lost highway

I read an article yesterday from an economist stating that after the recent depression you have a pretty great laboratory in which to study various countries reactions and recoveries. Apparently the data from this supports the theory that austerity measures don't work.

That's not hard for me to acknowledge since my point was that you can't generalize a prison population. And weirdly from: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/20137221126181914.html We hear there are only 260 at large, and that some guards helped them escape. Other guards were killed. Yep, cut and dry....

So were the prisoners killed in the break "good guys", "bad guys", or just "guys"? If Al-Qaida says that it freed 500 holy warriors does that make it a fact? That prison site was full of injustice under Sadaam, and under Bush, you'll have to forgive me if it seems dubious under Nouri al-Maliki. You'll notice I didn't claim that the place was full of angels either, but the point I'm trying to make is that it's a hell of a lot easier to be so flippant about exactly who's in prison over there with the convenience of an American distance.

And thereby raised its legitimacy, upgrading it from a U.S. prison to an Iraqi prison?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/world/the-reach-of-war-abu-ghraib-scant-evidence-cited-in-long-detention-of-iraqis.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm I don't really know what to say in the face of willful ignorance. It's weird how the libertarian streak in some people dies down the second the military stomps around somewhere. Somewhere somebody forgot about a decade of foreign policy blunders.

Have you every freaking read about Abu Ghraib, or Guantanamo Bay even are? Do you seriously think that you can generalize their populations. That's the most intellectually lazy, Orwellian brainwash crap ever. Bad guys. There are people in prison without trial for standing on the wrong corner when something blew up. The military is trained to think like that because they wont be an efficient instrument of war if their members can actually fathom the horrid moral ambiguity of their situations, an informed voter on the other hand should aspire to more.

Bad guys. Your world is childlike.

I'm digging this. My only criticism is it's really long for how dense the theme is. It will take some endurance to actually absorb the album and feel like I know it.

Cause it's funny.

Zimmerman ran a truck off the road only after following the suspicious vehicle, and felt it was a threat to him. The truck had every chance, but blew it.

Zing!

Well to be fair, I have pretty much damned Zimmerman. I have said that he's a piece of garbage, and that his vigilante tendencies put himself stupidly in a situation where he got an "ass whooping" and he responded by shooting someone and killing him. He fucking sucks. But that's not a legal judgement. I'm not saying the case is closed. What I have said is that if a court of law can't find sufficient evidence that they don't punish someone for something they can't sufficiently prove. That's a good model for the justice system. I still think he's guilty of manslaughter, but I'm not runni

This thread got downright satirical. I think it's working nicely.

I saw the pictures of Zimmerman's head. I wouldn't call it life threatening. I'd call it a good old fashioned ass whooping. I've only been in a couple fights in my life, but I know you have to be dealing with someone who's dead drunk, or tiny to be able to slam their head against something with great force. It's pretty hard to do. You also leave that person's arms free to do lots of things to you. Zimmerman sucks at fighting crime, he apparently sucks at fighting, but he's good at shooting people who are unarmed.

This.

Your entire defense is based on what hat people are wearing. He was a dude driving around with a gun literally looking for trouble. I see no difference. The "good guys" and "bad guys" stuff is childish logic. Do you think being trained makes you a reliable, good person? Does having a concealed carry trainer telling you you "can't be an asshole" mean that you won't? Is every member of a neighborhood watch automatically a good person? I'm calling bullshit. By the way, your "good guy" Mr. Zimmerman was arrested for resisting an officer with violence, and battery of a law enforcement off

Because it assumes the exact same actions are taken but the conditions that we presuppose, the characterization of who is doing it, is changed. What I'm saying is the law is supposed to be blind, to judge everyone the same for what they do. But do you see how quickly (so quickly that you make fun of it as irrelevant) changing the characters, but not their actions makes it look different. To me it's not that big of a stretch anyways. What's the difference between a neighborhood watch "member" driving around with a gun and noticing someone who he doesn't like the looks of, vs. a gang "membe

But you're mocking my attempt at making a relative comparison for rhetorical purposes, with an absurd comparison for condescending purposes. I had hoped the purpose of the example was self evident and you might follow the logic, but if I must explain how it is relevant I can do that for you.

I lost you there.

Take a few steps back and it might get clearer. Most people living in larger cities know of neighborhoods where physical violence, or "a beat down" is a weekly reality. Where the tenants of that neighborhood are well accustomed to having to use bravado, and their fists as a method of self preservation. Picture yourself getting out of your car in one of these neighborhoods and chasing a young man, shouting "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?". Some percentage of the time that young man is going to kick your ass, or try to. Imagine Zimmerman was in a gang (he seems to run a neig

Fair enough. But as we argue the minutiae of this, I just get flabbergasted as to where you find the continuous motivation to defend this piece of garbage? What is it about him the speaks to you enough that you find it necessary to retrace the technicalities of each step that lead an armed man into confronting, fighting with and killing an unarmed young man who was smaller than him?

He was told not to on the phone.

I just got back into the country a few days ago and was getting caught up on news, and entertainment. I saw the Daily Show where John Oliver interviews the director of Gasland 2. Natural gas is a problem. Yes the fracking thing, but more than that. Definitely not as clean as it's marketed.

I noticed that On Filmore is playing a bunch of dates for Radiolab live. I don't even know if they'll be able to record again in 2013. Oh well, I guess it was definitely going to be a 2014 record either way.