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."

Monday, May 26, 2014

"Putin is the anti-Obama, moving to occupy the cultural-moral vacuum left by America. As we celebrate multiculturalism, LGBT rights, and abortion on demand, Putin repudiates Hollywood values.”


 Patrick J. Buchanan


Memorial Day will likely bring alarmist headlines in the elite media about a populist fever raging in Europe, and manifest in the shocking returns from the elections for the European Parliament.
Marine Le Pen’s National Front may run first in France, and Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party first in Britain.
What is happening in Europe?
In his unpublished “Leviathan and Its Enemies,” my late friend Sam Francis wrote of the coming crisis of the “soft managerial state,” of which the European Union is a textbook example.
Oswald Spengler used the word “Civilization” to describe “the terminal phase of a cultural organism,” wrote Francis. In 1941, Pitirim Sorokin described the characteristics of a Spenglerian “Civilization”:
“[C]osmopolitanism and the megalopolis vs. ‘home,’ ‘race,’ ‘blood group’ and ‘fatherland’; scientific irreligion or abstract dead metaphysics instead of the religion of the heart; ‘cold matter-of-factness’ vs. reverence and tradition and respect for age; internationalist ‘society’ instead of ‘my country’ and state (nation); money and abstract values in lieu of earth and real (living) values; ‘mass’ instead of ‘folk’; sex in lieu of motherhood … and so on.”
Between the managerial state and the civilization and culture that preceded it, the polarities are stark.
Yet they mirror the clashes of today as the European Union of Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman’s vision exhibits unmistakable symptoms of disintegration and decay.
In a way, this is remarkable.
For undeniably the rise of the EU has coincided with an unprecedented rise in the standard of living for the hundreds of millions from the Atlantic to the Baltic and from the North Sea to the Mediterranean.
Still, though Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Parliament of man” and “Federation of the world” captured the imagination of 19th-and 20th-century one-worlders, the dream has proven incapable of capturing the hearts of European peoples. Who would die for the Brussels bureaucracy?
What are the identifying marks of these populist parties that have sprouted up now in almost every European country?
There is first the rejection of universalism and transnationalism, and a reversion to patriotism and its songs, symbols, holidays, history, myths and legends.
To peoples such as these, the preservation of the separate and unique ethnic and cultural identity of the nation supersedes all claims of supranational organizations, be it the EU or U.N.
This sentiment is reflected not only in fierce resistance to further integration within the EU, but in visceral hostility to further immigration from the Third World, Islamic world or Eastern Europe.
These people want to remain who and what they are.
Even the Swiss last winter voted for an initiative of the People’s Party calling for reintroduction of quotas for immigrants from the EU.
A second telltale sign of the new populism is traditionalism and cultural conservatism, reverence for the religious and cultural history and heritage of the nation and its indigenous people.
That victory in the recent Eurovision contest of Conchita, the bearded transvestite drag queen who performed in a gown, though celebrated by much of the European press, sent a message to millions of traditionalists that this is no longer their culture.
Another aspect of the rising populist right, as the New York Times notes, is a grudging admiration for Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Why? Putin not only publicly rejects the moral relativism of the West, under his guidance Russian social legislation is being consciously rooted in traditional Christian concepts of right and wrong.
Putin is the anti-Obama, moving to occupy the cultural-moral vacuum left by America. As we celebrate multiculturalism, LGBT rights, and abortion on demand, Putin repudiates Hollywood values.
When Western politicians and media rail against his annexation of Crimea as a violation of America’s rules-based New World Order, Putin invokes patriotism and nationalism in his defense: Crimea belonged to us for 200 years. Most of its people are Russians. They wish to return to Mother Russia. Our warm-water port is there. Americans do not dictate to Russians where Russia’s vital interests are concerned.
In the anti-American precincts of Europe, they are applauding.
Yet another specter is haunting Europe: secessionism. Scots, Catalans and Venetians wish to declare independence and become again the countries they once were.
As for the epithets used on the populists, that they are racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, fascist, overuse has caused them to lose their toxicity.
The Eurocrats have cried wolf too often.
How serious is this right-wing populism?
At the least, as the Tea Party has pulled the GOP to the right, these parties are likely to pull center and center-right parties in their direction all across Europe.
Then there is the real possibility not only of a breakup of the EU, but of the breakup of the United Kingdom, the loss of Scotland after 300 years, England’s secession from the EU, and the collapse of the Tory Party into Europhiles and Europhobes, all on David Cameron’s watch.
Like materialism, consumerism and socialism, transnationalism suffers from the same fatal flaw. It feeds the body and starves the soul. And eventually bored people hear the old calls again.

122 comments:

  1. Ukraine’s confectionary tycoon Petro Poroshenko on Sunday claimed victory in the country’s first presidential elections since an uprising toppled the government and plunged the country into a deep crisis, dividing it between East and West.

    Poroshenko’s announcement came after an exit poll gave the 48-year-old well over 50 percent win, well ahead of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who came in second place with 12.9 percent.

    Result early Monday confirmed that Poroshenko had won nearly 54 percent of the vote, with half the ballots counted, averting the need for a runoff vote next month.

    The ballot took place amid weeks of fighting in the sprawling eastern regions that form Ukraine’s industrial heartland, where pro-Russia separatists have seized government buildings and battled government troops. The rebels had vowed to block the ballot in the east – and less than 20 percent of the polling stations were open there.

    Aims to ‘put an end to war’

    “The country has got a new president,” a confident and composed Poroshenko told several hundred journalists at his election headquarters. “I would like to thank everyone for the support that the Ukraine has showed today for me and my team.”

    The tycoon pledged that his first steps as president will be “to put an end to war, chaos, crime and to bring peace to the Ukrainian land.” He also said his first visit would be to Donbass, Ukraine’s eastern industrial region.

    Poroshenko ducked the question whether he was prepared to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin but said Kiev would like to negotiate a new security treaty with Moscow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. (CNN) -- France’s far-right National Front has won a nationwide election for the first time, as far-right parties across Europe caused a political "earthquake," with a string of victories in voting for the European Parliament.

    The National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, notched up 24.95% of the vote in France, according to official estimates, well ahead of mainstream parties UMP and the Socialist Party. Le Pen said the win showed that people want to see change in Europe.
    France's Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the result was "more than a warning. It is a shock, an earthquake."
    Right-wing parties also gained ground in the UK, Denmark and Austria, according to projections posted on the European Parliament’s official elections website.

    Voters across Europe have been casting ballots for days in the parliamentary vote. There are 751 seats from 28 countries up for grabs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ...All across Western Europe — including Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany — and as far east as Hungary, newly emergent right-wing, ultra-nationalist political parties are calling for a break from "submission" to American leadership and a fresh look toward Russia.

    Alain de Benoist, a philosopher and leader in what’s called the "new right" in France, was quoted asserting that Russia "is now obviously the principal alternative to American hegemony." He’s not alone.

    A prominent member of the right-wing French National Front denounced the European Union as "the poodle of the United States." And Aymeric Chauprade, the top candidate of the French National Front in today’s elections for the European Parliament, has gone so far as to praise Russia as "the hope of the world against the new totalitarianism."

    Time was that support for the old Soviet Union was confined in Europe to left-wing parties. The transformation of the far right in Western Europe is a product of several things — anti-Americanism for sure, but also growing hostility toward immigrants, toward the brusque, far-away E.U. bureaucrats in Brussels, and toward a U.S.-led culture that, as Chauprade of the French National Front put it, promotes "enslavement by consumerist urges and sexual impulses."

    Sound familiar? It should. It’s a mantra the more fevered far-right precincts of the Republican Party here would applaud. All-purpose, all-out anger at just about everything everywhere and at government in particular.

    It’s understandable. Change is unsettling and change is coming at us faster than ever. But the European far right’s sudden embrace of Putin loses sight of what’s at stake for Ukraine and maybe all of Europe, something best expressed by Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, Ukraine’s ambassador to the E.U., in a letter to the New York Times.

    "It’s not a civil war in Ukraine, nor is it a bilateral conflict with Russia," he wrote. "It’s a confrontation of two civilizations, a fight for the European future of Ukraine and democratic European values as a whole."

    It’s also a fight the United States and the American president should be leading — whether a wobbly Europe follows our lead or not.


    John Farmer is a Star-Ledger columnist. His column appears Sundays. Keep the conversation going at nj.com/opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hardly a surprise when the current US culture is foreign and repugnant to a lot of cultural traditionalists.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Also from CNN ...

    So what does that mean?

    "They don't have enough votes to stop legislation going through,"Usherwood told CNN,
    "but what they will get, particularly on the far right, is the time for speaking in debates, the chairmanship of certain committees, which means that they're going to have much more of a platform on which they can sell their message to voters."


    http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/25/world/europe/eu-elections/

    ReplyDelete
  6. "It’s a confrontation of two civilizations, a fight for the European future of Ukraine and democratic European values as a whole."

    It’s also a fight the United States and the American president should be leading


    The US instigated the coup in Kiev. It spent $5 billion USD to destabilize the elected, pro-Russian government of Ukraine.
    The US is already in the fight, up to its eyeballs. It has garnered at least half of the territory of the Ukraine and installed a new government in Kiev. So far, the US policy has produced more success than not.

    Again, from CNN ...

    Voters across Europe have been casting ballots for days in the parliamentary vote. There are 751 seats from 28 countries up for grabs.

    With most of the ballots counted, provisional results indicate that left-center and right-center parties will still hold a majority of seats in the European Parliament, which plays a key role in shaping European laws and will weigh in on who the European Commission's next President should be.


    ReplyDelete
  7. As the late, great Molly Ivins once said of one of Buchanan's screeds:

    "It probably sounded better in the original German."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of my favorites from Buchanan: “Israel, recipient of $100 billion in U.S. aid, is demanding another $15 billion to hold our coat as we fight her war against Iraq.”

      Delete
  8. U.S. Secessionist Sentiment is on the Rise – Will your State Revolt?

    2010, Alan Hall, Article, Excerpt, Politics, Research, The Socionomist
    By Alan Hall | Excerpted from the February 2010 Socionomist

    Originally published under the title “A Survey of U.S. Secessionism: Negative Social Mood Will Vent – But Where?”

    [Ed: What prompts citizens to revolt against their own government? With his introduction of the first-ever “Index of U.S. secessionism,” socionomist Alan Hall relays a fascinating discovery: Major social mood declines trigger anger that is expressed in social division, disillusionment with government, civil unrest, and at large enough degrees, war.

    [The question, Hall shows, is not, “Will the anger vent?”, but, “Where?”

    ReplyDelete
  9. From 14 November, 2012 ...

    Petitions signed by hundreds of thousands of Americans seeking permission for their states to peacefully secede from the union have now been filed for all 50 states on the White House website.

    The secession petition push began last week on the site's We The People section after a Slidell, La., man filed a petition on Nov. 7 to allow Louisiana to secede. Residents from other states followed suit.

    As of Wednesday afternoon, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas—all states that voted for former Gov. Mitt Romney—as well as Florida each had accumulated more than 25,000 signatures, the threshold needed to trigger an official response from the Obama administration. Collectively, the secession petitions now have more than 700,000 digital signatures.

    Texas is in the lead with more than 99,000, but Gov. Rick Perry said on Tuesday that he does not support secession.

    "Gov. Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it," a statement from the governor's office read. "But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government."

    Meanwhile, residents of Austin, Texas' stubbornly liberal stronghold, have petitioned the White House to allow the city to "withdraw from the state of Texas [and] remain part of the United States."


    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-lookout/secession-petitions-now-filed-50-states-183500440.html

    ReplyDelete
  10. As for the desirability of the U.S. being "involved," I call bullshit.

    Let General Dynamics, and Grumman go find "real work," for a change. If the Europeans want to let Putin drag them back into the dark ages, that's their business. Our involvement is expensive, and foolhardy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. General Dynamics has their man in the White House, bought and paid for.

      But if you mention it, speak the players names, the charges of antisemitism and racism follow, as if on cue.

      Delete
    2. It's true; Obama is certainly Not a big enemy of the Military/Industrial/Banking/Intelligence Complex (otherwise known as the "War Machine.") And, he's nothing compared to Hillary.

      Delete
    3. My God, the man was sponsored by Brzezinski, and financed by Lester Crown.

      Delete
    4. Lester Crown personifies General Dynamics and Brzezinski ...

      Delete
  11. Another scribe noted that "When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the Flag, and waving a Bible."

    ReplyDelete
  12. Think about "This" phrase, for a minute:

    “Civilization” to describe “the terminal phase of a cultural organism,”

    "civilization" = death of culture

    The man is certifiably Mad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ... as the Tea Party has pulled the GOP to the right, ...

      To electoral defeat after electoral defeat ...
      Multiple instances where by embracing the "Bagger" creed, the GOP was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.




      Delete
  13. Russia - Twice the land area of the U.S.

    Economy = California (1/13 that of the United States)

    Per Capita GDP about 1/2 that of Mississippi

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Warlords . . . . . er, "Royal Families," and the Bankers/Industrialist, Religious Leaders, have been tricking the poor fucking European people into fighting over "national boundaries" for 3,000 years.

    Now that the poor, stupid serfs are resisting the bloodshed the old powers are in a tizzy. But, but, "what about your country?" they wail. What about your "Culture?" "What about your "Religion?" Don't you want to go kill some gays, and Jews?

    It'll probably work, too. It's hard to discount a strategy that's worked for Three Millennia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Now that the poor, stupid serfs are resisting the bloodshed the old powers are in a tizzy. But, but, "what about your country?" they wail. What about your "Culture?" "What about your "Religion?" Don't you want to go kill some gays, and Jews?

      I think it's the opposite, a ground up rather than an elitist top down movement.

      The last sentence in the post summarizes it nicely,

      Like materialism, consumerism and socialism, transnationalism suffers from the same fatal flaw. It feeds the body and starves the soul. And eventually bored people hear the old calls again.

      .

      Delete
    2. The "ground up" movement has to have that elitist financing. ex. Tea Party - Koch Brothers.

      But This:

      "And eventually bored people hear the old calls again."

      I think, is Very important.

      It's been my personal philosophy, for awhile now, that humans can stand almost any hardship, except Boredom.

      Delete
  15. Two of you morons are back to talking about Lester Crown.

    What hilarity........

    hahahaha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is funny that Bob continues to denounce Obama, while embracing the money men behind him.

      Delete
  16. Go back to drinking, Rufus, and you, rat, go back to printing ads.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  17. ho,ho,ho,ho, Lester Crown runs the world....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is funny that Bob continues to denounce Obama, while defending the money men behind him.

      Delete
  18. This place has got to be the dumbest damn blog on Planet Earth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only because of your presence.

      Delete
  19. That fucking Lester Crown runs my life, and I didn't even know it.

    Damn, what a fool I am.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You said it.

      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  20. I am rolling in laughter here, damn what a world class stupid shit place this is !!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here you are, making your statement true


      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  21. That god-damned Lester the Molester.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. It is funny that Bob continues to denounce Obama, while embracing the money men behind him.

      Delete
  22. Replies
    1. What is that, a kite?


      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  23. If you would QUIT DRINKING RUFUS, and go out and help someone....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well said !!!

      Even spelled right, this time.

      bwabwabwahahahahaha

      Delete


    2. Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  24. Rufus, you haven't even been down to Doyle's in months....

    ReplyDelete
  25. The philosopher from Mississippi says:

    Blow Me

    hahahaha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He has to keep it simple, for Bob to understand.


      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  26. That fucking Lester Crown.....DAMN

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. It is funny that Bob continues to denounce Obama, while embracing the money men behind him.

      Delete
    2. Bob is the example that proves the rule ...

      You can't fix stupid.

      Delete
  27. Rufus, it's time for you to kick back, get out of the house, and go mingle with some high society down at Doyle's........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please don't use my name you stupid fuck.

      Delete
    2. :)

      OK, I will just call you the blog's #2 Dumb Shit from now on.

      I thank you for all the laughter you have provoked in me over the years !!

      Delete
  28. Bob, I was checking out some health care blogs and they made mention of you ...

    Cold, Hard Fact: No One Cares If You Die

    - See more at:

    ReplyDelete
  29. And at another, Bob, they mention you again

    How to Cope when No One Cares About You


    Nothing sadder than a withered heart

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm going to wither away to Europe in a couple of months to see my adopted Niece in Germany. I am elated about this. She is quite something.

      Delete
    2. It is funny that Bob continues to embrace his fictions.

      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
    3. A few people are worth something.

      Most are not.

      Delete
  30. The continued incongruity that Bob displays is telling.

    He continues to disparage Mr Obama, who is a 'black' man ...
    While defending the Presidents primary financial backers and supporters, who are 'Jewish'.

    Proving, once again that it is not the policies he objects to, but the skin color of the man occupying the White House.

    Bob is a bigot, a racist, which amply illustrated by his own statements...

    Nothing sadder than a withered heart

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vote for Ben Carson for President.

      Support Mia Love.

      Delete
    2. Support Alan West.

      He's a good guy.

      Delete
  31. Alan? Allen?

    Anyway, he's a good guy.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I'm an odd man. I have a Hindu niece, support Ben Carson for President, give money to Mia Love, and am a racist.

    ??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you are.
      You subject the people here to diatribes of hate and vulgar name calling. Just yesterday calling rufus a "Breed".
      Advocating that 'black' babies be aborted on demand.
      Slurring the Indians at the casino you frequent.

      Your 'niece is a fiction, you wear an Obama button so your statements of political support are nefariously fake.

      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  33. Let's face it, Rufus.

    Ben Carson is twenty times smarter than you.

    He, actually, has done stuff.

    You drink Budweiser, and show your ignorance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All you do is piss and moan, and drink beer.

      Delete
    2. Ad hominem arguments are Bob's preferred tool.
      As it is used by people who have run out of real arguments
      (or were 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.)


      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  34. .

    Go back over the last forty or so posts and you see why Deuce shut this place down.

    Two children wasting endless space shouting "I know you are but what am I."

    Idiots.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's ridiculous, Quirk. You are granting the racist hick Equivalence, where none is remotely deserved.

      And, this thread is a perfect example. Read the comments up to the point that Bob chimed in, and the comments, thereafter. A pretty decent thread, destroyed.

      Delete
    2. .

      Don't be stupid. Any equivalency granted to Bob was granted to Bob by the rat. Look at the last 40 comments, two prepubescent old men standing in the school yard tossing juvenile insults at each other.

      .

      Delete
    3. "prepubescent old men" heh heh, now there is a concept!

      Delete
  35. If you know, then there you are.

    But if you are confused, we aim to edify.
    There is a pattern
    One comments, the other replies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cleaning up the trash, don't blame the janitor for the mess.

      Delete
    2. Cleaning up the trash by adding more trash - interesting concept.

      Delete
    3. If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
      Winston Churchill

      Delete
    4. And your IMPORTANT POINT is that Bob is a b00b??? You might want to give your priorities a little re-think.

      Delete
  36. Deuce,

    I am glad to see you are back, up, and running. Given all the really great potential commentary developing daily, I thought you might give it another try.

    Sadly, today's big question addresses Lester Crown's withered heart (I think)...the voices of two asses braying in the wilderness...

    The failed F-35B would have been my choice...seems it cannot land vertically without destroying the runway...not a problem for kamikaze missions, but...


    Good luck.

    PS: A VA police officer in CA, as I recall, is reporting at length on a large scale, years' long, ad hoc veteran run drug market on VA property. I recall something about that being reported here some years ago. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The reference to Lester Crown was based upon his proprietary interest in of both General Dynamics and Barack Obama.

      Delete
  37. The reference to Rufus as a 'breed' was intended as a joke.......I am tired of him calling me a 'racist'.......

    If you wish to look to racial politics in the USA these days......look to ......Attorney General Holder

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No one laughed, it was not funny. It was a racist remark
      He has asked you not to reference his name.
      Yet you continue to disregard his request.

      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
    2. To have You refer to me as a "breed" is, most assuredly, not taken as a "joke."

      Delete
  38. The blacks should be demanding reparations from the Cherokee for slavery.

    My Swedish ancestors never had slaves.

    We worked alone.

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wrong, again

      Vikings were active in the slave trade.

      Many Vikings got rich off human trafficking. They would capture and enslave women and young men while pillaging Anglo-Saxon, Celtic and Slavic settlements. These “thralls,” as they were known, were then sold in giant slave markets across Europe and the Middle East.
      http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-vikings

      A thrall (Old Norse: þræll)[1] was a slave[2] or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age beginning in c. 793. Norsemen and Vikings raided across Europe. They often captured and enslaved militarily weaker peoples they encountered, but took the most slaves in raids of the British Isles and Slavs in Eastern Europe. The thralls were mostly from Western Europe, among them many Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and Celts. Many Irish slaves were used in expeditions for the colonization of Iceland.[3] The Norse also took German, Baltic, Slavic and Latin slaves.

      The Vikings kept some slaves as servants and sold most captives in the Byzantine or Islamic markets.
      The slave trade was one of the pillars of Norse economy during the 6th through 11th centuries.
      The Persian traveler Ibn Rustah described how Swedish Vikings, the Varangians or Rus, terrorized and enslaved the Slavs taken in their raids along the Volga River. (see Volga trade route.)

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrall

      Like most medieval peoples, the Vikings had a rigidly stratified caste system. At the bottom of the social order existed those who were unfree: these were termed þræll or "thrall", which means literally, "an unfree servant." Slavery or ánauð is a term encountered occasionally, especially in reference to persons enslaved as a consequence of warfare or raids. Hereditary thralls were often known as fostre, or "fosterling," and probably had a more beneficent relationship with their owners. All thralls could be termed "bond-servants" (an anchronistic term when referring to the Viking Age, which arose from the much later custom of indentured service) due to the fact that it was possible for the thrall to purchase his/her freedom or redeem his bond by paying his owner his purchase price or current worth.
      http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/thralls.shtml

      You can't fix stupid.

      Delete
    2. My Swedish ancestors never had slaves.

      They were one step up from serfdom.

      Thank you very much.

      Delete
  39. Also, be it noted, Rufus made a truly disgusting sexual reference to my Niece.

    I am angry with Rufus right now.

    I may get over it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  40. Ru-us, how's that?

    ;)

    Like g-d.

    May I continue to call him a nitwit?

    An old drunken fool?

    A one topic mind?

    May I object when he solicits sex?

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. “All our silences in the face of racist assault are acts of complicity.”

      ― Bell Hooks

      Delete
  41. I find this interesting but nobody else would -

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Pope Francis and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded words on Monday over the language spoken by Jesus two millennia ago.

    Related Stories

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    "Jesus was here, in this land. He spoke Hebrew," Netanyahu told Francis, at a public meeting in Jerusalem in which the Israeli leader cited a strong connection between Judaism and Christianity.

    "Aramaic," the pope interjected.

    "He spoke Aramaic, but he knew Hebrew," Netanyahu shot back.

    Like many things in the Middle East, where the pope is on the last leg of a three-day visit, modern-day discourse about Jesus is complicated and often political. [ID:nL6N0OC0X6]

    A Jew, Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the Roman-ruled region of Judea, now the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He grew up in Nazareth and ministered in Galilee, both in northern Israel, and died in Jerusalem, a city revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims, and to which Israelis and Palestinians lay claim.

    Palestinians sometimes describe Jesus as a Palestinian. Israelis object to that.

    Israeli linguistics professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann told Reuters that both Netanyahu, son of a distinguished Jewish historian, and the pope, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, had a point.

    "Jesus was a native Aramaic speaker," he said about the largely defunct Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. "But he would have also known Hebrew because there were extant religious writings in Hebrew."

    Zuckermann said that during Jesus' time, Hebrew was spoken by the lower classes - "the kind of people he ministered to".

    (Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Additional reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by Louise Ireland)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jesus was not born in Bethlehem but he did speak Aramaic.

      Delete
  42. Christianity is the monomyth in Christian dress.

    For your information.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I mentioned this to my Niece, she understood immediately.

      Delete
  43. She's Hindu.

    They know this stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  44. As for Obama, and Putin (the subject of the post, if you'll remember:) Is everyone just ignoring the fact that Obama's Eastern Ukraine strategy of "Sanctions" has worked, and that Putin is withdrawing his forces from the border?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nonsense.

      Putin scared of some meaningless sanctions?

      Nonsense.

      Delete
    2. I believe I alluded to that at Mon May 26, 07:30:00 AM EDT, rufus..

      The US instigated the coup in Kiev. It spent $5 billion USD to destabilize the elected, pro-Russian government of Ukraine.
      The US is already in the fight, up to its eyeballs. It has garnered at least half of the territory of the Ukraine and installed a new government in Kiev. So far, the US policy has produced more success than not.

      Delete
    3. We are discussing the totality of US policy with regards the Ukraine and Russia, not dissecting the parts, Bob.

      Now if you wish to dispute the outcome of the election, dispute who now is in control of the Ukraine, have at it.
      But the motives that established the outcome, that is well beyond your capacity to fathom, from the hinterlands of Idaho.

      Delete
    4. Maybe after you inspect Putin's fingernails, you could voice a qualified opinion, but until you have done the inspection, you don't know.a thing about what motivates Mr Putin.

      Delete
    5. Nonsense.

      You are hallucinating again.

      Total bullshit.

      Delete
    6. Where in hell do you come up with crap?

      Delete
    7. That's one of the shortcomings of "doing commerce with the world."

      You have to "do commerce with the world." :)

      Delete
  45. She's a breed.

    Half aryan half dravidian.

    Absolutely beautiful woman in all ways.

    When I think of her I always smile inside.

    She knows five languages, and is learning German.

    She has one of those minds that keeps on packing things in and never forgets.

    She doesn't care much about politics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As her adopted Uncle, she has given me a veto on any marriage partner in the future, which has something to do with their traditions.

      ;)

      This is a duty I will take seriously.

      If he has even any dirt under his toenails......

      Delete
  46. She is very formal in her speech, and very thoughtful, but with me, every once in a while she erupts with an American expletive !!

    ;)

    She is a delight of my elder years.

    ReplyDelete
  47. "You can hide sadness, but you can't hide joy."

    ;)

    ReplyDelete
  48. I would suggest, Bob, that you go read the thread entitled

    Europe has lost the global scramble for reliable energy supplies and faces a long-term queeze as Siberian gas is diverted to the fast-growing markets of Asia, Russia's gas chief has warned in scathing comments aimed at EU political leaders.
    http://2164th.blogspot.com/2014/05/europe-has-lost-global-scramble-for.html

    Then read the story linked within the comments ...
    A supply-side nightmare scenario - BY Daniel Alpert, then after digesting all of the data sets provided, you come back and try to engage in the discussion, from a fact based perspective.

    I doubt you will do it .... because ...

    You can't fix stupid

    ReplyDelete
  49. I would suggest, Jack, that you go to a shrink.

    It is, almost ever, not too late.

    You won't do it, of course.

    Therefore. like the women, it is best to avoid you, dead beat daddy as you are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ad hominem arguments are Bob's preferred tool. As it is used by people who have run out of real arguments
      (or were 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.)


      Nothing sadder than a withered heart

      Delete
  50. You have a duty to pay for your children.

    I know this is a foreign concept to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not at all.
      When I was able to recover the child, I did

      When you did not defend your daughter, when you let the rapist have his way with her... didn't you feel like a failure?
      Because you were.

      Delete
    2. Bullshit. We all know you lie.

      That is not what you said before.

      Delete
  51. Your child lives with you now?

    That's news.

    When did this occur?

    You are the blogs Liar in Chief.

    It is, indeed, very sad.

    ReplyDelete
  52. You are the internet's biggest liar.

    ReplyDelete
  53. You even beat Rufus with his "saving of uncountable lives" by selling insurance.

    ReplyDelete

  54. The American public contains a large number of misinformed people who think they know everything. These people have been programmed by US and Israeli propaganda to equate Islam with political ideology. They believe that Islam, a religion, is instead a militarist doctrine that calls for the overthrow of Western civilization, as if anything remains of Western civilization.

    Many believe this propaganda even in the face of complete proof that the Sunnis and Shi’ites hate one another far more than they hate their Western oppressors and occupiers. The US has departed Iraq, but the carnage today is as high or higher than during the US invasion and occupation. The daily death tolls from the Sunni/Shi’ite conflict are extraordinary. A religion this disunited poses no threat to anyone except Islamists themselves. Washington successfully used Islamist disunity to overthrow Gaddafi, and is currently using Islamist disunity in an effort to overthrow the government of Syria. Islamists cannot even unite to defend themselves against Western aggression. There is no prospect of Islamists uniting in order to overthrow the West.

    Even if Islam could do so, it would be pointless for Islam to overthrow the West. The West has overthrown itself. In the US the Constitution has been murdered by the Bush and Obama regimes. Nothing remains. As the US is the Constitution, what was once the United States no longer exists. A different entity has taken its place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Western civilization is a skeleton. It still stands, barely, but there is no life in it. The blood of liberty has departed. Western peoples look at their governments and see nothing but enemies. Why else has Washington militarized local police forces, equipping them as if they were occupying armies? Why else has Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture, and even the Postal Service and Social Security Administration ordered billions of rounds of ammunition and even submachine guns? What is this taxpayer-paid-for arsenal for if not to suppress US citizens?

      As the prominent trends forecaster Gerald Celente spells out in the current Trends Journal, “uprisings span four corners of the globe.” Throughout Europe angry, desperate and outraged peoples march against EU financial policies that are driving the peoples into the ground. Despite all of Washington’s efforts with its well funded fifth columns known as NGOs to destabilize Russia and China, both the Russian and Chinese governments have far more support from their people than do the US and Europe.

      In the 20th century Russia and China learned what tyranny is, and they have rejected it.

      In the US tyranny has entered under the guise of the “war on terror,” a hoax used to scare the sheeple into abandoning their civil liberties, thus freeing Washington from accountability to law and permitting Washington to erect a militarist police state. Ever since WWII Washington has used its financial hegemony and the “Soviet threat,” now converted into the “Russian threat,” to absorb Europe into Washington’s empire.

      Putin is hoping that the interests of European countries will prevail over subservience to Washington. This is Putin’s current bet. This is the reason Putin remains unprovoked by Washington’s provocations in Ukraine.

      If Europe fails Russia, Putin and China will prepare for the war that Washington’s drive for hegemony makes inevitable.


      Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate.

      Delete
    2. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy

      For Less Than a Year.

      He was too crazy for even the Reagan Administration.

      Delete
  55. Yep, poor, and lower middle class Americans are getting healthcare,

    the government is no longer discriminating against a whole class of people because of their sexual orientation,
    the government is choosing negotiation, and sanctions over war,

    and a few of the states are even dialing back the war against young people that prefer pot to alcohol.

    The United States is definitely gone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the opinion of both extremes, rufus.

      Alex Jones and his minions, tell US that the tyrants in DC are running roughshod over the Welfare Ranchers of Nevada, but don't arrest any of the folks that threatened Federal agents with assault rifles ....

      While the Occupy Movement bemoans that none of the banksters have been prosecuted, either.

      Though it is true that per capita the US has more people in prison than any other nation on earth.

      From each flank the country is said to be a step from dissolution.

      But from the center, John "Boner" Boehner and Barack Obama are making progress towards the next election.
      The Bush's and Clinton's are well positioned for further extend their family business of Federal executive leadership, as the US "Stays the Course", little matter who wins in 2016.

      What we wish, we readily believe, and what we ourselves think, we imagine others think also. - Julius Caesar


      Delete
    2. ... positioned for further extend ... for = TO
      sorry ;-(

      Delete


  56. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/26/russia-new-ukrainian-president/9588549/

    ReplyDelete