Here is a metaphor to choke on. It is time to quit.
Chavez simply has to go. If Saddam was a threat to the region in the Middle East, Chavez clearly is problematic for Latin America. The Chavez metaphor about Columbia and Israel in the right church but the the wrong pew. The comparison should be with Chavez and Latin America.
We do not need a Latin Hamas in the Americas. Chavez is past the stage of being a clown or an irritant. He is dangerously close to crossing a line that should be called a trip wire. An aircraft carrier visit should be the order of the day and Chavez should be forced to stand down from his escalation against Colombia.
Russia and China should be given a stern warning that the games are over in latin America and enough is enough.
At the very first opportunity and with the thinnest of reason or cover, Chavez should be given the immortality he richly longs for.
______________________
South America on brink of war
By Martin Arostegui Washington Times
March 3, 2008
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Colombia's military violated its airspace to retrieve the body of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's second in command, Raul Reyes.(Más aquí)
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — South America was on the brink of war yesterday as Venezuela and Ecuador amassed troops on the Colombian border in response to the killing of a Marxist rebel leader.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to join the rebels in a war to overthrow hard-line Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a key ally of the United States, deploying tanks, fighter jets and thousands of troops along the Colombian border.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa also ordered troops to the border, expelled Colombia's ambassador and recalled its ambassador to Bogota, but left its embassy open. Venezuela closed its embassy in Colombia and ordered all diplomats home.
A weekend battle sparked the mobilization, in which Colombian forces killed a top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in a camp in Ecuador.
"The obsessive conduct of those who prize the military option sharpens the armed conflict with grave possible consequences" read a statement from Venezuela's Foreign Ministry after the weekend killing of FARC's second in command, Raul Reyes.
On his weekly Sunday talk show "Hello President," Mr. Chavez accused Colombia of "invading" Ecuador, and compared the action to Israeli attacks against Palestinians.
"The Colombian government has become the Israel of Latin America," Mr. Chavez said. He called Colombia a "terrorist" state and its president, Mr. Uribe, a criminal; "Dracula's fangs are covered in blood
xxx
ReplyDeleteWe can't do anything illegal!
In a better world we could mount a military coup. By now Chavez has probably cleansed the military's higher ranks of anyone suitable to run the place for awhile. Maybe he'll push to far and there will be a war, and we'll be asked in to straighten things out. Hopefully Trish would be home by then, and it's done from the air.
The more things change...
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Chambers' communist days predated the formation of Israel, his asides on that issue truly show how much things have remained the same.
He writes "Arab outrages were occurring in Palestine; the Communist International chose that moment to call for the formation of a "Soviet Arabism" to attack the Zionists."
Grain prices no windfall for farmers
ReplyDeleteHow often would you get freeze damage, farmer Al?
The price increases have been created by historic shortages in supply, caused largely by weather conditions. Drought in Australia and China and floods in Europe and the Great Plains caused poor harvests worldwide.
Don't know about Kansas, Doug, but here there is never freeze damage with a spring crop. In winter wheat though, when it's dormant in the winter, if the plants don't have a snow cover, and it gets really cold for a week or more, paticularily if there is some wind, it can do some real damage. Some varieties are hardier than others. If you have a good snow blanket, wheat seems to handle nearly anything Mother Nature can throw at it.
ReplyDeleteNo snow, cold, and wind--that's bad. It doesn't happen too often though.
Amd here, with winter wheat, you can always replant the crop in the spring(expensive) or do a little spot planting to fill in areas that look scraggly and got hammered.
I think they get colder blasts in the mid-west than we usually do here. They get it coming down from Canada, we get from the Pacific. The famous year of cold here, '64 or '65, that was an anomaly, a cold blast coming down from the north. Montana can get colder than a well digger ass. Get over the Rockies, it gets cold. We are getting the Seattle weather, mostly.
The Colombians are getting the technical help they need. The best offense is a good defense.
ReplyDelete"Chavez simply has to go."
ReplyDeleteThink the Colombians want or need to bite that one off and give it a chew?
Yyyyyyyyyyyyeah. Me neither.
A proxy, a proxy. My kingdom for a proxy.
ReplyDeleteProxy! Get me proxy up here!
Sir, we're fresh out of proxies.
___________________________
It looks as though, we will let the Chavez story play out for a while. BTW - It looks as if he's doing a good job of making a fool of himself. Best just to keep out the way for now. _____________________________
I bet the US relationship with Uribe is driving him up a wall. He and Correa are sputtering and fuming about the strike on Reyes. Will the Columbians go after FARC in Venezuela? That is the big question in Caracas. And what would machismo demand if they did?
There are enough Venezuelans available to get rid of Hugo.
ReplyDeleteAl-Bob,
ReplyDeleteI drove to my assignment in Olathe Kansas in January, after returning from Korea.
Must admit this Calif boy started whimpering and sniffling while driving past mile after mile of fields of Corn Stubble frozen solid.
But I was short, my adventures over save driving that International Harvester through the perimeter fence.
Shoulda got beat up w/my big mouth around a bunch of southern boys, but luckily got out w/only one short beating in basic.
What comes after Winter Wheat in a normal year in Idehoe?
ReplyDeleteEcuador kicked out the Colombian ambassador.
ReplyDelete"It looks as though, we will let the Chavez story play out for a while."
Betcha a cup of the finest Juan Valdez that it's not Chavez we're worried about at the moment.
Barley was a pretty big dryland crop back in the day in the coastal valleys in CA.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about now though, except for the ever-expanding subdivisions.
My home town got it's name from Wild Oats!
"Betcha a cup of the finest Juan Valdez that it's not Chavez we're worried about at the moment."
ReplyDelete---
Betcha a stiff Margarita you ain't telling who/what is.
Chavez has made his political statement.
ReplyDeleteThe FARC hasn't made theirs.
Barkeep, break out the tequila!
ReplyDeleteHold the mariachi.
ReplyDeleteYeah,
ReplyDeleteAl-Doug would demand they play only Souza!
Let martial note in triumph float
ReplyDeleteAnd liberty extend its mighty hand
A flag appears 'mid thunderous cheers,
The banner of the Western land.
The emblem of the brave and true
Its folds protect no tyrant crew;
The red and white and starry blue
Is freedom's shield and hope.
Other nations may deem their flags the best
And cheer them with fervid elation
But the flag of the North and South and West
Is the flag of flags, the flag of Freedom's nation.
Hurrah for the flag of the free!
---
Notice the West was mentioned, but not the Northeast, JFK2/McCain Country.
"The red and white and starry blue"
ReplyDelete'Arry's Baseball cap in Afghanistan.
There are enough Venezuelans available to get rid of Hugo.
ReplyDeleteMon Mar 03, 09:04:00 AM EST
No one's stopping them.
Gotta Love It
ReplyDeleteHow will the poor bloke get any tail?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAircraft carrier?
ReplyDeleteOperating against what?
Attack the US oil supply infrastructure?
A Venezuelan mission needs boots on the ground. Historical fact.
Perhaps Venezuelan boots, but how to activate them?
From where?
Colombia won't buy into that scenario.
Perhaps Guyana will stage them, but that is a long way from the population centers of Hugoville.
Send in the US Marines?
They are already stretcheddddd, fighting Islam, shoulder to shoulder with our Baathist allies in Iraq. And its' an Election Year, the enemie for Mr McCain is radical Islam, not Hugo.
An embargo of Venezuela hurts US more than them, and I'd bet those Panamax tankers and Chinese refineries are almost online.
Attack the Chinese flagged tankers, doubtful move, by US.
The Persian Gulf scenario, mirror imaged in the Caribbe Sea.
Chaulk up another Team43 cluster fuck.
You are right about Hayduke, bob.
ReplyDeleteHE LIVES
Now campaigning in the Seattle area
The Bolivaristas move troops to the Columbian frontier, and hold.
ReplyDeleteThe internal enemies of Senor Presidente Uribe strike at infrastructure points around Colombia.
Coal mining, oil production, rail transport, etc.
An internal insurrection.
The parts are all there, not a decisive target for the US Navy in the mix. F-18s, all gassed up, with no where to go.
With large segments of the Colombian force, playing defense, per mat's suggestion. A static defense will lose, an active one ...
providing further caus belli for an invasion. Which the strike against FARC, in Venezuela already supplied.
"Well ain't that sweet? Cutler is laying the bread crumbs outlining his path to enlightenment while acknowledging he hasn't read the book either. C'mon, a smart kid like you should realize that the US is a long way from being a fascist state. And then, if you're really are keen on stretching the meaning of fascism to accomodate your bias then you should, upon quiet comtemplation, even be able to come to the conclusion that the case is even easier to make for a 'rightwing fascism'. Who has controlled the isntitutions of State for the last bunch of years but the right? Who but the Bush admin. has had political litmus tests for all sorts of appointments from FEMA to scientific bodies? If you want to accept a diluted notion of fascism then it is clearly a 'conservative fascist' state that we inhabit. Personally I think it is absurd to dilute the notion of fascism so, but there ya go."
ReplyDeleteActually, smart guy, it's sitting right next to me, read. I picked it up at the airport.
Which, really, was secondary to the point, since I already knew the argument he was making, having read his blog on the book for the past two months. As well as a number of the intellectual antecedents.
You're very good at creating strawmen, since that's not the argument that the book makes. Fairly typical, preen regarding open-mindedness, but reflect none of it.
Personally, I find the general hyperventillation from certain sorts the most amusing part.
ReplyDeleteCan dish it, but can't take it.
And here I thought cutler was speaking to me, that someone had aliased my online ID, as Ms T once did, and chastised cutler with my avatar. Whew!, glad it's ash he is hyped up abput.
ReplyDeleteAs to your question on Hayduke, doug ...
Edward Abbey, "The Monkeywrench Gang", followed, years later by "Hayduke Lives".
Set the literary stage for the dawning of the Age of EcoTerrorism. Localed in both Arizona and Utah, the great Southwest of North America.
The Glen Canyon Dam, the image of the problem.
Hyped, no. Sardonic? Perhaps.
ReplyDeleteIn turn, mind you.
ReplyDeleteCutler,
ReplyDeleteHaving not read the book and having little inclination to I did a quick scan online of some reviews and interviews and I’ve found my criticism is not really off the mark. He even admits that his definition of fascism is diluted in a interview at Salon.com:
“So anyway, I'm sorry -- my definition of fascism I get in large chunks from Eric Voegelin, the political philosopher. He wrote this book "The Political Religions," and I see fascism as a political religion. That doesn't mean I think there's some book, like a bible, that if you read it you will become a convert to this political religion. Rather I think it is a religious impulse that resides in all of us -- left, right, black, white, tall, short -- to seek unity in all things, to believe that we need to all work together to go past any of our disagreements and that the state needs to be, almost simply as a pragmatic matter, the pace-setter, the enforcer of this cult of unity. That is what I believe fascism is.”
To highlight the key here “Rather I think it is a religious impulse that resides in all of us -- left, right, black, white, tall, short” Which is a far cry from:
fas·cism - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fash-iz-uh m] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. (sometimes initial capital letter ) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fascism
And even the interviewer as Solon followed up with:
“Related to your definition, at least as I read the book, was something that's been controversial about it. Especially because of one of the earlier iterations of the subtitle, ["Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation From Hegel to Whole Foods"] there's a perception that your argument comes down to things like both Nazis and liberals being proponents of organic food. Is that how it works? Because the Nazis liked dogs and I like dogs, I'm a Nazi?
No, no. I mean, I try to reject that kind of thing ... I don't believe that liberals are Nazis; “
And here is an excerpt from a review, again similar to what I was saying:
“Goldberg, who has no credentials beyond the right-wing nepotism that has enabled his career as a pundit, has drawn a kind of history in absurdly broad and comically wrongheaded strokes. It is not just history done badly, or mere revisionism. It’s a caricature of reality, like something from a comic-book alternative universe: Bizarro history.
The title alone is enough to indicate its thoroughgoing incoherence: Of all the things we know about fascism and the traits that comprise it, one of the few things that historians will readily agree upon is its overwhelming anti-liberalism. One might as well write about anti-Semitic neoconservatism, or Ptolemaic quantum theory, or strength in ignorance. Goldberg isn't content to simply create an oxymoron; this entire enterprise, in fact, is classic Newspeak.
Indeed, Goldberg even makes some use of Orwell, noting that the author of 1984 once dismissed the misuse of "fascism" as meaning "something not desirable." Of course, Orwell was railing against the loss of the word's meaning, while Goldberg, conversely, revels in it -- he refers to Orwell's critique as his "definition of fascism."
And then Goldberg proceeds to define everything that he himself considers undesirable as "fascist." This is just about everything even remotely and vaguely thought of as "liberal": vegetarianism, Social Security, multiculturalism, the "war on poverty," "the politics of meaning." The figures he labels as fascist range from Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt to Lyndon B. Johnson and Hillary Clinton. Goldberg's primary achievement is to rob the word of all meaning -- Newspeak incarnate.
The term "fascism" certainly is overused and abused. The public understanding of it is fuzzy at best, and academics struggle to agree on a definition, as Goldberg observes -- and he makes use of that confusion to ramble on for pages about the disagreements without ever providing readers with a clear definition of fascism beyond Orwell's quip.
Along the way, he grotesquely misrepresents the state of academia regarding the study of fascism, which, while widely varying in many regards, has seen a broad consensus develop regarding certain ineluctable traits that are uniquely and definitively fascist: its populism and ultranationalism, its anti-intellectualism, its carefully groomed culture of violence, its insistence that it represents the true national identity, its treatment of dissent as treason, and what Oxford Brookes scholar Roger Griffin calls its "palingenesis" -- that is, its core myth of a phoenix-like rebirth of the national identity in the mold of a nonexistent Golden Age. And, of course, it has historically always been vigorously -- no, viciously -- anti-liberal. “
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=jonah_goldbergs_bizarro_history
Or, here is an excerpt from another, more scathing, review of his book
But despite Goldberg's protestations and caveats, "Liberal Fascism" is indeed a remarkably silly work that's jam-packed with the same sloppy logic and dodgy research that we've come to expect from today's conservative pundit class. On page 2, for instance, Goldberg admits that he doesn't really know how to define fascism and that "not even the professionals have figured out what exactly fascism is." But as anyone who's followed Goldberg's career can tell you, lacking knowledge on any given subject in no way impedes him from writing over 400 pages on it. Indeed, not providing a concrete definition of fascism is essential to his case, since it allows him to define fascism however he pleases. Goldberg puts this conceit to good use throughout the book, as everyone from the French revolutionaries to Teddy Roosevelt-era Progressives to the New Dealers to communists to the '60s New Left to Hillary Clinton is linked with fascism at one point or another. By the end of the book, Goldberg comes off as a lonely, belligerent drunk who shouts obscenities at people leaving his local 7-11.
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/72960/
Another similar theme in the criticism of his book is his misreading of history. I’d have to actually read the book to attack him on that though. The oxymoronic title was enough for me.
"The internal enemies of Senor Presidente Uribe strike at infrastructure points around Colombia."
ReplyDeleteI believe the "infrastructure points" they're looking at are people.
But the operation was just across the border in Ecuador, not Venezuela, which is why the Colombian ambassador to Ecuador is back in Bogota today. To stay. "Pentagon sources" put out the word that there will be no political cover for similar ventures in Venezuela. Meaning: There will be no similar ventures in Venezuela.
Unless the FARC forces it. And brother would that be a bitch everyone's desperate to avoid.
Barley, or peas, Doug.
ReplyDeleteMisinformed as to the details of the original strike, mea culpa.
ReplyDeleteThough I'd venture a guess that Hugo will claim a mutual defense, arrangement, with Ecuador. Perhaps even a retro-active one, if his needs be.
People, perhaps the foremost target, for the FARC to strike at. It was the Pablo play, to take out the Supreme Court. So there is ample historical precendent for that type of behaviour, in Colombia.
Even harder to defend against, a long term assassination campaign. Also a trail previously tred, tried and true in the Cocaine Wars.
But not appropriate targets for JDAMs, either way. An empty village, a house ...
More civilians than combatants killed. As the Israelis consistently prove.
A year or so ago Hayduke was in these parts, up in the Clearwater National Forest, messing with logging equipment. He'd lost his touch though. Got sloppy. The Law noticed he had been stealing--what was it? cigarettes maybe--can't recall just what it was--anyways, they put a beacon in this package of whatever it was he liked in an old cabin or waystation I think it was where they figured he go again sooner or later and sure enough he fell for it and they tracked him down to his tent. At court, after the arrest--get this--the judge ruled some of the evidence inadmissable because they didn't have a search warrant! He's in jail last I heard anyway as they had enough to hold him on other charges. He dropped out of the news so can't report further.
ReplyDeleteA man's tent is his castle in the National Forest, according to our judge here. Novel thought.
This Hayduke wasn't much of a Hayduke, as Haydukes go.
The Clintonians seem to be Holding On IN Ohio Sure hope it is true. Blood on the floor at the convention is what I am hoping for.
ReplyDeleteThem women. I shoulda known Bonnie would settle for security over adventure and marry old Doc. Hayduke's not much of a provider, one must admit, living in a cave. That damned nesting instinct wins with the women all the time.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLife on a houseboat, on Lake Foul, ain't all that bad. A tad cold in the winter, on the water.
ReplyDeleteOther than that, there's a lot to be said for it. Those man made high desert lakes, like a whole 'nother ocean.
Though, if memory serves, it was Seldom Seen Smith that had one of his wifes on a houseboat.
ReplyDeleteIt's been closer to thirty years than twenty since I first read it. While in the tropical jungles of America, I was. That natural part of the United States, Panama.
Seldom just got turned down by a woman client on a float trip. Damned Hayduke stirred the horses up in the pasture at camp, and Seldom went over to see what the deal was, there's Hayduke waiting, wanting money and most of all some help as a lookout for a job. Going after GOLIATH, it's got to be. Seldom weasels out, Hayduke vanishes, but he's late for his date in the woman's tent, and she's pissed. He finally talks his way in, but, damn, uses the wrong name, too many women you know, and that this is the final straw for Seldom, who is out on his ear.
ReplyDeleteSo Hayduke has been turned down for help by both Doc and Seldom so far, but early chapters in the book yet.
Seldom has a way of bedding these women on these trips, like the white hunter in "The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber".
ReplyDeleteMr. Reyes, 59, whose real name is Luis Edgar Devia Silva, had been mentioned as a favorite to succeed aging leader Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda.
ReplyDeleteThings are a little heated.
Here
Here
He argues that the key feature of fascism is that it is a totalitarian political religion that desires control of the politic, seeing it as an organic body that must be reformed. The mechanisms of reform itself can and has varied. If that's dilution to you fine, but I think to him it's simply an accurate redefining.
ReplyDelete"I’d have to actually read the book to attack him on that though. The oxymoronic title was enough for me."
And this is why the first thing I suggested reading was Hayek. Progressives and socialists aren't classical liberals, even if they appropriated the term in the US. I welcome the fact they're returning to their earlier self-defining label, since it will make it easier to distinguish this.
Those reviews are hatchet jobs. I really don't have the inclination to wade into them myself, but you can read Jonah's (excellent, imo) response to Niewart, for instance. In general, he's not shied away from arguing with critics on the blog itself.
Once again, I think you should actually read the book.
How Do You Prove You’re a Jew?
ReplyDeleteAnother Article On The Seattle Eco-Fires
ReplyDeleteSeattle area and Oregon are hot spots. We've had a little activity at Washington State University, liberated some animals out of the Vet School, but that's the Animal Rights groups, a little different shade of green.
"redefining" "diluting" the effect seems the same to me - you are creating a meaning which allows you to cram any of your political beefs into it. Hence my earlier suggestion that you could do a similar attack but at the 'right'. To use it this way (either against the left or right) the term fascism denotes something different (due to "redefinition") then what it connotes (jack booted thugs forcing the populace to conform). It seems to sell books pretty well.
ReplyDeleteMore Goldberg on Niewert.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat's only because many people think fascism wasn simply about people running around with guns. Most people have an eschewed vision of what what fascism really was about. There was a political and social purpose and intellectual pedigree that formed it. The book is to a large extent focused on this intellectual history, and relating it to today.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, that definitional redefining is not a bug, it is a feature. The bug is that eschewed myth.
Firefighters were not allowed near the homes, officials said, for fear of booby traps. Eastman said the blazes, which began at about 4 a.m. local time, were set at six houses. Three have been completely destroyed and two others seriously damaged.
ReplyDeleteDoing harm physically is verbotten to the ethically pure monkey wrencher. There is a dialogue between Doc and Hayduke on just this point in Hayduke Lives. Booby trapping is out of bounds.
"it's a feature not a bug." You should go into software design or sumtin ;)
ReplyDeleteAs goes the description at Wiki, bob.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly from a 21st-century viewpoint, the Gang in some ways bears little resemblance to the modern media's portrayal of environmentalists � they eat lots of red meat, own firearms, drink beer (and litter the roadside with empty cans), drive big cars, etc. (Abbey's habits were reportedly similar). Also, Abbey's politics are not "bleeding heart" (as the characters dismiss liberalism): they attack Indians as well as whites for their consumerism, hold little regard for the Sierra Club, etc.
A facist, in the way I was taught, put primacy in the State. The State is the important thing, everyone and everything bows to the demands of it.
Individual rights and liberties all are as nothing, if the State requires.
Where in a Republic as is the US, power arises from the individual, the fascist believes the indivdual secondary to the State and its' needs. Socialists and communists are variations of fascists, all playing to the common theme that the whole is more important than the individual components.
The Gang sees the 'enemy' as those who would develop the American Southwest: despoiling the land, befouling the air, and destroying Nature and the sacred purity of Abbey's desert world. The greatest hatred is focused on the Glen Canyon Dam, a monolithic edifice of concrete that dams a beautiful, wild river, and which the monkeywrenchers seek to destroy. Indeed, one of the book's most memorable scenes is that of Abbey's character Seldom Seen Smith, as he kneels atop the dam praying for a "pre-cision earthquake" to remove the "temporary plug" of the Colorado River.
The fascists believing that if the State's needs are fulfilled, any mining, befouling or degradation of man or earth is not only permissable, but required. If wind, solar, thermal, hydro or hydro-carbon power is what the State needs, then no argument can be permitted against it.
The use of Government power to supplant individual rights for the "betterment" of the whole is the keystone to fascism.
The Code of the Eco-Warrior
ReplyDelete"Furthermore," continued Doc, "not only does the eco-warrior work without hope of fame and praise, not only does he work in the dark of night amidst a storm of offical public calumny, but he works without hope of pecuniary recompense."
"We want no mercenaries in the ranks of our eo-warriors. As I said, you do your needed work out of love, the love that drare not speak its name..."
"Don't forget Rule Number Two," Doc said, opening his beer.
"Don't hurt anybody. " Hayduke had already opened another himself. "Murder only in self defense."
"No, no, no, that's Rule Number One. Rule Number Two is, Don't Get Caught, remember?"
"The eco-warrior can hike twenty miles overnight, over any terrain, in any kind of weather, with a fifty pount pack on his back....The eco-warrior is a guerilla soldier fighting a war against an enemy equipped with high tecnology, tax-extracted public funds, legal privilege...Fighting them all, the eco-warrior cannot even carry a weapon; his Code of Honorable Conduct forbids it."
"What? Not even a sidearm? Not even some knife? How about toe nail clippers?...."
"The eco-warrior does not fight people, he fights an instituition, the planetary Empire of Growth and Greed. He fights not human beings...He does not fight humans, he fights a runaway technology."
Hayduke Lives
Fox put your A320 clip on their headlines, 2164th.
ReplyDeleteAnd as to tree spiking, the idea is not to harm the logger, but to place the spikes higher up, so that at the mill, the machinery gets damaged in the processing, not any human beings. If OSHA has done its job, the shields will be in place at the mill, so that when the saw blades disintegrate, no one is harmed, except the machine.
ReplyDeleteThe idea is to take the profit out of it, so's they quit mucking around with our stuff, your stuff.
How you could blow Glen Canyon without hurting anyone is beyond me.:)
ReplyDeleteFor environmentalists, people are the problem. They are helpful, but only in so far as they limit their impact.
ReplyDeleteIn practice this means lots of individuals playing their little parts and hoping there will be a tipping point. In reality, change has never come about through the sum total of many individual actions.
Whatever the state of the world today, we have come to it through the shared vision, imagination and will of human beings. Only that same humanity has the potential to transform the world in positive ways.
Meet Ecomom
Isn't there a contradiction in those last 2 paragraphs?
ReplyDeleteAt every third tree of saw-timber quality the man with the sledge stopped, pulled an eight-inch helix spike from his ammo sack and drove it into the trunk as high as he could reach, leaving the head protruding slightly. As soon as he moved on the girl followed, driving twoo 60-penny nails into the same tree, at a lower height, also letting the heads jut forth a bit. Behind them came the young man with another hammer and the bolt cutters. He clipped the heads off the spikes, hammered the spikes deep into and beneath the bark, and disguised the shiny dots of hot metal-where necessary-with a dab of brown ink from a Permo-Marker.
ReplyDeleteThe fourth member of the party stood watch..
---
They discussed the day's work.
"But if zey no belief zee vorning?"
"They'll believe. They know better than to take chances. The Freddies will send a crew out here with metal detectors, spend days and weeks trying to find our nails, find some of them, and try to pull them out with crowbars. But they can't--no heads on the nails. Or maybe the decide it's a bluff, let the loggers cut down a stand, haul the logs to the mill. The first log that hits the buzzsaw will clarify their thinking and maybe cancel the timer sale."
"Suppose if saw breaks in pieces? If maybe, how you say---?"
"Will anybody get hurt? Get his head sliced off? Well, he shouldn't, not if OSHA's on the job, not if the sawmill obeys the law, not if the protective shilelds are in place....not if the U.S. Forest Circus stops its deficit timber sales and takes the forest away from the clearcutters and the stripminers and the four-legged maggot ranchers. If they do any of those things they should do and are supposed to do then no mill hand is going to get hurt."
I'm not recommending any of this. Around here these days, every last timber sale is fought over in the Federal Court. We have lawyers around that do nothing but that, a famous one in Coeur d Alene whose name escapes me.
ReplyDeleteThe Federal judges own the National Forests, now, for better or worse.
And I have to say, more rationality has come to the subject than ever in the past, where it was really quite bad, streams being ruined forever practically, with roads being built in, on deficit timber sales. The road cost more to build than the timber was worth, and the taxpayer paid for it, Abby's right. Corporate welfare.
But things have changed here, and I imagine it's the same everywhere on these timber sales.
In part due to the efforts of Mr. Edward Abby, whose books have had a big influence.
I don't want to lead the movemnet, he said. I just want to be remembered as an artist.
The 'greatest generation' wasn't so good on that. Dad's generation, they thought it went on forever, no way to ruin it, there's always more. They were wrong on that. Things are changing on that front.
ReplyDeletespeaking of generational things - on the lighter side:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-walt-babyboomers-blurb,0,1036393.blurb
I'll try to make it easier
ReplyDeleteboomers
How about that independent Iraqi government?
ReplyDeleteSigning those deals with Iran, same day that the UN voted further sanctions, on individual Iranians.
Talk about your moral imperative!
They stand proud, those Iraqi.
From the "Kurdish Globe", the only English papaer in Erbil, the heart of Kurdistan Region
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki termed as "positive" Sunday's talks with visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling on the once-bitter enemy country to help in reconstruction efforts.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Ahmadinejad in Baghdad, Maliki said, "We had very good talks that were friendly and brotherly...We have mutual understandings and identical views in all fields."
Then, in a seperate box, on the same page
We have reached many agreements with Iran in various fields, particularly in economic and political domains
Talabani
So it must be true, the Prime Minister and President of Iraq, agree.
Reconciliation HAS occurred!
Praise Allah, Team43 succeeded, at long last!
The Lede: Hair-Raising Landing Caught on Video
ReplyDeleteThey say the wind hit just as he touched down, obviously BS, as he's radically "crabbed" while still plenty high for an easy go-round. Wonder what the stats are for men v women pilots wrt pushing on way beyond reason?
ReplyDelete---
Obviously, I couldn't be expected to have a serious comment back on the right thread!
Lou Dobbs is all over the border violence story tonight.
ReplyDeleteBorder violence?
ReplyDeleteThe Islamo-fascists are on the border, between Iraq and Iran? No, I think not, no violence, there.
Or Israel and Palistine? There is a lot of violence and killings taking place on that frontier.
Border violence, that's where it's at in the 21st century. The US and Mexico have an agreement to secure the border of North America. All the seaports and airports. All points of entry, into the North America are policed, Canada has signed on, too. The exterior border is secure, no worries!
Wonder where Billary or Obama stand on the SPP agreement?
Nonetheless, progress has been unmistakable and with every advance, we have shown that both security and prosperity can advance together. When we enhance security, we strengthen rule of law, which makes our economies more predictable and attractive to investors.
ReplyDeleteWhen border crossings become more efficient, delays are reduced and businesses thrive.
It is our good fortune to be bordered by unique and sovereign nations that are democracies, allies and friends. Through meetings like the one this week in Mexico, common solutions to our challenges can be found that will bring about a better tomorrow for the people of Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Prosperity Partnership
Samantha Power adviser to Barack Obama says that one of, if not the top Obama foreign policy iniative, will be to restore the US to the "family of nations" (my words). His first actions will be to close Guantanamo Bay and renounce torture.
ReplyDeleteAll so that the world will like us better.
Ms Power says that Obama will withdraw all combat brigades from Iraq within 18 months. This will enable him to "deal with Afghanistan and restore American standing in the world."
ReplyDeleteAlso, here's a very interesting documentary on the World Service which paints a more positive picture of Iraq.
Its interesting to note the improving situation in Iraq is largely ignored by the left who prefer to focus on the US screw-up prior to the surge.
I don't believe our "standing in the world" will be restored until we too acquiesce in the face of evil.
Well, the Colombians were somewhat belatedly sent home from Caracas.
ReplyDeleteMight have been further encouraged by the announcement of computers taken in the mop-up in Ecuador. (Thorough job it was.) The material suggests confirmation of what everyone's been saying, but that Chavez has denied. Another kick in the ass for him. He's already wildly unpopular among the general Colombian population.
Bogota's adding significantly to its already heavy police presence. (Everyone in north Bogota's already got a driver and a body man. And concertina and motion sensors. And gated homes and apartment complexes with their own round-the-clock security details.) As little as two years ago, the FARC was still on the outskirts here. Pushed a lot further out since, keeping everyday life something of a gamble for a lot people in the hinterlands. Improving it immeasurably in the capitol.
We shall see what we shall see.
"Ms Power says that Obama will withdraw all combat brigades from Iraq within 18 months."
ReplyDeleteSomebody oughta ask him who's going to provide security for everyone else he thinks is staying behind. But no one will.
Or ask her, rather.
ReplyDeleteI think John McCain should ask Obama if he is willing to waste all the blood and treasure that we've invested to date especially now that the light is seen at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteHis stock answer: "I'll be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in."
Trish:
ReplyDeleteWhat's the word on possible reaction from Ecuador?
What do the Columbians think about a Barack or Clinton Presidency? Have you heard any reaction to Pelosi's antipathy toward Columbia.
ReplyDeleteWhy,that's an easy one, trish.
ReplyDeleteThe Iraqi Army we've been training for six years, they and the A Teams that'll be advising them.
As per Mr Bush's public statements over the last six years.
"They stand up ..."
Mr Maliki will agree, Mr al-Hakim and al-Sadr, they'll all be on board. They do represent both the elected and behind the throne powers that be, in Iraq.
Only folks that'll be sad to see US leave, the "reformed" Baathists.
Or is it the US that has been "reformed"?
It's all so confusing, who struck Johnnie, first. But regardless, he'll be marching home, again.
Hoorah! Hoorah!
All that'll matter will be the spin.
Top 3 dirtiest cities in the world:
ReplyDelete1. Baku, Azerbaijan
2. Dhaka, Bangladesh
3. Antananarivo, Madagascar
Forbes
No. 14: Moscow, Russia
ReplyDeleteMercer Health and Sanitation Index Score: 43.4
In a city where you can pay $3,000 a month for an apartment that doesn't even have clean running water, Moscow also has troubling levels of air pollution, which present a daily strain on lung health
Moscow, right down there with the worst cities of sub-Saharan Africa.
ReplyDeleteChavez is doing little good for the Venezuelans or the region. But more than anything else,the FARC need to disappear. I hope that this posturing turns out to be nothing more than that on the part of Chavez, and that needless lives are not lost due to stupid maneuvers on his part. But there are already socialist/communist parties in Colombia (note my spelling!!!), so why does the FARC exist? They are nothing more than Mafiosos with AK-47s and the Che cachet. The world would be better off if the Jungle simply devoured them.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, yes, I am still alive!!!
Mrs. Clinton began her day shaking hands at 5:35 a.m., when she stood just inside the turnstile at Chrysler’s Toledo North Assembly plant greeting workers as if she were running for a city council seat. “Help me out tomorrow, please,” she implored as workers passed by.
ReplyDelete“I’d be honored to have your vote.”
The reactions varied. One worker was pulled along by the crowd and ended up shaking Senator Clinton’s hand. “Aw, man,” he said. “Now I have to go home and wash my hands.”
Big Vote
welcome back Bob
ReplyDeleteYes, welcome back, Bob. You've been gone awhile.
ReplyDeleteWhat do the Columbians think about a Barack or Clinton Presidency? Have you heard any reaction to Pelosi's antipathy toward Columbia.
ReplyDeleteMon Mar 03, 08:34:00 PM EST
You know those conversations where the opinions that are ventured are conspicuously couched, hedged, watered-down, unless known beforehand to meet with the complete approval or absence of objection on the part of the person spoken to? I get that.
To the Colombians, however, the free trade agreement, about which they are very forthcoming, is huge. HUGE.
They are not going to be favorably disposed (acutely the opposite) toward the guy, or gal, who stiffs them on that. They've worked incredibly hard and are extremely proud of the distance they've crossed to meet its requirements. The Democratic Congress is bad enough, and they do openly lament it. Obama or Clinton will be seen as the nail in the coffin.
In re Obama and talking to Chavez, it has yet to come up or be overheard. But the objection I think would be far less than the knowledge that the trade agreement is going nowhere. Chavez is a major league asshole - THE major league asshole - but the Colombians are in a position of great confidence now rather than relative weakness.
What will Ecuador do? Nothing. It's Ecuador.
"But regardless, he'll be marching home, again.
ReplyDeleteHoorah! Hoorah!"
Obama's going to have an extremely difficult time carrying through on his pledge. And to do it the way he wants to do it, in fact, by breaking off BCTs, is a nightmare. Hope he appoints some RRRRRRRREEEEEEEEAAALLLY bright people.
Chavez has been more isolated since he lost a referendum in December 2007 to increase his presidential powers, and it appears that many of his countrymen have lost patience with his efforts to convert the nation to his version of Bolivarian socialism.
ReplyDeleteChavez's defiant words resonated throughout Latin America on Monday. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil was in discussion with Argentina's President, Crisitna Fernandez.
A strongly worded statement from the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Amorim, condemned the raid in Ecuador and said that an explicit apology should be offered to Ecuador.
Venezuela/Colombia/Ecuador
Rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again!
ReplyDeleteShouting he battle cry of FREEDOM!
Works everywhere.
Not just in the US.
The external threat, the friend of the State, everywhere.
Ecuador, not a real threat.
Last I was there, it's not improved.
Not a country that can project power, not a country that can sustain itself.
The CIA says
Ecuador is substantially dependent on its petroleum resources, which have accounted for more than half of the country's export earnings and one-fourth of public sector revenues in recent years. In 1999/2000, Ecuador suffered a severe economic crisis, with GDP contracted by more than 6%, with a significant increase in poverty. The banking system also collapsed, and Ecuador defaulted on its external debt later that year. In March 2000, Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided for the adoption of the US dollar as legal tender. Dollarization stabilized the economy, and positive growth returned in the years that followed, helped by high oil prices, remittances, and increased non-traditional exports. From 2002-2006 the economy grew 5.5%, the highest five-year average in 25 years. The poverty rate declined but remained high at 38% in 2006. In 2006 the government of Alfredo PALACIO (2005-07) seized the assets of Occidental Petroleum for alleged contract violations and imposed a windfall revenue tax on foreign oil companies, leading to the suspension of free trade negotiations with the US. These measures, combined with chronic underinvestment in the state oil company, Petroecuador, led to a drop in petroleum production in 2007. PALACIO's successor, Rafael CORREA, raised the specter of debt default - but Ecuador has paid its debt on time. He also decreed a higher windfall revenue tax on private oil companies, then sought to renegotiate their contracts to overcome the debilitating effect of the tax. This generated economic uncertainty; private investment has dropped and economic growth has slowed significantly.
Sounds like a basket case.
ReplyDeleteGiven these concerns and calculations, the apparent over-reaction of Chavez and Correa – Ecuador has also dispatched troops to the Colombian border, and both countries have expelled their Colombian ambassadors – may e quite rational. They may be trying to overstretch the Colombian army and give it a two-front problem, in order to protect their FARC friends and deter any further cross-border operations by the Colombians.
ReplyDeleteBut they’d never actually go to war, would they? It still seems very unlikely, in particular because the far more experienced Colombian army would dismantle any forces the Ecuadorians sent against it in a matter of days.
Venezuela and Colombia are more evenly matched, and for that very reason it would not be in either government’s interest to have a war: neither side would win.
South America
"Somebody oughta ask him who's going to provide security for everyone else he thinks is staying behind. But no one will."
ReplyDeleteThat was the response of Ken Pollack, too.
The late polls seem to be breaking for Hillary in Texas and especially Ohio.
ReplyDeleteC'mon Sam, who's gonna win?
I notice the Obama campaign saying Hillary will have to really, really win to make any difference. Just an everyday ordinary run of the mill win won't help.
ReplyDeleteTell that to Billary.
A convention fight should bring out the very best in the democrats, you know.:)
ReplyDeleteAll those kindly compassionate qualities normally hidden that rise to the surface when existence itself is at stake:)
"Daddy, what was the most fun you ever had in your life?"
ReplyDelete"Son, let me tell you about the time I was a superdelegate at the deadlocked democratic convention of '08."
If the Dutch government does THIS then it's simple. Intimidation works.
ReplyDeleteAnd freedom of speech is dead in that part of the world.
Oldie, but goodie.
ReplyDeleteIn the Transnational (Illegal Gang Problem) Gang Conference in Los Angeles, Ecuador suggested having Ecuadoran Cops ride shotgun w/LA Police!
ReplyDeleteHigh estimates of consanguineous marriages
ReplyDeletehave been reported in various Arab countries:
54% in Kuwait
29-50% in Egypt
52% in Saudi Arabia
51% in the United Arab Emirates4
50% in Jordan
15% in Lebanon
40% in Yemen
Kevin James says his sources in Texas say significant numbers of Pubs are crossing over to vote for Hillary.
ReplyDelete...Rush Limbaugh's Suggestion.
High school football star slain
ReplyDeleteA random gang shooting in South L.A. ends Jamiel Shaw's bright future.
His mother, an Army sergeant, grieves in Iraq.
If we'd just legalize the gangs we wouldn't have no illegal gang problem. Just like legalize drugs presto you got no illegal drug problem. What's this apnea of prematurity? Low birth weight? Early delivery? The Ecudoreans are just looking for a path to citizeenship, if you ask me. Hillary's going to carry the day today, I predict. The monkey wrench gang is back together again, half way through the book. Back to bed.
ReplyDeleteNuclear Powered Mars Rover
ReplyDeleteSpirit and Opportunity spent a lot of time grinding holes in rocks that turned out to be not that interesting. MSL can short-circuit that time-consuming process with a high-intensity laser, which can vaporize a spot on the surface from a distance of 30 feet. The closest thing to a science-fiction-style ray gun, the target will give off a gaseous plasma that an instrument called the ChemCam can quickly scan before deciding whether to go in for a closer look.
I join you in predicting a rebirth of the Hillamonster.
ReplyDeleteMeans they stop breathing and develop cyanosis.
ReplyDeleteSuicide Baby Mommers.
Ken Pollack: I'd heard the name but had to Google him. Hopefully Mr. Pollack isn't the only one asking here in the short term, cutler. 'Brigade combat troops out of Iraq' is symbolic (Hey, that means no more combat deaths, right? Right?) and profoundly stupid. Which is not to say it can't be sold to voters anyway, especially when the acceptable answer to questions of "How?" and "Then what?" is "Yes We Can!"
ReplyDeleteAnd I've yet to read Obama's (or Ms. Powers') plan for Afghanistan involving these newly untethered BCTs. But boy oh boy would I like to.
Just two Hardworking Hispanics doing a job most of us would never do.
ReplyDelete---
"Los Angeles police officials described the killing as random and senseless, cutting down a youth who had been doing everything right in his life -- from hitting the books to never missing church to inspiring the Los Angeles High Romans to last year's Southern League title.
A police spokeswoman said two Latino men pulled up in a car, jumped out, asked Jamiel if he belonged to a gang, and shot him when he didn't answer. She said Jamiel was not affiliated with a gang and that detectives had no suspects.
Anita Shaw was flying back from Iraq on Monday, family members said.
"She called crying, saying, 'Tell me it's not my son,' " said Jamiel's aunt, Althea Shaw. "She was so proud. She felt he had made it through the hard times. She still called him her baby, even though he was taller than her."
Meanwhile, ex Gang Member, now ReConquista Mayor Tony Villar, was w/Hillary,
ReplyDelete...again.
To be honest, I was a little surprised Villaraigosa didn't call off this latest trip. I know Clinton has relied on him to help turn out the critical Latino vote, but that horrific shooting at a South-Central bus stop near a school last week -- of the eight victims, five were children -- happened just two days before the mayor left town Friday.
The bus shootings followed a recent string of mayhem, including the Feb. 7 killing of SWAT Officer Randal Simmons and the Avenues gang shootout in Glassell Park.
Don't I recall the mayor saying that fixing the city's disjointed and ineffective handling of gangs would be a priority for him?
I had wondered whether, when I finally got together with Villaraigosa, he would argue that he hasn't really been out of Los Angeles all that much. But I soon realized I had nothing to worry about. The mayor told the crowd he'd left Los Angeles to go to "Iowa four times, New Hampshire for five days." And people have wondered, he added, "why I went to Nevada as many times as I did."
Sounds like sudden infant death syndrome by another name. It's allah's will.
ReplyDeleteI'm named in Allah's Will!
ReplyDelete"Transnational Gangs" (illegals)
ReplyDeleteIndeed you are. We all are. But as beneficiaries? That is the question.
ReplyDeleteTo behead, or not to behead,
ReplyDeletethat is the question.