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."

Friday, September 22, 2006

Time for Friday Night Two for Ones.


It is Friday Night Happy Hour. Enquiring minds want to know.

101 comments:

  1. Yep,
    I'm a cowboy, baby.

    Now I remember why

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  2. whoopie-ti-yi-yay,
    get along, little doggie--

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  3. Hell, it's Five O'clock, somewhere

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  4. skinny dippin'

    That ain't no pig in a poke.

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  5. rat, scroll just a bit, your boy Pahlavi will be on the boob toob with Peggy Noonan, check your local listings.

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  6. Attaboy, Duce! I knew you could do it.

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  7. Oops, I posted this on the wrong thread: Jim Lehrer's interview with General John Abizaid.

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  8. I want to hear about Habu's cul-de-sac

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  9. Whit is supposed to be pulling duty after 1900.

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  10. it has something to do with teresita, but, well, my imagination is failing me.

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  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  12. Anyone have any suggestions for the bar? It is R-bar and we are open to re-directs.

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  13. habu, heard he was eatin', down at the Y.

    The General, tho...

    "... In those areas that we've been operating with U.S. forces and Iraqi forces -- and we continue to operate -- there is a decrease. But we're not everywhere. We're moving step by step, section by section, and it will take some time. We will begin to really see whether or not we're being successful in a month or two.

    JIM LEHRER: In a month or two?

    GEN. JOHN ABIZAID: That's right.

    JIM LEHRER: And how will success be judged?

    GEN. JOHN ABIZAID: Success will be judged by the level of sectarian violence, murders, in particular, in the areas where we're operating being less. ...

    ...But it's very, very important that these death squads be put out of action. The militias have to be, over time, brought under governmental control; that still remains a problem. Then there has to be, most importantly, I think of all, a reconciliation program moved forward that gives people in Baghdad reason to believe that things are going to get better. ...

    JIM LEHRER: Is the answer to send more coalition forces in there?

    GEN. JOHN ABIZAID: The answer ultimately is to send more Iraqi forces in there. Ultimately, the answer is to have Iraqi police first, Iraqi military second, and U.S. forces playing an over-watch role. ..."


    Playin' that song we've all heard before. I've been singing it for two years or more, now.
    All the timelines I've read of, give themselves only 60 days more, to contain the violence.
    What if they do not?
    What is the next Phaseline in the Iraq operation?

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  14. Rat, since you mention it, (and we both have developed a light rep for being crepe hangars}, it is over. There is nothing we can do to change the outcome because we are standing behind a sovereign government, and the government is not anything we would have ever chosen.

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  15. Whit, you can buy some scrub land in S Florida, and plant Some of These.

    BTW, I checked this out; it ain't no rib.

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  16. How we ever got into this is stunning. Can you imagine MacArthur, after his afternoon on the Missuori, encouraging the Japanese to vote, and then standing behind their decision.I just do not get it.

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  17. I don't really think the two situations are analogous, Duce. After we defeated Japan, there wasn't anyone in the world who would have cared if we had lined everyone on the island up and Shot them. It wasn't quite the same as "Occupying" a Muslim country in the ME, during a time of "Jihad."

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  18. It is the people, not the Heads of State or Organizations that is the enemy. It always is that way.

    The People are responsible for their governments, whether they want to be, or not.

    The Iranians are responsible for the Mullahs, the Pakistani for the General President as well as the Taliban. The Palistinians are responsible for Hamas and it's policies.
    The Americans for Mr Bush and the Iraq War.

    If the US is going to be defeated, we've told ourselves, it is here at home where we will lose. If the people will give up on the War, then it will be done, or so the story goes.

    It is the same in Iraq. The people get what they deserve, in Iraq's case, it is a Sectarian War.

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  19. I deserve Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry?

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  20. I think you're being a little bit tough on the "People," Rat. I don't know how I would have worked out if I'd been born into a poor Iraqi family, but I've got a hunch I wouldn't have been nearly as heroic in the face of Saddam's tyranny as I might like to imagine.

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  21. Buddy, How the Hell can they do this?
    ---
    CA Prop 87
    Bill Bradley at Pajamas:
    . It’s a tricky situation for the campaign to flat out state what it is implying, because the campaign is funded by the oil companies and the proposed law specifically prohibits the oil extraction tax being passed on to consumers. For the industry to state that the tax will be passed on could constitute prima facie evidence of its intent to break the proposed law.
    ---
    Ken Hahn :
    The proposition is the usual demogoguery of tax the oil companies with an admixture of spending that is guaranteed to produce nothing exept rich academics and corruption on a massive scale. Like the idiotic stem cell research boondoggle, there is a vast ammount of money and a total lack of control. All in all, prop 87 is wellfare for the greenie crowd.
    ---
    Only in CA!
    Bradley thinks it might not pass.

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  22. Your input would be appreciated too, Rufus.

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  23. Rufus, you are always too reasonable, make too much sense, and ruin our arguments.

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  24. Idiotic regulators creating demand for their pals in the accounting biz. Just more costs to pass on--that's about all a biz can do with added costs--pass 'em on, or quit.

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  25. Hey! I posted this back at: "The Noble Islamic Man, Protector of the True Faith and of Woman"
    And neither 'Rat nor anyone else gave a helpful translation/synopsis.
    Rat, Please Translate Buddy's "*Link Example."*

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  26. I didn't know it was "Constitutional"
    Course I ain't no Constitutional Law Scholar.

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  27. Look into the growth rates of countries which have the flat-tax system. Look at how many countries have zero to half of our corporate income tax rate.

    Ours, tho it enables much fantastical wastage in DC, keeps the average income in this country about 8k below what it would be without it.

    The inefficiency--the wastage and opportunity cost--is simply staggering.

    Who gets hurt the most? You guessed it--the lower middle class wage earners--the constituency of the party that insists upon having it.

    The Dems--like with private retirement accts and medical savings accounts--are terrified that their voters will achieve economic independence.

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  28. Yeah, buddy, you are responsible for Mr Kerry and Kennedy. When their position carries the day.

    The US public is responsible for the actions of it's government.

    A person is often responsible for their own victimization. Poor or rich makes no difference, which is why GIs summarily killed Germans in the vicinity of NAZI death camps, even though those particular Germans were not personally responsible for those camp's operations.

    If the War is to be won, the people of the enemy must be defeated.

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  29. Here's a little infor on Prop 87.

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  30. whut "link example" do you need translated, doug?

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  31. I don't think prop 87 will pass. Even the dummies will pretty much realize that this is going to lead to more imported oil, and higher prices at the pump. Maybe.

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  32. Hey Bar Keep, Shove a couple of cold Beck's over this way.

    Here's a redirect for you on personal responsibility. Or is it corporate irresponsiblity? Or is it creative government financing?

    California, which has battled the automotive industry over new global warming regulations for years, sued the world’s six-largest automakers yesterday, demanding that they pay for environmental damage caused by the emissions of their vehicles.

    “Global warming is causing significant harm to California’s environment, economy, agriculture and public health,” said the state’s attorney general, Bill Lockyer.

    “Vehicle emissions are the single most rapidly growing source of the carbon emissions contributing to global warming, yet the federal government and automakers have refused to act.”

    The suit, filed in United States District Court in Northern California, is the first such attempt to hold automakers accountable for the greenhouse gases that vehicles produce. It accuses General Motors, Toyota, Ford, Honda, Chrysler and Nissan of creating a public nuisance by building millions of vehicles that collectively discharge 289 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually.



    Several questions come to mind. Exactly how did the auto makers force Californians to buy their products? Have Bill Lockyer and other government officials been riding their bicycles to work all these years. If yes, then they can blame the green house gasses on someone else. Has Ray Nagin heard about this yet. It is clear, is it not, that Hurricane Katrina was caused in significant part by global warming. Surely the Mayor of New Orleans wants some of this "sue the auto companies" action.

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  33. "whut "link example" do you need translated, doug? "
    The friggin Movie, dope!

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  34. Nagin Saved the World from Global Warming by not startin up all them Schoolbuses.
    Thus the name:
    "Schoolbus Nagin"

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  35. Liberals are a public Nuisance that produce Tons of Methane and CO2.
    Ban them.

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  36. "automakers have refused to act.”
    ---
    Liberals should be forced to live in a plastic dome in which the transportation is all provided by 1939 Buick Straight Eights.

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  37. doug,
    Liberals should be forced to live in a plastic dome in which the transportation is all provided by 1939 Buick Straight Eights.

    California considered adding the Nash Metropolitan to the Law Suit, but decided it might weaken their case.

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  38. Doug, what the fuck was it?

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  39. Savage was talking to Col Patterson about the Children's Swingset Bin Laden Opportunity:
    Savage says:
    "They didn't seem too worried about Collateral Damage in Belgrade."
    ---
    Good Point.

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  40. Stoutfellow:
    Some guy outside Atascadero California had a couple of acres covered junkyard style with Metros!!!

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  41. So what's he saying in the friggin movie, larsen?

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  42. It's hard to make out, but it sounds like "Doug buggered my parakeet!"

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  43. the movie, Doug. What the fuck was it? I saw Teresita's name in the url.

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  44. seriously, you don't want to know, doug--it's just some fruit-loop frenzy.

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  45. i wonder if that was here trying to provoke with all that race-slur stuff yestiddy. if so, i'm ashamed of her.

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  46. 2164 deleted it all. some anonymous poster, going nasty wit slurs. pointless, ugly, ands gone.

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  47. http://hem2.passagen.se/kutessa/met-021.gif

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  48. This is definitely Not Teresita.

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  49. The end of the Second Temple is dated to the year 3828. This evening marks 5767 years since the recorded birth of Adam. Fsck the Chinese. Let's make 5767 an interesting year to remember!

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  50. Old enough to have conversated with el duce himself.

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  51. Buddy
    looks like an Austin Healy

    Looks like a source of tax revenue for the state of CA

    The Beatles said it best
    (if you drive a car, car;) - I’ll tax the street;
    (if you try to sit, sit;) - I’ll tax your seat;
    (if you get too cold, cold;) - I’ll tax the heat;
    (if you take a walk, walk;) - I'll tax your feet.

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  52. It just gets better and better. Argentina!

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  53. Taxman, one of my faverts. Always reminded me of their Paperback Writer, another high-harmony uptempo great back-beat total original.

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  54. Classic Nahncee.
    -I'll put it in the appropriate thread here.
    ---
    NahnCee said...
    Habu - I could see Americans shooting at Americans over something like the Wall that's supposed to get built along our Mexican border. If Cindy Sheehan, et al., were to start escorting illegals through to protest the Wall, acting like Human Shields like they have in Iraq and with the Palestinians. Especially if you had a bunch of ACLU East-Coast lawyer looking people mixing in.

    We've had riots in the U.S. over people becoming dead (i.e., Martin Luther King) and over jury verdicts (the cops being acquitted over Rodney King). We also had lots and lots of riots in the campus anti-Vietnam War era, with a result at Kent State of dead students.

    To me, from what I can see, factions are every bit as inflamed now as during those episodes. AND if you add into that mixture the fact that our government has abdicated its responsibility to protect us and is kowtowing to the ACLU, the Mexican government, and trying to sell our sea ports to the Arabs it seems to me there's quite a bit of flammable material out there, actually, that could set off an internal shooting war.

    For example, how about the latest murder of one illegal Mexican by another illegal Mexican, him dragging her by the neck through the streets of Denver until she ran out of blood and died.
    Does it seem likely to you that Mexico is going to protest our death penalty, and that Mexicans might start marching in the streets again sticking up for their "rights", and that "liberals" might march with them in "solidarity" both over "immigrant rights" and against the death penalty? How do you think that might go over?

    And not a Muslim in sight.

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  55. Lennon sure came off Ugly in that Video that Charles linked.

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  56. Yeh--times have sure changed, it'd be impossible today to be for lennon to operate in the same space. pardon the jargon.

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  57. jeez, jargon, hell, that was just plain unintellelligible.

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  58. Il Duce, when i was very young i used to hear kids sing,

    Whistle while you work,
    Hitler was a jerk,
    Mussolini bit his weenie
    now it will not work.

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  59. so far, rufus, it's Argentina--i think.

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  60. She's awful purty, Buddy, awful damned purty.

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  61. We used to sing:
    "A White Sport Coat,
    and a Pink Cremation."
    ---
    We were so clever.
    As now, I might add.

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  62. That Aruba'un is a cutey pie too.

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  63. I like Pelosi's new slogan for Dems 06,
    "A New Direction For America"
    which of course sounds just like Clinton again,
    "A Nude Erection For America".

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  64. Larry SabatoPolitical scientist, University of Virginia on Hillary:

    PRO » “An enormous financial advantage plus the invaluable benefits of White House experience.” 

    CON » “The most divisive candidate in either party, polarizing the nation with her liberal image and cold persona.

    Bill Clinton is also a double-edged sword because people know he will be moving back into the White House — with less to do.

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  65. Mohammed says the Iraqi's aren't too interested in Anger.

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  66. we can kiss the rest of the White House furniture goodbye

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  67. at least IoM can mock the silly bastid--and live.

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  68. Penis transplant - medical term Addadictome

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  69. Hillbilly immortality:
    "Reintarnation"

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  70. I'm Walter Mitty,
    Can I add a Titty?

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  71. Just practice saying, "Speaker Pelosi.

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  72. at least she cussed ole Hugo the Fatt

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  73. Rectitude (n.) the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.

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  74. G'nite all. G'nite P'Tater, wherever you are.

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  75. Thanks a lot, I gotta turn out the lights.
    The Trials of a Tropic Dweller Feller.

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  76. Sarchasm (n) The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

    Hipatitis (n) Terminal coolness.

    Osteopornosis (n) A degenerate disease.

    (from WaPo's 'neologism' contest)

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  77. 2164th:

    That is a fine picture you posted. Worthy of hanging in any Western Museum.

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  78. I knew a girl like that. She told me to come on over, nobody was home. I went on over. Nobody was home.

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