COLLECTIVE MADNESS


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

Saturday, March 01, 2008

"Red Phone Moments"


The Clinton Campaign has aired a television ad showing sleeping children and asking who would be more qualified to answer a national security emergency call at 3 a.m. What can we infer from Barack Obama's response?

"The question is not about picking up the phone. The question is: What kind of judgment will you make when you answer?"

"We've had a red phone moment. It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Senator Clinton gave the wrong answer. George Bush gave the wrong answer. John McCain gave the wrong answer," Obama said.

Obama's hindsight is 20-20. But what about his judgment? What does it say about the man who refused to accept the "common knowledge" and nearly universal opinion of the world's intelligence agencies that Saddam Hussein had WMD and was a threat to use them? If, in the highly charged and uncertain atmosphere after 9/11, Barack Obama was unwilling to proactively act against Iraq which had been labeled by many as the "most dangerous place on earth," it is unlikely that a President Obama will act proactively and preemptively against threats in the future. The US Intelligence may have been wrong about the threat posed by Iraq, but Mr. Obama had no way of knowing that at the time. Each time he reminds us of his unwillingness to act then raises questions about his willingness to act in the future.

He has indicated that he will sit down and dialogue with anyone. Like other notable Democrats who have been to Syria for tea with Assad, would his ready dialogue cloud his judgment as he too "looks into the other man's eyes?" We don't know the answer just as we don't know many other answers to the Obama enigma. Since the media refuse or are not allowed by the Obama campaign to draw out the candidate, we can only speculate based on his previous words, actions, positions and associations. Unfortunately, this leaves us feeling uneasy about his suitability as Commander-in-Chief at this particular point in history.

For example, this weekend Israel is once again engaged in ground actions against its mortal enemies in Gaza and the USS Cole stands in full alert off the coast of Lebanon. Given the recent assassination of Hezbollah's number two and the subsequent vows of revenge and war, would a President Obama send the most advanced defensive platform in the world to essentially cover Israel's back?

That's a very good question for the media to ask the vague candidate Obama. The media has gotten very lazy in the last decade. Rather than dig deeper into a candidates background and beliefs they have preferred to cover the horse race of elections. These elections are not games and at some point, the adults must do their jobs. Witty retorts in public debates won't do. With Obama's short resume, we must have a much more extensive and critical interview process and if the MSM is unwilling to do their proper jobs or fail to perform as constitutionally envisioned, the McCain campaign will have to force the issue. So far, Obama has gotten an easy ride. Unless we're to become a nation/cult of Kool-Aid drinkers, that must change.


92 comments:

  1. "What would George Washington do about Iraq?"

    He would change the rules.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, after all the posturing, and postulating, he did invade Canada; Didn't he?

    As for Obama, this will be the toughest vote of my life; but, I can't vote for McCain.

    Let us all Pray.

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  3. Rufus, have you seen this yet?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah, he's a dandy, ain't he?

    It'll be tough; but, maybe, we'll get by with only four years of him.

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  5. We're all praying for you, Rufus!:) We're all bending our minds in holy meditation, trying to influence your will. Rufus, Rufus, see the light, is my mantra, as I go to sleep:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Akmed, Barry here. I want you to know I hold in reserve the right to do my duty as c in chief, think about that, wouldja? Have a community event to attend to, call back tomorrow."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bob,

    Rufus is a name meaning "red" in Latin. You can stop praying, it wont help. :P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Is it really? An alternative strategy Ruf might pursue would be just to sit the election out down at Doyle's, if it's open on Election Day. Then he would have established 'plausible deniability', personally, as regards to the disaster to come.:)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Politics makes strange bedfellows. I can't believe I'm hoping for Hillary on Tuesday. Not that I'd want to sleep with Hillary, in the flesh, you know. But it's true. I want to see the knives out on the democratic convention floor.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Iran should have a nuclear weapon by 2010, says Israel’s military intelligence chief. This estimate was put before the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee by Israel’s military intelligence AMAN chief, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, in his briefing Tuesday, Feb. 26.

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  11. I'm considering just voting for the Republican congressmen/Senator, and leaving the top of the ticket blank.

    I've got a hunch that that's what I might end up doing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. "What does it say about the man who refused to accept the 'common knowledge' and nearly universal opinion of the world's intelligence agencies that Saddam Hussein had WMD and was a threat to use them?"

    Your use of sweeping generalizations aside...Um, that he was smarter than they were? Where I come from we don't call that hindsight.

    Rufus, correct me if I'm wrong: You said that you were voting for Hillary back when Romney was the presumptive nominee. So to what extent does your decision hinge on McCain as the nominee rather than simply a determination to vote for a Democrat this time around? (It's a leading question, but I'm trying to be brief.)

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  13. "The US Intelligence may have been wrong about the threat posed by Iraq, but Mr. Obama had no way of knowing that at the time."

    US Intelligence was not convinced that Saddam Hussein would deploy, himself or by proxy, what it wrongly ascertained that he had. Not by a long shot.

    And thankfully, intelligence reforms have gone some way in guarding against a repeat of the unmitigated catastrophe that helped pave the way back to Iraq.

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  14. I'm pretty sure Rufus liked Romney, as I recall we were on the same wave length on that. Am I right, Rufus?

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  15. No, I NEVER said that. I was pulling for Romney real hard. I just won't vote for McCain (for reasons I've enumerated here, before.)

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  16. Yes, Bob; that's correct. I was really hoping that he would make it.

    Now, I'm just praying for a Carter/Reagan scenario. We only get to have one of our guys about half the time. McCrazy just isn't worth wasting an "UP" on.

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  17. "Last year I believe (looking forward without relish to refugee status as a Cato conservative) I laid out my fear that the Republican Party would morph increasingly into a party of big government conservatism, spearheaded by Christian Evangelicals and sundry, discontented others. Without effective opposition by an older conservatism within."

    I've been pointing to the European Christian Democratic parties as a warning, myself.

    I don't think there's enough of the older version left. And many of those who are have been distracted, like someone with a shiny object, by the transition of the Republican Party into a 'war party.'

    "Tell me about liberal fascism. How the 'progressives' force ideology upon the masses through dictatorship. ya know, like Mussolini."

    Do your own reading. Starting, perhaps, with the Road to Serfdom.

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  18. Tiniest Font the NY Times could find to print, beneath a story on McGovern/Hillary!
    As Obama Fund-Raiser Goes on Trial, Questions Linger

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  19. In Case anyone missed this link to the SNL Video of Dumbo.
    ---
    Did 'SNL' Go Beyond the Pale With Fauxbama? -
    Washington Post
    Nobody much cared about Armisen's racial background (he is of white and Asian heritage) when he played Prince and Steve Jobs during seasons past of the NBC show. Nor did it seem to matter that "SNL's" Darrell Hammond, who is white, has impersonated the Rev. Jesse Jackson for years. Or that decades ago on "SNL," Billy Crystal played Sammy Davis Jr.

    But in 2008, Obama isn't just any politician or celebrity. Which is why Armisen's DNA became something of an issue when he became "Fauxbama" in "SNL's" first show back since the writers' strike ended this month.

    Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune put the question bluntly: "Call me crazy, but shouldn't 'Saturday Night Live's' fictional Sen. Barack Obama be played by an African-American?" Ryan went on to conclude: "I find 'SNL's' choice inexplicable. Obama's candidacy gives us solid proof of the progress that African-Americans have made in this country. I guess 'SNL' still has further to go on that front."

    Hannah Pool, a writer for the Guardian newspaper in Great Britain, suggested the whole setup had "minstrel" overtones.

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  20. The whole setup has setup overtones.
    We the People Done Been Setup.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anybody else notice Blogger's Performance is tending toward the bad old BC Days?

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  22. Great link, Mat, I'll spread it around.

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  23. Are you saying, rufus, that I'm wildly mistaken?







    Let the EB record reflect that it's the first time.

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  24. Sadly humorous reading two years on.

    From March, 2006:


    Pachyderms in the Mist: Red America and the MSM

    This is a blog for the majority of Americans.

    Since the election of 1992, the extreme political left has fought a losing battle. Their views on the economy, marriage, abortion, guns, the death penalty, health care, welfare, taxes, and a dozen other major domestic policy issues have been exposed as unpopular, unmarketable and unquestioned losers at the ballot box.

    Democrats who have won major elections since 1992 have, with very few exceptions, been the ones who distanced themselves from the shrieking denizens of their increasingly extreme base, soft-pedaled their positions on divisive issues and adopted the rhetoric and positions of the right -- pro-free market, pro-business, pro-faith, tough on crime and strongly in favor of family values.

    Yet even in a climate where Republicans hold command of every branch of government, and advocate views shared by a majority of voters, the mainstream media continues to treat red state Americans as pachyderms in the mist - an alien and off-kilter group of suburbanite churchgoers about which little is known, and whose natural habitat is a discomforting place for even the most hardened reporter from the New York Times.

    During the discussions about the launch of this new blog, the good folks at washingtonpost.com spent far too much time in sessions with markers and whiteboard, trying to settle on a name for the column. The suggestions were all over the map - but one suggestion provided a reminder of the sociopolitical divide in this country. "What about 'Red Dawn'?" said one helpful editor.

    "Well, only if you want to make people think it was a gun blog," I said, to puzzled faces.

    "Red Dawn? You must know it - the greatest pro-gun movie ever? I mean, they actually show the jackbooted communist thugs prying the guns from cold dead hands."

    Any red-blooded American conservative, even those who hold a dim view of Patrick Swayze's acting "talent," knows a Red Dawn reference. For all the talk of left wing cultural political correctness, the right has such things, too (DO shop at Wal-Mart, DON'T buy gas from Citgo). But in the progressive halls of the mainstream media, such things prompt little or no recognition. For the MSM, Dan Rather is just another TV anchor, France is just another country and Red Dawn is just another cheesy throwaway Sunday afternoon movie.

    While the mainstream media has been slow to recognize the growth in conservative America, smart Democrats have not. Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Hillary Clinton are not alone in recognizing that the unhinged elements of their base, motivated by partisan rage, Michael Moore conspiracies and a pronounced feeling of victimhood have dragged down the Democratic Party for far too long. It's a political anchor apotheosized by the founders of leftist websites Daily Kos and MyDD, whose recently published book on political strategy and the Internet (an odd publication when one considers that DKos endorsed candidates are 0-19 in elections) opens with the sentence "Five years ago, the Republicans took over the government through nondemocratic means." Smart Democrats read this kind of rhetoric and recognize that if they continue to be the party of Howard Dean, the floor may be nonexistent.

    The reason there are political openings for these neo-triangulation strategies, however, is almost entirely the fault of Republican leadership. On issue after issue, Republicans have given in to the wisdom of the MSM and the beltway talking heads instead of listening to their constituents and the conservative political base. On the size of government, on immigration and on issues of federal power, Republicans have adopted the same Washington strategies that doomed the Democrats in the 1994 cycle, as this article yesterday illustrates. They've grown fat and happy on pork contracts, and forgotten why they were sent to this town in the first place.

    Even President Bush is guilty of this - would a White House that put principle before patronization, listened to its base, and remained focused on election season ever make the gargantuan mistake of nominating Harriet Miers? Of course not - and smart Democrats are determined to use this split to their advantage.

    Red America's citizens are the political majority. They're here to stay. It's time to start paying attention to what they believe and why.

    By Ben Domenech | March 21, 2006; 07:00 AM ET | Email a Comment
    Previous: About | Main Index | Next: Whiny? Crazy? You Just Might Be A Conservative

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  25. short version
    ---
    Mukasey/Pelosi Headlines:
    Another Sideshow brought to us via GWB's WMD Level Crony-Fueled Incompetence and Corruption.

    (carried out by the corrupt traitor Pelosi)

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  26. "Red America's citizens are the political majority. They're here to stay. It's time to start paying attention to what they believe and why."
    ---
    Um, no, as you say Trish:
    Just Legalize 20 Million Democrat Voting Breeders, ASAP.
    Which you have no problem with.

    ReplyDelete
  27. (more outraged by my non-PC term than their 40,000 victims)

    ReplyDelete
  28. "Israel’s threat to Gaza is really aimed at Egypt"

    Katyusha launches from Gaza have been rare. By contrast, the Israeli town of Sderot, about five kilometers or so from Gaza, is an almost daily recipient of Qassam rocket fire, the Qassam being a crude short-range rocket manufactured in Gaza.

    What do the Israelis intend to do about this escalation in the crisis, namely the threat of longer-range and more powerful Katyushas, smuggled into Gaza through Egyptian territory? The Israeli response has been to announce a possible ground invasion of Gaza , which may occur two weeks in the future:

    As Israeli troops, tanks and aircraft went after Palestinian rocket operations, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio that Israel had "no other choice" but to launch a massive military operation in Gaza.
    […]
    The Israeli military has completed its preparations for a major ground offensive and notified the government it is ready to move immediately when the order is given...

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  29. I think you did blurt out "Hillary" on your keyboard once, Ruf!
    Maybe the Beer Haze erased the memory?

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  30. Scored the books, but the wife took a walk in the woods. Hayduke lives, and his coming is foreshadowed by the sighting of seldom seen smith, which reminds me the ladies in my wife's brige club used to call me the furtive farmer; doc has married bonnie, and has one kid, with another in the cooker; tragic relation of the death of a turtle via bulldozer at the start of the book.....

    ReplyDelete
  31. "Just Legalize 20 Million Democrat Voting Breeders"

    Why assume that Democrats have a permanent corner on that particular market?

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  32. Let's read, shall we?

    www.nationalreview.com/comment/
    nadler200412080811.asp

    ReplyDelete
  33. heh, heh,
    Tricked you into posting a url!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Dang Doug; it must have been late on a saturday night, and I must have really been pissed.

    Blogging Drunk can really be a bitch, eh?

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. "Why assume that Democrats have a permanent corner on that particular market?"
    ---
    What a bunch of Statistical BS!
    Bush became (temporarily) more popular with "Hispanics" (not patriotic many generational ones) by giving away hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs done by Citizens (construction, for example) to illegals and their corrupt employers.
    Not to mention the bankrupted hospitals,
    ELEVEN HOUR WAITS IN LOS ANGELES EMERGENCY ROOMS,
    and skyrocketing gang crime.

    Great way to increase your NON-MAJORITY electorate.
    Jeeze.
    You Probly believe that Chronicle Story that says they commit less crime.
    So, what's wrong w/Black Helicopters, or any number of True Stories Al-Bob can relate from
    "Late Nite?"

    ReplyDelete
  36. We'd have to give the country away two times over, and get Bush a third-term exemption to "win."
    ---
    (having shit twice on our forefather's graves, and our children's future)

    ReplyDelete
  37. Um, beats a Drunk Bitch Blogging, Ruf, but I ain't gonna name names.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Reminds me, John Wooden, 97, suffered a fall.
    Good luck John.

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  39. McCain's Mother, 96, has a twin sister.
    When they went to France together, they were told they were too old to rent a car.
    Ok, said mom, bought a Peugeot? and continued on their trip, selling same when they left.

    ReplyDelete
  40. "Pauline duly arrived, trod on my leg and said
    "What have you done this time?"
    Ah, such sympathy!
    I asked after Trumpy and was told he was dented a bit.
    "

    ReplyDelete
  41. (Thank you for sharing that with us Howard - the next episode will include a section on the use of a parachute to minimise panel damage)

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  42. Look, Doug, you've been hurling vitriol at me for quite some time now. Being insufficiently supportive of the administration; being an apologist for the administration; not taking the Islamist threat seriously; not recognizing that it pales in comparison to the threat from non-Muslim illegals; being a Ron Paul supporter; being a McCain supporter. (There of course was your expressed worry that I would single-handedly ruin US-Colombia relations, but I take it your present Buchananite mood doesn't incline you to support the US-Colombia FTA, so popular hereabouts.)

    Like I said: The Doug Bar

    Shit on a stick every damned day.

    It's not an improvement over the Habu Bar.

    ReplyDelete
  43. "The complaint conservatives lodge against open immigration is that it fosters the balkanization of our nation, creating enclaves of “hyphenated Americans” ideologically isolated from our values, but parasitically attached to our pocketbooks. But whether our borders are thrown wide open or slammed tightly shut, it is hard to see how conservatives, by ignoring 7.5 million Hispanic voters, will make them less balkanized, or less liberal."
    ---
    Maybe, just maybe, responding to the EIGHTY PERCENT of citizens that would like a secure Border, and a stop to the incentives for a continuation of the illegal invasion, would lead to a more cohensive society and a RETURN TO THE RULE OF LAW.
    But, hey, any number of creative rationalizations can be spun to support the corrupt forces tearing down this great country so it can join the global community of third world socialist sewers as an equal.
    GWB's, McCain's, and the Dem's wetdream/reality.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Righto, Trish, or the RufVomit, Bar, MatJew Bar, AlBob Adolescent Bar, long gone Officer Al Bar, all mesmerized by your magnetic "personality."
    AND
    You got to avoid the subject with gratuitous insult.
    Nothing new here, move right along...

    ReplyDelete
  45. Sorry, forgot Habu.
    My Bad.
    A virtual house of horrors.
    (males)

    ReplyDelete
  46. You are the Sunshine of our lives.
    Trust Me.

    ReplyDelete
  47. "There of course was your expressed worry that I would single-handedly ruin US-Colombia relations"
    ---
    I don't recall that one.
    Probly a RufVomit Moment.
    Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Odd, that the rest of us don't spend all our time exchanging insults.
    hmmm...

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  49. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  50. Cutler said...

    ""Tell me about liberal fascism. How the 'progressives' force ideology upon the masses through dictatorship. ya know, like Mussolini."

    Do your own reading. Starting, perhaps, with the Road to Serfdom."

    Well ain't that sweet? Cutler is laying the bread crumbs outlining his path to enlightenment while acknowledging he hasn't read the book either. C'mon, a smart kid like you should realize that the US is a long way from being a fascist state. And then, if you're really are keen on stretching the meaning of fascism to accomodate your bias then you should, upon quiet comtemplation, even be able to come to the conclusion that the case is even easier to make for a 'rightwing fascism'. Who has controlled the isntitutions of State for the last bunch of years but the right? Who but the Bush admin. has had political litmus tests for all sorts of appointments from FEMA to scientific bodies? If you want to accept a diluted notion of fascism then it is clearly a 'conservative fascist' state that we inhabit. Personally I think it is absurd to dilute the notion of fascism so, but there ya go.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Hayduke has attacked the board meeting of the uranium mining company! (It must be he) Dressed as a cleaning lady, he entered the meeting with mop and pail, and poured radioactive materials all over the meeting table, and made his escape through the second story window, rapelling down on a rope, like a special forces master.

    Hayduke Lives!

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  52. Is that like a little bit pregnant?

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  53. I haven't checked the noose since noone.
    Is this a Red Phone Moment?
    Enlighten us, al Bob-Al!

    ReplyDelete
  54. Which is more critical,
    a red phone moment,
    or
    a red panties moment?
    You Decide.

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  55. Gawd those hands look like a Skeleton in Blackface.
    The Persona is beyond mention.

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  56. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  57. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  58. ‘Who Do You Trust?’

    "Jack Nicholson" Endorses Clinton with YouTube Movie Montage.
    Get Back, Jack.

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  59. Hillary Does SNL
    ---
    Did 'SNL' Go Beyond the Pale With Fauxbama? - SNL VIDEO!
    Washington Post
    Nobody much cared about Armisen's racial background (he is of white and Asian heritage) when he played Prince and Steve Jobs during seasons past of the NBC show. Nor did it seem to matter that "SNL's" Darrell Hammond, who is white, has impersonated the Rev. Jesse Jackson for years. Or that decades ago on "SNL," Billy Crystal played Sammy Davis Jr.

    But in 2008, Obama isn't just any politician or celebrity. Which is why Armisen's DNA became something of an issue when he became "Fauxbama" in "SNL's" first show back since the writers' strike ended this month.

    Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune put the question bluntly: "Call me crazy, but shouldn't 'Saturday Night Live's' fictional Sen. Barack Obama be played by an African-American?" Ryan went on to conclude: "I find 'SNL's' choice inexplicable. Obama's candidacy gives us solid proof of the progress that African-Americans have made in this country. I guess 'SNL' still has further to go on that front."

    Hannah Pool, a writer for the Guardian newspaper in Great Britain, suggested the whole setup had "minstrel" overtones.

    ReplyDelete
  60. So, even if you refuse to vote McCain, Rufus, could you please go west to Texas and give Hillary your support?
    Ya gotta admit, that was one sweet take.

    ReplyDelete
  61. I don't get it, what does SNL have to do with a woman's period? Talking of women, there's a great song to womanhood in "Hayduke Lives"-Bonnie Abbzug-Sarvis Reviews Her Life--Abby is in an argon, a mano a mano with Joyce in this chapter. I was thinking of posting it, for Trish, but it would take an hour's typing to do so.

    Figures, as it says all men are basically lazy pigs, among other things.

    ReplyDelete
  62. This lady makes Hillary look like a Capitalist Hawk:

    Michelle Obama: Hussein the 'ultimate fear bomb'...

    'Don't Go Into Corporate America'...

    And her little BOY Whiner.
    Obama Says Hillary Ad Scares Voters...
    ...and Mo Dowd offended Barry about his ears.
    Boo hoo, hoo.
    ---
    What she doesn’t mention is that the helping industry has treated her pretty well. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mrs. Obama’s compensation at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she is a vice president for community affairs, jumped from $121,910 in 2004, just before her husband was elected to the Senate, to $316,962 in 2005, just after he took office. And that does not count the money Mrs. Obama receives from serving on corporate boards. She would have been O.K. even without Jack’s magic beans.

    Mrs. Obama also bemoaned the amount of money she has to spend — nearly one-third of the median household income in Zanesville — on piano, dance, and other lessons for her two children. But she was grateful for the concern her husband's supporters have shown for her. "Everywhere I go, no matter what, the women in the audience, their first question for me is, 'How on earth are you managing it, how are you keeping it all together?'" she told the women.

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  63. Uh, could you tell me where I take my first step into understanding "Hayduke," Al-Bob-Al?
    ...thanks.

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  64. Limbaugh did an hour on the Corporate America thing.
    The Fucking Whore was making that 300k plus when she dropped out to become a radical rabble rouser for the poor again, as part of the Obama Crusade.
    ---
    FLASH!
    Just In!
    Rufus Endorses McCain!
    The Earth shifts on it's Magnetic Axis, and Global Cooling is confirmed by Nobel Laureate, Sir Algore.

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  65. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  66. Seemed to me it was a little like Anna Livia Plurabelle's monologue with herself.

    There's a place in Gaza called Gaza Partway, a themepark dedicated to the parting of the Red Sea, and an Israeli named Israel is visiting there now:)

    Omnia Gallo in tres partes divisa est--1st swig, 2nd swig, 3rd swig, passout.:)

    Hasta lumbego.

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  67. All you men do is think about sex anyways. And so proud of your yourselves too, would be funny if it weren't so ridiculous. Yours, Bonnie

    Give the girl some slack Doug. She's said he's a lazy pig around the home, snores, and if he's like all the rest of us, thinking about sex all the time. A university degree and lots of money can't compensate for going through that. I just don't see how she does it, how she keeps it together.

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  68. If Obama is going to pick a few old white republican men for his cabinet, maybe there's hope for Ron Paul yet.

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  69. Sun Mar 02, 05:30:00 AM EST
    LOL
    Sun Mar 02, 05:37:00 AM EST
    LOL

    Almost makes up for local news:
    Maui Tacos took over the food outlet at Wailea Marriot.

    Patrons and Marriot Employees that speak English are often not understood by Maui Tacos employees.

    Likewise Maui Tacos employees wrt English speaking patrons.

    Mui Malo,
    No Maas! No Maas!

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  70. Somehow all the native tagalog speakers from the Phillipines manage accented English.

    Is there a genetic difference between filipinos and "Hispanics" at play here?
    I think not.
    Corruption and lawlessnes RULES!

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  71. It's a Frigging RED PHONE MOMENT!
    Our border is breeched!
    The Brigands are Coming!
    Beware the Frito Bandito!
    Hoist the Towne Cross!
    Declare a decree of horning!

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  72. The brigand, therefore, is the outlaw who conducts warfare after the manner of an irregular or partisan soldier by skirmishes and surprises, who makes the war support itself by plunder.

    ReplyDelete
  73. "Great link, Mat, I'll spread it around."



    Doug,

    h/t goes to talnik over at BC.

    ReplyDelete
  74. Trish, you commented about Prince Harry on a previous thread. i thought you may find this interesting:

    "'Harry's War': The ugly truth

    Afghanistan veteran, Leo Docherty, criticises the British military campaign in Helmand province, where the Prince served until his tour of duty was cut short after details of it were leaked on the internet
    Related Articles

    The people's prince: with Harry in Afghanistan. Dog of war or PR pawn?

    By Leo Docherty, Afghanistan veteran INDEPENDENT
    Sunday, 2 March 2008

    Never has a young man looked as happy as Prince Harry did shooting away at suspected Taliban positions, near the town of Garmsir in Helmand province last week. After the crushing disappointment he suffered in not going to Iraq in 2007, the chance finally to deploy on operations as a forward air controller (responsible for guiding fighter jets and helicopter gunships to their targets via radio) will have come as a thrilling relief from the grim monotony of life in barracks.

    I know how he feels. I too was an officer in the Household Division. A demanding year's training at Sandhurst leaves you at the peak of physical fitness and motivation, bursting with pride in your regiment and schooled in the noble sacrifices made by the heroes of previous wars. The craving for action and adventure is overwhelming, matched by a sense of "doing your duty". The desire to serve in Afghanistan is reinforced by a vague knowledge of heroes of the colonial-era "great game".

    A favourite poem of the Army is one of James Elroy Flecker's, which sums up the aspirations of all young officers: "Go as a pilgrim, and seek out danger ... pit your very soul against the unknown and seek stimulation in the company of the brave." Every young officer wants to do just that. And operations are definitely a chance to seek out danger and live out the heroic ideal. As Harry said of his time in Garmsir: "It is somewhat what I imagine the Second World War to be like."

    On operations the routine of regimental duty is replaced by a volatile mixture of excitement, frustration and terror. Courage, coolness and earthy humour are all that matter. Profound friendships are quickly forged between all ranks. The Gurkhas working with Harry have, to his delight, treated him like any other officer, probably for the first time ever. Indeed as Harry said himself: "This is about as normal as I'm ever going to get."

    Did he say normal? If dropping bombs on Afghans and fighting from a base in Helmand is as close as Harry will ever get to normal life, then it's a sad indictment of his existence back home. But the real point here is that life for Afghans in Garmsir has been very far from normal since we Brits arrived."

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  76. "The craving for action and adventure is overwhelming, matched by a sense of 'doing your duty'."

    That's about it.

    My own son's craving is such that no amount of pleading or wheedling may dissuade him from enlisting after graduation rather than (please, please, please) completing his bachelor's and receiving a commission before entry into the service. The former has become a commonplace among officers' children, eager to get while the gettin's good and dreading four to eight more years of the classroom after finally cutting loose from the horrid nursing homes/detention facilities that are our high schools. (But of course I did the same thing, much to the chagrin of my own Army officer father, who had other plans for me involving his alma mater and a career in journalism.) In any event, young boys desire (as was said somewhat tongue-in-cheek by tankers headed downrange years ago) to do manly things in a manly way with other men.

    My husband, 'The Old Man,' is happier than a pig in shit on deployment. It's the mental challenge of it; the 'hundred miles a minute' for days and nights and weeks on end; its the bad guys you managed to find and nail. Be it a B1 or a Seal, it's all good, and the photos allow you to savor it awhile longer.

    Now some people regard all this as quite abnormal. Others know better. Certainly Harry seems to.

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  77. "My own son's craving is such that no amount of pleading or wheedling may dissuade him from enlisting after graduation rather than (please, please, please) completing his bachelor's and receiving a commission before entry into the service."
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    Beautiful.
    And to think I felt guilty about my manly impulses, which are part of why we all are still here.
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    Seems the tone of the rest indicates that you are aware of the limitations of women's/parents feelings.
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    Whatever will be will be, and it's hard to imagine another lunkhead as clueless as GWB, so your son, God Willing, will be fine.
    ...but in retrospect, I'm damned glad we counseled our then 15 year old son against joining up ASAP after 9-11.
    ...seemed like mere parental protectionism for a minor at the time.
    Turned out, we saved him from being possible fodder for GWB's outrageous flights of hubris fired folly.

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  78. "(But of course I did the same thing, much to the chagrin of my own Army officer father, who had other plans for me involving his alma mater and a career in journalism.)"
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    OK, HUMAN impulses, for some crazy bitches!

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  79. Pursuing enlistment or commission, we always have the same advice for young people entering the service: Know, with a reasonable amount of specificity, what you want to do and why you want to do it; know where and with whom best to do it. Stay away from Big Army; that party's over, if ever it was.

    "your son, God Willing, will be fine."

    If only he'd be satisfied with rugby. But yes, God willing, he will.

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  80. "Seems the tone of the rest indicates that you are aware of the limitations of women's/parents feelings."

    The day I resigned myself to those limitations, was the day my life and the lives of those around me became an awwwwwwful lot easier.

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  81. [Trish's husband: What day was that?]

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