Honduras stood its ground and the despicable Zelaya diminishes by the day holed up like the rat he is in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
Excellent. Score one for the good guys
This clip is in Spanish, but subtitled and with some amusing comments. Enjoy it. It is so refreshing to see the people of a country be able to overthrow a repressive regime and to have the guts to do so with world pressure against them.
_______________________
Honduran Congress votes down Zelaya's reinstatement
BBC
Congress in Honduras has voted overwhelmingly against allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya to serve out the last two months of his term.
Of the 125 members of Congress present, 111 voted against his reinstatement.
Mr Zelaya, who was ousted in June, had told the BBC that he would refuse reinstatement in any case because he did not want "to legitimise a coup".
Conservative politician Porfirio Lobo won Sunday's presidential elections, which were condemned by Mr Zelaya.
As well as Brazil, several other nations, including Argentina and Venezuela, have refused to recognise the vote, arguing it was held under an illegitimate government.
The US cautiously welcomed the polls, and Peru, Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica also voiced their support.
'Honduran reality'
After Congress voted not to reinstate him until his term ends in January, Mr Zelaya said: "This decision ratifies a coup and condemns Honduras to continue living in illegality."
On Monday, he had said the election of Mr Lobo as the next president had served only to intensify the political crisis.
Speaking to BBC Mundo from inside the Brazilian embassy where he took refuge in September, he said: "Will the elections change the military leadership that conducted the coup that ousted me? It remains the same. Will the elections change the composition of the Supreme Court that issued an arrest warrant [against me] without due cause? It remains the same," Mr Zelaya said.
Mr Lobo, who lost to Mr Zelaya in the 2005 election, has pledged to form a unity government and seek dialogue.
Mr Lobo, who is due to take office on 27 January, also urged the international community to "understand the Honduran reality and stop punishing the country".
Mr Zelaya was forced into exile on 28 June after trying to hold a vote on whether a constituent assembly should be set up to look at rewriting the constitution.
His critics said the vote, which was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, aimed to remove the current one-term limit on serving as president and pave the way for his possible re-election.
Mr Zelaya has repeatedly denied this and pointed out that it would have been impossible to change the constitution before his term in office was up.
You know, the communists in the White House really aren't doing too well.
ReplyDeleteThis whole, "running the world," thing is probably just a little harder than they thought it would be.
ReplyDeleteThe Preacher held his masked face rigidly confronting Farad'n. "Governments may rise and fall for reasons which appear insignificant, Prince. What small events! An argument between two women . . . which way the wind blows on a certain day . . . a sneeze, a cough, the length of a garment or the chance collision of a fleck of sand and a courtier's eye. It is not always the majestic concerns of Imperial ministers which dictate the course of history, nor is it necessarily the pontifications of priests which move the hands of God....Your eye is upon the power, not upon its subtle uses and its perils. Your future is filled, thus, with manifest unknowns: with arguing women, with coughs and windy days. How can you create an epoch when you cannot see every detail? Your tough mind will not serve you. This is where you are weak." --Frank Herbert, "Children of Dune"
ReplyDeleteT,
ReplyDeleteWhy, T, you simply use the DR rule of moral equivalency: nothing really matters. Therefore, the brain can be shut down, blissfully floating in a cesspool.
Insubordinate
ReplyDeleteCongrats on Honduras....
ReplyDeleteAmerican engagement in Lebanon
ReplyDeleteIn 1862 American missionaries in Lebanon and Syria, under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, asked Dr. Daniel Bliss to establish a college of higher learning that would include medical training. On April 24, 1863, while Dr. Bliss was raising money for the new college in the United States and England, the State of New York granted a charter for the Syrian Protestant College. The college, which was renamed the American University of Beirut in 1920, opened with a class of 16 students on December 3, 1866. Dr. Bliss served as its first president, from 1866 until 1902.
AUB alumni have had a broad and significant impact on the region and the world for many years. For example, 19 AUB alumni were delegates to the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945 – more than any other university in the world. AUB graduates continue to serve in leadership positions as presidents of their countries, prime ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, governors of central banks, presidents and deans of colleges and universities, businesspeople, engineers, doctors, teachers, and nurses. They work in governments, the private sector, and in nongovernmental organizations.
Way before Bush....
"misdirection" hits it again. When stressed he has a resource, one that proves the US did not try to democratize Arabs. But that American missionaries which were not part of the US government, did go and try to educate the heathens.
ReplyDeleteNot the same as a Government effort, but a religiously motivated one that was bound to fail, and did.
Because democracy was not what was being promoted, that was not the mission the missionaries were one, it never is.
So, again, when pushed, the truth is revealed and wi"o" is again shown to be misinformed, about the US and its history.
If it had been a US government effort, the good Doctor would not have been in England, raising private funds to support it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn allen's mind the Europeon folks in the Isreali section of the Levant, well, they are more than equal.
ReplyDeleteSo no equality is possible.
That is just so un-American.
rat continues:
ReplyDeleteSo, again, when pushed, the truth is revealed and wi"o" is again shown to be misinformed, about the US and its history.
Rather than read and learn, rat responds, he does not have the ability to understand more than a 30 second sound bite...
American involvement in the middle east and it's engagement in nationalism is a wide and varied effort,,,
But rat doesnt have google on his computer nor that old fashioned place that holds books of history..
Rat is to lazy to actually learn American history but loves to point at me that I didnt cap "america" in a sentence MONTHS ago...
Rat's views on anything middle eastern is warped beyond anything rational people understand. It's hard to glean real facts from the "PLO handbook of the Zionist entity"
America has been linked to the middle east since the early 1800's, after the barbary wars, and since i will not do a history project for him he attacks...
to bad...
rats are lazy ya know...
He must have spent to much time in that failed educational system that he mentioned.
ReplyDeleteNo other resource to cite, but on that proves him wrong, "misdirection" is at it again.
ReplyDeleteIt was not the "america", wi"o", it was the lies you told to cover it up, when the shit hit the fan.
You would not stand by your actions. Moral coward that you are.
The Tribes
ReplyDelete...But the stupidity of our current administrations efforts are not what got the blood up this morning….what do you expect from a President with no prior executive experience and Hillery Clinton?
This article from the New York Times about tribes resisting the Taliban is why I’m pounding away on the laptop in a Dubai hotel lobby.
Authored by Dexter Filkins the article announces a new strategy to called the Community Defense Initiative which is designed to engage and arm the tribes in the east and south.
The article talks about our bearded Special Forces helicoptering into Nangarhar Provinces Achin district with flour and some other nonsense to support the tribal chiefs who have run out the Taliban. It talks about other SF soldiers “fanning our across the country” to engage the tribes and support them in defending their lands and way of life from depredations by the Taliban. Dexter Filkins writes a great article and it is worth reading but unfortunately as in most things published by the New York Times it is complete bullshit.
---
---
I know that I make this point over and over but feel compelled to point out yet again that one cannot “do” counterinsurgency by commuting daily from a large FOB. The concept of “bearded Special Forces” fanning out all over the country to help the tribal chiefs is a joke. What needs to happen is to put American troops into these tribal areas to live with, train with, and become allies with those tribes. There is no other way and you don’t need “Special Forces” for that mission – regular infantry can do the job with no additional training. The SF guys should shave off those beards anyway – 8 years of incompetently planned and executed “HVT” missions have given those guys a well deserved bad reputation while accomplishing nothing of significance. What the hell is this helicoptering into Achin district by the “bearded soldiers” to pass out flour all about anyway? They could drive into the damn district in less than an hour, rent a nice safe house, move in and hang out for a year or two thus demonstrating a little commitment to the local tribes while simultaneously actually learning something about the place and its people. If they were really smart they would leave the beards, shed the uniform, rent local vehicles and ditch the stupid MRAP’s – that way the bad guys would not be able to so easily target them with IED’s – but that kind of thinking appears to be a bridge too far for the Army these days.
The American military is a world leading institution when it comes to developing and using emerging technology. Unfortunately that technology now allows our bloated, top heavy staffs to micromanage units in the field to an unprecedented degree. The results were predictable back in the 80’s when my Marine peers and I were first dealing with the impact of satellite position reporting systems, radios which actually worked most of the time and commanders who had video screens to watch in their operations centers. What we predicted back then and are seeing today is the stifling of initiative on the ground combined with the removal of the tactical decision making by the commander on the ground. Our OODA loop has now been slowed down so much by the ability of multiple staffs far removed from the battle to insert themselves into the process that we risk becoming as slow and cumbersome as the old Soviet Army. If we do not step away from the computers, comfortable quarters, lavish DFAC’s and get our collective asses out into the field to really protect the population we are going to end up with another mark is the “lost” column. There is no excuse for that.
DR: In allen's mind the Europeon folks in the Isreali section of the Levant, well, they are more than equal.
ReplyDeleteFriend, there has been a Disaspora before, the Jews were carted off to the Babylonian Empire about 587 BC. When they returned, they were still Jews, even if you would call them the "Babylonian people in the Isreali section of the Levant." They observed the Passover, the Law, and hand-copied the Torah from generation to generation. This latest Diaspora after the Roman Empire took their turn is no different. If by some misfortune the Jews are scattered again, perhaps landing in China, they will return again, little brown people with epicanthic folds observing the 613 Mitzvot, and your spiritual descendant will no doubt disdain the "Chinese people in the Isreali section of the Levant."
I did not challenge the US had a part in whirled history, or the history of the Med, over the past 210 years.
ReplyDeleteThat was not the strawman claim "misdirection" made to start the discussion.
Now he wants to expand what the definition of is "is". Just like the Democrat that he claims to have been. A tiger cannot shed its stripes, aye?
Don't miss that one, 'Rat:
ReplyDeleteSounds like you wrote it.
...not too nice a picture of the "insight" of the leaders of the Special Forces.
I would only disdain them if they took their new residences by force and terror tactics, used against civilians with whom they had previously agreed to truce and peace with. Attacking those civilians without even the courtesy to tell them the truce was over, before hand.
ReplyDeleteMoral and physical cowards that they were, in the Irgun of Isreal.
I would disdain the Chinese immigrants if they used indiscriminate bombings of cafes and markets to terrorize the civilian population already there, in the Levant, when they arrived to start their 'new lives', Ms "T".
ReplyDeletewhy argue with a rat?
ReplyDeleteno matter what you say, he will twist it...
he will distort, lie and invent...
once a rat, always a rat...
I can list your lies and misinformation, "misdirection".
ReplyDeleteBut you cannot answer in kind.
Nor can allen, when he calls me a fascist.
The facts and history are on my side of this debate.
As are the demographics of the Levant. Olmert is right, the Islreali hardliners are wrong.
As the hardliners were proven wrong in South Africa.
Moderation now would be in the Europeon stock of the Levants' best interest, some of those folks see it, some do not.
But the hardline inevitably cracks.
JEEZE,
ReplyDeleteThis war is unstopable, and I ain't talkin Afghanistan.
As I said before, don't miss my
ReplyDeleteThu Dec 03, 09:28:00 AM EST
Link, 'Rat!
And when it does, the nukes don't matter.
ReplyDeleteThe South Africans, again, proving the folly of "nuking up", for internal security.
As the Pakistani are also exemplifying.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteObama and the boys are going to do what I recommended for Iraq, doug.
ReplyDeleteDeclare success and leave, being sure to have a parade when the troops come home.
They are planting the seeds of the story now. It will blossom, in 18 months, right before the US election.
The direct mail genius could not manipulate the media, but I think that the management of Obamamerica has them in their pocket.
Well, except for Maureen Dowd, who must have pissed off the preening Ms Rogers some how or another.
In most places we know and work in the government is more of a problem for the local people than the Taliban. This is a well documented fact which should not have surprised our Marine hosts.
ReplyDeleteTribal Chiefs like Ajmal Zaizi are focused on their people and must protect them from outsiders who try to take their lands, rape their children, and disrupt the delicate balance of tribal social mores which allow all to live in peace. I have not heard of one reported rape of a child by Taliban but you can find dozens of articles about Afghan Security Forces being accused of that heinous crime with a simple goggle search. So when a tribal chief drives all the unsavory characters preying on his people off his lands who is it that he is driving out? In Ajmal’s case it was both the Taliban and the GIRoA officials appointed by the Karzai government in Kabul.
You mean direct mail is not the new New Thing?
ReplyDeleteThe Beard! It's all about The Beard, man!
ReplyDeleteThe Beard allows you two more seconds of a second look before your ass is gone.
Who is that dickwad?
Dedicated to Ms Rogers
ReplyDeleteThot you would like it Trish!
ReplyDeleteSomehow, he and his fellow dickwads have survived quite well, even w/o beards.
...all for your perusal @ that site.
The "boys" come back from "over, over there", ending both wars on Obama's watch.
ReplyDeleteObama, it will be said, took taken a "keen" interest in the goings on of the military, as illustrated by his early visit to Dover AFB, where the sight of the returning heroes stirred him to action. The status que of the "Long War" obviously a folly to follow.
Bush and Rove could not bring themselves to do it, but for Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, it'll be like getting out of bed. Nothing to it, but to do it.
Media manipulation being their stock and trade.
I DO miss the beard. We all miss the beard.
ReplyDeleteEvery guy oughta have one.
Walk around *your* town with a serious beard and all of a sudden you are the wisest fucking guy on the planet.
If you weren't already. ; )
General Electric, Mickey Mouse and Mr Redstone are all on board, already.
ReplyDeleteEven Mr Murdock will not push it as a US defeat, when the "boys" come home. That the US military has failed in its mission has never been part of his editorial content, it will not be in 18 months, either.
Roger Ailes will not go there.
"If you weren't already. ; )"
ReplyDeleteNever have been a fan of scraggly beards.
Mine would detract from my already questionably wise guy status, I fear.
'Rat's all about the Narrative.
ReplyDeleteThe Narrative is the Reality.
Who are we to argue, in Newspeak World?
Hundreds of thousands of Sephardic Jews moved to the new state of Israel after being expelled from their ancient homelands in North Africa and Asia. Sephardic Jews look very much like others in the region, if looks count for anything.
ReplyDeleteWiO, when a guy doesn't know the difference between The Bible and The Koran or The Book of Mormon or The Cub Scout Manuel, well, debate is pointless. Just rack'em up and break.
As you all have commented, the Taliban may well "lay low" while the surge takes place. This would provide an illusion of success that will be trumpeted as victory.
ReplyDeleteThe prospect that an increase in violence will not to occur, in Afghanistan, until after the majority of our presence, to include western reporters, are gone from there is not without substance.
...at least until Reality Pays Another Visit upon the Hometurf.
ReplyDeleteI know the difference 'tween the books, allen, it is the content of those bibles that is in conflict, not the fact that they are all bibles.
ReplyDeleteWiO,
ReplyDeleteJust for the record, I was born during the year of the rat. So, take it easy on the rodents.
The Chinese think highly of rats, which is why the year of the rat leads off their zodiac.
Our rat is not really a rat at all. Puff Adder is more likely.
Oh, no. Not scraggly. Like six fucking inches long. A no-dicking-around beard.
ReplyDeleteYou know they have to start on those things early. And then the neighbors are wondering, "What the hell?"
Been through a couple of beard cycles.
True enough, doug, but the odds of such a reality emanating from Afghanistan are extremely low.
ReplyDeleteIt is much more likely that the next incident is either going to be homegrown or imported from another part of the Americas.
Ah yes, the great Canuckistanian Threat.
ReplyDelete...or am I missing something?
Like the rest of the hemisphere.
I doubt our resident ME scholar has ever bothered to read the Koran or the Book of Mormon. Had he, there could be no way to confuse them with The Bible. But diligent, conscientious study can lead to such things as informed opinions...G-d forbid...Life is so much easier when everything is a target for an ill defined sense of self.
ReplyDeleteO, sorry Manuel!
Canada more likely the source than Mexico.
ReplyDelete"Been through a couple of beard cycles."
ReplyDelete---
Hope the Testosterone did not leave any residual rage.
Funded by our very own Ashley, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteThe actual Koran is available in a Semitic language I do not read, so I cannot make comment upon it.
ReplyDeleteThe Book of Mormon, that I read, and an interesting book of fiction it is.
But millions of other folk believe it to be the "Divine Word", and so it is, for them the Bible.
The Book.
That their Book is equivalent to your Book grates on you, I know, but that's the reality, in America.
ReplyDeleteLOL
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I have a special fondness for the Special. The Be-All-End-All they're not. And dickwad's confusing some guys with beards with other guys with beards. But we get more than our money's worth out of them.
Well, doug, prior to 9-11-01 the publicly acknowledge Islamic terror op was the attempt to smuggle explosives in from Canada, to attack the "Needle" in Seattle, if memory serves me.
ReplyDeleteThe Islamic population is larger and more radicalized than their Mexican counterparts. Though the organized criminal element from Mexico could become terrorist mercenaries, easily enough.
Friday Morning at the Pentagon
ReplyDeleteHere's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media Matters for America Website.
"It is 110 yards from the "E" ring to the "A" ring of the Pentagon. This section of the Pentagon is newly renovated; the floors shine, the hallway is broad, and the lighting is bright. At this instant the entire length of the corridor is packed with officers, a few sergeants and some civilians, all crammed tightly three and four deep against the walls. There are thousands here.
This hallway, more than any other, is the `Army' hallway. The G3 offices line one side, G2 the other, G8 is around the corner. All Army. Moderate conversations flow in a low buzz. Friends who may not have seen each other for a few weeks, or a few years, spot each other, cross the way and renew.
Everyone shifts to ensure an open path remains down the center. The air conditioning system was not designed for this press of bodies in this area.
The temperature is rising already. Nobody cares. "10:36 hours: The clapping starts at the E-Ring. That is the outermost of the five rings of the Pentagon and it is closest to the entrance to the building. This clapping is low, sustained, hearty. It is applause with a deep emotion behind it as it moves forward in a wave down the length of the hallway.
"A steady rolling wave of sound it is, moving at the pace of the soldier in the wheelchair who marks the forward edge with his presence. He is the first. He is missing the greater part of one leg, and some of his wounds are still suppurating. By his age I expect that he is a private, or perhaps a private first class.
"Captains, majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels meet his gaze and nod as they applaud, soldier to soldier. Three years ago when I described one of these events, those lining the hallways were somewhat different. The applause a little wilder, perhaps in private guilt for not having shared in the burden ... yet.
"Now almost everyone lining the hallway is, like the man in the wheelchair, also a combat veteran. This steadies the applause, but I think deepens the sentiment. We have all been there now. The soldier's chair is pushed by, I believe, a full colonel.
"Behind him, and stretching the length from Rings E to A, come more of his peers, each private, corporal, or sergeant assisted as need be by a field grade officer.
"11:00 hours: Twenty-four minutes of steady applause. My hands hurt, and I laugh to myself at how stupid that sounds in my own head. My hands hurt... Please! Shut up and clap. For twenty-four minutes, soldier after soldier has come down this hallway - 20, 25, 30.... Fifty-three legs come with them, and perhaps only 52 hands or arms, but down this hall came 30 solid hearts.
ReplyDeleteThey pass down this corridor of officers and applause, and then meet for a private lunch, at which they are the guests of honor, hosted by the generals. Some are wheeled along.... Some insist upon getting out of their chairs, to march as best they can with their chin held up, down this hallway, through this most unique audience. Some are catching handshakes and smiling like a politician at a Fourth of July parade. More than a couple of them seem amazed and are smiling shyly.
"There are families with them as well: the 18-year-old war-bride pushing her 19-year-old husband's wheelchair and not quite understanding why her husband is so affected by this, the boy she grew up with, now a man, who had never shed a tear is crying; the older immigrant Latino parents who have, perhaps more than their wounded mid-20s son, an appreciation for the emotion given on their son's behalf. No man in that hallway, walking or clapping, is ashamed by the silent tears on more than a few cheeks. An Airborne Ranger wipes his eyes only to better see. A couple of the officers in this crowd have themselves been a part of this parade in the past.
These are our men, broken in body they may be, but they are our brothers, and we welcome them home. This parade has gone on, every single Friday, all year long, for more than four years.
"Did you know that?
The media haven't yet told the story."
V/R TK
TOM KUNK
COL, GS
Division Chief for ODO
HQDA, G3/5/7
That the Islamics have not pursued either track, but only fight US on their ground, is indication that they are not "at war" with US, but defending their homes, from US.
ReplyDeleteWhich is not to say that the attackers of 9-11-01 were not radical Islamics, but that they were not truly representative of that segment of the whirled.
And that the Islamics, as a group, are not at war with US
Which has been US policy since 9-11-01, to chase the "evil doers" while trumpeting that we are not at war with Islam.
Now you can support US policy or you argue against it.
But you cannot not deny it.
Sorry to burst your bubble DR, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) does NOT agree with you. Yes, I know: What do they know? But since it is their church, I am going to give them benefit of doubt. You would be wise to do the same; blustering endlessly about things of which you are truly ignorant makes you a fool.
ReplyDelete"The book verifies, as another testament of Christ, the reality and divinity of Jesus Christ. It is, then, a second witness that affirms the truth of the Bible."
Now, DR, look carefully: See "another testament"..."affirms the truth of the Bible."
The Book of Mormon
Yeah,
ReplyDeleteThe Mosque Militants like the Good Captain @ Hood are independent agents, unaffiliated.
Like KSM and the Blind Sheik.
...just ask Andy McCarthy.
It was the same way in Vietnam, Doug. The locals were ambivalent toward the Cong; they hated the government.
ReplyDeleteIf you were a true Patriot, Allen,
ReplyDeleteYou would Self-Fund a test on
Phoenix Water.
rufus said...
ReplyDeleteIt was the same way in Vietnam, Doug.
"The locals were ambivalent toward the Cong; they hated the government."
---
Damn Learning Curve is just too steep, Rufus!
The first question, doug, is has the media been invited to witness and film the Friday ritual?
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to fathom that Col. North would not have done that story, on FOX News, if it had been offered by the Army's press officers to him to share with the public.
A human interest story that Mr Ailes would have been all over, if given the opportunity.
I wonder how Eric Alterman wrote about the story?
ReplyDeleteMaybe Media Matters outfoxed Fox.
ReplyDeleteThe Church, allen, does not represent the beliefs of its' constituents, in public.
ReplyDeleteThe Mormons learned their lessons about the difference 'tween public comments and private beliefs, over a hundred years ago.
Mr Romney's comments about the physical location of where Jesus will return to, when he comes down the stairway to heaven makes that fact more than clear.
He denied his Church's doctrine for political expediency, as is their wont.
doug,
ReplyDeleteThe water is fine. DR just does what comes naturally to a guy whose namesake is Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi. One day those "Europeons" may get the nerve to do another Tours (Tours was a battle fought between the Franks and an innocent batch of Islamic tourists, come to see the sights).
Tours-Poiters (the non-Wiki version)
You've never lived in close proximity to large groups of Mormons, Allen.
ReplyDeleteYou have no idea.
allen claims to be an experienced expert, but had to google the Frozen Chosin so as to intelligently discuss it, in reference to a march through Pakistan, which he claimed would be worse, for US than the march from the Chosin Reservoir to the sea was for the Marines.
ReplyDeleteThen he had to go to the LDS website to promote the Party line propaganda of the Salt Lake City Saints.
" There is clearly some justification for ranking Tours-Poitiers among the most significant events in Frankish history when one considers the result of the battle in light of the remarkable record of the successful establishment by Muslims of Islamic political and cultural dominance along the entire eastern and southern rim of the former Christian, Roman world. The rapid Muslim conquest of Palestine, Syria, Egypt and the North African coast all the way to Morocco in the seventh century resulted in the permanent imposition by force of Islamic culture onto a previously Christian and largely non-Arab base.
ReplyDeleteThe Visigothic kingdom fell to Muslim conquerors in a single battle on the Rio Barbate in 711, and the Hispanic Christian population took seven long centuries to regain control of the Iberian peninsula.
The Reconquista, of course, was completed in 1492, only months before Columbus received official backing for his fateful voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Had Charles Martel suffered at Tours-Poitiers the fate of King Roderick at the Rio Barbate, it is doubtful that a "do-nothing" sovereign of the Merovingian realm could have later succeeded where his talented major domus had failed. Indeed, as Charles was the progenitor of the Carolingian line of Frankish rulers and grandfather of Charlemagne, one can even say with a degree of certainty that the subsequent history of the West would have proceeded along vastly different currents had ‘Abd ar-Rahman been victorious at Tours-Poitiers in 732."
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---
Take the "Re" out of Reconquista, and we're the bad guys.
Who are we to judge?
...only 'Rat knows.
"Then he had to go to the LDS website to promote the Party line propaganda of the Salt Lake City Saints."
ReplyDeleteWasps get the same LDS trip by dropping LSD.
...what's up w/that?
What's a Joo to do?
ReplyDeleteDrop DSL?
(Could always get cable Internet, anyhoo.)
ReplyDeleteWell, doug, I can say this, with certainty.
ReplyDeleteThe current Europeon occupation of part of the Levant is just another of the continued "ebbs and flows" of that region.
The Europeons have gone there, before, been driven out and returned. Many times.
The current occupation will run its course, it always does. Demographics win, in the end.
There are not another million Russians wanting to emigrate, as there were in the 1990's.
There is no emigrate to Zion movement in the US, that I am aware of. Not one that could drop another million Caucasians into the mix there, anyway.
Olmert is basically correct in his view that if accommodation is not made now than a One State solution will forever change the status que, in a way that will be more detrimental to the Europeons there, now.
That the Europeon population could achieve more with a real move to equality and equivalency than they can with a hardline stance. A hardline which cannot be maintained in the face of the demographic realities.
Give a little, save a lot.
ReplyDeleteas opposed to
Never give an inch, lose it all.
Unless and until they kick theM out.
ReplyDeleteAs they should.
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ReplyDeletedoug,
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say?
Worse things could have happened to DR than having some of that Mormon ethic rub off on him.
"party line" - Amazing
Europe should become Lebanon,
ReplyDeleteUSA, Mexico.
So let it be written,
let it be done.
allen wants everyone to be liar, so he'd not stand out.
ReplyDeleteThat is at the core of his ethic: Lying for the "Big Guy"
Europe will be whatever the Europeons make of it, doug.
ReplyDeleteIt sucked there, my people left, decades ago, we're not going back.
You're in Polynesia, half a world a way.
Let them make of Sweden what the Swedes want. Same in England, France or Germany.
It is not really much of our business, the internal machinations of foreign lands.
As George Washington pointed out, early on.
We should all be like Mr Romney and mislead the public about our religious beliefs, for the sake of political power.
ReplyDeleteThat is the ethic allen thinks should be emulated.
Allen needs an award of some sort.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe just to be shot for encouraging his opponent.
I'm torn.
Oh, hell. Do both.
ReplyDeleteAward first.
If I had to live in Europe I'd shoot myself. Went one time. Almost cried when I got home.
ReplyDeleteBoringest fucking place in the Universe.
Of course, a couple of days after I'd gotten there, there was a groundswell of support for declaring me "Emperor;" but I turned it down.
ReplyDeleteYep, they Loooved the ol' Rufi. As ye can well imagine.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that I wasn't locked up, or assassinated, astonishes me, still.
They DID check my baggage very, very carefully, though. :)
ReplyDeleteI gotta admit, I was starting to get worried, after awhile.
I think we are supposed to be applauding Honduras, are we not?
ReplyDeleteAfter all these years: Three armies on the earth that are ours (I mean that in a good way) and that's one of them.
Send him a t-shirt.
ReplyDeletetrish,
ReplyDeleteI may smoke before being shot? A double-shot of Glenmorangie would be most civil.
Trish, I keep wondering when he will hit bottom.
There was never much doubt about the course the Hondos would take.
ReplyDeleteNot if you knew 'em.
The doubt was about the course that Obamamerica would take. Seems we will ratify the election and continue on. As we should.
The rest was posturing.
Is there a Hooters in Tegucigalpa?
ReplyDeleteWe're still flyin' high, amigo.
ReplyDeleteNot back in the day.
ReplyDeleteNow, who's to know?
Popular joke, allen: Shoot me, please, before the other bastard starts talking.
ReplyDeleteYou may smoke in designated areas, yes. Complimentary warning: It is a hazard to your health.
Don't miss out on that retiree conga line, allen, it's gonna snake on by you, grab hold and hang on!
ReplyDeleteIn the interest of public safety, I will demand the smoking cessation program, pre-firing squad. Doubtless, someone will accomodate.
ReplyDelete...a bottomless pit of anger, frustration and bitterness...a place where the sun never shines...and every cloud brings rain...
"In the interest of public safety, I will demand the smoking cessation program, pre-firing squad. Doubtless, someone will accomodate."
ReplyDelete: )
There MAY BE a Hooters in Tegucigalpa.
ReplyDeleteThe retirement part of it is actually quite thorny. Are they hiring you for you, or are they hiring you for who you know?
Would you just rather spend the remainder of your life driving the ice cream truck?
I opt for the ice cream truck.
It's not "you" they are hiring, trish, it is access to who "you" know.
ReplyDeleteCount on that.
Go sailing, ice cream trucks being a seasonal business, at best...
Stimulus? The Chinese KNOW how to do "Stimulus."
ReplyDeleteThey built a City. For a Million People. Sold it out. But No one LIVES there
Beautiful Place, though.
I'm never going to be able to get him to drive the ice cream truck, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteHe'd be happy for about a month. And then go insane.
I am pushing for something completely outside his usual line of work.
I am not optimistic.
Adventure travel, trish, it could be a purrrfect fit.
ReplyDeleteScuba, sailing, fishing. Tracking big cats in Belize, exploring Copper Canyon in Mexico.
Could be just the ticket.
God, Rat. I just wanna be home.
ReplyDeleteI'll get bored and antsy and then we'll see what happens.
That goes for the both of us, I do believe.
I haven't driven, for Christ's sake, in two years. Two years.
ReplyDeletePut me in a vehicle headed anywhere and I'm like a dog let out of the kennel.
;-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
ReplyDelete"Reports from stimulus recipients show that a sizable sum has gone to federal contractors in the Washington area who are helping implement the initiative --in effect, they are being paid a hefty slice of the money to help spend the rest of it.
The contractors' work hardly differs from the basic operations of the federal departments hiring them..."
It's been reported that when benefits are taken into account, the average government worker makes about double what a worker in the private sector makes for doing the same type work. Likewise, with competition and globalization, workers in the private sector have for many years now been asked to do more with less. They typically do.
The government? Hire a contractor.
Stimulus Program Helps D.C.
.
This is Dedicated to The ONE
ReplyDeleteWe Love
Theme Song
"I haven't driven, for Christ's sake, in two years. Two years."
ReplyDelete---
I just noticed my license is 5 years outta date.
Now the Old Guy's gotta take a drivering test!
A Drivering I will go.
ReplyDelete"I'm never going to be able to get him to drive the ice cream truck, so to speak."
ReplyDelete---
I'm a little too risk-averse for that.
You Could Always Settle in The Haight, Trish.
ReplyDeleteHubby Could Take an Endless Trip
Putin says no plans to leave power; PRAISES STALIN FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION AND VICTORY...
ReplyDeleteI could tell the moment I looked into
Those Eyes.
Neighbors: Tiger Was Lying In Middle Of Road Snoring...
ReplyDelete...always try to find a hedge to get under.
"Last March he signed another £60million five-year deal, this time with drinks firm Gatorade.
ReplyDeleteRead more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2753973/Tiger-I-let-down-my-family.html#ixzz0Yg8QnTFX
"
---
Have to try drinkin the 'ade,
I guess.
Might get lucky.
Senate Passes Women's Health Amendment
ReplyDeleteBreaking an impasse, the Senate approved an amendment to the health care bill requiring insurers to provide mammograms and other services for free.
Just keeps gettin Better!
Home Fires
ReplyDeleteIt was summer, 2007 and I had just reluctantly returned to uniform after a few years of civilian life for a third combat tour, and felt a small degree of entitlement, as I found myself, much to my surprise, among the 25 percent of involuntary recalls who actually showed up.
---
---
The thunder of that applause still rang in my ears after I checked my many bags and approached the Transportation Safety Authority checkpoint. It seemed wholly inadequate. I wanted them to wear body armor and helmets, knee and elbow pads and ballistic sunglasses. I wanted to see sandbags, concertina wire, and Afghan soldiers manning the outermost perimeter. I wanted a machine gun pointing at me as I approached.
The lady asked me to remove my boots. I looked down at my uniform for show, then straight at her eyes. “Do you think I’m a terrorist?” I asked.
In my imagination, she glimpsed into my soul and saw that I didn’t give a damn about her uniform, or mine, or what they represented, that I didn’t respect her right to search and question free Americans, and that I considered her as big a charade as me. In my imagination, she realized all this, and gave the secret signal to her fellow T.S.A. agents who suddenly sprang to life, whirling toward me, hands on the holsters of their weapons, as I bolted through their checkpoint, knocking over the tower of plastic bins, my dog tags setting off the metal detector, which began repeating the word “intruder.”
In my imagination, they offered a terrific chase, flushed with the thrill of the hunt — a thrill I know and recognize as the only honest thing about combat — and just as I reached my gate, panting and extending my ticket to freedom to the outstretched, manicured hand of the smiling stewardess, they tackled me.
---
The T.S.A. agent told me it was regulation, that everybody must remove their boots, and I lowered my gaze, bent over and obeyed with the sheepishness and cowardice of a lame dog.
I have a Colombian driver's license.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the opening line of a joke, doesn't it?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSee, doug, I told you "something" would pass, and now it has.
ReplyDeleteThe fun has just begun, though, that is only the beginning, dollars to doughnuts.
I have a Virginia driver's license that may or may not have expired. I haven't taken a look in awhile.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm good for another year.
Colombians, fine people that they normally are, should not be allowed to drive.
ReplyDeleteSomeone said to me, "Oh, it's just like the beltway." (She who had not been home in, like, seven years.)
Yeah. With all the RULES OF THE ROAD inconveniently removed.
I still have my original Panamanian drivers license, full beard and shaggy hair.
ReplyDeleteMy how things have not changed, after 25 years. Still have all the hair, color's going to from black to white. Both chin and head.
Sorry. I'm winding up for my farewell speech.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have been depressingly informed that the hopefully do-little job back home....isn't.
Is not little to do, or not "back home"?
ReplyDeleteJerusalem Post - Matthew Wagner, Herb Keinon - 3 hours ago
ReplyDelete
Citing religious discrimination, a diverse coalition of Jewish organizations is objecting to Switzerland's ban of minarets on local mosques.
Good for them!
Maintaining a standard of equivalency, but hey, they're Swiss.
My husband actually went, as I foretold, for the full shaved head in Iraq. And brought it home.
ReplyDeleteWe now have at least five completely bald guys here.
Isn't "do-little." I was thinking about my dad's (unhappy even so) last year, at INSCOM. Not gonna be that.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile the Mormons gain an exemption from the zoning code standard, for their Temple's height, here in Phoenix.
ReplyDeletePHOENIX - A new Mormon temple has been approved for north Phoenix even though it will be 10 feet higher than zoning standards allow.
But many residents who live nearby the future site of the temple on Pinnacle Peak Road are not pleased.
One resident compared it the biblical character David getting slain by Goliath.
They said they're afraid the Temple's lighting could obstruct the starry skies and mountain views, along with increased traffic congestion.
Meantime, LDS members attending the Wednesday night council meeting were delighted with the decision to approve.
To doubt that the Mormons are a political entity, comparable to a "Party" is to deny reality.
To deny that they maintain a "Party line" of political and religious propaganda, also flies in the face of reality.
To deny the lack of separation 'tween Church and State, over the geography of the old State of Deseret, is to deny history and current realities.
The attackers of 9-11-01, bob, the wielders of box cutters, aQ are not in Iran, but Somalia.
ReplyDeleteBut ...
I hear no calls for invading or bombing them into submission, in Somalia.
Wall Street Journal - 51 minutes ago
A suicide blast at a university graduation in Mogadishu killed several Somali government ministers and an estimated 19 students, a sign of al Qaeda's efforts to establish the troubled east African country as a base from which to attack Western targets.
Giving doubt to the claim that the challenges arising from Iran were ever really connected to our "Long War on Terror", at all.
McClatchy Newspapers
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON -- At the very moment when President Barack Obama is looking to thrust the U.S. ever more into global affairs, from Afghanistan to climate change, the American public is turning more isolationist and unilateralist than it has at any time in decades, according to a new poll released Thursday.
The survey by the Pew Research Center found a plurality of Americans - 49 percent - think that the U.S. should "mind its own business internationally" and leave it to other countries to fend for themselves.
It was the first time in more than 40 years of polling that the ranks of Americans with isolationist sentiment outnumbered those with a more international outlook, Pew said.
"The U.S. public is turning decidedly inward," Pew said.
The U.S. is also growing more unilateralist, with 44 percent saying that the U.S. "should go our own way in international matters, not worrying about whether other countries agree with us or not."
That was the highest percentage since the question was first asked in 1964.
The country also has grown pessimistic about U.S. clout in world affairs.
By a margin of 41 percent to 25 percent, Americans think the U.S. is playing a less important role in the world than 10 years ago. It was the first time since the 1970s - when the U.S. had withdrawn from Vietnam, been hurt by an Arab oil embargo and seen its citizens held hostage in Iran - that a plurality of Americans thought their country was weaker than it had been a decade before.
The shift in sentiment comes after more than eight years of war in Afghanistan and almost seven in Iraq, and in the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression.
NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) struck a deal to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co (GE.N), creating a media superpower that would control not just how television shows and movies are made, but how they are delivered to the home.
ReplyDeleteThe deal had been discussed for months and brought to light deep divisions over the future of the media business, with some lauding Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts as a visionary and others calling it the most foolhardy acquisition since AOL bought Time Warner in 2001.
In a world where the Internet has disrupted traditional media, Comcast wants NBC Universal so it can deliver programming to audiences however they may want it -- through TV sets, personal computers or mobile devices. Not only is Comcast the largest U.S. cable distributor, it also is the leading Internet service provider to homes.
NYTimes
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON - Three Secret Service agents have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into how two uninvited guests managed to crash President Obama's first state dinner last week, ...
The gate crashers, themselves, are horse event charity scammers.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as the "National Polo League".
How funny...
Run across their type before, Mike "Brownie" Brown of FEMA infamy was one amongst 'em.
The Indian Embassy canceled that nation's participation in the Polo Cup's 2010 event. The couple has advertised that event will take place on the Mall, but the National Park Service said the Salahis had not been granted a permit.
The Salahis say the America's Polo Cup is sanctioned by the "National Polo League," an organization whose director says was founded in 1893 and lists teams across the country. But officials for the nation's largest polo organization said Thursday that they had never heard of the league, its teams or its purported director.
In Florida, a polo magazine editor said the Salahis submitted pictures for a December 2008 article that identified Michaele Salahi as a "former Miss USA." No record exists of her winning that beauty crown, pageant officials said.
Shit is out of control, back there.
Typical scammers, these gate crashers. The Secret Service standards are slipping, to let these folks onto the White House grounds.
ReplyDeleteAnnouncement of the investigation came one day after the Post reported that the 2007 fundraising event had resulted in $15,000 in reported charitable gifts. Tareq Salahi told the Post last year that the event had raised $250,000 for his charity, Journey for the Cure.
Loudoun County contributed $136,500 to help sponsor the event, records show, and high-end sponsors included Cartier and Land Rover. The event resulted in vendors suing the America's Polo Cup or the Salahis for at least $500,000 in unpaid bills.
William O'Keefe, executive director of Morven Park, which hosted the event in 2007 and 2008 in return for a share of the profits, said Thursday that the park received a $5,000 check in 2007 and nothing in 2008. (The $5,000 came from the Salahis' foundation, state reports show, not the America's Polo Cup business account.)
"The books they showed us said they lost money," O'Keefe said.
The Salahis are the only two principals listed for the America's Polo Cup, a business that has held a polo bash each spring since 2007. The event is billed as a fundraiser for the Journey for the Cure, a federally approved nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation that also lists the Salahis as its only directors. Virginia regulators realized last year, four years after the foundation was established, that it had never registered to raise funds and had filed no financial statements.
Scenes that we've all seen, before. Well I have, anyway.
These nickel millionaires are goin' be takin' it on the chin.
They're a con artist team.
ReplyDeleteThey've sure stepped into the deep shit, this time.
Now the light will fry them to a crisp.
Analysis: A bus blows up in Damascus - exploding tire or terror strike?
ReplyDeleteBy JONATHAN SPYER
PHOENIX -- As national leaders meet for a special summit on unemployment, Arizona experts and analysts said the state's job market outlook is "very, very grim."
ReplyDelete"We have never seen huge job losses like this," said Lee McPheters, a research professor with ASU's W.P. Carey School of Business.
Compared to other states, Arizona is the very worst state for job losses in the country -- even outpacing Michigan and California.
In fact, since the recession began, more than 291,000 workers in Arizona have lost their jobs.
"It's really had a ripple effect through our economy and labor market," said Rick Van Sickle, an analyst for the Arizona Commerce Department.
Van Sickle tracks unemployment trends for the state.
He said Arizona could likely see between 20,000 and 30,000 more job cut in 2010.
According to the latest statistics, Arizona has a 9.3 percent unemployment rate -- actually lower than the U.S. average of 10.2 percent.
But experts said that is misleading.
"We probably have more people here who have dropped out of the labor market," McPheters said. "And we probably have more people who have left the state."
Arizona is believed to have a high proportion of "discouraged" and "underemployed" workers.
Those are two categories of job seekers who can taint unemployment rates.
A discouraged job seeker is someone who has given up searching for a job. And a underemployed worker is someone who has settled for a job that is far below their skill set.
Experts said if those two groups were factored into our state's unemployment picture, it could exceed 15 percent.
"That's probably a more accurate figure," Van Sickle said.
Comcast ...
ReplyDeleteBrian L. Roberts, born June 28, 1959, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is Chairman and CEO of Comcast, an American company providing cable, entertainment, and communications products and services. He is the son of Comcast co-founder Ralph J. Roberts.
...
Roberts is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and previously Treasurer.[1][2] He also served as Chairman of NCTA from 1995 to 1996, when the landmark deregulatory 1996 Telecommunications Act became law.
Roberts is the Chairman of CableLabs as well.[3]
Roberts has won business and industry honors during his tenure. Institutional Investor magazine named him its top vote-getter three years straight (2004-2006) in the Cable & Satellite category of their America's Best CEOs annual survey; and also named Comcast as one of America's Most Shareholder-Friendly Companies in 2006. He was the recipient of the 2004 Humanitarian Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center[4] and was the 2002 Walter Kaitz Foundation Honoree of the Year for his commitment to diversity in the cable industry. The Police Athletic League of Philadelphia honored Roberts with its 2002 award for his commitment to youth programs and community partnerships.
Roberts is a board member of the Bank of New York. He co-chaired the 2003 Resource Development Campaign for the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania and was a founding co-chair of Philadelphia 2000, the nonpartisan host committee for the 2000 Republican National Convention.
The Pennsylvania Report named him to the 2003 "The Pennsylvania Report Power 75" list of influential figures in Pennsylvania politics, calling him "Pennsylvania’s most powerful businessman" and noted his influence with Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.[5] In 2003, he was named the PoliticsPA list of politically influential individuals.[6]
Are we still looking for "code words"?
... his commitment to diversity ...
It'll be steady as she goes, at MSNBC, well all of the NBC News family of productions will continue to push ahead with their agenda.
ReplyDeleteal-Doug Passes Gas, Increases Atmospheric CO2
ReplyDeleteSome Swiss Jews are behaving quintessentially. The Swiss "public" supports the ban, as I understand the reporting. You would know that, had you bothered to do more than selectively cut, paste and pontificate. Intellectual dishonesty would be misnomer.
ReplyDeleteNo one denied the regional political clot of the Church of LDS, just as no one has denied the regional clot of Jews.
ReplyDeleteThe Book of Mormon is still NOT considered The Bible by these folks, as any fool would know. To make such a claim would hobble their missionary outreach. Had you ever bothered to talk TO (as opposed to talk AT) Mormon missionaries, you would know this. Placing the Book of Mormon in the cannonical heirarchy is one of the first hurdles they must overcome when doing missionary work.
...slapdash...cut...paste...pontificate...
Right you are, allen, which is why they do not make that claim to the public, but believe it their Temple.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of fool are you to believe there is not a difference 'tween their public and private positions?
Of course the Democrats in the US believe in strong defense, a strong dollar and low taxes on the middle class, they say so, publicly. Any fool would know if they did not say those things, they would not get elected. But it is not true.
Besides, the Mormons are not the arbitrators of the linguistic roots of the word bible.
It means book, as in biblioteca.
That is the point, as any fool could recognize, that was not blinded by religious bigotry..
The difference between the Mormons public utteraces and their private beliefs is illustrated by Mitt Romney's lies as to the resurection of Christ and where it will occur.
ReplyDeleteRomney denied Mormon doctrine, in public, but who is to know what he believes to be the "truth" of where Christ will return, at the Temple Mount or outside of Branson, Missouri?
Mormon doctrine is that the show will be in Missouri. Romney lied about that, when questioned.
It is how they operate, amongst the "non-believers". They can ethicly lie, just like you. False but accurate, close enough, if it gains them political power.
Like most other persecuted religious minorities.
Your lack of linguistic aptitude is showing, allen.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, none of the Bibles were originally written in English, so the English word for them, all, has evolved from the Latin, which is bible.
Which is why the word bible is often preceded by a qualifier, King James, Abridged version ...,
ReplyDeleteHoly, Illustrated, Talking, ...
The most common qualifier, that I've seen imprinted on the cover, or spine was the word "Holy"
If the meaning of bible was clear to all, those qualifiers would not be needed. But, they are.
And to tell us that the Book of Mormon is not referred to as the "Mormon Bible" is not even a rational statement to make, if you'd ever lived amongst 'em.
ReplyDeleteThe Mormon also vote en bloc.
ReplyDeleteLike the blacks and Jews, does that make them racists, that over 80% voted for Mitt Romney?
Bible means book, allen, like it or not. Words do have meaning and roots. You can not change those roots for politically or religiously "correct" reasons.
ReplyDeleteEven in your screed you use the qualifier "The" to denote the difference 'tween the different bibles.
ReplyDeleteYou prove my point with your argument, thank you.
If there was only one bible, the qualifying word "The" would not be required.
ReplyDeleteAs any fool that understood the language would comprehend.
If it were not part of the title, of the book, "The" would not be capitalized.
ReplyDeleteSo as to make the title of "The Bible" different from all those other bibles.
As you continue to learn English and the history of the United States, these things will become clearer to you.
wow...
ReplyDeleterat posted 64 posts out of 154 and actually said nothing of value...
is this a new record?
Dear DR,
ReplyDeleteNuts!
Yeah, but he's got a Oak Leaf Cluster, Gold, WiO, don't forget about that!
ReplyDeleteHey there! Thank you for putting up my You Tube translation video. That is exactly why I subtitled it, for the world to know what a liar Zelaya is and how smart the Hondurans were to get rid of him and kept him at bay even though his buddy Hugo tried to manipulate everyone around the world to isolate Honduras. Kudos to Honduras and thank you for supporting the fight against the spread of chavismo in Latin America.
ReplyDelete