I exploit you, still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three. – Vernon Reid, “The Cult of Personality”
I’m sure you’re wondering what that title means, so I won’t keep you in suspense; this was the 111th week since I started the blog, if one counts the first two days (a Saturday and Sunday) and the static pages together as a short week. Since I’m going to be doing these link pages every week they needed some general name, and it would be too repetitive and confusing to call them by the same number as the TW3 columns. So while the latter are numbered by the week of the calendar year in which they appear, these link pages will be numbered by the week of the blog as a whole. Got it? Without further ado, then, the links: as usual, Radley Balko’s Twitter feed was a gold mine, providing everything down to (and including) the video.
- It’s a start.
- Welcome to our world, pain patients.
- Defining characteristic of a fascist society #4: Avid militarism.
- The most interesting part of this article is how a widespread myth evolved from a single incident.
Though it wasn’t what they intended, this anti-drug ad is actually a perfect metaphor for the federal government’s reaction to drug use:
- Remember that Dominican cancer patient who doctors refused to treat for fear of prosecution for abortion? She died Friday. (Via Wendy Lyon)
- Finalists in the six-word short story contest; my favorite is Ami Hendrickson’s. (Via Brooke Magnanti)
- The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law, Part 16: “Guilt Without Fault”. (Via Mike Siegel)
- Ebay has banned the sale of magic items, potions and spells. (Via Cthulhuchick)
- Democrats vs. Republicans = Coke vs. Pepsi. (Via Amy Alkon)
- How government helps the needy. (Via Walter Olson)
- Well, that’s one way to get out of an arson charge.
- So-called “privacy laws” are not what they are pretended to be.
- This week’s edition of “Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever”.
- Michigan mayor who shut kid’s hot dog stand is sad because the media are mean to him.
- Pat Robertson says it’s a bad idea to adopt sexually abused children, because they could grow up “weird”.
- Veteran abducted by cops and FBI and held for “mental evaluation” because he made a Facebook post which criticized the government.
- New spy software uses tracking data to predict where any “smart” phone user will be in 24 hours, with an average error of only 20 meters.
For maximum effect: start this video, wait 30 seconds, then click on the link below it and read while it plays.
- A new monument to the Beloved Leader, Eternal Guardian of Peace.
- Shades of “Ghost in the Machine”!
- Massachusetts city comes up with an unsurprising excuse to steal people’s cars.
- “There is laxity on the part of the police to conclusively investigate the case…” Well, you know, NHI and all.
(First two items below the video via Franklin Harris, last two via Jessica Land.)
A movie to add to your list … Princesas.
– On Congressional approval ratings – I fear that most of the reason for the disapproval is because Americans are upset that Congress isn’t working together more to pass even MORE LAWS and LIBERTY KILLING programs. I’m quite happy with the actual OUTPUT of Congress right now – in fact, aside from actually passing a budget – I’d pay these freaks to just play golf everyday and not touch another damn thing having to do with laws or government – and I consider that a investment of pennies on a dime.
–
Nope – please … as libertarians, is it possible for us to maintain a sense of humor and not be as prudish as the prohibitionists and “judgers” out there? It’s a stupid reality show – hell it may be funny. I like Todd Palin so I’ll watch.
– So menstruating Women don’t invite bear attacks – but what about shark attacks hmmmmmm? http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/sharks/isaf/mens.htm
– Question: At this point in his life – is Pat Robertson really any more relevant than Cher?
– Nice to see the FBI using the same grounds to arrest troublemakers as the Nazi’s and Soviets did (mental instability). Classy.
On the next to last link – and Mass wanting to confiscate the cars of Johns. This kind of thing combined with Prop-35 … combined with all the stories I read about police departments getting geared up for human trafficking at the political conventions …
Sadly – I think we’re losing this war. 🙁
Want to know something even more sad. Remember that one argument we had about Social Security and that chart you showed me.
What the chart was showing wasn’t some massive increase in welfare queens cheating the system but rather the ratio between productive workers and the elderly infirm.
In 2030, even if everything else somehow works out, we’re still going to have too many people who can’t work and need advanced medical care we can’t provide.
It’s pretty much the downfall of western civilization. Just like the environmental one, the fertility one and even your “Islamofascism” one.
Ebay banning magic items: I suppose it’s their right to do so, as a private company, but it would be better to put a disclaimer on such items instead. You know, “for entertainment purposes only” etc.
Pat Robertson says it’s a bad idea to adopt sexually abused children, because they could grow up “weird”.
Weird in what way? Being obsessed with international conspiracies, praying for natural disasters to hit other states, making and eating foods that supposedly stop the aging process, doing business with Third World dictators? That kind of weird?
So they’ll take your car as punishment for picking up a prostitute when the potential maximum fines for DUI or vehicular homicide are much lower? Seems judges are too stupid to call “cruel and unusual punishment” when an excessive cash equivalent is demanded by government, and prosecutors are too dishonest not to see that seizing legally earned assets is not the same thing as seizing assets earned from crime.
Re: Welcome to our world, pain patients.
I have begun to experience pain in my lower back, hips, knees and ankles, this is due to not only my weight but my livelihood, I’ve worked labor jobs most of my life, and now looks like in order to continue to do so I’m going to need something stronger than ibuprofen to dull the pain so I can work. Dr. Randy Easterling evidently hasn’t lived with pain, and being a doctor more than likely never will, he’ll cut off the needy and get his through insider contacts ad continue to push this stupid agenda.
The south-side of Chicago is giving both Great Leader and Dear Leader a posthumous run for their money.
When I heard about this on the local news, I vomited a little in my mouth. The only thing I would correct about the Examiner’s article is that part I quoted. Hyde Park is doing this, not the South SIde, which could give less than a flying fuck about the Obamas’ first kiss. And increasingly, my fellow South Siders could give less than a fuck about Obama himself.
While I think that the monument is a bit silly, it isn’t being built at the Obama’s own command. That’s the difference, and it’s an important one.
I live in Texas, and I see plenty of stuff named for both George the Elder and George the Younger. Every place does this when a local kid becomes prez.
That’s not the same as a stone monument to some leader’s first kiss.
In Hawaii Obama’s favorite shaved-ice stand is plastered with his name and picture. The mall, or shopping center, or whatever it is is just playing off their (minimal) connection to celebrity. It’s the old “Washington slept here” or “Elvis ate here” thing.
Again, the important difference is that the Obamas aren’t requiring this silly monument, paying for it out of the national treasury, etc. Unlike with Ronald Reagan, who has something named after him in almost every community in the nation, via Congressional decree.
Aspasia, I was just replying to the subject of the “monument,” not to anything you particularly said. Sorry ’bout that, Chief.
I’m sorry, what part of my response made you think I thought that?
Ibuprofin isn’t a very effective pain killer. It’s ok for headaches and minor aches and pains, but being able to take an opiate so I could sleep the first few nights after some minor surgery was a huge help. I have no tendancy to become addicted and no desire to take opiates when I’m not in significant pain, and even then I hesitate.
Outlawing some really useful drugs because a few people have issues with them is a really bad idea.
—
Why would they bother using the excuse of “mental health”? The NDAA lets them make people disapper without any recourse.
Look up “MDMA therapy” for another chilling example of how stopping people from having fun is apparently much more important than helping the sick, injured, or psychologically traumatized.
And for a final cruel twist: we all know that addicts still get their opiates, and ravers still get their ecstasy. So we pay the full price for prohibition, without achieving the stated goals.