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."

Sunday, July 05, 2009

P.J. O’Rourke, 21st-century H.L. Mencken




34 comments:

  1. O'Rourke obviously has an attitude problem with our rulers and master.

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  2. "Our country is not for sale. Those that want to sell it are out."

    Honduras Abandoned.

    Hunter Smith reports from Tegucigalpa.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. ...I am being told that Manuel Zelaya will be returning to Honduras this weekend, with a strong belief that it will be Sunday. There is speculation as to whether he will be flown in or snuck into the country in an unmarked vehicle so that he is not arrested immediately upon arrival. His supporters worry about his return, fearing for his personal safety. Others are wondering why the US is not supporting the actions of Honduras. They cannot understand why the US is condemning the actions of their government, claiming that democratic procedures must be followed, even though they have followed their constitutional process.

    Hunter Smith

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  5. ...Regarding the demonstrations that occurred within Honduras yesterday, July 2nd, here is a list of numbers attended according to the July 3 issue of El Heraldo:

    Number of Protesters for the New Government:

    Tegucigalpa - 55,000
    Choluteca - 25,000
    San Pedro Sula - 50,000

    Number of Protesters against the New Government:

    Tegucigalpa - 3,000

    El Heraldo continues by stating that the reoccurring themes within the rallies in favor of the new government were that the protesters were in favor of democracy, asked for peace within the country, and respect of the law. Also, downtown Tegucigalpa is now being plagued with graffiti against the new government.

    Hunter Smith

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  6. He needn't be allowed to land in Honduras.

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  7. " They cannot understand why the US is condemning the actions of their government, claiming that democratic procedures must be followed, even though they have followed their constitutional process."
    ---
    BHO didn't get Hugo's and Castro's OKs.

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  8. PJ made the talk show rounds hawking his book.
    Funny as hell.

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  9. They cannot understand why the US is condemning the actions of their government, claiming that democratic procedures must be followed, even though they have followed their constitutional process.

    Because they did not have a public trial, but instead sent Manuel to Costa Rica, for the surf and turf.

    So while what they did may well fit their constitutional process, it was not deemed 'democratic'.

    Sometimes it's the public spectacle that makes the difference, in marketing a regime change.

    That and they should have sent civilians to round him up, out of bed, rather than the Army.

    Little symbolic things that make a major difference in marketing and control of the narrative. When they released Manuel, they lost control of the story.

    Lessons learned.

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  10. OTOH,
    Siding w/Hugo and Fidel would only be attractive to someone like BHO.
    aka Big Ears
    aka Dumbo

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  11. Ingraham has a great sound byte of somebody asking Dumbo if he believes in American Exceptionalism.

    In his fake intellectual slow talk, he squeezes out a "yes"
    then after his fake intellectual eternal pause, he adds

    "Just as the Brits (Nigerians, Haitians, Iranians) believe in British Exceptionalism"

    Putz

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  12. Betcha Obama watched PBS growing up, what do you think?

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  13. The eyes of Tejas are upon you

    Jun Bautista at Philippine Commentary provides a glance at how the situation in Honduras may look from outside the Beltway.

    At the moment, many Filipinos are worried that the current President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, will amend the constitution in order to extend her term. It may not ring a bell in Washington, but the parallels are obvious in Manila.
    Bautista writes:
    The parallels between the Philippines and Honduras are uncanny. As we all know very well [Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's] GMA’s allies in Congress have been assiduously pushing for charter change … Zelaya’s ouster was precipitated by his insistence on having a constitutional convention …

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  14. Ten ameros to a Crispy Creme that Obama is a Bill Moyers fan, too.

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  15. Definitely.
    As did our son.
    Had our PBS Santa Claus moment @ 5, when, after being indoctrinated by Sesame Street, he revealed to us that he thought ALL Black people were nice.
    Deprograming commenced.

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  16. Deprograming went into Turbo Mode when we sent him to Cal Poly SLO pre-school.
    Some abused black kid took out his abuse on the other kids.
    The (black) "teacher" went out of her way to defend the bully.
    Pre-school was terminated w/lessons learned by parents and child.

    ...many calls querying why we pulled him out followed.
    Forget exactly what the wife said, but it was perfect in terms of doing anything but giving the real reason.

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  17. The press calls Mr Zelaya, a rancher and timber magnate who lurched dramatically leftwards in power.

    Let me translate for you:

    Mr. Zelaya's family owned huge tracts of land in Honduras. They stripped the land of timber, burned the remains, to raise grass and cattle. After he made his pile, he decided populism a la Hugo Chavez would make him feel better.

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  18. Mr. Zelaya, carbon producer extraordinaire, will be lining up to get carbon credits by planting melina seeds to later be converted into cheap wood chips for pulp. He is Obama's choice to take a stand for democracy.

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  19. As seen from NYCity, where the perspective is skewed, by the skyscrapers, not endless miles of Federally owned horizons. Back to Moyers, as well.

    All the threads coming together, forming a whole piece of cloth.

    When Lyndon Johnson was president, some of his staff began to think of him as “a sick man,” as Bill Moyers told Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Moyers and his fellow Johnson aide Dick Goodwin even began reading up on mental illness — Bill on manic depression and Dick on paranoia.

    And so it was, Todd Purdum learned, as he traveled Alaska reporting on Palin for Vanity Fair, that the governor’s erratic and egoistic behavior has been a source of concern for people there.

    “Several told me, independently of one another,” Purdum writes, “that they had consulted the definition of ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’ — and thought it fit her perfectly.”

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  20. As a "rancher" he did not exactly ranch. He would not have been the marlboro man. He would have paid some very tough men to herd the poorest of the poor, to live in 8 meter shacks with dirt floors and work their asses off, they technically being the real ranchers in the deal.

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  21. Manuel Zelaya should be arrested and shot asap.

    It's time for the LEGAL government of Honduras DO exactly what the Soviet America has accused it of...

    A military coup...

    Execute the f*cker at once...

    Then?

    I guess Manuel Zelaya will not be around to try to take over the country illegally like Castro, Chavez, Obama, Stalin, Mao have done...

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  22. ‘narcissistic personality disorder’

    Which is what some claim Barack suffers from, too.

    He and Sarah, sharing the victimhood of fame, fortune and the prognosis of amateurs.

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  23. No need to execute him, just arrest him when and if he comes back.

    Have the trial and send him home, under house arrest. The best revenge, make him stay at his estancia.

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  24. No phone, no tv, no newspapers and no visitors.

    Ten years of that, he'd be brain fucked. Now, could the Hondo Government stay the course for ten years, another question entirely.

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  25. Wise rulers never allow potential usurpers long-term air rights. Elizabeth I was a longtime exception (personal matter), who eventually terminated her would-be rival and a recurring threat to her throne.

    Cromwell favored the execution of the king, not because the king made a legitimate claim to sovereignty, but because the king had committed treason against his own people by bringing foreign troops/foreign influence upon English soil. If that plane is allowed to land, with its contingent of foreign “leaders”, a reasonable comparison can be made.

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  26. NullificationNow:

    "Recalling that Chavez was on a plane leaving Venezuela for exile. W was consulted and told them to take him back and follow democratic procedure, alas one of W’s worst decisions. To bad the door didn’t mysteriously open and one passenger happened to fall out, keep it simple.

    Inaction seems to plague our system to the point of distraction, the current administration is making suicidal decisions and we wait for the “Democratic Process”."
    ---
    I missed out on that one.

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  27. PBS now interviewing author of
    "Foreskin's Lament"

    Some pathetic Jewish Putz.

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  28. desert rat said...
    No need to execute him, just arrest him when and if he comes back.


    Nonsense...

    Execute the treasonous bastard without delay..

    Chavez spent years in jail the 1st time he tried to steal the county....

    execute him via the legal system of Honduras at once.

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  29. "Chavez spent years in jail the 1st time he tried to steal the county...."
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    A Recidifist,
    I'm shocked!

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