StrangeSox

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:47 PM) Yes. oh, ok.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) Yes, because we should believe the Salon blogger over the f***ing Associated Press report that says otherwise. AP report : Police were met with violence, later that night the protestors inched closer and closer to the police line prompting gas, etc. Only evidence appears to be police claims, not independent verification, so incredibly skeptical. 1% of protesters throwing bottles at police doesn't get the other 99% to jump in; 1% of police firing rubber bullets and teargas into the crowd generally gets the other 99% of the police involved. A forceful response provoked by bottle-throwing can still be a disproportionate response of force.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:45 PM) And ignoring the history of violence in left wing movements is just as ignorant. Especially when we know that there are known illegal activities being planned and staged behind the scenes to intentionally draw attention and sympathy to the movement. We know this?

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) Yes, because we should believe the Salon blogger over the f***ing Associated Press report that says otherwise. The salon blogger was assaulted by police for the crime of videotaping them. Nothing in the AP report contradicts that.

Here's a report from an independent journalist at the Occupy Oakland protests, including video of her being assaulted by police for the crime of videotaping them. http://www.salon.com/2011/10/25/occupy_oakland_open2011/ That's why questioning that tries to absolve police from culpability for their actions in response to non-violent crowds gets met with indignant dismissal. It portrays an ignorance of the history of police action at leftist protest movements.

Why bother, the protesters are presumed guilty and clearly intentionally got themselves gassed and skull-fractured.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:24 PM) That's not what this report said. That report said that they were pelted on Tuesday morning; the Iraq war vet who had his skull fractured was shot at by police on Tuesday night. The article does say: but is the appropriate response to that a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets? Do we know that this occurred in the same area where this man was shot? Do we know that it wasn't an agent provaceteur? Why aren't these questions being asked? What about the video Balta posted, which did not appear to indicate any violent acts towards the police, nor any warning from the police?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:18 PM) It doesn't mean it, but it certainly begs the question. Of course no one has really asked that question, because the conclusion is instantly that cops love crushing skulls. Some do, yeah. It's a line of work that draws a disproportionate amount of authoritarians by nature. No one's asking the question because there doesn't appear to be any evidence or indication of the protesters intentionally provoking a violent response.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:15 PM) It also brings the question of how much of it was staged and/or induced for TV. The point of a protest is publicity for your cause. Obviously they expected their removal from the park/march to be covered. That doesn't meant they intentionally provoked a violent response.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 12:11 PM) 1% of people with guns acting irresponsibly is a lot worse than a significant number of people with bottles. "WE.ARE.THE99%!" I was referencing the ongoing theme of the occupations, not trying to downplay police violence.

Notably, 1%.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 11:10 AM) JR making money hand over fist and owns 0% of facility. Awful. Cities almost always end up negative on these stadium deals.

Iraq produces ~ 33% more oil than Libya, not 100%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count..._oil_production As an isolated move, Iraq stopping oil production could be compensated for, since oil production was depressed for years after the invasion. http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx?coun...raph=production

By the accounts I've seen, they were occupying, albeit illegally. No violence or destruction. For the second point, the problem is that police seem to have become overly reliant on "non-lethal" options, which means harsh physical force is the go-to option for many situations where it shouldn't be.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 02:09 PM) Dramatically improves their creative process But they produced crappy albums when they were just trying to cash in. So it's not even correlation, let alone causation.

What is that in response to?

I don't like Obama. http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/ove...ill-gambit.html

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 02:58 PM) Wow, advocating for sweatshops. Shouldn't say i'm suprised. What's next slave labor? "Well alot of these people are better off as slaves, as least they get a free bowl of rice". no, child labor! (see the comments or vonmises.org) If someone isn't literally holding a gun to your head, it's not coercion or "aggression." It's two parties entering a voluntary contract!

well I don't think it's particularly clear if he's talking only about Metallica in that paragraph or the larger music industry in general and is using Metallica is an example. It also ignores that Metallica produced garbage albums pre-industry collapse.

It's not too often you see an out-and-out defense of sweatshops: http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2011/.../#disqus_thread

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Oct 25, 2011 -> 04:45 PM) Chuck Klosterman on the travesty that is the Lou Reed / Metallica album. You cut short a pretty important line that sinks his whole argument, imo: Monetary success and high-quality are not linked in any way, shape or form in the music industry. To paraphrase the article: "But we don't live in a vacuum. We live on Earth. And that means we have to accept the real-life consequences of a culture in which recorded music is primarily about profits for record companies, and one of those consequences is [Hanson/Britney Spears/Beiber etc.].

QUOTE (illinilaw08 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:56 AM) Yes. It is terrible. I was on automatic withdrawal and it took them until after my payment was due to update (fortunately, I did my homework ahead of time - the DOE said that all payments will be retroactivley applied to the date it should have been pulled). Most concerning to me, however, is that they haven't pulled your payment history from the old site. I assume that this will happen eventually, but it's disconcerting that those records could have been lost (note, that I am hopeful that those records will eventually make their way over to the new site). Poor job by Direct Loans. thanks for the heads up on that, I'll have to make sure my autopay is still set up correctly.

Perry is making Bush look like an eloquent intellectual.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 25, 2011 -> 09:46 PM) Back pedal my ass. He's the one saying this crap. He did it again today - him and the class warfare. It's his entire campaign. But you're coming in with really dumb slogans while at the same time decrying the use of really dumb slogans so....

just give them more tax cuts, eventually they'll create jobs because they won't know what else to do with their money!