“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."
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Faked Dead Photo of Osama bin Laden
This is a fake Osama bin Laden death photo. You can see how it was actually taken from the wound of some other dead person with bin Laden's face superimposed. Obama is not going to allow us to see the real one. Too scary.
Posting the pictures (or not) is a no-win either way.
The same people who say he was not killed unless you show the photos would be the same people that claimed the pictures were photoshopped if you did put them out there.
And to put the pictures out as some some type of trophy? Damn, we're back in the days of Tombstone and the Old West when they took pictures of the outlaws that were killed and displayed them in their pine boxes.
In Pakistan, in contrast, grisly photographs of the three other men killed in the raid, including one of bin Laden’s sons, were made public. In other developments:
• US officials disclosed that commandos had been told to assume bin Laden was wearing a suicide vest and should therefore be killed on sight unless he was found naked.
• The al-Qaeda leader had €500 and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing, suggesting he was ready to flee at a moment’s notice.
• Pakistan refused to allow the US to interrogate a wife of bin Laden captured in the raid, further straining diplomatic relations.
The meeting, which brings together 22 Western and Middle Eastern countries along with the UN, African Union and Arab League, will be attended by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, and Foreign Secretary William Hague. The money could then be paid back when the issue of oil sales is resolved.
One curious aspect of recent events in the Middle East and North Africa is how unwilling most commentators have been to join the dots between the Federal Reserve’s second phase of quantitative easing and these revolutions. I’m less queasy.
...
The first graph illustrates the correlation between the prices of food and the Fed’s purchase of US Treasuries (i.e. its quantitative easing programmes). (A widely-discussed graph illustrating correlation between QE and broader commodities indices can be seen here.)
...
The case is clear and simple, but nonetheless powerful for that. QE2 drove up food prices, as we ought to have expected.
The rise in the price of grains was caused by some really anomalous weather last year in many different countries.
For ex. We had a substandard corn harvest, and the No 2 Corn Producer, China, had a Disastrous Harvest. Then there was the Wild situation with Russian Wheat. Then several other grain producers had miserable weather-related harvests.
Here’s a typical response to a question about the SEALs from a senior defence official in a Pentagon briefing on Monday:
QUESTION: Can I ask you, can you confirm that it was a (Navy) SEAL team? And was this a specially designated team that had been practising or reviewing intelligence for a while and they were the unit of choice?
SENIOR DEFENCE OFFICIAL: Not going to comment on units or numbers.
But here’s what the legendarily verbose and loose-lipped Vice President Joe Biden said at a dinner at Washington’s Ritz Carlton Hotel last night to mark the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic Council:
Let me briefly acknowledge tonight’s distinguished honorees. Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.
Yeah, Sam, it was weird weather all around the world. Queensland, Argentina, etc. Then you had some governments doing bizarre things. India, China, Argentina, again.
About the only place that had a great corn harvest was S. Africa, and they couldn't get the corn to the port, because the railroads were full of coal (hauling coal, evidently, pays much better than hauling corn in S. Africa.
The helo that went down, word on the radio was, had all sorts of stealthy stuff, like paint and such, that the Chinese would like to get hold of. The tail section seems to have been mostly intact after they blew it up. There may be a bidding war on the remains of the helo between us and the Chinese, who knows.
Looks like in Photo #1, Osama's had a post mortem shave or beard clipping. Maybe he got it at Mr. Leon's School of Hair Design, where I got a two dollar haircut yesterday. $2 Tuesday it's called, and the apprentice is supervised by a pro. Used to get my haircut by Clarence, now deceased, who had cut four generations of our noble heads.
Clarence would always cut it the same, no matter what you told him to do.
As anyone can see, the helicopter was NOT destroyed as reported by the administration. Who leaves a damaged but inoperable piece of state-of-the-art military equipment for the bad guys?
The identities of all 80 members of the American commando team who thundered into Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden are the subject of intense speculation, but perhaps none more so than the only member with four legs...
In 1981, he directed fellow former child star Mickey Rooney in a TV movie, "Leave 'em Laughing," the story of a man who took in 37 homeless children in Chicago.
Cooper told the New York Times that he cast the movie mostly with "kids who have never acted before, because they're more real." But he said he was "a lousy director of children."
"I can't wring out of a kid what I should for the good of my films because I won't lie to them or deceive them or shake the bejeezus out of them," he said. "I suffer enough because I think they should be out playing, and so I find ways not to make them unhappy."
President Obama ruled out publicly releasing photographs of the deceased Osama bin Laden on Wednesday, and White House officials said they would give no new details about the raid on his compound in Pakistan, an information clampdown that followed fitful attempts to craft a riveting narrative about the killing of al-Qaeda’s leader...
Finally, the White House gets smart and will offer no more details on the raid.
It would have been sufficient to indicate that the navy seals went in and took out bin Laden and that no one on our side was hurt and then given a brief explanation of how he was tracked down.
Instead for the past two days they have been falling all over themselves tryng to correct images put out by PR types trying to constrct a compelling storyline.
Any further info on the operational details may limit what we can do in the future.
Better late than never when it comes to getting smart.
Asked Tuesday about the information that led to Bin Laden, Feinstein said, "To the best of our knowledge, based on a look, none of it came as a result of harsh interrogation practices."
Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), who is a member of the Intelligence Committee, had a different interpretation. "The initial thread that they started to pull on came after enhanced interrogation," he said.
"From that you can take it to a debate on where you go with that. But I don't think there's any doubt that it was after enhanced interrogation that they got the initial thread."
We had a SEAL in my high school class. Built like a barrel, great football player in high school, he said to me one time at a reunion, you wouldn't believe what we do, Bob. What do you do? Can't tell you. After he got out he lay about for awhile, got bored, became a teacher, and went to teach and live in some little village in Alaska. Very nice man.
I have a night vision device. Kinda neat, really. Never used it for anything, other than watching a skunk from the back porch.
I was called Sir by some kid in the condo today. Don't know if that made me feel good or not, maybe kinda old, but they are not all drunks. And there is a Japanese couple here, with a cute little kid, invariably professionally polite, whom I've come to know and like. But, we'll be gone in a few weeks.
"From that you can take it to a debate on where you go with that. But I don't think there's any doubt that it was after enhanced interrogation that they got the initial thread."
Yea, like two years later after some'non-enhanced' interrogation.
I don't care. The Seals said they killed him. They killed him.
ReplyDeleteHe's Daid.
The Mooslies know he's dead; we know he's dead. He's dead.
Long live the USA. Long live the Seals.
Long live Arizona Cowboys that rope Bears.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Beer.
ReplyDeleteAnd, decent funerals for those that hunt bears with spears.
ReplyDeleteAnd, young girls that like to ride in pickup trucks.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Deuce, and Whit, of course. :)
ReplyDeleteNot too young of course.
ReplyDeleteMoving on
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteTaking Osama out is a win.
Posting the pictures (or not) is a no-win either way.
The same people who say he was not killed unless you show the photos would be the same people that claimed the pictures were photoshopped if you did put them out there.
And to put the pictures out as some some type of trophy? Damn, we're back in the days of Tombstone and the Old West when they took pictures of the outlaws that were killed and displayed them in their pine boxes.
As Rufus said, "He's daid."
Nothing going to change that.
.
Now, I believe there's a genelmun over there in Yemen that sincerely needs killin', also.
ReplyDeleteWhere is my Hat Tip?
ReplyDeleteRufus II said...
ReplyDeleteNow, I believe there's a genelmun over there in Yemen that sincerely needs killin', also.
Add Palestine, Gaza, Syria, Arabia, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Lebanon, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan..
Sense a pattern yet?
.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising this has turned into a media circus...
Still...
CNN's poll question to the audiance today was "Do you think Osama is in hell today?"
More surprisingly, people were actually calling in to answer the question.
Result: 61% say yes.
Now that's entertainment.
News? Not so much.
Is it any wonder CNN's ratings have dropped so much?
.
Kinda wished we had just drops 32 2,200 bombs on him and his family
ReplyDeleteSends a real strong message...
Damn,
ReplyDeleteHave to have a word with my contact.
Who dug up the pic of the dude on the left? WiO?
In Pakistan, in contrast, grisly photographs of the three other men killed in the raid, including one of bin Laden’s sons, were made public. In other developments:
ReplyDelete• US officials disclosed that commandos had been told to assume bin Laden was wearing a suicide vest and should therefore be killed on sight unless he was found naked.
• The al-Qaeda leader had €500 and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing, suggesting he was ready to flee at a moment’s notice.
• Pakistan refused to allow the US to interrogate a wife of bin Laden captured in the raid, further straining diplomatic relations.
No Release Of Pic
Sarah Palin's reaction to Obama's announcement on Twitter:
ReplyDeleteShow photo as warning to others seeking America's destruction. No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama;it's part of the mission.
Who was down in Birmingham, clearing rubbish, and giving support to the devastated? Who?
ReplyDeleteThe meeting, which brings together 22 Western and Middle Eastern countries along with the UN, African Union and Arab League, will be attended by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, and Foreign Secretary William Hague. The money could then be paid back when the issue of oil sales is resolved.
ReplyDeleteAw, this is just freaky, bad-assed cool:
ReplyDeleteAs we suspected, the lights, cell phones, computers, etc went off in the area right before they rode in on their Mother-freakin' Stealth Helicopters.
Oh, everything came back on as they left.
ReplyDeleteStealth Freakin' Helicopters!
ReplyDeleteOne curious aspect of recent events in the Middle East and North Africa is how unwilling most commentators have been to join the dots between the Federal Reserve’s second phase of quantitative easing and these revolutions. I’m less queasy.
ReplyDelete...
The first graph illustrates the correlation between the prices of food and the Fed’s purchase of US Treasuries (i.e. its quantitative easing programmes). (A widely-discussed graph illustrating correlation between QE and broader commodities indices can be seen here.)
...
The case is clear and simple, but nonetheless powerful for that. QE2 drove up food prices, as we ought to have expected.
Easy Graphs
Sam, there's a problem with that graph. The cost of food is going up before the Fed Easing. ie leading it.
ReplyDeleteHard to show "cause and effect" when the "effect" comes before the "cause."
Yep, one of the comments said the same thing.
ReplyDeleteShame the helo went down. I didn't see anything about electrical jamming in the article.
The rise in the price of grains was caused by some really anomalous weather last year in many different countries.
ReplyDeleteFor ex. We had a substandard corn harvest, and the No 2 Corn Producer, China, had a Disastrous Harvest. Then there was the Wild situation with Russian Wheat. Then several other grain producers had miserable weather-related harvests.
It was in the video.
ReplyDeleteBTW, no one's mentioning that the price of grains is Is coming back down.
ReplyDeleteHere’s a typical response to a question about the SEALs from a senior defence official in a Pentagon briefing on Monday:
ReplyDeleteQUESTION: Can I ask you, can you confirm that it was a (Navy) SEAL team? And was this a specially designated team that had been practising or reviewing intelligence for a while and they were the unit of choice?
SENIOR DEFENCE OFFICIAL: Not going to comment on units or numbers.
But here’s what the legendarily verbose and loose-lipped Vice President Joe Biden said at a dinner at Washington’s Ritz Carlton Hotel last night to mark the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic Council:
Let me briefly acknowledge tonight’s distinguished honorees. Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.
Opens His Mouth
Don't forget Queensland being underwater all summer.
ReplyDeleteSee This Photo of President Obumbles Giving His "Osama is wasted" Speech?
ReplyDeleteHistoric photo, eh?
Weeelll, not ezzackly, it seems.
He staged it for the still photographers "After" the speech.
You're a Piece o' Work, Bambie.
Yeah, Sam, it was weird weather all around the world. Queensland, Argentina, etc. Then you had some governments doing bizarre things. India, China, Argentina, again.
ReplyDeleteAbout the only place that had a great corn harvest was S. Africa, and they couldn't get the corn to the port, because the railroads were full of coal (hauling coal, evidently, pays much better than hauling corn in S. Africa.
It was a crappy year if you were a grain buyer.
The helo that went down, word on the radio was, had all sorts of stealthy stuff, like paint and such, that the Chinese would like to get hold of. The tail section seems to have been mostly intact after they blew it up. There may be a bidding war on the remains of the helo between us and the Chinese, who knows.
ReplyDeleteLooks like in Photo #1, Osama's had a post mortem shave or beard clipping. Maybe he got it at Mr. Leon's School of Hair Design, where I got a two dollar haircut yesterday. $2 Tuesday it's called, and the apprentice is supervised by a pro. Used to get my haircut by Clarence, now deceased, who had cut four generations of our noble heads.
Clarence would always cut it the same, no matter what you told him to do.
dwr
Here's a toast to those noble Idahoans and Montanans that go up against fierce griz with nothing but a spear.
ReplyDeleteSuicide by griz, we call it.
dwr
Bear Attack Videos, Some Grizzly
ReplyDeletedwr
Lucky Escape
ReplyDeletere: stealth
ReplyDeleteYou ain't seen nothin' yet. No need for "Thanks"; glad to help (albeit 3 billion may seem a bit steep to those who know the price of everything).
You got targets, we've got acquisition.
In 1980, 75% of PhD. candidates were American born. Today, 75% of PhD candidates are foreign born. Reported today, 47% of Detroiters are illiterate.
As anyone can see, the helicopter was NOT destroyed as reported by the administration. Who leaves a damaged but inoperable piece of state-of-the-art military equipment for the bad guys?
ReplyDeleteGrizz Gives "CPR" To A Dummy
ReplyDeleteI can't find the one where the grizz damn near destroyed the outside of a car.
dwr
He dun dodged the bullet there, Sam.
ReplyDeletedwr
Gov. Butch on vetoing a piece of Legislation he didn't like -- "If this was a horse, I'd shoot it."
ReplyDeleteYou easterners could use a man like this once in a while.
dwr
If Allen were a horse, I'd shoot it.
ReplyDeleteWife calling....
dwr
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteIf Allen were a horse, I'd shoot it.
No doubt, you would. Do a Hemingway instead. That's the manly thing.
Doubtless, you will be heard again.
U.N. - We could, basically, provide ALL of the World's energy with renewables by 2050.
ReplyDeleteForget About Wind & Solar – Natural Gas Is Our Energy Future, Says Policy Expert
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteA Bin Laden Hunter on Four Legs
The identities of all 80 members of the American commando team who thundered into Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden are the subject of intense speculation, but perhaps none more so than the only member with four legs...
Let's Hear it for the Dog
K9-6 in Osama's Bedroom
.
74 75 76
ReplyDelete69 69 69
ReplyDeleteYou like to play with numbers Sam?
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeleteWhat are you doing posting pictures of my girlfrin?
Or just those number?
ReplyDeleteK-9 Hunter-Killers jumping out of Helicopters
ReplyDeleteStealth Helicopters
Wearing night vision goggles
This script is starting to write itself.
Speechless?
ReplyDeleteYou didn't expect me to answer back did you.
But, it's just too far-fetched.
ReplyDeleteNo one would believe it.
ReplyDeleteIn 1981, he directed fellow former child star Mickey Rooney in a TV movie, "Leave 'em Laughing," the story of a man who took in 37 homeless children in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteCooper told the New York Times that he cast the movie mostly with "kids who have never acted before, because they're more real." But he said he was "a lousy director of children."
"I can't wring out of a kid what I should for the good of my films because I won't lie to them or deceive them or shake the bejeezus out of them," he said. "I suffer enough because I think they should be out playing, and so I find ways not to make them unhappy."
Jackie Cooper
Everyone needs a pair of night vision goggles especially the neighbor across the way wondering what I was doing sitting my car for a half hour.
ReplyDeletepeace out
ReplyDeleteRinTinTin with infrared specs.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to bed, now. My day is complete. :)
Just those numbers, Mel.
ReplyDeleteWhite House goes silent on bin Laden raid
ReplyDeletePresident Obama ruled out publicly releasing photographs of the deceased Osama bin Laden on Wednesday, and White House officials said they would give no new details about the raid on his compound in Pakistan, an information clampdown that followed fitful attempts to craft a riveting narrative about the killing of al-Qaeda’s leader...
No More Details
Finally, the White House gets smart and will offer no more details on the raid.
It would have been sufficient to indicate that the navy seals went in and took out bin Laden and that no one on our side was hurt and then given a brief explanation of how he was tracked down.
Instead for the past two days they have been falling all over themselves tryng to correct images put out by PR types trying to constrct a compelling storyline.
Any further info on the operational details may limit what we can do in the future.
Better late than never when it comes to getting smart.
.
Asked Tuesday about the information that led to Bin Laden, Feinstein said, "To the best of our knowledge, based on a look, none of it came as a result of harsh interrogation practices."
ReplyDeleteSen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), who is a member of the Intelligence Committee, had a different interpretation. "The initial thread that they started to pull on came after enhanced interrogation," he said.
"From that you can take it to a debate on where you go with that. But I don't think there's any doubt that it was after enhanced interrogation that they got the initial thread."
CIA Detainee
Hu Dat gonna be gettin' some super secret helo parts purt' soon.
ReplyDeleteWe had a SEAL in my high school class. Built like a barrel, great football player in high school, he said to me one time at a reunion, you wouldn't believe what we do, Bob. What do you do? Can't tell you. After he got out he lay about for awhile, got bored, became a teacher, and went to teach and live in some little village in Alaska. Very nice man.
ReplyDeletedwr
HuDat no doubt has them now. Always first on the scene, everywhere.
ReplyDeletedwr
We could guess.
ReplyDeleteWhat time frame would he have been in?
I have a night vision device. Kinda neat, really. Never used it for anything, other than watching a skunk from the back porch.
ReplyDeleteI was called Sir by some kid in the condo today. Don't know if that made me feel good or not, maybe kinda old, but they are not all drunks. And there is a Japanese couple here, with a cute little kid, invariably professionally polite, whom I've come to know and like. But, we'll be gone in a few weeks.
dwr
I have to give a jump to two cute girls whose car won't start. I'm outside at the University Inn
ReplyDeletebBest Western
HuD
at be everywhere at the same time Sam
dwr
Got 'em going. grrr, all the university girls are running around with light clothing on now that the weather has warmed.
ReplyDeleteThey been in there drinking and listening to the music.
take care, sam
yeah I'll answer back allen, once. You're perverse.
dwr
.
ReplyDelete"From that you can take it to a debate on where you go with that. But I don't think there's any doubt that it was after enhanced interrogation that they got the initial thread."
Yea, like two years later after some'non-enhanced' interrogation.
.
That's right Sammy boy wait until I'm all tucked in to throw me that answer.
ReplyDelete