COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Monday, November 20, 2006

Putin Continues His Purge and Murderous Tactics.

Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria, Лаврентий Павлович Берия was a Soviet politician and chief of the Soviet security and police apparatus. He was the executor of Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of the 1930s. Beria was Stalin’s paid gun. In June 1937 he said in a speech: "Let our enemies know that anyone who attempts to raise a hand against the will of our people, against the will of the party of Lenin and Stalin, will be mercilessly crushed and destroyed". Beria also commanded the Katyn massacre of Polish soldiers and intelligentsia. After Stalin's death he was removed from office and executed by Nikita Kruschev.

There is not one person in a thousand that knows the name or anything about this man or what he represents in Russian history. Vladimir Putin does, and it it my contention and a subject of several previous post that Putin is using the methods of this vicious thug to reinstall a veil of fear and repression over Russia. His doing so and with the use of vast reserves of oil and gas will allow repression and intimidation to be spread to bordering Eastern European countries. Vladimir Putin has been getting a free pass from the present US Administration. I do not understand why that is so.

Another of Putin's victims is close to death. Some in Britain and Eastern Europe are beginning to notice. From the Telegraph:

Is Russia poisoning its relations with the West?

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 21/11/2006

Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who defected to the United Kingdom and is now a British citizen, lies in an intensive care bed in a London hospital, his chances of survival described as "50-50".

He is the victim of an attack with a deadly poison that apparently took place in the course of a meeting in a public place. This fact has taken nearly three weeks to establish beyond doubt by toxicology tests. A number of disturbing questions that arise from this crime remain in dispute.

There is, in the minds of his friends and most knowing observers, a link between the catastrophic fate that has left Mr Litvinenko so near to death and his ties to known enemies of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Not only is he an associate of Russian "oligarch" exiles in Britain, and of Chechen activists, but he has recently been involved in investigating the murder of Russian dissident journalist Anna Politkovskaya.


All of this points to an obvious conclusion: that agents of the Russian presidency were responsible for the attack which was intended either to silence a dangerous critic permanently, or to cause him enough suffering to serve as a warning to others.

The Russian secret service, in its previous incarnation as the KGB, was known to favour poisoning as a means of eliminating dangerous antagonists but it would be peculiarly worrying if Mr Putin were going to such lengths to put a minor player out of commission.

The Kremlin, predictably, denies these charges vehemently, dismissing them as "pure nonsense". However dubious such protestations of innocence may be, the absence of any clear proof combined with categorical denials from Mr Putin's officials put the British government in an awkward diplomatic position.

Speculation that enemies of the Putin regime might have perpetrated the crime in an attempt to discredit the Russian presidency seem far-fetched but for official purposes cannot be totally dismissed.

But the British government cannot be seen to accept a situation in which a citizen of the United Kingdom is subjected to a murderous attack under conditions that raise grave, and reasonable, suspicions of the involvement of foreign agents.

The Foreign and Home Offices must be seen to pursue this case with the greatest rigour and to the highest possible level, and to demand whatever explanations they feel are required from the Russian authorities. Otherwise, there will be a clear suggestion that Britain dare not offend a Russian regime that may hold much of Europe to ransom over energy resources within a decade.

Whatever the future holds for British energy supplies, this country must not be a safe haven for international thuggery.

Telegraph

86 comments:

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

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  3. I deleted two posts that were spams trying to get to to advertise. Nothing sinister.

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  4. I cannot help but notice the irony in this post about the impending death of Mr Litvinenko and the picture two posts below of Bush and Putin in a silk dress. See this previous post if you missed it. I am not going to ignore the obvious, nor will I ignore how Russian behaviour goes uncriticized by the present Aministration.

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  6. NOTHING SINISTER?

    Are we all aware that Russia is the 4th worst source of spam these days? Is it a coincidence that this post gets hit? Is it? IS IT?

    Vladimir putin has been getting a free pass from the present US Administration. I do not understand why that is so. Cos George Bush has a special relationship with Vladimir, the same reason Musharraf and the Saudis and Vincente Fox inexplicably get a free pass.

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  7. Peacekeeper, you are in Latvia I believe. The Latvians know there are no coincidences in Russia. My family had all their farms stolen by the Russian Communists. When the Russians get away with murder, we all have a problem.

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  8. Well, I'm sure there are apparently genuine coincidences, but they should be carefuly examined for Cheka/NKVD/KGB/FSB fingerprints before being accepted as genuine.

    Never trust them Russkies! La Russophobe is a continuing expose of all Putin's misdeeds Kickass blog. And a mighty chronicle of misdeeds.

    Your folks from that end of the world Deuce? We too had the family farm stolen by commies, but times changed and it is back in righteous hands.

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  9. Mr Putin seems a bit more comfortable in his resolve than does Mr Bush.
    Mr Putin does not speak of his countrys' indecision while abroad. He projects, through his soulful eyes, a keen awareness of his position in the Game.

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  10. I noticed that Mr Hitchens was mentioned yesterday.
    His most recent work is interesting

    Look Who's Cutting and Running Now
    James Baker is the last guy we should listen to about Iraq.


    Another supporter of Freedom and Liberty who is a bit ahead of the curve.

    "The summa of wisdom in these circles is the need for consultation with Iraq's immediate neighbors in Syria and Iran. Given that these two regimes have recently succeeded in destroying the other most hopeful democratic experiment in the region—the brief emergence of a self-determined Lebanon that was free of foreign occupation—and are busily engaged in promoting their own version of sectarian mayhem there, through the trusty medium of Hezbollah, it looks as if a distinctly unsentimental process is under way.

    This will present few difficulties to Baker, who supported the Syrian near-annexation of Lebanon. In order to recruit the Baathist regime of Hafez Assad to his coalition of the cynical against Saddam in the Kuwait war, Baker and Bush senior both acquiesced in the obliteration of Lebanese sovereignty. "I believe in talking to your enemies," said Baker last month—invoking what is certainly a principle of diplomacy. In this instance, however, it will surely seem to him to be more like talking to old friends—who just happen to be supplying the sinews of war to those who kill American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. Is it likely that they will stop doing this once they become convinced that an American withdrawal is only a matter of time?


    the link

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  11. If only Sir Winston were here: "It is no use saying we are doing our best," he once said. "You have to succeed in doing what is necessary." What is necessary is to fight this war in a manner calculated to win it decisively. Which cannot be done in Iraq alone.

    There is no victory in Baghdad. It lies in Tehran and Damascus. Let's make it simple: win or come home. Every American president has a sacred obligation to our troops: spend their lives if you have to, but don't waste them. No more should be spent creating democracies. How many more need be spent to defeat the enemy decisively? On the paths our wise men set for us, we will never reach the answer to that question.


    But the "American Spectator" may not be on the acceptable reading list, amongst the faithful. Perhaps it is just another apostate publication, Jeb Babbin, author of "Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe Are Worse Than You Think" (Regnery, 2004)just another MSM flak
    read more at TAS

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  12. The Dems military expert, Wesley Clark has the prescription for US in Iraq and the Region.
    His solution is worlds away from Mr Hammans, which was outlined yesterday. It is also far from Mr Babbin's outlook.

    Seems that Mr Clark is thinking along the same lines of Mr Baker, at least from his public hints at the solutions.

    Mr Clark's Perscription is here, at USA Today

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  13. fellow peacekeeper said:

    Vladimir putin has been getting a free pass from the present US Administration. I do not understand why that is so. Cos George Bush has a special relationship with Vladimir, the same reason Musharraf and the Saudis and Vincente Fox inexplicably get a free pass.

    Russia is a great power in decline. They lose one million people in population every year and this is accelerating. Births now stand at 1.1 per woman, far short of the 2.4 babies each that would be needed to stabilize the population. Their eastern marches especially are being hollowed out. Russia already has more land than any other nation, and its population might fall to half of current levels in fifty years, which makes any potential grab for "lebensraum" inconceivable. All they have left are a few symbols of their former glory: rocket ships, a permanent seat on the UNSC, a dwindling stock of aging ICBMs. The Kremlin seizes any enterprise that grows too big and puts their own apparatchiks in charge, cutting the legs out from any future innovation as surely as nationalizing Microsoft or Walmart would do here. No one wants to buy their airplanes. In fine, Russia is basically France without the wine, cheese, and naughty underwear.

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  14. At Weekly Standard they maintain that we need more troops to provide Security in Iraq, they never mention the tactical aspects like RoE and such, just numbers.
    The say this about the military leadership's thinking, in Iraq.

    He (Abizaid) then proposed a solution to the crisis in Iraq today that seemed to many senators--most notably, John McCain--wholly inadequate. He listed a number of things that the Iraqi government must do--purging the Iraqi Army and National Police of those who would incite rather than control sectarian violence, disarming militias, accelerating the training and equipping of Iraqi forces, and so on. He identified only one thing that the United States must do: increase its efforts to train and equip the Iraqi military. To that end, the only concrete suggestion he offered was to increase the number of U.S. soldiers embedded in Iraqi military units....

    ... He specifically rejected the idea that the United States should undertake expanded efforts to establish security in Iraq, declaring that the Iraqis must do that for themselves, and he stated that it was the "professional opinion" of his commanders in Iraq that no more American soldiers were needed there.

    The senators pressed Abizaid about the timeline for success. He said that it was important to get Baghdad under control within four to six months, and that the Iraqis must do it. ...


    The Weekly Standard then makes this comment, amongst others, that echo what I've been saying, that it is that the challenge reevolves around "Time", one thing that the Administration is lacking

    How can one say that there are enough troops in Iraq now in these circumstances? The only way to make that argument is to assume that we have time to take things slowly--time to train Iraqis, time to let them make the inevitable mistakes and suffer the inevitable losses and defeats, time in which we can allow the insurgency to spin out of control and the violence to escalate. We do not have such time.

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  15. Pierre Gemayel is killed in Lebanon, just now.

    Seems that some folk do not want to wait for Elections. First the father, now the son. Bet it'll piss off the Sauds, again.

    Lebanon is not a sectarian conflict, according to the female "voice" on FOX.
    Just normal politics for the Lebanon.

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  16. Then he cannot fight their proxy, in Iran, can he?

    Because those Iranians still buy Russian war machines. Still buy Russian nuclear technology and still get a pass from Russia at the UN as far as Sanctions are concerned.

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  17. Just how much of the World will have to be destabilized to transform the Middle East?

    If that is the Mission.
    Where has such a transformation occurred, in History without major conflict and bloodshed?

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  18. It is much more than that, rufus, the nuclear returns.

    There is more to the Game than cash flow and balance sheets. Mr Putin realizes that, more so I think than Mr Bush.

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  19. desert rat wrote:

    Where has such a transformation occurred, in History without major conflict and bloodshed?

    Western Europe is being transformed into an Islamlic superstate before your eyes, at the relatively minute cost of one filmmaker grandson of a famous painter with a dagger in his heart, a dozen cartoonists with death sentences over their heads, and about 100 cars burned every day in France. The willing participation of the EUtopian pundits and welfare-addicted population are doing all the heavy lifting. The second Muslim bomb won't be an Iranian one, but French.

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  20. What you describe is the prelude, Ms T, not the epilogue.

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  21. Here we have an interesting piece, linked to at drudge.
    Seems dueces' second favorite politico has made a stand.

    Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, called this afternoon for troop withdrawal from Iraq starting next year and negotiations with Iran and Syria over the war-torn country's future.

    In a speech sure to draw political fire, the Democrat told attendees of a Chicago Council on Global Affairs event downtown that withdrawal should begin in the next four to six months and that those soldiers should be moved to Afghanistan to focus on terrorist groups again gaining strength in that country.
    ...
    "We know these countries want us to fail and we should remain steadfast in our opposition to their support of terrorism and Iran's nuclear ambitions," Obama said. "But neither Iran nor Syria want to see a security vacuum in Iraq filled with chaos, terrorism, refugees and violence as it could have a destabilizing effect on the entire region and within Iran and Syria themselves "

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  22. Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love
    Gandhi

    One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life; That word is love
    Sophocles

    Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
    Martin Luther, German Theologian

    For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness
    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    The gifts that one receives for giving are so immeasurable that it is almost an injustice to accept them.
    Rod McKuen

    Give the gift that keeps on giving, a hydrogen thermonuclear bomb
    Habu

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  23. Opossum Stew:...Mm-Mm that's good eating!
    Ingredients:
    1-dead opossum
    1/2 pound of worms
    2-carrots, potatoes & tomatoes
    your choice of spices
    one can of cheap beer
    Equipment:
    ----------
    a sharp knife
    a big cooking pot/crock pot
    a bag to hold the hair
    a big spoon
    several small bowls
    baseball bat
    --------------------
    prep
    -corner animal and pummel with baseball bat until dead
    -skin and gut possum, save entrails,head and tail
    -cube meat into 1/2 inch cubes
    -place in large pot with 2 qts water,1 cup buttermik, and 1/2 cup Jim Beam
    -allow to simmer for 24 hours, adding red pepper to taste
    ---------------------------
    while simmering main course take head, fur and all and palce in shallow pit with oak embers. wrap head in tin foil or duct tape.
    cook for 1 hour per pound of head /skull. Remove and scoop out brains. serve with okra,beets and grits.

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  24. Rufus,

    Love that quote - I think that speaks to the constitutional order that's changing all around us.

    The world we've known up until now is ending; that much is certain.

    You know, if we extrapolate enough trends, from energy to mobility to healthcare, I wonder if the net gains in an individuals self sufficiency, i.e. a kind of "independence" by way of robust technologies, what will we buy and sell? Just culture? Books and ideas? Innovation and creativity itself?

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  25. Any cook should be able to run the country.

    -V.I.Lenin

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  26. Doubt is to certainty as neurosis is to psychosis. The neurotic is in doubt and has fears about persons and things; the psychotic has convictions and makes claims about them. In short, the neurotic has problems, the psychotic has solutions.
    Thomas Szasz

    Punishment is now unfashionable... because it creates moral distinctions among men, which, to the democratic mind, are odious. We prefer a meaningless collective guilt to a meaningful individual responsibility.
    Thomas Szasz

    Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic.
    Thomas Szasz

    If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.
    Thomas Szasz

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  27. Shazam

    Shame, shame, shame!

    Surprise, surprise, surprise!

    Gomer Pyle

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  28. All About Dog Poop!

    Oops, what's that? Dog poop on my shoe?

    Nothing has a greater capacity to ruin your day than getting dog poop on your shoes. It's not a pleasing prospect for you or your children to inadvertently step in some dog's poop. Imagine yourself all dressed in your Sunday finery on your way to church, or your kids playing in the park. It can and has happened to everyone.

    Being proactive in removing your dog's crap will go a long way in protecting the health, safety, and beauty of your community.

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  29. Masturbation: the primary sexual activity of mankind. In the nineteenth century it was a disease; in the twentieth, it's a cure.

    - Thomas Szasz

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  30. Getting The Most From Your Facial

    Have you ever gone to get a facial with a full face of make-up? It can take a lot of time to get all that eyeshadow, mascara, and lipstick off (especially if it’s formulated to be long-lasting.) Next time, go with a bare face. That way the esthetician can spend most of her time on the good stuff – extractions (if you need them), massage, and a mask to nourish your skin.

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  31. West Virginia-Mex Possum Stew

    1 lean possum cut-up (lean is probably winter kill)
    flour
    cooking oil
    1 cup chopped onions
    1 clove garlic, minced
    1 can (4 ounces) green chili peppers ( adjust for your taste)
    1 teaspoon black pepper
    8 ounces red wine (optional)
    1 small can whole kernel corn
    1 small can tomato sauce
    1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans
    1 can (15 ounces) canned tomatoes
    1 can beef broth or two cups water
    1 package taco seasoning mix

    Dredge meat in flour to coat. Brown pieces in hot skillet in cooking oil. Add remaining ingredients. Stir and cover. Reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 to 2 hours stirring occasionally. Can also make in a slow cooker. Serve with rice. Place a large bag of corn chips in center of table. Shredded Cheddar cheese and sour cream make this a real gourmet dish. Forget the avocado; folks who eat possum don't eat avocados.

    And for the entree : Opossum with spam a la Moskva

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  32. Habu,

    Have any advice for vineyard owners?

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  33. ppab, On Vineyards

    Will Rogers once said of stocks,
    "Buy ones that go up, if they don't go up don't buy 'em"

    Vineyards are similar.

    Buy vines that produce the best grapes for winemaking, if they don't make good wine then H-bomb the bastard that sold you the lousy vines.

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  34. Muslim birthrate worries Russia

    The rate in Moscow is even lower, at 1.1 children per woman.
    Russia's Muslims, however, are bucking that trend. The fertility rate for Tatars living in Moscow is six children per woman, Mr. Goble said, while the Chechen and Ingush communities are averaging 10 children per woman. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have been flocking to Russia in search of work.
    Russia Forgets WHAT THE PENIS IS FOR

    Ingush communities are averaging 10 children per woman. WOW!!!!

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  35. Fellow Peacekeeper,

    I'd like to hear your opinion on adding some fava beans and serving possum with a nive chianti?

    By the way, a very gourmet recipe. Mine is rather back woodsy, and lacks the sophistication of yours. It's good we can offer our fellow posters a choice.

    By the way I would recommend using a deep fryer, just make sure the critter is dead first cause they really put up a fuss about go'in down deep fried alive.

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  36. With so many people setting US foreign policy in the Middle East, it's getting hard for all the players to know exactly what the policy is. Jesse Jackson should get credit for recently being the first to talk to the Syrians. Who knows what he had to say to them. The Baker commission and Henry Kissenger then decided that we should invite the Syrians and Iranians into Iraq to help stabilize the situation. Tony Blair embraces the Baker idea and broadcasts it on Al Jazeera. In the mean time President Bush continues hard line rhetoric about the Syrians and Iranians being sponsors of terror. Apparently, the Syrians are treating the
    Jackson, Baker,Kissenger, Blair,Bush Doctrine as a buffet and have selected Baker/Blair entrees to 'help stabilize' the situation in Lebanon as well as Iraq.

    Prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday, increasing tensions in Lebanon amid a showdown between opponents and allies of Damascus that threatens to topple the government.

    Anti-Syrian politicians quickly accused Damascus in the shooting, as they have in previous assassinations of Lebanese opponents of its larger neighbor. Gemayel, the industry minister, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure to be killed in the past two years and the first member of the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to be slain

    In Washington, the U.S. State Department denounced the assassination as terrorism and an attempt to intimidate Saniora's government. The United States has accused Syria and Iran of plotting to overthrow the government, which is dominated by anti-Syrian politicians.


    What a freaking mess. It's worse than even Desert Rat thinks it is.

    Habu,
    I hope possum tater doesn't see your 1:45PM post. He'll throw himself under the first southbound pulpwood truck that he can find on US 17.

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  37. Rufus,

    i was a steam'in semen (noun: the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract) machine on four continents but I was always careful.....that's why somewhere I'm referred to as Cousin-Daddy who got killed in the war.

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  38. Over at WESTHAWK there's articles, same at Maggies Farm and Mother Jones. Human Events has articles and the WaPo and NYT have many.
    VDH writes; Kramer rants the "N" word..his meds must have failed him he was WAY over the top...watch the video or just walk back and forth in your living room or great room yelling "N" thi and "N" that ..you'll get the flavor.

    unjust laws

    "Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?" [Thoreau, "Resistance to Civil Government" 779]

    Wambly Bald once candidly asked the author William Seabrook, "you're a cannibal?" to which Seabrook simply replied, "You bet." Unfortunately this brief comment was not enough to satisfy Wambly's curiosity. Being the inquisitive type he wanted to learn more of the gruesome details about what he had heard, so he continued, "Did you really eat human flesh at one of the jungle parties?" (1) Seabrook replied, "Sure." Wambly undeterred by Seabrook's brief comments continued, "Was the victim a man, woman or child?" "I don't know. They gave me a slice of neck," replied Seabrook. Wambly still thirsting for more details continued his questioning, "Did it taste like pork?" Seabrook, finally looking up from the table, replied, "Yes, except that it needed more seasoning." Wambly Bald ends his story by stating that his reply was simply "Ugh!"

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  39. What is "Normal"?

    Cannibalism. Although rare today, the most common form of cannibalism is endocannibalism: eating one's deceased relatives. It's considered a sign of respect, and a way to help their spirits live on. The Yanomamö practice it by crushing the bones into a powder, mixing it into gruel, and drinking the mixture.
    TODAY

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  40. Stoutfellow,
    You may have already heard this.

    A farmer walks into a bar with a three-legged pig. The bartender asks, "How come that pig's missing a leg?"

    "Well," says the farmer, "there was a big fire. My house burned right down to the ground. My family and I all would have burned up with it if this pig hadn't come into the flaming, smoke-filled house and dragged each of us out, one by one."

    "Wow," says the bartender, respectfully.

    "Yep," says the farmer, "and you just don't eat a pig like that all at once."

    Well, PossumTater is my "last can of Spam, my three legged pig, so to speak. he don't read so good so I'm not worrieed about him finding out..plus, I just don't think I could do it to him..maybe another but not him.
    I got him trained now so he'll steal the neighbors social security check and cash it. We split the take.

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  41. "In Washington, the U.S. State Department denounced the assassination as terrorism and an attempt to intimidate Saniora's government."
    ---
    Whoa!
    Them's fighten words.
    That's the most Serious (empty) threat to come out of DC in the last month!
    Nukes at 11 o'clock high:
    W's secret plans finally come out of wraps.
    How could I have been so wrong?

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  42. HOLIDAY SEASON RECIPES (CON'T)

    Pickled Pigs' Feet

    An item available in about every corner grocery
    store when I was growing up was pickled pigs feet.
    Some places you could only buy a jar, other places
    you could buy them individually. They go great with
    a cold beer. Here is a quick and easy recipe for you
    to fix your own:

    Ingredients:

    4 pigs' feet (split in half)
    3 cups cider vinegar
    1 onion (sliced)
    1 tsp crushed red pepper
    3 whole cloves
    1 bay leaf

    Wash the pigs feet thoroughly. Place in a pot with cold
    water along with the vinegar. Bring to a boil and skim
    off the foam. Add other ingredients and cook over medium
    heat until thoroughly done (approximately 2 1/2 hours).

    Store in a container along with the liquid. If you have
    too much liquid, remove the cooked pigs feet and boil it
    down a little. Refrigerate. Serve cold.

    For after dinner a slice of Claxton Fruitcake and some buttermilk..umm.umm good

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  43. All these possum recipies are very interesting but of little value to those of us who lack the ambition required to obtain the prinicpal ingredient.

    It is now late autumn here in the rust belt. The signs of this are quite clear. Among them:

    the Cleveland Indians season of futility is long forgotten.

    the cleveland Brown's Season of futility is now assured.

    the sun has not shown on fabulous Akron for at least three days.

    The steelhead aren't biting on the Vermilion river because the weather ain't quite shitty enough yet.

    But perhaps the most important indicator of the season's change is the subtle but unmistakeable shift in road kill. We are no longer slaughtering possum and skunks but are now killing squirrels and deer.

    I'm assuming that one may freely substitute one hairy assed itty bitty herbivore for another but I seek assurances.

    Advice is welcome

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  45. Goat Testicle Stew

    8 - 10 pairs of goat testicles
    Salt water.
    1 large chopped onion
    Several chili peppers
    Celery
    Potatoes, butter & milk for mashed potatoes

    Boil the testicles in natural saltwater. Throw onions, chili peppers and celery in the in the pot.
    Let it boil for approximately 1 1/2 hours.
    Serve with mashed potatoes

    Once again polish the feast offf with a slice of Claxton Fruitcake and a big glass of buttermilk

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  47. The good news never stops:
    "As Bush left a guest house for breakfast, three police motorcycles escorting his motorcade crashed on slick pavement and rolled onto a grassy median. Officers were seen lying on the grass, and members of the White House medical team - including an ambulance - were cut loose from the motorcade to help, said Dr. Richard Tubb, Bush's doctor. Local ambulance and fire units also were sent to the scene.

    The three cyclists had just ridden past the president's limousine to jump ahead and control traffic when they crashed.

    Two were transported by ambulance to a local hospital, where a 30-year-old officer was in serious condition, and a 36-year-old officer was in stable condition, said Bryan Cheplick, spokesman for the Honolulu Emergency Services Department.

    No information was available on the condition or location of the third officer because he was treated by Hickam base emergency responders.

    A White House official, meanwhile, was beaten and robbed by two men while out in Honolulu on Monday night.
    Washington Times

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  48. Habu,
    Re your 3:15 PM.

    LMAO. Thanks. I needed that.

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  49. Skipsailing,
    I am sorry to hear that the with the seasons change comes a paucity of the better road kill cuisine choices.

    I feel obligated to warm you that the aforementioned recipes are traditional southern trailer park recipes and my not be suitable if you are accustom to eating with utinsiles other than plastic ones from Taco Bell.
    Also in the spirit of multiculturalism and our new found repects for those who harm us and may take us over I suggest reading Hygiene in Islam - The Halal Way of Cooking ...look at the next post

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  50. Anonymous? That was me LMAO.
    Thanks again.

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  51. halal approved

    Whole Stuffed Camel

    100 servings ½ day 2 hours prep
    Change to: servings US Metric
    1 whole camel, medium size
    1 whole lamb, large size
    20 whole chickens, medium size
    60 eggs
    12 kg rice
    2 kg pine nuts
    2 kg almonds
    1 kg pistachio nuts
    110 gallons water
    5 lbs black pepper
    salt

    Not the one? See other Whole Stuffed Camel Recipes
    Barbecue One-Dish Meal
    Palestinian One-Dish Meal
    Ramadan One-Dish Meal
    Skin, trim and clean camel (once you get over the hump), lamb and chicken.
    Boil until tender.
    Cook rice until fluffy.
    Fry nuts until brown and mix with rice.
    Hard boil eggs and peel.
    Stuff cooked chickens with hard boiled eggs and rice.
    Stuff the cooked lamb with stuffed chickens.
    Add more rice.
    Stuff the camel with the stuffed lamb and add rest of rice.
    Broil over large charcoal pit until brown.
    Spread any remaining rice on large tray and place camel on top of rice.
    Decorate with boiled eggs and nuts.
    Serves a friendly crowd of 80-100.

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  52. Muslim birthrate worries Russia

    Low domestic birthrates and rising immigration from the former Soviet republics are producing explosive growth in Russia's Muslim community, which is on a track to account for more than half the population by midcentury.

    Can we spell "ethnic cleansing?"

    Suddenly half the population of Russia struck down by poisonous mussels.
    ---
    Exit plan benchmarks
    ---
    President Bush's monumental blunders in post-Saddam Iraq have left no thrilling exit strategies. The idea of a unified, democratic, stable and nonsectarian Iraq is fatuous. An exit plan should be more earthbound. Its benchmarks should be fourfold: The United States should not appear to have been defeated by the terrorist insurgency; a civil war in Iraq should be averted; Iran should not be left to dominate the region; and U.S. troops should be withdrawn within 12 months.
    Setting a fixed timetable for American troop withdrawals without more would be clearly deficient. Islamic fanatics would be seen to have defeated the "Great Satan" and recruitment into terrorist ranks would soar. Remember the enormous boost to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden when the Islamic resistance in Afghanistan (supported by the United States) was seen to have triumphed over the then-superpower Soviet Union. The result was the rise of Taliban, and ultimately the terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001.
    In addition, a troop withdrawal, simpliciter, guarantees a murderous civil war between Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Kurds...

    ReplyDelete
  53. THE FOLLOWING IS OFFERED AS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
    The Halal Way

    Question :
    Does it state anywhere in the Qur'an or any Hadeeth that it is not permissable for Muslim sisters to wear tampons?

    Answer :
    Praise be to Allaah. Yeah Bro

    The Muslim is always commanded to avoid najaasah (impure things), because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

    “And purify your garments!”

    [al-Muddaaththir 74:4]

    Menstrual blood is naajis (impure), and if it gets on a woman's clothes, she has to wash them. With regard to these tampons, we should refer to what women customarily use. At the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), the women used to wear special clothes at the time of menstruation, because it was narrated that Umm Salamah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: “My period came when I was with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), so I slipped away from him and put on the clothes I used to wear when I was menstruating…” (narrated by al-Bukhaari, al-Hayd, 311). And the general guideline is that things are permitted, and there is no evidence to indicate that this is not allowed. So it is not correct to say that this is not allowed. In fact there are reports which indicate that it is permitted to use cotton to check the flow of blood.

    It was narrated from Hamnah bint Jahsh that she menstruated at the time of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and she came to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said, “I have a strong, prolonged flow of blood.” He said to her: “Block it with cotton.” She said, “It is greater than that. My blood gushes.” He said, “Consider yourself to be on your menses each month for six or seven days known to Allaah, then do ghusl and pray and fast for twenty-three or twenty-four days. Delay Zuhr prayer and bring ‘Asr forward, and do ghusl for them. And delay Maghrib and bring ‘Ishaa’ forward and do ghusl for them. This is the more beloved of the two ways to me.” (Narrated by Ibn Maajah, al-Tahaarah wa Sunanuhaa, 619. Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan Ibn Maajah, no. 510).

    And Allaah knows best.
    use cotton to check the flow of blood.
    use cotton to check the flow of blood.
    use cotton to check the flow of blood.
    use cotton to check the flow of blood.


    )
    __________________

    ReplyDelete
  54. Doug

    use cotton to check the flow of blood.
    use cotton to check the flow of blood.
    use cotton to check the flow of blood.
    use cotton to check the flow of blood.

    ReplyDelete
  55. I bought a cookbook at some fundraiser for rednecks. You know, one of those silly books where people compile thier favorite recipies for ghastly things like string bean casserole with canned fried onions or that really nasty ambrosia stuff.

    But this cookbook was different. All the recipies began with these words:

    Steal a chicken.

    bahdabing, bah dah boom.

    Yes in fact there are Steelhead in the Vermilion. this time of the year there are some nice stretches of river where the unemployed Ford factory guys are crowded shoulder to shoulder smoking marlboros and bragging that "yesterday was better".

    I went last week and some enormous dude clad in head to toe carhartt assured me that the steelies weren't biting because the weather was too nice. that is now my official prime reason for being skunked. Oh man, that excuse has it all.

    I recall pitching my number eight fly rod on the river a few winters ago. As the buzz from the brandy wore off I realized I was standing hip deep in water waving a stick around while huge chunks of ice drifted past me on the current. That's crazy but I wasn't alone. I left when it started snowing but a few guys hung in there.

    Seriously, the ONDR didn't stock the vermilion in the past but the steelies have been running up it for years now. Last spring they finally started planting some and that will assure that we'll have good strong runs for the next several years.

    They stock the Manistee strain and they get them from Michigan. I think they trade muskie fingerlings but I'm not certain. These steelies average about 24 inches and they are by far the best fighting fish around.

    I haven't done much fishing to be honest, but its getting on time. This weekend will be too good to pass up. It'll be crowded but by now the run is going full bore.

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  56. The longtime Democratic operative's rage is particularly intense because he knows the sort of people to whom our future security is now being entrusted. He expressed deep concern that California's Rep. Nancy Pelosi would be, as speaker of the House, two heartbeats away from the presidency, saying she is no more prepared to be commander in Chief than he would be to serve as an astronaut on a lunar mission.
    Evidence of just how ill-suited is Mrs. Pelosi for any national security responsibility has become manifest even before she was becomes speaker. She campaigned aggressively for Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania to become the House majority leader. Though the Democratic caucus overwhelmingly rejected this most vociferous champion of swift abandonment of Iraq, Mrs. Pelosi will make him chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee -- from which he will be able to harm the war effort immensely.
    Worse yet, as Democrat Pat Caddell pointed out, the speaker-elect is intent on entrusting to Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings the chairmanship of what many Americans regard as the House panel with the greatest responsibility for our security, the Intelligence Committee. Mr. Caddell observed that this is frightening on several grounds. To do so, Mrs. Pelosi had to reject the more-senior Rep. Jane Harman of California, ostensibly because she had not been sufficiently partisan as ranking minority member.
    She will also have to ignore the fact that in a previous incarnation, then-Judge Hastings abused a very valuable intelligence tool -- wiretaps -- by ordering them on Mafia figures and selling transcripts to the subjects of the surveillance. Mr. Caddell caustically recalled that a Democrat-controlled House impeached the judge for this crime by a vote of 403-3 and a Democrat-controlled Senate convicted him by a vote of 69-23.
    Pat Caddell is right that the Republican failure during the campaign to frame the national security issue properly -- including the horrifying prospect of a Hastings chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee -- is substantially responsible for the fact there will be an acute lack of security-minded leadership in the 110th Congress. Already, our enemies have taken heart from this turn of events. Worse yet, the lack of adult supervision raises real concern as eminences of both parties call for negotiations with them and their appeasement via sacrifice of Israel's security.
    The way ahead is for Republicans to join forces with sensible Democrats like Pat Caddell on a robust, bipartisan national security plan for waging the War for the Free World. Ben Franklin's famous warning was never more true: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately."
    Frank Gaffney

    ReplyDelete
  57. use cotton to check the flow of blood ...Halal

    Dixie As a Halal song, who would have known?

    Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton,
    Old times there are not forgotten,
    Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land

    jeez I guess you'd look away!

    ReplyDelete
  58. "As the buzz from the brandy wore off I realized .....

    that what they call it up thar?

    I guess you be right..I think I remember all those stories about how much Bob Marley liked brandy

    ReplyDelete
  59. http://votesocialist.info/noblame_anim.gif

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  60. You Americans do worry great much. You should just have vacation, take time off, goto Wal-Mart and shop for Christmas toys :-D

    You have two great oceans and in between there is big fun for you. Uncle Sam is a great juggler but his spangled circus can triumphantly go to homecoming. Big fun!

    China can save the day. America does have many of its own balls and pins to toss up in the air and catch and toss again; but China has made levers. Levers very simple machines. Simple but powerful. We can put whole parts of the globe in gear. Its ok, you just take rest from juggliing. Ok?

    ReplyDelete
  61. Cheer up yankee doodles!

    I send all of you CDR of classic single! you choose:

    -"Survive"
    -"Final countdown"
    -"Theme from Captain Planet"

    ReplyDelete
  62. Hu cannot show off a handsome Photo in comment threads so long as you are not in blogger beta.

    Knocks in middle of night can solve, but America is scared of this 1-click expediting of governance.

    I need to build more embassies, maybe in Montana. Create 1-knock network. Eventually I will find the Admin of this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Rebuilding in Iraq tops 4,000 projects

    "Not counting the deteriorating security situation, no facet of the Iraq war has received more negative press than the U.S.- and Iraqi-financed reconstruction. The Washington Times, along with other newspapers, has published a series of articles on setbacks and corruption. But, the Pentagon contends there is another storyline.
    "It's quite a heroic story maligned often by the news media," Mr. Popps said during an interview in his E-Ring Pentagon office. A nearby multicolored map designates hundreds of projects started and completed, from Mosul to Basra.
    "
    ---
    So we keep transporting MSM in in hopes of getting the story out to no avail.
    Meanwhile the Censorship continues with Michael Yon and Walt Gaya being refused entry!

    ReplyDelete
  64. wu wei writes at BC:
    I have often thought about that, maybe Bush's reaction after the election is a Rove-ian trick, a clever stunt to get the Democrats and the enemy to reveal themselves.

    However, the quote below from washtimes.com shows that Bush caved in to Russia on his recent trip, giving them the WTO (trade) status they wanted, but getting nothing about Iran in exchange. IOW, Russia will continue to block sanctions against Iran.

    During a brief stop in Moscow and later in Hanoi, Mr. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin made more substantive progress on trade issues than on nonproliferation efforts. Russia's unwillingness to support sanctions against Iran has curtailed U.N. efforts against the rogue regime. Mr. Bush, equipped with an enticing carrot in the form of an agreement that would give Russia its coveted WTO membership, pressed the Russian president to support U.S. efforts against Iran. While important to the United States, the WTO agreement was even more valuable to Russia and an important bargaining chip. Mr. Bush, said Press Secretary Tony Snow, impressed upon Mr. Putin the need to send a "clear message that we're not only united, but serious." The agreement, signed Sunday, formalized U.S. consent to Russian entry into the WTO.

    ReplyDelete
  65. yes, they are all plants. they cannot reproduce, but they migrate down the rivers and into lake erie. The spend the summer north and deep, sometimes making huge runs in mid summer. That's all trolling though. A million boats with planer boards and drunks. Not my kind of fishing.

    The river is fished two ways, maggots or spawn sacs under a float or resin minnow pattern flies with a sinking tip fly line.

    As the winter closes in the steelies start munching on nymphs and sucker spawn, but right now its maggots and green minnows.

    ReplyDelete
  66. Ash,
    To premptively address Bud's constant glowing citations of growing GNP and etc:

    "To rock the US colossus forcefully out of its position of global dominance and credibly threaten to inflict economic and geopolitical "catastrophe" on the West, Russia and its strategic partners need not exceed, nor individually even remotely match, US economic, political or military strength in a conventional head-to-head contest of might.

    Instead, they need only to exert effectively their mounting energy-based strengths against US vulnerabilities in that same sphere, not in a conventional head-on confrontation but instead by going after the Achilles' heel by employing a clever asymmetrical end-run strategy around the US."

    More like the sword of Damocles, I'd say.
    "Not so rich as you think."

    ReplyDelete
  67. I would anticipate Buddy's response will be: 'that is why we must force all nations to pool the oil in the open market'. Alas that is beyond the scope of our power and the Russians and others are resisting...

    ReplyDelete
  68. I wonder, is Pat Buchanan on or off the approved reading list? An ally or an enemy, this week?

    In any case Mr Buchanans' pen is still in gear.

    ".... State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told the Post the secretary has been "doing a lot of thinking" about Iraq over the last two months.

    Thinking about what? Replied McCormack:

    "The primary focus is on the State Department role in Iraq and are we pursuing the proper policies, are we asking the right questions, are we seeking the right objectives, are we using the right means to achieve these objectives, following the right strategy and tactics?"

    Excuse me, but this sounds like some lost soul crying in a wilderness. Yet it is the voice of the foreign ministry of the world's last superpower in the fourth year of a war to decide the fate and future of the entire Middle East.
    ...
    Whatever is said about Eisenhower and Nixon, both came in with clear ideas of how they intended to extricate us from unpopular wars. Both did so and won landslide re-elections. Both set out a clear goal, made the necessary military and diplomatic moves, and took the political heat. Apparently, our present war leaders, four years into the war, have no policy to win or end this war.

    They are throwing up questions, asking advice, pleading for ideas, begging for answers. Even the U.S. joint chiefs of staff have joined in the hunt.

    "One component of the larger (review) effort is likely to be a military review initiated in mid-September by Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff," writes Wright. "His assessment of anti-terrorism efforts, with a core focus on Iraq, includes 16 top commanders meeting daily to brainstorm on questions such as: 'Where are we going? What are we trying to do? Are we going to get there this way?'"

    Is this not disconcerting? The most experienced warriors of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are sitting around every day, asking one another: "Where are we going? What we are we trying to do?"

    Can one imagine Douglas MacArthur, Chester Nimitz, "Bull" Halsey and Curtis LeMay sitting around day after day in Honolulu, asking each other: "Where are we going? What are we trying to do?" ..."


    But Mr Buchanan is such a ...

    ReplyDelete
  69. What these strategic reviews also suggest is that George Bush, the defiant leader atop the pile of rubble at the World Trade Center, George Bush "The Decider," George Bush the resolute war chief who will stay the course in Iraq if only Laura and Barney are still with him, has vacated the White House.

    In his stead sits a president asking questions, seeking ideas, searching for answers. If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

    Pat Buchanan "Befuddled Superpower"

    ReplyDelete
  70. Mr Newt cares about Health Care and better managed governmental services. According to "Fortune", which was posted at the CNN web site, so could be contaminated so beware!

    While other potential competitors like Arizona Senator John McCain, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney build staff and hire consultants, Gingrich revealed to Fortune that he plans to create a draft-Newt "wave" by building grassroots support for his health care, national security and energy independence ideas - all of which he has been peddling to corporate audiences over the past six years. "Nice people," Gingrich says of his GOP competitors. "But we're not in the same business. They're running for president. I'm running to change the country."

    In December, Gingrich will launch a 527 group, called "American Solutions for Winning the Future," that will enable him to raise and spend unlimited money on behalf of this effort. In January, he will conduct a strategy meeting with advisers. By next fall, he'll decide whether to make a bid official - a late start by any recent historical standard.

    It's a strategy that would be considered far-fetched if this were any other candidate. But Gingrich has to be taken seriously. Polls place him third in the GOP presidential nomination race, behind Giuliani and McCain. And a recent internal GOP poll recently put him second, and ahead of McCain, "

    Gingrich '08: The stealth candidate
    The controversial former House Speaker seems to throw his hat in the ring as a GOP presidential candidate, and promises that health care reform will be the big issue. An exclusive Fortune interview.


    If you get to the article, Mr Newts' office has a linked response to the claims.

    ReplyDelete
  71. many of our fellow citizens are axing why we be wanting to do one ofa tree thangs
    1. GO BIG
    2. GO HARD
    3. GO LONG
    4. GO STONG
    ?
    ENVELOPE PLEASE
    JUST DO IT

    ReplyDelete
  72. DR...you're getting out there where the Amen Corner gonna git ya..you cited a NAZI,A JEW HATER,A man that ran for president while owning a Mercedes Benz....

    keep head down for incoming...as I've said before..he's right more than wrong on many many things.

    ReplyDelete
  73. DR.
    watch your mailbox closely..someone may try to slip you a Claxton Fruit Cake ...excellent by the way for long distance hiking..no kidding

    ReplyDelete
  74. In Clinton, Montana (home to one of the most famous Testicle Festivals) they feed over 2 1/2 tons of bull balls to over 15,000 visitors!

    ReplyDelete
  75. Well, there is always a little bit of Hope, in Clinton.

    ReplyDelete
  76. doug said:

    However, the quote below from washtimes.com shows that Bush caved in to Russia on his recent trip, giving them the WTO (trade) status they wanted, but getting nothing about Iran in exchange.

    He practiced this trick with Congress first, giving them the earmarks and prescription drug benefit they wanted, and in return they table his social security reforms, judges, and tax breaks indefinitely.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Tranz wrote:

    And some of us don't "welcome our Democrat overlords" the least bit, while others only pretend not to, sometimes, every fourth comment, or so, in the company of conservatives.

    You know, today I had a mammo and found out it's just a benign cyst, not cancer, so I'm feeling quite mellow today and I'm thinking I could reach out to my Elephant Bar buddies again and see what shakes, but with some folks it's just not happening.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Hu Dat?, China would only wish she has the US' ability to juggle balls when the Islamists start to shut off the oil flow. Nuclear power can only carry you so far. Besides, think of the Nork situation. Think your levers work? Sorry, but they're broken, and you just don't know it.

    What can China do to secure their energy supplies if the ME, having achieved victory in North America and Europe(just throwing out as a WCS), decide that we, the Han, are their next targets?

    Do you think China, even forty years later, will have the technology and force projection to mount military expeditions the likes of Gulf War 2, or even D-Day? When they can't even guarantee a successful invasion and pacification of Taiwan now?

    I'm an anglophile, but also a Sinophile by blood, perhaps in even more fundamental aspects than you will ever be. Growing up in Singapore, surrounded by non-chinese, only made me that much aware of my own culture and my heritage. I fear for my culture and my people and our rich history.

    Which is why I am fervently wishing the bloody PRC will stop playing the Great Game as though the US is an opponent and start acting more responsibly by exerting what little influence they have to curb islamic fanaticism, especially in the ME. Or at the very least, SHUT THE FUCK UP when the US is doing something beneficial to everybody in the long run!

    I do hope Hu Dat was a parody and not serious. What a disgrace(like the dozens of chinese nationalists/budding imperialists on the net).

    ReplyDelete
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