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."

Sunday, May 18, 2014

March 18, 2011 - President Obama told a bipartisan group of members of Congress today that he expects the U.S. would be actively involved in any military action against Libya for "days, not weeks," after which he said the U.S. would take more of a supporting role, sources tell ABC News.

Farrakhan had it right:



THE BULLSHIT LEADING UP TO IT:



May 18, 2014 - GUNFIRE, POLITICAL CHAOS IN LIBYA WITH ATTACK ON PARLIAMENT

Militiamen loyal to a rogue former general attacked Libya’s parliament building Sunday, state media said, in a new challenge to the authority of the North African nation’s weak central government. The group later reportedly declared it had replaced the lawmaking body.
Gunfire rang out in streets surrounding the General National Congress complex in the capital, Tripoli, witnesses said, and the official LANA news agency said routes leading to it had been blocked by armed men with truck-mounted heavy weapons.
Frightened residents took to social media to report rocket fire in at least one area of the capital, and the road to the city's international airport was closed. The Associated Press cited hospital officials saying the attack killed one person and wounded nine.
It was not clear whether any lawmakers were inside the parliament building at the time of the assault. LANA quoted one as saying most had left earlier after a session was adjourned, and other reports said the building had been nearly emptied after warnings of the coming attack. However, the website of the Libya Herald, an English-language newspaper, said seven lawmakers apparently had been captured by the assailants.
A spokesman for Khalifa Haftar, the former general, later appeared on television to say the assailants had assigned a 60-member constituent's assembly to take over for parliament and that the current government would act on an emergency basis, the Associated Press reported.
The spokesman, Mokhtar Farnana, called the attack not a coup but “fighting by people's choice.”
Adding to the chaos, there were indications that other pro- and anti-government militias were taking sides with either the assailants or the government. Citing witnesses, the BBC reported that members of the powerful Zintan militia appeared to be taking part in the assault, and AP quoted an official with an umbrella group of militias providing security for the government as saying its fighters had engaged the attackers.
The attack on the parliament building marked an escalation of Haftar’s campaign to supplant Libya’s central authority. Lawmakers are divided among Islamist and non-Islamist elements, and the swearing in of a new cabinet led by an Islamist-leaning prime minister, Ahmed Matiq, has been repeatedly delayed by political infighting.
The targeting of parliament came two days after the fighters affiliated with Haftar, who was prominent in the 2011 revolt against late strongman Moammar Kadafi, launched an offensive against bases belonging to armed Islamist groups in the eastern city of Benghazi. That fighting, involving commandeered military aircraft, left 70 dead and more than 140 injured, LANA said Sunday.
Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Thani and the regular army’s chief of staff characterized Haftar’s attacks on the Islamists — and his ignoring of orders to stand down — as tantamount to a coup.
Although the government insisted that Haftar was acting without any authorization, some military units apparently defected to his force, which he calls the National Army.
Libyan authorities imposed a “no-fly” zone over Benghazi in a bid to prevent Haftar from again sending fighter planes and helicopters aloft.
Thani ordered the army to restore order after the ex-general launched his attack in Benghazi, but the country’s regular armed forces are weak and disorganized. Western governments, including the Obama administration, are moving to train and professionalize Libyan troops but have made little headway.

Hassan is a special correspondent.

109 comments:

  1. Listen to brother Farrakhan warn and advise Obama on Libya

    ReplyDelete
  2. The nightmare got worse. The Neocon Dream continues.

    ReplyDelete
  3. #Bring Back
    Benghazi Hearings

    ReplyDelete
  4. The illegal exceeding of the UN resolution, in which the US and NATO chose to become the Libyan Rebel Air Force instead of creating a No Fly Zone, continues to pay dividends. Libya’s oil shipments, most of which went to the US and NATO, have dropped to 8% of normal, a 92% reduction for the US and NATO. This helps keep oil prices at or above $100 per barrel, raises revenues for Arab oil states, raises donations to al Qaeda and other Arab rebel groups, damages US and NATO economies and militaries, and lets the US and NATO pay for both sides in the war. One of Osama bin Laden’s six reasons for 9-11 was that the US worked to keep oil prices far below $100 per barrel. The illegal US and NATO intervention has helped correct that problem(?).

    Now, a retired Libyan general, Khalifa Haftar, has launched attacks in both Tripoli and Bengazi. Some reports show Libyan Air Force helicopters assisting General Haftar’s “Libyan National Army.” It may be that Libya needs a “strong man” to lead the country at this period in its history. The development of democracy may take detours in some countries, but they are not the responsibilities of the USA.

    ReplyDelete
  5. #Bro Farrahkan
    Secretary/State

    ReplyDelete
  6. #PATRIOTS! - Adopt
    Illegal Aliens

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. #Give USA
      To Mexico !

      #Release Alien
      Criminals Now !

      Delete
  7. US Allies in the Middle East are fully invested, in US arms and industry. Media players are chock full of Arab interests.
    The money flows, as does their oil.

    Everyone is a winner, without the loss of a single US Service man or woman in the Libyan conflict.
    The Libyan oil is still there, tockpiled in the ground, not going anywhere, is it?

    The Russian Navy, which had been discussing basing rights with Colonel Q, is not in Libya.
    Another low cost victory for US interests.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, big US victory. In Benghazi. In Tripoli. Democracy breaking out all over the country. Butter, not guns. Peace and harmony prevails. Reconstruction. Women's rights. Libya about ready to join NATO now. No radical Moslems around. Who can disagree?

      Delete
    2. Yep, Afghanistan, Iraq, the cowering of Iran, Syria, Libya......all US victories......who cannot possibly see that but the willfully blind? Libya.....another low cost victory! Hoooray

      Delete
    3. Who cares who is in Libya? The US is not at war with Radical Islam, the US is allied with it, Has been for decades. financed the formation of Al-Qaeda, financed the Pakistani nuclear program with the assistance of the Saudi.

      The fact is the US is winning, if Anonymous knew the score, he'd have an identity. But he hides, The advances in the Ukraine stand as another example of NATO influence expanding, right up the Russian border.

      But losers are always looking for confirmation that they are losers. It easy to find, but not an accurate description of reality.

      Delete
    4. The opium production in Afghanistan has significantly increased since the US invaded. Most of it is shipped north to Russia, further destabilizing that country. As Romney said, Russia is the number one threat to the US. Obama is destabilizing it, limiting it all across the globe, but the naysayers refuse to recognize this.
      Partisanship and stupidity, going hand in hand

      Delete
  8. #Bring Back
    American Spirit

    The official opening of the 9/11 museum brought President Obama to New York and sparked fresh reminders of the horror of that awful day. The president called the site ­“sacred” and gave a moving speech about the American spirit, saying, “Like the great wall and bedrock that embrace us today, nothing can ever break us.”
    It is the right thing to say and the right place to say it. But is it true? Is the American spirit really unbreakable?
    I have my doubts.
    There are many examples that say our spirit is breaking if not already broken. One involves a Wall StreetJournal report that, six years after the housing bubble popped and sank the economy, federal officials want to lower mortgage standards again so more people can buy houses that they can’t afford. Been there, done that would seem to be the logical response, but the idea is gaining momentum because so few people can legitimately qualify for credit that the only way to spur housing growth is to junk the standards.
    The same thing is happening in schools. Americans overwhelmingly agree that our educational system, once the envy of the world, is now lagging.
    The cry to challenge students spawned a movement to raise the bar through the Common Core curriculum, but it is now grinding to a halt in New York and other places. The problem: Too many students are failing the tougher tests, making teachers look bad, parents unhappy — and politicians nervous.
    So the standards are being shuffled aside, and self-esteem is back as the new measure of success. More students can appear to be learning and, presumably, that will make the adults happy, at least temporarily.
    Because this retreat from rigor in favor of cultural “social promotion” is playing out in a million different ways in our vast society, the world sees that America is going soft and embracing decline. A loss of respect for our nation is now nearly universal. No wonder: If we don’t respect our own ideals, why should others?
    The world’s two next largest powers certainly have taken note, and are acting as if they have nothing to fear from America.
    Russia’s aggressive expansion into Europe and China’s warlike moves in East Asia carry a warning of historic menace. They are on the march and determined to expand their spheres of control.
    Worse, Vladimir Putin arrives in China next week in a visit heavy with symbolic and real significance. There will be trade deals, joint military maneuvers and the clear imagery of cooperation in the bid to further erode the power of America and the West.
    It is not hard to imagine Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping raising a glass to toast Obama’s health. His tenure is their opportunity. Similarly, the mullahs of Iran see a clear path to nuclear weapons, a development that could spark a major war.
    Which brings us back to the 9/11 museum. The worst terror attack in the nation’s history was, in hindsight, inevitable. It followed our victory in the Cold War, a period marked by heated debates about how to spend the “peace dividend” we got from cutting our military. We celebrated by taking what somebody called “a holiday from history.”
    We were so drunk with contentment that we didn’t notice that Osama bin Laden declared war on us. The first attack on the World Trade Center came in 1993, followed by bombings of our embassies in Africa. In October 2000, the USS Cole, a warship, was the target of suicide bombers off Yemen. All those attacks were carried out by al Qaeda, which struck again one year later and finally woke us up.
    And now we are going back to sleep. “The tide of war is receding,” Obama says, without ever saying the word victory. He cut our military already, and proposes to cut it again, making it smaller than it was before World War II.
    But wars don’t end until one side wins, and this one isn’t over just because we want it to be. If 9/11 didn’t teach us that, we missed its most important lesson.

    http://nypost.com/2014/05/18/the-american-spirit-is-breaking/

    ReplyDelete
  9. A US war ship was actually attacked, Heavens to Betsy!

    Who'd have thought that possible, after Reagan led US into and out of Lebanon?

    After Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese?

    Where is the outrage at Toyota, now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Japanese nuclear fallout is drifting onto California, yet some here have sung the praises of the Japanese, just yesterday.

      Back to Bataan!

      Delete
  10. #Bring Back
    My Dad

    Statistics about fatherless children reveal plenty concerning the chaos the news media pretend not notice almost every time stories involving bona fide juvenile delinquents appear. Of the youths in prison, 85 percent are from fatherless homes. Children without fathers account for 63 percent of youth suicides, 70 percent of teenage pregnancies, 80 percent of rapists with displaced anger, 85 percent of children with behavioral problems, and 71 percent of high schooldropouts.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/05/just_whos_getting_clipped_here.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. #De Foch,
    My Priest

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/10839223/Italian-women-appeal-to-Pope-Francis-to-end-priests-celibacy-vow.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. Excellent news here -

    http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/05/netanyahu-modi-keen-to-deepen-ties-with-israel

    Natural allies, as we should be with both.

    The people of India have sufficient experience with the muzzies that they are not about to buy anything resembling 'the Palestinian line'.

    That is to say........they are not fools.......and they are not pacifists when push comes to shove.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With Obama, we are making lots of enemies, and shedding friends, and no one believes a word we say any longer.

      bobbo

      Delete
    2. We've "reset" our relations with Russia, losing in Afghanistan, Iraq is a mess, Syria and Libya couldn't care less what we do because they know we do anything, likewise Iran, but we have sent 600 troops into Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. There's a statement of firm intent !

      Meanwhile, Obama wants to cut the military back to pre-WWII levels.

      The Chinese used to say we were a 'paper tiger'.

      Whatever the case then, it seems so now.

      bobbo

      Delete
    3. Syria and Libya couldn't care less what we do because they know we WON'T do anything

      bobbo

      Delete
    4. Why should the US do anything in Syria?
      Why should the US support the Wahhabi against the Christians and the Alawites?

      Why should the US support the Alawites and the Christians against the Wahhabi?

      Why should the US support Turkish false flag events in Syria?

      Make your case boobo

      Delete
  13. We cancelled a missile defense system in Eastern Europe getting zero in return. Putin knows he is dealing with a fool.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  14. May 19, 2014
    India's New Prime Minister Bodes well for us

    By Richard L. Benkin

    Since Friday when India’s election results were announced, pundits worldwide have been trying to tell us what should make of the landslide victory that made Narendra Modi Prime Minister (PM). Most of it, however, is punditry through Google that misses the point: Narendra Modi’s election was a victory of free-market capitalism over socialism and national pride over geopolitical docility; in short, for Conservatism and we better get on the victory train quickly or watch it speed by without us.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/05/indias_new_prime_minister_bodes_well_for_us.html

    Good advice.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  15. Why defend anywhere but the US?

    Why expand the US footprint into Eastern Europe?

    Why expand US defense spending, when the US has to borrow the money from China to do it?

    Why is bobbo so afraid of Muslims?

    ReplyDelete
  16. I noticed on the blog log that some of the blasts from the past are making their way forward ...

    I told you guys that there were gems back in the past.

    Glad you agree with the editorial direction that was charted in the last rendition of the Elephant Bar.
    Could use some editorial images, though.
    To get the Bar up to modern standards of content and understanding.

    A picture is worth a thousand words.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Michael Snyder
    May 19, 2014

    When the U.S. military “liberates” a nation, shouldn’t it result in more liberty, freedom and peace for the people living there? Instead, we find just the opposite. In fact, in every single case since 9/11, when the U.S. military has “liberated” a nation it has resulted in the persecution of Christians in that country becoming much worse. In areas where we spent hundreds of billions of dollars and where thousands of precious American lives were sacrificed, churches are regularly being bombed, Christians are being brutally beheaded, and laws have been passed to make it illegal for a Muslim to convert to Christianity. If we were not even able to provide the most basic of liberties and freedoms to the people living in those nations, what in the world did we actually accomplish by “liberating” them?

    Just look at what has happened in Afghanistan. We have been at war in Afghanistan for more than a dozen years, and yet things are so bad for Christians in that country at this point that there is not a single church left…

    The supposedly “moderate” Karzai government installed by the U.S. upholds many of the draconian laws enforced by the Taliban—including the apostasy law, fiercely persecuting those who seek to convert to Christianity—and, in 2011, under U.S. auspices, it destroyed Afghanistan’s last Christian church.

    We find a similar story in Iraq. It is estimated that before the invasion, there were up to 2 million Christians living in Iraq. Now that number is down to less than 450,000, and it is falling fast.

    In fact, things are so dire for Iraq’s Christian community that some Iraqi Christian leaders are warning that Christians may soon become “extinct” in that nation…

    As the mass exodus of Iraq’s Christians continues, so does the call for ending the plight of those who have remained. Like Iraq’s ancient Jewish community before them, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities may soon cease to exist.

    The disappearance of Iraq’s religious minorities has been a troubling trend since the US-led invasion in 2003, and it has threatened to end the cultural diversity of Iraq. As the violence in the country spikes and religious intolerance grows, many Christians, Yazidis, Mandaeans and other minority community members are leaving the country.

    Last week, the head of the Iraqi Catholic Church sent a chilling warning that Iraq’s 2,000-year-old Christian community is on the brink of extinction as new waves of Christians take the journey of exodus.

    It is estimated that the Iraq war cost U.S. taxpayers more than 2 trillion dollars.

    We spent more than a million dollars on one soccer field alone (which has now turned to dust).

    In the end, what did we actually accomplish?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror. ”

      Delete
    2. To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.

      Delete
  18. Resource Strategist Warns of New Russian Threat: “It Would Be the Greatest Blackout in American History”


    If Russia were to restrict the export of that uranium, explains Katusa, life as we know it in the United States could come to an abrupt halt.

    If that happened America’s lights would go out. It would be the greatest blackout in American history…

    The irony is John Kerry is going out there with Obama and talking about all these sanctions they’re going to put on the Russians. If the Russians wanted they could pull the rug out from under the American energy matrix and 20%, one out of every five homes in America, would be in blackout.

    You have to remember the facts… You can talk about hope and dreams all you want, but the reality is that one in every five homes in America is powered by Russian fuel.

    In the following must listen interview with Future Money Trends, Marin Katusa delves into the facts behind America’s dependence not just on foreign oil, but uranium and other resources, and explains the repercussions should Russia choose to literally “pull the plug” on the United States.

    http://www.futuremoneytrends.com/trend-videos/interviews/fortune-sector-marin-katusa-interview

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. California gets approx. 6 Times as much electricity from Renewables as from Nuclear. I don't think they'll have much trouble making that 7 Times as much.

      Delete
  19. Vets opt out -

    Why wait, when you can catch the bus now?

    Coming to you too, Dear Citizens.

    Added benefit: Death Panels

    You too can opt out.

    Bang.

    ...........
    Vets On VA Waiting List Committing Suicide


    A West Virginia doctor is coming forward with new allegations against the Department of Veterans Affairs, claiming that she too was told to put patients seeking treatment off for months on end -- and that at least two of them committed suicide.

    The claims add to the mounting controversy surrounding the VA, and allegations in several states that workers were concealing information about the long wait times veterans encountered. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki testified last week before Congress on the scandal, but so far has resisted calls for his resignation.

    Dr. Margaret Moxness, who says she was employed at the Huntington VA Medical Center in Charleston, W.Va., from 2008 to 2010, told "Fox & Friends" on Monday that she was told to delay treatment even after she told supervisors they needed immediate care. She said at least two patients committed suicide while waiting for treatment between appointments.

    “I was in a very tight-knit community,” Moxness said. “There was lots of extracurricular support: family, faith, vet centers. So we had help, but no thanks to the VA. …I mean, these men were eventually going to need more than a visit every 10 months.”

    Moxness, a psychiatrist, says the VA administrators lost touch with patients and claims they were compassionless.

    “They don’t really experience what the doctors and nurses are experiencing, which is the suffering and the pain and the death,” she said.

    Calls to the VA for comment on Moxness' allegations have not been returned.

    Moxness, who is currently writing a book on suicide, said her patients would be forced to wait “months” for a second visit. She said that “means they’re partially treated, which means they’re worse off than no treatment at all.”

    Moxness said when she complained to her supervisors that it was harmful to partially treat patients, they stopped talking to her.

    “I was functionally silenced,” she said.

    Whistle-blowers in Texas and Missouri have also discussed with Fox News their allegations of long delays and poor treatment in VA facilities.

    Responding to the controversy, the Obama administration on Friday announced the resignation of the top VA health official, Under Secretary for Health Robert Petzel -- a day after that official testified alongside Shinseki. Petzel, though, had already been planning to retire this year.

    The VA has also put three senior officials in Phoenix on administrative leave after doctors there said they were ordered to hold veterans' names for months on a secret waiting list until a spot opened up on an official list that met the agency's two-week waiting time goals.

    Allegations have been reported about similar cover-up schemes at VA medical facilities in at least seven other cities.

    The Huntington VA Medical Center has 80 beds. In 2008, it provided care to 293,000 outpatients and 4,200 inpatients.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/19/west-virginia-doctor-says-patients-suicide/

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Death Panels are a much more humane way to exterminate the aged than putting them on a 'waiting list'.

      With an ObamaCare Death Panels at least one knows one has been permanently rejected by society, and one can plan accordingly.

      Not so with a VA Waiting List, where the uninformed might cling to hope for this world.

      bobbo

      Delete
  20. You'd have to be super dumbfuck to support OCare.

    ReplyDelete
  21. You are so right, Anon. One's moral compass and thought process would have needed to undergo a magnetic pole shift reversal. where north is south, and south is north.

    19 states are now reporting in with horror stories, according to the latest from Fox News. The number will continue to grow.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  22. Who know what will come out?

    Maybe all these guys assigned to the VA Wait For Death Lists were, like Dale, staunch Republicans.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  23. A family member, one with very serious chronic health problems, is undergoing Chemo, today -

    Chemotherapy that is being paid for by a brand spanking new (previously unobtainable due to "pre-existing conditions") Insurance Policy,

    purchased on the Exchange, through the Affordable Care Act

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Previously "uninsurable" due to pre-existing conditions,

      today, undergoing life-saving treatment, due to Obamacare

      You tell me where the "death panels" truly lie.

      Delete
    2. Again, no one wants anyone to go without treatments.

      It's fortunate she is young, and not in the VA system, or she would likely be facing the wait and/or death panels.

      Hope she does well.

      bobbo

      Delete
    3. Here, as a last resort, the county would have picked up the bill.

      bobbo

      Delete
    4. I don't think I mentioned the gender of the person.

      Delete
  24. I believe you did in the past. It doesn't matter.

    Except in sex selective abortions.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  25. Find out if Dr. Ben Carson is running for President on the current Hannity.......coming up on Fox

    #Ben Carson
    For President

    ReplyDelete
  26. Ben Carson just said it: VA Wait Lists = ObamaCare Death Panels

    Plug your ears.......he's a 'man of faith'.....a sincere one.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  27. Ben Carson says, "maybe".

    ;)

    Like a politician.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  28. Some here have asserted that China has not been and will not be an aggressive nation.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/05/chinas_mobile_national_territory.html

    We shall see.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  29. May 19, 2014
    Think Tank Question: Russia is to the Ukraine as China is to what?

    James Longstreet
    Embolden and agitated, but agitated by actions initiated by themselves. Clever ploys?

    No. History is rife with staged provocations. Gulf of Tonkin, the Panay, the opening shots of the Mexican War, and the Greer incident in 1941. Of late, entering a country such as Ukraine to protect Russian speaking people. These actions are formulamatic. If Obama had studied American history, he might recognize the game board.

    Obama has a few years left in office and therefore his mission of jamming through the Obama/ Holder domestic agenda onto the American landscape is on the clock. Because President Obama has a few years remaining, Russia and China are also on a time schedule.

    The Community Organizer was to rely on Joe Biden and Senator Lugar for foreign relations guidance. His Secretary of State was Bill Clinton’s jilted wife who had more interest in padding her Foundation and racking up mileage points than diplomatic achievement. The Obama foreign policy became “come on guys," a Rodney King “can’t we all get along”," or just a “kum ba ya” group hug.

    Russia has now pushed the agenda envelope by steadily and increasingly implementing Putin’s plan via Ukraine and Crimea. The pushback by the world, or lack thereof, and the United States is for all to see. China observes, and now seems to engage in the same game, emboldened by the non response of the world to Putin’s antics.

    Taiwan is China’s Ukraine. The gambit is to test the waters with Vietnam. In all likelihood China will confront Vietnam in a veiled excuse to protect Chinese citizens and “interests." (sound familiar?) The Vietnamese have already begun to react by burning Chinese owned factories in their country in response to China’s calculated oil rig infringement into Vietnam waters. China pushes as Putin pushed.

    Unlike Japan, Vietnam doesn’t have any treaty with the United States regarding guaranteed protections.

    Bottom line is the situation in which we find the world. Anachronistic treaties and promises presently in an era of American hegemony decline and completewith encouraged and empowered opponents. We have, as the saying goes…”Written checks that can no longer be cashed.”

    Defend Japan? Defend South Korea? Defend Ukraine? We are stretched too thin and too few stand with us. The “old days” are over, complimented by the decline in the US economy and the newly acquired economic powers of China. The goal is Taiwan and who is to say “no”?

    James Longstreet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What nonsense.
      Compares apples to oranges, then draws faulty conclusions based upon the nonsensical comparisons.

      The US staged a coup in the Kiev, deposed a legally elected government and installed a puppet regime in it place.
      The Russians reacted in kind in the Crimea.

      This situation in eastern Europe is then compared to the Geo-politics of the Pacific - Comparing Taiwan to the Ukraine, which is ludicrous on the face of it. Then the author jumps across the South China Sea to Vietnam and tries to compare US interests in Vietnam to those it maintains with Japan and South Korea.

      Longstreet then doubles back to US Treaty obligations with Japan and South Korea, and extrapolates those to Europe, to the Ukraine. Where the US has no such obligation to "Defend Ukraine". Then jumps nonsensically to the issue of Formosa.

      Just another case of US bashing by a pseudo intellectual that has no basis in reality

      Delete
  30. Your coming death under ObamaCare -

    http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/05/19/you_must_make_this_clear_to_people_this_veterans_hospital_death_panel_is_a_preview_of_life_under_obamacare

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Find Jesus and you will gain immortality.

      Case Closed.

      Delete
  31. Death is a part of every Christian's life, and no one can escape it. However, for Christians, it is only the beginning of an eternal walk with the Lord. This is something that we need to keep in mind daily. Death does not mean the end for us - it is the beginning of everlasting life with the Lord.

    If you are worried about dying or need help dealing with the death of a loved one, these Bible verses about death can help. This Bible advice on death can help you see the Light and the Truth easier.

    Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

    Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

    Don't be afraid of the Light.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Please, Lord, protect me from selfish, misogynist racists babbling inanities from "religious" cults, known for hatred, violence, and murder.

    On a truly enlightening note, at 2:00 PM, yesterday, California was obtaining 55% of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources.

    CaISO

    ReplyDelete
  33. Find Jesus, you will find the monomyth. Find the monomyth, you will find eternity.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Eternal Life' isn't 'over there'.

      It's right here.

      Find that.

      You won't need Jesus at all.

      bobbo

      Delete
  34. My niece got her thesis published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

    :)

    It's onward to PhD time for her now.

    :):)

    Whoopie !

    I didn't understand a word of it, but the brain has a whole bunch of molecules floating around in there doing all sorts of stuff !

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  35. bobbo,

    Do you believe that death panels are the biggest Obama care flaw?

    ReplyDelete
  36. If you have eternity, then there is no need to fear the Death Panels, is there?

    Everyone dies, why should the government decide which cases should be funded and which not?

    Is it not a sociopolitical decision, the allocation of public assets?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Who should be making those decisions, concerning public assets, if not the government?

      Delete
    2. I think Bobbo prefers private, for profit, panels to make the death and life decisions.

      Delete
    3. Corporate psychopaths that are totally unanswerable to the public!

      You think anyone would find them to be preferable to their own elected government, when it comes to prioritizing the propriety of using public assets?

      You are kidding, are you not?

      Delete
  37. "Obamacare is just a "marketplace." Coverage decisions are made by the insurance companies - the same as they are in any other group policy. In fact, that is all Obamacare is: a marketplace of large "true group policies."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Obamacare is, also, a set of regulations. Community Pricing, Free Preventative Tests, Guaranteed Issue, etc.

      Delete
  38. The biggest "flaw" in Obamacare is the pricing in the 55 - 65 age range. Those people, definitely, could use a little more help.

    ReplyDelete
  39. The Mainstream Media is Dying
    Ratings at CNN, MSNBC and Fox News have all been plummeting in recent years

    http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/is-the-mainstream-media-dying

    ReplyDelete
  40. bobbo prefers his wife bobbo-ette to make his life and death decisions. Hopefully with a little consultation with our doc, Heidi.

    I can't pick out the worst element in the rancid stew that is ObamaCare, Ash. The D.P.s certainly stir the emotions.

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. bobbo-ette does not pay the bill, so why should she get a say in the matter of how the money is spent?

      Delete
    2. Because bobbo-ette has paid taxes all her life, as has bobbo, and she pays the Supplementary as well, that's why.

      And because the government is the last place we should be looking for such decisions.

      bobbo has a living will, by the way.

      I urge you to get one too.

      bobbo

      Delete
    3. Past performance does not necessarily predict future benefits.

      Just because someone paid taxes in the past, has no bearing upon the future. This is not only plain common sense, it is the Law of the Land and has been since 1960 when the Supreme Court of the United States decided Fleming v. Nestor.

      Just because a beneficiary of Government largesse pays a small supplemental tax, does not mean that the tail can wag the dog.

      Your argument for avoiding Government management of government funds is not only not based on any factual argument, it is not based upon the Constitution. It is an argument for anarchy.

      Delete
    4. bobbo wants the welfare recipients to manage their own benefit packages.

      His position is that the Food Stamp recipients should be able to choose between bread or booze, with no oversight from the USDA.



      Delete
  41. The Wack-a-doodle Wing (re: Republicans) are still fighting to roll back Social Security, and Medicare.

    They're not really anarchists, as much as they are Oligarchists. They desire a Feudal Society where they, of course, inhabit the Manor on the Hill, and the rest of us are the Serfs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Their "Bible" is the wonderfully named "The Road to Serfdom" - a tome, that if adhered to, would certainly lead all non-elites back into serfdom, not deliver them from it.

      Delete
    2. Just imagine the discordance (I prefer the word, discombobulation) that has to take place in the brain of the poor, white, Southern cracker as he casts his ballot in support of the anti-minimum wage, anti-healthcare, anti-Union, anti-Environmental Protection, anti-FDA, and anti-Social Security Koch Brothers Candidate.

      Delete
    3. Maybe that is why bobbo recommends Republicans wear Obama buttons, he is just conflicted.

      Living off of Federal benefits, collecting Medicare and Social Security welfare benefits, at the same time wanting to eliminate Federal programs he does not benefit from.
      While simultaneously objecting to any type of Federal oversight of the Federal welfare programs he enjoys.

      He demands no interference in his welfare receipts, but advocates cutting off everyone else.

      bobbo, the definitive wackle-doodle. Even wears an Obama button, to confuse himself.

      Delete
    4. :) I remember he got all het up that Obamacare would pay a Doctor to counsel, upon request from a patient, about "living wills."

      But, today, he recommends that everyone should have one.

      It's gotta be tough on the brain.

      Delete
    5. You remember wrong, Rufo, and I certainly hope you have one. :)

      I'd suggest you counsel with a lawyer about a living will, though, and not a doctor. It is a legal document.

      I got het up about the D. P.s.

      The Budweiser has obviously harmed your memory banks. ;)

      bobbo

      Delete
    6. And if you haven't a living will yet, I'll fix you up with one through my lawyer, and even volunteer you be you executor....

      ;)

      bobbo

      Delete
  42. You've Got To Stand For Something - Or You'll Fall For Anything ....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_s-Qk07KxA&feature=kp

    ReplyDelete
  43. to be you executor....

    bobbo

    ReplyDelete
  44. "Death Panels?"

    I honestly can't figure out if you're just a poor, ignorant hick, or

    a vile, filthy liar.

    Or, maybe, a bit of both.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's just what I need - the, arguably, stupidest motherfucker on Planet Earth being my "executor."

      Brother, what a thought.

      Delete
  45. Ahem, as I've been saying all along,

    Federal energy authorities have slashed by 96% the estimated amount of recoverable oil buried in California's vast Monterey Shale deposits, deflating its potential as a national "black gold mine" of petroleum.

    Just 600 million barrels of oil can be extracted with existing technology, far below the 13.7 billion barrels once thought recoverable from the jumbled layers of subterranean rock spread across much of Central California, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

    The new estimate, expected to be . . . . . . .

    Jumbled Mess

    ReplyDelete

  46. It was announced in March that Austin Energy would likely be buying electricity from a SunEdison solar power plant for less than 5¢/kWh under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA). If you’re not familiar with electricity prices, that’s really low. The final deal was just completed last week but with an unanticipated move – Austin Energy closed negotiations with Recurrent Energy. The Recurrent Energy press release explains that it received “an award from Austin Energy for 150 MW of solar capacity in West Texas. The power will be delivered to Austin Energy pursuant to a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement.”

    Recurrent Energy doesn’t mention what happened with SunEdison, of course, but it does pump up its status as a leading utility-scale solar power plant developer:


    Recurrent Energy is redefining what it means to be a mainstream clean energy company, with a fleet of utility-scale solar plants that provide competitive clean electricity. The company has more than 2 GW of solar projects in development in North America.

    Larry Weis, Austin’s Energy General Manager, and Arno Harris, Recurrent Energy’s Chairman and CEO, further explain:


    “With our largest utility scale solar award, we are

    Read more at http://cleantechnica.com/2014/05/21/austin-energy-cheap-solar-5-cents-kwh-recurrent-energy/#uwT0UHw3IJ2imStv.99

    a nickel a kilowatt

    ReplyDelete
  47. Back five years ago, President newly elected Obama promised us to build a "21st Century VA system". I just saw the clip.

    Ha ha ha

    Instead, what we've done is slip back to the 19th Century model.

    Damn sad.

    What a total failure is Obama.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Scared' Miami VA Whistleblower Exposes Drug Dealing, Theft, Abuse...

      Director of Phoenix Hospital Where Vets Died Received $8,500 Bonus in April...

      Even Dems Call for Secretary's Resignation.......Drudge

      ..................

      With ObamaCare, the entire national medical system will be hauled back to the 19th Century.

      We'll be lucky to receive leeches for bloodletting.

      Delete
    2. I guess the stinking, fucking Republicans need to quit filibustering the VA Funding requests.

      Delete
    3. Republican Governors that refuse to expand Medicaid are leaving 258,000 Veterans Uninsured.

      According to a report by Pew using analysis from the Urban Institute, approximately 258,600 of those veterans are living below the poverty line in states refusing to expand Medicaid. Without veteran's benefits — and with incomes too low to qualify for subsidies to use on the state exchanges — these veterans are left without affordable coverage options.

      Twenty states are staunchly refusing to expand the program, and a few are still . . . . . . .

      Thanks, Assholes

      Delete
  48. Fjord OlesvensensonWed May 21, 09:22:00 PM EDT

    'The stinking, fucking Republicans' in the House are introducing a bill allowing Shinseki, who should be fired himself, to fire somebody. You can fire these guv'mint workers. Big problem. It's not funding, there is plenty of funding, which increased under Bush. You can't fire these incompetents. All our government agencies are like this. Everyone is incompetent at the VA, except the doctors, and in all the government agencies. We are noticing this because people are dying because of it, and they aren't dying over at the Dept. of Agriculture, unless some ag agent should mis-fire his new .40 caliber submachine gun while playing with it.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Fjord OlesvensensonWed May 21, 09:23:00 PM EDT

    you CAN'T fire these guv'mint workers....

    ReplyDelete
  50. Fjord OlesvensensonWed May 21, 09:25:00 PM EDT

    ObamaCare is going to be a Mega-Nightmare.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another, draft-dodging asshole that doesn't know the first thing about the VA.

      Thanks to Bush's War for Oil, appointment requests are up 50%, but the number of Doctors is only up 9%.

      The Republicans filibustered, and killed, a $26 billion VA Bill just a couple of months ago.

      Delete
  51. Obama knows nothing, sees nothing, and hears nothing unless his lapdogs bark, then his ears perk up. Not exactly using a hunting dog to flush out the truth, is he? Kind of reminds me of that famous Will Rogers quote: “All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.”

    The head of a government that has the most sophisticated spying apparatus ever created can monitor who we talk to, what we talk about, how many twinkies our kids eat and the calories we consume, where we travel, etc. etc., yet announces our President’s daily Intelligence report is actually prepared by Matt Drudge. Hmmm. Perhaps the NSA should take out ads in the sports section to assure the President reads his morning Intelligence briefing.

    Here’s a quick video of our Community Organizer-in-Chief explaining his lack of knowledge of the nation’s major scandals, using his favorite convenient excuse and perhaps also saying much about his management skills with a dysfunctional, disinterested staff. What do you think?

    http://townhall.com/video/montage-obama-discovers-every-scandal-through-the-media-n1840788

    ReplyDelete
  52. The Affordable Care Act is, definitely, a Mega-Nightmare - for the Republicans.

    Over 13 Million Americans covered, probably hundreds of thousands receiving vital care, as we speak - as in my family, where one person is receiving life-saving chemotherapy, as we speak.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope she does well, and recovers fully.

      bobbo

      Delete
  53. Fjord OlesvensensonWed May 21, 10:09:00 PM EDT

    Looks like bobbo was right to me -

    Americans who watch this story play out and fail to make the clear and obvious connection to Obamacare will be guilty of willful ignorance. The systemic flaw is identical. It's just magnified on a massive scale. Rather than making a false promise to treat all of the ills of a relatively few sick and injured military veterans, Obamacare has put the federal government on the path to taking responsibility for the medical needs — and the attendant costs — of the entire U.S. population.

    http://www.cleveland.com/obrien/index.ssf/2014/05/where_va_has_taken_veterans_ob.html#incart_river

    The best we could do right now is give Vets vouchers so they can get health care where, when and from whom they choose.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could not imagine two systems more "systemically" opposed than Obamacare, and the VA System. To attempt to engage with someone unconscious to that fact is nuts. Take the pot.

      Delete
  54. Fjord OlesvensensonWed May 21, 10:27:00 PM EDT

    Deeply......deeply.....I peer into my dark crystal ball.......what !!!!!.....what is this......some apparition from HELL perhaps........I see, I seeeeeee.......O, it is, it is.......The Quirkster approaching !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      A cloud rose in the north and crept across the land, a dark cloud, roiling and sulfurous, laced with firedamp explosions that lit the night. Initially born in Stygian darkness during the Carboniferous Period, precursor to the five great extinctions including The Great Dying of the Triassic, the cloud was the most recent incarnation of the chaos generated when the Titan Gondwana rolled across the South Pole and ravished the Goddess Aurora before moving on and leaving her to bear the three Graeae, Oil and Coal and Gas, eldritch and fey, sisters to the monstrous Gorgons.

      As the cloud moved it stilled the wind and blotted out the sun. In its wake, crops, corn and switch grass withered and died, just as in previous millennia brachiopods and trilobites and triceratops and fungi and countless other species shared the same fate.

      And as the storm drew near, a figure could be seen being born by the cloud, amorphous and inchoate, a dark eminence robed in black, it was the Quirkster come bearing the message of the Graeae. Through unmoving lips he proclaimed their wisdom:

      “Nonsense. They are all dicks.”

      .

      Delete
  55. Some Washington insiders expected President Obama to announce the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki after the two men met in the Oval Office this morning. Yet even with the VA hospitals scandal gathering momentum each day, Obama chose to keep Shinseki in place. Why?

    There are several reasons. First, Shinseki is a decorated veteran himself, a retired four-star general and former Army Chief of Staff who was seriously wounded in Vietnam. Members of Congress, and all Americans for that matter, view that record with respect. Second, heading the VA is a tough and unglamorous job, and finding a good candidate to replace Shinseki will not be easy; it's not something Obama wants to do if he doesn't have to. And third, even if a top-tier candidate agreed to take the job, cleaning up the VA mess will be a difficult task given >>>>>>>federal government personnel rules that make it virtually impossible for the secretary to fire workers involved in the scandal.<<<<<<<<<


    But there's another reason Shinseki is hard for the president to dismiss. The retired general has for years been a particular hero to Obama's supporters on the left for his conflictwith the George W. Bush administration during the run-up to the war in Iraq.

    http://washingtonexaminer.com/amid-growing-va-scandal-why-eric-shinseki-is-hard-to-fire/article/2548717

    ReplyDelete
  56. The Power of Wheat -

    May 22, 2014
    Israel Will Be The Last Man Standing in the Middle East
    5 tips to get the best mortgage rates (TopTipsNews)
    By David Archibald
    The Arab Spring, which started with the self-immolation of a Tunisian vegetable vendor at 11.30 am on 16th December, 2010, has resulted in two failed states in the region so far. Libya has become “Scumbag Woodstock” because of the number of terrorist organisations headquartered there. The French and English attempt at regime change created a terrorist haven with consequences as far afield as Mali and the 300 Christian girls kidnapped in Nigeria. Fortunately, Syria has become a meatgrinder for Islamic terrorists and for the moment has ceased being a net exporter of terrorism. In that conflict, the Obama Administration has chosen to support the side that does all the beheadings. Perhaps it is a brilliant plan -- a rational person would want the meatgrinder to keep grinding rather than have the Islamists defeated too quickly.

    The last time Syria attacked a civilised nation was the Yom Kippur War of 1973 in which it and Egypt launched a surprise attack on Israel. At the time, Syria had a population of seven million and Egypt 38 million. It was also about the last time that both countries could feed themselves from their own agricultural efforts. Their populations are now 22 million and 83 million respectively, with all the increase in population from 1973 fed with imported grain. This is true of the whole Middle East – North Africa (MENA) region. This is shown in the following graph going from Morocco in the west to Afghanistan in the east.



    ReplyDelete
  57. The size of each bar is the country’s population in millions. The blue part is the proportion fed from domestic production and the red part is the proportion kept alive with grain imports. Arguably Norman Borlaug and his green revolution allowed this situation to come about. World grain production outran population growth up to about a decade ago and grain became the cheapest it has been in history. Feeding these growing populations has been very cheap for regimes that subsidise bread to keep their populations quiescent. At the current price of wheat of $330 per metric ton and per capita consumption of 300 kg per annum, it only costs $0.27 per day in grain to keep someone alive.

    But grain yields in most countries have plateaued since 2000 and grain prices have started rising again. That effect will be accelerated by the solar-driven global cooling that has started. At some stage the cost of keeping everyone fed will overwhelm one of the MENA countries and it will collapse in mass starvation. There will then be a mad scramble around the world to stockpile grain, sending prices yet higher. In turn, that will set off a domino effect in the graph above. Using an animal model of population collapse (the snowshoe hare and lynx), populations might fall to 10% of carrying capacity -- back to levels last seen 200 years ago.

    Israel imports most of its grain requirements as do all its neighbours. The big difference is that Israel has a GDP per capita of $30,000-odd which is at least ten times that of its neighbours. Israel could afford a much higher grain price. That country also is the most efficient desalinator of seawater on the planet. With a cost of $0.52 per cubic metre, it is able to grow commercial crops using desalinated seawater. For Israel to survive from here, all it has to do is out-wait its neighbors. In the good old days, a large population meant a country could have a large army. These days it means the ongoing drag of having to feed a lot of unproductive people with every missed grain shipment a potential disaster.

    Hang in there Israel. Just a few more years and all your surrounding enemies will become semi-starved tribes with rifles and pickup trucks at best.

    David Archibald, a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C., is the author of Twilight of Abundance: Why Life in the 21st Century Will Be Nasty, Brutish, and Short (Regnery, 2014).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/05/israel_will_be_the_last_man_standing_in_the_middle_east.html

      Delete
  58. I will be putting up a new post later today.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Glad you put it back up. Thanks !

    ReplyDelete