Monday, December 22, 2008

"There is no Afghanistan, just a patchwork of tribes and tribal alliances."




According to this article, Afghanistan is very much a criminal family affair, more in keeping with the Sicilian Mafia than a war of politics and religion. Sounds about right to me.

Hat Tip: Doug
_____________________

Two More Years Of Magic Will Do It

Strategy Page

December 18, 2008:

A lot of the fighting in Afghanistan isn't about religion or "expelling the foreigners." No, it's usually about money, power and tribal politics. The current Afghan government is having the same problems "running the country" that the Taliban did. These were the same problems the loose coalition that defeated the communist government in the early 1990s had. These were the same problems that the monarchy had for over a century, even though the kings were usually well aware of what they were dealing with (a loose coalition of tribes and ethnic groups that don't really get along, but really can't afford to be at war for a long time.) Afghanistan has always been a poor country. Banditry can be sustained indefinitely, especially now that the foreign troops and NGOs are here, with all manner of things to steal. Afghans don't consider it theft if you take something you need (or, let's face it, just want) from someone outside your tribe. That's just taking care of your own. And therein lies the problem. There is no Afghanistan, just a patchwork of tribes and tribal alliances. Within the larger tribes there are often nasty rivalries between large clans. Then there are the newly rich drug gangs, which are tribe based, and have changed the power relationships among some of the tribes.

The "Taliban" (religiously conservative, and violent, factions) are on a mission from God to impose strict lifestyle rules, and turn the country into a religious dictatorship. The Taliban were unable to do that by the end of 2001, and are less likely to do it in the future. But fueled by a share of the drug profits and the proceeds of other criminal enterprises (especially extortion and kidnapping) they can still entice poor, but adventurous, country boys to come along and raise some hell. And usually get killed by smart bombs the star struck kids cannot comprehend. Meanwhile, more and more of the tribes are getting a clue and making peace with the central government.

While the national rulers tend to be thieves, they are also willing to share the loot. That's another ancient Afghan custom, and U.S. and NATO commanders are willing to play along in order to prevent the country from slipping back into anarchy (real anarchy, not the Taliban terrorism that passes for it these days) and once more becomes a terrorist haven. The foreign generals believe it will take another year or two of smart bomb magic to kill enough thrill seeking tribesmen, to get all the tribes on board. The math is simple; the foreign troops can kill Afghans much better than the other way around.

Even the most pro-Taliban tribes eventually come to realize that, and live with it.

The country will not be peaceful at that point. There will still be the drug gangs and bandits (groups of armed tribesmen out of steal or settle some feud). But that's been going on for thousands of years, and won't change until the national police get themselves pulled together. That will take another generation or two. For most Afghans, "police" is an alien concept, and the corruption of most of the cops in service has been really bad public relations.

U.S. and NATO commanders are fed up with the "protection" scam being run them on the supply route from Peshawar, in the Pakistani tribal territories, to Kabul. The road runs through the 50 kilometer long Khyber pass, and that is but one part of a 500 kilometers trip over generally bad roads. The tribes that live along the road expect to be paid, as do the criminal gangs near the dozen truck staging areas (where shipping container are loaded). Some 50,000 of those containers a year carry U.S. and NATO military supplies. That's about half the traffic, which has increased greatly since the Taliban were tossed out of power in late 2001. Getting each container from the Pakistani port of Karachi to Kabul costs several thousands of dollars in fees, bribes and wages to Pakistanis, Afghans and assorted greedy officials and tribesmen along the way. Some tribal leaders say they are only interested in keeping the trucks from bringing alcohol and pornography into Afghanistan, but the bottom line is how much cash gets into the pockets of some of the gunmen living along the route.

The Taliban continue to get slaughtered whenever they mass, and get spotted by foreign troops. It's the damn smart bombs, and the UAVs that always seem to show up at the wrong time for the tribal gunmen. In response, the Taliban have tried to use more suicide and roadside bombs. There were 264 of these encountered in October, and 315 in November. Most of these bombs are poorly constructed and deployed. They are spotted, or don't go off. It takes 40-50 roadside bombs to kill one foreign soldier. A dozen or more local civilians are killed instead, which makes the Taliban roadside bombing program very unpopular. Civilians often tip off police when they see bombs being planted. Recruiting suicide bombers is difficult. One recent suicide bomber was a thirteen year old boy, whose explosives killed himself and three British troops.
___________________


December 10, 2008: During a night operation to capture a Taliban leader in the southern province of Zabul, U.S. Army Special Forces operators chased their suspect to a compound. When the Taliban inside would not surrender, the Special Forces began moving in to capture or kill the enemy gunmen. Several hundred meters away there was an Afghan police unit manning a roadblock. The Afghan police knew that U.S. troops were after some Taliban that night, but did not know exactly where the action was. Then they saw some men firing at a compound, and decided the attackers were Taliban. So the police opened fire. The Special Forces troops, not knowing it was police firing at them, fired back, and soon called in a smart bomb, which killed six of the police and wounded 13. The Taliban got away while the Special Forces troops were discovering that their "attackers" were actually police, and tending to the wounded.

65 comments:

  1. 'Seven killed' in Pakistan strike


    A suspected pilotless American drone has fired a missile in a border area of Pakistan, killing seven people, Pakistani officials have said.
    Reports say the missile destroyed a house in Waziristan. The identity of those killed is not known.

    US-operated pilotless drones have launched more than 20 missile attacks in Pakistani tribal areas since August.

    The Pakistani government is under huge public pressure to defend its territory against such attacks.

    -BBC

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  2. Ethnic Groups Of Afghanistan

    While searching under the heading tribes of Afghanistan, I came on this unlikely, or, at least, surprising speculation--

    Some Afghans Are From The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel

    Genetic testing might give a clue.

    So far, in my researching, I've found mention of the Ten Tribes in the Americas, in Africa, and now, Afghanistan.

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  3. Levi Johnston's Mom Busted in Drug Raid
    Sherry Johnston – set to be grandmother to Bristol Palin's baby – faces six felony charges
    ---
    I am shocked, SHOCKED! That al-bob failed to copy this link which was right above his Duggar Family Link.

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  4. The flight of the Phoenix
    ---
    No comments from the BC hoi polloi on that link, Trish.
    ---
    On the next thread there's this NahnCee for you:

    25. DocBill:

    Every religion that I know of except Islam promotes in one form or another peace and an attempt to co-exist with your neighbor. At some point Islam will overstep its bounds with a true heinous act (maybe nuke San Fransisco) and the west will kill all the Mussellmen. We can only wish it will not be so.

    26. NahnCee:

    I would say that nuking San Francisco is a feature, not a bug.

    (kinda cute)

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  5. Can You Still See the USA in Your Chevrolet?

    Route 66 is looking ever more like a one-way dead-end street to Bailoutistan.


    By Mark Steyn

    ‘See the USA in your Chevrolet!” trilled Dinah Shore week after week on TV.

    Can you still see the USA in your Chevrolet? Through a windscreen darkly.

    General Motors now has a market valuation about a third of Bed, Bath And Beyond, and no one says your Swash 700 Elongated Biscuit Toilet Seat Bidet is too big to fail. GM has a market capitalization of just over two billion dollars. For purposes of comparison, Toyota’s market cap is one hundred billion and change (the change being bigger than the whole of GM). General Motors, like the other two geezers of the Old Three, is a vast retirement home with a small loss-making auto subsidiary. The UAW is the AARP in an Edsel: It has three times as many retirees and widows as “workers” (I use the term loosely). GM has 96,000 employees but provides health benefits to a million people.

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  7. Levi's mom has spent to much time listening to Limbaugh, so much so she developed a taste for the Oxycontin, herself.

    You see, it's all in whom one associates with, especially in the family.
    A drug dealing mother-in-wedlock is par for the course, as far as unwed mothers from dysfunctional families go.
    Typical of the stereotype, anyway.

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  8. Bristol's babys' due date was two days ago, on the 20th and she has yet to wed.

    Perhaps Levi's serious family troubles put a damper on the wedding plans.

    Oh well, let US hope the little bastard turns out okay, regardless.

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  9. Because, amigos, that's how real Americans roll.

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  10. Bush Stretches Executive Powers Again
    By George Will

    WASHINGTON -- A new Capitol Visitor Center recently opened, just in time for the transformation of the Capitol building into a tomb for the antiquated idea that the legislative branch matters. The center is supposed to enhance the experience of visitors to Congress, although why there are visitors is a mystery.

    Congress' marginalization was brutally underscored when, after Congress did not authorize $14 billion for General Motors and Chrysler, the executive branch said, in effect: Congress' opinions are mildly interesting, so we will listen very nicely -- then go out and do precisely what we want.

    Friday the president gave the two automakers access to money Congress explicitly did not authorize. More money -- up to $17.4 billion -- than had been debated, thereby calling to mind Winston Churchill on naval appropriations: "The Admiralty had demanded six ships: the economists offered four: and we finally compromised on eight."

    The president is dispensing money from the $700 billion Congress provided for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The unfounded assertion of a right to do this is notably brazen, given the indisputable fact that if Congress had known that TARP -- supposedly a measure for scouring "toxic" assets from financial institutions -- was to become an instrument for unconstrained industrial policy, it would not have been passed.

    If TARP funds can be put to any use the executive branch fancies because TARP actually is a blank check for that branch, then the only reason no rules are being broken is that there are no rules. This lawlessness tarted up as law explains the charade of Vice President Dick Cheney warning Republican senators that if they did not authorize the $14 billion, the GOP would again be regarded as the party of Herbert Hoover. Surely Cheney, a disparager of Congress and advocate of extravagant executive prerogatives, knew that the president considered the Senate's consent irrelevant.

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  11. 20 strikes since August, let's say they average 7 KIA. 7 that matter at best, anyway.

    That's 140 in 4 months, 35 a month.

    In 24 months, that's only 840 KIA.

    Assuming that they are not starry eyed cannon fodder.

    Out of the 50,000 hard core jihadists that President-elect Obama said would need to be killed.

    There seems to be a basic disconnect, somewhere.
    Between the rhetoric and reality.
    The promise and performance.

    How anyone would consider the loss of a Bn sized element cause to give up, surrender to foreign authority, boggles the mind.

    A war, that the Indian Army Col assured me was all about national power and profit, not religion, with regards the Pakistani.

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  12. How can that be?
    Levi said he was in LOVE!
    ...if Big John had only won, the little guy probly wouldn't have been a lil bastard.

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  13. "There seems to be a basic disconnect, somewhere.
    Between the rhetoric and reality.
    The promise and performance.
    "
    ---
    Time to catch up on Yon, he tends to report on reality.

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  14. CBS's Katie Couric, while interviewing a Marine sniper, asked,
    " What do you feel when you shoot a terrorist?"

    The Marine shrugged and replied,
    "Recoil."

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  15. 36. Leo Linbeck III:

    I recall reading a NYT article about an opinion poll which asked adults whether they were happy, and the results showed that adults with no children were happier than those with children. The article’s message was:
    Wanna maximize your happiness?
    Don’t breed.

    The problem with the poll, however, was that they asked parents who were currently raising kids. This is akin to asking a marathon runner in the 20th mile “How are you feeling?” or the soldier in the middle of a decisive battle “Are you happy?” or a composer working on the third draft of the second movement of a symphony “Howzit goin’?”

    Great achievements are very, very difficult, and exact a toll on those who undertake them. There is an anxiety and fear which is part of every great initiative, a sense that I may not reach the end, and even if I do, the result will not be worth the blood, toil, sweat, and tears spent in its pursuit.

    But I can say that the happiest people I know are those who are justifiably proud of their children. They have taken on the responsibility to shape and direct the development of another human soul and have done it well, and they know (consciously or unconsciously) that what they have achieved has a unique kind of permanence.

    Hard work? Yes. But results that last an eternity.

    It is possible, then, that the core reason for low birth rates is the abandonment of belief in the immortality of the human soul.

    Just a thought.

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  16. Hey, Ms T:
    What kind of Bp Meds are you on that cause gout?

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  17. Median Home Price in California Takes Dive

    RUSH:
    "The median home price in California dived 38% in November from a year earlier as foreclosures propped up sales but eroded prices. The median home price dropped to $258,000 last month from $414,000 in November. 'Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions,'" said DataQuick. They're out of San Diego. They did the survey. "Foreclosure activity is at or near record levels, financing with adjustable-rate mortgages is near the all-time low." Okay, so he's going to veto the budget for now. "California Home Prices Dive 38%." There's a companion story: "California Posts 8.4% Jobless Rate, the Third Highest in US."

    And all of this coming on the heels of a Schwarzenegger op-ed in Newsweek where he wants us to follow his lead on infrastructure spending and so forth. So home prices down 38%, budget vetoed, 8.4% jobless rate. Why does Arnold want to keep people in their homes? Why does he want relief? Very simple, ladies and gentlemen. So they can't leave. The lower the home prices go, the less likely it is existing homeowners can sell and split for Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, more reasonable places to live. They can't leave.
    He doesn't want them to leave 'cause he needs their tax money!

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  18. (Even on "Redneck Heroin," he and his team come up with relevant issues, 'Rat!)

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  20. Doug: Hey, Ms T:
    What kind of Bp Meds are you on that cause gout?


    It's called HCL Spironolactone, and it's basically just a water pill. Keeps me dehydrated, and if I don't drink enough water I get uric acid crystals precipitating in places where nerve endings are waiting to complain. Doctor says don't drink anything with caffeine.

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  21. The Pakistani government is under huge public pressure to defend its territory against such attacks.

    Sure, they can shift their army up there to bow to public pressure and that's an opening for India to make pinpoint attacks of their own. Nothing like a two-front war to focus public opinion.

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  22. I refused to take "Water Pills."
    ...made me feel like I needed to crawl out of my skin.

    Why not try something else, like Norvasc, or Atenolol?

    (Calcium Channel Blocker and Beta Blockers)

    Your partner might, or might not like the Beta Blocker, which renders you more mellow.

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  23. That is so utterly bizarre it must be......

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  24. ...fun to live in Afghanistan!

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  25. Afghanistan:

    2007 population estimate:
    31,889,923


    I think that's really unsustainable, and that coalition forces need to concentrate on reducing this number down to maybe a quarter mil.

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  27. Limbaugh is not always wrong, doug.
    He may even be more right than wrong, I don't listen anymore, have not in years.

    Just every once in a while something he writes, or his transcripted talk, makes it to RCP.

    I think his 'Washingtonian' remarks to be on target, as to the realities, but Limbaugh does George Washington a great disservice, naming the Socialist in the Federal system in his memory. Same goes for the New Republic.

    That's why I like my terminology so much better, Federal Socialist.
    Same folk, same symptoms, but a different more accurate verbage.

    Because Rush doesn't really want to be outside looking in. So he venerates the Republican brand while belittling the product.

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  28. WTF is that? No bungie cord? What the hell are they doing?

    Very polite applause, one must say. Those folks are civilized.
    --------
    Doctor says don't drink anything with caffeine.

    X3NA--caffeine? Sometimes I drink a lot of coffee, can that be part of my problem--trips off a gout attack?

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  29. Fact or Fiction?


    Some unreported stats about the 2008 election

    Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2008 Presidential election:



    -Number of States won by: Democrats: 20; Republicans: 30

    -Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000; Republicans: 2,427,000

    -Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million; Republicans: 143 million

    -Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2; Republicans: 2.1

    Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in rented or government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare..."


    Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

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  30. My apologies if the previous has already been posted as I have been away from the site.

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  31. American Style Suicide Jump Kind of gross, just happened to see it when I was e-mailing the Taliban jump to a friend.

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  33. I had seen tha data set before gag, there are some quirks to it.

    The majority if the 'Red" States recieve more in Federal dispersements than they pay in, this is not true in the old 'Blue' States. Not sure of CO, NM, OH, IN, FL ...

    The Western States that went 'Red' in the West are mostly Government owned lands, with scattered populations.

    Discard the acres of Federal owned and administrated land from the figures, the picture would change, immensely.

    But there is some truth to the fact that large States with insignifigant populations have a larger impact, per capita, than the more populated States.

    That about 75% of those polled seem to think Obama is doing a bang up job, already. Considering he has not done anything, that is pretty remarkable, when compared to GWBush, who has done quite a bit.

    Or perhaps not so remarkable, at all.

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  34. Let's see what the polls say after he's done some stuff. I think he's doing great right now too. Made no mistakes yet. If he'd do nothing for four years, we might be ok.

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  35. I hope he hits a grand slam every week.

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  36. I can't stand the guy, ever since he flipped the bird to his opponents, and before, but I admit he's a savvy politician with some of his appointments, etc. The democrats are big into the downplaying of expectations game, right now. All saying, this is going to take time...this can't be done overnight.

    I want to see his birth certificate. I want the Supreme Court to rule on natural born citizen. Until those things happen, and they won't, I don't think he's got any right to hold the office. But, that's just me.

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  37. Daily Presidential Approval Index

    The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Approval Index for Monday, December 22, 2008, shows that 43% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way Barack Obama is handling the role of President-elect while 15% Strongly Disapprove.

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  38. Interesting Tort Case In Iowa

    Think you can secretly film your own wife in your own bedroom? In the act with your very own self? Think again. Not in Iowa. Intrusion upon seclusion.

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  39. In another report:

    "Though he stressed that progress had been made by the troops already there, Mullen said, 'We may have overstated the focus on the ability of the central government to have the kind of impact that we wanted given the history here in Afghanistan.'"


    That's admirably diplomatic. The closer we get to Karzai's departure, the less diplomatic it will become on both sides. When the people who most need killing are the friends and associates of the mayor of Kabul, one has the makings of some delightfully strained - then positively pained - statements ahead of and behind other fancy footwork.

    The "surprise" story of 2009: Karzai has a little compromise problem. Who knew?

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  40. Legitimacy Dwindles
    from Clusterfuck Nation
    by Jim Kunstler

    Zounds! Public sentiment toward the accelerating economic fiasco has shifted, seemingly overnight, from a mood of nauseated amazement to one of panicked grievance as the United States moves closer to an apparent comprehensive collapse -- and so ill-timed, wouldn't you know it, to coincide with the annual rigors of Santa Claus. The tipping point seems to be the Bernie Madoff $50 billion Ponzi scandal, which represents the grossest failure of authority and hence legitimacy in finance to date in as much as Mr. Madoff was a former chairman of the NASDAQ, for godsake. It's like discovering that Ben Bernanke is running a meth lab inside the Federal Reserve. And out in the heartland, of course, there is the spectacle of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich trying to desperately dodge a racketeering rap behind an implausible hairdo.

    What seems to spook people now is the possibility that everybody in charge of everything is a fraud or a crook. Legitimacy has left the system. Not even the the legions of Obama are immune as his reliance on Wall Street capos Robert Rubin, Tim Geithner, and Larry Summers seem tainted by the same reckless thinking that brought on the fiasco. His pick last week for chief of the SEC, Mary Shapiro, is already being dissed as a shill for the Big Bank status quo. In a few days we'll discover what kind of bonuses are being ladled out by the remaining Wall Street banks with TARP money and a new chorus of howls will ring out.

    This is very dangerous territory. In dollar terms, the numbers being applied to the various problems are so colossal -- trillions! -- that the death of our currency seems assured. And in defiance of congress's express intentions, none of the TARP "money" has been applied to its targeted purpose of buying up "toxic" (i.e. fraudulent) securities hidden in the vaults of banks, pension funds, and municipal portfolios.

    .
    .

    http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2008/12/legitimacy-dwindles.html

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  41. What seems to spook people now is the possibility that everybody in charge of everything is a fraud or a crook. Legitimacy has left the system.

    Far as I'm concerned, you can throw the US Supreme Court in the pile, too.

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  42. Seattle Snowbound

    This must be the worst snow in Seattle in about 50 years, a real shock to the rainy metro folk. Seattle has lots of ups and downs. Those Seattle drivers ain't got a chance, no skills, no chains, no snow tires, and, the city's run out of sand.

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  43. The "surprise" story of 2009:
    Bill Clinton's Legacy of a Kick the Can Presidency takes a severe beating with the arrival of ex-President GWB on the scene.

    All hat...

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  44. Baby Jesus Protected by Security Cameras and GPS Tracking Devices

    I'm beginning to wonder in there's any USA, but just a patchwork of tribes and tribal alliances.

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  45. Those Seattle drivers ain't got a chance, no skills, no chains, no snow tires, and, the city's run out of sand.

    True, Bob...but at least they're driving internal combustion powered SUV's, for the most part...it will really be messy when they're all electrified as mat's green revolution sweeps the land...cold batteries, low on charge, spinning tires, lights dimming,...commuters freezing to death, Starbucks cups half raised to icy lips, latte contents frozen...

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  46. Far as I'm concerned, you can throw the US Supreme Court in the pile, too.
    ==

    These SOBs need a good public beating and then left for dead in the gutter.

    Paulson, Madoff, etc., and their immediate families down to the grandkids should be lined up against the wall and shot dead.

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  47. linearthinker,

    I guess being able to walk to work and school or be able to take an electric tram is too much to ask from our city planners.

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  48. Seattle used to have electrified trolleys. Don't know about now.

    Jimmah Carter, smoozing around with terrorists, aka doctors, engineers and such, says Hamas is putting all its eggs in 'the Obama basket'.

    Read the gruesome details Here

    If you don't read WND, you need to get a life.

    ----

    Speaking of kicking cans, there exists an excellent photo of Ernest Hemingway kicking a beer can in Sun Valley, Idaho (I believe it was in Sun Valley) but, checking through pictures of Hemingway, I couldn't find it. Dang it.

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  49. Plenty of children took time to request gifts for others. Rebecca, thinking big, asked Santa to bring her mother $1 million.

    Another child asked only that her mom and dad get along. Johnnie wrote that her brother can't talk but she would like him to have a pirate ship and pirate costume.

    Some years the Pasco post office ends up sending a letter or two to social service agencies, such as a request from a child to visit a dentist. But there haven't been any needing to be forwarded this year so far.


    Santa's Letters

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  50. This topic has been kicked enough it's probably dead by now, but Here's one more kick.

    Who caused the global economic crisis, hint, it wasn't George W. Bush. Good article.

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  51. Well, bob, silence is golden and, truth be known, ratification.
    As expected.

    Obama will be just as legitimate as GWBush or Ronald Reagan, once he is sworn in. More legitimate that Clinton, as he hasn't even been impeached.
    But they all held the football.
    Obama certainly will.

    The most powerful President/Executive in the history of the Republic, if one's perception is from the George Will perspective, which mine certainly is, in this instance.

    We have our Ceasar and an impotent Senate, if one looks at the US from mat's perspective. Not a lot of difference 'tween the two views. Matter of degrees, not direction.

    We'll stay the course, if Pat B is believed.

    Bigger things are brewing, bob, rest assured.

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  52. Talking to Santa, one should always ask for the max.

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  53. I guess being able to walk to work and school or be able to take an electric tram is too much to ask from our city planners.

    Not at all, mat. It's not the fault of the city planners that people just won't cooperate and live in rabbit warrens. Just take their cars away from them, and watch how quickly they can be made to walk. If they don't happen to live near their work? Well, tough shit. They'll just have to move, or get a different job, eh? Who's better qualified to make those choices for them, a well educated progressive planner, or their own unwashed inclinations?

    Gaia will smile on us. And the progressive elites will be well provided for in their outlying enclaves, except when they venture into town to absorb some culture.

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  54. "True, Bob...but at least they're driving internal combustion powered SUV's, for the most part...it will really be messy when they're all electrified as mat's green revolution sweeps the land...cold batteries, low on charge, spinning tires, lights dimming,...commuters freezing to death, Starbucks cups half raised to icy lips, latte contents frozen..."

    nice, real nice.

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  55. The following discussion includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor protections of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements that include words such as "believe," "expect," "should," "intend," "may," "anticipate," "likely," "contingent," "could," "may," or other future-oriented statements, are forward-looking statements.

    ...

    Alternative Energy Partners, Inc. (the "Company") is a development stage company. The Company was organized under the laws of the State of Florida on April 28, 2008.

    ...

    We are a development stage company which plans to enter into the business of sourcing, marketing and distribution of renewable biofuels. Initially we intend to work to source raw materials needed for the domestic manufacture of ethanol in South Florida.


    Alternative Energy Partners

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  56. Bobal: Seattle used to have electrified trolleys. Don't know about now.

    We have the South Lake Union Trolley.

    You can even get a t-shirt after you ride it!

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  57. That is fantastic. They still had the one on the waterfront also when I was there.

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  59. If they don't happen to live near their work? Well, tough shit. They'll just have to move, or get a different job, eh?
    ==

    No, LT, it's called building a community. You don't care about that, you live in Hicksville, so this conversation not for you.

    It's a mentality like yours that builds places like Detroit Buffalo Los Angeles Louisiana and a host of other disaster areas masquerading as places for people to live.

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  60. Ride the S.L.U.T.

    :)

    Just slip ya token in the slot.

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