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."

Monday, February 25, 2008

Where Does Prophet Obama Stand on International Criminal Court?


From left to right: Ms. Fatou Bensouda, ICC Deputy Prosecutor, Mr. Kofi Annan,  former  UN Secretary-General, Judge Philippe Kirsch, President of the ICC.

I was hoping for a short cut to get rid of Obama. Larry Sinclair would have been fine by me. As usual it will have to be done the old fashion way and that is the right way and best way. Let the man rise or fall on his beliefs and ideas. It is time to get some specifics from the prophet Obama. Let's start with the ICC.

The International Criminal Court isn't discussed much in the presidential campaign, but few issues are more revealing of a candidate's perspective on the United States' legal and political relations with the rest of the world.

The court was established in 2002 to deal with cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Headquartered in the Dutch city of The Hague, it was conceived as a permanent successor to the Nuremberg tribunals formed to try Nazi leaders after World War II. It now has 105 members, including virtually all current U.S. allies, but not the United States itself.

President Bush has attacked the court relentlessly, saying it could subject Americans to politically motivated prosecutions abroad. He has renounced the 1998 treaty that created the court, pressed other nations to disregard it, and signed legislation - nicknamed the "Hague Invasion Act" by critics - authorizing military action to free any citizen of the United States or an allied nation held for trial by the court.

Republican presidential candidates generally share Bush's view, while Democratic candidates largely reject it."
San Francisco Chronicle

_____________________

Europeans Hopeful US Democrats Will Rescue Trans-Atlantic Ties

DW

Europeans think the next US president will be better. They hope a Democrat in the White House will reinvigorate trans-Atlantic ties. But the candidates aren't necessarily much more in tune with Europe.

Europeans' interest in the US primaries and caucuses is immense: leading German newsmagazine Der Spiegel even devoted its title story to Democrat Barack Obama last week, and the Internet is alive with young Europeans commenting on the campaigns in innumerable blogs and forums.

Many Europeans connect the election of a new US president with the hope for a new beginning in trans-Atlantic relations, which suffered setbacks due to numerous controversies, from George W. Bush's uncompromising approach to climate change to his foray into the Iraqi desert. To many Europeans, everything will get better once there's a new president. And if he or she is a Democrat, they believe, it's guaranteed.

Regardless of how passionately Europeans follow the duel between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Europe plays a negligible role in the top Democratic contenders' campaigns. Aside from a few sentences in speeches and essays, the two have hardly said a word about Europe.

And according to some, European hopes will likely be dashed.

"A fundamental new evaluation of the trans-Atlantic relationship will not take place," said Esther Brimmer, research director at the Center for Transatlantic Relations (CTR) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.

But the tone will change.

"Obama and Clinton will make themselves out to be more cooperative, more international. And for every American president, Europe remains the most important partner," Brimmer said.

US won't allow Europe to dictate

On points of contention between the US and Europe, such as climate change or human rights, the Europeans could expect significantly more cooperation than in the past, she added.

But whether under a President Obama or a President Clinton, the US would demand the leadership role in fighting climate change. It would also refuse to let the Europeans dictate what should be done, Brimmer said. And it's inconceivable that a new president would ratify the statutes of the International Criminal Court (ICC), an issue that looms large for Europeans.

"With so much military personnel all over the world, the US doesn't want to be subjected to politically motivated accusations from other states at the ICC," Brimmer said.

But a new president wouldn't try to actively thwart the ICC, as the Bush administration did at the start.

And when it comes to Iraq and Iran's nuclear ambitions, a President Obama or Clinton would discuss the issues more closely with the Europeans, Brimmer reckoned.

Obama attracted attention last year by suggesting he would try to engage in direct talks with Iran. Clinton called the suggestion naive.

Grown apart

Brimmer said the biggest difference between the two Democrats in regard to Europe was that Obama wanted to set the course for where the US would be in 30 or 40 years, particularly in terms of climate change and international dialogue. Clinton, on the other hand, was focused on improving America's standing in the world in the near term.

This different approach "naturally influences the role Europe plays for the US in the mid-term," Brimmer said.

Though Bush's foreign policy may have caused a storm over the Atlantic, actually there had been a fundamental, structural change in the trans-Atlantic relationship, said Karen Donfried, vice president of the German Marshall Funds of the United States.

"The attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, hit the US at a time when the Europeans -- after the end of the Cold War -- felt safer than ever," she said. The US and Europe had not only developed different interests, but were also no longer united by a common enemy.

Polls reinforce that view: While Americans identify terrorism as the number one threat, Europeans say climate change is the biggest problem.

Finding a common cause

The rise of new 'super powers,' such as China and India could, however, bring Americans and Europeans closer together again, according to Donfried.

"The EU and the US must work together to integrate countries that come from outside this tradition into the global political system they have so clearly molded," she said.

In that sense, Obama and Clinton would certainly view Europeans as effective partners. But the "Europeans would have to finally get their house in order," Donfried said.

"In haggling over a new European constitution and the Lisbon reform treaty, the Europeans were so occupied with themselves that they were neither united enough nor did they have the necessary view of the outside world to be this effective partner," she said.




160 comments:

  1. One of the new court initiatives. Plenty of new victims worldwide.

    Check out the new board of directors, about two minutes into the video. There sits none other than Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

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  2. Almost everyone praises Hill for her professionalism in trashing a 12 year old girl raped by a 41 year old man, with lies and intimidation.
    Sweet.
    And now even the victim forgives her for lying about what happened.

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  3. and signed legislation - nicknamed the "Hague Invasion Act" by critics - authorizing military action to free any citizen of the United States or an allied nation held for trial by the court.

    I'd never heard that one, but I like the sounds of it.

    The average lawyer--that's my dad!

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  4. Obama worked with terrorist
    Senator helped fund organization that rejects 'racist' Israel's existence

    JERUSALEM – The board of a nonprofit organization on which Sen. Barack Obama served as a paid director alongside a confessed domestic terrorist granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a "catastrophe" and supports intense immigration reform, including providing drivers licenses and education to illegal aliens.

    The co-founder of the Arab group in question, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, also has held a fundraiser for Obama. Khalidi is a harsh critic of Israel, has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror and reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved in anti-Western terrorism and was labeled by the State Department as a terror group.

    In 2001, the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi's wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002.

    Obama served on the Wood's Fund board alongside William C. Ayers, a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971.

    The AAAN in 2005 sent a letter to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in which it called a billboard opposing a North Carolina-New Mexico joint initiative to deny driver's licenses to illegal aliens a "bigoted attack on Arabs and Muslims."

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  5. If he performed as Hillary did, he was a piece of shit.
    No offense, of course.

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  6. That's some of the Best Stuff GWB did in office.
    I was not aware of some of it.

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  7. The ICC could start with Robert Mugabe, if they wanted to do some good. Add in Fidel and Raoool, lil Kim, sundry others. Many others I can think of.

    The endorsement of Farrakhan should be enough to wake a few people up, but it probably won't be.

    There's an old rule of law. The defense attorney works for the defendant. And women have been know to lie. We had a case like that here, not so long ago.

    Dad missed that kind of stuff. When he was in court, which wasn't all that often, as he didn't like it, it was almost always on some civil stuff.:)

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  8. George doesn't want to be hauled before The Hague!

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  9. Yeah, but she acted just like Bubba and her with the Travel Office (at least they were adults) she didn't just defend her client she cruelly destroyed the victim, a 12 year old child.
    They could have just dismissed the Travel people.
    She could have vigorously defended her client, w/o dishonestly attacking her.

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  10. I'll just call her a worthless Cunt of a Lawyer, that way your dad's left out of it!

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  11. Fatass has basically spent her entire adult life trashing other women.
    And now, as it turns out, young girls.

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  12. "I have been informed that the complainant is emotionally unstable with a tendency to seek out older men and to engage in fantasizing," wrote Rodham, without referring to the source of that allegation. "I have also been informed that she has in the past made false accusations about persons, claiming they had attacked her body."

    Dale Gibson, the investigator, doesn't recall seeing evidence that the girl had fabricated previous attacks. The assistant prosecutor who handled much of the case for Mahlon Gibson died several years ago. The prosecutor's files on the case, which would have included such details, were destroyed more than decade ago when a flood swept through the county archives, Mahlon Gibson said. Those files also would have included the forensics evidence referenced in "Living History."
    ---
    Nice, no source, just a claim, against a child.

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  13. The victim was visibly stunned when handed the affidavit by a reporter this fall. "It kind of shocks me - it's not true," she said. "I never said anybody attacked my body before, never in my life."
    ---

    "She's clearly wired to be empathetic, concerned and can-do about children," said Penn Rhodeen, a New Haven Legal Aid lawyer who worked with Rodham on a foster-care case while she was at Yale. "It's personal to her."

    Roger.

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  14. Sorry, Tanks are on Empty!
    Game Over.

    After the flight attendant refused to administer oxygen to Desir, she became distressed, pleading, "Don't let me die," Oliver recalled.

    He said other passengers aboard Flight 896 became agitated over the situation, and the flight attendant, apparently after phone consultation with the cockpit, tried to administer oxygen from a portable tank and mask, but the tank was empty.

    Oliver said two doctors and two nurses were aboard and tried to administer oxygen from a second tank, which also was empty.

    Desir, of Brooklyn, was placed on the floor, and a nurse tried CPR, but to no avail, Oliver said. A "box," possibly a defibrillator, also was applied but didn't function effectively, he said.

    "I cannot believe what is happening on the plane," he said, sobbing. "She cannot get up, and nothing on the plane works."

    Oliver said he then asked for the plane to "land right away so I can get her to a hospital," and the pilot agreed to divert to Miami, 45 minutes away. But during that time Desir collapsed and died, Oliver said.

    "Her last words were, 'I cannot breathe,"' he said.

    Desir, 44, was pronounced dead by one of the doctors, Joel Shulkin, and the flight continued to John F. Kennedy International Airport, without stopping in Miami, with the woman's body moved to the floor of the first-class section and covered with a blanket, Oliver said.

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  15. (Joel had an important appointment in New York, but it in no way clouded his determination that the victim was indeed, dead.)

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  16. Everything but unloading her through the baggage carousel.

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  17. To bad life has to interrupt the blogging, but ...

    I notice that no one wants to pick up the anti-Christ arrives before the Messiah football.

    But ...
    That is the storyline.

    As to the ICC, it would gladden ash's heart to see US adopt it. The Court has done so well in the Sudan, which is signatory to the agreement, that I cannot see any problems. Except for enforcement.

    The Pakistan War, interesting stuff. That is the "center of gravity", as the Golden Chains' existence is denied by US. There is no Saudi connection to jihad. The Wahabbists are US allies, according to all politicos in DC. That is US policy.
    Love it or leave it.

    So it is Pakistan that is the heart of the problem, as far as US is concerned, Afghanistan is the Pakistani strategic rear, always has been, from the Paki perspective.

    At the BC, whiskey is still in denial tahat it was R.Reagan that allowed the Pakis to "go nuclear", that there is more to being a nuclear power than detonating a device.

    That there is an ill wind a-blowin', without question, that the US is illprepared for it, even more so.

    Couple of days here, then back to the mountains, quite pristine, rugged. A lot like Pakistan/Afghanistan. Not suited for modern mechanized varities of military of the type we depend upon. Takes much more, of less, to be a success.

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  18. Little Green Footballs ...
    Is Hamas ready to move against the fence between Israel and Gaza?

    The kids are being released early from school, is that part of a plan?

    Firing upon women and children, that'd get a triggerman in front of the ICC, little doubt of that.

    Mr Olmert playing the role of Slobodan Milosevic, the US ready to invade the Hague, to save him?

    While real challenges to US security go unaddressed.
    Almost unnoticed.

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  19. People fret over the Pakistani nuclear force falling into evil doers hands. But who will control the US strategic force, come 2009, and to what end will it be used?

    Who will become the foe?

    Ms Samantha Power tells the tale, to those that care to listen.
    Mr Obama, he is listening, to her and those that follow that path.

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. Then I notice whit posts on the expanding war in Mexico, with little comment from the patons.

    The refugees will not be heading to Guatamala, count on that, amigos.

    Pakistan/Afghanistan, worry on that, while our own frontier is violated. There is no security zone. No fence. Few patrols.

    Those miscreants that are captured, are looking to be saved, from death by exposure in the Sonoran desert.
    A fate not hard to find, there.

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  22. "Takes much more, of less, to be a success."
    ---
    Miss it.
    You enjoying it?

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  23. What is YOUR fence for, btw?

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  24. The mountains, this time, yes.

    It's mostly spent on horseback. Chasing the bovine, well hunting them, really.

    Traps at water tanks and what not.
    Taking some dudes into the back country, listening to them whine about their discomfort around the fire, while paying for the experience. I've always enjoyed that part of modern dude ranching.

    They seem to think that copious amounts of Jack Daniels at night will make the mornings easier to cope with.
    Never does.

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  25. Can't remember ever whining around the fire.
    Not to say I never did.

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  26. Redefines the line, between the Buzzard Roost and an Apache Indian Reservation. The Indians do not care about the fence, or the livestocks ownership.

    There is a reasonable amount of deeded land, there, and grass. It is one of the only ranches that the Feds couldn't shut down due to the drought conditions on the Federal land. An interesting micro-climate exists in Pleasent Valley as well as some history.

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  27. We Camped out once on the Salinas River while we were tearing down a Camp Roberts Barracks for "resources."
    Didn't exactly WHINE, but were outspoken about the intensity of the noise, rumble, and etc. of the freight trains passing close by.
    Very impressive in the middle of the night!

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  28. Ah, the Sheep/Cattle wars.
    Calif. once had those.
    Mom was raised on a farm.

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  29. Beats the FBI!
    "A grisly incident which has been the basis of many high colored stories and films occured when the Grahams surrounded a Tewksbury cabin in the early morning hours and coolly shot down John Tewksbury and William Jacobs as they started out for horses. The Grahams continued firing at the cabin for hours, with fire returned from within. As the battle continued a drove of hogs started devouring the bodies of Tewksbury and Jacobs; the Grahams did not offer a truce but continued shooting. Suddenly John Tewksbury's wife came out of the cabin with a shovel. The firing stopped while she scooped out shallow graves for her husband and his companion. Firing on both sides then resumed, but no further deaths occurred, and after a few hours the Grahams rode away."

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  30. Too bad the Muzzies aren't so honorable.

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  31. Not that ALL of them, aren't, of course!

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  32. Hogs are consumate omnivores

    Took a Chicago fellow from Cave Creek to Payson, one year, a four day pack trip thru the Mazatzal Wilderness Area.
    Poor dude wore his ass raw on the first day, silver dollar size holes in his cheeks. Oiled him up with Corona creme, and kept on.

    No use trunin' back, as the trucks had left the drop off point and the ride to civilization, either way, was about the same.

    On the drive back to Phoenix, about 2 hours on the hard road, this man laid in the backseat of the old Dodge crew cab and whimpered the entire time. Even for me, it was only humorous in retrospect. Well, truly humorous in retrospect, listening to him for those two hours wasn't funny, until he was out of the truck.

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  33. Japanese version I read about the other day:
    Guy ran the marathon, thought he was having a heart attack.
    Took off his shirt and it looked like he'd been shot twice in the chest.
    Applied Vaseline to his nipples, the next year.
    Geez, sounds like something Charles Gitout would write!

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  34. "The Senator took off my cap and wore it."

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  35. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  36. We had a RULE, when I was a youngster. Na AZ tradition
    If a girl took your hat and put it on her head, she was yours until dawn.

    Worked about 2/3rds of the time.
    The balance, usually had to pick the hat up, off the floor.

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  37. Now-a-days, would that go both ways?

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  38. Richie Valley was just 17 when he met his fate.
    Folks were Mexican Farm Workers living in the Pacheco Pass area north of where we camped out.
    "Oh, Doaanna, oh, Doaanna,
    I had a girl,
    Donna was her name."

    ...the day the music died.

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  39. Well, the Senator denies it worked, as does the female, in that particular case.

    But there is precedent for his attempt, in the local culture he represents. Not that he was ever much of a part of it.

    Little wonder Barry Goldwater held him in low esteem. By McCain's own admission.

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  40. ...along with Holly and the Big Bopper.

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  41. Was that the one part of local culture that the Senator induldged in?

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  42. The US Navy, versus the Wild, Wild, West.

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  43. My Mon Feb 25, 10:14:00 AM
    was in response to your
    Mon Feb 25, 10:14.A -
    for the record,
    NOT - 10:14.B
    Not that there's anything wrong...

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  44. Desert Rat wrote:

    "As to the ICC, it would gladden ash's heart to see US adopt it."

    Yeppers, Rule of Law good, Anarchy bad.

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  45. Global Rule, that is.
    Muzzies = Yanks = Good.

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  46. Yanks = Rockyfeller Republicans.

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  47. Well, Cindy is a local.

    They lived in her folks house, in Phoenix. They were tryin' to sell it, do not know if they did.

    They have a place in Sedona where they spend most of their time, while in AZ. Right on Oak Creek. Nice area, what with the New Agers making it a tourist hotspot.
    They haven't lost money there, on that piece of dirt.
    Nice scenic canyons and red rocks, little to no grass.

    Just a Harmonic Harmonic Convergence caused by Energy Vortexes

    In Sedona vortexes are created, not by wind or water, but from spiraling spiritual energy. The vortexes of Sedona are named because they are believed to be spiritual locations where the energy is right to facilitate prayer, mediation and healing. Vortex sites are believed to be locations having energy flow that exists on multiple dimensions. The energy of the vortexes interacts with a person’s inner self. It is not easily explained. Obviously it must be experienced.

    John and his clan, they live there, amongst 'em. My folks built a couple of houses in Sedona, during the 80s. Sat outside on my birthday, with a twelve pack, waiting for the alien mothership, it never came.

    In 1987, Sedona‘s reputation as a spiritual center got quite a boost. Many journeyed to Sedona during the time of the highly anticipated Harmonic Convergence. Our Aetheism writer, explains Harmonic Convergence. On the weekend of August 16th and 17th, 1987, the great "Harmonic Convergence" was supposed to take place - at least, that is what José Arguelles told people. A great many believed him - not simply prominent leaders of the New Age movement like Shirley MacLaine, but also millions and millions of adherents.

    What was the nature of this convergence? Well, according to Arguelles, at this time the Earth would start slipping out of its "time beam" and risk spinning off into space - only by the concerted, psychic efforts of the human race would it remain where it was supposed to be. This time would see a great increase in the experience of deja vu and UFO sightings. However, if enough people would simply gather at sacred places around the globe and concentrate enough, the New Age would begin, the Earth would remain safe and a new era of harmony and love would be inaugurated.


    So it seems, I helped save the world, that day.

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  48. Reagan Repubs shed a tear,
    on a hill,
    in the shining light.

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  49. Just a second, if I may, to revisit (briefly, I promise) a discussion from yesterday.

    How it really works:

    Well organized groups and corporations with questionable land titles, but also official land owners began to chop down large acreages of forest to trade timber, both legally and illegally. Usually, after the empty strips of land were abandoned, cattle owners would move into these cheap lands. However, after 3 to 4 years of cattle breeding, the thin soil of the Amazon is completely useless without any form of fertilization and livestock owners usually move into the next abandoned area. Soybean farmers meanwhile replace the livestock in these areas, recognizing the opportunity to fertilize the area for soybean production.

    From This Article

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  50. That's an accomplishment, 'Rat!
    Beats Global Justice/Anarchy!

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  51. Fucking Rufus is gonna be Czar when the shit really hits the fan!

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  52. Globalism v Nationalism

    That is the crux of the debate.
    Concerning the ICC.

    Neither is anarchy
    Just a different set of leaders

    The ICC could not enforce its' writ in the Sudan, so it exemplifies anarchy.

    The US has at least attempted to enforce its' writs, so is a force for the Rulle of Law, its' own.

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  53. I liked it better when I could laugh at "Conservatives" when they proclaimed that oil was infinite in supply.
    My mirth, and their optimism/fantasy worth Zilch.

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  54. Any Court is only as powerful as its' deputies.
    Power grows from the barrel of a gun. Whose guns support the ICC?

    Where do the ICC deputies come from?

    In Europe the ICC can enforce its' writs, but outside that venue, it has no authority, in reality.

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  55. Gimme a Break, 'Rat!
    Globalism is the end of the human spirit.
    An AZ boy should know that in his bones.

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  56. oh, you were engaging in one of them conceits, or whatever.

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  57. Crop rotation, that's the ticket.
    bob could tell us about the importance of regular rotation of crops, to maintain yields.

    First the trees, then grass, then soybeans, then trees, again.

    Circles and cycles.
    Seems reasonable.

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  58. There is a large segment of the US that must support Globalism. The Republican Party does, in most aspects of its' policies.

    An occassional speed bump is emplaced, to mollify the masses, but the course is set.

    The Boner model is the one in play.
    Mr Rockefeller is proud of his efforts to create a Global Society, that will keep the genocides of the 20th century from being duplicated.

    There were what, 75 to 100 million premature deaths by violence from the Armenian genocide thru Darfur's.

    Let's "Give Peace a Chance"

    We can always kill 'em, if push comes to shove.

    What would the anti-Christ do?

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  59. "There were what, 75 to 100 million premature deaths by violence from the Armenian genocide thru Darfur's."
    ---
    Plus 40 million in the much more efficient pre-natal terminations in the USA.
    Those get carbon credits,
    not debits.

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  60. ahhh, I see Rat, you really do desire to rule the world, to be the global cop, to foot the bill, alone.

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  61. Spot on, Ash!
    Like a semen stain.

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  62. Rat sounds a hellova lot tougher than the A**holes that used to call him burka. Fess up DR, would you not like to take the lot of them on a three day trail ride with or without your burka on?

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  63. No, ash, I do not wish to see US as global policeman.
    But you do not answer the pertinent question, whose guns will support the ICC?

    Who will enforce the indictments it has handed down in Sudan?
    Who will serve the warrants?

    It is obviously not a US responsibility. Who will serve Mugube, in Rhodesia? He has committed crimes, there.
    Where is the ICC indictment?

    Those folk were simple jingoists, duece. Never spent a day, let alone a tour, in the field. Discounted tem from their first key stroke.

    The realities in Iraq have proven my basic theme to have been corect, all along. By not moving to an indig solution, sooner, we have lessened our influence on the locals that will be in charge, when we do "power down".

    Listening to Billary, she speaks of providing haven for those Iraqi that have assisted US, an admission of mission failure. Were any Iraqi to be provided refugee status, here in the US, upon our leaving, the victory spin would be hollow. Those we leave behind should be those we've empowered. That they may not be, proof of policy failure.

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  64. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  65. You just want a "Global" veneer to US power projection, ash. We would still have the guns, the power. You'd just like to have others, nonpayers, in charge of the mission assignments, of US force.

    The NATO example, set in Afghanistan, is the global government model. Where are the EU troops, to train and fight with the Afghan allies?
    Canada sent some, but where are the others?

    They have made the verbal committment, but failed to perform. They cannot or will not project power, even with US at their side.

    Where is proof that the ICC can field a posse?

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  66. The fact that EU forces have abandoned Kosovo, rather than being reinforced, gives further proof to the lie of ICC and EU justice and power projection.

    The minority folks there being abandoned, when the need for protection is greatest.

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  67. We've been over it before Rat and yes enforcement is a key issue. It certainly doesn't help the court and its enforcement issues when the most powerful nation in the world is as obstructionist as it is.

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  68. "You'd just like to have others, nonpayers, in charge of the mission assignments, of US force."

    No, it would be nice to see something other then naked self interest motivate assignments.

    Afghanistan is a clusterfuck and more application of force isn't going to help the situation. Same applies to Iraq.

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  69. The US has not obstructed the ICC in Sudan.
    The Court is not obstructed, by US, in serving its' warrants. It is obstructed by Sudan, a signatory to the Court.

    That gives proof, beyond doubt, to its' ineffectiveness.
    Unless there is a force capable of serving the Courts' warrants, the Court is not a Court at all. Just a debate society.

    To serve those ICC warrants would take a War. Who will wage it?

    If the US were a member, signatory, we'd be responsible to assisst in serving the Courts' needs. Putting US military missions and US justice into the hands of European buerocrats.
    A policy I'd oppose, perhaps with violence, as per my oath protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
    At that point, I might draw a line.

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  70. The "clusterfuck" argument applies everywhere that there is not rule of law.

    Sudan is the example, where warrants have been issued, and not served.

    If the EU countries did not want to particpate, in Afghanistan, they should not have committed to.

    Once a committment is made, and not followed through upon, verasity is lost.

    What of Kosovo, in Europe itself?
    That is exemplatory of the ICC mindset. Pious words, but cut and run when the going looks like it may get tough

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  71. Rat, you are exaggerating the scope of the ICC treaty. The US by signing on does not then become obligated to enforce the courts orders. There is no need for you to worry about leading an armed insurrection against the US government.

    Each government appears to have agreed to perform particular functions in Afghanistan. Few seem willing to enter into combat but some seem willing to help with reconstruction. There is no ICC involvement that I am aware. Similarly the ICC does not seem to be currently involved in the Kosovo situation.

    The ICC is intended to be a court of last resort dealing with only the most atrocious crimes (i.e. Genocide) when the government where the crimes occurred will not prosecute. It not intended to solve all of the worlds conflicts.

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  72. Tombstone, AZ, ash, is another historical example. That town was no "lawless", anything but.

    The Earps, Town Marshalls.
    The McLaury faction controlled the County Sheriff and were deputized.

    After the OK Corral incident, then Wyatt Earp obtained a Deputy Federal Marshalls' badge.
    And sought personal vengence from behind that Federal lawman persona.

    To this day there is local dispute as to whom was in the "right". but Wyatt had the higher law and the good fortune to survive.

    But as in the Pleasant Valley link, if the "law" will not serve the warrant, and is not willing to plant those that defend the accused, the Court will never have jurisdiction outside the Courtroom.

    ReplyDelete
  73. "Rat sounds a hellova lot tougher than the A**holes that used to call him burka."


    That would be me. :D

    Glad to see it reformed, and with a little fighting spirit.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Let us go to the Sudense example. Sudan is signatory to the agreement. It will not prosecute those indicted.
    It will not arrest and surrender those indicted.

    What now?

    If the Court does not enforce its' writ, why have a Court at all?
    To ajudicate those that submit, but not those that do not.

    Let's stay on the case in point, Sudan.

    Where is the posse that will enforce the warrants? Who should be empowered to form that posse?

    ReplyDelete
  75. Well, mat, the policies, in Iraq were wrong, dating from the fiasco of 28JUN03. Mr Bush proving his verasity flawed on that day.

    His promise to not dictate to the Iraqi, the Government they could form, proven false at the first step of local elections.

    Those that could have been empowered then, same as those empowered now. But after 3,500 US dead and almost a trillion dollars wasted. Just to get to where we were, then.

    ReplyDelete
  76. What will keep the serving of those Sudense from becoming a "clusterfuck"?

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  77. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  78. One kill at a time. Let's see if Trish comes to life.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Darfur a genocide, the ICC has issued warrants, the signatory country refuses to comply with the Court.

    What action can the Court take to enforce the warrants?
    As Sudan does not comply?

    It is in violation of its' Treaty Agreement, casus belli for War with the other signatory countries.

    ReplyDelete
  80. But that is the point, mat.
    There are no "kills".
    The US has surrendered to the "enemy", in Iraq.

    The "insurgents" have been transformed into "Concerned Local Citizens" and empowered in their locales. Which is what they wanted on 28JUN03, which is what we went to war over.

    The "Tribes" not defeated, but reinforced, by US. A more drastic a course change than I ever advocated for.

    ReplyDelete
  81. The ICC Prosecutors have concluded that the case against Ahmad Harun and Ali Kushayb is admissible. The judges have yet to determine whether arrest warrants or summons to appear will be issued. How they plan on exercising those warrants I have no idea but the best I can tell they haven't been issued yet.

    Your point regarding the enforcement of the warrants is a good one and the US should hop on board and help address it.

    ReplyDelete
  82. So the US would send troops to Sudan, to enforce the ICC's writ?

    How does that advance US interests?

    If the US thought it in its' national interest to "get" those fellows, it could, without the ICC sanction. If the US was signatory, would the Sudan feel obligated by that threat of force, casus belli of Treaty violation?

    Couldn't the UK, France and Italy provide the posse? Why would the US presence be required? If not to threaten, with force, those that do not fulfill their Treaty obligations?

    ReplyDelete
  83. While the terms of the ICC Treaty, itself, violates the US Constitution and the protections that Constitution provides US citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Wherever the Prophet Obama is standing you can be sure he'll be looking good in his full African regalia. Scroll down a little. Picture on the right.

    Hat tip JihadWatch

    ReplyDelete
  85. How do you figure it violates the US constitution? Do you think the US would have a problem prosecuting genocide committed in the US by one of its citizens?

    ReplyDelete
  86. If the US were to decide, under its' criminal process, that for the sake of debate, Mr Rumsfeld had not committed a War Crime, but the ICC disagreed and indicted him, the US would be Treaty bound to turn him over to the jurisdiction of the ICC.

    That would violate Mr Rumsfelds' rghts under the US Constitution.

    That is keystone to the ICC Treaty process. We've been over this ground before. You saying the US could get a waiver, special dispensation, which would make it the enforcer of, but not subject to, the ICCs decisions.

    Not in the US interest, that.

    Just as that Serbian General, who I do not feel like googling the name of, is not prosecuted by Serbia, but indicted at the Hague.

    The EU not favoring Serbia in recent decisions, based upon Serbian claims of Soverignty.

    ReplyDelete
  87. But, again, what of Sudan?
    What can the ICC do, short of War, to serve those Warrants?

    ReplyDelete
  88. I've seen Mr Bush dressed in Indonesian garb, also branishing an Arab sword, but not concurrently.

    To dress in native costume, a practice long followed by US leaders, at least by Bush43.

    Take more than wearing a costume at a party to derail the Obama train.

    What would the anti-Christ do?

    ReplyDelete
  89. I'm no horseman. JohnDeere cab for me. But last time I rode, I remember sitting on a big rock afterwards telling the guy and gal next to me, "damn it feels good to sit on this Lazy Boy."

    ReplyDelete
  90. Globalism v Nationalism

    "I wouldn't cede the moral equivalency much. There's also "good law" vs. "bad law" at stake.

    ReplyDelete
  91. It is significant that Antichrist will be a man. Antichrist will not be some strange creature, unrecognizable to you and me, some foreigner, a man from Mars or another solar system. Antichrist will not be a stranger to humanity. Indeed, he will be the final and full development of man, of the human race. You will know him well, for his nature will be your nature. Man always has and always will claim equality and identity with God (witness the insane ravings of the Shirley MacLaines and others today). This man's claims will be believable; he will be one of us.
    ...
    Antichrist as a world government, a political power, the likes of which this world has never seen. The origin of this beast is the sea, which represents the restless nations and peoples of the earth. Isaiah 57:20teaches, "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose water cast up mire and dirt." If more is needed, Revelation 17 tells us that "the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations." Little doubt is left when we see that the beast has horns and crowns. In Scripture horns are symbolic of power, and crowns of ruling authority. Besides, Revelation 13:2 says that the beast has power and a throne and great authority; and verse 7 says that he has power over all kindreds and tongues and nations. If any question remains, Daniel 7 says that the four beasts are four kings; and Revelation 17 says the beast from the earth is a king. The centuries of division and separation on this earth will end in one world government. The Antichrist is a political reality, a new world order, a global unity.

    We emphasize the point in the preceding paragraph because there is often the impression that Antichrist will simply be a religious figure. Scripture makes clear, however, that Anti-christ will be a political power.

    This political power will be a worldwide power.
    ...
    But it is a worldwide power that is the goal of, and embodiment of, all previous world powers. This is brought out in Revelation 13 in two ways. Follow along carefully as we look at this important point. First, the beast of Revelation 13 has the characteristics of a leopard, a bear, and a lion, so that, even though it is the final development of Daniel 7's fourth beast, it somehow embodies the other three as well. The four beasts of Daniel 7, almost all agree, represent four great world kingdoms: Babylon headed by Nebuchadnezzar; the Medes and Persians led by Cyrus; Greece and Macedonia under Alexander the Great, and, finally, Rome. The beast of Revelation 13 is the final development of the old, Roman kingdom (which indicates that Antichrist will come out of the Christian West, and not the pagan East), but it takes into itself also the other great kingdoms.

    Secondly, that Antichrist's is a worldwide kingdom is also the meaning of the seven heads of the beast described in Revelation 17. The 7 heads of the beast are 7 kingdoms-- five of them had already fallen, one of them was still standing (at the time John wrote this prophecy about AD 95), and one yet to come. Rome was the kingdom in existence, and the one yet to come is the Antichristian kingdom. The five which have already passed out of existence were the Greek kingdom, the Medo-Persian, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, and the kingdom of Babel, headed by Nimrod. We see, therefore, one beast with seven heads. And now the Spirit teaches us that the great kingdom of Antichrist, as the embodiment of these former kingdoms, succeeds where the other kingdoms ultimately failed, achieving its goal of world dominance. Nations cease their warring; the planet is united; the world is one. And that world belongs to Antichrist.

    The healing of the wound in Revelation 13 points to the success of Antichrist. We must not fail to see the significance of the healing of the wound.

    One of the heads of this beast had a "deadly wound that was healed." The explanation of this is that in the time of Nimrod, at the tower of Babel, there was an attempt to unite all men into one great world power. God frustrated this attempt by dividing the men and women into different races with different colors and languages, so that they were forced to separate. Races have remained separate ever since. All their efforts to be united have been frustrated up to this point. At the end, Antichrist will succeed.


    More than Bush43, Mr Obama fills the bill.
    He that unites religions and races, in a single individual. Called a messiah, by many, even here at the EB.

    Oh, the wonders of Revelations, if one believes in that.

    Which many do.
    At the head of a world empire, policeman to the world, ash calls US.
    With a uniter, not a divider at its lead. What greater throne or authority than resides in the Oval Office.

    Oh what tangled webs can be weaved.

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  92. Here's one of them damned lawyers, from Sedona, Arizona, who knows about Cydonia(Sedonia),Mars, my ancestral home land. We we goin' good there, ratoating crips, making our own fuel, until the muzzies took over, and we had to immigrate, leaving them to ruin the place, which they soon did. We had just instituted an Interplanetary Interdisciplinary Martian Criminal Court too, to help with our problems , but it turned on us. Never trust lawyers, dad always used to say.

    I knew Ash would be all in favor of the ICC.

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  93. We were all angels, then, bob.

    Now we have feet of clay.

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  94. Even "good law" v "bad law", cutler depends upon enforcement of either.

    Without enforcement, the quality of the "law" stands mute.

    Look to immigration in the US as to the tasting of that pudding.

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  95. It could be back to Babel, with Obama

    Back to Babel
    With Obama


    Now that's a bumber sticker!

    We are the World, do not forget it!

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  96. You ought to look in the phone book, Rat, and see if that Gersten fellow is still around there. You could offer him a horseback ride in exchange for insights into the history of Mars, earthlings, etc. Might be interesting. Would be interesting.

    If Obama is the messiah, there's got to be a John the Baptist type around somewheres, a forerunner, someone crying in the wilderness, someone on a health food diet, eating locusts and honey, wearing a loin cloth. Probably hanging out by a river somewhere. A grim man, fire in the eyes, but I can't think who it might be.

    Jesse Jackson doesn't fit, not Al Sharpton either.

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  97. rat, would you argue the parallel, that an extradition treaty violates a US citizens constitutional right? I think your argument would fail there as well.

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  98. I was reading last night, under FDR, until the war, unemployment was still up there around 17%, even with all the government spending. He wanted to tax any income over x--can't recall the figure, maybe it was 100k--at 100%, but settled for 91%. Steel production had dropped from 80something % of capacity to 37% capacity. Remember when we had that index?

    FDR didn't put America back on its feet, though he may have kept things from getting worse. World War II did.

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  99. No, ash, because if the suspect goes to the US Courts and has the extradition rejected, the US is not bound by treaty to extradite him anyway. Which the ICC Treaty does demand.

    "Dog" Chapman and Mexico the latest example of an extradition request that would have been denied, with Mexico having no recourse. That Marine Corporal accused of killing his pregnent girlfriend, unextraditable if the death penalty could be imposed. Both current aspects of the US/Mexico extradition agreement.

    The extradition treaties are subservient to US Courts, the ICC, by treaty, is not. It puts the ICC in a superior position to US Courts.

    As it does in the Sudanese case, the one example, ongoing that you continue to ignore the ramifications of.

    A signatory country that ignores the treaty when it is applied to THEIR citizens, but not others, as in Serbia.
    Let the US fail to handover an ICC indicted US citizen and the howling would never end. But those that advocate for US inclusion in the ICC, ignore the Sudan question.

    As you are continuing to.
    What is the enforcing power to the treaty, other than war?
    Casus belli by Sudan, but ignored by the other Treaty signatories.

    So what is the point of US entry into such a group, but to become the whipping boy?

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  100. If a Mexican court indites a US citizen and a US Court fails to find reasonable cause for the indictment, the request is rejected.

    If the ICC indicts a US citizen, the US cannot reject the indictment. That is a keystone to the ICC agreement. The supremecy of the International Criminal Court. It violates the US Constitution, de facto violation.

    Be worth fighting over. Against all enemies foreign or domestic.

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  101. He caused things to become worse, bob.

    Stopped the recovery in its tracks.
    Bankrupting those banks not affiliated with the Federal Reserve.

    U.S. Federal Reserve and money supply
    Monetarists, including Milton Friedman and Benjamin Bernanke, argue that the Great Depression was caused by monetary contraction, which was the consequence of poor policy making by the American Federal Reserve System and continuous crisis in the banking system. By not acting, the Federal Reserve allowed the money supply as measured by the M2 to shrink by one-third from 1929 to 1933. Friedman argued the downward turn in the economy starting with the stock market crash would have been just another recession. The problem was that some large, public bank failures, particularly the Bank of the United States, produced panic and widespread runs on local banks, and that the Federal Reserve sat idly by while banks fell. He claimed if the Fed had provided emergency lending to these key banks, or simply bought government bonds on the open market to provide liquidity and increase the quantity of money after the key banks fell, all the rest of the banks would not have fallen after the large ones did and the money supply would not have fallen to the extent and at the speed that it did. With significantly less money to go around, businessmen could not get new loans and could not even get their old loans renewed, forcing many to stop investing. This interpretation blames the Federal Reserve for inaction, especially the New York branch, which was owned and controlled by Wall Street bankers.
    The Federal Reserve, by design, is not controlled by the President or the U.S. Treasury; it is primarily controlled and owned by its member banks and the chairman of the Federal Reserve.


    So, by poor management or by design, the Federal Reserve took further control of the US economy during that time frame.

    While Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH), Prescott Bush's employeer, acted as a US base for the German industrialist, Fritz Thyssen, who helped finance Hitler in the 1930s ...
    Prescott Bush was also the director of the New York-based Union Banking Corporation (UBC) that represented Thyssen's US interests and he continued to work for the bank after America entered the war.

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  102. Predictably, I agree with Rat. ICC takes away our sovereignty. If the EU wants to buy into it that's their business.

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  103. Which brings US back to Russell & Co., which FDRs grandfather was President of.

    All part of the "grand conspiracy" of Boners. Which is more believable, to me, than Revelations, but tied directly to it, according to some reporters.

    ReplyDelete
  104. OH Poll: Moving In Obama's Direction
    Posted by KYLE TRYGSTAD | E-Mail This | Permalink | Email Author
    A new Quinnipiac poll in Ohio (Feb. 18-23, 741 Dem LV, MoE +/- 3.6%) shows a 10-point swing in Obama's direction since the last poll, conducted two weeks ago.

    Clinton 51 (-4 vs. last poll, Feb. 6-12)
    Obama 40 (+6)
    Undecided 9

    Clinton leads the RCP Average for Ohio by 8.8 points

    Hillary is still hanging on in Ohio, but not by much.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Other Ohio Polls

    Dad said, out here, the Depression never really hit. There was no industry to be hit, all the farms were smaller, and a lot more self sufficient, every farm had a few cattle, chickens, an orchard, couple milk cows. There is someting to be said for that kind of set up, to be sure.

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  106. I'm not ignoring the Sudanese example. They should hand the guys over as too should the US as per treaty (like extradition TREATY). My reading of the Sudan case is that no warrant or summons has been issued as of yet which leaves open the question as to whether Sudan will hand over the individuals or not. If they should choose not too then the next step is not clear. If the warrants are issued and those two guys step into the EU or some other signatory nation they probably will be arrested. I'm guessing you'd welcome them to the US.

    Personally I think the US should sign on and then if the indictment is handed down work with the other nations to form a posse and take the two into custody to stand trial. This does not necessitate the invasion and occupation of Sudan nor does in necessitate the suspension of Habeas Corpus (a damn sight better solution then Guantanamo provides). Your a big Rule of Law guy DR and I'm surprised by your uneven application of the notion.

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  107. bobal, it hampers sovereignty only as other treaties do - in very specific and agreed upon areas. You don't have problems with the US signing treaties in general do you?

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  108. All depends on the treaty, of course.

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  109. The ICC is not a standard extradiction treaty, ash.

    I am a big law and order guy, on a national level, not an international one.
    If the US does not sign on, it is not obligated to participate. If it does sign on, and the ICC Treaty is ratified, I'd secede from the Union. More than likely, judge it to be the final straw. Join the underground in the revolution to restore the Constitution.

    Save a lot of money, on balance, doing it.
    As I am not a firm believer that I'll ever get a real return on my SS payments. The ten to fifteen years between now and the first check, we'll see to much volatility to guarentee those SS payments.

    The ICC will be the "bridge to far", for me.

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  110. The Castro's may be bad folk but no genocide has occurred to my knowledge. Many dispute the notion that a genocide has occurred in Sudan, technically speaking. Abhorrent crimes have occurred but genocide is in dispute Bush's pontifications notwithstanding.

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  111. I'd be interested to hear the specifics of your constitutional argument as it relates the ICC treaty. To the best of my knowledge no critic has raised constitutional problems to date. Kind of a funny thought, one guy seceding from the Union. Maybe Bobal, and probably Doug would join you but I'm not sure it would carry much force in law. Think you could get all of Arizona to join in?

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  112. Montana is threatening to secede over the 2nd Amendment issue:)

    Or, we'll all become expatriates and move to Canada, melt in with the crowd, live in the Rockies.

    Institutions almost always try to expand their power. US Supreme Court, from the very beginning. US Government, most of the way through. Sometimes it might be necessary, a lot of people think enough is enough, already.

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  113. BAN KI-MOON LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

    #

    This morning – as part of the opening of the 52nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched his multi-year campaign to end violence against women.

    #

    Hundreds of people blew whistles in unison to signify the start of the campaign.


    SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS MANDATE OF U.N. MISSION IN TIMOR-LESTE

    *

    The Security Council met this morning to extend the mandate of the UN Mission in Timor-Leste by one year.

    *

    The Council also condemned in the strongest possible terms the attacks on the President and Prime-Minister of Timor-Leste on 11 February as an attack on the legitimate institutions of the country.


    KENYA: RISK OF FRESH VIOLENCE IF NO QUICK RESOLUTION

    #

    The Security Council then heard a briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes on his recent mission to Kenya.

    #

    In his remarks, Holmes said that, if there is no quick resolution to Kenya’s political crisis, then the risk of a fresh surge in violence, more displacement and further polarization of society will be very high. The humanitarian consequences of this could dwarf anything we have seen so far, he added.


    UN Briefing

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  114. You don't want to be a gay man in Cuba, I've read.

    Ban Ki-Moon will have to figure out how to dissolve islam around the world.

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  115. "This indiscriminate violence further reflects the nature of this enemy who will target even those practicing their religion in an effort to re-ignite sectarian strife in Iraq," the U.S. Embassy and coalition military command said in a joint statement.

    The U.S. military announced that on Sunday they had arrested four suspected al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in Baghdad. The four were believed to be involved in numerous recent operations in the area, including attacks using suicide vests and cars.

    "Capturing these four terrorists will have a significant impact on terrorist elements in Baghdad," said Brig. Gen. Mike Milano, the deputy commanding general Baghdad and the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division.


    Bomber Eludes Detection

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  116. Geert Wilders is a brave man with an intelligent message and a short expected life span--bob's prediction is, when he tears up the koran, he soon will get a knife in his guts.

    From Michael Reynolds

    Despite all that is going on in the Middle East, what caught my eye recently are three items concerning western Europe. Each is very different, but all indicate that the question of the integration of Muslims into European societies will remain contentious for some time to come.

    The first involves Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan’s visit to Germany. Khaled Diab has an account of it here. Erdogan’s success in attracting a large crowd of Turks and his pleas to them not to lose their cultural identity irritated Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said, “If you grow up in Germany in the third or fourth generation, if you have German citizenship, then I am your chancellor.” But as Diab notes, due to Germany’s unwillingness to grant citizenship to immigrants, very few Turks in Germany fit Merkel’s definition. Europe, Diab concludes, is increasingly multicultural, and increasingly polarized.

    One way to deal with this reality is to accommodate multiculturalism by institutionalizing polarization. By establishing clear boundaries between communities one reduces the likelihood of clashes. This in essence is the recommendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, who in his lecture of February 7 on the topic of civil and religious law in England suggested the recognition in Britain of the sharia’s jurisdiction in certain spheres, such as marital law and the regulation of financial transactions. As he states, “But if what we want socially is a pattern of relations in which a plurality of divers and overlapping affiliations work for a common good, and in which groups of serious and profound conviction are not systematically faced with the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty, it [recognition of Islam law] seems unavoidable.” (The lecture and related materials can be found here.)

    Williams’ lecture has caused quite a stir, not for its intellectual content—the relationships between law, religion, and identity are famously knotty, and rather than engage the difficult issues in those relationships Williams instead skims over them by making a series of glib assumptions—but because of what many see as its message of “appeasement” or “surrender.” I don’t think that this was Williams’ intention, but his lecture does lend support to the argument that with the Islamization of Europe now underway, Muslim immigrants should not accommodate European norms and assimilate European culture, but instead they should strive to reshape Europe in accord with their vision(s) of Islam.

    Meanwhile the popular Dutch member of parliament Geert Wilders is sending a radically different message. Wilders declares Islam “an ideology of a retarded culture” and “something we can’t afford any more in the Netherlands.” Not only does he want to ban the “fascist Koran” but he claims to have prepared a short ten-minute film on Islam in which he desecrates the Koran. (Go here for an interview with Wilders.)

    Wilders claims he loathes Islam but not Muslims. His overtly hostile rhetoric and inflammatory cinematic projects, however, ensure that even lax Muslims in the Netherlands and Europe will, at least in the public and political spheres, identify more closely with their faith and culture, not less. The result will be to foster the growth of suspicion and hostility between Europe’s Muslim immigrant and native populations.

    The presence of immigrant Muslims in western Europe in the coming decades is projected to continue to increase in both absolute and proportional numbers. Muslim immigrants have been a significant part of the European landscape for some four decades. Yet, as these three items all highlight, European societies remain anxious and at a loss at how to deal with their immigrant communities. Discord will remain a feature of relations between native Europeans and Muslims. As the incident with the Danish cartoons illustrated, with today’s transnational communities and global communications, conflict inside Europe can and does ripple throughout the Middle East and beyond, with destabilizing consequences.

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  117. No, ash, there are many individuals that have suceded from the Union. I know quite a few.

    Don't need to have an entire State do it. Just one outlaw at a time, until it becomes a Revolution.

    Stop paying the taxes that the State says are due, and you've suceded. The amount of publicity one garners for themselves over the action, is pretty much up to the individual revolutionary.

    Reject the States' authority, fail to perform the civic responsibilities of citizenship, you've suceded.

    Arizona has quite a few of those revolutionaries living in it.
    Most are under the Federal radar.

    The WSJ
    Then there's the fast-growing underground economy, where millions of nannies, construction workers, landscapers and others are paid off the books, their incomes largely untaxed. The best guess as to the size of the output of this shadow economy is about $970 billion, or nearly 9% that of the real economy. It could soon pass $1 trillion.

    Another source

    The Unmeasured Underground Economy
    While America's official gross domestic product will probably amount to around $8 trillion this year, one can only guess at its true size because the off-the-books portion is not included.

    The underground economy is composed of illegal activities, informal and unrecorded transactions, and income that is not reported.

    Some economists estimate that as many as 25 million Americans earn a large part of their income from underground activities.

    While economists have long estimated that the U.S. underground economy equals about 10 percent of GDP, there are reasons to believe the size may be larger.

    In Europe, it accounts for 20 percent to 30 percent of Italy's, Spain's and Belgium's GDP -- and for 10 percent to 20 percent of the economies of Sweden, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.
    One clue to the size of underground economic activity in the U.S. is the popularity of $100 bills. Bruce Bartlett of the National Center for Policy Analysis points out that one seldom sees consumers present $100 bills at grocery checkout counters, but as of last year $100 bills represented 60 percent of the value of all U.S. currency in circulation.

    Analysts think the large bills are often reserved for underground economic transactions.



    In a geographic area as large as the US is, where 12 to 20million residents are undocumented, it is easy to sucede, on an individual level.
    And live quite well doing it.

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  118. Here's what the insides of a particle accelerator look like.

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  119. I always did want to create a real Higgs boson. Virtual reality sucks.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Wasn't as bad as I thot:
    Talking to the wife, remembered that I might have called Richie Valens Rudi Valle.
    Came up w/"Richie Valley."
    Half-right, or Half-Assed?
    You Decide.
    ===
    La Bomba
    Oh What a Night
    Donna
    ...all when he was 17.

    ReplyDelete
  121. North Korea prints up a pretty good US $100 bill.

    ReplyDelete
  122. Show us a Particle Accelerator on Crack, AlBob.

    ReplyDelete
  123. ah, I see rat, join those you despise so much, the illegal immigrants. kinda tough to succeed at seceding while running your publication all the while forsaking the IRS and the other laws of the land. Reminds me of an ole Zappa tune:

    MONTANA

    I might be movin' to Montana soon
    Just to raise me up a crop of
    Dental Floss

    Raisin' it up
    Waxen it down
    In a little white box
    That I can sell uptown

    By myself I wouldn't
    Have no boss,
    But I'd be raisin' my lonely
    Dental Floss

    Raisin' my lonely
    Dental Floss

    Well I just might grow me some bees
    But I'd leave the sweet stuff
    To somebody else . . . but then, on the other hand I would

    Keep the wax
    'N melt it down
    Pluck some Floss
    'N swish it aroun'

    I'd have me a crop
    An' it'd be on top (that's why I'm movin' to Montana)

    Movin' to Montana soon
    Gonna be a Dental Floss tycoon (yes I am)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    Gonna be a mennil-toss flykune

    I'm pluckin' the ol'
    Dennil Floss
    That's growin' on the prairie
    Pluckin' the floss!
    I plucked all day an' all nite an' all
    Afternoon . . .

    I'm ridin' a small tiny hoss
    (His name is MIGHTY LITTLE)
    He's a good hoss
    Even though
    He's a bit dinky to strap a big saddle or
    Blanket on anyway
    He's a bit dinky to strap a big saddle or
    Blanket on anyway
    Any way

    I'm pluckin' the ol'
    Dennil Floss
    Even if you think it is a little silly, folks
    I don't care if you think it's silly, folks
    I don't care if you think it's silly, folks

    I'm gonna find me a horse
    Just about this big,
    An' ride him all along the border line

    With a
    Pair of heavy-duty
    Zircon-encrusted tweezers in my hand
    Every other wrangler would say
    I was mighty grand

    By myself I wouldn't
    Have no boss,
    But I'd be raisin' my lonely
    Dental Floss

    Raisin' my lonely
    Dental Floss
    Raisin' my lonely
    Dental Floss

    Well I might
    Ride along the border
    With my tweezers gleamin'
    In the moon-lighty night

    And then I'd
    Get a cuppa cawfee
    'N give my foot a push . . .
    Just me 'n the pygmy pony
    Over by the Dennil Floss Bush

    'N then I might just
    Jump back on
    An' ride
    Like a cowboy
    Into the dawn to Montana

    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)
    Movin' to Montana soon
    (Yippy-Ty-O-Ty-Ay)

    ReplyDelete
  124. "Analysts think the large bills are often reserved for underground economic transactions. "
    ---
    Ya think?
    After they got through with the tunnels that our Dr. friend knew so well.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Lookin at 'Rat's numbers, it's pretty easy to see why the Govt is so Corrupted on the issue.

    ReplyDelete
  126. HAYDUKE LIVES! on the lam in Arizona.

    Recent reports have stated he has changed his name, and begun posting revolutionary and treasonous(according to the gov'mint) opinions on blogs, under the shadow of patriotism, the Constitution, and the 2nd Amendment.

    Any information concerning this individual should be suppressed, and not shared with the gov'mint.

    ReplyDelete
  127. The Heritage Foundation has made the Constitutional arguement, as have I, in the past
    In fact, the participation of the United States in this treaty regime runs counter to U.S. national interests. Moreover, U.S. participation would be unconstitutional because it would subject individual Americans to trial and punishment in an extra-constitutional court without affording them all of the rights and protections the U.S. Constitution guarantees.

    Then there is the text of the Treaty itself, which empowers the ICC
    Section 2 #4
    The Minister may make regulations providing for the meeting of requests for assistance by the ICC and in particular and without prejudice to the generality of that power may make regulations prescribing the conditions and procedures for the execution of any such request for all or any of the following purposes -
    (a) the questioning of persons being investigated or prosecuted by the ICC;
    (b) the taking or production of evidence;
    (c) the service of any document or act of the proceedings before the ICC;
    (d) the temporary transfer to the ICC of a prisoner for purposes of identification or for obtaining testimony or other assistance;
    (e) the entry into and search of any premises and the seizure of any item;
    (f) the taking of fingerprints or non-intimate samples;
    (g) the exhumation of any body;
    (h) the provision of records and documents;
    (i) the investigation of proceeds of any ICC crime;
    (j) the freezing or seizure of proceeds for eventual forfeiture;
    (k) the verification of any evidence or other material.


    Section 4 Part 10
    10. (1) This article applies where the Minister receives a
    request from the ICC -
    (a) for the temporary return of the prisoner to the custody
    of the ICC for the purposes of any proceedings, or
    (b) for the transfer of the prisoner to the custody of
    another state in pursuance of a change in designation
    of state of enforcement.
    (2) The Minister shall -
    (a) issue a warrant authorising the prisoner’s temporary
    return or transfer in accordance with the request,
    (b) make the necessary arrangements with the ICC or, as
    the case may be, the other state, and
    (c) give such directions as to the custody, surrender and,
    where appropriate, return of the prisoner as appear to
    him appropriate to give effect to the arrangements.


    There is no appeal within the US Courts to the ICC warrant.

    It goes on and on, more than I want to pursue, now.

    ReplyDelete
  128. Probly a tossup, who's more corrupt:
    Pyonyang or DC.

    ReplyDelete
  129. U.S. participation would be unconstitutional because it would subject individual Americans to trial and punishment in an extra-constitutional court without affording them all of the rights and protections the U.S. Constitution guarantees.

    That's right. You can't treaty the protections of the Constitution away.

    ReplyDelete
  130. Medialon controls the AV equipment for the Preshow and Tholos areas and is responsible for the operation of four plasma displays used for signage throughout the centre.

    The Tholos area shows a virtual journey to Athens from archaic times to the Roman era, getting a close up view of the city’s temples and beautiful buildings. With the goddess Athena as guide in the Agora visitors watch the destruction of Athens by the Persians, participate in building the Poikile Stoa, follow the Panathenaic Procession and can even vote in a process known as ‘ostrakismos’ which allowed citizens to vote out men who where believed to be a threat for the good of the city; visitors take part in this process by pressing a button next to their seats and expressing their opinion of who they want to depart.

    Finally, the newest virtual reality tour takes visitors on a walk through Ancient Olympia, the cradle of the Olympic Games.


    Time Travel in Greece

    ReplyDelete
  131. ssshhh

    Haven't read 'Hayduke Lives' but I'm in the mood so will visit Amazon.com.

    ReplyDelete
  132. ssshhh

    Haven't read 'Hayduke Lives' but I'm in the mood so will visit Amazon.com.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Not join 'em, ash.
    Just go with the flow.

    I'm a Constitutionalist, at heart.
    Swore to defend it. Against all enemies foreign AND domestic.

    If, as a Constitutionalist, I decide the Federals are violating it, then I am duty bound to take action. The scope and scale of that action, yet to be determined.

    But as I saved the world on 17AUG87, by observing Bell Rock from my parents front porch, I can possibly save the Constitution, as well.

    One beer at a time.

    ReplyDelete
  134. "That's right. You can't treaty the protections of the Constitution away"
    ---
    But Senator Cain can legislate Ammendments away.
    PBUH

    ReplyDelete
  135. Hayduke does live, he's up on the Green River, in Utah.

    Saw him once, more elusive than a mountain lion.

    ReplyDelete
  136. One reason I'll never vote for him, again. doug.

    What would the anti-Christ do?

    Wonder if he even knows about the Green?
    Green River, that is.

    ReplyDelete
  137. No, not going to validate that ticket.

    Goin' for the Librarian, someone that helps people find facts.

    McCain'll carry AZ without me, or not. But if he does not win here, he won't win anywhere.

    ReplyDelete
  138. Then Governor Napalitano will get a phat DC appointment, Terry Goddard (Dem) will become Senator or Governor.

    Wife ssaid that Shadegg has been talked into running again. Rick Renzi is indcted and most likely guilty, so that seat'll go Democrat, most likely.

    Mr. Renzi’s district covers more than half the state of Arizona and is larger than Pennsylvania, according to The Almanac of American Politics. While he has been on the Democrats’ target list almost since taking office, he won re-election in 2006 by 52 to 43 percent over his Democratic challenger (a third-party candidate took the rest), so it is not clear if his departure represents an opportunity for Democrats to add to their 33-seat advantage in the House.

    But the Democrats seem to think so: Four are actively running for the seat being vacated by Mr. Renzi, while only one Republican is running so far, although a second is expected to enter the race soon. Democrats have a registration edge in the district of about 41.5 percent to 34 percent for Republicans, with the rest independents or Libertarians, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.


    A Librarian is one step away from being a revolutionary, in AZ.
    Facts being what they are. The Navajo and Hopi are a big part of that District, along with Flagstaff, a college town.

    ReplyDelete
  139. The ancient Greeks had a facility called a psychomanteum, in which the spirits of the dead could be conjured, with the help of hypnogogia, mirrors, relaxation, and such. Dr. Moody(not the Moody Bible Institute guy) of near-death research fame got interested in this and built one on his farm in the south. And it worked too. He claimed success in over 50% of the people he had try it. His success has been replicated around the world. A life enhancing and uplifting experience, to be able to talk for a 'spell' with departed unca Arly, there in the light for a few minutes.

    Reading Moody's 'The Lsst Laugh' the other night--did you know that medieval Europe had a type of doctor known as a piss reader? Was able to get a handle on your condition by looking at a flask of your piss in a certain light, it was claimed. This died out in the 17 and 1800's with a little help from the village wits, who often substituted pig's piss for good human urine. It's amzing what modern medicine can learn from a good urine analysis these days, as we all know.

    There is also a statue in Denmark called The Pissing Boy of Copenhagen, I think it is, but that has to do with alchemy, another subject.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Pissin' in the wind, bettin' on a losing friend
    Makin' the same mistakes, we swear we'll never make again
    Pissin' in the wind, but it's blowing on all our friends
    We're gonna sit and grin and tell our grandchildren

    ReplyDelete
  141. aye, one beer at a time - I can relate to that (good beer though not that 'merican watery stuff)


    "Issue #5 Lack of Due Process Guarantees
    The ICC will not offer accused Americans the due process rights guaranteed
    them under the U.S. Constitution, such as the right to a jury trial. Supporters
    of the Rome Statute contend it contains a comprehensive set of procedural safeguards
    that offers substantially similar protections to the U.S. constitution.42 Some also note
    that the U.S. Constitution does not always afford American citizens the same
    procedural rights. For example, Americans may be tried overseas, where foreign
    governments are not bound to observe the Constitution. Moreover, cases arising in
    the armed services are tried by court-martial, which is exempt from the requirement for a jury trial. The current U.S. policy about the use of military tribunals in the war
    against terrorism could lead to suggestions of a double standard on the part of the
    United States with respect to procedural safeguards in war crimes trials."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_International_Criminal_Court

    Again, I don't see how the ICC treaty is sufficiently different from and extradition treaty. Ireland actually passed a constitutional amendmant to enable signing on to the ICC. I think the US would be better off, it would serve our interest, to participate in such a court. There are some really bad folk out there in the world and this is a good step toward taming some of them.

    ReplyDelete
  142. But that is the point, mat.
There are no "kills".


    You're not going to get an argument from me on that.

    But,

    \Saddam and his sons are dead.
    \The Iraq WMD program is grounded.
    \Some tiny germs of democracy were planed.

    AND

    After Iraq, alternatives to oil are starting to look mighty attractive.

    Now, reeducation is a long arduous process. Just look at how long I've spent with you. :D

    We'll get there. It's not a question of will but time.

    ReplyDelete
  143. Time, the most merciful of all things, without which, all would be eternal torment. Blake

    Or, in other words, hang on, things will get better.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete