HorsesAss.Org

Open Thread 11/21

by — ,

– Yesterday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

– I can’t understand why Wenatchee area property owners who benefit from the project can’t pay for their own town center. Also, the 2/3 stuff is a good point. Also, also, Reuven talks a good game, but if I had to put money on it, I say he’ll support bailing it out.

– The stupid party.

– Responding to peaceful protests and other expressions of growing citizenry unrest with brute force is a direct by-product of what we’ve allowed to be done to America’s domestic police forces in the name of the War on Terror (and, before that, in the name of the War on Drugs).

– Who is against giving children good food for lunch?

– David Attenborough was once a young man.

Comments

  1. 1

    Seattle Mariners outfielder Greg Halman won’t return to the team next season. He’s dead. His brother was arrested.

  2. 2

    American spies outed, CIA suffers in Lebanon

    “WASHINGTON (AP) – The CIA’s operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after Hezbollah identified and captured a number of U.S. spies recently, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The intelligence debacle is particularly troubling because the CIA saw it coming.”

    It’s from the AP so it has to be correct.

    So if ObamAA+’s CIA saw it coming why didn’t they protect their assets? Is this the same Sadministration who attacked Herman Cain on foreign matters and allowed assets to be captured?

    Amazing!

  3. 3

    Halman lived and was murdered in Amsterdam.
    I thought they were peaceniks?
    I thought we wanted to be like them?

  4. 4

    Halman lived and was murdered in Amsterdam.
    I thought they were peaceniks?
    I thought we wanted to be like them?

  5. 5

    Why Republicans Are To Blame

    GOPers offered Democrats middle class tax increases and cuts to middle class entitlements in exchange for slashing the top tax rate on millionaires from 35% to 28%. Are they shocked because Democrats didn’t accept that deal?

    Now that deficit reduction talks have collapsed, GOPers are trying to renege on the deal they made in August — their plan now is to restore automatic military spending cuts and extend Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. Will they be shocked if Democrats don’t accept that deal either?

    Republicans are waging class warfare against ordinary Americans. The way to settle this is at the battle box next year.

  6. 6

    Dow down 300.
    Glad I’m out of this roller-coaster.
    European deck of cards is crazy.
    Let things sort out.
    Lots of little “sucker” rallies.
    Opportunities for Day Traders though.
    Not for me.

  7. 7

    @2 It usually takes a while to organize this type of operation, so my guess is they obtained the “actionable intelligence” on Bush’s watch. Given how negligent Republicans are about everything else, this probably is their fault too.

  9. 9

    “I can’t understand why Wenatchee area property owners who benefit from the project can’t pay for their own town center.”

    I say let ’em drown in their own damn debt. What’s more, I don’t think we should wait for eastern Washington to secede; I say kick them out!*

    * Heh – just kidding! That’s a Confederate joke I “borrowed” from the red staters.

  10. 10

    It usually takes a while to organize this type of operation, so my guess is they obtained the “actionable intelligence” on Bush’s watch. Given how negligent Republicans are about everything else, this probably is their fault too.

    Once again we see Roger DOPEY Rabbit didn’t read the article.

    Good job DOPEY one!

  11. 11

    @10 Um, yes, dumbass, I did read the article — but did you? Specifically this paragraph?

    “The Lebanon crisis is the latest mishap involving CIA counterintelligence, the undermining or manipulating of the enemy’s ability to gather information. Former CIA officials have said that once-essential skill has been eroded as the agency shifted from outmaneuvering rival spy agencies to fighting terrorists. In the rush for immediate results, former officers say, tradecraft has suffered.”

    When did that shift in priorities begin? Mmmmm? I mean, seriously, the Busheviks couldn’t do anything right. Including this.

  13. 13

    @3 and 4. Are you incapable of telling the difference between society and individuals?
    Your logic is flawed. It would be like you saying Jeffery Dalhmer is American so all American society wants to literally eat underage minorities males.
    No wonder conservatives cannot tell the difference between people and corporations.

  14. 14

    Sorry DOPEY one you choose to skip the pertinent paragraphs

    Last year, then-CIA director Leon Panetta said the agency had to maintain “a greater awareness of counterintelligence.” But eight months later, Nasrallah let the world know he had bested the CIA, demonstrating that the agency still struggles with this critical aspect of spying and sending a message to those who would betray Hezbollah.

    The CIA was well aware the spies were vulnerable in Lebanon. CIA officials were warned, including the chief of the unit that supervises Hezbollah operations from CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., and the head of counterintelligence. It remains unclear whether anyone has been or will be held accountable in the wake of this counterintelligence disaster or whether the incident will affect the CIA’s ability to recruit assets in Lebanon.

  16. 16

    “Yesterday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance.”

    Yesterday wasn’t April 1st was it?

  17. 17

    @3,13

    United States murders per 100,000 people: 4.8
    Netherlands murders per 100,000 people: 0.87
    Denmark murders per 100,000 people: 0.85
    Germany murders per 100,000 people: 0.84

  19. 19

    The weekend’s posts were full of stories about the UC-Davis pepper-spray incident, and a handful of troll posts which seemed to see absolutely nothing wrong with it (as long as it’s not their ox being gored). The rest of the posts talked about the details of the incident and the response by the UC-Davis administration and police departments.

    One point which I fear are being overlooked:

    Fox News and a number of Republican pundits bear some responsibility for this incident, as it has sought to de-humanize the protesters and falsly portray them as vermin who need to be taught a lession. Remember that whenever someone wants to take away your rights, the first thing they do is to try to portray yourself as someone who deserves no rights. All you have to do is read some of the early propoganda by the Nazis being directed against the Jews and you will see how this works. Stalin did the same thing against the Kulaks, although at that point he had sufficient control that he didn’t need to rally public support.

    Unfortunately, quite a few police officers, especially from suburban/rural areas, watch and are aching for an opportunity to don riot gear and crack some heads. College police forces are sometimes manned by rejects from the urban police departments, perhaps sometimes for being phsychologically “unsuited” for such duties.

    Just remember that there was a reason why Andy Taylor never carried a gun, and he only let Barney Fife carry one bullet in his pocket and was forbidden to put it into his revolver until Andy gave him permission.

  20. 20

    @14 I read that paragraph, too. The difference is that I comprehended it.

    Like Cuyahoga County?

    Like Stafford County?

    Yeah right!

  21. 21

    One of the things which struck me about police spokesmen defending the pepper-spray incident at UC-Davis: They kept referring to it as a means of exerting “compliance”, and then said a person who lies balled-up on the ground had to be pepper-sprayed to ensure compliance.

    I can’t think of any position less threatening to police than someone lying on the ground in a fetal position. If police pepper-spray someone on the ground to try to get them to move, they are just being lazy, or are trying to force them to get up so they can then smack him with a billy club.

    Pepper spray, like the taser, is a valuable self-defense weapon which should be used instead of a pistol. It’s useless as a means of picking people up off the ground. It should never be used as a substitute for simply arresting a person who isn’t a threat to the officer’s safety.

  22. 22

    Puddy’s back?

    The guy who wouldn’t condemn his buddy Glenn Beck for equating the teenage victims of a white-supremicist attach as being members of a “Hitler Youth Camp”?

    Why should anybody listen to him? He’s already displayed his stripes.

  23. 23

    @21
    The UC Davis police said they had to spray the protestors because they had surrounded the police and the police were trying to leave. Then video of the police not looking threatened and not surrounded popped up and the compliance thing came up.

    The idea being that the protestors were told to leave the area and the police needed to pepper spray them to make them “compliant” in being arrested and hauled away. But, we’ve seen clips of people all around the country being arrested and hauled away without being pepper sprayed.

    This was about a bunch of college students sitting on a side walk. Had the police left them alone they would have sung a few songs, chanted a few chants and then gotten up and left. And if they didn’t leave, so what? They’re just a bunch of folks sitting on a sidewalk.

  24. 24

    This: http://tinyurl.com/cmcezc6
    is how UC Davis students responded to their fellow students being pepper sprayed and beaten with batons.

    This: http://tinyurl.com/8xx9unq
    is how students at Penn State responded to their football coach being fired.

    If I had to put money on which group of students had a bright future ahead of them, I’d put my money on the students at UC Davis.

  25. 25

    I notice the pizza buffoon Herman Cain is now as invisible as the Santorum as the serial philanderer and protean promoter of Family Values Newt Gingrich surges and throbs to the front of the insane clown posse…I mean…Republican Presidential Candidate field.

    Yipeee!!! WEWANTNEWTWEWANTNEWT!!!

  26. 26

    re 14: Maybe the CIA is lying about being bested. Disinformation is, after all, another thing that they do well. If they think they got the moles, maybe they won’t try as hard to find the real ones.

    You are treading on a slippery slope when you use the CIA propaganda as your source.

    Wanna smoke a joint?

  27. 27

    By the way, if you want to see where this unbridled license for the police to use force ends, you merely have to check the overnight news from Chattanooga (where police are frustrated at not being able to crack the heads of the handful of protestors on the courthouse lawn):

    Chattanooga Police officer arrested in road rage incident

    Okay, road rage happens. But what’s particularly scary about this event is the officer apparantly showed up at the victim’s home and threatened him with a taser.

  29. 29

    Another example of how the 1% just doesn’t understand the Occupy Wall Street protesters:

    Today Hank Greenberg, ousted CEO of AIG, is suing the federal goverment for 25 Billion dollars. That’s billion with a “B” folks. He’s claiming that he was unfairly treated when he got pushed out of AIG when the government bailed it out.

    Former AIG Head sues U.S. for $25 Billion

    A couple of points:

    Greenberg was not the CEO at the time of the collapse, although apparantly he retained a significant share of the company. He was ousted in 2005 when Eliot Spitzer brought civil litigation against the company for it’s accounting practices. That litigation remains open.

    Note that Greenberg is valuing his damages at the value of the company AFTER the bailout which was put in place Sept. 16 & 17, 2008. In other words, he didn’t have any complaints about the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Dept. throwing huge sums of money at the company to prevent a default, he just didn’t care for the federal government taking a 76% equity interest in the company in return (which diluted the value of the investor’s shares).

    He called this “forced nationalization” of the company. But in reality, if the federal government had done nothing AIG would either have had to sell outright to a competitor for pennies on the dollar (putting the value of stockholder’s shares at zero), or AIG would have been in bankruptcy (same result as to shareholder’s value).

    Over the past year, Greenberg has been trying to argue that now that the crisis for AIG has passed, AIG should “re-negotiate” the deal so that the preserved value of the corporation could flow to it’s stockholders, not to the taxpayers who rescued it. After months of being widely ignored, this is his shot across the bow of the government, trying to force them to settle with him.

    These are the guys who scratch their heads and complain that they can’t understand why the “occupy” protesters are upset about “something or other”.

  30. 30

    “Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called child labor laws ‘stupid’ Friday in an appearance at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.”

    Here’s Newt’s plan:

    “‘It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid,’ said the former House speaker, according to CNN. ‘Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school.'”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....f=politics

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Yeah, you read that right, Newt wants to repeal our child labor laws so he can fire the union janitors and hire children to push the brooms, replace light bulbs, and tear the asbestos out of ceilings.

  31. 31

    Violence Against Walker Recall Activists

    Activists gathering signatures to recall GOP Gov. Scott Walker are receiving telephoned death threats during the wee hours, having their yard signs torn down, and their recall petitions torn up.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....f=politics

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Some stupid-ass troll probably will post a comment claiming “left-wingers” are behind the death threats against Walker recall activists.

  36. 36

    Seattle’s Forbes Magazine’s #1 pick for tech sector jobs. Way to go Seattle.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/jo.....logy-jobs/
    During tough economic times, technology is often seen as the one bright spot. In the U.S. this past year technology jobs outpaced the overall rate of new employment nearly four times. But if you’re looking for a tech job, you may want to consider searching outside of Silicon Valley. Though the Valley may still be the big enchilada in terms of venture capital and innovation, it hasn’t consistently generated new tech employment.

    Take, for example, Seattle. Out of the 51 largest metro areas in the U.S., the Valley’s longtime tech rival has emerged as our No. 1 region for high-tech growth, based on long- and short-term job numbers. Built on a base of such tech powerhouses as Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing, Seattle has enjoyed the steadiest and most sustained tech growth over the past decade. It is followed by Baltimore (No. 2), Columbus, Ohio (No. 3), Raleigh, N.C. (No. 4) and Salt Lake City, Utah (No. 5).

  38. 38

    35. YLB spews:

    This state is screwed up beyond belief..

    11/21/2011 at 1:39 pm

    Thank you ignorant voters.

    Thank you cowardly State Legislators.

    Thank you feckless Gov. Gregoire…you’re not running for re-election so fucking LEAD already! Tell the truth…generate revenue.

    …and they wonder what the 99% Movement is about.

    FUCK!

  40. 40

    Thank you ignorant voters.

    Thank you cowardly State Legislators.

    Thank you feckless Gov. Gregoire…you’re not running for re-election so fucking LEAD already! Tell the truth…generate revenue.

    ALL of which are democrats.

    hmmmm…see any relationship? I sure do.

  41. 41

    36 – I heard that judging from the number of construction cranes, Seattle is booming big time..

    Someone verify that.. I heard it on the radio quite a while back..

    No wonder the anti-Seattle knee-jerk Monson fanboi moron “maxie” is pretty scarce these days.

    Especially after confusing Rujax with “thehim”..

    Idiot..

  42. 42

    40. math whiz spews:

    Thank you ignorant voters.

    Thank you cowardly State Legislators.

    Thank you feckless Gov. Gregoire…you’re not running for re-election so fucking LEAD already! Tell the truth…generate revenue.

    ALL of which are democrats.

    hmmmm…see any relationship? I sure do.

    11/21/2011 at 2:26 pm

    This dumbass motherfucker should look at the Republican MESSES made in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana and Mississipi.

    Is THAT what you want? Do you WANT the State to take over duly elected Municipal Governments like in Michigan…do you want the Legislature to ram anti-worker anti-job regulations down the throat of the electorate like in Wisconsin. Do you really want more corporate tax breaks paid for by cutting State jobs and State and local services????

    THAT’S what you’ll get here with Republican rule.

    Fuck you, asshole…that’s NOT going to happen.

  44. 44

    This dumbass motherfucker should look at the Republican MESSES made in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana and Mississipi.

    You were specifically talking about Washington State, Lee. YOU are the one that complained about the gov, the legislature, and the voters who put them there. I merely pointed out the obvious: that the gov, most of the legislature, and a majority of the voters were democrat. NOW you want to run away from that fact.

    OWNED.

    oh, and go fuck yourself, Lee, or the TheHim..

    Lets see here:

    Rujax’s own blog has a list of blogs that Rujax writes. One of those blogs he claims ownership of is Blog Reload. Profile in Blog Reload says his name is TheHim or Lee Rosenberg.

    Either Rujax is Lee Rosenberg, or Rujax is lying about which blogs he owns.

    Hmmm…

    could this be the guy?
    http://www.facebook.com/thehim

    oh my……..

  46. 46

    oh, and you two lovebirds keep enjoying that below-mediocre lifestyle…

    gotta run now and check out them tower cranes..

  47. 47

    44. math whiz spews:

    This dumbass motherfucker should look at the Republican MESSES made in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana and Mississipi.

    You were specifically talking about Washington State, Lee. YOU are the one that complained about the gov, the legislature, and the voters who put them there. I merely pointed out the obvious: that the gov, most of the legislature, and a majority of the voters were democrat. NOW you want to run away from that fact.

    OWNED.

    oh, and go fuck yourself, Lee, or the TheHim..

    Lets see here:

    Rujax’s own blog has a list of blogs that Rujax writes. One of those blogs he claims ownership of is Blog Reload. Profile in Blog Reload says his name is TheHim or Lee Rosenberg.

    Either Rujax is Lee Rosenberg, or Rujax is lying about which blogs he owns.

    Hmmm…

    could this be the guy?
    http://www.facebook.com/thehim

    oh my……..

    11/21/2011 at 2:47 pm

    This is the ever popular emperor max-minidick…

    …THIS guy:

    You know what’s sad…sad is that this leach…this parasite this emperor max-minidick, who plays to win and just wins, baby…who brags about making his BIG-ASS SIX FIGURE income off his BIG CONNECTIONS with job killing Multi-National Corporations that pit worker against worker in an economically depressed area of our state:

    http://www.thestand.org/2011/0.....-so-angry/

    http://www.thestand.org/2011/09/092311-links/

    That’s what’s sad about this slimy scab 1% motherfucker.

    That’s a real stand-up guy right there.

    THAT’S what the protests are about…”emperor max-minidick”.

    Just your average privileged shit-ass bastard telling everybody else how to live.

  48. 48

    Hey Rujax,

    Can you believe this moron has confused you with “thehim”???

    How freaking stupid is this guy?

    He can’t connect the freaking dots to save his pathetic life!

  50. 50

    48. YLB spews:

    Hey Rujax,

    Can you believe this moron has confused you with “thehim”???

    How freaking stupid is this guy?

    He can’t connect the freaking dots to save his pathetic life!

    11/21/2011 at 2:57 pm

    Seriously…what a useless piece of shit this clown is.

  52. 52

    The guy who wouldn’t condemn his buddy Glenn Beck for equating the teenage victims of a white-supremicist attach as being members of a “Hitler Youth Camp”?

    Still didn’t find it? You didn’t ask ylb? Well rhp6033, I don’t jump for you so tough!

  54. 54

    UC Davis

    Leftist institution. UC Davis chancellor

    Linda Katehi

    Leftist

    Hmmm… what’s the problem?

  55. 55

    54. Puddybud spews:

    UC Davis

    Leftist institution. UC Davis chancellor

    Linda Katehi

    Leftist

    Hmmm… what’s the problem?

    11/21/2011 at 3:08 pm

    That this ignorant malignant fuck doesn’t understand the problem means HE is the problem.

  58. 58

    gotta run now

    Heh. Yeah, it’s human (in your case that’s being kind) nature for numbnuts to run from their own dumbassery.

  60. 60

    @54. Puddybud,

    I’ll bite troll.

    What makes UC Davis a “leftest institution”? Please identify a university in California that would be a “rightest institution”.

    For extra credit, explain how a sane reasonable person like yourself would go about changing UC Davis to make it less “leftist”.

  61. 61

    @53
    Nordquist was on the tee-vee last night saying he wanted to return things to the way they were in 1900 and was all HELL’S YEAH, WE’RE BRINGING BACK EMMA GOLDMAN AND JOE HILL and we’re gonna bring back the ANARCHISTS and fuck some shit up!!!

  63. 63

    @60
    Apparently, at a “leftist” institution, you protest police brutality by peacefully sitting in silence.
    http://tinyurl.com/cmcezc6

    While at the “rightist” institution, you protest your football coach getting fired for covering up and enabling pedophile by rioting in the streets.
    http://tinyurl.com/8xx9unq

    The righties, I guess, are pro-pedophile.

  65. 65

    I’m not sad to see the Super Committee fail. The Supers would never have cut military spending to the level it need to be cut and would have bent over backward to save their own little pets, regardless of merit, at the expense of everyone else. The mandatory cuts work around this. The mandatory cuts also point out how completely useless most members of the house and senate are and will hopefully have many of them headed for the exists instead of re-election campaigns.

  67. 67

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/201.....appointee/

    UC Davis chancellor a Bush appointee

    By Andrew Jones
    Monday, November 21, 2011

    Linda Katehi, the University of California-Davis Chancellor under rhetorical fire for ordering police to evict student protesters on Friday, came to lead the school thanks to an appointment by President George W. Bush.

    Katehi was selected by Bush to chair the Committee on the National Medal of Science. She currently receives a salary of $400,000 per year from UC Davis, an increase from the $356,000 she received from the University of Illinois.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....7757.story

    University of Illinois scandal ripples to California
    California legislator calls for investigation of U. of I. provost who soon will be chancellor at University of California-Davis

    By Sara Olkon
    Tribune reporter

    June 19, 2009
    The University of Illinois admissions scandal has rippled to the West Coast, where U. of I. Provost Linda Katehi is to become chancellor at the University of California-Davis in August. But questions about Katehi’s involvement in, or knowledge about, the so-called Category I clout list has prompted calls there for an investigation.

    In an e-mail to UC-Davis officials last week, Katehi denied any involvement in Category I, though she has overseen the admissions department since 2006.

    I want to be clear to you and others at UC-Davis that I was not involved in the admissions decisions that were the subject of the Tribune’s ‘Clout Goes to College’ investigation,” she wrote in an e-mail. “The so-called ‘Category I’ admissions process was not part of the regular admissions system and was handled at a higher level in the institution.”

    Documents obtained by the Tribune show that Katehi was copied on at least 14 Category I-related e-mails over the last five years, and her name appears on a spreadsheet of offices inquiring about clouted students. However, records do not suggest that she overruled any admissions decision, pushed for a subpar applicant or played a key role in the shadow system.

    When contacted Thursday, Katehi referred a Tribune reporter to a U. of I. spokesman.

    Sure.

    Wouldn’t it be nice if the puddywuddypussy cared about facts?

  68. 68

    Linda Katehi, the University of California-Davis Chancellor under rhetorical fire

    Actually, there’s nothing rhetorical about it.

  69. 69

    Friends,

    I don’t think one can put on Bush or Republicans the failure of Katehi at UC Davis.

    Her failure is just another example of the systemic failure that pops up in institution after institution in our nation.

    $400k/year does not get one in to the 1%, but that annual salary is light years away from what MOST people earn in a year.

    Katehi and her head-in-the-sand malfeasance is the result of the ever widening gap in wealth between a select few and the many. She didn’t care because those damn students are less than her. Katehi’s interests were/are in climbing higher, not doing more.

    Her obtuse view of the world and the system which creates those views (see BOA, WaMu, Penn State) is what the #Occupy movement is about changing.

    We are winning.
    It is the beginning of the beginning.

    Lastly, I leave you with this
    Kristin Stoneking CA House Director and Campus Minister Weblog
    MUST READ

  70. 70

    http://slog.thestranger.com/sl.....miscarries

    Pregant Woman Blasted with Pepper Spray by SPD Reportedly Miscarries

    Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 3:55 PM

    One of Occupy Seattle’s outspoken activists who blogs under the name Ian Awesome has a post up this afternoon about the pregnant woman who was hit in last Tuesday’s pepper spray attack by Seattle police:

    Asshole fucking cops…

    …asshole fucking cops!

  72. 72

    Big storm’s comin’ everybody stocked up already on what the need if the power goes out, right?

    http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/.....g-and.html
    Major Storm: Heavy Rain, Flooding and Very Strong Winds Along the Coast
    A VERY serious storm is going to hit the Northwest during the next two days–one that will cause flooding and coastal wind damage. And the urban areas are doing to experience a deluge.

    Here is the forecast precipitation over the next 48h over the region and over western Washington.The Olympics, the north Cascades, and the mountains of southwest Washington and NW Oregon are going to get hammered with 5-10 inches of rain (reds). Even Seattle will get nearly 4-5 inches if this forecast verifies.

    Folks, this will be a major event.

  73. 73

    A question or two if I may? According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Toyota_Center the Wenatchee Public Facilities District owns this place and I would assume it is a government operation given the name. However according to the wiki article the naming right were bought for an undisclosed sum. If this is run by a government agency how come that information is not available, or is this one of those closed record deals we see way too much of?
    “During planning and early construction, the arena was known as the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center, but in August 2008, a local auto dealer bought the naming rights of the arena for an undisclosed amount, giving the arena its current name”

  74. 74

    To #62: I think Grover Nordquist is on the verge of sabotaging the conservative movement that he helped reinvigorate.

    His views on tax reform are dangerous. I’m all for tax cuts – as long as they’re offset by corresponding budget cuts. He seems to think that we should make tax cuts at all costs and then just cross our fingers and hope that everything else works itself out.

    And he keeps shoving that “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” down everyone’s throat. That’s a whole other issue. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s a nice concept. But it’s irresponsible to force our elected officials to make any decision before they know the details surrounding the particular situation. Nordquist is bullying Republicans into signing this stupid thing. And on the flip side, I’m disappointed by how many Republicans are giving in to him and willingly tying their hands for the future.

    There was a time that I really admired Nordquist, but he’s turned into a single-minded megalomaniac. It’s time for him to just go away before he does some serious damage.

  75. 75

    This rujax is a dumb mofo. Where does one figger out if someone is a DUMMOCRAPT or a Republican? Where does Puddy always go? Something with the word federal is in it moron. You too can look up what Puddy found. But nooooooooooooooooooo you are the continual moron spouting raw story horseshit without fully checking everything.

    Just because Bush appoints someone to a great position proves Bush recognizes good people and places them in leadership positions.

    Nuff SAID Sucka!

    Of course rujax skips over the WikiPedia entry for Linda Katehi or other government information.

  77. 77

    What makes UC Davis a “leftest institution”?

    Well MikeBoyScout how good is your memory? Puddy’s is pretty good.

    UC Davis – Something about Bakke and medical school should ring your bell.

  78. 78

    I read where the UC Davis faculty association has called for Katehi’s resigntion. Reminds Puddy of the Duke Faculty calling for the lacrosse coach to resign over a rape that never happened.

    Now we know the tape shows the students getting pepper sprayed. But the tape doesn’t show these students were asked to disperse from the sidewalk. They didn’t. They locked arms and would not leave. The 10 students were arrested for unlawful assembly and failure to disperse.

    Was the lieutenant’s actions warranted? We’ll soon find out.

  79. 79

    Wow Chris Matthews is turning on Barack ObamAA+

    “Thank you now watch how smart I am”.

    Matthews didn’t like that and more.

    “What are we trying to do in this administration? Why does he want a second term? Would he tell us? What’s he going to do in the second term? More of this? Is this it? Is this as good as it gets? Where are we going? Are we going to do something the second term? He has yet to tell us. He has not said one thing about what he would do in the second term. He never tells us what he is going to do with reforming our health care systems, Medicare, Medicaid, how is going to reform Social Security. Is he going to deal with long-term debt? How? Is he going to reform the tax system? How? Just tell us. Why are we in this fight with him? Just tell us, Commander, give us our orders and tell us where we’re going, give us the mission. And he hasn’t done it.

    And I think it’s the people around him, too many people around, they’re little kids with propellers on their heads. They’re all virtual. Politics, this social networking, I get these e-mails, you probably get them. I’m tired of getting them. Stop giving them to me. I want to meet people. Their idea of running a campaign is a virtual universe of sending e-mails around to people. No it’s not. It’s meetings with people, it’s forging alliances. It’s White House meetings and dinner parties that go on till midnight, and he should be sitting late at night now with senators and members of Congress and governors working together on how they‘re going to win this political fight that’s coming.

    Wow Chris when did this epiphany occur? When he didn’t want to go on your show?

    ObamAA+ will not tell you what he’ll do in his second term because he’s a failure in the first term.

    The thrill up his leg has left the building. When the lead cheerleader on the ObamAA+ news channel is upset, well you need to stand up and cheer. Chris is finally drinking something other than the kook-aid!

  80. 80

    @77,

    Bakke from 1972? Really?

    You’re not going to give UC Davis credit for discriminating against women by withholding Title IX funding?

    What’s an institution got to do to get some fascist cred with you Pud?

  81. 81

    What’s that smell? Do you guys smell that?

  82. 82

    Oh…we musn’t forget…

    …that moral degenerate (per Ellen White, y’all) puddywuddypussy is nevereverevereverEVERRRRRRR wrong…and Democrats are ALWAYSAYLWAYSALWAYSALWAYS bad.

    Badbadbadbad Democrats.

    Bad.

  83. 83

    …that asswipe puddywuddypussy…wow.

    Never get enough of that guy…like shooting fish in a barrel. Almost as stupid as zthe emperor max-minidick.

  84. 84

    Food for thought.

    http://studentactivism.net/201.....-violence/

    5. University of California Police are not authorized to use pepper spray except in circumstances in which it is necessary to prevent physical injury to themselves or others.

    From the University of California’s Universitywide Police Policies and Administrative Procedures: “Chemical agents are weapons used to minimize the potential for injury to officers, offenders, or other persons. They should only be used in situations where such force reasonably appears justified and necessary.”

    6. UC police are not authorized to use physical force except to control violent offenders or keep suspects from escaping.

    Another quote from the UC’s policing policy: “Arrestees and suspects shall be treated in a humane manner … they shall not be subject to physical force except as required to subdue violence or ensure detention. No officer shall strike an arrestee or suspect except in self-defense, to prevent an escape, or to prevent injury to another person.”

    7. The UC Davis Police made no effort to remove the student demonstrators from the walkway peacefully before using pepper spray against them.

    One video of the pepper-spray incident shows a group of officers moving in to remove the students from the walkway. Just as one of them reaches down to pick up a female student who was leaning against a friend, however, Lt. Pike waves the group back, clearing a space for him to use pepper spray without risk of accidentally spraying his colleagues.

    8. Use of pepper spray and other physical force continued after the students’ minimal obstruction of the area around the police ended.

    The line of seated students had begun to break up no more than eight seconds after Lt. Pike began spraying. The spraying continued, however, and officers soon began using batons and other physical force against the now-incapacitated group.

    Also here:

    http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/c.....inproc.pdf

    And here:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuWEx6Cfn-I
    Different angle of the OC spraying. Clearly shows the police in control of the situation, not surrounded, not being treated hostly, and completely relaxed. You can see a squad car in the background.

    If the use of OC spray is OK in this situation, they need to update their regs.

    And please member these students were being treated this way for sitting on the ground. ‘O the horror.

  85. 85

    Doesn’t sound like the UC Davis police were in compliance with this:

    http://www.ucop.edu/ucophome/c.....inproc.pdf
    902.3 Treatment of Arrestees and Suspects. Arrestees and suspects shall be treated in a humane manner as provided by law. They shall not be subject to physical force except as required to subdue violence or ensure detention. No officer shall strike an arrestee or suspect except in self-defense, to prevent an escape, or to prevent injury to another person. No officer shall verbally abuse arrestees or suspects

  87. 87

    Welcome to the revolution. Our elites have exposed their hand. They have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share. They can talk but they cannot speak. They are as dead and useless to us as the water-soaked books, tents, sleeping bags, suitcases, food boxes and clothes that were tossed by sanitation workers Tuesday morning into garbage trucks in New York City. They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.

    http://www.truth-out.org/what-.....1321384587

  88. 88

    Way back in a previous life, I volunteered with a community justice program. Mostly we dealt with feuding neighbors and tried to keep youngish folks with minor problems from turning into youngish folks with major problems, and tried to keep people that really didn’t need to be there out of the court system. We weren’t being idealistic. We were trying to save our city some headaches and cash. Going to court is expensive! Sometimes we dealt with college “kids,” most were fine, some were a-holes. About the same as the locals.

    Anyway I wrote that to say that in all my experiences in that program, we never, ever had police, town or campus, act like the ones at UC Davis. I can’t see any of the cops I knew from that program behaving like those at UC Davis. There were other ways to resolve whatever issue a bunch of people sitting on the ground might cause.

  89. 89

    Found this over on EWU’s site:

    840-080-100 Civil Demonstrations.
    (1) Priorities. Civil demonstrations may be subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions. The
    following priorities shall be considered during the course of a civil demonstration.
    (a) Protection of human life is the first priority of university police in the event of a civil
    demonstration. During the course of a demonstration, university police shall make every attempt
    to protect participating and non-participating individuals from injury, harassment or threats.
    (b) University property shall be protected.
    (c) Classes and all other educational and business functions of EWU shall not be interrupted.
    http://cfweb.ewu.edu/policy/Po.....80_100.pdf

    It seems fairly vague and useless, but I would note that the highest priority is making sure that no one gets hurt. I guess that means you wouldn’t pepper spray people that were just sitting on the ground in Cheney doing nothing.

  90. 90

    Well, this is awful.

    A North Carolina mom involved in a bitter love triangle snapped and shot five kids in the head – killing two – Sunday as part of a double murder-suicide that has stunned the victims’ leafy Greensboro suburb.

    Mary Ann Holder, 36, wrote two notes taking responsibility for the murderous rampage and apologizing for the pain she caused and then shot herself inside her parked Ford Explorer shortly after 10 a.m., investigators said Monday.

    A Guilford County Sheriff’s deputy witnessed the suicide, saying he saw the puff of smoke from the bullet that killed her.

    Holder’s 14-year-old son Zachary Smith, whom she retrieved from a sleepover only minutes earlier, was found clinging to life in the SUV’s back seat with a gunshot wound to his head.

    Immediately after her death, cops rushed inside Holder’s Pleasant Garden house and found a scene of unspeakable horror.

    They said Holder apparently opened fire on four innocent youths gathered under her roof at some point Sunday morning.

    Her 17-year-old son Robert Dylan Smith was declared dead at the scene.

    Her 8-year-old niece Hannaleigh Suttles, who was living with her at the time, died from her injuries at a hospital Monday.

    Nephew Richard Suttles, 17, and friend Makayla Woods, 15, were rushed from the house and placed on life support, cops said.

    All three surviving teens were in critical condition Monday.

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....z1ePGNIrrp

  91. 91

    http://www.oliverwillis.com/20.....e-the-gop/

    Elevating Ignorance Comes Back To Bite The GOP
    11:44 am EST November 16th, 2011

    The conservative movement, particularly its modern American element, has celebrated ignorance. From Barry Goldwater’s support for using nuclear weapons in Vietnam to Sarah Palin describing “what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read?” as a “gotcha” question.

    The pinnacle of conservative ignorance was, of course, the never-ending support of an obvious moron in the guise of George W. Bush for president. Watching the GOP campaign, they are now realizing they may have gone too far with putting stupid up on a pedestal:

    “It is an ‘Animal House.’ It’s a food fight,” said Kenneth Duberstein, a chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan. “Honestly, the Republican debates have become a reality show. People have to be perceived as being capable of governing this country, of being the leader of the free world.”

    Even before his “oops” moment in one of the debates last week, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas stumbled his way through an answer about Pakistan and nuclear weapons. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has offered a series of historical goofs. And after mistakenly saying China does not have nuclear weapons, Herman Cain on Monday painfully gave an answer to a question about Libya in which he all but acknowledged having little grasp of the military actions that took place there.

    Too late, geniuses. You’ve ingrained ignorance in the modern GOP and the conservative movement. You deny verifiable science. You deny obvious facts. You attack those who use intelligence over their “gut.” And on and on and on.
    lThis is the world you made, conservatives. Swim in Lake Ignorance.

    Well said by Oliver Willis.

  92. 92

    “They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.”

    Describes the Occupy Movement perfectly.

  95. 95

    92. Roark spews:

    “They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.”

    Describes the Occupy Movement perfectly.

    11/21/2011 at 9:56 pm

    Not like the Republicans on the Deficit Commission. Oh no. No sireee bobbeee ol’ roarkeee likeee them gize.

    (whatr a useless fuck )

  96. 96

    92. Roark spews:

    “They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future.”

    Describes the Occupy Movement perfectly.

    11/21/2011 at 9:56 pm

    Not like the Republicans on the Deficit Commission. Oh no. No sireee bobbeee ol’ roarkeee likeee them gize.

    (whatr a useless fuck )

  97. 97

    @92 Yeah, well, the 1% are doing a peachy keen job of keeping the factories humming and the cash registers ringing, aren’t they?

    Yeah, who needs ragged protesters telling anybody else that a global economy that has lost 80 million jobs since 2007 isn’t working as well as it ought to, so maybe we need some changes in how it’s run, and in who’s running it? Hmmm?

  98. 98

    Democrats are ALWAYSAYLWAYSALWAYSALWAYS bad.

    Finally rujax has written something I can agree with!

    Every once in a while a ‘tard gets one right.

  99. 99

    like shooting fish in a barrel.

    Let’s see… Linda Katehi Republican? Oh but the federal ___ ____ says otherwise

    Let’s see… Alabama County Bankrupt? Oh wait they voted for ObamAA+ in 2008

    Let’s see… Black Valedictorian not allowed to speak… Oh it’s a DUMMOCRAPTIC Town and Skuul Bored!

    Yep shooting catfish in a barrel!

    rujax all dork no brains!

  100. 100

    And what does the resident evil@87 offer…

    Crazed databaze
    Stalking people 24×7
    Hatred 24×7
    Stay at home loser

    Yep, that sums it up!

  102. 102

    And you watch SouthPark. So what does that say about you resident evil@101?

    Let’s review:

    Crazed databaze
    Stalking people 24×7
    Hatred 24×7
    Stay at home loser

    Yep, that sums it up!

  103. 103

    @93
    XKCD is generally awesome, but that money graphic was fantastic.
    I loved (among many insights) the comparative cost of electricity – which I assume does not include the capital costs – showing the HUGE negative externalities of coal.

  104. 104

    Interesting article at Salon

    What are the objectives of the Republican Party, now that it has been hijacked by the ideological heirs of Jefferson Davis? In economics the goal is constructing a neo-Confederate states’ rights regime, in which states can unilaterally lower minimum wages and lower welfare benefits, in order to create a “reserve army” of workers so destitute they will accept work on any terms. At the same time there is a concerted campaign by Republicans at the state level to use the mythical threat of mass voter fraud to effectively purge poor blacks, poor whites and poor Latinos from the voting rolls, by making it difficult for them to register to vote.

  106. 106

    I like the XKCD chart because it demonstrates many of the richest 1%ers who luv Barack ObamAA+. So why haven’t the Occupiers protested these peeps?

    For example:

    BALLMER, CONNIE Microsoft Corp Hunts Point WA $50,000
    BALLMER, STEVEN Microsoft Corp Hunts Point WA $50,000
    Lucas, George Lucasfilm Ltd San Rafael CA $50,000

    Larry Ellison
    $29,400 Republican
    $135,400 Democrat
    $235,174 special interest
    total: $399,974

    Jeff Bezos
    $2,000 Republican
    $16,000 Democrat
    $55,000 special interest
    total: $73,000

    OpenSecrets and Newsmeat!

  107. 107

    # 52: After weeks of ignoring my calls to repudiate his buddy Glenn Beck, and then having him try to get me to jump through as many hoops as he wished to set up before he would consider whether he would do so or not, now Puddy says he’s already answered my call to repudiate Beck, and I should ask YLB to do a search of the sight to find it.

    Typical Puddy – avoiding responsibility.

    Look, it’s easy. Either repudiate Beck on this thread, or refuse to do so. I’m not going to search through weeks of comments for what I fully expect to be a non-answer from you. If you insist on saying you repudiated it earlier, give the link to the thread.

  108. 108

    # 106: Another example of how Puddy doesn’t understand the Occupy movement.

    It’s not about specific people, it’s about systemic advantage which is accelerating the income disparitity between the rich and the rest of us. Some individuals have worked against this (Gates, Buffett, & Others), and even they say the system’s rigged, and should be fixed. So it’s not about individuals, it’s about fixing the system.

    But your usual insistence on trying to re-direct the debate is noted, and rejected. Gee, if I was trying to defend the indefensible, I guess I would have to try the same tactic.

  109. 109

    Typical Puddy – avoiding responsibility.

    No rhp6033… I already posted it. When I liked Stupid Solution Steve, he asked me to prove I posted a comment about Mark Foley. When I did he apologized publicly. You on the other hand have never apologized when proven wrong. So why should I repaste my comment for your silly ASS? You’ll make up another stupid claim! Ain’t gonna happen. Ask the owner of the HA crazed databaze.

  110. 110

    99. Puddybud spews:

    like shooting fish in a barrel.

    Let’s see… Linda Katehi Republican? Oh but the federal ___ ____ says otherwise

    Let’s see… Alabama County Bankrupt? Oh wait they voted for ObamAA+ in 2008

    Let’s see… Black Valedictorian not allowed to speak… Oh it’s a DUMMOCRAPTIC Town and Skuul Bored!

    Yep shooting catfish in a barrel!

    rujax all dork no brains!

    11/21/2011 at 11:14 pm

    It’s just too much fun watching this dipshit making a fool out of himself.

    Too coin a phrase…

    TOOO.

    Damn…

    FUNNY…

    To re-iterate…

    …you are a twenty-four carat dipshit, dipshit.

  111. 111

    Another example of how Puddy doesn’t understand the Occupy movement.

    It’s not about specific people

    Oh yes it is rhp6033. U seem to forget (being a Cass Sunstein malleable Homer Simpson idiot explains it) the Occupiers marched on who’s homes? Not rich DUMMOCRAPTS. The Occupiers when interviewed in October only singled out whom rhp6033? Republicans! The Occupiers welcomed with open arms which 1% music types who charge large fees for their concerts and their CD labels? DUMMOCRAPT loving Richard Simmons, Kanye West and Jay-Z!

    You see when you live on kook-aid sites you get kook-aid!

  112. 112

    It’s just too much fun watching this dipshit making a fool out of himself

    I am glad you are finally into self rating rujax! Each of those were about your original comments!

    To the resident dipshit@110,

    Prove any of them wrong moron!

    I DARE YA!

  113. 113

    112. Puddybud spews:

    It’s just too much fun watching this dipshit making a fool out of himself

    I am glad you are finally into self rating rujax! Each of those were about your original comments!

    To the resident dipshit@110,

    Prove any of them wrong moron!

    I DARE YA!

    11/22/2011 at 8:56 am

    I don’t jump for your candy ass, puddywuddyduddypussy.

  115. 115

    I don’t jump

    We know dipshit rujax. U R the standard post and run with no response to facts. Can’t prove them wrong!

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  116. 116

    115. Puddybud spews:

    I don’t jump

    We know dipshit rujax. U R the standard post and run with no response to facts. Can’t prove them wrong!

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    11/22/2011 at 9:11 am

    That’s YOUR M.O. dumbass…don’t hang your shit on me!!

    KA-BLAMMOOOOO!!!!!

  117. 117

    # 109: Nope, I’m not going to search through several months of comments for a response which may or may not exist.

    Speak planly, Puddy, and say yea or nay – do you repudiate Glen Beck for equating the victims with Hitler Youth Camps? Is it so hard for that to squeek through your mouth that you can’t do so? I know you are on this thread now, so you can’t pretend you didn’t see this.

  119. 119

    “Occupy Wall Street may be out of Zuccotti Park but Americans ignore its message only at their peril. Dispossessed by police from prominent venues around the country, the forces that inspired mass … demonstrations have not abated. America is rapidly fracturing into two nations ….

    “The Census Bureau reports about 100 million Americans — one in three — live in or perilously close to poverty. Many are working but rely on food stamps, government agencies and charity to feed, clothe and provide medical care to their children. …

    “Sending more Americans to college is not the answer …. The problem is not too few educated Americans but too few good jobs for most of them to do. …

    “Germany and China, two of America’s toughest competitors, recognize the challenges posed by globalization and manage them. They … seek … high paying jobs for ordinary people through exports. And those jobs are frequently mined from America’s Heartland. … The United States must force open foreign markets or protect its own, or it will perish.”

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/45385480

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Obviously there are issues beyond these; the greed and dishonesty of the one-percenters, and their deafness to the suffering around them, are ripping apart the very fabric of American society. The socioeconomic model they’ve constructed isn’t sustainable, and must be replaced by something more workable for the great majority of us, or everyone will lose everything. That is the message of the protests that the greedheads and money skimmers need to hear and heed.

  120. 120

    @98 If you agree with that, you’re an even smaller pea-wit than I’d pegged you for. Even a Democratic party hack and liberal propagandist like me doesn’t claim Democrats are right all the time or Republicans are wrong all the time. That kind of primitive tribalism went out with the cavemen. It takes a twit like you to fall back on such thinking.

  121. 121

    http://thinkprogress.org/econo.....-buybacks/

    Companies Lay Off Workers While Spending Billions On Share Buybacks To Enrich Executives

    By Pat Garofalo on Nov 22, 2011 at 9:25 am

    Even as Republicans and CEOs of major companies complain that taxes are stifling job creation, corporations have been sitting on trillions of dollars in cash reserves, at some of the highest levels on record. The New York Times this morning notes another wrinkle in this story, pointing out that some companies have been laying off workers at the same time that they’re spending billions to buy back their own shares, thus enriching executives:

    When Pfizer cut its research budget this year and laid off 1,100 employees, it was not because the company needed to save money.

    In fact, the drug maker had so much cash left over, it decided to buy back an additional $5 billion worth of stock on top of the $4 billion already earmarked for repurchases in 2011 and beyond.

    […]

    There has been a steady drumbeat of other companies laying off workers even as they have disclosed plans to buy back more stock. On June 23, Campbell Soup said it would buy back $1 billion in stock; five days later it announced plans to eliminate 770 jobs. Hewlett-Packard announced a $10 billion stock repurchase in July, and jettisoned 500 jobs in September after it discontinued its TouchPad and smartphone product lines.

    “It’s an extraordinarily unimaginative way to use money,” said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. By buying back shares and lowering the number that are in circulation, executives can make their own “earnings per share” number look better, thus boosting their bonuses.

    Part of the problem is that companies don’t see any demand in the economy, thanks to high unemployment, lack of consumer confidence, and austerity at the state budget level. But at the same time that they’re using billions to enrich themselves, corporate executives are whining that the problems in the economy have to do with regulation and taxes, and spend their time pushing for new tax giveaways that would boost their already high levels of cash even higher. But if the way that they’re employing their current stockpiles of money is any indication, corporations’ attempts to secure more through lower taxes should be met with extreme skepticism.

    I’m sure puddywudyduddypussy and the fabuloso emperor max-minidick think this is just A-OK!!!

    The business of business is BUSINESS god-dammit!!

  123. 123

    It’s the moment all you righties have been waiting for: Obama got “mic checked” by some occupy folks.

    And just like with Karl Rove, I think everyone has the right to speak and be heard and that this is very rude behavior. You want to shout and scream take it out in the street.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50.....upt-obama/
    A group of protesters seemingly affiliated with the “Occupy” movement interrupted President Obama’s speech in Manchester, New Hampshire on Tuesday, engaging in a call-and-response protest for about 20 seconds before being drowned out by Mr. Obama’s supporters.

    “Mic check!” yelled a voice from the crowd as Mr. Obama was giving a speech calling on Congress to pass and extend a payroll tax cut. Other protesters repeated “mic check,” in the style of the Occupy protests, as Mr. Obama halted his speech and looked out into the crowd.

    “Mr. President, over 4,000 peaceful protesters,” the lead protester began, his words then repeated by the other protesters. They then made reference to those protesters being arrested, though their words became difficult to hear.

    At this point those in the crowd began booing and chanting “Fired up, ready to go,” prompting Mr. Obama to say, “no, no, no, it’s ok. It’s ok.”

    Obama handled the interruption far better than turd blossom.

  124. 124

    Hey right wing dings,

    This is what happens when you cut the taxes of the “job creators”..

    What do they do with their cash??

    When Pfizer cut its research budget this year and laid off 1,100 employees, it was not because the company needed to save money.

    In fact, the drug maker had so much cash left over, it decided to buy back an additional $5 billion worth of stock on top of the $4 billion already earmarked for repurchases in 2011 and beyond.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11.....;seid=auto

    Surprise!

  128. 128

    I find in too many discussions about economic trends, the oil factor is left out. Here’s one analysis that gives it the attention it deserves:

    There was a time when central bankers used to fight high oil prices with interest-rate hikes. But we are now in a different era with that equation, and central bankers are more likely to lament, as Ben Bernanke quipped in his spring 2011 press conference, that “the FED can’t print oil.” Yes, precisely. At the zero bound of interest rates and with debt saturation coursing through the private and public sector, the developed world faces not an inflationary restraint from oil prices, but rather an additional deflationary barrier. Welcome to the new oil cycle.

    In the old oil cycle, new supply of petroleum was brought online to capture rising prices. In the new oil cycle, declines from existing fields neutralize this new supply, for a net global supply gain of zero. In the old oil cycle, recessions benefited large consumer countries like the United States as oil prices fell, giving a boost to the economy. In the new oil cycle, the price of oil falls only for a short time before resuming a higher swing. In the old oil cycle, the developed world set the oil price through swings in its demand. In the new oil cycle, the developing world, with its much lower sensitivity to high prices now sets the floor on oil. Most of all, the new oil cycle caps growth in the developed world. The new oil cycle kills the economies of the OECD nations.

    http://www.businessinsider.com.....ld-2011-11

    YLB comment: Only way out of this oil trap the world economy is in is to innovate past oil.. Find a substitute and leave what’s left of the sticky glop in the freaking ground.

    Lately I’ve been a bit intrigued with the potential of methanol (wood alcohol) as an energy carrier of choice for the future. We used to hear a lot about hydrogen as a energy carrier and clean burning fuel of the future but that was before we heard about the downsides which are too numerous to mention here. Methanol is about half as energy dense as gasoline and it’s simple to make from a variety of feedstocks like biomass which would close the carbon loop. This would also mean that making methanol wouldn’t drive corn prices up and would ideally require little to no fossil fuel input unlike ethanol. Starting with methanol it’s very easy to make Di-methyl ether (DME) an excellent diesel substitute and possibly other fuels including jet-fuel and gasoline. Imagine a future Chevy Volt running on DME.

    Of course to make a fuel like methanol you have to start with an energy source so take your carbonless pick: wind, solar, nuke. Imagine planting switchgrass in the Dakotas and using the abundant wind energy to make methanol.

    That in my book beats fracking which is poisoning the environment, sopping up precious water resources and just contributing even more to the extreme climate change conditions.

    Before anyone dismisses methanol as yet another cleaner energy fad, realize that methanol and DME are being used more and more as fuels in China and Europe.

    Read more about methanol:

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

  130. 130

    http://thinkprogress.org/justi.....lion-more/

    Former AIG CEO Sues Claiming Taxpayers Need To Pony Up $25 Billion More

    By Ian Millhiser on Nov 22, 2011 at 12:00 pm

    Former AIG CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg
    For many years, insurance behemoth AIG was so poorly managed that the American taxpayer eventually had to invest nearly $70 billion in the incompetently run company to prevent its collapse from taking the entire U.S. economy along with it (much of this money has since been repaid). Former AIG CEO Maurice Greenberg, however, thinks that the American people haven’t done enough to protect his massive fortune, so his company filed a lawsuit demanding even more taxpayer money:

    Starr International, the company run by the former head of insurance giant American International Group (AIG), has filed a $25 billion lawsuit against the federal government, arguing that the takeover of the insurance company at the height of the financial crisis was unconstitutional.

    When the government took an 80 percent interest in AIG during the financial crisis, it did so without “due process or just compensation,” in violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, according to the suit filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

    The unbridled arrogance of this lawsuit is astonishing. While the wealthy insurance baron is correct that the Constitution does not allow private property to be taken “without just compensation” — a requirement that generally requires the government to pay a property owner the fair market value for their property — his legal complaint can be rebutted with just one chart:

    Fuck these assholes.

    …and the puddywuddyduddypussy and the emperor max-minidick wonder what’s eating the 99%?

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