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, May 15, 2009

Nancy Pelosi, for it before against it.




144 comments:

  1. CIA Chart of who was briefed, what was said, and when. Pelosi says she could not have stopped waterboarding.

    But what if Pelosi and the other Democrats had objected? - Jed Babbin

    "Sen. Bond told me in a Friday interview that, “We know that when we object to planned activities by the CIA, they don’t do it.”

    Pelosi didn’t stop the CIA by objecting.
    And neither did any of the other Democrats who were briefed at the time: then-SSCI Chairman Bob Graham (D-Fl), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev), and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)."

    ReplyDelete
  2. Obama's own Leon Panetta is on record stating that the briefing covered what the chart above said, that Madam P, Di-Fi, and Trish say didn't.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Trish said,

    Feinstein was on CNN, questioned by Blitzer.

    Feinstein does her homework, knows her stuff. Believe it or not. What did she have to say about Pelosi?

    1. In three decades and change, I've never known Pelosi to lie.

    2. The briefings are flawed; we have proposed legislation to fix that.
    ---

    The technical matter of the briefings themselves will be the issue, leaving all concerned with all limbs attached.

    If the CIA is ever subjected to the extent of Congressional oversight that the DOD is, one might as well get rid of it.

    And as I said when the daily howls WRT the former reached their fever pitch: Beware that which you might wish for
    ."
    ---
    Doug said:

    Feinstein, who gave her Billionaire Hubby hundreds of millions in "Stimulus" projects.
    Who is in the first rank, corruption-wise.
    ---
    Reporters just have 5 versions of Pelosi's "truth," but, she did not lie, Di-Fi tells me so.Version six point 0 will tie all the truths together in one coherent non-lie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. al-Bob said,

    "Pelosi is lying her smelly panties off, and the CIA is fighting back..."---
    al-Doug replied:

    Hilarious that the all-knowing, pro-CIA, Trish, on the basis of words from Wolfie and (terminally corrupt) Di-Fi, contends that a rather large conspiracy in the CIA misled the ever-honest Madam Pelosi, and as Madam P said, Congress itself.
    SHAME on the CIA!
    My Ass.
    Trish has her head up hers, but then, she and 'Rat love to take the superior position attitude-wise, even when they are mostly blowing smoke.
    (That's why the only half-way interesting barfights are between the two superior entities, all the rest being excruciatingly boring and difficult to bear,
    ...as you know so very well.)

    ...the Superiors browbeating the dhimmis, the dhimmis begging to have their opinions respected by the all-knowing entities.
    ad-infinitum.
    (one might well ask why we dhimmis volunteer so often)

    ReplyDelete
  5. And all this time the CIA was anti-Bush, an Agency in the Dems pocket.

    Until that is shown to not be the case.

    That's why we need the whole business brought to light.

    Let the truth be known.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Although I know very little about Dem number 2 in the house, I pray he becomes speaker.
    A President Pelosi would be more terrifying than the present march toward servitude in the Marxist's Utopia.

    ...at least we know what's ahead.
    With Pelosi, we'd stay up nights wondering just where in Hell President Pelosi's madness might take us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The CIA was shown to be demonstrably anti-Bush over and over.
    ...but they see no reason to be trashed by Pelosi's third-rate lies.

    wrt to these briefings, the truth is known as far as what was told to Goss, Panetta, Pelosi, and others:
    Just what the CIA chart above says.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ‘No, no, it’s not One, two three, ATTITUDE. It’s One, two, three, attitude HAH

    Just leading the way, doug.

    The techniques you subscribe to have lost Hawaii and PA, Ohio and Colorado. Florida is on the cusp.
    Where your techniques were applied, here in AZ, the "Right" lost, too.

    Continue down the path of defeat, or get off your ass and save the day.

    Change course or lose, again and again. Even when we won, we were losers.
    GW Bush exemplifying that, perfectly.

    But regardless, realize that your current strategy is flawed. It is personality and not issue or idelogically based. It'll fail.
    Has a long history of failure.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ...just watched the video:

    I wanna see Tim Roemer give Madam P Oral Sex.
    Obvious he's dying to.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Have no idea what ideas you are refering to 'Rat:
    Trish's hero Powell got his perfect GOP candidate, non-conservative John, but he endorsed BHO, and John got his ass kicked.

    The GOP has apparently learned nothing, and searches for more phoney moderates, who will lead "us" to defeat just like John and W did.
    Voters choose real democrats when presented a democrat-lite by the brainless GOP.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Latest polls show a radical conservative turn wrt abortion, likely in response to BHO's single minded pursuit of death for the unborn and recently born.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Frum condemns the GOP (Rush) for rejecting Powell, Powell is telling the GOP what they should do (go "moderate") yet Powell chose the Marxist over the Moderate.
    Frum and Powell can shove it.
    Phonies from a to z.

    ReplyDelete
  13. John V Barack, a personality battle, not one of policy or ideology.

    Cap & Trade, Waterboarding is torture, Freedom of Speach.

    There is no difference 'tween the GOP and the Dems. Except, maybe in the margins.

    The entire '08 election was personality based. They agreed on most issues. Obama won going away.

    Rev Wright ad nauseum, a losing tactic, fer sur.

    Now, the GOP is standing for Federal lawlessness.
    When Law & Order is the winner.

    ReplyDelete
  14. But not one member of the GOP ever stood to legalize waterboarding, so the truth seems quite evident, it is not a required tool of the intel trade.

    The 1948 Standard stands, unassailed.

    ReplyDelete
  15. To not enforce the Law, a failure of principle. An abandonment of "Law & Order", replaced by situational ethics.

    Perhaps the miscreants should be excused, in mitigation, but the reality stands. The Federal Government broke the Law, the waterboarding only exemplifies that behaviour, the Federal lawlessness is not limited to waterboarding.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Even if Ms Pelosi, Senator Rockefeller, and the others gave their support, the actions were still illegal.

    Those folk cannot, in and of themselves, give lawbreakers permission to proceed.

    Even they would have to change the Law, to make it legal.
    No one even tried.

    ReplyDelete
  17. In fact, if they gave their permission, they'd be part of the criminal conspiracy, too.

    The rot of lawlessness and anarchy permeates DC, excusing or justifying it will not provide a remedy.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Same as on the border, doug.
    Decide not to enforce the Law, to not create conditions where entry into the United States can be controlled.

    Then to implement expensive security "solutions" that fail to perform. As if by design.

    All the while the lawlessness is encouraged by allowing the violation of the Labor Laws of the US.

    Exemplified by the 10 million or so undocumented workers, in the US.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The lawlessness is bi-partisan, it is considered a part of the benefits of power.

    That the law makers and law enforcers are above the law.

    Certainly not what I'd think of as "Law & Order".

    ReplyDelete
  20. The prosecutors of Mr Stevens, another example of Federal lawlessness.

    Not revealing the totality of the findings of fact, in order to disadvantage the defense and gain a conviction, on evidence known to be faulty.

    Governmental lawlessness exemplified.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Waterboarding is torture.
    God has spoken.
    My Ass.
    ---
    The only guy with balls saved innocents, and now wins against Pelosi, BHO, and the rest, cause he's the only one not FOS.

    Whether or not 'Rat approves his hunting habits.
    ...and proclaims what is truth, from on high.
    ---
    Which brings us to The Crocodile.

    Whatever one may think of Dick Cheney, about him it must be said: He is not ashamed of his record. He does not apologize for it. He is willing to go out and defend it in the arena.

    He believes, that, after 9-11, he, as a custodian of the national security, had a duty to go the limit to get information from terrorists to prevent another or worse atrocity.

    He admits to having approved the authorization of "enhanced interrogation techniques," including waterboarding. He believes they yielded indispensable information about our enemies that helped to prevent another attack for seven and a half years. He does not believe that they were illegal, or constituted torture.

    He is a true believer, full of conviction and certitude, whose unstated retort to those demanding he be prosecuted for war crimes is the one he gave the distinguished senator from Vermont, Mr. Leahy.

    And Cheney is winning.

    Why? Because other than the hard left, which demands commissions, prosecutions, indictments, convictions and imprisonments, on the other side it is all loud noise and moral mush.

    He is winning because he has the courage of his convictions, while his enemies come up short in both departments.

    There is another reason Obama does not want this fight.

    There is a high probability, if not a near certainty, that, one day, al-Qaida is going to conduct some spectacular attack on this country or its allies, and Americans will say, "This didn't happen when people like Cheney were running the show."

    Obama has been dealt a tough hand, and he knows it.

    Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan could all go horribly wrong. And, should that happen, the boy from Hyde Park and Harvard Law wants to be standing beside the CIA, not the ACLU.

    That, too, is why Obama wants no part of this fight with Cheney.

    - Buchanan

    ReplyDelete
  22. If only Powell were white:
    We could see his red face now that he has been exposed as a self-serving phoney that sold out his admin and his country, screwed up Scooter's life and Cheney's effectiveness in serving with his traitorous lies, and now tries to regain popularity lost forever by backing a racist Marxist.
    ...and Trish and Frum act like that's no big thing.

    ReplyDelete
  23. "The only guy with balls saved innocents..."

    I'm sorry, are you referring to Cheney?

    That's giggle-worthy.



    By all means, embrace the Darth. And Buchanan, too. All the while selling yourself the small government lie. I've had enough.



    But...but...but Pelosi is lying! So fucking what? You wanna defend the virtue of the Agency after spending a good few years dragging it through the fucking mud? Give me a fucking break.

    My friend Dick Cheney spent years telling the nation that 9/11 was all about Iraq. Were he to say the sky is blue, no one in their right mind would suddenly nominate him for a profile in courage.

    Jesus fucking Christ.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I dont know..I think I believe Nan on this one;
    We must define what the word "know" means to her. She probably does not "know" less than half of what she has been briefed on ever. I suspect that someone could brief her ten times on the workings of the internal combustion engine and she would still not "know" how it works.

    ReplyDelete
  25. How do you write a law that covers all these situations?

    We'd probably all agree that if there was a conspiracy to, say, rob a bank, we might not want to use waterboarding to get at the conspiracy.

    But if we know there is a conspiracy to blow up LA or New York with a nuke, most of us at least would agree the information ought to be gotten no matter how.

    How do you right a law that covers all that?

    So there is a situational ethics, or you difine 'torture' down, and say it's not torture.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Waterboarding is done. Gone. Out the door. I guarantee we won't see it again in two lifetimes.

    Coercive interrogation, which is permissible under the law but forbidden to the military, is not.

    ReplyDelete
  27. So there is a situational ethics, or you difine 'torture' down, and say it's not torture.

    OK. It's not torture.

    Were he to say the sky is blue, no one in their right mind would suddenly nominate him for a profile in courage.

    Not so fast, Missy. I would fer sur. Ole Dick's my man. We need more old Dicks. That can stand up straight. Shoot from the hip. Tell it like it is.

    ReplyDelete
  28. You certainly are welcome to him, Linear.

    To me he'll never be anything other than a bad character. Like a lot of people I thought he was a fine SecDef (his success at which depended very much on the individual he served under). He's not that guy anymore - and I don't know when he stopped being that guy.

    ReplyDelete
  29. From the bottom of the linked chart:

    2/5/03 Briefing

    ...It was also discussed that interrogation methods were similar to those taught/used in SERE training
    .

    Has anyone proven that statement, provided to at the least Porter Goss and Jane Harman, to be false? If not, then by today's [gag] standards, many in the chain from SecDef down have been guilty of torture for at least forty odd years.

    As a masochist might say, "Torture, my ass!"

    ReplyDelete
  30. ...He's not that guy anymore - and I don't know when he stopped being that guy.

    Channeling Xena:

    Wahhhhhhhhhhh!

    ReplyDelete
  31. The US prosecuted Japanese that waterboarded US pilots that struck non-miltary targets, in Tokyo.

    It was considered torure then, nothing has changed, in regards waterboarding and whether or not it is torture, except for who is administrating the torture.

    Argue in mitigation that it was worth it, that is another, different discussion. But as to what waterboarding is and was, the US set the Standard, in 1948.

    The Torture Standard does not vary, just because now it is US that needs to discover if another flight of bombers is coming, instead of the Japanese.

    ReplyDelete
  32. No point in crying over it. He certainly can't do any harm now.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Maybe Langley will name an auditorium after him.

    Wouldn't. That. Be. Funny.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Oh, he still may, trish, do harm.

    He still is, really.

    He is making sure that the light shines, seems he wants to illuminate the whirled.

    I was on board with the 1991 Dick Cheney, before he was tempted and seduced by the Dark Side.
    Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

    ReplyDelete
  35. The US prosecuted Japanese that waterboarded US pilots that struck non-miltary targets, in Tokyo...etc.

    So, were they tried solely on the charge of waterboarding? Or, more likely was it mentioned within a long list of particular offenses, any of which would clearly rise to the test? Were captives perhaps treated to the witnessing of one of their number resisting and then being summarily, if painfully dispatched, prior to their own interrogation?

    Dad's scrapbook from the Philippine campaign had several shots of emaciated US prisoners, starved, then put on benches in slit trenches, and torched with avgas before the allies liberated the camps.

    Argue in mitigation that it was worth it, that is another, different discussion. But as to what waterboarding is and was, the US set the Standard, in 1948OK. It was worth it.

    That the US set the 'Standard' in 1948? Just more of your rat poop.

    ReplyDelete
  36. You mean to say, lineman, that the US was unjustified in prosecuting those that had waterboarded US pilots, after the Dolittle Raid on Tokyo?

    Is that the position you take, that Douglas MacArthur did not know torture when he saw it?

    That MacArthur abused his power, in Japan, by prosecuting those Japanese, when they had done no wrong?

    That is but one of the consequences of your dismisal of the 1948 US Torture Standard.

    ReplyDelete
  37. lineman knowing that when compared to Darth Cheney, our Greatest Generation, didn't know dick.

    ReplyDelete
  38. You mean to say, lineman, that the US was unjustified in prosecuting those that had waterboarded US pilots, after the Dolittle Raid on Tokyo?

    It's tempting to say nice try, but, you're not even close, rat. Have another cup of coffee and reread what I said.

    ReplyDelete
  39. lineman knowing that when compared to Darth Cheney, our Greatest Generation, didn't know dick.

    Rat's comments often remind me of watching a gerbil in a cage...round and round and round she goes, where she'll stop? Nobody knows.

    ReplyDelete
  40. How the particular charges were brought, I'm not sure, but the JAG officer that wrote the story was.

    US troops had been Court Martialed for it, in the Phillipine Campaign, torture was not condoned then, either.

    So the history of waterboarding as being outside the realm of acceptable techniques, is long.

    Regardless of the particulars, which neither of us know, of the Japanese case.

    It may well be worth it, but not any more. Because of the way Team43 managed their lawlessness.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Regardless of the particulars, which neither of us know, of the Japanese case.

    Particulars not known of the other cases by either of us. So that train of the argument will fizzle.

    -----

    So, are you saying that the chain for the last forty years, or so, has been guilty of torture?

    Team43's managed "lawlessness" avoided any repeat of 9/11 assaults on US mainland and citizens abroad. For 7 years.

    Care to put your money down and bet that the next 7 years will be as placid?

    ReplyDelete
  42. If only Powell were white:
    We could see his red face now that he has been exposed as a self-serving phoney that sold out his admin and his country, screwed up Scooter's life and Cheney's effectiveness in serving with his traitorous lies, and now tries to regain popularity lost forever by backing a racist Marxist.
    ...and Trish and Frum act like that's no big thing
    ...

    Good one, Doug.

    Worth repeating, since I don't pay for the bandwidth.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Call it waterboarding if you will, 'Rat, but the techniques were not identical.
    Then again, as Linear and I have pointed out, whatever the particulars, would you forgo intel that saved thousands of lives to maintain your (imagined) purity?

    ReplyDelete
  44. Mat! Are you out there?


    Friday, May 15, 2009

    Troy's celebrated solar house left in darkFacility touted as next big thing still shutShawn D. Lewis / The Detroit News

    Troy -- It was supposed to be a shining example of the green movement -- a completely independent solar-powered house with no gas or electrical hookups.

    Seven months ago, officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the $900,000 house owned by the city of Troy that was to be used as an educational tool and meeting spot.

    But it never opened to the public. And it remains closed.

    ...

    Frozen pipes during the winter caused $16,000 in damage to floors, and city officials aren't sure when the house at the Troy Community Center will open.

    ...

    Lawrence Technological University, with help from DTE, mostly paid for the building. Its students built the 800-square-foot home, which was supposed to be livable year-round, free from the grid and churn out enough solar power to support a home-based business and electric vehicle.

    ...

    Jeff Biegler, superintendent of parks for the city, said the flooding occurred from a glitch in the heater.

    "The system was designed to kick a heater on to keep water from freezing," Biegler said. "The heater drew all reserve power out of the battery causing the system to back down and the pipes froze
    ."

    -----

    Those pesky batteries, mat. Where the hell are they when we need 'em.

    The damned thing looks like a $900,000 chicken coop designed and constructed by a greenie government committee.

    Oh, wait. It was.

    ReplyDelete
  45. I bite my tongue.

    It's not fair to compare chicken coops to that boondoggle.

    ReplyDelete
  46. "But...but...but Pelosi is lying! So fucking what? You wanna defend the virtue of the Agency after spending a good few years dragging it through the fucking mud? Give me a fucking break. "
    ---
    You wanna say "Pelosi is lying! So fucking what?" mere HOURS after you proclaim from on high that you have it on the best authority (Wolf, Di-Fi, CNN) that
    Pelosi HAS NOT LIED IN TWENTY YEARS.
    Give me a fucking break!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Rolling on the floor, Doug. Rolling on the floor.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Far as I can tell linear, Cheney is now evil, he became that way when he changed his name to "Darth."

    Further proof that he is is confirmation by the MSM and the KOS kiddies that he is.

    Not to mention the two infallible entities here at the bar.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Nancy's honest.

    This we know.

    Diane Feinstein tells so.

    We are dumb and they know best.

    Drink the KoolAid, time to rest.

    Yes, Nancy's honest.

    Yes, Nancy's honest.

    Yes, Nancy's honest.

    Diane tells us so
    .

    Sing to the tune of an old Sunday school classic.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Anybody know what
    "The Small Government Lie"
    IS?
    I'd ask Trish, but she revels in posing puzzles, then refusing to answer them.
    Endearing.

    ReplyDelete
  51. LOL
    Trish and 'Rat can do a Duet.

    ReplyDelete
  52. That would likely embed one of those damned tunes you can't get out of your head.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Feinstein, who gave her Billionaire Hubby hundreds of millions in "Stimulus" projects.
    Who is in the first rank, corruption-wise
    .

    Her corruption goes way back. Look up the beneficiaries of the Mojave Desert wilderness act back in Willie's day.

    Maybe the desert rat sanctuary therein created earned some latter day support from our own desert rat.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Already was embeded somewhere, on the cold, hard, unyielding steel chairs down in the dank dark basement where I was tortured, er, sent to Sunday School, I mean.

    ReplyDelete
  55. A worth repeating comment from the thread following the Troy solar chicken coop article:

    The 'human error' blamed for this debacle is liberalism. I just moved into my 4,300 sq ft off-grid home outside of Houston. I did it all by my lonesome without ANY government help for $258K -- and it works.

    Count this as a proof-point that any 'well intentioned' citizen can do a much better job - at anything - than the any 'well intentioned' liberal in a seat of power
    .

    Are you out there, mat?

    ReplyDelete
  56. You can go off grid for a couple of hundred bucks, Linear.-

    Probly stole some of Mat's secrets.
    No doubt stores all the (massive) excess electricity in one of them new magic batteries.

    ReplyDelete
  57. I think it should be noted in the 1940's there wasn't much chance of a nuclear device being smuggled into one of our cities.

    By the 1950's the chance was becoming real.

    Today the chance is real too.

    For all I know there may be something prepositioned in some of our cities now.

    Can't really rule it out.

    Habu said one time the Russians had stuff in Montana. I remember reading something along those lines too, years ago.

    If Seattle goes up in smoke, this administration is going to look....weak. To say the least.

    I would like to know what Cheney has in his poker hand.

    Someting real, I imagine.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Author and journalist Warren Kozak first joined us today to talk about his book "LeMay," which traces the trajectory of General Curtis LeMay, from his troubled background and heroic service in Europe to his firebombing of Tokyo, and guardianship of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in the Cold War."

    - Miller

    ReplyDelete
  59. Trish is too busy contemplating Dick Cheney as Republican folk hero to explain.

    I can imagine Dick saying to Don, Paul, Doug, George, and the other guys, "We're gettin' the band back together."



    The country will have moved on. Sort of. I know we personally are looking at the inevitable 3rd Afghanistan tour in, oh, about a year from now. (About the time of the big Republican comeback. Or...not.) Betcha the digs are nicer now.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’

    By Roger Runningen and Hans Nichols

    May 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

    “We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”
    --
    --

    heh

    Rio Rancho rings a bell. I think I have a deed somewhere from my aunt to an acre or two in Rio Rancho Estates, wherever that is. It was totally worthless property, out at the very end of God's Last Acre, but I've paid the $5 property taxes on it for years. She got taken in on some real estate scam. I suppose I can go and park my bones there some day.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Betcha the digs are nicer now.

    Could be.

    The other tee shirt guy actually gained weight during that time he was living on the economy. Said his team's "guide" was an excellent cook. Didn't always know what he was eating, but said it smelled out of this world.

    At least, unlike the German troops, he wasn't hunkered down in garrison swilling beer.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Rio Rancho Estates--
    --

    I think this is the place.

    Anybody want to buy an 'estate'?

    ReplyDelete
  63. "Didn't always know what he was eating..."

    : ) It's called 'some kind of meat.'



    The digs have run the gamut from mud hut to bunker to pretty damn nice.

    Asadabad probably has a food court by now.

    ReplyDelete
  64. President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.--
    --

    Meaning of course we need to get our checkbooks out and send money to Uncle Sam.

    The patriotic thing to do.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Rio Rancho rings a bell.

    Better check out your holdings, Bob.

    Rio Rancho is now covered with McMansion subdivisions. A big Intel campus down the road on Coors Blvd among the stimuli. A friend of mine from a past life lives high on the hillside, enjoying the views of the Sandias and Albuquerque to the southeast, and the lights of Santa Fe twinkling to the northeast.

    Rio Rancho gained temporary fame in the 2006 election when they couldn't get their vote count figured out. Not surprisingly, Bernalillo County is a Democrat stronghold. I urged my friend to go down and help them so I could go to bed without wondering.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Once a part of Albuquerque, with 72,000+ residents, Rio Rancho, located within Rio Rancho Estates, is one of America's fastest growing cities. Rio Rancho has job opportunities, anchored by Intel, shopping, and affordable housing (homes can be found in the $100,000+ range). For the golf enthusiast there's High Resort, a community surrounding a golf course. Rio Rancho has three fire stations, a library, city water and sewer service, seven elementary schools, four middle schools, two high schools, twenty nine parks, and two pools.

    And a few Starbucks.

    Better check out that deed, Bob.

    ReplyDelete
  67. I can't believe it's worth anything, otherwise the property tax would have increased.

    $5/year.

    I will get the tax bill out, send the lot number to that realtor, and see what comes up.

    I think it's Rio Rancho Estates. I may be getting confused here though. Rio Grande Estates also kinda rings a bell.

    I remember they had filed bankruptcy, and the nearest fire hydrant was 20 miles away.

    So I don't think I'm going to win the lottery on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Check it, Bob.

    The old downtown main street meanders along paralleling the Rio Grande, and looks as forlorn as San Antonio, of Conrad Hilton fame. But the action was up on the slopes above town. Even has its own casino.

    That tax bill is puzzling, though.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Sounds like what I need.

    Forlorn Estates, with a casino nearby.:)

    I'll check it out.

    But I'm sure it's a dog, otherwise that tax bill would be higher.

    ReplyDelete
  70. "We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt. --"
    -
    Possibly the most asinine comment ever utter by a POTUS, but not a peep from our ever-vigilant MSM.

    ...too busy playing cell phone games with the handsome and loveable Mr Gibbs.

    ReplyDelete
  71. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  72. Anybody figure out the small govt lie I'm telling myself?
    Trish has an excuse to be rude.
    As always.

    ReplyDelete
  73. " At least someone will have spoken out and not given in to the political winds."
    ---

    Agreed,
    Now we just gotta find the fountain of youth for old Dick.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Hey,
    That cool comment went Poof!
    Our loss.

    ReplyDelete
  75. I was just going to say 'welcome MIR' but now he's gone.

    ReplyDelete
  76. That has to get the prize for fastest come and go comment ever posted here.

    ReplyDelete
  77. It seems like they'd fry, being that close.
    ...or get sucked in by gravity.
    Brave folks.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Waterboarding is torture
    Racial profiling is wrong
    Abortion is right
    Gay marriage is right
    Using a racial slur requires rehab
    Believing in God is naive
    Cheney is Darth Vader

    cause MSM says so, and if they say so, it must be true.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Don't forget euthanasia, Gag.

    ReplyDelete
  80. "You certainly are welcome to him, Linear.

    To me he'll never be anything other than a bad character. Like a lot of people I thought he was a fine SecDef (his success at which depended very much on the individual he served under). He's not that guy anymore - and I don't know when he stopped being that guy."
    "trish said...
    I have no problems with Cheney whatsoever.


    And neither should you.

    Wed May 14, 01:53:00 AM EDT
    I can't help it, I have an extraordinary memory.

    For the record, he hasn't changed a bit. He was a politically courageous, hard-charger then, too.

    Perhaps you should get over your hatred of the GOP and stop enabling another disastrous Administration/Congress, carrying out more or less the same disastrous policies, only with extra umph. And then, if the GOP's in power, we can tear them apart too when it is called for.

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  81. "You certainly are welcome to him, Linear.

    To me he'll never be anything other than a bad character. Like a lot of people I thought he was a fine SecDef (his success at which depended very much on the individual he served under). He's not that guy anymore - and I don't know when he stopped being that guy."


    "trish said...
    I have no problems with Cheney whatsoever.


    And neither should you.

    Wed May 14, 01:53:00 AM EDT"

    I can't help it, I have an extraordinary memory.

    For the record, he hasn't changed a bit. He was a politically courageous, hard-charger then, too.

    Perhaps you should get over your hatred of the GOP and stop enabling another disastrous Administration/Congress, carrying out more or less the same disastrous policies, only with extra umph. And then, if the GOP's in power, we can tear them apart too when it is called for.

    ReplyDelete
  82. "extraordinary memory"

    Except when it comes to anniversaries.

    There, I suck, and pay the price for it.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Except when it comes to anniversaries.Me too.

    I scored some points this year though, when I picked up a Mother's Day card.

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  84. We are children of the media. All of us whether we choose to admit it or not.

    When they set their collaborative minds to it, they can dismantle anyone or any idea, and it is usually conservative in nature. Let's review:

    Gingrich--ruined
    Lott --Ruined
    Cheney --Ruined
    Palin --Ruined

    A complete blind pass to:

    Gore
    Kerry
    Pelosi
    Jackson (as in Jesse)
    Sharpton
    Moore (as in Michael)
    Kennedy (take your pick)

    Help me with my list, ya'll, it's been a long day

    ReplyDelete
  85. Obama, biggest pass of all.

    Barney Frank

    Charlie Rangel

    List goes on and on.

    Senator Kit Bond wonders why the CIA would brief on methods they didn't use.

    Good question.

    ReplyDelete
  86. ... and stop enabling ...

    The Congress/Administration was not enabled by trish, certainly not by me, but by a majority of the electorate of these United States.

    We know that doug has a Democrat for a Representitive. He is going to find and support a firebrand to defeat that Dem, starting now. Contributing upwards of 20 hours per week in the effort, because HI and the US is really worth it.

    bob has no plans, of late, to move to Ohio, to begin the prep work for the 2012 Presidental Campaign. So he may as well roll up his sleeves and work to defeat his Congressman, Walt Minnick (D) - US Representative for Idaho Congressional District 1.

    duece has joined the PA Party of One, after the fallout from the Specter Affair settled. Mp telling what his political action plan is.

    lineman resides in the Democratic stronghold of California, where even the Republican Governor is a Kennedy clan member.

    Ohio went big for Obama, and wi"o" is buying guns and solar panels.

    Do not know of whit's particular Congressional situation, but Mr Crist is running against a "real" Republican in the Primary.

    But those primary voices of discontent, they all live in Democratic Districts or States.

    Where they did not get out the vote, at least not last go-round.

    Can't say that of the Arizona contingent, we picked up the Governor's office, when Obama won.

    Congressman, John Shadegg, the archtypical GOPer. And 2 of the 39 Republican votes in the Senate.

    So, before trying to hire out as consultants. on how to have the GOP remain viable, to become ascendent, give it a try at home, fellas.

    If salvation lies within the GOP and not outside it.

    ReplyDelete
  87. That ugly Calif Girl is a work in progress.

    ReplyDelete
  88. My latest theory is 'Rat is Pussy Whipped into submission by a liberal wife.

    Condemned to a set schedule of Media Indoctrination, he tries to escape with these intemperate, hysterical rants here, showing them to wifey to try to gain her approval, and thus a reprieve.

    ReplyDelete
  89. How would a Republican like Sarah Palin go over if she had written in a book that she had used cocaine in high school and college?


    So he may as well roll up his sleeves and work to defeat his Congressman, Walt Minnick (D) ---
    --

    Actually I've been in contact with Bill Sali, who was defeated by Minnick, and urged him to run again, and pledged a little financial support.

    Not sure he's the best candidate at this time though.

    Rat should move to Minnesota and talk the Libertarians out of wasting their votes, and contributing to the election of Frankenstein.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Liberal Taliban Issues Fatwa Against Miss CaliforniaNot even Dick Cheney can incite the blood-curdling rage of liberals at the sight of a sexy Evangelical Christian. Paula Jones, Katherine Harris, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and, most recently, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, have all come under a frenzy of attacks from liberals.

    Christians are supposed to be fat, balding sweaty little men with bad complexions. It's liberals who are supposed to be the sexy ones. (I know that from watching "The West Wing" and all movies starring Julia Roberts.)

    But sadly for liberals, in real life, the fat, balding sweaty little guy with the bad complexion is Perez Hilton and the smoking-hot babe is Carrie Prejean.

    This apparent contradiction incites violent anger in liberals, triggering their famous "fight or flight" response. So liberal masturbators are, once again, launching furious attacks on a beautiful Christian in a fit of pique similar to the one directed at Joan of Arc.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Not movin' to "Sweden American Style", bob.

    62% of the folk voted against Coleman, for an incumbent to do so poorly, his constituent service must have sucked. His ideology and policies way out of step with electorate of Minnissota.

    Not a place for me.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Just as well, you'd just vote for the Libertarian candidate anyway, help elect a guy like Frankenstein.

    Might as well stay right there in Arizona.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Surprising that the Rev Wright schtick did so poorly in District 1 of Idaho. Couldn't even use the McCain wave, in Idaho, to ride a Republican into Congress, from Moscow.

    Weak performance would be a nice way to put it.

    Let alone to be speaking disparagingly of how others voted, when you can't take care of your own backyard.

    Let's be taking care of business, there at home, before belittling other voters in places far from you.

    ReplyDelete
  94. This Bill Sali fella, bob, what kind of a Republican is he?

    Seems he was an incumbent, that lost!

    Man - o - man, what kind of a loser did you have, for a Congressman, bob?

    Re-elect Congressman Bill Sali
    Congressman Bill Sali's solidly conservative voting record proves he is keeping his word to fight for Idaho and for a strong, free and prosperous America. Bill has stood tall by voting for lower taxes, smaller government and a strong national defense. Bill is also leading the charge to secure our borders and reform the way Congress and Washington, D.C. conducts the people’s business
    .

    Did they redistrict him into a deadly District, as happened to JD Hayworth.

    Or was he just unpopular?

    ReplyDelete
  95. Why was Mr Sali out of step with the electorate in District 1, of Idaho?

    Were his concerns not theirs?

    ReplyDelete
  96. The trouble here in my Congressional district is we have had a lot of new folk moving in, particularily around Boise. This slight demographic change hit Bill Sali hard.

    Don't know if we will be able to reverse it.

    From your comments above it would seem you were the one advising others on their political behavior.

    I've just been just aping you.

    Vote howe'er you want.

    Thankfully politics isn't the whole of life anyway.

    Though it seems so sometimes around here.

    We're all saddened by some things in life. We've all seen ideals turn into realities. And that ideals are sometimes false ideals. The democrats accuse the Republicans of being corrupt, the Republicans return the favor, and I imagine that if the Libertarians ever took over the government, the charges would fly around there, too.

    Perhaps we all need a good long spell in a religious retreat.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Maybe the Missus should have voted in Idaho, and made a difference.

    Instead of trying to game the system, losing at both ends.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Sali is not the ideal candidate. And Minnick had a lot, and I mean a lot, of money advantage. Also, the demographics changed a bit.

    Sali is gruff, speaks without thinking it out sometimes--foot in mouth disease--and has a reputation as being irrascible, kinda like you.

    I don't know whether we can beat Minnick. Maybe not.

    Sali actually would agree with you on many things.

    You might like the guy if you knew him.

    ReplyDelete
  99. heh, back to my wife.

    I wouldn't have thought you would have cared so much about her.

    ReplyDelete
  100. And you really should quit sniffing under her dress.

    It is unbecoming.

    ReplyDelete
  101. No bob, your disparagement of Libertarian voters in Minnesota did not begin today, nor does it ape my behaviour.

    I tend to refrain from blanket generalizations about groups of voters, Parties or even countries.

    Trying to stay to specific moments in observable trendlines. Never far from the data flow.

    My personal stance is to try to maintain the same objectvity, regardless of the miscreant.

    If it was wrong for Mr AlGore to go on a speaking tour, declaring that Team43 was making US "less safe and secure", and I think it was, wrong. Then it is just as wrong for Mr Cheney to do the same, now.

    4,000 US troops died, already, in the Iraq adventure that Mr AlGore said would lessen our safety. Our military is streched, and the budget busted. Major weapons systems cancelled as a result.

    The primary result of the War in Iraq, here in the Homeland, was the election of Barack Hussein Obama.

    Proving Mr AlGore to be a prophet, a true seer, in regards the results of the Iraqi War.

    ReplyDelete
  102. SALAH NASRAWI
    Associated Press Writer

    CAIRO — When President Barack Obama addresses the Muslim world from Cairo next month, Egyptian officials hope he will choose 1,000-year-old Al-Azhar mosque, the heart of a revered institution for Islamic study, as his backdrop to convey U.S. respect for Islam.
    Who wants to put money on whether he does or does not.

    ReplyDelete
  103. My personal stance is to try to maintain the same objectvity, regardless of the miscreant.--

    Just like God.

    And truly there is nothing wrong with trying to maintain that stance.

    It might even lead one to choose to live in Tel Aviv rather than Gaza.

    But, I quit.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Back to the BC days, bob, this is the was the worst case scenario I laid out. The complete defeat of the conservative/GOP in an anti-war rout.

    Was told I was off my rocker, had better get fitted for a burka.

    Truth be known, it is all I had prophesied and worse. I did not recongnize Obama until it was to late, but he personifies the worst case scenario envisioned, back then. Before there ever was a Senator Obama.

    The only ray of sunshine, since 2003 and the invasion of Iraq is six stars over Afghanistan.

    So that is enough, the rest I can leave to Mr Shadegg, he'll call if he needs help, he has before.

    On every issue of import, the conservative position will be rolled, in some cases obliverated.

    The elected will not be "unenabled", not soon enough to stop the longterm results of "Doing Something"

    ReplyDelete
  105. Because Bill Sali, Republican incumbent lost, in Moscow, Idaho.

    Along with a whole host of other GOP Congressmen, and candidates.

    No where that I am aware of did the hardcore firebrand Republican candidate win, and many of the hardcore incumbents lost.

    Over the past few cycles, Bill Sali and JD Hayworth stand as examples.

    The moderate GOP of the Northeast, a piece of history. Now there is almost no GOP influence on the Federal Government from the Northeastern United States.

    While it is clear that some moderate GOPers have lost at the National level, where have the "hardcore" won?

    In what key States?

    ReplyDelete
  106. Certainly not Colorado or New Mexico.

    The Senator from PA, the Republican that lost, before Specter defected, can't remember his name, but a "real" GOP conservative.

    He was another incumbent that lost.
    Which is almost unheard of in modern politics.

    There is a message there, if you care to listen.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Like God or an honest Judge or Reporter/Commentator, bob.

    That's right.

    If nuclear terror has made a change of the Law an important part of defending the United States, as you contend, why has NO ONE stood up to that reality?

    If it was important enough to break the law, why was it not important enough to change the law?

    To not even try?

    Especially if it was proven effective.

    ReplyDelete
  108. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Not Hawaii, fer sur.

    On the Arizona side of the Mexican border when the gay Republican Congressman, another winner whose name escapes me, retired from Congress the real GOP firebrand that won nomination lost in the General Election.
    To a real Democrat.

    ReplyDelete
  110. As to the Missus, bob, that is the only case of Ohio voter misregistration that I actually know of, though it seemed a "common" practice. And the Court Clerks did give poor free advice.

    But the attempt was made to "make a difference", somewhere else, while the Hometeam lost.

    The is a certain ironic humor to that, you gotta admit.
    Cosmic karma at the polling place.

    ReplyDelete
  111. More on rent seeking and tax eating in the green paradise.

    I am a mechanical engineer and quite knowledgeable about wind power and the reliability problems. They are many!

    Wind power has a longer history in the EU, but the experience has been similar. Wind power has been subsidized in the EU for longer than it has here in the states. The results have been similar. Power from wind turbines is more expensive that the more traditional sources (coal, gas, hydroelectric, nuclear and oil). The only way that it viable is with government subsidies.

    In the EU, turbines cannot be installed without monitoring system to watch their health. This is due to the many failures that have occurred. They cannot operate without insurance and the insurance is unavailable without monitoring. Here in the states, very few turbines are installed with monitoring.

    Why? Simple. Turbines here are normally owned by investor groups that exist primarily to market the tax credits. The total cost of the turbine can be recouped in 3-5 years with these credits. The investor groups contract with the turbine manufacturers to install and operate the turbines for the 5 year warrantee period. By the time that the warrantee has expired, the turbines are paid for and any further running time is pure gravy. When they fail, shut them down and there is no loss.

    Except, of course, to the tax payers that support this scam
    .

    A comment left in a post on failing green energy endeavors in Durango, CO and windmill gear boxes at Power and Control.

    ReplyDelete
  112. What is the depreciation schedule for those wind turbines?

    Betcha 5 to 7 years, at the max.

    As to the Egypt bet ...

    Not wanting to think you're being ignored, whit.

    Tricky, but yes. I'll put an Amero on black.

    He has to set some precedents, before he goes to the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.
    Sharon went as a divider, Barack Hussein Obama will go as a uniter.

    Go Team America!!

    ReplyDelete
  113. Driving home I was fascinated, as usual, by the spinning wind mills in the wind farms between Mojave and Tehachapi.

    Oh-oh! What's that?

    Standing out from it's placidly spinning teammates was a single mill that was just absolutely red-lined.

    Spinning hell-bent for destruction.

    I wonder how long it lasted. Wouldn't want to approach it to attempt to shut it down.

    What would mat do?

    ReplyDelete
  114. Pedal his ass in the opposite direction, as fast as his electric bike let's him.

    ReplyDelete
  115. A Libertarian believes that government is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.

    A Conservative believes this time it will be different
    .

    M. Simon

    ReplyDelete
  116. I'm not sure what to make of that, Linear.

    A Conservative believes this time it will be different?

    That sounds more like a liberal to me.

    Maybe I don't understand the sense of the quotes.

    That's my Last Word on that matter :)

    ReplyDelete
  117. Muriel got TLW, by outliving all the members of her Wikiproject.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Mother Nature always seems to get the Last Word.

    She always seems to bat last, at least in this world.

    ReplyDelete
  119. That and Alinsky, but didn't need to read either, before playing with Wrechard. But all the tactics were there, then, too.

    First trish migrated, then doug, then a few others came to see that the US was not fighting Islam, nor fighting to win. We had abandoned the War on Terror for occupying Iraq. Back in the day, I described victory as a fairly stable country with a stay behind force of 40,000 or so.

    We were only 3 or 4 years late in deliverying that to the US people. Those years made all the difference, between victory and defeat at Home.

    Obamamania will have to run its' course, 7 years, 9 months to go.
    Biden can't carry the torch, so look for a new Dem VP candidate, in 2012.

    Because GW Bush had to Stay the Course, in 2004, '05 & '06.

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  120. If a debate, discussion, or general exchange of views has come to a natural end through one party having "won" or (more likely) the community having lost interest in the entire thing, then no matter which side you were on, you should walk away.Drop The Stick And Back Slowly Away From The Horse Carcass

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  121. There is little difference between liberals and conservatives, bob.

    Both depend on government to regulate the lives of others.

    Each thinking their regulation to be rightous and worthy, while the other sides' limits freedoms and liberties.

    The Libertarian sees the reality of both, as do some expatrioti.

    ReplyDelete
  122. I think the democrats were slated to win, with or without the war in Iraq, though there is no sure way of knowing I quess.

    People get tired, too many years of hearing the name Bush. They want something new.

    That fellow in Australia was a good man, by almost all reports, but he lost too. Been around the old town too long.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Right:
    Constitutional regulation of government = Fascism.

    Freedom is Slavery.

    ReplyDelete
  124. 'Rat won't ever blame the left's takeover of media, education, entertainment, institutions, and their subsequent fascistic control of speech and access.
    Never blame the perps.
    Libertarianism of thought.
    aka "Whatever"

    ReplyDelete
  125. The two parties compete for the great middle, so they are going to be much the same on many things.

    And yet there are real differences. Taxes, gun rights, judges, a whole list.

    Bush wasn't a flaming radical republican, I grant.

    Got to get some sleep.
    I have a bad tooth ache that is driving me nuts too.

    My last word.

    I pass the baton to al-Doug.

    ReplyDelete
  126. The Future of Iraq, Part I

    Ramon Lobo, Spanish journalist, quoted by Michael J. Totten in Iraq:

    ...The mood of the population has changed. They feel freer expressing themselves. Before they were afraid of the Mahdi Army. I have this sense – I don't know if it's true – that in the last year and a half we've been on the right road. The Bush Administration has done a big favor for the Obama Administration. Obama arrived with everything fixed. If the situation is okay, you can go. And if it's not okay, the Iraqis may ask you to stay a little bit more.”

    The whole article is worth reading.

    ReplyDelete
  127. I have certainly blamed the media, et al, doug.

    Have posted the corporate ownership of the major networks, etc.

    The schools, same goes there.

    So, now that blame has been accessed, what?

    Who do you match Dysney with?
    Or the Redstones?

    I certainly do not have the answer, so I do not long dwell on the question.

    What is the action plan, now that blame has been established?

    FOX is doing an entire expose of how GE is sucking at the Federal tit, giving little pause to wonder why the NBC family covers the Federals so lovingly.

    The rot runs through and through, there is little difference 'tween them, or Newt would be chasitisnig Mr Cheney, as he did AlGore.

    But he applies partisan ethics, and calls no foul.

    ReplyDelete
  128. "Perhaps you should get over your hatred of the GOP..."

    I don't hate the GOP. I think the GOP is a joke and doesn't merit hate. There are individuals within it for whom I have a particular animus.

    As far as averting, rather than enabling, another disaster, I really don't think the last admin was a disaster, nor will this one be. A disaster would be...oh...Yellowstone erupts.

    I've raised the bar for disaster.

    ReplyDelete
  129. And I long ago used my Dick Cheney fan club membership certificate to pick dog crap up off the rug.

    ReplyDelete
  130. That would be a disaster, much worse than this toothache.

    Compared to Yellowstone, a couple nukes going off in D.C. and L.A. would be a minor human caused inconvenience.

    If we raise the bar for disaster to Yellowstone level, we ought to get through the days ahead with a little more equanimity.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Trouble with Yellowstone going off is it would wipe out all those good middle America Red states, leaving the blue coasts more or less intact.

    This would be worse than giving a voter ID card to every illegal alien in the country. Which is probably going to happen.

    ReplyDelete
  132. If we raise the bar for disaster to Yellowstone level, we ought to get through the days ahead with a little more equanimity.

    Sat May 16, 01:25:00 AM EDT

    That's the idea.

    ReplyDelete
  133. And I long ago used my Dick Cheney fan club membership certificate to pick dog crap up off the rug.

    Cheney has a fan club? Where can I join? I want a certificate, too.

    Not yours. Don't offer it.

    ReplyDelete
  134. The only thing wrong with Cheney is his aim.

    To fill your hunting partner with birdshot should be extremely embarrassing.

    There didn't seem to be any lawsuits filed over the matter though, so I assume Dick paid the medical bills and got his partner patched up good.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Wow, sinless, that comment was made almost a year to the day. Eerie.

    Cheney had been neutered for two years; the admin was on its way out. And it was probably a sunny day. And I was on my third mimosa.

    I sometimes feel benign toward Doug, too, but in my heart of hearts always long to see him wake up next to a bloody horse's head.

    ReplyDelete
  136. DCI:

    "Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing “the enhanced techniques that had been employed.” Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened."

    Pelosi:

    A fruit basket for everyone in the IC.

    ReplyDelete