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."
The American people in all their wisdom or ignorance, makes no difference, have spoken.
ReplyDeleteThe first war run by a committee.
ReplyDeleteAmerica under Mr. Obama is voting "present".
Waking up listening to the radio I heard Hillary responding to the issues surrounding NATO ect. and it struck me how true a statement by a commenter here was - 'it is Hillary's war'. I forget who it was and I think it was a drive by commenter but I have an inkling it is true. Obama is 'present' but it is Hillary's baby...
ReplyDelete...tar baby in trish's nomenclature.
Reactor 3, over there in Japan, the core seems to be leaking.
ReplyDeleteNo one in Japan ever expected the earth to move.
Guess they never listened to Carole King
( :
ReplyDeleteIt is not a war:
ReplyDelete24 March 2011 Last updated at 19:13 ET Help
The Americans have confirmed that more than 350 aircraft are now taking part in Nato strikes against Colonel Gaddafi's forces.
More than half of them belong to US forces.
ok, lets call it "Hillary's Front" ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, fellas, it's not a war we wage in Pakistan, nor in Libya.
ReplyDeleteDeath from above, that's not really war. Not in the Islamic Arc.
desert rat said...
ReplyDelete"Reactor 3, over there in Japan, the core seems to be leaking."
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From pictures of Fukushima:
The 6 reactors show different levels of damage.
Units One and Two had the top section walls and roof blown off.
Three is virtually leveled.
Who woulda guessed?
Rat is losing it, he forgot to say it was a Jewish communist that set the fire, "and everyone knows it", like we know it was Poland set off WWII when they fooled around in some German border city, then got what they deserved. Everybody knows that too.
ReplyDeleteBut not 'everybody' agrees with Rat's statement. In fact there is a big argument about the affair.
'In contrast, in 1946, Hans Gisevius, a former member of the Gestapo, indicated that the Nazis were the actual arsonists.[17] Accordingly, Karl Ernst by order of possibly Goebbels collected a commando of SA men headed by Heini Gewehr who set the fire. Among them was a criminal named Rall who later made a (suppressed) confession before he was murdered by the Gestapo. Almost all participants were murdered in the Night of the Long Knives; Gewehr later died in the war.[17] New work by two German authors, Bahar and Kugel, has revived the theory that the Nazis were behind the fire. It uses Gestapo archives held in Moscow and only available to researchers since 1990. They argue that the fire was almost certainly started by the Nazis, based on the wealth of circumstantial evidence provided by the archival material. They say that a commando group of at least three and at most ten SA men led by Hans Georg Gewehr set the fire using self-lighting incendiaries and that van der Lubbe was brought to the scene later.[18] Der Spiegel published a 10-page response to the book, arguing that the thesis that van der Lubbe acted alone remains the most likely explanation.[19]'
wiki
abakadwr
New York Times - 9 minutes ago
ReplyDeletePresident Bashar al-Assad's proffered concessions on Thursday did little to assuage Syrians, who continued to press for democratic reform and to protest the deaths of more than a dozen people shot by security forces in the past ...
The Islamic apostates in Syria, the ruling Baathists, killed tens of thousands Syrians in the past, putting down the Islamic extremists of the Muslim Brotherhood during the latter half of the 20th century.
Will the current crop of Baathists follow that historical example against the democratic reformist movement of the 21st century?
Thank you, anon, for confirming my point about the unknown attackers at the Israeli bus stop.
ReplyDeleteThe "Usual Suspects", as proclaimed by the government mouth pieces, are not always the actual perpetrators.
What was true in Germany, in 1932, can be equally true today, anywhere that extreme nationalists rule restive minorities.
Thanks, again, for making my point.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369859/Einstein-worlds-smallest-horse-gets-set-birthday.html
ReplyDeleteCelebrate a birthday, there's more to life than slaughter.
Horses on the mind -
a/b
The settler movement in Israel, full of extremist nationalists.
ReplyDeleteThe Leaders of the Israeli government, eager to seize on any excuse to wage an air campaign against Gaza.
It's not war, not if it's
"Death from Above".
"Everyone knows" -
ReplyDeletedesert rat said...
Nope, I've never been to Sweden.
To blame them, for the Story of "o"? It never crossed my mind.
No more than I'd blame Germans for the Reichstag fire.
When everyone knows it was the Communists that started it.
Thu Mar 24, 11:01:00 PM EDT
Three men working near the No. 3 reactor Thursday stepped into water that had 10,000 times the amount of radiation typical for a nuclear plant, Nishiyama said.
ReplyDeleteMaybe one really should check the spinach, see if it glows.
don't worry anon, Doug and Linear have assured us that the radiation leaked is minor - no worse than flying about on a plane.
ReplyDeleteGood news: Libyan rebel commander fought against US in Afghanistan
ReplyDeleteRick Moran
I wonder how many more of these little surprises are in store for us as we assist our gallant Libyan allies in throwing off the yoke of Gaddafi's rule while fastening the harness of al-Qaeda around their necks.
John Rosenthal writing at Pajamas Media:
Shortly after unrest broke out in eastern Libya in mid-February, reports emerged that an "Islamic Emirate" had been declared in the eastern Libyan town of Darnah and that, furthermore, the alleged head of that Emirate, Abdul-Hakim al-Hasadi, was a former detainee at the American prison camp in Guantánamo. The reports, which originated from Libyan government sources, were largely ignored or dismissed in the Western media.
Now, however, al-Hasadi has admitted in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore that he fought against American forces in Afghanistan. (Hat-tip: Thomas Joscelyn at the Weekly Standard.) Al-Hasadi says that he is the person responsible for the defense of Darnah - not the town's "Emir." In a previous interview with Canada's Globe and Mail, he claimed to have a force of about 1,000 men and to have commanded rebel units in battles around the town of Bin Jawad.
ah, great, hope for a stalement, let 'em all kill on another.
Les Schwab called I'm out of the hot spot and done for the day.
Keep Rat under control.
A little radiation in the radishes is good for you Ash, some lady TV commentator said so, just the other day.
ReplyDeleteI'd personally check my spinach though, if I ate spinach.
Doug and Linear have long since passed out on saki.
:) bye
.
ReplyDeleteThe "Usual Suspects", as proclaimed by the government mouth pieces, are not always the actual perpetrators.
Since the bomber(s) are unknown, they are in fact unknown. To assume the action was a 'false flag' operation is equally speculative and probably telling since I have seen reports that some ME commentators there say it could well have been an Iran/Hezbollah action trying to stir up trouble at a time of unrest.
.
.
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ReplyDeleteAt this point, who the heck knows who did the bombing?
However, it is interesting to note the tendancies when the speculation begins.
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There is no assumption that the bombing WAS a false flag event, just the reality that it COULD have been.
ReplyDeleteThat the bombing, perpetrated by unknown assailants, is being used as an excuse to escalate Israel attacks upon Gaza, true enough, too.
In Iraq we supported the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. It's members holding positions of power throughout the government, there.
ReplyDeleteThat we could support, in Libya, an Islamoid that had fought in Afghanistan not very surprising.
Deuce,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the France 24 clip. Much better than anything else I've seen of "on the ground" coverage...
I miss France. Didn't go last spring, won't be going this spring...
I did a little channel surfing when the Libyan thing started heating up...
Caught some BBC footage. Lot's of Brit anchorwomen and reporters. Right turned my stomach... Caused me to lose interest in the whole adventure for a while.
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I don't want to heat up the all ready simmering waters around here, but...
ReplyDeleteI was clicking around the channels last night and caught a bit of Beck's show.
Seemed to me he made a pretty good case for this Libyan adventure being an R2P practice run for a similar Israeli adventure...
I had backed off from following the Middle Eastern mess. Aside from giving me a splitting headache trying to make sense of it all I've had other issues closer to home to occupy my energies...
But it's always been there. In the back of my mind. Like a sore tooth.
Or, probably more accurately, like a neighbor's bad dog that's on a frayed rope...
Beck seemed to pull the pieces together in a way that made sense to me.
Mulled it over as I attempted to get to sleep last night and thought it worth bringing into the discussion.
Even with the risk of bringing the simmer to a boil...
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As an aside, while making my minimal attempt at understanding this sudden interest in Libya, I've been reading Evans-Pritchard's book "The Sanusi of Cyrenaica."
ReplyDeleteSlow going, I'm about half through, but the main message that I'm getting is the importance of the tribes...
Not that we haven't seen that before!
(And I must admit that, Googling around, I found Evans-Pritchard's book has gotten criticism for its "written from the Hotel Continental" stigma of being compiled from other sources rather than boots on the ground research... Still, I guess, better than nothing.)
.
As I was typing that line about the tribes my (easily distracted) mind brought back another memory from the 70s.
ReplyDeleteBack in those simpler times I read a story about fighting between the North and South Yemenese.
Seems both sides had exhausted all their ammo. And, rather than call it a day, they had continued the battle by throwing stones at each other.
The headline on the story?
"Lumpin' Yeminis"
(It helps if you were raised in a Norwegian enclave...)
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General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times
A PRESIDENT’S BUSINESS LIAISON
In January, President Obama named Jeffrey R. Immelt, General Electric’s chief executive, to head the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. “He understands what it takes for America to compete in the global economy,” Mr. Obama said.
The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.
Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
How is that for Major League bullshit from Obama's Guy?
ReplyDeleteDo 50% of US voters bother to study the news?
ReplyDeleteR2P israel
ReplyDeleteIf our politicians are so foolish to get the US dragged into the Libyan conflict, what would you say were our chances of our staying out of an Iranian Israeli dustup?
ReplyDeleteThe Middle East has the US on the tipping point and half the American public thinks this is a good idea. Obama and his lefties in the media think it is a lovely thing to see the struggle in the street, but they panic when The Tea Party raises a crowd over 10,000.
It it the age or my age that fills me with disgust? Probably both. I was disgusted when I got out of the air force and saw what was going on in the streets of the US. The Left lionized that. I bolted for foreign shores where I could put it out of my mind. Not possible today. Wherever you go this shit is in your face.
I doubt the US would be quite so disinterested if conscripts were doing the heavy lifting. The gung ho lifers in the military never really liked the conscripts who were in and out in four. We at least saw the humor in it.
ReplyDeleteSyrian Security Forces Open Fire on Protesters in Several Cities
ReplyDeleteObama will probably start another war there, and fly to Kenya.
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ReplyDeleteR2P Israel is a laugh.
Does anyone really think we would be in Libya right now if there was anyone there that could shoot back at us.
Obama plays the role of the petulant bully.
But it's cool. It's for humanitarian reasons.
.
Wouldn't the R2P be to protect the Palis from the Israelis?
ReplyDeletedesert rat said...
ReplyDeleteThe settler movement in Israel, full of extremist nationalists.
The Leaders of the Israeli government, eager to seize on any excuse to wage an air campaign against Gaza.
Notice how the Bar's own Pro-Islamists slants the issue..
Oh, that's just a misrepresentation, no it's a slanderous lie.
He states "The Leaders of the Israeli government, eager to seize on any excuse to wage an air campaign against Gaza."
Wage an air "campaign"
Hmmm...
Any excuse?
Like advanced Grad rockets are ANY excuse when they are shot at Israel cities?
When 5 are slaughters in their homes with a knife cut to the heart and throat, does that warrant a response by Israel?
Does Hamas shooting 100 rockets and mortars in a 3 day period warrant "any" excuse?
and btw, there has been NO israeli air "campaign"
Nice slant here folks, just as his bud's over at Al Jeezera taught him, be polite, distort, act civil, lie, speak quietly, misdirect, be topical, advocate one standard for Israel and no standard for anyone else.
If 100 rockets and mortars were fired at LA or NY in a 3 day period of time, a family including babies and toddlers had their throats slit, Grad Rockets fired at it, 50 tons of weapons have been confiscated, ied's and muggings all occurred in a 2 week period of time, that ENEMY of humanity (the Palestinians) would have had their asses killed to the moon.
One standard for Israel, and in fact one standard for Israel EVEN IF THEY DIDNT DO THE DEED, it doesnt matter, they are guilty in advance.
Jordanians are finally seeking liberty for self expression... They want to be
ReplyDeletePalestine...
LOL
Too fucking funny...
Meanwhile their "brothers" in Gaza dont want to be Palestine, they just want to murder jews...
Their other "brothers" in the west bank? just want to slit throats of Jews, especially those settler babies, they have the best throats to slice..
In syria? 55 dead! how wonderful the world of Islam..
In Yemen? to many dead to count if anyone actually cared...
In Libya? Our own Moslem President supports Islamists murderers against Comrade Frankenfurter. How many dead? Who know, who cares.. And how many did we kill? Who knows, who cares..
In England, riots! How wonderful, all over government paycuts.. lovely looking burkas seen on the scene.. (they will get their welfare cuts too!) No free FGM for you!
Suicide bombers in Iraq, Murder in Iran, Bahrain has clamped down on it "squatting" shia moslems, Iran is pissed (lol)...
arabia is reeling...
Havent heard anything from Lebanon, but Hezbollah has murdered plenty last year and let's not forget the complete destruction of Fatah el Islam's refugee camp that displaced 65,000 so called "palestinians"
All the world of Ishmael is a clusterfuck...
Could not have happened to a finer bunch of goat fucking vermin...
Oh, forget about Egypt, the crotch of the arab world..
More murder and fun... Burn the Christians!!!!!
But who cares, who counts!
The Moslem brotherhood is waiting to take control, so says the NY TIMES!!!!
But let's not forget, it's the Jews and Israel, sitting on 1/900 of the land, with no OIL, that has 20% arab/moslems that is the cause of all the unrest, so says Rat and Obama.
The interesting news?
Israel set up the 1st international hospital in Japan after the tsunami...
and Haiti
But whose counting, they do that of course to steal organs from the dead don't ya know...