Friday, June 04, 2010

Obama Reads the Polls and Decides He Is Furious.




'Furious' Obama heading to Gulf for spill update
By NANCY BENAC (AP) – 19 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Determined to project both command and compassion, President Barack Obama is returning to the Louisiana coast for a fresh look at work to stanch the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and the spiraling effects of the nation's worst environmental disaster. The president underscored the mounting political implications by abruptly canceling plans for a trip to Indonesia and Australia later this month.

Addressing a crisis that threatens to undermine his presidency, Obama spoke for many Thursday in declaring himself furious at a situation that "is imperiling an entire way of life and an entire region for potentially years." Friday's trip will be his second to the Gulf in eight days, answering critics in both parties who suggest he has seemed detached from the crisis.

Polls show the public growing more negative toward the president's handling of the spill.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs announced late Thursday that Obama was scrapping his foreign trip — which already had been postponed — "to deal with important issues, one of which is the oil spill."

Obama had a sensitive political decision to make: Risk putting off two allies in a strategic part of the world once again, or endure all the inevitable backlash of being on the other side of the world during a crisis at home.
The domestic agenda proved dominant.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of Australia and the president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, both said through spokesmen they were disappointed but understood it was necessary for Obama to stay home and deal with the crisis.

While in Louisiana, Obama planned to meet with Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is overseeing the response effort, and with state and local officials, then visit with residents of the small barrier island community of Grand Isle, where oil is washing up on beaches and lives have been upended by the spill.


"I am so Furious"


The president's trip comes as engineers with British oil company BP worked to settle a funnel-like cap over the deep-sea leak to try to collect some of the crude now fouling four states. The cap started pumping oil and gas to a tanker on the surface overnight, but it wasn't clear how much, and crude continued to spew.

In an interview Thursday with CNN's Larry King, Obama expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of BP's reaction, saying, "What I haven't seen as much as I'd like is the kind of rapid response."

His administration on Thursday handed the company a $69 million bill for recovery costs to date — a figure sure to grow in the weeks and months ahead.

The president visited the Gulf region twice in May, and Friday's visit surely will not be his last, as the president tries to show he's staying on top of the situation, without getting in the way.

"You never want to take resources away from the response and recovery efforts, so we're certainly mindful of that," Gibbs said. "At the same time ... I think he'll go as often as he thinks that is productive in aiding those response efforts."

Somewhere between 22 million and 47 million gallons of crude oil have been disgorged into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, according to government estimates. Eleven workers were killed in the blast.

Obama told King he was furious that "someone didn't think through the consequences of their actions," and he tried to deflect criticism that he hasn't shown enough emotion about the epic dimensions of the problem.

"I would love to just spend a lot of my time venting and yelling at people," the president said, "but that's not the job I was hired to do. My job is to solve this problem."

Traveling in Singapore Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he could not foresee a more active role for the military. "The truth of the matter is, we don't have any expertise in this area," he said at a news conference. Gates said the military has already offered help in the form of manpower, and stands ready to do more if asked.
"We'll do whatever we can to help," Gates said, "but this is not our area of specialty."

The president may well get questions about the administration's mixed signals on future drilling in the Gulf. The government's Minerals Management Service stopped issuing permits for new oil and gas drilling in the Gulf, but an administration official denied that a formal freeze had been decreed on drilling in shallow water.

Obama said he was "supportive of offshore drilling if it can be done safely and it doesn't result in these kinds of horrible environmental disasters."



97 comments:

  1. If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land.

    The problem: The federal government did not have a single fire boom on hand.

    The "In-Situ Burn" plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 calls for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of fire booms.

    But in order to conduct a successful test burn eight days after the Deepwater Horizon well began releasing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf, officials had to purchase one from a company in Illinois.

    When federal officials called, Elastec/American Marine, shipped the only boom it had in stock, Jeff Bohleber, chief financial officer for Elastec, said today.

    At federal officials' behest, the company began calling customers in other countries and asking if the U.S. government could borrow their fire booms for a few days, he said.

    A single fire boom being towed by two boats can burn up to 1,800 barrels of oil an hour, Bohleber said. That translates to 75,000 gallons an hour, raising the possibility that the spill could have been contained at the accident scene 100 miles from shore.

    Video shows federal officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill
    Officials consider high-risk options to cap well in Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster

    Burning should have started a week earlier, former NOAA official says
    "They said this was the tool of last resort. No, this is absolutely the asset of first use. Get in there and start burning oil before the spill gets out of hand," Bohleber said. "If they had six or seven of these systems in place when this happened and got out there and started burning, it would have significantly lessened the amount of oil that got loose."

    In the days after the rig sank, U.S Coast Guard Rear Admiral Mary Landry said the government had all the assets it needed. She did not discuss why officials waited more than a week to conduct a test burn. (Watch video footage of the test burn.)

    At the time, former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oil spill response coordinator Ron Gouguet -- who helped craft the 1994 plan -- told the Press-Register that officials had pre-approval for burning. "The whole reason the plan was created was so we could pull the trigger right away."

    Gouguet speculated that burning could have captured 95 percent of the oil as it spilled from the well.

    Bohleber said that his company was bringing several fire booms from South America, and he believed the National Response Center discovered that it had one in storage.

    Each boom costs a few hundred thousand dollars, Bohleber said, declining to give a specific price.

    Made of flame-retardant fabric, each boom has two pumps that push water through its 500-foot length. Two boats tow the U-shaped boom through an oil slick, gathering up about 75,000 gallons of oil at a time. That oil is dragged away from the larger spill, ignited and burns within an hour, he said.

    The boom can be used as long as waves are below 3 feet, Bohleber said.

    "Because of the complexity of the system and the obvious longer production time to build them, the emphasis is on obtaining and gathering the systems," he said.

    Bohleber said his company has conducted numerous tests with the Coast Guard since 1993, and it is now training crews on the use of the boom so workers will be ready when they arrive.

    "We're arranging for six to be shipped in. We keep running into delays. Hopefully, they will be here by Wednesday to be available for use on Thursday. Bear in mind, two days ago, we thought they would be here today."

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  2. http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/fire_boom_oil_spill_raines.html

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  3. Blogger trish said...

    "Hamas is stronger and Israel has not enhanced its interests anywhere.

    "As a strategy, it is a diplomatic failure. If there is no plan B, this would be a good time to develop one."

    - Blue, in the previous thread

    Again, I just don't think Israel is aiming for any kind of diplomatic win.

    To describe this latest action, for instance, as a public relations catastrophe is to assume to some extent that public relations is a significant motive to begin with.

    Once you've concluded that the popularity contest is irretrievably lost - and worse, was fixed from the outset - winning hearts and minds (outside of a critical base of solidarity and support in the US) falls off the List of Things To Do."



    I believe the Israelis did all they could do to blunt the force of what they did. They kept held all those folks on the ships incommunicado and it is only just now that that their stories are coming out. I heard on the radio that there are reports of the Israelis shooting before descending from the helicopters. Anyway, there were a bunch of reporters on board and their stories will be of interest to many.

    In addition to holding all these people out of the media eye they also launched a media campaign touting their side of the story. They are quite media savvy it seems to me. All those videos released by them using the You Tube platform was quite a brilliant attempt to put their best foot forward.

    However they are taking a drubbing for it in the media from what I can see. I'm rarely hearing anyone arguing that the raid was the right thing to do.

    Rick Salutin wrote an interesting piece today:

    "Israel’s claim this week that its soldiers killed nine civilians in self-defence on an aid-to-Gaza flotilla it had boarded is at best tone deaf. It strains credibility. You attack unarmed ships at sea and when people resist, shoot them and then blame them. It’s beyond Orwellian. The analogies occur to anyone: Home invaders kill residents who try to stop an assault, etc. At least there, no one would assert self-defence. I know elaborate arguments have been unfurled to justify the claim but that’s not my point. Whether the claim is right or wrong isn’t even the point. It just won’t fly with most people. To them, it’s implausible on its face. That’s where tone deafness comes in.

    Whence this tone deafness? It seems to me that Israel’s leaders have grown mindlessly, habitually dependent on asserting their own victimization. This was often effective, based largely on sympathies rooted in revulsion at the Holocaust and the history of Western anti-Semitism. But this has gradually changed, due partly to the arrival of generations who, as it were, knew not Hitler and aren’t inclined to feel even indirectly guilty for him. The shift became evident during the 2008 Gaza invasion and perhaps even more this week. Yet Israel’s leaders still automatically assume the victim position. It’s like the boy who cried victim."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/who-are-the-friends-of-israel/article1591587/




    He goes on to talk about Margaret Atwoods recent trip to Israel which offers some interesting insights.

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  4. Israel's raid on the Flotilla was an ACT of War...

    The Act of War was of course done by Turkey.

    Let's review....

    6 ships set sail from Turkey, under Turkish Flag.

    Before they set sail they publically pronounced they intended to violate the Egyptian and Israel blockade of the Gaza strip. A land that was controlled by a acknowledged terror organization that was and is in a state of war with Israel.

    Of all the ships, only ONE put up any form of violence. The others? were redirected to Israel for off loading and the cargo, after inspection was attempted to be delivered to Gaza

    The one ship that attacked the IDF soldiers?

    At least 60 persons on board that were captured carried no passports and had approx 3000 usd each.

    There were stock piles of night vision, gas masks, bulletproof vests, knives, clubs, firebombs and stun grenades at the ready.

    What we are seeing is an Act of War by Turkey, to use proxies to disrupt the Israelis.

    Once an only wonder what would happen if 50-60 hard core PKK Kurdish "activists" were being escorted into Occupied Kurdistan how turkey would react?

    We do know how...

    Daniel Pipes write in 1998:

    For over a decade, the Turkish and Syrian governments have played a game that goes something like this: The PKK kills Turks and destroys their property; the Turks protest to Damascus; the Syrians deny any culpability but promise it will not happen again; and things quiet down for a few months. Then new PKK attacks against Turks resume, followed by a new protest, and the whole cycle begins anew.

    Over the years, Turks have become ever-more frustrated by their inability to get an agreement with the Assad regime to stick. Particularly galling is the fact that the PKK's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, lives openly in Damascus, giving interviews and allowing himself to be photographed. Nonetheless, the Syrian regime insouciantly denies his presence - a studied insult to the Turks.

    In reply, Turkish rhetoric has grown increasingly heated. By 1993, various columnists aired proposals to adopt the "methods used by Israel" against Syria's Hezbollah proxies in Lebanon: Turkey should destroy PKK camps and kill Öcalan, cut off the Euphrates waters, and even wage "all-out war against Syria." Since mid-September, these drastic proposals have moved from the opinion pages to the news pages as military and political leaders adopt a new tone.

    On Friday, the Turkish chief of staff Huseyin Kivrikoğlu said relations with Damascus had already become an "undeclared war." President Suleyman Demirel announced that "we are losing our patience and we retain the right to retaliate against Syria." He also put the Syrians on warning: "Those who expect benefits from terrorism have to know that they will also suffer from terrorism in the future." Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz accused Syria of being "the headquarters of terrorism in the Middle East" and reportedly warned Damascus that the Turkish army is on stand-by, "awaiting orders" to attack.

    So let's be honest...

    Israel was set up, they were stupid to fall into a trap, but they had every legal and moral right to stop the flotilla.

    And maybe a message has been sent...

    Israel will not commit suicide.

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  5. DR,

    Re: Atlanta

    Things are just fine here in Atlanta, DR.

    I get to work with, hangout with, and worship with doctors, lawyers, college professors, investors, entrepreneurs - in short, monied professionals.

    O, and unlike the bear ropers of the SW or the puddle jumpers in the bayou, it does not take three of them to come up with a full set of teeth.

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  6. To all the home boys, here's your main squeeze and poster girl...

    Helen does you proud, boys.

    Thomas and Duke - 2012

    Helen Thomas tells Jews to go back to Germany

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  7. ...and you want to tell Israel how to handle its problems...Right...

    Feds Sentence Two Illegal Immigrants for Carrying Nearly 150 Assault Rifles Into U.S.

    "...147 assault rifles, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, high-capacity magazines and bayonets ..."

    "...men made their initial appearances in federal court, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to terms of 10 days and 45 days, respectively, all on Tuesday...."

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  8. It has been pointed out: Daffy Duck is lovable. A cultural icon who occasionally got his beak blown to the back of his head, but who hasn't

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  9. "Federal prosecutors released the names of Damaso Alberto Rueda Cabrera and Arnulfo de la Cruz Sanchez on Thursday along with the unusual announcement that the men made their initial appearances in federal court, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to terms of 10 days and 45 days, respectively, all on Tuesday."---

    Feds threw the book at 'em. What's a few thousand rounds of ammo and over a hundred assault rifles anyways.

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  10. Will they get time off for good behavior?

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  11. So, what has your knickers in a bunch the fact that they aren't US citizens? No problem if the carried US passports?

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  12. I just inherited, in the mail today, $15,560,000 from somebody who had to sell the farm in Zimbabwe, for 'the good works I have done' rather than 'allow my wife relatives to use our hard earned funds ungodly'. 'I am willing that amount to you as my friend for a specific good work. I know you may not remember me too well again but I have been directed to do this from my heart'. I'm supposed to contact the executor, one Mr. Ahmed Faraz, esq.

    Could you handle this for me, Ash? I'm busy looking at my alfalfa.

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  13. My solution for the flotilla? Dump liquid cow & pin manure on the decks, repeatedly.

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  14. Mazel Tov, bob. You lucky man!

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  15. Quirk said...
    "...He's a scary dude..."

    In more ways than five Ruf. He is whipsawing the markets with his loose lips.

    Two days ago, he had a speech in which he said today's jobs numbers were going to be great. On another occasion (I think it was yesterday) he was saying how the government was going to be getting behind and pushing NG usage. Today he visits and electric car plant.

    The market hears the rhetoric, views the reality, and tanks.

    What is the president of the US doing predicting job figures?
    ---

    Before seeing today's thread, I was going to respond:

    What is the president doing saying he is concerned about the Gulf when he is clearly more interested in chumming with a 67 year old loser who sounds like a 13 year old smartass with his comments about Bush (shitty president) and libraries.

    As if Paul and Barry together know one tenth as much about the real World as Bush.

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  16. "You attack unarmed ships at sea and when people resist, shoot them and then blame them. "


    Talk about Orwellian:
    Base your entire argument/fantasy on a falsehood.

    ...as if the Muslim Brotherhood trained with Mother Teresita.

    But hey, it's Ash doing the analysis.

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  17. The toothless of the Southwest do not discuss putting gerbils up each others ass, debating whether or not it tickles.

    I'd rather hang out with a toothless heterosexual, than to talk about bestiality.

    allen demurs.
    Good teeth and instructions as to how to have his asshole tickled, those are his preferences, for the subject of conversation.

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  18. There is no crime in having arms on ship, on the high seas.

    Not if it did not violate Turkish law, which was soverign on those ships, until the Pirates of the Mediterranean took the ships.

    Indeed, many here have advocated for commercial shipping to arm up, to defend themselves from Pirates.

    No harm in that.

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  19. and the ships had no weapons anyway.

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  20. The Pirates of the Mediterranean grasping at straws, to try to justify their crimes.

    Just like the Palestinians.
    Moral equivalency, the Israeli Pirates search for it, in vain.

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  21. Want to volunteer to be beaten with a lead pipe, Ash.

    No doubt the Israelis fired their paint balls early on.

    Jihad means personal struggle.

    Religion of Peace.

    Palis are raised on love, truth, and justice.

    etc

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  22. "However, there were places where true Civil War *did* break out – Missouri, Kentucky, Kansas, Arkansas, to name some. Not as well known or publicized, but the war in these areas was family vs. family, neighbor vs. neighbor. With very little large scale military action, it’s estimated that 1/3 of the male population of Missouri died violently between 1861 – 1865.

    The vast majority of this was barely up to the level of guerrilla action; it was one group of families getting together and riding out to murder the families they never really liked, and the relatives of those families coming back and taking their revenge next.

    Woman and children were slaughtered almost as often as the menfolk.

    Kentucky was just as bad – there’s a reason it was called “A Dark and Bloody Ground.”

    Kansas had the jayhawkers who would hang or shoot anyone they suspected of being disloyal(which meant anyone that they had a grudge against) and Arkansas had the same family vs family warfare that Missouri did.
    "

    ---

    We need avatars to more convincingly re-create that atmosphere at the bar.

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  23. I think it's time for the Turkish military to step in again, and stop the islamizing of the Turkish state.

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  24. Ash,

    Our ambassador to Lebanon testifies next week.

    Um...Not a lotta hope there for progress.

    This is sorta the ultimate clash of nominally allied agendas.

    Gets nobody any friggin' where.

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  25. testifies? to what committee...inquiry...??

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  26. "We need avatars to more convincingly re-create that atmosphere at the bar."


    I like your thinking, Dougo.

    Not that we need them to re-create that atmosphere.

    I just like your thinking.


    .

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  27. Lordy be, the Turkish Army is loyal to its' democratically elected government, and boob wants a coup d'état, instead.

    Wonder how long before he advocates for that, here in the USA?

    The Goose and Gander Standard, for all our NATO allies and ourselves.

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  28. Ladies, we are still going to win the war - "stick up the ass" and all ;D


    WiO,

    ...off to Florida...hold down the fort :)... be back next week, G-d willing...Shabbat Shalom, my friend

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  29. Just one indication of the islaming. In Turkey they are being told to build the apartments now without balconies, so as to keep the women out of sight. They like to sit out on a balcony on a warm night.

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  30. Country's Sole Soccer Fan Becoming Insufferable

    "Decorating his cubicle with World Cup stuff is fine, I guess," said coworker Greg Lafferty, who endured several elevator rides in which he politely listened to the lone American soccer fan evaluate international matchups before realizing that Janovich was discussing the outcomes of soccer games and not impending wars. "I myself have a Yankees pennant at my desk. But Brad has all these scarves draped all over everything. They hang into other people's areas, and when they ask him to move them, he responds by explaining what the scarf means. It's driving us nuts."

    "Last week he was talking about how 'footy' was really heating up and asked me to come over for the 'friendly' against Turkey," said Janovich's friend Beth Gleason, who has known the only projected U.S. viewer of this year's World Cup broadcast since college. "I love Brad, I really do, but when he talks like that I want to punch him in the goddamn face. Especially because, when I asked him what he was talking about, he just said the same thing again, only slower. I was like, 'Brad, don't talk like that. People don't talk like that...'"


    It's Brad. Just Walk Away



    .

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  31. You should see photo of Obama hugging the idiot Helen Thomas over at Drudge Report.

    They should take her press credentials and permanently ban the old witch. Instead they cater to her? Imagine if she has said blacks should go back to Africa....she would be skewered and rightly so. The left is going a little too far toward the edge...

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  32. I am 100% in agreement with Charles Krauthammer and 100% solidarity with Israel.

    No, they don't get an entirely free pass or my unquestioning loyalty but the battle lines are being drawn and I'll cast my lot with Israel v. everyone else, thank you very much.

    I have followed mid-east events very closely all my adult life and I have learned who can be trusted and who cannot. The Palestinians have shown time after time that they cannot be trusted from here to the door.

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  33. And if you don't like it, don't let that door hit you in the ash can on your way out.

    :)

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  34. BTW - Welcome back, T. It's always good to see you grace our humble establishment. Well, most always...:)

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  35. Shh, don't tell you know who; the Bilderbergers are back in the news.


    What are the Bilderberg Group really doing in Spain?

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  36. The gory details (rumors?) are coming out about Van der Sloot's victim. Apparently she was beaten to a pulp with a baseball bat.

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  37. Here's a person who seems to have a good grasp of the situation (from BC)--

    5. cdor

    So when is enough, enough? Israel had thriving businesses in Gaza. Multi-billion dollar greenhouse businesses that competed world-wide with the Dutch flower market. Communities of settlers had made Gaza home. They built housing developments, roads, synagogues. Yet they gave it all up. Obama must have forgotten about that, he wasn’t President then so it was unimportant. He wasn’t paying any attention when, after Sharon ripped all his countrymen from their homes and businesses to make Gaza Judenfrei for the nomadic Arabs who have recently begun calling themselves Palestinians (about 60 years ago), those same barbarians very first act as landowners was to rip apart all the infrastructure…the greenhouses, the residences, and, of course, the synagogues, left behind by tearful Jews who had been betrayed by their own country. Then they deigned poverty and the world sent them billions of welfare dollars, then they fought with each other PLA against Hamas, barbarians against butchers, and eventually chose for themselves the butchers. Then of course, the butchers began hurling primitive, but deadly missiles into schools and houses of Jews on the Israeli side of Gaza. Israel’s first response was to send aid…10 tons a week.
    Obama’s comprehensive desires forgot to mention that the Hamas charter refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. It is stunning to me. How does an Israeli begin a conversation with a person that doesn’t believe he has a right to exist? President Obama has solved his “right to exist problem” by sending drones to blow up houses 10’s of thousands of miles away. That’s ok, save for the fact that no actionable intelligence is gleaned from this maneuver, at least he isn’t water boarding them. The bits and pieces of women. children, and terrorists left after a drone attack don’t make good conversation. But ISRAEL, oh my God, they are the devil personified. The poor piteous “Palestinians” against the big mean Jews. This conflict will end one of two ways. The first and most popular today by those on the left is for Israel to commit suicide. They must give up more land to be left with indefensible borders while Hamas and Hezbollah arm themselves to their teeth ( teeth, if they have any, that are probably cared and paid for by Israelis). This process will end with the nuclear and/or biological destruction of Israel along with tens of millions of Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese, and “Palestinians”. The second is for Israel, backed by a strong non equivocating U.S. President to tell the Palestinians, “You have one last shot at becoming a country and a propel. You must first announce publicly both in English and Arabic that Israel has a sacred right to exist as a nation on the ground that it currently occupies. Then you have five years to prove that you are capable of behaving as a unified people who are willing to take responsibility for your own survival and to create government and institutions that are seeds for sustainability. After that, if you are unable to exist as a country, it will be you who will be dispersed throughout the world. Make nicely nice with your Arab “brothers”, because you may need them to take you in. And no rockets or terror attacks, little boys and girls as that would be your end.”
    I personally do not think this amalgamation called Palestinians is capable of governing itself. Without hate, they may be nothing. But it is time to put an end to all of this bullshit and the waffle response Obama gives above will only continue this stupidity in perpetuity.

    C

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  38. I'm over here in Spain for a three day conference with a few of my bro's. Just arrived this morning.

    I was running late for a meeting to discuss the current status of our plan for the euro, so I plugged in this 220/110 converter so I could shave. (Picked the converter up from a street vendor.)
    I urge you to absolutely avoid using devices called "converters."

    Grabbed my electric razor, plugged it in, turned it on and was met with a tremendous light show as the razor pretty much exploded. Light in the room went dark and as I found out later so did half the hotel. The bro's were pissed.

    Once the plan is fully implemented, I will find that street vendor and he will pay.

    At any rate, the conference only runs for three days. I should be back home monday.


    .

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  39. Tell'em I had the "plan" all written out, but my invitation never arrived, Q. They need to fire that secretary.

    Well, too bad, their loss.

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  40. I'll tell you one thing, whit. Without equivocation.

    When the "Battle lines" are drawn, you may decide to stand with Israel. Myself, I will stand with the United States of America.

    First, last, always.
    If you wish to stand against the interests of the United States, and for those of Israel, go right ahead.

    You can choose where your loyalty truly is, with your own country, or some foreign entity.

    Simple stuff, really.
    To paraphrase those immortal words of the last Republican to be President of the United States:

    You are with US, or against US.

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  41. The "expert" that is quoted, at whit's Spanish meeting link vindicates me, again.

    Whether or not you like that, either.

    "It isn't a secret society," he said. "No matter how powerful they are, no group sits around a table holding hands and deciding the world's future. It is an ideology."

    And one should realize that they are working hard to implement that ideology, here, there, where ever their interests take them.

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  42. ... "the Bilderberg Club" is not a classic conspiracy but a potentially dangerous meeting of minds with a common goal:
    to centralise global economic power to benefit corporations.
    He defined it as "a virtual spider web of interlocking financial, political and industrial interests".

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  43. What if the US wants to move against the 2nd Amendment. What if the US moves to stifle if not shutdown Talk Radio? What if the US says that there will be no borders and a shared currency in the North American Union? You'll will stand with them then?

    I don't have to blindly support anyone here in this world much less Washington, DC. A leftist has risen to the Presidency and wishes to turn up the heat on Israel. I can oppose him without being against the US.

    Talk about misdirection.

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  44. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  45. May be cuttting my stay here in Spain short.

    Some mix-up with the secretaries.

    No one can seem to find the latest copy of the plan.


    HEADS WILL ROLL!


    (And damn, I could really use a shave.)



    .

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  46. You may as well stick around, Q. Do some live bloggin'. Oh I forgot, you're sworn to secrecy.

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  47. What a friggin party.

    You're right, I can't say much.

    But it's barely noon here now and the guy in the room next door sends over this Swiss Guard.

    Tells me his courtesy bar is already empty.

    Wants to barrow a little Bombay Sapphire.

    Crazy wild, dude.


    .

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  48. They just slipped a lists of the days happenings under my door.

    I'm especially excited about the champagne garage sale starting at 3:00 down by the north pool.

    Damn, I'm geeked.


    .

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  49. Looks like I'm going to be pretty busy over the next couple of days.

    Will try to slip in the occasional post if I get a chance.


    Oh baby, you should see the chicks.

    Carumba.


    .

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  50. Got room for a buddy?

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  51. You now, whit, have changed the subject, from foreign policy and solidarity of purpose beyond our shores, to domestic policy and the entire Federal establishment moving against your pet projects.

    If the 2nd Amendment is repealed, and nullified, by the Constitutional method, than that is that. We will have lost the political battle, here at home. While being fixated upon the Levant and the totally bogus and propaganda driven "War on Islam".

    How would the Federals move against "Talk Radio"?
    How would they do that, but through licensing.
    Policy that there is plenty of precedent for. The "Equal Time" provisions of Federal Law, which I oppose, are Constitutional.

    No, whit, if you chose to stand against the foreign policy interests of the United States, on National Security issues concerning the United States, fine by me, but rest assured you'll be on the outside, looking in.

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  52. You'll have drawn your Battle line, against the interests of the US.

    Proving that domestic policy is of less concern, to you, than Israel.

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  53. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  55. When the Constitution was amended, the 16th time, it totally changed the scope of Federal power. Radically amending the Constitution.

    If I had been there, I'd have opposed that change.

    But, even so, it would not have caused me to stand against the US foreign policy interests, or to renounce the our Constitutional system of governace.

    Same with those other subjects in your litany. I have sworn to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

    If the legislators of the Federal System, in conjunction with the majorities required of the various and individual State Legislatures, in sufficient numbers to again amend the Constitution, do so. Well, there you have it.
    The Constitution is a living document, it was designed to be amended by the Framers, with the recognition that changing times and social standards require change to be implemented.

    What of Slavery?
    What once was Constitutional, no longer is.

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  56. I did not change the subject from foreign policy to domestic. The subject is loyalty and opposition. I used domestic policy issues to illustrate to you that one can be opposed to Federal policy without being opposed to the US.

    You seem to be saying support of Israel is being disloyal to the US.

    It's bad form to question a man's loyalty over policy arguments.

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  57. Rufus, just got your note.

    Will try to get you and the plan over today if possible. Bring Whit along.

    They had a couple of planes set up just for this type of stuff.

    Some guy's got one of them out looking for ice and no one seems to know where the other one is.

    Nothings going to happen today anyway. As soon as they cancelled the first session everyone proceeded to get wasted.

    I'd hate to see the bill for this when it's over.



    .
    .

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  58. What you said, whit:

    ... the battle lines are being drawn and I'll cast my lot with Israel v. everyone else,

    Everyone, that would include the United States of America.

    To do as you wrote, that would be disloyal to the United States of America.
    No doubt of it.

    I stand with the United States, it's Constitution and its' people.

    You say that if made to choose, between US and Israel, you'd choose Israel.

    It is what you wrote, plain as day.

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  59. Hey Quirk, not that it matters but who's picking up the tab? What's a few more dollars to our kids?

    Party on, dude.

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  60. Pinch me.

    Just met Oprah today.

    Funny story.

    I'm walking through the charity auction on my way to the buffet. I see they are just putting Caravaggio's Medusa up for bid. I get into this intense bidding war with some drunk across the room. I see she's really getting pissed. I look a little closer and who is it? Oprah.

    Naturally, I let her have the painting. later we had a big laugh about over a glass of the bubbly.

    They are right about tv adding 10 lbs. to you. She's still a big girl though.

    A lot of people walking by. Saw Miley Cyrus but didn't get a chance to talk to her.
    Cute kid but she dresses way too old for her age.

    Did talk to Doug Hayward. Really gave him a piece of my mind over the spill. Damn arrogant Brit.

    Whoa, a streaker just ran by. Looked kinda like Tony Blair.

    Got to grab another shrimp coctail and a brewski.

    Talk to you again when they find one of the planes.


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  61. I stand with the United States, it's Constitution and its' people.

    No, you don't. You're out of step with the people of the United States. In fact, you're out of step with most people here at the EB. All you want to do is argue with everyone about everything. You can get on your high horse and ride off into the sunset anytime you get ready to.

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  62. Hel...hee.;e;; Ello boyzos.

    pulls me into roo, isay no noono

    tooearly Mick says come ...mte

    keith hands me damn feeling littl\

    Capn Morgan and Sangrias chair goes out window

    Al Al All hell breks loose.

    fire stares

    Cop says who are you

    keith says tony blair. cop sauys
    "been lookijgn for yoou'

    mick ans I laff asses off.

    sleep off.

    .

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  63. I won't be leaving, whit, I was here at the beginning, I'll ride on to the end.

    I don't much argue with rufus.
    Nor Q.
    Not even Ms. T.

    I stand with the US, always.
    There was an election in 2008, we have a government.
    I stand with it.

    There will be another election in 2010, then there will be another government, I'll stand with that one, too.

    In 2012 we will hold yet another Presidential Election, and there will be another government representing the will of the people.

    The politics will continue to change, the people of the United States expressing their will, every two years.

    I am loyal to that elected government especially when we, as a country, move beyond the waters' edge.

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  64. The view of the United States, with regards the Israeli occupying the Arab Territories was expressed by George H.W. Bush, in 1972 to the General Assembly of the United Nations.

    He stated, without equivocation, that it was the position of the United States that the continued occupation of those territories was a violation of the Geneva Accords.

    That policy position has never been rescinded.

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  65. wi"o" telling us all, back in the day, that Mr Bush made that speech not because it was factual and a studied legal position, but because Richard M Nixon, the President, was a racist and anti-Semite.

    Which tells us all what he thinks of our political system, here in the US of A.

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  66. Great pictures of Gaza, doug.

    I guess the Gangsters of Gaza are much better administrators than they are given credit for.

    Seem to be running a robust economy, at least at one market, even in the middle of a war.

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  67. From the autopsy report conducted in Turkey:

    A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

    Guardian

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  68. "I don't much argue with rufus.
    Nor Q.
    Not even Ms. T."


    Bullshit.

    Is that some kind of a challenge?

    I argue with everybody.








    (I'm fealling a little better. Couple trips to the oxygen bar. Guys say we'll get together later for a few drinks. I say, "Sure".


    No friggin way! They're nutz.)

    .

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  69. An interesting "war", where the economies boom, on both sides.
    Subsidies, direct aid and loan guarantees flood the battlefield.

    The entire landscape of that battlefield, the same geographic size of Maricopa County, Arizona.

    Looks like quite the racket the belligerents have going, for themselves.
    At the expense of US.

    Equivalency, exemplified again.

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  70. The Pirate of the Mediterranean have murdered a US citizen, on the high seas.

    Brings back memories of the MS Achille Lauro and the murder of another US citizen, Leon Klinghoffer.

    To bring the murderous pirates of the PLO to justice, President Reagan ordered the use of military, forcing an Egyptian commercial jet to land in Italy.

    Fighting seaborne piracy, with air piracy, some might say.

    Will the United States go to the same lengths to obtain justice in the case of Fulkan Dogan that it did with Leon Klinghoffer?

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  71. desert rat said...
    The Pirate of the Mediterranean have murdered a US citizen, on the high seas.

    Brings back memories of the MS Achille Lauro and the murder of another US citizen, Leon Klinghoffer.

    To bring the murderous pirates of the PLO to justice, President Reagan ordered the use of military, forcing an Egyptian commercial jet to land in Italy.

    Fighting seaborne piracy, with air piracy, some might say.

    Will the United States go to the same lengths to obtain justice in the case of Fulkan Dogan that it did with Leon Klinghoffer?




    Good morning Criminal Rat!!

    Just a quick note about your absurd, jew baiting nonsense...

    To compare the PLO's murderous takeover of a CRUISE ship, sailing peacefully in the MED, singling out a JEW confined to a wheelchair and tossing him into the sea with...

    A flotilla, flagged by the Turks, in an attempt to break into a warzone blockade, enforced by 2 UN member states, where upon the so called victim of the IDF, was infact a crow bar wielding terrorists supporting, violent, attacking, PREPARED FOR BATTLE thug...

    Fulkan Dogan was attempting to kill IDF forces boarding a ship committing an act of war...

    Your comparisons, as usual, are silly, specious and down right disturbing...

    but then again?

    you are a criminal murderer yourself..

    a self confessed piece of garbage...

    you lie, you distort, you misquote.

    You are a jew hating, israel hating, zionist hating piece of crap...

    we all know that...

    it's a fact jack...

    just a small minded nitwit....

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  72. I cannot find a transcript or news story about Bush the Elder's address to the General Assembly in 1972.

    Do you have a link, Rat?

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  73. "An interesting "war", where the economies boom, on both sides."

    :)

    80% unemployment in Gaza

    13% malnutrition

    The rich and powerful always seem to make out regardless of what's going on around them.

    Same with the picture of Roots the other day.

    How many Gazans do you think can afford to go there?


    .

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  74. The Effect of Leftist, Big Government Ideology on a vibrant economy.

    In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world.

    While Great Britain's maritime power and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant position among the world's industrialized nations, only the United States challenged Argentina for the position of the world's second-most powerful economy.

    ---
    Rufus will contend that history is history, and that has no bearing on the future of socialized healthcare, autos, banking, and etc.
    Socialism Uber Alles!

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  75. Think Piece for Quirk:

    Imagine if Antietam had had
    Oxygen Bars to keep up
    the boy's metabolism/energy levels.

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  76. "the U.S. gave $900 million in aid to Gaza just last year in 2009

    The population of Gaza is roughly 400,000.

    That's $2,250 for each man, woman, and child in Gaza.
    "

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  77. The population of Gaza is roughly 400,000.

    Try 1.5 million.




    .

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  78. Quirk said...
    The population of Gaza is roughly 400,000.

    Try 1.5 million.

    yep..

    and add in the 900 million from the USA

    and how many BILLIONS from the UN? the Saudis?

    Iran?

    The Arabs?

    Gaza is not a ghetto, it's not a prison...

    It's a jihadist's training camp...

    If you are worried about starving kids?

    look to the sudan...

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  79. Exactly, doug.

    Those folks are obviously not enemies of the US, to enjoy such largess, at the expense of US.

    The subsidies definitely not beginning just last year, but dating back to the Arabfat days.

    I did at one time, whit.
    Trying to find it, again.

    While looking for Mr Bush, I did come across this about Ambassador Scranton's speach, at the UN 23Mar76:

    U.S. Ambassador William W. Scranton had given a speech in the United Nations calling Israeli settlements illegal and rejecting Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem.7

    7. New York Times, March 25, 1976.

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  80. "...look to the sudan...

    My compassion is boundless WiO.

    Sure, Sudan. And Haiti, Hondurus, some areas in the US, you name it.

    And any other place where the poor smuck is getting the shaft while the rich guys spend half their time at Sandals.


    .

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  81. WaPo:

    U.S. 'secret war' expands globally as Special Operations forces take larger role

    By Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe
    Washington Post Staff Writer
    Friday, June 4, 2010; A01

    Beneath its commitment to soft-spoken diplomacy and beyond the combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Obama administration has significantly expanded a largely secret U.S. war against al-Qaeda and other radical groups, according to senior military and administration officials.

    Special Operations forces have grown both in number and budget, and are deployed in 75 countries, compared with about 60 at the beginning of last year. In addition to units that have spent years in the Philippines and Colombia, teams are operating in Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

    Commanders are developing plans for increasing the use of such forces in Somalia, where a Special Operations raid last year killed the alleged head of al-Qaeda in East Africa. Plans exist for preemptive or retaliatory strikes in numerous places around the world, meant to be put into action when a plot has been identified, or after an attack linked to a specific group.

    The surge in Special Operations deployments, along with intensified CIA drone attacks in western Pakistan, is the other side of the national security doctrine of global engagement and domestic values President Obama released last week.

    One advantage of using "secret" forces for such missions is that they rarely discuss their operations in public. For a Democratic president such as Obama, who is criticized from either side of the political spectrum for too much or too little aggression, the unacknowledged CIA drone attacks in Pakistan, along with unilateral U.S. raids in Somalia and joint operations in Yemen, provide politically useful tools.

    Obama, one senior military official said, has allowed "things that the previous administration did not."

    [...]




    You betcha.

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  82. 1964 Presidential Election

    Although he did not actively seek the 1964 Republican nomination for President of the United States in the beginning, a “Draft Scranton” movement quickly gathered momentum among moderate and liberal Republicans who saw him as an alternative to conservative front-runner Senator Barry Goldwater, as well as other Republicans who feared that Goldwater's polarizing views would lead to defeat, after the campaign of Goldwater's liberal opponent, New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, had lost steam.

    Early in the campaign, he announced that he would be willing to accept the nomination for Vice President.

    Scranton first declined to enter the race but later threw his hat into the ring on June 12, 1964.

    Scranton won the support of ten state delegations, but Goldwater went on to win the nomination on the first ballot. RNC Chairman and U.S. Congressman William E. Miller of New York was nominated for Vice President.
    ---
    ...and the rest is history.
    Phoenix grew to become the embodiment of the RE Bubble and it's aftermath.

    Just ask The Rodent.

    ReplyDelete
  83. But Bush was more compassionate, Trish.
    (...and he was constrained by being a War Mongering Pub by the Dems and their willing allies, the MSM)

    ReplyDelete
  84. Man, I love good secret operations.
    (as opposed to USA, Afghanistan and the Soviets)

    ...but not enough to vote for Barry in 2012.

    ...unless one of the Pauls is the Pub.

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  85. No, whit, I cannot find a transcript, today, of Mr Bush's speech. Not of Mr Bush nor of anyone else that has given a speech at the UN in the last 40 years.

    I did have it at one time, linked to it and did the usual cut and paste, here at the EB.

    But that was a year or so ago. Not sure when, really. And as we all know, blogger is none to good with internal searches.

    Ambassador Scrantons' speech that was referenced, there is no transcript available, either.

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  86. Rat states that money donations speak volumes to the love of said Gazans and Palestinians by the USA...


    Rat: Those folks are obviously not enemies of the US, to enjoy such largess, at the expense of US.

    The subsidies definitely not beginning just last year, but dating back to the Arabfat days.


    I would simply state that paying blackmail, bribes and extortion fees to the arabs of the middle east started long before arafat.

    If you learn history, one will find that immediately upon declaring ourselves independent from the Crown of England, that Islamists of the middle east (including the murderous turks) declared open Jihad on the original colonies...

    The Original Colonies of AMERICA was formed into the UNITED STATES because of the Jihadists, a Navy was created AFTER numerous bribes, tributes and gifts were given to the Jihadists of the middle east...

    Nothing has changed, nor does it make the fake nationalist people called "palestinians" America's friends...

    To judge the gifts (in the form of cash, gold, weapons or silk) as pronouncement of actual friendship? Is naive...

    Now it is clear the CURRENT squatting POTUS, whose own citizenship is questioned by at least 30% of America, whose own actual FAITH is questioned by the same (face facts, born to a Moslem FATHER, raised as a Moslem? YOU ARE A MOSLEM, albeit maybe an apostate Moslem) His actions as POTUS leaves no doubt that B. Hussein is in fact a friend to Jihadists

    From Presidential directives relocating Hamas to the USA, 1st interview was with an Arab station, to 900 million for Hamas, to throwing Israel under the bus, B Hussein is HONEST in HIS personal love of the true PIRATES of the Middle East... The seed of Ishmael, looting and occupying millions of square miles of everyone else's lands....

    But that doesnt mean the middle eastern savages are friends with America....

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  87. The digital archives at the Miller Center of Public affairs at the University of Virginia start in 1977, no luck there.

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  88. "One advantage of using 'secret' forces for such missions is that they rarely discuss their operations in public."

    Making them and certain others a lot less fun to engage at social events.

    "So, where'd you just get back from?"

    "Africa."

    "Oh, yeah? Whereabouts?"

    "Africa."

    "Mmm. Big continent, Africa."

    "Yep."

    "Weather nice?"

    "Not bad."

    "So. Pretty good bar, hm?"

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  89. "...he was constrained by being a War Mongering Pub..."

    Tha's right. Don't make that mistake again.

    Librulz get away with shit no one else can.

    President Obama: Patron Saint of the Quiet Guys.

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  90. If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land.

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