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."

Friday, November 10, 2006

The Democratic Future For Republicans Will Be Like The Democratic Past Was For Republicans


2164th wrote:

In 1982, Reagan had a loaded Congress against him. He could not get a budget passed and had to rely on continuing resolutions. That was not enough for the Democrats. One scumbag Congressman attached the Boland amendment. Wikipedia misrepresents it at having been passed 411-0. They do not mention, that if the Amendment and continuing resolution was not passed the government would be closed down. Congressman Edward Boland, D, Mass., attached the amendment with no thought about the irregular troops in the field fighting the Sandinistas and the consequences to them with the cut-off of funds. In short they would have been slaughtered. Reagan should have told the Democrat controlled Congress to go fuck themselves and see you in Court or hell. Reagan folded and did some gymnastics getting the Japanese and Saudis to fund the Contras through the CIA. I helped unload planes of wounded with injuries that smelled like yesterday's dead dog, while on a farm In Costa Rica, owned be an American hero, John Hull. Hull was maligned by another Democratic piece of shit, John Kerry. Do a Google on John Hull, CIA drugs and you will read lie after lie after lie. If John Hull was a drug dealer, he was the worst on record. He never had any money. He still owes me $500, he borrowed to buy fuel for his plane to get more wounded from Nicaragua. Expect nothing noble from Republicans and worse from Democrat Politicians. I hate all of them.




woman catholic
said...
2164th wrote:
Reagan folded and did some gymnastics getting the Japanese and Saudis to fund the Contras through the CIA.

With all due respect to your service to the wounded, 2164th, if Clinton used the NSA to channel federal funds to the Taliban in the 1990s by saying, "It depends on what your definition of intelligent agency is" the GOP-controlled Congress would have gone ballistic.
10:38 PM, November 09, 2006



woman catholic
said...
Dang, am I the only one on this blog who Never worked for the Company?

The first rule of the Company is, you don't talk about the Company.


Woman Catholic. John Hull was not in the CIA. John Hull foolishly helped and assisted the CIA, because he was that type of person. As a young man, from Indiana, during WWII, he joined the Canadian Air Force so he could go to England and flew for the RAF as a fighter pilot with over sixty missions. All he wanted to do was farm and raise cattle. His farm happened to be in Northern Costa Rica and he had farmland in Nicaragua.

The trouble in Nicaragua was stirred up and abetted by the Cubans. There was serious danger of it spreading throughout Central America.

John Hull had an airstrip on his farm. When he got radio reports (there were no telephones in that area at that time) that there were wounded and dying in Nicaragua, he walked out the back door, jumped into his plane and flew to an airstrip in Nicaragua and brought the wounded out to a hospital in Quesada, Costa Rica. The CIA used John Hull and John Hull let them. I was a friend and associate of John Hull. I warned him that his deepening relationship with the CIA would not end well, because there were too many people in his circle that had big mouths. They were stringers and wannabes. They thought it was sort of cool. Hull was serious. It was the most un-secret operation. I had nothing to do with the CIA. There is nothing classified about anything I said. I warned Hull, he would lose his farm. He did lose his farm and had to flee from Costa Rica, because of left wing ex-pat Americans, liars and Democrats. That was the thanks he got. The lies are all over the Internet. They are second hand, and factually incorrect. They are preposterous distortions and outright lies.

Those lies, a Democratic Congress, and investigations dragged innocent well-meaning people before Congressional Committees. Many became financially ruined and lost their livelihood.

I happened to be there. It was a Forrest Gump moment in my life.

Your assertion that people in the CIA do not talk, when out of the CIA, is not correct. Go to Amazon and you will find books and books and books, some by ex-directors.

My point, as an eyewitness, was to give a personal view of what may be in store for some people. It is a warning. It is something that occurred a quarter century ago. John Kerry is still around. He is going to be the most feared and dangerous man in the US Senate. He is a vicious creep. He will ruin many a good man before he completes his service to the US.
Many other like-minded Democrats will assist him.

It is already starting:

At the Pentagon, Concern About Blame for the Situation in Iraq
New York Times

By THOM SHANKER
Published: November 10, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 — As they scurried along 17½ miles of Pentagon corridors, civilian and military officials on Thursday held files stamped “Secret,” cups brimming with the piping coffee that fuels their efforts — and divided views of the hottest subject of all: Donald H. Rumsfeld’s departure.

Some had hoped for it, and others said the day had come too soon.

But with President Bush’s decision to change his defense secretary, people in uniform, especially, were asking whether the public would from now on blame the military for the morass of Iraq, despite Mr. Rumsfeld’s six-year domination of American military policy.

More than they may have feared, or even disliked, Mr. Rumsfeld as a boss, the officer corps fears the loss of public support. It is a lasting effect of the hated memories of how the military was viewed and treated by many in the public after the Vietnam War.

Within the Pentagon, an enormous labyrinth in which more than 20,000 people work, there is no single, dominant mood, any more than there is among the roughly 1.5 million people making up the active duty military today.

Some senior military officers have said that the administration has consciously sought to shift blame for the situation in Iraq onto specific recommendations and decisions from the armed services — or onto the reluctance of the officer corps to respond strongly against the views of the Pentagon civilians. That perspective is seconded even by some Pentagon civilians.

73 comments:

  1. The neat thing about Bush is similar to Skipsailing's ex-wive's lawyer:
    I am able not to restoke my hatred of the Democrats, as Bush takes up my entire supply, and is the gift that never stops taking - from everybody but his enemies at home and abroad.

    Whata guy:
    Slimebag Snowe was on all the talk shows today laying blame EVERYWHERE but at his employers door.
    None for the Democrats, either, thank you very much.

    As Mark Steyn relates:
    "There is no higher honor than to sacrifice your friend's lives for your own!"
    Should be on the Bush Family Coat of Arms.

    Pure, corrupt, incompetent, scum.

    Hayworth's opponent Mitchell hammered Hayworth for being "a part of a Republican majority that saw illegal immigration skyrocket over the last decade".

    Not too hard to campaign against a guy whose president steadfastly refuses to enforce the law or make meaningful security improvements at the border.
    Did Snowe take any responsibility for that? Hell No!

    Hewitt cornered him, and it became apparent that Bush has NO INTENTION of building more than a SMALL FRACTION of the Fence that he and his party PROMISED to build, guaranteeing the Dems will be able to beat the crap out of them again with that in 2 years.

    Little rich boy Bush will be back playing pious Yaley Cowboy in Crawford not giving a SHIT.

    Mission Accomplished.

    ReplyDelete
  2. When McCain conspires with Democrats, that's a BAD thing.
    When Bush conspires with Democrats, it's a GOOD thing.
    Just practicing to fit in with the overeducated, brainwashed, non masses.
    Bush Sr rescues Bubba.
    Junior rescues McCain.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Posted by Hugh Hewitt:
    The
    transcript of my interview with Tony Snow is here.


    We cover a number of subjects, and his reactions to my questions about the
    fence will not make border security firsters very happy, and the anti-amnesty
    crowd will be very displeased.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Snowe:
    "You also had a handful of candidates who simply, you know, they didn't think they had to run hard.
    I mean, Jim Leach, I was told, didn't take out a single campaign ad".
    ---
    And I am told by my pea brain that I guess that means the Genius of Rovian Team Bush didn't bother counseling with Mr Leach and doing whatever needed to be done to rectify the situation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Doug, I could not agree with your more.

    ReplyDelete
  6. TS: Well, okay, because guess what? That's part of the problem here, is that you've got to take a look...the idea that everybody talks about a fence, and then turns a blind eye to 11 or 12 million, seems to me to be sort of missing the point here, and so...

    HH: No, I think the first...

    TS: ...what we're starting to do is to deal with all of them.
    ---
    So he's proud of his slimebag boss STARTING TO WORK ON THE PROBLEM
    Six years after taking office and over 5 years since 9-11.
    Even by Government Standards...
    Can you smell "Sandbag?"

    ReplyDelete
  7. A Feather for Bush's Hat while in Mexico:
    Bring Enforcers to Justice!
    ---
    MSNBC's Rita Cosby is reporting that Duane Dog Chapman, star of the A&E reality series "Dog the Bounty Hunter," and two members of his bounty hunting team (including his son) were arrested by U.S. officials today for extradition to Mexico. Cosby is reporting that Mexican government officials wanted the three men sent back there in relation to a three-year-old case.

    In 2003, Chapman traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to retrieve Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster, who was wanted in the U.S. on rape charges. Luster is now in jail, serving a 124-year term. The Chapmans were jailed in Mexico for a brief time for the incident three years ago. Bounty hunting is considered a crime in Mexico.

    Dog's wife, Beth Chapman, said 12 armed marshals "came through the door" at 6:00AM this morning. She said they took their daughter's boyfriend down at gunpoint. Dog was sleeping at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mexican Rapists run free here,
    Rapist catcher sent to jail in Mexico.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Some days, it's just more than I can stand and the scary part is: Its not going to get any better.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Doug:
    Read this Victor Davis Hanson Oh California I barely knew you.

    It's down at the end of the post below .

    ReplyDelete
  11. 2164th said:

    Woman Catholic. John Hull was not in the CIA. John Hull foolishly helped and assisted the CIA, because he was that type of person.

    I did not misunderstand you, 2164th. In the Iran-Contra affair, they really did use the NSA at one point to keep channelling funds to the Contras by using the loophole that "No Such Agency" was not strictly defined as an intelligence agency. It struck me as a proto-Clintonian move.

    I happened to be there. It was a Forrest Gump moment in my life.

    Thank you for relating this tale. It sounds like it could almost be turned into a Hollywood script, if you could somehow turn the liberals and Democrats into the heros.

    Your assertion that people in the CIA do not talk, when out of the CIA, is not correct. Go to Amazon and you will find books and books and books, some by ex-directors.

    In CT "A" School in P-Cola a lot of the gals freaked out when the book Puzzle Palace came out because it talked about some very specific technological methods and concepts which were being taught at Corry Station. There is stuff that you need two people to carry around, not because it is physically heavy but because two cleared individuals provide better integrity. I promise you that no CIA "tell-all" book comes anywhere near to compromising that, or they'd be in the slammer faster than they could blink.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Deuce
    My point.. is a warning. It is something that occurred a quarter century ago. John Kerry is still around... He will ruin many a good man before he completes his service to the US.
    Many other like-minded Democrats will assist him.
    It is already starting:


    You're right. The Come Home America redux has begun.

    George McGovern, the former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate, said he will meet with more than 60 members of Congress next week to recommend a strategy to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by June.

    If Democrats don't take steps to end the war in Iraq soon, they won't be in power very long, McGovern told reporters Thursday before a speech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln...
    McGovern will present his recommendations before the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a 62-member group led by Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee.

    "The best way to reduce this insurgency is to get the American forces out of there," McGovern said. "That's what's driving this insurgency."
    McGovern told the audience Thursday that the Iraq and Vietnam wars were equally "foolish enterprises" and that the current threat of terrorism developed because — not before — the United States went into Iraq.


    The Pacifists (McGovern's WWII bomber service not withstanding) and those who support only a single gender most accurately described as 'confused' or 'emasculated' are now in charge of American Foreign policy.
    Lynn Woolsey "Woolsey is an outspoken opponent of the War in Iraq. She has take an active role in calling for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. She led 15 Members of Congress in writing a letter to President Bush on January 12, 2005, calling for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Iraq. She also was the first Member of Congress to call for a troop withdrawal, when she introduced H.Con. Res. 35 on January 26, 2005. Congresswoman Woolsey gave Cindy Sheehan the guest pass to attend the 2006 State of the Union speech by George W. Bush. Sheehan's attendance at the speech became infamous when she was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with a political message.[2] .... In September 2000 Woolsey sponsored H.R. 4892, The Scouting for All Act, to revoke the charter held by the Boy Scouts of America which had been held since 1916. The charter was issued by Congress to the B.S.A. for its efforts to promote "patriotism, courage, self-reliance and kindred virtues" for young boys. Woolsey said, "We're not saying the Boy Scouts are bad, we're saying that intolerance is bad." She said that because the organization will not accept homosexuals as leaders for young boys, those boys are being taught to be intolerant.

    Shall I say it for Habu? There's a bad moon on the rise.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What's the problem. Mr Bush and Company have a plan fo the "Long War", everything is peachy.

    No matter what, the consumate poker player has all the cards. He will soldier on, no matter the political climate, securing the US for all of our posterities.

    The post at BC that claimed that the appointment of Mr Gates is an indication that agressive action is on the platter. According to Austin Bay and some junior officers. Ahhh, the Power of Projection.

    The faithful did not flock to the idea, it is so far from any town in Arkansas, even Hope.

    ReplyDelete
  14. bobalharb said:

    We'll go to Mars, Buddy, we can terra-form it. Have to learn to step lightly though, lest we jump over the trees we plant.

    Before we can plant anything on Mars, bobal, we have to build a working ozone layer. Right now the sun's UV rays go right down to the surface. And the planet needs some kind of shield in lieu of a magnetic field to protect the nascent life from cosmic rays and sunstorms. So it could be a thousand years or more before we can even begin to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. 'tenshun
    From the halls of Montezuma To the shores of Tripoli' ,

    We fight our countrys battles In the air', on land, and sea.

    First to fight for right and freedom , And to keep our honor clean,

    We are proud to claim the title Of United States Marines

    Smper Fidelis and Happy Birthday Marines

    ReplyDelete
  16. BTW there were six different Boland amendments..the DEm pricks just couldn't tighten the jar tight enough.
    For what they did was treason, the Dear Commandante letter is clearly treasonist but they controlled Congress. But make no mistake their leadership is socialist and anti-American. They will subvert US interest at every turn.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Teresita,
    You are a liar. Simple but undeniable. Two days ago at the BC you said you were getting out of the BC and the EB.
    It didn't take a day for the Flying Ly'in Nun to appear.

    There are plenty of blogs on the net. Why don't you honor your word and go find another place to play. You won't be missed here and perhaps your flaky nostrums will find a more suitable home.
    But honor your word. Be gone. Honor your word.
    You don't need to do it in a huff either, just suck it up and do what you said you were going to do. It's the honorable thing, and your ancestors are watching, don't disappoint them. Honor your word.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Come on, habu.
    Our dyke Ms T is now a Nun, full of vigor and vim.

    My bet is Ms T is not even a Ms, but just some confused Friscoite.

    It'll be back to using my moniker, again. Since it's own self esteem is in the shitter. Pretending to somethin it's not, 'cause on the Inet, everyone is just a bitch, I mean dog.

    Bible quoting lesbo, that's rich.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Saddam this, Osama that, global warming and cholesterol, yadda yadda yadda, meanwhile the Brits sound the alarm that we're missing the real threat.

    ReplyDelete
  20. StoutFellow,
    Great post. George McGovern was certainly brave during his days as a B-24 pilot.
    At Fort Ticonderoga and the Battle at Saratoga in the Revolutionary War no warrior distinguished himself more than Benedict Arnold.
    In my world McGovern has and still is, during times when our troops are under fire, given aid to the enemy. What need is there in his dotage to organize a propaganda party to cane the USA?
    McGovern and Arnold, brothers in treachery.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Teresita,
    You are impervious to the truth or honor. But to asuume the mantle of Woman Catholic and the Ly'n Nun..well is that not blasphemy?
    Or are you a Madeline Murray O'Hare?
    Who could know, you're always all over the board.
    You have a blog, go develop it beyond what it is now. Post pictures of charbroiled Nips at Nagasaki and superheated Hiroshima dead. Make it your new project to damn us into shame. I know I'll be moved.
    And don't forget today. The United States Marine Corps Birthday. We fried at Iwo Jima.
    Have a nice day.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Teresita,
    Yep, you're proof of just how aliens have invaded..good link.

    ReplyDelete
  23. A Politician's Dream Is a Businessman's Nightmare

    (BY GEORGE MCGOVERN)
    `Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.'--Justice Felix Frankfurter.

    It's been 11 years since I left the U.S. Senate, after serving 24 years in high public office. After leaving a career in politics, I devoted much of my time to public lectures that took me into every state in the union and much of Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

    In 1988, I invested most of the earnings from this lecture circuit acquiring the leasehold on Connecticut's Stratford Inn. Hotels, inns and restaurants have always held a special fascination for me. The Stratford Inn promised the realization of a longtime dream to own a combination hotel, restaurant and public conference facility--complete with an experienced manager and staff.

    In retrospect, I wish I had known more about the hazards and difficulties of such a business, especially during a recession of the kind that hit New England just as I was acquiring the inn's 43-year leasehold. I also wish that during the years I was in public office, I had had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day. That knowledge would have made me a better U.S. senator and a more understanding presidential contender.

    Today we are much closer to a general acknowledgment that government must encourage business to expand and grow. Bill Clinton, Paul Tsongas, Bob Kerrey and others have, I believe, changed the debate of our party. We intuitively know that to create job opportunities we need entrepreneurs who will risk their capital against an expected payoff. Too often, however, public policy does not consider whether we are choking off those opportunities.

    My own business perspective has been limited to that small hotel and restaurant in Stratford, Conn., with an especially difficult lease and a severe recession. But my business associates and I also lived with federal, state and local rules that were all passed with the objective of helping employees, protecting the environment, raising tax dollars for schools, protecting our customers from fire hazards, etc. While I never doubted the worthiness of any of these goals, the concept that most often eludes legislators is: `Can we make consumers pay the higher prices for the increased operating costs that accompany public regulation and government reporting requirements with reams of red tape.' It is a simple concern that is nonetheless often ignored by legislators.

    For example, the papers today are filled with stories about businesses dropping health coverage for employees. We provided a substantial package for our staff at the Stratford Inn. However, were we operating today, those costs would exceed $150,000 a year for health care on top of salaries and other benefits. There would have been no reasonably way for us to absorb or pass on these costs. ...


    Some learn about real life, but some do not.
    Most Government employees never do.
    Federals less than others.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I wish to revise and extend some of my remarks regarding genocide of the Islams.
    The new word is really closer to what I have in mind anyway and it's much, much easier for people to warm to....the new word is decimate..cut by a tenth.
    Now the math..1.5 billion Islams decimated = 150,000,000 dead. That would give them pause.
    I do apologize to those I unintentionally mislead by using genocide instead of decimate...do we feel better now? I thought we all would.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ivote we let ms T stay on the island. My thinking is that a discussion group shouldn't be like a choir attempting to achieve "perfect harmony," but, instead, should have a discordant note, from time to time.

    Although, T is (as are we all) sometimes wrong, and very often irritating, and occasionally just plain infuriating, she's usually quite interesting, in an odd-ball kind of way. And, sometimes, she's just plain "Right."

    I used to have an acquaintance that was a sports bettor. He was the most left-handed thinker I've ever known. Some of his theories about sports and life would leave you cross-eyed and gasping for air.

    He was, also, the most dangerous sports bettor in the history of the Universe. Some of his picks were breath-taking. I soon learned to think about something else while he was discussing the theory of a certain game (no bi-pedal mammal could have understood it, anyway,) but when it came down to the final decision on who to bet on I was all ears. He made me a lot of money.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Well, a little money, anyway. :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. I'm going to post this as a Good News Item, which it is; but

    I may post some of my thoughts later on the lack of respect that corn is getting from some relatively uninformed quarters (Jim Cramer, and various talking heads on CNBC come to mind) as a feedstock for ethanol production. What most of these naysayers overlook (and, it's so big I can't, for the life of me, see how they overlook it) is the value of the co-products of corn-based ethanol production, and how they affect the final energy input-output calculations. But, like I said, I'll save that for a later day (you lucky people, you.)

    ReplyDelete
  28. French economic growth grinds to a halt..

    HALT

    Wasn't the EU the savior just like our planned North American Union?

    ReplyDelete
  29. So, what IS the difference between These Cars and your car?

    Primarily? A little higher compression ratio.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Rufus,
    You think my little ole diatribe is gonna scare her off?

    She has grit. She ain't about to quit, just 'cause I get all flexed up. She's all you described, with grit, and grit is good.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Rufus,
    great news for the Indycar series which will raise awareness etc

    ReplyDelete
  32. Habu1 said:

    Now the math..1.5 billion Islams decimated = 150,000,000 dead. That would give them pause.

    Murder millions just to give them pause? That's crazy talk. Human beings don't cease to be images of almighty God just because they are born and raised in the Muslim religion. Habu1 should take a break from blogging and pull the wings off flies or something.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wasn't the EU the savior just like our planned North American Union?

    Habu, I first (mis)read your comment as a question about NAFTA; and, of course, they are in no way, shape, or form similar.

    Then, I realized you were speaking, again, of the NAU theory. I'm not attempting to be snarkey, here, but where in the world did you ever come up with this NAU idea? I'm Serious. I've never heard it discussed, written about, or even referred to.

    If you have any information on this, I would sincerely like to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  34. As for France, they have a 10% unemployment rate (getting worse, not better,) and an incredibly rigid central-state, socialist planning type economy supporting a rampant, all-pervasive welfare state. They is doomed.

    ReplyDelete
  35. All civil comments from all points of view are welcome in the bar.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Civil? Civil? What the Fuck Do You Mean, CIVIL! Are you trying to CENSOR ME?? Huh? What's THAT All About?

    I'm OUTTA HERE! I've HADDA NUFF! CIVIL! CIVIL MY ASS!

    I'M CALLING MY LAWYER! I'VE GOT RIGHTS, TOO, YA KNOW! CIVIL . .*SPIT* . .

    ReplyDelete
  37. Uh, Sorry Deuce, I guess I started my Birthday Party a little early. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  38. Rufus:
    Re: The North American Union

    This ought to keep you busy for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Glory,Glory Hallelujah

    My eyes have seen the glory of a hundred million dead
    The islamic bodies rotting is the price they pay in hell
    for we cooked 'em and we'cleaned 'em and we sent them all away
    and the good Lord said A-OK

    Glory,glory Hallelujah, glory glory Hallelujah, glory, glory Hallelujah

    The muzzies are blown a-way

    In the beauty of the mushroom cloud their bodies vaporized
    And ashes that floated down were clean and sterilized
    For we churned 'em and we burned 'em and made bricks for our pig pens
    Oh the good ones won again... oh

    Glory,glory Hallelujah,glory glory Hallelujah,glory glory Hallelujah
    The Islams are pig chow.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Rufus:
    This is what the Elephant Bar has posted on the North American Union.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Teresita,
    i alreay pull the wings off flys so you're saved or they be all over you like they are around barn animal droppings.

    ReplyDelete
  42. It's right-wing moonbattery.

    "The The Independent Task Force on North America was a project organized by the United States Council on Foreign Relations, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.

    The final report proposed increased international cooperation between the nations of Canada, the United States, and Mexico, similar in some respects to that of the European Union.

    Some Internet sources claim that this report, despite its own language rejecting a political union, would create a North American Union."

    ReplyDelete
  43. Is it any wonder I've got

    Too much time on my hands, it's ticking away with my sanity
    I've got too much time on my hands, it's hard to believe such a calamity
    I've got too much time on my hands and it's ticking away from me
    Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
    Too much time on my hands

    ReplyDelete
  44. rufus said:

    As for France, they have a 10% unemployment rate (getting worse, not better,) and an incredibly rigid central-state, socialist planning type economy supporting a rampant, all-pervasive welfare state. They is doomed.

    Ayup. The only question is whether the next Muslim Bomb will be Iranian or French.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Okay, Habu, I got it, Thanks. A CFR One-Worlder Pipe Dream.

    The only danger I can see from this nonsense would be for people like Lou Dobbs to conflate this silliness with something that's very, very beneficial like NAFTA.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Thanks Whit, T; It looks to me that anyone who spends much time worrying about this just plain, as Habu says, has too much time on his hands.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I'm still confused as to how NAFTA is beneficial to anyone but Mexicans and overpaid CEOs. Since its creation, my home county (one of the poorest in FL) has lost thousands of jobs to Mexico. Ironically, the largest employer in the county is the Dept of Corrections which has directly lead to an increase in the Mexican (both legal and illegal) population in the county. It seems they house a large hispanic population and the families have moved here to be near them.

    ReplyDelete
  48. By the way, that drop from 4.6% unemployment to 4.4% unemployment, especially, coming as it did, among minorities, women, and teenagers means the increased border patrolling is working.

    It is ratified by the fact that, in spite of having more people on the border, arrests are down 8.0%.

    Also, the substantial rise in hourly wages in the last few months is also reinforcing this view.

    ReplyDelete
  49. REM, it's an unfortunate fact that while most counties will benefit, there will be some that will not (at least, in the short run.)

    I'll betcha, in a few year (ten or twenty) things will look a lot different in your county, too.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Wal-Mart buys their stuff from China. So NAFTA doesn't help there.

    Mexican farmers don't have the same rules to follow as Americans, so their crops can be sold at a cheaper rate. So we aren't helping the farmers.

    I'm sure someone can spin it such that NAFTA appears to be good in some areas, but I'm not buying it. I've lost several friends who had to leave when their jobs went south. I got out of the watermelon business when I couldn't beat the South-of-Border-Melons to market (which in my case, to be fair, is probably related more to climate than anything else). If it took too long to get to market, it was smarter to just let the fruit rot on the vine. Tarriffs would have helped this ole boy out. Free trade sure didn't.

    I don't like NAFTA.

    ReplyDelete
  51. One thing that is going to happen is that young people will be forced to get a slightly better education, and qualify themselves for higher quality jobs than the ones that migrated to Mexico.

    Some older workers will have a problem with this, but the younger ones will adapt which will be a benefit to all. In the meantime everyone will benefit from the lower prices on products from Mexico. I know it can be painful for some, in the short run, but it really will benefit the younger ones in the long run.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Rufus, things already look different. We're service-industy oriented now. Family Dollar, in the past two or three years, put in a large warehouse and opened up some jobs. More recently, Arizona Chemical did the same thing. There's rumors of another warehouse coming. Instead of building things, we're storing them now. Different does not equal better. Where before you needed some skill for one of the better county jobs, now all you have to be able to do is count boxes and drive a forklift. There's just nothing else needed.

    To make it worse, the county subsidizes all of these endeavors and then gets burned when the companies decide to pull out. This has happened with two call-centers (a third remains).

    This stuff is not all the fault of NAFTA and free-trade, but that's when the trouble started.

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  53. REM, you make a valid point as to agricultural prices. I'm not for sure about the watermelon business, although, I grew up on a farm whose main money crop was watermelons; but tariffs on USA ag products are just now falling off. This will have an effect on corn and bean producers, but I doubt that it will help you.

    HOWEVER, if you can grow watermelons you might have an opportunity coming up in the "Energy Crops" business. Some people are even looking at watermelons as a potential ethanol source.

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  54. What has Islam to do with image of G-d?

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  55. Allen, why did you write G-d, intead of God?

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  56. Rufus,

    I love your optimism on bio-fuels. I don't buy it, but I appreciate that there are folks like you who are out there pushing for this. Something has to be done to reduce our nation's dependence on oil.

    I studied alternative energy sources in grad school (mechanical engineering). The numbers just never looked viable for bio-fuels. Things change, new discoveries are made, greater efficiencies are achieved, but I just don't think it's going to happen on a large-scale basis anytime soon. The economics won't allow it.

    My great-uncle (Dad's uncle) has a large farm in Eastern Georgia (his boys and their boys run it now). I remember when I was a kid how he described to me how he raised enough corn on his property to make 'gas' for his tractors and truck. I don't remember the details and I haven't been over that way in years, but I know that he raised and processed (probably in some old moonshine stills) enough corn to fuel a tractor or two and his old work truck. I've no idea if they still use ethanol like that, but I know they did.

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  58. It's already happening on a huge scale, REM. We have 3.7 Billion gallons/yr under construction in the US right now. Add that to the 5.1 Billion gallons/yr currently being produced and you have a replacement of over 5% of gasoline currently being used. We'll be at TEN Percent in 3 or 4 years.

    AND, the ECONOMICS ARE HERE, NOW. I won't go into a long dissertation, this time, but all of those old studies didn't take into consideration $50.00 oil, a huge increase in the productivity of agricultural, or distilling techniques, Co-Products, etc.

    Then comes cellulosic; this is a world changer, and the improvements in enzymes and techniques have it competitive with unleaded gasoline, right now.

    Anything you read about alternative fuels last year is hopelessly outdated, not to mention 5 years, ago.

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  59. BTW, did you know that the first tax congress levied was on the country's most valuable product (Corn Whiskey - known today as Ethanol,) and led to a Very Serious Armed Insurrection (The Whiskey Rebellion.)

    As usual, it was a tax that favored the Large Producers, and would have put all of the small producers (farmers) out of business. It didn't last long.

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  60. I know times are a-changin', but in my opinion, the hydrogen economy of Iceland is more feasible than the bio-fuel of Brazil.

    Only time will tell.

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  61. The average town can generate most of it's own electricity by utilizing it's waste. It's already being done.

    They figure you could electrify every house in America simply by capturing the wind in N. Dakota.

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  62. Solar is now where Bio-fuels were five or six years, ago; on the verge of a tremendous rush.

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  63. Allen, why did you write G-d, intead of God?

    It's a funny little thing that Jewish netizens like to do. They have a tradition that the true name of the Creator (YHWH) must never be uttered. When they run across this vowel-less name (also called the tetragrammaton) in the Torah they substitute the words "The LORD". In the same spirit it has become fashionable for them to remove the vowel from the English word "God".

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  64. They figure you could electrify every house in America simply by capturing the wind in N. Dakota.

    I figure every home in the Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis can be powered from the methane coming from inside the Beltway from all the politicians farting around.

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  65. T, I'm aware of why he wrote it that way. Think of my question as it pertains to his question.

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  66. bobalharb said:

    I never did succeed in training my family to simply turn off the lights when leaving a room. Could train my dog better. Humanity is tough stuff to work with.

    Maybe the same RFID chip in our hand or forehead that we're going to need to buy our groceries will be used to tell Microsoft House when you are entering a room so it can turn on the lights and TV and wall heater.

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  67. "Some Internet sources claim that this report, despite its own language rejecting a political union, would create a North American Union."

    Don't need internet sources, while working there I leafed through a mid-sized (couple dozen pages or so) pamplet on it at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. Subtitle? Quote: "toward a North American Union."

    Moon-battery my ass.

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  68. Regardless of the intentions of that specific report, it will be an issue in the future. The EUrophiles will make sure of it.

    Though, to be blunt, the dismal future of the EU itself might kill a lot of its attractiveness.

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  69. rufus,

    re: T, I'm aware of why he wrote it that way. Think of my question as it pertains to his question.

    Thanks!

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