“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."
About a week ago he was screaming hysterically about something, but I don't remember what it was, or if it was about this. --- What Happened to Manliness?
In Canada, the retightening of Canadian credit markets prompted the Bank of Canada, to temporarily inject $650 million in cash into domestic credit markets to keep short-term interest rates from rising.
It also sparked speculation of deeper interest rate cuts by the central bank of up to a further full percentage point, starting next month, which along with falling energy prices briefly sunk the dollar below parity with the U.S. dollar.
The currency, after hitting a low of 99.85 cents US, closed at $1.0007 US, down a third of a cent from Friday's close of $1.0139 US.
I've got it on the good authority of some reputable radio talk show host today, but for the life of me can't recall which one now, that Obama was at the very sermon that caused such an uproar.
In fact, the only temple exclusively meant for the worship of eunuchs is located in Tamil Nadu at a remote village called Koovagam, some 30 km from Villupuram district. Every year on a full moon day in May, eunuchs congregate at this temple to marry Iravan — the temple deity who is the son of the warrior-prince Arjun and Uroopi.
Eunuchs today believe they’re the 'mohinis' and the brides of Iravan. In fact, it is in connection with their marital relation to Iravan, they've come to be known as 'aravanis'.
Aravanis assemble at the temple about three days before the full moon day to hold beauty contests, seminars on their social status and discussions on health matters among other things. On the third day, they formally wed Iravan and after midnight, they remove the marriage badge, wailing, weeping and beating their chests as a mourning ritual.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, McGreevey said it happened and that he and his estranged wife need to move forward for the sake of their 6-year-old daughter.
The McGreeveys are in the midst of an acrimonious divorce that began after McGreevey resigned as governor and acknowledged he was a -- quote -- "gay American."
The aide, Teddy Pedersen, has given a sworn deposition about the sexual liaisons and expects to be called as a witness in the divorce trial.
Barack Obama's suddenly radioactive pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, has defended himself against charges of anti-Americanism and racism by referring to his foundational philosophy, the "black liberation theology" of scholars such as James Cone, who regard Jesus Christ as a "black messiah" and blacks as "the chosen people" who will only accept a god who assists their aim of destroying the "white enemy."
Well that clears it up. A real confidence builder for us mutant albinos.
51.38 -1.48 -2.8% NYSE Quote | Chart | News | Profile [TXT 51.38 -1.48 (-2.8%) ] is down from being a $70 stock to the low 50's. It has a large backlog of private jet orders and a large backlog of helicopter orders - some originating with the military.
Cramer says: “I really like Textron. I’ve never been worried about their financing.
Dear Jim: I’ve been a fan since you used to make me late for work guest-hosting Squawk Box. I love your show and particularly your Wall of Shame segment. You go through CEO’s like Darth Vader went through Admirals.
Cramer says: “Um…he was actually a bad guy…but that’s OK. I appreciate any compliments that come my way.
Hi Jim: I really want to thank you very much for your aggressive stance against the NAB and the paid-off officials that are opposing the XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc XMSR
2.69 -0.04 -1.47% NASDAQ Quote | Chart | News | Profile [SIRI 2.69 -0.04 (-1.47%) ] merger. This has really gone on way too long and it is obvious why it has.
Cramer says: “Sirius is basically a call option. People shouldn’t be buying calls on calls.
What Do They Do Now? Jennifer Rubin - 03.16.2008 - 08:34 Some intellectually honest liberals are starting to realize that the Reverend Wright problem is a significant one for Barack Obama. From The New Republic:
It’s also clear that the question of whether Obama was present for those particular sermons now in the news isn’t really the issue. Wright’s oft-iterated political worldview, which apparently includes the belief that the US created AIDS to keep the Third World in poverty, should be quite apparent to anyone who knows him as well as Obama does. . .This is really bad news for Obama, both in the primary and if he makes it to the general. He’s worked successfully to escape the image of the “angry black man,” and here he is linked to that image in the most emotionally searing way.
From Gerald Posner at Huffington Post(h/t Instapundit):
If the parishioners of Trinity United Church were not buzzing about Reverend Wright’s post 9/11 comments, then it could only seem to be because those comments were not out of character with what he preached from the pulpit many times before. In that case, I have to wonder if it is really possible for the Obamas to have been parishioners there - by 9/11 they were there more than a decade - and not to have known very clearly how radical Wright’s views were. If, on the other hand, parishioners were shocked by Wright’s vitriol only days after more than 3,000 Americans had been killed by terrorists, they would have talked about it incessantly. Barack - a sitting Illinois State Senator - would have been one of the first to hear about it. . . .
But Barack now claims he never heard about any of this until after he began his run for the presidency, in February, 20007.And even if Barack is correct - and I desperately want to believe him - then it still does not explain why, when he learned in 2007 of Wright’s fringe comments about 9/11 and other subjects, the campaign did not then disassociate itself from the Reverend. Wright was not removed from the campaign’s Spiritual Advisory Committee until two days ago, and it appears likely that nothing would have been done had this story not broken nationally.
Well, where does this leave the Democrats now? Had this happened in January the party would have different and better options. But here we are in March with a 100 plus delegate lead for Obama.
Possible but not likely: This all blows over in a day or so, none of this impacts Obama’s appeal among white voters, he sails to the nomination, and this is a non-issue in the general election since most voters don’t see that there’s much of anything wrong with what Reverend Wright said. Yeah, right. (This scenario becomes more likely only if the writers go back on strike for the rest of the year, and SNL and the late night talk shows shut down.)
Possible but more likely: Obama hangs on to his lead, but a revived Hillary Clinton (now emboldened that the Democratic establishment will abandon Obama) takes her fight to the bitter end. Obama eventually wins the nomination after a bloody fight. The 527’s run hundreds of ads in the general election with Obama’s picture and the text of Wright’s sermons.
Also possible: Obama’s poll numbers begin to tank, Clinton wins all the remaining primaries except North Carolina, the superdelegates throw in their lot with her and a lot of really angry Obama supporters make a very big stink about racial politics.
Everyone can choose their favorite scenario, but you can bet the damage is significant when even the Clinton camp figures it’s better to leave well enough alone.
Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth is sticking by a decision to honor Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright despite controversy over his pulpit rhetoric and relationship to presidential candidate Barack Obama.
...
According to a statement posted Monday on its Web site, Brite affirmed its decision "after careful review" and "understanding the sincere concerns many have voiced in response to recent media reports."
The statement continues:
"Contrary to media claims that Wright preaches racial hatred, church leaders who have observed his ministry describe him as a faithful preacher of the gospel who has ministered in a context radically different from that of many middle class Americans."
Obama says he was actually at some of them sermons, but whenever Uncle Jerry started actin up like that, he ran out the door screamin
"Free, at Last! Thank God Almighty, I'm Free, at last."
Then Uncle Jerry would 'Splain to him that that weren't no way to move crowds nohow, and that he needed further training. Being a good boy, Barry always complied.
Mr. Wright retired last month as head of Trinity United Church of Christ, where for nearly 20 years he counted Sen. Obama among his parishioners. Mr. Wright was involved in the senator's presidential campaign as an unpaid adviser.
Mr. Wright recently suggested in a sermon that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were perhaps warranted. Sen. Obama's condemnation of Mr. Wright's statements have done little to take the edge off a shrill debate.
Republican Sen. John McCain had a similar test when he accepted the endorsement of televangelist James Hagee, who was criticized over anti-Catholic remarks. Sen. McCain repudiated the comments.
Doug, I've had that same thought myself. But let's recycle the building materials to some good use.
I've accused the Lutheran Churches these days of becoming political parties.
What about all this tax exempt argument? Every once in a while I see the IRS or somebody bringing that up. To no result that I can see. It is admitedly a very touchy area, full of pitfalls.
The great-granddaughter of a Civil War-era storekeeper in Tampa, Fla. is suing the city for a 147-year-old unpaid promissory note. With interest, the note is now worth over $22 million.
The financially-strapped city of Tampa, in need of ammunition during the Civil War, issued the note to Thomas Pugh Kennedy on June 21, 1861, the St. Petersburg Times reported Sunday. Kennedy's great-granddaughter, Joan Kennedy Biddle and her family are suing to collect the payment, plus 8 percent annual interest.
"This thing has been in the family since the date on the note, and it has never been repaid," Biddle, 77, told the Times. "My daddy told me, and I certainly believe him."
But now the floodlight of a presidential campaign has trained on this usually hidden corner of contemporary black life: a mindless indulgence in a rhetorical anti-Americanism as a way of bonding and of asserting one's blackness. Yet Jeremiah Wright, splashed across America's television screens, has shown us that there is no real difference between rhetorical hatred and real hatred.
No matter his ultimate political fate, there is already enough pathos in Barack Obama to make him a cautionary tale. His public persona thrives on a manipulation of whites (bargaining), and his private sense of racial identity demands both self-betrayal and duplicity.
His is the story of a man who flew so high, yet neglected to become himself.
He claims that Wright is a "sounding board for me to make sure I'm speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible." Here's a further sample of what Rev. Truthmeister dishes out on a regular basis:
* "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied."
* "We put Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there."
* "America is still the number one killer in the world."
But more than that, said Sen. Kerry, leaders of Middle Eastern nations have expressed to him keen interest in the possibility that a black man could be elected president of the United States. "Their leaders are intrigued, he said.
One of them, who Sen. Kerry did not identify, asked him, "Can you people really do this in America?"
"It would be an affirmation of who we are as a people," he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, down nearly 200 points in the morning, rallied to go positive. At the close, it was up 21.16 points, or 0.2%, at 11,972.25, aided by a 10.3% jump in JPMorgan Chase (JPM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), which agreed to buy Bear Stearns at a fire-sale price.
The way it's been told is that the neocons at the Pentagon didn't really want you guys to get too involved with setting things up. What they really wanted was the power to be handed off very quickly to Chalabi. That's the story. What are your thoughts about that?
That wasn't going to happen on my watch. I think that inside the Pentagon, inside the Beltway, that Chalabi was the favorite candidate. I don't think he was with Secretary Rumsfeld, because I never heard Rumsfeld say that. In fact, I heard Rumsfeld say several times: "I don't have a candidate. The best man will rise." But certainly he was the darling of Doug Feith and [former Defense Policy Board Chairman] Richard Perle and probably [then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul] Wolfowitz, perhaps the vice president. I'm not sure.
I didn't meet Chalabi until April 15. I met him in Nasiriyah, ... and it was the first meeting we'd had. Now, we'd talked on the telephone before. But I immediately didn't like him. He immediately didn't like me either. I never had anything against Chalabi up till that point, but he was never my candidate.
I felt the same thing that Rumsfeld did: You don't have a number one guy; there's nobody that stands out. So over time, I thought the right person will begin to stand out, and we can start wrapping our new government, our interim stuff around the right person. That's why I brought the seven of them together, because I wanted them to neutralize each other until we could sort through that and see who the best candidate was among them.
But Chalabi and I didn't get along at all. To this day, I think Chalabi worked both sides of the street. I think he was working with Iranians. He was lying to us. I don't think he's a good man. I think he's a bad man. ...
... The first big order is CPA Order No. 1, de-Baathification. How do you hear about it?
Yes. I'm walking down the hallway, and Robin Raphel, Ambassador Robin Raphel, says, "Have you seen this?" She has a piece of paper. I said: "No. What it is?" She says, "De-Baathification order." I said, "Wow." So I read it real quick, there in the hall. I said, "This is too deep." She said, "This is why you have to stay here." And I said, "Well, let me go talk to Ambassador Bremer."
So I walked down, and Charlie [the former Baghdad station chief] was coming across the hallway, CIA guy, great guy, and I said, "Hey, Charlie, have you read the de-Baathification [order]?" And he said: "Yeah, that's why I'm here. Let's go in and talk to the ambassador."
We went in, and we talked to Ambassador Bremer for a few minutes. I said, "You know, this is too deep." I said: "Give Charlie and I about 45 minutes to an hour. Let us digest this thing, and then let us recommend some changes to you, and come back here, and we'll get Donald Rumsfeld to see if we can't soften this a bit."
And he said: "These are the directions I have. I have directions to execute this." And I said, "Well, I think it's too deep." And he said, "Well, it's the directions we have, and we're going to execute those."
So I said, "Well, Charlie, what do you think?" To the best of my memory, Charlie said, "Well, if you do this, you're going to drive 40,000 to 50,000 Baathists underground by nightfall. The number is closer to 50,000 than it is [to] 30,000."
Bremer again said, "I understand what you're saying. I understand that's your opinion, but I have my directions. I have directions [to execute] these orders," which told me, I thought, he didn't have any choice. It was another one of the decrees he brought over in a briefcase that he was told to execute -- although, I was told in his book, he said that was his decision. But ... I think that was one of the things he was told to do. He gets blamed for it, but I don't really think the blame is [his].
Were you worried about it?
[What] I thought was going to happen was you wouldn't be able to bring back the government in a functional capability, because all the talent was in those first three or four levels of the Baath Party. Hell, you live in Boston. You take out the first three or four levels of government in Boston, see how well your electricity runs and how well the traffic lights work, and everything else goes.
What was your impression of Bremer?
I thought Ambassador Bremer was one of the hardest working men I've ever been around in my life. I think he gets a lot of blame for a lot of things that are not his fault. I was only with him two and a half, three weeks, but the guy works 16 to 20 hours a day. He stayed over for 13 months, doing his best for our government and for the Iraqi people.
During that time, he produced an excellent document, the Transitional Administrative Law [TAL]. There's a lot of pluses to Bremer's time there that he hasn't gotten credit for, and there's a lot of negatives that he's shouldered that probably aren't his to shoulder.
For instance, CPA Order No. 1?
Yes.
CPA Order No. 2 [dissolving the Iraqi army] comes out soon after. ... What were your expectations of how you guys were going to deal with the Iraqi army, and how does this order, then, strike you?
Well, our initial plan when we were in Washington, and initially in Kuwait, was that this war went in much like the first Gulf War, where you have thousands of POWs, maybe hundreds of thousands. ... The army was about 400,000, so from that, we would bring between 150,000 and 250,000 back. We wanted to keep them in their unit structures, because they had already had a command-and-control system. They had vehicles, what was left. They knew how to take orders, and they had the basic skill sets to do the things you need to do in early reconstruction of a country. So they were a labor force, and they provide a certain amount of security, like guard static locations -- guard buildings, guard ammo dumps or displaced ammunition, that type of thing. ...
By the 15th of May, we had a large number of Iraqi army located that were ready to come back, and the Treasury guys were ready to pay them. When the order came out to disband, [it] shocked me, because I didn't know we were going to do that. All along I thought we were bringing back the Iraqi army. ... Why we didn't do that, I don't know.
Bremer and [CPA Director of National Security and Defense Walter] Slocombe, to this day, still say: "We couldn't bring it back. It had gone; it disappeared."
It had disappeared, but we had relocated a lot of it. If we had started bringing it back, the rest would have followed.
The other thing that that process was going to do for us, it was going to allow us to identify the real leaders for the future Iraqi army. ...
So how big a mistake was that?
It depends on who you talk to. If you go talk to Talabani and Barzani or Allawi or Chalabi, they'll tell you that that was actually the right thing to do, because they said it was too soon. ...
I think it was a mistake, but we'll never know.
[Do you think Order No. 2, along with de-Baathification, led to the insurgency?]
The problem you have there is, with that order, you suddenly tell somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 soldiers that they're out of jobs, and they're all still armed. Now, whether they became terrorists, we don't know. But to me, that's just not a good beginning. Sun Tzu says you don't want to go to bed at night with more enemies than you woke up with that morning. Well, we went to bed with a whole lot more enemies that night than we had begun the day with.
But again, I don't fault Ambassador Bremer for that. I think that was another decree that he brought over in his briefcase; I think he was told to do that. Now, that idea may have germinated with Walt Slocombe or somebody on his staff, but it had to get approved [in Washington] somewhere. That's another incredible decision of magnitude that I just don't think that would have been invested in [Bremer]. It had to be made over here. ...
There's a story out there that you started dealing too much on the political side; that there was talk already of elections, and that worried some people.
That's true. I did immediately start talking to them about elections: "Let's get elections started. Let's start writing a constitution. Let's get a leadership group here. Let's transition if we can. Let's transition that into interim government. Let's start handing over functions back to the Iraqi people," etc., etc. Yeah. ...
And did that worry anybody in Washington?
Beats the hell out of me. I don't know. Nobody ever called me and said, "Hey, don't do this."
But did you get the feeling?
No, I didn't get the feeling till I got the call from Rumsfeld saying: "Hey, Jerry Bremer's going to be your replacement. The president just made that decision." I said, "Fine." I thought, well, they pulled the string a little earlier than I thought they would. And then when I said, "Hey, how about letting me stay till July because I've got all these things going?," [he] said, "Don't have any control over that." ... He said: "This has always been the plan, Jay. This has always been the plan, to bring somebody in." I said, "Well, that's true." ...
What has gotten lost (well, there's a lot that's gotten lost) is the decisiveness of Executive Order 1. You weren't going to be able to keep the army after dissolving the political structure of Iraq. And that was the point of Order 1.
If you say so. Lots of different stories, but the fact remains that the people involved with the planing, and most especially Garner, the man on the ground, expected not to disband the army. Your quotes from 2006 came before Bremmer came out with his BS about it being impossible to not disband the Army, because it had already evaporated. Garner, Col Hughes, and others dispute that, with Hughes saying he already had 134,000 signed up. --- As Hughes says, the effect of putting the US Equivalent of 5 million armed, unemployed, angry young men on the street is not too hard to figure out.
You argue some abstract point, (which you have yet to explain) but you like to avoid the concrete facts that a whole lot of people agree on, far beyond what seems plausible in a CYA Conspiracy. Obviously there is ass covering, but all the people in that movie are not promoting a conspiratorial lie, I'd venture. And there WAS another plan, however much you deny it.
"1. You weren't going to be able to keep the army after dissolving the political structure of Iraq. And that was the point of Order 1." --- Please explain: Hughes already had them signed up, the USA is paying all the bills, please show what there is in #1 that makes it impossible. ...and again, if you can, it's still a Big, F...... Blunder.
In fact, Garner turned out to be wrong about Bremer bringing it over in his briefcase, judging by all reports since that, and even Bremer's own words: They all agree Bush did not object when Bremer said that's what he was going to do. NOT that he told Bush he was ready to carry out a plan from Bush.
The Times story says a different plan had been agreed to 10 weeks before. Many people in that movie other than Garner and Hughes assert that was not the original plan. ...however it came to be in the details.
The New York Times does not seem to want to run the New Guv's affair, right now. Saving it for a rainy day, or honing to the "See no Evil" line of the differently abled?
About a week ago he was screaming hysterically about something, but I don't remember what it was, or if it was about this.
ReplyDelete---
What Happened to Manliness?
(dsl currently worthless)
ReplyDeleteBear Stearn Market Booyas, Cramer.
ReplyDeleteIn Canada, the retightening of Canadian credit markets prompted the Bank of Canada, to temporarily inject $650 million in cash into domestic credit markets to keep short-term interest rates from rising.
ReplyDeleteIt also sparked speculation of deeper interest rate cuts by the central bank of up to a further full percentage point, starting next month, which along with falling energy prices briefly sunk the dollar below parity with the U.S. dollar.
The currency, after hitting a low of 99.85 cents US, closed at $1.0007 US, down a third of a cent from Friday's close of $1.0139 US.
Selling Off
New Gov Admits:
ReplyDeleteShould just make it a requirement for office.
New Gov should have admitted BEFORE taking oath!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"We are looking at an economy that is reeling," Paterson said.
ReplyDeleteBut he promised to lead the state to a brighter future.
"Let me reintroduce myself," he said in conclusion. "I am David Paterson and I am the governor of New York state."
Governor Paterson
Eunuchs should run the government.
ReplyDeleteBe careful what you wish for.
ReplyDeleteI've got it on the good authority of some reputable radio talk show host today, but for the life of me can't recall which one now, that Obama was at the very sermon that caused such an uproar.
ReplyDeleteMom always used to say that. Or, don't wish for anything and you won't be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteDummy friend of mine here says something similar.
ReplyDeleteAim your sights low and you won't be disappointed.
3 pointer-
ReplyDeleteaenea said...
Bear Stearn Market Booyas, Cramer.
Mon Mar 17, 09:34:00 PM EDT
In fact, the only temple exclusively meant for the worship of eunuchs is located in Tamil Nadu at a remote village called Koovagam, some 30 km from Villupuram district. Every year on a full moon day in May, eunuchs congregate at this temple to marry Iravan — the temple deity who is the son of the warrior-prince Arjun and Uroopi.
ReplyDeleteEunuchs today believe they’re the 'mohinis' and the brides of Iravan. In fact, it is in connection with their marital relation to Iravan, they've come to be known as 'aravanis'.
Aravanis assemble at the temple about three days before the full moon day to hold beauty contests, seminars on their social status and discussions on health matters among other things. On the third day, they formally wed Iravan and after midnight, they remove the marriage badge, wailing, weeping and beating their chests as a mourning ritual.
Eunuchs don't Exist for Governments
You callin' my mum a dummy?
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDelete'Not wishing for' and 'Aiming your sights low' are 2 different things, I think.
Ah!
ReplyDeleteWhew! Close one.
ReplyDeleteAfghanistan Veterans for Congress?
ReplyDeleteAnyone?
Anyone?
Less Shitty, More Successful War Vets for Congress?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Bueller?
Bueller?
Guess it just doesn't get folks as stoked as that Morass on the Mesopotamia.
:)
ReplyDeletePaterson's real sin is wrapping his wife in That Fur Coat
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNOBODY calls MY Mummy a Dummy.
ReplyDelete...although she was an Egyptian.
If you cain't see it, it don't count!
ReplyDeleteHow was he to know it wasn't Gov McGreevy
ReplyDeleteDoing Way More With Way Less Since 2001 War Vets for Congress?
ReplyDeleteWell then, he's cleared on the sex charge,too.
ReplyDeleteYour mummy was no mummy, dummy, give me a break.
--
That's it! It might have been--Larry Sinclair!
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, McGreevey said it happened and that he and his estranged wife need to move forward for the sake of their 6-year-old daughter.
ReplyDeleteThe McGreeveys are in the midst of an acrimonious divorce that began after McGreevey resigned as governor and acknowledged he was a -- quote -- "gay American."
The aide, Teddy Pedersen, has given a sworn deposition about the sexual liaisons and expects to be called as a witness in the divorce trial.
Trysts are True
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf it was Larry, it was entrapment.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention smelly.
ELECTION 2008
ReplyDeleteObama pastor's theology: Destroy 'the white enemy'
'If God is not for us and against whites ... we had better kill him'
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Barack Obama's suddenly radioactive pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, has defended himself against charges of anti-Americanism and racism by referring to his foundational philosophy, the "black liberation theology" of scholars such as James Cone, who regard Jesus Christ as a "black messiah" and blacks as "the chosen people" who will only accept a god who assists their aim of destroying the "white enemy."
Well that clears it up. A real confidence builder for us mutant albinos.
Dear Jim: Textron
ReplyDeleteTextron Inc
TXT
51.38 -1.48 -2.8%
NYSE
Quote | Chart | News | Profile
[TXT 51.38 -1.48 (-2.8%) ] is down from being a $70 stock to the low 50's. It has a large backlog of private jet orders and a large backlog of helicopter orders - some originating with the military.
Cramer says: “I really like Textron. I’ve never been worried about their financing.
Dear Jim: I’ve been a fan since you used to make me late for work guest-hosting Squawk Box. I love your show and particularly your Wall of Shame segment. You go through CEO’s like Darth Vader went through Admirals.
Cramer says: “Um…he was actually a bad guy…but that’s OK. I appreciate any compliments that come my way.
Hi Jim: I really want to thank you very much for your aggressive stance against the NAB and the paid-off officials that are opposing the XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc
XMSR
10.8 -0.45 -4%
NASDAQ
Quote | Chart | News | Profile
[XMSR 10.8 -0.45 (-4%) ] - Sirius
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc
SIRI
2.69 -0.04 -1.47%
NASDAQ
Quote | Chart | News | Profile
[SIRI 2.69 -0.04 (-1.47%) ] merger. This has really gone on way too long and it is obvious why it has.
Cramer says: “Sirius is basically a call option. People shouldn’t be buying calls on calls.
Mad Mail
What Do They Do Now?
ReplyDeleteJennifer Rubin - 03.16.2008 - 08:34
Some intellectually honest liberals are starting to realize that the Reverend Wright problem is a significant one for Barack Obama. From The New Republic:
It’s also clear that the question of whether Obama was present for those particular sermons now in the news isn’t really the issue. Wright’s oft-iterated political worldview, which apparently includes the belief that the US created AIDS to keep the Third World in poverty, should be quite apparent to anyone who knows him as well as Obama does. . .This is really bad news for Obama, both in the primary and if he makes it to the general. He’s worked successfully to escape the image of the “angry black man,” and here he is linked to that image in the most emotionally searing way.
From Gerald Posner at Huffington Post(h/t Instapundit):
If the parishioners of Trinity United Church were not buzzing about Reverend Wright’s post 9/11 comments, then it could only seem to be because those comments were not out of character with what he preached from the pulpit many times before. In that case, I have to wonder if it is really possible for the Obamas to have been parishioners there - by 9/11 they were there more than a decade - and not to have known very clearly how radical Wright’s views were. If, on the other hand, parishioners were shocked by Wright’s vitriol only days after more than 3,000 Americans had been killed by terrorists, they would have talked about it incessantly. Barack - a sitting Illinois State Senator - would have been one of the first to hear about it. . . .
But Barack now claims he never heard about any of this until after he began his run for the presidency, in February, 20007.And even if Barack is correct - and I desperately want to believe him - then it still does not explain why, when he learned in 2007 of Wright’s fringe comments about 9/11 and other subjects, the campaign did not then disassociate itself from the Reverend. Wright was not removed from the campaign’s Spiritual Advisory Committee until two days ago, and it appears likely that nothing would have been done had this story not broken nationally.
Well, where does this leave the Democrats now? Had this happened in January the party would have different and better options. But here we are in March with a 100 plus delegate lead for Obama.
Possible but not likely: This all blows over in a day or so, none of this impacts Obama’s appeal among white voters, he sails to the nomination, and this is a non-issue in the general election since most voters don’t see that there’s much of anything wrong with what Reverend Wright said. Yeah, right. (This scenario becomes more likely only if the writers go back on strike for the rest of the year, and SNL and the late night talk shows shut down.)
Possible but more likely: Obama hangs on to his lead, but a revived Hillary Clinton (now emboldened that the Democratic establishment will abandon Obama) takes her fight to the bitter end. Obama eventually wins the nomination after a bloody fight. The 527’s run hundreds of ads in the general election with Obama’s picture and the text of Wright’s sermons.
Also possible: Obama’s poll numbers begin to tank, Clinton wins all the remaining primaries except North Carolina, the superdelegates throw in their lot with her and a lot of really angry Obama supporters make a very big stink about racial politics.
Everyone can choose their favorite scenario, but you can bet the damage is significant when even the Clinton camp figures it’s better to leave well enough alone.
Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth is sticking by a decision to honor Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright despite controversy over his pulpit rhetoric and relationship to presidential candidate Barack Obama.
ReplyDelete...
According to a statement posted Monday on its Web site, Brite affirmed its decision "after careful review" and "understanding the sincere concerns many have voiced in response to recent media reports."
The statement continues:
"Contrary to media claims that Wright preaches racial hatred, church leaders who have observed his ministry describe him as a faithful preacher of the gospel who has ministered in a context radically different from that of many middle class Americans."
Jeremiah Wright
Obama says he was actually at some of them sermons, but whenever Uncle Jerry started actin up like that, he ran out the door screamin
ReplyDelete"Free, at Last!
Thank God Almighty,
I'm Free, at last."
Then Uncle Jerry would 'Splain to him that that weren't no way to move crowds nohow, and that he needed further training.
Being a good boy, Barry always complied.
Half the GD'ed Churches,
ReplyDeleteand ALL the Madrassas,
outta be bulldozed.
...as a humanitarian gesture to the World.
Mr. Wright retired last month as head of Trinity United Church of Christ, where for nearly 20 years he counted Sen. Obama among his parishioners. Mr. Wright was involved in the senator's presidential campaign as an unpaid adviser.
ReplyDeleteMr. Wright recently suggested in a sermon that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were perhaps warranted. Sen. Obama's condemnation of Mr. Wright's statements have done little to take the edge off a shrill debate.
Republican Sen. John McCain had a similar test when he accepted the endorsement of televangelist James Hagee, who was criticized over anti-Catholic remarks. Sen. McCain repudiated the comments.
Pastor Controversy
Doug, I've had that same thought myself. But let's recycle the building materials to some good use.
ReplyDeleteI've accused the Lutheran Churches these days of becoming political parties.
What about all this tax exempt argument? Every once in a while I see the IRS or somebody bringing that up. To no result that I can see. It is admitedly a very touchy area, full of pitfalls.
"I wasn't at Church, I was at a La Raza Rally!
ReplyDelete...I thot it meant MY Race!"
I once recycled a complete Army Barracks.
ReplyDeleteI can lead the effort!
Barracks for Barack!
...er, Churches.
I love that one Sam!:
ReplyDeleteAccepting an endorsement = 20 years of going to Church, married, babtized, and giving political payoffs in 5 figures.
The great-granddaughter of a Civil War-era storekeeper in Tampa, Fla. is suing the city for a 147-year-old unpaid promissory note. With interest, the note is now worth over $22 million.
ReplyDeleteThe financially-strapped city of Tampa, in need of ammunition during the Civil War, issued the note to Thomas Pugh Kennedy on June 21, 1861, the St. Petersburg Times reported Sunday. Kennedy's great-granddaughter, Joan Kennedy Biddle and her family are suing to collect the payment, plus 8 percent annual interest.
"This thing has been in the family since the date on the note, and it has never been repaid," Biddle, 77, told the Times. "My daddy told me, and I certainly believe him."
With Interest
Aha, she's up against the little known 146 year municipal statute of limitations, a highly specialized and lucrative branch of the law.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, she'll have to collect from the Tampa of the Confederacy, no easy task.
ReplyDeleteHow do you pronounce "Pugh?"
ReplyDeleteTime to fess up folks:
ReplyDeleteSince you have been a member of EB, how many extracurricular relationships have you had?
But now the floodlight of a presidential campaign has trained on this usually hidden corner of contemporary black life: a mindless indulgence in a rhetorical anti-Americanism as a way of bonding and of asserting one's blackness. Yet Jeremiah Wright, splashed across America's television screens, has shown us that there is no real difference between rhetorical hatred and real hatred.
ReplyDeleteNo matter his ultimate political fate, there is already enough pathos in Barack Obama to make him a cautionary tale. His public persona thrives on a manipulation of whites (bargaining), and his private sense of racial identity demands both self-betrayal and duplicity.
His is the story of a man who flew so high, yet neglected to become himself.
The Obama Bargain
Wasn't there a Pepe Le Pugh?
ReplyDeleteExtrycuricular, what's that?
He claims that Wright is a "sounding board for me to make sure I'm speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible." Here's a further sample of what Rev. Truthmeister dishes out on a regular basis:
ReplyDelete* "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied."
* "We put Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there."
* "America is still the number one killer in the world."
Wrong Reverend
I see you've been riding your favorite hobby horse over at Belmont, Doug.
ReplyDeleteLet me give you a little warning, so that you're not caught completely off guard: There's a *WHOLE LOTTA CYA* being churned out on Iraq.
Actually, there's "a whole lotta CYA" being churned out on Iraq.
ReplyDeleteBut more than that, said Sen. Kerry, leaders of Middle Eastern nations have expressed to him keen interest in the possibility that a black man could be elected president of the United States. "Their leaders are intrigued, he said.
ReplyDeleteOne of them, who Sen. Kerry did not identify, asked him, "Can you people really do this in America?"
"It would be an affirmation of who we are as a people," he said.
Kerry and ME Leaders
Yeah, Trish,
ReplyDeleteThat's what you said when you Swore there WAS No Other Plan.
...but you always know best.
Dreams of my Father: Pg 293
ReplyDelete"White Folks Greed Runs a Whole World in Need"
Uncle Jerry
You do win on the PC scale tho:
ReplyDeleteInciteful Racists ain't no big thing.
...as long as they aren't white.
J.P. Morgan smells like a rose.
ReplyDeleteThe Dow Jones Industrial Average, down nearly 200 points in the morning, rallied to go positive. At the close, it was up 21.16 points, or 0.2%, at 11,972.25, aided by a 10.3% jump in JPMorgan Chase (JPM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), which agreed to buy Bear Stearns at a fire-sale price.
This Cramer fellow smells like shit.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to anticipate this:
ReplyDelete"Bush is helping rich Wall Streeters while stiffing poor homeowners."
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnd his Sidekick,
ReplyDeleteLarry Sinclair Deepew.
There's got to be some lawsuits come out of this transaction somewhere, sometime down the line a little.
ReplyDeleteDon't look at me, Eau da Phew
ReplyDelete"A skunk smells his own hole first."
ReplyDeletemy unca Jerry
Doug Feith book comes out soon.
ReplyDeleteSo, too, the Chalabi movie.
Whats' that Chalabi movie? "The Ruse, Use and Abuse of American Foreign Policy"?
ReplyDeleteGarner on Frontline, 2006:
ReplyDelete[...]
The way it's been told is that the neocons at the Pentagon didn't really want you guys to get too involved with setting things up. What they really wanted was the power to be handed off very quickly to Chalabi. That's the story. What are your thoughts about that?
That wasn't going to happen on my watch. I think that inside the Pentagon, inside the Beltway, that Chalabi was the favorite candidate. I don't think he was with Secretary Rumsfeld, because I never heard Rumsfeld say that. In fact, I heard Rumsfeld say several times: "I don't have a candidate. The best man will rise." But certainly he was the darling of Doug Feith and [former Defense Policy Board Chairman] Richard Perle and probably [then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul] Wolfowitz, perhaps the vice president. I'm not sure.
I didn't meet Chalabi until April 15. I met him in Nasiriyah, ... and it was the first meeting we'd had. Now, we'd talked on the telephone before. But I immediately didn't like him. He immediately didn't like me either. I never had anything against Chalabi up till that point, but he was never my candidate.
I felt the same thing that Rumsfeld did: You don't have a number one guy; there's nobody that stands out. So over time, I thought the right person will begin to stand out, and we can start wrapping our new government, our interim stuff around the right person. That's why I brought the seven of them together, because I wanted them to neutralize each other until we could sort through that and see who the best candidate was among them.
But Chalabi and I didn't get along at all. To this day, I think Chalabi worked both sides of the street. I think he was working with Iranians. He was lying to us. I don't think he's a good man. I think he's a bad man. ...
... The first big order is CPA Order No. 1, de-Baathification. How do you hear about it?
Yes. I'm walking down the hallway, and Robin Raphel, Ambassador Robin Raphel, says, "Have you seen this?" She has a piece of paper. I said: "No. What it is?" She says, "De-Baathification order." I said, "Wow." So I read it real quick, there in the hall. I said, "This is too deep." She said, "This is why you have to stay here." And I said, "Well, let me go talk to Ambassador Bremer."
So I walked down, and Charlie [the former Baghdad station chief] was coming across the hallway, CIA guy, great guy, and I said, "Hey, Charlie, have you read the de-Baathification [order]?" And he said: "Yeah, that's why I'm here. Let's go in and talk to the ambassador."
We went in, and we talked to Ambassador Bremer for a few minutes. I said, "You know, this is too deep." I said: "Give Charlie and I about 45 minutes to an hour. Let us digest this thing, and then let us recommend some changes to you, and come back here, and we'll get Donald Rumsfeld to see if we can't soften this a bit."
And he said: "These are the directions I have. I have directions to execute this." And I said, "Well, I think it's too deep." And he said, "Well, it's the directions we have, and we're going to execute those."
So I said, "Well, Charlie, what do you think?" To the best of my memory, Charlie said, "Well, if you do this, you're going to drive 40,000 to 50,000 Baathists underground by nightfall. The number is closer to 50,000 than it is [to] 30,000."
Bremer again said, "I understand what you're saying. I understand that's your opinion, but I have my directions. I have directions [to execute] these orders," which told me, I thought, he didn't have any choice. It was another one of the decrees he brought over in a briefcase that he was told to execute -- although, I was told in his book, he said that was his decision. But ... I think that was one of the things he was told to do. He gets blamed for it, but I don't really think the blame is [his].
Were you worried about it?
[What] I thought was going to happen was you wouldn't be able to bring back the government in a functional capability, because all the talent was in those first three or four levels of the Baath Party. Hell, you live in Boston. You take out the first three or four levels of government in Boston, see how well your electricity runs and how well the traffic lights work, and everything else goes.
What was your impression of Bremer?
I thought Ambassador Bremer was one of the hardest working men I've ever been around in my life. I think he gets a lot of blame for a lot of things that are not his fault. I was only with him two and a half, three weeks, but the guy works 16 to 20 hours a day. He stayed over for 13 months, doing his best for our government and for the Iraqi people.
During that time, he produced an excellent document, the Transitional Administrative Law [TAL]. There's a lot of pluses to Bremer's time there that he hasn't gotten credit for, and there's a lot of negatives that he's shouldered that probably aren't his to shoulder.
For instance, CPA Order No. 1?
Yes.
CPA Order No. 2 [dissolving the Iraqi army] comes out soon after. ... What were your expectations of how you guys were going to deal with the Iraqi army, and how does this order, then, strike you?
Well, our initial plan when we were in Washington, and initially in Kuwait, was that this war went in much like the first Gulf War, where you have thousands of POWs, maybe hundreds of thousands. ... The army was about 400,000, so from that, we would bring between 150,000 and 250,000 back. We wanted to keep them in their unit structures, because they had already had a command-and-control system. They had vehicles, what was left. They knew how to take orders, and they had the basic skill sets to do the things you need to do in early reconstruction of a country. So they were a labor force, and they provide a certain amount of security, like guard static locations -- guard buildings, guard ammo dumps or displaced ammunition, that type of thing. ...
By the 15th of May, we had a large number of Iraqi army located that were ready to come back, and the Treasury guys were ready to pay them. When the order came out to disband, [it] shocked me, because I didn't know we were going to do that. All along I thought we were bringing back the Iraqi army. ... Why we didn't do that, I don't know.
Bremer and [CPA Director of National Security and Defense Walter] Slocombe, to this day, still say: "We couldn't bring it back. It had gone; it disappeared."
It had disappeared, but we had relocated a lot of it. If we had started bringing it back, the rest would have followed.
The other thing that that process was going to do for us, it was going to allow us to identify the real leaders for the future Iraqi army. ...
So how big a mistake was that?
It depends on who you talk to. If you go talk to Talabani and Barzani or Allawi or Chalabi, they'll tell you that that was actually the right thing to do, because they said it was too soon. ...
I think it was a mistake, but we'll never know.
[Do you think Order No. 2, along with de-Baathification, led to the insurgency?]
The problem you have there is, with that order, you suddenly tell somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 soldiers that they're out of jobs, and they're all still armed. Now, whether they became terrorists, we don't know. But to me, that's just not a good beginning. Sun Tzu says you don't want to go to bed at night with more enemies than you woke up with that morning. Well, we went to bed with a whole lot more enemies that night than we had begun the day with.
But again, I don't fault Ambassador Bremer for that. I think that was another decree that he brought over in his briefcase; I think he was told to do that. Now, that idea may have germinated with Walt Slocombe or somebody on his staff, but it had to get approved [in Washington] somewhere. That's another incredible decision of magnitude that I just don't think that would have been invested in [Bremer]. It had to be made over here. ...
There's a story out there that you started dealing too much on the political side; that there was talk already of elections, and that worried some people.
That's true. I did immediately start talking to them about elections: "Let's get elections started. Let's start writing a constitution. Let's get a leadership group here. Let's transition if we can. Let's transition that into interim government. Let's start handing over functions back to the Iraqi people," etc., etc. Yeah. ...
And did that worry anybody in Washington?
Beats the hell out of me. I don't know. Nobody ever called me and said, "Hey, don't do this."
But did you get the feeling?
No, I didn't get the feeling till I got the call from Rumsfeld saying: "Hey, Jerry Bremer's going to be your replacement. The president just made that decision." I said, "Fine." I thought, well, they pulled the string a little earlier than I thought they would. And then when I said, "Hey, how about letting me stay till July because I've got all these things going?," [he] said, "Don't have any control over that." ... He said: "This has always been the plan, Jay. This has always been the plan, to bring somebody in." I said, "Well, that's true." ...
[...]
What has gotten lost (well, there's a lot that's gotten lost) is the decisiveness of Executive Order 1. You weren't going to be able to keep the army after dissolving the political structure of Iraq. And that was the point of Order 1.
ReplyDeleteIt had disappeared, but we had relocated a lot of it. If we had started bringing it back, the rest would have followed.
ReplyDeleteThat's got the ring of truth.
If you say so.
ReplyDeleteLots of different stories, but the fact remains that the people involved with the planing, and most especially Garner, the man on the ground, expected not to disband the army.
Your quotes from 2006 came before Bremmer came out with his BS about it being impossible to not disband the Army, because it had already evaporated.
Garner, Col Hughes, and others dispute that, with Hughes saying he already had 134,000 signed up.
---
As Hughes says, the effect of putting the US Equivalent of 5 million armed, unemployed, angry young men on the street is not too hard to figure out.
Why don't you enlighten us as to HOW that order 1 made it impossible, Trish.
ReplyDeleteAnd even if you convince me, you will not convince me it was not the biggest single blunder in the war.
You argue some abstract point, (which you have yet to explain) but you like to avoid the concrete facts that a whole lot of people agree on, far beyond what seems plausible in a CYA Conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteObviously there is ass covering, but all the people in that movie are not promoting a conspiratorial lie, I'd venture.
And there WAS another plan, however much you deny it.
"1. You weren't going to be able to keep the army after dissolving the political structure of Iraq. And that was the point of Order 1."
ReplyDelete---
Please explain:
Hughes already had them signed up, the USA is paying all the bills, please show what there is in #1 that makes it impossible.
...and again, if you can, it's still a Big, F...... Blunder.
In fact, Garner turned out to be wrong about Bremer bringing it over in his briefcase, judging by all reports since that, and even Bremer's own words:
ReplyDeleteThey all agree Bush did not object when Bremer said that's what he was going to do.
NOT that he told Bush he was ready to carry out a plan from Bush.
The Times story says a different plan had been agreed to 10 weeks before.
Many people in that movie other than Garner and Hughes assert that was not the original plan.
...however it came to be in the details.
The New York Times does not seem to want to run the New Guv's affair, right now.
ReplyDeleteSaving it for a rainy day, or honing to the "See no Evil" line of the differently abled?
Right after the heroic Kirk Douglas struggled through his first post-stroke announcement, Don Rickles took the podium, saying:
ReplyDelete"This has been the longest evening of my life!
Guffaws.
Then he looks down at Michael Douglas and says:
You know that movie Kirk said he's gonna do with you someday Michael?
Well, it ain't gonna happen,
Cause HE CAN'T TALK!"
Miller says Kirk was pounding the table and laughing so hard he was worried he'd have another stroke.