COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, October 04, 2014

Armed members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attacked on Thursday the government military command headquarters in Al-Anbar, the largest city in Al-Ramadi governorates west of Baghdad, according to security sources.

Kuwaiti News Agency

BAGHDAD, Oct 2 (KUNA) -- 

The attackers targeted the building with rockets and mortar shells, the sources said, adding that the attack coincided with fierce fighting south of Tikrit, the number-one city in Salah-Eddine, north of the capital.
The attack on the military command headquarters is ongoing, the sources told KUNA.
The town of Heet, west of Al-Ramadi, was also attacked by the ISIL militants, the sources said, adding that the gunmen set off three bombs and launched attacks with lights arms, killing three security men and wounding 10 others.
The sources also reported fighting between the militants and government forces in Al-Mu'tasem south of Tikrit. They said four government troops were killed and 15 others were wounded in the fighting. (end) ahh.rk







Horrific execution in the streets of Haditha


102 comments:

  1. 'Whether it's a conspiracry or a cockup, it's usually a cockup.'

    11:00 minute mark in last video

    heh

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aha! I knew it!

    That smart ass Gould was wrong.

    There are Quirks all over the universe.

    ' His experiment, which other scientists say is unprecedented in scale, seeks to gain insight into a question that has long bedeviled biologists: If we could start the world over again, would life evolve the same way?
    PrintOriginal story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent division of SimonsFoundation.org whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and the physical and life sciences.

    Many biologists argue that it would not, that chance mutations early in the evolutionary journey of a species will profoundly influence its fate. “If you replay the tape of life, you might have one initial mutation that takes you in a totally different direction,” Desai said, paraphrasing an idea first put forth by the biologist Stephen Jay Gould in the 1980s.

    Desai’s yeast cells call this belief into question. According to results published
    in Science in June, all of Desai’s yeast varieties arrived at roughly the same evolutionary endpoint (as measured by their ability to grow under specific lab conditions) regardless of which precise genetic path each strain took. It’s as if 100 New York City taxis agreed to take separate highways in a race to the Pacific Ocean, and 50 hours later they all converged at the Santa Monica pier.'


    If the World Started Over, Would Life Evolve the Same Way?

    By Emily Singer, Quanta Magazine
    10.03.14

    http://www.wired.com/2014/10/evolution-paths-fitness/

    This comports with the perennial philosophy and the monomyth.

    I KNEW Gould had to be wrong!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All this reminds me of Teilhard de Chardin, and his Omega Point.

      And Roethke's 'life is a drive towards God'.

      Delete
  3. Why Obama Refuses to support anti-Islamist, Secular Moslems
    Manda Zand Ervin

    President Obama did not support the secular uprising in Iran but chose to stand by the Islamist clerics. More

    'President Obama did not support the secular uprising in Iran but chose to stand by the Islamist clerics and their international terrorist Revolutionary Guards who are creating havoc across the Middle East, Africa, South America, and even here in the United States. Hizb’allah is the brainchild of Khomeini. Hamas is another gang of Islamists that Khamenei supports, leaving the people of Iran hungry. The Revolutionary Guards are operating in Africa, in every city in Europe, and in South America making deals with the drug cartels.'

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/10/why_obama_refuses_to_support_antiislamist_secular_moslems.html

    Strange, is it not?

    He pulled the troops out of what was set up to be a moderate democratic Iraq.........

    And Israel he refuses to support........

    God will I be glad when he is gone from the White House.




    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, not strange at all.

      The United States has been in the drug business, since ...
      FDR's grandfather ran the Russell Trading Company, dealing opium to China.
      Supporting him and the British in the Opium Wars, which began in 1839.

      The Bush administration had cut a deal with the Sinaola Cartel, well before Mr Obama became President.
      CONFIRMED: The DEA Struck A Deal With Mexico's Most Notorious Drug Cartel

      An investigation by El Universal found that between the years 2000 and 2012, the U.S. government had an arrangement with Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed the organization to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs while Sinaloa provided information on rival cartels.

      Sinaloa, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, supplies 80% of the drugs entering the Chicago area and has a presence in cities across the U.S.

      There have long been allegations that Guzman, considered to be "the world’s most powerful drug trafficker," coordinates with American authorities.

      But the El Universal investigation is the first to publish court documents that include corroborating testimony from a DEA agent and a Justice Department official.

      The written statements were made to the U.S. District Court in Chicago in relation to the arrest of Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the son of Sinaloa leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and allegedly the Sinaloa cartel’s "logistics coordinator."


      Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-and-the-sinaloa-cartel-2014-1#ixzz3FBsZUBEY



      Nothing new to see.

      The more things change, the more they stay the same."
      - Anonymous

      Delete
    2. If Mr Obama really had refused to support Israel, they would not be getting $8.5 million each and every day from US

      Your lies, Robert Peterson are just that. Lies.

      Delete

  4. American Thinker
    October 4, 2014
    Muslims who Saved the Lives of Jews
    By Michael Curtis

    The horrors committed by evil people during the Holocaust are well known and documented. Less well known are the merciful deeds performed by good people during the years of World War II. Among the least known of these decent individual are the Muslims in Albania who saved Jews. The screening in October 2014 of a film BESA: The Promise, directed by Rachel Goslins, with music by Philip Glass, is a welcome reminder of this minor but significant segment of Albanian history, in which a small number of Muslims protected Jews from Nazi Germany.

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/10/muslims_who_saved_the_lives_of_jews.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. And, finally -

    Obama: Born-Again Idiot
    October 2, 2014 by Daniel Greenfield 182 Comments

    Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.

    The quintessential question of Watergate was “what did the President know and when did he know it?” Obamagate, the vast scandal that encompasses an entire presidency, offers a preemptive answer.

    Obama didn’t know anything and he never knew it. At least not until, like smuggling weapons to druglords, bugging journalists, IRSing his political enemies and killing vets, his right hand found out about what his left hand was doing from the morning paper.....

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/obama-born-again-idiot/

    ReplyDelete
  6. American Pilots report no casualties for the week.

    Iraqi Campaign shaping up to be a "cakewalk."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Does ISIS have any anti-aircraft weaponry?

      Sounds like a turkey shoot, if you can just find the turkeys.

      Delete
    2. They can take down Iraqi helicopters.

      They can't take down "High Fliers" (American ones, at least.)

      Can they take down "American" helicopters (Apaches?)

      A-10's?

      We're going to find out as regards the A-10's, I guess. (the answer is: "probably" not.)

      Delete
  7. That Ebola patient, down in Dallas, has been in the U.S. about two weeks, right?

    What if 500 Americans had died of Ebola in that two weeks, simply because the Federal Government Refused to act?

    Well, 500 Americans Have Died in those Two Weeks as a Direct Result of those Republican Governors (such as Texas' Rick Perry) Refusing the Free Federal Money to Expand Medicaid.

    Death Toll per State

    ReplyDelete
  8. Vandals and Vandolls.......

    Don't forget, Vandies up against Texas State at 4pm Pacific this afternoon !!!

    rah!

    ReplyDelete
  9. ISIS kills an American, and the U.S. goes to War.

    The Republicans kill 1,000 Americans / Month, and we give them the Senate.

    Makes sense, right?

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Bernanke needs a loan, can't refinance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. October 4, 2014
      Even the former Fed Chair can't refinance his mortgage
      By Ethel C. Fenig

      While President Barack Obama (D) was in the Chicago area on Thursday bragging to abstract academics and Democrat 1% Chicago Way pay to play beneficiaries about the economic wonders and improvements of his administration, a few miles away former Federal Reserve chairman Ben S Bernanke had another take.

      While able to command at least $250,000 per speech--more than he made in a year working for the federal government, he still can't refinance his mortgage.

      The former Federal Reserve chairman, speaking at a conference in Chicago yesterday, told moderator Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics Inc. -- “just between the two of us” -- that “I recently tried to refinance my mortgage and I was unsuccessful in doing so.”

      When the audience laughed, Bernanke said, “I’m not making that up.”

      “I think it’s entirely possible” that lenders “may have gone a little bit too far on mortgage credit conditions,” he said.

      (snip)

      “The housing area is one area where regulation has not yet got it right,” Bernanke said. “I think the tightness of mortgage credit, lending is still probably excessive.”

      Well, if anyone should know, Bernanke should.

      http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/10/even_the_former_fed_chair_cant_refinance_his_mortgage_.html#ixzz3FAzKTDPv

      Personally, I don't believe it.

      Delete
    2. He must have one hell of a mortgage.

      Delete
  11. Pope Francis: ‘I believe in guardian angels...and everyone should listen to their advice’

    The Pope told Catholics that pride stops them recognizing their companions

    LIZZIE DEARDEN Friday 03 October 2014

    Pope Francis has said he believes in angels, telling Catholics around the world to reaffirm their belief in holy guardians.

    Speaking to followers at the Vatican on Wednesday, the pontiff said every person has a guardian angel advising them in life.

    Stressing they were not imaginary, he said it was only pride stopping people hearing their voices.

    “Do not rebel: follow his advice,” the Pope said according to the Catholic News Agency.

    “No one walks alone and none of us can think that he is alone.”

    Pope Francis made the comments on the Feast of Holy Guardian Angels, observed by Catholics around the world on 2 October.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "There is more in heaven and earth than is dreamed of......."

      I wish the Idaho Vandals had a guardian angel or twenty.

      Delete
    2. About those millions of African babies that die of starvation every year: Aren't they listening to "their" guardian angels?











      Delete
    3. God may look like a mean prick but he loves us in his own way. Look at how much the god of the Jews loves them. Imagine if the CEO of General Motors built 12,000,000 cars and 6 million of them ended up getting the driver killed. We would adore him, right?

      Delete
    4. Everyone run out and buy a new Buick.

      Delete
  12. There really is not much hope for human beings. The only chance is that the species, will survive long enough to end the insanity of religion. Benign belief in religion and god is arguably worse as it is always a setup for abuse. A benign belief sets up the infrastructure for the spiritual ebolla varieties. They travel the same pipelines.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Woe is us.

      You sound like Jenny with her:

      "We are all doomed, and we all deserve to be doomed."

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

      'What the grave says the nest denies'

      Delete
    2. Didn't "Bob" call her a "Cunt" and that ran her off?

      His typical disrespect of women, shining through.

      Delete
    3. Or was it Melody, or perhaps both of them ...

      He's done it so often, I foreget the particulars.

      Delete
  13. Religion and god, the bush meat for the mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have spiritual ebola.

      ;)

      Delete
    2. That shit makes me so mad I want to break out cussing.

      It's a million times more destructive than any other force to spring from the mind of man.

      Delete
  14. Prediction for today:

    Texas State 40
    Idaho 17

    ReplyDelete
  15. Why The Bernanke can't refinance his loan -

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/03/upshot/why-ben-bernanke-cant-refinance-his-mortgage.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0

    Poor guy, he changed jobs, and the computer said 'no', or some shit.

    ReplyDelete
  16. There is a classic skit on that. Ill find it

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anybody but me doubt that 5.9% unemployment report right before the election?

    Haven't we seen this movie before?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, not really. Which one of

      These Figures

      would you dispute, brainiac?

      Delete
  18. I posted the skit above but will likely keep this post up god willing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I got a big chuckle.

      I am certain God will be willing if you are. You run this blog, God doesn't.
      ;)

      Delete
  19. All life on earth, flora, as well as fauna, originated with One single-celled organism. One.

    In 4 Billion Yrs., life took hold, here, Once.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'with One single-celled organism....'

      And how do you know that, Professor Rufus?

      I have read articles that suggest life on earth may have originated in several different areas of earth.... sea or land areas.

      Science is always evolving.

      'In 4 Billion Yrs., life took hold, here, Once.'

      So?

      What's your point?

      No, please, don't answer that. I am working on the morning crossword puzzle and couldn't handle it.

      Delete
    2. Once seems to have been enough in any case.

      Delete
    3. RNA, dumbass.
      .......................

      Professor Rufus, DNA, so what?

      Professor, I fear you are not up to the latest discussions in your discipline.

      Delete
  20. The Alamo of the Kurds: Kobane Near Falling to ISIL

    By Juan Cole | Oct. 4, 2014 |

    Ismat Sheikh, commander of the Kurdish forces at the border town of Kobane (Ain al-Arab) that is besieged by ISIL tanks and artillery, says that he expects massacres of its inhabitants if it falls to the Sunni Arab extremists.

    He warned that ISIL fighters are less than a mile from his front line.

    Despite US air strikes, ISIL has drawn up some 25 tanks and a number of artillery pieces to pound Kobane repeatedly.
    There was also heavy close-quarter fighting in the east and the south of the town between Kurdish guerrillas and ISIL units on Friday.
    Last week over 60,000 Kurds were forced to flee to Turkey as ISIL advanced into the Kurdish region of Syria.

    Most Syrians speak Arabic, but the Kurdish minority speaks a language akin to Persian.

    The Kurds at Kobane have called upon armed Kurds everywhere to come defend the town, warning of a massacre.

    Although Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pledged not to allow Kobane to fall, he later backtracked, saying that Turkey has few options for intervening directly in Syria.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I am sure the noble Turks will help


    Turkey tanks idle as IS attacks Kobane
    3 October 2014 Last updated at 23:43 BST

    Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to protect the border town Kobane from IS occupation after Turkey authorized military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria.

    But despite Thursday’s parliamentary decision, Turkey seems wary of getting involved.

    There are no signs of any imminent Turkish move to stop the town falling.

    It seems likely the government will once again press members of the US-led coalition to create a no-fly zone before sending troops anywhere across the border.

    The BBC's Paul Adams reports that Kobane is still under attack while a squadron of Turkish tanks sits idle a few hundred metres away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      In Kurdish towns across southeast Turkey there are reports of increasing clashes between Kurdish youngsters and police. The young men and women are furious they have been blocked from crossing the border to assist in the defense of Kobani. And they accuse the Turkish government of helping ISIS, meanwhile, by failing to block jihadist fighters from entering Syria through Turkish territory. They see collusion and deception and they say Ankara is determined to subjugate them.

      Just across the border from Kobani in the town of Suruc the Turkish police are alert. Unlike their military counterparts they are ready for trouble. The town that has received, according to the local governor, about 180,000 refugees. Crowd control is needed—the numbers are daunting—and refugee families are sleeping where they can, from tents to municipal buildings and empty shops. But the police presence seems more about intimidation.


      http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/03/impotent-u-s-airstrikes-passive-turks-and-an-isis-triumph.html


      The Kurds used the vacuum created by the civil war to establish an autonomous government in the Kobani canton. That is not something Erdogan wants right across the border from him.

      What's confusing is his demand for a no-fly zone in Syria. What's the point? The only one who has an air force there (other than the allies now) is Assad and it seems he is unlikely to be sending any planes there soon. Just an excuse? or am I missing something.

      .

      Delete
  22. ISTANBUL -- In the midst of intense shelling from the Islamic State group on Friday in Kobane, Syria, Kurdish fighters slipped through the border into Turkey to reorganize. They have been fighting the Sunni militant group for more than a week with a limited supply of weapons and ammunition. The Turkish government voted Thursday to authorize its army to enter Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS, but so far, the tanks it deployed on the border have not moved into Syrian territory to help the Kurds.

    If the Turks fail to take action and protect the Kurds in Kobane, Kurdish leaders said this week, peace talks within Turkey could be at risk.

    “The siege of Kobane is far from being just an ordinary siege,” Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said in a message relayed to supporters from his cell. “It does not only target the democratic gains of the Kurdish people but would lead Turkey to a new era of coups.”

    The PKK are fighting against the ISIS insurgents in Kobane. The Turkish government, the U.S. and European Union have all designated the PKK as a terrorist organization. Kobane and a cluster of villages is one of the three enclaves governed by Syria’s Kurds. Syrian President Bashar Assad has left the fight for Kobane up to the Democratic Union Party and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units, which are both linked to the PKK.

    The parliamentary vote Thursday would allow for Turkish intervention in Syria and Iraq to fight ISIS. It also permits foreign fighters to use Turkish bases. President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan's Justice and Development Party voted for intervention, but the main opposition Republican People's Party and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party voted against the motion.

    Analysts in Istanbul said both the Turkish government and the Kurds in Syria are using the conflict in Kobane to rally supporters.

    “The Kurds in Syria are just trying to continue their propaganda and gain from the process itself,” Mehmet Yegin, a researcher at USAK Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told International Business Times. “They are so experienced on that. They are bringing people from Istanbul from different cities and kind of trying to solidify their sympathizers. But they are not able to stop ISIS militarily.”

    For almost a week, Kurdish fighters in Syria have been battling ISIS forces but have gained almost no ground. On Friday, activists in Kobane, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, said Kurdish fighters were “not winning.”

    “They are not in good shape,” Yegin said. “They are not an experienced warfare group. They are a mountain-based guerrilla group, they are not stable on the flat ground. So Syria is not a space that they can fight easily.”

    Kurdish fighters in Kobane told journalists Friday that they were losing the battle against ISIS and needed more support. Reporters on the border said that ISIS advanced toward the border Friday afternoon, inching closer to confronting Turkish security forces, which would essentially force Turkey to counterattack the militant group.

    Kurdish fighters on the ground near the Turkish border said Friday their men are flowing in and out of the Turkish border through illegal crossings to bring supplies into Syria to aid the fight. The Turkish border gives them a way out of the fight, they said.

    Despite the desperate situation in Kobane, Turkey has no legal basis to intervene in Syria.

    “If there is an attack there [in Turkey], then there will be a different reaction,” Yegin said. “I don’t see it happening in Kobane yet. They won’t confront ISIS. Not yet.”

    On Friday, the eve before Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday that celebrates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, ISIS distributed a video showing the beheading of another aid worker, Alan Henning from Britain.

    ReplyDelete
  23. ...On Friday, the eve before Eid al-Adha, the Muslim holiday that celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, ISIS distributed a video showing the beheading of another aid worker, Alan Henning from Britain.

    That crazy asshole Abraham would have gladly hacked off a head. He was just waiting for the word from god but I guess the Khat wore off in time for his son to get away. He should have grabbed the old son of a bitch and chocked the life out of him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The world would have been a better place, if he had killed old Abraham.

      Bu it was "preordained" that he would not.

      God gets his jollies, watching men die.
      Destroying human lives for entertainment, as a matter of course.

      Fucking over those that followed his Commands to the letter, like Lot, purely for the joy he obtained from gambling, with Satan.

      Delete
    2. The God of Abraham, knowing the outcome of the bet before it was made, still destroyed the life of Lot, murdering many of his family and his retainers, just for the entertainment value he derived from watching.

      Delete
    3. If you are a believer, then that is what you gotta believe ....

      :-(

      Delete
    4. The last four posts above are so idiotic in there content as to be beyond belief.

      Since Senor Rat Mierda has arrived, I shall retire until Game Time.

      (that is translated as Mr Rat Shit)

      Delete
    5. The idiocy is that anyone would believe such nonsense in this day and age. It is embarrassing. Look at the mess it has made of the ME. We are criticizing head hackers and celebrating a mentally deranged man that was going to stab his son to death on an altar because god told him to do it.

      Delete
    6. It's an etiological legend recording the ending of human sacrifice early on in that society according to Northrop Frye in "The Great Code: The Bible and Literature".

      If you wish to read it at the 8th Grade level that is your choice.

      You are more intelligent than that.



      Delete
    7. Start here -

      The Great Code: The Bible and Literature

      http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/318117.The_Great_Code

      Delete
    8. In my Lutheran confirmation class it was taught in the 'test of faith' way. There are surely a myriad of other ways, and I imagine the Jewish people read it all sorts of ways and argue like hell among themselves, as my lawyer once said.

      I like the Northrop Frye way, I will say that. He seems much more knowledgeable than, say, Rufus, as a Biblical scholar and reading guide.

      Northrop Frye is great on William Blake.

      Delete
  24. War on Ebola or War for Oil?
    by F. William Engdahl,

    One striking aspect of this new concern of the US President for the situation in Liberia and other west African states where alleged surges of Ebola are being claimed is the presence of oil, huge volumes of untapped oil.

    The offshore coast of Liberia and east African ‘Ebola zones’ conveniently map with the presence of vast untapped oil and gas resources shown here

    The issue of oil in west Africa, notably in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea have become increasingly strategic both to China who is roaming the world in search of future secure oil import sources, and the United States, whose oil geo-politics was summed up in a quip by then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970’s: ‘If you control the oil, you control entire nations.’

    The Obama Administration and Pentagon policy has continued that of George W. Bush who in 2008 created the US military Africa Command or AFRICOM, to battle the rapidly-growing Chinese economic presence in Africa’s potential oil-rich countries. West Africa is a rapidly-emerging oil treasure, barely tapped to date. A US Department of Energy study projected that African oil production would rise 91 percent between 2002 and 2025, much from the region of the present Ebola alarm.

    Chinese oil companies are all over Africa and increasingly active in west Africa, especially Angola, Sudan and Guinea, the later in the epicenter of Obama’s new War on Ebola troop deployment.

    If the US President were genuine about his concern to contain a public health emergency, he could look at the example of that US-declared pariah Caribbean nation, Cuba. Reuters reports that the Cuban government, a small financially distressed, economically sanctioned island nation of 11 million people, with a national budget of $50 billion, Gross Domestic Product of 121 billion and per capita GDP of just over $10,000, is dispatching 165 medical personnel to Africa to regions where there are Ebola outbreaks. Washington sends 3,000 combat troops. Something smells very rotten around the entire Ebola scare.

    F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”

    ReplyDelete
  25. Erdoğan also criticized the pro-Kurdish politicians for linking Turkey's efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue through talks with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan, saying those who try to end the process "will pay the price."

    "For us, the PKK and ISIL are the same. It is wrong to consider them as different from each other," he said, adding that it's crucial that the enemy is identified correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Go Juice for $1.97 / Gallon in Waterville, Ohio

    Ohio Prices

    ReplyDelete
  27. .

    Even if U.S. and allied forces succeed in routing this militant group, there is little reason to expect that the results for Syrians will be pretty — or that the prospects of regional harmony will improve. Suppress the symptoms, and the disease simply manifests itself in other ways. There is always another Islamic State waiting in the wings.

    Obama’s bet — the same bet made by each of his predecessors, going back to Carter — is that the skillful application of U.S. military might can somehow provide a way out of this dilemma. They were wrong, and so is he.

    We may be grateful that Obama has learned from his predecessor that invading and occupying countries in this region of the world just doesn’t work. The lesson he will bequeath to his successor is that drone strikes and commando raids don’t solve the problem, either.


    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/even-if-we-defeat-the-islamic-state-well-still-lose-the-bigger-war/2014/10/03/e8c0585e-4353-11e4-b47c-f5889e061e5f_story.html

    .

    ReplyDelete
  28. .

    The first US casualty of the Iraq/Syria war.

    MANAMA, Bahrain — The U.S. Navy on Friday identified the missing U.S. Marine who is presumed lost at sea after he bailed out of an MV-22 Osprey when it lost power after taking off from the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island.

    Cpl. Jordan L. Spears, 21, of Memphis, Ind.

    http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is no way in the wildest pacifist dream that the USS Makin Island is in any way, shape, or form involved in the most tangential manner imagined in the U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, or Syria.

      This would be grasping for straws in a field in which there are no straws.

      Delete
    2. And, if you think it is, please explain.

      Delete
    3. .

      The Navy said the plane was participating in flight operations to support the military’s mission in Iraq and Syria.

      .

      Delete
    4. .

      The Makin Island, along with its amphibious ready group that includes the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, left home on July 25. Last month the ship arrived in the Middle East, where it relieved the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group in the Persian Gulf and has been conducting operations in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State.

      http://www.stripes.com/navy-ids-marine-lost-in-persian-gulf-search-called-off-1.306291

      .

      Delete
    5. Read it carefully. It might be supporting, sporadically, in some way, someone that is supporting a carrier, or something.

      Quirk, if they're in the region the captain will be lobbying to get the "ribbon." And, there might be the subject of "combat pay" involved.

      Delete
    6. Your 05:38 comment: We keep an Amphibious Ready Group over there. Probably have since Sept 11, 2001. These folks didn't "arrive to support any air operations." They won't leave when the air operations are over. They are a Marine Expeditionary Unit.

      Delete
    7. Their job is to take beachheads.

      Delete
    8. Under $2.00/gallon in Ohio?

      Wow.

      We are $3.69 here.

      Delete
    9. They might be tasked with rescuing a downed pilot, at least in a certain area.

      Delete
    10. .

      Go piss up a rope Rufus. You are a flaming moron.

      Google 'first casualty in the war against ISIS'.

      NBC, the Telegraph, the National Journal, Stars and Stribes, etc reported it that way. I can give a shit what some hick from Mississippi has to say about it or why. All I printed was the name of a guy who was reported as the first US casualty. Instead of worrying about the poor guy, you worry about what to call him.

      You're pathetic.

      .

      Delete
    11. .

      Quirk, if they're in the region the captain will be lobbying to get the "ribbon." And, there might be the subject of "combat pay" involved.

      You are one pathetic SOB.

      .

      Delete
    12. Blow me, fuckhead. I don't give a flying fuck what some asshole at the Stars and Stripes wrote. I didn't read that sorry piece of shit rag when I was in the service, and I sure as fuck don't read it now.

      I telling you that a fucking amphibious assault ship doesn't have dick to do with what we're doing in Iraq, RIGHT NOW.

      If you don't like it, kiss my rusty red ass.

      Delete
    13. I don't see you worrying about all the people that die every day from a bunch of your party's asshole governors refusing Federal money for their healthcare.

      Don't give me shit about "worrying about dead Marines." What the fuck, exactly, WERE you doing when my friends were dying in Nam? Were you over there WORRYING with them?

      Delete
    14. .

      You candy ass little prick, I was probably sitting in a bar popping a few. I put my story up here before. I was 23, just divorced, had a good job and was spending most nights either in a bar or with the ladies.

      When I got drafted I spent the night before I was supposed to go partying down until I had to leave on the bus in the morning for Fort Wayne. I rode the bus with a load of 18 year old kids who were either scared shitless or as fucked up as I was. I expected to be in Ft. Knox the next day, IN The ARMY. As it turned out, when I got to Ft. Wayne since I hadn't had an army physical in five years, they gave me another one and I failed.

      They sent me down to have lunch while I waited for transport home. The two army guys there in the cafeteria told me I was pretty lucky. That night I had a few more drinks.

      Anyone who didn't know what an ill-advised FUBAR Vietnam was by '67-'68 had his head stuck firmly up his ass.

      The rat and Rufus show, two littlle pukes who when they run out of argument turn to waving the flag accusing everyone here who hasn't served, Bob, Ash, and now me of being 'draft dodgers'. You are pathetic.

      My party's asshole governors? I don't have a party. More of your lying bullshit. Just like your calling everyone here who complains about Obama's performance a racist.

      But thanks for your foxhole view of of the war. I'm sure everyone here appreciates it.

      .

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

      Delete
    16. I didn't click on your link. I've had quite enough 4-F fuckers, and draft dodgers "concern trolling" my ass.

      Do I feel bad for the young Marine that lost his life? Damned right, I do.

      Probably a hell of a lot more than you were for the 100 / week that We were losing.

      Delete
  29. Now here is something noteworthy, before switching over to The Real World of Vandal Football -

    October 4, 2014
    North Korea shock. Something big is happening
    By Thomas Lifson

    It is impossible to know exactly what is going on in North Korea, but something big has happened. The third generation Kim dynasty heir, Kim Jong-un, has been missing from public sight for a month, and may be ill, dead, or overthrown. There is much speculation, and contradictory reports are circulating, including the assertion that Pyongyang is sealed off, and no one is being permitted to enter or leave. But one fact is clear and it is dramatic. CNN reports:

    With Kim Jong Un out of sight for a month, a covey of North Korea's high officials popped down to South Korea for a last minute jaunt on Saturday, and delivered a diplomatic bonbon.

    The three officials told South Korea that Pyongyang is willing to hold a second round of high-level meetings between late October and early November, South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement Saturday.....................


    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/10/north_korea_shock_emsomethingem_big_is_happening.html

    ReplyDelete
  30. .

    War! What is it good for?

    Though it might be counter-intuitive, some say that looking at the big picture in the vast sweep of history, that war has actually been responsible for saving many more lives than it has taken.

    ...And yet an analyst must never give in to his or her emotions. He or she must view history with a heart of ice to find patterns that others miss. This is what Stanford classics professor Ian Morris does in his new book, War! What Is It Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots. Morris, both an archaeologist and a historian, surveys thousands of years of history and comes away with the seemingly startling thesis that human progress has been helped, rather than hindered, by war.

    As he writes, "by fighting wars, people have created larger, more organized societies that have reduced the risk that their members will die violently."


    An interesting thesis and maybe one worth debating. However, having read the article once, my first impression is that that thesis is wrong, in fact bullshit. I might be somewhat influenced by the fact that Robert Kaplan, a flaming neocon, is the author of the article; however, having read the article once I think the rebuttal is built into the article itself. I just don't have time right now to lay out the arguments involved. I think a big part of the argument involves population growth is the author's use of percentages. At a certain point, the question becomes "how many people can you kill", and when the number becomes "an unimaginable amount" his argument goes to hell anyway.

    However, I'll have to reread the article and come back to it. The dogs are politicking for the park.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never let the dogs out vote the King.

      However you probably need the exercise yourself.

      Go! Go!

      ;)

      Delete
  31. Shit, on the first series we are inside the Bobcat 30.

    The Vandals are marching!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 3rd and 2.............to the 14......First Down on the 14 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Delete
    2. Idaho kicks field goal.....


      Idaho 3
      Texas State 0


      whooooooopie!

      Delete
  32. Texas State is running the triple option.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Idaho recovers fumble on the at Bobcat 41!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. The "Salmon River Savage" makes great block, Idaho down to the 19!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. 3rd and 3 from the 19...............Time Out called....

    ReplyDelete
  36. Really stupid call to try and pass.......sacked.......field goal......NO GOOD

    We ALWAYS CAN FIGURE A WAY TO LOSE

    ReplyDelete
  37. Idaho intercepts !!!!!!

    The Idaho defense suited up this game.....(so far).........Linehan sacked.......2nd and 19..................3rd and 11..............sacked.......time to punt.........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Texas State touchdown on a 70 yard untouched run from the line of scrimmage.....

      Texas State 7
      Idaho 3

      So it begins........

      I will just report the scores now, Vandal Fans.

      :(

      Delete
  38. Idaho is on the 7 and gets intercepted........then, on the very next play, Texas State runs for 95 yards for a touchdown.

    Texas State 14

    Idaho 3

    Woe, woe, woe is Idaho......

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That run was the longest rush in Texas State football history.

      Time of possession on the Texas State scores?

      23 seconds........

      Delete
    2. We can't protect Linehan, our quarterback, when he tries to pass.......

      Delete
  39. Texas State 35
    Idaho 30

    about two minutes to go, TS has the ball

    been a good game

    ReplyDelete
  40. TS has three TD of over 70 yards on the rush

    ReplyDelete
  41. 1:17

    75 yards to go

    Idaho has no time outs left

    Hail Mary Time

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Incomplete, 2nd down........

      Intercepted by Texas State.

      That makes either 18 or 19 straight loses on the road, I've lost count.

      That's it, folks !

      Go Vandals

      Cheers !

      Delete
  42. Germany is poised for its first deployment of troops in Ukraine since the Nazi invasion of then Soviet territory in 1941 which led to millions of deaths.

    ReplyDelete
  43. For Deuce, Rufus, etal..............


    Religion
    October 3, 2014
    Should Religion Be Blamed for the World's Bloodiest Wars?
    By John Gray Photo: BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

    Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence
    by Karen Armstrong

    http://www.newrepublic.com/article/119698/religion-not-blame-all-bloodiest-wars

    While I have lots of beefs with Karen Armstrong this is a good article for those who blame 'religion' for everything.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "As one who speaks on religion, I constantly hear how cruel and aggressive it has been, a view that, eerily, is expressed in the same way almost every time: “Religion has been the cause of all the major wars in history.” I have heard this sentence recited like a mantra by American commentators and psychiatrists, London taxi drivers and Oxford academics. It is an odd remark. Obviously the two world wars were not fought on account of religion ... Experts in political violence or terrorism insist that people commit atrocities for a complex range of reasons. Yet so indelible is the aggressive image of religious faith in our secular consciousness that we routinely load the violent sins of the 20th century on to the back of “religion” and drive it out into the political wilderness."

      Karen Armstrong, who was early in her life a nun, I believe.

      Delete