StrangeSox

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 03:48 PM) That is not what I was referring to. Are they covering this story? Are they running a story about the White House denying knowing about this program while the National Security team in the White House was briefed on it? Maybe if they remove their rose colored glasses, just once. LOL how, exactly, was I to know that you were referring to one particular aspect of a months-long story? This kind of seems like backpedaling after your initial "biased media!" claim was called. http://news.google.com/news/more?q=gunwalk...ved=0CCsQqgIwAA http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20101042-10391695.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/us/03guns.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whi...8NxJ_story.html http://thinkprogress.org/?s=fast+and+furious&x=0&y=0

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 03:44 PM) Really? Only one of these companies has an implicit TBTF government guarantee hovering over it. So there's no risk and you're agreeing with ss2k5? What?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 03:35 PM) You've got that backwards sport. Unless you are Buffet betting billions, which obviously I don't think Russ is, $7 a share isn't high risk. Share price isn't really the risk, its your total investment amount. If I dump $100k into BoA stock, I'm still a lot more likely to lose most or all of that money than if I dumped $100k into Google.

I'm pretty sure every one of those outlets has run headline stories on it, maybe not TP or DK but they're not really the same category as MSM. They're not running the crazy right-wing "omg! it was planned to steal ur guns!" angle, though. the nefarious bill presented to Congress after this debacle started coming out. Most other right-wing blogs seemed to be saying that the law was a rushed attempt to distract from the program's failure; the idea that it was all pre-planned seems to be an incredibly fringe one. It also assumes complex, Machiavellian orchestration on the part of the Dems, so... IANAL but the bill appears to make it illegal to sell a weapon, knowing that it's intended customer is a felon. I dunno if its a good law or a necessary one, but it seems that it would have zero impact on legal gun owners. Maybe some more paperwork for gun dealers/stores? Either way, not exactly a huge gun grab worthy of a devious operation designed to funnel weapons to Mexican drug lords, have those weapons be used in crimes and then use said crimes to sway public opinion to get behind a pretty low-key measure. there's some "OBAMA!!!" reaction from some posters, but even an AR-15 forum sees it as an (unnecessary) law that just restates existing "straw purchase" regulations.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 03:27 PM) Guys, to be fair, the program he's talking about was something of a complete and utter disaster of the worst order. You might want to read up on it a bit. Oh no doubt, but that doesn't lend credence to the idea that it was a planned failure by "progressives" (lol) in order to get support for more gun control, nor does it lead to jumping off from that conclusion to "I wonder if progressives burned Texas to the ground to make Perry look bad!"

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 03:25 PM) GMAFB. I honestly am not aware of the particular story you're referring to regarding guns but didn't your beloved party arm Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein in the 80s? This s*** goes both ways. It was the really, really dumb "fast and furious/gunwalker" ATF operation. Some of the right-wing blogs claim that the whole thing was planned to fail from the start so that Obama can take their guns.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 03:16 PM) Do you deny that certain progressives instituted the gun running scheme that allowed guns to flow into mexico with pretty much zero accountability or tracking? If you deny that it exists, your hat is bigger than Ron Paul's. And once you admit that they royally screwed up there, please let us all know what their motive was. Go check a few blogs and get back to us on that once you stop sucking the all mighty progressive c*ck. The people in charge of that program should be in jail. And sued 9 ways to sunday by anyone who was shot or killed with weapons that they LET go to Mexico. They did it because they thought they were doing the right thing. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and progressives seem to lay an awful lot of bricks down on that road. Democrats =/= prorgressives, and you still don't have anything but tinhat speculation on dubious "lets turn public opinion against guns!" motivations to back up even more ridiculous "lets burn down Texas to make Perry look bad!" speculation, hth

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 01:51 PM) No Kenny G-esque extended guitar solo from Cline, that's a definite improvement.

Good catch. Either way that's still pretty alarming. I wonder how much is motivated reasoning. It's pretty funny that the group that is the most confident and feels the most knowledgeable about global warming, the tea partiers, are the most wrong. Dunning-Kruger in full effect.

I actually meant to follow up that post with this but forgot: Give Karl Marx a Chance to Save the World Economy: George Magnus Marx obviously got some things wrong and his prescription was much less useful than his diagnosis, but he still had some insightful views on capitalism. and this one too!

The correct answer is ~98%, btw.

Rather than 'bustering ss2k5's thread, I'll post the ACLU's 10-year look back at what's happened to our civil liberties here. via Greenwald

Republicans are Crazy and Nobody Cares, Part 754

So we're back to the same dilemma: complete political incompetence and coming to the table, yet again, with a heavily compromised position for a negotiation with a party who has no interest in good faith or compromise or they've completely bought into the conservative economic narrative.

He needs to push for more and highlight that we can borrow the money essentially for free to pay for things we're going to need anyway, like infrastructure improvements. He won't, and even this week version will get derided by Republicans as a Marxist takeover of everything wholesome and good.

Marx was right; capitalism will eat itself.

Interesting new toy/tool: Google Correlate

What's wrong with this picture?

lol

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 6, 2011 -> 01:45 PM) Another great family film is just around the corner. Read the short plot synopsis. why does this thing exist?

If that report is true, just end the damn farce and name Guillen to the position of White Sox Emperor for Life.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 4, 2011 -> 12:21 PM) The author of this piece is a recently retired Republican staff member who spent 28 years on the Hill working for budget and defense committee members. So, lifelong Republican. It'd fill up 6 pages if I tried to excerpt everything. It appears to be a legitimate, cathartic rant about the people who are taking over the party he worked for. finally got around to reading this, thanks for the link.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 11:08 AM) I knew I recognized that guy. And yes, Gus is one bad motherf***er. I love the way he so casually got Hector's nephews killed and smugly informed him of how it happened. really, really curious to know what his chilean backstory is now. I'm also leaning towards Walter's cancer coming back at some point, amybe to give him motivation to go away with a bang.

QUOTE (Papa Tru @ Sep 6, 2011 -> 01:36 AM) I didn't say he should have a job for life.. and he hasn't just had bad players, hes had a few of THE worst players in baseball.. He keeps playing them consistently in important spots in the lineup. That's on him.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 6, 2011 -> 05:24 AM) The same cringe I get when someone makes the idiotic argument that players don't matter. nobody ever says that Tex, and you know it.