Re: What Are You Doing Tonight?

1

I dunno he kind of looks the part to me.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:34 AM
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Oh sure, you say that now.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:35 AM
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JP is in my extended network! I wonder if he likes videogames, too.


Posted by: Tom | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:36 AM
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Pacing!


Posted by: Zippy the Comment Frog | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:36 AM
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This is more or less how I assume the various meetups go.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:36 AM
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2: hey did I get lured into his garage? No I did not.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:36 AM
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You can never tell just from looking at someone how athy they are, exactly.


Posted by: Merganser | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:36 AM
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8

He looks a little like Hugh O'Conor.


Posted by: Amber | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:37 AM
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9


Angelic looking white boys of privilege displaying unimaginable depravity is nothing new--nor is the fact that everyone is surprised, because they don't look like the type. And when there's a bunch of them, no one can admit that they're a gang, because gangs just aren't white.


Posted by: Belle Lettre | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:38 AM
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As if throat slitting from behind weren't evidence enough, the whole 'hacked off his head afterwards' thing would tend to make one not believe the self-defense claim.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:39 AM
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9: oh I love the La Jolla gang. That's so hilarious.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:39 AM
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12

You know who the kid looks just like? Damien from The Omen. What a darling little misdirected youth.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:40 AM
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13

3: hmmmmm ....


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:42 AM
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Was the profile cleared off? Or is it just the picture and name that people are referring to?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:42 AM
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14: "Song has been deleted by the artist" . Guesses?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:46 AM
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10: d00d u haf to chop the heds off zombies


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:46 AM
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17

Fuck you all, he kind of looks like me.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:49 AM
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the whole 'hacked off his head afterwards' thing would tend to make one not believe the self-defense claim

I think the defense story was that he was afraid of retribution from the victim's (apparently non-existent) criminal cohorts.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:49 AM
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12.---I was thinking Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:50 AM
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14: "Song has been deleted by the artist" . Guesses?

He looks like a Jonee Earthquake Band kid to me. Oh, look, lucky guess.


Posted by: sam k | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:50 AM
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16: Oh no! I'd probably try staking em in the heart. I should get straight on my undead killing methods, lest I find myself in a terrible situation.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:50 AM
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17: saves you some Photoshop time, anyhow.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:50 AM
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23

It's really impressive, though, that he managed not to rape anyone or shoot up a school. Nice going, crazy white boy!


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:52 AM
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#20. You see, I would've said Juggalo.


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:52 AM
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15: Probably this.


Posted by: Ardent reader | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:53 AM
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26
If he had just made better choices, things would be so much different for all the lives that have been affected."

Is it really tacky to roll your eyes at a grieving mother's use of appalling empty cliches?


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:54 AM
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#9

"They weren't gangsters," says Richard Kenvin, 47, a filmmaker who grew up surfing Windansea. "They were gangsta chic."

Distinguishing.


Posted by: asl | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:55 AM
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All relationships are dangerous. Note that the victims in this story and Belle's were both friends of the killers.

Do you have "friends"? Perhaps you should reexamine your life.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:55 AM
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22: It is a great comfort to me that all of my stupid ideas are being hoarded for the mocking of my posterity.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:56 AM
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ok, 28 made me laugh.

About ten years ago, a group of girls here sliced up a friend with boxcutters over some very small disagreement.

I've represented a bunch of upper middle class boys who get together with friends and decide that they can break into houses. Typically, they have watched some movie like Point Break and think that they can do it too.


Posted by: Will | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 9:58 AM
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26: See this.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:00 AM
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32

31: I'm glad to be in such distinguished company.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:01 AM
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33

30: They watched Point Break and were inspired to try a home invasion? Were they confused between a home invasion and catching a fifty year storm?

Post: why do you exist? Why is this murder more thread-worthy than other murders?


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:02 AM
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33: It's about the photo. Now the real question is, why is this photo more thread-worthy than any other photo of a criminal defendant cleaned up and in a suit?

Okay, now everyone listen to the song in 25.


Posted by: Ardent reader | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:03 AM
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35

I kind of wondered the same thing as 33.1.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:03 AM
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36

the whole 'hacked off his head afterwards' thing would tend to make one not believe the self-defense claim.

One of my neighbors from childhood--a guy who used to work for my father, actually--is serving life in prison for beheading a guy. He had two previous felony convictions (the second of which was for stealing my mother's car), so they sentenced him under a "three strikes" rule. His parents were decent people. His legal expenses bankrupted them. Very sad.


Posted by: KR | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:04 AM
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I mean 33.2 Also 34.1.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:04 AM
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38

point break involved a bunch of guys who wore masks of Presidents and robbed places.


Posted by: Will | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:14 AM
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serving life in prison for beheading a guy. He had two previous felony convictions (the second of which was for stealing my mother's car), so they sentenced him under a "three strikes" rule.

I hate it when "three strikes" laws take away judicial sentencing discretion for some minor new offense.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:14 AM
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33.2 makes me think that you're all in on some sweet religion you're not telling me about because I'm not cool enough.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:14 AM
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Why is this murder more thread-worthy than other murders?

Because Ogged had a cute MySpace he could sort-of claim was the kid's.


Posted by: destroyer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:15 AM
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42

No, that's really supposed to be his MySpace page.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:18 AM
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43

It was just that time. Time for a murder thread.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:18 AM
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I hate it when "three strikes" laws take away judicial sentencing discretion for some minor new offense.

This case was serious, PGD. The victim was white.


Posted by: KR | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:21 AM
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No, that's really supposed to be his MySpace page.

Source? Not that I seriously doubt it, I'm just curious who spends the time digging up and sharing the MySpace page of a murderer when it's not that interesting.


Posted by: destroyer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:22 AM
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46

Let me find the link. But finding the MySpace pages of kids in the news is pretty standard procedure nowadays, isn't it?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:23 AM
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47

"There is a difference between mental illness in this country and evil," the judge said. "But your actions, sir, are tantamount to evil. No two ways about it."

"Tantamount to" evil? Not evil, just functionally equivalent?

What is the near-equivalent of evil?


Posted by: Anderson | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:23 AM
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48

This is the page where I saw it linked. Looks credible to me! It's also in the top few google results if you google the kid's name.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:24 AM
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49

Also linked here.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:25 AM
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46: Yeah, although usually they seem a little more legitimate. (It's just now occurring to me that the last person who comes to mind—Ashley Dupre—was selling things, so she might not count. Also that she really was treated like a child, which is bizarre.)


Posted by: destroyer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:28 AM
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It was just that time. Time for a murder thread.

From the looks of the kid, it should be easy enough to work in a few prison rape jokes while you're at it.


Posted by: KR | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:29 AM
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Speaking of appropriate humor, Knecht, I've started working on starts from the blocks and people keep telling me that I can practice them at my regular pool, but it's only five and a half feet deep and I beg off, while thinking to myself "after all fun I've made of Krauthammer, there is no way I'm diving head first into a shallow pool."


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:32 AM
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10

"As if throat slitting from behind weren't evidence enough, the whole 'hacked off his head afterwards' thing would tend to make one not believe the self-defense claim."

You would think so, but see this.


Posted by: James B. Shearer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:34 AM
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54

5 1/2 feet? They did tell you that you are supposed to dive forward, not down, right?


Posted by: Will | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:34 AM
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Point Break is both a movie about surfers who wear masks depicting the faces of former Presidents of the United States while robbing banks to finance their surfing, the source of such amazing dialogue as,"You're a real blue flame special, aren't you, son? Young, dumb and full of come, I know. What I don't know is how you got assigned here. Guess we must just have ourselves an asshole shortage, huh?" and the greatest action play of all time.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:36 AM
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52: You know, you could burn Krauthammer's fingertips with a blowtorch and he wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it!


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:36 AM
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The starting blocks at our poor were on the shallow end -- in which my 5'2" self could stand easily.


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:38 AM
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58

Ogged, you fucking wuss, I've dove off blocks in three feet of water. And I'm a fat non-exerciser.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:38 AM
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36: That's the problem with the three strikes law. People get life sentences for relatively small offenses like beheading.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:38 AM
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||

If you really wanted to post a picture, Ogged, you should have used the one accompanying this article--which is hot enough to make up for at least 2-3 gratuitous ass shots of female celebrities.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:40 AM
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|>


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:41 AM
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Texans have relaxed notions of justifiable homicide, accidental homicide, and suicide which tend to work in the favor of well-respected or wealthy defendants.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:41 AM
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63

Figures you'd go for that picture, you shallow, shallow woman. Real pool players either switch hands or use the bridge in that situation.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:42 AM
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I actually saw that picture this morning and thought, "Barack, my brother, why you gotta be a poseur like that?"


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:44 AM
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65

I appreciate a man who's secure enough in his sexuality to be willing to pose for the laydeez.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:45 AM
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66

Is it really tacky to roll your eyes at a grieving mother's use of appalling empty cliches?

Just wait till she gets to the one about closure.


Posted by: Mo MacArbie | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:50 AM
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67

I hope it's more flattering than the photo here.


Posted by: Ardent reader | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:51 AM
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67: Oh, that's great.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:54 AM
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"Barack, my brother, why you gotta be a poseur like that?"

To show that he's one of us. Haven't we all tried that shot way more often than it was called for?


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:57 AM
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70

67's just cute and funny. But I maintain that the showoffy pool picture is totally hot.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:58 AM
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71

Hayward Field! Walking back from the bar, I used to run on the track to the glory of the empty stands.


Posted by: Klug | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:58 AM
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72

Also, I've never quite understood why bridges are legal.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:58 AM
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73

They did tell you that you are supposed to dive forward, not down, right?

I know that in the old days they did the bellyflop start, but kids these days are doing things a little differently.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 10:59 AM
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74

Ogged, the point is that he's not a professional pool player, so he can't just switch hands. And using the bridge takes a certain skill too, so sometimes going behind the back is easier. You are such a hater.

B is right. The picture is hot, but that's mostly because Obama is hot.


Posted by: m. leblanc | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:01 AM
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75

The picture is hot, but that's mostly because Obama is hot.

Are you saying that Tim's been wasting his time with that shot?


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:04 AM
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76

This article says he was hamming it up, which makes sense, given that his form is pretty good, so he actually seems to know how to play pool, and knows that that's a hammy shot. You may continue swooning over the Muslim.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:07 AM
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The picture is hot, but that's mostly because Obama is hot.

Or so the mullahs would have you believe.


Posted by: Auto-banned | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:08 AM
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78

Bridges are for sissies, but you don't have to be a pro to switch hands.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:08 AM
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79

The article also says that the hurdle picture was of him clowning around. I really do kind of like the guy.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:09 AM
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I find the other kid's MySpace to be even more disturbing. All the people going "I MISS YOU YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS" etc. People's willful blindness in the face of those they love is amazing.


Posted by: m. leblanc | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:10 AM
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81

Quit trying to fuck with his shot. He'll sink it any minute now, if you'll shut up and let him shoot.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:10 AM
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74: Erm, I haven't played a huge amount of pool, but going behind the back is, I think, much more difficult than using a bridge. Kind of silly, even. Not that it matters, since it's a sex shot. Pretty funny.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:10 AM
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The article also says that the hurdle picture was of him clowning around.

He wasn't actually racing?!?

Next you'll be saying he isn't really part of their recruiting class.


Posted by: Auto-banned | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:11 AM
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84

Behind the back is quite easy with just a bit of practice, much easier than switching hands and much better form than using a bridge.


Posted by: Bave Dee | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:12 AM
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85

This video pretty much pwns you all. You too, Jesus.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:12 AM
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86

Vindicated per 76!


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:12 AM
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87

I know that in the old days they did the bellyflop start, but kids these days are doing things a little differently.

You do realize that you are supposed to wear a cap with flowers when you swim breaststroke?


Posted by: Will | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:13 AM
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And what is this "bridges are for sissies," "bad form" business? Dude, you do what you need to do to sink the shot. End of story.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:15 AM
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the hurdle picture was of him clowning around. I really do kind of like the guy.

It's odd to what extent these sorts of sensibility issues matter. And Obama's sensibility does match up with mine (it seems) more than prior candidates. (I wonder if it's generational.) That makes me or sympathetic to people on the other side of the flag pin thing. (I still hate them, but, I hope, with more sympathy, now.)

I bet Obama can quote Fletch.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:15 AM
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83: Did you see them play this year? He might have helped.


Posted by: Klug | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:16 AM
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"Bridges are for sissies" is what I was taught, too.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:16 AM
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Like I said, sissy. Shall I kick your ass on the pool table if there's a Portland meetup this summer?

I've got to score one of these cool UO Obama shirts.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:18 AM
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80: Yeah, he says he'd like to meet "some wicked cool mother fuckers or some hot-ass chicks. but i'll settle for just about anyone." Good thing he's willing to settle, since he'll be spending the next decade or so in a federal prison.

Stupid kid.


Posted by: Mary Catherine | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:18 AM
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"Bridges are for sissies" is what I was taught, too.

It's definitely a stage on the way to maturation as a pool player, grasshopper. At later stages, players realize that using the bridge is itself a respectable (relative to the game of pool, of course) skill.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:18 AM
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9:

"They are as much a gang as any fraternity," said Mary Ellen Attridge, the lawyer for one of the men, Seth Cravens, 22.

One man's modus ponens...


Posted by: ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:19 AM
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Shall I kick your ass on the pool table if there's a Portland meetup this summer?

Are you trash-talking me, Jesus The Christ? If we play, you will lose.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:19 AM
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It's definitely a stage on the way to maturation as a pool player, grasshopper.

Are you suggesting that you're good? 'Cause I'm going to be pretty depressed if you are.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:20 AM
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98

I believe ogged is good at pool. Wasted youth and all that.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:21 AM
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99

And Obama's sensibility does match up with mine (it seems) more than prior candidates. (I wonder if it's generational.)

Not entirely: He has plenty of older supporters who feel just this way, and there must be plenty of young people who don't get it, but know it would be uncool to admit it.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:21 AM
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Are you trash-talking me, Jesus The Christ? If we play, you will lose. INSOLENCE!

What was I supposed to do?


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:22 AM
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101

I played an unconscionable amount of pool in college. Like, twelve hours a day, regularly. I haven't played in a while, but there's a pool hall within walking distance and I'll shake off the rust if Jesus keeps talking smack.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:24 AM
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99: I wonder if it's regional. Midwestern sensibility as the mid-point between the California Kooks and the Eastern Peerage, or perhaps the midwest as America's geographic suburb.

101: Gawd, I hate you.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:24 AM
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98 cont'd: Though he doesn't know what pot smells like, so, you know.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:25 AM
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Gawd, I hate you.

Howcome?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:25 AM
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I mean, in this instance.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:26 AM
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97: RTFA. I think around Seung Hui-Cho was a topic of discussion ogged talks about spending a lot of time hanging out in a pool hall with a bunch of crazy asian guys, but I might be mixing up two stories.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:26 AM
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Seriously, ogged, not that you are supposed to bellyflop it, but you don't dive 5 1/2 feet down. The second video you linked looks like she only gets about 18 inches below the surface. Every high school pool I ever swam in was less than 5 1/2 feet at the block end.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:26 AM
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since he'll be spending the next decade or so in a federal prison

More like two-three decades, actually, but in a Michigan prison. Which is worse.


Posted by: m. leblanc | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:26 AM
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you don't dive 5 1/2 feet down

I understand that, but having never gone off the blocks before, I wasn't going to start in a relatively shallow pool. And, indeed, my very first dive, I must have wound up about seven feet under the surface.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:28 AM
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110

The accomplice kid was a pure classic rock fan. There's a lesson there, I'm sure.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:30 AM
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ogged talks about spending a lot of time hanging out in a pool hall with a bunch of crazy asian guys

Yeah, I know I've mentioned it before.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:30 AM
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The second video you linked looks like she only gets about 18 inches below the surface

Nuh uh.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:31 AM
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One of my college roommates used to drop acid and go play pool. He won lots of tournaments. He claimed that "if you could focus" tripping helped you understand angles better.

I should look him up, wonder what happened to him.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:31 AM
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a pure classic rock fan

That's what freaked me out. The list of music, books and movies could be verbatim choices from like five different guys I know.


Posted by: m. leblanc | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:32 AM
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I played a lot of pool in while in college, though not 7 hours a day, and I can say that I was better behind the back than with my offhand. And this was particularly true if I was worried about the spin I was imparting to the cue ball. Furthermore, I played in my place of residence, not a silly pool hall, so I knew that 1) bridges are for losers and 2) how you look is an important element of the game. The purpose of college is to have sex, remember?


Posted by: mpowell | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:33 AM
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Don't you have a swim meet coming up? And a job and a girlfriend and a blog? So your time to reclaim your alleged pool skills is limited. Hmm. I may have to resume trash-talking as August approaches.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:33 AM
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I don't know why I said 7 hours. I mean to compare to ogged's 12 hrs/day. I would estimate that I played 1-2 hrs/day for about 2 years.


Posted by: mpowell | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:34 AM
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"Bridges are for sissies" is what I was taught, too.

Youse do spend quite a lot of time worrying about what makes you a 'sissy'.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:35 AM
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119

Okay, I gotta say, I have no problem with posing while playing pool, but this "bridges are for losers" crap is crap.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:35 AM
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120

Howcome?

I get the sense that my misspent youth was less productive than yours.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:35 AM
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so I knew that 1) bridges are for losers

Yeah, baby.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:36 AM
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There's a difference between sissies and losers, B.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:37 AM
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Don't you have a swim meet coming up?

That's in June! I won't make to Portland before August. I'll be in touch, McQueen.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:38 AM
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Youse do spend quite a lot of time worrying about what makes you a 'sissy'.

This is Sparta.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:39 AM
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125

I misspent my youth smoking pot and fucking. I suck at pool. Do I lose points?


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:40 AM
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126

125: Are you good at smoking pot?


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:42 AM
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re: 124

This is Sparta Sybaris [but we really want it to be Sparta].


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:42 AM
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Youse do spend quite a lot of time worrying about what makes you a 'sissy'.

To really ape our idiom, finish with: , just sayin'.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:43 AM
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re: 128

I'm not aping your idiom. 'Youse' would be what I actually say [when my guard is down].


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:44 AM
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Do I lose points?

You have to ask?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:44 AM
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This is Sparta Sybaris [but we really want it to be Sparta].

Definitely something to that. Of course, there are Americans who really are kind of rough and tumble and whose families have served in the military for many generations, and as a country we certainly love to make us some war. Then there are those of us who blog.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:44 AM
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I'm not aping your idiom. 'Youse' would be what I actually say [when my guard is down].

That's interesting; I've never seen a transatlantic example. Pronounced yoos?


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:47 AM
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It may be, per Cary Grant, that even Sparta wanted to be Sparta.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:47 AM
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Then there are those of us who blog not from the rural south.

The U.S. now has probably the finest soldiers in the world now, but that's not from our martial tradition. It's because we have an all-volunteer army that spends a ton on training and equipment. At the end of that process, you get very very good troops with the best morale and equipment around.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:48 AM
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whoops, now now.


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:48 AM
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There would be fewer teens cutting off heads if we'd just let them in head shops.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:48 AM
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The U.S. now has probably the finest soldiers in the world now, but that's not from our martial tradition

That wasn't the claim. We were talking about the culture of toughness.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:50 AM
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130: Well, I did play a lot of civ as well...


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:50 AM
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We were talking about the culture of toughness. false machismo.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:52 AM
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re: 132

It's standard Scots dialect. Second person plural.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:52 AM
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Then there are those of us who blog not from the rural south.

What? The insistence on competitiveness isn't distinctly of the south. And isn't absent from blog life, for that matter.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:52 AM
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Kid looks like Frodo.


Posted by: xyzzy | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:52 AM
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We were talking about the culture of toughness.

In other words, does it matter that John Wayne's real first name was "Marion."


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:52 AM
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139 is right.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:53 AM
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I don't know if I'd describe it as toughness, exactly, but there's certainly to something to the idea that the American way of dealing with problems is to beat them up. Even if you don't believe that that's a good thing, you probably believe that it's a live option that needs to be argued against or squelched.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:55 AM
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The insistence on competitiveness isn't distinctly of the south.

I think he was talking about martial values, which I believe are more prevalent in the South.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:55 AM
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We lead the world in false machismo, with pride. Mr. President, we cannot allow a false machismo gap!


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:56 AM
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re: 145

I wasn't really talking about beating people up as favoured solution.* I was thinking more about the constant boundary-patrolling around who is a 'sissy'.

* the stereotype about Americans being much more about them shooting you, rather than about them beating you up ...


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:57 AM
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147: Therefor, flag pin!


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:58 AM
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139 is right.

Who cares? I don't think many of us are actually confused about our actual toughness, or how little it is tested. Ogged's description still reflects the culture in which many of us grew up. No one's talking about the actual positive value of such an acculturation.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:58 AM
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Feeling a little defensive, Tim?


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:59 AM
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148: I think the two go together, personally. If it's important to be the sort of person who gets behind wars on drugs, poverty, etc., then it's the important not to look like a sissy.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 11:59 AM
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139: I thought "machismo" itself was a word for false toughness.

False machismo being redundant.


Posted by: Ardent reader | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:00 PM
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Feeling a little defensive, Tim?

Keep working it, B. Maybe he'll crack.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:00 PM
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re: 150

I am teasing slightly, but you do talk about it a LOT (hence the teasing).


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:00 PM
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It's standard Scots dialect. Second person plural.

Also a common, characteristic usage on Chicago's South side, among whites at least. Which suggests that it's also Irish.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:00 PM
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151; Not that I can tell.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:01 PM
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False machismo being redundant.

It's not nearly as inflammatory without the "false." Come on.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:01 PM
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Lots of places have a culture of toughness. Americans have that anglo-saxon disparagement of emotional expressiveness too, though. Mediterranean men are more flamboyant and expressive in their machismo.

On the basketball and Mother's Day themes that I'm sure everyone is eager to return to, anyone see ">http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8133208/LeBron-yells-at-mom-to-sit-down-after-hard-foul"> this ?


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:01 PM
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That's in June! I won't make to Portland before August. I'll be in touch, McQueen.

Masters Nationals are in Oregon!!

Go Ogged!


Posted by: Will | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:01 PM
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damnit!


Posted by: PGD | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:02 PM
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158: Oh, I wasn't sure whether her point was to be inflammatory. Still not sure what the mores are on these internets.


Posted by: Ardent reader | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:02 PM
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125: As long as there was plenty of fucking, no.

119: I'll be generous, you can use a bridge if you want to. But you're not one of the kool kids then.


Posted by: mpowell | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:03 PM
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Keep working it, B. Maybe he'll crack.

Hey, I'm as American as the rest of you. Except ttaM.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:03 PM
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Speaking of toughness, there are apparently 132,000 people currently serving life sentences in U.S. prisons. That's a lot of people.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:04 PM
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I am teasing slightly, but you do talk about it a LOT (hence the teasing).

It's a pretty standard way that guys interact on this side, though that might be truer for guys who didn't acculturate in primarily coed groups. How do they do it over there? There has to be some sense of nutting up, etc., be it a bad thing or a good thing. (I"ve always assumed we mostly stole this from the Brits, frankly.)


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:04 PM
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Youse is Scots?
I thought it was New Jerseyan -- and my father's preferred usage.

(I am finishing reports and bouncing in my seat to Crass: "Do they owe us a living? Of course they fucking do!")


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:05 PM
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I wasn't sure whether her point was to be inflammatory

Ogged likes to dismiss my wisdom as trolling. Because he's sexist.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:05 PM
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ttaM is mostly kidding. Scots is not an actual dialect, but rather a clever parody of English. If one's nation were to be colonized by wankers, and lacked the balls to successfully rebel, what other option would one have? Hence several centuries of parody, culminating in this.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:18 PM
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Speaking of toughness, there are apparently 132,000 people currently serving life sentences in U.S. prisons. That's a lot of people.

Spoken like a true bleeding heart liberal!

Witt, the right wingers look at that and think that the death penalty should have kept that number lower.


Posted by: Will | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:18 PM
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Spoken like a true bleeding heart liberal cheapskate.

Fixed.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:21 PM
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Speaking of toughness, there are apparently 132,000 people currently serving life sentences in U.S. prisons. That's a lot of people.

Oddly, that number didn't sound very high at all to me. I am guessing it's a relatively small percentage of the overall prison population.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:21 PM
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cheapskate?

haha That is how I argue about prison with right wingers. "Is it worth it to pay to incarcerate this person???!!?"


Posted by: Will | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:23 PM
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our proverb says jargal daakhguin zovlon
which means 'hardship to endure happiness'
meaning it spoils and corrupts morally and otherwise if it's in excess
the youthful monster in the post i think its very example
one who did not know pain never would understand other's pain
if to talk about nature of toughness


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:26 PM
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is


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:27 PM
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173

"haha That is how I argue about prison with right wingers. "Is it worth it to pay to incarcerate this person???!!?""

Another argument for the death penalty.


Posted by: James B. Shearer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:30 PM
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Is the Scots word pronounced "yoos" or "yooz"?


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:33 PM
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re: 156

There's some speculation it came into Scots in the 19th century from Ireland, yeah. Earlier Scots uses a different second person form, generally.

re: 166

Americans, and particularly middle-class Americans, do seem to do it a lot -- they are very concerned about their masculinity. Much more than I remember my peers doing when I was growing up.*

That said, in the interests of comity, I'm sure I'm occasionally guilty of it myself, sometimes. I can certainly play up on the tougher/working-class aspects of my background in certain contexts [and play them down in others] for similar false-machismo reasons.

* I'm pretty sure actual fighting was more of a factor, mind.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:33 PM
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The death penalty is kind of barbaric. I also think that 132,000 people serving life sentences is not too many if they are in for crimes like murder.


Posted by: Lemmy Caution | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:34 PM
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I got my posts crossed, and thought read was referring to the cookie monster in the other thread.I kind of wish she was, because I'm doing that thing which letters shall not represent.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:36 PM
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may be i'm barbaric and not liberal enough
but if i were the victim's family (thphu x3 and knock x3) i would demand his life for life of his murderer, it's only fair to do so


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:37 PM
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re: 177

The second. The last consonant is voiced.

IPA-stylee: /jʉz/ or /jiz/ or /ji:z/ depending on context.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:37 PM
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Oddly, that number didn't sound very high at all to me. I am guessing it's a relatively small percentage of the overall prison population.

To Euro-ears, life imprisonment sounds very harsh, even outrageously so. The German supreme judicial court has ruled that life without possibility of parole is an unconstitutional violation of human dignity, and the European Court of Human Rights is deliberating over doing the same. To American ears, a life sentence sounds like a more lenient alternative to execution. Cultural context matters.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:37 PM
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179

"The death penalty is kind of barbaric. ..."

Compared to caging somebody until he dies? In my opinion the death penalty is comparatively quick and humane.


Posted by: James B. Shearer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:39 PM
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My friends and I played a lot of pool in college, too. Our favorite pool hall was run by a black Jewish guy named "Shorty."


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:40 PM
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Another argument for the death penalty.

Not a very good one, though. Incarceration is still cheaper for the taxpayer than the typical capital appeals process. You could argue that appeals should be restricted even further than they already are, but then you'd be implicitly accepting more innocents on death row.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:40 PM
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182: I think that contrasts, then, with the American dialect word "youse" then, which is /juz/ or /ju:z/.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:44 PM
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then


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:45 PM
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||

No more masturbating to Robert Rauschenberg.

|>


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:46 PM
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Compared to caging somebody until he dies? In my opinion the death penalty is comparatively quick and humane.

Execution is quicker than a life sentence. That is irrefutable.


Posted by: asl | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:47 PM
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189: That made me gasp. I'm very sad about it. RR seems to have been a really decent guy.


Posted by: A White Bear | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:47 PM
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In my opinion the death penalty is comparatively quick and humane.

Keep in mind that read might be talking about traditional Mongol methods of execution.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:48 PM
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191: I jumped over to 'Smasher's blog when I saw the headline earlier, but he hasn't posted anything yet.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:53 PM
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#189. Rest in peace you tired goat.


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:54 PM
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||

Witt hates me.

|>


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:56 PM
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192
no, that would be too good for him
i was thinking about the exactly same fashion of persecution the murderer exploited in his deed
but that would be impossible to carry out, alas


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 12:58 PM
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You know, Mongolia is pretty high up on the prisoners per capita ratings at #24.


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:00 PM
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196: nonsense. Any good knife will work well enough for a beheading; you just have to sharpen it really thoroughly.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:01 PM
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Americans, and particularly middle-class Americans, do seem to do it a lot -- they are very concerned about their masculinity. Much more than I remember my peers doing when I was growing up.*

* I'm pretty sure actual fighting was more of a factor, mind.

What I think is that in America people who might ordinarily indulge their desire for machismo by getting into fights are afraid of doing so because they might get shot and killed. therefore they are frustrated. and this leads to acts of economic machismo instead, as we saw with Enron and "Liar's Poker", et cetera.


Posted by: peter | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:03 PM
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186: We Texans hang our heads in shame that Georgia beat us to resuming executions after the Supreme Court slapped down the sissy public defenders.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:05 PM
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O how I do not want to revise this chapter!


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:06 PM
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Read is my people.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:09 PM
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O how I lament my fate that it is a sunny day and I am out of reasons to procrastinate!


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:10 PM
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202: So why do you doubt the executive, smart guy?


Posted by: foolishmortal | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:11 PM
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199 is a truly bizarre hypothesis.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:13 PM
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Read is my people.

Well, both of you are probably related to Timur and you know how he loved a good beheading.


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 05-13-08 1:15 PM
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