Fuck its silent in here.......

[Eli]

Old school attack ads.

Oh shut up, you hatchet-faced nutmeg dealer.

[powen01]

I apparently can't post in the right thread, but here goes anyway:

TWITTER FIGHT.

[CBStew]

Old school attack ads.

"An error occured.  Please try again later."    Those are fighting words.

[Wheezer]

I'm guessing a noise complaint about the Obama rally on the Midway might get me on a "list."

[Wheezer]

And the Bobby Rush robocall that I just got sounded like he was holding a loofah in front of his mouth.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

If the TSA can't take a picture of your junk, they're damn well gonna grope it...

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/10/for-the-first-time-the-tsa-meets-resistance-updated/65390/

In part because of the back-scatter imager's invasiveness (a TSA employee in Miami was arrested recently after he physically assaulted a colleague who had mocked his modestly sized penis, which was fully apparent in a captured back-scatter image), the TSA is allowing passengers to opt-out of the back-scatter and choose instead a pat-down. I've complained about TSA pat-downs in the past, because they, too, were more security theater than anything else. They are, as I would learn, becoming more serious, as well.

At BWI, I told the officer who directed me to the back-scatter that I preferred a pat-down. I did this in order to see how effective the manual search would be. When I made this request, a number of TSA officers, to my surprise, began laughing. I asked why. One of them -- the one who would eventually conduct my pat-down -- said that the rules were changing shortly, and that I would soon understand why the back-scatter was preferable to the manual search. I asked him if the new guidelines included a cavity search. "No way. You think Congress would allow that?"

I answered, "If you're a terrorist, you're going to hide your weapons in your anus or your vagina." He blushed when I said "vagina."

"Yes, but starting tomorrow, we're going to start searching your crotchal area" -- this is the word he used, "crotchal" -- and you're not going to like it."

"What am I not going to like?" I asked.

"We have to search up your thighs and between your legs until we meet resistance," he explained.

"Resistance?" I asked.

"Your testicles," he explained.

...

I asked him if he was looking forward to conducting the full-on pat-downs. "Nobody's going to do it," he said, "once they find out that we're going to do."

In other words, people, when faced with a choice, will inevitably choose the Dick-Measuring Device over molestation? "That's what we're hoping for. We're trying to get everyone into the machine." He called over a colleague. "Tell him what you call the back-scatter," he said. "The Dick-Measuring Device," I said. "That's the truth," the other officer responded.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Turns out that not all of the attendees at Stewart-Colbert-palooza hated TEC...

[Yeti]

DEATH TAX IS KILLING FARMERS

Who needs death panels? Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) claims that ranchers and farmers in her state are planning on ending dialysis or other life-extending medical treatment before the end of the year so they can avoid paying the estate tax. This may cost the Treasury some revenue, but there is a silver lining for deficit hawks. After all, it will save Medicare a bundle.

...............

Thus, we have a specter of a tough and independent Clint Eastwood-like cowboy who chooses to head prematurely for that great roundup in the sky, all to save his hard-earned herd from some Internal Revenue Service bureaucrat hovering over his hospital bed, awaiting that final breath. It brings a tear to the eye.

Except it is all a carefully crafted myth.

Start with the cowboy. Some Wyoming ranchers have been on their land for generations—property stolen fair and square from Native Americans in the 19th century. Others are grazing their herds on federal land while paying cut-rate fees for the privilege. And still others are LA doctors, lawyers, and actors who spend a few weekends a year on their ranchettes, where they enjoy both spectacular scenery and generous income tax subsidies for grazing a few head of someone else's cattle.

The second myth is that their heirs will lose their ranches to the taxman. To start, there is no serious discussion in Congress of allowing the estate tax to return to 2000 levels. Even President Obama and the congressional Democratic leadership would at least return the law to where it was in 2009, exempting the first $3.5 million ($7 million for couples) from tax and setting a rate of no more than 45 percent. In addition, family farmers and small businesses get an extra $1 million exemption ($2 million for couples) for a total exemption of $9 million. And in the rare case where farm estates do owe tax, they can defer the debt for up to five years and extend payments for a decade after that.

So how many of these yeoman ranchers would lose their land if we returned to the 2009 law? Roughly none. The Tax Policy Center estimates that in the entire United States, about 110 small farm and small business estates would owe any estate tax in 2011. Citizens for Tax Justice estimated that under the 2004 rules (when the exemption was only $1.5 million) only 62 Wyoming estates of any kind owed tax. And not all of them, of course, had farm assets.

Finally, a rancher who chooses to die this year may end up costing his heirs money. Because 2010 is also a year when heirs lose the benefit of stepped-up basis, if they eventually sell the ranch they will end up paying capital gains tax based on its value when it was first acquired rather than on what it was worth at the time of death. While this provision applies to all assets, ranches, where the tax basis is usually quite low, are exactly the sort of property that could get hit.

Over-the-top hyperbole is all part of the political game, of course. But if Rep. Lummis is aware of constituents who are planning on killing themselves to avoid the estate tax, she has something of a responsibility to let them know the difference between reality and myth.

[Tinker to Evers to Chance]

What does Hawaii have to do with this?

[Gilgamesh]

What does Hawaii have to do with this?

Well done.

[Bort]

What does Hawaii have to do with this?

Well done.

Hey, I know Andy Cobb. Like 12 years ago I worked backstage for the Second City touring company. Glad to see he's still working. Funny guy.

[morpheus]

In case you're looking for guidance on judges in the Chicago area.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

In case you're looking for guidance on judges in the Chicago area.

More links here:

http://voteforjudges.org/evaluations.html

[Gilgamesh]

In case you're looking for guidance on judges in the Chicago area.

More links here:

http://voteforjudges.org/evaluations.html

I can help you all out.  For every judicial race (which is such a silly concept in its own right, but c'est la vie) vote...

NO

[Brownie]

In case you're looking for guidance on judges in the Chicago area.

More links here:

http://voteforjudges.org/evaluations.html

I can help you all out.  For every judicial race (which is such a silly concept in its own right, but c'est la vie) vote...

NO

This, this and this. Hell, if Gil wants to start a "Vote No on Judges" PAC, sign me up.