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."

Monday, May 31, 2010

"We are not at war with jihadists."




16 comments:

  1. "I for one, was born in the US"----(Mid way through the aggressive rant)

    Close the mosques, kick all these assholes out, the Constitution isn't a suicide pact.



    Born in the USA, he says, but he shouldn't have been

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  2. We are not at war with the jihadists--but they are with us.

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  3. WiO wrote:

    "The flotilla was an act of war..."

    eh? How so? Please explain.

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  4. Ash said...
    WiO wrote:

    "The flotilla was an act of war..."

    eh? How so? Please explain.


    Ash, are you really that lazy?

    use that thing you call a mind and READ the last thread...

    It's all there if you choose to open your eyes and read...

    what a lazy snit

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  5. Not only has the incident strengthened the Islamist Hamas, it has probably weakened the secular Palestinian leadership on the West Bank. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas quickly condemned the attack as a "massacre," but he will probably face new pressure to abandon indirect talks with Israel.

    Iran, whose nuclear ambitions deeply concern Israeli leaders, also is a beneficiary. Turkey holds one of the rotating seats on the U.N. Security Council and was already deeply skeptical of the U.S.-led push to impose new sanctions on the Islamic republic.

    But now the council's attention will be hijacked by the Israeli assault.


    Relations with US

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  6. from the Belmont Club-----

    "13. buddy larsen

    “Free Constantinople!”"-----


    heh, Buddy always makes me laugh.

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  7. Rush was saying the other day, it's about time to have an anti-austerity riot....

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  8. "Al-Masri was the group's chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning," the official said. "He was also the organization's prime conduit to bin Laden and Zawahiri," he added, referring to al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

    ...

    Previous reports of Masri's death proved unfounded. But the U.S. official said the latest reports appear accurate.

    "In terms of level of confidence, it's very high," the official said.


    Reported Dead

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  9. The judge remarked that if any websites hosted blasphemous content, they would again be blocked.

    The Islamic Lawyers Movement, which filed the petition that led to the blocking of Facebook and other sites hosting blasphemous content, protested the court’s decision.

    Acting on the court’s order, the Information Technology Ministry instructed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to unblock Facebook and block only URLs that contain blasphemous contents.


    Access to Facebook

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  10. What happened next is disputed, but video footage from the Turkish lead vessel, Mavi Marmara, showed masked Navy Seals rappelling from helicopters on to the deck and into a sea of angry activists, some armed with knives and batons. A pistol was snatched from at least one commando and an Israeli commander gave an order to fire.

    The Israeli military stood by its account yesterday that the activists fired first.

    Images after the shootout showed the dead and wounded lying on decks as panicked activists scurried around the darkened decks carrying blood-drenched stretchers. One British man was reported to have been injured.


    Aid Convoy

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  11. "Looking closely at the images of North Korea using the Google Earth web service one can see evidence of not only [leader] Kim Jong-il's lavish lifestyle but also of the state's gulags and prison camps," the paper said.

    Google Earth

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  12. Less than three years ago Shimon Peres addressed the Turkish Grand National Assembly - Turkey's parliament - in Ankara.

    ...

    The Israeli operation against Gaza at the end of 2008 provoked widespread anger around the world, but the reaction from Turkey was stronger than most.

    ...

    But it is also the culmination of changing attitudes in Turkish society, a large part of which is now more overtly Islamic in its identity and its view of the world than at any time in the country's 87-year history.


    Lost Turkey

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  13. Quirk, if you can't distinguish the difference between WiO and rat's ass, you can't distinguish the difference between your right hand and your left hand, even though you have many cattle.

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  14. "Quirk, if you can't distinguish the difference between WiO and rat's ass, you can't distinguish the difference between your right hand and your left hand, even though you have many cattle."

    Bob, you obviously have me mistaken for another Quirk as I am in fact cattle poor.

    With regard to rat and WiO, I see no point in changing what I said before.

    The Jewish tradition goes back millenia. The modern Israeli state began in 1948. Little matters with today's Israel except what has happened since 1948.

    You idealize Israel. I view it simply as a modern nation state.

    There are those who consider Israel's people as the chosen of God. Does that mean they should be forgiven whatever they choose to do? Or, if true, should they be held to a higher standard?

    Frankly, I buy neither. Israel is a nation state that does what it feels is in its national interest. If I disagree with anything they do I might say so. It doesn't mean I don't want them to be ultimately successful. They are after all a US ally.

    Likewise, rat's depiction of the Palestineans as poor victims whose current situation was brought about strictly through the evil machinations of the Israelis is equally flawed.

    They initially refused the UN proposal that would have established two states in the ME and they continue to deny that Isreal has a right to exist. That kind of eliminates the basis for any kind of settlement agreement.

    To say the Israelis are always correct and thus justified in doing whatever they want? Silly? To be an apologist for the Palestineans and picture them as pure victims? Equaly silly.

    The point I made is simple. Rat and WiO are birds of s feather.

    They merely sing a different tune.

    .

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  15. "You idealize Israel."-----

    Nay, I just know a better culture when I see it. G'night, Quirk, I gotta get some sleep.

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