COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, May 21, 2012

Pity the Woman in Afghanistan that believed things would get better.



Afghan women's activist Dr. Massouda Jalal

AFGHANISTAN

'They are living in hell'

Massouda Jalal, Afghanistan's former Minister for Women's Affairs, talks to DW about the plight of women in Afghanistan and her plans to form a political party focused on women's affairs.
In 2004, Massouda Jalal - then Afghanistan's Minister of Women's Affairs - stepped down from her post to run against former boss Hamid Karzai in the country's presidential elections.
Though she lost by a wide margin, the sheer fact that a woman ran for the highest office was enough to give her contemporaries hope that women's rights - arguably the war-torn nation's biggest sore spot - would finally, with US influence, come to fruition.
On a recent blustery day in Kabul, with a turquoise animal-bring scarf wrapped tight around her head, Jalal was perched on the sofa at her home near the capital's diplomatic area.
Just three weeks later, the Taliban would unleash a series of coordinated attacks in the neighborhood, raising fears that Afghanistan will return to its old, more traditional ways once American troops leave in 2014.
One of the biggest concerns is a slide in women's rights. A report released in March by Oxfam International said that 87 percent of Afghan women have experienced physical, sexual or emotional abuse.
Jalal, who runs the nonprofit Massouda Jalal Foundation from her living room, is trying to stem the tide. She is not alone. The former minister hopes to start a female-centric political party in the next few years. In a cupboard, she already has stacks of paper - half of the 10,000 signatures needed to bring it to motion.
DW: What's early reaction been to the idea of a female party?
Massouda Jalal: We'll focus on women. People have been bringing in their registration cards. It [could] give them safety, security, position.
What does it say about your country that women have been immolating and self-harming in greater numbers than ever, even with the US here?
The perpetrators of immolation are further in power. There's no courage on the victim's part to approach the law. There's a certain fear that has not been broken. The way out is for us to stop terror groups, empower women, and push them into politics. We must give them power.
And education? Especially as it concerns their own bodies.
Women who immolate don't realize they'll be covered in burns for the rest of their lives. I met one woman who had self [inflicted] burns down one side and burns from hot water thrown by her husband down the other side of her body. And then he burned her with acid.
How do you even begin to get women to the next level?
We have to bring transformation to the relationships between men and women. We need access to psychological healthcare for women. We need to put our constitution into practice. We have to make our political power gender-sensitive. The world should be helping the Afghan people get rid of terrorism and give us a civil government with women and men participating equally.
President Karzai said recently that a man has a right, in certain cases, to beat his wife.
It's a constitutional crisis. It's saying, 'you [women] are secondary.' Sharia law empowers males.
But in some houses, women actually have more power financially, right?
There are more than one million male addicts in Afghanistan, and in these families women are the breadwinners. And they take care of the children. But they still do not have basic rights.
As women become better educated, is their social situation deteriorating?
All these years and $300 billion [in aid], so why is the situation for women getting worse and worse? They are living in hell - they don't expect happiness. Even if there are more women now in school and working in an industry like media, there is more pressure - and the best opportunity always goes to the man. And he has the ability to marry another women, so we are disposable. Sixty to 80 percent of marriages are still forced, but I haven't heard of one perpetrator being brought to justice in a child marriage. Violence is rising. Within the tribal structure, there is very little place for women. It's a male-dominated social and political structure.
You're one of the most visible women in Afghanistan, and at one time one of the most powerful. I assume you received threats.
When I was Minister, there was an attack every day - I didn't sleep one good night. There's very few women now in the Palace, they mainly belong to extremist parties.
Interview: Karen Leigh, Kabul, Berlin
Editor: Rob Mudge

94 comments:

  1. Could we take the women and leave the men to kill and bugger each other?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Honest to God, if only.....

      My heart goes out to them. In the backcountry many never even visit the next shithole village down the road ten miles.

      x

      Delete
  2. Obama was born a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, a circumstance the Constitution’s framers considered an iron-clad roadblock to the presidency

    As a boy, Obama was officially registered in school as a Muslim and Indonesian citizen, another barrier to U.S. natural-born citizenship

    The press and blogosphere widely reported Obama was born at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu – before deciding he was born across town at Kapi’olani Women’s and Children’s Hospital

    The Congressional Research Service, a public policy arm of Congress, officially admits no one in the government ever vetted Obama’s constitutional eligibility

    In preparation for the 2012 election, more than a dozen states are considering legislation to force all presidential candidates to prove they are constitutionally qualified before they can be placed on that state’s ballot

    The result of three years of exhaustive research, "Where's the Birth Certificate?" establishes the case not only that Barack Obama isn’t legally qualified to be president, but that, aided by his media co-conspirators, he has conducted one of the most audacious cover-ups ever perpetrated at the highest level of American politics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LibWhacker has it exactly right. Both a borner and a birther be....

      b

      Delete
  3. New Geothermal plant in California

    Renewable non-intermittent electricity for 100,000 Homes.

    Fits right into the Overall Picture

    ReplyDelete
  4. Capital Costs - about $0.018 - less than $0.02/Kilowatt Hr.

    Labor/Maintenance - probably $0.004/Kilowatt Hr.

    Total Cost to the Grid - About $0.022/Kilowatt Hr. - A touch over $0.02/KWhr.

    No muss, no fuss. No Radioactive Fuel - No Meltdowns - No shutting down during highest Summer temps. No Radioactive Fuel Disposal - No Worries about Increasing Fuel Costs

    At about 1/3 the Capital Cost of Nuclear.

    This is why I can't support Republicans

    Even if the bastard IS from Kenya

    ReplyDelete
  5. Meanwhile, below the Sea,

    Scotland’s first and only currently consented tidal power project has successfully completed an initial testing period in Orkney, and is now providing electricity to homes and business on the nearby island of Eday.

    The 1-MW underwater turbine was installed last December and has been undergoing a battery of tests in the waters around Orkney. According to ScottishPower Renewables, “the initial testing period has been very positive with the device achieving full export power.”


    Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1cpai)

    Scotland's Tidal Power Project Producing Electricity

    ReplyDelete
  6. As for the Afghan women: Sorry about their situation, but we have women right here in the U.S. that need Medical Care, and kids that need educating. We just don't have the resources to help right now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We tried, to the tune of about a Trillion Dollars, to help the women of Iraq. How do you suppose That's working out?

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  8. For Denmark as a whole, the real energy sobering-up began in the 1970s when prices surged in the first oil crisis and the nation found itself almost 100 percent dependent on fossil fuel.

    Now a world leader in wind power, Denmark gets a quarter of its electricity from wind and aims to increase that share to 50 percent by 2020.

    As holder of the EU presidency until the end of June, the Danes are championing energy saving and green growth in the region, but convincing others can be a problem.

    In principle, all 27 EU nations have backed a target to cut energy use by 20 percent by 2020, but in practice they balk at any upfront investment, even for building measures that create jobs and ultimately cut bills.

    Harassed finance ministers tend to be the toughest opponents. In Denmark, however, a cross-party, low-carbon consensus extends to every government department. The finance minister backs green growth as heartily as the environment minister.

    "If we don't invest, it will be more expensive," Danish Economic and Interior Minister Margrethe Vestager told Reuters when asked about energy savings measures and renewables. "For us, the alternative to renewables is still higher oil prices."


    The Danes Get It

    ReplyDelete
  9. And Jesus turneth, and sayeth unto Satan, get thee behind me, Satan, Man shall not live by renewables alone.

    :)

    Leave to Rufus to skew a thread about women in Afghanistan to geothermal, wind, and solar.

    :)

    b

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  10. Those people have been living that way for thousands of years, Bob. Quite honestly, they don't interest me in the slightest.

    ReplyDelete
  11. By the way, your first comment was in reply to the second comment which had nothing to do with the "poor Afghani wimmin."

    ReplyDelete
  12. How in hell are they ever going to get out of that situation?

    It seems hopeless.

    b

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  13. I guess it all goes to show that it's culture, and not race, that counts.

    It's a straight jacket culture.

    b

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  14. But because of the general conservatism of most European leaders, there is no agreement on the more radical and necessary measures.

    There is little support for Euro-bonds, little support for converting the ECB to a true central bank, and not quite enough support for a financial transactions tax.

    A financial transactions tax could do double duty. It could take a lot of the profit out of speculation against sovereign bonds -- and also raise revenue needed for public investment. But though most European national governments now favor such a tax, it would be difficult to implement without cooperation of the two biggest money centers, namely Britain and the U.S., whose governments remain opposed.

    So while Greece is right on the razor's edge of default, and may yet be granted some overdue relief, the prospects for broader European recovery are still very bleak until the politics get a lot more radical.

    LINK

    Meanwhile, in USA, the "radical Tea Party Conservatives" rally for austerity (while opposing a Transaction Tax), while the "withering on the vine socialists who never met an economy they couldn't misunderstand" (while supporting a Transaction Tax) push for growth.

    Who's your Radical Now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It just makes me confused and desirous of going fishing. You'll have to figure it out Maxine, and I'll agree with whatever you say.

      b

      Delete
    2. Uh oh - you're failing your 'what do these totally different things all have in common' test.

      (They all come from me is the wrong answer.)

      'The socialist/liberal/progressive/left (international optional) is engaged in a Grim and Determined plot to destroy Capitalism.

      I call it 'fighting the last war.'

      It's the wrong formulation for modern events in so many ways (that as Rufus says, doctoral theses could be churned out for a very long while.)

      Wrong Formulation.

      Which is why the Tea Party is struggling as a Reform Movement. They have the passion, the anger, the desire, but they lack something which I won't try to articulate now other than:

      Wrong Formulation.

      OTOH, Obama and his people are *a little* mired in the Democratic ideology of the past. Breakout is needed which I think they are trying to do with energy tech (as Rufus also notes.)

      Unfortunately the immediate future holds little beyond several election cycles of revolving doors until we get the "right mix" of people, which looks likely to be a bunch of younger Rubio types who will make their own mistakes. So The Great Game continues.

      Wrong Formulation.

      Delete
  15. Columbus, whose day it is, was probably a Spanish Marranos Jew.

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/20/opinion/garcia-columbus-jewish/index.html

    b

    ReplyDelete
  16. The US Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen initially supported a FTT in 1994.[111] In 2004, Representative Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives (H.R. 3759)[119] that would require a study to reform the Federal tax code through eliminating federal income tax and replacing it with a transaction fee-based system. In 2010 he introduced the "Debt Free America Act" (H.R. 4646),[120] that goes further and proposes to enact a 1% FFT and eliminate federal income tax. Both bills never made it out of committee.[121]

    On 24 September 2009, Paul Volcker (former US Federal Reserve chairman) "said he was “very interested” by ideas for a tax on transactions between banks"[122] On 3 December 2009, 22 representatives in the United States House of Representatives supported the "Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Bill", which contained a domestic financial transaction tax.[46] On 7 December 2009, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives stated her support for a "G20 global tax."[47]

    However, already on 6 November 2009, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, following UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's call for a global FTT, expressed US opposition to the proposal saying: "A day-by-day financial transaction tax is not something we're prepared to support".[123] Instead Geither favors an ongoing levy charged against large banks.[124] On 13 December 2009, Paul Volcker, chairman of the US Economic Recovery Advisory Board under President Barack Obama, said he "instinctively opposed" any tax on financial transactions. "But it may be worthwhile to look into the current proposals as long as the result is not predetermined. That would at least end all this renewed talk about the idea, but overall I am skeptical about these ideas."[125] By 2011, Volcker was more open to the idea of a transaction tax as a means to slow down trading.[126]

    According to Ron Suskind, the author of "Confidence Men", a book based on 700 hours of interviews with high-level staff of the US administration, President Obama supported a FTT on trades of stocks, derivatives, and other financial instruments, but it was blocked by Obama’s former director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers.

    [wiki/paragraphs added]

    ReplyDelete
  17. No cause for concern here -


    Iranian military commander: Yeah, we’re totally going to annhilate Israel
    posted at 11:21 am on May 21, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

    Just in case anyone doubts the intentions of the Iranian mullahcracy if they start producing nuclear weapons, the top-ranking military officer in the regime made it clear yesterday:

    Iran is dedicated to annihilating Israel, the Islamic regime’s military chief of staff declared Sunday.

    “The Iranian nation is standing for its cause and that is the full annihilation of Israel,” Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi said in a speech to a defense gathering Sunday in Tehran.

    His remarks came on the day International Atomic Energy Agency director Yukiya Amano flew to Tehran to negotiate for inspections of Iran’s nuclear program. They were reported by the Fars News Agency, the media outlet of the Revolutionary Guards Corps.

    While many within the Islamic regime, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have often stated that Israel should be annihilated, until Sunday no one in the nation’s leadership has announced Iran’s determined intention to carry it out.

    Historically speaking, Western nations have made two categories of error when dealing with rogue despotic regimes. First, they have indulged in an odd transference in which they blame themselves for hostilities created by tyrants demanding acquiescence to territorial and/or political demands. This usually takes the form of insisting that improved diplomacy will make tyrants more reasonable. History shows what happens when appeasement is used to jolly tyrants into concessions; the only concessions made come from the Western democracies.

    The second error? Not taking tyrants at their word when they make nihilistic threats. Usually, those threats come to pass, and in this case, Israel has good reason to have “mixed feelings” over optimism about talks between the West and a country threatening to wipe Israel off the map:

    On the one hand, Israeli officials acknowledged that without Israel’s efforts and primarily Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s saber rattling, the world would not have imposed the sanctions it has and would not be taking the issue as seriously as it is.

    On the other hand, the Israelis are at the same time concerned that under a deal that does not lead to a complete cessation of the enrichment of uranium, Iran will be able to continue to develop a nuclear weapon, albeit a bit slower than it is today.

    Israel wants a complete cessation of all enrichment beyond the 3.5% level, which would allow for medical research and therapy and some power generation. The West worries about an Israeli strike, which is the reason why they are pressuring Iran to get down to 20% and transfer all uranium enriched above that amount. The Iranians, however, have played this game for almost a decade, which is another reason for Israel to have “mixed feelings.” Tehran has toyed with the West since the exposure of their secret nuclear program in 2003, using talks like the Baghdad conference to stall for time. By doing so, they have inched ever closer to the status of North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation, with one particular goal in mind.

    Hassan Firouzabadi didn’t really say anything new this weekend. He did, however, give evidence that the West would do well to take seriously, which tells the real story of Iranian intentions both apart from and integrated into its pursuit of highly-enriched uranium. The only real solution in this case is to help the Iranian people rid themselves of their mullahcracy and the radicals in charge of their military.


    Not

    b

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  18. For Quirk the Logician - (and, Ash the Naive)

    Bayes' Theorum and the Probability of Obama being born in Keyna.

    End point - the birther position is rational, logical.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/bayes_theorem_and_mr_obamas_literary_agency.html

    b

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      You know I don't waste my time reading the American Thinker.

      I believe it's irrational and illogical to do so.

      On the other hand, I have never argued the logic or rationality of the birther position, merely, the futility of it given the range of 'possible' remedies.

      You are so worked up about this you merely look at one side and ignore the rest. Was that 'Bennett' piece you posted from the American Thinker? At any rate, you made a big to-do about him saying Hawaii refused to give him an official statement that Obama was born there, when in fact, the responsible officials in Hawaii indicate all they have received from him are e-mails rather than the official request forms they asked him to submit and which state law demands before they can hand out personal info.

      Go back and read some more American Thinker, Bob. It's probably the only excitment you will get until the Belmont.

      .

      Delete
  19. The Future (LINK)

    Given that the world doesn't Reset.

    We'll all be "living" on Afghani rock.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Obama must be one of the strangest genetic combinations to ever walk earth's face -
    He too has Cherokee blood. (And Irish, too? Wasn't there something about O'bama when he visited Ireland?) Thankfully, so far, there is no record of roots to Sweden. (except that many Irish have nordic blood, the sagas say)

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/21/Like-Warren-Obama-Claims-Cherokee-Ancestry-But-Offers-No-Proof

    No wonder Ruf's gonna vote for him.

    b

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  21. I'm voting Against the Republicans because of their stance on Renewable Energy. Period.


    (healthcare is pretty much up to the supremes, now.)

    ReplyDelete
  22. I watched the documentary "Transcendent Man" last night about Ray Kurzweil and his concept of The Singularity.

    Just about everybody hates it. Most are polite about it. But the interesting part came from several of the supporting cast (all from the technical community) who stated, without any equivocation or hesitation, that within Kurzweil's time frame (by 2040) humans will be actively interfacing with AI mechanisms.

    Which means that the memes and narratives than animate modern belief systems of religion and government are about to change. The angels and demons poised to evolve to a higher level of gravitas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah don' wanna interface with no machine, nor mechanism either.

      b

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    2. That would be Man and Machine, not Bobbosaur and Machine.

      Seriously, and the younger dotter thinks what?

      The virtual reality games are huge hits.

      We used to say No Way Out.

      Now, it's No Way Back.

      (And the species isn't quite even on the thresh-hold yet.)

      Delete
  23. What happened to the Horse and Carriage version of Love and Marriage?

    How romantic: Turns out the timing of Mark Zuckerberg's surprise weekend wedding may have had more to do with financial savvy than anything else, Reuters reports. California has community-property laws, meaning that any property created during the marriage should be split evenly in a divorce. In the case of Zuck's new wife, Priscilla Chan, that means that if she contested the prenup they almost certainly signed, she could attempt to snag Facebook stock Zuckerberg held before they were married by claiming its value increased during the marriage.

    Though it would be a tough fight for her, it's still a fight Zuck would want to avoid, thus making it a good idea for him to marry the day after the IPO, at which point, "The value of the company is absolutely known," says one divorce attorney. "There's no dispute over it." If the timing of the wedding was accidental, "then it was a very nice coincidence," adds another. Also noteworthy: Had the couple continued to live together without marrying, Chan could possibly have snagged a larger portion of Zuckerberg's assets in a separation, because, notes one of the lawyers, "In California, people who live together without the benefit of marriage could claim they had an agreement to pool resources and efforts."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are still folks out in our boondocks living together that are yet to realize they are married, like it or not. 5 years cohabiting, you are married.
      Dad had one of those. Guy couldn't believe it when he found out he was married. I'm only living with her, he insisted. Your opinion don't count, says the court.

      b

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    2. Eden's just a drop kick removed from the courthouse in Paradise.

      Delete
  24. In the "I have a headache, give me a break, please no more, Singularity Now!" department:

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

    This statement is found on Wikipedia, the liberal Democrat version of encyclopedia:

    During the presidency of George W. Bush, the gross public debt increased from $5.7 trillion in January 2001 to $10.7 trillion by December 2008, due in part to the Bush tax cuts and increased military spending caused by the wars in the Middle East.

    Under President Barack Obama, the debt increased from $10.7 trillion in 2008 to $15.5 trillion by February 2012, caused mainly by decreased tax revenue and higher safety net costs due to the late-2000s recession and stimulus spending.

    Here is a more truthful version of the farcical online Wikipedia offering:

    During the presidency of George W. Bush, the gross public debt increased from $5.7 trillion in January 2001 to $10.7 trillion by December 2008, or, a 53% increase in debt in EIGHT years, the last two years of which the liberal Democrats had complete control of both houses of Congress. This period, Jan. 2001 to Dec. 2008, covered 96 months, an increase average of about one half of one percent per month.

    Under Barack Obama’s presidency the debt increased from $10.7 trillion in January 2009 to $15.5 trillion by February 2012, or a 69% increase in THREE years and one month, the last year and one month of which the liberal Democrats lost control of only the House while retaining the Senate and the presidency. This period covered 37 months, an increase average of about a full one and eight tenths percent per month, or nearly TRIPLE the increase under Bush in less than a third of the amount of time.

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

    LINK

    Go Canucks.

    /end sarcasm/

    ReplyDelete
  25. Max, I happened to grab the phrase "your BC buddies" merely because you reference them, and their conversations, so often. Didn't mean anything by it.

    As for Hernandez, or Fernandez, or whatever his name is, I think he's gone completely around the bend (referencing the strange, disjointed, feverish brow babble that you quoted on the last thread.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you say, somewhere, that he's from, or lives in, the Philippines? If so, maybe he's overlooked that the only President in American history to try and bring the Philippinos into a Free Trade Alliance is . . . . . . . Barack Obama.

      Delete
    2. .

      I don't check out the BC except when asked to so I am not sure if that quote by Fernandez is typical or an aberration but like you, Ruf, I found it passing strange.

      The only word I found in the piece that had any substance or meaning for me was 'mutuality' and it seemed to be divorced from the rest of the piece. If we go down, it won't be because of the "LEFT". Our world is too complicated for simple bromides and pap phrases like "RIGHT" OR "LEFT".

      Our world is a multiverse of dicks, a "DICKVERSE" if you like.

      If we go down, it will not be because of one philosophy, party, or event. In the absence of an act of god (pardon to the offended), our demise will likely be one of a death by a thousand cuts, the build up of numerous (large and/or small) incremental events, like the death of the universe, creeping but inevitible.

      The LEFT? No, although they will play their part. The downfall will be pluralistric and heterogeneous, likely global and polyglot, a mix of the right, left and center, a variegated mosaic. The causes will be a democratic assortment, a conglomeration of sins consisting of those of both commission and ommission, with some mortal and others merely venial but all part of the same tapestry, all part of the cause.

      :)

      (Well Ruf, do you think I could get a job at BC?)

      .

      Delete
    3. Shit, I'd hire you, Myself.

      :)

      Delete
  26. Analysts on Monday criticized the stock's valuation. "Facebook's IPO priced at a level well above where we foresaw compelling 12-month returns," BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said in a research note.

    ...

    The slump is likely to turn up the heat on Facebook to boost its performance by generating more revenue from its user base, which includes more than 900 million active users. The company's earnings fell 12% in the first quarter amid surging expenses.

    Revenue slipped compared with the fourth quarter, a decline the company blamed on "seasonal trends" in the advertising business and growth in markets where Facebook generates less revenue per user, according to a regulatory filing last month.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Obama: Bain Capital a legitimate campaign issue

    Let’s let it all hang out. Grab Obama by the ears and head butt him.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Even more fundamentally, as President Obama said at Barnard, “we know we are better off when women are treated fairly and equally in every aspect of American life.” True.

    ...

    President Obama’s Barnard speech looks like the beginning of an “evolution,” which will culminate with his dumping Joe Biden and elevating a woman who has worked hard and played by the rules—Hillary Clinton.

    Why not the best for President Obama and the Democratic party? And how much more will victory be worth having this November when it’s a victory over the liberal dream team of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Smokin' JoeBye-Bye Biden under the bus, with so many others?

      Say it ain't so, Joe.

      b

      Delete
  29. The decomposed remains of 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed were discovered in Cumbria in February 2004.

    As her parents Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed went on trial for murder, prosecutor Andrew Edis QC told Chester Crown Court they had killed her because she refused to obey them by agreeing to an arranged marriage.

    ...

    "She wanted to get out of there but they had taken her passport from her," he added.

    ReplyDelete
  30. If such raids are reminiscent of similar actions under George W. Bush, that’s because they are. Despite Obama drug czar Gil Kerlikowske admitting that the country “cannot arrest its way out of the drug problem,” the Obama administration is doing its damnedest to try.

    From increasing the number of raids on California’s medical-marijuana dispensaries (which are legal under state law) to pushing for bans on sales of cold medicines, Obama is sadly revealing himself as “just another drug warrior” despite admitting to frequent use of illegal substances.

    Sadder still: All this is happening as a record number of Americans – including even religious conservatives such as Pat Robertson – are voicing support for the legalization of marijuana.

    ReplyDelete
  31. On this day in 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the world's first solo, nonstop airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island and landed in Le Bourget Field in Paris.

    ReplyDelete
  32. From today's "Obama Economy" file -

    GOLDEN GATE ESTATES, Fla. -

    A Collier County man accused of shooting two deer says he needed to feed his family.

    Jail records show 41-year-old Wilfredo Castillo was arrested Friday on charges of unlawful taking of doe deer, discharging a firearm from a public roadway and felony trespassing by projectile. His court date is June 11.

    Castillo told deputies he shot the deer because he was unemployed and needed food to feed his family.

    Castillo said he was on his way home from a hunting trip with his son when he spotted two deer running across the road. Castillo said he got out of his car and shot them.


    Deputies stopped him as he went to recover the deer.


    'Felony trespassing by projectile' - never heard of that one before but it makes some sort of sense.

    b

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    Replies
    1. This is a good case for real jury nullification. Like the old "I stole the chicken to feed my starving family" defense in totally happy Merry Olde England.

      I'd vote the guy innocent too, on the grounds Obama forced him to it.

      b

      Delete
  33. Richard Fernandez, Rufus. He had to 'come out' when joining PM. I started to refer to him by his name rather than the more well known nic as a formality.

    AFAIK he is Philippine National living in Australia. Don't know about dual citizenship. From his writing one deduces a heavy involvement in anti-communist counter-insurgency activity as a young man - and perhaps continuing to the present.

    I thought you said once that you read wretchard's essays but skipped the hoi polloi in the comments section, which left me with the impression that you had some sympathy with W's thinking but not so much the commentariat.

    Anyway, shortening it up, it seems to me he's 'jumped the shark' with all the Reset themes. My SWAG is that, smart guy though he is, he has made the mistake of transposing his experience as a 'foot soldier' in the Philippines to the current US/Europe issues. And that has resulted in the False Paradigm (Wrong Formulation) that has captured sooooo many of his regular participants.

    And much more importantly, the narratives (of the conservative blog space of which BC is still a vital part) animate the Tea Party - almost a perfect one-to-one mapping, which means this is not just a limited-venue blog space event with no larger audience. The Koch Brothers are listening. And so are all of the Republican super-PAC's who are 'Grim and Determined' in the goal of removing Obama from office.

    If one thinks there is a measurable difference between a second Obama term and a Romney presidency - or, alternatively, if one believes that a Tea Party animated by the kind of ideological chauvinism that filters every political event through the lens of an evil socialist plot to destroy capitalism - then the next five months will be the most important developments influencing the next decade.

    (As a footnote to the BC space, there are a handful of posters who attempt to move in other directions, but they are routinely rebutted with off-the-shelf Party lines. There are also more than a handful of Crazy G-ys who are simply crazy and they are routinely greeted by the sounds of silence. So the bag is very very mixed. I do not think that 'space' will ever adequately represent the full spectrum of my thinking, but the monotonous drumbeat of Socialist Conspiracy quietly segued into an 'echo chamber' that is not quite as vibrant (or informed) as it used to be when we were all looking for a good end during the bad days of the Iraq War.)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That was obviously a reply to your comments upthread. I sort of throw the dice when deciding on which reply button to push - when I even think about it that is.

      Delete
    2. I only have one color band in my true spectrum. There wasn't a living soul there gave a hoot about fly fishing, my true color wasn't able to shine through, so I left too.

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

      The Wenaha is always waiting, when I can't take it no more, like a rainbow.

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    3. Omitted the Harvard education too. That's got to count for something.

      (Remember what happened to Sayyid Qtub out in Greeley, CO?

      I kid. I kid. Of course.)

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    4. Gotta go with Cyndi Lauper (LINK) on that one. Not a song for a girl choir. Janis should have recorded it.

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    5. Of late, I've put my mind to trying to delay the inevitable heart attack.
      I barely made it through that. For health, for dear health's sake, I best stick with Celtic Woman.

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  34. Sometimes it seems like Obama wants everybody mad at him --

    Also from LifeNews Notre Dame's president, Fr. John Jenkins weighs in:

    Let me say very clearly what this lawsuit is not about: it is not about preventing women from having access to contraception, nor even about preventing the Government from providing such services. [snip]

    This filing is about the freedom of a religious organization to live its mission, and its significance goes well beyond any debate about contraceptives. For if we concede that the Government can decide which religious organizations are sufficiently religious to be awarded the freedom to follow the principles that define their mission, then we have begun to walk down a path that ultimately leads to the undermining of those institutions.


    Catholics fight back with huge lawsuit -

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/05/catholic_institutions_hitting_obama_hard_with_dozen_lawsuits.html

    Good for the Catholics.

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  35. TEGUCIGALPA – After two men and two pregnant women were shot dead in a boat on the Patuca River in northeastern Honduras, residents took to the streets. Demanding U.S. drug agents leave the area, they burned government offices to the ground.

    U.S. and Honduran officials say local police only fired shots after the helicopter they were in was fired on by smugglers. “DEA agents involved in joint counter-drug operations in Honduras did not shoot," the U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said May 17 at a news conference. "Our agents do not shoot in these operations. Their role is limited to advising their Honduran counterparts."

    Ricardo Ramirez, chief of Honduras' national police force, said the operation "was carried out with the support of the DEA" and that an assault rifle was seized at the scene.

    The United States maintains the Regional Security Initiative for Central America (CARSI), for which $361 million has been committed since 2008.

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    1. Well, you'd think after Fast and Furious provided all that high tech firepower to the cartels, we'd at least allow ourselves to shoot back.

      Fair is fair.

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    2. Why do we have US government agents in Honduras?

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    3. Got me there.

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    4. I wouldn't want to be there, getting shot at, perhaps by the very guns our government provided to the bad guys.

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    5. .

      Merely, the inevitable expansion of the War on Drugs. The cartels feel pressure in Mexico, they merely shift south. Face it, the cartels have enough money to buy off the governments of Hoduras, Guatamala, and El Salvador.

      How do you fight it when the government is the bad guys?

      I post the following only because it gives some further references. There have been stories of this for months.

      Foreign Aid to the Cartels


      Why are we there? It's like foreign aid. All the money we pump in as a result of the WOD is good for the local economy or at least those that own the local economy.

      Rufus and Bob argue about whether drugs should be legalized. That's beyond my pay grade although I can think of as many pros as cons. However, the WOD drugs has proven a dismal and expensive failure. Our one 'success', Columbia, merely shifted the focus of the trade to Puru and Equador.

      And how do you have the balls to push a WOD and at the same time you facilitate the heroin trade in Afghanistan. I'm beginning to think the WOD is as big a commericial interprise as the drug trade itself. We've already seen the product is often used to provide funds for our black ops.

      .

      .

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    6. I've just found the answer as to what our agents are doing down there --

      A month after the Secret Service was rocked by allegations that agents brought prostitutes to a Colombia hotel where they were preparing for a visit by President Obama, the Drug Enforcement Administration today announced that at least three of its agents are also under investigation for allegedly hiring prostitutes in Cartagena.

      Two of the agents allegedly had encounters with masseuses in the apartment of one of the agents, according to Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

      "It's disturbing that we may be uncovering a troubling culture that spans more than one law enforcement agency," the Maine Republican said this evening. "In addition to the Secret Service scandal, we now learn that at least two DEA agents apparently entertained female foreign national masseuses in the Cartagena apartment of one of the agents. The evidence uncovered thus far indicates that this likely was not just a one-time incident."


      Getting laid on the taxpayers dime is the answer.

      http://abcnews.go.com/US/colombia-secret-service-prostitution-scandal-spreads-dea/story?id=16399758#.T7rghMXfMiU

      It's called a perk in intergovernmental lingo.

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    7. Based on my experience in Central America, they are there because certain Hondurans make a lot of money from many directions on both sides and have invited them in. It is a scam. The pay-offs would make Wal-Mart blush and the drug cartels know every move they make. Talk about corruption.

      Delete
    8. I certainly accept what you say.

      Chairman Mao knew what to do.

      Posted on January 22, 2007 by Jamie Spencer
      Looking to Chairman Mao for Drug War solutions...

      Initially optimistic about an opinion piece in the Eureka Times-Standard that started:

      The war on drugs is a failure, and it is a scourge on our society.

      “It” is a scourge on our society… where the word “it” modifies “war on drugs”. Well that’s certainly true. Few things have caused our society more economic and moral harm than the War on Drugs.

      The writer then turns to great world leaders, to see how they handled the problem:

      In 1949, when Mao Zedong took over control of Red China, he was faced with a huge problem, for a significant portion of the population was addicted to opium and this was destroying the country from within. Mao ordered that all opium dens be closed and anyone using opium be put to death.

      Four years and 44 million people later, Mao didn't have an opium problem in his country or any other drug-related problem in his country. Today, China still doesn't have significant drug problem, for those who are caught with drugs are put to death immediately.

      Let’s see, what’s our point here? “Chairman Mao wasn’t all bad; at least he put drug users to death”?

      I can’t help wondering though… might there be more reasonable solutions to our prison overcrowding problem?


      If 'what is reasonable is what works' it may be reasonable.

      At least under that definition of reasonable.

      Not that I'm exactly advocating it.

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    9. After all, it only took 44 million bullets, and bullets and life are both cheap in China. And who knows how many lives it saved in the long run? A Jeremy Benthamite analysis might show it was the most rational of all thing to do, in the long run.

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  36. Fantastic breaking news from a free American woman. Sunny just sent us a note, her 500 or so core supporters. She is going to be featured on Pajamas Media once a week!

    b

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  37. .

    “DEA agents involved in joint counter-drug operations in Honduras did not shoot,"


    Ah, as in Libya, where NATO attacks 'were not' responsible for civilian deaths and claims to the contrary were not verified (mainly because the only recognized source for verifying claims was NATO and they never bothered to try).

    .

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  38. Honduras?

    Because it is a vital part of the Americas.

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  39. My wife and I stopped letting our son use the iPad. Now he rarely asks for it.

    ...

    The experts interviewed were mixed on whether we did the right thing. About half say they would have taken away the iPad if their kid exhibited similar behavior—asking for it constantly, whining.

    The rest say we overreacted.


    Zoning Out

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Then alas Quirk got pussy whipped like most of us do.

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    3. .

      Got it mixed up Bob. Girl From the North Country was from the Desire album. Got mixed up when the link I was listening too transitioned into songs from the Post Production album, one of his big ones.

      My post should have read,

      Dylan was pretty good before his voice left him.

      I like the Desire album. I have it and a number of his early albums on vinyl.

      I remember I always used to play Dylan's Post Production album when chicks were over, that or In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida depending on how fucked up we were.

      :)



      You are right with the pussy-whipped comment though, but the 70's and early 80's were the exception and a great time.

      .

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  41. My God, you think unemployment is bad, now? Just wait till they legalize marijuana. I'm thinking "back to double-digits."

    Lawyers, Judges, Jailors, Cops, Prosecutors, DEA Agents . . . . . the list goes on.

    Legalization of Pot is polling a hair over 50%, now; I'd say it would have to hit 60% before it had a chance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's actually double digits now, but you're right, we need to keep fighting the drug wars to keep unemployment from going over 20%

      You've made the case, Rufus.

      Some candidate for Congress has pledged to smoke a joint on the House steps if elected.

      Dude!

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  42. Post Production, great album. My parents had it.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. You sure it wasn't your grandparents, Sam?

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  43. Replies
    1. You are right, always did like that tune.

      Here is another version -

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

      b

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  44. .

    And something a little different from Dylan.

    Thunder on the Mountain


    .

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  45. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great one, old man.

      Who's the bunny on the second guitar?

      b

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  46. Earlier this month, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein made quite a splash with a lengthy piece that, when boiled down to essentials, blamed the Republican party for what’s gone wrong in Washington, D.C. This weekend, they were back with a list of reforms to fix the problem.

    ...

    But at any rate, here are their four ideas for alleviating partisanship.

    1. Campaign finance reform to increase disclosures and cut down on coordination between parties and candidates.
    2. Independent commissions for redistricting.
    3. “Restoring majority rule” to the Senate by reforming the filibuster.
    4. Boosting turnout through things like automatic registration.

    ...

    If we don’t jumpstart economic growth, sooner or later the bondholders are going to demand structural reforms of us just like they’ve forced upon Greece today. When that day comes, God help us all, but especially help the liberal D.C. establishment!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When the dems lose the Senate, they will appreciate the filibuster, buster. And, that's the last you will hear of that idea.

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  47. Another entry for the "Obama Economy File" -

    LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas police have arrested a man for an alleged robbery at the Bellagio Casino that happened on Saturday night.

    According to the police report, Michael Belton and another man walked up to a blackjack table and sprayed the people playing at the table with pepper spray. Belton then grabbed 23 $5,000 chips and tried to flee the scene.

    He was apprehended by casino security and held until police arrived. The second man was able to escape.

    While he was being interviewed, police say Belton identified the second person involved only as "Carlos," and that he only participated in the crime because he was unemployed and needed money to help his ailing grandparents.

    Police retrieved a Mandalay Bay Hotel room key from Belton. When they went to the hotel, they found that the room was registered to Carlos Rodriguez. Belton told officers Rodriguez was the mastermind of the heist, but they were unable to find him.

    The report says Rodriguez planned to use the chips at the casino and then split the winnings among the suspects. Police say Carlos Rodriguez is not the same Carlos who allegedly accompanied Belton to the casino to commit the robbery.

    Belton was arrested and charged with robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and burglary.

    Las Vegas police have refused to comment on this story or release Belton's mugshot, citing the ongoing investigation.


    There are very few deer in that area.

    Their plan was not well thought out.

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  48. Nothing unusual in this. These two, being so close, experience what some wise have said, that we are all one behind the scenes.

    By Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney

    1:45PM BST 21 May 2012

    Brenton Gurney, 38, from Sydney, suffered a series of headaches but an MRI scan found nothing wrong, so he convinced his brother Craig to have a scan.

    Craig's MRI revealed a brain tumour in the base of his skull. It has been removed in a 10-hour operation and he has safely recovered.

    "Ultimately Brenton saved my life," Craig told The Sydney Morning Herald.

    Brenton said: "We've always been really, really close."

    During the gruelling operation, Brenton said, the family often looked over to him in the waiting room as to detect his brother's progress.
    Related Articles


    Previously, it was Craig who had divined maladies in his twin. He detected when his brother had a life-threatening mystery rash and when he dislocated a shoulder – and both men have married women named Nicole.

    "We're really closely connected and we've always been able to pick each other, know what each other were thinking," Craig told Channel Nine.

    Justine Gatt, from the University of Sydney, who has been studying twins, said the discovery of a tumour in this way was "not something that happens often".

    Asked whether the twins might have a telepathic connection, Dr Gatt said: "There's so much we don't know." She added: "In terms of Brenton's and Craig's case, where one twin was feeling the symptoms of the other, that clearly shows that there's a lot more to know and this kind of research is central to mental health."


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  49. Obama is now at 56% at Intrade. He was over 60% when I offered my advice. Nobody ever listens to me, not even my wife.

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  50. Shocking, simply shocking

    Washington (CNN) -- Three Drug Enforcement Administration agents are under investigation for allegedly hiring prostitutes in Cartagena, Colombia, a congressional source confirms to CNN.
    According to this source, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King, R-New York, and committee investigators have been "aware of this for some time."
    News of the investigation comes on the heels of a prostitution scandal involving U.S. military and Secret Service agents who were detailed to Colombia in April in advance of President Barack Obama's trip to the Summit of the Americas. Several Secret Service members have been dismissed as a result of investigations.


    I can usually pick out the trash belonging to the DEA or any of the other government police enforcement thuggery. They swagger their way through C.A., looking appropriately menacing, thinking they are out of a Graham Greene novel. The real dirt balls are the ex-Blackwater scum.

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