I am looking forwards to the day when an enfeebled Grover Norquist demands all of his Federal benefits, just like that hypocritical waste of skin Ayn Rand.

Now that the GOP controls both houses, if anything the FCC proposes angers the Republican paymasters (Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, et al.), Congress will just zero-out the parts of the FCC's budget that is even remotely attached to overseeing cable / broadband. Nothing is about to change. Nothing.

Khomeini was a clever bastard who tricked the Iranian reformists who wished to replace the Shah with a democracy. He promised before he got on a plane in France to be merely a figurehead. In short order he had co-opted the revolution (which was, by and large to that point, secular in nature).

History repeats. The intellectuals that started the Russian Revolution got bum-rushed (and ice-axed) by their own thugs (Stalin and Beria).

But that was how many years ago? 500+? The Catholic church and it's beliefs have greatly changed since. The way I see it, Islam (or some members/sections of it) today is where the Christian/Catholic religion was many centuries ago was.

Dr. George Tiller was murdered (ironically in the doorway of his church) by a Christian zealot for daring to assist women in controlling their own freaking bodies.

But this does point out the one common bedrock of all organized religions: the control and subjugation of women, up to and including rape and murder.

Fuck religion (all of them).

One major drug smuggling gang has been able to continue flooding the UK with Class A narcotics unimpeded for the last year after changing their operations.

Simple: legalize it all. Now, you've removed the massive profits, reduced the associated violence of the sellers, the theft and robbery crimes of the users, while also reducing the amount of ODs, allied health costs, and even deaths, ala Portugal.

But they have no idea of allowing these solid, provable benefits to society, as it would be a detriment to their power and money (i.e., they're just another criminal organization).

I wonder if the Norks knew about the on-going US / Cuba negotiations, with the US side-objective of removing one more semi-allied state from their nearly empty ranks.

Relatedly, I'm pleased that this mostly disappointing lame-duck President called the GOP on their kowtowing to the grandchildren of those that fled the collapse of the immorally corrupt Mafia / CIA backed Bautista regime that made their families filthy rich. To quote a former history teacher: "The most a woman could aspire to under Bautista was to become a high-class prostitute."

Being shot by the homeowner is the single biggest fear among would-be intruders, ranking higher than being caught by police.

But the most likely outcome of John Q Programmer playing out his 'Home Alone with a Gun' scenario is accidentally killing another family member that returns home unexpectedly.

This will be down-rated into oblivion by thin-skinned, heavily-armed nerds defending their Dirty Harry / Rambo RPG fantasies.

Want to actually murder someone and get away with it? If you're a White American male, become a cop and kill as many minorities as you wish, with the only 'punishment' being a paid vacation during the whitewash 'investigation'.

What a country.

Soon, Cuban cigar production will be industrialized to meet pent-up demand, followed by the sacrifice of quality on the altar of profit margins...

The Miracle of the Market Place!

Do *not* stare directly at the Freedom Blimps, as you will be targeted by the Freedom Drones.

It reminds me of Nostromo and its cargo.

Sure hoping for a better outcome.

They are right up there with the holders of MBAs as folks who cannot demonstrably prove their multiple, oft-times conflicting theories even freaking work.

Instead of trying save people from the ravages of heart attacks, they'll all be golden parachuting into their new startup selling this crap to vain and insecure one-percenters at immoral levels of profit.

I assume there is a component to this called Snappyd.

How about Bush, is this enough to put Bush in jail?

Now, why should DICK Cheney's lap dog be sent to jail? That's like convicting Pinky and letting The Brain walk free.

That shit is all on you, and has been publicly supported by your own politicians and much of your citizenry. If anything, America has been putting on a clinic of how to erode and undermine civil rights, and then exporting that everywhere else.

America ignored her own Constitution on her own terms.

This is what I refer to as the Bin Laden Playbook: he gave it to us on 9/11, and our political parties and their cronies (and future employers) in the Surveillance Industrial Complex have been profitably running them ever since that day. Pavlov's Dopes, indeed.