COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Where the Hell Is Doug?


There has been some consternation over at the Belmont Club. The host wretchard wishes to discourage running commentary. It is my intention to invite members of the BC to sit back relax and comment away. Gentleman, start your engines. As this is experimental and designed for chatting, there is no need to archive chats. When I feel the thread is stale, we will clean the bar.

113 comments:

  1. From War of the Worlds
    to
    War of the Words
    Worms! Roxanne!
    Worms!

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  2. I got a link there to comments here.
    The problem was when there are no comments, the error thingie comes up.
    I don't go to PJ often.
    Too many liberals.
    ...last time I checked.

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  3. Trouble is, doug, you're just to "silly".
    Read that somewhere, else.

    The discussion is, in the minds of many, to revolve around the host's subject matter. I have always taken a "Wide View" of the subjects and responses. To the irritation of some readers, in the past.
    Since I found a "common thread" in most of the daily stories for the past few years, people have said that I'm a pessimist. When that is anything but the truth. Trouble is that all I know is what I read in the papers, or current electronic facsimiles.

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  4. Rat,
    My response has been posted.
    Since I don't know Luc, but I do know more than I need to know about Ari, the course of the comment followed.

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

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  6. Sorry about losing last night's comments. I tried doing some creative reorganizing and I lost them. I saw my mistake, so it should not happen again.

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  7. 2164th,

    Thanks again for being such a good sport.

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  8. second allen's, and habu, damn, that's lead-post worthy. You're describing Ambient War, where every choice is political, and all politics is the war.

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  9. Why is it the very next Amendment, after "Free Speech"?

    It's like (1) here's your driver's license, son, and (2) here's your vehicle.

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  10. Hey 2164th - where'd the title (Elephant bar) of your blog come from? Is there a story there?

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  11. A long time ago in another life -time, in Kassel Germany was an art-deco bar frequented late at night by an international crowd. The mahogany bar had red up-lighting but was always in a blue haze of cigarette smoke. The woman, Nordic beauties and the music Marlene Dietrich style from the forties and fifties. The Elephant Bar, always fascinating, and only disappointing enough to keep it interesting.

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  12. habu, that's about my own personal script, too. Only a few details vary. The choice is pretty much made by 50 or so, whether the public life or the old fart who tries to contribute from the background. It's funny, but drifting away from the phone has struck me too as a major life turn. since i sold my biz, I hardly ever answer it--the dwindling number of people who still try to contact me have to email or fax. It's WONDERful ain't it?
    ;-D

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  13. habu_3; 3:50:42 PM

    re: "we are now turning out fewer computer science majors from colleges than ever before."

    Not to mention American born PhDs in hard science, math, and engineering. We do have a whole passel of lawyers and social-scientists, though. Any hope of talking or studying the enemy to death?

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  14. whit; 4:26:21 PM

    re: Spengler

    Spengler must stretch to breaking the comparison of jihad to the sacrament of communion, I think. But, even if given that, jihad has been easily and often abused, to the harm of the West.

    The recent troubles in France do not indicate a moderating of Islam. In fact, many thousands of young French Muslims are radicalized to a degree heretofore unimagined. The UK obviously is equally imperiled by unassimilated Islamic youth.

    Time is not our friend, I fear, nor are the Saudi bankrollers of Wahabism. But, what is to be done when the enemy remains unrecognized?

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  15. whit; 4:26:21 PM

    re: Spengler

    Spengler must stretch to breaking the comparison of jihad to the sacrament of communion, I think. But, even if given that, jihad has been easily and often abused, to the harm of the West.

    The recent troubles in France do not indicate a moderating of Islam. In fact, many thousands of young French Muslims are radicalized to a degree heretofore unimagined. The UK obviously is equally imperiled by unassimilated Islamic youth.

    Time is not our friend, I fear, nor are the Saudi bankrollers of Wahabism. But, what is to be done when the enemy remains unrecognized?

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  16. Allen,

    The worst thing about the enemy is that they are both unrecognized and unorganized. We can defeat them, but the whole game has to change. There has been a shift to people beginning to recognize that Islam is the proble. Some do not want to admit it, but they know it. When that sinks in, anything is possible. The big problem with them not being organized is where the killing has to stop.

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  17. People just do not believe that we are in the predicament that we are. You read the headlines on this from German Radio. I do not believe that the average European cares, but the average european opinion maker does and they are the same as the Left in this country. They have twisted the terroist criminal into a civil rights issue.

    Europe | 07.09.2006

    European Officials Slam US Secret Prisons

    European lawmakers and human rights officials bashed the US government Thursday after President Bush admitted for the first time to the existence of secret CIA prisons in Europe.

    Europe's top human rights official called the US government's actions in fighting the so-called war on terror "criminal" Thursday and said that Washington's admission of secret CIA prisons has justified European suspicions.

    "Kidnapping people and torturing them in secret -- however tempting the short-term gain may appear to be -- is what criminals do, not democratic governments," said Council of Europe President Rene van der Linden. "In the long term, such practices create more terrorists and undermine the values we are fighting for. Europe will have no part in such a degrading system."

    US President George W. Bush's admission that secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) exist vindicated the council's months-long investigation, Van der Linden said.

    "Our work has helped to flush out the dirty nature of this secret war, which we learn at last, has been carried out completely beyond any legal framework," he said. "Human rights violations committed in the fight against terrorism are in fact victories for the terrorists, whose very aim is to destroy the rule of law."

    First acknowledgment

    Bush on Wednesday for the first time acknowledged that the CIA was running secret prisons where high-level al Qaeda figures captured since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were held and interrogated. He did not name their locations.
    Khaled el Masri says he was kidnapped and tortured by the CIA
    Since media reports revealed the CIA operation last November, Bush and other members of his administration have refused to publicly discuss the program.

    The US president also said that 14 high-profile terror detainees had been transferred from CIA custody to Guantanamo Bay, for possible prosecution, adding that they would be protected by the Geneva Conventions. Most other detainees held abroad -- less than 100 since 2001 -- have been released or turned over for prosecution.

    Breaching human rights

    The 46-member Council of Europe in Strasbourg is the continent's main human rights watchdog and is independent from the EU.

    Its final report on a six-month inquiry into the CIA charges said that several European states had helped the US carry out "extraordinary rendition" flights, the US practice of transporting detainees to other states for interrogation.

    Conducting a separate probe into the controversial issue, European lawmakers in June agreed to extend their investigation with a focus on trying to find out whether Romania and Poland have hosted illegal CIA prisons. Both countries have denied the allegations.
    Poland and Romania have allegedly hosted secret prisons
    Clandestine detention centers, secret flights via or from Europe to countries where suspects could face torture or extraordinary renditions would all breach the continent's human-rights conventions.

    Exposed to ridicule

    The vice-chair of the European Parliament's special committee investigating CIA prisons in Europe said Bush's disclosure also puts European leaders in a bad light.

    "By his admission that the CIA has indeed practiced illegal kidnapping and detention, Bush exposes not only his own previous lies," said Sarah Ludford. "He also exposes to ridicule those arrogant government leaders in Europe who dismissed as unfounded our fears about extraordinary rendition."

    EU lawmakers and civil rights campaigners have long called on US officials to admit the US used a network of secret prisons and have transferred prisoners between them on covert flights. In July the EU parliament voted to continue its investigation into CIA secret prisons for another six months.

    DW staff

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  18. Whit,

    You are on to something there. I keep holding on to the idea that the Achilles heel for Islam is in woman's rights.

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  19. The European problem is very similar to the US. The opinion makers are the small percentage of activists from the sixties. People believe what they see in the media. Anti-Americanism is their stock in trade and like him or not GWB, played into the sterotype. All this gets swept away with a spectacular coordinated terror attack in Europe.

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  20. It is inexplicable. There is one silver lining in the whole bloody mess and it is becoming apparent that we cannot win without scrapping the entire multicultural diversity nonsense. it all will have to be smashed in order to first idntify and call Islam by what it is and then do what has to be done.

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  21. It did, especially with the man on the street. There is a real solid base of very angry Europeans that will explode with the right provocation.

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  22. Doug, I thought this might interest you. You were talking on this subject a thread or two back.

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  23. Gosh, here I am, free to say anything that comes to mind, and no one will reprimand me or count my posts.

    FREEDOM IS TERRIFYING!

    OK, now that I've got that out...

    I read the Spengler piece and as usual he is fascinating.

    Fascinating and completely unconvincing.

    One old guy, Sistani, gets tired, or fed up, or whatever, and Spengler concludes that Islam (whatever "Is"lam is, to paraphrase Bill Clinton, because I sure as hell don't know what it "is") is in some sense a dead letter.

    Well, it's an exciting thesis.

    Jamie Woolery

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

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  25. Did anyone ever post an answer to the confusion of Rufus and me about Wretchards comment that he would not "mutilate" someone to get info even if his son's or mothers life was at stake?
    Was he just playing devil's advocate, or what?
    Otherwise, it seems to be divorced from reality/common sense.

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  26. That's a big help, Whit!
    Why don't you make him! ;-)

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  27. Whit,
    I missed that one, thanks!
    ---
    rem 870 and Buddy:
    Thanks for the links.

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  28. Reports of the death of Islam, while wildly applauded, may be premature.

    What I found significant in the essay were the 1) irreconcilable differences, 2) primitivism, 3) the improbability of the mythical "moderate" Muslim, and 4) total submersion of self.

    “A great gulf is fixed between Islam and Christianity, which do radically different things for different people.”

    “Islam is the revenge of traditional society against the encroaching empires…”

    “As an Islamic leader, Sistani understood much better than any Western observer that the search for a "moderate" Islam, an Islam of personal conscience rather than an established state religion, was a fool's errand.”

    “Islam is not a doctrine, I reiterate: it is a life…"

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  29. Thanks Whit,
    I never sit near Buddy anyhow, since he's always having little "accidents" and blaming it on those around him.
    Savage was talking about Larry King interviewing the Croc Man underwater and having bubbles coming out in two places, if you get our drift.
    Not sure if Bud is younger or older than Larry.

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  30. Allen,
    I like Bill Bennet's:
    Religion is as Religion does.
    ...as we, the Buddists, atheists, and etc around the world cower in fear of Christian and Jewish Jihadis.

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  31. You want to co-administrate this bar?

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  32. terista says:
    We seem to have a decent clientelle, sort of, mostly.

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  33. we are only in business two days and getting more comments than 90 % of the blogs. I need someone with a PC. I use safari on a mac and there is alot I cannot do, being html challenged.

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  34. doug,

    re: "we, the Buddists, atheists, and etc around the world cower in fear of Christian and Jewish Jihadis."

    As very well you should!

    In the omnious words of that incomprehensible Sage, Jamie Woolery:

    "I'm so glad I'm a Jew. Kneel before me, World!"

    "Feel my infinite power!"

    Or, whatever.

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  35. 2164, I spent quite a few hours unsuccesfully trying to figure out how to post on "Flares", and never could get it to "take". You don't know stupid until you seen my stupid.

    Doug, I'm not going to sit idly by and be Larry King and Fart joked. Watch it, or I shall criticize you VERY harshly.

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  36. re:
    "Did anyone ever post an answer to the confusion of Rufus and me about Wretchards comment that he would not "mutilate" someone to get info even if his son's or mothers life was at stake?
    Was he just playing devil's advocate, or what?
    Otherwise, it seems to be divorced from reality/common sense. "
    ---
    Rufus asked this question, I asked it, then asked it again right after Wretchard commented:
    He chose to answer Trish and leave this question unanswered.
    Does this make sense to anybody?
    For the life of me, it's impossible for me to picture myself refusing to torture someone if I know a family member will die, or millions will die Hiroshima style.

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  37. Is my question @ 8:15:13 PM out of Bounds even at the Elephant Bar?

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  38. 8:53:06 PM - I'll ask squishy if that passes his ethical test!

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  39. Maybe you ought to buy the little lady a little bit lighter lawn mower. Heat's brutal, let her back in the house after 2:00 pm--she'll get more work done in the long run, that way.

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  40. David Horowitz is doing wonderful work for the nation.

    Sorry to hear about Jim sitting on that golf club. Reminds me of a writer I knew, Jack Torrance, who passed away suddenly at the Overlook Hotel.

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  41. Habu said:
    2164

    RAF Bentwaters
    RAF Woodbridge
    USAF Goose Bay Labrador,
    RAF Martlesham,
    RAF Lakenheath,
    US Army Post, Kassel Germany,
    Larisa air Base Greece,
    Cartwright Station Labrador,
    Dan Nang AB Viet Nam,
    Ernest Harman AB, Newfoundland,
    Keesler AFB Biloxi
    Lackland AFB Texas
    Raytheon Spencer Labs, Mass

    You broke the code HABU

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  42. Yeh, he's from the inside and knows of whence he speaks. I imagine plenty of other young Reds eventually see the light (how could they not, sooner or later?), but have too much invested to ever come clean and turnabout. Not David.

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  43. I think we had a pretty fair opening. The intent was to get the pressure off the people that wanted to post more often and at the same time not be anxious that wretchard was going to freak out and toss us all out. I notice a very pleasant change over at BC. Wretchard is more involved in the comments and there is less tut tutting.

    I was assigned to a support squadron 2164t comm, TAC base RAF Bentwaters. We did alot of TDY rotating the F-4's with DaNang. not bad duty at the time. Three to six months in DaNang and back to the UK. We had hot showers. The marines were in tents washing in cold. When they came in from the field we let them use the AF hot water latrines. They would throw their uniforms in the trash cans, grab three cold budweisers and stand under the shower till another marine kicked them out smoking winstons and lucky strikes while showering. You could always tell when the marines had used the latrine. They smelled so bad having been out on patrol for up to thirty days and thenk stunk the place up with aqua velva.

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  44. No but you would have had a hell of a hard on watching the B52's take off frome Goose.

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  45. And we hosted Curtis LeMay for a fishing trip to Cartwright in Labrador. The weirdest memory I have was we were a TAC nuke base at Bentwaters, working nights in the Victor Alert areas, looking at those F-4's and F105's with a nuclear weapon strapped to it's belly, flight crews, ground crews and AP's all ready to launch those birds for a one way trip to say hello to the Russians. We had those babies up and gone in three minutes.

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  46. Right after 911, I had a flight from AC where the NJ AFNG fly F15's I think. I was there for a real early flight and two went up in tandem, hot with the AB's smokin. The sound and smell, lifted the hair on my arms and brought a choking tear to my eye. It had been some time since I was on a flight line at night and was a real rush of memories.

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  47. Love the smell of jp4 in the mornin

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  48. Were you on Monkey Mountain Habu?

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  49. We had an air show one time at bentwaters. A bunch of the F4 jockeys had beaucoup hours inVN and decided they were going to give the English and US personnel one hell of a show. The Britts came in with their tornadoes and the US inwhat were the new F4's. Their were NATO dignitaries and Prince Phillip and they tore the wings off those babies. The Britts came haul assing in from the four points of the compass face to face hugging the tarmac. They threw the ass of the planes down and went straight up, rolling the entire way up. People were screaming , ducking, laughing with nervous energy and two F4's shot over breaking the sound barrier and before they got over that four more F4's came in to repeat what the britts had just done. This with evryone on the flight line. The base commander almost pissed his pants but it was the most exciting air show anyone has ever seen.

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  50. down 3 33's and smoke a chesterfield between the beers. quite a rush.

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  51. Hard to believe those birds are all 60s and 70s technology. F-15 especially--and still an air-superiority weapon. Of course, the Moon Landings were also 60s technology. damn. tempis fugit.

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  52. Buddy, If you look at the sheer size and audacity of the US miltary mission in the fities and sixties, it is astounding. We had 500,000 GI's in Germany alone. We had 1/3 of the B-52's in the air. It was a staggering show of force.

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  53. A chesterfield will make you dizzy and settle your nerves for sure.

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  54. Habu,

    I thought this comment (much abbreviated below, I'm just putting in the introduction to indicate which one I mean), over at BC, was quite original and intelligent:

    I read the link by Andrew Sullivan. When arguments are made in the fashion he has produced they are false flag ad hominem attacks.
    Concerns about the timing of the speech,ie. using it as a political tool to force a vote on where Congress stands on the issue of prosecuting terrorist is a brilliantly timed move. Before an election the most important issues should be debated and voted on so the public is informed as to who stands where...



    Jamie Irons

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  55. USSR wasn't fooling around, either, were they. Still can't believe we chopped up all those Salt Treaty B-52s. The film is porno, watching that blade come down so the birds could be cut in large pieces for the Soviet satellites to see. Now I think we have only 75 or so left. Pisser.

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  56. I grew up shooting a single barrel 12 gauge. Started hunting at 11. My father and uncles all had automatics and double barrels, but I used to piss them off getting the first and only shot off that I was going to get. I was always bringing "their birds" down. When I got to basic and was given the M1 garand I could not believe what you could do with that gun. When they told us to go to rapid fire, I thought I am in heaven but was glad I was not paying for the ammo.

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  57. Allen,

    In the omnious words of that incomprehensible Sage, Jamie Irons:

    "I'm so glad I'm a Jew. Kneel before me, World!"

    "Feel my infinite power!"

    I don't know, I think I'm rather incisive and preternaturally clear, generally speaking.

    ;-)

    If you'll recall the context of that remark, I was making fun of Cedarford.

    He doesn't understand how foolish he can look with his "neocons" and "Jews" comments.

    When I was a resident at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute, I was privileged to have as a supervisor a brilliant Swedish psychoanalyst, Lars Lofgren. Once we happened to step onto an elevator with a pair of general surgeons. One related to the other, quite innocently, a dream he had had the previous night.

    After they got off the elevator, Lars turned to me and chuckled. Without any sense of his being some kind of "superior" being, he said, "It's always funny how people who know nothing about the unconscious will unwittingly reveal everything about themselves without realizing they are [doing just that]. Always be careful who's around when you discuss your dreams.

    Jamie Irons"

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  58. teresita said:

    2164 said"

    That harrier is a showman's dream machine. I saw a demo in England wher they popped up out of a stand of trees and went to horizontal after doing some 360's. You ask yourself, "Did I just see that?"

    McDonnel Douglas, the plane manufacturer never did get it and neither do you 2164....and i will never mention your name again, especially if I know what is good for me..

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  59. There ya go, habu--Jamie's here--ask him about black dog resulting from adrenaline junkie finding hisself insufficiently adrenalized--
    Maybe there's a pill fer it?
    :-\

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  60. Jamie,

    C-4 is a brilliant guy, but he just cannot seem to control himself. The other night I just asked him what is your prescription about the Jewish connection? I do not think he goes any further with his thinking. I am not Jewish but I can understand why the Jewish guys freak over C-4, but he has some fascinating points of view and in his heart I really do not believe he is more than talk about the Jews. It is perplexing to me.

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  61. Jamie, you are the shrink. What do you make of him?

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  62. I swear, it's a disease, 2164. Nothing else fits the criteria.

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  63. BTW, all you guys like Habu, 2164th, Rufus et alia who are real Marines, soldiers, airmen or company men, are my heroes.

    Thank you for your service.

    Jamie Irons

    (He who has never fired a shot in anger.)

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  64. We don't like our psychiatrists being armed anyway. We all know were seriously fucked up.

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  65. Habu,

    I have this one recurring dream that I'm in Satre's "No Exit" with Hillary,Maxine Waters,Shakira and me. We actually share a laugh.
    Am I sane?


    How the hell would I know?

    ;-)


    Jamie Irons

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  66. In general, I'd say there's strong elements of envy, paranoia, and sado-masochism in it. Not to mention projection and rationalization.

    And what the hell, what if the jews ARE dangerous, aren't they always dangerous to the no-good rotten sonsabitches of history? Being an anti-Jew is like saying "Hey, I'm a hateful bastard, why don't anyone love me?"

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  67. Speaking of seriously fucked up, anyone seen Doug?

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  68. Rufus, go to the head of the class!

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  69. 2164th,

    As to what is going on with C4, I won't venture a guess. (Buddy knows my long-distance diagnoses are pretty laughable.)

    But I feel sorry for him, I'll tell you that.

    Jamie Irons

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  70. But it's the "tax cuts for the wealthy" crap that gets me--it fly in de face o de numbers, and puts the advocate into position of being interested in punishment, and willing to spend opportunity-cost public money to pay for the pleasure of it.

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  71. Jamie we have a three post rule. If you only post three times you have to buy a round.

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  72. Gnite rufus. I shouid get some rack time myself. Anyway, who ever stays up. Put the dog out and try not and set the place on fire. Smokem if you gottem.

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  73. I have to fly to France. Don't say it. Habu, keep an eye on the joint while I'm gone.

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  74. Speaking of seriously fucked up, anyone seen Doug?.

    Har har har

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  75. 2164th,

    OK, I'll buy, but it'll have to be tomorrow.

    It's 9:21 PST for me, and believe it or not, after a twelve hour day at work I'm beat. (I'm not the glutton for punishment I used to be!)

    In a few days I'm going fly fishing!

    Don't let Buddy stay up too late!


    Jamie Irons

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

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  77. Ignore previous, here it is, a great short story about fly fishing:
    part 1 and part 2.

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  78. Oh, i found doug, he was at the barber shop.

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  79. hands off, there's also evidence that the post-Schwarzeneggerians originated in the work of the original scholars, the Conanite Bore-barians.

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  80. Inquiring minds want to know.

    If as C4 asserts, Jews control American media (including networks, financing, producing, screen writing, marketing, etc.) as well as the Presidency, Congress, and Supreme Court, why, then, will ABC (an integral part of the Jewish media cabal) have to pull or substantially edit its 911 program, based on the whinning of a former gentile president?

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  81. Related, how did all those gentile academics get to be Commies, "for free"? Looks to me like the 'conspiracy' would've blamed-shifted, according to the way conspiracies conspire.

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  82. Hands Off The Bong Fascist:

    I didn't quite understand it, but I really enjoyed your post!

    Jamie Irons

    Buddy,

    I'll read that Hemingway again (it's been too long!) today... I think I told you once on another thread somewhere that I think "The Snows of Kilimajaro" -- those non-victims of non-global non-warming -- is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing in the language...

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  83. jamie--well, since it's about fly-fishin.

    Anyhoo, I was composing this rejoiner to C4 and then when I tried to post it, 'comments' had been disabled. Since I've lost so many comments to blogger, I copy 'em before I post, and my rejected answer is thus sitting here in the mouse, so, so to not've wasted the writing time, here:

    ilia @ 8:03--that's an awe-ful question. What does 'endurance leads to is "more endurance" (is all i can imagine).

    C4, you're edging into Holocaust backwash, one of the shock waves of Nazism that will continue to slosh back and forth across Western Civ for the next thousand years. European Christendom cannot hate Nazism out of itself--it is inside the body, even if as a walled-off tubercular cyst.

    So, it's no surprise that in the post-war period, remnants of the object of an *actual* genocide would seek a transnational progressive defense against any possible future reprise.

    That's why I keep arguing with you--you're looking at symptoms rather than the disease, or effects rather than causes.

    We need to fight the likes of ACLU/Soros, apart from, on different grounds than, religion.

    I understand what you mean when you say that the enemy must be named. But for Christ's sake don't name it wrong.

    That path leads back to magic--and we must understand that we are beneficiaries of a recent and astounding clear lesson that magic can flip to evil without the faithful even knowing it.

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  84. Buddy, like you, I wished to kindly rejoin C4, but was locked out, stymied at the instant I hit the publish bar. Drats! And, like you, there is little point in wasting a devastatingly, preternaturally, approximately speaking, quasi-brilliant bit of prose.

    “May I respectfully suggest that a Jew cannot be an atheist, if by Jew you mean one who religiously practices or, at least, recognizes the essential tenets of Judaism?

    Paradoxically, perhaps, one can be born a Jew without ever being a Jew; just as so called Roman Catholics feel no compunction in violating the tenets of the Church and hold the Pontiff in no higher regard than an organ grinder. "Swifty" Kerry comes to mind.

    At long last, you have made a distinction. As you relate, "Orthodox" Jews are well aware of the dangers to Judaism, Israel, Christianity, and the United States posed by renegades and imposters.

    The question then becomes, why a supposedly well informed administration has repeatedly placed itself on the defense. For example, by naming a former ACLU member in good standing to head-up the Gitmo defense team? Furthermore, why has it failed to bring charges against the NYT, under any number of pertinent statutes? It seems to me that you give both the administration and the ACLU much more credit than due.”

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  85. 2164th said...
    I am on my way to Europe for a week. I will check in when I can. Take care of the joint for me. Good opening week. Pass the word discreetly. I am still looking for some more contibutors so you can post your own articles. Whit stepped up.

    My thinking is we can do a take on the lighter, absurd funny, ironic stuff. that includes most of the Left Democrats and all of congress. As John fffing Kerry would say, "au revoir".
    PS

    Anyone wanting to be a contributor. You can email me an email address that you can sign in with. Send to:

    geodesikdome@yahoo.com

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  86. Have a good safe trip, 2164. Defend your president over there, dammit.

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  87. I think Buddy is correct to cite the Conan texts, as they are considered the spiritual if not literal re-interpretations of Austrian folk tradition, as in the vein of "Hercules in New York."

    I would say that post-schwarzeneggerian thought is a popular label, but I cannot agree to its description of the epistemology that underpins the Schwarzenegger School's intellectual tradition.

    I take issue with the post-Schwarzeneggerian School, insofar as they seem to posit that Schwarzenegger's philosophy developed into a form or narrative, which was highly critical of his earlier works. Its unfortunate that so many mistake Schwarzenegger's increasing English proficiency with a diverging criticality purposelly applied to his earlier works. His playfulness must, by their reasoning, be an act of subversion, born of an intent to undermine if not qualify earlier theoretical works.

    The most glaring failure of these models is how they forgo any mention of the folk Austrian epistemology that see's physical labors as one in the same with the intellect.

    That is, in this tradition, knowing was born of laboring and science was derived from sweat as much as inquiry. It was an appeciation of worldly experience, and its transcendental nature over the muddle and stifling noological landscape within the human mind. The absence of language in Schwarzenegger's earliest works embody this epistemology, insofar as they drive ideation from exertion, and present veracity in the form of vivacity. Like long beards, scars or limps, Schwarzeneggerian thought understands the ineluctable connection between the intellect and the environment that interacts with it.

    Just because he was not an inspired bookworm, should not lead one to believe that his eventual appropriation of language speaks to a lack of faith in these methods.

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  88. Aspirinsgenitals is, or are, supported, I think, at least elastically, within the critically indistinct postmodest referential, by Dr. Thaddeus Westerson's seminal work: Harnessing Byzantine Fault Tolerance Using
    Classical Theory
    .

    Discussion of methodology here.

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  89. re: "Where the Hell Is Doug?"
    LISTEN!
    This globe-spanning adventure in New Media Reportage will never get off the ground if acrimony, criticism, and backbiting is going to characterize interactions between correspondents in the various timezones around the world.

    One example:
    M Larsonne reporting from Paris, takes a typical cheese-eating cheapshot at me by ferreting out the ONE publicity shot of me taken before shaving.

    Such malignant editorial license is quite beyond the pale, and could result in the revocation of privileges for the use of the 2164th's Elephant Bar tm franchise license issued by the Fairness in Blogging Initiative as laid down under the auspices of Kojo Annan and Michael Powell.

    If this thread is not edited for historical accuracy and attention to politically correct media hilarity, your Blogospheric Privileges could be revoked without notice.

    Thank you.
    Pineapple Time Zone Special Correspondent Doug

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  90. "All The News That Cans Easily, In Chunks, With Corn Syrup!"

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  91. Question to all

    Can Terri Schiavo be said to have invented a beyond-the-brain political theory that could not only mobilize zombies but also underpin a new social and economic contract, which would serve to re-integrate them into the world of the living?

    What are the broader implications of the apparent super-strength of the undead?

    What do quality, access and cost in health care mean to zombies?

    Given their diet of living brains, how can our society adapt to reduce tensions?

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  92. buddy,

    re: Major Jill Metzger, USAF

    She has been found!

    No report yet on the particulars.

    I hope the government of Kyrgyzstan did not resort to strong-arm tactics to gain intelligence. That would really ruin my weekend.

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  93. oh, Lord--thank goodness. Something about her non-military being--that is being a female--really puts the chill in the spine.

    back in the 80s, the proto-AQ skinned several Russian soldiers alive, and mailed the videotapes directly to their families. Before the Rus changed the mail systems.

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  94. By the shores of Gitche Gumee,

    By the shining Big-Sea-Water,

    Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,

    Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.

    Dark behind it rose the forest,

    Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,

    Rose the firs with cones upon them;

    Bright before it beat the water,

    Beat the clear and sunny water,

    Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

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  95. Any objection to “ilia capitolina” coming aboard? Could be interesting, the writer is a bright bulb.

    If “yes”, how to finesse it without offending Wretchard.

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  96. I get a kick outta ilia's posts--he/she stands his/her ground smartly. But this thing here is open to all, anyway, right? I mean, jeez, Ash the extra(and i do mean "extra")terrestrial--?!

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  97. Going back to Buddy's post earlier this week about the Gulf oil discovery, here is a piece that ought to cool out the peak oilers...


    Jamie Irons

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