COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

"I Do Not Share the Parrot's Political Opinions"

Spengler closes his latest column Jihad, the Lord's Supper, and eternal life with the following postscript:

Regarding Benedict XVI's statement that the characterization of the Prophet Mohammed did not reflect his "personal opinion":

In 1938, at the peak of Stalin's terror, a Muscovite called the KGB to report that his parrot had escaped.

The KGB officer said, "Why are you calling us?"

The Muscovite averred, "I want to state for the record that I do not share the parrot's political opinions."

17 comments:

  1. There was a habu sighting at BC, but the spoor is none to fresh

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  2. Legistorm Com
    Welcome to LegiStorm
    At long last, US congressional staff salaries are available for free on the web - and only here at LegiStorm.
    Who is employed by Congress, and how much they are paid, is often a source of fascination for the politically aware.

    Prior to this site's creation, members of the public needed to visit the document rooms of the House and the Senate in Washington, DC to discover who was being paid what. Now, all this information is available on the web - for residents of Alaska or Zanzibar - at the click of a mouse.
    We exist to provide a valuable resource for users. If you have any suggestions for improvement, we would love to know.

    http://www.legistorm.com/

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  3. Rich Lowry says:
    "... Sep. 19, 2006: The UN Speech
    Make no mistake: boring as it was, the president's speech to the UN today was one of the most important of his presidency. It marks the final fizzling out of his Iran policy of the past three years. ..."


    Funny, I'm not the only one to see thatoutcome in the speech.

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  4. Mr Hirchens does think much of the Papal offensive against Islam"
    "... His mention of Manuel II was evidently not accidental or anecdotal. He refers to him repeatedly and returns to him again in the closing paragraph, as if to rub it in.

    And of course now we hear, as could have been predicted, the pathetic and unconvincing apologies issued by his spokesmen and finally Ratzinger himself. These will only serve to convince infuriated Muslims that by threatening reprisal, calling for the severing of diplomatic relations with the Vatican, and issuing a few more sanguinary fatwas, they can force yet another retreat. The usual things have happened: the shooting of a nun in Somalia and the desecration of Christian churches in Palestine. And so the ecumenical "dialogue" goes on. ..."



    "Joseph Ratzinger's latest offense"

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  5. "... Iran's nuclear activities are "transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye" of United Nations inspectors, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday. ...

    ... Ahmadinejad claimed that numerous terrorists apprehended by the Iraqi government were "let loose under various pretexts by the occupiers."

    "It seems that intensification of hostilities and terrorism serves as a pretext for the continued presence of foreign forces in Iraq," he said. ..."


    Another perspective of
    "Catch & Release"

    Cannot wait for the whole text, the peaceful atom is all he wants, while the US refines it's nuclear arsenal.
    Right on the script.

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  6. Dean Barnett
    Why is a ranking member of the Webb campaign is so eager to label Allen a Jew? The following comes from a Daily Kos diary by one Lowell Feld ,
    “the Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign”:

    Peggy Fox isn't running for U.S. Senate.
    George Allen is. So, whether you liked that question or not (personally, I didn't see it anything to get angry about; it's like asking Jim Webb about his Scots-Irish ancestry or any of us about our ancestors), this is all about George Allen - why he gets so angry so often, why he is so prone to attacking those he sees as weak and/or threatening, etc.
    As another famous Jew, Sigmund Freud, might have said in this situation, George Allen appears to have some deep-seated "issues" regarding his Jewish heritage - and regarding many other things as well. (Emphasis added)


    I do believe the time has come for the Webb campaign to officially weigh in on this matter. And, in case anyone from Webb HQ is reading this, you might want to read my post from Sunday to find out what I was thinking about this race after the Meet the Press debate.
    -Hewitt

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  7. Whit really came up with a, what else,a witty one this time.

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  8. I regret that our numbers have declined to the hard core.

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  9. "... At a debate in Tysons Corner yesterday between Republican Allen and Democrat Webb, WUSA-TV's Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood.

    "It has been reported," said Fox, that "your grandfather Felix, whom you were given your middle name for, was Jewish. Could you please tell us whether your forebears include Jews and, if so, at which point Jewish identity might have ended?"

    Allen recoiled as if he had been struck. His supporters in the audience booed and hissed. "To be getting into what religion my mother is, I don't think is relevant," Allen said, furiously. "Why is that relevant -- my religion, Jim's religion or the religious beliefs of anyone out there?"

    "Honesty, that's all," questioner Fox answered, looking a bit frightened.

    "Oh, that's just all? That's just all," the senator mocked, pressing his attack. He directed Fox to "ask questions about issues that really matter to people here in Virginia" and refrain from "making aspersions."

    "Let's move on," proposed the moderator, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News.

    Yes, let's -- but not before we figure out what that was all about. Turns out the Forward, a Jewish newspaper, reported that the senator's mother, Etty, "comes from the august Sephardic Jewish Lumbroso family" and continued: "If both of Etty's parents were born Jewish -- which, given her age and background, is likely -- Senator Allen would be considered Jewish in the eyes of traditional rabbinic law, which traces Judaism through the mother."

    If that's true, the Presbyterian Allen joins public figures Madeleine Albright and John Kerry in discovering his Jewish roots. ..."


    As written by Dana Milbank "The Senator's Gentile Rebuke" at the WaPo.

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  10. They have everywhere, numbers of posts are down across the board.

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  11. Couldn't follow your 9:10:51 PM, say what?
    ---
    Hewitt had the Audio, Allen did not sound "outraged," milquetoast is a hack.
    Webb should replace moonbats in his campaign.

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  12. There are not all that many posts, at either site

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  13. The guy shared your opinion of Webb at the first encounter.
    Might be a shock to have a man of substance in office, whether you agree or disagree w/the man.
    ...has he taken many positions re: border, immigration, spending, etc?

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  14. Here ya go, on the joke theme, from the great artsandlettersdaily.com site, "Hitler Jokes".

    (snip)
    "...by the end of the war, a joke could get you killed. A Berlin munitions worker, identified only as Marianne Elise K., was convicted of undermining the war effort "through spiteful remarks" and executed in 1944 for telling this one:

    Hitler and Göring are standing on top of Berlin's radio tower. Hitler says he wants to do something to cheer up the people of Berlin. "Why don't you just jump?" suggests Göring.

    A fellow worker overheard her telling the joke and reported her to the authorities."

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  15. Hey Buddy!
    Ya Gotta get your Vote and 2 Cents in on the next thread ASAP!
    It's been bogarted by Sausage, but Deuce's Query remains.

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