QUOTE (The Khaleesi @ Apr 16 2009, 00.26)

Jenny McCarthey

tailgaters

!!!!Bad coffee!!!!

Seconded. I like Jenny though. (though if she's done anything in the last 5+ years except look hot, I have no idea. So maybe she's become annoying lately)

For me?

Non-smokers
Anti-smokers
Smoking Taxes
Indoor smoking bans
Smoking lawsuits
Republicans
Talk radio
Fox News
People who listen to talk radio or watch Fox News
Pirates
States who refuse to blow up pirates
Creationists
Creationists who push transparent frauds like ID
Evil Creationists fuck who try to place ID in schools
Unfathomably stupid, moronic fucks who think ID in schools is a good idea
The current Pope
Abstinence only education
Theocratic dumbfucks who thinks abstinence only is a suitable policy for African Aid rather then a counter-productive disaster that kills thousands.
The Cubs
Cubs fans
Yuppies and Tourists who can't name 3 players yet insist on calling themselves Cubs fans
Boy Bands, except JT cause he's badass.
China
Russia
Japan
People who've never left their own country.
People who have no interest in ever leaving their own country.
Anyone who thinks basing a country or legal system on religious law is a good idea.
Kids
Loud, obnoxious kids in a restaurant.
Loud, obnoxious, or whining kids on a train.
Kids anywhere, at any time, whether loud/obnoxious or not.
People who look down on you as some sort of lesser person if you choose not to have kids.
People who presume that kids are necessary for everyone else's personal fulfillment.
Infomercials.
Infomercials that promise amazing wealth but almost always end up to be scams and frauds.
Mandatory minimums.
The Drug War
Anyone who thinks its a good idea to continue the drug war.
Censorship.
Anyone who advocates censorship in nearly any form.
The lack of tits on NBC.
The lack of hardcore penetration porn on HBO.
Bad acting.
People who don't recognize bad acting when they see it.
Bad writing.
See above.
Anyone who hasn't seen the Wire.
Anyone who hasn't read Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Anyone who tries to discuss policing, drug crime or urban decay without having seen the Wire.
Anyone who tries to discuss why we had ships and guns while others had sticks without having read Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Bigots.
Bigots who are too ignorant to know they're bigots.
Anyone who ever uses the statement 'Hey, but I've got black friends!' for any reason. (cause the reasons usually suck)
Government surveillance.
People who don't get pissed off by government surveillance.
The History channel when they give undue credibility to fringe or nonsensical theories.
The history channel when they cover WW2, Hitler, Egypt, or any of the most popular eras of Rome.
The History channel for not adequately covering the countless other less popular regions and periods of history.
The Military channel when they top 10 rank weapons systems without exposing most of the flaws and without meaningful comparisons to other contemporary performers out there.
People who don't like good beer.
People who call BudMillerCoors beer.
Europeans who knock American beer without having tried any of the good stuff.

Just a partial list, I might add more later.

QUOTE (Triskele @ Apr 16 2009, 00.52)

I think the thread has been redefined. And for the better. For the record, I've seen the Wire and read Guns, Germs, and Steel. And I fucking hate Cubs and Cubs fans.

Three questions. What are your favorite beers? Are you female? And are you hot?

QUOTE (Lord O' Bones @ Apr 16 2009, 01.04)

Sorry dude, I walk 30-45 minutes to the bar. I'm not giving up my talk radio.

Sports talk is fine. Anything within shouting distance of Hannity or Rush isn't.

QUOTE (Lord O' Bones @ Apr 16 2009, 01.13)

I can't do sports talk during basketball season. I'm a hockey fan so all I hear is blahblahbasketballblahblah. So it's either the Giants/Sharks game or news talk right now. But..

Occasionally one of the hosts tries to insert 5 minutes of Hockey into my football/baseball hour...my eyes glaze over and I switch to the other 24/7 sports network. I will respect Hockey's right to be covered and discussed the moment any of them actually cover or discuss boxing.

QUOTE (Lord O' Bones @ Apr 16 2009, 01.13)

I listen to KGO out of San Francisco. There isn't anything within cruise missile range of Rush or Hannity.

Fair enough. I tend to lump all talk radio into one category cause, quite frankly, most places I've been don't offer anything but sports and Hannity/Limbaugh/Beck/etc.

QUOTE (Stubby @ Apr 16 2009, 01.24)

Makes the Crash Davis speech from Bull Durham look undecided.

Heh...that was a great speech.

QUOTE (Triskele @ Apr 16 2009, 01.13)

But we can still have a cub-hating and intelligent design-hating relationship.

I'm game.

QUOTE (Triskele @ Apr 16 2009, 01.13)

Question #1: Deschutes Brewery's "Mirror Pond."

Don't think they ship out there, but some respectable ratings on BA for the brewery generally. I also give bonus points to any brewery that uses a Hop pun, no matter how played out it gets. (Deschutes apparently as one called "Hopicide", ooo, and Hophenge...groovy.) Mirror pond, pale ale, lets check it out.

QUOTE

4.5/5 A better version of Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale. Extremely high drinkability and perfect amount of hops, does not overload it as a lot of these West Coast beers are apt to. I wish I could easily find this back on the East Coast as it's my favorite example of an APA.

4.35/5 Served in a pint glass at Cap Hansens bar in Bellingham, WA. Poured a beautiful, clear, light amber color with an inch of white head.

A solid, but not sweet, malt scent reaches the nose carrying the the subtle and solid floral hop aromas. The flavors follow the scent, as expected. An extremely well balanced beer, this does not fall into the trap of trying to be an IPA-Lite. Enjoyably smooth and tasty, this beer is a reliable companion for most situations.

Worth seeking out, this should be considered a solid go-to beer, suitable for quenching thirst after yard work or introducing someone to the world of craft beer.

3.9/5: Pours out a pale orange amber color with a bubbly 2 finger deep white topped head.

Smells grainy, sweet, caramel, hoppy, piney, tropical. Like a good pale should.

Light sweet maltiness, caramel, toasted grain, piney hoppiness, nicely balanced.

Light to medium bodied, nicely carbonated, smooth, lingering hoppiness.

Great sessionable pale. Doesn't knock your socks off. Awesome deal at $6.99 a sixer on sale.

3.5/5: Translucent tangerine color with a frothy off-white head. Pulpy, unripe grapefruit aroma with a little bit of caramel and a little pale malt. Flavor is pale malty with grapefruit drupelets and some light esters. Maybe even a hint of cantaloupe rind? Biscuity malt rather than the more typical (and tasty) caramel flavor in most pale ales. Mouthfeel is medium-light with an understated carbonation that makes for a smooth sip. High drinkability but low complexity and a little too weak in all areas.

Overall rating: 3.91/5.

Editor's rating: 4.15 Presentation: 12 oz brown with a simple yet inviting label, purchase before date clearly marked.

Appearance: A thin bubbly white lace adorns the top of this tarnished golden coloured brew, it has a faint chill haze also.

Smell: Obvious cascade hop aromas ... fruity/citrusy with very mild esters.

Taste: Smooth with a medium body, semi crisp malt(a bit bready) of sweetness and grain are the forefront. Then quickly comes a flare of fruit and ester that goes hand and hand with the very flavourful cascade slightly pungent hop bitterness and flavour ... the hop flavour has a sweet citric taste. A fair amount of residual sugars are left in the aftertaste and slowly let way for a drying finish of grain and hop oil.

Notes: A great pale a to be had here, any hop head would be pleased and if you love cascade hops this is your ale! This makes for a great lunch time brew.

Sounds like a good brewery, I'll have to check it out.

QUOTE (Ser Scot A Ellison @ Apr 16 2009, 11.08)

What's wrong with well behaved children?

Skin cancer may be better then lung cancer, but its still fricken cancer.

QUOTE (Ser Scot A Ellison @ Apr 16 2009, 11.08)

What's wrong with people who don't smoke and don't care whether or not you smoke?

I subsidize your ass and you haven't paid me back yet. Nor taken up arms to get me my money or rights back. Nor advocated that someone should take up arms for those moneys and rights. Nor stated that we should be hypothetically entitled to secede in order to bring back and preserve those moneys and rights. And you haven't said thank you.

QUOTE (Ser Scot A Ellison @ Apr 16 2009, 11.08)

I've read _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ (I'm working on _Collapse_). My favorite beer is Chimay Red Label, I rather liked the Sam Adams Winter Ale, I drink Yuengling Lager for everyday consumption. I'm a Red Sox fan but wouldn't mind seeing the Cubs win the World Series, their due.

Good stuff until the Red Sox. Almost as infuriating as Cubs fans. Winning has made Red Sox fans even more obnoxious then Yankees fans.

QUOTE (Lyanna Stark @ Apr 16 2009, 11.13)

Because once you got dirt in your eye while walking past and EHK thought you looked at him reproachfully while he stood there smoking.

He did. I saw it! I've got pictures!!

QUOTE (ldygrffn @ Apr 16 2009, 04.36)

Deschutes Brewery is absolutely fabulous, definitely try it, yum, though as a non-pale person, Mirror Pond is not my favorite. I really love the Rogue Brewery, though my favorite NW brewery is Bridgeport. Whatever.

Also a Rogue fan. Can't go wrong with a Shakespeare stout or Dead Guy ale.

QUOTE (CiaranAnnrach @ Apr 16 2009, 11.28)

Also, is it just Japan that pisses you off, or do people who like Japan and Japanese history/culture count too? If so I should add that to the list.

I hate Japan's whitewashing of its WW2 history. The rampant racism that pervades its culture. Its repressed outward culture. And I'm more then a bit disturbed by the wacked out perversions that repression seems to inspire. (watch some Japanese porn some time. Real or animated, most of it amounts to one variation or another of pretend child rape. And the other half is eels, tentacles, bukkake, or worse)

I also can't stand anime generally, nor its mass infiltration of kids programming since the success of Pokemon.

QUOTE (ldygrffn @ Apr 16 2009, 20.06)

eh, that's not quite fair. when all of your friends are at a smoking bar, you either go to said bar and hang out with your friends, or sit at home and think about what a good time all of your friends are having. as a smoker, i have never had to worry about this, but before the smoking ban here, it was a complaint i heard from non-smoking friends, and, IMO, it was valid.

Then that person should consider new friends if its a big enough deal. Not my problem, your problem, the business owner's problem, and it sure as fuck shouldn't be the state's problem.

QUOTE (CiaranAnnrach @ Apr 16 2009, 15.10)

That's almost like demanding people who don't drink to go say "thank you" to alcoholics for their contributions via sin tax.

When alcoholics pay $50 for a $5 bottle of rotgut run, then they can compare their 'sin taxes' to mine. How many state budgets are we saving each and every damned year? 'Well, we've got a budget shortfall...do we raise property tax 2%? Sales tax 1%? I know, another dollar per pack on cigarettes! Fuck the smokers!' Everyone's in favor of passing the buck and because smokers have such a pariah status (created in part by an anti-smoker smear campaign funded by our tax dollars. That's right, I'm paying for the state to insult and degrade me. Joy.) along with the fact that most of them feel guilty about it in the first place, noone raises a big fuss. God forbid we actually pass the costs of running society onto the actual fucking society. So yes, I expect a thank you. Unless you can find some other product that's taxed at near the level of cigarettes, or another perfectly legal behavior that's as marginalized and ostracized as smoking?

QUOTE (Myshkin @ Apr 17 2009, 07.42)

I'm Catholic, so that makes me a creationist, but at least I'm not one of those crazy fundies

Eh...Catholic doesn't equal creationist. Last time I checked, the Catholic church was fine with evolution. I do tend to identify creationist with crazy-fundy though. Sorry man, but its an inexcusably, indefensibly ignorant belief. God may not be contradicted by mountains of available evidence, but creationism sure as hell is. (not to mention being supported by nothing)

QUOTE (Myshkin @ Apr 16 2009, 22.01)

Well, I guess I'm really not a creationist, since I do believe in evolution. Me and old JP II saw eye to eye on the matter.

Guess we were talking about two different things then.

QUOTE (The Khaleesi @ Apr 16 2009, 23.00)

Jenny McCarthy is responsible for many, many people not vaccinating their children through her ignorant scaremongering about the MMR vaccine.

But she's hot. Side note: what fucking people in their right mind would take parenting advice from Jenny McCarthy? Do they get similar tips Brittney spears? Weight loss advice from the anorexic Olsen twin? Etiquette advice from the Donner family? How to keep a man by Jenifer Aniston? Need to get over this whole cult of celebrity thing.

QUOTE (CiaranAnnrach @ Apr 17 2009, 09.46)

Yes, the magnitude of the tax is different,

And when the magnitude is so fucking severe and there's nothing legal that's even remotely close in human existence to that severity, all the rest of the 'comparisons' don't deserve a moment's consideration. Find me something, ANYTHING else that's taxed at even 100% and then we'll talk. But while cigarettes are taxed at 1,000% in some states, I will continue to laugh off anything you or anyone else tries to pigeonhole in the same category. Because there is nothing near the category. Smokers are being fucked like noone else whose behavior is still legal. There is nothing else close.

QUOTE (CiaranAnnrach @ Apr 17 2009, 09.46)

but they are the same in intent - people who choose to partake in that product have to pay that sin tax, whereas people who choose not to partake in that product don't have to. The choice is also a selfish choice, because you sure as hell don't get drunk or light up a cigarette with the intention of supporting the government.

Yes I choose to smoke. People choose to eat big macs, but noone demands that they pay $10 dollars per bite of one. I'll gladly pay a sin tax. But I get a pissed off by a smack you in the face, kick you in the nuts, throw you to the ground, mug you to cover the budget, curbstomp you repeatedly with a baseball bat and let the dogs tear apart your corpse tax. Cause where I'm sitting, no other legal product, no matter how harmful it is, gets near that kind of treatment.

QUOTE (CiaranAnnrach @ Apr 17 2009, 09.46)

So bare your fangs at the Obama administration and your state government, and leave us nonsmokers out of it. We didn't get a say in the tax anymore than you did. It was by your own decision that you came to start smoking, don't hate us for making a different choice than you. And sure as hell don't expect a "thank you" for your own selfish actions, unless you decided to start smoking purely so that you could pay additional taxes so we wouldn't have to.

Fuck yeah you got a say. You get a say in every godamned state budget when someone even WHISPERS the word property/sales tax hike. Everyone starts shouting and screaming like decapitated chickens under falling skies. Then they add another dollar to cigarettes instead, everyone else breaths a sigh of relief that the cost of running society has been dumped off on to social undesirables, and goes about their day.

And who gives a fuck about the motivation behind my actions? They're irrelevant. The fact is though, I PAY FOR YOU. I pay for you and countless other non-smokers because not a single one of you is willing to shoulder their share of the cost of running society. They enjoy passing it off upon others. And not others who have benefited more from what society offers and are in a better financial position to contribute (aka, the wealthy), but ordinary people from all walks of life that 10 years of slander, propaganda, and ostracization has rendered social pariahs.

QUOTE (CiaranAnnrach @ Apr 17 2009, 09.46)

The smoking indoor thing, though, is also kinda asinine, considering there are quite a few people with asthma who can not be around smoke without it acting up. It's a health concern, plain and simple. Bars, yeah sure, nobody has to go to a bar, but you can't say the same about banks, government buildings, and stores. And if it wasn't for the whole asthma/health thing, I would probably be more sympathetic.

If you don't like the smell of smoke, don't like the hypothetical (I don't think people are getting cancer from a few hours a week at the bars...could be wrong) health effects of limited exposure, or if you have asthma (one would hope you moved out of the city before targeting smokers, but whatever) or other breathing problems there is a very simple solution: Don't go where there's smoke. Even before this most recent spate of kneejerk nanny-statism, smoking was banished from every indoor public place but restaurants, bars, and casinos. Every restaurant had a non-smoking section and many were going full non-smoking before the states even got involved. So just about every other place on the continent, non-smoking. 98% of the jobs out there, non-smoking environment.

So really the only remaining issue is bars. And since smokers go out as a higher percentage then non-smokers (and tip better), since even alot of non-smokers smoke while drinking, and since one smoking friend can get a group of 5 otherwise non-smokers to go to the smoking bar, there's very little market for non-smoking bars. I'm not going to say 'don't go to bars', since I like em and they're pretty much the nexus of most adult social interaction outside of work. But there are solutions that needn't involve fucking the smoker. In particular, the state fucking the smoker. Which they've been doing for more then a decade with the tacit approval of non-smokers everywhere. I'd prefer to let the market sort it out, but the market would fuck non-smokers in this case, so I'm trying to be fair.

Municipality (or county-wide, whatever) based smoking licenses. Available for bidding by bars and clubs, but only in limited numbers. Say...enough for 1/4th of the drinking establishments out there. That way smokers have a place, non-smokers have tons of places, noone gets fucked, and we have a HUGE new source of tax revenue cause these bars would pay through the nose for that shit. For metro areas with enough options, the percentage of smoking licenses can be subdivided across region, across bar type (so you can have smoking pubs as well instead of pricey nightclubs buying up all the licenses), etc. Its a great fucking solution.

But noone ever considers it because the goose-stepping, fascist do-gooder fucks at the American Lung Association (sponsors of nearly every anti-smoking initiative in the nation) and their other freedom-hating cronies, along with their paternalistic, nanny-state loving government operatives DON'T GIVE A FUCK about fairness or free choice. So fuck them. Fuck state, local, and federal governments. Fuck you and every other non-smoker out there. Fuck everyone.

QUOTE (Red Templar @ Apr 17 2009, 11.52)

Do you have an aresenal of these you save and just cut and paste when the situation arises, or do you write new ones each time?

That'd actually be a damned good idea, but unfortunately I type it out fresh each time. Then again, I've written so damned many of them, its not like there's much work or thought involved anymore. I've got most of this shit memorized.

EHK said and Phrosty said.

1 Yes I choose to smoke. People choose to eat big macs.

I never understood big macs or smoking, never.

2 But noone demands that they pay $10 dollars per bite of one. I'll gladly pay a sin tax.

No you would not, you would complain about that also.

3 But I get a pissed off by a smack you in the face, kick you in the nuts, throw you to the ground, mug you to cover the budget.

I recall you saying a few yrs back all you had was 238.16 in your checking acct – eventually society will pay for your cancered out lungs in one way or another.

4 Cause where I'm sitting, no other legal product, no matter how harmful it is, gets near that kind of treatment.

4A It is debatable – it alcohol/nictoine or drugs cause more health issues or not.

5 Everyone starts shouting and screaming like decapitated chickens under falling skies.

Chickens without heads can’t scream or talk – with heads they can’t speak Enlglish.

6 The fact is though, I PAY FOR YOU. I pay for you and countless other non-smokers because not a single one of you is willing to shoulder their share of the cost of running society.

SEE SECTION 3.

7 Every restaurant had a non-smoking section and many were going full non-smoking before the states even got involved. So just about every other place on the continent, non-smoking. 98% of the jobs out there, non-smoking environment. So really the only remaining issue is bars.

I don’t want the one place I can relax to be polluted with smoke.

8 I'm not going to say 'don't go to bars.

That is what your are implying we do, no?

9 Space for rent. :)

10 But noone ever considers it because the goose-stepping, fascist do-gooder fucks at the American Lung Association (sponsors of nearly every anti-smoking initiative in the nation) and their other freedom-hating cronies, along with their paternalistic, nanny-state loving government operatives.

Okay so turn a decent idea of taxing a terrible habit into a Nazi – facist idea – very drama queenish.

Don't you know how to use the quote button, or bolds, or italics, or any other damned way to distinguish your lines from mine? Or how to group various points together into...what did they call that thing...a paragraph? Not this single line, followed by single line shit for 3 pages. Seriously man, at the moment...your post is a bit unreadable. And I'm not inclined to bother. Really, I stopped seriously arguing this issue years ago. I just rant about it now.

QUOTE (BuckShotBill @ Apr 17 2009, 13.24)

People that spell 'a lot' as one word

Fuck you. Alot.

Seriously though, I know its technically incorrect. The red line pops up under it when I type it to tell me its wrong. But I just don't care. 'a lot' just looks wrong. Half the time I have the feeling that its gonna be read wrong. 'Alot' looks write, feels right, and its damned near common usage, so can we call it a natural evolution of the English language at this point and mark it as a correct spelling?

QUOTE (BuckShotBill @ Apr 17 2009, 13.54)

Common? How many published documents have you seen use "alot"?

To me it just looks like you don't know how to spell.

I use it everywhere. (I of course don't publish alot) I see it alot. Everyone gets the point pretty easily. It looks better, reads more smoothly. I think that's enough.

QUOTE (Teri @ Apr 17 2009, 14.13)

It isn't one of my gripes, but I do wonder how "alot" could come to look more right to you than "a lot", since the latter is seen in print much more often than the misspelling, by orders of magnitude. So surely you've seen the correct spelling a lot more often than the incorrect one. And it's entirely parallel to constructions like "a bunch" or "a great deal".

I skipped over alot of High School English. Went straight to the advanced then AP versions. In those higher courses it was presumed that you already knew the proper grammatical rules and thus didn't teach them. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was never explicitly taught most of them. I just glanced at a sentence and the shit would either look right or it didn't. Oddly enough, that tactic usually worked very well. (I know I get sloppy with alot of typos at times, but that's usually due to lack of proof-reading/lack of sleep rather then ignorance of proper spelling/grammar) So I apply that to most of the things I write. Usually its correct, but there are a few repetitive mistakes I make through force of (bad) habit that, even when I know I'm incorrect, I'm too stubborn to change.

QUOTE (Teri @ Apr 17 2009, 14.13)

How do you feel about "a whole lot"?

I use that alot too.

My main grammar/spelling pet peeve is fucking up their/there/they're.

QUOTE (crannoggirl @ Apr 17 2009, 16.15)

Nah, they have just as many if not more costly and drawn out medical issues. They just pay into the system for less long so contribute less to paying their bills. However, I'm with EHK that obese people are probably as bad if not worse about costing tons of money with medical issues. So although I think cigarettes should be taxed, taxing them to such an extreme amount is probably unfair.

Eh...most smokers do make it into retirement age, so they typically pay into the system just as much as others. But they don't collect near as much on Social Security, long term nursing home care so common with the elderly, nor the extensive prescription drug regimes popular with geriatrics. Its not hard to find studies that suggest they're a net societal benefit costwise before we even factor in absurd cigarette taxes.

QUOTE (Yerman @ Apr 20 2009, 17.36)

People who do their utmost to make themselves appear smarter than you are, whether it's comparing test scores, debating every f**king thing you say, or asking your political views (no, I don't know much that guy's policies, and I don't know if I'll vote. Huh, that makes me stupid? Well fuck you, I'm perfectly happy to go through life with my eyes shut, a finger up my nose and the other hand on my penis!)

People who say things so absurd, irrational and ignorant it makes my head explode, yet get pissy when I call them on their idiocy. Not saying this applies to you since I don't know you, but sometimes there's a reason people debate what another person says. They want to avoid cranial combustion.

Others who piss me off, ordered from bad to worst:

People who have political views but can't rationally justify them.
People who don't have political views.
People who don't have political views and take pride in that fact.
People who don't give a shit about political views and don't think they're important.
People who don't give a shit about political views, don't think they're important, get pissy at other people who have them/express them, and wear their own apathetic disengagement as a badge of honor.
Terrorists.
Child molesters.
Republicans.
Non-smokers.

QUOTE (EnlightenmentHK @ Apr 21 2009, 07.37)

Terrorists. Child molesters. Republicans.

Redundancy.