VA State Senator Proposes Mandatory Rectal Exams Before Viagra Prescriptions

Turning the tables
Politics • Views: 32,979

Big LGF kudos to Democratic Virginia State Senator Janet Howell, who attached a rectal exam amendment to the misogynistic Republican “ultrasound” bill in that state.

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

“We need some gender equity here,” she told HuffPost. “The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we’re going to do that to women, why not do that to men?”

The Republican-controlled senate narrowly rejected the amendment Monday by a vote of 21 to 19, but passed the mandatory ultrasound bill in a voice vote. A similar bill in Texas, which physicians say has caused a “bureaucratic nightmare,” is currently being challenged in court.

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426 comments
1 freetoken  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 8:51:36pm

bwahaha...

2 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 8:52:20pm

Looks like the (R)s voted to protect their buttholes, though. Or their Viagra.

3 freetoken  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 8:53:11pm
MP3 Audio
4 Daniel Ballard  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 8:53:42pm

Well with the Tea Party Republicans you have to remove the head first, and then proceed.

5 jaunte  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 8:54:52pm

re: #4 Rightwingconspirator

Looks like the VA Senate voted to keep their heads up there a while longer.

6 Max  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 8:59:01pm

Janet Howell is no saint. She ran a very dirty campaign back in November.

Patrick Forrest is running against incumbent Janet Howell. Forrest is a Republican, which everyone knows. He is also gay. Not everyone knows that, but some Democrats in Northern Virginia—including Howell, Forrest says—are trying to educate them.

Forrest says a number of conservatives have told him, “We heard you’re a homosexual.” He has told them he is, and has always been openly gay. As Forrest tells the tale, they have said they learned about it from Democratic volunteers, who also told them Forrest “would be promoting the homosexual agenda in our schools.” Nice.

That somebody is gay-baiting seems beyond dispute. Forrest’s field director, Eric Newland, recorded a conversation with Kavita Imarti, a precinct captain for the Democratic Party in Reston. On the recording, made at a party earlier this month, a seemingly drunk Imarti defends the tactic.

When Newland asks if “it’s okay for the campaign to be telling people” about Forrest’s sexual orientation, Imarti responds: “Yes! Because you guys are racist [expletives]. . . . You’re racist [expletive-expletives]. You guys are prejudiced against someone because of their sexuality. We are basically pinpointing your prejudice.”

7 Daniel Ballard  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:00:18pm

OK I'll say it first.

The irony here is this exam requirement makes far more medical sense than the ultrasound, because if a mans E.D. is caused by a prostate problem the patient really needs to know that.

8 HappyWarrior  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:02:26pm

She's my former state senator.

9 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:02:38pm

I had an acquaintance years ago who wanted her husband given a rectal exam every time she had to be "checked" while giving birth.

She had issues.

No, she didn't. She was just complaining.

10 HappyWarrior  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:03:33pm

re: #6 Max D. Reinhardt

Janet Howell is no saint. She ran a very dirty campaign back in November.

I highly doubt that people in the district would give a shit. It's not a hugely socially liberal district but this isn't a district where culture wars work. Just my two cents.

11 moderatelyradicalliberal  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:03:52pm

This lady is my shero.

12 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:04:02pm

re: #9 EmmmieG

I meant she didn't make him do it; I doubt the doctor would have, anyway.

13 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:04:06pm

re: #7 Rightwingconspirator

OK I'll say it first.

The irony here is this exam requirement makes far more medical sense than the ultrasound, because if a mans E.D. is caused by a prostate problem the patient really needs to know that.

I was in the middle of typing the same damn thing. But, you were first.

14 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:05:22pm

Now see this is just nuts.

15 Daniel Ballard  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:05:32pm

re: #13 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

I was in the middle of typing the same damn thing. Butt, you were first.

FTFY?

16 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:06:05pm

re: #15 Rightwingconspirator

(iseewhatyoudidthere)

17 FreedomMoon  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:06:29pm

re: #14 Gus 802

Now see this is just nuts.

Nothing says love like rectal exams.

18 ProGunLiberal  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:06:31pm

re: #14 Gus 802

I see what you did there.

19 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:07:26pm

Rectum? Damn near killed him!

20 HappyWarrior  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:08:11pm

Honestly, I don't get Vogel's bill. It reads to me as nothing as an attempt by the state to guilt trip women into not getting abortions. I think it's a load of shit really using the power of the state to guilt trip someone over what is a legal procedure. And of course McDonnell will sign it. Sigh this is why it was so important to keep the Dem majority in the state senate since they by and large were a bulwark against the nutcases in the State house.

21 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:09:01pm

Well this is a first, I think. An anus pun thread? Something doesn't smell right.

22 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:09:31pm

re: #21 Slumbering Behemoth

Well this is a first, I think. An anus pun thread? Something doesn't smell right.

I'm too pooped to think of anything.

23 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:10:00pm

re: #14 Gus 802

Now see this is just nuts.

That was corny.

24 Daniel Ballard  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:10:11pm

re: #21 Slumbering Behemoth

Well this is a first, I think. An anus pun thread? Something doesn't smell right.

The whole idea is just cracked.

25 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:10:29pm

re: #23 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

That was corny.

I am corny. Sometimes.

26 moderatelyradicalliberal  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:12:02pm

This lady is my shero today.

27 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:12:29pm

re: #24 Rightwingconspirator

Well, don't it make your brown eye blue?

28 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:13:08pm

I rectum I need to get to bed.

G'night knuckleheads!

29 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:13:35pm

And on this page, Frank Says:

A drug is not bad. A drug is a chemical compound. The problem comes in when people who take drugs treat them as a license to behave like an asshole.

31 Dancing along the light of day  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:19:00pm

Plug it up. Sister!

32 jaunte  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:20:52pm

More state-level socon activism:

Indiana Creationism Bill Passes in Senate

Sec. 18. The governing body of a school corporation may offer instruction on various theories of the origin of life. The curriculum for the course must include theories from multiple religions, which may include, but is not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Scientology.

33 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:22:03pm

re: #32 jaunte

More state-level socon activism:

Indiana Creationism Bill Passes in Senate

My hands are up in the air now.

34 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:22:37pm

re: #32 jaunte

In a science class?

35 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:23:32pm

Creationism is magic. It's not science. It is at most anthropology or cultural studies of long lost tribes and fictional literature.

36 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:23:40pm

re: #33 Gus 802

[insert masturbation joke here]
/i'm just not on my game tonight

37 HappyWarrior  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:23:45pm

re: #33 Gus 802

My hands are up in the air now.

I wonder if Mitch "truce on social issues" Daniels will sign it.

38 engineer cat  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:23:47pm

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

so she's basically telling them to take their bill and shove it up their asses

39 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:23:53pm

Abandon your inner cave man.

40 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:24:36pm

re: #37 HappyWarrior

I wonder if Mitch "truce on social issues" Daniels will sign it.

Probably. Of course. These wingnuts? Definitely.

41 Mostly sane, most of the time.  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:25:06pm

re: #38 engineer dog

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

so she's basically telling them to take their bill and shove it up their asses

Yeah, looking at this, she's requiring the two tests that make medical sense.

42 Daniel Ballard  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:25:45pm

re: #39 Gus 802

Abandon your inner cave man.

Youtube Video
43 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:26:11pm

re: #39 Gus 802

Too late. I already painted a crude looking mastodon on my wall.

44 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:28:07pm

re: #43 Slumbering Behemoth

Too late. I already painted a crude looking mastodon on my wall.

Hey it's cool if these guys want to believe in some old Middle Eastern fable. Just keep it out of our schools.

45 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:30:06pm

Just think. God went there instead of China which was already more advanced and they themselves were already technically "God's children." He decided to go with the most current and more populist movement.

46 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:32:51pm

re: #44 Gus 802

They'll be bringing this back pretty soon.

47 engineer cat  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:34:07pm

re: #35 Gus 802

Creationism is magic. It's not science. It is at most anthropology or cultural studies of long lost tribes and fictional literature.

from the point of view of future centuries, the late 20th and early 21st will look like a period of time where humankind wielded deadly technological power with minds stuck in the middle ages

48 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:34:15pm

re: #46 Slumbering Behemoth

They'll be bringing this back pretty soon.

In many ways that never left.

49 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:35:39pm

re: #47 engineer dog

from the point of view of future centuries, the late 20th and early 21st will look like a period of time where humankind wielded deadly technological power with minds stuck in the middle ages

Worse. I think we still have a great deal of primitive thought processes. As I sometimes think, "cavemen (yes again) with iPods."

50 engineer cat  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:38:33pm

re: #49 Gus 802

Worse. I think we still have a great deal of primitive thought processes. As I sometimes think, "cavemen (yes again) with iPods."

i'm working on a history of american 2010 - 2020 with the provisional title

"smart phones, stupid people"

i'm afraid i'm not yet able to tell you how it turns out

51 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:39:53pm

re: #49 Gus 802

Thog no have iPod. :(

Me do have iFire, doh.

52 SanFranciscoZionist  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:43:33pm

First TV show: Fire

First game show: Poke

53 sproingie  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:45:40pm

re: #20 HappyWarrior

Honestly, I don't get Vogel's bill. It reads to me as nothing as an attempt by the state to guilt trip women into not getting abortions.

Sounds like you get it perfectly.

54 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:45:56pm

re: #50 engineer dog

i'm working on a history of american 2010 - 2020 with the provisional title

"smart phones, stupid people"

i'm afraid i'm not yet able to tell you how it turns out

Ergo. Smart phones are so easy even stupid people can use them.

We have the technology and information readily available yet "we" don't know how to use it. Instead we've chosen to continues the Bronze Age based system of government. I could bring it closer to the late 1800s beginning with the Iowa "straw poll." Sometimes I think we're here in America as "local color" for the more affluent foreign tourist.

55 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 9:47:43pm

re: #52 SanFranciscoZionist

First Reality Show: Running from the 'saurs.

56 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 10:14:13pm

Well, since it would seem I'm all alone here...

57 Mentis Fugit  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 10:14:58pm

re: #7 Rightwingconspirator

OK I'll say it first.

The irony here is this exam requirement makes far more medical sense than the ultrasound, because if a mans E.D. is caused by a prostate problem the patient really needs to know that.

The cardiac stress exam part makes more sense too.

Hardly surprising, considering.

58 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 10:15:05pm

re: #56 Slumbering Behemoth

Well, since it would seem I'm all alone here...

Youtube Video
59 Gus  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 10:16:13pm

OWS is taking over the world!

60 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 10:28:27pm

re: #58 Gus 802

Yup. That definitely killed my boner. Bland Rock FTW!

61 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 10:31:08pm

re: #59 Gus 802

Sorry. We've already got a team working on Occupy Earth. We're seven billion strong, and we're not letting Occupy Wall Street take over.

63 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 11:32:13pm
Youtube Video
64 Lidane  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 11:35:51pm

Awesome. I just got my graduation certification from the university. All I've got to do is get through my classes and I've got my degree in May. :D

65 freetoken  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 11:39:14pm

A not oft heard recording from the Cole trio:

MP3 Audio
66 simoom  Tue, Jan 31, 2012 11:59:49pm

Possibly the strangest thing in the White House Flickr Feed:

Image: 6599500725_f7b670cb52_b.jpg

67 MittDoesNotCompute  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:02:42am

re: #66 simoom

Possibly the strangest thing in the White House Flickr Feed:

Image: 6599500725_f7b670cb52_b.jpg

WTF is that all about?

68 boxhead  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:08:25am

I think I may just hate these damn Right wing assholes....

69 simoom  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:09:25am

re: #67 talon_262

The caption reads:

Guinness Book of World Records holder John Cassidy performing a balloon act for First Lady Michelle Obama in the Diplomatic Reception Room following a Let's Move event.

A bit of Googling seems to say it was from a big Let's Move event back in October hosted by Al Roker & the First Lady. Some video that came up:

Youtube Video
70 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:14:53am

re: #68 boxhead

DUDE?!?! Tone it the fuck down already!
///

71 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:23:18am

re: #68 boxhead

I think I may just hate these damn Right wing assholes...

HEY!!!

I THOUGHT YOU LIBBBZZZ WERE SO TOLERANT!!!

THAT'S NOT VERY TOLERANT!! DON'T YOU KNOW, ONLY RIGHTWING ASSHOLES ARE PERMITTED TO EXPRESS STRONG EMOTIONS ABOUT OTHERS, NOT THE TARGETS OF THEIR HATE!!!

72 freetoken  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:24:40am
MP3 Audio
73 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:25:37am

re: #32 jaunte

More state-level socon activism:

Indiana Creationism Bill Passes in Senate

More socon sociopathy, written into law. Hope it's smacked down by normal people.

74 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:32:37am

re: #35 Gus 802

Creationism is magic. It's not science. It is at most anthropology or cultural studies of long lost tribes and fictional literature.

This is what happens when our country fails to provide the most basic aspects of education: teaching people what science is and how it works.

Creationism posits the existence of a supreme being, a proposition that cannot be confirmed or rejected by empirical evidence. That removes it from the realm of science.

And by the way, the Bible is not a science textbook, either. nor a history text. It is a testament, a statement of faith. That falls under a completely different genre.

But I guess we don't study literary genres anymore, either: we believe that the crap we see on "24" is part of the CIA interrogation manual...

75 Slumbering Behemoth Stinks  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:47:37am

Good Samaritans.

76 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:51:44am

re: #75 Slumbering Behemoth

Good Samaritans.

reads like a blog thread on the topic of racism...

77 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 2:22:34am

I am on some viciously good work roll. Massively productive.

What is wrong with me that I'm really enjoying a constant string of 12 hour workdays?

It started getting a little tiring after a week of them, but now that it's been two weeks of them I'm just flying.

78 boxhead  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 2:35:20am

re: #71 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

yaaaaaaarrrrrrrg :)

79 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 2:44:22am

re: #77 Obdicut

I have had phases like that. cycling twelve miles to work, putting in a full day, cycling to my evening job and putting in two or three more hours...

Now I have trouble getting going at all, and am terribly distracted by anything and everything.

80 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 2:46:49am

re: #79 ralphieboy

Well, I get to work from home, which is a big bonus, and the people I'm doing the work for really appreciate how hard I work and how diligently I work. So it's a good situation.

But still, I get an actual physical rush from working this hard, which I think is nicht normal.

81 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 3:52:28am

re: #80 Obdicut

Unless you are German...

82 Shropshire_Slasher  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:08:28am

Good morning.
Anyone catch Glee last night?
They did a Michael Jackson episode. I'm not liking it as I once did, the kids seem too old to be in High School.
They did a sketch of "Bad" which all I could think of was "I'm Fat" by Weird Al.
At least the kid in the wheel chair actually got to dance, instead of just using his jazz hands.

83 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:09:20am

re: #81 ralphieboy

Unless you are German...

Americans beat the liederhosen off of Germans in terms of hours worked. We beat every other industrialized nation. We are also more productive, per-worker.

The problem is that profit has not trickled down to the worker. Productivity has raised 400% since the 1950s, but wages haven't come anywhere close to matching that. The increase in productivity has not benefited the worker, either in shorter hours or increased pay.

Booo.

84 Shropshire_Slasher  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:11:07am

Where the hell is everyone? Make a little rectal exam jokes and this place is a ghost town. Rectum? damn near killed 'em!

85 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:14:47am

Good Morning Honcos!

Giving a brief on Peter the Great this afternoon. I have to cover his military exploits and make the case whether or not he is a "Great Captain" in the strategic military sense.

My vote, he was a great leader, an amazing innovator who drug Russia kicking and screaming into some semblance of modernitity, but not a Great Captain.

That is all.

86 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:15:30am

re: #83 Obdicut

Germans rarely put in a whole 40-hour week, the average is around 37.5. Plus they have 25-30 days of vacation and 11-14 paid holidays per year.

And, despite universal health care, they call in sick more often than almost any other nation in Europe...

One wonders how their economy does not completely collapse. Instead, they are one of the strongest economies in Europe.

87 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:15:33am

re: #84 Shropshire_Slasher

No guy gets updings for discussing Glee programming or Train concerts.....We just pretend it didn't happen.

88 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:16:17am

re: #86 ralphieboy


Gee, it's almost as if the secret to economic success isn't relentlessly overworking people.

89 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:16:57am

re: #87 RogueOne

No guy gets updings for discussing Glee programming or Train concerts...We just pretend it didn't happen.

You are going to ride that shit til the wheels fall off huh?
//

90 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:17:32am

re: #89 rwdflynavy

You are going to ride that shit til the wheels fall off huh?
//

You can file for an exemption but I can't make any promises.

91 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:18:56am

re: #85 rwdflynavy

Good Morning Honcos!

Giving a brief on Peter the Great this afternoon. I have to cover his military exploits and make the case whether or not he is a "Great Captain" in the strategic military sense.

My vote, he was a great leader, an amazing innovator who drug Russia kicking and screaming into some semblance of modernitity, but not a Great Captain.

That is all.

My son and I were just watching an excellent Russian Film ("The Sovereign's Servant")

Youtube Video
about Peter the Great and the Battle of Poltava.

I really like the way P the G is portrayed in that film.

92 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:19:32am

re: #88 Obdicut

Gee, it's almost as if the secret to economic success isn't relentlessly overworking people.

depend's on whose success you are focusing on.

93 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:20:14am

re: #85 rwdflynavy

The First Battle of Narva pretty much takes Peter out of contention as a great military leader, I'd say. It's part of what drove him to modernize the army, but that's no excuse for going to war with an unprepared force in the first place.

His war against the Ottomans didn't do much better, though a lot of that was political. He did manage some victories in the North, but overall, very hit or miss.

94 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:20:38am

Another reason why I don't read comment sections except for a very few sites:

Why the Race of Milwaukee Rape Victim Shouldn't Matter
Newsweek & The Daily Beast's Michael Daly's report on a Milwaukee woman who was raped by a police officer generated a firestorm of comments from readers, some of it ugly. In this video, Daly responds.
[Link: www.thedailybeast.com...]

(Original story: She Dialed 911. The Cop Who Came to Help Raped Her.
[Link: www.thedailybeast.com...] )

95 Shropshire_Slasher  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:20:50am

re: #87 RogueOne

I got broad shoulders, I can take it.

96 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:21:30am

re: #93 Obdicut

The First Battle of Narva pretty much takes Peter out of contention as a great military leader, I'd say. It's part of what drove him to modernize the army, but that's no excuse for going to war with an unprepared force in the first place.

His war against the Ottomans didn't do much better, though a lot of that was political. He did manage some victories in the North, but overall, very hit or miss.

Well said. Even his victory at Poltava was due mainly to him having the larger army. Nothing particularly brilliant militarily.

97 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:22:09am

re: #93 Obdicut

From what I read about Poltava, Peter's victory had as much to do with the Swedes screwing up as with Peter doing a great job.

98 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:23:18am

re: #97 ralphieboy

From what I read about Poltava, Peter's victory had as much to do with the Swedes screwing up as with Peter doing a great job.

Exactly, the Swedes let their supply lines get too long while wintering in the Ukraine and Peter cut them off.

99 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:25:20am

re: #98 rwdflynavy

Exactly, the Swedes let their supply lines get too long while wintering in the Ukraine and Peter cut them off.

Yeah, defending Russia/the Ukraine in the winter-- not exactly the biggest military challenge in the world.

Hey, have you studied the Mongols much?

100 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:26:29am

Is it weird to still be semi-close with your HS sweetheart (and her husband) after 2 decades? My wife thinks it is. My old GF's dad died last night and her husband got a message to me this morning so I can call his wife. Her dad was the one father who was nice to me as a screwed up young man so I feel like I should go pay my respects and my spouse thinks it's odd. I think she's crazy!

101 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:28:02am

re: #99 Obdicut

Yeah, defending Russia/the Ukraine in the winter-- not exactly the biggest military challenge in the world.

Hey, have you studied the Mongols much?

Last semester I did a presentation on Subotai and his excursions into Europe with a broad overview of the Mongol Empire. Very interesting stuff. I think Subotai is a Great Captain, but my professor disagreed...

102 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:28:49am

re: #99 Obdicut

Yeah, defending Russia/the Ukraine in the winter-- not exactly the biggest military challenge in the world.

Hey, have you studied the Mongols much?

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia"
-Vizzini

103 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:29:59am

re: #102 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia"
-Vizzini

Truly you have a dizzying intellect.
Wait til I get going!!!

104 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:30:08am

re: #94 RogueOne

Jesus, some of those comments are just fucking insane.

Recipe for disaster. 1) Give a low IQ black thug a badge and a gun and make him a police officer over much better qualified white men. 2) Allow him access to white women while on duty.

Question for that fucking moron: Do you really think there aren't white cops who rape women? What about the better qualified black men who weren't hired as cops because a good ol' boy was first in line?

105 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:31:36am

re: #101 rwdflynavy

Last semester I did a presentation on Subotai and his excursions into Europe with a broad overview of the Mongol Empire. Very interesting stuff. I think Subotai is a Great Captain, but my professor disagreed...

The history of Europe would have been much different if Subotai and his gang hadn't been called home to help choose a new Khan.

106 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:31:39am

re: #101 rwdflynavy

Last semester I did a presentation on Subotai and his excursions into Europe with a broad overview of the Mongol Empire. Very interesting stuff. I think Subotai is a Great Captain, but my professor disagreed...

Subotai is most definitely a Great Captain and your professor is silly. What was his argument-- that Subotai's success was mainly on the back of the competence of the army as a whole, or that the strategies were the ones developed by Temujin, or that his strategic sense was a little poor (in that Europe was not really worth invading)? Or something else?

Do you know a good military history of the Mongol campaigns in the middle east?

107 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:32:54am

re: #101 rwdflynavy

Last semester I did a presentation on Subotai and his excursions into Europe with a broad overview of the Mongol Empire. Very interesting stuff. I think Subotai is a Great Captain, but my professor disagreed...

When I tell people there is a major difference between (what I consider) a professional military and the rest of the worlds armies this is what I'm talking about. I don't think most people understand the level of training and education that goes into producing a successful officer or NCO.

108 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:33:07am

re: #104 Obdicut

Jesus, some of those comments are just fucking insane.


Question for that fucking moron: Do you really think there aren't white cops who rape women? What about the better qualified black men who weren't hired as cops because a good ol' boy was first in line?

They really should make a point of locking up all the white women when black cops are on duty, it only stands to reason.
//

109 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:34:05am

re: #108 rwdflynavy

They really should make a point of locking up all the white women when black cops are on duty, it only stands to reason.
//

You've just written a Porn script..

110 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:34:38am

re: #109 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

You've just written a Porn script..

I've seen that one. By part 4 the plot starts to get a little tired.

111 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:34:44am

re: #109 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

You've just written a Porn script..

Brown chicken brown cow.

112 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:41:45am

re: #103 rwdflynavy

Truly you have a dizzying intellect.
Wait til I get going!!!

From the IMDB trivia page. This is interesting (I think)...

Vizzini's advice on not getting involved in a land war in Asia is derived from principles stated by Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery (Viscount Alamein) in a speech in the House of Lords on 30 May 1962: "Rule 1, on page 1 of the book of war is: 'Do not march on Moscow.' ... Rule 2 is: 'Do not go fighting with your land armies in China.'"

113 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:42:29am

re: #104 Obdicut

Jesus, some of those comments are just fucking insane.

Question for that fucking moron: Do you really think there aren't white cops who rape women? What about the better qualified black men who weren't hired as cops because a good ol' boy was first in line?

Why bother; that person is irrational.

114 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:43:20am

re: #113 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

You know, it's just possible that I realize asking a 'question' of the guy won't actually get to the person himself, and the point isn't to get an answer from him.

115 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:44:55am

It’s Cold In Alaska, So Sarah Palin Asks: ‘What Global Warming?’
Derpity derp derp.

116 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:45:42am

re: #112 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Which is kind of funny in concert with a discussion about the Mongols, given that they very successfully invaded China-- and the success of those campaigns helped them immeasurably elsewhere, as they used technology and professionals from China to help them defeat others.

So, don't invade China unless you're the Mongols.

117 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:47:35am

re: #116 Obdicut

Which is kind of funny in concert with a discussion about the Mongols, given that they very successfully invaded China-- and the success of those campaigns helped them immeasurably elsewhere, as they used technology and professionals from China to help them defeat others.

So, don't invade China unless you're the Mongols.

We had a Vietnamese General talk to us about the history of Vietnam (he skipped pretty quickly over 1960-1975) who proudly told us the Vietnamese repelled the Mongol Hordes.

118 Decatur Deb  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:48:42am

re: #112 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

From the IMDB trivia page. This is interesting (I think)...

Think I remember an earlier warning from MacArthur. No time to check right now.

119 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:49:48am

re: #117 rwdflynavy

Did he gloss over the part where Vietnam became a vassal state of the Mongols, too?

120 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:51:05am

re: #119 Obdicut

Did he gloss over the part where Vietnam became a vassal state of the Mongols, too?

It was a very glossy presentation...

121 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:55:00am

How to feel like an idiot in three easy steps:

1. Make wife egg salad the way she likes it, with jalapenos.

2. Don't bother to wear gloves when handling peppers.

3. Rub eyes.

122 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:56:48am

re: #121 Obdicut

How to feel like an idiot in three easy steps:

1. Make wife egg salad the way she likes it, with jalapenos.

2. Don't bother to wear gloves when handling peppers.

3. Rub eyes.

Truly you have a dizzying intellect.//

123 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:57:05am

re: #115 Varek Raith

It’s Cold In Alaska, So Sarah Palin Asks: ‘What Global Warming?’
Derpity derp derp.

"I can't be overweight because people are starving in Africa!" *self-satisfied smirk*

124 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:58:19am

re: #122 rwdflynavy

Truly you have a dizzying intellect.

Once when I was in college, unfamiliar with the ways of woman, I was taking a shower at a friends place. She had some 'exfoliant' soap. It was the only soap that wasn't strongly perfumed that she had, so I used it.

All over.

Ouch.

125 Amory Blaine  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:58:57am

re: #121 Obdicut

How to feel like an idiot in three easy steps:

1. Make wife egg salad the way she likes it, with jalapenos.

2. Don't bother to wear gloves when handling peppers.

3. Rub eyes.

4. Go to bathroom

5. ????

126 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 4:59:32am

re: #124 Obdicut

Once when I was in college, unfamiliar with the ways of woman, I was taking a shower at a friends place. She had some 'exfoliant' soap. It was the only soap that wasn't strongly perfumed that she had, so I used it.

All over.

Ouch.

I heard that is the best way to get jalepeno juice off your hands...

127 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:00:01am

re: #116 Obdicut

"Goddamnit, how come everytime a Chinese put up a wall, stupid Mongolian have to come and knock it down!?"
-South Park

128 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:01:38am

re: #127 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

"Goddamnit, how come everytime a Chinese put up a wall, stupid Mongolian have to come and knock it down!?"
-South Park

LGF: Come for the spirited discussions of military history, stay for the movie quotes and low-brow humor.//

129 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:03:23am

re: #127 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

"Goddamnit, how come everytime a Chinese put up a wall, stupid Mongolian have to come and knock it down!?"
-South Park

Would you like the chity chicken?

130 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:04:22am

re: #125 Amory Blaine

4. Go to bathroom

5. ???

6. PROFIT!

131 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:05:13am

re: #128 rwdflynavy

LGF: Come for the spirited discussions of military history, stay for the movie quotes and low-brow humor.//

Well, I rectum you're right.

132 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:05:42am

Off to class. Thanks for the free education tax payers!!!

133 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:07:35am

re: #132 rwdflynavy

Off to class. Thanks for the free education tax payers!!!

Cheeky bastid!! //

134 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:08:17am

February 1, 2012... 1,300 feet above sea level... mountains of Southwestern Virginia.

Temperature? 54. High today? 65.

135 Shropshire_Slasher  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:09:19am

re: #134 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Its dark, and we are wearing sunglassses
Hit it!

136 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:10:49am

Morning Lizardim from the warm and foggy wild north country. This mild winter has me all off kilter. Maybe I need to go hibernate for a couple of months. Yeah, that's the ticket.

138 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:14:17am

re: #134 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

February 1, 2012... 1,300 feet above sea level... mountains of Southwestern Virginia.

Temperature? 54. High today? 65.

Indy has had perfect (for a midwestern city) weather for Super Bowl week. Almost 60 yesterday, mid-50's today and tomorrow. People are out taking advantage of it.

139 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:16:01am

With all his wins, Super-Bowls... blah blah blah...

Bill Belichick has to be the most boring man in the history of mankind who can hold a press conference for whom reporters will actually show up.

140 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:18:57am

re: #138 RogueOne

It would be funny if we completely reversed the effects of AGW; and during the ceremony celebrating the victory; had a Solar Storm slam us as the Yellowstone Caldera blew simultaneously.

141 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:20:24am

re: #140 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

It would be funny if we completely reversed the effects of ACW; and during the ceremony celebrating the victory; and then had a Solar Storm slam us as the Yellowstone Caldera blew simultaneously.

Always looking for a silver lining aren't ya?

142 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:21:55am

re: #140 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

It would be funny if we completely reversed the effects of ACW; and during the ceremony celebrating the victory; and then had a Solar Storm slam us as the Yellowstone Caldera blew simultaneously.

I am going to be very upset if a doomsday scenario comes to pass and it doesn't involve robots and a runaway AI.

143 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:24:51am

re: #142 negativ

You can get insurance for that.

144 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:33:22am

Python Terry Jones is 70 today. Who authorized this?? I thought they had agreed not to age, especially after that bit of unpleasantness with Graham.

145 RogueOne  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:33:55am

Time for work, enjoy the day folks.

146 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:35:40am

re: #144 negativ

Terry Jones is also a medievalist who's done very good work in the field. My dad has had the pleasure of reviewing some of his stuff.

147 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:35:46am

re: #142 negativ

I am going to be very upset if a doomsday scenario comes to pass and it doesn't involve robots and a runaway AI.

I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.

148 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:36:09am

re: #142 negativ

I am going to be very upset if a doomsday scenario comes to pass and it doesn't involve robots and a runaway AI.

I have robots.

149 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:40:22am

re: #146 Obdicut

Terry Jones is also a medievalist who's done very good work in the field. My dad has had the pleasure of reviewing some of his stuff.

There's a good article about the Spanish Inquisition in a recent New Yorker that makes the connection between the Python sketch and Jones's other career path.

[Link: www.newyorker.com...]

150 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 5:50:08am

Alright, diving back into work.

Thanks for the article, Iossarian. Sent it to my dad.

151 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:03:56am

Good morning Lizards.

Project go-live today and the phones are alive with access issue calls. Back to the grindstone!

152 Bulworth  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:19:32am
The Republican-controlled senate narrowly rejected the amendment Monday by a vote of 21 to 19, but passed the mandatory ultrasound bill in a voice vote. A similar bill in Texas, which physicians say has caused a “bureaucratic nightmare,” is currently being challenged in court.

Less government!! /

153 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:22:54am

Don Cornelius died. He used to be the host on Soul Train.

154 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:23:59am

I thought my anger would abate over the SGK betrayal of women overnight but alas it did not. This seems to me to be one of those moments where the left, and the centre, need to buck up and confirm that they are more powerful than an angry vocal minority. Every person out there that cares about making this right needs to send a message that will be heard not only in the board room of SGK but in every board room in America. Caving to the American Taliban will cost you money, and reputation. And it will hurt far more than the money and reputation you lost in the eyes of the evangelicals.
Charities are corporate animals. They take on a life of their own. They have massive infrastructure to support, salaries, and they compete for charitable funds. SGK has been one of the best at this game. Fiercely protective of their brand and trademark. They need to feel pain.

Do not buy a product with a pink ribbon. Do not give to any pink ribbon campaign. Do not support their charity directly. Write to every company and organization you know of that partners with them, and let them know that you cannot support them if they partner with SGK. That includes the PGA (yes Phil Mickelson too), NFL, NHL and others that have teamed up with them in the past.

But, at the same time, make sure that you continue to support charities and organizations that do contribute to the health and well being of our communities, their inhabitants and our world. SGK support of Planned Parenthood was not that much money. One big donor could make it up in a single donation. Hopefully there is a high profile celebrity that steps up and does so.

155 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:34:04am

Iran Could Attack Inside the U.S

The U.S. intelligence community is worried that mysterious assassinations and bombings aimed at Iran’s nuclear program may be spurring the Iranian leadership to pursue attacks inside the United States, according to current and former U.S. officials.

On Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that a plot last year to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States “shows that some Iranian officials—probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime.”

The alleged 2011 plot to murder Saudi Arabia’s ambassador—using contacts in a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the hit—was uncovered in October.

“The Iranians feel—and they have said this already—that they are under attack via economic pressure and things blowing up in their country,” says Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security for counterterrorism who served under President Bush. “The Iranians seem to be responding by trying to attack the United States and its allies abroad.”

While U.S. generals have stated in public testimony that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has killed U.S. soldiers in Iraq and worked with insurgents who target Americans in Afghanistan, it was not until 2011 that the U.S. government accused Iran publicly of trying to launch an attack on U.S. soil.

Clapper’s testimony is the first time, however, that a U.S. official has publicly suggested the plot to kill the Saudi ambassador may have been approved by Iran’s supreme leader.

156 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:35:14am

re: #148 Varek Raith

I have robots.

Don't you mean droids?
//

157 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:35:45am

re: #153 Gus 802

Don Cornelius died. He used to be the host on Soul Train.

"Apparent suicide", so sayeth the news report.

158 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:36:26am

re: #155 NJDhockeyfan

Iran Could Attack Inside the U.S

OMG we should step up our attacks inside Iran then!

159 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:37:25am

re: #158 iossarian

OMG we should step up our attacks inside Iran then!

Step up attacks? We aren't attacking them as far as I know.

160 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:39:50am

re: #159 NJDhockeyfan

Step up attacks? We aren't attacking them as far as I know.

Just goes to show what you know, then./

161 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:41:04am

re: #159 NJDhockeyfan

Step up attacks? We aren't attacking them as far as I know.

These are the only kind of attacks we should be engaged in. Along with the Israelis and the domestic opposition in Iran we should be pushing this with directed attacks and subversion. This combined with crippling sanctions is really the only solution we have for the Iranian threat to the region. With Syria imploding, sanctions having some impact the time is right for this type of action.

162 lawhawk  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:41:24am

re: #153 Gus 802

Damn... that sucks, and TMZ is reporting it as an apparent suicide (gunshot to head), suffered from health issues and a real nasty divorce 3 years ago.

He had one of the best voices on TV...

Youtube Video
163 Darth Vader Gargoyle  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:42:26am

re: #159 NJDhockeyfan

Step up attacks? We aren't attacking them as far as I know.

Their nuclear scientists keep coming down with cases of dead. I think I'd rather be the number 2 guy for Al-Qaida than an Iranian Nuclear Scientist.
//

164 lawhawk  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:44:51am

BTW, anyone notice something funny about Newt's presser last night following his drubbing at the hands of Romney?

He was busy claiming that he's got 46 states to go (it was on the signs on the podium, behind him, and his supporters were emblazoned with 'em).

Big problem though.

He's only got 45 states to go.

Gingrich isn't on the Virginia ballot. He couldn't get on the ballot in his adopted home state, conceding its 50 delegates (meaning a 100 point swing in favor of Romney).

165 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:45:11am

[Link: www.catholicnews.com...]

Former archbishop of Philadelphia died in his sleep last night. Day after he was declared competent to be a witness in an upcoming child abuse trial.

I linked to the full obituary since it shows a fairly complex background and career.

166 darthstar  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:46:30am

re: #153 Gus 802

Don Cornelius died. He used to be the host on Soul Train.

Possible suicide. That sucks.

167 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:47:42am

re: #164 lawhawk

BTW, anyone notice something funny about Newt's presser last night following his drubbing at the hands of Romney?

He was busy claiming that he's got 46 states to go (it was on the signs on the podium, behind him, and his supporters were emblazoned with 'em).

Big problem though.

He's only got 45 states to go.

Gingrich isn't on the Virginia ballot. He couldn't get on the ballot in his adopted home state, conceding its 50 delegates (meaning a 100 point swing in favor of Romney).

Newt, for all intents and purposes, is toast. I certainly don't want to volunteer for the job of telling him, though.

168 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:50:01am

re: #167 thedopefishlives

Newt, for all intents and purposes, is toast. I certainly don't want to volunteer for the job of telling him, though.

I have the impression that a lot of people are perfectly happy with Newt continuing. Sucking away donor dollars that won't be available for the general election, slowing any attempt by Romney to tack back towards moderation, providing the media with soundbites, and the Lizards something to point and laugh at.

169 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:50:55am

Anthrax?

Pakistan says anthrax sent to Prime Minister’s office

A female university professor sent a packet containing anthrax to the office of Pakistan’s prime minister in October last year, his spokesman said Wednesday, an incident that will fuel security concerns in a country that is home to top al-Qaida leaders and other extremists.

No one was made ill, and her motive was not clear, said Akram Shaheedi, a spokesman for Yousuf Raza Gilani.

He said tests at laboratories run by Pakistan’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Islamabad since confirmed the substance in the package was anthrax.

Shaheedi said the package was received in October 2011.

170 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:51:43am

re: #169 NJDhockeyfan

Take away her tenure.///

171 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:52:43am

re: #159 NJDhockeyfan

Step up attacks? We aren't attacking them as far as I know.

Yes, it's just a coincidence that their nuclear scientists keep mysteriously dying in mysterious explosions.
;)

172 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:53:11am

re: #168 oaktree

I have the impression that a lot of people are perfectly happy with Newt continuing. Sucking away donor dollars that won't be available for the general election, slowing any attempt by Romney to tack back towards moderation, providing the media with soundbites, and the Lizards something to point and laugh at.

Undoubtedly that's true. Although the last part is a bit of a stretch, because the Lizardim are also perfectly content to point and laugh at Romney and his pathetic attempts to come across as an average Joe.

173 Daniel Ballard  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:54:20am

Oh damn. LA is a dangerous town sometimes...
CNN
'Soul Train' founder Don Cornelius found shot to death in Los Angeles, according to coroner.

174 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:54:21am

re: #171 Varek Raith

Yes, it's just a coincidence that their nuclear scientists keep mysteriously dying in mysterious explosions.
;)

It sucks to be them.

175 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:54:39am

re: #173 Rightwingconspirator

Oh damn. LA is a dangerous town sometimes...
CNN
'Soul Train' founder Don Cornelius found shot to death in Los Angeles, according to coroner.

Suicide.

176 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:55:08am

re: #173 Rightwingconspirator

Oh damn. LA is a dangerous town sometimes...
CNN
'Soul Train' founder Don Cornelius found shot to death in Los Angeles, according to coroner.

Any more news about what happened near your office yesterday?

177 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:55:51am

Four plead guilty in London terror plot

LONDON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Four Islamic militants in Britain pleaded guilty Wednesday to plotting a Christmas 2010 bomb attack on the London Stock Exchange and other sites.

Prosecutors said the list of targets included the U.S. Embassy in London, two rabbis and the home of London Mayor Boris Johnson. There was also talk of an attack on Parliament, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The men said they were inspired by al-Qaida.

178 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:56:37am

Wow, some dude is remastering Manos: Hands of fate.

[Link: www.somethingawful.com...]

179 Eventual Carrion  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:56:40am

re: #115 Varek Raith

It’s Cold In Alaska, So Sarah Palin Asks: ‘What Global Warming?’
Derpity derp derp.

And it is 95F in many parts of Australia. Wonder what her answer is for that.

180 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:58:17am

re: #179 RayFerd

And it is 95F in many parts of Australia. Wonder what her answer is for that.

It's going to be 70 here today.
Of course, that's mainly because the Mid-Atlantic sucks at picking a season and staying with it.
/

181 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:58:29am

re: #178 Obdicut

Wow, some dude is remastering Manos: Hands of fate.

[Link: www.somethingawful.com...]

I assume you have seen the MST3K version?

182 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 6:59:21am

re: #180 Varek Raith

It's going to be 70 here today.
Of course, that's mainly because the Mid-Atlantic sucks at picking a season and staying with it.
/

I'll take that over 20 degree major snow storms any day.

183 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:00:11am

re: #181 Sergey Romanov

I assume you have seen the MST3K version?

Of course, of course. One of the best of all time.

184 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:01:15am

re: #182 NJDhockeyfan

I'll take that over 20 degree major snow storms any day.

These fluctuating temps are not kind to my knee.
It hurts!
:P

185 bratwurst  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:01:23am

re: #115 Varek Raith

It’s Cold In Alaska, So Sarah Palin Asks: ‘What Global Warming?’
Derpity derp derp.

Hey, we get posters HERE doing that sometimes...I'd be surprised if she DIDN'T mistake weather for climate.

186 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:02:10am

re: #185 bratwurst

Hey, we get posters HERE doing that sometimes...I'd be surprised if she DIDN'T mistake weather for climate.

The best comment I've seen so far...

I didn't see any tornadoes hit the midwest today either, so I ask you, "what tornado alley ".

187 Daniel Ballard  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:02:37am

re: #176 Varek Raith

A failed Rolex robbery, then a foot chase. No one shot. It seems the security guard that was chasing the man fired the shot, maybe accidentally (he better stick to that story) maybe as a (very stupid idea) warning to stop the robber.

Firing a shot in the air surrounded by tall buildings is just lunacy.

Good news-Nobody shot. Bad guy in jail, merch recovered.

BTW the most experienced civilian gunfighter in the modern era was a Santa Monica Rolex dealer, literally famous in tactical training circles. Never shot first, but had at least three big gunfights in his store before he closed and moved.
[Link: findarticles.com...]

188 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:04:18am

re: #184 Varek Raith

These fluctuating temps are not kind to my knee.
It hurts!
:P

Gaia always has fun with the Mid Atlantic.

189 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:05:13am

re: #182 NJDhockeyfan

I'll take that over 20 degree major snow storms any day.

I'll take the snowstorm, thanks.

190 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:05:27am

Heh, this reminds me of sumthin':

[Link: oglaf.com...]

191 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:05:49am

re: #188 NJDhockeyfan

Gaia always has fun with the Mid Atlantic.

Being in the middle sucks.
Nice and warm one day,
WTF DID THIS 3 FEET OF SNOW COME FROM?!?! the next.

193 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:06:09am

re: #189 thedopefishlives

I'll take the snowstorm, thanks.

I will take that nice grass on the other side of that fence over there....

194 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:08:05am

re: #191 Varek Raith

Being in the middle sucks.
Nice and warm one day,
WTF DID THIS 3 FEET OF SNOW COME FROM?!?! the next.

Especially when the 3 feet of snow can come literally any time of the year except July.

195 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:08:21am

re: #189 thedopefishlives

I'll take the snowstorm, thanks.

All I ask for is consistency.
:P

196 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:09:07am

re: #195 Varek Raith

All I ask for is consistency.
:P

Yeah, that's a bit much to ask for when you live in the toilet bowl of the Western Hemisphere's climate system.

197 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:09:43am

re: #196 thedopefishlives

Yeah, that's a bit much to ask for when you live in the toilet bowl of the Western Hemisphere's climate system.

Lol, stealing that.

198 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:09:44am

re: #194 thedopefishlives

Especially when the 3 feet of snow can come literally any time of the year except July.

Two years ago we got nailed with snow. We were measuring it by feet for weeks.

199 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:09:55am

re: #190 Sergey Romanov

This is my life right now:

[Link: oglaf.com...]

My wife even forgot her notes and I had to photograph them, batch convert them, and email them to her.

And it's not even noon.

200 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:11:12am

re: #198 NJDhockeyfan

Two years ago we got nailed with snow. We were measuring it by feet for weeks.

For my wife's 18th birthday some years back, they had a snowstorm. Difficulty: Her birthday is at the end of April.

201 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:11:33am

re: #199 Obdicut

This is my life right now:

[Link: oglaf.com...]

My wife even forgot her notes and I had to photograph them, batch convert them, and email them to her.

And it's not even noon.

But....
Griffin.

202 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:12:27am

"I'm not concerned with the very poor." -- Mitt Romney, 2/1/2012

203 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:13:25am

re: #200 thedopefishlives

For my wife's 18th birthday some years back, they had a snowstorm. Difficulty: Her birthday is at the end of April.

I recall some nice snow storms when I was a kid back in the 60s. Snowball fights were a blast.

204 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:14:16am

re: #202 Gus 802

Apparently he thinks they have an ample safety net.

Maybe he ought to read up on the subject.

[Link: www.ctpost.com...]

And to tell his GOP buddies to stop trying to cut unemployment benefits.

205 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:14:58am

re: #203 NJDhockeyfan

I recall some nice snow storms when I was a kid back in the 60s. Snowball fights were a blast.

You're in Charlottesville, right?

206 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:15:55am

re: #202 Gus 802

"I'm not concerned with the very poor." -- Mitt Romney, 2/1/2012

Heh, politically-stupid phrase.

207 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:16:01am

re: #204 Obdicut

Apparently he thinks they have an ample safety net.

Maybe he ought to read up on the subject.

[Link: www.ctpost.com...]

And to tell his GOP buddies to stop trying to cut unemployment benefits.

If he's not concerned because there's a safety net available for them then he would have to support the fiscal maintenance of those same entitlements that support that safety net.

208 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:16:25am

Letter from freed slave to his former master

Now there's a smackdown if ever I read one.

209 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:17:24am

re: #202 Gus 802

"I'm not concerned with the very poor." -- Mitt Romney, 2/1/2012

This is why you fail.

210 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:17:46am

Hey all!

Why TF do government people feel the need to be involved in our bodies?

There needs to be a caption.

How are you-all this am?

211 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:18:30am

re: #209 thedopefishlives

This is why you fail.

Thurston Howell.

Ain't that a hoot though? I mean, Mitt Romney as champion for the middle class.

212 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:19:05am

re: #205 Varek Raith

You're in Charlottesville, right?

Just outside in the mountains. We get a little bit more when it snows.

213 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:19:38am

re: #211 Gus 802

Thurston Howell.

Ain't that a hoot though? I mean, Mitt Romney as champion for the middle class.

Yeah, that made my bullshit detector start smoking. Parts are getting expensive for that thing, I oughta start charging the Republicans for the copious amounts of crap that they spew daily.

214 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:19:53am

re: #207 Gus 802

If he's not concerned because there's a safety net available for them then he would have to support the fiscal maintenance of those same entitlements that support that safety net.

Ample safety net. What a fucker. There are children going hungry in the US every night because of poverty. Is that 'ample'?

[Link: yourlife.usatoday.com...]

215 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:20:32am

re: #212 NJDhockeyfan

Just outside in the mountains. We get a little bit more when it snows.

Not too far from me.
I'm in Manassas.
Made famous by the Civil War and Lorena Bobbitt.

216 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:20:56am

re: #208 thedopefishlives

Letter from freed slave to his former master

Now there's a smackdown if ever I read one.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

I love it!

217 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:21:06am

I see that some of the organisms living and multiplying on the dead louse claim that that is it for Walter's little "game". Apparently, he hoodwinked them. He had nothing more than what has been posted. Pathetic senile failed playwright.

218 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:21:52am

re: #195 Varek Raith

All I ask for is consistency.
:P

I thought Sith thrived on chaos. Oh wait, that was Bugs.

219 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:21:53am

re: #217 Sergey Romanov

I see that some of the organisms living and multiplying on the dead louse claim that that шы it for Walter's little "game". Apparently, he hoodwinked them. He had nothing more than what has been posted. Pathetic senile failed playwright.

gossip? what happened?

do tell.

220 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:22:07am

re: #216 ggt

And this is a nice line, as well:

Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

221 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:22:12am

re: #214 Obdicut

Ample safety net. What a fucker. There are children going hungry in the US every night because of poverty. Is that 'ample'?

[Link: yourlife.usatoday.com...]

Yep. He's basing his "not caring" on a safety net that he allegedly wants to dismantle along with the rest of the Republican Party.

What's next?

I'm not concerned about clean air because the EPA has been doing a fine job of keeping our air clean. However, once in the White House I fully intend to shut down the EPA.

222 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:22:25am

re: #216 ggt

I love it!

I was laughing by the time I got to that line. Slaves weren't stupid, no matter how much their masters tried to keep them so.

223 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:23:15am

re: #219 ggt

He promised to post lots of alleged quotes from lizards' emails allegedly saying bad things about Charles and LGF, but managed only a few, and those weren't earth-shaking as well.

224 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:23:41am

I'm not concerned about crime because the police have been doing a great job in reducing said crime.

However, once elected I promise to cut police department funding on all levels!

//

225 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:25:22am

re: #202 Gus 802

"I'm not concerned with the very poor." -- Mitt Romney, 2/1/2012

I've just skimmed a couple of pieces on that and I can't find the money quote - seen headlines with those words in quote marks, but not that "quote" within the inline text.

226 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:26:53am

re: #225 wozzablog

I've just skimmed a couple of pieces on that and I can't find the money quote - seen headlines with those words in quote marks, but not something on the inline text.

Each One Gets A Free Cadillac

227 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:27:02am

re: #179 RayFerd

And it is 95F in many parts of Australia. Wonder what her answer is for that.

Maybe that it's currently summer in Australia?

228 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:28:21am

From Plum Line, the Mitt Romney quote:

“I’m not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there,” Romney told CNN. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

“The challenge right now — we will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor,” Romney responded, after repeating that he would fix any holes in the safety net. “It’s not good being poor and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor . . . My focus is on middle income Americans...

229 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:28:27am

re: #226 Gus 802

Coolio, it's shitty sub-editing I've been coming up against then.

230 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:29:05am

I'm not concerned about the very poor. They have air conditioning and cell phones.

//

231 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:29:08am

re: #226 Gus 802

“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there,” Romney told CNN. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

First of all, the very poor are a much larger percentage than 10 or five percent of Americans.

Second of all, even those who are not 'very poor' rely on the safety net.

Third, don't fucking lie and claim you're going to fix the net when every policy spelled out shreds it.


Who believes this bullshit?

232 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:29:11am

re: #215 Varek Raith

Not too far from me.
I'm in Manassas.
Made famous by the Civil War and Lorena Bobbitt.

Charlottesville is Thomas Jefferson's town. Great history around here. They just discovered that a building that Nelson county has been using was one of TJ's last designs.

233 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:30:31am

re: #228 Gus 802

"The very rich are doing just fine, and I should know, because I'm one of them." Come on, Mitt, say it, we all know you're thinking it.

234 Interesting Times  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:31:58am

re: #231 Obdicut

First of all, the very poor are a much larger percentage than 10 or five percent of Americans.

Second of all, even those who are not 'very poor' rely on the safety net.

Third, don't fucking lie and claim you're going to fix the net when every policy spelled out shreds it.

Who believes this bullshit?

40-50% of the American electorate (though for the sake of all that is good and just, I really hope I'm over-estimating there...)

235 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:32:32am

re: #231 Obdicut

First of all, the very poor are a much larger percentage than 10 or five percent of Americans.

Second of all, even those who are not 'very poor' rely on the safety net.

Third, don't fucking lie and claim you're going to fix the net when every policy spelled out shreds it.

Who believes this bullshit?

The very poor do have a limited safety net, the dirt poor however live below that net outside society unable to understand co-pays or form filling - functionally illiterate people let down by the system since birth.

The vaunted middle class are garnering attention though because it seems the majority are one crisis away from the poverty line. The fact that the crisis is likely to be health related is something the GOP don't give a single fuck about.

236 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:33:18am

re: #234 publicityStunted

There's just something so terrible about a dude making $12 an hour bullshitting himself into thinking he's middle class. Man, pride and income and status are tied up in a terrible way in this country.

237 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:33:21am

re: #219 ggt

gossip? what happened?

do tell.

They are lurking here wetting their pants in anticipation that we might start talking about them.

238 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:33:53am

re: #237 Alouette

They are lurking here wetting their pants in anticipation that we might start talking about them.

I'd rather talk about Manos: Hands of fate.

Have you ever watched MST3k, Alouette?

239 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:34:18am

re: #238 Obdicut

I'd rather talk about Manos: Hands of fate.

Have you ever watched MST3k, Aloutte?

Forklift.

240 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:35:56am

re: #236 Obdicut

There's just something so terrible about a dude making $12 an hour bullshitting himself into thinking he's middle class. Man, pride and income and status are tied up in a terrible way in this country.

I presume that's a bit of a typo. $12 an hour wouldn't be middle class, but on the other side.

241 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:36:42am

re: #236 Obdicut

There's just something so terrible about a dude making $12 an hour bullshitting himself into thinking he's middle class. Man, pride and income and status are tied up in a terrible way in this country.

As a nation America now has more class hang ups than the UK.

I both doth my cap and tip my forelock.

242 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:36:47am

re: #238 Obdicut

I'd rather talk about Manos: Hands of fate.

Have you ever watched MST3k, Alouette?

That's where they have a guy and some robot puppets trash-talking bad '50's movies?

243 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:36:57am

re: #240 thedopefishlives

I presume that's a bit of a typo. $12 an hour wouldn't be middle class, but on the other side.

Huh? What I'm saying it is that it's not middle class.

244 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:37:27am

Interesting!

WH addresses the insider trading issue.

245 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:37:33am

re: #242 Alouette

That's where they have a guy and some robot puppets trash-talking bad '50's movies?

Yes. The style of humor reminds me of yours in some ways-- and that's a large compliment.

246 Kronocide  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:37:54am

re: #228 Gus 802

From Plum Line, the Mitt Romney quote:

Romney has crafted his own style of rhetoric. Pretty soon we can call them Romneyisms and we'll all understand what that means.

Palin has firm ownership of 'word salad.'

247 Varek Raith  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:38:01am

Who took out the Hitler building?!?!

Youtube Video
248 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:38:22am

Romney: ‘I’m Not Concerned About the Very Poor’

At NRO! Hah! Some face palming in the comments.

249 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:38:57am

re: #243 Obdicut

Huh? What I'm saying it is that it's not middle class.

Well, if you're talking about Romney I would assume he makes a lot more than $12 an hour.

250 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:40:08am

re: #207 Gus 802

If he's not concerned because there's a safety net available for them then he would have to support the fiscal maintenance of those same entitlements that support that safety net.

There you go again.

251 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:40:20am

re: #249 thedopefishlives

Well, if you're talking about Romney I would assume he makes a lot more than $12 an hour.

I'm not. I'm talking about the targets of Romney's speech. According to Romney, nearly everyone is middle class.

Everyone wants to think of themselves as middle class. People don't like to think of themselves as poor. Our society derides the poor. That's a large part of this whole mess.

252 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:40:34am

re: #250 iossarian

There you go again.

Thinkin'? //

253 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:41:32am

re: #232 NJDhockeyfan

Charlottesville is Thomas Jefferson's town. Great history around here. They just discovered that a building that Nelson county has been using was one of TJ's last designs.

It was a jail...

Letters trace history of Jefferson jail building

Documenting a Jefferson jail in Nelson County

254 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:42:12am

re: #245 Obdicut

Yes. The style of humor reminds me of yours in some ways-- and that's a large compliment.

I like this PSA from the '50's where high school students have to be taught how to take a bath!

Youtube Video
255 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:42:44am

re: #254 Alouette

The shorts are some of the best. They're so 1950s, they're plump, juicy targets.

256 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:43:11am

How to eat dinner as a family.

Youtube Video
257 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:43:17am

re: #251 Obdicut

I'm not. I'm talking about the targets of Romney's speech. According to Romney, nearly everyone is middle class.

Everyone wants to think of themselves as middle class. People don't like to think of themselves as poor. Our society derides the poor. That's a large part of this whole mess.

Now I understand. It is a very good point.

258 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:44:15am

re: #231 Obdicut

Who believes this bullshit?

People are desperate not to accept that their lives suck, because according to their own belief system, that means that they failed.

It's hard to break through the defenses that people put up to protect themselves.

259 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:44:30am

What to do on a date.

Youtube Video
260 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:44:54am

Beware! Today is 2112!

//

261 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:46:06am

re: #259 Alouette

That one is classic. Also:

Youtube Video

With the creepy title "A date with your family"

262 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:46:32am

re: #260 Gus 802

Beware! Today is 2112!

//

Youtube Video
263 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:47:34am

re: #261 Obdicut

That one is classic. Also:

[Video]
With the creepy title "A date with your family"

See my #256

264 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:47:53am

re: #258 iossarian

People are desperate not to accept that their lives suck, because according to their own belief system, that means that they failed.

It's hard to break through the defenses that people put up to protect themselves.

People need to be taught that it's okay to be poor. Crap happens. What I've seen far more is that my friends graduating college expect to go out, get a $100k/yr job the week after graduating, pay off their student loans in a couple of years and get on with the business of hauling in cash hand over fist. The world doesn't work like that, and even graduates in highly desired fields like mine have to start on the low end of the totem pole. My dad and I have this conversation every so often where he reminds me that when he was my age, him and my mom were worse off than my wife and I are now. Their idea of luxury was going out to Burger King once a week for a Whopper and fries. We need to alter our kids' expectations; yes, they can make that kind of money, but that's a long-term goal, not something you just step into simply on account of your college degree.

265 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:48:33am

re: #263 Alouette

Nice, in before me.

Okay, I'm done compiling. Back into my mound of work.

266 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:49:26am

re: #264 thedopefishlives

People need to be taught that it's okay to be poor. Crap happens. What I've seen far more is that my friends graduating college expect to go out, get a $100k/yr job the week after graduating, pay off their student loans in a couple of years and get on with the business of hauling in cash hand over fist. The world doesn't work like that, and even graduates in highly desired fields like mine have to start on the low end of the totem pole. My dad and I have this conversation every so often where he reminds me that when he was my age, him and my mom were worse off than my wife and I are now. Their idea of luxury was going out to Burger King once a week for a Whopper and fries. We need to alter our kids' expectations; yes, they can make that kind of money, but that's a long-term goal, not something you just step into simply on account of your college degree.

First we need to define poor.

It is not ok to be living on the streets. IMHO, homeless = poor.

If you have a a roof over your head, food to eat and clothing to keep you warm--you aren't terribly poor.

Perhaps I equate poor with destitute.

267 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:49:53am

re: #266 ggt

First we need to define poor.

It is not ok to be living on the streets. IMHO, homeless = poor.

If you have a a roof over your head, food to eat and clothing to keep you warm--you aren't terribly poor.

Perhaps I equate poor with destitute.

It's okay to be poor. It is not okay to STAY poor. Bad things happen to everyone. What defines us is the way we rise above them.

268 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:51:34am

re: #264 thedopefishlives

People need to be taught that it's okay to be poor. Crap happens. What I've seen far more is that my friends graduating college expect to go out, get a $100k/yr job the week after graduating, pay off their student loans in a couple of years and get on with the business of hauling in cash hand over fist. The world doesn't work like that, and even graduates in highly desired fields like mine have to start on the low end of the totem pole. My dad and I have this conversation every so often where he reminds me that when he was my age, him and my mom were worse off than my wife and I are now. Their idea of luxury was going out to Burger King once a week for a Whopper and fries. We need to alter our kids' expectations; yes, they can make that kind of money, but that's a long-term goal, not something you just step into simply on account of your college degree.

That has led to some questioning the value of a 4-year degree rather than investing the equivalent funds to tuition and going into the workforce to build seniority earlier. Though seniority holds less value nowadays given the amount of job hopping. And a lot of companies essentially have ceilings for how high you can get in the hierarchy without that degree; or a second degree for management levels.

269 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:51:44am

re: #267 thedopefishlives

It's okay to be poor. It is not okay to STAY poor. Bad things happen to everyone. What defines us is the way we rise above them.

I agree with your earlier post that young people have a warped view of how life works. They seem to have no idea of "paying one's dues". Geez, I was thrilled to have a working car and be able to pay my rent at 22.

270 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:51:49am

re: #266 ggt

First we need to define poor.

It is not ok to be living on the streets. IMHO, homeless = poor.

If you have a a roof over your head, food to eat and clothing to keep you warm--you aren't terribly poor.

Perhaps I equate poor with destitute.

A big part of my definition of poor has to do with stability. If you have the things you list above, in addition to an acceptable level of healthcare and education for your children, and a reasonable expectation that these things will be sustainable for the rest of your life then you are not poor.

271 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:52:17am

re: #266 ggt

I guess I also mixed two different definitions of "poor" into my post. The first couple of sentences were referring to completely destitute. I transitioned into the type of "working poor" that defines life after a degree.

272 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:53:29am

re: #271 thedopefishlives

I guess I also mixed two different definitions of "poor" into my post. The first couple of sentences were referring to completely destitute. I transitioned into the type of "working poor" that defines life after a degree.

I had a boss that explained it like this:

"In your 20's all you do is work. You get to relax a small amount in your 30's. By the time you are 40 you should be able to work a little less."

273 wrenchwench  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:54:15am

re: #190 Sergey Romanov

Heh, this reminds me of sumthin':

[Link: oglaf.com...]

Heh, this reminds me of sumthin'.

I better go get some work done...

274 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:55:13am

re: #273 wrenchwench

Heh, this reminds me of sumthin'.

I better go get some work done...

Lizard of Guilt.

I love it.

275 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:55:46am

re: #269 ggt

I agree with your earlier post that young people have a warped view of how life works. They seem to have no idea of "paying one's dues". Geez, I was thrilled to have a working car and be able to pay my rent at 22.

Part of it is upbringing. I knew a lot of kids who had wealthy parents, the kind that bought them brand-new Mustangs for their 16th birthdays (and promptly replaced them when they got wrecked, which happened fairly frequently). This is not the way to teach your kid a life lesson on the value of money and the necessity of hard work.

276 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:55:48am

Think about being born into poverty along with the other things associated with that social state. "Becoming poor" is not the same thing. Being a professional and losing your job and/or your home in foreclosure is not the same as being born into poverty. Having to cut a lot of corners and "accepting whatever job you can get" is not the same like being born into a poor family in a poor neighborhood...

277 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:57:13am

re: #272 ggt

I had a boss that explained it like this:

"In your 20's all you do is work. You get to relax a small amount in your 30's. By the time you are 40 you should be able to work a little less."

I worked 2 and 3 jobs in my 20's.

In my 30's I worked part-time and was a stay-at-home mom with a husband that travelled 3-4 nights a week.

In my 40's I've worked part-time and been in a lot of back/joint pain. Staying-at-home most of the time enabled my husband to concentrate on his career, so we can pay the medical bills insurance doesn't pay.

278 Talking Point Detective  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:57:49am

A total puff piece - but I thought some folks here might enjoy this - about a "beat box cellist":

[Link: today.msnbc.msn.com...]

279 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:57:58am

re: #276 Gus 802

Think about being born into poverty along with the other things associated with that social state. "Becoming poor" is not the same thing. Being a professional and losing your job and/or your home in foreclosure is not the same as being born into poverty. Having to cut a lot of corners and "accepting whatever job you can get" is not the same like being born into a poor family in a poor neighborhood...

This is, unfortunately, the case. Poor people can rise above it, but it takes considerable will and drive to realize that American dream, a lot more than the not-poor realize. I can't wrap my head around what it must take to overcome those kinds of circumstances.

280 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:58:12am

re: #276 Gus 802

Think about being born into poverty along with the other things associated with that social state. "Becoming poor" is not the same thing. Being a professional and losing your job and/or your home in foreclosure is not the same as being born into poverty. Having to cut a lot of corners and "accepting whatever job you can get" is not the same like being born into a poor family in a poor neighborhood...

I've known a couple of those kids. Life hits them hard when it hits.

281 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 7:59:05am

re: #279 thedopefishlives

This is, unfortunately, the case. Poor people can rise above it, but it takes considerable will and drive to realize that American dream, a lot more than the not-poor realize. I can't wrap my head around what it must take to overcome those kinds of circumstances.

Work, work, work, and more more. No kids, and more work.

A lot of networking and the right attitude.

A willingness to learn and change.

282 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:00:21am

re: #281 ggt

Work, work, work, and more more. No kids, and more work.

A lot of networking and the right attitude.

A willingness to learn and change.

Sacrifice any hope of a family, stay single, save every penny.

283 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:00:44am

re: #282 wozzablog

Sacrifice any hope of a family, stay single, save every penny.

Not my idea of living.

284 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:01:27am

re: #279 thedopefishlives

This is, unfortunately, the case. Poor people can rise above it, but it takes considerable will and drive to realize that American dream, a lot more than the not-poor realize. I can't wrap my head around what it must take to overcome those kinds of circumstances.

There are a lot of people who have a hard time separating themselves from the surroundings. As soon as they have a little bit of something, a family member or a friend is there needing it.

I worked with someone who always seemed to have a family member showing up asking if they had any money. This person was barely making it as it was. It was a real eye opener for them.

285 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:02:06am

re: #282 wozzablog

Sacrifice any hope of a family, stay single, save every penny.

No, just a willingness to delay rewards. Start a family in your 40's instead of your 20's or teens.

286 lawhawk  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:02:31am

Ah, more fun with statistics. If we're defining poor by statistical measures, is the first decile poor (lowest 10%); first qartile (lowest 25%)? Some other percentage (lowest 30%)?

Is it defined by dollars alone, or by living/housing standards?

Lack of upwards mobility?

The Census Bureau formulates and defines poverty thusly:

The Census Bureau’s poverty thresholds form the basis for statistical estimates of poverty in the United States.

The thresholds reflect crude estimates of the amount of money individuals or families, of various size and composition, need per year to purchase a basket of goods and services deemed as “minimally adequate,” according to the living standards of the early 1960s. The thresholds are updated each year for changes in consumer prices. In 2008 for example, the
average poverty threshold for an individual living alone was $10,991; for a two-person family, $14,051; for a family of four, $22,025.
5
The current official U.S. poverty measure was developed in the early 1960s, using data available at the time. It was based on the concept of a minimal standard of food consumption, derived from research that used data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 1955 Food Consumption Survey. That research showed that the average U.S. family spent one-third of its pre-tax income on food. A standard of food adequacy was set by pricing out the USDA’s Economy Food Plan—a bare-bones plan designed to provide a healthy diet for a temporary period
when funds are low. An overall poverty income level was then set by multiplying the food plan by three, to correspond to the findings from the 1955 USDA Survey that an average family spent one-third of its pre-tax income on food and two-thirds on everything else.

The “official” U.S. poverty measure has changed little since it was originally adopted in 1969, with the exception of annual adjustments for overall price changes in the economy, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Thus, the poverty line reflects a
measure of economic need based on living standards that prevailed in the mid-1950s. It is often characterized as an “absolute” poverty measure, in that it is not adjusted to reflect changes in needs associated with improved standards of living...

...

poverty rate is the estimated percentage of the national population living alone or in families whose money income is below the poverty threshold. Under an alternate experimental definition of poverty, the poverty rate would be lower than under the official definition of poverty, based on pre-tax cash-income. Using a more comprehensive definition of income measured against the poverty line (one which includes the value of noncash benefits and the effect of taxes) the estimated poverty rate would have been 9.9% in 2007, as opposed to 12.5% under the official
measure in 2007.

287 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:03:07am

re: #279 thedopefishlives

This is, unfortunately, the case. Poor people can rise above it, but it takes considerable will and drive to realize that American dream, a lot more than the not-poor realize. I can't wrap my head around what it must take to overcome those kinds of circumstances.

Right. But that will has to have a foundation built upon education and a moral framework to even get started. Many know little other than what they learned within their own sub-cultures which are influenced externally and internally. So you have someone that's already 18 with little to know education. High drop-out rates. And so on. People can only "rise above" if they have the necessary tools to do so and can't simply wish their way out of an impoverished life. To that end it becomes a matter of society at large providing them those tools, tutoring or mentoring, etc.

288 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:03:23am

re: #282 wozzablog

Sacrifice any hope of a family, stay single, save every penny.

I was like that to a point (about age 35). Now I live my hedonistic lifestyle and give my manager headaches since I'm "not a team player" because I stopped working 50-hour weeks.

289 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:04:11am

re: #114 Obdicut

You know, it's just possible that I realize asking a 'question' of the guy won't actually get to the person himself, and the point isn't to get an answer from him.

Rhetorical questions, rhetorical answers; it happens on the internet.

290 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:04:14am

re: #285 ggt

No, just a willingness to delay rewards. Start a family in your 40's instead of your 20's or teens.

Every OBGYN just dropped dead.

291 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:04:21am

Including the mental health issues and depression that comes along with poverty.

292 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:04:51am

re: #288 oaktree

I was like that to a point (about age 35). Now I live my hedonistic lifestyle and give my manager headaches since I'm "not a team player" because I stopped working 50-hour weeks.

It's the rare person who can maintain the workaholic lifestyle for decades. The body just can't do it.

Even my hyperactive, type A husband finally admitted he is slowing down --at age 50 needs 6 hours sleep a night instead of 4.

293 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:05:53am

re: #291 Gus 802

Including the mental health issues and depression that comes along with poverty.

If it's all you've ever known coping mechanisms can kick in very early, if it's something you are reduced too through ill health or redundancy then it's worse on the noodlebox.

294 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:07:12am

re: #292 ggt

It's the rare person who can maintain the workaholic lifestyle for decades. The body just can't do it.

Even my hyperactive, type A husband finally admitted he is slowing down --at age 50 needs 6 hours sleep a night instead of 4.

Oh, "hedonistic" should be in quotes as well since my lifestyle is actually fairly reserved and quiet. I don't like noise and crowds and am anything but the swinging single stereotype.

295 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:07:14am

re: #293 wozzablog

If it's all you've ever known coping mechanisms can kick in very early, if it's something you are reduced too through ill health or redundancy then it's worse on the noodlebox.

This is where I think the Churches do a real service. Promoting community and positive attitude and the value of each other.

This has been on my mind because I know someone who had completely changed her life for the better after joining small church. She finally has a values based extended family that really cares and has their collective heads on straight.

296 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:08:08am

re: #293 wozzablog

There's also the aspect of people who get ripped off. A friend of mine who grew up in Oakland was straight arrow in high school got good grades, and a part-time job. The guy at the part-time job ripped him off, underpaying him, making him work extended hours, etc. He didn't want to give up the job because his family relied on that little bit of income. So he stuck it out, but it took a toll on him. When another employee started stealing, he got blamed for it and fired.

Lots and lots of workers get ripped off all the time, and yet we try to pretend that the working world is a meritocracy.

297 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:08:20am

re: #295 ggt

This is where I think the Churches do a real service. Promoting community and positive attitude and the value of each other.

I wish they would do more. The churches of America and I are not on good terms right now, mostly because they tend to focus more on themselves and less on the needy.

298 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:08:37am

re: #285 ggt

No, just a willingness to delay rewards. Start a family in your 40's instead of your 20's or teens.

I started my family in my 20's and I'm glad I did because now they are all educated, self-supporting, wage-earning, tax-paying members of society. Nothing sucks like being in your '60's trying to set aside for retirement, and you have teenagers and college tuitions to pay.

299 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:09:30am

re: #296 Obdicut

There's also the aspect of people who get ripped off. A friend of mine who grew up in Oakland was straight arrow in high school got good grades, and a part-time job. The guy at the part-time job ripped him off, underpaying him, making him work extended hours, etc. He didn't want to give up the job because his family relied on that little bit of income. So he stuck it out, but it took a toll on him. When another employee started stealing, he got blamed for it and fired.

Lots and lots of workers get ripped off all the time, and yet we try to pretend that the working world is a meritocracy.

Wage slavery and serfdom are engaged in a quick march toward each other.

300 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:10:48am

re: #298 Alouette

I started my family in my 20's and I'm glad I did because now they are all educated, self-supporting, wage-earning, tax-paying members of society. Nothing sucks like being in your '60's trying to set aside for retirement, and you have teenagers and college tuitions to pay.

It depends on the individual.

Being a single parent in one's 20's is not a good way to build financial stability. This is the scenario I was thinking of when I wrote that.

301 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:11:50am

There's social stigma that's attached to poverty. Including an internalized feeling of a lack of self-worth -- low self esteem. Hollywood endings of people picking themselves up by their own bootstraps are few and far in between.

302 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:11:57am

re: #297 thedopefishlives

I wish they would do more. The churches of America and I are not on good terms right now, mostly because they tend to focus more on themselves and less on the needy.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the little church I described in my earlier post. A good Paster can do wonders.

303 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:12:57am

re: #300 ggt

It depends on the individual.

Being a single parent in one's 20's is not a good way to build financial stability. This is the scenario I was thinking of when I wrote that.

I was not a single parent.

304 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:13:18am

re: #301 Gus 802

"Picking up yourself by your own bootstraps" used to carry the meaning of
"Something which is impossible, which only an idiot could think would work."

305 wiffersnapper  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:13:20am

This is hilarious!

306 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:13:22am

re: #301 Gus 802

There's social stigma that's attached to poverty. Including an internalized feeling of a lack of self-worth -- low self esteem. Hollywood endings of people picking themselves up by their own bootstraps are few and far in between.

People don't realize what poverty mean just 50 years ago. No rural electricity in some areas. People who never owned shoes.

In the book Angela's Ashes, I was truly shocked to learn the author grew-up for a time in NYC without shoes.

Can you imagine?

307 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:13:44am

re: #303 Alouette

I was not a single parent.

Exactly!

308 Interesting Times  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:15:29am

re: #306 ggt

People don't realize what poverty mean just 50 years ago. No rural electricity in some areas. People who never owned shoes.

Shoes made from third-world slave labor are cheap. Fuel, healthy food, and health care remain expensive.

309 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:15:39am

re: #304 Obdicut

"Picking up yourself by your own bootstraps" used to carry the meaning of
"Something which is impossible, which only an idiot could think would work."

Mitt Romney did it!1!

310 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:17:09am

re: #308 publicityStunted

Shoes made from third-world slave labor are cheap. Fuel, healthy food, and health care remain expensive.

Our concepts of poverty have changed.

311 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:19:20am

re: #304 Obdicut

"Picking up yourself by your own bootstraps" used to carry the meaning of
"Something which is impossible, which only an idiot could think would work."

Something Muenchausenesque, apparently.

312 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:19:38am

re: #266 ggt

First we need to define poor.

It is not ok to be living on the streets. IMHO, homeless = poor.

If you have a a roof over your head, food to eat and clothing to keep you warm--you aren't terribly poor.

Perhaps I equate poor with destitute.

In America, being poor also means being so down-and-out that you have little or no chance of working your way out of it. America is about social mobility. If we take that away from people, we are that much poorer as a nation.

313 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:20:23am

re: #282 wozzablog

Sacrifice any hope of a family, stay single, save every penny.

I prefer to say it this way: stay child-free, stay single, save every penny; do what you want, answer to no man.

314 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:21:02am

re: #310 ggt

Our concepts of poverty have changed.

The reality of poverty has changed. Things have changed for the better in the last 50 years. (I think about the slums of NYC in the late 19th century.) If you go back even further those changes are enormous. Much work remains to be done however.

315 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:21:20am

re: #304 Obdicut

"Picking up yourself by your own bootstraps" used to carry the meaning of
"Something which is impossible, which only an idiot could think would work."

That, and the metaphor itself is idiotic and stupid.

Especially for those who have no boots.

316 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:21:41am

There are tent cities of the poorest in America springing up of the dirt poor, those who have a tent and some blankets, who are provided for by charity in terms of maybe a soup kitchen. These people also maywell have mental health and other issues that contribute to their situation - but they exist.

People in homes can not afford to heat them and are living in single rooms of larger houses to conserve resources, people can not afford to eat and are past food stamps and are into food banks. People can not afford new clothes and shop in thrift stores. People are frozen out of the normal money system and live on payday loans at 1000%APRs to make ends meet. People were missold mortgages and other loans with malice-aforethought which are contributing to the modern poverty trap.

317 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:21:52am

re: #315 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

That, and the metaphor itself is idiotic and stupid.

Especially for those who have no boots.

Before you pick a fight with someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if you do end up picking the fight, they're a mile away and you have their shoes.

318 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:22:16am

And what changed that? Public educations. Building codes. The Great Society. Social welfare programs. All the things the revanchists want to destroy. The safety net.

319 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:22:41am

re: #314 Gus 802

The reality of poverty has changed. Things have changed for the better in the last 50 years. (I think about the slums of NYC in the late 19th century.) If you go back even further those changes are enormous. Much work remains to be done however.

This. The fact that we have made progress does not mean that everything is fine now.

Being poor now isn't as bad as it was 25, 50, 500 years ago? That's great! It's still not right that some people in the US can't afford to see a doctor while others have investments that net them 20 million a year.

320 Eventual Carrion  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:23:06am

re: #148 Varek Raith

I have robots.

Is there a cream or something that will take care of that?

321 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:23:41am

re: #317 thedopefishlives

Before you pick a fight with someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if you do end up picking the fight, they're a mile away and you have their shoes.

-- Eddie Izzard?

322 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:24:01am

re: #319 iossarian

This. The fact that we have made progress does not mean that everything is fine now.

Being poor now isn't as bad as it was 25, 50, 500 years ago? That's great! It's still not right that some people in the US can't afford to see a doctor while others have investments that net them 20 million a year.

Yep. Simply put. Yes, being poor has gotten better in the USA. However, it still sucks.

323 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:24:04am

re: #313 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

I prefer to say it this way: stay child-free, stay single, save every penny; do what you want, answer to no man.

My brother-in-law is child-free, single, an MD, has saved every penny he has ever made. He is 56 years old and in spite of his education, profession, and wealth, lives like a homeless person. That's utterly pathetic.

324 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:24:12am

re: #321 iossarian

-- Eddie Izzard?

Honestly, I don't remember where it came from. It's just one of the odd quotes/bits of trivia that stuck in my head at some point and refused to come loose.

325 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:24:58am

re: #296 Obdicut

There's also the aspect of people who get ripped off.

United States Steel cheated my mother out of her widow's pension in the 60's. had it not been for Social Security, we would have been destitute and literally out on the streets.

Even for that, she still had to work her tail off to make ends meet when we could have been living comfortably, if modestly.

She later found out about a class-action suit and received a modest settlement, but that was only a patch on the money when we needed it back then.

326 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:25:45am

re: #323 Alouette

My brother-in-law is child-free, single, an MD, has saved every penny he has ever made. He is 56 years old and in spite of his education, profession, and wealth, lives like a homeless person. That's utterly pathetic.

But I bet your kids will appreciate it when he is gone (hopefully at a ripe old age).

327 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:26:26am

re: #323 Alouette

My brother-in-law is child-free, single, an MD, has saved every penny he has ever made. He is 56 years old and in spite of his education, profession, and wealth, lives like a homeless person. That's utterly pathetic.

Just shows-to-go, one need not be married with children to live like a homeless person. Better him than me :D

328 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:27:58am

Quit yer complaining. Life is for the poor is much better now than it was in 300 BC.

329 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:28:04am

re: #326 Petero1818

But I bet your kids will appreciate it when he is gone (hopefully at a ripe old age).

My son and daughter have let their uncle crash at their apartments rent-free, so they are counting on something.

When we are at family get-togethers (and Uncle is not around) everyone swaps "can you top this" Uncle stories about his legendary cheapness.

330 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:28:39am

Not everything Anon does is bad. They hacked mail of Russian pro-Putin youth leader Yakemenko (I wrote about him) and of the pro-Putin org Nashi (sometimes called Putinjugend) press-secretary Potupchik. No "startling" revelations, just some confirmations of what everybody suspected. Fun! Thanks to Anon.

331 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:28:48am

re: #329 Alouette

My son and daughter have let their uncle crash at their apartments rent-free, so they are counting on something.

When we are at family get-togethers (and Uncle is not around) everyone swaps "can you top this" Uncle stories about his legendary cheapness.

And here my wife thinks I'm a cheap bastard.

332 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:29:34am

re: #330 Sergey Romanov

Not everything Anon does is bad. They hacked mail of Russian pro-Putin youth leader Yakemenko (I wrote about him) and of the pro-Putin org Nashi (sometimes called Putinjugend) press-secretary Potupchik. No "startling" revelations, just some confirmations of what everybody suspected. Fun! Thanks to Anon.

Stopped clock, twice a day, etc.

333 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:30:06am

re: #331 thedopefishlives

And here my wife thinks I'm a cheap bastard.

There is cheap, and then there is miserly.

I can't stand the miserly.

334 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:30:11am

re: #306 ggt

People don't realize what poverty mean just 50 years ago. No rural electricity in some areas. People who never owned shoes.

In the book Angela's Ashes, I was truly shocked to learn the author grew-up for a time in NYC without shoes.

Can you imagine?

I hated myself due to reading that book. By 3/4 of the way through it I was *wishing* for his parents to die due to what they had inflicted on their children. And I hated myself for wishing such on what were (or had been) real people.

Just the mention of the title brings out a lot of strong feelings. Which says a lot about the power of McCourt's writing and the situations that he wrote about.

335 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:30:14am

re: #332 thedopefishlives

Also probably depends on the country. Anon is not monolithic.

336 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:30:55am

re: #335 Sergey Romanov

Also probably depends on the country. Anon is not monolithic.

They are Legion.

//

337 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:31:14am

re: #311 Sergey Romanov

Something Muenchausenesque, apparently.

And there is the Heinlein story "By His Bootstraps" which is something of that sort in a very SF sense.

338 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:31:43am

re: #313 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

I prefer to say it this way: stay child-free, stay single, save every penny; do what you want, answer to no man.

I have to answer to the cat though. :(

339 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:32:16am

re: #336 Gus 802

They are Legion.

//

Everything is good within limits. In the US the Anon did lots of BS. But in Russia we could use some ... "chaos".

340 Amory Blaine  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:32:49am

Protest in City 17?

More than 30,000 gamers have pledged to play Half-Life 2 in an attempt to send a message to Valve: stop messing around and start dishing the details on the next game in the series.

Organising the effort through a Steam group dubbed A Call for Communication, the gamers will be taking to the streets of City 17 on Saturday en masse in the hopes that a show of solidarity will convince Valve it's time to part the curtain on the next Half-Life game.

341 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:33:11am

re: #318 Gus 802

And what changed that? Public educations. Building codes. The Great Society. Social welfare programs. All the things the revanchists want to destroy. The safety net.

And the safety net is also a good idea for a society since it reduces the chances of things like bread riots. A hopeless poor can very quickly become a violent poor.

342 Eventual Carrion  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:34:51am

re: #180 Varek Raith

It's going to be 70 here today.
Of course, that's mainly because the Mid-Atlantic sucks at picking a season and staying with it.
/

In the 50's here in NW Pennsylvania. Been a very strange winter so far. Seem the only time we have gotten any good snow is when I have to drive to Erie for wrestling tournaments :-(

343 Shropshire_Slasher  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:35:42am

Hmm cheap or miserly.
How many of us reuse ziploc bags
Re-use Aluminum foil
Wash out the whip cream container
Have mustard jars as glasses
Hang laundry on the line
Hang laundry in your basement
Return cans/bottles for the nickel deposit
Re-use your bacon grease.
Grow your own food
Pick wild raspberries.
Not own a cell phone
Heat with wood
Hunt for food
many more...

344 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:36:38am

re: #338 oaktree

I have to answer to the cat though. :(

Well, I know how that is. She rules the roost.

345 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:38:16am

re: #328 Gus 802

You should be GRATEFUL to be treated like crud in this country for being poor, as opposed to being treated like shit somewhere else!!

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW GOOD YOU'VE GOT IT!!!

346 Eventual Carrion  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:39:45am

re: #203 NJDhockeyfan

I recall some nice snow storms when I was a kid back in the 60s. Snowball fights were a blast.

My youngest son has been complaining for weeks about the lack of snow. Snowball fights and sled riding have been few and far between this year. It's no fun playing in the cold rain.

347 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:41:26am

re: #345 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

Yeah the great American pastime: global or historical comparisons. "It could be worse! Some people don't even have ______ in ______ ."

348 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:42:24am

re: #347 Gus 802

Yeah the great American pastime: global or historical comparisons. "It could be worse! Some people don't even have ___ in ___ ."

In Soviet Russia, _____ _____s you.

349 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:42:33am

It could be worse! Why don't you try living in North Korea with yer flat screen TVs!

350 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:42:46am

re: #347 Gus 802

Yeah the great American pastime: global or historical comparisons. "It could be worse! Some people don't even have ___ in ___ ."

That's why we teach about history and other cultures in our schools. To show how much better off we are here and now. And that we should be grateful and uncomplaining as a result.
/

351 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:42:57am

re: #347 Gus 802

"Shit, I only shot you with a .22, so what are you whining about? there's lots of guys out there I shot with a .38!"

352 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:43:46am

re: #350 oaktree

That's why we teach about history and other cultures in our schools. To show how much better off we are here and now. And that we should be grateful and uncomplaining as a result.
/

America. Where life is better than rural Pakistan.

//

353 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:44:35am

That could use some tweaking.

354 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:44:36am

re: #343 Shropshire_Slasher

Hmm cheap or miserly.
How many of us reuse ziploc bags
Re-use Aluminum foil
Wash out the whip cream container
Have mustard jars as glasses
Hang laundry on the line
Hang laundry in your basement
Return cans/bottles for the nickel deposit
Re-use your bacon grease.
Grow your own food
Pick wild raspberries.
Not own a cell phone
Heat with wood
Hunt for food
many more...

Pretty sure every one of those things could be defended on some grounds other than financial. In fact, a number of those i have done myself, and not for financial reasons.

Hang laundry on the line
Hang laundry in your basement
Return cans/bottles for the nickel deposit
Grow your own food
Pick wild raspberries.
Heat with wood

355 iossarian  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:44:36am

re: #352 Gus 802

America. Where life is better than rural Pakistan.

//

Let's not get ahead of ourselves now.

/

356 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:45:02am

re: #352 Gus 802

America. Where life is better than rural Pakistan.

//

What's that droning noise I hear... (loss of signal)

357 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:47:34am

All of which is a play with the proverbial "America, love it or leave it" pablum.

"Why if you don't like the way things are run here in Murica why don't you move to Cuba or something."

Ah the 60s Hard Hatters.

358 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:48:04am

re: #357 Gus 802

All of which is a play with the proverbial "America, love it or leave it" pablum.

"Why if you don't like the way things are run here in Murica why don't you move to Cuba or something."

Ah the 60s Hard Hatters.

Conversely, "This country sucks, I'm going to Canada."

359 wrenchwench  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:48:55am

re: #352 Gus 802

America. Where life is better than rural Pakistan.

//

We used to joke that New Mexico was the most prosperous state in the Tri-State Area--meaning New Mexico, Sonora, and Chihuahua. Then somebody who knows more about Mexico said that's probably not true.

360 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:50:09am

A very worthy open-air exhibition with some great objects (which should not be spoiled):

[Link: el-magico.livejournal.com...]

361 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:51:00am

re: #358 thedopefishlives

Conversely, "This country sucks, I'm going to Canada."

Which is of course a personal decision. As opposed to being told "America love it or leave it." I'd personally choose Australia over Canada right now. ;)

362 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:52:21am

re: #358 thedopefishlives

Conversely, "This country sucks, I'm going to Canada."

I told my BFF the other day as we were laughing at the Disappointeds and stay-home leftier-than-thous, eff going to Canada. We (Black ppl) don't move to Canada, we stay here and duke it out.

She also got my uphill-both-ways-in-the-snow earful about the election of 1912 - want an election dilemma? Be my relatives in 1912 Arkansas, that's an election to gripe about it.

363 Killgore Trout  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:52:50am

re: #361 Gus 802

Which is of course a personal decision. As opposed to being told "America love it or leave it." I'd personally choose Australia over Canada right now. ;)

Australian women love American men.

364 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:53:24am

re: #363 Killgore Trout

Australian women love American men.

How many times do we have to tell you, Killgore, "G'day mate" is not a proposition for marriage./

365 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:54:03am

re: #362 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

Besides, wingnuts are in power in Canada right now, so what gives.

366 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:54:33am

re: #363 Killgore Trout

Australian women love American men.

That's what "Charlie" on "Outsourced" used to think.

//

367 ProGunLiberal  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:55:29am

re: #359 wrenchwench

New Mexico has been neglected by the Feds for a long time.

Solution: The Red States don't want Federal Interference, take away the money they get and redistribute it to the historically Blue States.

New Mexico would get Billions.

368 Killgore Trout  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:55:38am

re: #364 thedopefishlives

How many times do we have to tell you, Killgore, "G'day mate" is not a proposition for marriage./

Of course not, it's a common slang invitation to intercourse.

369 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:55:52am

re: #365 Sergey Romanov

Besides, wingnuts are in power in Canada right now, so what gives.

Yeah, that's really part of the ethic. Everywhere you go...dumb bigots and frothing wingnuts, anyway; why move somewhere else where you'll just be met with the same old crap. Instead, do something to make things better where you are.

370 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:56:08am

re: #352 Gus 802

America. Where life is better than rural Pakistan.

//

I will never forget a conversation i had with a woman in a supermarket in Southern Cal. I was renting a home there for 2 months basically a holiday I took with my family after I sold a business. She was in line with me and reading the rags at the cash this was 6 months or so after the crash with Lehman Bros. She was complaining about the crash of the real estate market and this and that and the whole world crashing. I said to her that I was Canadian. That our market was strong as we did not have the same lack of banking regulations, and predatory lending practices. She looked me straight in the eye and said "well, at least in the US we have the kind of freedom that allows people to make a million dollars, I would still take that over Canada any day". I literally laughed in her face. All this to say I don't think the US education system is doing much to give an accurate portrayal of life in Canada, let alone China, India and Pakistan.

371 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:57:23am

re: #365 Sergey Romanov

Besides, wingnuts are in power in Canada right now, so what gives.

A wingnut in Canada is basically a centrist democrat in the US.

372 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:57:47am

re: #362 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

I told my BFF the other day as we were laughing at the Disappointeds and stay-home leftier-than-thous, eff going to Canada. We (Black ppl) don't move to Canada, we stay here and duke it out

It's funny that people who are going to leave the country if x are always threatening to flock to ever-whiter regions. Americans threaten to move to Canada, Canadians threaten to move to Europe. Europeans can't threaten to move anywhere.../

373 Douchecanoe and Ryan Too  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:57:55am

re: #370 Petero1818

The US education system isn't doing much in general. Public education in this country is bad, whether it be from a lack of qualified educators, wingnuts forcing their retarded curricula on schools, or whatever.

374 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:58:07am

re: #370 Petero1818

You know, this sincere care poor or middle-class wingnuts have about other people making money... Kinda strange.

375 Killgore Trout  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:58:38am

Obama's police state update: Former CIA Agent Charged Under Espionage Act For Reporting Torture

Youtube Video

As you might guess the story is a little more complicated than the rabid lefties let on.
John Kiriakou, ex-spy and media darling

The investigation revealed that on multiple occasions, one of the journalists to whom Kiriakou is alleged to have illegally disclosed classified information, in turn, disclosed that information to a defense team investigator, and that this information was reflected in the classified defense filing and enabled the defense team to take or obtain surveillance photographs of government personnel.

376 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 8:59:18am

re: #371 Petero1818

A wingnut in Canada is basically a centrist democrat in the US.

Obama is a centrist Democrat. Isn't Harper well to the right of him?

377 Killgore Trout  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:00:34am

re: #371 Petero1818

A wingnut in Canada is basically a centrist democrat in the US.

Ron Paul has quite a bit of appeal to Canadians for some reason. We used to get them here on LGF all the time.

378 Petero1818  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:01:45am

re: #376 Sergey Romanov

Obama is a centrist Democrat. Isn't Harper well to the right of him?

Personally he is. From a governing perspective, not really. We have very little tolerance for right wing social engineering here in Canada. The base line is established. Our centrist position is well to the left of yours. IN fact it is to the left of your Democratic centrist position. So when Harper tries to push the envelope he he really trying to get to your middle.

379 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:02:02am

@thethe THE THE
Thought For The Day "When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent." (Isaac Asimov)

380 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:02:06am

re: #343 Shropshire_Slasher

Hmm cheap or miserly.
How many of us reuse ziploc bags
Re-use Aluminum foil
Wash out the whip cream container
Have mustard jars as glasses
Hang laundry on the line
Hang laundry in your basement
Return cans/bottles for the nickel deposit
Re-use your bacon grease.
Grow your own food
Pick wild raspberries.
Not own a cell phone
Heat with wood
Hunt for food
many more...

10¢ bottle deposit in Michigan, everybody returns bottles/cans.

381 lawhawk  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:02:19am

re: #314 Gus 802

Many of those slums (as in the NYC example) were turned into public housing projects, skyscrapers in park-type projects, that ended up creating as many or more problems than the housing situation that came before it. Some of the most notorious housing projects have been torn down in favor of reintegrating the housing into the scale of the communities surrounding them. Others have been much more successful and have turned the housing projects into a boon as elderly housing since the apartment buildings provide amenities in a condensed environment (naturally occurring retirement community - NORC):

It turns out that the very architectural traits that conventional wisdom said made tower-in-the-park projects like Pruitt-Igoe inhumane actually make these buildings ideal for retirees: the elevators (so long as they work) and communal spaces, the enclosed green areas where it’s possible to walk safely, the openness and in-house programs. Once again architecture evolves in bottom-up ways that architects and planners can never fully predict. Today New York has dozens of NORCs, most of them towers in the park.

I stopped into the Penn South Program for Seniors the other afternoon, and Elaine Rosen, the program coordinator, showed off the book-lined common room, the basket of donated eyeglasses, and a long program sheet of concerts, lectures and free Swedish massages. “It’s a community,” she said.

So was Pruitt-Igoe, whose fleeting, forgotten Eden the film movingly excavates in the recollection of Sylvester Brown, an early resident. He remembers the smell of pies and cakes in the hallways. Jacquelyn Williams, who moved with her 11 siblings from a shack where her mother slept beside the kitchen’s potbelly stove, recalls “friendships and bonds formed there that have lasted a lifetime.”

382 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:04:09am

re: #378 Petero1818

I'm in Russia, but your point is well-taken.

383 wrenchwench  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:04:50am

re: #367 ProLifeLiberal

New Mexico has been neglected by the Feds for a long time.

Solution: The Red States don't want Federal Interference, take away the money they get and redistribute it to the historically Blue States.

New Mexico would get Billions.

New Mexico gets about $2.00 back for every dollar it pays in federal taxes. We're number one!!

384 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:05:03am

re: #375 Killgore Trout

Is this a re-run of Plamegate?

385 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:05:42am

re: #381 lawhawk

Many of those slums (as in the NYC example) were turned into public housing projects, skyscrapers in park-type projects, that ended up creating as many or more problems than the housing situation that came before it. Some of the most notorious housing projects have been torn down in favor of reintegrating the housing into the scale of the communities surrounding them. Others have been much more successful and have turned the housing projects into a boon as elderly housing since the apartment buildings provide amenities in a condensed environment (naturally occurring retirement community - NORC):

True. But we know what happens when we tear down a housing project and attempt to "reintegrate housing" within a city. The usual term is called gentrification of that area. I can very easily turn one of those same public housing "projects" and convert it into and upscale housing development complete with yoga rooms and dog parks. It's a difficult situation all around. Not saying there isn't a problem in either direction but that we're still looking for answers.

386 ProGunLiberal  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:06:54am

re: #383 wrenchwench

What does the money go to though?

387 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:07:11am

re: #272 ggt

I had a boss that explained it like this:

"In your 20's all you do is work. You get to relax a small amount in your 30's. By the time you are 40 you should be able to work a little less."

I have the 20's and 30's backwards then 9_6

388 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:08:39am

Pertinent...

Immigrants vs hipsters Watch
Ethnic New Yorkers priced out by trendy crowd

Quick video pointing out the changes in one particular Brooklyn neighborhood. The basic transition goes from ethnic neighborhood to artists and hipsters and in the final stage, upscale neighborhood.

389 NJDhockeyfan  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:08:43am

The warmer winter has been a blessing for the beer drinkers in Germany...

German beer drinking slide stopped by warm weather

390 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:09:11am

re: #385 Gus 802

True. But we know what happens when we tear down a housing project and attempt to "reintegrate housing" within a city. The usual term is called gentrification of that area. I can very easily turn one of those same public housing "projects" and convert it into and upscale housing development complete with yoga rooms and dog parks. It's a difficult situation all around. Not saying there isn't a problem in either direction but that we're still looking for answers.

Ugh, please don't!

A neighborhood near me is once again undergoing that transition. I don't mind pretentious new-/daddy's-money hipster corridors, really. I just have a problem when they come to where I live and act like I'm the one with the problem because I won't move out of their way when they're on the sidewalk, pfft.

392 Eventual Carrion  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:09:40am

re: #227 oaktree

Maybe that it's currently summer in Australia?

Exactly, and it is winter in Alaska. Funny how these things work.

393 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:10:08am

re: #390 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin

Ugh, please don't!

A neighborhood near me is once again undergoing that transition. I don't mind pretentious new-/daddy's-money hipster corridors, really. I just have a problem when they come to where I live and act like I'm the one with the problem because I won't move out of their way when they're on the sidewalk, pfft.

Oh yeah. I call them the "do you know who I am?" crowd. That's my polite description.

394 Killgore Trout  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:10:15am

re: #384 Sergey Romanov

Is this a re-run of Plamegate?

I think that must be the way lefties see it. It's actually an interesting case from what I can tell. He was actually a supporter of waterboarding so I doubt he was ideologically motivated. It just seems like he talked way to much to the press. The classified material he gave reporters wound up in the hands of Gitmo inmates. This might be a prosecution to get to the reporters who passed the information to Gitmo defense lawyers.

395 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:10:44am

re: #388 Gus 802

Pertinent...

Immigrants vs hipsters Watch
Ethnic New Yorkers priced out by trendy crowd

Quick video pointing out the changes in one particular Brooklyn neighborhood. The basic transition goes from ethnic neighborhood to artists and hipsters and in the final stage, upscale neighborhood.

Problem with hipsters is they don't realize they're every bit as expendable as the so-called "ethnics", when the old money wants to move in, or back in, as the case may be. Generation after generation, this seems to remain the case.

396 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:10:50am

So the old used bike store will get replaced by a "cycling boutique."

//

397 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:10:53am

re: #388 Gus 802

Pertinent...

Immigrants vs hipsters Watch
Ethnic New Yorkers priced out by trendy crowd

Quick video pointing out the changes in one particular Brooklyn neighborhood. The basic transition goes from ethnic neighborhood to artists and hipsters and in the final stage, upscale neighborhood.

Same thing is going on in Crown Heights and Williamsburg, gentrified yuppies are driving up the price of real estate, shutting out lower-income ethnics.

398 Lord Baron Viscount Duke Earl Count Planckton  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:11:07am

re: #394 Killgore Trout

He was actually a supporter of waterboarding

Ah. If so, to heck with him.

399 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:11:24am

Word Solitaire is a very addicting game.

FYI

400 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:12:20am

re: #334 oaktree

I hated myself due to reading that book. By 3/4 of the way through it I was *wishing* for his parents to die due to what they had inflicted on their children. And I hated myself for wishing such on what were (or had been) real people.

Just the mention of the title brings out a lot of strong feelings. Which says a lot about the power of McCourt's writing and the situations that he wrote about.

I couldn't finish it. It was too depressing.

And the audio was monotone. I think the author read it.

401 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:13:13am

re: #388 Gus 802

Pertinent...

Immigrants vs hipsters Watch
Ethnic New Yorkers priced out by trendy crowd

Quick video pointing out the changes in one particular Brooklyn neighborhood. The basic transition goes from ethnic neighborhood to artists and hipsters and in the final stage, upscale neighborhood.

I hate hipsters. With a passion.

Image: tumblr_ljrasy3QC91qdt7kvo1_500.png

402 Obdicut  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:14:09am

re: #401 wozzablog

I assume you've seen this?

[Link: www.latfh.com...]

403 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:14:38am

re: #338 oaktree

I have to answer to the cat though. :(

Did you see the pic/video in my #210?

404 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:15:02am

re: #372 negativ

It's funny that people who are going to leave the country if x are always threatening to flock to ever-whiter regions. Americans threaten to move to Canada, Canadians threaten to move to Europe. Europeans can't threaten to move anywhere.../

Well that, and there are other considerations. I once had an online conversation with a couple Canadians, shrieking at me to High Heaven because I told them I'm not moving from San Francisco to fucking Ottawa, or where ever just to have a [quite theoretical at the time] same-sex partner recognized by state actors. Not if I don't have to, anyway.

Cold day in hell...

405 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:15:17am

There is a business model that has been in place for over 20 years now, the bottom-line profit-driven model, in which the upper level is encouraged to "downsize" and "consolidate" the lower-level work force (i.e. DESTROY JOBS) and then pocket the difference. The "disposable people" business model.

This is true "wealth distribution" in action. It's just the exact reverse of the "wealth distribution" that the wingnuts are so afraid Obama will put into place (but has not)

406 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:15:38am

re: #314 Gus 802

The reality of poverty has changed. Things have changed for the better in the last 50 years. (I think about the slums of NYC in the late 19th century.) If you go back even further those changes are enormous. Much work remains to be done however.

At what point does American become content with the status quo and let the rest of the world catch-up?

407 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:16:39am

re: #387 WindUpBird

I have the 20's and 30's backwards then 9_6

I should have enough money to retire and live the rest of my life with financial security by the time I'm 93.

408 wrenchwench  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:16:53am

re: #386 ProLifeLiberal

What does the money go to though?

Excellent question. Here's the answer.

Top 5 Prime Award Major Agencies
1.
Department of Energy

$5,213,869,033

2.
Social Security Administration

$4,916,023,324

3.
Department of Health and Human Services

$3,624,797,288

4.
Department of Defense

$1,359,986,838

5.
Department of Veterans Affairs

$577,578,571

Top 5 Prime Award Sub Agencies
1.
ENERGY, Department of

$5,213,869,033

2.
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

$4,916,023,324

3.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

$3,107,413,790

4.
ARMY, Department of the (except Corps of Engineers Civil Program Financing)

$581,396,794

5.
AIR FORCE, Department of the (Headquarters, USAF)

$567,534,894

Way, way more detail at the link. By the way, that 'Dept. of Energy' money is mostly used to run National Laboratories. The kind of stuff Republicans hate.

409 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:17:29am

re: #341 oaktree

And the safety net is also a good idea for a society since it reduces the chances of things like bread riots. A hopeless poor can very quickly become a violent poor.

Which seems to be where the Modern Patricians in the GOP who are vowing to restore the Republic seem to forget their Roman history lessons.

Why did the Romans give free bread?

duh

410 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:18:31am

re: #407 negativ

I should have enough money to retire and live the rest of my life with financial security by the time I'm 93.

I figure if the art thing dries up I can always start a lucrative career in arson

411 wrenchwench  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:18:47am

re: #387 WindUpBird

I have the 20's and 30's backwards then 9_6

I have the 20's and 40's backwards.

412 Sheila Broflovski  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:18:58am

re: #409 ggt

Which seems to be where the Modern Patricians in the GOP who are vowing to restore the Republic seem to forget their Roman history lessons.

Why did the Romans give free bread?

duh

Bread and circuses.

413 Wozza Matter?  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:19:27am

re: #402 Obdicut

I assume you've seen this?

[Link: www.latfh.com...]

Already bookmarked old bean.

414 Gus  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:19:38am

re: #401 wozzablog

I hate hipsters. With a passion.

Image: tumblr_ljrasy3QC91qdt7kvo1_500.png

It's a highly competitive sub-culture. And you always have to be on. In a way it's another state of walking around in life and trying to sell yourself based on how you look which has to be maintained with the latest fashion statement.

415 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:19:38am

re: #406 ggt

At what point does American become content with the status quo and let the rest of the world catch-up?

Which ones?

416 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:20:15am

re: #343 Shropshire_Slasher

Hmm cheap or miserly.
How many of us reuse ziploc bags
Re-use Aluminum foil
Wash out the whip cream container
Have mustard jars as glasses
Hang laundry on the line
Hang laundry in your basement
Return cans/bottles for the nickel deposit
Re-use your bacon grease.
Grow your own food
Pick wild raspberries.
Not own a cell phone
Heat with wood
Hunt for food
many more...

It's not that people do these things, it's the reason they do them. It's one thing to use items prudently, another to thing when it's an obsession or a religion

IMHO, misers worship money so much they won't use it.

417 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:21:18am

re: #346 RayFerd

My youngest son has been complaining for weeks about the lack of snow. Snowball fights and sled riding have been few and far between this year. It's no fun playing in the cold rain.

So poor, he doesn't even have snow in the winter?

LOL

418 WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.]  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:23:10am

re: #416 ggt

It's not that people do these things, it's the reason they do them. It's one thing to use items prudently, another to thing when it's an obsession or a religion

IMHO, misers worship money so much they won't use it.

heh, I still don't own a cell phone, but that's like, actual real money, not saving a few cents

419 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:24:12am

re: #410 WindUpBird

I figure if the art thing dries up I can always start a lucrative career in arson

Arson-as-art has a certain John Waters trash surrealism aroma to it.

420 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:27:39am

re: #418 WindUpBird

heh, I still don't own a cell phone, but that's like, actual real money, not saving a few cents

I had a friend who drove me nuts. She had plenty of money. She would do things like eat before she met me for lunch and just order a water. Or scan the menu for the cheapest thing and order that --regardless of what delictible offerings there were. If I offered to buy an appetizer and share it with her, that would be ok.

421 AK-47%  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:32:37am

re: #363 Killgore Trout

Australian women love American men.

re: #368 Killgore Trout

Of course not, it's a common slang invitation to intercourse.

I thought that was "Are you drunk yet?"

422 Gretchen G.Tiger  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:40:48am

Have a great day all!

423 sda112  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:41:53am

So Romney is a guy (in his own words)-
*Makes $10K bets
*Likes being able to fire people that provide services to him
*Believes that banks and corporations are people
*Is not concerned about the very poor
*Stated that he has been worried about getting a pink slip in the past
*Told a group of voters that he too, is unemployed.
*Earns (based on his tax returns) over 50K per day.

If am employed by the DNC, I am worried about getting laid off because these ads write themselves

424 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:51:23am

re: #396 Gus 802

So the old used bike store will get replaced by a "cycling boutique."

//

Are those the ones that sell the trendy designer bikes with square wheels that are decorative and never intended for actual riding?

425 Feline Emperor of the Conservative Waste  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 9:57:41am

re: #403 ggt

Did you see the pic/video in my #210?

Missed it. I've been on the receiving end of a mass kitten climbing exercise. While wearing shorts.

There's a picture somewhere of me sitting on a chair with 3-4 kittens clustered and snoozing in my lap.

426 labman57  Wed, Feb 1, 2012 12:16:08pm

Republicans are opposed to the amendment out of fear that the procedure would damage their heads.


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