So this is pretty revolting. You say “murdering, dissent suppressing dictator,” I say “hero.” Just shades of meaning, I guess.
Obama issues 10 more waivers on his lobbying ban. So what was the point of the ban in the first place?
The family of Darryl P. Ross, an Ohio man killed in a drug raid last year, has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court.
A rare common sense ruling in a drug forfeiture case. Washington State Supreme Court says in order for police to seize a car, the owner of the car must have been aware that the car was used in drug crimes.
Some well-earned shame for Conde Nast.
Al Franken has an odd, but strangely impressive, skill.
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on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 7:37 am by Radley Balko
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TheAgitator.com
At least Al Franken is good for something…
I did find that impressive and I wonder if there was some trick involved where only he could see the lines imprinted on the paper or something.
Well, imagine that. Conde Nast partnering with a tyrannical government to assist in repressing the population. Kind of like when AT&T and Verizon partnered with the Bush administration to violate the Constitution and spy on ordinary citizens just like in a police state and were then later let off the hook (by both parties).
Fortunately, in response to these kinds of events, the population goes into outrage overload, boycotting such enterprises and bringing shame upon them until they are ultimately forced into bankruptcy and dissolution.
Hahahahaha! Just kidding about that last part. Those corporations probably didn’t even notice a hiccup in their earnings statements. No self respecting citizen is going to suffer the inconvenience of boycotting a company merely to punish them for assisting the government in subjugating them to the whims of amoral self-obsessed heartless power mongers. I mean, it’s not like they took their iPods away or forced them to live under a free market or something.
Ok, Al. Now add the names of each state that you’ve drawn.
RE: UN Heroes
My fav comment from the linked Volokh link:
http://volokh.com/posts/1251864128.shtml#639727
Has anyone done more to challenge the legitimacy of the drug war than Evo Morales? He gets a badge for that, surely?
Dave. I am pretty sure he can since he was explaining how to draw the US. You can’t hear because someone decided that piano music was more enjoyable than Al’s voice.
>>You say “murdering, dissent suppressing dictator,” I say “hero.”<<
I thought this was going to be an article about Abe Lincoln…
re: Al
He performed that stunt early in his campaign so I am wondering why this is of interest now?
Having met the guy during the campaign – I came out of the meeting thinking he was intelligent and sincere. Unlike having to take a shower after every chance meeting with Coleman. I ended up voting for the stuffed shirt Barkley anyways but still…
Al Franken’s politics are obviously a bit different than your average Agitator reader, but he seems to be an affable fellow.
And whatever your position on [the issue du jour], that’s a pretty damn cool party trick.
Obama did good but he musta forgot about the powerful “Waivers” lobby.
I suppose I am still naieve enough to be impressed with the speed ( and accuracy ) with which the article was translated into Russian and posted. Just more proof that the governments and states will have to harshly and firmly regulate the internet. This ability to route around foolish roadblocks can not be allowed to continue.
re: Al Franken trick. In the socialist public school I attended we learned how to do that in 8th grade history class. By the end of the semester we were able to draw the US, freehand, with every state touching the right states and know the capital. Impressive, but not that hard to learn if you devote the time.
On maps: it was a favorite parlor-trick of FDR’s that he would invite a guest to draw a line from one point to any other point in the United States. He would then name every county that it passed through, as well as nearly all of the local officials in each county.
If I recall correctly, Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) used to do the same thing whenever he was on talk shows back in the 80s or 90s. Of course, the key difference was that Penn was actually able to be entertaining when he did it.
From the Darryl Ross article, city officials said they “stand behind” the officers because two police investigations and a grand jury failed to find any wrong-doing, but will not name them because they are “uncharged suspects in a criminal investigation.”
WTF?
The police have no problem releasing the names of ordinary people they have arrested before they are charged.
The officers in question were “cleared” (as expected) for purposes of punishment, but are still “suspects” for purposes of identity protections?
Again, WTF?
Billy Beck “On maps: it was a favorite parlor-trick of FDR’s that he would invite a guest to draw a line from one point to any other point in the United States. He would then name every county that it passed through, as well as nearly all of the local officials in each county.”
Yea King FDR really knew his vassals. I heard Saddam Hussein could do that too.
Sheesh, JS, you don’t have to turn /every/ aspect of someone’s life into a taunt just because you disagree with them.
Tim, sorry for being so cynical. I wasn’t taunting Billy Beck I was just trying to add to his point. I don’t have the sarcasm thing down yet as good as Dave Kreuger and some of the others that post here.
Do you have any evidence Morales is a “murdering, dissent suppressing dictator?” I ask this because I have heard this claim several times about latin american leaders, but I have never seen anyone link to a news story or otherwise cite their statements.
Haha, Franken had the same problem with his map as I did when I made one in 5th grade. East of the Mississippi the states are huge, west they are tiny. But the shapes are pretty spot on. Except Alaska.
So what was the point of the ban in the first place?
Scoring political points?
@#13 – damn, dude. That’s insane.
@#20 – that, and he completely ignored the existence of the Outer Banks.
I saw Franken do that trick on the Letterman show in the ’80s. Guess he’s been honing it for a while.
jp wins the thread.
Really just about any of the other 43 yahoos would have sufficed, but Lincoln was a nice choice.
“Yea King FDR really knew his vassals.”
{nod} I was amazed when I read that. (I forget where. Could be in Schlesinger, someplace.) My first thoughts were questions: “What could make a man do that? What’s the value here?”
Realizing that memory is essentially an ethical matter (basically: we remember what we value), it all became clear to me. It was a remarkable insight to that creature’s character.
I’m old enough that I remember Franken doing that trick on SNL ages ago.