JKane

I'm tempted to see the play, but when I looked up tickets they were pretty expensive. Either way, Scott provided a good retrospective... I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth. It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America. In the real world, there are only two ways to deal with corporate misbehavior: One is through government regulation and the other is by taking them to court. What has happened over 20 years of free-market proselytizing is that we have dangerously weakened both forms of restraint, first through the craze for “deregulation” and second through endless rounds of “tort reform,” all of which have the effect of cutting off citizens’ access to the courts. By legally bribing politicians with campaign contributions, the corporations have bought themselves immunity from lawsuits on many levels. I believe all Southern liberals come from the same starting point — race. Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything. Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts. Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention. I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag. It’s all very well to run around saying regulation is bad, get the government off our backs, etc. Of course our lives are regulated. When you come to a stop sign, you stop; if you want to go fishing, you get a license; if you want to shoot ducks, you can shoot only three ducks. The alternative is dead bodies at the intersection, no fish, and no ducks. OK? What you need is sustained outrage . . . there’s far too much unthinking respect given to authority. It probably sounded better in the original German. {Commenting on white supremacist and Hitler apologist Pat Buchanan’s infamous “Culture War” speech at the 1992 Republican convention.}

Just more of the usual conservative christian hypocrisy...

Ah, and song is for songwriter? Guess that makes sense...

God fucking damn it Newton, leave Fred Thompson dead and buried! Nobody wants to hear him snore through another interview. But of course he backs Newt, they're both lobbyists at heart (if Newt had one).

I thought it helped with my weight loss.

They grip tighter and tighter to their ever-shrinking base demographic and in doing so block entry and squeeze out all the moderates. Now if only they didn't have the media inside that iron grip too!!!

Now now Lucky, that hasn't been a part of the Mormon mainstream for at least 5 or 10 years now! Seriously though, if we're going to attack them it should be about real things, not bigoted misconceptions like they use!

Oh, I'd expect much worse!

What the hell is the difference between record and album of the year? I do like Adele, but I really like Mumford and Sons, and it seems like they had more hits off the one record. Where is their second?

It does kind of feel like out of everybody he's kept the most promises to the gay community!

Yeah, what does Tomcal win if he does 2190 Cariocas by May??

With 9 fucking suicides ever politician in that district should've been thrown the fuck out, especially the school board. That article is one of the most powerful things I've read; I really lost it when it mentioned the mother's 9 year old.

But *I* found it over a month ago! King of the Intertubes!

Surprising Adele cover...

Anybody see the stuff about the FBI file on Jobs? Sounds like they drew some of the same conclusions I have...

Pretty cool, so far.

Just found a hilarious parody online!

Well, the article details how all the in-school adult role-models were effectively muzzled for fear of losing their jobs, which is pretty diabolical.

One extra benefit to consider is any mileage multiplier. My understanding, on American at least, is each tier ups the miles earned per miles flown. Though I may be mistaken. Still, if you can get that benefit at the start of a year you're flying a lot you can rack up a nice savings account of miles for the future, and keeping the status becomes easier...

This should do it, plus a couple software tweaks...

Good point, by sabotaging others we gain a better chance in the pool ourselves! Hey Expat, would you like me to optimize your computer for you? I can guarantee it'll be free from and immune to malware/viruses!

In April, Justin came home from school and found his mother at the top of the stairs, tending to the saltwater fish tank. "Mom," he said tentatively, "a kid told me at school today I'm gonna go to hell because I'm gay." "That's not true. God loves everybody," his mom replied. "That kid needs to go home and read his Bible." Justin shrugged and smiled, then retreated to his room. It had been a hard day: the annual "Day of Truth" had been held at school, an evangelical event then-sponsored by the anti-gay ministry Exodus International, whose mission is to usher gays back to wholeness and "victory in Christ" by converting them to heterosexuality. Day of Truth has been a font of controversy that has bounced in and out of the courts; its legality was affirmed last March, when a federal appeals court ruled that two Naperville, Illinois, high school students' Day of Truth T-shirts reading BE HAPPY, NOT GAY were protected by their First Amendment rights. (However, the event, now sponsored by Focus on the Family, has been renamed "Day of Dialogue.") Local churches had been touting the program, and students had obediently shown up at Anoka High School wearing day of truth T-shirts, preaching in the halls about the sin of homosexuality. Justin wanted to brush them off, but was troubled by their proselytizing. Secretly, he had begun to worry that maybe he was an abomination, like the Bible said. [...] "Justin?" Tammy Aaberg rapped on her son's locked bedroom door again. It was past noon, and not a peep from inside, unusual for Justin. "Justin?" She could hear her own voice rising as she pounded harder, suddenly overtaken by a wild terror she couldn't name. "Justin!" she yelled. Tammy grabbed a screwdriver and loosened the doorknob. She pushed open the door. He was wearing his Anoka High School sweatpants and an old soccer shirt. His feet were dangling off the ground. Justin was hanging from the frame of his futon, which he'd taken out from under his mattress and stood upright in the corner of his room. Screaming, Tammy ran to hold him and recoiled at his cold skin. His limp body was grotesquely bloated – her baby – eyes closed, head lolling to the right, a dried smear of saliva trailing from the corner of his mouth. His cheeks were strafed with scratch marks, as though in his final moments he'd tried to claw his noose loose. He'd cinched the woven belt so tight that the mortician would have a hard time masking the imprint it left in the flesh above Justin's collar. http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202#ixzz1lwMwSdan

Linked it in the Howard Stern thread but wanted to link again for those who won't read something about Stern (though a listen may change your mind!). No one at school had seen her suicide coming. No one saw the rest of them coming, either. Sam's death lit the fuse of a suicide epidemic that would take the lives of nine local students in under two years [...] Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/one-towns-war-on-gay-teens-20120202#ixzz1lwIID5nN

Hot damn! He's 18+?

Sorry, was doing my best all morning!