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, January 29, 2010

Obama tells Holder to get out of Gotham




Drudge is reporting that: The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.

The dramatic turnabout came hours after Mayor Bloomberg said he would "prefer that they did it elsewhere" and then spoke to Attorney General Eric Holder.

"It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that's too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood," Bloomberg told reporters.


________________

The handling of the Christmas Day bombing suspect: the scandal grows

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, January 29, 2010

Washinton Post

The real scandal surrounding the failed Christmas Day airline bombing was not the fact that a terrorist got on a plane -- that can happen to any administration, as it surely did to the Bush administration -- but what happened afterward when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was captured and came under the full control of the U.S. government.

After 50 minutes of questioning him, the Obama administration chose, reflexively and mindlessly, to give the chatty terrorist the right to remain silent. Which he immediately did, undoubtedly denying us crucial information about al-Qaeda in Yemen, which had trained, armed and dispatched him.

We have since learned that the decision to Mirandize Abdulmutallab had been made without the knowledge of or consultation with (1) the secretary of defense, (2) the secretary of homeland security, (3) the director of the FBI, (4) the director of the National Counterterrorism Center or (5) the director of national intelligence (DNI).

The Justice Department acted not just unilaterally but unaccountably. Obama's own DNI said that Abdulmutallab should have been interrogated by the HIG, the administration's new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.

Perhaps you hadn't heard the term. Well, in the very first week of his presidency, Obama abolished by executive order the Bush-Cheney interrogation procedures and pledged to study a substitute mechanism. In August, the administration announced the establishment of the HIG, housed in the FBI but overseen by the National Security Council.

Where was it during the Abdulmutallab case? Not available, admitted National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, because it had been conceived for use only abroad. Had not one person in this vast administration of highly nuanced sophisticates considered the possibility of a terror attack on American soil?

It gets worse. Blair later had to explain that the HIG was not deployed because it does not yet exist. After a year! I suppose this administration was so busy deploying scores of the country's best lawyerly minds on finding the most rapid way to release Gitmo miscreants that it could not be bothered to establish a single operational HIG team to interrogate at-large miscreants with actionable intelligence that might save American lives.

Travesties of this magnitude are not lost on the American people. One of the reasons Scott Brown won in Massachusetts was his focus on the Mirandizing of Abdulmutallab.

Of course, this case is just a reflection of a larger problem: an administration that insists on treating Islamist terrorism as a law-enforcement issue. Which is why the Justice Department's other egregious terror decision, granting Khalid Sheik Mohammed a civilian trial in New York, is now the subject of a letter from six senators -- three Republicans, two Democrats and Joe Lieberman -- asking Attorney General Eric Holder to reverse the decision.

Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins had written an earlier letter asking for Abdulmutallab to be turned over to the military for renewed interrogation. The problem is, it's hard to see how that decision gets reversed. Once you've read a man Miranda rights, what do you say? We are idiots? On second thought . . .

Hence the agitation over the KSM trial. This one can be reversed, and it's a good surrogate for this administration's insistence upon criminalizing -- and therefore trivializing -- a war on terror that has now struck three times in one year within the United States, twice with effect (the Arkansas killer and the Fort Hood shooter) and once with a shockingly near miss (Abdulmutallab).

On the KSM civilian trial, sentiment is widespread that it is quite insane to spend $200 million a year to give the killer of 3,000 innocents the largest propaganda platform on earth, while at the same time granting civilian rights of cross-examination and discovery that risk betraying U.S. intelligence sources and methods.

Accordingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Frank Wolf have gone beyond appeals to the administration and are planning to introduce a bill to block funding for the trial. It's an important measure. It makes flesh an otherwise abstract issue -- should terrorists be treated as enemy combatants or criminal defendants? The vote will force members of Congress to declare themselves. There will be no hiding from the question.

Congress may not be able to roll back the Abdulmutallab travesty. But there will be future Abdulmutallabs. By cutting off funding for the KSM trial, Congress can send Obama a clear message: The Constitution is neither a safety net for illegal enemy combatants nor a suicide pact for us.

letters@charleskrauthammer.com


77 comments:

  1. The decision to try MSK in New York City was so stupid, it is hard to imagine it has taken this long to backtrack.

    The political damage is done and anyone paying attention has to realize the depth of incompetence and misjudgement of this administration.

    For Barack Obama ideology trumps everything else. it will get worse.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here is the thought for the day:

    The same genius that gave the order to try MSK in NYC and Mirandize Abulllamanwthjomullaman is going to fix the economy and our healthcare system.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "The food here is terrible."

    "And the portions are so small!"

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Great Disconnect

    Muslims believe they are at war with the West.

    I am confident that a poll of the American public would prove that most Americans believe that Muslims believe they are at war with the West.

    The President does not believe that Muslims believe they are at war with the West.

    If the US is not at war but is, instead, involved in a vast law enforcement enterprise, why then fund DoD to the tune of $800b this year. Instead, wouldn't the money be better spent by the FBI?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, allen,, it would be better sppent on enhance Law Enforcement, rather than more tanks, ships and jet fighters.

    The military is ill equipped, both culturally and by doctrine to deal with a "War that is not a War".

    This has been exemplified by US military failure to supplant tribal authority in Iraq with a representative Republic.

    By the use of the US military as a police force, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, rather than a fighting combat force.

    The US is not at war with Islam, the US military is not the best tool for fighting crime.

    You are so right.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment is offered as a public service in the sincere hope that, after reading it, Rufus will be better prepared to begin his day both sober and more knowedgable about VaporCare.

    No one, including the various writers of the bill, the Congress, or President Obama, had a comprehensive understanding of the legislation. The bill was a "moving target," changing whenever criticisms arose, decision-makers met, or vote-buying was required. Few of the ad hoc changes had anything to do with improving the quality of health care. As stated in "The Legend of Bagger Obama":

    "At the end, there was no discernible logic behind the plan. Inconsistencies, deals, falsified data and outright lies were evident to anyone willing to look. Despite the problems and unpopularity, healthcare moved forward not unlike an ancient pagan ritual. Congressional Democrats [were willing to sacrifice] the best healthcare system in the world and the American taxpayer to their God, Bagger Obama."


    No one in the political class knew what was in the final bill or whether their untested VaporCare would work. Few seemed to care
    .

    ReplyDelete
  7. White House asks Justice Department to look for other places to hold 9/11 terror trial




    BY Kenneth R. Bazinet, Adam Lisberg and Samuel Goldsmith
    DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

    Originally Published:Thursday, January 28th 2010, 8:04 PM
    Updated: Thursday, January 28th 2010, 9:14 PM

    The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan
    ...

    ReplyDelete
  8. 26. Bob Murphy:

    Hi, guys. Way OT. Sorry ’bout that.
    But this eye witness account came through my old Ranger grapevine and they don’t lie. The ultimate in peer review. It’s about Haiti.
    MC won’t like it. Whiskey will.:)

    From: Henry Papa

    Retired Special Forces Sgt Major:

    To All,

    I just returned from Haiti with Hebler. We flew in at 3 AM Sunday to the scene of such incredible destruction on one side, and enormous ineptitude and criminal neglect on the other.
    Port o Prince is in ruins. The rest of the country is fairly intact. Our team was a rescue team and we carried special equipment that locates people buried under the rubble. There are easily 200,000 dead, the city smells like a charnel house. The bloody UN was there for 5 years doing apparently nothing but wasting US Taxpayers money. The ones I ran into were either incompetents or outright anti American. Most are French or french speakers, worthless every damn one of them. While 1800 rescuers were ready willing and able to leave the airport and go do our jobs, the UN and USAID ( another organization full of little OBamites and communists that openly speak against Americana)

    These two organizations exemplified their parochialism by:
    USAID, when in control of all inbound flights, had food and water flights stacked up all the way to Miami, yet allowed Geraldo Rivera, Anderson Cooper and a host of other left wing news puppies to land.

    Pulled all the security off the rescue teams so that Bill Clinton and his wife could have the grand tour, whilst we sat unable to get to people trapped in the rubble.
    Stacked enough food and water for the relief over at the side of the airfield then put a guard on it while we dehydrated and wouldn’t release a drop of it to the rescuers.

    No shower facilities to decontaminate after digging or moving corpses all day, except for the FEMA teams who brought their own shower and decon equipment, as well as air conditioned tents.
    No latrine facilities, less digging a hole, everyone was trying to use it.
    I watched a 25 year old Obamite with the USAID shrieking hysterically, berate a full bird colonel in the air force, because he countermanded her orders, whilst trying to unscrew the air pattern. ” You don’t know what your president wants! The military isn’t in charge here we are!”
    If any of you are thinking of giving money to the Haitian relief, or to the UN don’t waste your money. It will only go to further the goals of the French and the Liberal left.
    If we are a fair and even society, why is it that only white couples are adopting Haitian orphans. Where the hell is that vocal minority that is always screaming about the injustice of American society.

    Bad place, bad situation, but a perfect look at the new world order in action. New Orleans magnified a thousand times. Haiti doesn’t need democracy, what Haiti needs is Papa Doc. That’s not just my opinion , that is what virtually every Haitian we talked with said. “the French run, the UN treat us the same as when we were a colony”, at least Papa Doc ran the country.
    Oh, and as a last slap in the face the last four of us had to take US AIRWAY’s home from Phoenix. They slapped me with a 590 dollar baggage charge for the four of us. The girl at the counter was almost in tears because she couldn’t give us a discount or she would lose her job.. Pass that on to the flying public.
    Nick

    ReplyDelete
  9. What the Cluck???

    The man - who wore a sweatshirt with an MTA logo on it - was lying on the floor of the subway car, beside a shopping cart filled with the trappings of a homeless person.

    Holding the chicken above his chest, the weirdo repeatedly spun around the floor, hugging and embracing the feathered creature as if he was out of his mind.

    Kylie had this to say of the oddball's antics:

    "He kept picking up the chicken, holding it over his head, kissing it, hugging it, and [doing] more inappropriate things that I will refrain from detailing," the blogger told the Web site Gawker.

    "In the simple words of my fellow passenger, Charlotte, 'That is straight-up chicken abuse!'"

    Read more:

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's only the "Greatest" Health Care System in the World if you have access to it.

    Otherwise, you're better off in Cuba. Everybody gets treated there.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Remember it's this DOJ that let the New Black Panther case get dropped AFTER they had a no show conviction...

    Couple that with the the handling of the Major Hassan jihadist shooting report (89 pages) that doesnt mention Hassan by name or Islam ONCE...

    Add to that the Obama's de-space travel of NASA and turning it into a giant "climate change" monitoring station...

    yep change is coming to America...

    It's not your grandfather's America anymore...

    Just tell me when we have to address our leader as "Father"

    ReplyDelete
  12. rufus: Otherwise, you're better off in Cuba. Everybody gets treated there.

    sure, unless your not liked by Castro, then you are simply murdered...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Time for some early-morning discordance.

    Economy Grew at 5.7% in 4th quarter.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 5.7%

    Mostly inventory replacement...

    But ok, let's say it grew...

    How much of that is the increase in the cost of oil?

    I know that my shipping costs always jump in the 4th quarter and with the new increases in costs my shipping cost were UP more than 5.7%

    how much of the number was increased governmental spending?

    in the end, it's just a number....

    ReplyDelete
  15. U of M Consumer Confidence up to 74.4

    ReplyDelete
  16. If gasoline prices don't spike this Summer the Republicans might get blindsided come Nov.

    The "Business Cycle" is working to the advantage of the Dems, and they will be able to announce in Oct. that they expect final results to show that the "O's" Magnificent Economic Policies have caused the deficit to come in at only half the expected levels, and to actually be down to a couple of hundred billion in 2011.

    The Pubs better quit screaming about what they "wish," and consult some real economists about what "Will" happen. They're getting ready to fall into a horrendous trap.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Just wait til may....

    Iran is coming due... (they just HUNG 2)

    North Korea....

    International shit will come around, not to mention all those things we cannot predict..

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yeah, let's take the greatest health care system in the world and turn it upside in the name of "equality". That way, rather than most getting great health care, ALL can get mediocre purview.

    ReplyDelete
  19. A marvelous little video put up by a man, and his son. The most damning refutation of "Warming" that I've seen.

    28 "Urban" locations, and 28 "Rural" locations within 60 miles, or so. Started off about the same in 1900 (the urban was just a touch warmer then,) but the Urban sites have gotten steadily warmer, while the Rural Temperatures Stayed the Same!

    Nice little Video

    ReplyDelete
  20. Debt as a % of GNP
    2001 = 33%
    2008 = 40.8%
    2009 = 53%
    2020 = 98%
    Source: Heritage Foundation from CBO data.

    Read the full table, posted Jan 28 @ 3:22 PM, over at SDA

    ReplyDelete
  21. Don't have to, Victor. The 2020 number is pure fantasy.

    ReplyDelete
  22. rufus said...
    It's only the "Greatest" Health Care System in the World if you have access to it.

    Otherwise, you're better off in Cuba. Everybody gets treated there.
    ---
    I used to think Rufus was a Socialist,
    now I know he's a fucking moron.

    ReplyDelete
  23. That's the dumbest ass post on the EB, Rufus, other than 'Rat's numerous Paens to the Palis.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Victor, the CBO is prevented, by law, from predicting much of anything other than "The Present."

    If you have "Bailouts, and Stimulii" in 2009 they pretty much have to predict the same for 2010.

    If you have depressed tax revenues due to the recession, they pretty much have to predict the same for next year. It's not quite that simple, but it's close.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Why, pray tell, Doug, is it better to get NO treatment than to get Some treatment?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Fri Jan 29, 11:39:00 AM EST...

    That's pure fantasy Viktor.
    Dufus tells us so.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Because NOBODY gets NO TREATMENT in the US of A, Maroon!

    ReplyDelete
  28. ...although I have never visited Mississippi.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Look, Dumbo, Tax Revenues are getting ready to Rebound. There's $700 Billion, right there.

    Add to that the fact that we're getting "paid back" on our loans (which, I suppose, they haven't put back on the books, yet; and you're starting to knock a pretty big hole in that 1.3T deficit, right there.

    ReplyDelete
  30. YOU might have the best Health Care in the World, Doug; but the poor working stiff with a chronic disease that can't get in a specialist's office because he/she can't buy health insurance HAS, ABSOLUTELY, THE WORST.

    Cause, He Ain't Got NONE!

    ReplyDelete
  31. ...and he'd be better off in Cuba.
    And I'm voting for BHO in '12.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Well, hell, Doug, he'd be better off in a Watusi Village. At least the Witch Doctor might get lucky.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Right now, his/her only shot is to get in an "Emergent, Life-Threatening" situation. THEN, and, only, THEN, will he/she get "Treated."

    ReplyDelete
  34. And, Doug, I have a Friend in this situation.

    ReplyDelete
  35. What is the chronic disease?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Chrones Disease

    And, it is a Bitch.

    Medicine is about $1,400.00/mo, and it's only marginally effective.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Crohns, not Chrones

    ReplyDelete
  38. Please tell me what that medicine is, I think my wife may have it too.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anyways, the Senate Bill would have cost about 1% of GDP. I wish we could have done it. But, we didn't. Maybe next time.

    ReplyDelete
  40. I don't know. It's mostly probiotics, and steroids. She needs to see a GI doc if she has stomach pains, constipation or constant diarreah, etc.

    It can, evidently, run the gamut from minor abdominal distress (irritable bowel syndrome) to full-blown Crohns. It ain't nothing to mess with, for sure. If you catch it too late you are guaranteed a "Bowel Resection" at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Home Remedies
    Changing your diet may help in reducing symptoms of Crohn's disease. Limit your use of dairy products or use a dietary supplement such as Lactaid to help digest dairy products. Avoiding foods high in fat or foods that produce excessive gas, such as beans, broccoli and cabbage, can help. Some people find that a diet rich in fiber helps to lessen symptoms. Drinking plenty of fluids replenishes the body when diarrhea occurs. Smaller meals vs. large meals also helps the colon digest food easier.

    Ask if friend has tried Lactaid:
    My Doctor never recommended it, wife brought it home, problem solved.

    ReplyDelete
  42. 1% of GDP
    Please, Ruf, you insult our intelligence.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Diet is important, Doug. But, when you get into fullblown Crohns you're in a whole nother world.


    Doug, it's about 1%. About $150 B/year. Knowing the Gov. it could stretch out to 1.5% GDP ( $225 B/yr, but I doubt it.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Actually, 1% would be $140 B/year, but what's $10 B among friends, right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  45. The thing is, Doug, the "Partisans" on OUR side lie just as much as the Partisans on the "Other" side. You just have to look at the numbers.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Look, aside from the fact that we damned near lost TWAWKI, and a lot of money got spent on "bailouts, and stimulii, etc, and that we're still teetering around on the edge of a recession, the facts of the economy (tax revenues, and expenditure) are, basically, the same as they were in 2007.

    At that time we were just one foreign war away from having a balanced budget. Things haven't changed all that much.

    When someone tries to tell you that the Deficit will be $1.2 T "Next" year offer to "Bet." It ain't gonna happen.

    ReplyDelete
  47. rufus said...
    Don't have to, Victor. The 2020 number is pure fantasy.

    Fri Jan 29, 11:39:00 AM EST
    ---
    Numbers?
    What numbers?
    Just dismiss them with a snark!

    ReplyDelete
  48. The Alternate Universe:
    Mathematics is relative.
    (like your crazy uncle)

    ReplyDelete
  49. "I've run the numbers and..."

    Carter = Reagan

    Socialism = Capitalism

    Palis = Joos

    ...and etc.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Mice Tail Turned Into Brain Cells in Feat Possible for Humans


    What's the Big Deal. Men have been thinking with their Dicks since, forever.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Doug, I've explained about CBO numbers. They are constrained by law to "Static" analysis.

    They are Never "Right."

    Drove Bush crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  52. I'll tell you what we'll do; along about the middle of the month we'll look at January Tax Receipts, and compare them to Jan 2007. That should give us some idea how we're looking as we go along.

    Tax receipts last year were down a little less than 25%, I guess. If we track them as we go along this year we'll have a pretty good idea how we're going to come out, and how we're looking for next year.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Did anyone notice?

    Colombia got a shout out in the SOTU.

    Nice touch.

    Now one just has to wonder: Was it thrown in there as a rhetorical sop - a safe thing to say, given that, sadly, there's no way in hell this Congress is going to pass the FTA and dear President and the Colombians both know it?

    (I answered my own question, didn't I?)

    The Colombians know it's at least one Congressional turnover away, and I'm not even sure at this point that that will do the trick.

    They've bent over backwards and sideways - continue to do so - to get what they earned outright years ago and it's a lingering disgrace that they are still stiffed by those in political debt to a bunch of jackasses with plainly ulterior motives.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Burns ma britches, as Memaw would say.



    Still waiting for SecState to reschedule her first official visit - canceled at the last minute due to Iranian missile thingy going hot.

    She refused to come down as a Senator, so even if we got no movement whatsoever out of it, it would be a kind of sweet, small justice anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  55. The deficit for 2010 may be projected to be $1,200,000,000,000.00. It will not be. I would bet it will be higher, as are all governmental costs.

    Commercial real estate is poised to fall to an extent that will make the residential collapse look tame. That $5.4 billion REO in New York this week is just the beginning. Oh, and that 2.4 million foreclosures in the residential pipline will have no effect at all.

    Why not? Because he said so, that's why not.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Now is as good a time as any to say...

    You consented to call her Lillith. As if she were not perfectly insane.

    The shit she writes here and promptly transfers to Belmont? It's pure, mindless political mimicry.

    Can she actually write? Well who the fuck would ever know?

    ReplyDelete
  57. ah, Deuce, sorry to lay into last night for not knowing of Balloon Juice. I figured that since Trish had referred to it a number of times and myself a few that you'd at least have heard of the joint. Anyway that and a touch of wine, and port, and...well I shot my mouth off and, ya, trish can be somewhat enigmatic at times.

    ReplyDelete
  58. It was the year of Our Lord: 2020.

    An elderly gentleman, who went by the name of Rufus, proceeded to his receptacle of nourishment to procure for his poverty stricken canine friend an ossified tidbit.

    However, after arriving at aforementioned receptacle, he found that is was denuded of its contents. So, his poverty stricken canine friend was, to put it as delicately as possible, shit out of luck.

    The old patriarch trundled off to the General Store to purchase the required tidbits and, as he was parking his new Vulva (the new GM diesel which runs on fish oil and smells like you-know-what) it occurred to him that he may as well pick up a case of whiskey.

    After selecting what he needed he put the items on the counter and said "How much?"

    The clerk replied, "That will be $20,000."

    Rufus could feel his sphincter knotting up. "My good man," he said, "I bought a case just last week and it was only $10,000."

    The clerk replied, "Master Rufus, that's the price. If you feel that you can do without the liqour, then don't buy it."

    "No, no," said Rufus with a blanket of defeat laying on him like a wet idea, "I'll pay. But I only have a $50,000 bill. Can you make change?"

    "Of course," said the clerk, and he counted out Master Rufus' change. "One trillion, two trillion, three trillion."

    "Now hold on," wailed Rufus, "I've never seen this kind of money before. What are you trying to pull?"

    The clerk explained, " The government has decided to de-value the dollar again and, so, by law, I must take your money and replace it with the new bills. Look, you won't believe this; I even have a $100 Trillion dollar bill." And he handed it to Rufus.

    Rufus looked the bill. It looked odd to him. He put on his spectacles. Sure enough, it said $100 Trillion on it. But wait, he thought, something's not right. Then he spotted something and angrily said to the clerk, "What are you trying to pull? It doesn't say United States Of America, it says Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe."

    The clerk looked around, checking to make sure no-one could overhear, then said to Rufus in a low voice, "I'm not supposed to tell you this but the guys over at Treasury say it's cheaper to purcahse used Zimbabwe currency than to print new greenbacks."

    "But, but," sputtered Rufus, "the money says Zimbabwe on it. How are you going to explain that away?"

    The clerk looked both ways again and said to Rufus, "I was told to say it was just a spelling error and that, one day, they will be collector items. My advice is not to spend them. Save them; someday they will be worth a fortune."

    Rufus nodded in agreement, picked up his parcels and went over to his new car. He stopped and scratched his head. "You know," he said to himself, "something smells fishy here."

    ReplyDelete
  59. :)

    Thanks, Victor, that was Great.

    First good laugh of the day.

    Damn, I could actually see it.

    ReplyDelete
  60. And, "Smell" it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  61. On a somewhat similar vein,

    Here's an interesting thought: My Sweetie, and I, being fairly typical Americans, probably produce about 2 Tons of Waste/Yr.

    That could translate into about 80 miles/week in my Flexfuel. That would just about do us. Jes Sayin.

    Fiberight

    ReplyDelete
  62. Man, it's getting tough out there. Two women in online chat room agree to sex for a pack of cigarettes

    (no, I'm Not making this up, and it's not the lead-in to a joke,)

    and, then, accuse the high-roller of Rape, because . . . . . . wait for it . . . They Didn't Enjoy the Sex!

    ReplyDelete
  63. rufus said:

    :)

    Thanks, Victor, that was Great.

    First good laugh of the day.

    Damn, I could actually see it.

    Fri Jan 29, 03:28:00 PM EST



    And thank you, Rufus, you're a good sport!

    ReplyDelete
  64. viktor that was really good! I actually burst out loud laughing at:

    "The clerk looked around, checking to make sure no-one could overhear, then said to Rufus in a low voice, "I'm not supposed to tell you this but the guys over at Treasury say it's cheaper to purcahse used Zimbabwe currency than to print new greenbacks.""

    heheh!

    ReplyDelete
  65. oops, he forgot his teleprompter:

    "In a session that resembled the British custom where a prime minister responds to questions in Parliament, Mr. Obama took questions from House Republicans, who pressed him on why he had disregarded their ideas and instead advanced what they called big government solutions rather than more surgical alternatives."

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/obama-house-republicans-debate-their-divisions/?hp

    ReplyDelete
  66. Cause, He Ain't Got NONE!

    Fri Jan 29, 11:52:00 AM EST

    With all due respect, and replied to as gently as I can muster the energy...

    ...you're simply FOS, Rufus!

    ReplyDelete
  67. Victor, the CBO is prevented, by law, from predicting much of anything other than "The Present."

    The projection was not made by the CBO, it only used CBO data up to the present, and extrapolated it into the future. Would you rather believe a model crafted by Acorn or MoveOn.Org?

    ReplyDelete
  68. First off, LT, lovingly, and with all due respect, You don't know What the Fuck You're Talking About.

    ReplyDelete
  69. And, LT, with respect to the deficit, Use your fucking head.

    The bailouts, and stimuli were One Time Shots. You can only spend a Dollar, ONCE.

    The rest of it was a slump in tax receipts that WILL NOT go on, forever.

    Quit "Wishing," and think. Do you really suppose that those Republican Congressmen think For One Minute that we're really looking at deficits of that size, for that long? They would be walking around whiter than Caspar's sheets.

    ReplyDelete
  70. The pot calls the kettle black

    Blogger trish said...

    Now is as good a time as any to say...

    You consented to call her Lillith. As if she were not perfectly insane.

    The shit she writes here and promptly transfers to Belmont? It's pure, mindless political mimicry.

    Can she actually write? Well who the fuck would ever know?

    Fri Jan 29, 02:29:00 PM EST?
    .

    ---------

    Yes, Viktor. Life goes on at the Elephant Bar.

    Each day brings more material to those hard working script writers over at the Elephant Bar Sitcom.

    Stay tuned folks...

    ReplyDelete
  71. Do you really suppose that those Republican Congressmen think For One Minute that we're really looking at deficits of that size, for that long?

    No. I abandoned hope long ago that more than a half dozen in Congress actually think. I believe they respond reflexively.

    Like some patrons of this bar.

    ReplyDelete