All I get is "an error occurred, try again later" hitting on the video.
Back a thousand years ago it took the Vietnamese 200 or 300 years to get rid of the Chinese.
I can buy into the idea that Westmoreland didn't have a clue what he was doing but not that he 'lost' Vietnam.
RCP has taken their vote board down but last I saw it was Obama by about 20% over the lawyer in Arkansas. Still not a great vote of confidence in Obama.
Every Private in the Army, and The Marine Corps knew that the only way to win the war was to take out North Vietnam. Otherwise it was just a waste of time, and a clusterfuck. We had zero illusions about who "owned" the villages.
I’m convinced the son of a bitch was born in Kenya
When the national media isn’t consumed with “exposes” revealing that Mitt Romney was once a teenager and attended high school with other teenagers, they are busy ignoring persistent evidence causing alarming numbers of Americans to believe President Obama was not born in the U.S.
Or, they are busy “investigating” Ann Romney’s shocking hobby of training and - readers, remain calm - actually riding horses.
The Los Angeles Times really did run such a report Tuesday focusing on a lawsuit pertaining to one of her horses. Mrs. Romney was completely exonerated, but not before she grew irritated with lawyers during a marathon deposition.
So, not only does Mrs. Romney love horses, but she doesn’t like lawyers? And she wants to be first lady? Why … this American voters simply will not stand!
Nothing is so un-American as riding horses and being a teenager.
But wait … did you hear about the latest crazy “Birther” claim from right-wing crazies placing Mr. Obama’s birth in his father’s homeland of Kenya?
These right-wing “Birthers” over at the Breitbart news empire actually published a promotional booklet written by Mr. Obama’s literary agent touting the young author as having been “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.”
Problem is that the folks over at Breitbart are not and never have been so-called “Birthers” who believe Mr. Obama was born outside the U.S. But they are news people, and they know news when they see it and they run it.
This revelation printed in hundreds, if not thousands, of distributed booklets was completely missed by the so-called “mainstream media” over nearly a decade of fawning coverage of Mr. Obama.
{…}This is the same media that also missed and later glossed over the shocking news from Mr. Obama’s autobiography that his white girlfriend from New York who made provocative comments about race was made up.
This is, of course, all a grave injustice to the American political system and to voters and, really, to anyone who actually believes that the press has a duty to shine light on every corner of the public realm.
It is also a grave injustice to Mr. Obama himself. If the media were not so preoccupied with covering for him and ignoring stories unfavorable to him, maybe voters would not be so suspicious of him and his birth papers.
Mr. Obama himself could help clear the air by explaining how, exactly, how it is possible that his literary agent could have been so misinformed as to believe Mr. Obama was, in fact, born in Kenya.
Is it, perhaps, because Mr. Obama has spent so much of his life playing up his ties to Kenya and Indonesia? And that he plays down his ties to America so much that the closest he gets is the last state added, which sits 2,000 miles from the mainland?
I’m convinced the son of a bitch was born in Kenya
Me too.
So is Dale -
BOB
YES, THAT BOY'S ACTIONS ARE FINALLY CATCHING UP TO HIM, BUT IT MAY BE TOO LATE BECAUSE OF THE REAL DAMAGE HE HAS DONE TO AMERICA, BUT IF THAT OTHER ONE (ROMNEY) CHANGES FAST ENOUGH HE MIGHT PULL US OUR OF THIS GREAT AMERICAN DESTRUCTION.
I guess I'd call my friend an 'apocalyptic' Christina. Never goes to church, writes religious poems for the 'Golden Age' section of the paper, can always be found at the Casino on Wampum Day, has never been in a bar, and lives in a run down motel, drives a run down car, with his cats and dogs. Happiest man I've ever known, for the circumstances.
"OOOH, Ba-by! It's a big old goofy world."
You can look him up under aardvark in the dictionary.
Last week the Republicans presented a Bill in the House (since, passed out of a Republican-dominated Committee) that would prevent the Armed Forces from using any Renewable Fuels, even for Testing.
I'm not crazy about Obama Or Romney, but at least the Dems are trying to get us out of the last century. I don't care where Obama's from; I just can't vote "Republican" this time around.
This week Republicans, led by Rep. Conaway, submitted a proposal that will prohibit the Defense Department from buying alternative fuels that cost more than traditional fuels. from the article
Cliff Claven
The Navy just set a new Department of Defense record for fuel price in February by paying $245,000 to Albemarle Corp. to make 55 gallons of jet fuel from 100 gallons of Cobalt biobutanol. That works out to $4,454.55 a gallon or $187,000 a barrel, and that doesn’t include the cost of making the biobutanol in the first place. This beat the previous record of $427 a gallon for Algae oil. Somebody has to say stop. from comments
BIOblogger
I find the GOP position remarkably short-sighted and oblivious to the trends that are bankrupting this country. It was President Bush who rightly called our oil dependence an addiction. Helping create markets for alternatives is the cheapest way for any administration to spur development of new technologies to end the addiction. As Reagan’s National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane said recently “Increasing domestic production of oil won’t change the price we pay at the pump.”
As to the argument that the DoD shouldn’t pay more for new forms of energy as they do for status quo sources – I wonder what would have been the outcome of WWII in the Pacific theater if Gen. Groves had been held to that standard? The Manhattan Project was an extraordinary use of government purchasing power because of an urgent need for a new energy weapons technology. Our addiction to oil has cost this country countless lives and will continue to do so unless Congress starts heeding the lessons of the past. We need new energy weapons – which is what biofuels are.
We have traded the Cold War for a War over oil. from the comments
It does seem a little short sighted. Perhaps it will get watered down and a workable compromise found.
The same passages popped for me Bob. And I agree with you that the wording in the bill is arbitrary and short-sighted. Development costs and small volume always drives the costs on prototype programs.
Undoubtedly, the legislation was driven politically and was an atttempt to get back at Obama for scheduled military cuts (just as calling this experiment the 'Great Green Fleet' was also likely political and probably inadvisable).
That being said, if you read some of the statements from articles linked throughout this particular one, statements made by advocates of the biofuels, you get the sense that the optimistic views often presented here are just that, optimistic and selective.
I agree with you about innovations coming out of the military, Rufus. The list is really long.
A few days ago my daughter and I were trying to locate a tack shop out in the country. She had a Iphone I guess it is called. Not only did it have maps that had a dot on the road showing where you were (GPS) but as you drove along it had a moving picture image of the country you were traveling through. There, that white house over there, and sure enough, right on the picture was that white house right over there. There's the gas station. Picture of gas station. Not only that, you stick in the address, and this gizmo says "Turn left here" or "You missed the turn, go back". Truly amazing to older eyes.
Ford was on the edge in 2006 and took a big gamble.
Forgot About this,
What Ford pawned
The automaker’s collateral for a $23.5B loan in 2006:
All domestic assets, including intellectual property rights and trademarks such as the Blue Oval, Mustang and F-150 Plants and equipment Receivables (money owed to Ford) Equity interest in Ford Credit and certain foreign subsidiaries
Stopped posting after the Battle of Guernica, which stunned me into the awareness that there were no intersections of commonality to be developed. Then the tone segued into a direction I found offensive, as it often does under the protective cloak of anonymity, the ultimate invitation to the hyperbole of the Inner Child. No further point.
To paraphrase Billy Beane, there are good politicians, then bad politicians, followed by 50 ft of crap, and then today's politicians, with Obama and Romney the poster children for each side. It has become nearly impossible to vote for the person anymore so one is left with the broad strokes of policy direction.
The real election battle is between four front-runners.
The main Islamist contenders are Mohammed Morsi of the powerful Brotherhood and Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a moderate Islamist whose inclusive platform has won him the support of some liberals, leftists and minority Christians.
The two secular front-runners are both veterans of Mubarak's regime — former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and former foreign minister Amr Moussa.
A major worry is whether either side will accept ultimate victory by the other. Many Islamists have warned of a new wave of protests if Shafiq wins, saying his victory could only come from fraud.
So far, there were only a few reports of overt violations of election rules Wednesday, mainly concerning candidates' backers campaigning near polling stations. Three international monitoring organizations, including the U.S.'s Carter Center, were observing the vote. Former President Jimmy Carter, the center's head, visited a polling station in the ancient Cairo district of Sayeda Ayesha...
I keep hearing in the news that this election is Egypt's first open election since, like, forever.
What I don't understand is they disqualified 10 of the 23 candidates last month. Did they get re-qualified? Wasn't that the problem with past elections - the military disqualified most candidates?
He gave the example of Romney recently saying that Russia is the "number one geopolitical foe" to the United States.
"Come on Mitt, think," Powell said. "That isn't the case."
Romney's team of about 40 foreign policy advisers includes many who hail from the neoconservative wing of the party, according to a May analysis conducted by the The Nation. Many were enthusiastic supporters of the Iraq War, and many are proponents of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran.
: Sweet are the uses of adversity, : Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, : Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; : And this our life exempt from public haunt, : Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, : Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. : I would not change it.
From the 3rd part of a rather lengthy discussion of Philip K. Dicks philosophy:
"Dick’s gnosticism also enables us to understand something of the paranoid style of American politics — and perhaps not just American politics. For example, Dick constantly comes back to the theme of Watergate and the rather odd idea that the removal of President Nixon is the reassertion of the true deity over the false idols of the cave. Namely, that the phenomenal world is a prison governed by corrupt, secretive and malevolent elites. There are too many political analogues to this view to list here. For example, think about the relentless rise of conspiracy theories, which has gone hand in hand with the vast, rhizomatic flourishing of the Internet. Think about the widespread idea — on the right and the left — that the United States is governed by secretive, all-powerful elites. These used to be identified as Ivy League educated WASPS or Freemasons or Jews and are now usually identified as former senior employees of Goldman Sachs.
If you think that there is a secret that can be known that they are hiding from us and that requires the formation of a small, secret sect to work against them, then you have entered into an essentially gnostical way of thinking. Politics here becomes the defense of purity against impure, inauthentic forces and the true leader has to be an authentic hero who can combat the forces of evil with an almost superhuman resolve: Mitt Romney, step this way."
I wonder what Rufus, who was for a National ID card IIRC, would think of this? It seems a little too spooky for me.
Each week a global thinker from the worlds of philosophy, science, psychology or the arts is given a minute to put forward a radical, inspiring or controversial idea – no matter how improbable – that they believe would change the world.
This week science fiction writer Elizabeth Moon argues that everyone should be given a barcode at birth.
Economic analysis finds households would save $65 – $200 per year if more wind were added to the power mix; savings far exceed cost of new transmission to tap wind in the Midwest
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Adding more wind power to the electric grid could reduce wholesale market prices by more than 25 percent in the Midwest region by 2020 according to a new analysis conducted by Synapse Energy Economics on behalf of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid. The report found that wind power could drive down the wholesale price of power by $3 – $10 per megawatt hour (MWh) in the near term and up to nearly $50 per MWh by 2030. Those savings would be passed along to consumers through lowering retail electricity prices by $65-$200 each year.
The analysis also found that new transmission is needed in the region to tap wind power; however, investments in transmission are small compared to the savings they would reap, providing more than a 2 to 1 return on investment throughout various scenarios.
“This analysis illustrates a basic fact about our power system – building transmission to unleash cheaper, domestic resources makes strong economic sense,” said John Jimison, Managing Director of the Energy Future Coalition and Americans for a Clean Energy Grid. “Transmission makes up the smallest sliver of the electricity bill, but can make power markets more competitive and drive down costs for everyone. Midwestern . . . . . .
Here's something on which I do agree with Romney (there are a lot of things, actually.)
In today’s address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Romney proposed a series of steps to overhaul the public education system that could reignite the debate over school choice.
The proposals would create a voucher-like system to provide federal funding so low-income and disabled students can attend charter schools, private institutions and public schools outside their districts.
“I don’t like the direction of American education, and as president, I will do everything in my power to get education on track for the kids of this great land,” Romney told a gathering of Latino business owners.
‘Third-World’ Education
Romney blamed Obama and teachers’ unions for what he described as the “third-world” state of American education.
New Jersey loves setting rooftop solar power records. It did in 2009 when it opened the largest solar rooftop in North America (2.4 MW of capacity), again in 2011 when Toys”R”Us got a 5.38-MW solar roof, and again later in 2011 when a 9-MW solar roof was installed on a large Holt Logistics refrigerated warehouse, the Gloucester Marine Terminal. This solar rooftop just achieved its formal completion this week.
A case of the 'democratic fallacy'. The fact that a majority of people believe something true doesn't necessarily make it so. It only becomes important in a political sense if it affects the vote which, on this issue, it is unlikely to do.
The timing of Obama's actions on this, on the gay marriage announcment, on the pipeline, on the general 'war on women' meme, and on his handling of the birth certificate issue were all political motivated and designed to rev up the base and take the general population's mind off real issues like jobs and the economy. It remains to be seen how successful he will be.
This issue is being couched as a freedom of religion issue by the right, a constitutional issue; and, given the lawsuits that have been filed, will likely end up in and be decided by the Supreme Court rather than the court of popular opinion.
The "pipeline" was motivated by Nebraska environmentalists who (rightly) objected to the Sandhills alignment, not to mention the general tenor of attitudinal hubris over jobs, industrial build-out (ironically led by a leading member of the Bohemian Club), and outright lying and bullying. The "political" motivation was all north of the border.
I was speaking of the timing of Obama's decision, the delay to put it off until after the election thus quieting his base on the issue. One would have to be naive to believe the pipeline won't be built eventually.
I could be wrong in classifying this one as intentional rather than serindipidous but Obama still took advantage of it as an opportunity to offer trinkets to the natives...er...Imean base.
Concerns that Greece may be forced out of the euro have heightened since an inconclusive election May 6 gave rise to political parties rejecting the country's austerity program. New elections will be held June 17 after Greek political leaders failed to agree on forming a coalition government.
In Brussels on Wednesday evening, European leaders were also expected to discuss a range of short-term solutions aimed at revitalizing euro-zone economies, including boosting the shareholders' capital of the European Investment Bank—which helps to finance large infrastructure projects.
They were also set discuss the possibility of issuing so-called project bonds, debt attached to specific projects, on a small scale. The idea would be to leverage European funds to be able to finance about €5 billion ($6.34 billion) in new investments through project bonds, the French official said.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, backed a "road map" towards eurobonds. He said Greece should remain a member of the euro area but must stick to its commitments on cuts.
Today, Mr Clegg will warn that a Greek withdrawal would cause "unpredictable, irrevocable damage" to the single currency that "no rational person" should advocate. Speaking in Berlin, the Deputy Prime Minister will criticise the notion "being whispered behind cupped hands" that Greece 's exit could be good for the rest of Europe.
"We have got to hit back against this fatalism which says that Europe can't fix this," he will say.
But the real crisis—the one that rarely gets discussed—is that these types of bans require another public acceptance of total government intrusion into our lives. Is it a legitimate role of government to prohibit one individual from giving a free bag to another individual on the pretext of a supposed societal benefit that does not withstand even friendly scrutiny?
Doesn’t every human interaction, no matter how small, have some arguable effect on society? And if so, what’s to prevent those who seek to dictate how everyone lives from invoking that argument at every turn?
The crisis in Los Angeles and around the country is that too few people are asking those questions.
In a crisis you will follow who you trust, not the Narrative. And I think the Narrative is about to die or take sick. Power based upon the Narrative — the bullyboy pulpit of the media — is going to vanish in the face of any crisis which discredits it. So, as one cannot count on the ship when it hits the iceberg, so too should one be wary of relying on the Narrative when the Narrative shows signs of failing.LINK
Which is exactly the opposite of what I wrote above about supporting policy over personalities.
Which is exactly the danger of transitional periods where the Cult of Personality assumes center stage, whether Obama with his religious iconography or Mitt with his Rubric's Goldberg Cube of a backdrop.**
(Final) which explains why I am neither pundit nor seer nor particularly insightful about what the American electorate will do, their being still uncomfortably joined at the hip with White Knights, politics being only as mature as the constituents tolerate? (I am loathe to drop the argument too low down the totem pole - first decade of the new century failures still belong "squarely" with the elites who were educated to know better.)
**Funny things happen on the way to the Quorum. While the Dems *appear* (the argument can be made but it's not fully convincing) to be digging in hard left and the Repubs, under Romney, *appear* to be going "Big (Room for Everybody) Tent" in a craven thrust at brokering a money deal for the presidency. Ref: Ides of March movie, written (in part) and directed by Clooney and based on the play "Farragut North" about the 2004 Howard Dean campaign.
...the tranquility brought by the Communists when the Democrats abandoned our allies was such blessed relief:
"With U.S. bombings suspended, work on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and other logistical structures could proceed unimpeded. Logistics would be upgraded until the North was in a position to launch a massive invasion of the South, projected for the 1975–1976 dry season. Trà calculated that this date would be Hanoi's last opportunity to strike before Saigon's army could be fully trained.
In 1974, Congress voted not to enforce the commitments agreed to in the Paris Peace Accords. Air support for Cambodia, South Vietnam, and Laos was cut off. The military aid promised was scaled back or never materialized, and the North was allowed to resume support for the Khmer Rouge. "After Nixon stepped down over Watergate," said one Communist commander, "we knew we would win."[52] Without the logistical support provided by the Ho Chi Minh trail, the North would not have been able to launch an invasion of South Vietnam by 1975, which it predicted would be its "last chance" before the South was self-sufficiently able to defend itself.[53] The US canceled the bombing of Communist positions on the trail. In Cambodia, last minute efforts on the part of the US to arrange for a peace settlement involving Sihanouk ended in failure. When the US Congress vetoed Ford's call for a resumption of air support in Cambodia, panic and a sense of doom filled the capital, which was mercilessly shelled for more than a year by the Communists. President Ford openly predicted a "bloodbath" and stated that the Congress's decision to abandon Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge, in particular, would lead to "an unbelievable horror story".[54] The US frantically abandoned Saigon, and the Pathet Lao advanced throughout Laos.
Aftermath
Professor R.J. Rummel calculates that Communist Vietnam directly killed 1.7 million people from 1945 to 1987 in democide alone (not counting war casualties),[55] from a total range of 700,000 to 3.7 million murdered.[56] Some 400,000 to 2.5 million of these were killed after 1975. These figures include Laotians and Cambodians killed by Hanoi.
Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, on April 17, 1975. Over the next four years, the Khmer Rouge enacted a genocidal policy that would kill over one-fourth of all Cambodians, or more than 2 million people. Investigators have uncovered and examined the remains of 1,386,734 Cambodians found in mass graves near Khmer Rouge execution centers whose cause of death has been determined to have been virtually exclusively execution by the former Khmer Rouge regime. [57]
Because only about one-half to a third of those who died during the Khmer Rouge years were executed (the rest having died from other causes like state-created famine, the deliberate withholding of basic necessities by the state, the refusal by the state to allow foreign aid, the abolishing of medicine and hospitals by the state, systematic overwork and slave labor by the state, brutal mistreatment by the state, and normal mortality), the Documentation Center of Cambodia estimates that the former regime killed or otherwise caused the unnecessary deaths of, between 2.0 and 2.5 million Cambodians, with a most likely estimate of 2.2 million "
Rufus IIWed May 23, 07:39:00 PM EDT Voters overwhelmingly think republicans are "out to lunch" on birth control, but it doesn't seem to be hurting Romney.
---
Maybe 'cause it's a phoney "issue" concocted by the Dems, as given away long ago by Steponallofus.
The 'Blount Amendment' is an example of how Congress does business on a daily basis. They speak in broad generalities and then leave it up to staff or agency heads to determine what the legislation 'actually' means in practice.
Obama did the same thing in the opposite direction when he assured religious groups that Obamacare would not impact them or compromise their religious beliefs, then when the law was passed, Sabelius tells them they will need to 'pay to play' regardless of their religious beliefs.
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us have created some nice methods and we are looking to trade methods with others, why not shoot me an email if interested.
There is an edited version on C-span but I cannot imbed it.
ReplyDelete50,000 more.
ReplyDeleteAll I get is "an error occurred, try again later" hitting on the video.
ReplyDeleteBack a thousand years ago it took the Vietnamese 200 or 300 years to get rid of the Chinese.
I can buy into the idea that Westmoreland didn't have a clue what he was doing but not that he 'lost' Vietnam.
RCP has taken their vote board down but last I saw it was Obama by about 20% over the lawyer in Arkansas. Still not a great vote of confidence in Obama.
b
This guy's just as big an ass as Westy.
ReplyDeletePatton was a dick, but at least he read history.
ReplyDeleteWatched 37 minutes before I started getting funny looks at work here. Thanks, Deuce. Sent it on to my son.
ReplyDeleteEvery Private in the Army, and The Marine Corps knew that the only way to win the war was to take out North Vietnam. Otherwise it was just a waste of time, and a clusterfuck. We had zero illusions about who "owned" the villages.
ReplyDeleteI’m convinced the son of a bitch was born in Kenya
ReplyDeleteWhen the national media isn’t consumed with “exposes” revealing that Mitt Romney was once a teenager and attended high school with other teenagers, they are busy ignoring persistent evidence causing alarming numbers of Americans to believe President Obama was not born in the U.S.
Or, they are busy “investigating” Ann Romney’s shocking hobby of training and - readers, remain calm - actually riding horses.
The Los Angeles Times really did run such a report Tuesday focusing on a lawsuit pertaining to one of her horses. Mrs. Romney was completely exonerated, but not before she grew irritated with lawyers during a marathon deposition.
So, not only does Mrs. Romney love horses, but she doesn’t like lawyers? And she wants to be first lady? Why … this American voters simply will not stand!
Nothing is so un-American as riding horses and being a teenager.
But wait … did you hear about the latest crazy “Birther” claim from right-wing crazies placing Mr. Obama’s birth in his father’s homeland of Kenya?
These right-wing “Birthers” over at the Breitbart news empire actually published a promotional booklet written by Mr. Obama’s literary agent touting the young author as having been “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.”
Problem is that the folks over at Breitbart are not and never have been so-called “Birthers” who believe Mr. Obama was born outside the U.S. But they are news people, and they know news when they see it and they run it.
This revelation printed in hundreds, if not thousands, of distributed booklets was completely missed by the so-called “mainstream media” over nearly a decade of fawning coverage of Mr. Obama.
{…}
{…}This is the same media that also missed and later glossed over the shocking news from Mr. Obama’s autobiography that his white girlfriend from New York who made provocative comments about race was made up.
ReplyDeleteThis is, of course, all a grave injustice to the American political system and to voters and, really, to anyone who actually believes that the press has a duty to shine light on every corner of the public realm.
It is also a grave injustice to Mr. Obama himself. If the media were not so preoccupied with covering for him and ignoring stories unfavorable to him, maybe voters would not be so suspicious of him and his birth papers.
Mr. Obama himself could help clear the air by explaining how, exactly, how it is possible that his literary agent could have been so misinformed as to believe Mr. Obama was, in fact, born in Kenya.
Is it, perhaps, because Mr. Obama has spent so much of his life playing up his ties to Kenya and Indonesia? And that he plays down his ties to America so much that the closest he gets is the last state added, which sits 2,000 miles from the mainland?
{…}
{…}
ReplyDeleteWhy, that’s almost as un-American as horseback riding and being a teenager in high school.
Charles Hurt can be reached at charleshurt@live.com
We really need to get rid of this cur, or as he called himself, “mutt”.
I’m convinced the son of a bitch was born in Kenya
ReplyDeleteMe too.
So is Dale -
BOB
YES, THAT BOY'S ACTIONS ARE FINALLY CATCHING UP TO HIM, BUT IT MAY BE TOO LATE BECAUSE OF THE REAL DAMAGE HE HAS DONE TO AMERICA, BUT IF THAT OTHER ONE (ROMNEY) CHANGES FAST ENOUGH HE MIGHT PULL US OUR OF THIS GREAT AMERICAN DESTRUCTION.
EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A WAR.
BLESSINGS DALE
That makes three of us, at least.
:)
b
I guess I'd call my friend an 'apocalyptic' Christina. Never goes to church, writes religious poems for the 'Golden Age' section of the paper, can always be found at the Casino on Wampum Day, has never been in a bar, and lives in a run down motel, drives a run down car, with his cats and dogs. Happiest man I've ever known, for the circumstances.
Delete"OOOH, Ba-by! It's a big old goofy world."
You can look him up under aardvark in the dictionary.
:)
b
Deuce, Bobbo, and DALE appear to be one of a kind!
DeleteLooney Tunes!!
Last week the Republicans presented a Bill in the House (since, passed out of a Republican-dominated Committee) that would prevent the Armed Forces from using any Renewable Fuels, even for Testing.
ReplyDeleteDicks
I'm not crazy about Obama Or Romney, but at least the Dems are trying to get us out of the last century. I don't care where Obama's from; I just can't vote "Republican" this time around.
This week Republicans, led by Rep. Conaway, submitted a proposal that will prohibit the Defense Department from buying alternative fuels that cost more than traditional fuels.
ReplyDeletefrom the article
Cliff Claven
The Navy just set a new Department of Defense record for fuel price in February by paying $245,000 to Albemarle Corp. to make 55 gallons of jet fuel from 100 gallons of Cobalt biobutanol. That works out to $4,454.55 a gallon or $187,000 a barrel, and that doesn’t include the cost of making the biobutanol in the first place. This beat the previous record of $427 a gallon for Algae oil. Somebody has to say stop.
from comments
BIOblogger
I find the GOP position remarkably short-sighted and oblivious to the trends that are bankrupting this country. It was President Bush who rightly called our oil dependence an addiction. Helping create markets for alternatives is the cheapest way for any administration to spur development of new technologies to end the addiction. As Reagan’s National Security Advisor Bud McFarlane said recently “Increasing domestic production of oil won’t change the price we pay at the pump.”
As to the argument that the DoD shouldn’t pay more for new forms of energy as they do for status quo sources – I wonder what would have been the outcome of WWII in the Pacific theater if Gen. Groves had been held to that standard? The Manhattan Project was an extraordinary use of government purchasing power because of an urgent need for a new energy weapons technology. Our addiction to oil has cost this country countless lives and will continue to do so unless Congress starts heeding the lessons of the past. We need new energy weapons – which is what biofuels are.
We have traded the Cold War for a War over oil.
from the comments
It does seem a little short sighted. Perhaps it will get watered down and a workable compromise found.
b
.
DeleteThe same passages popped for me Bob. And I agree with you that the wording in the bill is arbitrary and short-sighted. Development costs and small volume always drives the costs on prototype programs.
Undoubtedly, the legislation was driven politically and was an atttempt to get back at Obama for scheduled military cuts (just as calling this experiment the 'Great Green Fleet' was also likely political and probably inadvisable).
That being said, if you read some of the statements from articles linked throughout this particular one, statements made by advocates of the biofuels, you get the sense that the optimistic views often presented here are just that, optimistic and selective.
.
The Senate will undoubtably kill it, but that just shows where the republicans will take us, given the chance.
ReplyDeleteSomebody has to support future technologies.
ReplyDeleteCheck out California, Yesterday
I agree with you about innovations coming out of the military, Rufus. The list is really long.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago my daughter and I were trying to locate a tack shop out in the country. She had a Iphone I guess it is called. Not only did it have maps that had a dot on the road showing where you were (GPS) but as you drove along it had a moving picture image of the country you were traveling through. There, that white house over there, and sure enough, right on the picture was that white house right over there. There's the gas station. Picture of gas station. Not only that, you stick in the address, and this gizmo says "Turn left here" or "You missed the turn, go back". Truly amazing to older eyes.
b
workable compromise
ReplyDeleteTea Party
workable compromise
Tea Party
workable compromise
Tea Party
workable compromise
Tea Party
Posted upthread replaced by something or other strange things in blog space.
Hey Max,
DeleteWhat name do you post under at BC?
Yes! Vote Tea Party for workable compromise!
Deleteb
I think it's "Big Old Goofy Girl", Ash.
Delete:)
b
.
ReplyDeleteFord was on the edge in 2006 and took a big gamble.
Forgot About this,
What Ford pawned
The automaker’s collateral for a $23.5B loan in 2006:
All domestic assets, including intellectual property rights and trademarks such as the Blue Oval, Mustang and F-150
Plants and equipment
Receivables (money owed to Ford)
Equity interest in Ford Credit and certain foreign subsidiaries
Upgrade allows Ford to Reclaim Blue Oval and Other Assets [LINK]
Mullaly gets a lot of credit but he deserves it.
.
Stopped posting after the Battle of Guernica, which stunned me into the awareness that there were no intersections of commonality to be developed. Then the tone segued into a direction I found offensive, as it often does under the protective cloak of anonymity, the ultimate invitation to the hyperbole of the Inner Child. No further point.
ReplyDeleteTo paraphrase Billy Beane, there are good politicians, then bad politicians, followed by 50 ft of crap, and then today's politicians, with Obama and Romney the poster children for each side. It has become nearly impossible to vote for the person anymore so one is left with the broad strokes of policy direction.
.
ReplyDeleteEgypt takes its first step.
The real election battle is between four front-runners.
The main Islamist contenders are Mohammed Morsi of the powerful Brotherhood and Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a moderate Islamist whose inclusive platform has won him the support of some liberals, leftists and minority Christians.
The two secular front-runners are both veterans of Mubarak's regime — former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and former foreign minister Amr Moussa.
A major worry is whether either side will accept ultimate victory by the other. Many Islamists have warned of a new wave of protests if Shafiq wins, saying his victory could only come from fraud.
So far, there were only a few reports of overt violations of election rules Wednesday, mainly concerning candidates' backers campaigning near polling stations. Three international monitoring organizations, including the U.S.'s Carter Center, were observing the vote. Former President Jimmy Carter, the center's head, visited a polling station in the ancient Cairo district of Sayeda Ayesha...
From the Detroit News
.
I keep hearing in the news that this election is Egypt's first open election since, like, forever.
DeleteWhat I don't understand is they disqualified 10 of the 23 candidates last month. Did they get re-qualified? Wasn't that the problem with past elections - the military disqualified most candidates?
The military is Egypt's only chance for a little sanity to prevail. The don't want to fight Israel again.
DeleteAlas, they are being pushed aside, unless their candidate does well beyond expectations.
"Oooh, Ba-by! It's a big old goofy world."
Christian churches were burned recently. Keep up on the action at JihadWatch.
b
I take you aren't much of a fan of Democracy bobbo?
DeleteDoesn't seem to work well in the moslem world, Ash. Even Turkey is faltering.
Deleteb
I guess you are a fan of democracy only if the outcome suits your opinion. Man the barricades and rise up old man!
Delete.
ReplyDeleteThe latest on Bob's bete noire.
Hawaii verifies Obama birth records to Ariz. [LINK]
The Official Process [LINK]
.
.
ReplyDeleteHis name is Richard Shelby but they call him dick.
GOP Blames J.P. Morgan Fiasco on Watered Down Regulations That Haven't Been Implemented Yet
Now here is a real reason for not voting GOP.
.
Change you can believe in:
ReplyDeleteHe gave the example of Romney recently saying that Russia is the "number one geopolitical foe" to the United States.
"Come on Mitt, think," Powell said. "That isn't the case."
Romney's team of about 40 foreign policy advisers includes many who hail from the neoconservative wing of the party, according to a May analysis conducted by the The Nation. Many were enthusiastic supporters of the Iraq War, and many are proponents of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iran.
LINK
"Pogo" nailed it.
ReplyDeleteit be us.
DeleteIt be the muslims.
Deleteb
Once you leave the Natural Law Party, there is always going back, The Return.
ReplyDeleteb
Theologically speaking.
Deleteb
Down with the iconoclasts.
ReplyDeleteAn entire sermon in stone.
: Sweet are the uses of adversity,
: Which like the toad, ugly and venomous,
: Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
: And this our life exempt from public haunt,
: Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
: Sermons in stones, and good in every thing.
: I would not change it.
As You Like It
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shiva_as_the_Lord_of_Dance_LACMA_edit.jpg
An entire philosophy solidified.
Shiva dances on ignorance, squishing it with the right foot.
His dance, O Nobly Borns, is creative in its destruction.
Like capitalism is said to be. And, revolution, too!
b
.
ReplyDeleteShiva as lord of the dance?
I thought that was Michael Flatley.
.
From the 3rd part of a rather lengthy discussion of Philip K. Dicks philosophy:
ReplyDelete"Dick’s gnosticism also enables us to understand something of the paranoid style of American politics — and perhaps not just American politics. For example, Dick constantly comes back to the theme of Watergate and the rather odd idea that the removal of President Nixon is the reassertion of the true deity over the false idols of the cave. Namely, that the phenomenal world is a prison governed by corrupt, secretive and malevolent elites. There are too many political analogues to this view to list here. For example, think about the relentless rise of conspiracy theories, which has gone hand in hand with the vast, rhizomatic flourishing of the Internet. Think about the widespread idea — on the right and the left — that the United States is governed by secretive, all-powerful elites. These used to be identified as Ivy League educated WASPS or Freemasons or Jews and are now usually identified as former senior employees of Goldman Sachs.
If you think that there is a secret that can be known that they are hiding from us and that requires the formation of a small, secret sect to work against them, then you have entered into an essentially gnostical way of thinking. Politics here becomes the defense of purity against impure, inauthentic forces and the true leader has to be an authentic hero who can combat the forces of evil with an almost superhuman resolve: Mitt Romney, step this way."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/philip-k-dick-sci-fi-philosopher-part-3/?hp
Piddle, piddle, piddle.
DeleteLinking gnosticism and politics like that.
Deleteb
I wonder what Rufus, who was for a National ID card IIRC, would think of this? It seems a little too spooky for me.
ReplyDeleteEach week a global thinker from the worlds of philosophy, science, psychology or the arts is given a minute to put forward a radical, inspiring or controversial idea – no matter how improbable – that they believe would change the world.
This week science fiction writer Elizabeth Moon argues that everyone should be given a barcode at birth.
It would make me feel like a can of tuna.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120522-barcode-everyone-at-birth
b
Yeah, first blush it's a little creepy.
ReplyDeleteEconomic analysis finds households would save $65 – $200 per year if more wind were added to the power mix; savings far exceed cost of new transmission to tap wind in the Midwest
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON, D.C. – Adding more wind power to the electric grid could reduce wholesale market prices by more than 25 percent in the Midwest region by 2020 according to a new analysis conducted by Synapse Energy Economics on behalf of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid. The report found that wind power could drive down the wholesale price of power by $3 – $10 per megawatt hour (MWh) in the near term and up to nearly $50 per MWh by 2030. Those savings would be passed along to consumers through lowering retail electricity prices by $65-$200 each year.
The analysis also found that new transmission is needed in the region to tap wind power; however, investments in transmission are small compared to the savings they would reap, providing more than a 2 to 1 return on investment throughout various scenarios.
“This analysis illustrates a basic fact about our power system – building transmission to unleash cheaper, domestic resources makes strong economic sense,” said John Jimison, Managing Director of the Energy Future Coalition and Americans for a Clean Energy Grid. “Transmission makes up the smallest sliver of the electricity bill, but can make power markets more competitive and drive down costs for everyone. Midwestern . . . . . .
Article
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1cCqZ)
Here's something on which I do agree with Romney (there are a lot of things, actually.)
ReplyDeleteIn today’s address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Romney proposed a series of steps to overhaul the public education system that could reignite the debate over school choice.
The proposals would create a voucher-like system to provide federal funding so low-income and disabled students can attend charter schools, private institutions and public schools outside their districts.
“I don’t like the direction of American education, and as president, I will do everything in my power to get education on track for the kids of this great land,” Romney told a gathering of Latino business owners.
‘Third-World’ Education
Romney blamed Obama and teachers’ unions for what he described as the “third-world” state of American education.
Businessweek article
New Jersey loves setting rooftop solar power records. It did in 2009 when it opened the largest solar rooftop in North America (2.4 MW of capacity), again in 2011 when Toys”R”Us got a 5.38-MW solar roof, and again later in 2011 when a 9-MW solar roof was installed on a large Holt Logistics refrigerated warehouse, the Gloucester Marine Terminal. This solar rooftop just achieved its formal completion this week.
ReplyDeleteOne Big-Assed Roof
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/18WQl)
Voters overwhelmingly think republicans are "out to lunch" on birth control, but it doesn't seem to be hurting Romney.
ReplyDeletePoll
.
DeleteA case of the 'democratic fallacy'. The fact that a majority of people believe something true doesn't necessarily make it so. It only becomes important in a political sense if it affects the vote which, on this issue, it is unlikely to do.
The timing of Obama's actions on this, on the gay marriage announcment, on the pipeline, on the general 'war on women' meme, and on his handling of the birth certificate issue were all political motivated and designed to rev up the base and take the general population's mind off real issues like jobs and the economy. It remains to be seen how successful he will be.
This issue is being couched as a freedom of religion issue by the right, a constitutional issue; and, given the lawsuits that have been filed, will likely end up in and be decided by the Supreme Court rather than the court of popular opinion.
.
The "pipeline" was motivated by Nebraska environmentalists who (rightly) objected to the Sandhills alignment, not to mention the general tenor of attitudinal hubris over jobs, industrial build-out (ironically led by a leading member of the Bohemian Club), and outright lying and bullying. The "political" motivation was all north of the border.
Delete.
DeleteI was speaking of the timing of Obama's decision, the delay to put it off until after the election thus quieting his base on the issue. One would have to be naive to believe the pipeline won't be built eventually.
I could be wrong in classifying this one as intentional rather than serindipidous but Obama still took advantage of it as an opportunity to offer trinkets to the natives...er...Imean base.
.
Concerns that Greece may be forced out of the euro have heightened since an inconclusive election May 6 gave rise to political parties rejecting the country's austerity program. New elections will be held June 17 after Greek political leaders failed to agree on forming a coalition government.
ReplyDeleteIn Brussels on Wednesday evening, European leaders were also expected to discuss a range of short-term solutions aimed at revitalizing euro-zone economies, including boosting the shareholders' capital of the European Investment Bank—which helps to finance large infrastructure projects.
They were also set discuss the possibility of issuing so-called project bonds, debt attached to specific projects, on a small scale. The idea would be to leverage European funds to be able to finance about €5 billion ($6.34 billion) in new investments through project bonds, the French official said.
Liberals might read this and conclude, “C’mon, Cost! You’d only be happy if Obama dropped out and endorsed Romney!”
ReplyDeleteWell, that would be nice, but that’s not my point. Obama could be running as a progressive Democrat, but with a popular legislative record.
...
But he doesn’t have any of that. The first half of his term produced reviled legislation, and the second half has produced nothing at all.
The 'Bain' Of Romney, Or Obama?
Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, backed a "road map" towards eurobonds. He said Greece should remain a member of the euro area but must stick to its commitments on cuts.
ReplyDeleteToday, Mr Clegg will warn that a Greek withdrawal would cause "unpredictable, irrevocable damage" to the single currency that "no rational person" should advocate. Speaking in Berlin, the Deputy Prime Minister will criticise the notion "being whispered behind cupped hands" that Greece 's exit could be good for the rest of Europe.
"We have got to hit back against this fatalism which says that Europe can't fix this," he will say.
But the real crisis—the one that rarely gets discussed—is that these types of bans require another public acceptance of total government intrusion into our lives. Is it a legitimate role of government to prohibit one individual from giving a free bag to another individual on the pretext of a supposed societal benefit that does not withstand even friendly scrutiny?
ReplyDeleteDoesn’t every human interaction, no matter how small, have some arguable effect on society? And if so, what’s to prevent those who seek to dictate how everyone lives from invoking that argument at every turn?
The crisis in Los Angeles and around the country is that too few people are asking those questions.
LA In Landfill
LA In Landfill
ReplyDeleteOn this day two years ago, the TV drama LOST aired its series finale, capping a glorious six-year run.
ReplyDeleteI once knew a dental nurse who loved giving blow jobs and smoking weed.
ReplyDeleteShe was known as oral high Jean.
Man Arrested with Zebra, Parrot in Front Seat of Truck
ReplyDeletePolice reports say officers stopped him in the parking lot of the Dog House Lounge
In a crisis you will follow who you trust, not the Narrative. And I think the Narrative is about to die or take sick. Power based upon the Narrative — the bullyboy pulpit of the media — is going to vanish in the face of any crisis which discredits it. So, as one cannot count on the ship when it hits the iceberg, so too should one be wary of relying on the Narrative when the Narrative shows signs of failing. LINK
ReplyDeleteWhich is exactly the opposite of what I wrote above about supporting policy over personalities.
Which is exactly the danger of transitional periods where the Cult of Personality assumes center stage, whether Obama with his religious iconography or Mitt with his Rubric's Goldberg Cube of a backdrop.**
(Final) which explains why I am neither pundit nor seer nor particularly insightful about what the American electorate will do, their being still uncomfortably joined at the hip with White Knights, politics being only as mature as the constituents tolerate? (I am loathe to drop the argument too low down the totem pole - first decade of the new century failures still belong "squarely" with the elites who were educated to know better.)
**Funny things happen on the way to the Quorum. While the Dems *appear* (the argument can be made but it's not fully convincing) to be digging in hard left and the Repubs, under Romney, *appear* to be going "Big (Room for Everybody) Tent" in a craven thrust at brokering a money deal for the presidency. Ref: Ides of March movie, written (in part) and directed by Clooney and based on the play "Farragut North" about the 2004 Howard Dean campaign.
Describing the Clusterfuck:
ReplyDelete...the tranquility brought by the Communists when the Democrats abandoned our allies was such blessed relief:
"With U.S. bombings suspended, work on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and other logistical structures could proceed unimpeded. Logistics would be upgraded until the North was in a position to launch a massive invasion of the South, projected for the 1975–1976 dry season. Trà calculated that this date would be Hanoi's last opportunity to strike before Saigon's army could be fully trained.
In 1974, Congress voted not to enforce the commitments agreed to in the Paris Peace Accords. Air support for Cambodia, South Vietnam, and Laos was cut off. The military aid promised was scaled back or never materialized, and the North was allowed to resume support for the Khmer Rouge. "After Nixon stepped down over Watergate," said one Communist commander, "we knew we would win."[52] Without the logistical support provided by the Ho Chi Minh trail, the North would not have been able to launch an invasion of South Vietnam by 1975, which it predicted would be its "last chance" before the South was self-sufficiently able to defend itself.[53] The US canceled the bombing of Communist positions on the trail. In Cambodia, last minute efforts on the part of the US to arrange for a peace settlement involving Sihanouk ended in failure. When the US Congress vetoed Ford's call for a resumption of air support in Cambodia, panic and a sense of doom filled the capital, which was mercilessly shelled for more than a year by the Communists. President Ford openly predicted a "bloodbath" and stated that the Congress's decision to abandon Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge, in particular, would lead to "an unbelievable horror story".[54] The US frantically abandoned Saigon, and the Pathet Lao advanced throughout Laos.
Aftermath
Professor R.J. Rummel calculates that Communist Vietnam directly killed 1.7 million people from 1945 to 1987 in democide alone (not counting war casualties),[55] from a total range of 700,000 to 3.7 million murdered.[56] Some 400,000 to 2.5 million of these were killed after 1975. These figures include Laotians and Cambodians killed by Hanoi.
Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, on April 17, 1975. Over the next four years, the Khmer Rouge enacted a genocidal policy that would kill over one-fourth of all Cambodians, or more than 2 million people. Investigators have uncovered and examined the remains of 1,386,734 Cambodians found in mass graves near Khmer Rouge execution centers whose cause of death has been determined to have been virtually exclusively execution by the former Khmer Rouge regime. [57]
Because only about one-half to a third of those who died during the Khmer Rouge years were executed (the rest having died from other causes like state-created famine, the deliberate withholding of basic necessities by the state, the refusal by the state to allow foreign aid, the abolishing of medicine and hospitals by the state, systematic overwork and slave labor by the state, brutal mistreatment by the state, and normal mortality), the Documentation Center of Cambodia estimates that the former regime killed or otherwise caused the unnecessary deaths of, between 2.0 and 2.5 million Cambodians, with a most likely estimate of 2.2 million "
Civilian Deaths by US forces pale in comparison.
Another Clusterfuck:
ReplyDeleteThat "explanation" posted by Max!
Rufus IIWed May 23, 07:39:00 PM EDT
ReplyDeleteVoters overwhelmingly think republicans are "out to lunch" on birth control, but it doesn't seem to be hurting Romney.
---
Maybe 'cause it's a phoney "issue" concocted by the Dems, as given away long ago by Steponallofus.
Answered perfectly by Romney:
"WTF are you talking about George?"
...except the good Mormon did it more politely.
The "Dems" concocted the "Blount Amendment?"
Delete.
DeleteThe 'Blount Amendment' is an example of how Congress does business on a daily basis. They speak in broad generalities and then leave it up to staff or agency heads to determine what the legislation 'actually' means in practice.
Obama did the same thing in the opposite direction when he assured religious groups that Obamacare would not impact them or compromise their religious beliefs, then when the law was passed, Sabelius tells them they will need to 'pay to play' regardless of their religious beliefs.
.
Not phoney when they make it real for the Catholics, tho, when they simply say Fuck your religious "rights,"
ReplyDeleteFollow our MANDATE, OR ELSE!
(Whatcha get with Socialism, Rufus)
Catholics say: We'll see you in court.
Great Election Strategy by The One.
Religions are allowed all sorts of leeway, and benefits, Doug; but those don't include "writing their own laws."
DeleteOh, and I will GUARANTEE YOU that the Vietnamese liked Ho Chi Minh more than they liked Thieu, and the other thieves in Saigon.
DeleteWe were never going to win, Doug; not without conquering North Vietnam (and, none of the politicians, Repub, or Dem, had the balls for that.)
.
DeleteReligions don't write laws in this country, Congress does and then they are 'interpreted' in rulings by corporate staff and federal agencies.
Unfortunately, some of those 'laws' and 'interpretations' eventually are ruled unconstitutional.
.
.
DeleteThat should have read 'congressional staff' rather than corporate staff; however, these days, it would be hard to tell the difference.
Perhaps, it was a Freudian slip.
.
Big Bang in the Butt:
ReplyDelete'Big Bang Theory' actor comes out as gay
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger,
ReplyDeleteand I was curious about your situation; many of
us have created some nice methods and we are looking to trade methods with others, why not shoot me an email if interested.
Feel free to visit my web page ... Http://pornharvest.com/index.php?m=2084078