HorsesAss.Org

Open Thread 7/31

by — ,

– The King County Council approved the Sonics arena.

– There are plenty of health and environmental benefits for cities of bicycling.

– Decent first ad by the marriage equality people.

– So there’s your answer, America. We don’t need gun control. If we all become good Christians and armed ourselves, then when someone opens fire and sends a few Christians to a wonderful place, we can return fire and send them to a terrible place.

– One of the toughest Olympic moments was the fencer who refused to leave the piste.

– Nobody vetted Mittens.

– Chick-fil-a-holes

– Boxed in.

Comments

  4. 4

    June 4, 2008 Candidate Obummer claimed

    “must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state with secure, recognized, defensible borders. And Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.”

    Yet the Obummer mouthpiece Jay Carney made an ASS out of himself again.

    What a joke. No wonder Obummer has lost double digits of Jewish support this erection season!

  6. 6

    @1,2

    People die from all sorts of stuff, cycling included. Seems to me that #1’s just repeating to the common, but wrong, belief that cycling is a dangerous activity. Cycling’s actually pretty damn safe.

    Two of the big causes of death for cyclists where automobiles are involved are right-hook turns and doorings. Both right-hooks and doorings can be easily avoided by cyclists not being gutter bunnies and riding out in the traffic lane a bit.

    Three of the leading causes of death for cyclists where the cyclist is at fault are riding at night without lights, riding against traffic traffic flow (cyclists call this salmoning), and drunk biking. I can’t remember the exact stats on drunk biking, but a good sized chunk of the accidents where cyclists do something stupid and get them selves killed are drunk biking incidents.

    Avoid the bad behaviors listed above and you’re as safe* on your bike as you are in your car.

    *cyclists are more likely to have minor injuries than motorists, motorists are more likely to suffer major traumas or death.

  7. 7

    News Report:

    After his disasterous display of foreign policy credentials in London, Israel, and Poland, Mitt Romney took a cue from his own Baine Capital handbook and declared his candidacy “a failing venture”. He fired all involved, including himself, and out-sourced his campaign to China.

    There, it is reported, the Chinese are working on a new Romney robot, version 3.0, which they hope will remedy the problems found in the previous versions. They remain stuck, however, with their inability to find a suitable chip to run the new “Human Interaction 5.3” software.

    (Yes, satire intended).

  8. 8

    @ 6

    I raced in the 80s. One of my teammates, a guy in his mid-40s who was a horticulture teacher at the high school and had 4 kids, had his pump dislodge during and get caught in his spokes during a training ride. He died four days later. That was in the hairnet helmet days. But still.

    My @1 was total snark. Although I’ve twice been hit by cars.

    Anybody want an essentially unused 55cm Bianchi track bike?

  9. 9

    PPP:

    Romney has benefited from a significant spike in his favorability
    rating, from -14 to -3, while Obama’s approval rating has turned upside down, reversing
    from a +3 rating in June to -3. This was PPP’s first survey of the state conducted among
    likely voters.

    It’s a LV survey.

    http://www.publicpolicypolling.....073012.pdf

  10. 10

    Actually, nothing of substance, politically, is going to be done politically until after the Olympics. I noticed the President has an ad on NBC during the Olympics coverage, it wouldn’t suprise me if Romney has ads on as well. But with the nation and the news media concentrating on events in London over the next week or two, and with the party conventions coming up shortly, both sides are going to keep their biggest guns available for later.

    By mid-September, I will be surprised if you can find thirty seconds of available advertising time on any of the major networks.

  11. 11

    @8
    I used to have a Skid Lid. I’m pretty sure if I’d ever really needed it it would have done nothing to help.

    I’ve never been hit, but I’ve had a couple of close calls. One the close calls involved a driver, that despite almost pegging me, never even saw me. Also had a close call while driving with a guy on a bike riding down a hill, no lights, and straight at me. We missed each other by about 15 feet. I had to pull over and shut my car off for a bit after that one.

  12. 12

    I don’t get the hullaballoo over the president of Chick Fil A’s statement about gay marriage.

    Doesn’t Dan Cathy have the same right to speak against gay marriage that I have to speak in favor of it? There’s nothing new in Cathy’s statement, Chick Fil A has always been a company run by conservative standards. So, it’s not like Cathy said anything new and shocking. From what I’ve read, they didn’t say that Chick Fil A was going to break any laws regarding hiring gays or extending benefits to gay partners where required to by law.

    I’m filing this one under I disagree with what you say, but I’ll defend your right to say it.

  13. 13

    @ 11

    Borrowed a Skid Lid for a century the year before I started racing.

    My recollection is that when the DOT/ANSI rules/specs came out, Skid Lid immediately shut its doors.

    I have a gold crown and two chin lacerations from crashes during races. More road rash than I care to recall. Hip pointer from a training ride crash in Medford. Elbow finally looks good but for five years that quartz asphalt in SLO really made it look like hamburger. Time heals all wounds.

    Got into it just BEFORE Lemond won in 1986. Then there was this deluge of strong, inexperienced kids who could hang at the front but had no bike-handling skills. Last race was in 1989 – locked bars in a meaningless spring criterium and just plain got scared when I looked around me and saw a bunch of kids who work at McDonald’s to earn enough money to fix their bikes after weekend race crashes. I keep telling myself I’ll go back to it. Really doubt I will. Still shave my legs, tho. Never say never.

  14. 14

    @13

    My left elbow is still a little unnaturally smooth from wrecks back when I was young and healed quickly. Ripped up the side of one of my calfs on gravel last summer and man did that ever take its time to heal.

  15. 15

    @ 14

    Now I’m thinking of the scene in JAWS where Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss compare bite wounds.

  17. 17

    Looking for more presidential votes Obummer Sadministration took these actions…

    Those who could have been deported but were released later went on to commit the 19 murders, 3 attempted murders and 142 sex crimes, the Judiciary Committee said.

    PuddyCommentary… Nothing new here, Big Sis and Fast Not Furious Holder turned the other way!

  18. 18

    My goodness, Puddy! The Obummer Sadministration?

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for deportations, said many of those identified by Secure Communities and detailed in the report either weren’t eligible to be deported or were released by local officials before ICE could respond.

    Spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said that given limited resources, they have to pick and choose which aliens they go after.

    “Because ICE is congressionally funded to remove a limited number of individuals each year, the agency prioritizes our enforcement efforts on individuals whose removal has the biggest impact on public safety, including immigrants convicted of crimes, violent criminals, felons, and repeat immigration law offenders,” she said.

    The Obama administration has set records for deportations, removing about 400,000 aliens a year. But it has dramatically altered the composition of those being deported, shifting attention away from rank-and-file illegal immigrants and towards those who already have criminal records or who have repeatedly broken immigration laws.

  19. 19

    It seems the question seems to keep cropping up about whether or not anyone else in the theater in Aurora was packing. Considering that aside from the Peoples’ Republic of Boulder it’s a pretty redneck state, I’d be damn surprised if nobody was. Most likely those who were either:

    (1.) Realized quickly that with the darkness, smoke and confusion, if they’d tried to return fire chances are they’d have hit other innocents, or…

    (2.) Faced with the reality of that particular situation, were just as terrified as anyone else and either ran for the exits or hunkered down with their families between the seats.

    I suppose someone with a firearm of his or her own could have fired it into the air, hoping to distract the assailant and give others the chance to escape. On the other hand, this could have been accomplished by merely jumping up and down, waving one’s arms and yelling–but in either case, it would have meant making a split-second decision to sacrifice one’s own life to (possibly) save someone else.

  20. 20

    Doesn’t Dan Cathy have the same right to speak against gay marriage that I have to speak in favor of it?
    Yes, but there is a important clarification on what free speech is, and more importantly, on what it is not. It is not freedom from responsibility of the consequences of speech.

    The First Amendment protects you from government action suppressing your right to free speech. It does not protect you from private individuals’ negative reaction to your speech.
    http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/30/.....index.html

    Just wondering, if Dan Cathy had been advocating apartheid or anti-miscegenation laws or advocating that people of different religions couldn’t marry, would this be a question?

  21. 21

    When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle. ~ Elizabeth West

    It’s an interesting perspective.

  22. 22

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for deportations, said many of those identified by Secure Communities and detailed in the report either weren’t eligible to be deported or were released by local officials before ICE could respond.

    Setup and fallen over Steve. I was hoping some leftist jump on that. Why?

    Local officials… Hmmm…? WHO RUNS THE US CITIES Steve? DUMMOCRAPTS! and what cities said they will not enforce ICE requirements? There is a list Steve.

    “Because ICE is congressionally funded to remove a limited number of individuals each year, the agency prioritizes our enforcement efforts on individuals whose removal has the biggest impact on public safety, including immigrants convicted of crimes, violent criminals, felons, and repeat immigration law offenders,” she said

    Nice excuse to not diligently perform their job. We’re underfunded. We’re underfunded.

    The Obama administration has set records for deportations, removing about 400,000 aliens a year. But it has dramatically altered the composition of those being deported, shifting attention away from rank-and-file illegal immigrants and towards those who already have criminal records or who have repeatedly broken immigration laws.

    So Steve, with these murdering criminals which are they:

    rank-and-file illegal immigrants

    OR

    those who already have criminal records or who have repeatedly broken immigration laws?

    Just checking…

    And… Thanks for Playing!

  24. 24

    You know, it’s such a dull campaign, all you republicans should just stay home and watch Matlock and Swamp People. Nothing to see here.

  25. 25

    # 19: I’m guessing that at least one or two women in the theatre had a handgun in their purse. But as I’ve always suspected, trying to get a handgun out of a purse while you are hitting the floor and someone is shooting at you, in the dark, is nearly impossible. I’ve even heard of situations (in other locations & situations) where guys had belt holsters, who didn’t even think about the fact that they had a handgun until the shooting stopped.

    Of course, this is all beside the point. The assailant had the element of surprise, the theatre was dark, tear gas was in the air, the assailant was wearing body armor from head to toe, and there were lots of innocents running back and forth. I can’t imagine a worse situation for trying to take down a shooter, no matter how skilled the marksman.

  26. 26

    @ 20

    Yes, but there is a important clarification on what free speech is, and more importantly, on what it is not. It is not freedom from responsibility of the consequences of speech.

    Sez you and what Supreme Court decision?

    “Shouting Fire! in a crowded theater” is a very, very rare interpretation of speech. I hope that always will be the case. None of us are responsible for the assholes who might happen to be listening.

  27. 27

    Funny, the wingnuts were pretty quick to boycott the Dixie Chicks when they made a statement that they weren’t fans of George Bush. I guess it’s not supposed to work the other way around?

  28. 28

    @ 27

    It’s one thing to not spend money on their concerts, buy their albums, or to coerce the radio station not to play their music.

    It’s another to prevent them from exercising their right to free speech and expression by, say, declining to issue them a festival permit if they want to hold a concert somewhere because of what they might say.

  29. 29

    Speaking of “Dixie”, Glen Beck has stepped into the pile of doo-doo, and he’s got a lot of southerners upset with him. So much for Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” and a cohesive Republican/wingnut strategy to keep those votes in the Republican camp.

    The crux of the problem, as I understand it, is that he said something which was interpreted as critical of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the legendary Confederate cavalry general and among the reputed founders of the Ku Klux Klan (there are disagreements on the extent and nature of his involvement, but I won’t go into that here).

    Now the history discussion boards on the internet are full of Confederate sympathisers dissing Glen Beck and wanting to “educate” him – in a physical manner.

    So much for the “Solid South”. You can tease them about their accents, their hair, their trailer homes, their cooking, etc., but you better not criticize Robert E. Lee or Nathan Bedford Forrest.

    (Note: I’m from the South, and my daughter was taking trips through the South attending rowing regattas while she was in college. I advised her that no matter where she was in the South, if the band strikes up “Dixie”, she’s supposed to jump to her feet, take off her hat (if she’s wearing one), and sing/shout the words in the loudest possible voice. She thought I was kidding her. I assured her I was not – “Trust me”, I said. “You can argue your convictions later – but that’s not the time or place to do so. Just try to blend in, for your own safety and my piece of mind.”

  31. 31

    The ACLU, that hated liberal group, was saying that if the mayors actually tried to stop Chick-whaters-their-names, from legally building they would help them in court.
    http://www.christianpost.com/n.....ion-79007/

    A mayor in a less enlightened city has a right to say that Chick-fil-A is especially welcome, just as he might want to say that Starbucks is not welcome because it gives benefits to same-sex couples. A city council member has a right to say that “my district doesn’t want an adult bookstore,” and Menino has a right to say that Boston does not welcome a business run by someone who is prejudiced. As long as they do not then try and give their views the force of law, they are within bounds.

    Politicians’ rights, however, do not bleed over into using their official power to deny a business its fair due because of its, or its CEO’s, exercise of our cherished First Amendment rights.

  32. 32

    Paul Ryan is hateful and despicable then there’s Steve King who is just f’ing out of his gourd:

    “It’s wrong to rate animals above human beings,” he told the questioner. To make his point, King argued that “there’s something wrong” for society to make it a “federal crime to watch animals fight” but “it’s not a federal crime to induce somebody to watch people fighting.”..

    Unfortunately, King is a longtime advocate for legalizing dogfighting, cockfighting, and other forms of animal torture. Most recently, he fought legislation that would make it illegal to bring a child to an animal fight. He has also set aside his love for states’ rights in order to forbid localities from enacting anti-animal torture standards.

    http://thinkprogress.org/polit.....gfighting/

    What a kook!

  33. 33

    The link in the article to Sorkin, is a circular link back to the same article. We don’t know WHAT Sorkin thinks, just what the writer THINKS he thinks Sorkin thinks. (say that three times fast)

    Of course Bloomberg would yammer on about ‘You Didn’t Build That’, The Commons and community runs counter to their mission of “we deliver business and financial information, news and insight around the world.” We have already discussed at length, that Business doesn’t want to pay for the use of the Commons.

  34. 34

    The right wing goes scorched earth!

    The push is most intense in Kansas, where conservatives are attempting to replace a dozen moderate Republican senators who bucked new Gov. Sam Brownback’s move to slash state income taxes.

    The Club for Growth, a major conservative interest group, is spending about $500,000 in Missouri this year. That’s double the amount it invested two years ago. The anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity opened new chapters in Iowa, Minnesota and New Mexico. The conservative business group Texans for Lawsuit Reform spent $3.5 million on legislative candidates in the first half of 2012, more than double its total during the same period two years ago.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....ref=topbar

    Nope these aren’t Dems they’re going after.

  35. 35

    @33 The author went off the deep end in the second paragraph,

    “Maybe this was a problem with the speech, but the key problem was much simpler: The president was needlessly insulting. He wasn’t just calling on successful people to pay more in tax but was being dismissive of their accomplishments.”

    Horseshit. No wonder Bob sucks it up.

    How many highways, roads and bridges has Walmart built and maintained so that customers can get to and from their stores? How many airports and shipping ports have they built and maintained so that they can receive goods from China? When did they build an internet for 21st century marketing? Without the commons you despise so much there would not be a Walmart. Hell, without the commons, somebody could murder you and yours, Bob, take your possessions, and nobody would give a flying fuck. Really, Bob, you should thank your lucky stars each and every day of your miserable fucking existence that there is, in fact, a commons.

  36. 36

    “Nope these aren’t Dems they’re going after.”

    Along those same lines, just how whack must a wingnut be to call a moderate conservative like Obama a socialist? Hell, President Obama is the best moderate Republican president this nation has had in the Oval Office since Bill Clinton.

  37. 37

    The right wing goes scorched earth!

    And ylbuttspigot turns a blind diarrhea eye when libtards want to place a left wrong progressive in place of a centrist DUMMOCRAPT!

    Toooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

    Damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

    Fuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny

  38. 38

    @ 35

    Actually, Doctor Steve, what you bolded in @ 35 was exactly what caught my eye in that piece.

    Shortly after I started my business, the phone went more than 2 1/2 days without ringing and I was scared shitless.

    I put the majority of what I had saved into my start-up. Couldn’t get loans so I leased. Worked long hours, 7-day weeks, etc.

    I got where I got not because some third-grade teacher helped me but because I worked hard, saved, took a chance, and worked harder to make that chance pay off. I paid for those roads and bridges well before I started my business, in the taxes I paid during more than a decade of working before I struck out on my own, which entitles me to use them, too – Obama and Warren forgot to include that little inconvenient fact.

    Take my taxes, fine, but don’t fucking belittle me in the process and expect you can take whatever extra you need only from me and not from those around me. That’s where you get pushback. That’s why you get pushback.

  39. 39

    @37 When we get together, I need to tell you about a minor miracle I’ve witnessed. I assure you, Puddy, your spirit will soar. It has to do with little Rachel Beckwith’s family.

    If you haven’t done so already, please drop by and donate a few dollars to her cause of bringing clean water to kids who very desperately need it.

    http://www.mycharitywater.org/.....n_id=27971

  40. 40

    After the Supreme Court voted to stop the 2000 Florida recount, thus awarding George W. Bush the presidency of the United States, the Republican Party had a message for Democrats: “You lost, get over it.” […] Rather than vilify Justice Roberts and take valuable time in the House of Representatives taking a symbolic vote to repeal the new [health care] law, it is time for conservatives and the Republican Party to take their own advice, admit they lost and get over it.

  41. 41

    Sure Chick-fil-a can have whatever corporate culture it wants. But once that culture is out there on display people are free to choose to boycott. Now I’m hearing the argument that as most stores are franchisers, you’re not hurting you’re the corporation, you’re hurting the small business owner. Well kind of, the corporation gets a franchise fee and a perpetual percentage. And this company’s Christian culture has been public knowledge for a very long time. If, as a franchise owner, you didn’t consider the possibility that the CEO might say something anti-gay or anti any religion outside of born again/southern Baptist that would offend a segment of your customers, you weren’t doing your due diligence before investing.

    Personally I haven’t eaten Chick-fil-a in over a decade. Not for their culture. In my experiences, mostly on business in the Houston area, other than waffle fries which fall under the, “maybe I should eat less deep fried category”, the food is crappy to mediocre.

  43. 43

    Obama’s LeftHand Man RahmBo has stirred up a hornets nest…

    Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has ticked off the flocks by criticizing Chick-fil-A.
    Days after the big city boss blasted the chicken chain over its president’s stance on same-sex marriage, an influential Baptist minister and Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago struck back. The religious leaders, who support the traditional view of marriage, were incensed at Emanuel’s claim that “Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago’s values.”
    “Do not disrespect us…We, too, are Chicago,” the Rev. Charles Lyons of the Armitage Baptist Church thundered from the pulpit Sunday.
    Is the City Council going to set up a ‘Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities’ and call those of us who are suspect to appear before it?
    – Cardinal Francis George, Archdiocese of Chicago
    Cardinal Francis George also criticized Emanuel’s stance, asking in the Catholic Chicago Blog if everyone who did not agree with Emanuel faced a similar fate.
    “Must those whose personal values do not conform to those of the government of the day move from the city,” George wondered. “Is the City Council going to set up a ‘Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities’ and call those of us who are suspect to appear before it?”

    I love Cardinal George’s question.

    “Must those whose personal values do not conform to those of the government of the day move from the city,” George wondered. “Is the City Council going to set up a ‘Council Committee on Un-Chicagoan Activities’ and call those of us who are suspect to appear before it?

    The answer is YES. Obama and Rahmbo cannot handle those who do not think like they do. They try to destroy them ala Alinsky.

  44. 44

    It is unconstitutional for City’s to discriminate based on political views. If big mouth Rahmbo or the dumbass Mayor of Boston even try to interfere arbitrarily or capriciously with Chick-Fil-A’s right to do business, they will get their ass handed to them at every Court Level.
    Even you lefty’s ought to be afraid of the implications of singling companies or individuals out for “punishment” based on their religious beliefs. Bad precedent.
    But it’s 2 lefty’s that just crossed the line.
    It’s like they have given Chick-Fil-A a free pass to do whatever they want from this point forward.
    Idiots.
    Facists!!

  45. 45

    @ 40

    The Supreme Court voted 7-2 that the recount was being conducted unconstitutionally.

    The SC did not vote to stop the recount, only the unconstitutional process by which it was being conducted. At least one county, on its own, stopped prior to the decision because it determined it could not complete the recount in time.

    The effect of the second decision, which was 5-4, was that no further time was permitted for the recount before the standing election results would be certified. But the Supreme Court, for the second time, remanded the case back to the Florida supreme court so they could rectify their fuckup.

    At least don’t distort the facts if you wish to be taken seriously.

  46. 46

    “I started my business, in the taxes I paid during more than a decade of working before I struck out on my own”

    Get real. It’s not once and done, Bob. If that was the case, there would no longer be a commons. No matter how hard you worked at building a business, your business wouldn’t have failed, you would have never been able to start a business in a first place. Without a commons, you would be spending each day of your life defending what little would be yours from those who would take it from you, even if they had to kill you to do so. And without the commons, they could kill you and your family without consequence.

  47. 47

    @43, 44 Gawd, you’re fucking stupid. At least you make Bob look better than he otherwise might. You’ve got that much going for you, Ev, but I’m afraid that’s all you’ve got. Loser.

  49. 49

    Now I’m hearing the argument that as most stores are franchisers, you’re not hurting you’re the corporation, you’re hurting the small business owner.

    Isn’t that like saying that one shouldn’t shut down a company because it would hurt the workers? When has the fired workers ever stopped a capitalist (at Bain)? Suddenly NOW they care?

  51. 51

    47. Steve spews:

    @43, 44 Gawd, you’re fucking stupid. At least you make Bob look better than he otherwise might. You’ve got that much going for you, Ev, but I’m afraid that’s all you’ve got. Loser.

    Rather than debate the issue, you attack the messenger.
    Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals
    Tactic #13–
    13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and ‘frozen.’…
    “…any target can always say, ‘Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?’ When your ‘freeze the target,’ you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments…. Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the ‘others’ come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target…

  52. 52

    Look, Obama is clearly an Alinskyite. Look at his background and consider..

    “Obama learned his lesson well. I am proud to see that my father’s model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we approach his 100th birthday.” –Letter from L. DAVID ALINSKY, son of Neo-Marxist Saul Alinsky

    And

    Obama helped fund ‘Alinsky Academy’: “The Woods Fund, a nonprofit on which Obama served as paid director from 1999 to December 2002, provided startup funding and later capital to the Midwest Academy…. Obama sat on the Woods Fund board alongside William Ayers, founder of the Weather Underground domestic terrorist organization…. ‘Midwest describes itself as ‘one of the nation’s oldest and best-known schools for community organizations, citizen organizations and individuals committed to progressive social change.’… Midwest teaches Alinsky tactics of community organizing.”
    Hillary, Obama and the Cult of Alinsky: “True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within. Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties…. Many leftists view Hillary as a sell-out because she claims to hold moderate views on some issues. However, Hillary is simply following Alinsky’s counsel to do and say whatever it takes to gain power.
    “Obama is also an Alinskyite…. Obama spent years teaching workshops on the Alinsky method. In 1985 he began a four-year stint as a community organizer in Chicago, working for an Alinskyite group called the Developing Communities Project…. Camouflage is key to Alinsky-style organizing. While trying to build coalitions of black churches in Chicago, Obama caught flak for not attending church himself. He became an instant churchgoer.” (By Richard Poe, 11-27-07)

  53. 53

    @51 You bring nothing to attack, Ev. You elicit laughter. That’s because you’re dumber than a fucking stump.

  55. 55

    That’s because you’re dumber than a fucking stump.

    Steve,

    Are you equating ev, with rujax and ylbuttspigot? Those two are dumber than a fucking stump.

  56. 56

    @20

    Just wondering, if Dan Cathy had been advocating apartheid or anti-miscegenation laws or advocating that people of different religions couldn’t marry, would this be a question?

    Or arguing that the world is flat or that the slavery was good or that the holocaust never happened. He has the right to make those arguments. People that don’t agree with him have the right to say they disagree with him and shop else where as well. But, it seems to me that people are saying that he doesn’t have the right to say he’s against gay marriage and that they’ll use the instruments of the state, business licenses, zoning laws, and so forth to get him to shut up and that’s a bunch of crap. Mayors have every right to speak out against him as well, but they don’t have the right to prevent Chick-Fil-A from opening restaurants in their cities based on the speech of one man.

  58. 58

    Just wondering, if Dan Cathy had been advocating apartheid or anti-miscegenation laws or advocating that people of different religions couldn’t marry, would this be a question?

    That’s nice… since it’s stupid libtard speculation and Michael above takes it to a lower level, it’s amazing how a libtard mind thinks…

    BLECH!

  59. 59

    52. ev spews: “Look, Obama is clearly an Alinskyite. Look at his background and consider.”

    You guys rag on and on about some guy named Saul Alinsky. Why the obsession? Is it to avoid talking about the source of your own inspiration? Look and consider.

    “It is not the mass that invents and not the majority that organises or thinks, but in all things only and always the individual man, the person.”

    Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf

    There’s your inspiration, Ev. Little wonder that you’d rather blather on about Saul Alinsky.

  60. 60

    @54 “Steve, I will drop by the web site…”

    I believed that you would. You’re a good man. Thanks.

  61. 61

    @56 “People that don’t agree with him have the right to say they disagree with him and shop else where as well.”

    Agreed. I’d leave it at that.

  62. 62

    These verses from Matthew will always remind me of Rachel Beckwith and her selfless wish to help other kids.

    For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink

    Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me

    Rest in peace, little Angel. Your wish has come true.

  63. 63

    Mayors have every right to speak out against him as well, but they don’t have the right to prevent Chick-Fil-A from opening restaurants in their cities based on the speech of one man.

    Agreed. Did you read the the rest of my post? It covered just that. I agree with the ACLU, the company has the legal right to open a store there, and we have the legal right, not to shop at it if we choose.

  64. 64

    @63

    the company has the legal right to open a store there, and we have the legal right, not to shop at it if we choose.

    My point exactly.

    @58

    I took it “to a lower level” to show that even that speech is protected and people have the right to make it.

  65. 65

    Obama is clearly an Alinskyite

    That’s supposed to be a bad thing? Not in my world.

    MORE SOCIALISM!

  66. 66

    @64–
    But free speech of a Mayor, with power to impact land use decisions, is not protected. In fact, these Mayors can be held PERSONALLY LIABLE if their staff screws with Chick-Fil-A. Once you rant like this as an elected Mayor, it’s almost impossible to put it back in the sack. The 2 doufuses are walking on eggshells thanks to their own big fucking grandstanding mouths.
    Chick-Fil-A would love nothing better than to sue these 2 leftist gasbags personally.

  67. 67

    The 2 leftist Mayor’s comments also can be viewed as having a “chilling effect” on free speech of individuals, which I think is your point Michael et al. You simply cannot have a Mayor who ultimately has control over Community Development & Permits shooting his fucking mouth off, pointing to one specific business. I don’t care if the Mayor is a Lefty or a Righty.
    However in this case, both are mouthy lefty’s.

  68. 68

    65. Liberal Scientist is a a dirty fucking hippie spews:

    Obama is clearly an Alinskyite

    That’s supposed to be a bad thing? Not in my world.

    MORE SOCIALISM!

    Is that a surprise to anyone??
    We’ve noticed your persuasion Lib Sci.
    At least you don’t try to sugar coat it.
    I respect that vs. the assholes who refuse to come right out and say it.

  70. 70

    @69 As you no doubt already know, Ev, Adolf Hitler’s Mien Kampf offers a number of cautions for yourself. Shall we talk about them now, you two-bit Nazi, America-hating bitch?

  71. 71

    @68 “I respect that vs. the assholes who refuse to come right out and say it.”

    That’s pretty much why I have zero respect for you, Ev. Let’s get down to it. Why are you so damned ashamed of being an asswipe fascist? These are your beliefs. Own it, bitch. You’re just a damned cowardly Nazi and you “refuse to come out and say it”. I have no respect for you.

  72. 72

    @66, 67 and others

    Those claiming that the Mayor of Boston attempted to “Ban” Chick-Fil-A are either uniformed or intentionally misrepresenting the facts. Mostly due to the way headline writers characterized it.

    However, Massachusetts as a state includes sexual orientation as a protected class for employment and workplace harassment. Massachusetts is also a state that recognizes same sex marriage. It could very easily be argued that the public comments by a CEO against gays and/or gay marriage contribute to a hostile work environment in the state of Massachusetts.

    His public comments suggest that some of his Massachusetts employees are not equal to other employees in Massachusetts.

    IANAL but it appears the government of Massachusetts could, quite legally and without any first amendment issues, make life difficult for a corporation that publicly claims that homosexuals are not equal through their existing harassment statues. It would not surprise me if some enterprising Boston Lawyer is looking for gay Chick-Fil-A employees to introduce a lawsuit.

    Any thoughts from our resident flop-eared ex lawyer?

  74. 74

    @72
    Most of the restaurants are franchises and the president hasn’t done anything to break the law, he’s just said he disagrees with it, just like he might disagree with the minimum wage or workers comp.

    I’m not sure if the statements by the mayors are over the line or not, but they’re mighty close.

    Also, we (in the global sense not in we on the left sense) seem to have started a war over something that’s a demographic inevitability. Which is a really dumb thing to do. Gay marriage and equal rights will happen and there’s nothing that can stop it.

  76. 76

    Boston Lawyer is looking for gay Chick-Fil-A employees to introduce a lawsuit.

    But, wouldn’t that lawsuit have to be brought based on some action by his employer? We don’t have an action here, we just have a general statement.

  78. 78

    Masachusetts also has also toughest statutes on verbal abuse in the workplace. I don’t know if the franchise/corporate relationship shields the parent corporation from franchise employee lawsuits.

    That is one of many things about which I’ll willingly cop to ignorance.

  80. 80

    @43 As far as I know, the mayor hasn’t asked the hyperventilating cardinal, or anyone else, to move from the city.

    And until someone actually sets up a “Council Committee on un-Chicagoan Activities” you, too, are hyperventilating.

    Such committees, btw, are purely a Republican shtick.

  81. 81

    @66 “But free speech of a Mayor, with power to impact land use decisions, is not protected.”

    Er, yes it is. Hizzoner doesn’t lose his free speech rights just because he’s mayor and has power to impact land use decisions. And he doesn’t violate someone else’s free speech rights by exercising his free speech rights. He does that only if and when he exercises his power to impact land use decisions to punish someone else for exercising their free speech rights.

  82. 82

    @52

    In order for this line of attack to work, you have to find the stupid who already dislike the President.

    Boil it down…

    He’s a leftist who wants to hand the keys to the nuclear codes over to the Ruskies and the Anarchists. Never mind that, just to be safe, he’d wait until a not-yet assured second term to carry out his nefarious plans. Never mind that the Dems/Leftists who will begrudgingly re-elect him are hesitant because he has proved to be too centrist. HE’S A RADICAL MARXIST! EV knows it and the public will come around by November.

    Do you understand how ludicrous you sound? Good luck with that. If Romney utters the words Jeremiah Wright or Saul Alinsky, the converted will love it, and the on-the-fence will know Willard’s a kook. Maybe he should talk about the birth certificate?

  83. 83

    The fool doesn’t even realize that we’re on the same side on this one…

    Michael, that’s because you usually exhibit moonbat qualities. It’s shocking to see you lucid, thinking clearly! Although Puddy will admit you tend to be more lucid than other leftists like ylbuttspigot, ekim, blue john, rujax, and other useless leftist pinhead fools.

  84. 84

    Steve,

    Impressive $16,195,208 raised on charities. How much goes to overhead? Remember ADRA has almost no overhead.

  85. 85

    @84 If you’re talking about Rachel’s Charity:Water, none of your donation will go to overhead. One of those awful 1% guys has covered all of Charity:Water’s overhead expenses so that 100% of your donation will go to the field. I’m not sure about this latest campaign, but on previous ones, another of the 1% matched all of our donations. It usually appears as a notice after you donate on-line. I’ve donated a few times to the latest campaign but I just don’t recall if it’s matched ot not.

    I believe Rachel picked herself a great charity. There’s video on their site and all over the web of Rachel’s Mom, grandparents and pastor visiting Rachel’s wells in Ethiopia. If the sight of Rachel’s mother pumping water out of Rachel’s well for those kids doesn’t bring you to tears, then maybe the sight of the framed photo of Rachel that the village keeps, or the new park they named after her will.

  87. 87

    Anyone who uses traditional marriage as a reason to disallow same sex marriage can’t say they believe in freedom. You want freedom or traditional marriage? You can’t have both.

  88. 88

    That’s wonderful Steve. Mrs Puddy and I will contribute.

    Damn those 1%ers. They really suck per DUMMOCRAPTS!

  89. 89

    “Damn those 1%ers.”

    Yeah, don’t they suck? Kidding.

    “Mrs Puddy and I will contribute.”

    Good on you, friend. I figured you would.

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