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, January 16, 2007

Another good reason to trust Washington and those that run it.

I am always quietly amused at the trust people put in government. They do have information we are not privy to, don't they? They get briefings and oversight, right? Well on a post on the previous thread, I rashly commented that this story was too stupid and unbelievable to merit a separate post. Wrong again. It does.

The thing is, I got thinking about a hundred dollar of wine confiscated by the army of morons at TSA. That just wasn't right. That wasn't business. That was personal. That is the government protecting our security. They also know what they are doing because they have information and insight as well don't they? While the TSA is confiscating water bottles from grandmothers at airports, another arm of your well-financed-broad-ass government is selling F14 parts to Iran, cheap. Say it ain't so Joe. FUBAR




FUBAR

21 comments:

  1. That would be Los Federales FUBAR,Deuce. Don't forget your sombrero, it's going to be hot today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thats pretty fucked up.

    Of course, it may just be a cuning Bush plan to keep the Iranians wasting monumental money on a barely servicable F-14 fleet instead of buying useful stuff like Russian manpads, Kornet ATGM, Chicom Silkworm missiles or advanced Italian naval computerized stealth mines.

    Besides, the USAF would almost certainly support selling whole F-14 to any potential enemy, since that would make a case for needing the F-22.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How would you like to have the job of explaining the reasons Iran should be the recipient of an embargo and why Russia and China should be criticized for arms shipments?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a nasty job. Mucho chutzpah would be in order.

    How about Alan Dershowitz, with John Bolton playing straight man?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just received this email:

    For Your Attention:
    The Managing Director/Owner
    REF: IRAQI RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS - VARIOUS SUPPLIES.

    Salaam,
    My name is Nasir Mustapha; this is a Contract Invitation from Iraq. My benefactor in the new PM Al-Maliki regime is the Director General of the Budget Department/Debt Management Office (DMO) of the Ministry of Finance.
    He has mandated me to seek for your co-operation in a multi million Dollars worth of contract supplies on various goods and equipments:

    All types of Machinery Equipments needed,Welding Equipment,Welding Manipulators, Positioners, & Turning Rolls,Fabricating Machinery,Milling Machinery needed.All types of suppliers of Aeration systems for wastewater treatment plants needed,All types of Hospital and Medical equipment needed,All types of Telecommunication systems and Equipment needed.All types of agricureturer equipments needed.Tractors and Agricultural Equipment.Air Pollution Control Fire & Safety Equipment.Water Quality Control Agricultural Equipment & Supplies Chemicals,Armored Vehicles Supplies.


    Civilian Aircraft.Hospital Equipment.Heavy duty construction and Earth moving Equipment.Machinery and Metal Tooling.Medical equipment & Health Products Computer Products,Hardware & Electronic Equipment,Fertilizer and Urea.
    Telecom equipment Waste Disposal Equipment.Air Polution Control.Building and Estate Management.Buses and Cars for ultra mordern urban transportation
    network.

    If your company is capable of supplying any of the above-mentioned items, then kindly respond immediately DETAILING YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND EXCLUSIVE E-MAIL and a scanned attachment of your well articulated TENDER.

    As soon as we receive these, I shall get back to you with all details exclusively.
    The final decision would be predicated upon your Company’s capabilities.

    Salaam,
    NASIR MUSTAPHA
    Program Management Office

    ReplyDelete
  6. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has delivered new anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran and will consider further requests by Tehran for defensive weapons, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Tuesday.

    "We have supplied the modern short-range anti-aircraft systems TOR-M1 in accordance with our contracts," Ivanov told reporters. "Iran is not under sanctions and if it wants to buy defensive ... equipment for its armed forces then why not?"

    A defense ministry source later told Reuters deliveries of hardware under the $1 billion deal, which has been criticised by the West, have not yet been completed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Iran is not under sanctions and if it wants to buy defensive ... equipment for its armed forces then why not?"


    And the US is NOT at war with Iran, either.

    Perhaps we will be, but I doubt it.
    Based on Administration spokesmens statements and historical precedent. For the past three years, every 90 to 120 days we cycle through a escalation of rhetoric with the Iranians as a target.

    Each time the results are the same.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Our well spoken amigo, westhawk has another piece aat TCS:
    Will a Larger Military Mean Lower Standards?

    Which seems to be the reality of the situataion.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting read at www.biglizards.net

    The Gathering Swarm

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sunni/Shia strife in Lebanon?

    Major General Benjamin Gantz, Commander of the IDF's Ground Forces, spoke at a conference on ground combat at Tel Aviv University on Tuesday, and tried to explain the 'strange phenomenon' of Hizbullah's perceived victory during the second Lebanon war.

    "It's bizarre to me that Hizbullah claims victory in the war, after they lost between 500 to 800 operatives, sustained severe damage to their long range missile launching capabilities, and had thousands of sites in Lebanon destroyed, which will take them years to rebuild," he said.

    In my opinion, the explanation for this derives from a cultural outlook, not just from the physical aspects of the conflict.
    Social durability has its own implications," he explained
    suggesting that feeling of an Israeli loss in Lebanon resulted from the presentation of IDF operational mistakes.

    Gantz suggested that there was very little possibility to have achieved different results in the Lebanon war, saying that "managing the war in a way that would have more severely harmed Hizbullah would have changed the post-war feeling (in the region)."

    "In our environment, the post-war feeling is very important, in my opinion," he added.

    What exactly is General Gantz's definition of social durability and post-war feeling?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just Hum
    "You've Lost that Lovin Feeling"
    by the Righteous Brothers and change the words.
    GWB and Olmert will chime in when you get to
    "Baby, Baby, I'd get down on my knees for you."

    ReplyDelete
  12. Olmert's Replacement?

    In Livni's press appearance with Rice Saturday night she was asked whether she supports moving ahead with Palestinian statehood before the Palestinians end their involvement in terrorism, in contravention of the principal guideline of the US-backed road map peace plan. Livni's response illustrated at once her unique rhetorical skills and the unmatched analytical acumen she brings to bear today as Israel's chief diplomat.

    In her words, "And but yes, I do and I was not talking about jumping or skipping or bypassing some of the phases of the road map, but I do believe that talking with the Palestinians today what are the best steps that we can take and maybe to make some visions or some - what we say the political horizon more concrete if this can help, so this is something that we have to do. But there's a difference and we can distinguish talking with the Palestinians and implementing parts one before the other, and I believe that this is the difference maybe and maybe the kind of misunderstanding that was in the understanding of talking or implementing the phases in a different order."

    ReplyDelete
  13. Rice picks up Livni's ideas
    US envoy:
    Rice's next road map visit will entail discussions, not negotiations.

    Last month, Livni came out with the idea of holding talks with the Palestinians about a future state, before implementation of the first stage of the road map. The idea behind this was to give the Palestinians an incentive to implement the first steps of the road map in order to reach these goals.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Doug,

    Damn straight shooters always shoot from the hip. Now there's clear thinking rhetoric if I ever seen it. Them Chinese can learn a thing or two from her Blondi Hipness.

    ReplyDelete
  15. How about this for incentive. Do what I you're told or we'll cut your Jihadi testicles and sell them to the Chinese medicine men.

    ReplyDelete
  16. You reveal your predjudices:
    Regarding Blondes, James.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I reveal nothing, except Chinese made Burkas.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I dream of Jeanie in a Chinese Burkhini.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I dream of Marry Ann but she only speaks Qurean.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Speaking of signals our Navy is sending...what to make over a submerged USN submarine collides with Japanese freighter in Straits.

    No injuries or damage?

    ReplyDelete