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."

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Fear and Hope - Yes to Peace, No to War - Words of Moderation from Iran, an Anchor of Stability in an Unstable Arena: Iran’s President Rouhani






Iran’s Rouhani Confounds Neocons
September 20, 2013

Official Washington’s still-influential neocons are still hoping they can sabotage progress toward a U.S.-Iranian rapprochement – and thus keep open the option of war – but the reasonable tone of Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani is making the neocons’ job trickier, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains.

By Paul R. Pillar
The op ed from Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani in the Washington Post should be read carefully on at least four levels.
The first is as one measure of the overall earnestness and seriousness with which the current leadership of Iran is approaching relations with the United States and with the rest of the outside world. Can you find an unreasonable phrase anywhere in the piece? I can’t.
The second is as a contrast with what we had become accustomed to hearing under the eight-year tenure of Rouhani’s predecessor. The contrast is so sharp one would never guess, if we did not already know it was so, that such pronouncements were coming from successive presidents of the same country, separated not by a coup or revolution but instead by a peaceful election.
Rouhani’s piece in the Post adds to the numerous other indications over the past several weeks that his election marks a profound change in attitude and approach in Tehran.
Third, Rouhani’s statements about what Iran wishes to do on issues of high concern to both it and the United States is consistent with what any dispassionate and well-reasoned analysis would arrive at as necessary to facilitate resolution of these issues. On the nuclear question, any resolution will have to recognize — and provide assurances to the West of being limited to — a “peaceful nuclear energy program.”
On the more pressing issue of the Syrian war, Rouhani’s statement of his government’s “readiness to help facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition” should be acted upon, both because Iran already is a player, for better or for worse, in the Syrian situation and because working together in addressing the Syrian situation can have beneficial spillover effects in dealing with the nuclear question and other issues.
Fourth, the article contains sage advice about other aspects of the American approach to foreign policy, including on matters that do not directly involve Iran. As with Vladimir Putin’s recent missive, Americans ought not to need foreign presidents to point out truths about their own policies and approach toward the world, but they are truths nonetheless.
Among Rouhani’s observations that are too often forgotten, or never appreciated in the first place, in American discourse is that the world is for the most part not a zero-sum place and that dealing with other nations involves simultaneous competition and cooperation. He correctly observes that a unilateral approach that “glorifies brute force and breeds violence” does not solve shared problems such as terrorism and extremism.
He notes that too often “security is pursued at the expense of the insecurity of others, with disastrous consequences.” A glaring example of this in the Middle East that does not directly involve Iran but is condoned by the United States comes readily to mind. Perhaps the most trenchant of Rouhani’s observations is:
“We and our international counterparts have spent a lot of time — perhaps too much time — discussing what we don’t want rather than what we do want. This is not unique to Iran’s international relations. In a climate where much of foreign policy is a direct function of domestic politics, focusing on what one doesn’t want is an easy way out of difficult conundrums for many world leaders. Expressing what one does want requires more courage.”
This aptly describes how some foreign policy issues — certainly including the Iranian nuclear issue — get addressed in the United States. One of the biggest deficiencies in American discourse about that issue is that it goes little beyond declarations of how badly we don’t want an Iranian bomb, with almost no sense of what we do want other than to hurt Iran and no vision for the future other than, by implication, perpetual hostility.
The new Iranian administration has opened a door to a better relationship, and one better for the United States, about as widely as such doors ever are opened. The United States would be foolish not to walk through it.
Paul R. Pillar, in his 28 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, rose to be one of the agency’s top analysts. He is now a visiting professor at Georgetown University for security studies. (This article first appeared as a blog post at The National Interest’s Web site. Reprinted with author’s permission.)


169 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If Kerry and Zarif hold one-on-one talks on the sidelines of that meeting, it would mark the first direct engagement in six years between a U.S. secretary of state and an Iranian foreign minister. A spokeswoman for Zarif said Thursday's meeting indeed would mark the beginning of a "new era" in relations with the West.

    The potential for direct engagement between the U.S. and Iran was being closely watched by Israel, which has long sought tough punishments against Tehran in retaliation for its nuclear program. Following Rouhani's speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused him of "hypocrisy" and said the new Iranian leader showed no sign of halting his nuclear program.

    "This is precisely the Iranian intention, to talk and buy time in order to advance its ability to achieve nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank all that is holy that Israel's leader can see clearly.

    Holding talks with Iran, that violates all international norms, supports, funds, trains, hosts the worst of the worst in international terrorism is not a good signal to send.

    The persians play chess, kerry doesnt even play checkers...

    Just a week or so ago Iran put the "hit" on 59 iranians that America promised to protect living in exile in Iraq. We did nothing.

    Iran holds Americans hostage today. Both declared and undeclared.

    Iran's goal has not changed.


    Picture a world without the Great Satan... America.

    That is their goal. We are stupid to think that we will change that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rouhani’s speech was directed at his domestic constituency and was politically expedient so that he can maintain his office. His tone was one of a fair minded reconciliation based on the recognition of Iran’s sovereignty, its position in the region and the reality of US power and position in the World. His goals are modest in that he wants “a framework to manage our differences”.

    Iran proposes a new effort to form a coalition of peace: “A World against violence and extremism”.

    The US has nothing to lose in giving Iran a fair hearing. There is no threat from Iran to the US despite the claims by the alarmists to the contrary.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is not our mission to change Iran. It is not Iran that has been making the foolish claim, “The military threat is on the table” or the boast that we can do what we want when we want “at a time and place of our choosing.” The World is not that simple and the consequences of both foolish propositions cost the US plenty and have caused unfathomable suffering to others.

    Regardless of differences of opinion, no one can argue that our propositions and actions over the past twelve years have either been useful or successful. Common sense dictates a political recalibration and Iran is as good a place to start as any.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd say that we've started the change with Syria and are moving, almost in tandem with Iran.

      The New Yorker article is more than informative.

      http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/09/30/130930fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all

      Delete
    2. According to that piece the Iranians are pretty much calling the shots for Assad at this point in the civil war.
      Interesting in regards Iraq as well.

      I cannot recommend it enough, it is very informative, to say the least.

      Delete
    3. Hassan Rouhani says, in his own words, "The day that we invited the three European ministers [to the talks], only 10 centrifuges were spinning at [the Iranian nuclear facility of] Natanz... We could not produce one gram of U4 or U6 [uranium hexafluoride]... We did not have the heavy-water production. We could not produce yellow cake. Our total production of centrifuges inside the country was 150."
      Rouhani continues: "We wanted to complete all of these -- we needed time." He actually called the Europeans "human shields" against American efforts to halt the Iranian nuclear program. He then boasted that after he took responsibility for negotiations, the nuclear project grew to 1700 centrifuges, and that "We did not stop (negotiations), until we completed the project."

      Delete
    4. "Completed the project ...:

      The project is completed, the Iranians still do not have a nuclear weapon

      Now you are not being a literalist, anonymous.

      They needed 1700 centrifuges to to enrich the fuel rods for the 22 reactors they are planning on building, to be able to export fuel to the prospective clients in Venezuela and Nicaragua.

      The program of building centrifuges is complete, now they start on creating more fuel rods and more reactors.

      Guess you cannot comprehend what you cut and paste, either.

      Why do your standards of interpretation vary so widely?

      Delete


    5. desert ratWed Sep 25, 10:07:00 AM EDT
      "Completed the project ...:

      The project is completed, the Iranians still do not have a nuclear weapon



      How do you KNOW that? Do you have "secret" moles (as you claim that you have in the AZ FBI's office) to KNOW anything the Iranians are actually doing?

      Tell us oh Rat of your secret intel on Iran that can prove they do not have the "bomb".

      Now dont go all wiggly on us and change meanings...

      Dont tell us the absence of proof is proof.

      How do YOU know anything about the Iranian secret nuclear programs?

      Delete
  6. In the days leading up to Obama's and Rouhani's appearances at the U.N., American and Iranian officials were negotiating the possibility of a brief encounter between the leaders, Obama administration officials said. The last time an American and Iranian leader met was in 1977, before the U.S. cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran following the Islamic revolution and the siege of the American Embassy.

    The officials said the White House was open to the exchange, but the Iranians told them Tuesday that they couldn't have a leadership-level meeting at this point.

    "The Iranians have an internal dynamic that they have to manage and the relationship with the United States is clearly quite different than the relationship that Iran has with other Western nations," one senior administration official said.

    ReplyDelete
  7. As to the Iranian threat, The Iranians are still flying phantoms as a war plane. I was 19 years old when I saw my first in 1965 here:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bentwaters

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iran is a threat. But they play chess not checkers.

      They fight an asymmetrical fight.

      Box cutters were used on the most major attack on US soil in 60 years.

      So give us a break when you say they have no ways in harm us.

      Delete
    2. But it was not the Iranians that supported the box cutter attack upon the US. No indeed.

      That box cutter attack was financed through Saudi Arabian princes and bankers "The Golden Chain", organized by a son in one of the most influential Saudi Arabian families, named Osama bin Laden, Of the actual box cutter terrorists were Saudi citizens, all Wahhabi Sunni.

      There was no Iranian involvement in that attack.

      When folks claim that everything is a threat, nothing is.
      The boy that cried wolf.
      Scared of the dark and the bogie boogie man.

      The Iranians are no threat to the US unless it is attacked by the US.
      Even then the danger to the US is asymmetrical, not any type of existential threat.

      The sanctions are working, we have forced the Iranians to change their operational leadership and tactics.
      The G4+1 will gain access for the IAEA to impose a rigorous inspection regime on the Iranian nuclear program.
      The structure of the NPT will be preserved and the Iranians will become self-sufficient in the nuclear cycle, as is their right under the international treaties they are signatory to

      We will not trust much and verify everything..

      They will join the community of nations securing the benefits of the peaceful atom, along with their good customers in Japan, China, South Korea and India. Two of which countries which the US has fought major land and/sea wars with in the fairly recent past.

      Everything can seem to be a threat when you are afraid.

      Delete
    3. Been hitting the bong again rat?

      Your knowledge of the Iranians is simply amazing,. Didnt know you could learn so much from the back of those donkeys you ride.

      Delete
    4. The Hegelian Dialectic


      Hegelians are taught to use any stupid argument at their disposal that enrages their assigned opposite "side," their job is to fuel established conflicts and say anything they want, as long as it keeps the masses distracted.

      The more outrageous their behaviors, the more outrageous the response is from their gullible public followers.
      This is why hateful slurs, mocking, sneering, racial insults, un-humorous "jokes," accusations, slander and Godlike condemnations are such a big part of their repertoire.


      ;-)

      Delete
    5. Sounds like Rat's modus operandi to the "t"

      Delete
  8. The McDonnell F-101 was phased out as the new F4 was brought in.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I remember when I first arrived for my tour on the 'Connie'. They had an F-4 parked in the hangar bay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was a Wild Weasel ECM, The ultimate electronic warplane in the day.

      Delete
  10. Not your 1-hour tour. But a 4-year tour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. : ) … from your posts over the year Sam, we all know an hour would never be enough for you.

      Delete
  11. The stage was set for a historic meeting at the United Nations between President Obama and the new president of Iran on Tuesday. The White House reached out, but the meeting never happened.

    ...

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says his nation is prepared to immediately engage in stalled negotiations over its disputed nuclear program - but only under certain conditions.

    ...

    Rouhani said every issue can be resolved through moderation and rejection of violence.

    ReplyDelete
  12. On this day in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers played their final game at Ebbets Field. The franchise moved to Los Angeles the following season.

    ReplyDelete
  13. It was awe-inspiring to see the F-4's go straight vertical (loaded) off the runway at Danang.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They called it "the flying brick."

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

      Delete
    3. No match for the F16, F15, F18 or F35.
      Even the F5 with modern avionics and weapons systems.

      It'd be a "falling brick" if it met any of those five in air to air combat.

      Delete
    4. True, but for an 18 yr old that had never seen anything like that, it was something else. :)

      Delete
    5. General P, told the world that the US supplied air force of the UAE could defeat the Iranian air force on its own.


      Petraeus: The UAE's Air Force could take out Iran's

      By Josh Rogin Thursday, December 17, 2009

      U.S. Centcom commander Gen. David Petraeus said last week that the United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, has the capability to overpower Iran's Air Force.

      "The Emirati Air Force itself could take out the entire Iranian Air Force, I believe, given that it's got ... somewhere around 70 Block 60 F-16 fighters, which are better than the U.S. F-16 fighters," Petraeus said during remarks at a recent conference put on in Bahrain by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

      In a related development, the new nuclear agreement between the U.S. and the UAE entered into force today, with the signing ceremony presided over by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher and UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba.

      "In today's world, we must find ways to meet the demand for clean energy and to recognize the right that all nations have to pursue the peaceful use of nuclear power. But we need to achieve this balance without increasing the risk of the proliferation of nuclear weapons and material," Tauscher said.

      She praised the UAE for agreeing to import nuclear fuel, rather than producing it through reprocessing or enrichment.


      Interesting to note that the UAE could have reprocessed or enriched nuclear fuel themselves if they desired to, it would have been within the bounds of the NPT.

      Delete
    6. "The Emirati Air Force itself could take out the entire Iranian Air Force, I believe, given that it's got ... somewhere around 70 Block 60 F-16 fighters, which are better than the U.S. F-16 fighters," Petraeus said...

      Delete
    7. There was a U2 parked on the tarmac at Howard AFB, 1980/81 or so.
      The cockpit seemed "well used". almost "worn".

      The plane was just sitting there, cockpit open, no one around.

      Those were the days of wine and roses.

      Delete
    8. It was awe-inspiring to see the F-4’s go straight vertical (loaded) off the runway at Danang. Both squadrons from the 91st rotated TDY to Da Nang. Small World, and the sound of those fighters as they did that pole dance was awesome!

      Delete
    9. Your liver shook; your kidneys vibrated; I've felt nothing like, before, or since. :)

      Delete
  14. Blessed are the peacemakers ...

    Gas tank diplomacy

    Consider the global sanctions against Iranian oil. If substantial and verifiable agreements on Syria and nuclear weapons allowed us to resume the oil trade, even partially, it would become visible at the gas pump all but immediately. Pre-embargo, Iran was exporting 2.5 million barrels a day into the world market. Today, that figure is down to 1 million barrels since vast stretches of the world are no longer open to the mullahs' oil.

    When the screws were really tightened toward the end of 2011, crude prices were $86 a barrel. Today, they are $107. Returning, at least, to a $90 level and the price at the gas pump could easily be back below $3 a gallon, where we were as recently as the end of 2010. And that's not including the Syria risk premium.
    Remove that and you have even more cash in your pocket.
    That would be a stimulus to economies across the globe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iran's new president is a guy worth friending:
      David A. Andelman


      http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/23/iran-rouhani-obama-un-nuclear-weapons-column/2857865/

      Delete
    2. David A. Andelman is the editor of World Policy Journal, having previously served as the American executive editor at Forbes.com and was a news reporter for the New York Times, based in New York, ... Wikipedia

      Delete
  15. As for Rouhani, and Khamenei, we have no way of knowing just how serious they are (although, Obama should have some idea - after all, he has been reading their mail, and listening to their phone calls for years, right?)

    But, for a whole host of reasons, the U.S. would be crazy not to follow up, at least a little bit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Read that New Yorker piece, rufus.

      We were getting great cooperation from the Iranians until GW Bush killed the diplomatic effort with one word in one sentence of one speech.

      Mission Accomplished!

      Delete
    2. I just went back, and read it; a heck of a read. That guy, Suleimani, sounds like the stuff of heroic novels. :)

      Delete
    3. They may be tough guys, but I'm getting the feeling, more and more, that they're scared to death of Obama. I think Obama's got'em thinking that he'd just as soon bomb'em as look at'em. (hell, they might be right.) :)

      Delete
    4. Matt Helm was a pussy compared to that Iranian, Sulemani.

      The story does read like he is James Bond and M rolled into one character.
      If you look at it in an editorial sense.

      Not a religious fanatic, but a practical tactician.



      Delete
    5. As for Obama ...

      Q thinks it happenstance, the pieces falling into place, across the board.
      But it appears that the long term efforts of the US are paying off.
      For both US policy goals and Saudi interests.

      The first attempt at republican government in Egypt got off to a rocky start. It was becoming a tyranny by majority, and the military there, the US security partner, the Egyptian military, stepped in to reorganize the government. Preparing the way for a second attempt at republican government. The Saudi approving, as evidenced by their funding of the transitional government. The US maintaining its influence with the Egyptian military, the Suez remains open and the Russians have no Bears in Egypt.

      Libya, the long time enemy of the US has been removed. 1 million barrels of Libyan oil i off the world market. The Saudi and Gulf State Arabs profit from the tightened supply.

      Syria, the US has moved the Assad regime to accept the Chemical Weapons Treaty and all that is encompassed by that.

      Iran, economic sanctions are devouring the Iranian economy, they are being forced to the negotiating table with a weak hand. They have replaced the hardline operator with a diplomat, a person of apparent moderation. A man who says the right things.

      In Afghanistan the US combat footprint will begin to withdraw, next year. A good thing

      Delete
    6. desert ratWed Sep 25, 01:17:00 AM EDT
      Matt Helm was a pussy compared to that Iranian, Sulemani.

      The story does read like he is James Bond and M rolled into one character.
      If you look at it in an editorial sense.

      Not a religious fanatic, but a practical tactician.



      Roger that. Amazing piece of journalism. The part about the Taliban is absolutely fascinating.

      Delete
    7. The Gasoline Diplomacy piece mention that 1.5 million barrels of Iranian oil is held from the world market, each day.
      Again, profiting the Wahhabi in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States.

      In just those two instances the US has managed to take 2.5 million barrels of daily oil production of the market.
      Those Gulf states and Saudi Arabia are our staunch market and contacts in Arabia and thus their interests are our interests.
      The UAE alone has purchased at least 70 F16 fighters from ... ...drum roll ....

      .... General Dynamics .....

      Delete
    8. 2.5 million additional barrels sold at $107 plus the 10 million barrels of normal sales
      ................ vs ................
      2.5 million less barrels sold at $90 for the balance of the inventory, 10 million barrels per day

      Big swing in daily revenue for the Wahhabi Gulf states

      Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said in Sunday’s edition of his country’s al-Watan newspaper that “Saudi Arabia is able to produce 12.5 million barrels per day to meet the needs of the world market and satisfy any increase in demand from consumer countries.”

      Delete
    9. That extra cash generated to the Gulf states through minimal military activity in Libya is shifted and finances the transitional government in Egypt.

      The Gulf states finance the sectarian civil war in Syria, weakening the long term Israeli adversary, who is an pagan ruling in a Muslim land. This puts both military and political pressure on Iran at a time the economic sanctions are taking a big bite out of life for most Persians.
      Iranian oil sales revenue, alone, down 1.5 million barrels a day at around $90 to $100,
      $140 million per day, plus minus.

      Replacing Libyan stocks, 1 million barrels ... $95 million per day
      Funding the Egyptian transitional government, routed from the global market place through the Gulf states.

      Delete
    10. The $10 to $15 short supply premium on the balance of 10 million barrels of Wahhabi oil sold daily sold an additional $125 million a day in cash flow.

      Every one wins, but the consumer and economic growth.

      The cost of an existential conflict or just plain old war profiteering?

      General Butler learned it up close and personal, then he told US ....

      "War is a Racket!

      Delete
    11. Then, factor in increased oil production in the US under Obama and the ethanol making up over 10% of US gasoline consumption ....

      We have created an effective tax on China, Japan, India and South Korea that both funds US weapons sales to the Wahhabi and subsidizes Egyptian security forces and the transitional government.

      Delete
  16. Took my youngest brother out on a 'family cruise' on the Connie on the 7-day haul from Honolulu back to San Diego.

    Had a little local air show for everyone from the air wings attached. Standing on the flight deck. Comms guy says everyone plug your ears and look 'that way'. F-14 way off in the distance coming at us starting out looking light a little speck in the sky. Flew by us, right in front of us, treetop level at mach 1.

    Kid brother thought that was pretty impressive. Couldn't wipe the smile off his face for the rest of the day.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Secretary of State John F. Kerry will meet Thursday with Iran’s new foreign minister, also considered a moderate, in a rare high-level encounter between the two governments. That meeting will be part of wider international talks over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

    Rouhani said Tuesday that his country is prepared to talk. “We expect to hear a consistent voice from Washington,” he said, but also criticized a U.S. threat to use military force if there is no other way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

    That threat is an “ineffective contention,” Rouhani said. “Peace is within reach.”

    ReplyDelete
  18. Rouhani is a great man. A peaceful man. He promises us peace. Give peace a chance. He will write his promise down on a piece of paper. I am pleased with Obama Foreign Policy. He gets things done. Gets things done right. He is no war monger like Bush. Rouhani is no war monger like Bush. Michele Obama/Rouhani 2016! I have seen the future and it is bright like the sun shining at night.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uncle Rouhani is nice.

      child

      Delete
    2. from:

      "Fear and Loathing in Tehran"

      Delete
  19. “The danger for the world is that the United States … may disengage, creating a vacuum of leadership that no other nation is ready to fill. I believe that would be a mistake,” Mr. Obama said.

    “I believe America must remain engaged for our own security. I believe the world is better for it.

    Some may disagree, but I believe that America is exceptional — in part because we have shown a willingness, through the sacrifice of blood and treasure, to stand up not only for our own narrow self-interest, but for the interests of all,” he said.


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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know rufus, if the Mullahs have been watching FOX News they'd have learned just how violence prone the black male of America is....

      Especially those black fellas that wear golf shoes.

      Delete
    2. "the black male"

      Whoa, there, rough rider, you were the titan of moral thought who just yesterday was giving the world tutorial on NOT pointing the finger of guilt at GROUPS but only this individual, that individual.......

      This pygmy of thought can't recall his own advice from yesterday folks.

      Delete
    3. Just another in the continuing series as to why no one can do anything with this idiot other than point 'n laugh.....

      Delete
    4. Seems that humor through satire is beyond Anonymous's comprehension.

      Anonynous has become a literalist,

      Delete
    5. Satire?

      Jesus, that even makes it worse.

      Even in flippancy you use race and group identities.

      The Israeli, the Chi-Com, the black male.

      What an asshole.

      Delete
    6. desert ratWed Sep 25, 10:01:00 AM EDT
      Seems that humor through satire is beyond Anonymous's comprehension.



      Now that's deep...

      Mr Humor himself...

      What a drug addled moron..

      Delete
  21. IRS scandal figure Lois Lerner negotiating for immunity.....Drudge

    :):):):):):):):)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Haaaaaaaaaaa.......

    THE GREAT RAT got eviscerated at

    AnonymousWed Sep 25, 05:28:00 AM EDT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At least you can still recognize greatness when you are in its presence.
      There may still be hope for Shit for Brains.

      ;-)

      Delete
  23. A family of four in Dallas with a $50,000 household income could choose a bronze plan for as little as $26 a month, including the subsidies. A family of four earning $50,000 a year purchasing the least expensive bronze plan would pay $36 a month in Charlotte, N.C., $32 a month in St. Louis and $24 a month in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., including subsidies.




    Premiums for the cheapest silver plan on 36 state-based health insurance exchanges the federal government is at least partially managing are 16 percent lower than originally projected by the Congressional Budget Office, Cohen said.

    Less than a cell phone bill

    ReplyDelete
  24. Blessed are the peacemakers ....

    U.S. officials pledged to push onward with Iranian diplomacy on Tuesday, after Mr. Obama told the annual gathering of world leaders that he had ordered Secretary of State John Kerry to oversee engagement with Tehran.

    Those efforts are set to begin instead on Thursday in a meeting between Mr. Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and other envoys involved in nuclear negotiations.

    Mr. Rouhani forecast a thaw in his own U.N. address, which came on Tuesday afternoon, hours after Mr. Obama's speech.

    "Iran is seeking to resolve issues, not create problems. There is no issue or topic that cannot be resolved with hope, moderation, mutual respect and rejection of violence," Mr. Rouhani said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blessed are those that suffer the slings and arrows of derision and libel, in the pursuit of peace ...

      TEHRAN (FNA)- Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Hassan Firouzabadi Wednesday lauded President Hassan Rouhini's firm stances while addressing the 68th Annual Session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

      Firouzabadi said that, in his speech at UN on Tuesday, President Rouhani expressed firm and justice-seeking positions of the Iranian nation to the international community.

      Firouzabadi hailed President Rouhani’s wise approach at the international forum calling him a wise politician.

      On Tuesday, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi underlined Iran's full supports for President Hassan Rouhani in his mission in the 68th Annual Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, and wished him and his accompanying delegation full success there.

      “Rouhani has gone away on this trip mightily and with a very strong support and I hope he would gain appropriate results in that assembly,” the senior commander said.

      Delete
    2. It is a long and winding road to peace ...
      We can allow no detours to be imposed upon us by the war-mongers.

      Blessed are the peacemakers
      Cursed and damned are those that would stand in the way.

      . “Rouhani is showing voters that he is fulfilling his promises, and demonstrating to Obama that he can deliver on sensitive issues,” says Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council and author of several books on Iran. It was an adept move, demonstrating to the West Rouhani’s ability to control the levers of power within Iran, without making a concession to the U.S. that would weaken his standing at home.
      Now, says Parsi, “when Obama looks Rouhani in the eye and says ‘How do I know you can deliver on the nuclear issue?’ he can say ‘I just released 80 political prisoners. When was the last time you won against Congress?’”


      Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/09/24/forget-the-handshake-here-are-iran-president-rouhanis-real-challenges/#ixzz2fumCpe3K

      Delete
    3. We cannot allow warmongers and haters on either side of the sectarian divide to stop the pursuit of peace, prosperity and providence. The Iranians and the Israeli must be held to the same standards with regard nuclear energy

      Blessed are Mr Rouhani and President Obama, they are the peacemakers.
      Cursed and damned are those that would stand in the way.

      In an opinion piece in the Washington Post last week, Rouhani laid out his vision for Iran’s successful engagement with the West, as well as his case for continuing Iran’s nuclear-enrichment program:
      “To us, mastering the atomic fuel cycle and generating nuclear power is as much about diversifying our energy resources as it is about who Iranians are as a nation, our demand for dignity and respect and our consequent place in the world.”

      That is likely to become the biggest sticking point in any future negotiations. The U.S. wants to substantially limit the degree of enrichment, to the point of stopping it entirely


      The Iranians want the same sovereign authority that the UAE and Israel has to reprocess or enrich nuclear fuel.
      There is no reason to deny them that.

      There is nothing to fear, but fear itself

      Delete
  25. Did the Israeli advise the Kenyans to burn the mall, to save it?

    NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The militant group behind the takeover of a Nairobi mall claimed Wednesday that Kenyan government assault team carried out "a demolition" of the building, burying 137 hostages in rubble. A government spokesman denied the claim and said Kenyan forces were clearing all rooms, firing as they moved and encountering no one.

    I walked 47 miles of barbed wire, I use a cobra snake for a necktie
    I got a brand new house on the roadside, made from rattlesnake hide
    I got a brand new chimney made on top, made out of a human skull
    Now come on, take a little walk with me, Arlene and tell me:
    who do you love?
    who do you love?

    ReplyDelete
  26. As I said, I don't know if this is a "ploy," or if it's the real thing. None of us will know for awhile.

    However, let me point out: Iran's oil production is falling at about 10%/yr. For them not to be looking to other sources of energy in the future would be extremely stupid; and, be what they may, the Iranians are Not "extremely stupid" people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld both knew and acknowledged that the Iranians were in need of nuclear powered electrical generation, back in 1976

      Blessed are the peacemakers ....
      Cursed and damned are those that lie and dissemble in the attempt to put the United States on a path of war, misery and global financial ruin.

      On May 26, the editors of the Washington Post claimed that Iran has “no right” under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to process uranium. In a Letter to the Editor published by the Post on Saturday (June 2), Alireza Miryousefi of Iran’s mission to the UN wrote that the Post was simply wrong on that key point.

      The Iranian diplomat seemed to be quoting from the NPT in saying that it unambiguously recognized
      “the inalienable right of all of the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes without discrimination.”

      It turns out that it is word-for-word from the Treaty text.

      “Peaceful purposes” would include fueling nuclear power plants to generate electricity. But why, some ask, would Iran need those when it has so much oil and natural gas? President Gerald Ford asked that same question in 1976, before he was persuaded to approve a deal with the Shah of Iran, under which Westinghouse and General Electric were to make billions of dollars by supplying essentially the same full nuclear fuel cycle capability to Iran that Tehran now claims the right to create on its own.

      Ford’s principal aides, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, reminded the President that Iran’s demand for electrical power would inevitably increase and that its oil and gas resources would be depleted one day. In the interim, they explained, Iran coveted the hard currency it earns from selling its gas and oil on the international market.


      In the ensuing 37 years the Iranians need for hard currencies has increased, now the Iranians want to be in both the oil and nuclear power exporting business. Capitalists that they are, it is good on them for wanting to compete in the global free market of goods and services.

      It is evil incarnate to try to stop them through threats of force and violence because of distrust of their religious creed.

      Delete
    2. Threats of force and violence because of distrust of their religious creed...

      That would be discrimination, which is forbidden under the terms of the NPT

      Now I get it ;););)

      Delete
  27. I always thought that Rumsfeld was a swell feller
    Liked his wire rimmed glasses

    :):):)

    ReplyDelete
  28. .

    Fear and Hope - Yes to Peace, No to War - Words of Moderation from Iran, an Anchor of Stability in an Unstable Arena: Iran’s President Rouhani


    Whoa, boys.

    The peace train is an intoxicating ride but aren't we going a little crazy here?

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Anchor of Stability in an Unstable Arena...?


      The poetry is awe-inspiring.


      .

      Delete
    2. Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
      And I believe it could be, something good has begun

      Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
      And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come

      Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
      Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

      Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
      And I believe it could be, something good has begun

      Oh peace train sounding louder
      Glide on the peace train
      Come on now peace train
      Yes, peace train holy roller

      Everyone jump upon the peace train
      Come on now peace train

      Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too
      Cause it's getting nearer, it soon will be with you

      Now come and join the living, it's not so far from you
      And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true

      Oh peace train sounding louder
      Glide on the peace train
      Come on now peace train

      Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
      Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

      Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
      Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

      Oh peace train sounding louder
      Glide on the peace train
      Come on now peace train
      Yes, peace train holy roller

      Everyone jump upon the peace train
      Come on peace train
      Yes, it's the peace train

      Delete
    3. QuirkWed Sep 25, 11:43:00 AM EDT
      .

      Fear and Hope - Yes to Peace, No to War - Words of Moderation from Iran, an Anchor of Stability in an Unstable Arena: Iran’s President Rouhani


      Whoa, boys.

      The peace train is an intoxicating ride but aren't we going a little crazy here?

      ------------------------------

      Had you watched the video, you would recognize the quotes. Rouhani made them. All of them.

      Delete
  29. .

    Ash, I assume you will be watching the final race of the Americas Cup this afternoon.

    It's been an amazing comeback by Oracle to get to this place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually I stopped at race 7 and have been busy with other things. I thought Oracle was a gonner, so much so, I figured they might do a back room deal to make it look close. I'm guessing Oracle came back. Now I've got to get onto Youtube and catch up before someone else ruins the thrill for me.

      Remember that last Superbowl - a blowout and then the lights went out and, wonder upon wonders, they came back and...down to the wire - oh the other guy won. Good drama! They wouldn't engineer such a thing would they?

      jeeese I'm a cynical bastard. Gotta hop on Youtube...

      Thanks for the heads up!

      Delete
    2. ah shit! just saw the headlines. They came back. I got to the end of race 10 before finding out the result though. Darn good and close racing. Oracle won. It restores my faith in (money) sport. If it was engineered they would have given it to the Kiwi's. My cynicism has been pushed back. I'll still watch the races in sequence though. Amazing sailing machines and brilliant racing!

      Delete

  30. mismanagement, endemic to the ATF ...
    No matter who was President.
    From 2005 until 2012 the corruption runs rampant.

    WASHINGTON — Federal undercover investigations that allowed authorities to use more than $100 million generated from illegal tobacco trafficking could not account for millions of dollars linked to some of the 35 such investigations since 2006.

    Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, following a 7-year review of the income-generating undercover operations, faulted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for "a serious lack'' of management, finding that the investigations were never reviewed as required by the agency's Undercover Review Committee prior to their submission for approval.

    "Indeed, we were told that ATF's Undercover Review Committee did not meet between February 2005 and January 2012,'' the inspector general found.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In a written response to the inspector general's findings, ATF Director B. Todd Jones said the agency identified the problems in early 2011 and issued a directive calling for more "stringent controls and restrictions'' on how the funds are used.

      "Under current policy, income generating undercover operations are subject to detailed and rigorous application, review, approval and oversight mechanisms,'' Jones said.

      Those controls include required approval by the agency's Undercover Review Committee along with federal prosecutors in the national offices where the investigations originate.

      Delete
    2. .

      The ATF? The corruption, lack of accountability, and incompetence is endemic and is representative of the entire US government bureaucracy.

      Many of us here cite government statistics, yet...

      The GAO’s most recent report on the government’s consolidated financial statements identified major flaws in federal accounting that “(1) hamper the federal government’s ability to reliably report a significant portion of its assets, liabilities, costs, and other related information; (2) affect the federal government’s ability to reliably measure the full cost, as well as the financial and nonfinancial performance of certain programs and activities; (3) impair the federal government’s ability to adequately safeguard significant assets and properly record various transactions; and (4) hinder the federal government from having reliable financial information to operate in an efficient and effective manner.”

      Translated from the bureaucratese, the GAO said the federal government can’t account for its assets or debts, doesn’t know what it owns, is unable to track accurately what it buys, has no idea if most of its programs work and can’t provide taxpayers with creditable data about its financial condition. If GAO was talking about a Fortune 500 company instead of the federal government, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission would be filing criminal and civil charges against the CEO and numerous other top executives.


      http://washingtonexaminer.com/a-president-who-believes-his-own-baloney/article/2536247?utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20Reoccurring%20-%2009/24/2013&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest

      .

      Delete
  31. .

    Another 'if you say anything bad about Obama you are a racist' rant. This one (as with many) takes Lee Atwater's quote on race in the south out of context and misconstrues it and then as an appeal to authority uses Chris Mathews to support the authors points.

    Laughable if it hadn't become so tiresome.

    The Root) -- They know we can't prove it. We can deduce and infer from their actions, statements and policies. But we can't confirm that congressional Republicans, a bloc of nearly unbroken whiteness, and their media hatchet people are stealthily deploying race -- blackness -- to obstruct President Barack Obama at every turn.

    But obstructionists seldom give us concrete, irrefutable proof of gutbucket prejudice. When we think we have them cold, they'll use the I'm-rubber-you're-glue strategy. You're playing the race card, they'll say. In fact, you're the racists for bringing it up. It's the "nyah, nyah, nyah" of savvy -- or at least well-trained -- political machinists. These are men and women who have studied the playbook for Republican race-baiting drafted by party strategist and consigliere Lee Atwater.

    "By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' -- that hurts you. Backfires," said Atwater in 1981, quoted years later by New York Times columnist Bob Herbert. "So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff."


    http://www.theroot.com/views/obamas-real-problem-capitol-hill-race


    What Atwater said in the context that he said it.

    http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/06/what-did-lee-atwater-really-say.php


    .


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The same holds true of Israel, Q.
      Criticism of the secular state is proclaimed to be hatred of Judaism.

      It is the application of the Rules for Radicals.
      RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

      Delete
    2. Yawn. After thousands of anti-israel posts, anti-jewish posts, slanderous, blood libelous posts about Jews, slams about Judaism the Rat seeks to say "I am only criticizing the secular State of Israel"

      Can we say you are JUST FULL OF SHIT.

      Delete
    3. The Republican Party, "Racist?" Why, surely you jest.

      Delete
    4. Can we say you are JUST FULL OF SHIT.

      Why, yes we can.

      And we can add that Shitfull is always using the very group identities which he claims to deride.

      Delete
    5. .

      Geez, rat, your fixation on Israel borders on the pathological.

      .

      Delete
    6. He crossed that border YEARS ago.

      He's delusional

      Delete
    7. The Israeli are the greatest recipient of direct US aid,currently, annually, hisoticly.
      It is a financial ward of the United States.
      It's attitude towards the US is oneof disdain and disrespect, has been for decades.

      Our American friends offer us money, arms, and advice. We take the money, we take the arms, and we decline the advice. - Moshe Dayan

      Making Israel the object of interest.
      That interest resulted in study
      The study resulted in unwavering criticism of a socialist authoritarian and apartheid state in the Middle East, one of the last vestiges of Europeon expansionism dating back to the Greek invasion of Asia minor in 1194 BC, plus or minus.

      At any time during those hundreds, perhaps thousands of posts, the supporters of Israel had the opportunity to make their case. They tried.

      It was never persuasive.

      As long as the secular, socialist state of Israel is offered and accepts gifts of blood, guns or treasure from the United States desert rat will continue to point to Israeli actions that are repugnant to a free man, any believer in the American ideal of all men being created equal and endowed with their inalienable rights, equally..

      Hypercritical actions that the secular socialist state of Israel make, with respect to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be highlighted.

      The complicity of Israel in genocide, in the Americas, will not be swept under the table and ignored.

      Have a wonderful week.
      ;-)

      Delete
    8. RULE 6: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.” They’ll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They’re doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid “un-fun” activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)

      Delete
    9. .

      :)

      Our AIPAC friends have really gotten into your head, rat.

      No denying it.

      Were you to argue that those who accuse others of being anti-Semites merely because those others criticize the policies of the Israeli state share an affinity and tactics with those that employ race-baiting techniques, I would tend to agree with you. However, I look at your statement above,

      As long as the secular, socialist state of Israel is offered and accepts gifts of blood, guns or treasure from the United States desert rat will continue to point to Israeli actions that are repugnant to a free man, any believer in the American ideal of all men being created equal and endowed with their inalienable rights, equally..

      Pure bunkum and hypocritical to boot. You speak of the secular state of Israel yet you conflate the Jewish religion with that state when you bring in proclamations and protestations on moral issues by the Chief Rabbi. In the past, in a rare moment of honesty, you admitted you could give a shit about the poor innocents who lose their lives daily to abortion in Israel. Then, you pronounce how offended you are about Israeli involvement in Guatemala, a subject you found out about through a google search a few weeks ago, but say little about the continuing deaths that result from current US foreign policy.

      At any particular moment, you say one thing and then reverse yourself the next, an inconsistency that puts proof to the phrase, 'it is difficult to keep your lies straight'.

      Hypocritical but to be expected from a guy who proudly states he employs the rules for radicals. To me it is simply perverse.

      Have a wonderful week.

      :)

      .

      Delete
    10. Obviously, Q, I will have to continue on the Israel/Judaism meme until you do see the point.
      Which is not, I believe, hypocritical at all.

      The secular government of Israel proclaiming itself to be a Jewish homeland, a Jewish state, but not a theocracy.
      It claims to be a protector of Jews and Judaism. I do think that we can all agree to that.

      The state of Israel's raison d'ĂŞtre, the protected of Jews from the prejudices of the Europeons that the Judaic community was living amongst. What allen referred to as "The Jewish Problem". A problem which led to mass murder and genocide.

      Well and good.
      The administration of the state of Israel becomes the focus, it becomes into the spotlight because of the vast resources that the US has expended upon that small polity in the Middle East.

      Totally justifiable pursuit.

      The Israeli are a complicit party to genocide, in Guatemala. A point of fact entered in evidence in criminal court in the jurisdiction of the action. A point of fact well referenced in other historical and concurrent accounts of the actions.

      The Israeli government funds and manages a socialist health care society. It provides a system of doctors and hospitals, clinics and the like. It is world class. It provides for abortions, the stopping of a beating heart, the ending of a life, prematurely through human interaction. The vast majority of the patients, both mother and fetus are Jewish.

      That the fetus is Jewish a determination of Judaic court. I do not think that a secular court can make viable decisions concerning the presence of a soul and when it is manifested. I am not even sure that it is in the realm of secular jurisdiction to make such a decision.

      Again, I think to this we can agree.

      The Chief Rabbinate, the acknowledged expert on things Judaic claims that abortions amount to the murder of Jews.

      What is the raison d'ĂŞtre of the state of Israel?
      The protection of Jewish lives.

      What ever desert rat's position on abortion may or may not be has no relevance to the case at hand.

      The state Israel's raison d'ĂŞtre is the protection of Jewish life.
      The state of Israel sanctions and finances what the premier expert on Judaism calls the murder of Jews

      That goes directly to the heart of the state of Israel's credibility as a nation.
      It is violating it's raison d'ĂŞtre for seemingly minor economic reasons.
      The costs of raising the child.

      If you do not see the basic hypocrisy in that system, I'll just have to continue keep on keepin' on until you do.

      ;-)


      Delete
    11. As to understanding the application of Saul's rules, it's just fire on fire, Q, fightin' fire with fire.

      Be water, he said.....

      I will have a wonderful week, as I normally do.

      Delete
    12. It was not Saul who said ...

      ..... be water .....

      But it is appropriate

      Delete
    13. Yawn. It was saul who said, never trust an asshole with the name "rat"

      Delete
    14. .

      Obviously, Q, I will have to continue on the Israel/Judaism meme until you do see the point.

      Then you can stop. I believe I know the point.

      You parade expediency and false assumptions in conjunction with apparent lack of understanding of what secular means and expect anyone who has the ability to parse your words to buy your arguments.

      Earlier I used the word fixated and I didn't choose the word lightly. You allege faults associated with Israel but ignore those same faults in other countries in some of which the actions are much more egregious. You ignore it when you own country does the same even on a larger scale.

      You conflate secular government with religious doctrine. You ignore the fact that there are many denominations of Jews and that half of them could give a flying fuck what the Chief Rabbi says. You ignore the fact that the Chief Rabbi's pronouncements have little to influence on civil law other than as an opinion reflecting the views of a certain portion of the Jewish population.

      You argue that the Israeli government has the duty to protect its citizens but you ignore the fact that every other government has the same duty and yet most of them have abortion rates double that of Israel.

      If your intent in continuing on this silly path is to continue to try to convince those like me of the truth of your faulty logisms, defective syllogisms, and impaired logic, then you have truly achieved job security within your ill-advised avocation.

      .

      Delete
    15. .

      Instead of "...anyone..." I should have posted "...even those..." followed by 'who have the ability to parse your words'.

      Delete
  32. desert ratWed Sep 25, 10:07:00 AM EDT
    The project is completed, the Iranians still do not have a nuclear weapon


    Love the assurances that the Rat gives us. Like HE's in a position to KNOW anything.

    Let's be honest. The CIA has screwed the pooch HOW MANY TIMES?

    Nukes in North Korea. NOPE
    Nukes in Pakistan NOPE
    Iran's Fordor. NOPE.
    The Fall of the Berlin Wall NOPE
    The fall of the Shah NOPE
    Saddam's WMD NOPE.

    Not a record I'd trust.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SHITFULL has told us the Iranians are not even seeking a nuclear weapon.

      They do not have a nuclear weapons program, just a nuclear program, SHITFULL, told us.

      If they had a nuclear weapons they would call it a nuclear weapons program and not a nuclear program.

      They don't call it that so they don't have a nuclear weapons program, only a nuclear program, SHITFULL assured us.

      (I am not making this up)

      Delete
    2. Sorry, should have said, I am not making this shit up.

      Delete
  33. Which Party, Rufus, has the most members that continually use the term 'cracker' when referring to whites?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Dems, of course; however, I am quite sure that, were I a black man, I'd call whites "crackers" from time to time, also.

      Delete
    2. :) Ted Cruz just voted against his own filibuster.

      You couldn't make this shit up.

      Delete
    3. .

      Hmmm. Is that a rationalization or a justification?

      I guess I'll have to check with the expert, Chris Matthews.

      .

      Delete
    4. But if we called a black man "nigger" it would be un-acceptable. As it should. The term "cracker" is quite un-acceptable as well but there is a double standard.

      Delete
    5. Cracker, a term derived from White folk crackin' the heads of them Black folk. ...
      ....... or

      it turns out cracker's roots go back even further than the 17th century. All the way back to the age of Shakespeare, at least.

      "The meaning of the word has changed a lot over the last four centuries," said Dana Ste. Claire, a Florida historian and anthropologist who studies, er, crackers. (.)

      Ste. Claire pointed me to , published sometime in the 1590s. One character refers to another as a craker — a common insult for an obnoxious bloviator.

      What craker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?

      "It's a beautiful quote, but it was a character trait that was used to describe a group of Celtic immigrants — Scots-Irish people who came to the Americas who were running from political circumstances in the old world," Ste. Claire said. Those Scots-Irish folks started settling the Carolinas, and later moved deeper South and into Florida and Georgia.

      But the disparaging term followed these immigrants, who were thought by local officials to be unruly and ill-mannered.

      "In official documents, the governor of Florida said, 'We don't know what to do with these crackers — we tell them to settle this area and they don't; we tell them not to settle this area and they do," Ste. Claire said. "They lived off the land. They were rogues."

      By the early 1800s, those immigrants to the South started to refer to themselves that way as a badge of honor and a term of endearment. (I'm pretty sure this process of reappropriating a disparaging term sounds familiar to a lot of y'all.)

      Delete
    6. Quirk, you ninny, it's a Raison d'ĂŞtre,an eaten raisin..

      Delete
    7. It was in the late 1800s when writers from the North started referring to the hayseed faction of Southern homesteaders as crackers. "[Those writers] decided that they were called that because of the cracking of the whip when they drove slaves," Ste. Claire said. But he said that few crackers would have owned slaves; they were generally too poor. (That of course, doesn't mean they weren't participants in the South's slave economy in other ways.)

      Ste. Claire said that by the 1940s, the term began to take on yet another meaning in American inner cities in particular: as an epithet for bigoted white folks. But he wasn't sure how it happened. (I'm hazarding a guess here, but this would have been during , as millions of black people from the South were moving to the North and West and fleeing Southern racism. They might have carried cracker with them as a shorthand for whites back in the Jim Crow South.)

      In the 1990s, some officials in Highlands County, Fla., decided to name a new school the Cracker Trail Elementary school. Their hope was to honor the area's history; the school sat near . But many in the county weren't having it.

      "African-Americans protested because they thought it was racist and whites protested because they thought it was racist," Ste. Claire said. (The school kept the name.)

      Delete
    8. ... have been during THE HEIGHT OF THE GREAT MIGRATION, as millions of black ...

      http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/07/01/197644761/word-watch-on-crackers

      Delete
  34. Where does the term cracker come from anyway? I haven't a clue about that. What's behind it? Anybody know?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To lazy and/or ignorant to follow your own curiosity.

      Google search ....

      "cracker racial"

      an abundance of informative options to further your knowledge arise.

      Thread up, you can see two of the answers.
      The first from a Marine Corps veteran


      Delete
  35. What craker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?


    Why, by gosh, SHITFULL made Shakespeare!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Hegelian ...

      Hegelians are taught to use any stupid argument that may enrage the opposite side,
      This is why hateful slurs, mocking, sneering, racial insults, un-humorous "jokes," accusations, slander and Godlike condemnations are such a big part of their repertoire.

      ;-)

      Delete
  36. RULE 3: “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.”
    Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
    (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Dimwitted Duo continue to reference my time in the US Army in Panama as a murderous episode in desert rat's biography.

      Funny stuff, as it leads to an opportunity to reexamine the story of Israel's complicity in genocide in Guatemala.



      Delete
    2. The desert rat's supposed time as a mercenary in the conflicts of Central America, made up whole clothe by quot the fictionalist. Believed by Farmer Fudd, to his own detriment on his road to an infirmity of inanity.

      While Israeli complicity in mass murder and genocide is documented, the Guatemalan primarily responsible, prosecuted and convicted in Guatemala. The US justice system still in pursuit of those that were there.

      Naturalized US citizen accused of role in Guatemala military massacre
      Jorge Sosa was extradited to Los Angeles from Canada in 2012.
      By Amy Taxin, The Associated Press

      RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A naturalized U.S. citizen was yesterday accused taking part in the massacre 160 Guatemalan men, women and children and then lying about it on his application for American citizenship.

      Prosecutors in the Riverside, Calif. courtroom claimed that as a member of the Central American country's military, Jorge Sosa helped to command the slaughter of the victims who were beaten with a sledgehammer, thrown down a well, shot and grenaded by the army.

      In opening statements of what is expected to be an eight-day trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeannie Joseph told jurors that Sosa was part of a patrol that descended upon the village of Dos Erres searching for stolen weapons in 1982.

      They decided to kill all of its residents after some of the soldiers began raping the women and children, she said.

      The villagers were taken to a well and hit over the head with a sledgehammer before being thrown inside. When one of the villagers cried out, Sosa fired his rifle and threw a grenade inside, Joseph added.


      These were members of the Guat Army, troops that Rios Mont said were trained by the Israeli, armed by the Israelis and often led by Israeli "advisers".

      Let's continue to talk about issues outside the Dimwitted Duo's fields of expertise, parve chocolate and watching the cat pissin' on slippers ...

      Delete
    3. Yawn...

      So now Rat's an innocent "war criminal" and has to shift the guilt to the Israelis..

      How quaint.

      Fucking anti-semite.

      Delete
  37. A Bloomberg Poll published today shows the President's favorability rating far lower than that of Israel.

    You can sputter, spew, and regurgitate obsessively about "The Jew", but you cannot change the numbers.

    If Israel takes military action or goes to war, the American public will be on board as they always have. The slaughter in Syria covers a multitude of so-called Israeli sins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Who has even used he term ...

      ..."The Jew" ....

      on this blog?
      When, Where, in what context?

      You are attempting the creation of a "Straw man"

      Delete
    2. Notice how the "rat" claims innocence? He will misdirect, distort and change meanings of words to win his own argument.

      What was that line?

      What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet;

      Yep Rat tries (and fails) to divert his obsessed, Jew hatred, Israel hatred, Judaism bashing screeds as never using the term "the Jew"...

      Rat? fuck you anti-semite.

      Delete
    3. I've never read a post, or comment, where you or Deuce made any references to "The Jew," Rat; and, I know damned well that I've been careful not to use such phraseology.

      Delete
    4. Exactly, rufus.

      They are attempting to implement the Hegelian tactics of hateful slurs, mocking, sneering, racial insults, un-humorous "jokes," accusations, slander and Godlike condemnations.

      Make false claims and then claim that their accusations are ...
      "Inaccurate but True"

      The boys back at the Belmont Club used to go and on about how "Liberals" would attempt to use what appears to be a Hegelian tactic.

      Delete
    5. "Let's continue to talk about issues outside the Dimwitted Duo's fields of expertise, parve chocolate and watching the cat pissin' on slippers ..."

      Notice the "parve chocolate" slur?

      Perfect example of Rat using the "Hegelian tactics of hateful slurs, mocking, sneering, racial insults, un-humorous "jokes," accusations, slander and Godlike condemnations."

      What an asshole you are Rat.

      Delete
    6. Both Accurate and True.

      And I'm loving every minute of it!

      Ahhh Haaaa!

      We'll just keep on keepin' on,


      Delete
    7. desert ratWed Sep 25, 05:12:00 PM EDT
      Both Accurate and True.


      That you are an asshole and an anti-Semite?

      Or that you are simple criminal and need professional help?

      Delete
    8. No one put up any comment using the term “the Jew” on this blog. Had they, I would have taken it down.

      Delete
    9. There you go Deuce, not answering the post and misdirecting.

      The "term" is not what is in question.

      rat's (yours as well) constant screeds about israel, aipac, jews, jewish leaders speak clearly enough.

      You dont have to scream fire in a firehouse specifically to be guilty of pouring the gas, lighting the flame and arranging to lock the doors...

      Delete
    10. Israel is a nation state run by politicians. Aipac is an agent of that state whose entire reason to being is to influence American politicians to favor the Israeli politicians. If I don’t like the mafia, that doesn’t make me dislike Italians. If I did dislike Italians, that does not mean I dislike Catholics. I can dislike all religious people and like everyone else.

      Israel is not one of my favorite countries. Neither is Greece, Turkey or Russia. I prefer Italy, France, Sweden, Costa Rica and Sicily.

      Your metaphors need some work.

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Read between the lines, rufus!

      Use the AIPAC decoder ring!

      Only the self-anointed can even see between the lines, Searching to find those hidden meanings they so desperately desire.

      In other words, he is making it up as he goes along.....

      Delete
    2. It's there, rufus, in between the pixtals ...

      A secret computer code, between the pixtals, here at .The Libertarian!

      Such computing power! The software package desert rat must have to implant the code, and for quot to discern it, to break the "desert code", right there with Dan Brown and Tom Hanks.

      Get yourself one of those AIPAC decoder rings, rufus, then you will gain the power to read between the pixtals, too.

      Delete
    3. In other words. Your THOUSANDS of posts weave a pattern.

      Even the blind can smell the Rat droppings..

      No one with a brain that visits here has any other take away than you are a jew hating, Israel obsessed/bashing asswipe.

      Take it to the bank.

      EVERYONE HERE KNOWS you're a dick. EVERYONE HERE KNOWS you are delusional about Israel, Jews, AIPAC, Lester Crowne and other topics concerning Judaism, Israel and Jews.

      The more you protest (inbetween additional screeds about Israel and Jews) the more you look like a raving delusional anti-semite. If I was the AZ FBI? I'd be WATCHING you to make sure you didnt go shoot up a Jewish Community Center.

      You are the poster boy for being a shooter.

      Hey homeland security? YA LISTENING???? Hey AZ FBI? Ya listening?

      We have already called the AZ FBI on you. I hope they are..

      Delete
    4. ;-)

      Call 'em again, this time with GUSTO!!!

      Delete
    5. No need, they KNOW who you are. You have admitted that yourself. And when you alerted them that you were concerned by CALLING the AZ FBI and inquiring about the complaint made about you? You alerted them again..

      they are watching.

      It might take time to build a case. But they will, for that I am assured.

      Delete
    6. You really do not know how to read, do you?

      Any way, sure the FBI guys know e.
      Not ashamed to say it.

      They can investigate away,
      Rattling your cage, but I'll tell you guys, I'm secure as a bug in a rug

      You should have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

      Man up!

      Little wonder the Iranians scare the bejeeezeus out of you people in Israel.

      Delete
    7. I am "people" in America.

      But you do seem to not have a grasp on real geo-polotics.

      The old saying applies to you. Ignorance is bliss.

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

    ReplyDelete
  40. Rule 5 -“Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

    I would surmise, quot that when you call me names that is an attempt on your part to implement Rule #5.
    It comes off as childish and unworthy of the bytes and pixtals used to produce them.

    Now when the desert rat engages Rule #5, only those that can read between the lines even know its there.

    Implementing secret knowledge, quot, that is what Dan Brown was writing about.
    How about you?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I call you what you are,....

      really simple..

      Delete
    2. The responses are improving, maybe the point is sinking in.
      We should all be polite, in our public discourse.

      Common courtesy, you know.

      No unsubstantiated charges of criminality.
      That'd be a start, but only a start on the road to redemption, peace and prosperity.

      Delete
    3. We would be well within the Blogger Code of conduct, let alone the "Law", to all be just a bit more polite.

      A little less feces-centric is our posts and proclamations.



      Delete
    4. Desert Rat: The responses are improving, maybe the point is sinking in.
      We should all be polite, in our public discourse.

      Common courtesy, you know.



      this coming from one who has physically threatened 2 of us on this blog.

      the polite murderer Rat insists he is...

      Delete
  41. Oh, just for shits and giggles, when referencing Saul's Rules for Radicals, the (comments inside the parentheses) were made by Glenn Beck. ;-)

    http://www.bestofbeck.com/wp/activism/saul-alinskys-12-rules-for-radicals

    Glenn Beck, the foremost promoter of Saul Alinsky on the web.
    There is sort of an paradox in that, I can just sense it

    ReplyDelete
  42. According to Bloomberg Polling published today, Mr. Obama's favorability rating is far less than that of Israel.

    You can sputter, spew, and regurgitate obsessively about "Israeli", but you cannot change the numbers.

    If Israel takes military action or goes to war, the American public will be on board as they always have. The slaughter in Syria covers a multitude of so-called Israeli sins.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Sept 25 (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister expressed hope on Wednesday that a meeting with top diplomats from the United States and five other powers this week will jump-start negotiations to resolve the decade-long dispute over the Iranian nuclear program.

    Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as well as diplomats from Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany on Thursday in New York in a rare encounter between American and Iranian officials.

    Asked what he expected from the meeting with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany, Zarif said
    : "a jump-start to the negotiations ... with a view to reaching an agreement within the shortest span."

    U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday cautiously embraced overtures from Iran's new centrist president, Hassan Rouhani, as the basis for a possible nuclear deal and challenged him to take concrete steps toward resolving the issue.

    Speaking after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, he added "The Islamic Republic has the political readiness and political will for serious negotiations and we are hopeful that the opposite side has this will as well."

    "We (Zarif and Fabius)... had a good discussion about the start of nuclear talks and the talks that will take place tomorrow at the foreign ministerial level between Iran and the P5+1,"
    Zarif said, referring to the so-called P5+1 group comprising the five Security Council powers plus Germany.

    ReplyDelete
  44. That is a tad more accurate, not at all racist.
    Purely political.

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Not "Inaccurate but True" ...

    Mea Culpa, I had it all wrong!

    "FALSE BUT ACCURATE"

    That's the phraseology I misremembered, man oh man.

    That's what the fellas at BC were always going on about.

    "FALSE BUT ACCURATE"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dan Rathergate,

      Dan Rather slandered GW Bush with "Fake but Accurate" documentation from the Texas ANG.

      "FALSE BUT ACCURATE"

      Lovely piece of work.

      Delete
    2. Slander as practiced by CBS!

      Is it part of a patterned behavior just practiced by "Liberals" or do AIPAC agents and Neo-Cons use the "False but Accurate" standard for truth telling, too?

      Delete
    3. Do you?

      You said you had a "source" inside the AZ FBI, and when pressed you even said you were told secret "intel", and yet you doubt that WE KNOW your name...

      Hmmm..

      Just call your informant at the AZ FBI .....

      Delete
  46. (Reuters) - After weeks of haggling, the United States, Russia, France, China and Britain have agreed on the core of a U.N. Security Council resolution to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, three Western diplomats said on Wednesday, but Russia denied such an agreement and insisted work was "still going on."

    The development came after the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the council met over lunch with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier in the day, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    The three diplomats said a draft resolution could be presented to the full 15-nation council soon, and the five permanent members would also meet on Friday to discuss a proposed Syria peace conference in Geneva.

    "It seems that things are moving forward," said a Western diplomatic source, adding that there was "an agreement among the five on the core."

    "We are closer on all the key points," he said. A third diplomat also suggested that a deal on the draft resolution was within reach.

    But Russia rejected suggestions by the Western diplomats that there was an agreement on the core of a draft resolution.

    "This is just their wishful thinking," the spokesman for Russia's U.N. delegation said. "It is not the reality. The work on the draft resolution is still going on."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Egypt ruled above the fold, then that was bumped for a US assault on Syria, which led to the news of negotiations about destruction of Syrian chemical weapon stocks....
      Which got bounced from the front page when the Iranians started talking about talking.

      That really remains the lead, above the fold story, still.

      All of which so far, leaves the US sitting with the biggest pile of chips and a stacked deck in that Chi-town card dealer's hands.

      Delete
  47. Interesting, the two men who accuse us of using hateful, racist language are the ones that routinely call me a drunken "Injun."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And think nothing of it when they do.
      The two of them are in a League of Their Own".

      Delete
    2. It reminded me that I've gone and missed "cocktail hour," again. :)

      Delete
    3. Yep when I hear you doing all you can to be racist towards my tribe, dam straight i give it right back at ya...

      Is your skin to thin?

      Delete
  48. Ah but you've called a dumb Swede a Viking and all manner of other stuff.

    Besides nobody said all injuns were drunks, just you.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  49. You even have put up pictures of dumb looking Vikings storming beaches, if you recall. I sure do. (weeps here)

    Pictures!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't remember that (however, I doubt that it matters, since the majority of my geneology is from Denmark, and Holland.)

      Delete
    2. Damn Viking too!!

      Delete
    3. Actually Rufus that makes you exactly what my 100% Swede aunt always said she wanted to be: mixed Native American and nordic.

      Delete
    4. Actually Rufus that makes you exactly what my 100% Swede aunt always said she wanted to be: mixed Native American and nordic.

      Delete