Recent Comments

1. 2 minutes ago on Non Sequitur

    It’s all what the market allows.

   And isn’t that generally true of almost everything?

2. about 4 hours ago on Frazz

    The ALA pushes for certain things, but they don’t look much at who is doing the most to control which books are available for free (with public funding) — the librarians themselves. It makes me think they’re not so upset about people saying some books shouldn’t be on “their” shelves (or merely not in the children’s section), as they are upset that somebody ELSE is making the decision.

   I have never in my entire life encountered a librarian who favored fewer books instead of more. I defy you to find me one!

3. about 4 hours ago on Non Sequitur

    Involuntarily taking someone’s money is a definition of theft.

   Then, using your standard, to answer your own earlier question about “what amount of taxation does it take to constitute theft?”, the answer would be 1¢. Congratulations on your enlightened approach to democracy.

   You will not be surprised that I intend to stick to my earlier contention that the definition of theft depends not on the amount involved but in who’s doing the taking. However, I’m not expecting you to take my word for it, but perhaps Merriam-Webster’s will prove more persuasive (emphasis supplied):

    theft n. 1 a : the act of stealing specifically : the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it

   b : an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property

4. about 4 hours ago on Non Sequitur

    Making anything cheaper is not gonna happen.

   Gasoline?

5. about 4 hours ago on Non Sequitur

    I really wish you fools would realize that Jesus never existed

   I actually subscribe to a different hypothesis: the multi-Jesus one. In the absence of any real evidence, how many people were the models for the Biblical character of Jesus? We’re stuck with probabilities, which I place at:

   0 — 15%

   1 — 35%

   2 or more — 50%

   Supporting the 3rd hypothesis are anomalies such as “the Nazarene” being born in Bethlehem (a conflation of the divine-savior and political-savior traditions); dueling genealogies in Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38; the “Prince of Peace” stating “I come to bring not peace but a sword” and trashing the money-changer tables in the temple; the friend of the common people also recommending that “these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and slaughter them in my presence”; the same guy who said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” supposedly also saying “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”, thus creating the ongoing controversy over whether man is saved by works or grace; and the bringer of a new covenant claiming to uphold “every jot and tittle” of the old one.

   These differences are what we’d expect if two or more itinerant preachers — probably illiterate themselves and certainly working in an illiterate society — were each delivering somewhat different messages, and word-of-mouth transmission confused who said what, much the same way as modern people will attribute quotations of unknown origin to William Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, or George Carlin.

6. about 4 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   Don’t you get a bang out of people who write “U blathering moor on” and then assert it’s other people who are uneducated?

7. about 4 hours ago on Monty

   There was a convention for brewers and brew masters from around the world attended. At the end of the convention a few of the brew masters decided to head to the local tavern together. They arrived and once seated at the bar, the bartender came around to take their orders.

   The first to order was the brew master from Budweiser. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have the king of beers! One Budweiser, please.”

   The second was the brew master from Coors. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have the only beer brewed with pure Rocky Mountain spring water! One Coors, please.”

   The third was the brew master from Miller. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have the champagne of bottled beers! One Miller, please.”

   The fourth was the brew master from Guinness. He tells the bartender, “I’ll have a Coke.”

   The other brew masters look at him astonished. “Aren’t you going to order a Guinness?” one of them asks.

   The brew master from Guinness replies, “I figured if none of you were going to drink beer, I wouldn’t either.”

8. about 4 hours ago on La Cucaracha

    Germany 1945 • Postmortem

   — From Pastor Martin Niemoeller

   They first came for the Communists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

   Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

   Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

   Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

   Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.

    USA 2025 • Premortem

   They first came for the illegal immigrants and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t an illegal immigrant.

   Then they came for the liberal media and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a media person, let alone a liberal.

   [rest of the story remains to be written]

9. about 4 hours ago on La Cucaracha

   I’ve long been astonished that Christians can claim with a straight face that, yes, the Yahweh of the Old Testament was a petty, vengeful, murderous jerk, but that everything was set right by Jesus (according to the fanfic of his most devoted followers, known as the New Testament). But that’s got it exactly backwards.

   Sure, if you did something that pïssed off the easily irritated Yahweh, he’d smite you where you stood, plus your family and half the innocent bystanders in the surrounding county as collateral damage. But that was it. Dead. Done. Finito. Period. Game Over. Sayonara. Hasta la vista. It wasn’t until Jesus came along that they invented the concept of “No no no, my friend, we’re gonna fry your sorry äss forever! And not just for the actions you actually performed but for some of those naughty little thots you’ve been having!”

   Think about it. Which of these 2 arrogant, flaming sadists was actually worse?

10. about 4 hours ago on In the Bleachers

    92% of life’s little problems can be fixed with either duct tape or WD-40!