I am really wondering about about a picture I saw on face book that supposedly shows gun violence by county or voting district or something about that size with a picture next to it of 2012 voting patterns for president. No real accreditation. But quickly looking at it there appears to be a high correlation between gun violence and voting for Obama...in fact a little too perfect.

I am not able to find anything anywhere else...anyone know anything of it?

I did find an early study that indicated the opposite at state level.

Banker, I think I've seen the FB graphic that's going around, and I don't know the source of it either. I do have one data point: Last week, I dug up crime statistics for Alabama for 2011 (the most recent year available). They were broken out by county, and I made a sorted list. Excluding the counties with less than 20,000 population, the highest homicide per capita rate by far is Jefferson County. That's urban Birmingham, which is also the part of the state that most consistently votes blue.

The matter needs a lot more study, but it does kind of make sense. Most blue areas discourage self-defense -- not just with gun control, but with a whole range of policies: duty-to-flee, lack of committment to enforcing property rights, kid-glove handling particularly of juvenile offenders, etc. And then there's other root-cause stuff, like easy access to welfare, which destroys families and causes children to grow up in dysfunctional, single-parent households.

Meeeeee-yow.

He's a friend of that fucking eagle.

I thought this story was interesting. Bathroom graffiti has always interested me.

http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/20648309/s?fb_comment_id=fbc_505195519536492_5239203_505199159536128#f1caf4ba

Saw that bear commercial the other day and laughed out loud. I love the skinny legs, Uggs and striped boxers.

Canadian graffiti at it's worst:

http://www.gagbay.com/gag/canadian_graffiti_at_its_worst-189732/

Mee-yow ag'in.

Am I the only person here that watched Beyonce sing the National Anthem, and when they flashed on Michele Obama thought "greatest threesome possible"?

They'd need a man in there.

* * * BOOM * * *!

Here all week. Tip your waitress, please drive safely.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2012/05/09/the-paris-time-capsule-apartment/

"Am I the only person here that watched Beyonce sing the National Anthem..."

You mean lip sync the national anthem. In Obama's World, even the national anthem is a cardboard cutout.

I saw that on the news, CD. Then there was a disclaimer from the band that said they didn't know enough about whether she did or not to say.

Re: Beyonce

She's always been all hat and no cattle...(meeaaaoowww)

Wanna read an article by a young journalist who will soon be exploring new career opportunities? Enjoy this tree-killer and its 19 corrections!

(I mighta counted wrong. Do your own math and let us know.)

> She's always been all hat and no cattle...

Y'know, at first, I was totes annoyed by this gratuitous fakery at an important American ceremony. The rest of the world can take important insights from the clockwork rituals of our political machinery, and from the blithe disregard of those proceedings to fashion (whether in ideology or mere taste). American excellence is human excellence. We really are more talented than other people, and are better at taking risks, even when singing silly songs.

I grew up in the town which (at the time) was home to the largest school of music on the planet. So my first thoughts after hearing about the lip-syncing were with the thousands of less-connected young women (or less-campaign-contributory ones) out on the prairie who would mow down that number like a dandelion... And do so without recordings or a band or earpieces, and do so with five seconds of warning, and do so in perfect pitch and spotless rhythm, and do so under any weather the Heavens have yet chosen to drop. There was no need to tart up yesterday's performance with silly showbiz tricks.





Then I remember how Earth Wind & Fire was the first musical act to visit this White House, and I was kinda soothed.

Find a more exciting first-twenty-seconds to a pop tune than this. And then blow me like a trumpet, because that's the only way it could be any better.

Apologies, the "man in there" was for Barry, not Eric. Forgive me for being unclear. I had to wait five hours to figure out I may have given offense. Seriously, Eric, sorry. That's not what I meant...

If there's one thing to admire about this president, and there may only be one thing, it's that his fidelity to his wife is, by all accounts yet recorded, spotless. And it oughta be.

It's the example that about five generations of American husbands need.

(AGAIN: NOT TALKING ABOUT ERIC HERE!!!!)

No offense taken Crid!

PS- Donna Summer nailed the National Anthem acapella

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_7vRg14plA

Yeah, I just assumed you meant a three-way with Barry & M & B... We can be sure HE'S thought of it.

Donna Summer always seemed like a nice woman.