun. Once he decided to kill her she was dead, regardless of what weapon he chose, or as that tweet points out he didn't even need to use a weapon he could have simply battered or strangled her.

There is no escape or survival if you don't see it coming, and unfortunately many times people don't. Either because the killer is too good at hiding his/her intent or because the victim is in self denial that the violence will/could ever escalate to that point.

173 goddamnedfrank  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:20:27pm

A better focus might be on the NFL's policy on steroid and performance enhancing drug use. I'm seeing a lot of short term suspensions and no lifetime bans, which tells me that the problem is endemic, with poor deterrence.

174 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:20:29pm

re: #168 Dark_Falcon

But one has to be willing to seek treatment for mental health help to be useful in most cases. And it is there that cultural concepts of male self-reliance often prove an obstacle. I didn't believe that till I worked on an event dealing with Military Health last year and found it out for myself while doing leads research.

True. But you can get over the cultural issues. It's not easy & sometimes takes a "Direct Order" but it can be done. The real key is to make it so that you don't go bankrupt or face legally acceptable discrimination if you try to get help.

175 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:22:20pm

re: #174 William Barnett-Lewis

True. But you can get over the cultural issues. It's not easy & sometimes takes a "Direct Order" but it can be done. The real key is to make it so that you don't go bankrupt or face legally acceptable discrimination if you try to get help.

Right, mental health care shouldn't be a luxury. Understand and even agree about cultural issues. I know that because I've had internal conflicts about getting help due to my Asperger's.

176 wheat-dogghazi  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:23:15pm

re: #124 freekurdistan

If he were not being photographed or making public appearances, they'd probably condemn him as either being lazy or masterminding some covert operation to become dictator.

177 engineer cat  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:23:30pm

i'll be damned - a great great grandfather who arrived sometime before 1850 and was registered as eligible for service in the civil war

he was born in prussia, came over before he was 30, and seems to have spent his life as a cigar maker

huh

no-one else in my family except for him and his wife came over before 1875, and nobody later than 1891

178 geosherman  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:23:58pm

An insightful article about Mitt Romney written back in March that foretold (nailed Romney's persona) the many faces of Romney during the election.
[Link: www.nytimes.com...]

179 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:25:03pm

re: #172 watching you tiny alien kittens are

When someone with 250 pounds of muscle on their side wants to kill you they don't really need a gun. Once he decided to kill her she was dead, regardless of what weapon he chose, or as that tweet points out he didn't even need to use a weapon he could have simply battered or strangled her.

It isn't a binary choice, to kill or not to kill. It requires a greater level of intent to kill someone with a blade or your bare hands than it does with a firearm.

180 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:26:03pm

re: #177 engineer cat

i'll be damned - a great great grandfather who arrived sometime before 1850 and was registered as eligible for service in the civil war

he was born in prussia, came over before he was 30, and seems to have spent his life as a cigar maker

huh

no-one else in my family except for him and his wife came over before 1875, and nobody later than 1891

That's interesting. I have a great great grandfather who was in a similar situation with the war except he served. Last person in my family who emigrated came over in the early 20's.

181 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:26:16pm

re: #177 engineer cat

i'll be damned - a great great grandfather who arrived sometime before 1850 and was registered as eligible for service in the civil war

he was born in prussia, came over before he was 30, and seems to have spent his life as a cigar maker

huh

no-one else in my family except for him and his wife came over before 1875, and nobody later than 1891

Please tell me you are not using ancestry.com?

182 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:28:29pm

After Belcher Tragic Murder-Suicide, Why Are Chiefs Playing?

Our current gun culture simply ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead.

183 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:28:48pm

What the. Oh man I just heard the Costas video. Damn, he hit that one out of the park!

184 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:29:09pm

Hardball to maple.

185 engineer cat  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:29:22pm

re: #181 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Please tell me you are not using ancestry.com?

i am unable to comply

seriously, what's wrong with it?

186 Belafon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:29:29pm

re: #52 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Sorry, I'll make sure to put them in next time. I was hoping it was obviously sarcastic, other than the part about me being white.

187 wheat-dogghazi  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:29:45pm

re: #179 Four More Tears

It isn't a binary choice, to kill or not to kill. It requires a greater level of intent to kill someone with a blade or your bare hands than it does with a firearm.

Guns make the other person dead faster. You can pull back your punch or let go a strangle hold, but once the bullet leaves the barrel the damage is already done.

188 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:31:42pm

re: #183 Gus

What the. Oh man I just heard the Costas video. Damn, he hit that one out of the park!

Do you have a link for that?

189 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:32:40pm

re: #174 William Barnett-Lewis

True. But you can get over the cultural issues. It's not easy & sometimes takes a "Direct Order" but it can be done. The real key is to make it so that you don't go bankrupt or face legally acceptable discrimination if you try to get help.

The problem with that last is that some of the effects of some mental illnesses do make people less productive and less of a team player. Employers simply aren't going to hire someone who's got such problems unless that person is vastly more qualified than all the other candidates.

190 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:33:00pm

re: #188 Four More Tears

Do you have a link for that?

191 HappyWarrior  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:33:24pm

Speaking of Ancestry.com, I got a 6 dollar thing on my surname from them for my kindle. Maybe a little pricy because I knew some of the stuff but seems like there's a fairly big contingent of people with my surname in Nebraska. Either split from my family or no relation at all. Willing to bet the latter.

192 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:33:40pm

re: #182 Charles Johnson

After Belcher Tragic Murder-Suicide, Why Are Chiefs Playing?

Wow, D_F. Just wow.

193 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:34:21pm

re: #179 Four More Tears

It isn't a binary choice, to kill or not to kill. It requires a greater level of intent to kill someone with a blade or your bare hands than it does with a firearm.

True, but once someone has escalated to a murder/suicide their intent level is very high already.

194 goddamnedfrank  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:34:31pm

re: #179 Four More Tears

It isn't a binary choice, to kill or not to kill. It requires a greater level of intent to kill someone with a blade or your bare hands than it does with a firearm.

Especially when it's in front of your own Mom. This whole thing screams crime of passion.

I'm more than willing to admit that a gun made it much easier. I also tend to think that a guy like that is probably going to have given off some warning signs that an NFL team psychologist/psychiatrist should have picked up on. If I'm paying someone $1.9 million a year and my business model depends in large part on image, good will and public attendance then I'm goddamned well going to make sure they're talking to a professional therapist once a week.

195 darthstar  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:35:16pm

Hey everyone...time for some funny fucking tweets.



196 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:35:54pm

Dateline did a story on identity theft where they "shared" two new credit card numbers with $1000.00 dollar credit lines on a site where people traded stolen ID information. The very first charges to go thru on those card numbers were memberships to ancestry.com.

Mothers maiden name, got it.
Place where you were born, got it.
Birth date, got it.
Etc, etc, etc...

It is identity theft paradise...

Thousands of fraud victims linked to ancestry.com

Do a quick google search on it, the hackers are all over that place getting every bit of information they can.

197 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:36:52pm

If you are going to say that guns don't make it easier to commit murder than does someone have a study pointing to this? Help me out here.

198 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:38:10pm

re: #193 Dark_Falcon

True, but once someone has escalated to a murder/suicide their intent level is very high already.

You seem to be assuming that the decision to kill her and himself was made together.

199 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:39:10pm

If guns don't make it easier to kill people then hundreds of armies have been doing it wrong for hundreds of years...

/

200 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:40:19pm

re: #199 Four More Tears

If guns don't make it easier to kill people then hundreds of armies have been doing it wrong for hundreds of years...

/

I'll make a bid for choke hold armies. No guns. Just go into battle and choke each other to death.

//

201 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:40:49pm

re: #199 Four More Tears

Sure, but once an army decides to kill another army there's nothing you can do to stop it. The guns are completely irrelevant.

203 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:42:28pm

re: #198 Four More Tears

You seem to be assuming that the decision to kill her and himself was made together.

No, I'm not. He intended to kill her and then himself. If I used the wrong term, I apologize.

204 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:45:04pm

re: #203 Dark_Falcon

No, I'm not. He intended to kill her and then himself. If I used the wrong term, I apologize.

Well, you don't need to apologize. I'm just quibbling here because it seems far more likely that he pulled the trigger and then decided to kill himself rather than face the consequences of that action. Two decisions, rather than deciding to kill himself from the get go.

Okay, pedantic mode off. I promise.

205 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:46:06pm

re: #204 Four More Tears

And don't forget, the fact that he had a gun right there, loaded and easy to use, had absolutely nothing to do with this. At all. Pure coincidence.

206 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:47:39pm

And Charlton Heston never said a racist word in his life.

207 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:48:43pm

re: #197 Gus

If you are going to say that guns don't make it easier to commit murder than does someone have a study pointing to this? Help me out here.

You'll be waiting a long time for that.

208 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:49:47pm

re: #197 Gus

If you are going to say that guns don't make it easier to commit murder than does someone have a study pointing to this? Help me out here.

You don't need studies, you need to believe...

209 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:50:34pm

re: #197 Gus

If you are going to say that guns don't make it easier to commit murder than does someone have a study pointing to this? Help me out here.

Seriously.
Guns are rather impersonal compared to blades and fists.

210 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:51:18pm

Siee! You humans will never understand the allure of our disruptor culture and Hegh'bat knives. Kahlesste kaase!

211 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:51:39pm

re: #205 Charles Johnson

And don't forget, the fact that he had a gun right there, loaded and easy to use, had absolutely nothing to do with this. At all. Pure coincidence.

Was there any violence before this? Like immediately before he shot her, or even a history of it? That's actually something I haven't seen brought up, but then I haven't looked at this that carefully.

212 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:52:01pm

re: #207 Charles Johnson

You'll be waiting a long time for that.

re: #208 Four More Tears

You don't need studies, you need to believe...

re: #209 Varek Raith

Seriously.
Guns are rather impersonal compared to blades and fists.

Awesome. I already knew the answer too. :D

214 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:55:08pm

re: #213 Charles Johnson

Related to the top post: Gun Rights Supporters to Costas: What About Casper, Wyo., Bow-and-Arrow Killings? | Twitchy

I bet Aurora, Colorado would be more than happy if all they had to deal with was a bow and arrow.

215 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:55:59pm

re: #206 Charles Johnson

And Charlton Heston never said a racist word in his life.

From his wiki article:

Heston campaigned for Presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960.[23] Reportedly, when an Oklahoma movie theater premiering his movie El Cid was segregated, he joined a picket line outside in 1961.[24] Heston makes no reference to this in his autobiography, but describes traveling to Oklahoma City to picket segregated restaurants, much to the chagrin of Allied Artists, the producers of El Cid.[25] During the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom held in Washington, D.C. in 1963, he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr.

He may have been a shithead later but does that automatically erase the good he did in his lifetime? Or is he, instead, like most of us humans - a messy little mix of good and evil compounded in his later years by a disease that destroys your ability to reason?

I'm sorry Charles, but I believe that this rant ill becomes you.

216 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:57:07pm

re: #134 Dark_Falcon

With an appearance by Twitchy. Complete with a cute little cartoon bird, hereafter known as Racist Robin.

♫ ♬ Racist Robin! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! ♫ ♬

217 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:57:28pm

re: #215 William Barnett-Lewis

From his wiki article:

He may have been a shithead later but does that automatically erase the good he did in his lifetime? Or is he, instead, like most of us humans - a messy little mix of good and evil compounded in his later years by a disease that destroys your ability to reason?

I'm sorry Charles, but I believe that this rant ill becomes you.

Yes, it does erase the good he did in his life, and I am far from the only person who thinks so. In his early years he supported civil rights, but from about 1980 onwards he became a total far right Neanderthal, including openly racist comments on MANY occasions.

218 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 8:59:32pm

The NRA and Charlton Heston

Julian Bond, Board Chairman, NAACP

Charlton Heston's civil rights credentials are seriously sullied by his bigoted and homophobic remarks and his attacks on racial minorities. The endorsement by white supremacist David Duke further threatens to erode the considerable respect many Americans felt toward Heston for his years-ago commitment to human rights.

That Charlton Heston seems to have been consumed by another -- an angry man contemptuous of America's diversity and scornful of the tolerance which has made our nation great.

The NAACP condemns such expressions of hatred and calls on Mr. Heston to repudiate the support of extremists and those who call for "war" against peaceful citizens.

219 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:00:49pm

re: #215 William Barnett-Lewis

Yes.

220 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:02:18pm

Is this a mic check?

221 efuseakay  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:02:47pm

re: #213 Charles Johnson

Related to the top post: Gun Rights Supporters to Costas: What About Casper, Wyo., Bow-and-Arrow Killings? | Twitchy

Bows and arrows are the preferred weapons used by Chicago gangs, dontcha know!

222 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:02:54pm

Jovan Belcher, by the way, did not have a history of violent behavior or concussion injuries:

[Link: sports.yahoo.com...]

223 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:03:01pm
224 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:03:15pm

He did have a gun, though.

225 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:03:27pm

re: #216 dragonath

♫ ♬ Racist Robin! Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! ♫ ♬

Feel free to use that nickname whenever you wish, but kindly credit me for it.

226 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:03:34pm
227 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:03:48pm

re: #215 William Barnett-Lewis

It doesn't speak too well for "gun culture" that Charlton Heston becomes NRA president as he loses his mind.

Hey, I know where you're coming from on this, but the discourse was broken by people like him and LaPierre. And the hunting culture has swung away from conservation, too.

228 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:05:49pm

There's just too much absolutism in this country.

229 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:06:31pm

Really weird that saying bad things about guns after a tragedy is frowned upon. We can never have a discussion about this as a nation. Never ever.

230 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:06:48pm

re: #228 dragonath

There's just too much absolutism in this country.

You are 100% correct.

231 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:07:38pm

re: #224 Charles Johnson

He did have a gun, though.

So it's simple presence magically made him violent?

232 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:07:41pm

Sorry, folks, but I just can't sit back and watch any more as empty platitudes about "guns don't kill people" are posted here. Yes, guns do kill people. That's their only purpose. It's what they're made to do. And we make it incredibly easy for it to happen in this country.

233 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:09:21pm

re: #231 William Barnett-Lewis

So it's simple presence magically made him violent?

No, but he had a deadly tool right there when he snapped that let him commit murder very, very easily. And the real tragedy is that his case is just one of hundreds of thousands like it, every single year, as America lives in denial about this serious problem.

234 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:09:33pm

re: #231 William Barnett-Lewis

So it's simple presence magically made him violent?

That's not at all what he's trying to say. If the gun wasn't present he would've had to work a lot harder to kill.

235 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:10:32pm

re: #215 William Barnett-Lewis

From his wiki article:

He may have been a shithead later but does that automatically erase the good he did in his lifetime? Or is he, instead, like most of us humans - a messy little mix of good and evil compounded in his later years by a disease that destroys your ability to reason?

I'm sorry Charles, but I believe that this rant ill becomes you.

In this case, given what Heston said in that speech, yes.

And if you're gonna contend that Alzheimer's or related dementia may have started its grip on Heston by 1997 when he made this speech, I think you're wrong. AFAIK, there's no evidence of any onset of Alzheimer's/dementia at that point with him, not for at least another 5-6 years, IIRC.

If anything, Heston just soured into a mean old man.

236 bratwurst  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:11:01pm

re: #229 Four More Tears

Really weird that saying bad things about guns after a tragedy is frowned upon. We can never have a discussion about this as a nation. Never ever.

This was after the Colorado tragedy over the summer:

237 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:11:21pm

re: #228 dragonath

There's just too much absolutism in this country.

"You're either with us or against us"

238 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:12:01pm

re: #237 TedStriker

The thinking that brings us...

Gun dorms.

239 William Barnett-Lewis  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:12:55pm

Good night all. I'm really tired of the magical thinking going on tonight.

240 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:14:31pm

Interesting.

241 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:14:45pm

re: #239 William Barnett-Lewis

Good night all. I'm really tired of the magical thinking going on tonight.

I respect you, but you're being a bit bull-headed as well.

Anyways, whatever floats your boat...

242 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:14:54pm

Typical.
When the discussion gets tough, leave.
;)

243 TedStriker  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:15:19pm

re: #238 dragonath

The thinking that brings us...

Gun dorms.

That hardly anyone lives in.

244 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:15:27pm

Ironic.

245 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:15:57pm

re: #227 dragonath

It doesn't speak too well for "gun culture" that Charlton Heston becomes NRA president as he loses his mind.

Hey, I know where you're coming from on this, but the discourse was broken by people like him and LaPierre. And the hunting culture has swung away from conservation, too.

It is indeed cultural conflict at the core of it. I need to stop here and elaborate:

Back in 2007, a few months before I joined LGF, Fox News had a very good opinion piece that summed up much of the 'rules of the culture war'. In a manner that would be shocking today given FNC's bent, the piece was actually quite even handed. Most shocking of all, it poured cold water on the Massachusetts sex education controversy it would later scream about when Obama nominated Van Jones for a government position. When I remembered reading that column in 2009 while FNC was in "OUTRAGEOUS OUTRAGE!!1" mode, I think that was when I started to turn away from FNC.

I cannot remember most of that article, but the thing that stuck in mind was its "first rule": No mercy. The idea being that the 'other side' is identified as not just wrong but evil, ans thus cannot be cooperated with.

246 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:16:51pm

re: #245 Dark_Falcon

I stopped at "Fox News."

///

247 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:18:02pm

re: #239 William Barnett-Lewis

Magical thinking?

I think it's more magical thinking for people to assume that if his girlfriend was armed she would have somehow survived. And yet, this is the position many gun owners fall back on.

I'm sympathetic to gun rights advocation, but unlike you, I can see that its spokesmen are the last people in this country who will advocate for the welfare of all.

248 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:18:06pm

re: #246 Four More Tears

I stopped at "Fox News."

///

Read the whole thing. FNC was less crazy back in 2007. Then they decided it would be profitable to surf the wingnut wave and the rest is history.

249 Gus  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:18:32pm

re: #245 Dark_Falcon

250 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:18:35pm

See, to me, "magical thinking" is when you insist against all evidence and common sense that a culture that's absolutely saturated with tools for killing has no problems at all with guns. When even after a horrific murder-suicide, or a school full of kids shot up, or a congresswoman gunned down, you're supposed to just shut up and not talk about the sickness of this kind of denial.

251 Mich-again  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:20:40pm

This story is a perfect place to repost the famous Cadillac advertisement from 1915. The Penalty of Leadership.

The Penalty of Leadership
In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same.
The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction.
When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be mediocre, he will be left severely alone – if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a -wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius.
Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountback, long after the big would had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by.
The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions – envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains – the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live — lives.

252 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:20:46pm

re: #248 Dark_Falcon

Read the whole thing. FNC was less crazy back in 2007. Then they decided it would be profitable to surf the wingnut wave and the rest is history.

I actually did read your whole post, hence the ///.

That said, I've found our ideas of "even-handed" to vary.

253 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:21:25pm

Gun ownership in America.

Image: transparency.jpeg

90 guns for every 100 people.

No problem at all.

254 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:22:21pm

The highest rate of gun ownership in the entire world, and one of the highest murder rates in the entire world.

Just a coincidence.

255 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:23:28pm

re: #245 Dark_Falcon

Dark, I wanted to ask you about your support for Steven Harper. Do you sincerely think Canada is better off importing our culture war issues?

Suddenly, it has become an issue, even though the long gun registry was begun under the old Progressive Conservatives and the country is awash with (registered) guns.

256 ProGunLiberal  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:23:51pm

re: #245 Dark_Falcon

I admit that I follow that first rule alot.

As I have stated on here before, my politics in regards to social issues (and not the petty social issues of Abortion, Gay Marriage, and the rest. Those are guided by essentially a religion-free moral compass in my head, along with science) are intertwined with religion.

So I do tend to be a bit fire-breathing on things like poverty, human rights, income inequality, gender inequality, and racial inequality. I remember during High School, when I was less controlled then now, that I outright told people, even friends, they were bad Christians for not being for Welfare.

257 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:25:07pm

re: #238 dragonath

The thinking that brings us...

Gun dorms.

258 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:26:38pm

re: #254 Charles Johnson

The highest rate of gun ownership in the entire world, and one of the highest murder rates in the entire world.

Just a coincidence.

The answer to our problem is, of course, more guns.

259 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:28:02pm

Speaking of identity theft; about a week ago I got brand new matching his and hers credit cards from Chase for my mother and father. These were not replacement cards for the Chase account they had and which I closed after their deaths, I had even sent Chase certified copies of their death certificates to close that previous account.

Nope, these new cards were Chase Freedom cards at a ridiculously high interest rate and an equally shocking credit line of $24,000. As soon as I got the cards I called their customer service and tried to have the account deactivated but all I was getting from them was the run around. I would have to send in new copies of the death certificates and a copy of the court order showing that I was the legal representative of the estate.

I figured I had done my job by trying to warn them and forgot about the whole thing. They already had copies of the death certificates from me closing the old account, mom and dads social security numbers are on the "dead list" and the old credit line had been shut down almost two years ago now.

Until yesterday that is, when I received a statement in the mail from Chase showing a $49.99 charge on the new Freedom account. I knew it, I knew the whole thing was a theft scam by someone from the moment I saw the damn cards. The charge was made to some kind of German third party shopping cart app that lets you buy things from hundreds of sites with your mobile phone.

No telling what the charge was actually for, and how much do you want to bet the purchase was made from a throwaway cell bought for cash from a convenience store or the like? Anyway I called Chase again and told them that the account was now being fraudulently used and that they at least needed to put a hold on it until we could straighten this out.

Nothing doing, they are more worried about someone possibly trolling them into shutting down a valid credit line then they are about identity theft and fraud. I especially loved it when the customer service rep told me that they would try to limit my responsibility for the false charges.

That was when I got fed up and told them in no uncertain terms that they would never see a single fucking cent from me or my parents estate and that if they wanted to let a hacker in Germany take $24,000 from them then it was not my problem. I then hung up on them...

What kind of bullshit two-bit computer data system do these people have when they are issuing cards to deceased people whose death certificates they already have on file?

Arrrggggghh!

(not to mention how much I love arguing with them about whether or not mom and dad are actually deceased, stupid fuckers :( )

260 Mich-again  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:29:52pm

My old boss, now retired was a good guy, a really decent man. His 14 year old son was killed in a handgun accident at their house. The handgun was locked up in one drawer. The bullets were locked up in a different drawer. Somehow when the kid and two of his buddies were in the house alone, they got into both drawers and then blammo. Dead 14 year old in a tragic accident.

DW kept his son's picture in a frame on his desk. I hated going into his office and seeing that photo of the smiling young man in his 9th grade school picture.

261 A Man for all Seasons  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:30:43pm

re: #254 Charles Johnson

The highest rate of gun ownership in the entire world, and one of the highest murder rates in the entire world.

Just a coincidence.

Responsible gun ownership
Remember that old quaint saying?
We are becoming less and less responsible as time moves forward.

262 freetoken  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:32:27pm

re: #163 Gus

September 29, 2012 3:48PM
Does the Secularism Movement Need to Check into Rehab?
Post by Sarah Posner

Thanks for posting that.

I will say, however, that kind of discussion - the blogginheads.tv elite academics fretting over religion and society and those mean nasty "New Athiests", which they do often there - makes, as one of my grandmothers would put it, my ass tired.

Yes, secularism historically defined is different than atheism. No doubt about that.

Yet when I see those talking heads label Richard Dawkins as "in your face" my eyes roll. If one has ever watched a Dawkins video with him discussing with a creationist the problem of theistic assertions the one thing that often stands out is how genteel Dawkins normnally is.

PZ Meyers might be described more accurately as "in your face", at least in his blog writings.

Anyway, the pattern that keeps coming up on bloggingheads.tv and in similar venues is that crowd of intelligentsia seem to be afraid to drive a stake through religion systems' hearts.

263 Charles Johnson  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:32:36pm

The rate of gun ownership in America is 40% higher than in Yemen.

Obviously, Yemen needs more guns.

264 BongCrodny  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:35:19pm

re: #259 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Speaking of identity theft; about a week ago I got brand new matching his and hers credit cards from Chase for my mother and father.

"Too big to fail" also means "too big to have any fucking common sense whatsoever."

265 abolitionist  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:35:21pm

re: #263 Charles Johnson

The rate of gun ownership in America is 40% higher than in Yemen.

Obviously, Yemen needs more guns.

I dunno. Do they allow women to own guns in Yemen?

266 Mich-again  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:35:37pm

Here is one problem with the widespread firearm ownership in the USA. A certain percentage of those legally obtained firearms will illegally end up in the hands of people who have no business wielding firearms. Not even Wayne LaPierre can deny that.

267 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:39:01pm

Let's not forget who's really to blame for all this gun violence.

268 palomino  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:39:53pm

re: #263 Charles Johnson

The rate of gun ownership in America is 40% higher than in Yemen.

Obviously, Yemen needs more guns.

Please stop using your facts and data and statistics and studies to hate freedom.

What kind of supposedly free country is this if we can't all build large arsenals of firearms?

269 A Man for all Seasons  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:40:04pm

re: #263 Charles Johnson

The rate of gun ownership in America is 40% higher than in Yemen.

Obviously, Yemen needs more guns.

It is an interesting contrast. We became a free country with arms, I often wondered what would have happened in Iran during the green revolution if guns were available to the people.

270 Mich-again  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:40:26pm

I really love the gun nuts who go around screaming about how Obama has been such a disaster for the 2nd Amendment. Really? Gun sales across the nation are though the roof and UPS will ship pallets of ammunition to your doorstep that you bought online with a credit card.

For gun nuts, these are halcyon days. And all they can do is bitch.

271 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:42:16pm

If only Kasandra Perkins had married Jovan Belcher this might never had happened...

272 palomino  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:43:06pm

If I'm not free to own enough guns and ammo to kill everyone on my block, then I'm not truly free.

273 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:43:42pm

I guess if I felt like playing devils advocate, I could point to a place like Brazil, with their astronomical crime rate and somewhat more restrictive laws. But the county's leadership turned a blind eye to the poor for so many years that I would conclude it was a issue of nonexistent public welfare.

However, most of the avid gun nuts in America don't own guns because they're altruists or something.

274 Mich-again  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:43:50pm
275 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:44:09pm

re: #255 dragonath

Dark, I wanted to ask you about your support for Steven Harper. Do you sincerely think Canada is better off importing our culture war issues?

Suddenly, it has become an issue, even though the long gun registry was begun under the old Progressive Conservatives and the country is awash with (registered) guns.

The long gun registry should have and is being done away with. But give the rural vs. urban divide that exists in both nations, some forms of cultural conflict are inevitable. The questions are: "How much conflict?" and How bad will it be?".

276 Mattand  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:46:23pm

re: #232 Charles Johnson

Sorry, folks, but I just can't sit back and watch any more as empty platitudes about "guns don't kill people" are posted here. Yes, guns do kill people. That's their only purpose. It's what they're made to do. And we make it incredibly easy for it to happen in this country.

This.

The Assault Weapons Ban needs to be re-instated. Yesterday.

277 A Man for all Seasons  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:46:41pm

re: #271 Four More Tears

If only Kasandra Perkins had married Jovan Belcher this might never had happened...

They had a troubled past, his mother described it as an on and off again relationship. Man those love hate relationships are like smoking in a fireworks factory. Something bad is going to happen, It's just a matter of how bad its going to be.

278 austin_blue  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:47:37pm

Night all!

279 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:48:04pm

re: #269 A Man for all Seasons

It is an interesting contrast. We became a free country with arms, I often wondered what would have happened in Iran during the green revolution if guns were available to the people.

It would have meant civil war. Iran does have a significant part of the population (I've mostly seen it estimated at 20%) that is sincerely Islamist. That 20% is loyal enough to the mullahs at present that the result of an armed uprising would have been large-scale bloodshed.

280 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:51:01pm

re: #275 Dark_Falcon

I dunno, crime is low, and the government didn't try to take everybody's guns. If there's a stand of principle to be made, it should be on their free speech laws.

It depends if you view registry as a restriction of freedom. It hasn't stopped Republicans from pushing Voter ID and the Patriot Act.

281 A Man for all Seasons  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:52:39pm

re: #279 Dark_Falcon

It would have meant civil war. Iran does have a significant part of the population (I've mostly seen it estimated at 20%) that is sincerely Islamist. That 20% is loyal enough to the mullahs at present that the result of an armed uprising would have been large-scale bloodshed.

William Wallace: FREEDOM!
your welcome..
*wink*

282 goddamnedfrank  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:52:39pm

re: #276 Mattand

The Assault Weapons Ban needs to be re-instated. Yesterday.

Very, very few crimes and homicides are now or ever were committed with so called assault weapons? If actually accomplishing something is the goal then you're far better off targeting ultra compact pistols.

283 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:53:02pm

re: #256 ProGunLiberal

I admit that I follow that first rule alot.

As I have stated on here before, my politics in regards to social issues (and not the petty social issues of Abortion, Gay Marriage, and the rest. Those are guided by essentially a religion-free moral compass in my head, along with science) are intertwined with religion.

So I do tend to be a bit fire-breathing on things like poverty, human rights, income inequality, gender inequality, and racial inequality. I remember during High School, when I was less controlled then now, that I outright told people, even friends, they were bad Christians for not being for Welfare.

The problem with no mercy, I have come to understand, is it tends to back your opponents into a corner. If you insist that the other side must be destroyed, you are liable to find the same logic being applied to you.

284 Varek Raith  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:53:56pm

re: #254 Charles Johnson

The highest rate of gun ownership in the entire world, and one of the highest murder rates in the entire world.

Just a coincidence.

Totally!

285 Tigger2005  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:54:23pm

re: #232 Charles Johnson

Sorry, folks, but I just can't sit back and watch any more as empty platitudes about "guns don't kill people" are posted here. Yes, guns do kill people. That's their only purpose. It's what they're made to do. And we make it incredibly easy for it to happen in this country.

It's astonishing the lengths people will go to deny this undeniable fact. Guns are designed to be lethal and efficient. But trying to get a 2nd Amendment fanatic to admit this fact is like pulling teeth. He will adamantly insist that there is no difference between a gun and a rock, a knife, a spear, a bow and arrows, a body of water for drowning someone, or a vehicle. I like to say, if there is no difference between a rock and a gun, then why don't you have a rock rack on your pickup?

286 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:55:44pm
287 abolitionist  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:56:49pm

I decided to research my own question a bit. Apparently women in Yemen can own guns:

Women’s Gun Ownership around the World

Yemen

Next to the United States for people who own firearms, Yemen is second. Firearms are a rite of passage, honor, prestige, and believed to be a necessity for self-defense in Yemen. The rise in female gun ownership in Yemen is becoming more public. One gun storeowner reports that women do come into his shop to buy guns and these women tend to be workers and businesswomen. Another trend in female gun ownership in Yemen is college students. One woman reports that her father bought her a small gun for protection and that she keeps it in her purse. She says her friends also carry guns, “I discovered that most of them carry various guns in their bags.”

288 ProGunLiberal  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:57:12pm

re: #283 Dark_Falcon

Usually, when I get into that mode, one of two things happen.

A:The opposing side will back off and be more quiet.

B: I've had this occur with Exchange Students from the PRC on Tibetans and the Uyghurs, where I convince them their their nation is wrong in their treatment of those minorities. I remember making some of those who I did convince to repeat that statement a few times.

289 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:58:12pm

re: #280 dragonath

I dunno, crime is low, and the government didn't try to take everybody's guns. If there's a stand of principle to be made, it should be on their free speech laws.

It depends if you view registry as a restriction of freedom. It hasn't stopped Republicans from pushing Voter ID and the Patriot Act.

The gun issue was the easier fight, since it's correctly regarded as a failure. As such it can not only by held up as a restriction but also as a governmental failure as well. That made it the easier fight, and like almost all politicians Stephen Harper takes the path of less resistance.

290 ProGunLiberal  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:58:45pm

re: #287 abolitionist

A de-facto Death Sentence for sexual assault.

I actually, seriously, have no issues with this. Though perhaps training women to make Eunuch Shots would be a better statement to the creeps.

291 Dark_Falcon  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 9:59:32pm

re: #288 ProGunLiberal

Usually, when I get into that mode, one of two things happen.

A:The opposing side will back off and be more quiet.

B: I've had this occur with Exchange Students from the PRC on Tibetans and the Uyghurs, where I convince them their their nation is wrong in their treatment of those minorities. I remember making some of those who I did convince to repeat that statement a few times.

What's the other thing that happens?

292 Mich-again  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:02:18pm

re: #279 Dark_Falcon

It would have meant civil war. Iran does have a significant part of the population (I've mostly seen it estimated at 20%) that is sincerely Islamist. That 20% is loyal enough to the mullahs at present that the result of an armed uprising would have been large-scale bloodshed.

Which part of Iran's population? There are Persians, Ballochis, Arabs, Kurds, Azeris, Turkmen, and a host of others.. The different groups are concentrated in different areas for the most part. I would guess the ones most likely to be loyal to the Mullahs are the Azeris.. The others, probably not so much.

293 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:15:08pm

re: #268 palomino

...What kind of supposedly free country is this if we can't all build large arsenals of firearms?

(Please note that everything below is meant as parody, the fact that it resembles what could possibly occur in real life is purely accidental)

Hey don't be badmouthing arsenal building, I figure when the shit really hits the fan I can just go put a cap into one these guys that has dozens of weapons and tens of thousands of rounds for them. Why spend my money when I can always just let them do it for me and then take their stuff? Heck a lot of them are too stupid to even try to hide their identities online when they brag about their latest purchases.

There are arsenals all around me just ripe for the having, when round 2 of the civil war breaks out I'm going out on a little mayhem style shopping spree. Just hope nobody reads this post and decides to come take the stuff from me that I done took from them.

///

294 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:21:27pm

re: #285 Tigger2005

It's astonishing the lengths people will go to deny this undeniable fact. Guns are designed to be lethal and efficient. But trying to get a 2nd Amendment fanatic to admit this fact is like pulling teeth. He will adamantly insist that there is no difference between a gun and a rock, a knife, a spear, a bow and arrows, a body of water for drowning someone, or a vehicle. I like to say, if there is no difference between a rock and a gun, then why don't you have a rock rack on your pickup?

Rocks are heavy, they decrease your gas mileage, duh?

///

295 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:26:28pm

re: #289 Dark_Falcon

It's hard to hold an effective gun registry when your country borders a huge country like the United States. Ah well, it's small fries compared to CCTV monitoring and modern surveillance methods.

296 ProGunLiberal  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:29:20pm

re: #291 Dark_Falcon

That's it. The two things. A and B.

297 dragonath  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:32:03pm

Looking at this from another angle, would anyone argue America's firearm policy has been a success?

298 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:36:20pm

re: #297 dragonath

Looking at this from another angle, would anyone argue America's firearm policy has been a success?

Sure, tens of thousand of gun re-sellers and gun shop owners definitely see them as a success. Also Remington, Winchester, Charter Arms, Colt, Glock, Sig Sauer, Beretta,...

299 engineer cat  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:50:31pm

re: #276 Mattand

This.

The Assault Weapons Ban needs to be re-instated. Yesterday.

even so, we'd still be too primitive to be allowed to apply to the federation of planets

just think of the tourism quatloos we could make if there wasn't a ban on us for being so immature as a species

300 Four More Tears  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 11:02:10pm

I love pie charts. So easy to read.

[Link: dailydish.typepad.com...]

301 Kragar  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 11:18:48pm

re: #300 Four More Tears

I love pie charts. So easy to read.

[Link: dailydish.typepad.com...]

Are you going to trust peer reviewed climate studies done by actual meteorologists and climate experts or the opinion of a man who has a doctorate in Scottish history who says global warming is just a myth?

302 freetoken  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 11:20:36pm

re: #300 Four More Tears

Fun with pie charts!

Image: rf_crime_gunlaws_a.png

Image: gunchart1.png

303 Kragar  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 11:27:56pm
304 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 11:39:09pm

re: #300 Four More Tears

I love pie charts. So easy to read.

[Link: dailydish.typepad.com...]

There was a featured page on this chart in the last week but search is being a dick (as usual) and I can't find it. The title was something like "How one chart destroys climate change denial." I was trying to find the Page because it had a link to an article about how the data for the chart was dug up etc...

305 freetoken  Sun, Dec 2, 2012 11:49:30pm
308 researchok  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:22:31am

Morning, all

309 researchok  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:30:03am

re: #305 freetoken

Wow! Favorited.

It isn't often male duets make the grade.

Who was that?

310 freetoken  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:35:48am

re: #309 researchok

One was Placido Domingo, but I don't have the other name off the top of my head.

311 freetoken  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:43:08am

More Charlie Byrd:

312 researchok  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:48:38am

re: #311 freetoken

Music like that takes the bite out of the inevitable holiday overspending.

Nice stuff, FT

313 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:50:24am

Ugh, one of the drawbacks to DLCs with an overarching plot is that the advantages of playing them out of order is negated by feeling as if you skipped chapters in a book just to get to the really interesting parts.

314 Kragar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:55:51am

re: #313 Targetpractice

Ugh, one of the drawbacks to DLCs with an overarching plot is that the advantages of playing them out of order is negated by feeling as if you skipped chapters in a book just to get to the really interesting parts.

Also, the inability to say "Oh, I totally found out what happened to the guy you're talking about" and clear up story lines is annoying.

315 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:59:49am

re: #314 Kragar

Also, the inability to say "Oh, I totally found out what happened to the guy you're talking about" and clear up story lines is annoying.

Yeah, though I understand the reasoning that you can't do that because there's no guarantee that everybody bought the full set of DLCs and bringing back the voice actors for one or two responses wouldn't make any sense.

316 Kragar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:01:28am

re: #315 Targetpractice

Yeah, though I understand the reasoning that you can't do that because there's no guarantee that everybody bought the full set of DLCs and bringing back the voice actors for one or two responses wouldn't make any sense.

Just another reason why real RPGs will always be superior to computer RPGs

317 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:02:45am

re: #316 Kragar

Just another reason why real RPGs will always be superior to computer RPGs

Well, yes, but computer RPGs at least mean you only have to buy snacks for yourself.

318 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:37:34am

Early Morning all!

Bradley Manning nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?

How did I miss that?

319 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:39:24am

re: #318 Holidays are Family Fun Time

Early Morning all!

Bradley Manning nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?

How did I miss that?

...

I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.//

320 Kragar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:40:08am

re: #318 Holidays are Family Fun Time

Early Morning all!

Bradley Manning nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?

How did I miss that?

Pff, the most worthless nomination on Earth. Almost anyone can qualify for the Peace prize.

321 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:40:21am

re: #319 Targetpractice

...

I picked the wrong week to quit drinking.//

Lately, I've been wondering why I stopped.

Then I remember and am glad I did.

322 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:40:41am

re: #320 Kragar

Pff, the most worthless nomination on Earth. Almost anyone can qualify for the Peace prize.

Not me.

323 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:42:20am

re: #320 Kragar

Pff, the most worthless nomination on Earth. Almost anyone can qualify for the Peace prize.

Not anyone. They stopped returning my calls.

//

324 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:46:32am

Maria Montessori has been nominated several times and never won.

325 freetoken  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:52:02am

re: #318 Holidays are Family Fun Time

Early Morning all!

Bradley Manning nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?

How did I miss that?

I've not seen any news wire to that effect.

326 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:52:51am

re: #325 freetoken

I've not seen any news wire to that effect.

here

327 Vicious Babushka  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 1:55:34am

re: #320 Kragar

Pff, the most worthless nomination on Earth. Almost anyone can qualify for the Peace prize.

Rush Limbaugh was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I think he nominated himself.

328 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 2:02:10am

Weren't we talking about the Mark of the Beast a day or so ago?

329 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 2:21:00am
330 freetoken  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 2:51:18am

re: #326 Holidays are Family Fun Time

Normally I check for news in a window of only the past 24 hours, so I missed this little flare up from last month. He's been "nominated" before, but I doubt the selection committee pays it much notice.

331 freetoken  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 3:00:50am
332 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 3:32:44am

Longish Post about Symphysiotomy.

What?

333 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 3:47:08am

re: #103 William Barnett-Lewis

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

Machetes!

I think the issue with firearms is the lack of training and respect for the gun.
Not every young man is drafted into the military or taken hunting to learn to respect the firearm. FRANKLY, I think this leaves the law-abdiding at a disadvantage as criminals will always find a way.

That said, I don't see the need for anyone to have a stockpile of firearms. The gun manufacturers are loving the Obama administration. This disturbs me a great deal.

334 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 4:28:02am

Morning Honcos.

335 sattv4u2  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 4:30:05am

re: #334 Cannadian Club Akbar

Morning Honcos.

DRINK!!

336 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 4:35:07am

re: #335 sattv4u2

DRINK!!

I need to. After spending Saturday and yesterday getting my sleep pattern back to normal, work called yesterday to inform me that I don't have to work at 5 this morning. I work at 11 tonight. Fuckers.

337 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 4:41:56am

Were we talking about squirrels the other day?

338 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 4:50:26am

Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End
[Link: www.nasa.gov...]
Plenty of links for all your paranoid friends.:)

339 Shiplord Kirel  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 4:54:17am

A regrettably vague tip:
Look for the Lubbock GOP to be back in the national media soon. They have taken a couple of well-deserved black eyes in the larger world recently, over their platform ("one nation, one language, one loyalty") and Judge Head's insane statements, but those were nothing compared to what is coming down the road. If my guess is right (and it probably is) they are about to be beaten to a pulp, skinned, gutted, and hung out to dry. It could not happen to a more deserving mob. Article V, section XVI of the Texas constitution requires the state to provide care for all "idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis, and common drunkards," so the local GOPers will be eligible for state funded trauma care once the media are finished with them. I'll provide full details and links when the story appears.

340 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:03:39am

re: #339 Shiplord Kirel

A regrettably vague tip:
Look for the Lubbock GOP to be back in the national media soon. They have taken a couple of well-deserved black eyes in the larger world recently, over their platform ("one nation, one language, one loyalty") and Judge Head's insane statements, but those were nothing compared to what is coming down the road. If my guess is right (and it probably is) they are about to be beaten to a pulp, skinned, gutted, and hung out to dry. It could not happen to a more deserving mob. Article V, section XVI of the Texas constitution requires the state to provide care for all "idiots, lunatics, persons non compos mentis, and common drunkards," so the local GOPers will be eligible for state funded trauma care once the media are finished with them. I'll provide full details and links when the story appears.

Will there be goats?

341 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:14:49am

Chicago TV news reports fake plane crash as real
[Link: www.usatoday.com...]
Heh.

342 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:15:32am

re: #338 Cannadian Club Akbar

Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End
[Link: www.nasa.gov...]
Plenty of links for all your paranoid friends.:)

So I should go ahead and finish planting the snap peas?

343 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:18:16am

re: #342 Decatur Deb

So I should go ahead and finish planting the snap peas?

If they'll grow during winter, yes. If they won't, yes. (gives you something to do I suppose)

344 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:25:21am

re: #343 Cannadian Club Akbar

If they'll grow during winter, yes. If they won't, yes. (gives you something to do I suppose)

It was 78f yesterday--if it gets around freezing, I can cover the hoophouse for the rest of winter. (Sun's up now, so off to dogwalk. BBL)

345 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:39:49am

re: #341 Cannadian Club Akbar

Chicago TV news reports fake plane crash as real
[Link: www.usatoday.com...]
Heh.

'Dewey Defeats Truman' revisited. WGN is owned by the Tribune Company, which publishes the Chicago Tribune. Col. McCormick, the publisher who truly brought the Tribune into its own, also found WGN Radio (WGN TV came later, just prior to WWII). The stations call letters stand for "World's Greatest Newspaper", the slogan the Tribune had on its masthead.

346 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:48:47am

re: #345 Dark_Falcon

I used to love WGN TV during summers. Cubs games always on.

347 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 5:53:11am

re: #339 Shiplord Kirel

A regrettably vague tip:
Look for the Lubbock GOP to be back in the national media soon. They have taken a couple of well-deserved black eyes in the larger world recently, over their platform ("one nation, one language, one loyalty") and Judge Head's insane statements, but those were nothing compared to what is coming down the road. If my guess is right (and it probably is) they are about to be beaten to a pulp, skinned, gutted, and hung out to dry. It could not happen to a more deserving mob.

I'm sure this will be entertaining, but ultimately, as with most Republicans, I doubt they will learn anything from it.

I was reading over some of the fiscal cliff negotiation stories this morning. What's amazing is the absolute lack of humility Republicans are demonstrating. The election was a barely a month ago, and there could not have been a more emphatic rejection of their policies and thought processess. I'm speculating, but I'd be willing to bet if the GOP hadn't gerrymandered the House, they'd have lost more seats there as well.

Yet, here they are, telling a President who convincingly won re-election, that he should negotiate by giving them everything they want. I've seen earthworms with more self-awareness.

Repeating myself, but this path to Taliban-hood that Republicans and conservatives are happily charging towards is a greater danger to the US than anything else. A two party system that has a group of delusional fanatics as one faction is a bad, bad thing.

And if you keep voting Republican; seriously, you're part of the problem. Supporting the party as it stand now and then, post-election, saying "Yeah, but I'm an independent moderate!" solves nothing. You're enabling these loons.

Vote 3rd party or stay home. Just stop throwing your lot in with these guys. The GOP lost its grip on reality about 12 years ago, and show no signs of recovering.

348 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:07:02am

Good morning America. Please surrender your guns to your local Bob Costas center and quietly proceed to your assigned FEMA camp immediately.

349 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:10:21am

re: #348 Gus

If I don't have a gun, can I just stay home and skip the FEMA camp thing? Thanks.

350 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:12:17am

re: #348 Gus

Good morning America. Please surrender your guns to your local Bob Costas center and quietly proceed to your assigned FEMA camp immediately.

When I turn in my gun will I get a free flu shot or an Applebee's gift card?
/

351 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:15:45am

re: #349 wheat-dogghazi

If I don't have a gun, can I just stay home and skip the FEMA camp thing? Thanks.

All non gun owners to become FEMA camp guards.

352 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:16:26am

re: #350 Cannadian Club Akbar

When I turn in my gun will I get a free flu shot or an Applebee's gift card?
/

Applebee's will be the private food contractor at FEMA camps.

353 Cannadian Club Akbar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:17:24am

re: #352 Gus

Applebee's will be the private food contractor at FEMA camps.

I thought we stopped torturing people?

354 sattv4u2  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:19:01am

re: #353 Cannadian Club Akbar

I thought we stopped torturing people?

we would have to stop reading your comments, then!!

(I tease because,, well,, I can !!)

355 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:19:06am

SCOTUS to make an announcement at 9:30EST as to whether or not they'll be taking up DOMA next year.

356 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:21:31am

re: #355 Targetpractice

SCOTUS to make an announcement at 9:30EST as to whether or not they'll be taking up DOMA next year.

I'm actually curious as to see how they will rule. The only reason to oppose gay marriage is on religious grounds; aka, no legitimate or constitutional reason at all.

357 Vicious Babushka  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:28:27am
358 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:30:48am

re: #356 Mattand

I'm actually curious as to see how they will rule. The only reason to oppose gay marriage is on religious grounds; aka, no legitimate or constitutional reason at all.

...

"Science Confirms What I've Seen in My Own Life as Well as in the Lives of Thousands of Others Who Have Left the Homosexual Lifestyle," Cantu Says

WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- " Scientists are finally telling us what we've always known. There is absolutely no scientific proof of a 'gay gene,'" said Family Research Council Policy Analyst Yvette Cantu Thursday...

Science! //

359 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:32:41am

re: #356 Mattand

I'm actually curious as to see how they will rule. The only reason to oppose gay marriage is on religious grounds; aka, no legitimate or constitutional reason at all.

That will not be the key question for the Supreme Court, however; The key question is "Was Congress acting within its Constitutional Authority when DOMA was passed, and if so does the act violate the Constitution?" The court ought not to consider the issues of social policy in play, as those are properly the province of the legislature and executive.

360 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:36:57am

re: #359 Dark_Falcon

That will not be the key question for the Supreme Court, however; The key question is "Was Congress acting within its Constitutional Authority when DOMA was passed, and if so does the act violate the Constitution?" The court ought not to consider the issues of social policy in play, as those are properly the province of the legislature and executive.

Can you honestly give me a legitimate reason why this law was passed?

361 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:38:36am
362 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:39:10am

re: #361 Gus

[Embedded content]

*headdesk*

363 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:43:24am

re: #362 Targetpractice

*headdesk*

Punt! They're probably trying to figure out a way to toss it to the states. Or maybe not. In any event DOMA is clearly discriminatory and in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

364 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:44:47am

re: #361 Gus

According to a gay-rights lawyer friend of mine, this is A Good Thing. Best is if they don't take up the cases, because the lower court rulings are all against the restrictive anti-gay rights laws, and he thinks delay shows they're trying to get out of taking them up so that the conservative members don't have to look ludicrously awful arguing in 2013 for restriction of civil rights for a minority being a-ok.

365 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:48:14am

re: #360 Mattand

Can you honestly give me a legitimate reason why this law was passed?

I don't want to get into the reasons for DOMA's passage, as I'm liable to get gang-tackled if I try that. I'll simply note that the direct reason was possibility of gay couples marrying in a state that permitted it and then demanding recognition in a state that did not. The state at issue at the time was Hawaii, but the Aloha state subsequently amended its constitution to bar gay marriage.

366 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:53:47am

re: #359 Dark_Falcon

That will not be the key question for the Supreme Court, however; The key question is "Was Congress acting within its Constitutional Authority when DOMA was passed, and if so does the act violate the Constitution?" The court ought not to consider the issues of social policy in play, as those are properly the province of the legislature and executive.

I need to note that my #359 was intended as a statement on what in my mind the Constitutional questions regarding DOMA are, not if it is a good idea. It was not intended as a defense of DOMA.

367 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:54:44am

re: #365 Dark_Falcon

I don't want to get into the reasons for DOMA's passage, as I'm liable to get gang-tackled if I try that. I'll simply note that the direct reason was possibility of gay couples marrying in a state that permitted it and then demanding recognition in a state that did not. The state at issue at the time was Hawaii, but the Aloha state subsequently amended its constitution to bar gay marriage.

Barring LGBT marriage and equal protection is the same as barring marriage and equal protection for people due to race, ethnicity or religion and worthy of the state of North Korea. There are no states rights at issue since it is in violation of the 14th Amendment. End of story.

368 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:57:05am

re: #365 Dark_Falcon

I don't want to get into the reasons for DOMA's passage, as I'm liable to get gang-tackled if I try that. I'll simply note that the direct reason was possibility of gay couples marrying in a state that permitted it and then demanding recognition in a state that did not. The state at issue at the time was Hawaii, but the Aloha state subsequently amended its constitution to bar gay marriage.

This is true. But at the end of the day, the reason this law even exists is because most people are against gay marriage due to religious reasons. There is no reason otherwise.

What's frustrating is that everyone, from Clinton on down, just cite their "belief" that marriage is between a man and a woman. That opinion springs directly from their magic book of fables. And as usual, most people don't have the courage to cite that.

I would imagine that this line of questioning would be brought by some of the SCOTUS, Scalia and Thomas excepted.

369 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:57:22am

re: #366 Dark_Falcon

I need to note that my #359 was intended as a statement on what in my mind the Constitutional questions regarding DOMA are, not if it is a good idea. It was not intended as a defense of DOMA.

I did get that.

370 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:57:51am
371 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 6:59:38am

re: #370 Gus

[Embedded content]

372 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:04:54am

re: #370 Gus

[Embedded content]

There goes the respect I had for him. Writing for Weird Nut Daily is in my eyes an open admission you have political rabies and aren't interested in treatment for it.

373 Targetpractice  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:04:56am

re: #370 Gus

[Embedded content]

Will he be writing about the "blah" people?

374 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:05:45am

Pathetic.

375 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:06:09am

re: #372 Dark_Falcon

There goes the respect I had for him. Writing for Weird Nut Daily is in my eyes an open admission you have political rabies and aren't interested in treatment for it.

That asshole never deserved any respect.

376 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:07:13am

re: #367 Gus

Barring LGBT marriage and equal protection is the same as barring marriage and equal protection for people due to race, ethnicity or religion and worthy of the state of North Korea. There are no states rights at issue since it is in violation of the 14th Amendment. End of story.

Sexual orientation isn't in the 14th Amendment, and therefore I do not think that amendment is directly on point. This interpretation is an admittedly literalist one.

377 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:12:04am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

Sexual orientation isn't in the 14th Amendment, and therefore I do not think that amendment is directly on point. This interpretation is an admittedly literalist one.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

378 darthstar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:13:05am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

Sexual orientation isn't in the 14th Amendment, and therefore I do not think that amendment is directly on point. This interpretation is an admittedly literalist one.

And avocados aren't in the bible, but people still eat guacamole. What the fuck?

Mornin' everyone.

379 darthstar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:14:08am

re: #377 Gus

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

That says all PERSONS...(we're talking about teh ghey here)

380 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:14:19am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

Sexual orientation isn't in the 14th Amendment, and therefore I do not think that amendment is directly on point. This interpretation is an admittedly literalist one.

Nor is anything else, like race or gender. Have you ever read the 14th amendment?

381 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:15:40am

As if to underscore what a rotten crew Rick Santorum has just joined, the other featured columns for today on WND alongside his are by insane Birther Joseph Farah, Exhibit B for concussion awareness Chuck Norris, Barbara Simpson (whose column this week obsesses about racial categories (which is a massive danger sign)), and last but not least, an ugly creed against the UN written by none other than Pamela "The Shrieking Harpy" Geller titled "Sanction of the Savage State".

Rick Santorum, you are a delusional fool.

382 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:15:54am

Here's the bigoted section:

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Fixed by the 19th Amendment WRT to sex.

383 darthstar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:16:07am

re: #380 Obdicut

Nor is anything else, like race or gender. Have you ever read the 14th amendment?

Hey, they took out the part about fetuses and zygotes being people!

384 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:16:31am

re: #381 Dark_Falcon

Can just as easily smear those people by their association with Santorum.

By the way, are you still trying to pump up Bobby Jindal as a national GOP candidate?

385 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:16:46am

re: #380 Obdicut

Nor is anything else, like race or gender. Have you ever read the 14th amendment?

More than once.

386 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:17:26am

re: #385 Dark_Falcon

More than once.

Then I'm sorry, I don't get why you think that sexual orientation not being specified in the amendment has any bearing, since race, for example, isn't in there either. Can you clarify?

387 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:17:49am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

Sexual orientation isn't in the 14th Amendment, and therefore I do not think that amendment is directly on point. This interpretation is an admittedly literalist one.

That's my problem with literal readings of the Constitution. It was written by wealthy white men, many of whom held other humans as property.

It's a wonderful document and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else, but the Constitution must adapt with the times. Adhering to an 18th century interpretation in the 21st century stunts our growth as a country.

388 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:18:28am

re: #382 Gus

Here's the bigoted section:

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Fixed by the 19th Amendment WRT to sex.

The Indians (Native Americans) part was later changed in the 1920's, when Congress passed a law making all Native Americans citizens.

389 darthstar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:19:02am

re: #381 Dark_Falcon

Rick Santorum, you are a delusional fool.

How can you attack Rick Santorum in one post and then use his logic in another with regard to DOMA? You're basically attacking a teammate here.

390 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:20:13am

Heterosexual marriage isn't mentioned in the constitution either.

391 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:20:41am

re: #386 Obdicut

Then I'm sorry, I don't get why you think that sexual orientation not being specified in the amendment has any bearing, since race, for example, isn't in their either. Can you clarify?

The 14th Amendment was most definitely intended to cover race, national origin, and religion. But it creators did not intend it to cover sexual orientation.

392 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:22:19am

re: #391 Dark_Falcon

The 14th Amendment was most definitely intended to cover race, national origin, and religion. But it creators did not intend it to cover sexual orientation.

I'm sorry, i thought you were claiming to be a literalist. Now you're reading things into the amendment that are far outside the text. So you're not giving a literalist interpretation after all.

What does it matter what the creators of the amendment intended to be covered?

393 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:22:44am

re: #391 Dark_Falcon

The 14th Amendment was most definitely intended to cover race, national origin, and religion. But it creators did not intend it to cover sexual orientation.

That's right in one sense. The "founding fathers" really intended this to cover only white male land owners who were presumably straight. Weird though how it says ANY PERSON.

394 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:23:32am

"Any person" doesn't include gays and lesbians. Allegedly.

//

395 darthstar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:23:56am

re: #391 Dark_Falcon

The 14th Amendment was most definitely intended to cover race, national origin, and religion. But it creators did not intend it to cover sexual orientation.

How do you know? Maybe the people who wrote the 14th Amendment were secretly gay and hoping their work would one day be used to help people like themselves achieve more open equality.

Or did they tell you personally their intent?

396 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:23:57am

re: #393 Gus

That's right in one sense. The "founding fathers" really intended this to cover only white male land owners who were presumably straight. Weird though how it says ANY PERSON.

The fourteenth amendment was the one passed in the Civil War timeframe, and didn't involve the founding fathers.

397 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:24:22am

More Santorum Tweets:


398 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:27:40am

I'd be a lot happier with so-called constitutional literalists if they actually read the Constitution literally. Instead, they very quickly tend to fall into 'orginalism', where everything has to be interpreted according to the standards of the time it was created. There is no logical reason for this, and typically the 2nd amendment is excepted from such treatment.

399 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:29:05am

re: #389 darthstar

How can you attack Rick Santorum in one post and then use his logic in another with regard to DOMA? You're basically attacking a teammate here.

i can agree with a person on a matter of interpretation of the Constitution and still disagree with them in many other ways. I also differ with Santorum in that I'm come to see DOMA as counter productive. Better to scrap it. But I want that done by an act of Congress, not by what I would see as overreach by the Supreme Court.

400 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:31:13am

re: #399 Dark_Falcon

In what way would it be an overreach by the Supreme Court, please?

401 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:31:50am

re: #399 Dark_Falcon

i can agree with a person on a matter of interpretation of the Constitution and still disagree with them in many other ways. I also differ with Santorum in that I'm come to see DOMA as counter productive. Better to scrap it. But I want that done by an act of Congress, not by what I would see as overreach by the Supreme Court.

Overreach? What are they a potted plant?

402 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:33:05am

re: #396 Obdicut

The fourteenth amendment was the one passed in the Civil War timeframe, and didn't involve the founding fathers.

Indeed. It framers had as their intention the repair of the political and social mistakes that had led to war. They were not successful in their own time, as guerrilla opposition in the South ultimately proved stronger than the Northern willingness to force change through, but the 14th and 15th Amendments did prove the Constitutional anchors to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

403 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:34:53am

re: #402 Dark_Falcon

Indeed. It framers had as their intention the repair of the political and social mistakes that had led to war. .

Are you going to bother to answer why you claimed you were taking a literal interpretation of the amendment and are now very concerned with intent? Or are you just going to dodge that as, sadly, you dodge so many questions these days?

404 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:35:59am
405 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:36:57am

re: #403 Obdicut

Are you going to bother to answer why you claimed you were taking a literal interpretation of the amendment and are now very concerned with intent? Or are you just going to dodge that as, sadly, you dodge so many questions these days?

I'd say I favor literalism first and foremost, but the use of original intent when that is not practical.

406 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:37:09am

Backwards.

407 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:38:05am

re: #405 Dark_Falcon

I'd say I favor literalism first and foremost, but the use of original intent when that is not practical.

Why is it not practical in this case?

408 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:43:14am

re: #407 Obdicut

Why is it not practical in this case?

Because while rights to life and property are fairly clear in outline, 'liberty' does require greater definition. That's all on this point for now, as I'd have to sketch out my thoughts on such definition before elaborating further.

409 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:49:19am

re: #408 Dark_Falcon

Because while rights to life and property are fairly clear in outline, 'liberty' does require greater definition. That's all on this point for now, as I'd have to sketch out my thoughts on such definition before elaborating further.

The 'liberty' line isn't relevant. It's the 'rights and privileges' line that covers marriage.

Your thinking on this seems incredibly vague and unformed, and yet you're adamant about it.

Very, very bad combination.

410 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:52:24am

I was promised cookies.

411 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:52:39am

Awesomely weird video about the forming of the MTA (New York City public transport authority) from the 1970s.

I always start my documentaries about public transportation with a shot of a couple making out.

412 Vicious Babushka  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:52:52am
413 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:54:08am

re: #410 b_sharp

I was promised cookies.

I've got Oreos. Golden Double Stuffed. Far too early for me to eat them, so have a few!

414 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 7:58:52am

re: #410 b_sharp

I was promised cookies.

Benghazi Bob Costas!

415 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:00:47am
416 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:01:40am

re: #415 Gus

I think the GOP has gotten addicted to drama.

417 darthstar  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:01:56am
418 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:01:59am

re: #414 Gus

Benghazi Bob Costas!

No, no. It was cookie, with a 'c' not a 'k'.

419 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:02:02am

re: #414 Gus

Benghazi Bob Costas!

Nope, not happening again... [shoots Gus with a tranquillizer dart]

Gus: [headdesk]

420 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:03:20am

re: #415 Gus

I like this part of the plan:

Two senior Republican elected officials say this doomsday plan "is becoming the most likely scenario" with one variation being that House Republicans "would allow a vote on extending only the middle class tax cuts and Republicans, to express disapproval at the failure to extend all tax cuts, would vote "present" on the bill, allowing it to pass entirely on Democratic votes."

That's right, GOP. Don't vote for tax cuts for the middle class out of protest that the wealthy should get tax cuts too. That'll win America over to your side.

They still are inhabiting their made-up universe where Romney was leading by eight in Virginia.

421 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:03:23am

re: #416 Obdicut

I think the GOP has gotten addicted to drama.

drama queens gop

422 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:03:39am

re: #417 darthstar

Image: 18088_10151153788193091_1490434390_n.jpg

Cheap bastard has been looking for a way to stiff the waitresses for a long time.

423 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:04:40am

re: #422 b_sharp

Last time there was something like this, it turned out to be made up.

424 Vicious Babushka  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:04:49am

re: #259 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Speaking of identity theft; about a week ago I got brand new matching his and hers credit cards from Chase for my mother and father. These were not replacement cards for the Chase account they had and which I closed after their deaths, I had even sent Chase certified copies of their death certificates to close that previous account.

Nope, these new cards were Chase Freedom cards at a ridiculously high interest rate and an equally shocking credit line of $24,000. As soon as I got the cards I called their customer service and tried to have the account deactivated but all I was getting from them was the run around. I would have to send in new copies of the death certificates and a copy of the court order showing that I was the legal representative of the estate.

I figured I had done my job by trying to warn them and forgot about the whole thing. They already had copies of the death certificates from me closing the old account, mom and dads social security numbers are on the "dead list" and the old credit line had been shut down almost two years ago now.

Until yesterday that is, when I received a statement in the mail from Chase showing a $49.99 charge on the new Freedom account. I knew it, I knew the whole thing was a theft scam by someone from the moment I saw the damn cards. The charge was made to some kind of German third party shopping cart app that lets you buy things from hundreds of sites with your mobile phone.

No telling what the charge was actually for, and how much do you want to bet the purchase was made from a throwaway cell bought for cash from a convenience store or the like? Anyway I called Chase again and told them that the account was now being fraudulently used and that they at least needed to put a hold on it until we could straighten this out.

Nothing doing, they are more worried about someone possibly trolling them into shutting down a valid credit line then they are about identity theft and fraud. I especially loved it when the customer service rep told me that they would try to limit my responsibility for the false charges.

That was when I got fed up and told them in no uncertain terms that they would never see a single fucking cent from me or my parents estate and that if they wanted to let a hacker in Germany take $24,000 from them then it was not my problem. I then hung up on them...

What kind of bullshit two-bit computer data system do these people have when they are issuing cards to deceased people whose death certificates they already have on file?

Arrrggggghh!

(not to mention how much I love arguing with them about whether or not mom and dad are actually deceased, stupid fuckers :( )

If you called the Chase customer service number and got a call center in India, forget about getting any issue resolved from them. They are trained to read from a script for a specific set of issues. If your issue does not fall into any of those categories, forget it, you might as well be talking to a hamburger.

Browse around the Chase website and try to find a number for a U.S. call center or a second tier call center (Freedom card users should have some kind of priority, doncha think?).

425 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:05:34am

re: #420 Obdicut

I like this part of the plan:

That's right, GOP. Don't vote for tax cuts for the middle class out of protest that the wealthy should get tax cuts too. That'll win America over to your side.

They still are inhabiting their made-up universe where Romney was leading by eight in Virginia.

They ignored how badly he was doing in Vagina.

426 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:06:14am

Capitalism at work! Another fine example of the unregulated free market in action. An entire Louisiana town has been evacuated after authorities found over 6 millions pounds of explosives illegally stored.

Explo Systems disposes of artillery and howitzer shells for the military. But instead of safely storing the explosives in bunkers or disposing of them, they have been putting them into cardboard boxes which they have crammed into unapproved buildings on site or simply left sitting outside in the weather.

There was a small explosion at another area of the site on October 15th and when authorities came back to investigate further they found this...

Doyline

Doyline2

After the October 15 explosion at Camp Minden, Louisiana State Police promised Explo, the company responsible for the explosion, follow up visits as the investigation progressed.

Tuesday, LSP announced that they had check a new area, also leased by Explo, and had found the dangerous explosives stored improperly.

And the fact that these explosives weren't found earlier isn't sitting well with Doyline residents.

But LSP contends that there was no reason to check the area, as no ammunition or explosives of any type are allowed to be stored in that area.

More here...

427 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:07:27am

re: #423 Obdicut

Last time there was something like this, it turned out to be made up.

Cynicism has become a way of life, instead of just a placebo, for me this year.

428 Obdicut  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:07:55am

re: #426 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Terrorism through capitalism.

429 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:11:37am

re: #413 Dark_Falcon

I've got Oreos. Golden Double Stuffed. Far too early for me to eat them, so have a few!

There is no such thing as "too early" for cookies. Or pie.

430 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:12:27am

re: #428 Obdicut

Terrorism through capitalism.

Credit card as heirloom. Is this part of the innovative ideas the GOP wanted?

431 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:14:29am

I can't believe I'm wiping and re-installing Win XP on a system. Will 2002 never let me go?

432 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:15:25am

re: #426 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Capitalism at work! Another fine example of the unregulated free market in action. An entire Louisiana town has been evacuated after authorities found over 6 millions pounds of explosives illegally stored.

Explo Systems disposes of artillery and howitzer shells for the military. But instead of safely storing the explosives in bunkers or disposing of them, they have been putting them into cardboard boxes which they have crammed into unapproved buildings on site or simply left sitting outside in the weather.

There was a small explosion at another area of the site on October 15th and when authorities came back to investigate further they found this...

Doyline

Doyline2

More here...

The government has been using private contractors to dispose of surplus explosives since the aftermath of World War 2. Its not bad practice, but it does require regulatory oversight which was weak in this case. As a result of this, Explo Systems has proven itself untrustworthy. It and those who run it should be stripped of all licenses to handle explosives and weapons (to include any permits they may have for concealed carry of a firearm), fined heavily, and then barred from all federal contracting for 10 years. Fraud charges may also be appropriate. And if any explosive is missing and is later found to have been used in a bomb that killed someone, then Explo's owners should be tried for Felony Murder.

433 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:17:09am

Late to the DOMA discussion but want to bring in my point anyway.

The state has a very viable reason for supporting marriage. Naming it badly, it's the interest in having a default broad power of attorney. It's actually broader than the term normally covers as there's not only the right to commit and act on behalf of someone else but also some degree of legal responsibility for the other party - both their acts and their welfare.

It is this, by the way, that contradicts the normal slippery slope arguments of marriage to animals, children, or multiple partners. The first two cannot act for themselves and so cannot extend that act for another. In the case of the last it creates as much potential for conflict as it does resolution of issues for which powers of attorney are required.

434 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:18:47am

re: #431 b_sharp

I can't believe I'm wiping and re-installing Win XP on a system. Will 2002 never let me go?

I have put Win8 on one of the computers. It's pretty consistent right now that my objections keep turning out to be "that's not how I'm used to it in XP" instead of actual operational problems. The more I use it, the more I'm thinking that much as I grew to like XP, I'm going to wind up preferring W8.

435 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:19:12am

re: #432 Dark_Falcon

The government has been using private contractors to dispose of surplus explosives since the aftermath of World War 2. Its not bad practice, but it does require regulatory oversight which was weak in this case. As a result of this, Explo Systems has proven itself untrustworthy. It and those who run it should be stripped of all licenses to handle explosives and weapons (to include any permits they may have for concealed carry of a firearm), fined heavily, and then barred from all federal contracting for 10 years. Fraud charges may also be appropriate. And if any explosive is missing and is later found to have been used in a bomb that killed someone, then Explo's owners should be tried for Felony Murder.

With a name like ExploSystems, who could have guessed they'd be experts in shooting themselves in the foot?

436 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:22:25am

re: #434 kirkspencer

I have put Win8 on one of the computers. It's pretty consistent right now that my objections keep turning out to be "that's not how I'm used to it in XP" instead of actual operational problems. The more I use it, the more I'm thinking that much as I grew to like XP, I'm going to wind up preferring W8.

I'm revamping some systems for donation, so the original OS is the one I'm restoring. If I was upgrading I would use Win7 or Win8.

437 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:22:32am

re: #434 kirkspencer

I have put Win8 on one of the computers. It's pretty consistent right now that my objections keep turning out to be "that's not how I'm used to it in XP" instead of actual operational problems. The more I use it, the more I'm thinking that much as I grew to like XP, I'm going to wind up preferring W8.

Oh - I meant to say... I am in the process of figuring out how to use a docked or bluetooth connected smartphone or pad to act as a touchpad. I can't decide which of two ways of imaging on the small screen works better. On the one, full screen displayed on small screen. On the other, the cursor box on the big screen is the display of the small -- which lets me get much more precise for 'clicking' and touching. The thing is, both ways bring a more practical 'touch' to the monitor for me.

438 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:22:46am

re: #351 Gus

All non gun owners to become FEMA camp guards.

Oh, cool! Are there medical and retirement benefits?

439 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:24:12am

re: #438 wheat-dogghazi

Oh, cool! Are there medical and retirement benefits?

Yes, but the Medical is Obamacare, so the Death Panel 'retires' you.

///

440 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:24:46am

re: #437 kirkspencer

Oh - I meant to say... I am in the process of figuring out how to use a docked or bluetooth connected smartphone or pad to act as a touchpad. I can't decide which of two ways of imaging on the small screen works better. On the one, full screen displayed on small screen. On the other, the cursor box on the big screen is the display of the small -- which lets me get much more precise for 'clicking' and touching. The thing is, both ways bring a more practical 'touch' to the monitor for me.

How are you doing it?

441 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:25:46am
442 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:26:20am

No way!

443 b_sharp  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:27:15am

re: #442 Gus

No way!

[Embedded content]

Does the GOP need to be aborted?

444 Vicious Babushka  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:28:03am

re: #434 kirkspencer

I have put Win8 on one of the computers. It's pretty consistent right now that my objections keep turning out to be "that's not how I'm used to it in XP" instead of actual operational problems. The more I use it, the more I'm thinking that much as I grew to like XP, I'm going to wind up preferring W8.

I just can't see Win8 being any advantage over Win7 where no touch screen is available.

445 Feline Fearless Leader  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:28:52am

re: #422 b_sharp

Cheap bastard has been looking for a way to stiff the waitresses for a long time.

Mr Pink will get his when the time comes.

446 Feline Fearless Leader  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:30:44am

re: #426 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Capitalism at work! Another fine example of the unregulated free market in action. An entire Louisiana town has been evacuated after authorities found over 6 millions pounds of explosives illegally stored.

Explo Systems disposes of artillery and howitzer shells for the military. But instead of safely storing the explosives in bunkers or disposing of them, they have been putting them into cardboard boxes which they have crammed into unapproved buildings on site or simply left sitting outside in the weather.

There was a small explosion at another area of the site on October 15th and when authorities came back to investigate further they found this...

Doyline

Doyline2

More here...

But due to Obama destroying America they will now just export that business overseas to China...
///

447 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:31:55am

re: #435 b_sharp

With a name like ExploSystems, who could have guessed they'd be experts in shooting themselves in the foot?

Once again the government gets stuck with the bill and ends up paying for the job twice. Explo already got paid to do this but now the Feds are hauling all that explosive off to ATF bunkers and then are going to have to burn it or have a bunch of small controlled explosions to get rid of it.

Tell me again about how much more efficient it is to use private contractors rather than have the military dispose of their own ordinance?

448 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:31:59am

re: #445 Feline Fearless Leader

Mr Pink will get his when the time comes.

He might have, though Tarantino deliberately made that character's fate unclear.

449 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:32:27am

re: #439 Dark_Falcon

Yes, but the Medical is Obamacare, so the Death Panel 'retires' you.

///

Well, that kinda takes care of the retirement benefits, too, I reckon. Can't take it with you.

450 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:33:05am

re: #441 Dark_Falcon

Here's something some here may like:

Ultra high-definition 84-inch TV coming to the U.S. with a $25,000 (£15,614) price tag.

Naw, too small...

/

451 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:33:33am
452 Feline Fearless Leader  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:36:30am

Good morning Lizards and I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Beautiful day in Philly. Walked around a bit and bought a cup of nice coffee (not French roast) and a few croissants at a local bakery. Sat in a local park to consume them, and then walked back home at a leisurely pace.

On the downside, the trip out this morning was to take His Imperial Crankiness for a stay at the vet. He started throwing up yesterday, stopped eating, barely drinking, and stopped peeing as well. Not good signs. So the cat hospital has him now for IV to rehydrate him, a bunch of tests and him getting some good drugs. I get the bill.

Oh, and the Steelers beat the Ravens! (Not so good for the Eagles yesterday, but a lot of local fans don't care so much anymore. They have gotten desperate enough that they're talking about the 76ers.)

453 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:36:56am

re: #451 Gus

[Embedded content]

Well, decadent she surely isn't. Married into royalty, yes, but decent and not into vulgar display.

454 Feline Fearless Leader  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:38:12am

re: #443 b_sharp

Does the GOP need to be aborted?

I'm not so sure. If you lance that bubole don't you risk spreading a nasty contagion all over the place?

455 wrenchwench  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:38:36am

re: #452 Feline Fearless Leader

Poor kitty. {{oaktree}}

456 Feline Fearless Leader  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:39:17am

re: #455 wrenchwench

Poor kitty. {{oaktree}}

His unofficial 21st birthday is this week as well.

457 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:39:23am

re: #440 b_sharp

How are you doing it?

poking and prodding. Basically I'm using the screen duplication/multi-screen system process already in Win8. Set the screen to duplicate instead of split separate. Then decide whether it's full or a window over the larger screen as part of the setup.

458 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:39:24am

re: #300 Four More Tears

I love pie charts. So easy to read.

[Link: dailydish.typepad.com...]

I made a pie chart of my favorite bars, and a bar chart of my favorite pies.

459 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:39:50am

re: #453 Dark_Falcon

Well, decadent she surely isn't. Married into royalty, yes, but decent and not into vulgar display.

Ol' Ross wrote a screed in the New York Times about birth rates being down because American womens don't make babies because they're decadent. Kate Middleton is pregnant.

460 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:41:21am

re: #459 Gus

Ol' Ross wrote a screed in the New York Times about birth rates being down because Americans women's don't make babies because they're decadent. Kate Middleton is pregnant.

Is that official, or that just more gossip? Because she's been the subject of an incredible amount of pregnancy gossip.

461 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:41:24am

re: #442 Gus

No way!

[Embedded content]

That Sandra Fluke bullshit just pisses me right off, students pay for their own medical insurance through the university, not one penny comes from the taxpayers or the university. She complained because they refused to get a plan that included contraception.

Yet the constant barrage on all the wingnut sites is how she is a slut that wants the taxpayers to pay for her birth control, it's a total effing lie!

arrrgghh! :(

462 dragonath  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:42:19am

re: #420 Obdicut

Remember when Republicans used to give Obama a hard time for voting "present" once? Good times.

463 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:42:43am

re: #460 Dark_Falcon

Is that official, or that just more gossip? Because she's been the subject of an incredible amount of pregnancy gossip.

Not a rumor.

464 wheat-dogghazi  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:43:17am

re: #459 Gus

Ol' Ross wrote a screed in the New York Times about birth rates being down because Americans [white] women's don't make babies because they're decadent. Kate Middleton is pregnant.

Added for clarity. I doubt Douthat is referring to non-white birth rates. I'd read the screed, but alas! China is still blocking the NYT because the Times wrote about the new leader's secret billions.

465 wrenchwench  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:43:44am

re: #456 Feline Fearless Leader

His unofficial 21st birthday is this week as well.

Oh, my. He has earned his crankiness!

466 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:46:06am

re: #452 Feline Fearless Leader

Oh, and the Steelers beat the Ravens! (Not so good for the Eagles yesterday, but a lot of local fans don't care so much anymore. They have gotten desperate enough that they're talking about the 76ers.)

I could be best described as a casual Eagles fan, and even I'm horrified at what I'm seeing. I believe there was a Rich Kotite-coached team that started 8-0 and finished 8-8, about 25 years ago. Other than that, I can't ever remember seeing the Eagles collapse like this.

It's a shame that most people around here treat the Sixers like they don't exist. They're one of the more storied teams in the league, and are doing somewhat decent so far.

Hope Kitty Overload does okay.

Edit: 1993 Eagles started 4-0, lost eight in a row, and finished 8-8. For the 3 people who were feigning mild interest.

467 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:47:05am
468 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:50:18am

re: #376 Dark_Falcon

Sexual orientation isn't in the 14th Amendment, and therefore I do not think that amendment is directly on point. This interpretation is an admittedly literalist one.

If they are United States citizens then it speaks directly to them.

469 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:54:42am

re: #467 Gus

[Embedded content]

Thank you for that. I wasn't angry with you, just tired of gossip.

470 dragonath  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:55:32am

Breaking: Human being developed through via hemotrophic viviparity, suitable pomp and circumstance will follow.

471 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:55:36am

re: #444 Vicious Babushka

I just can't see Win8 being any advantage over Win7 where no touch screen is available.

I think - still poking to know for sure - that there are a lot of under-the-hood advantages. That's a perception, not a certainty.

FWIW, I think that windows is right to concentrate on making touchscreen primary instead of an addon. Touchscreens are easier to use (once you get used to them) and are, I think, going to become ubiquitous on all but large screen displays.

And another FWIW, I'm doing this play with the touchscreen mouse (tablet, phone, whatever) because of how I think a future may play out, at least as an option. Here's the simple.

Your personal computer is your tablet. You can connect it to a common use (whether everyone or just you has access being a matter of access options) desktop which provides additional processors, larger screen, full keyboard, and faster (wired) connection -- your tablet provides core, personalized, and login key data.

472 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:57:23am

re: #469 Dark_Falcon

Thank you for that. I wasn't angry with you, just tired of gossip.

I wasn't reading angry.

473 Mattand  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 8:59:49am

re: #471 kirkspencer

I think - still poking to know for sure - that there are a lot of under-the-hood advantages. That's a perception, not a certainty.

FWIW, I think that windows is right to concentrate on making touchscreen primary instead of an addon. Touchscreens are easier to use (once you get used to them) and are, I think, going to become ubiquitous on all but large screen displays.

And another FWIW, I'm doing this play with the touchscreen mouse (tablet, phone, whatever) because of how I think a future may play out, at least as an option. Here's the simple.

Your personal computer is your tablet. You can connect it to a common use (whether everyone or just you has access being a matter of access options) desktop which provides additional processors, larger screen, full keyboard, and faster (wired) connection -- your tablet provides core, personalized, and login key data.

I'm a Mac user, but I agree with this. Windows 8 looks really good and makes perfect sense for a touchscreen device. On the desktop, not so much. I've been playing around with it on my MacBook Pro. I understand the decision to make a one-size-fits-all OS, but it's going to alienate a good chunk of their current user base.

I think when touchscreens, or touch interfaces, are more prevalent. people will look back more kindly on Win 8 then they are now.

474 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:05:09am

re: #473 Mattand

I'm a Mac user, but I agree with this. Windows 8 looks really good and makes perfect sense for a touchscreen device. On the desktop, not so much. I've been playing around with it on my MacBook Pro. I understand the decision to make a one-size-fits-all OS, but it's going to alienate a good chunk of their current user base.

I think when touchscreens, or touch interfaces, are more prevalent. people will look back more kindly on Win 8 then they are now.

Yes.

Something to point out here: how often does Microsoft get dinged for following the waves instead of leading them? So when they lead - thinking touchscreens are only going to increase in usage - they get hammered.

The problem with leading is sometimes you lead the wrong way. [edit to add: And you always get hammered by those who don't want to go that way, whether yet or ever.]

Like I said I think Microsoft's got this one right. We'll see.

475 Flounder  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:07:00am

There is nothing better in life than a fresh bagel!

476 dragonath  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:07:55am

Hey, as long as we're talking about royalty, I didn't know that Queen Margarethe of Denmark did drawings for the Danish edition of the Hobbit.

Image: grathmer3.jpg

Dang, that's cooler than anything the British Monarchy has done for the last 50 years.

477 Sionainn  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:09:27am

re: #460 Dark_Falcon

Is that official, or that just more gossip? Because she's been the subject of an incredible amount of pregnancy gossip.

It's official.

478 Flounder  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:10:05am

re: #476 dragonath

My radio just said the princess was admitted to the hospital for morning sickness.

479 bratwurst  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:10:22am

I knew someone would eventually make this stupid argument...so why not the stupidest man in America?

The solution to every gun-related problem? MORE GUNS.

480 wrenchwench  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:10:48am

Sounds like Limbaugh.

481 Flounder  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:11:17am

Seems like yesterday I was sitting in my black leather ass-less chaps watching them wed!

482 wrenchwench  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:11:59am

re: #479 bratwurst

I knew someone would eventually make this stupid argument...so why not the stupidest man in America?

[Embedded content]

The solution to every gun-related problem? MORE GUNS.

Oh yeah. A woman should always be prepared to shoot the father of her child.

Freaks.

483 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:14:45am

Clunk.

484 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:17:45am

re: #482 wrenchwench

Oh yeah. A woman should always be prepared to shoot the father of her child.

Freaks.

Bath time is always tricky if you don't have a convenient rack near the tub to hang your holster on. Showers are out of the question as you are shut away in the stall with no easy access for when your lover/husband/wife/perpetrator enters. So many worries without even having to leave your place of residence.

485 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:19:18am

Wouldn't it be funny if the world did come to an end on December 21, 2012?

//

486 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:24:22am

Derp.

487 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:26:11am

re: #485 Gus

Wouldn't it be funny if the world did come to an end on December 21, 2012?

//

I kinda feel bad that I am almost hoping something extremely drastic does happen. A wake-up call, if you will.

488 Feline Fearless Leader  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:28:15am

re: #487 Eventual Carrion

I kinda feel bad that I am almost hoping something extremely drastic does happen. A wake-up call, if you will.

The Mayan gods descend and punish all the evil non-believers?
//

489 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:28:20am

re: #485 Gus

Wouldn't it be funny if the world did come to an end on December 21, 2012?

//

No. Think about it, no more cute kitteh videos, ever. :(

490 makeitstop  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:33:34am

Obama's salute to Led Zeppelin at the Kennedy Honors was pretty awesome.

My only regret is that he didn't throw horns, but you can't have everything.

'Morning, Lizards!

491 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:33:45am
492 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:35:28am

re: #488 Feline Fearless Leader

The Mayan gods descend and punish all the evil non-believers?
//

Naw, that would be boring. I want a total axis shift for the world. Earth shattering change, something George Carlin would have enjoyed.

493 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:36:13am

re: #491 Gus

Image: Twitchy-Malkin.gif

That's disturbing, Gus.

494 dragonath  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:37:17am

re: #492 Eventual Carrion

Image: thealienscame.jpg

495 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:37:54am

re: #492 Eventual Carrion

Naw, that would be boring. I want a total axis shift for the world. Earth shattering change, something George Carlin would have enjoyed.

Dow was down 6.66 a minute ago--best I can do.

496 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:43:11am
497 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:45:51am

re: #496 Gus

[Embedded content]

That's so lame as to not even be worthy of note.

498 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:52:55am

re: #496 Gus

Well, I guess it is a step in the right direction that muslims are now more willing to accept gay people.

499 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:53:40am

re: #496 Gus

Cod Pink?

500 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:55:24am

Even the mutant fish are working for the Muslim Brotherhood now!

Game over man, game over...

501 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 9:56:58am
502 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:02:27am

re: #498 Eventual Carrion

Well, I guess it is a step in the right direction that muslims are now more willing to accept gay people.

Can anyone tell me when the next meeting of the Unholy Alliance of Muslims, Socialists, Gays, and Baby Killers is? I seem to have misplaced my copy of the memo somewhere.

503 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:04:29am
504 lawhawk  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:04:50am

re: #502 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Can anyone tell me when the next meeting of the Unholy Alliance of Muslims, Socialists, Gays, and Baby Killers is? I seem to have misplaced my copy of the memo somewhere.

It's in the file folder next to the ZOG paycheck. /

505 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:06:22am

re: #502 watching you tiny alien kittens are

Can anyone tell me when the next meeting of the Unholy Alliance of Muslims, Socialists, Gays, and Baby Killers is? I seem to have misplaced my copy of the memo somewhere.

Next full moon. In field next to your local Applebee's. Next meeting theme is "Can you unholy better than our unholy of unholy's?". Cookies and coffee will be served after the meeting for a meet and greet of the new members.

506 Eventual Carrion  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:08:58am

re: #503 Gus

As Americans face a fiscal cliff, the Obamas make do with 54 Christmas trees

Andrew Malcom derp.

Wonder if they can come up with a number for how much those trees cost? Wonder if in truth they were all donated by growers that wanted to be able to say they have one of their trees in the WH? Wonder if it makes a shit of difference either way to this person.

507 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:13:39am

re: #506 Eventual Carrion

Wonder if they can come up with a number for how much those trees cost? Wonder if in truth they were all donated by growers that wanted to be able to say they have one of their trees in the WH? Wonder if it makes a shit of difference either way to this person.

Where will they ever get enough Chairman Mao ornaments for that many trees?

508 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:13:59am

re: #503 Gus

As Americans face a fiscal cliff, the Obamas make do with 54 Christmas trees

Andrew Malcom derp.

And if they didn't have a shit-ton of trees they would complain about Obama's war on Christmas. The man cannot possibly win with people whose living comes from finding things to complain about regarding him. I'm just surprised he didn't mention the "Mao" ornament.

509 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:14:52am

re: #507 Decatur Deb

20 seconds.

510 Dark_Falcon  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:15:39am

re: #507 Decatur Deb

Where will they ever get enough Chairman Mao ornaments for that many trees?

Buy them from China, of course!

511 kirkspencer  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:17:02am

Actually it's 57 trees. There's the national (the big one), and 56 more - one from and for each state, territory, and DC. See here.

512 SidewaysQuark  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:18:29am

re: #511 kirkspencer

Actually it's 57 trees. There's the national (the big one), and 56 more - one from and for each state, territory, and DC. See here.

Of course that will be spun as "1 for each of the 57 Muslim States".

513 Lidane  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:19:48am

Your word of the day, courtesy of Urban Dictionary:

Mitt Romney money

Heh.

514 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:20:04am

re: #511 kirkspencer

Actually it's 57 trees. There's the national (the big one), and 56 more - one from and for each state, territory, and DC. See here.

One version of the federal format addressing legislation and rulemaking actually lists 57 states and state-like entities.

(That's not what the Prez was referring to in his famous nontroversey--he just made a slip of the tongue.)

515 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:23:23am

re: #511 kirkspencer

Actually it's 57 trees. There's the national (the big one), and 56 more - one from and for each state, territory, and DC. See here.

Yeesh, that 2010 tree is one ugly monstrosity. Why do you even need a tree under all those freaking lights? Wouldn't a wire frame do the job just as well?

Ugly Tree

516 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:24:56am

In 1969, the number of trees on the Pathway to Peace expanded to 57, to include all American unincorporated territories and the District of Columbia

517 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:25:34am

Small changes in the tree lighting scheme and pageant occurred throughout the 1960s. Instead of multi-colored lights, in 1964 the tree was lit with 5,000 red bulbs. It was decorated with 500 large gold ornaments, and instead of a star was topped with a white cross.[127][128] But when British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan visited the United States in 1965 and witnessed the tree lighting ceremony, the tree once more featured multi-colored (blue, green, and white) lights.[129] The 53 trees on the Pathway of Peace that year were lit with red and white bulbs.[129] This was also the first year that the American Mining Congress, a coalition of coal industry mining companies, began providing the trees of the Pathway of Peace.[126] In 1966, the 53 Christmas trees of the Pathway of Peace were alternatively lit in all green or all blue lights,[130] and were arranged in an arc around the National Christmas Tree rather than lining the path to it.[126] The following year, the National Christmas Tree was lit with blue lights and encircled with strings of red and white lights, and decorated with gold balls.[131] The tree-topper that year was not a star but a 4-foot (1.2 m) tall gold spire with a base of golden stars.[126] The trees on the Pathway to Peace, however, returned to multi-colored lights.[131] For the first time in the history of the tree lighting ceremony, a non-American choir (the Festival Singers of Toronto) performed at the opening event.[131] The National Christmas Tree used a blue, white, and yellow lighting scheme in 1968. When President Johnson lit the tree, a tree in the newly-electrified village of Nulato, Alaska (one of 59 rural Eskimo villages to receive electricity for the first time that year).[132] In 1969, the number of trees on the Pathway to Peace expanded to 57, to include all American unincorporated territories and the District of Columbia.[133] The National Christmas Tree that year was decorated in bands of red and white lights, and was at the top of a huge capital letter "V" formed by the Pathway's 12-foot (3.7 m) tall Red Pine trees from eastern Ohio.[133] The 1969 ceremony was interrupted by about 200 individuals protesting the Vietnam War, who repeatedly heckled the president during his short speech and who temporarily planted an 8-foot (2.4 m) tall "peace tree" a few yards from the National Christmas Tree.[133] Eight adults and a youth were arrested during the event for disorderly conduct.

518 Decatur Deb  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:28:27am

Back to the garden work--BBL.

519 watching you tiny alien kittens are  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:28:51am

re: #516 Gus

In 1969, the number of trees on the Pathway to Peace expanded to 57, to include all American unincorporated territories and the District of Columbia

Stop trying to use facts, your making my head hurt. How can I cultivate the proper amount of outrage when you keep trying to confuse the issue with facts?

520 Gus  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 10:29:02am

Remarks at the Lighting of the Nation's Christmas Tree.
December 16, 1969

As we enter the years of the seventies, I think it might be well for us to get a historical perspective--to think a moment of this tree, a tree, incidentally, that grew up in the home county of my father in Ohio. That tree, incidentally, is 70 years of age, and I was thinking and you probably now may think with me of what America was just 70 years ago.

The President's reference to Ohio was intended to be related to the 57 small trees which were a part of the setting, rather than the large tree which came from the State of New York,

521 KingKenrod  Mon, Dec 3, 2012 12:25:41pm

re: #503 Gus

As Americans face a fiscal cliff, the Obamas make do with 54 Christmas trees

Andrew Malcom derp.

Obama's war on Christmas includes hogging all the trees. Diabolical.


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