Batshit Crazy Dictator In NY, Today's Version
 

He's not Arab. And it's odd to think that centuries of enmity between Arabs and Persian could be overcome by letting the guy speak at Columbia. It's a fine university, but it's not that good.

Bring your kiddies, bring your wife.
 

My side? Pony is the only other Mets fan I know around here, and I wouldn't call him dull. Or normal.

Would it kill you to post a spoiler alert?

Warren Pease . . . is Warren Pease present?
 

Would it kill you to post a spoiler alert?

Pssst! It doesn't work that way in the Catholic Church either, but many American Catholics just refuse to admit it.

I sometimes have interesting discussions with my boss where she insists she is still a Catholic even though . . . (etc.) As a Jesuit-trained former Catholic myself, I'm not buying it.

S_A_M

This is my problem with religion. Too many people half-ass it. What does it mean to be religious? Seems to me you should either be in or be out.

Dissent. As long as we don't explicitedly renounce anything we still have confession inour backpocket to clean up all those lapsed years.

;)

Yes, but not if you don't believe in it, or if you believe in stuff the Church says is absolutely verboten.

But anyway, as I have explicitly renounced it and gone elsewhere, I have to hope the Roman Church is wrong about that one true path to God thing.

S_A_M

Oh yeh - sez who?

Interesting
 

Murder rates for states with the death penalty vs. states without the death penalty:

States with the Death Penalty
Nevada - 9.0
Alabama - 8.3
Arizona - 7.5
Arkansas - 7.3
California - 6.8
Colorado - 3.3
Connecticut - 3.1
Delaware - 4.9
Florida - 6.2
Georgia - 6.4
Idaho - 6.1
Indiana - 5.8
Illinois - 6.1
Kansas - 4.6
Kentucky - 4.0
Louisiana - 12.4
Maryland - 9.7
Mississippi - 7.7
Missouri - 6.3
Montana - 1.8
Nebraska - 2.8
New Hampshire - 1.0
New Jersey - 4.9
New Mexico - 6.8
North Carolina - 6.1
Ohio - 4.7
Oregon - 2.3
Oklahoma - 5.8
Pennsylvania - 5.9
South Carolina - 8.3
South Dakota - 1.2
Tennessee - 6.8
Texas - 5.9
Utah - 1.8
Virgina - 5.2
Washington - 3.0
Wyoming 1.7

States Without the Death Penalty:
Alaska - 5.4
Hawaii - 1.6
Iowa - 1.8
Maine - 1.7
Massachusetts - 2.9
Michigan - 7.1
Minnesota - 2.4
North Dakota - 1.3
Rhode Island - 2.6
Vermont - 1.9
West Virginia - 4.1
Wisconsin - 3.0

New York (law declared unconstitutional in 2004) - 4.8

Interesting
 

A different inference (from the one I assume you are trying to make) is that the states without the death penalty merely have fewer incidents of crime, and thus they have yet to feel the need to write it into law.

Interesting
 

Is it even worth making an inference?
Half the states listed as having the death penalty haven't executed anyone in years.

Interesting
 

Clearly it's quite a deterrent.

Interesting
 

fuck. check us compared to the others w/o. we need to kill some folks.

That's not an acceptable rationale. That's self interest, and yes, they are two different things.

Batshit Crazy Dictator In NY, Today's Version
 

Our stamp of indirect "acceptance" is not going to alter his stature.

Yes, he should have visited the towers's footprint.

we were allowed to kill Europeans Germany was not. Was there an "acceptable rationale" for us to fight the Nazis? If yes, please explain how it is different. Do you mean we have to wait until the first million Jews are dead?

Germany declared war on us, not vice versa. Why do you hate America?

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic
 

Troops have opened fire on protesting monks in Burma. Good pictures of the protests here. Not a good sign, but not unexpected.

This article on the causes of the unrest was better than anything else I've seen:

• Burma’s generals do not seem to learn from history. In September 1987, Burma’s abrupt announcement that large banknotes were no longer valid currency wiped out the population’s savings, igniting a nationwide revolt against the regime and its economic bungling.
  
  Last month, the withdrawal without warning of fuel subsidies kicked off another flurry of small protests that have snowballed into the largest demonstrations since that uprising.
  
  The price of natural gas went up five-times. Prices of petrol and diesel doubled. The regime claimed ending fuel subsidies was necessary to eliminate an unsustainable fiscal burden but the subsequent doubling of bus fares meant many Burmese – who already spend nearly all their daily income on food – had to choose between eating and travelling to work.
  
  Yet the ruling generals made no attempt to cushion ordinary people from their brute version of economic reality, despite warnings that the fuel price rise could push many struggling families over the edge. “The generals make economic decisions as if they were commanding military operations,” said Zaw Oo, a Burmese economic analyst.
  
  Burma is one of the richest countries in Asia in terms of natural resources. In the 1950s, high society Thais flew to Rangoon, Burma’s capital at the time, for luxury shopping. Today, Burma’s population is deeply impoverished after decades under the thumb of soldiers with greater faith in astrologers than in economists and market forces. Western economic sanctions have bitten, too.
  
  About a third of Burma’s people live below the poverty line and 10 per cent of the population is unable to secure sufficient daily food, the United Nations says.

Batshit Crazy Dictator In NY, Today's Version
 

He should have just been ignored by the city. No fanfare, no police escorts, no explicit permission to do anything and no bans either. Let him stand in Times Square with a megaphone. Let him take the subway down to Century 21 and stand by the fence like everyone else. Don't return his calls at Columbia. He's an empty suit and all the loathing just builds him up.

John Derbyshire doesn't want to call Burma "Myanmar." And another thing:

• Damn whatever committee of the U.N. is foisting this gibberish on us! To hell with them and all their works! GYPSIES! PEKING! LAPPS! BOMBAY! HOTTENTOTS! Come and get me, you bastards!

Who does he think he is? J. Peterman?

This may be the only thing I agree with that dude about. Add The Sudan and The Ukraine, the Northwest Territories, and Danzig to the list, among others that I have probably forgotten.

I will concede Istanbul to the Turks, although they really should have changed the name in 1453, not some 450 years later.

I want your skull
 

What the world needs about now is a real Misfits reunion. I'd pay to see that.

I will. It was immoral for the allies to firebomb Dresden.

2. closer to home, i believe it was immoral for Taxwonk's professors to pass him through law school given his reading comprehension problems.

Spank, do you think teacher's unions are to blame?

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/200..._protest_1.jpg

Nine dead in Burma.

The difference between Republicans and Chicken Little? Chicken Little really thought the sky was falling.

We got a good Vonnegut book out of it.

I want your skull
 

I wouldn't pay to see him fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA84_Gb8EWk

Batshit Crazy Dictator In NY, Today's Version
 

I agree, but then how would all the Americans who make their living taking umbrage over things profit from his appearance?

Thanks, Spanks
 

Spanky,

I just wanted to thank you and your whole party for making it crystal clear to everyone that you guys don't give a shit about people of color. Usually, Democrats have to resort to all sorts of bombastic rhetoric and wonky policy analysis to make this point. By skipping the debate, your guys gave us a nice, clear symbol of Republican indifference. And narry a complaint from the Republican establishment or party - not even a half-assed attempt to smooth it over, like a quick fly-by by some administration half-wit or a five second sound bit from Condi to remind us black republicans exist!

Please, pass on my thanks to the whole gang. Good job!

GGG

Thanks, Spanks
 

Why a debate? Why not just play tennis with the GOP primary voters who would have watched?

Thanks, Spanks
 

You're welcome. What a fucking embarassment.

Thanks, Spanks
 

You see, if the RNC chair would just speak up and say something like that, it wouldn't be so bad.

Who is the RNC chair, anyway, and has he ever said anything of importance?

Thanks, Spanks
 

Two questions:

who is the highest ranked black person in any democrat administration, EVER?

what are you talking about?

Thanks, Spanks
 

I dunno if he's important or not, but NPR played Mike Huckabee's screed at his opponents for skipping the debate this morning. I think it may very well be the only thing that Mike Huckabee and I have ever agreed upon.

Thanks, Spanks
 

Ken Mehlman (former RNC chair), Jack Kemp, Newt Gingrich, and others have said so much. (mel martinez is current chair).

Thanks, Spanks
 

And Alan Keyes - don't forget Alan Keyes!

Thanks, Spanks
 

No, because he said it was okay. Michael Steele complained. What, they all look alike?