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."

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Get out of NATO - Stay out of Syria




Over 10,000 US-NATO Troops Mass Ahead of Syria Invasion; Patriot Missiles Deployed In Turkey
December 7th, 2012

Market Daily News

Frank Drover: For the third time in as many decades the United States is massing soldiers and military assets on the border of a middle eastern country.

The USS Eisenhower, an American aircraft carrier that holds eight fighter bomber squadrons and 8,000 men, arrived at the Syrian coast yesterday in the midst of a heavy storm, indicating US preparation for a potential ground intervention.

While the Obama administration has not announced any sort of American-led military intervention in the war-torn country, the US is now ready to launch such action “within days…”

…If the US decides to intervene militarily in Syria, it now has at its disposal 10,000 fighting men, 17 warships, 70 fighter-bombers, 10 destroyers and frigates and a guided military cruises. Some of the vessels are also equipped with Aegis missile interceptors to shoot down any missiles Syria might have at hand…

With mainstream reports alleging Syria is preparing to deploy sarin gas attached to bombs against rebels and populace areas in the country, the West and its allies is on a war-footing, ready to attack by sea or land:
NATO moved forward Thursday with its plan to place Patriot missiles and troops along Syria’s border with Turkey to protect against potential attacks.
Assad’s regime blasted the move as “psychological warfare,” saying the new deployment would not deter it from seeking victory over rebels it views as terrorists.

Whether the threat is real or just another WMD psychological operation on the order of Iraq is very quickly becoming irrelevant.

In fact, we may be so close to another mid-eastern war that Syrian President Bashir Al-Assad is emphatically trying to find an exit:
In a regional tour conducted last week, Syrian Vice-Minister of the Exterior Faisal al-Miqdad delivered requests on behalf of al-Assad to Venezuelan, Cuban, and Ecuadorian authorities. The letters allegedly enquire into the possibility of asylum for al-Assad, his family, and a tightknit circle of advisors and collaborators.
Venezuelan authorities confirmed that President Hugo Chávez had received a letter from al-Assad before travelling to Cuba for continued cancer treatment.

And he’s not the only one trying to get out ahead of what is sure to be a massive bombardment should NATO forces decide to take preemptive action. With war raging between rebels and the Assad government, thousands of refugees have been getting out of harm’s way since November:
Thousands of Syrians fled their country on Friday in one of the biggest refugee exoduses of the 20-month civil war…

An estimated four million people will need humanitarian aid by early next year when the country is in the grip of winter.

War is coming.

The same “intelligence” used to persuade Americans to invade Iraq is being used once again to justify intervention in Syria.

Likewise, the media propaganda machine that warned Americans of the dangers of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction is blaring the sirens again.

Not much has changed, except that this time those who were against Bush’s war in 2003 are fully in support now that a democrat President says it’s the truth.

This article is brought to you courtesy of M. Frank Drover from The Daily Sheeple.

123 comments:

  1. Maybe we should get out of NATO though I'm not exactly convinced, with a new caliphate forming. Israel should be in NATO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We should stay out of Syria, except for trying to secure the chemical weapons perhaps. Or destroy them by bombing.

      One man's opinion.

      Delete
    2. with a new caliphate forming

      with a new caliphate perhaps forming....

      Delete
  2. .

    Any bets on what will be the excuse this time.

    1. Poor defenseless Turkey was in danger from Syria?

    2. WMD? If so, because

    a. There very existance constitutes an unacceptable threat?
    b. Or will they actually be used and thus have to be responded to? If so, it is clearly Assad who used them since the US or its allies would never use them in any kind of black flag operation. We are the good guys. And even though it has been reported that the rebels liberated a stash of WMD's recently it wouldn't fit with the official meme to accuse them.

    3. Or, maybe we will go with that old chestnut, 'humanitarian reasons'.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  3. Obammie's not about to get into a ground war in Syria. We might bomb the shit out of them if they do use chemicals. It's probably been a long time since we Didn't have a carrier group somewhere near the coast of Syria.

    ReplyDelete
  4. WMD is the answer. And it is a concern. Who wants al Qaeda with chemical weapons.

    And even though it has been reported that the rebels liberated a stash of WMD's

    What has happened to this stash? They turn it over to us?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Of course the terrorists in Syria did not turn the chorline over to NATO, in Turkey. Why should they?

    Assad and company have had chemical weapons for decades, they are no threat, except to an invading army.

    Turkey has access to forty US nuclear bombs and has aircraft to deliver them. They do not need US to do more than unlock the bunker.

    Assad is not about to invade Turkey or Israel.

    Israel is no where near the North Atlantic and has no cause to be in NATO.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Poland and the other eastern European countries, who ran to NATO as fast as their legs could carry them, are not near the North Atlantic either. Nor is Turkey. Israel is closer to the North Atlantic than Turkey. You need to look at your atlas, crapper.

      Delete
  6. Bryant preferred night shifts, because that meant it was daytime in Afghanistan. In the spring, the landscape, with its snow-covered peaks and green valleys, reminded him of his native Montana. He saw people cultivating their fields, boys playing soccer and men hugging their wives and children.

    When it got dark, Bryant switched to the infrared camera. Many Afghans sleep on the roof in the summer, because of the heat. "I saw them having sex with their wives. It's two infrared spots becoming one," he recalls.

    He observed people for weeks, including Taliban fighters hiding weapons, and people who were on lists because the military, the intelligence agencies or local informants knew something about them.

    "I got to know them. Until someone higher up in the chain of command gave me the order to shoot." He felt remorse because of the children, whose fathers he was taking away. "They were good daddies," he says.

    In his free time, Bryant played video games or "World of Warcraft" on the Internet, or he went out drinking with the others. He can't watch TV anymore because it is neither challenging or stimulating enough for him. He's also having trouble sleeping these days.

    'There Was No Time for Feelings'

    Major Vanessa Meyer, whose real name is covered with black tape, is giving a presentation at the Holloman Air Force Base in . . .

    The Drone Operator

    ReplyDelete
  7. .

    I've found a new blog to visit.

    From The Daily Sheeple in an article titled: 20 Outrageous Examples That Show How Political Correctness Is Taking Over America.

    #2 The Obama administration has banned all U.S. government agencies from producing any training materials that link Islam with terrorism. In fact, the FBI has gone back and purged references to Islam and terrorism from hundreds of old documents.

    #4 According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against criminals because it has a “disproportionate” impact on minorities.

    #9 At one high school down in California, five students were sent home from school for wearing shirts that displayed the American flag on the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo.

    #10 Chris Matthews of MSNBC recently suggested that it is “racist” for conservatives to use the word “Chicago”.

    #17 All over the country, the term “manhole” is being replaced with the terms “utility hole” or “maintenance hole”.

    #18 In San Francisco, authorities have installed small plastic “privacy screens” on library computers so that perverts can continue to exercise their “right” to watch pornography at the library without children being exposed to it.

    #19 You will never guess what is going on at one college up in Washington state…

    A Washington college said their non-discrimination policy prevents them from stopping a transgender man from exposing himself to young girls inside a women’s locker room, according to a group of concerned parents.


    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My lawyer tells me it is legal in Idaho to discriminate against football players here in apartment rentals.

      I think she was serious, too.

      Delete
    2. Something about the 'testosterone risk factor'.

      :)

      Let them all live in the locker room.

      Delete
    3. From The Daily Sheeple site:

      Psychiatry is a fake science.

      A fuck lot of it is.

      Delete
    4. Oh I don't know, I had one one time tell me I wuz crazy. He ain't been proved wrong, yet. :)

      Delete
  8. .

    One more fron The Daily Sheeple. This one is strictly for Doug.

    Why California is the Worst State in America

    .

    ReplyDelete
  9. Are some children less innocent than others?

    The US government continues to rain drones down on the tribal belt of Pakistan. While the Washington narrative is that these drones are precision machines that only kill terrorists, this story is not true.

    The drone program is classified, and so it cannot be publicly debated. It cannot even be acknowledged by President Obama and his cabinet members. Drones are operated by civilians and sometimes by contractors. That is, we are subcontracting assassination.

    Americans who were upset that the president did not seek congressional authorization for the enforcement of the no-fly zone in Libya are apparently all right with his administration bombing Pakistan without explicit authorization (the 2001 one authorizes action against perpetrators of 9/11, not their children.). The Obama administration has declared that no judges or judicial process need be involved in just blowing away people, even American citizens.

    Of the some 3000 persons killed by US drones, something like 600 have been innocent noncombatant bystanders, and of these 176 were children. In some instances the US drone operators have struck at a target, then waited for rescuers to come and struck again, which would be a war crime. Obviously, children may run in panic to the side of an injured parent, so they could get hit by the indiscriminate second strike.

    We don’t know the exact circumstances of the children’s deaths because the US government won’t talk about them, indeed, denies it all.


    http://www.juancole.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deuce asked:

      "Are some children less innocent than others?"

      Well, of course, YES. American children are a cut above, as are American citizens in general. Heck, the Feds can't even deploy the military in the US much less make use of Drones to kill the bad fellas. Heck, Americans get due process (unless wiretapped or flying on planes), others, naw, fuggedaboutit!

      Delete
    2. Another absurd, asinine, daft, empty, fatuous, flat, foolish, frivolous, futile, harebrained, idiotic, illogical, imbecilic, innocuous, insipid, jejune, laughable, meaningless, mindless, pointless, puerile, ridiculous, sappy, senseless, silly, trifling, unintelligent, vacant, vacuous, vain, vapid, and weak minded comment from our lame brained friend from the great white.

      Delete
    3. .

      Jeez, Ash, you need to read more.

      Google the big guy's hit list.

      .

      Delete
    4. Jeez, :)

      Did someone hit Bob upside the head with a thesaurous?

      Delete
    5. .

      Jejune?

      Dang it, Bob.

      How many times have you been warned to stay out of the Thesaurus?

      .

      Delete
    6. I did like "jejune," though. You don't get that one every day. :)

      Delete
    7. :) We're running on the same track.

      Delete
    8. .

      Scary.

      That's why I am bailing for a while.

      There is a definite need for a degree of separation.

      :)

      .

      Delete
    9. :)

      Sometimes the lines just "write themselves."

      Delete
  10. Yes, we are all superb, and Deuce in particular is a genius. It is why we read world wide.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was a comment to the suddenly vanished blog advertiser.

      Delete
  11. The same pack of lies as with the WMD during the Iraq crisis? As Goebbels said...repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it. Any lie will do in order to justify more wars?

    ReplyDelete
  12. China's new leaders sent their strongest signal yet that their top economic priority is to remake the economy so it relies more on domestic demand and less on exports and investment in capital-intensive state-owned companies, even if that reduces short-term growth.

    In a statement issued after the annual Central Economic Work Conference, a weekend meeting of senior officials to assess economic and international challenges, Beijing's leadership said it wanted to boost imports and speed the integration of rural migrants into cities as ways to boost domestic consumption, according to reports in China's state-owned news agency, Xinhua.

    ReplyDelete
  13. We’re doomed and we deserve to be doomed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      This doesn't have anything to do with that December 21 thingy, does it?

      .

      Delete
    2. :)


      But, but ... I didn't have nothin' to do with it.

      Delete

    3. Ecclesiastes 1:5

      The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

      Delete
    4. And you didn't have anything to do with it either, Jenny. Don't be so tough on yourself.

      Delete
    5. Worth posting again -


      Australian PM Julia Gillard Addresses the End of the World

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebtj3gDaE64

      She will be fighting for you, Sam, until the very end. Good luck to you.

      Delete
  14. Everybody has a twin -

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2247797/Twin-portraits-Quebec-photographer-Francois-Brunelle-takes-pictures-look-alikes.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. From the documentary Something Ventured, an interview with the venture capitalists behind historic Silicon Valley start-ups, I give you The Flying Lizards.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Does Hillary have a good note from her Doctor saying she can't testify about Benghazi?

    Inquiring minds.....

    ReplyDelete
  17. The United States Police State advances -

    http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/12/gov-dossiers-on-us-citizens/

    ReplyDelete
  18. Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire with lyrics


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2mTYK3M0G0


    with harmonica!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Here it comes: Obama: These tragedies must end.

    From the links I posted in the previous thread:

    School Killings (USA): 199 (1927-2012)
    Workplace Killings (USA): 132 (1914-2012)

    Deaths from child abuse in 2008: 1730 or a rate of 2/100,000 which is 0.002%.

    Children who cry alone in the dark without a parent, an advocate, a journalist, or a god to protect them.

    Like infinity, there are orders of tragedy.

    ReplyDelete
  20. One measure of a society is how it treats those people "in the dawn of life, in the twilight of life and in the shadows of life" (Hubert Humphrey). My understanding is that HHH was referring to the handicapped with his "shadows of life" phraseology but one might assume that he would not have objected to including health care in that category. It is an arguable point.

    My personal view is that the rate of child abuse is lower - much lower - in the developed world than in the Muslim countries where statistics are not available.

    Secondly, sad as the death of a young life is, the problem (in the west) is with the elderly. End of life care and treatment is in the toilet in this country. And it is shameful.

    ReplyDelete

  21. Hillary in Hiding

    I, on the contrary, would like to give Secretary Clinton the benefit of the doubt on this one. Though I have never participated in a cover-up involving the brutal murder and defilement of people under my direct employ, I can only imagine that if I had, and if I were being called on the carpet to answer questions about my role in events surrounding a seven-hour terrorist assault on my representatives in Libya, and the subsequent disinformation campaign being managed, in part, out of my office, I would be feeling sick to my stomach, too. I imagine I might even faint, as the day of reckoning approached......... here she is, being excused from the most important day of her tenure as Secretary of State, in effect by means of a note from President O-Mama saying "Hillary isn't feeling well today, and she won't be feeling well next week either."



    http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/12/hillary_in_hiding.html


    Excellent article.

    What a bunch of lying scum they all are.




    ReplyDelete
  22. Retrofit all the school rooms with lockable, steel, bullet proof doors. Maybe have them lock automatically when the code red comes on.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Protecting Our Schools

    http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2012/12/16/protecting-our-schools/

    ReplyDelete
  24. Evidently, he broke a window to get in.

    After all the crying, and whining about guns, I'll bet you a thousand dollars that 5 years from now, the glass in the windows of the schools in Newtown won't be upgraded.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shatter-resistant glass, and a teacher with a taser could have made all the difference. Hell, just the glass, itself, would have probably given the Security guy all the time he needed (I'm assuming he had access to a weapon.)

      Delete
    2. Hell, what could it cost to "button down" a school like that? A couple hundred thou, at the most?

      Delete
  25. I can’t imagine them not tearing down the school.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, you're probably right. We'll see what they do about the other schools in the district.

      Delete
  26. Good security glass would cost about $15 sq ft. I have used seven layer glass designed to withstand a frontal assault from an AK47. That cost about $75 sq ft.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, what, a couple a thou for a standard window? Ten to twenty for a large picture-type window? So, yeah, a couple hundred thousand would probably catch it.

      Again, all the stronger glass would have had to do would have been to hold him off for a couple of minutes until the "security guy," or the police could react.

      A standard alarm system on the window would have likely confused, and scared him enough to cause him to run away.

      They need to hire a "security" person from NYC, or Chicago School Systems.

      Delete
    2. The politicians are going to make a big deal out of the "assault-type" weapon, but his two handguns would have killed just as many kids.

      Delete
    3. It took years, in the early seventies, to get the first businesses to install security cameras.

      Delete
    4. In vulnerable areas, bank tellers operate behind security glass. I've been in some banks where voice communication is electronic.

      Delete
    5. In anticipation of "the cost of building an invulnerable fortress" argument.

      Delete
  27. That Terrible Trillion

    What the Dr. Evil types think, and want you to think, is that the big current deficit is a sign that our fiscal position is completely unsustainable. Sometimes they argue that it means that a debt crisis is just around the corner, although they’ve been predicting that for years and it keeps not happening. (U.S. borrowing costs are near historic lows.) But more often they use the deficit to argue that we can’t afford to maintain programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. So it’s important to understand that this is completely wrong.

    ...

    And you should recognize all the hyped-up talk about the deficit for what it is: yet another disingenuous attempt to scare and bully the body politic into abandoning programs that shield both poor and middle-class Americans from harm.

    Another order of tragedy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To the average psychpathic financier (pardon the redundancy,) it's not the amount that's important. He/she would rather have all of a ten ounce pie than half of a 30 oz. pie.

      As the Scorpion said, "that's what I am."

      Delete
    2. :)

      Although I have to admit the group of (about ten) venture capitalists who funded the digital electronics industry out of Silicon Valley seem like a slightly different breed. At a bare minimum, more dimensional than greed alone. Tom Perkins especially comes pretty damn close to "Renaissance Man." I recommend the documentary. The sole woman among the Jobs and Wozniacs struck me as being marginally closer to the monomaniacal psychopath - like a cat fixated on a bird.

      (I especially appreciated the manner in which the money guys described the Big One that got away - they chuckled!! Not the Wall St profile.)

      Delete
  28. .

    As the Arabic saying goes, “if someone wants to eat shit, get him a spoon”. All the evidence points to the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood would never have been able to stay in power without the continued support of the US and other European countries...

    The West’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood (particularly in recent years) has shocked many middle and upper class Egyptians who see a contradiction in the West’s purported advocacy for democracy and human rights, and the Muslim Brotherhood’s borderline fascist religious rhetoric...

    It goes without saying that the Muslim Brotherhood is a fascist organization that is able to govern the country and push forth its agenda in a way that Egypt’s traditional elite was unable to. The West sees fascism in Egypt as their only option, however in reality it is they who have made it so...

    The West, and the US in particular, has already paid the price for its alliance with the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, so when will it pay the price for propping up political Islam in the Arab world? I think not long, as the death of the American ambassador in Libya was just the first of many acts of retribution soon to be witnessed in the West...


    When Will the West Pay the Price for Supporting Political Islam?

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. FARID ZAHRAN asks some very good questions. Much like the ones asked here at the EB?

      "Why does the West prop up the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in an attempt to ensure that Israel remains safe from Hamas’ rockets? Do they not know that Hamas represents the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, and that they are one in the same?"

      US foreign policy in the ME is a cluster extraordinaire.

      Delete
    2. More from Mr. Zaharan:

      "...what the West does not understand is that religious fascist organizations feed off each other, and if allowed to propagate will eventually spawn an entity that will inevitably turn its aggression towards the West itself, labeling it the Great Satan and the source of all corruption in the world."
      -----------------------------------------------------------------------

      Plenty of us understand this, unfortunately the Executive and the State Dept do not seem to.

      Delete
  29. Gotta give it up for those silver-tongued devils.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Although the author's writing style is very fluid and rhythmic, reminds me of Fouad Ajami's hypnotic prose.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Not only should we get out of NATO but also begin closing down every US military base in Europe.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Not much has changed, except that this time those who were against Bush’s war in 2003 are fully in support now that a democrat President says it’s the truth.

    From wiki:

    "Democrat Party" is a political epithet used in the United States for the Democratic Party.[1] The term has been used in negative or hostile fashion by conservative commentators and members of the Republican Party in party platforms, partisan speeches and press releases since 1940.[2]

    Multiple reasons are suggested for the use of the term. A 1984 New York Times article suggested Republicans began to use the term when Democrats used their own party name to imply "they are the only true adherents of democracy."[3] Republicans "feared that 'Democratic' suggested Democrats [had] a monopoly on or are somehow the anointed custodians of the concept of democracy."[4] New Yorker commentator Hendrik Hertzberg wrote, "There’s no great mystery about the motives behind this deliberate misnaming. 'Democrat Party' is a slur, or intended to be—a handy way to express contempt. Aesthetic judgments are subjective, of course, but 'Democrat Party' is jarring verging on ugly. It fairly screams 'rat.'"...

    I object to the term because serious discourse requires emotional restraint. Time and place for all of it. One thing I have learned from the internet and reading the blog sites is the level of raw hatred that separates the Party ideologues. They might "all be dicks" but they got very different bibles.

    ReplyDelete
  33. The author uses the word "fascist" four times.

    From wiki:

    The word fascist is sometimes used to denigrate people, institutions, or groups that would not describe themselves as ideologically fascist, and that may not fall within the formal definition of the word. The Fascist party that developed in Italy in the 1920s rigidly enforced conservative values and behavior norms during the Mussolini regime. As a political epithet, fascist was subsequently used in an anti-authoritarian sense to emphasize the common ideology of governmental suppression of individual freedom. It has also been applied to a broad range of people and groups, including people of many religious faiths, particularly fundamentalist groups. The individual, institution, or group(s) called fascist often find the use of the term in this way to be highly offensive and inappropriate.

    In this sense, the word fascist is intended to mean "oppressive", "intolerant", "chauvinist", "genocidal", "dictatorial", "racist", or "aggressive" – all concepts that are allegedly inspired by the ideology of actual fascism, and pervasive through fascist states. One might accuse an inconveniently placed police roadblock as being a "fascist tactic" for its perceived oppression or interloping, or an overly authoritarian teacher as being "a total fascist". Terms like Nazi and Hitlerite, are often used in similar contexts.

    The phrase social fascists was used by communists against social democrats before 1933, and is still used in some communist circles to refer to modern social democracy movements. As early as 1944, the term had already become so widely and loosely employed that British essayist and novelist George Orwell was moved to write:

    It would seem that, as used, the word ‘Fascism’ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox hunting, bullfighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.[1]

    I had a fascist poodle once - thought he owned the house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. .

      Fascism

      There are numerous definitions given for Fascism, as well as, many arguments about what it is or isn't. I like this definition:

      Roger Griffin describes fascism as "a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultranationalism".[24] Griffin describes the ideology as having three core components: "(i) the rebirth myth, (ii) populist ultra-nationalism and (iii) the myth of decadence".[25] Fascism is "a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal, and in the last analysis, anti-conservative nationalism" built on a complex range of theoretical and cultural influences.

      Haven't a clue as to what it means but I like it.

      Do the various definitions make the term meaningless though? I don't think so. It all depends on the context.

      For instance, even though I may not know some of the specifics, I think I have a pretty good idea of what "I had a fascist poodle once - thought he owned the house" means.

      The same applies to the Zahran article.

      Islamofascism is a neolism that offers an analogy between Islamism and Fascism. A number of people use the term to push that anology.

      Christopher Hitchens argued that there are similarities between historical fascism and Islamofascism. He makes the following comparison:

      “The most obvious points of comparison would be these: Both movements are based on a cult of murderous violence that exalts death and destruction and despises the life of the mind. ("Death to the intellect! Long live death!" as Gen. Francisco Franco's sidekick Gonzalo Queipo de Llano so pithily phrased it.) Both are hostile to modernity (except when it comes to the pursuit of weapons), and both are bitterly nostalgic for past empires and lost glories. Both are obsessed with real and imagined "humiliations" and thirsty for revenge. Both are chronically infected with the toxin of anti-Jewish paranoia (interestingly, also, with its milder cousin, anti-Freemason paranoia). Both are inclined to leader worship and to the exclusive stress on the power of one great book. Both have a strong commitment to sexual repression—especially to the repression of any sexual "deviance"—and to its counterparts the subordination of the female and contempt for the feminine. Both despise art and literature as symptoms of degeneracy and decadence; both burn books and destroy museums and treasures.[3]"

      I believe that when most people read the Zahran article they have a pretty good (if general) idea of what he meant.

      .

      Delete
    3. A friends company in Korea had a German Shepard dog named Himmler that they put in the grain bins they were guarding at night. Himmler had three kills of Koreans trying to steal grain by the time he left.

      Delete

    4. I believe that when most people read the Zahran article they have a pretty good (if general) idea of what he meant.

      The commentary, which was well reasoned and well written, as I implied earlier, issued a serious challenge to USA regarding an historically difficult problem in modern foreign policy. It was a good read.

      But the multiple use of "fascism" wiggled my BS meter. I've probably been around too many of the wrong kind of academics - the kind who get wrapped up in the words and forget the reality, which is messier. I have to say that I get a lot of that sense from ME intellectuals. Too wordy for me. Too pleased with the sound of their pretty words.

      Delete

    5. Both are hostile to modernity (except when it comes to the pursuit of weapons), and both are bitterly nostalgic for past empires and lost glories.

      Both have a strong commitment to sexual repression—especially to the repression of any sexual "deviance"—and to its counterparts the subordination of the female and contempt for the feminine.


      Hmmmmmm.


      Delete
    6. Yeah, there's no use worrying about "who are the good guys?"

      None of them are.

      It's just, "who can we work with a bit?" (ie. Who can be bought the cheapest, and easiest?)

      Delete
  34. Reproduced in its entirety because all of the responses reflect a mature and more sophisticated understanding of mental illness and behavioral dysfunction among developing teenagers.

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

    (Newser) – Liza Long created quite a stir with her blog post comparing her troubled son to Connecticut shooter Adam Lanza and other notorious mass shooters. It quickly went viral, and Long has been praised for her honesty—but a number of critics are calling her out for baring her son's problems so publicly, and some are even questioning her own fitness as a mother:

    On her own blog, Sarah Kendzior takes a look at Long's previous blog entries and finds some discrepancies: Long had previously described her purportedly Lanza-like son as a normal kid who nonetheless infuriated her with his Obama-loving views; she also accused her ex-husband of having the boy sent to a juvenile correction facility after he failed to do his chores. In one post, she describes wanting to "throttle" her kids or call her son's parole officer and "let the state take care of you." After taking heat herself, Kendzior insisted in a second blog post that the context is important—and that the bottom line is, "A child does not deserve to have his mother embark on a media tour promoting him as a future mass murderer."

    "No, You Are Not Adam Lanza's Mother," reads the headline on a Disability and Representation blog by Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg, who is aghast at the idea that any mother would compare her own child "to mass murderers. In public. Under her own name. On the Internet. For the world to see." She's similarly appalled at those praising Long, wondering if they've forgotten about the effect this will have on her son. "It’s as though they’ve written him off. He’s just a talking point. A springboard for discussion. An avatar of people’s worst fears. But not a child struggling."

    Another reaction posted by the blogger at thegirlwhowasthursday accuses Long of reinforcing mental illness stigma by tying such illnesses to mass murders. "By reducing 'mental illness' to 'outward behavior' the article dehumanizes the mentally ill and completely glosses over the inner mental life and experiences of those with mental illness."

    Kendzior and Long today released a joint statement, saying they didn't anticipate their posts would go viral and calling for unity: “We are not interested in being part of a ‘mommy war’. We are interested in opening a serious conversation on what can be done for families in need."

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cross-gender genetic influence? Kind of like the latest hot theory on homosexuality?

      Delete
    2. Nah, probably the kids just Drove the mothers crazy.

      Delete
    3. I wasn't tweaking you for the link, Rufus, just rebelling against the shallow and predictable guns vs god debate that inevitably ensues.


      I didn't catch the "cross-gender genetic influence" but on the face of it, this kid strikes me - from my great distance - as a walking wacko. I don't think god would have done him much good.

      Delete
    4. No, I know you weren't. And, really, it was inexcusable to write that article under her own name.

      And, really, it does seem that this particular type of kid, and this particular type of mother are a little more than coincidental.

      Which brings us to the "chicken/egg" question, I suppose.

      All I know is, the whole thing is way above my pay grade.

      Delete
    5. Oh, as for the "cross-gender" reference:

      This latest theory on homosexuality is that it is very strongly influenced by the sexuality of the parent of the opposite gender.

      For what it might be worth?

      Delete
    6. Oh, mine as well. And yes, I think "Mom" is might get dragged through the mud, albeit quietly, as the shrinks try to piece together some psychological forensics for future reference (one female child was shot 11 times.)

      The older I get, the more I think that genetics is the dominant driver - nature way over nurture. IQ is obviously important, in itself, but also as an influence on the individual's psychological and emotional profile. I have known so many people who worked themselves out of nothing but mud. And then, not to forget, the best and the brightest who went to Wall St and put 2008 into the history books. As Jenny wrote "we're all doomed."

      Situation hopeless but not critical.

      Delete
    7. Many are coming to believe that there might be a good bit of "self-selection" going on in the "higher IQ" dept.

      Higher IQ kids are likely to have higher IQ (thus, on average, wealthier) parents which means they are more likely to end up going to the psychiatrist's office, while the lower IQ (thus, poorer parents) kid goes straight to jail.

      Again, just another theory.

      Delete
  35. ahhh, many pine for the days when men were men and America was a better place...

    Ads you'll never see again

    ReplyDelete
  36. http://hotair.com/archives/2012/12/17/breaking-haley-to-pick-scott-to-replace-demint-in-senate/

    Breaking: Haley to pick Scott to replace DeMint in Senate

    I was hoping she would do that.

    Must break 3J's heart though.

    ReplyDelete
  37. December 17, 2012
    Congrats, Barry. US falls out of top 10 most prosperous nations
    Rick Moran

    You know that period between sleep and wakefulness where you're not quite sure you're still dreaming? I read this blog item at Powerline and had the exact same reaction:

    Via InstaPundit, we learn that for the first time, the United States does not rank as one of the world's ten most prosperous nations, as rated by London's Legatum Institute. The authors of the report found that the U.S.'s slippage is being driven by "a decline in the number of US citizens who believe that hard work will get them ahead." Well, they're right: in Barack Obama's America, hard work doesn't cause you to get ahead; being politically connected does. We are all paying the price for the corruption of the Age of Obama.

    Consistent with this finding is the fact that for the first time in history, the average Canadian is wealthier than the average American. Canada has a conservative government, and they have passed us like we are standing still. Which we are, at best.

    All of which raises the question: do Barack Obama and his minions want America to be one of the world's ten most prosperous countries? If you believe, as I do, that actions speak louder than words, the answer is No.

    If this be a nightmare, someone please pinch me so I can wake up. This is incomprehensible to someone my age who grew up in a country that would always be free, prosperous, and strong.

    This new reality makes me want to go back to sleep.


    ReplyDelete
  38. Hillary's Song

    (Barky's too)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tigVYfHVmQ

    I've developed the theory that Hillary really does have a concussion - drunk as usual, she toppled over backwards.

    She is looking so slovenly lately, like a street drunk.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Concussions can cause amnesia, too.....

      Delete
    2. Latest news is that Obama at least is still focused like a laser on who gave the stand down order to let those folks die without help.

      Delete
  39. For Rufus -

    Articles by one of the racists at American Thinker

    http://www.americanthinker.com/lloyd_marcus/

    Articles By Lloyd Marcus

    Blackness Gestapo Attack on RGIII Typical
    Restore America 101
    Consultants Advise: Bring Sporks to New Gunfight with the Left
    An Angry Black Man
    Black Man Yells: Wake Up, White Obama Sympathizers!
    Obama's Appeal: Clueless Entitlement Addicts and Racists
    We Have Not Lost a Generation to Liberalism
    Academic Expectations Lowered: Another Democrat Hit to Black Intellect
    The Great Loss of What It Means to Be an American
    Black Christians: Shame! Shame! Shame!
    Obama's Legacy on Black America
    Obama versus Jesus: Black Christians Must Decide
    MSM: Focusing on the Minor While Ignoring the Major to Help Obama
    Precious U.S. Citizenship: Diminished and Given Away by Obama
    Rooting for the Investor Next Door
    America and Divine Intervention
    My Black Dad and Chick-fil-A
    Cojones Required to Defeat Racist Democrats and Media
    Obama Keeps on Conning America
    NAACP Furthers Mission of KKK
    Reagan Is Gone - Is Sarah Palin America's Next 'Great Cheerleader'?
    The Dictator in the Black Iron Man Suit
    Obama: Going Rogue
    Can One Be Truly Black and Patriotic?
    Obama's Chicago Thug Way Invades Wisconsin
    Still Clueless: What Is the Tea Party?
    President Obama: Gay Marriage Is Not a Black Thing!
    Defeat Obama: The Power Of One Patriot!
    Obama Re-Election Team: Shock and Awe Attack on Tea Party
    The Ultimate Appeal to Persuade Fellow Blacks to Stop Voting Democrat
    But What about Justice for Zimmerman?
    Obama: The Lying King
    Calming the Storm of Martin/Zimmerman-Related Racial Violence
    Obama's Re-Election: A Stake in the Heart of the American Spirit
    Democrats Responsible for Black Culture of Anger
    Democrats Ignore Real Racism while Exploiting Trayvon for Obama 2012
    No-Labels Movement: Another Liberal Trick
    Al Sharpton: Keeping Black Voters Angry
    Republicans: Black America's True Friend
    Obama 2012: All about Social Issues
    Sharon Jasper: Obama's Vision For America
    Why the Babies? Why?
    Fond Memories of Ronnie
    America Desperately Needs A Hero...but Who?
    Americans Are Better Than Who Obama Thinks We Are
    Another Black History Month: The Left's Favorite Time of the Year
    Heads Up, America: Time to Take Back Our Kids
    New Team Obama Re-Election Gimmick: Is America a Post-Racial Society?

    about half the list

    ReplyDelete
  40. Park Geun-hye is vying to become South Korea's first woman president. To do so, she is reaching out to some of the people who were arrested, jailed and even exiled when her father was president in the 1960s and 1970s.

    The election comes at a pivotal time for both Asia and for South Korea, a key U.S. ally and a growing economic force in the world. Korean brands like Samsung, LG and Hyundai have become household names around the world.

    ReplyDelete
  41. In '95, Holder called for anti-gun info campaign: 'Brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way'


    http://washingtonexaminer.com/holder-has-called-for-anti-gun-campaign-by-media-cultural-figures/article/2516161#.UM-8xaycu1t

    Some of his ideas are good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Quirk, someone has brainwashed you into removing about half your comments.

      Are you aware of this?

      Delete
  42. Adam Winkler, a professor at the UCLA School of Law and author of the book, ‘Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America’, says the sheer horror of Friday “may well be a turning point for the gun debate in America”. He added: “To see 20 children mercilessly slaughtered in a schoolhouse is too much for people to bear.

    I think the political environment is different today than it was even a few weeks ago.”

    Repealing the Second Amendment would be more difficult than draining the Hudson River. But just as attitudes to gay marriage have changed at a pace no one could have predicted a decade ago, so passions on the right to own guns might one day also start to ebb.

    ReplyDelete
  43. According to

    This Reference

    there are approx. 100,000 elementary, and secondary public schools in the U.S.

    If it cost $200,000.00 to put new glass, doors, and a few cameras in every school it would cost us $66.00 apiece.

    I haven't heard a word, all day, about making the schools safer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd happily pay my $66.00.

      Delete
    2. Absolutely.

      Made in America, by Americans, installed by Americans.

      Delete
    3. But, it's Not sexy, and it costs money. Not much money, but wait till you try to get a Bond Issue for Education passed.

      Unless it's for football.

      Delete
    4. To be filed under "How Things Get done" category. This country does some things very well and other things poorly if at all.

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

      Peter Lanza

      I'm out of here. Nite Rufus and any other night owls out there.

      Delete
    5. Made in America, by Americans, installed by Americans....for Americans.


      The Christmas lights are sure burning bright in the town tonight. Really pretty actually.

      Delete
  44. NASA engineers rarely clap and cheer when their spacecraft crash. That wasn't the case today.

    ...

    The impact marked an end to a NASA-driven mission to not only give scientists more information about how the moon was formed, but also to send back more than 100,000 images for U.S. middle school students to study in class.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Some employers say that they are doing their best, but that their customers frequently pay late, or not at all. Others say they have gone to great lengths to pay their employees.

    One, who refused to be identified because he did not want to advertise his real estate company’s financial problems, said his family had sold a beach house and a space in a parking garage to pay employees their commissions earlier this year.

    ...

    Some worker advocates worry that the backup in the courts is giving abusive employers extra leverage. Workers hang on longer because they know that giving up and going to the courts will not get them any cash soon.


    Paycheck Not Guaranteed

    ReplyDelete