I figured we could use a thread for small news stories that aren't important enough for their own thread.

This thread is going to be spectacular.

First up: Balloon boy.

They finally determine what we already knew as soon as "Falcon" wasn't on the balloon: it was a hoax. I have no idea what took them so long to determine that, especially when they released the video of them launching the balloon and "Richard" doing a horrible acting job of going crazy.

That family needs to be taken for a lot of money. Maybe a message should be sent to them about people who try and get their 15 minutes of fame - either throw one or both of them in jail for a while or give them a bill of $50 grand.

What a great family.

I bet it will be closer to $500K than 50.

Multiple felony charges as well. Well deserved, I suppose.

Apparently, the kid also puked on the Today Show.

Little Wayne plead guilty to an Attempted Weapons Possession charge. Possibly go to jail for a year.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not sure that America could handle one year without music created by Little Wayne. We're in a bad enough recession as it is.

I saw a baloon boy costume on TV this morning.

Little Wayne plead guilty to an Attempted Weapons Possession charge. Possibly go to jail for a year.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm not sure that America could handle one year without music created by Little Wayne. We're in a bad enough recession as it is.

http://hiphopspy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/lil-wayne-1.jpg

How do you attempt to possess weapons?

If you are like, kind of in trouble a lil bit, and on probation, you can't even go attempt to buy a weapon.

Out here, one needs to wait 10 days(?) for a background check, just for a frickin shotgun. Not a pistol, not a pistol, we're talking bout shotguns.

Not saying lil W is any troub, but thats where I hear about it out here. You can't even attempt to buy a gun type thing.

Thanks.

This attack at the Army base is pretty fucked up.

Unfortunately, it looks like this piece of dog shit will survive. I hope this fuck fries.

At least eight people have been shot in an Orlando, Florida, high-rise office building, CNN affiliates report.

Hopefully unrelated to yesterday.

^ Sounds like its not.

Orlando gunman apprehended.

I wonder if this will effect the Pistons-Magic game tonight?

I'm opposed the death penalty because too many innocent peeps are in jail cuz of bullshit prosecutors. But in a case like the Ft Hood murders, this guy should fry.

This guy is a muslim so we'll candy coat, or ignore this altogether. If this guy was a Christian, this board would be all over this story.

Are you claiming reverse racism? I think the reason there isn't a whole lot of discussion on the subject is the fact that there's not much to say - he's a crazy SOB who took the lives of several good people because he was nuts. You can't really have an opinion on it because it's just facts, regardless of what religion he is.

If you want, T, I'll play devil's advocate to get some discussion going.

Wasn't he an Army shrink?

Imagine him giving you advice!

Yes he deserves to die and I hope he burns in hell!!!!!!!!!!

If you want, T, I'll play devil's advocate to get some discussion going.

That would be lame.

lol. I agree.

Has there been anymore info/news on the dude?

Is it possible that as a shrink he heard some fucked up shit and just went crazy?

Or is he simply EVIL!

It's all over the news. The basic story is that he was treated like shit for his faith from all the other soldiers and he tried for years to just ignore it but it started getting to him. He became rude with his superiors and lashed out a couple times. They sent him to Fort Hood a while ago to give him a change of scenery (basically), and then he went off the deep end when he received orders to be shipped over to Afghanistan. Those are the basics from what I've understood, but I haven't been paying that close attention to it.

He was an enlisted man during the Gulf War. He's been through a wave of extreme anti-Islamic stress in the military. He had some opportunities not to re-sign or get discharged. What prompted him to go for such a long stint in the military? I'd ask "How the hell do repeated poor performance reviews get you a promotion?" but I'm sure the Peter Principle applies.

Are you claiming reverse racism? I think the reason there isn't a whole lot of discussion on the subject is the fact that there's not much to say - he's a crazy SOB who took the lives of several good people because he was nuts. You can't really have an opinion on it because it's just facts, regardless of what religion he is.

If you want, T, I'll play devil's advocate to get some discussion going.

You've been listening to the media who want to write it off as a just a 'crazy guy'.

He's a muslim who hated America so much, he committed these crimes.

It's all over the news. The basic story is that he was treated like shit for his faith from all the other soldiers and he tried for years to just ignore it but it started getting to him. He became rude with his superiors and lashed out a couple times. They sent him to Fort Hood a while ago to give him a change of scenery (basically), and then he went off the deep end when he received orders to be shipped over to Afghanistan. Those are the basics from what I've understood, but I haven't been paying that close attention to it.

^ Liberal slant on the story, P.

Don't believe it for a second. Not saying what Mo said is incorrect(as what he heard) but we have such 'shit' for most peeps receiving their 'basic story' in this country...meaining our news has such a liberal bias.

The piece of shit hates the US and listened to Islamic Jihadists and took action.

P, the libs won't even identify the enemy, so we'll never get anywhere with this fight.

btw, I know you are on the side of the rest of the board.

That would be lame.

The Bush twins threads were great political discussion...for y'all. Solved lots of world problems in those threads.

It's all over the news. The basic story is that he was treated like shit for his faith from all the other soldiers and he tried for years to just ignore it but it started getting to him. He became rude with his superiors and lashed out a couple times. They sent him to Fort Hood a while ago to give him a change of scenery (basically), and then he went off the deep end when he received orders to be shipped over to Afghanistan.

So your media is actually trying to get sympathy for the gunman? WOW!


He's a muslim who hated America so much, he committed these crimes.

LMAO - it's so simple, isn't Tahoe.

This guy, who actually signed up to fight FOR the good ol' US of A woke up one morning and said to himself "Self - I fucking hate America. Let's go crazy"

I'm guessing that the dude was treated like shit cause he was a Muslim, he complained about that forever so they shipped his ass to Fort Hood.

When the dude got word he had to go over to Afghanistan he just went nuts cause he didn't wanna go over there and kill "fellow" Muslims.

So he did something about it. I bet the fucker wished he died though - cause he's gonna cop it when he goes to whatever prison they put him in.

Tahoe, you're cool as shit, but I think your views on Muslim's might be a little slanted. Just because he's Muslim and hears anti-United States rants by people of his same faith does not mean he will turn against his own country. I'm pretty sure you're a Christian (like me), and when I hear anti-gay chants by my church, I don't go out and have an old fashioned fag lynching when I get in a bad mood. Fact is, anyone who would snap like that is crazy. I'm not making any excuses for him, and I hope he burns, but don't blame his faith on it. What about the Orlando shootings? If that guy is Catholic does that mean all Catholics are evil?

P, the libs won't even identify the enemy, so we'll never get anywhere with this fight.

btw, I know you are on the side of the rest of the board.
I think a lot of people on this board are on the side of frying the guy when the time comes, though "firing squad" would be my choice.

It's worthwhile to understand how a career U.S. military officer, a doctor of all people, comes to this. Right now, there's still a fair bit of info to be gathered and assessed. It seems clear that some shit could've been handled better on the "good guys" end of things. It also seems clear that he got fucked up by a few life events. I don't think we have enough to put all the pieces together, but we will by the time the trial happens. Meanwhile, he's not going anywhere.

So your media is actually trying to get sympathy for the gunman? WOW!



LMAO - it's so simple, isn't Tahoe.

This guy, who actually signed up to fight FOR the good ol' US of A woke up one morning and said to himself "Self - I fucking hate America. Let's go crazy"

I'm guessing that the dude was treated like shit cause he was a Muslim, he complained about that forever so they shipped his ass to Fort Hood.

When the dude got word he had to go over to Afghanistan he just went nuts cause he didn't wanna go over there and kill "fellow" Muslims.

So he did something about it. I bet the fucker wished he died though - cause he's gonna cop it when he goes to whatever prison they put him in.

No he didn't. He signed up for free education. He's a fuckin radical muslim that hates the US and acts on by turning on his own country by murdering innocent peeps.

And LMAO at 'he just went nuts' Great rationale. LMAO. Just like the 911 hijackers right? We're not at war, its just some crazies.

I'm glad you aren't in fuckin charge. Then again, we have about the same god damn mentality in the WH right now anyway. Fuck it, Make P the Prez. We're fuckin doomed.

Dude, IF I was your president a ton of shit would be different.

Forget the war on drugs and the war on terror.

Time for a war on poverty, homelessness, no fucking health care, shit schools, no fucking jobs, etc

Simple question for those that wanna talk politics: How much money does the USA budget each year for the military and/or the space program?

For the 2009 fiscal year, the base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $518.3 billion. Adding emergency discretionary spending, supplemental spending, and stimulus spending brings the sum to $651.2 billion.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#cite_note-CRS_FY2009-0)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#cite_note-gpoaccess.gov-1) Defense-related expenditures outside of the Department of Defense constitute between $274 billion and $493 billion in additional spending, bringing the total for defense spending to between $925 billion and $1.14 trillion in 2009.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#cite_note-Higgs-2)

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-couples-retreat-posters.html

So who's the racists in this story? Paramount for deleting Faizon Love from the poster or Europe for not seeing movies with black people in it? Both?

I'm offended by the terrible photoshoping.

For the 2009 fiscal year, the base budget of the Department of Defense rose to $518.3 billion. Adding emergency discretionary spending, supplemental spending, and stimulus spending brings the sum to $651.2 billion.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#cite_note-CRS_FY2009-0)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#cite_note-gpoaccess.gov-1) Defense-related expenditures outside of the Department of Defense constitute between $274 billion and $493 billion in additional spending, bringing the total for defense spending to between $925 billion and $1.14 trillion in 2009.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#cite_note-Higgs-2)
Keep in mind that the U.S. defense budget has some unusual things under its umbrella that one wouldn't typically expect. Here's one example up your alley, Pharaoh -- ovarian cancer research in Australia:

http://www.nicta.com.au/research/projects/cancer_genomics/ovarian_cancer

I don't give a fuck what they're studying, Mxy - $1 trillion is a lot of guns and ammo.

And don't you guys still have nukes to threaten fuckers with?

WTF is all that money going to? More guns, missiles, tanks and shit? Doesn't your country have enough of that shit?

I don't give a fuck what they're studying, Mxy - $1 trillion is a lot of guns and ammo.

And don't you guys still have nukes to threaten fuckers with?

WTF is all that money going to? More guns, missiles, tanks and shit? Doesn't your country have enough of that shit?
That's exactly my point -- not ALL that money is going to more guns, missiles, tanks, and shit. The Internet was a DoD budget item for decades. DoD is such an institution that an awful lot of crap only very loosely related to "defense" ends up there. The DoD appropriations happen independently of most other budget items and, in fact, have already happened for next year. The military industrial complex is... complex.

Who gives a shit about the defense budget? At least it does something.

All these other fucked up fuckin programs are fucked.

That's exactly my point -- not ALL that money is going to more guns, missiles, tanks, and shit. The Internet was a DoD budget item for decades. DoD is such an institution that an awful lot of crap only very loosely related to "defense" ends up there. The DoD appropriations happen independently of most other budget items and, in fact, have already happened for next year. The military industrial complex is... complex.

Ok, well, umm - I don't wanna run your country anyway.

I hate to disagree with Mxy (especially with the probability of his pulling out numbers to own my ass), but the question I would ask is how much of that huge number goes to that other R&D type stuff and how much is spent on the traditional war machine things.

And I do care about military spending. It seems about as wasteful as any other area, if not more so, and I honestly don't believe it always "does something".

There's a fair bit of oddly-scattergorized stuff hidden behind the DoD budget, by design. Check out the act for yourself:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:6:./temp/~c111eVeBMu::

You tell me -- are chiropractor clinical trials something the DoD should do for defense? In some cases, the spending is possitioned as "national security", but the relationship is tenuous at best, mostly designed to slip into the DoD budget which nobody can deny. You have to follow the money, and the bill is simply a starting point. "Maintain xyz missile program" equates to "upgrade a bunch of computers which happen to be in the general vicinity of missiles."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120540125

There's a fair bit of oddly-scattergorized stuff hidden behind the DoD budget, by design. Check out the act for yourself:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:6:./temp/~c111eVeBMu::

You tell me -- are chiropractor clinical trials something the DoD should do for defense? In some cases, the spending is possitioned as "national security", but the relationship is tenuous at best, mostly designed to slip into the DoD budget which nobody can deny. You have to follow the money, and the bill is simply a starting point. "Maintain xyz missile program" equates to "upgrade a bunch of computers which happen to be in the general vicinity of missiles."

Is this the right link? I can't get it to work.

Doh! It looks like one of those temporary "result of a search" links that exists for a short time but not long enough to be useful. Try:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.2647:

Basically, there's oodles of sections, and some of it is self-referential. A few will stand out as clearly being "that's a military function?". Others you have to dig a bit to find out what the real deal is. Sometimes, it smacks you in the face if you think about it. Today, I read something about how the Army Corps of Engineers' civil works failures make them liable for Katrina damage. Check out just how much of the USACE budget is for civil work vs. military work... it's non-trivial.

This fuck is another murdering jihadist and you libs will all be crying about what 'we' did wrong to cause this.

Jeezas y'all are sumpin.

Quick question Tahoe:

Are all muslims terrorists?

Quick question Tahoe:

Are all muslims terrorists?

You just fuckin surpased Mxy with his dumbass sentence.

You fuckin guys are...frankly the most prejudice peeps in the world.

Dude it's just a simple question.

If you don't wanna answer that's cool.

For YOU to ask the question says a lot about you.

WTF?

It's a simple question dude.

Yes or No answer.

Shit, just type Y or N if you want.

And I'm just bored - ain't no new replies on the NBA board so thought I'd come visit you. But if you're gonna cry about shit I'll just bail.

WTF?

It's a simple question dude.

Yes or No answer.

Shit, just type Y or N if you want.

And I'm just bored - ain't no new replies on the NBA board so thought I'd come visit you. But if you're gonna cry about shit I'll just bail.

Are you a fag, P?

Its a simple question.

Yes or No answer.

Shit, just type Y or N if you want.

No, I'm not a fag. But thanks for asking.

Since I answered your question are you gonna answer mine?

^ Are you sure?

I'm sure.

You still gonna cry and not answer my question?

Cry?

So you are saying you are not a fag?

I told ya I'm not a fag. I'm certain of that fact.

I also told ya I'd bail if you kept crying.

Catch ya next week, T.

I'm sure you'll be in here whining about the Libs

Tahoe, if you're looking for liberal dumbassery on this subject, try:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120545573


From what is publicly known about Maj. Nidal Hasan, accused killer of 13 in a rampage at Fort Hood, he had no accomplice — unless you count the Internet

Tahoe, don't piss off Pharaoh. You don't like the Scottish when they're mad.

jk, P. I still know you're from New Zealand.

And don't fuck with a Kiwi:

We'll throw phones at you

Russell Crowe is a kiwi

Formal negotiations in an effort to make a megafight between pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the first part of 2010 will open Monday

Knockout wants this done!!

'Sun-Maid girl' makeover sparks controversy
by Brett Michael Dykes
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
In the annals of advertising imagery, few brand symbols are more iconic and recognizable than the Sun-Maid raisin girl.


http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/fi/26/21/30.jpg
Nevertheless, Sun-Maid recently decided to join Betty Crocker, Aunt Jemima and Mrs. Butterworth's in giving the female face of their product a substantial makeover from a young, early 20th-century girl into a buxom, modern young woman, leading some to say that the newly made-over raisin girl looks like a Barbie Doll in Amish attire

Since 1915, the face of Sun-Maid has been Lorraine Collett Petersen, who, according to the company's website , "was discovered drying her black hair curls in the sunny backyard of her parents' home in Fresno, California." Petersen was then asked to pose for a watercolor painting holding a basket of grapes while wearing a sunbonnet. In the years since, the company has tweaked its trademark design occasionally to keep up with the times, but every variation has always been based on the original pose by Petersen. The new computer-animated version of the Sun-Maid girl currently featured in television advertisements is a departure from the classic design that harkened back to a time when "life was much simpler, more rural, a lot less hectic."


http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/fi/26/21/28.jpg

Naturally, the revamped look hasn't gone unnoticed, rankling both ends of the political spectrum. The blog for conservative magazine The Weekly Standard noted that the new Sun-Maid girl looks "as if Julia Roberts decided to don a red bonnet and start picking grapes," while the feminist website Jezebel.com remarked that it looks as if she's had “some implants.”

Though the new look for the raisin girl has been garnering attention of late, the changes to the 90-year-old icon were actually introduced three years ago. At the time, Sun-Maid president Barry Kriebel said that the decision to make changes was inspired by the desire to educate consumers about healthy living choices.

"This is as good a time as any to get on the wave of health and nutrition,'' he said. Kriebel also noted that he felt the new look was a reasonable modernization, saying "You're not going to see her dancing or kicking up her heels out in the vineyard, but have her do what is appropriate for her to do, based on her history but also being a contemporary person living in the 21st century.''

Additionally, there's been talk that the new Sun-Maid girl might be given a name and featured in future advertisements doing some of the things modern women typically do, like going to the gym, shopping at the market, and speaking multiple languages, particularly languages native to countries where Sun-Maid, the world's largest producer and processor of raisins and other dried fruits, sells raisins. However, the image on all Sun-Maid product packaging will remain the same, as the new version will only be featured in product advertisements.

The new Sun Made chick is hot. Not even worth "To hit it, or not to hit it." We would all hit it.

It's a much better sales pitch - who do you want eating raisins off your junk: the hot 18-year-old amish barbie, or some ancient bitch that hasn't had action since 1922?

Time to go buy some raisins...

mmmm, Amish Barbies

I wonder if there's Amish porn out there on the internets.

They just jack off to the Sun-Made picture.

^insensitive.

This is an event?

It's a momentous occasion. Quit being nit-picky and roll with it.

1 more post after this and the front page is my bitch

Hot raisin chicks.
http://images.southparkstudios.com/img/content/characters/170a.jpg

I was waiting for that.

Woke up to some snow on the ground. It'll be gone in a hour or so. We get snow here every 10-15 years. Supposed to be like mid friggin 20s tonight.