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."
Lileks' Dog passes on.
ReplyDeleteThat was what I wrote before he died.
Jasper passed at 3:10 Friday afternoon on the last day of the first month.
I say “passed” not because euphemisms are necessary to put the bad words behind a sugared fence, but because that was what it was.
Someone leaves a house, they don’t disappear.
Someone turns the corner, they don’t evaporate.
Something slides away and you can’t tell quite what it is, only that it passed as it left.
What it left was dead, but that’s not the same.
The night before was like they’d been for the last few weeks - trips outside before I went to bed to make sure he was drained. He walked back and forth a bit, didn’t venture deep into the drifts, and eventually turned to the great light streaming from the back door. I’d pick him up and take him back to his mat. He’d want to get up again. We went through this for about 45 minutes before he settled down. I laid with him for a while until he was off to sleep. Went to bed around 2 AM.
The next day I got a call from Daughter at school - she’d awoken with a crippling neck ache, of all things, and it hadn’t gotten better. She’s not a faker or a complainer about these things, so when she said she wanted to come home I got in the car and went to school to get her. On the way back I said this was the day, and she said she’d been expecting it for some time.
Home. Eleven. The vet was coming at 2:30.
If you’ve ever been in this situation with anyone, you know it’s the waiting. The suspension. The pretense of normality and the ache of what’s to come. I took him outside every half hour, if he seemed to need it; I fed him cheese and salami. Carried him upstairs and went in every room and put him down on the floor of my office while I worked for a while. Then back to the mat in the dining room where he’s laid all these years. Daughter spent some time by his side, feeding him salami.
I washed all of his food bowls and put away his grooming tools in a closet.
Wife got home at two. A half an hour later I looked towards the front door and saw the vet. She had just appeared as I looked towards the door, an apparition that never knocked. She was as kind and sympathetic as you could possibly imagine, and we sat on the floor for half an hour, the whole family, talking about the dog, discussing his decline and what he probably had - everything, really; at 19, it’s just everything. And then somehow in the course of the conversation we began. When the bag came out Daughter leaned over and hugged him and said goodbye, and when she rose she was fighting it back and her voice was falling apart -
- and you find yourself in the bathroom around the corner pulling the tissues out of the dispenser, and there are only four, and of all the days to run short, you didn’t think to check it before -
It’s necessary to write this so it doesn’t all float off in a fog of sentiment, to let you know it was right and good, and to assure anyone who will face the same some day. He got a shot to put him in a fog; he winced a bit, but shrugged it off. He was quiet before she came and he was quiet now, and nothing perturbed him. We let it work.
DeleteThen she shaved a patch on his leg and cuffed the limb and administered the serious mixture, which was bright pink. Right away she caught the problem - old leaky veins. Not a good spot. She found another vein and the pink went in.
He twitched a bit; instincts fought the verdict, but only for a moment or two. I had my hand on his chest and my hand cupped around his muzzle so he could fade off with the scent of the pack mingling with his last inhalation. The moment he passed was almost imperceptible. He was here; he was gone. Not an atom’s breadth between the two states.
I took off his collar and went in the kitchen and opened the door where his bowls sat on a sliding drawer, and put it in his dish.
The vet made a paw print in a divot of clay.
In death he was the same as he had been before; the posture, the sprawl, the old dog on the mat. I wanted to see nothing more and would have been content if we’d been spared the rest, but no, you have to bite down on the hard part.
I had written out the check but not signed it. Went to the kitchen to get the pen and scribble my name. When I came back he had been moved from his mat to a bin, swaddled in a blanket, and my wife was saying the last heart-breaking goodbye. She stood and I took the blanket and folded it over his head and that was the last time we would ever see Jasper.
Carried the bin down the stairs to the car.
A lady was walking down the sidewalk with a dog on a leash. The dog was delighted to be out. The dog couldn’t have been more thrilled with the world.
And then I went to work. Had a meeting. Could have begged off, but I needed cold water. Daughter had a piano lesson at 4:30; wife took her. Cold water. Life goes on, as people say after life has just stopped.
Numb most of the way into the city. Turned on the radio to the classical station; it was the end of Beethoven’s 6th, the Pastoral, and I turned it up to deafening levels and imagined, of all things, that Fantasia arcadia of romping creatures and barely made it to the parking lot through the scrim of tears. I could see him running and jumping again.
That was the worst. That was the best.
When I came back home I walked up the stairs and felt the absence right away. There’s no one else here, no clink of the ID tags to indicate he’s heard the door slam. Be a good dog, I always said when I left.
And he always was a very good dog.
---
It’s almost one AM now. Wife and Daughter are asleep. I’m alone in the kitchen; no clink of the tags in the dining room to indicate it’s time to hoist the pup outside. I pass by the doorway and look where he was, and know there will be a time when the instinct fades and I don’t check anymore.
But that is not this night. I wish he was on the mat, adrift in sleep, and would suffer for a moment a hug, a face buried in his fur, a ridiculous kiss on the fuzz of his muzzle. He would snort and sigh and burrow his face down into the nap of the mat, sigh, and get back to practicing the long song of silent slumber.
It was around 6:30 PM when I heard it. Wife and daughter were out. House was silent. I heard the sound of metal tags. I stopped and froze and waited and I heard it again.
Water in the pipes, nothing more. Glass in a window contracting. The normal sounds of an old house. I’m listening now and there’s nothing to hear.
Because he is gone.
Zacán, Michoacán
ReplyDeleteThe routine life in the village of Zacán was disrupted early today when people, returning from a wake, discovered a black plastic bag containing four human heads. The victims are from the indigenous community of La Palma and the municipal of Los Reyes.
The macabre discovery took place around four in the morning, but it wasn’t until over four hours later, at 8:30 AM, when the agent of the public prosecutor arrived; his dilatory arrival was much to the dismay of residents.
On a small terrace, next to the Church of San Pedro, was the location of the plastic bag. One of the heads was identified as belonging to Bulmaro Herrera Rincón, 55 years of age, native and resident of La Palma.
The other decapitated heads belong to brothers Alejandro and Noe Alvarez Gonzalez, 22 and 24 years of age, respectively, as well as Juan "N" of 22 years of age, all are residents of Los Reyes.
A son of señor Bulmaro, told authorities, the four victims had left La Palma early Tuesday morning, aboard a blue Chevrolet pickup destined for the community of Cocucho, in the municipality of Charapan. The men were going to purchase a calf , to be used for food at the “Feast of the Virgin of the Nativity”.
Since then, there had not been any communication to family or friends by the men. This resulted in the family, together with other residents, initiating a search for the men. The search continued until this morning when the residents of Zacán reported finding the four heads.
The site where the heads were found is not far from Tingüindín, where yesterday security forces discovered a mass graves containing at least 20 bodies.
Autodefensas leader Estanislao Beltran, warned that they will continue to find more graves.
"This will be happening as we move forward. Criminals are murderers who kidnapped our colleagues," he said in a radio interview with Ciro Gomez Leyva.
"We have lost hundreds or thousands of people that have not yet been found"
Now 72 Bodies in Clandestine Graves of Michoacán and Jalisco
ReplyDeleteThe discovery was made inadvertently, as an investigation was being conducted after the disappearance of two federal agents on November 3rd. The first bodies were found on November 7th and the number of bodies continue to rise.
The federal PGR agency, made it clear that none of the 58 corpses were that of the missing agents René Rojas Marquez and Gabriel Santiago Quijados suspected of being kidnapped by municipal police Michoacán.
Additional bodies were unearthed rising the total corpses discovered to 66. Bodies were found in the municipalities of Vista Hermosa Michoacán and La Barca
The federal PGR agency, made it clear that none of the 58 corpses were that of the missing agents René Rojas Marquez and Gabriel Santiago Quijados suspected of being kidnapped by municipal police Michoacán.
How many are you responsible for?
DeleteMexico’s government acknowledged in February that it has a list of 26,121 people who’d vanished without a trace during the government of President Felipe Calderon, who left office Dec. 1.
ReplyDeleteMore proof that the War on Drugs is working.
DeleteHow many have been killed by Americans freelancing?
DeleteSince 2006 there have been over 100,000 killed, 26,000 gone missing, in Mexico, and barely a word in the US media.
ReplyDeleteIn Syria, a similar number of dead, fewer missing and there are calls for armed intervention, half a world away.
In Libya, just the thought that a fewer number of people COULD possibly be killed and there WAS an armed intervention.
While the situation in Mexico is ignored. Blacked out of the consciousness of the main stream media in the US.
The neglect is not benign, it is not inadvertent.
It'd be funny, if it was not so tragic.
Americans have been teaching and suppling those south of the border to whack one another for decades...
DeleteEven the Famous Desert Rat of this blog has personally helped pass that black art on to many...
Why be surprised when the blood is on your own hands?
guilt?
AnonymousTue Feb 11, 08:44:00 AM EST
DeleteSince 2006 there have been over 100,000 killed, 26,000 gone missing, in Mexico, and barely a word in the US media.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, since 1973, roughly 50 million legal induced abortions have been performed in the United States.
50 million dead....
wow...
I can't remember, exactly, but I'm old enough to recall the days when I felt thankful that we had only two borders with friendly people on both sides.
DeleteYou bet, in the US and Israel abortion is used as a form of 'Birth Control' by folks to lazy to use a condom.
DeleteBut it is heartening to see that anonymous realizes that abortion is murder. The fact that he won't sign in means "what", other than he is a hypocrite.
That fifty million innocents were killed because of laziness, or indifference to the rights of others, is sad.
That 100,000 people in Mexico were killed, to in an attempt to satisfy the demands of the US government, because the US cannot control its own borders and cannot curtail the demand for illicit drugs, that's sad too.
A series of failed policies, by the US, has garnered a fairly large body count all around the world.
How many abortions and murders have you "anon" committed...
DeleteToo scared to log on as DR?
Pussy. Coward. On the "run" for the crimes against humanity you have committed?
A self confessed murderer DR is and was.
This is why Homeland Security is looking for you....
50 million Americans murdered and you are proud...
DeleteYou bring up Israel and yet? Don't bring up the rest of the world. Why?
Lazy? You are a bigot? Scared?
One can only wonder about the women you have abused....
Someday though, with the help of the internet?
War Crimes baby...
Your words are streaked with the blood of innocents.
The Indians you butchered.
The Babies you have bayonetted ...
This is why you hide in the foot hills of Mexico and the bottom acres of AZ...
On the lamb...
But Snowden has shown us how the secrets of yesterday become the headlines of tomorrow..
It will be fun to hear about you, in your wheelchair, being locked up for your crimes...
Shove it up your ass "Anon"
DeleteYou are a coward and we DO KNOW who you are,.
As does the AZ FBI.
Your death threats mean nothing.
Deuce, feel free to delete my posts if you wish, this blog is a shit pile once again.
DeleteNot a word yet about Shirley Temple, who as a child actress I anyway thought over rated.
ReplyDeleteI will be interested in q13's opinion. He knows his movies.
Thread is, as usual, hijacked by anonymousrat, who accused me the other day of being a supporter terrorism because I like avocados, or something.
The blog is fully back in the toilet due to his presence.
Though it's off topic, I can't help but post this -
Deletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/11/world/middleeast/suicide-bomb-instructor-accidentally-kills-iraqi-pupils.html?_r=0
--- as a humorous aside.
******
I do think Shirley Temple Black was a fine woman and a credit to her country.
Yep, the topic is really death, and the ends of eras.
DeleteShirley just an example of someone that had a full life, who was not killed, early in her life, because the US government allowed weapons of war to enter Mexico, under the watchful eye of the ATF.
To satisfy demand in Idaho for cheap avocados and cocaine.
See Deuce?
DeleteRight in the toilet, as always.
The doctor on Fox News was saying avocados are one of the best foods, he listed five, nuts(cashews), blueberries, avocados, and I can't recall the other two.
DeleteHis point was our Paleolithic gatherers had the best diet of all.
Memo to Doug:
Get off the TV dinners, and go wander the forests of Maui for fruits, and nuts.
Soon you will be able to surf the big waves with the pros, no stress at all.
;)
Blood avocados, good for the body, bad for the soul.
Delete.
DeleteGet off the TV dinners, and go wander the forests of Maui for fruits, and nuts.
Or, move back to California where the hunting is easier. I can picture you as a gleaner (of sorts).
.
Gleaning What?
Delete...as to Rat: I'm to infirm and mentally retarded for hunting and gathering.
Just send me your Safeway Coupons, please.
.
DeleteThe hunting and gathering of fruit and nuts as Bob suggested.
.
Hunting and gathering requires walking, right?
Delete...but you did not respond to my Gleaner Question.
.
DeleteGleaning:
verb (used without object)
1. to collect or gather anything little by little or slowly.
2. to gather what is left by reapers.
Given your age and your description of your physical condition, I assumed that while pursuing those California 'fruits and nuts', gleaning would be the manner in which you would pursue them.
:-)
.
ReplyDeleteThe autodefense movement, started in Michoacan, Mexico is the beginning of an "End to an Era"
Which is why it is pertinent to this thread.
Eras always end ...
The days of fear and intimidation in Michoacan, fueled by the demands of the market in the United States, is coming to an End.
While I think Shirley Temple may not have been the best child actress of all time, at least her movies were wholesome, which should mean everything in times like these, when most of the stuff is violent, lewd and disgusting.
ReplyDeleteRIP: Shirley Temple Black
The market speaks, capitalism is at work and Farmer Bob objects to the results.
DeleteBut he did not support the "Occupy Wall Street" movement which wanted to curtail the abuses of capitalism.
He objected to that, too.
He objects to most everything, but enemas.
Those he seems to enjoy, at least he discusses them at length.
Must think this is a blog about "Men's Health".
Which is, actually at this web address.
http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/blogs#.
Upon reading Farmer Bob's comments, above, it does seem evident that he has a toilet fetish.
DeleteSee what I mean, Deuce?
DeleteJust a bunch of non sense.
.
DeleteLike one of those aging rock bands, he does seem to be trying a bit too hard on his comeback tour.
.
He's got bob's panties in a twist though.
Delete.
DeleteTrue enough. The boy just got spoiled during rat's brief hiatus.
.
.
DeleteWhen you have to go whining to Deuce instead of handling the matter yourself, it is not cool.
(Did I just say, 'It is not cool'. Damn, next I'll be watching Justin Beiber videos. By the way does he still make them? I heard his last album tanked.)
.
"Upon reading Farmer Bob's comments, above, it does seem evident that he has a toilet fetish."
DeleteReally bad form to bring up toilet fetishes on a blog whose proprietor goes by "Deuce" :-(
This might be a bunch that is not all that het up on considering "ends of eras." :)
ReplyDeleteWe started with
ReplyDeleteLittle Deuce Coupe
and, we ended up with the prius?
DeleteI would play the "prius song," but, . . . . you know.
DeleteThe Little Old Lady from Pasadena
DeleteLi'l GTO
Delete.
DeleteNever did get into the whole mystique that surrounded cars.
Probably, because I was too poor to indulge it. Didn't mind working on them (working=repairing) but even when working for an auto company couldn't I get real excited.
On the other hand,
Pink Cadilac
.
.
Deleteor...
Lady in a Red Corvette
.
So, there it is, in a nutshell. Li'l GTO to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prince?
DeleteSome might think we f'd up somewhere along the way.
DeleteJes sayin'.
Cars are worthless, fit only for Detroit slickers and the rural illiterate.
DeleteA 4x4 Pickup Truck is, however, a Chariot of the Gods, given from above, only to farmers and other very special people.
Yep, people in the "Special Olympics" they have 'em fer sur
DeleteAs for 'real' farmers, like bobal, he drove a broken down Datsun sedan, all the way to Ohio
See my "Little Deuce Poop" in comment above.
DeleteCalifornia hit 3,178 Megawatts from Solar, yesterday. That's the equivalent of bringing One Large, and One Medium-sized Nukes online during Peak Hours.
ReplyDeleteCa ISO
Just two years ago, California was producing 300 ! megawatts of Solar.
Delete1,000% Not bad.
WiO: Deuce, feel free to delete my posts if you wish, this blog is a shit pile once again.
ReplyDeleteThen maybe I should come back.
.
DeleteYou are already back. There are fifteen Anonymous posts on this stream ahead your last one.
.
AnonymousTue Feb 11, 02:29:00 PM EST
DeleteWiO: Deuce, feel free to delete my posts if you wish, this blog is a shit pile once again.
Then maybe I should come back.
i did not write "Then maybe I should come back."
What is "Occupation"Tue Feb 11, 10:04:00 AM EST
DeleteDeuce, feel free to delete my posts if you wish, this blog is a shit pile once again
Nothing said about " "Then maybe I should come back."
I think you are slipping Q3…
Just commenting on the new and improved blog…
DeleteTelling Deuce he can delete MY posts if he wishes.
No bitching or whining, just calling it as I see it.
.
Deletei did not write "Then maybe I should come back."
I didn't say you did. In fact, none of my posts here today have been directed at you or anything you said.
You know my thoughts about those that sign on as Anonymous. But as far as I know you have never left or said you were going to leave like the other drama queens here.
However, if you are feeling a little guilty when seeing something in what I post that would also apply to you, feel free to feel the appropriate level of umbrage.
As to my 'slipping', it is sometimes difficult to maintain my usual level of excellence especially when I am not fed the usual straight lines from you guys. But, then all I can do is try. On the other hand, as I commented the other day in response to your suggestion that I would be advised to 'slow down' after an instance where you took umbrage over one of my comments that you misread, you might want to slow down a little in order to better follow the thread stream and the interaction between players.
.
.
ReplyDeleteReflections on Obamacare
The NY Times reports
The Obama administration announced Monday that it would again delay enforcement of a federal requirement for certain employers to provide health insurance to employees, giving medium-size companies extra time to comply. The “employer mandate,” which had already been delayed to Jan. 1, 2015, will now be phased-in beyond that date for some businesses with more than 50 employees.
This move is obviously political and, as such, the fact that we would get two different takes on the changes is not surprising.
From the WaPo
Delays to the employer mandate can matter politically. But as for what they mean for who Obamacare covers, this delay will likely amount to a relatively small, if non-existent, change.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/02/10/the-white-house-is-relaxing-the-employer-mandate-again/
And from Commentary
The motivation for this latest delay is transparently political. By delaying yet one more element of the law until after the midterm elections, the administration hopes to save some faltering Democratic red-state incumbents who, unlike the president, are faced with the difficult task of running for reelection in the wake of the ObamaCare rollout. Though the pain of the health-care law is already being felt by millions of Americans who have lost their coverage and are facing higher costs for insurance that fails to meet their needs, Democrats are trying to do anything they can to put off the devastating impact the law will have on employers and, by extension, the economy.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/02/10/more-obamacare-delays-wont-save-dems/
Two views likely based on the political views of the author; however anyway you cut it, the ACA was a poorly planned piece of legislation that is now being implemented even worse.
[As a personal thought experiment to judge the level of your confirmation bias, ask yourself what you would have normally done without this request. Which story would you have read first (if either)? If you pick one to read first, will you bother to read the other?]
.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI won't read either one. A lot of us think that the small employer mandate will, eventually, go away, altogether.
ReplyDelete.
DeleteDoing away with the employer mandate while keeping the individual mandate will end up sticking it to millions of the little guys.
Again.
.
It doesn't have to. It depends on how they end up writing the rules.
DeleteBut, they have a shitstorm coming in about ten or eleven months. They certainly don't want to mess with the small business deal right now.
DeleteBut, btw, Q, we've Never had an "employer mandate." How would deciding to not have one in the future "stick it to" all the little guys?
DeleteI'm convinced that there are going to be tens of thousands of REAL horror stories a year from now.
DeleteI sure do hope, for the sake of those poor folks, that the Dems have a (real) plan.
"I'm convinced that there are going to be tens of thousands of REAL horror stories a year from now."
DeleteIn total agreement with r2 here, though his numbers are off, as usual.
Try hundreds of thousand, nay, millions.....
WiO: Nothing said about " "Then maybe I should come back."
ReplyDeleteTraditionally, the quoted text goes in italics, with the author of the quote in bold, then my reply is in normal text.
Go back to bed, pa1.
DeleteWho are q13 and pa1?
ReplyDeleteq13 = unlucky number quirk
Deletepa1 = professional asshole #1, aka, rat, which is his self description
"That fifty million innocents were killed because of laziness, or indifference to the rights of others, is sad."
ReplyDeleteOn the upside, in Margret Sanger World, targeting blacks at "women's health centers" aka "Planned Parenthood"
...the outcome is said to result in lower crime rates.
Also in the Demographic Disaster of a bunch of old fogies and not enough young uns, according to the Xspurts.
Delete...but aren't the old fogies said to be well off, financially?
(present company excepted,
...except for Ash, our $hining 1 percent baby.)
And Japan is twice as bad off, or more.
DeleteCondoms, pills, abortions, or are they REALLY not having sex, as is reported?
(except at video game consoles)
All this time I thought pa1 was Pennsylvania1.
Deletehen, heh, heh
How funny the foolish Farmer O=Bob-ma is.
heh, heh, heh. again
;-)
"The House will separately vote to reverse many of the veterans' benefits cuts that were in the Ryan-Murray budget deal and "pay for" the spending increase with additional sequester cuts in 2024, five election cycles from now."
ReplyDeleteGood to restore those, bad not to "pay for" them until our great grandkids are born.
They should be called the "Poor Suckers" Generation.
"Rufus IITue Feb 11, 04:49:00 PM EST
ReplyDeleteI'm convinced that there are going to be tens of thousands of REAL horror stories a year from now.
I sure do hope, for the sake of those poor folks, that the Dems have a (real) plan.
Farmer BobTue Feb 11, 05:14:00 PM EST
"I'm convinced that there are going to be tens of thousands of REAL horror stories a year from now."
In total agreement with r2 here, though his numbers are off, as usual.
Try hundreds of thousand, nay, millions....."
And all this time he's been abusing us by incessantly telling us how good it all is.
DeleteThen comes the old Rufie Switcheroo with no admissions or apologies.
A little honesty would go a long way.
Honestly.
DeleteThe truth is going from the present situation to a much worse situation, with higher costs, and worse care, on average.
DeleteNo keepie you doctor or your plan.
So Solly
Mexican on Welfare w/six kids brings 'em in every time they get the sniffles.
DeleteNeeded Healthcare takes a beating.
Sue Me
...after calling in the PC Police.
.
ReplyDeleteUntil 2024?
Not hardly commensurate with Bush waging two wars, passing Medicare Part D, and granting massive tax cuts the bulk of which went to those who didn't need them at all and then funding them with I.O.U.'s dated 10 years out.
Or with Obama's decision to ignore jobs and the economy and instead opt for a massive health overall by delaying the impact and costs until after he had won re-election and then delay the full impact until after he was out of office.
Still it is pretty much SOP for D.C.
.
Shit Operating Procedure.
DeleteReal Chickenshit, Corrupt, Dicks.
DC
DeleteDicks and Cunts
d69 is, well, you Doug, for the obvious reason.
DeleteSee directly above......always on your mind......:)
ar,ar,ar
All you have to do if you don't like is say so. I'll go back to Doug-O.
r2 started all this when he forbad me from mentioning his Holy Name ever again.
DeleteAnd I sure as hell don't want to get burned with fire of ethanol from Heaven.
DeleteWould you?
but who are pa-9 and that other one I asked about?
DeleteDicks in cunts, but not enough to worry about.
DeleteOther orifices? Who knows?
Ryan on top of Cantor would make a good visual.
I'd be cheering Ryan on.
Cantor don't start with a big C for nuthin.
DeleteDougTue Feb 11, 05:42:00 PM EST
Who are q13 and pa1?
Reply
Replies
Farmer BobTue Feb 11, 06:44:00 PM EST
q13 = unlucky number quirk
pa1 = professional asshole #1, aka, rat, which is his self description
You know, Doug, pa1's self designation might be a hopeful sign, shows he's not totally divorced from the nature of things yet. Shows a continuing slight grip on reality, however tenuous.
Very true, hope you weren't harboring any False Hopes of an involuntary commitment to the Looney Bin.
DeleteFarmer Bob is operating like the drug cartels, providing everyone a numeric code, which then is denied to mean who was meant.
DeleteEveryone becomes anonymous, as I always said everyone was.
Farmer Bob is just being 'disruptive' to the flow of communications.
Attempting to subvert the blog, and then take it over!
It's because his soul has been tainted, by eating all those 'Blood Avocados'!
DeleteAh, the republican house shot down every "jobs" bill that Obama sent them, even the "Veterans Jobs Bill."
ReplyDeleteAs for Obamacare, Millions will benefit, but as it stands now, there will be some number, probably in the tens of thousands, that will get a truly nasty, unexpected bill at the end of the year. And, some of those folks will be among the poorest of Americans.
There might be some way that the administration can act "executively" to spare those folks, but it looks like a sizable stretch.
Head still planted firmly up his ass.
DeleteReality be damned.
He had to delay it so WE WOULDN'T KNOW WHAT'S IN IT
ReplyDelete...before the election.
Dick
He was raised by America Hating Commies.
Delete...but he came out a Patriotic Saint.
Who hates and ignores his White Side.
...to the outside World.
Half Self Hating Dick.
Costas has Pink Eye.
ReplyDeleteStupid Dick ignored the warnings about not washing your face in Soviet "water."
Obammie is hosting the French President tonight, outside in a tent.
ReplyDeleteForecast for DC tonight: 14 Degrees
Hot wings served cold.
Actually, they'll just heat that MoFo.
Delete...but it won't be having the exhaust blowing into the tent like we had in Koorea.
Don't think Obamie will heat that tent or his house w/wind or solar.
Or his Private Jet.
...or Rufus's Shower Water, or house.
DeleteAll Mouth
DeleteGo, d69 !
DeleteAboard Belgian train, Jews asked to get off and shower at Auschwitz
ReplyDeleteSuspects gained access to speaker system on rush hour journey to Brussels
http://www.timesofisrael.com/aboard-belgian-train-jews-asked-to-get-off-and-shower-at-auschwitz/
"Aboard Belgian train, Jews asked to get off and shower at Auschwitz"
DeleteWere they headed to Sochi?
If so, Hats off to 'em.
Looks like the day's blogging is over -----
ReplyDeleteAnd I was the only one to mention the topic, Shirley Temple.
I must be the only movie goer here.
Not even q13 weighed in with a light weight thought on the matter.
Thought that maybe r2 would mention the "Shirley Temple" and how she ruined drinking in America.
But no, this place really sucks.
Culture? Even American culture?
You won't find it here.
:(
Shame on you ALL, you uncouth turds !!
DeleteI think Rat mentioned Shirley, check it out.
DeleteStrange bedfellows.
Glad it ain't my bed.
Egypt: U.S. Embassy official in contact with Muslim Brotherhood arrested
ReplyDeleteRobert Spencer Feb 11, 2014 at 10:23pm Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood 7 Comments
1920121495653
Barack Obama has been an indefatigable and unstinting supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, as well as of its proxies in the U.S. Thus it is not surprising that U.S. Embassy employees in Cairo would be Brotherhood allies as well. Obama was the target of vociferous criticism during the anti-Brotherhood demonstrations last summer for his uncritical support of the Brotherhood.
“US Embassy confirms one of its local employees detained,” by Rabab Fathy for Youm7 via the Cairo Post, February 11 (thanks to Joyce):
CAIRO: National Security arrested a local employee on Jan. 25 who works for the U.S. embassy in Cairo, the embassy confirmed Tuesday.
“We confirm that one of our local employees was arrested on Jan. 25. According to our information, there are no charges against him so far,” said Mofid al-Deek, Media Attaché and the spokesperson of the U.S. embassy in Cairo.
Deek said the embassy is communicating with the Egyptian government to understand the reason for the employee’s detention.
A security source reported National Security arrested Ahmed A., a U.S embassy employee in charge of the political Islam file. The source added that the employee was in constant contact with Khairat el-Shater, First Deputy of the General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, when the group ruled the country.
The suspect was arrested while participating with others in marches and riots in Giza Governorate. He is being investigated by the National Security Agency to determine the dimensions of his activity.
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Egypt upholds death sentence for 14 Islamic jihadists
DeleteRobert Spencer Feb 11, 2014 at 8:21pm Egypt 6 Comments
JER028_wh
These Islamic jihadists are from a group that calls itself Tawheed wal Jihad. Tawheed is the Islamic concept of absolute monotheism, and jihad is the Islamic doctrine of warfare against unbelievers. Yet the one thing that Western analysts routinely discount in their analyses of jihad terrorism is the religious motivation, despite the fact that the jihadists themselves constantly explain themselves in terms of Islam.
“Egypt upholds death sentence for 14 militants,” from Reuters, February 10:
CAIRO (Reuters) – The Egyptian presidency upheld the death penalty for 14 people convicted of attacking police in North Sinai in 2011, signalling the army-backed authorities’ determination to press a campaign against Islamist militants.
The condemned men, all from the Tawheed wal Jihad (“Monotheism and Holy War”) group, were sentenced in 2012 to hang for killing three police officers, an army officer and a civilian in attacks on a police station and a bank in the town of el-Arish in 2011.
Deposed president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood did not sign off on the implementation of the sentences during his one year in office, which ended when the army deposed him after mass protests against his rule.
Mursi’s overthrow has triggered a wave of attacks on the security forces in North Sinai and further west in the towns of cities of the Nile Valley and Delta. The state has declared that it is in a war on terrorism.
Militant groups flourished in North Sinai in 2011, expanding into a security vacuum left by the collapse of state authority after the downfall of president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The army is waging a campaign there to reassert state authority. The military has said 16 hardline Islamists were killed in North Sinai air strikes last Friday….
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AnonymousTue Feb 11, 09:50:00 AM EST
DeleteYep, the topic is really death, and the ends of eras.
Shirley just an example of someone that had a full life, who was not killed, early in her life, because the US government allowed weapons of war to enter Mexico, under the watchful eye of the ATF.
To satisfy demand in Idaho for cheap avocados and cocaine.
Farmer BobTue Feb 11, 10:33:00 AM EST
See Deuce?
Right in the toilet, as always.
Farmer BobTue Feb 11, 10:36:00 AM EST
The doctor on Fox News was saying avocados are one of the best foods, he listed five, nuts(cashews), blueberries, avocados, and I can't recall the other two.
His point was our Paleolithic gatherers had the best diet of all.
Memo to Doug:
Get off the TV dinners, and go wander the forests of Maui for fruits, and nuts.
Soon you will be able to surf the big waves with the pros, no stress at all.
;)
AnonymousTue Feb 11, 10:40:00 AM EST
Blood avocados, good for the body, bad for the soul.
QuirkTue Feb 11, 11:52:00 AM EST
.
Get off the TV dinners, and go wander the forests of Maui for fruits, and nuts.
Or, move back to California where the hunting is easier. I can picture you as a gleaner (of sorts).
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DougTue Feb 11, 05:34:00 PM EST
Gleaning What?
...as to Rat: I'm to infirm and mentally retarded for hunting and gathering.
Just send me your Safeway Coupons, please.
Delete
QuirkTue Feb 11, 06:06:00 PM EST
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The hunting and gathering of fruit and nuts as Bob suggested.
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DougTue Feb 11, 06:27:00 PM EST
Hunting and gathering requires walking, right?
...but you did not respond to my Gleaner Question.
Delete
QuirkTue Feb 11, 06:45:00 PM EST
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Gleaning:
verb (used without object)
1. to collect or gather anything little by little or slowly.
2. to gather what is left by reapers.
Given your age and your description of your physical condition, I assumed that while pursuing those California 'fruits and nuts', gleaning would be the manner in which you would pursue them.
:-)
from Jihad Watch
DeleteSeems things are going along well enough in Egypt despite Obama's best efforts.
Now if the Muslim Brotherhood could just be gotten out of the White House.
Instead many people here worry about some non sense about some "conga line", here, and in Congress
Thank God Obama only has about two more years, the last two hopefully being totally non productive for him.
Strange bedfellows indeed:
Delete...I've been reduced to scavenging for Fruits and Nuts in the land of.
****"Barack Obama has been an indefatigable and unstinting supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, as well as of its proxies in the U.S. Thus it is not surprising that U.S. Embassy employees in Cairo would be Brotherhood allies as well. Obama was the target of vociferous criticism during the anti-Brotherhood demonstrations last summer for his uncritical support of the Brotherhood."****
DeleteI'd argue w/the Q man
Delete.
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On a per-capita basis, Maui probly outshines CA.
Plus, I can't afford the trip, in body and bank account.
OK, you have proven me technically wrong, Doug-O.
Deletepa1 does she to have mentioned her in passing while slandering me with some kind of usual schizo comment.
For this personal attack he ought to be taken down.
Just one of many the last few days.
If WiO engaged in such egregious behavior, he would be.
I spent my nut on Solar Water and Power.
Deleter2 blows his nuts daily with "Green" Rhetoric.
To bolster his left-wing stream of Re Peated MSM "News"
Socialist, happy talk, mainstream, "Insight"
pa1, the obsessed, is following me around again too, if anyone but me has noticed.
Deleteg'nite
All's well.
Delete...but not for the children.
What me worry?
You bring up WiO, our resident Jew?
DeleteGive us a brake.
The Emergency one will do.
It's depressing to think there are still women out there who think Obama is for women's rights when what he really is for is sharia law, as shown by his actions, in Egypt particularly.
DeleteThis country is dumb as all hell, isn't it?
g'nite g'nite
Dumb? maybe.
DeleteMislead, more likely. r2's left "owns" everything:
Education
Entertainment
Corporate Trust Funds and Foundations
Pop Culture
etc etc
Colbert (Dick Sucker Supreme)
DeleteStewart
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and her dad, William.
In the tent w/Hollande and the "man" to his LEFT, BHO.
I always thought thought Julia was RICHARD Dreyfuss's daughter.
DeleteStood next to him here at Waldenbooks.
He was checking out the Mag I was perusing.
Just found out he's a genius and Savant, of sorts.
Liked the few movies I saw.
"Down and Out in Beverly Hills" - One of my favorites.
We should be proud that our Dear Leader is left of France's.
Delete
ReplyDeleteSeven state-visit gaffes in animated gifs
(first two seem kinda lame, but I will persevere.)
Looking more closely, Merkel glancing over at the Loser Dork, is pretty good.
DeleteShow have longer animations.
"Should"
Delete"In 2007, President George W. Bush noted that Queen Elizabeth II had “helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in seventeen-seven…” He trailed off, realizing he’d just made the monarch a good 200 years old. “In 1976,” he finished, with a sheepish pause."
Delete:-)
Left out the Left's Biggest Hitter of all:
ReplyDeleteThe MSM
The source of all of r2's "insight."
"Hey isn’t that…
ReplyDeleteCallista Gingrich (along with her famous husband Newt) exiting the Vienna outpost of Tiffany & Co. clutching that tell-tale tiny blue bag on Sunday afternoon. The ever-helpful staff at luxury jewelry store remained mum on whether or not the Gingriches, who are infamous Tiffany aficionados, were at the store.
But our tipster spotted Callista’s “perfectly coiffed helmet” from a mile away.
“They live at Tiffany’s,” said our source.
During the 2012 presidential campaign it was big news that the Gingriches owed between $250,001 and $500,000 to the jewelry company in 2005 and 2006.
Newt defended his purchases by telling CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, “As a private citizen who has done well, I think I’m allowed to pick and choose what I prefer doing.”"
Like r2, Newt has better things to do than invest in solar.
Delete...except on the podium.
Or in the swamp, in r2's case.
On state dinner menu, American wines by French natives
ReplyDeleteTo accompany the menu served at tonight’s state dinner in honor of French President Francoise Hollande, the White House selected three American wines made by French-born vignerons.
Luc Morlet, a fourth-generation winemaker now living in California, crafted his Morlet Family Vineyards “La Proportion Dorée” 2011 ($50), a blend of sauvignon blanc, semillon and muscadelle grapes, to give a Sonoma County accent to white Bordeaux.
In Washington state’s Columbia Valley, Gilles Nicault, a native of southern France, blends cabernet sauvignon and syrah for the Chester Kidder 2009 (about $45), part of the Long Shadows project that recruits famous winemakers from around the world to fashion Washington wines of distinction.
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Never heard of a "vigneron" before.
Bet the Dork in Chief and Big-Ass never did either.
"A vigneron is someone who cultivates a vineyard for winemaking. The word connotes or emphasizes the critical role that vineyard placement and maintenance has in the production of high-quality wine.[3] The term, French for someone who grows grapes or makes wine,[4] is often used in Australia to describe a winemaker who is also involved as an owner or manager[5][6][7] as opposed to a person who is employed only to make wine, who is generally referred to as a winemaker. It is also used when referring to a winemaker from France.[8][9]
DeleteVincent of Saragossa is the patron saint of vignerons."
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About 20 miles from our farm, up Atascadero way, they had this really wild fluffy soil underlain by semi-solid Chalk.
The vines were said to penetrate into that chalk and thrive and produce. w/o all that much rainfall.
All I know is we got plenty good and drunk on Rotta Winery's Sweet Muscatel and several other fine wino wines from a small, family owned, craft winery.
Still in business:
Tasting room was classic, down in the cave with little Mrs. Rotta, Italian Winemaker Supreme, serving.
http://www.rottawinery.com/
DeleteWow!
DeleteTwenty five to more than 35 a bottle!
We used to pay $2.50/GALLON!
Sucks to be old.
DeleteOTOH, it was a lot cheaper, and probably easier.
Little Mrs. Rotta is nowhere to be found.
Delete...along w/Shirley.
Tasteful re-entry into the topic stream, with only a few heat tiles lost.
Deletehttps://www.rottawinery.com/Store/product_list.cfm?category_id=6
DeleteShit, 375 ml.: That would not even wet my beak.
Does remind me of the many great Gallons of Rotta Winery Port we poured down though.
Rotta Winery, founded in 1908 by the Rotta Family, is the only remaining family owned “original” winery in San Luis Obispo County. Mike Giubbini, grandson to the Rotta Family & Mark Caporale of Napa, have combined their talents to “bring back to life” the historic and rustic winery.
DeleteToday, Rotta Winery, just as in days of old, specializes in premium red and white wines along with flavorful and distinct dessert wines.
"distinct dessert wines"
Deleteaka
Sweet sweet Muscatel, the Wine of Sophisticated Winos.
...not that I would know.
"Muscatel"
DeleteFor the place in California, see Muscatel, California.
Muscat Grape (Vitis)
Black muscat grapes
Color of berry skin varied
Species Vitis vinifera
Muscat Noir in Viala & Vermorel.
Muscat Rouge de Madère in Viala & Vermorel.
The Muscat variety of grapes of the species Vitis vinifera is widely grown for wine, raisins and table grapes. Their color ranges from white to near black. Muscat almost always has a pronounced sweet floral aroma.
Muscat grapes are grown around the world. The breadth and number of varieties of Muscat suggest that it is perhaps the oldest domesticated grape variety, and there are theories that most families within the Vitis vinifera grape variety are descended from the Muscat variety.[1]
Among the most notable members of the Muscat family is Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains which is the main grape variety used in the production of the Italian sparkling wine Asti made in the Piedmont region.
It is also used in the production of many of the French fortified wines known as vin doux naturels. In Australia, this is also the main grape used in the production of Liqueur Muscat from the Victorian wine region of Rutherglen. Young, unaged and unfortified examples of Muscat blanc tend to exhibit the characteristic Muscat "grapey" aroma as well as citrus, rose and peach notes. Fortified and aged examples (particularly those that have been barrel aged), tend to be very dark in color due to oxidation with aroma notes of coffee, fruit cake, raisins and toffee.[2]
Muscat of Alexandria is another Muscat variety commonly used in the production of French vin doux naturel but it also found in Spain where it is used to make many of the fortified Spanish Moscatels. Elsewhere it is used to make off-dry to sweet white wines, often labeled as Moscato in Australia, California and South Africa. In Alsace and parts of Central Europe, Muscat Ottonel is used to produce usually dry and highly perfumed wines.[2]
Rotta's Muscatel was a rich, hearty, yellow.
DeleteMuscatel is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California.
DeleteIt is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west-northwest of downtown Fresno,[2] at an elevation of 299 feet
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDoug-O must have put the cork back in the wine bottle.
Delete;)
Running on Pure Speed and Greed!
Delete...the days grow short.
The Gallons had screw on tops, FWIW.
DeleteSafety-wire screw and break serrated safety top?
Delete...I do not recall.
Those post war days were much more mellow.
Delete•The Poet Iran Executed - David Keyes
ReplyDeleteAs Iranian poet Hashem Shaabani was dangling from a noose two weeks ago, one wonders what he would have thought about Western leaders who call President Hassan Rouhani a moderate. Shaabani criticized the regime by speaking out against repression of ethnic Arabs in Khuzestan province, but since the regime sees itself as the representative of God on Earth, his fate was sealed. It's not called a theocracy for nothing.
Islamic scholar and former Iraqi parliamentarian Iyad Jamal al Din once told me of Iran's Supreme Leader: "Ayatollah Khamenei is a man just like me. He's a cleric and I'm a cleric. But he says, 'I am the representative of God.' From him, these words make me sleepless. You all [in America] sleep normally because you don't know what that means. I know what it means. He means that he is right and the others are wrong. And wrong must not live. You should be defeated and destroyed."
Can the world trust a government which doesn't even trust its own people? Can the West rely on a regime which so fears dissidents that it puts them to death? Shaabani, and the more than 300 Iranians executed since Rouhani took power, are powerful reminders that the Iranian government remains as fanatic as it is dangerous. The writer is executive director of Advancing Human Rights. (Daily Beast)
•Jewish-Arab Coexistence in Jerusalem - Matti Friedman
In recent years, Jerusalem has seen new infrastructure projects like a light-rail line serving Jewish and Arab neighborhoods. State-funded health care in Arab neighborhoods is improving. One hears more Arabic than ever spoken in predominantly Jewish commercial areas. More Arab residents are requesting Israeli citizenship and taking the Israeli high-school matriculation exams.
There are many thousands of interactions between Jews and Arabs each day, nearly all of them uneventful. What we have here is not peace but peacefulness - a budding, imperfect coexistence obvious to anyone. According to a poll published in January 2014 by Ha'aretz, when Arab Israelis were asked if they were "generally satisfied" with their lives in Israel, 79% said yes. (Tablet)
from Daily Alert