COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Obama's economic policies have failed



Barack Obama is locked in a lose-lose situation
The president seems incapable of tackling either unemployment or the deficit, says Jeremy Warner.

By Jeremy Warner
Published: 6:27PM BST 03 Sep 2010
Telegraph

Barack Obama promised a new beginning when he became president in 2008. After the ideologically driven incompetence of the Bush years, we were mainly prepared to believe him. Yet politicians that promise root and branch change will nearly always disappoint and, with Mr Obama, disillusionment has been swift to arrive.
Judged by his legislative output, the new president has been extraordinarily successful. From healthcare reform to financial services, he's already up there with Lyndon Johnson and Franklin D Roosevelt. And, of course, this week, he's managed to deliver on his campaign pledge to end the war in Iraq; believe it if you will.

Yet on the most important issue facing ordinary Americans – the economy – Mr Obama is shaping up to be one almighty let down. As mid-term elections loom, there is visible panic among Democrats at the administration's failure to get to grips with deep-seated economic problems.

Tony Blair, who came to power on a similarly intoxicating wave of public euphoria, at least had the following wind of "The Great Moderation" – a virtually unprecedented period of economic stability and growth – to disguise the disappointments and repeated policy mistakes of his premiership. There was no such golden windfall to act as a prop for Mr Obama: the economy he inherited was toxic from top to bottom. The country was on the brink of a potentially severe depression; it was fighting two, essentially unaffordable wars; the budget deficit was spiralling out of control; jobs were being shed at the rate of nearly one million a month; public debt was on a catastrophically unsustainable trajectory.

Nobody could have expected Mr Obama to fix all these problems in the 20 months he has been in the job, but they might by now reasonably have expected at least a glimpse of the promised sunlit uplands.

There is no such vision on the horizon. Joblessness remains stubbornly high and, far from becoming self-sustaining, the recovery shows signs of stalling. In short, Mr Obama's economic policies have failed, or at least that is the growing public perception.

For me, it is still too early to make that judgment; as it happens there was modest encouragement from yesterday's US employment data. But many investors have made up their minds. Rightly or wrongly, yields on Treasury bonds are at levels that discount a depression.

Rarely have Americans felt so down in the dumps; collectively, they seem to have lost their innate sense of self-belief and optimism. Not since the 1930s has the American dream looked so forlorn. What's gone wrong, and why has the patient proved so unwilling to respond to the extraordinary fiscal and monetary medicine applied?

To supporters of deficit spending, it's not that the fiscal stimulus isn't working, but that it was always insufficient to do the trick. To them, Mr Obama should have done much more in his early months when he still had the political credit to take bold steps.

Most of us have something of a problem with this argument. The near $1 trillion fiscal stimulus Mr Obama applied could hardly be described as underwhelming. Indeed, it was without precedent in terms of size; very probably it was the most that was politically feasible at the time, too.

How much good it has done is anyone's guess. Supportive economists claim it averted a depression, but it doesn't seem to have done much for jobs. Beyond the ever widening deficit, there has been little discernible effect.
You can argue until the cows come home on the merits of further deficit spending, but even if Mr Obama were to take the view that he has to do more – as the White House's departing chief economist, Christina Romer, said he should this week – he almost certainly won't get that chance. Mr Obama is not just down in the polls; on present voting intentions, the Democrats will lose the House in the coming mid-terms, and possibly the Senate, too. Even if he wanted to spend more, he's not going to be allowed to. Anxiety about the deficit is stymieing the White House's jobs agenda.

Even Democrats shrink from overt support for more spending, and beyond some targeted measures which would carry no net costs, the president seems to have accepted there's virtually no room for manoeuvre. Already evident political stalemate will turn into gridlock after the mid-terms. Mr Obama won't be allowed more fiscal stimulus, and nor, despite their demands for deficit reduction, will his Republican opponents allow him to raise taxes to put public debt on a sustainable footing.

Now it may well be that the severity of the economic headwinds renders almost any further policy response ineffective, but politicians are not forgiven for impotence. On the main challenges facing his administration, Mr Obama falls between two stalls – he seems incapable of tackling either unemployment or the deficit.

Whatever his other achievements, Mr Obama will go down in history as the worst president since Jimmy Carter if he cannot make headway on either of these issues. It's hard to be optimistic. Mr Obama looks like a beached whale. As Tony Blair observes in his new autobiography, there is nothing quite so painful as high expectations dashed by harsh political and economic realities.




226 comments:

  1. "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club -- the "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history."

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  2. ... Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker slowed the rate of growth of the money supply and raised interest rates. The federal funds rate, which was about 11% in 1979, rose to 20% by June 1981.

    The prime interest rate, a highly important economic measure, eventually reached 21.5% in June 1982.
    ...
    By mid-1982, the number of bank failures was rising steadily. Bank failures reached a post-depression high of 42 as the recession and high interest rates took their toll.
    ...
    The recession affected the banking industry long after the economic downturn technically ended in November 1982. In 1983, another 49 banks failed—easily beating the Great Depression record of 43 failures set in 1940. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) listed another 540 banks as "problem banks" on the verge of failure

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  3. The recession was nearly a year old before President Ronald Reagan stated on October 18, 1981, that the economy was in a "slight recession".

    The "Reagan recession," coupled with budget cuts (which were enacted in 1981 but began to take effect in 1982), led many voters to believe that Reagan was insensitive to the needs of average citizens.

    In January 1983, Reagan's popularity rating fell to 35%—approaching levels experienced by Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter at their most unpopular.

    Although his approval rating did not fall as low as Nixon's during the Watergate scandal, Reagan's reelection seemed unlikely.

    Pressured to counteract the increased deficit caused by the recession, Reagan agreed to a corporate tax increase in 1982. However, he refused to raise income taxes or cut defense spending. The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 instituted a three-year, $100 billion tax hike—the largest tax increase since World War II.[35]

    The 1982 mid-term Congressional elections were largely viewed as a referendum on Reagan and his economic policies. The election results proved to be a setback for Reagan and the Republicans. The Democrats gained 26 House seats, which at the time was the most for the party in any election since the "Watergate year" of 1974.

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  5. The Reagan solution to the Carter malaise was Keynesian at its' core.

    Recovery built upon a mountain of debt that was never repaid.

    The Obama solution, more of the same Keynesian program. Barack H Obama being more popular today than Ronald W Reagan was at the same point in the time line of his tenure as President of the United States.

    Obama and the Democrats will suffer set backs in the 2010 election, just as Reagan and the Republicans did, in 1982.

    The fat lady, she doesn't sing until 2012.

    Don't bet against the United States of America, you'll lose.

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  6. "the "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history"

    Attributed to Spiro T Agnew, but written by William Safire.

    The other three, the time line of recession and recovery from the Carter malaise, Wikipedia.

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  7. Don't bet against the United States of America, you'll lose.

    Good point, but it has little to do with what preceeded it.


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  8. Then you miss the point, Quirk.

    Which is that the first full fiscal year of Obama's tenure does not finish until the end of September.

    Just as it was to early to judge the final results of Reagan's policies, in 1982, it is to soon to judge the results of Obama's, in 2010.

    Just as it was to early to predict the 1984 election, extrapolated from the 1982 results, it is to early to assume Obama's defeat in 2012.

    Just as was true in 1970:

    "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club -- the "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history."

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  9. ... the American jumps into the train after it has started and jumps out before it has stopped; and he never once gets left behind, or breaks a leg.

    George Santayana

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  10. They have formed their own 4-H Club -- the "hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history."

    Yet, all through your post all you do is cite history. You cite history to denounce citing history.

    History don't mean shit.

    The only things that will effect 2012 will be the economy, jobs, and whether the GOP can come up with some halfway decent nominee.

    All this history shit will mean nothing. It will be the situation on the ground this time two years from now that counts.


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  11. Same as it was, it will be again.

    That's the real deal, with regards this history shit.

    At the same point in Reagan's tenure, he and his policies had failed. There was no doubt of that, at the time.
    65% of the folk agreed.

    His team took a beating in the first mid-term election.

    Keynesian economics, floating a huge debt and injecting it into the economy, saved his bacon.

    If you had bet against the US of A and Ronald W Reagan, in 1982, you'd have lost, big time, by 1985.

    Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

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  12. We will see who is right rat.

    When I first came to this blog you assured me that the Dems were going to do just fine in the 2010 elections also.

    We will see how that works out in a couple of months.

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  13. There is a real correlation between the economic catastrophes of the administrations of Jimma Carter and GW Bush.

    And in the resulting elections of RW Reagan and BH Obama.

    Whether there will be a reprise of the political recovery of RW Reagan, well, that remains to be seen.

    But do not get caught betting against the USA. In the partisan hope that Obama will lose in 2012.

    One could well be disappointed.

    It is much to early to call, either Obama's policies or the 2012 election.

    Just as it was with RW Reagan in 1982.

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  14. They still may, Q, they still may.

    Congressional elections are local elections and the generic national polls don't count for shit.

    We'll see what we will see, as always.

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  15. During Reagan's tenure, the Dems were thoroughly in control of Congress. They did the massive social spending. Reagan restored the military budget and their morale. He went after the Soviets while the Dems said, "Don't do that, you'll aggravate them."

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  16. I had thought that $1 trillion injected into the economy would have had greater effect, than it has to date.

    We're in much deeper shit than I had realized a couple of years ago.

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  17. The Federal Government built a huge mountain of debt during the Reagan era. He signed the legislation.

    They pumped billions of dollars into the economy, through a combination of defense and social spending. Creating an economic expansion that was pure Keynesian economic theory in practice.

    The National debt TRIPLED under Reagan. Unheard of prior to then, now an every day occurrence.

    As has been noted here at the EB, wages of those working are at an all time high. (trish, I think).

    Federal wages have sky rocketed in the past decade as have the Federal employment roles.

    Lots of real similarities between the two situations, Carter/Bush and Reagan/Obama.

    Lots of rhetorical differences, too.

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  18. I would certainly agree that cutting the top tax rate from 70% to 50% and then to 28% had a positive impact upon the economy.

    Could or should the US return to the top rate of 28% and duplicate the increase in revenues that was seen, to battle the current debt load?

    A return to Reaganomic tax rates may just be what we need.

    If a 28% top rate was viable and economically stimulating, then, why would it not now?

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  19. Do not forget that Mr Reagan was a "New Deal" Democrat.

    Until the day he died.

    As he said, he did not leave the Democratic Party, it left him.

    He stayed true to his "New Deal" beliefs, to the end.

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  20. Reagan was all about smaller a Federal government and lower taxes.

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  21. "My friends, history is clear: Lower tax rates mean greater freedom, and whenever we lower the tax rates, our entire nation is better off."Ronald Reagan, 1985

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  22. Don't get too hung up on that 'New Deal' Dutch stuff.

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  23. To be fair Obama faced the perfect economic storm. At the core was a hugely distorted banking system where bundles of debt, secured by junk, were sliced and diced, reconstituted as AAA securities, sanded, rebranded, polished and guaranteed by the USA, Mega-banks, and some of the finest hollowest insurance companies ever known to mankind.

    Derivatized, securitized, homogenized, swapped and shopped, this highly disguised bullshit was bought , sold and repurchased by some of the most educated and dumbest cynical bastards that ever wore a Canali suit.

    As our birthday girl once said, "What could possibly go wrong?"

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  24. Well then, whit, we should not be concerned with foreign adventures financed by debt.

    The trillion we owe to the Chinese, just another enhancement of our liberty and freedom.

    I truly doubt that is what he meant.

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  25. As far as it goes, whit, that Mr Reagan was a real RINO, it is all to relevant.

    His being a "New Deal" Democrat a reality of his beliefs, policies and position on the social and political spectrum.

    Exemplifying where the United States stands, then and today.

    A constant trend line from FDR to BHO. Through and including Ronald W Reagan.

    No aberrations, no change of course, anywhere along it.

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  26. what?

    the community organizer can't demonstrate his economic prowess

    next we will learn how Michelle is really the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher

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  27. This is what Mr Reagan said, towards the end of his tenure as President:

    Reagan: Ship of State Is Out of Control
    Feb. 18, 1987
    Ronald Reagan
    "Can we, who man the ship of state, deny it is somewhat out of control? Our national debt is approaching $1 trillion.

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  28. James Madison, quotes about Debt:
    History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance.

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  29. I would submit that debt is more injurious to freedom and liberty than taxes. As James Madison said:

    There is not a more important and fundamental principle in legislation, than that the ways and means ought always to face the public engagements; that our appropriations should ever go hand in hand with our promises. To say that the United States should be answerable for twenty-five millions of dollars without knowing whether the ways and means can be provided, and without knowing whether those who are to succeed us will think with us on the subject, would be rash and unjustifiable. Sir, in my opinion, it would be hazarding the public faith in a manner contrary to every idea of prudence.

    There are a wide array of honorable Americans that would agree.

    Then there are the dishonorable amongst US

    Nov. 15, 2002
    Dick Cheney
    "Reagan proved deficits don't matter."

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  30. So what are you saying, rat?

    We should keep spending? Raise taxes? Both? Reelect in Obama 2012?

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  31. "The epitaph of the Reagan presidency will be:
    'When Ronald Reagan became President, the United States was the largest creditor nation. When he left the presidency, we were the world's largest debtor nation.'"
    --Lester Thurow, MIT professor of economics


    He thought that the command economy of the Soviet Union posed an economic threat to the US, which proved not to be the case, but another version of a command economy, in China, is doing quite well.

    Mr Thurow advocated for the "Third Way" of economic governance, as exemplified in the US, it is said, by the Clinton Administration, the last time the US had an operating surplus.

    Maybe there is something to that "Third Way".

    Regardless of that, what he said about the US, during the Reagan tenure, going from creditor to debtor is certainly accurate.

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  32. Experienced in banking, Hamilton stabilized the dollar and refunded the debts incurred by the states in the Revolutionary War as an obligation of the new federal government. The federal debt stood at 35% of gross domestic product (GDP). By the 1830s the Revolutionary war debt had been paid off—just in time for the Civil War when federal debt climbed back up to 33% of GDP. Still, the Civil War debt was pretty well paid off by the turn of the 20th century.

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  33. We should raise taxes to a top rate of 28%, as in Reganomics. It was a rate that proved a good Federal revenue generator and did not impair private economic growth.

    Cut spending on foreign adventures and the military. The largest piece of discretionary spending in the Federal budget.

    The military threats to the US are greatly diminished, especially from Reagan's day, due to his success.

    6 Carrier battle groups should do fine, rather than 12.
    Since no one else even has one.

    750,000 troops in uniform, rather than 1.5 million.

    Leave the defense of Europe to the Europeons.
    All over a four year time line.

    Eliminate any "double dip" for Federal employees. No retirement checks for Federals that are also currently employed by the Federal government.

    No retirement checks for retired Federals until they reach Social Security benefit age.
    No "retirement" for Federals at 40.

    Increase the support for the energy infrastructure that would end our addiction to oil, Growth Energy.

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  34. About those years during the "third way".

    In a grocery store, Bush senior was made to look "out of touch" with the common man while the country was in mild recession. Clinton took office with the Democrats still controlling Congress and dreaming of spending the peace dividend. Clinton tried to institute universal health care but unfortunately, Newt came along with the "Contract with America" which gave Republicans control of Congress in 1994. Clinton moved right and over a couple of years came to agree with Newt and the Republicans about balancing the budget.

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  35. Unless there is structural change, within the Federal government, there is little difference who is elected, in 2012.

    The trends will continue, as they have since FDR.

    The expansion of the Federal government, since WWII, that is the real danger to liberty, freedom.

    There is no threat that justifies the scale of the standing Army, as it exists today.

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  36. That is true, whit, Newt and the Republicans were right there.

    The Federal government gained a momentary semblance of sanity. Lost with the election of GW Bush and a return to one party rule.

    Then the foreign adventures busted the bank, delving into the internal politics of far and away locales. When here at home we cannot balance a budget.

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  37. Clinton, to his credit, and despite his fellow Democrats, agreed with the Republicans in Congress. Clinton has been treated well by the media.

    Seeing this the Democrats, rewriting history, have tried to cast themselves as the 'real fiscal conservatives'.

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  38. George HW Bush got some bad press, so did Clinton, so does Obama.

    Mrs O's Spanish vacation comes to mind. The remodeling of the office, too.

    "Obama's economic policies have failed"

    That's politics, not economics.
    Not structure but partisanship within the governing elites.

    Skull & Bones frat boy stuff, Bush v Kerry.

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  39. I have yet to see stories from the "Right" praising the enhanced enforcement of immigration laws, which is leading to 400,000 deportations in the current fiscal year, by the end of this month.

    A vast improvement over the Bush administration record.

    Nary a word of it on FOX News, or MSNBC. As if there were a black out on that subject.

    The reality does not play to the political story line of either side, so it goes unnoticed.

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  40. We should raise taxes to a top rate of 28%, as in Reganomics. It was a rate that proved a good Federal revenue generator and did not impair private economic growth.

    On principle, I am opposed to any tax increases.

    Cut spending on foreign adventures and the military. The largest piece of discretionary spending in the Federal budget.

    The military threats to the US are greatly diminished, especially from Reagan's day, due to his success.

    6 Carrier battle groups should do fine, rather than 12.
    Since no one else even has one.

    750,000 troops in uniform, rather than 1.5 million.

    Leave the defense of Europe to the Europeons.
    All over a four year time line.


    I agree.

    Eliminate any "double dip" for Federal employees. No retirement checks for Federals that are also currently employed by the Federal government.

    This one always 'sounds good' but I have a problem with it.

    My reasoning: What's the difference if you hire someone who is drawing a pension from other sources vs. an equally qualified candidate drawing a government pension? What about retired Military who go to work for Feds such as the Post Office or Customs or the Prisons? Or what if you retired from an agency and reapplied six months or a year later?

    No retirement checks for retired Federals until they reach Social Security benefit age. Regardless of whether they have 20, 25 or 30 years of service?

    No "retirement" for Federals at 40.

    I assume you mean 40 years old. This applies to Military and Law Enforcement. I have to admit, those guys seem to have a racket.

    Increase the support for the energy infrastructure that would end our addiction to oil, Growth Energy.

    I agree but remember, Al Gore threw the full weight of the Feds behind the Battery Consortium and it went nowhere. The Feds are no better than anyone else on picking winners.

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  41. I have yet to see stories from the "Right" praising the enhanced enforcement of immigration laws, which is leading to 400,000 deportations in the current fiscal year, by the end of this month.

    Given the liberal nature of the media, I would think there would be a scarcity of reports about such cold, callous, inhumane treatment of a potential voter segment.

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  42. What is the net illegal immigration for the year? That is the question.

    The tension now is between those who want to move forward with comprehensive reform and those who want control of the borders to occur first. The latter fear a flood of immigrants just before amnesty is announced.

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  43. 40 years old, yep.

    As with any policy formulation written in less than 100 words, there are specific challenges to be addressed.

    Is the post office still a Federal Agency or a semi-private business?

    I'm not even sure any more.

    Is there waste, duplication and mismanagement outside the military, in the social programs that the Federals manage, to be sure. They should be addressed, as well.

    The first step, one that is understandable to everyone, would be to freeze Federal spending at current levels for the next two years.

    Raise taxes to 28% or cut spending beyond the freeze. As I say Reagan proved that a 28% rate both generated generous revenue and did not impair the private sector.

    Much more so than Mr Cheney's assertion that Reagan proved deficits did not matter.

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  44. In the partisan hope that Obama will lose in 2012.


    Mine is not a partisan hope.

    I dislike the man and what he stands for immensely.

    On the other hand, unless the GOP can come up with someone better than those currently polling at the top of their party I'd rather he stay.


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  45. "...I'd rather he stay."

    Damn, you would?

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  46. As you say about immigration, whit, the lack of the story telling on the "Left" is understandable for partisan reasons. But not from the "Right", where they should be praising Mr Obama and his actions.

    But silence is golden there, too. For partisan reasons, as well.

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  47. Knowing what we know.

    You prefer Obama over Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin?

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  48. Why should the Right sing Obama's praises? Let his own choir do that.

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  49. You prefer Obama over Tim Pawlenty?

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  50. This fellow had some foresight, it says that he was poisoned.

    Louis McFadden
    (1876-1936) US Congressman (R-PA) (1915-1935), Chairman of House Banking and Currency Committee. Poisoned in 1936.
    Source: quoted in the New York Times (June 1930)

    "The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is eager to enter into close relationship with the Bank for International Settlements.... The conclusion is impossible to escape that the State and Treasury Departments are willing to pool the banking system of Europe and America, setting up a world financial power independent of and above the Government of the United States.... The United States under present conditions will be transformed from the most active of manufacturing nations into a consuming and importing nation with a balance of trade against it."

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  51. Here I thought FOX News was supposed to be "Fair and Balanced"

    Not an organ of the "Right".

    Despite that $ Million $ to the GOP Governors.

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  52. Debt is a hidden tax.
    Taxes should be visible.

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  53. I think we can count on taxes going up and spending going down.

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  54. And as much as I hate the horrendous Federal spending right now, I am afraid that if they stop, the country will go into deflation.

    "Round and round she goes and where she stops, nobody knows."

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  55. You prefer Obama over Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin?

    Newt Ginrich and Sarah Palin top the GOP polls the last time I saw them.

    Given that choice, yes.

    But it is not as simple as looking at the current situation and making a choice. You have to make some assumptions about what the situation will be in 2012.

    1. It looks like the GOP will take the House this year.

    2. Although they are likely to fall two or three seats short of taking over the Senate, given the current mood in the country, they could have a working majority.

    3. One party rule has proven disastrous for the country over the past decade.

    4. There is very good reason to believe that the current GOP leadership (McConnell, Boehner, et al) would continue in their leadership rolls.

    5. These guys have learned nothing from the disaster they helped bring about. They are unlikely to change.

    6.Obama and the veto would serve as an offset and, given the GOP leadership in Congress, he would be restricted in the amount of further harm he could do.

    Having his wife go on a lot of vacations is a small price to pay.


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  56. As to the retiring Federals, yes, they would have their pensions vested, but not collectible until the reach Social Security retirement age whatever it becomes.

    63, 65, 70 years of age.
    Same as everyone else getting Federal retirement benefits.

    That would do away with the "double dip" questions.

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  57. Going back to Deuce's 7:44 comment:
    a hugely distorted banking system where bundles of debt, secured by junk, were sliced and diced, reconstituted as AAA securities, sanded, rebranded, polished and guaranteed by the USA, Mega-banks, and some of the finest hollowest insurance companies ever known to mankind.

    Derivatized, securitized, homogenized, swapped and shopped, this highly disguised bullshit was bought , sold and repurchased by some of the most educated and dumbest cynical bastards that ever wore a Canali suit.


    This is the real problem that we hear very little about. This is the cancer in the credit system. They still do not know what the extent of the problem is nor how to get rid of the problem. That's why the banks are sitting on trillions, big business is sitting on its trillion and the consumer is still trying like hell to dig out of debt.

    We're probably going to need a giant, morally hazardous debt-amnesty reset.

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  58. There certainly is that challenge, whit.

    Why whatever the solution would be, it would have to be phased in.

    But it is doubtful that there will be a solution coming any time, soon.

    It may be that Obama's policies are a screaming success, compared to the "unknowables".

    Scary stuff, that.

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  59. What's wrong with this fucking bar is that we are inflicted by an alternate reality, ad-infinitum.

    ...if we choose to do so.

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  60. I'm so ashamed I ever fell for Quirk!

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  61. Quirk would rather vote for the Kenyan than the good woman from Alaska.

    Christ!

    It's too much of this "charting the stars", maybe. Christ!

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  62. quirk wrote:

    "My time of year. I'm a seasonal vampire and only come out in the fall"


    I'm testing the theory that just about everyone's favorite time of year corresponds to the season their birthday is in.





    quirk then wrote:

    "Despite the fact that Ash will get his panties in a twist when he hears me say it, I yearn for the days when we had never heard of PC."


    whhhaaaaa!!! I can't stand the whole PC meme crap!. I've always found it ironic that those on the 'right' have been the most prolific criticizers of PC yet, god forbid, one should criticize any of the response or wailing and mourning revolving around 911. Talk about PC conformity!

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  63. T referenced this yesterday:

    Oval Office rug gets history wrong

    Although it doesn't seem to be as ominous as her reference indicated.

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  64. From the RoP:
    AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A well-known Australian Muslim cleric has called for the beheading of Dutch anti-Islamic politician Geert Wilders, a newspaper said on Friday.
    Wilders' Freedom Party scored the biggest gains in June 9 polls and is currently negotiating to form a new minority government with the Liberals and Christian Democrats. Polls show Wilders would win a new election if one were called now.

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  65. Quirk would rather vote for the Kenyan than the good woman from Alaska.

    You assume I would vote for either Bobbo.

    Voting for Obama would to a degree cramp my ability to criticize him.

    We have four registered national parties here in MI. As I recall, the last two elections I voted for the "No-Tax Party" (or something like that). Don't recall who was running.

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  66. The Sydney-born Muhammad has gained notoriety for, among other things, calling on young children to be radicalized and blaming rape victims for their own attacks.
    The paper posted an English-language audio clip in which he refers to Wilders as "this Satan, this devil, this politician in Holland" and explains that anyone who talks about Islam like Wilders does should be executed by beheading.

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  67. As for svetlana, she is not the first to feel that way.

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  68. It's a kind of dread fatalism, Quirk, an auctioning of a man's will, this turning of life's choices over to the chaos of the stars. You still have time to get a grip!. Uranus ascendent in line of the Horse Head Nebula, a minor Mars waning, with the Pleides provding theme, really!

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  69. I'd have more faith in reading the future in the fins of a fish, least you can eat the fish. You can't eat your charts.

    And asking for pay, too. Shameless!

    ReplyDelete
  70. Only for private readings.

    And we do accept payment in kind.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  71. Dang it I hit the wrong button.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Besides Melody has ten toenails, I only count eight on Sarah.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Svetlana is hereby banished. Let her never again darken our doorway.

    Let it be written, let it be done

    ReplyDelete
  74. Sarah's toenails.

    Penny Loafers.

    Melody's feet.

    Bob, I can only recommend to you Carlisle's Compendium of Fetishes.

    You need to gain some self-awareness.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  75. Sorry, Bobbo, farmer of the Gem state, land of the white pine, the syringa,and the mountain bluebird.

    I no longer have time to bother with you.

    I am off to the Arts, Beats, and Eats Festival in Royal Oak.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  76. Have a good Festival Quirk, that sounds about as good as our Lentil Festival.

    By the way, we have bull riding at the Lewiston Round Up coming next week!

    ReplyDelete
  77. And I hope you are able to peddle some of your readings to the unsuspecting there at the Festival.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Under Obuster Nevada Goes Bust

    Tempting to say it couldn't happen to a slimmier bunch of crooks. But the innocent suffer too. Might be a good time to buy something in Vegas, though.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Quirk:

    A final comment on the punctuation in question is up on the previous thread.

    ReplyDelete
  80. If those lulus in Vegas actually elect Reid again, after what they are going through, well, it says a lot 'bout brain rot.

    I'll make a prediction: Reid loses.

    ReplyDelete
  81. I never said a word about Chelsea's moccasins, Quirk.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Since it's a bash Obumble day--

    Obumble Gets Oval Office Carpet Quote Wrong

    "He is, indeed, as deep as a paper plate."

    ReplyDelete
  83. A Depression, writ pithily, is when you lose the Banking System. It was very, very close, but we got lucky.

    The Dems, and Pubs didn't quite manage to completely destroy the entire world's Monetary System.

    Now, we are down to a Very Serious, albeit garden variety, recession.

    We are, for a variety of reasons, likely to be "in and out" of recessions, punctuated by overall low growth for at least the next ten years.

    There are going to be some really grouchy people before this thing plays out. By the end, it won't be clean ties that the Elephant Bar is issuing at the door; it will be guns, and knives.

    ReplyDelete
  84. Quote by:
    9th Circuit Court
    Source: Lewis vs United States, June 24, 1982

    "... we conclude that the [Federal] Reserve Banks are not federal ...
    but are independent privately owned and locally controlled corporations...
    without day to day direction from the federal government."


    Then again, it is the Ninth Circuit.

    ReplyDelete
  85. John Adams:

    All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Aristotle:

    The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant to serve. Their common characteristic is obviously their sordid avarice.

    ReplyDelete
  87. National debt as a % of GDP

    Reagan, Bush & Bush then Obama:
    All peas in the debt pod.

    A sad graphic commentary on the modern Republican Presidents and then Obama.

    It's Z Facts.

    ReplyDelete
  88. "This is an impressive crowd -- the haves and the have-mores.
    Some people call you the elites; I call you my base."
    --George W. Bush, at the annual Al Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, 19 October 2000

    ReplyDelete
  89. And, so, we get this from the comma lady:

    "In any event, it is to me a perfectly comfortable night."

    This year's edition of The Elements of Motherf#&!ing Style says that the sentence is indeed correct.

    ReplyDelete
  90. I, would have said:

    "In any event it is, to me, a perfectly comfortable night."

    Always shine the spotlight on yourself, Trish.

    All the politicians do. Ego enhancement.

    Melody musta gone to Delaware to buy that computer.

    ReplyDelete
  91. I, Robot
    I, Claudius
    I, Trish
    I, Bob
    Me, mee-me
    etc

    ReplyDelete
  92. Someone woke up cranky.

    ReplyDelete
  93. $578 Million Dollar School

    That'll teach 'em, how could anyone flunk out of that baby? And they probably won't be allowed to, just be passed along, to show the success of the place.

    ReplyDelete
  94. The cost of that school is, with a little quessing, about a fourth or so of our entire state yearly budget.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Watch those gas pumps; prices expected to fall
    By SANDY SHORE (AP) – 1 day ago
    DENVER — Gasoline prices have been falling for weeks, and they could go even lower as autumn's leaves begin to drop.
    The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular was $2.681 on Friday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's 6.6 cents lower than a month ago and 8.5 cents higher than a year ago.

    ReplyDelete
  96. To think of the absurdity of it, they'll probably be teaching Alinsky in there.

    heh

    and deconstructionism

    and the living constitution

    ReplyDelete
  97. I, Robot
    I, Claudius
    I, Trish
    I, Bob
    Me, mee-me
    etc


    There's no "I" in team Bob.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  98. Obumble's down to 42%.

    How'd it go, Quirk, lasso any new readings?

    ReplyDelete
  99. In my line it's the repeat customers that make or break.

    ReplyDelete
  100. I can't believe that $578 million dollar school.

    Wife is calling to go to library....our $150,000 dollar library....

    ReplyDelete
  101. No, not cranky whit. Not at all.

    Though I suppose now I've used my one allowed 'fuck' for the day. Or week.

    This may prove difficult.



    Your sentence appears to be completely fine as well, bob.

    Viktor's has one too many commas. I'm certain.

    ReplyDelete
  102. How'd it go, Quirk, lasso any new readings?

    It was great Bob.

    Lot's of art, beats, and eats.

    The crowd was huge. That's why we left after a few hours.

    The wife hates crowds. Won't put up with them.

    Crowds and airports. That's why I take most of my vacations alone or with friends.

    She is a Scorpio too. Born on the same day I was (although she's quite a few years younger). A coincidence but efficient when celebrating birthdays.

    Strange. My ex-brother-in-law was born on the same day as me also.

    My youngest daughter missed being born on my birthday by about 15 minutes.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  103. Maybe there is something to that "Third Way".

    I remember reading/listening to Lester Thurow. Good speaker who presented himself much like Newt Gingrich, whom I don't hate. The Third Way concept stayed with me all these years as a uniquely American symbol of governance – one that sort of works, except when it doesn't.

    BC – and “Think Spots” like it – will ultimately go nowhere because the Third Way is abruptly rejected, in favor of ideological dogmatism, not just by the amateur and semi-professional commentariat, but by the current Republican Party leaders.

    Neither am I optimistic about the Tea Party movement – incoherence of message and vulnerability to manipulation by professional pols will dilute any potential impact. The recent Beck rally was particularly disappointing with the apparent embrace of a message suggesting that the abyss of progressive politics threatening the Great American Experiment can be breached by some form of collective grace through redemption** while the 'bankstas' who escaped real jail time remain loyal to the alter of TBTF. Makes Obama's Tin Ear sound resonant. Not to even mention the “Young Gun” Republicans. Nothing but bad marketing and good material for Jon Stewart.

    While Democratic ideologues insist on More and Faster. In this one regard, BC is dead on the money. 'There exists' a radical Left demographic that desires nothing less than a huge – and international – base of bureaucratic control. No doubt in my mind about that.

    Obama is too preoccupied balancing the conflicting demands of his own Party to even entertain a Clintonesque move to the Right, which is not to suggest that he would. Time will tell.

    Not that it much matters. Congress is the culprit, BC notwithstanding. The Pelosi group wrote and passed health care. The so-called FINREG legislation is noticable for what it left out. Not that there was much else that could be done. Accountability and real jail time can't be legislated.

    About the only hope for a Third Way resolution seems to rest with the recent rebellion of the Middle Left and their demands (!) for compromise – the kind that leads to measurable results.

    And real jail time. Maybe find some grace.

    **The imagery of Obama's religious iconography, employed with such lack of subtlety during the 2008 campaign, parallels Beck's message of political grace through redemption. Flip sides of the same altar.

    We're in much deeper shit than I had realized a couple of years ago.

    Last I heard, a third of the stimulus package was tax cuts, and the government had spent only a third of the stimulus money. I'm just not sure which third. But yeah, we're wading neck deep. In one last ref to BC, a semi-regular poster (2x4) has noted on several occasions his exposure to a chart produced by a Swiss bank showing global catastrophic collapse in late 2011 and 2012. Way beyond me, but I see a 50-50 chance that the rocky markets of the next five years could turn catastrophic.

    By the end, it won't be clean ties that the Elephant Bar is issuing at the door; it will be guns, and knives.

    I agree. Can't unscrew that pooch.


    Oh well, too long, but the Third Way jogged my memory. That window of opportunity is getting smaller.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Maybe there is something to that "Third Way".

    I remember reading/listening to Lester Thurow. Good speaker who presented himself much like Newt Gingrich, whom I don't hate. The Third Way concept stayed with me all these years as a uniquely American symbol of governance – one that sort of works, except when it doesn't.

    BC – and “Think Spots” like it – will ultimately go nowhere because the Third Way is abruptly rejected, in favor of ideological dogmatism, not just by the amateur and semi-professional commentariat, but by the current Republican Party leaders.

    Neither am I optimistic about the Tea Party movement – incoherence of message and vulnerability to manipulation by professional pols will dilute any potential impact. The recent Beck rally was particularly disappointing with the apparent embrace of a message suggesting that the abyss of progressive politics threatening the Great American Experiment can be breached by some form of collective grace through redemption** while the 'bankstas' who escaped real jail time remain loyal to the alter of TBTF. Makes Obama's Tin Ear sound resonant. Not to even mention the “Young Gun” Republicans. Nothing but bad marketing and good material for Jon Stewart.

    While Democratic ideologues insist on More and Faster. In this one regard, BC is dead on the money. 'There exists' a radical Left demographic that desires nothing less than a huge – and international – base of bureaucratic control. No doubt in my mind about that.

    Obama is too preoccupied balancing the conflicting demands of his own Party to even entertain a Clintonesque move to the Right, which is not to suggest that he would. Time will tell.

    Not that it much matters. Congress is the culprit, BC notwithstanding. The Pelosi group wrote and passed health care. The so-called FINREG legislation is noticable for what it left out. Not that there was much else that could be done. Accountability and real jail time can't be legislated.

    About the only hope for a Third Way resolution seems to rest with the recent rebellion of the Middle Left and their demands (!) for compromise – the kind that leads to measurable results.

    And real jail time. Maybe find some grace.

    **The imagery of Obama's religious iconography, employed with such lack of subtlety during the 2008 campaign, parallels Beck's message of political grace through redemption. Flip sides of the same altar.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Maybe there is something to that "Third Way".

    I remember reading/listening to Lester Thurow. Good speaker who presented himself much like Newt Gingrich, whom I don't hate. The Third Way concept stayed with me all these years as a uniquely American symbol of governance – one that sort of works, except when it doesn't.

    BC – and “Think Spots” like it – will ultimately go nowhere because the Third Way is abruptly rejected, in favor of ideological dogmatism, not just by the amateur and semi-professional commentariat, but by the current Republican Party leaders.

    Neither am I optimistic about the Tea Party movement – incoherence of message and vulnerability to manipulation by professional pols will dilute any potential impact. The recent Beck rally was particularly disappointing with the apparent embrace of a message suggesting that the abyss of progressive politics threatening the Great American Experiment can be breached by some form of collective grace through redemption** while the 'bankstas' who escaped real jail time remain loyal to the alter of TBTF. Makes Obama's Tin Ear sound resonant. Not to even mention the “Young Gun” Republicans. Nothing but bad marketing and good material for Jon Stewart.

    ReplyDelete
  106. While Democratic ideologues insist on More and Faster. In this one regard, BC is dead on the money. 'There exists' a radical Left demographic that desires nothing less than a huge – and international – base of bureaucratic control. No doubt in my mind about that.

    Obama is too preoccupied balancing the conflicting demands of his own Party to even entertain a Clintonesque move to the Right, which is not to suggest that he would. Time will tell.

    Not that it much matters. Congress is the culprit, BC notwithstanding. The Pelosi group wrote and passed health care. The so-called FINREG legislation is noticable for what it left out. Not that there was much else that could be done. Accountability and real jail time can't be legislated.

    About the only hope for a Third Way resolution seems to rest with the recent rebellion of the Middle Left and their demands (!) for compromise – the kind that leads to measurable results.

    And real jail time. Maybe find some grace.

    **The imagery of Obama's religious iconography, employed with such lack of subtlety during the 2008 campaign, parallels Beck's message of political grace through redemption. Flip sides of the

    ReplyDelete
  107. We're in much deeper shit than I had realized a couple of years ago.

    Last I heard, a third of the stimulus package was tax cuts, and the government had spent only a third of the stimulus money. I'm just not sure which third. But yeah, we're wading neck deep. In one last ref to BC, a semi-regular poster (2x4) has noted on several occasions his exposure to a chart produced by a Swiss bank showing global catastrophic collapse in late 2011 and 2012. Way beyond me, but I see a 50-50 chance that the rocky markets of the next five years could turn catastrophic.

    By the end, it won't be clean ties that the Elephant Bar is issuing at the door; it will be guns, and knives.

    I agree. Can't unscrew that pooch.

    ReplyDelete
  108. They started having these festivals in the various suburbs 10 or 15 years ago. They just kept growing.

    The Ford: Arts, Beats, and Eats Festival is the largest one and supports local charities. Ford Motor is the prime sponsor.

    The Michigan State Fair was the oldest continuously running state fair in the nation up until this year. They were starting to lose money due to all these festivals, couldn't pick up sponsors, and with the state in trouple funds dried up there, so they shut down.

    I hadn't been in the last 10 years but it's still kinda sad.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  109. Too many posts, but the Third Way jogged my memory. That window of opportunity is getting smaller.

    It seems to me.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Trish said:

    And, so, we get this from the comma lady:

    "In any event, it is to me a perfectly comfortable night."

    This year's edition of The Elements of Motherf#&!ing Style says that the sentence


    I think what we have here is a conflict in style. I prefer simple, declarative sentences; the objective case, if you will, which does not leave much wiggle room. So I read your sentence as an objective statement, to wit: "it is a perfectly comfortable night."

    You prefer sentences which leave you more wiggle room and, so, you tend to write in a subjective style. I am willing to accept your sentence as a subjective opinion, in which case, your punctuation is correct.

    Except for technical writing, which has to be very precise, we are allowed a great deal of latitude in how we express ourselves. This goes to the heart of the concept of style. So, the notion of one technically correct answer in grammar is erroneous. Still, we can't deviate too far from the norm or we risk being misunderstood.

    When it comes to writing style, there is a decided masculine and feminine way of expressing ourselves. Men tend to be more aggressive and adamant; women tend to be less aggressive and flexible. This difference would account for some of the misunderstanding between us.

    I will keep this in mind when I read any of your future comments.

    ReplyDelete
  111. The "Non-Commercials" - ETFs, Hedge Funds, etc - are incredibly (about 80%) Short on Oil/Products right now.

    They are, also, way long on soft commodities - primarily, corn.

    There are going to be some Fortunes, "lost, and made," in the next couple of months.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Niow wife is waiting for the mail to come--

    Interim humor--

    Airline With A Sense of Humor

    "Did we land or were we shot down?"

    ReplyDelete
  113. The festival was pretty good. Over 50 area restaurants had booths there and the food was cheap.

    135 artists from around the US were selected to display there (everything from paintings, to ceramics, to glass, etc.).

    Over the four days, they are supposed to have over 1300 singers and musicians performing on 10 stages. Every genre from rock to reggae. Kansas, Clint Black, Alexandre Joncik, Alto Reed, etc.

    Carnival rides for the kids.

    And as usual you had the assholes. Some gun coalition here in the state decided they were going to the festival with guns at their hips just to show they can do it because state law allows open carry. Every now and then you would see one of these yahoos or a few of them walking around.

    Morons.

    No big deal. It's not like they were looking for trouble or weren't "law-abiding". There was security all over the place but it looked pretty stupid walking around with guns with all the kids around.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  114. Nice observations, Cleaning Lady. We haven't had enough thoughtful discourse in the bar, lately.

    Re: Third way. The country is sharply divided and high-powered emotions swing the pendulum widely.

    ReplyDelete
  115. [URL=http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/dddttd/blog/#] volkswagen irs conversion
    [/URL]

    ReplyDelete
  116. My experience with Festivals, and the Renaissance Fair here is, the prices are always way too damned high.

    Though I bought a wonderful weaving from a Cambodian woman that couldn't speak a word of English that told the story in pictures of how the Khmer Rouge attacked their village with AK-47s, and they escaped across a river. Quite something. I hope she has made out ok.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Funny stuff Bob.

    I'll have to put a Kululu flight on my bucket list.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  118. Just throw darts at the stock market page is as good as you're going to do. Or plant an orchard.
    Nobody but nobody knows what's going to happen. Relax, be happy.

    Enjoy life for what it is because if not the bad will just suck you up into nothing.

    Which ought to be right up there with Diogenes.

    ReplyDelete
  119. When it comes to writing style, there is a decided masculine and feminine way of expressing ourselves. Men tend to be more aggressive and adamant; women tend to be less aggressive and flexible.

    Man up Trish.


    :)

    .

    ReplyDelete
  120. After:
    This year's edition of The Elements of Motherf#&!ing Style says that the sentence is indeed correct.

    You're telling her to "man up"?

    ReplyDelete
  121. For Libertarians and other Ron Paul freaks--tonite on C2C--

    1am - 5am ET
    10pm - 2am PTGold Reserves & Money (Sat 09-04)

    Is there real gold at Ft. Knox? According to Rep. Ron Paul, the answer may be "no!" Monetary historian Andy Gause joins Ian to talk about the implications if Ron Paul is right.

    ReplyDelete
  122. I am now a proud member of Mac.snob at least in my vicinity I am.


    HELP.....

    ReplyDelete
  123. Did you buy it in Delaware or Penn.?

    ReplyDelete
  124. "When it comes to writing style, there is a decided masculine and feminine way of expressing ourselves. Men tend to be more aggressive and adamant; women tend to be less aggressive and flexible."

    Commenting elsewhere, years ago, under a gender-neutral name, others assumed I was male.

    Quite the surprise when informed otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  125. Not long ago a blogger commented on his first meeting with another, relatively well-known political and foreign affairs blogger. He only knew the blogger was male.

    The mental picture he had formed, of a man of a certain age with a somewhat grave bearing and commanding height, was completely at odds with reality.

    Interesting the way we automatically form impressions by writing style. Interesting that we do.

    ReplyDelete
  126. If a picture can be worth a thousand words...

    Some collections of words are worth a thousand close up anal shots.

    ReplyDelete
  127. I propose we rename the bar:

    "The Bar None Bar"

    From an amazing book the wife got yesterday, which I will link after attending the Honeydo List.

    ReplyDelete
  128. "By the end, it won't be clean ties that the Elephant Bar is issuing at the door; it will be guns, and knives."

    My goodness, why would we need guns and knives?

    I'm not a gun person myself. Knives even less so.

    ReplyDelete
  129. Not everyone shares your dagger-like wit.

    ReplyDelete
  130. You've been scarce lately.

    I've missed you so.

    ReplyDelete
  131. That's certainly easy to understand.
    ...but hard to endure, I'm sure.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Had a Bar None Ranch for a while, doug.

    That would hit to close, to home.

    ReplyDelete
  133. It's all subdivided now, but even so ...

    ... wouldn't be fair having that home field advantage.

    ReplyDelete
  134. Trish said:

    "Not long ago a blogger commented on his first meeting with another, relatively well-known political and foreign affairs blogger. He only knew the blogger was male.

    The mental picture he had formed, of a man of a certain age with a somewhat grave bearing and commanding height, was completely at odds with reality.

    Interesting the way we automatically form impressions by writing style. Interesting that we do."


    Well, here you go

    ReplyDelete
  135. Where were you when it was taken?

    ReplyDelete
  136. Don't trust him, Trish!
    He's trying to take advantage of your innocence with a fake picture of some other distinguished gentleman.

    ReplyDelete
  137. This blog needs a full time censor/gatekeeper/beneficent nanny.

    ReplyDelete
  138. You got any magic drywall dust control tricks to share, 'Rat?

    ReplyDelete
  139. And you know this how?

    Hey, look, I'm just trying to put together Viktor and the Blackbird in my head.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Damn, I bet that guy doesn't drink beer often but when he does it's Dos Equis.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  141. Distinquished lookin'?

    Here's distinquished lookin', for an old coot with jowls and a bald head.

    ReplyDelete
  142. That bar might be the same one, 'Rat:

    This gals folks were homeless desert rats by choice.

    Even when the three kids made good, mom was still dumpster diving.

    Accidentally running into her doing just that provided the inspiration for the book.

    ReplyDelete
  143. I'm waiting for the answer to my question.

    ReplyDelete
  144. "Where were you when it was taken?"

    This photo was taken 3 years ago at a social function I was attending. I can't tell you more than that or I would be revealing too much.

    "Hey, look, I'm just trying to put together Viktor and the Blackbird in my head."

    I'm strictly an owner now, not a driver. They yanked my licence last year when I couldn't pass the medical.

    Still, I like to drive very fast.

    Don't ask

    ReplyDelete
  145. Poor young Svetlana? Why she's as innocent as a butterfly, but, as you will.

    ReplyDelete
  146. They have a good theological discussion going on over at the BC for those that might be interested.

    My Toshiba is here.

    ReplyDelete
  147. For your edification, whit, as you asked about this subject, just yeserday or the day before.

    From the Wahhabi owned and GOP contributing FOX News

    A new study from the Pew Hispanic Center found that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States dropped significantly for the first time in two decades -- but the population out of Mexico has held steady since reaching its peak in 2007.

    Though the study could show up as ammunition in the debate over anti-illegal immigration laws in Arizona and elsewhere, the data does not show that unauthorized residents are fleeing back to Mexico. Fewer illegal immigrants from Mexico are coming to the United States, but those here are generally staying put -- apparently unfazed by the economic downturn, hostile climate and federal enforcement.

    The data shows "no evidence of a recent increase in the number of Mexican-born migrants returning home from the U.S.," the study said.

    The bulk of the dropoff comes from those immigrants out of other Latin American countries, in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

    ReplyDelete
  148. "Still, I like to drive very fast."

    Good for you, Victor. Good for you.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Maybe you got mold, Doug, which can be a real problem. We've even had it here, once in a long while. Usually dark or black in color, can cause health problems. You should check that out.

    ReplyDelete
  150. Did you choose the name Blackbird for any reason other than that it's black and fast?

    ReplyDelete
  151. For any reasons other, rather.

    ReplyDelete
  152. Trish, SR-71 - Mach 3

    The Blackbird

    Most exclusive Military club on Earth.

    ReplyDelete
  153. Yes, rufus, thank you.

    I was idly prodding.

    ReplyDelete
  154. Trish said:

    "Did you choose the name Blackbird for any reason other than that it's black and fast?"

    First, I want to say that it was my NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) licence that was lifted, not my regular licence. A few of my fellow speed demons and I have a stretch of new blacktop called the Sardis Flats that we frequent late at night, actually early in the AM. It's about 10 km long and we take turns spotting for each other to make sure the coast is clear of animals and other potential threats.

    I wrote this about a year ago. LT will remember.

    "Strange things done under the midnight sun where the men who race are bold
    The black top trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold
    The summer nights have seen queer sights but the queerest they ever did see
    Was that night on the edge of the Sardis Flats where I broke three hundred and three"

    Note: Bit of poetic licence here. We didn't actually break 303 kph. But it rhymes. Actual speed, as I recall was closer to 290.

    This is not as big a deal as it appears. The speed is in kilometers/hr.

    The Blackbird is named after the SR-71 Blackbird. Blackbird pilots came to call the plane the "Habu" for reasons that are easy to find (Wiki). Hence the licence plate.

    I chose the Blackbird name because it has a special significance to me for reasons I don't care to go into.

    I built the car as a homage to the SR-71.

    ReplyDelete
  155. Another Civics Lesson: Iraq War. Congress must approve. Senate voted 77-23 & House voted 296-133. Bush had consent.

    I was away for two days, what's the verdict, do we have a bar or no?

    ReplyDelete
  156. "We didn't actually break 303 kph. But it rhymes."

    Okay.

    I've nothing against that.

    ReplyDelete
  157. You're here, there is new decor and a stripper to boot.

    ReplyDelete
  158. Washington Post Foreign Service
    Saturday, September 4, 2010; 8:50 PM

    IN MUSA QALA, AFGHANISTAN U.S. Marines and British civilian advisers are waging two wars in the hilly northern half of Helmand province: They're fighting the Taliban, and they're quarreling with each other.

    The disagreements among the supposed allies are almost as frequent as firefights with insurgents. The Americans contend that the British forces they replaced this spring were too complacent in dealing with the Taliban. The British maintain that the Americans are too aggressive and that they are compromising hard-fought security gains by pushing into irrelevant places and overextending themselves.

    "They were here for four years," one field-grade Marine officer huffed about the British military. "What did they do?"

    "They've been in Musa Qala for four months," a British civilian in Helmand said of the U.S. Marines. "The situation up there has gotten worse, not better.

    ReplyDelete
  159. ... British military and civilian officials deemed Musa Qala stable enough. Life began returning to normal within the security bubble. Shops and schools reopened, and policemen came back to work.

    But when the U.S. Marines arrived this March to take over the area, they deemed the status quo untenable. Within 48 hours, they punched beyond the northern front line and seized a town that had long been a Taliban stronghold. Marine units now are targeting insurgents well beyond the old southern line. The Marines also leaned on the provincial governor to replace Mullah Salem, and they have sought to disarm his militia.

    "They didn't pursue the Taliban," the Marine commander here, Lt. Col. Michael Manning, said of the British. "We'll go after them."

    The result of the more aggressive posture, Manning said, has been a doubling of the area under the control of the Afghan government. "The Taliban is losing ground here," he said.

    But British diplomats and stabilization advisers, who still have lead responsibility for reconstruction and governance matters in the province under a deal worked out between Washington and London, contend that the Marine expansionism has resulted in more insurgent activity in the town center. The Taliban has expanded efforts to intimidate Afghans working for the government, and earlier this summer, an insurgent shot the district director of transportation in the face in the bazaar, less than a quarter-mile from the main Marine base.

    "The Marines are too focused on pushing north and south," one British official said. "They're neglecting the place where all the people are, but the Taliban aren't. They're moving back into those places."

    ReplyDelete
  160. Two days without food fights over the same tired subject is a relief. We have a new decor and a new "cleaning lady".

    There are some serious limitations about what you can do with blogger but I am satisfied with the .

    Not much has changed.
    ______________

    Melody, congratulations on your new acquisition. if you need any assistance, I am at your service. I do not charge for mac consulting to Bar Patrons.

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  161. whit,

    I assume you mean 40 years old. This applies to Military and Law Enforcement. I have to admit, those guys seem to have a racket.



    ...could have to do with the probability of death and dismemberment...separation from family for years...24/7 duty time...

    We could, of course, leave danger to guys like you.

    ...sitll waiting for that reply...

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  162. Survey USA has Fiorina up by 2 over Boxer.

    Reid seems slightly ahead in Nevada.

    Murray behind a little in Washington.

    Out here in the sanity of Idaho, Crapo is way way ahead, no contest.

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  163. If you leave, Allen, which I hope you don't, I gift Svetlana to you, if you'd want her, as my going away present.

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  164. If someone would be so kind to show me how to indicate a "bird", Allen will have his reply.

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  165. The course of study, at ASU had a higher fatality rate than being deployed to Iraq, in 2005.

    Supervision, 24/7, being the key to improved survivability.

    Those that are in the military, well compensated for their time, while they are there. Base pay and bonuses are better than their civilian peers receive. Deservedly so.

    No need for the taxpayer to supply lifetime of loot because of twenty years of real service.

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  166. We all have ties on, tuxes, cufflinks and such, ascots, these days, and only drink tea.

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  167. That is not all that representative, is it?

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  168. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  169. The officer corps of the US military is bloated beyond imagination. This is well exemplified by doug's link of the other day. There are more Admirals in the US Navy than there are commissioned ships.

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  170. Deuce said...
    Two days without food fights over the same tired subject is a relief. We have a new decor and a new "cleaning lady".



    It's simply the realization that the wholesale slaughter of a certain people is not news, is un-important and most people in this bar are more into idle escapism than the serious discussion of geo politics, the world and current events.

    That is the choice of the majority and the few who post the majority of the posts...

    When and if the enemies of decency start to rave about how horrible a certain people are, I will respond.


    Until then, I will not have much to contribute.

    It hard for me to be nice to "some" people who advocate the genocide of a certain group of people.

    But it's not for me to pick who others are friendly towards.

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  171. Are we back to the 1.5 million Jews murdered by the Israeli, since 1949?

    Is that the genocide written about in the Story of "o"?

    Those whom were denied their very humanity, in his story?

    Have a nice night.

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  172. desert rat said...
    Are we back to the 1.5 million Jews murdered by the Israeli, since 1949?

    Is that the genocide written about in the Story of "o"?

    Those whom were denied their very humanity, in his story?

    Have a nice night.

    To whom it may concern:

    Rat is a historic Jew, Israel and Zionism hater. Please understand his bias that has been flaunted in hundreds of thread.

    Please ignore any and all of his posts, pseudo facts and out of contexts cut and pastes...

    Rat is an enemy of Jews, Israel and Zionism.

    Have a nice life.

    ReplyDelete
  173. My daughter is so jealous she wants to go there in the worse way.

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  174. Nice birds, of the three Melody's was best.My pastor always said if you give the bird you've got three or four fingers aiming back at you. But it was kinda a low blow by Allen.

    Peggy Noonan I think it was today wrote that these peace talks aren't going anywhere until the 'Palistinians' change their mental outlook. Don't stay up for that.

    I've now missed the Othello play in Boise, having read the schedule wrong. It's The Lady In Black in September.

    Have finished two weeks of Cipro but have nearly half bottle left, quess I keep taking them. They have taken my appetite away, if nothing else.

    Good luck with your Mac, Melody.

    Got my Toshiba back today, it seems to work.

    Time for a sleeping pill.

    Not much timber on St Helens, eh, Miss T.

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  175. Take it someplace else, Wio. Rat didn't bait you, or rattle your cage.

    You have tried to start a fight, and it's not working. We would rather preserve a good blog, and an interesting mix of friends than let you destroy it.

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  176. Melody, did you buy it in Penn or go to was it Delaware?

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  177. Is there a button I can push that will take me from the top of the page to the bottom without scrolling? I found the reverse button.

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  178. When wading into a thread anyway.

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  179. Pretty impressive T.


    (And the jeans are kinda cute too.)


    .

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  180. Not a tree on the whole landscape.

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  181. What is the place you are at?

    Is it where that scientist (Johnson?) died observing the mountain?


    .

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