YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!! (NSFW due to extreme male nudity)

there is a naked wizard. he gets tazed.

Naked Wizard Tased By Reality from Tracy Anderson on Vimeo.

Rasmussen Reports

Just 53% Say Capitalism Better Than Socialism

Thursday, April 09, 2009

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Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.

There is a partisan gap as well. Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism. As for those not affiliated with either major political party, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% opt for socialism.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls.) Rasmussen Reports updates also available on Twitter.

The question posed by Rasmussen Reports did not define either capitalism or socialism

It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a “free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.

Other survey data supports that notion. Rather than seeing large corporations as committed to free markets, two-out-of-three Americans believe that big government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

Fifteen percent (15%) of Americans say they prefer a government-managed economy, similar to the 20% support for socialism. Just 14% believe the federal government would do a better job running auto companies, and even fewer believe government would do a better job running financial firms.

Most Americans today hold views that can generally be defined as populist while only seven percent (7%) share the elitist views of the Political Class.

Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (it’s free)… let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.

Missed class/need notes

From the Daily Beacon

Hey guys,
I know this is annoying and really last minute, but due to a series of events completely and totally out of my control, I was forced to miss my column deadline this week. As a result, I don’t have a column to submit to my editor, and The Daily Beacon may fire me as a result.
Now I know you all are thinking that I’m one of those lazy and inconsiderate students who never does his work and then e-mails the class at the last minute looking for a handout, but I promise that I’m not. What happened was that my roommate spontaneously burst into flames while we were driving my mother to the hospital for my uncle’s funeral.
But it gets better, because as we were driving to the fire station to put him out (this is after I dropped my mother off at the hospital), I was abducted by aliens who erased all of my column ideas from my brain. Then I returned to Earth to discover that my car had been broken into. Luckily, they stole only my Beacon column notebook, while leaving my iPod, cell phone, wallet and stereo system intact.
Anyway, this is the first time I have missed a deadline EVER, and I was hoping that some kind soul would be willing to e-mail me their column or even some column notes. I would be more than happy to reciprocate by providing you with all of my old columns and column notes. I’d even be willing to pay you $10 for a good outline of some column material. Heck, any woman out there with some good column ideas and a love for Indian food and/or alien-abducted editorial columnists might even get a date out of this. (Not that it’s likely you’d want one.) The point I’m trying to make here is that I’m desperate, and would really, really, REALLY (you know what I mean) appreciate a little help from someone willing to do my work for me.
Also this might be a good time to mention that, what with the current rash of piracy on the high seas, I’m anticipating some delay on the return leg of my upcoming naval voyage to Somalia. This may indeed interfere with my ability to prepare a column for next week, but it will also prevent me from being able to prepare for (or even attend) my final in Economics 494: Economic Forecasting and Model Development.
If anyone is willing to prepare for and take my Econ 494 exam, that would be super awesome! Unfortunately, the professor checks our IDs after the exam, so I’ve attached a picture of myself (see left). If anyone has a similar facial structure (I’m more than willing to provide a wig and eye color-changing contacts), please let me know. I’d love to get you to sit in on that exam for me.
One more thing before I go. I happen to have come into the possession of a couple of pricey downtown condos just prior to the big housing bust. Now, however, I’m getting ready to leave Knoxville for good, and I really need to unload them before I do. I had planned to get rid of them under one of the new treasury bailout plans, but unfortunately it seems as if I’ve missed that filing deadline as well. (See above, re: spontaneous combustion, funeral and alien abduction.) Barring a federal bailout, I would love to get a few of you in to sublet, if you’re interested. Four bedroom, three bath, scenic downtown views.
Also I almost hesitate to ask, but I need a new kidney. Any volunteers?
Thanks! You guys are the best!
Michael

Nick Cage Movies

http://www.cracked.com/video_17253_only-cause-supported-by-every-movie-star-but-one.html

FAIL

Lady decides to jump in the polar bear pool for unknown reasons.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/11/polar.bear.attack/index.html

Best Song Ever

So many good memories of our high school days

Love you guys.

Shawn Johnson

Tbone knows what this guy is talking about

The Battle of London

For those of you who watch or read the news, you may know that this week London is hosting the G20 Summit. The G20 Summit is a meeting of the leaders of the world's twenty largest economies. President Obama and nineteen other heads of government are in London today and tomorrow to try and make sense of the current recession. As would be expected, this event has sparked lots of media attention and outrage from people who feel betrayed by banks and governments. Today, London's financial district was subject to a large-scale riot. I was fortunate enough (or unfortunate enough) to be there.

I arrived outside the Bank of England at approximately 2:30pm and joined a mostly peaceful protest. At the point that I arrived, the windows had already been smashed out of a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, one the main culprits behind Britain's economic crash. But that had happened two blocks up the road and the protest I joined was more like a party. The police had separated the protesters into two groups, one in front of the Bank of England, and one across the intersection where I was, as you can see in the photo. Fifteen minutes or so after I got there, the two groups grew tired of being manhandled by the police, and in a matter of seconds, both crowds crashed through the police lines, joining up in the middle. This left lots of very scared police officers isolated in the middle of the protesters, and they proceeded to punch their way out of the crowd.

At this point, the protesters had ejected all police out of a three block stretch of Queen Victoria Street leading up to the Bank of England. The ordinary police officers quickly donned riot gear and began to systematically cordon of the area so that no protesters could enter or leave. The east end of Queen Victoria Street was a full blown street party with music blaring and joints being passed. The west end, however, was fast turning into a battle zone as protesters tried to force their way through a police cordon in order to join up with another group of protesters. On the north side of the street is a branch of HSBC, a bank. All the bankers were trapped up in the building for fear that if they came out, they would be beaten by the mob. At one point, a group of bankers was watching the protest from the roof, and the crowd began to chant, 'Jump! Jump!' At one point during this stage, I took a photograph of a (I believe) very scared police officer.

After this went on for a few minutes, the riot police began to force us back up Queen Victoria towards the Bank of England. I believe they did this for two reasons, with the first being to separate us from the protesters on the outside of the cordon, and the second reason being that they wanted to clear us out from in front of HSBC so the bankers could leave in safety. Clad in full riot gear with shields and batons the police crashed into the protesters and steadily began to push us back up the street. At one point during this process, some protesters took a garbage bin and threw it over my head, crashing onto the helmets and shields of the riot police right in front of me. The police then reacted by charging the crowd and bloodying a few random people with their retractable batons. In retrospect, I can identify this as the point that the protest became violent and turned into a riot. The police kept pushing us, and we put up scattered resistance, but we were no match for their shields and batons.

The police pushed us back several hundred yards until we were in an intersection in front of the Bank of England. We were confined to an area maybe two hundred yards across. The area, shown in the first picture, consisted of a large seven-way intersection and a courtyard in front of the Bank of England. I tried to find a way out, not wanting to be trapped by the police, but every exit was blockaded by police in riot gear, as shown in the photo. I tried to talk a police officer into letting me and my friend Dani out, but to no avail We were trapped with an estimated 5,000 protesters.

There was sporadic clashing for the next few minutes, and as the violence waned, a carnival atmosphere took over. People began to dance in the street and play loud music, all the while vandalizing the sides of the banks exposed to us. Basically, the police held a cordon, and within that, anything was fair game. After being trapped in this smallish area for an hour and a half or two hours, the protesters grew quite restless.

On the south side of the Bank of England, a line of riot police held us up, and just a few yards behind them, another line of riot police held up another group of protesters. Both groups tried to break the police lines in order to join up, as had been done earlier in the day, but the police realized they would be in great danger if this happened, and became very violent in an effort to move us apart. I was near the front lines taking photos of police clashing with protesters when I heard several long whistle blasts from behind the police line. The riot police charged into us, beating people with their batons. As this happened, 8 to 10 officers on horses gallopped up behind the police line. Fearing I was about to be on the losing end of a cavalry charge, I and about a thousand other people ran like hell.

Realizing this line of riot police was not going to be defeated, the mob moved to the next exit, clashing with police there. I was standing near the front line again, as rioters began to move past me in pairs or threes, carrying 6 foot long metal barriers over there heads. Realizing what was about to happen, I put my camera away and tried to back up, but couldn't for the density of the crowd, so all I could do was mutter 'Oh fuck,' to my friend Dani. The rioters lined up just across from the police and proceeded to throw these heavy metal barricades into the police lines, no doubt causing some injuries to the police force. Naturally, the police responded in kind, launching the fiercest charge I had seen to this point. Dani and I turned to run with the crowd, but we were obstructed by some large debris on the ground. Dani began to fall, but I caught her underneath the elbows, keeping her from being stampeded. For the next couple seconds, we stumbled awkardly, trying our hardest not to fall. I looked over my shoulder for a brief second to see the police charging up my ass, beating the living shit out of anyone the could get their hands on. I was genuinely terrified at this point. Immediately following that, I snapped this picture of a guy who couldn't manage to get out of the way of the police charge.

After this episode, I went to a police officer on one of the lines, and made small talk with him. It turns out he's been to Tennessee several times and is quite interested in college football. He could tell I was a bit nervous, and I asked him kindly if Dani and I could leave, but he said he had orders (best excuse ever for treating other humans like shit) and that no one was allowed to leave. He told me the safest place to go was the middle of the courtyard in front of the Bank of England, seeing as this was as far from the police cordons as we could get.

Dani and I went and sat down in the middle of the courtyard. We were tired and began to look at photos I had taken so far. No sooner had we done this than the police launched a charge right into the courtyard, right where the officer had told me I'd be safe. Scrambling to our feet, we ran and climbed up onto an elevated flower bed, with the police closing in right behind us. To my surprise, the police proceeded to close in on us from all sides, closing all of the protesters into an impossibly small space in the intersection. A very tall police officer in riot gear told me to 'Go!' and I said 'Where the hell am I supposed to go? There's no room?' And he pointed at me, made a walking motion with his index and middle finger, then pointed over my shoulder. Stunned at this ridiculous gesture, I showed him one of my fingers, followed by a very polite 'Fuck you.'

As I made my way across the intersection, I saw a group of protesters burning a couple of mannequins dressed as bankers. I would have thought this was funny four hours ago, but at this point I was too tired and pissed off to care, not to mention the burning plastic smelled terrible. As I walked away from this scene, I saw some protesters begin to throw large pieces of flaming debris into the police lines. At this point, I was sitting on the street smoking a cigarette, wondering how long the police were going to hold us.

Around 8:30 pm, I was released after 6 hours. They released us five at a time to prevent us from regrouping and attacking the police from behind. I began the long walk home as the Tube was shut down in that part of town. As I sit and watch the news right now, I have just seen that a dead man was found outside of the Bank of England. I can only assume that he was a victim of one of the stampedes caused by the police charges. I don't really know how to wrap this up. All I can say is that the G20 will fail to produce any real solutions. Governments and financial institutions will continue to take advantage of other humans, and humans will continue to act violently towards one another. I saw things today that I won't forget for a long time. I'm glad I made it out with only couple bruises, particularly after hearing that a man died right where we were. I hope you guys find this interesting.