COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, September 06, 2010

Hold on tight to your dream. You never know when it will end.





Giant hay bale kills former ELO cellist Mike Edwards

Musician's van collided with bale that tumbled down hill

David Batty
The Guardian, Monday 6 September 2010

A former member of the rock group Electric Light Orchestra has been killed by a giant hay bale that crashed into his van while he was driving.

Cellist Mike Edwards died instantly when the 300kg bale landed on the front of the white van after it tumbled down a steep hill in Devon, then smashed through a hedge and on to the road.

Police are now investigating whether the fatal accident on Friday afternoon happened after the bale fell from a tractor working on farmland next to the A381 in Halwell, near Totnes.

The musician, 62, is understood to have swerved into another vehicle as his van was struck at around 12.30pm. The second driver was unhurt in the collision.

Sergeant Steve Walker, of the Devon and Cornwall police traffic unit, said: "This was a tragic accident and we have now identified the victim as Michael Edwards, a founder member of ELO.

"We have used photographs and YouTube footage to identify him but we now need help contacting his family for formal identification. We don't believe he was ever married and we have identified an ex-girlfriend, but she is currently abroad."

Officers were hoping to contact a man named David in the Yorkshire area who is believed to be Edward's brother. The musician is understood to have no immediate family, but may have taught cello in Devon.

The police, who are liaising with the Heath and Safety Executive, have asked his students to contact them if they have any further information about his relations.

From 1972 to 1986, ELO enjoyed a string of top 20 hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic, and sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. Edwards left the band after their fourth studio album, Eldorado, which was released in 1974.






166 comments:

  1. Maybe it was that glorious sapphire Oldsmobile Delta 88 with the white leather interior; maybe it was those straight stretches though the Jersey Pinelands on the way to the shore, but it was all a summer of strange magic.

    Intoxicated by youth and the pleasure of an exotic Swiss beauty with one blue eye and the other half blue and half brown, I ignored speed limits on and off the road to the accompaniment of ELO.

    ...but those most perfect female legs.

    I should have married that girl, but I loved her more when I lost her. She punished me and I deserved the sentence.

    Hold on tight.

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  2. U.K. is firing on all cylinders. Big Exports to Asia.

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  3. I wonder if he ever thought he'd be killed by a hay bale?

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  4. He would have probably said something like, "well, at least I wasn't Driving the hay wagon."

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  5. ...talk about the fickle finger of fate.

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  6. All along the watchtower

    There are many here amongst us who feel life is but a joke.

    But let us not talk falsely now
    The hour is getting late.

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  7. Don't even think about starting that bull shit again.

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  8. ...but that is one hell of a song.

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  9. Need for Weed.

    Or, at least some o' Bob's stuff.

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  10. Van der Sloot admits extortion plot: 'Why not?'

    msnbc.com -
    AMSTERDAM - A Dutchman suspected in the disappearance of US teenager Natalee Holloway reportedly confessed to a newspaper in his home country that he extorted money from the girl's parents.

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  11. Now, if this is report is true, and we're really fighting a war, one would have to ask ...

    Why have they not been expelled, at the very least.

    KABUL -- At least five Iranian companies in Afghanistan's capital are using their offices covertly to finance Taliban militants in provinces near Kabul, according to an investigation by London's Sunday Times.

    Afghan intelligence and Taliban sources have told the newspaper that the firms, set up in the past six months, provide cash for a network of district Taliban treasurers to pay battlefield expenses and bonuses for killing the enemy and destroying their vehicles.

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  12. General P has some explaining to do.

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  13. Reuters -
    KABUL — The number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year has reached at least 500, compared with 521 in all of 2009, according to an independent monitoring site Monday and a tally compiled by Reuters.

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  14. A Nevada newspaper's highly unusual copyright lawsuit against senate candidate Sharron Angle is the the latest salvo in what is shaping up to be a highly litigious 2010 campaign.

    On Friday, a company acting on behalf of the Las Vegas Review-Journal filed a federal lawsuit against Angle, charging that the former Nevada legislator posted the entirety of one of the newspaper's editorials and one of its articles on her campaign website without any permission to do so. The suit seeks $150,000 in damages and control of Angel's site, SharronAngle.com. (AP said the suit seeks "unspecified damages," but the Las Vegas Sun spotted the $150,000 demand on a cover page.)

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  15. The new suit against Angle is one of more than 100 lawsuits filed by Righthaven LLC in recent months as part of an unusually aggressive effort by a news organization to pursue litigation over the republication of as little as a single, less-than-momentous article. The wave of suits appears to be intended not just to deter copying but to turn the occasional unauthorized republication of stories into a profit center.

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  16. I think Afghanistan is a "bridge too far" for the elites.

    The average Joe, and Josette could understand protecting the oil. They're going to have a hard time with "protecting the poppies."

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  17. When I was a kid, an older gent (40 or so) used to say, "Somewhere on earth today, is a small plot of land where you will be buried."

    I have from time to time wondered where my plot lies.

    RIP

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  18. Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

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  19. Perhaps the closest parallel to today’s hysteria about Islam is the 19th-century fear spread by the Know Nothing movement about “the Catholic menace.” One book warned that Catholicism was “the primary source” of all of America’s misfortunes, and there were whispering campaigns that presidents including Martin Van Buren and William McKinley were secretly working with the pope. Does that sound familiar?

    Critics warned that the pope was plotting to snatch the Mississippi Valley and secretly conspiring to overthrow American democracy. “Rome looks with wistful eye to domination of this broad land, a magnificent seat for a sovereign pontiff,” one writer cautioned.

    Historically, unreal suspicions were sometimes rooted in genuine and significant differences. Many new Catholic immigrants lacked experience in democracy. Mormons were engaged in polygamy.

    And today some extremist Muslims do plot to blow up planes, and Islam has real problems to work out about the rights of women.

    The pattern has been for demagogues to take real abuses and exaggerate them, portraying, for example, the most venal wing of the Catholic Church as representative of all Catholicism
    — just as fundamentalist Wahabis today are caricatured as more representative of Islam than the incomparably more numerous moderate Muslims of Indonesia (who have elected a woman as president before Americans have).

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  20. That Mongol is selling his livestock, rufus, going to buy himself a mini-van and let people pay him to ride in it.

    Yep, they could sell 31 million vehicles this year.

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  21. Rat, your Kristof link doesn't work.

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  22. Well, if I had me a herd of cattle that's what I'd do with'em.

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  23. Kristof is a silly asshole. Letting those pricks do a "Victory Dance" on that ground would cause us even more grief in the future.

    Rational, sane people understand that.

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  24. The dancers are at the Strip Club, rufus, a block away from the empty lot.

    Is that the only acceptable form of dancing in Manhattan today?

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  25. Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts do the same at home.

    Nick Kristof

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  26. And you slickers think farmin' ain't dangerous. Run-a-away bales is the least of it. You got your rollovers, your fires, your falls, your gas tank explosions, and, not least, the jealous husband of the farmers wife you've coveted.

    It's a wonder I'm still alive.

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  27. 19th century whispering campaigns against Catholics are hardly a parallel to the current terror campaign which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

    To deny that Islam is at the root of the problem is to deny reality.

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  28. It is certainly a "wonder" your dick hasn't rotted off. :)

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  29. I don't know why you insist on doing it.

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  30. Equality before the law

    The doctrine that all persons, regardless of wealth, social status, or the political power wielded by them, are to be treated the same before the law.

    Webster's New World Law Dictionary

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  31. Well, it is certainly one of the "More Acceptable" forms, Rat. :)

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  32. Watch those "code words", whit.

    Mr Kristof also compares fear of Islam to ...
    Anti-Semitic screeds regularly warned that Jews were plotting to destroy the United States in one way or another. A 1940 survey found that 17 percent of Americans considered Jews to be a “menace to America.”

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  33. Or, at least some o' Bob's stuff.

    Bob's not sharing, at least with Rufus, who has his own sources, in fact he's getting low, having double dosed a couple times, I get to stock up again on Wednesday next. I'm insisting on a new prescription on Thursday, kinda permanent like.

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  34. To MY way of thinkin, anyhow.

    Of course, I've always been a bit like Bob - a bit too much thinkin with the small head, and not nearly enough with the big'un.

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  35. Some of us are just a little more equal than others?

    A little more protected by predisposed prejudices.

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  36. I should have married that girl, but I loved her more when I lost her.

    A Stormy Kind of Love

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  37. Which is the sweetest thing.

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  38. Kristoff is a useful idiot.

    This country is about as tolerant as you will find anywhere in the whirled today.

    Rauf should have done the right thing to begin with. Instead, he insists on his rights and in the process, opens fresh wounds, barely healed.

    The resulting uproar has US muslims claiming discrimination and because Muslims are one like the borg, the Umma hates the US all the more. Meanwhile, Rauf, on US taxpayers dime, travels the Muslim whirled bad mouthing his meal ticket (Meaning the most tolerant USA).

    We're supposed to submit.

    Yeah, right.

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  39. I wish, Bob. If you're "shot up," or "blowed up," and in really bad shape, the VA Doc will give you painkillers.

    If you're just an old fart with aches, and pains you've got a better shot at scoring the keys to Obama's 747 than getting a loratab.

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  40. Do you honestly believe what you write or are you merely all about stirring up trouble?

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  41. It's the latter, Ruf, but I'm gonna try to put on a good act, Thursday.

    After all, it's on my dime.

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  42. Equality before the law

    That's not the issue. There's no question of Rights, but rather doing what is right.

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  43. I certainly believe a lot of what he writes, Whit. So, I suppose he does, also.

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  44. As for that Mosque: We're a Nation of "Laws," not a Nation of "Doing Right."

    "Doing Right" is just subject to too much abusive "interpretation." I don't want my government to have the power to enforce "doing good."

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  45. Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts do the same at home.

    Nick Kristof


    What's he talking about? We have been calling on Muslim moderates here to denounce the Islamists and the terror.

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  46. It's really up to the people in New York. If they want it, they'll have it. If they don't want it, it'll be easy to block.

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  47. Was it Kissenger that said, "A Moderate Muslim is one who is, temporarily, out of ammo?"

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  48. I believe that the Muslims have the same property rights in the US as Jews, Catholics, Mormons and Scientologists.

    Even Lutherans.

    I know that the US is not at "War with Islam".

    There is no reason they should not develop that property, using money supplied by investors in FOX News.

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  49. Then why, rufus, would we sell the Saudis $40 billion USD worth of ammo, if Henry was right?

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  50. Rauf should do what is right which is not always what one has the Right to do.

    I'm not asking for Government to do other than what is legal or enshrined in the Constitution. I leave that to the internationally inspired Supremes.

    I believe that if the NY locals okay the Cordoba Center, that's their business.

    I'm calling on Rauf to do what is right not what he has the Right to Do.

    If that is not clear enough, I'll try again.

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  51. The elected Mayor of NYCity:

    Michael Bloomberg delivers stirring defense of mosque

    New York mayor chokes up defending "ground zero" Muslim center by citing religious freedom, private property rights

    By Justin Elliott

    He know what "doing the right thing" is all about.

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  52. Cause we need the money?

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  53. Sad.


    A former member of the rock group Electric Light Orchestra has been killed by a giant hay bale that crashed into his van while he was driving.

    Ed: That's no way for a man to die.

    Frank: No... you're right, Ed. A parachute not opening... that's a way to die. Getting caught in the gears of a combine... having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that's the way I wanna go!





    "I should have married that girl, but I loved her more when I lost her."

    Nice line.

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  54. Cause we promised to if they would hold the oil price under $90,00/bbl?

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  55. Cause we want to be their "Buds?"

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  56. Cause that's how the "Real" movers, and shakers" make their living?

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  57. having your nuts bit off by a Laplander?

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  58. I gotta name my streets in my development in the next couple weeks.

    Sky Way
    Senga Street (after my aunt Agnes who never did like her name)
    Watershed Ridge
    Indian Trace
    Penutian Trail
    Chopanish Road (sp?)
    Elk Trek
    Sahaptin Circle
    Lindsey Trail (after son)
    Melisondre Skyway (after daugher)
    Wakan Tonka Way (after the Great Spirit)
    Snowbank Ridge

    I think I also get to name the park they are extorting from me.

    That's the working list, so far.

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  59. I thought I was the only one who had that particular dream. :)

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  60. The Italians have it right in not recognizing islam as a legitimate religion, but seeing it as the murderous misogynist triumphal totalitarian cult that it really is.

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  61. Same folks that sacked Jerusalem, bob, then built the Coliseum with the proceeds.

    Crucified Jesus because of his religious views on top of that.

    You're thinking that's a good example to follow?

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  62. with one blue eye and the other half blue and half brown

    Farmers joke---

    "you know why Hank's got one blue eye and one brown eye?"

    "No, why."

    "He's a quart low on bullshit today."

    hardyhar

    No offense intended Deuce, it just came floating into my mind.

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  63. Italians have always been more than a little intolerant of "others".

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  64. Then of course they turned Christian, and the rest of the story.

    They seem to be about the only people in Europe with much sense these days, and seem to know a real threat when it's staring them in the eyes.

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  65. They couldn't bathe nekked, or nearly so, on those beaches under Sharia.

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  66. Rat: Crucified Jesus because of his religious views on top of that.

    You do realize that a polyglot empire like Rome had hundreds of different religious beliefs, and they could not care less about the beliefs of Jesus. But the Pharisees and Scribes of the did care. Crucifixion was a way for Rome to maintain order in Palestine. Jesus asked his father to forgive the Romans who tortured him, because they were just following orders. Pilate wasn't particularly bloodthirsty, but if the execution of Jesus failed to quell the mob, then he would have started to crucify members of the Sanhedrin until the agitation stopped. Peace at the lowest possible cost, but at any cost.

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  67. You forget Ethiopia, bob?

    Part of the history of Christian Italy

    Mussolini: "Our cause in Ethiopia is a just one. In a few days it will be laid before the League's counsel. It will be laid before the whole world—proof that the Ethiopians are a barbaric people, sunk in the practice of slavery."

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  68. Last year, for the first time, the number of unionized public employees exceeded the number of unionized private workers -- 7.9 million to 7.4 million.

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  69. The Italian actions in Ethiopia led to WWII and millions of dead people across Africa and Europe.

    September, 1935:

    Ambassador Long expressed the view that the situation was fraught with dangers for the future as well as for the present.

    A few days later he pointed out in a despatch to the Secretary of State that the long period of friendly cooperation between Italy and Great Britain had come to an end; he feared that it would be generations before the situation could be cured. The Ambassador said that any estimate of future possibilities must be based on one of two alternatives: first, that sufficient force would be applied to stop Italy's adventure and to impose upon it a definite defeat by arms or, second, that Italy would be successful in attaining its objectives in Ethiopia. In the latter case, he said, there would be nothing but trouble in the future; for if the venture were successful, Italy would be emboldened to proceed to others. Ambassador Long declared that Italy must either be defeated "now" and prevented from realizing its ambitions in East Africa, "or the trouble will continue on through for a generation as an additional irritation to European politics and an additional menace to world peace".


    How right he was.

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  70. I'm assuming the Italians were horning in on the Brits rice bowl in some way or the other.

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  71. Italy made its' case at the League of Nations, the result of which ...

    The League of Nations, after deciding that Italy had violated its obligations under the Covenant, recommended to its members a number of commercial and financial sanctions against Italy.

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  72. I think you may be correct about that, rufus:

    A few days later he (Ambassador Long) pointed out in a despatch to the Secretary of State that the long period of friendly cooperation between Italy and Great Britain had come to an end; he feared that it would be generations before the situation could be cured.

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  73. So what's the point. Ethiopia might be better off if the Italians were running it. It's about 1/3 muzzies today. There will surely be fighting in the future. Look for it. Some people think European colonization was more of a good thing than bad. Habu for instance.

    I'm kinda neutral on the matter. Thinking the best thing is to be born in some outback or other.

    But I'm glad in seeing the current Italians taking the stance they seem to be taking. (If what I've read is true.)

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  74. Them Europeans can get mighty righteous when it gets discovered that their oil, and minerals are lying under someone else's land, or that their coffee beans are growin on somebody else's farm.

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  75. There are so many beautiful Indian words, just use them.

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  76. Of course, we can come up with our own quota of "righteosity" from time to time, our damned selves.

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  77. Whit,

    What is wrong with building a Mosque in New York City? Similarly, in your view, would it be wrong to build a Catholic church next door to a boys school?




    Pretty damn noisy bar these days! Trish - I find it useful to start at the top where one left off and skim one's way through a thread. That way you at least get a gist of the flow of conversation.

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  78. Blogger Deuce said...

    "There are so many beautiful Indian words, just use them."





    Speaking of Indians from Deborah Solomon's "Questions for Deepak Chopra"





    "You refer to Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is overseeing the planned Islamic center in Lower Manhattan. Are you saying Sufism represents the reform branch of Islam?

    Yes. Traditional Islam is a mixture of all obedience to Allah, and if that requires militancy, so be it. Whereas Sufism exalts beauty, intuition, tenderness, affection, nurturing and love, which we associate with feminine qualities.


    Do you see any parallels between Sufi and New Age philosophies?

    New Age is such a mixed bag. I don’t like the term because in many ways it bastardizes some of the great traditions.


    How do you define your practice?

    I was trained as a medical doctor. I went to medical school because I wanted to ask the big questions. Do we have a soul? Does God exist? What happens after death? And so I gradually moved in the direction of what I can only call a secular spirituality.


    Do you think God exists?

    Yes, but not as a dead white male.


    How would you define spirituality as opposed to religion?

    Self-awareness and awareness of other people’s needs.



    If someone asks what religion you are, what do you say?

    I say God gave humans the truth, and the Devil came and said, “Let’s organize it, we’ll call it religion.”




    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/magazine/05fob-q4-t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=deepak&st=cse

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  79. "I find it useful to start at the top where one left off and skim one's way through a thread."

    You know, I wish I'd never mentioned reading from the bottom.

    I do, in fact, start reading where I left off.

    I read from the bottom when I come into the Bar and there's a new post with an already lengthy thread.

    I don't know why. I. Just .Do.

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  80. I thought of you when I read this article trish:

    "Inside Corrupt-istan, a Loss of Faith in Leaders"

    ...

    "The ouster of Mr. Faqiryar illustrated not just the lawlessness that permeates Mr. Karzai’s government and the rest of the Afghan state. It also raised a fundamental question for the American and European leaders who have bankrolled Mr. Karzai’s government since he took office in 2001:

    What if government corruption is more dangerous than the Taliban? "

    ...

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/weekinreview/05filkins.html?scp=1&sq=corrupt%20istan&st=cse

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  81. Reading conversations (or "conversations") backward: I'm special that way.

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  82. hehaka - elk

    I'm taking you up on that one. It's changed now.

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  83. Sorta like my daughter checking out the end of the book before she starts it? or, seeing the conclusion before examining the rationale?

    The latter more better than the former IMHO :)

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  84. Except out here I think the Indian word is wapiti.

    I'll use one or the other.

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  85. Was it Columbus, on arrival in North America but thinking he'd arrived in India, said "They are Indians."?

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  86. It was the islamic Ash'arites who f ed up islam back in the day. For a while there they almost thought for themselves, rather than letting allah do the 'thinking'.

    (if memory serves correctly)

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  87. I would never peek at the end of a book before getting to its conclusion the old fashioned way. Nor watch the end of a movie before the beginning. Nor have coffee and dessert before dinner.

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  88. You fellas, the word that real American Indians say for elk, "dzeh".

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  89. Lakotas seemed pretty real to me when I read about them. I suppose the Apaches and Iroquois were the real bad mutafukas.

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  90. ...a sample of the famous Apache humor:
    "I can say in Apache 'Hon-Dah' which means 'Come on in and spend your money in the casino.'"

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  91. bob should not usurp the Native American language for a capitalist venture.

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  92. He should build a community outreach center on the property.

    It could heal the old wounds and bridge the gap between cultures.

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  93. Trish I always start from the bottom and read up just like I read a magazine from back to front. I'm not sure why I do that but I always have.


    While I love, love, love my Mac I don't know how to get my Itunes from my PC to my Mac. Oh, never mine I'll just google it.

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  94. He and his family could probably make more money in the long run, if he created a tax exempt foundation to promote tolerance and understanding.

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  95. "Real American Indians" those be the Diné, which means "the people".

    "Navajo" to those uninitiated in the ways of people.

    The Diné speak dialects of the language family referred to as Athabaskan.

    In addition to language speakers residing in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, Athabaskan speakers are also found living today in Alaska and parts of northern Canada. An aboriginal people known as Dene live in an area centered around Great Slave Lake and have communities in the far north of adjacent provinces. The Apache, living in the American Southwest and other nearby areas, are also Southern Athabaskan speakers and are closely related to the Navajo/Diné.

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  96. He could invite Depak to speak but it might be "hell to pay" the speakers fees.

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  97. One thing I'm not doing is selling out to the muslims.

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  98. bob should not usurp the Native American language for a capitalist venture.

    Mon Sep 06, 11:38:00 AM EDT


    heh


    whit said...
    He should build a community outreach center on the property.

    It could heal the old wounds and bridge the gap between cultures.


    That's what the Casino is for.

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  99. I've sort of expected they'd want to build a mosque around Pullman or Moscow one of these days, but so far no indication of it. Thankfully.

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  100. He should build a Christian Evangelical Church to keep Whit happy!

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  101. I could build a sanitorium to house you. The options are limitless.

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  102. Art, my Steiger dealer, good Catholic, always said we needed a cat house in the area. I think he was serious too. Old Navy pilot from WWII, he flew us back to Fargo, N. Dakota to buy tractors. Steiger is out now, though.

    A cat house, and my own Casino, to give the Nex Perce a little competition.

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  103. If there are "good" Catholics that means that there are also "bad" Catholics?

    How can we, the uninitiated in the ways of Lutherans, tell the difference?

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  104. Good Catholics, like Art, who had a Mass said for my father, being somewhat worldly, are ok with cat houses.

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  105. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  106. Well, bob, no "good" Catholic can abide a cat house.

    The Catholic position is that prostitution should be conflated with slavery.

    Prostitution: Legal Work or Slavery?

    January 28, 2009

    “Prostitution is a form of modern slavery,” commented a recent document of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants, issued June 16. The publication, “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road,” attracted media attention due to its ten commandments for drivers, but its content also includes a section on street prostitution. (Nos. 85-115)

    “The sexual exploitation of women is clearly a consequence of various unjust systems,” commented the Pontifical Council. Causes such as a need for money, the use of violence, and human trafficking contribute to trap women into prostitution.

    “The victims of prostitution are human beings, who in many cases cry out for help, to be freed from slavery, because selling one’s own body on the street is usually not what they would voluntarily choose to do,” the document added.

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  107. Speaking of Indians from Deborah Solomon's "Questions for Deepak Chopra"

    Deepak Chopra?

    Ash, you are such a wuss.

    .

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  108. Even the Lutherans, bob, denounce prostitution.

    Adopted by the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on November 11, 2001.

    "Sexual exploitation in any situation, either personally or commercially, inside or outside legally contracted marriage, is sinful because it is destructive of God’s good gift [of sexuality] and human integrity." [1]

    Commercial sexual exploitation is an organized form of this sinful behavior. It is especially demonic when it exploits children and youth. Commercial sexual exploitation is widespread throughout the United States and around the world, and it continues to grow. To a large extent, this exploitation remains hidden from public attention and ignored by Church and society. It includes what customers do by:

    * viewing pornographic videos
    * downloading pornography from the Internet
    * visiting strip clubs
    * engaging in simulated sex by phone or computer
    * using escort services
    * participating in sex tourism

    While customers may think they harm no one but themselves, the truth is that they are swept up in a system of sexual exploitation that degrades all participants, both providers and customers.

    With this message, the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America hopes to raise awareness of an industry that sexually exploits vulnerable persons, principally women and girls, but also men and boys. Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are urged to examine how this industry might affect their lives. Further, members, congregations, synods, churchwide units, and affiliated agencies and institutions are encouraged to renew their care and concern for children and youth, recognizing that there are those who prey upon young persons in their dependence and vulnerability.

    Love born of faith in Jesus Christ calls us all to attend to, discuss, resist, and reject the system of sexual exploitation.

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  109. Seems your ideas of "good" and "bad", as regards religious doctrine, are running 180 degrees out of the mainstream, bob.

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  110. Well, bob, no "good" Catholic can abide a cat house.

    A poor choice of words, abide, at least as you use it here rat.

    It means to endure without yielding. It carries the implication that while you disapprove you will tolerate it.

    In fact, most Catholics would abide a cat house. Not because they approve it necessarily but because they understand the human condition. You mock the Italians, but they too understand it.

    Besides, for the Catholic, there is always confession (a wonderful invention).

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  111. Well, bob, no "good" Catholic can abide a cat house.

    Confucius say, "Wife who put man in dog house may find in cat house."

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  112. Metrosexual is a neologism portmanteau

    Thank you, T.

    "...neoligism portmanteau..."

    This will definately go into the old mental thesaurus even though I may be forced to disgorge some other piece of trivia to fit it in.


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  113. Perhaps abide was a poor choice of words, Q.

    Catholics did abide slavery, for quite a while.

    I've never mocked Italians.
    Just read and quoted the historical record.

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  114. Confucius was a wise man.

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  115. But not a follower of Christian mores.

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  116. Catholics did abide slavery, for quite a while.

    Who didn't?


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  117. neologism portmanteau

    Isn't that redundant?

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  118. The Slavs that were enslaved.

    Though they had little choice in the matter, Romans being as they are.

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  119. Actually, no to Whit.


    (Have no idea what rat's point was.)

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  120. Hey Mel, what model did you get? How much did you pay?

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  121. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  122. Thirteen inch Mac book pro with a free IPod touch (229.99) plus my daughters student discount. You can't beat that, eh?

    I didn't have to buy Iworks my daughter has that, too.

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  123. Can you go back and get more? How can it be so cheap?

    Look at these prices

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  124. That would be before my discounts and with no ad ons.

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  125. Third one down, Whit, right at an Apple store.

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  126. hmmm, whit, you start losing an argument and you revert to calling names. How, like,....your buddy allen.

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  127. Oh, I was unaware that I lost an argument or that metrosexual was so offensive.

    But, if it makes you feel better, I will say "uncle."

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  128. The question I had yesterday about how to get to the top of the page and to the bottom without scrolling, I just figured it out on my own.

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  129. Oh, I take back that thank you T.

    Thank you Whit.

    Misread who sent the post referencing the neologism portmanteau.

    T, thank you for the earthquake post. You never know it may show up later this year. Still taking in nominations for the Bosco Awards.


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  130. Remember when Nazi Pelosi was asking "Where are the jobs Mr. President?" in 2005 when unemployment was 5.2%?

    I miss those days.

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  131. The Obama economy is so bad... $800 billion had no impact so let's try another $50 billion, then raise taxes Jan 1.

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  132. Do you think calling someone a metrosexual is a compliment whit? Given what I can tell about you from your writings here I don't think so but I've been wrong before. As far as the argument over the Victory Mosque goes you are mouthing Obama's words - they have a right to build it but maybe they shouldn't. Seems a wishy washy argument to me. I don't have a problem with their building what ever they hell they like there. How close is 'too close' to ground zero for you Whit? Is Tennessee to close for you?

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  133. No, not a compliment, merely a joke...Lighten up, dude.

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  134. Victory Mosque

    Interesting (Freudian) choice of words.

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  135. No Freud need be consulted. I picked those words just for you and bob.

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  136. The two of them, ash, would rather be standing with Harry Reid, than with Orin Hatch.

    Interesting choice, on their part.
    Goes to their view of the role of government in our civilization, really.

    That Hatch wrote and had passed legislation, back 2002, that would make an attempt at restrictive zoning of the Park 51 project a Federal offense, and thus illegal for New York City to do, also an interesting part of the expansion of Federal authority side bar.

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  137. 299.99 minus discount or sorry it was 1199

    You either got a good deal or a hell of a bad one.

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  138. I guess then, Ms T, that you disagree with the basic premise of The Real Story as articulated by Paul Krugman?

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  139. Why God Did Not Create the Universe

    There is a sound scientific explanation for the making of our world—no gods required


    By STEPHEN HAWKING And LEONARD MLODINOW

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  140. Krugman is a moron, there's not enough money in the world to compensate for the destruction of $26 trillion dollars in wealth from the housing bubble popping. We're Japan Redux, and they do another "stimulus" every week.

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  141. Yes, Rat, I've done the Hawking thing to death on the BC over the last two days.

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  142. Reading Hawking about theology is a big waste of time.

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  143. Looking at Whit's list of prices it must be the latter, 1199.

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  144. Politico: At least five of the 34 House Democrats who voted against their party’s health care reform bill are highlighting their “no” votes in ads back home. By contrast, party officials in Washington can’t identify a single House member who’s running an ad boasting of a “yes” vote — despite the fact that 219 House Democrats voted in favor of final passage in March.

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  145. On the Cordoba mosque, I mean Park 51 Project, I read an op-ed somewhere suggesting that the site be turned into a greenbelt, a wonderful urban amenity for the citizens of and visitors to NYC, and a neat way of sidestepping the revenue-producing commercial developments proposed to date, all of which suffer from distinct lack of enthusiasm among prospective renters.

    But a mosque, let alone one evoking the history of Cordoba (WTF was that all about??), is not simply a reach too far, but a smirk of condescension that flew amazingly below the diplomatic radar of Imam Rauf and his beloved Daisy.

    Whit et al are right about this subject. The call for 'moderate' Muslims is a distraction. I used to make the call myself. It's now being turned into a silly "you first" construct. Feh.

    On the subject of Islam, I broke with a rather lengthy self-imposed book exile and did some reading to try to understand what the hell happened on Sept 11. What a waste of my time. The only thing I learned of any consequence is that Islam provides no mechanism for separation of church and state. This, in my view, is The Deal Killer. No further due diligence required.

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  146. RE Thomas Friedman and his prediction that Americans will have to lower their living standard: That's a gorgeous mansion he has.

    RE Nickolas Kristoff: Hated him ever since that Bill Gates thing he did some years back. Smirky, smarmy, condescending. Bill Gates is not god, but I admire his professional accomplishments (and I like much of what he and his wife are doing with their foundation, but certainly not all of it). He did after all try to sell MSDOS to James Cannavino at IBM only to be refused. Well Ok then guess we'll do it the hard way.

    RE Lester (Less than thorough) Thurow: The role of government in the markets must be refined. It's obvious - to me - that the private sector failed leading up to 2008. Yes, CRA lit a fuse - a big one - but Wall St investment bankers ran that ball out of the park. I have much more to say on this subject but I'm trying to focus on left-wing media pundits. Thurow had a point but I wonder/doubt that the concept of mixed economies with private and regulated drivers can be properly delineated and scoped. I would settle for increased accountability enforced by Dept of Justice, which is to say, real jail time for real criminals.

    RE Paul Krugman: I can't wade into the weeds on Krugman. But the empirical results make him look credible right now.

    I'll end on this note: I don't like the ownership structure of Fox News and CNBC. Free market capitalism is cool but maybe not for the world we live in at present.

    Now I am off to watch Dirty Harry. Back when life was simpler. Or at least seemed that way.

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