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I have a little more sympathy for the government in this case because it would have been tough to send them back to China, considering we’d basically be signing their death warrants by doing so. I don’t understand why we didn’t just grant them asylum and let them set up shop in the US, though. We already established that they weren’t terrorists…
Sweaty Goths are sweaty.
RE the perfume story: I can’t say I’ve ever had somebody else’s perfume disrupt my meal, and certainly I wouldn’t favor any sort of government intervention in the matter. That being said, scent does play a large role in tasting and what DOES bother me is heavily-scented soaps in restaurant restrooms. As a beer geek, I particularly notice it at brewpubs. There’s nothing more annoying than going to take a sip of a well-crafted beer and getting nothing but a whiff of bathroom soap. I wonder if it’s that hard to find perfume-free soap…
That kid better hope it isn’t permanent. True, it is bad ass now, but when he starts growing if he still has that scar it ain’t gonna look nothing like it does now.
It’s what happens when you squirrel people away for 7+ years, demonize them up and down the dial, refuse to admit the U.S. made a mistake, have a bunch of Congress people also bad mouthing Gitmo and how they are too dangerous they are for the U.S. (that allies refuse to take them unless we take them), etc.
We went from “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” to “holy shit! he’s brown, has an accent, and he’s coming for me in Podunk USA Pop 100!! Quick shred what little parts of the Constitution we have left!!!!”
I thought the goth thing was hilarious. I like the fat kid whose head spike collapsed in the heat. Must be hard being a goth in the summer. Maybe they should get some sort of bailout? hahahaha
At least the majority of people commenting on the perfume article said it was a stupid idea to ban perfumes.
Although that reminds me of the P&T Bullshit episode about manners. The rise of perfume and cologne started because people didn’t bathe back in the day and they needed to cover up body order. They’re sorta useless now that everyone has running water and soap.
That kid does look badass with his chemical burn.
My favorite goth photo is the first one, because apparently in whatever language the caption is in, goths are referred to as “blackmetallers.”
“Giant jellyfish like this one are taking over parts of the world’s oceans as overfishing and other human activities open windows of opportunity for them to prosper, say researchers.”
On the plus side, the leatherback sea turtle seems to be doing a bit better, and one possible factor is the abundance of jellyfish, which they eat. Not saying over fishing is a good thing, just that it isn’t all gloom and doom.
What a bunch of pathetic NIMBY whiners we’ve turned out to be. Still, as least we let the poor bastards go. Palau has got to be better than Guantanamo.
I’ll let the Uighurs stay at my house for only $100 million….
With Cable TV and Central Heat/AC thrown in….
In fact, they can HAVE my house, and I’ll move out.
I’ll leave the gasoline-powered lawn mower, too.
I can’t believe that $200 million is even enough to show up on the government finance radar, much less be reported as news. I mean, in terms of today’s budget, that probably falls well within the margin or error.
Speaking of margin of error, don’t you just love it when you get that account statement from the Social Security Administration that estimates what you’ve paid in for each year? By that standard, I’m looking forward to the days when my bank sends me an estimate of how much money I have or a paycheck that gives an estimate of how much I made that week.
In any case, spending $200 million is probably a clerk level decision these days. Remember, it’s not like this is real money that actually exists. It’s probably listed as a processing fee for releasing uncharged detainees.
Leave it to the White House to get itself into a position of telling the world they’re forced to keep uncharged people in prison simply because the wheels of bureaucracy haven’t worked out an answer as to where to release them. They actually try to make it sound humanitarian.
LOL! :)
For fuck’s sake, they can come stay at my house for just half that $200 Million. :D
Better link for tattoo-boy:
http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/06/08/86241_gold-coast-top-story.html
The original link is “agitated”… (snicker)
I think I had a realization when reading the perfume story and accompanying comments.
When I leave my house, my personal space where I am alone with people I care about and like, I *expect* that I will encounter people who are jerks. I expect that when I am among the public, the public will piss me off in some way or other. Home is a refuge from the constant annoyance of being out and about among the general public.
These other people, the perfume-haters and second-hand smoke-haters, they expect to be able to go anywhere and have nothing at all bother them. They expect every encounter with the public to be unoffensive. It’s mind-blowing to me, because I mean…have they ever met the average person off the street? People *are* annoying, you can’t get your way outside of your own personal space, face it!
$200 mil is small change here nowadays, but is still probably a lot larger than the GDP of Palau.
Jeff you are right they weren’t terrorists before we abused them for years.
They may have just a bit of resentment at the moment though.
Here’s a (not so novel) idea: Once a public servant (elected or not) takes office, his or her property will be placed in a trust fund. Upon leaving the office, the property will be adjusted by the amount of deficit or surplus their region has produced during their time in the office. So federal government members would be judged by changes in federal deficit, state government by changes in state deficit, etc… Of course, all their gains would be taxed by the average tax rate during their time in office. Maybe then our servants will understand that $200 million for housing a few poor chaps is a little overblown…
The decent thing to do would be to give each of the Uighurs an apology, a green card and a million dollars then wish them luck and be done with it.
Unfortunately, a majority of my countrymen are spineless douchebags.
re Goths:
http://www.missouritrailertrash.com/
We only want restaurants to have non-smoking sections. Is that too much to ask?
Let’s outlaw charcoal barbeques and fireplaces after we rid the world of the scourges of perfume and after shave. I mean you can smell them from a blocks away and that smoke can’t be good for you.
“Unfortunately, a majority of my countrymen are spineless douchebags.”
You must be right, otherwise I really can’t understand the Uighur issue at all, and barely understand the NIMBY argument against moving detainees here to the US.
Update on that 72 year old lady.
I wrote a post about the 72 year old grandmother who’d been tasered a few days ago. They’ve now released the dashcam video which shows that she was argumentative and rude to the police officer.
Here’s the thing. the man was dealing with an unarmed, cantankerous elderly woman who’[d been speeding. And instead of handling the situation as cops would have done forever — calming the person, talking her down, being reasonable (after all she wasn’t dangerous to him in the least) he escalated it with threats of violence and anger. And then he shot that woman with 50,000 volts, not because she was dangerous to herself or others, but because she was belligerant and he didn’t know how to handle it.
I know that there are people out there who believe she deserved it and that police don’t have any obligation to use skills other than brute force on anyone who doesn’t immediately comply with their requests. A police officer viewing the video in this news report matter-of-factly says that the problem was that “she made a very simple interaction with the police into a difficult task.” In America today that deserves electrocution.
This crap is un-American. We have made it so that citizens of this country are now subject to 50,000 volts for being belligerent to authorities. If you think that’s freedom, you’ll love living in China or Saudi Arabia.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/she-made-very-simple-interaction-with.html
Perfume – agreed with the point that people should be less rude about this (strong scents in public, for instance I’ve been made nearly sick on planes by perfume and I don’t normally get motion sickness), agreed that we don’t need a secondhand-perfume czar though.
Agreed on #3, how stupid is that. Strong soaps in nice restaurants, total wtf. And you rinse 3 times and you’re still smelling it.
The Worst: Patchoulli. We had a hippie executive at my previous job (I’m in SF) that wore that damn shit, you could smell where she’d been for half an hour.
#17, Zeb:
Out of curiosity, I looked it up, and Palau’s estimated GDP for 2006 was $157.7 million.
Nice little boost to their economy!
Re: Perfumes. They were not just created during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance when bathing was considered anathema to Church teachings. And even then, you’re only restricting this to ‘proper’ upper-class Europe as poor people could not afford perfumes, but were just as funky. For those of you who defaulted on history class, for most of civilization and in most parts of the world, people have bathed AND used perfumes/unguents. I can’t believe P&T’s Bullshit continued to spread that idiotic belief.
The whole perfume controversy is yet another stupid one, but I guess some members of humanity aren’t happy unless they’re flexing their hypersensitive idiot muscles. I remember hearing a couple years ago that perfumes, body sprays and strong deodorants were banned on buses somewhere in Canada. I wonder if it is still in effect?
Most people don’t know how to apply perfumes/unguents and yes there IS a proper way. For one, you spray it on after you’re dressed and right before you leave the house. It sticks on the clothes (possibly ruining the fabric) and stays strong. You apply perfumes to the body when it is still damp.
Sorry, this: “For one, you spray it on after you’re dressed and right before you leave the house. ” is supposed to say, “For one, you DON’T…”
Typo, my bad.
Judging by the intensity of the fragrance, I’m pretty sure the guy down the hall from me completely submerges himself in it for an hour or so every day before coming to work.
“U.S. taxpayers have to shell out $200 million, and the Uighurs have to spend the rest of their lives exiled to Palau?”
Uhh, Radley. The GOVERNMENT is paying for it, not the taxpayers.
“In fact, we have a no perfume policy in the Food & Wine department since we’re tasting wines or recipes on a daily basis. Unfortunately, restaurants can’t implement the same policy.”
Why can’t they? Is banning perfume from your property some sort of civil rights violation?
If you want to eat at a perfume free restaurant… then open one, jackass.
[...] The Agitator remains skeptical, arguing that taxpayers are paying for government error: Just so I have this straight: Because the government wrongly detained the anti-Chinese government Uighurs, U.S. taxpayers have to shell out $200 million, and the Uighurs have to spend the rest of their lives exiled to Palau? [...]