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."

Friday, August 09, 2013

The Washington Post in June 2013 reported this: "The CIA is preparing to deliver arms to rebel groups in Syria through clandestine bases in Turkey and Jordan that were expanded over the past year in an effort to establish reliable supply routes into the country for nonlethal material, U.S. officials said. The bases are expected to begin conveying limited shipments of weapons and ammunition within weeks, officials said, serving as critical nodes for an escalation of U.S. involvement in a civil war that has lately seen a shift in momentum toward the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria experts cautioned that the opposition to Assad remains a chaotic mix of secular and Islamist elements, highlighting the risk that some American-provided munitions may be diverted from their intended recipients.”

In August we have this:


By AMIR SHARIFI Rudaw

In the Western mainstream press and media, we have rarely come across reports of the unfolding religious violence against Kurds in northern Syria  (Rojava Western Kurdistan in Kurdish) over the past weeks.
It is now a known fact that al-Qaeda affiliated armed bands have opened a new front to reemerge in the Middle East.

According to Kurdish media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) the Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant( ISIL), armed bands, have been laying siege and clashing with Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) and civilians, killing, kidnapping, looting, imprisoning, and torturing civilians and combatants.

The Observatory on July 31 reported:  “Fighters of Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have seized control of Tall Aren village in Aleppo province and are laying siege to another village nearby, Tall Hassel… they have taken hostage around 200 civilians from the inhabitants of the two villages.”

These brutalities are traceable to January 2013, when jihadists using heavy weaponry, attacked Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain in Arabic), killing many and taking a great many hostages. Since July 18, their war of terror has intensified, leaving a new trail of pillaging, destruction, and death.

There is undeniable evidence that groups such as the Ahfad al Rasoul Brigade, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) unit, are being militarily supported and funded by Qatar. The Syrian National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army, by not condemning these brutal attacks, have shown their complicity in these crimes.

Jabhat al Nusra is said to have been receiving military and logistical support from Turkey. 

In there any limit to how low  we will sink? The US is arming these people and there are German Nato troops with US supplied missile systems at the Turkish border giving these savages cover. 



142 comments:

  1. Thank you Edward Snowden.

    NSA, go fuck yourself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope Snowden likes his new digs. Next time Russia wants something like, oh, no missile defense systems in Poland, they need to produce Snowden first.

      Delete
  2. Perfect.

    Don't you see it? Obama the Genius, Obama the Field Commander, is doing it just right. Arming the opposition to Assad to the point where no one can win. This is pure genius, ending up with a stalemate, and Syria finally carved up into parts, like a holiday turkey. Hamdoon recommended this, and well as Q, Umatilla Jack, I, and Hugh Fitzgerald, and all the other 'big thinkers' on the geo-political scene these days.

    Sliced and diced and properly carved up like this, and turning inward, internecine, lethal, barbaric, passionate, they will not be a problem for anyone in the neighborhood for the next two hundred years.

    The only thing better than a moslem out of ammo is a well ammo-ed moslem turning his guns on other moslems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      You nitwit. Don't associate me with any of your hair-brained schemes for slicing and dicing up the ME.

      This sounds like something the rat would dream up, the ridiculous assumption that US foreign policy in the ME could do anything to advance American interests except in the rare instance by pure chance.

      Two of a kind.

      You piss and moan about the fate of women in Arab lands yet applaud when the same women are captured, raped, and killed along with their children. You are pathetic. A strategic genius on a par with the other geniuses in this administration.

      .

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Nitwit.

      You can't see a geo-political win when it's carved on the turkey plate in front of you.

      Delete
    2. 5% oxy - 95% moronic. Home grown alfalfa stubble. Geo-political experience, Las Vegas.

      Delete
    3. Renaissance Man, Yes I Am.

      You An Oaf With Brains of Jam.

      Hah! So there!

      :)

      Delete
  4. We'll end up getting just what we deserve.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey and 14 others will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this year. The White House announced Thursday that the president will bestow the nation’s highest civilian honor on a class that includes activists, athletes, musicians and scientists.


    Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

    President Bill Clinton, 66, will be among the recipients for 2013.

    Oprah Winfrey, 59, is the youngest to get the honor this year.

    Benjamin C. Bradlee, 91, led The Washington Post during Watergate.


    “This year’s honorees have been blessed with extraordinary talent, but what sets them apart is their gift for sharing that talent with the world,” President Obama said in a statement.

    Among the recipients is Benjamin C. Bradlee, 91, the former executive editor of The Washington Post, who led the paper during the Watergate era.

    “Good God, how fabulous,” Mr. Bradlee told The Post. “What more can a man get? I feel terribly honored. What does a person do to deserve this kind of prize?”

    Ms. Winfrey, 59, is the youngest recipient, while Mr. Bradlee is the oldest.

    Others include Ernie Banks, 82, the former Chicago Cubs star; Daniel Kahneman, 79, the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and author of “Thinking, Fast and Slow”; Richard G. Lugar, 81, the Republican former senator from Indiana who worked to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons; Loretta Lynn, 81, the country music singer; Mario Molina, 70, the environmental scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his work revealing how some chemicals deplete the ozone layer; Arturo Sandoval, 63, the Cuban jazz musician; Dean Smith, 82, the former University of North Carolina basketball coach; Gloria Steinem, 79, the women’s rights activist; Cordy Tindell Vivian, 89, the civil rights activist; and Judge Patricia Wald, 84, the first woman to serve on the federal appeals court in Washington. (Mr. Clinton is 66.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Edward Snowden deserves the laughably named “Medal of Freedom”.

      Delete
    2. Bubba gets a medal of freedom? Impeached for lying under oath, disbarred?

      Delete
  6. Gen. Mark A. Welsh, chief of staff of the US Air Force, completed a secretive week-long visit to Israel in recent days.

    This ahead of the expected arrival of Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, due here on Monday.


    Jerusalem Post


    Welsh visited as a guest of Israel Air Force chief Maj.- Gen. Amir Eshel.

    According to Walla, the visit was kept secret due to an American request for confidentiality, in light of regional tensions and against the background of Israeli threats to strike Iran if it continues developing its nuclear program.

    The report added that the visit, Welsh’s first to Israel, was highly productive and produced “new channels of communications.”

    Dempsey, who is to arrive as a guest of IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, is expected to discuss developments in Iran, Syria and Egypt with Israeli leaders.

    Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has signaled that Israel’s patience is running out over Tehran’s nuclear progress

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm running out of patience over the military aid we dump on them.

      Delete
  7. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia has offered to buy billions of dollars in arms from Russia to persuade the military giant to stop backing the Syrian government. Moscow has reportedly rebuffed the offer.

    Obama disses Putin.

    Netanyahu’s patience is running out.

    We may be in for some real trouble.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Putin didn't show up for a summit right after he took over for Medvedev, but when Obama returns the favor, it's "dissing" Putin, and we're in for "real trouble".

      Delete
  8. Google has prevented Press TV from accessing its Youtube page since Thursday, causing a large number of viewers and subscribers to contact the channel to find out what has happened.


    "We have not been able to upload any new videos since early Thursday," said Press TV newsroom director, Hamid Reza Emadi, adding that Google has disabled the channel's account without giving any explanation.

    "Viewers keep emailing Press TV asking why the page is not being updated," he said.

    Emadi said Press TV "has yet to find out whether its Youtube account was blocked on political grounds or there were technical issues that could be resolved and the channel could get back on Youtube very soon."

    ReplyDelete
  9. On this day in 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation from the White House following the Watergate scandal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only after Al Haig got assurances from Ford that Nixon would be pardoned. There was some talk of the 101st Airborne being called in to set up a perimeter around the White House. Then we would have had ourselves a Ferdinand Marcos.

      Delete

  10. Re: We may be in for some real trouble

    Not so much...Tunisia neutered, Libya impotent, Egypt disintegrating, Lebanon a rump, Syria cleaved, Iraq (whatever that is), Turkey the vulture, Israel - all quiet...

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Mass murder on a multi-national scale is not anything that would bring a smile to my face.

      Delete
    2. Not to worry, the palestinians are DUE for their civil (un-civil) war...

      Delete
  11. For those here, the usual suspects, advocating for a 'Jew Free State' on the West Bank -

    >>>>Israel to Palestinians: Sorry, We’ll Keep Building
    August 9, 2013 By P. David Hornik

    This week the Israeli cabinet approved a new national-priorities map by 15 votes and four abstentions.

    Each year the map extends special benefits to a list of communities. This year, out of 600 that were chosen, 90 are in the West Bank, and 9 of those are small settlements outside the large settlement blocs.

    The inclusion of those small settlements “outside the blocs” drew protests from the usual suspects. The four ministers who abstained—including Tzipi Livni, chief negotiator in the peace talks with the Palestinians—are all dovish advocates of a Palestinian state.

    Livni, for her part, said it was “wrong and contrary to national interests to take funds…to encourage settlement in these secluded and dangerous settlements.”

    Zehava Gal-On, leader of the far-left opposition Meretz faction, had still stronger words: “The decision to include extremist outposts whose legality is not certain in the national priority map is a targeted assassination of peace efforts and a trampling of the rule of law.”

    And Dov Weisglass, who was a negotiator for former prime minister Ariel Sharon, asked in an enraged op-ed: “How does the decision to bolster communities located in the heart of the territory advance an agreement which Israel claims it is seeking?”

    To begin with, on a simple factual level these critics are right. A few days before the cabinet vote, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas reiterated in Cairo his longstanding position that “In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli—civilian or soldier—on our lands.”

    If one accepts, then, that the Palestinian state would have to be Jew-free—while Israel would continue to include a large Arab population—then strengthening Jewish communities in the putative Jewless areas appears to harm the “solution.”

    Why, then, did 15 out of 19 ministers vote in favor of the new map?

    The basic reason is that it’s a right-leaning cabinet, reflecting the will of the Israeli people who over the past three and a half decades have mostly elected right-leaning governments.

    Indeed, a poll released this week suggests the cabinet is quite in synch with Israeli public opinion. It found that 79 percent of Israeli Jews see the recently restarted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks as having a low chance of success, 63 percent oppose withdrawing to the 1949 armistice lines with land swaps, and 58 percent oppose dismantling small settlements outside the blocs.

    And what accounts for that rightward drift in the Israeli Jewish public?

    No doubt, statements like Abbas’s—“we would not see the presence of a single Israeli—civilian or soldier—on our lands”—have something to do with it.

    What kind of neighbor would that be? Should Israel comply with the Jew-free principle and go through the severe national trauma of a forced evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis?

    And there are some other factors. Over a thousand Israelis murdered in the 2000-2005 Second Intifada. Thousands of rockets on Israeli communities after Israel indeed—albeit on a smaller scale—removed every Israeli civilian and soldier from Gaza. The ongoing inculcation of murderous hostility toward Israel in both Gaza and the West Bank. Ongoing vicious stone-throwing attacks against Israelis who live in the—supposedly acceptable—settlement blocs. One can go on and on.

    Another way of saying this is that—yes, even for Palestinians—time does not stand still. After rejecting hands-down every offer of a state from the Peel Commission in 1937 to Ehud Olmert in 2008, after holding fast to conditions that not even ultra-dovish Israeli leaders can meet, after continuing the violence and hate, you might see those settlements keep growing.

    Palestinians—unlike the general rule in life—keep getting another and another and another chance. But even that might have its limit.<<<<

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One can only hope so.

      It's time for the Sinai to be home for the Gaza Palestinians. And the West Bank Arab that cannot accept a Jewish State? Move to Jordan, which is where the majority of self identifying folks that label themselves "palestinain" live.

      I heard that the "palestinians" were going to add a letter to the arabic alphabet, it's the letter "P".

      Since there is NO P in arabic, the arabs want to make the "word" Palestinian and Palestine truly "arab" but since there is NO LETTER but F in the arabic alphabet they need to ADOPT a new letter..

      Congrats to the FAKE arab nationalistic people called "Palestinians" You will soon be able to actually, with a straight face (and twisted lips) "Palestine"...

      Delete
    2. That is the equivalent of saying that Israel is a "fake" nation. Imagine Catholics having their own country, or Buddhists. Religion does not a nation make.

      Delete
    3. Find a map that predates WWII and see who is there and who is missing. Not some map that has been doctored.

      Delete
    4. .

      No doubt, statements like Abbas’s—“we would not see the presence of a single Israeli—civilian or soldier—on our lands”—have something to do with it.

      One more reason there will be no finalized agreement between the Israelis and the PA, words, how they play and how they are interpreted by the parties involved.

      No surprise that Abbas' words stated above were symbolized Judenrein by The Jewish Press. On the other hand, Abbas was talking to reporters in Egypt regarding issues in the peace talks which included Israeli settlers and the Israeli demand to retain a military presence in any new Palestinian state. Abbas didn't say that Jews wouldn't be allowed in Palestine. Abbas also went on to say that having an international peacekeeping force there might be acceptable.

      The same applies to Palestinian acceptance of the state of Israel. Palestine says it accepts Israel as a state; however, they do not accept it as a Jewish State given what that might mean in a future Jewish state due to demographics or immigration laws.

      Peace or a two-state solution? Chances are exceedingly slim, perhaps impossible. Too much distrust on both sides.

      .

      Delete
    5. Abbas didn't say that Jews wouldn't be allowed in Palestine


      Ah, actually yes he has....

      Delete
    6. A 2 state solution?

      It's really a 4 state solution.

      One for the Jews (and the arabs, christians, druze, b'hai, moslems)

      And a state in Gaza, a state in the West Bank and of course the largest and most populated by self labeled palestinians? Jordan

      Delete
    7. AnonymousFri Aug 09, 11:04:00 AM EDT
      That is the equivalent of saying that Israel is a "fake" nation. Imagine Catholics having their own country, or Buddhists. Religion does not a nation make.


      No not even close.

      But your statement has so many misstatements and holes it's boggling to wonder where to start to correct.

      Israel is the Jewish State.

      21 arab nations are all Islamic nations, in fact Moslems are so danged proud of their islamic core the have an organization for it OIC..


      The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC; Arabic: منظمة التعاون الإسلامي‎; French: Organisation de la Coopération Islamique, OCI)[a 1] is an international organisation consisting of 57 member states. The organisation states that it is "the collective voice of the Muslim world" and works to "safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony".[1]
      The OIC has a permanent delegation to the United Nations, and is the largest international organisation outside the United Nations.[2] The official languages of the OIC are Arabic, English and French.


      Maybe if you disband them 1st and make Sharia illegal we could talk.

      Delete
    8. Don't be silly - there is not one State for Buddists, or one State for Catholics, or one State for Muslims but you are saying there should be one State for Jews.

      Delete
    9. There is the Vatican, which is a state.

      There are Catholic nations.

      i guess you disapproval of the creation of the State of Israel?

      To which of course is your right, but since you feel that way?

      It's my right to tell you I think you are scum.

      Delete
    10. They can have their state, as long as it ain't on my nickle. And next time they get in a tussle, I'm not inclined to airlift any tanks over there to save their ass either. You live in a tough no-go zone for sentimental reasons, you come up with your own protection.

      Delete
    11. You mean that NICKEL we pay you?

      Not to worry, T, you suck off the government tit all by yourself, I doubt the amount you actually contribute to the security to either America or Israel.

      Delete
    12. As for aid to Israel?

      Israel is among hundreds of nations and ngo that gets aid.

      SIngling out Israel? AND only Israel?

      Makes you an anti-semite.

      "I'm not inclined to airlift any tanks over there to save their ass either"

      Tanks?

      What about ammo, food or body bags?

      By the way:

      The United States will nearly triple its military funding for the Philippines this year, the Philippine foreign ministry said on Thursday, as tensions rise with China over disputed islands and Washington bolsters its alliance with Manila.


      So why do we support the shitty country and it's parasitic people?


      Delete
    13. And next time they get in a tussle, I'm not inclined to airlift any tanks over there to save their ass either. You live in a tough no-go zone for sentimental reasons, you come up with your own protection.



      Wow, America saved your ass how many times over the last 100 years?

      Delete
    14. America saved my American ass? What?

      Delete
    15. DeuceFri Aug 09, 11:35:00 AM EDT
      Find a map that predates WWII and see who is there and who is missing. Not some map that has been doctored.

      Maps that PREDATE WW2...

      Hmm...

      I can assure you there are no maps showing any nation called "palestine"

      http://www.biblediscovered.com/biblical-maps/1000-b-c-map-of-judah-israel-during-foreign-invasions/

      Delete
    16. Like it or not...

      Jews have lived in Jerusalem for 3000 years.

      The arabs INVADED in 640ce.

      There were NO arabs in jerusalem before then.

      They are "new" to the area.

      Delete
    17. Please show any historic "palestinian" buildings or ruins that date back before 1948?

      Delete



  12. IBD Editorials

    Valerie Jarrett Gave Benghazi Stand-Down Order

    Posted 08/07/2013 06:19 PM ET


    Scandal: The omnipresent power behind the throne some have called the president's Rasputin had the power to call off three strikes against Osama bin Laden. She may have used that power again the night four Americans died in Benghazi.

    The Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on our diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, came while America failed to mount a rescue mission despite sufficient time and assets. Included in that disaster were the unaccounted whereabouts of President Obama during eight critical hours, the lack of Situation Room photos, the failure by the president to follow up with subordinates before his trip to Las Vegas and the fabricated story that the whole thing was prompted by an Internet video.

    Columnist Charles Krauthammer said recently on "The O'Reilly Factor" that the "biggest scandal of all" regarding that Benghazi slaughter has yet to emerge.

    "I think there is a bigger story here ... that will in time come out," Krauthammer said. "The biggest scandal of all, the biggest question is: What was the president doing in those eight hours?"

    The columnist noted: "He had a routine meeting at 5 o'clock. He never after, during the eight hours when our guys have their lives in danger, he never called the secretary of defense, he never calls the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he never calls the CIA director."

    One of the people Obama always talks to is Valerie Jarrett. She emerged from the same Chicago cauldron of radicalism where Obama got his ideological baptism.

    The Iranian-born Jarrett (her parents were American-born expatriates) is the only staff member who regularly follows the president home from the West Wing to the residence and one of the few people allowed to call the president by his first name.

    Her influence is shown by an account in Richard Miniter's book "Leading From Behind: The Reluctant President and the Advisors Who Decide for Him."



    Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/080713-666729-jarrett-gave-benghazi-stand-down-order.htm#ixzz2bOrgAwCJ

    ReplyDelete
  13. California Solar continues to deliver 21,000+ Megawatt hrs of electricity, daily.

    Ca ISO

    ReplyDelete
  14. HOLY WHITE LIGHTENING, BATMAN!

    E85 for $2.07 / gallon in Illinois

    $2.07 in Illinois

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 42% Spread to regular unleaded.

      There are Ford Focus drivers in Illinois that are paying approx. $0.05/Mile


      Yeah, let's keep spending Hundreds of Billions dicking around in the Middle East; that's the ticket.

      Delete
    2. Borrowing hundreds of billions from China to fight endless wars over a steadily depleting, and increasingly expensive resource for no other reason than the enrichment of Exxon, Chevron, et al; we are total fucking morons.

      Delete
    3. And, before someone objects to the "WE are total fucking morons" part - fuck you, we ARE "total fucking morons."

      Delete
    4. And, despite all the crazy disinformation from the oil companies, we get this . . .

      But customers had been asking for higher ethanol blends, so they borrowed money and did it. Business, which had been static, immediately increased twofold. Vollan was so pleased with how well higher ethanol blends were selling that he impatiently waited for the day he could sell E15. Although it was a painful, long process to get the E15 waiver approved, by June of 2012 he got his pumps labeled and completed other necessary steps to offer E15. “Within weeks, our E15 became our No. 2 seller,” he said, adding that sales have remained solid in the months since.

      In the last year, on a per gallon basis, ethanol has made up 18 to 28 percent of Vollan Oil’s total sales in a month. Take that, 10 percent blend wall. “The least amount of ethanol I have sold in a gallon of gas is 18 percent,” he said. “It kind of speaks for itself.” Vollan calculated that his blend wall is 22 to 24 percent on average.

      And it’s not like the gas station only offers ethanol blends either. He sells straight gas right alongside E10, E15, E30 and E85. “Given that choice, it’s so obvious that the consumer wants to buy ethanol,’’ he said.

      Today, the gas station’s yearly volume has increased threefold, to nearly a million gallons. Oh, and speaking of jobs? The station now has 12 people on payroll. “It really helped put us on the map, it helped us to become, profitable, sustainable,” he said, recalling the days before the blender pumps went in, when he didn’t know if the business would stay afloat.

      The other story that really caught my attention came from Andy Randolph, engine technical director from Richard Childress Racing. It’s a racing company that also builds engines for a variety of racing series, including NASCAR. He recalled when NASCAR switched to E15 two and a half years ago. “The first thing that we really liked about E15 was, because of the ethanol content and the high octane, the aromatic concentration of the fuel was cut in half and we really liked that from a safety standpoint,” he said, adding that aromatics may be high octane but they are also carcinogenic.

      News of the switch was met with loud protests from critics, predicting the many problems ethanol would cause—including vehicle part corrosion, engine failure and water contamination. The sky was going to fall and expensive race cars were going to become hunks of junk, basically. As it turned out, none of it came true. Specifically, on the water contamination side, Randolph talked about a bench experiment the group conducted to show it wasn’t the issue the critics claimed it . . . . .


      Refuting the nonsense

      Delete
    5. The guy Tripled his sales when he started offering higher ethanol blends.

      Fuck you, Saudi Arabia.

      and,

      Fuck YOU, Military/Industrial Complex!

      Delete
    6. "the aromatic concentration of the fuel was cut in half and we really liked that from a safety standpoint,” he said, adding that aromatics may be high octane but they are also carcinogenic."

      ***

      That was always highest on my list of safety concerns back in the days before roll bars when I raced Formula I.

      Delete
    7. Fuck YOU, Metrosexual Pusseys!

      Delete
    8. Racing can be hazardous to your health.

      Especially on Ethanol.

      Delete
    9. If it don't smell like racing fuel, it ain't racing.

      Delete
    10. I am still addicted to the smell of methanol and nitromethane.

      Delete
    11. Alcohol is hazardous to our health:

      "Nitromethane can also be mixed with ammonium nitrate, which is used as an oxidizer, to form an explosive mixture known as ANNM. One graphic example of this was the use of nitromethane and ammonium nitrate in the Oklahoma City bombing."

      Delete
    12. .

      Rufie's Tourette Syndrome seems to be running wild this morning. Unfortunately, there is no cure for the syndrome; however,

      they say that drugs that block or deplete the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain, such as fluphenazine, haloperidol (Haldol) or pimozide (Orap) can be used to control these episodes although the medications may have side effects such as weight gain and a dulling of the mind, something not likely to be noticed I Rufus' case.

      There are also therapies that can be used; Psychotherapy, Behavioral Therapy, and Deep brain stimulation, although in Ruf's case, the latter would likely be rejected by Obamacare's Independent Payment Advisory Board as a clear case of waste.

      :)

      .

      Delete
    13. Some wild-eyed idealists are still waiting for the day he warms his bath with solar instead of carbon.

      Hope springs eternal.

      Back of terra firma:

      Rufie remains mired in self-righteous hypocrisy.

      Delete
    14. Well that and bluster delivered with cutting edge sexual innuendo.

      Delete
  15. …I see nothing to smile about here.

    Security inside Iraq is unraveling at an alarming pace, and al Qaeda terrorists there aren’t just pulling the thread; they’re setting it on fire.
    More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in bombings and shootings last month, making July the deadliest month since violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims peaked from 2006 to 2008, the United Nations says.

    On Thursday, gunmen stormed a policeman’s home in Tikrit and killed him, his wife and their three children. When neighbors later approached the house, a nearby car bomb exploded and killed eight people — a noted al Qaeda tactic, though the terrorist group has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

    In the past week alone, more than 85 Iraqis have been gunned down or blown up.
    “We are certainly seeing a rise of al Qaeda in Iraq,” said Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.



    Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/8/al-qaeda-drives-iraq-toward-chaos/#ixzz2bTO9ZPwh
    Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When neighbors later approached the house, a nearby car bomb exploded and killed eight people — a noted al Qaeda tactic, though the terrorist group



      Actually it's a Palestinian technic.

      Hit the 1st responders...

      Delete
    2. .

      Actually, it's a US technique.

      .

      Delete
    3. I'd really love to know where the USA targeted the red cross (or equivalent) responding to a terrorist attack

      Delete
    4. "Actually, it's a US technique."

      First perfected in Detroit, Michigan.

      Delete
    5. .

      It makes a difference to you whether the first responders killed belong to the Red Cross? Or, whether they are killed by intent or 'who gives a shit' indifference?

      http://www.businessinsider.com/bomb-from-the-sky-kills-red-cross-worker-in-yemen-as-obama-denies-drone-program-exists-2012-6

      .

      Delete
    6. Yep it does, targeting hospital workers running towards an place of violence against civilians seems tacky and gross to me.

      Delete
    7. .

      How many 'hospital workers' do you find in the hills of Pakistan or driving down a road in Yemen? A further question would be, who would likely get to the scene of a bombing first, 'hospital workers' or people in the approximate vicinity?

      And if your butt-boy wants to chime in again, he's welcome. 'Bizarro World' is now gone from print and screen, yet we still see glimpses of it here every day in the wild musings of Mr. Jeans Green.

      .

      .

      Delete
  16. Think assholes…………………………………………………………… you know you are. Think:

    For the past 17 years its always been Sunni trained or recruited groups or individuals that have attacked the Physical United States.

    There is a triangle of Sunni Power being finalized as we speak. Saudi Arabia Families (the first fund source of Sunni Terror) Is now reportedly being joined by Qatar and if Erdogan of Turkey can complete his Coup of jailing permanently the Secular Military leaders, he will be the third leg of a triad source of control and funds to widen Sunni dominance throughout Europe then America!

    What’s disturbing is we seem to have two Republican Senators McCain and Graham in concert with our President over in Egypt calling for Resurrection of the largest Sunni Terrorist group's leader President Morsi in Egypt who after winning an election violated Egyptian law by creating a Constitution away from the elected Constitutional Assembly then declaring a State of Emergency to become a dictator.

    Imagine if all of these groups consolidate into a force with massive money? They are taking over countries as we speak. Libya, Yemen, and Syria unbelievably with our assistance. Assad in a tyrant but he’s never attack American soil these terrorist have and we seem to be in favor of their victories.

    One final question. Did we just close our embassies for fear of Syria or the Sunni terror groups? Think!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Think assholes…………………………………………………………… you know you are. Think"

      Oc must be thinking...........................rat, the only real asshole here.

      Delete
  17. Weiner goes limp; poll droops...

    'Keeps a stiff upper lip'...drudge

    Weiner's campaign has climaxed, it's all exhaustion from here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A city with balls would drop his poll for good with a swift kick.

      Delete
    2. He calls his opponent "grandpa" . . .at an AARP-sponsored event. Check!

      Delete
  18. It's a tough issue, whether to give Major Nidal Hasan the death penalty he so obviously wants, and be rid of the son of a bitch, or pay for his upkeep in some hole for his natural life, and deny him 'martyrdom'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dedicate his hole to Weiner, and set Huma free.

      (Free as you can be with Hillary)

      Delete
    2. Huma's had it with this weiner. She's stepping out and up after this fiasco. She's 'free marriage' now, so soon she will be free of this marriage.

      Delete
    3. Yeah, right. Death penalty for workplace violence.

      Delete
  19. Timely Tip, or Query...

    If Russia attacked Turkey from the rear, would Greece help?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Only if there were a few free Euros in it for the Greeks, and the US did the fighting.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The Turks expect free KY Jelly, the Greeks are anxious to offer their services for free.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Good going boys. Taking FUBAR to entirely new heights


    BEIRUT, Lebanon — As foreign fighters pour into Syria at an increasing clip, extremist groups are carving out pockets of territory that are becoming havens for Islamist militants, posing what United States and Western intelligence officials say may be developing into one of the biggest terrorist threats in the world today.
    Multimedia

    Known as fierce fighters willing to employ suicide car bombs, the jihadist groups now include more than 6,000 foreigners, counterterrorism officials say, adding that such fighters are streaming into Syria in greater numbers than went into Iraq at the height of the insurgency there against the American occupation.

    Many of the militants are part of the Nusra Front, an extremist group whose fighters have gained a reputation over the past several months as some of the most effective in the opposition.

    But others are assembling under a new, even more extreme umbrella group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, that is merging some Syrians with fighters from around the world — Chechnya, Pakistan, Egypt and the West, as well as Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni insurgent group that rose to prominence in the fight against the American occupation in the years after the 2003 invasion. The concern is that a new affiliate of Al Qaeda could be emerging from those groups.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I noticed that you completely ignored Iran and Syria helping, funding, supporting and training Hezbollah in both their kidnapping, torture and dismemberment of 3 Israeli soldiers (which caused the last war) and you ignored the murder, torture and take over of beirut by Hezbollah a couple of years ago,.

      Not to mention Hezbollah's (with direct Iranians and syrian assistance) the blowing up of the Marine Barracks.

      But not to worry, we all KNOW that the Liberty was attacked by Israel in 1967.

      Delete
    2. Well who else zapped the Liberty, if Israel dinnit do it?

      Delete
    3. No one disputes that Israel did it.

      The question of WHY?

      Deuce and Rat say it was planned murder, not a mistake.

      if we take that logic, then WHY?

      I say the Liberty was illegally spying in Israel 12 miles off shore in an active war zone. So close that the sailors could hear the egyptian shells exploding. The liberty had order not to be closer than 100 miles.

      WHY?

      Delete
    4. If no one disputes that Israel did it, then when you state "we all KNOW that the Liberty was attacked by Israel in 1967" why use sarcastic innuendo?

      Delete
  23. The study is one of several published in recent years that tries to take a lifecycle approach to examining the benefits of electric transportation.

    They look at the greenhouse gas emissions that come from building the cars and generating the electricity they run on.

    For comparison, the studies also calculate the emissions produced by pumping oil from the ground, refining it in gasoline and burning it in cars.

    ***

    Unsurprisingly, they neglect to calculate the environmental and economic costs in manufacturing the batteries.

    ...or replacing them.
    ...or recycling them.

    Green Thumbs firmly planted on the scales.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now, now, you can't mention such things. You'll only get Uncle Rufus all 'riled up'.

      Delete
  24. Go Here,

    State of North Dakota Oil Production Statistics

    and you will see that, during the first five months of 2012, every well drilled in ND raised overall output by 142 bbl per day.

    But, this year output per well brought online increased by only 64 bbl/day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another way of looking at it is, Production from June, 2011 to June 2012 Increased by 77%.

      From June 2012 to June 2013 production increased by only 25%.

      Delete
  25. My daughter tells me that the Nez Perce, along with some crazy assed crackers, raised hell as the 'mega-load' went through the area late the other night, bound for Montana and the Canadian Tar Sands with super big mega processing equipment.

    I can understand the crazy assed crackers but not the Nez Perce, who surely know better and who surely don't want to go back to digging camus roots with digging sticks, fishing, and traveling by travois, or the horse drawn carriage, like the Amish.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=travois&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Ng8FUsLmKoOqyAGnoYGADw&ved=0CDwQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=643

    This night, she says, there was lots of 'whooping' but no slowing down of the mega-loads, escorted by tens of black Idaho State Police cars with flashing lights.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One time they tried to take an expansion joint for the Tacoma Narrows bridge from Idaho to WA and our Staters wouldn't let 'em come in until all the i's were dotted and t's crossed.

      Delete
  26. I like to participate in this blog, Deuce, but when you lock it down so only folks with a Google account can post, I can't do it. Just sayin'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Which Teresita are you planning to post under?

      Ms T?, Teresita?

      Just how many google accounts do you/did you have?

      Delete
    2. She can't help it that she is a shape shifter. Born that way. I imagine the first time it happened to her/him it came as something of a shock. To all of a sudden find you aren't who or what you thought you were....well, that would be traumatic. Go to bed being one thing, wake up being something entirely different.

      It would be tough.

      Delete
    3. I think that problem has been resolved.

      Delete
  27. August 9, 2013
    Ron Paul, Inc?
    Thomas Lifson

    A brand news conservative blog based in Virginia, The Bull Elephant, is kicking off with a full throated attack on some of the consultants that have worked for the Ron Paul presidential campaign, and who, the piece alleges, may guide the coming Rand Paul bid. The piece is based on the views of Virginia conservative activist Paul Fusaro. The heart of the charges:

    "This stuff can bring down the Ron Paul movement," Fusaro says, before taking pains to describe the difference between grassroots supporters of Ron Paul, and what he describes as "Ron Paul, Inc.," basically a cottage industry of self-interested professionals with more interest in personal gain than in advancement of the movement. "Like Mike Rothfield has said, he [Ron Paul] can run his own campaign, while we run ours," meaning essentially that "Ron Paul, Inc." ran a campaign in parallel to the candidate himself, but without the candidate's adherence to principle.

    And "Ron Paul, Inc." is apparently big business; Rothfeld's company alone appears to have been paid $7.7 million by the Ron Paul 2012 campaign, in addition to another $1 million for work done for Rand Paul.

    "The brand and style of politics Dimitri [Kesari], Mike Rothfeld, John [Tate] practice has serious flaws," Fusaro says. The bribery scheme is "symptomatic of a paradigm" that betrays all of the young and excited new conservatives who had flocked to the Liberty banner, according to Fusaro. Exposing the uncorrected and unpunished misdeeds is the only way Fusaro says he can ensure the future health of that movement. "We need to be better and cleaner than the other side."

    It's a long and provocative diatribe. The Bull Elephant promises to publish rejoinders that come in.

    The role of the consultant class is no longer obscure to the body of conservative activists. Regardless of the merits of Fusaro's critique (I remain agnostic), I hope that scrutiny of the behind the scenes consultants continues to increase.

    Hat tip: Clarice Feldman


    Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/08/ron_paul_inc.html#ixzz2bR8TGPnT
    Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

    ReplyDelete
  28. Man lives in Brooklyn dumpster


    Posted: Aug 09, 2013 9:06 AM PDT
    Updated: Aug 09, 2013 9:06 AM PDT

    (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
    (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
    MYFOXNY.COM -
    An artist has found a way to get around those skyrocketing rents in Brooklyn.

    Gregory Kloehn has build a so-called "dumpster home" in the Red Hook section of the borough.

    He purchased a new dumpster and retrofitted it to be his dwelling when he stays New York City, loading it with steel appliances, an outside shower, a barbecue, a toilet and a padded area where he can lie down.

    Kloehn, who spends part of his time in California, has built a dumpster home in the San Francisco area too.



    Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23093753/man-lives-in-brooklyn-dumpster#ixzz2bRG5L73b


    In Wallace Stevens there are lines about 'man on a dump' but nothing about 'man in a dumpster', as far as I know or can remember.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So where does he keep his trash?

      Delete
    2. It was just a possible solution I was offering to Q's perpetual homelessness problem. Since I acquired Souls via Court Judgement he has had no income at all. Nor any means to further defraud people. I have felt concern, inexplicably, and I was trying to politely urge him to leave his digs atop the City Dump for more suitable quarters.

      Delete
    3. .

      More fantasy from the Wizard of Id.

      Acquired? It almost sounds like he actually did something. The truth is, back in the day, when my faith in mankind wasn't so utterly destroyed, I actually felt sorry for the guy and through misplaced altruism 'gave' him one small subsidiary that was picked up by Souls-R-Us, Inc. as part of one of our larger acquisitions. This was at a time when the Wizard, alias Green Jeans, alias 'boobie', alias 'bob', alias Anonymous, and now alias Ping E. Lee was living horse poor in a double wide, stretched for money and riding around in the middle of winter in an old Mustang with no back window, a vehicle he eventually totaled to collect the insurance. Now, thru delusions of grandeur that seem to appear coincidentally with his delirious tremens episodes, he imagines he 'acquired' all of the Souls-R-US worldwide empire.

      Ludicrous.

      As it turns out, he couldn't even manage the small enterprise he was given. First, he ran the business into the ground and was forced to sell it to the two fellows shown in the following video. Then, in an act devoid of corporate ethics he set up a pirate manufacturing operation in Hong Kong under the alias Ping E. Lee, an operation now the subject of a lawsuit and a government investigation.

      Even 60 Minutes got involved.

      http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5999248/60_minutes/

      It's pathetic but lies and misrepresentations continue to flow out of Idaho.

      I can only offer the warning that when you try to help a charlatan and a con man like the Wizard, a man who has spend his entire life living off of government subsidies, bilking property from loving relatives, and fishing commando in trout streams, you run the risk of both ingratitude and liable, if not worse.

      .

      Delete
    4. :):)


      14,821 views

      Quirk, there must be something to do on ankle bracelet home arrest other than watch the same video over and over and over and over.......

      Here, try to get a small portion of life with some no twang country -

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-MXWa9puPQ

      >>>Bob,
      Kenny is singing now on "Good Morning America" if you see this email soon enough you can catch a portion! I am not much of a county music fan but I do love Kenny! I loved and still love Willie & Walon. Country has really changed into great music with great stars without the twang. Try listen to Garth Brooks. Great live performances with genus talent.

      I saw "Les Miserable's" last night at the performing arts center. Oh my! It took my breath away! I saw it in New York over 20 years ago and of course the movie last year but this was the best. They are celebrating it's 25th year anniversary. It was the best show I have seen thus far at the arts center. I hope this is a sign that this entire season will be spectacular.....<<<<

      from My Source in Vegas

      Delete
    5. .

      Though you lurk in the sewers and dark alleys of Mudville, ID, though you continually quest for the anonymity of Anonymous, though you seek to hide your base crimes and miscreancy, your sins are slowly coming to light.

      Yes, 14,821 views and growing and that does not count the viewers of 60 Minutes or America's Most Wanted>.

      .

      Delete
  29. Re: "...the jihadist groups now include more than 6,000 foreigners, counterterrorism officials say, adding that such fighters are streaming into Syria in greater numbers than went into Iraq at the height of the insurgency there against the American occupation...

    Since the jihadists will not be hamstrung by hypersensitive rules of engagement, the casualties should be especially brutal. That strikes me as an overall plus in a target rich environment. Moreover, no blame can be attached to Israel.

    Re: "...The concern is that a new affiliate of Al Qaeda could be emerging from those groups...

    Those concerns are far too late. Frankenstein is in Syria. Many opportunities are readily, conveniently at hand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Syria will henceforth be divided into three parts (Alawite, Sunni, and Kurd), who will fight amongst themselves and never provide an existential strategic threat to Israel again. Should be all smiles in Jerusalem.

      Delete
    2. Teresita is another of the true global thinkers, like Hamdoon, Q, Umatilla Jack, I and Hugh Fitzgerald, who also has it right. Apologies to you Teresita for not mentioning you before. It was simply 'out of sight, out of mind', you've been gone so long.

      Glad you are back.

      Peckerwood

      Delete
    3. .

      "...like Hamdoon, Q, Umatilla Jack, I and Hugh Fitzgerald..."

      You're iniquity rolls off from you like the stench of a rotting corpse. Don't try to include me in your idiotic trilateral trumpery.

      .

      Delete
  30. US Oil Production back up to level produced in 1990!

    A 2 million bpd increase in US oil output in only 24 months to the highest level in nearly a quarter century, almost exclusively from the dramatic increases in shale oil production made possible by revolutionary drilling technologies, is an important energy milestone and has to be one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of US energy production.

    ***

    Stop that pipeline, it's the patriotic thing to do!
    ...and Rufie's Panties will be in a wad.

    US Crude Oil Production

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No wonder they shut down The Oil Drum blog due to lack of interest. Same thing happened to the "End of the World in 2012" blogs too.

      Delete
  31. .

    Weiner is starting to sound like Nathan Thurm.

    Weiner

    http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/Weiner-mocks-female-reporter/41265219904/Comcast/Today_in_Video/?cid=hero_sf_TIV

    Thurm

    http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/saturday-night-news-segment---nathan-thurm/n9292/

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He called a seasoned citizen "grandpa" at an AARP shindig, so calling a woman a bitch at a NOW rally is just the next step.

      Delete
  32. Whatever you guys do, do not get a new desktop or laptop at a brick and mortar store. They're all running Windows 8. Get them from an online dealer like Tigerdirect, and specify Windows 7. If by some misfortune you end up with a Windows 8 machine, tell the dealer you want them to "downgrade" it to Windows 7. Otherwise you're in for a ride worse than Vista, worse than Windows ME (Mexican Edition) even.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. riiight, and this coming from a Linux lover

      Delete
    2. Knock yourself out then. You Have Been Warned.

      Delete
    3. I have Windows 8. My daughter too says it is all fu'd up. It is why I can't get my google pic and name back yet.

      She uses Windows 7.

      I am going to have her downgrade it.

      I thought, gee, if I get the new computer with the new program I will have less trouble than before. Not so. Additionally I get called names by Ash because of this situation.

      Thank you, Miss T.

      Peckerwood

      Delete
    4. (I think Ash said I was "a dumb fuck and didn't compute" or something like that. I felt humiliated and degraded, now I feel exonerated and elated)

      Peckerwood

      Delete
    5. Windows 8 would make me look like a peckerwood. The peckerwoods in Redmond put a touch interface for phones on a desktop. Like people want to sit there all day in the office swiping the monitor until their arm breaks off.

      Delete
  33. Sneak this in on a Friday night:


    US to reopen 18 of 19 embassies and consulates closed due to Yemen-based terror threat

    By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, August 9, 6:44 PM
    WASHINGTON — The State Department says that 18 of the 19 U.S. embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa that have been closed due to a terrorist threat will reopen on Sunday or Monday.

    Officials say the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, will remain closed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      NBC reports that Obama, in a press conference today, vowed to expedite a review of current NSA programs and the courts that oversee them. He also vowed complete transparency so as to restore the public's faith in these programs. He says that the review will include civil libertarians.

      Lastly, in answer to a reporter's question, he stated that the Snowden releases didn't force this, but rather that he, Obama, had already promised this sort of review.

      So there you go.

      .

      Delete
    2. I don't believe a word of it. Still waiting for the sacred campaign promise of a full report on The Benghazi Affair myself. Have concluded, reluctantly and sadly, that President Obama just says shit, then goes golfing or to the Martha Vineyard or out to Hollywood or out to the Vegas, for some good hot times, anywhere but to the White House.

      Delete
    3. If Barky is such a great guy, and worried about your privacy, why is he trying to have Snowden extradited and arrested? Why did he cancel out on Putty?

      Delete
    4. It would be a great investment to keep Obama on vacation all the way out to 2017. Taxpayers would come out ahead.

      Delete
  34. can·na·bis/ˈkænəbɪs/ Show Spelled [kan-uh-bis] Show IPA
    noun
    1. the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa.
    2. the flowering tops of the plant.
    3. any of the various parts of the plant from which hashish, marijuana, bhang, and similar mildly euphorogenic and hallucinogenic drugs are prepared.


    Origin:
    1790–1800; < Neo-Latin, Latin: hemp < Greek kánnabis; cognate with hemp
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gen 1:29 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

      Someone try to convince me that this plant is a drug.
      I just don't accept the premise.

      Delete
    2. Over here in Washington the plant is just a plant. God hasn't made Mount Rainier erupt in punishment or anything.

      Delete

    3. "Worship on high".
      Always wondered what the difference was between that and just plain worship.

      As for me and my house, we worship the Truth.

      Delete
    4. The muzzies do too.

      Delete
    5. No, the Islamoids worship whatever Muhammad said. That is not the Truth.

      Delete
  35. By DAVID FRANCIS, The Fiscal Times
    August 9, 2013

    Since President Obama took office in 2009, he has repeatedly said he has no interest in backing the kind of nascent democracies that were supported by George W. Bush’s administration.

    “I’m not doing long-term nation-building,” he reportedly told former Defense Secretary Robert Gates and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009. “I am not spending a trillion dollars.”

    Obama indicated where he does want to spend America's resources this week when he told Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show” that the United States needed to invest in its infrastructure. It’s become one of the cornerstones of his presidency.

    The focus on domestic issues has been especially evident in recent weeks. International crises and incidents have been breaking out around the world – especially in the Middle East. Yet because of the White House’s retreat from the global stage, Washington has been powerless to impact any of them.

    RELATED: WHY THE U.S. IS CRASHING IN THE MIDDLE EAST
    Lawrence Haas, senior fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the American Foreign Policy Council, says the president’s abdication of leadership on the global stage has weakened the standing of the United States while giving encouragement to U.S. enemies. It has particularly unsettled allies in the Middle East, a region where the United States has traditionally wielded heavy influence.


    Republicans have long blasted the president for what they consider his feckless foreign policy. But now, even former Obama employees, including Anne-Marie Slaughter, Vali Nasr, and Rosa Brooks have joined the chorus.

    “We have been very, very passive in the face of encouragement from our European and Middle East allies from playing a more forceful role and shaping events on the ground,” Haas told The Fiscal Times Thursday. “Each day our word becomes less trustworthy. Our allies’ reliance on us has been shaken and our adversaries’ fear of us has been reduced. That doesn’t serve U.S. interests in the long term or short term.”

    ON THE SIDELINES

    The number of international events that the Obama administration has been unable to shape grows longer by the day. In each of the following incidents, the White House has sat on the sideline, seemingly content to let others take the lead:

    * Obama canceled a meeting with Vladimir Putin after the Russian president refused to hand over Edward Snowden. Obama and the State Department were unable to persuade Russia to detain Snowden, even after Attorney General Eric Holder met Russia’s conditions: He promised that the United States would not execute Snowden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. * Afghan President Harmid Karzai continues to openly defy the Americans, and has embarrassed the president and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel with accusations that the United States is aiding the enemy.

      * Iraq is continuing its descent into chaos. Last month, Al Qaeda orchestrated a jailbreak at Abu Ghraib prison that freed 250 militants. Some people have connected the escape with the lingering terror threat to Western targets in North Africa.

      * Al Qaeda is reemerging across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, despite substantial U.S. efforts to halt the group’s return by using drone strikes and Special Forces.

      STRATEGIC INTERESTS

      According to Haas, the most damaging U.S. absence has been in the Middle East. The United States recently kick-started the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, but this effort is largely seen as a last-ditch attempt to shape the region.

      This effort is needed because the United States has little or no control over events happening elsewhere. For decades after World War II, American politicians and diplomats had a hand in shaping policy in the Middle East. But Obama has retreated from the region, Haas said.

      The president has also failed to act when allies in the region longed for leadership. In Syria, Obama ignored his own red line and only acted when the tide of the civil war turned against the rebels. In Libya, Obama sat the U.S. military on the sidelines as the Gaddafi government was deposed. And the United States sits idly by while Egypt tinkers on the verge of collapse. U.S. friends in the region like Jordan and Saudi Arabia are now surrounded by chaos.
      “He’s moving away from maintaining a rational U.S. presence in that region,” Haas said. “You see that in the turmoil that’s taking place and in our consistent silence or tardiness in our response. That region does not benefit in our absence. It tends to suffer.”

      Read more at http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/08/09/How-Obamas-Foreign-Pull-back-Dooms-the-Middle-East.aspx#oUYjRyAUPFBGVWvl.99

      Delete
    2. It's because Obama doesn't have a clue as to what he is doing that we have the amazing success story in Syria, for instance. The author above has much of it wrong. Syria is sidelined, Egypt back to military control, Libya de-commissioned......Iraq and Afghanistan continue to be serious question marks. Over all though, especially Syria, Obama earns a passing grade.

      Delete
    3. .

      Obama earns a passing grade only when he is graded on the curve when compared to Sticksville, Idaho.

      .

      Delete
    4. He behavior regarding Syria has been pitch perfect, not a misstep. The Syrian Humpty Dumpty won't be getting on the wall anymore.

      For your understanding, Q -

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brye9MAXXmE

      No longer Syria - from One, Many.

      Like 'creation' itself - the One breaks into, inexplicably, the Two, then the Many.

      E unum pluribs

      Delete
    5. E unum pluribus, of course, of course

      Delete
    6. "Sticksville, Idaho"

      This really pretty damn lame, Quirk-O. You are capable of much better than this. It is so bad, in fact, that you are beginning to embarrass me. This hardly qualifies even as a put down.

      If you continue at this lame level, you will be losing readers as Weiner is losing voters.

      Both of you have gone soft.

      Delete
    7. .

      "...you are beginning to embarrass me."


      :)

      Lordy, Mr. Anonymous.

      How could anyone embarrass you more than you do to yourself here every day?

      .

      .

      Delete
  36. .

    Two E-Mail services close and destroy their servers rather than comply with government demands to turn over information.

    These are small servers and it points out the reason the government is very comfortable with 'too big to fail'. Small companies have the flexibility to do the right thing can tell the government to pound sand even though it requires a major sacrifice on their part. Large companies, Google or Verizon et al, can't and don't.

    http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/two-providers-of-encrypted-e-mail-shut-down/?hp

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      In an effort to address public concern about the government’s surveillance programs, President Obama on Friday announced the creation of a task force to advise the government about how to balance security and privacy. He also said he supported a proposal to change the procedures of the secret court that approves electronic spying under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

      Obama has 'said' a lot of things; unfortunately, nothing usually happens. His words are mere farts in the wind, here today and forgotten tomorrow.

      You have to wonder if this task force will provide political cover such as in the case of Hillary's task force on Benghazi or if it will have any more effect than, say, Simpson-Bowles. Who will be on it? Obama said it will include 'civil libertarians'. Does the administration's definition of 'civil libertarians' include such faux constitutional stalwarts as Rogers or Feinstien. Or, will we actually get some guys like Wyden or Leahy, or the ACLU, or other noted libertarian scholars? Glen Greenwald would also be nice though highly improbable.

      .

      Delete
  37. .


    RealClearScience Quiz #5

    Name the Top 10 Countries with the Greatest Scientific Impact


    Scientific impact is measured using a numerical value called the "h-index," which reflects both the quantity and quality of scientific research. Using this metric, countries can be ranked in terms of their scientific impact. Name the top 10 countries with the greatest scientific impact.

    http://realclearscience.com/quiz/5/

    .

    ReplyDelete
  38. .

    I don't agree with the implications of some of these questions but here we go anyway.

    From Breitbart,

    Top 10 (13) Questions Journalists Won't Ask President Obama at Press Conference

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/08/09/Top-10-Questions-Journalists-Won-t-Ask-at-President-Obama-Presser

    The MSM are a big part of the problem. They have abrogated their adversarial role and become fawning sycophants in the presence of power.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  39. Obama says Snowden is not a traitor, he just broke the law. Of course, for libs, the only treason possible is patriotism.

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  40. At this writing, Syria poses no threat to Israel unless in a suicidal gesture it launched its much vaunted missile armory. This assumes that the central government continues to control such weaponry and still has the technical expertise to put them into action. Syria's troops, including officers, have had the grating habit of deserting to the enemy. It also assumes that Syrian government leaders have somewhere to take cover to evade the worldwide hunt for their heads. Furthermore, after more than two years of battling "rebels" with the best foreign technology and expert foreign advisers, its existence hangs by a thread. No, Syria could not mount a concerted offense or defense against Israel, being sliced into at least three regions with scores to settle and governmental agendas of their own. Then, of course, there is the 800 lb. gorilla: Turkey. For those failing to keep track of such things, Turkey has a large and growing Neo-Ottoman movement. Such Turkish nationalists see a large piece of Kurdish Syria in need of pacification, not to mention the natural resources that would come with the occupation of Syrian Kurdistan. There simply is no way the Syrian government can meet these threats; consequently, given the Syrian leadership vacuum, none of the sundry Syrias pose a threat to Israel.

    With each passing day and each passing battle, Hezbollah is losing troops. It is difficult enough for a world class military to fight a multi-front war, much less a fanatical assemblage of Reebok wearing, hirsute savages. Moreover, in its calculations, Hezbollah has to take great care not to overcommit to Assad, leaving the Lebanese line vulnerable. Additionally, Hezbollah also must understand that the use of its alleged vast arsenal of rockets etc is a one trick pony, with only one time on stage. Afterward, southern Lebanon would cease to exist as habitable by humans. This is not to imply that Israel would use nuclear arms. No, the south of Lebanon will have that Monte Casino look, but with great precision. In its past fights with Israel, Hezbollah has been able to rely on Syria for support and asylum. Syria can no longer play this role. Finally, Assad et al, cannot trust Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsor, neither of whom would grieve over taking a portion of the dismembered Syrian corpse..

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