IS THE SUN PEEKING THROUGH THE WAR CLOUDS?
By: Patrick J. Buchanan
9/19/2013 04:29 PM
9/19/2013 04:29 PM
Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is sometimes credited with the proverb, “God has a special providence for fools, drunks and the United States of America.”
Observing the unfolding of the Syrian crisis, the Iron Chancellor was an insightful man.
In August, we were hours away from missile strikes on Syria and involvement in its civil war with the possibility that Hezbollah, Iran and Russia would be drawn in.
Seeking a way out of the box into which he gotten himself with his “Assad Must Go!” and “red line” bluster, President Obama announced he was going to Congress to get its backing, before bombing.
This ignited a Middle American uprising against Obama’s war. Then John Kerry said Syria could evade the terrible swift sword of Barack Obama only by surrendering all their chemical weapons within a week.
Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, watching the United States careening toward a war that Russia no more wanted than did most of Congress, seized upon Kerry’s statement and said: Let us work together to rid Syria of chemical arms.
Obama grabbed the life preserver.
To say the War Party is apoplectic at Obama for blowing this chance to get us into war with Syria, which held real promise of sucking us into a war with Iran, is an understatement.
The worst peace scare in memory is sweeping through the think tanks of Washington.
Conceding the incompetence of how Obama and Kerry got us into this mess, are we not in a far better place than a month ago?
–A U.S. war on Syria has been averted. We are not killing Syrians.
–Assad has conceded he has chemical weapons and has shown a willingness to have inspectors come in and remove it.
–The chilly, almost Cold War-like relations between Obama and Putin have given way to cooperation in getting these chemical weapons chronicled and removed.
–While this disarmament may take years, this is a powerful incentive for America and Russia to bring about a cease-fire, truce or end to this civil-sectarian war that has taken so many thousands of lives.
–There is a rising realization in the United States that the enemy in Syria is not Assad but the al-Qaida fighters and their allies. A victory for the rebels could mean mass martyrdom for Syria’s Christians and the annihilation of the Alawites.
–Hassan Rouhani, the new prime minister of Iran, has gone on U.S. television to declare Iran is not only not building an atom bomb, it will never do so. And he has signaled a willingness to prove it in return for a lifting of sanctions and readmission to the world community.
–A U.S.-Iranian meeting appears possible next week at the U.N., which could lead to direct negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
There is always a possibility an incident could turn the United States back toward the bellicosity of August and put the War Party back in the saddle. But there are reasons to be hopeful. And that hope is not based on some naive trust in the truth of what we are being told by our adversaries, but on what their own cold interests dictate.
Take Russia. A U.S. attack on Syria would surely lead to deeper U.S. involvement, the fall of Assad, the loss of her principal ally in the Arab world and her naval base at Latakia, and a loss of prestige at having been proven unable to protect her Syrian ally from the Americans.
A U.S. war on Assad’s regime could also mean a victory for Islamists and their capture of some of Assad’s chemical weapons, which could turn up in the Caucasus just in time for the Sochi Olympics.
Take Iran. She is suffering from the sanctions. Failure to do a deal on her nuclear program carries a rising risk the War Party will get its way and the United States will launch air and missile strikes, leading to a war in the Persian Gulf. No matter the damage this might do to America and the global economy, Iran could be set back decades. A breakup of Iran is possible, as Iraq is breaking up.
And what would an atom bomb do for Iran? The Saudis would acquire one, and the Israelis would put their hundreds on a hair trigger.
If America was not intimidated by thousands of nuclear weapons in Soviet silos and on Soviet submarines, does Tehran think an Iranian bomb is going to frighten the Americans out of the Gulf?
Take Syria. Assad wants to survive and emerge victorious from his civil war. That means no war with the United States. That means meeting the Americans at least halfway.
In short, the United States, Russia, Syria and even Iran have a cold interest in no wider war in Syria. Unfortunately, powerful forces across the Middle East, and right here in River City, believe they have a vital interest in bringing about just such a war.
Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?”
Carney says, Obama is willing to meet with Rousani at the U.N.
ReplyDeleteThis "diplomacy" stuff seems to be catching.
It's called "appeasement".
DeleteAssad gets to murder his own citizens by bullets, bombs and gas and he gets to stay in power.
The Israeli could move to stop the slaughter.
DeleteIf there was a moral cause or humanitarian reason to act, the Jewish people of Israel will step up to the plate and hit the long ball.
We beat the Syrians before, we can do it again!
But who really cares if the Muslims are killing Nazis in Syria.
Or the Nazi are killing Muslims.
Not acting in the Syrian civil war is not appeasement, it is good self defense preparedness.
On this day in 1777, American soldiers were victorious in the first Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolutionary War.
ReplyDeleteHe might be wearing a 'white hoodie'.
ReplyDeleteTime to break out in open celebration.
Washington Post Poll:
ReplyDelete80% Support the President's result in Syria (vs. a military strike.)
The chickenhawks are taking a beating.
You mean people like Nancy Pelosi?
DeleteWasn't she for bombs away a few days ago?
What exactly has the President accomplished in Syria today?
What are the results?
Just asking....
The boil has been lanced.
DeleteA survey, by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a U.S. think tank that promotes cooperation between North America and Europe, and the Compagnia di San Paolo, an Italy-based private foundation, measured public opinion in 11 European Union countries, Turkey and the U.S.
The poll found 62 percent of Americans and 72 percent of Europeans believed their countries should avoid military intervention in Syria's civil war.
Only 30 percent of Americans and 22 percent of Europeans felt their countries should intervene in Syria.
In Turkey, which borders Syria, 72 percent said their country should stay out, while 21 percent favored intervention.
In all regions, the survey found a hardening of attitudes against outside intervention, compared with last year.
Opposition to Western intervention in Syria was reflected in the parliamentary defeat British Prime Minister David Cameron suffered last month, when he sought approval for a motion that would have authorized military action in principle.
The U.S. and Russia agreed last Saturday on a proposal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, averting the possibility of any immediate U.S. military action.
On Iran, Europeans and Americans said economic sanctions were the best way to prevent the acquisition of nuclear weapons.
That last statement is where the argument resides. For the reason that many people, the more thoughtful types, think sanctions will never do it. Maybe a naval blockade. A bombing campaign.
DeleteSo you end up accepting an Iran with nukes, using force in some manner, hoping for Israel to come to the rescue, or writing to the wish fairy.
That last statement is where the argument resides. For the reason that many people, the more thoughtful types, think sanctions will never do it. Maybe a naval blockade. A bombing campaign.
DeleteSo you end up accepting an Iran with nukes, using force in some manner, hoping for Israel to come to the rescue, or writing to the wish fairy.
Once again, Anonymous misrepresents.
DeleteThe question is not even about Iran.
It has nothing at all to do with nuclear weapons.
Nothing to do with Israel and rescue.
The question is how far is the US willing to go to ensure the Wahhabi maintain effective control and domination of the world's oil market.
How much does the US have to do to maintain the Wahhabi oil hegemony.
How fearful will the citizens of the United States have to be of their future to send their sons marching off to a foreign war, just one more time?
First Iran, then Russia will be targeted.
Ah, the article is written by Pat Buchanan.
ReplyDeleteOOOh, a man not afraid to tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteThank you Deuce I take that as a compliment to myself.
Delete:)
Pat is many things. Including an isolationist.
DeleteHe didn't used to be, did he?
DeleteSeems to me he was one of the Neo-Cons for a while but I may be thinking of someone else.
Now the Neo-Cons are lead by Nancy Pelosi, or something.
It's so confusing....!
It only confuses the addled, infirm or demented
DeleteI'm more interested in this tonight -
ReplyDeleteSeptember 18, 2013
What John Adams Foretold Has Come True
By W.A. Beatty
John Adams, in 1787, said:
Property is surely a right of mankind as really as liberty. ... but the time would not be long before courage and enterprise would come, and pretexts be invented by degrees, ... in sharing it equally with its present possessors. Debts would be abolished first; taxes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others; and at last a downright equal division of every thing be demanded, and voted. What would be the consequence of this? The idle, the vicious, the intemperate, would ... sell and spend all their share, and then demand a new division of those who purchased from them. ... anarchy and tyranny commence.
The entire Adams passage is well worth the time it takes to read and understand it. I want to examine (in no particular order) some of Adams's thoughts and see how he foretold, over 200 years ago, the situation in which we live today.
1. "[T]axes laid heavy on the rich, and not at all on the others[.]" Let's begin with an easy one -- taxation. According to Dr. Walter E. Williams, "[r]oughly 47 percent of Americans pay no federal income tax." Of the approximately 53 percent who do pay income tax, the following table illustrates Adams' point, that "taxes are laid heavy on the rich."
Income
Percent Taxes Paid
Top 1%
36.73%
Top 5%
58.66%
Top 10%
70.47%
Top 25%
87.30%
Top 50%
97.75%
Bottom 50%
2.25%
Source: National Taxpayers Union
Remember, the above chart applies only to income tax payers, omitting those who don't pay income tax at all but still vote. To try to justify this gross tax inequity, Dear Leader Barack Hussein Obama introduced the concept of "fairness" -- that the rich should pay their fair share of taxes. But (and there's always a "but" when Obama is involved) the "rich" pay much more than their fair share when it comes to income tax. Those "non-rich" (let's say the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers) paid, in 2009 (the most recent year for which data is available), 2.25 percent of all income taxes paid.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/09/what_john_adams_foretold_has_come_true.html#ixzz2fOVZG9na
This good article is at American Thinker if anyone is interested, it is a long article.
DeleteJohn Adams, now there's a prophet.
.
DeleteWhen you see that in many states in the US it can pay more not to work than to work, you know things are screwed up with this country and with our tax codes. A lot of things need to change.
However, it is unlikely we will ever get a significant revision to the tax codes. First, too many people are getting rich off the code as it is. And second, when the negotiations begin both sides start out the negotiations with ridiculous arguments such as that in the American Thinker article. [Note: My last statement referred to the part of the article that was posted. Obviously, I didn't read an article from the American Thinker.]
As with most of those that argue for lower tax rates on the rich they ignore the fact that individual income taxes only account for about 45% of federal revenues. Corporate taxes account for 10%, excise and other for about 9%, and payroll taxes, which generally affect low and middle income workers more than it does the wealthy, are about 35% . They obviously don't want to talk about total tax burden, state and local taxes for instance. They always want to confine the conversation to total income taxes paid not to total tax rates on income.
They ignore the fact that the rich can afford decent tax lawyers rather than just the H&R Block guy who starts his training in October. They talk about advantages to the poor of things like the earned income credit but ignore those advantages that are skewed to the rich, things as simple as the mortgage interest deduction.
They cry about the poor overtaxed rick guy yet fail to recognize that's where the money is. They ignore the increasing income disparity in this country which is abetted to some degree by the tax code.
.
So, Q, are ready for a complete tax code overhaul, or do you just want to change the n.ame of the administrator?
Delete.
DeleteI was ready for a complete tax overhaul many moons ago. If I was as silly as John of Patmos, I would be holding my breath waiting for it to happen.
There may be some tweeking (maybe even some twerking) before it is over, but there will be no major changes. Too many influential people getting rich the way it is.
As for a change in administration, the Dems and the GOP each have their masters. Unfortunately, in most cases they are the same people.
.
A meeting of the minds ...
DeleteSuch a wonderful thing.
That John of Patmos, he was an interesting author. I have read that the mold on the bread he was eating caused hallucinations. His visions of of a New Jerusalem, 13 gates, one for each Judaic tribes and without a gate for the Gentiles or Christians probably just a "bad trip".
Not a divine vision.
Without a gate, how would the Gentiles get into the city?
That John of Patmos, a Jews Jew, no doubt about it. He knew who the King of the Jews really was.
He definitely was not impressed by Saul of Tarsus or the message he brought to the Jews in Greece and Rome.
No discounter of the laws and doctrines laid out in the Book of Leviticus was John of Patmos.
He knew that ministry of Jesus was fully Jewish and not meant for the Gentile.
That Jesus had not come to change those laws, but to fulfill them.
Saul was not considered to be a rock by John of Patmos.
Saul was consider a blasphemer, even after he changed his name.
The Syrian conflict has reached a stalemate and President Bashar al-Assad’s government will call for a ceasefire at a long-delayed conference in Geneva on the state’s future, the country’s deputy prime minister has said in an interview with the Guardian.
ReplyDeleteQadri Jamil said that neither side was strong enough to win the conflict, which has lasted two years and caused the death of more than 100,000 people. Jamil, who is in charge of country's finances, also said that the Syrian economy had suffered catastrophic losses.
"Neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side," he said. "This zero balance of forces will not change for a while."
Meanwhile, he said, the Syrian economy had lost about $100bn (£62bn), equivalent to two years of normal production, during the war.
If accepted by the armed opposition, a ceasefire would have to be kept "under international observation", which could be provided by monitors or UN peace-keepers – as long as they came from neutral or friendly countries, he said.
Leaders of Syria's armed opposition have repeatedly refused to go to what is called Geneva Two unless Assad first resigns. An earlier conference on Syria at Geneva lasted for just one day in June last year and no Syrians attended.
Jamil's comments are the first indication of the proposals that Syria will bring to the table at the summit, which Russia and the US have been trying to convene for months.
Stalemate, there's the word I like.
DeleteBreak the place up.
Give them a break from another.
Evidently, the Obama Administration has been talking to the Iranian Foreign Minister for the last two years.
ReplyDeleteWell I would hope so, for God's Sake.
DeleteIt's what they are all to do, while the boss is playing golf.
Well, I'm pulling for'em. If they can make a deal it will be a great thing for everyone involved.
ReplyDeleteSo let's make a deal with Iran. It's the same type of thing Neville Chamberlain said.
Deletepeace in our time...
I wouldn't trust them until they give up the Koran.
DeleteAll depends on the kind of deal.
A deal for a deal's sake is not much of a deal.
Trust but verify, somebody said.
Not exactly Neville's deal.
DeleteThe British did not have thousands of nuclear weapons.
The British did not have 12 carrier battle groups.
The British did not outspend the Germans 1,000 to 1 on weapons of mass destruction.
All meaningless when you consider two nuclear weapons could destroy Israel, and ten could bring the United States to its knees.
Delete"We love death more than you love life."
Also there is this business of being responsible for the return mahdi. A good fanatic would find it a duty, a pleasure.
Delete"Portents[edit source | editbeta]
According to Moojan Momen, among the most commonly reported signs that presage the advent of the Mahdi in Shia Islam are the following:
The vast majority of people who profess to be Muslim will be so only in name despite their practice of Islamic rites and it will be they who make war with the Mahdi.
Before his coming will come the red death and the white death, killing two thirds of the world's population. The red death signifies violence and the white death is plague. One third of the world's population will die from the red death and the other third from the white death.
Several figures will appear: the one-eyed Antichrist (Masih ad-Dajjal), the Al-Harth, Al-Mansur, Shuaib bin Saleh and the Sufyani.
There will be a great conflict in the land of Syria, until it is destroyed.
Death and fear will afflict the people of Baghdad and Iraq. A fire will appear in the sky and a redness will cover them.[citation needed]"
This is all great stuff! Ranking high is the history of insanity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi
One way might be to attack Israel, the United States, and maybe x .....to
DeleteIsrael being at risk is of little concern, the risk they carry is inherent in their choice of location. Israel is not part of the United States and is not a treaty ally.
DeleteThere are many nuclear weapons in the world. Thousands have been targeted at the US, for decades.
Death, it is a risk inherent in being alive.
The return of Mahdi, no more ludicrous an idea than the return of Jesus Christ, King of the Jews.
There are Christian Zionists who firmly believe that the establishment of the secular state of Israel has ushered the world into the "Last Days".
They long for the war that will bring Jesus down from the heavens.
The destruction of Damascus is a paramount prerequisite to the return of Jesus.
While the Jews await their Messiah.
One way commence the conflict designed to bring Jesus back down to earth, is to attack Iran. That attack could also usher the Mahdi, Jesus and Barney the Dinosaur onto the world stage.
For a fella that denies the US is a global empire, anonymous sure wants US to micro manage the world. Advocating death, destruction and risk to the people of the US to do
I used to watch Buchanan on Crossfire in the early 80's with my dad. Buchanan has always been an isolationist.
ReplyDeleteNancy Pelosi is the Neo-Con now.
DeleteAlways has been, dimwit
DeleteAnti-ObamaCare commercial -
ReplyDeleteshows a leering Uncle Sam rising up between the pregnant young woman's legs to do the monthly exam
Men give up on their appearance at the age of 46 - while women care about their looks for 13 years longer
ReplyDeleteWomen care deeply about their appearance until they are least 59
(((((Married men worst as they admit they stop caring 26 months after wedding)))))
:)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2424325/Men-appearance-age-46--women-work-looks-decade.html#ixzz2fP9GFPsQ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Exit Question:
ReplyDeleteI want a meeting with the President of the United States.
Should I obtain a cache of chemical weapons and use some
or
Should I make all sorts of obvious moves to obtain a cache of nuclear weapons?
(taken from a discussion on Fox)
Iran Developing Plutonium Powered Ice Cream Machine
ReplyDeletehttp://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/09/iran.html
For Sales In North America contact:
DeleteGlow Ice Creams And Used Pickup Sales
P.O. Box 11101
Detroit, Michigan
no phone or email available at this time pursuant to Federal Court Order
For Sales In North America contact:
DeleteGlow Ice Creams And Used Pickup Sales
P.O. Box 11101
Detroit, Michigan
no phone or email available at this time pursuant to Federal Court Order
Look at the Google News Headlines - Quite a change in two weeks
ReplyDeleteBBC News
See realtime coverage
Iran’s President Seeks 'Constructive Engagement'
Voice of America - 8 minutes ago
Iran’s newly elected President Hassan Rouhani is advocating the use of constructive dialogue to solve global problems such as wars and terrorism.
Hassan Rowhani »
Iran »
Will Iran's president meet with Obama? ‘Anything is possible'NBCNews.com
Possible meet between Obama and Rouhani in USIndian Express
From Iran:MP Views Rouhani’s Presence at UN Good Opportunity for Peace Establishment
Fars News Agency
Opinion:A kinder, gentler Iran?Los Angeles Times
In Depth:US and Iran eye diplomatic defrosting at UNHouston Chronicle
RT America
8 hours ago
As newly-elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani prepares to visit the US next week, Iranian authorities unexpectedly released 11 of the country’s most prominent political prisoners from jail. The most notable of these prisoners is Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer, who represented people who protested against the Iranian government. In an interview earlier this week, Rouhani pledged to increase access to the free flow of information on the…
Iran's new president delivers new freedoms to Iranians
Two weeks ago it was McCain, Netanyahu, existential threat, red lines, cruise missiles, sarin gas, Aipac flooding the zone, and then: The British House of Parliament said, “no”.
ReplyDeleteAnd well that they did.
DeleteThe Messiah is not yet prepared.
He is still messing with his hair.
Only foolish people think they can force Gods hand.
Jesus will return when he is good and ready, not a moment before.
Then he will teach those that denied him what pain really is.
The eternal fires of hell await all those that do not embrace the God that loves them.
He loves them that much.
Proof that you embrace the God that loves you, send money to his agents in the here and now.
DeleteJimJones@Jonestown.com
Proving we are world class suckers and naifs....
ReplyDeleteJoin the Freace and Peedom Party!
ReplyDeleteNuclear weapons for Jordon!!
DeleteIt's only 'fair'.
Besides they are surrounded by folks with nukes!
One of the original founders of the 'Peace and Freedom' Party was a cousin of mine.
DeleteHit Berkeley, never left.
He's mellowed though, at last report.
One of the original founders of the 'Peace and Freedom' Party was a cousin of mine.
DeleteHit Berkeley, never left.
He's mellowed though, at last report.
Or, just party:
ReplyDeleteUCSB Ranked #2 Party School
COMMENT 439486
"I went there and graduated with a masters degree in throwing up"
Beach was NEVER anywhere near that crowded back in my day.
DeleteEveryone's Moon
Delete"Everyone shares the same moon......why can't we live in peace?"
We can, in Space.
Delete...in the meantime, make a large empty space inside your skull.
For The Children
Beginning to think Iran already has nukes.
ReplyDeleteThey don't need to test.
Put the test to rest, go for the best:
DeleteBomb Jerusalem!
Jesus wont return until it happens!
DeleteJesus is on standby, is he?
DeleteReady to step into the fray when both Damascus and Jerusalem are burning hot as the fires of hell!
DeleteLeading all those that accept his love into life eternal.
A life dedicated to the glory that is God
Leaving those that denied his love and compassion to burn for eternity in the flames of hellfire.
False Jews are now filling the synagogues of Israel, as foretold in the Book of Revelations.
Rejoice because Jesus is returning and billions of people, those that have rejected the love that is the Christ will die because of it. They will burn eternally for their lack of faith in the words of Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ, the one true God.
So I have written, so it shall be.
Talk Like a Pirate Day
ReplyDeleteAvast Me Hearties! It is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Pick up your parrot, wooden leg, and spread the pirate booty.
Do you have pirate swag on hand? Send in a photo to Ed at ed@edhat.com
Click here for lessons to talk like a pirate.
We found an online Pirate Name Generator. After a few minutes of coaxing, we persuaded Ed to take the quiz to find out his pirate name. For the rest of the day, Ed shall now be referred to as Mad Tom Rackham.
Find out your Pirate Name here. Share your name with other Edhatters!
Scroll down to the bottom to see this:
ReplyDeleteOn the 400 block of East Islay Street is a magnificent specimen of Australian Tea Tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) slithering across the sidewalk in all its muscular glory. There's no way around it, so the thoughtful owners have constructed a stairway leading down to the street so neighbors can get around.
This Rouhani mullah feller looks just like the snake charmer I met once at SnakesRUs - $59.99 for first lesson.
ReplyDeleteSame cap and everything, same evil sly look, same whiskers.
"Find Peace at Last"
Monthly lessons available.
Low yearly rates.
My God did the sheeple flock in. Baa,baa
The money rolled in, you wouldn't believe.
But that was in the good old days before Quirk broke bad which finally broke his financial back and came riding to the rescue.
Turned out mullah was just in it for the moolah.
and the posse from out west came riding to the rescue.
DeleteHigh Colonics for all.
DeleteProbly be best to don a welding mask to observe the outflow through the plastic tubes from one of them A-rabs.
DeleteExplosives out the ass not beyond the pale.
Cleanse, then detonate.
My Home Away From Home in Malibu
DeleteToo small, besides it's losing value.
DeleteObamaeconomy...
DeleteNationwide
Universal
Intergalactic
WTF... would you BLAME THE VICTIM???
Deletehttp://hotair.com/archives/2013/09/20/syria-this-war-is-a-stalemate/
ReplyDeleteStalemate
Theravada Buddhism: The Key to Peace on Earth:
ReplyDeletePerhaps in an effort to keep his more violent emotions in check, Mr. Alexis practiced Theravada Buddhism, meditating for hours on the thick rugs of a temple in White Settlement, the suburb west of Fort Worth where he lived on and off for three years. He told one man affiliated with the temple that he aspired to be a monk, but he would stay up late at night playing violent video games in his room.
Mr. Alexis, a computer specialist who led an itinerant life, traveling to naval installations around the country to service their systems, seemed aware of his emotional problems, telling friends he suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. But it is not clear whether he ever sought mental health treatment. Visiting an emergency room at a veterans’ medical center in August, he said only that he was having trouble sleeping, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
I have trouble sleeping:
DeleteThis site could be invisible by daybreak.
(nothing personal)
If Darwin was wrong, why is The Dick the only organ that is preserved, intact?
ReplyDelete"She'll be Strumming Round My Organ When She Comes..."
ReplyDeleteShe'll be riding six white horses when she comes...
toot, toot.
Squirt squirt.
.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP has a choice to make on Obamacare.
Obama is currently on the ropes. Any honeymoon he counted on in his second term in order to pass signature legislation is quickly fading. Gun control is dead and even with GOP support the immigration bill is drifting. Any move on global warming will meet stiff opposition especially with the fact that a new UN report will be coming out soon and rumors say it will have some frank admissions by global warming advocates. Most of the last nine months have been filled with one scandal after the other, Benghazi, the IRS, the SEC, the Secret Service, HHS, the NSA, etc. They just keep coming. The cabinet level replacements Obama has installed are less than impressive. With regard to foreign policy, there are few that praise him at present. Without a lucky misstep by John Kerry, the president might currently find himself acting with no allies, foreign or domestic, Dem or GOP, or the majority of the American people. The economy slogs along. Not getting worse but after five years not getting better. The unemployment rate is high, the employment rate is in worse shape. And Obama's signature legislative achievement, Obamacare, appears to be coming apart at the seams.
The GOP's choices
1. Thy can let the legislation go as currently planned. Much of the program has already been delayed by the administration because they lack the ability to implement it. Obama has just authorized wholesale fraud with the subsidies program in waiving any proof of income. He has granted waivers to his friends and those he needs to keep the program going. The hypocrisy of the actions will not be lost on the American people, especially when they see the effects on the average Joe. For those still involved rates will likely go up. As a result of Obamacare costs, job growth is being inhibited among small businesses and more people are moving into the U6 group, part time workers looking for full time work. Others are being furloughed. The Cleveland Clinic just announced it is laying off 3,000 workers due to the increased costs associated with Obamacare.
The GOP could d nothing and simply enjoy the political advantage the problems with Obamacare could give them in 2014 and 2016. This would probably be the smart thing to do politically.
Or, if they had any integrity and gave a shit, they could continue to try to come up with solutions to the problems Obamacare is creating. The proposals I've heard coming out of the GOP so far are simply window dressing and not worth a damn.
or
2. The GOP can try to use the upcoming supplemental appropriations bill or the debt ceiling increase as a wedge to defund Obamacare. In other words, they could present Obama with a decision to kill Obamacare and either shut the government down or default on our bills. The GOP has tried these maneuvers before and every time have come out looking like the complete asses they are.
Which choice do you think the GOP will pick?
.
.
DeleteWashington — The GOP-controlled House voted Friday to cripple President Barack Obama’s health care law as part of a risky ploy that threatens a government shutdown in a week and a half.
The fight is coming on a stopgap funding measure required to keep the government fully running after the Oct. 1 start of the new budget year. Typically, such measures advance with sweeping bipartisan support, but tea party activists forced GOP leaders — against their better judgment — to add a provision to cripple the health care law that’s the signature accomplishment of Obama’s first term.
Republicans welcomed the vote, saying the new health care law is a disaster that is forcing cutbacks in workers’ hours, raising health insurance premiums and being implemented unfairly. House Republicans have voted more than 40 times to disable all or part of the health care law...
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130920/POLITICS03/309200095#ixzz2fSXOEj86
Using a phrase meant for a different set of jerks, the GOP will likely find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
.
.
DeleteOZ will spend two weeks talking about this wasting our time when the ultimate outcome is inevitable.
.
.
DeleteThe GOP figures they will get a political advantage from this tactic. However, they have already tried to kill Obamacare over 40 times. Their position is known. They have gotten an advantage already.
Congress will be asked to make a choice between two bills
1. The House bill which continues funding the government but defunds Obamacare, a bill that will in all likelihood lead to an Obama veto and a shut down of the government.
or
2. The Senate bill that will continue to fund the government as it presently is and will preclude the government shutdown.
If there is a government shut down who do you think the public will blame?
.
That is not really meant to be a serious question, is it?
DeleteFarmer Fudd does not call the Republicans the "Party of Stupid" without good cause.
DeleteThey are his kind of stupid, no doubt about that.
but everyone hates the government, don't they? So starve the beast!
DeleteStarving is across the board cuts, ash.
DeleteThe sequester, The GOP 2010 success which they deny is theirs.
Their attempts at shifting responsibility for that success to President Obama, more than telling.
A 5% across the board cut in all Federal programs, that is where the GOP needs to be.
But they would lose the elderly, senior citizen welfare voters if they did that.
Better for the GOP to just target poor blacks and hispanics. At least they think so.
As Farmer Fudd wrote, they are his kind of stupid.
Starving the beast is popular, until the voters discover their Social Security checks, their Medicare benefits and even their Iphones are products of ""wasteful" Federal spending.
Delete.
Delete"When your enemy is in the process of destroying himself, stay out of his way."
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Every day some new disaster surfaces concerning Obamacare. The September report from the Kaiser Foundation points out that premium costs will likely rise but that the amount will vary by state. Even Sabelius admits the costs will go up. CBO says premiums will rise. Some studies show insurers costs going up 32% and premiums going up double digits.
The Obmamacare exchanges are due to open in a week and a half and it was announced today that they are not in a position to even provide prices for the various plans.
The program is in the process of imploding all on its own.
This week there are hearings going on about the Benghazi affair and no one even knows about it. There is no discussion about the economy. There is no talk about the e-mails that prove that despite her denials Lois Lerner took the 5th so that she wouldn't have to lie under oath. There is no mention of the fact that the administration is refusing to allow key individuals in the various scandals to testify before congressional committees. There is no talk of the NSA or the secret FISA court's ruling that recently came out justifying the NSA's spying.
The GOP has sucked all the air out of the room with this stupid ploy on Obamacare.
Obviously, John Boehner and Eric Cantor have never heard of Sun Tzu.
.
They fell into the Syrian trap so masterfully set by the President.
DeleteThen moved on to ObamaCare, which is a loser for them the way they are going about it.
I quite agree that if they were to fund an implementation that fell on its face, that would be an onus upon the President nd his supporters. To unsuccessfully "shut down" the Federal government, a foolish policy pursuit.
'The Entrepreneurial State': Apple Didn't Build Your iPhone; Your Taxes Did
ReplyDeleteIs government debt slowing economic growth, if not impeding it? The world-wide economic crisis that began in 2007 has kept that question alive, despite the fact that it was private debt that caused the crisis in the first place. But attempts to curb the crisis have also led to an explosion of public sector expenditures like bank bailouts and unemployment insurance that have ballooned debt levels. At the same time, lower tax receipts due to falling incomes have prompted even more borrowing.
Yet amnesia and dogma have conflated the public debt that helped cure the crisis with the private debt that caused it. The Reinhart-Rogoff saga seems to have ended with evidence winning out over ideological fiction. That's because the government debt threshold these noted economists supposedly discovered -- surpass a 90 percent ratio of debt-to-GDP and you're screwed -- seems to have been based on statistical error. But despite the correction, countries across the globe are still being asked to slash spending in hopes of kick starting economic growth.
My own work shows the utter foolishness of such a strategy. What matters is not the absolute size of debt, but what that debt consists of. Throughout history, strategic government expenditures have played a key role in spurring economic growth. Indeed, by forcing the world's weakest economies to cut public spending -- in key areas like education, research and health -- their potential for long-run growth is weakening. Spain, for instance, has cut its research spending by 40 percent since 2009. Will this help it create the kind of goods and services the world might want to buy -- and be as competitive as its Nordic neighbors? It seems wildly unlikely.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/09/the-entrepreneurial-state-appl.html
The key question is simple: what causes GDP growth? And the answer from economists is that, at the very least, spending on education, human capital, and research are tightly related to it. Indeed, Robert Solow, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1987, found that close to 90 percent of growth is not explained by the usual suspects, capital and labor. They account for only 10 percent. So Solow called the unaccounted-for 90 percent the "residual." And what drove the residual? It had to be technology. And how is technology fostered? More often than not, down through history, by government investment, from the roads of ancient Rome to the Internet of modern America.
ReplyDeleteHowever, things are not quite so easy. Which areas should the government fund? Traditional economic theory argues that government funding should be limited to areas where the free market is not working properly because of so-called "market failures," some of which might be due to the existence of "public goods" like basic research, which are hard to make proprietary and profitable since they're quickly available to everyone. As a result, the private sector under-invests.
So if government nudges the private sector to invest by doing the basic research itself, goes the argument, business will promptly respond by innovating. Thus policy makers have obsessed over different types of tax incentives (from R&D tax credits to recent tax cuts related to patents) in order to increase the amount which the business sector spends on R&D.
I have been pushing a very different view, as embodied in my recent book "The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Private vs. Public Sector Myths." I argue that businesses are typically timid -- waiting to invest until they can clearly see new technological and market opportunities. And evidence shows that such opportunities come when large sums of public money are spent directly on high risk (and high cost) technological missions. This raises debt of course, but also GDP, keeping the ratio of debt-to-GDP in check.
These missions are expensive precisely because the government does much more than just solve market failures. It intervenes in both basic and applied research and even provides early stage seed finance to private companies. Indeed, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants have funded a higher percentage of early stage seed finance than private capital. This is because private finance is too risk-averse -- afraid -- to engage with industries characterized by high technological and market risk. The fear explains why we have seen venture capital entering, in industry after industry, only decades after the initial high risk has been absorbed by government.
Mission-oriented public investment put men on the moon, and later, lead to the invention and commercialization of the Internet, which in turn has stimulated growth in many sectors of the economy. Indeed, as I describe in the longest chapter of my book, the U.S. government has been a leading player in funding not only the Internet but all the other technologies -- GPS, touchscreen display, and the new Siri voice-activated personal assistant -- that make the iPhone, for example, a miracle of American technology.
Crucially, mission-oriented policies are needed today to tackle climate change and other large societal, technological challenges. But the fear that such investments will cause debt to rise too high and stymie growth -- ignoring the potential positive effects on growth that these investments can make in the long run -- is paralyzing governments throughout the world.
DeleteFurthermore, there is the general belief that the direction of investments should be determined by the market, not government, because government consists of a bunch of bureaucrats who lack expertise. But the technological leadership in countries like Singapore, Korea, China, Israel, Brazil, Finland, Denmark and Germany is a result of the well-funded network of state agencies in those countries that are able to attract expertise and drive change, working of course, alongside the private sector, but often leading it.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) was recently run by a Nobel Prize winning physicist. And the atmosphere at the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy, which is trying to do for renewable energy what the Defense Advanced Research Agency did for the Internet, is just as dynamic and creative as Google. And historically, it is investments driven by such agencies (including the National Science Foundation, National Nanotech Initiative, National Institutes of Health) that galvanize private sector investment.
Indeed, when Pfizer recently closed down a large R&D lab in Sandwich, Kent, and transferred it to Boston, Massachusetts, it was not due to the lower taxes or laxer regulation for which industry is constantly lobbying. They moved because of the large amounts of money that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been spending on research and the mission of improved health care in the United States: $792 billion from 1936-2011 (in 2011 dollars), with $30.9 billion in 2012 alone.
These lessons are important for policy makers interested in fostering entrepreneurship. While Steve Jobs was a genius in his ability to exploit existing government-funded technologies in new ways, he would have had little to work with absent massive public spending. And given the public spending cuts that are happening in most countries the world over, the question then becomes: will there be a future wave to surf in places like Silicon Valley, or is the technology tide destined to turn?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteHumorous copy from Israel ...
Haaretz -
... charm offensive poses difficult challenge for Netanyahu. The Iranian's sophistication coupled with America's disdain for confrontation begs the question:
where is Ahmadinejad when we really need him?
.
DeleteMr. Rouhani tells us h has all the leeway and freedom he needs to strike a deal on nukes.
It would be interesting to see if Mr. Khamenei agrees.
.
Mr Khamenei has stated, repeatedly, that the Iranians are not building nuclear weapons.
DeleteObviously he agrees with Mr Rouhani that the Iranians are not building a nuclear weapon.
The Iranians have plans to build 22 nuclear powered electrical generating plants.
They have a justified mistrust of the international community providing the fuel for those plants.
The necessity of the electrical generating capacity acknowledged by the US and the sale of those nuclear reactors was approved by Dick Cheney because of the need of the Iranian people for the electricity derived from the peaceful atom.
The low carbon footprint of nuclear powered electrical generation, a god send for the industrialized world.
All the Iranians are on the same page as Dick Cheney.
Bibi is the outlier.
And, there's absolutely no evidence, anywhere, that he's not telling the truth.
DeleteTrust, but Verify.
But, for God's sake, talk.
Stated so repeatedly, then we must take Mr Khamenei at his word.
ReplyDeleteUnless you can PROVE him to be wrong, that is correct.
DeleteProof beyond a reasonable doubt.
The US has no such proof.
The UN has no such proof
The Israeli have no such proof
If anonymous has such proof, he should supply it to the President at the meeting anonymous has demanded with Mr Obama. If he had proof of Iranian deceit, he'd get that meeting
The Israeli claim that the Iranians are three to five years away from having a nuclear weapon, claims the Israeli have been making for almost twenty years, that in itself is evidence that the Iranians are not building a nuclear weapon. Reality much more convincing than Bibi's propaganda that they are and always will be three years away....
DeleteIf the Iranians have been that close to weaponizing the atom for twenty years, and have not done it, it is more reasonable to believe that the Iranians have been and still are telling the truth then that they are not.
It's been stated here repeatedly that Mr Rat is an arse.
ReplyDeleteNo one has any proof to the contrary.
Ergo, Mr Rat is an arse.
Oh, there is little doubt of that, anonymous.
DeleteThat you continue to publicly kiss it, joyous, to be sure.
It's really good when you swirl your tongue.
DeleteDid you learn that oral technique at the Warwick School, or did you study at another British Public School?
DeleteOr were you at Cambridge with Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt?
DeleteThey were also well practiced in subterfuge, misdirection and the swirling tongue.
Somebody got desert rat are riled up and all he can think to do is reply with pornography.
DeleteSad.
Pornography?
DeleteIf you think that is pornography you are soft in the head.
It is a description of Englishmen, those Public Schools boys that used their arse to get ahead.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to release a report on Thursday morning that analyzes the 2014 premiums in the Obamacare insurance marketplaces in 11 different states, including Virginia, Colorado, Ohio, and Oregon. Officials said that the data will show that the weighted average of the least expensive mid-level health plans in those states’ marketplaces are 18 percent lower than what the CBO thought they would be when the law first passed.
ReplyDeleteThe report will emphasize low costs for young Americans who buy insurance — a group that many commentators have argued would see their rates go up under Obamacare — by using Los Angeles county as an example. There, HHS expects the cheapest, mid-level “Silver” plan for a 25 year old to cost $174 per month without a federal subsidy, and only $34 per month (with a tax credit) for somebody making $17,235. Those numbers also track with data provided by California’s marketplace last month.
The new data comes on the heels of Wednesday’s news that New Yorkers’ premiums will be significantly lower under the health law. Insurers in Oregon, Montana, Louisiana, and California have also already announced marketplace rates that are lower than expected and offer more robust benefits than current policies. And many Americans will actually be able to . . . . . . . .
article
Money for nothing, and the Chicks are free.
DeleteIn Rufus/Fantasy/World.
Moron.
Los Angeles Times - Californians will actually be paying more for less because of the “Affordable” Care Act.
DeleteThe doctor can't see you now.
Consumers may hear that a lot more often after getting health insurance under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
To hold down premiums, major insurers in California have sharply limited the number of doctors and hospitals available to patients in the state's new health insurance market opening Oct. 1.
The basic reason Obamacare raises premiums is simple: It fundamentally changes the marketplace for health insurance by putting in place a number of onerous and highly restrictive federal regulations. Most notably, the law requires insurers to cover all comers, regardless of pre-existing health conditions. Obamacare also severely limits the factors that insurers may account for in pricing their policies. For example, insurers may not vary premiums based on health status and must charge a 64-year-old no more than three times as much for the same plan as they would charge an 18-year-old. Finally, the law mandates that insurers cover a number of benefits that they may not have had to previously.
In tension with these economic and regulatory factors working to raise premiums is the political pressure being applied by the Obama administration, particularly in states like California, to keep premiums as low as possible. One of the only ways left, then, for health plans to meet these competing demands is to restrict access to certain care providers -- limiting patients’ ability to choose specific doctors or hospitals, lengthening wait times or forcing them to see a new doctor because their current one isn’t part of an insurer’s provider network.
...Why I'm gonna pay 1600 bucks more a year to see my Doc.
DeleteAnd that's just for starters.
"The Times reported that the insurer expected to offer the best prices on California’s health-insurance exchange next year is Health Net. But enrollees in its plans will have access to just 2,316 physicians in Los Angeles County. That’s one-quarter of the physicians available to enrollees in an Anthem Blue Cross plan, and less than half of the doctors available to enrollees in Kaiser Permanente’s exchange-qualified plans. Cheaper plans with limited networks and access to fewer providers should be options for consumers, but Obamacare is effectively forcing low-income Californians into this kind of coverage.
DeleteAnd what of others who might voluntarily choose plans with limited provider networks? California’s health exchange regulator has suggested -- in a stroke of unwelcome paternalism --that it reserves the right to drive out health plans that fail to provide sufficiently expansive networks of providers. This kind of heavy-handed regulatory activity undercuts the contention that Obamacare will expand options for consumers looking for affordable health-care coverage.
With all of these troubles for Obamacare, it’s no wonder that a growing percentage of Americans think it’s a bad idea. A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted in early September found that 57 percent of Americans either oppose most or all of the health-care law. News like this from California -- a state that the Obama administration itself has held up as the paradigm of what Obamacare implementation can be -- means those numbers will only get worse as time goes on.
WaPo Comments on Amnesty are Impressive, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteHow Damned Pathetic is a 60 year old man that still believes in The Free Lunch?
ReplyDeleteBudweiser Brain Syndrome
DeleteHave some compassion....
DeleteYou two neanderthals are so 20th century.
DeleteThere may no longer be taverns that serve "Free Lunch", though it was a popular marketing and customer appreciation tool in the era prior to-prohibition in the Chicago area.
There are in the present era restaurants that offer free beer with lunch.
Zea Rotisserie is giving away free four packs of their signature brews to all dads who eat there on Father's Day, June 16. The FREE four packs include their Clearview Golden Lager, Zea Amber Lager, Category 5 American Pale Ale and a Pontchartrain Porter. [EaterWire]
We're Cro-Magnon leftovers, from back when a brain was still necessary.
DeleteWell, ignoramus, now a days even entry level minimum wage jobs require the ability to sign onto a computer and a user account.
DeleteIf you can't handle that, you are not functionally literate in modern America.
Your inability to preform such basic entry level tasks speaks for itself
Your list of excuses, pathetic.
DeleteAlways blaming others for your own deficiencies.
I must admit, I cannot fathom why he must remain annon.
Delete...unless...
He does not have the cognitive ability to sign on.
DeleteHe's become Elmer Fudd.
A parody of his old self
DeleteAn empty shell
We need Dr. Carson to run the health care system.
ReplyDeleteHe is on Greta right now.
"rates that are lower than expected and offer more robust benefits"
DeletePERPETUAL MOTION IS HERE!
Ethanol Powered.
A Robust Dose of Hope and Change.
Delete...just what the Doctor ordered.
And here, dougo, is an example of 21st century thinking.
ReplyDeleteThere is "Free Lunch".
Here is how it is done, at a profit.
You've heard the old saying, "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Well, we are busting that myth wide open.
FLF (Free Lunch Friday) believes to feed our global economy we need to start by feeding our startups and entrepreneurs. And to do that we are launching FLF locations around the world where startups and entrepreneurs will gather on the last Friday of every month for real human interaction and community. At these locations you can connect with startups, entrepreneurs, mentors, experts, partners, and investors all while enjoying some free, beer, and great community.
Our vision is a global community of startups and entrepreneurs all connected to drive our global economy forward and change the world.
Our plan is to enhance local startup communities with a steady diet of community, content, and the connective tissue they need to scale and grow long term.
From weekly FLF talks that get pushed out to thefreelunchfriday.com, for free, to monthly in-person community, FLF is here to inspire, educate, and empower a global community of hungry startups and entrepreneurs.
Before you know it, FLF will be in your community.
If you have vision, hope and an entrepreneurial spirit there are Free Lunch Fridays opportunities.
Wake up and live, doug!
Do not get caught living in the past, steeped in the ideas of yesterday, step up to the future and embrace it.
At FLF we are committed to:
Providing startups and entrepreneurs with free food, beer, content, and connections the last Friday of every month at FLF locations around the the world
Inspiring our startups and entrepreneurs to take action and change the world
Producing regular content that can inspire, educate, and empower our community
Support and grow local startup communities with shared connections and resources
Motivate partners, customers, experts and investors to join in and support the next generation of innovators
Recognize that startups and entrepreneurs are the drivers of our global economy
Foster global startup communities with a steady diet of community, content, and connections
Create the connective tissue among global startup communities
There is Free Lunch in the 21st century, doug, and don't you forget it.
If you really are having trouble sleeping, smoke a bowl or two before you bed down.
http://www.thefreelunchfriday.com/about-flf/about-free-lunch-friday/
DeleteEdison could not have perfected the lightbulb w/o Big Govt.
DeleteLikewise Eli Whitney and Robert Fulton and those Wright bros.
"They didn't built that!"
By some accounts, the Wrights trucked in the sand to build Kill Devil Hill.
DeleteDelusional
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteFree Lunch is not about Big Government, doug.
DeleteIt never was, it is not now.
Free Lunch was tool used by entrepreneurial bartenders to draw customers into the bar.
Free Lunch Fridays is a tool for organizing entrepreneurs into self supporting social groups.
Wake up, doug!
You are way behind the curve.
Edison neither invented nor held patent rights to the light bulb.
Thomas Edison, neither invented the light bulb, nor held the first patent to the modern design of the light bulb. In reality, light bulbs used as electric lights existed 50 years prior to Thomas Edison’s 1879 patent date. In fact, Edison lost all patent rights to the light bulb both in Britain and the United States.
As I say, doug, get out of the box that you've locked yourself in. The basic foundations of your philosophy are false. Edison was a hustler, a man who used and abused others, like Nikola Tesla.
As for the Wright Brothers while they are credited for the first powered flight, it was Glenn H. Curtiss that developed modern aircraft. It is not the Wright brothers that are renowned as the "Founder of the American Aircraft Industry" that moniker goes to Glenn H Curtiss.
Robber Barons instead of Big Government, are you really sure which is worse?
Syria Meets First Test of Accord on Weapons
ReplyDelete“We were pleasantly surprised by the completeness of their declaration,” said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
“It was better than expected,” he added.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the watchdog group known as the O.P.C.W. that oversees the international agreement banning poison gas, said on Friday that Syria had provided “an initial declaration” of its chemical weapons program.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/world/middleeast/syria.html
CHICAGO — A gunman involved in a shooting that wounded 13 people at a South Side park on Thursday night was armed with an assault-style rifle equipped with a high-capacity magazine, the police said on Friday.
ReplyDeleteChicago should organize a militia on the South Side.
Arm the residents, organize them into platoon sized units that, working with other law enforcement agencies, would patrol their neighborhoods. Operating in three or four man team, these citizens, in concert with law enforcement personnel, could take back their streets.
Need a high capacity National Enquirer Magazine Dispenser to keep them folks preoccupied.
DeletePre-Occupied, Get It?
Holder issues pre-emptive waivers for election enforcers bearing clubs.
DeleteThe Cro-Magnons had about a third greater brain size than folks in Arizona today.
ReplyDeleteNo free lunch for them.
But they made cathedrals and art galleries out of caves.
Been downhill ever since.
No link available from the neanderthal to substantiate his clais.
DeleteHe does not even retain enough cognitive ability to even sign on a user account.
His daughter taught him how, but he has forgot, again.
Does not even remember who he used to be, much of the time.
Maybe he could function as a greater at Walmart, but he couldn't work the counter at a McDonalds.
Not a greater at Walmart, but a GREETER at Walmart.
DeleteGolly, if Farmer Fudd could sign on to a user account, I'd hire him to be an editor.
But he isn't qualified, doesn't have the necessary skill set.
A suppoed college graduate with a degree in American Lit that can't even qualify for an editor/spell checker job. Can't even sign on to a Google user account.
Dementia that comes with old age.
Big impact on our society, old geezers that cannot function at today's cultural norm.
Even if they don't shit on themselves.
Can we verify that he doesn't do that?
Deleteyet
“It takes a thousand men to invent a telegraph, or a steam engine, or a phonograph, or a photograph, or a telephone or any other important thing—and the last man gets the credit and we forget the others. He added his little mite — that is all he did. These object lessons should teach us that ninety-nine parts of all things that proceed from the intellect are plagiarisms, pure and simple; and the lesson ought to make us modest. But nothing can do that.” – Mark Twain
ReplyDeleteby Michael Masnick -
ReplyDeleteDec 29, 2009 - Thomas Edison -- who is often held up by patent hoarders as the perfect example of why patents are necessary -- didn't actually invent any of the stuff he's famous for "inventing." Instead, he's most famous for taking the work of others and innovating around it just slightly, to find a good market -- but then also patenting the work of others and blocking anyone else from entering the market. I admire his innovative side and his marketing prowess, but find his abuse of patents to be unfortunate. .
His abuse of Elephants was worse.
DeletePutin is facing two threats. One is the mullahs, ****((((((a self-proclaimed Muslim suicide cult that is very close to obtaining nuclear bombs.)))))))**** Only the mullahs themselves know if they are willing to risk martyrdom in order to genocide Israel and possibly the oil-owning Arabs who are only 50 miles away from Iran. They talk that way every single day, by chanting Death to Israel! Death to America! Under their founder Khomeini they carried on a war with Saddam Hussein that killed one million people.....
ReplyDeleteRead more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/09/dangerous_times_does_putin_want_a_nuclear_suicide_cult_next_door.html#ixzz2fVMBFLhu
Muslims have waged war against Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church for a thousand years. Putin is acutely aware of these facts, even if he is talking nice about the mullahs in public. Imagine having a nuclear Jim Jones cult a hundred miles from our borders and you can see how it looks from Moscow.
DeleteThat is his national security problem. At the beginning of Putin's rule, Moscow and Beslan were attacked with horrific mass atrocities. The killers were Muslim suiciders. Putin struck back the way Russia always has, with massed assaults and artillery bombardments in Chechnya, taking no prisoners and not caring for civilian casualties. Putin is not a nice Western humane warrior.
Iran's suicide cult is therefore Russia's most dangerous national security problem
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/09/dangerous_times_does_putin_want_a_nuclear_suicide_cult_next_door.html#ixzz2fVNdqd4p
The Israel-Palestinian confrontation can be settled -- for some time -- as part of the Middle East détente between Russia and the United States. Devout Muslims are absolutists who are sworn to conquer all the infidels in the world. But as a practical historical fact, Muslim fanaticism comes and goes. Today it is at a height, which is why the Global Jihad is so dangerous today. When shale energy becomes cheap and widespread around the world, oil-fueled Islamic fanaticism will fade. It has happened before.
DeleteBottom line: In spite of all the chaos triggered by Democratic presidents Jimmy Carter and BH Obama, an acceptable outcome is emerging for a stable standoff. Russia has survival and economic interests in holding down the Middle East to a dull roar. So does the United States.
Next time this column will cover the second dimension of the Global Jihad, the mass infiltration of radicalized Muslims into Europe and the United States, aided by the radical left. The first order of business is that smoking barrel of gunpowder in the Middle East. In that part of the world, a détente between Russia and America may be the key to a stable truce for the next few decades.
In ten years shale energy development around the world will have changed the Middle East forever.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/09/dangerous_times_does_putin_want_a_nuclear_suicide_cult_next_door.html#ixzz2fVOw4aUI
"One must not be fooled by the Iranian president's fraudulent words," Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Thursday. "The Iranians are spinning in the media so that the centrifuges can keep on spinning."
ReplyDeleteBoth Israel and the United States have hinted at possible military action to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran should sanctions and diplomacy fail to curb its atomic program.
But Steinitz said a phrase used often in the past by U.S. and Israeli leaders - that "all options are on the table" in confronting Iran - was not enough to persuade Tehran to stop its uranium enrichment.
"I am sure that had there been three aircraft carriers with an American declaration that in the event the Iranians do not honor the Security Council decisions, the Americans are expected to attack by 2013, they would have acted differently," he said.
"Today the Iranians take into account that they have room to maneuver, and that is the most dangerous thing," he said.
No time left for negotiations with Iran: Israeli minister
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/no-time-left-negotiations-iran-israeli-minister-100029438.html