Little Erick, in the throes of almost year-long deep depression, asks this question:

Have conservatives entered a suicide pact? Has the Republican Party, as a whole, done the same?

Yes, Erick, you have. This is what happens when you spend decades paying lip service to fundamentalism and oligarchy. This is what happens when you think labeling at least half your countrymen as traitors and subhumans is good strategy. This is what happens when you switch to the alternative fuels of hate and fear without doing any of that icky science beforehand to see if it was even a good idea in the first place.

And it's not like you haven't been warned, by no less than the people who originated some of these modern GOP tactics and strategies, that this would end up biting you in the ass. But since you've spent most of the last 40 years winning, you ignored it. But what you need to do, once you get your asses handed to you next year in an election that was only ever yours to lose, is sit the fuck down and do nothing else but some really hard thinking and soul searching, because shit like this

We do not have anyone on our side making the moral case for the free market.

The problem is that candidate, Jon Huntsman, decided to launch his campaign by giving conservatives a middle finger as he raced to get on The View.

we would be crazy not to reconsider Perry

It is hard to dislike a guy who can filet his opponent with a smile and a side of fava beans and a nice chianti.

...shows that you have zero clue of what the problems you're facing are.

Link is NSFW: http://www.moronail.net/img/15045_im-the-man

However, they did get something wrong. When I carry the groceries in toto, I do not need my entire arm, let alone both of them. One hand suffices. After all, I need the other hand free to get my keys and unlock the door.

Long time, no write. But I've been a good boy this year, kept my mouth shut and my ass out of trouble. So what I really, really, really want for Christmas this year is for Newt Gingrich to win the New Hampshire primary. The margin doesn't matter so long as he comes out on top after the voting.

Yours in Coca-Cola,

Captain Splendid

Karl Rove just dickpunched Herman Cain so hard, he's now a eunuch. Guess It'll be Romney/Rubio then.

Strange memories on this nervous night on Wall Street. One year later? Two? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era - the kind of peak that never comes again. America in the late aughts was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run . . . but no explanation, no mix of words or slogans or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant. . . . History is hard to know, because of all the MSM bullshit, but even without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a big clash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time - and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened. My central memory of that time seems to hang on one or five or maybe forty mornings- or very early afternoons - when I left the Protest completely crazy and, instead of going home, aimed the big GMC Canyon through Georgetown at thirty miles an hour wearing Wrangler jeans and a short-sleeve button-down shirt . . . booming down Canal Road at the sights of Arlington and Fairfax and Chesapeake, not quite sure which turn-off to take when I got to the other end (always stalling at the toll-gate, too bewildered to find park while I fumbled for change) . . . but being absolutely certain that no matter which way I went I would come to a place where people were just as cranky and set in their ways as I was: No doubt at all about that. . . . There was safety in any direction, at any hour. If not across the river, then up to Bethesda or down US1 to Mt. Vernon or Cherry Hill. . . . You could find comfort anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning. . . . And that, I think, was the handle - that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Youth and Progressivism. Not in any mean or military sense; we didnâ(TM)t need that. Our righteousness would simply prevail. There was no point in arguingâ" on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave. . . . So now, less than two years later, you can go up on a steep hill in New Jersey and look South, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark - that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."

As best as I can tell, the reactions to the Netflix/Qwikster split from both users and analysts seems to be mostly negative, with a strong dash of incomprehension. The three legitimate complaints that stand out for me are the separation of customer info databases between the two companies, the feeling of being "abandoned" by Netflix to a new company (as the service is still DVD user heavy), and last but certainly not least, diminishing content.

The first issue is frankly the most bogus of charges. For starters, if they'd announced close integration, the privacy brigade would be howling about this. This was a decision where they could not score a complete win no matter what they did. Second, be honest with yourself: How many times over the last ten years have you entered your name, your address, tweaked preferences, checked boxes, rated an app/pic/post/movie/song, customized an interface, uploaded content? We human monkeys have no problem pushing buttons, expressing ourselves and putting up with abuse. Just toss those extra clicks on the pile with the rest. Hell, if the interface is interesting enough, you'll get reams of social media articles written about you!

As for the second charge, there's not much to say, really. Assuming Qwikster can continue the kind of service Netflix got rich on, I predict at least another decade of at least solid business. I understand there's been a price hike, but I'm sure a lot of money was spent number-crunching it to optimum perfection. This really is non-issue. Sure, competitors are sure to show an increase in new signups, but again, they'll have anticipated this.

What this does is allows Netflix to hopefully exist forever as one of the primary media-delivery services on the planet. The simple truth is that broadband is cheap, and getting cheaper, and the complaint that the majority of customers still rely on the DVD plan means nothing when Netflix has a business that will grow its customer base constantly for over the next 25 years. And this is why I don't understand all the gloom and doom. This is textbook Successful Spinoff. This is exactly as smart as the WB/AOL merger was dumb.

Assuming that the studios don't bite them in the ass first. Not only is there the incentive for producers to share as little of the pie as possible, they've also spent a lot of time and money over the last 10 years trying to decree what exactly can be done with their product. That ongoing quest for control is Netflix' biggest enemy, and, of the three gripes I listed, this is the only one I expect to be still hearing about 6 months from now. The only logical conclusion is that they're looking at the iTunes Store for inspiration and hoping their algorithm and streaming tech is indeed a better mousetrap.

Answer: Because they're gay.

Achievement Unlocked: Impeachment Prep

It has almost been exactly one year since AOL acquired us. At the time, they promised not to interfere with the way we do things. For 11+ months, theyâ(TM)ve kept their word, and things have run beautifully from our end. Our business is one of the few sterling ornaments on their mantel. Now they may break their promise to us. And if that promise is broken, it will break TechCrunch.

Mammon, like God, has a price. DIAF.

OH SWEET FUCKING JEBUS SLASHCODE IS STILL BORKED

FCC finally kills off fairness doctrine

The line to lick my taint forms on the left, and the one to suck my dick on the right.

Hop to it.

Apart from the fact that I enjoy it immensely, as well as being cheaper and much less hangover-y than alcohol, there is a central reason why I smoke pot.

Ignorance is bliss.

I figured, given a long enough timeline, that I would be able to eventually reduce my above-average intelligence to something a little...happier.

And now I learn that marijuana's effects on the brain have been overstated:

In other words, the amount of pot consumed had no measurable impact on cognitive performance.

Fuck. I'm too old and too much of a pothead to start any kind of serious drinking program.

I'm too rational to start a meth lab. I mean, If I'm going to go to all that trouble, I'm better off building that coffee table I keep promising my wife.

I hate needles, so no heroin, and I'm cheap, so forget cocaine. Some of the OTC opiates are quite nice, and I've plenty of compliant doctors at my disposal, but the middle-age white guy with a stash of Ativan or Oxy is even more cliche than the pothead, so thanks but no thanks.

Could be worse, I suppose. At least I can get still get high.

My 6 year old P.O.S. NEC Accusync monitor has finally died, meaning I no longer have to suffer the worst, most embarrassing hardware purchase I ever made in my life.

Rot in hell, you miserable failure! 23" LCD, here I come!

TACO SUX COX

TACO SUX COX

Try it when you have 15 points next time, you might actually do something.

FART.

Someone hook me up with a Google+ invite please. Email's in the usual places.

EXTRA FILLER SPACE

EXTRA FILLER SPACE

FUCK YOU TACO.

Since I've been getting it in the neck in regards to this site and "it can't get much worse" aesthetic, what do you think will be the next move by the management to make this site even more unreadable?

Bonus fun: Vote this up in the firehose. If you can find it.