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Today in Serious Policy Proposals
How the Climate Change Summit Will Be Spun
Did the Romanian President Hit a 10-Year-Old in the Face?
Outrage-Off: Breitbart vs. Birthers
Let's Fight About a Gay-Sex Videogame This Christmas Season
Left-Wing Blogs Now Get to Die of Boredom Waiting for the President to Say Something
Chelsea Clinton Engaged
In Which Fox Edits Lies into the News
'Hot Rumor' Alert: Hil for Veep?
You Must Be This Much of a Dick to Receive RNC Support

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Helio
06:06 PM

In reply to Today in Serious Policy Proposals
Virginia never ceases to disappointment me. Cantor is obviously vying for a seat at the GOP grown ups table. Someone seriously needs to retire the "NO NEW TAXES" signs.
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Atilla the Bun
05:39 PM

In reply to Today in Serious Policy Proposals
Yes, if there is anything unemployed people are concerned about, it is the government taxing their non-existent income.
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Btwbfdimho
05:28 PM

In reply to Did the Romanian President Hit a 10-Year-Old in the Face?
df
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Edited by Btwbfdimho at 12/02/09 5:29 PM Btwbfdimho was starred Btwbfdimho was unstarred

Miss Anita Manbadly
05:09 PM

In reply to Today in Serious Policy Proposals
Le Sigh. Bonjour Tristesse. One is so tired of this no tax increase nonsense when it's obviously aimed at relieving the country's top earners of their responsibility to give back in recognition of their fabulous success.

Tell ya what. How about no tax increases for anyone who earns less than $100k per year? Hm? How's that look for ya, you sniveling boot-licker of the uber-wealthy? Hm?
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katastic
05:20 PM

@Miss Anita Manbadly: That's CLASS WARFARE. We don't want CLASS WARFARE. Then we'll all be SOCIALISTS. And have to go to DEATH PANELS! KENYAN DEATH PANELS!
etc.
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econdave
05:06 PM

In reply to Today in Serious Policy Proposals
Remember this the next time you hear a Republican complain about the budget deficit under Obama.

These guys are completely morally bankrupt.
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Miss Anita Manbadly
05:10 PM

@econdave: What you said.
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Iamdoingit
05:03 PM

In reply to Today in Serious Policy Proposals
Look, I have to admit I am probably on the side of stop taxing people like crazy, but this guy is completely full of crap. If there were ever a ploy to get attention when you have no new ideas, this is it.

Next up "Only capital punishment until there are no more homicides, then let's keep capital punishment on the books for convicted ________ ."
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PaisleyPajamas
05:09 PM

@Iamdoingit: Cantor is an example of why elected officials sometimes need to be fired. Oh, the irony!
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Cogito Ergo Bibo
05:14 PM

@PaisleyPajamas: We're trying. Most thinking folk in Virginia cringe to think this jackass represents us.

However, please send thinking folks. We need more.
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sweet_communist
05:45 PM

@Cogito Ergo Bibo: I'm from this guy's district, and am sorry to report that he is largely beloved. Fucking Henrico County, man.
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Swifter
04:59 PM

In reply to Today in Serious Policy Proposals
Giving money to the government is the equivalent of flushing it down the toilet, so I sympathize with his views.
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OliversArmy
05:03 PM

@Swifter: Perfect. Serious policy proposals like Cantor's call for equally serious comments like yours.
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Mrs. Beeton
05:14 PM

@Swifter: Flushed away by all that water we have in our toilets, even in the most arid west!
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katastic
05:21 PM

@Swifter: Once again, your incisive commentary manages to both irritate and put one soundly to sleep.
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Iamdoingit
05:22 PM

@Swifter: Look, this is not about his theory. I also think the government is very inefficient. It is the way that he goes about producing nothing and saying that it is something new.
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Go Like Hell Machine
05:47 PM

@Swifter: This is a remarkably helpful and insightful comment, which sheds light on exactly how clueless, pointless and childish the current "conservative" argument in the United States is these days.
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Swifter
06:19 PM

@katastic: At least I'm not a fucking squirrel.
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onebadclam
08:21 PM

@Swifter: So how's your day going, Swifter?
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hilikusopus
04:54 PM

In reply to Today in Serious Policy Proposals
Anybody see the rerun of This American Life last night, the one with the independent candidate who ran against Cantor on a platform of extreme honesty? He had absolutely no campaign, and he still won 25% of the vote in Virginia.
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Juancho
05:01 PM

@hilikusopus: what's more disturbing is the Democrats couldn't beat Cantor in that situation.
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Voyou_Charmant
03:48 PM

In reply to How the Climate Change Summit Will Be Spun
I'm still trying to figure out what the purpose of the "hoax" is supposed to be.

Maybe I'm not lurking the right conspiracy sites, but the only thing I've been able to determine, based on a passing Alex Jones quote, is that environmentalism (as a whole?) is an attempt to steal your land. And then... I don't know.

Can anyone explain to me why anyone could be so angrily against curbing pollution?

That's what it really boils down to, as far as I can tell. Even if you don't believe that global warming/climate change is real, why would you choose to be against efforts to slow down/half pollution?
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ConAir34
05:57 PM

@Voyou_Charmant: It's money and control. It's always money and control.

The #1 backers for Cap and Trade originally were Goldman Sachs and Enron.

It creates a whole new derivatives market in Carbon trading.
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ConAir34
06:03 PM

@ConAir34: Sorry found some more for you

"$94 billion that HSBC Bank estimates has been spent globally this year on what it calls "green stimulus"—largely ethanol and other alternative energy schemes—of the kind from which Al Gore and his partners at Kleiner Perkins hope to profit handsomely."

That is from a WSJ article.

It's always money and control.
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The Van Buren Boys
06:20 PM

@ConAir34: Last I checked, none of the organizations you cited actually do any research. Yes there are some opportunists but that doesn't change physics
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ConAir34
06:30 PM

@The Van Buren Boys: But the only reason this business exists is due to tis research. Not to mention grants. From that same WSJ article.

"Consider the case of Phil Jones, the director of the CRU and the man at the heart of climategate. According to one of the documents hacked from his center, between 2000 and 2006 Mr. Jones was the recipient (or co-recipient) of some $19 million worth of research grants, a sixfold increase over what he’d been awarded in the 1990s.

Why did the money pour in so quickly? Because the climate alarm kept ringing so loudly: The louder the alarm, the greater the sums. And who better to ring it than people like Mr. Jones, one of its likeliest beneficiaries?"
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Helio
06:31 PM

@ConAir34: cause only oil companies can profit handsomely right? Only carbon-based energy companies get all the "money and control"? Cause if you're a green company, you're trying to "force" me to consume something I'm not used to!?! Quelle horreur!

If these energy companies are so scared of lost profits, maybe they should invest in "green" technologies too. It's not anyone else's problem but their own that they put all their eggs into a non-renewable resource.
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Edited by Helio at 12/02/09 6:32 PM Helio was starred Helio was unstarred

ConAir34
06:46 PM

@Helio: Enron was another big backer of earlier Cap and Trade legislation. Think on that for a minute.

You seem to think it is more noble for "green" companies to make money based off of bad research than oil companies.

"Green" technology will be embraced when it can produce cheaper and better energy. Technology still needs to catch up to that.
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Helio
07:01 PM

@ConAir34: I should have said earlier that I wasn't pro-cap and trade, precisely for the reason you cited (that it creates yet another derivatives market) but where did I say anything about green companies being more noble? I just prefer there be more options available. What's wrong with diversifying the ways we power our lives?

Furthermore, it seemed to me that you, or whoever your friends are that are concerned over "money and control," are not acknowledging that energy companies already have substantial "money and control" yet you (or they) defend them in spite of this new technology. Sure, it may be expensive/inefficient now, but the price of oil will only go up, and once it reaches $100, will I hear you bitching about windfall profits from Exxon Mobil?
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Edited by Helio at 12/02/09 7:02 PM Helio was starred Helio was unstarred

ConAir34
07:10 PM

@Helio: I am not really trying to defend energy companies. I just don't want Cap and Trade type legislation to emerge and I am very tired of global warming talk.

If oil goes up again Americans will respond as we did before and stop using as much. There are vast amounts of untapped oil and gas we would need to use up before this becomes a real worry.
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Helio
07:15 PM

@ConAir34: I'm just hoping we'll discover some workable energy alternatives before we ruin the earth trying to wring out every last drop of crude.
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ConAir34
07:39 PM

@Helio: I am sure we will. 100 years ago we had no idea what would provide a good amount of power (nuclear). 100 years from now imagine how different it will be.
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skt.smth
09:05 PM

@ConAir34: You understand that this is what virtually every scientist in the country does, right? They are all competing for grant money in order to pay for their projects, so they write grant requests in order to make their cases. To argue that "ringing the alarm" (i.e. stating your case) implies that you are ginning it all up, simply because there's project money to be gotten for doing so, is specious at best. I mean, was this scientist pocketing the money and buying mansions with it? Where is the impropriety here?
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skt.smth
09:08 PM

@ConAir34: Of course, part of finding and developing new energy sources is criticizing the unsuitability, or noting the winding down, of current ones. In order to understand that we need something new, we first have to understand how what we have right now is insufficient.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
03:03 PM

In reply to How the Climate Change Summit Will Be Spun
Climate change is real. Deniers are either delusional or paid by the people who are causing the problem.
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Buttafooco
03:11 PM

@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: I absolutely agree but the message can get lost on those who need to heed it most when those delivering it are shown to talk the talk, but not walk the walk, as the Times article shows.
Christ, I am having cabbage for dinner.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
07:43 PM

@Buttafooco: The proof of the bad intentions of the deniers is this: if some portion of global warming is part of a natural cycle, shouldn't that make us redouble our efforts to keep from adding to it?
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
07:55 PM

@Buttafooco: The proof of the bad intentions of the deniers is this: if some portion of global warming is part of a natural cycle, shouldn't that make us redouble our efforts to keep from adding to it?
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Buttafooco
08:14 PM

@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: apparently, many don't share the notion that we should sometimes nip things in the bud......rather, they prefer to wait until the point of no return. Unfortunately, having read some of the cap and trade proposals, there are way too many loopholes for exploitation by corporations.
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Buttafooco
02:58 PM

In reply to How the Climate Change Summit Will Be Spun
The Times actually has an interesting article about this, and the characters featured come out looking quite bad.

[women.timesonline.co.uk]
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snugbug
12/01/09

In reply to Did the Romanian President Hit a 10-Year-Old in the Face?
OK, as the sole Romanian-American Gawker commenter--there might be others who have yet to emerge out of the woodwork--this saddens me. I mean, every time Romania makes the news in Western media outlets, it's always to a negative effect: Romanian-bred Roma people entrapping and eating the swans gliding on the lake at the Schönbrunn Castle in Vienna! Paint thinner-snuffing "children of the streets" in Bucharest! Dracula-related BS! Even my adored Tony Bourdain barfed forth a ridiculously sarcastic and mean-spirited episode about Romania for his "No Reservations" show.. Now the news of the Romanian prime minister punching a little kid in the nose circles the world..

Give my people a break, will ya?
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Trai_Dep
12/01/09

@snugbug: So let me get this straight.
Twilight isn't your fault?
Damn. Now we need to find someone else to blame...
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MyrtleWilloughby
12/01/09

@snugbug: Snuggles, you are not alone! We come out at night, (to comment on Gawker) and offer blood toasts to our over-loard Andre Codrescu. And every time he goes on NPR to talk about his youth shtupping on tombstones, me, Irina Lazareanu and Bella Caroli do a shot of ţuică with a stuffed cabbage / bag of glue chaser. Care to join us? Ce pula mea?
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snugbug promoted this comment Edited by MyrtleWilloughby at 12/01/09 9:29 PM MyrtleWilloughby was starred MyrtleWilloughby was unstarred

snugbug
12/01/09

@MyrtleWilloughby: Hey there, fellow vampire! You forgot to mention among the Romanian notables that O-Zone techno-meets-nonsense band that inspired the immortal "Numa Numa Kid" video.

Fac si eu ce pot sa apar patria mioritica! Ţuică si sărmaluţe FTW!
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MyrtleWilloughby
01:18 AM

@snugbug: You are my favorite - ciorba just shot out my nose! I had no idea our proud people could claim the Numa Numa song. Tristan Tzara, Eugene Ionescu, Numa Numa and the Cheeky Girls? The lower Danube clearly had one hell of an ancient civilization.
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Trai_Dep
12/01/09

In reply to Did the Romanian President Hit a 10-Year-Old in the Face?
Putin would have planted a tender kiss on the child's belly.
Russia loves children more than Romania.
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lobstr
12/01/09

In reply to Let's Fight About a Gay-Sex Videogame This Christmas Season
I didn't know Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was getting voiceover gigs...
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rmric0.wedding.photographer.and.manny
12/01/09

In reply to Let's Fight About a Gay-Sex Videogame This Christmas Season
My real problem with the game isn't hte gay sex, but that the hetero sex option involves a secretly evil woman who wants to have your baby in order to turn it into some sort of dark god. That's some fucked up shit there.
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