Most Randroids wouldn’t have the knowledge and skills even to survive.

It’s OK to have public infrastructure and sewers and clean parks and streetlights and cops — just so long as the other guy pays for it.

That’s objectivism in a nutshell.

Brad, I’m pleased to see you read my blog 🙂

I wonder how long before the town deteriorates completely? I was just in the Springs and it was still a fairly decent place. But, with tourism on the rocks it won’t be for long. I’ve watched the city turn into a sprawl-fest that only a Republican could love and it’s a huge, cluttered mess. Imagine abandoning about half of that and see what’s left.

I advocate we support Colorado City in their endeavours. We should gather up all our household garbage, stick it in the trunk of our cars, and visit, leaving our trash in the many beautiful parks they have there.

I support the Republican developmental model of no taxes and no spending depicted in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Wheeeeeee! Libertopia uber alles!

Republicans need to see what kind of results their leadership has brought.
Lets see, Congress from 94 to 06. White House from 01 to 09(Jan).
Of course they’ll try to spin it as Obama’s massive failure.
But that’s all it will be. Spin. Anyone with a rational thinking mind can see these are the after affects of the GOp run amok.

Thanks guys. I sometimes think that they run up a massive deficit, so they can vote against social program funding.
Well, they’re getting their wish now. We’ll see more of this kind of thing.
We have too. We will also have to raise taxes. Otherwise, this condition the country is in will live on in perpetuity .

I think it’s pretty apparent that the city needs another round of tax cuts to cure their deficit and balance their budget.

It would be a treat if the Chinese saw an opportunity to step in and offer foreign aid.

But wait–isn’t Colorado Springs the epicenter of Christian megachurchitude?
Escape-From-New-York collapse, the Air Force Academy’s zingy architecture and regimented march-bots, and giant malls of Jesus freaks:
This is science fiction unfolding in real time.

Attention drug dealers! You now have a city where you can practice your trade without hindrance from pesky local authorities!

As for scam artists, pyromaniacs, child molesters, gang recruiters, common burglars and muggers of all sorts, sexual predators, redneck homophobes, rapists, home invaders, carjackers, jaywalkers, embezzlers, rogues, blackguards, thieves, and that kinda there.

Annndd…every time someone complains about high taxes, bloated government, overpaid municipal workers and the like, we can say:

“Hey. Move to Colorado Springs if you don’t like it here.”

I used to live there when I was growing up. I had some fond memories of the place and always thought I would move back, eventually. But between having a falling out with my brothers that still live there and having Colo. Spgs becoming Central Command for the Christianists, my desire to move back has dimmed. Now, I see this. It’s really a shame. That’s a nice city. Or it was. On the other hand, I might be able to buy my old house back REALLY CHEAP when I retire.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces,

Isn’t that…communism?

Oh, they’ll just blame libruls and atheists for the sad state of the city.

“Without those libruls and atheists and homersexuerls, our zero-government city would’ve been a utopia! We can’t be blamed for the crime sprees and toxic dumps and uneducated children and filthy parks and burned-out homes! We can NEVER be blamed! What we need to do now is cut taxes and bomb Iran!”

Shorter Colorado Springs:

Rather than pay higher property taxes, we’ll destroy the value of our properties.

It would be a treat if the Chinese saw an opportunity to step in and offer foreign aid.

Expect the Chavez-owned Citgo to start running their “Joe For Oil” ads there soon.

As for scam artists, pyromaniacs, child molesters, gang recruiters, common burglars and muggers of all sorts, sexual predators, redneck homophobes, rapists, home invaders, carjackers, jaywalkers, embezzlers, rogues, blackguards, thieves, and that kinda there.

So it is the new home to the Republican Party.

CO Springs can now change their name to Galt Gulch

Colorado Springs is just a trial run for what awaits us all:[image]

Will I have to learn to read Japanese? IS that Japanese? This sepia-tone future frightens and confuses me.

How can they not see that the USA of the Future would look just like Beirut? I guess it’s ok if someone still delivers pizza to their gated community.

As for scam artists, pyromaniacs, child molesters, gang recruiters, common burglars and muggers of all sorts, sexual predators, redneck homophobes, rapists, home invaders, carjackers, jaywalkers, embezzlers, rogues, blackguards, thieves, and that kinda there.

Michelle Malkin already lives there so it’ll be like birds of a feather.

I guess it’s ok if someone still delivers pizza to their gated community.

“Sorry about the shrapnel, Mrs Christian!”

“CO Springs can now change their name to Galt Gulch”

Or Bartertown.

I guess it’s ok if someone still delivers pizza to their gated community.

Bill Hicks lives.

I bet he thought he was joking though.

Good luck drawing people to a city that is totally dark at night, that has acres of dead brown grass across its public spaces and that is overrun by criminals due to police cuts. I doubt that even the most dedicated Randroid would have the stomach for crap like this.

Bah! We’ll just hand out guns to all the um, “good” citizens (wink, nudge, wink) and everything will be honky dory.

Uh, hunky dory. Not honky.

So it is the new home to the Republican Party.

I should take that back.

I didn’t mean to malign jaywalkers by associating them with the Republican Party.

NORAD is also based there. Remember that dumb movie, War Games, when the computer was going to blow up the world? That’s where they all ended up, in the big-ass underground bunker where all the military’s computers are kept. Is this some sort of coincidence that the Academy of God’s Soldiers (aka the Air Force Academy), NORAD, several mega-churchs of the fundamentalist variety, and ultra-conservatives who don’t want to pay taxes for any services have all ended up? The picturesque setting can’t explain that all, can it?

I guess it’s ok if someone still delivers pizza to their gated community.

“Offers not good after curfew in Sectors R or N!”

Jesus, Brad.

Total Mindmeld:
http://thegreatamericandesert.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/garden-of-the-galts/

/blogwhore.

(But then again, I’m sure things will get better once the town contracts all public safety functions out to Blackwater.)

But that would take money, which the city doesn’t have, so it’s unpossible.

No, what happens now is people are left to their own devices as far as such services go. Gun sales should be brisk. Ironically, private co-ops will probably spring up (most likely centered around HOAs) to contract for private security and fire protection in wealthier neighborhoods. Of course, in the poor areas where there’s no money to pool for such things, services will simply cease; but who cares about them? They’re parasites anyway. Reduce the surplus population, and good riddance to them.

This is an interesting test case for the ultimate stage of “drowning government in a bathtub.” I wonder if Grover Norquist will be watching. Perhaps he should be strapped down in a chair and FORCED to watch as his policies are implemented to the fullest. Here you go, Grover, this is what you’re advocating for all of America.

Without those libruls and atheists and homersexuerls, our zero-government city would’ve been a utopia! We can’t be blamed for the crime sprees and toxic dumps and uneducated children and filthy parks and burned-out homes!

… And there was a time in this country, a long time ago, when reading wasn’t just for fags and neither was writing. People wrote books and movies, movies that had stories so you cared whose ass it was and why it was farting, and I believe that time can come again!

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces

Why should I expend my fuel and wear and tear on my lawnmower so other people can have a nice park? Screw that.

Hey – wasn’t Colorado where Red Dawn was set?

Be a good time for someone to airdrop in to conquer the United States, just sayin’.

At least they won’t have to use Chicago for the next Batman movie, they can just put cameras around this place and green-screen Christian Bale in later.

Don’t forget the roving packs of wild dogs.

AND THE FUCHING BADGERS!!!!!111!!

Surprise surprise! Loony libs hating on Colorado Springs, easily one of the nicest and most patriotic places around? The Teebster sure ain’t surprised, ya better believe! Hey, silly socialists, it’s only a few more days before I make my NFL debut at the SUPER BOWL! Can you imagine a better reward for a player of my integrity and greatness? After that, it’s onto the draft, where you’ll be seeing me in the Top 10, badoodle-boo-yeah!

Hey, I noticed you Sadly, D’oh!ers hating on Coach Urban Meyer. Check yourself before you wreck yourself, nerd alerts, Da Cool Coach landed the best rootin tootin recruitin class in the country yesterday! Everyone wants to play with CUM!

Take that SPREAD and shove it, libs! Tebow out.

Good luck drawing people to a city
That’s seeing it as a problem. Look on it as an opportunity! A tourism marketing campaign is just the ticket. Randroids, Teabggers, Republicans – these are the target demographic.

See Colorado Springs – Experience the objectivist lifestyle.

Visit Colorado Springs – a Republican utopia.

Rocky Mountain Somalia – well maybe not that one

you know what? i think this is a good thing, over all. bad for colorado springs, obviously, but they elected their officials. people tend to not realize what their taxes pay for. so i say, hey, cover the hell out of this. let everyone see what happens. hopefully, people will actually pay attention.

When the place deteriorates into something like the Detroit that was the butt of the running gag in Kentucky Fried Movie, the finger pointing at Obama will be spectactular and hilarious. Somehow this will be the fault of federal deficit spending.

“Take him to….Colorado Springs!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

IS that Japanese? This sepia-tone future frightens and confuses me.

That is indeed Japanese, from what little I can see. And I have no idea why the sepia.

Pryme has a great point, though – one group who’ll make scads off this whole thing will be makers of disaster or apocalypse movies. Just have proper bodyguards for the actors and you’re good to go – no more bothering with elaborate post-holocaust sets!

Perhaps he should be strapped down in a chair and FORCED to watch

hell, he oughta be forced to LIVE there.

I went to the AFA there back in the mid seventies. It was a great town with mass transit and nice parks with drug dealers. Then the Fundies moved in.

I hate Fundies. They just fuck things up for everybody whenever they get any power.

While I doubt it will be the doomsday scenario everyone is joking about, I bet one thing that will happen is the public school system will be scraping the bottom of the barrel. Like Hawaii, most of which is already on a four day a week schedule. Teacher’s having to buy their own school supplies for the kids. Paying for after hours activities, because Lord knows, you just CAN’T do without football and basketball for kids. Getting rid of soccer is O.K., because everyone one knows that soccer is a poofy sport anyway. Will they have the money for snow removal from the streets when it snows? Tourist dollars aren’t going to make up the shortfall, that’s obvious. And tourists might not be so inclined to visit, given that the number of parks that Colo. Spgs has/had was one of the bigger attractions.

It’s depressing….

In five years, I’m gonna be able to sell them a monorail.

Come to Colorado Springs! We still have the Olympic Training Center–for now. In any event, the meth labs are here to stay.

I think it’s awesome. These assclowns are so ideological that they’d rather lose thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in their housing value than raise their $78 per $100K property tax. Incredible.

This won’t last long. When the garbage isn’t being picked up regularly, when a house fire spreads to neighbor houses because only 2 firefighters show up and don’t have the equipment to contain it, when the thieves and goons own the night, this will turn around in a big hurry. It will only take one high-profile murder of a pretty white girl to get the unwanted attention that will prompt action by the sane segment of the population.

Isn’t Ft. Carson, the US Army base, still there as well?
CS has gone through wild growth since I went to school there, doubling its population and sending the sprawl up the Front Range to Denver (think LA, with the mountains to the west).
There was a fair bit of high tech and mil-tech there, but I guess that has down-sized a fair bit. But the town bears watching, it’s nearly a half million people and if it degenerates into a shithole it might be instructive to the petards.

A guy can dream can’t he?

While I doubt it will be the doomsday scenario everyone is joking about, I bet one thing that will happen is the public school system will be scraping the bottom of the barrel.

“Will happen”? I bet junior’s lunch money that when homeschooling fascists are resorting to gutting their beloved police department, school funding has long since been drained.

As for scam artists, pyromaniacs, child molesters, gang recruiters, common burglars and muggers of all sorts, sexual predators, redneck homophobes, rapists, home invaders, carjackers, jaywalkers, embezzlers, rogues, blackguards, thieves, and that kinda there.

AND METHODISTS!

I very much enjoyed hiking around the Garden of the Gods when I was out that way last year. It’s a great pity that the residents there (excepting those I know, of course) are a pack of short-sighted morons.

CO Springs is a gorgeous place to visit… and find yourself raept, beaten, left for dead and then miraculously found by that pack of wild dogs which nurses you back to health just to eat your liver and howl at the moon (which they can see without the street lights).

Then again, maybe this is all feature and no bug to the faithful. It’ll chase anybody remotely sane out of town and the fundies can have complete control of a sizable enclave. Woo hoo!

Yeah, Ft. Carson is there, although that’s a bit south of the city.

I just was very depressed about how militaristic Christianism had taken over the Air Force Academy, and how the officers were involved or else turning a blind eye. Also, wasn’t there a female cadet raped there a number of years ago, and it was brushed under the rug?

Still, the Garden of the Gods is really nice. Don’t bother with the Cave of the Winds, tho.

Wow, it really went down the tubes since Michelle Malkin moved there. And she claims she went there to get away from the “cesspool” of Washington, DC.

I went to the AFA there back in the mid seventies. It was a great town with mass transit and nice parks with drug dealers.

Perhaps some of the people in the parks were students at the school I went to there in the mid-seventies. Then again, maybe not. They did most of their business on campus.

This will never work. Any sign of trouble is a sure pointer that “goverment can’t do anything right”, and if everything was privatized it would all be roses and sunshine.

I have hope that people see the downsides of such behaviour and the necessity of taxes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes to “it’s good thing we don’t pay taxes, nothing works here.”

This is why we can’t have nice things.

American Police Force, stand read for deployment to Colorado!

ready

it really went down the tubes since Michelle Malkin moved there

Malkin is the leader of the pack of wild dogs that stryx and I are talking about. She’s the biggest bitch in the pack! Zing! *rimshot*

I have hope that people see the downsides of such behaviour and the necessity of taxes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes to “it’s good thing we don’t pay taxes, nothing works here.”

Gah. That really could be the outcome.

*sigh*

I didn’t realize that Michelle Malkin lived there. Wow, now I am even more depressed. She started her career here in the Seattle area, writing a column for either the Seattle Times or the Seattle P-I, can’t rembmer which. Glad she left. Much too a progressive place for her, I imagine.

Is it time for John Carpenter to start scripting Escape From Colorado Springs?

NORAD, Air Force Academy, Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base, Schriever Air Force Base, plus the Olympic Training Center and churchy groups like International Bible Society and Focus on the Family… It looks like it takes a lot of government money and charitable contributions to keep that area running and the people there employed. Galt’s Gulch it ain’t.

I try to be sympathetic and objective and understand their thinking. I read the comments to the Denver Post article. One guy sums it up by complaining that the local government buys products and services for two or three times what he, as a vendor, bid. He charges corruption and insider dealings. Therefore government should be throttled to death, essentially.
Fine. By all means, if government is corrupt, ineffective, and unresponsive, it needs to be changed. But maybe there are other things that could be done? Like teaching your kids some fucking ethics, encouraging them to vote and run for office, and installing a government that they run in an efficient, ethical way?
But that kind of thinking is what makes me a delusional loony lib I guess.

I guess it’s ok if someone still delivers pizza to their gated community.

Only one I know that will still deliver there is Uncle Enzo’s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_crash

justme said,
February 4, 2010 at 19:53

I think it’s awesome. These assclowns are so ideological that they’d rather lose thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in their housing value than raise their $78 per $100K property tax. Incredible.

I heard it was $78 per $200K. Either way it’s absolutely ridiculous that these idiots are against just increasing their already paltry property tax by another $78, which is all that was needed to fix their current problems!

veieled reference?

As for scam artists, pyromaniacs, child molesters, gang recruiters, common burglars and muggers of all sorts, sexual predators, redneck homophobes, rapists, home invaders, carjackers, jaywalkers, embezzlers, rogues, blackguards, thieves, and that kinda there.

You left out massage parlor operators.

d’oh!

I always find it amazing when the CAUSE -> EFFECT argument, when made by conservatives, gets turned all around. “See, this PROVES that government can’t do anything right!” Yeah, that’s sort of like taking off all the tires from your car and then complaining that cars NEVER run. If I were going to be picking a dentist to go to for a toothache, for example, I doubt I would pick one who has a fundamental objection to teeth and thinks that everyone should just have gums. Or some other silly analogy like that. Of course, government run by people who don’t believe that government should exist isn’t going to work! That’s what’s known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What morons.

“Fine. By all means, if government is corrupt, ineffective, and unresponsive, it needs to be changed. But maybe there are other things that could be done? Like teaching your kids some fucking ethics, encouraging them to vote and run for office, and installing a government that they run in an efficient, ethical way?
But that kind of thinking is what makes me a delusional loony lib I guess.”

Here’s another idea; never elect someone for office who’s staked his entire career on the notion that government is always ineffective. (Big government types aren’t always efficient either, but electing small government types is a foolproof guarantee that your government will never get anything done or even try).

You don’t build good governments out of people with a personal stake in making them fail, any more than you could build a decent Yankees team out of Red Sox fans.

Perhaps [Norquist] should be strapped down in a chair and FORCED to watch

Only if his arms are strapped down so he can’t fap to the images. ‘Cause you know this’d give him wood.

“That’s what’s known as a self-fulfilling prophecy”

Exactly. The most painfully unfortunate reality, however, is that the people who favor this sort of thing are too stupid to realize that the lack of government services is what caused the decline. They’ll continue to fabricate boogeymen–corrupt politicians, Californians, liberals, homosexuals, immigrants, and overbearing government for their woes. Adversity that results from their own stupidity is always blamed on someone else.

I fail to understand why these people don’t understand that living together in a city, county, state and country is a bit like a group of people living in the house. Everyone pays for the electricity, water and cable, and everyone gets to use it.

The numerous (and appropriate) references to the greatest movie ever made are completely appropriate, but to really have fun with this (yes, it is a cheap holiday in other people’s misery, what else is new), we need to cross-pollinate it with this cinematic masterpiece. We drop two glibertarians each week–Glenn Reynolds and Megan McArdle, to start–in the middle of the city and they have to make their way out. Each of them has a rugged, wireless-enabled video camera and one other thing emblematic of their fearless approach to life (in Glenn’s case, a copy of Wired magazine; in Megan’s, pink salt). Similarities to the ensuing, increasingly-frantic videos to The Blair Witch Project and 2000 Maniacs assumed in advance.

I fail to understand why these people don’t understand that living together in a city, county, state and country is a bit like a group of people living in the house. Everyone pays for the electricity, water and cable, and everyone gets to use it.

I suspect they all cheat at SimCity.

Also, LOLPryme.

Only one I know that will still deliver there is Uncle Enzo’s

There in 30 minutes or less or Uncle Enzo comes and personally apologizes.

Yeah, C. Springs, burbclave, pretty much.

GDBatman. Huh. Not only was “Escape From New York” NOT the best film ever made, it wasn’t even the best movie John Carpenter ever made.

Of course I am speaking of this. Sorry, don’t know how to embed hyperlinks.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090728/

Not only was “Escape From New York” NOT the best film ever made, it wasn’t even the best movie John Carpenter ever made.

Fuckin’ A.

Pinstripe lawyer: What I’d like to do today is get your version of what happened.
Egg Shen: Oh, you mean the truth.

Just woke up. That whole Twitter-shit-storm last night. Did I dream it?

From a review at IMDB:

Big Trouble in Little China is one of the few films that generally impressed me and didn’t give off a “fake” feeling like a lot of movies that are coming out today. I grew up watching this movie almost every day, and I continue to do so now.

Just glanced over MegMac’s snippish post, and it’s the bog-standard glibertarian reply when someone calls them on their bullshit: of course they’re not advocating Snow Crash, that would be silly, followed by a terse laundry list of stuff that they’d probably keep around because they or someone they care about (not usually a very long list) could use it. And thus do we come to the central glibertarian fallacy: the idea that an entire governmental infrastructure should be precisely structured and funded to suit them.

Sorry, Meggers. Still ironing out the details of the show (armor for the producers’ Blackhawks, for instance), but if I were you I’d keep a nice pair of running shoes near you at all times.

Perhaps [Norquist] should be strapped down in a chair and FORCED to watch

Only if his arms are strapped down so he can’t fap to the images. ‘Cause you know this’d give him wood.

GO TO HELL, YOU BASTARD.

zeppo said,
Don’t bother with the Cave of the Winds, tho.

Veiled Meggers vah-jay-jay reference?

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

any bets on how many folks are going to jump right in and volunteer?

“Okay. You people sit tight, hold the fort and keep the home fires burning. And if we’re not back by dawn… call the president.”

Hey, I like Big Trouble In Little China just fine, and most of the people that I hang out with have practically memorized the thing, but it’s just a little too coy, IMNSGDHO, to make it the equal of Escape from New York, which requires an absolutely breathtaking suspension of disbelief.

Tell me, Mr. GBWRWJCWMTJSB, why did everyone think that Snake Pliskin was dead?

Repeated line: “Snake Pliskin! I thought you were dead!”

I was always rather confused on this point.

Can we just talk about Snow Crash all day, cause that would make me feel all dreamy.

Escape from New York, which requires an absolutely breathtaking suspension of disbelief.

One would think that the Goddamn Batman would be more sympathetic to the plight of those trapped in Manhattan in Escape from New York seeing as how the same thing happened to Gotham City with the No Mans’ Land laws.

One would think, but I don’t, because I try not to publicly criticize overmuscled sociopaths who have a direct line to the cops.

As for scam artists, pyromaniacs, child molesters, gang recruiters, common burglars and muggers of all sorts, sexual predators, redneck homophobes, rapists, home invaders, carjackers, jaywalkers, embezzlers, rogues, blackguards, thieves, and that kinda there.

Not to mention rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shiat-kickers and Methodists!

Further evidence of our allegations:

Jack Burton: When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol’ Jack Burton always says at a time like that: “Have ya paid your dues, Jack?” “Yessir, the check is in the mail.”

——————————————————————————–
Wang Chi: Jack, listen, I need more of your help. I can’t pay you today, okay?
Jack Burton: Oh, shit.
Wang Chi: How can I? I need all my cash for Miao Yin.
Eddie: And it’s gonna cost. She’s got green eyes.
Gracie: Oh no, seriously? Oh, that’s an extra to these people. It’s like leather bucket seats, it’s double the price.

“Not to mention rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shiat-kickers and Methodists!”

I was waiting for that one.

Godmabnit, Ken got to the Blazing Saddles script first.

Why don’t they just call it Deadwood?

Why don’t they just call it Deadwood?

Copyright infringement. I blame Disney.

why did everyone think that Snake Pliskin was dead?

Dunno if this is canon, but I think that it had something to do with what happened in Kansas City with Fresno Bob when Brain ran out on them.

“Snake Pliskin! I thought you were dead!”

He got better.

So the next mayoral election in Co-Springs (not to be confused with Cobag Colorado) can we enlist Tina Turner to run as Auntie Entity?

I worry not so much of the rustlers, etc. but the Methodists?! Those fuckers are scary.

I guess they are taking J. K. Galbraith’s phrase and deducing that if they create the public squalor then the private affluence will follow automatically.

Good luck drawing people to a city that is totally dark at night,

If they still had law enforcement, they could’ve promoted themselves as a great place for amateur astronomy (if the geography suited). No light pollution!

The Goddamn Batman Would Rather Watch John Carpenter’s Worst Movie Than Joel Schumacher’s Best

So… Prince Of Darkness, then?

There’s an improvised dump in the meadow
There’s an improvised dump in the meadow
The trash is as high as an elephant’s eye
And it looks like it’s climbing right up to the sky

Can we just talk about Snow Crash all day, cause that would make me feel all dreamy.

If you’d rather.

I’m just kind of a rabid fanboy about Big Trouble, is all.

[C]an we enlist Tina Turner to run as Auntie Entity?”

I’d like to see James Dobson in that role — face flushed as he screams “Master Blaster runs Bartertown!”

I’d like to see James Dobson in that role — face flushed as he screams “Master Blaster runs Bartertown!”

Running the city, of course, on wiener dog poop.

face flushed as he screams “Master Blaster runs Bartertown!”

Rahm Emanuel is pretty short…

And what the hell is Gracy Law doing here!?

Pere: I’m with you. I get a kick out of BTILC whenever I pull it out. I love the snappy editing. Prince of Darkness is pretty dang neat, as well. I love the atmosphere, even though the ending is pretty lame. I wrote a review of this one for Halloween last year, but won’t post a link. Don’t want anyone to think that I am a BW.

Palin seems to be right out of central casting.

I seem to be able to manage to turn every discussion at S/N! into something about movies, if I hang with it long enough.

Or penises. Penii? One of them.

You know, if Lo Pan wanted to sacrifice, oh, say, Ms. Palin to gain his body back, well, not as if I’m encouraging evil supernatural overlords or anything but…

Uche speaks!

BREAKING:

Right winger gets hit by car, blames Obama

Shorter McArgleBargle: I’m for government! I just don’t want to pay for it.

I would pay a great deal to see Meggers and Mangalangadingdong in a Thunderdome match. I strongly encourage CS to go balls to the wall for this. The elected government should just abdicate, and save all those poor taxpayers money.

“BREAKING:

Right winger gets hit by car, blames Obama”

THAT is fucking funny.

Here’s something a bit more topical. It seems that the courts here in King County (Wash. state, where Seattle is) have ruled that Washington state isn’t providing adequate funding for public schools. Someone actually sued and won! That’s interesting. Still, there’s a small matter of where the money might come from.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010981329_webschoollawsuit05m.html

All who will be killed in the forthcoming string of meth lab explosions in Colorado Springs were made better for having watched Tim Tebow.

I’m raising funds to upgrade our city’s electrical grid. Care to buy a cupcake?

Tell me, Mr. GBWRWJCWMTJSB, why did everyone think that Snake Pliskin was dead?

Repeated line: “Snake Pliskin! I thought you were dead!”

I was always rather confused on this point.

Having heard that many times myself, I think it’s a statement on lifestyle choice.

I hear Bernie Madoff will be named special fund raiser for the city of CS

One last thing: I’m told by multiple people that the SUV that hit me was Secret Service. If this is true, I want to know why that happened. I was crossing legally, and they just left me there. At the very least, I want an apology. What happened to me was wrong.

ZOMG OBAMA KILLS SLIGHTLY INCONVENIENCES NEW REPORTER!! TEH NEW VINCE FOSTER11!!

UPDATE 2:05pm:
The Daily Caller has been told by federal law enforcement sources that the Secret Service was not involved, and is working to confirm that driver of the vehicle which struck Jim Treacher was a State Department security employee.

oops, never mind…

on the plus side, leather and crossbow futures are WAY up.

I’d like to see James Dobson in that role — face flushed as he screams “Master Blaster runs Bartertown!”

Thanks, now I’m picturing James Dobson in a blonde wig and a low-cut, slit-leg chainmail gown.

“That is indeed Japanese, from what little I can see.”

It’s Ameyoko, a street market in Ueno, Tokyo. It was in slightly better shape when I was there.

I heard it was $78 per $200K. Either way it’s absolutely ridiculous that these idiots are against just increasing their already paltry property tax by another $78, which is all that was needed to fix their current problems!

Particularly because in large part the reason they’re in this mess to begin with is that their sales tax revenues have tanked with the economy. I’m guessing that the tourism trade was more than a little effect on that. Yup, clearly the answer is to kill off the parks and other attractions and fire the cops. That’ll bring back those tourist dollars.

The fact that they could do it temporarily, and just vote it back to where it was once the sales tax revenues come back doesn’t even seem to exist to these people. Let ’em fucking wallow in it. I can hear the cries now, “I’M THE DUKE OF COLORADO SPRINGS! I’M A#1!

leather and crossbow

Interest.

Newsletter? Website?

on the plus side, leather and crossbow futures are WAY up.

Not to mention swinging chains, crowbars and bandanas.

Right winger gets hit by car, blames Obama

Obama never should have removed the wooden stake from Robert Novak’s chest.

We don’t need another tax hike!

As others have pointed out, good luck trying to sell your home in CS a few years down the road when its surounded by overgrown brownfields, piles of trash, crumbling asphalt and sidewalks, grafitti gang tags, and packs of wild dogs (because nobody bothered to pay from parks, sanitation, road repairs, grafiiti removal, or animal control). I’m betting the decline in sale value will be slightly more than the $78 that avoiding this would have cost you.

You’d think that property owners who are invested in maintaining a basic level of civic services (not because of communitarian concerns, but simple self interest) could do the cost/benefit analysis and see what $78 would get them. But Republicans keep finding new ways to surprise.

I’m also thinking this will be a feedback spiral – as the town gets more unlivable, people will move away and businesses will relocate and the population will drop and the tax base will erode further and services will get cut some more and on and on. It’s sad but understandable when it happens to someplace like Detroit – deindustrialization and racial conflict are hard to deal with – but to see it play out because some people didn’t want to add $100 to their property tax bills? Amazing.

Perhaps some of you would like to take up a collection to continue paying for these services in CS.

Scroll up, Smedley. Someone’s already getting a bake sale together.

What happens next?

My guess is nothing at all … for a while. People just stay home a lot more, which hurts the local economy, but not much seems to change otherwise. Taxophobes do a happy-dance, stick their tongues out & go “MAD MAX LOL” … until the fires start … not to mention the rapes, murders & home-invasions. Then, not so much.

I’m thinking the optics of a UN humanitarian mission to Colorado – complete with refugees – might not be the best thing that ever happened to conservatism.

Michelle Malkin already lives there

Bwahahahahahahahaaaaah!

Brad, I’m pleased to see you read my blog 🙂

COUGH.

Surely having a huge, economically distressed, essentially 3rd world city just a few miles from two of our country’s most important military bases and the Olympic Training Center isn’t, like, a security issue (seriously, think about it, if the OTC got bombed — just down the road from what’s supposed to be the most secure military base on earth, it would be like 9-11 times the Challenger disaster). So yay freedom!

CS has been completely insane since time immemorial. If you had asked me 25 years ago what city in the US this would be most likely to happen to, CS woulda been my first and only guess.

Remember after Reagan died and some conservatives decided they needed to get everything possible named after the guy? CS was one of the few places where that got any traction; too bad they weren’t able to change the name of the town to Reaganville.

COUGH

I didn’t say it was original with me. 😉

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces,

Isn’t that…communism?

No, I think it’s anarchism. Much cooler.

Although I’m not a total Randroid, I feel qualified to answer the side comment in which they were mentioned. The way things are done right now is so far away from the objectivist idea of utopia that it’s not fair to point at this one example as either a failure of the ideals, or a realization of them. If anything it shows more of the failings of our current system than one which hasn’t yet been realized.

Shorter McArdle: I think some things are public goods; I just don’t agree with you on what they are.

Gosh. You mean people don’t automatically agree on what is important? Like, people sometimes have different priorities?

[Hits bong]

Hey, dude! You know what would be awesome? We could, like count up all the people in favour of making something a public good. And if, like, more than half of them agreed, we could, like do it, and like, fund it with taxes.

[Hits bong]

Wow, dude. I have the craziest ideas when I’m stoned.

If anything it shows more of the failings of our current system than one which hasn’t yet been realized.

Um, Tony, since you were polite, I’ll be polite back.

We tried the proto-Randian thing for 150 years in this country.

It doesn’t work. That’s why we went with government intervention. Now, if that vision hasn’t been realized, then maybe it’s because reactionary assholes who believe history started twenty minutes before they were born are standing in the way of progress.

If only they actually taught history in school, the country would be a better place to live.

I’m working my way through Bioshock right now. I’ll pretend I’m playing in Colorado Springs instead.

For “honky dory” I get nothing?

Bastards.

@actor212:

The U.S. at its founding was a great experiment in capitalism, but even in your reply you refer to the first 150 years as a “PROTO-Randian thing” (emphasis mine).

The government has always taken an active, authoritative role in the marketplace. Well within the 150-year period you mentioned, the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed. How can you see that as a lassez-faire policy in the marketplace?

My position is also that a sense of freedom and self-determination is maintained as a multi-legged stool. Forcing control over one aspect of lives seems to inevitably lead to a “pendulum swing” in which while one party tries to exert authority over one aspect of life, the other party is trying just as hard to control another. Nobody wins.

Since its founding, this country’s rulers have insisted upon economic, moral, and social control well in excess of what, IMHO, is proper. It grows in different degrees at different times. It may be true that economic intervention by government was not nearly as pervasive at the time, but the government’s supposed rights to control areas of its citizens’ lives has historically only expanded in all of these areas.

Remember, too, that this country has endorsed slavery as well as genetic, gender, and racial discrimination; not much of this started after 1926.

I’m betting the decline in sale value will be slightly more than the $78 that avoiding this would have cost you.

but why pay that when the solution is to hire seasonal hotel staff to run the city?

The U.S. at its founding was a great experiment in capitalism, but even in your reply you refer to the first 150 years as a “PROTO-Randian thing”

Well, if Rand had been 150 years older, I would have called it a Randian thing.

Nonetheless. Doesn’t change the fact it was an abysmal failure. People starved in America. Old people died in the streets of our cities. Fire departments refused to cross a street to fight fires because it wasn’t their territory. Hospitals could refuse to treat anyone, no matter how sick or, worse, infectious.

Police regularly ignored crimes because the pay wasn’t good enough to risk their lives over and they didn’t have disability pensions and sick pay.

I’m pleased Colorado Springs has volunteered to remind America of those days.

For “honky dory” I get nothing?

I couldn’t find you to congratulate you, you were hiding in the basement!

Let’s see… People starving in America? Old people dying on the street? Bureaucracy preventing our “essential services” from being there for us when we need them? So far, check.

Many people still don’t have decent access to healthcare, not because hospitals can still turn people away, but because of the mounting cost of healthcare. This is due in part to the heavy regulation which the government imposes, which also serves to deny many people from what may be life-saving treatments.

I’ve also heard, although I cannot state this as fact, that some police departments have a policy that they do not have a responsibility to protect individual citizens’ lives. They will do so, as long as it does not put officers’ lives in danger.

An experiment that runs for 150 years is admirable. In that context, the reasonable alternative you provide (aka our current system) has lasted far less time, and the damage seems to be about equal.

“Bureaucracy”?

LOL!

No, Tony. Just the opposite.

And the fact that HMOs spend 20% of their revenues on administration costs, while Medicare and Medicaid can do it on 3 cents on the dollar…right, it’s the government creating higher healthcare costs…

*snark*

Go study some economics. Or history. Or both, even better!

Oh, dear. Did I actually suggest that firefighters refusing to stray out of their territory in the name of public safety might be hiding behind bureaucracy? What would you call it?

Furthermore, I find it unusual that anyone can look at the situation in Colorado Springs and cry “This is what the Objectivists and libertarians want!”. This is akin to seeing the slaughter of gays and claiming it’s what the Republicans want. It’s also just as crass in its oversimplification as calling Democrats “Communists”.

Certainly the entire country didn’t look for a century like I fear that Colorado Springs soon will. It was mostly a time of prosperity. Even then, I doubt it was anything like “what the Randroids want”, whatever your idea of that may be.

HMOs spend a great deal of administrative overhead doing what? Complying with government regulations and reporting requirements is certainly a large component of those costs. Believe me, I know from whence I speak.

Medicare and Medicaid can also refuse to cover a wider arrangement of services than private insurance and still remain in business. They can also set the rates for those services – insurance companies can do this as well, but only by limiting their providers’ options and throwing their weight around. The government needs no weight other than that of law.

What would you call it?

Competition.

You know, “you work your side of the street, I’ll work mine”

Government had nothing to do with it.

Um, you HAVE read a LITTLE history, right?

This is akin to seeing the slaughter of gays and claiming it’s what the Republicans want.

Oh, you mean like Pat Robertson?

Yea, you’re right. Colorado Springs deserves the Randian nightmare it’s about to open up on itself.

Nobody cares what you think, Randroid.

Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more. Heh. Indeed. Hmm. Ouch. Read the whole thing. Megan McArdle has more.

*snerk*

Did I actually suggest that firefighters refusing to stray out of their territory in the name of public safety might be hiding behind bureaucracy?

Got an example for that, sunshine? Gosh, I remember how the iron heel of gummint bureaucracy kept firefighters from responding from all over NYC on 9/11. Shame about that.

Furthermore, I find it unusual that anyone can look at the situation in Colorado Springs and cry “This is what the Objectivists and libertarians want!”. This is akin to seeing the slaughter of gays and claiming it’s what the Republicans want.

No, they just want the fagnits to die. Passive vs. active.

Why ISN’T it what you want, anyway? No “government interference”. Perfect equality in the free-market agora. Mutual interaction of individuals unencumbered by authoritarian Statist structures.

It’s also just as crass in its oversimplification as calling Democrats “Communists”.

Doesn’t stop a whole lot of folks on your side from doing it, bucko.

So you’re saying that the firefighters you mention didn’t work for a local government at the time, but were unwilling to fight fires outside of a defined area because they weren’t being paid for it?

I seem to recall hearing somewhere that volunteer fire departments and ad-hoc volunteers were often available, and sometimes the only option, to fighting fires. Where were these mercenary firefighters? However, I concede that I haven’t done a complete study into the practice of firefighting and its history. I’m completely willing to concede where I don’t have all the facts.

Certainly it shouldn’t be necessary to make repeated assumptions and rude comments about my education in a public forum like this in order to prove your point. IMHO It seems to reveal more about your nature than mine.

If you have some historical fact which I haven’t revealed knowledge of at this time, and if the revelation of this fact should cause me some kind of embarrassment, then please by all means point out exactly what you’re referring to.

NOBODY CARES

I call troll.

@Pere Ubu:

Name calling. “sunshine”?!? “fagnits”?!? You come up with that yourself? I am duly chagrined.

My side is my own, and I cannot take responsibility for those who have offered similar opinions. I’ve not subscribed 100% to anyone else’s agenda that I’ve encountered. I just want the government to die (well, “shrink drastically” is more like it). Passive vs. active as you put it.

I don’t think I should need to explain this, but raising countless generations to believe that they are entitled to basic services without any action on their part, and then ripping those services away practically overnight, is NOT what I prefer to happen.

Shorter Tony:

I seem to recall hearing something that confirmed my Randian selfishness from Rush, and as we all know, he is the greatest and most honest historian in the history of the world.

Shorter Tony #2:

We can’t trust government, but as we all know, corporations are always honest and never try to cheat us.

Shorter Tony #3:

I hate government services except for the ones that I use. Those, and only those, are valuable.

…..

Try a shorter Tony yourself! Really, it’s as easy as shooting Randroids in a barrel.

raising countless generations to believe that they are entitled to basic services without any action on their part

Is this where we break out with the “poor people=stray animals” routine?

So if government “dies”, what replaces it? Have you thought this out AT ALL?

However the United States did not have government-run fire departments until around the time of the American Civil War. Prior to this time, private fire brigades compete with one another to be the first to respond to a fire because insurance companies paid brigades to save buildings.

Wikipedia. I am sure you can find other citations, should you be interested.

Left unstated is the flip side of that coin; if the insurance company did not insure the building, I am sure they did not send their fire fighters to put it out.

Also left unstated is the clear implication that post Civil war, government run fire brigades became the norm, perhaps because of the shortcomings of the for-profit system?

I seem to recall hearing somewhere that volunteer fire departments and ad-hoc volunteers were often available, and sometimes the only option, to fighting fires.

yeah. in small municipalities where they can’t afford a full time force, but could buy a fire truck. So if they can’t afford firefighters, how are they supposed to pay for a firefighting service? Taxes?

Shorter Tony #1:

I don’t like Rush. Very constructive and imaginative comment, though. Kudos!

Shorter Tony #2:

We can’t blindly trust government, or corporations, or individuals. It’s up to YOU to do the heavy lifting of protecting yourself against whatever worries you most. You may wish the police to do so on your behalf if that you’ve been victimized through coercion or force.

Grouping (marketplace vs. corporation, society vs. individual) is what regulates our behavior. Whether you’re studying Darwin, statistics, sociology, or the behavior of atoms, it is interactions on a large scale that most define the behavior of an individual component. Society, not government, is what brought us together and what most encourages us to act in step with and in assistance to each other.

Shorter Tony #3:

Due to the lack of alternatives under the current system, I do use a lot of government services as we all do. I don’t consider any of them valuable except for police protection against violent crimes and the military. These are cases in which the function of government, which can only work by the threat of force, is morally justified in my opinion. Call that out as hypocrisy if you like, but I’ve never suggested anything otherwise. It certainly is a nuanced point that doesn’t translate well when trying to make my points into some kind of twisted Twitter comment.

Shorter Tony:

roads DO build themselves.

Due to the lack of alternatives under the current system, I do use a lot of government services as we all do. I don’t consider any of them valuable except for police protection against violent crimes and the military. These are cases in which the function of government, which can only work by the threat of force, is morally justified in my opinion.

Shorter Tony: “Due to the lack of ability for me to oppress people personally, I’m perfectly willing to allow the government to act as my proxy in arresting scary minorities and blowing shit up.”

Again – what’s your alternative? Babble about “grouping” all you want (and quite frankly it smells to me more than a little of seperatism), but who’s going to take out the garbage in Libertopia? Who’s going to make sure food isn’t rotten? Who’s going to keep diseases from spreading? Who’s going to respond to disasters?

Let me see if I’ve got you right:

The failings of military and police systems won’t be instantly made perfect under libertarian-style government. Therefore, libertarians are flawed in their thinking. OTOH, firefighters and garbage collectors are always capable, right-minded, and perfect in their execution, so they’re essential. The libs don’t want them, so again they’re flawed.

Looking at how an individual might behave in a society rather than a vacuum smacks of separatism. I apparently was talking about multiple groups divided on some line or another, when all this time I thought I was talking about looking at the aggregate and its influence on the individual.

That about it, Pere?

As far as who is going to take out the garbage, surely you who want to have the privilege of being taxed don’t mind paying for it now. Imagine where that money could go. Heck, if I wanted people to collect my garbage in mascot costumes, I could hire someone to do so. It’s my choice.

Who is going to make sure the food isn’t rotten? How about restaurants, and grocery stores, and individuals – if they care to stay in business or alive. They do most of that work themselves anyway. Would you hire the USDA to inspect your food for you given the choice? I’m sure a similar service would crop up to take care of you on your behalf. However, have you looked at the extent and number of food recalls over the last few years? If they were asleep at the switch, I imagine I’d be taking my money elsewhere. Maybe I can buy some privately-inspected beef on the black market. I’m sure that I could probably keep from getting caught and going to jail over it.

Welcome to Fantasy Island.

However, have you looked at the extent and number of food recalls over the last few years?

which is, of course, TOTALLY UNRELATED to the cuts in budgets for the USDA and the reduction in inspection headcounts.

Which is OF COURSE, also totally unrelated to the political donations being made by Agribusiness corporations.

AND IF ONLY we could finally eliminate all inspections and oversight, then these corporations would NEVER EVER EVER consider using influence and money to improve their bottom line by using substandard processes and ingredients.

“Here’s some beef. Of course it’s been inspected, Joe’s inspection over there gives it the stamp of approval. and if you die from it, well, we’ll feel real bad and probably even turn ourselves in”.

Sounds lovely. I think I’ll pass. Should work out for YOU though.

The failings of military and police systems won’t be instantly made perfect under libertarian-style government.

WON’T EVER be made better. Blackwater is working out so well for a private security contractor, isn’t it?

He’s got the oil on his chain, for a ride in the rain
No baloney
Ride around on my bicycle like a pony
I’m waving hi, hi, hi, hi, hi
Gu-gu-gu-Gimme a scream
Give me, give me the theme
Of Tony

To-ny, To-ny, To-ny, To-ny, To-ny

I am Tony, super bicycle Tony, I’m racing
Spitfire turn and pop a wheelie, burn and evil chasing
I’m waving bye, bye, bye, bye, bye
I got a card in my spokes
I’m practicing my joke, I’m learning

To-ny, To-ny, To-ny, To-ny, To-ny

This is a song about a superhero named Tony
It’s called Tony’s Theme

I can look at the sun if you give me some bad sun glasses
I’m back on the road, I cut my grass like I’m told
AFTER CLASSES!

Who is going to make sure the food isn’t rotten? How about restaurants, and grocery stores, and individuals

More Shorter Tony:

Salmonella is visible to the naked eye, isn’t it?

You know, for all you libertarian tools/trolls out there, I’m pretty sure you could take your vast wealth and go buy a nice big chunk of land somewhere (Wyoming? Idaho? Either of those would be well suited.) with no roads or other services feeding it, then build your perfect society. Certainly you can’t start someplace that already has any existing infrastructure, because then you wouldn’t be pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. We’ll go ahead and just grant you the whole “defended by the military thing” we all get as a head start, since that’s all you really seem to care about, but everything else you need to start from scratch for.

After that is the huge success you know it will be, then you can come back here and tell us how swell your perfect libertarian paradise is. Until then, we’ll keep enjoying our public spaces, parks, clean water, roads, buildings that don’t fall down, food that generally doesn’t kill us, safe medicines, libraries etc.

Be sure to let us know how it works out.

I keep hearing a common thread in all the arguments, starting with the parent post.

That is, that the “Randroids” want to eliminate all these services, and replace them with NOTHING! It would be mass hysteria! These people must be INSANE!

There are a lot of people out there that make their living by forming opinions and having other people listen to them. Some of those opinions are well-informed under rigorous testing conditions, and some of them are just opinions. Right now those people are called politicians and lawmakers, and most of the opinions seem to be pretty poorly informed ones. Oh, and EVERYONE TOGETHER gets to choose ONE of these people. Every so often. Once the choice is made, very little recourse exists other than following that person under threat of punishment.

For contrast: Look at Consumer Reports, or Underwriter’s Laboratories, or the “Good Housekeeping Seal” that you used to see a lot of in the fifties. You don’t think this could happen on a grander scale as an intended consequence of giving people a choice? Especially in a web-enabled world where people can publish or share their opinions on a volunteer basis. Those who practice shady business could be more easily exposed if it wasn’t for the fact that the only yardstick we have right now is a feet-thick book of regulations with which they must comply. Meet the regulations? You’re safe, no matter how badly you screw everyone else. Oh, unless you end up on 60 Minutes or 20/20 which you can add up there with UL.

I believe that workarounds like this would crop up if the government were to ever slowly step out of the parenting business. If they do, you can opt out or decide to whom YOU would rather listen at any time, based upon the perceived validity of their opinions. Ignore subject matter experts who make a living trying to give you a valuable service, and take your own opinion instead, but you have the option and you do so at your own peril.

@Oregon Beer Snob:

Your proposal, according to actor212, has already been tried:

“We tried the proto-Randian thing for 150 years in this country.”

I guess you’re right, since this country turned out to be such an underachieving slum. It’s just pure blind luck that we ended up on the top of the world stage like we did.

How could I have been so wrong?

Who is going to make sure the food isn’t rotten? How about restaurants, and grocery stores, and individuals – if they care to stay in business or alive

I love libertarians. They think liberals invented regulation out of the blue for no particular reason, and not in response to depictions like this. Reputation has already proved an insufficient incentive for food handlers to stay clean.

Many of the book’s assertions were confirmed in the Neill-Reynolds report, commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906[citation needed]. The President was suspicious of Sinclair’s socialist attitude and conclusions in The Jungle, and so sent labor commissioner Charles P. Neill and social worker James Bronson Reynolds, men whose honesty and reliability he trusted, to Chicago to make surprise visits to meat packing facilities. Despite betrayal of the secret to the meat packers, who worked three shifts a day for three weeks to clean the factories prior to the inspection, Neill and Reynolds were still revolted by the conditions at the factories and at the lack of concern by plant managers.

This story plays out today in China. Evidently China’s galtian supermen aren’t afraid of adding a little poisonous melamine or concocting artificial eggs for export.

BTW Salmonella can be present in the foods you buy from the grocery store. I don’t shop at certain stores because they don’t seem well-kept enough for my taste, and the quality of the meat is part of that. Without the gov’t, I’d be doing a lot more checking. Even then, salmonella can still be present. That’s also why we learn to prepare our food properly.

If you feel that safe food is far too dangerous a job to entrust to ordinary people, then are you suggesting that we should just co-opt all the grocery stores and turn them into government-run food distribution centers instead? Come to think of it, maybe we should help the people by cooking their food for them as well.

Government-run restaurants for all! Get in line at your assigned time slot. Don’t worry, this guy over here will pay for your meal.

“You don’t think this could happen on a grander scale as an intended consequence of giving people a choice?”

No. Before Nader, people had “choices” about the safety of products. And they ended up mangled, poisoned, etc.

You want to say that’s the market working and god bless the invisible handjob, then say it. But quit acting like there isn’t hundreds of years of history that disproves every one of your pie-in-the-sky dreams. The “libertarianism cannot fail, it can only be failed” “argument” has been tiresome and threadbare for at least 3 times as long as you’ve been alive, buddy.

Oh, wait. The internet, especially if we cede control of it to large corporations, will change everything, because there is no misinformation on the internet.

It’s just pure blind luck that we ended up on the top of the world stage like we did.

I put America’s emergence as a superpower at 1945, give or take. That’s after 13 years of FDR’s communist new deal liberalism resulted in America as the world’s most powerful country. In the several decades after that, America only grew in power, prosperity and prestige, all while under the arduous regulation and socialism of things like Social Security and welfare. Then LBJ added medicare and medicaid and still America stayed strong.

Yes, such a failure liberalism is. Widespread prosperity and contentment. Good thing movement conservatives came along to put a stop to that before it really caught on. It took them a couple decades from the dawn of the Reagan era, but they’ve just about done it. One more bubble and collapse should finish the job.

America at the turn of the century was still a place Spain figured it could fuck with. America at the end of WWI was only tolerated at Versailles and Wilson was largely ignored by the European powers. Let’s not pretend the Gilded age was America’s best period.

Tony the malfunctioning Randroid troll said,

Your proposal, according to actor212, has already been tried:

“We tried the proto-Randian thing for 150 years in this country.”

I guess you’re right, since this country turned out to be such an underachieving slum. It’s just pure blind luck that we ended up on the top of the world stage like we did.

How could I have been so wrong?

We instituted the systems that put us on top of the world as a fucking response to the failures of our proto-Randian past. If you can’t learn from the past and insist on trying it again, at least don’t fuck it up for the rest of us. Go build your paradise from scratch somewhere else. Galt Gulch is calling to you, please take your vast intelligence and production capability and go get started right away… I look forward to your prolonged absence, your ideas are neither original nor interesting, and you’re a lame troll too.

POOP! Also. I will now stop feeding it, I promise.

I happen to know a bit about UL certification.

The UL testing agency, (and others) are private corporations, it is true. However, use of their certifications, or certifications of some sort, in my experience is mandated by government regulation.

Without that codified requirements, you better believe nobody would give a shit about using UL certified construction materials and assemblies.

America, and for that fact the developed world, moved away from laissez faire societies BECAUSE of the failures. Large scale sickness, death, disaster, and o yeah, financial ruin due to lack of regulation kind of created a demand for oversight and intervention.

POOP! Also. I will now stop feeding it, I promise.

me too.

it didn’t start out as a troll, or it didn’t seem to…

Or, you know, what The Tragically Flip said much more eloquently.

I’ve been trying to respond to others’ points, but apparently I have to group my responses or time them to get around the comment spam filter here.

@ The Tragically Flip:

Gee, that whole government workers uncovering food safety issues thing sounds a lot like what happened to Food Lion about 14 years ago when they gained national television exposure over their food-handling practices.

During the industrial revolution, conditions got pretty nasty overall. Part of this was due to a heavy class system, and party due to profiteering-at-any-cost. Of course, life has been difficult and dangerous for most of the human era, and its only recently in certain affluent regions of the world that we enjoy the “benefits of modern society” built on the backs of those for whom life is still difficult and dangerous. We didn’t eliminate profiteering, exploitation, OR the class system. We simply moved them to other parts of the world.

on preview: Widespread prosperity and contentment? Is that what we’re seeing in Colorado Springs? My group’s (not that I have one) fault or yours, it happened under the Obama administration. Oh, wait… You mean he inherited this problem and it was too late by the time he took office? Sounds like the same argument that I would make to your statement that we took the world stage after only 13 years of the New Deal. You can’t take responsibility for the good and pawn off the bad. Before the New Deal there was widespread prosperity and contentment. May not have been perfect, but about as arguable as talking about the “prosperity” we see now in the middle of this financial upheaval.

As far as I remember, the eighties under Reagan was not a bad time to live in America. However, don’t make the mistake that Reagan represents any or all of my ideals.

Let me rephrase your second paragraph in context: we chugged along fine for ~170 years. Then the concept of a “superpower”, as you put it, first emerged. We immediately filled a slot. Sounds like things were pretty good before the New Deal, eh? We had a national case of irresponsibility in the face of rapid technical and financial growth, and the New Deal came along and saved everyone. Then, things went fine for a couple more decades and we had to change things even more. Where are we now? How much longer do you want this cycle of tweaks at the expense of lives and livelihoods to go on?

@zombie rotten mcdonald:

Are you saying that in the absence of those regulations that UL would not be able to properly protect the reputation of its service mark?

@ Oregon Beer Snob:

“Tony the malfunctioning Randroid troll”? I refuse to resort to the name calling that I’ve seen from you and the other wonderful people here, so let me just say that your BEHAVIOR is childish.

Are you saying that in the absence of those regulations that UL would not be able to properly protect the reputation of its service mark?

I’m saying that in the absence of any requirement to adhere to the UL certifications, no one will give a shit.

UL is paid by it’s member companies to test their products, in the expectation that the UL certification will meet the code requirements and thus create sales for their products. No code requirements, and the UL participation is pure overhead, which will be converted to executive bonuses. UL can’t protect anything if they don’t get funding from their member companies and organizations. In the absence of meaningful code requirements, the service mark you think is so magical becomes meaningless.

Oh, and we would see a lot more deaths due to building failures. almost instantly.

Imagine a world where there are no regulations: You get up. It’s your one day off from the six 12-hour days your employer demands, so you decide you need to do some grocery shopping. You spend four hours online researching the meat, poultry, dairy and other food products on your shopping list. This is especially difficult because you lost your dominant hand in the auto accident you had in the unsafe car you were riding in, thanks to the defective brakes installed by the repair shop.

You give loyal Fido III (Fidos I and II died thanks to melamine in their dogfood) a good-bye pet and shuffle down the broken sidewalk to the neighborhood grocery store. Well, “grocery store”, since it’s in the open air since the old grocery store’s building collapsed in the last quake. You still miss Paul, your friend who died in the collapse.

Etc. This is your libertarian paradise? Please include me out.

It’s feels good!

Tony the wankstain that would pull himself up by his bootstraps if only he could reach them said:
@ Oregon Beer Snob:

“Tony the malfunctioning Randroid troll”? I refuse to resort to the name calling that I’ve seen from you and the other wonderful people here, so let me just say that your BEHAVIOR is childish.

It’s somewhat interesting how these rugged individuals get the vapors at the first hint of language that offends their delicate sensibilities. I’m sure they’ll do well out in the world on their own, trying to get shit done, everybody’s always so civil everywhere in the real world, dontchaknow. I’m also certain it wasn’t just a lame excuse to ignore the actual post. Ah, trolls, so hard not to feed…

You know what irks me? When the government don’t privatize governmenting, that’s what. AND THE ENGOVERNMENTAL LOBBY IS IN CAHOOTS!

H.L. MCGRAVITAS-PUTTGRASS SIGNING OFF AND HEADING FOR THE TUB!!

privatize governmenting

We can do this!

“Many people still don’t have decent access to healthcare, not because hospitals can still turn people away, but because of the mounting cost of healthcare. This is due in part to the heavy regulation which the government imposes, which also serves to deny many people from what may be life-saving treatments.”

Scuze me, Tony. You, and the rest of the right wing, claim that government regulation makes the cost of health care go up. Let’s grant the premise.

Therefore, a country where the government had interfered for longer and much more deeply than ours in the marketplace of healthcare (for example, with regulations like “You’re a doctor not an accountant, stop looking for preexisting conditions and treat the fucking patient”) would have proportionally even higher costs of medecine. According to your theory. Right?

THEN WHY IS IT THAT EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WEST HAS SOMEHOW MANAGED TO GUARANTEE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE AND NOT ONLY ARE PRICES NOT HIGHER, THEY’RE CONSIDERABLY LOWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

on preview: Widespread prosperity and contentment? Is that what we’re seeing in Colorado Springs?

You’re really using the anti-tax wingnut capital of America as an example of the failure of liberalism? These people voted against a $78 per $100,000 property tax increase. Somehow I don’t think welfare queens are to blame.

Who knew FDR was responsible for Grover Norquist’s TABOR state constitutional amendments?

Tony says, “I keep hearing a common thread in all the arguments, starting with the parent post. That is, that the “Randroids” want to eliminate all these services, and replace them with NOTHING! It would be mass hysteria! These people must be INSANE!”

Bullshit. For you to use this argument is pure bullshit. Our argument is that you want to take away service X and replace it with the Blanche Dubois Theory: relying on the kindness of strangers. Your faith in human nature is very touching, but no thanks.

You’re the one making this a Manichean choice of All Government or No Government. Most of us (my assumption) would prefer a system of private enterprise and ***better*** government regulation. Personally, I prefer lousy government regulation to none at all. Bernie Madoff eventually got caught; in Randamerica he would lasted a lot longer. In a well-regulated country he would have been caught a lot sooner.

Reasonable troll is just being reasonable … on a comedy blog.

Oddly enough, this did not make me LOL at all.

Sorry to be blowing up a perfectly good troll-smackdown here, but I don’t see this story as having much to do with Randroids or objectivism at all.

Just sounds like the usual pack of overly-parsimonious conservative shitstains too greedy – & too idiotic – to spend money on things they really need.

Keep in mind that this is still the dull formal phase of Teh Tragicomic Saga Of Colorado Springs … wait another few months, until the time of year when it isn’t freezing cold anymore, as word gets around among a, um, not-so-nice bunch of folks about a magical place in Colorado that’s intentionally cutting back law-enforcement to the bone while it kills a bunch of city streetlights at night … then it’s going to get VERY INTERESTING.

Shorter Tony: You were right, Twoofie, the dicksucking here’s great!

I just want to see how the Springs would do without (1) the Air Force Academy; (2) federal water subsidies.

Especially (2).

Some trolls are easier to ignore than others.

I’m sorry but you can’t blame Megan McArdle for everything… except destroying the English language.

Megan: “This specter always haunts pundits, and every time I’m tempted to make predictions about products that are too firm, I recall William Goldman’s famous adage that “No one knows anything”. If Steven Spielberg had realized that 1941 was going to flop, he wouldn’t have made it. But he couldn’t tell, and there you are.”

How could I have been so wrong?

I blame the Reagan education cuts, myself.

If the government didn’t start all these worthless programs perhaps they could afford police officers and firefighters.There may be an answer though ,since you already invited the drug dealers they could legalize and regulate the sale of substances and tax them for increased revenue (then they wouldn’t need so many cops).

“I would pay a great deal to see Meggers and Mangalangadingdong in a Thunderdome match.”

NBC has absolutely no excuse for not jumping all over this idea…

“They took me to Georgetown Hospital, where I was soon joined by my friends and co-workers Moira Bagley, Tucker Carlson, Neil Patel, and Laura Baños. All of whom I love.”

Carlson alone makes this a death panel, sorry…

Tony: “Before the New Deal there was widespread prosperity and contentment. “

…

What?

Whatwhatwhat?

WHAAAAAT?!

Tell me, does a little something known as the Great Depression ring any bells?

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