The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[SacTown Chronic]

That made me laugh, BTD. And for some reason, reminded me of the sign I saw at a rally that called marijuana users "masturbaters". I'm all like, How do they know I like to get high and arm wrestle my dick? Thought that was a secret.

[Gn2Dlnd]

From the AP:

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, shakes hands with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong before the gala dinner for APEC leaders in Singapore, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Were the waiters that slow?

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Awesomeness.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Holy hell. Y'all remember that hanged census worker in Kentucky? Seems he staged it all and hung himself!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34130128/ns/us_news-life/

[SacTown Chronic]

In other Kentucky news, that black fella found wrapped in chains at the bottom of a lake...authorities have concluded that he stole more chain than he could swim with.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by SacTown Chronic

In other Kentucky news, that black fella found wrapped in chains at the bottom of a lake...authorities have concluded that he stole more chain than he could swim with.

Great f*ck, that's funny!

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Holy hell. Y'all remember that hanged census worker in Kentucky? Seems he staged it all and hung himself!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34130128/ns/us_news-life/

I like when I end up looking smart, in this case for not jumping on the crucify Michelle Bachmann bandwagon (though she is, of course, thoroughly nuts).

Originally Posted by Me, back then

Not saying that was the reason, it [that he was killed to protect illicit drug/alcohol operations] just strikes me as equally likely (and there are many other possibilities) based on the currently available information as it being someone inspired by Michele Bachman's comments on the census itself.

Ultimately, unless there is direct evidence found one way or another, it may not be possible to assign one murder to one cause. And jumping to conclusions isn't particularly useful except as a rhetorical club. It is something to watch and investigate, of course.

And why is it that people who write on themselves to incite outrage in others can never seem to do it properly.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Holy hell. Y'all remember that hanged census worker in Kentucky? Seems he staged it all and hung himself!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34130128/ns/us_news-life/

Glad you posted this. Read that yesterday, came to post it and got distracted. I've spent a good part of today trying to remember what I was going to post yesterday.

[BarTopDancer]

Google apologizes for results of "Michelle Obama" image searches

For most of the past week, when someone typed "Michelle Obama" in the popular search engine Google, one of the first images that came up was a picture of the American first lady altered to resemble a monkey.

On Wednesday morning, the racially offensive image appeared to have been removed from any Google Image searches for "Michelle Obama."

Yet they did nothing about the images that came up with Bush as a monkey. Or is it different because Mrs. Obama is the First Lady and not POTUS?

[Alex]

Google has a history of modifying search results when people are intentionally manipulating things to distort results. If the Obama photo reached the top through such means then the action wouldn't necessarily be out of character.

Otherwise, my preference is that Google not tweak search results because somebody is unhappy about the results given.

It is true, though, that calling a black person a monkey has a racial connotation that calling a white person a monkey does not. The Bush comparisons were pretty clearly intended to call him stupid. Since I don't think there is anybody who calls either Obama stupid, I think that further highlights the reason that particular comparison was taken. So it could be argued that the photo is offensive in a different way and therefore different responses are not necessarily hypocritical.

It should be pointed out that while the photo is not returned with a simple Michelle Obama search, it can still be retrieved by other Google image searches.

But still, if the image reached the top organically then it should be left there. Google's algorithms are designed to figure out what people searching actually want and apparently (if it was organic) people want a racist image of Michelle Obama. This is always a problem, though, with automated dot-connecting, remember a few years back when Wal-Marts automated DVD recommending system included "Planet on the Apes" with searches for (I think) Martin Luther King.