Wouldn't it be great if this wasn't a photoshop?

Read one of John Stossels columns recently. It is about breaking the law and the government.

http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnStossel/2010/07/14/attacks_on_freedom/page/full

Now me I every year have to submit a Criminal Record Check for my job. I remember the last time I went to the police I was getting a check and a comment that the police office who hand my check to me said that still sticks in my mind was that I had not charges or crimes and that was so rare! I thought that was strange because most people I meet are not criminally minded or seem the criminal type. I personally thought is should almost be the other way.

So people have you broken the law intentionally or unintentionally. What have been the consequences.

Damn you Crid! I was trying to be first.

Thru it is a shame it is shopped. I thing it would be better if the woman was mooning him or flashing her breasts. "Trying to restricting that you dictator!"

Mocking Ahmadinejad is great, just so long as we all remain clear that he is a figurehead and the mullahs are the ones who really run Iran.

I think that this bit by Jonah Lehrer about how people fail to employ their rational faculties in political decision-making is an interesting read. It dovetails nicely with the work of behavioral economists like Ariely who have pretty much exploded the myth of the rational economic decision maker. It's become increasingly clear to me that our big brains are far more subject to lazy shortcuts than actual reasoning about things that matter. I grasp the usefulness of heuristics and many of the shortcuts that enable us to make basic daily decisions quickly; it's a bit depressing that we don't seem to go much beyond them when the stakes are higher.

The NAACP's outlandish charges of late are but the most recent canards from the Left that anyone who disagrees with larger government and more spending MUST be a Racist. Such comments are beyond stupid but fit in well with the ongoing phony narratives of the MSM.

If you'd like to see an example of someone who seems to filter a whole lot through race (which to me is the true definition of a racist) then watch this video of Chris Matthews.

Just hit Toronto...here for the alt newspaper conference...tired out of my mind. Going to sleep now.

Love that photo, Crid. Will read more and post more when I'm conscious.

The President of Columbia University makes a pathetic case for government funding of the MSM. How anyone can say such things with a straight face is beyond me!

P.S. Be sure to read the many comments!

I love this guy so hard. http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/07/nobody_will_understand_what_we.html

There are stories about honor killings in the news, magazines and even on this blog. But he comes from a perspective that I think is very different. Not to spoil the whole article but Dad kills Daughter in AZ and it's dubbed an honor killing. This part of his analysis of the murder was a huge ah-hah moment for me:

"Go back to the asinine statement of living with another Iraqi family being the ultimate indignity. In fact, that statement was dead on though I doubt intentionally so. If she had moved in with a Jewish boyfriend he would have been horrified and enraged, but moving in with the Iraqi Muslim family was immediately worse because-- and this is the entire point-- now everyone in Iraq is going to know. And since those people are his whole identity, he's screwed.

This is why discussions about honor killings get mired in a nonsensical theory debate about whether Islam promotes this. Even if it did, the part that requires the violence isn't some internal sense of right and wrong or "against Islam", but exposure to other human beings who will look down on them.

He doesn't care that she's Americanized or even an adulteress. He cares that people are laughing at him."

then he is a cowardly prick, proud men could give two shits what others think of them. Diginity is an internal trait and cannot be changed from external forces. Again, only cowardly, low-life scum kill female family members for "honor"

Hi ron - that's kind of the point. Westerners and Easterners (specifically: hardcore Muslims) have opposite ideas of honor. The Last Psychiatrist goes into it.

I want to know if Islam somehow lends itself to creating more narcissistic* people vs. Islam is "just" a deadly template whereby people with NPD* feel more pressure to maintain their image.

Image maintenance is a fundamental part of an NPD's psyche. Part of this image is the idea that everyone around is just a chess piece in your game. A daughter is part of your image; she is not her own person. When the kid fucks up and you punish him/her, it's not because you are actually mad they did something unethical or because you want to instill a lesson, it's because you are embarrassed by them.

This is why my dad didn't get that mad when my sister was arrested, but if we talked back to him when other people were around or challenged his authority he went off like Mt. Vesuvius and eventually tried to kill my sister. He's not Muslim. But I see a lot in common. It actually creates a really confusing in which to arena to grow up.

*Narcissism/NPD: Per the DSM IV, not in the pop cultural sense where anyone with a bit of confidence is a narcissist. My dad has NPD and BPD: It's HELL. http://allpsych.com/disorders/personality/narcissism.html

...Again, only cowardly, low-life scum kill anyone for "honor"
Fixed that for you... :p

Dennis Miller's latest on the O'Reilly Factor.

Hey friends! You’re all reading advice from Amy, so that proves you probably need some yourself. Try these gems! At the very least you’ll laugh, and at best you might save a few bucks on ridiculous magazines. Enjoy!
Here’s some advice for the modern woman, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpwAtnywTk
Here’s some from sixty years ago, how much has changed really?
Atlantic Monthly, 1950. Marghanita Laski:
“It is as much a source of amazement as of income to me that readers of the women's magazines have such an insatiable thirst for reading the same information over and over again, despite the fact that any one year's reading must inevitably give enough information about the technique of being a woman to see one through a lifetime. I have, then, no fear of spoiling the market, either for myself or others. Every subject in this symposium, given a snappy title and an angle that appeals to the editor, will still be worth a substantial fee.”
ACCESSORIES
The simplest are in the best taste.
Men like women to be in the best taste.
BROKEN HEARTS
Find a new interest.
Time cures all.
Men don't like women to ring them up.
CARE OF FACE
Remove old make-up with cream (dry skins), lotion (oily skins), or superfatted soap (if you must).
Then dab face with an astringent lotion.
Then pat in nourishing cream.
Blackheads are frequently due to internal causes. Drink lots of water.
Men are repelled by pimples.
CHARM
Charm is an indefinable quality.
Men like it.
CLOTHES
Choose the clothes that suit you.
You can be perfectly dressed at every income level.
Little touches of white must be immaculate.
Diagonal stripes are slimming.
Invest your all in one good little black dress (or tweed suit).
Don't go in for clutter but have lots of bits and pieces that will make one outfit do the work of ten.
Men like black satin, well-cut tweeds, floating tulle, utter simplicity, and don't notice what you wear anyway.
CULTURE
Read good books sometimes.
Men don't like cultured women much.
FIGURE
Figure deficiencies are frequently glandular. Consult your doctor.
A good corset can correct many figure faults. Have it fitted by an expert.
Good exercises can correct bad figures.
Men like good figures.
FURS
If you can't afford good furs don't have any, but there are some awfully cheap ones in the shops.
Men are impressed by mink - but then, so are you.
HAIR ON THE HEAD
The condition of the hair reflects the general health.
Massage with the finger tips stimulates the scalp.
Brush fifty times a day and wash at least every fortnight.
Choose the hair style that suits you and don't get into a rut.
No moral opprobrium is attached to dye.
Men love those gleaming tresses.
HAIR, SUPERFLUOUS
In the armpits remove by depilatory.
On the legs remove by depilatory, wax, sandpaper, or razor; the last will coarsen the new growth.
On the face remove by wax (will weaken growth) or by electrolysis (will kill it).
If the growth is slight, bleach with peroxide-and-ammonia.
Men notice superfluous hair.
HANDS
Before doing rough work smooth a protective cream over your hands.
After washing, smooth a creamy lotion over your hands.
Make your hands flexible by shaking in one way or another.
File your nails to the shape that suits you.
Press back your cuticles after you've had a bath.
Chipped polish looks slovenly.
Men abhor scarlet talons.
JEWELRY
One big good piece is better than a lot of little cheap trinkets.
One big cheap piece is better than a lot of little good ones.
In fact, One Big Piece is Best.
Men are better if they like jewelry.
MAKE-UP
Smooth on foundation cream or lotion, not forgetting neck.
Add rouge where it improves the natural shape of your face.
Add discreet eye-shadow and mascara on the upper lids only.
Paint outline of lips with a brush, fill in with lipstick, blot on a tissue, powder, and add more lipstick.
Press in powder over face and neck; remove surplus.
Men don't like women to be obviously made up.
MANNERS
Be sweet to old people.
Be kind to his mother.
Be nice to other girls - they have brothers.
Don't comb your hair or clean your nails in public.
Don't order directly from the waiter.
Don't swear or drink too much.
Men hate red marks on coffee cups.
MARRIAGE
Enter it joyously and proudly.
Remember you've got to take as well as give.
There are all sorts of compensations.
Men should be encouraged to wash up.
PERFUME
Choose the perfume that suits you.
Spray it onto your body but never onto your clothes.
Test new perfume by trying a drop on the back of your hand.
Have different perfumes for different moods or make one perfume distinctively YOU.
Men are enraptured by perfume.
SHOPPING
Either go with an open mind or with a rigidly-to-be-adhered-to list.
Either enlist the help of the shop assistant or don't let her make up your mind for you.
Either men like shopping or - more usually - they don't.
SHYNESS
Prepare a few conversational remarks to break the ice.
Try to put the other person at his ease.
Instruct yourself in current affairs.
Join a club.
Men like a woman to be a good listener.
SPECIAL OCCASIONS
Cream hands thickly and sleep in gloves the night before.
Try to fit in a facial and a hair-do.
Rest for an hour with your feet up and pads over your eyes.
Make up extra specially carefully.
Oh, men, men, men.
TOP SECRET
Consult your doctor.
Send us a stamped addressed envelope.
Men are beasts.

Wordy.

Maybe, but remember, "No moral opprobrium is attached to dye."

I stand immensely relieved.

Ragbrai is next week!

http://ragbrai.com/

A little group of Pirates (and my sweety, who is a member of Team Ska and perfecting his taste for rum) is leaving Wednesday to ride from Des Moines to Sioux City. Then we hook up with the Big Brai for a few days, and then who knows?

We can either drop off the route in Parkersburg and ride home, or stay with the route until we reach the Mississippi and take the Pirate bus back. Either option sounds wonderful to me.

I'm so glad most people don't know where Iowa is, or care. It keeps the place nice.

Speaking of Ragbrai, I just have to say, in light of recent religious discussion, that although I am an atheist, church ladies make wonderful pie. It doesn't matter what religion they are - they do seem to have a higher power.

If y'all ever feel like giving it a try for a few days, just remember, when you ride your bike 60 miles a day, you can eat all the carbs you want.

http://www.roadpirates.com/xmb19/forumdisplay.php?fid=8

It isn't the religion but rather the age of the cooks.

Scroll down, scroll down. All will be revealed!