Video of Iranian anti-ship missiles destroying their target in the Pacific Gulf

Cool video from Iran:



Yeah, they probably have 3 missiles total like that, use them wisely guys. But seriously I don't see why we're all focused on Iran, what the hell could they do to us? They're all bark, no bite. I say ignore them just like what we do with North Korea.

Emergency Alert System test scheduled for 1pm today

For the first time ever in history there will be a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to be conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission. This alert system has been in place for the past 60 years but has never been used. The test will begin at 1pm today and only last for 30 seconds - it was initially going to be 3 minutes long but there were concerns that people would begin to panic and think there was a real emergency.

From Kansascity.com:

Two years in the planning, the minutelong drill is designed to expose weaknesses in a 60-year-old readiness system that has never been used — not even on 9/11.

“Coming from the military, what you do is you prepare for conflict,” Barnett said. “You test your system. You train your folks. When they told me this had never been tested I said, ‘How do you know it works?’ ”

This warning system seems to be a useful thing to have, although evidently we've made it this far just fine without needing it - but we could imagine some scenarios in which it could help. And actually we're glad that this hasn't been used yet, because it's one of those things that could get out of hand very quickly and become overused for events that are barely emergencies.

Now maybe we're being naive here, but just how hard is it for the government to send out an emergency message over television and radio airways? This has been 2 years in planning, really? Of all the great things we're able to accomplish as a nation, somehow sending out a simple 30 second message is this huge endeavor that takes years of planning. It better go right tomorrow because that would really be pathetic if we fucked this up. On the other hand, just how necessary is this type of alert system? Evidently no events in the past 60 years, including the 9-11 World Trade Center attacks, were important or urgent enough to warrant using it. And it seems to me that if anything were to be more serious and more urgent than anything we've ever experienced over the past 60 years, wouldn't the news and television media already be talking about it? Plus with the internet and mobile devices being as commonplace as they are today, people are more connected to current events and up-to-date on emergency information than ever before.

9-11 dispatch centers all across the country are preparing themselves and bracing for a flood of calls from people confused by the warnings, which could make it difficult for people with real emergencies to get through. Let's help everything goes smoothly.

From the outrage department: Iraqi war veteran gets severely injured during Occupy Oakland Protest

We've had these Occupy Wallstreet protests going on for quite some time now and it's catching on around the country where we're having everything from Occupy St. Louis to Occupy Dallas to Occupy Miami. It took them a bit of time to figure out exactly why they were protesting but it appears they've agreed on a list of grievances ranging from banks having too much power and greedy capitalism increasing the divide between the haves and the have-nots.

We have our first "casualty" in the fight against the man, and it's Iraqi war veteran Scott Olsen.

From mediabistro.com:

Marines have been flocking to the social networking/aggregator site Reddit to voice their anger at the life-threatening injury inflicted on 24-year-old Iraqi war veteran Scott Olsen by Oakland police during the recent Occupy protests. Video showed Olsen go down after taking a tear gas canister to the head. As fellow protesters tried to assist him, police lobbed a flash grenade into their midst–right next to Olsen’s already fractured skull.

So now everyone is in an uproar about this, and it's working to give the protesters another excuse to be out there protesting. But in a way it distracts from the initial issue, it's a cause within a cause now. And this is very common for a protest of this type, where the protesters aren't so quick to obey police and they're willing to be arrested to take one for the team and for the cause. Things escalate bit by bit day by day, and before you know it someone's injured or arrested and that becomes the new cause "OMG LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO BILLY THOSE EVIL MONSTERS...OK YOU'VE REALLY FUCKED UP THIS TIME".

The thing that makes this a seemingly perfect situation for the protesters is the fact that he's an Iraqi war veteran. If it was just some regular shmuck, they know that story wouldn't really go anywhere. People would shrug and say "eh what do you expect". But an Iraqi war veteran? Apparently we're all supposed to go "OMG WTF SHIT JUST GOT SRIOUS" and get out our pitchforks.

But we're having trouble understanding how the fact that he is an Iraqi war veteran is relevant at all. Sure, it makes for a good headline and it makes for good fodder to fuel the outrage of the cause. But why would anything any of us have done in our past excuse us from anything that happens to us in the future? The guy was clearly in an area with a group of people where police had told them not to be. They refused to leave, so the police escalated the situation and started throwing tear gas. If you stick around at that point, I'm sorry but that's kind of on you now. It's like jumping in a cage with a lion and then getting outraged when he takes a bite out of you. You knew going in what you were getting yourself into. Sure, it's unfortunate that he got injured but again, what does his past have to do with any of this? Did the police single him out and say "ok let's throw the canister right at the head of that veteran over there"?

The only reason it's relevant is because it elicits emotion. That's it. It has nothing to do with the protests, it has nothing to do with the protesters sticking around in an area after they're told to leave. And it has nothing to do with the reasons they're protesting. It's only to stir up outrage, in an attempt to wake up those who could care less about the whole thing and recharge the "troops on the ground".



We can tell this guy is serious because he underlined "brother".

Are we going to have to do this with everyone that's injured in a protest now? If someone who gets hurt happens to be a floor sweeper, are janitors going to come out in solidarity? Actually that would be pretty awesome.

Jack Conway for US Senate: What were they thinking?

We've been following the Senate races here at People Liking People and there's one in particular that has us scratching our heads. Kentucky has presented us with a great opportunity to gain a democratic seat in the Senate, as the Republican incumbent Jim Bunning decided not to run for re-election due to his unfavorable chances to win. It's pretty typical that unless someone is retiring due to old age or moving on to another position, the incumbent runs for re-election. In most cases it's an easy win, you've already earned the trust of the voters before and you're able to pull in a lot of support from all the relationships you've built while in office. So when someone decides not to run again because they're afraid of losing, it's a strong sign that they royally screwed up and the other party should have a really good chance to use this to their advantage.

Unfortunately this probably won't be the case for the election in KY because for some reason unbeknownst to us, the state democratic party propped up this absolute clown by the name of Jack Conway. This should be the easiest win in the history of Senatorial campaigns because the Republican candidate is Rand Paul, a guy who's never held a political position in his life and has only got as far has he has riding on his dad's name. Jack Conway is currently the attorney general of Kentucky and we're not quite sure how much pole he had to suck to get where he is today but unfortunately that's just not going to cut it when you're running for Senate in KY. This isn't San Fransisco we're talking about here.

The issues of the day are unemployment, the economy, health care, and our war activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. What Jack Conway's big issue? Combatting drug use. I swear every time we turn on a debate with Jack Conway and Rand Paul or see him being interviewed, he constantly brings up how we need to crack down on drug use. What is this, the mid 1980s? Right now we're at a time where support for the legalization of marijuana is higher than it's ever been before and everyone has realized that the drug war has been a complete failure, and this jackass decides that's going to be his big platform?

What were they thinking letting this ass clown run for Senate? Really guys? This is the best you could come up with, in a crucial race where there was a real possibility that we could switch the seat from R to D? Most people wouldn't trust Jack Conway to get their order right at McDonalds, let alone be elected a U.S. Senator. This was a golden opportunity and we completely dropped the ball. I wouldn't be surprised if whoever encouraged Jack Conway to run and made him think he actually had a chance is actually a republican infiltrator. Please get your shit together guys, this douche needs to be completely kicked out of the party.

By the way, is it just us or does this guy Conway give anyone else that creepy Ted Haggard type vibe?