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."

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Pass the smelling salts to Netanyahu

The Obama Effect? Are Iran, Saudi, and the Gulf Cooperation Council no longer on a war footing?



There are signs of a diplomatic thaw between Iran and the Arab oil monarchies of the Gulf. It has just been announced that the ruler of Kuwait, Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, will make a state visit to Iran. This news comes after it was confirmed that the Iranian foreign minister has been invited to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A year ago, relations between Iran and the Arab oil monarchies of the Gulf were at a nadir. Iran supports the Shiite government of Iraq, supports the Bashar al-Assad Baath government in Syria, supports Shiite protesters in Bahrain, supports populist Muslim fundamentalists in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, and supports Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia and its allies support Iraqi Sunni Arabs, support the rebels trying to overthrow al-Assad, support the Sunni monarchy in Bahrain against the Shiite demonstrators, support secular and/or Salafi currents in North Africa against the Muslim Brotherhood, and support Saad al-Hariri (a Sunni) and the March 14 coalition in Syria against Hizbullah.

The Great Arab-Iran Cold War of the past 11 years was worsened by the Bush overthrow of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein (seen by Saudi Arabia as a bulwark against Iran, though Kuwaiti feelings on the matter were more complex). They were worsened by the Shiite take-over of Iraq in 2005, especially the Da’wa (Islamic Mission) Party. Nouri al-Maliki and the Da’wa had a grudge against Wahhabi Islam, the state religion of Saudi Arabia, which is vehemently anti-Shiite. Da’wa staged rallies against Wahhabism at Saudi embassies in Europe, embarrassing the Kingdom.

The split in Lebanon between Hizbullah-Aoun (March 8) and the Sunni-Other Christians alliance in 2005 was also polarizing. Saudi Arabia sees Hizbullah as a mere cat’s paw of Iran in the Arab world and as adventurist– blaming it for provoking the 2006 war with Israel.

The Arab Spring and its aftermath have also exacerbated tensions. The Shiite majority in Bahrain wants a better deal from the Sunni monarchy, but the Al-Khalifa adamantly refuse to consider it and attempted to crush the Shiite protesters. The Saudis and the UAE sent in troops to show support for the Sunni king.

The struggle in Syria turned into a civil war, with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia strongly supporting the rebels, and private billionaires in the two countries supporting the extremist factions among the rebels, i.e. al-Qaeda affiliates. Saudi Arabia was against the Egyptian revolution. But it is inconsistent and supported the revolutionaries in Libya and Syria. In Syria’s case, I think Riyadh thinks that if al-Assad could be overthrown, the Iranians would lose their contiguous bloc of allies stretching from the Iran-Iraq border all the way to the Mediterranean.

The government of president Hassan Rouhani, elected last summer, wants to improve diplomatic relations with the US, with Europe, and with its Arab neighbors. Rouhani’s people have apparently been trying hard to get a hearing in Riyadh.

We learned last week that Saudi Arabia has invited Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, to the Saudi capital.

Why the apparent thaw and move to diplomacy?

1. Bandar Bin Sultan, the former Saudi Ambassador to the US and a hawk, was fired last month as Intelligence Minister, just before President Obama visited King Abdullah in Riyadh. His half-brother was later fired as deputy secretary of defense. Bandar is allegedly fanatically anti-Iran and really supportive of the Syrian revolutionaries.
2. The Bahrain Shiite movement seems unlikely to pose a threat to the Sunni monarchy.
3. Bashar al-Assad has for about a year been winning the Syria war, and the rebels may not seem a very attractive investment any more. Moreover, the most effective fighting forces have declared themselves a branch of al-Qaeda. Saudi Arabia is deathly afraid of the latter. Riyadh recently discovered a terrorist plot in which the major group fighting in Syria (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) became a threat to their own Saudi backers. That episode may soured Riyadh on the most hawkish strategy in Syria. Indeed, you could imagine a Saudi-Iran alliance against al-Qaeda affiliates, now holding territory in northern Iraq and northern Syria.
4. The Obama administration is trying to “open” Iran the way Nixon opened China. Obama is trying to reassure King Abdullah that Iran cannot menace the Kingdom with nuke down the road because the enrichment facilities will be tightly inspect.

No doubt other things are going on that aren’t visible on the surface explaining the new GCC diplomacy with Iran. To the extent that a detente might help peace in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, and justice in Bahrain, some sort of Riyadh-Tehran agreement would be good for the region.

109 comments:

  1. They all like $110.00 Brent Crude. They probably think that $115.00 to $120.00 Brent would be alright.

    But, they remember what happened when oil hit $145.00 (it was soon, thereafter, at $35.00.)

    I get the overwhelming sense that I'm watching some pretty cool-headed lukes "managing" the situation. Probably pretty silly, but I'm a hopeless romantic, at heart. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're just not paying attention, Rufus. The Budweiser doesn't help, either.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/infographic-shrinking-attention-span-n110801

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When and where, hillbilly?

      Delete
    2. Here ya go, hillbilly -

      http://www.livescience.com/45777-marrying-your-cousin-may-pay-off.html

      Delete
    3. Sounds romantic, like you.

      Delete
  3. The folks not paying attention, are the ones that don't have the cognizant ability to create a sign-in or form a click-able link.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why the comma? You have no cognizant ability.

      Delete
    2. The comma, is to give you a chance to breathe.
      Otherwise you would become winded, as you read out loud and have no stamina.

      I put in the commas, as a public service, to invalided old men, like you.

      Delete
  4. Security footage apparently showing two unarmed Palestinian teenagers being shot dead by Israeli soldiers has emerged.

    The film, shot from nearby office buildings, was taken during a lull in a stone-throwing clash on 15 May in the West Bank city of Beitunia.

    Nadeem Siam Nawara, 17, sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the chest, while Mohammad Mahmoud Odeh, 16, was shot in the back, the NGO Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP) reports.

    "Security camera footage of the incident proves that at no stage were security forces endangered by any of the four victims, or by anyone close to them at the time of the shooting. The footage shows Nadim Nawarah being shot while walking along a street towards the area where Palestinian youngsters were clashing with army forces, and Muhammad Salameh [Odeh] with his back turned in the direction of the security forces that shot him.”

    www.youtube.com/embed/CaibEqx2m_k


    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/21/unarmed-palestinian-teens-shot-dead-israeli-troops-un-demands-investigation_n_5363300.html?1400666952&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067

    ReplyDelete
  5. My God, listening to Fox News on the radio on the highway, I learned what the White House was doing on the night of Benghazi.
    Th White House was contacting You Tube about the attack on Benghazi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    This is simply amazing and nearly unbelievable. It must be a first of some kind in American politics. It is certainly a new low.

    IMPEACH OBAMA NOW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Call John "Boner" Boehner.
      He has the keys to your fantasy.

      Delete
  6. If I were the Saudi I might be making nice to Iran too. We currently have a hell of a bad record in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.

    The Israelis are turning to India and China perhaps, the Russians and Iranians are winning in Syria, our 'word' isn't worth warm spit.

    We backed the MB in Egypt and now the military, thankfully, runs the place.

    If I were a Saudi King I might cozy up to Iran too right now until we have a sane man in the White House again and a Republican Congress.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. China just sided with Russia in the UN, in support of Syria.

      You should get away from your dependency of foreigners for your information.
      Murdock and the Saudi own Fox News, none of the stake holders are natural citizens of the US. Get real.
      Buy American, not imports.

      Delete
    2. As for Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the next President of Egypt, the General that took out the MB, has ALWAYS been a US proxy. He is a graduate of the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

      The production of M1 Abrams tanks, in Egypt, by General Dynamics has never ceased, not even for a mment through all of the political 'trials and tribulations'.

      The fact that Bob does not understand political theater, is driven home "One More Time".

      Delete
  7. The VA system is basically single payer.

    Be careful what you wish for........you might just get it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Medicare is Single-payer, Farmer Bob reported it saved his estate.

      Delete
  8. President You Tube shall he be called.

    utube for short.

    ReplyDelete
  9. President utube takes much much better care of the terrorist prisoners at Gitmo than he does of the Vets in the VA system.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only because the Congress will not allow the President to either release or prosecute the supposed "terrorists".
      None have been tried for crimes, none have been convicted of crimes.

      They are being held in legal limbo ...

      Call John "Boner" Boehner.
      He has the keys to your fantasy.

      Delete
  10. All you have to do is chart the price of gasoline, with a couple of month lag-time, flip it upside-down, and overlay it onto a chart of the economy. There; now you understand the world.

    You have to have "energy" to make the mare run, and, right now, we could dearly use the energy from those Iranian oilfields.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have to understand that the Saudis, and the rest - UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, etc - would rather have $90.00 oil than $140.00 oil. They have already seen what happens when you get $140.00 oil.

      Delete
    2. The U.S. shale oil “miracle” took a major hit Wednesday, when the federal government announced a hefty downward revision of its estimate of the amount of recoverable oil in the No. 1 shale reserve in the U.S.: the Monterey formation in California.

      A recently as this week, the much-publicized Monterey formation accounted for nearly two-thirds of all technically recoverable U.S. shale oil resources, standing at a world-class 13.7 billion barrels. But on Wednesday, that estimate was downgraded to a mere 600 million barrels, or 96% lower than the day before.

      You read that right: 96% lower. This takes the Monterey from one of the world’s largest potential fields to a play that, if all 600 million barrels thought to be there were brought to the surface all at once, would supply the U.S.’s oil needs for a mere 33 days.

      Yep. 33 days.

      And along with that oil come tremendous water demands, environmental, and infrastructure damages.

      The reasons for the downgrade are easy enough to understand. The initial estimates were mere guesses that relied on company statements and not actual results. Now with enough wells in play the Energy Information Agency can calculate the potential of the Monterey play and it’s obviously a lot less than originally thought.

      With that, California’s dreams of 2.8 million new jobs from the Monterey shrank to 112,000 and the hoped for $24.6 billion in tax revenues withered to $984 million.

      More importantly, the U.S. shale “miracle” turned into a pumpkin overnight with overall U.S. reserves shrinking from approximately 24 billion barrels to approximately 11 billion barrels.

      This is not surprising at all to anybody following the shale story with a critical eye. We always knew that the best plays were . . . . . .

      Poof

      Delete
    3. OMG - Sounds like the gold reserves at Fort Knox

      Delete
    4. One minute it is there and then poof, it's gone!

      Delete
    5. :) as in: a little puff of smoke, and "poof," the magician's rabbit disappears.

      Delete
  11. I think that we might be overlooking the fact that the two key players in the Middleeast (Obama, and Rouhani) were, both, elected by a surge in turnout of Young voters. This might be some sort of historical, "first" in world history.

    ReplyDelete
  12. You mean this report, from 2006, was inaccurate, too?

    Treasure was discovered in America’s Gulf of Mexico waters today, black gold so vast and so deep and so surprising and so recoverable that overnight, America’s energy reserves have just increased as much as 50%. Chevron, Norway’s Statoil and deep-sea driller Devon Energy have just discovered as many as 15 billion barrels of previously unknown oil in a vast underwater pool five miles under the floor of the sea. No one even had a clue about this huge oil’s existence up until new high technology of deep sea drilling (cost: $1 billion a pop, and every bit as weird and high-tech as a spaceship) came to the fore.

    But now it’s known. And even with America’s oil appetite at 6 million barrels of crude a day, oil prices just dropped $2 to $68 a barrel due to all the anticipated coming supply. And these prices are going down further. That’s great news for everyone - little countries like Costa Rica whose citizens have to pay top dollar for fuel, as well as the average American mom in her SUV cringing at her final bill at the pump.

    Oil tyrants beware.

    The West, having discovered free-world sources, now may no longer need their oil. They will no longer be able to abuse us with their threats of nuclear and other blackmail if we don’t do their bidding. Sky high oil prices may be a thing of the past. China and India will get the oil they need with no ill effect on the rest of us.
    There will be no short supply. There will be oil for all.

    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/03/rufus-in-hell-2006-revisited.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, the "Jack" was bit over-hyped. :)

      We're producing about 21,000 bbl/day Less out of the Gulf than we were in Oct., 2006.

      EIA

      Delete
    2. Damn, better pass the smelling salts ...

      Delete
  13. Drawing Republicans to the square state that slipped away

    Colorado is the poster state for every troubling electoral issue facing the Republican Party.
    Bringing the convention here would only remind the few stalwarts who still watch conventions that libertarian-leaning, business-friendly, oil-and-gas-rich Colorado has taken the long winding road from purplish-red state to purplish-blue.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Sometimes it's what you "don't see."

    When you gaze out across the fracking fields of N. Dakota, and Texas, what you don't see is Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell, etc. They are back in NY, touting the fracking "miracle," and busily Selling Assets, and passing the money on to their shareholders in the form of increased Dividends. Think about it.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You don't know what you are talking about and are talking just to hear the sound of your own voice. You are sillier than Farmer Rob.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Don't challenge Rufus on his favorite subject, Anon, or you might get solicited.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I already was solicited.

      See above.

      Delete
  17. Breathe deep, anon, the gathering gloom.
    Watch lights fade from every room
    Bedsitter people look back and lament
    Another day's useless energy spent

    ReplyDelete
  18. Bob is a silly shit too, but not as silly as Rufus or Farmer Rob.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here, anon. I'm tired of your continuous whining, and lousy blowjobs; choke on this for awhile:

      U.S. Solar to Double, to 20 Gigawatts, by the end of 2014

      Delete
    2. Over 36,000 Gigawatt hrs. per year from the Sun. no water; no pollution. no muss, no fuss.

      Delete
  19. Thank you Anon for what I take as a compliment.

    Meanwhile, here's some good news -

    Tennessee to bring back old smoky -

    http://time.com/109909/tennessee-brings-back-electric-chair/

    They can hire Rufus to fire it up with solar panels.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I thought this paragraph interesting:

    "Israel wants to make its Christians feel as comfortable as Israelis. They even have sought to distinguish Christians from Muslim Arabs, defining them in some laws as not being Arab at all; even encouraging them to enlist in the Israel Defence Forces alongside Jewish Israelis, so the country will feel more like their home."

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/world-insider/christians-in-the-middle-east-last-one-please-blow-out-the-candle/article18819326/#dashboard/follows/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What ????


      Can't be true. We have been long instructed by a couple of the jokers here that Israel is an apartheid state.

      You need to check your sources, Ash.

      And as for Arabs sitting in the Israeli Knesset, it's just another Jewish lie. The only Arabs in the Knesset are the Arab janitors. We all know that.

      Delete
    2. Which of the Israeli Laws have been modified from the Apartheid norm?

      This is not discussed in detail, because it has not happened.

      Delete
    3. Bob is correct, we all know it has not happened.

      Delete
    4. ummmm, Bob, the simple fact that the article, and now YOU, acknowledge that Israel does indeed have laws based on race suggests.....??? Think now! What does that suggest??

      Delete
    5. or do you care to go the 'it's not race' they are basing the laws on but religion? Is that where you want to go?

      Delete
    6. Apartheid based upon race, or based upon religion, which is hereditary through the matriarchal line ...

      What is 'religion' if it is not a belief system, but a tribe based upon mitochondrial DNA?

      Delete
    7. Arabs sit in the Knesset, and they are not janitors.

      Bob is always correct.

      Delete

    8. What is an Arab, Bob?
      Have you checked their individual DNA?

      The original Jews are now Palestinians...

      Jewish history tells us that the Romans did not expel the original Jews from Palestine when they crushed the Simon bar Kokhba revolt in 136 AD but instead barred them only from city of Jerusalem – and even then they were allowed to visit it during Tisha B’Av, the annual fasting day on the ninth day of the month of Av in the Hebrew calendar.
      Under Christianity and during the Roman Empire a large number of native Jews converted to Christianity and, with the advent of Islam, most adopted the new religion and assimilated under the new power.


      In addition to the descendants of the Canaanites, the original denizens before patriarch Abraham’s arrival from Mesopotamia, Sand concludes that today’s Muslim and Christian Palestinians are actually the true progenies of the original Jews


      Unless you check the DNA, there is no way to tell whether an Arab Muslim or Christian is really a Jew.
      Judaism is not a religion, it is traced by the mitochondrial DNA.

      Why do you deny the core beliefs of Judaism, are you an ANTI-SEMITE?

      Delete
    9. Fjord OlesvensensonFri May 23, 05:31:00 PM EDT

      A Jew by any other DNA
      Smells as sweet....

      Whoopie Goldberg

      Delete
    10. Why is Farmer Rob hiding under one of the Anons?

      Delete
    11. How to Hide in Plain Sight

      How do you know who is hiding and who is in plain sight?

      Delete


  21. Source:


    NJ.com, 05/23/14: Obamacare enrollment drives down NJ's uninsurance rate by 38 percent
    .




    That's not me saying it; that's the actual headline and the conclusion of a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation:


    RENTON — The first look at the Affordable Care Act’s impact on New Jersey reveals the percentage of uninsured people is on track to reach its lowest level in nearly a quarter of a century, according to a new report released Thursday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

    The proportion of uninsured adults decreased 38 percent from September to early March, according to the foundation. That decline is likely to accelerate, knowing that many people waited until the last minute to beat the March 30 enrollment deadline.

    "These findings suggest that uninsurance in New Jersey is . . . . . . .

    Probably more like 47%

    ReplyDelete
  22. Only 26% of those who didn't enroll in Obamacare are aware of the availability of subsidies. Amazin'.

    How are they using it?

    ReplyDelete
  23. :) :) Holy Jeebus, This is Great.


    MCCONNELL: KY. EXCHANGE UNCONNECTED TO HEALTH LAW

    LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell says he would try to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he's elected Senate majority leader.

    But the veteran senator won't say what would happen to the 413,000 Kentuckians who have health insurance through the state's health care exchange.

    McConnell told reporters Friday that the fate of the state exchange is unconnected to the federal health care law. Yet the exchange would not exist, if not for the law that created it.

    I'm well aware that Kynect employees and advocates have been reluctant to use the "Obamacare" word, or even the less-"controversial" terms "ACA" or "Affordable Care Act" or even "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (even though that's the actual name of the law). Hell, a recent Marist poll showed that sure enough, only 22% of KY residents oppose "Kynect" while a whopping 56% oppose "Obamacare", even though it's the same f*cking law. Even KY Governor Steve Beshear, the chief supporter of the state's extremely successful ACA exchange, hasn't gone out of his way to correct this rather idiotic bit of ignorance.

    Now, supporters of the law in Kentucky have a very good reason for keeping mum about the connection: They want people to have access to healthcare coverage even if the recipient is too intellectually lazy (or, dare I say it, racist?) to perform the most rudimentary research on the . . . . . .


    A Rose that by Another Name smells 34% Sweeter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People in Kentucky, like those in Mississippi, aren't noted for their brains.

      In Kentucky, the horses are smarter than the people.

      In Mississippi, the mules are smarter than the people.

      Delete
  24. Replies
    1. Butch won the primary election but I didn't vote for him.

      He will win the general.

      We haven't had a three term Governor for a long time.

      He has done OK. Not much to really complain about with Butch. Though not much to praise highly either.

      Delete
  25. It's hard to disagree with Anon at Fri May 23, 05:44:00 PM EDT.

    People in Mississippi are dumber than wood chips.

    FLASHBACK Obama 2008: VA to be 'leader of national health-care reform'...drudge

    People in Mississippi have short attention spans and can't recall what occurred and what was said just a few years ago.

    Employees caught falsifying records...drudge

    Emails Reveal More Miami VA Scandal...drudge

    Car Crashes Into Emergency Room At Boston VA Hospital...drudge

    Californians gripe about Obamacare enrollment snags, lack of doctors...drudge

    ReplyDelete
  26. The Palestinians are suffering. They do not have a viable political system. The Israelis are gradually extending their illegal settlements on Palestinian territory. All this suits Netanyahu just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Fjord OlesvensensonFri May 23, 07:30:00 PM EDT

    One must admit your President Utube has done a fair job of turning your USA into a second class shithole, like Sweden. And he still has a few more years left to work on his project. Here no one works but the Hindus. I don't go into Malmo any longer, too afraid of the muzzies. Like you are afraid to go into Detroit, or somewhere.. I'm going into Stockholm to the welfare office and a pot cafe. Later.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fjord OlesvensensonFri May 23, 07:55:00 PM EDT

      In a good year we have the highest suicide rate in the world.

      I wish my grandfather had gotten out of this shithole when the getting was good but I'm stuck here now. Besides, where to go?

      USA?

      hahahagroan

      Delete
  28. The 'Palestinians' will never have a viable political system. Ever. They are not capable of it. See: Martha Gellhorn's article in Atlantic from decades ago. It is exactly the same now as it was then. All they know how to do is hate. And what has that ever gotten them?

    ReplyDelete
  29. The animus of the European Ashkenazi Zionists.

    Funny, the people that stole the Palestinian lands have your complete support, Bob, but you get your back up at the idea of anyone benefiting from you or what you consider yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'd get your back up too if you'd paid the taxes I have paid.

      Got to run.

      Delete
    2. On Memorial Day weekend, Bob bitches about taxes he has paid.

      Typical of the self-centered psychopath.

      Delete
  30. Replies
    1. You were stupid, really stupid, long before 'ideology' came along. Now you are a simple blank slate.

      Delete
    2. “A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.”
      ― Baltasar Gracián

      Delete
    3. No man or woman, wise or foolish, 'uses' his or her friends, idiot blank slate.

      'Use' is not a concept in the world of true friendship.

      Friendship is not about use.

      You are a moron and a gutter dweller.

      Delete
    4. “The truth may be out there, but the lies are inside your head.”
      ― Terry Pratchett

      Delete
  31. If you are reading this you are using coal -

    http://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2014/05/21/your_technology_is_powered_by_coal_get_over_it_107783.html

    ReplyDelete
  32. What is powering your technology depends on where you live. Many countries use NO coal, or even nat. gas.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Rasmussen has Michele Nunn leading _Perdue by 3 points, and Kingston by 6 in the Georgia Senate race.

    And Alyson Lundgren Grimes has Mitch McConnell flailing in Ky.

    Realclearpolitics

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Mitch McConnell does not survive the Obama Administration, his entire career will have been a failure.

      His whole goal, from 2009 onward, was to assure Obama's defeat in 2012, which he failed to do.
      If he is ousted from the Senate before Obama's term is up, the karma of that will be SWEET.
      Especially after he trounced the Tea Bagger in the Primary so thoroughly.

      The interesting numbers, Hillary trouncing ALL the GOP hopefuls in Iowa.

      Delete
    2. Congressional Job Approval - CBS News - Approve 12, Disapprove 80, which puts Disapprove at +68

      By Party the Generic Congressional Vote
      Rasmussen Reports 5/12 - 5/18 ... 3500 LV ... Democrats @ 41 . . . Republicans @ 37, pus the Democrats @ +4

      Seems to indicate that the voters blame the Republican House for the dysfunctional Congress more so than they blame the Democrats in the Senate.

      Same with the direction of the country Wrong track is +32 but Obama is ...
      Rasmussen Reports - Approve +2

      Little wonder, then, that "Boner" will not move 'Articles of Impeachment' to the floor of the House.
      It would wipe the GOP out.

      Delete
    3. By Party the Generic Congressional Vote
      Rasmussen Reports 5/12 - 5/18 ... 3500 LV ... Democrats @ 41 . . . Republicans @ 37, PUTS the Democrats @ +4

      Delete
    4. And, handily beating Bush, and Rubio in Florida.

      I'm far from being a big Hillary fan, but I have to doubt that the GOP can beat her.

      Delete
    5. If she runs for the Presidency, she will likely win.
      The Argentine Syndrome, the Oligarchy not even taking the time to change the names.
      Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Clinton/Bush.

      A sad, sad day, indeed.

      Delete
  34. Jack Hawkins is left handed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jack is a fictional character, read his book ...
      Border War - Warning Order
      'Warning Order' picks up the story in the early summer of 2011, on the frontier between the US and Mexico. Political intrigue and corruption on both sides of the frontier, the unimaginable violence that accompanies the drug trade on the border.

      Delete
  35. I don't think this Obamacare deal is working out quite like the Pubs envisioned. :)

    Now you have pubs in tight races all around the country coming out in favor of the Medicaid expansion, and McTurtle trying to explain how Ky can keep its popular KyKynect , while he is, simultaneously repealing it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Republicans forgot to heed their founding patron saint ...

      "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." - Abraham Lincoln

      Delete
    2. They were gambling on half + 1, but it's starting to look unlikely. :)

      Delete
  36. Jack Hawkins is 3 or 4 inches shorter than the average man.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Jack Hawkins is 10 to 15 percentage points less than the average I.Q.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Ad hominem arguments are a preferred tool for people who ran out of real arguments
    (or are unable to understand someone else's opinion in the first place).

    It's so much easier to just attack another person instead of attacking his arguments
    (especially if the other person is right.)

    ReplyDelete
  39. My Niece's paper was about brain abnormalities and autism. Here is an article about the problems the autistic face in becoming employed -

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/23/how-the-hiring-process-marginalizes-candidates-on-the-autism-spectrum.html

    While we bull shit, there are people out there actually trying to do something.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another fanciful story about another of Bob's fictional characters ...

      Delete
    2. His niece has above average tits, with large nipples, and a skinny ass.

      Delete
    3. None of which he will ever touch. :)

      Delete
  40. Cantor has undertaken extensive research into the area, previously finding that pedophiles are more likely to be left-handed, 2.3 cm shorter than the average male, and 10 to 15 IQ points lower than the norm.

    http://news.yahoo.com/pedophiles-brains-wired-differently-094500525--politics.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A raped girl is bad for the family: it shows that they can’t protect their women;
      that they have little social standing; and that they’re not respectable.

      It’s worse for the victim because once a woman, or a girl—or a boy—is known as the target of a rape she becomes so despised, so shamed, so worthless that she turns into public property.

      No one is raped only once.

      ― Louise Brown,
      The Dancing Girls of Lahore:
      Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Pleasure District

      Delete
  41. This is, admittedly, much too long for the attention span challenged, filthy brained Rufus to wade through, but others might get something out of it -

    What Does Benghazi Mean -

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

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  42. Benghazi was a poorly planned CIA operation that led to the dismissal of the Director of the CIA.
    That's all. If General David Howell Petraeus is to be libeled, if claims are going to be made he betrayed his people, a stronger case will have to be made, than that in the Stinker.

    Even though his 'nick name' is "General Betrayous"

    ReplyDelete
  43. It wasn't the filthy-brained Mississippiac that wrote of his daughters "cute little ass" bouncing around in her tight-fitting jeans.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I don't read the stinker, but "Benghazi" means "the Obamacare meme is dead, and the pubs are about to blow another election."

    ReplyDelete
  45. According to the article the Twin Towers were downed by nuclear devices which were a modified version of the W-54 nuclear artillery shells that were covertly provided to the Israelis between 1988 and 1998 from US surplus stockpiles illegally exported during the Bush/Clinton era. The use of 2 ton nuclear devices - explains the weird implosion of the buildings.

    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/05/20/too-classified-to-publish-bush-nuclear-piracy-exposed/

    Russia Opens Files on Nuclear 9/11 and Israeli Proliferation

    …by Gordon Duff, Senior Editor

    The report below is taken from an intelligence dump by Russian sources. As the origin is from an intelligence agency in the form of a “leak,” there are always questions. Thus far, we have found not only is the majority of the material confirmed but several solutions to serious problems involving 9/11 are included.


    More than 1,100 have cancer after 9/11 - CNN

    Merry Memorial Day -

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  46. If I knew about the jumbled up geology, and general uselessness of the Monterrey Shale, why did they companies that have taken tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of seismic readings in California allow the false Monterrey Shale as Savior narrative to continue?

    And, what are they lying about, Today?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I'll tell you One thing that they're not mentioning; the North Dakota Bakken Play is running out of runway.

      You're down to only a couple of counties that are still expanding production, and only one (McKenzie) that had a significant increase last month.

      Delete
    2. Remember, these shale wells don't produce much oil (the average bakken well is producing about 130 bbl/day,) and three or four per sq. mile is just about the best you can do. And, of course, part of that, and surrounding, counties is "Badlands" - no drilling, there.

      Delete
    3. The Badlands is in South Dakato, nitwit.

      http://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEVjplyoBTlCUARiEPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsa3ZzMnBvBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--?_adv_prop=image&fr=yhs-aztec-default&va=Badlands+National+Park&hspart=aztec&hsimp=yhs-default

      We saw Bighorns there. I don't know how they survive with there being so little to eat. Really odd looking place.

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  47. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete