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."

Sunday, January 29, 2012

John Bolton, Wrong as Usual




114 comments:

  1. Ron Paul is looking better and better to me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hate to say it ...

    but I will, anyway.


    Told you so.


    Come November ...

    Gary Johnson

    Maintaining a strong national defense is the most basic of the federal government’s responsibilities. However, building schools, roads, and hospitals in other countries are not among those basic obligations. Yet that is exactly what we have been doing for much of the past 10 years.

    Given trillion-dollar deficits, America simply cannot afford to be engaged in foreign policy programs that are not clearly protecting U.S. interests. There is nation-building and rebuilding to be done right here at home.

    Our military should remain the most potent force for good on Earth.

    To do this, we should resort to military action as the last option and only as provided in the Constitution.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Q, those NGOs, they need to stop putting "boots on the ground" and start using local proxies.

    The idea that a military dominated government would allow foreigners to foster insurrection, and then let them come and go as they please, without paying the consequences for their political activities ...

    A combination of hubris and comedy on the part of the NGOs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Egypt's neighbor, Israel takes it a step further, it does not let 'em in. Does not even give the foreigners the opportunity to ferment mischief.

    Let alone prosecute those that do.

    (Reuters) - Noam Chomsky, a leading American intellectual highly critical of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, was denied entry to the West Bank on Sunday by Israeli immigration officials.

    ////

    (www.defence.pk/)-Israel has barred a group of Palestinian firefighters from attending a ceremony where they were to be honoured for their help in battling a deadly forest fire last week.

    At least 10 Palestinians were invited to attend the event in northern Israel, where the four-day fire left 41 people dead and ravaged large swaths of forest.

    But Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament and one of the organisers of the ceremony, said the event was cancelled when three of the Palestinians were refused entry permits to Israel on Tuesday.

    He said the military had turned the firefighters away on security grounds.

    "It's a theatre of the absurd," he told The Associated Press news agency. "This is a regular day-to-day practice of the occupation, and it exposes its ugly face."

    ////

    (Bloomberg) -- Israeli authorities denied entry to 85 pro-Palestinian activists at Ben-Gurion International Airport today, while about 200 other passengers from American and European cities were barred from flying to Israel after the government provided foreign airlines with names of suspected activists, police said.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Obama’s first opinions about Netanyahu were correct. He should go with them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nov 10, 2011 – Two Irish activists, due to return to Ireland after they were detained in Israel, have been prevented from leaving the country for a second time ...

    The equivalency of actions, par for the course, in that region of the whirled.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Herman Cain was going to appoint Mr Bolton to a high position in the government, as I recall.

    Mr Cain has since endorsed Newt.

    The levity continues.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Israel/Palestinians:

    Uprooting of Palestinian Olive Trees

    Taken Question
    Office of the Spokesperson
    Washington, DC

    Question Taken at the October 13, 2011 Daily Press Briefing
    October 14, 2011
    Question: Is the State Department aware of Israeli settlers uprooting Palestinian olive trees? What is the State Department’s reaction?

    Answer: We are aware that Israeli settlers are again destroying Palestinian trees. The United States condemns and calls for an immediate end to such actions. We note the Government of Israel is working to address the situation. Those perpetrating these provocative acts should be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.



    PRN: 2011/1726

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anyone who knows that area of the world realizes the economic, cultural and historic value of olive trees, some over a thousand years old. It is a source of pride and wealth to people that have been there for generations.

    Israeli settlers, supported by the Israeli army routinely antagonize the Palestinians by cutting down their olive trees. You can go to youtube and see plenty of examples. We would not put up with such vandalism and outrageous behaviour in this country. What would we do if European immigrants to the US started raiding Canadian orchards and cut down their trees for spite?

    You can find plenty of examples on youtube.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That noise you hear...

    Kristallnacht

    ... authorities looked on without intervening ...

    ReplyDelete
  11. (AP) — Israel's democracy has long been a point of pride for its citizens — setting the country apart in a region of autocratic governments. But veteran settler leader Benny Katzover says democracy is getting in the way of what he believes is a higher purpose.

    Katzover has been at the forefront of a religiously inspired movement to take over the West Bank, hilltop by hilltop, helping build a network of settlements over four decades that are now home to hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

    Today he argues that democratic principles, such as equality before the law, have become an obstacle to deepening Jewish control over all of the biblical Land of Israel — though he stops short of calling for dismantling Israel's democratic institutions. They are disintegrating on their own, he says, and losing legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

    "We didn't come here to establish a democratic state,"
    Katzover said in an interview with The Associated Press.
    "We came here to return the Jewish people to their land."

    Katzover's comments appear to reflect a growing radicalization among some right-wing religious groups. They come at a time of a rise in attacks on Palestinians by vigilante settlers and an increase in complaints by liberal Israelis that the country's right-wing parliament and government have launched an unprecedented attack on the pillars of democracy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Title of the post:

    "John Bolton, Wrong as Usual"

    But as usual, the obsession with "that shitty little country" comes to the fore.

    Is this the Elephant Bar or the Kasbah Moroccan Lounge?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Why in the whirled would you quote Frenchmen, speaking in England, about the Middle East, anoni?

    Can you not find quotes from the region that support your anti-Israel rants?

    ReplyDelete
  14. That all of the countries, in Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Southwest Asia and North Africa are shitty, a matter of course and of no argument.

    The question, why should the US spend ever more blood and treasure, there?

    ReplyDelete
  15. No, I have no intention of intruding on your area of expertise.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Deuce Ron Paul is looking better and better to me.

    This is a one party blue state, so I might as well write Paul in.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I just advocate that there is an equivalency in the governments, of the Arabia, Palestine and across the Islamic Arc.

    That the Muslim governments, the Alawi government and the Jewish government all behave in a similar manner.

    Then use Haaratz, the JPost and the AP wire, to make my case.

    Easy pickings.

    Why it is in the supposed interest of the United States, to pick and choose winners in that region?

    Which political elements we should support, and the motivation for it, the question I return to, time and again.

    Why does the US subsidize the Egyptian Army?

    Why does the US subsidize the Pakistani Army?

    Why does the US maintain an Army in Afghanistan?

    Why does the US continue to arm the Saudis?

    Why does the Federal government spend more on anti-missile defense in Israel than on ethanol production in the US?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous: But as usual, the obsession with "that shitty little country" comes to the fore.

    Newt's your boy, Anonobob. He says the Palestinians are a "made up" people. So when the IDF rolls over their legs, those are only imaginary legs and screams.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Gasoline up a penny and a half, overnight, to $3.42/gallon. And, it's still January - a mild Jan. at that.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I believe that US interests have not been well served by the foreign policies it has pursued, in the Middle East, since 1967.

    I think the US needs to reallocate our limited resources.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Here's a nice little summary of Ron Paul's positions on immigration.

    Mexico gets far too little attention in the Republican Presidential Debates. It's almost as if our attention is intentionally drawn away from that train wreck.

    ReplyDelete
  22. You have to "pay attention" to Israel, because it's Israel that keeps the bible-quoting, gun-toting Evangelicals supporting endless wars in Arabia. The longing for armageddon, and the rapture, or some such assininity.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Deuce: What would we do if European immigrants to the US started raiding Canadian orchards and cut down their trees for spite?

    Those Canuckistanis will probably cut down their own maple trees next time they lose the Stanley Cup.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wasp:

    Do you have proof that the Israelis ran over the man? You link to photos from a Palestinian website which make that claim but do you know for a fact that it happened?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Why does the US constantly search for military solutions, when there are other ways to solve the challenges of the Whirled?

    Why does the US fret over the Afghan/Pakistan border and ignore the challenges on the Rio Grande?

    Why does the US government allow the free flow of weapons into Mexico, arming both the cartels and the Army, there?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Do you have proof that the Israelis ran over the man? You link to photos from a Palestinian website which make that claim but do you know for a fact that it happened?

    After further review I retract that rumor.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Deuce: Obama’s first opinions about Netanyahu were correct. He should go with them.

    Bibi is proposing the current security fence as the border of the Palestinian state, thus locking in 10% of the West Bank for Israel.. This will immediately put him at odds with hardliners on both sides.

    ReplyDelete
  28. A visiting Martian might, after a brief perusal of our history, conclude that for the last one hundred and fifty years the U.S. has been nothing but a vast, drug-running, criminal enterprise.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Rufus: Gasoline up a penny and a half, overnight, to $3.42/gallon. And, it's still January - a mild Jan. at that.

    QE3 will do that.

    ReplyDelete
  30. DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - A new team of U.S. trade enforcers will make countries think twice about putting up unfair barriers to American exports, President Barack Obama's top trade official said.

    U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk told Reuters that the team, announced by Obama last week, will include intelligence officials as well as representatives of other agencies in order to beef up U.S. resources and crack open markets.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This should scare the hell out of you.

    Demand for Gasoline is DOWN 6.4% YOY (demand has been running down for over a year.)

    Yet, the Price of Gasoline is UP 10%.

    Simply put, the price of U.S. Gasoline is being set OUTSIDE the U.S. The Worldwide Oil Shortage is causing the price of gasoline to escalate, irregardless of falling U.S. Demand.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This is a problem in America.

    Ritalin Gone Wrong

    US children, especially boys, are being medicated at alarming rates.

    ReplyDelete
  33. We're not going to hit "Crisis" stage this year, because Obama will Draw Down Hard on the "Strategic" Reserves again in a couple of months.

    But, you can only go to your "Savings Account" so many times. Eventually, it goes "empty," also.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Most recent personal anecdote.

    The teacher wanted to prescribe Ritalin for the boy but as it turns out, what he really needed was an eye exam and glasses.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I don't get scared by prices that rise to equalize supply and demand. I get scared by price controls that cause supply to disappear.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Your bottom 1/3rd is getting outbid by the emerging middle class in the Non-OECD nations.

    Your assignment, if you care to accept, is to figure out to get more fuel-efficient cars into the hands of the lower classes.

    ReplyDelete

  37. Title of the post:

    "John Bolton, Wrong as Usual"

    But as usual, the obsession with "that shitty little country" comes to the fore.

    Is this the Elephant Bar or the Kasbah Moroccan Lounge?

    Sun Jan 29, 08:13:00 AM EST


    The Obama administration has continued the foolish policies established under George Bush and his neocon advisers. They got us deeply involved in ME wars that have weakened the US militarily and economically. When George Bush entered office, the US federal debt was $5.7 trillion. Today, it is north of $16 trillion. We fought a ten year war against Iraq and today Iraq is no better off than they were under Saddam. Lose your financial security and you lose your military security.

    ReplyDelete
  38. An argument can be made that if government would get out of the subsidy and regulation businesses, the free market could work more efficiently to get those fuel efficient cars to those lower class families.

    This might mean that we have to take our medicine. (ie. Obama not dipping into the strategic reserve)

    ReplyDelete
  39. from AIPAC:
    Please urge your members of Congress to support the U.S. commitment of $3.075 billion in security assistance to Israel for fiscal year 2012. With the Middle East in turmoil, the aid to Israel is absolutely vital to her security and well being. For Congress to support anything less than the full U.S. commitment to Israel's security would send the wrong message to the enemies of both our nations and would weaken Israel exactly at a time when she needs to be strong.

    Israeli GNP: $210 billion
    Israeli unemployment: 6.4%,
    Palestinian unemployment in the West Bank is 16.5% and 40% in Gaza

    Why is it our problem to be tithed a religious state’s defense?

    ReplyDelete
  40. The "free market" will work. However, sometimes it takes many years for it to get its job done.

    The wealthier, "new-car" buyers are just now starting to buy more efficient models. It will be three, or four years before those more fuel-efficient vehicles get into the "used" car market.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Rufus: The wealthier, "new-car" buyers are just now starting to buy more efficient models. It will be three, or four years before those more fuel-efficient vehicles get into the "used" car market.

    My 2010 Focus has a built-in MPG calculator, sometimes on the freeway I can get 'er up to 42 MPG.

    ReplyDelete
  42. It's not so much the $3 B, as it is that we have to give money to all the other ME countries to "show that we're not playing favorites."

    ReplyDelete
  43. Deuce: Why is it our problem to be tithed a religious state’s defense?

    Especially military aid to the fourth largest exporter of military arms in the world. Oh, that's right, because if we don't, we hate Joos.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Cain Endorses Newt Gingrich for President

    He likes Newt's attitude towards women.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Sudanese rebels say they are holding nearly 30 Chinese workers following a battle with Sudan's army in the state of South Kordofan, which borders newly independent South Sudan.

    Perils of empire.

    ReplyDelete
  46. .

    Egypt's neighbor, Israel takes it a step further, it does not let 'em in. Does not even give the foreigners the opportunity to ferment mischief.

    I better idea I should think. If you are not going to allow the NGO's to do what they do, it is better to not let them in in the first place, or to kick them out, in Egypt's place, rather than to throw them in jail.

    Besides this is how authoritarian governments always address internal dissent, place the blame on outside rabble rousers.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  47. .

    Israel's democracy has long been a point of pride for its citizens — setting the country apart in a region of autocratic governments. But veteran settler leader Benny Katzover says democracy is getting in the way of what he believes is a higher purpose.

    Much could be said of the US. We have our share of Benny Katzovers here.


    One minor point of light, the Supremes recently ruled law enforcement has to show probable cause and get a warrant before attaching GPS tracking devises to your car.

    Way too little, way too late, but something.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  48. .

    Which political elements we should support, and the motivation for it, the question I return to, time and again.

    Why does the US subsidize the...



    I'm not denying there is a host of reasons, some good, some bad, mostly all inconsistent, but the one overriding reason IMO is that it feeds the military/industrial complex. There are a lot of bucks involved in selling jets to the ME.

    And heck, it's not the pols money. To them, its this utopian horn-of-plenty supplied by the American people or merely some paper being printed up on demand.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  49. Not to mention the $3T-$4T indirect costs.

    ReplyDelete
  50. .

    Little-known fact: Obama's failed stimulus program cost more than the Iraq war


    It's a very short article and it leaves more questions than it answers.

    There are no footnotes explaining where the numbers came from. It references the CBO but offers no context, no clue as to when they said it, why they were asked to do it, and what the details were.

    The CBO typically constructs cost estimates based on the info it is provided. It can, in some cases, result in garbage in garbage out, so you have to see at least broad details to see if the numbers are worth anything. The CBO is used by both sides of the political spectrum.

    I expect the $3 to $4 trillion dollar cost estimates I've seen for the Iraq war are high-balled and include cost estimates that are way high and some costs that may have occurred anyway, Iraq war or no.

    However, I imagine the $709 billion is lowballed. I suspect it consists of mainly DOD numbers. Does it contain the billions in ongoing health and medical costs for all those military injured and crippled during the war, a cost we will be paying for decades and which I suspect his tracked in other agencies like HHS? Does it include the billions in foreign aid we have poured into Iraq to rebuild the infrastructure we destroyed and which is more than likely covered under State. I suspect with a little thought you could come up with other examples.

    The rest of the article is pure political rhetoric. It is made up of broad statements that would force anyone using critical thinking to pause.

    For instance, comparing war to stimulus spending is in itself a little odd. What do they have in common except both were authorized using barrowed money. In the words of the song, "War, what is it good for? Absolutley nothing."
    The NRRA was designed (poorly) to stimulate GDP.

    The author says the NRRA cost $100 billion, a nice round sum, more than the Iraq war. The NRRA cost was set at $787. As of September 2011, 15% of the funds (about $115 billion) hadn't been assigned and billions more have not been spent by the entities receiving funds. The government threatened to take those funds back.

    We can all find something to complain about in NRRA. My main concern is that the priorites were set wrong and infrastructure spending was pretty much ignored. Many on the right denounce the auto bailout while on the left it is applauded as savings thousands of jobs. Almost $300 billion of NRRA spending was for tax cuts, something most seemed to like.

    The balance of the linked article is merely political filler. The author uses the questionable (IMO) $709 billion for the war and compares it to total federal spending, to Medicare spending, as a percentage of total debt, and then for heaven's sake to total state and local spending.

    The ploy is obvious, the comparisons meaningless.

    The Iraq war and the NRRA should be judged independently. They should be judged on their own merits, not using one as justification or rationalization for the other. Let's face it, both were funded by barrowed money.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  51. The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.

    ReplyDelete
  52. .

    The last post under Anonymous was from me.

    Not sure why Quirk didn't appear as the screen name.

    And I couldn't delete it and start over.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  53. Mostly Peaceful Oakland Occupiers Mostly Peaceful To The Tune Of 300 Arrested

    Oh! So you majored in Sociology AND you protest with Occupy. I'll have the Grand Slam breakfast please

    ReplyDelete
  54. How to Hate like a Pro:

    1. Communication

    Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Well, hating is just as effective without the stick. There’s nothing more unnerving than a creepy, unexpected whisper. So next time a guy pushes too close to you on the train, just inch up to his earhole and whisper something confusingly random like “I collect staplers” or “Kittens make me cry.” Pretty sure you’ll get the space you need.

    Anon-2 (also the two before)

    ReplyDelete
  55. Teddy Roosevelt once said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

    SO jew WANNA play ROUGH!, Say HayLO to my leetle Friend!

    ReplyDelete
  56. .


    How to Hate like a Pro:

    1. Communication

    Teddy Roosevelt once said...


    ...Anon-2 (also the two before)




    Hate?

    Rather bizarre.

    If there was a point, I would suggest this Anonymous failed to make it.

    There is something to be said for clearly stating what you mean.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  57. The common number for direct cost is $800B, but I expect the indirect costs will push the $3T-$4T mark.

    FWIW. Somebody slopped together a real poor effort - post-Sunday morning latte?? My advice is don't even think about it.

    Anon-2

    ReplyDelete
  58. No Point. At all. Just humorous.

    "I collect staplers."

    I'd probably get arrested trying that.

    Back to your huddle folks.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Before I go, big fan of Gary Johnson. Thinking of writing him in. But outsiders in Washington - not historically very effective.

    Anon-2

    ReplyDelete
  60. This anon brought up the stimulus costs to show that its part in the debt runup vs the cost of war.

    Trying to bring a little balance. Not comparing the two directly.

    Like you said debt is debt.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Congrats.

    Another bash Israel thread.

    Bash the jews.

    Yep.

    Nothing changes.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Scrubbing the “Protocols of the Elders of Ron Paul”

    Ron Paul lackeys forgot a cardinal rule of politics:

    It’s always the cover-up that gets you in the end.

    ReplyDelete
  63. .

    No Point. At all. Just humorous.

    "I collect staplers."



    My bad.

    Things can get a little confusing when there are more than one Anonymous on at a time and you're not sure who the post is directed at or who is actually posting for that matter.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  64. Romney has easily outspent Gingrich on advertising here. His campaign on Sunday released a new ad comprised entirely of a 1997 clip of NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw reporting on Gingrich's ethics violations as speaker.

    ...

    "I would fear that Obama would have more ammunition to use on Gingrich," Cynthia Hudson, a Romney supporter from Navarre, told The Washington Examiner after watching the ad. "Romney has more of a chance of beating Obama and that is what I, as a voter, was looking for."

    Later in the day, Romney traveled down the Gulf Coast to Panama City, where he held a rally at a shipyard.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Newt Gingrich's suggestion that we establish a 51st state on the moon is wonderful reminder of the nature of dreams and ambitions and of how, in most people, they tend to mellow with age to the point of vanishing.

    It was delightful, the disjunction between the former speaker's proposal and his years. Whatever you may think of a colony on the moon, how refreshing that a man pushing 70 would give voice to the kind of gee-whiz "let's put on a show" ambition that you might expect to hear from a 12-year-old.

    And why not? Why should dreams be downsized with maturity, anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  66. No doubt Deborah Scroggins believes she just published a dual biography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, former Dutch parliament member, and Aafia Siddiqui, jailed al Qaeda terrorist, and so she did.

    ...

    "But" -- and here's where we perhaps approach an evolving mainstream consensus on Shariah and other Islamiana -- "I also learned that Westerners who want to keep the Muslim world under Western rule also have used Islamic attitudes toward women not so much to help free Muslim women as to justify the West's continued domination of Muslim men."

    Huh? Women-centric worldview aside, I think what Scroggins is saying is that honesty about Islam is the New Western Imperialism. No wonder Ayaan Hirsi Ali became Public Enemy No. 1.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Doug!! How goes the wife?

    Sarah Palin:

    "Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left"

    riiiight tactics of the left eh? Anybody remember who got Swift Boated??

    ReplyDelete
  68. Anybody remember who got Swift Boated??

    Paybacks for Bork getting Borked, and Thomas getting Thomased.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Somebody that is dumb enough to watch TV watch Fox at 9pm eastern Dale is telling me there is something up about Obama.

    'Chinese Candlelight' and, get this, 'Desert Fox' have been good to us. Last night "Jam" in the liquor bar, tonight the same!!!


    Ron Paul is looking better and better to me.

    Deuce has been drinking, again.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Quirk said...

    .

    The last post under Anonymous was from me.

    Not sure why Quirk didn't appear as the screen name.

    And I couldn't delete it and start over.

    .

    Sun Jan 29, 01:07:00 PM EST


    A likely tale by a man trying to wash his guilt away.

    ReplyDelete
  71. MAYBE the screen gods belched "Quirk" out of their system, like the old river gods would reject the guilty, by having them float, while the innocent were allowed to sink in the river and be accepted?

    ReplyDelete
  72. If this bar were likened unto a river, it would be a river after an application of rotenone, the fish rejected of the gods, white, and belly up, floating to the sea.

    niggers, jews and sigma nus -- that is Ron Paul in a nutshell.

    As shown by more than a decade of news letters.

    Ignorant, racist, anti-semitic and craving votes of the imagined underclass.

    So stupid he doesn't even realize what his idiotic jury nullification crap would really do.

    The casino calls...

    ReplyDelete
  73. Meanwhile, since the end of last year, world temperatures have fallen by more than half a degree, as the cold ‘La Nina’ effect has re-emerged in the South Pacific.

    ‘We’re now well into the second decade of the pause,’ said Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. ‘If we don’t see convincing evidence of global warming by 2015, it will start to become clear whether the models are bunk.

    And, if they are, the implications for some scientists could be very serious.’

    ReplyDelete
  74. Mark your calendar. On Sunday, May 20th, the sun is going to turn into a ring of fire. It's an annular solar eclipse--the first one in the USA in almost 18 years.

    ...

    You can also make a handy solar projector by criss-crossing your fingers waffle-style. Rays of light beaming through the gaps will have the same shape as the eclipsed sun.

    ...

    For more information about this eclipse, including maps and timetables, please visit eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov.

    ReplyDelete
  75. “We expected to see the start of the zonal flow for Cycle 25 by now, but we see no sign of it,” states Frank Hill of the U.S. National Solar Observatory, who recently co-authored another paper in the field. “This indicates that the start of Cycle 25 may be delayed to 2021 or 2022, or may not happen at all.”

    The upshot is chilling: “If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we’ll see for a few decades,” Hill states. “That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth’s climate.”

    The notion of another Little Ice Age, as happened in the last half of the 1600s, is no longer dismissed. Asks the National Solar Observatory: “An immediate question is whether this slowdown presages a second Maunder Minimum, a 70-year period with virtually no sunspots [which occurred] during 1645-1715.”

    ReplyDelete
  76. Today, the Space and Science Research Center, (SSRC) in Orlando, Florida announces that it has confirmed the recent web announcement of NASA solar physicists that there are substantial changes occurring in the sun's surface. The SSRC has further researched these changes and has concluded they will bring about the next climate change to one of a long lasting cold era.

    Today, Director of the SSRC, John Casey has reaffirmed earlier research he led that independently discovered the sun's changes are the result of a family of cycles that bring about climate shifts from cold climate to warm and back again.

    "Yes, as soon as my research revealed these solar cycles and the prediction of the coming cold era with the next climate change, I notified all the key offices in the Bush administration including both parties in the Senate and House science committees as well as most of the nation's media outlets. Unfortunately, because of the intensity of coverage of the UN IPCC and man made global warming during 2007, the full story about climate change is very slow in getting told.


    Cooling In A Few Years

    ReplyDelete
  77. West Virginia today is mostly an erosional plateau carved up into steep ridges and narrow valleys, but 300 million years ago, during the Carboniferous Period, it was part of a vast equatorial coastal swamp extending many hundreds of miles and barely rising above sea level. This steamy, tropical quagmire served as the nursery for Earth's first primitive forests, comprised of giant lycopods, ferns, and seed ferns.

    ...

    An intriguing story of climate change is recorded in the rocks which comprise the geological formations laid down during the Carboniferous Period. Coal deposits play an important role in this record.

    ...

    Average global temperatures in the Early Carboniferous Period were hot- approximately 20° C (68° F). However, cooling during the Middle Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about 12° C (54° F). As shown on the chart below, this is comparable to the average global temperature on Earth today!


    Carboniferous Period

    ReplyDelete
  78. 16. Joe Hill

    I have a wacky theory that furnace in my basement might be affecting the temperature in my Living Room but my real smart neighbor with a PhD tells me it is all the carbon dioxide I am exhaling that really affects the climate in my living room. One of us is an idiot.


    :)

    ReplyDelete
  79. January 25, 2012

    Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
    Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
    I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impactsthe Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right toreligious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be
    “of, by, and for the people,” has just dealt a heavy blow to a
    lmost a quarter of thosepeople

    the Catholic population

    and to the millions more who are served by theCatholic faithful.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week thatalmost all employers,
    including Catholic employers,
    will be
    forced
    to offer their
    employees’ health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion
    -inducing drugs, andcontraception. Almost all health insurers will be
    forced

    to include those “services” in the
    health policies they write.

    ...

    And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith wemust commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, andreligious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing isimpossible.

    Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience,to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress
    in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration’s decision.


    Religious Liberty

    ReplyDelete
  80. It's common sense: to make insurgents quit the fight or to deter other people from joining them, to understand their appeal, we must know what makes them tick. This is easier said than done as we Americans face a mental barrier of our own creation--we insist on approaching insurgency (and counterinsurgency) as a political activity.

    ...

    A complete psychological conceptualization of insurgency would require rigorous and comprehensive primary source data from as many insurgencies as possible, preferably all of them. This is, of course, unattainable.

    ...

    Five major categories of motives inspire individuals to consider association with an insurgency, associate with it, or actually join. Based on Maslow's Hierarchy of human needs, three of them can been seen as part of higher order motivation: fulfillment, empowerment, and enrichment. Two are lower order: social obligation and survival.

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  81. Most Reverend Peter A. Libasci, Bishop of Manchester, and other leaders of Catholic institutions in New Hampshire are denouncing the recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) intends to implement a rule that mandates that coverage for sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception be included in virtually all health plans, regardless of whether the employer or the insured individual has a moral objection to such drugs and procedures. Bishop Libasci said the edict represents an untenable attack on religious liberty and a radical incursion into freedom of conscience.

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  82. Hakim Awad's mother sent her regards to her son, proudly describing him as the perpetrator of the Itamar attack and that he was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences.

    Awad's aunt then proceeded to describe her nephew as a "hero and a legend."

    The unusual broadcast was reported by the Israel-based media watchdog organization Palestinian Media Watch.

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  83. “The oversight committee is investigating the Department of Justice, which is very different than his appearances before the Judiciary Committees in which they’re asking how things are going at Justice. What we’ve discovered in our investigations is a pattern of cover-up [and] delay.

    ...

    A total of 103 members of the House have called for Holder’s resignation or firing, expressed “no confidence” in Holder via a formal House Resolution, or both. Two sitting governors, two U.S. senators and all the major Republican presidential candidates join those 103 congressmen in not trusting Holder.

    Many of those who have called for Holder’s resignation have pointed out that Holder claiming that he didn’t read his memos is a sign that he’s admitting incompetence to avoid charges of corruption.

    ReplyDelete
  84. "the casino calls"...

    ...to those willing to pay the idiot tax

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  85. Israeli settlers, supported by the Israeli army routinely antagonize the Palestinians by cutting down their olive trees. You can go to youtube and see plenty of examples. We would not put up with such vandalism and outrageous behaviour in this country. What would we do if European immigrants to the US started raiding Canadian orchards and cut down their trees for spite?

    You can find plenty of examples on youtube.


    What if the Canadians were shooting rockets at us periodically, and blowing up shit whenever the chances looked propitious? What if the Canadians had taken sacred pledge to push us into the Gulf of Mexico? What if they blew up our favorite pizza joint? What if they hated our guts, and wanted to kill us all, and would too, if they were able? What if God had told them in some book it was their sacred duty to do this. What would we do then?

    You can go to You Tube and see the 'Palestinians' doing all sorts of shit, if you want to.

    ....

    Sam you are on a roll. I got a big chuckle out of that English school teacher.

    What school marm hasn't longed for the red button on occasion?



    By the way, all students should be forced to adhere to some minimal dress code. Raises the grade point average.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Top 3 stupidest things we use to judge:

    1. Taste in entertainment.
    2. Political alignment
    3. Where you shop.

    ReplyDelete
  87. All the students wear uniforms down here.

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  88. WE are ahead so far, Ash. The laurel leaves go to those who care to dare.


    Ash, google Circling Raven Golf Course.

    You will like!!

    ReplyDelete
  89. Greens fees are all-inclusive, and include a cart with GPS

    Does that mean you got a global positioning satellite device on your club cart?

    Do golfers really get that drunk, that they don't know where they are?

    ReplyDelete
  90. Maybe that GPS device is so the boys in the clubhouse can go find guys like Ash when they meander off into the woods, and get lost.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Most obnoxious quote of '11:

    Glen Rice is a wonderful man. He’s a wonderful guy. You want (Sarah Palin) to be with somebody like [Dennis] Rodman getting up … in there. Pushing her guts up in the back of her head! …Glen Rice is a nice, mellow, docile man, non-threatening guy. You want someone like Rodman — yeah baby! Let’s get that donkey in here now. [laughter] Just imagine Palin with a big old black stallion ripping. Yeehaw! [I]n life in general you know … everybody got to get that out of their system when they get out of college,” he said. “If you’re a black man, every white girl, every uppity middle class … everybody got to get their share of love. She could always get boned out by a black person, a vote to bang her. Other than a vote to run office, the only thing she can do … she’s not a bad person because she likes black people at least in her. Sarah Palin … she met the ‘wombshifter.’

    — Mike Tyson on ESPN radio

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  92. Top 3 penetratingly brilliant quotes of all time:

    1. “Nothing in life has any real meaning except the meaning you give it.” — Tony Robbins

    2. “There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.” — Young Guns

    3. “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.” — Thomas Sowell

    ReplyDelete
  93. What's wrong with our teenagers?

    A leading theory points to changes in energy balance as children eat more and move less.

    Well, duh.

    Our Juliets (as parents longing for grandchildren will recognize with a sigh) may experience the tumult of love for 20 years before they settle down into motherhood.

    there is even some evidence that higher IQ is correlated with delayed frontal lobe development

    heh, I'm not sure what to make of this article, except he's a little weak on the Bard.

    Maybe if we'd just stay children all our lives we'd get it?

    The entry into adulthood is a kind of a fall, so the poets say.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Even the Justice Department has only lobbied the U.S. Congress to record Internet Protocol addresses assigned to individuals--users' origin IP address, in other words. It hasn't publicly demanded that companies record the destination IP addresses as well.

    In Washington, D.C., the fight over data retention requirements has been simmering since the Justice Department pushed the topic in 2005, a development that was first reported by CNET. Proposals publicly surfaced in the U.S. Congress the following year, and President Bush's attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said it's an issue that "must be addressed."

    So, eventually, did FBI director Robert Mueller.

    ReplyDelete
  95. But what be the cup
    And what be the lip?
    And what be the slip
    That makes the quote hip?

    ReplyDelete
  96. Listening to Bolton, he has it right.

    The world is more complex, Bolton says, than some of the wishful simplistic folk here give it credit for being.

    We should have done it ten years ago, he says.

    That's what I thought.

    I probably got it from him. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  97. It means life is extraordinarily unpredictable, Bob.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Is this the Elephant Bar or the Kasbah Moroccan Lounge?

    Pass the hash.

    What would we do if European immigrants to the US started raiding Canadian orchards and cut down their trees for spite?

    Deuce is slowly slipping into ratworld.

    This is one of the crapper's lines, calling the Jews Europeans.

    Which they aren't.

    What happened?

    O, something about Rome, and some dispersion, and pogroms and, the holocaust, and....stuff.

    And when they go to the only place they know of as 'home' they are called Europeans.

    Ron Paul is the candidate. It's all there in the newsletters: niggers, jews and sigma nus.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Surely is unpredictable, life, for surely.

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  100. So Where Is The Great Constitutionalist, Ron Paul, When It Comes To This Important Issue?

    I don't know, never have heard him speak about it.

    He knows we should let a jury do just whatever it is pleased to do, but has he given an opinion on this?

    ReplyDelete
  101. Sunny TV

    Why watch TV when you can watch Sunny TV?

    ReplyDelete
  102. .


    Good, it will help keep you off the streets.


    .

    ReplyDelete