Nutjobs Ranting About Politics.

[Can you hear me now?]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
Why would Burger's post be deleted? It's not like he was describing a homosexual love affair with slave or anything.

Tally ho' old chap! Is there a tale to tell here or are you just splooging da' board with baseless inuendoized shite!?! If the former, pray tell, pray tell indeed. If the latter, make something up for criminy's sake.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
AG, you know I've learned not be derogatory about whatever head covering people want to wear, but will these guy's not let me eat bacon when they take over?

Mmmm. Bacon.

The case law on an employer's duty to accomodate religious practices is a train wreck. I'm not sure how to deal with the problem of a non-religious person's effect on observant people. An employer can fire someone for calling a fellow employee a gullible fucking idiot, but can't fire that same someone for putting up a locker poster of Cartman nailed to a cross, which says essentially the same thing to Christians? We allow people to wear Stars of David, but not to put up signs with a Star of David with a circle and slash through it, which arguably is also religious expression?

Why would an employer be liable for firing someone who failed to comply with a "no pork" rule when they wouldn't be liable for firing someone who repeatedly brought BBQ dog into the lunchroom and said loudly, "Mmmmm, poodle"?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Mmmm. Bacon.

The case law on an employer's duty to accomodate religious practices is a train wreck. I'm not sure how to deal with the problem of a non-religious person's effect on observant people. An employer can fire someone for calling a fellow employee a gullible fucking idiot, but can't fire that same someone for putting up a locker poster of Cartman nailed to a cross, which says essentially the same thing to Christians? We allow people to wear Stars of David, but not to put up signs with a Star of David with a circle and slash through it, which arguably is also religious expression?

Why would an employer be liable for firing someone who failed to comply with a "no pork" rule when they wouldn't be liable for firing someone who repeatedly brought BBQ dog into the lunchroom and said loudly, "Mmmmm, poodle"?

Okay. look at it this way...

You can't discriminate against the fat, and you can't criminalize status. Do you think many obese people could get obese without regular pepperoni zas and bacon splurges?

If the status can't be grounds for termination, how can the necessary maintenance?

[Gin Rummy]

Skipping to the loo:



Nice Wedgie!



DOES THIS SURRENDER MONKEY LOOK FAMILIAR?



Meanwhile back in the Red State of Iowa:

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
You can't discriminate against the fat, and you can't criminalize status. Do you think many obese people could get obese without regular pepperoni zas and bacon splurges?

If the status can't be grounds for termination, how can the necessary maintenance?

Good point. Further hypo: S.F. has an appearance-discrimination ordinance. Does that mean the firm shouldn't have dinged me a half-day vacation for the time off I took to get my facial tats? Can I sue?

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I was going to explain why the decision to graph rates of increase over time is misleading, but I thought, why bother? Happily, others (Yglesias and DeLong) have already done it for me.

(dunno how I missed this one--thank you poorly executed last-visited cookies).

The quarrel, if any, should be the use of a line graph rather than a bar graph, which is how these figures are usually presented. So, instead, imagine bars the height of which for each quarter is equal to where the line is.

Rates of increase over time are relevant and appropriate. First, the GDP figures that are reported are increases (decreases)--economic growth is measured by growth, not standing still. If standing still were what was expected, then we would see simply absolute figures, a la the stock market. Second, as a graphic-presentation mechanism, actual numbers would be difficult to to demonstrate a trend with. There's almost always growth (and this is historically true), so it's an ever-rising chart that rises either faster or slower.

While Shultz's RA should have used the "bar chart" option in Excel, the general point remains the same. Although Clinton maintained a steady growth rate for most of his terms, both Bush 1 and 2 have increased the growth rate from where it started. Whether any of this has meaning or importance is another question.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
While Shultz's RA should have used the "bar chart" option in Excel, the general point remains the same. Although Clinton maintained a steady growth rate for most of his terms, both Bush 1 and 2 have increased the growth rate from where it started. Whether any of this has meaning or importance is another question.

Bush 1's first year isn't even represented, so I'm not sure how you can conclude that about 41. GDP was growing at 2% when Bush 2 took over, and he's gotten above that only in recent months -- on average, we've been below where we were when he started. And to the extent that Clinton's success was in avoiding the dips that Bush 1 and Bush 2 led us through, the graph doesn't give the context of other cycles to show us as much.

Chart

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Originally posted by Gin Rummy
Meanwhile back in the Red State of Iowa:

You mean the red state of Iowa that Kerry currently leads in by 4 points? Ohh, zat Eye-O-Wah, she is Red because she will break your heart.....

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/bus...y_sbys.html#nh

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Sexual Harassment Panda
You mean the red state of Iowa that Kerry currently leads in by 4 points? Ohh, zat Eye-O-Wah, she is Red because she will break your heart.....

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/bus...y_sbys.html#nh

Put a month on Iowa?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Does that mean the firm shouldn't have dinged me a half-day vacation for the time off I took to get my facial tats?

this is the bar code imprint the firm was experimenting with to wand you in, and keep track of where you were at, right? they can't dock you for that with a straignt face. that's actionable, for sure.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

I'm a war president." -- Pres. George W. Bush, 2/13/04

"Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president." -- Pres. George W. Bush, 7/20/04


Criminy, man, get it straight!

[Actually though, those statements aren't necessarily inconsistent. He could be a self-hating War President.]

S_A_M (Just for Hank)

[SlaveNoMore]

Oh my, this one is goodie.

Seriously, after Kerry banked all his cred on Vietnam, once this starts airing, he's royally fucked.

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

The dumbass Illinois Republican Party State Central Committee offered their Senate nomination to Alan Keyes, who lives in Maryland. Keyes will decide by Sunday whether to run...

I apparently underestimated how big a group of dipshits these people are. While the debates will be entertaining, I cannot vote for someone who doesn't live here. Sorry, Alan.

Mark it down, in November I will be voting for the first time in my life for a Democrat not named Daley.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Oh my, this one is goodie.

Seriously, after Kerry banked all his cred on Vietnam, once this starts airing, he's royally fucked.

Thank god no one has made up their mind yet!

[Not Me]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Oh my, this one is goodie.

Seriously, after Kerry banked all his cred on Vietnam, once this starts airing, he's royally fucked.

While I certainly hope that is true as he is a despicable weasel,* I haven't seen this get much press except on Drudge's site. Not even much talk on Fox News.

*Why do we malign weasels? What is it that is so horrible about weasels (I am too lazy to google it).