I am both encouraged and dismayed by my fellow Americans

I know that NPR is generally considered a dirty word but they have a series entitled Intelligence Squared where issues are debated in the classical Oxford style. The audience votes on the proposal before the debate and again after and the side which changes the most minds is declared the winner. Sometimes the results surprise me. The last debate was on the proposal "DON’T BLAME TEACHERS UNIONS FOR OUR FAILING SCHOOL"

I was surprised at how unpopular the teachers unions were; this filled me with hope for the future. Unfortunately I immediately started to listen to the preceding debate (iTunes loads them in reverse order for some reason) on whether America should sever it's special relationship with Israel and my hope turned to dismay when the side advocating abandoning Israel managed to convince 16% of the audience that they were right.

The next in the series on May 11th is whether Obama's foreign policy is screwing America.

What might Machiavelli have made of the 44th President of the United States? Barack Obama set out to change the tone of US foreign policy. And he did. By virtue of his personal story, by dint of his not being George W. Bush, he arrived in the White House as both object of fascination and source of relief to a world grown accustomed to resenting the US itself. Here is a president who acknowledges that we hold no monopoly on the legitimacy of our interests, who aspires to finding the common ground in resolving disagreements with friend and foe. His caution, his deliberativeness, his stated willingness to at least try to negotiate even with our bitterest enemies and to cool down the rhetoric – played so well out of the gate, that they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize – after just 262 days in office.

But is love enough to lead? Or might the president need some wins along the way? For the most part, they’ve been hard to come by. None yet in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Iran’s mullah’s don’t seem to feel an urgent need to end the nuclear standoff. Seeking a new balance in America’s dealings in the Middle East, Obama asked Israel to stop building settlements, but the building goes on. And the Chinese seem to understand his less than aggressive stance in pressing for human rights as a green light to change nothing. Even when the stakes were less than life and death – his bid to bring the Olympics to Chicago – he was denied.

Not that any of this is easy. And it may be that some of these more serious challenges would by now be more difficult still if Obama had not set a new tone.

But might the opposite be true? Might our adversaries see the president’s coolness as uncertainty and his deliberativeness as weakness? Can they exploit his affinity for common ground, by pushing to gain more ground for themselves? By acknowledging that all sides can have legitimate interests, as well as legitimate grievances, is the president yielding the high ground? Most importantly, are we safer now that we are living in the era of president number 44?

It comes down to being respected, which is not the same as being liked. Americans have always aspired to have it both ways. Machiavelli would have us choose.

Posted by: chad98036 at 05:41 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Hi.

I truly hope this gets two gallons to the mile.   Just to make it awesomer. 

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:22 PM | Comments (74) | Add Comment
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Fun with unemployment

Or rather, misery with unemployment, geoff shows what is happening with regards to unemployment.  Blech.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:24 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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WTF is wrong with Pennsylvania?

I get that an urban ghetto kid might see drug deals often enough that he would imitate them at school.  What I don't get is how an eight-year-old gets his hands on 80 dime bags of heroin, and no one misses it.

Chynita Young, 25, of Homewood, was arrested on Thursday, one day after an incident at Turner Elementary School, where students on the playground said a boy was trying to pass out small paper bags that police said were stamp bags of heroin...Police said the child had around 80 bags which had a street value of $800.

Posted by: Alice H at 10:32 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Yeah, Those Violent Teabaggers And Their Violence-y Ways

Oh.

Never mind.

And this:

Posted by: eddiebear at 10:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Protip: If Philly fans are annoying you or being obnoxious

...don't say anything, just leave.  Philly fans are the lowest form of life on the planet, and it just isn't going to go well for you unless you have a beltfed, a couple thousand rounds and a buddy to swap out barrels. 

Seriously, this sick fuck shoved his fingers down his throat and puked on a on off-duty police officer and his family because the cop had the audacity to ask him and his buddies not to curse in front of his family, then Pukeface McDickhead punched the cop a few times as security approached.  Pukeface did that because the off-duty cop reported him and his buddies to an usher after they spit on his daughter and continued to curse in front of his family.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:00 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I swear Mom she was broke when I found her!

Would you believe she is a member of the Russian parliament and it was once rumored she was going to marry Vladimir Putin.

Why aren't our Senators this entertaining?  I feel ripped off.


more...

Posted by: chad98036 at 09:33 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Santa Browning

Now that's a BAG-Day Eve!
Stan Turley though, didn't get much firewood cut on the state land he visited Tuesday.

Instead Turley found 31 long guns and pistols lying along a two track in Freeman Township of Clare County.

I hope that after 30 days, if nobody claims them, he gets to keep them.

Via Say Uncle Who
Who notes, "That never happens to me."
Yeah, me neither.

Posted by: Veeshir at 09:25 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Say...

...a few weeks ago, wasn't there some talk in the MSM about some kind of "Caffeinated Beverage Party" that was sweeping the country as an alternative to those stupid, nasty, racist Tea Party troglodytes? What was it called again? Because I don't seem to have heard much about those folks today.

Oh, wait, here's something...

As the Tea Party Rally train rolls across the nation, the new "Coffee Party Protestors" gathered on the steps of the Boise Capitol building to spread the message that taxes mean more jobs and a stronger economy.

Well, there's a winning position right there. Furthermore, here's a super-coherent statement from one of their (I'm sure) grassroots organizers:

"We've had a system that has advantaged the wealthy for a very long time," Adrienne Evans, United Vision for Idaho Director, said," and people know that's skewed. We're not advocating big government, but a responsible and compassionate government, that gives people tools to the resources and access so they can enhance their own lives and that of their communities."

Yeah. That doesn't sound like big government or "spreading around the wealth" or anything.

Be sure, by the way, to click on the link to see a photo of this massive rally.

Posted by: Sean M. at 08:48 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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What a tool

When I was younger I had a stock response when someone complimented me, I usually said, 'Yeah, that and my wit, charm and boyish good looks are my best features. Well, those and my humility."
Why bring that up? Well, Obama had an interview with Oz's ABC
Quote
United States president Barack Obama says he and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd share several personality traits - one of which is humility.

What a tool.
While he has ample reason to feel excess humility, I have yet to see him exhibit it.
Via Tim Blair who notes that other shared traits are "awesomeness, heroism and a killer sense of humour".

Posted by: Veeshir at 10:13 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Just to make Tax Day a little easier to take - Russian Pop Music

Cash accepted in lieu of thanks

Posted by: chad98036 at 09:59 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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BAG-Day is here!

So the Uberti I ordered hasn't come in yet, darm Italians. They need a Mussolini to get the gun makers on time.
I went to Vegas last month but there was a problem with my paycheck that week, so the cash I was planning on blowing in Vegas wasn't in Vegas with me. I went to the gun store and what did I see on the consignment rack?


That's a Calico M-951. It's a 9mm carbine made in Bakersfield, CA. That little cylinder below the barrel? That's the spare mag, a 50 rounder. You can see it's bigger brother above the trigger and going back to over the extensible stock. That's a 100 rounder.
I got it early and shot it last week. It took a little while to get working, but once it did I emptied that 100 round mag without a problem.
It has a high funs/hour rate.
Yay BAG-Day!
More below the fold
more...

Posted by: Veeshir at 07:11 AM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
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Presented without context

At first, I was confused by the marketing strategy here. How effective is it to lure people into purchasing a fake (but highly realistic) penis by implying the promise of a vagina?

It should be noted that this was written by a woman. A woman who, presumably, has never met any heterosexual men. Or, at least none who were both horny and intrigued by the rather enticing "promise of a vagina," no matter what the product being sold happens to be.

(I'm also assuming she's never met anyone who works in advertising.)

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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What to do after your mother is proven right

...and indeed, spending all that time at Steamboat McGoo's place does make you go blind?  Well, I have good news for you, there's going to be a porno mag released for the blind. It's written in Braille and has raised nude pictures, and will sell for £150. 

The publisher says they saw a niche market, I think they're bullshitting,

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:47 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Whereby I Wear My Teabagger Pin With Pride

And to anybody who wishes to mock me, let me address the following to you.

*eats whole box of bacon covered donuts*
*washes it down with gallon of whiskey*
*sniffs own flatulence*
*throws last bit of cigar at leftist douchebag*:
more...

Posted by: eddiebear at 12:31 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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How the sun changes the climate without changing the climate

Get this - when there's low solar activity, sometimes, it gets colder.  Unfuckingbelievable, right?  I don't see how that could even possibly be possible, so it's a good thing all them climate scientists are there to show me the rational side of things, isn't it.

The UK and continental Europe could be gripped by more frequent cold winters in the future as a result of low solar activity, say researchers.

They identified a link between fewer sunspots and atmospheric conditions that "block" warm, westerly winds reaching Europe during winter months.

But wait!  There's moar awesome science to remind you that, while the sun may be making things colder by its utter and complete lack of cooperation, global warming is still your fault, you mouth-breathing, oil-using, knuckle-dragging Neanderthal.  Because, you see, there is no link between the sun and climate change.  Just cold winters.

Scientists have produced further compelling evidence showing that modern-day climate change is not caused by changes in the Sun's activity.

The research contradicts a favoured theory of climate "sceptics", that changes in cosmic rays coming to Earth determine cloudiness and temperature.

The idea is that variations in solar activity affect cosmic ray intensity.

But UK scientists found there has been no significant link between cosmic rays and cloudiness in the last 20 years.

So, um, yeah.  Take that, skeptics; science has managed to prove you right and prove you wrong all in one fell swoop. 

Posted by: Ember at 10:54 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Where's Ace?

He has been missing from AoS lately.  Are we going to have to put his face on milk cartons?

Posted by: chad98036 at 01:49 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Minitru getting blatant

Eric at Classical Values went to a tea party event in Lansing, Michigan last week and saw what you see at all the tea party events.
You know, friendly, normal  people who are angry at our gov't for either ignoring us or calling us names and telling us to shut up and give them our their money.
He has some good pics.

So today he sees an article about all the homophobes at the event, including a guy proudly selling "Straight Pride" shirts who was an official member of the Tea Party Express and who gives a cut of the proceeds to the Tea Party Express and who wore a button saying Official Sponsor.
Eric was there for 3 hours and didn't see the guy.
Minitru "journalist" provides two pics as "proof" that show nothing of what he claims. There's no pic of the guy wearing the Official Sponsor button.
In one pic you can see just the shirt and part of another shirt next to it that I can't read, the other pic shows a guy wearing one but you can't see around him or even see his face. There are no wide angle shots showing all the tea partiers in the background.

Read the second, short link. He has links to the lies and the happy, happy lefties screaching about Teh Hatez, including the lying piece by the lying Minitru bastid.

Posted by: Veeshir at 01:38 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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A Lesson For The Kids

Try hard in school kids!

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 11:34 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Abuse of power in Maryland

Guy on his motorcycle was speeding and gets busted...by a police officer who is in an unmarked car with no lights or siren, wearing no uniform, shows no badge, and draws his sidearm the second he gets out of the car, and doesn't ID himself as police for several seconds.  There's a police cruiser coming up behind him at the last second. 

Blocking someone off with your car like that, failing to ID yourself as police and drawing your weapon the second you step out of the vehicle is a damn good way to get yourself killed, whether that's getting shot by someone with a carry permit or run down by the driver.  Naturally, instead of taking this as a hint to put a muzzle on Officer Aggro McJackass, the Maryland State Police are threatening the motorcyclist with charges of illegal wiretapping/recording, because he had a helmet cam on, and recorded the whole thing, which found its way on teh intarwebs.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:08 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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