Friday Fun Link

Penn & Teller take on the PATRIOT Act. Link via Martini Republic; Reason's 2004 interview with Penn here.

Comments

phocion | June 17, 2005, 12:26pm | #

The comments on that post are hilarious. A bunch of liberals trying to figure out what a libertarian is.

Stretch | June 17, 2005, 12:27pm | #

I went to see Penn & Teller when I was a kid. After the show they were hanging out signing autographs and someone asked Teller why he never spoke. He said: "It's my show, isn't it? I can do whatever I want."

I'll have to wait to watch the video, but if it's up to their usual quality of work, I'm sure it'll be great.

Stretch | June 17, 2005, 12:37pm | #

The comments on that post are hilarious. A bunch of liberals trying to figure out what a libertarian is.

The fact that some have never heard the "republicans who smoke pot" line tells you that the whole notion of libertarianism is brand spanking new to them. And once again, I don't know how libertarians are constantly labeled as utopians when they're the only ones who don't want ther government to fix everything to their liking.

dhex | June 17, 2005, 12:39pm | #

interesting. (the comments section that is) a bit depressing, sort of weird, though. this insane faith that if only the correct millionaires will be elected, everything will get good again...is disturbing.

p+t are always entertaining.

Dylan | June 17, 2005, 12:44pm | #

Check out this one:

This video clip is disinfo. Many of those who have already commented, noted that these potty mouthed guys have an agenda of their own. A clip like this does more damage to the cause of peace and honest governance than three years of nonstop Bill O'Reilly and Sean "Chubby" Hannity combined.

Wow. There are some untethered fuckers over there.

dhex | June 17, 2005, 12:48pm | #

i like the part where they type "honest governance" and don't puke on themselves. that's good stuff.

duncan | June 17, 2005, 12:48pm | #

Gah... those comments are kinda disturbing. I mean I'm not exactly a libertarian either but at least I was open minded and took some time to hear you out. Lo and behold, I actually found a lot of things to agree with (which is why I still visit this site daily).

I swear no one in this country has any idea anymore what side they might be on... let alone what the sides are...

Rich Ard | June 17, 2005, 12:49pm | #

It's always disheartening to see that some of those who might be the most interested in being politically active are only looking to find another untethered fucker (thanks, Dylan to hold the reins.

Rich Ard | June 17, 2005, 12:51pm | #

Ah, friggin' parenthesiseses...

D-FENS | June 17, 2005, 1:20pm | #

(from the P&T comments)

Government can be used to enable less statured citizens in society...

Does he mean short people? As a 6'5" American, I demand that the government generate and enforce regulations to do away with low-hanging video monitors in airliner cabins. (This would apply, of course, to foreign airliners landing here as well.)

Thank you very little.

Rhywun | June 17, 2005, 1:28pm | #

I find it odd that so many of those commentators are willing to disbelieve P+T's stance on the Patriot Act because they didn't like their other stances on, oh, recycling or feng shui or whatnot. Does that make them all neo-cons??

Brett | June 17, 2005, 1:36pm | #

dhex, I see you made an appearance over there.

People simply cannot think for themselves. duncan, I think people DO see what they believe are sides and blindly join one. Did somebody once make a pro-Bush comment? Well then absolutely nothing they have to say can possibly be worth hearing or thinking about. Sad state of affairs.

Mo | June 17, 2005, 2:17pm | #

Yeah, God forbid P&T debunk conspiracy theories and lies your opponents regularly use against you as a club to discredit legitimite gripe. Nooo, they said we were wrong in case a, so they must be on the dime of the opposition. Quite sad really (and not limited to the left either).

Ironchef | June 17, 2005, 2:20pm | #

About the comments - no one on the left really denied being conspiracy nuts.

Oh, and for the Showtime impaired, P & T season 2 available on DVD.

Mo | June 17, 2005, 2:31pm | #

Another Friday Fun Link. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at the Michael Jackson trial with his [MJs] supporters.

zach | June 17, 2005, 5:43pm | #

"penn is a fat fuck and he should be made fun of. Nothing like a poseur "skeptic" that claims to know the truth about everything. Fuck him with teller's needle dick."

haha... classic. down with theocracy! up with spending our tax dollars on psychic teleportation!

Eddy | June 17, 2005, 10:50pm | #

I think those boys just didn't like P&T picking on Noam some time back. That and the whole missing rationality thing.

DAGNY | June 18, 2005, 12:37pm | #

Heh, the commentors call Penn & Teller lackees of Bush for their "Conspiracy Theories" episode where they say that, yes, terrorists did in fact ram planes into the WTC.

And then they wonder why they're still looking for 100,000 democrats to wear their wristbands...

Stephen Gordon | June 19, 2005, 3:48pm | #

Duncan,

re: "I swear no one in this country has any idea anymore what side they might be on... let alone what the sides are..."

Might I make a friendly suggestion? Be on your own side, as long as you are doing nothing which harms someone else.

If you do this, you will find that you already are a libertarian.

CAT_Violations | June 20, 2005, 4:03am | #

Might I make a friendly suggestion? Be on your own side, as long as you are doing nothing which harms someone else.

If you do this, you will find that you already are a libertarian.



Mr. Gordon-

But what if we really don't like someone? Or if we can say that we're doing it "for the children" (*like when the nazis and their predecessors went after the gypsies, and later the jews, etc.)? Can we harm them then? What if we bait, harass, stalk, threaten, assault, goad, and antagonize them continuously (some crimes) until they raise their voice (not a crime)?

*Before anyone starts yapping check your history, there were laws enabling the imprisonment and sterilization of innocent gypsy (Roma) men as early as the mid 30s.

David Woycechowsky | June 20, 2005, 11:38am | #

I generally like Penn & Teller. (Penn's best role is in the movie The Band Who Would Be King.) I love to hear Penn talking about politics and stuff in interviews.

However, from the bits I have seen, the Bullshit show is dumbed down way too far and may do more disservice than service. I haven't seen the Pat Act one, but Penn may be reading, so I wanted to let him know how I felt about the new show.

zach | June 20, 2005, 1:03pm | #

i love the BS series. i think it's dumbed down deliberately... both to appeal to people who haven't heard these viewpoints before, and to people who already agree with the general ideas presented, and are just looking for some entertainment. after all, this is a TV series, not "Reason". what it can do is refer interested parties to further reading, such as this website.

"CAT Violations" - the simple answer to your question is no, that's not ok, that's directly harming someone.

dhex | June 20, 2005, 1:28pm | #

they did a pretty good job in the first season, at least in regards to firewalking, feng shui and scam artists who talk to the dead.