Remember this story from a few days ago?

***
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- An explosive device was found in a Starbucks coffee shop in central San Francisco on Monday. The building was evacuated and a police bomb squad disarmed the device, authorities said.

A Starbucks employee found the device about 1:15 p.m. (4:15 p.m. ET) on the coffee shop's bathroom floor, police spokesman Neville Gittens said.

"If it had detonated, it would have caused damage," Gittens said. "It was what we consider an IED," an improvised explosive device.

The device was not concealed, he said. Gittens would not describe the explosive's appearance....
[www.cnn.com]
***

Well it turns ou this IED was nothin but a flashlight!!!

Tell me... how does one make this mistake?!!

We are so damn scared that is someone says BOO, we evacuate entire city blocks and lynch the nearest brownskinned person we can find.

How did we get to this state of being - eh????!!!!

So THAT'S where my flashlight is!

Hey! I WANT IT BACK! THOSE ARE NEW BATTERIES IN THERE!



(how do you disarm a flashlight?)

[www.mercurynews.com]

"What the F is wrong with this country??!"

How much time ya got? Here are two of my favorite new factoids:

"The overall share of federal taxes paid by U.S. corporations is now less than 10 percent, down from 21 percent in 2001 and over 50 percent during World War II; one-third of America's largest and most profitable corporations paid zero taxes -- or actually received credits -- in at least one of the last three years (according to Forbes magazine).

Back in 1980 the average American chief executive earned 40 times as much as the average manufacturing employee. For the top tier of American CEOs, the ratio is now 475:1 and would be vastly greater if assets, in addition to income, were taken into account. By way of comparison, the ratio in Britain is 24:1, in France 15:1, in Sweden 13:1."

This is from a short article on AlterNet by "econimic hitman" John Perkins:
[www.alternet.org]

What's wrong? The love of money is the root of all evil.

Amerika may be fearful because it feels guilt. In that, I suppose, is hope.

Our anthem lyrics "land of the free, and the home of the brave" are surely in need of correction.

I guess I'd better take that tub of used batteries to the recycler pronto, before I get busted for posession of Weapons of Mass Discharge.

-jeffB Wrote:
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>...Weapons of Mass Discharge.

Hey! cool title for a pron

---

JoeM

"We are so damn scared that is someone says BOO, we evacuate entire city blocks and lynch the nearest brownskinned person we can find."

Here in San Francisco, we prefer to scapegoat the homeless, as was the case with the man involved in this incident.

If there were no forests we'd have no forest fires. If there were no people sleeping on park benches we'd have no homeless. If there were no Muslims we wouldn't have any Islamic terrorists. Why can't you understand simple logic?

I blame the Spanish Inquisition.

Refurbvirgin Wrote:
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> What's wrong? The love of money is the root of all
> evil.


According to Rev. Ike, it's the lack of money that's the root of all evil …

Refurbvirgin Wrote:
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> If there were no forests we'd have no forest
> fires. If there were no people sleeping on park
> benches we'd have no homeless. If there were no
> Muslims we wouldn't have any Islamic terrorists.
> Why can't you understand simple logic?


If there were no tractors there'd be no rachel corrie flattened like a pancake.

---

It is the narco-police-terrorist-media industrial complex ...

> I blame the Spanish Inquisition.

I blame the Protestant Reformation.

Guitarman Wrote:
> If there were no tractors there'd be no rachel
> corrie flattened like a pancake.

Get with it, g'man. To prosper in America you must learn to think like a neo-liberal.
Repeat after me:

"If there were no Palestinian homes left standing there would be no call for Rachel Corries to stand between them and tractors."

See how easy this is once you alter your frame of reference?

If there were no fish left in the sea, overfishing wouldn't be a problem.
If the air was so polluted that we all HAD to wear respirators there would be no need to regulate polluters.
If the president could simply interpret laws as he saw fit there would be no need for lobbyists to corrupt our representatives. Eliminate the middleman.

Spole Wrote:
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> I blame the Spanish Inquisition.
>


I wasn't expecting that....

Congratulations to SFPD for eliminating one very dangerous flashlight.

Lord knows what insideous porpose that parabolic reflector with the heated coil in it may do. Emit some sort of radiation?

Racer X Wrote:
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> Spole Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I blame the Spanish Inquisition.
> >
>
>
> I wasn't expecting that....


No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!

25 1/2 hours for someone to follow up the straightman's line? That's sad....

Racer X Wrote:
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> 25 1/2 hours for someone to follow up the
> straightman's line? That's sad....

Any good comedian knows the importance of the dramatic pause, making the audience wait for the punch line. That is stretching it a mite, but we're all working for tips here.

here's a tip....you can trurn a condom inside out and use it again. And keep it thumbtacked to your headboard so it is always handy.

That's a twofer tip.

Racer X Wrote:
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> here's a tip....you can trurn a condom inside out
> and use it again. And keep it thumbtacked to your
> headboard so it is always handy.

That gets messy. With this I only change it once a month. Even more savings! Keeps you warmer in the winter, too. Fewer occasions of zipper rash, as well.

---

Well, in the SFPD's defense, if they tried to recharge the flashlight's batteries incorrectly, they could burst.