So apparently 'irresistible attraction' is now a recognizable defense to gender discrimination in Iowa.

In a 7-0 ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court this week held that an employer can legally terminate an employee seen to be a threat to the employer's marriage. The Court ruled that while it may be seen as unfair it doesn't constitute unlawful discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act because the firing was based on 'emotions'; not gender.

Basically this guy got wood so he shitcanned the female employee. "At-Will" apparently now means 'I-have-no-check-on-my-free-own-will-so-adios'.

This entire opinion seems to be a hotmess and I don't really see any good people in this fiasco. The employer, here a dentist James Knight, fired the dental assistant Melissa Nelson after ten years of employment when she started wearing 'tight clothing'. He said "if his pants were buldging, that was a sign her clothes were too revealing". Oh employment law...

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Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:54 PM | Comments (365)
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Just the tip. New Orleans Bowl already in play, East Carolina and LA Lafayette, 31 - 24 LAL in the third. Later the Maaco Bowl (remember when Earl Scheib would paint any car for $99.95?) Free polyurethane baby.

Washington and Boise St at 3:30pm.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 10:28 AM | Comments (158)
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Quite simply, it's easy to be a whiner and hard to be Speaker. Philip Klein explains:

Most people would agree that it’s unlikely that, for lack of a better term, an “establishment” member of the House GOP caucus would challenge Boehner. So any challenge is more likely to come from a conservative frustrated with his lack of progress on cutting spending. But right now, if you’re a conservative in the House, the current state of affairs is quite good with Boehner in charge — at least as far as your career is concerned. You get to blast any deal that gets struck, reiterating your support for lowering taxes, reducing spending and reforming entitlements — all of which burnishes your “true conservative” credentials. You get to go home to your constituents and attack back door Washington dealmaking. And if no deal gets struck and Republicans get blamed for any consequences that ensue, it’s Boehner that will absorb punishment as the public face of the party.

Klein has more at the link.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:21 AM | Comments (127)
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I still can't believe Obama and Democrats won this year when you see this stuff. 75 Economic Numbers From 2012 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe.

#3 According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”

Posted by: CDR M at 05:54 PM | Comments (476)
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The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating look inside the fiscal cliff negotiations.

I think it's supposed to be a pro-Boehner piece that shows he was willing to go the extra mile at every turn only to run into an immovable object...Barack Obama. That much is true but the image of Boehner either not realizing or not caring that he was trying to "negotiate" with someone who was only interested in accepting nis surrender is depressing.

Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn't reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were at fault.

At one point, according to notes taken by a participant, Mr. Boehner told the president, "I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?"

"You get nothing," the president said. "I get that for free."

After the election, Boehner aides tried to shape the debate by offering early concessions, including that the GOP would agree to raise new tax revenue. A speech Mr. Boehner planned to give was rewritten 18 times and included input from top Republican leaders.

So after being told his initial concession was a gift that Obama had no intent on reciprocating Boehner then prepares....ANOTHER CONCESSION? What world is this guy living in?

On Dec. 13, Mr. Boehner went to the White House at the president's request, joking he was going to the woodshed.

The president told him he could choose one of two doors. The first represented a big deal. If Mr. Boehner chose it, the president said, the country and financial markets would cheer. Door No. 2 represented a spike in interest rates and a global recession.

Mr. Boehner said he wanted a deal along the lines of what the two men had negotiated in the summer of 2011 in a fight over raising the debt ceiling. "You missed your opportunity on that," the president told him.

That night, the speaker and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) decided to make the biggest concession so far.

Two problems here.

First, once again Boehner is given an ultimatum by Obama and Boehner's (and Cantor's, don't forget that) reaction is to offer "the biggest concession" to date.

Look, I loathe Barack Obama but why would he put anything on the table if all he has to do is wait for Boehner and Cantor to cook up another unilateral concession? Obama is a lying SOB but he's not an idiot.

The bigger problem to me is the idea that Boehner "joked" (because this is soooo funny!) that he was going to "the woodshed".

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is a constitutional officer just like the President. Boehner heads one of the co-equal branches of government. If he is psychologically unprepared to meet the challenge of fulfilling his constitutional obligation to serve as a check and balance on the Executive, he needs to go.

This isn't the first time Boehner has shown he's simply not up to the task of dealing with the President.

Obviously Boehner or anyone in his spot is playing a very, very weak hand. Boehner however is playing it like he has no hand and is just giving Obama his chips a couple at a time.

What could Boehner do? Change the rules, play a different game. Not so much to win everything but to minimize his (our) loses.

He could start by ignoring Obama and dragging the Senate Democrats into this.

Pass the GOP's bottom line offer and when the Senate doesn't take it up, pass something else sightly less attractive to the Democrats. Rinse, lather, repeat. Make it clear not agreeing with them only makes things worse, not better.

And yes, the DMM will be on Obama's side. So make them cover things on your terms.

Make a stupid West Wing PR gesture and have Boehner walk over to the Senate and try and negotiate with Harry Reid in public. Brietbart one of his pressers if you have to.

Do something. And do it publicly. If people can't see it, it won't count because of the DMM.

When you're weak you have to try something different because by the accepted rules, you're weak.

Would something like that have worked? Who knows but it couldn't be any worse from a policy or PR position than we are now and this position was entirely foreseeable.

Added: I propose we start using "Boehner" as a verb: "To utterly and publicly screw up".

Andy has a great example.

The Jets really Boehnered that contract with Sanchez.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:36 AM | Comments (284)
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I actually like vegetables, but most dishes whose main ingredients are vegetables taste....fine. Not great, or even very good. For most people, foodgasms usually revolve around some protein/fat combination like a big grilled steak, or a fantastic burger with great toppings. But the protein ration has been increased from 150 grams/day to 120 grams/day, so making do with less has become quite pressing.

Ratatuille is a classic French dish with about 8,000 versions, but this one is the best I have tried, at least in part because the timing of the cooking ensures that each vegetable is cooked correctly, so the dish isn't a tasteless mush. So people who want a trip down memory lane to the slop they dished out in the middle school cafeteria will have to find another recipe.

I serve this over a big pile of rice, but it's great on its own too.

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Posted by: Open Blogger at 08:09 AM | Comments (69)
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Larry Correia, over at Monster Hunter Nation has written an excellent framework of the current gun control debate. Correia, a true firearms expert, takes a systematic, point by point approach in exploring all of the arguments being made by gun control advocates and refutes them with facts and common sense. It is a must read for anyone planning on discussing this issue intelligently with friends and relatives over Christmas dinner. H/T to Prof Reynolds at instapundit H/T to Bob Owens (on the sidebar) and a special H/T to AoSHQer Andy

So now that there is a new tragedy the president wants to have a “national conversation on guns”. Here’s the thing. Until this national conversation is willing to entertain allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons, then it isn’t a conversation at all, it is a lecture.

The single best way to respond to a mass shooter is with an immediate, violent response. The vast majority of the time, as soon as a mass shooter meets serious resistance, it bursts their fantasy world bubble. Then they kill themselves or surrender. This has happened over and over again.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:15 AM | Comments (192)
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If you haven't read this piece by 'Rex Harrison's Hat' in the sidebar yet, it's well worth your time.

Posted by: andy at 03:44 AM | Comments (157)
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This product was given a full 24 hours to deliver on its promises. We found the ads appealing and packaging ample, but the assembly instructions were lacking in critical details, and key parts were missing from the hardware package forcing us to make a midnight trip to Walmart to complete assembly.

Once assembled, the doomsday proved an impressive sight and was generously festooned with mesmerizing shiny things. We gazed at it for hours in this state of unactivated repose. It really was an impressive, albeit ominous and menacing, presence. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:48 PM | Comments (47)
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If there's one lesson from today's fiscal cliff debacle its that there's no avoiding the turd sandwich Obama voters have served up to us.

The only upside is that steamy meal is being served to America "family style." Sooner or later, these chumps are ALSO gonna get a nice juicy mouthful of what they've cooked up--they just don't know it yet.

And when they do? We'll be there--big, assholish grins on our gleeful, told-you-so faces.

Maybe it's already happened.

So what say you, Moron Horde? Are we gonna fight on this blog all day long or are we gonna toss back a few beers and share some stories about being absolute DICKS to liberals we know?

Weigh in. If you don't have a good story, tell me what you plan on saying when, say, your loudmouthed leftwing co-worker finds out his healthcare premiums are going up by 25%?

Or when his taxes go up after we go over the fiscal cliff.

Gimme your best, chowder heads. It's bad enough you regularly disappoint your spouses in bed. (They email me. Shame on you, Dave in Texas, for that trick you tried with your thumb.) Don't let down your fake internet friends, too.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 03:37 PM | Comments (360)
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