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."

Monday, April 16, 2012

April 14, 2012, 12:01 a.m. EDT

China and the death of Latin America Commentary:

Investment policies are benefiting only Beijing

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)

More than 40 years ago, I first read Eduardo Galeano’s classic, “Open Veins of Latin America.” Yes, it’s the same book that snarky Hugo Chavez presented to President Barack Obama in 2009. The first sentences of Galeanos’s book remain as starkly comprehensive, and controversial, as ever: “The division of labor among nations is that some specialize in winning and others in losing. Our part of the world, known today as Latin America, was precocious. It has specialized in losing ever since those remote times when Renaissance Europeans ventured across the ocean and buried their teeth in the throats of the Indian civilizations.” 

 What is most incisive about those comments today, however, is not what they say about the past, most recently about U.S. policies, but how accurately they describe China’s current rapacious interest and plans for Latin America at the beginning of its investment curve. In 2009 some 17% of total Chinese foreign direct investment went to Latin America, 90% in raw materials. 

 The growing influx of Chinese wealth has been credited with helping Latin American nations weather the recent financial crisis and expand access to global markets. China has proclaimed its trade and investment policy as an alternate strategy to alleviate poverty in the region. 

 In fact, China’s policies in Latin America are driven by its own industrial base, whose design is to produce more than its domestic economy can consume, so that the nation can flood the rest of the world with hard-currency-earning exports. In order to accomplish this goal, China must import raw materials. 

It is the crudest of beggar-thy-neighbor mercantilism. China buys raw materials and sends them back as competitively manufactured goods. The value-added production from the raw materials extraction process, true to Galeano, is done in China. 

Venezuela, Brazil, and Ecuador are positioned to export progressively more oil to China. With respect to minerals, Latin America has an estimated 25% of the world’s reserves of silver, 30% of its tin reserves, and 45% of its copper reserves. Soy, associated vegetable oils, and fishmeal exports to China are booming. 

Aside from access to raw materials, China’s interest in the region appears directly to try to take advantage of the spending power of Latin America’s emerging middle class by flooding markets with cheap manufactured goods. Latin America also appears to be a wide-open market for contraband products. Pirated music, CDs, DVDs, and imitations of design clothing and footwear are notable examples. 

But if we think of development as a process of diversifying an economy from concentrated assets based on primary products to a diverse set of assets based on knowledge, then China’s easy, unconditional access to Latin America’s raw materials needs to be carefully reconsidered by both the region’s leaders and its citizens. 

It’s dangerous enough for Latin America’s economic development that the long-term boom in raw materials usually rewards those who own the land and the capital. This is not a good sign for trying to increase income equality. 

Nor is it a healthy sign that China’s raw materials focus, when combined with the flood of cheap manufactured goods, poses other negatives. Commodity markets are notoriously volatile, and the long-term trend for prices is negative. But, most significant, Latin American industries are increasingly being out-competed by China in both Latin American export markets, as well as in Latin American regional markets. 

This is the core conclusion of the vast research in “The Dragon in the Room: China and the Future of Latin American Industrialization,” by Kevin Gallagher and Roberto Porzecanski, who argue that market-by-market China’s penetration of world manufacturing markets is exceptionally faster and deeper than Latin America’s on almost any count. Latin American countries are also losing foothold in their own regions and are being all but left behind in high-tech trade in the world economy, they write. 

Those trends could accentuate a pattern of specialization in Latin America that holds back the region’s longer-term prospects for any notion of balanced economic development. China’s trade and investment policy, as opposed to its own domestic policies, makes no claims to promote broad-based development. Restraints on corruption are non-existent. Chinese business practices are famous for ignoring discussions of local labor laws or sourcing locally available products. 

By design, China will not contribute to knowledge-based, value-added innovation and production in Latin America. Chinese investors are perfectly happy with low levels of education among workers in raw materials industries. Liberalization of labor codes will lag. And investment in extractive industry research and development will be kept in China. 

It is difficult not to believe that the Chinese have worked hard to study Chinese-language versions of Galeano’s “Open Veins.” For them the book is not commentary, but rather a “how-to” manual. Tom Thompson is an economic analyst at Regent Group, a Washington-based financial research and economic analysis firm.

Tom Thompson is an economic analyst at Regent Group, a Washington-based financial research and economic analysis firm.

122 comments:

  1. He may be totally right on all that but what does that have to do with love and death, the only two things that amount to anything?

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  2. As a black conservative Tea Party patriot, I have been struggling with what I should do, if anything, in response to the rash of incidents of racial violence resulting from the Martin/Zimmerman case. Folks, a great evil is running the show in our country right now.


    American Thinker Alert

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hard to believe the Chinese will treat them any worse than we did.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Man o man I've had to tread around a lot of boobie droppings these past few days. Maybe Deuce should turn-off anonymous posting so that the befuddled whom can't remember their logins won't stink up the place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rufus.

      It kind of replaces the "like" button that is commonly used on Face Book.

      Delete
    2. hmmm, like "word for word" or "ditto"? Here I was thinking I was hep to the internet lingo...

      Delete
  5. With respect to the main post - rufus made a good point re. the morality of it all. As a national business practice I'm still on the fence. I'm a free trader at heart and I tend to want to keep the government out of business. When considering China that is a funny thought...

    Canada has generally had a resource economy. Take the oil sands for instance. We have multi-national companies digging out the oil from the tar sands at huge environmental (an monetary) expense and shipping (piping) the raw product out of the country for refining. Why not have the government force the value add refining to take place domestically (i.e. Canada and not America)? Heck, why not nationalize the oil industry?

    ReplyDelete
  6. People lose sight of the fact that Brazil is anything But a "free market" country. Oh, and they're also Not an oil "exporter." Including "products" they are a net petroleum Importer.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Canada imports about a million barrels/day of light sweet from, mostly, Africa. It does seem strange to me that they aren't building a big, honking refinery in Alberta, and shipping the products East.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the reason 'they' as in, 'the government', doesn't do it is Canada is a committed free trading nation and the decisions are left up to the private companies. NAFTA also has conditions prohibiting treating US and Mexican firms differently than Canadaian ones.

      Delete
    2. Also, I was told when asking that same question that the Canadian drilling is being done by a lot of smaller companies and this makes refinery build-out more "difficult." I'll make a wild guess and say it's the (domestic) economics. (The enviros would be happier if they were piping (long-haul or short) refined product.)

      Delete
    3. Ash, where do you really get your money?

      bobbo

      (we know Rufus is a retired insurance salesman)

      Delete
    4. Yes, I believe it is very expensive to build and run refineries and I believe there are a lot of smaller companies that drill for oil but I think it is primarily big players, very big players, who are attempting to exploit the oil sands given the long investment horizon and the huge amounts of capital required to play that game. There was even talk about building Nuclear power plants because of the energy required to get at the oil in the tar sands.

      Delete
    5. I own a small business Bob.

      Delete
  8. You too can join the House of Sunny.

    But there is an 'intelligence test'.

    This keeps folks like Rufus and Ash out.

    NEW POST FROM SUNNY TV HERE!!!!

    http://houseofsunny.tv/2012/04/16/sunny-tv-taxes-and-death/#comment-573

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  9. You too can join the House of Sunny.

    But there is an 'intelligence test'.

    This keeps folks like Rufus and Ash out.

    NEW POST FROM SUNNY TV HERE!!!!

    http://houseofsunny.tv/2012/04/16/sunny-tv-taxes-and-death/#comment-573

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  10. Why not have the government force the value add refining to take place domestically (i.e. Canada and not America)? Heck, why not nationalize the oil industry?

    Two words: Industrial Policy.

    (google the history if you're bored.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More than just policy but treaty - NAFTA.

      Delete
  11. The simple-minded answer is that the grey-beard concepts underpinning capitalism, free markets and free trade were evolved in a world very different from the one we have now. One could spend all day itemizing the relevant differences that would suggest a re-think of old ways.

    Starting with Efficient Market Hypothesis that got sucker-punched in 2008, if, indeed it was ever more than anything but a helpful assist from the academics to free the "animal spirits."

    ReplyDelete
  12. Whenever I pose this question I always get the same response - bring the manufacturing base back home.

    Too little. Too late.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The crucial aspect in that lovely concept/question is how?

      Delete
    2. p.s. "too little too late" is a cop out for the future always is before us.

      Delete
  13. And please tell me just why, Maxine, in your own words, just why we should manufacture much of anything, other that maybe some plows and combines.

    Think about this and you just might find yourself wondering, why do we really make all this shit.

    bobbo

    (simplify - quoted from the works of Quirk)

    xxxx


    https://mail.google.com/a/cableone.net/#inbox/136bb193fc94b04e

    Or you can maybe try the above.

    Or you can just look it up yourself.

    You too can join the House of Sunny.

    But there is an 'intelligence test'.

    This keeps folks like Rufus and Ash out.

    NEW POST FROM SUNNY TV HERE!!!!

    http://houseofsunny.tv/2012/04/16/sunny-tv-taxes-and-death/#comment-573

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  14. Max (short for Maxine)Mon Apr 16, 12:15:00 PM EDT

    why we should manufacture much of anything...

    Have to be leaving soon but turn it around: why do you love? Much of the species is ... not particularly loveable.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Please return.

    That is true.

    On the question of why we feel like we should make anything, I send you to Quirk, The Simplifier.

    I KNOW!

    Let's all take off our clothes and get down to it. It is tax day.

    I paid $22,000 in local property taxes.

    I got a refund of a little over $200 from the State of Idaho.

    I paid a little over $2700 to the Feds but this is deceiving as we had this year massive expenses on building a street, and big BIG medical costs.

    I am particularly interested in Rufus, and Ash.

    Did you pay any taxes here Ash, to your old home country?

    bobbo

    (I assume Quirk has avoided taxes all together through some maneuver or other.)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Note: Attention Rufus

    I received a little over $1000, I think it was $1028 from Uncle Sam for some Ag Program or other.

    xxxxx

    Please return.

    That is true.

    On the question of why we feel like we should make anything, I send you to Quirk, The Simplifier.

    I KNOW!

    Let's all take off our clothes and get down to it. It is tax day.

    I paid $22,000 in local property taxes.

    I got a refund of a little over $200 from the State of Idaho.

    I paid a little over $2700 to the Feds but this is deceiving as we had this year massive expenses on building a street, and big BIG medical costs.

    I am particularly interested in Rufus, and Ash.

    Did you pay any taxes here Ash, to your old home country?

    bobbo

    (I assume Quirk has avoided taxes all together through some maneuver or other.)

    ReplyDelete
  17. How would you buy foreign goods if you didn't have a job?

    ReplyDelete
  18. I send the IRS a check every month.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Don't give me that.

    You get a check from Uncle Sam every month....

    How much, coming and going?

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  20. Just guessing, but I think you are a net winner.

    You have to be, with the military retirement.

    It is just another job.

    You get social security too, you paid for that.

    Is there a disability check in the mix?

    You called me a coward, and a draft dodger.

    I feel I may have a right to ask

    I want to show you up for the idiot blow hard you are.

    Falling off a barstool, and bragging about it the rest of your life, and calling other people, not only me, but Ash too, cowards and draft dodgers.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Craig permalink
    April 16, 2012 9:40 am

    Great job Sunny. However, you did miss the important fact that the 48% are not affected by the fear of a govt audit to prove you didn’t cheat those less fortunate folks. After all, someone has to be accountable for all of those kids… Keep up the good work


    xxxx

    Just guessing, but I think you are a net winner.

    You have to be, with the military retirement.

    It is just another job.

    You get social security too, you paid for that.

    Is there a disability check in the mix?

    You called me a coward, and a draft dodger.

    I feel I may have a right to ask

    I want to show you up for the idiot blow hard you are.

    Falling off a barstool, and bragging about it the rest of your life, and calling other people, not only me, but Ash too, cowards and draft dodgers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your reply, you think anyone will not laugh at that?

      Rufus: whence the money you 'send to the government'

      and why is your income so big, having failed at farming,

      and selling some insurance?


      Hmmmm?

      Delete
  22. You're a freakin' idiot. There's no "retirement" for a 3 yr. enlistment. And, no, the only disability I have is a mental disability caused by reading Idahoan idiots on the internet. And, no, I don't give a rip about your finances, and you will learn very little about mine.

    ReplyDelete
  23. It was a lousy poem.

    Quirk confirmed that

    I always trust his judgement, Catholic though he is.

    He is a guy from Detroit I know.

    Though I have never met him.

    And don't much want to.

    He doesn't know what he is doing there, and I don't know either.

    He 'drives round' sometimes.

    I think I was trying to say, some of us men don't give a fig about hair style,

    And are thankful for anyone to have picked our zits.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. you will learn very little about mine.

    Exactly as I thought you shithead.

    xxxxxxx

    It was a lousy poem.

    Quirk confirmed that

    I always trust his judgement, Catholic though he is.

    He is a guy from Detroit I know.

    Though I have never met him.

    And don't much want to.

    He doesn't know what he is doing there, and I don't know either.

    He 'drives round' sometimes.

    I think I was trying to say, some of us men don't give a fig about hair style,

    And are thankful for anyone to have picked our zits.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      I didn't say it was a lousy poem (although even on second reading I fail to get the symbolism of the wind you mentioned). I merely said it was not my cup of tea. I'm more a "splendour in the grass, glory in the flowers" kind of guy especially as I grow older. What I'm not is a literary critic; but even if I were, why would you give a shit what I said as long as you like the poem.

      If you do like it, drop it into that portfolio that will one day turn into Bob's Big Book of Poems. Maybe one day you will become another Emily Dickinson or Axl Rose.

      Sweet Child of Mine


      .

      .

      Delete
  25. Since the old fart Rufus claims to send money to the government every month - his quote - one wonders WHY?

    My wife and I don't do that, we pay four times a year, and once for property taxes.
    And once to the State of Idaho.

    Why is Rufus sending money to Unca Sam EVERY MONTH?

    Does anyone else do that?

    Just askin'.

    And this is the guy that failed at farming then went to selling some insurance, and can't buy a book to read?

    And calls everyone that didn't fall off a barstool dead drunk a coward and a draft dodger?


    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  26. Awhile back I was challenged for alleging that we were improving as people. That might not be precisely correct. But we are becoming an older demographic, thanks to technology, and it looks like the species is retaining a capacity for learning from experience, although daily life routinely obscures, some days invalidates, the long view.

    Women are the more moral sex, making choices in light of others' needs, a study suggests. Men, on the other hand, tend to focus on themselves, the Telegraph reports. The female approach "tends to produce better decisions," says the philosopher who conducted the study. But both sexes become more moral as they get older, he notes. Roger Steare reviewed "Moral DNA test" surveys by some 60,000 volunteers in 200 countries. In the surveys, people assessed the truth of statements such as "I always honor people's trust in me" and guessed at how others would perceive them.

    The study showed that "when it comes to work, men have to grow up, put their ego to one side, and show some humility and compassion," traits which they may have on a personal level. What's more, "obedience decreased with age, while reason increased—a logical occurrence as we make the transition from youth to experience," Steare added, citing a "crossover point" in our "mid-thirties, which is when we mature as adults." Our moral and intellectual capacity peaks in our early 60s, he said.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Bob, are you mixing your meds again? This has been going on a little longer than normal. Please have your wife or dautter do an inventory of the bedside table? Thank you very much in advance.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Gag, he called me a coward and a draft dodger.

    I don't know about the first, but the second is a matter of public record.

    He could 'apologize' but he never will.

    I think you are right, I should drop it.

    But I also can't stand the way this moron has dissed the Jews.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am going to take Gag's advise.

      I am finished with Rufus.

      bobbo

      Delete
  29. Max, that should be alledging, not alleging. Your are right, our society has lost its tenor.

    Metaphor is all there is.

    Look it up under Quirk, and the uses of language.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And I suppose that should be advice, not that anyone cares anymore.

      bobbo

      Delete
  30. When I wrote her back
    Two days ago
    And she said there were two
    Visions
    And clarified it
    For me
    Then I wrote her back
    This was about when her mom dies
    And she told me her vision
    About her mother
    And the cancer of the leg was gone
    And another vision
    Different
    I wrote her back
    And said I have thought too much
    I will let Dante do my thinking now
    I don't care about death any longer
    I will let Dante do my thinking
    And I asked her
    Do some pelotes for me
    She was going to the gym

    ReplyDelete
  31. The tenor of the bar has become at little rough.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Sort-of presidential candidate Roseanne Barr was sickened when she heard Hilary Rosen's comments about Ann Romney. "Rosen lobbed the Romney campaign a fat political softball they could smack over the gender fence," she writes in the Daily Beast, at a time when "Romney was on the ropes with American women, at least the ones with an IQ higher than Ramblin' Rick Santorum's." Now "Mitt the Twit" could pretend to be a champion of mothers everywhere.

    "The media, which are completely clueless about every single issue that affects American women, must have had a shiver run down their nonexistent spine" at the prospect of rehashing the working-moms vs. stay-at-home moms script. We can't let them do that. Sure, Roseanne doesn't believe Ann Romney's tales of harrowing, unassisted motherhood—"Let's find that 'cleaning lady' (if she is documented) and ask HER how many hours she worked"—but this is the kind of "fake issue" both parties use to divide women.

    You go girl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      ...but this is the kind of "fake issue" both parties use to divide women...


      I completely agree.



      You go girl.


      :)

      Unless my memory fails me, I didn't notice the same gusto there when on the other side it was suggested that Rush Limbaugh played the same roll as Rosen when he sabotaged the "assault on religion" issue with his ludicrous comments about Sandra Fluke.


      .

      Delete
    2. Nor will you.

      We now know Sandra Fluck is a 30+ something (possibly lesbian) activist who selectively enrolled at Georgetown to pursue an agenda. So be it and so acknowledged.

      The subject is more complicated and directly related to the radical religiosity that erupts from the Right at decidedly odd times in the form of "god's plan/place for woman - and man" ...

      Coupled with the lingering just below the surface seething hatred of Roe v Wade.

      The last thing I want to do now or here is gin up more juice over the twin rhetorical volcanoes of religion and abortion. Suffice it to say I am deeply suspicious of the conservative position on women in general and reproductive rights in particular. The Fluck incident merely brought to the surface a skepticism that I have long harbored. The Rosen incident was thoughtless at best, or the result of poor judgment at worst.

      The difference being venal vs stupid as Rufus is always saying.

      Delete
    3. As noted by Olympia Snowe in her retirement comments.

      Delete
    4. .

      ...venal vs. stupid...


      The stupid I get in both cases. Venal? I guess I missed something.


      The subject is more complicated and directly related to the radical religiosity that erupts from the Right at decidedly odd times in the form of "god's plan/place for woman - and man" ...


      More complicated only to those who make it so. No, the question is very simple and involves the constitutional right to freedom of religion. The left would love to make it a more complicated issue. Those on the left who talk about it now never talk about abortion rights (that's getting to be a loser if you can believe the polls). They also ignore the moral position of churches on the issue. No, what they talk about is contraception, a red herring.


      Coupled with the lingering just below the surface seething hatred of Roe v Wade.


      People need to realize that over time the moral and ethical standards in the country tend to shift and change. When Roe v Wade initially passed, all the frustration and anger was on the right. The decision became the poster child on the right for judicial activism. People were picketing clinics in large number and doctors were being shot. The Roe v Wade decision was overwhelmingly approved by a majority of US citizens and abortion rights were at their apogee.

      Now, thirty years later, the pendulum seems to be swinging the other way (again, if one can believe the polls) and the frustration and anger seems to be shifting also. It now appears to be mostly on the left.


      But this is all peripheral stuff, brought up by partisans on both sides. No, the real issue that has now been sidetracked by Limbaugh in the one instance is the constitutional right to freedom of religion. Just as the real issue in the other instance that has been to a degree sidetracked by Rosen was a woman's right to choose the lifestyle she wants.

      .

      Delete
    5. Does the rhetorical shift from "right to choose" to "abortion rights" signify a change in your personal position?

      Is it "freedom of religion" or "freedom from religion?" Two different people with two different mindsets.

      Positing a "pendulum swing" is about as specious as credentialing a "war on women." Both are media-driven phenomena - metaphorical one might say.

      I see a conservative base that has a very different concept of the individual, one that is intractably linked to biology as (god's) destiny, and religion as the ultimate polity. Almost nothing about conservative thinking appeals to me anymore. And I looked hard.

      Delete
    6. .

      Does the rhetorical shift from "right to choose" to "abortion rights" signify a change in your personal position?

      I'm not concerned with rhetorical shifts. I'm not concerned with euphemisms, sound bites, or red herrings. In the first instance, I am concerned about constitutional rights and those who would twist that specific issue to air other grievances.

      I am personally against abortion on strictly moral and ethical grounds. However, since Roe v Wade, it has been legally the law of the land. No one denies it is legal. However, demanding of a religious institution (regardless of your personal opinion of that institution) that they fund a procedure they morally oppose is IMO not constitutional. It's one thing to demand your legal rights but it's quite another to then attempt to deny other people theirs.


      Is it "freedom of religion" or "freedom from religion?" Two different people with two different mindsets.

      You describe two views of religion. Obvious but hardly pertinent when judging the constitutionality of an issue.



      Positing a "pendulum swing" is about as specious as credentialing a "war on women." Both are media-driven phenomena - metaphorical one might say.

      You will note my discussion of a pendulum swing was based on trends as indicated by the polls. If you don't accept the polls or want to say they are media-driven that's fine. But then, on the other hand, you can't turn around and use polls to say that Americans approve of the other side of the argument.

      I also note that in the past, you were hardly this skeptical about a GOP 'war on women'.

      :)


      I see a conservative base...


      I can't argue with you on the conservative base as I have my issues with them myself; but I can can argue with you on specific issues.

      .

      Delete
    7. I ceded the "specific issue" couple posts upthread with so be it and so acknowledged on the Fluck episode.

      I moved on to different subjects but you "clung bitterly(?)"

      I noted your change of vocabulary, but you clung.

      I noticed inconsistency in religious formulations, but you clung.

      I noted (earlier) a GOP War on Women that evoked my skepticism of the conservative view of women in society, buy you clung ... to the literal.

      So be it and so acknowledged.

      Delete
    8. .

      I moved on to different subjects but you "clung bitterly(?)"


      Clung bitterly?


      :)


      The initial subject at hand was Roseanne Barr's observation that Rosen's comment was stupid (my word) and the author of the article's (I assume) observation that it was merely the 'kind of "fake issue" both parties use to divide women.'


      I responded to that. You then said that "the subject is more complicated and directly related to the radical religiosity that erupts from the Right at decidedly odd times in the form of "god's plan/place for woman - and man" ...

      Coupled with the lingering just below the surface seething hatred of Roe v Wade.


      The subject? What subject, if not the one we were talking about?This comment represented either an extension of the intial point (which I took it to be) or an 180 left turn which you seem to be suggesting right now.

      In either case, my answers to the questions you asked still apply.

      However, I do apologize for all the clinging.

      :)


      .

      Delete
    9. No, they don't.

      You're very clever with words but your math needs work.

      Delete
    10. Context. The thing that surrounds most "subjects" and imbues them with a layered definition. The Fluck incident, by itself, has a singular definition (according to some), which is freedom of religion. I don't agree completely but ceded the event in order to speak to the larger issues defined by the context of the Fluck episode, not necessarily by the episode itself. So here we are again splitting hairs and playing traffic cop. So be it.

      Delete
    11. I see my Huffington Post link below was printed. After several hours. Previous HP links have been chewed up without posting. More than meets the eye.

      Delete
    12. .

      I don't agree completely but ceded the event in order to speak to the larger issues defined by the context of the Fluck episode, not necessarily by the episode itself.


      If that was what was actually important to you, perhaps you should have started out with that simple statement rather than merely saying "You go girl" which led us off into a conversation that was only tangentially related.

      Just saying.

      .

      Delete
    13. It's a blog. If I tried to rhetorically compensate for every interpretive variant, you would get word salad, which reminds me of some of Ben Stiller's funnier work ... and some of your writing.

      Delete
    14. .

      Mea culpa.

      I apologize for responding to the words you post. In the future, I will try to anticipate what it is you are actually thinking and respond to that instead.

      .

      Delete
    15. I explained my support for Roseanne's comments with the venal vs stupid qualifiers to distinguish the two episodes defining the context under discussion. You claimed not to understand "venal" even though I related it directly to aggressive religiosity and a traditional conservative view of women having a specific place in "god's order." The words stand as they are. No mind-reading required to acknowledge context.

      Delete
    16. .

      From dictionary.com



      ve·nal [veen-l] Show IPA

      adjective
      1.
      willing to sell one's influence, especially in return for a bribe; open to bribery; mercenary: a venal judge.

      2.
      able to be purchased, as by a bribe: venal acquittals.

      3.
      associated with or characterized by bribery: a venal administration; venal agreements.



      ???

      Sorry, I'm still missing it. What is the connection between venality and "aggressive religiosity" and the conservative view of women?

      Context? I won't bother to look that one up.

      .

      .

      Delete
  33. A Melody

    Her skin was tanned
    O so well
    She lived in
    A tact house
    Now a gate community
    Her husband was
    military
    A Commander
    And she wrote to me
    Unhappy
    Because running a plumbing supplies
    Does not make happy
    After retiring
    From service
    When the economy
    Has flushed down the toilet
    But they had fast times
    In Las Vegas
    And ate veal
    When times were good
    Her daughter has two degrees
    From UNLC
    And there is no job
    For her now
    This is called
    Growing up
    Finally
    Her husband never even thought
    Who he might kill
    With the weapons of America
    Nor did it even ever cross her mind

    ReplyDelete
  34. I'm sure WiO will find a way to justify the Israeli soldiers actions in this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL-GmYBNDqY&feature=related

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A street thug. No professionalism. It was clear from the body language, some of those other soldiers were shamed by the fat bully. The easy way that he handled that gun and slammed the guy in the face tells me that he has done that before. I guess by the epaulettes he is either a senior NCO or an officer other than being a piece of shit of course. No wonder the hatred is palpable.

      Delete
  35. NEW YORK—According to a report published Tuesday by the Center for the Study of Goddamn Fucking Shames, 96 percent of the nation's sorry sons of bitches never even saw it coming. The study found that two-thirds of those surveyed didn't stand a chance, 21 percent never would've thought for a second, and 2 percent were just sitting there minding their own business when all of a sudden, whack, right in the back of the head. "Poor bastards," head researcher David Childress said. The report also showed that the remaining 4 percent did manage to see it coming, but before they had a chance to do a damn thing about it, it was too late.

    Study

    ReplyDelete
  36. How many saw it coming and:

    -didn't care

    -didn't know what it was

    -dialed 911

    -defaulted into a metaphorical coma

    -went hunting

    -blamed Bush

    -blamed Obama

    -blamed Ann Romney

    -went quick to the bar to post it??

    ReplyDelete
  37. Conservative Support for the healthcare mandate:

    Moreover, the market for health care is distinctive (if not entirely unique) in several key respects. Virtually all of us will need and obtain health care at some point, but we often cannot predict when or in what ways we will need it. And for the vast majority of us, direct payment for the health care services we obtain would be prohibitively expensive. Yet not obtaining needed medical care can be the difference between life and death.

    These features help explain why, unlike many other markets, insurance is the overwhelmingly dominant means of payment in the health care market. They also explain why Congress has required that individuals be given emergency care without regard to their ability to pay. As a result, and again unlike other markets, uninsured individuals who are unable to pay directly for needed medical services necessarily shift the cost of those services to others -- to health care providers, the government, individuals with insurance, and taxpayers.

    In that way, Congress is not creating a market which it then seeks to regulate. The insurance-based structure of the health care market is already firmly in place. That is why it was well within Congress's discretion to design legislation to operate within, and to address problems posed by, this vast market.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/16/supreme-court-health-care-henry-paul-monaghan_n_1429228.html

    ReplyDelete
  38. Certainly Argentina has big potential. Overall, Argentina ranked third in the world, behind China and the U.S., in potentially recoverable reserves of shale gas with 774 trillion cubic feet, according to a study last year by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    But critics and industry officials say government policies such as high taxes, price caps on home energy rates and unpredictable rule changes like a suspension of tax breaks on production spending have discouraged investment.

    "The government is now in a vicious circle in which it feels it must take increasingly extreme measures to try to resolve problems its own policies are creating," said Aldo Abram, an economist in Buenos Aires. "I don't know where it stops, but this will not solve Argentina's energy problem."

    ReplyDelete
  39. According to Wisconsin's Department of Revenue, property taxes on homes in the state of Wisconsin have decreased for the first time in more than a decade.

    ...

    On April 4, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that after "robust discussions and three days of voting, members of the Milwaukee teachers union have rejected by nearly a 3-to-2 margin a proposal to contribute about 2.6% of their salary to Milwaukee Public Schools next year to help reduce burgeoning class sizes."

    ReplyDelete
  40. Parts of the trial are televised, although key elements will not be – including Breivik's testimony, depriving him of the platform he clearly craves. What has already emerged is a smiling, unrepentant terrorist, weeping only at his own propaganda film.

    One of the most chilling moments was an exchange of handshakes with prosecutors, court officials and the psychiatrist: as if to say "pleased to do business with you", as they greet a man who mercilessly hunted down children to slaughter. But again, Norwegian court protocol was simply being observed, summing up this whole process – no exceptions would be made, however grotesque the crime.

    And as Norway's justice system treats him as any other defendant, the country sends a defiant message that the horrors of July 2011 will not change it.

    ReplyDelete
  41. If there were some kind of award for the most misleading statements in a single four-minute speech, President Obama would have earned it with his weekly address this weekend, timed for tax day.

    “We can’t afford to keep spending more money on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans,” Mr. Obama said.

    ...

    Here is some language from the actual text of the Buffett Rule legislation, which Mr. Obama calls “simple”:

    SEC. 59B. FAIR SHARE TAX.

    ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.— ‘‘(1) PHASE-IN OF TAX.—In the case of any

    high-income taxpayer, there is hereby imposed for a taxable year (in addition to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to the product of—

    ‘‘(A) the amount determined under paragraph (2), and

    ‘‘(B) a fraction (not to exceed 1)— ‘‘(i) the numerator of which is the excess of—

    ‘‘(I) the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income, over

    ‘‘(II) the dollar amount in effect under subsection (c)(1), and ‘‘(ii) the denominator of which is the

    dollar amount in effect under subsection (c)(1).

    ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF TAX.—The amount of tax determined under this paragraph is an amount equal to the excess (if any) of—

    ‘‘(A) the tentative fair share tax for the taxable year, over

    ‘‘(B) the excess of— ‘‘(i) the sum of—

    ‘‘(I) the regular tax liability (as defined in section 26(b)) for the tax- able year,

    ‘‘(II) the tax imposed by section 55 for the taxable year, plus

    ‘‘(III) the payroll tax for the taxable year, over

    ‘‘(ii) the credits allowable under part IV of subchapter A (other than sections 27(a), 31, and 34).

    Got that? As President Obama says, “It’s simple.”

    ReplyDelete
  42. On this day in 1962, Walter Cronkite became the lead news anchor of the CBS Evening News, succeeding Douglas Edwards. He was often referred to as "the most trusted man in America."

    ReplyDelete
  43. Granny gone bad

    Silver haired and sweet faced, Darlene Mayes looks like many grannies but according to police, she is one of Oklahoma's biggest drug kingpins.

    ReplyDelete
  44. (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sat patiently through diatribes, interruptions and even the occasional eye-ball roll at the weekend Summit of the Americas in an effort to win over Latin American leaders fed up with U.S. policies.

    He failed.

    The United States instead emerged from the summit in Colombia increasingly isolated as nearly 30 regional heads of state refused to sign a joint declaration in protest against the continued exclusion of communist-led Cuba from the event.

    The rare show of unity highlights the steady decline of Washington's influence in a region that has become less dependent on U.S. trade and investment thanks economic growth rates that are the envy of the developed world and new opportunities with China.


    We continue with the deadly jackassery in the ME.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Chinese companies eager to pump oil, harvest soy and build badly needed infrastructure are showering them with offers of investment and financing.

    With the U.S. economy still struggling to stay above water and foreign aid budgets seen dwindling, Washington has fewer sticks to brandish and fewer carrots to offer.


    Some foreign aid budgets are not dwindling.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Strippers in nun costumes performed for the former Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi, at one of the infamous "Bunga Bunga" parties at his mansion near Milan, a witness told a court yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Free
    Zimmermann.

    He was beaten up pretty bad, worse than Lame Stream Media reports, and really shouldn't even be charged.

    Anyone want to go demo?

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  48. was in a pub on Saturday night. Had a few drinks........


    I noticed two very large women by the bar.

    They both had strong accents so I asked "Hey, are you two ladies from Scotland?"

    One of them screamed "It's WALES you IDIOT!"

    So, I immediately apologized and said "Sorry, are you two whales from Scotland?"

    That's all I remember.....

    ReplyDelete
  49. After two(+) years of Obama ....

    Here's your change!



    January 2009


    TODAY


    % chg


    Source

    Avg.. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S.


    $1.83


    $3.44


    84%


    1







    Crude oil, European Brent (barrel)


    $43.48


    $99.02


    127.7%


    2










    Crude oil, West TX Inter. (barrel)


    $38.74


    $91.38


    135.9%


    2










    Gold: London (per troy oz.)


    $853.25


    $1,369.50


    60.5%


    2










    Corn, No.2 yellow, Central IL


    $3.56


    $6.33


    78.1%


    2










    Soybeans, No. 1 yellow, IL


    $9.66


    $13..75


    42.3%


    2










    Sugar, cane, raw, world, lb. Fob


    $13.37


    $35.39


    164.7%


    2










    Unemployment rate, non-farm, overall


    7.6%


    9.4%


    23.7%


    3










    Unemployment rate, blacks


    12.6%


    15.8%


    25.4%


    3










    Number of unemployed


    11,616,000


    14,485,000


    24.7%


    3










    Number of fed. Employees


    2,779,000


    2,840,000


    2.2%


    3










    Real median household income


    $50,112


    $49,777


    -0.7%


    4










    Number of food stamp recipients


    31,983,716


    43,200,878


    35.1%


    5










    Number of unemployment benefit recipients


    7,526,598


    9,193,838


    22.2%


    6










    Number of long-term unemployed


    2,600,000


    6,400,000


    146.2%


    3










    Poverty rate, individuals


    13.2%


    14.3%


    8.3%


    4










    People in poverty in U.S.


    39,800,000


    43,600,000


    9.5%


    4










    U.S.. Rank in Economic Freedom World Rankings


    5


    9


    n/a


    10










    Present Situation Index


    29.9


    23.5


    -21.4%


    11










    Failed banks


    140


    164


    17.1%


    12










    U.S.. Dollar versus Japanese yen exchange rate


    89.76


    82.03


    -8.6%


    2










    U.S.. Money supply, M1, in billions


    1,575.1


    1,865.7


    18.4%


    13










    U.S.. Money supply, M2, in billions


    8,310.9


    8,852.3


    6.5%


    13










    National debt, in trillions


    $10,627


    $14,052


    32.2%


    14

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      And then Obama said, "Let there be light."


      And there was light.

      .

      Delete
  50. Just take this last item: In the last two years we have accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as during the rest of our entire nation's history.

    Over 27 times as fast. Metaphorically speaking, if you are driving in the right lane doing 65 MPH and a car rockets past you in the left lane.
    27 times faster, it would be doing 7,555 MPH!

    ReplyDelete
  51. Sources:

    (1) U.S. Energy Information Administration; (2) Wall Street Journal; (3) Bureau of Labor Statistics; (4) Census Bureau; (5) USDA; (6) U.S. Dept. Of Labor;
    (7) FHFA; (8) Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller; (9) RealtyTrac; (10) Heritage Foundation and WSJ; (11) The Conference Board; (12) FDIC;
    (13) Federal Reserve; (14) U.S. Treasury

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      (15) Dorling Kindersly, Math Made Easy p. 278


      .

      Delete
  52. So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 29 months -- so you'll have eleven months to come up with an answer.

    Every statement in this email is factual and directly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable.

    "You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out."

    ReplyDelete
  53. My first girl friend had hips just like this

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGOhveZW8us

    and she picked zits off my back

    and I must stop writing her now

    Her smile was the same and her teeth perfect and she held her hips like that though she could not sing quite as well

    I must make up my mind to stop thinking about such, and, being older, make up my mind to die.

    Sex and death are the same

    If you understand the poets

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  54. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGOhveZW8us

    My first girl friend had hips just like this and held them the same and her teeth and smile a match, though she could not sing quite as well, and I must stop writing her, or I will die, death and sex being the same.

    Only those with some years understand this but the poets told us, for those who can read.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  55. A BIZARRE BIT OF U.S. NAVAL HISTORY - Part I

    ABOUT WHICH MOST AMERICANS KNOW “ZILCH”

    Written by Kit Bonner, a noted Naval Historian




    From November 1943, until her demise in June 1945, the American
    destroyer 'William D. Porter' was often hailed - whenever she entered
    port or joined other Naval ships - with the greetings: "Don't shoot,
    we're Republicans!'

    For a half a century, the US Navy kept a lid on the details of the
    incident that prompted this salutation. A Miami news reporter made the
    first public disclosure in 1958 after he stumbled upon the truth while
    covering a reunion of the destroyer's crew. The Pentagon reluctantly
    and tersely confirmed his story, but only a smattering of newspapers
    took notice.

    In 1943, the Willie D as the Porter was nicknamed, accidentally fired a
    live torpedo at the battleship Iowa during a practice exercise. As if
    this weren't bad enough, the Iowa was carrying President Franklin D.
    Roosevelt at the time, along with Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, and
    all of the country's W.W.II military brass. They were headed for the
    Big Three Conference in Tehran, where Roosevelt was to meet Stalin and
    Churchill.

    Had the Porter's torpedo struck the Iowa at the aiming point, the last
    60 years of world history might have been quite different. The USS
    William D Porter (DD-579) was one of hundreds of assembly line
    destroyers built during the war. They mounted several heavy and light
    guns, but their main armament consisted of 10 fast-running and accurate
    torpedoes that carried 500-pound warheads. This destroyer was placed in
    commission on July 1943 under the command of Wilfred Walker, a man on
    the Navy's fast career track.

    In the months before she was detailed to accompany the Iowa across the
    Atlantic in November 1943, the Porter and her crew learned their trade,
    experiencing the normal problems that always beset a new ship and a
    novice crew.

    The mishaps grew more serious when she became an escort for the pride
    of the fleet, the big new battleship Iowa. The night before they left
    Norfolk, bound for North Africa, the Porter accidentally damaged a
    nearby sister ship when she backed down along the other ship's side and
    her anchor tore down the other ship's railings, life rafts, ship's boat
    and various other formerly valuable pieces of equipment. The Willie D
    merely had a scraped anchor, but her career of mayhem and mishaps had
    begun.

    Just twenty four hours later, the four-ship convoy, consisting of Iowa
    and her secret passengers, the Willie D, and two other destroyers, was
    under strict instructions to maintain complete radio silence. Since
    they were going through a known U-boat feeding ground, speed and
    silence were the best defense.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Part II

    Suddenly, a tremendous explosion rocked the convoy. All of the ships
    commenced anti-submarine maneuvers. This continued until the Porter
    sheepishly admitted that one of her depth charges had fallen off her
    stern and exploded. The 'safety' had not been set as instructed.
    Captain Walker was watching his fast track career become side-tracked.

    Shortly thereafter, a freak wave inundated the ship, stripping away
    everything that wasn't lashed down. A man washed overboard and was
    never found. Next, the fire room lost power in one of its boilers.

    The Captain, at this point, was making reports almost hourly to the
    Iowa about the Willie D's difficulties. It would have been merciful if
    the force commander had detached the hard luck ship and sent her back
    to Norfolk. But, no, she sailed on.

    The morning of 14 November 1943 dawned with a moderate sea and pleasant
    weather. The Iowa and her escorts were just east of Bermuda, and the
    president and his guests wanted to see how the big ship could defend
    herself against an air attack. So, the Iowa launched a number of
    weather balloons to use as anti-aircraft targets.. It was exciting to
    see more than 100 guns shooting at the balloons, and the President was
    proud of his Navy.

    Just as proud was Admiral Ernest J King, the Chief of Naval Operations;
    large in size and by demeanor, a true monarch of the sea.

    Disagreeing with him meant the end of a naval career. Up to this time,
    no one knew what firing a torpedo at him would mean. Over on the Willie
    D, Captain Walker watched the fireworks display with admiration and
    envy.

    Thinking about career redemption and breaking the hard luck spell, the
    Captain sent his impatient crew to battle stations. They began to shoot
    down the balloons the Iowa had missed as they drifted into the Porter's
    vicinity.

    Down on the torpedo mounts, the crew watched, waiting to take some
    practice shots of their own on the big battleship, which, even though
    6,000 yards away, seemed to blot out the horizon. Lawton Dawson and
    Tony Fazio were among those responsible for the torpedoes. Part of
    their job involved ensuring that the primers were installed during
    actual combat and removed during practice. Once a primer was installed,
    on a command to fire, it would explode shooting the torpedo out of its
    tube.


    Dawson, on this particular morning, unfortunately had forgotten to
    remove the primer from torpedo tube #3. Up on the bridge, a new torpedo
    officer, unaware of the danger, ordered a simulated firing. "Fire 1,
    Fire 2," and finally, "Fire 3." There was no Fire 4 as the sequence was
    interrupted by an unmistakable whooooooshhhhing sound made by a
    successfully launched and armed torpedo. Lt H. Steward Lewis, who
    witnessed the entire event, later described the next few minutes as
    what hell would look like if it ever broke loose.

    Just after he saw the torpedo hit water on its way to the Iowa and some
    of the most prominent figures in world history, Lewis innocently asked
    the Captain, 'Did you give permission to fire a torpedo?' Captain
    Walker's reply will not ring down through naval history, although words
    to the effect of Farragut's immortal 'Damn the torpedoes' figured
    centrally within.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Part III

    Initially there was some reluctance to admit what had happened, or even
    to warn the Iowa. As the awful reality sunk in, people began racing
    around, shouting conflicting instructions and attempting to warn the
    flagship of imminent danger.

    First, there was a flashing light warning about the torpedo which
    unfortunately indicated the torpedo was headed in another direction.

    Next, the Porter signaled that the torpedo was going reverse at full
    speed!

    Finally, they decided to break the strictly enforced radio silence. The
    radio operator on the destroyer transmitted "'Lion (code for the Iowa),
    Lion, come right." The Iowa operator, more concerned about radio
    procedure, requested that the offending station identify itself first.

    Finally, the message was received and the Iowa began turning to avoid
    the speeding torpedo.

    Meanwhile, on the Iowa's bridge, word of the torpedo firing had reached
    FDR, who asked that his wheelchair be moved to the railing so he could
    see better what was coming his way. His loyal Secret Service guard
    immediately drew his pistol as if he was going to shoot the torpedo. As
    the Iowa began evasive maneuvers, all of her guns were trained on
    the William D. Porter. There was now some thought that the Porter was
    part of an assassination plot.

    Within moments of the warning, there was a tremendous explosion just
    behind the battleship. The torpedo had been detonated by the wash
    kicked up by the battleship's increased speed.

    The crisis was over and so was Captain Walker's career. His final
    utterance to the Iowa, in response to a question about the origin of
    the torpedo, was a weak, "We did it."

    Shortly thereafter, the brand new destroyer, her Captain and the entire
    crew were placed under arrest and sent to Bermuda for trial. It was the
    first time that a complete ship's company had been arrested in the
    history of the US Navy.

    The ship was surrounded by Marines when it docked in Bermuda, and held
    there several days as the closed session inquiry attempted to determine
    what had happened.

    Torpedo man Dawson eventually confessed to having inadvertently left
    the primer in the torpedo tube, which caused the launching. Dawson had
    thrown the used primer over the side to conceal his mistake. The whole
    incident was chalked up to an unfortunate set of circumstances and
    placed under a cloak of secrecy.

    Someone had to be punished. Captain Walker and several other Porter
    officers and sailors eventually found themselves in obscure shore
    assignments. Dawson was sentenced to 14 years hard labor.

    President Roosevelt intervened; however, asking that no punishment be
    meted out for what was clearly an accident.

    The destroyer William D. Porter was banished to the upper Aleutians. It
    was probably thought this was as safe a place as any for the ship and
    anyone who came near her.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Part IV (Final)

    She remained in the frozen north for almost a year, until late 1944,
    when she was re-assigned to the Western Pacific. However, before leaving
    the Aleutians, she accidentally left her calling card in the form of a
    five-inch shell fired into the front yard of the American Base
    Commander, thus rearranging his flower garden rather suddenly.

    In December, 1944, the Porter joined the Philippine invasion forces and
    acquitted herself quite well. She distinguished herself by shooting
    down a number of attacking Japanese aircraft. Regrettably, after the
    war, it was reported that she also shot down three American planes.
    This was a common event on ships, as many gunners, fearful of
    kamikazes, had nervous trigger fingers.

    In April, 1945, the destroyer Porter was assigned to support the
    invasion of Okinawa. By this time, the greeting "Don't Shoot, We're
    Republicans" was commonplace and the crew of the Willie D had become
    used to the ribbing.

    But the crew of her sister ship, the USS Luce, was not so polite in its
    salutations after the Porter accidentally riddled her side and
    superstructure with gunfire.

    On 10 June, 1945, the Porter's hard luck finally ran out. She was sunk
    by a plane which had (unintentionally) attacked it from underwater. A
    Japanese bomber made almost entirely of wood and canvas slipped through
    the Navy's defense.

    Having little in the way of metal surfaces, the plane didn't register
    on radar. A fully loaded kamikaze, it was headed for a ship near the
    Porter, but just at the last moment veered away and crashed alongside
    the unlucky destroyer. There was a sigh of relief as the plane sunk out
    of sight, but then it blew up underneath the Porter, opening her hull
    in the worst possible place.

    Three hours later, after the last man was off board, the Captain jumped
    to the safety of a rescue vessel and the ship that almost changed world
    history slipped astern into 2,400 feet of water. Not a single soul was
    lost in the sinking. After everything else that happened, it was almost
    as if the ship decided to let her crew off at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  59. We The People, PLEASE WATCH! 13 Minutes long....

    I had never heard of this amazing true story - the film isn't very long
    and is really well done. The audio goes real low in a couple of spots but
    just turn up the volume and keep watching. You'll be glad you did.

    This is a film production, but the incident really did happen. Athens is
    about 20 or 25 miles north Cleveland, Tenn.


    Please watch this to the end. This is the real reason why we have the 2nd
    Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

    A couple of years ago someone I know from Tennessee recounted a
    conversation with an old man who had been a boy at the time of the Battle
    of Athens.
    His father had taken a part in it. The man remembered how his mother had
    been up all night worrying about her husband. In the morning the man said
    that his father came home, put his shotgun behind the kitchen door and sat
    down to his breakfast, and no one in the family ever said another word about
    that night.

    Battle Of Athens

    ReplyDelete
  60. Matthew 18:20

    But the question is, why two or three of us only?

    Why not one, only?

    This is a saying of a gift, and to found a church.

    Jesus did not found a church, the writers who came after him did.

    Jesus was always alone.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Matthew 18:20

    But the question is, why two or three of us only?


    Why not one only?

    Or the many?

    This is a saying of a gift, and to found a church.

    Jesus did not found a church, the writers who came after him did.

    Jesus was always alone.

    Thus sex and death are one.

    Only the light.

    To which we all approach.

    With the help of the women.

    Because we can't do it alone.

    They need our help, too.

    Those that think on such things, might create a trinity out of this.

    But Jesus died alone.

    ReplyDelete
  62. The goal is to appeal to wider audiences than several recent co-productions including Fox Searchlight's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan," which only grossed $7.1 million in China and $1.2 million in the U.S. Fox Searchlight is owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

    Another worry: seeing popular Chinese movies like "Let the Bullets Fly," a 2010 action-comedy from China Film Group and Emperor Motion Pictures, only play in limited release in the U.S. "Bullets" is China's highest-grossing Chinese film of all time but has brought in roughly $61,000 from 15 locations in the U.S. since its release earlier this year.

    "The audience for this film is your geek, fan boy and cult film crowds," said Jason Pfardrescher of Well Go USA Entertainment, the studio distributing the film in America. "It's definitely not mainstream America."

    ReplyDelete
  63. Eros and thanatos ...

    Someone's been watching Assault on Precinct 13 again.

    ReplyDelete
  64. As we walk through the Department of Energy’s field office in remote Carlsbad, Susana Martinez is explaining the science of nuclear waste management. At the federally managed Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, about 25 miles east of here and more than 2,000 feet below the dusty, barren surface, the government deposits much of its radioactive waste.

    ...

    If Martinez is to be believed, then, her next campaign will be for reelection in 2014. After that?

    Well, that could be interesting.


    No Susana

    ReplyDelete
  65. And when I walked
    Just recently
    Over to Rosauer's
    With the wolf prints on my mind
    And the street wet and shining
    Under the lamps
    From the recent rain
    And no wind in the trees
    I bought a bottle of wine
    To help take my pain away
    And the young women
    At the counter smiled at me
    And I said
    Moving my head towards hers
    When I saw our community
    And she moved back
    I said, very low
    "I think you are Swedish"
    Very silently
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    And I said
    "You are like my daughter"
    She laughed and tossed her hair
    Which went to her shoulders
    She said yes, "partly"
    "Irish is the other part?"
    "I think so" she said.
    "But I don't know."
    "For sure."
    I said, we founded Dublin.
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    But with more red
    I said "I have been listening to Celtic Women"
    "Do you know them?"?
    "Oh yes" she said.
    "Do you know True Colors?"
    "Oh yes!"
    She said.
    I will remember her a long time.
    I said to her
    "You are beautiful."
    She said, almost embarrassed
    "O thank you"
    Young womanly, beaming.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  66. Goddammit I always fuck it up

    That should end

    "She took my pain away."

    And when I walked
    Just recently
    Over to Rosauer's
    With the wolf prints on my mind
    And the street wet and shining
    Under the lamps
    From the recent rain
    And no wind in the trees
    I bought a bottle of wine
    To help take my pain away
    And the young women
    At the counter smiled at me
    And I said
    Moving my head towards hers
    When I saw our community
    And she moved back
    I said, very low
    "I think you are Swedish"
    Very silently
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    And I said
    "You are like my daughter"
    She laughed and tossed her hair
    Which went to her shoulders
    She said yes, "partly"
    "Irish is the other part?"
    "I think so" she said.
    "But I don't know."
    "For sure."
    I said, we founded Dublin.
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    But with more red
    I said "I have been listening to Celtic Women"
    "Do you know them?"?
    "Oh yes" she said.
    "Do you know True Colors?"
    "Oh yes!"
    She said.
    I will remember her a long time.
    I said to her
    "You are beautiful."
    She said, almost embarrassed
    "O thank you"
    Young womanly, beaming.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  67. Where are you Quirk when I need you?

    Goddammit I always fuck it up

    That should end

    "She took my pain away."

    And when I walked
    Just recently
    Over to Rosauer's
    With the wolf prints on my mind
    And the street wet and shining
    Under the lamps
    From the recent rain
    And no wind in the trees
    I bought a bottle of wine
    To help take my pain away
    And the young women
    At the counter smiled at me
    And I said
    Moving my head towards hers
    When I saw our community
    And she moved back
    I said, very low
    "I think you are Swedish"
    Very silently
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    And I said
    "You are like my daughter"
    She laughed and tossed her hair
    Which went to her shoulders
    She said yes, "partly"
    "Irish is the other part?"
    "I think so" she said.
    "But I don't know."
    "For sure."
    I said, we founded Dublin.
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    But with more red
    I said "I have been listening to Celtic Women"
    "Do you know them?"?
    "Oh yes" she said.
    "Do you know True Colors?"
    "Oh yes!"
    She said.
    I will remember her a long time.
    I said to her
    "You are beautiful."
    She said, almost embarrassed
    "O thank you"
    Young womanly, beaming.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  68. Cause the poem is really not anything but an old man's pain

    That is what it is about.

    Where are you Quirk when I need you?

    Goddammit I always fuck it up

    That should end

    "She took my pain away."

    And when I walked
    Just recently
    Over to Rosauer's
    With the wolf prints on my mind
    And the street wet and shining
    Under the lamps
    From the recent rain
    And no wind in the trees
    I bought a bottle of wine
    To help take my pain away
    And the young women
    At the counter smiled at me
    And I said
    Moving my head towards hers
    When I saw our community
    And she moved back
    I said, very low
    "I think you are Swedish"
    Very silently
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    And I said
    "You are like my daughter"
    She laughed and tossed her hair
    Which went to her shoulders
    She said yes, "partly"
    "Irish is the other part?"
    "I think so" she said.
    "But I don't know."
    "For sure."
    I said, we founded Dublin.
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    But with more red
    I said "I have been listening to Celtic Women"
    "Do you know them?"?
    "Oh yes" she said.
    "Do you know True Colors?"
    "Oh yes!"
    She said.
    I will remember her a long time.
    I said to her
    "You are beautiful."
    She said, almost embarrassed
    "O thank you"
    Young womanly, beaming.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  69. She Took My Pain Away

    And when I walked
    Just recently
    Over to Rosauer's
    With wolf prints on my mind
    And the street wet and shining
    Under the lamps
    From the recent rain
    And no wind in the trees
    I bought a bottle of wine
    To help take my pain away
    And the young women
    At the counter smiled at me
    And I said
    Moving my head towards hers
    When I saw our community
    And she moved back to me
    I said, very low
    "I think you are Swedish"
    Very silently
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    And I said
    "You are like my daughter"
    She laughed and tossed her hair
    Which went to her shoulders
    She said yes, "partly"
    "Irish is the other part?"
    "I think so" she said.
    "But I don't know."
    "For sure."
    I said, "we founded Dublin."
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    But with more red
    I said "I have been listening to Celtic Women"
    "Do you know them?"?
    "Oh yes" she said.
    "Do you know True Colors?"
    "Oh yes!"
    She said.
    I will remember her a long time.
    I said to her
    "You are beautiful."
    She said, almost embarrassed
    "O thank you"
    Young womanly, beaming.


    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  70. women should be woman, obviously, the the early line.

    Quirk, is it any good, because I am drunk as a Swedish skunk

    bobbo

    xxxxx


    And when I walked
    Just recently
    Over to Rosauer's
    With wolf prints on my mind
    And the street wet and shining
    Under the lamps
    From the recent rain
    And no wind in the trees
    I bought a bottle of wine
    To help take my pain away
    And the young women
    At the counter smiled at me
    And I said
    Moving my head towards hers
    When I saw our community
    And she moved back to me
    I said, very low
    "I think you are Swedish"
    Very silently
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    And I said
    "You are like my daughter"
    She laughed and tossed her hair
    Which went to her shoulders
    She said yes, "partly"
    "Irish is the other part?"
    "I think so" she said.
    "But I don't know."
    "For sure."
    I said, "we founded Dublin."
    Her hair was like that of my daughter
    But with more red
    I said "I have been listening to Celtic Women"
    "Do you know them?"?
    "Oh yes" she said.
    "Do you know True Colors?"
    "Oh yes!"
    She said.
    I will remember her a long time.
    I said to her
    "You are beautiful."
    She said, almost embarrassed
    "O thank you"
    Young womanly, beaming.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  71. A woman's hips
    My mother told me
    Can sway like the sea
    They can give you birth
    And will take it away from thee

    bobbo

    xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  72. A woman's hips
    My mother told me
    Can sway like the sea
    They can give you birth
    And will take it away from thee

    bobbo

    xxxx

    Sex = Death

    Same

    ReplyDelete
  73. Rufus, you sad old guy, do you have inkling of what it is about?


    Any idea of what true colors is about, or why your mother gave birth to you, or what death is?

    Any idea?

    But, the divine mercy is as constant as the divine creativity, so it is said.

    But damn it gets tough.

    ReplyDelete
  74. You really should stop drinking.

    ReplyDelete