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."

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tuesday Jan 11, 2011


78 comments:

  1. Unfortunately, several things that we need to do for quite different reasons are getting dragged into this silliness.

    Brent Crude is up to $97.00 this morning (WTI is $90.00.)

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  2. BEIJING (Reuters) - China confirmed it held its first test-flight of a stealth fighter jet on Tuesday...

    Amateurs. We never announce anything new we fly at Area 51, ever.

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  3. Congrats on the cleanup in the previous thread, Whit.

    From Rufus's comments, I assume it was FFB trash:

    The same trash leading Deuce to give up in frustration, I'll wager.

    Maybe if you keep the Bar cleaned out, Deuce will gift us with another post now and again.

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  4. Jared Loughner is a product of Sheriff Dupnik’s office

    The sheriff has been editorializing and politicizing the event since he took the podium to report on the incident.

    His blaming of radio personalities and bloggers is a pre-emptive strike because Mr. Dupnik knows this tragedy lays at his feet and his office.

    Six people died on his watch and he could have prevented it. He needs to step up and start apologizing to the families of the victims instead of spinning this event to serve his own political agenda.

    Jared Loughner, pronounced by the Sheriff as Lock-ner, saying it was the Polish pronunciation. Of course he meant Scott or Irish but that isn’t the point. The point is he and his office have had previous contact with the alleged assailant in the past and that is how he knows how to pronounce the name.

    Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local bloggers.

    When Pima County Sheriff’s Office was informed, his deputies assured the victims that he was being well managed by the mental health system.

    It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary and probably cause more problems than it solved as Jared Loughner has a family member that works for Pima County. Amy Loughner is a Natural Resource specialist for the Pima County Parks and Recreation.

    ht - Sirius

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  5. Vicious Charges made by People Who Claim to be Criticizing Viciousness

    Mainstream news organizations linked the attack to an offensive target map issued by Sarah Palin’s political action committee. The Huffington Post erupted, with former Senator Gary Hart flatly stating that the killings were the result of angry political rhetoric.

    Keith Olbermann demanded a Palin repudiation and the founder of the Daily Kos wrote on Twitter: “Mission Accomplished, Sarah Palin.” Others argued that the killing was fostered by a political climate of hate.

    These accusations — that political actors contributed to the murder of 6 people, including a 9-year-old girl — are extremely grave. They were made despite the fact that there was, and is, no evidence that Loughner was part of these movements or a consumer of their literature. They were made despite the fact that the link between political rhetoric and actual violence is extremely murky.

    They were vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness.

    Yet such is the state of things.
    We have a news media that is psychologically ill informed but politically inflamed, so it naturally leans toward political explanations.

    We have a news media with a strong distaste for Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement, and this seemed like a golden opportunity to tarnish them.

    We have a segmented news media, so there is nobody in most newsrooms to stand apart from the prevailing assumptions
    .
    We have a news media market in which the rewards go to anybody who can stroke the audience’s pleasure buttons.

    I have no love for Sarah Palin, and I like to think I’m committed to civil discourse.
    But the political opportunism occasioned by this tragedy has ranged from the completely irrelevant to the shamelessly irresponsible.

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  6. Doug, it was a case of Bob and WiO treating a lady (Mel) in a way that ladies ought not be treated.

    Me, I think Mel can take it, and they should have left the posts up as the self-discrediting embarrassments they were.

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  7. ON VIDEO

    Dupnik Boycotts SB-1070

    Pima Co. Sheriff Dupnik has a history of left-wing hackery.
    http://www.nationalreview.com/

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  8. It was more than that, Selah. Bob completely derailed. It was when he started viciously attacking Victor Silo that Whit pulled the plug.

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  9. Thanks Rufus. I can only see what's going on here on work days, on breaks, until I get the Internets again.

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  10. Mel can take it, but it really detracts from the blog, esp given that it has been repeated endlessly in spite of our complaints.

    Repeatedly disrespectin the patrons and The Bar is unacceptable!

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  11. So it was worse than I thot:

    I missed the stuff Rufus read.

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  12. 61. trangbang68

    #33- Latest on ChollaJump story. Allegation Mom worked for Pima County, Dad for Child Protective Services. If true, that’s pretty rich. Dupnik is an old fool.

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  15. Rufus II said...
    It was more than that, Selah. Bob completely derailed. It was when he started viciously attacking Victor Silo that Whit pulled the plug.

    Tue Jan 11, 10:11:00 AM EST

    It was a good thing that I missed that.

    Thanks, Whit!

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  17. The Framers included free speech in the founding documents so that political disagreements could be solved without resorting to violence.

    The left, by demonising conservatives, have abused free speech by accusing the right of fomenting violence without a shred of evidence.

    In fact, what they have done is to say that being a conservative is, per se, proof enough that those on the right promote violence and that the left is entitled to take away any constitutional right from conservatives that they feel is appropriate under the rubric of "public safety."

    If the left succeeds in this they will leave the right with nowhere to go.

    The irony is that what the left wants to do to suppress violence will, eventually and inevitably, lead to violence as the only political solution available to opponents of the left.

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  20. Selah said,

    they should have left the posts up as the self-discrediting embarrassments they were.

    Tue Jan 11, 09:59:00 AM EST



    How right YOU are.

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  23. bob,

    Do you ever just leave well enough alone?

    Viktor was not a Jew, although he shared great empathy.

    Shame (I am going out on a limb here) is alien to you, I gather.

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  24. bob said,

    You claim to be the moral standard on everything, so you should know what to do with them.

    Tue Jan 11, 12:39:00 PM EST



    No, Sir, I make no such claim!

    What to do with them?...Hmmm...............Right

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  25. bob,

    My comment on Selah was sarcasim. She impresses me a great deal less than herself.

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  28. Whit, I vote you just take down everything Bob puts up until he finally goes away.

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  29. Rufus II said...
    Whit, I vote you just take down everything Bob puts up until he finally goes away.

    Tue Jan 11, 01:05:00 PM EST



    ...second that...

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  30. Pornography is terribly destructive. What has been going on here over the past few days is pornography.

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  38. Bob:Death is different than anyone imagined, and luckier

    Wishful thinking, or does he have observations to back that up?

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  40. Whit

    I don't know what happened to my comment earlier about Bob. Did you delete them? Or did my comment not post?

    Bob's comments about my late father are a dagger in the heart and I am angry beyond description.

    And to Bob I say:

    You little bastard, you worthless piece of human lint, get down on your knees and pray to God that He never puts you within arms length of me.

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  41. bob said,

    then all we will be tlking about is the price of gas and how super duper the Jews are.....

    Tue Jan 11, 02:08:00 PM EST



    ...so much for that staunch ally...

    Since it obviously has not occurred, "Shut up, already."

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  42. Selah, thanks for the encouragement and I have been defending myself lately.

    But you didn't see the things that were written. They were down right nasty. I'm not a whore and the teasing about the Capricorn picture with Quirk doesn't make me one, either.

    Do you remember a year ago what he did to me, well, this was probably worse.


    His contempt and hatred for me was heartless enough but to disgrace a man who is not longer living for no reason, knowing his son is reading is just down right….Down right…I can't even describe the words….

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  43. bob has a right to his glock, no?

    I find him easy to scroll. WiO as well. I'd hate to inhabit a space in reality with him.

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  48. How did Victor get it on the front page of the Elephant Bar? Did he have the keys?

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  50. bob said...
    The Great Viktor Silo, let us recall, put my daughter's name, and my name, right up here on the front page of the Elephant Bar, for all the whole wide world to see, just because, and I shouldn't have done it, just because I mentioned one day in passing that my daugher had been raped.

    Viktor Silo was a shit in this world, I wish him the best in the next.

    Tue Jan 11, 04:48:00 PM EST


    Bob

    I have done some checking in my father's archives and he never gave out your name and address. The fact is that YOU gave out your own name and address over time and he pointed that ou.t He pointed out what a fool you were to mention your daughter's attack and that your neighbours could put two and two together and that it could lead to her public embarrassment.

    You say that you mentioned "in passing" that your daughter had been raped. In passing? IN PASSING?

    Do you realise how crazy you are?

    It may please your conscience to remember my father this way but it is a false memory created by you to absolve yourself of your well earned guilt.

    You are a deeply disturbed man, Bob. You are clearly deranged. Because of this, you get a certain kind of immunity that I would not grant other men.

    You are trapped in that hell-hole that is your own mental illness and you are a prisoner of your own twisted and guilty conscience and you will be until the day you die. That is your real punishment. It is rough justice but it is enough for me.

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  51. Melody,

    The word for which you search is "despicable".

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  52. To Whom It May Concern:

    This whole business with bob has given me cause to think there is a great deal more involved than has yet met the eye.

    Bob may best be read between the lines.

    I don't know what to say about something so oppressively repugnant.

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  53. My apologies to all except bob who have comments deleted. My intention was to delete only bob's comments but the Google tool is klugey and I see some comments were inadvertently deleted. I will try harder next time.

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  54. bob, you need to take a break from blogging for awhile. I think it will do you a world of good. When you good you're very good, but when you're bad, you're horrid.

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  55. No, bob, your daughter was not raped.

    Rape is a crime that is reported to the police. No police report, no crime. No crime then no rape was committed.

    Your failure to follow the rules of civilized society, that puts you outside the protections of that society.

    Approximately 73% of rape victims know their assailants, and are afraid of them.

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  56. Has she received therapy, from a professional?

    Has If we can succeed in helping a young woman acknowledge her rape, instead of supporting their denial that it was a rape, then the likelihood of healing increases and the likelihood of future rape(s) decreases. Although we can't prevent these horrific acts from happening, parents, friends, and professionals can empower women with the truth.

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  58. I would be more worried to be in the personal space of WiO than I would bob. Bob is a nut for sure and prone to irrational rage WiO, on the other hand, believes he can identify 'evil' and feels it is his duty to vanquish it. What a putz! A righteous putz.


    p.s. Bob, since you can't answer my simple question it leads me to the conclusion that you are either lying or confused. Either way it doesn't speak well to your statements.

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  59. I'm sure I speak for the rest, Mikhail, when I say that I'm deeply sorry you had to put up with this outrage. The man needs help; let's hope he gets it.

    And, Whit, we greatly appreciate what you're doing. It's a shame that you've had to confront this asshattery this week of all times.

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  60. Be nice if we could all desist with the personal attacks or characterizations.

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  64. Egypt recalls Vatican envoy over pope remarks

    Seems the Pope, along with a bunch of Jews, don't really believe the lying Egyptian Muslims.

    Feel free to jump in and knock on the Pope. After all, what could he know?

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  65. November 11, 2010
    The Pope Knows:

    "The theme of the Promised Land cannot be used as a basis to justify the return of the Jews to Israel and the expatriation of the Palestinians.

    "We Christians cannot speak of the 'Promised Land' as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people -- all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people."

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  66. Rufus II said...
    "I'm sure I speak for the rest, Mikhail, when I say that I'm deeply sorry you had to put up with this outrage."


    I appreciate your sympathetic remarks.

    "The man needs help; let's hope he gets it."

    The fact is, Rufus, at Bob's age the die is cast. He is what he is and nothing will change that.

    All he can do, from time to time, is change his outward behaviour but inside, he will always be the Bob we saw today.

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  69. From a recent dialogue with Mikhail at "Senor Correspondent".

    Mikhail: I left a short note to Bob over at the EB.

    linearthinker: A word of friendly advice: Resist the temptation to communicate in any fashion with that moron. It will only feed into his dementia, and soon you'll be cleaning up after him over here. He is definitely a few screws shy of an erector set. I've become more harsh than many of his online friends, including your dad, in my assessment. What he manifests is the outcome of an already spineless, lying, conniving, self-absorbed, cowardly, envious, juvenile personality trapped in the body of a middle-aged man when dementia eventually sets in. In other words, he is fundamentally a POS with a later developing mental condition tacked on. I know whereof I speak, probably better than any of the more charitable and sympathetic folks from the bar who find it tough to call a spade a fucking shovel.

    I'm not here to crow, but it's amusing now to note that when Viktor, Melody, and I took a stand on permanent banishment of he-who-shall-not-be-named from the bar, we were the only three patrons who stood behind that proposal. Now I see the same draconian measure is being proposed by those who couldn't bring themselves to support us then. Parallels with society at large abound. My recollection of that turbulent time is that those of us who stood up to the spineless moron were ourselves castigated by our fellow patrons, most notably the smarmy Trish.

    I've read with disgust the most recent bilious trash posted by he-who-shall-not-be-named immediately preceding this note and up thread to where I assume Whit had left off deleting him.

    The lying, self serving, confused babbling of a depraved individual who is suffering a late life mental breakdown as cover for his fundamental character flaws is continuing.

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  71. I am going to ask Whit no to remove any comments above this. I do this so it is clear to everyone the intolerable problem using blogger and how it has ruined the experience at the EB.

    There simply are not the administrative tools available to monitor comments. There are over 200,000 comments at the EB and I already have a full time job.

    That said, 90% of those that comment do so in a responsible and interesting way. (I fly a lot and still enjoy it. It is regrettable that a few have made flying tortuous for the many.)

    Any and all comments made by Bob should be removed after this comment. Bob simply is not welcome and not wanted here.

    LT, WIO, and Allen have elected to support MS in his new blog. I wish them well and encourage their independent action. From their initial posts, their focus will be different from the direction I always envisioned for the EB.

    Whit and I have discussed methods to reconstitute the blog using the blogger format and our limited schedule to administer the blog. We can do this by granting limited administrative access to the blog. That only requires that you email us on a onetime basis your email address. You can establish one at yahoo or gmail exclusively for this contact. No one will have access to it and whit and I will certainly treat it with total confidence.

    Doing this will allow you to comment and to post if you choose to do so. You can limit your participation to comments. Everyone will be able to read all the posts and comments, but only those registered can comment.

    We will post a permanent box advising instructions to those interested in commenting at the EB. Commenters will be given great latitude and their comments will not be moderated. Their existence on the blog will be binary, they are in or out.

    Please state in the comments if you are interested in future active participation and are willing to send in an email address where we can send you permission. We will expand this group to perhaps 25-30 at the maximum so that it remains manageable.

    If we do not get at least 8 we will simply turn of the lights.

    I do not limit anyone who wishes to participate but I specifically request these core members not actively starting another blog and who have continued to comment to stay:

    Ash
    Brother D-Day
    Cleaning Lady
    Desert Rat
    Doug
    Gag Reflex
    Gnossos
    Melody
    Quirk
    Rufus
    Sam
    Selah
    Stella
    Trish

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  72. I would appreciate access, Deuce, but will not take a place away from someone who would probably be more active and/or deserving. That call is up to you and Whit.

    Should there be space, I'm:

    randomtraverse@yahoo.com

    My respect continues for you and Whit owing to the vast quantity of high quality posts you've published over the years. The outcome here is regrettable.

    Thanks for the endorsement for Mikhail. Success at his blog will be entirely owing to his efforts and creativity. As I've told him, it's obvious the acorn fell close to the tree. I'm just a friend who enjoys the venue he's providing.

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  73. LT, you should have your invite, follow instructions. thanks.

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  74. Statement on Israeli Settlements


    I nearly commented on your liberty taking with the Pope's good name. Then it occurred, I need never speak to you again.

    The EB will go on suffering the insufferable bigotry of one man. In that case, it will never reach even the limited potential desired and often deserved. Too bad.

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