DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Archive for August, 2010

Suit: music festival didn’t deter underage drinking in parking lot

13th August 2010

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In 2008 a one-car accident killed a Mansfield, Mass. 19-year-old and her 20-year-old friend; their car hit a tree. Now a lawyer for the passenger’s family has sued the town of Foxboro and the Kraft Group, saying the operators of the New England Country Music Festival did not do enough to deter underage drinking in the parking lot outside Gillette Stadium.

‘Our kids won a Darwin Award because they were too stupid not to drink and drive, so it’s your fault that we were bad parents, and we’re going to sue.’ Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

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Israeli suspected of serial killing stabbing spree arrested at US airport

13th August 2010

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Of course, from his name, Abuelazam, anyone with two brain cells to rub together can tell that he’s an Arab, and probably a Muslim; to call him an Israeli, although possibly technically correct, is the sort of tone-deaf misdirection that is the hallmark of the Lame Stream Media these days.

More here.

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What is a Man?

13th August 2010

Freeberg lays it out.

8. He’s not in touch with his “feminine side” and does not wish to be.

17. He will take a bullet for the ones he loves. He knows who they are, and if the time comes, he’ll be there.

22. He does not drive his kids to school. His kids know how to do things, including how to get themselves to school.

24. He knows how to spell things. He knows how to use punctuation. He knows his homophones and homonyms. He has mastered the complexity of “it’s”.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on What is a Man?

Casket-Making Monks Challenge Coffin Cartel

13th August 2010

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Nothing is more common than a combination of businesses using government to exclude competition through regulation and licensing laws; ask anybody who wants to drive a cab in New York city. This is just another tiresome example of the same.

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Can employers disqualify job applicants for having a criminal past?

12th August 2010

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Apparently not.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been cracking down on efforts to disqualify potential hires with criminal records or bad credit history, arguing that the practice can be tantamount to discrimination, as such applicants are disproportionately black or Latino.

And whose fault is that? Not the employer’s; he has to make his best judgment on the information available to him.

The EEOC indicated its disapproval of such practices last fall, when it it filed a class-action discrimination lawsuit against Dallas-based Freeman Companies, an events planning firm. The EEOC alleged that Freeman Companies used credit history and criminal records to discriminate against against blacks, Hispanics and males.

This is Yet Another Stupid Bureaucracy at work.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Can employers disqualify job applicants for having a criminal past?

UK: ‘Furry’ man denied bid to legally change name to Boomer the Dog

12th August 2010

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Afghanistan aid workers murdered as they tried to flee attackers

12th August 2010

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Speaking for the first time since the attack, the Afghan told how several of the charity workers tried to hide under vehicles but were gunned down or hit with grenades as they fled.

When the eight aid workers and two Afghans had been killed, the attackers told associates over a radio: “Everything’s finished. We killed them.”

Two of the three women in the team, which included the British medic, Dr Karen Woo, 36, jumped into the 4×4 vehicle to try to escape but were killed by a grenade.

One-by one the rest of the group were shot, included the team’s cook who was hiding under a car.

Safiullah told investigators the lead gunman spoke like a Pakistani.

Despite the safe-passage the British had been granted, they were attacked by Ghilzai warriors as they struggled through the snowbound passes.

Looks like things haven’t changed very much in 150 years:

On 1 January 1842, following some unusual thinking by Elphinstone, which may have had something to do with the poor defensibility of the cantonment, an agreement was reached that provided for the safe exodus of the British garrison and its dependants from Afghanistan. Five days later, the withdrawal began. The departing British contingent numbered around 16,000, of which about 4,500 were military personnel, and over 12,000 were civilian camp followers. The military force consisted mostly of Indian units and one British battalion, 44th Regiment of Foot.

Posted in Living with Islam. | 2 Comments »

Medicaid and the Jews

12th August 2010

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A Jewish Telegraphic Agency dispatch  from Washington provides a fascinating look at how government programs turn religious and non-profit groups into partners of the government: “President Obama signed an extension of vital Medicaid funding, which was a top priority of the Jewish community….The six-month extension of FMAP had been a priority of the Jewish Federations of North America, as 60 cents on every dollar of public revenue brought in by the federations or their partner agencies comes from Medicaid. Nearly $6 billion per year in government aid goes to Jewish hospitals, nursing homes, Jewish Family Service outposts and other social service agencies through Medicaid….The FMAP money will prevent cuts that could have cost the Jewish community $150 million to $200 million in social services funding.”

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UK: Workers paint line over squashed hedgehog

12th August 2010

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‘You’re not paid to think.’ seems to be the foundation stone for government employment.

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Apple invention would create custom comic book from game experiences

12th August 2010

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Rather a clever idea. The licensing issues alone will provide work for entire generations of lawyers.

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Bozo The Congressman Wants Bozo The Spokesman Fired

12th August 2010

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Teen beauty queen stripped of her crown for dyeing her hair

12th August 2010

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A 15 year-old in New Zealand was told to hand back her beauty pageant crown after posting a photo of herself with dyed brown hair on Facebook.

Hadn’t know that there was that much stupidity in New Zealand. Her dyed hair is the same color as mine and I’ve been called blond as long as I can remember.

Miss O’Neil told Ms Osborne it was not a wig and she had dyed her hair.

She added that if she wasn’t allowed to dye her hair then beauty pageants might not be for her.

Ms Osborne responded by telling the 15 year-old to choose between the hair dye and her title.

She said: “Well you better decide, miss. Hand over your crown with an attitude like that. I’m sure someone will step into your place with manners.”

Ms Osborne also told the teenager that she would not go far in the world.

Just looking at Olivia’s picture, I suggest that, however far she goes in the world, it will be farther than Ms Osborne. Miley Cyrus should look that good.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Teen beauty queen stripped of her crown for dyeing her hair

Top 10 technology hoaxes

12th August 2010

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UK: Hero postmaster may have to repay stolen money to Post Office

12th August 2010

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David Taylor, 46, suffered severe concussion when he was hit twice in the head with a two-foot metal bar as he stood up to the raiders in his village store and post office on July 16.

The postmaster’s bravery was praised as heroic by customers, but weeks after the raid he received a letter from the Post Office saying he may be forced to cover nearly £9,000 of the losses from his own pocket because the safe was open when the robbers struck.

Mrs Taylor had left the safe open momentarily as she opened the front door to her husband. Seconds later the robbers appeared and pushed Mr Taylor aside.

The Post Office said that as security procedures “seem not to have been followed we currently consider you may be liable to £8,835”.

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Mecca Mean Time? World’s biggest clock ticks in Islam’s holiest city

12th August 2010

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I’m opening a book on how long it takes before some American flies an airliner into it.

Unfortunately, the irony would be lost on the entire ruling class of the Western world, to say nothing of the Dar al-Islam.

Posted in Living with Islam. | 2 Comments »

Anatomy of the latest bailout

12th August 2010

In convenient graphical form.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Anatomy of the latest bailout

‘Fake fishermen’ conning BP out of Gulf of Mexico compensation money

12th August 2010

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I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.

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Rush Limbaugh and Sir Elton John pose for wedding pictures

12th August 2010

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The pictures follow Sir Elton’s decision to perform at Limbaugh’s wedding to his fourth wife Kathryn Rogers, 33, in June, reportedly for a $1 million (£690,000) fee.

Ah, the dulcet sounds of blue-state heads exploding on both Left Coasts.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Rush Limbaugh and Sir Elton John pose for wedding pictures

New gel could speed wound healing

12th August 2010

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How to survive a plane crash

12th August 2010

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Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

Actually, the first step is ‘Don’t get on a plane.’ But you knew that.

Posted in News You Can Use. | 1 Comment »

Britain’s defamation laws are so tough that it is regarded as an international centre for “libel tourism”.

12th August 2010

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The number of injunctions, in which a court orders a newspaper not to publish a story, has risen since the introduction of the Human Rights Act in 1998.

In addition to a straightforward injunction, there is the so-called “super injunction” which means a newspaper may not even say that an injunction was sought.

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Former Homeland Security Adviser Explains Why He Admires the UAE’s Dictators

12th August 2010

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I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked.

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The Trustworthiness of Beards

11th August 2010

Check it out.

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French chef’s body discovered in freezer two years after going missing

11th August 2010

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The body of one of France’s best-known chefs was discovered hidden in a freezer after his girlfriend revealed to her daughter that “something unfortunate” had happened to him, police said.

That’s pretty cold.

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New York City Transport Workers Union Strikes Again

11th August 2010

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In July Mayor Michael Bloomberg  announced the shut down of 32 bus routes around the city, to the inconvenience of thousands of New Yorkers. Those same cuts eliminated the jobs of about 500 drivers and mechanics who are members of the Transport Workers Union  (TWU). Its distress was compounded, because simultaneously with the cuts, the mayor announced that as of Aug. 15, 2010, the City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), headed by David Yassky, would allow private van services to pick up passengers along the routes on which public bus service has been eliminated.

On July 28, 2010, TWU’s President John Samuelsen sued in Manhattan state court to force Yassky and the TLC to block these private carriers from entering into service, in order to pressure the City to restore the cuts. His motives are clear: “This is an effort to replace solid jobs that come with medical and pension benefits … with low-paid, non-unionized workforce without medical or pension benefits. Any politician that supports this is basically supporting an unprovoked attack against the TWU.”

Well, yeah. The problem is that the Union is too expensive but has a lot of political power (‘He who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.’) and so this is the only politically feasible way to cut costs. The basic Union position is that, either you use overpriced Union labor for this service, or the public can walk for all they care. And that tells you pretty much all you need to know about public-sector unions.

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Black people like being black

11th August 2010

Steve Sailer will discuss anything, anything at all.

For one thing, how much do blacks want to act white?

As far as I can tell, blacks, on the whole, have a blast being black.

They not only like being black, they like to talk about being black with other blacks. They have one of the more homogeneous cultures in the world, in part because they are constantly discussing being black with each other.

Sounds like being black is like belonging to the world’s largest Frat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that….

The reigning theory is that white culture will rub off on blacks by osmosis, but there is precious little evidence to back it up. Indeed, exposure to white people just makes blacks focus more on their blackness.

So much for modern theories of ‘assimilation’. Black people have been in America for four hundred years; if they aren’t assimilating, what are the chances of Latinos doing so? (Of course, Latinos are fond of pointing out that they were here first; which claim I’d take more seriously if more of them spoke Nahuatl or Athapascan rather than, oh, say, that native American language Spanish.)

Instead of blacks competing for white approval, whites today compete with each other over how much they approve of blacks.

Not surprisingly, that doesn’t do much to improve black behavior.

Hey, life is full of hardship.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Black people like being black

Obama’s latest joke: Republicans and cars

11th August 2010

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At a fundraiser here, he trotted out his latest joke, chuckling as he told it. The punch line came after his usual story about refusing to give Republicans back the keys to the economy because they drove it into a ditch.

Speaking of cars, he said: “You want to go forward, what do you do? You put it in ‘D.’ When you go backward, what do you do? You put it in ‘R.'”

Then, with another chuckle, he added: “I’m just sayin’ that’s not a coincidence.”

And when you want it in a condition where it doesn’t do anything by itself but can be easily pushed around, you put it in ‘N’. Welcome to the post-racial society.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 1 Comment »

Oh No! Genetically Modified Canola ‘Escapes’ Farm Fields

11th August 2010

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A survey of North Dakota has turned up hundreds of genetically modified canola plants growing along roads across the state.

There is, of course, no such thing as a ‘canola plant’. ‘Canola’ is a trademarked term that stands for ‘Canadian oil of low acidity’ and refers to a highly-processed form of the oil from the RAPESEED PLANT. This is as brainless as referring to a cow as a ‘cream animal’.

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British student dies on Swiss zip ride

11th August 2010

Darwin Award Nominee.

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Giant Mecca clock seeks to call time on Greenwich

11th August 2010

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But Islamic scholars hope the clock’s influence will stretch far further than the sands of Saudi Arabia, as part of a plan for Mecca to eclipse the Greenwich Observatory as the “true centre of the earth”.

As Mohammed al-Arkubi, manager of one of the hotels in the complex, put it: “Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time. This is the goal.”

This claim that the holy city is a “zero magnetism zone” has won support from some Arab scientists like Abdel-Baset al-Sayyed of the Egyptian National Research Centre who says that there is no magnetic force in Mecca.

“That’s why if someone travels to Mecca or lives there, he lives longer, is healthier and is less affected by the earth’s gravity,” he said. “You get charged with energy.”

Western scientists have challenged such assertions, noting that the Magnetic North Pole is in actual fact on a line of longitude that passes through Canada, the United States, Mexico and Antarctica.

But what is mere science if Muslim supremacy is at stake?

Posted in Living with Islam. | 4 Comments »

Office worker quits with revenge on sexist boss

10th August 2010

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Good luck getting another job, sweetheart.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 1 Comment »

Why the US keeps minting coins people hate and won’t use

10th August 2010

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Perhaps because the government is run by stupid people who think they’re smarter than the people who pay their salaries? That’s just a guess, of course.

In hidden vaults across the country, the US government is building a stockpile of $1 coins. The hoard has topped $1.1bn – imagine a stack of coins reaching almost seven times higher than the International Space Station – and the piles have grown so large the US Federal Reserve is running out of storage space.

Americans won’t use the coins, preferring $1 notes. But the US keeps minting them anyway, and the Fed estimates it already has enough $1 coins to last the next 10 years.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | 1 Comment »

Car thief ‘suffocated after 17-stone man sat on him’, inquest told

10th August 2010

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An overweight man, Brian Machin, was arrested for unlawful killing after sitting on and suffocating a carjacker trying to steal his vehicle, an inquest heard.

The case was eventually dropped because prosecutors could not “establish that the force used was excessive”.

On Tuesday Ian Smith, the North Staffordshire Coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Car thief ‘suffocated after 17-stone man sat on him’, inquest told

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ‘digging mass graves for US soldiers’

10th August 2010

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They’ll come in handy when we destroy their army as we destroyed Saddam’s.

Just sayin’.

Posted in Living with Islam. | 1 Comment »

Mass Transit: The Great Train Robbery

10th August 2010

Joel Kotkin is always worth reading.

Despite promises that the $8 billion invested in rail lines over the past two decades would lessen L.A.’s traffic congestion and reshape how Angelenos get to work, the sad reality is that there has been no increase in MTA transit ridership since before the rail expansion began in 1985.

Much of the problem, notes Tom Rubin, a former chief financial officers for the MTA’s predecessor agency, stems from the shift of funding priorities to trains from the city’s more affordable and flexible bus network. Meanwhile, traffic has gotten worse, with delay hours growing from 44 hours a year in 1982 to 70 hours in 2007.

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On trial for vehicular homicide, sues family she killed

10th August 2010

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Citing text messages she sent her boyfriend shortly before the incident, Montana prosecutors contend that Justine Winter’s crash at 85 mph into an oncoming vehicle was a deliberate suicide attempt. Winter, who faces trial on homicide charges in the deaths of Erin Thompson, the woman she ran into, and Thompson’s 13-year-old son, has now sued Thompson’s estate as well as the construction company that built the interstate overpass where the accident occurred.

Well, what has she got to lose? And, considering some of the way such suits have gone these days, is it so far-fetched?

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On Aging

10th August 2010

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A lot of truth here.

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Koala catchers, beer tasters and shark taggers wanted by Australia

10th August 2010

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It’s Fair to Have a Fair System for Fairness

10th August 2010

Tim Cavanaugh points out some Inconvenient Truth.

A tax system that’s both fairer and better? What’s not to like? Well, here’s one thing: The proper role of taxation is not to promote fairness or equality or social engineering. It is to raise revenue to fund the appropriate functions of government. Nowhere in his argument does Surowiecki ask whether tax hikes on the idle rich actually raise more revenues. It’s a good question to avoid, because they don’t.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on It’s Fair to Have a Fair System for Fairness

Time to Leave — France Is Lost

10th August 2010

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Alibekov has had just about enough. This 30-year-old conservative blogger, French-born, newlywed, with a good university education, has just decided to turn his back on his home country, where his grandparents hid Jews during the Second World War. He has almost completed his immigration papers for Canada. He is leaving soon. Next step, possibly: the United States.

After university, Alibekov lived and worked for six years in Africa. He returned home a short while ago to the Paris region. What he saw horrified him.

Posted in Living with Islam. | Comments Off on Time to Leave — France Is Lost

Perry v. Schwarzenegger — the reductio ad absurdum of “living constitution” jurisprudence

10th August 2010

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The notion that the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars the government from adhering to the traditional understanding of what is and is not marriage strikes me as ludicrous. That understanding was nearly universal in this country when the Amendment was enacted and remained so for at least one hundred years. It still prevails today. Should the time come when it no longer prevails, it can and will be overturned democratically.

If an argument that adherence to the traditional understanding of marriage is unconstitutional can be cobbled together from existing Supreme Court jurisprudence, that tells me this jurisprudence is hopelessly misguided, not that there is a constitutional right to gay marriage. In other words, Judge Walker’s decision represents the reductio ad absurdum of left-wing “living Constitution” jurisprudence. If the Supreme Court reaches the same result, its opinion will probably replace Roe v. Wade as the symbol of judicial activism intolerably run amok.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 2 Comments »

Scientists begin search for golden toad

10th August 2010

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Hey, tenure doesn’t grow on trees, you know.

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Israelis teach martial arts to Chinese

10th August 2010

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Unfortunately, I don’t have a ‘coals to Newcastle’ category.

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Real estate may be as important as religion in explaining the infamous gap between red and blue states.

10th August 2010

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Dallas and Los Angeles represent two distinct models for successful American cities, which both reflect and reinforce different cultural and political attitudes. One model fosters a family-oriented, middle-class lifestyle—the proverbial home-centered “balanced life.” The other rewards highly productive, work-driven people with a yen for stimulating public activities, for arts venues, world-class universities, luxury shopping, restaurants that aren’t kid-friendly. One makes room for a wide range of incomes, offering most working people a comfortable life. The other, over time, becomes an enclave for the rich. Since day-to-day experience shapes people’s sense of what is typical and normal, these differences in turn lead to contrasting perceptions of economic and social reality. It’s easy to believe the middle class is vanishing when you live in Los Angeles, much harder in Dallas. These differences also reinforce different norms and values—different ideas of what it means to live a good life. Real estate may be as important as religion in explaining the infamous gap between red and blue states.

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How rich is rich?

10th August 2010

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Class warfare is trickier than it looks.

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Gear Ring by Kinekt Design

9th August 2010

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Perfect wedding ring for engineers.

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Agreeable ways to disable your children

9th August 2010

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MONDAY’S GREGALOGUE: MY NEW GAY BAR

9th August 2010

Greg Gutfeld celebrates freedom of association.

So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it’s all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque – after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law – who can stop them?

Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I’ve decided to do the same thing.

I’m announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on MONDAY’S GREGALOGUE: MY NEW GAY BAR

Apple obtains exclusive rights to custom, super-durable metal alloy

9th August 2010

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No indication of whether the term ‘mimetic poly-alloy’ was used.

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Jennifer Aniston: you don’t need a man to have a baby

9th August 2010

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At last I understand why Brad dumped her.

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