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 18, 2009

Harsh Words and Finger Pointing follow Failure

In Copenhagen for two weeks, UN members had been crafting a new and greener future based on the Kyoto accord. Other than some anarchist protesters and video of Danish Police clubbing said protesters, everything was going according to schedule. Now, depending on your point of view, you can believe what you wish to believe. If you're an extreme green, you may choose to believe that President Obama highjacked the show and the whole thing collapsed. On the other hand, if you're acolyte of the Messiah, you may wish to believe that he swooped in at the last moment and salvaged what he could. As in typical in the world today, everything is spun and there is no straight answer but there appear to be some hot headed people around the world this morning:

Tim Jones, a spokesman for the World Development Movement, said: "The president said he came to act, but showed little evidence of doing so. He showed no awareness of the inequality and injustice of climate change. If America has really made its choice, it is a choice that condemns hundreds of millions of people to climate change disaster."

Friends of the Earth said in a statement, "Obama has deeply disappointed not only those listening to his speech at the UN talks, he has disappointed the whole world."

The World Wildlife Fund said Obama had let down the international community by failing to commit to pushing for action in Congress: "The only way the world can be sure the US is standing behind its commitments is for the president to clearly state that climate change will be his next top legislative priority."

Many delegates had been looking toward China and the U.S. - the world's two largest carbon polluters - to deepen their pledges to cut their emissions. But that was not to be.

The U.S. got its share of blame.

"President Obama was not very proactive. He didn't offer anything more," said delegate Thomas Negints, from Papua New Guinea. He said his country had hoped for "more on emissions, put more money on the table, take the lead."

Obama may eventually become known as "the man who killed Copenhagen," said Greenpeace U.S. Executive Director Phil Radford.

Money to help poor nations cope with climate change and shift to clean energy seemed to be where negotiators could claim most success. Pollution cuts and the best way to monitor those actions remained unresolved.

Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren, negotiating on behalf of the 27-nation European Union, blamed the impasse on the Chinese for "blocking again and again," and on the U.S. for coming too late with an improved offer, a long-range climate aid program announced Thursday by Clinton.

Someone is beginning to look like a one termer.

115 comments:

  1. Hard to beat an incumbent, with no one.
    Which is who the GOP has, today.

    With another 4 to 5 hundred billion stimulus dollars in the pipeline and about to flood Dem voters, Mrs Palin drew 700 people to Sandspoint, in Idaho.

    Not even close.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's true, but Mr. Obama is disappointing a lot of people. Making them mad even.

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  3. Which is not to say that drawing 700 people to the mall, at Sandspoint, is a small accomplishment, that is no easy feat.

    But does not begin to balance the political impact of $172 billion in "Jobs" legislation.

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  4. My old CT Republican friend, the one that abandoned the GOP for MoveOn.org, took the position that all went well, in Copenhagen.

    Doubt that it matters much, either way.

    Obama/Clinton will excite and invigorate all of the usual suspects. While the infighting amongst the Republicans has hardly even begun, but that New York district is leading the way in showing how fractured the GOP is.

    Neither Mrs Palin nor the Prince of Michigan can quickly unify those splinters.

    Those two are like oil and water.

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  5. Bottom line for the poor people of the whirled is that Obama failed to limit temperature change to 1.5 c. He gave them the death penalty of 2 c.

    Humanity weeps.

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  6. As folks here argue it is time to capture the GOP for the Conservative Cause.

    Which means taking it from the Bush Establishment.

    Which will not be easy, at all.
    Mitt Romney being part of that Establishment, while Mrs Palin is obviously not.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bottom line, the whirled continues forward, maintaining course and speed.

    Hang on!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hard to beat an incumbent, with no one.
    Which is who the GOP has, today.

    *Ford
    *Carter
    *George Bush, may disagree.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Obama will be easy to beat. All the guilt ridden white liberals that were the swing voters will have done their pennance. The youth vote was a one-offer. The election will be the GOP's to lose.

    The party of genius after all, did run Alan Keyes against Obama to make sure he became the senator from Illinois.

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  10. I'd argue that Mr Ford was more o a caretaker, than an incumbent, politically.

    He had no national network or organization that got him to the office.

    As to Mr Carter, Mr Reagan was far from no one.
    He had already battled for control of the Party, in the previous cycle, against Mr Ford. Mr Reagan had a greater national footprint, personally, than did Mr Ford. Mr Ford won the nomination on the strength of his incumbency, but lost the election in spite of it.

    There is no one in the position that Ronald Reagan held during the '68 and 72 cycles, in the Republican Party, today.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It could be the year of the angry white male. All they need is a candidate who can smile through steel teeth.

    ReplyDelete
  12. In a repeat of '68 & '72, the Establishment won the fight in '68 and lost in '72, but by putting George Sr on the ticket, Reagan assured "Establishment" control of the GOP for the next forty years.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Romney has the "best" teeth, but he is no conservative.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It's way too early to be talking about 2012 politics, that's an eternity away. Focus on 2010. Palin and Romney can show their chops by helping to get conservatives elected, even if it means independents instead of the mainline GOP RINOs they've been sending us. Palin already did us a big service by introducing the Death Panel meme. Romney needs to work the evangelicals who think Mormonism is a cult more dangerous and evil than Catholicism, even.

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  15. "But does not begin to balance the political impact of $172 billion in "Jobs" legislation."

    If it's as effective as what's been spent already on stimulus, it's mere pissing into the wind.

    If the GOP make progress, I suspect it will be coming from a state governor. However, the governors the party is pushing as the up and comers are not very attractive (to me).

    The guy from Virginia, Bob McDonnell, look like a future player. Family man, wife and five kids, veteran, former legislator and attorney general, now governor, good looking guy, the right age, conservative but pushes the issues people are concerned about like jobs and the economy.

    Virginia law has him term-limited even before he becomes governor. Unfortunately, 2012 is too close for him to get involved.

    I'm sure there are others out there I'm just not familiar with them yet.


    .

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  16. A little reading for our resident Buchenwald guard when he's on break.

    Jimmy Carter:

    "I have discussed ways to assist the citizens of Gaza with a number of Arab and European leaders and their common response is that the Israeli blockade makes any assistance impossible. Donors point out that they have provided enormous aid funds to build schools, hospitals and factories, only to see them destroyed in a few hours by precision bombs and missiles".

    It's those dern Isrealis targeting Gaza schools and hospitals, see?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I gave $100 to Rand Paul. I like him.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hallejujah!

    U.N. averts climate collapse...

    COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – U.N. climate talks avoided a total collapse on Saturday by skirting bitter opposition from several nations to a deal championed by the U.S. President Barack Obama and five emerging economies including China.

    "Finally we sealed a deal," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "The 'Copenhagen Accord' may not be everything everyone had hoped for, but this decision...is an important beginning."

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  19. I have some bad news for our self loathing expatriot. Canada is now seen amongst the worst of the worst environmentally. That's right, they're "carbon bullies". Raping and pillaging Gaia in the "tar sands of Alberta."

    On the other hand, the delegates at Copenhagen loved, loved, loved Evo Morales, Hugo Chavez and Lulo de Silva.

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  20. ...in a stormy overnight session, the talks came to the brink of collapse after Sudan, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia lined up to denounce the U.S.-led plan after about 120 world leaders left after a summit on Friday.

    You can't blame them after his imperial highness blew into town on the last day and blew up all their hard labor. To his credit, his highness did not commit the US to binding agreements. He did however have his SecState pledge $10 billion annually in wealth redistribution.

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  21. $100 billion/yr in 2020.
    ...assuming the glaciers have not overrun Copenhagen.

    ReplyDelete
  22. One conference wag said that the $10 billion is a pittance.

    The NGO are furious with his highness after being "frozen" out the final day's negotiations.

    Chinese Premier Win Jiabao flew in, made sure China's ass was covered, told everyone to be to be thankful for what they can get and left without a word to the media.

    ReplyDelete
  23. "There is no one in the position that Ronald Reagan held during the '68 and 72 cycles, in the Republican Party, today."
    ---
    Nor will there be in our lifetimes:

    Studied and wrote his butt off.
    Knew the Commies from the inside out.
    Lost and learned.
    Understood dynamic economic analysis, as well as JFK's Speeches enunciated it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Democrats Reach Deal on Healthcare

    For Rufus,

    "Reid needs the reading to end by 11:59 p.m. Saturday. This is because Reid needs at least one day, which would be Sunday, between when he moves to end the debate on the amendment and when the Senate votes early Monday morning."

    .

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  25. Now that the whirls leaders have once again proved incompetent to prevent the "coming incineration" look for the climate extremists to take measures into their own hands. I'm talking about a surge in eco-terrorism.

    ReplyDelete
  26. "The overall cost of the package was not immediately available, but aides said it would be more than covered by cutting future Medicare spending and raising taxes in the health sector, including a 40 percent excise on the most expensive insurance policies. The package would reduce budget deficits by $130 billion by 2019, aides said, and by as much as $650 billion in the decade thereafter. "
    ---
    Our kid's will be Rich!

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  27. It will cost me, and thee, about $2,000.00 apiece. That's the cost of healthcare for another 30 million divided by the number of taxpayers.

    ReplyDelete
  28. That's what it was Always going to cost, and that's what it has to cost. There is exactly 100 pennies in a dollar. And, me, and thee Always supply the Dollar (even if we do borrow it from the Chinee.)

    ReplyDelete
  29. According to a high level source, the US president clearly regarded Premier Wen’s absence as a major diplomatic insult, and snapped: “It would be nice to negotiate with somebody who can make political decisions.”

    Press conference

    ReplyDelete
  30. BULLSHIT!
    $15 K/year per family of all those making over $59,000.
    ...but projections always err on the lowside when govt "efficiency" is concerned.
    ---
    It SHOULD Cost 2k/yr
    IT WON'T!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I'm starting to conclude Rufus is a socialist that does not believe in the utility of the invisible hand.

    ReplyDelete
  32. ...just a start on the conclusion,
    mind you.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Doug: I'm starting to conclude Rufus is a socialist that does not believe in the utility of the invisible hand.

    The only invisible hand will be that of the IRS agent putting on latex gloves to look for any extra money I might have squirreled away.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Harder to buy US Treasuries

    In a discussion on the global role of the dollar, Zhu told an academic audience that it was inevitable that the dollar would continue to fall in value because Washington continued to issue more Treasuries to finance its deficit spending.

    He then addressed where demand for that debt would come from.

    "The United States cannot force foreign governments to increase their holdings of Treasuries," Zhu said, according to an audio recording of his remarks. "Double the holdings? It is definitely impossible."

    "The US current account deficit is falling as residents' savings increase, so its trade turnover is falling, which means the US is supplying fewer dollars to the rest of the world," he added. "The world does not have so much money to buy more US Treasuries."

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hell, at this rate, Schumer will be searchin for juicy turds, T!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Putz's nite out.
    ...or in, more correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  37. He showed no awareness of the inequality and injustice of climate change.

    Words like this, I don't understand, it's some kind of newspeak. Please translate that for me.

    What the hell does that mean--the inequality and injustice of climate change?

    Inequality

    Injustice

    Climate change

    ?

    WTF?

    If things warm up a bit, there would be some would benefit, some wouldn't, but, that's the case today.

    I protest the inequality and injustice of the current temperatures!!!!!!

    I hope we roll their ass in 2010.

    Idiots are running the world.

    In the meantime, Smile if you have lost your lover, your mate.

    It's one of the grave and constants that have been talked about, and my lovely, my Judy, helps all of us face it. If it happens to you.

    She at least has a real answer to a real problem, for many people, not at all like this climate fraud.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Let Judy know that al-Doug is immortal, Bob.

    She'll have to come to grips with reality sooner or later.

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  39. Doug, I've found it's always to be a little skeptical of Any "invisible" things.

    Our system works because it's a Combination of Capitalism, and Socialism. The "Middle" Ground has Always worked the Best for America.

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  40. Some of these assholes think music started with the Elvis, al-Doug!

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  41. Yeah, we ain't bankrupt, Rufus.
    ...YET!
    Ouirk linked 2018 as a pretty definite example of where our kids are headed, and it ain't goo.

    ReplyDelete
  42. I protest the inequality and injustice of the current temperatures!!!!!!

    I demand CLIMATE CHANGE NOW!

    Why should al-doug walk about in shorts, while I freeze my ass, and shiver, even in my Chinese longjohn underwear????

    And Rufus, you don't get off scot free either.

    Climate exploiter, down there in warm Mississip!!!

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  43. Warm Mississippi?

    I got yer Warm Mississippi dangling right'cher, Bubba.

    Look on the weather map for Memphis (N. Ms.) It's colder'n a witch's tit down here.

    ReplyDelete
  44. What's your temp, Ruf?

    Bet I can match it, and raise.

    Or, lower, rather.

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  45. It might be a little less than $2,000.00, Doug. A lot of that money we were paying, anyway.

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  46. We're in the 30's, Bob. Not cold by Ideeho standards, but colder'n I like it.

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  47. hmmm, so are we, in the thirties, today.

    But, you're in a cold snap, we're in a warm snap.

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  48. Okay Bobal, please take a look at my blog and tell me how it looks, I've been tweaking it all morning.

    I'd love to get a visit from Lady Melody too someday.

    ReplyDelete
  49. It's well done, Miss T.

    I like the Seattle skyline.

    And the song, Give Me A Reason.

    I was going to say, add Luck to your L words, but then I looked closer, it's there, right before Lucre.

    A good effort, deserving an A in bob's book of blogs.

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  50. I used to take the ferry over to Bremerton and back, when my cousin taught there.

    I know that skyline well.

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  51. what's on my mind this am?

    7500W Portable Propane Generator

    or should I go gas....

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  52. I'm thinking about a generator too.

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  53. I tried to post this on your blog, MIss T, but not sure if it went through, I need my daughter to help me---

    How did I stumble into here? It seems oddly familiar, but I feel a little lost, too. :)

    Best to you, Miss T.

    And, by the way, the condo is still vacant, for the Lionel Hampton fest, in late February, if you want to take advantage of it.

    Your friend, bobal

    ReplyDelete
  54. The Nopenchangers are Squalling.

    A Smorgasbord of Pain

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  55. I know Seattle well. I know how shocked I was, coming to the U of Washington campus, being offered drugs, by the drug sellers, right two steps on campus, where the city cops couldn't get them.

    I remember walking down towards the library one day, and the girls, five or six of them, had signs, to judge us men, as they felt we always do to them.

    They held up the signs, I got 8's and 9's, but not one 10, dammit.

    I recall the professors, three good ones, and one twit.

    I recall Dr. Stein, my major Shakespeare guy, how he gave us the grades, at the end of the year, and called us out, one by one, the worst leaving first, and how I shook in my booties, until there were few of us left, just me, another male fellow, and a Jewish girl, who always wore shoes that had a penny down by the toe.

    She drove me nuts. But had a fellow, so I was out.

    I remember how infrequently you could see Mt. Ranier, but when you could, it was glorious.

    I remember when I first hooked into T. Roethke, and began to understand him.

    I remember the old Knarr tavern, and the drunk Eskimos downtown.

    I remember the demos, the craparoo, the damn Beatles everywhere.

    Then, broke, I had to go farm.

    My salvation.

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  56. Thanks for trying to post Bob! It didn't go through, but Melody did leave a note. You should set up a blog of your own, Bobal.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Not me, hun, I'm not competent to do it, but I really appreciate your efforts, you, deuce, and whit.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Thanks Bob. You've always been my favorite Bar Fly.

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  59. Great post! Keep up the excellent work!!

    Common Cents
    http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com

    ps. Link Exchange?

    ReplyDelete
  60. And, ummh, Teresita, do you have to, e, er, squat like that? The crease in your jeens, and the suggestiveness of it, might give some an erection, and I know you didn't intend to do that, to get the men all stirred up.

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  61. Well duh!
    It's not like she "came out" last nite ya know, al-Bob!

    ReplyDelete
  62. SONG

    From whence cometh song?--
    From the tear, far away,
    From the hound giving tongue,
    From the quarry's weak cry.

    From whence, love?
    From the dirt in the street,
    From the bolt, stuck in its groove,
    From the cur at my feet.

    Whence, death?
    From dire hell's mouth,
    From the ghost without breath,
    The wind shifting south.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Quite shocking, al-Doug
    I do agree
    A crease in those jeens
    Is not
    Between you and me.

    ReplyDelete
  64. rufus said...
    It might be a little less than $2,000.00, Doug. A lot of that money we were paying, anyway.
    ---
    Rufus INSISTS on always being wrong.
    Next he'll be tellin us when Pootie Poot gets the Union back together the way it was, they'll leave the Chinee in the dust.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Lord Monckton describes being knocked out by a Danish cop in Copenhagen. But that really isn’t the centerpiece of his blogpost. It was when he woke up and realized it was to a world he presumed would never live in that the really interesting part of his narrative begins. All around him a carnival was in full swing amid which cops, like black beetles, prowled. The imagery of it smote him. The “show” events sponsored by the EU and the UN; the casual brutality by the cops, the emphasis being on the ‘casual’, the whole pointless insanity of it shook him to the core. He wrote:

    Europe is no longer a free society. It is, in effect, a tyranny ruled by the unelected Kommissars of the European Union. That is perhaps one reason why police forces throughout Europe, including that in the UK, have become far more brutal than was once acceptable in their treatment of the citizens they are sworn to serve.

    It is exactly this species of tyranny that the UN would like to impose upon the entire planet, in the name of saving us from ourselves – or, as Ugo Chavez would put it, saving us from Western capitalist democracy.
    ---
    Ol Wretch:
    What a Paranoid.
    Rufus and I know Ugo will take care of his Sulfurous Crudes as well as The Won will care for us Dry Holes.

    ReplyDelete
  66. And, ummh, Teresita, do you have to, e, er, squat like that? The crease in your jeens, and the suggestiveness of it, might give some an erection, and I know you didn't intend to do that, to get the men all stirred up.

    Bob, I'm very comfortable in my body. So I got a camel toe. I like the fit form, and function of my junk, and so do the other gals in my circle. I won't ask you to hide the bulge in your pants.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Europe is no longer a free society.

    True.

    I give America one more vote, hope we win.

    Then, I think, my aunt may have been right--

    "Bob, my child, vhat vee neeed ist a strooong King."

    ReplyDelete
  68. Yes We Did:


    You racist oppressors can whine forever about times gone by. President Obama rules this country now and the Progressives control the government. They are leading us all forward into a new world of peace and justice.

    The time of the racist white male oppressor has gone, never to return. Just shut up and pay your reparations.

    ReplyDelete
  69. LifeOf said...

    "The brutality of the Danish police may indicate that they are now the incipient tools of new Gaulieters, willing to serve any authoritarian impulse. Many Americans viewed our own law enforcement community with dread after the excesses of Janet Reno’s reign of terror. I understand that but as a former member of the community I view the tool with less fear than I do the hand behind it.

    It is possible that in the small countries of Europe, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, a reaction is setting in and the police are finally being told to defend their own people. We should not assume either the best or the worst. The tide may not have turned but we should not heed the advice of our enemies that resistance is futile.

    As the Mayor of Chicago said in response to a similar disturbance,

    The police are not there to create disorder, they are there to preserve disorder.
    "

    All time Classic

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  70. I won't ask you to hide the bulge in your pants.

    heh, thankfully

    I had a problem with that, once or twice

    but now I hope to reserve this for Melody.

    ReplyDelete
  71. When my daughter gets here for the Holidays, I'll have her put up a few pics of Sarah Signing Lines in Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint, and the ski lanes down that big mountain, outside of Sandpoint, and some boys playing on the ice of the big lake.

    ReplyDelete
  72. 17. AWM:

    Revolution indeed.

    Revolution by the working class, who are well armed, and can’t wait to stick that bayo in deep and twist it! Twice!
    Revolution by disciplined, intelligent, capable, organized and well equipped/led forces, aka the working class. Completely capable in all areas of specialty required. Focussed on a single outcome, arresting/replacing the corrupt criminal enterprise masquerading as political leadership. Round’em all up, we will figure out what to do with them later. Want to join us? Show me your W2 from the private sector!

    The most capable will succeed brilliantly, and that ain’t the welfare/disability/I’m a victim/drug addict/disenfranchised types.

    Compare Florida’s hurricane experiences with that of New Orleans after Katrina.
    One group efficiently and quietly helped themselves, the other had not only no ability, but far worse, no concept.

    These working folks can interrupt power, water, mail, communications, distribution on a national scale, overnight!

    GUILT? Yep, feelings of guilt because this action was delayed far too long!

    AUTHORITY? The Constitution of the United State!

    ---
    Ah, to be 22 again.
    ...and well armed!

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  73. Have your daughter teach you how to take care of yourself Old Man!

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  74. So, doug, you've sent your membership dues to the Anti Defamation League of B'nai B'rith?

    ReplyDelete
  75. A well read, strong, and compassionate Prince, may be our salvation, al -Doug....

    But I don't really believe in that either.

    I believe in going one's own way

    in small government

    and true compassion

    ReplyDelete
  76. Someone is beginning to look like a one termer.

    Getting back on track, I think that is a good prediction.

    People are starting to see through this fraud, from A to Z.

    After all, when is the last time I, or people like me, really got pissed off, to the extent we are actually active?

    ReplyDelete
  77. The bulge in your pants
    Is something that cans't
    But attract my attention


    Said Melody

    Said bob, what to do
    Where to turn
    The evidence is true
    The body says


    I lust for you

    ReplyDelete
  78. I am sure that you recall, Quirk, that the $uper Stimulus of 2009 was back loaded to impact during 2010.

    As the threads here at the Bar documented, time and again, the money has not yet reached the streets, it soon will, in abundance.

    The new Jobs Legislation will be front loaded, to impact 2010.

    That's multiple hundreds of billions that the Federals are about to dispense.

    That will have a political impact, payola always does.

    Andrew Jackson rewarded his voters with whiskey, so old school.

    ReplyDelete
  79. T'is all true, Rat. But, they might have been just a little too smart. The old saw is, you have to have things in order by April, or it's too late.

    I don't think they're going to make it by April. If the Dems don't catch a bolt of lightening they might be in pretty deep shit come November.

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  80. I am sure that there will be no shortage of "Walk Around" money, in Philadelphia or Chicago.
    Nor in Los Angeles or Detroit City.

    To say nothing of Cleveland and Miami.

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  81. The $uper $timulus of '09 is already loaded and ready to fire, rufus.

    They've had a year to prep, it's been well thought out. Or are the political leaders of 72% of the self-proclaimed smartest people in America, even the whole whirled, are they really not that bright?

    The second volley, the Jobs Legislation, may be late, but it may not. The Dems may well catch that lightning bolt, especially as their personal welfare depends upon it.

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  82. Well, the "Media" will be telling us how great it is by April.

    I'm Not "Selling them Short."

    I would have never dreamed in a hundred years that they could have gotten a black, America-hating, Kenyan, Communist named Barack Hussein Obama elected President in 08'; but they did.

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  83. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  84. While bob proclaims his desire for "small" government, he does not want the Federals to privatize title to 20% of the land in the United States claimed by the Federal government.

    How could anything that held title to that much of the United States ever be considered "small"?

    Those are bi-polar positions

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  85. 35. hmmm:

    when is rahm emanuel’s census going to completed for the redistricting purposes?

    somehow I expect that process might be expedited. after so many unprecedented events lately I wouldn’t be surprised.

    China had at least one thing right, the old curse of “may you live in interesting times”

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  86. Charles Dickens

    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

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  87. A Tale of Two Cities:
    (1859)


    Steady as she goes,
    maintain course and speed.

    For over 250 years.

    ReplyDelete
  88. ... the period was so far like the present period ...

    But wait, in 1859, Mr Dickens was writing about 1775.

    Over 335 years of feeling that the "same ole same" is somehow unique, when it is happening to you.

    ReplyDelete
  89. And each day, doug, of those 335 years, would have been interesting, if you were present for it.

    That is if you consider your life and times to be interesting, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Ratster, I shore hope you don't do your own txes. Of course, maybe that's how you got rich. :)

    2010 - 1775 might = 235; you reckon?

    ReplyDelete
  91. No, rufus, I hire that addin' and subtractin' done.

    Often use an editor, too.

    But not for output here at the Bar.

    This is purely recreational.

    But still, its' 235 years of the same ole same being considered unique and special, the best or the worst, ever.

    ReplyDelete
  92. While bob proclaims his desire for "small" government, he does not want the Federals to privatize title to 20% of the land in the United States claimed by the Federal government.

    I'll answer that again, for I drift off and dream of Melody.

    Yes, I'm in favor, pretty much, of the system we have now.
    The reason is simple, it's the people's land---I know, I know--and it's there for future generations.

    The alternative is, basically, to sell it off.

    Then, both Rat and I are losers.

    And I can't even dream of humping Melody by the Secesh.

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  93. Bob: I'll answer that again, for I drift off and dream of Melody.

    Don't you think Mrs. Bob Al Harb mightn't, you know, like that? You ol' Tiger!

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  94. :) We all have our dream lives.

    Who might she be dreaming of, my good wife, two doors away?

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  95. If either Obama or Bush is described to be as bad as Hitler, if Obama is comparable to Stalin or Mao.

    Then of course Bibi is easily comparable to all those miscreants, as well.

    Gaza easily become the Warsaw ghetto.

    If the US is in such dire straits, if the President can really be accurately described as disciple of Stalin or Marx, then the current violations of the Geneva Accords are comparable to Auschwitz.

    War Criminals abound.

    If Iran is NAZI Germany, Israel is the Soviet Union.

    Or we admit that the trials and tribulations of today, well amigos, they do not compare to the horror that was the first half of the 20th century.

    Not by half.

    Not even a tenth.

    Not 1% of the horror exists today, despite the change in the weather.

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  96. Bob's Rule One of a lasting marriage--

    After the births, an so forth, after the fascination has worn off, high thee to thy own bed.

    Your wife may well like her beauty sleep, and not particularily like your snore, nor your habits, past midnight.

    Give her her space, keep your own, when an urge occurs, on either side, back and forth, act forthrightly.

    And, sometimes, even hold hands in public, with the lady who has been your better half for thirty years.

    They like that.

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  97. No, bob, it is not the "peoples" land.

    You are denied access to large segments of it.

    You are not allowed to drill for oil on it. You cannot buy or lease the rights, at any price.

    Nor can any other private citizen.

    You're a communist in Brownshirt garb, bob.

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  98. And, let her run the checkbook.

    That's important.

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  99. O bullshit Rat.

    You sell it off, your ass is sitting in some Phoenix suburb, forever.

    If you don't like the way the forests are run, get involved, change it, but no no no sell off.

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  100. What leads you to believe the Federals can better manage that property then private interests would?

    Look to the current forestry techniques employed by the Federals and the huge losses to fire, losses that are directly attributable to poor forest management. Letting the underbrush build up, until it creates the fuel for a firestorm.

    The Federals can no better manage that land than the UN can better manage the climate in the whirled's best interest.

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  101. I helped raise and spend over $50,000 to force the Forest Service to obey the Federal law.

    The Federals were criminals, looking out for their own best interests. Trying to lessen their own work load, by killing off your publicly held assets.


    You'd be AMAZED at the FEDERAL land used for PRIVATE golf courses, here, there, everywhere.

    You're bi-polar Brownshirt.

    Definitely not for small government, regardless of what may say.

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  102. They may not manage them better. I'm not really arguing that.

    Though I think the Feds are doing better now, than a couple decades ago.

    I want them to be your forests, Rat, and my forests, our national heritage.

    We can go fishing there someday, not have to ask Lester Crown for permission, which would not be granted.

    Happilly, I don't see them being sold off.

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  103. I'm not arguing your Sat Dec 19, 11:00:00 PM EST, I salute you for doing so.

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  104. Wonder what the Presidio, in San Fransisco, would bring on the open market?

    The Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, more prime real estate that could be sold. Debt retired.

    There are all types and sizes of Federal property that are "islands" in deeded areas. These could be sold, under reasonable land management policies.

    The monies recieved used for buying private "islands" in the "Parks and Monuments" that the Federals do maintain, after divestiture.

    Through the sale of real estate, that was how the Founders funded "small" government.

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  105. Rat, you don't want Lester Crown owning the Secesh.

    Think about it.

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  106. "The $uper $timulus of '09 is already loaded and ready to fire, rufus.

    They've had a year to prep, it's been well thought out..."



    :)


    .

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  107. I swear, I could listen to that Judy Garland until the sun comes up, she of the beautiful voice.

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  108. White House Claims Best First Year Since FDR

    "In an interview, Mr. Emanuel said the developments showed that Mr. Obama “sets out the North Stars for us” in terms of broad and ambitious goals..."



    .

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