COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, April 17, 2009

Reaction to the Lincoln assasination. A snapshot in history


Op-Archive: Lincoln Memorial Diary


After news of President Lincoln's assassination reached New York, in all arteries and capillaries of the city, shopkeepers designed makeshift shrines to the martyred president. An anonymous diarist walked for miles, drawing sketches of as many storefronts as he could (evidence suggests, but does not confirm, that the diarist was a man). Through his relentless activity this nameless reporter made the news a bit more comprehensible. Here are selections from the diary entries. Notice the street addresses and read the sentiments. Go here please


126 comments:

  1. And this is a shot looking out from Bayview, Idaho over Lake Pend Oreille. The US Navy has a small base there, where research was done on submarines, propellers and such. The lake is very deep, and quiet, so they chose that location.

    Colder than HELL in the winter.

    Clark Fork flows in from Montana.

    End of photo session....

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  2. And that's just the very southern tip of the lake. Tis a big lake.

    Would freeze the balls off of al-Doug, of sunshine isle, he wouldn't be used to it:)

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  3. Abe was a gangly, ugly sucker, for sure, and one of the greatest of men.

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  4. Clean, Safe, and Secure A Gulf of Mexico gas rig shows the way to greater energy independence.

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  5. Savage Sues Nurse JanetGood for Savage. Won't go anywhere, but good on Savage anyway.

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  6. Releasing the interogation memos one of the most irresponsible acts committed by a President in recent history.
    Gonna get people killed.
    What's new?
    New Phase of the Long War.

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  7. Photo session not over yet.


    This may look like--

    "the tomb of Jesus, where he lay"but it is actually where they used to smoke kokanee at Lake Pend d’ Oreille. back when the fishing was great.

    I remember going there with dad, fishing, and buying smoked fish.

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  8. blogger simply does not obey commands these days....

    it does not post things exactly as you write them like it used to do

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  9. Among other arts and talents that our society has given up is the art of penmanship (penpersonship in todays PC world).

    The old letters were better, as evidenced by the link, now we send e-mails.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Foreign Policy Passport:

    All of Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee's just-declassified memo on the interrogation of Al Qaeda commander Abu Zubayda makes for pretty chilling reading. But for me, the extensive discussion over the circumstances under which it would be permissible to lock him in a box with an insect (he apparently was known to have a fear of them) really stands out as evidence of officials having completely lost touch with reality:

    "In addition to using the confinement boxes alone, you also would like to introduce an insect into one of the boxes with Zubaydah. As we understand it, you plan to inform Zubaydah that you are going to place a stinging insect into the box, but you will actually place a harmless insect in the box, such as a caterpillar. If you do so, to ensure that you are outside the predicate act requirement, you must inform him that the insects will not have a sting that would produce death or severe pain. If, however, you were to place the insect in the box without informing him that you are doing so, then, in order to not commit a predicate act, you should not affirmatively lead him to believe that any insect is present which has a sting that could produce severe pain or suffering or even cause his death. [Redacted section] so long as you take either of the approaches we have described, the insect's placement in the box would not constitute a threat of severe physical pain or suffering to a reasonable person in his position."




    Reads like a satire. Isn't one.

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  12. Trish--I am reading, must report to our book club, "The Kindly Ones" by one Jonathan Littell.

    I know nothing about Littell, but, the first few pages grabbed me, and now I'm past 120 pages of a one thousand page book, and realize, I will read it to the end.

    It is very good, an experience of WWII through the eyes of a German fellow, really fucked up fellow.

    I will make a report on this book to our club, which seems to have no nekked folk, nor readers either, nor anybody with a library card.

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  13. Sorry, bob. I have no idea when this month's meeting will be, or if indeed there will be one this month. Spring break seems to have cut in on a lot of things.

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  14. Worth repeating from Doug's Alternative Fuel Folly link:


    But this, in turn, has tossed up uncomfortable questions. The paper industry argues that if the government is going to be in the business of rewarding good behavior, it ought to do it equally. Is green policy only to be aimed at dirty or economically unviable actors? Is black liquor any less useful than ethanol or biodiesel, and if so why? If not, shouldn't Washington encourage its use? Isn't every green subsidy in fact the basis for a trade dispute? These are questions Congress has no interest in confronting, since it would expose the muddle that is its entire green-energy program.

    All of this is highly amusing, if not surprising. Every government attempt to manage energy markets has resulted in similar disarray. Look at the havoc that came from the energy price controls, regulations and subsidies of the 1970s. Or look, more recently, at the ethanol fiasco, and the accompanying soaring food costs. Energy powers the economy. Mess with energy markets, and mess with everything else. When will Washington learn?

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  15. Per Doug:

    Clean, Safe, and Secure
    ...A Gulf of Mexico gas rig shows the way to greater energy independence.
    Oklahoma City -- Chesapeake Energy says it will cut natural gas production by 13% because of sustained drop in prices.

    Is this the same natural gas that was one leg of T-bone's energy liberation policy? Wanna bet T-bone had price guarantees for his natural gas written into his program? All to be marketed under the warm and fuzzy green label?

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  16. Beef processing margins have been negative for the last seven weeks resulting in large industry losses...-----

    A local meat retailer suggested last week it's cheaper to stay home and have a nice steak supper than to feed the family at McDonalds.

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  17. The park adjoins the deepwater Lake Pend Oreille, where the Navy maintains a submarine research center at Bayview, the Acoustic Research Detachment.---

    I predict this disclosure will stimulate environmental lawsuits to enjoin the Navy from disturbing the native population of previously uninventoried freshwater dolphins.

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  18. Obama's Auto Adviser Linked to NY Pension Probe.

    Firm run by Obama's auto industry adviser is linked to NY pension fund pay-to-play probe

    By DAVID B. CARUSO
    Associated Press Writer

    An investment company run by the head of the Obama administration's auto task force has been accused of paying more than $1 million to an aide to New York's former comptroller in a bid to win a lucrative deal with the state pension fund.

    Steven Rattner was an executive at the Quadrangle Group, a private equity firm, until he left this year to lead President Barack Obama's efforts to fix the U.S. auto industry. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Rattner met with two now-indicted men to try to win state pension fund business.

    Quadrangle, while under Rattner's watch, paid huge fees to Hank Morris, a political aide to former comptroller Alan Hevesi, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in court papers filed Wednesday.

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  19. Libertine Economics and the GOP's Identity Crisis.

    David Paul Kuhn.

    Few issues do expose the partisan fault line better than questions of bigger or smaller government. When Gallup asked voters their opinion on the "expansion of government's role in this economy in response to the financial crisis," 78 percent of Democrats and blue-leaning independents "approve" of it. Yet 72 percent of Republicans and red-leaning independents said they "disapprove."

    Anxiety over taxes has tracked with the rise and decline of Republicans. Gallup has asked for decades whether voters consider their federal income taxes "too high, about right or too low." The gap between "too high" and "about right" was widest in 1969, with 69 percent saying "too high" and only 25 percent saying "about right." That gap remained wide until the late 90s. By the time George W. Bush was in office, there was no gap.

    This is why fiscal conservatives argue that tax policy is vital to Republican success. But the saliency of the tax issues has dulled. Only twice since 1956 have more voters said their tax burden was "about right" rather than "too much," once in 2003 and again this year. The taxman lost some political punch because Republicans succeeded in lowering the tax burden. To the extent taxes remain a potent issue, it's the Democratic president now promising tax cuts for most Americans.

    The economic issue today is the crisis itself. And the public trusts Democrats to bring order to that crisis. A CBS News/New York Times poll recently asked, echoing several other surveys, who is "more likely to make the right decisions about the nation's economy: Barack Obama or the Republicans in Congress?" Voters said Obama by a 3-to-1 ratio.

    These are sobering days for Republicans. The recent CBS/Times poll found the least favorable public view of Republicans in a quarter century. Climbing out of that hole may call less for a reckoning with core principles than resolving conflicts within those principles, exposed by this recession.

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  20. Libertine Economics and the GOP's Identity Crisis.

    David Paul Kuhn.

    Few issues do expose the partisan fault line better than questions of bigger or smaller government. When Gallup asked voters their opinion on the "expansion of government's role in this economy in response to the financial crisis," 78 percent of Democrats and blue-leaning independents "approve" of it. Yet 72 percent of Republicans and red-leaning independents said they "disapprove."

    Anxiety over taxes has tracked with the rise and decline of Republicans. Gallup has asked for decades whether voters consider their federal income taxes "too high, about right or too low." The gap between "too high" and "about right" was widest in 1969, with 69 percent saying "too high" and only 25 percent saying "about right." That gap remained wide until the late 90s. By the time George W. Bush was in office, there was no gap.

    This is why fiscal conservatives argue that tax policy is vital to Republican success. But the saliency of the tax issues has dulled. Only twice since 1956 have more voters said their tax burden was "about right" rather than "too much," once in 2003 and again this year. The taxman lost some political punch because Republicans succeeded in lowering the tax burden. To the extent taxes remain a potent issue, it's the Democratic president now promising tax cuts for most Americans.

    The economic issue today is the crisis itself. And the public trusts Democrats to bring order to that crisis. A CBS News/New York Times poll recently asked, echoing several other surveys, who is "more likely to make the right decisions about the nation's economy: Barack Obama or the Republicans in Congress?" Voters said Obama by a 3-to-1 ratio.

    These are sobering days for Republicans. The recent CBS/Times poll found the least favorable public view of Republicans in a quarter century. Climbing out of that hole may call less for a reckoning with core principles than resolving conflicts within those principles, exposed by this recession.

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  21. A local meat retailer suggested last week it's cheaper to stay home and have a nice steak supper than to feed the family at McDonalds.I think that is right.


    My wife is a 'power shopper'.

    She's always got the coupons, knows the deals. She cooked a huge beef roast a few days ago that I'm still making sandwiches out of.

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  22. I predict this disclosure will stimulate environmental lawsuits to enjoin the Navy from disturbing the native population of previously uninventoried freshwater dolphins.Not to worrry, the Idaho Fish and Game is on the job.

    heh, they did the same at Lake Pond d Oreille as at Coeur d'Alene, introduced the mysis shrimp to feed the kokanee, introduced the coho to fed off the kokanee, collpasing the system.

    They might well introduce the fresh water dolphin--who knows what they will do?

    The one and only success story in their history is letting out a few Merriam turkeys out the back of a pickup truck.

    The turkeys took off, thrived, did really well.

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  23. Mysis Shrimp In MontanaJust keep the Fish and Game away from your fishbowl.

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  25. If I understand it correctly, the mysis were supposed to be food for the kokanee, but they went down, when the kokanee were up, and vice versa, during the day and night. The mysis also feed on the plankton, and the kokanee is a plankton feeder too. Then they put in the coho, to feed on the kokanee, which they thought would be thriving.

    Whole damned thing collapsed.

    And now we got unca Sam wanting to control the environment, control the weather?

    Lord help us.

    (These are the same folk that re-introduced the wolves, thinking they would eat deer, collapsing the elk population)


    SSS

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  26. Why I actually buy an Idaho fish and game license each year I don't know.

    Morons.

    Foolish, thoughtless morons.

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  27. Just the force of habit, I quess.

    Met with Fish and Game out at the farm yesterday. More trees survived, they say, than I thought, I hadn't walked the whole place. They replanted some areas, and used the plastic cones too, this time around.

    We will see, come next year.

    Nice young people, very enthusiastic.

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  28. The fresh water dolphin could feed off the coho, which feed off the non-existant kokanee, which feed off the mysis, that will fix it.

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  29. Trish,
    Do you think micro robot insects that look, speak, act and sing like Barney would or would not pass the moral and legal tests wrt the use of torture?

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  30. In the interests of sanity, fairness, and our National Security, people in the Obama administration should be given temporary waivers to commit torture if it is necessary to find the truth about Bush era personnel, the CIA, and Military policy and methods wrt to the use of unacceptably harsh interrogation techniques, and all excessive, immoral, and insensitive methods of intelligence gathering.

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  32. The basic trouble with setting up a government 'entity' is they then feel they got to 'do something', which almost always works for the worse.

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  33. Sometimes I think we're racing headlong into a head-on collision.
    Trading their warmest words in a half-century, the United States and Cuba pressed ahead Friday with a dizzying series of gestures as leaders of the Americas gathered for a summit. The momentum was so great that the head of the Organization of American States said he'll ask his group to invite Cuba back after a half-century.

    In a diplomatic exchange of the kind that normally takes months or years, President Barack Obama this week dropped restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba, then challenged his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro to reciprocate.
    The Lovefest with Cuba

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  34. Piss on the Idaho Fish and Game.

    I know when things were good.

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  35. I'm sensing a leftist pushback against the tea parties. I think they see the events as Obama bashing sessions more than anything. We'll see how polarized this can get.

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  36. I think there is more going on than meets the eye.

    My wife has never gone to a demonstration, yet there she was, waving the flag, with gusto too.

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  37. "The basic trouble with setting up a government 'entity' is they then feel they got to 'do something', which almost always works for the worse."
    ---
    Department of Homeland Security likely the worst thing that's happened in the aftermath of 9-11.
    ...McCain Feingold prior.

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  38. If you look closely at Abe's left foot in the photo, it seems to be bound up in some manner.

    I wonder if our national biographers would have an answer to this?

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  39. Whit,
    I think it's a lot worse than that:
    Obama's picks are a nightmarish lot of Fascist Wannabes.

    Haven't read it yet, but Larsen has a link on the latest over at BC.
    ...if I can't convince you in writing, I'll send you today's Ingraham show.
    They've gone mad!
    (or actually, come out of the closet about it under the cover of BHO's Reign.)

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  40. "We're all right wing extremists now"

    So they have declared.

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  41. More bad news:
    WASHINGTON – The EPA on Friday declared that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases sent off by cars and many industrial plants "endanger public health and welfare," setting the stage for regulating them under federal clean air laws. The action by the Environmental Protection Agency marks the first step toward requiring power plants, cars and trucks to curtail their release of climate-changing pollution, especially carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.

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  42. You were right, Whit, about the idea of using the 'environmental questions' as a means of control.

    I think though, and hope, that if and when the pain sets in, the folks will send it sailing.

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  43. Wave of home defaults wanes in SW Florida but some predict a more dire situation:
    One noted real estate expert said March's figures are merely a calming of the seas before an inevitable tsunami.

    "The biggest wave of foreclosures will begin in May and last for the next 18 months," said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach real estate consultant who was one of the first to warn of the housing bust. "It will start rising again because the banks are sitting on large amounts of properties on their books."

    McCabe said many of those properties are secured with adjustable rate mortgages, so popular during the height of the boom, that are poised to adjust -- upward.

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  44. We're frogs in a pot, bob, frogs in a pot. As long they turn the heat up slowly, they'll be successful.

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  45. They are trying to do that, boil the pot slowly, for sure, but another pot may be boiling as well, we will just have to see what happens, and try to urge things our way.

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  46. Well, they were anti-Obama rallies, just ask the one of us that went.

    He had his placard with Captian Obama, Pirate of the Potomac, plastered across it.

    And, do not forget, Obama represents the United States of America. He personalizes it, just as GW Bush and Abe Lincoln, before him did.
    So, when you attack Obama, you are assualting the US. Just as the boys at BC claimed when the the poor policies that the US military and their civilian leadership had charted in Iraq were first being brought to light.

    It was unAmerican, even traitorish, as doug and I were accused of, to be blogging about the poor leadership, of "the boys".

    So, yes, fellas, expect that the mainstream folk will accuse YOU of being anti-American, and by the BC Standard of 2003, they'll be correct.

    When you talk of revolution, you're unAmerican, that be one of definintions we've oft used, when describing revolutionaries of the left, like Bill Ayers.

    The claim of saving the village, by burning the village, was rejected as an adequate justification for burning the village.

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  47. People in Sacramento and elsewhere saw it as largely a message to the GOP, but not only that, of course.
    Ingraham says some folks in DC saw it that way also.
    I saw only 1 or 2 BHO deranged folks here, although that was before I crossed over.

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  48. "McCabe said many of those properties are secured with adjustable rate mortgages, so popular during the height of the boom, that are poised to adjust -- upward."
    ---
    Likewise CA, according to Doc Housing Bubble.
    ...and Countrywide, now B of A, is over 50% exposed in CA and Florida.

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  49. Sorry, 'Rat, I haven't yet read all the traitorous comments of the EB Hoi Polloi.

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  50. I'd like to "pop" a beer; but, what about the CO2 Police?

    This SeeOhTwo thingie could really be destructive to my "happiness."

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  51. Doc Algore is selling stock in a
    CO2 Recovery Backpack that can be used to carbonate your Beer, Ruf.
    I'll see if I can get you in on the IPO.

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  52. "Abe was a gangly, ugly sucker, for sure, and one of the greatest of men.""If I was two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"

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  53. So, when you attack Obama, you are assualting the US.Slow day in the desert, rat? Seems you're agitating for another bar fight. I'll pass. T'would be pointless. [I see Doug's less pacific.]

    -----

    Reading "In a Dark Wood" here at present, Alston Chase, 1995, after reading a brief review at Maggie's Farm.

    Its story is the battle of the old growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, the biggest environmental conflict in American history.

    It rang like a bell last night, as I was reading from the chapters covering the early 90s, that one could replace a few dates, places, and names with Wednesday's tea party commentary without losing a bit of accuracy.

    The enviros, including cabinet level appointees, were near panic about that middle 50% that they knew could tilt either way, the other way being the "wise use" movement. It seems they adopted a few moves from your Alinsky chronicles, although at the time we'd not had Hillary to make us familiar with his name or doctrine.

    The old growth fight didn't turnout so well for the good guys...doesn't auger well for the next few years.

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  54. Thot I hedged my bet w/"I'm Sorry"
    signed,
    Dhimmi Doug

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  55. Of course, lineman, that was the ruse to rouse the rabble this afternoon.

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  56. "Department of Homeland Security likely the worst thing that's happened in the aftermath of 9-11.
    ...McCain Feingold prior."
    Put me down for Medicare part D and the willful failure to get control of illegal immigration. Fiscal irresponsibility, mixed with the threat of balkanization, and an expanding socialist majority has browbeaten, replaced, or confused the vast majority of its opposition. Future's so bright I've got to wear shades.

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  57. I trickt'em. I snuck in the bathroom to "Pop" my beer. They must not have heard it; there ain't been any "Knock" on my door. heh, heh

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  58. Oooh, and the best part. China, Russia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North Africa, sub-saharan Africa, the Middle East, Japan, South America, Central America - just about down the line. Aside from perhaps Canada, Australia, and a few other winners that don't come to mind immediately or will turn out to be unexpected diamonds in the rough, we're the country in the best shape for the near/mid-term future.

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  59. If you didn't like Medicare Part D you're really going to HATE what comes next.

    You've gotta treat the sick, folks. If you don't the people will elect someone who will. Oh wait . . . . .

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  60. Trish,
    Do you think micro robot insects that look, speak, act and sing like Barney would or would not pass the moral and legal tests wrt the use of torture?

    Fri Apr 17, 05:01:00 PM EDT

    As long as the source is not affirmatively led to believe that he will be in serious physical danger from a stinging Barney.

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  61. GOP Characterised by them two Kansas "pro life" Senator-things.
    Bonded in their support for the ever-sweet Katy Seborhea.
    ...the mistress of Death.

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  62. Yeah, how are they to know Barney ain't packin a mini-taseMaster?

    Don't Tase me, Bro Barney!

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  63. Face it, folks; the GOP ran the car into a flooded ditch, and damned near drowned us all. A lotta old, pasty-faced dinosaurs gotta leave before the Pubs get back behind the wheel.

    You had to know on the first wednesday of Nov that you weren't going to be liking the next four, or eight, years. You'll get over it. I thought without a doubt that Carter had "Destroyed" America. He hadn't. Obama won't. You'll just "think" he has for awhile.

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  64. "Yeah, how are they to know Barney ain't packin a mini-taseMaster?"

    If the source concludes on his own that Barney is packing a mini-tase Master, so much the better.

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  65. Obama - RCP Average 03/31 - 04/16 --
    Approve = 60.9%
    Disapprove = 30.6%
    Obama = +30.3%

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  66. No worries, doug, Barney don't bite.

    Barney Frank's Double Indemnity

    Mr. Frank wants to put a public safety net under municipal bonds
    .

    WSJ - Review & Outlook

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  67. Leaders' Comments Augur Warmer U.S.-Cuba Ties.


    "The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at the summit's welcoming ceremony. "I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day."

    The president added that he is still committed to engagement. "I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues -- from human rights, free speech and democratic reform to drugs, migration and economic issues.
    "

    By LAURA MECKLER and MATTHEW COWLEY.


    For his part, Mr. Obama said he would wait to see how Havana responds. And on Thursday, Mr. Castro offered strikingly conciliatory language in response to the U.S. move, saying his government is willing to discuss "everything" with Washington, including human rights, political prisoners and freedom of the press.

    "We could be wrong, we admit it. We're human beings," Mr. Castro said. "We're willing to sit down to talk as it should be done, whenever."

    Mr. Castro said his only conditions are that Washington treat his government as an equal, and respect "the Cuban people's right to self-determination."

    Those words prompted a warm response from Mrs. Clinton, who called Mr. Castro's comments a "very welcome gesture."

    "We welcome his comments, the overture they represent, and we are taking a very serious look at how we intend to respond," she said.

    On Air Force One, en route to the summit, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration was "particularly struck" by Mr. Castro's comment that he could be wrong on some things.

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  68. "If I was two-faced, would I be wearing this one?"heheheh--Abe had a good sense of humor too....

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  69. Cuba, just another project that fell through the cracks, 48 years ago, to the day.

    On 17 April, 1961 the US launched the contra revolucion invasion of Cuba, at the Bay of Pigs.

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  70. Peggy Lee to Earth: Fever ain't nothin new.

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  71. I'm getting concerned about my friend Mat. He hasn't checked in the last few days.

    Mat, where is ya?

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  72. Movin' on to Haifa, is what he said he was doin'.

    Off to a new adventure.

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  73. Heh, we might all be singing This One when he' through. How do you replace a Memory?

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  74. Mat got mad when rufus and rat started hammering Israel.

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  75. Bob, one of these days you might turn me religious. Your call was heard across the ether, and so I've come to say goodbye. This will be my last post at EB. Goodbye, and all the best.

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  76. Hell, he never minded "hammering" the U.S.A.

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  77. Mat, reconsider. Makes ol' Bob sad. Stay, we'll fight the good fight together.


    No one agrees with everyone else on everything.

    I'll be missing you, if you go.

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  78. For Mat: The Fightin Side of MeHasta Luego, Motherfucker

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  80. Why a man that's got Cherokee blood would slam another minority that's been hit on over the years I do not understand.

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  81. Because, bob, rufus is a Marine.

    Your friend mat, a fevered anti-American.

    They are not fellow victims

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  82. Israel Stands Ready To Bomb IranI'll be with the Jews any day of the week, over the damned arabs.

    For starters, they treat their women right, and I could go on and on.....

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  83. Pollard and the Liberty is all you can come up with, and we don't know what happened with the Liberty.

    But, any excuse for anti-semitism is good enough in some people's minds.

    It doesn't matter that they have been one of the most creative peoples on earth....

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  84. I prefer people not to leave. The discussion gets tough in here at times, but no worse than at some of my family functions. Actually it reminds me of some of the rowdiness in the British parliament.

    Once you have your initials carved in that mahogany bar, the barkeeps will keep your tab open.

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  85. Fuck, Bob; Everybody's a "minority" at some time.

    Bad behavior is Bad behavior. Whether your "minority" is past, present, or future is irrelevant.

    The shitting Israelis can't be trusted with weapons, that's all. They sold the "Patriot" to the Chinese, and now they're selling the Drones to Russia. We can't even let them in on the stealth aircraft cause, sure as hell, they'd sell That, too.

    All Mat ever did was denigrate the U.S. and it's Armed Forces. If you go back over his posts it was mostly about the corrupt, evil empire, and its world-defiling Defense Dept.

    Relax; he'll be back. They have internet connections in Israel, you know. Hell, according to Mat, w/o the Israelis there'd be no internet (or, much of anythig else, I guess.) Anyway, this site's like cocaine to him. Too much fun telling us what assholes we are.

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  86. Mat expresses himself in his own manner.

    I don't think he is anti-American.

    In fact, I recall reading where he said America is a great people/place.

    He points out what he sees as our faults, is all.

    Nothing wrong with that.

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  87. Well, I ain't leavin'.

    You're stuck with me.

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  88. Israel and Jews are not synonymous, bob.

    Semitics are a group of languages, bob, not a synonymn for Jews. Hebrew is one of the seitic languages, Arabic is another. I am not against the use of either language.

    Iranians are not Arabs, either.

    Well, most are not.

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  89. Well, guess what Bob, that "fault-telling" ain't no one-way street.

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  90. As WiO has pointed out in some past posts, the history and evolution of 'Israel' is a long and complex and interesting story.

    It is a real misunderstanding to try to nail those folks with some simplistic formula.

    I say again, they are one of the most creative peoples on earth.

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  91. You might as well drop it, cause I can back up my case with unending references to literature, science, philosophy, and etc, on and on.

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  92. Bob, nobody gives a fuck if they're creative. I don't want a creative twit next to me in the foxhole. I want a Buddy that I can Depend on. And, yes, the world has ALWAYS been at War, and we're ALWAYS in the proverbial "foxhole."

    At least, that's the way "I" see it.

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  93. That creativity may be why they have so many lawyers, amongst 'em, bob. Bernie Madoff was certainly creative at accounting, no denying that.

    But that's if are we speaking of Jewish folks in general, or are we just refering to Israelis?
    Sometimes, with you, it gets me confused.

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  94. Trustworthy and creative, are far from the same, bob.

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  95. That creativity may be why they have so many lawyers, amongst 'em, bob.Oh, MY ASS!

    I said it before, and will say it again, my Jewish lawyer loaned me over $250,000 dollars when I was on my knees. He kept me going, no one else would. Dad's partner was a Jew, our Mayor was a Jew.

    My Jewish lawyer---
    Christ, I would not be able to pay the bill for the internet without him.

    Have paid him off, by the way, every cent.

    I love that man.

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  96. And, I'll be Goddamned if I want to be in the shit with an asshole that's going to be selling our bullets to Charlie when I'm not looking.

    Someone once said that being allied with the fwench was like "taking an accordion to War." As far as I'm concerned taking the Israelis to Peace is worse. They'll get you into a war, and, then you'll find out they sold your rifle to the enemy.

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  97. I was in a financial fox hole here, Ruf, and I know my local society.

    The only guy in the fox hole with me was--

    MY JEWISH LAWYER!

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  98. And well you should, bob.

    But lawyers are like financiers, they do not produce stuff, but are creative in application of either money or the Law.

    Your lawyer was creative in the application of both tools of the trade.

    Thanks for the confirmation.

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  99. Bob, I don't care if your father wa a Jew, your Sainted Mother was a Jew, or if Jesus Christ, himself was a Jew .... Oh, uh, scratch that ...

    Anyway, I'm pissed at the Israelis right now, and I don't think I give a good rat's ass if they're cweative, or not.

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  100. I was on my knees, people knew it, many were hoping ol' Bob would go down, that there would be fire sales, but--

    MY JEWISH LAWYER SAW ME THROUGH

    a great lawyer, a fantastic man, with a sense of humor too.

    That is my testimony, I swear to God.

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  101. Well, I'm glad he saved your bacon, Bob; but, having a smidgen of experience with lawyers, I'm betting the farm was worth more than $250,000.00

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  102. Ruf, you're right about that, I was 'cash poor, land rich'--but the thing is, I couldn't raise the money anywhere else, and he funded me.

    I would have gone down without him.

    And, paying him back was not an absolute lock either.

    But, I was able to.


    He thought I was right on my case, stood by me, and I will always remember that good man.

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  103. And besides, bob, the actions of a US citizen in Idaho, one that happens to be Jewish, is of very little import on judging the actions of Israel.

    None at all, really.

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  104. I tell ya Ruf, we came back from "the land of the dead" on this deal, and I finally won out.

    I'm not making this up.

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  105. And besides, bob, the actions of a US citizen in Idaho, one that happens to be Jewish, is of very little import on judging the actions of Israel.I would dispute that, on the grounds that a culture manifests itself in vaious ways. And that the behavior of a good fellow in Idaho is a reflection on all the others, and their culture.

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  106. I would suggest, that to loan a needy client over $250,000 dollars, with wobby security, is not the behavior of the average gentile man on the street.

    He believed in my case, stood by me, we finally won.

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  107. Well, you're certainly entitled to your opinions, Bob; but, I'm not changing mine. I've had it with Israel, and the horse they rode in on.

    I wish'em no misfortune, but I don't want to fund their mess any longer.

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  108. And, if you hadn't won Bob, he'd, now, own the farm (which is worth OVER $250,000.00)

    Well, I'm glad you won, Bob. But, I still don't want to fund Israel (if THEY lose, I don't get the farm.)

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  109. Maybe, Ruf, but I still can't get it out of my mind, he came to my rescue, when no one else would.

    That will live with me forever.

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  110. And I will say this as well, he never put any pressure on me to pay it back. 'Bob, pay it back when you are able.'

    And, I did.

    Great man, in my mind.

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  111. Bob wonders where mat went. Mat promptly appears to announce his final departure. Apparently the lure of talk at the bar is like the song of the Lorelei for him.

    He'll be back, if for no other reason than to tell me his hat size is bigger than mine.

    If not, just to know he lurks out there listening is reassuring. He might learn something yet.

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  112. I suppose it is time to say what I think of "To Kill A Mockingbird".

    I think the basic message is, and one I agree with, that society changes very slowly.

    And the best thing a man or woman can do, is live the life upstanding.

    Which is what I think the lawyer was doing, though he knew he was going to lose.

    I think the message is, live your life to your good lights, and that is all you can do.

    I could make some little complaints about how it was written, but that would be beside the point.

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  113. Linear, heh.

    While I do not agree with Mat on some of the environmental issues, I like his attitude!

    Goodnite.

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  114. Good night, Bob.

    Good night, mat. Wherever you are.

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  115. Um, shouldn't the Bar not only be open, but a warm, savory, freshly-prepared post awaiting the pajama-clad this Saturday morning? A bowl of sour derision sprinkled with brown sugar, a couple of slices of total incredulity on the side, maybe.

    It IS 7 AM your time, keeps. (Bob gets a pass because it's undoubtedly hours earlier on the evil planet Idaho.)

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