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."

Monday, July 13, 2009

The Taliban deserved to be killed











93 comments:

  1. Continued from the previous thread ...

    But duece, they were no longer the "Enemy", they were prisoners of the war. The US Army, in 1978, spent more time training on the Geneva Accords and the treatment of prisoners than they did on map reading or survival on a nuclear battlefield

    Those prisoners were "out of the game".
    They had, reportedly, surrendered to US. The US military is crystal clear on the care and conditions that prisoners be held under.

    1,000 prisoners, murdered, justified just how many beheadings of US personnel across the arc of localized wars of US liberation?

    The results of the US ignoring the behaviour, contemporaneously, General Dostrum can now return to Afghanistan, from his exile in Turkey, and continue to disrupt US/Nato operations to "Awaken" the Pashtun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war."

    The Pashtun do not have to be awakened. They know the rules better than we do.

    You lose you die.
    Don't lose.

    You get captured, you get tortured and die.
    Don't get captured.

    I personally saw how this played out in Nicaragua with the contras and the Americans that tried to help them, except this is about 1000 times more important.

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  3. Trish owes me ten dollars:
    ___________________

    trish said...
    "I have a hunch I know what this is about, probably the dismissing of some rather unpleasant enemies."

    Would this be like Sy Hersh's "executive assassination" outfit? Speaking last March at some university or other, Hersh spoke about an out-of-pocket, where-in-the-hell-on-the-line-and-block-chart organization that reported only to the OVP and whose mission is to pop those who, he would lead you to believe, don't come under federal statute.

    The organization?

    JSOC.

    RFLMAO.

    Some SFB ran with that recently, linking it up to the program-that-never was out of Langley.

    And I'll be damned if two Cheney-ites didn't shrewdly grab the opportunity to further a theme, knowing full well that when it comes to oversight, the utility of the Agency lies precisely in its unique 'possession' by the Executive.



    Years ago someone asked, "Do you have death squads?"

    "Define 'death squad.'"

    Yeeeeaaah, buddy.




    Everyone wants to capitalize politically, from this end or that.


    Which is the round-about way of saying: I've got ten bucks, dear host, that says you're wrong.

    Sun Jul 12, 12:52:00 PM EDT
    ___________________________________

    CIA Had Secret Al Qaeda Plan
    Initiative at Heart of Spat With Congress Examined Ways to Seize, Kill Terror Chiefs

    By SIOBHAN GORMAN

    WASHINGTON -- A secret Central Intelligence Agency initiative terminated by Director Leon Panetta was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives, according to former intelligence officials familiar with the matter.

    Sen. Dianne Feinstein said CIA Director Panetta, told lawmakers Vice President Cheney ordered information be withheld from Congress.
    The precise nature of the highly classified effort isn't clear, and the CIA won't comment on its substance.

    According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training. It was acting on a 2001 presidential legal pronouncement, known as a finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts. The initiative hadn't become fully operational at the time Mr. Panetta ended it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The entire "plan" of our six stars over Afpakistan hinges upon awakening the Pashtun.

    Having General Dostrum return to Afghanistan as the Army Chief of Staff is a knife in the back of that program.

    Those stars are, we've been told repeatedly, the best we've got.

    They are bringing a staff of 800 specialists with them, to fulfill the strategic operations order.

    No justice, no peace.
    It's the American way to conflict resolution. Like it or not.

    We're going to empower and protect a communist anti-American, in the pursuit of what?
    The mission is to "awaken" the Pashtun to the benefits of US protection, how does protecting General Dostrum advance the US mission?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Did the CIA not report to Congress on an ongoing Program?

    Define "Program"

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, the woman @40 seconds in the first video looks a LOT like the famous National Geo Girl.

    ...I wouldn't be wasting any time with young boys, but that's just me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love a sunburnt country

    It has been a great week for students of culture, multiculturalism, thought control and the nation’s theatre of the absurd.

    Although we keep going back to Orwell’s Winston Smith and his battles with the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Plenty and all things to do with Newspeak and the Thought Police, there really is no better refuge in English literature than 1984 — that is, if you want to maintain your sanity. Remember 1984’s most enduring motif — Ignorance is Strength. It might also work as Strength is Ignorance — in government circles.

    The week got off to a ripper of a start. At the Ministry of Love, aka The Attorney General’s Department, Citizen McClelland launched — or to use his words “rolled out” — Project Lexicon. This is a planned attempt to re-educate Australians in the use of language. That is the English language — as it is used to describe terrorists.

    Apparently to use such words as “terrorist”, “jihad”, “martyr” and “the war on terror” is likely to offend Muslims, or at least give them bad press — so the Ministry of Love is about to teach us how not to offend Muslims. To use Orwell’s example, any words that might suggest that terrorists, jihadists or Muslim religious fanatics are, to put it mildly, crazed killers, is according to Senator McClelland — doublespeakungood.

    The fact that something over 95% of acts of terrorism are committed by Muslims, cannot be reduced to another Orwellian notion — minitrue.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Palin, the great hope for a resurgent Republican party? What a friggin' train wreck!

    ReplyDelete
  9. trish said...

    "In re the Iranians:

    The Iraqis have the same problem we do, which is the detention of those captured on the battlefield.

    Different standard of evidence applies when they're rolled into the general judicial system.

    We gave them what we had.

    They had to let them go.

    Just so you know.
    "

    ---

    Why did they have to be rolled into the general judicial system?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Totally disagree:
    15 Bogus lawsuits.

    $500,000 in legal fees for no good reason.

    MSM spending time and cash to travel to AK to trash her and her family.

    She said the lieutenant governor who will succeed her on July 26, Sean R. Parnell, will pursue

    the same agenda as mine — minus the distractions.
    ---
    Exactly:
    Her term has been neutered by the above and much more.

    How irresponsible would it be for her not to take advantage of the present situation to work off that 500k obligation on her family?

    Her next function is at the Reagan Library.

    PRESS NOT INVITED!

    ReplyDelete
  11. ...as if the Times hit piece had one ounce of objectivity as it's goal.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You got a bitter old child abusing turd, the MSM, and the Completely Corrupt Chicago Machine on your side, Ash.
    Does that make you proud?

    ReplyDelete
  13. In A Rare Moment Of Disagreement With Deuce, And A Perpetual One With Ash

    Willie Brown, he knows.

    --

    Dear Leader Li'l Kin is said to be ailing with cancer.

    Maybe he'll come to the USA for treatment, while we still have a functioning medical system. :) Before it's smASHED up.

    ---

    ReplyDelete
  14. The High-Tech Stoning of Sarah Palin!

    ReplyDelete
  15. al-Doug, I've hired a Palinesque lady lawyer from here, just starting out, to talk my zoning change to the various boards for me. (Can't stand to talk in public, myself) Cheap too, and nice lookin'. Gotta run to my appointment, an appointment with a lawyer I'm actually looking forward to!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Good phrase, al-Doug, a high tech stoning.

    That's what it's been, pretty much.

    ReplyDelete
  17. She's provided the media folk with most of the stones used.

    ReplyDelete
  18. First of all, we have a legal agreement with the Iraqi government to process 1500, IIRC, prisoners per month - some for trial, some for release. The Iraqis determine with the evidence we give them on each prisoner which one it's going to be, but in any event it's their judicial system and their determination. Again, standards of evidence that apply on the battlefield are different from those in an Iraqi court of law.

    In the case of the Iranians, the Iraqi government apparently issued arrest warrants (the legal procedure for claiming detainees) for ALL third country nationals in US custody (Kuwaitis, Yemenis, Saudis, whatever) and reviewed each case. The Iraqi government opted not to try the Iranians, and without trial they must be let go.

    Three of the Iranians in question had posed as diplomats - they were not accredited - and for us that's reason enough all by itself to detain. Whatever other intelligence/evidence was collected during their confinement - all of which would have been turned over to the Iraqis - the Iraqi government felt it did not warrant trial in their judicial system and they were subsequently handed over to their embassy. I assume they're back in Tehran.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have nothing against Sarah Palin. She seems fun. I would prefer to go hunting with her rather than with Ash. I would prefer her presidency to Obama, but I do not think she can win a national election.

    ReplyDelete
  20. "She's provided the media folk with most of the stones used."
    ---
    Children and a husband, first and foremost.

    How déclassé!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hard Work, Courage, and Patriotism all additional stones for the
    Anti-American Corps

    ReplyDelete
  22. Just think, Ash:

    Millions of Stoners in the sixties had your avant views down cold.

    Cutting edge!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ash, never thot to ask:
    Have any kids?

    ReplyDelete
  24. yep, two - a boy and a girl.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Aren't Palin's legal fees covered by the state of Alaska through its office of legal counsel? One would think so.

    I agree with Rich Lowry that Palin simply decided to leave her troubles behind and to get while the gettin's good. She's a bona fide celebrity and why not devote yourself to it full-time? Especially when you're not a woman (or a family) of means.

    It's the American way.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Trish:

    could you please ans my query re:
    "In re the Iranians: "

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  27. New Surgeon General does not believe doctors should make a profit!

    ...but does she agree masterbation is a human right?

    ReplyDelete
  28. "I must defend against these baseless ethics accusations out of my own pocket as the use of public monies to do so could itself violate state law,"

    Palin wrote.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I did. What else do you need to know?

    The Iraqis do not have a system of indefinite detention. If they were rolled up on the battlefield, so to speak, they are destined for release or trial in an Iraqi court of law. Which one it's going to be is not ours to determine, because we are not the ones doing the prosecuting.

    There have been a lot of successful prosecutions of US captures by the Iraqi Gov, often with our testimony. But by no means does it always work out that way.

    ReplyDelete
  30. She'd lose the General Election in a landslide.

    She could match Goldwater's success, which blows by McGovern, but then, he was the worst of all time candidate, from the two "majors" of any era.


    Obama would clean her clock.
    But she like her mentor, McCain, would end up bucks up on the deal.
    Not a bad gig, if you can get the Federal subsidies for candidates that Maverick bestowed upon the political class, a gift from the taxpayers of the United States.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I heard the book deal is $7 million, twice the Obama signing fee.

    Resigning puts money in her pocket, frees up her schedule and her options.

    No reason to stay in Alaska politics, or to stay in the Governor's house. Especially since the Chef was let go.

    If Frank Rich is right and 71% of self-indetifying Repubs say they'd vote for her, she is the far and a-way the leader of the GOP, at the moment.

    The book tour climaxing in August 2010?

    ReplyDelete
  32. They don't read, den mother.

    Not even the actual words, let alone between the lines.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Gosh, dear host, I missed your post:

    "The precise nature of the highly classified effort isn't clear, and the CIA won't comment on its substance."

    Egggzactly.

    For eight years already we've had Special Ops, Intelligence Sup Act, paras, and Agency ground force in the hunt for precisely those individuals. Pick your country, pick your operator.

    There had to be much, much more or much, much less to the program.

    Afghani or Paki mercenaries, perhaps. Which would have as a practical matter required a change in the law allowing for up-front funding. Which they never got. Change in the law, that is.

    ReplyDelete
  34. from the nursing homes--

    People born before 1920 had a strong antibody response to the new H1N1 virus, meaning their body "remembered" it from infection early in life. This finding supports a study published in Nature in August that also found people who survived the 1918 pandemic still had immune protection against that virus.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Re: released Iranians

    Consider: The Iranians had assets we wanted returned; we had assets they wanted returned...quid pro quo...

    I have always believed that, since the Taliban etc do not constitute an internationally recognized government and cannot, therefore, field an internationally recognized military, they constitute "unlawful combatants" and may, under current law, be executed on sight. That the past and current administration has failed/refused to take this position was/is an error. It is interesting, however, that we are routinely executing these fellows via drones upon the territory of a sovereign state, without benefit of trial etc. Hmm...

    ReplyDelete
  36. Gosh, Allen and Deuce make perfect sense and Trish and 'Rat make my head hurt!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Director Panetta Nixed CIA Plan to Kill al-Qaida Targets

    Monday, July 13, 2009 7:52




    WASHINGTON -- The Central Intelligence Agency had a secret plan to capture or kill Al-Qaeda operatives but it was terminated by new CIA Director Leon Panetta, The Wall Street Journal said late Sunday.


    Citing unnamed former intelligence officials familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the precise nature of the highly classified effort remained unclear, and the CIA would not comment on its substance.


    According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some training of its operatives for the mission, the report said.


    It was acting on a 2001 presidential legal finding, which authorized the CIA to pursue such efforts. But the initiative had not become fully operational at the time Panetta ended it.


    Citing three unnamed former intelligence officials, The Journal said that in 2001, the CIA also examined the subject of targeted assassinations of Al-Qaeda leaders. But those discussions tapered off within six months.


    Neither Panetta nor members of Congress provided details, said the Journal, adding that he quashed the CIA effort after learning about it on June 23.


    Meanwhile, Representative Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said little money had been spent on the project — closer to one million dollars than 50 million.


    Well, hell no, we wouldn't want to have a program to kill our mortal enemies.

    That just wouldn't be right.

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  38. So, Ash thinks that Sarah Palin is a "train wreck" does he? Well, I know a little something about Ash which you can read about here

    ReplyDelete
  39. Does anyone want me to type out the latest news release on the hunt for the Giant Palouse Earthworm--GPE as it now called in the paper?

    If not, I'll just let you know federal funds are now involved, and, Chinese grad student from the People's Republic, I kid you not.

    Even with a newfangled electric probe no new worms have been discovered, yet, according to today's paper.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Speaking of searching without meaning--

    In Remembrance Of Dr. Krantz

    This guy was tenured.

    I've come to the conclusion that a hell of a lot of money has been and is being wasted in many ways around our fair land.

    Krantz's cause has been taken up by another fellow at Idaho State University, I believe.

    You got mermaids over there in Hawaii, al-Doug?

    ReplyDelete
  41. viktor solo,

    Viktor Frankl believed a primary means of combatting meaninglessness was laughter...not really sure where I am going with this, other than free-association following the viewing of your link...

    1) a brain
    2) a heart
    3) courage

    It is possible that the want of testicles could fall under the rubric "courage" and, hence, the trip to Oz. On the other hand, trish has ample courage (sans testicles)...sooo...May I have an Ultra, please?

    ReplyDelete
  42. 43. Marie Claude:


    surrender worked fine for the Vichy government. Not so well for French Jews and other minorities, but it was better than war for some.

    If I follow your logic, only Jews are important, tht is plus with homosexuals and gypsies, the rest of the french, I repeat 100 00 sodiers died in mai 1940 around Dunkeerke to save the Brits asses, yes they escaped t’em, 350 000 other french civils under bombings, resistants and of army died until the end of the war. Jews, only 350 000, 75% of them were protected, hidden by the French population.

    Now go learn historical facts, instead of repeating the propaganda launched by the brillant pervert spirits that surroundered Bush pre 2003 war, yes they reinvented WWII too

    ReplyDelete
  43. ah, what the heck, it's a slow news day--

    Searchers Shovel Dirt Seeking Giant Worm

    Moscow, Idaho-AP--

    The giant Palouse earthworm has taken on mythic qualities in this vast agricultural region that stretches from eastern Washington into the Idaho panhandle--its very name evoking the fictional sandworms from "Dune" or those vicious creatures from the movie "Tremors."

    The worm is said to secrete a lily-like smell when handled, spit at preditors, and live in burrows 15 feet deep. There have been only a handful of sightings.

    But scientists hope to change that this summer with researchers scouring the Palouse region in hopes of finding more of the giant earthworms. Conservationists also want the Obama administration to protect the worm as an endangered species, even though little research has been done on it.

    The worm may be elusive, but there's no doubt it exists, said Jodi Johnson/Maynard, a University of Idaho professor who is leading the search for the worm. To prove it, she pulled out a glass tube containing the preserved remains of a fat, milky-white worm. One of Johnson/Maynard's graduate students found this specimen in 2005, and it is the only confirmed example of the species.

    The worm in the tube is about 6 inches long, well short of the 3 feet that early observers of the worms in the late 1880's described. Documented collections of the species, known locally as GPE, have occurered only in 1978, 1988, 1990 and 2005.

    The farmers who work the rich soil of the Palouse--2 million acres of rolling wheat fields near the Idaho-Washington border south of Spokane--also have had little experience with the worm.

    Gary Budd, who manages a grain elevator in Uniontown, said no farmer he knows has talked about seeing the worm. He compared the creature to Elvis.

    "He gets spotted once in a while too," Budd said.


    ---to be continued

    ReplyDelete
  44. 58. PA Cat:
    56 Doug
    I wonder whether the researchers studied the effect of specific languages on the benefits of swearing. Cussing in German does more for my morale than cussing in English. One of my good friends swears by (pun intended) the use of (modern) Hebrew for therapeutic cussing.

    ---
    59. Doug:

    My wife loves it when I cuss in French:
    She knows I’ll soon surrender.
    (For Marie!)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Johnson/Maynard and her team of worm hunters are working this summer at a university research farm and using three different methods to try and find a living worm.

    One involves just digging a hole and sifting the soil through a strainer, looking for any worms that can be studied.

    The second involves old-fashioned chemical warfare, pouring a liquid solution of vinegar and mustard onto the ground, irritating the worms until they come to the surface.

    The third method is new to this search, using electricity to shock worms to the surface.

    "The electro shocker is pretty cool," said Joanna Blaszczak, a student at Cornell who is spending her summer working to find the worm alongside Shan Xu, a graduate student fomr Chengdu, China, and support scientist Karl Umiker.

    The shocker can deliver up to 480 volts. That makes it dangerous to touch, and it could potentially fry a specimen.

    On a recent day, Umiker drove eight 3 foot long metal rods into the ground in a small circle and connected them to batteries. Then he flipped the switches. The only sound for several minutes was the hum of a cooling fan.

    "I'm kind of bummed we haven't seen anything yet," Umiker said.

    Eventually, a small rust-colored worm dug its way to the surface. It was not a GPE, but it was collected for study anyway.

    The search for the giant worm is reminiscent of efforts in Louisiana, Florida and the swamps of eastern Arkansas to find the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker. The large, black and white bird was believed to be extinct until a reported sighting five years ago stirred national experts and federal funding to launch a full-blown campaign to verify its existence. Search efforts later dwindled after biologists and volunteers were unable to find the evidence they were looking for.

    to be continued

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  46. We had to fry the worm to study it!

    ReplyDelete
  47. The GPE was described as common on the Palouse in the 1890's, according to an 1897 article in The American Naturalist by Frank Smith. Smith's work was based on four samples sent to him by R.W. Doane of Washington State University in nearby Pullman.

    Massive agricultural development soon consumed nearly all of the unique Palouse Prairie--a seemingly endless ocean of deep, silty dunes--and appeared to deal a fatal blow to the worm.

    They were considered extinct when Idaho graduate student Yaniria Sanchez-de Leon in 2005 stuck a shovel into the ground to collect a soil sample and found the worm that now is in the tube in Johnson/Maynard's office.

    Conservation groups quickly petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the worm as an endangered species, citing as proof the lack of sightings. But the agency said there simply was not enough scientific information to merit a listing.

    Conservationists recently filed a second request, saying they had more information. They are also hoping the Obama administration will be more friendly than the Bush administration. The GPE would be the only worm protected as an endangered species.

    Doug Zimmer of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Seattle said the agency isn't ready to comment on the petition.

    "It's always good to see new information and good science on any species," Zimmer said.

    --

    Thing is, I've talked to all the old farmers I know, some who broke out original Palouse prairie, and not one has ever seen one.

    The saga of the elusive worm continues, on your dime.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Thanks, Doug.

    If you go into the archives you will find that you are mentioned in the dispatches, as are others, I might add.

    Viktor

    ReplyDelete
  49. Will do, Viktor.
    You might want to check Let's Make a Deal for some interesting comments.
    (And I linked your work, since Val is well known there)
    Nice discussion on the value of surrender, also.

    ReplyDelete
  50. You can have your ten dollars when we find out what the program was.

    "Well, hell no, we wouldn't want to have a program to kill our mortal enemies."

    This is the kind of thing that makes MY head hurt. Do you believe we don't have programs to do just that? Programs involving, ZOMG, the Central Intelligence Agency and other organizations? We have and we do. My husband and many others were doing just that back when Hillary Clinton whined that nobody was. Came as news to them.

    All we know is that the program in question never went into operation, that for whatever reason for eight years the President chose not to put it into play. And that Feinstein is pissed off because Congress was funding a program it was not briefed on.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Didn't mean to make your head hurt.
    I'm not exactly on the inside, you know.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.___ John Godfrey Saxe

    For all its making nice, I think that an analysis of the behavior of this administration with reference to executing bad boys in Pakistan makes such efforts by the prior adminstration pale by comparison. If memory serves, the "drones" began their handiwork on the second day of Mr. Obama’s presidency and have been consistently busy since.

    ReplyDelete
  53. That's why God gave us Ibuprofen, bob. By the cheap, generic bucketful.

    ReplyDelete
  54. If memory serves...

    Mon Jul 13, 08:49:00 PM EDT

    Time for an MRI?

    ReplyDelete
  55. allen wrote:

    "I have always believed that, since the Taliban etc do not constitute an internationally recognized government and cannot, therefore, field an internationally recognized military, they constitute "unlawful combatants" and may, under current law, be executed on sight"

    No wonder why folk refer to people like you as "WINGNUT"!

    ReplyDelete
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  57. No wonder why folk refer to people like you as "WINGNUT"!

    From someone known as NO-NUTZ, is that a compliment?

    ReplyDelete
  58. In other energy news here today, the groups that run some of the Snake River dams are putting in a renewal of license application, and are being met by demands from the salmon interests that they somehow lower the water temperatures in the river. How they can do this is unclear.

    If they'd all take bob's advice and build this nuclear plant, and maybe a couple more, we wouldn't need the dams for energy production, just maybe for irrigation and a little flood control. Could more or less get rid of them.

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  59. ash,

    It is international law. I didn't write it. But it certainly is inconvenient to you, because it will make impossible war crimes trials.

    Yes, ash, we may, with impunity kill rabid dogs, both bipedal and quadrupedal. Now, if these, your heroes, want to don the uniforms of soldiers and fight for a legitimate government, that same international law protects them. But, ash, they are cowards, dressing like women and murdering by stealth, unless, of course, they are "punishing" their women.

    Ash, I have no idea what a "wingnut" is unless you are referring to the type of fastener one may purchase at Home Depot. You are confused.

    ReplyDelete
  60. no confusion here allen. Wingnut is a slang term for a right wing nut. You should also bone up on your international law - specifically the Geneva Convention.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Victor, just noticed you were not linked, a grievous error mostly Whit's fault of course, but duly noted and corrected.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Sounds to me like you need to bone up on the Geneva Convention, NN. Allen's interpretation is sound. It's the left that can't seem to wrap their collective feeble mind around the law. Of course with the progressive internationalists on the US Supreme Court what can we expect. Friggin idiots, that's what!

    ReplyDelete
  63. Idiocy and lunacy.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Welcome back Silo...Where you been? Long time no see then when we do, you walk in here with both barrels blazin'!

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  65. When it comes to survival there is only one rule, force the loss.

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  66. You sucker punched the poor guy...poleaxed him!

    ReplyDelete
  67. whit, please try to show how:

    "I have always believed that, since the Taliban etc do not constitute an internationally recognized government and cannot, therefore, field an internationally recognized military, they constitute "unlawful combatants" and may, under current law, be executed on sight"

    conforms with the Geneva Conventions. Good Luck!!

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  68. Mr. Whit. I may get lost for few days in a place with dark cool waters and food gaucho style.

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  69. ...it is wrong on so many levels it is laughable.

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  70. With your steak and Malbec

    Argentinian Chimichurri Sauce:

    1 cup lightly packed chopped parsley (ideally, flat leaf "Italian" parsley)
    3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
    1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
    2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (optional)
    2 tablespoons shallot or onion, minced
    3/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
    3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar, or red wine vinegar
    3 tablespoons lemon juice

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  71. the guy on Victor's interview must have been doing ex.

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  72. Then bob is going to have to step up his game big time because yours truly is out to lunch...

    Hear that, bobal? It will be up to you to keep the bar going. The boss has done an admirable job and needs a rest. I, on the other hand have semi-retired and it is only by the good graces of Mr. 2164th that my name remains on the marquee of this estimable establishment. hiccup!

    Okay, NN. The shot on sight part may, after a certain point in the hostilities, be excessive and no doubt an exaggeration. The rest though is to the letter. Read the articles. You'll see that the Supremes had really stretch the law, in fact to write a new law, in order to extend the Geneva conventions to the Taliban who in fact are no more covered by it than you or I.

    The Supreme and the Progressives - That's what is laughable.

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  73. I don't know how to make the Big Posts, and I too, am going to be busy the next few days. We might be going back to Coeur d'Alene or maybe Twin Falls again. Or Missoula. Maybe all three. I can check in, is about all. I'm running out of time to get x y and z done.

    Hey, al-Doug, you're good with computers, much better than I.

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  74. Linear knows how to run a blog, too.

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  75. Whit
    "Where have you been?"

    A year ago I was in poor health due to very high blood pressure. The last year I have spent dieting and lost 60 lbs. Testosterone crashed and I felt miserable. Now my blood pressure is normal, testosterone is risin' and the wife is nervous.

    Re: Deuce needin' a rest: It is the nature of this blog that it can nearly run itself. All you need to do is suggest the day's topic - a couple of sentences will do - and the commenters will do the rest.

    The commenters here also have large reserves of expertise. Tap into it. Every day you should post a "suggestion box" and you can pick from those suggestions. All of this should take up less than hour of your time per day.

    Good to be back.

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  76. Good to see your own balls have grown back, vicktor.

    When allen and whit are nominated and confirmed, to the SCOTUS, then we'll have a new set of precedents come down.

    Until then, when that blessed day arrives, the fellows that we meet on the fields of Afpakistan, despite their uniforms or lack of them, are combatants in localalize conflicts, that are extended the rights and privileges of the Geneva Accords, by US.

    Right or wrong does not much difference, to legal or illegal.

    All you guys need to do, get nominated by a President and confirmed by the Senate.

    Then legislate from the bench.
    Easy as pie.

    Until then, US law is pretty much decided. Rightly or wrongly.

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  77. This Fellow is going to be on C2C tonite, last two hours, might be worth a listen.--

    12a-2a PT: Professor William Forstchen talks about nukes in North Korea and EMP attacks.

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  78. I guess you guys could also develop a national political party the expouses your position, gain a veto proof Senate, an overwhelming majority in the House and then the Resolute desk, in White House.

    Then you could change the law, too.

    But wait, someone else has already taken that route to power.
    They're there in DC, now.

    So there it is, proof it can be done.
    Better get crackin', amigos.

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  79. It's maybe a forty year project.

    Time, it's a wastin', you're burnin' daylight.

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  80. The judge said as a former Marine he recognizes the importance of having a constitutionally qualified president.

    One Eligibility Lawsuit Moves Forward One Small Step

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  81. ash,

    In a world of adults (that is one of science), it is the challenger who must provide details for the falsification of a hypothesis or thesis. The ball is in your court. In an adult world, whinning does not constitute a refutation (although even college seniors try it, from time-to-time - as they do ad hominem, sissy slaps and pouting). Yes, ash, you are confused; and you may also be immature and intellectually dishonest.

    The leg work is yours. The apology will be mine if you prove me wrong. For a studious, erudite guy like you, this should be a walk in the park.

    As a lady once said to me, "This is not my first rodeo, Cowboy".

    By the way, ash, it will not come as a surprise to anyone here if you now suddenly disappear from the radar for several days...just as you did when confronted with the realities entailed in the murder of Neda. So, ash, have a nice weekend.

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  82. Hamdan v Rumsfeld, all the legwork anyone need expend.

    Do not have to walk further than wiki

    Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949."[1] Specifically, the ruling says that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions was violated.

    The case considered whether the United States Congress may pass legislation preventing the Supreme Court from hearing the case of an accused combatant before his military commission takes place, whether the special military commissions that had been set up violated federal law (including the Uniform Code of Military Justice and treaty obligations), and whether courts can enforce the articles of the 1949 Geneva Convention
    .

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  83. Specifically, the ruling says that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions was violated"

    And so, it the Geneva Accords apply to the Taliban, at least until Hamdan v Rumsfeld is overturned.

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  84. Some Folks just need killin.

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  85. The outcome pertained to Hamdan - a unique case - put before the Court because it was unique. This is quite apart from your "wiki" (sometimes whacky) excerpts.

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