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."

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Israeli Equestrian Team 'Wins' While Losing at Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup



 Team Canada - The Team That Won - By Winning

Team Canada – Yann Candele, Eric Lamaze, coach Mark Laskin, Tiffany Foster and Ian Millar -
- took the podium with its Nations’ Cup victory that made it the winningest team in the Wellington series
© 2014 by Nancy Jaffer


When teams from around the world came together in Florida to compete for the Cup and $75,000, the event marked an even bigger prize for Israel: A milestone in the country’s progression towards a competitive status in equestrian sports. 

“This will be the very first Israeli Nations Cup ever in any discipline in the history of equestrian sports. So for us, we are incredibly proud and honored to be the first to raise the flag,” stated Kate Levy, chef d’equipe for the Israeli Equestrian Team.
 
- The Israeli Team the 'Won' While Losing -
From left to right, Joshua Tabor, Kate Levy, Danielle Goldstein, and Elad Yaniv





T.E.A.M. Israel, which stands for The Equine Athletics Mission Israel is a nonprofit organization that works to cultivate the equestrian community in Israel. This includes training young riders, building equine facilities, educating the public, and developing an international riding team with the goal of competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. 
 

  The team for the Nations Cup is off to a great start on this goal when they headed to Wellington; a much-anticipated step for the Israeli Equestrian Team, T.E.A.M. Israel, and every equestrian and horse-enthusiast in Israel. Levy also put their sentiment into words by stating: 

“Just being a part of this event and representing Israel, we have already won.”

Danielle Goldstein has worked hard for this breakthrough for Israel’s equestrian community. She has dual citizenship in the United States and Israel, which she says she obtained largely to help Israel gain a greater presence in international sports. Goldstein also served as chef d’equipe for the Israeli Jumping Team in the Maccabiah Games in 2013, where the team earned gold medals.


  “Competing as a team at this level is no longer just a dream,” explains Levy, “We hope to inspire more Israeli riders to join us in creating depth in our equestrian sports for generations to come.”

 The evening before the Nations Cup, supporters of The Equine Athletics Mission Israel, or T.E.A.M. Israel, came together to build the future of Israels equestrian team and celebrate this major step towards putting Israel on the international equestrian map. The Inaugural T.E.A.M. Israel Benefit took place Thursday night at Starwyn Farms in Grand Prix village, raised over $200,000 towards their cause.


Twelve countries were represented in this years Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup, which is part of the 2014 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival. Canada took home the victory and $75,000, beating Great Britain who came in second and the United States who came in third. The challenging course was set by Steve Stephens of the United States.

An addition this year was a squad from Israel. While lead rider Danielle Goldstein, who has dual U.S./Israeli citizenship did a great job on Carisma to wind up with just one time penalty, a fall by second team member Elad Yaniv put the squad out of contention. - See more at: http://www.equisearch.com/news/nancy_jaffer/2014-furusiyya-fei-nations-cup-and-palm-beach-dressage-derby/#sthash.fBVRPrKW.dpuf
While lead rider for Team Israel, Danielle Goldstein, who has dual U.S./Israeli citizenship did a great job on Carisma to wind up with just one time penalty, a fall by second team member Elad Yaniv put the squad out of contention.


Cultivating the equestrian community in Israel and making a name for their country in international competition is of extreme importance to the Israeli Equestrian Team, especially Goldstein. She is an athlete for the Israeli Equstrian Team, and strong supporter of  T.E.A.M. Israel. For her, making history by representing Israel in the Nations Cup was just the beginning of the progression towards giving Israel a competitive status in equestrian sports




http://www.equisearch.com/news/nancy_jaffer/2014-furusiyya-fei-nations-cup-and-palm-beach-dressage-derby/
http://eliteequestrian.us/israeli-equestrian-team-debuts-at-the-furusiyya-fei-nations-cup/#.UyNKBYVuAuh
http://eliteequestrian.us/israeli-equestrian-team-wins-a-place-on-the-map-of-the-equestrian-world/#.UyNUUoVuAug

114 comments:

  1. In the week through Wednesday, March 12, the amount of U.S. Treasury securities held in custody for foreign official and international accounts (i.e., central banks) at the Federal Reserve dropped by a staggering $104.5 billion, marking what was far and away the biggest weekly drop on record.

    The most likely explanation for the drop in custody holdings is that Russia moved its U.S. Treasuries outside of the U.S., so that if and when the West levies financial sanctions against it as a result of escalating military tension in Ukraine, Russia will still be able to access its money.
    . . .
    The upcoming referendum in Crimea this weekend and the multiple threats of sanctions could have triggered a significant reallocation of Treasuries to a non-U.S. custodian. Note that custodian banks are not allowed to transact with entities listed in the OFAC list, once sanctions are imposed.

    What impact does all of this have on the market?

    "A mere shift in custodians should not have any impact on yields in the Treasury market," say the BofAML strategists.

    "A consistent move out of the New York Fed merely diminishes the reliability of this indicator as a high frequency source for foreign official demand."


    http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/Nobody-Just-Sold-100-Billion-Of-US-Treasuries-5318866.php

    ReplyDelete
  2. .

    From the WaPo

    BEIRUT — Three years into the revolt against his rule, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in a stronger position than ever before to quell the rebellion against his rule by Syrians who rose up to challenge his hold on power, first with peaceful protests and later with arms.

    Aided by the steadfast support of his allies and the deepening disarray of his foes, Assad is pressing ahead with plans to be reelected to a third seven-year term this summer while sustaining intense military pressure intended to crush his opponents.

    The strategy is not new, but in recent months it has started to yield tangible progress in the form of slow but steady gains on several key fronts on the battlefield that call into question long-held perceptions of a stalemate.

    Most notably, the government has pushed the rebels back or squeezed them into isolated pockets in large swathes of the territory surrounding Damascus, diminishing prospects that the opposition will soon be in a position to seriously threaten the capital or topple the regime...


    http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/on-third-anniversary-of-syrian-rebellion-assad-is-steadily-winning-the-war/2014/03/14/f189649a-bd1a-4c9e-9060-755984ea92c8_story.html

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The optimists predict the civil war will continue another 10 years, the pessimists predict 15.

      Delete
    2. Destruction…means the unmaking, or cessation, of the destroyed. And people often talk as if the ‘annihilation’ of a soul were intrinsically possible. In all our experience…the destruction of one thing means the emergence of something else. Burn a log, and you have gases, heat and ash. To have been a log means now being those three things. If soul can be destroyed, must there not be a state of having been a human soul? And is not that, perhaps, the state which is equally well described as torment, destruction, and privation? You will remember that in the parable, the saved go to a place prepared for them, while the damned go to a place never made for men at all. To enter heaven is to become more human than you ever succeeded in being in earth; to enter hell, is to be banished from humanity. What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is “remains.”

      He goes onto say, “That the lost soul is eternally fixed in its diabolical attitude we cannot doubt: but whether this eternal fixity implies endless duration—or duration at all—we cannot say.”

      - See more at: http://jonathanmerritt.religionnews.com/2014/03/12/5-c-s-lewis-quotes-surprising-shocking/#sthash.j0ghgxHJ.dpuf

      Delete
  3. Hi...
    Though Israel team had lost the cup in Furusiyya FEI Nations league, they are the real winners who had raised their flag in the tournament. They had reached their first goal of representing their flag in the tournaments....:) Congrats n hats off for you all who represented T.E.A.M Israel...
    get youtube views fast

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Team Israel is really a means for Danielle Goldstein and Kate Levy to go to the Olympics to be held in Brazil, in 2016.

      Goldstein is a competitor who rides well, but not good enough to make the US team, while for Levy managing teams at competition is a job.

      By utilizing 'Team Israel' they have a fund raising devise that 'plays' in Palm Beach, Notice the reference they made to the $200,000 that was raised. As individuals they never could have done that, but by tying themselves to Israel, they became eligible, in the minds of the monied, for charity.

      A smooth move.

      Shades of the Jamaica bob sled team, John Candy and 'Cool Runnings'.

      Using 'Show the Flag' nationalism for their own self gratification.
      If only Yaniv could all ride, half as well as Goldstein, they'd have done better.
      Falling off is considered 'Bad Form'.



      Delete
  4. Not a bad thread. I'm really surprised.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is because you are an idiot.

      Delete
  5. Focus Nigeria, con't

    The Sanes begin to fight back --

    Nigeria: Hundreds of Islamic jihadists attack barracks, university, civil servants’ living area

    Robert Spencer Mar 14, 2014 at 5:34pm Nigeria 12 Comments Jihad Wach

    maiduguriThe world will take little notice, however, until non-Muslims begin to fight back on a large scale. Their beginning to fight back is already a focus of the full BBC report excerpted here, and no doubt if this continues, we will soon hear about “atrocities” committed against Boko Haram, and about how it is being subjected to “ethnic cleansing” in northern Nigeria — for the moral inversion of the mainstream media is monstrous, unrelenting, and universal.

    “Nigeria Boko Haram: ‘Hundreds’ attack Maiduguri,” from the BBC, March 14:

    Hundreds of militants have staged a multi-pronged attack on the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, witnesses say.

    On entering the city, the attackers split into smaller groups – heading for the barracks, the university and an area where civil servants live.

    The assault on the barracks was an attempt by the attackers to free colleagues held there, a military spokesman said.

    Militants suspected to be from Boko Haram have killed 500 people this year….

    Human Rights Watch says in a report that the attacks by Boko Haram are having a devastating impact on the population of north-eastern Nigeria.

    Quoting United Nations figures, it says some 300,000 people have fled their homes over the past year.

    “Even if the government can’t stop the attacks, at the very least, it can meaningfully assist the people who have been most devastated by them,” says HRW’s Africa director Daniel Bekele.

    Boko Haram was founded in Maiduguri in 2009. It wants northern Nigeria to become an Islamic state.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, Boko Haram wants all of Nigeria to become an Islamic state. That's a bridge too far at the current time, however.

      Delete
    2. And you know the desires of Boko Haram, how?
      The motives,of Boko Haram, how do YOU know what they are?

      Do you read minds?

      Delete
    3. Or are YOU merely projecting ideological motivations on Boko Haram, for your own propaganda purposes?

      Delete
  6. March 15, 2014
    What Jolly's Win May Mean
    By Bruce Walker


    What does the Republican victory in Florida’s 13th Congressional District mean for November?

    The Democrats ought to have won this race. Pinellas County is Democrat country. Many pundits have noted that Obama carried Pinellas County in both of his presidential runs and that Alex Sink carried the district when she ran for governor in 2010, but such analyses understate how consistently Democrat Pinellas County has been in the last dozen years.

    Since 2002 there have been ten presidential, gubernatorial, and Senate elections in Florida. Democrats have carried Pinellas County in the last five of those elections and have carried Pinellas County in seven out of these ten elections. In only three elections have Republicans won this county. In each case – Charlie Crist in the 2006 gubernatorial race, George Bush in the 2004 presidential race, and Jeb Bush in the 2002 gubernatorial race – Pinellas County gave the Democrat candidate a higher percentage of the vote than the Democrat got in the statewide Florida vote.

    Pinellas County is not only more Democrat than the rest of Florida, but more Democrat than the nation as a whole. In the last five presidential elections – from 1996 through 2012 – Pinellas County has given the Democrat presidential candidate a higher percentage of the vote than that candidate won statewide in Florida or in the national popular vote.


    In a normal election, if the Democrats nominated a popular, well-known moderate politician in a Democrat congressional district with an open seat, and if that candidate campaigned hard with lots of money and the Democrat leadership behind her, then the result should be foreordained. Instead, not only did Sink lose the popular vote in the special election, but because a Libertarian candidate, whose supporters are surely more hostile to ObamaCare than even Republican voters are, gained 5% of the vote, Sink ran far behind the historic Democrat vote in past elections.

    There are interesting parallels between this 2014 Democrat defeat in Florida’s 13th Congressional District and the defeats Democrats suffered in House special elections in the months before the 1994 midterm-election Republican landslide. In both instances, the Democrat candidates ought to have won, if the normal political reflexes of voters had operated in the elections. In both instances, the national Democratic Party was forced to defend federally run health care schemes – ObamaCare in 2014 and HillaryCare in 1994. In both instances, the congressional special elections showed a clear shift of about 5% of the electorate away from historic support for Democrats to new support for Republicans.

    That 5% shift may not sound like much, but a national shift of that much could be the difference between picking up six or seven Senate seats – a narrow majority that could be lost in the 2016 election – and a dozen or more Senate seats, which would be enough to force Obama’s last two years into a dreary process of reactive vetoes, and which would guarantee that a Republican president elected in 2016 would be able to pass enact revolutionary changes in federal law.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That 5% would be enough to sweep Republicans into control of dozens of state legislatures, which would mean that Right to Work laws, school choice statutes, state tax reduction and reform, and other changes could put the left on the defensive in many states that today the left rules by the acquiescence of conservatives. Winning even more secondary statewide offices would mean that officials like the secretary of state or state attorney general, positions which have vital roles in the battle against voter fraud, will fall into the hands of Republicans.

      In fact, the 2014 midterm may end up looking less like the 1994 midterm twenty years ago and more like the 1974 midterm twenty years before the 1994 landslide. In the second midterm of Richard Nixon’s presidency, his party had to face voters who were not only angry at the failure of Nixon’s policies, but appalled by Nixon’s understanding of the constitutional role of Congress and the presidency (doesn’t that sound familiar?). In 1974, Republicans were swept out of power almost everywhere, regardless of the attractiveness of their candidates or even the funding of their campaigns.

      Although Obama is much dumber than Nixon, the isolation, the unhappiness of the president’s congressional party, the corrosion of congressional power by an imperial presidency, and the utter inability of the president to grasp the profound restiveness of voters may make 2014 the grounds for a genuine pivot in American politics. If so, then Jolly’s victory in Florida is just the first blast of a loud trumpet.

      http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/03/what_jollys_win_may_mean.html

      Jolly times may be here again.

      Delete
  7. March 14, 2014
    My Wife's Last Days -- And the Coming ObamaCare Death Panel
    By Stuart Schwartz


    We have been so absorbed by the cavalcade of government incompetence and individual hurt produced by the rollout of ObamaCare that it is easy to forget the tragedy-in-waiting should this federal healthcare takeover stay in place: the death panel, also known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This is the group of political appointees designed to allow the federal government to use a combination of medical and social criteria to determine the healthcare an individual receives.

    Or, to put it as bluntly as Sarah Palin did, to determine who lives and who dies. Why am I thinking about that now? Because my wife and soul-mate of 33 years, Sharon Harrah Schwartz, died at the age of 62 in January. Her passing put an end to a slow-motion death from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, ALS, popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She would have occupied the bottom portion of an IPAB treatment list.

    Her suffering and passing was and remains wrenching for her family and friends. It was especially difficult over the last year as her illness accelerated, destroying her muscles and, consequently, her ability to speak, to eat, and ultimately to breathe. A variety of drugs and equipment kept her reasonably comfortable, while medical technology helped clear the fluids collecting in her lungs. She enjoyed, as much as possible, the last months with her family. An advanced directive, worked out in concert with ALS healthcare professionals, proscribed the treatment limits. For almost two years, her healthcare relied on a myriad of individual decisions based on relationships with both the ones she loved and with healthcare providers. The most significant one: she and I -- lovers and best friends for more than three decades -- had decided together that, barring a miracle and/or last-minute medical research breakthrough, we would allow the disease to take its course, keep her as comfortable as possible, and let God do the rest.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This illustrates something that President Obama and his party, in its zeal to use healthcare as a driving force in transforming American society, accrue power, and expand centralized government, have ignored: that the foundation of what has become the uniquely American and consequently world-class healthcare system is individual decision-making and values, resting upon a multitude of relationships that work best when left to those with a stake in it -- healthcare professionals, patients and their families. The government has a role, yes; but its role should be limited, allowing the marketplace of providers and patients to work.

      At its most basic level, healthcare is individual and personal, depending upon relationships and particular values. Our faith, our love for each other and belief in the sacred responsibility of marriage underlaysleepless nights, caring for her when she could no longer care for herself, servicing the machines that alleviated some of the symptoms, the decisions that allowed just a few more months to live and love with her family and friends.

      Her… our struggles with this terminal disease -- she referred to it as the “beast” in her body -- illustrate the government-sponsored agony awaiting so many families just over the horizon. Love informed our decisions in consultation with those providing treatment. I valued her life as sacred and God-given, acknowledging the debt I owed to someone who had joyfully served as wife, mother, and friend.

      But looming on the horizon is a whole other set of criteria. ObamaCare has established an agenda-driven political board that will shift the loci of healthcare decisions from individual and relationship to the application of social justice concepts. Even a cursory reading (something that few, if any, of the Democrats foisting this law upon us took the time to do) of the pages and footnotes of this intrusion and the writings of its designers -- many so-called medical policy experts from academia -- makes it clear that progressive social engineering by government-appointed experts will largely determine medical treatment.

      Delete
    2. Peruse the publications and reports of the thinking of the architects of ObamaCare. Their various scoring systems, their social priorities would have put my wife at the bottom of the list for treatment. Obamacare architects perceive healthcare, as they do income, as a zero-sum game -- every dollar spent on her treatment is a dollar taken away from someone else. Never mind that this notion, like so much of ObamaCare, is a deliberate lie with no foundation in fact; healthcare, like wealth, in the United States has expanded as new medical technologies, techniques and research have brought ever more accessible and better care.

      But centralized control needs to declare medical resources finite, which in turn demands rationing, and rationing needs, of course, a government board to decide who gets treatment and when, who gets to live… and die. My wife, under a fully implemented ObamaCare, would have been among the last in line for treatment. She was a retiree (too old!) with a terminal disease (too expensive with a limited future!), a woman who had chosen to spend most of her adult life raising children (that’s not really societally valued employment, the architects might sniff) and who lived simply and lovingly, taking pride in her family and her role as a homemaker (what --no greater ambitions?)

      Sharon was loved by her family, her friends and, above all, by God. We devoted a considerable portion of our energy and resources to making sure she felt loved during her last year. We could do no less, as love is a basic tenet of our faith, a Christianity that says her worth depends solely on her standing as a creation of God -- not a federal bureaucracy. Such was the sanctity of Sharon’s life, a human life. That is the opposite of Obamacare which, if fully implemented, would likely have robbed us of much of her past year. To a centralized and progressive federal bureaucracy, Sharon’s worth was the totality of the probabilities of her contribution to the good of a theoretical community, as defined by Washington politicians and technocrats.

      But for us, it was much simpler: She was God’s gift, to whom we owed our love and resources and energy until she passed from life in this world.

      It is time to repeal Obamacare.

      http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/03/my_wifes_last_days__and_the_coming_obamacare_death_panel.html

      Delete
    3. More gibberish, that has NOTHING to do with the thread.
      Learn how to edit, or hire someone that does..

      If you want to post that shit, in its entirety, then start your own thread, Farmer Bob.

      If you do not know how, hire someone that does, to teach you how to do it.
      Or just make them staffers.

      But give a hoot, don't pollute.

      Delete
    4. I realize that for an idiot for whom signing onto their Google account is beyond their cognizant abiity, beyond their comprehension, that posting a blog thread seems daunting. But it is not.

      It is a task anyone can accomplish . . .

      IF THEY TRY!

      “Anyone in any walk of life who is content with mediocrity is untrue to himself and to American tradition.”
      ― George S. Patton Jr.

      Delete
    5. It's too much for rat to read and comprehend, Bob. He likes things short and simple.

      Delete
    6. Incompetents, unable to function in the modern world.

      If they had the capacity to function, succinctly, they would.

      But they cannot.

      Delete
  8. This Summer, California will have the equivalent of Two Large Nukes turning on every day to provide Peak Power during the highest electricity usage time of day.

    Put this in context of Austin's 25 year contract for Solar-generated electricity at $0.05 / kw hr, and you can see the future developing.

    Ca ISO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The only thing cheaper? Wind.

      Delete
    2. Mea Culpa

      Sorry for the pollution. :) :)

      Delete
    3. Pollution, Rufus, is a thousand words cut and pasted from a third rate source.

      Not a blurb, or a few hundred words of original work.

      Now, if the anonymous Farmer Bob did not have thread posting authorization, it could be understandable.
      But he does, so all he is doing is being disruptive and rude.

      Purposefully.

      Delete
    4. Yeah, I was just bein' a bit cute. :) :)

      The fact is, it's nice to start out the day looking at a few pictures of beautiful horses, and well-put together girls in thongs, but you run out of things to say pretty quickly. :)

      Delete
    5. A picture of a solar panel, however, and any red-blooded American man can wax poetic all day. :)

      Delete
    6. I know the deal.
      Imagine how Deuce did it on his own for years, it really is to his credit that he managed the blog so well.

      It certainly was never appreciated by the cretins.
      The folks that called him a NAZI, rather than argue the merits of the issues he raised.

      Delete
    7. As for that Fl - 13 election, I called it that morning, in spite of PPP giving Sink a 3 pt. lead the day before.

      I got it right because everything I was reading on the Liberal blogs was "how much the base Democrats hated Sink.

      She is a "banker," who managed, once again, to alienate every single base Democratic group in the last couple of weeks running up to the election. The thinking was, why go stand in line for a Republican Lite when you can not bother and get the real thing.

      Delete
    8. I can't imagine how he put up with the stupidity/nonsense/inanity/ pick one on a daily basis for so long. It's great that you, and some others are giving him a break for awhile.

      Delete
    9. You are in dream land Rufus.

      People hate ObamaCare.

      Besides, you are off topic.

      You are supposed to be talking about Jews and horses, rat's two favorite topics.

      heh heh heh

      Delete
    10. YOU'VE never called anyone a FASCIST, Jack. We all know that.

      Delete
    11. I'll cal you a fascist, and be correct.

      But I try to avoid name calling.
      Facts and figures are so much more devastating to the opposition, than calling them names.

      If you ever had the facts on your side, you would have felt the feeling of satisfaction when the opponent is made a fool of.

      I would reference the remarks about American Mustangs, and 'What's' lack of reading comprehension, his not understanding that North America was part of America, but ...

      ... that would be like pouring gasoline on a fire.

      Burn, baby, burn!

      Delete
    12. Poor 'What's', he was so embarrassed by his American Mustang fiasco that he left, and has not signed in, since.

      Delete
    13. I think his handlers pulled the "Libertarian" budget.

      Delete

    14. Now that's funny, I don't care who you are.

      heh, heh, heh,

      Delete
    15. .

      :-)

      Amazing.

      Now that the rat is putting up blog streams he decides to finally recognize the rules of common courtesy on the blog, this after years of posting reams of repetitious and extended bullshit, the entire book of witty sayings and extended wiki articles.

      How the worm has turned.

      Hilarious.

      .

      Delete
    16. Glad you find it entertaining, as that is the purpose, but ...

      No, Quirk, I merely use 'the rules' as a bludgeon to beat 'em with.
      Just as they tried those tactics on desert rat.

      It never made a difference to the rat, but he's a damned sight tougher than the Dimwitted Duo, minus one.

      Also, back in the day, the authorization to post a thread was not as 'spread around', as it is today.
      Both the strategic and tactical situation has changed, increased capacity has be awarded to all sides, but Farmer Bob refuses to engage, but in any but the 'old school' tactics.

      So we use that, as another instrument to stick the advocate of cannibalism in the eye.

      Delete
    17. .

      Bubble gum and pop tarts.

      Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter, rat. You make yourself look like a fool.

      .

      Delete

    18. We can see, by his responses, that it does 'get' to him.

      heh, heh, heh.

      The advocate of genocide, human butchery and cannibalism does not get a pass.
      He had one, but he tore it up when he advocated for killing 4 million US residents.

      Delete
    19. .

      In the past, I've given you the benefit of the doubt, rat; but if you keep bringing up the bullshit about cannibalism and killing 4 million in Arizona, I may be forced to admit that you lack any appreciation for or recognition of humor(admittedly low grade and not so funny humor but still within the bounds of what could be liberally called a jest) or if that's not the case that you are just straight out batshit crazy.

      Of course, there is always the third possibility, toad licking.

      .

      Delete
    20. It was not humorous, it was insulting to civilization.

      desert rat was accused of worse, and they never produced a quote.

      Farmer Bob advocated for cannibalism, I have the quote and the link.

      Until a REAL apology to the people of AZ is issued, not a lame excuse, but an apology, the remark will be referenced.
      He wrote it, I will quote it.

      Delete
    21. BobSun Feb 23, 10:56:00 PM EST
      "The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."

      Exactly.

      Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.


      Delete
    22. No smiley face, no heh, heh, heh.

      Nope, there is no sign of humor, that quot is advocating genocide, butchery and cannibalism.

      Delete
  9. Bloomberg found that people wanted to keep Obamacare by a 64 / 31 margin.

    And, people in My family are benefitting greatly from it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's not what most polls say, but, polls differ.

      One wonders why so many democratic politicians are running away from ObamaCare, and the President, if Bloomberg is correct.

      Maybe democrats are too stupid to understand polls?

      Nah, they are in fact very very good at understanding polls.

      Delete
    2. And that is of course why they are running away from ObamaCare and President Obama.

      They may be dicks, but they ain't dumb dicks.

      Delete
    3. And, sooner or later, the old, racist "over sixty-five crowd" will realize that their Medicare Part D drug expenses are going away.

      Delete
    4. The "doughnut hole" is cut in half, this year, and disappears, completely, in five or six years. Even the dumbest, old racist hick can only ignore that for so long.

      Delete
    5. The Kaiser Poll (a bit older) put it a 61 - 33 to keep and fix.

      Delete
    6. .

      And, people in My family are benefitting greatly from it.

      I've thought it indelicate to bring up but frankly I've thought since day one that this was the main reason for your ardent proselytizing for the act.

      .

      Delete
    7. Indelicate, inschmelicate; I have a very large extended family. Hell, if I didn't have the VA, I would be benefitting from the Doughnut Hole being cut in half (and, eventually, sublimated.)

      Delete
  10. I think the Palestinians and the Gazans would be much better people if they took up riding horses and horsemanship instead of rocket launching and suicide bombing.

    There, I have commented on the thread, and I can't really think of anything else to say about the subject other than I feel bad the Israeli fell off the horse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And who are you to even voice an opinion?

      But another inept incompetent?

      Delete
    2. Ad hominem
      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
      "Personal attacks" redirects here. For the Wikipedia policy, see Wikipedia:No personal attacks.
      Page semi-protected
      An ad hominem (Latin for "to the man" or "to the person"[1]), short for argumentum ad hominem, is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument.[2] Fallacious Ad hominem reasoning is normally categorized as an informal fallacy,[3][4][5] more precisely as a genetic fallacy,[6] a subcategory of fallacies of irrelevance.[7] Ad hominem reasoning is not always fallacious, for example, when it relates to the credibility of statements of fact.

      Delete
    3. .

      But he doesn't call names. The boy is a prince.

      .

      Delete
    4. Damned right.

      I don’t insult people. I just describe them.

      Delete
  11. And, speaking of "polls:"

    The only poll, out there, of "Likely" Voters has Obama at 49 - 50, this morning.

    Rasmussen Poll

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Come on, Rufus, we al know that the only poll that counted was held in 2008 and then again, in 2012.

      Obama won in a landslide, in the last polling of the Electoral College.
      The only poll that counts.

      The rest, just guide posts on the road to Perdition.

      Delete
    2. Yeah, but I do have to admit to being moderately interested in this year's Senate contests. Exactly why, I can't tell you - except, the crappie aren't really biting, yet, and . . . . . . . .

      Delete
    3. Neither side will garner the 60 Senators required to end a filibuster, let alone the 67 it takes to over ride a veto.

      Our one Party System will continue to bump along, the two 'sides' gainfully playing the populous.

      Political theater. Process with little progress.

      Just look at the Tax Code for illustration of the reality.


      Delete
    4. I know. I just can't help it; it's a harmless perversion, I guess. :)

      Delete
    5. .

      I though I heard Harry Read did away with the filibuster.

      .

      Delete
    6. I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or serious - seriously. :)

      Delete
  12. Anonymous said ...

    That's not what most polls say ...

    Can we have some links to those polls?

    Or do they really not exist, except in that empty space 'tween your ears.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interestingly, Kaiser broke the "repeal" responses down into two groups. Only about 19% wanted to "flat out repeal" the whole kit and kaboodle.

      A third of the "repealers" wanted to "replace with a republican plan" (in other words, the same benefits with a republican-sounding name.)

      Delete
    2. .

      Can we have some links to those polls?


      RCP Average:

      42.7 Approve
      52.7 Disapprove

      http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html

      .

      Delete
    3. He linked to
      Rasmussen, Quirk, go back and look.

      Th RCP average mixes All, Registered and Likely Voters.
      Rasmussen only polls 'Likely' voters, as Rufus posted.

      Go down the list of the polls they average, and you will see just that.

      There is a difference, you know.

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

      Delete
    5. .

      I know there is a difference, rat, but that is not what you asked for. You asked Anonymous for a link to support his comments.

      Rufus made a reference to Bloomberg and the views on the ACA.

      Anonymous replied: That's not what most polls say, but, polls differ.

      Rat says: Can we have some links to those polls?


      RCP lists most of the major poll results.

      Healthcare

      Poll results: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html

      RCP Average:

      Approve: 38.5

      Disapprove: 53.7

      Presidential Job Approval

      Poll Results: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html

      RCP Average:

      Approve: 42.7

      Disapprove: 52.7

      Your question to Anonymous had nothing to do with Rasmussen or with the differences between or the quality of polls. It merely asked for a link.

      .

      Delete
    6. Well there you go, Anonymous.

      All this time I thought you were vehemently opposed to not signing in.

      Now we find that you are one of the Anoni, too.

      Wonders have not yet ceased, though they do not amaze.

      Delete
    7. .

      Sorry, rat.

      I thought I would help you out. I thought you were just hopelessly ignorant and haven't been following the polls on your own. Otherwise, you would have know that Anonymous was correct in his statement and would have known where to go to quickly find out the poll results and any answers you needed.

      I see Anonymous followed up with additional info. You appear to need all the help you can get. I mean, with not being able to follow a blog stream and not knowing what questions you have actually asked.

      I know it can be confusing for you son, but hang in there tiger.

      .

      Delete
    8. There was no confusion on my part, Q.

      I wanted validation of Anonymous's claims, by Anonymous.

      That you stood up and admitted to being Anonymous, I find satisfying.

      Delete
    9. .

      :-)

      Once again, you prove that you are witless, rat.

      Another instance like that of accusing people of promoting cannibalism or wanting to eliminate the population of Arizona.

      I'll leave it to the people of the blog to decide who is Anonymous and who is Captain Moonbeam.

      .

      Delete
  13. http://hotair.com/archives/2014/02/27/kaiser-poll-shows-obamacare-getting-even-more-unpopular-with-uninsured/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/31/poll-obamacare-unpopular-as-ever-especially-among-uninsured/

      Delete
    2. That is 'Two' polls, Rufus addressed the first, up thread, only 19% favor repeal.

      Two is not Most and of the two, one sets against your premise, anoni.

      You are the loser on that exchange.

      Delete

    3. Haven't look at the 'Daily Caller' poll, but there is no need to, as the Kaiser poll is telling enough.

      Only 19% favor repeal., which isn't enough to make a difference.

      Delete
    4. An interesting thing, when you drill down into those polls, is that the very people that will be most helped by Obamacare understand it the least. Over half don't know that they will be subsidized.

      From my own, private polling, I find that the biggest group of "disapprovers" are young, black women with kids. It turns out that they don't trust Obama any farther than they could throw him.

      The world is a truly "interesting" place.

      Delete
    5. Also, 55% of Uninsured say they are More Likely, than not, to buy health insurance.

      Add to that the fact that this is the very group that, overwhelmingly, does not realize that their purchase will be subsidized (in many cases all the way down to zero,) and you start to realize where some of these negative poll numbers are coming from.

      Delete
  14. Little watty is still red faced and humiliated from the spanking he got yesterday.

    poor watty

    I got a Skype call coming up, see ya !

    ReplyDelete
  15. Watty would do better to stay on topic, Bob, and stick with horses.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Now you boys are typing your speech impediments into the blog.

      Will wonders never cease!

      Delete
  16. Well that was a nice talk.

    Now I can begin waiting again for Jackrat to substantiate his oft repeated claim that I've taken $700,000 in welfare payments.

    I've waited for days now.

    I just can't understand why he is not responding.

    After all, he is a Big Blogger now, putting up his own threads and stuff.

    And we all know he relies on everyone playing by the rules.

    This rule, for instance -

    "Bullying, outing, taunting and making false or malicious unsubstantiated charges against another member is not allowed."

    bwabwabwabwahahahahaha.......

    out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are admitting you have received a $700,000 Federal subsidy?

      Delete
    2. All Jack did was to report the average cost of the medical procedures Farmer Bob is having or has had while a beneficiary of Medicare, the Federal Healthcare program for senior citizens.

      The new hip and the radiation treatments for prostate cancer each average $350,000. Jack provided links to the reports which listed the costs of the procedures.

      How this could be considered Bullying, outing, taunting and making false or malicious unsubstantiated charges against another member ... is not explained by Anonymous.

      What concern it would be, to Anonymous, is a mystery as well.

      It provides an illustration of something that Christopher Hitchens wrote :

      "It's often a bad sign when people defend themselves against charges which haven't been made.”
      ― Christopher Hitchens

      Delete
    3. Now, Jack has pointed out the HYPOCRISY of someone using the Medicare program, while at the same time denouncing other Federal Healthcare programs, based upon ideological concerns about 'Intrusive' government.

      While the Federals finance multiple intrusive procedures to keep Farmer Bob alive.

      Delete
    4. "The new hip and the radiation treatments for prostate cancer each average $350,000."

      Bull shit.

      Besides I paid for the hip myself, as I've said many times. And it wasn't any $350,000. It wasn't half that.

      You just pull your own shit out of your own ass. If you put up links I missed them. Relink.

      Since Doug asked one time how much the radiation costs, I will write that question down and ask the doc next Wednesday, as I have a couple other questions to ask. My guess is it would be less than an operation but I don't know for sure. The treatments are themselves quite simple and 10 minutes long at most. The machine probably cost a lot originally. They run people through there all day long. All people that have paid their Fed taxes all their lives.

      Rat needs a new brain. Hopefully ObamaCare might help him. I'd happily contribute to that operation.

      Delete

    5. BobSun Feb 23, 10:56:00 PM EST
      "The argument that they are not native is amazing in light of the fact that neither are Europeans native."

      Exactly.

      Shoot the Arizonans as well, give the meat to the poor.


      Delete

    6. If not for the invasive species, Farmers, the Elk in Idaho would be better off.

      So reports Idaho Game and Fish.

      Delete
    7. Bob agrees, that Europeans are an invasive species, it is well known, from reports by Idaho Game and Fish that Farmers are the greatest detriment to larger and healthier elk herds. Yet he does not volunteer to leave Idaho, to help the Elk thrive.He does not advocate for killing, butchering and feeding the meat of the Farmers of Idaho to the poor.

      No, he'd rather shoot the people of Arizona.

      So reads his quote of Sunday 23FEB2014.

      Delete



  17. (Newser) – Russia hasn't seemed much interested in lowering tensions ahead of tomorrow's secession vote in Crimea, and today's actions reinforce the point. The Washington Post reports that Russian forces have seized the small village of Strilkove in Ukraine territory near Crimea, along with a gas-distribution station either in or near the village. So does this qualify as an invasion of Ukraine, which Russia had promised wouldn't happen? Ukraine certainly thinks so, reports AP, with its foreign ministry declaring that it "reserves the right to use all necessary measures to stop the military invasion by Russia."

    A Russian official said the military took action to save the gas facility from "terrorist attacks," reports the BBC. The Post, however, sees it as Moscow "testing the will of Kiev amid fears of further Russian incursions in eastern and southern Ukraine." At the UN, meanwhile, Russia as expected vetoed a Security Council resolution declaring tomorrow's referendum to be invalid, reports Reuters. Western diplomats at least got China, which usually votes with Russia, to abstain. In Moscow, tens of thousands of anti-Putin protesters, including the two newly released Pussy Riot members, marched to protest the Crimea referendum, reports the New York Times.


    http://www.newser.com/story/183806/russian-forces-seize-village-in-ukraine.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=united&utm_campaign=rss_topnews

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Would you allow me to write up a grant application on your behalf, Jack, for a new brain for you? Since I know you are incapable of doing it yourself.

      Delete
    2. I'd make certain it was a less spiteful, less obsessive, less hate filled, more rational brain, too.

      One that Trish would approve. And Doug. And Quirk. And Allen. And WiO. And Ash. And Bob, too.

      Delete


    3. heh, heh, heh

      Delete
  18. Syrian army soldiers have entered eastern districts of the key town of Yabroud, the last bastion of foreign-backed insurgents near the Lebanese border north of Damascus, and advanced towards the town main street.

    Beirut-based al-Mayadeen TV network broadcast footage of Syrian advance in the border town on Saturday, showing soldiers charging through a field towards an arched entrance of the town and a sign saying "Welcome to Yabroud."

    Capturing Yabroud would allow Syrian government forces to choke off a cross-border supply line of the foreign-backed militants from Lebanon.

    The town is near the highway linking Damascus to the country’s former commercial hub of Aleppo in the north and to the Mediterranean coast in the west.

    Army troops were locked in fierce clashes with rebel forces, including the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, after they entered the town on Friday.

    The strategic stronghold is the last rebel-held town in the Qalamun region, which lies along the border with Lebanon and on the key highway between Damascus and third city Homs.

    Thousands of people fled Yabroud, a town of about 40,000 to 50,000 people roughly 60 km (40 miles) north of Damascus, and the surrounding areas after it was bombed and shelled last month ahead of the government offensive.

    The government has been making incremental gains along the highway as well as around Damascus and Aleppo in recent months, regaining the initiative in a conflict, which began exactly three years ago.

    The government holds the more densely-populated regions, seeking to protect "useful Syria" -- the coast, major towns and key roads.

    The government is advancing on three fronts, south of Damascus, in the strategic Qalamun region and in Aleppo in the north.

    Al-Qaeda-linked commander killed

    Meanwhile, a senior commander in the Nusra Front was killed late on Friday on the outskirts of Yabroud during shelling and clashes with the army and Hezbollah fighters, according to Reuters.

    Abu Azzam al-Kuwaiti was the deputy leader of the Nusra Front in Qalamoun, the mountainous zone between Damascus and the Lebanese border where Yabroud is situated.

    He had been a principal negotiator in the prisoner exchange last week which secured the release of 13 Greek Orthodox nuns held by the Nusra Front since December, according to the Observatory.


    Death toll in Syrian conflict over 146,000

    The death toll in the Syrian uprising turned civil war is more than 146,000 with more than a third civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.


    http://www.tehrantimes.com/world/114739-syrian-forces-on-verge-of-liberating-yabroud/

    ReplyDelete

  19. Los Angeles -- An amber alert was issued Saturday afternoon after a reported kidnapping of four children in the Los Angeles area, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

    The four children - 5-year-old-Justin Felix, 7-year-old Enrique Felix, 1-year-old Veronica Felix and 1-year-old Janeth Felix - were thought to have been abducted by Enrique Felix and Rose Chairez around 12:30 p.m. on Friday in Los Angeles, according to the alert.

    The suspects are believed to be driving a dark-colored Chrysler PT Cruiser, possibly gray or purple, with paper plates and a missing hubcap.


    Farmer Bob would demand that the distraught mother pay 'Child Support' to the father that kidnapped those children.

    He would continue to disparage her if she does not.
    Just as he continues to do with a contributor, here at the blog, whose child was abducted and taken from the United States.

    ReplyDelete
  20. US Secretary of State John Kerry told members of Congress on Thursday that international law already defines Israel as a Jewish state, and called Netanyahu’s insistence on a public declaration of Israel’s Jewish character from the Palestinians “a mistake.”

    “I think it’s a mistake for some people to be raising it again and again as the critical decider of their attitude toward the possibility of a [Palestinian] state and peace, and we’ve obviously made that clear,”
    Kerry told the House of Representative’s Foreign Relations Committee, in a hearing on budget matters.


    ReplyDelete
  21. (Reuters) - Overwhelmed by hunger and outgunned by their enemy, Syrian rebels in the Damascus suburb of Barzeh finally bowed to the inevitable and agreed a ceasefire with President Bashar al-Assad's forces besieging them.

    It was one of several similar deals struck around Damascus, allowing a semblance of normality to return to some districts and the government to proclaim a home-grown reconciliation process with local fighters - though not foreign jihadis.

    But in Barzeh the truce agreed in January tastes like defeat for fighters who once hoped to overrun the capital, topple Assad and win a conflict which enters its fourth year this month.

    The army siege of Barzeh, part of a nationwide campaign against opposition strongholds which some officials refer to as "starvation until submission", wore down rebel resistance.

    "They knew exactly when to approach us with a ceasefire agreement," said Abu Yahya, a rebel spokesman.

    "We got tired. We didn't have enough men toward the end. The guys were exhausted pulling 24-hour guard duty, in addition to fighting," he told a Reuters reporter visiting Barzeh last week.
    "We were hungry, and even though we remained steadfast, in the end psychologically we were beaten."

    The streets of Barzeh, around five km (three miles) north of central Damascus, have been pulverised by air raids and fighting which, at the height of the violence, left bodies lying uncollected in the open for days, residents say.

    Now food and medicine, once in desperately short supply, enter relatively freely and some families who fled have returned, although many have found their homes in ruins.

    Ceasefires have also been reached in the western Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya, Qudsaya to the north, and Yalda, Beit Sahm, Yarmouk and Babilla to the south.

    Government officials say local fighters could be eligible for amnesty or even reintegration into Assad's forces. Their unspoken message is that Syrians will resolve their catastrophic civil war by themselves, ignoring international mediation and any demands for Assad to make concessions to his foes.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Obama approval drops into the 30's.

    At the same time as ObamaCare is wildly popular with masses. (?)

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The entire nation must be up in arms over Crimea........

      Delete
    2. Even though 85% of the American people couldn't point to Crimea on a map.

      "Is that where all the crimes are committed?"

      "I thought that was Felonia."

      Delete
    3. It can't be the economy, stupid. Obama fixed that.

      Delete
    4. All the scandals?

      Nah, unca Obama said there wasn't a smidgeon of evidence of any wrongdoing.

      What could it be, then?

      Delete
    5. That boy can't shoot hoops?

      That's it !

      Delete
    6. You mean, people are cool with the idea of Death Panels?

      That's what I'm sayin'.

      Can't shoot hoops.

      Who wants a Prez that can't shoot hoops?

      Delete
  23. The moon is full, blood red. Tis the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar took it in the shorts.

    The day of the beginning of the end of the story.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oops...

      http://www.unrv.com/fall-republic/ides-of-march.php

      Delete
    2. Hey, I'm back. How the hell did that happen?

      Delete
    3. It's got to do with your radioactivity levels, Bob.

      Delete