COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Monday, June 24, 2013

RT has a reporter on the flight from Moscow to Havana. The plane is sitting on the tarmac, but Snowden is not yet on the plane. The Obama Administration is trying to cajole the Russians to turn him over to the US.




Why the Washington Elite Hates Edward Snowden

Hacks and flacks go on the attack
by Justin Raimondo, June 21, 2013

On a visit to Washington a couple of months ago, I was surprised to discover Politico has a dead-tree edition: there it was at the local Starbucks alongside the Washington Post and the New York Times, right next to the double-chocolate scones. As assorted government workers, policy wonks, and aspiring demagogues waited patiently in line for their morning double-nonfat-non-gluten cappuccinos, they leafed through their (free) copies with all the eagerness of the racetrack crowd perusing the Daily Racing Form. Future anthropologists who want to understand the political culture of Washington, D.C., circa 2013, will find a treasure trove in yellowing issues of Politico, the daily Washington news/gossip sheet that has displaced the ancient Roll Call and The Hill as the Imperial City’s chronicler of what’s hot and what’s not. Founded in 2007 by two Washington Post reporters, Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris, Politico has the editorial (i.e. neoconish) feel of the WaPo, combined with the in-group snarkiness of a local gossip sheet.
Every in-group has its internal rules and regulations, its assumptions about what is right and good and what is beyond the pale – and regarding this last, what is clear is that disrespecting or in any way denigrating the wit and wisdom – never mind the authority – of our Wise Rulers is first on the list of Politico‘s Don’ts. Washington is all about secrets, and access to power: to reveal the former is to surrender the latter, and in Washington that is unthinkable. So instead of investigating the abuses of power, our "journalists" spend their days sucking up to Power, as is underscored in this Politico piece, entitled "The Leaker Who Won’t Stop Talking."
The title is a command: Snowden must stop talking. This is what every good little government worker, every supporter of the Regime, thinks about the Snowden affair. He should just shut up. After all, who are we to question the government if they want to "collect" all our phone calls and emails? They know stuff we don’t: it’s for Our Own Good.
It’s only natural for Politico to reflect the attitudes of its readers, who live and work primarily in the Washington, D.C. area. It makes perfect sense for the paper to view Snowden through a crudely political, non-ideological lens, that is, in terms of "image" and public relations packaging. So it’s only logical they would run around town asking public relations shills for this or that politician or special interest group how Snowden is handling his public relations imagery, and such a story – appearing in this venue – could have but one opening line, to wit:
"Edward Snowden is milking it.
"The briefly anonymous leaker has leaped into the public spotlight — and now he’s risking overexposure in a big way. Public relations pros and image makers say Snowden’s repeated interviews and growing number of claims are making him look like someone who’s exploiting his sudden worldwide fame for personal glory, and that threatens to undermine the very privacy crusade for which he said he’s willing to give his life."
This has been the strategy of the Regime all during the blizzard of revelations coming out of Snowden’s cache of secrets and Glenn Greenwald’s formidable pen: focus on the messengers in hopes of obscuring the message. That’s the whole point of this "story," the narrative they’re trying to sell to the American people: Google the word "narcissist" along with Snowden’s name and you’ll come up with the Washingnton elite’s theme song of the week. But even taken on its own terms, this non-argument makes little sense: how does elaborating on the revelations and answering questions that have arisen "undermine the very privacy crusade for which he said he’s willing to give his life"? Leave it to the "experts" to explain:
"’If I was advising him, the first thing I’d say is shut the hell up ’cause you’re not helping your cause,’ Jim Manley, a senior director at the D.C. public affairs firm Quinn Gillespie & Associates, told POLITICO. ‘I think he’s doing a pretty poor job," continued Manley, a former spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. ‘I don’t think his Q&A [Monday with The Guardian] made him any more sympathetic than he had been in the past. I think he is coming off as — leaving aside some of the issues he’s raising, which are fascinating — he’s coming across as petulant and arrogant and more than a little bit full of himself.’"
If you want to get an unprejudiced, unbiased, totally objective look at Snowden and his handling of the Datagate scandal, then who else are you going to ask but someone who has been a spokesman for none other than Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid (who cites polls on surveillance saying there’s enough congressional oversight)? And what other PR firm will you go to but Quinn-Gillespie, the quintessential "bipartisan" flack shop co-founded by GOP bigwig Ed Gillespie, formerly White House counselor and part of George W. Bush’s inner circle?
Next up is Eric Dezenhall, a self-described "crisis management expert" who "quipped" to Politico: "It’s almost as if he’s writing a screenplay at the same time he’s blowing the whistle." Pretty clever, eh? This Dezenhall fellow is another Oscar Wilde! Or, at least, that’s what passes for a "quip" in Politico‘s world. Dezenhall continues:
"I’ve noticed this trend of people generally saying out of one side of their mouth, ‘it’s not about me,’ but using ‘it’s not about me’ as a device for further making it about them. Well, if it’s not about you, why the hell are you doing interviews? To me, there’s something very packaged about him. I think that that’s intentional. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have points to make, but a lot of what I’m seeing at this stage in my career, 30 years, there’s a more cinematic quality to whistleblowers than there used to be."
Yes, that’s what I want to know, too: why is Snowden doing interviews instead of cringing before the almighty power and majesty of the American Leviathan? And of course Dezenhall is correct in noting that anybody who agrees to be interviewed about anything is only thinking about promoting their grimey little careers and garnering enough attention to satisfy their insatiable egos – it’s never about the message they’re trying to get across. At least that’s a fact in Washington, D.C. – and, ergo, it’s true everywhere.
This line of "thought" is to be expected from a typical Washington insider, whose summation of the Iraq war was: "We want to win wars, but we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings." Here‘s Dezenhall spinning the Bush years as Not All That Bad and the Iraq war as "not a meaningless struggle." And here he is hating on Cindy Sheehan, advising President Bush not to meet with her, and opining to Fox News that:
"One of the things that the American media doesn’t get picked up enough is the assumption that the whole objective of wartime communications is making Americans happy about the war. That is less than one half of it. Most of it is letting your adversary know, ‘We’re coming for you.’"
Who cares what the American people think? Only the Washington elite matters. That’s what Politico‘s favored "experts" believe. As in real estate, so in politics – it’s all about location, location, location.
Yet another Politico "expert," Marina Ein of Ein Communications, "told Politico that Snowden’s high-profile commentary looks like it’s just for show." Ein opines:
"He obviously was looking to create a situation where he could instantaneously be famous, and he certainly has done that. I think he’s accomplished exactly what he wants to accomplish — another version of Julian Assange syndrome, it’s leaking for fame."
Yes, but of course: that’s why Assange set up Wikileaks, risked retribution from Washington, became the target of a worldwide smear campaign, and finally had to take refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy – fame! Ditto in Snowden’s case. It takes a really high level of expertise to come up with such a brilliant scenario – about the same level of expertise it takes to be Gary Condit’s chief spokesperson during the Chandra Levy affair. That was the last time we heard from Ms. Ein, until she jumped ship on her client as his political career went down the tubes – but not before she slimed the slain Levy’s sexual history, according to two reporters, as consisting of a series of "one-night stands." (She denies it).
Ein is no better at damage control over the Snowden affair than she was during the Condit/Levy affair. If you want your damage controlled, I wouldn’t go to Ein Communications – would you? But then again, you probably aren’t a Washington insider, not if you’re reading this.
If you’re a couple of Politico reporters, however, and you’re scouting around for a quotable opinion, your first impulse is to latch on to the nearest political hack – or politico – and they did just that, citing former McCain campaign manager Rick Wilson as evidence that "Snowden has muddied any broader message about privacy and government transparency through his extended time in the spotlight." Says Wilson:
"He’s committed a bunch of unforced errors. When he became the story, it diminished what the stated mission is. When he turned it into a narrative about him, it’s more difficult for him to be sympathetic and effective at achieving his stated mission."
This is typical Republican-neocon methodology: invert the facts, and attribute your crimes to your enemies – who are, preferably, the victims. It isn’t Snowden but rather his enemies who turned a story about ubiquitous government spying on Americans into a "narrative" about a twenty-something "narcissist" with a hot girlfriend. Notice how neatly the line Davis is pushing complements the strenuous efforts of Obama cultist Bob Cesca and the staff of Mother Jones magazine to trivialize and downplay the extent of the spying and its implications for the future of American democracy.
The effort to smear Snowden as a "spy for China," or a "Russian agent," and obscure the shocking truth about America’s emerging police state is a bipartisan affair, as the above demonstrates. Washington elites hate whistleblowers, unless it’s one of their own doing the whistle-blowing on behalf of a purely partisan agenda. And they surely believe those folks "out in the cornfields" – as they invariably put it – need to be watched 24/7. It’s only when one of their own – say, a member of the Washington press corps – gets their emails read that they can manage to muster any outrage.
The mainstream media, the two political parties, and the entire Washington Establishment are lined up against a lone truthteller without resources, without sanctuary, and with only his voice to fight back. Of course they want him to stop talking. Their big problem, however, is that he isn’t shutting up. Even if they arrest him tomorrow, the secrets he gleaned are already out there – and there’s more to come.
All over the world, people are rising up in rebellion – and it doesn’t take much. The Arab Spring was set off when a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in protest against police harassment. In Britain, it was the death of a black man at the hands of the police. In Turkey, the catalyst was government plans to demolish a park. It started in Brazil when the government raised bus fares. None of these precipitating issues, in themselves, were the real cause of the violent upsurges in these disparate regions: they were just the last straw, the culmination of a series of outrages that tipped the scales toward revolution.
One wonders: what will it take in America? We awake one morning to discover the IRS is targeting opponents of the President, and the next to the news that the National Security Agency is scooping up our phone calls and intercepting our online content – just in case they need it for future reference. All of this was preceded, of course, by two losing wars, one of which we were lied into and both of which we were tricked into. Not to mention the Great Recession of 2008, and the popping of the Greenspan Bubble, which enriched the crony capitalists who hang around Washington and impoverished homeowners and the middle class out in the cornfields.
Just as a side note, albeit a telling one, I’ll point out that among Rick Davis’s many PR triumphs, none remotely approaches the great coup pulled off by the "Homeowners Alliance," a front group for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – the two biggest catalysts of the real estate bubble – which was created and managed by Davis. For the job of shilling for these two now nearly defunct "private-public" partnerships, whose debts cost the taxpayers trillions, Davis was paid $30,000-plus a month over the course of five years. The Homeowners Alliance disbanded when it became clear that not even the best PR firm in the world could cover up the damage done to the economy by these two wards of the federal government.
Why bring this up? After all, what does Davis’s career as a defender of the two biggest factors leading to the real estate bust have to do with his denigration of Snowden? The answer is: plenty. Davis, and the rest of the Washington bigshots cited in the Politico piece, are all from the same milieu: they are denizens of the political class, whose geographic base is the Washington area (with an important outpost in metropolitan New York). As the power and reach of government grows, crony capitalism has displaced good old fashioned American entrepreneurship as the quickest way to riches – and these folks, the smart folks, are enriching themselves at the expense of the rest of the country. Now they sit around in their gorgeously renovated Georgetown condos, wondering why the peons in flyover country are up in arms – after all, what’s the problem? Times are good for them, as government expands and their pathetic little careers take off. Who cares if the government is reading our emails when you’ve just landed another fat PR contract from some rich sleazeball?
It’s all about class – the government class versus the rest of us. The former may be outnumbered, but they have the resources – and the loudest and most vigorous advocates – while the majority is voiceless. Except now they aren’t: one man, a 29-year-old former spook and apparent libertarian, has stepped forward to give voice to the heretofore silent majority and rescue our liberties from the warlords of Washington. One man had the courage to speak truth to power and act on his principles: in some dictionaries, that’s called "narcissism." In mine, it’s called bravery.
Americans must send a message to Snowden, one that will also be immediately noted and understood by our nervous rulers: Ed, we’ve got your back!
That’s why it’s so vitally important for you to sign the White House petition to pardon Snowden. It’s the least we can do for a man who sacrificed everything so that Americans might wake up and restore the Constitution. The petition, started by an anonymous person from Rochester, New York, with the initials "P.M.", immediately took off, with over 50,000 signatures in the first 48 hours, but it is now stuck at around 85,000 – with until July 9th to reach a total of 100,000, and thus earn an official White House response. Topping 100,000 – even after they raised the threshold from 60,000 – would score a huge public relations coup for the cause of civil liberties and force the White House to acknowledge the popularity of Snowden’s cause.
The success of the petition will also have a cascading effect on legislation – such as Sen. Rand Paul’s "Fourth Amendment Restoration Act of 2013" – designed to rein in Big Brother.
Please sign the petition now – every signature counts!

82 comments:

  1. Snowden will soon have a higher worldwide popularity rating than Obama.

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  2. IMO Snowden is making a huge mistake leaving Russia at this time. Obama will not be restrained from retaliating against anyone who wants to upstage him.

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  3. The US is deeply incensed that the Russians let him in with a cancelled US passport. The usual suspects are all calling for retaliation and sanctions.

    Say what?

    Isn’t the US Senate about to vote on an immigration bill, that they have not read, and are disinterested on the passports and visas on millions of illegal immigrants in the US?

    Who has higher popularity, the US Congress that permitted US citizens to be spied on by their government or the American whistleblower with the cancelled passport?

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  4. (Reuters) - Russia defied White House pressure on Monday to expel former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden to the United States before he flees Moscow on the next stop of his globe-crossing escape from U.S. prosecution.

    Snowden, whose exposure of secret U.S. government surveillance raised questions about intrusion into private lives, was allowed to leave Hong Kong on Sunday after Washington asked the Chinese territory to arrest him on espionage charges.

    Snowden, 29, has kept out of sight in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport as Ecuador says it considers his request for asylum.

    His decision to fly to Russia, which like China challenges U.S. dominance of global diplomacy, is another embarrassment to President Barack Obama who has tried to "reset" ties with Moscow and build a partnership with Beijing.

    The White House said it expected the Russian government to send Snowden back to the United States and lodged "strong objections" to Hong Kong and China for letting him go.

    "We expect the Russian government to look at all options available to expel Mr Snowden back to the U.S. to face justice for the crimes with which he is charged," said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council.

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  5. If the US Congo line is interested in national security, maybe they should read the immigration bill they are about to vote or at least at a minimum ask AIPAC what to do.

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    Replies
    1. AIPAC has no position on the immigration bill.

      Just trying to stir the pot?

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
    3. American CITIZENS have every right to lobby congress, even if they are jews or those that support the Jewish state of israel

      Delete
  6. After all AIPAC has enormous experience on Israeli spying on America. They could advise the US Congo line on how to deal with domestic spies.

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    Replies
    1. Enormous?

      Man you are demented.

      Delete
    2. Here is one for you on our indispensable ally:


      Israel has ordered the cancellation of a children's puppet festival at a Palestinian theatre in East Jerusalem, claiming the eight-day event has been unlawfully sponsored by the Palestinian Authority. East Jerusalem is outside the PA's jurisdiction.

      The el-Hakawati theatre, known as the Palestinian national theatre, has been running an annual festival for children for the past 18 years. This year's event was due to begin last Saturday, with performances from Israeli-Arab theatre groups and visitors from France, Norway and Turkey.

      But last week staff found a notice plastered to the premises, ordering the cancellation of the festival at the theatre or any other venue in Israel.

      Signed by Israel's public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovich, it read: "It has come to my attention that between the dates of 22 June and 30 June the theatre is scheduled to hold events within 'Palestinian Children's Week' at el-Hakawati Theatre in Jerusalem, and these events will be held with the Palestinian Authority's sponsorship or on its behalf, without having received written authorisation for this as required. Therefore, by the power invested in me by law, I hereby instruct not to hold the events here or in any other location within the state of Israel."

      A spokeswoman for the public security ministry told the Guardian that legal permission was required under the 1994 Oslo Accords for the PA to hold any event within Israel. "We don't have any objection to artistic or cultural activities for children, but it has to be within the law," she said.

      Abdel Salam, the puppet festival's director, said the order was "simply unbelievable". He told the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv: "There is no political content in the plays and the shows that were supposed to be staged at the festival. We are accused of political activity even though these are just children's plays."

      The deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Yosef Alalu, wrote to the minister to say his action was "wrong and irresponsible".

      "It only increases the hatred and anger of the East Jerusalem public against us," his letter said, according to Ma'ariv.

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    3. Will the US be sent the bill for closing down the puppet show?

      Delete
    4. Signed by Israel's public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovich, it read: "It has come to my attention that between the dates of 22 June and 30 June the theatre is scheduled to hold events within 'Palestinian Children's Week' at el-Hakawati Theatre in Jerusalem, and these events will be held with the Palestinian Authority's sponsorship or on its behalf, without having received written authorisation for this as required. Therefore, by the power invested in me by law, I hereby instruct not to hold the events here or in any other location within the state of Israel.”

      Delete
    5. or as they say at Aipac: part of our “shared values.”

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    6. Yitzhak Aharonovich, quite the guy.

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    7. You and your Aipac linebacker Bob should nominate the Internal Security Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Aharonovich, as man of the year.


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    8. What else is our indispensable ally doing to help the cost of finding peace in the Middle East? Calming the waters for us.

      How about naming a school in occupied Palestinian territory for a Russian immigrant that happens to be Bibi’s father? it gets better. Read on.
      .

      JERUSALEM – Israel’s prime minister has dedicated a school named after his late father in a West Bank settlement, days before the U.S. secretary of state arrives on a new peace mission.

      Speaking at a ceremony in the Barkan settlement, Netanyahu said Monday his father always stressed the "link to our land." He told the children that their presence was “deepening our roots."

      Jewish settlements are the heart of the current impasse in Mideast peace efforts. The Palestinians say there can be no peace talks while Israel continues to build settlements on occupied territories. Netanyahu says the fate of the settlements should be resolved in negotiations and that talks should resume immediately.

      Secretary of State John Kerry has been searching for a formula to restart talks, which broke down five years ago.


      Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/24/ahead-kerry-visit-israeli-leader-dedicates-school-in-west-bank-settlement/#ixzz2X9Ax1rUM

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    9. His Russian father stressed the "link to our land."

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    10. His father was a Jew not a Russian.

      That's is why Russia always stamped "JEW" on their passports.

      Jewish existence is the heart of the problem in the middle east.

      The very fact that Jews still LIVE is the issue.

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    11. wow, Israel not allowing for the PA to hold events in Jerusalem.

      Called the Oslo accords sparky

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    12. Just think of it as being Aharonoviched, dimwit. Your puppet show was removed.

      Delete
    13. Signed by Israel's public security minister, Yitzhak Aharonovich, it read: "It has come to my attention that between the dates of 22 June and 30 June the theatre is scheduled to hold events within 'Palestinian Children's Week' at el-Hakawati Theatre in Jerusalem, and these events will be held with the Palestinian Authority's sponsorship or on its behalf, without having received written authorisation for this as required. Therefore, by the power invested in me by law, I hereby instruct not to hold the events here or in any other location within the state of Israel.”


      EXCELLENT.

      They can hold all the events in Ramallah

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    14. Someplace where the puppet show won’t frighten the chosen wing of the house of Abraham. Very good and thanks for the clarification on the hyphenation problem. Let me see if I have it right. A Russian-Jew is not really Russian. They are Jews. I get the racial part and the distinction of sentiment and of course the religious part. Obviously it gets tricky with political maps. An American-Jew is an American first or is being an American secondary?

      Theocracies, democracies do get confusing. Clarify this for me. A creche or a Christmas seen on a state or federal property is offensive to non-Christians. Now when you take a religious symbol, say a cross and you superimpose the stars and stripes and US colors on the cross is that offensive to the hyphenated? How about the Star of David or the Islamic crescent? All good?

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  7. There seems to be a lot of anxious people worried about what else the US public will learn about The Homeland spying on their homies.

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  8. Holy Shit:

    I googled Israeli spying on the US and found this:

    http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/motherofallscandals.php

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    Replies
    1. http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/motherofallscandals.php

      Which spying incident is incorrect?

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    2. lol busy little censor you are!

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    3. Just think of it as being Aharonoviched, dimwit. Your puppet show was removed.

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    4. My puppet show?

      Just asserting how since you claim NOT to be an anti-semite your hourly anti-israel / anti-Jew posting would make most people think you are what you claim you are not..

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    5. No, I am anti double standard. Israel is unique.

      There is no other country that can round up the entire US Congo line and get them dancing to the tune. If you are aware of such a country, please identify. Please identify a country that recommends no visas for their citizens and is unwilling to reciprocate.

      Please advise the name of a country that wants a pre-emptive declaration of war from the US Senate against Iran.

      Please advise of any western state that practices politically discredited apartheid.

      Please advise of a political entity, that calls itself a democracy , is in fact a theocracy and takes political criticism as religious bigotry.

      I despise the power and influence of Israel over the US and the loathsome use of the term anti-semite so as to tar the critic with nazi illusions and then ruin the reputation of the critic with shameless cynical manipulation.

      Simply stated, I am not cowed with the bullshit from you or anyone like you.

      Delete
  9. It is fascinating to watch the neocons and US media pivoting on this story. There will be far, far more to learn.

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  10. The plane, the plane, Snowden not on the plane.

    SOS John Kerry speaking about the Snowden case. (Kerry is always speaking about something) Kerry said he would be deeply troubled if China and Russia had had prior notice of Snowden’s travel plans. (Kerry is often deeply troubled)

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  11. Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski were often “deeply troubled.” Of course Obama , after he moved on up, is also often “deeply troubled.”

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  12. Most US Senators spend a good deal of their time being “deeply troubled.” Hillary was equally “deeply troubled” as a senator and SOS.

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  13. What I wish to know is it couth or uncouth to call one's 28 year old adopted niece 'Rabbit'? May I think of her that way? You literary types, and I know there are none here, if you are very bright will pick up the reference. The relationship will never be sexual, it is purely Platonic, but she is my guiding light, I am madly in love with her, and I am getting her a credit card and a car, that is all, so we don't have to worry about that. But may I think of her in my mind as 'Rabbit'?

    I guess I mentioned she sent me another e-mail and she if fine.

    I couldn't give a damn about Snowden. Who is he anyway?

    bob

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    1. Hell, I am deeply troubled. I don't know what to call my niece.

      bob

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    2. .

      How was the e-mail from Nigeria signed?

      .

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    3. .

      Quit screwing around and just call her Harvey. You know you want to.

      .

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    4. .

      Well, when I first heard Bob talking, I thought there appears to be something perverse about this story, Bob, adopting a niece, a 28 year old niece. Hmmmm.

      Then I thought, naw...

      .

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    5. .

      Then I thought,

      “Hohohohohoho - What wonderful bullshit!!!

      Today we have on display folks the Bob I truly love, a first rate scamp and story teller.”

      Then I thought, no that can’t be right.

      Although, Bob is undoubtedly a scamp, his story telling sucks.

      Then, I thought...

      .

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    6. .

      Then I thought, you know this kind of mirrors those e-mails that came out of Nigeria back in the 90’s.

      And then, I thought...

      .

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    7. .

      And then, I thought...

      Brain research. Hmmm. Actually, that’s quite a step up from the pole dancing go-go girls who are all just ‘working their way through college’.

      I can see it all now...

      .

      Delete
    8. .

      (e-mail transcript)


      Dear Mr. B

      You will pardon me for writing to you but a mutual friend suggested I write to you because you are generally known to be a kind hearted man always willing to lend a hand and help others, especially defenseless women who are in serious need of a friend.
      My name is Bottaboop [which means tall rabbit in Hindi] Bhattacharya. I am a guileless innocent, an Indian maiden (not really but I still feel I am such) of 28 years who was born into a rich Brahmin family in the city of Shimia in the state of Himachal Pradesh south of Kashmir. I spent the halcyon days of my youth laughing at the lower castes, dancing in our garden, and watching Bollywood musicals all day long. I was very happy until I reached the age of 8 when both of my parents were killed in the infamous Punjabi salt riots. After that, my life became a living hell.

      My evil uncles used legal subterfuge to strip me of my inheritance and then forced me into the care of Rosicrucian missionaries in their monastery in a hidden valley near Tirich Mir in the mountains of the Hindu Kush. There, I was forced to give up my belief in Shivi and learn the occult mysteries of the order. I was taught English by the great seer, Tamlin, master of the Rosetta Stone. I became a vegetarian except for an occasional taste of chicken (usually croquettes in white sauce w/ catsup, or country roasted Paula Deen style). And it was also there that I recognized my awakening interest in all things associated with the brain.

      I spent endless days in this hidden Shangri Lai, studying, learning, carving miniature brains out of clay, ignoring all things physical, focusing my third eye, and indulging my fixation on the brain. I would spend the days wandering the hills and valleys, becoming one with nature and some of the larger animals I came across. It was on one of these walks that one day I found myself sitting by a clear mountain stream bathed in the shadow of a giant willow tree. I happened to glance in the water and saw a radiant vision looking back at me. It was a transcendental moment, a magical self-awakening as well as a strange quickening that I did not understand and which frightened me. From that day, everything changed. I spent more time seeking the dark, isolated, private places of the monastery, places where I could be alone.

      The Rosicrucians noticed. Within a month, a caravan arrived from New Delhi carrying my new husband, Raj Proctoharhmi, a dashing brute, in his open collared shirt and his bulging britches, with his black hair and sardonic smile, with his coochie-coochie looks and his come hither eyes. I was informed that the marriage had already been arranged through my uncles and that I had no choice. In no time, I was carted off to the hot spots of the big city, to the drugs and the drinking, to the sex and the perversity, to the filth and the poverty.

      Other than the sex, I couldn’t stand my husband. He was an animal. An Untouchable, he was born as far below my caste as was possible. A spice merchant and popcorn vendor, he spent his days in the streets hawking his wares. In the evening, he would inject heroin and drink Sambuca. If he was still capable, he would ravish me. Though I loved him, he would not allow children. I was devastated. I had nothing to keep me going but my dreams of brain research.

      The last straw came when while drunk and high he molested one of the sacred cows that walked our street. The following day, the graffiti that was painted on our house was unbearable. I cried myself to sleep and dreamed of brains.


      .

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    9. .

      continued...

      Relieve came when a bunch of church ladies heard of my plight and smuggled me out of India disguised as a pole-dancer in an itinerant go-go group.

      It was then that I heard of you, Bob, pardon me if in my dreams I think of you as ‘Uncle Bob’, philosopher and poet, defender of women. I have enclosed one of my pictures, the only one I have as a matter of fact, taken of me in a bikini as I purified myself in the Ganges. People say I look exactly like Kate Upton, which is strange, me being Indian and all.

      Anyway, I have a proposition I would like to offer you. I currently have my master degree but times are hard and money is short. I have been accepted for a six month internship at the Plank Institute for Brain Research in Germany. It is the chance of a lifetime and will help me launch my career into brain research. Once I am a practicing brain researcher, not only will I be helping humanity but I will also be making big bucks and can afford to hire the lawyers I need to get my inheritance back. Of course, money means nothing to me. I am only in this for the brains. Therefore, if you could in your kindness loan me the money for my flight to Germany, help me set up a credit card, and rent a car (along with a few other small incidentals), I can guarantee you that soon, when I become a world-renowned brain researcher, you will not only be paid pack for the money you loan me but that you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. $10,000 should do it, initially.

      Please wire cash to

      Bunny
      P.O. Box 18732
      Abuja, Nigeria

      Hoping to see you soon so that I can express my thanks in person, Uncle Bob.
      Love and big bear hugs and long slobbery kisses.

      Your niece,

      Bunny

      XXXXOOOOXXXX0-0-0-0-0,


      .

      Delete
  14. lordy lordy lordy

    down the rabbit hole with boobie.

    I wouldn't be surprised if his postings could be used in a Psychiatric textbook for Compulsive Obsessive Disorder.

    ReplyDelete
  15. At least 52 people have been killed in heavy clashes between Lebanese army and Salafist supporters of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir in the southern city of Sidon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whomsoever will provide support to the Syrian rebels will inevitably enrich some Salafi extremists. That by itself is no reason to avoid helping, but it is an apt pretext for not helping too much. Hezbollah vs Al Qaeda is just too good to pass up. It should be on PPV. The West is under no obligation to end the slaughter of Jihadists by other Jihadists. That can be Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Let them provide the Anti-Tank and anti-air weapons. If there is an ammo shortage, let the Saudis buy more of it. They put Salafists up style in every other country with a Jihad problem. Why the lack in Syria? Is the corruption of the middlemen that bad? I snigger.

      The Salafis declared war on the West. They want to impose Islam by force of arms wherever they can. They do not negotiate. They do not follow international rules of conduct. They go wherever they smell the stench of dying government and set up shop as Jihadi and Co. They preach religious law. They declare war on the state, and they behead and blow up whomever they please. They are active in Syria as Al Nusrah, which is just Al Qaeda Iraq's Syria chapter. Whether or not Al Nusrah are indispensable as revolutionaries, they will be enemies of any Syrian government that holds free elections. There is going to be a need to oust them from Syria - sooner or later.

      If a government in Syria will represent all Syrians, it cannot do so on a religious pretext. Separation of church and state has worked well everywhere it has been adopted, for the most part. But it seems there will be no freedom of religion for Arab people. The Salafists want to overturn that freedom. Do you think Arabs even realize that the Separation of Church and State is a core political freedom, and that it forms the basis for free speech without reprisals from armed douche-bags? They seem willing to live without their own freedoms so easily, as if they do not understand the value of them. Sad to see. Many many more are to die there.

      Delete
  16. Bunny is great. Had not thought of that.

    Bunny it is.

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess you don't know boob but you sound like a dirty old man with all this crap about your love for you niece on top being an old man obsessed.

      In addition, you seem to rankle at being called a racist yet you are also obsessed with race and religion. You love your newly adopted niece from India so you gush things India. You are thrilled she wouldn't consider marrying a German. Why is that boob? What is it about Germans that you hate? But Jews you love, because, in your world, I guess they all share the same characteristics, like you think Muslims do.

      boobie - that is textbook racism.

      Delete
  17. Snowden better study up on how Bradley Manning has been treated and realize it will be worse for him.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The US no longer has credibility in the international community. Drone assassinations, arming rebels who use suicide bombings and eat human flesh? Spying on everyone it can and dualistic Foreign Policy doesn’t make America to look like the Home of Freedom and Democracy. No instead it looks like a global bully, a bloated corpocracy with no real sense of justice.

    ReplyDelete
  19. California, yesterday, received 24% of its Electricity from Renewables.

    CaISO


    I don't post these numbers because I, necessarily, think California is just the bestest state in the union; I post these numbers to show what is possible when we "try."

    A Quarter of all Electricity is a pretty big number in the world's ninth, or tenth, largest economy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The other day, the 16th, I think it was, Germany hit 61% from Wind, and Solar.

      Delete
    2. To clarify, Germany's 61% number was for just a brief period in the early afternoon, whereas California's 24% was for a 24 hr period.

      Delete
  20. E85 for $2.46 in Indianapolis.

    Again, this post is just to show what is possible when we try.

    Indiana E85

    ReplyDelete
  21. What I want to ask is what was this 'puppet show' really about? Was it teaching the kids to not smoke cigarettes? What was the plot? Did the puppets blow up? That kind of thing.

    ...........

    Ash go back to Canada.

    I just like the girl, that's all. I have taken her under my wing, so to speak. She was in the hospital for three weeks for God's sake. She was my tenant. She was alone in America, a guest student in my country. I am not a slumlord. You are an asshole. I helped her out as I could. The back rents are long forgiven. We are figuring the hospital bills out. She was transferred from one hospital to another for a blood transfer. I have popped a few bucks into her account. I am her 'attorney of record' now for her dealings here, which are not many. The hospital mainly. We formed a relationship that I have never experienced before, mutually agreed to. She is my niece, I am uncle. That is all. I hope she gets married and has children as she told me she wished to do, that is very uplifting. She has real spunk, true grit as I told her. She is extremely attractive physically so I joke a little about that aspect of it. She will not have trouble finding a husband and having children as she wished, and it sure ain't gonna be me. I am very proud of her. She is part of my family now.

    Have you even heard of Beatrice? I think she is my Beatrice and has brought out some better in me.

    "To see and suffer oneself in another, at last."

    Roethke

    You are projecting your own lewdness over to me. Fuck off.

    It is all right Ash, in fact it is very human in the better sense, to be proud and mention the physical attractiveness of one's niece.

    It is you that take the next step.

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

    Anyone see the moon last night? Gorgeous, or was I just in a good mood?


    bob

    ReplyDelete
  22. A amazing moon, lightly tinged blue.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Bob, that was well said. Soon the 'crapper' will dance in and accuse you or raping your new niece.

    Watch for it.

    anon

    ReplyDelete
  24. I have a picture of it sent to me from my old friend in Vegas but since it is email I don't know for sure how to put it up. It is so amazing I think it is a little photo shopped.

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have just asked her for a link.

      Give me a couple of hours.

      Moon over Nevada.

      She says a 'cold front' is moving in there. Won't even make a hundred today.

      I said 'you poor darling'.

      bob

      Delete
  25. .

    The good news,

    Enquirer World Exclusive (July 1, 2013)

    And on the front page...

    Hillary Caught in Sex-Scandal Cover-up

    Bombshell Secrets She Hid from Bill

    Truth About Hillary and Her Chief of Staff


    Way too good to be true......

    .

    ReplyDelete
  26. .

    Zimmerman's lawyer started out his defense with a 'knock-knock' joke.

    I'm no lawyer, but when you are talking 2nd degree murder and possible life sentence, I'd have to question the strategy.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  27. .

    July 1, I will begin showing Rufus a little more respect as a law in Mississippi goes into effect that allows citizens open carry without a permit.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. Rufus, Sir.

      bob

      Delete
    2. Not necessary, Quirk. I guarantee you that if I ever wanted to do something to you, you would never see the gun, or me.

      Delete
    3. .

      Ooooooh. The crafty moonshiner speaks.

      "I move in shadows. I am the wind."


      :)

      .

      Delete
    4. That was really nasty, Rufus. Any kid with a .22 and a scope can do the same.

      bob

      Delete
    5. What "nasty?" I merely said that Quirk wouldn't have to go out of his way to show dumb ol' rufus "more" respect. And, I explained "why."

      Delete
    6. As for that "shadows" and "wind" thing: I don't know about all that. But, I have exhibited a certain degree of skill with large caliber rifles at extremely long ranges.

      Delete
    7. Really Rufus, big killa, it seems a kindly way of saying you can kill poor Quirk anytime you wish and make a big thing out of it and might with a little too much hooch. But any teenager can do the same.

      Is it the Cherokee or the Scotch? Inquiring minds want to know.

      bob

      Delete
    8. I think it's just the bottle today. The blend from last week didn't turn out well.

      But Quirk, my friend, you might consider body armor.

      This is the kind of exchange that must send a 'blog administrator' up the wall.

      bob

      Delete
    9. .

      Just remember what Woody Allen said, Ruf.

      "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent the evening with and insurance salesman?"

      Oh, oh, whoops, sorry.

      :)


      .

      Delete
  28. The Zimmerman trial is a political trial. He was calling The Police for God's sake.

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      "Hello, police.

      Send the meat wagon. I'm going to pop this guy."

      .

      Delete
    2. Bullshit.

      The trial is going to be decided by the makeup of the jury.

      Evidence need not apply.

      That is what we have come to in this nation.

      bob

      Delete
  29. Now Ash will call me a racist because my niece doesn't want to marry a German, or some damn thing. Even though I am Nordic myself. I don't much like Rawandans either because every forty years or so the two tribes slaughter each other with machetes supplied by France.

    bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Come to think of it, I really don't much like Germans, or Rawandans.

      From my reading of recent history they are two groups of apes, different color is all.

      What do you think?

      The Germans come to my mind as always invading France, bombing London, invading Poland, invading Russia and killing Jews Slavs and Gyspies.

      I think my niece is showing some very good sense.

      Told you she smart.

      I read a long article once about Rawanda. They go on these killing sprees about once every thirty or forty years as the population builds. Been going on for a hell of a long time.

      But here all we talk about is some puppet play in Israel.

      Doesn't make any sense to me but then I'm a racist.

      Rufus said so, the big guy that can kill you in the night.

      bob

      Delete