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."

Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Imperial Court of the USA: The Pirates on the Potomac or how your rulers and masters hand out and receive tribute.










President Obama begins his second term with American political discord and discontent at deafening levels.

But as Friday's “Boomtown: A Hannity Special” airing at 9 p.m. ET will reveal, in Washington today, the color that matters most isn’t red or blue but green—as in your hard earned tax dollars.

Washington has become a boomtown, a place where lobbyists parachute in to bag billions of your tax dollars for the rich corporate interests who fund them. Congressmen make out like bandits, too. They pepper bills with earmarks that shuttle millions to companies and institutions where their friends and family benefit.
The result: Washington, a town that produces absolutely nothing, is now the wealthiest city in America.


Here’s just some of what you'll you'll find out when you watch “Boomtown”:
Long ago, the local Native Americans named the river that runs through the city "Potomac," which means where goods are offloaded, or where tribute is paid. Today, that tribute comes in the form of trillions of dollars of taxpayer money that flood into Washington every year. 

While one out of every six Americans worry about where their next meal is coming from, Washington, D.C. has the highest rate of fine wine consumption in the United States.

While one out of four Americans has a mortgage that is under water, seven of the ten wealthiest counties in the United States are counties around this region.
Washington, D.C. now has the highest per capita income in the entire United States. They just passed Silicon Valley.

Washington, D.C. is the new boomtown. America has had boomtowns in the past. San Francisco became one during the gold rush. In Abilene, Texas it happened with cattle. And, of course, it happened in Detroit, during the heyday of the American automobile
You're learn that in Washington, D.C., a place that used to be a town of sleepy bureaucrats, is now a city filled with Maserati dealerships, fine wines, luxurious homes and luxurious shops. It's a Washington, D.C. that a lot of people never see when they tour the Capitol or go to the museums. But it's the Washington, D.C. that reflects the reality of our country today.

The great American writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, once wrote that the rich are different from you and me. America's previous boomtowns became wealthy because they produced something.

San Francisco during the gold rush, Abilene, Texas with cattle, and of course Detroit during the heyday of the American automobile.

All of those boomtowns became very wealthy in their time because they created something new. This boomtown’s wealth comes from extracting it from the rest of the country. 

The boomtown reality is something that no one in Washington wants to talk about. When they do, they tend to blame the other side. But the reality is, today, Washington D.C.’s business is not politics. It’s money.

Nothing inspires bipartisan agreement quite like the desire of politicians and well-connected Washington cronies to get rich. By passing bills that vacuum your wallet clean, D.C. cronies can bankroll their lavish lives of luxury and power.
Consider, the following:
  1. D.C. is the 4th fastest city in the country at minting new millionaires
  2. Average income among the top 5% of Washington households is $473,000. That’s the highest among the 50 largest U.S. cities.
  3. Average income among the top 20% of D.C. households is higher than in every city except San Francisco.
  4. Between 2007-2008, the amount of money spent on lobbyists jumped by almost $500 million—the biggest jump in the last 15 years by far- because of bailout money.
  5. Only Atlanta and Boston have greater income divides than the D.C. area.

Cronyism—the use of political power to enrich supporters, friends, and family—partly explains how Washington became awash in such wealth. Indeed, that’s why cronyism is so pernicious: it incentivizes the growth of government by bloating bills with perks and goodies that enrich the well-connected at taxpayer expense.

Until Americans put an end to such cronyism, Washington D.C. will continue to grow in wealth and influence. And like all boomtowns, with so much gold lying around for the looting, we can expect the worst elements to race to snatch up the riches.
Watch "Boomtown” Friday, January 25 at 9:00 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel.

Peter Schweizer is the president of the Government Accountability Institute. He is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and is the author of more than a dozen books. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller "Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison"


119 comments:

  1. Just business as usual.

    Fly the flag higher boys.

    Fight those wars.

    Protect those government jobs and government largesse from all enemies, domestic and foreign.

    Preserve the Republic at all possible costs. What is good for DC is well great for DC.

    Worship those icons. Praise the politicians.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I Lie prostate, er, prostrate, in admiration.

    Whatever the case, at least I Lie.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This gets into the purpose of the nation's Capital from the perspective of elected officials.

    The 'Permanent Political Class' makes rules for itself. Members with no time to meet small business constituents do not spare any trouble to legally enrich themselves through earmarks, real estate deals, securities violations, trading on inside information, self-dealing with stimulus funds and literally every budget item.

    DC is a profit center for them and all that support them in various capacities. They use government to enforce sophisticated pay-to-play and don't-make-no-waves rules. There is little incentive for them to leave Washington, which is one reason they became the permanent political class.

    if you're an elected official and you sit on an important committee, you are allowed to trade on information that comes your way. These officials can even help shape decisions that have economic consequences and then participate in the winnings. It stands to reason that if you're on the banking committee, you probably trade bank stocks, playing it both long and short. If you’re a staffer, you may accumulate sensitive non-public information and sell it to hedge funds.

    The real unfortunate thing is that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Feinstein's bill on guns, which thankfully isn't going anywhere, exempts government officials.

      How you like them apples?

      Delete
    2. That is the most alarming thing you have ever written here.

      Delete
  4. A topic we can all agree on.

    Watched Hannity last night on this.

    If one had any brains, one would have invested in D.C.real estate early on.

    But no one here has any brains, that has been established.

    All this, this concentration of power, wealth, influence, was the fault of Abe 'Lavender' Lincoln.

    General Lee, for his part, wanted to burn it all down.

    Things were better in the old south.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. By the way, didn't Lee march on Washington before Lavender sent his boys down to Atlanta?

      Delete
  5. This is why both parties demonize the Tea Party.

    A storm is gathering.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Georgia might be an opportunity for the Tea Party. Saxby is retiring. Great name 'Saxby' Chambliss.

      Delete
  6. The Emperor doesn't like inspectors general -

    As I have written over the years, Inspectors General are the taxpayers' best friends in Washington. They monitor the operations of federal agencies to ensure laws and regulations are followed, efficiency achieved and fraud and waste are prevented. They also have the potential to embarrass presidents with disclosures that their administrations are poorly managed and that the Presidents appointments are incompetent.

    January 26, 2013
    What is Obama hiding?
    Ed Lasky

    Ans: one hell of a lot.

    Barky not appointing inspectors.

    This is called 'transparency'.



    ReplyDelete
  7. re women in combat roles:

    "Women in combat: Let’s get real

    In a milestone for gender equality, the Pentagon is finally ending the combat ban for women – a ban that had become woefully obsolete. At last, women warriors will get the recognition and promotions they deserve. The brass ceiling has been shattered, and that’s good news for both women and the military.

    Or is it? I admire tough fighting women as much as anyone. Their leadership skills are as good as men’s. They have important roles to play in war, and they’ve been on the front lines – and dying – for years.

    But please, people. Let’s get real. Women cannot equal men in ground combat, the kind of dirty, brutal stuff that (fortunately) makes up a very minor part of modern military life, especially post-Afghanistan. It’s not that they can’t be trained to kill – they can. The issue is that the physical differences between men and women are very large, and on the battlefield, they really matter, and can’t be wished away. Men are better fighters because they are bigger and stronger and can endure far more physical punishment before they break down.

    he average female soldier is “about five inches shorter than the male soldier, has half the upper body strength, lower aerobic capacity and 37 per cent less muscle mass,” Stephanie Gutmann, author of The Kinder, Gentler Military, wrote in the New Republic. “She cannot pee standing up … She tends, particularly if she is under the age of 30 (as are 60 per cent of military personnel) to get pregnant.”

    ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. U.S. Marine Captain Katie Petronio is as tough and motivated as they come – a combat engineer officer with five years of active service, during which she led many field operations. She used to think women like her could serve in the infantry, but she has changed her mind. For one thing, women are far more prone to injury than men. Her last stint in Afghanistan was so gruelling that after seven months, she had lost a large amount of muscle mass and stopped producing estrogen. “I went from breaking school records to being broken in a rather short amount of time,” she told an interviewer. “And I was only doing a portion of what my infantry brethren were doing.”

      The full integration of women in combat roles has been portrayed as a breakthrough equivalent to the integration of black soldiers and gays. But when it comes to fighting, gender differences matter much more than race or sexual orientation. Not that any military leader dares to say so. Any effort to question the equal capabilities of men and women is a career-ender. And so we have developed the fiction that these differences can simply be negotiated away. With the exception of the Marines, training and performance standards in the U.S. military are now gender-normed (i.e., watered down) for women. Officially, this is not a problem. If a woman isn’t strong enough to carry a wounded soldier off the field, they’ll just work in teams!

      What happens when women are fully integrated into combat? Fortunately, we have a great example: Canada. Overall, women account for 14 per cent of all jobs in the Canadian Forces, a slightly lower percentage than in the U.S. As a result of a human-rights decision, front-line combat jobs were opened to women in 1989. Yet today, despite strenuous recruiting efforts, women hold just 2.4 per cent of these jobs. Their commanding officers praise their competence but treat them differently, by shielding them from combat. According to a Wall Street Journal report this week, the widespread impression among Canadian female soldiers – much to their frustration – is they are used “only sparingly.” Men serving next to women also exhibit a counterproductive battlefield trait: protectiveness. They want to carry women’s gear and keep them out of harm’s way. As one male soldier told the Journal, “That brother-sister protective thought was always in the back of your mind.”

      ...

      Delete
    2. In the real world, few enlisted women want to be on the front lines. Like a lot of men (but more so), they join up for the free education and career training, and would really rather not get anywhere near combat. The drive for full combat integration comes from female officers who need front-line experience to build their careers, as well as from a persistent band of activists who have succeeded in making the U.S. military hypersensitive to charges of discrimination.

      Nowhere is the military ethos more challenged than over issues of sex, pregnancy and motherhood. The high rate of pregnancy among females in the U.S. military is a big taboo and an operational nightmare. According to a study reported this week by Reuters, more than 10 per cent of active-duty U.S. military women had an unintended pregnancy in 2008 alone – a rate that one of the study’s authors called “really shocking.” But it shouldn’t be. One study of a brigade operating in Iraq, cited by commentator Linda Chavez, found that female soldiers were evacuated at three times the rate of male soldiers – and that 74 per cent of them were evacuated for pregnancy-related issues.

      Outside the developed world, women do not take equal roles in war alongside men. There is a reason for this. The reason is that women on the battlefield are a liability. The sheer physical demands of war (to say nothing of group cohesion, and all the rest) mean that fighting capability and performance are simply not compatible with gender equality. It’s a fantasy to think otherwise. Fortunately, our world is generally peaceful enough to indulge our fantasies. If things heat up, we’ll snap back to reality soon enough."

      http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/women-in-combat-lets-get-real/article7879189/

      Delete
  8. Jenny
    Just ask Al Gore who sold 26 million dollars worth of Apple stock 2 weeks before it dropped 100 dollars.

    Everyone just smiles and nods knowingly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If he new something he woulda been out even before then. The writings been on the wall for awhile now.

      hey, Gag, I see you've reappeared. Hoping folks forget how you practiced evasion?

      Delete
  9. "The great American writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, once wrote that the rich are different from you and me. America's previous boomtowns became wealthy because they produced something."


    welll, that's stooopid! Today's nuveau rich produce somthing...






    ...MONEY!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ash
    Don't you want to call me a name first? That is usually what you resort to when someone challenges you. Anyway if you are referring to the question you asked about taxes. Totally off subject, by the way. I don't really have an opinion. I pay mine regularly and don't whine about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I reserve my name calling for dumb birds and pompous assholes not for those who challenge me. I like a challenge.

      Gotcha - no opinion.

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

      Delete
    3. I offer to be Bob's second. An' I invite WiO, Doug and Gag to join me if they want. An' anybody else wants to.

      An' if Bob misses, I won't.

      Buck

      Delete
  11. http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/26/harkin-to-retire-in-2014/

    Iowa's Harkin to retire. Opportunity knocks.

    ReplyDelete
  12. New England was the real heart of abolitionist sentiment.

    Why?

    I think it was their tradition of sticking their noses into books, and writing them too, and studying the Bible with something more than a monetary interest.


    ....

    Hemingway has always had the best reply to that quote by Fitzgerald, the rich are different than you and I, which seems to me a really dumb quote.

    Yes, they have more money, he said.

    Scotty was complaining to Ernie about the size of his dick. Not Ernie's dick, his own dick.

    Go look at the Greek and Roman statues, he said, and don't worry so much. You're ok.

    Also good advice.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Rodent makes a post in the last thread..

    desert rat Sat Jan 26, 08:41:00 AM EST

    By the rationalizations of Neo 'O' and boobie, the raid of 11Sep01 was an attack upon a symbol of the Corporate Empire, not civilians in a US city.

    They killed a building.


    Rodent you are actually correct but for different reasons..

    The Jihadists ( your cousins) sought to destroy the symbol of US power. The WORLD TRADE Center, in fact it was the 2nd time Jihadists (your cousins) sought to bring the Towers down.

    Couple that with the attack on the Pentagon and Flight 93's attempt at the attack on the Capital?

    ALL SYMBOLS

    The difference of course they had no concern about any HUMAN deaths...

    So KILL the ROCK makes more and more sense.

    Thanks for PROVING MY POINT.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I see, and the jihadis will be cowed just like America was when its symbols were attacked?

      Delete
    2. the jihadis are not cowed by killing them, unless you propose to genocide them

      maybe try my way, less death.

      Delete
  14. The idea that your are going to kill your way out the war with islam is stupid. There are 1 billion of them.

    Under Obama? he as empowered on side of the moslem equation all the while killing selectively the other...

    Obama and Bush BOTH arm, support and sustain selective islamic terror nations and groups. This is not a winning strategy.

    The best idea, with the least amount of death is a 2 fold approach.

    1. America must take the lead in energy on all fronts with the goal of making opec oil irrelevant, thus bankrupting OPEC and drying up massive amounts of cash that is now supporting violent anti-west islamic nations and groups

    2. NUKE/Laser the Rock. Change the 5 pillars of Islam into 4.

    MAKE Islam have a real setback.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      The first suggestion is a good one. Of course, we also support these guys with direct payments offered as baksheesh plus we inadvertantly support them with all the weapons we leave in our wake as in Libya and, one would assume, soon in Afghanistan.

      As for the black stone it's not sacred; it is symbolic. In Muslim tradition, unusual stones are used to mark important sites.

      From Wiki,

      The Stone has suffered desecrations and significant damage over the centuries. It is said to have been struck and smashed to pieces by a stone fired from a catapult during the Umayyad siege of Mecca in 683. The fragments were rejoined by Abd Allah ibn Zubayr using a silver ligament.[12] In January 930 it was stolen by the Qarmatians, who carried the Black Stone away to their base in Hajar (modern Bahrain). According to Ottoman historian Qutb al-Din, writing in 1857, Qarmatian leader Abu Tahir al-Qarmati set the Black Stone up in his own mosque, the Masjid al-Dirar, with the intention of redirecting the Hajj away from Mecca. However, this failed, and pilgrims continued to venerate the spot where the Black Stone had been.[13]

      .

      Delete
    2. Hey, Neo, when are you going to fix our "NEW" sign on,

      It is easy to see that you are no the "Old" 'O' or you'd nut have needed to rebuild your profile

      Good luck, though, regardless.

      Delete
    3. General Crapper cain't typ

      Delete
    4. , = ?

      no = not

      nut = not

      And no period at the end of the second sentence.

      You need a secretary, General.



      Delete
    5. I say steal the black stone and set it up in Detroit.

      Delete
    6. And, really there should be a ninner, ninner, ninner somewhere in "Hey, Neo, when are you going to fix our "NEW" sign on,"

      Also, another error detected - (if I read the scribble correctly)

      our = your

      Delete
    7. Not sure what rat droppings was saying..

      I am the same guy who rodent threatened to kill...

      I am the same guy who says rat is an arab

      I am the same guy I always have been.

      Delete
    8. I have you, boobie, don't need any more servants.

      NeO, you're bullshittin'.

      Delete
  15. I'd just add we should do whatever we can to prevent any further spread of nuclear weapons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. By using a nuke against a non-military target, boobie, you will not discourage others from building them.

      Just the opposite, really.

      No one is talking about nuking Pakistan, even though they facilitated the training of the 11Sep01 raiding party. These are the same Wahhabi Islamoids that had their nuclear program funded by the Sauds. The idea that the Saudi could/would not be able to retaliate in kind, childish.

      The Sauds could nuke up in an hour.
      The Pakistani already stocking the item, as are the Chinese and NorKs.

      Islam would be no more "Destroyed" than was Judaism when the Temple was destroyed, either the first or second time.

      Delete
    2. General Crapper makes no sense. What I said was I'd like to see the spread of nuclear weapons stopped.

      Delete
    3. rodent vomits: Islam would be no more "Destroyed" than was Judaism when the Temple was destroyed, either the first or second time.

      Learn history rodent...

      Judaism was reformed...

      The TEMPLE CULT was destroyed and the destruction of the Temple was in fact what led to many positive changes.

      you are a failure at understanding history

      Delete
    4. to continue,

      Rat seems absolutely SCARED that the black rock of mecca were to be vaporized.....

      he's lack of history knowledge is amazing.

      He pontificates like he thinks we have not seen his lack of skills, knowledge and rational thought for YEARS

      Delete
  16. http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Map-Abolitionist-History-in-New-England-7484

    and

    http://www.wgbh.org/programs/American-Experience-97?MM=1

    Three part series.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Influence of Prominent Abolitionists - Library of Congress
      www.loc.gov › Exhibitions
      "Illustrations of the Anti-Slavery Almanac for 1840" New York: American .... as the seal of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery in England in the 1780s and ...

      More results for new york abolitionist
      The Abolition Movement
      www.essortment.com/abolition-movement-32583.html
      Most of the well known abolitionist leaders came from New England. Some of these being women who played an important role. Some of these men and women ...

      More results for new england abolitionism
      New England Anti-Slavery Society - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Anti-Slavery_Society
      Based in Boston, Massachusetts, members of the New England Anti-slavery Society supported immediate abolition and viewed slavery as immoral and ...



      https://www.google.com/search?q=Abolitiionist+ferver+in+New+England&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

      Delete
    2. The to trigger is to start, what bullshit.Civil War did not start in New England, boobie.
      Referencing that American Stinker article that claimed the abolitionists ":iggered" the Civil War. To trigger is to start.
      The abolitionists did no such thing.

      Just more American Stinker bullshit

      Delete
    3. General Crapper won't fade away, like MacArthur said they should do. What I referenced there, Craps, was the New England sentiments for abolition.

      Whatever about the American Thinker article, the meaning was clear to anyone but you.

      " And yes, it was triggered by Christian Abolitionists who made slavery morally intolerable to half the nation."

      It doesn't say they fired on a Fort.

      It says it was triggered by making slavery morally intolerable to half the nation.

      You are just hung up on the word trigger. Always thinking literally.

      Delete
  17. Someone has a full set

    Hacktivist group Anonymous took control of the U.S. Sentencing Commission website Friday, January 25 in a new campaign called "Operation Last Resort."

    The first attack on the website was early Friday morning. The second - successful - attack came around 9pm PST that evening.


    By 3am PST ussc.gov was down (it has since been dropped from the DNS), yet as of this writing the IP address (66.153.19.162) still returns the defaced site's contents.

    It appears that via the U.S. government website, Anonymous had distributed encrypted government files and left a statement on the website that de-encryption keys would be publicly released (thus releasing the as-yet unkonwn information held on the stolen files) if the U.S. government did not comply with Anonymous’ ultimatum demands for legal reform.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Stand back: genius approaching

    In a private speech to the Ripon Society on Tuesday, Boehner said that he should have taken a different course after the November election by immediately demanding that the Senate produce a bill to avert the worst parts of a combination of tax increases and spending cuts that were due to hit on Jan. 1.
    Instead, Boehner delivered a formal speech at the Capitol on the day after President Obama won a second term, in which he offered a major Republican concession – new tax revenue as part of a broader fiscal deal.
    “Looking back, what I should have done the day after the election was to make it clear the House has passed a bill to extend all of the current tax rates, the House has passed a bill to replace the sequester with cuts in mandatory spending, and the Senate ought to do its work,” Boehner said. “We’re ready, able and willing to work with the Senate as soon as they produce a bill. It should have been what I said. You know, again, hindsight is 20-20.”

    ReplyDelete
  19. Quirk is in a bad mood.

    I can feel it from here.

    Watch out!

    Those dreaded words, nitwit, and dick, are comin' down the pike.

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

      Delete
    2. I have been trying, and mostly succeeding, to not call someone a name unless I am called a name first.

      This is my attempt to help us all out of the romper room.

      Here is another attempt.

      I believe the phrase 'Pirates of the Potomac' was first coined by Rat, as far as I know. I used it, with attribution here, on my protest sign several years ago.

      Delete
    3. Course the phrase deuce used is Pirates on the Potomac.

      Delete
    4. You have a good memory


      bobalSat Apr 11, 09:58:00 PM EDT
      First Hour: Capt. Kelly Sweeney will give an update on the Somali pirate attacks. C2C Tontite


      Capt. Sweeney

      Want a job on the high seas, Capt. Sweeney is the guy for you.

      ReplyDelete

      bobalSat Apr 11, 10:28:00 PM EDT
      Did I Do That?

      ReplyDelete

      rufusSat Apr 11, 10:30:00 PM EDT
      *** Billions for Defense ***


      ^^^ Not One Penny for Silly Nonsense ^^^


      *** CAP Cap and Trade ***

      ReplyDelete

      bobalSat Apr 11, 11:15:00 PM EDT
      Unconditional love--

      The great German philosopher Schopenhauer, in a magnificent essay on "The Foundation of Morality", treats of this transcendental spiritual experience. How is it, he asks, that an individual can so forget himself and his own safety that he will put himself and his life in jeopardy to save another from death or pain--as though the other's life were his own, that other's danger his own? Such a one is then acting, Schopenhauer answers, out of an instinctive recognition of the truth that he and the other in fact are one. He has been moved not from the lesser, secondary knowledge of himself as separate from others, but from an immediate experience of the greater, truer truth, that we are all one in the ground of our being. Schopenhauer's name for this motivation is "compassion", Mitleid, and he indentifies it as the one and only inspiration of inherently moral action. It is founded, in his view, on a valid metaphysical insight. For a moment one is selfless, boundless, without ego. And I have recently had occasion to think frequently of this word of Schopenhauer as I have watched on television newscasts those heroic helicopter rescues, under fire in Vietnam, of young men wounded in enemy territory: their fellows, forgetful of their own safety, putting their young lives in peril as though the lives to be rescued were their own. There, I would say--if we are looking truly for an example in our day--is an authentic rendition of the labor of Love.

      Joseph Campbell 'The Mythology of Love'

      Science Unlocks The Brain's Secrets Of A Valid
      Metaphysical Insight

      ReplyDelete

      desert rat
      Sat Apr 11, 11:33:00 PM EDT
      Pirate of the Potomac!


      ReplyDelete

      Delete
  20. 27 die in Egypt riot after soccer violence verdict......drudge

    I don't want to even open this.

    ReplyDelete
  21. http://2164th.blogspot.com/2009/04/captain-jack-sparrobama.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But not as good as yours judging by that demonstration!

      Delete
    2. That sign by the way has gotten nothing but praise over the years, and I still have a couple in my closet.

      Still as valid, or even more so, today as then.

      Delete
  22. Wake up! The American people are buying the distortion that Mr. Obama conveniently rewords to his own ideals. Mr. Obama rewrites history and nobody says a word. His rhetoric is just unbelievable, and the American people are buying it because they do not actually know their history, so history is anything that Mr. Obama says it is, and the ignorant morons among us believe it. The only way for a society to advance is to give all that are willing to work for it, the ability to rise to the top with their reward for their hard work being a monetary reward. You have to give incentives to advance. Advancement will never take place if you take from the productive among us and give it to those who are unwilling to make the hard sacrifices. In other words redistribution of wealth simple does not work and it never will. What is it about this concept that Mr. Obama, and those like him do not or refuse to understand? To the simple minded Americans that voted for him, eventually you are going to lose if you follow his path. History tells us so. Learn it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think a good example is the misunderstanding these days of the 2nd Amendment.

      It does not say: a well regulated deer hunt being necessary to an American lifestyle, the right of people to a deer rifle....

      It does not say: a well regulated home being necessary to a secure lifestyle, the right etc

      It says: a well regulated militia being necessary to a free state, the right etc

      Same thing with the Natural Born Citizen phrase. They didn't want someone that was half
      English running the Army.

      Duh!

      And yet some people right here argue about these things based on....what? I don't really know. It certainly isn't based on the clear history of those two subjects.

      And on down the line.

      One of the problems with Marxism and the rest is they demand a 'new man'.

      Good luck with it. Better yet, don't try it. Work on oneself, that is enough, and is damned hard to do.

      Delete
    2. Great pic of Feinstein on HotAir right now, automatic weapon in hand, finger on trigger, pin stripped suit, looking a little like Mrs Al Capone.

      http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/26/of-course-feinsteins-assault-weapons-ban-exempts-government-officials/


      You have to go to Hot Air itself to see the pic.

      Delete
    3. Here you go, try this one -

      http://hotair.com/archives/2013/01/21/democrats-behaving-badly-gun-slinger-edition/

      Feinstein armed up, scroll down a bit.

      Delete
  23. What difference does it make?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. None, now. Who said it ever did?

      Ben Gazi

      Delete
    2. Did Sarah Jones sleep with the whole Bengals team? Or just thirty of them? Did she sleep with malice aforethought? Is she going to sleep with Geraldo? Is there light at the end of her tunnel? Did she sleep with her 17 year old high school student? Is she still sleeping with him? Is the student a him? Does she have any character that can be slandered? One juror thought not. What difference does it make?

      Ben Gazi

      Delete
    3. Gaza, dammit.
      Like the Strip.

      Delete
  24. ...that was before computer cgi, so young Clint Howard is lucky to still have a head?

    ReplyDelete
  25. If NeO is truly the ~tory, well, I'd be shocked.

    I never threatened to kill anyone, let alone the Candyman.

    I just let you know you were known.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you have threatened to kill me that is why I called the AZ FBI about you and your illegal behaviors.

      whether they have acted on that information? who knows.

      they may have not visited you yet, but i bet you are on their radar.

      you have may violent threats, own it.

      Delete
  26. Every time there are three jews there are two prime ministers and one leader of the opposition.

    - Churchill

    ReplyDelete
  27. Obama's Campaign operation to get callers for gun control to assault their representatives on Friday failed to increase phone traffic in Democrat offices.

    Becoming effective Bitter Clingers:

    Video: Milwaukee County sheriff’s PSA on self-protection

    In the PSA, Sheriff David Clarke says, “With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You could beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. But are you prepared?”

    “You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?”

    Clarke urges listeners to take a firearm safety course and handle a firearm “so you can defend yourself until we get there.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

      .

      Delete
    2. Cops are good for writing traffic tickets and carrying out body bags.

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

    ReplyDelete
  29. Hands Off My Gun

    - David Mamet

    Karl Marx summed up Communism as "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."” This is a good, pithy saying, which, in practice, has succeeded in bringing, upon those under its sway, misery, poverty, rape, torture, slavery, and death."

    For the saying implies but does not name the effective agency of its supposed utopia. The agency is called “The State,” and the motto, fleshed out, for the benefit of the easily confused must read “The State will take from each according to his ability: the State will give to each according to his needs.” “Needs and abilities” are, of course, subjective. So the operative statement may be reduced to “the State shall take, the State shall give.”

    All of us have had dealings with the State, and have found, to our chagrin, or, indeed, terror, that we were not dealing with well-meaning public servants or even with ideologues but with overworked, harried bureaucrats. These, as all bureaucrats, obtain and hold their jobs by complying with directions and suppressing the desire to employ initiative, compassion, or indeed, common sense. They are paid to follow orders.

    Rule by bureaucrats and functionaries is an example of the first part of the Marxist equation: that the Government shall determine the individual’s abilities.

    As rules by the Government are one-size-fits-all, any governmental determination of an individual’s abilities must be based on a bureaucratic assessment of the lowest possible denominator.

    President Obama, in his reelection campaign, referred frequently to the “needs” of himself and his opponent, alleging that each has more money than he “needs.”

    But where in the Constitution is it written that the Government is in charge of determining “needs”? And note that the president did not say “I have more money than I need,” but “You and I have more than we need.” Who elected him to speak for another citizen?

    It is not the constitutional prerogative of the Government to determine needs. One person may need (or want) more leisure, another more work; one more adventure, another more security, and so on. It is this diversity that makes a country, indeed a state, a city, a church, or a family, healthy. “One-size-fits-all,” and that size determined by the State has a name, and that name is “slavery.”

    Healthy government, as that based upon our Constitution, is strife. It awakens anxiety, passion, fervor, and, indeed, hatred and chicanery, both in pursuit of private gain and of public good. Those who promise to relieve us of the burden through their personal or ideological excellence, those who claim to hold the Magic Beans, are simply confidence men. Their emergence is inevitable, and our individual opposition to and rejection of them, as they emerge, must be blunt and sure; if they are arrogant, willful, duplicitous, or simply wrong, they must be replaced, else they will consolidate power, and use the treasury to buy votes, and deprive us of our liberties. It was to guard us against this inevitable decay of government that the Constitution was written. Its purpose was and is not to enthrone a Government superior to an imperfect and confused electorate, but to protect us from such a government.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Giving the finger to shia Iran -

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/01/iran-unveils-machine-for-amputating-thieves.html


    :):):):):)

    ReplyDelete
  31. "In these fast paced times, Shia courts all over Iran are turning to the more compassionate, more merciful Filching Fingers Solution Machine, new from Iranian Light Industries....cuts down on subversive Iphone use during uprisings too....."

    Ad seen in Iranian legal urinal...er, journal.

    ReplyDelete

  32. Published: Jan. 25, 2013 Updated: 11:28 a.m.
    Text: Text: Larger Text: Smaller Text: Reset Next Article »
    Mark Steyn: Hillary lip-synced more than Beyoncé


    A couple of days later, it fell to the 45th president-in-waiting to encapsulate the ethos of the age in one deft sound bite: What difference does it make? Hillary Clinton's instantly famous riposte at the Benghazi hearings is such a perfect distillation that it surely deserves to be the national motto of the United States. They should put it on Paul Krugman's trillion-dollar coin, and in the presidential oath:

    "Do you solemnly swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?"

    "Sure. What difference, at this point, does it make?"


    http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/difference-409271-one-obama.html


    If we here could write like Mark Steyn we would be getting somewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  33. New Smart Water tracks thieves, nails the bad guys -

    FLPD Uses High-Tech Water To Catch Thieves

    http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/01/24/fort-lauderdale-police-uses-high-tech-water-to-catch-thieves/



    charles_1 • 15 hours ago

    I prefer smart lead over smart water. It eliminates the weeks of delay, loss of my property, trial costs, incarceration costs and recidivism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Robert Moody • 17 hours ago

      We used to have something similar in the form of an invisible ink pen. People were given a serial number to write on their valuables, and when they were recovered, the police could use an ultraviolet light to identify the property. It worked really well until the police decided it was too much trouble having to contact the rightful owners, and it was easier and more profitable to sell the items at auction.
      49

      Reply

      Share ›

      Avatar
      riffenberg Robert Moody • 16 hours ago

      Well I can see that. They are too busy tracking down those dangerous criminals who don't put their seat belts on..



      I know I am violating one of Quirk's Many Rules For The Hoi Polloi here, about not posting the comments of other folks, even if we think them funny.

      Delete
  34. Food for Bob and Deuce debate:

    @BC
    10. Blast From the Past

    To a New Yorker agita is how you know that you are alive. You will sleep when you are dead.

    The chains on the Founders federal government of competitive federalism were broken by the Civil War. That resulted in the shift to cartel federalism, which is really just another term for corrupt statist centralization or fascism. The XVIIth Amendment sealed the deal by turning the states from Masters into mere functionaries enslaved to the central government. By smashing the Founders system, which others both North and South warned they were going to do, the Fire Breathers of South Carolina set the stage to turn the whole country into a duplicate of their vision of a plantation ruled by a false aristocracy supported by cartel rents and chattel labor.

    Teddy Roosevelt probably sincerely believed that he saw the corruption of crony capitalism and thought that Progressivism was needed to fight it. The Progressive Democrats like Woodrow Wilson were only to happy to take the tools crafted by Republicans like TR and Lincoln and use them to their own advantage.

    The Democrats won the Civil War. The only issue under dispute was who would control the levers of power of the new Leviathan state. That was at most a temporary question. The leaders of the Old South temporarily lost control of the federal government but soon regained their grip on the new expanded center of power. In part they did that by presaging the current Democratic Party policies, on immigration race morality sexuality etc. and creating antagonistic special interest voting blocs, for dealing with recalcitrant voters like the Republicans of 19th century Michigan and Illinois. If you do not like your voters then replace them with more compliant voters.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Off topic.
    Concerning this statement:
    "Extra-ordinary claims require extra-ordinary evidence"
    Testimony is admitted as evidence. Does extra-ordinary testimony count as such?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Testimony, to be evidence requires cross examination.
    That is ordinary, nothing extra is needed.

    Well, the witness needs to reliabe and ALL the jurors have to agree to the verasity of the testimony. One disseter and the extra-ordinary is not accepted as evidence

    ReplyDelete
  37. Testimony doesn't require cross examination.

    At most it may require the opportunity of cross examination.

    Counselor, do wish to cross examine?

    I decline, your Honor.

    I'm not even certain it always requires even the opportunity of cross examination, depending on the definition of testimony.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was thinking of a case of a death bed video that was introduced as evidence.

      Is that considered testimony?

      Delete
    2. "When did you quit lying on your death bed" the defense lawyer asks.


      har, har, har

      Delete
  38. Hey, look at this - American Thinker catches up with me -

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/01/the_genius_of_iranian_industry.html

    It seems that cutting off the fingers of thieves the old fashioned way was messy. Iranian ingenuity came to the rescue and now the mullahs have a machine that cuts off the fingers of thieves. Quick, efficient, and ruthless.

    ReplyDelete
  39. .

    A letter from members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to Obama on Thursday says there are vacancies at the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, Labor and State and the Agency for International Development.

    “Every year, Inspectors General identify billions of dollars in potential savings, including savings from improved management practices and fines and repayments resulting from investigations,” the letter said. “The value of the Inspectors General goes beyond dollars; these offices also help reveal and prosecute wrongdoing, and promote the integrity of government. They provide invaluable support to Congressional budgeting and oversight work. Inspectors General are an essential component of government oversight.”



    http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/senators-urge-obama-to-quickly-fill-vacant-inspectors-general-slots/2013/01/24/bb747c26-665b-11e2-9e1b-07db1d2ccd5b_story.html

    .

    ReplyDelete
  40. The FBI did go and interview boobie, a couple of years ago.
    After a series of really off the wall anti-Obama rants.

    But me, I teach cops how to ride their horses.
    Work with Federals, a lot.

    Have a good day, NeO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. so you claim that since you teach feds to ride they will ignore your terroristic threats, your stalking and your violations of laws?

      sleep well criminal...

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

      Delete
    3. I've been interviewed by Attorney General Holder his self, big sis, Homeland Security, National Security, the Mossad, Russian Intelligence, CIA, the Chinese, and Raul Castro. But not the FBI.

      Delete
    4. If you filed a complaint, presented your evidence ...

      And nothing happened, the police ignored your complaint, the evidence not sufficent to warrent a charge, or even an interview.

      You lost that round.

      Boobie you told us in 2009 that the FBI came and interviewed, 'About' your neighbor. The Feds, they talked to you for quite some time, you said.

      Delete
    5. Rat views justice as "if you care convicted".

      No matter, a regular stream of reports about Rat to homeland security, the FBI will put him on the radar.

      Regardless of HE knows what they know or not...

      After all Rat really doesnt KNOW shit about what the FEDS know about him.

      If he is who he claims to be? Some undercover killer that used to train and kill people south of the border?

      Then I am sure his name is getting pinged....

      No statue of limitations for murder and or crimes against humanity.

      Just how many civilians did you off in the jungle Rat?

      Own it..

      If you are as you claim to be?

      Then your nothing but a hired gun...

      Just let us know when they drag you out to the unmarked van...

      We'll crack open some bubbly...

      Delete
    6. I wonder with all the threats that Rat makes on this blog alone I wonder if homeland security considers him a domestic terrorist?

      Delete
  41. At same "God Bless the Stress" link @BC above:

    13. DougRek

    Another look at stress, or “de-stressing”

    Sorry about the length, but there is a tale here….

    School Shooting Prozac WITHDRAWAL 2008-02-15 Illinois ** 6 Dead: 15 Wounded: Perpetrator Was in Withdrawal from Med & Acting Erratically
    School Shooting Prozac Antidepressant 2005-03-24 Minnesota **10 Dead: 7 Wounded: Dosage Increased One Week before Rampage
    School Shooting Paxil [Seroxat] Antidepressant 2001-03-10 Pennsylvania **14 Year Old GIRL Shoots & Wounds Classmate at Catholic School
    School Shooting Zoloft Antidepressant & ADHD Med 2011-07-11 Alabama **14 Year Old Kills Fellow Middle School Student
    School Shooting Zoloft Antidepressant 1995-10-12 South Carolina **15 Year Old Shoots Two Teachers, Killing One: Then Kills Himself
    School Shooting Med For Depression 2009-03-13 Germany **16 Dead Including Shooter: Antidepressant Use: Shooter in Treatment For Depression
    School Hostage Situation Med For Depression 2010-12-15 France **17 Year Old with Sword Holds 20 Children & Teacher Hostage
    School Shooting Plot Med For Depression WITHDRAWAL 2008-08-28 Texas **18 Year Old Plots a Columbine School Attack
    School Shooting Anafranil Antidepressant 1988-05-20 Illinois **29 Year Old WOMAN Kills One Child: Wounds Five: Kills Self
    School Shooting Luvox/Zoloft Antidepressants 1999-04-20 Colorado **COLUMBINE: 15 Dead: 24 Wounded
    School Stabbings Antidepressants 2001-06-09 Japan **Eight Dead: 15 Wounded: Assailant Had Taken 10 Times his Normal Dose of Depression Med
    School Shooting Prozac Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 1998-05-21 Oregon **Four Dead: Twenty Injured
    School Stabbing Med For Depression 2011-10-25 Washington **Girl, 15, Stabs Two Girls in School Restroom: 1 Is In Critical Condition
    School Shooting Antidepressant 2006-09-30 Colorado **Man Assaults Girls: Kills One & Self
    School Machete Attack Med for Depression 2001-09-26 Pennsylvania **Man Attacks 11 Children & 3 Teachers at Elementary School
    School Shooting Related Luvox 1993-07-23 Florida **Man Commits Murder During Clinical Trial for Luvox: Same Drug as in COLUMBINE: Never Reported
    School Hostage Situation Cymbalta Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 2009-11-09 New York **Man With Gun Inside School Holds Principal Hostage
    School Shooting Antidepressants 1992-09-20 Texas **Man, Angry Over Daughter’s Report Card, Shoots 14 Rounds inside Elementary School
    School Shooting SSRI 2010-02-19 Finland **On Sept. 23, 2008 a Finnish Student Shot & Killed 9 Students Before Killing Himself
    School Shooting Threat Med for Depression* 2004-10-19 New Jersey **Over-

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Medicated Teen Brings Loaded Handguns to School
      School Shooting Antidepressant? 2007-04-18 Virginia **Possible SSRI Use: 33 Dead at Virginia Tech
      School Shooting Antidepressant? 2002-01-17 Virginia **Possible SSRI Withdrawal Mania: 3 Dead at Law School
      School Incident/Bizarre Zoloft* 2010-08-22 Australia **School Counselor Exhibits Bizarre Behavior: Became Manic On Zoloft
      School/Assault Antidepressant 2009-11-04 California **School Custodian Assaults Student & Principal: Had Manic Reaction From Depression Med
      School Shooting Prozac Antidepressant 1992-01-30 Michigan **School Teacher Shoots & Kills His Superintendent at School
      School Shooting Threats Celexa Antidepressant 2010-01-25 Virginia **Senior in High School Theatens to Kill 4 Classmates: Facebook Involved: Bail Denied
      School Violence/Murder Antidepressants* 1998-05-04 New York **Sheriff’s Deputy Shoots his Wife in an Elementary School
      School Knifing/Murder Meds For Depression & ADHD 2010-04-28 Massachusetts **Sixteen Year Old Kills 15 Year Old in High School Bathroom in Sept. 2009
      School Stabbing Wellbutrin 2006-12-04 Indiana **Stabbing by 17 Year Old At High School: Charged with Attempted Murder
      School Threat Antidepressants 2007-04-23 Mississippi **Student Arrested for Making School Threat Over Internet
      School Suspension Lexapro Antidepressant 2007-07-28 Arkansas **Student Has 11 Incidents with Police During his 16 Months on Lexapro
      School Shooting Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 2007-11-07 Finland **Student Kills 8: Wounds 10: Kills Self: High School in Finland
      School Shooting Paxil [Seroxat] Antidepressant 2004-02-09 New York **Student Shoots Teacher in Leg at School
      School Threat Prozac Antidepressant 2008-01-25 Washington **Student Takes Loaded Shotgun & 3 Rifles to School Parking Lot: Plans Suicide
      School Shooting Plot Med For Depression 1998-12-01 Wisconsin **Teen Accused of Plotting to Gun Down Students at School
      School/Assault Zoloft Antidepressant 2006-02-15 Tennessee **Teen Attacks Teacher at School
      School Shooting Threat Antidepressant 1999-04-16 Idaho **Teen Fires Gun in School
      School Hostage Situation Paxil & Effexor Antidepressants 2001-04-15 Washington **Teen Holds Classmates Hostage with a Gun
      School Hostage Situation Antidepressant WITHDRAWAL 2006-11-28 North Carolina **Teen Holds Teacher & Student Hostage with Gun
      School Knife Attack Med for Depression 2006-12-06 Indiana **Teen Knife Attacks Fellow Student
      School Massacre Plot Prozac Withdrawal 2011-02-23 Virginia **Teen Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison For Columbine Style Plot
      School Shooting Celexa & Effexor Antidepressants 2001-04-19 California **Teen Shoots at Classmates in School
      School Shooting Celexa Antidepressant 2006-08-30 North Carolina **Teen Shoots at Two Students: Kills his Father: Celexa Found Among his Personal Effects

      Delete
  42. .

    In N. Africa Terror Battle, US Should Lead From Way Way Behind

    The response instantly inspired the critical hashtag #WhatDifferenceDoesItMake and became a hot topic on right-wing radio.

    But otherwise, Republican members of Congress hardly laid a glove on her, perhaps because the party has bizarrely focused on the Obama administration's post-attack talking points instead of more important issues: Does the State Department have the resources and policies it needs to keep American diplomats safe? What level of threat do extremist groups in the region really pose to U.S. interests? And what does the Obama administration want to accomplish there?


    http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/24/opinion/hounshell-benghazi-mali/index.html?hpt=op_t1

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good old Clinton News Network

      Some things never change.

      What difference, at this point, does it make?

      Delete
  43. 31. RWE

    Wretchard #15:

    Even in the Pentagon, these people live in their own worlds. They conceive things and then wonder why they were not produced by their underlings instantly. In their minds the job is done, the hard part was conception. Ferreting out all those facts and figures and assembling them into a coherent whole is mere trivia.

    And at that, we are talking about the very best of those people. The worst of them conceive things in their own minds, tell no one to accomplish them, and assume they have been done.

    After the Oklahoma City tornadoes of May 1999, Bill Clinton paid the usual perfunctory visit to the area and in a speech said he would start a program to reduce the power of tornadoes. Of course, that was never done or even attempted, and one ever even expected it to be done, but he nonetheless received polite applause at the time; he got credit for the thought, which is what counted.

    Two days ago on FNC there was a piece about the Hurricane Sandy survivors in Staten Island, living in tents with no electricity with temps of 16F at night. What? What! Wasn’t that all fixed within minutes after Obama made his visit? No? No! How can that be?

    Somewhere those people are warm and well fed, relaxing in front of the fire in their new Obama-provided hurricane-proof homes, secure in the knowledge that Bill Clinton’s tornado reducer effort has made them impregnable. Somewhere, there is a Mudville where the mighty Casey did not strike out. But we don’t live there.

    ReplyDelete
  44. American Thinker catches up with deuce -

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/01/washington_dc_where_cash_is_king.html

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

      Delete
  45. Great comments at The Housing Bubble Blog

    Look what I just found: http://www.homepath.com/financing.html

    The government is now into bulk lending to LLCs at the low, low rate of 3%.

    I’m sick to my stomach. I’m waiting to buy my retirement home in North San Diego County and have $150k cash to put down but I’m being priced out of the market by my own government. They are now helping the REITs take over housing in the U.S.

    The government has become the predatory stalking horse for private mega-corporations.

    ---

    "Homepath.com"

    by Fannie Mae

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sadie:

      Have any of you seen the show “Property Wars” on Discovery? It is about three investors bidding on houses being auctioned in the Phoenix area and flipping them. I saw a few episodes and it’s enlightening on what’s happening, in the underground. It helps explain why non-insiders don’t get a chance at the good properties.

      ---

      jb

      wall street is cannibalizing main street. won’t be long now…

      Delete
  46. My wife and I are in the process of moving. There has come a time now when all we want is a little more warmth and small as possible, and private. About the cost of your down payment. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. small as possible, and private

      ---

      Once we tilled the soil.

      Now we seek a cave.

      Age Sucks.

      Delete
    2. :)

      Cave has to have washer/dryer tho on same level as the sleeping twig beds.

      Dare: name one good thing about aging, not involving 'wisdom'.

      I need help.

      Delete
    3. "Cave has to have washer/dryer tho on same level as the sleeping twig beds."

      ---

      Gawd, we used to have that, back when we were renting.

      Now I'm the Laundryman, hauling the linen.

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

    ReplyDelete
  48. 32. Annoy Mouse

    “Case in point: You think health care costs are stressful now? Just wait until Obamas bureaucrats decide to control costs by rationing and denial of care.”

    This is already happening.

    Obamacare seeks to shut down foreign sales of medications. I buy meds from Canada for ~$20 a month and as opposed to Walmart at ~$250 a month. Obamacare is a political tool to enact ideological genocide on enemies of Marxism.

    “It was so bad, so persistent, that containerization swept the industry.”

    The corruption of the Los Angeles harbor by ULWU workers is massive. It is so pervasive that it defies explanation; the average dumb-ass thug makes $150k a year and most of them hardly work at all.

    In short, it is an extortion racket, plain and simple.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Blood for Uranium: France's Mali intervention has little to do with terrorism


    http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/middle-east-and-north-africa/2187-blood-for-uranium-frances-mali-intervention-has-little-to-do-with-terrorism


    Hamdoon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please do not misunderstand. The French are doing what they must, and should. If they choose to exploit Obama for their purposes that is of little account.


      Hamdoon

      Delete
  50. The World's Poorest President

    Jose Mujica, the leader of Urugauy, has been dubbed the poorest President in the world. As the BBC explains:

    Laundry is strung outside the house. The water comes from a well in a yard, overgrown with weeds. Only two police officers and Manuela, a three-legged dog, keep watch outside.

    This is the residence of the president of Uruguay, Jose Mujica, whose lifestyle clearly differs sharply from that of most other world leaders.

    President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife's farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo.

    The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.

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

    ReplyDelete