FLIGHTS
August 21, 2010|By Dugald McConnell and Brian Todd, CNN
Venezuela's ambassador to the United States is defending his country's controversial airline service to the capitals of Syria and Iran -- both countries that are designated by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism.
The scheduled flights to Damascus and Tehran were cited by the U.S. State Department this month as a cause for concern, and U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, raised questions about the flights in an interview last week with Voice of America.
According to the State Department's latest country report on terrorism, which covers 2009, "President [Hugo] Chavez continued to strengthen Venezuela's relationship with state sponsor of terrorism Iran. Iran and Venezuela continued weekly Iran Airlines flights connecting Tehran and Damascus with Caracas."
Year to date the United States has imported 906,000 barrels of oil each and every day from Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteA double edged sword that either side could fall on.
Growth Energy would be preferable to the United States continued addiction to oil.
Damn, Whit, you're just as addicted to this shit as Rat, Allen, and WIO.
ReplyDeleteThis won't end well.
Maybe Pat Robertson got something right, he said we should bump Chavez years ago.
ReplyDeleteHawking is not making a theological argument, bob.
ReplyDeleteHe is making a scientific one.
He, like you, believes "The Bible" is literature.
Kindly, don't presume to tell me what I believe.
ReplyDeleteGW Bush had his chance to topple Chavez, in 2002 and let it slip away.
ReplyDeleteHe equivocated when decisive action was called for. As he did on military matters throughout his tenure.
The half stepping did not get it done, anywhere.
I just read your posts,. bob, and draw the conclusions warranted by them.
ReplyDeleteReferring to your comment upon the King David story, which you described as fine literature.
I could go cut and paste the post, get the exact quote, if you desire.
Fiorina KO's Boxer In Debate
ReplyDeleteIsraeli politician promises to block peace process.
ReplyDeleteThe Foreign Minister is not waiting for negotiations on the "Final Status" questions to be completed.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says his party will block any attempts by the government to extend a partial construction freeze on settlement building in the occupied West Bank that is set to expire later this month.
Lieberman told Israel Radio Monday that his ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party has enough power in the government to make sure no such extension succeeds.
Israel's Foreign Minister Vows to Block Settlement Slowdown
While Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu calls on Abbas not to give up on peace talks
Voice of America and the JPost, respectively.
Mr Abbas seems to be playing against a stacked deck, what with the Israeli Foreign Minister's announcement.
Mr Abbas has no legal authority to make any peace deals.
ReplyDeleteHis term expired 1.5 years ago.
Fatah and the PLO are no longer the sole representative of the Palestinian people. Hamas is in control of the Gaza Strip.
There cannot be any peace deal that doesnt include the Gaza Strip.
Also the resolution of the refugees is a most important topic.
The refugees, not the ARABs silly, the Jewish ones, that number in excess of 750,000 that were exiled from their homes in the Arab world as a direct linkage to the war that was started in 1948.
They are owed about 100 billion from the collective arab world.
But the real issues of Israel and the Arab world making peace aint refugees, borders, money...
The Arab world has a problem with accepting Israel right to be a Jewish state.
Period.
Israel already has withdrawn from 99.9% of all lands it acquired in defensive wars, that has not brought peace...
There are more arabs living today in ISRAEL as FULL citizens than were in all areas of the Palestine Mandate in 1948.
Peace cannot happen as long as Islamic domination is the goal of the Arabs. (and in these days the Islamic peoples of the world, including the Perisans))
Israel will offer, again, compromise on Refugees, Borders, Water and Land...
The fake nationalistic creation called the palestinian people? will compromise on nothing...
Mr Abbas is recognized and thus empowered by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by the United States.
ReplyDeleteThat is all the authority he needs.
This latest iteration of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks midwived by the U.S. is doomed just as all of its predecessors were - because it is based on a fallacy and a stubborn refusal to face the truth about Palestinian society.
ReplyDeleteTalks Doomed
desert rat said...
ReplyDeleteMr Abbas is recognized and thus empowered by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by the United States.
That is all the authority he needs.
Mr Abbas is NOT recognized in any form of democratic or totalitarian way by his own people.
This is why there will not be peace...
Abbas is a prop...
Abbas can have all the support from Israel and the USA he wants. The average Palestinian would cut his head off in an instant.
Abbas is a target waiting to be killed by the hand of his own people..
Abbas will not sign any agreement that compromises on anything...
He has stated as such...
He is looking for any excuse to break off talks asap
Cause he has ZERO authority to sign ANYTHING...
His own group, Fatah, is responsible for up to 50% of the murders against Israel in the last 24 months....
At a recent Fatah / PA meeting they voted on their principles..
All of Jerusalem is Palestinian
Israel has no claims on Jerusalem, historic or religious
Full return of all refugees to Israel and their descendants...
No recognition of Israel as the Jewish State.
Unless Abbas gets those points (and more) he will break off talks..
Just like Arafat.
PA President Mahmoud 'Abbas stated in Tunisia that he would not relinquish any of the Palestinian's basic principles, and that he would resign before abandoning the right of return.
ReplyDeleteHe added that Israel could call itself by any name it chose, but could not demand that the Palestinians regard it as a Jewish state.
He stated further that the intifada of 2000 had caused a lot of damage, and that is why the PA and the Palestinian people were not interested in resistance. However, he clarified that, should the Arabs decide to fight, the Palestinians would be the first to do so.
About Hamas, he said it was repressing the resistance in Gaza while carrying out shootings in the West Bank.
Almost no notice was taken of another pre talks decision that the PA chairman revealed, as he announced clearly that if a Palestinian Authority state is created in Judea and Samaria, no Israeli citizen will be allowed to set foot inside.The PA chairman also stated that he would block any Jewish soldiers from serving with an international force stationed on PA-controlled land.
ReplyDelete"I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land,” Abbas declared. Israel is home to a sizable proportion of Arab citizens, who have the vote and are represented by Arab parties in the Knesset.
Arab League Endorses 'Talks'
Sounds like the muzzies are embracing an ethically cleansed apartheid state to me. How could this possibly, possibly be???
(CNN) -- The U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Monday criticized a Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, warning the demonstration "could cause significant problems" for American troops overseas.
ReplyDelete"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan," Gen. David Petraeus said in a statement issued Monday.
...
With about 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still battling al Qaeda and its allies in the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement, Petraeus warned that burning Qurans "is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems -- not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community."
And one of his deputies, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, told CNN's "The Situation Room" that event "has already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern" among Afghans.
"We very much feel that this can jeopardize the safety of our men and women that are serving over here in the country," said Caldwell, the head of NATO efforts to train Afghan security forces.
Caldwell said American troops "are over here to defend the rights of American citizens, and we're not debating the First Amendment rights that people have." But he added,
"What I will tell you is that their very actions will in fact jeopardize the safety of the young men and women who are serving in uniform over here and also undermine the very mission that we're trying to accomplish."
"I would hope they would understand that there are second- and third-order effects that will occur that will affect that young man and woman who's out there on point for America, serving their nation today, because of their actions back in the United States," he said.
There would be no Israelis, bob, he did not say anything in your quote about Jews.
ReplyDeleteOne should never conflate the two.
One is a nationality, the other a religion.
Never the twain shall meet.
He did not mention that Europeons could not live in Palestine, which would be the equivalent of Arabs living in Israel.
In the past the Story of "o" has denied there even are Palestinians or ever was a Palestine, despite published reports to the contrary, in 1907.
The Israeli are dead set against allowing Palestinian refugees a right of return, to Israel, so that seems pretty equivalent, as seen from here.
There are plenty of reports of the Israeli not allowing people with "Arab" names entry into their country.
ReplyDeleteWhether those reports are accurate, well, they are published reports from major news organizations.
Who's to know, from across the pond, except by way of those published reports.
Did anyone notice that the first video was about mosques in the US being used to provide financial support for a terrorist organization?
ReplyDeleteThe second video reveals the Iranian regime's true intentions. They are very active in South America.
Do not think this is only about Israel and the Jews.
Those residents of Palestine, they'd most likely have to take an oath of allegiance or loyalty to the government, much like Mr Lieberman, the Foreign Minister of Israel, has advocated for Arabs living in Israel.
ReplyDeleteBoth seem reprehensible, but par for the course, over there.
Equivalency of rhetoric is king, at least at this point of the negotiations.
I thought it was very interesting that George Galloway loves "Barack Hussein Obama" and sees the Obama Administration as Hamas' best opportunity.
ReplyDeleteNever have thought that, whit.
ReplyDeleteAs was said earlier, the US screwed the pooch in Venezuela, in 2002.
Ameros to donuts that the Venezuelan will be agreeing to buy a nuclear reactor from the Iranians, sooner rather than later.
As long as the US requires 906,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil, every day, there is little we can do about their foreign policies.
The window of opportunity for focusing on the Americas was closed, then nailed shut, by the Republican Administration in 2002.
I doubt that Mr. Galloway will be traveling to the US anytime soon nor his accomplice in crime, the felon, Imam Mahdi Bray.
ReplyDeleteSeeing how Attorney General Holder is treating Sherif Joe is treated, I'm sure that Bray is toast.
Now with recession limiting our aid dollars and ever more stringent anti-immigrant rhetoric from Washington, we'll not be gaining popular support with the "little people" across the region either.
ReplyDeleteThe leaders of Colombia and Venezuela have reestablished diplomatic relations, saying they are starting to repair confidence undermined by years of mutual recriminations.
The announcement came after a four-hour meeting Tuesday in the Colombian city of Santa Marta between Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Colombia's new leader, Juan Manuel Santos. The two restored ties that Chávez severed last month in response to accusations that Venezuela has become a haven for Colombian rebels.
Santos said the rapprochement between two men with "so many and such frequent differences, who decide to turn the page and think of the future . . . that's something I think we have to celebrate." He said after the meeting that Chávez had given assurances "he is not going to allow the presence of outlaw groups in his territory."
Chávez said the neighbors are starting down a new road after years of often prickly relations under Santos's predecessor, Álvaro Uribe.
Rat: One should never conflate the two.
ReplyDeleteOne is a nationality, the other a religion.
Not all Jews are Israelis, and not all Israelis are Jews.
However Israel is the HOMELAND for all Jews.
Israel allows other faiths to be citizens (equal), in fact Arabic is an official language of Israel as well as hebrew.
There is not Historic people called "palestinians" it is a myth, that now has been created into fact.
Just as there were no "jordanians" in the recent past.
Most of the so called national identities of the Arabs were created by the Colonial power at that time.
In those day, the Palestinians were commonly understood to be the JEWS....
There never has been an separate and distinct culture, nation, tribe. clan or people who id'd themselves as "Palestinians" until modern times.
Rat: Never the twain shall meet.
Nonsense. it's not up to you to determine the connection that Jews have with Israel, and in modern times the selective targeting of Israel to Israel "only" standards are in fact "anti-Jewish".. Walks like a Jew hater, Talks like a Jew hater, quacks like a Jew Hate? Youa re a Jew hater...
Just read the Hama charter, or the Moslem Brotherhoods own words.. It mentions the israel but QUICKLY expands to the term JEW. To try to say to be anti-zionist is NOT being anti-Jew? simply put is bullshit...
Rat: He did not mention that Europeons could not live in Palestine, which would be the equivalent of Arabs living in Israel.
Not so, It's not safe for a Jew to live in a nation of Arabs today, whereas Arabs can and do live safely in Israel. The arabs have poisoned the well so to speak. They have ethnically cleansed 649/650th of the middle east now as "JEW free", whereas Israel has had no problem having Arabs be full fledged citizens...
Rat: In the past the Story of "o" has denied there even are Palestinians or ever was a Palestine, despite published reports to the contrary, in 1907.
And Rat you deny the Right of Israel to be a nation state... So what? I believe the Palestinians are a fake people, I do not deny that this blood sucking, murderous middle eastern crips exist, i simply deny that they are a real group of people from a history POV...
The world is a funny place, it has sponsored a group of real killers to become a national movements... The Palestinians national movement is a fun packed gift to the world of a death cult... enjoy them
Rat: The Israeli are dead set against allowing Palestinian refugees a right of return, to Israel, so that seems pretty equivalent, as seen from here.
Sure, the Palestinians already have 3 places to return to.. Jordan and the West banks and gaza, why should they be allowed to destroy the Jewish nature of Israel?
While the US sends Ambassadors to the region that do not even speak Spanish.
ReplyDeletePatently absurd.
Downright disrespectful, really.
Correction: The Imam resides in Florida. That is where he hosted Mr. Galloway when they raised $55k for the declared terrorist organization Hamas.
ReplyDeletedesert rat said...
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of reports of the Israeli not allowing people with "Arab" names entry into their country.
Whether those reports are accurate, well, they are published reports from major news organizations.
Mostly True, Arabs that are felons, murderers, have associations with murderous groups, criminals and such are always denied entry into Israel, so what?
The good ole USA doesnt allow many people who have ARAB names into the USA...
Your point is bullshit...
(as always)
Colombia, Venezuela restore diplomatic ties
ReplyDeleteWest bank Arabs used to cross the border and work in Israel everyday. Life in the west bank and Gaza was much better for Arabs but the terrorist Yassir Arafat, ruined all that.
ReplyDeleteHe was a common, garden variety, thug terrorist. Hamas on the other hand are part and parcel of the Muslim Brotherhood driven by hatred and ideology. Their first goal is to reclaim Muslim lands in the middle east. Their long range plans are Islamic domination wherever they can get a critical mass of Muslims.
You can see happening now in Europe's no-go zones. As anonymous stated on the last thread, Islam makes no provision for separation of Mosque and State.
You can shift the blame to Israel but it won't matter in the long run.
The Israeli control access to both Gaza and the West Bank.
ReplyDeleteThere is no returning to either.
Zohar Blumenkrantz
Israel apologizes for denying entry to four African generals
The generals had arranged their visit five days prior and were accompanied by an Israeli official and a senior air force officer when told they could not enter Herzliya airport.
Hamas and Hezbollah are sponsored by the soon to be nuclear Iran.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned that Iran would use the bomb only for deterrence or self defense.
Whether they would ever use it of not is debatable. They just want to have the threat in their arsenal while they destroy Israel.
Impact Of Israeli Military Order No. 1650
ReplyDeleteThe thing is not compatible to cut and paste, it describes in great detail the Israeli efforts to destabilize the Palestinians and deprive them of birthrights and residency.
Read it if you're interested in the techniques of modern apartheid.
Gaza is smaller than the City of Scottsdale.
ReplyDeleteThe entirety of Israel, with Gaza and the West Bank, is the size of Maricopa County. It could barely be one country, let alone two.
Yep, Iran will have the capacity to build a nuclear weapon, as do many other countries.
That the Israeli are between a rock and the ocean, true enough. That they have exacerbated their precarious position, true too.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIsrael and Palestine: A true one-state solution
ReplyDeleteBy George Bisharat
Friday, September 3, 2010
"Where is the Palestinian Mandela?" pundits occasionally ask. But after these latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington fail -- as they inevitably will -- the more pressing question may be: "Where is the Israeli de Klerk?" Will an Israeli leader emerge with the former South African president's moral courage and foresight to dismantle a discriminatory regime and foster democracy based on equal rights?
...
A de facto one-state reality has emerged, with Israel effectively ruling virtually all of the former Palestine. Yet only Jews enjoy full rights in this functionally unitary political system. In contrast, Palestinian citizens of Israel endure more than 35 laws that explicitly privilege Jews as well as policies that deliberately marginalize them. West Bank Palestinians cannot drive on roads built for Israeli settlers, while Palestinians in Gaza watch as their children's intellectual and physical growth are stunted by an Israeli siege that has limited educational opportunities and deepened poverty to acute levels.
Palestinian refugees have lived in exile for 62 years, their right to return to their homes denied, while Jews from anywhere can freely immigrate to Israel.
Israeli leaders Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak have admitted that permanent Israeli rule over disenfranchised Palestinians would be tantamount to apartheid. Other observers, including former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have said that apartheid has already taken root in the region.
Clearly, Palestinians and Israeli Jews will continue to live together. The question is: under what terms?
Palestinians will no more accept permanent subordination than would any other people.
The answer is for Israelis and Palestinians to formalize their de facto one-state reality but on principles of equal rights rather than ethnic privilege.
ReplyDeleteAllen has not lived up to his word to depart after receiving my answer.
ReplyDeleteHe is persona non grata at the EB.
The answer is for Israelis and Palestinians to formalize their de facto one-state reality but on principles of equal rights rather than ethnic privilege.
ReplyDeleteYou understand perfectly well that it isn't going to happen because either way it spells the death of Israel.
Hezbollah cannot take over Lebanon, they have nonoe of the capabilities required to destroy Israel.
ReplyDeleteHamas, much the same. A street gang in LA has more military capacity.
Neither are existential threats to Israel.
Unless a coincidence, the cleaning lady vacuumed up half the last thread.
ReplyDeleteNot true, whit.
ReplyDeleteIs there another option?
Unlike the dire predictions heard so often, Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria would not be the end of the State of Israel, nor would it mean the end of democratic governance in Israel.
By Moshe Arens
... the Israeli ambassador to the United States for one year, before returning to Israel to become Defense Minister. Arens also served as Foreign Minister from 1988 to 1990.
Arens became defense minister again between 1990 and 1992, when he retired from politics, only to return in 1999 to the same portfolio.
You are falling victim to dire predictions that have little basis in reality.
ReplyDeleteMoshe Arens is better informed than any US citizen.
He is definitely not anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish by any stretch of anyone's imagination.
Okay, fine, whatever you say boss.
ReplyDeleteheh, some street gang. Hez has 15,000 and rising missiles in southern Lebanon, capable of reaching most all of Israel. Some 'street gang'.
ReplyDeleteI thought the UN was supposed to be disarming all this....
If the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria are given the right to vote in Israeli elections, like the Palestinians currently living in Israel, Israel would not cease to be a democracy. Nor would it cease to exist, although its demography would change significantly. However, Israel would face the serious challenge of absorbing the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria into the fabric of Israeli society. Can Israel be expected to meet such a challenge?
ReplyDeleteIsrael already has a substantial minority population - Muslims, Christians, Druze and a small group of Circassians. The Druze and the Circassians can serve as an example of the successful integration of a minority group into Israeli society, mainly by virtue of their service in the IDF. With little assistance from the Israeli government, many of Israel's Christian citizens are gradually finding their way into Israeli society.
It is Israel's Muslim minority, 17 percent of the country's population, that still has a long way to go before it feels at home in the State of Israel, enjoying not only equality of rights but also equality of opportunities.
Much of the blame for this rests on successive Israeli governments that have not taken effective action to integrate Israel's Muslim citizens. Very vocal Israeli Arab politicians, who spout anti-Israeli rhetoric at every opportunity that drowns out the voice of the silent majority of Israel's Muslim citizens, bear the rest of the responsibility for this unhappy state of affairs. This situation, in any case, needs urgent rectification.
Hamas cannot be conflated with Hezbollah, which is what you are trying to do, bob.
ReplyDeleteThey are totally different entities, in different countries.
Hezbollah does not even control Lebanon. It cannot take on the Lebanese Army and win.
It can fight a reasonable defensive battle, though. As demonstrated against the Israelis, the last time they invaded Lebanon.
Hamas is a street gang, not as effective as MS13, the Crips or the Bloods, in their hey days.
Capable of being declawed and taken care of, if that was the desired effect of both the Egyptians and Israeli.
But both governments of those countries have a vested interest in the status que and do not want "change".
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHezbollah cannot invade Israel and survive the encounter.
ReplyDeleteThey do not pose any serious offensive military threat. They definitely are not an existential threat to Israel.
Might as well spend the day reading classical love poems as continue a fruitless topic--
ReplyDeleteLonging
by Matthew Arnold (1822 1888)
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again.
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
Come, as thou cam'st a thousand times,
A messenger from radiant climes,
And smile on thy new world, and be
As kind to others as to me.
Or, as thou never cam'st in sooth,
Come now, and let me dream it truth.
And part my hair, and kiss my brow,
And say My love! why sufferest thou?
Come to me in my dreams, and then
By day I shall be well again.
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day.
I give this one an A-.
It was over. Then, one of the guys with the keys decided to bring it back.
ReplyDeleteHabitation
ReplyDeleteby Margaret Atwood
Marriage is not
a house or even a tent
it is before that, and colder:
the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn
the edge of the receding glacier
where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far
we are learning to make fire
B
La Vita Nuova
ReplyDeleteIn that book which is
My memory . . .
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words . . .
Here begins a new life
- Dante Alighieri
A
Lennox Head general practitioner Chris Mitchell was asleep in his hotel room in Christchurch when the earthquake struck at 4.30am.
ReplyDelete...
“I think it will be very distressing for everyone because it is going to take years to get the city back to what it was,” he said.
Christchurch Airport resumed flights on Saturday afternoon, much to the relief of visitors like Dr Mitchell.
Aussie Doctor
My Suburban Girl
ReplyDeleteby Samuel Alfred Beadle
I know a sweet suburban girl,
She's witty, bright and brief;
With dimples in her cheeks; and pearl
In rubies set, for teeth.
Beneath her glossy raven hair
There beams the hazel eye,
Bright as the star of evening there
Where the yellow sunbeams die.
Her breath is like a flower blown,
In fragrance and perfume;
Her voice seems from the blissful throne
Where their harps the angels tune.
Her waist is just a trifle more
Than a cubit in its girth;
But when there my arms I throw,
I've all there is of earth.
And when she turns her dimpled cheek
Toward me for a kiss,
I lose expression—cannot speak—
And take all there is of bliss.
D
The Clod and the Pebble
ReplyDeleteby William Blake (1757-1827)
Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hells despair.
So sang a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet;
But a Pebble of the brook,
Warbled out these metres meet.
Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to Its delight:
Joys in anothers loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.
A+
John Donne
ReplyDelete14. The Extasie
WHERE, like a pillow on a bed,
A Pregnant banke swel'd up, to rest
The violets reclining head,
Sat we two, one anothers best.
Our hands were firmely cimented 5
With a fast balme, which thence did spring,
Our eye-beames twisted, and did thred
Our eyes, upon one double string;
So to'entergraft our hands, as yet
Was all the meanes to make us one, 10
And pictures in our eyes to get
Was all our propagation.
As 'twixt two equall Armies, Fate
Suspends uncertaine victorie,
Our soules, (which to advance their state, 15
Were gone out,) hung 'twixt her, and mee.
And whil'st our soules negotiate there,
Wee like sepulchrall statues lay;
All day, the same our postures were,
And wee said nothing, all the day. 20
If any, so by love refin'd,
That he soules language understood,
And by good love were growen all minde,
Within convenient distance stood,
He (though he knew not which soule spake, 25
Because both meant, both spake the same)
Might thence a new concoction take,
And part farre purer then he came.
This Extasie doth unperplex
(We said) and tell us what we love, 30
Wee see by this, it was not sexe,
Wee see, we saw not what did move:
But as all severall soules containe
Mixture of things, they know not what,
Love, these mixt soules, doth mixe againe, 35
And makes both one, each this and that.
A single violet transplant,
The strength, the colour, and the size,
(All which before was poore, and scant,)
Redoubles still, and multiplies. 40
When love, with one another so
Interinanimates two soules,
That abler soule, which thence doth flow,
Defects of lonelinesse controules.
Wee then, who are this new soule, know, 45
Of what we are compos'd, and made,
For, th'Atomies of which we grow,
Are soules, whom no change can invade.
But O alas, so long, so farre
Our bodies why doe wee forbeare? 50
They are ours, though they are not wee, Wee are
The intelligences, they the spheare.
We owe them thankes, because they thus,
Did us, to us, at first convay,
Yeelded their forces, sense, to us, 55
Nor are drosse to us, but allay.
On man heavens influence workes not so,
But that it first imprints the ayre,
Soe soule into the soule may flow,
Though it to body first repaire. 60
As our blood labours to beget
Spirits, as like soules as it can,
Because such fingers need to knit
That subtile knot, which makes us man:
So must pure lovers soules descend 65
T'affections, and to faculties,
Which sense may reach and apprehend,
Else a great Prince in prison lies.
To'our bodies turne wee then, that so
Weake men on love reveal'd may looke; 70
Loves mysteries in soules doe grow,
But yet the body is his booke.
And if some lover, such as wee,
Have heard this dialogue of one,
Let him still marke us, he shall see 75
Small change, when we'are to bodies gone.
AAA++++
John Donne
ReplyDelete14. The Extasie
WHERE, like a pillow on a bed,
A Pregnant banke swel'd up, to rest
The violets reclining head,
Sat we two, one anothers best.
Our hands were firmely cimented 5
With a fast balme, which thence did spring,
Our eye-beames twisted, and did thred
Our eyes, upon one double string;
So to'entergraft our hands, as yet
Was all the meanes to make us one, 10
And pictures in our eyes to get
Was all our propagation.
As 'twixt two equall Armies, Fate
Suspends uncertaine victorie,
Our soules, (which to advance their state, 15
Were gone out,) hung 'twixt her, and mee.
And whil'st our soules negotiate there,
Wee like sepulchrall statues lay;
All day, the same our postures were,
And wee said nothing, all the day. 20
If any, so by love refin'd,
That he soules language understood,
And by good love were growen all minde,
Within convenient distance stood,
He (though he knew not which soule spake, 25
Because both meant, both spake the same)
Might thence a new concoction take,
And part farre purer then he came.
This Extasie doth unperplex
(We said) and tell us what we love, 30
Wee see by this, it was not sexe,
Wee see, we saw not what did move:
But as all severall soules containe
Mixture of things, they know not what,
Love, these mixt soules, doth mixe againe, 35
And makes both one, each this and that.
A single violet transplant,
The strength, the colour, and the size,
(All which before was poore, and scant,)
Redoubles still, and multiplies. 40
When love, with one another so
Interinanimates two soules,
That abler soule, which thence doth flow,
Defects of lonelinesse controules.
Wee then, who are this new soule, know, 45
Of what we are compos'd, and made,
For, th'Atomies of which we grow,
Are soules, whom no change can invade.
But O alas, so long, so farre
Our bodies why doe wee forbeare? 50
They are ours, though they are not wee, Wee are
The intelligences, they the spheare.
We owe them thankes, because they thus,
Did us, to us, at first convay,
Yeelded their forces, sense, to us, 55
Nor are drosse to us, but allay.
On man heavens influence workes not so,
But that it first imprints the ayre,
Soe soule into the soule may flow,
Though it to body first repaire. 60
As our blood labours to beget
Spirits, as like soules as it can,
Because such fingers need to knit
That subtile knot, which makes us man:
So must pure lovers soules descend 65
T'affections, and to faculties,
Which sense may reach and apprehend,
Else a great Prince in prison lies.
To'our bodies turne wee then, that so
Weake men on love reveal'd may looke; 70
Loves mysteries in soules doe grow,
But yet the body is his booke.
And if some lover, such as wee,
Have heard this dialogue of one,
Let him still marke us, he shall see 75
Small change, when we'are to bodies gone.
AAA++++
John Donne
ReplyDelete14. The Extasie
WHERE, like a pillow on a bed,
A Pregnant banke swel'd up, to rest
The violets reclining head,
Sat we two, one anothers best.
Our hands were firmely cimented 5
With a fast balme, which thence did spring,
Our eye-beames twisted, and did thred
Our eyes, upon one double string;
So to'entergraft our hands, as yet
Was all the meanes to make us one, 10
And pictures in our eyes to get
Was all our propagation.
As 'twixt two equall Armies, Fate
Suspends uncertaine victorie,
Our soules, (which to advance their state, 15
Were gone out,) hung 'twixt her, and mee.
And whil'st our soules negotiate there,
Wee like sepulchrall statues lay;
All day, the same our postures were,
And wee said nothing, all the day. 20
If any, so by love refin'd,
That he soules language understood,
And by good love were growen all minde,
Within convenient distance stood,
He (though he knew not which soule spake, 25
Because both meant, both spake the same)
Might thence a new concoction take,
And part farre purer then he came.
This Extasie doth unperplex
(We said) and tell us what we love, 30
Wee see by this, it was not sexe,
Wee see, we saw not what did move:
But as all severall soules containe
Mixture of things, they know not what,
Love, these mixt soules, doth mixe againe, 35
And makes both one, each this and that.
A single violet transplant,
The strength, the colour, and the size,
(All which before was poore, and scant,)
Redoubles still, and multiplies. 40
When love, with one another so
Interinanimates two soules,
That abler soule, which thence doth flow,
Defects of lonelinesse controules.
Wee then, who are this new soule, know, 45
Of what we are compos'd, and made,
For, th'Atomies of which we grow,
Are soules, whom no change can invade.
But O alas, so long, so farre
Our bodies why doe wee forbeare? 50
They are ours, though they are not wee, Wee are
The intelligences, they the spheare.
We owe them thankes, because they thus,
Did us, to us, at first convay,
Yeelded their forces, sense, to us, 55
Nor are drosse to us, but allay.
On man heavens influence workes not so,
But that it first imprints the ayre,
Soe soule into the soule may flow,
Though it to body first repaire. 60
As our blood labours to beget
Spirits, as like soules as it can,
Because such fingers need to knit
That subtile knot, which makes us man:
So must pure lovers soules descend 65
T'affections, and to faculties,
Which sense may reach and apprehend,
Else a great Prince in prison lies.
To'our bodies turne wee then, that so
Weake men on love reveal'd may looke; 70
Loves mysteries in soules doe grow,
But yet the body is his booke.
And if some lover, such as wee,
Have heard this dialogue of one,
Let him still marke us, he shall see 75
Small change, when we'are to bodies gone.
AAA++++
i don't know how to delete the repititions
ReplyDeleteThough nothing can bring back the hour
ReplyDeleteOf splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that Spring out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through Death, in years that bring the philosophic mind.
.
It was over. Then, one of the guys with the keys decided to bring it back.
ReplyDeleteWhy should I let some knothead control what I post?
I didn't post anything about Israel or the Jews or West Bank Arabs.
Rat started the crap at 5:02. Look it up.
Barack Obama is signing stimulus packages at the same White House desk where Bill Clinton got his package stimulated.
ReplyDeleteOkay, the video was about fundraising in the US in 2009 for a declared terrorist organization, Hamas. Is it my fault if it evokes a Pavlovian response?
ReplyDeleteI bet Obama has tingles up his leg.
ReplyDeleteBTW - I feel sorry for Hawking. He says that because of the laws of physics, the universe created itself.
ReplyDeleteThink about that.
This is from one of our wisemen.
Krauthammer on Obama’s Latest Six Year Stimulus Plan: "Even Lenin Stopped at Five."
ReplyDeleteObama said, ". . .that's why we've put an end to the wasteful subsidies to big banks that provide student loans. We're going to use that money to make college more affordable. . ."
What's wrong with that picture? He already earmarked that money for ObamaCare.
Whit: BTW - I feel sorry for Hawking. He says that because of the laws of physics, the universe created itself.
ReplyDelete293 posts on Belmont Club on that, and most of mine were spent correcting morons regurgitating crap like "atheists don't want to believe in the God of the Bible so they can have sex with children".
Burn a Quran Day, Florida
ReplyDeleteDeath to American Day, Kabul
Ramadan '10 Scorecard
ReplyDeleteDay 26
Terror Attacks in the Name of the Religion of Peace - 182
Dead Bodies in the Name of the Religion of Peace - 868
...
Latest Offerings from the Religion of Peace
2010.09.06 (Lakki Marwat, Pakistan) - Nine schoolchildren are among nineteen innocent lives snuffed out by Holy Warrior suicide bombers.
2010.09.06 (Kabul, Afghanistan) - A 45-year-old news anchor is the target of a 'brutal beheading' near his home.
2010.09.06 (Samarra, Iraq) - Five construction workers are stabbed and shot to death in a barbaric Mujahideen attack.
'10 Scorecard
During commercial breaks in the Boise State/Va Tech ballgame, I'll have to go over to the BC and check it out, T.
ReplyDeleteIf the Jews would just leave the Levant, we wouldn't have this mess, Sam.
ReplyDeleteSo who are you people and how many of you are there?
ReplyDelete1. So what is Islam?
ReplyDeleteIslam is the belief and conviction in One, True God (The Merciful, The All-Knowing, The Creator, The Judge, The Sustainer, The Unique, The Forgiving, etc). Besides this biggie, Islam includes regular worship of God (5x/day), fasting during the month of Ramadan, paying charity to the poor, and making the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in one’s lifetime if one is able to.
2. What do Muslims believe in?
Muslims believe in One, True God, in His angels, His Messengers, His Books, The Day of Judgment, and in Divine Destiny (hard to translate this one).
3. Who is Allah? Is it some God of the Arabs?
Contrary to popular belief (maybe not “popular”), the word God is simply translated into Arabic as “Allah.” Anyone who speaks in Arabic uses the term “Allah” when referring to God.
3 Questions at a Time
By scrolling through the long posts, I got up to about post 140.
ReplyDeleteI think those people really love to pontificate. I have to be in the mood to wade through that.
Still here during commercials, Trish. Where have you been?
ReplyDeleteWhere have I been?
ReplyDeleteI've been around.
Just not with much to say.
My goal tonight is to sleep.
ReplyDeleteNo more music videos, thanks.
ReplyDeleteSaturday's quake near Christchurch ripped open a new fault line in the earth's surface, destroying hundreds of buildings and cutting power to the region.
ReplyDelete...
New Zealand sits above an area where two tectonic plates collide. The country records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year - but only about 150 are felt by residents.
Fewer than 10 a year do any damage.
New Tremor
That's an outrageous lie Mr. Obama! I treat my dog much better than you. But give credit where credit is due, Obama Did Create 3 Million Jobs in China.
ReplyDeleteIf you bothered to check, the majority of the Ramadan '10 casualties were Muslims.
ReplyDeleteWere they killed because they were Muslim?
Or were they killed in spite of it?
Who killed them, but other Muslims.
Its' an internal fratricide.
Glad you fellas can divine their motives, half a world a way.
Obama to Propose Plant and Equipment Tax Write-Off
ReplyDelete"President Barack Obama will propose on Wednesday that businesses be allowed to write off all their new investments in plant and equipment through 2011, an administration official said on Monday.
"The plan, aimed at jump-starting job growth, would cut business taxes by some $200 billion over two years, the official said.
Obama is to unveil the proposal at a speech in Cleveland on Wednesday.
"The plan would require congressional approval, and with Republicans in no mood to compromise with congressional elections less than two months away, its prospects are unclear.
"The proposal is among several the president is to lay out in Cleveland. Administration officials said he will also propose making permanent the business tax credits for research, which the White House projects will cost $100 billion over 10 years and would be paid for by ending some corporate tax breaks."
More Stimulus
These proposals would at $300 billion more to the deficit; however, they would likely be effective spurs to the economy.
Too bad he didn't think of ideas like this before wasting much of the stimulus funds on ear-marks and boondoggles.
It will be interesting to see how the GOP responds to these proposals.
.
Then of course there's this classic--
ReplyDeleteLa Belle Dame Sans Merci
a poem by John Keats
Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight, (knight)
Alone and palely loitering;
The sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
Ah, what can ail thee, wretched wight,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.
I see a lily on thy brow,
With anguish moist and fever dew;
And on thy cheek a fading rose
Fast withereth too.
I met a lady in the meads
Full beautiful, a faery's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long;
For sideways would she lean, and sing
A faery's song.
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew;
And sure in language strange she said,
I love thee true.
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she gaz'd and sighed deep,
And there I shut her wild sad eyes--
So kiss'd to sleep.
And there we slumber'd on the moss,
And there I dream'd, ah woe betide,
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill side.
I saw pale kings, and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
Who cry'd--"La belle Dame sans merci
Hath thee in thrall!"
I saw their starv'd lips in the gloam
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And I awoke, and found me here
On the cold hill side.
And this is why I sojourn here
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.
AA++
Who authored yours, Quirk, I can almost place it.
g'night
Wordsworth, I knew as I looked it up.
ReplyDeleteAa++
Obama assails GOP, promotes new jobs program
ReplyDelete"A combative President Barack Obama rolled out a long-term jobs program Monday that would exceed $50 billion to rebuild roads, railways and runways, and coupled it with a blunt campaign-season assault on Republicans for causing Americans' hard economic times.
"GOP leaders instantly assailed Obama's proposal as an ineffective one that would simply raise already excessive federal spending. Many congressional Democrats are also likely to be reluctant to boost expenditures and increase federal deficits just weeks before elections that will determine control of Congress...
More Stimulus
Once again, too little too late. Why wasn't this proposed last year?
.
It won't be that easy again: which is good. A candidate of any race or either sex who has great ideas, coupled with impressive skills and deep experience, qualifies for the vote of any intelligent American.
ReplyDeleteA candidate who's merely -- yes, merely -- black or female, or for that matter white or male, hardly qualifies for a second look. It's been a chewy lesson to ingest.
But nutritious.
Affimative Action
http://www.danielpipes.org/349/charlottes-web-and-the-hezbollah-in-america-an-alarming
ReplyDeleteClair de Lune
ReplyDelete.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteClaro de Luna
ReplyDelete.
Initially some flights were cancelled but Christchurch Airport is now functioning normally for domestic and international flights. Most hotels are receiving guests.
ReplyDeleteEarthquake Update
A Drinking Song
ReplyDeleteby William Butler Yeats
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
The Rose in the Deeps of his Heart
ReplyDeleteby William Butler Yeats
All things uncomely and broken,
all things worn-out and old,
The cry of a child by the roadway,
the creak of a lumbering cart,
The heavy steps of the ploughman,
splashing the wintry mould,
Are wronging your image that blossoms
a rose in the deeps of my heart.
The wrong of unshapely things
is a wrong too great to be told,
I hunger to build them anew
and sit on a green knoll apart,
With the earth and the sky and the water,
remade, like a casket of gold
For my dreams of your image that blossoms
a rose in the deeps of my heart.
heh--
ReplyDeleteA Slice of Wedding Cake
by Robert Graves
Why have such scores of lovely, gifted girls
Married impossible men?
Simple self-sacrifice may be ruled out,
And missionary endeavour, nine times out of ten.
Repeat 'impossible men': not merely rustic,
Foul-tempered or depraved
(Dramatic foils chosen to show the world
How well women behave, and always have behaved).
Impossible men: idle, illiterate,
Self-pitying, dirty, sly,
For whose appearance even in City parks
Excuses must be made to casual passers-by.
Has God's supply of tolerable husbands
Fallen, in fact, so low?
Or do I always over-value woman
At the expense of man?
Do I?
It might be so.
Merciless Beauty (Excerpt)
ReplyDeleteby Geoffrey Chaucer
Your eyen two will slay me suddenly;
I may the beauty of them not sustain,
So woundeth it throughout my hearte keen.
And but your word will healen hastily
My hearte's wounde, while that it is green,
Your eyen two will slay me suddenly;
I may the beauty of them not sustain.
Upon my truth I say you faithfully
That ye bin of my life and death the queen;
For with my death the truthe shall be seen.
Your eyen two will slay me suddenly;
I may the beauty of them not sustain,
So woundeth it throughout my hearte keen.
Romeo and Juliet Act ii, Scene II
ReplyDeletePoor Keats was all hung up on Fanny--
ReplyDeleteTo Fanny Brawne
by John Keats
I cry your mercy -pity -love! -aye, love!
Merciful love that tantalizes not,
One-thoughted, never-wandering, guileless love,
Unmasked, and being seen -without a blot!
O! let me have thee whole, -all -all -be mine!
That shape, that fairness, that sweet minor zest
Of love, your kiss, -those hands, those eyes divine,
That warm, white, lucent, million-pleasured breast, -
Yourself -your soul -in pity give me all,
Withhold no atom's atom or I die,
Or living on, perhaps, your wretched thrall,
Forget, in the mist of idle misery,
Life's purposes, -the palate of my mind
Losing its gust, and my ambition blind!
And, one more--
ReplyDeleteHe Is More than a Hero
by Sappho
He is more than a hero
he is a god in my eyes
the man who is allowed
to sit beside you -- he
who listens intimately
to the sweet murmur of
your voice, the enticing
laughter that makes my own
heart beat fast. If I meet
you suddenly, I can'
speak -- my tongue is broken;
a thin flame runs under
my skin; seeing nothing,
hearing only my own ears
drumming, I drip with sweat;
trembling shakes my body
and I turn paler than
dry grass. At such times
death isn't far from me.
DizzyFingers
ReplyDeleteAs a follow up to WiO's post. Too bad they were crooks and frauds. They had one of the best Lebanese restaurant chains going. The food was excellent.
ReplyDeleteNote that Feds were involved in this case also.
Wife of La Shish restaurant owner and sister of former FBI/CIA employee pleads guilty to naturalization fraud
DETROIT - The wife of the La Shish restaurant owner pleaded guilty here Thursday to conspiring to defraud the United States and naturalization fraud. This plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy; the case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE) and the FBI.
Elfat El Aouar, 40, of Plymouth, Mich., a former vice president of finance for La Shish Inc., entered a guilty plea Nov. 29 before U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn to conspiracy and naturalization fraud. The guilty plea on naturalization fraud requires de-naturalization. El Aouar is married to La Shish restaurant owner Talal Chahine, who is a fugitive wanted on bribery and extortion charges...
El Aouar's husband, Talal Chahine, the "La Shish" restaurant owner, is currently a fugitive believed to be in Lebanon. He was charged in 2006 in the Eastern District of Michigan with tax evasion in connection with a scheme to conceal more than $20 million in cash received by La Shish restaurants and to route funds to persons in Lebanon. Last month, Chahine was also charged in the Eastern District of Michigan, along with a senior ICE official in Detroit and others in a bribery and extortion conspiracy in which federal immigration benefits were allegedly awarded to illegal aliens in exchange for money...
Terrorists Amongst Us
.
Boise State, 1-0, beat Virginia Tech 33-30.
ReplyDeleteIdaho, 1-0, plays Nebraska next week, there, grrr.
It's tough to miss Starvin Marvin's strip clubs. They're huge, flashy and as over the top as their manager, whose lawyer dubs him the "P.T. Barnum" of topless entertainment.
ReplyDelete...
Starvin Marvin's has grown by buying dilapidated clubs and inking agreements with owners to renovate and manage them, while awaiting sale approval from the city and the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. That can take years.
...
City officials are blunt with their criticisms.
"Everything he wants to do is on the cheap and not following the code," said Kim James, director of the city's Buildings and Safety Engineering Department.
Stirring Passions
Good Republican Add
ReplyDeleteWe got it all here Sam.
ReplyDeleteDetroit. Sin City North.
.
Hezbollah gangsters have been running cigarettes to Michigan for years. Saw it on a documentary quite a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteCriminal activity abounds across the US.
Taxes are avoided, interstate smuggling is a real money maker for organized criminals, even the disorganized seem to be able to make out.
The criminals usually begin in the lower income brackets,amongst the immigrant classes, then some move up the economic ladder of success.
The were the Irish in Boston and Italian gangsters in NYCity. A Jewish gangster with foresight and vison invented Las Vegas.
Bugsey Segal, in Las Vegas.
Lucky Luciano, out of New York.
Whitey Bulger from Boston.
Typical of new immigrant populations here in the US, always a few "bad apples".
Like the Mexican cartels of today, fellas who are not yet house hold names or the stuff of movie legends.
The Arctic ice cap is vanishing before our eyes as global temperatures continue to rise.
ReplyDeleteHere are some recent headlines from this summer:
* Greenland Ice Sheet loses 100 square miles, biggest loss since 1962 (Aug. 2010)
* Russia's drought-driven halt to wheat exports panics world grain markets (Aug. 2010)
* Pakistan's worst flood in recorded history claims some 1,100 lives (July, 2010)
* International study confirms accelerating warming trend (July, 2010)
* Rapid decline in phytoplankton population stuns scientists (July, 2010)
* Flash floods seen increasing as Milwaukee gets eight inches in two hours (July, 2010)
* Senate climate bill collapses (July, 2010)
* Coral reef deaths soar in record ocean heat (July, 2010)
* First half of 2010 was hottest such period on record (July, 2010)
* Carbon lobby launches "CO2 is Green" campaign (July, 2010)
* Massive Greenland glacier retreats one mile in one night (July, 2010)
* Military declares climate change "a catalyst for conflict" (June, 2010)
* Malaria soars with small rainforest reductions (June, 2010)
* Oceans have stored more heat than they released since 1993 (May, 2010)
* Climate change is causing "irreversible" destruction of ocean life systems (June, 2010)
* Himalayan glacier melt puts 60 million people at risk of food shortages (June, 2010)
* Warming pushes many small mammal species to the brink (June, 2010)
What Would You Die For?
Rat makes relative excuses for Hezbollah...
ReplyDeleteHezbollah is not just a bunch of cig sellers...
Nor making a Jew baiting comparison to ONE Jewish Mobster the same either...
Hezbollah has murder hundreds of American soldiers across the globe, has bombed embassies, has taken over 1/3 of a nation, is supported, trained and funded by Iran...
And Hezbollah is in America... with more coming on a weekly basis...
Ignore them at your own peril
The Protestants, they got here earliest and built their organizations into the fabric of the power structure.
ReplyDeleteThe original revolutionaries, tax avoidance and smuggling was the stock and trade of many that went on to become respectable, in the new government of the US.
Then the likes of Joe Kennedy, running Irish whiskey back during Prohibition. Bought respectability and the Merchandise Mart Properties, with the proceeds.
Takes more than criminal activity and a religion that is looked down upon by the majority of the electorate to be a classified as a real terrorist.
If you're going to live in fear of criminals, look out for the Salvadorans.
ReplyDeleteMS13 makes the Hezbollah characters look like choir boys. The Lebanese are not even in the same league.
The Lebanese are businessmen, the Salvadorans, flat out crazy mofo's.
ReplyDeleteTruth is in the crimes and the scale of the organizations. MS13 has the Federals attention, because they are truly dangerous, not part of a propaganda campaign orchestrated for political purpose.
Not to worry WiO--rat says they are nothing more than a bunch of city gang bangers, lightly armed with only 15,000 missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel, hidden these days in schools, hospitals, etc.
ReplyDeleteThen comes the Mexicans, they are building body counts like no one wants to admit.
ReplyDeleteThe bodies pile up, but for the most part, it's still fratricide.
Mexican on Mexican or Mexican on Black is still the norm in those turf wars. As doug often reports on the Mexican on Black attacks that occur in the LA basin. No one in the media really cares about that, yet. There is little political power to be gained from exposing that reality.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat is not what I said, bob.
ReplyDeleteNot at all.
Hamas is the gang banger analogy.
Hezbollah is a militia, that has little offensive military capacity.
Look at the last time Israel invaded Lebanon for confirmation of that. Those rocket were very ineffective against Haifa, as compared to the F15s the Israel use against Beirut.
Truth is in the tasting.
When the Israeli entered Gaza, Hamas was handed its hat. Was not a problem for the Israeli forces.
You cannot escape reality with fear mongering.
Hezbollah cannot even take on the Lebanese Army and win.
ReplyDeleteThough it has defensive capabilities that bloodied the Israelis nose.
It cannot attack Israel and win.
It cannot attack Israel and survive.
It can defend its ground in Lebanon, with some effectiveness. But even there, they were beaten by the IDF. Drew some blood though, which shocked some folks.
And in the US, Hezbollah is as nothing.
ReplyDeletePetty criminals.
Loosely organized.
The Federals are all over them.
ICE and the FBI.
They are running immigration scams.
And being busted for them.
As reported.
Hezbollah, bob, may even be in the cat house business, here in the US.
ReplyDeleteTypical low end criminal activities.
Lebanon's prime minister said he was wrong to accuse Syria of involvement in the 2005 assassination of his father, a major turnaround for a politician who has long blamed Damascus for the Beirut truck bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 22 others.
ReplyDelete...
In July, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced that he expected the tribunal to indict members of his movement. But he dismissed the allegations and said the tribunal has no credibility.
Many people fear indictments of Hezbollah members could spark clashes between Lebanon's Sunnis and Shiites, or that Hezbollah's nemesis Israel could be pulled into a conflict, causing wider turmoil.
Retracts Charge
The Iranians, hooking up with Hugo, then using Latin American mercenaries as terrorists here in the US.
ReplyDeleteThat is a much more salient threat than cigarette smugglers and pimps morphing into terrorists.
That the Lebanese Prime Minister is afraid of Civil War and another Israeli invasion, well founded.
ReplyDeleteIt would be disastrous for Lebanon.
Peace at the lowest possible price, the Roman way according to Ms T.
A lesson already learned by Saad Hariri in Lebanon.
Arabs, Palestinians and Their Apartheid States and Ethnic Cleansings
ReplyDeleteshort primer
Which may be why he has the full support of the United States.
ReplyDeleteReturn To Me
ReplyDeleteThere is little political power to be gained from exposing that reality.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read all the comments but this one stopped me cold (reading from the bottom up - like Trish - don't ask me why - I don't know.) No shit. It's reaching the point where I ignore, vote against, or deny the latest greatest news wave to ripple through the fabric of public consciousness. Sort of a contrarian form of keeping myself aware.
The Hamas/Hezbollah thing is classic. To hear Rat suggest that MS-13 is more serious than Hamas confirms my gut reaction.
The border issue coupled with southern CA is just frightening - especially for the suggestive prelude it presents for the USA breaking up, not to even get into the stupid noise machine generated by Mexican pols.
I am personally reaching the point where I regard all these groups as 'criminal elements'.
(Islam - that noisy busy confused little religion - can still take a (long) hike AFAIAC. Brought to you by the last standing feminist on the planet.)
Now if you'll excuse me I have to find a second job.
Dirty Harry was great as usual but then I watched Barry Lyndon on Netflix and got all depressed again. What a c---.