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."

Saturday, August 14, 2010

From the archives: Sunday, May 04, 2008 Post 2000 At the EB - Drinks are on the House.


According to the Blogger archives, it was only 20 months ago in September 2006 when a group of opinionated, big-mouthed, prolific commenters were "invited" to leave the ritzy establishment of a certain "Harvard club." One commenter made it known that he had a little bar around the corner and everyone was welcome to continue the chaos there. This was 2164th's inaugural, grand-opening post:

There has been some consternation over at the Belmont Club. The host wretchard wishes to discourage running commentary. It is my intention to invite members of the BC to sit back relax and comment away. Gentleman, start your engines. As this is experimental and designed for chatting, there is no need to archive chats. When I feel the thread is stale, we will clean the bar.

It's been a blast ever since and it all began on or about September 7, 2006 with the proprietors first post, "Where the Hell is Doug?" . Apparently, 2164th, (dubbed Deuce by Desert Rat) had some sort of "technical glitch" and blew away the very first comments but the archives show the first commenter was none other than Doug, our favorite Hawaiian. That thread ran for 186 comments from the likes of Doug, Buddy Larsen, 2164th, Desert Rat, Habu 3, Rem870, whit, rufus, bobalharb, and a couple or real characters commenting as Sausage Sommelier and Asperger's Gentleman (remember them?)
Rem870 said...

Hey 2164th - where'd the title (Elephant bar) of your blog come from? Is there a story there?

2164th said...

A long time ago in another life-time, in Kassel Germany was an art-deco bar frequented late at night by an international crowd. The mahogany bar had red up-lighting but was always in a blue haze of cigarette smoke. The woman, Nordic beauties and the music Marlene Dietrich style from the forties and fifties. The Elephant Bar, always fascinating, and only disappointing enough to keep it interesting.

and of course Rufus chimed in with what has become the classic, essential Rufus:
rufus said...

Does anybody here remember ba mui ba (33) beer?

Man, three hot ba mui ba's would knock your dick off. Shit must have been fifty proof.

Jamie Irons even joined us for a while but I suspect the EB was a little too rough for the good doctor from California or maybe like most of us, he took some heat from his better half for all the time he was "wasting with that nonsense."

Ash chided in on the second post:
Ash said...

whit said...
"I cannot tell a lie.

I lifted the entire piece on Cleland from the Patriot Post website"

You really should post it in such a way that one doesn't think you are engaging in wholesale plagerism.

In addition, might I suggest that the esteemed members here indicate which one of the towering intellects actually made the post. i.e. Omar or Mohammed puts their name at the bottom of each post to identify the author. You guys should do the same.

And was promptly treated to a little EB hospitality by rufus. BTW - Ash has been a faithful chider to this day. It was on this second thread that Teresita, cloaked in the habit of Woman Catholic debuted with the famous last words that the EB wasn't her "kind of place." Speaking of famous last words remember the "That's all Folks" post? My boss and your "dear host" announced his retirement and two days later he was back! He just couldn't stay away and neither could many of us!

We also heard from an Aussie named Quig. Sam, do you know a fellow named Quig? Remember Bob Smith, a regular at the Belmont Club? Bob Smith revealed at the EB that he was actually a 52-year old woman.

Buddy Larsen, Allen, Habu, Rem870 are seldom if ever seen in the bar anymore but the original gang is still largely intact and here 2000 posts later, the party continues and looking back on the posts, we're still solving and resolving the same old problems of the world. From our humble beginnings, we have added a Board of Directors and gone global with international visitors, posts and comments coming from France, Poland, Germany, Singapore, Costa Rica and Colombia (Thanks, Harrison, Fellow Peacekeeper and Trish.) A special thanks goes to contributors and occasional barkeeps; Our man in uniform, Bob W. and the lastest part-timer and a man whose intellect may be wasted on the EB wasted, Victor Silo.

At the EB, we don't have enough time, money or staff to do a proper retrospective on the wild ride of the first 2,000 posts so let this brief acknowledgment suffice. We've had some good posts at the EB and some not so good posts, but what sets the EB apart from most blogs are our comment threads. We've got a crazy bunch of regulars and we like it that way and hope you do too. Also, a special thanks to the indefatigable host, 2164th aka Deuce. Without his tireless day-in and day-out efforts the EB would have closed its doors long ago. So today, all day long, drinks are on the house.

2,000 down and here's to the next 2,000. Thanks everyone!

whit (and on his behalf) Deuce.

122 comments:

  1. Whit posted this on May 4, 2008. We are not all that far from post number 4000. That will be about 3975 posts than I planned.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You guys have done a great job keeping the place running smoothly (well as smoothly as can be expected).

    That's was a great post Whit.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  3. As usually I was ignored...

    Does that actually show good or bad taste?

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Back then I was "Pork Rinds for Allah"

    Somehow that handle is more timely now then then

    ReplyDelete
  6. Somewhere on the hard drive of this computer or it predecessor, I have saved the first thread to appear on the EB.

    habu made the first comment with me following him by a few minutes.

    I quit posting here for two years because of a difference of opinion on how to handle the blatant anti-Semitism of DR with reference to the Liberty, as I recall. I think buddy larsen also felt that things had gotten out of hand and did not wish to associate himself further. Things have not changed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tis a shame there aren't more Bars.

    We could all go Bar hopping.




    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7WLfY2455o

    ReplyDelete
  8. I feel so...so...used...so...so dirty...so creepy. All this time I argued that neither the Rangers nor the government murdered Pat Tillman...Forgive me, DR.

    Jane Fonda attends premiere of 'The Pat Tillman Story'



    By the way, our troops in Afghanistan are still not getting smokes sent in the care packages of their families.

    ReplyDelete
  9. congrats to Deuce and Whit! I enjoy lurking!

    ReplyDelete


  10. By the way, our troops in Afghanistan are still not getting smokes sent in the care packages of their families.


    I noticed that the other day too.

    If it's up to this administration, they won't get there mail in ballots, either.

    ReplyDelete
  11. That Damn Dumb Poor Spoken Sarah Palin


    Yesterday had two high points for me, reading WiO and then this bit of wisdom from Melody--

    I want you to enjoy life for what it is because if not the bad will just suck you up into nothing.

    heading to CdA, trip I always enjoy, tata

    ReplyDelete
  12. Allen: I quit posting here for two years because of a difference of opinion on how to handle the blatant anti-Semitism of DR with reference to the Liberty, as I recall.

    This is what I get from the "pro-Semitism" side:

    Liberty was a mutinous ship that wasn't supposed to be there in a war zone, but was listening to IDF battle comms and relaying them to Egypt through the UK (hilarious, considering that the US opposed and humiliated the UK and France in the previous Arab-Israeli war).

    That the NSA has rogue elements that can operate independently of the will of the President and command Naval assets bypassing the Commander-in-Chief.

    That the Liberty with her antennas and dishes looked like a run-of-the-mill Egyptian freighter.

    That Israel had no obligation to identify the target despite another nuclear-capable superpower (the USSR) operating in the same area.

    That planes that came close enough to score hits with 30mm, and torpedo boats all failed to identify the target.

    That the same Administation that "investigated" Oswald's three votes for LBJ in Dallas concluded thirteen times that there was nothing to the Liberty incident, move along please.

    ReplyDelete
  13. T,


    Projection... I said none of those things, Lady.

    What I did say was get off your duff and look at the vast repository of documents ("evidence") that have been available since 2007. Instead, you lie and slander me. That new philosophy of yours must really pack a wallop - lie and fly.

    You are incredible. No, dear girl, the "same" administration did not do the 13 investigations as you claim. Clearly, you have not bothered to spend so much as 5 minutes at the NSA & CSS sites. (But by golly you have something to say and no other attention today.) Otherwise, you would know better. No, T, you made up your mind, and now you are making up a story to fit it.

    You know what, go back to whatever it is you are smoking or drinking. Try getting back Zena, who had functioning little gray cells.

    ...liar

    ReplyDelete
  14. "The Elephant Bar, always fascinating, and only disappointing enough to keep it interesting."

    That's actually a really marvelous line.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I gotta get me one of these. On the Autobahn - Vroom, Vroom

    Oh, did I mention, "$0.07/mile?"

    ReplyDelete
  16. 140 MPH Buick?

    $0.07/mile?

    E85?

    Vroom, Vroom!

    ReplyDelete
  17. And, That, Dear Children, is why were Not well, and truly, screwed.

    Exponential Technology.

    ReplyDelete
  18. were not = we are not


    I'm like Chris Matthews; my leg is tingling.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The Obama administration seems to be feeling sorry for itself. Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary, is perturbed that Mr. Obama is not getting more hosannas from liberals.

    Spare me. The country is a mess. The economy is horrendous, and millions of American families are running out of ammunition in their fight against destitution


    Damn. Obama is loding Bob Herbert!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens on Two Continents


    The Shadow War
    Allen said...

    "By the way, our troops in Afghanistan are still not getting smokes sent in the care packages of their families."
    ---
    Smoking is hazardous to your health, Maroon.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Series Page and Related Articles »

    Chasing the Enemy
    Articles in this series will examine the secret expansion of the war against Al Qaeda and its allies.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Wanted Undead Or Alive: Vampire Hunters and Other Kick-Ass Enemies of Evil

    DISCOVER THE NATURE OF EVIL…
    AND HOW TO KICK ITS BUTT!

    SEPARATE FACT FROM FICTION, THE DEADLY FROM THE MERELY CREEPY.

    LEARN WHEN TO STAND YOUR GROUND AND WHEN TO RUN
    SCREAMING FOR YOUR LIFE.

    DETERMINE WHICH MONSTER-SPECIFIC HEROES TO CALL
    AND THEIR LIKELIHOOD OF SUCCESS.

    CONSIDER YOUR OWN POTENTIAL AS A CHAMPION FOR GOOD
    AND CONQUEROR OF THE DAMNED.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Manila, Hiroshima, and the Bomb

    I was 17, a student in Manila, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 8, 1941. That same day, the airfield in Manila and other military installations in the Philippines were also bombed.
    Schools were immediately closed and I returned to my hometown, Rosales, about 30 miles from Lingayen, where, within the same month, the Japanese landed. Soon after they came to Rosales.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Everyone knows that ethanol gets 10% less mpg than gasoline...and it destroys elements in the gas line, is not carbon neutral and corn ethanol??? While people starve?

    Don't get me started!!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Projection... I said none of those things, Lady.

    Hence my attribution to the "pro-Semitism side" rather than one individual.

    ReplyDelete
  26. 140 MPH in a 3,600 lb car, and $0.07/mile.

    Don't get ME started. :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Vroom, Vroom!

    CLE ELUM, Wash. -- Kittitas County officials have approved a massive solar farm near Cle Elum.

    The Daily Record of Ellensburg reports the Board of Adjustment denied an environmental appeal at a meeting Wednesday, before granting the Teanaway Solar Reserve a permit.

    The company says the project could generate up to 75 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 45,000 homes. The facility would be made up of 400,000 panels surrounded by an existing pine forest just northeast of Cle Elum.

    TSR's Managing Director Howard Trott says the project will create jobs and generate clean energy.

    But the group Citizen's Alliance for a Rural Teanaway says the project didn't have adequate environmental review.

    ReplyDelete
  28. t: This is what I get from the "pro-Semitism" side:

    Liberty was a mutinous ship that wasn't supposed to be there in a war zone, but was listening to IDF battle comms and relaying them to Egypt through the UK (hilarious, considering that the US opposed and humiliated the UK and France in the previous Arab-Israeli war).

    It's the pro-Israel side...

    ANd 1956 wasnt 1967, you make no valid point, just "feelings", or as I like to believe, bullshit...


    T: That the NSA has rogue elements that can operate independently of the will of the President and command Naval assets bypassing the Commander-in-Chief.


    And that NEVER has happened? again, the president is not all powerful. you give us not actual facts to rebut... just more of your "feelings"

    T: That the Liberty with her antennas and dishes looked like a run-of-the-mill Egyptian freighter.

    No one ever said that, the USS Liberty as stated by the USA was a retrofitted freighter... The Liberty LOOKED like an Intel SHIP no matter who sailed her...

    T: That Israel had no obligation to identify the target despite another nuclear-capable superpower (the USSR) operating in the same area.

    Israel did correctly ID the target.... The Target was sending transmissions from a war zone and was, by the USA not one of theirs.

    T: That planes that came close enough to score hits with 30mm, and torpedo boats all failed to identify the target.

    Last I checked a plane shooting at a target is not the same thing as doing a "papers please" check... The target was a go, it was the ship that the MOLE inside the Egyptian High Command ID'd, it was where the Israelis were told it would be... It was not Americans as per the Americans....

    Fair game sweetie...

    Sounds like you like to make it up as you go...

    go back to being a pagan witch, you have more street creds with that...

    ReplyDelete
  29. Dinner guests just canceled. Had a reservation for four at a wonderful 'Eyetalian' restaurant in an old railroad depot restaurant. The food is so good and they bring the beer out in frosted mugs. I'm tempted to go anyway but it's thirty miles away, I was there last weekend and we remade the reservations for next weekend.

    Oh well, decisions, decisions.

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. Sudden word from Moscow and Tehran on Aug. 11 that Russia will activate Iran's first nuclear power reactor on Aug. 21 by loading the fuel has caused a major flap in Israel in view of its military aspects.DEBKA reports: Only last week, Russian leaders assured Washington that it would not go on line this year.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Let me see, if I had that Buick, I could make the drive in 21 minutes.

    ReplyDelete
  33. You know what, go back to whatever it is you are smoking or drinking. Try getting back Zena, who had functioning little gray cells.

    I've seen enough, Deuce, there is nothing in the world that will motivate me to have anything to do with the topic of the USS Liberty again, and I see the wisdom of Trish's approach.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Too bad GM sold its controlling interest in GM China. (To the Chinese no less)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Now, Teresita, that is progress!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Kittitas County officials have approved a massive solar farm near Cle Elum.


    Dayyum, Another tingle.

    This is getting fun. :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. Please, don't anybody post anymore good alt-energy news tonight.

    It could get very embarrassing.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Let me see, if I had that Buick, I could make the drive in 21 minutes.


    And, have enough money left over to drink an extra "Frosted" Mug.

    Man, I looove my beer in a frosted mug.

    ReplyDelete
  39. field57 wrote...

    " This building was hit by the landing gear from one of the planes, and lies in the shadow of the former towers. The ground there is sacredto Americans, and like our Civil War battlefields, should be protected from ANY development that would "compete" with the nature of that hallowed ground.

    That is why a museum was denied permits at Gettysburg, and a shopping center at Manassas that was also denied.

    This isn't about religeon, it's about the respect we place on ground where Americans have died
    ."


    Good reasons to oppose mosque at Ground Zero

    ReplyDelete
  40. T, The point to the post was my attempt at a cathartism, an attempt to revive civility and tighten our fraternal bonds.

    ReplyDelete
  41. WiO:
    t: This is what I get from the "pro-Semitism" side:

    It's the pro-Israel side...


    Sneaky little hijack of language there. If you think Israel can do no wrong, you're pro-Israel. If you criticize Israel, you're anti-Semitic, which is defined as hatred for all Jews.

    ReplyDelete
  42. A Biblical Message for T:

    ---

    A woman should learn in quietness and full submission.

    I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

    For Adam was formed first, then Eve.

    And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

    -1 Timothy 2: 11-13

    REPENT, WOMAN!

    ReplyDelete
  43. to revive civility and tighten our fraternal bonds.

    LOL

    ReplyDelete
  44. Doug, Taoteching 28:

    Know the male,
    yet keep to the female:
    receive the world in your arms.
    If you receive the world,
    the Tao will never leave you
    and you will be like a little child.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Teresita said...
    WiO:
    t: This is what I get from the "pro-Semitism" side:

    It's the pro-Israel side...

    Sneaky little hijack of language there. If you think Israel can do no wrong, you're pro-Israel. If you criticize Israel, you're anti-Semitic, which is defined as hatred for all Jews.


    Once again you distort

    Critisim of Israel aint being "anti-semitic."

    Applying one standard to Israel and no standard to anyone else is...

    Your statements are not and should be not taken in the singular.

    Your pattern of argument seeks to delegitimize Israel/Judaism. That is "anti-semitic.. To be against "Zionism" or Israel the way that you have in the recent months, leads me to believe you are no friend of everything I hold dear. You are a Zion-basher. You just dress it up in a Lesbian/Tao/ex-christian sort of way

    On the surface you seem nice... Under the surface? I do see Jew hater/zionist hater/Israel hater.

    ReplyDelete
  46. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  47. BTW, this Is "Victory over Japan Day," you know.

    65 years ago.

    RIP Unk.

    ReplyDelete
  48. I came across the following web site.

    http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/19707

    The link is USS Liberty Isuues and Views

    I believe the .ru means it is from Rutgers University although I didn't notice that on the actual document.

    This link is different from most of what's been posted here in that it lays out both sides of the argument, gives both sides' views, and descibes the areas of dispute. Upon reading it anyone can delve further into those areas of the dispute that interest them with a simple Google search.

    Anyone can then form their own opinion of what happened without partisan screeds from either side.

    This likely will not change the minds of those of us who already have strong opinions of what happened that day; however, it should provide some background for those who haven't looked into the matter and formed an opinion yet.



    .

    ReplyDelete
  49. Rufus, just got back from Shields, a bar/restaurant in town.

    Had a couple of tall cool ones in "frosted mugs" and my body loves me.

    Nothing like a cold beer with some munchies.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  50. 4,000 posts, that must be some kind of a mile post.

    Did you guys read the source document at that link to the Gazette, Chronicles of the Whirled, circa 1907?

    My oh my!

    1907 and Jerusalem is referred to as the:
    "Long time capital of Palestine"

    1907.

    Semites are referred to as Mohammedans.

    1907

    The real history of the whirled, as it was published, contemporaneously, back in the day.

    No mention of Israel, in 1907, just Palestine.
    In the north of Arabia.

    ReplyDelete
  51. "Know the male,
    yet keep to the female:"


    Sounds like your going gay on us Doug, or at least Metrosexual.

    Let's not get too sensitive.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  52. Soory, my mistake.

    I see the quote was from T not Doug which helps explain it.

    Must be the beer.

    (However, we are watching you Doug. Just saying.)

    .

    ReplyDelete
  53. Dayyum! I don't have a beer in the house (I always keep a mug in the freezer.)

    How did This happen?

    ReplyDelete
  54. DR: No mention of Israel, in 1907, just Palestine.
    In the north of Arabia.


    But the channel Rocket Zionist insists there never was a Palestinian people, province, mandate, civilization, land, or anything. No, it was just a vacant lot.

    ReplyDelete
  55. 4,000 posts, that must be some kind of a mile post.

    No, 5,280 posts in a mile post.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  56. It was pretty much "vacant land" until the Zionists returned and began developing farms and farm towns.

    ReplyDelete
  57. 4,000 posts is a mile post after taxes.

    ReplyDelete
  58. T: But the channel Rocket Zionist insists there never was a Palestinian people, province, mandate, civilization, land, or anything. No, it was just a vacant lot.


    In 1907? They were Jews...

    An Egyptian Arab stole the NAME "palestinian people" in 1964.

    Can we help it if the world is to stupid to actually learn actual meanings of words?

    There is no P in arabic...

    Thus the is no ARAB thing called Palestine.

    ReplyDelete
  59. In a bid to turn around Dem fortunes in November, Obama endorses the 9-11 mosque. Next is the Pearl Harbor Shinto Shrine.

    ReplyDelete
  60. whit said...
    It was pretty much "vacant land" until the Zionists returned and began developing farms and farm towns.


    Except that the Majority population in Jerusalem was Jewish and there had been a decent sized population in Hebron before the Arab mass murders of 1929...

    Hebron, located 30 km south of Jerusalem, is the second holiest site in Judaism, and one of the Jewish Four Holy Cities, and mentioned repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible. (Later, Hebron took on a place of significance for Muslims, though Hebron was almost never mentioned in Muslim literature before the tenth century.[5]) It is the location of the Cave of Machpelah, holding the Tomb of the Patriarchs of the Israelites, where Abraham, the first Patriarch of the Jews (father and grandfather to Patriarchs Isaac and Jacob, respectively), was buried, and where David was anointed King of Israel, reigning there until his capture of Jerusalem. In 1929, the Jewish Sephardic/Mizrachi community had been living in Hebron continuously for over 800 years under various imperial powers, and the Jewish Ashkenazi community had roots there that went back at least a century.[6]
    In Hebron in the early 1920s, periods of Arab harassment, involving cursing on the street, intimidation, various beatings, rocks through windows, and disturbances at the Cave of the Patriarchs, would disturb what was, by some accounts, an otherwise amicable relationship between the Hebron Jewish and Arab communities[7], notwithstanding a strong tradition of hostility to Jews[8]. In one such period the Jewish community registered several complaints with the British police, saying that not enough was being done to protect them. The Jews attributed some of the trouble to the Arab nationalist Muslim-Christian Association's activities, which included the spread of anti-Jewish songs and other incitement to hatred and violence.[6]

    ReplyDelete
  61. They called themselves "arabs"

    It wasn't until the AMericans brought "nationalism" to the natives did they start to think as themselves with "national" aspirations...

    Unlike the Jews, who had a KINGDOM & a National Identity there before...

    Arabs never called themselves "Palestnians" back then, more likely any arabs living in the zone would call themselves by their Klan or if pushed would identify themselves as syrian or egyptian.. There was no such thing as "Jordanian" or (arab) Palestinian back then..

    In Fact the The Palestine Post, the famous Newspaper? Was ZIONIST created and owned...

    ReplyDelete
  62. Doug, yes, smoking is bad for your health, as is working for "Stan the Man" or "Ole Pete".

    ReplyDelete
  63. T,

    You used a quote naming ME, Lady!

    If you were trying to anger me, you succeeded. If you thought you would gain an accusation of anti-Semitism, you were and will be mistaken. My standards for that epithet are high.

    ReplyDelete
  64. WiO,

    I have spent several hours cataloging and perusing just the first six topics within the NSA & CSS report of 2007. These total 1,219 pages. Do think any of these folks have read a single page?

    In retrospect this little tiff has been a good thing. From it I have learned a great deal about the indicent, right from the horse's mouth. While I do not think anyone here will be moved by the facts, we will be...good on us...good for the good guys.

    ReplyDelete
  65. T,

    Take a deep breathe. Honest, Hun, you can be critical of Israel and NOT be anti-Semitic. You just cannot make stuff up.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Whit,

    ...about what I would expect...

    ReplyDelete
  67. Quirk,

    ...just saw your weaseling on my generous offer to post for you from the NSA & CSS link...Hun, you really are a gutless wonder...

    I will continue to defend Israel against DR or anyone else who viciously attacks her without cause. As for you, I have nothing else to say.

    Israel 13, QuirkCo 0 (using QuirkCo generically)

    ReplyDelete
  68. WP: The earliest known mention is thought to be in Ancient Egyptian texts of the temple at Medinet Habu which record a people called the P-r-s-t (conventionally Peleset) among the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign

    Note the use of the letter "P".

    ReplyDelete
  69. Unlike the Jews, who had a KINGDOM & a National Identity there before...

    WP:

    Genesis 20 tells the story of Abraham and Abimelech. Abimelech is called the king of Gerar.

    In verse 15 he tells Abraham,"My land is before you, live wherever you like."

    In Genesis 21:22, Abimelech proposes a treaty with Abraham saying,"God is with you in everything you do. Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country whre you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you."

    In verse 24 Abraham said, "I swear it."

    The chapter concludes "And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time."

    ReplyDelete
  70. This one makes me feel so dirty having served. Those who have not are to be envied.

    Portraits of the Fallen

    ReplyDelete
  71. Allen,

    I assumed the exerpts I provided from the letter from the NSA to Jay Cristol, a guy on your side of the argument would have been self-explanatory. I should have realized it would be necessary to spell it out to you in detail.

    The NSA provided a lot of paper. What they didn't provide is anything that could be considered top secret. Papers were redacted or not provided at all it they contained anything NSA considered sensitive. In other words what you sitting on is worthless pile of shit.

    As I stated in that post and in one on this stream the info is out there for anyone to look at and make their own decision. You have provided the NSA documents file. Anyone who wants to can look at it.

    With regard to you most recent comment, I grow tired of your flatulant bloviating.

    You are a pompous, self-righteous, hypocrite.

    Day after day, you sit around scolding the bar in your cloying school-marm fashion.

    We are the "good guys"? You unctuous dipshit.

    You talk about how fair you are, but instead of telling T, "I disagree with you." "T you misinformed or wrong." or even "T you are nutz." No it is "T you are a liar."

    You get all over Trish for saying Fuck and for having a drink once in awhile; yet, you've got one of the slimiest mouths in the place and as I recall you do oft brag of tipping a few.

    You call me out for accepting Bob for what he is a flawed human being like the rest of us at the bar, and coincidentally one held on a short leash by the proprietors. You call him a racist, yet you're the biggest race-baiting bastard in the place.
    You constanly call me out as anti-semitic, yet when I ask for examples you ignore the posts.

    You look for any excuse to take any conversation to the lowest common denominator. And then you go crying to Whit or anyone else for support.

    Gutless wonder?

    I'll repost the post you are in high dudgeon about and leave up to the bar to decide who is the gutless wonder and who is the pompous hypocritical blowhard.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  72. "...then, by all means, share your ground breaking discoveries of fact."

    I have presented my evidence Allen. The fact that you choose to ignore it, denigrate it, or skip past it without comment means little to me. You keep asking me to present the same stuff I presented months ago. (A campaign of attrition?) I provided eight or ten posts on this subject the last time we discussed this. If you are interested at all you go dig them out of the archives.

    Half the latest evidence I have posted was supplied by you anyway in your own links (Haartz article).

    The following reference is I believe from Rutgers University:

    Summary of Views on the USS Liberty Incident

    It's appears to be an unbiased summary of all the issues we have discussed regarding the Liberty. I believe you will agree it lays out fairly your side of the argument. It also includes reference to mine including the quality of the hearings you are so proud of. It lists all the issues involved. On any particular issue, if the reader has problems all he has to do is go to Google for more info. There is plenty of information out there. Each person should decide for themselves.

    With regard to the release of the NSA documents you are also so proud of let me make two points.

    1. I am happy to see that you have actually decided to start reading the links that you post.

    Enjoy. Let's see you gave Ash five minutes as I recall. You are now a day into it and counting. Hopefully, this will keep you satisfied for a couple more weekends.

    2. As in the case of the hearings, quantity does not equate to quality.

    Jay Cristol wrote a book espousing you version of the Liberty incident. The following is an excerpt from the response he got from his FOIA request back in 2003:

    "Some of the information has been deleted from the enclosures because it was found to be currently and properly classified in accordance with Executive Order 12958, as amended. This information meets the criteria for classification as set forth in Subparagraphs (c) and (g) of Section 1.4 and remains classified TOP SECRET and SECRET as provided in Section 1.2 of the Executive Order. The information is classified because its disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security. The information is exempt from automatic declassification in accordance with Section 3.3(b)(1) and (b)(3) of Executive Order 12958, as amended. Because the information is currently and properly classified, it is exempt from disclosure pursuant to the first exemption of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. Section 552(b)(1)).

    "In addition, this Agency is authorized by various statutes to protect certain information concerning its activities. We have determined that such information exists in the enclosures. Accordingly, those portions are also exempt from disclosure pursuant to the third exemption of the FOIA which provides for the withholding of information specifically protected from disclosure by statute. The specific statutes applicable in this case are Title 18 U.S. Code 798; Title 50 U.S. Code 403-3(c)(6); and Section 6, Public Law 86-36 (50 U.S. Code 402 note)..."


    As I said Allen, enjoy your reading.

    (con't below)


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  73. (cont'd from above)

    As I said yesterday, you're a bit of a dufus and a waste of my time.

    People can go to the link I provided above and review not a one-sided book or report, but a summary of all the items in dispute. They are then free to investigate any aspect of what happened and go to Google to get more info. After that they can make up their own mind.

    I would also observe that in reviewing any future posts they should keep in mind the integrity of the person whose posts they are responding to.

    I make that point because you have insinuated (when you haven't had the guts to come out and say it) that I am anti-Semitic, bigoted, a David Dukoid. I asked you to document instances where I have displayed such behavior if for no other reasons than to help my self-awareness and to identify the boundaries of your definition of anti-Semitism. If the latter was unclear, let me provide an example. I don't like gefilte fish. Does that qualify as anti-Semitic?

    When you get back to me on this maybe we will have some basis for discussion.

    Until then, I will merely re-post this post.

    To do otherwise would be a further waste of my time.

    .

    Sat Aug 14, 05:43:00 PM EDT

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  74. Teresita said...
    WP: The earliest known mention is thought to be in Ancient Egyptian texts of the temple at Medinet Habu which record a people called the P-r-s-t (conventionally Peleset) among the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign

    Note the use of the letter "P".

    You are ONE dumb lesbian...

    Ancient Egyptians are NOT ARABS,,,

    lol

    what a dumb fuck you are....

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  75. LOL

    You meant fatuous bloviating, surely.

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  76. I meant what I said, missy.


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  77. "Instead of “the hammer,” in the words of John O. Brennan, President Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, America will rely on the “scalpel.” In a speech in May, Mr. Brennan, an architect of the White House strategy, used this analogy while pledging a “multigenerational” campaign against Al Qaeda and its extremist affiliates.

    "Yet such wars come with many risks: the potential for botched operations that fuel anti-American rage; a blurring of the lines between soldiers and spies that could put troops at risk of being denied Geneva Convention protections; a weakening of the Congressional oversight system put in place to prevent abuses by America’s secret operatives; and a reliance on authoritarian foreign leaders and surrogates with sometimes murky loyalties...


    The Scalpel vs The Hammer


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  78. With Remarks on Mosque, Obama Enters Risky Debate

    "PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Faced with withering Republican criticism of his defense of the right of Muslims to build a community center and mosque near ground zero, President Obama quickly recalibrated his remarks on Saturday, a sign that he has waded into even more treacherous political waters than the White House had at first realized.

    Oops. What I meant to Say


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  79. "...a blurring of the lines between soldiers and spies..."

    Yeah, well, soldiers have been spies since long, long before anyone invented Langley.

    And Langley has long had its paras.

    Interestingly enough, a lot of this is outgrowth from the initial 01/02 Afghan campaign.

    As someone said of the new (Obama) team's briefings shortly before the inauguration:

    "They're gonna go, 'Oh, my God. We can really do that?'"

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  80. Flatulently Bloviating, sayeth the dick.

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  81. And, don't be calling my "Toots" a Missy, either, dick.

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  82. 2012 Mustang 302 Boss


    Click on picture at right to enlarge photo.

    Sweet ride.

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  83. "Now Israel faces a third threat, the campaign to delegitimize it in order to extinguish its capacity for self-defense. After two uniquely perilous millennia for Jews, the creation of Israel meant, Netanyahu says, "the capacity for self-defense restored to the Jewish people." But note, he says, the reflexive worldwide chorus of condemnation when Israel responded with force to rocket barrages from Gaza and from southern Lebanon. There is, he believes, a crystallizing consensus that "Israel is not allowed to exercise self-defense..."

    "Hillary Clinton's words about extending a "defense umbrella over the region" imply, to Israelis, fatalism about a nuclear Iran. As for deterrence working against a nuclear-armed regime steeped in an ideology of martyrdom, remember that in 1980, Ayatollah Khomeini said:

    "We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world..."


    Israel and Iran


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  84. Every man should own One hot rod Ford before he dies.

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  85. You are ONE dumb lesbian...

    Ancient Egyptians are NOT ARABS,,,

    lol

    what a dumb fuck you are....


    I won't reward that with a future reply to anything you post.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Whether one goes with flatulent or fatuous, it really should be bloviation, I think.

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  87. I'm going with the active verb -

    Bloviating.

    It just kinda sings.

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  88. Teresita said...
    I won't reward that with a future reply to anything you post.




    No loss...

    SInce anything post about Israel, Jews or Zionism is about how to either mock, ridicule or delegitimize the same.

    You have ZERO credibility when it comes to Israel.

    Just stupid, black hearted nonsense..

    and you are stupid...

    there is no P in arabic...

    there is no arab state ever called Palestine.

    never has been a people called "palestinian" that was an arab before 1966.

    so dont respond to me and maybe stop with your stupid attempts to slander Israel and or the Jewish People.

    ReplyDelete
  89. What? An adjective can't describe a verb? Pshaw, you say? We don care.

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  90. No, no, no. End of the sentence, bloviation has a nicer plunk to it.

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  91. The Greek toponym Palestini (Παλαιστίνη), with which the Arabic Filastin (فلسطين) is cognate, first occurs in the work of the Greek historian Herodotus, active in the middle of the 5th century BCE, where it denotes generally[20] the coastal land from Phoenicia down to Egypt.[21][22] Herodotus also employs the term as an ethnonym, as when he speaks of the 'Syrians of Palestine' or 'Palestinian-Syrians',[23] an ethnically amorphous group he distinguishes from the Phoenicians referring to the Aramaeic Samaritans led by Sanbalat and appointed by the Persian kings and the Arabs in Jerusalem referred to also by Ezra (the Bible).[24] The word bears comparison to a congeries of ethnonyms in Semitic languages, Ancient Egyptian Plst or flst, Assyrian as Palastu, and the Hebraic as Plishtim, the latter term used in the Bible to signify the Philistines.[25]

    Syria Palestina continued to be used by historians and geographers and others to refer to the area between the Mediterranean sea and the Jordan river, as in the writings of Philo, Josephus and Pliny the Elder. After the Romans adopted the term as the official administrative name for the region in the 2nd century CE, "Palestine" as a stand alone term came into widespread use, printed on coins, in inscriptions and even in rabbinic texts.[26] The Arabic word Filastin has been used to refer to the region since the time of the earliest medieval Arab geographers. It appears to have been used as an Arabic adjectival noun in the region since as early as the 7th century CE.[

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  92. Ah, so now I am being critiqued by Frick and Frack.

    I should have expected it.

    I could just spit.


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  93. Have a Corona and pull up a stool, T.

    We're letting Quirk know what a shit writer he is.

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  94. Miss Perfect.

    You did notice that post I put up the other day pointing out that you left a "c" out of a word, right?

    .

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  95. Spelling, grammar, syntax. That's all you care about Trish.

    You ignore the flow and the music.

    You are no poet Trish.

    Were the hell is Bob anyway?

    I demand an expert opinion.


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  96. That's why you gotta be more like me, Q. I write so bad the crickiteers don't know where to start.

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  97. I did.

    And I have also recently become nervously aware of every fucking error.

    There are soooo many.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Oops, I think I spelled that wrong. That should have been criteekers.

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  99. Not to be confused with The Seekers of course.

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  100. You look like a flaming crickiteer you wily hick.


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  101. Man, I don't know Where that came from.

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  102. Well, we gotta do one for the Mustang Man For Q

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  103. Then, there wuz saturday night with the Rufi Clan out for a drive

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  104. This is not to be opened until morning when you are looking for something to wake you up besides coffee.





    Hey, I Said Wait Until Morning


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  105. In case Deuce drops by - I couln't find anything about Aston Martins, but This came to mind.

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  106. Well, let's face it he is an international man of mystery.

    And as Trish will attest, a gentleman.


    He told me so.


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  107. I see by the old clock on the wall it's time for bed.

    Have a good one Ruf.


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  108. Gawdalmighty Damn that was great Q.

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  109. For some reason, Whit reminded me of George Clooney

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  110. I don't doubt where you came up with the name Elephant Bar but it's ironic that the elephant is an associated symbol of the republican party.

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  111. Trish seems to spend a lot of time Anticipatin

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  112. Shots of vodka all night and yuengling since 12:00. The only problem I had was the hot tub shut down and after I got it to work there must have been a short some where because when I put my hand in the water to see if the temperature was rising the fucking thing electrocuted me.

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  113. I don't know why this gal came to mind when I thought of T, tonight? Judy, Judy, Judy

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  114. Oh and I also lost my nose ring which might be in the ice cream cake Chele smashed in my face tonight. It's just an inconvenience to go out tomorrow and buy a new one.

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  115. Nose ring? Ice cream cake, Chele?

    Is this some sort of test?

    ReplyDelete