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."

Thursday, November 29, 2012

What could Palestine possibly be upset about?



Posted on 11/29/2012 by Juan JUAN COLE
The confidence scam that Israel and the United States have been running on the Palestinians, of a “peace process,” is finally about to meet a well-deserved demise. There are now over 600,000 Israeli settlers on the Occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank (including the areas unilaterally annexed by Israel to its ‘district of Jerusalem’).
It now seems all but certain that the United Nations General Assembly will vote on Friday to grant the Palestine Authority “observer state” status at the United Nations, the same position enjoyed by the Vatican. It is an upgrade from “entity” recognized as “permanent observer.” Its primary significance is that as an observer, Palestine will have some of the same prerogatives of members within the UN legal structure. In particular, it will be in a much strengthened position to launch protests against the war crimes and crimes against humanity practiced by Israel against the Palestinians.

Aside from the new legal status of Palestine that will result, this event signals a sea change in the relationship of Europe to Palestine and Israel. For decades, Europeans felt guilt about the Holocaust, or saw the Israelis as underdogs, or viewed them as fellow Europeans facing barbarian hordes, and so consistently supported Israel against the Palestinians. That would still be the case if the Likud Party had not foolishly destroyed the Oslo Peace process and if Israeli governments had not implemented an illegal blockade on Gaza and pursued large-scale population transfer of Israelis into the Occupied West Bank, which is illegal under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The Lebanon and Gaza Wars, and the Israeli attack on the peaceful aide ship from Turkey, the Mavi Marmara, all drastically undermined Israel’s standing in the eyes of Europeans.
Reuters reported that “As of Wednesday afternoon Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland had all pledged to support the Palestinian resolution.” Other observers suggested that the same 11 that voted in 2011 for Palestinian membership in UNESCO were likely to repeat that vote this year, with the possible exception of Cyprus: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Spain. In addition, it was originally thought that the Netherlands might well vote for Palestine this time, since there has been a change of government there (they’ve now said now), and Portugal and Switzerland have already joined this group.

Once the Palestinians have gained a friend with the stature of France, in many ways the Israeli attempt to keep them in a box has already failed. Flanked by Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Switzerland, the pro-Palestinian bloc encompasses much of what was traditionally thought of as Western Europe. And Greece, after all, was the cradle of Europe.
Lots of reasons might be given for their willingness to give Palestinians their due. There is resentment of Anglo-American hegemony. These countries were all strong-armed by the Obama administration to deep-six the Palestinians, and they are refusing. The Irish now see Israel as doing to the Palestinians what the British used to do to them. Spain and France also have foreign policy aspirations in the Arab world. France has a significant Muslim voting bloc, which largely goes for the now-ruling Socialists.
But ultimately the real reason is that the high officials in Europe find the far right wing Israeli government and its Apartheid policies toward the Palestinians increasingly distasteful. The scales have just fallen from their eyes.
In the law, “standing” is a crucial concept. Standing dictates who has a right to bring a law suit. You can’t proceed with a civil action unless the judge agrees that you have standing. Typically, you couldn’t sue on behalf of your cousin if you weren’t affected by the alleged tort. Up until now, the “entity” of the Palestine Authority did not have the standing to bring complaints against Israel to the UN. But Palestine as a UN observer will have such standing, and it could be significant.
Since almost no one else in the US will do so, let me direct readers to the Palestinians’ own position paper on the step. (One of the consistent features of colonialism and Orientalism is that the oppressed are deprived of a voice first of all by being made invisible in mass media and only ever represented by their enemies and detractors. It is very rare that we see an actual Palestinian with good English interviewed about Palestine on American television evening magazine shows.)
As an “observer state,” Palestine can join UN bodies and can sign treaties. One it might like to sign is the Rome Statutes that created the International Criminal Court, a body that the United States and Israel, as hegemons, hate the way the devil hates holy water. Being a hegemon means never having to be tried for your war crimes (most of the government leaders prosecuted by the ICC so far have been from weak, despised African dictatorships).
As a member of the ICC, Palestine could then bring complaints against Israel for its annexation of Palestinian land and practice of Apartheid (which is recognized in the Rome Statutes as a war crime).
Whereas the US consistently vetoes all condemnations of Israel by the four other UN Security Council members, making sure that the Palestinians are always screwed over, it has no ability to stop the UN committees of the General Assembly, the UNGA itself, or the ICC from criticizing or sanctioning Israel. The US and Israeli tactic has been to prevent any official world body from ever producing a text condemning Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, lest a body of international law grow up that would stand in the way of further Israeli colonization of the Palestinian West Bank, or of its creepy and illegal blockade of the civilians of the Gaza Strip. That tactic is about to be defeated.
The some 11 million Palestinians, promised a state (no, not Jordan) by the League of Nations and by the British mandatory powers, were largely uprooted and rendered stateless by a concerted campaign of ethnic cleansing by Jewish settlers in Palestine in 1947-48, who had been planted there by a combination of British imperial interests and the rise in Europe of a terrifying and vicious fascist racism in the 1930s.
The helpless, stateless Palestinians, many still living in refugee camps, were successfully slandered by Israel’s fanatic supporters as mindlessly violent oppressors of the Jews. When the West remembered National Socialism vividly, the Palestinians were depicted in Zionist propaganda as Nazis. At the height of the Cold War, the burghers, retailers and engineers among the Palestinians were painted as dangerous Communists. After 9/11, the Palestinians (among the more secular groups in the Middle East) were reconfigured as al-Qaeda. While some Palestinians (amazingly few) did mobilize some 20 years after the disaster of their expulsion from their homeland to resist further Israeli expansionism in the region, with the taking of Gaza and the West Bank in 1967, and Israel has at times been embattled (so that you could understand fear of or anger toward its enemies) it was never acceptable to smear and marginalize an entire people.
Meanwhile, in the decade after the Oslo Peace Accords were signed in the early 1990s, the Israelis doubled the number of settlers on Palestinian land, land from which the Israelis had dishonestly pledged to withdraw by 1998 (they still haven’t withdrawn).

153 comments:

  1. According to the Christian Science Monitor,the cost of Israel to the American Taxpayer has been over $1.6 TRILLION since 1973.http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The US has veto power, and didn't use it? Hmmmm.

      Delete
    2. 2 years oil purchases from opec.

      or

      1 year of the afghan war

      or

      about 14 months of USA over spending...

      but that really is an amazing over statement...

      since 1973? 29 years? 1,600 billion in 29 years? 55 BILLION a year?

      what nonsense..

      Delete
    3. .

      The US has veto power, and didn't use it? Hmmmm.

      Not over this issue.

      Were admission of a Palestinean State to the UN to come up for a vote, the US could then veto it since it would require Security Council approval.

      .


      Delete
  2. http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html

    From the same link:

    ‘US policy and trade sanctions reduce US exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000 or so American jobs"

    ReplyDelete
  3. (UNITED NATIONS) — The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a victory decades in the making for the Palestinians after years of occupation and war. It was a sharp rebuke for Israel and the United States.

    A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation, as the final vote was cast.

    In an extraordinary lineup of international support, more than two-thirds of the world body’s 193 member states approved the resolution upgrading the Palestinians to a nonmember observer state. It passed 138-9, with 41 abstentions.

    The historic vote came 65 years to the day after the U.N. General Assembly voted in 1947 to divide Palestine into two states, one for Jews and one for Arabs. Israel became a state but the Palestinians rejected the partition plan, and decades of tension and violence have followed.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. an fake people, get a fake fake nation...

      good luck with the fantasy

      the fake people called "palestinians" at this time, do not control their borders, their people or even the political events in their own lands.

      the so called president was elected for a 2 year term, 8 years ago....

      Delete
  4. Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
    Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
    Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
    Oh Lord, kumbaya


    With a straight face, Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized the United Nations’ recognition of Palestine for creating “further obstacles in the path to peace” between Palestinians and Israelis.

    Someone’s singing Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya
    Oh Lord, kumbayah



    … “unfortunate and counterproductive.”

    Someone’s laughing, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya
    Oh Lord, kumbaya


    … “only through direct negotiations between the parties can the Palestinians and Israelis achieve the peace that both deserve: two states for two people, with a sovereign, viable and independent Palestine living side-by-side in peace and security with a Jewish and democratic Israel.”

    Someone’s crying, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya
    Oh Lord, kumbaya




    Someone’s praying, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya
    Oh Lord, kumbaya


    ”pi>laces further obstacles in the path to peace,”

    Someone’s sleeping, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's sleeping, Lord, kumbaya
    Someone's sleeping, Lord, kumbaya
    Oh Lord, kumbaya
    Oh Lord, kumbaya



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I want to thank Abbas for rejecting the Oslo Accords.

      Now If the Palestinians want to claim Jerusalem as theirs they may, but they dont.

      Now maybe Israel will start annexing Hebron and other areas the claim are theirs but they were willing to cede for peace..

      Delete
  5. A couple were Christmas shopping and the shopping centre was packed.

    As the wife walked through one of the malls she was surprised to look
    around and see that her husband was nowhere to be seen.

    She was quite upset because they had a lot to do. Because she was so
    worried, she called him on her mobile to ask him where he was.

    In a calm voice, he said, "Do you remember the jewellers we went into
    about 5 years ago where you fell in love with that diamond necklace
    that we couldn't afford, and I told you that I would get it for you
    one day?"

    The wife choked up and started to cry and said, "Yes, I remember that shop."



    "Well, I'm in the pub next door to it."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Faced with what appears to be an inevitable UN General Assembly vote recognizing Palestine as a “full nonmember observer state,” Israel has drawn back from its recent warnings that it would annul the Oslo Accords in response.

    ...

    "The Palestinians have an automatic majority in the General Assembly and they'll get their resolution passed," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "But it doesn't change the reality for real people in the West Bank and in Israel.

    ...

    On the Palestinian side, Asem Khalil, dean of the law school at Bir Zeit University, said the situation has improved since last year, which was "a chaotic and counterproductive approach to the Security Council without support."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wunnerful, wunnerful, another Israel hating entity gets to squat in the back bench at the UN, which we ought to get out of ASAP.

    Canada did well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Must be Christmas time. They have X-mas music on the local country/western station.

    ....

    CNSNews.com) - The metropolitan areas of Yuma, Ariz., and El Centro, Calif., have the two highest unemployment rates in the country, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    In the El Centro metropolitan area, the unemployment rate for October was 28.1 percent, said BLS. In the Yuma metropolitan area, it was 29.8 percent.

    The national unemployment rate in October was 7.9 percent. So, unemployment in El Centro and Yuma was more than 3 and a half times the national rate.

    The most conspicuous factor the El Centro and Yuma metropolitan areas have in common is geography. El Centro is in Imperial County, Calif., and Yuma is in Yuma County, Ariz. Imperial and Yuma counties are contiguous to one another and to the Mexican border.

    The unemployment rate has almost doubled in the Yuma metropolitan area during Barack Obama’s presidency. In January 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, the unemployment rate in Yuma was 15.4 percent, according to BLS.

    The unemployment rate has also increased in the El Centro metropolitan area during Barack Obama’s presidency. In January 2009, the unemployment rate was 24.2 percent there.

    After Yuma and El Centro, the Merced, Calif., metropolitan area had the third highest unemployment rate in October. Unemployment was 14.7 percent there.

    The Bismarck, North Dakota metropolitan area had the nation’s lowest unemployment rate of 2.2 percent.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Coming to your neighborhood one of these wunnerful days -


    ((((The investigation, which will include child patients, will look at whether cash payments to hospitals to hit death pathway targets have influenced doctors’ decisions))))


    Now sick babies go on death pathway: Doctor's haunting testimony reveals how children are put on end-of-life plan

    Practice of withdrawing food and fluid by tube being used on young patients
    Doctor admits starving and dehydrating ten babies to death in neonatal unit
    Liverpool Care Pathway subject of independent inquiry ordered by ministers
    Investigation, including child patients, will look at whether cash payments to hospitals to hit death pathway targets have influenced doctors' decisions

    By Sue Reid and Simon Caldwell

    PUBLISHED: 18:03 EST, 28 November 2012 | UPDATED: 19:54 EST, 28 November 2012

    Comments (525)
    Share


    Sick children are being discharged from NHS hospitals to die at home or in hospices on controversial ‘death pathways’.

    Until now, end of life regime the Liverpool Care Pathway was thought to have involved only elderly and terminally-ill adults.

    But the Mail can reveal the practice of withdrawing food and fluid by tube is being used on young patients as well as severely disabled newborn babies.
    Sick children and babies are being discharged from NHS hospitals to die at home or in hospices on controversial 'death pathways' (file photo)

    Sick children and babies are being discharged from NHS hospitals to die at home or in hospices on controversial 'death pathways' (file photo)

    One doctor has admitted starving and dehydrating ten babies to death in the neonatal unit of one hospital alone.

    Writing in a leading medical journal, the physician revealed the process can take an average of ten days during which a baby becomes ‘smaller and shrunken’.

    The LCP – on which 130,000 elderly and terminally-ill adult patients die each year – is now the subject of an independent inquiry ordered by ministers.

    More...

    Ministers order an inquiry into the care pathway payments that saw hospitals receive millions to implement controversial system
    Patient killed in oxygen explosion as a second dies in broken lift: Damning dossier reveals NHS failings that caused death
    Doctors 'are withholding treatment from dying cancer patients because they think it is futile to continue'
    We treat our hospital and care home patients with contempt and indifference, says the Health Secretary

    The investigation, which will include child patients, will look at whether cash payments to hospitals to hit death pathway targets have influenced doctors’ decisions.



    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240075/Now-sick-babies-death-pathway-Doctors-haunting-testimony-reveals-children-end-life-plan.html#ixzz2DgZRUDL7
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    ReplyDelete
  10. love the map of the reduction of the proposed settlement of the 2 state issue.

    funny but the map doesnt mention the fact that the arabs turned down the deal numerous times BEFORE Israel ever had ONE person living in the west bank....

    to the victor goes the spoils, unless the victor is a Jew, then the idea of "do overs" is the law of the land.

    When is America going to print a map of Indian lands settlements thru the years?

    When is the UN going to print a map of Jewish settlements in the middle east and how they have been erased into nothing? Not to mention the map that shows the actual genocide of the Jews by the Europeans...

    Yep, the fake nation of Palestine is the issue

    ReplyDelete
  11. So, the world recongnizies Palestine.
    There are cries of dismay that the Hemogen did not veto the entire process, or now, the US should just quit the UN

    Funny stuff

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I recognize that the UN just moved another notch towards complete uselessness..

      Delete
    2. Rat dont you support the USA? It's official positions?

      I thought you claimed to be a "good" American.....

      For decades, the United States has worked to help achieve a comprehensive end to the long and tragic Arab-Israeli conflict. We have always been clear that only through direct negotiations between the parties can the Palestinians and Israelis achieve the peace that both deserve: two states for two peoples, with a sovereign, viable and independent Palestine living side by side in peace and security with a Jewish and democratic Israel.

      That remains our goal, and we therefore measure any proposed action against that clear yardstick: will it bring the parties closer to peace or push them further apart? Will it help Israelis and Palestinians return to negotiations or hinder their efforts to reach a mutually acceptable agreement? Today’s unfortunate and counterproductive resolution places further obstacles in the path to peace. That is why the United States voted against it.

      The backers of today’s resolution say they seek a functioning, independent Palestinian state at peace with Israel. So do we.
      -----------

      Rat, get with the program.

      Rice, Clinton & Obama support Israel's security and do not recognize "Palestine" as a nation..

      Embrace it....

      Delete
    3. For shame!

      The United Nations yesterday irrevocably repudiated the principles upon which it was founded some seven decades ago as the world emerged from a genocidal war vowing “never again.”

      Ostensibly, of course, the General Assembly voted merely to upgrade the status of “the state of Palestine” — which doesn’t in fact exist and which isn’t likely to, in any real sense, for some time to come.

      But the vote was a giant step toward UN recognition of such a thing — that is to say, the creation of a Turtle Bay bolthole for the agglomeration of terrorists, Islamists, cutthroats, thieves and backstabbers who now animate Palestinian politics.


      In so doing, the UN lowered its own status — at least in the eyes of folk who believe in what’s supposed to be the once-upon-a-time honorable body’s core values: global peace, security, the rule of law, negotiation.

      And in the eyes of those — like us (and even the UN itself, ostensibly) — who think the state of Israel has a right to exist.

      What a disgrace: By extending its “Non-member Observer” label to an entity it unilaterally calls “Palestine,” a world body that arose from the ashes of the Second World War and was looked to in desperation to ensure global peace has lent its prestige to a movement bent on the extermination of a peaceful, democratic state: Israel.

      Or such prestige as remains, that is. The United Nations has been traveling down this road for some time now.

      Let’s be clear.

      One can always hope for the eventual emergence of a Palestinian state dedicated to a peaceful coexistence with Israel.

      But that will never happen while Palestinians and their murderous enablers in Iran and in the Islamist movements worldwide surrender their fantasies of extinguishing the Jewish state.

      Don’t hold your breath.

      Indeed, yesterday’s UN vote only made that less likely. Because what Turtle Bay did, coming hard on the heels of a round of Hamas-inspired violence in Gaza, was to reward the concept of statehood-by-terror; it sent a stark message that peace and negotiation are for suckers; that violence, terror and bullying will win the day.

      How ironic. And sad.

      True, it is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who has pushed the bid for unilateral UN recognition. In recent years, Abbas’ faction — based in the West Bank — has been somewhat less radical and violent. And it’s nominally distinct from the more openly terroristic Hamas in Gaza.

      But making distinctions of any sort between Palestinian factions is a mug’s game — to say nothing of making actual policy decisions based on such differences.

      The Palestinians have to sort out their own rivalries — which will be a long and bloody process — before they are fit negotiating partners for anyone.

      For the UN, none of that matters. Fact is, it long ago lost its way — along with its credibility, its legitimacy and its honor.

      Yesterday’s vote only reinforced that.


      http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/for_shame_oxw6xcdYSVuWSgBez9w7mJ

      Delete
    4. The US support of aparthaid regimes is rock solid, until it is not.

      As to US support of Israli security, the Israeli really do not need US help. That they take it, a tell.

      The. US does what it does.
      If the Israeli a depenent upon US for security, they should ask Mr Diem or the Shah how their dependency upon US worked out, for them.

      Delete
    5. .

      The US support of aparthaid regimes is rock solid, until it is not.

      True enough, if one defines apatheid in terms of ethnicity, religion, etc.

      The US supports, in one way or another, most of the regimes in the ME and most there are characterized by rampant discrimination in one form or another.

      .



      Delete
  12. I've been for getting out of the UN for years.



    UPDATE: EGYPT ISLAMISTS HURRIEDLY APPROVE NEW CONSTITUTION...

    Liberals, leftists, Christians, moderate Muslims withdrew before vote...

    Retains Islamic law as main source of legislation...

    (((No equal rights for women; owning slaves not banned...)))

    Maybe the Egyptians of the arab spring could use the 'Palestinians' to build some new pyramids.

    O wait, there is talk in Egypt now of deconstruction the old ones. A sign of the old ways, must not be allowed to stand.

    ReplyDelete

  13. Retains Islamic law as main source of legislation...


    (((No equal rights for women; owning slaves not banned...)))

    In case you missed that. This may please Obama but I doubt that Hillary is really enthused about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is what Glenn Beck said would happen.

      The time would seem to be now if the Army is ever going to intervene.

      Delete

  14. UN votes to create new jihad base against Israel

    That's what Gaza became, contrary to all the confident predictions that Israel's withdrawal would usher in a new era of peace, and that's what a Palestinian state would be as well. "Palestinian 'state' wins U.N. recognition," from USA Today, November 29:

    The United Nations General Assembly voted Thursday 138-9 with 41 abstentions to grant Palestine non-member state status.

    The vote does not settle outstanding issues with Israel or change anything on the ground, say experts.

    "We are here for a final serious attempt to achieve peace," Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas told General Assembly delegates before the vote. "Not to end the negotiation processâ?¦ rather to breath new life into the negotiation process."

    Vuk JeremiÄ?, president of the General Assembly acknowledged the historical nature of the vote and called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders "to work for peace, negotiate in good faith and succeed."

    Israelis say the Palestinian appeal for non-member state status will make peace less likely. Currently the Palestinian Authority has the status of U.N. observer.

    Abbas went forward despite appeals to postpone the request, which the United States says will only make negotiations for a permanent state less likely to happen.

    "If the Israeli authorities want to threaten my life, they can," Abbas said according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an. "The whole world realizes that the Palestinian Authority, with all its political and security services, and administrative bodies, has been ready to upgrade its status for six years."

    The Israeli government did not threaten Abbas' life, but said said that peace is only achieved through negotiations, and not by unilateral declarations that do not take into consideration Israel security needs.

    "Israel's hand is always extended in peace, but a Palestinian state will not be established without recognition of the state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people, without an end-of-conflict declaration, and without true security arrangements that will protect Israel and its citizens," he said Thursday.

    Ahead of the vote, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch filed an amendment to a defense bill that would eliminate funding for the United Nations if the General Assembly changes Palestine's status.

    "Increasing the Palestinians' role in the United Nations is absolutely the wrong approach, especially in light of recent military developments in the Middle East," he said in a statement. "Israel is one of America's closest allies, and any movement to strengthen one of its fiercest enemies must not be tolerated."

    In his speech, Abbas said he"did not come here to de-legitimize a state established years ago, that is Israrel. Rather we are here to affirm a state that must achieve its independence, and that is Palestine."

    His bid to seek U.N.recognition was met with "an incessant flood of Israeli threats," he said, including "justification of military assaults and ethnic cleansing,particularly in east Jerusalem."

    Israel's occupation "is becoming consistent with an apartheid system" that promotes "racial hatred and incitement," he said. "The window of opportunity is narrowing and time is running out."...

    What incredible mendacity and projection.
    Posted by Robert on November 29, 2012 3:52 PM |

    I don't know any of the details, BUT:

    You and I both know France was on board with this.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ahead of the vote, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch filed an amendment to a defense bill that would eliminate funding for the United Nations if the General Assembly changes Palestine's status.

      "Increasing the Palestinians' role in the United Nations is absolutely the wrong approach, especially in light of recent military developments in the Middle East," he said in a statement. "Israel is one of America's closest allies, and any movement to strengthen one of its fiercest enemies must not be tolerated."

      In his speech, Abbas said he"did not come here to de-legitimize a state established years ago, that is Israrel. Rather we are here to affirm a state that must achieve its independence, and that is Palestine."

      His bid to seek U.N.recognition was met with "an incessant flood of Israeli threats," he said, including "justification of military assaults and ethnic cleansing,particularly in east Jerusalem."

      Israel's occupation "is becoming consistent with an apartheid system" that promotes "racial hatred and incitement," he said. "The window of opportunity is narrowing and time is running out."...

      What incredible mendacity and projection.
      Posted by Robert on November 29, 2012 3:52 PM | 16 Comments


      ......

      Robert Spencer.

      I don't know any of the details, BUT:

      You and I both know France was on board with this.

      Ahead of the vote, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch filed an amendment to a defense bill that would eliminate funding for the United Nations if the General Assembly changes Palestine's status.

      "Increasing the Palestinians' role in the United Nations is absolutely the wrong approach, especially in light of recent military developments in the Middle East," he said in a statement. "Israel is one of America's closest allies, and any movement to strengthen one of its fiercest enemies must not be tolerated."


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

      Orrin, from the "mormon state"

      Wonder if Orrin is mormon, like Romney.

      Wonder how the virtually treasonous dems will vote on this.

      Wonder how our useless POTUS, barry hussein, comes down on this.

      barry will probably just ignore the whole thing ... like he did the fatal embassy attack, and the brainless, clueless, retarded american electorate will let barry get away with it.

      4 more years ... God's mercy be upon us for voting so stupidly.

      Delete
  15. (((Ahead of the vote, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch filed an amendment to a defense bill that would eliminate funding for the United Nations if the General Assembly changes Palestine's status.)))


    Sounds good to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why should we be paying for it? Kindly explain why we pay most of the bills.

      It's kind of the international version of Detroit, Michigan city council or something.

      You pay for it, Quirk. I don't want to.

      Delete
    2. You recall Oil for Food? Just a gigantic ripoff.

      Libya on the Human Rights Council?

      etcetc

      No, you go ahead and pay for it, Quirk.

      Delete
    3. .

      Don't be obtuse, Bobbo.

      I've been arguing that we get out of the UN since I've been here.

      However, over this issue you dimwit? It's just Hatch playing to the cheap seats. This action does nothing to change facts on the ground or the overall situation. All it does is formally recognize what everyone who reads a newspaper already knows. Much of the world supports the Palestineans whether you or WiO or I like it or not.

      Wake up and smell the coffee.

      And, I see lately that you are not satisfied with filling up the space here with every article (complete articles not links) that supports your position but also with lengthy comments from other bloggers.

      Just my opinion but if we were interested in those bloggers opinions we would probably go to those blogs.

      Quantity rarely trumps quality.

      .

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      Ostensibly, of course, the General Assembly voted merely to upgrade the status of “the state of Palestine” — which doesn’t in fact exist and which isn’t likely to, in any real sense, for some time to come.

      But the vote was a giant step toward UN recognition of such a thing — that is to say, the creation of a Turtle Bay bolthole for the agglomeration of terrorists, Islamists, cutthroats, thieves and backstabbers who now animate Palestinian politics.



      An example of the quality of work you are putting up today.

      The author (?) admits that the vote changes nothing then goes on forever on an extended ad homenem attack. Hell, we can get that from anyone who posts here. Why waste the space?

      .

      Delete
    5. Quirk, I have been talking to much of late.

      And I realize Hatch is just blowing gas.

      Didn't really know you wanted out too. Great to hear it! What's the use of an organization that invites in a group that advocates the genocide of one of the members?

      Yourself? Please don't post so much trashy music. It is irritating a finer ears.

      I shut up now.

      :)

      Delete
    6. By the way, someone requested the Benghazi narrative be kept alive here. I have only responded to the popular will.

      Delete
    7. .

      Noted on the music (although that was from one of the top 20 albums of 2012 as voted by the British music industry).

      From now on, I will merely post from the most popular genre in the US, Country/Western.

      .

      Delete
    8. .

      By the way, my wife just bought me a Time Life compilation titled Golden Age of Country consisting of 18 CDs, 280 classic songs, so watch out, here they come.

      From CD One, Crazy

      .

      Delete
  16. What could be more wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful for a man of means, than four absolutely obedient wives, and some slaves?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Pussy Riot’s Yekaterina Samutsevich Speaks Out

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/30/pussy-riot-s-yekaterina-samutsevich-speaks-out.html

    Things not going so well in the gulag for her friends.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Kudos Deuce on your headline post!

    Those maps tell a powerful story and underlines the fact that the Israelis really have no interest in peace. Heck, even Tzipi Lvini in heading up the new party in Israel "The Movement" which is trying to play to centrists interested in peace countering Likud's hard move to the right (they listed mostly extreme right candidates on the current List for the next election) says she thinks Israel should have "all the land" and be "jewish and democratic". If that is the case what happens to the Palistinian inhabitants?

    The Israelis appear to be terrified of the ICC, also telling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hamas is not interested in a two state solution. Have you ever read their charter?

      Delete
  19. Wonderful maps, Deuce. An inspired post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes I'm proud to be a Pachyderm. :)

      Delete
    2. I thought you didn't give a shit.

      Delete
  20. The study, entitled "California Youth Crime Plunges to All-Time Low" and released by the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, looked at the number of people under the age of 18 who were arrested in the state over the past eight decades. The research not only found juvenile crime to be at its lowest level ever but, in the wake of then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing a bill reducing the punishment for possessing a small amount of marijuana from a misdemeanor to simply an infraction, the drop in rates was particularity significant.

    In that one-year period, the number of arrests for violent crimes dropped by 16 percent, homicide went down by 26 percent and drug arrests decreased by nearly . . . . . . .

    Signs of Sanity

    ReplyDelete
  21. As for "Vetoing:" We have a Veto in the "Security Council," not the General Assembly.

    I'm not an expert on the internal workings of the U.N., but I don't think we could have "vetoed" this action.

    ReplyDelete
  22. .

    Trying to pick sides in the ME based on arguments is a fools errand. There is always a counter.

    Trying to base decisions there on humanitarian reasons? Hilarious.

    Trying to point out one side is 'more' to blame than the other? Pointless.

    If we are forced to pick sides in the ME, we should be doing it based on our own perceived national interests, in which case, I would pick Israel.

    But we are not forced to and in fact we don't. Instead, we play all sides. We stick our finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing and then react. We dither and bluster, merely offering up pompous pronouncements. When we do actually get involved, it is just as likely to screw things up as to help.

    Trying to be a player and failing miserably.

    Yet, most here still try to parse 'who is at fault'. Crazy.

    .

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why do you think picking Israel is more in line with US interests?

      Delete
    2. Why do you choose to ignore the historical facts?

      Delete
    3. .

      Why do you think picking Israel is more in line with US interests?


      Unlike those who chorus the PC bull out there, I believe there really is a class of cultures and and I believe Israel's culture is much closer to that of the US than other countries in the ME who are still stuck in the the 7th century. And while I can't intellectually support Zionism, I look at the discrimination and murder that accompanies the Religion of Peace and the decision becomes pretty easy. Just my opinion, of course.

      .

      .

      Delete
    4. But does that have much, if anything, to do with US national interest? How does supporting culture gain the US, for example, expanded markets, access to cheap oil and other natural resources?

      Next, I fear, you will be advocating we invade and occupy various countries to impose democracy to further US cultural affinity...

      Delete
    5. .

      Next, I fear, you will be advocating we invade and occupy various countries to impose democracy to further US cultural affinity...

      Lord, you are a dufus. Where do you come up with this shit?

      Red herrings that don't make any sense at all; especially, if you have read anything I've written here about my views on the US interfering or intervening in ANY manner with any of the a-holes in the ME.

      ...expanded markets, access to cheap oil and other natural resources?

      Expanded markets for what? I don't think any of these dictatorships are going to stop buying arms from us. Oil? Oil is fungible. We get about 20 something percent of ours from the ME. Do you really think they are going to stop selling to us or that we couldn't get it from somewhere else? Natural resources? I think we have enough sand.

      When it comes the the 'clash of cultures' I believe exists, our main Arab 'ally' in the ME, Saudi Arabia, is also our biggest enemy. Qatar, now Turkey, Iran, Syria, who of these guys can you trust? It would take another long post just to list the number of ways Saudi Arabia is at war with us.

      Time to get your head screwed on straight, Ash.

      .




      Delete
    6. I am trying to help you sort out the difference between "US national interest" and your smarmy 'I like their culture better'.

      Yes, I know you are non-interventionist, but you haven't suggested how supporting Israel is more in the US national interst than any other nation in that region other than 'you like their culture' which dovetails with the neo-cons and liberal interventionists - hardly realpolitik.

      Delete
    7. What in the hell is 'smarmy' about supporting someone because of their culture? You smarmy little shit. Islam declares itself to be our, and everybody's enemy. All we have is some relationships of temporary interest there with the muslims. But with Israel we have both an asset if you want to call it that, and a culture much like our own.

      Delete
    8. It seems I can't fight quoting other comments as I was urged to do.

      Lord, you are a dufus. Where do you come up with this shit?.....
      Time to get your head screwed on straight, Ash.

      Delete
    9. What was smarmy was Quirks post in general. Supporting someone because of their culture is fine but that does not equate to being in ones national interest.

      Delete
    10. .

      Smarmy?

      You say,

      Yes, I know you are non-interventionist, ...

      but also

      Next, I fear, you will be advocating we invade and occupy various countries to impose democracy to further US cultural affinity...



      In my first answer, I tried to be civil in my response. When you come back and run off the rails, I tend to lose my patience.

      You admit you know my stance on intervention. I have also indicated my opinion on democracy (ie that it is not axiomatically always a good thing) here a number of times; yet, you still state that "...I fear, you will be advocating we invade and occupy various countries to impose democracy to further US cultural affinity..."

      Who, I ask, is being smarmy?

      .

      Delete
    11. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    12. Point taken.

      However I am still looking for a reasonable answer to my question

      "Why do you think picking Israel is more in line with US interests?"

      which was prompted by your statement:

      "If we are forced to pick sides in the ME, we should be doing it based on our own perceived national interests, in which case, I would pick Israel."

      In reply to my question you wrote:

      "Unlike those who chorus the PC bull out there, I believe there really is a class of cultures and and I believe Israel's culture is much closer to that of the US than other countries in the ME who are still stuck in the the 7th century. And while I can't intellectually support Zionism, I look at the discrimination and murder that accompanies the Religion of Peace and the decision becomes pretty easy. Just my opinion, of course."

      Your answer has nothing to do with national interest but rather it resembles the justifications put forward by the Neocons and interventionist Liberals which has little to do with National Interest and Realpolitik and much to do with supporting cultures and ideologies that are, and I quote you now, "much closer to that of the US"

      Delete
    13. .

      Why do you think picking Israel is more in line with US interests?

      From the way I phrased my original comment, you must realize I don't see an awful lot of benefit in actually intervening in the ME. However, when forced to make a choice, my choice would clearly be to be alligned with Israel rather than with most of the other states in the ME.

      This recognizes that our national interests have to be judged on a relative basis. The way you phrased your question above also seems to recognize that relative scale.

      However, you seem to equate 'national interests' strictly with financial issues, i.e. expanded markets, access to cheap oil and other natural resources? I answered this question above.

      To take it further, Israel is our largest trading partner in the ME. With most of the other countries, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for instance, our biggest export is likely the arms we sell them, something unlikely to be damaged by our relationship with Israel. Likewise, for cheap oil. The troops we have stationed in the ME provide a substantial subsidy to the oil producing countries. We provide them with protection as well as being one of their largest customers. Crass commercial factors make it unlikely our "markets" will suffer. We sell grain to countries like Egypt. They can probably get it someplace else, but not every year and probably not always enough given demographic trends. And other than oil, what do we get from these countries that is so vital to our national interest?

      Furthermore, many issues affect the national interest. For instance, having a powerful ally doesn't hurt. If you look it up, most sources rank Israel's military capability as number 10 in the world. Unless you count Turkey as part of the ME, Israel is the biggest son-of-a-bitch in the valley. Turkey is usually ranked about 6 or 7 in the world; however, some sites take other factors into account and rank Israel much higher.

      World Military Rankings


      However, your main argument seems to involve downplaying the role of culture as a factor in our national interest. This might make sense if you are talking realpolitik until you realize the things that flow from the conflict of cultures I eluded too. First, the US has very few friends in the ME except among the elites we help maintain; and even there, what they give with the one hand they take away with the other.

      Take Saudi Arabia for instance. We have seen the rise of Islamism within the ME. It is a growing trend and is accompanied by a radicalism that IMO is not in the US' national interests. That radicalism is seen even in those countries we helped "free" and "democracize". The ME is a hot bed of hate. The Sunnis hate the Kurds, the Shia hate the Sunnis, the Kurds hate the Turks; however, forgetting internecine rivalries, they all hate non-muslims, the Israelis, and the US. Our ally, Saudi Arabia, allow the Wahabbist Imams to edit and radicalize the Koran, and then provide books containing that message free to madrasses across the world in order to prosletyze their skewed religious views. I do not see that as being in our national interest.

      There customs and culture are also inimical to those of the west and can only lead to conflict.

      However, you have questioned my reasons for preferring Israel; let me ask you,

      1. Why do you think I am wrong?

      2. If forced to pick a side, which would you choose?

      3. Why?

      .

      Delete
    14. 1.)I never stated that I thought you were wrong I was curious as to what your rationale was.

      2.)Yikes, that is a tough one. I am not impressed, to put it mildly, with the Zionist expansion project that is Israel. I have little respect for the irrationality of many of the Arabs. So, it is a tie. I don't think we should pick a side though we (US and Canada) have and it has been Israel. I think that is a mistake.

      3.) see above.

      Delete
    15. re:3 - I don't have the time, or inclination, to write a long essay as to why I think it is a mistake to choose a side in that dispute but the outline of it is that Israel's expansionist policies are wrong, unjust, and the Arabs are ... not rational and the result of choosing a side is that we suffer blowback.

      Delete
    16. .

      If we stay out of the ME, I find it hard to see a downside. Unfortunately, it appears the boys in OZ just can't keep their grubby little paws out of the place. If I am forced to look for allies over there when the shit hits the fan, I'll take Israel for the reasons I've stated.

      I am not especially concerned about 'blowback'. Any blowback that occurs would have occurred regardless of Israel just by the fact of our presence over there. We may be the Great Satan but there are plenty of Lesser Satans. Remember the Brits pulled out of Benghazi because their embassy (consulate, whatever) was attacked there too.

      Islamic radicalism is being fed by key players in the region; SA, Iran, Al Queda and affiliated paramilitary groups, etc. All are linked by religion and their hatred of western culture and mores.

      There fanaticism isn't an existential threat to the US but it is likely an existential threat to Israel.

      .

      Delete
    17. Actually "blowback" was a poor choice of words and I was going to comment on that last night but my phone...

      Anyway a better word would have been "costs" which include blowback as well as blood and treasure.

      Delete
  23. JERUSALEM -- An Israeli official says Israel has approved the construction of 3,000 new housing units in West Bank settlements.

    Friday's announcement comes a day after the United Nations recognized "Palestine" as a non-member observer state.

    The Palestinians say U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem will help resume moribund Middle East peace talks. Peace negotiations have been frozen for the past four years as the Palestinians have refused to negotiate while Israeli settlement construction continued.

    Israel fiercely denounced the U.N. bid. It says peace can only come from direct negotiations and not unilateral moves.

    The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the decision.

    Death by a Thousand Cuts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The culture of thieves that most closely resembles our own?

      Delete
    2. .

      Exactly.

      And would you prefer the other?

      .

      Delete
    3. I would prefer that Harry Truman had never gotten us into that mess.

      However, since it's too late for that, I'd prefer that we get our asses (and money) out of there, and keep them out of there.

      Delete
  24. .

    President Obama offered Republicans a detailed plan Thursday for averting the year-end “fiscal cliff” that calls for $1.6 trillion in new taxes, $50 billion in fresh spending on the economy and an effective end to congressional control over the size of the national debt.

    More taxes. No spending cuts. Actually, more spending. That sounds about right.


    There Stands the Glass

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's not true. There were something like $400 Billion from Medicare/Medicaid expenses.

      That said, it's a "negotiating position." The way this works is, Now the pubs are supposed to propose something. You belonged to a "union," right?

      Delete
    2. .

      Nonsense.

      This is about the fiscal cliff, what needs to be done in the next couple weeks, not the grand bargain that the markets are looking for. If we get the latter or rather as Obama put it a "framework" for that in January, we will be lucky.

      On that, as I recall, Obama says he is offering $4 billion over 10 years. Interesting, that $1 trillion of that was already agreed to a year ago and it also includes the costs saved from the winddowns of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. And, oh yea, the $400 Billion from Medicare/Medicaid.

      And it's funny how all these cuts get planned but never seems to happen.

      Rocky Top

      or the original

      Osborne Bros

      .
      .

      Delete
    3. Lord Quirk I know you are trying, but get on -

      Country 103.7 - KQLT - FM 103.7 - Casper, WY
      streema.com › North America › United States › Wyoming › Casper
      Rating: 2 - 1 vote
      KQLT is a commercial radio station located in Casper, Wyoming, broadcasting on 103.7 FM. KQLT airs a country music format branded as "Kolt Country" -

      for no twang country.

      Delete
    4. .

      "No twang country"


      Kinda like "smooth jazz".

      :)

      .

      Delete
    5. .

      Here you go, Bobbo.

      The 'smooth', 'no twang' version of By The Time I Get to Phoenix

      .

      Delete
  25. You can have a "Jewish/Christian/Muslim" State, and you can have a Democratic State, but

    How do you have a "Jewish/Christian/Muslim Democratic" State?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      As we have seen, Democracy is overrated.

      A functioning Republic makes more sense.

      Personally, most in the West would prefer a secular government over any kind of theocracy, however, nothing works if autocrats and incompetents keep getting elected.

      .

      Delete
  26. While finance executives urge Congress and the President to rein in spending, finance companies are raking in profits.

    Corporate profits reached a record high in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report out Thursday. And the financial sector is doing particularly well. Financial companies accounted for all of the net growth in domestic corporate profits during the third quarter, according to analysis by Haver Analytics cited by The New York Times. Catherine Rampell writes:

    Bankers doing great

    ReplyDelete
  27. It's Bunker Time - Again.

    "The purpose of Site 911 is [un] clear."

    .....................

    Top-Secret Sites From Around the World

    They left out Denver International Airport.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  29. NEVADA, IOWA – DuPont came one step closer to commercializing advanced biofuels by breaking ground on its cellulosic ethanol facility in Nevada, Iowa, on Nov. 30. Expected to be completed in mid-2014, this more than $200 million facility will be among the first and largest commercial-scale cellulosic biorefineries in the world.

    This new facility is expected to generate 30 MMgy cellulosic biofuel produced from corn stover residues, a non-food feedstock that consists of corn stalks and leaves. This is more capacity than original estimates called for as data derived from our piloting facility in Tennessee has allowed DuPont to further optimize our process and technology. This first commercial facility . . . . . . .

    Here Comes Another One


    There might be hope for us, yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And, the hits just keep on coming. :)

      No wonder the oil companies, and their cronies, fought E15 so hard. It seems to be getting the same mileage as E10 (which, if you'll remember, I predicted,) while costing less.

      Catching hold

      Delete
  30. Susan Lindauer

    Bitch to wake up one morning and suddenly everyone is calling you "hon."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)

      A very interesting video. Well worth the time spent watching it. I, honestly, can't figure out what in the heck to think of her (or her story.)

      Just something to be "filed away," I suppose.

      Delete
    2. She's a good public speaker.

      Public figures can be discredited in all manner of ways. Most end up resigning or sacrificing some lucrative sinecure, but the piece de resistance is waving the finger in a circular motion around the temple when someone's name is mentioned. Kiss of Death, "Sweetie."

      I attribute some of her personality quirks to her five-yr indictment and year long incarceration plus threat of drugs. Ebullience coupled with serious and prolonged stress coupled with a skeptical reception.

      She's not the only one to refer to the unmarked vans that appeared in the two-week period prior to the attack. That and her "version" of the Iraqi desire to end the sanctions. Plus I'm just not buying the mentally ill part. Hadol is a psychotropic drug that causes tardive dyskinesia (the rapid tongue movement.) No way the woman in that video needed Haldol. Reminds me of the young boys being dosed with Ritalin.

      Delete
    3. The problem I'm having, Doris, is: I just can't understand why a CIA that would blow up the WTC (and, kill thousands of other Americans) wouldn't have "whacked" her a long time ago.

      Delete
    4. Did you know Rufus that CIA has admitted Mohammed Atta and a few others were "assets?" Why weren't they whacked?



      Delete
    5. Atta kind of whacked himself didn't he?

      I think Osama bin Laden was actually working for Halliburton and Bain Capital to get us in foreign adventures so they could make some mo money.

      It's the only thing that makes any sense out of it all.

      Delete
    6. Broadwell is a better speaker and not nearly so crazy.

      Delete
    7. How could Atta be both a western asset (from declassified CIA documents) and a jihadist suicide bomber? IOW how could an asset plan a jihadist attack without the CIA knowing?

      Delete
    8. Plus I'm just not buying the mentally ill part.

      The judge did.

      judge Michael B. Mukasey ruled that Lindauer was unfit to stand trial and could not be forced to take antipsychotic medication to make her competent to stand trial.[6][12] He noted that the severity of Lindauer's mental illness, which he described as a "lengthy delusional history", weakened the prosecution's case. In his decision he wrote, "Lindauer ... could not act successfully as an agent of the Iraqi government without in some way influencing normal people .... There is no indication that Lindauer ever came close to influencing anyone, or could have. The indictment charges only what it describes as an unsuccessful attempt to influence an unnamed government official, and the record shows that even lay people recognize that she is seriously disturbed."[1]


      In other words, and in layman's terms, the Judge is saying she is nuttier than a fruitcake, aka, batshit crazy.

      Delete
    9. Broadwell is a sociopathic control freak.

      Delete
    10. Which answers Rufus' question: why whack someone who's been fully discredited. Can't prove a negative. The minute a pubic figure says "I am not {fill in the blank} his opponents have got him.

      Delete
    11. Well, if there is anything to that about being a CIA asset, he could have been fibbing the CIA. After all, even the head of the CIA loses contact with reality on occasion. Cause he certainly died on a jihadi suicide mission. Unless of course he wasn't on the plane, but there is video tape of him going through the boarding gate. Unless they faked the video tape. Or got a really good look alike stand in.

      Delete
    12. Some people say that Osama Bin Laden was a CIA "asset," code-named Tim Osman.

      Tim Osman

      Delete
    13. That wouldn't preclude him from working for Halliburton and Bain too.

      Would it?

      Lots of people work three jobs these days. And used to in older times.

      I Led Three Lives: Citizen, 'Communist', Counterspy [Hardcover]
      Herbert A. Philbrick

      Delete
    14. The CIA, obviously, screwed the pooch. Were they in on the plot? Participants?

      Seems pretty unlikely (to me at least.)

      Delete
    15. I don't think they would be "above" doing such a thing. But, let's be honest; they know how screwed up they are.

      I mean, they, if anyone, would understand how slim the chances would be of "Them" doing such a thing, and not getting caught.

      It just feels like an awful large stretch.

      Delete
    16. The other thing that caught my attention about Lindauer is that she's pretty careful with her "facts" - doesn't stray across the border. According to her CIA has admitted that M. Atta was an asset - not just "some people" who write on the internet. That's a big deal.

      The CIA as an institution, I would be surprised, but the Tom Clancey-like "rogue elements", I'm not so sure.

      (Can't hep but sense that the bin Laden/Tim Osman story is a plant to discredit other "asset" claims.)

      Delete
    17. I off to find my compressed air can.

      Delete
    18. "Curveball" was an asset, wasn't he?

      Delete
    19. Don't know Rufus. Never heard that.

      Delete
    20. One more, for those who are interested, about the Florida airports where Atta and two others were trained.

      And they say investigative journalism is dead.

      Delete
    21. Lord, God! I just read the "Curveball" (German asset, not one of ours) story. What a hoot. What a fucking mess. You just gotta read it.

      Curveball - The Story

      Delete
    22. How could Atta be both a western asset (from declassified CIA documents)

      The other thing that caught my attention about Lindauer is that she's pretty careful with her "facts" - doesn't stray across the border. (((According to her))) CIA has admitted that M. Atta was an asset



      Which is it? From declassified documents, or, (((according to her))) the CIA has admitted...


      I think the Judge is right. She's crazy as hell.


      Delete
    23. Lindauer states in the video (which I'm guessing you did not watch) that she would provide evidence to a questioner in the audience. I doubt it is easily accessible on-line and I do not intend to search for it.

      The trail of breadcrumbs is "attention-grabbing." Whether it meets the burden of proof in the western legal setting is probably unlikely, operatives being more skilled these days at deleting files than whacking moles. You know it's funny, both MT and ID have more than their share of wacko recluses waiting for their window of opportunity. I don't see Lindauer as one of them. In fact, if you listen to her 90-min video, Lindauer overtly references the stark dissimilarities between the modern quiet, intense and dark don't f-k-with-me MO'er performance vs Lindauer's yikes-I'm-loud-and-blond-and-female(-and chubby) approach. You don't see personalities like Lindauer sending anonymous transmissions, unlike little Ms Gonna-take-over-the-world-someday-like-Cheney-in-a-skirt.


      I'm done with the subject. Amazing thing the internet. I discovered the $100 million buried facility being constructed in Israel, which reminded me of the hush-hush Yamantou facility which led me to the Lindauer video from March of this year. The 911 attack will go down unsolved like the Kennedy assassination. But dirtier. Much much dirtier. Definitely Not for Public Consumption.

      Delete
    24. That, combined with the Curveball episode, suggests that the "deeper game" has not gone away. We just don't have anyone who can write like John Le Carre anymore.

      Delete
    25. The incriminating PNAC document:

      "The PNAC program, in a nutshell: America’s military must rule out even the possibility of a serious global or regional challenger anywhere in the world. The regime of Saddam Hussein must be toppled immediately, by U.S. force if necessary. And the entire Middle East must be reordered according to an American plan. PNAC’s most important study notes that selling this plan to the American people will likely take a long time, "absent some catastrophic catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor." (PNAC, Rebuilding America’s Defenses (1997), p.51)"

      "catalyzing event"

      "a new Pearl Harbor"

      These are not shy people.

      Two interpretations are presented here. The reader can judge for himself.

      Delete
  31. Had never heard of her, so -

    Susan Lindauer
    From Wikipedia

    Susan Lindauer
    Born 17 July 1963 (age 49)


    Susan Lindauer (born 17 July 1963) is an American journalist and antiwar activist.

    In 2003 she was accused of conspiring to act as an unregistered lobbyist for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and engaging in prohibited financial transactions with the government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein.[1][2][3] Lindauer was found mentally unfit to stand trial in two separate hearings. During her incarceration she won the right to refuse forced antipsychotic medication which the United States Department of Justice claimed would render her competent to stand trial.[4][5] She was released in 2006 and all charges were dropped in 2009.[6]


    Personal life

    Lindauer is the daughter of John Howard Lindauer II, the newspaper publisher and former Republican nominee for Governor of Alaska.[6][7] Her mother was Jackie Lindauer (1932–1992) who died of cancer in 1992. In 1995 her father married Dorothy Oremus, a Chicago attorney who along with other members of her family owned the largest cement company in the Midwest.[7]

    Lindauer is also a second cousin of former White House Chief of Staff, Andrew Card.[8]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In 2005 she was incarcerated at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas, for psychological evaluation then moved to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.[12] In 2006, she was released from prison after judge Michael B. Mukasey ruled that Lindauer was unfit to stand trial and could not be forced to take antipsychotic medication to make her competent to stand trial.[6][12] He noted that the severity of Lindauer's mental illness, which he described as a "lengthy delusional history", weakened the prosecution's case. In his decision he wrote, "Lindauer ... could not act successfully as an agent of the Iraqi government without in some way influencing normal people .... There is no indication that Lindauer ever came close to influencing anyone, or could have. The indictment charges only what it describes as an unsuccessful attempt to influence an unnamed government official, and the record shows that even lay people recognize that she is seriously disturbed."[1]

      In 2008, Loretta A. Preska of the Federal District Court in New York City reaffirmed that Lindauer was mentally unfit to stand trial.[7][13]

      On January 16, 2009, the government decided to not go ahead with the prosecution saying "prosecuting Lindauer would no longer be in the interests of justice."[6][14]

      Delete
    2. Dinesh d'Souza got off easy.

      Delete
    3. Well I should hope so, intelligent and good man that he is.

      Delete
    4. "Dinesh d'Souza got off easy."

      What did he get off easy for?

      Delete
    5. I don't think she liked his movie, but I'm sure.

      Delete
    6. not sure

      Funny. Couple of you assured us he was "set up."

      http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/18/dinesh-d-souza-resigns-presidency-of-the-king-s-college.html

      Delete
    7. I don't think it was me, cause I just learned about that. He had been seeing this other woman for a long time, and was going through divorce proceedings with his wife, IIRC. I think I read, or someone said or something, the extra-marital affair had never been 'consummated', whatever that means. None of this has anything to do with his books or his movie, which were all quite good, in my view. Not that I agree with him on everything.

      Delete
  32. Hey Ruf!!!!!


    You can pick up some solar panels for your place in Jackson, cheap too!

    JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi taxpayers may have only an empty Senatobia building and some solar panel equipment to show for nearly $26 million in loans provided to Twin Creeks Technologies.

    The California-based solar technology firm is liquidating, and a company that bought Twin Creeks' assets does not intend to take over its agreement with Mississippi. The contract called for Twin Creeks to invest at least $132 million and create at least 500 jobs.

    The Mississippi Development Authority's Kathy Gelston says officials are negotiating for Twin Creeks to repay aid above the value of the building and equipment.

    Lenders sold Twin Creeks' technology for $10 million to GT Advanced Technologies of Nashua, N.H., in mid-November. Gelston says Twin Creeks received about $3 million from the sale, but says there are creditors beyond Mississippi.


    You are a Mississippi taxpayer, get up there with the other vultures and pick a bone or two yourself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was probably just a scam from the git-go, Bob.

      Delete
    2. Maybe so but sounds as if there may be some solar panels to be had.

      Delete
    3. I don't know for sure, but I doubt if they ever even produced any. I doubt they even meant to produce any.

      Delete
    4. Here's the important thing that your right-wing rags don't mention.

      Solar in Germany has fallen from an "Installed" price of $5.00/Watt in 2009 to $2.00/Watt, today.

      Solar Porn

      Delete
    5. I read that too, but don't know if I believe it. Why would it be cheaper to make solar in Germany than here? China I can understand. Is it subsidized in Germany?

      Delete
    6. It's a more developed market. The costs of "permits," labor, company profit, etc (also called "soft costs") are much lower.

      Delete
  33. We spend as much on the lotteries as we do on the wars.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is just so ....
      WRONG.

      FACTUALLY, CULTURALLY & HISTORICLY.

      Delete
  34. Current wars. Was going to post the article, but didn't want to upset Quirk.

    I will go get it if I can remember where I found it.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Well of course, here it is, where else -

    November 30, 2012
    Americans Spend as Much on Lotteries as on Afghan War
    Yossi Gestetner

    Dems keep yelling that instead of spending billions on the war in Afghanistan, we need to spend for the poor on home. But here are some interesting facts:

    1) The direct cost of the Afghan War will be approximately $650 billion through the end of FY2013. $450 billion of this is spent under Obama (if you split FY2009 cost evenly between Bush and Obama).

    2) If you place all of the FY2009 Afghan spending on Bush, $422 billion of the war spending will be under Obama in four years, vs. only $228 billion spread over eight years of Bush.

    3) In those eight Bush Years, Americans spent $350.5 billion on lotteries.

    4) Excluding FY2013 (which started only recently), the Afghan War cost is $538 billion. In those same war years, Americans spent $532.6 billion on Lotteries.

    5) This report suggests that the poor (for whom we need to end the war to spend more on Food Stamps), are the biggest Lottery spenders.

    6) In Obama's four years in office (FY2009 through FY2012), Americans spent on average $58 billion a year on lotteries while Obama spent on average $71.2 billion a year on average for Food Stamps to help poor Americans use their earned cash and Unemployment Benefits to buy tens of billions in Lotteries...

    All in All, A) Obama not Bush is spending like crazy on Afghanistan, yet you would not know it from listening to Democrats or squashy Republicans. B) The poor apparently waste some of their Gov-help money on Lotteries, which means we are doing just fine regardless how much we spend on wars.



    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/11/americans_spend_as_much_on_lotteries_as_on_afghan_war.html#ixzz2DkvqJ21O

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would that be "net" (after cashing out winning tickets,) or Gross?

      Either way, it doesn't matter. You buy a losing ticket, and the money goes, partly, to another poor person who bought a winning ticket, and, partly, to fund schools, school lunches, roads, etc.

      You spend the money in Afghanistan, and you get "dead" poor people (including our soldiers, and Marines,) and profits for Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and Halliburton.

      I know which sounds better to me.

      Delete
    2. I think the article was trying to put some perspective on the spending.

      Delete
    3. Anyway, it's 'your' war now. Your guy is Commander-in-Chief. He will be in Hawaii soon, better get a hold of him now.

      Delete
    4. His plan seems to be a slow, steady drawdown. The Senate just passed a "get out of Asscrackistan as quickly as possible," non-binding resolution by about 2 - 1.

      Delete
    5. I think I read included in that was the idea of keeping about 10,000 troops handing around indefinitely.

      Delete
    6. Not saying that is a bad idea.

      Delete
    7. Maybe, but Karzai's doing the same thing the Iraqis did - insisting on American troops being held to Afghani Law/Courts. Obama didn't go for it in Iraq, and won't in Asscrackistan.

      Delete
    8. Bless Obama for that (whew that stuck in the throat) he is doing the right thing there.

      Delete
    9. What a concept. Take from the poor, give to the poor. It is amazing the way Dema justify their behavior.

      Delete
  36. RAND Report Reveals Obama Administration’s Intricate Collaboration With The Muslim Brotherhood

    By: Candice Lanier (Diary) | November 30th, 2012 at 01:50 PM



    The Obama administration has been diligent in employing a strategy of engagement with the Muslim Brotherhood. But, it is the Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda that is the focus of this joint effort, instead of the interests of the United States. This is according to a report done by the RAND Corporation’s National Defense Research Institute, which is a federally funded research and analysis center and is overseen by a Department of Defense advisory board in support of official administration policies and goals.


    http://www.redstate.com/candicelanier/2012/11/30/rand-report-reveals-obama-administrations-intricate-collaboration-with-the-muslim-brotherhood/

    ReplyDelete

  37. Friday, November 30, 2012 Follow


    White House opposed new Iran sanctions
    Posted By Josh Rogin Friday, November 30, 2012 - 3:15 PM Share

    The White House announced its opposition to a new round of Iran sanctions that the Senate unanimously approved Friday, in the latest instance of Congress pushing for more aggressive punitive measures on Iran than the administration deems prudent.

    On Thursday, Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced the amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the Senate passed 94-0. The new legislative language would blacklist Iran's energy, port, shipping, and shipbuilding sectors, while also placing new restrictions on Iran's ability to get insurance for all these industries. The legislation would also vastly expand U.S. support for human rights inside Iran and impose new sanctions on Iranians who divert humanitarian assistance from its intended purpose.

    "The window is closing. The time for the waiting game is over," Menendez said on the Senate floor Thursday night. "Yes, our sanctions are having a demonstrable effect on the Iranian economy, but Iran is still working just as hard to develop nuclear weapons."


    http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/30/white_house_opposed_new_iran_sanctions


    94 to 0

    And he says to the Israelis "I've got your back."

    Like with Ambassador Stevens and the others.

    The difference is the Israelis don't believe him, while Ambassador Stevens might have believed him.

    ReplyDelete
  38. .

    Someone indicated that the highly educated voted disproportionately for Obama.

    This is likely why.

    Colleges Push Liberal PC Agenda

    .

    ReplyDelete
  39. .

    Late to the table, but at least some legal minds within the administration a suggesting what I believe has been the case since the start og tyhe War on Terror.

    The US is heading for a "tipping point" beyond which it should no longer pursue al-Qaida terrorists by military means, one of the Obama administration's most senior lawyers has said.

    Jeh Johnson suggested the group would become so degraded that a time would come when the legal authority given to the White House by Congress should no longer be used to justify waging the war that has been fought since 2001.

    Johnson said that when this happened, America had to "be able to say ... that our efforts should no longer be considered an armed conflict against al-Qaida and its affiliates".

    Instead, the responsibility for tackling al-Qaida should pass to the police and other law enforcement agencies...



    Justifying the War on Terror

    .

    ReplyDelete

  40. "Canada will not let the Jews or Israel stand alone"

    The U.S. should be saying this. But this is, of course, the age of Obama.

    "'Canada will not let the Jews or Israel stand alone,'" by Herb Keinon in the Jerusalem Post, November 30:

    Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, who delivered a supportive speech of Israel at the UN before its vote Thursday on the Palestinian statehood, said Friday "the bottom line is we will not let the Jewish people and the State of Israel stand alone when the going gets tough."

    Baird, in a phone interview from New York, said he had "absolutely no hesitation" about taking the podium and opposing the Palestinian bid, something he knew was not a popular position in the hall.

    The Canadian foreign minister criticized Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the hostile tenor of his speech.

    "Knowing that he had such overwhelming support, this would have been an occasion for him to reach out to the government and people of Israel, to embrace the Jewish people, to talk about his hopes for peace and be magnanimous," he said. "Unfortunately it was a rather aggressive speech that will really do nothing to advance the cause of peace or the peace process."...

    What a surprise.

    ReplyDelete
  41. .

    The White House this week finally explained just how serious it is about averting a fiscal cliff that could throw the country back into a recession. The answer: not serious at all.

    The markets and the media in recent days have been operating on an optimistic belief that the administration simply will not let the country fall off the fiscal cliff. They'd best rethink. On Thursday, the president dispatched Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and White House Director of Legislative Affairs Rob Nabors to Congress to finally outline the White House's offer to avert the coming tax hikes and sequester.

    It was something out of Wonderland and Oz combined.

    According to sources on Capitol Hill, the White House wants Republicans to pony up $960 billion in immediate tax increases, which will come from hiking the top marginal rates and increasing capital gains and dividends taxes. That is just for starters. The administration also wants the GOP to surrender an additional $600 billion in revenue via later tax reforms.

    The president's team specified no amounts or details on spending cuts. Rather, the White House wants more spending: at least $50 billion in new stimulus, an extension of unemployment insurance, a one-year deferral of the sequester, new money to refinance underwater mortgages, a Medicare-doctor fix . . . and a partridge in a pear tree.

    Oh, the White House also wants Congress to give Mr. Obama the authority to increase the debt limit, whenever he wants, as much as he wants.

    What do Republicans get in return? Next year, the White House will agree to talk to the GOP about cutting as much as $400 billion from entitlement programs. Maybe. If Democrats get around to it. Which they won't—because they'll have everything they've wanted...



    Fiscal Cliff? What's That?



    The Republicans will have to contemplate how to deal with such an unserious offer. But in presenting his demands, the president has now made very clear that there is only one side that is working in good faith.


    Saw Boehner's interview yesterday. The GOP is just as bad. OZ needs to be renamed Dickville.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  42. The Ten-Million Taxpayer March: Washington DC, April 15, 2013


    http://www.redstate.com/conservativecurmudgeon/2012/11/30/the-ten-million-taxpayer-march-washington-dc-april-15-2013/


    Make your plans to attend now.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Texas sets new "Wind Energy" record. 26% over a 24 hr period. Wait until they start throwing in some solar.

    26%

    ReplyDelete
  44. A solid 60% of Americans support Obama's tax hike on the rich, and he doesn't have to run for reelection, anyway.

    He's holding all the Aces. Thelma, Louise, Rufus, and Obammie are headin' "over the cliff."

    Wheee

    ReplyDelete
  45. Last week, Walmart workers staged demonstrations and walkouts at thousands of Walmart stores, also demanding better pay. The average Walmart employee earns $8.81 an hour. A third of Walmart's employees work less than 28 hours per week and don't qualify for benefits.

    These workers are not teenagers. Most have to support their families. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age of fast-food workers is over 28; and women, who comprise two-thirds of the industry, are over 32. The median age of big-box retail workers is over 30.

    Organizing makes economic sense.

    Unlike industrial jobs, these can't be outsourced abroad. Nor are they likely to be replaced by automated machinery and computers. The service these workers provide is personal and direct: Someone has to be on hand to help customers and dole out the burgers.

    And any wage gains they receive aren't likely to be passed on to consumers in higher prices because big-box retailers and fast-food chains have to compete intensely for consumers. They have no choice but to keep their prices low.

    That means wage gains are likely to come out of profits -- which, in turn, would affect the return to shareholders and the total compensation of top executives.

    That wouldn't be such a bad thing.

    According to a recent report by the National Employment Law Project, most low-wage workers are employed by large corporations that have been enjoying healthy profits. Three-quarters of these employers (the fifty biggest employers of low-wage workers) are raking in higher revenues now than they did before the recession.

    McDonald's -- bellwether for the fast-food industry -- posted strong results during the recession by . . . . . .

    The "Dollar Meal Deal" might go to $1.05?

    ReplyDelete
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