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, December 04, 2009

Admiral Mike Mullen on Afghan Surge



106 comments:

  1. Good Lord, Rat, do you ever come up for air. The thing is, it's like a damn soap opera, I can read the first few comments and the last and still know what went on in the middle.

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  2. You're just jealous that you aren't the Bar's Drama Queen.

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  3. I bet as you're writing you say the words aloud, just to hear yourself talk.

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  4. Good morning sweet MLD!

    Doug, I'm the EB drama queen goddammit.

    Rufus said, Stimulus? The Chinese KNOW how to do "Stimulus." They built a City. For a Million People. Sold it out. But No one LIVES there

    Rufus, all your Peak Oil hullaballoo is based on a level of "demand" where China builds fake cities so that no bureaucrat becomes the first one to report sub-8% GDP growth. China is banking on a V shaped global recovery, but we're getting a flatline.

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  5. Well, MLD, I do not read it out loud as I write it, nor afterward.

    This Admiral tells US we're fucked, well and truly, in Afpakistan.

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  6. trish said...
    "Isn't "do-little."
    ---
    Wasn't "do-little" an Aviator?

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  7. China and India will still prove Rufus right, I'd bet, T.

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  8. 2 Billion Honda 50's take a lot of gas.

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  9. I'm not jealous and I like to read a good debate even if the debate is repeated several times a week, but for the love of God, you don't have to repeat the same thing all the time. Look at the last four comments on the bible, it says the same thing. You can roll all that up in one comment and save space.

    At least we're using paper. What a waste that would be.


    And, I don't need to be 'the bar's' queen, I'm already my own. And, I get enough attention from, Bob, for all of you put together.

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  10. I'm only teasing, Rat. You know that. Did you laugh? Even just a little? Okay, then carry on.

    Good morning, T.

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  11. But each is short, MLD, rather than long rambling screeds.

    It is a style that this character has developed, over the past, what five years. More if we include the BC days.

    I could retire Desert Rat, come back as the Jungle Iguana with all new positions, but no, I think not ....

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  12. Wretchard wanted those long faux intellectual ramblings.

    He got 'Whiskey "I cannot keep a woman" 99', instead.

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  13. You're right, actually, I prefer the short scramlings over the long ones.

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  14. Is whiskey the one who blames everything on polygamy?

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  15. On Girls.
    Many Girls means more trouble, right?

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  16. Makes sense to me that all the guys left w/o a Harem might pine for Raisins in Heaven.

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  17. That's a great rundown on the Whitehouse crashers in the last thread, 'Rat.
    Put Brownie to shame, it seems.
    Some friends had them housesit their fancy house in VA.

    Scammers hosted a big party for hundreds, claimed it was their house!

    She tried to get her hair fixed for the big dinner, hair guy reminded her that they had not paid for the last 'do.

    Caterers bills for hundreds of meals are unpaid.

    Let's hope you are right about the spotlight frying their sorry asses.

    Unlike the Joe Wilsons.

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  18. Is it the lighting or did they just want to make him look darker then usual.

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  19. Doug: Makes sense to me that all the guys left w/o a Harem might pine for Raisins in Heaven.

    That also explains why my team isn't very popular in the Land of the Prophet. Two fertile females taking themselves out of the breeding pool.

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  20. Even Muslims are right sometimes!

    ...The Hubris of depriving us of your services!

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  21. You could at least volunteer for the PGA booster team.

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  22. Honest! It was the avatar that done it.

    A guy leaves the keyboard for a second and comes back to find some pestiferous nom de plume has had him spouting NAZI propaganda for five years and making idiotic statements that would confuse the helpful girl at B. Dalton Bookstore.

    Really! I (the real me…us) am not like that.

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  23. The Age of Aquariums:

    When the moon is in the Seventh House
    And Jupiter aligns with Mars
    Then peace will guide the planets
    And love will steer the stars

    This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
    The Age of Aquarius
    Aquarius! Aquarius!

    Harmony and understanding
    Sympathy and trust abounding
    No more falsehoods or derisions
    Golden living dreams of visions
    Mystic crystal revelation
    And the mind's true liberation
    Aquarius! Aquarius!

    When the moon is in the Seventh House
    And Jupiter aligns with Mars
    Then peace will guide the planets
    And love will steer the stars

    This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
    The Age of Aquarius
    Aquarius! Aquarius!

    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in
    Let the sun shine, Let the sun shine in
    The sun shine in

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  24. t: That also explains why my team isn't very popular in the Land of the Prophet. Two fertile females taking themselves out of the breeding pool.

    Why should they care if you have made a choice?

    In their lands you are not allowed to have a choice by law...

    and that as they say, is the REST of the story

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  25. WiO,

    Things would be different if all those "xxxx" were gone.

    And don't even think about drawing my attention to the Barbary Wars; I'm not listening.

    Islam is the religion of peace.

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  26. More progress on Islamic population control JUST IN..

    Suspected terrorists stormed a mosque close to Pakistan's army headquarters, killing at least 35 people during Friday prayers as they sprayed gunfire at worshipers and threw grenades before blowing themselves up, officials said.

    The strike was part of a wave of bloodshed that has killed more than 400 people in Pakistan since October. It was a bloody reminder of the resilience of militant networks despite army offensives against the Taliban in the northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan.

    At least four attackers took part in the assault an inside a heavily fortified area in the garrison city of Rawalpindi just a few miles from the capital. A local TV station reported that several high-ranking military officers were among the dead, but the army declined to confirm that.

    Witnesses said two of the militants entered the mosque, which was popular with army officers, while others ran into buildings nearby. With reporters prevented from getting close, security forces exchanged fire with the assailants for an hour before they blew themselves up or killing them.

    Nasir Ali Sheikh saw the attackers at the mosque as he walked there to pray.

    "They were killing people like animals," he said. "I couldn't understand what was happening."



    Ah yes... Islam, coming to a shopping mall near you soon

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  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  28. What is "Occupation" said...
    Doug said...
    So handsome, he makes me tingle
    ...or tinkle



    I see a very angry, western hating, black hearted person...

    race is unimportant... hatred of all things western and great is...

    Fri Dec 04, 10:37:00 AM EST

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  29. We need someone pure to remind us that we need to repent for our sins.

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  30. WiO,

    The Bush team, the Obama team and our resident putative imam are correct: Islam is the religion of peace. When left unprovoked, Muslims are as pure as driven snow. Heretics had no right to sully that Pakistan mosque.

    This philosophy of universality has worked with Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Libya. It will soon work in Afghanistan as well.

    Like holy intercourse, we will surge in and surge out. Kinda like running on the little blue pill: wham, bam, thank you, Ma'am.

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  31. Anybody get too near my MLD I gun 'em down I'm that jealous.

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  32. "Good Lord, Rat, do you ever come up for air."

    You made me smile MLD. :)

    Then,

    "I'm only teasing, Rat. You know that. Did you laugh?"

    Good lord, very disappointing. :(


    .

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  33. By the way, I now have my very own female ethicist, she took the apartment. And, yes, she said she'd answer my ethical questions. (If asked ethically) Her husband said, "Don't get her started! Don't get her started!"

    So, if you are ethically challenged, and need advice, pass the question on to me, I'll get back to you.

    They were really nice. Living up one mile from the dam on the Snake River, housesitting. This is a hell of a drive to the U of I in winter. Or in summer, for that matter.

    Later, we're going to go win that sweet $250 at the Friday T-Shirt drawing at the casino.

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  34. Wasn't "do-little" an Aviator?

    Fri Dec 04, 08:24:00 AM EST

    I think I recall that from an old movie, yes.

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  35. In Joseph Campbell, there's this story, true too, about an Eskimo shaman, up by the Arctic Circle, a little on the raw side, who wants the daughter of some family in the village. But, her father, brothers and sisters, don't much like him. So, he simply shoots them all away from around her, and, she's his!

    Not what you'd call the behavior of a troubador, but he got the girl!

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  36. The movers are here!

    The movers are here!

    Rejoice!

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  37. Get in that armored car and take it for a last spin with you driving, while you still have the chance, I tell you!

    I always wanted to drive an armored car.

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  38. God, bob. We still have a month and a half to go. And it's dragging on and on and on...



    Thing about the armored vehicles is, they're hell to park. And if you hit someone (quite likely) you're going to kill them.

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  39. Ten years from now maybe, this will be a "normal" country and the armored vehicles will happily be a thing of the past.

    We already have a much more expanded range that we are graciously allowed to explore, compared to when I arrived. Albeit in the armored vehicles. Progress is progress.

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  40. "Denmark beefs up security for climate summit...

    Authorities have not raised the terror alert level, saying any risk of attacks is connected not to the conference, but to Denmark's military presence in Afghanistan and lingering resentment over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published in a Danish newspaper in 2005...

    Besides world leaders, dozens of VIPs are expected in Copenhagen, including Britain's Prince Charles, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, ex-U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger."



    Arnold Schwazenegger?

    I can only assume he is there to assure that CA gets its share of the money that will be set aside for developing countries.


    .

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  41. Doug: Many Girls means more trouble, right?

    Mathematical proof that girls are evil

    (Muahahahahahaha!!)

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  42. Well Done Honduras! Score one for the good guys...

    Thread stats follow.

    Time on target: 34 hrs 56 min
    Total comments: 157
    Ash comments: 0

    MIA: Ash

    Where is the champion of Manny Zelaya when they need him most?

    Brings to mind this old ditty:

    Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
    He's under the hay stack fast asleep
    .

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  43. Funny:


    In the opinion of Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block the Christian message of the "Peanuts" television Christmas special.


    Wiseman made the statements on his Facebook page, where he declared Obama to be a Muslim. Only people on Wiseman's "friend's list" had access to the post. He has more than 1,600 friends on Facebook.

    "Ok, so, this is total crap, we sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our muslim president is there, what a load.....try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose. Ask the man if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and he will give you a 10 minute disertation (sic) about it....w...hen the answer should simply be 'yes'...."




    Ask yourself, "Had I the choice between watching that speech and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, which would it be?"




    I thought so.

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  44. I haven't had the time to read up on the Honduran settlement Linear...

    ...have the left in place the constitution that the citizens can't change? If so, that's not very good...

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  45. Besides world leaders, dozens of VIPs are expected in Copenhagen, including Britain's Prince Charles, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, ex-U.S. Vice President Al Gore, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger."

    Al Gore, Not Just a Tool Any Longer


    ...and it is unusual with great disappointment that we have to announce that Al Gore cancels. Lisbeth Knudsen, CEO of Berlingske Media, [Copenhagen]

    Speculation is that the light snack promised to the lucky few who antied up the $1209 for a photo op with Gore was disappointing to the prophet of doom...(profit from doom?)

    The fee started out at $1200, but the extra $9 was tagged on to pay the carbon tax, no doubt.

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  46. ...have the left in place the constitution that the citizens can't change? If so, that's not very good...

    As my old friend Mat once said, "Here we (go) again with another gusher of pent-up stupidity."

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  47. Why would you think such a constitution is a good thing? The USA certainly does not have such a beast of a constitution.

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  48. In the aftermath of the Maurice Clemmons killing spree, Washington politicians and bureaucrats scurried for cover, trying to blame Arkansas for his being on the loose. Arkansas officials have called the bluff of Gregoire & Company. The issued revolves around wording and disposition of some warrant from Arkansas that Washington claims was defective. "They could have held him in jail pursuant to that [October 2] warrant," said David Eberhart, an attorney with the Arkansas Community Correction Department.

    Gov. Mike Beebe said Thursday, "Based on all the evidence I have now, ...I'm still as convinced as I ever was that what we've been telling y'all for the past two days is the truth. As far as how the compact works, we did it right."

    "Now is the time for the people of Washington to heal and be comforted," Beebe said.

    It appears to me that there's a lot of thrashing about going on in Washington because Gregoire's tit is in the wringer.

    What's your take on that, T?

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  49. Ash,

    A constitution is the governing rule of law and order. If the Hondurans approved this constitution, who are you to question the will of "the people". Who was the former president to question the will of the public, the court, the legislature and the military?

    You don't really need to respond and brighten my day. Between you and Avatar X, never a day passes without a belly-aching laugh.

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  50. You and linear with the insults - sheesh.

    allen, your ignorance of the origination and specific clauses of the Honduran constitution is evident.

    The 'will of the people' did not bring it to fruition and the 'will of the people' can not change a few specific clauses of the constitution which renders it not 'the will of the people'.

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  51. ...don't tell me I've nothing to do

    Crank up your audio to drown out the gnashing of Ash's teeth...

    Bob, I think Melody makes a few brief appearances beginning about 2:52.

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  52. Leave your audio up for this.

    I once stumbled into a situation that put me between an angry mama bear and her cub. I'm damned lucky to be here. I kinda smiled her down, as I recall.

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  53. Daughter just pulled into Hilo after eight days at sea. Lucky kid.

    And in an oral presentation she finally revealed to all and sundry that she's an Army child.

    Dropped jaws and saucer-eyes all-round.

    "Mom, it's like coming out of the closet in a small town in the Sixties."

    Yes, dear. And now they're going to make you account personally for the past however many years of US defense policy, you offspring of evil baby-killers, you. Gird your lions.

    In Ho Chi Minh City there apparently is a museum with a gift shop at which one can purchase US dog tags. She was horrified. She said she had the overwhelming urge to buy them all so that no one else could put their grubby hands on them.

    Sweet, sweet girl.

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  54. Well we didn't win the drawing, and the wife, the quiter, wanted to come home and watch Victor Newman.

    I was walking in the woods one time Linear, on an old logging trail, way the hell and gone on the far side of Moscow Mountain when I came to a clearing with some dead timber in it, and some brush. All of a sudden two cubs scrambled up a tree, maybe thirty yards away, and then, maybe thirty feet away, momma stood up from behind a bush. I don't think their eyesight is so good, but her nose was sure working hard. I backed out slow, till out of sight, then ran like hell. One of the few times I've been out there without the twenty guage.

    Goodmorning, Professor Ash. I have the e-mails you requested, and also have done the adjustments to the figures, and destroyed the data, as you outlined.

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  55. and I'm sure you will use that info to support your Obama born in Kenya assertions.

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  56. That's my girl alright, but what's she doing in that den of degenerate punks?

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  57. and I'm sure you will use that info to support your Obama born in Kenya assertions

    But I've never asserted that. I've asserted it doesn't matter much where he was born, he's not a Natural Born Citizen.

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  58. Viktor Silo's car at the drags.

    From an email back in October. Viktor wrote, The old car
    is still in the shakedown phase but it is getting better. Driver is Tim Wong.

    This was the best run of the day. 7.91 but he shut down at the 1000' mark. That's why the speed is so slow."

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  59. riiiiight, and you've got the emails to prove it.

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  60. That was 2:52 in the video, Melody.

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  61. Thanks for the correction, for a second there, I thought you were stalking me.

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  62. And that wouldn't be me, I don't do anything for a half a second.

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  63. You've got the proof right at your finger tips, Ash.

    I don't know how many times I linked to Natural Born Citizen, where the major theme is, all this talk about birth certificates, while it could conceivably come up with something, misses the Constitutional point, which is Article 2 Section 1, and what the defintion is.

    Don't lose any sleep over it. Your guy is getting away with it.

    Stick to global warming, Professor, and the peer reviewed methodology.

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  64. The Citizens can change the Constitution in Honduras. But, the sitting President can't lobby for That Particular change.

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  65. I'm goin' up to the Catholic Church, where they are having their annual Christmas tree sale, and see if they'll deliver one for me. Kinda get in the spirit. Train Station Park is all lit up, downtown is all lit up, all up and down our street the houses are blazing away.

    It's colder than a buzzard's ass here today.

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  66. And in an oral presentation she finally revealed to all and sundry that she's an Army child.

    Good for her, Trish. "Dropped jaws and saucer-eyes all-around" conjures up the visitation of an angel to a conclave of zombies.

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  67. I believe you are incorrect rufus:

    Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution reads:

    "Article 239 — No citizen that has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President.

    Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."

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  68. I use to get my trees from the same place every year, so long, that they knew me when, I walked in. We use to chit chat for a while. He would walk around with me to try and help pick out a tree. I was so picky that, I use to leave and come back another day. After about 6 or 7 years, the year the trees weren't so good, I was having the toughest time and I said to the guy, "Why are all the good trees taken?" He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, all the good trees have orange ribbons on them doesn't that mean they've been picked and saved?"

    He laughed so hard, I thought he was going to pee himself. The orange tags were markings to tell the guys which ones to cut down and where to stop.

    "I've been coming here for seven years and all this time, I thought, I couldn't buy a tree with an orange tag."

    True story. I felt like an ass.

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  69. Oh geez, Maryland.

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  70. According to Brent Bozell:
    Alexandria, VA – For the fourteenth straight day, the three broadcast networks have failed to report on the great and growing ClimateGate scandal on their weekday morning or evening news programs.

    This left-leaning media is grossly negligent and a threat to democracy.

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  71. Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said NASA has refused for two years to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act that would show how the agency has shaped its climate data and would explain why the agency has repeatedly had to correct its data going as far back as the 1930s.

    James Hansen is at NASA, so this could very well be another Hadley CRU type scandal.

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  72. Tree's here, those Catholics are nothing if not efficient.

    E-Mail From Mat

    A bike you don't have to pedal downhill.

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  73. Kinda reminds me of some the graceful curves of my Lady Melody, who has "as many sides as a seal" in the words of Theodore Roethke, refering to his darling wife Beatrice.

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  74. I KNEW A WOMAN

    I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
    When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
    Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one;
    Those shapes a bright container can contain!
    Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
    Or English poets who grew up on Greek
    (I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek).

    How well her wishes went! She stroked my chin,
    She taught me Turn, and Counter-turn, and Stand;
    She taught me Touch, that undulant white skin;
    I nibbled meekly from her proffered hand;
    She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake,
    Coming behind her for her pretty sake
    (But what prodigious mowing we did make).

    Love likes a gander, and adores a goose;
    Her full lips pursed, the errant note to seize;
    She played it quick, she played it light and loose;
    Her several parts could keep a pure repose,
    Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose
    (She moved in circles, and those circles moved).

    Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay;
    I'm a martyr to a motion not my own;
    What's freedom for? To know eternity.
    I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.
    But who would count eternity in days?
    These old bones live to learn her wanton ways;
    (I measure time by how a body sways).

    T. Roethke

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  75. Ash wrote:

    "Article 239 — No citizen that has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President.

    Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."

    Fri Dec 04, 04:17:00 PM EST

    Well, duh, Ash...you have your answer coming straight from the ratified constitution. What more do you want? O, that's right, sorry, another Marxist by subterfuge.

    Looks like your out of look, Old Boy.

    To all, Shabbat Shalom!

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  76. The Friday night banking report:

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Regulators have shut down two banks in Georgia, bringing to 126 the number of U.S. bank failures this year in a climate of economic struggle and deepening loan defaults.

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday took over Buckhead Community Bank, based in Atlanta, with $874 million in assets and $838 million in deposits, and First Security National Bank, based in Norcross, Ga., with $128 million in assets and $123 million in deposits.

    State Bank and Trust Co., based in Macon, Ga., agreed to assume the deposits and assets of Buckhead Community Bank as well as the deposits and about $118 million of the assets of First Security National Bank.

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  77. Um, Whit, I'm not from Maryland. That's not what MLD stands for.

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  78. "Good for her, Trish."

    Yeah, we knew that the moment of the big reveal was extremely important to her and that she'd given it a lot of thought. I find it really touching.

    She now just has to spend the brief remainder of the voyage as an object of fascination. And probably some hostility. Oh, well, what can you do?

    She's enjoyed the whole experience immensely and has learned far more than even she anticipated.

    Our last month's phone bill? $500.

    Martinis at Rick's Place in Casablanca? Priceless. : )

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  79. Tell me, allen, were Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens the same person?

    Or was Mark Twain another one of the fabulous characters fabricated by Mr Clemens?

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  80. ratified? like ratified as the Iranian constitution is ratified?

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  81. I'd say not, ash.
    The Iranians did not have a lot of Army input, into their Constitution.
    Their ruling oligarchy is quite different from the one in Honduras.

    The Constitutional provision against any attempt by a sitting Executive is understandable, considering Honduran history.

    It is a small place, not really enough people to qualify as a country, only six million or so, if it were not for the rugged terrain and the remoteness of most of it.

    So when Mannie started the Constitutional referendum, he forfeited the Executive Office.

    He did not want to follow that part of the "rules" they all had agreed to play by. However those rules were developed, he accepted them when he became President and did not have any authority to do what he did, without leaving or being removed from office.

    That he took and then held the office of President meant he had ratified the legality of Constitution, and was bound by its' rules.
    Like it or not, fair or not.

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  82. Through out his adult life Mr Clemens used both his character, the avatar Mark Twain, and his real identity, depending upon the social or legal situation.

    They were not one and the same.
    Or were they?

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  83. 37. Roughcoat:

    This is for Richard–and, of course, for any one else who may be interested.

    Sorry to go off-topic, but I don’t know how to contact Richard directly.

    I greatly enjoyed Richard’s recent comments on the film, “The Halls of Montezuma.” I also think this is among the finest movies to be made about World II.

    Those who agree with this assessment might want to read my book,
    “Faithful Warriors: A Combat Marine Remembers the Pacific War,” published in May by Naval Institute Press.

    I do sincerely believe that this book provides accurately portrays what of our fighting men endured in history’s greatest conflict–what they thought, said, experienced; and, not least, the valor, heroism, and patriotism they exhibited. It does NOT contain the sort of post-modern drivel that Spielberg and his ilk put out in their films; nor is it in the leastways informed by their ambivalent sensibilities concerning what was done, and what needed to be done.

    It is one of the last books of its kind, insofar as it contains first- person accounts by the veterans of the 1/8 Marines, 2nd Marine Division, all in their late 80s and early 90s, all soon to depart our ranks.

    You can purchase the book at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble, Borders, and all the other usual suspect. My royalties for each sale amount to a few pennies on the dollar–I’m not advertising this book as a means of making money, but to let people know that there alternative out there to that bilge that Hollywood so often produces when dealing with our armed services. And I want people to know about the men who appear in the book: great Marines, great Americans, great friends.

    Readers of the book are invited to contact me if you wish to do so. I will assuredly reply.

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  84. "Our last month's phone bill? $500."
    ---
    Kid says that will soon be a thing of the past.
    Google has some amazing tools already:
    Mom leaves message to son on phone, Google converts it into text message so he can quickly scan those on his cellphone, rather than the bother of wading through voicemails.
    They have several other new features that I've already forgotten, not being a cell phone user.

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  85. "Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.""
    ---
    How does that represent a significant harm to the freedoms of the citizens?
    If our two term limit was made unchangeable, would our lives change in any meaningful way?

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  86. It is not unchangeable, but there is a heavy price to be paid, if one is seeking power, for oneself.

    No price to be paid, at all, if operating under the law, for the good of the country.

    There is nothing wrong or unethical about a ten year hiatus for a person seeking change, to repetitive powers.

    Assures that the "change" is not able to personally benefit the changer.

    Mannie agreed to those rules, when he took the office.

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  87. Mannie misunderestimated the power of the law, in Honduras.

    Once out of office, he can continue his campaign, while on hiatus.

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  88. Okay everybody out of the bathtub, there's a new EB post!

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  89. Okay, let me grab the bottle of wine and the Chinese food and...oh hell who needs clothes.

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  90. Poor Amanda!
    Italian Jury Convicts Student of Murder
    Amanda Knox, an American college student, and her sometime boyfriend were convicted of murdering her housemate after a closely-watched trial.
    ---
    Speaking of Evil Women...

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  91. She was convicted? I missed it.

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  92. rat wrote:

    "they all had agreed to play by. "

    on what authority to do base that statement on?

    It seems that no one in politics in Honduras can even broach the question of term limits, whether or not they are to be the beneficiary of the decision, and that strikes me as a rather glaring problem. Similarly, in Iran, if the citizenry cannot broach the question of Mullah rule there is a problem with their constitution as well.

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  93. rat wrote:

    "There is nothing wrong or unethical about a ten year hiatus for a person seeking change, to repetitive powers."

    I am unaware of such constitutional provisions in the Honduran constitution. Do they exist as stated?

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