I always love the way left-wingers talk about 'self-interest' as though it's a disease they're somehow immune from. When in reality, most of the left-wingers I've known in life based almost every action on self-interest, especially when it came to their money. The few who didn't were priests and nuns.

As for the connection between socialism and upper body strength, it's probably because famine and starvation tend to emaciate a man.

Somehow I managed to see Bulworth in the 90s despite living on the other side of the world. Maybe it appealed more to non-US audiences. Kind of a bad comedy version of Network for politicians, if I remember right.

Be careful about wanting anyone to go Full Bulworth though -- don't want to spoil the plot too much but it doesn't, er, end well for the main character.

It's an insult to the genius of Alfred E. Neuman!  ;)

The only reason liberals don't burn books more often is the bonfires tend to release unimaginable amounts of soot and CO2 into the atmosphere. 

Well he tried Arab Palestinian technology instead, but found it to be a little... unstable.

Prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty. Why bother with that whole process? Couldn't they just late-term abort him?

driven more by shame than alacrity

I'm going to try and use this phrase at least five times this week. Attributed, of course.

Ironically (or not) the city it's celebrating, Canberra, is also a bloated, unwanted, unnecessary, over-funded misery of a place that everyone loathes.

This is precisely the result of unchecked government arts funding. Embodied, emboobed, inflated and lofted high for all to see. So in a way I'm glad it exists, as a symbol of its own ridiculousness so obvious it doesn't need us on the right to point it out.

And believe it or not I've long been a fan of Patricia Piccinini (the artist). Her work is challenging and often fascinating. But it's often not pretty and belongs in galleries where it can be appreciated by those who want to see it, not enlarged to gigantic proportions for the general public at a festival and paid for by unwilling taxpayers to the tune of half a million bucks.

The Roman Empire is probably a better analogy. They had problems with their currency in the end too.

Why is this woman still walking the streets? Anyone else who obtains income and property through deceptive means is tried for fraud and put behind bars. Avoid your taxes for a few years and you'll do time even if you pay it back -- yet psychics are out there ripping people off and ruining lives without fear of the law. 

I'll confess I was merely a conservative-curious lefty before I got married and had my first child, with those two events confirming my ultimate conversion. So purely anecdotally, there is definitely something to the theory.

But then Peter Thiel is gay and is probably one of the most future-focussed libertarian activists around today. Don't think he has any kids of his own.

Usually the more operatic the threat, the greater the unlikeliness to follow through on said threat (unless you're Inigo Montoya, and even he got lucky). 

Yeah, that's exactly what I had in mind.

The whole point of this gun is you only need to fire it once -- to shoot the guy whose gun you need instead. It's not supposed to be a general purpose weapon; more like a last-resort emergency device.

I doubt either Canada or Australia would want to join the US wholesale, though I'd say each country has at least one or two states/provinces who'd at least think about it, if it were a serious option. Probably would depend on their respective governments at the time.