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."

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Post 2000 At the EB - Drinks are on the House.


According to the Blogger archives, it was only 20 months ago in September 2006 when a group of opinionated, big-mouthed, prolific commenters were "invited" to leave the ritzy establishment of a certain "Harvard club." One commenter made it known that he had a little bar around the corner and everyone was welcome to continue the chaos there. This was 2164th's inaugural, grand-opening post:

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

It's been a blast ever since and it all began on or about September 7, 2006 with the proprietors first post, "Where the Hell is Doug?" . Apparently, 2164th, (dubbed Deuce by Desert Rat) had some sort of "technical glitch" and blew away the very first comments but the archives show the first commenter was none other than Doug, our favorite Hawaiian. That thread ran for 186 comments from the likes of Doug, Buddy Larsen, 2164th, Desert Rat, Habu 3, Rem870, whit, rufus, bobalharb, and a couple or real characters commenting as Sausage Sommelier and Asperger's Gentleman (remember them?)
Rem870 said...

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

2164th said...

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

and of course Rufus chimed in with what has become the classic, essential Rufus:
rufus said...

Does anybody here remember ba mui ba (33) beer?

Man, three hot ba mui ba's would knock your dick off. Shit must have been fifty proof.

Jamie Irons even joined us for a while but I suspect the EB was a little too rough for the good doctor from California or maybe like most of us, he took some heat from his better half for all the time he was "wasting with that nonsense."

Ash chided in on the second post:
Ash said...

whit said...
"I cannot tell a lie.

I lifted the entire piece on Cleland from the Patriot Post website"

You really should post it in such a way that one doesn't think you are engaging in wholesale plagerism.

In addition, might I suggest that the esteemed members here indicate which one of the towering intellects actually made the post. i.e. Omar or Mohammed puts their name at the bottom of each post to identify the author. You guys should do the same.

And was promptly treated to a little EB hospitality by rufus. BTW - Ash has been a faithful chider to this day. It was on this second thread that Teresita, cloaked in the habit of Woman Catholic debuted with the famous last words that the EB wasn't her "kind of place." Speaking of famous last words remember the "That's all Folks" post? My boss and your "dear host" announced his retirement and two days later he was back! He just couldn't stay away and neither could many of us!

We also heard from an Aussie named Quig. Sam, do you know a fellow named Quig? Remember Bob Smith, a regular at the Belmont Club? Bob Smith revealed at the EB that he was actually a 52-year old woman.

Buddy Larsen, Allen, Habu, Rem870 are seldom if ever seen in the bar anymore but the original gang is still largely intact and here 2000 posts later, the party continues and looking back on the posts, we're still solving and resolving the same old problems of the world. From our humble beginnings, we have added a Board of Directors and gone global with international visitors, posts and comments coming from France, Poland, Germany, Singapore, Costa Rica and Colombia (Thanks, Harrison, Fellow Peacekeeper and Trish.) A special thanks goes to contributors and occasional barkeeps; Our man in uniform, Bob W. and the lastest part-timer and a man whose intellect may be wasted on the EB wasted, Victor Silo.

At the EB, we don't have enough time, money or staff to do a proper retrospective on the wild ride of the first 2,000 posts so let this brief acknowledgment suffice. We've had some good posts at the EB and some not so good posts, but what sets the EB apart from most blogs are our comment threads. We've got a crazy bunch of regulars and we like it that way and hope you do too. Also, a special thanks to the indefatigable host, 2164th aka Deuce. Without his tireless day-in and day-out efforts the EB would have closed its doors long ago. So today, all day long, drinks are on the house.

2,000 down and here's to the next 2,000. Thanks everyone!

whit (and on his behalf) Deuce.

49 comments:

  1. Thank you guys, duece and whit, especially. But all of you that participate and those of you that merely read the threads.

    I'm not sure it was me, though, that gave the duece the moniker, but ...

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  2. One of the best attractions here at the Elephant Bar are the pinup girls, and I've made it a goal when I have more time to go diving through all the old threads back to the beginning and linking to those images.

    There are times when the Belmont Club is running at a low ebb, and all the action is here. Don't sell the EB short just because Hugh Hewitt doesn't have us on his blogroll. Some of the ones he does have, like Kudlow, no longer even accept comments, or never did. And that's where the fun is.

    Whit, when you brought back all those wunnerful memories of past barflies you forgot my chief nemesis, a one "Catherine", who seemed to have enough spare time to do opposition research on Your's Truly. I don't know how many yawns that triggered. She had more nicks than Habu and I suspect that she finally morphed into Nahncee and went with that. I didn't like her very much but she was a critical peanut shell on the floor of that crazy watering hole for idiots we call the Elephant Bar.

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  3. "Thank you guys, duece and whit, especially."

    Ditto.




    And here's to all you undertakers. And one seriously pissed off chihuahua.

    I'll have a Club Col-O-mbia today.

    Club Col-O-mbia.

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  4. One Club Columbia coming right up.

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  5. Well, I don't know about all that sentimental shit; but, you did keep the beer cold, and the prices down.

    SO, how bout that "Big Brown," huh?

    Oh, I think it wuz me that first muttered them immortul words, "Can I call you Deuce?"

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  6. Sorry Rufus, my apologies. I stand corrected.

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  7. Let me get you another cold one.

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  8. Make it a Glenlevit

    On the House, right?

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  9. I think I need another'n.

    At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. This is no hoax. The concept of what could be called "plant rights" is being seriously debated.

    As you might imagine, Ace O Spades had a comment.

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  10. What's next, Rufus, a Bacteria Manifesto?

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  11. Proof that Europe has officially Jumped The Snark: it is no longer possible to parody them by making stuff up.


    From the Comment Thread on above story.

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  12. I don't know, T; but, it looks like my future as the "Corn Ethanol" King is definitely in jeopardy.

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  13. A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out.

    Cool system they've got there. Just add some shit to the Constitution, and we'll figure out what it means, later.

    This is where all the "Smart" Guys put their money, right?

    Is anyone else feeling a little dizzy?

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  14. Sure, sneak in a birthday party on the rare occasion when I'm out trying to enjoy a sunny weekend in this sun forsaken frozen wasteland.

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  15. Ok, who raided the fridge for all the beer? Trish? I supposed you'll claim it never happened.

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  16. Plants' Rights. This of course means all efforts to stamp out poppy production in Afghanistan must cease forthwith. Let every valley floor in that thirsty and roadless land bloom with those pretty flowers and flood the streets of Europe with heroine so cheap they give away free samples in the post along with all the scam offers for foreclosure relief. Europe, where everyone rides the white horse and no one ever needs to jones again. That way it won't seem so bad when Sharia Law comes in.

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  17. I had to give up farming cause I couldn't stand to cut wheat and kill weeds no more, guiltwise. I'll have a Chivas Regal 12 and Mountain Dew, if you stock Mountain Dew.
    Happy Landings. And thanks.

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  18. Cool system they've got there. Just add some shit to the Constitution, and we'll figure out what it means, later.

    One step lower than us, for sure, where you make up a thoughtful Constitution, then 200 years later some assholes claim it's living and nine old morons in black robes say how to care for it, rather than the people amending it as needed.

    It grows penumbras, and exceptions and such....

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  19. One of the best attractions here at the Elephant Bar are the pinup girls

    Indeed, even at my age, just like when I'd score a 'Playboy' as a kid, I spend time with the pictures, before getting to the reading:)

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  20. "Cool system they've got there. Just add some shit to the Constitution, and we'll figure out what it means, later."

    You can be sure the interest group responsible for it is following it all the way down the political and judicial system.

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  21. Will the winner be the ConocoPhillips and Tysons Food venture that is already producing high-quality biodiesel from pork and beef fat? That high-cholesterol stuff turns out to have a carbon footprint about 60% lower than gasoline's, it's being pumped directly into a Texas pipeline, and it burns cleanly in existing diesel engines -- but it didn't qualify for the federal tax credits that would help make it commercially viable. Why not? Because animal fat didn't have a powerful lobby like corn when the subsidies were drafted.

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  22. Aw Gee, T, Don't make me fisk that whole idjit article. It's a gross misrepresentation of the facts from start to finish.

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  23. Speaking of Iowa State, though: here's another study showing ethanol is Lowering gasoline costs by between $0.29, and $0.40/gal.

    Study

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  24. Full Text of Study

    By the way, Isaacson's "Computer Models," aside, the Cal Air Resources Board found (By, actually, um, ... measuring) that S Cal ozone dropped Dramatically when a 6% ethanol blend was introduced into their gasoline. It's assumed that the 30% lower CO emissions was what did the trick.

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  25. Rufus I'm not questioning the part about ethanol polluting more or making gas cost more, I'm focusing on the issue of the guys who divert our food into gas tanks. Let's refine the stuff we can't eat, like used corn oil, or corn stalks (silage). Otherwise we're paying double, once in lost tax revenue (subsidies), and again in higher prices for anything using corn syrup.

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  26. Thank you everybody for keeping this going.

    No, don't know Quig. I remember him 'though.

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  27. In an attempt to counter this misinformation, several of the best spokespeople American agriculture has were sent to the National Press Club to meet with the best and the brightest journalists in the nation.

    They laid out just the facts:

    1. We are not running out of corn, in fact production hit a record last year.

    2. Higher corn prices are not the main reason for higher food prices, only 25% of the price hike in food can be accounted for with by higher corn prices.

    3. Ethanol production is not taking food away from hungry people.


    Just the Facts

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  28. the best spokespeople American agriculture has

    would say things like that, like my fertilizer dealer was always trying to sell me more fertilizer:)

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  29. Air Force Lt. Col. Monte Harner leads the effort to discover who owns the titles and consolidate the areas held by the U.S. military.

    He said the Army plans to move a military hospital in the zone — now located in a former private medical facility — to a base nearby, freeing it up for Iraqi use. Also in the works is the consolidation of Green Zone housing used by American troops.

    Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top adviser to al-Maliki, said there are also plans for development projects at the Baghdad airport west of the city, including a hotel.


    Development Plan

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  30. Air Force Lt. Col. Monte Harner leads the effort to discover who owns the titles and consolidate the areas held by the U.S. military.

    He said the Army plans to move a military hospital in the zone — now located in a former private medical facility — to a base nearby, freeing it up for Iraqi use. Also in the works is the consolidation of Green Zone housing used by American troops.

    Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top adviser to al-Maliki, said there are also plans for development projects at the Baghdad airport west of the city, including a hotel.


    Development Plan

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  31. Air Force Lt. Col. Monte Harner leads the effort to discover who owns the titles and consolidate the areas held by the U.S. military.

    He said the Army plans to move a military hospital in the zone — now located in a former private medical facility — to a base nearby, freeing it up for Iraqi use. Also in the works is the consolidation of Green Zone housing used by American troops.

    Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top adviser to al-Maliki, said there are also plans for development projects at the Baghdad airport west of the city, including a hotel.


    Development Plan

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  32. Glad to see i am forgettable .........

    happy birthday from who am I?

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  33. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  34. Sam: Ethanol production is not taking food away from hungry people.

    No, they just have to work much longer and harder to get it.

    The price of the flat corn bread, the main source of calories for many poor Mexicans, recently rose by over 400%.

    . . .

    Under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, Mexico used to get cheap corn imports from the US, but Mexico's Economy Minister Eduardo Sojo has said that with more US corn being diverted into ethanol production, supply is dwindling.

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  35. Air Force Lt. Col. Monte Harner leads the effort to discover who owns the titles and consolidate the areas held by the U.S. military.

    He said the Army plans to move a military hospital in the zone — now located in a former private medical facility — to a base nearby, freeing it up for Iraqi use. Also in the works is the consolidation of Green Zone housing used by American troops.

    Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top adviser to al-Maliki, said there are also plans for development projects at the Baghdad airport west of the city, including a hotel.


    Development Plan

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  36. Poll: Voters approve of Barack Obama's handling of former pastor's remarks
    05-04-2008 3:06 PM

    WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- Most voters think Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has done a good job handling the controversy surrounding his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to a poll released Sunday.

    In a CBS News/New York Times poll, 60 percent of voters _ and 68 percent of Democratic primary voters _ said they approved of the way Obama handled the situation.

    At a press conference in Washington last Monday, Wright praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and reiterated his beliefs that that the U.S. government may have developed the AIDS virus to infect the black community and that it had invited the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Obama denounced the remarks the next day.

    Three-quarters of voters polled said Wright's statements had not changed their opinion of Obama.

    And a majority of those polled _ 56 percent _ said the news media have spent too much time covering the controversy.

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  37. Come on, T; you're smarter than that. You put up an article from Feb 2007.

    Tortillas are made from Mexican White Sweet Corn. Ethanol is made from Yellow Field Corn. It's cattle feed; and even the cows get stomach ulcers if they eat too much of it. Did I mention you can buy all of it you want for a Dime a Pound?

    The Minister of Agriculture was being disengenuous. Mexico was allowed by NAFTA to institute a huge tariff, and Import Controls on Cheap American Corn. Which they did.

    The tariffs came off on Jan 1st of 2008.

    Now, the Mexican FARMERS are raising hell over cheap Gringo Corn.

    T, the food "crisis" is yesterday's "made up" story. Wheat is all the way back down to "Sevenish"/bushel, and, Beans are out of the Teens.

    The only thing left that's in any kind of short supply is long-stemmed rice, and we don't grow it, and it just doesn't have any connection to field corn AT ALL.

    BTW, we use about 144 Billion Gallons of Gasoline. If we're saving $0.35/gal as a result of ethanol, that's what? Fifty Billion $$/Yr?

    If you use 1,000 gallons/yr, you're saving $350.00? That's a lotta Corn Bread, Snookums. :)

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  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. DR: Poll: Voters approve of Barack Obama's handling of former pastor's remarks

    The first 100 days of the Obama Administration:

    1) All handgun owners must deliver their weapon to the local police station within five days, together with all associated cartridges. Rifle and shotgun owners must turn in their weapons after the 2009 hunting season, but not later than December 31, 2009.

    2) Government-funded high school field trips to Mecca to complete the "Hajj" element of the Five Pillars Of Islam cirriculum shall fulfill the Social Awareness credit required for graduation.

    3) The minimum wage shall be raised to $10 per hour, even for lettuce-pickers, and the maximum wage shall also be lowered to $10 per hour, even for doctors.

    4) There shall be a mandatory draft for all men and women ages 18 to 20 into the Civilian Overseas Nation Building Corps, unless they are accepted in a Women's Studies or Progressive Journalism program at a major East Coast university.

    5) Boot Camp to be replaced with outcome-based training in all branches of the service. Instead of taking orders, recruits will be encouraged to share their impressions of what the Company Commander is suggesting they try to do.

    6) All current residents of the Federal and State corrections system shall be discharged and enrolled in voluntary anger-management courses. Prisons shall become re-education facilities for hate crimes, such as calling Rosie a "fat annoying dyke".

    7) All vehicles getting less than 35 miles per gallon shall pay an annual federal Excise Tax not less than 10% of the Kelly Blue Book value of the rig.

    8) All freeway lanes except the far right lane are to be designated HOV lanes for cars carrying at least four persons, automatically enforced by computer cam, watched by 1.5 million new federal employees working from home.

    9) Comprehensive health care, broadband pornography, home heating oil, and government cheese are all basic rights to be given to the American people for free.

    10) Allahu Akbar shall be inscribed in Arabic on American currency, replacing the current hate slogan "In God We Trust"

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  40. Thanks Rufus, I should know better than to drink your milkshake.

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  41. That's okay, T. You can share my "Milkshake," anytime. :)

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  42. HahaHahaHAAAA--Clinton Camp Considering "Going Nuclear"

    he he he--I've never seen anything this screwed up--God Bless The Democrats--always good for many great laughs.

    We want this party to run the country?

    An out and out crook running against a fraud and magician with all these rules, primaries screwed up, different strategies to screw each other over--you gotta admit, it's entertaining.:)

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  43. Air Force Lt. Col. Monte Harner leads the effort to discover who owns the titles and consolidate the areas held by the U.S. military.

    He said the Army plans to move a military hospital in the zone — now located in a former private medical facility — to a base nearby, freeing it up for Iraqi use. Also in the works is the consolidation of Green Zone housing used by American troops.

    Sadiq al-Rikabi, a top adviser to al-Maliki, said there are also plans for development projects at the Baghdad airport west of the city, including a hotel.


    Development Plan

    ReplyDelete
  44. "Don't sell the EB short just because Hugh Hewitt doesn't have us on his blogroll."

    Considering the amount of quality here, both in the comments and on the masthead, this place could attract a much larger readership if it was actively advertised. Don't know if it'd stay the same or be as much fun, though. Every once in a while I give the link to someone I think might fit in, unfortunately no takers yet. If that "Steel Wolf" who just showed up at Belmont is who I think it is, he might be such a person.

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  45. Depending on his response to my querie, it'd be greatly appreciated if someone could invite him over here. I don't want to step on Wretchard's toes, having not posted there in a year or so.

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  46. Bobal, at the very least, they won't seat the delegates in Michigan, because Obama wasn't even on the ballot there. Every superdelegate would be tossed out on their ass next time around. And even if Clinton seated the delegates, 55 is not enough, she needs about 130. And then all the other superdelegates need to break her way. They won't after she pushes that red button.

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  47. Dang, I was working like three illegals this weekend and missed the party...oh well. Happy birth day EB, I'll extend the party with a round for the house on my tab!

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  48. Not a drinker myself. Nor much of a talker. But I do enjoy the threads here.
    Happy Birthday EB

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