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."

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Pity one of the victims of Hillary Clinton's new found allies in Syria.

Bashar al-Assad has been warned to implement a UN-backed peace plan to end more than a year of violence in Syria, amid growing scepticism at the lack of international resolve to tackle the bloodiest crisis of the Arab spring.


Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, issued the threat at a conference of the Friends of the Syrian people in Istanbul on Sunday, but there was little evidence of coherent international action if he does not comply. In any case, Clinton has no clue about what is going on in Syria and what will happen if we get involved.



WARNING: This video is not pretty. It is a pro-Assad civilian being executed by what would be one of our new found allies.




NOW LISTEN TO CLUELESS CLINTON:

163 comments:

  1. Get out of the Middle East and stay out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Which side is innocent? Which side is guilty.....

    In Syria the answer could make your head spin...

    What we do know is the following.

    The Syrian government has tortured, murdered, raped and dismembered men, women and children to achieve it's political ends.

    We do know that the "rebels" have killed Government troops and when captured, Syrian secret police.

    The total number of murdered civilians is not known but it is thought to be about 15,000 at a minimum, w/as many as 500,000 now refugees..

    We do know that syria has a history of violence towards it's own citizens that is comparable to a police state.

    we do know that the Obama administration has ignored the secular rebels, the non-moslem brotherhood ones...

    They have not gotten any support that would have supported their non-violent efforts at reform, they were cut to the quick by hillary and obama.

    Obama has not followed thru with efforts that would have limited assad in lebanon as well.

    This lack of spine by Obama in lebanon has lead for the continuation of 250 million in aid & has allowed hezbollah to take over the lebanese government without any penalty.

    Obama has helped assad's grip on power by not holding syria to account for it's illegal nuke program (with iran and north korea) and by not holding syria's feet to the fire for it's work in helping destabilize Iraq.

    All of this happened without mentioning SYria's helping of the radical hamas and direct aid to hezbollah

    Syria is a criminal police state with allies of Russia, Iran, North Korea and deals in terror and death across the middle east.

    With the blood of thousands of its' own citizens on it's hands, thousands of Americans on it's hands and thousands of Lebanese (from the ex-president on down), to thousands of Israelis on it's hands it's hard to have sympathy for this dictator and his secret police.

    Is the Moslem brotherhood an enemy of assad?

    Sure is...

    Do I like them?

    sure dont...

    Has Obama screwed the pooch in syria when he had an opportunity to support a secular opposition?

    Sure has

    so now we have the present situation...

    a police state mowing down civilians and a rebel group coming to the rescue...

    nazis on the right? and nazis on the left.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deuce says get out of the middle east...


    How lame.


    Deuce we got into the middle east and created arab nationalism as a result of the Islamic attacks on the American colonies.

    As America got on it's feet the Moslems of the middle east started attacking the proto-American nation.

    it was the arab attacks on our shipping that gave us the boot in the ass to create a navy and marines.

    "get out of the middle east" is naive.

    America has been apart of the middle east even before the middle east knew what a "nation" was called.

    it was America that taught and led the arabs to nationalism after the ottomans were conquered.

    it was America that strived to teach these unteachable arabs about nation building...

    btw this was all before America helped jews rebirth Israel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have no business there. We cannot control events. If they attack us we, we hit them back. What they do to each other is not our concern. We intervened in Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran and Kuwait. It is not our job to teach them anything about democracy and voting.Scroll back to the previous post and we can see what we know and do in elections.

      Delete
    2. Morning All Everyone have nice Easter?
      I see the main headlines over the weekend dominated by the usual nonsense and surprise surprise Syria, some links.

      Shelling, mortars mark Syria deadline day -activists

      http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/10/uk-syria-idUKBRE83602D20120410
      Not looking good for Annan’s peace plan it seems, lets see what develops today. Neither side wants a ceasefire it seems.

      And in Libya

      Libya halts cash for ex-fighters over corruption

      http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/04/09/uk-libya-corruption-idUKBRE8380R220120409
      "The corruption is too much," NTC spokesman Mohammed al-Harizy told Reuters on Monday. "Some of the people on the lists aren't even alive."

      And its taken them this long to realise this.

      Delete
  4. A whore trumping up another war on a nation that has done nothing to the US. Add Syria to the list of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Iran.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I dream of B-52 strikes.

    On somebody.

    But not Israel.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You dream of things, others do things, you didn’t. Keep dreaming.

      Delete
    2. deuce: We have no business there. We cannot control events. If they attack us we, we hit them back

      America is in HUNDREDS of nations. If you advocate an isolationist America do not expect that America will be the world leader it has been. You simplistic jingle does not resonate with any political leader except Ron Paul, of whom hold almost zero support from any sizable portion of the electorate.



      Deuce: What they do to each other is not our concern.


      To a degree, unless they enable terrorists that hurt our interests or our allies


      Deuce: We intervened in Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Iran and Kuwait. It is not our job to teach them anything about democracy and voting.Scroll back to the previous post and we can see what we know and do in elections.


      There is no doubt America sticks it's nose in many places that the locals dont like. No need to limit your isolationist self to your short list, why not include south america, europe and asia?

      Why should America care about Japan? Or anyone but themselves.

      The issue you are screaming for is not a middle eastern issue. is it an issue about what defines "america".

      You seem to fixate on the MIddle East. But your calls for isolationism really is a broader fortress America call.

      I seem to recall that was a policy (failed) once before that was attempted

      Like it or not Deuce, America is engaged the world.

      Delete
    3. If the US focused on the Americas and used its wealth and intellectual resources in the Americas, it would be a marvel.

      Delete
  6. McCain visiting

    The American republican party has an organisation it funds to ship people in to other countries to destabalise the country and demand the American brand of democracy (that will be the rebels then)

    Yes Americans visiting their mercenaries - to bolster troop spirits

    And Lieberman - a democrat - he is just like Blair and Clegg - they claim to represent other parties views against the right -

    Yes they grey men are on the rise - and Koffie Annan disgraces himself travelling with right wing Americans who are funding the terrorists in Syria

    Would Americans like it Russia and China starts funding American people to rise against their government in America

    Would William Hague like it if Russia and China started funding British people and sending us arms to stand up against the coalition ?

    Would Koffie Annan visit Britain to bolster the China/Russia rebels fighting the coalition -

    No doubt if Scots vote for independence - we will have a Hague funded rebellion taking control of Scotland - all rebels having white faces but not one Scottish person amongst them - and Koffie Annan will shake their hand and tell them to keep up the good work on behalf of America

    And anyone who speaks out against Hague - deported to America - all condoned by Koffie Annan

    Koffie Annan is no Ghandi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would Americans like it Russia and China starts funding American people to rise against their government in America


      Actually they have and they do...

      Delete
  7. I have seen, four or five times now, the great Deuce, hesitate, not knowing where he is, back track, not knowing, feeling that, I dumb shit, shouldn't have mentioned it, what to do now....

    You are a wonderful man, open...

    ReplyDelete
  8. And you call me a racist, you from Virginia, who has said Lincoln was the worst President.

    I like talent, you have that.

    But you could be a killer in a way I could never be.\

    Fuck you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have had 44 presidents. One of them managed to lose control of civil society and get 700,000 Americans killed while they were trying to kill other Americans. On a percentage basis, Lincoln destroyed the economy of half the country. He hired a general that by todays standard would be held for war crime on a scale that dwarfs the outrages committed in the Balkans. This same president wanted to deport all the negro slaves back to Africa. He arrested those that objected to his tyrrany and excesses. Every other country on the American continent managed to end slavery without a civil war. Which of the other 43 US president has a worse record than your idol, A. Lincoln?

      Delete
    2. … but correct me if I am wrong. You are the same blogger that accepted condolences from fellow posters over your announcement and fabrication that your wife was dying of cancer?

      Delete
  9. A difficult situation, however, Obama chooses to ignore our treaty obligations under the UN Charter and directly violate the Charter's collective-security provisions flatly prohibiting the use of military force against another member nation (this time Syria) in the absence of an actual or imminent attack upon the US by Syria. The public has tired of wars - lives lost, money spent, questionable results.

    The Syrian opposition is messy and may well contain elements that we don't like. But how does one like the Assad regime -- the father killed around 10K in one city when there was opposition and the son is adding to his total daily. Plus the regime has supported terrorism. So, not clear there are angles on either side (not that the French considered us angles when we fought to be independent of England).

    Mr. Obama's primary goal is to get reelected. He seems to want to avoid any foreign policy action that might run a risk (see his comment to Russian PM). While he probably wants to avoid a "lead from behind" criticism, giving arms and other support short of direct US military involvement is an option. Would be heavily dependent on Turks wanting to allow their country as a transit place/support base. Turkey is about the only country with a border w/Syria that might act. The Turks tried to work with Assad but appear to have realized that the approach has not worked.
    Reconciling not wanting to be the world's policeman with wanting to be the world's leader is not easy. At times, a middle ground needs to be found -- very difficult given our divided politics and tendencies to score political points at every opportunity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. America has the attention span of a gnat.

      Delete
    2. .

      "Attention span of a gnat?"

      Perhaps it is you who need to pay a little more attention, WiO.

      Your rants on Syria are silly. You talk about 'secular opposition'. Right. Have you seen any articles lately talking about the 'secular opposition' as a group(s)in Syria? The only secular force there is the government.

      Oh, everyone says they want a 'secular state', the Muslim Brotherhood, the SNC, the Kurds, all the minority groups. That's the same thing that the 'opposition' said in Egypt and Libya. Some might even mean it. However, those groups that might mean it are are insignificant in the current struggle. To place your hopes on them is naive.

      The opposition? The Saudi's started a fund to support the opposition. And the US is giving them and others Sunni countries tacit approval to do it. Just how secular do you think that opposition will be? The US has sent over communication equipment so that all the opposition groups can coordinate even though they admit they have no idea who the opposition is (Gee, sounds a little like Libya doesn't it).

      You have said the US should support the Kurds there. What Kurds? The Kurds in Syria are divided. The leader of the PYD which supports the PKK there indicated recently that if Turkey were to attack the Assad regime, the PKK would fight Turkey.

      You've got Turkey supporting the military opposition in Syria, opposing the Kurds, and supporting the aims of the Muslim Brotherhood. They also have to take into account the views of Russia and Iran. You have Russia and Iran opposed to any outside stirring of the pot in Syria. You have Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other Sunni states pushing for the Islamist opposition with tacit US approval. Hamas leadership leaves Syria and now says they oppose Assad. You have Clapper stating that al Queda is supporting the opposition forces in Syria. All this, yet you want the US to go in and 'solve' all Syria's problems. How many times has this same BS gone down in the ME?

      The US hasn't a clue as to what to do in the ME. And neither do you. Yet, you constantly rant about how the rest of us need to learn something about the ME. Your views are skewed by your background not your knowledge.

      .

      Delete
    3. Quirk states my thoughts on Syria are silly.

      Sadly he is the one that know not of what he speaks.

      go here.

      http://www.scoop.it/u/amarji

      I have been following the secular opposition to assad for 8 years.

      have you?

      do you even have a clue?

      http://syrianrevolutiondigest.blogspot.com/

      Do you even know the risks this man PERSONALLY has taken to try to stand against the Assads?

      Pull your head out of your ass for a moment and rather than be a monty python skit trying simply to figure out an argument, try expanding that mind of yours to learn the reality of what is happening.

      Learn who Ammar is...

      really...

      Delete
    4. quirk: All this, yet you want the US to go in and 'solve' all Syria's problems. How many times has this same BS gone down in the ME?


      I never advocated the US "go in" to syria.

      I advocated that the Syrian be held accountable for their nasty deeds.

      to different things.

      Delete
    5. quirk: Have you seen any articles lately talking about the 'secular opposition' as a group(s)in Syria? The only secular force there is the government.

      Lack of "articles" by the main stream media is hardly proof of anything.

      Delete
    6. quirk: Oh, everyone says they want a 'secular state', the Muslim Brotherhood, the SNC, the Kurds, all the minority groups. That's the same thing that the 'opposition' said in Egypt and Libya. Some might even mean it. However, those groups that might mean it are are insignificant in the current struggle. To place your hopes on them is naive.


      I just got done stating that the Moslem Brotherhood are islamic nazis. I guess you dont pay to close attention to what is said either....

      Delete
    7. quirk: You have said the US should support the Kurds there. What Kurds? The Kurds in Syria are divided. The leader of the PYD which supports the PKK there indicated recently that if Turkey were to attack the Assad regime, the PKK would fight Turkey.


      That may be true, but since when does the PKK speak for the Kurds?

      Your knowledge of the Kurds of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey again seems to be "jinglistic" and simplistic...

      But you love to create the illusion of a good argument..

      That must work when you are arguing with 8 graders but your lack of real depth is apparent to all...

      keep trying skipper.... :)

      Delete
    8. quirk:
      The US hasn't a clue as to what to do in the ME. And neither do you. Yet, you constantly rant about how the rest of us need to learn something about the ME. Your views are skewed by your background not your knowledge.

      Wow, now that is a fun sentence to examine...

      As for the middle east, I do have some ideas of what to do, it may not be the be all and end all, but a few forward steps..

      1. Announce the immediate creation of a natural gas conversion for all trucks, buses and governmental businesses.
      2. Announce the expansion of 200% of the strategic oil reserve.
      3. Open up drilling and tax credits for small businesses and solar arrays
      4. Cut off all military aid Egypt, The Palestinians and Lebanon
      5. Cut off all AID to UNRWA and Hamas
      6. Recognize and move the embassy of the USA to Jerusalem and announce it the world (actually passed US Law)
      7. Cut the funding to the UN by 75%
      8. Secure the Southern Border
      9. enact all relevant sanctions against Iran at once.
      10. grow a pair of balls and lead the world.
      11. Get off middle eastern oil at once.
      12 let the arab world rot.

      those a few ideas

      start calling them silly and ridiculing me now...

      Delete
    9. .

      This is your proof of how involved you are? A couple of blog addresses. I went to the first one, Scoop. Admittedly, it talks about dissidents but all I saw were reposting of articles from other sources. Didn't see anything about all these 'secular' dissident groups you keep talking about.

      Went to the Ammar address you posted. You're right, I didn't know that much about him. I don't doubt he has taken risks to stand against Assad. But I assume they are the same risks taken by dozens or hundreds or thousands of other Syrians. He talks about dissidents. I didn't see anything about the 'secular' dissident groups you constantly bring up. What are their names? How many are they and where are they? We talked about 'secular' dissidents in Egypt also but when push came to shove, how much influence did they have?



      Lack of "articles" by the main stream media is hardly proof of anything.

      We see articles on the Kurds, the Sunnis, the Christians, the Alawi, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, countries like Russia, Turkey, Iran, SA, Qatar. Why don't we hear about these 'secular' dissident groups? What are their names? Who are they made up of?




      I just got done stating that the Moslem Brotherhood are islamic nazis. I guess you dont pay to close attention to what is said either....

      Another red herring. Take a look at my quote which you re-posted. You take one group out of a number that I listed and then comment on it ignoring the entire point of my comment.


      That may be true, but since when does the PKK speak for the Kurds?

      Your knowledge of the Kurds of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey again seems to be "jinglistic" and simplistic...



      More foolishness. You posted this after re-posting my comment, the main point of which was "You have said the US should support the Kurds there. What Kurds? The Kurds in Syria are divided."

      Evidently, you fail to understand a point made even after a second reading. Which Kurds are the US supposed to support? You point out the PKK doesn't speak for all the Kurds. Does that also apply to the PYD and the Kurds who support opposition to Assad. The PYD has indicated their disapproval of Turkey getting involved. Now if you had actually read the the articles on that Ammar blog you posted you would have seen that the non-PYD Kurd factions that were supporting the dissident coalition have now pulled out of the SNC.

      You're right. The PKK doesn't speak for the Kurds. The problem is no one does at the moment.


      start calling them silly and ridiculing me now...


      I call you silly on specifics, like "the US should support the Kurds" or all those "secular dissidents" in Syria. That's what started this.

      As far as you extended list, there are few here who would disagree with some of them, some of them as I'm sure you realize just won't happen, and some such as "get off middle east oil at once" are silly.

      Delete
  10. Agony Under the Cedars

    “Women are for children, boys are for pleasure.” So goes the Afghan saying. But there are no women in the Hindu Kush or Kabul or Kandahar. There are no mothers, no sisters, no grandmothers, no aunts. There are only the shades of womanhood; pale shadows flitting in the background of the horrific crimes routinely committed against their little boys—their sons, their brothers, their grandsons, their nephews—by Afghani men awash in the sick pleasure of pedophilia. And there is no childhood for those little boys. There is only their agony, and the creatures imitating men—the fathers, the grandfathers, the brothers, the uncles—who buy them, steal them, enslave them, groom them, rape them, prostitute them, turn them into dancing playthings, “bacha bazi,” for the pleasure of others of their ilk, and then discard them: “When he starts growing a beard, his time will expire, and I will try to find another one who doesn’t have a beard,” declares one such “man” about his “companion” of two years. And there is no Afghani government, apparently, either: “A kid who is being sexually exploited, if he reports it, he will end up in prison,” a UN worker tells the Washington Post. “They become pariahs.”

    This is where Bad Rachel came in. And this is where I have begun to wonder whether it is possible to help these benighted forgeries of humanity save themselves from themselves—for after all, isn’t that the point, once we’ve beaten our enemy, of continuing the fight?—and, more to the point, and though it pains me dreadfully to find myself standing in anything resembling proximity to the execrable anti-American left and its befouled doppelganger on the right, whether the attempting to do so has been worth the lives—and the terrible sacrifice of their mothers and fathers, their husbands and wives, their sons and daughters, their sisters and brothers, their grandmothers and grandfathers, their aunts and uncles—of all those great, valiant, heroic, wonderful, Americans who’ve given them for that cause.

    http://badrachel.blogspot.com/2012/04/agony-under-cedars.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just "slip out the back, Jack."

    ReplyDelete
  12. The NGFA cited a Natural Resources Inventory report published in 2009 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service – containing 2007 data, the most recent available – that indicated more than 7.1 million acres of “prime farmland” (Land Classes 1 and 2) were enrolled in the CRP at that time. “This includes some land that does not even require the use of a conservation plan to be farmed,” the NGFA noted. “The idling of productive resources through land-idling conservation programs costs jobs, stymies growth, and in the case of land resources, has the potential to impact negatively the cost and availability of food and feed.”

    ReplyDelete
  13. Even the National Grain and Feed Assoc calls Bullshit

    ReplyDelete
  14. Just the "Level 1 and 2" land that we're paying farmers Not to plant would replace 5% of our Gasoline supplied.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Add in the level three land, and we'd cut our imports of ME oil by probably One Million Barrels/Day.

    ReplyDelete
  16. An American Soldier killed everyday in Afghanistan. OBAMA'S WAR

    http://www.unknownsoldiersblog.com/2012/04/pledge.html

    Any one who votes to re elect this idiot is just not mentally competent. The Lab experiment did not work, time to move on.

    ReplyDelete
  17. An American Soldier killed everyday in Afghanistan in April.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I agree, Gag. Osama's dead; it will be real easy to "declare victory," right here, and move on.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Obama has the attention span of a knat.

    Just think, during his second term, he can bring Rev. Wright and Van Jones back in to his friendly little circle. "wait until after the election," he is telling them.

    ReplyDelete
  20. or is it gnat? or nat? you know what I mean.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Shoulda taken out Assad after the drive to Baghdad.

    Instead, we let Syria be used as a Freeway and Supply line for al-Queda,
    and abandoned the Lebanon Spring Thing that would have begun the
    opposite of the Arab Spring thanks to our sacrifice in Iraq.

    Remember when we said we were not going to have the politicians screw up the works like LBJ in Vietnam?

    Once the Regular Army got involved in Afghanistan, it was all downhill from there, til now we are required to kiss Muslim Ass or be punished by the PC Police.

    Kid's been teaching a bunch of Air Force Special Forces guys how to paddle a Hawaiian Canoe!

    He was impressed by the very sharp and special switchblade they had and their techniques for taking out the enemy.

    Shoulda never let the R.A. into the Afghanistan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Kid's been teaching a bunch of Air Force Special Forces guys how to paddle a Hawaiian Canoe!



      Yeh, I heard we were going to invade Maui for 'humanitarian' reasons.


      .

      Delete
  22. Ah, let's face it, he hasn't been all That bad. He managed to keep us out of "Depression" (something I wouldn't have bet a lot of money on when he was elected.)

    He got our troops out of Iraq, and he's getting them out of Afghanistan. And, remember, it was, largely, the right-wingers that were clamoring for "more troops for McChrystal" a year ago.

    He's been effective at continuing the Bush policy of getting us off of a declining fossil fuel resource, and onto a "Renewable" agenda.

    And, the Healthcare agenda that he pushed through is, actually, just a continuation of The Republican Nominee's Program.

    He may not be perfect, but he hardly seems to be the "Debil" that some of the right-wingers want to portray him as.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Nope, Gnat it is:

    om Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


    Jump to: navigation, search


    "Knat" redirects here. For the television station, see KNAT.

    For other uses, see Gnat (disambiguation).





    A female black fungus gnat
    A gnat ( /ĖˆnƦt/) is any of many species of tiny flying insects in the Dipterid suborder Nematocera, especially those in the families Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Sciaridae.

    In British English the term applies particularly to Nematocerans of the family Culicidae. The common gnat is the species Culex pipiens.[1]

    Male gnats often assemble in large mating swarms or ghosts, particularly at dusk.

    Luckily, they don't take out their lust on little boy Gnats, like the Afghans.
    (I hope)

    ReplyDelete
  24. gnat's ass = something very small and/or insignificant

    ReplyDelete
  25. You give him a blow job, then, Ruf:

    Then you can explain to us how the Trillions of debt he's piling on will be good for our Kid's and grandkids futures.

    You and your fuckin love affair with socialist schemes and alternative energy dreams.

    Jeeze, Louise!

    Broken Fuckin Record of failure upon failure.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Admittedly, our boy is a bit clumsy when when he gets around that "race" thing.

    ReplyDelete
  27. If your right wing buddies hadn't "Blowed Up" the World's economy that Deficit Spending wouldn't have been necessary, Doug.

    Or, have you forgotten that we were losing jobs at over a half a million a month when he took office?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Or, has it escaped your attention that, due to the Republican tax policies, we're trying to run the country on 16% of GDP, or less, when we normally require about 21% (19% through taxes, and 2% through borrowing?)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Obama's constituency: Unions, multi-generatonal Welfare recipients, multi-generational Section 8 housing recipients, multi-generational food stamp recipients, Rev. Wright and his congregation of Haters, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Van Jones, Saul Alinsky-ites, Black Panthers, Occupiers, Tony Reski, Bill Ayers, people who want free stuff (in general), and Rufus (l and ll).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      The GOP constituency: The banks, the multinationals, the oil companies, the fund managers, and those masochists in the general public who say "Thank you sir, may I have another" as they lay their asses bare.

      .

      Delete
  30. Also, "College educated, and "upper" income.

    Doesn't that ever make you wonder?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Republican tax policies plus Obamanomics Personal and Corporate income, plus Obama level spending = 16% of GDP.

    With a free market President and Congress, Income would skyrocket, and Tax receipts could come back in balance if Spending is reduced.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Ah, Quirk: "They're all Dicks"

    and the Socialist Flak.

    Quirk apparantely unaware that Obama is Wall Street's Favorite Beneficiary.

    Just as Rufus Predicted the Jimmy Carter/Clinton Real Estate Bubble and Crash would be a piddle in a pond.

    Record Volumn Piddle, I posit.

    ReplyDelete
  33. You mean, "like under Bill Clinton?"

    Because, you certainly can't be talking about GW Bush, since his policies, and budget gave us the first Trillion Dollar Deficit.

    Oh, and Doug, go blow "yourself."

    ReplyDelete
  34. British Petroleum also sent more money to The One than any other.

    Just as Buffet Cheats on his taxes while he prattles on about fairness and equity.

    Dupes, you are!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Hardly, Doug.

      Everyone on this blog knows these things; yet, you cite these facts like they are some argument in favor of the GOP.

      Crony capitalism is the grease that moves this country right now as we rapidly move towards anarcho-capitalism.

      The fact that you can embrace the current GOP agenda as exemplified by the Ryan budget (or some other measure if you have one) shows how divorced you are from reality.

      .

      Delete
  35. Jimmy Carter/Clinton? What a phony-baloney asshole. You kinda left out a couple of prez's there, didn't ya champ. Ronald Reagan, GHW Bush, and GW Bush, to be specific.

    Or, have we forgotten GW's "Ownership Society?"

    ReplyDelete
  36. "Because, you certainly can't be talking about GW Bush, since his policies, and budget gave us the first Trillion Dollar Deficit."

    The compassionate one and the Democrat Congress indeed spent like drunken Seals,

    Obama has doubled down on the Trillions and rolled up more debt than W and Company did in 8 years in three years and you still claim he is The One.

    Pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Meanwhile, you and your fellow idjits sit on a Volcanic Island in the middle of the Pacific, running your entire economy off of oil imported from Saudi Arabia, paying the highest Gas, and Electricity price in the country, virtually the world, and make fun of "Renewable Energy?"

    What a joke.

    ReplyDelete
  38. No, Carter started the houses for people who should be renters program,

    Clinton\Reno ENFORCED IT on the banks, and compassionate George went along, as per usual.

    ...and you are the one that predicted is was no big deal when I brought up the collapse of First Century or whatever the fuck the sham Real Estate deal that my nephew became rich on, collapsed, and started the massive bust.

    I repeat:
    The American Hating POTUS has put them all to shame in his three and a half year in office.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Reagan took us from the 'tax and spend' of the Dems and gave us 'borrow and spend'.


      .

      Delete
  39. We just doubled the size of our Wind Farm in one of the most consistently breezy places on Earth, next to the oil fired plant, so it actually works.

    I'm gonna make a 20 percent return on 50k invested in photovoltaics for kid's house.

    Whole state should be mostly fueled by Geo Thermal.

    Might happen...

    ReplyDelete
  40. You can "Repeat" it all you want; it's still just blather. Where is your proof that Obama "Hates America?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can "Repeat" it all you want; it's still just blather. Where is your proof that Obama "Hates America?"

      ---

      I have a rule about arguing with idiots.

      Later

      Delete
  41. Voltaics are sprouting up all over Maui, what with a five year payoff.

    ReplyDelete
  42. We just doubled the size of our Wind Farm in one of the most consistently breezy places on Earth, next to the oil fired plant, so it actually works.

    I'm gonna make a 20 percent return on 50k invested in photovoltaics for kid's house.

    Whole state should be mostly fueled by Geo Thermal.

    Might happen...


    ?

    Well then, why the fuck are you bashing Obama (and me) on Renewable energy?

    ReplyDelete
  43. The doubling of the Trillions in debt is
    "Blather" ?

    ...in idiotWorld.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Remember, I'm an idiot. I need help figuring these things out.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Because Federal Govt sponsered "renewable energy" doesn't work.

    Slush Fund money, Mr. Top Down advocate.

    Not investments based on real returns.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Claiming you know not of Obama's deficits proves the point.

    Again.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Blater, indeed.

    Real Debt for which this country will pay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      More silliness from Maui, blather if you like.

      :)

      Everything you say about Obama and the debt is true; however, if you think it would be different under the Republicans you've been puffing too much Maui Wowee. The GOP has no concern with lowering the debt (with the possibility of the TEA Party which really doesn't have much influence with the leadership). Take a look at Ryan's budget. All the GOP is interested in is a smaller less involved government. Lower debt? Nice soundbite material? That's it.

      Only the kool-aid drinkers in the base buy it.

      .

      Delete
  48. That doesn't make any sense. Wind works. Solar works. Geothermal works. Ethanol works. But, if the government incentivizes it, it Doesn't work . . . . .

    That's like the time you argued that California windmills killed birds, but the same windmills in Hawaii didn't. It's nonsensical.

    ReplyDelete
  49. And, that's another thing. How is it the Republicans are oh so concerned about leaving "debt to the kids,"

    but they never worry about leaving no oil, coal, or nat gas for the kids?

    ReplyDelete
  50. Which seems very strange to me, because we will just inflate the debt away, like we always do, but once the fossil fuels are gone they're just flat "Gone."

    ReplyDelete
  51. Oh, by the way, Doug, good to chat with you again. I hope you're doing okay.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Unbelievable:
    Obama's EPA outlaws coal and you applaud.

    Even tho we have the most Coal of any country on Earth.

    ...and your fracking is a flash in the pan turns out to be more Rufus BS

    Back to my rule...

    ReplyDelete
  53. Thanks, Rufus, again.

    May make it yet.

    ReplyDelete
  54. And, if you're upset by the idea of "inflating the debt away," which is a dead-lock certainty, just buy some gold, and a bit fewer bonds.

    ReplyDelete
  55. They didn't "outlaw" coal. They merely ruled that coal plants built after 2014 had to be cleaner.

    Coal is losing market share, anyway (five percent in 2 years.) Renewables are eating their lunch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. lol, now that is the funniest thing you have said in a year...

      Delete
  56. Dr. Dave

    Ethanol as motor fuel is an idea only a politician could love. There is absolutely no net benefit to the nation as a whole by using ethanol as a motor fuel. Its only specious claim to fame is that it's "renewable". It's renewable only in the sense that we can grow more corn year after year but those crops utilize a LOT of water. We're not just converting feed stock into fuel, we're also converting a LOT of potable water into fuel. Though modern yields are impressive, it requires a great deal of arable land, water, fertilizer (made from fossil fuels), herbicides, pesticides, and diesel powered farm equipment to bring these crops to the ethanol manufacturers who in turn use a lot of water in the fermentation and distillation processes. It's a pretty stupid utilization of resources.

    Corn prices may have tripled but farmers are only making slightly less than twice what they used to because all those other inputs into the process of farming have also increased in cost. But believe me, they are some of the staunchest supporters of having the rest of us suffer with adulterated motor fuel. Keep in mind that a lot of farmers (probably not corn farmers) have no compunction about using illegal aliens for cheap labor and sticking the rest of us with the tab for their care and feeding via the welfare state.

    The ethanol industry has not made ANY appreciable impact on our dependency on foreign oil. It is corrosive, hygroscopic and possesses an energy density about 2/3 that of gasoline. No chemist, physicist or engineer in their right mind would ever choose ethanol as a fuel. It's been touted as a perfect replacement for MTBE as an oxygenator. This is partially true, but for this purpose a much lower concentration than 10% is required. Further, oxygenators in motor fuel are only necessary in certain weather conditions for older vehicles without fuel injection systems (we're talking pretty old vehicles here). The bottom line is that ethanol receives a triple whammy of non-free-market government imposed advantages; taxpayer subsidies, tariff protection and mandated use. Sweet deal if you're sufficiently politically connected to get it.

    The taxpayers and the consumers of motor fuel and food get screwed. Big Ethanol and Big Corn special interests make out like bandits...as do their political benefactors. I blame the Republicans for this travesty. I'm hoping the Republicans will correct it because you can bet this was one GOP initiative the Democrats love. End the mandated use and the subsidies and let ethanol compete in the free market. I have nothing against ethanol, but if it's a viable technology it will be embraced by the free market without government interference. But getting politicians of either party to abandon a taxpayer funded vote buying scam is a long shot.
    show less

    A Liked
    Reply

    Today 12:38 PM
    2 Likes

    starmannate

    Ethanol is corrosive. Ethanol produces about 25% less BTUs per gallon as gasoline. It takes 1.7 gallons of fossil fuel to produce each gallon of ethanol. Credits for making ethanol are not the same as tax deductions for drilling expenses. Ethanol production has doubled corn prices, raised world food prices, and probably contributed to the "Arab Spring." Additional farming has increased manmade carbon output not decreased it. All this so politicians can buy a few votes in Iowa primaries. Shame on anyone who supports this madness.

    A Liked
    Reply


    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/unelected_epa_bureaucrats_approve_e15_ethanol_comments.html#disqus_thread#ixzz1raCuJLgo

    ReplyDelete
  57. Hey Ruf I went to FSA yesterday I get $284 and $1080 on the farm programs and I went to accountant I pay a little over $4000 to IRS lots of write offs this year construction expenses and I pay over $22,0000 year on property taxes alone just to let you know so you can be accurate when you bitch bout me not paying "my fair share".

    I had LOTS of construction write offs this year.


    I bet you get more money from FSA than I do.

    Want to share numbers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. $22,000

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v8QyZvbI7U


      waiting to be free from......
      soci...e.....ty

      Delete
  58. Oh, I forgot a few of Obama's constituents:

    Quirk (probably not, he just likes to take the other side as he has admitted).

    Ash (but he can't vote as he fled to The People's Republic of Toronto some time ago for unsaid reasons).

    TelMax Corporation (They make teleprompters)

    ReplyDelete
  59. I had this lame brain idea I worked when young...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And, I only get 1/3rd of that sweet $1080 the Olesen Brothers get the rest but I don't mind they both got daughters.

      Delete
  60. Educated? Upper Class? Those are the bleeding heart tight wads who want the government to do all their charity work for them.

    I know some so called "academics" I wouldn't trust with a garden hose.

    ReplyDelete
  61. I said, Upper "Income," not Upper Class.

    Just stating the facts, Gag. You named part of the constituency; I named the rest. :)

    ReplyDelete
  62. Brings to mind 'the ferret' an academic here who earned his moniker by his looks and got elected to city council and wanted to tax me more cause I farmed in town and we went round and round and I won finally cause we had thankfully a clause in the incorporation agreement about taxes.......these motherfuckerswouldstealitalliftheycould.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, how much?

      Cherokee, how much?

      Tell true, now.

      Delete
    2. You get more than me, don'tcha.

      Delete
    3. An engineer dies and goes to hell. After a while, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in there and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, hell has air conditioning, ingflush toilets, water fountains and escalators - making the engineer a pretty popular guy.

      One day God phones Satan up and asks with a sneer: "Hey buddy, how's it goin down there in hell?"

      Satan snickered back, "Things are going great actually. We've got air conditioning, flush toilets, escalators and the works. Hell (no pun intended), there's no telling what this engineer guy is gonna come up with next."

      God replies, "What? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake - he should never have gotten down there; send him back up."

      To which Satan replied, "No way dude. I like having an engineer on staff, I'm keepin him."

      God retorted, "Send him back up here or I'll sue."

      Satan laughs loudly and answers, "Yeah, right. And just where are you gonna find a lawyer?"

      Delete
  63. You use the word "facts" pretty loosely.

    Fact is, most of the people I know who are upper income and educated dispise the race baiting, narcissistic fool.

    The lab experiment failed, time to move on.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Bob, what are you talking about? I don't own any farms.

    ReplyDelete
  65. I thought you grew corn and had the family land, sorry.

    Can I take it back?

    ReplyDelete
  66. My entire income is from my prior insurance business.

    ReplyDelete
  67. On which I have ezzackly "zero" write-offs (a fact of which I'm not happy, or particularly proud.) :(

    ReplyDelete
  68. I take it back.

    But I tell you, the tax man gets his from me.

    ReplyDelete
  69. I take it back.

    But I tell you, the tax man gets his from me.

    ReplyDelete
  70. On Saturday, Hillary Clinton took a resounding shot at Republicans. "Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me," she said. "It doesn't matter what country they're in or what religion they claim. They want to control women." Clinton isn't supposed to get involved in domestic politics, "but this was a moment pregnant with possibility," writes Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. "The attempt by Republican men to wrestle American women back into chastity belts … has roused and riled Hillary."

    "In some kind of insane bout of mass misogyny, Republicans are hounding out the women voters," Dowd writes, providing "a glide path to the White House both for Obama in 2012 and Hillary in 2016." Women have realized that their emancipation isn't as secure as they thought, and that to protect it "they may need one of their own." The column has set Washington talking. On MSNBC this morning, Game Change author John Heilemann predicted there was a "99.4%" chance Clinton would run in 2016, according to Politico.

    http://www.newser.com/story/141789/gop-handing-2016-to-hillary.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any man who believes that he controls a woman is truly a fool.

      Delete
    2. Obama supports the Moslem Brotherhood. One of these days women will wake up and understand that Obama stands with those that support Sharia, FGM and the Veil.

      Good luck

      Delete
    3. muzzies in the white house


      WHAT HAS THIS COUNTRY COME TO?????????????

      Delete
    4. muzzies in the white house


      WHAT HAS THIS COUNTRY COME TO?????????????
      xxxxx


      Any man who believes that he controls a woman is truly a fool.


      A true statement.

      I still live in fear of my wife, whom after all these years I don't even know, though I have learned, she likes the simple things.

      Delete
  71. DeuceApr 10, 2012 11:57 AM

    Any man who believes that he controls a woman is truly a fool.

    A true statement.

    I don't even know my wife, and live in fear of HER.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Hillary has always been true to her party especially during election years. Playing the Woman card.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Hillary has always been true to her party especially during election years. Playing the Woman card.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Does anybody really care what some Cuban baseball says about Castro?

    "baseball been very very gude to me"!

    ReplyDelete
  75. The phrase constitutional theocracy describes a form of elected government in which one single religion is granted an authoritative central role in the legal and political system. In contrast to a pure theocracy, power resides in lay political figures operating within the bounds of a constitution, rather than in the religious leadership. [wiki]

    Is Israel a constitutional theocracy?

    Some are saying yes.

    Link

    Link

    And the USA?

    ReplyDelete
  76. I thought my Teleprompter comment was some of my best stuff, but I got NOTHING!

    ReplyDelete
  77. From the second link:

    For example, some Muslim countries that have incorporated “repugnancy clauses” in their constitutions have also included additional provisions as mandated sources of legislation, specifically principles of democracy. What effect, if any, do these non-Islamic directives have in moderating the impact of theocratic ambition? Is there a jurisprudential dynamic created that results in more liberal and secular policies and rulings? In Israel, as Hirschl deftly documents, the dual commitments to both Jewish and democratic aspirations, provide judges with considerable interpretive resources to diminish the influence of religion on the people’s lives. But how much of the diminution is actually the result of the formal constitutional recognition of these twin aspirations? Would there be a different outcome if judges had to rely on the richness of the religious tradition alone, which, as in Islam, includes schools of thought that promote values respectful of human dignity and equality?



    Judges are, as Hirschl points out, often the vehicle through which questions of “foundational collective identity” are addressed. In the end, the question that lingers after reflecting on this groundbreaking study relates to the specific nature of that undertaking. As important as the constitution is in determining that identity, the disjunctions between the document and the people for whom it is intended may be more important than the text itself. And so the specific content of the collective identity will vary over time, tethered to the text, but only loosely, to accommodate the dialogical interactions between codified foundational aspirations and the evolving mores of the people. Ran Hirschl’s wonderful book will nudge us to think more seriously about this and other questions critical to constitutionalism in the twenty-first century.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Almost by definition a theocrocy is absolute, ruled by a god. The ways that Jews argue amongst themselves, they would get on god’s nerves so badly, I think he would give it up.

      Delete
  78. I hate this new format...

    very hard to follow

    ReplyDelete
  79. More accessible

    link here.

    (fewer dialogical discursions.)

    ReplyDelete
  80. At the intersection of two sweeping global trends—the rise of popular support for principles of theocratic governance, and the spread of constitutionalism and judicial review—a new legal order has emerged: constitutional theocracy.

    Constitutional theocracy enshrines religion and its interlocutors as “a” or “the” source of legislation, and at the same time adheres to core ideals and practices of modern constitutionalism.

    "In a Nutshell": I argue that, counter-intuitively, the constitutional enshrinement of religion may be a rational, prudent strategy that allows opponents of theocratic governance to talk the religious talk without walking most of what they regard as theocracy’s unappealing, costly walk.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Ann's needle is stuck on Theocracy.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Objective:

    Turning to constitutional law and courts to bring religiosity under check or defuse its potentially radical edge is a rational choice of action by secularists and moderates. Despite occasional and inevitable setbacks, it is a prudent, judicious gamble.

    Means: Glocalization, the authentic synthesis of the global and the local

    In the area of constitutional law, the world grows increasingly smaller, but the domestic and particular persist. Constitutional theocracy stands at the intersection of the general and the contextual, the universal and the particular. Constitutional theocracy may very well be constitutional law’s version of what has been termed glocalization—the process whereby the global and the local merge to form a new, perfectly authentic synthesis.

    The end game??

    The formal establishment of religion and the granting of limited jurisdiction to its tribunals may be portrayed as surrender to religion, but in reality it helps limit the potentially radical impact of religion by bringing it under state control.

    And precisely because of being a religion-like domain, a civic faith fostered by the modern state and by the international community, constitutionalism is distinctly better positioned than blunter, ostensibly more forceful means to defuse, mutate, co-opt, or mitigate principles of theocratic governance.

    This just tickles the hell out of me.

    ReplyDelete
  83. Ash had a pine cone up his ass.

    That should say : Ash has a pine cone up his ass.

    Ash is the dumbest person to ever post here.

    ReplyDelete
  84. I've asked Allen and WiO what it means for Israel to be a Jewish state but they've declined to answer.

    ReplyDelete
  85. And boobie graces us with yet another post exhibiting his brilliance

    ReplyDelete
  86. We're all just trying to figure it out.

    Thinking out loud, as Deuce says.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Yeppers, we are all just trying to figure it out.

    The conclusion I seem to be arriving at is that 'Israel as Jewish state' refers to a state which has a strong majority of folk who are Jewish. In other words it is a state defined by race as opposed to a state which is a constitutional theocracy.

    ReplyDelete
  88. I've asked Allen and WiO what it means for Israel to be a Jewish state but they've declined to answer.

    They haven't declined to answer you just couldn't hear with your head up your ass so since I have been accused by our host of "licking Allen's and
    WiO' ass" - yuck, can you imagine that, and, I've said, I don't give a shit whether Allen is alive or dead the prick -- I'll step up, you intellectual golf ball, it means they got a lot of Jews there, armed, majority, so they don't go to the 'ovens' ever again.

    Ash....o well..


    HERE ASH TAKE A TIME OUT

    Her eyes are mine, her body and sway are that of my sister, it's why I like it so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The drummer is my alfalfa farmer, to a t.

      Delete
    2. In fact, I said,”licking Allen’s boots.”Please do not truncate my quotes with your peccadillos.

      Delete
  89. No bob, Allen started an answer of WHY Israel need be Jewish but he never offered an answer of what it meant for Israel to be Jewish.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well it means you moron there are a lot of Jews there that argue about their writings and speak the same language.

      Honest to G-D Ash......

      Delete
  90. Ash, you are the dumbest son bitch I have ever met. Sometimes I think, can he really be so stupid?

    Then, you come up with more crap.

    Relax

    Just shut up for awhile and listen.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Blogger has once again FIXED that which was working perfectly. I am not in the mood, nor do I have the time to try and decypher the changes and get to the underlying motivation for the changes. Like everything else Google does, it probably is a ruse to mine more information and further intrude on privacy. The spam filters that have been recently installed are also up to something, I am not sure what.

    Frankly, Google has been getting creepy for some time. They are obsessed with an Orwellian type of reviewing and rating each and every move that we make. It reminds me of the Chinese communist practice of an open confession and pledge to conform with the party line. Everything they do has the agenda of following your every move and thought. They now anticipate your thoughts by placing advertising based on your recorded history. They are very keen to know your individual locations and have installed software that analyzes the comments for content. They obviously are adding that to your file and my file. Americans do not seem to care as much as the Europeans. I usually get a collective yawn when I post on the subject.

    I am not sure as to how I want to participate with this. I need to learn more about the purposes of the changes and will keep you informed.

    ReplyDelete
  92. HERE IS SOMETHING FROM ANOTHER BLOG:

    THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012

    New Blogger Dashboard Format
    I open the blog dashboard this morning and read on Rick's Blog my worst fear!!

    New Blogger Dashboard Format To Be Compulsory


    Every time I change to the new format of Blogger, I can't find my A&& with both hands. I mean it isn't intuitive to me at all. I mess with it for a moment or two and then promptly change back to the old dashboard where all the things I need are easily at my fingertips without all the drama of looking for needles in haystacks.

    That has been augmented by the fact that in order to set the settings on that danged word verification on comments puzzle, the only place it could be disabled is using the old dashboard. So tell me again why they are now going to make the new one mandatory....... Or to use Rick's word Compulsory, meaning the old dashboard is going away............ Again Rick's words ring out


    That’s a polite way, I guess, of saying to those resisting this change that “you’re times up”!


    Argh.......... That means I am really going to have to buck under and see if I can use this unfriendly piece of dung...... Now keep in mind they think it is worth staking their entire blogger reputation on, so it just can't be that bad.........

    So, I go in and make the change by clicking on the big headline at the top of the page...... Give up everything you are familiar with here!!!

    And immediately I remember what has perplexed me about this new dashboard..... There is no menu strip across the top of the page. I roll the mouse wheel and scroll to the bottom and the menu strip is gone......... It just has vanished.......

    Then as I scroll down thru the blogs I read, I realize that I can only see about one blog at a time, so I change my print size to a smaller format. This causes me to have to use the bottom of my trifocals to read things.... I have 20/400 eyesight in one eye..... And then the only small menu that I did have has scrolled off of the page. I order to get it back its scroll again all the way back to the top....

    So I have messed with this new dashboard all day, and have finally decided that I am starting out on the reading list page and it is missing the menu options.......... But up at the top next to where it says view blog is a little arrow that points down. Clicking on it makes the menu show up and if you go to overview, then all the menu items are down the page on the left.........

    But now I can't get back to the reading list page! Its not on the menu.........Oh I can hit a back arrow and go back but shouldn't I be able to go forward to the reading list?

    Now I am using Google Chrome, but it is for linux since that is my operating system, and perhaps that is my trouble, but I don't know that for sure. I will get out the laptop and use windows 7 to see if it is different.

    But in my opinion, the new blogger interface is beyond difficult to navigate..... Do you know how to get to the reader page from the main overview menu?? Leave me a comment................ Please!!

    Retired Rod

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hate google but I love their free stuff like the maps. They will not get my mobile number! I had a site of mine barred from goggle advertising. They would not tell me why. There was no recourse. You could not talk to a person. Their coupon for free advertising netted me a 100$ charge. There was no recourse.

      WORDPRESS

      Delete
  93. The enshrinement of murderous, misogynistic mythology into your Constitution? What could possibly go wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)

      FWIW, and it might not be much, but I think this idea of a constitutional theocracy developed by Ran Hirschl (who appears to be Jewish by ethnicity, but his religious practice and citizenship are unknown to me) provides a road map that allows development of some form of workable government in Muslim nations as they transition from the radicalism of destabilizing religious practices to some form of secular balance, or, more eloquently stated:

      And precisely because of being a religion-like domain, a civic faith fostered by the modern state and by the international community, constitutionalism is distinctly better positioned than blunter, ostensibly more forceful means to defuse, mutate, co-opt, or mitigate principles of theocratic governance.

      It seems that the ME is all about time - giving the people and societies time to find their own way although the reminder of life under the burden of a religion that impugns the integrity of the individual in the most heinous way possible serves as a bold encroachment on any sanguine attitude towards implementing and sustaining secular government in an environment as intractable and fully corrosive as the ME.

      What's that famous anecdote about the Indian practice of Sati (suttee)? Native Indians explained the practice as custom. The British responded by saying it was western custom to hang the men who permitted such practice.

      And you're welcome Ash.

      Delete
    2. iow, the Jews are running a multi-front operation by handing the Muslims a "how to" manual that allows the Muslims to hang on to parts of their religion - the less murderous parts. (a presumptive reach on my part admittedly but with those wascally Jews you just never know.)

      The Jews are ornery but they're not stupid.

      Delete
  94. They started asking for your cell number. Why do they need that? Might be time to pull the plug.

    ReplyDelete
  95. *********************

    Daniel J. Elazar, JD, the late Professor of Political Science at Temple University, Philadelphia, in a 1990 Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JPCA) essay titled "Israel as a Jewish State," wrote:

    "The Jewish political tradition... emphasizes the ordering of the polity through a written constitution. Here Israel has had to confront a basic conflict, unresolvable under contemporary conditions. That is, whether the Torah as the traditional constitution of the Jewish people must serve as the basis for the state's basic law or whether Israel is to adopt a modern civil (or secular) constitution.

    Israel shares that [Jewish political] tradition and is committed to the adoption of a formal written constitution and first tried to write one in 1949. The first Knesset was actually elected as a constituent assembly. But this basic disagreement [Torah based vs. secular based constitution] prevents the comprehensive consummation of this commitment...

    Instead, a standing Constitutional, Legislative, and Judicial Committee was established in the Knesset and charged with the responsibility of drafting Basic Laws, chapter by chapter, for submission to the Knesset. Their approval, nominally by an absolute majority of the Knesset (at least sixty-one votes) gives them constitutional status. In accord with the political theory under which the state operates, the final document will be called a Basic Law and not a constitution (a term apparently reserved for use by the Jewish people as a whole)."

    *********************

    From 2007: Draft constitution ignores crucial question of who is a Jew
    MKs divided over labeling Israel 'Jewish state' or 'state of the Jewish nation'; no mention of equality in preamble.

    *********************

    ReplyDelete
  96. Daniel Elazar (1993 approx.):

    Israel has been unable to adopt a constitution full blown, not because it does not share the new society understanding of constitution as fundamental law, but because of a conflict over what constitutes fundamental law within Israeli society. Many religious Jews hold that the only real constitution for a Jewish state is the Torah and the Jewish law (halakhah) that flows from it. They not only see no need for a modern secular constitution, but even see in such a document a threat to the supremacy of the Torah and the constitutional tradition associated with it that has developed over thousands of years to serve the Jewish people in their land and in the diaspora.4

    Their opposition is sometimes interpreted as the opposition of traditionalists to modernism or as a struggle between supporters of convention and custom versus supporters of a written constitution as law. This would be a serious misreading of the situation. The most traditionally Orthodox Jews are as convinced that their constitution, the Torah, is law and not custom or convention, as the most ardent supporters of a modern written constitution.

    Whatever one's opinion about the appropriateness of the Torah as the constitution of a modern state, it is impossible to ignore the fact that it was considered the constitution of ancient Israel and so treated by the Jewish people in the past.5 Jewish political culture does not recognize constitutions derived from convention; conventions and customs are important and, indeed, may attain the status of law for some purposes, but they are derived from a constitutional base and are not replacements for law. Quite to the contrary, the Jewish people as the first new society back in biblical times is strongly committed to the principle of fundamental law and the idea of constitutionalism derived from it.

    http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles/const-intro-93.htm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting topic. Want to post it?

      Delete
    2. Want to post it?

      No. It is an interesting subject, but I'm hearing a collective yawn and I haven't read Ran Hirschl's book. All I know is that Israel's been struggling with the subject since 1948. And I'm not sure I want to get into evangelical analogies in this country just yet (although dreams of a Christian theocracy are well more than a glimmer in daddy's eye among certain not-ready-for-primetime groups.) Anyway, no, just let sleeping dogs pray. We're all going to get there soon enough.

      But speaking of which, your masthead regulars don't seem to be carrying their share of posting water.

      Delete
  97. TSA agents are itching for strip searches? They got a strip search. When a feisty traveler at Denver International was told to put out her cigarette in a nonsmoking area of the airport, she suddenly stripped off every stitch of clothing. TSA agents responded—and transported her to a local hospital for evaluation, notes TMZ.

    You go girl.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Bama really does look like he has been suckin' on the crack pipe these days. Ya think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. much more he can be hang glidin' on FritoLay

      Delete
  99. Odds are, the state you live in doesn't matter in the 2012 election, strategically speaking. Democratic and Republican strategists tend to agree that the entire race will come down to just four or five swing states, the LA Times reports: Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, and maybe Florida. Polls show Obama leading in most of those states, but by narrow enough margins that that could change by November.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Florida goes Pub.

    I signed a sale.

    Two more votes now for Pubs in Ohio. Down in the southland, where the niggers sought freedom, and my wife's ancestors sang Methodist hymns, and put them on the freedom way

    whippee wife is happy

    travelogue from bobbo coming up

    sun soaking the hip

    and the stars.......

    at nite.....

    whooeeee!

    ReplyDelete
  101. Does anyone want to assist in transferring the blog to Wordpress?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simplest way would be to leave the blogspot as is...frozen in time for posterity and buy a .com to run your new WordPress blog with a link to the old.

      Delete
  102. What Ash said, but there is no need to purchase anything. WordPress is free.

    ReplyDelete
  103. If you go for free service you exist at their whim.

    ReplyDelete