Phil Connors: Excuse me, where is everybody going?
Fan on Street: To Gobbler's Knob. It's Groundhog Day.
Phil Connors: It's still just once a year, isn't it?
Fan on Street: To Gobbler's Knob. It's Groundhog Day.
Phil Connors: It's still just once a year, isn't it?
Drill Sergeant Joe B. Fricks Rules For A Gunfight:
1. Forget about knives, bats and fists. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. Bring four times the ammunition you think you could ever need.
2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammunition is cheap - life is expensive. If you shoot inside, buckshot is your friend. A new wall is cheap - funerals are expensive
3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.
4. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.
5. Move away from your attacker and go to cover. Distance is your friend. (Bulletproof cover and diagonal or lateral movement are preferred.)
6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a semi or full-automatic long gun and a friend with a long gun.
7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running. Yell "Fire!" Why "Fire"? Cops will come with the Fire Department, sirens often scare off the bad guys, or at least cause then to lose concentration and will.... and who is going to summon help if you yell "Intruder," "Glock" or "Winchester?"
9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on "pucker factor" than the inherent accuracy of the gun.
10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
11. Stretch the rules. Always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
12. Have a plan.
13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work. "No battle plan ever survives 10 seconds past first contact with an enemy."
14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible, but remember, sheetrock walls and the like stop nothing but your pulse when bullets tear through them.
15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
16. Don't drop your guard.
17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees. Practice reloading one-handed and off-hand shooting. That's how you live if hit in your "good" side.
18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. Smiles, frowns and other facial expressions don't (In God we trust. Everyone else keep your hands where I can see them.)
19. Decide NOW to always be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.
21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet if necessary, because they may want to kill you.
22. Be courteous to everyone, overly friendly to no one.
23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than "4".
25. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. "All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket." At a practice session, throw you gun into the mud, then make sure it still works. You can clean it later.
26. Practice shooting in the dark, with someone shouting at you, when out of breath, etc.
27. Regardless of whether justified of not, you will feel sad about killing another human being. It is better to be sad than to be room temperature.
28. The only thing you EVER say afterwards is, "He said he was going to kill me. I believed him. I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm very upset now. I can't say anything more. Please speak with my attorney."
Finally, Drill Sergeant Frick's Rules For Un-armed Combat.
1. Never be unarmed.
When it comes to rules for a gunfight, everday is Groundhog Day. Nearly all countries were seized through war, genocide, or forced conversion. That's history, that's the present and it is tomorrow. Ground Hog Day really does come more than once a year.
ReplyDeleteSpring is in the air!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'd be as good as dead.
ReplyDeleteNah, Stella:
ReplyDeleteThe Brotherhood loves you, and Egyptian "Democracy" will be freedom loving.
You just wait.
Underdogma, conspiracy theories, and
ReplyDeleteThe Liberal Death Wish
José Moreno:
“The fact is that all of them [conspiracy theories] share a common ground: USA is to blame, Israel too…Among those who blame on America I’ve never seen anyone just slightly critical about USSR or Russia, China or muslim terrorist, all of them are just a reaction to the evil power of America.”
Malcolm Muggeridge:
“How I first came to conceive the notion of the great liberal death wish was not at all in consequence of what was happening in the USSR, which, as I came to reflect afterward, was simply the famous lines in the Magnificat working out, ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the humble and meek,’ whereupon, of course, the humble and meek become mighty in their turn and have to be put down.
“It was from that moment that I began to get the feeling that a liberal view of life was not what I’d supposed it to be—a creative movement which would shape the future—but rather a sort of death wish. How otherwise could you explain how people, in their own country ardent for equality, bitter opponents of capital punishment and all for more humane treatment of people in prison, supporters, in fact, of every good cause, should…prostrate themselves before a regime ruled over brutally and oppressively and arbitrarily by a privileged party oligarchy? I still ponder over the mystery of how men displaying critical intelligence in other fields could be so astonishingly deluded. I tell you, if ever you are looking for a good subject for a thesis, you could get a very fine one out of a study of [this phenomenon].”
The Brotherhood loves you, and Egyptian "Democracy" will be freedom loving.
ReplyDeleteYes, women will have the freedom to choose their genital mutilation with local anaesthetic or the imported stuff.
I had an interesting phone call from an Egyptian friend last night.
ReplyDeleteHe said it ha been known for some time and was a foregone conclusion that Mubarak was leaving. His son left and took $45B with him figuring that was a better deal than being president.
The actual amount of demonstrators is under 250,000 and most of the violence is from career criminals. He believes there are enough career army officers that will not tolerate a shift to the left.
I asked if he was buying or selling? Buying.
If I were him I'd be selling. Egypt has, what looks to be, unworkable structural problems. A change of government probably won't help much.
ReplyDeleteChris Matthews: Tea Party Is Like the Muslim Brotherhood (Moron)
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, another Obama rat jumps ship – Energy Czar Carol Browner
They import half of their food; and, now, they are an Oil importer.
ReplyDeleteThey're not much at manufacturing, or IT. How are they going to make a living? Who will "invest" in them?
ReplyDeleteWhat is the Real Oil Benchmark Index? West Texas Intermediate or Brent?
ReplyDeleteRufus,
ReplyDelete@BC
5. stephen
provided this link about how things were getting better, but now are headed down.
"A credible and interesting take on recent events courtesy of Clarice Feldman at American Thinker:http://tinyurl.com/4owxel9"
A majority of Egyptians favor a return to Sharia.
Interesting article, Doug. I kept having flashbacks to the "Shah."
ReplyDelete29. Immediately grab your chest and tell all who can hear you think you are having a heart attack and fall to the ground.
ReplyDeleteThey will then take you to the hospital and not the Police Dept. Call your attorney enroute.
(from my late father, the cop).
Gibbs:
ReplyDelete"If any of the violence has been instigated by supporters of the government, it should stop immediately."
MB Freedom Fighters, not so much.
...like the New Black Panther Poll Watchers, some freedom fighters are more equal than others.
PATTON'S SEVEN RULES OF SUCCESS
ReplyDelete1. Always have a purpose or goal.
"A man must know his destiny."
"A good plan, executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."
2. Know your enemy.
"Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets."
"Always do more than is required of you."
3. Depend on good intelligence.
"You are only as good as the men under you."
4. Know your strengths and minimize your mistakes.
"Always be alert to the source of trouble,"
5. Use a disciplined approach.
"Discipline is the key to all success in peace and war."
6. Be a contrarian.
"If everybody is thinking a like, nobody is thinking."
7. Be flexible.
"Fixed fortifications are monuments to men's stupidity."
"Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser."
- Mark Skousen
15. lc
ReplyDeleteMJ Totten mentions the recent Pew poll of Egyptians,
82 percent want stoning for adultery,
77 percent would like whippings and hands cut off for robbery, and
84 percent favor death for Muslims who change their religion.
59 percent to 27 percent favor Islamists over modernizers….
Spengler:
“Egypt is wallowing in backwardness, not because the Mubarak regime has suppressed the creative energies of the people, but because the people themselves cling to the most oppressive practices of traditional society.”
---
My reply:
Give them a break, lc, they're just getting started,
they've only been at this for 5,000 years...
Yum! Brands Inc., the owner of restaurant chains Taco Bell and KFC, reported fourth-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates as same-store sales rose in China.
ReplyDelete...
Last month, Yum put the Long John Silver’s and A&W All- American Food restaurants on the block to focus on its business in China. Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. made a similar announcement in January, saying it would explore a sale of its Arby’s brand.
Net income for 2010 rose 8.1 percent to $1.16 billion, or $2.38 a share, from $1.07 billion, or $2.22, a year earlier.
China Likes Pizza
On Wednesday night, a Pentagon spokesman said: "The President's June 2010 National Space Policy requires the Dept. of Defense (DoD) to have a range of options and capabilities. Our overriding objective is to promote the peaceful use of space.
ReplyDelete...
"To conduct this engagement, we had to make modifications to three sea-based missile defense interceptors, three ships, and the system's command and control software.
"We have not made these modifications to any other missile defense system, nor do we plan to. Our missile defense systems are not intended or designed to engage satellites."
Space Missiles
Fed Policy Burns Down the Middle East, Who's Next?
ReplyDeleteChairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke launched a second round of Quantitative Easing (QE2) in October, following over a year of growth in the economy at a robust rate of over 3%.
Most analysts pooh-poohed QE2 as an insufficient economic stimulus to create enough inflation to reduce unemployment.
I warned that QE2 was like pouring inflationary lighter fluid on the world and then lighting a match.
With food inflation now running at 15% in poor countries, the Middle East is just the first area to burn, but fire is smoldering in much of the world and other fires will break out soon.
Krauthammer questions the Narcissist in the White House:
ReplyDelete"“You got to ask yourself, why did he speak?” Krauthammer said. “What exactly did he say? Not much. I mean, it is good — he should be ambiguous in public and specific in private, which I think is a good policy.”
However, the problem was the timing. Krauthammer explained the president’s decision to react right away sends the wrong message that the United States is controlling the levers of power in Egypt.
“But why does he pop up on television after the president of Egypt speaks? He did that on Friday. He does it again today. How does it advance our policy? I think the only reason he did it, as understand it, is a way to express the general solidarity for people of the streets but I’m not sure he ought to inject himself, especially after there’s a decision that Mubarak announces because it looks as if it was our decision, our pressure and I’m not sure we want a direct connection between our president and Egypt."
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/01/krauthammer-on-obama-why-does-he-pop-up-on-television-after-the-president-of-egypt-speaks/#ixzz1CqgS9H5g
If 3% growth in the US means food riots in Egypt and Yemen, then the Egyptians and Yemeni have a problem.
ReplyDeleteOne that is not really any of my concern. What is my concern is that US growth should be over 5%, not an anemic 3%.
The US should not be held back with concern for the lowest common denominators of the whirled. We should cut off aid to the foreigners and redouble our efforts, here at home in the Americas.
(Reuters) -
ReplyDeleteAnti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has been nominated for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian politician behind the proposal said on Wednesday, a day after the deadline for nominations expired.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee accepts nominations for what many consider as the world's top accolade until February 1, although the five panel members have until the end of the month to make their own proposals.
Norwegian parliamentarian Snorre Valen said WikiLeaks was "one of the most important contributors to freedom of speech and transparency" in the 21st century.
"By disclosing information about corruption, human rights abuses and war crimes, WikiLeaks is a natural contender for the Nobel Peace Prize,"
Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen do, indeed, have a problem. They are All, now, Oil AND Food "Importers."
ReplyDeleteAte up with Islam, backward, basically Unemployable, and Broke.
Future Somalias.
Political upheaval among stalwart U.S. allies in the Arab world may have irrevocably altered politics in the volatile, oil-rich Middle East, Obama administration officials say. While they did not foresee the fast-changing events and can’t predict where spreading unrest will end, they insist they are keenly aware of the dangers.
ReplyDelete...
U.S. officials say that while they may not have predicted the fast-changing events in the Mideast, they are gaming out all possibilities.
...
Outside the administration, many analysts have criticized the White House for being behind the curve. They are “ten steps behind not just Egypt’s events, but the radically changing dynamics of the entire region -- the fact that the region’s youth population is defining its future in defiant and unprecedented and unexpected ways,” said Dina Guirguis, an Egyptian-American human rights activist and fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Leaders Quit
Rumsfeld argues that the administration was wrong to have been so focused on preserving presidential powers that it initially eschewed negotiations with Congress in formulating detainee policy. A chief proponent of this strategy, Rumsfeld notes, was former vice president Dick Cheney, a longtime friend.
ReplyDeleteRumsfeld contends it would have been better to get buy-in from Congress by soliciting its involvement early in drafting detainee legislation.
Even so, Rumsfeld doubts that the resulting practices would have differed much. He remains unrepentant about the Pentagon's overall handling of detainee interrogations, his own approval of interrogation techniques that were harsher than those in the Army Field Manual, the management of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and the creation of military commissions.
Unapologetic in Memoir
Saudi Arabia.
ReplyDeleteKuwait, The UAE, Qutar
The Prize
You know they're trying to get there.
ReplyDeleteThe Road goes throuh Jordan.
If the new leadership of Egypt start trying to pick a fight with Jordan you'll know "the game is on."
ReplyDeletePresidential Speechalist
ReplyDeleteJordon, rufus, will become the Palestinian State, reclaiming sovereignty over the West Bank and Jerusalem.
ReplyDeleteAbbas and the PA, footnotes in history.
Israel confronted by a sovereign Palestinian State, not a ragtag group of political outcasts.
The US is already on record, stating Israel is "in the wrong", with regard the settlements and administration of the occupied areas.
With Egypt to the West and Jordon to the East, the US Army in Iraq will be out of position, to defend Israel, despite Ms Rice's assurances of support.
While the coinciding Shiite revolt in eastern Saudi Arabia will be the focus of the US military's expeditionary forces main attention.
The Europeons in Israel, left sucking hind tit.
(Reuters) -
ReplyDeletePresident Barack Obama's fellow Democrats in the Senate blocked a Republican bid on Wednesday to repeal his healthcare overhaul, a year-old law whose ultimate fate likely rests with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The US military, stretched to the breaking point by the decade of occupation duties in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait will be unable to maintain those occupations, contain the Saudi uprising and support the Israeli, simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteGuess who will be left, out in the cold? The same folks that found Hezbollah a nut to tough to crack.
Circles and cycles.
Another in the long series of Europeon Crusades to the Levant will come to an end. While the US will be hard pressed to maintain the flow of oil out of the Gulf.
The Sauds can, I think, Rat, take care of their Easter Shiite Province (s?.)
ReplyDeleteThe Sauds can, right now, pretty much handle any contingencies short of a full-fledged Persian invasion, or a multi-million man Egyptian army with 1,000 M1A1's.
In fact, that latter event would cause Us to have to hustle just a little bit. Actually, since we're pulling our troops Out this year, and our only troops in the region will be totally land-locked in Afghanistan, we might be totally out of feck.
The Saudis will be able to handle the Shiite, about as well as Mubarak has handled his problems.
ReplyDeleteThey are all from that Old Octogenarian School.
It is not main battle tanks that will topple the Sauds, in eastern Arabia, it is the repressed majority of people, there, that will.
Democracy will win out, in the 21st century. The era of minority, autocratic rule is coming to an end.
The US leading the way, in Iraq. It has shined the light of freedom upon Arabia. Little did those that chose that strategic path understand the consequences of their actions, let alone their rhetoric.
The US is already on record, stating Israel is "in the wrong", with regard the settlements and administration of the occupied areas.
ReplyDeleteOnly until Palin gets in there. She thinks the occupation is pretty groovy and tough tits for the Pallies.
The lessons learned, in Iraq, show the way.
ReplyDeleteThe US canceled local election, there, in June of 2003, knowing that the results would not mirror US interests. Yet the rhetoric employed by US forced elections, eventually. The results were inevitable. Those hostile to US were eventually elected, though they toed the US line, while US forces were present.
As US and British troops withdrew, the true nature of Iraqi 'democrats' became clear.
Basra, Iraq exemplifies this reality.
Hezbollah's ascendancy, by ballots instead of bullets, in Lebanon does as well.
n Feb 2, 1964, GI Joe debuts as a popular American boy's toy.
ReplyDeleteOn Feb 2, 2011, GI Joe is thought of as an enemy and a corrupter of kids minds.
The era of dominance by main battle tanks is almost over.
ReplyDeleteIt will pass, as did the age of Battle Ship. As is the age of the Carrier Battle Group.
Those 1,000 M1A1s did little to help Mubarak.
F16s will not save the Saudi Princes from the people they have long repressed.
The majority of the people, in Arabia, are hostile to many US interests.
ReplyDeleteWhen they eventually come to power, their will be done.
Whether that will be politically correct by "Western Standards", or not.
First, they'll "raise the toll" on the Suez Canal.
ReplyDeleteLow-hanging fruit. Easy Pickin's.
As well they should, rufus.
ReplyDeleteThe history of the Suez Canal is one of Europeon exploitation of Egypt, from its' very construction to the invasion of Egypt, by the Brits and the French, staged out of Israel in 1956.
Well, now I wouldn't say the "construction" was an example of exploitation. Everything since then, maybe. :)
ReplyDeleteNo, you're right. It belongs to them. It's on their soil. They sould do with it as they will.
And, they will.
ReplyDeleteThe "mini-Caliphate" that I'm sure they are dreaming of would be Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Emirites, Qutar, Oman, Yemen.
ReplyDeleteIraq, allied as it is with Iran, might just be more trouble than its worth.
The excavation took some 10 years using forced labour (Corvée) of Egyptian workers during a certain period. Some sources estimate that over 30,000 people were working on the canal at any given period, that altogether more than 1.5 million people from various countries were employed, and that thousands of laborers died on the project.[41][42]
ReplyDeleteThe British government had opposed the project of the canal from the outset to its completion. As one of the diplomatic moves against the canal, it disapproved the use of slave labor on the canal (slaves had been banned throughout Europe by 1830). The British Empire was the major global naval force and officially condemned the forced work and sent armed bedouins to start a revolt among workers. Involuntary labour on the project ceased, and the viceroy condemned the Corvée, halting the project.
Slavery, by its very nature is exploitation. The Brits knew slavery, when they saw it.
it disapproved the use of slave labor on the canal
The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that gasoline stocks grew to the highest level since March 1993. Crude oil supplies also increased for the third straight week.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. is sitting on 343.2 million barrels of crude and 236.2 million barrels of gasoline.
Gasoline prices around the country increased less than a penny overnight to a national average of $3.108 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular is 3.6 cents higher than it was a month ago, and 44.7 cents more expensive than a year ago.
Growing Supplies
T's right, of course; at some point Israel will be forced to start popping nuclear caps in jihadi asses.
ReplyDeleteThat deal could turn into a regular shit-storm.
Ummm, scratch that. Make it a "nuclear" shitstorm (thass the worst kind, you know.)
ReplyDeleteThe Sunni portions of Iraq, rufus, would be included.
ReplyDeleteThe Shiite excluded.
That sectarian line divides Saudi Arabia, too.
The oil is underneath the Shiite populated areas.
The Sunni have their own nuclear arsenal and delivery systems.
ReplyDeleteIsrael is a three nuke target area.
Even one would be devastating to them.
In a ten tits for one tat trade, they'd lose.
Even 100 to 1, Israel loses.
Chances are the Islamists believe as Mao did
ReplyDelete"If the worse came to the worst and half of mankind died, the other half would remain, while imperialism would be razed to the ground, and the whole world would become socialist: in a number of years there would be 2.7 billion people again and definitely more."
Exchange Socialist for Islamist and there you go.
On the BC our good buddy Allen says Israel won't just take out Muslim targets but anyone else they don't like. Presumably France for calling them a shitty little country.
ReplyDeleteToday, more than ever, Mao Zedong's old motto is pertinent: "There is great chaos under heaven - the situation is excellent."
ReplyDeleteThe outcome we should all hope for is Mubarak's immediate departure from Egypt. But where should he go?
The answer is also clear: to The Hague. If there is a leader who deserves to sit in the dock, it is him.
Western Liberalism
If that is true, Ms T, just more proof that allen is really a Muslim provocateur, masquerading as a Jew on the whirled wide web.
ReplyDeleteFomenting anti-Judaic sentiments where ever he can get away with it.
France!?
ReplyDeleteYeah, that'd be the ticket. :)
I hope the Israeli have some better historians than him on staff.
ReplyDeleteThem Frenchies can get downright bloodthirsty when it suits'em.
Germany would be on their list too, wouldn't you think?
ReplyDeleteArgentina, as well?
There wouldn't be a "cockroach" left alive in the Levant.
ReplyDeleteMass suicide, rufus, the Israeli revel in the celebration of that.
ReplyDeleteThem Iranian/Pakistani/N. Korean missile might sputter, and miss.
ReplyDeleteBut them French missiles wouldn't. You can Bet on it.
I don't, really, think Israel is in all that much danger.
ReplyDeleteThe Good King Saud? Thass another kettle o' fish.
Saud's got the Oil.
ReplyDeleteAnd, that burgeoning Caliphate, it desperately needs the oil.
The "Good" scenario, such as it is, would be if the new leaders of Egypt decided that Sudan would be a lot less muss, and fuss.
ReplyDeleteOf the three you mention, rufus, only the Pakistani have any sort of offensive nuclear capacity.
ReplyDeleteThe others, part of the propaganda by the US military industrial complex, in their efforts to drum up a "threat".
So, too, does that Iranian client, Charlie Chi-cap.
ReplyDeleteThose Shiite in Arabia, not part of the Brotherhood.
The Shiite are apostates of Islam, it is often said, by those that control Mecca.
Lots of animosity exists between the sectarian factions in Saudi Arabia. The discrimination is legend.
It's a Jim Crow culture.
The Brotherhood Has been known to cooperate with the Persians, Rat.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of "supposin'" some dream scenario where they decided to lance this cancre on their butt in some sort of a feel-good moment.
And, the Pakis would like them some of that Persian oil and gas piped over.
Jes speculatin'.
The Pakis is another outfit that's holding it together with baling wire, and pigeon shit.
ReplyDeleteIt's just amazing that they've managed to make it this far.
I mean, what we've basically got here, with the exception of Iran, is a bunch of dead-broke, starving miscreants that are looking around for somebody to rob.
ReplyDeleteAnd, that's just about going to be their only possible "out."
It presupposes an Israeli first strike, rufus.
ReplyDeleteThen all of Islam would unite.
Without Israeli "preemption" the Islamic whirled could well splinter into the two distinct factions, as the "Democracy Plan" moves forward.
It would leave the Sunni Wahhabi, those that instigated the attack upon US in 2001, shattered and broke.
The Shiites, Iranians included, never part of the 11SEP01 conspiracy, get to go their own way. Peace be with them.
A grand design.
We're having "shits and grins" postulating all sorts of "end of times" scenarios, but the truth is: you put a bunch of Islamists in charge of Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen, and you would almost have to end up with some sort of real mess pretty danged quick.
ReplyDeleteExcept, if those sunni wahhabis get down into King Sauds money pit it's a whole new game o' ball.
ReplyDeleteFact is, those wahhabis in Saudi Arabia don't much like the "Royal" family, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'm telling you, I'd rather be Anybody than a Saudi Royal if Egypt gets "on the move."
If that is true, Ms T, just more proof that allen is really a Muslim provocateur, masquerading as a Jew on the whirled wide web.
ReplyDeleteHe sez:
"The West miscalculates if it believes the sole targets would be Islamic, Arab, Muslim or Persian."
He sez:
"A noise is come even to the end of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, He doth plead with all flesh; as for the wicked, He hath given them to the sword, saith the LORD."
And so on. Bonds with WiO and Habu. I'm thinking he just wants to fit in with the "Nuke Mecca" crowd over there, which is, of course, 80% of the Belmont Club, and the number one reason it's no longer listed on Hugh Hewitt's blogroll.
I would not advocate for presupposing that the US military would support the Saudi Princes, if we moved into eastern Saudi Arabia, to defend the democratic movement, there.
ReplyDeleteNo, our actions in Iraq would not support that idea. Indeed, from a historical perspective we'd support the local population, in their attempt at self-determination.
Look to Basra and Kurdistan, as examples.
Just another reason I abandoned that ship, Ms T, years ago.
ReplyDeleteI've had enough "adventurism." If it were up to me I'd say, "Good luck, King-O."
ReplyDeleteAnd, arrange to buy my oil from the "Brotherhood."
Enough of those crazy assholes.
Our influence in Saudi Arabia, mainly with the military, as in Egypt.
ReplyDeleteBought and paid for, with modern weaponry, boys that like their toys.
And, I Do mean All of them.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of which church they go to.
And, yes, I'm including the Coptics. A thousand times, Yes.
There Ain't no "Good Indians," over there.
ReplyDeleteThe "Good Indian" over there is the one that has a tanker of oil at the best price (at least, a price I'm able to pay.)
ReplyDeleteBut, I'd a hell of a lot rather buy that tankerful, than fight'em for it.
I could agree, rufus with that sentiment.
ReplyDeleteMuch as I could with the idea of the Federals abandoning the "management" of the National Forests and BLM lands.
It would not happen, though, in either case. The US will remain engaged in the adventure, as long as the military is funded with a disproportional share of the US Federal budget.
Why have it, if we cannot use it, to paraphrase Ms Albright.
Who also said
I'm for democracy, but imposing democracy is an oxymoron. People have to choose democracy, and it has to come up from below.
Which in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordon and Yemen, it is.
Just another reason I abandoned that ship, Ms T, years ago.
ReplyDeleteI can only take so much. Unfortunately, every time I go back after an extended sabbatical, some folks think I need to undergo the obligatory hazing all over again.
Bought and paid for, with modern weaponry, boys that like their toys.
ReplyDeleteWe called Gulf One the Baghdad Air Show. Russian exports fill the "WalMart" niche.
Most of the posters there, Ms T, are narcissists.
ReplyDeleteNot worth the time to engage.
They offer nothing of value to be learned. No point of view that is practical in application.
Just the fevered imaginings symptomatic of mental illness.
Germany would be on their list too, wouldn't you think?
ReplyDeleteNaw, the Germans made their guilt offering in the form of three diesel boats, which Allen suggests Israel will use to go Rambo on the rest of the West after they take out the whole Middle East.
"Pay close attention, Aritch. Those who created this Dosadi horror cannot run far enough, fast enough, or long enough to escape. If you wish to make every Gowachin in the universe a target for violence, you are proceeding correctly. Others, including BuSab, can employ mass violence if you force it upon them. Not a pleasant thought. But unless you adhere to your own Law, to the honored relationship between Legum and Client, your shame will be exposed. Innocent Gowachin as well as you others whose legal status has yet to be determined - all will pay the bloody price." -- Frank Herbert, The Dosadi Experiment
Not worth the time to engage.
ReplyDeleteThey offer nothing of value to be learned. No point of view that is practical in application.
There is something about watching a train wreck in slow motion that captures the imagination.
Well, as your fav Admiral said, Rat, I hope we don't, but if we do, I guess I'm in.
ReplyDeleteWe could have spent 1/3 of what we've already spent in Iraq, and been free of imported oil, forever.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'm Not exaggerating. We've spent approx. $24 Billion on ethanol refineries, and replaced 10% of All of our gasoline - that made from imported, as well as domestic oil.
ReplyDeleteAnother $250 B would easily get us off all Imported oil.
You know, after all this doomsday hypothesizin' we could get lucky. Obammy, and the Egypshun military might be able to fashion some sort of "Real" election scheme where the Brotherhood gets, say, 25% of the vote, and more moderate players end up in control.
ReplyDeleteIt might buy us a couple of years (of course, part of the deal would be that we "raise their allowance, considerably," I'm sure. :)
Deemocracees don't come cheap, ya know.
ReplyDeleteLooks like some other folks is "gaming it out."
ReplyDeleteBrent Crude just hit $103.00/bbl.
North Sea Brent crude oil futures hit a 28-month high on Wednesday on worries unrest in Egypt would spread across the Middle East and north Africa, source of more than a third of the world's oil. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said he will surrender power in September, angering protesters who want an immediate end to his 30-year rule.
ReplyDelete28-Month High
Sam, here's a good spot to keep track of Commodity Prices Bloomberg Commodities
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rufus. Got 'er marked.
ReplyDeleteSugar's way up. Wonder if it's got anything to do with this hurricane down here.
All sugar cane where it hit there.
Sales of North American-made light motor vehicles in January sold at a healthy 9.6 million rate, up 2 percent from prior month.
ReplyDeleteFrom the other great link you gave me.
Yeah, Sam, I read, earlier, that Australia is the World's No. 3 sugar cane producer, behind Brazil, and Thailand.
ReplyDeleteThe Aussie Cane production is Waaay down as a result, it seems, of all the rain you've had in that region. This is just some bitter doo on the cake.
To be such a doofus, ol' Bloomberg has a great economics/business news site.
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeleteI've been up in that region before. Far northeast Queensland. All cane there. Miles and miles of it. Far as you can see. Far as you can drive. Cane everywhere.
ReplyDeletedesert rat said...
ReplyDeleteIf 3% growth in the US means food riots in Egypt and Yemen, then the Egyptians and Yemeni have a problem.
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It ain't the 3% growth that's the problem, it's the Trillions of Dollars being printed that are being minted out of thin air.
...and the problems ain't only gonna be for them, but for us when money becomes worth less and rates on our 20 Trillion Dollar Debt go up to historic norms.
Here's an article about the phoney Govt Issue CPI versus reality:
ReplyDeleteIs housing hiding inflation in other sectors of the economy? CPI gives housing a 42 percent weight and this has obscured rising costs in medical care, education, food, and energy. It has also given the Federal Reserve another excuse to digitally print more money.
That's gotta smart:
ReplyDeleteModel Admits To Castrating Journalist In NYC Hotel With Corkscrew...
There Outta be a law!
ReplyDelete"NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A Portuguese model accused of killing a celebrity TV journalist in a hotel admitted to brutally attacking him for more than an hour — castrating him with a corkscrew, stabbing him in the face, slamming a computer monitor into his head and stomping on his face, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Renato Seabra, 21, remained silent at his arraignment in Manhattan State Supreme Court.
His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf."
"The city medical examiner has ruled Castro died of head injuries and strangulation.
ReplyDeleteDefense lawyer David Touger said after the hearing that he and his client planned a “vigorous defense” and hoped for a positive outcome, though he would not elaborate. Seabra will remain in custody at Bellevue Hospital until the parties return to court March 4 for motions."
Probly'll claim the old fart died of natural causes.
the collective scenario intelligence
ReplyDeletehere is formidable. rat, t, ruf and of course big Deuce.
question: is there anything the euros in the Levant can do to gain your empathy besides committing national suicide? no sarcasm meant.
They've never wanted sympathy.
ReplyDeleteNor do they deserve it. They have oppressed the non-Europeon peoples of the Levant, for a longer time than Mubarak oppressed the Egyptian Coptics.
Stolen more than the $54B that Junior left Egypt with, too.
Let the Europeons abandon the ill gotten gains of the 1967 war, let them sacrifice some, then I'll feel sympathy for their plight. As of today, they are undeserving.
They are the oppressors in power.
The Pirates of the Mediterranean.
Where they murder US citizens and call it justified.