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."

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Happy Veterans Day to you and me.



The best (part time) job I ever had. Call in with your requests.





62 comments:

  1. How could 3 little Philipino entertainers make a Marine cry?

    America the Beautiful

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  2. Play the melody called "Melody".

    Happy Vets Days to all you Vets.

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  3. And the tune called "Superhero".

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  4. Thanks to all that serve to protect America.

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  5. Many thanks to those that have died or been wounded serving our country...

    To my Uncle Sid who died in Vietnam

    To my Father who was wounded in the Korean conflict...

    To my Uncle Nunny who was wounded in WW2....

    and to all those Fathers, Mothers, Sons & Daughters that paid the price for us...

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  6. The Great Thing about being a Vet is the lifetime ticket to "Bitch" to your heart's extent.

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  7. Unheard of;

    Republicans up by 4 (48 - 44) in generic congressional ballot, and up by 22 points among Independents. Gallup

    What would the party of stupid do without the dems?

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  8. When I was a young man and never been kissed
    I gotta to thinkin' it over
    How much I had missed
    Found me a Sarge
    And signed with his pen
    O Lord, I'd do it again

    Kisses Sweeter Than Wine

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  9. Questions I would ask the FBI about Major Hasan’s alleged research.

    ___Did his command give approval to his internet contact with a known person of interest?

    ___Was his alleged research approved and funded by his command?

    Getting answers to these two rather simple questions will take much time, and will come after much foot dragging.

    The answer will be “Possibly”.

    Could FBI Have Stopped Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood Shooter?

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  10. Veteran's day---a time to remember

    Those who have served this country well;

    This eleventh day of every November;

    We appreciate them more than we can tell.

    Many have given their all, their life,

    To keep this great land free.

    All have suffered war's hellish strife

    That America should not be forced to her knee.

    When we recall all those brave
    Courageous men of yesteryear,

    How they fought and died to save
    Our country, it brings a silent prayer,

    That, someday soon those who lead
    The countries of the world

    Will find the germinating seed
    Of love, and may it's banner be unfurled.

    Oh, could it be that they could live

    Each day with love as their guide,

    Then, to the earth, they could give
    Freedom, prosperity and pride.

    But, as long as tyranny is at the rein,

    And power the ever consuming goal,

    We will know the sorrow and the pain

    Of that poor, giving and dying soul----

    The VETERAN.

    By L. B. Strawn
    November 11, 1980

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  11. Nice videos, Ash.

    Al-Tirmidhi. Hadith 4102. Narrated by Abdullah ibn Mughaffal: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed; but kill every pure black one." AbuDawud and Darimi transmitted it. Tirmidhi and Nasa'i added, "No family attaches itself to a dog without a qirat of their good deeds being deducted daily, except in the case of a hunting dog, a farm dog, or a sheepdog."

    Never trust a society that doesn't honor our friends the mutts.

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  12. Military By The Numbers

    On this Veterans Day, the military remains at the top of institutions respected in USA.

    Congress, of course, remains at the bottom.

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  13. "It seems to be an indicator of a certain hardline interest in Iran being almost careless about the consequences of their actions."

    Israel has now made all the obligatory complaints and no one is going to do a thing about the unlawful action or introduce a UN resolution condemning it; it is time to act.

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  14. While ash we never think of Neda when sailing or looking at a glorious sunset at sea, the Iranian government can't rid itself of her so readily. What she could not do in life, she may accomplish yet in death. Hoorah!

    And while slight, Where I Great Britian or Oxford, I would return the letters of Iranian condemnation and inform that government to clean up its English; reminding that if they have not all been killed, youngsters such as Neda might be able to help.

    Neda and Oxford

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  15. Senior Official: More Hasan Ties to People Under Investigation by FBI

    "The FBI said it turned over the information to the Army, but Defense Department officials today denied that."

    How much money has been spent by these agencies since 9/11 to prevent a recurrence of the dog and pony show now on display...brilliant, simply brilliant...

    For those who wish to argue that we are safer now than on 9/10/2001, tell that to the folks at Fort Hood.

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  16. Happy Vets Day!

    Looks like you're getting ready to shoot to the moon, 2164th.

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  17. It is so sad that the poor overstressed officer, Major Hasan, cracked, and is not here with us on Veterans day.

    As we learned yesterday, this could happen to anyone of any faith, Christian, Jew, Hindu, or Morman. In a country of 300 Million inexplicable violence is bound to occur now and then.

    Let us hope people tasked with extremely stressful jobs like Major Hason will get more help and support in the future, to enable them to better handle their stress and angst, Allah willing.

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  18. It was a slow day
    And the sun was beating
    On the soldiers by the side of the road
    There was a bright light
    A shattering of shop windows
    The bomb in the baby carriage
    Was wired to the radio
    These are the days of miracle and wonder
    This is the long distance call
    The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
    The way we look to us all
    The way we look to a distant constellation
    That's dying in a corner of the sky
    Therse are the days of miracle and wonder
    And don't cry baby, don't cry
    Don't cry

    It was a dry wind
    And it swept across the desert
    And it curled into the circle of birth
    And the dead sand
    Falling on the children
    The mothers and the fathers
    And the automatic earth
    These are the days of miracle and wonder
    This is the long distance call
    The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
    The way we look to us all
    The way we look to a distant constellation
    That's dying in a corner of the sky
    Therse are the days of miracle and wonder
    And don't cry baby, don't cry
    Don't cry

    It's a turn-around jump shot
    It's everybody jump start
    It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
    Medicine is magical and magical is art
    The Boy in the Bubble
    And the baby with the baboon heart

    And I believe
    These are the days of lasers in the jungle
    Lasers in the jungle somewhere
    Staccato signals of constant information
    A loose affiliation of millionaires
    And billionaires and baby
    These are the days of miracle and wonder
    This is the long distance call
    The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
    The way we look to us all
    The way we look to a distant constellation
    That's dying in a corner of the sky
    Therse are the days of miracle and wonder
    And don't cry baby, don't cry
    Don't cry

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  19. Yea Sam that is what an early 1960's vintage AFRTS radio station looked like. Check out the vinyl! It was great. I did it two evenings a week. We only had to wear uniforms on day shift and since on my show I did telephone requests, we would get quite a few from woman.

    There were always a few interested in meeting a "famous" mysterious DJ.

    They didn't have to pay me to do that job.

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  20. Is that you deuce? Nice lookin' young fella.

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  21. "Were" would be the best useage.

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  22. That is indeed yours truly Bob, a long time ago on another planet.

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  23. For the EB record:
    JARRATT, Va. – Sniper John Allen Muhammad refused to utter any last words as he was executed, taking to the grave answers about why and how he plotted the killings of 10 people that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area for three weeks in October 2002.

    The 48-year-old died by injection at 9:11 p.m. Tuesday as relatives of the victims watched from behind glass, separated from the rest of the 27 witnesses at Greensville Correctional Center, south of Richmond.

    Muhammad was executed for killing Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot in the head at a Manassas gas station during the spree across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

    He never testified or explained why he masterminded the shootings with the help of a teenage accomplice. That left questions unanswered about why he methodically hunted people going about their daily chores, why he chose his victims, including a middle schooler on his way to class, and how many victims there were.

    Muhammad stepped into Virginia's death chamber and within minutes was lying on a gurney, tapping his left foot, his arms spread wide with a needle dug into each.

    "Mr. Muhammad, do you have any last words?" the warden asked. Muhammad, looking calm and stoic, said nothing.

    After the first of the three-drug lethal cocktail was administered, Muhammad blinked repeatedly and took about seven deep breaths. Within a minute, he was motionless.

    J. Wyndal Gordon, one of Muhammad's attorneys, described his client in his final hours as fearless and still insisting he was innocent.

    "He will die with dignity — dignity to the point of defiance," Gordon said before going inside to watch the execution.


    BTW - This was the shortest 'trial to execution' that we have seen in the US in many years.

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  24. Allen. I picked that book up and read it from cover to cover without putting it down. A truly outstanding read.

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  25. Who was it that said we were safer today, doug, than on 9-10-01?

    We certainly could chastise him, or her, but I do not think that any government official has ever made that claim.

    So I'm left wondering, just who are you trying to smear?

    As there is no guarantee of security, nor have I ever heard one offered, by Government. In fact all I have heard the Federals say, since 9-11-01, is that we are in the shit, and they need more guys.

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  26. To be clear, the book was not written by or about Colonel Hackworth; he came to mind, as I thought of some first-rate officers.

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  27. c'mon, Bob, you don't see the resemblance? Except for the hat and the moon over his head, it looks just like him.

    I could tell right off the bat.

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  28. "Doctors and staff overseeing Hasan's training viewed him at times as belligerent, defensive and argumentative in his frequent discussions of his Muslim faith..."

    "As a psychiatrist in training, Hasan was characterized in meetings as a mediocre student and lazy worker..."

    "The concerns about Hasan's performance and religious views were shared with other military officials considering his assignment after he finished his medical training..."

    "It's not unusual for medical officers to be funded by the government," Wright said, "and there is an active duty service obligation to repay that educational funding." (bet that looks a little silly at this point)

    If it walks like a jihadi, if it talks like a jihadi, it IS a jihadi...Now, form a line so that the nice man with the tatoo needles can write that on your foreheads...We will begin with you, Mr. President.

    Fort Hood suspect's superiors questioned behavior

    (By the way, so far I am batting 1000 on this one.)

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  29. Nice looking fellow.

    I like those old mikes on the long rods.

    2 looks relaxed, in control, with a hint of the sexually impish in his grin.

    "There's nobody home, but deuce and Luce, and the winking guardian gnome."

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  30. And, I'm sure he played lots of melody back then.

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  31. Misprision of Treason

    Never enforced, hard to prove, but, still on the books.

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  32. "And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
    ___Yesha'yahu

    Blowin' in the Wind

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  33. deuce,

    The only things missing are a cigar and a Monica........But I could be mistaken........

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  34. With great sorrow

    "One of the questions they pondered: Was Hasan psychotic?"

    "Everybody felt that if you were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, you would not want Nidal Hasan in your foxhole."

    "...conversations with medical officials at Walter Reed and USUHS, new details have emerged regarding serious concerns that officials raised about Hasan during his time at both institutions."

    "...one of the leading — and most perplexing — items on their agenda was: What should we do about Hasan?"

    This one is not going away. There will be a goat roast - and about time.

    The forces of PC carried the day and Major Hasan was pawned off on an unsuspecting command at Fort Hood.

    The testimony of his former patients should prove most interesting, as will the record of their complaints.

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  35. Allen, make sure these clips are in sequential order, I wouldn't want to miss anything.

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  36. Climate bill's 'emergency provision' gives Obama strong-man powers UPDATED!
    By: EXAMINER EDITORIAL HOT ZONE ALERT
    -
    November 10, 2009
    (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)

    Both the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy approved earlier this year and the version just okayed by Sen. Barbara Boxer’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Democrats (Republicans boycotted the vote) contains an obscure but nasty bureaucratic provision that requires President Obama to act like Venezuelan strong man Hugo Chavez.

    Here’s how: The bills require a federal declaration of a “climate emergency” if world greenhouse gas levels reach 450 parts per million. Guess what? The Pacific Northwest National Lab says it is a virtual certainty that level will be reached within a few months. The bill then requires the president to “direct all Federal agencies to use existing statutory authority to take appropriate actions...to address shortfalls" in achieving needed greenhouse gas reductions.

    When Vitter asked EPA Administrator what would be done in such a situation, she refused to say. So it must be asked: Would the president be empowered to do things like nationalize whole sectors of industry, ban coal use, restrict private automobile use, or anything else the “emergency” requires?

    The Examiner's David Freddoso reports that Sen. David Vitter, R-LA, is holding a news conference later today concerning this provision. Vitter wonders if companies that support cap-and-trade in the hope they will profit from going green realize what could happen to them soon after enactment. More to the point, we wonder what the American people will do when they realize what is actually going on here.

    UPDATED: CEI's Horner says it's about power, not climate

    In a detailed post on BigGovernment.com, Competitive Enterprise Institute scholar and environmental expert Chris Horner warns that this provision is clearly intended to concentrate power in an unprecedented manner:




    "But as we have been warning you in detail, this agenda transparently is not about GHG concentrations, or the climate. It’s about what this provision would bring: Almost limitless power over private economic activity and individual liberty for the activist president and, for the reluctant leader, litigious greens and courts that in this case would only have two choices. Those are follow the law, or declare it unconstitutional knowing the predilections of the appellate courts and what will very soon be Obama’s Supreme Court."

    UPDATE II: Foundry sees more regs on top of cap-and-trade

    The Heritage Foundation's sagacious blog authors at The Foundry took a look at this issue and concluded that the provision will lead to more regulations on top of the cap-and-trade bill's mandates. Yeah, that's the ticket - the economy is suffocating under regulatory weight now, so let's add more to it.

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  37. MLD,

    Re: sequential order

    That cannot be promised. I just post them as they come onto the radar.

    I have noticed, without surprise, that especially embarrassing revelations are released following prime time news broadcasts. This trick has been the standard for every administration in my adult life.

    Logically, it does seem to me that if senior commanders (MDs and psychiatrists) must meet to decide if a subordinate's behavior is so bizarre as to raise the issue of psychosis, there is evidently a profound pathology. Of course, I must admit that every time I have experienced the listening to interviews with Islamic mouthpieces, insanity instantly comes to mind. Really, can sane men hold as permissible sex with children, goats and sundry fowl? My level of diversity just has not become sufficiently sophisticated during the last eight years, it seems.

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  38. for bad bob...deuce may have turned these a few times...

    It's Only Make Believe

    Dream Lover

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  39. heh, got to run downtown for a minute, will return, allah willing

    Those old songs sure are a time machine

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  40. Nite, Allen, that pretty much does it for me too.

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  41. We will have to do a future post on sonnets to Melody.

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