You have to check out the demon sheep ad! that was amazing! It was like a commercial you'd see in the background of a show like battlestar galactica or something. it is so bizarre that I actually like it

Matt Lewis is absolutely correct. Austin, Texas is awesome. If you haven't been, then you're missing out.

Quoting popcorn_karate: You have to check out the demon sheep ad!

that was amazing! It was like a commercial you'd see in the background of a show like battlestar galactica or something.

it is so bizarre that I actually like it

Anyone who hasn't seen it: go here. Follow-up coverage here, featuring my new favorite animated GIF, "2:26: Never Forget."

Quoting messwithtexas: Matt Lewis is absolutely correct. Austin, Texas is awesome. If you haven't been, then you're missing out.

he's right its awesome, he's wrong to include it in the "South".
Austin recipe: start with the South then 1) toss in an extra 20 I.Q. points 2) strain and remove 75% of the bible thumping 3) add in copious amounts of bongos, aged hippies, and creativity. its less tea-baggy than most parts of Oregon.

Anyone who wants to lump Austin in with the South, should check out this map of the vote results when they added a gay marriage ban to our state constitution. Austin is the Green county in the middle (Travis County).

Quoting messwithtexas: Anyone who wants to lump Austin in with the South, should check out this map of the vote results when they added a gay marriage ban to our state constitution. Austin is the Green county in the middle (Travis County).

You all should rename your city IOS (Island Of Sanity).

Is Houston, TX in the "South"? Has Austin, TX ever had a gay mayor at all like Houston? Why is Austin less racially diverse than Houston? Are there signs outside of Austin that say colored folk keep out? Austin is about as white as Sweden. Austin is like a cowboy'd up Ikea with lots of live music.

Austin is like a cowboy'd up Ikea with lots of live music.

The most glaring thing about Austin that I remember was that they beat even Santa Fe and Sedona in the amount of fake cowboys and granola heads. But speaking of music, it's a shame that people can no longer experience WAHQ, a great place where hippies and rednecks put aside their hate for and ignorance of each other (as well as the ignorant sort of absolutes uttered by the clique in some of the posts above - IQ and creativity have nothing to do with political persuasion), co-mingled and got along in their love for great music.

I invite Bill to come to Idaho (my part-time home) and see how many ranchers, farmers and contractors drive 4-door pickup trucks. They allow you to carry your family, friends or crew while still "hauling cargo" in the bed, be it seed, straw or sheet-rock. And don't forget Bill to look for the universal howdy sign for when you pass another pickup on a lonely western road, a raised index finger at the top of the steering wheel.

Quoting bjkeefe: You all should rename your city IOS (Island Of Sanity).

Maybe a better name would be IOD In a recent study Austin was ranked number five out of the 100 largest American cities (and received an F) for drunkedness factor. The rating was based on such things as: "death rates from alcoholic liver disease, booze-fueled car crashes, frequency of binge-drinking in the past month, number of DUI arrests, and severity of DUI penalties."

Harkin, I am quite sure you know better than me what actual ranchers drive, so forgive me for an ignorant, imprecise comment. But Scott Brown is not a rancher, or a farmer or a contractor for that matter. He's a lawyer. He owns five properties. That doesn't disqualify him for higher office. But to parade around the mere fact that he drives a truck -- he practically based his whole campaign on it -- as if that alone proves he is just a regular working stiff, I find completely fake. I would think if I was a person who drove a truck because his livelihood depended on it, I'd be even more offended.

But to parade around the mere fact that he drives a truck -- he practically based his whole campaign on it -- as if that alone proves he is just a regular working stiff, I find completely fake. I would think if I was a person who drove a truck because his livelihood depended on it, I'd be even more offended.

The whole cast of costumed politicians begin to look like The Village People after a while: The Community Organizer (in-chief), the Alaskan Moose Hunter, the Grisly Old POW, the Governator of California, and so on ad nauseam. B-movie hack Reagan as Cowboy Americanus is the mother of all modern political phonies. To Obama's credit, he never got photographed slaughtering pigeons, wolves, ducks or other birds and mammals. That was hopeful, for a change.

And a Guy that has 5 properties has absolutely no use for a truck? He based his whole campaign on voting against the Democratic agenda the truck was incidental, in one campaign commercial, it became a topic of focus after someone condescendingly made it into an issue.

Bullshit Bill... blue collared folk aren't the only people who can own a truck. How many people do you think go hunting or fishing (the great outdoors if you will) in their pimped out Jetta or BMW? You need to get out more son.

I liked it alot. It is so over the top, exactly my kind of humor - hyperbole.

Quoting Bill Sher: Harkin, I am quite sure you know better than me what actual ranchers drive, so forgive me for an ignorant, imprecise comment. But Scott Brown is not a rancher, or a farmer or a contractor for that matter. He's a lawyer. He owns five properties. That doesn't disqualify him for higher office. But to parade around the mere fact that he drives a truck -- he practically based his whole campaign on it -- as if that alone proves he is just a regular working stiff, I find completely fake. I would think if I was a person who drove a truck because his livelihood depended on it, I'd be even more offended.

I own two properties and my pickup trucks are essential, although my largest is just an extracab. Just within 3 mi of my farm there is a lawyer, an airline pilot and a CPA. All three of them have pickup trucks. Please just stop with the class warfare that seems to permeate the liberal meme. It's as bad as Obama saying we needed a thriving financial system whether we liked it or not. And in my opinion it wasn't the truck as truck, it was the

Don't we all know about the unconscious association between cars and manly attributes? Ask a car salesman.

Quoting Ocean: Don't we all know about the unconscious association between cars and manly attributes?

Ask a car salesman.

So I guess the primary audience for his campaign message would be women? The message: who better to bring home the pork but a stud like me.

Quoting grits-n-gravy: So I guess the primary audience for his campaign message would be women?

No, not at all. Men like that their representatives boast about their strength and manliness. They can identify with their leader and it boosts their confidence.

The message: who better to bring home the pork but a stud like me.

Yeah, that would be the message for women and the likes.

I think only people that regularly drive a motorcycle (Crotch-Rockets don't count) and have been to Sturgis or Datona should be eligible for office.

Any answer to the question which is the best city in houston that is not San Antonio is a wrong answer.

Quoting Starwatcher162536: I think only people that regularly drive a motorcycle (Crotch-Rockets don't count) and have been to Sturgis or Datona should be eligible for office.

Welp, you've just lost the Florida vote.

From personal observation I would have to say that there are more Harleys and their knockoffs per capita in FL than just about anywhere else. It is the Sunshine State and you can ride most everyday.

Quoting piscivorous: From personal observation I would have to say that there are more Harleys and their knockoffs per capita in FL than just about anywhere else. It is the Sunshine State and you can ride most everyday.

I don't dispute that, but that's not the point I was (jokingly) making.

I understood that it was an attempt at humor but if there is no truth behind the humor is it really humor?

Quoting piscivorous: I understood that it was an attempt at humor but if there is no truth behind the humor is it really humor?

I agree that the funniest jokes almost always have some grain of truth to them. I maintain, however, that you've not understood what I was joking about. Hint: it had nothing to do with motorcycles.

Whether Coakley is an elitist or Brown really needs the truck is beside the point, which is that his kind of "just folks" political posturing is unbelievably annoying and also disingenuous when you happen to be a rich lawyer, and that's why Bill doesn't want to hang out with him.

Yes a man who knows where to find the best arugula as opposed to a working mother who could live off the land if she had to is so much preferable when considering who has a better understanding of life.

Please.

And every animal anyone has ever consumed was SLAUGHTERED pre-meal.

Is that so.

Quoting harkin: Please just stop with the class warfare...

Quoting harkin: Yes a man who knows where to find the best arugula as opposed to a working mother who could live off the land if she had to is so much preferable when considering who has a better understanding of life.

Yes, please.

Quoting Bill Scher: Yes, please.

I think the irony is probably lost here.

Quoting kezboard: Whether Coakley is an elitist or Brown really needs the truck is beside the point, which is that his kind of "just folks" political posturing is unbelievably annoying and also disingenuous when you happen to be a rich lawyer, and that's why Bill doesn't want to hang out with him.

First off, Bill made/implied two points that I chose to counter: 1) that a 4-door pickup truck is somehow not a real pickup Not true as I showed above 2) that OK, even if it was a real pickup Brown had no business driving one because he's a rich lawyer who "owns five properties" [!]. And this offense was especially egregious because (Bill's words) "he practically based his whole campaign on it" First part not true as I showed above. Second part highly suspicious. Bill is a MA resident so he had more exposure to Brown than I did but I watched the debate and I saw a couple of campaign commercials and I've yet to hear Brown or anyone say he deserved a vote because of the vehicle he drives. Traveling the state to talk to voters is as old as politics and the

Quoting Bill Scher: Yes, please.

Whoops, wrong again. Buying arugula and learning how to live off the land have nothing to do with class or income. I know plenty of rich folks who can field dress a buck. As a matter of fact the accomplishments in the field translated to their independence and success in the private sector. I've also known people on food stamps who insisted on premium, fresh-ground coffee. Some of these folks were the ones teaching other college students how to game the welfare system. Guess which ones were republicans and which were democrats? Keep trying.

Quoting AemJeff: I think the irony is probably lost here.

Third word from the end unnecessary.

Harkin, perhaps your style of divisive warfare is better defined as culture warfare than class warfare (though there are obvious overlaps) which I would argue is more unseemly and less relevant to the actual issues at hand.

Damn, so that's why I haven't found a job I want, I don't know how to field dress a buck. I was thinking it was because of my mediocre GPA and weaksauce Matlab and OrCAD skillz. How stupid of me. Edit:
Shit, I was never a boyscout either. I'm a goner

Quoting Bill Scher: Harkin, perhaps your style of divisive warfare is better defined as culture warfare than class warfare (though there are obvious overlaps) which I would argue is more unseemly and less relevant to the actual issues at hand.

So I refute both your class/culture warfare points regarding pickup trucks and the annoying, rich lawyers who pose in them. I lay out the hypocrisy applied to the Mass special election candidates. I show that saying someone must act rich is as ridiculous as saying someone must act poor etc etc. I even show how Obama applies the same ridiculous class/culture warfare tactics. You just ignore everything, move along and decide the best approach is to accuse me of same. I was applying real word experiences while you were insisting that conservatives act according to your class/culture preconceptions. Unseemly and less relevant indeed.

Quoting harkin: So I refute both your class/culture warfare points regarding pickup trucks and the annoying, rich lawyers who pose in them. I lay out the hypocrisy applied to the Mass special election candidates. I show that saying someone must act rich is as ridiculous as saying someone must act poor etc etc. I even show how Obama applies the same ridiculous class/culture warfare tactics.

You just ignore everything, move along and decide the best approach is to accuse me of same.

I was applying real word experiences while you were insisting that conservatives act according to your class/culture preconceptions.

Unseemly and less relevant indeed.

Shorter harkin: I am often wrong, but never in doubt.