Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

This blog will pay for itself.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

You cannot shame the shameless.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

I really should read my own blog.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

T R E 4 5 O N

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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Reader Interactions

102Comments

  4. 4.

    Demo Woman

    John, Surely you will give us a detailed analysis about his speech. I tried to watch for a few minutes on line but the filter is not very good and it’s hard to hear the translator.

  5. 5.

    Rey

    OMG, I had this on in the background and thought my sat Dish had picked up some weird frequency. This is why Palin’s speech was closed to the media.

  6. 6.

    General Winfield Stuck

    was watching it, but my brain got vaporlock from all the mindless gibberish so I turned it off. The dude is crazy as Aunt Lulu locked in the attic.

  7. 7.

    Zifnab

    OMG, he’s rambling about the Kennedy assassination. This guy really is taking a page from the American crazies.

  8. 8.

    Tom Traubert

    I love his concern for finding justice for the killer of JFK. Truly a pressing matter to the people of Libya.

  12. 12.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @freelancer:

    It’s getting weirder by the day. It’s like faithbased Obama fail, or wingnuts praying that by declaring Obama as this or that failur, somehow the Raygun god on high will make it so. Same with health care reform, It’s the winger version of a Rain Dance.

  13. 13.

    SpotWeld

    (This one is right off of wikipedia)

    Series of tubes: an analogy used by former United States Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) to describe the Internet in the context of network neutrality.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    @freelancer: Strong with the FAIL, that column is. Criticizing it is like shooting fish in a barrel, but I think this was my favorite:

    Carter inflated the currency dramatically. Under Carter, the inflation rate started at 6.5 percent in 1977 and increased each year, ending at 13.5 percent in 1980. Under Obama, the nation’s monetary supply (bank reserves and currency in circulation) has increased by over 100 percent since September 2008.

    September 2008? I know wingnuts are trying to pretend that GWB never existed (or was a stealth liberal), but this is absurd.

    -dms

  18. 18.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    @dmsilev:

    September 2008? I know wingnuts are trying to pretend that GWB never existed (or was a stealth liberal), but this is absurd.

    George W. Bush served as President from September 12, 2001 to September 14, 2008.

  20. 20.

    dadanarchist

    This is totally off-topic, but I just purchased this by the great American photographer and sometime avant-garde filmmaker, William Klein.

    The boxset contains several of his hard-to-see movies from the 1960s, and I am pretty sure that this is the first time these films have appeared on any format, VHS or DVD.

    That said, this particular film, Mr. Freedom was truly astounding, because of its prescience. It was a satire but too much of it, alas, has come eerily true in the 40 years since Klein made it.

    So a proposal: is there anyway we can convince wingnuts that this is a lost patriotic masterpiece? On par with Red Dawn?

  22. 22.

    Mark S.

    From the (formerly) Virgin Ben column:

    Carter surrendered Afghanistan to the Soviets

    Does this shit makes sense if you’re a wingnut? I mean, were we occupying Afghanistan in 1978?

  24. 24.

    Zifnab

    @dmsilev: I like how in his rush to explain the horrors of inflation, he left out when the actual recessions occurred. You know, in ’82 and ’87 and ’91 and ’01 – under those Republicans he admires so much.

    Also, the cherry picking of ’77 was cute, as we had 6.16% inflation in ’73, 11% in ’74, 9% in ’75, and 5.75% in ’76. It’s almost as though by cherry picking data points you can conclude anything you want. The inflation peak in ’80 was a real laugh, since – you know – by magically taking office Ronald Reagen solved inflation.

    And the real punchline is checking the inflation numbers for the last 9 months. Gee, are those negative numbers? Yeah, I can see how inflation would be a major concern for the conservatives. Far be it for them to spend some time not being wrong.

    http://inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Rate/HistoricalInflation.aspx?dsInflation_currentPage=0

  25. 25.

    Shell

    Has he been taking speech lessons from Sarah Palin?

    Bwah! Ya beat me to it. I was gonna say did he hire Palin as his speech writer.

    How does he look like he always has a three-day growth of beard?

  27. 27.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    Hey Andrew Sullivan is moving back to England!

    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/09/americas-first-brain-drain.html

    The legal immigration system – the same one that has kept me in limbo for a quarter of a century – is reaching a breaking point. Skilled immigrants are returning home to the more fertile opportunities in China and India because America makes it almost impossible for talented immigrants to move here:

    Wait, maybe I misread that.

    Yeah I guess so. I thought for a moment it was a GBCW column. But noooo.

  29. 29.

    jibeaux

    Okay, I need a new strategy for not getting sucked in to teh stoopid on the internet, I really do. Because there is stoopid everywhere and it honestly puts a crush on the rest of my day, even if I take Fake James Carville’s advice and don’t engage with them (from the SNL preview weekend update, cracked me up). In short, I need some way to get “you can’t fix stupid” tattooed on the inside of my brain. What are your coping mechanisms, besides the refuge here?

  30. 30.

    R-Jud

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Dude. Don’t scare me like that. My garden has had a hard enough season without Sully’s head blocking out the sun on the island.

    Jibeaux @ 28: Booze. Duh.

  31. 31.

    toujoursdan

    You think that’s crazy. Read his “Green Book” sometime. You’ll get brilliant insights like:

    It is an undisputed fact that both Man and woman are human beings. It follows as a self-evident fact that woman and man are equal as human beings. Discrimination between man and woman is a flagrant act of oppression without any justification. For woman eats and drinks as man eats and drinks … Woman loves and hates as man loves and hates … Woman thinks, learns and understands as man thinks, learns and understands … Woman, like man, needs shelter, clothing and vehicles … Woman feels hunger and thirst as man feels hunger and thirst … Woman lives and dies as man lives and dies. But why are there man and woman? Indeed, human society is composed neither of man alone nor of woman alone. It is made up naturally of man and woman. Why were not only men created? Why were not only women created? After all, what is the difference between man and woman? Why was it necessary to create man and woman? There must be a natural necessity for the existence of man and woman, rather than man only or woman only. It follows that neither of them is exactly the other, and the fact that a natural difference exists between man and woman is proved by the created existence of man and woman. This means, as a matter of fact, that there is a role for each one of them, matching the difference between them. Accordingly, there must be different prevailing conditions for each one to live and perform their naturally different roles. To comprehend this role, we must understand the differences in the nature of man and woman, namely the natural differences between them: Woman is a female and man is a male.

    …and it drones on and on and on like this for about a hundred pages.

    When a Libyan neighbour of mine showed me an English translation of this I said “Surely it must be more profound in Arabic, right?” He said no. It’s just as bad in the native tongue.

    Thank Allah, Gaddafi paid the Libyan army off.

  33. 33.

    jomo

    I work down the block from the UN and this week is always an experience. An interesting thing is that there is a huge contingent of Nation of Islam folks and even a few Black Panthers who are acting as unofficial hosts for Gadhafi’s visit here. Interesting alliance.

  34. 34.

    jibeaux

    @R-Jud:

    Well, that’s how I cope with my kids and I don’t want to be too repetitive. It’s also frowned on at work. I actually got funny looks for ordering an 8 oz. beer over lunch, at a place we walked to. I explained that 8 oz. of beer does not actually render me too impaired to work. What a weird culture the U.S. has.

  35. 35.

    Punchy

    OT, but more swine-flu relatedoverhype craziness…

    My favorite blurb:

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even went as far as to recommend sick students wear surgical masks when they kiss.

    This is by far the funniest thing I’ve read all day.

  36. 36.

    The Saff

    @jibeaux: Balloon Juice is my only refuge from all the stupidity. August was particularly bad for obvious reasons.

    On a slightly OT note, my husband and I stopped by our Congresscritter’s office when we were in DC last week. We were just going to tell the staffer at the front desk that we wanted to voice our support for health care reform and the public option, when he said, “The Congressman is in the office. Let me get him for you.”

    We had a pleasant 7 minute conversation with him (Gary Peters, D-MI). He said the townhalls were interesting (had a lady call him a liar when he was reading something straight from HR3200). And he supports the public option! I told him I voted for him.

    Prior to meeting Congressman Peters, we ran into two Great Pyrenees in the hall of the Longworth Office Building; the dogs and their people were walking from Austin, Texas, to Boston to raise awareness for cancer in dogs.

  39. 39.

    handy

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    C’mon Bill. You’re being a tad unfair about this TelePrompter thingy. Who’s to say, maybe Obama is farsighted, unlike Teh Greatest Presnit of the U.S.A. Evah Ronnie Reagan but doesn’t want to give speeches wearing reading glasses?

  40. 40.

    jibeaux

    @The Saff:

    Wow, that’s a nice story. I have a nice, reasonable Congresscritter, too. He held a town hall meeting which was not reported on at all because it was not attended by the criminally insane. Yay media.

  41. 41.

    jibeaux

    Okay, the Onion has won the day from me with this: Democrats Hoping To Take Control Of Congress From Republican Minority In 2010

  46. 46.

    gocart mozart

    @freelancer:
    Obama resembles Carter in virtually every way. Carter handed over the Panama Canal, built by the United States, to leftist dictator Omar Torrijos; Obama is currently in the process of handing over Honduras to leftist would-be dictator Manuel Zelaya,

    I always thought of Ben Shapiro as a more naive, younger and dogmatic version of Ned Flanders.

    Also, when did we purchase Honduras?

  48. 48.

    freelancer

    @gocart mozart:

    Also, when did we purchase Honduras?

    Jefferson did, as part of his pact with Montezuma, when he had General Patton impersonate the Aztec God Quetzalcoatl in order to get him to sign the deed to the Louisiana Purchase.

    You haven’t been reading your Bible have you?

  49. 49.

    joes527

    @Dreggas: yeah well … I saw that … but LOL’ing at folks dying because it PROVES that we are right and Beck is wrong … yeah well… I’m having a hard time joining in on the chuckle.

  50. 50.

    DougJ

    Gaddafi knocked it out of the park. Home run.

    He did a great job of speaking over the media filter. Progressive elites didn’t like the speech, but middle Americans did. Until Democrats understand that, they’re going to have a tough time winning elections.

  52. 52.

    joes527

    @Dreggas:

    Most deaths were from drowning when cars were swept off roadways. Authorities released a 15-minute 911 call of a storm victim’s last moments. Seydi Burciaga, 39, screamed to a dispatcher as water rose to her neck. The dispatcher advised her to try to break a window, but she couldn’t. “I don’t want to drown here, please!” Burciaga said.

    You are one cold sumbitch.

  53. 53.

    MikeJ

    He did a great job of speaking over the media filter. Progressive elites didn’t like the speech, but middle Americans did. Until Democrats understand that, they’re going to have a tough time winning elections.

    The town car is on the way to take you to the studio. Solid color tie is safest, they’ll take care of makeup there.

    You’re on your way to the top of the pundit heap!

  55. 55.

    ellaesther

    Ok, I understand that we’re hear to talk about Ghaddafi, but can I just say how much I love being proud of our President again?

    (…even though as an Israeli-Palestinian peace advocate I am forced to admit that all of his efforts to get something together to present to the world on that front have been reduced to “my meetings with Netanyahu and Abbas were constructive”… or, in other words, nothing has moved an inch… Sigh).

  56. 56.

    Dreggas

    @joes527:

    sorry but at this point given the way they behave and all the shit they spew they made their bed. They don’t want government interfering in their lives then gov’t shouldn’t interfere. Like Cantor said they can go find some charity to help them rebuild.

    Of course that won’t happen, the gov’t will lend aid to them and they’ll still act like children, begging out of one side of their mouth while still bitching out of the other.

  57. 57.

    MikeJ

    they’ll still act like children, begging out of one side of their mouth while still bitching out of the other

    That woman who drowned won’t.

  58. 58.

    liberal

    IIRC Gaddafi is a flake. Claims to have invented an energy-efficient automobile or some such nuttery.

  59. 59.

    ppcli

    @Mark S.:

    And this is supposed to be a bad thing? Boy, it sure would be nice to have the Soviets/Russians propping up a secular government in Afghanistan right now.

    Instead, Reagan turned the tide against the Soviets by providing stinger missiles to the (largely hyper-religious, often foreign) opposition. After they could shoot down the Soviet helicopters, it was only a matter of time.

    Then before you know it, the Taliban is shelling Kabul.

  60. 60.

    Dreggas

    @MikeJ:

    the gov’t does not control the weather. I am talking about the aftermath of the storms. They are pleading for government aid and government declaring a state of emergency so they can get aid but all the while they bitch about government “interfering” in their lives.

  61. 61.

    liberal

    @Zifnab:

    And the real punchline is checking the inflation numbers for the last 9 months.

    That’s because the idiot doesn’t understand that just because the Fed injects more base money into the system doesn’t mean that banks actually create money.

    IIRC the more general monetary aggregates are actually down.

  62. 62.

    Comrade Mary

    Fuck you Dreggas.

    Prove to me, you shitstain, that THIS specific woman supported any specific policy you want to mention, and that even if she did, she deserved to drown in terror and despair.

    Try it, you fuckwit. Just try it.

    All that’s missing from your bullshit is “Nits grow to be lice”.

  64. 64.

    aimai

    I’ve always assumed that the rest of the world watched our wingnuts as I watched the Monty Python episode where the Maniac demonstrates that he can put a brick to sleep.

    (Maniac is sitting by host. He wears a top hat and an opera cloak.)

    Maniac (Terry Jones): Good evening.
    Host: Keith, you claim you can send bricks to sleep.
    Maniac: Yes, that is correct, I can…
    Host: Entirely by hypnosis.
    Maniac: Yes … I use no artificial means, whatsoever. (leans and picks matchbox off desk to light pipe, opens it and strikes ‘match’)
    Voice: (from matchbox) Aaagh!
    Dove: You’ve injured Mr. Stools!
    Maniac: (picks up other box and lights pipe) I simply stare at the brick and it goes to sleep.
    Host: Well, we have a brick here, Keith. Perhaps you can send it to sleep for us…
    Maniac: Oh … Ah, well, I am afraid that is already asleep.
    Host: (nervous pause) How do you know?
    Maniac: Well, it’s not moving ….
    Host: Oh, I see – have we got a moving brick? Yes, we’ve got a moving brick, Keith, it’s coming over now.

    (We see a man in a white coat preparing to throw brick. He throws it gently. It lands on the desk in front of Keith. Keith stares at it as it falls.)

    Maniac: There we are, fast asleep.
    Host: Very good, very good indeed.
    Maniac: All done with the eyes.
    Host: Yes, Mr. Keith Maniac from Guatemala.

  66. 66.

    jibeaux

    I don’t really think it reflects well on someone to, in the middle of a natural disaster, use it to try to make a political point, even if the point is well taken. Let’s take care of our own first, and point to it later as an example of what government well run looks like. But let’s not call drowning people hypocrites as they drown. Like many who were opposed to health care reform before they, you know, got sick, a little real world experience can change the old worldview.

  67. 67.

    liberal

    @ppcli:

    Instead, Reagan turned the tide against the Soviets by providing stinger missiles to the (largely hyper-religious, often foreign) opposition.

    Actually, our plan and actions to get the Soviets bogged down there started with Carter and Zbig.

  68. 68.

    jibeaux

    @Comrade Mary:

    That’s a really awful story, and call me crazy but it doesn’t matter to me what her political opinions were or weren’t, it’s still an awful story. What a day to be a dispatcher, too, I don’t think I could handle it. It sounded like she both completely panicked and also probably didn’t have a viable escape either. I worry about that kind of thing with so many cars having electric windows and automatic door locking now.

  70. 70.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @DougJ:

    He did a great job of speaking over the media filter. Progressive elites didn’t like the speech, but middle Americans did. Until Democrats understand that, they’re going to have a tough time winning elections.

    It must be very strange to be President Gadhafi. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

  73. 73.

    Calouste

    @dmsilev:

    Shooting fish in a barrel indeed. Prices inflate, currencies devalue.

    Why do people get paid to publish stuff that they would get back from their high school teacher with a big red stamp on it saying “I won’t read this crap, do it again!”? Then again, who is to say that the article wasn’t a Ben Shapiro project that had been rejected by his high school teacher and that he now years later and with minimal adjustments manages to publish?

  74. 74.

    AkaDad

    The title of the post made me think about a actual conversation I had with my daughter the other day.

    My daughter: You wanna know what I think?

    Me: Honey, let me give you some advice. Thinking is dumb.

    My daughter: Where do I go to nominate you for Father of the Year?

  75. 75.

    ppcli

    @liberal:

    True, but my impression (admittedly not an expert) was that the Stinger missiles were game-changers – they really turned the tide: the situation went from a constant but basically manageable drain on the Soviets to one in which the only course was to roll the tanks and troop carriers back over the Friendship Bridge.

  76. 76.

    Dreggas

    @Comrade Mary:

    The woman died in a storm, it is sad i never said it wasn’t. I was speaking specifically about the governor of georgia calling for aid from the federal government as well as the georgia congressional delegation (all republicans) calling for federal aid while they bitch about government interference.

    That lady died as a result of the storm, it was tragic, there’s no two ways about it. But i do not have sympathy for the people who now are begging for government aid to rebuild. That is what i said.

  78. 78.

    John S.

    It sounded like she both completely panicked and also probably didn’t have a viable escape either.

    When I was in high school, a friend of mine and 5 other students drowned when their car went into a canal. Because of that incident and the fact that we have a LOT of water here in Florida, I always make sure to have one of these in my vehicle:

    http://www.lifehammersales.com/

    It is not an expensive tool, but it will definitely improve your chances of getting out of a vehicle that is sinking in water. I encourage everyone to make sure they have one.

    (And no, I have no affiliation with that company in any way.)

  79. 79.

    Dreggas

    @Demo Woman:

    How many times do I have to point out that i am not talking about this woman who died. I am talking about the governor of the state and the congressional delegation who are now begging the federal government for help.

  80. 80.

    MikeJ

    But i do not have sympathy for the people who now are begging for government aid to rebuild. That is what i said.

    It was distasteful when Bush literally stood on a pile of corpses to score political points and it’s distasteful when it’s done metaphorically too.

  81. 81.

    jibeaux

    @John S.:

    That’s a good idea, I feel like I have seen that somewhere before, with the seat belt slashing tool thingy. Thanks for the idea.

  83. 83.

    Demo Woman

    @Dreggas: The Republicans always do that. If GA had a strong democratic party, they would run on the platform that you need the federal government sometimes. President Obama called the Governor last night. That has been getting some strong press.
    Locally they are collecting school supplies for students who lost their supplies. I just returned from doing some shopping. The water rose quick enough that they had to evacuate and leave everything behind.

  84. 84.

    Dreggas

    @Demo Woman:

    Well maybe it is a bit heartless of me but the gov’t of georgia was elected by the people of georgia and it’s a republican gov’t.

    Do i feel bad for the innocent people affected by this? Of course I do. It’s a shitty thing to have happen. Just like any natural disaster. I just have little sympathy for the politicians who will go hat in hand begging for aid but then turn around and bitch about government interference when this is what government should be doing.

  85. 85.

    Dreggas

    That all being said I apologize if it came off as me having no sympathy for that woman or any other who died.

  87. 87.

    Dreggas

    @Demo Woman:

    I am in CA, good luck changing things down there. I’ve been to atlanta a few times, have friends who run and adult fetish convention there so there is some hope anyway.

  88. 88.

    Robert Sneddon

    The Afhganistan Stinger fairy-tale told to Americans is a nice story; brave Mujahadeen Taliban terrorist freedom-fighters can only prevail over sneering Soviet commie invaders because of generous donation of high-tech missiles by a supportive United States.

    The truth is that by the time the miraculous Stingers arrived in Afghanistan the Soviets were in a similar position to NATO forces there today; they controlled the plains cities and the major roads and were fighting Jello in the mountains and hills with the aid of aerial platforms killing the locals pretty much indiscriminately while bleeding troops, equipment and money. Eventually after realising that they weren’t going anywhere the Soviets decided that propping up their puppet Karmal as the mayor of Kabul was pointless and they boogied.

    The Stingers were difficult to operate, requiring significant training and maintenance and almost were wasted, failing to hit any sort of targets. The Mujahadeen already had a homebrew weapon system capable of knocking down armoured Hind 24-D troop carriers using RPG-7s which were a lot simpler and more rugged than the Stingers, very suitable to the sort of war they were fighting and a weapon they knew how to use.

    The RPG-7 warhead is designed to self-destruct after a few seconds of flight if it doesn’t hit anything beforehand. The Talib would lure a helicopter into a flak-trap with a bunch of RPG-7 launchers firing up and over the helicopter so that when the self-destruct went off the shrapnel from the warhead hit the less-armoured top side of the chopper, disabling the rotor and engines. It didn’t always work but it was cheap and easy to operate, unlike the cantankerous Stingers.

  89. 89.

    Cyrus

    @Dreggas:

    Do i feel bad for the innocent people affected by this? Of course I do.

    Really? It’s funny, then, that not two hours ago you said

    At this point i have little sympathy for any of them.

    “Them,” in context, referred to the “folks dying”.

    Now, you may say that in your own head you actually meant “them” to refer to right-wing politicians and their nutty supporters, but that was definitely not clear from the context of your reply to joe. The polite reaction for you, indeed the only reaction that lessens the likelihood of a hundred comments flaming you, would be to clarify what you mean, apologize for causing the confusion and back off on the belligerent attitude towards right-wing nuts because, justified or not, it’s way too close to and too easily confused with your previous incoherent statement.

    Instead, you seem to be digging in your heels and pushing back harder. I think this is stupid of you.

  92. 92.

    Flugelhorn

    @Dreggas: You are an idiot as well as an obtuse, disingenuous moron. When people want less government, it does NOT mean NO government. This tragedy is in fact one of the FEW cases where government SHOULD be involved. To use this tragedy as some wedge to make a disingenuous point simply calls you out for what you are. See above for a refresher.

  93. 93.

    tripletee

    @Flugelhorn:

    When people want less government, it does NOT mean NO government. This tragedy is in fact one of the FEW cases where government SHOULD be involved. To use this tragedy as some wedge to make a disingenuous point simply calls you out for what you are.

    Could you please elaborate on some of the other “few” cases where government should be involved? I’m guessing healthcare isn’t on the list. In which case – take your righteous indignation and shove it up your ass.

  94. 94.

    John S.

    This tragedy is in fact one of the FEW cases where government SHOULD be involved.

    Really?

    So in your glibertarian fantasy world we only need the government to save us from the things that private insurance doesn’t cover?

    You’re a creepy fucker.

  95. 95.

    Dreggas

    @Flugelhorn:

    The right screams about keeping the government out of peoples lives and having no government intervention. Fine they can have that. I said this is just another case in point where government should be involved but if the right had their way the government wouldn’t be. In fact the asshats from Georgia railed against government intervention and are quick to scream states rights. So tell me again why the hell they are now asking for federal aid?

  96. 96.

    Sentient Puddle

    Someone help me out here…I haven’t really been following this guy or the story of him coming to the UN to speak at all, but if I understood correctly, this guy flew over, and rather than staying in, I don’t know, let’s say a hotel, he pitches a tent on some Donald Trump real estate?

    That already weirds me out a pretty good bit. But is there anything else I need to know?

  97. 97.

    slippy

    @Flugelhorn: What I find interesting is listening to people who want the gub’mint out of their lives. They don’t really come right out and say NO government, but they sure do shift around those goalposts as if they’re not so much solid principles as they are the arms of an etch-a-sketch. If no-government advocates don’t like the result of their goal-shifting, they just shake the whole thing over their head and start over, often oblivious that everyone else can see them doing this.

    But to answer your point I would have to say that as with many other issues in the universe of discourse, it is not possible for you to have things both ways. If you want government to help you it has to be strong, somewhat centralized, and well-funded. And if you don’t, well then you fucking don’t. You don’t get to draw on it when you’re hurting and then tell everyone else who’s hurting to fuck off and die.

    Because that’s having it both ways. And, sorry to say, right now we’re at the tail end of conservatives having it their way which means drowning cities, a crippled FEMA and oh have I mentioned that we’ve known this for at least four years if not longer. I’m sure at some point the glibertardians will start some shitstorm about how the local government failed, but that will probably only happen after Perdue is fired from his job by an angry electorate and replaced with a Democrat.

  98. 98.

    HyperIon

    A Thought Experiment is one that happens only in one’s mind.

    Anyone who watches the speech is not participating in a thought experiment.

  99. 99.

    Glen Tomkins

    No comparison

    When the world looks at Qaddafi they see a crazed, religion and ideology-addled fanatic and bullshitter who has managed to attain and retain power in his country by exploitng the understandable fears of the people of a fifth rank country from a religion and culture that has been on the wane and under pressure for centuries.

    When they look at our nutters they see crazed, religion and ideology-addled fanatics and bullshitters who are one blown election from regaining control over the world’s sole hyperpower, a control they exert by exploiting the inexplicable persecution fantasies of the most successful and powerful society in the history of the planet.

    No comparison which is both scarier and more pathetic.

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